35 battery, Sevastopol. 35 coast battery, Sevastopol - history

When in 1941 German troops invaded the territory of the Crimea and approached Sevastopol, they were really waiting for a "warm welcome". Defenders of the city kept the defense for more than 250 days and nights, and only in July 1942 it was captured by the occupiers, who lost about 300,000 of their soldiers and officers here. But the most tragic events took place in the area of Cape Khersones, where there was a 35 battery, Sevastopol. The photo of the terrain made from the satellite demonstrates where the coastal batteries No. 30 and 35 were located and the range of their guns.

Building

The reason for the decision to erect well-fortified coastal batteries near Sevastopol was the failure of the defense of the fortress of Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese War. The decision to build fortifications was taken by Emperor Nicholas II on May 21, 1911, for which the sum of 8 million rubles was allocated. According to the plan, two powerful batteries with an extra-large caliber from the northern and southern flanks were to be placed here.

The erection of fortifications began in 1912. It is closely connected with the name of the engineer Ts. A. Cui, who was also a famous composer. At first, impressive pits were piled under the towers, barracks and other utility rooms were built, but construction work was interrupted due to the outbreak of the revolution and the ensuing civil war.

The construction was resumed only in 1925. Now it was held under the leadership of two Soviet military engineers - B. K. Sokolov and V. V. Tekekhana. By the autumn of 1929, 35 shore batteries had been finally commissioned. Sevastopol was visited by a delegation consisting of members of the Soviet government, which was headed by JV Stalin himself. This visit entailed a significant improvement in the welfare and social security of the personnel of the entire base of the Black Sea Fleet.

Description of coastal battery No. 35

On the territory of the battery there were four 305-millimeter guns, located in pairs in two gun turrets. Management of them was carried out from two equipped command posts - the main and reserve. They were located at a distance of 300 and 450 meters from the artillery blocks themselves.

Each of these items consisted of armored combat deck, a rangefinder yard, as well as an autonomous power station and communication center, located at a depth of three floors below the ground. Even deeper were the rooms, where the devices were installed, with the help of which direct control of the shooting was conducted.

The structure, where the reserve command post was located, had a lateral branch that went directly to the seashore. It served not only as a backup output, but also for the withdrawal of drainage and sewage systems. Approximately the same system was equipped and the battery number 30, which was commissioned in 1933.

The very location of the firing points was chosen perfectly. As in the palm of your hand, the whole Sevastopol (35 battery on the map - in the photo above) was viewed from here. This arrangement allowed shooting from guns in the circular sector, that is, to hit the target not only on the sea, but also on land. That is why the most important force in the heroic defense of the city was the coastal 35 battery. Sevastopol and the territory around it fired from guns in the north right up to Bakhchisaray, and in the south - to the Baydar Gate and Simeiz.

In addition, on the approaches to the battery were equipped with 5 reinforced concrete bunkers. Each of them was equipped with three machine guns.

Unexpected obstruction

By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the defense of the city of Sevastopol consisted of two 12-inch armored four-gun batteries No. 30 and 35, several dozen well-equipped protective structures and gun positions. It remains a mystery today, why on German military maps and in documents they were called as the fort "Maxim Gorky".

In the first days of the war, the Soviet military leadership realized that one of the main goals of the German command would be Sevastopol. The offensive of the enemy troops was already inexorably reaching the shores of the Black Sea, and on October 30, 1941, the first enemy assault of the city by the 11th Army under the leadership of General Manstein took place.

Despite the fact that the 30th battery was located at a considerable distance, its observers found a whole column of German equipment, consisting of a large number of tanks and cars, swiftly moving to the city. It so happened that scattered units of Soviet troops defending the Crimean peninsula were left behind, and Sevastopol was completely open to the enemy.

On November 1, when the Germans had to make the final jerk, not reaching just a few dozen kilometers to the goal, their armored columns were suddenly shelled, and the blow was unusually powerful. The surprise was also that according to the data of the German intelligence, in this area there were practically no Red Army troops.

The first assault on Sevastopol was repulsed by the battery # 30 under the command of GA Alexander and the soldiers of the Maritime Army. Despite the heavy losses, the Germans nevertheless occupied the approaches to the city.

The Second Assault

The second attempt to storm the Nazi forces took place on December 17. He began with a powerful artillery preparation, and then the attack was immediately thrown 5 divisions of the enemy. But all efforts were in vain. They were greeted with fierce resistance by the defenders of the fort Maxim Gorky - 30 and 35 batteries. Sevastopol and this time stood.

The Third Assault

On June 7, 1942, at 5 am, enemy mortars and artillery, with the support of air bombers, began to deal stunning strikes throughout the city. So Manstein began the offensive along the whole front.

To support the infantry and armored vehicles, huge self-propelled mortars "Karl" were delivered here, as well as a stationary howitzer, unnamed in its size, which was called the female name "Dora". But, despite this, the Soviet troops rendered fierce resistance to the enemy and repulsed the attack after the attack. Only in the next four days the German army lost about 20,000 of its servicemen here.

A turning point in the battle occurred on June 17 - after the 30th battery was surrounded. Shooting all the ammunition, the defenders were forced to withdraw into the array of towers. The fight moved to the interior. The defenders had neither food nor water, besides the Germans began using poison gas. June 20-21, both towers were undermined. Many defenders died a terrible death, and the survivors, including the commander of the 30th battery Alexander, were captured and disappeared in the fascist camps.

The last stage of the operation

Defense of Sevastopol came to its end. Since June 24, the remnants of the Red Army troops and survivors of the city began to go to the promontory toward battery # 35. With their extraordinary courage and courage, the sailors of the Black Sea Fleet instilled terror and panic into the hearts of their enemies. The Germans increasingly squeezed the ring of encirclement and began to push the defenders of the city to the sea. The time has come when there was nowhere to retreat.

The army of Manstein was carrying huge losses, but still she continued the offensive. Despite the attacks from the air and land, the battery No. 35 conducted a constant bombardment of enemy positions. But on June 23, one of the battery towers was destroyed by a direct bomb hit. After the shells had run out, the men continued to charge the guns with cores and shotch.

Evacuation

On the night of June 29, the Military Council and the command of the Coast Guard moved to Battery No. 35 for a backup post. The next day, a report was sent to the People's Commissar of the Navy about surrendering Sevastopol and requesting the evacuation of the entire staff. On July 1, the flown planes take on their own board the command staff, who actually disgracefully fled, leaving more than 80,000 people to die!

On the same day the city was surrendered. By order of General Novikov, towers and a cellar with ammunition were blown up. But I must say that for more than 10 days defenseless defenders were defensive. Against them flamethrowers, grenades and poison gas were used. The battles continued not only on the surface, but also in battery casemates.

As a result, the legendary coastal battery 35 delayed and retained for a long time one of the best armies of the Wehrmacht, which led to a significant weakening of the positions of the Hitler forces at Stalingrad.

Grandiose German tools

The story about the defense of Sevastopol would not be complete without mentioning that to destroy the 30th and 35th batteries, the Hitlerites used the grand tools "Karl" and "Dora", developed and produced at the factories of the German firm "Krupp". Originally they were planned to be used in France to storm the Maginot line, but, as is known, the country was captured by lightning speed, and the need for an assault fell by itself.

Particularly amazed by its size gun "Dora", which had a cannon 800-millimeter caliber. This colossus weighed 1350 tons, and the shell for it - 7088 kg. It was delivered to Sevastopol by rail in disassembled form on specially designed platforms for these purposes. It took about three days to assemble the gun. In order to bring it to working condition, it was necessary to have a 5 km section consisting of a dual track with a distance of 6 m. To transport the gun, a total of 5 trains consisting of 106 wagons were needed.

Under the command of the major general, commanding the giant weapon, there were up to 1,500 people, and two artillery battalions were used to cover the gun.

The Germans had high hopes for this miracle instrument, but it did not justify a small fraction of all expectations. Out of 48 shots, only one was effective: an underground ammunition depot was destroyed.

"Dora" was, of course, a miracle of military equipment, but, as one of the high-ranking officers of Nazi Germany Franz Halder said about it, "This is a real work of art, but it turned out to be completely useless."

The Museum

After the end of the Great Patriotic War, in the 1940s and 1960s, the coastal battery No. 723 operated in the former casemates, where 35 batteries were located before. Sevastopol always remembered and honored the memory of the soldiers who died here.

In the last decades of the twentieth century, there has been a sharp increase in interest in those long-standing heroic events. In these places meetings of veterans began to be held, and also various search groups operated. Some previously unknown pages of the defense of the city and the role played by the 35 battery in it became public. Sevastopol, whose history has more than two centuries, is rich in heroic deeds. And on April 26, 2006, the city council finally made a decision to create on the territory of the legendary coastal battery an historical memorial complex erected in honor of the defenders of the hero city.

In 2007 the museum "35 battery" began to be created. Sevastopol allocated land for the organization of the Memorial Complex, but the design, construction, development and maintenance of it was undertaken not by state structures, but by private enterprises of the Tavrida-Electric group with the participation of indifferent Sevastopolites.

Excursions are held on the Pantheon of Memory and on the casemates of the battery at a depth of about 25-30 meters. All of them are absolutely free.

How to get there?

The location of the museum is the coast of the Cossack bay, 35 battery, Sevastopol. How to get there? To the Memorial complex "35 coastal battery" can be reached both on personal and on public transport. There are numerous shuttle buses, buses and trolleybuses. In addition, every resident is happy to tell you the way.

Defensive installations 35 battery, Sevastopol - one of the most significant Soviet artillery fortifications. Now tens of thousands of tourists from different countries come here to the memorial complex to honor the bright memory of the heroes who died in an unequal battle with the German fascist invaders.