316 Infantry Division of General Panfilov. The history of the division, the feat of the fighters

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Young people now know very well popular actors and singers, prominent politicians, and not everyone is interested in people who did something great decades ago. But the older generation is well aware of the 316th Infantry Division of General Panfilov, which thwarted the capture of Moscow by the Nazis at the cost of their own lives. In the war and post-war years, many newspapers wrote about the division, and all 28 Panfilov soldiers posthumously became Heroes of the Soviet Union. It would seem, what could be wrong here? After all, the feat of these fearless people is evident. But there were materials proving that the 316th Rifle Division was no worse and no better than other units holding back the Nazis on the outskirts of Moscow. In each of them, our soldiers died heroically, about whom for some reason no one says anything, but far from all of the 28 Panfilov soldiers died. Moreover, not all of them were heroes, some of them even became traitors. What is it - throwing mud at the feat of Soviet soldiers or a desire to reveal the truth to people? In this article, on the basis of original documents, we restore the course of events of those years, so that both young people and the older generation learn the whole truth about the heroes.

General Panfilov

The commander of the 316 Infantry Division, the famous IV Panfilov, was an extraordinary man. He was born on 12/20/92 (old style) or 01/01/93 (new), so he caught both the revolution and the First World War. In 1915, he fought in the tsarist army, but from 1918 he became a Red Army soldier, fought along with the great Chapai, and knew him personally.

The legendary commander appointed young Panfilov as a scout and repeatedly noted his courage, audacity, courage and ability to cope with the most dangerous tasks with virtually no losses. This commander's and human talent - to protect his fighters and at the same time win over the enemy - the commander of the 316th Infantry Division and just a wonderful person will keep until the last minutes of his life. In any circumstances, he will take care of each of his fighters as if they were his own son, for which he will be called Aksakal, and later Batya. Even 3.5 years after Panfilov's ridiculous death, one of the soldiers of his division will write on the wall in captured Berlin that he is a Panfilovite and add the words: "Dad, thanks for the boots."

Birth of the 316th Infantry

After graduating from the Kyiv infantry school, Panfilov ended up in Central Asia, where he fought against the Basmachi. And everywhere, even in the most dangerous mountainous areas teeming with Basmachi, next to himthere was his dear wife and most faithful friend Masha, Maria Ivanovna. Battle-hardened, brave, courageous and at the same time a wise soldier of the Soviet army I. V. Panfilov in 1938 was appointed military commissar of the Kirghiz Soviet Republic. And in this position, he paid the lion's share of attention to young fighters, not only to their training in drill, but also to ordinary household needs, which is not typical of all commanders.

In early July 1941, I. V. Panfilov left for Alma-Ata, where he began to form a strong combat unit, called the "316th Rifle Division". Panfilov personally selected people for it, giving preference to Komsomol activists and young communists. Creating such a large unit, the main task of which was the fight against the Nazis, Panfilov did not forget that his fighters were first of all people, and only then soldiers, so he beat out normal accommodation conditions for them, food supplies, suitable amenities, even organized for them musical concerts, and for all women he achieved the issuance of stockings and skirts instead of footcloths and trousers.

Military training

The legendary 316th Rifle Division, which accomplished hundreds of feats, at first was not a well-coordinated combat unit, since its fighters had little understanding of military art, many were even afraid of tanks. Therefore, I. V. Panfilov made the military training of his divisional staff the main task, for which he was given only one month. From company and battalion commanders, hedemanded to train people in discipline, endurance, and at the same time, given that the composition of the 316th rifle division included people of 34 nationalities (there were even people who did not understand a word of Russian), he pointed out a special approach to the fighters in order to rally them all into friendly family. The training consisted of lengthy forced marches, forcing rivers, taking skyscrapers, digging trenches and trenches, fighting, and building crossings. To overcome the fear of tanks in his fighters, Panfilov arranged training tractor attacks, during which the fighters sat in the trenches, waited for the tractors to pass over them, and then threw them with training grenades.

Baptism of Fire

The soldiers of the 316th Infantry Division took the oath on July 30, and on August 18 they arrived near Novgorod and joined the 52nd Army. Being not on the front lines, the division's fighters conducted a number of reconnaissance operations. Lieutenant Korolev distinguished himself with his platoon, which captured the “tongue”, a machine gun and destroyed several Germans. It was their first combat sortie, which ended in a highly motivated success for the fighters.

But the 316th Infantry Division did not carry out large-scale military operations near Leningrad, and in early autumn it was transferred to the Moscow direction, to the 16th army of Rokossovsky. Panfilov's 316th Infantry Division was supposed to block the Nazis' way to Volokolamsk and took up defensive positions on a 50-kilometer front. Here, the 857th artillery regiment of Kurganov entered the division, but Panfilov still lacked anti-tank military equipment, although even anti-aircraft guns and our glorious Katyushas were used.

Panfilov's military tactics

Panfilov, beloved by both commanders and fighters, General of the 316th Infantry Division paid a lot of personal attention, because he understood well the complexity of the task. To increase the chance of victory, he used the tactics of warfare developed by him himself, convincing the personnel that the offensive, even in the most unpredictable situations, is preferable to defense. Later, this technique will save the lives of hundreds of fighters, in fact confirming the main law of his Bati, who has repeatedly told the fighters that he does not want them to die, he wants them all to survive.

Here is just one of many glorious examples where Lieutenant Kraev distinguished himself. His company occupied a high-rise, but was taken into a tight ring by enemy tanks and infantry. Kraev, being doomed to die, suddenly went on the offensive and not only broke through the ring, but also destroyed 3 tanks and a large number of Nazis, and he himself escaped from the encirclement with a company. Later, one of the Germans wrote that it was very difficult to defeat the fighters of the "wild" 316th division, since they always acted suddenly, not obeying any rules of warfare.

Fighting near Volokolamsk

Many innovations were introduced by the commander of the 316th Infantry Division. One of the techniques was even dubbed the "Panfilov loop" and began to be used in other sectors of the front. However, despite all the efforts, the 316th also had defeats. So, on October 15, the Germans launched a powerful attack, throwing a large number of tanks at Panfilov's division. Only on the left flank, wherethe 1075th regiment fought courageously, there were more than 150 of them. The fighting was incredibly heavy, but the 316th Rifle Division escaped encirclement, destroying the plans of the Nazis, as Panfilov managed to help his 1075th in time with a large amount of anti-tank artillery.

After 4 days, the Germans got closer to Moscow and occupied individual villages. In these battles, the highest heroism was shown by Captain Lysenko, who held the defense of the village of Ostashevo, Captain Molchanov, who knocked out 6 tanks with his fighters. But the Germans rushed to Moscow, regardless of their losses. Already on October 25, they threw about 120 tanks at Panfilov's division. To save his soldiers, Panfilov ordered to retreat and surrender Volokolamsk. Rokossovsky saved him from the tribunal for this act, and Zhukov saved him from execution.

Fight for Moscow

Inspired by success, the Nazis continued to attack. November 16 arrived, the day of the most difficult (according to Zhukov) battle for Moscow and the day when 28 soldiers of the 316th rifle division performed their unprecedented feat. The Germans went for broke, the Wehrmacht threw as many as 2 such divisions into the Volokolamsk direction. They were assisted by an infantry division. According to the recollections of the surviving fighters, they were attacked by tanks, on which the infantry sat and fired incessantly. Our fighters could not even raise their heads to see where to throw grenades. At the same time, planes bombed them from above. All this avalanche of death was opposed by one 316th Panfilov Rifle Division.

With dawn, a powerful attack began on Dubosekovo, where1075th Rifle Regiment. It was commanded by Ilya Vasilyevich Kaprov. At the same time, the 6th company defended Shiryaevo, the 4th - directly Dubosekovo, the 6th - the area between Petelino and height 251. The enemy threw about 60 tanks at the 4th company, and ours had only 1 anti-tank gun and 2 anti-tank platoons !

The fight went on for 4 hours. During this time, the Panfilovites knocked out 18 enemy tanks and destroyed several hundred soldiers. The official version is as follows: all 28 soldiers of the company were killed, but the enemy was stopped. Also killed was the political instructor, thirty-year-old Vasily Klochkov, who famously said that Russia is great, but there is nowhere to retreat, since Moscow is behind.

Panfilov's death

For a great feat Panfilov's 316th Rifle Division on November 17 became the Eighth Guards Rifle Division. In addition, she was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. Panfilov was very happy about this, as he had long dreamed that his division would become a guards division. On November 18, he met with his daughter Valentina, a nurse in his own division. During the meeting, Ivan Vasilyevich was summoned to the headquarters, located in the village of Gusenevo, for a conversation with Moscow correspondents. The conversation was going on in the dugout and was interrupted by a message about a new tank attack by the Nazis. Panfilov hurried to the street, to his fighters, jumped out of the dugout. At that moment, a shell exploded nearby. Before the eyes of the astonished people, the general began to sag. By a diabolical coincidence, a tiny fragment hit him right in the temple. The glorious hero was buried in Moscow, at the Novodevichy cemetery, and his division was named Panfilovskaya.

Trophies and losses

During the most difficult military operation of World War II, which was November 16-19, not only the beloved commander of the 316th Infantry Division, who defended Moscow, died. The motherland lost thousands of its heroes in these battles. So, at the beginning of the formation, the 316th division consisted of 11,347 fighters, and by November 16 there were about 7000 of them left. In particular, there were 1534 in the 1075th regiment, 1666 in the 1073rd, and 2078 soldiers and commanders. After the fatal battle, 120 people remained in the 1075th regiment, including the wounded, in the 1073rd - 200, and in the largest regiment, the 1077th, there were only about 700 fighters. Losses, of course, terrible. In the famous 4th company, only 20 people out of 140 survived. In total, the Panfilovites “cooked” in the hellish cauldron of Dubosekovo-Kryukovo for two months. During this time, they destroyed 9,000 Nazi soldiers, about 100 tanks, defeated 4 German divisions - 1 tank, 1 motorized and 2 infantry.

Afterword to a feat

Materials show that on November 16, several thousand of our glorious fighters who defended Moscow died. Why is only the feat of 28 soldiers of the 316th Infantry Division known to the whole world? This happened at the suggestion of the employees of the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper Otenberg, Krivitsky, Koroteev. Krivitsky admitted that he invented his essay under the pressure of circumstances. The commander of the 1075th, I. V. Kaprov, who survived after the battle, officially stated that the journalists did not meet with him personally and did not receive any information, and that not 28, but more than 100 Panfilovites died in that famous battle. All of them fought like devils, defending every inch of their native land, but there was no feat of 28 people. All the names (which he remembered) of his fighters, who became famous Panfilovites, were dictated to Krivitsky by the captain of the very 4th company Gundilovich, and this happened 2 months after the battle, and Klochkov’s phrase Krivitsky composed himself.

Fatal and annoying mistakes

Undoubtedly, the 316th Infantry Division fought not just heroically, but on the verge of human capabilities, only not the glorified 28 people, but every single one. But thanks to the dishonesty of those who personally did not risk their lives, the feat of all the fighters was reduced to the heroism of a small group of people. So, Krivitsky lied that he managed to hear about the battle in the hospital from one of the 28 Panfilov Natarov, who soon died. But he could not do this, since at the time of the famous battle he had been dead for 2 days. Among the dead and posthumously awarded Panfilov's soldiers is Daniil Kuzhebergenov (Kozhabergenov), who was captured by the Germans during the battle. Subsequently, he fled into the forest, wandered there until he was found by the horsemen of the Soviet General Dovator. The title and award had already been issued to him by that time, therefore, in the documents, his name and surname were urgently replaced by Askar Kuzhebergenov, who was awarded it. But this fighter also did not participate in the famous battle, since he arrived in the 316th division only in January 1942.

The following bugs are lucky ones. So, the Panfilovites Pavel Gundilovich (commander), Illarion Vasiliev, Dmitry Timofeev, Grigory Shemyakin, Ivan Shadrin were awarded posthumously. All of them survived after the battle and received their awards, being in goodin good he alth. Gundilovich, unfortunately, died in April 1942, the rest managed to survive the war.

Hero or traitor?

The most egregious fact that overshadows the glory of the 316th Infantry Division is the episode with Ivan Evstafievich Dobrobabin, the former commander of the squad. Gundilovich, when he called his last name, did not know that Dobrobabin was captured and went to serve as a policeman and even became the chief of police, so zealously performed his duties, although he was considered a Hero of the Soviet Union, like the rest posthumously. When he was arrested, the decree on awarding him the title was canceled, and the traitor was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Later, Dobrobabin petitioned for the removal of the shameful stigma from him, but was refused all the time. He was rehabilitated only in 1993, after the declaration of independence of Ukraine.

Other Panfilovites

Not only the 4th company of the 316th rifle division distinguished itself on November 16th. For example, 120 soldiers of the 1st company defended the village of Matrenino. They were commanded by Lieutenant Filimonov. They destroyed several tanks and 300 Nazis. From the 6th company, which was stationed near Petelino, only 15 people survived the attack. This handful held the defense for several hours, blew up 5 tanks, but all 15 fighters died. Under the command of the young lieutenant Kraev, the 2nd company held a high-rise 231, 5 and did not have anti-tank shells and weapons at all, but somehow managed to blow up 3 tanks, destroy 200 Nazis, take a trophy of 3 machine guns and 1 passenger car. Near the village of Yadrovo, 20 of our fighters, commanded by lieutenants Islamkulov and Ogureev, defeated a battalion of fascistmachine gunners.

Feats were performed on other days as well. On November 17, 17 soldiers of the 1073rd regiment fought to the death near the village of Mykanino. 15 fighters were killed, but 8 of the 25 tanks going to them were destroyed. On November 18, 11 fighters of the 1077th regiment, commanded by Lieutenant Firstov, near the village of Strokovo for several hours (until the last living person) fought off the attacks of an entire battalion of Nazis and tanks. It is a pity that so little is known about the exploits of these heroes.