There are such coincidences in history! Two battles in one place. Only the gap between them is 129 years.
At the crossroads
The village of Solovyevo arose a long time ago. Now it belongs to the Kardymovsky district (this is the Smolensk region). According to 2014 data, only 292 people live in it. But the history of the sparsely populated village is extremely interesting. She has gone through a lot, which is reminiscent of many things. So, for almost three centuries, anchors, once thrown by the Lithuanians, were kept in the local houses of peasants. Men used them on the farm.
This place is historical. It is located at the intersection of land and waterways. The village got its name in the 18th century. There was such an engineer Ivan Solovyov, who built the famous Smolenskaya road. The village was named after him.
French attack
When Napoleon attacked Russia in 1812, the Solovyov crossing played a great role. The Russian grenadiers, retreating, approached the village and only then realized that there was only one way out: to move to the opposite bank of the Dnieper. But how? The existing ferry is so underpowered that it can only take 30 soldiers.
And dispatches flew to Moscow. Russian General Ferdinand Winzengerode,who during this war led the "flying" cavalry detachments, demanded the speedy construction of an additional crossing across the river. The case was entrusted to the nobleman Ivan Glinka. He was famous for his special diligence. The general gave him a difficult task: to build a bridge in no more than two days. From logs.
Glinka recruited peasants from the area. And work began. But here it was necessary to fix the bridge. This is where anchors come in handy. The peasants brought a lot of them.
After a couple of days, the crossing across the Dnieper was ready. Two floating footbridges opened the way for wagons with the wounded, food carts, and even cavalry. And also - to large crowds of people who fled from the provinces occupied by the French.
How the icon returned
In the records of Mikhail Barclay de Tolly, an outstanding Russian commander and hero of the war of 1812, it is said that the crossing near the village of Solovyevo helped the soldiers to capture a lot of captured weapons. They, suddenly appearing here, began to shoot at this transport. Napoleon's soldiers were confused: where did the Russians jump out so suddenly? They rushed to their heels, pushed each other, fell from a narrow bridge. Someone drowned. So the enemy lost hundreds of dead. And the Russians captured a thousand people.
When the Smolensk people still fled from these places "from the Frenchman", they took out a great value - the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God. But first they went with her throughout the city, serving prayers.
Three months later the icon, which had been with the Russian army in all the battles, was returned to Smolensk.
Fast travel
Time has passed. And again the enemy, already different, encroached on our freedom. In 1941, having captured Belarus, the Germans charted a course: the Smolensk region. July 13 set out on a campaign. The next day, Marshal Semyon Timoshenko assigned Lieutenant General Mikhail Lukin to defend Smolensk. He commanded the 16th Army. Interestingly, back in 1916, after graduating from the ensign school, Lukin commanded a company of the Fourth Nesvizh Grenadier Regiment named after Barclay de Tolly. Experienced was a military man, brave. Both the “Lukin’s task force” and the general himself, when the Smolensk battle of 1941 was going on, showed exceptional courage and ingenuity. His troops diverted large forces of the Nazis from moving towards Moscow.
However, on July 15, the Germans were able to enter the city. The Russian armies were surrounded. These are the 16th, 19th and 20th. It became almost impossible to maintain contact with the rear. Only through the forests, through the inhabitants of the village of Solovyevo.
But already on July 17, German paratroopers landed 13 km from the village - in the city of Yartsevo. From here, they had access to the Smolensk-Moscow highway.
Soloviev crossing was at that time the only point where the supply of parts of the army of our "Western Front" was going on. A lot depended on her. Both strategically and humanly. After all, here, on a cable ferry, they took out all the sick, as well as the wounded. That is why our warriors took great care of this path, guarded it. There were constant battles for possession of it. The Nazis bombed from the air.
Colonel Alexander Lizyukov was assigned to defend the crossing. The goal is not onlyto bring everything necessary for those who are fighting near Smolensk, but also, if necessary, to ensure the possibility of the withdrawal of soldiers.
Swim to the opposite shore
When the Fritz showed up in the area, a stream of refugees from Smolensk and its environs rushed to the crossing. There has never been a fixed bridge here. And the ferry is small, only two cars can fit. Yes, and pull it with a hand winch.
But everyone seized the only chance to escape. People were driving and just running, overtaking one another. Ambulance carts with the wounded were moving, horsemen were galloping. Everyone was driven by fear. There were so many refugees at the very crossing that it was impossible to see anything.
And the real hell began. From above - the Germans are throwing bombs, on the ground - they are shelling unarmed Smolensk residents. Sirens howl. The occupiers included them on purpose. People are screaming in terror. Women are crying, the wounded are crying. It was a real nightmare! Many then died on this crossing - both civilians and military.
However, not a single day the Solovyov crossing (Smolensk) did not stop functioning. Sappers and soldiers constantly repaired it. Nearby, temporary bridges were erected, at least some. With difficulty, but they transferred cars loaded with ammunition, as well as fuel and all kinds of food, to the western coast. But the wounded with refugees, the retreating units were transported to the east.
Everything went to restore the permanently destroyed crossing. Boats, trees, rafts, freshly built from everything that comes acrossunder the arm. However, this was not enough. People used to (including the wounded) throw themselves into the water and swim to the other side. Cattle were sent in the same way.
Retreat
For this one channel of communication that was fought over every day. However, on July 27, the Germans managed to capture it.
Two days have passed. The leadership of the Western Front decides to withdraw the troops surrounded by the Germans through the same crossing - near Solovyevo.
It was very difficult for everyone on their way here from Smolensk. The Germans attacked our units without stopping. There were no shells left for the soldiers. They took the last of the Molotov cocktails and threw them into the tanks. Many died in the process. However, everything was done to deliver their medical battalions with hospitals to the crossing.
Once placed crippled comrades in a village school. A white flag with a large red cross was hung on its roof. Like, there are wounded here, don't shoot. But the Nazis were not embarrassed. They bombed the school. And again - the dead…
The not-so-powerful crossing groaned under the wheels of thousands of vehicles, various carts and tractors carrying guns. Ordinary fighters with commanders also walked along it. And there are tens of thousands of them. And all this - under fire, which did not stop. The inhabitants moved along with the army. The cattle were driven. Institutions were also evacuated.
Dnepr red from blood
The Nazis did not stop, they shot. Not a single bullet missed. After all, the accumulation of military and civilians formed so dense that it was by no means impossible to miss!
On the river, already scarlet fromhuman blood, wounded fighters floated. And corpses. The frightened horses whinnied. People were screaming. And the explosions still created such a heavy rumble. The participants of this action later recalled: “If there is hell on earth, then this is Solovyov’s crossing in the summer of 1941!”
One of these incredible days, German cars drove up close. The Fritz, turning on the speakers, suggested that the Soviet soldiers simply surrender. And suddenly, at this very moment, our Katyushas “spoke”. Clouds of smoke and flames shot up over the enemy tanks.
Only two weeks
A little time passed - and the soldiers of General Konstantin Rokossovsky (namely, he would later be assigned to command the Victory Parade in 1945 in Moscow) and Colonel Lizyukov "returned" the crossing back. On the morning of August 4, our soldiers went on the attack. And the next day she was in their hands.
For almost two weeks every day, under a hail of bullets and shrapnel, amid the furious roar of shell explosions, Lizyukov and his guys did the transfer of everything the Soviet army needed, and did not let the enemy in. It's amazing! The vaunted Nazis occupied entire countries in the same amount of time. And here, near a small village, battles of incredible severity were going on. Solovyov crossing survived, withstood everything.
Liberation
Complete and such a long-awaited deliverance of the inhabitants of the region from uninvited guests came in the 43rd year, at the end of September. Soviet troops launched a really powerful offensive under the code name "Suvorov".
And again the words flashed in the military reports"Soloviev crossing". After all, the German command still considered it a key point.
But to it (along the Old Smolensk road) regiments from the 312th rifle division were already breaking through. Having defeated the enemy fortification near the village, the battalions thereby allowed their engineering units to build a permanent crossing.
As various sources say, here, on this Solovyov crossing, an incredible number of our soldiers and officers died - from 50 to 100 thousand. There are 895 nameless people in the mass grave.
Reinforced concrete handsome man
Today you will not see any crossing here - neither a ferry, nor the same pontoon. A powerful iron bridge connected the banks of the Dnieper.
And next to it is the legendary Katyusha. Solovyov ferry in 1941 received seven of these rocket launchers at once.
Today, the Memorial Complex at this place appeared on the initiative of veterans of the Great Patriotic War and residents of the Kardymov region.
On the evening of July 18, 2015, the Eternal Flame was lit at the Soloviev crossing. Everyone knows: during the war, its defense lasted for two months. Such a confrontation with the invaders is equivalent only to the defense of the fortress in Brest.
About 1.5 million rubles were allocated by the administration of the Smolensk region to put the Memorial in order, to repair the Mass Grave and to improve the Field of Memory well.
The spark of the Eternal Flame arrived in Kardymovsky from the Alexander Garden of Moscow, from the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where it burns without fading, this flame.
By the way, the emblem of the city of Kardymovo is based on one historical event. It was repeated in two patriotic wars. This is the exit through the Solovyov crossing of the Russian army and the Soviet one.
