The biography of Vasily Merkulov could be the basis for a good historical film. Despite his short life, Merkulov managed to accomplish as many glorious deeds as none of our contemporaries ever dreamed of.
Childhood
Vasily Alexandrovich Merkulov was born on April 17, 1912 in the village of Dobrynskoye, Vladimir district, Vladimir province. The family had 6 children: two boys and six daughters. The family lived quite poorly. In 1924, Alexei graduated from the 4th grade of the school, and after the death of his father, three years later, the 15-year-old boy left for Moscow. The future ace of the Great Patriotic War works in a boiler room, a stove-maker on the railway, while simultaneously studying at the working faculty of the Moscow Road Institute.
Military service
In 1934, the same year when Stalin's admission to aviation was announced, Vasily Merkulov entered the Yeysk Naval Aviation School, which he successfully graduated in 1927. By distribution, the future hero was sent to the Northern Fleet, having gone from pilot to deputy. Commander of the 45th Naval Intelligenceaviation squadron. In 1939, with the outbreak of the Soviet-Finnish war, the 45th squadron was reorganized into the 118th reconnaissance aviation regiment and Vasily Merkulov was appointed to the post of flight commander. He made 6 sorties, mainly on the MBR-1 aircraft.
The Great Patriotic War
The beginning of the Great Patriotic War, junior lieutenant Merkulov met everything in the same 118th reconnaissance aviation regiment as a flight commander. From the very first days, he actively participates in combat missions, by August 1941, bringing the combat score of his crew to 12 aircraft. In September of the same year, during the next sortie, Merkulov's crew destroyed the command post of the Finnish division, paralyzing command and control for several days. From November 1941 to August 1942, Vasily Merkulov fought in the 72nd mixed air regiment of the Air Force of the Northern Fleet. On December 42, he was transferred to the Air Force of the B altic Fleet and was appointed squadron commander of the 1st Guards Mine and Torpedo Aviation Regiment.
Vasily Merkulov performed various combat missions: bombarding important enemy targets such as bases, railway junctions and airfields, laying smoke screens, searching for and destroying enemy ships. Having made 360 sorties by October 1944, including 49 night ones, having shot down 4 enemy planes in air battles and sunk 4 enemy ships with torpedo attacks, Merkulov was presented to the honorary title of Hero of the Soviet Union, but the request was rejected.
Merkulovalso took part in the development of new tactics for the destruction of enemy ships. German transport ships carrying fuel and transporting equipment and troops by sea always went under escort of 4-18 (!) Vessels, each of which had from 12 to 14 anti-aircraft guns. Just imagine the flurry of fire that met our pilots when approaching the target, think about what courage and what nerves you need to have in order to maintain the course, not turn away, aim and press the trigger at the right time. Naval aviation always suffered heavy losses, and the pilots of the 1st Guards, who had already earned the nickname “suicide bombers” in naval aviation, began to use a new tactic.
Airplanes flew in pairs - in front of the top mast, as a rule, was a fighter bomber, followed by a torpedo bomber. Often, aircraft flew in fours, trying to increase the likelihood of hitting and destroying an enemy ship. The top-mass gunner suppressed enemy anti-aircraft artillery with the fire of his cannons and machine guns, or at least diverted the most furious fire on himself, dropped his bombs on the target, and only then the torpedo bomber dropped his torpedo, maintaining the minimum distance and thus achieving a guaranteed hit on the target.
The crews made one or two shots a day, each time rising into the air, as if it were the last. Those few lucky ones whose number of sorties exceeded the first ten were considered extremely experienced veterans in the regiment, since most of the pilots died already on the first, second or third sorties.
KIn March 1945, the number of Merkulov's sorties reached 500, and the Major of the Guards was awarded high state awards. But he was not destined to meet victory.
The last battle of Major Merkulov's guards
On March 19, 1945, a Soviet reconnaissance aircraft spotted a strategically important German convoy in the Pomeranian Bay, which had the task of delivering weapons, food, fuel and ammunition to the German group surrounded in the Courland Cauldron, which waged a stubborn fight against the Soviet troops and, upon receiving ammunition, continued there would be violent resistance.
The strike four ships sent to intercept the convoy did not find the ships - the weather conditions did not allow not only to find the convoy, with almost zero visibility it was uncomfortable to fly even the best pilots of the Great Patriotic War. But Vasily Merkulov was not afraid of difficulties. Having received an order to take off from the command, who knew about the high flying and command skills of the Major Guards, Merkulov personally selected crews capable of flying in any weather. Around 3 p.m., a group of four aircraft took off from the Grapstein airfield southwest of modern Klaipeda and headed west towards the convoy.
It took Merkulov's detachment about an hour to find the convoy. By that time, the ships had practically run out of fuel, but the Major of the Guard decided to attack the ships. The bombers went to the target in close formation, and the convoy, consisting of 5 transports guarded by 7 warships, led by a destroyer, also began to reorganize into battle formation.
Vasily Merkulov made the right decision to attackconvoy from the side, from the coast of Pomerania, occupied by our troops. At the point of combat deployment, the group commander distributed the targets among the members of the group and led the group into battle, aiming to torpedo the second transport.
Nazi escort ships opened heavy fire from all guns on the approaching Soviet aircraft, meeting Merkulov's group with a real wall of fire. And luck changed the Major's Guards. Enemy shells pierced the fuel tanks of his torpedo bomber, igniting the fuel. Realizing that he would not return to the airfield, Merkulov sent his burning plane directly to the ship, which was about to be torpedoed. A powerful explosion thundered, tearing the enemy transport to pieces and inflicting fatal damage on it, which sent the transport and the remains of the heroic Soviet crew to the bottom.
Following Merkulov's plan, the group brought the matter to an end, sinking a patrol ship and two transports, which thwarted the German plans to supply the Kurland pocket and brought the final victory of the Soviet troops closer.
Memory of Vasily Merkulov
In 1976, the brother of Vasily Merkulov, Aleksey Alexandrovich Merkulov, turned to the Main Directorate of Personnel of the USSR Ministry of Defense, trying to get Vasily awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and perpetuate his memory, as the memory of other pilots of the Great Patriotic War was perpetuated. Vasily was never awarded the honorary title, citing the impossibility to consider this issue at the present time. And only on February 23, 1998, the award found its hero. By decree of the President of the Russian Federation B. N. Yeltsin Vasily AleksandrovichMerkulov and members of his heroic crew were posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Russia. Also, a street in the city of Pionersk is named after Major Merkulov’s Guards, on the roadstead of which the heroic crew died.
