When the Nazis bombed the city of Gorky. Chronicles of loss and heroism

Very soon we will again celebrate the most important holiday for our country - Victory Day. The “St. George Ribbon” campaign has already started, and on the day of the celebration we will see the Victory Parade and the traditional “Immortal Regiment” campaign will take place. How our city lived in these difficult days and what contribution the Gorky residents made to the Victory.

The beginning of the war and the bombing of Gorky

Gorky residents learned about the start of the war on June 22, 1941, a few hours after the enemy invasion. First on the radio, then from the newspaper “Gorky Commune”. A rally of thousands took place on Sovetskaya Square (now the Square named after Minin and Pozharsky), at which the secretary of the Gorky Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, Ivan Mikhailovich Guryev, addressed the crowd. Crowded rallies and meetings swept across the region in waves. Mobilization was announced the next day, but only on the 22nd, the first day of the war, about 10 thousand people throughout the region, without waiting for summonses from the military registration and enlistment offices, applied to join the army.

Of course, we all know that the front line did not pass through the city and no military operations were carried out, but the city of Gorky deserves the title “city - hero of labor”, because Here, every second car, every third tank and every fourth artillery installation were created for the needs of the front.

Of course, we must not forget about the bombing of the main production facilities and industrial areas of the city by German aircraft. The main purpose of the bombings from the autumn of 1941 to the summer of 1943 was to destroy the industrial potential of the city; the Gorky Automobile Plant received the greatest damage. During the war, enemy bombers carried out 43 raids, 26 of them at night, during which 33,934 incendiary bombs and 1,631 high-explosive bombs were dropped on the city. Gorky's bombings were the largest attacks by Luftwaffe aircraft on the rear areas of the USSR during the war.

The city came to the attention of the Germans during the development of Operation Barbarossa to defeat the USSR. He was then one of the largest manufacturers and suppliers of weapons to the Red Army. The complete capture of Gorky and its transfer under its control was planned by Nazi Germany in the second half of September 1941. First, the Nazis had to destroy the city's defense industry - the Gorky Automobile Plant, the Lenin Plant, as well as the Sokol, Krasnoye Sormovo and Engine of the Revolution plants. The Gorky Machine-Building Plant was planned to be converted to produce German military equipment.

On October 31, 1941, the automobile plant received an order from I.V. Stalin that it was necessary to sharply increase the production of T-60 light tanks and in the next 2-3 days bring it to 10 tanks per day. And just 5 days later, on the night of November 4-5, 1941, the first raid on the city by enemy aircraft was carried out. It involved groups of Heinkel-111 and Junkers-88 bombers, up to 150 aircraft in total. Of this number, 11 aircraft broke through to the city.

It was a chilly and cloudy November night. Spread out on the banks of the Oka River and immersed in darkness, Gorky lived the everyday life of a rear city. Tens of thousands of residents slept in their unheated houses and barracks, while others toiled in the numerous cold workshops of military factories. Their gloomy gray buildings with boarded-up windows and plywood stood out vaguely against the background of the monotonous landscape. People were in alarm - the enemy was near Moscow.

Air bombing: how it happened

A German bomber was approaching Gorky from the southwest at a low altitude. The Heinkel crew was in tense anticipation. The navigator carefully peered into the clearly visible silhouette of Oka, anticipating that the outlines of the rear city hidden in the darkness were about to appear. The gloomy outlines of the chemical plants of Dzerzhinsk flashed on the left side. This meant that there were about 20 km left to the goal. And then, on the left bank, numerous spots of residential areas appeared, and then the dark bulk of an automobile plant with dozens of chimneys...

It was 01.40 on November 4 local time when three powerful explosions shook the GAZ. One bomb fell into engine shop No. 2 on the crankshaft line, the second exploded outside, another landmine hit the corner of the wheel shop located opposite, where the electrode section and the garage were located. Then the plant turned into a disturbed anthill. And above the engine shop, the flames flared up more and more, ominously illuminating the neighboring buildings. The authorities rushed to the phones in order to quickly report the bombing to the regional committee.

Meanwhile, a second bomber was approaching the city from the southwest; due to cloudy weather, it again went unnoticed by the VNOS posts. At 02.15, the Heinkel reached the target, which was already clearly marked by the bright flame of the fire. The German pilot was aiming at the new body building where the T-60 light tanks were assembled. When the dark gray bulk of the building appeared in the crosshairs, the navigator pressed the reset button and two 500-kg bombs rushed down with a howl. However, this time the calculation turned out to be incorrect. One bomb fell short, and the second fell over, already at the tram stop behind the plant. A powerful blast wave blew out the windows in the wheel shop, spare parts department, KEO and other buildings. The roar of the explosions was heard at a great distance, and many residents of the city, waking up, ran out into the street, where their eyes saw the bright glow of a fire at the automobile plant. It became clear to everyone that the war had truly come to Gorky.

At 16.40 another Heinkel appeared. The bomber was coming from a southern direction, from the direction of the village of Ankudinovka, and was flying low over the railway. The twin-engine colossus roared over the Myza station. Some residents even managed to see a huge bomb suspended under the fuselage. Suddenly emerging from behind the mountainous shore, the plane flew over the Oka River and dropped the “cargo” onto the “Engine of the Revolution” plant from a shallow dive. A powerful explosion occurred in the building of the enterprise's power station, which contained steam boilers, diesel, compressor and transformer substations. The workers who were in the neighboring workshops fell to the floor from the shock, then a real rain of glass fragments from the skylights fell on them from above.

The bomber, meanwhile, flew to the center of Gorky, inspecting the local sights. He made a “lap of honor” over the Kremlin and then disappeared. Unfortunately, on that day the Kremlin defense was not yet ready. An employee of the regional committee of the CPSU (b) Anna Aleksandrovna Korobova, after this, recalled: “During a break between meetings, we went outside and, to our horror, saw a black plane with a swastika circling over the Kremlin. At the same time, the pilot leaned out of the cockpit and even waved to us! After that, we returned to the building and were informed that the plant had just been bombed by them. Lenin, its director Kuzmin died..."

After the first bombing, urgent measures were taken to transfer additional anti-aircraft guns and ammunition to the area of ​​the automobile plant, and the communications and fire control system were improved. The barrage pattern has been changed. In the directions of German aviation operations, two lines of curtains were created at a distance of 2-3 and 6-7 kilometers from the automobile plant, and machine guns were installed on the roofs of the workshops to fire at low-flying aircraft. Subsequent raids took place in a more organized manner, on the approach to Gorky. A total of 14 aircraft were shot down, of which 8 were shot down by anti-aircraft batteries and 6 by fighters (according to other sources, 23 were shot down, about 210 were damaged).

The next massive raids took place in February 1942, as a result of these bombings 20 people were killed and 48 were wounded, and the damage to industrial facilities was insignificant. Then the bombing raids took place in June. During that period, the Germans began to carry out raids on other cities in the Volga region. The air defense forces were then significantly strengthened. Gunboats of the Volga Flotilla were allocated for the defense of bridges, ships and piers. Since that time, barrage balloons began to be used.

Continued bombing of 1943 and restoration of the car plant

In June 1943, after a long lull, Gorky, especially the automobile plant, was subjected to a series of massive night raids by German aircraft. The raids were carried out in preparation for a major offensive operation in the summer-autumn of 1943, during which bombing attacks were carried out on the industrial centers of the Volga region - Yaroslavl, Gorky, Saratov.

Despite the active interest of the Abwehr (German military intelligence and counterintelligence agency - approx. edit.) in 1919-1944 to the Gorky defense industry, yet the German command did not have absolutely accurate information about our military factories. They considered GAZ to be the main plant of Soviet tank products, which produced 800 T-34 tanks weekly. That is why the task was set on the eve of the Battle of Kursk to wipe the car plant off the face of the earth. They bombed with German precision: in an organized manner, according to the same pattern, at the same time of day, along the same route. Every evening, residents of Gorky watched with fear as the clock hand approached midnight.

They arrived day after day in batches of 150-200 planes, starting from 00.00 until 3 am. They dropped flares by parachute and bombed them. It was as bright as day. The plant, workshops, and buildings were on fire. Bombs exploded here and there. The main cargo conveyor was completely destroyed.

But people, hungry, exhausted, poorly dressed, performed a miracle and restored everything within one month. Restoration work began already during the bombing and continued at an increasing pace. Construction and installation teams were brought in from Moscow, the Urals, Siberia, and Central Asia. The total number of employees reached 35 thousand. First of all, the wheel shop was launched. And the machines needed by the front began to roll off the assembly line again. The official date for the restoration of the Gorky Automobile Plant is considered to be October 28, 1943; on this day a report was sent to I.V. Stalin, which was signed by 27 thousand builders.

For the early liquidation of the consequences of enemy air raids, for the successful completion of the State Defense Committee's tasks to master the production of new types of combat vehicles and weapons, for the improvement of military equipment and the exemplary supply of military products to the front, the plant was awarded a second order on March 9, 1944 - the Order of the Red Banner. More than 500 workers, engineers, and technicians were awarded orders and medals of the Soviet Union.

Many people do not know these facts (even Nizhny Novgorod residents)! A VERY interesting article about Gorky’s life during the Second World War and his contribution to the VICTORY!!!

My grandfather, Pavel Petrovich Gorbunov and grandmother Zoya Mikhailovna Gorbunova were children when the war began. (Grandfather was 12, grandmother was 10 years old). They talked a lot about the war. About the raids on Gorky, the bomb shelter, about the hard work of children, and much more about what. My grandfather worked at the Automobile Plant at the beginning of the war, putting a box on the machine, because he was still small and could not reach it. He just witnessed one of the raids on the Automobile Plant. He said that everyone rushed to flee from the workshops, somewhere. He and his friend (the same boy) ran together and fell to the ground from a shell explosion. The grandfather remained alive... and the friend lying next to him died...

And so, I found information about the life of the city during the Second World War, a very interesting article. If you are not lazy, read it!

Gorky residents and the Great Patriotic War

Employees of the department for publication and use of documents of the State Administration of OPANO

The beginning of the Second World War

In total, during the Great Patriotic War, the military registration and enlistment offices of the Gorky region mobilized 822 thousand Gorky residents to the front.

A few hours after the start of the war, on June 22, 1941, an appeal was heard on the radio to the Soviet people with a call to defend the Fatherland, and on the same day an emergency edition of the Gorky Commune newspaper was published.

A meeting of many thousands took place, at which Secretary I.M. addressed the audience. Guryev. Crowded rallies and meetings swept across the region in waves.

In the resolutions adopted at the rallies, Gorky residents expressed their readiness to “take up arms in the fight against the enemy” and “to give all their strength, and if necessary, their lives, for a complete victory over the fascist invaders.” On the second day of the war, all newspapers published Decrees of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on martial law, on the announcement of mobilization in a number of military districts.

On June 23, the mobilization of those liable for military service born between 1905 and 1918 began in the Gorky Region. Conscripts born between 1919 and 1921 were already in the ranks of the Red Army and were the first to meet the enemy.

Already on the first day of the war, without waiting for summons to the front, 5,486 applications were submitted to the military registration and enlistment offices in the city of Gorky, up to 10 thousand in the region. Local authorities at all levels made decisions on mobilization. 10 collection points for military personnel were organized in the city. They were located in schools, the Palace of Culture of Plant No. 92, in the club named after. Krinova, on, "Torpedo". 800-1000 people passed through these points every day.

During the Great Patriotic War, 79 formations and units of the Red Army were formed on the territory of the Gorky region, including: 89th (160th) Guards Belgorod-Kharkov division, 322nd Zhitomir, 42nd Priluki, 85th Guards Riga Rifle Division, 8th Guards Tank Corps, 27th Guards Tank Brigade named after. NKSM, 31st Special Gorky-Warsaw Division of Armored Trains and others. All military units and formations went through a difficult battle path, received orders and commendations from the Supreme High Command; a number of divisions and brigades were awarded the title of guards.

In July 1941, the formation of a people's militia was launched in the Gorky region. Workers and engineers liable for military service and those not liable for military service, doctors and teachers, students and pensioners - everyone who was able to hold a weapon - were conscripted into the militia. Although only men were conscripted into the militia, women also applied. As of July 25, 61 thousand 112 people signed up for the people’s militia in Gorky, 44 thousand 392 people were enrolled, of which 16 thousand 506 were women. In total, more than 100 thousand people joined the people's militia in the region. Sanitary personnel were trained in the people's militia units, and combat training was carried out according to a unified plan. The militia prepared a reserve for the Red Army. On June 25, 1941, fighter squads began to be created on the territory of the Gorky region, whose task was to protect industrial facilities, railway structures, power plants, and fight enemy landings and reconnaissance groups.

In the fall of 1941, the fighter units were reorganized into 74 fighter battalions and several ski units. General management of the activities of the destroyer battalions was carried out by the regional headquarters of the NKVD in the Gorky region. The fighter battalions fought against parachute troops, saboteurs and spies, and assisted the police in maintaining public order.

From the personnel of the fighter battalions, 2 battalions and a fighter-partisan group were formed, which successfully carried out special tasks of the command of the Western and North-Western Fronts. Detachments of Gorky residents operated behind enemy lines in Moscow, Leningrad, Smolensk, Pskov and other regions.

Gorky frontline. German plans to capture Gorky

Gorky, as a major industrial center of the country, came to the attention of the aggressor even during the period of his development of the plan to defeat the USSR, known as “Barbarossa”.

According to him, the Germans expected to capture Moscow in early September 1941, and in early October to enter the city of Gorky.

In the autumn of 1941, the fascist German troops of Army Group Center approached Moscow, and the Red Army troops fought the hardest battles.

On October 22, 1941, the State Defense Committee decided to form defense committees in 46 cities, including the city of Gorky. On October 23, the Gorky City Defense Committee was created in the city of Gorky. It was headed by the first secretary of the Gorky Regional Committee and City Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) Mikhail Ivanovich Rodionov. GGKO is a local emergency leadership body in wartime conditions. He united civil and military power in the city and region. The implementation of the GGKO decisions was unquestioning.

The GGKO's particular concern was the construction of defensive lines, which began in October 1941. By November 10, it was decided to build the Gorky defensive circuit, and by November 15 - defensive lines along the left bank of the Volga, along the Oka River with a circuit for the defense of the city of Murom.

The civilian population was mobilized for construction work as a labor service; it was allowed to attract university students, senior college students and 9th-10th grade school students. 350 thousand people took part in the construction of defensive fortifications. They dug trenches, anti-tank ditches, built bunkers, created blockages on forest roads, and installed ditches. By January 1942, the construction of the defensive line was completed. Its length was 1134 km (this is approximately equal to 75% of the Fergana Canal).

In the autumn and harsh winter conditions of 1941–1942, about 12 million cubic meters of earthworks were carried out, 2,332 firing points and 4,788 dugouts were built.

For the exemplary fulfillment of the State Defense Committee's tasks for the construction of a defensive line and contours around the cities of Gorky and Murom, 80 participants in the construction were awarded orders and medals. 10 thousand 186 builders of the defensive line were awarded Certificates of Honor from the city defense committee, 873 people received bonuses.

Repair and construction work on the defensive lines in the region was then carried out throughout 1942 and was stopped only after the victory of our army at Kursk in 1943.

With the beginning of the war, the air defense of the city of Gorky acquired paramount importance. The first raid on the city was carried out by enemy aircraft. It involved groups of Heinkel-111 and Junkers-88 bombers, up to 150 aircraft in total. Only 11 broke through to the city. However, they also caused significant damage. The raid was repeated from November 5 to 6 (out of 150 aircraft, 14 broke through). They caused damage to the population and a number of workshops at the Automobile Plant. During the bombing these days, 127 people were killed, 176 were seriously wounded, and 195 were slightly wounded. After these raids, the Gorky air defense brigade region, which guarded the city, was introduced into the active Red Army.

Enemy aircraft raids on the city of Gorky also took place in 1942. In 1943, the Germans, preparing for the battle of Kursk, carried out a large-scale bombing operation. Enemy aircraft attempted to destroy the industrial center that supplied the front with weapons. From June 5 to June 22, 1943, 25 air raids were carried out on the city. In total, 655 enemy aircraft took part in them, of which 100 broke through to the Automobile Plant. 1,631 high-explosive and 33,934 incendiary bombs were dropped on the city.

Particularly severe damage was caused to the Automobile Plant. 50 buildings and structures were destroyed and damaged.

35 thousand Gorky residents came to restore the buildings of the Automobile Plant lying in ruins and managed to do it in just 100 days.

All districts of the city of Gorky and the region provided assistance in eliminating the damage to the Automobile Plant and its villages.

Donation of funds for military needs

Already in the first days of the war, on the initiative of workers, various forms of the patriotic movement “To Help the Front” began to arise everywhere. City and village workers contributed part of their earnings to the National Defense Fund, made voluntary contributions, and paid off loans ahead of schedule; artists performed performances and concerts. Excessive hectares were sown in the Defense Fund, various valuables, warm clothing, and food were received. According to a certificate from the governor of the USSR N. Gulyaev, from the beginning of the war to October 1, 1943, the country's Defense Fund received 328 million 896 thousand rubles from the population of Gorky and the region, including 310 million 22 thousand rubles for the construction of tanks and aircraft.

The working people of the region, with their own hands and at their own expense, built tanks, airplanes, and armored trains and handed them over to the defenders of the Motherland. Already in the fall of 1941, the pioneers of school No. 102 in the Kirov district of Gorky appealed to all Gorky pioneers and schoolchildren to raise funds for the construction of the Gorky Pioneer tank. On January 18, 1942, the completed tank went to the front.

During the war years, 7 tanks and the Gorky Pioneer aircraft were built with funds raised by pioneers and schoolchildren of the region.

The appeal in May 1942 of the Komsomol members of the aircraft plant named after them found warm support in the hearts of Gorky residents. S. Ordzhonikidze about raising funds for the construction of an aviation squadron named after Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya. To do this, they collected scrap metal, organized concerts, and stayed to work overtime. On June 15, 1942, a squadron of aircraft named after Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya flew to the front.

Young automakers initiated the collection of funds for the Gorky Komsomol tank column.

On the initiative of the Gorky and Murom railway workers, at the beginning of 1942, armored trains “Kozma Minin” and “Ilya Muromets” were built at their expense, which became part of the 31st Special Gorky-Warsaw Division of armored trains.

In December 1942, the entire region heard a call from collective farmers of the Chkalovsky district to raise funds for the construction of a squadron of Valery Chkalov aircraft. The collection became a truly mass movement. A certificate of receipt of funds submitted to the Gorky Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks to M.I. Rodionov indicates that as of January 28, 1943, the workers of the region contributed 110 million 194 thousand rubles for the construction of air squadrons named after V.P. Chkalov and 200 thousand rubles for the construction of the Alexander Nevsky squadron. In total, during the war years, the construction of air squadrons named after. V.P. Chkalov residents of Gorky contributed more than 114 million rubles. As of June 1, 1943, 48 tanks and 6 aircraft were built using funds raised by the workers of the Gorky region.

The patriotic movement of Gorky residents was approved by the country's leadership. Government telegrams contained words of gratitude. One of them, signed by I.V. Stalin, was sent on April 9, 1943 to the workers of the Sverdlovsk region of Gorky and expressed gratitude for raising funds for a tank column.

In the fall of 1941, workers in the region began collecting warm clothes for the Red Army soldiers. On September 6, 1941, a regional commission was created to collect warm clothes and linen for the Red Army, which operated until the end of the war. From the beginning of the war to September 1943, the population of the region received 27 thousand sheepskin coats, 11 thousand vests, 29 thousand padded suits, 77 thousand pairs of felt boots, 86 thousand hats with earflaps.

During the war years, it became a good tradition to send gifts to soldiers on significant dates - New Year, Soviet Army Day, May 1, the anniversary of the Great October Revolution. Hundreds of thousands of kilograms of various foodstuffs were transferred to active units and formations: sausages, meat, sugar, honey, cheese, cookies, sweets, millions of cans of canned food, as well as a huge amount of soap, tobacco, cigarettes, and various basic necessities. Students from schools and colleges took an active part in making gifts for soldiers. The parcels to the front were accompanied by touching letters of appeal to the soldiers and even poems. And from the front, the Gorky Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) received letters from commanders and soldiers of the Red Army with words of gratitude for the gifts sent.

In total, during the war, Gorky residents sent more than 800 thousand various gifts to the front, which confirmed the existence of an inextricable connection between the front and the rear.

Agriculture of the region during the war

During the years of the Great Patriotic War, Gorky collective farmers handed over to the state about 70 million pounds of bread, tens of thousands of tons of potatoes, vegetables, thousands of tons of meat, butter, milk and other products.

At the beginning of the war, a very difficult situation developed in the collective farm village. Most of the men went to the front. In the first war year alone, 300 thousand people from the collective farms of the region were drafted into the Red Army. The draft force was greatly reduced. However, despite the difficulties caused by the war, women, old people, pupils and students carried out the harvest in the harsh year of 1941 with full effort. From dawn to dusk there was a real battle for bread. Collective farms in the region reaped a record harvest of 12 centners per hectare. This was the highest harvest in the last 3 years.

Spring sowing and harvesting took place in exceptionally difficult conditions in 1942. It was necessary to fill the lack of qualified machine operators, find additional draft resources, spare parts, resolve issues of providing seeds, etc. On the eve of the spring sowing, the wives and sisters of the front-line soldiers of the collective farm “12 Years of October” in the Gorodets region took the obligation to work at least 350 workdays in 1942 and successfully fulfilled it. Spring sowing was completed 18 days, and harvesting was completed 30 days earlier than in 1941. The sown areas of collective farms in the region increased by more than 150 thousand hectares. The Gorky region was the first in the country to fulfill the grain supply plan. The state plan for the development of livestock farming was also successfully implemented. For success in the All-Union Socialist Competition of Agricultural Workers in 1942, the Gorky Region was awarded the Challenge Red Banner of the State Defense Committee and the second prize for high yields. In 1943, spring sowing was completed 16 days earlier than in 1942. And on October 26, 1943 (56 days earlier than in 1942), the Gorky region fully paid off the state for grain procurements.

The socialist competition of rural youth gained great scope. Already in 1941, Komsomol members of the Buturlinsky district of the region took the initiative to procure dried products for the Red Army. This labor initiative was taken up by many collective farms in the region.

In the fall of 1942, on the initiative of Komsomol members of the Bogorodsky and Vetluzhsky districts, the “Week of the Red Convoys” was held in the Gorky region. Komsomol members pledged to complete the delivery of grain to the state within a week. We worked at night mowing, stacking, threshing and fulfilled our promise. For active participation in agricultural work, the regional Komsomol organization received the Challenge Red Banner of the Komsomol Central Committee.

The results of the work during the sowing and harvesting campaigns were covered in special issues of the Gorky Commune newspaper.

City residents came to the aid of agricultural workers. In 1943 and 1944, more than 240 thousand citizens went to collective farms in the region.

Industrial enterprises provided patronage to collective farms and MTS, assisting them in repairing equipment, manufacturing spare parts, and carrying out agricultural work. Researchers at the Gorky Agricultural Institute developed a method for high-speed drying of vegetables (potatoes, onions), which was successfully used on collective farms in the region, and introduced new types of crops into production (kok-sagyz, sugar beets, sunflowers, medicinal herbs).

University students and teachers helped villagers with spring sowing and harvesting. For example, Fokeeva, a third-year student at the Faculty of Agronomy of the Gorky Agricultural Institute, harvested 230 hectares of grain with a combine during the harvest season. Its production per day was 14 hectares instead of 8 according to the norm.

Students of schools and colleges provided great assistance to rural workers in weeding crops, haymaking and harvesting. The collection of spikelets organized by schoolchildren in the fall of 1942 gave the country hundreds of additional centners of grain. 87 thousand pioneers and schoolchildren patronized poultry farming. In 1944, 500 Bogorodsk pioneers and schoolchildren reported to the regional gathering of pioneers about the work they had done: they raised 400 chickens, prepared 5,000 kilograms of feed, and brought 250 chickens from home to the collective farm poultry farm.

Life of the city and region during the war

Life in cities, as in the countryside, during the war years was incredibly difficult and harsh. In the first days of the war, shortages of bread began; people had to wait in long lines to buy it. Food prices have risen sharply in markets. With a salary of a qualified worker at a defense enterprise at 400–900 rubles, meat on the market cost from 60 to 100 rubles per kilogram, milk 10–15 rubles per liter, butter 100–130 rubles per kilogram, etc.

Additional difficulties in supplying the population with food were caused by a significant influx of evacuees into the Gorky region. According to a certificate from the head of the resettlement department, on August 20, 1941, 124 thousand 467 people arrived in the region from the front line, from Moscow and Leningrad.

On September 1, 1941, cards for bread, sugar and confectionery were introduced in the city of Gorky, cities and urban-type settlements of the Gorky region, and strict vacation standards were established depending on the category. Workers and technical workers of the first category were entitled to 800 grams of bread per day, employees - 500 grams, the second category, respectively, 600 and 400 grams of bread, dependents and children under 12 years old were given 400 grams. Later, cards were introduced for almost all food products: cereals, meat, fats, as well as kerosene and even firewood. Certain difficulties arose not only with providing the population with food, but also with the accommodation of evacuees. By February 1942, their number increased to 175 thousand 75 people. It was impossible to accommodate such a number of newcomers in the city, so most of them, especially women and children, were sent to rural areas of the region. In the cities of the region, every square meter of living space was registered, palaces of culture and clubs were occupied for housing, and due to compaction it was possible to house hundreds of families.

The evacuation of the population was often carried out in a hurry; therefore, many evacuees left without having time to take warm clothes and shoes with them, and sometimes did not even have a change of underwear. Local executive committees had to provide one-time cash assistance to those in dire need, resolve issues of employment, provision of fuel, and placement of children in child care institutions.

With the onset of winter, an equally merciless enemy approached the city - the cold. With the loss of the temporarily occupied territories of the Donbass and Moscow region coal basins, an acute shortage of fuel began to be felt.

In order to connect the city with forests, in July 1943 it was decided to build a narrow-gauge railway Gorky - Kerzhenets. Many enterprises of the city and region took part in its construction. The Gorky Machine-Building Plant provided metal, the Kulebaki Metallurgical Plant rolled it and made rails, Krasnaya Etna provided fastening materials, and Krasnoye Sormovo modernized old locomotives. The railroad workers repaired the trolleys and helped lay the tracks.

People of all ages and professions worked on the construction of the railway track. The path from the city to the Kerzhenets station was 52 kilometers. The whole of it was divided into 11 sections (according to the number of urban districts), each district was responsible for construction work on its section. After three months, the work on laying the road was completed, all this made it possible to deliver the necessary fuel to the city. At the same time, another narrow-gauge road was built, connecting the Sormovsky district with the Kablukovsky peat bog. Years of war... These include enemy air raids and the chilling whistle of falling bombs. German planes bombed not only factory buildings, but also residential areas. Families who suffered as a result of enemy air raids were provided with financial assistance.

In the days of severe trials, our fellow countrymen did not become hardened in soul. Although life was not easy for them themselves, in March and November 1942 the Gorky residents sent 128 wagons of food to the residents of besieged Leningrad. Rural areas of the region allocated 1,200 tons of grain, 200 tons of flour, 154 tons of peas, 197 tons of meat, etc. for the defenders of the city on the Neva.

Among the first to come in 1943 to restore Stalingrad were 300 graduates of the Gorky Federal Educational Institution schools. Every enterprise and institution in our city tried to allocate at least something for the destroyed Stalingrad. In the spring of 1943, 7 railway trains, 9 steamships and 3 barges with industrial goods, equipment, construction materials, and inventory were sent to help him. In addition, 78 wagons were sent from Dzerzhinsky, 14 wagons from Balakhny. Gorky residents took patronage over the Traktorozavodsky district of Stalingrad and two rural areas. The village allocated 3 thousand heads of cattle, 4 thousand sheep, 3 thousand pigs, 5 thousand plows and harrows to the sponsored collective farms. Collective farmers plowed the extra “Stalingrad” hectares. Workers of the plant named after. IN AND. Lenin worked two hours overtime for several months to fulfill Stalingrad orders. Gorky residents can rightfully be proud that they wrote one of the glorious pages in the restoration of Stalingrad.

The importance of Gorky products during the war years

It was not without reason that German aviation sought to wipe out the buildings of factories and enterprises in the city of Gorky from the face of the earth, since the industry of the Gorky region from the first days of the war began to rebuild its production to produce weapons, ammunition, and develop new types of military equipment for the Red Army.

The largest enterprise in our region, the Gorky Automobile Plant, became one of the universal enterprises in the country during the Great Patriotic War. The T-60 and T-70 tanks (this tank was built at the factory), tank engines, armored vehicles, self-propelled guns, mortars, armor-piercing and Katyusha rockets were produced here. The production of vehicles, including all-terrain vehicles, with two drive axles continued. In 1942, GAZ-AA semi-trucks were sent straight from the factory to the front. They were the first to go out onto the barely hardened ice of Lake Ladoga and the last to leave its icy slopes.

The oldest shipbuilding plant "Krasnoe Sormovo" (No. 112), in cooperation with the Automobile Plant, the milling machine plant, the Vyksa and Kulebaki metallurgical plants and other enterprises, in accordance with the State Defense Committee resolution No. 1-ss, began the production of T-34 medium tanks. The first tanks left for Moscow in October 1941.

By a decree of December 6, 1941, the GGKO obliged the Krasnoye Sormovo plant to increase the rate of production of combat vehicles. Until December 20, 1941, the plant was supposed to produce 5 tanks per day, from December 20, 1941 to January 20, 1942, their number had to be increased to 8 per day, from January 20, 1942 - to 10 tanks.

In January 1942, Sormovichy resumed production of submarines, which had been discontinued in 1941.

During the Great Patriotic War, the Sormovo plant supplied the front with 10 thousand 159 tanks (10.2% of allied production), 22 submarines (43%). Machine-building plant named after. I.V. Stalin (No. 92) was the leader in the production of artillery systems during the war. In 1941, the plant produced 5,600 guns, in 1942 – 25 thousand; by January 1, 1943, the production of divisional guns was increased to 1,200 per month.

During the first 2.5 years of the war, 27 samples of various guns were designed. The shells fired from the 57-mm ZIS-2 cannon penetrated the German tank and flew away further. The accuracy of hitting the target was so great that the cannon could hit a single person. In February 1942, the ZIS-3 gun was put into mass production. Light and maneuverable, easy to maintain both in battle and on the march, it received great recognition in the army.

During the Great Patriotic War, 101 thousand 673 guns were produced (23.9% of allied production).

The aviation plant named after also participated in the implementation of military orders. S. Ordzhonikidze (No. 21), who produced LAGG-3 combat fighters in 1941.

In 1942, the plant staff mastered the production of LA-5 fighters with an air-cooled engine. In 1944, in parallel with the LA-5, production of the LA-7 aircraft model began.

The aviation industry of the region provided the front with 16 thousand 324 combat aircraft (26% of the all-Union production of fighters).

In 1943, specialists from the aviation plant named after. S. Ordzhonikidze developed and successfully applied a method for restoring crashed aircraft, the repair of which was previously considered impossible.

In September 1941, the Bor Glass Factory organized the production of “Stalinite” glass, which was used for the manufacture of transparent armor for attack and fighter aircraft.

Plant named after Ulyanov is the only one in the country that produced special marine electrical equipment for shipbuilding, coastal installations and Navy ships.

Radiotelephone plant named after. V.I. Lenin manufactured army-front, divisional radio stations for aircraft and ships. He was a supplier of intercoms for all types of military equipment.

The Red Etna plant, which produced fasteners, springs, and wire, supplied all industrial enterprises in the country with cold rolled strip. Plant named after M.V. Frunze mastered the production of radio stations for tanks, self-propelled guns and armored vehicles.

Until 1943, the main supplier of rocket artillery installations (Katyushas) was the milling machine plant. In the fall of 1941, 14 divisions (117 installations) of rocket artillery were sent to the front. They played a huge role in the defeat of the Nazi troops near Moscow.

6 chemical plants in Dzerzhinsk also produced products for the front. In June 1941, the Chernorechensky Chemical Plant managed to install a plant for the production of self-igniting liquid “KS” in 36 hours and began bottling it. Plant No. 80 produced up to 50% of the explosives produced in the country, which made it possible to produce over 3 million shells, mines and aerial bombs per month.

Metallurgical plants in the cities of Vyksa and Kulebak increased the production of steel and rolled products. The Gorky Metallurgical Plant mastered the production of high-quality armor steel, sheets for rocket launchers, and ferroalloys. In 1941 - 1945 the plant produced almost 224 thousand tons of steel and 255 thousand tons of rolled products. This made it possible to significantly increase the production of tanks, aircraft, guns, mortars, and ammunition.

Treatment in Gorky during the war

From the very first days of fierce battles, the Gorky region had to receive and treat a huge number of wounded. On July 11, 1941, the first military hospital train No. 347 arrived in Gorky. According to the plan for the deployment of evacuation hospitals in the Gorky region dated July 9, 1941, it was first envisaged to create hospitals at the expense of hospitals, sanatoriums and rest homes with 8,270 beds. Then hospitals were located in many schools. During different periods of the war, 171 evacuation hospitals operated in the Gorky region with 71,640 beds (including 28 redeployed from other regions), where 422,949 Red Army soldiers were treated. On October 9, 1941, a regional committee for assistance to wounded soldiers and commanders of the Red Army was formed. His work was supervised by the secretary of the Gorky Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) I.M. Guryev. City and district committees were created locally. They saw their task as providing specific assistance to hospitals: receiving the wounded and sending the recovered; provision of food, fuel, internal equipment, uninterrupted supply of medicines, dressings, literature; attentive and caring care for wounded soldiers.

To accomplish this task, the committees widely involved trade unions, the Komsomol and other public organizations, and the intelligentsia in this matter in the form of patronage of enterprises, institutions, collective farms and individual citizens over certain hospitals. There was not a single hospital in the region where patronage was not provided.

Much cultural and educational work among the wounded was carried out by arts workers in the city of Gorky and the region, participants in amateur performances, and schoolchildren.

Gorky doctors, with their heroic work to save the wounded, showed an example of enormous self-sacrifice and courage. At the beginning of the war there were not enough qualified surgeons (one per 1000 beds). Almost everyone went to the front. It took a lot of hard work by health authorities to provide theoretical and practical training to doctors in the shortest possible time.

The workers of the Gorky region showed great patriotic enthusiasm in saving the lives of wounded soldiers and officers of the Red Army, providing them with donor blood. Already in the first days of the war, applications for voluntary blood donation were received. Workers, collective farmers, and students became donors. The blood collection target was 100 liters (600 donors) per day, not counting local needs. Information provided by the regional blood transfusion station indicates that in 1943, 80 thousand 666 donors in the Gorky region donated 34 thousand 888 liters of blood, exceeding the target for its procurement. During the war years, local authorities paid much attention to the children of front-line soldiers, especially orphans. According to a certificate about the network and contingents of orphanages during the Great Patriotic War, in the Gorky region on January 1, 1941 there were 28 orphanages (2,267 children), and on January 1, 1943 - 147 orphanages (11,739 children). In addition to Gorky's, there were children evacuated from Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Moscow, Leningrad, as well as 48 children of Polish citizens. In the Krasnobakovsky district, in the Lesnoy Resort rest house, from the beginning of the war until June 1944, there was an international children's boarding school, where more than 730 children of workers of the Comintern and the Central Committee of the Moscow Region of Russia lived and were raised. The People's Commissariat of Education of the RSFSR paid special attention to quickly providing orphanages with everything necessary, especially food and fuel.

Komsomol members of the Automobile Plant and the Krasnoe Sormovo plant, workers of the Bogorodsk repair plant and other workers, artists of the Gorky theaters and philharmonic society donated their earnings to the fund for helping the children of front-line soldiers. At the regional committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, commissions were created to organize gifts for the children of front-line soldiers.

To treat sick children, sanatoriums were opened in a number of districts of the region. The health resort of the regional committee of the Komsomol - the largest children's health institution - served up to 300 children of front-line soldiers per month. Concern for military families found a lively response in response letters from the front.

Heroes of Gorky and hero factories

On May 8, 1945, in the Berlin suburb of Karlshorst, the act of unconditional surrender of Germany was signed. For the first time in many days of the war, the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR declared a holiday non-working day. May 9, 1945 became Victory Day. On June 23, 1945, the 12th session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted the law “On the demobilization of older personnel of the active army.” Demobilization began on July 5, 1945.

On July 17, 1945, at 6 a.m., the first echelon of demobilized soldiers arrived in Gorky. Despite the early hour, thousands of Gorky residents came to meet them. Following the first, more and more new echelons arrived.

To organize a meeting of soldiers demobilized from the Soviet army in the Gorky region, special commissions were created. They paid great attention to the employment of military personnel, especially those disabled during the Great Patriotic War. Local authorities allocated funds to provide them with everything they needed. In the first months, about three thousand apartments and rooms were provided to those in dire need; Thousands of apartments for families of military personnel and war veterans were renovated at the expense of local authorities.

The workers of the Gorky region made a worthy contribution to the national cause of Victory. More than 300 Gorky residents were awarded the highest award of the Motherland - the title of Hero of the Soviet Union - for their feats of arms. Most of them received this title during the Great Patriotic War:

• 1941 – 3 people;
• 1942 – 7 people;
• 1943 – 54 people;
• 1944 – 89 people;
• 1945 – 115 people.

Generals Arseny Vasilyevich Vorozheikin and Vasily Georgievich Ryazanov became Heroes of the Soviet Union twice.

More than 300 thousand of our fellow countrymen were awarded military orders and medals for their unprecedented exploits on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War. More than 9 thousand Gorky home front workers were awarded government awards.

Many factories in the Gorky region that produced defense products during the war were also awarded:

• – Order of Lenin, Order of the Red Banner of Labor, Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree;
• - Order of Lenin, Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree;

Bitter was subjected to massive air strikes from 1941 to 1943. During the war, enemy bombers carried out 43 raids, 26 of them at night, during which 33,934 incendiary bombs and 1,631 high-explosive bombs were dropped on the city.

Gorky before the bombing

The city came to the attention of the Germans during the development of Operation Barbarossa to defeat the USSR. He was then one of the largest manufacturers and suppliers of weapons to the Red Army. The complete capture of Gorky and its transfer under its control was planned by Nazi Germany in the second half of September 1941. First, the Nazis had to destroy the city's defense industry - the Gorky Automobile Plant, the Lenin, Sokol, Krasnoye Sormovo and Engine of the Revolution factories. After the capture it was planned to create General District Gorky or General District Nizhny Novgorod included in Reichskommissariat Muscovy. The Gorky Machine-Building Plant was planned to be converted to produce German military equipment.

On October 31, 1941, the automobile plant received an order from I.V. Stalin that it was necessary to sharply increase the production of T-60 light tanks and in the next 2-3 days start producing 10 tanks per day, since the Bashzavod could not fully perform its functions.

The city leadership knew that Gorky could be attacked by German aircraft at any moment and it was necessary to strengthen the city’s air defense and camouflage the factories. However, the necessary measures were not completed and the camouflage of objects was especially lagging behind. At the radiotelephone plant No. 197 named after. Lenin held an emergency meeting on camouflage of the plant. After it, on November 1, a plan was approved, according to which it was necessary to give the plant the appearance of a residential village on the outskirts of Gorky. In terms of air defense, the plant was completely ready.

N.V. Markov was appointed commander of the Gorky air defense brigade district in October 1941. Arriving in Gorky, he saw the deplorable state of the city’s defense, which was literally “stuffed” with the most important strategic objects. It had only about 50 anti-aircraft guns and several searchlights.

German air attacks

November 1941

Enemy raids on Gorky began in October 1941. German planes reconnoitered the situation in the city. They flew through the entire city at high altitude, “hovering” over the automobile plant. After this, bombing began in Dzerzhinsk, Gorky region.

On the afternoon of November 4, Nazi planes appeared in the sky on Gorky. They flew very low, almost touching the roofs of houses. They flew singly or in groups of 3-16 cars. At first, the Gorky residents mistook them for a German reconnaissance group, so they simply watched the flights. The main target of the Luftwaffe was the Gorky Automobile Plant. Two bombers were flying towards him at once. One of them rushed along Molodezhny Avenue and headed straight to the car plant. According to eyewitnesses, the plane was rapidly approaching the plant's mechanical repair shop. Then the first bombs began to fall from the plane. There was a terrible roar. Debris of the workshop and buildings were flying everywhere, fire was bursting out and everything was covered in smoke. Then a bomb fell in the factory canteen. Everyone inside died instantly. Panic arose at the factory and all the workers rushed to the checkpoints. But the watchmen refused to let people out of the plant and did not open the doors. Then people began to climb over the gate. At that moment, the enemy Heinkel had already turned around and, flying up to the checkpoints, fired many machine-gun bursts into the crowd. Then he disappeared, flying over the Avtozavodsky district and shooting frightened Gorky residents along the way. People jumped out of trams and cars as they walked, trying to run to shelters.

The second plane flew to the Avtozavodskaya CHPP. He dropped two bombs on her. One of them completely destroyed the new part of the building under construction. The second one only broke the roof and got stuck in the rafters, but did not explode.

At the same time, the third bomber raided the Lenin plant in the Voroshilovsky district. Two workshops were completely destroyed by the blows - woodworking and assembly. Two other workshops were severely damaged, and electrical substation No. 3 was disabled by the blast wave. At the neighboring Frunze plant, windows were broken in the workshops and plaster fell off. Panic began at the factories and at the nearby Myza station, and workers abandoned their jobs and rushed to the checkpoints.

The bomber, meanwhile, flew to the center of Gorky, inspecting the local sights. He made a “lap of honor” over the Kremlin and, after that, disappeared. Unfortunately, on that day, the Kremlin defense was not yet ready. An employee of the regional committee of the CPSU (b) Anna Aleksandrovna Korobova, after this, recalled:

A little later, another plane appeared from Ankudinovka. He headed towards the “Engine of the Revolution”. Having flown up to the plant, he dropped a VM1000 mine on it. A powerful explosion that occurred in the power station knocked the plant workers to the floor, covering them with glass fragments. A huge fire started in the building. The blast wave and shrapnel damaged power lines, and part of the Leninsky district was left without electricity.

Half an hour later, at about 5 pm, after the raid on the Engine of the Revolution diesel plant, two more Heinkels flew up to the city. By that time it was already getting dark in Gorky. The planes were flying towards the car plant again. They dropped several bombs on GAZ territory, but due to the darkness and smoke the pilots were unable to aim accurately. Most of the bombs fell between buildings and in vacant lots. This time the invasion did not go unnoticed, and the enemy aircraft were attacked by a detachment of fighters and three LaGG-3s from the air squad of Major Nikolai Alifanov. But the attack was repulsed. Heinkels damaged 2 Soviet aircraft. Another half hour later, the Gorky residents again noticed the enemy plane. Flying over the car plant, he dropped 3 bombs on the assembly shop. Then he turned around and struck the “Engine of the Revolution” and the machine tool plant. 20 minutes later the attack on GAZ was repeated. However, these bombings turned out to be almost ineffective for the Nazi pilots. The bombs missed their targets, causing minor damage to buildings. After these bombings, there was a lull in Gorky.

But it was short-lived. At about half past nine in the evening, an enemy Luftwaffe plane appeared in the Gorky sky again. And this time he targeted the car plant and dropped 4 bombs on the workshops. After that, he flew to the Leninsky district and fired 10 high-explosive bombs at it. After this bombing, city residents began to eliminate the consequences. At one o'clock in the morning, from the direction of Moscow, three bombers attacked Gorky. They were just returning after the shelling of the capital. The city's warning system did not work, so very soon bombs were whistling on the heads of Gorky residents again. 20 minutes later, another mine fell on the car plant. The blow was so strong that the blast wave swept through all the workshops, destroying both machines and people along the way. Land mines fell on Oktyabrskaya Street, in the villages of Nagulino and Gnilitsy.

However, the local newspaper “Gorky Commune” did not say a word about the raids on the city.

June 1943

On the morning of June 4, the Germans studied Gorky's maps. Flight patterns and bombing tactics were developed. At first, Wehrmacht officers thought that Moscow would be the target, however, later it became clear that the raid would be on the largest center of production and industry.

At about 22:30, the Gorky Air Defense headquarters received an alarming message from Moscow that a large group of bombers had passed from the front line over Tula and was moving to the northeast. At 23:56 an air raid alarm was sounded. It was adopted and duplicated throughout the city in factories, railway stations and administrative institutions. But, as it turned out, after the sirens sounded, many facilities showed negligence in blackout and defense. Thus, at the large Gorky-Sortirovochny railway station, several windows were unmasked, illuminating the depot area to the enemy. As a result of this, central lighting throughout the city was turned off. The anti-aircraft gunners began to prepare to repel the raid and barrage balloons appeared over the city.

At 00:10, VNOS posts in Vyazniki and Kulebaki began to report that enemy aircraft were approaching the center of Gorky. Then reports arrived that the first planes were already approaching the city. The anti-aircraft guns of the 742nd ZenAP began firing first, then artillery from other sectors joined in.

The first enemy planes dropped several flare bombs over Gorky. In order to disorient the Soviet air defense and not make it clear what was the main target of the bombing, the bombs illuminated 4 areas at once: Avtozavodsky, Leninsky, Stalinsky and Kaganovichi. The so-called “chandelier” over the Oka Bridge was also dropped.

The first group of Ju-88s attacked water intake stations on the Oka River and the water supply system of the Avtozavodsky district. The water supply and heating control unit was destroyed by a direct hit. Several bombs hit the Avtozavodskaya CHPP, as a result of which all turbogenerators were stopped. The factory electrical substation failed. GAZ found itself cut off from the water supply and completely de-energized.

Next, groups of Junkers and Heinkels approached the city. Their main target was GAZ. In addition to high-explosive and fragmentation bombs, they also had incendiary bombs in their arsenal. Sectors of the plant were divided between squadrons. The main blow fell on the forge, foundry and mechanical assembly shops. High-explosive and incendiary bombs hit mechanical assembly shop No. 1 and started a large fire.

That night, repelling the raid proved extremely ineffective. There was no operational fire control in the anti-aircraft regiments. The teams arrived at the batteries late and did not respond to the real situation in Gorky. During the bombing, communication with the command was completely cut off. There was also no interaction with the searchlight operators, so not a single enemy aircraft that came under the searchlight was fired upon. The long calm in the city, when it seemed that the war was already far away, played a role in the unsuccessful defense.

Meanwhile, the last group of bombers was attacking the city. According to the recollections of the pilots, a huge flaming cloud and clouds of smoke rose above the city, which made it difficult to aim accurately and hit the target. As a result, the Luftwaffe dropped bombs on surrounding houses and villages. Many residential buildings and barracks were destroyed in the Avtozavodsky district, the American village and the village of Strigino.

Air defense and city defense

In October 1941, Colonel S.V. Slyusarev arrived at the airfield of the city of Seimas, Gorky Region, to receive three new regiments equipped with LaGG-3 fighters. Here he stayed for some time, trying to improve the troubled situation in the city.

After the November raids on Gorky, the colonel received an order from Comrade Stalin to immediately leave for the city for defense. "Gorky district", as the commander in chief put it. Slyusarev set off on the same night, despite the snowfall and frost. He later said:

The first thing Colonel Slyusarev ordered was to establish day and night patrols of Gorky. He did this, rather, to calm down the Gorky residents frightened by the bombing. Immediately after this decision, he headed back to the Seimas, where 8 air regiments were located. Oh ordered them to be dispersed among the airfields of the divisional area.

In December, the organizing committee decided to create several large bomb shelters in the upper part of the city. By February 15, 1942, it was planned to build 5 objects:

1. Kremlin - Ivanovo Congress under the Mininsky Garden,
2. Embankment named after Zhdanov - opposite the Gorky Industrial Institute,
3. Postal Congress on Mayakovsky Street,
4. Romodanovsky station,
5. Ravine at the end of the street. Vorobyova.

They were built by 2300 people. Also, throughout the city and its borders, trenches were dug and defensive fortifications were erected. However, they were not needed subsequently, since on December 5, 1941, the Red Army went on the offensive.

Gorky's disguise

In addition to air defense of the city, the Soviet government used cunning tactics. It was decided to build a number of “false objects” in Gorky. The archives of Nizhny Novgorod preserved a document entitled: “Resolution of the Gorky City Defense Committee “On the construction of false industrial facilities in the city of Gorky”” dated August 1, 1942.

In order to divert enemy aircraft from defense facilities, the defense committee decides: 1. Create a number of false objects on the approaches to the city of Gorky, simulating actual defense installations of the city. The deployment of decoy objects provided by the Gorky Air Defense Corps District and the Gorky Air Defense Headquarters should be approved. Suggest to the directors of the plants: No. 21 "...", No. 92 "...", No. 112 "...", Automobile Plant named after. Molotov "...", named after. Lenin "..." and the glass factory named after M. Gorky "..." immediately develop designs for false objects, coordinate them with the headquarters of the city's MPVO and carry out construction before August 15 of this year. The directors of these enterprises will provide the facilities with communications and special teams to protect and carry out special instructions from the command in conditions of air raids. 3. The procedure for the prompt commissioning of decoy objects should be developed by the commander of the Gorky corps air defense region together with the head of the air defense of the city of Gorky. Chairman of the Gorky Defense Committee M. Rodionov

As a result of this decree, a huge replica of the Automobile Plant was built in the village of Mordvintsevo, near Fedyakovo. It was made mainly of glass and plywood. At night there was a light on its territory, which was belatedly turned off after the air raid warning was announced. German bombers began to get confused and bombed the dummy instead of the plant itself.

Another important strategic object for camouflage was the Engine of the Revolution plant. By that time it was already pretty destroyed, but continued to work. To disguise it, Gorky residents used the “Moscow” technology of street painting. Right along the street and throughout the plant itself there were drawings depicting private houses and urban development. Thus, they “extended” the village of Molitovka directly onto the territory of the plant. The “Engine of the Revolution” visually disappeared for the pilots. From a great height, only the false village was visible.

A different camouflage technology was used on the Kanavinsky Bridge. For this purpose, boats were launched, which were located next to the bridge all the time. When announcing an air raid warning, they released a special dense smoke screen. And no matter how hard the Nazis tried to destroy the bridge, they failed due to poor visibility.

Nizhny Novgorod does not bear the proud titles of either a hero city or a city of military glory. But the Gorky residents made a significant contribution to the Victory in the Great Patriotic War. More than 800 thousand Gorky residents fought on the fronts, over 350 thousand of them did not return home.

Over almost four war years, 56 formations and units of the Red Army were formed in the Gorky region; in November 1941 alone, 72 militia units were formed, participating in the Battle of Moscow. However, the main contribution that the Gorky residents made to the Victory was the formation of weapons production.
In the current 2015, it is difficult to imagine that here, in Nizhny Novgorod, every second car, every third tank and every fourth artillery installation were created for the needs of the front.

The news agency “In the City of N” begins its project “Gorky during the War,” dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the Great Victory, with a story about Nizhny Novgorod enterprises, whose contribution to the defense of the Motherland and Victory over the enemy is invaluable.

The legendary “lorry” and mass production of tanks

One of the particularly important wartime enterprises was, of course, the Gorky Automobile Plant. Thanks to him, the city even began to be called the Russian Detroit, and the GAZ-AA car - the first production car of the enterprise - was a licensed copy of the American Ford model AA truck.
The legendary “lorry” (the vehicle received its nickname due to its technical characteristics - its carrying capacity was 1.5 tons) served many military units during the terrible years of the war.

Since the beginning of the war, 71,398 vehicles have been produced in Gorky, or 34.8% of all types of vehicles supplied to the front. It was the “lorry” that became the symbol of the Road of Life of besieged Leningrad. The car had many modifications. For example, the GAZ-55 is the most popular ambulance of the Red Army, produced until the victorious year of 1945, or the no less famous GAZ-60, a serial half-track all-terrain vehicle.

Many, both then and now, criticize the lorry for its technical backwardness compared to the vehicles of the army of Nazi Germany. However, in the most difficult conditions of front-line battles, the ease of maintenance and repair of Soviet cars, training in driving, as well as adaptability to work in winter conditions (remember Napoleon, who neglected the weather forecast) only played into the hands of the USSR soldiers.

The strategically important task of the Gorky Automobile Plant was the production of T-60 tanks. It was the superiority of the tank division that allowed Hitler’s army to advance into the interior of the country at catastrophically fast speed. Already on July 20, 1941, the USSR State Defense Committee issued a decree on establishing the production of T-60 light tanks at GAZ. The car was developed at plant No. 37 in Moscow, but it was so “raw” that it required rapid development. On September 6, for the first time in the history of domestic tank building, conveyor assembly of tanks was introduced, and on October 21 of the same year, a telegram from Joseph Stalin came to the plant with a request to increase the production of vehicles to 10 units per day. At that time, the battle for Moscow was already underway, the fate of the country was being decided.

The situation became tense when, on November 21, German aircraft launched the first massive strike on the enterprise. On the same day, GAZ director Ivan Kuzmich Loskutov reported to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief that car manufacturers were producing 20 tanks per day! If in October 1941 215 tanks were produced, then in December there were already 625 combat vehicles. The capital was defended largely thanks to the labor feat of the Gorky residents, and T-60 tanks as a result took part in the parade on Red Square on November 7 and became a symbol of the victory near Moscow and the failure of the German blitzkrieg.

In addition, during the war, GAZ massively produced engines, mortars and other military products. In addition to tanks, more than 9 thousand self-propelled guns, 24 thousand mortars, 30 thousand shells for the Katyusha rocket launcher and more than 230 thousand car engines were produced here.

The aerial bombing of the enterprise became a difficult test. In 1943, as a result of seven raids on the automobile plant, about 50 buildings, 9 thousand pieces of equipment, 8 thousand engines, 28 overhead cranes and much more were destroyed, 232 people died.

GAZ engineer Ivan Andreevich Kharkevich wrote in his diary: “June 5... At 00 o'clock. An air raid siren howled on the radio... The growing whistle of bombs and the roar of explosions could be heard... Columns of flame rose in other parts of the Automobile Plant along with the roar of explosions. Immediately a whole wall of fire grew over the Automobile Plant; such raids had never happened before. The Germans furiously bombed the resulting fiery landmarks, while simultaneously destroying the highways around the plant and villages...”

Restoring the plant was a matter of extreme importance. Workers from the largest Gorky enterprises, such as Krasnoye Sormovo, Engine of the Revolution, Red Etna, and the Ordzhonikidze Aviation Plant, were involved in the work. In addition, Komsomol repair teams arose, and workers even organized socialist competitions in the speed of machine repair. They lived, ate and slept right there, without interruption from production.

The work of the car manufacturers was rewarded. In the spring of 1945, they received a letter from Marshal Zhukov himself with gratitude for the created weapon, and on September 16, the team of the Gorky Automobile Plant was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.

Contribution of Sormovichi

The Krasnoye Sormovo plant is one of the oldest shipbuilding enterprises in its industry - it was founded in the mid-19th century. During the Great Patriotic War, its main products were T-34 tanks and submarines. Gorky collected 23 of the latter for the front.
It should be noted that the transition to production of tanks at the plant took place in just three months.

A great contribution not only to the cause of victory, but also to the development of artillery in general, was made by the outstanding Soviet designer Vasily Grabin, who arrived in Gorky in 1933 and insisted that a design bureau be created at Plant No. 92 (now the well-known Nizhny Novgorod Machine-Building Plant). This had to be achieved with great difficulty. Together with a team of young designers, Grabin's bureau continued to develop new promising models of guns.

Under the leadership of Grabin, a high-speed design method was developed, which made it possible to create new guns within months and even weeks from the start of work to samples for testing. All this made it possible to quickly put guns into full production with unprecedented savings in metal, energy and labor costs.

The machine-building plant still honors the memory of Vasily Grabin today. The construction of a memorial complex dedicated to veterans of the Great Patriotic War is nearing completion. The architectural and sculptural composition will, of course, include a bust of Vasily Gavrilovich Grabin, the designer of the ZIS-3 divisional gun, recognized as the best weapon of war.

Under the wing of an airplane

A significant contribution to the development of military aviation and the victory of Soviet pilots for peaceful skies was made by the Gorky Aircraft Plant named after. Ordzhonikidze (now the Sokol plant). In November 1940, OKB-21 was created at the plant. On November 23, 1940, by order of the NKAP, Semyon Alekseevich Lavochkin was appointed head of the OKB. Under his leadership, the LaGG-3 was put into production and improved at the plant, and the La-5, La-5FN, and La-7 fighters were created. During the war, the plant delivered 17,691 aircraft to the front, that is, every fourth fighter produced by USSR factories was Gorky-made.

To meet the needs of Soviet military aviation, the enterprise switched to round-the-clock operation. At the same time, shifts lasted 12–14 hours, and some workers did not leave the plant for days on end.

By the end of 1941, the share of the Gorky Aviation Plant in the total production of fighter aircraft in the USSR was 34–38%, and the production rate reached 24 aircraft per day.
It was in Gorky at the end of 1943 that the La-7 fighter, one of the best fighters of the Second World War, was developed at the plant's design bureau on the basis of the La-5FN.

Enterprises of the Gorky region

The work of workers, engineers, and employees of all enterprises in the region contributed greatly to the victory.

For example, at the Bor Glass Factory named after. Maxim Gorky produced new types of products for the automotive industry, as well as optical products for the navy, ammunition and chemical industries. Already in June 1941, in Dzerzhinsk, at the Chernorechensky Chemical Plant (now Korund LLC), an installation for the production of a self-igniting liquid was assembled in just 36 hours, which was used against German armored vehicles and tanks. The Vyksa Metallurgical Plant was also reconstructed, as a result, during the first months of the war, steel production increased by 7 times, and rolled steel by 9 times.

And all this took place against the backdrop of German air raids, influxes of evacuated refugees from different cities of the country, and shortages of food and medicine.
Victory in the war of 1941–1945 was won not only on the battlefields, but also in the rear. And the contribution of the residents of the Gorky region to the common cause was enormous and invaluable.

Today, when entire corporations can be managed only with the help of a mobile phone, who will understand what it means to stand at a machine for days without food or rest?.. One can only hope that the feat of the Gorky residents will remain in the memory of contemporaries, reminding them of the strength of the human spirit, endurance and victory at the intended goal.

Spy story
Why did the Germans hit GAZ so accurately?

Who gave the Germans the coordinates of the Gorky Automobile Plant during the Great Patriotic War and why only 30 years later they found the alleged informant. More

Main entrance of GAZ

The city of Gorky suffered greatly during the Second World War due to its openness. In the 1930s, foreigners worked at its defense enterprises, including from “friendly” Germany. One of these people during the war years, a Luftwaffe general, probably “surrendered” the Gorky Automobile Plant to the Germans, which is why it was almost completely destroyed. It is officially known: intelligence officers came to the city even after the war, so the “spy mania” of the 1950s could be justified here.

German in the city

In the 40s, every second car, every third tank and every fourth artillery mount were manufactured in Gorky.

The city of Gorky, being one of the most important industrial centers of the country, was also one of the main targets for fascist aviation, says RP Vladimir Somov, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor of the Department of History and Politics of Russia at Lobachevsky UNN. - During three war years, from 1941 to 1943, 47 raids were carried out on the Gorky region, in which 811 aircraft took part.

The first raid took place on November 4, 1941. Then the Gorky Automobile Plant became a target of the Germans. As factory workers wrote in their diaries and their memoirs, the planes flew so low that a swastika could be seen on their wings. Bombs separated from them and flew to the ground howling.

Vasily Lapshin, who during the war worked at the Gorky Automobile Plant as chief power engineer, kept his diary from December 1, 1940 and throughout the war. After the bombing, he writes: “In the morning, burnt corpses and body parts were visible, scattered around. It was terrible to look at this picture.”

As follows from Lapshin’s diary, the car factory workers quickly changed lines and got used to air raid warnings. During the shooting, workers continued to work at their machines. And the floor at the plant was filled with water so that a fire would not start from the fall of burning fragments of the building.

In June 1943, preparing for the offensive near Kursk, the German command decided to launch a massive attack on the industrial centers of the Volga region. In this regard, it was decided to camouflage strategically important buildings of the city. In the Kstovsky district, not far from the modern village of Fedyakov, a so-called “false object” was built from glass and plywood - a huge dummy of GAZ to deceive German aviation. But the Germans still bombed the real plant.

As the director of the GAZ Museum said: Natalya Kolesnikova, “on the evening of June 4, 45 Heinkel-111 twin-engine bombers from squadrons KG-27 and KG-55 took off from airfields in the Orel and Bryansk area, heading for Gorky... Of the 45 aircraft, 20 broke through to the city. They parachuted about 80 flares. It became lighter than even during the day. They dropped 289 high-explosive bombs, 260 of them on the car plant. During the first raid, the main conveyor belt of the automobile plant, the spring shop, and forge No. 3 were disabled. Several houses and a hospital in the area were destroyed. Dozens of fires broke out, the water supply and communications were disrupted.”

This was followed by two more raids: on the night of June 5-6, in which 80 Heinkels took part, and on the next night - 157. In this third, most terrible raid, 12 workshops, warehouses, depots were destroyed, but most of all suffered wheel shop. It was he who was the most important object. Here, in particular, wheels for guns, rollers for all T-34 tanks, shell bodies for Katyusha rocket launchers and much more were manufactured. It is no coincidence that Beria, who came incognito to the plant in June 1943, was instructed by Stalin to immediately, at any cost, restore the wheel shop. Experts then concluded that this would take several years. However, through the heroic efforts of the people, the plant was restored in 100 days and nights, by the end of October 1943.

But why did the Germans purposefully bomb GAZ, and not camouflage? Later it turned out that a person had previously worked here who supplied enemies with secret information.

A stand dedicated to Gorky residents who participated in the Second World War. “Mosaic” is made from photographs of members of the Eternal Regiment

- The memories of Chinchenko, one of the plant’s veterans (Fedor Demyanovich Chinchenko, State Prize laureate, five-time VDNKh laureate, Honorary Citizen of Nizhny Novgorod. - RP) have been preserved: in 1943 he was deputy head of the wheel shop. He could not understand why the car plant was bombed so fiercely, despite the fact that it was carefully disguised, advises RP Marina Marchenko, deputy director of the socio-political archive of the Nizhny Novgorod region, - And only in September 1976, when Chinchenko was in Berlin at a meeting of the CMEA (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance - RP), he met a former employee of the headquarters of the German long-range aviation corps, Mr. Niederer.

“He showed us a photo in the center of which I saw my former boss at GAZ, Leopold Fink,” Chinchenko later recalled at a meeting of veterans dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the restoration of the Gorky Automobile Plant. - In the picture he was in a general's uniform. And at the car plant before the war, he designed all the underground communications, and then worked for us as the deputy head of the plant's quality control department (OTK - Technical Control Department - RP). So I knew everything about the automobile plant of 1932-1937.” This fact is given in the book by historians Anna Goreva and Alexei Vdovin “Everything for Victory.”

Leopold Fink worked under a contract signed by Molotov. And in 1937, he and his family were expelled from the USSR within 24 hours. Little is known about his further fate. According to Chinchenko, in 1943 he commanded the strategic aviation corps in Germany. Since then, Fink's traces have been lost. He was not present at the CMEA meeting. Maybe he died during the war, was captured, or, as a representative of the German command, received a long sentence. Or maybe he has lived almost to this day...

They bought maps and literature

I think this “spy” story could very well have happened in reality,” says Vladimir Somov. - And foreign specialists were actually involved in the construction of the automobile plant. Including German ones. Let me remind you that before the war there was a cooperation agreement between the USSR and Germany. It is quite possible that this same Fink actually worked for us under a contract for some time, and with the outbreak of the war he supplied the Germans with information known to him. Or this is a huge miscalculation of our intelligence services. By the way, we had similar cases in our region. Therefore, this partly justifies both repression and “espionage” during the war.

Gorky has always been a tasty morsel for various kinds of “enemy spies.”

It was no coincidence that our city was closed until the 1990s,” notes Marina Marchenko. - Why weren’t foreigners allowed to visit us? Because we had many defense enterprises that produced weapons. Foreign specialists still came to work with us under a contract. But they stayed here only within certain boundaries. In the early 1990s, the status of a “closed city” was lifted, and Nizhny became accessible to foreigners.

As historian Alexander Osipov notes in the book “From the History of the Nizhny Novgorod Special Services,” in 1956 Gorky was visited by 78 foreigners from capitalist countries, including 22 established intelligence officers. And in 1957, there were already 245 guests from capitalist countries, including 26 official intelligence officers from the diplomatic corps. “While in the city, foreigners bought various maps, reference books, military, scientific and technical literature, books characterizing the economy of the USSR and individual regions in stores,” Osipov writes. - Foreign intelligence officers not only studied military installations from the outside, but also tried to penetrate there. Moving around the city and region by taxi, foreigners intensively interviewed taxi drivers, asking them, in particular, questions about the population of Gorky, the financial situation of citizens, the names of some enterprises, and the former names of city streets.”

As a result, the shameless actions of the visitors forced the country's leadership on August 4, 1959 to issue a decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR “On the closure of the city of Gorky for visits by foreigners.”