Zoya is to the place of gathering of volunteers at the (Moscow) theater of the Colosseum, sent to a sabotage school. On November 27 in the village of Petrischevo, a group of three people set fire to three peasant houses, killing 20 horses. On November 28, Zoya, having missed his comrades, decides to continue arson, is seen by the master of the house, a certain Sviridov, who summons the Germans. The girl calls herself Tanya. She was driven for 4 hours in the cold, subjected to beatings. To tortures are joined by local residents, whose houses are burnt by partisans. One of them said before execution: «Who did you harm? My house was burned, but nothing was done to the Germans! «The last words Zoe roughly convey the demographic situation in the country «You do not outweigh all, we are 170 million.» Other sources, for better agreement with the second census of the population, distort words to «two hundred million».
The body remains in place of execution for about a month, subject to the outrages of German soldiers. Later it will be buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery.
The whole situation looks rather clumsy, just does not fit into the head, causes controversy to this day, releasing a certain psychic energy. In nonsense, a special meaning is born. Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya did not show herself in a loud military success. But the more true it joins the pantheon of the people’s martyrs (to which, of course, officers can not belong, in full safety, mincing the «Children’s World»). The article in Pravda, January 27, 1942, produces an impact on Soviet citizens, comparable, it seems, with the advent of a battle-worthy tank corps. Kosmodemyanskaya is the same person as very many in the Union, somewhat confused, awkward, realizing that, after the disappearance (built at the expense of humiliation, sweat and blood of millions of people), the mountains of weapons, almost all the personnel of Stalin’s army, have to fight independently, at least somehow, almost from scratch.
5. Crew of the Hero of the Soviet Union Dmitry Fedorovich Lavrinenko, Soviet tank ace (leftmost). On the account of the initiative senior lieutenant of the Red Army (which was, at the same time as the T-34 at the same time, a gunner) 52 German tanks destroyed. The basis of tactics is a combination of actions from ambushes with sudden attacks of a small (3—4 cars) combat group, with well-conducted reconnaissance. These actions come into conflict with the Charter of the Red Army of 1941 – according to which one should always attack the enemy without hesitation, using tanks massively, like some kind of «all-destroying steel avalanche».
Lavrinenko dies on December 18, 1941, after 2.5 months of battles and 28 fights, from a fragment of a mine. Repeatedly presented to the title of Hero, honored him in 1990. The position of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR, and personally, the head of the personnel department, I. Gusakovsky, prevents it: «Dmitry Lavrinenko’s relatives will demand special privileges.»
On May 7, 1942, the Wehrmacht attacks the Soviet troops, concentrated on the Kerch Peninsula (the front line from Kazantip Point to the Black Sea), bombard the previously known targets, never changing their location, and also the ways of retreat. Prior to this, the representative of the Stavka, L.Z. Mehlis completely suppressed the initiative of the commanders, forbidding the construction of defensive structures, even digging trenches, in order «not to bring down the offensive spirit.» Three armies are lined up, side by side, in a limited area of 18 to 6 km, with no reserves in Kerch. Some parts are being evacuated through the Kerch Strait to the Taman Peninsula (140,000), 55,000 people are dying, and 120,000 are taken prisoner. German and Romanian irretrievable losses amount to 10,000 people.
Until the beginning of the eighties, the tractor drivers refused to plow the isthmus of the peninsula between Feodosia and Kerch; The fields are dotted with bones, fragments and ammunition.
The encirclement of the Soviet armies near Kharkov. Barvenkovsky trap. The Third Assault of Sevastopol
May 12, guided by Stalin’s order «to ensure that 1942 was the year of the final defeat of the German fascist troops,» the Red Army is conducting an offensive near Kharkov, with the aim of encircling the «South» grouping, pressing it to the Sea of Azov and destroying it. The blow is inflicted on the three armies of the enemy already prepared for their offensive, including one of the tank armies. The troops advance 20—35 kilometers, then the Wehrmacht tanks cut their weakly protected communications. Escape from the «Barvenkovskaya traps», by May 31 can only a tenth of the encircled troops. Losses of the parties: Red Army 170,000 irretrievably, 120—150 thousand prisoners, 1,240 tanks, Wehrmacht – 7,000 German and 3,000 Romanian soldiers, according to other sources, a total of 18,000 people.
Now the forces of the Axis countries practically do not meet resistance in the vast steppes, they occupy Rostov-on-Don, they reach the approaches to Stalingrad. In the North Caucasus, they manage to approach the city of Grozny (bombed oilfields), capture Krasnodar, Stavropol and Novorossiysk.
June 7 begins the third assault on Sevastopol. Before that, the Luftwaffe bombers liberated from the eastern direction dropped 2,500 tons of bombs of 1,000, 1,800 and 2,500 kg to the city. By June 17, the attackers come to Sapun Mountain: a hill with which it is possible to aim at the whole city and the water area of the Northern bay.
Because of the increased activity of artillery, aviation, German and Italian torpedo boats, the supply of ammunition becomes impossible. The last Sevastopol, in the morning dusk on July 27, leaves the leader of Tashkent, a high-speed destroyer (70 km at full speed), taking 2,500 people from the city, being attacked by 90 Luftwaffe aircraft; loses its course, is towed to Novorossiysk. On July 29 the Wehrmacht forces capture Malakhov Kurgan, set artillery on Sapun Mountain. This is the key point. The next day, the units of the Red Army and the Navy begin to destroy military equipment, supplies and funds. The commander requests permission to evacuate the Stavka, and receives it. The Supreme Commander, 222 people, and 49 wounded are taken to the Caucasus on the 13th, withdrawn from the concrete caponiers Li-2. Another 700 commanders are evacuated by submarines. Further, the command and rank-and-file officers mix on the shore and, in general, lose their status differences. They are taken away by high-speed boats, captains of which come ashore at their discretion, in any place, in the seemingly most suitable moment. So another three or four thousand people are saved.
The remnants of the Maritime Army withdraw to the Cape of Chersonese and (with only 1,000 shells) fight for three days. July 4th all ends. In the German captivity are 75 thousand soldiers of the Red Army.
The forces of the parties on June 6, 1942: the Red Army and the Marine Corps 118,000 men, 100 aircraft, 40 tanks, 450 guns of artillery, 150 coastal artillery guns (100—305 mm), 1,700 mortars. In this case, 305-mm cannons are only in the most effective 30th and 35th batteries, only 4 towers with two guns in each. Wehrmacht and the Romanian Armed Forces: 204 thousand fighters, 1,000 aircraft, 170 tanks (ACS, StuG III), 1,300 guns of various types, 700 mortars. Losses for 8 months of siege: the Soviet Union – 155 thousand killed, including city residents, 75 thousand prisoners, a dozen large surface ships, two submarines, about 70 aircraft (some transferred to the Caucasus). Wehrmacht and Romania: 65,000 irrevocably (three quarters of the losses are ethnic Germans), about 250 aircraft, 230 tanks (including captured from the Red Army) and ACS. The 13-division divisions of the German-Romanian troops who took part in the last assault are given a 6-week rest, they are transferred deep into the rear or to insignificant areas. Returning from vacation Manstein discovers that on the spot, in the Crimea there are only 4 of them. Thus, a swift move, planned by the Field Marshal through the Kerch Strait, to the Caucasus, to the oil fields of Baku, will not take place.
June 27 almost completely destroyed, deprived, by order