History 05/01/20 the explosion of the Dnieper in 1941: how many killed Soviet people
In August 1941, the Nazi blitzkrieg shaft sunk to the Dnieper. 18 Aug breakthrough of German troops in the city, and local command blew up the Dnieper. The result of blowing through the hole 135 meters gushed the 30-meter wave. In the zone of flooding were not only German soldiers, but the soldiers and civilians of the coastal areas. On the number of victims, historians argue today.
what blew up the dam
18 Aug Nazi leadership sent to the capture of the Dnieper armored and motorized units. Three hours before the detonation of a German shell hit the bridge connecting the island with the left Bank of the Dnieper. On the opposite side of the river could be reached only by the dam, which was shelled by Soviet artillery. On the island, in complete isolation, left before five hundred of the red army 247-th division, which provided the Nazis with fierce resistance.
After the Germans occupied the island, they started mortar shelling of the city. The order to hold the undermining of the Dnieper gave Stalin personally.
to Carry out the operation was entrusted to Colonel Apulu and Petrovsky. The evening of 18 August, it was undermined by the 20 tons of ammonal. The exact number of victims, from the resulting wave not been documented. First about the disaster in the book “Man and weapons” in 1960, wrote Oles Gonchar. In the late 1980s in the journal “Sociological studies” published an article by researcher A. Romme, which was called “Tell the people the truth.”
Disaster on the Dnieper
Fleeing to Britain by the KGB officer Viktor Rezun-Suvorov wrote that wave killed 1,500 officers and soldiers of the Wehrmacht, the rest of the troops were protected by the steep right Bank of the Dnieper. However, the documentary evidence there, and the traitor himself is a very unreliable source, has repeatedly caught in a lie.
However, undermining thewhom huge buildings could not pass unnoticed. The wave flooded the space of the Dnieper floodplain, demolished the lower part of the Zaporozhye city and several villages. The memoirs of survivors, local residents gathered in Zaporizhia historian and ethnographer K. Sushko. One of the witnesses claimed that when the waters receded, the trees were hung with hundreds of soldiers and civilians.
the Explosion raised the water level in the river and from the “big land” was cut off the 2nd cavalry corps and the 18th and 9th army. They crossed the river downstream. The majority of red army soldiers were taken prisoner, or were killed. The remnants of the units crossed to the left Bank, leaving all the military equipment. It is believed that killed 20 thousand soldiers and from 75 to 100 thousand civilians. Other also unconfirmed reports, the water killed 20 to 40 thousand residents of Zaporizhia and nearby villages.
What the documents say
the Decision to undermining of the dam was not spontaneous. It was a premeditated act and he was produced on the basis of the cryptogram received from the General staff. Sampresources USSR champion, wrote: “In the second half of the day, when was almost finished laying the explosives, has arrived the representative of the headquarters of the front, which was presented to representatives of the military command on the Dnieper the telegram it was stated that in the case of hazard classes of dams by the Germans, it needs to be disabled”.
Werner recalled that after dark, the soldiers moved to the left Bank, while the dam was under German fire, and lie on it to have been impossible.
the death of the Soviet armies
In the history of the dead two infantry armies and a cavalry corps, also there are inconsistencies. The withdrawal of troops began on August 17 by order of the commander of the Southern front under No. 0077/OP. According to him the parts were transferred to the line of defense along the Ingulets river. 2nd cavalry corps to the area of Nikopol and the Lower City, the 18th army was assigned to the Eastern Bank of the Dnieper with the task to take up the defense at the line Nikopol, Kakhovka. 9army — on the site from Kakhovka to Kherson. To protect retreating units were instructed to use the rears and aircraft.
For the redeployment of troops on the left Bank of the Dnieper was induced pontoon crossings. On the morning of 22 August the bulk of the troops of the two armies and a cavalry corps in order was on the Left Bank. Distance from the dam at Zaporozhye to the village of Nyzhnii Rohachyk, where it crossed the 2nd cavalry corps was more than 120 kilometers. 18th army crossed Kachanovka, which is 160 kilometers from the city. Kakhovka, in which the focused part of the 9th army, was still downstream of the Dnieper.
Researcher Romme wrote about 75-100 thousand victims, however, these figures are clearly overstated. Don’t forget that after the explosion of the Dnieper August 18, the city continued to defend another 46 days. The victim from the waves, but their exact number, due to the lack of documentary evidence that we hardly know.
Alexander Brazhnik
Source:
© Russian Seven
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