Almost everyone knows that the result of the struggle between the USSR and Nazi Germany was the raising of the Victory Banner to the dome of the Reichstag . Not everyone knows that the 150 rifle division played a major role in this event. However, even now it is customary to argue about this.
The beginning of the way
References strongly recommend that you do not confuse the various convocations of this formation. There were three of them in all, and their fates developed differently.
The first division was created in the early fall of 1939, and at first there was nothing heroic in its actions. Politics is an extremely dirty business, therefore, in fact, Churchill did not advise to delve into the secrets of its “preparation”. In the past, almost every country has pages that can hardly be proud of. Unfortunately, the history of the 150 rifle division, which was directly involved in the partition of Poland in 1939, also contains them.
Today, a great many discussions have unfolded about the Second World War and its culprits. Some tend to demonize the Soviet Union, calling it Hitler's accomplice. A lively debate is ongoing around the so-called secret protocols to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. The harsh truth is that history does not forgive the state only one thing - weakness.
The first pancake is lumpy
Poland was defeated and divided, the Soviet Union and fascist Germany signed the treaty "On friendship and state border." The USSR was replenished with almost 13 million new citizens (not all of them, of course, were delighted with this), and the 150 rifle division of the first convocation set off to conquer new heights. She participated in the Finnish and Bessarabian campaigns, and after the start of the Second World War she entered into battles with the treacherous allies of yesterday.
The first years of World War II were very difficult and by no means joyful for the Soviet people. The Red Army suffered defeat after defeat, the losses were huge, the conduct of hostilities often turned out to be mediocre. During the defensive campaign, barely entering the fighting, the 150 rifle division suffered significant losses - its composition was reduced by almost a third in less than two months. At the end of June 1942 she ceased to exist (disbanded as deceased).
Further fate
A month later, a new composition of the 150th division began to form. Her fate was more successful: she participated in successful battles for the city of Bely, freed Great Luke, Loknya. In April 1943, it was reorganized into the 22nd Guards Rifle Division.
Finally, in September of the 43rd, for the third time, the 150th infantry division was revived, the military path of which ended on the roof of the Reichstag. The basis for the creation was the 151st rifle brigade, which participated in the battles of the Second World War since 1942, under the command of then Major Leonid Vasilievich Yakovlev.
The mix was pretty big. The structure included 4 rifle battalions, artillery and anti-tank divisions, battalions of reconnaissance, mortar, sappers, signalmen. The brigade fought successfully or not very well: one of the regimental doctors Ginzburg recalled that during the assault on Staraya Russa the losses were enormous. From 674 regiment, where he served, only 50-60 people remained. The Germans strengthened their positions on a hill; they had to advance from a swampy lowland, where even equipment could not help Soviet soldiers. Unfortunately, there are many such examples of selected strategies during the Second World War. Okudzhava wrote a song about the victory, where there were words that we would not be worth the price only in 1970, but the impression was that some combat commanders knew it long before that and for some reason perceived it as a guide to action.
Way to victory
During the formation of 150, the rifle division, in addition to the already mentioned 151st, took on the 127th and 144th brigades. Acquisition took place directly on the positions, without the removal of the composition to the rear. Immediately after the end of the formation, it became part of the 79th Rifle Corps of the 22nd Army of the 2nd Baltic Front. Yakovlev took command of the division, by this time already a colonel.
Since 1943, the course of the war, as they say, has broken. The significance of the Battle of Stalingrad and the operation on the Kursk Bulge seems impossible to overestimate. Sometimes the division passed 40 km a day to the East. There was a rapid attack on the Nazis. For a successful campaign to liberate the city of Idritsa, the unit received the right to be called the "150 Idritskaya Rifle Division", and for the offensive operation near Lake Voswansee was awarded the Order of Kutuzov, II degree.
During the hostilities, it was first part of the 2nd, and then at the end of the war - 1st Belorussian Front, staying among the formations of the 3rd shock army, whose combat mission was the direct capture of Berlin.
The official version of events
On April 16, the 45th political unit of the 3rd Army gathered for a meeting, during which (with the blessing of the top leadership), it was decided that the final defeat of the fascist Reich would be the capture of the Reichstag - a symbol of united Germany.
A little later, on the 19th day of the same month, 9 banners were handed out to all army divisions, sewn as soon as possible from ordinary kumach, intended for hoisting on the roof of this building.
At first, Soviet soldiers, intoxicated by victory, cared little about who exactly would decorate the dome of the German parliament, but later they had to think about the issue.
The official version of the events was presented in early June, prepared by its political department of the 3rd Army. According to him, the assault flag of the 150th Infantry Division was transferred to the battalion of the 756th regiment under the command of Captain Neustroev.
Trying to find out the truth
The soldiers of the unit crossed the Spree and captured the front staircase. After that, Sergeant Kantaria, Red Army soldier Egorov and Political Officer Berest went to the roof, punching their way in battle, and raised a red cloth over the glass dome. This happened at two hours and twenty-five minutes in the afternoon, and already at three o’clock at the taken building was a freshly baked commandant - captain Neustroyev.
Numerous researchers, documents and memoirs report that the indicated version of events had nothing to do with reality, and the 150 Idritskaya Infantry Division misled the public, however, it is unlikely to be malicious.
There are different opinions about who first raised the flag over the Reichstag (and what kind of flag it was, too). There is evidence according to which the corps command hurried to report that the German fascist symbol had been successfully taken - hence various information about the time the flag appeared.
Assault and defense
There are so many versions that it is simply not possible to find the only right one.
If you adhere to the chain of events, then the fighting for Berlin began in mid-April. At the end of the month, Soviet troops crept up to the main Nazi stronghold - the Reichstag. It was very well located from the point of view of defense, because on three sides it was surrounded by water - the Spree River 25 m wide. After the bombing, only one bridge survived, anti-tank ditches and the area turned into a huge foundation pit. The Berlin metro was flooded.
On the fourth side, the building was defended by well-fortified buildings, including the Ministry of the Interior, turned into a real fortress. All approaches to the Reichstag were well shot — this was the reason for the prolonged assault and heavy losses that the 150 rifle division and other formations suffered. The Nazis resisted with the despair of a mortally wounded animal, fighting for every step, room, floor.
First flag
The first attempt at the assault choked, it was decided to wait for the dark - and suddenly the command of the 150 rifle division at 25 minutes past three on April 30 reported that the Reichstag had been taken and the Red Banner was hoisted on it . Glee reigned in the USSR, but it was too early to rejoice. What caused the hasty report is unknown. There is a version that some soldiers managed to break through to the building and place several soldier banners on the walls of the fortress that is still defending.
Today, almost every graduate of the school (if he studied, of course) knows that the banner of the 150 rifle division was the first to appear over the Reichstag, which all famous heroes hoisted over the dome of the German parliament. Meanwhile, there is evidence when the said soldiers rose to the roof of the building, the flag was already there, and completely different people raised it.
Numerous Award Applicants
The Reichstag had two pediments: a sculpture of the Victory Goddess (winged Nika) flaunted one. Above the second, decorated with an equestrian statue of Emperor William, the aforementioned heroes raised their flag with them. But this happened late at night at three o'clock, when the building was taken, and the red flag was already fluttering over Berlin and was on the opposite side, near the statue of Nika.
Official documents say that on May 1 (followed by confirmation of 2, 3, and 6), Captain Makov and his group: the fighters Minin, Bobrov, Zagitov, and Lysimenko, were presented for the award for this feat.
What caused the injustice is not clear. It might indeed have been completely impossible to admit in a hasty report stating that the flag of the 150th rifle division had fluttered over the capital of the defeated enemy since half past three.
The award found heroes, but not all
It took the Soviet leadership a whole year to punish the innocent and reward the uninvolved. Only on May 8, 1946, a decree was issued on awarding the title of “Hero of the Soviet Union” to those who hoisted the Banner of Victory over the German parliament in Berlin.
In addition to the already mentioned Neustroev, Kantaria and Yegorov, awards were received by Davydov and Samsonov - battalion commanders who supported the assault from the flanks. According to some historians, Birch bark was deleted from the list of those assigned to the title by the Marshal of Victory himself (the reason is idiosyncrasy to the political leaders).
As far as this is true, the general public will never know.
Challenging primacy
Fierce debate is still ongoing. According to a 2007 study by the Institute of Military History of Russia, the first to raise the red flag over the German symbol were Rakhimzhan Koshkarbaev and Grigory Bulatov, who also did not receive well-deserved awards.
They also recall Private Pyatnitsky, he ran up the stairs with a flag in his hands, but was first wounded and then killed. The banner was taken from his hands by his namesake - a resident of the Zaporizhzhya region Petr Scherbina and secured to the column of the German parliament. Many years after the end of the war, his grandchildren fought for the posthumous assignment of the title of “Hero of the Soviet Union” to his grandfather.
In principle, it hardly makes sense to argue about who was the first - the fighters of the 150 rifle division, or representatives of another formation.
All defeated
Participants in the events recall that before the start of the assault, almost everyone tried to acquire a banner, flag, or at least a flag. Everything that corresponded to color was used: curtains, sheets, pieces of fabric. Immediately after the assault, the Reichstag was decorated with more than fifty bloody-colored panels, and it is not possible to determine which of them appeared before everyone else.
Later, when the Germans were finally driven back, crowds rushing to the building of the German parliament rushed to write on the walls something like what the hero of Leonid Bykov voiced in the famous film “Only old people go into battle:“ satisfied with the ruins of the Reichstag. ”
Many were photographed against the background of flags and walls decorated with flags, and then demanded awards. Everything was. It’s good that this time has already passed. Whoever raised the Victory Banner over the Reichstag dome, the 150th rifle division of the Kutuzov Order is certainly worthy of its name being inscribed on the symbol of the end of the most bloody and brutal war in human history.