The harsh border service was waiting for those who went on purpose to the Murmansk region back in 1921. Order number 198 was issued in winter, in December. Border guards had to catch and neutralize enemy agents, as well as protect local fish and animals from poachers.
The first guilty sailors were exiled to the settlement Kuvshinsky Salma. A disciplinary battalion was to live in this harsh rocky land and build warm homes for officers and their families. The base point of the guard ship detachment for the protection of maritime borders in the north of the country has existed for almost a century, in 2007 the last ships left here. The 2008 census did not find people in the village.
Coordinates of Kuvshinskaya Salma (photos are presented in the article): 69 ° 18′21 ″ s. w. 33 ° 24′56 ″ c. d.
Harsh land
Those pioneers who began to develop the western shore of the Kola Bay managed to build housing for officer families. In 1938, the first inhabitants appeared in Kuvshinskaya Salma. The climate in the bay is severe, many of those who were the first were sick and were dying. But the houses built by their hands are still alive. The population of "Water Lilies", as the officers of the former duty station are affectionately called, is not from a timid dozen. Hurricanes, often running onto the bay, demolished roofs, leaving residents without light and heat.
Border service veterans recall the eerie natural disaster in the winter of 1993. Then in Kuvshinskaya Salma several hurricanes raged, one after another. Roofs from houses took to the sea, breaking wires. The village was left without electricity in a twenty-degree frost.
But the inhabitants found a way out: they rescued the ships. Rather, baths and cabins. Women and children from the affected houses moved to ships. They drowned baths, prepared food, lived in cabins. Men, without understanding - their own house or a stranger, re-roofed. They survived and survived, although they could temporarily move to the neighboring town of Gadzhievo, which is 13 kilometers from Kuvshinskaya Salma. True, you can get to it only by sea.
War
It was from here that it began - on June 22 at 3.50 in the morning there was an airplane rumble. The village is borderline, therefore it never sleeps. And that night, the "precious detachment" carried combat duty off the coast. There was a deafening ringing of a bell and a shot of a ship’s gun. The Luftwaffe plane was shot down, and its iron skeleton is still visible in one of the lakes. Miraculously, the surviving fascist pilot was captured and interrogated. Then the border guards learned that Hitler launched a military attack on the Soviet Union.
First loss
At the beginning of August 1941, Kuvshinskaya Salma was gripped by mourning. There was an explosion at Cape Kanin Nose. At that very moment, radio communication with one of the ships of the "precious detachment", the Pearl, disappeared. The Diamond and Rubin patrol vessels were nearby and set off in search of the missing comrades. Soon the Iceberg and Sapphire arrived to help. But even air reconnaissance could not detect the ship. A few days later, the sea washed ashore with the inscription "Pearl". It became clear that the border ship, along with the crew, was blown up by a fascist sabotage group.
In the spring of 1942, a "precious detachment" accompanied the destroyers of the Northern Fleet to Arkhangelsk. Security ships were ordered to save the ships at all costs. And the border guards complied with the order, at the cost of many losses it was possible to repel the attack of more than forty enemy aircraft.
In memory of heroes
Exactly one year remained until victory, when all fascist power fell upon the Kuvshinskaya Salma. The mass raid was prepared for a long time and carefully, so it brought its mournful fruits. The border fleet lost five ships and 35 crew members. Many of the sailors were under twenty years old.
In September 1944, the "Diamond" was killed. The ship was accompanied by a caravan with military cargo when a submarine of the Third Reich fired a torpedo at the flagship of the caravan. If the warhead hit the target, the cargo would never have been found, a system deprived of a leader would have scattered and been attacked by the Nazis. These thoughts flashed through the head of the captain of the "Diamond" for an instant.
The crew needed a minute to decide on a feat. At the cost of their lives, the sailors saved the load by getting in the way of the torpedo. Places of heroic death of the border ships "Pearl" and "Diamond" are mapped as the coordinates of military glory. The names of the heroes were named new ships. The “Precious Squad” still serves in the waters of the Barents, White and Kara Seas.
Post-war time
The country that defeated the Nazis was actively recovering. The military unit of Kuvshinskaya Salma No. 2289, which was occasionally replenished with draftees, was still based in the border village. The island was rebuilt, patched holes. A monument was erected to the dead heroes, officer children regularly brought red carnations to him.
For children who are not able to leave Kuvshinsky Salma, they built a comprehensive and music school, for kids - a kindergarten. The forces of the military unit erected a modern House of Officers, in which women staged performances and evenings.
We came here to serve guys
But each of us dreams that once
He will leave the land far and severe
But believe me, he will be pulled here again ...
We live in a water lily, on the edge of the earth,
Attractions - sea, ships ...
Oh! Our life is harsh, but at the same time excellent,
After all, our life is such - borderline ...
(From the school anthem of Kuvshinskaya Salma)
The infrastructure in Kuvshinskaya Salma was established - a library, a medical unit, a bakery, a post office. Everything that the inhabitants of the border garrison need for an autonomous existence.
In 2007, border guards were transferred, scattered around the country. Someone left with his family in Penza, someone in Ryazan. But once every two years they gather in Kuvshinsky Salma, because they dream of it.