Nevsky Piglet: where the earth reared up

2024 Author: Harold Hamphrey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:06

In the history of the Second World War, there are many tragic pages, bloody battles and epic battles. The battles on the Volga and Dnieper, near Kursk and Kharkov, on the Vistula and Oder are the subject of dozens of feature films, hundreds of literary works, historical research and memoirs. Less well known is the legendary bridgehead called "Nevsky Piglet", where from September 41 to January 43 a heroic and bloody epic unfolded, which became one of the most tragic pages of our military history.

On a tiny piece of land along the right bank of the Neva in the indicated period, there were almost continuous exhausting battles. On a piece of land that occupied an area of two and a half kilometers along the front and seven hundred meters in depth, every night, making up for the incalculable losses of the day, more and more new units landed under a heavy fiery tornado tocontinue to hold the only foothold in the territory captured by the enemy. The Nevsky Piglet was supposed to be the springboard from which it was planned to start the operation to release the besieged huge dying Leningrad, overcrowded not only with the local population, but also with numerous refugees from the B altic states.

On the first of September, the troops of the Army Group "North" captured Estonia, and the divisions of the Soviet 23rd Army on the Karelian Isthmus were forced to retreat to the line of the state border of 1939. The Finns again took up their positions on the Sestra River. On September 4, long-range French-made guns of the German Eighteenth Army opened fire on the city blocks of Leningrad for the first time. The armored skating rink of the Wehrmacht was inexorably approaching the city. In September, 5364 shells were fired at Leningrad.

On September 6, Hitler ordered Field Marshal Leeb to surround the city and join the Finnish troops north of it on the right bank of the Neva. Now one can only guess what the fate of Leningrad would have been if the units of the 115th Infantry Division had not been able to capture and heroically hold the Nevsky Piglet, which was abundantly watered with the blood of Soviet soldiers. Especially considering the fact that on the same day (September 6) the Germans captured the strategically important Mga railway station, and Shlisselburg fell on the eighth.

Nevsky Piglet on the map looks like a simple narrow strip of coastline. But it is precisely this piece of sushi that the Sovietthe command assigned a decisive role in the offensive operation to break through the blockade ring. According to statistics, about fifty thousand Soviet soldiers died here. The offensive was planned to be carried out in the direction of the Sinyavino-Shlisselburg ledge - the narrowest section of the front, where the Nazis drove a ten-kilometer wedge between the troops of the two Soviet fronts - Volkhov and Leningrad. Taking advantage of the favorable terrain, the enemy built three powerful defensive lines here.

On the night of September 19-20, units of the 4th Marine Brigade, 115th Rifle Division and 1st NKVD Rifle Division managed to cross the 600-meter water line under heavy fire and gain a foothold on the right bank of the Neva. This tiny strategic bridgehead was aptly named "Nevsky Piglet". Photographs and footage from military newsreels captured the land plowed up by shells and pitted with bullets, which was to play a crucial role in the fate of the besieged Leningrad.

Clinging to the steep steep slopes of the Neva bank, our soldiers paid for the coming victory with their lives. The dominance of the Luftwaffe in the sky made it possible to accurately determine the time of the next crossing to Nevsky Piglet of fresh units, as a result of which many soldiers found their last refuge in the cold waters of the Neva. The village of Dubrovka acted as a kind of reservoir, a launching pad that constantly fed the bridgehead with fresh troops.

It is here on a completely open coastal strip under continuous and most severe fireartillery and aviation of the enemy, landing battalions, companies and regiments were hastily put together, which immediately went into the boiler of the Neva boiling from explosions. The only hope for the paratroopers was the darkness of the night, which did not always help out. Due to the incredible concentration of troops in a narrow area, the enemy had the opportunity to fire even blindly.