Severe border service was waiting for those who went to their destination in the Murmansk region back in 1921. Order number 198 was issued in winter, in December. The border guards were supposed to catch and neutralize enemy agents, as well as protect local fish and animals from poachers.
The first delinquent sailors were exiled to the settlement of Kuvshinskaya Salma. The disciplinary battalion was to inhabit this harsh rocky land and build warm homes for the officers and their families. The basing point for a detachment of patrol ships for the protection of maritime borders in the north of the country lasted for almost a century, in 2007 the last ships left here. The 2008 census found no people in the village.
Coordinates of Kuvshinskaya Salma (photos are presented in the article): 69°18'21″ s. sh. 33°24'56 E e.
Severe land
Those pioneers who began the development of the western coast 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 harsh, many of those who were the first fell ill and died. But the houses built by their hands are still alive. Population"Water lilies", as the officers affectionately call the former place of service, are not from a timid dozen. Hurricanes, which often hit the bay, demolished roofs, left residents without light and heat.
Veterans of the border service remember the terrible natural disaster in the winter of 1993. Then several hurricanes raged in Kuvshinskaya Salma, one after another. The roofs of the houses were blown into the sea, breaking the wires. The village was left without electricity in a twenty-degree frost.
But the residents found a way out: they saved the ships. Rather, baths and cabins. Women and children from the affected houses moved to the ships. They heated baths, cooked food, lived in cabins. Men, not understanding - their house or someone else's, re-roofed. They survived and survived, although they could move for a while to the neighboring town of Gadzhiyevo, which is 13 kilometers from Kuvshinskaya Salma. True, it can only be reached by sea.
War
It was from here that it began - on June 22 at 3.50 in the morning there was a rumble of an airplane. The village is military, border, so it never sleeps. And that night, the "precious detachment" was on combat duty off the coast. There was a deafening ringing of the bell and the shot of a ship's cannon. 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 found out that Hitler launched a military offensive against the Soviet Union.
First losses
In early August 1941 Kuvshinskaya Salma was in mourning. There was an explosion at Cape Kanin Nos. ThatAt the same minute, radio contact with one of the ships of the "precious detachment" - the "Pearl" was lost. Patrol ships "Brilliant" and "Rubin" were not far away and went in search of their missing comrades. Soon Iceberg and Sapphire came to the rescue. But even reconnaissance from the air could not detect the ship. A few days later, the sea washed ashore a lifebuoy 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, the "precious detachment" escorted destroyers of the Northern Fleet to Arkhangelsk. The guard ships were ordered to keep the ships at all costs. And the border guards complied with the order, at the cost of many losses, they managed to repel the attack of more than forty enemy aircraft.
In memory of heroes
Exactly one year left before the victory, when all the fascist power fell on 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.
In September 1944, the Diamond was lost. The ship was escorting a military caravan when a Third Reich submarine fired a torpedo at the flagship of the caravan. If the warhead had hit the target, the cargo would never have been found, the formation, devoid of a leader, would crumble and be attacked by the Nazis. These thoughts raced through the Diamond's captain's mind in an instant.
It took the crew a minute to decide on a feat. At the cost of their lives, the sailors saved the cargo by standing in the way of the torpedo. The places of the heroic death of the border ships "Pearl" and "Brilliant" are marked on the map as the coordinates of military glory. The new ships were named after the heroes. The "Precious Detachment" is still serving in the waters of the Barents, White and Kara Seas.
Post-war
The country that defeated the Nazis was actively restored. In the border village, the military unit of Kuvshinskaya Salma No. 2289 was still based, occasionally replenished with conscripts. The island was rebuilt, patched holes. A monument was erected to the dead heroes, officer children regularly brought red carnations to it.
For children who are unable to leave Kuvshinskaya Salma, they built a general education and music school, for kids - a kindergarten. The military unit built a modern House of Officers, in which women staged performances and parties.
We came here to serve guys
But each of us dreams that sometime
He will leave the distant and harsh land, But, believe me, he will be pulled here again…
We live in the Water Lily, on the edge of the earth, Sights - sea, ships…
Eh! Our life is harsh, but at the same time excellent, After all, our life is so borderline…
(From Kuvshinskaya Salma's school anthem)
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, the border guards were transferred and scattered around the country. Someone went with his family to Penza, someone to Ryazan. But once every two years they gather in Kuvshinskaya Salma, because they dream about it.
