Map of the Sur border from the military archive. Sursky defensive line. An excerpt characterizing the Sursky line of defense

On the approaches to Kazan along with the Kazan defensive line.

The Sursky Frontier was built in 45 days.

Construction background

When the Wehrmacht advanced towards Moscow in October 1941 and Moscow was preparing for defense, a preliminary plan for the construction of defensive and strategic lines in the deep rear on the Oka, Don, and Volga was discussed and adopted in the State Defense Committee. The main and additional plans for rear defensive construction set the task of strengthening Gorky, Kazan, Kuibyshev, Penza, Saratov, Stalingrad, Ulyanovsk and other cities. In case of failure for Soviet troops development of defensive operations, they were supposed to delay the enemy at new lines.

Start of construction

Construction of the Sur defensive line began at the end of October 1941.

Construction of the defensive line, which later became known as the “Sursky Line,” began in 1941, when German troops were already near Moscow. In accordance with the instructions of the State Defense Committee of October 16, 1941, the Council People's Commissars The Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and the Bureau of the Chuvash Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks decide: “Mobilize from October 28, 1941 to carry out construction work on the territory of the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the Sursky and Kazan defensive lines. The population of the republic who is at least 17 years old and physically healthy is subject to mobilization.”

On October 22, 1941, the bureau of the Penza City Defense Committee decided to build a defensive line in the region. More than 100 thousand people were mobilized for these purposes. The builders had to build fortifications along the river. Sure, through the village. Lunino, s. Bessonovka, Penza, Lemzyayku village and village. Keys. In parallel with this, another line of defense was built: the village. Lunino - village Mokshan - s. Zagoskino - st. Alexandrovka. It was planned to build 450 kilometers of ditches, 1,500 firing points, and build about 12,000 dugouts for soldiers. This required more than 300 thousand cubic meters of forest; 1.5 million bricks; dozens of cars of glass, roofing iron and nails. We were talking only about the first stage of construction. When constructing the second line of defensive fortifications, these figures should have been increased at least three times. In addition, the need for labor and materials to carry out a number of engineering works was not taken into account: the construction of wire fences; destruction of bridges, roads and houses; installation of anti-tank mines; construction of shelters; procurement and delivery of materials for the main line of defense.

Construction progress

The mobilized population was united into work teams of 50 people. Each district was assigned a slave site. The first secretaries of the Chuvash Republican Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the chairmen of the executive committees of district councils of workers' deputies were sent as heads of pro-slavery sections. They were entrusted “to ensure the normal functioning of those mobilized in their area”: place in the surrounding villages, barracks, build dugouts. Collective farms had to organize the supply of food and fodder, and medical stations - with the necessary medicines. Military field structures (MFS) were organized with centers - Yadrin, Shumerlya, Poretskoye, Alatyr.

Technical management was provided by military engineers of the 11th and 12th Army Directorates of the Glavoboronstroy of the People's Commissariat of Defense of the USSR. Personnel from Chuvashia enterprises were also involved (in particular, the construction manager of the Cheboksary Plant 320 (the current plant named after Chapaev), Eremin, took part in the construction. The Chairman of the State Planning Committee of Chuvashia, the Secretary of the OK CPSU for Industry and Transport, was instructed to identify all available reserves of metal, cement and stone, “to organize the production of reinforced concrete, machine gun caps and the production of staples and forks for bunkers at enterprises of the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic”.

The Commissioner of the People's Commissariat of Communications for Chuvashia, Voronin, pledged to provide uninterrupted telephone and telegraph communications with field construction sites and construction sites. The departments were staffed mainly by local personnel. Thus, for the construction of the Sursky border, teachers, land surveyors, foresters, and senior officials of the Tatar, Chuvash, and Mari Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics were mobilized into the 1st and 12th UOS. A total of 845 local specialists were mobilized. In addition, 160 specialists arrived under orders from the Main Directorate of Defense Construction.

The resolution of a special meeting of the Council of People's Commissars and the bureau of the regional committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks on October 28, 1941 stipulated that each district was to provide its workers with equipment - shovels, picks, crowbars, sledgehammers, saws, wheelbarrows, stretchers, etc. 226 wheeled and 77 crawler tractors, 5 excavators. Measures were taken to provide workers with the necessary building material(construction tools, timber, cement, bricks, etc.). “Place the population in the surrounding villages, barracks, buildings of forestry and other organizations, and build dugouts for the missing area. Provide food at the expense of collective farms, organize boiler stations…” the document noted. “In order to improve the uninterrupted supply of food for the mobilized, the chairmen of the executive committees of the district councils were obliged to ensure the creation of a carry-over supply of food for at least 10 days in the area of work of the district and demanded not to allow any interruptions in the supply of workers with food,” mobile isolation hospitals and medical centers were organized , sanitary epidemiological and disinfection teams. For this purpose, the required amount was allocated medical workers, medicines, dressings.

On January 17, 1942, the cessation of work on the defensive line was announced. According to Penza local historian V.A. Mochalov, the exact date of completion of construction can be considered January 22, 1942. On this day, the command of the 51 PS sent a letter to the leadership of Penza, in which they informed that the line was “finished on time and perfectly.”

According to available information, units of the 6th Engineer Army were redeployed from the Penza region to the Tambov region already on the 30th of December 1941. .

Memory

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Notes

An excerpt characterizing the Sursky line of defense

What fire have you planted in your heart,
What delight flowed through my fingers!
He sang in a passionate voice, shining at the frightened and happy Natasha with his agate, black eyes.
- Wonderful! Great! – Natasha shouted. “Another verse,” she said, not noticing Nikolai.
“They have everything the same,” thought Nikolai, looking into the living room, where he saw Vera and his mother with the old woman.
- A! Here comes Nikolenka! – Natasha ran up to him.
- Is daddy at home? – he asked.
– I’m so glad you came! – Natasha said without answering, “we’re having so much fun.” Vasily Dmitrich remains for me one more day, you know?
“No, dad hasn’t come yet,” said Sonya.
- Coco, you have arrived, come to me, my friend! - said the countess's voice from the living room. Nikolai approached his mother, kissed her hand and, silently sitting down at her table, began to look at her hands, laying out the cards. Laughter and cheerful voices were still heard from the hall, persuading Natasha.
“Well, okay, okay,” Denisov shouted, “now there’s no point in making excuses, barcarolla is behind you, I beg you.”
The Countess looked back at her silent son.
- What's wrong with you? – Nikolai’s mother asked.
“Oh, nothing,” he said, as if he was already tired of this same question.
- Will daddy come soon?
- I think.
“Everything is the same for them. They don't know anything! Where should I go?” thought Nikolai and went back to the hall where the clavichord stood.
Sonya sat at the clavichord and played the prelude of the barcarolle that Denisov especially loved. Natasha was going to sing. Denisov looked at her with delighted eyes.
Nikolai began to walk back and forth around the room.
“And now you want to make her sing? – what can she sing? And there’s nothing fun here,” thought Nikolai.
Sonya struck the first chord of the prelude.
“My God, I am lost, I am a dishonest person. A bullet in the forehead, the only thing left to do is not sing, he thought. Leave? but where? anyway, let them sing!”
Nikolai gloomily, continuing to walk around the room, glanced at Denisov and the girls, avoiding their gaze.
“Nikolenka, what’s wrong with you?” – asked Sonya’s gaze fixed on him. She immediately saw that something had happened to him.
Nikolai turned away from her. Natasha, with her sensitivity, also instantly noticed her brother’s condition. She noticed him, but she herself was so happy at that moment, she was so far from grief, sadness, reproaches, that she (as often happens with young people) deliberately deceived herself. No, I’m having too much fun now to spoil my fun by sympathizing with someone else’s grief, she felt, and said to herself:
“No, I’m rightly mistaken, he should be as cheerful as I am.” Well, Sonya,” she said and went out to the very middle of the hall, where, in her opinion, the resonance was best. Raising her head and lowering her lifelessly hanging hands, as dancers do, Natasha, energetically shifting from heel to toe, walked through the middle of the room and stopped.
“Here I am!” as if she was speaking in response to the enthusiastic gaze of Denisov, who was watching her.
“And why is she happy! - Nikolai thought, looking at his sister. And how isn’t she bored and ashamed!” Natasha hit the first note, her throat expanded, her chest straightened, her eyes took on a serious expression. She was not thinking about anyone or anything at that moment, and sounds flowed from her folded mouth into a smile, those sounds that anyone can make at the same intervals and at the same intervals, but which a thousand times leave you cold, in the thousand and first times they make you shudder and cry.
This winter Natasha began to sing seriously for the first time, especially because Denisov admired her singing. She no longer sang like a child, there was no longer in her singing that comic, childish diligence that was in her before; but she still did not sing well, as all the expert judges who listened to her said. “Not processed, but a wonderful voice, it needs to be processed,” everyone said. But they usually said this long after her voice had fallen silent. At the same time, when this raw voice sounded with irregular aspirations and with efforts of transitions, even the expert judges did not say anything, and only enjoyed this raw voice and only wanted to hear it again. In her voice there was that virginal pristineness, that ignorance of her own strengths and that still unprocessed velvet, which were so combined with the shortcomings of the art of singing that it seemed impossible to change anything in this voice without spoiling it.
“What is this? - Nikolai thought, hearing her voice and opening his eyes wide. -What happened to her? How does she sing these days? - he thought. And suddenly the whole world focused for him in anticipation of the next note, the next phrase, and everything in the world became divided into three tempos: “Oh mio crudele affetto... [Oh my cruel love...] One, two, three... one, two... three... one... Oh mio crudele affetto... One, two, three... one. Oh, our life is stupid! - Nikolai thought. All this, and misfortune, and money, and Dolokhov, and anger, and honor - all this is nonsense... but here it is real... Hey, Natasha, well, my dear! Well, mother!... how will she take this si? I took it! God bless!" - and he, without noticing that he was singing, in order to strengthen this si, took the second to the third of a high note. "My God! how good! Did I really take it? how happy!” he thought.
ABOUT! how this third trembled, and how something better that was in Rostov’s soul was touched. And this was something independent of everything in the world, and above everything in the world. What kind of losses are there, and the Dolokhovs, and honestly!... It’s all nonsense! You can kill, steal and still be happy...

Rostov has not experienced such pleasure from music for a long time as on this day. But as soon as Natasha finished her barcarolle, reality came back to him again. He left without saying anything and went downstairs to his room. A quarter of an hour later the old count, cheerful and satisfied, arrived from the club. Nikolai, hearing his arrival, went to him.
- Well, did you have fun? - said Ilya Andreich, smiling joyfully and proudly at his son. Nikolai wanted to say “yes,” but he couldn’t: he almost burst into tears. The Count was lighting his pipe and did not notice his son’s condition.
“Oh, inevitably!” - Nikolai thought for the first and last time. And suddenly, in the most casual tone, such that he seemed disgusted to himself, as if he was asking the carriage to go to the city, he told his father.
- Dad, I came to you for business. I forgot about it. I need money.
“That’s how it is,” said the father, who was in a particularly cheerful spirit. - I told you that it won’t be enough. Is it a lot?
“A lot,” Nikolai said, blushing and with a stupid, careless smile, which for a long time later he could not forgive himself. – I lost a little, that is, a lot, even a lot, 43 thousand.
- What? Who?... You're kidding! - shouted the count, suddenly turning apoplectic red in the neck and back of his head, like old people blush.
“I promised to pay tomorrow,” said Nikolai.
“Well!...” said the old count, spreading his arms and sank helplessly onto the sofa.
- What to do! Who hasn't this happened to? - said the son in a cheeky, bold tone, while in his soul he considered himself a scoundrel, a scoundrel who could not atone for his crime with his whole life. He would have liked to kiss his father's hands, on his knees to ask for his forgiveness, but he said in a careless and even rude tone that this happens to everyone.
Count Ilya Andreich lowered his eyes when he heard these words from his son and hurried, looking for something.
“Yes, yes,” he said, “it’s difficult, I’m afraid, it’s difficult to get... never happened to anyone!” yes, who hasn’t happened to... - And the count glanced briefly into his son’s face and walked out of the room... Nikolai was preparing to fight back, but he never expected this.
- Daddy! pa... hemp! - he shouted after him, sobbing; forgive me! “And, grabbing his father’s hand, he pressed his lips to it and began to cry.

While the father was explaining to his son, an equally important explanation was taking place between the mother and daughter. Natasha ran to her mother excitedly.
- Mom!... Mom!... he did it to me...
- What did you do?
- I did, I proposed. Mother! Mother! - she shouted. The Countess could not believe her ears. Denisov proposed. To whom? This tiny girl Natasha, who had recently been playing with dolls and was now taking lessons.
- Natasha, that’s complete nonsense! – she said, still hoping that it was a joke.
- Well, that's nonsense! “I’m telling you the truth,” Natasha said angrily. – I came to ask what to do, and you tell me: “nonsense”...
The Countess shrugged.
“If it’s true that Monsieur Denisov proposed to you, then tell him that he’s a fool, that’s all.”
“No, he’s not a fool,” Natasha said offendedly and seriously.
- Well, what do you want? You are all in love these days. Well, you’re in love, so marry him! – the countess said, laughing angrily. - With God!
- No, mom, I’m not in love with him, I must not be in love with him.
- Well, tell him so.
- Mom, are you angry? You’re not angry, my dear, what’s my fault?
- No, what about it, my friend? If you want, I’ll go and tell him,” said the countess, smiling.
- No, I’ll do it myself, just teach me. Everything is easy for you,” she added, responding to her smile. - If only you could see how he told me this! After all, I know that he didn’t mean to say this, but he said it by accident.
- Well, you still have to refuse.
- No, don't. I feel so sorry for him! He's so cute.
- Well, then accept the offer. “And then it’s time to get married,” the mother said angrily and mockingly.
- No, mom, I feel so sorry for him. I don't know how I'll say it.
“You don’t have anything to say, I’ll say it myself,” said the countess, indignant that they dared to look at this little Natasha as if she were big.
“No, no way, I myself, and you listen at the door,” and Natasha ran through the living room into the hall, where Denisov was sitting on the same chair, by the clavichord, covering his face with his hands. He jumped up at the sound of her light steps.
“Natalie,” he said, approaching her with quick steps, “decide my fate.” It's in your hands!
- Vasily Dmitrich, I feel so sorry for you!... No, but you are so nice... but don’t... this... otherwise I will always love you.
Denisov bent over her hand, and she heard strange sounds, incomprehensible to her. She kissed his black, matted, curly head. At this time, the hasty noise of the countess's dress was heard. She approached them.
“Vasily Dmitrich, I thank you for the honor,” said the countess in an embarrassed voice, but which seemed stern to Denisov, “but my daughter is so young, and I thought that you, as a friend of my son, would turn to me first.” In that case, you wouldn’t put me in the position of having to refuse.
“Athena,” Denisov said with downcast eyes and a guilty look, he wanted to say something else and faltered.
Natasha could not calmly see him so pitiful. She began to sob loudly.
“Countess, I am guilty before you,” Denisov continued in a broken voice, “but know that I adore your daughter and your entire family so much that I would give two lives...” He looked at the countess and, noticing her stern face... “Well, goodbye, Athena,” he said, kissed her hand and, without looking at Natasha, walked out of the room with quick, decisive steps.

The next day, Rostov saw off Denisov, who did not want to stay in Moscow for another day. Denisov was seen off at the gypsies by all his Moscow friends, and he did not remember how they put him in the sleigh and how they took him to the first three stations.
After Denisov’s departure, Rostov, waiting for the money that the old count could not suddenly collect, spent another two weeks in Moscow, without leaving home, and mainly in the young ladies’ room.
Sonya was more tender and devoted to him than before. She seemed to want to show him that his loss was a feat for which she now loves him even more; but Nikolai now considered himself unworthy of her.
He filled the girls' albums with poems and notes, and without saying goodbye to any of his acquaintances, finally sending all 43 thousand and receiving Dolokhov's signature, he left at the end of November to catch up with the regiment, which was already in Poland.

After his explanation with his wife, Pierre went to St. Petersburg. In Torzhok there were no horses at the station, or the caretaker did not want them. Pierre had to wait. Without undressing, he lay down on a leather sofa in front of a round table, put his big feet in warm boots on this table and thought.
– Will you order the suitcases to be brought in? Make the bed, would you like some tea? – asked the valet.
Pierre did not answer because he did not hear or see anything. He began to think at the last station and continued to think about the same thing - about something so important that he did not pay any attention to what was happening around him. Not only was he not interested in the fact that he would arrive in St. Petersburg later or earlier, or whether he would or would not have a place to rest at this station, but it was still, in comparison with the thoughts that occupied him now, whether he would stay for a few days. hours or a lifetime at this station.
The caretaker, the caretaker, the valet, the woman with Torzhkov sewing came into the room, offering their services. Pierre, without changing his position with his legs raised, looked at them through his glasses, and did not understand what they could need and how they could all live without resolving the questions that occupied him. And he was preoccupied with the same questions from the very day he returned from Sokolniki after the duel and spent the first, painful, sleepless night; only now, in the solitude of the journey, did they take possession of him with special power. No matter what he started to think about, he returned to the same questions that he could not solve and could not stop asking himself. It was as if the main screw on which his whole life was held had turned in his head. The screw did not go in further, did not go out, but spun, not grabbing anything, still on the same groove, and it was impossible to stop turning it.

I remember when I was very little and walked under the table, my great-grandmother told us (me), with my cousin, how her husband (my great-grandfather) was sent to war in August 1941 (where he died in 1943 on the Belorussian Front) , and a few months later, she, along with her three daughters, were sent to Saransk, and from there to the construction of the Sursky border. They were mobilized so quickly that they didn’t even have time to take warm clothes with them, and their “city” shoes very quickly became unusable and local residents wove bast shoes for them and cut footcloths from old clothes. The great-grandmother dug the frozen ground, and her daughters carried out the soil.

Certainly, at a young age I didn't betray special significance her stories and they most likely would have sunk into oblivion if I had not met the guys from the Navigator 63 team.

These guys have been making forced marches on snowmobiles and ATVs, off-road to the places of military glory of our ancestors, for quite a long time. And as soon as I found out about their plans to visit the Sursky Frontier, I immediately asked to sign me up for the team.

But first things first.

October 15, 1941.
It was the fifth month of the Great Patriotic War, and due to the critical situation at the front, the State Defense Committee, headed by Stalin, decided to move the capital of the USSR to Kuibyshev.

The State Defense Committee makes a decision on the construction of defensive and strategic lines in the deep rear, on the Volga. Taking into account the transfer of the main strategic objects from Moscow to Kuibyshev, the main plans for rear defensive construction set the task of (strengthening the defenses of) Gorky (Nizhny Novgorod), Kazan, Ulyanovsk and, accordingly, Kuibyshev. In accordance with this plan, 10,000 km had to be built defensive structures, 70,000 bunkers and 27,000 dugouts. Simultaneously with the implementation of the defensive plan, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command planned the creation of 10 reserve armies. In cases of failure for Soviet army developments, they were supposed to delay the enemy on the approaches to the “new capital”.

On the same day, the Council of People's Commissars of the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and the Bureau of the Chuvash Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) signed a decree “Mobilize from October 28, 1941 to carry out work on the construction of the Sur defensive line. The population at least 17 years old is subject to mobilization.”

Now only a barely noticeable ravine remains from the “Sur Frontier”.

Many participants in this labor feat are no longer alive, but I was able to communicate with one direct participant in these events.

“The ground was frozen, hard as stone, from the beginning we lit fires to warm the top layer at least a little, but it didn’t help much. It was very cold, frosts reached -40, but everyone worked. The fear that the storm was about to strike forced me to give my all.”

The government allocated a very short period of time for the construction of fortification lines, so enormous material and human resources were involved.
About 85 thousand people were involved in the work every day, sometimes this number reached 110 thousand. They worked mainly by hand; there were not enough mechanized tools and equipment. Work, according to the laws of war, went on seven days a week, and was not interrupted even in the most severe frosts, when the temperature dropped to -40-42 degrees. There was not enough housing, suitable premises where people could be warmed. Some of the workers had to live in tents or huts, hastily assembled from pine branches, straw, and brushwood (heated dugouts were built later). Despite all the hardships and difficulties, people tried their best and understood their responsibility to the Motherland. Tasks were always exceeded, discipline was exemplary. But there was only one common desire - to deliver the project ahead of schedule.

A telegram was sent to the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs Lavrentiy Beria, signed by the head of the 12th Army Directorate Leonyuk, the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars Somov, the secretary of the regional committee Charykov: “The task of the State Defense Committee for the construction of the Sursky defensive line has been completed. The volume of excavated earth is 3 million cubic meters, 1,600 firing points (bunkers and platforms), 1,500 dugouts and 80 km of trenches with communication passages have been built.”

More than 70 years have passed since the construction of the border began. And so the Samara team “Navigator 63” went on snowmobiles to the construction site of the Sursky defensive line (for a second, that’s 2 days on the road and 526 km off-road). This forced march became a tribute to the memory of its builders, as well as all those who, during the harsh years of the war, forged Victory in the rear, devoting all their strength to serving the Motherland. And on February 19, upon arrival, the first stone of the monument to this labor feat was laid.

Alzo, they will also deliver it in a fairly short time, already on May 9, 2015. I will definitely try to get there, but that will be a completely different story.

And finally, photos of the race participants and the hosts.

Also, incl.

A forgotten front in the rear: fighters of the Sur frontier in Chuvashia
"Invisible Tears of War" The REGNUM IA project about how the Sursky defensive line and the Kazan bypass were built in Chuvashia / The REGNUM IA project under the coordination of Modest Kolerov “Nothing is forgotten” is dedicated to people and events that left a deep mark in the history, politics and art of Russia and the world. In our time, we see how they defined the face of modernity, asked questions that require comprehension and answers / May, 2018

REGNUM news agency continues to raise half-forgotten and little-known pages from the history of the Great Patriotic War and tell how the Sursky border and the Kazan bypass were built within the territory of Chuvashia. On topic: | | 100th anniversary of Z. Tyurkina

USSR

During the preparation of materials, it turns out that many in the family had someone involved in large-scale defensive construction. Which is not surprising: “all human and material resources” were mobilized in Chuvashia to carry out the task of the State Defense Committee; “there was not a single collective farm in the republic that did not send its best representatives” to the construction site, which was called nationwide. Based on archival materials collected by a REGNUM correspondent in the State Archive modern history Chuvashia (BU "GASI"), we continue to talk about the labor heroism of the participants in those events.

2. At the construction of the Sur defensive line, 1941

"Mom, you won't see me again"

In Chuvashia, construction of the border began in October 1941. Six military field installations (MFF) were organized on the territory of the republic. Along the Sursky construction line - with centers in Yadrin, Shumerla, Poretsky, Alatyr. There were two UPS in the Kazan direction: in the villages of Oktyabrskoye and Yantikovo. In a report to the head of the propaganda and agitation department of the CPSU (b) Alexandrov, sent from Chuvashia, it is noted that the length of the lines was 380 km, 4,897,000 cubic meters of earth were removed, and 5,329,000 man-days were spent on construction.

3. From a report to the head of the propaganda department. From the funds of BU "GASI". P-1. Op. 23. D. 398

The party archives of the Chuvash regional committee noted that “tens of thousands of workers and food convoys” were sent to work, while “the columns of the most remote areas had to travel a hundred kilometers.” Residents “at least 17 years old and physically healthy” were mobilized. An average of 85 thousand people participated in construction every day, and in some periods it reached 110 thousand people. According to archival data, as of October 1, 1941, there were 1,102,200 residents in Chuvashia, of which 511,608 were aged 17 to 54 years. In general, during the war years, more than 208 thousand residents were mobilized from the territory of Chuvashia, of which 106 thousand . died.

“The following people worked at the construction site: collective farmers, individual farmers, workers, office workers, housewives and students of higher and secondary educational institutions“- it is said, in particular, in the report to the head of the propaganda and agitation department of the Military-Industrial Complex (Bolsheviks) Alexandrov.

“The work was carried out without a single day off during the entire construction period, without interruption even in the most severe frosts, reaching 40 degrees on some days. The remoteness of the border and its weak population made it difficult to accommodate people and complicated the delivery of food and fodder,” says, in particular, the resolution of the bureau of the Chuvash regional party committee on the results of the work on the construction of the Sur defensive line and the Kazan bypass.

According to other evidence, in 1941 the cold reached 50 degrees. This means that it was not only abnormally cold, but also the ground was frozen, turning into blocks of stone and barely thawing even when making fires. Technology was a rarity and a luxury back then, so work was done everywhere by hand - shovels, picks, sledgehammers, saws, and carts were used. But even these simple tools were chronically in short supply.

For example, in the Cheboksary region in the agricultural cooperative “Seaman” there was one crowbar for 38 people, in the agricultural cooperative named after. Vodopyanov for 45 people - one crowbar, in the Marposadsky district at the work site of the collective farm "Verny Put" for 159 people - seven crowbars, at the work site of the Zarya collective farm for 46 people - three scraps. Therefore, “the rest of the collective farmers are waiting for one person to remove the frozen cover of the earth in order to continue working with shovels,” according to data in the collection of documents “Top Secret” by Chuvashsky state institute humanities(compiler Evgeniy Kasimov And Dmitry Zakharov).

Construction was complicated by living conditions. People lived in dugouts, barracks, tents, huts; the luckier ones moved into houses in nearby populated areas. During work, there was a constant shortage of rooms where people could be warmed and warm clothes - mittens and shoes wore out especially quickly, so trade in bast and bast shoes was organized.

The food was monotonous, and there were constant interruptions in delivery. As a result, workers were left without food for several days. There were cases of importing rotten food with worms. Some couldn't stand it and deserted.

People froze their limbs, fell into ditches, and there were cases of collapses during excavation. For some, this construction was their last. For example, a letter from a 17-year-old girl from the Kanashsky district has been preserved:

“Mom, send me linen, bread and potatoes. You won't see me again, just as I won't see you. People say that people have died while digging trenches before. Apparently, I won’t have to return home either.”

“Fought for high labor productivity”

The hope of victory and the expectation of peace in our native land helped us to withstand and endure. But people lived not only on hope. Before their eyes, daily feats of labor were accomplished that inspired and motivated others. Among the builders, who were also called fighters, socialist competition with the passing Red Banner unfolded, many took on increased obligations. “Party-political and mass propaganda work” was also organized.

“The Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) allocated responsible republican and district party and Soviet workers for this work. In total, 420 people worked on construction as political instructors, and 3,200 people worked as agitators. Political instructors and agitators carried out systematic explanatory, mass-political work, being among the workers every day, holding reports, conversations among them, reading newspapers, political information, publishing combat leaflets, showing examples of Stakhanov’s work by personal example, transferring the experience of construction leaders to all brigades and sections. The widespread popularization of Stakhanov's methods of work contributed to the expansion of socialist competition and increased labor productivity. All construction workers were drawn into socialist competition, literally fighting for high labor productivity and for early completion of construction,” says, in particular, the resolution of the bureau of the Chuvash regional party committee.

Important factors that also helped to surrender the defensive lines ahead of schedule were iron discipline and criminal liability for failure to comply with orders. For example, order No. 28, issued by the head of military field facility No. 6 Voskanyan, provides a surname list of site managers and chief engineers who “do not fulfill their promises on assets, decisions on these assets” and “instructions on the correct organization of work, placement of people "

“Foremen and foremen of these sections are rarely on the highway, and section heads and chief engineers do not eliminate the criminal slackness among the engineering and technical personnel,” Voskanyan’s order notes.

Therefore, all managers were instructed to “be on the highway from morning until the end of work”; “absences” were allowed only for 1 hour - “for lunch”. And a warning: if not complied with, those responsible “will be prosecuted.” criminal liability, regardless of faces."

Such facts were not widespread, unlike examples of labor heroism. In particular, evidence of this is stored in the party archive of the Krasnochetaisky district of Chuvashia (in the GASI fund); characteristics of the front-line workers have been preserved - in total more than 100 documents, including handwritten ones. Those who distinguished themselves received bonuses, vacations, letters of gratitude and other awards.

4. Characteristics of Dimitry Barinov. From the funds of BU "GASI". P-101. Op. 1. D. 434

Characteristics as evidence of heroism

Here are a number of excerpts from the surviving characteristics. Head of one of the military training centers Pavel Gerasimov, whose VUP was recognized as one of the best, received gratitude for “strengthening discipline” and increasing labor productivity: “daily output per soldier-worker 140%.”

5. Characteristics of Pavel Gerasimov. From the funds of BU "GASI". P-101. Op. 1. D. 434

“The main condition for success is Bolshevik discipline, based on constant coverage of the issues of the Patriotic War, on socialist competition, its daily summing up on the basis of individual and link assignments,” the description says, in particular.

6. Characteristics of Dmitry Bozrikov. From the funds of BU "GASI". P-101. Op. 1. D. 434

Foreman of one of the sites Ivan Ogandeykin was nominated as a candidate for the rally of shock workers and Stakhanovites VPS-2, since his brigade met production standards of 170-175%, and he proved himself to be a “good political worker.” In addition, under his leadership, “among the construction workers, 514 rubles were collected for the defense fund and cash and clothing lottery tickets worth 810 rubles were sold.”

7. Characteristics of Ivan Ogandeykin. From the funds of BU "GASI". P-101. Op. 1. D. 434

In the characteristics of a political instructor Gerasim Kudryaev it is noted that he “was constantly among the workers of defense structures and correctly combined political mass work with production work" The fighter-workers of the Atnarsky VUP, where he worked as a commissar, met production standards by 170-200%.

8. Characteristics of Gerasim Kudryaev. From the funds of BU "GASI". P-101. Op. 1. D. 434

Women did not lag behind the men. For example, a collective farmer Elena Yandaikina“put into practice the words of Comrade Stalin in the report of November 6, 1941”:

9. Characteristics of Elena Yandaikina. From the funds of BU "GASI". P-101. Op. 1. D. 434

“Since the start of defensive work, she has not had a single day of absence and has daily fulfilled the daily norm for excavation work of 2.5 km with a norm of 1.8 km, which is 139%; recently she has fulfilled the daily norm by 150-160%.” .

Doctor at one of the sites Maria Munina“During her work on construction, she showed exceptional sensitivity and care for the collective farm workers of the construction.”

10. Characteristics of Maria Munina. From the funds of BU "GASI". P-101. Op. 1. D. 434

“I received workers from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m., regardless of working hours. On her own initiative, she often went to workers on the construction route and provided the necessary assistance. medical care at the place of work. She carried out a great preventative work. With urgent and energetic measures, she quickly managed to prevent the emerging epidemic incidence of typhus,” the characterization notes, in particular.

11. From the report of the military department of the Yadrinsky Republic of Kazakhstan of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks). From the funds of BU "GASI". P-115. Op. 14. D. 47.

The report of the military department of the Yadrinsky Republic of the CPSU (b) reports that in the Yadrinsky district, of those employed in construction, 906 people fulfilled the norm from 100% to 150%, 240 people - from 150% to 200%, 88 people - over 200%. And “in the forefront, as always, were the communists and Komsomol members.”

“In particular, a party member Shmelev Il. Nick. works as a shift supervisor for the fire brigade, despite his old age, he daily exceeded production standards in the construction of military structures.”

12. Characteristics of Grigory Amaroshkin. From the funds of BU "GASI". P-101. Op. 1. D. 434

Awards

Based on the results of construction, the bureau of the regional committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks submitted a petition to the State Defense Committee “On providing government awards to the best participants who showed true examples of labor heroism on defensive lines.” There were more than 50 of them. Another 234 people were awarded a diploma of honor from the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (data from the State Archive of Contemporary History of Chuvashia).

Among those nominated for the award is the foreman of excavators Mikhail Bezborodov, (Alatyrsky district), who worked on construction from the first days until the end of the work. He was considered one of the best foremen and organizers of Stakhanovist labor. Members of “his brigade systematically fulfilled the production quota by 200%.”

“I worked as a digger all the time” Maria Khozikova, which “as a deputy of the village council set a personal example for the workers of her brigade”, “systematically fulfilled the daily norm of up to 250%.” Minslu Sharafutdinova worked as a team leader in a team of navvies, “involved all members in socialist competition and achieved mastery of the Stakhanovist method of work”: all “9 people on her team fulfilled the production norm up to 480%.” Head of the VPS section No. 2 Matvey Kuzmin(Krasnochetaisky district), “having correctly calculated the workforce, and also achieved high labor productivity, he completed the construction of his site 7 days ahead of schedule with a rating of “good.”

The awards ceremonies themselves were more than just a celebration.

“The presentation of certificates of honor must be organized in such a way that it mobilizes the collective farm masses to better carry out agricultural work, for which it is important to prepare the recipients themselves for speeches when receiving certificates of honor, as well as to organize speeches by collective farm leaders and Soviet party workers. All speeches must be briefly recorded in the minutes. Send us the protocol of delivery,” the acting officer said in a message. Secretary of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic A. Izmailova, sent to the secretary of the Krasnochetaysky district committee of the CPSU (b) M. Kuzmina.

13. Order. From the funds of BU "GASI". P-101. Op. 1. D. 434

The award protocol, which is also stored in the State Civil Aviation Inspectorate, contains excerpts from the speeches of the awardees. Certificates of honor were presented on May 4, 1942 “at a meeting of party, Soviet and collective farm activists” of the Krasnochetaisky district with the participation of more than 240 people.

“During the days of the Patriotic War, our valiant soldiers of the Red Army and all Soviet peoples are fighting the brutal German occupiers until complete defeat. Our workers, employees, men and women work tirelessly in our factories. And they give the front more and more more tanks, airplanes, guns, machine guns, mortars, rifles and ammunition.

14. Protocol for presenting certificates of honor. From the funds of BU "GASI". P-101. Op. 1. D. 434.

Our collective farmers, men and women, work tirelessly in the fields and give the front more and more bread, meat and raw materials for industry. “We are faced with the task of successfully completing spring sowing and obtaining a high harvest in 1942,” for example, a fragment of the speech is given Ivana Zorkova.

Letter from Beria

In a telegram sent from Chuvashia to the NKVD Lavrentiy Beria , it is said that “during the construction of the line, the local population of Chuvashia showed examples of excellent work. Many collective farm brigades showed high work enthusiasm, systematically fulfilling the norms by 2-3 times”:

15. Telegram for Beria. From the funds of BU "GASI". P-1. Op. 23. D. 398

“The engineering and technical personnel were forged at work. Many engineering and technical workers have proven themselves to be organizers and leaders of production. Having completed the work, the local population and the engineering and technical staff of the 12th Army Directorate are ready with the same energy to carry out any new task of the Party and the Government.”

As you know, the Great Patriotic War is the main event in our lives. Every day and every minute we must remember it, be proud and be able to repeat it.

Until now, new monuments dedicated to the Great Patriotic War. Their construction is intensifying around the clock. Few people know, but for the 75th anniversary of the Victory in Mordovia they were also going to erect a memorial, and I took part in this. In the end, nothing came of it, but I will show you how this story began.

In the fall of 2014, the republic realized that in six months there would be a big anniversary and a big holiday. But how can Mordovia celebrate the anniversary of the Victory? There were no battles on our land, and nothing was really bombed. This is not the Smolensk region or Belarus. The rear is the rear.

But it turns out there was something. In 1941 we were preparing to meet the enemy on our borders. For this purpose, in late autumn, the Sursky line of defense was erected - a long series of earthen fortifications, which was supposed to hold back the troops on the approach to Kazan. You can read more about this on Wikipedia. I will only add that the Sursky border only slightly touched the territory of Mordovia in the Bolshiye Berezniki region.

The leadership of the republic turned to Moscow State University for help, namely to our department. Of course, it was impossible to refuse. We decided that V.B. Makhaev and I would design, which means I would do everything, and he would lead. I was quite happy with it, the task was interesting - it’s not every day that you have to make memorial complexes. We didn’t expect money from the start, because our bosses don’t pay the performers on principle.

In October we were taken to the area. This is where it is located: if you drive through Berezniki, cross Sura and get to the end of a small forest, then the site will be on your right hand. A hill 10-15 meters high, partly covered with forest, climbed by a dirt road. Among the surrounding picturesque hills, no one would be able to guess that this hill is not a hill, but a man-made embankment, a remnant of that same Sur border. On open area, facing the road, and it was decided to place a memorial.

Some kind of structure was supposed to appear here, near which ceremonies could be held on the days of remembrance of the war. In addition, the customer wanted to arrange a small museum in the memorial in the form of a firing point of those times, as well as an exhibition of military equipment.

Even on site, I had the idea that the memorial could look like a powerful concrete wall emerging from the side of a hill. It’s as if inside the entire hill there is such an indestructible spine that has been exposed over time. Makhaev proposed to erect a sculptural group on the memorial, personifying the builders of the frontier - an old woman, a woman and a teenager. And he said that the memorial should be made in the spirit of the 70s, so that such a stagnant Brezhnev giant would emerge. Okay, I'm off to make options.

The first option resembles the letter V in plan. The massive concrete structure serves observation deck, it also hides premises for the museum. You can enter the upstairs via a large staircase or ramp, which is adjacent to the wall at the back. At the intersection of the axes there is a sculptural group, and below is an exhibition of wartime equipment (the models in the pictures are relative).

Second option.

The composition is similar, but the museum is now hidden inside the hill, between two powerful concrete walls. The view area in front of the monument has noticeably shrunk, and a ramp overlooks the main façade.

Third option.

Here I decided to see what the memorial would look like if it was designed in the form of a colossal brick with embrasures. In contrast to the hilly landscape and forest, it might look good.

We presented all these options to the customer. After the edits, the memorial began to look like this.

The amount of concrete was greatly reduced, and the letters were marked above the wall. This is quite justified, because the main façade of the memorial faces northeast, which means it will be in the shade almost all the time. And to make the letters readable, we decided to make them a silhouette against the sky.

This is where my work ended. It seems that this option was shown to Volkov, and he gave the go-ahead. They contacted me again just to make a picture for a banner that would be placed at the site of the future construction site. I put this picture in the title of the post. I was not paid anything for working on the project.

Then the project was handed over to Sergei Mikhailovich Nezhdanov (he designed the churches at Svetotehstroy and Yalga and much more). As far as I understand, he was also not paid anything in the end. But that’s not about that now. Under pressure from the customer and circumstances, the project developed and began to look like this.

After three years it would have been nice to show the completed facility, but that was not the case. The Sursky Frontier memorial was not built. The maximum that I could find was a photo with the same banner on which my collage flaunts. This is how the history of this project ended ingloriously. Although I have never been there since then. Who knows, what if the incredible happened and a reinforced concrete wall with old-fashioned letters appeared on a hill at the edge of the forest?

Built on the territory of the Chuvash and Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics, intended to delay Nazi troops on the approaches to Kazan along with the Kazan defensive line.

On the territory of the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, the Sursky border ran along the Sura along the line with. Zasurskoye, Yadrinsky district - village of Pandikovo, Krasnochetaysky - village. Sursky Maidan of Alatyr district - Alatyr to the border with the Ulyanovsk region. Tens of thousands of residents of the Czech Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic took part in the construction of the structure. The Sursky Frontier was built in 45 days.

Construction background

When in October 1941, the Wehrmacht was advancing towards Moscow and Moscow was preparing for defense in the State Defense Committee, a preliminary plan for the construction of defensive and strategic lines in the deep rear on the Oka and Don was discussed and adopted. Volga. The main and additional plans for rear defensive construction set the task of strengthening Gorky, Kazan, Kuibyshev, Ulyanovsk, Saratov, Stalingrad and other cities. If the development of defensive operations was unsuccessful for the Soviet troops, they were supposed to delay the enemy at new lines.

Start of construction

Construction of the Sur defensive line began at the end of October 1941.

The construction of the defensive line, which later became known as the “Sursky Line,” began in 1941, when German troops were already near Moscow. In accordance with the instructions of the State Defense Committee of October 16, 1941, the Council of People's Commissars of the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and the Bureau of the Chuvash Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks make the decision: “Mobilize from October 28, 1941 to carry out construction work on the territory of the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the Sursky and Kazan defensive lines. The population of the republic who is at least 17 years old and physically healthy is subject to mobilization.”

Construction progress

The resolution of a special meeting of the Council of People's Commissars and the bureau of the regional committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks on October 28, 1941 stipulated that each district was to provide its workers with equipment - shovels, picks, crowbars, sledgehammers, saws, wheelbarrows, stretchers, etc. 226 wheeled and 77 crawler tractors, 5 excavators. Measures were taken to provide workers with the necessary building materials (construction tools, timber, cement, bricks, etc.). “Place the population in the surrounding villages, barracks, buildings of forestry and other organizations, and build dugouts for the missing area. Provide food at the expense of collective farms, organize boiler stations…” the document noted. “In order to improve the uninterrupted supply of food for the mobilized, the chairmen of the executive committees of the district councils were obliged to ensure the creation of a carry-over supply of food for at least 10 days in the area of work of the district and demanded not to allow any interruptions in the supply of workers with food,” mobile isolation hospitals and medical stations were organized , sanitary epidemiological and disinfection teams. For this purpose, the necessary number of medical workers, medicines, and dressings were allocated.

Chuvashstroytrest was given the task to produce 500 pieces of reinforced concrete caps for machine-gun bunkers, artels - ax handles, handles for shovels, wooden spoons, bowls, bast shoes, and mittens. Mining of rubble stone began in the Marposad and Cheboksary regions, as well as massive logging.

During the construction of defensive structures, a socialist competition was organized “for the early and high-quality completion of the construction of defensive structures, ... for high quality work, the exchange of work experience and its dissemination among workers was organized.” A challenge Red Banner of the Council of People's Commissars and the regional committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks was established, which was awarded to the advanced team. A system of rewarding advanced sections, teams, units and individual workers was introduced. Trade in essential goods was organized in slave sites. Many mobilized did not have good clothes and shoes. During work, shoes wore out especially quickly. To solve the problem, at the request of the mobilized, trade in bast and bast shoes was organized. In some areas there were cases of failure to fulfill the plan for mobilizing labor, horse-drawn transport, and the absence of certain goods and equipment. However, such shortcomings were promptly corrected.

Completion of construction

On January 21, 1942, a telegram was sent to the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs L.P. Beria, signed by the head of the 12th Army Directorate Leonyuk, the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars Somov, and the secretary of the regional committee Charykov: “The State Defense Committee’s task for the construction of the Sur defensive line has been completed. The volume of excavated earth is 3 million cubic meters, 1,600 firing points (bunkers and platforms), 1,500 dugouts and 80 km of trenches with communication passages have been built.”