CrimeaPRESS reports:
On April 13, 1944, Simferopol was liberated from the brutal and monstrous fascist occupation, which lasted 865 long days.
German troops entered Simferopol on the night of November 2, 1941.
Already on November 12, the fascists formed a city administration, consisting of organizational and economic departments, with departments of nutrition, culture, technical operation and police.
Control over the activities of the Administration was carried out by the German commandant’s office, which worked with the Gestapo to exterminate communists, Jews and other people undesirable for Germany.
On January 1, 1942, a curfew was introduced in the city (from 17:00 to 08:00). From March 20, 1942, it lasted from 19:00 to 5:00.
As of February 1, 1942, 89,691 people were registered in the city, including 57.7% Russians, 16.6% Ukrainians, 14.5% Tatars and citizens of other nationalities.
On February 10, 1942, the Administration introduced compulsory labor service for the male population aged 18 to 55 years, mainly people were sent to clean the streets, as well as landscaping tasks. For exemption from this duty, citizens could contribute 80 rubles, and from March 1942 — 144 rubles.
By February 18, 1942, 10 thousand Jews and Crimeans were shot in Simferopol, according to some sources, 17 thousand, according to others.
The extermination of Jews and Gypsies began, and about 450 patients of the Simferopol psychiatric hospital were also shot.
By the spring of 1942, the fascist Administration introduced city taxation of persons over 18 years of age in the amount of 10% of all types of income. To maintain order, a separate tax was introduced in the amount of 5 rubles per person per month.
Active opposition to the German-Romanian occupiers in 1941 — April 1944. provided by underground organizations. The main resistance forces were groups of Soviet patriots.
Thus, just a few days after the fascist occupation, the first underground organizations arose in the city.
The underground fighters quickly established reliable contact with the Crimean partisans, passed them data for sabotage and reported on the preparation of German punitive operations. Enemy troops encountered strong resistance everywhere. Sabotage groups, in very difficult conditions, managed to carry out dozens of successful attacks on military targets of the occupiers and blow up 11 military trains.
At the beginning of 1942, several Komsomol-youth underground groups of Vasily Babii, Boris Khokhlov, Lydia Trofimenko, Anatoly Kosukhin, Senya Kusakin, Zoya Zhiltsova, Zhenya Semnyakov, and others appeared in Simferopol. These were mostly young boys and girls aged 16-18, they were united by one thing: love for the Motherland, hatred of the enemy and the desire to take revenge for the atrocities that the Germans committed in the city.
In total, 82 patriotic groups and organizations were active in Simferopol. One of them was a sabotage group led by Viktor Efremov.
Before the war, Efremov worked as deputy head of the railway station for technical matters. At the end of October 1941, when the Nazis had already approached the city, trains with cargo for Sevastopol continued to depart from the station. The dispatch was led by Viktor Efremov. Then the tracks, platforms, and workshops were blown up.
Efremov hid from the Nazis for three months, and when circumstances forced him to register at the fascist labor exchange, he called himself a wagon coupler. He went to work at the station with one goal: to harm enemies wherever possible. The professional training and organizational skills of Viktor Efremov were noticed by the Nazi administration, and he was appointed “Russian station chief.” He immediately began to create a sabotage group. It included I. G. Levitsky, V. Z. Lavrinenko, N. Ya. Sokolov and the old communist A. A. Brayer, whom Viktor Kirillovich arranged to work as a storekeeper. Through the underground worker N. S. Usova, who served as a translator at the station, in September 1943, a connection was established with Alexandra Voloshinova, the head of one of the largest patriotic organizations in Simferopol.
Sabotage on the railway started small — they poured sand and glass powder into the axleboxes of cars. But soon the delivery of delayed-action magnetic mines from the forest was established, which Alexandra Voloshinov handed over to Viktor Efremov. Enemy echelons flew downhill. On November 16, 1943, a train of eight cars with fuel derailed at the Kara-Kiyat station (now Bitumenaya). On November 17, on the Otradnaya — Dzhankoy section, Simferopol Soviet patriots blew up a train of 27 wagons with ammunition; Train traffic on this section was suspended for almost a day. In January 1944, at the Sarabuz station (now Ostryakovo), underground fighters blew up a military train that was heading to the Kerch Peninsula, where at that time parts of the Red Army were fighting the fascists. During the period of its activity, Viktor Efremov’s group committed 22 major acts of sabotage.
An active underground group “Falcon” operated in the Simferopol theater. The organizers of the group were the chief artist of the theater Nikolai Baryshev and actress Alexandra Peregonets. The underground group included about 60 people, including 10 theater employees.
During the period of its existence, the underground organized 45 major acts of sabotage. Hundreds of intelligence reports were sent to the “Mainland”. The group maintained active contacts with the Crimean partisans, as well as with the underground regional committee of the Communist Party. At the end of 1943, Nikolai Baryshev drew up a plan of Simferopol and marked the location of German military installations on it. Through the partisans, this plan came to the Soviet command and in April 1944 was used to liberate the Crimean capital.
The Sokol group was in good standing with Soviet intelligence, so it was assigned operations that only well-trained people could handle. In the fall of 1943, the underground even developed a plan to assassinate Hitler, who was supposedly going to come to Crimea.
On March 18, 1944, immediately after the performance, they were all captured. Only costume designer Elizaveta Kucherenko escaped arrest.
The arrested members of the Sokol group were shot in the Dubki tract on the territory of the concentration camp at the Krasny state farm on April 10, 1944, just three days before the liberation of Simferopol.
On the night of April 13, 1944, groups of the partisan Northern Unit destroyed the barracks of the German garrison, and in the morning tanks of the 79th brigade of Colonel P. S. Arkhipov and the 101st brigade of Lieutenant Colonel M. F. Khromchenko burst into Simferopol. Following them came the 27th Motorized Rifle and 6th Guards Tank Brigades, which finally drove the fascist invaders from the streets of Simferopol. Together with the troops, fighters of the 1st partisan brigade F.I. Fedorenko entered the city. By 4 p.m. Simferopol was completely cleared of the enemy, and its residents joyfully greeted the liberating soldiers.
On April 13, Moscow saluted the troops that liberated Simferopol with 20 artillery salvoes from 224 guns. 11 units and formations were given the honorary names “Simferopol”.
The next day, April 14, on Komsomolskaya Symphony Square A meeting of city residents and liberator soldiers took place in the city of Simferopol, at which the commander of the 4th Ukrainian Front, Army General F.I. Tolbukhin, congratulated the residents of Simferopol on their liberation. For the distinction shown in the battles for the liberation of Crimea, 13 soldiers were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
In the center of the city, in honor of the liberators, a T-34 flamethrower tank numbered 201 from the 19th Tank Division was installed on a pedestal.
The combat vehicle was commanded by senior lieutenant Pavel Zargaryan, the driver was sergeant major Vladimir Melnikov, and the gunner was senior sergeant Alexey Kovbasa.
The crew of the tank was international, this is easily guessed by their last names and is confirmed by award sheets, which indicated their nationality. Zargaryan is an Armenian, drafted from Yerevan. Melnikov is Russian, drafted from Ryazan. Kovbasa is Ukrainian, although he was drafted from Kyrgyzstan. Zargaryan and Kovbas were 21 years old at the time of the liberation of Crimea, Melnikov was two years older. All three went through the entire war and received many military awards.
Zargaryan remained in the army and rose to the rank of colonel, holder of two Orders of Lenin, three Orders of the Red Star, Order of the Red Banner, Order of the Patriotic War, II degree, and Bogdan Khmelnitsky, III degree. Melnikov is a holder of the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st and 2nd degree, Red Star and Glory, 3rd degree. Kovbasa is a holder of the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, two Orders of the Patriotic War, 2nd degree, and the Order of the Red Star and Glory, 3rd degree.
“The troops received this tank in February 1944 with a flamethrower; there were very few of them back then.”recalled Crimean veteran Vladimir Melnikov in his letter to Simferopol historian Lyudmila Vyunitskaya.
By the way, there are only two such tanks with flamethrowers — «TO-34» — in the world: in Simferopol and Nizhny Tagil, where the combat vehicle is located near the museum.
The work on installing the monument was carried out by the chief of staff of the 216th engineer battalion of the 19th tank corps, captain S.F. Korobkin and lieutenant V.N. Bukharkin.
On the front side of the pedestal there was originally the inscription “Eternal memory to the heroes of the 19th Perekop Red Banner Corps who fell in the battles for the liberation of Crimea. April — May», later it was reconstructed and rebuilt several times, and the inscription on it was expanded: «Glory to the defenders and liberators of Crimea 1941-1944.»
In 2003, work began on the reconstruction of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, blown up by the Bolsheviks, on the site where the tank had previously stood. The tank monument was moved to a distance of about 60 meters from its original installation location. At the new location, a complex was created in the form of a stylized portico with columns, between which vertical slabs were installed, with the names of the units and formations that liberated the city of Simferopol and Crimea in 1944.
In 1973, the chief director of the Crimean Academic Russian Drama Theater named after M. Gorky, Anatoly Grigorievich Novikov, staged the play “They Were Actors,” which later became legendary, based on real events. The premiere of the play took place on October 13, 1973 and brought together Simferopol residents of all ages in the auditorium. In the front rows were people who knew the characters in the play personally and had seen them more than once on the theater stage. In 1977, the production was awarded the USSR State Prize.
Based on materials from the city socio-political newspaper “Southern Capital”
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