Kaluga region, and formerly a province, is located southwest of Moscow. This explains that not a single conqueror who went to seize Moscow and his homeland did not pass these places. All the enemies of Russia appeared, as a rule, from the west or south. It began in the 13th century, after the attack of the Tatar-Mongols. Two troops stood along the banks of a small river: Tatar and Russian. The Tatars could not stand the confrontation and left without accepting the battle. So Russia on the Kaluga fields was forever freed from the yoke. But the attacks of the Crimean Tatars began. Then the French went to Moscow along the old Kaluga road and fled back in fear along it. The last battles took place in the time of trials of the Patriotic War. The terrible beginning of the Great War is Zaitseva Gora. The Kaluga region, as always, was at the center of military events.
The beginning of the tragedy
Near Zaitseva Gora, our soldiers, regardless of the victims, tried to block the approaches to the Varshavskoe highway - a direct route to Moscow. Military operations were conducted for almost a year. It wasa very difficult time for our fighters, who found themselves practically surrounded and cut off from the main forces. Zaitseva Gora is a height of 275.6 m. That is how it was called in headquarters maps when fierce continuous battles were going on here. She promised all kinds of advantages to that of the opponents in whose hands she would be. Zaitseva Gora saw heavy fighting. The Kaluga region helped the Soviet Army with everything it could.
Benefit of height
Zaitseva Gora blocked the way along the highway to Yukhnov.
Created a threat to the roads to Baryatin and Kirov and the Smolensk-Sukhinichi railway line.
Therefore, the enemy furiously held each settlement located nearby, and, having lost, sought to return. The stronghold of German resistance is Zaitseva Gora. The Kaluga region gathered all its forces to crush their resistance.
Distribution of forces
Our soldiers on this sector of the front were more than twice as many, but the Germans had long-term field fortifications with minefields and full-profile trenches in several rows and aircraft dominating the sky. It happened that in a few days of heavy fighting, our regiments lost half of their strength. The feat of soldiers is Zaitseva Gora. The Kaluga region was already all occupied by enemies. Ours were in the ring.
In other words, each side made every effort not to lose operational advantages, and this led to more and more losses. But not every battle crippled the Nazi war machine.
Tasks of the SovietArmy
Before the soldiers of the 50th army, in cooperation with units of the 49th army, the task was to free Yukhnov and move in the direction of Vyazma. The first part of this task was to clear the Warsaw Highway from the Ressa River to the village of Milyatino.
The 4th German field army was operating in the Yukhnovsky direction. And the road Rosslavl - Kuzminki - Zaitseva Gora - Yukhnov connected this army with the rear. Each settlement on the outskirts of the highway was adapted for all-round defense. The key to all German positions on the highway was Zaitseva Gora. The Kaluga region, the history of the battles on its land keep the memory of the wonderful people we lost along the way.
At the end of winter, with a swift blow, having driven the Germans out of the village of Lenskoye, parts of the division rushed to the highway and found themselves in complete encirclement. They fought for two weeks without any support, without supplies. There is only one thing left - to break back. And there was more than one fight ahead. The spring thaw was added to the fierce resistance of the enemy. Clay soil is limp. Vehicle traffic was stopped. The Germans had the Warsaw highway at their disposal. On it, day and night, not only ammunition and food were delivered, but military reserves also approached. Local skirmishes with the enemy could not solve the main task: to get out of the encirclement to the Vyazma region as quickly as possible. And in order to cope with such a task, it was necessary to take Zaitseva Gora. And this had to be done immediately, until the spring thaw would have thwarted any offensive.
Zaitseva Gora was entangledbarbed wire, littered with artillery batteries, strewn with mines. No one expected a quick bloodless victory.
A decisive battle for the height, not a battle, but one swift offensive. Sappers erected snow ramparts to protect against enemy fire. Infantrymen equipped positions for machine guns. There was no hope for tanks and artillery - the snow soaked in water made their approach impossible.
The morning of April 14 began with a massive bombardment of our positions on Zaitseva Gora. Cars with black crosses were bombed from the air. Our units, advancing, defended themselves from tanks. Soldiers rushed under enemy tanks with bundles of grenades. Stormers moved like an avalanche. In the battle for Zaitseva Gora, heroism was massive. By the end of the day, a red banner was hoisted over the height. The will to win prevailed.
Eternal memory
At the top is the museum "Zaitseva Gora". The Kaluga region carefully collects and stores all the relics found in the battlefields. The museum itself opened on May 9, 1972. The first visitors were veterans. Now the museum has large exposition areas and five thousand exhibits.
Immediately after the expulsion of the Nazis, Zaitseva Gora became a mass grave. “Those who are in grief all seem to see breakthroughs, they need clean air so much!..” The monument over the mass grave is a monumental figure of a soldier. This is how the memorial complex was formed. Young trees are planted around - birches, fir trees, hazel bushes, in which nightingales and roses sing in every way in spring. Cornflowers and daisies bloom in the fields. Swallows are flying swiftly over the memorial, cuckoos are calling. Later aroundThe memorial was lit by the Eternal Flame. The mass graves on Zaitseva Gora are replenished with the remains of soldiers found in the surrounding deciduous and spruce forests and swamps. The search is complicated by the rainy climate of the region, the eternal lead clouds in the sky. Good days are rare.
“The mountain remains a mountain, but the soldiers from under it do not get up alive. The mountain itself is their chest shot through. Flowers, like wounds, are brightly baked, and, worshiping those flowers, they do not tear them: they are intertwined like a living wreath”(author of the poem V. Pukhov).
