Defense of a small land summary. Alexander Zorich, writer. Games. Black peacoats. Marines. Battle for Novorossiysk

On the inside of the monument is written the oath that Kunikov’s detachment took:
“We will give our will, our strength and our blood, drop by drop, for the happiness of the people for you, beloved homeland. We swear by our banners, the name of our wives and children, the name of our beloved homeland. We swear to withstand the upcoming battles with the enemy and grind down his strength.”

Around this monument, on the outskirts of the city, there is a nature reserve area, where you can still see traces of the echoes of the 1943 war: grass-covered trenches and trenches. In addition, not far from the memorial, anyone can visit a museum-exhibition of military equipment and weapons from the Great Patriotic War.

History of the Malaya Zemlya memorial in Novorossiysk

The Malaya Zemlya Memorial was opened in 1982 on September 16. Its authors: Tsigal V.E., (engaged in the development of sculptures), Khavin V.I., Belopolsky Ya.B., Kananin R.G. (architects). The Malaya Zemlya monument is dedicated to the Marine Corps detachment that carried out the landing operation on the night of February 14, 1943 under the command of Major Ts.L. Kunikov.

The defense of this small piece of land lasted 225 days, and ended in the early morning of September 16, the day of the liberation of all Novorossiysk. In honor of this great event, 225 poplar seedlings were planted, framing the pedestrian paths leading to the main monument of Malaya Zemlya - the ship memorial, which some local residents nowadays simply call “Iron”. Also, for his courage and bravery in 21 wars, he was awarded the highest title in the USSR - Hero of the Soviet Union. After the opening of the monument, it became the main symbol of Novorossiysk. Almost all delegations visiting the city, as well as a large number of tourists and visiting excursions, visit it without fail.

Museum Malaya Zemlya Novorossiysk

Having reached the central, uppermost part of the memorial museum, you will be greatly impressed by the sculptural composition “Heart”. In the wall, as if torn apart by an artillery shell, a hole was knocked out in the shape of the Malaya Zemlya bridgehead. It contains a gilded heart, in the form of a sculptural image. There is an embossed inscription on it: “In memory, in heart - forever,” which can be clearly read in the photo in this gallery. Inside the heart itself, there is a capsule-sleeve containing a list of those who died for Novorossiysk in battles. And every year on May 8, an operation called “Memory” is carried out, on this day, in a solemn atmosphere, a list of newly discovered names of deceased soldiers is added to the capsule. Inside the niche, on the wall made of small mosaic tiles, like ruby ​​glass clotted with blood, is laid out the oath taken by the soldiers before the landing.

After the victory in the Battle of Stalingrad, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command decided to build on their success in the southwest of the USSR. Soviet troops launched an offensive in the direction of Donbass and the Caucasus. In early February, the Red Army reached the Sea of ​​Azov and liberated Maykop.

On the Black Sea coast, the key defensive area of ​​the Nazis was Novorossiysk. One of the main blows to the Nazis was supposed to be delivered from the sea by landing troops. Also, the Soviet command hoped to divert significant enemy forces by threatening to create a bridgehead on the coast for a further attack on Novorossiysk.

For this purpose, Operation Sea was developed, the commander of which was appointed Vice Admiral Philip Oktyabrsky. Two groups of troops of the 18th Airborne Army were to land on the coast southwest of Novorossiysk. The first is in the area of ​​Yuzhnaya Ozereyka (Yuzhnaya Ozereevka), the second is not far from the village of Stanichki and Cape Myskhako.

The group in the South Ozereyka area was the main one, and the group in the Stanichka area was a distraction. However, the storm disrupted the original plans. On the night of February 4, 1943, 262 Soviet soldiers under the command of Major Caesar Kunikov made a successful landing just near Myskhako. This piece of coastline was named Malaya Zemlya, and Kunikov’s detachment became the main landing force.

Writer Georgy Sokolov, in his collection of short stories “Malaya Zemlya,” published in 1949, reports that this name was invented by the Marines themselves. In support, the author cites the text of their letter to the Military Council of the 18th Airborne Army.

“We named the piece of land near the city of Novorossiysk that we reclaimed from the enemy as Malaya Zemlya. Although it is small, this is our land, Soviet... and we will never give it up to any enemy... We swear with our battle flags... to withstand the upcoming battles with the enemy, grind their forces and cleanse Taman of fascist scoundrels. Let’s turn Small Land into a big grave for the Nazis,” said the letter from the “Little Landers.”

“Complete confusion reigned”

Historians have differing opinions about how the landing took place. Most domestic authors claim that the Soviet troops did not carry out the necessary artillery preparation and the Germans met the Soviet paratroopers with heavy fire.

In addition, the enemy rushed into a foot attack, trying to destroy the Red Army landing force. However, Kunikov’s detachment, consisting of well-trained fighters, was able to provide worthy resistance and push back the superior enemy forces, also taking up advantageous defensive positions.

At the same time, the German historian Paul Karel, a former translator of Adolf Hitler, in his book “Eastern Front. Scorched Earth" presents a different picture of events. According to Karel, at the time of the landing “not a single shot was fired from the German side.”

Referring to eyewitnesses from Nazi troops, Karel reports that for a long time the Germans could not understand whose ships were sailing to the shore. Then the Soviet ships opened fire and destroyed the communications center between the Nazi artillery crews. Confusion in the ranks of the Wehrmacht allowed the Marines to disembark unhindered.

“There was complete confusion. Nobody knew what happened... Kunikov’s fighters dug in alone or in small groups and fired so wildly from everywhere that the uninitiated got the impression that an entire division had landed. Absolute ignorance of the situation deprived the German command of firmness,” Karel describes the situation.

Another source telling about the landing south of Novorossiysk is the book “Malaya Zemlya” by the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, Colonel Leonid Brezhnev. At that time, the future leader of the Soviet state held the position of head of the political department of the 18th Army. Brezhnev is one of the eyewitnesses of Operation Sea.

According to him, the actions of the Soviet artillery and fleet before the landing at Novorossiysk were coordinated. In addition, for the first time, Soviet sailors used multiple launch rocket systems. At least one rocket launcher, as Brezhnev writes, was mounted on the minesweeper "Skumbria".

“Two torpedo boats crossed the path of the landing craft at high speed, leaving a smoke screen to hide them from fire from the shore. The patrol boat struck the area of ​​the fish factory, suppressing enemy firing points remaining after the artillery attack. At the moment when the Kunikovites (fighters of Kunikov’s detachment) rushed to the shore, our batteries carried the fire into the depths,” says the book of the Secretary General of the CPSU Central Committee.

"Very important area"

In a conversation with RT, military historian Yuri Melkonov noted that a professionally conducted landing operation is the highest manifestation of military art. Landing behind enemy lines on an unprepared bridgehead is an extremely risky undertaking. But Kunikov’s detachment coped with this task brilliantly.

“I must say frankly, the Soviet Union had modest experience in conducting landing operations. There were few successful landings. What the Soviet marines did near Novorossiysk was not only a feat, but also an example of professional work. If we talk about command, then, probably, the personality of Major Kunikov, who received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, played a big role in the success,” Melkonov said.

According to the expert, a handful of Soviet soldiers were entrenched on virtually bare ground. A section of the territory in the Myskhako area was devoid of natural fortifications, and the Germans fired such fire from commanding heights that “stones and earth burned.” Despite this, the Marines were able to drive the Nazis out of the most dangerous positions and received powerful reinforcements in the following days.

“I’ll try not to overuse numbers, but I’ll give one now. When we occupied the bridgehead, the Nazis attacked continuously, raining down a gigantic amount of shells and bombs, not to mention machine-gun fire. And it is estimated that there were 1,250 kg of this deadly metal for each defender of Malaya Zemlya,” writes Brezhnev.

In his book, the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee says that in the first minutes the assault detachment of marines “managed to occupy a very small, but very important section of the coast.” A small group of paratroopers immediately went on the offensive, destroying about a thousand enemy soldiers and repulsing four artillery pieces. An hour and a half after the landing, a second group of paratroopers arrived to help Kunikov’s detachment, then another. On February 4, the total number of defenders of Malaya Zemlya reached 800 people.

• Malaya Zemlya
• voennoe-delo.com

If you believe the data in Brezhnev’s book, within a few nights two marine brigades, an infantry brigade, an anti-tank fighter regiment and other units landed on the bridgehead. Hundreds of tons of ammunition and food were unloaded from the landing ships. By February 10, the Soviet group reached 17 thousand people. The soldiers were armed with machine guns, mortars, artillery pieces and anti-tank guns.

Soviet troops, lacking the necessary shelters on the shore, quickly created an extensive underground infrastructure. The tunnels contained firing points, ammunition depots, rooms for the wounded, a command post and a power plant.

“In essence, the entire Malaya Zemlya has turned into an underground fortress. 230 securely hidden observation points became her eyes, 500 fire shelters became her armored fists, tens of kilometers of communication passages, thousands of rifle cells, trenches, and crevices were opened. Necessity forced us to dig adits in the rocky ground, build underground ammunition depots, underground hospitals, and an underground power plant,” recalls Brezhnev.

"The Nazis were afraid of them"

The main goal of Operation Sea was the liberation of Novorossiysk. The paratroopers needed to recapture strategically important heights from the enemy, ensuring the unhindered passage of Soviet warships. The Marines would then link up with ground forces, completely blocking the Nazi garrison.

However, these plans were not destined to come true. In the second half of February 1943, the Red Army received a powerful counterattack on the southern flank and was forced to leave the previously liberated Donbass. The assault on Novorossiysk was postponed until September. The troops that landed on Malaya Zemlya began to have serious supply problems.

“The Soviet marines found themselves in a difficult situation, but did not leave this piece of territory to the enemy. The Nazis launched their most violent attacks on them in mid-April. It is estimated that the heroic defense of Malaya Zemlya lasted 225 days. Only on September 9 did the Marines go on the offensive against Novorossiysk, but all this time they were carrying out an important mission - they were distracting significant enemy forces,” Melkonov noted.

• Reproduction of a drawing by artist Pavel Yakovlevich Kirpichev “Landing”
• RIA News

RT's interlocutor believes that the landing on Malaya Zemlya was not in vain, despite the risks and trials to which the Marines were subjected. The paratroopers completed their task of creating a bridgehead for the attack on Novorossiysk and in the first half of September 1943 they became one of the main strike groups.

“The Soviet naval infantry during the war did not have special ships, equipment and weapons. However, the black berets were one of the most trained units. They were taught to land on unprepared territory and fight in rocky terrain. They were masters of close combat and hand-to-hand combat. The Nazis were afraid of them. This is an indisputable fact,” Melkonov emphasized.

But the other landing was successful. Under the command of Major Caesar Kunikov, using a smoke screen, 275 soldiers with light weapons landed from boats in the Stanichka area, near the Sudzhuk Spit. Initially it was supposed to be a false landing, but it was this that was successful and became the main one. Volunteers who had undergone sufficient training took part in the landing. The paratroopers trained for more than a month and studied various weapons. At one o'clock in the morning, the boats of the 4th patrol boat division were ready to land troops. The artillery barrage lasted ten minutes in the area between Cape Love and the Sudzhuk Spit, and the landing began. Speed ​​and pressure made it possible to quickly dislodge the enemy from the shore, capture enemy weapons and ensure the landing of reinforcements. Losses during Kunikov's landing were minimal for such an operation and amounted to several people killed and wounded. It should be noted that the defense was held by German units together with Romanian units and the Romanians were an easier enemy. Having gathered their strength, the enemy desperately tried to drop troops into the sea, but the paratroopers were able to maintain their positions. The enemy, taken aback by the onslaught, left artillery pieces with ammunition on the shore, which provided the landing with artillery. A memorial inscription to the heroic landing on Malaya Zemlya. From the sea, the landing was supported by rocket artillery fire from the minesweeper (KATSCH-606) "Mackerel". It was a mobilized fishing seiner, with a crew of former fishermen under the command of Chief Petty Officer V.S. Zholudev, on which 12 8-charge 82-mm rocket launchers were mounted. A slow-moving minesweeper with rocket weapons was hardly allocated for a diversionary operation. The smoke screen was set up by two torpedo boats. During the landing, one of the boats was sunk by enemy fire and the crew joined the landing party. The remaining boats returned to Gelendzhik for the second batch of paratroopers. Morning was approaching and it was necessary to hurry, and besides, the sea was very rough. By morning, 870 soldiers and commanders had landed in Stanichka. At eight o'clock in the morning the boats left Tsemes Bay, hiding behind smoke screens. The flagship boat of division commander Sipyagin was the last to return to Gelendzhik. Later, the remaining forces of the main landing force made their way to this bridgehead (some sources call the figure only five people). Using reinforcements, the bridgehead was significantly expanded. By February 10, the landing force occupied the village of Myskhako and several blocks of Novorossiysk. However, the position of the landing party was significantly complicated by the fact that all the dominant heights were occupied by the enemy and the landing positions were in full view, which led to heavy losses. The paratroopers were forced to constantly bite into the rocky soil of the coast.

"Malaya Zemlya" in Novorossiysk

The monument-ensemble “Malaya Zemlya” is located on the Black Sea coast in Tsemes Bay of Novorossiysk. The monument is part of the memorial complex dedicated to the “Heroes of the Civil and Great Patriotic Wars”.

Paratroopers' Oath

In April 1943, Soviet troops fought fierce battles near Novorossiysk. The piece of land recaptured from the enemy by the landing soldiers was called Malaya Zemlya. The paratroopers managed to gain a foothold and expand the bridgehead, actually biting into the ground. Realizing the importance of this wedge driven into the wall of the Nazi defense, headquarters ordered to defend the line at any cost.

In the geographical sense, “Malaya Zemlya” does not exist; this name appeared thanks to the oath of the paratroopers who defended this territory:
“...We reclaimed from the enemy a piece of land near the city of Novorossiysk that we called Malaya Zemlya. Although it is small, this is our land, Soviet, it is watered with our sweat, our blood, and we will never give it up to any enemy... We swear by our battle flags, in the name of our wives and children, in the name of our beloved Motherland, we swear to stand in the upcoming battles with the enemy, grind their forces and cleanse Taman of fascist scoundrels. Let’s turn Malaya Zemlya into a big grave for the Nazis.”

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Bridgehead on the shore of Tsemes Bay

Two hundred and fifty soldiers of a marine detachment led by Major Ts.L. Kunikov landed in the Stanichka area and seized a small bridgehead on the shore of Tsemes Bay. Soon three more groups of Marines were transferred here. On February 5, it was decided to send the main landing forces to Stanichka.
The paratroopers managed to gain a foothold and expand the bridgehead, actually biting into the ground. Realizing the importance of this wedge driven into the wall of the Nazi defense, headquarters ordered to defend the line at any cost.
Over two months of heavy fighting, it was possible to slightly expand the land captured by Kunikov’s paratroopers in the Stanichka-Myskhako area. However, the length of this section still did not exceed 8 km from west to east and 6 km from north to south. The total number of defenders of “Malaya Zemlya” was increased to 17,000 people, and several T-60 light tanks were transported here.

A new formation was formed within the 18th Army - an airborne group of troops under the leadership of General Grechkin. It was these units that had to defend “Malaya Zemlya” at any cost. All the dominant heights were in the hands of German troops, the bridgehead was well under fire. The key to successful defense could only be large-scale sapper and engineering work. Under the leadership of engineer-captain Turbaevsky K.I. the entire occupied territory was dug with trenches, including in rocky soil, 230 hidden observation posts and more than 500 firing points were equipped, and underground warehouses were created. The command post was located in a rock shelter at a depth of six meters.
The heroism of our soldiers, the coordinated actions of aviation, navy and ground units made it possible to preserve this important bridgehead. The defense lasted another 3 long months, but the enemy failed to break the paratroopers. Having stood their ground, they fulfilled the oath made on February 5th.

Panoramas of the Malaya Zemlya complex

Location on the map

For many of us, a visit to the Black Sea coast is associated only with a summer beach holiday, relaxation and unobtrusive entertainment. However, the surroundings of the cities in this region include many things. By visiting them, you can learn more about the history of the country. One of them is the Malaya Zemlya memorial. Novorossiysk, in the vicinity of which it is located, cannot be called the most popular city for a beach holiday. But excursions to the memorial are organized from many resort villages. The place can be reached by car or public transport. It is located directly on the outskirts of Novorossiysk.

What will the “Malaya Zemlya” memorial tell visitors about? Novorossiysk was captured by enemies during the Great Patriotic War. But on a small piece of land, Soviet troops held a long heroic defense, which later made it possible to develop a counteroffensive and liberate the city. This victory caused significant damage to the enemy and weakened his forces. Historians agree that the liberation of Novorossiysk was one of the important stages in the battle for the freedom of the Caucasus. After this, our troops were able to carry out powerful offensive operations.

A small plot of land has an area of ​​less than 30 square meters. km. But it was precisely this that the Soviet landing force was able to recapture during a fierce battle in February 1943. The defense lasted as much as 225 days (from February 4 to September 16, 1943), after which the bridgehead became the starting point for the offensive and helped liberate Novorossiysk. The "Malaya Zemlya" memorial is a symbol of courage, bravery and unity of the Russian people.

At the moment, entrance to the Museum of Military Equipment and the Gallery of Glory, which are located inside the monument, is open to visitors. The composition itself is made in the form of a warship, on which the heroic amphibious landing was carried out under the leadership of Ts.L. Kunikov. The dynamic image is complemented by bas-reliefs depicting sailors and soldiers.

The Malaya Zemlya Memorial (Novorossiysk) includes the Gallery of Glory, which contains bas-reliefs of a memorial plaque indicating the regiments and troops that took part in the battles for the city. In the center of the gallery there is a sculptural composition with a mosaic panel, where the oath of the soldiers is written, and in the “Heart” capsule there are the names of the victims.

The entire territory of the memorial is protected and is under special protection of the state. There are fragments of guns, ditches and trenches, fortifications and command posts preserved here.

In order to see this place with their own eyes and honor the memory of the victims, tourists visit the Malaya Zemlya memorial. Novorossiysk, the map of which necessarily contains an indication of the location of the bridgehead, most often serves as the starting point on this journey.

The memorial gained particular popularity in the Soviet Union after the publication of Leonid Brezhnev’s book. He published his war memoirs in 1978 and called them “Malaya Zemlya.” Novorossiysk still retains the memory of the fighting on the bridgehead, memories of which Brezhnev described in this book, which sold millions of copies throughout the country.