Military-historical campaign

All three are engaged in tourism: Anton military, Ivan automobile, Boris mountain. All three know about the Great Patriotic War and respect those who worked and died for their Motherland. So, a two-day hiking trip in the form of the Red Army with authentic equipment, food and a historically justified combat mission was scheduled for October 5, 2012.

German barbed wire in coils at the battlefields, Smolensk region, 2012.

The events of the autumn of 1941 were taken as a historical basis. German troops surrounded the Red Army between Smolensk and Vyazma. The 33rd Soviet Army did not get surrounded, being south of the boiler. The soldiers were forced to retreat east to the Mozhaisk Defense Line (a line of fortifications with bunkers for the organized defense of the approaches to Moscow, until 2010 we organized excursions to it on the tour.replik.ru website). The movement of the 33rd Army was conditionally along the Ugra River.

Scheme of combat operations 09/30-11/2/1941 from the book "Московская оборонительная операция 30.09-5.12.1941. Книга первая" (Moscow defensive operation 09/30-12/5/1941. Book one), ed. coll. Zhilin V.A., the area of our landing is marked with a cross.

In this area (Kobelevo-Izvolsk) the campaign was planned. During the “retreat”, it was necessary, avoiding settlements, to move east, cross the Uyka and further, finding the means of crossing the Vorya (15-30 meters wide, the banks are steep), reach Izvolsk. This area is covered with old trenches and dugouts and strewn with "relics".

The sergeant examines the captured weapons and checks the personnel.

The uniform of the Red Army was purchased without any problems, and Ivan became a sergeant, because he was in charge of the map. The equipment was rented from friends-reenactors. We also rented mass-dimensional models of weapons (2 PPSh assault rifles and one “trophy” Mauser 98k carbine).

Dry meal ration and field meals were collected in accordance with the allowances for soldiers of the Red Army for 1941, they are available on the website rkka.ru. A soldier should not carry field food with him (to provide a soldier is the task of the commissary services, including the field kitchen). But we didn’t have a field kitchen and, by the way, we didn’t carry cartridges for our “weapon”. It was precisely the weight of the cartridges in the absence of a field kitchen that we imitated with products from the field food.

Ivan adjusts triangles and becomes a sergeant. “Oh, I had to take the kubari!” he mutters.

I want to note that these nutritional norms were surprisingly balanced and convenient for field use. The only thing we had left was black bread and biscuits, which, in our opinion, were too much in terms of nutrition. But butter and sauerkraut, which are usually not taken on hikes, turned out to be surprisingly tasty and non-perishable products, and now we take them on hikes. As for 100 grams of vodka per day per person, this dose flew into the stomach as food and did not give any relaxation / intoxication after a marching day ...

Here they are "retreating".

What we had for 2 days for 3 people:

Dry meal ration:

1. Dry crackers - 3 kg.
2. Canned porridge 1-1.2 kg.
3. Canned soup 0.45 kg (canned beans were used).
4. Canned meat or sausage (a can of Belarusian stew 0.33 kg and lard).
5. Sugar 0.2 kg (this is 8 cubes).
6. Tea 12 g (4 tablespoons).
7. Salt 60 g (2 tablespoons).

Main field food:

1. Bread black / gray - 5.4 kg (6 loaves !!!).
2. Groats 0.84 kg (this is a bit much).
3. Pasta 0.2 kg.
4. Meat 0.9 kg (we took frozen meat).
5. Butter or lard 180 g (used butter, a standard pack).
6. Vegetable oil 120 g (this is 2/3 cup, on the last day, when there was nothing else, they ate it with bread and salt, very tasty with hunger).
7. Sugar 180 g (cup).
8. Tea 6 g (2 tablespoons).
9. Salt for cooking 180 gr. (almost a glass!).
10. Fresh vegetables: total 5 kg (potatoes 3 kg, fresh or sauerkraut (preferably sauerkraut) 1 kg, carrots 0.3 kg (1 large), cucumbers 0.7 kg (7 medium pcs).
11. About 10 liters of drinking water and 0.7 liters of vodka.

We also did not forget about shag, tissue paper and matches, which also normally relied on a soldier of the Red Army.

The first field dinner on wet foliage.

The scheduled bus picked us up from the Moscow bus station near "Tyoply Stan" metro station. Ahead was the night from Friday to Saturday, darkness and rain. The last "civilian" bottle of beer set off the upcoming adventure.

I have been to Tyomkino on the central square more than once. There is a monument, several grocery stores, police ... during the day. And now, at the beginning of the twelfth night, there were only puddles. Local residents got off the bus and quickly went home. But still, we were lucky, and the guys on a LADA2109 took us 15 kilometers to the south to the beginning of our route.

After a smoke and orienting ourselves on the terrain, we decided to go down the road, to find a drier place to spend the night. The rain stopped, the moon came out and, despite the inhospitable autumn landscapes, we were in a great mood. For the night, we cut up a spruce branch, laid 2 square raincoats on it and, putting on all our clothes, took cover from the dampness of the third.

Sleep was not sweet, and everyone had some kind of terrible dream. Either they surrounded us, or they tried to take us prisoner...

In the morning, a difficult test awaited us: to collect and stow the equipment so that it fits all of us, does not interfere with walking and hangs according to the charter. To be honest, the slopes looked sad on the “fighters” until the end of the campaign.

The shooter has trophy boots and weapons with pouches and a bayonet. The other two are submachine gunners.

Forcing Uika was not a difficult task. It was more difficult to get close to it, since it was necessary to go in azimuth, crossing entire fields of bushes and nettles, with unpredictable holes in them.

Further, the path ran along forest roads, among real trenches and dugouts built here in 1941-1943. Having gone out to Vora, we found that there were no “means of crossing” on it, a river up to 30 meters wide with a strong current and cold water. Of course, if enemy tanks appeared there, on the hill, we would jump into the water without hesitation. This threatened, if not drowning, then a serious cold. In reality, we had to go south, to the Ugra, so that there, along the ford indicated on the map, go east, across the river. Otherwise, in accordance with the historical rationale, we will be captured or killed.

The canned porridge that we had for dinner turned out to be inedible: it contained a lot of dead fatty maggots. Manufacturers of canned food are completely fucked up. This was not the case under Stalin! I had to dine on bread and butter.

The road along the channel led to the south, led us to a completely enchanting fortified area of the Great Patriotic War and dissolved. It was possible to continue moving without a road, but we met with such a windbreak that the speed of movement dropped to 1 km / h. At such a speed, we risked not only not going to the Ugra, but not going anywhere at all, and remained in a deep forest in a day. In this case, one could immediately start moving in azimuth to the carriageway in the west, but it was pure surrender.

German barbed wire embedded in trees.

It's funny, but I had to play the role of a political officer in earnest, encouraging my friends not to give up and “not to fall into the clutches of the Germans, where warmth and comfort are promised,” but to try to move south, to the Ugra, and that the windbreak could not last long. It was also difficult to make a decision because it was going on in the evening, we had a very small reserve before dark.

Anyway, we moved south. Windbreak really soon ended. Under the last rays of the sun, we passed a makeshift memorial with dozens of helmets, as we had on our heads. A memorial in memory of those who died storming this steep coast in 1942.

For the night, a site was chosen on the high bank of the Vori, fenced on three sides by the Germans at one time with barbed wire, dug in a trench and used, it seems, for artillery. Caponiers for rolling guns into them and unused barbed wire in coils were located immediately behind the front trench.

Borya is digging a place for a fire to make sure there are no unexploded shells from the war.

The weather was wonderful: clear skies without wind or rain. We prepared firewood and built a screen from the tent so that the heat from the fire would be reflected from the cloth and warm us. Another raincoat covered our legs. On the other side of the river, a wolf howled. But we were not afraid, he would not swim across the river.

An hour later, the tent under Ivan began to burn, he was lying too close to the fire. The tent was put out and everyone fell asleep again.

At 3 am I woke up because my feet were wet. It had been raining for an hour now, and our raincoat was soaked at our feet. Water leaked from the screen under Boris, and Ivan generally lay by the fire and the screen covered his half. The fire went out, and the downpour was so violent that all three sat down, cross-legged, and tried not to lose heat. The wolf howled. The coldest time of the day - the fifth hour of the morning - was coming. Without sticking our heads out from under the screen, we tried to blow up to the embers of the fire to get some kind of flame, but without new firewood it was useless. Now, if no action is taken, the raincoat will get wet, the overcoats will get wet, we will rapidly lose heat, and the rain will still pour, pour and pour.

I got up, put on my wet raincoat, and, rummaging around in the darkness, gathered up sticks. They lit a fire. It was Borya's turn to collect firewood. Then came Vanya. It began to get light and the downpour, fortunately, began to subside.

By 10 am we were already dry and hot. We packed our gear (there wasn't much food left, and the gear became more compact and lighter) and marched south. Ticks grazed in herds in the fields. Despite the fact that we cleansed ourselves of them, I was bitten by one, crawling from my trousers under my tunic.

Traveling without GPS left its mark: we did not know exactly how far from certain landmarks we were, and at some moments it was possible to choose the direction of movement only with some probability. We had to walk to the ford for a very long time, the equipment pressed on my back, the shoes were not comfortable. But the ford turned out to be where it was drawn on the map.

Waist-deep in water, we forded the river “to our own”. The “combat mission” was completed, we poured water out of our shoes and smiled. On the outskirts of the next village, a friend and patriot was waiting for us - Seryozha and his car "UAZ-Patriot".

Author: Anton Volchkov

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