Today is the holiday of the Marines, this branch of the coastal troops of the Navy is rightfully considered part of the elite of the Armed Forces - on a par with paratroopers and special forces. In their more than 310-year history, the Marines have fought hundreds of battles, performed many feats, and repeatedly put the enemy to flight with their mere appearance.
The Great Patriotic War only confirmed the indestructible heroism of the marines.
One of the first heroic pages in the history of the Soviet marines was the famous Evpatoria landing in January 1942. The operation was preceded by a successful sortie of Soviet military sailors from the besieged Sevastopol, committed a month earlier.
A detachment of 56 marines under the command of Captain Vasily Topchiev landed from two boats in the Crimean Evpatoria, defeated the gendarmerie and the police department, destroyed a German plane at the airfield, and several enemy ships and boats in the port. In addition, the soldiers managed to free 120 prisoners of war and return to Sevastopol without loss.
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The Soviet leadership appreciated the results of the sortie and decided to arrange a new operation, on a larger scale. On January 5, 1942, a second group landed in the port of Evpatoria under the command of the same Captain Topchiev.
Having landed the troops and unloaded the ammunition, the minesweeper and the tugboat, firing back, withdrew to the sea.
From hotel rooftops "Crimea" and "Beau Rivage" the paratroopers were hit by heavy machine guns. A fierce battle was going on for the hotel "Crimea", was affected by the absence of heavy weapons. Marines rushed deep into the city.
Capturing the area of modern street. Revolution, both churches, on which German searchlights stood, and the building of a labor school (now gymnasium No. 4), the main landing force moved to the area of \u200b\u200bthe old city, from where the uprising of the townspeople was to begin.
The sailors broke into the city hospital, where at that time the German hospital was located. The charge of hatred for the invaders was so high that the Germans were killed even with their bare hands.
From the memoirs of A. Kornienko: "We broke into the hospital ... with knives, bayonets and butts destroyed the Germans, threw them through the windows into the street ...".
Good knowledge of the quarters by the Yevpatoriya sailors ensured success at the first stage of the operation. The police station (now the library named after Makarenko) was occupied by employees of the Yevpatoriya city department of the NKVD, who transported a safe, documents and photographs from the police department and a photo studio onto the ships.
While the battle flared up in the center of the city, the group of scouts of Captain-Lieutenant Litovchuk, who had landed earlier, moved forward, practically without encountering resistance. They threw grenades at the coastal battery located on Cape Karantinny and seized the power station located here.
Having gained a foothold, the sailors began to move along the sea along the street. Gorky towards the new city. Here, behind the Udarnik sanatorium, a detachment of scouts entered into battle with an enemy unit, and forced it to retreat to the Gestapo building (the building of the resort polyclinic of the Udarnik sanatorium).
In the courtyard of the building where the Gestapo was located, a hand-to-hand fight ensued. The building of the Gestapo was defended mainly by local accomplices of the invaders, who defended themselves desperately, realizing what awaits them in case of captivity. The paratroopers could not occupy the building of the Gestapo, there were too few scouts.
The sailors who landed on the grain pier were also initially successful. Having shot the Romanian mounted patrol on the street. Revolutions, they, with little or no resistance, took possession of the warehouses "Zagotzerno" and a POW camp located near the cemetery. Up to five hundred servicemen were released from captivity.
The civilian population provided unusually active support for the paratroopers. Of the prisoners of war released from the camp near warehouses "Zagotzerno", the sailors formed a detachment with the name "All on Hitler" numbering up to 200 people, the rest were so exhausted that they could hardly move and hold weapons in their hands.
By morning, almost the entire old city was cleared of the Germans. The front line passed along the modern streets of Dm. Ulyanov - International - Matveev - Revolution. The entire new city and resort area remained in the hands of the Nazis. fierce battle for the building of the hotel "Crimea" ended only at 7 am. The headquarters of the battalion was located here.
Unfortunately, she failed to repeat the success of the first. The Germans, taught by bitter experience, pulled large forces into the city and quickly surrounded the detachment, and after two days of continuous fighting, it was defeated.
From the memoirs of the commander of the 70th engineer battalion Hubert Ritter von Heigl: "The Russians fired mercilessly at the advancing. Our forces were running out, but with the arrival of the reconnaissance battalion of the 22nd division and the 70th engineer battalion, the army regiments quickly replenished. By 14 o'clock we were taking house by house. The offensive continued with the help of the effective introduction of fighters into battle. ... From every corner and barely fortified shelters someone showed up and fired. The sappers, with their own means of combat, took over the protection of the units. They attacked the resistance with flamethrowers, explosive ammunition and gasoline. "
The fierce battle lasted up to 4 hours. The sailors were sorely lacking in ammunition. Ammunition for 100-m guns " also came to an end.
Taking into account the situation of the battalion, Lieutenant Commander K.V. Buzinov ordered a general withdrawal to the sea in order to keep at least the embankment until the arrival of the second echelon. However, there was no communication between the headquarters and many units. In fact, the fight broke into a series of street fights. The story with the hospital repeated itself, but now the roles have changed.
About fifty seriously wounded were in the hands of angry Germans. They were shot point-blank. All sailors took enemy bullets in the face, not a single one turned away. Together with them, the doctors Glitsos and Balakhchi (both Greeks by nationality), as well as one of the orderlies, died.
At about five o'clock in the evening at the hotel "Crimea" the surviving paratroopers gathered. Of the seven hundred and forty people, only 123 remained, many were wounded, along with them there were about two hundred fighters from among the released prisoners and local residents, but there were few weapons, there were almost no cartridges.
It became clear that the shore could not be held. Therefore, Buzinov decided to split up into groups and make his way through the city to the steppe. They broke through along Krasnoarmeyskaya Street to International Street, then went through Slobodka.
Some paratroopers managed to escape from the city. 48 people went to the Mamaisky quarries (according to another version, they hid for a day in a house on Russkaya Street, 4 near Praskovia Perekrestenko and Maria Glushko), and from there they dispersed in fives to the surrounding villages, many subsequently fought in partisan detachments. Some of the soldiers tried to hide in the city. The last center of resistance in the city was a group of paratroopers who had entrenched themselves on the upper floors of the Krym Hotel. Here the battle went on until the morning of January 6.
From the memoirs of the commander of the 70th engineer battalion H.R. von Heigl: "Before daylight, we were so close to the last center of resistance ... that the withdrawal of the Russian infantry became impossible. With my strike group with flamethrowers, explosive charges and 4 canisters of gasoline, I managed to capture the basement of the main building ... The Russians defended the last bastion before their total annihilation incredibly courageously..."
17 paratroopers, led by Buzinov, were surrounded by the Nazis near the village of Oraz (now Koloski). They took up defensive positions at the top of an ancient burial mound. During the battle, all paratroopers were killed. In 1977, during archaeological excavations, on the top of the barrow, the remains of naval belts, ribbons from peakless caps, spent cartridges, a naval badge, and a field bag were discovered. All this is in the trench, where the sailors of the battalion commander Buzinov took their last battle.
Soon, the M-33 submarine landed 13 scouts ashore to search for the missing group. The Germans pressed them to the sea as well. There was a hopeless situation - it was not possible to evacuate the detachment because of the storm. A week later, the commander of the group, Commissioner Ulyan Latyshev, transmitted the last radiogram - "We are undermined by our grenades. Farewell!"
Later, the enemy repeatedly noted the open contempt of the Soviet marines for captivity and their readiness to die, but not leave their positions. No wonder the Germans respectfully nicknamed the Marines the "Black Death".
Image Source: Russian Seven
Today, very little is mentioned about the role of the very first ally of the USSR in the fight against Nazi Germany. This ally was the Tuva People's Republic.
The rewritten modern history mercilessly erases the faces and fates of those who stood to the end in one of the bloodiest wars of the past century. The Germans during the Great Patriotic War called the Tuvans "Der Schwarze Tod" - "Black Death". The Tuvans fought to the death even with the obvious superiority of the enemy, they did not take prisoners. They received such a nickname already in the very first battle.
On January 31, 1944, in the battle near Derazhno (Ukraine), Tuvan cavalrymen jumped out on small shaggy horses with sabers against the advanced German units. A little later, a captured German officer recalled that the spectacle had a demoralizing effect on his soldiers, who on a subconscious level perceived "these barbarians" as Attila's hordes. After this battle, the Germans gave the Tuvans the name "Der Schwarze Tod" - "Black Death".
In his memoirs, General Sergei Bryulov explained:
“The horror of the Germans was also connected with the fact that the Tuvans, committed to their own ideas about military rules, did not take the enemy prisoner in principle. And the command of the General Staff of the USSR could not interfere in their military affairs, after all, they are our allies, foreign volunteers, and in war all means are good.
From the report of Marshal Zhukov comrade. Stalin:
“Our foreign soldiers, cavalrymen are too brave, they do not know tactics, the strategy of modern warfare, military discipline, despite preliminary training, they do not know Russian well. If they continue to fight like this, none of them will be left alive by the end of the war.”
To which Stalin replied:
“Take care, do not be the first to attack, return the wounded in a delicate form with honors to their homeland. Living soldiers from the TPR, witnesses, will tell their people about the Soviet Union and their role in the Great Patriotic War.
“THIS IS OUR WAR!»
The Tuvan People's Republic became part of the Soviet Union already during the war, on August 17, 1944. In the summer of 1941, Tuva was de jure an independent state. In August 1921, the White Guard detachments of Kolchak and Ungern were expelled from there. The capital of the republic was the former Belotsarsk, renamed Kyzyl (Red City).
Soviet troops were withdrawn from Tuva by 1923, but the USSR continued to provide all possible assistance to Tuva, without claiming its independence.
It is customary to say that Great Britain provided the first support for the USSR in the war, but this is not so. Tuva declared war on Germany and its allies on June 22, 1941, 11 hours before Churchill's historic announcement on the radio. Mobilization immediately began in Tuva, the republic announced its readiness to send its army to the front.
38 thousand Tuvan arats in a letter to Joseph Stalin stated: "We are together. This is our war."
There is a historical legend about Tuva's declaration of war on Germany that when Hitler found out about this, it amused him, he did not even bother to find this republic on the map. But in vain.
At the time of entry into the war with Germany, there were 489 people in the ranks of the army of the Tuva People's Republic. But it was not the army of the Tuvan Republic that became a formidable force, but its assistance to the USSR.
ALL FOR THE FRONT!
Immediately after the declaration of war on fascist Germany, Tuva transferred to the Soviet Union not only the entire gold reserves of the republic, but also the extraction of Tuvan gold - for a total of 35 million then rubles (the purchasing power of which is ten times higher than the current Russian ones).
The Tuvans accepted the war as their own. This is evidenced by the amount of assistance that the poor republic provided to the front.
From June 1941 to October 1944, Tuva supplied 50,000 war horses and 750,000 heads of cattle for the needs of the Red Army. Each Tuvan family gave the front from 10 to 100 heads of cattle. The Tuvans literally put the Red Army on skis, supplying 52,000 pairs of skis to the front.
The Prime Minister of Tuva, Saryk-Dongak Chimba, wrote in his diary:"The whole birch forest near Kyzyl was destroyed."
In addition, the Tuvans sent 12,000 sheepskin coats, 19,000 pairs of mittens, 16,000 pairs of felt boots, 70,000 tons of sheep wool, 400 tons of meat, melted butter and flour, carts, sledges, harness and other goods totaling about 66.5 million rubles.
To help the USSR, the arats collected five echelons of gifts worth more than 10 million Tuvan akshas (the rate of 1 aksha is 3 rubles 50 kopecks), food for hospitals worth 200,000 akshas.
Almost all this is free of charge, not to mention honey, canned fruits and berries and concentrates, dressing bandages, medicinal herbs and medicines of national medicine, wax, resin ...
In 1944, 30,000 cows were donated from this stock to Ukraine. It was from this livestock that the post-war revival of Ukrainian animal husbandry began.
FIRST VOLUNTEERS
In the autumn of 1942, the Soviet government allowed the recruitment of volunteers from Tuva and Mongolia. The first Tuvan volunteers - about 200 people - joined the Red Army in May 1943 and were enlisted in the 25th separate tank regiment (from February 1944 it was part of the 52nd Army of the 2nd Ukrainian Front). The regiment fought on the territory of Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Hungary and Czechoslovakia.
And in September 1943, the second group of volunteers - 206 people - was enrolled in the 8th cavalry division, which participated, in particular, in raids on the fascist rear and Bandera (nationalist) groups in western Ukraine.
The first Tuvan volunteers were a typical national unit, they were dressed in national costumes and wore amulets.
Only at the beginning of 1944, the Soviet command asked the Tuvan soldiers to send their "objects of the Buddhist and shamanic cult" to their homeland.
Many other combat episodes can be cited that characterize the courage of the Tuvans. Here is just one such case:
The command of the 8th Guards Cavalry Division wrote to the Tuvan government: “... with a clear superiority of the enemy, the Tuvans fought to the death. So, in the battles near the village of Surmiche, 10 machine gunners, led by the commander of the Dongur-Kyzyl squad, and the calculation of anti-tank rifles, led by Dazhy-Seren, died in this battle, but did not retreat a single step, fighting to the last bullet. Over 100 enemy corpses were counted in front of a handful of brave men who died the death of heroes. They died, but where the sons of your Motherland stood, the enemy did not pass ... ".
The first Tuvan volunteers (about 200 people) joined the Red Army in May 1943. After a short training, they were enrolled in the 25th separate tank regiment (from February 1944 it was part of the 52nd army of the 2nd Ukrainian front). This regiment fought on the territory of Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Hungary and Czechoslovakia.
In September 1943, the second group of cavalry volunteers (206 people) was enrolled, after training in the Vladimir region, in the 8th cavalry division.
The cavalry division took part in raids behind enemy lines in western Ukraine. After the battle near Durazhno in January 1944, the Germans began to call the Tuvans "der schwarze Tod" - "Black Death".
The captured German officer Hans Remke during interrogation said that the soldiers entrusted to him "subconsciously perceived these barbarians (Tuvans) as Attila's hordes" and lost all combat capability.
Here it must be said that the first Tuvan volunteers were a typical national unit, they were dressed in national costumes and wore amulets. Only at the beginning of 1944, the Soviet command asked the Tuvan soldiers to send their "objects of the Buddhist and shamanic cult" to their homeland.
The Tuvans fought bravely. The command of the 8th Guards Cavalry Division wrote to the Tuvan government:
“With a clear superiority of the enemy, the Tuvans fought to the death. So in the battles near the village of Surmiche, 10 machine gunners, led by the commander of the Dongur-Kyzyl squad, and the calculation of anti-tank rifles, led by Dazhy-Seren, died in this battle, but did not retreat a single step, fighting to the last bullet. Over 100 enemy corpses were counted in front of a handful of brave men who died the death of heroes. They died, but where the sons of your Motherland stood, the enemy did not pass.
A squadron of Tuvan volunteers liberated 80 Western Ukrainian settlements.
The Germans during the Great Patriotic War called the Tuvans "Der Schwarze Tod" - "Black Death". The Tuvans fought to the death even with the obvious superiority of the enemy, they did not take prisoners.
"This is our war!"
The Tuvan People's Republic became part of the Soviet Union already during the war, on August 17, 1944. In the summer of 1941, Tuva was de jure an independent state. In August 1921, the White Guard detachments of Kolchak and Ungern were expelled from there. The capital of the republic was the former Belotsarsk, renamed Kyzyl (Red City). Soviet troops were withdrawn from Tuva by 1923, but the USSR continued to provide all possible assistance to Tuva, without claiming its independence. It is customary to say that Great Britain provided the first support for the USSR in the war, but this is not so. Tuva declared war on Germany and its allies on June 22, 1941, 11 hours before Churchill's historic announcement on the radio. Mobilization immediately began in Tuva, the republic announced its readiness to send its army to the front. 38,000 Tuvan arats in a letter to Joseph Stalin stated: “We are together. This is our war." There is a historical legend about Tuva's declaration of war on Germany that when Hitler found out about this, it amused him, he did not even bother to find this republic on the map. But in vain.
Everything for the front!
Immediately after the start of the war, Tuva handed over to Moscow its gold reserves (about 30 million rubles) and the entire production of Tuvan gold (10-11 million rubles annually). The Tuvans really accepted the war as their own. This is evidenced by the amount of assistance that the poor republic provided to the front. From June 1941 to October 1944 Tuva supplied 50,000 war horses and 750,000 heads of cattle for the needs of the Red Army. Each Tuvan family gave the front from 10 to 100 heads of cattle. The Tuvans literally put the Red Army on skis, supplying 52,000 pairs of skis to the front. The Prime Minister of Tuva, Saryk-Dongak Chimba, wrote in his diary: "they wiped out the entire birch forest near Kyzyl." In addition, the Tuvans sent 12,000 sheepskin coats, 19,000 pairs of mittens, 16,000 pairs of felt boots, 70,000 tons of sheep wool, 400 tons of meat, melted butter and flour, carts, sledges, harnesses and other goods totaling about 66.5 million rubles. To help the USSR, the arats collected 5 echelons of gifts worth more than 10 million Tuvan akshas (the rate of 1 aksha is 3 rubles 50 kopecks), food for hospitals for 200,000 akshas. According to Soviet expert estimates, presented, for example, in the book "The USSR and Foreign States in 1941-1945", the total supplies of Mongolia and Tuva to the USSR in 1941-1942 were only 35% less than the total volume of Western allied supplies in those years in the USSR - that is, from the USA, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, the Union of South Africa, Australia and New Zealand combined.
"Black Death"
The first Tuvan volunteers (about 200 people) joined the Red Army in May 1943. After a short training, they were enrolled in the 25th separate tank regiment (from February 1944 it was part of the 52nd army of the 2nd Ukrainian front). This regiment fought on the territory of Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. In September 1943, the second group of cavalry volunteers (206 people) was enrolled, after training in the Vladimir region, in the 8th cavalry division. The cavalry division took part in raids behind enemy lines in western Ukraine. After the battle near Durazhno in January 1944, the Germans began to call the Tuvans "Der Schwarze Tod" - "Black Death". The captured German officer G. Remke during interrogation said that the soldiers entrusted to him "subconsciously perceived these barbarians (Tuvans) as the hordes of Attila" and lost all combat capability ... Here it must be said that the first Tuvan volunteers were a typical national unit, they were dressed in national costumes, wore amulets. Only at the beginning of 1944, the Soviet command asked the Tuvan soldiers to send their "objects of the Buddhist and shamanic cult" to their homeland. The Tuvans fought bravely. The command of the 8th Guards Cavalry Division wrote to the Tuvan government: “... with a clear superiority of the enemy, the Tuvans fought to the death. So in the battles near the village of Surmiche, 10 machine gunners, led by the commander of the Dongur-Kyzyl squad, and the calculation of anti-tank rifles, led by Dazhy-Seren, died in this battle, but did not retreat a single step, fighting to the last bullet. Over 100 enemy corpses were counted in front of a handful of brave men who died the death of heroes. They died, but where the sons of your Motherland stood, the enemy did not pass ... ". A squadron of Tuvan volunteers liberated 80 Western Ukrainian settlements.Tuvan heroes
Of the 80,000 population of the Tuva Republic, about 8,000 Tuvan soldiers took part in the Great Patriotic War. 67 fighters and commanders were awarded orders and medals of the USSR. About 20 of them became holders of the Order of Glory, up to 5500 Tuvan soldiers were awarded other orders and medals of the Soviet Union and the Tuva Republic. Two Tuvans were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union - Khomushka Churguy-ool and Tyulyush Kechil-ool.Tuvan squadron
The Tuvans not only helped the front financially and bravely fought in tank and cavalry divisions, but also provided the Red Army with the construction of 10 Yak-7B aircraft. On March 16, 1943, at the Chkalovsky airfield near Moscow, the delegation of Tuva solemnly handed over the aircraft to the 133rd Fighter Aviation Regiment of the Red Army Air Force. The fighters were transferred to the commander of the 3rd aviation fighter squadron Novikov and assigned to the crews. On each was written in white paint "From the Tuvan people." Unfortunately, not a single aircraft of the “Tuvin squadron” survived until the end of the war. Of the 20 servicemen of the 133rd Aviation Fighter Regiment, who made up the crews of the Yak-7B fighters, only three survived the war.
"This is our war!"
The Tuvan People's Republic became part of the Soviet Union already during the war, on August 17, 1944. In the summer of 1941, Tuva was de jure an independent state. In August 1921, the White Guard detachments of Kolchak and Ungern were expelled from there. The capital of the republic was the former Belotsarsk, renamed Kyzyl (Red City).
Soviet troops were withdrawn from Tuva by 1923, but the USSR continued to provide all possible assistance to Tuva, without claiming its independence.
It is customary to say that Great Britain provided the first support for the USSR in the war, but this is not so. Tuva declared war on Germany and its allies on June 22, 1941, 11 hours before Churchill's historic announcement on the radio. Mobilization immediately began in Tuva, the republic announced its readiness to send its army to the front. 38,000 Tuvan arats in a letter to Joseph Stalin stated: “We are together. This is our war."
There is a historical legend about Tuva's declaration of war on Germany that when Hitler found out about this, it amused him, he did not even bother to find this republic on the map. But in vain.
Everything for the front!
Immediately after the start of the war, Tuva handed over to Moscow its gold reserves (about 30 million rubles) and the entire production of Tuvan gold (10-11 million rubles annually).
The Tuvans really accepted the war as their own. This is evidenced by the amount of assistance that the poor republic provided to the front.
From June 1941 to October 1944 Tuva supplied 50,000 war horses and 750,000 heads of cattle for the needs of the Red Army. Each Tuvan family gave the front from 10 to 100 heads of cattle. The Tuvans literally put the Red Army on skis, supplying 52,000 pairs of skis to the front. The Prime Minister of Tuva, Saryk-Dongak Chimba, wrote in his diary: "they wiped out the entire birch forest near Kyzyl."
In addition, the Tuvans sent 12,000 sheepskin coats, 19,000 pairs of mittens, 16,000 pairs of felt boots, 70,000 tons of sheep wool, 400 tons of meat, melted butter and flour, carts, sledges, harnesses and other goods totaling about 66.5 million rubles.
To help the USSR, the arats collected 5 echelons of gifts worth more than 10 million Tuvan akshas (the rate of 1 aksha is 3 rubles 50 kopecks), food for hospitals for 200,000 akshas.
According to Soviet expert estimates, presented, for example, in the book "The USSR and Foreign States in 1941-1945", the total supplies of Mongolia and Tuva to the USSR in 1941-1942 were only 35% less than the total volume of Western allied supplies in those years in the USSR - that is, from the USA, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, the Union of South Africa, Australia and New Zealand combined.
"Black Death"
The first Tuvan volunteers (about 200 people) joined the Red Army in May 1943. After a short training, they were enrolled in the 25th separate tank regiment (from February 1944 it was part of the 52nd army of the 2nd Ukrainian front). This regiment fought on the territory of Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Hungary and Czechoslovakia.
In September 1943, the second group of cavalry volunteers (206 people) was enrolled, after training in the Vladimir region, in the 8th cavalry division.
The cavalry division took part in raids behind enemy lines in western Ukraine. After the battle near Durazhno in January 1944, the Germans began to call the Tuvans "Der Schwarze Tod" - "Black Death".
The captured German officer G. Remke during interrogation said that the soldiers entrusted to him “subconsciously perceived these barbarians (Tuvans) as the hordes of Attila” and lost all combat capability ...
Here it must be said that the first Tuvan volunteers were a typical national part, they were dressed in national costumes, wore amulets. Only at the beginning of 1944, the Soviet command asked the Tuvan soldiers to send their "objects of the Buddhist and shamanic cult" to their homeland.
The Tuvans fought bravely. The command of the 8th Guards Cavalry Division wrote to the Tuvan government:
“... with a clear superiority of the enemy, the Tuvans fought to the death. So in the battles near the village of Surmiche, 10 machine gunners, led by the commander of the Dongur-Kyzyl squad, and the calculation of anti-tank rifles, led by Dazhy-Seren, died in this battle, but did not retreat a single step, fighting to the last bullet. Over 100 enemy corpses were counted in front of a handful of brave men who died the death of heroes. They died, but where the sons of your Motherland stood, the enemy did not pass ... ".
A squadron of Tuvan volunteers liberated 80 Western Ukrainian settlements.
Tuvan heroes
Of the 80,000 population of the Tuva Republic, about 8,000 Tuvan soldiers took part in the Great Patriotic War.
67 fighters and commanders were awarded orders and medals of the USSR. About 20 of them became holders of the Order of Glory, up to 5500 Tuvan soldiers were awarded other orders and medals of the Soviet Union and the Tuva Republic.
Two Tuvans were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union - Khomushka Churguy-ool and Tyulyush Kechil-ool.
Tuvan squadron
The Tuvans not only helped the front financially and bravely fought in tank and cavalry divisions, but also provided the Red Army with the construction of 10 Yak-7B aircraft for. On March 16, 1943, at the Chkalovsky airfield near Moscow, the delegation of Tuva solemnly handed over the aircraft to the 133rd Fighter Aviation Regiment of the Red Army Air Force.
The fighters were transferred to the commander of the 3rd aviation fighter squadron Novikov and assigned to the crews. On each was written in white paint "From the Tuvan people."
Unfortunately, not a single aircraft of the “Tuvin squadron” survived until the end of the war. Of the 20 servicemen of the 133rd Aviation Fighter Regiment, who made up the crews of the Yak-7B fighters, only three survived the war.
