Memorable place kitty-kitty. Forgotten city, or a visual history textbook in the Ukhta forests Technical schools and colleges
Something tells me it's a pity and I hope it's not,
that this post will be of interest to few people and I am writing it rather for self-development ...
Already approaching the most memorable place of Kis-Kis, either on the left or on the right along the road, numerous trenches, trenches and other defensive structures of Soviet, Finnish and German troops. Then there is an information stand on the road and around the corner - a memorial monument, which was built by the forces of the border guards and the public of the region during the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Great October Revolution.
It's amazing, but what's so amazing about it? , but the battles in the Ukhta direction could only be fought along the roads, since the forests did not seem passable either for the troops or for the equipment, which has changed over the past 70 years - everyone knows that the roads in Karelia were what they were before the war and during, and remained so. In fact, the battles were fought on the strips of 20-30 km, isolated from each other by 30-200 km. The road base of the Ukhta direction is the Ukhta tract (Kem - Ukhta), its continuation to Voynitsa, as well as two roads to the border after a fork: Voynitsa - Voknavolok - Vazhenvaara and Voynitsa - Lonkka
4. Theater of operations and the scheme of battles 07/01 - 08/17/1941
The main task in this direction was to defend the Ukhta and Rebolsk directions and cover the Kirov railway in the Kem-Kochkoma section. The fighting in the direction began on July 1, 1941, and by July 30, our troops retreated to a more advantageous defense line between the lakes Big Kis-Kis, Chirkiyarvi, 10 km west of Ukhta, which had been rebuilt just the day before by the forces of local residents and sappers of the division.
This was the Kis-Kis line - the place and height where the troops were stopped and where the front line was stabilized from 41 to 44 years.
Now there is a concrete staircase more than 100 meters long, a monument to a soldier and a gun on a pedestal.
We stopped at this place for literally 5 minutes to quickly take photos. The place was remembered by the silence and starving mosquitoes, perhaps it was here that we met the most cruel mosquitoes, which, during those 5 minutes of parking, simply ate us.
All posts Karelia 2015"Bilberry" continues to acquaint readers with little-known or forgotten pages of Karelian history. Today we will talk about what happened during the war years in the Ukhta direction.
The fighting of 1941-1944 here was somewhat different in nature from the rest of the front line, stretching from the Barents to the Black Seas. Firstly, the junction of the zones of responsibility of the Finnish and German units passed along the Ukhta direction. Secondly, the offensive of the 3rd Finnish Infantry Division was stopped just some 70 kilometers from the border, and throughout the war, until the September truce of 1944, the warring parties stood in front, not giving up their territories by a meter. Third, the strategic locality- the village of Ukhta (now the village of Kalevala) was never taken by the Finns, and since September 1941 such a task was completely removed from the agenda as unpromising.
Strange as it may sound, both sides - both the Soviet and the Finnish - fully completed the combat missions assigned to them. The task of the Finns was to prevent the breakthrough of the Red Army in the Ukhta direction with the entry into the rear of the German SS division "Nord", attacking the village of Loukhi to the north, and to create the appearance of a threat of a breakthrough by the Finns in the Ukhta direction in order to draw significant forces of the Red Army away from Loukhi. The task of the 54th rifle division defending Ukhta was simpler: to prevent the Finns from breaking through. In general, both sides did not live up to each other's expectations: neither the Finns were going to storm the village, nor the 54th Infantry Division hatched plans to break through the Finnish defenses and envelop the Germans in a semicircle. All three years of the war in the Ukhta direction, and one and the other spent in anticipation of decisive action from each other, which did not follow. But this did not at all cancel the positional war, which was quite aggressive on both sides ...
It is natural that the opposing divisions that got stuck for such a long time (and this is almost 12 thousand people on both sides with equipment, field hospitals, repair points and other military belongings), in three years each created not only deeply echeloned defense, but also entire settlements, comparable in size to small cities or towns.
It is characteristic that the Soviet side almost completely went underground, while the Finns, in their frontline they built mostly ordinary houses or structures half-buried into the ground. It was this circumstance, as well as the fact that the Finns built very high quality, that played a special role after the war. In the village of Kalevala to this day there are many houses brought from the Finnish defense. Even the local regional House of Culture (now dismantled) was transported and assembled in Kalevala from there. It was used for its intended purpose until the 90s. And during the war it was a soldiers' club, located just a few kilometers from the front line.
Today the rear area Finnish line defense does not look impressive precisely for the reason that everything from this territory was taken out by local residents to post-war period. Down to sheds, fuel barrels, water and milk cans. The population returning from evacuation to the burnt Ukhta was forced to look for everything they needed for life, precisely on the defensive, despite the risk of running into mines, which are still enough in the forests of Kalevala.
And on the contrary, the forgotten city at the place of deployment of units of the 54th rifle division of the Red Army remained in its original form. Of course, subject to time adjustments. Everything that was found suitable for use in life, the locals smashed home long ago, but the huge dugouts in which the Red Army soldiers lived remained in their places. Because all of them are almost completely dug into the ground and the wood of such buildings is unsuitable for construction in a year or two. How carefully the 54th division dug into the ground is evidenced by the fact that in one of the areas adjacent to the front line, the Red Army dug an underground road, more than a kilometer long, which was completely covered with logs and soil. Ammunition was secretly transported along this road to the front line. To compare the approach of the military to solving technical issues, we can say that the Finns, in their rear, built a different type of road, which was completely built of logs and lay on log cabins. It was kind of wooden bridge, about a kilometer long, built across a swamp.
At present, the territory of the rear garrison of the 54th Infantry Division is completely overgrown with forest and moss, but trench lines, engineering structures and numerous dugouts and dugouts are still clearly visible. The garrison stretched two to three kilometers deep from the line of contact with the enemy. Since the specifics of the forest war did not make it possible to organize a continuous line of defense, the military erected fortifications near the two main roads leaving the village in a western direction. Accordingly, the rear garrisons of the two regiments of the division were also located.
When you pass through these garrisons, you begin to understand that only a small part of the division's soldiers were at the forefront, the bulk of the personnel were in the near rear. It is striking not only the area and density of these military settlements, but also how much effort was applied to prevent the breakthrough of the Finnish army: additional trenches were dug far in the rear in case of retreat, dugouts and firing points were prepared, roads were laid, wooden anti-tank barriers were dug into the ground. . And all this is entangled with hundreds of kilometers of barbed wire. How much human resources and hard work spent on this construction! And all this was built by the hands of the soldiers of the 54th division, because the local population from the village was completely evacuated.
By the way, tanks in the Ukhta direction were used only at the initial stage of the Finnish offensive and they were from the German tank units, with German crews. In the course of a further offensive, it was decided to abandon the use of tanks, so in the conditions of rugged wooded and swampy terrain, tanks could only move along roads where they could become an easy target.
Today, the taiga roars again over the forgotten military city, pine trees stretch into the sky, northern nature heals the wounds inflicted by the war for a long time and carefully: trenches are overgrown, dugouts are collapsing, barbed wire, helmets, and unexploded ammunition are turning into rusty dust. But until now, animals and birds bypass and fly around the places of old battles. As the song says: "Birds don't sing here." Only occasionally in such forests are grouse, titmouse, woodpeckers or bear tracks on lingonberry berries. Apparently, the genetic memory makes all forest animals avoid these places. Yes, and it’s hard for a person to stay here for a long time: you almost physically feel the presence of death, oppressive, heavy silence reigns in a forgotten and abandoned military city. And these feelings of war, tragedy, crumpled, destroyed and broken destinies of thousands of soldiers have nothing to do with pathos and brilliance holiday events 9th May. And this visual history textbook tells about the war without embellishment and without exaggeration, without false and unnecessary heroics.
The story I want to tell you happened in August 1942. It so happened that in the first post-war years, and even in later years, it was forgotten and was not included in the chronicles and annals of the battles on the Karelian front, although it rightfully deserved it, since it deals with really unusual events. However, first things first.
Scene
The Ukhta operational direction of the Karelian Front was a kind of watershed between the areas of responsibility of enemy units. The Finnish army advanced in this direction and to the south, and to the north - in the Kestenga direction - parts of the German SS mountain rifle division "Nord" from the "Lapland" army, renamed in 1942 into the 20th mountain army.
War wounds. Utinsky direction. Initially, during the preparation of the war and in its first months, the Ukhta direction, where the units of the 3rd Infantry Division of the Finns advanced, had the status of the main direction, the ultimate goal of which was to capture the cities of Kem and Kirovskaya railway. Neighboring - Kestenga - was secondary.
However, the failures in the advance of the Finns in the Ukhta direction led to the fact that in September 1941, an annoyed Hitler issued directive No. 19 with a personal signature, transferring the Kestenga direction (where the Germans were advancing) to the status of the main one, and Ukhta - secondary. However, the German offensive on Kestenga, although it culminated in the capture of the village, also bogged down: they could not break through to the Kirov railway and the Loukhi station, despite the fact that the fighting on this line was extremely fierce and bloody until 1944.
In 1942, the Germans began preparations for another attack on Loukhi. Outstripping the enemy's actions, the command of the Karelian Front launched a preemptive strike, and in April the Red Army began its offensive against Kestenga. It had some success, but after a few days both sides were mired in heavy fighting, suffering heavy losses. By these actions, the Red Army managed to push back the German offensive to the end of summer - the beginning of autumn 1942, although both sides ended up remaining in their positions.
Eyewitness story
In the 1990s, the regional newspaper Novosti Kalevala, where I started working as a correspondent, published the memoirs of Ivan Kirin, who during the war was a captain and commanded a rifle battalion from the 118th rifle regiment 54th Infantry Division in the Ukhta direction. Kirin wrote a rather detailed chronicle of the war "On the Outskirts of the Kalevala", in which he reconstructed the course of events from his diary entries from July 1941 until the very end of the fighting on the Karelian front.
In Kirin's memoirs, I was very interested in a small episode in which the battalion commander talked about the capture of three German pilots along with BF-109 E aircraft (the very well-known Emils, and in front-line vernacular - Messers).
The essence of the episode is that in August 1942, three German BF-109 E aircraft landed on a Soviet military field airfield, located about a kilometer from the front line and 13 kilometers from modern Kalevala. was not used, since it was in the direct line of sight of the Finns and was well shot by them.
The remains of the Soviet dugout near the field airfield near the defense line
As Kirin wrote, on a fine summer evening, three German aircraft began to circle over the airfield, on which, on his orders, small arms fire was opened. Having circled a little, the planes went to land, after which they were taken prisoner, one of the pilots was a lieutenant. The last German who sat down tried to run away, but was stopped by warning shots.
After capturing the pilots, the Finns opened heavy mortar fire on the airfield and immediately burned two aircraft right on the field. The third plane managed to be pushed into the nearby woods, but the Finnish gunners also got it there.
The result of the entire operation, according to the captain, is three captured pilots, three dead Red Army soldiers and three dozen wounded. The German pilots explained their action by the fact that, having taken off from Kayaani, they were ordered to land on the airfield in the Kestenga area (where the autumn offensive was being prepared), but they lost their course, got lost and, having run out of fuel, made an emergency landing at the Soviet airfield. The Germans did not suspect that they were landing in the rear of the Russians, but they had no other choice.
Later, all three German pilots were sent to the rear, and the event itself served as an informational occasion, and it was proudly reported in the summary of the Soviet Information Bureau in August 1942.
Local search
The history of the war has fascinated me since childhood, already at the age of nine I somehow ran away with friends on bicycles “to the defense”, where in those days there was plenty of military trash, including explosive ones. We then safely bypassed the border post located near the village and dug in the military trenches all day and evening. They returned home already in the morning (fortunately the nights are white), where they were conscientiously flogged by their fathers for their flight. But the war trophies we collected on the battlefields, in our opinion, were worth it.
So, carried away by the story with the "Messers", I thought that at least some remains of the burned-out aircraft should have remained on the site of the old military airfield. The location of this airfield was approximately known to me, and therefore, without hesitation for a long time, I hit the search.
Unexploded mortar mine 76 mm. Ukhta direction
The first search summer did not bring any artifacts, but I managed to do the main thing - to localize the search area. Determine on the ground by characteristic signs where the airfield began and where it ended, rereading Kirin's memoirs a hundred times, determine the direction of the shelling of the Finns and the direction of evacuation of one of the "Messers". Along the way, I found evidence of intense mortar shelling in the forest: a lot of densely located characteristic craters from the fall of mines and several unexploded ordnance. On white moss, the imprints of tears remain for many decades.
At that time, there were no metal detectors for sale, so intuition, work with primary sources and maps helped more in the search. Well, legs. Nogi is the main tool of the search engine, which works not with archives, but directly with the place of events. Touching history with his own hands.
Luck smiled
But the following summer brought good luck immediately on the first exit “in the field”: I almost blindly stumbled upon a burnt pile of metal, which in 1942 was the pride of the Luftwaffe and the horror of everyone who encountered it in an air battle - one of the best fighters of World War II war, the famous BF-109 E "Emil".
Even in close proximity, this pile looked like an ordinary anthill, of which there were many in this area. The burnt duralumin with its gray tint completely merged with the white moss, and the rusted steel parts looked like old broken tree branches. It is possible that in the previous summer I passed by this pile a hundred times.
It took a long time to deal with the wreckage. But, having studied them, it was possible to unequivocally draw several conclusions. The first of them was that the aircraft burned down as a result of shelling - traces of fragments hit were clearly visible on the steel landing gear. The second is that it was indeed a BF-109 E, since I managed to find a factory marking plate indicating the model, date and place of production of the aircraft (Bavarian aircraft factories, March 1942). The third - the plane, as the German pilots claimed, did not enter into battle - the ammunition load of the burnt "hundred and ninth" was completely "packed", the cartridges exploded already in the process of fire, but at the same time remained in the ribbons, with bullets and not impaled primers ...
friendly fire
That would have been the end of it all: having satisfied my searching curiosity and taking a plate and a few details from the burnt Emil as souvenirs, I was already beginning to forget this story. But once, already in the “zero”, quite by accident one of the inhabitants of Kalevala brought me to the editorial office a clipping from a veteran Finnish magazine in which an eyewitness from the “other side” described the same events!
The Finnish veteran wrote in his memoirs that he was on duty as an observer on one of the mortar crews on a hill near the front line at the moment when three German aircraft began to circle over the Russian airfield. Rifle and machine-gun fire was opened from the ground on the planes. The soldier made an entry in the combat log: 9.30 am on August 5.
Finnish artillery observers. July, 1942 Ukhta direction. Photo: sa-kuva.fi Seeing that the planes were landing in the Russian rear, the observer contacted the command post for further actions.
Just a few minutes later, mortar crews received an order to open fire. The Finns hit the airfield and its approaches with 12 barrels of 120 and 76 mm mortars. The shelling lasted about five minutes, during which 286 mines were fired towards the enemy.
Further, the narrator writes that it is a pity that they had to shoot at the allies and confidently declares that the Germans died under fire along with the Russians who tried to take them prisoner. The observer reported that after the shelling, about 60 people were left lying on the airfield. The commander of the Finnish mortarmen encouraged his soldiers, saying that they had done their duty, and that the traitorous allies deserved such a death.
It is in this way that this episode has been preserved in the annals. military history Finland. I am afraid that no one else has ever returned to the fate of the unknown German pilots who, according to the Finns, died on August 5, 1942. In the end, the Germans were just allies of the Finns, and "friendly fire" (friendly fire) in this case was completely justified.
New Witness
And everything would be fine, but that's not all. While the Finns mourned for their dead comrades in arms, Kirin told what was happening on the Soviet side. In his memoirs, he writes about three dead, but at the same time he says that "we paid a very high price" for the capture of the pilots. Does this mean that there were many more deaths?
There was another witness in this story, whose story was recorded by Kalevala local historians in the 90s. This is a certain ordinary Romanov (no other data has been preserved), who came to Kalevala after the war for meetings of veterans. He said that he personally took part in the rescue operation.
With a soldier's frankness, Romanov said that they fired at the planes from all types of small arms, and after they landed, he and his comrades pulled one of the pilots out of the cockpit, since the pilot had been shot in both legs. The Finns started shelling, according to the soldier, at the moment when our soldiers were pushing the planes into the forest and immediately hit two planes.
The third one was pushed to the forest, but even there the Finns got it, - said Romanov. - We took the German pilots out of the shelling, but on our side there were many dead and even more wounded.
You can understand Kirin, he wrote his memoirs back in Soviet times and, apparently, was forced not to focus on the losses. What he wrote about in more detail was that the employees of the political department misinterpreted his report, in which he said that the pilots made an emergency landing and did not know that they were landing in the Russian rear.
Romanov said that an officer from the political department came to the unit, announced gratitude to those who took part in the operation and said:
“The Germans surrendered voluntarily, because they understand that Germany is doomed and will lose the war. And the Sovinformburo has already reported this.”
It is really difficult to say how many were killed. On the one hand, we see that Kirin clearly underestimated the number of killed Red Army soldiers, and the Finnish observer clearly overestimated the losses Soviet side. But given the fact that each plane was pushed by 8-10 people, at the time the shelling began, there were at least 30 soldiers on the field. With such an intensity of fire, when a large-caliber mortar mine exploded almost every second for 5 minutes, the losses could indeed be significant.
Only one survived
Captain Kirin was the first person to interrogate German pilots through an interpreter. He wrote that first aid was given to the wounded pilot, and although both legs were pierced by bullets, the wounds were not serious. He immediately informed the higher command about the captured Germans.
The prisoners were quickly taken to the rear, and the story could have ended there. But for some reason, I was haunted by the tablet that I found in the ashes. Once I met Tauno, a Finnish lover of military history (unfortunately, he died a few years ago), I told him about this interesting military episode. Tauno hit upon the idea of trying to find the names of the pilots on the plate from the plane. Reluctantly, I gave him the found artifact.
It took Tauno a year and a half to search for traces of information about the captured German pilots, but, finally, he reported everything that he could find out: non-commissioned officers Werner Schumacher, Kurt Philipp and Lieutenant Bodo Helms were captured. Schumacher at the time of his capture had 26 personal victories in air battles, Philip had three victories, and Helms was still a novice who did not sniff gunpowder at all.
German "hundred and ninth" at the Finnish airfield. 08/07/1942 Photo: sa-kuva.fi According to Tauno, the version of the voluntary surrender of the Germans was and remains the main one to this day. At least, this is how it is recorded in the military archives of Germany: three BF-109 E aircraft with tail numbers WNr. 4219, 6105 and 5238 from 7./JG5 were classified as non-combat losses, and the pilots as surrendered. Tauno also reported that it was possible to trace the fate of the pilots until 1943. It is known that they were in a prisoner of war camp near Krasnogorsk, where in early 1943 Schumacher died of pneumonia. Nothing is known about the fate of Kurt Philipp. At the end of the war, only Bodo Helms returned home, but at the time of the search for Tauno, he had already died. It is only known that upon his return from captivity, he wrote a letter to his former commander, in which he told the details of their capture.
From the Soviet Information Bureau
Nowadays, the Internet greatly facilitates the search. We managed to find two summaries of the Soviet Information Bureau on our history on the net: from August 7, 1942 and June 11, 1944 and the "Questionnaire" of Lieutenant Bodo Helms. What used to take many years can now take only a few minutes ...
Sovinformburo, 08/07/1942
On August 5, three German pilots flew to the side of the Red Army on Messerschmitt-109 aircraft. The surrendered lieutenant Bodo Helms, non-commissioned officer Kurt Philip and private (correctly - non-commissioned officer. - Note. ed.) Werner Schumacher landed on one of the sites in the area of our defense line. The prisoners said that even on the way to the front they agreed among themselves about going over to the side of the Russians. Bodo Helms, Kurt Philipp and Werner Schumacher appealed to German soldiers to surrender and thereby save their lives in this criminal war started by Hitler and his clique.
Sovinformburo, 06/11/1944
A captured pilot of the 7th detachment of the 3rd group of the 5th German fighter squadron, sergeant-major Arthur Beth said: “At one time, the pilots of the 7th detachment - Lieutenant Bodo Helms and non-commissioned officers Kurt Philipp and Werner Schumacher - flew to the side on three planes Russians. This event alarmed all the authorities. The investigation was carried out by the then deputy commander of the Nord Air Fleet, Colonel Holle, and Goering's personal representative. German aviation on Eastern Front suffered huge losses. For the year 3, the group lost more than 90 aircraft. This means that it was completely destroyed three times. In military circles, they talk about the lack of flight personnel. When it became clear that existing flight schools cannot make up for the huge losses in people, accelerated training of pilots began. However, the shortage of pilots makes itself felt all the time. That is why corporals are now being sent to us as replacements, that is, people who have served in the army for a short time. Previously, corporals could not be pilots in fighter aircraft. Now this restriction has been lifted. Recently, our airfield was inspected by the commander of the Nord air fleet, General of Aviation Schultz. In a conversation with the pilots, he said that Germany was going through a serious crisis. His statement made a depressing impression on us.”
Many amazing cities exist in Russia. Each of them has its own characteristics. Most of the large settlements of our country amazes guests and tourists with their beauties and sights. Ukhta, a city located in the Komi Republic, is no exception. It was founded not so long ago, but it is already well developed. The article will talk about the city itself, its population, transport and attractions.
Republic of Komi, Ukhta: general information
To begin with, it is worth telling a little about the village. which is located, as already mentioned, in the Komi Republic. It is located near the republican center of Syktyvkar. The distance between the two cities is just over 300 kilometers. Ukhta was founded in 1929. Since then, the settlement has been actively developing, and in 1943 it already received the status of a city.
It is important to note that this is one of the largest settlements in the Komi Republic. Ukhta is in second place in terms of the number of inhabitants (in the first place - Syktyvkar).
Of particular interest is the fact that this is the first city in Russia where oil production began. Also, the settlement can boast of its history, wonderful nature, cultural monuments and attractions. All this will be discussed later.
City population
The population of Ukhta today is about 100 thousand people. Of all the cities in Russia, Ukhta is in 171st place in terms of the number of inhabitants. In total, there are 1114 cities on the list. Thus, we can conclude that Ukhta is not the smallest settlement. Here, as in many other Russian cities, there is a trend of outflow of local residents. This process has been going on for the past few years, it began in 2013. For greater accuracy, the following data can be cited: in 2013, the population was 99,513 people, in 2014 - 99,155 people, and in 2015 - already 98,894 people. Thus, we see that the number of local residents has decreased over the past 3 years.
National composition of the population
So, we talked about statistics regarding the number of inhabitants of the city. Now it is worth considering the population of Ukhta from the point of view of the national composition. Many different nationalities live here. In many ways, this diversity of nationalities is explained by the history of these places. According to the 2010 census, the following live in Ukhta: Komi (about 7.9%), Russians (about 81%), Ukrainians (about 4.1%), Tatars (about 1%), Belarusians (also about 1%) .
The indigenous population of these places is the Komi. There is also another name - Komi-Zyryans. This is a people of Finno-Ugric origin, who have long lived on the territory of the Komi Republic and in neighboring regions.
Time in Ukhta
Many people are concerned about the question, is the time in Ukhta different from Moscow time? This question can be unequivocally answered that the time in these two settlements is the same.
It is also worth saying what time zone the entire Komi Republic, Ukhta belongs to. The time here corresponds to the international time zone UTC+3.
Transport
So, we talked about the time and time zone in which Ukhta is located. Now we need to consider the transport network in the city. Transportation of passengers and various cargoes is carried out in several ways.
The first type is rail transport. The city has a station that belongs to the Northern Railway. Both passenger and cargo transportation is carried out here. This direction passes through several regions in the north of Russia, to be more precise - through the Arkhangelsk, Kostroma, Vologda and other regions.
Buses are the most convenient way to get around the city. There are many routes that allow you to easily get to the right place. Suburban and intercity buses also run constantly. They can go from Ukhta to Ufa and other cities. Recently, the idea of creating special trolleybus routes here has been considered.
Air communication with other cities
Of course, as in many other large settlements, the popular mode of transport is the plane. Ukhta Airport is located here, which provides round-the-clock air communication with other cities of Russia. The air port provides continuous service for passengers and air transport. Ukhta Airport receives aircraft from various airlines and is a major transport hub.
city management
Now you need to get a little acquainted with how management is carried out in the village. Like any other region, the Komi Republic is divided into such administrative-territorial units as districts and districts.
There is an urban district of Ukhta, the center of which is the city of the same name. I wonder what it is municipality by status equated to the regions of the Far North. It is located in the central part of the Komi Republic.
Management on the territory of this municipal unit is carried out by the administration of Ukhta. The city district was formed here in 2005. To date, it includes 18 settlements, among which there are villages. The administration of Ukhta is located at the address: Bushueva street, house 11.
Economy
It is necessary to talk about such an important component of the city as the economy. In Ukhta, it is based on the oil and gas industry. Several large enterprises involved in this industry are located here. Oil production began here a very long time ago. If we turn to history, then the geological study of these places dates back to 1929. Then the well-known specialist N. N. Tikhonovich came here. It was decided to drill several test wells. And already in 1930, a stationary drilling rig was erected here and oil was produced for the first time. As already mentioned, the city of Ukhta was the first in Russia where they began to extract this fuel.
Various auxiliary objects are located around. For example, a chemical laboratory began to function nearby, where drilling processes and many other things related to this industry were studied.
To transport the extracted raw materials, it was also necessary to develop a transport network. For this, it was decided to build the Ust-Vym - Ukhta highway. Its length was more than 250 kilometers. Also, construction began on another major route - the railway, which connected Kotlas and Vorkuta. This route passed through Ukhta. Thus, the oil produced in these places began to be transported to large industrial centers our country.
local climate
So, we discussed issues related to the economy and management of the city, as well as its population and time zones. Now you need to get acquainted with the local climate and nature, since this is also an important component of any settlement. Russia boasts a variety of natural and climatic zones. The Republic of Komi, Ukhta lies in an area with rather harsh natural conditions.
The climate here is temperate continental. Usually in these places there is a warm but short summer, the average temperature in July is about +15°C. Winter here is cool and quite long. The average January temperature is -17.3°C. Snow falls in early October, but permanent snow cover does not form until the end of the month. It usually comes down in late April - early May. Often there are such weather phenomena as a blizzard, hail, thunderstorm and ice.
Nature
The magnificent nature of these places is also striking in its diversity and beauty. She will really please and leave an unforgettable impression. Spruce and pine forests predominate in this area. Other trees are often found, such as birches and other small-leaved plants. Walking through the forest, you can periodically see various swampy areas.
Many representatives of the flora grow here, which have long been listed in the Red Book. There are more than 20 species of plants that are on the verge of extinction. Among them, one can separately note the cornflower water-leaved, bird cherry and others.
As for the animal world, about 35 species of various mammals live here. Most often you can meet a squirrel, brown bear, pine marten, elk, river otter, wild boar and other animals. Thus, the Republic of Komi, Ukhta and other nearby settlements can boast of a rich fauna.
Birds are mainly represented by the order of passeriformes, of which there are more than 55 species in these places.
In the vicinity there are many natural monuments: the rocks of the Timan Ridge, the reserves "Belaya Kedva" and "Chutinsky", Paraskin lakes, mineral springs and others.
Ukhta city - attractions
As you know, this settlement is famous for its magnificent cultural heritage sites. Various theaters operate here - the folk drama theater, the Fresco, Friendship, and Coeval studios. If we talk about museums, then 4 institutions are open in the city. The Ukhta Museum of History and Local Lore is especially famous. It is mainly devoted to the history of the city, as well as the development and production of gas in these places.
Ukhta also amazes with its architectural objects. It is especially worth paying attention to the building of the Central House of Culture and the management of Ukhtkombinat. Also in Ukhta there is an area called the "Old Town". There is always a unique atmosphere here. The area captivates with its warmth, neatness of buildings and their architectural unity, it is also well landscaped and landscaped.
The townspeople are also proud of the Palace of Science and Creativity. Its building is recognized as one of the best architectural objects in the city. The streets of Ukhta also store many interesting stories and events. Once here, you should definitely take a walk along them to fully enjoy the atmosphere of this city.
War years
The Great Patriotic War demanded an immediate restructuring of the entire economic life, the mobilization of resources, the transfer of productive forces, and the rise of the military economy. For this reason, much of what was planned in Ukhta could not be and was not carried out.
On May 7, 1941, Senior Major (later General) of State Security Semyon Nikolaevich Burdakov was appointed head of Ukhtizhemstroy and Ukhtizhemlag.
| Ukhta, June 22, 1941 |
June 22, 1941 at a rally in connection with the attack of Nazi Germany on Soviet Union the oilmen of Ukhta adopted the following statement: “We, the workers, employees, engineers, technicians and all the working people of Ukhta, in response to the unheard-of treachery of the fascist rulers of Germany, who attacked our beloved Motherland without declaring war, declare to our Bolshevik Party, Soviet government that at the first call, all as one, we will rise to the defense of our socialist Fatherland. We declare that we will increase our energy, give all our strength to quickly solve the honorable task set before the Ukhta people - to give oil to the Motherland.
By decision of the Supreme High Command, the oil fields of the Kuban and Grozny were liquidated due to the threat of their capture by the Germans. The oil workers of the Komi ASSR were entrusted with the task of partially compensating for these losses.
The directive of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR of June 29, 1941 determined the program for transferring the life of the country to a military regime. In the military economy, a large role was assigned to the industry of the Komi Autonomous Republic as a fuel, energy and raw material base.
The decision of the Bureau of the Komi Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks dated August 5, 1941 “On the course of restructuring the enterprises of Ukhtizhemstroy in a military way” said: “ With the reduction of the annual capital investment plan, Ukhtizhemstroy took the right direction of concentrating the remaining funds in the second half of the year on the main construction projects ... Consider the decision made by the management of Ukhtizhemstroy to speed up drilling at the newly discovered oil site in the Lower Chut region, which produces light oil from a depth of 60- 80 m at a relatively low cost and in a very short time. To oblige the head of the department of Ukhtizhemstroy, Comrade Burdakov, to concentrate at least 15 crelius rigs on this site, to drill and put into operation 80 wells during August-September. Establish an oil production plan for this field area by the end of the year 10,000 tons».
On February 7, 1942, a resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the Komi ASSR "On the work of the Keltma geological exploration party of the Northern Geological Administration" was adopted, which set the task: "Given the favorable results of the work to establish the presence of oil in the area of the Northern Keltma River and in order to determine its commercial reserves, ask the Committee for Geology under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR to include in the work plan of the Northern Geological Administration for 1942 exploratory drilling of 2000 linear meters. m and the laying of 1-2 exploration and production wells, having allocated the necessary equipment and funds in the amount of 1,200 thousand rubles for this.
Old, previously abandoned oil wells were restored, drilling of new production wells began at Chibyu, Chuti, Lyaeli and deep wells at Pechora.
At Yarega, along with the acceleration of work to complete the construction of mine No. 1 in 1942, the construction of oil mine No. 2 was resumed and oil mine No. 3 was laid. By the end of 1941, mine oil production had quadrupled compared to 1940.
At what cost was this done? Oil production, which began at the Yaregskaya mine in 1939, was of an experimental nature. But the front was in need of oil ... Production was getting better with great difficulties. There was a lack of qualified specialists, and therefore a significant part of the graduates who graduated from the mining and oil technical school in 1941 were sent to Yarega. From the beginning of the war, there was an acute shortage of workers, both women and teenagers went to the mine. Having gone through the school of FZO (factory training), they joined the movement of the two hundred, who fought for the fulfillment of two norms in change.
The team of the yet unfinished Yaregskaya oil mine No. 1 took on the main concern for providing the oil refinery with raw materials.
During the war years, Ukhta became the only supplier of some types of raw materials in short supply. During the war years, the range of products manufactured by Ukhta oil refiners increased from 7 to 15 types, and some of them were not produced anywhere else.
The Ukhta oil refinery, which Anna Yakovlevna Moliy took over during the war years (she was the director of the plant for more than 20 years), fell under a huge burden, since the Grozny and Maikop oil-bearing regions of the country were destroyed.
For the first time in the Soviet Union, atmospheric processing of heavy oil was mastered here. The production of machine and spindle oils, autol, lubricating fuel oil, grease, nigrol was organized. During the war years, the processing of raw materials increased by 2-3 times, its total volume amounted to 550 thousand tons of oil - a huge amount of oil products at that time.
During the war, experiments on the processing of heavy Yarega oil were carried out, without stopping the production of marketable products for an hour. On worn-out old equipment, people worked wonders. In February 1942, oil refiners succeeded in producing wagon grease with a pour point of -55°C instead of the traditional pour point of -45°C. The resolution of the issue with ultra-frost-resistant grease ensured the uninterrupted operation of the Northern Railway and motor transport in severe winter conditions.
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| Bykov M.I. |
In connection with the capture by the Germans in the summer of 1942 of the only plant in the country in Krasnodar, which produced varnish bitumen, the Ukhta Oil Refinery faced the question of organizing a completely new type of production. Under the leadership of the Honored Innovator of the RSFSR and the Honored Innovator and Inventor of the Komi ASSR Mikhail Ivanovich Bykov (from among the prisoners), laboratory works for the production of lacquer bitumen from heavy oil tar. The creation of the lacquer bitumen plant was completed in the shortest possible time. This product was needed by the aviation, tank, electrical and paint industries of the country.
On February 8, 1941, the Republican Komi ASSR office of the Main Directorate for the sale of petroleum products was formed in Ukhta People's Commissariat oil.
By that time, the volume of oil production and refining in the republic had increased, and it became necessary to create an enterprise specifically engaged in the sale of petroleum products. The rapidly developing industry of the region also needed a timely supply of gasoline, kerosene, machine oil, which were produced at the Ukhta oil refinery.
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In total, as of February 8, 1941, 16 people were in the staff of the control apparatus. In March 1943, the office was transformed into the Republican Komi ASSR Directorate of Glavneftesnab under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR.
In 1941, on the basis of the gas reserves of the Segyolskoye field, the construction of the Krutyansky soot plants began. On July 12 of the same year, the first Krutyansky gas field in the Soviet Union was organized on the basis of the Krutyansky drilling site, Plaksin was appointed head of it. The pace of construction of housing, production facilities, and infield roads has accelerated. On February 6, 1942, the Krutyansk carbon black plant produced the first industrial carbon black, and in the same year, the carbon black workers gave the state 1,753 tons of channel black - the most valuable raw material for the country's rubber industry.
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| Soot plant, village Krutaya |
On January 31, 1941, order No. 50 for Ukhtazhemstroy was issued “On the construction of carbon black plants, gas pipelines and gas production in the area of the village of Krutoy”, which provided for the organization in the Ukhtizhemstroy system of management for the construction of carbon black plants, the Krutaya-Ukhta gas pipeline, gas field on Krutaya and the completion of the construction of the Ukhta - Krutaya - Gasostroy tract as a trust.
After the war, the first steps were taken to form a civil administrative-territorial unit, when the civilian population began to grow rapidly due to front-line soldiers returning from the war, people arriving by organizational recruitment. On June 15, 1944, the Izhma Settlement Council was established.
Izhma asphaltite, discovered in 1904 by A.A. Chernov and explored in 1930-1933 by A.A. Anosov and B.R. Companzem is a mineral with high weather-resistant properties. It was widely used in the development of high-value insulating varnishes for coating critical parts of military vehicles.
In 1942, the asphaltite mine was reconstructed and, as a result, the production of asphaltite was increased.
The rapid industrial growth of the Ukhta region during the war led to the emergence of the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR of November 20, 1943 "On the transformation of the village of Ukhta into a city of regional subordination", already 16 thousand people lived there.
An oil refinery, a thermal power plant, a mechanical repair plant, a brick factory in the village of Dezhnev worked in the city and the region, a network of auxiliary enterprises for the production of ceramic products, building materials, skis, furniture, carts and other items of a wide range was widely deployed. consumption. The Chibyuskoye and Yaregskoye oil fields were successfully exploited. Gas plants operated on the basis of the Sedyuskoye and Voy-Vozhskoye gas fields near the village of Krutaya. A significant place in the economy of Ukhta was occupied by the production of asphaltites and radium.
In 1943, on the basis of the camp "Ukhtizhemstroy", the Ukhtokombinat was formed, which achieved significant production success. For 1943, the State Defense Committee set a task for him - to bring oil production to 120 thousand tons and gas to 442 million m 3. In fact, 100.6 thousand tons of oil and 365.7 million m 3 of gas were produced. But it has already been a great success. Production capacities have increased, oil mine No. 1 has reached its design capacity.
Overfulfillment of the plan allowed the Ukhtas in November 1943 to send two additional echelons of oil as a gift to Leningrad, in May 1944 three more echelons of oil left for the city, which was freed from the blockade ring.
In 1943, a gas fountain was obtained from well No. 1/30 at the Voyvozhskaya structure near the Segyolskoye field. Three years later, in those places, a fountain of light oil will be obtained ...
As early as 1944, Yaregskaya heavy oil became the main type of oil produced in the Ukhta region. So, with the Ukhtokombinat's oil production plan of 100,000 tons, one oil mine No. 1 produced 81,000 tons.
Oil Shaft No. 1 supplied over 60% of all oil produced in the Ukhta region during the war years. In November 1943, mine No. 1 for the first time fully met the oil production plan in all respects and reached its design capacity. In March 1944, the first in the Soviet Union and the largest oil mine No. 1 was accepted state commission into industrial operation. The successful development of oil extraction by the mine method showed the effectiveness of this method of oil extraction, which prompted in 1943 to begin the construction of a new mine.
This is how the production of Yarega oil grew: 1941 - 25 thousand tons, 1942 - 55 thousand tons, 1943 - 68 thousand tons, 1944 - 101 thousand tons, 1945 - 143 thousand tons.
In March 1944, the following telegram was sent to the State Defense Committee: “In the far North, in the Komi ASSR, during the war years, the Ukhta Combine built the first experimental oil mine in the Soviet Union. A team of workers, engineering and technical workers and employees at the time of putting it into commercial operation contributes 350 thousand rubles to the Red Army armament fund. We ask you to use the funds raised by us to build tanks "Oilman of the Komi ASSR". To put these tanks into action, we ask you to accept three echelons of excess oil produced by our mine in the first quarter of 1944.
In response Supreme Commander said: “I ask you to convey to the workers, workers, engineering and technical workers and employees of the oil mine, who collected 350 thousand rubles for the construction of tanks “Oilman of the Komi ASSR” and handed over three echelons of oil to the Red Army fund, my fraternal greetings and gratitude to the Red Army. I. Stalin.
In May 1944, the staff of the Ukhtokombinat was awarded the second prize of the State Defense Committee, and in August - the challenge banner of the State Defense Committee. On December 13, 1944, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR awarded a large group of Ukhtkombinat workers with orders and medals for the successful completion of tasks for oil and gas production.
Among the awarded - S.M. Bondarenko, B.C. Barykin, A.S. Balvanov, P.R. Bataykin, P.G. Voronin, V.G. Vasiliev, I.K. Drozdov, S.F. Efstafev, P.Z. Zvyagin, S.F. Zdorov, N.I. Inkin, Yu.A. Kamenev, I.A. Ligshn, I.A. Makhotkin, V.K. Nosov, N.I. Potetyurin, E.S. Smirnov, I.S. Safraliev, V.M. Svintsov, V.V. Ulyanov, V.K. Fedchenko, P.S. Khorokhorin, B.F. Kharitonenko, V.N. Starodubtsev, V.R. Chernyakov, Z.G. Shupletsov.
The oilmen of the republic fulfilled the state plan of 1944 in all respects, and in the final year of the Great Patriotic War The Ukhta plant achieved even greater success - 172.5 thousand tons of oil and 468.9 million cubic meters were produced. m of gas.
For a practical solution to the problem of a sharp increase in oil production, on their own, they organized the manufacture of wooden casing pipes for underground oil wells instead of steel ones that had ceased to be supplied, the extraction of casing pipes from old wells, the production of cement, gypsum, liquid glass, calcium carbide and calcium chloride.
In those years, the Ukhta Mechanical Plant mastered the production of complex units and parts for the repair of transport, drilling and oilfield equipment. The production of high-performance drilling bits, oil and gas equipment, equipment for drilling underground oil wells was launched.
Geological expeditions continued during the war years, which were carried out by forces not only of Ukhta geologists. Great contribution to research northern territories the region was brought in by scouts of the bowels of the Northern Geological Directorate, who, in particular, carried out topographic and geodetic work on an area of about 700 thousand km 2, examined the Keltma oil field. Their main attention was paid to the areas of the upper reaches of the Kosyu and Kozhim rivers, the Middle Pechora and the upper reaches of the Ilych. The accumulated geological material required serious theoretical understanding and generalization.
In Syktyvkar on December 21-26, 1942, the 1st Geological Conference of the Komi ASSR was held, convened by the decision of the Bureau of the OK of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the Council of People's Commissars of the Republic. Representatives of all geological organizations working on the territory of the Komi ASSR took part in its work: the Syktyvkar base of the USSR Academy of Sciences, People's Commissariats of the Oil Industry and Ferrous Metallurgy of the USSR, the State Planning Commission under the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR, the Main Directorate of Railway Construction of the NKVD of the USSR and other departments. The conference was also attended by representatives of the geological services of the Ukhtokombinat, the Vorkuta Combine, as well as the academic base for the study of the North, created during the war years.
The conference summed up the results of the study of the geology and minerals of the Pechora Territory and outlined the tasks for further research aimed primarily at meeting the needs of wartime and the accelerated development of the productive forces of the Komi ASSR. It became the beginning of a tradition that continues to this day - regular republican geological conferences.
By order of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences No. 390 dated June 3, 1944, the Base for the Study of the North was reorganized into the Komi Base of the USSR Academy of Sciences with a seat in Syktyvkar, Academician V.N. samples. She united the efforts of scientists from various fields, the leading among which was geological. As part of the Komi Base, a department of geology was created, headed by Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences, Professor A.A. Chernov. The department consisted of 11 employees, including two doctors and three candidates of sciences. In 1949, by the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR of September 7 and the Decree of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences of October 6, the Komi Base of the USSR Academy of Sciences was transformed into the Komi Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
Almost all the leading geologists from the departments of the combine were invited to the extended geological meeting in Ukhtizhemlag, which took place on September 6, 1944. N.N. Tikhonovich and A.N. Rozanov proposed to start exploration work for oil and gas in the northern half of the Pechora depression and the Pechora ridge. In the report of N.N. Tikhonovich expressed the idea of going out with the search for oil and gas to the western side of the Pechora syneclise and the Pechora syneclise, to the east of the then known fields of Sedyol and Voyvozh. For the first time, the question was raised and assessments of the prospects for the oil and gas potential of the Bolshezemelskaya tundra began. This meeting also discussed new methods of conducting geological prospecting and exploration work.
In December 1944, the Komi government held a second geological conference with the invitation of scientists from Moscow and Leningrad, as well as geologists from field parties. This conference and the previous meeting largely ensured the discovery of new oil and gas fields in subsequent years.
During the years of the Great Patriotic War, the Ukhta people gave the country 576.4 thousand tons of oil, 16 thousand tons of gas soot, about 7 thousand tons of varnish bitumen, 880 tons of natural asphaltite and a number of other important types of military raw materials, which had a large national economic and military-economic meaning.
The design capacity of the first oil mine in the USSR was closed by 12.5%, oil refining increased by 225%, the volume of mining operations more than tripled.
The period of the Great Patriotic War was of particular importance for the Ukhta region in terms of the further development of industry. In a letter addressed to the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR L.P. Beria, sent in 1946, the leadership of Ukhtokombinat emphasized the all-Union importance of the enterprise, noting: "Almost all enterprises of Ukhtokombinat were built and put into operation during the Great Patriotic War."
The letter presented a comprehensive plan for the development of industry developed by the plant's specialists “based on 148 million tons of Yaregskaya oil reserves and 25 billion cubic meters. m of gas in the bowels of the Verkhneizhemsky region", which provided for the joint processing of these minerals and the production of "new types of gas thermal soot, aviation and motor fuels from heavy oil by hydrogenation, as well as conducting extensive geological prospecting and exploration work » to discover new oil and gas fields. At the same time, the future of the region was seen in its integrated development.
