SMOLENSK (Part three)
On August 2 of 1914, on the next day after Germany announced war against Russia, in Smolensk and the district marshal law was introduced. In the evening of the same day manifestation of thousands people took place.
It is worthy to mention that the divisions of 13th Corps were to a great degree staffed with people of the Smolensk region because before 1914 a system was introduced, according to which draftees were sent to army units accommodated near their houses. Not many of them returned home: the destiny of the 13th corps was tragic. In August of 1914 it was defeated in the vicinity of famous Grunewald where on July 15 of 1410 three Smolensk regiments stood against the knights of the Teutonic Order to their death.
In August of 1915 the western front was formed; its headquarters until February of 1918 was accommodated in Minsk, while in Smolensk there were rear units, hospitals and infirmaries. In 1917 these units (2 rear car repair shops, guard watch and sap battalions, 3rd rear infantry regiment, artillery divisions and so forth), in which influence of left SRs and Bolsheviks was strong, played a decisive role in establishing Soviet power in the Smolensk land.
During the Civil war years, the headquarters of the Western Front moved to Smolensk. It stayed here in the post-war years as well (1922-1924), when the western front was headed by a Smolensk region native marshal M. N. Tukhachevsky (1893-1937). On the house, in which he lived, there is a memorial plate (Karl Marx street, 14). A second memorial plate is on the building where western front’s headquarters was accommodated (Bolshaya Sovietskskaya street, 29/1). The street that leads from it to the Nicholskie gates of the fortress now bears the name of the prominent military commander.
In 1920-30s industry developed in the Smolensk area at a big pace; residential and social many-storied buildings were constructed.
In 1918, the first higher education establishment in the region was opened – a university, based upon which pedagogical and medical institutes were later formed. In 1929, Smolensk became the center of a big administrative-territorial formation – western region, which in 1937 was divided into Smolensk, Kursk and Orel regions. In summer of 1944, after Kaluga region was formed Smolensk gained its today’s borders.
Before the Great Patriotic War the population of Smolensk reached 169.4 thousand people.
On June 24 of 1941, the city was bombed for the first time by Nazi aviation. Then, on the night of 29 of June 2,000 flame bombs and scores of big GP bombs, which destroyed hundreds of buildings, were dropped on Smolensk. In the evening of July 15, German troops broke into Smolensk from the side of Krasninsky Bolshak on Kiev Highway; street fighting began. The defense of the city was headed by commander of 16th army general-lieutenant M. F. Lukin. In the night the western part of the city was captured by the fascists; however in the behind Dnepr area severe fighting lasted two more weeks. Only on July 29, the Germans were able to gain the entire city. General Lukin later wrote paying tribute to bravery and heroism of Smolensk dwellers, “the city of Smolensk and its residents were heroes in the difficult period of 1941 fighting.”
Nazi occupation lasted 26 long months. Underground groups and organizations carried out their activities in the city and its vicinities; many Smolensk citizens joined partisan units. On the territory of the city and its suburbs there are more than 80 beds of honor, in which remains of around 135,000 people rest – resistance guerillas, civilians, prisoners of war who were killed and tortured to death by the Nazis.
Smolensk was liberated by troops of 5th, 31st and 68th armies on September 25 of 1943. This date is celebrated by Smolensk dwellers as the city day. Smolensk suffered a huge loss: industrial facilities and a railway hub were destroyed; architectural monuments were turned into ruins; 93 percent of residential houses were burned and destroyed. According to an estimation of the Red Cross commission, it might have taken 100 years to restore Smolensk. However, because of self-denying labor of the Smolensk people what seemed to be impossible was done.
By the middle of 1950s Smolensk was rebuilt, and its industry reached the pre-war level.
On December 3 of 1966, for the bravery and heroism shown by Smolensk citizens in the years of war and for the success in the restoration of the city, Smolensk was awarded an Order of the Patriotic War of the first degree. On September 23, 1983, an Order of Lenin was added to this award. On May 6, 1985, Smolensk received honorable title “a Hero-City” and a Golden Star medal.
In one of the most beautiful corners of the city – in the Heroes Square on a small piece of land monuments of three ruinous and glorious epochs in the life of ancient and eternally young Smolensk are concentrated: epochs of the Time of Troubles, Devastation and the Great Patriotic War. There is a saying that one cannot die three times but Smolensk went through three deaths, so that afterwards, when it sprang from ashes, it would present itself in the same beautiful appearance, covered by the patina of time and marked with the grey hair of its ancient history.
(Copyright on all three articles is owned by V. A. Suhanova and publishing house “Rusich” in Smolensk).
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