In February and March 1943, the Hitlermen involved the most powerful compounds under Kharkov: a motorized division of MOP "REYIX", "Leibstandart SS Adolf Hitler" and "Dead Head" were hurried here, "the dead head of the MOP 2st Tank Corps under common Command Paul Hausser. In the southern section of the front in the area of Kharkov and Voronezh, stubborn and bloody battles unfold.
Taranovka kept the 78th Guards Rifle Regiment of Colonel Kondrati Bilyutin. Guardsmen-bilyutinians who went to Kharkov from Stalingrad, suffered serious losses in battles - only 190 bayonets remained in the shelf. Bilyutin himself was a man of rare courage: in critical moments, he is more than once, putting in the forefront chain, personally raised his regiment in a counterattack (General Pavel Shafarynko tells about this in his memoirs "on different fronts").
The Citadel of Defense in Taranovka became the Arkhangelo-Mikhailovsk Church and several dilapidated houses next to her. By sending their car guns there, Bilyutin said their commander that the stone church is able to withstand a very powerful Natisk, which means it needs to "hold."
- Two SS Tank Divisions go on us, "said Colonel. - But we will benefit them! The SS will fight desperately, but we are better. We are guardsmen!
And the guards "kept" the church. During the week, the Nazis had every little attacked Taranovka. And every night, Taranovka was desperately defended.
Daily from the Church endowed the bodies of the dead Soviet fighters. Others became the place of the dead. One day, the village was methodically bombed for several hours of 46 German bombers. "The attacks of the fascists were more and more fiercely, - recalls Ludwik Freedom. - They managed to reach the walls of the church six times. Six times heard a drunk Ryiv of Nazis, usually accompanying their so-called mental attacks. Hurricane fire, flame smoke ... But in response, he thundered "Hurray!" ... "
The fighters became less and less, but the remaining continued to fight.
Railway crossing in the area of Taranovka defeated the fighters of Lieutenant Peter Shronicine from the 1st platoon of the 8th company of the 78th Guards Rifle Shelf. They were only 25 people, but they also stood to death on their boring.
On March 2, 35 German tanks and several armored vehicles moved to Taranovka. Slínin himself in this battle was gravily injured; His fighters rushed with bundles of a grenade under the enemy tanks, destroying 16 tanks and over hundreds of Wehrmacht's soldiers. Despite the superior enemy forces, the Guards held Taranovka for several days. 19 people from the platoon died, another 6 fighters were injured. Later, in May 1943, all 25 people will be awarded the title of the heroes of the Soviet Union. They will be called "Ukrainian Panfilovtsy".
One of the heroes-Schironinsev Yuriy Black-Didenko in the postwar years issued his memories of "Tale of the first platoon". On the turn of the book, he wrote from his hand: "Isolated, without heroic actions during the defense of the Taranovka of our artilleryrs, mortars, machine gunners, machine gunners, scouts, sailters, televisionists, Ptrovtsev [PTR - anti-tank gun] and other units of the prison, it would not work. The platoon died by a heroic death (almost all), but the defendant frontier was our more than a week. This is the essence of the feat. "
On March 14, the commander of the Voronezh Front gave an order to leaving Kharkov. But the city went to the Germans a very expensive price. In the battle for Kharkov in March 1943, none of the warring parties could fully achieve their goals. Nazis failed to realize their plans, although they achieved certain success.
I.V. Stalin in order No. 195 of May 1, 1943, summing up the German counteroffensive on the southern wing of the front, noted: "The Germans hoped to surround Soviet troops in the Kharkov area and arrange our troops" German Stalingrad ". However, the attempt of the Hitler's command to take revenge for Stalingrad failed "...
Natalia Kirillova