How in the war women served as sappers on a ship, or the Unusual crew of the Volga flotilla

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

In the very first war weeks, thousands of volunteer rivermen from the Middle Volga Shipping Company, from the Upper Volga Shipyard named after V. I. 40th anniversary of October, the Tobolsk pier on the Irtysh river, the river port of Leningrad. The men who left to fight were replaced in the navy by women and girls. In some places, whole river dynasties were formed with the involvement of minors. Thus, the crew of the Vanya-Communist steamer consisted of all the members of the Tumanov family, where two children performed the duties of a stoker and an oiler. By the same principle, the daughters of the hereditary river operator Shurupov were involved in the barge "Absheron". But especially unique was the case of the combat minesweeper of the Volga military flotilla, where absolutely the entire sapper team was staffed with women.

In the name of the lost brothers

And this story began with the family tragedy of Antonina Kupriyanova. With the advent of the war, Tony's three siblings went to the front. The girl and her mother were left alone in the Saratov house. Literally at once the first terrible news about the death of the elder Kupriyanov came. Two more funerals followed. Fighting Tonya decided that in the name of the brothers she was obliged to stand up in line, even despite her mother's persuasions to stay.

In the spring of 1943, Antonina Kupriyanova was sent to serve in the Volga military flotilla. The local commanders were aware of the girl's family history, so they initially allocated a fairly safe place for her as a messenger. Tonya quickly established many contacts in different divisions of the flotilla. Her talent for winning over people and her organizational skills did not go unnoticed. The officers of the flotilla who knew her personally did not doubt her professional suitability and were sure that she would cope with the most responsible and specific duties.

River weekdays 1943

The front moved to the west, but the Volga military flotilla had enough business, which cannot be said about the minesweepers and crews. In an effort to paralyze the Volga communications, the Germans used aircraft to bomb ships on the river. It will not be superfluous to explain how important the Volga artery was in the transportation of food, raw materials and equipment. On the river, Russian barges delivered oil, lend-lease cargo from the allies, etc. The Luftwaffe filled the Volga with acoustic and electromagnetic bottom mines from Samara to Astrakhan.

The Volga was subject to regular demining, caravans needed to be escorted by ships of a military flotilla. Even after Hitler's retreat, the aviation did not abandon its attempts to block navigation by mining the river. Trying to secure the passage of ships, specially adapted minesweeping ships had to survey hundreds of kilometers downstream. Air defense systems were installed on civilian craft. Anti-aircraft weapons on ships prevented enemy aircraft from bombing at low altitudes. River ships have learned to repel air raids and even shoot down German planes.

The first baptism of fire

Observing the current situation, Antonina Kupriyanova could not be content with rear work. She decided to form a female group of river sappers and in every possible way contribute to the speedy demining of the Volga. With this idea, she went immediately to the commander of the flotilla Panteleev. As the rear admiral later recalled, the foreman persistently asked for a minesweeper to be assigned and allowed to be staffed with a team of girls. Panteleev did not refuse, not really believing in the imminent outcome of such a case. Therefore, I was surprised when the old boat was repaired and prepared for combat duty in a matter of days. Panteleev meticulously questioned the team for theoretical knowledge and gave the go-ahead for a combat exit.

The boat minesweeper T-611, equipped with a DShK machine gun and trawls, had a wooden hull, which made it almost invisible to magnetic-type mines. However, the boat dragged a metal structure behind it, to which the mines reacted. The ship and the crew received the so-called baptism of fire not during trawling, but saving another fuel barge that had been hit by a mine from fire. The Nazis regularly modified the mines, making it difficult to clear the fairways. One of the most dangerous was the multiplicity mechanism. The ship could pass through the site several times, and the mine exploded only for the 4th or even 15th time, which created the illusion of safe water.

Disturbed mine

The starting task of the Kupriyanova group could be the last one. The T-611 was based at the point where the Golaya River flows into the Volga, where the female crew received the first trawling section. The minesweeper took the trawl barge in tow, to which the mines were supposed to react. The very first "disturbed" mine turned out to be unexpectedly powerful, damaging the minesweeper. Drifting, the ship began to sink slowly. Kupriyanova and her assistant groped the hole and managed to patch it up. In this case, the water level has already reached the waist. Then I had to tinker with the engine. The minesweeper was brought back to life only late at night, and reached the base at dawn. The divisional headquarters have already decided that the T-611 was killed by sending a boat for a rescue operation. When "six hundred and eleven" appeared on the horizon, a sailor's "Hurray!" Sounded in honor of the female crew. And the wheelhouse was traditionally decorated with a red star with a unit in the center on the occasion of the first successfully completed combat mission.

The successes of the sapper crew were duly noted by the command. In October 1943, Antonina Kupriyanova was awarded the medal "For Military Merit", and a little later this award was awarded to all other crew members. The sappers' path of seven fighters ended at the end of the navigation program in 1943. By the following spring, their minesweeper was removed from the active fleet, disarmed and returned to its original civilian owner. The well-worn gas-propelled boat functioned right up to 1957. And its unique female crew at the end of the military epic safely left for the corners of the big homeland.

Some women were even lucky enough to receive the highest naval ranks. For example, the first and only admiral in a skirt: For what merits the Greek woman received the high rank of the Russian fleet.