Native spaces
Russia is the most unusual and amazing country in the world. This is not a formula of official patriotism, this is the absolute truth. Unusual, because infinitely diverse. Amazing because it is always unpredictable. The tender and gentle spring sun sinks in a deadly snowstorm in ten minutes, and a bright triple rainbow shines after the flying black cloud. Tundras are combined with desert dunes, swampy taiga gives way to monsoon forests, and boundless plains smoothly turn into equally boundless mountain ranges. The greatest rivers of Eurasia carry their waters through Russia - in no other country in the world is there such an abundance of great flowing waters. , Ob, Irtysh, Yenisei, Amur ... And largest lakes world - salty Caspian and fresh. And the longest steppes in the world - from the banks of the Donets to the Amur region. To match the geographical abundance - the diversity of peoples, their customs, religions, cultures. Nenets reindeer herders set up their chums next to well-maintained high-rise buildings. Tuvans and Buryats roam with herds and yurts along federal highways. In the Kazan Kremlin, a large new mosque is adjacent to an old Orthodox cathedral; in the city of Kyzyl, a Buddhist suburgan turns white against the background of a golden-domed church, and not far from them, the breeze flutters colorful ribbons at the entrance to the shaman's yurt...
Russia is a country where you won't get bored. Everything is full of surprises. A beautiful asphalt highway is suddenly replaced by a broken primer, and it goes into an impassable swamp. To overcome the last 30 kilometers of the path, it sometimes takes three times as long as the previous ten thousand. And the most unexpected thing in this mysterious country is the people. Able to live in the most difficult, even impossible natural conditions: in the mosquito taiga, in the waterless steppe, in the highlands and in flooded valleys, with 50-degree heat and 60-degree frost ... Having learned to survive, I note, by the way, under the yoke of various authorities, none of which has ever been to them merciful... Created in these swamps, forests, steppes and mountains a unique culture, or rather, a multitude of unique cultures. Created great story power of the Russian - a history also consisting of countless great, heroic and tragic stories.
Living witnesses of the historical past, the work of well-known, and in the vast majority of cases, unknown Russians - architectural monuments. The architectural wealth of Russia is great and diverse. It reveals the beauty of the Russian land, and the ingenuity of the mind of its people, and sovereign power, but most importantly, the greatness of the human spirit. Russia was built over a thousand years under the most difficult conditions imaginable. Among the harsh and meager nature, in continuous external wars and internal struggles. Everything great that was erected on Russian soil was erected by the power of faith - faith in the truth, in a bright future, in God. Therefore, in architectural monuments, with all their constructive, functional and ideological diversity, there is a common beginning - the desire from earth to sky, from darkness to light.
It is simply impossible to tell in one book about all the wonderful places in Russia - natural, historical, poetic, industrial, memorial. Twenty such books would not have been enough for this. The publishers and I decided: I will write only about those places where I myself have been, which I have seen with my own eyes. Therefore, in our publication, Klyuchevskaya Sopka does not smoke, the islands of the Kuril ridge do not rise from the Pacific waters, the white cover does not sparkle ... I have not been to these and many other places, I dream of visiting and writing about them. Many remarkable monuments of history and culture were not included in the book. St. George's Cathedral in Yuryev-Polsky and St. Sophia's Cathedral in Vologda, the Kremlin of Tula and Kolomna, Vorobyevo estates in Kaluga and Maryino in the Kursk region, buildings local history museum in Irkutsk and the Drama Theater in Samara, the Saratov Conservatory and the City House in Khabarovsk... The list is endless.
In addition, we decided not to get carried away with the story of big cities, about millions of megacities (limiting ourselves to a selective review of the architectural riches of Moscow and St. Petersburg), but to give preference to distant Russia, living away from wide highways and from the noise of business and industrial centers.
The Northern Sea Route has become one of the symbols of Russia's achievements. A well-established, well-functioning track in the polar zone is really a full-fledged reason for pride. However, the path to nuclear icebreakers and modern regular flights was not strewn with roses. The country had to fight with might and main for the Arctic.
The first journey along the Northern Route was made by Vilkitsky's expedition in 1915. But it was made a regular transport artery later, in the Soviet era. It was during the experiments on the Northern Sea Route that one of the most dramatic stories took place: the disaster of the Chelyuskin steamer and the rescue of its crew.
northern path
After civil war The role of the Northern Sea Route only grew. The new authorities invested in the development of Siberia and its resources, in addition, the railways were in decline. For the construction of new polar stations, the compilation of sailing directions and maps, the piloting of ships with might and main, experts from the tsarist era were involved. Fortunately, the researchers could use the novelties of the industrial era - icebreakers and aircraft for ice reconnaissance.
At this stage, one of the main characters of the future epic, Otto Schmidt, arrived in the polar zone. This scientist came from the Baltic Germans. As a result of the Civil War, he did not leave - he explored the Pamirs, and headed the department at the Physics Department of Moscow State University, and compiled the Great Soviet Encyclopedia.
When laying the Northern Sea Route, an obvious difficulty arose. Tasks in the Arctic were to be carried out by different people's commissariats, for each of which the Arctic was a deeply secondary region. Therefore, since 1932, a special department began to work - Glavsevmorput under the leadership of Schmidt - with broad powers and a range of tasks. The department was immediately engaged in organizing a network of sea and air transport, radio communications, building all the necessary infrastructure (ports, workshops, and so on), and scientific research.
One of the key questions was how to make the passage of the Northern Sea Route the fastest. Sevmore is freed from the ice for too long, but the idea to slip all the way in one navigation did not leave the explorers. In addition, it was not clear how free ordinary steamships, not icebreakers, could feel in the Arctic. Therefore, the newly created department quickly began to equip a new expedition.
The main hero of the new campaign was to be the Chelyuskin steamer. This ship was built in Denmark by order of the USSR, and its design was initially strengthened for navigation in the polar seas, although the Chelyuskin was not a real icebreaker. The main task of "Chelyuskin" was a breakthrough from Murmansk to Vladivostok. It was necessary to work out the transition, to establish interaction with icebreakers. Finally, the transition also had a narrowly practical goal - to change the winterers on Wrangel Island, who had been sitting there for years without getting out.
There was already experience in trying to break through the Sevmor in one fell swoop, but you can’t call it positive. In 1932, the Sibiryakov steamship passed from Arkhangelsk to the Chukchi Sea, crashed and lost its propeller. Then the team was able to get out of the situation in an original way: by installing home-made canvas sails.
The most trained part of the Chelyuskin team was made up of veterans of the Sibiryakov campaign, including Schmidt himself. The captain of the Chelyuskin, Vladimir Voronin, also used to sail on the Sibiryakov. This sailor hasn't left the Arctic at all since 1916. Another old polar explorer was Ernst Krenkel, who wintered on Novaya Zemlya and also flew on the German airship Graf Zeppelin as part of the Soviet-German scientific program.
In addition to the sailors themselves, the ship carried personnel for the base on Wrangel Island - some with their wives and children, builders, scientists (from surveyors to zoologists) and journalists. In addition, a seaplane with a highly experienced polar explorer Mikhail Babushkin was loaded on board.
True, there was little time to prepare the flight. The Chelyuskin crew was pressured not only by the problems of the Wrangel station lost in the polar wilderness, but also by the assault, when they demanded from above to give a result as soon as possible. Therefore, it was out of the question to better prepare the ship and set out on the next navigation. August 2, 1933 "Chelyuskin" left Murmansk and went to Vladivostok.
The Arctic is a harsh mistress
Trouble began in the Kara Sea. There was a small leak in the hold. "Chelyuskin" coped well with fragile ice, the damage was not severe, but confidence in tomorrow happening did not add.
By the beginning of September, the Chelyuskin reached open water, but here, instead of ramming the ship, the ice floes had to overcome severe rolling. Meanwhile, the time for landing on Wrangel Island was approaching. However, this problem could not be solved: Voronin, who had already mastered aerial reconnaissance, flew around the route together with Babushkin and made the obvious conclusion: the ice was too dense to pass. "Chelyuskin" goes straight to the Bering Strait.
However, the Chukchi Sea is clogged with ice. In mid-September, the Chelyuskin made its way through the hummocks. The ice around the ship was shrinking. The speed dropped to several hundred meters per day. In the 20th of September, the ship freezes in the Kolyuchinskiy Bay, squeezed by ice.
Caught up in the devil on the horns dense ice, Schmidt and Voronin did not lose their heads. To begin with, they tried to blow up the ice around the Chelyuskin. However, with the same success, one could try to blow up the moon. Ammonal left only small craters on the ice.
"Chelyuskin" was freed from the ice ... and on October 16 again fell into a trap. The screw is dead. The ice drifted and dragged the doomed ship back, then the winds changed - the "Chelyuskin" shook in circles. The ice cutter Litke tried to help the Chelyuskin, but the ice situation worsened day by day: the attempts of the ice cutter to break through to the Chelyuskin quickly became dangerous for the rescuers themselves, and the operation was curtailed. "Chelyuskin" finally wiped out a hundred and fifty miles from the nearest shore.
On the "Chelyuskin" introduced a regime of austerity. The issuance of coal was reduced, handicraft stoves were built, powered by engine oil and waste. Nevertheless, the temperature in the cabins dropped to 10 degrees. Food and warm clothes were unloaded onto the ice in case of a sudden sinking of the ship. We had to wait until July next year.
However, "Chelyuskin" did not wait for July. On February 13, 1934, a huge ice field was carried to the Chelyuskin. The eight-meter mountain of ice moved as if alive.
Schmidt and Voronin immediately ordered the unloading of people and everything that was necessary for survival from the ship. The work was still going on when the ice floe pressed the port side and began to destroy the Chelyuskin. First, the surface of the ship collapsed, but then the ice broke through the hole and below the waterline. Water entered the engine room. There were only a few hours left to unload the Chelyuskin, but they were put to good use. The crew endured everything that could be useful to complete the winter. Decisions were made quickly, commands were carried out, the state of the ship was clearly monitored. At 15:50 "Chelyuskin" fell on the bow and went under the ice. One person died - supply manager Boris Mogilevich, unsuccessfully bruised by a broken barrel and thrown onto the deck when the team left the Chelyuskin. Another 104 people took to the ice.
help from heaven
They managed to save quite a lot of property - even film equipment and dishes were taken out. However, now it was necessary to set up camp in an empty place in a severe frost. Tents were hastily pitched on the ice. There would be no happiness - misfortune helped: neither builders nor building materials got to Wrangel Island. But now engineers and workers began to build a galley and barracks. Walls were upholstered in tents, floors were laid from improvised materials, handicraft lamps were made, in a word, they were arranged in earnest.
Lucky for those who are lucky: thanks to prompt, clear actions during the disaster, they managed to save quite a decent amount of food, from canned food and rice to fresh pork, chocolate, condensed milk and cocoa. The stocks were transferred to the caretaker, and everyone, including Schmidt, handed over excess warm clothes to him.
At this time, the radio operators under the command of Krenkel were working hard to restore radio contact with the earth. The antenna bent in the wind, the receiver had to be repaired with bare hands. The first thing we managed to catch on the restored walkie-talkie was ... a foxtrot. Soon, Krenkel drove those who spent the night near the radio to other tents and set up a full-fledged radio center. Soon we managed to contact the Uelen polar station. Schmidt described the situation - without panic, but also without embellishing his position.
Moscow reacted quickly to the misfortunes of the Chelyuskinites. The special commission for saving people was headed by Valerian Kuibyshev, one of the highest dignitaries of the state. Meanwhile, the rescue operation presented difficulties that had not been known before. The USSR had experience in evacuating polar explorers in distress.
The rescued themselves rendered great help to the future rescuers. Schmidt and Voronin initially proceeded from the fact that it was necessary to make life easier for the pilots, and sent people to clear the runway. Heaps of ice floes and pieces of ice standing on an edge were cleaned off by hand on a suitable site a few kilometers from the camp. The result was a runway 600 meters long, and when the ice crushed it, the construction of new ones began - in total, the Chelyuskinites built four (!) Runways.
The idea to break through to salvation on their own both Schmidt and Voronin worked on the ice, and members of the commission in Moscow. It had to be discarded: too many people demanded too much cargo for life support: all the necessary property simply would not have been carried away along the hummocks.
On March 5, in forty-degree frost, the first ANT-4 aircraft under the command of pilot Anatoly Lyapidevsky took off from Uelen to Chelyuskin. Soon they saw smoke from the air - it was Schmidt's people who gave signals. Under joyful cries from below, Lyapidevsky's car landed at the "airfield". The order was strictly observed: the first women and two little girls were taken away.
Lyapidevsky brought crowbars, picks, shovels, batteries and a fresh reindeer carcass to the polar explorers. The aviator had to start with the greatest accuracy from the ice - outside the makeshift Chelyuskin "runway" there were ropaks sticking out, which, in a collision, would simply destroy the plane with everyone on it. However, everything went well.
The beginning of the rescue was laid, but on the same night a disaster almost happened to the barracks: a crack formed in the ice, dividing it in two. People jumped out who was in what - they had to disperse to tents.
Lyapidevsky no longer flew to the Chelyuskin camp - his car crashed nine days later. Everyone survived, but he dropped out of the rescue operation. However, by this time, several aircraft had already arrived at the scene. It is interesting that the Americans helped the Russians in this: they provided two aircraft and airfields in Alaska as an additional base, moreover, American mechanics were included in the crews of the transferred aircraft for maintenance.
Rescue was approaching - on April 7, three planes arrived on the ice floe at once. Earned a real air bridge. The sick were taken out first. Schmidt himself fell seriously ill, but was one of the last to leave. On April 12, only six people remained on the ice, including Captain Voronin and radio operator Krenkel. On April 13, the last inhabitants of the ice camp were evacuated at the site of the sinking of the Chelyuskin steamer.
The survivors were greeted as heroes. The ship's disaster paled in comparison to the brilliant struggle of the crew for their own survival and rescue operation.
Schmidt was returning through America. In the United States, he was introduced to President Roosevelt, and the world press did not get tired of singing about the polar explorer, comparing him with Amundsen. At home, Schmidt and the others were given a standing ovation.
The voyage of the Chelyuskin, despite the catastrophe of the ship, gave a huge experience of operations in the Arctic, and it concerned both navigation and the organization of aviation in the Arctic. For most of the participants in this epic, fate smiled. Schmidt continued the work of the scientist, and died many years later. Seven pilots who rescued Chelyuskinites from the ice became heroes Soviet Union, Lyapidevsky generally became the first to be awarded this title. Orders were awarded in general to all adult wintering participants and technical personnel who participated in the operation, including two Americans.
Except for the tragic accident that resulted in the death of one of the polar explorers, the rescue of the crew went, it would seem, almost routinely. But behind this outward simplicity lies precisely the brilliant work and steely self-control of the expedition leadership.
On July 16, 1933, the icebreaker Chelyuskin left the northern capital of the USSR along the route: Leningrad - Murmansk - Vladivostok, and was supposed to pass it along the Northern Sea Route in one summer navigation. The ship had 112 people on board.
A surveyor was sent to spend the winter on Wrangel Island, Researcher All-Union Arctic Institute Vasily Gavrilovich Vasiliev with his wife Dorothea Ivanovna, modeler by profession, members of the Chukotka-Anadyr expedition of 1931-1932. On a campaign on the Chelyuskin, on August 31, 1933, a girl was born to them, who was named after the place where she appeared - the Kara Sea - Karina. Karina Vasilievna Vasilyeva (married, Mikeladze) is still alive! She is 84 years old. We found her!
She is a participant in the heroic Chelyuskin epic, because the passengers and crew of the Chelyuskin steamer had to be rescued, the Chelyuskin never completely passed along the Northern Sea Route. February 13, 1934 in the Chukchi Sea, as a result of strong compression, "Chelyuskin" was crushed by ice and sank. The Schmitt camp (named after the expedition leader Otto Yulievich Schmidt) remained to live on the ice.
The Chelyuskinites were evacuated by air. On March 5, 1934, pilot Anatoly Lyapidevsky on the ANT-4 plane was the first to make his way to the Schmidt camp and took him out of the ice floe to the village. Uelen immediately 10 women and two children. Among them was Karina Vasilyeva (the second girl, Alla Buiko, was a little older than Karina, she was born in August 1932 in Leningrad and went with her parents on the Chelyuskin to Wrangel Island; she began to walk on the ship and began to talk!).
On the red day of the calendar, November 7, 2017, we talked with Karina Vasilyevna about the Chelyuskinites and their fate. Karina Vasilyeva lives in St. Petersburg - the cradle of the revolution, a geologist by profession, followed in her father's footsteps, but worked not in the north, but in the south. And in life she never took advantage of the status of "participant in the Chelyuskin epic."
Anatoly Lyapidevsky took us out of the ice floe on March 5, 1934 on a plane, Ivan Doronin drove us further, we also rode dogs, but I didn’t know that border guard pilot Alexander Svetogorov delivered us to Providence Bay, says Karina Vasilievna, which we told about the forgotten participant in the rescue operation Alexander Svetogorov, and that he was bypassed with an award, and that he crashed in 1935 in the taiga of the Khabarovsk Territory and was not buried for eighty years, and only in 2016 the last Chelyuskinite found peace on a churchyard in Khabarovsk.
The fact that Alexander Svetogorov “delivered Chelyuskinites, among whom was a woman with a girl Karina, to Providence Bay on the first flight,” we ourselves only recently learned from the historical form for 1934 of the Second (now Fifth) United Aviation Detachment of the FSB of Russia in the city of Yelizovo Kamchatsky the edges. It was the border guard pilots of Kamchatka who were sent to rescue the Chelyuskinites. We read a fragment of the form to Karina Vasilyeva.
You see, I can’t remember any details, - says Karina Vasilievna. - Of course, I am a participant, but not an eyewitness. I was there, I attended. Such a historical fact, nothing more. After all, I was so small - a baby, I don’t remember anything, I don’t know anything. Later, my mother told me how it all happened, and recently I re-read her notes.
When my mother, Dorothea Ivanovna, was still alive (she died in 1994), they were interested in the fate of the Chelyuskinites, kept in touch with some, it was interesting for them to communicate, she continues. - I knew Alla Buiko - the same little girl who also rode on the Chelyuskin steamer. But she has been dead for a few years now. In general, I remained one of the Chelyuskinites, one might say, the last of the Mohicans.
Karina Vasilievna says that at one time she maintained relations with the Chelyuskinites: the pilot and the first Hero of the Soviet Union just for saving the Chelyuskinites Anatoly Lyapidevsky, the artist Fyodor Reshetnikov, who became an academician and vice-president of the USSR Academy of Arts, the author of the famous painting “Again the deuce”, Viktor Gurevich - minder from "Chelyuskin", mechanic Alexander Pogosov - commandant of the runway in the Schmidt camp, he received and sent aircraft, led the actions construction teams and the last to fly out of the ice camp, with the pilot and Hero of the Soviet Union Vasily Molokov.
I saw Karin and Academician Otto Yulievich Schmidt himself - the head of the expedition of the Chelyuskin steamer, of course, not when she was born and he could even nurse her, but already in adulthood.
According to Karina Vasilievna, "it was in 1952, when Schmidt came to Leningrad, to the university, and gave mathematical lectures" on the creation of the world "(laughs)". And from the memoirs: “He asked the audience to come up to him after the lecture, because he knew my parents and that I was studying here, but after the lecture he was surrounded by people, and I was shy, and could not come up ...”.
But they all died a long time ago .., - Karina Vasilievna is sad. - I haven't been to Moscow for a long time. Age, excuse me!.. Here, every year, on February 13, on the day when the Chelyuskin steamer sank, the Chelyuskinites gathered in the Prague restaurant on the Arbat. We celebrated our second birthday. Now this watch was picked up by relatives of the Chelyuskinites. But I don't know them anymore, I have nothing to do with them...
Karina Vasilievna recalls how, in her adult life, she visited Chukotka, where the Chelyuskin steamer was in distress. It was in 1984 - on the fiftieth anniversary of the Chelyuskin epic.
The propaganda flight to Chukotka was organized by the Moscow Central Committee of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, - says Karina Vasilievna. - Several Chelyuskins were with us (mother, me): ichthyologist Anna Sushkina, mechanic Alexander Pogosov, German Gribakin - flight mechanic on the R-5 aircraft in the detachment of the pilot of the Hero of the Soviet Union Nikolai Kamanin (in the link of Boris Pivenshtein), later, design engineer in KB A.N. Tupolev, correspondents. We were in Anadyr, in Vankarem, in Uelen, at Cape Schmidt, in a word, at those points where the rescue operation took place. I remember how the plane flew along the coastline of the then Soviet Union, the Chukchi Sea. So, they called me at some time during the flight to the cockpit to the pilots and showed me the point (coordinates of the ship) where and when I was born in the Kara Sea ... Since then, no one has organized anything. Now only the Museum of the Arctic and Antarctic in St. Petersburg holds Chelyuskin readings.
But Karina Vasilievna does not feel forgotten. He says that there are people who are still interested in learning something about the Chelyuskinites.
We are not forgotten! - Karina Vasilievna is sure. - To those who remember the Chelyuskin people, especially to the Far East, I send a big hello! Greetings to the crew from Kamchatka (Klyuchi-1) of the personalized An-12 aircraft with the name "Rescuer of the Chelyuskin pilot Svetogorov", which appeared in the 11th Army of the Air Force and Air Defense. You are doing a great job - preserving the memory of our country and the exploits of our people. Thank you!
Konstantin Pronyakin.
How it was on the ship "Chelyuskin"
Karina Vasilyeva recalls:
I was born on Chelyuskin. It was interesting event and everyone took part in choosing the name. There were many different proposals. But now the name Karina has passed. It was considered that this is the most successful name, since I was born in the Kara Sea. I even have it written in my passport - the place of birth, the Kara Sea.
My birth happened before the Chelyuskin was captured by ice. But I was born on board a ship. Then there was a heavy ice situation. When a strong compression happened, the side was torn apart, and the expedition landed on the ice. Through a huge hole it was possible to go out onto the ice.
The first 3 days were very harsh, as everyone lived in rag tents at temperatures below 30 degrees below zero. Then the barrack was ready. It was covered with snow and ice. They made a stove out of a barrel. Mom and I were placed near the stove. Water was heated from ice. I was bathed in it. We lived on the ice floe for 21 days.
An extract from the historical form for 1934 of the Fifth (then Second) Joint Aviation Detachment of the FSB of Russia (Yelizovo, Kamchatka Territory) is published for the first time:
“... In February 1934, the squadron sent three aircraft to help the Chelyuskins: two ASh-2s and one Savoy-S62bis, piloted by pilot Svetogorov.
There were many more people who wanted to fly, but - "comrades," the Pompolit said, "we must ensure the inviolability of our borders, and thereby the success of the operation to save the Chelyuskinites." And everyone understood that Pompolit was right and worked even harder, studied, mastered new places.
On March 28, the ship "Stalingrad" departed from Petropavlovsk on a second flight to the north. On board were powerful rescue equipment: two airships, snowmobiles, sleds, Bolotov's plane. Our expedition loaded on board the ship the Savoy C-62 bis aircraft - pilot Svetogorov, letnab - Tesakov, technician - Lukichev, gunner-minder - Zhuk.
Trying to go north, the ship hit plight. For 20 days it stood compressed from all sides by ice. The compression reached such an extent that 27 frames were damaged in the bow. It could be expected that the expedition itself would have to land on the ice. But the wind turned, and streaks formed in the ice field. The ship was able to get to clean water.
A day later, the ship again met strong soldered ice, which was impossible to bypass. We decided to take off from the ice airfield [near about. St. Matthew in the Bering Sea]. On April 29, the plane was unloaded, which was assembled three hours later. Early in the morning on April 30, the plane took off, taking with it medicines and the polar doctor Starokadomsky. A few minutes later the ship disappeared into the fog.
The strafing flight over the ice field covered with hummocks and leads continued for 4 hours. Frightened by the plane, birds took off from the wings. At 8 o'clock they landed in Provideniya Bay, where the base of the expedition to rescue the Chelyuskinites was located. A day later, the plane flew to Uelen Bay, from where Chelyuskin crews were delivered to Providence Bay on the first flight, among which was a woman with a girl Karina, who was born on the Chelyuskin steamer in the Kara Sea. In total, 29 Chelyuskinites were transferred by plane from different points. In addition, the task of the aircraft was to supply the Chelyuskinites with provisions. And the crew fulfilled this task with honor.
In order to fulfill the task of assisting the Chelyuskinites, the crew completed the government task of flying to Cape Schmidt. The plane delivered to Cape Schmidt to help the local population: the Chukchi and Eskimos doctor Starokadomsky and medicines. From Cape Schmidt, six people with scurvy were brought to Providence Bay from those wintering on the steamer Khabarovsk. This ended the flights in the Far North ... "
We have collected all the well-known and little-known participants in the rescue of the Chelyuskinites.
Chelyuskin Rescue Headquarters
Kuibyshev Valerian Vladimirovich (1888-1935)- chairman government commission on rendering assistance to Chelyuskinites (Moscow).
Ushakov Georgy Alekseevich (1901-1963)- authorized by the government commission for the rescue of the crew and passengers of the Chelyuskin steamer and the purchase from Pan American Airways Corporation - the national carrier of the United States - aircraft for pilots S. A. Levanevsky and M. T. Slepnev.
Petrov Gavriil Gerasimovich (1895-1984)- Head of the GUSMP polar station Cape Severny (now Cape O. Schmidt) of the Chaunsky district (now Egvekinot district), chairman of the emergency troika to provide assistance to passengers of Chelyuskin (in the area of Cape Severny - Uelena, headquarters - Cape Severny, intermediate headquarters - Vankarem trading post , then - Cape Onman, the village of Ilhetan, 35 km from Vankarem, Chukotka National District).
Nebolsin Andrei Vladimirovich (1900-1944)- head of the Uelen sea checkpoint, member of the emergency troika to assist the passengers of the Chelyuskin.
Natauge- Chairman of the Eskimo District Executive Committee (Chaplino, Chukotsky District, formerly Chairman of the Yanrakynnot Native Council / Providence, Chairman of the First Sirenikovsky Association), member of the emergency troika to provide assistance to Chelyuskin passengers.
Pogorelov Yakov Gavrilovich (1903-1941)- Head of the border checkpoint in Dezhnevo (MKPP "Dezhnev" UPVO UNKVD DVK) in Uelen, a member of the emergency troika to assist the passengers of "Chelyuskin". Drowned while crossing the river. Neva November 1, 1941, find and buried in 1999, the memorial "Nevsky Piglet".
Beloborodov Mikhail Ivanovich- head of the border guard in Dezhnevo (MKPP "Dezhnev" UPVO UNKVD DVK) in Uelen, a member of the emergency troika to provide assistance to passengers of "Chelyuskin" (for replacement).
Trudolyubov- Chairman of the Chukotka Regional Executive Committee (Uelen), member of the emergency troika to provide assistance to Chelyuskin passengers.
Hvorostyansky N. N.- meteorologist at Cape Severny station, deputy head of Uelen station, member of the emergency troika to provide assistance to Chelyuskin passengers.
Pilots
first group, Chukotka
Kukanov Fedor Kuzmich (1904-1964)- reserve pilot, commander of the Chukotka air group for the rescue of Chelyuskinites, base - Cape Severny.
Lyapidevsky Anatoly Vasilyevich (1908-1983) - line pilot of the Chukotka air group to rescue the Chelyuskinites (base - Cape Severny), on March 5, 1934, flew from Uelen on an Ant-4 No. 1 aircraft, was the first to discover the Schmidt camp and took out 12 people - 10 women and 2 children Uelene went out of action on February 21, 1934, the landing gear and both propellers broke during landing). Hero of the Soviet Union No. 1.
Petrov Lev Vasilyevich (1900-1945)- pilot-observer of the crew of Lyapidevsky, the first head of the flight Chukchi expedition.
Konkin Evgeny Mikhailovich- co-pilot of the ANT-4 aircraft at Lyapidevsky, flight commander and political leader.
Rukovsky Mikhail A., flight mechanic Lyapidevsky.
« Polar Sea, Schmidt's camp. (Radio.) Today, March 5, is a great joy for the Chelyuskin camp and at the same time a holiday of Soviet aviation. The ANT-4 aircraft, under the control of the pilot Lyapidevsky, with the pilot-observer Petrov, flew from Wellen to our camp, descended on the airfield prepared by us and safely delivered to Wellen all the women and both children who were on the Chelyuskin. The plane took a direction over the ice and with amazing confidence went straight to the airfield. Landing and lifting were done surprisingly clearly and with a range of only two hundred meters.
The success of Comrade Lyapidevsky's flight is all the more significant because it is almost forty degrees below zero.
A large polynya formed between the camp and the airfield, so that for the crossing it was necessary to drag a boat from the camp through the ice for three kilometers.
The successful start of the rescue operation further raised the spirit of the Chelyuskinites, who were sure of attention. and care of the government and the whole country. Deeply grateful.
Expedition leader Schmidt».
the second group of pilots from Vladivostok
Kamanin Nikolai Petrovich (1909-1982)- a military pilot, on a P-5 plane (Pivenshtein's plane) made a group flight Cape Olyutorka - Vankarem, April 7, 1934, the third sat down at the Schmidt camp (navigator Matvey Shelyganov), took out 34 people (he was nicknamed Aachek, that is, a young man, a young man). Hero of the Soviet Union No. 4, Star No. 2.
Molokov Vasily Sergeevich (1895-1982)- pilot, on April 7, 1934, on a P-5 plane, the fourth one landed at the Schmidt camp, took out 39 people, on an unscheduled flight, on April 11, 1934, evacuated the sick Schmidt from the ice floe to Vankarem (he was nicknamed Ympenachen, which means old man). Hero of the Soviet Union No. 3. Flight mechanic Pilyutov Petr Andreevich (1906-1960), Hero of the Soviet Union (1943).
Pivenshtein Boris Abramovich (1909-?)- reserve pilot, April 1, 1934 near the village. Valkalten, gave the plane to Kamanin (at Kamanin's plane / flight engineer Konstantin Anisimov/ the shock-absorbing connecting rod of the landing gear burst), flew six times from Uelen to Providence Bay and twice from Providence Bay to Lawrence Bay, transferring 22 people in total.
Bastanzhiev Boris Vladimirovich (1909-1974)- a military pilot of the reserve from the Kamanin aviation detachment, April 1, 1934, an accident on a plane near the city of Anadyr.
Demirov Ivan M.- military pilot of the reserve, April 1, 1934, an accident on a plane near the city of Anadyr.
Farikh Fabio Brunovich (1896-1985)- reserve pilot, suspended from flying by Kamanin.
Shelyganov Matvey Petrovich (1909-1982) - navigator Kamanina.
the third group of civilian pilots from Khabarovsk
Galyshev Viktor Lvovich (1892-1940)- reserve pilot, flight commander, on April 11, an airplane (fuel pump) broke down in Anadyr.
Vodopyanov Mikhail Vasilyevich (1899-1980)- pilot, on April 12, on the R-5 plane, he took out 10 people (flight mechanics Aleksandrov and Ratushkin). Hero of the Soviet Union No. 6.
Doronin Ivan Vasilyevich (1903-1951)- pilot, deputy flight. On April 12, on the PS-4 aircraft (the “four” was assigned after assembling from broken PS-3 / Junkers W33 machines in the Irkutsk Dobrolet repair shops), onboard No. L-735 took out 2 people (flight mechanics Ya. Savin and V. Fedotov) . Hero of the Soviet Union No. 7.
fourth group from USA
Levanevsky Sigismund Alexandrovich (1902-1937)- pilot, on March 29, 1934, having taken off from Fairbanks - Nome (USA) on a Flitster plane (17АF Consolidated Fleetster), airborne "USSR-SL - USSR-Sigismund Levanevsky", was supposed to land in Uelen, but flew further, in Vankarem, 30 km away, he made an accident in the area of Cape Onmana. Plenipotentiary Ushakov G.A. was on board. On April 29, 1934, on a U-2 plane, he delivered surgeon Leontiev from Uelen to Lavrenty Bay for an emergency operation for an acute attack of appendicitis to Alexei Bobrov, deputy head of the expedition of the Chelyuskin steamer. Hero of the Soviet Union No. 2, Star No. 4.
Conqueror of the Arctic
The biography of the Chelyuskin steamer was very short. The Soviet government ordered this vessel from the well-known Danish company Burmeister and Vine, it left the stocks in 1933. The ship was modern, had a reinforced hull and could reach a speed of 12 knots.
It was planned that the ship would open regular navigation along the Northern Sea Route and thereby confirm the priorities of the Soviet Union in the Arctic. A world-famous scientist Otto Yulievich Schmidt became a great enthusiast of this project. In 1932, he managed to pass the Northern Sea Route in one navigation on the icebreaking steamer Alexander Sibiryakov, however, at the end of the voyage, the steamer lost its propeller, and he traveled the remaining miles in tow.
Steamship "Chelyuskin" in the summer of 1933 in Leningrad. Source: https://ru.wikipedia.org/
Drift in the ice
The first success inspired the leadership of the country, the Main Directorate of the Northern sea route began preparations for its development. Schmidt was appointed to lead the expedition of the Chelyuskin steamer, and Vladimir Voronin was appointed captain. On August 2, 1933, thousands of people saw off the ship from Murmansk to Vladivostok. There were 112 passengers on board. The ship during the movement worked out practical tasks for the future. In difficult situations, the participation of icebreakers was envisaged.
Most of the way was covered safely, but everything changed in the Chukchi Sea. Here the road is blocked solid ice, the icebreaker was far away and could no longer help, and one could not count on rapid warming either. September 23 "Chelyuskin" was completely blocked by ice. An unprecedented drift of the ship began, lasting five months. It seemed that the worst was over, before pure water The Bering Strait was a few miles away when, as a result of powerful compression, the steamer was crushed by ice and sank.
F. Reshetnikov. Doom "Chelyuskin". Source: http://www.cheluskin.ru/
The feat of the pilots
Almost all passengers and crew were landed on the ice. Prepared food supplies, tents, sleeping bags, etc. were also unloaded. During unloading, the only dead was the supply manager B.G. Mogilevich. The shipwrecked were able to organize clear discipline and order in the ice camp, thanks to which it was possible to save people's lives and create conditions for further evacuation.
The tragedy in the Bering Strait shook the whole country. Thousands of people rushed to save the expedition. A headquarters was created in Moscow, headed by Valerian Kuibyshev. After considering various proposals, they considered the use of aviation as the best option. The first aircraft to land on the ice floe was Anatoly Lyapidevsky's ANT-4. It is noteworthy that before that he made 28 sorties and only the 29th was successful. The search for the expedition was hampered by very bad weather conditions, especially heavy fog. Lyapidevsky accomplished a feat, he managed to land in a 40-degree frost on a site 150 by 400 meters. For the first time, 10 women and two children were taken out. The second time the plane let down, and Lyapidevsky was forced to stay on the ice floe.
The pilots who took part in the rescue of the expedition from the Chelyuskin steamer. Left: Hero of the Soviet Union Nikolai Kamanin.
On the anniversary of the rescue of the Chelyuskin expedition, I am posting my article published in our magazine "Picturesque Russia"
Once upon a time, every Soviet schoolboy knew about the expedition of the Chelyuskin steamer. 80 years separate us from the Chelyuskin epic. Few remember this story. And the majority, living in another country already, know little about this dramatic and heroic event. Although once films were made about the heroes of the Chelyuskinites, they composed songs that were sung by the whole country. This is an amazing epic of courage and selflessness.
Since the 30s. of the last century, great work was launched in the Soviet Union to develop the Northern Sea Route as a transport route. The Soviet government carried out the traditional Russian idea of developing the eastern and northern regions of the country. It started in the 16th century. Ermak Timofeevich. It was scientifically formulated by Mikhail Lomonosov. But only in Soviet time this idea came true. In 1928, by a resolution of the Council people's commissars The Arctic Government Commission was established. It was headed by the former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the country S.S. Kamenev. The commission included scientists and pilots. The commission supervised the creation of sea and air bases, meteorological stations on the coast of the Arctic Ocean and regulated the navigation of ships. The first practical result of the work of the commission was the rescue of the Nobile expedition, which had an accident on the airship "Italy". It was her efforts that saved the Soviet steamship Stavropol and the American schooner Nanuk that had wintered in the ocean ice.
Expedition on the ship "Chelyuskin"
The Soviet government set the task of ensuring reliable navigation of merchant ships from Leningrad and Murmansk to Vladivostok by the northern sea route in one navigation, during the summer-autumn period.
In 1932, the Sibiryakov icebreaker was able to complete this task. The head of the expedition was Professor Otto Yulievich Schmidt, and the captain of the icebreaker was Vladimir Ivanovich Voronin. Immediately after the end of the expedition, the Main Directorate of the Northern Sea Route (Glavsevmorput) was created, which was instructed to master this route, provide it with technical equipment, build settlements and much more. O.Yu. was appointed head of the Glavsevmorput. Schmidt.
On the slipway in Copenhagen
In 1933, the Chelyuskin transport ship was sent along the Northern Sea Route. "Chelyuskin" was supposed to pass in one navigation from Leningrad to the home port of Vladivostok. It was assumed that the ship would be accompanied by icebreakers. But that did not happen.
The expedition on the Chelyuskin was headed by O.Yu. Schmidt, and V.I. was appointed captain. Voronin. There were 111 people on board - the ship's crew, scientists, journalists, a shift of winterers and builders for Wrangel Island. On February 13, 1934, crushed by ice in the Chukchi Sea, the ship sank. One person died, and 104 crew members landed on the ice of the ocean. Part of the cargo and food was removed from the ship. The rescue of the Chelyuskin crew became one of the most exciting and heroic pages of the Soviet era.
The Chelyuskin expedition was supposed to prove the suitability of the Northern Sea Route for supplying everything necessary to Siberia and Far East. "Chelyuskin" was named after Semyon Ivanovich Chelyuskin (1700-1764), a member of the Great Northern Expedition, who discovered the northernmost point of continental Eurasia (now Cape Chelyuskin). The ship was built at the shipyards of the company "Burmeister and Wine" (B&W, Copenhagen) in Denmark by order of the Soviet Union. The ship was designed to sail between the mouth of the Lena (hence the original name of the ship "Lena") and Vladivostok. In accordance with the technical data, the ship was the most modern cargo-passenger ship for that time. In accordance with Lloyd's classifications, she was classified as an icebreaking steamship. The ship had a displacement of 7500 tons.
Route map of Schmidt's expeditions
July 16, 1933 "Chelyuskin" sailed from Leningrad to Murmansk, on the way going to the docks in Copenhagen to eliminate the identified defects during the first voyage.
In Murmansk, the team was understaffed - those who showed themselves not with better side. They loaded on board additional cargo, which they did not have time to take in Leningrad. Preparation of a polar expedition is a separate issue. Here is what Ivan Kopusov, the deputy head of the expedition, who was responsible for the supply, wrote: “It's no joke: the amplitude from the primus needle to theodolite! All this went for Chelyuskin from all over our great country. We received cargo from Siberia, Ukraine, Vologda, Arkhangelsk, Omsk, Moscow. We sent representatives to all parts of the Union in order to expedite the fulfillment of orders and their progress along railways. All the people's commissariats participated in the preparation of the expedition.
The expedition also took nutrition seriously. To supply the crew with fresh meat, they took with them 26 live cows and 4 small piglets, which then turned into healthy hogs and helped to diversify the ship's menu. On August 2, 1933, Chelyuskin left the port of Murmansk for Vladivostok, while working out a scheme for delivering goods along the Northern Sea Route in one summer navigation.
The passage in the open sea showed the shortcomings of the special form of the Chelyuskin - it rocked, like a real icebreaker, strongly and rapidly. At the very first encounters with ice in the Kara Sea, the ship was damaged in the bow. The fact is that it was overloaded (it was carrying coal for the Krasin icebreaker), and the fortified ice belt turned out to be below the waterline, so that the steamer met ice floes with a less protected upper part of the hull. To install additional wooden fasteners, it was necessary to unload the bow hold from coal.
How this was done, the head of the expedition, Otto Schmidt, told: “This operation had to be done quickly, and here for the first time in this voyage we used the same method of general emergency work, which already on the Sibiryakov and on previous expeditions turned out to be not only necessary for a quick end work, but also a great means of team building. All members of the expedition, both scientists and builders, sailors and business executives, carried coal, breaking into teams, between which the competition was bright and with great enthusiasm.
The voyage proceeded successfully up to Novaya Zemlya. Then the "Chelyuskin" entered the Kara Sea, which was not slow to show both its "bad" character and the defenselessness of the "Chelyuskin" in front of the real polar ice. A serious deformation of the hull and a leak appeared on August 13, 1933. The question arose of returning back, but it was decided to continue the journey.
in the Kara Sea significant event- Dorothea Ivanovna (maiden name Dorfman) and surveyor Vasily Gavrilovich Vasiliev, who were heading for the winter on Wrangel Island, had a daughter. The birth record was made by V.I. Voronin in the ship's magazine "Chelyuskin". It read: “August 31st. 5 o'clock 30 pm the Vasilyevs had a child, a girl. Calculated latitude 75 ° 46’51 "N, longitude 91 ° 06' E, sea depth 52 meters. "The girl was named Karina.
“The fate of this girl, who was born beyond 75 ° latitude and in the first year of her life suffered a shipwreck, life on ice, a flight to Uelen and a solemn return to Moscow, where Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin and Maxim Gorky caressed her, was curious,” Otto Schmidt wrote later. .
The fate of Karina Vasilyevna Vasilyeva is really interesting. She now lives in St. Petersburg and her passport really has the birthplace of the Kara Sea. “My birth happened before Chelyuskin was captured by ice,” recalls Karina Vasilievna. But I was born on board a ship. Then there was a heavy ice situation. When a strong compression happened, the side was torn apart, and the expedition landed on the ice. Through a huge hole it was possible to go out onto the ice. The first 3 days were very harsh, as everyone lived in rag tents at temperatures below 30 degrees below zero. Then the barrack was ready. It was covered with snow and ice. They made a stove out of a barrel. Mom and I were placed near the stove. Water was heated from ice. I was bathed in it. We lived on the ice floe for 21 days.”
The Laptev Sea and the East Siberian "Chelyuskin" passed relatively freely. But the Chukchi Sea was occupied by ice. Pyotr Buyko, who was to become the head of the polar station on Wrangel Island, recalls: “The ship fought, it fought, moving east. Vladimir Ivanovich Voronin sat up longer and longer in a barrel on Mars, nicknamed the "crow's nest", from the height of the foremast, looking with binoculars for the blue strings of lanes along which the Chelyuskin made its way. More and more often the road was blocked by weighty bullish ice of a different, stronger breed than was in the seas traversed. But Vladimir Ivanovich did not give up, and the Chelyuskin pushed the sludge jelly with its cheekbones and, like a wedge, crashed into the ice fields with its stem. Schmidt does not leave the bridge, his hands are in the pockets of his fur coat, his eyes are vigilantly searching the horizon from under his cap. He is outwardly calm. But he is also worried about the pace of progress.”
In the East Siberian Sea began to come across heavy ice. On September 9 and 10, the Chelyuskin received dents on the starboard and port sides, one of the frames burst and the ship leak increased. The experience of the Far Eastern captains who sailed the northern seas said that September 15-20 is the latest time to enter the Bering Strait. Swimming in the autumn in the Arctic is difficult. Winter is impossible. The ship was frozen in the ice and began to drift.
Last photo- the death of "Chelyuskin"
On November 4, 1934, thanks to a successful drift, the Chelyuskin entered the Bering Strait. Clear water was only a few miles away. But no efforts of the team could save the situation. Movement to the south became impossible. In the strait, ice began to move in the opposite direction, and the Chelyuskin again ended up in the Chukchi Sea. The fate of the ship depended entirely on the ice situation. Otto Schmidt recalled: “At noon, the ice shaft on the left in front of the steamer moved and rolled towards us. Ice rolled over each other like scallops sea waves. The height of the shaft reached eight meters above the sea. Clamped by ice, the steamer could not move independently. Fate was not kind.
All this preceded the famous radiogram from O.Yu. Schmidt: “Polar Sea, February 14. On February 13, at 15:30, 155 miles from Cape Severny and 144 miles from Cape Wells, the Chelyuskin sank, crushed by ice compression. Already the last night was alarming due to frequent compression and strong hummocking of the ice. On February 13, at 13:30, a sudden strong pressure tore the port side over a long distance from the bow hold to the engine room. At the same time, the pipes of the steam pipeline burst, which made it impossible to start up drainage means, which were useless, however, due to the magnitude of the leak. It was all over in two hours. During these two hours, in an organized manner, without a single sign of panic, long-prepared emergency food supplies, tents, sleeping bags, an airplane and a radio were unloaded onto the ice. Unloading continued until the moment when the bow of the ship was already submerged under water. The leaders of the crew and the expedition were the last to leave the ship, a few seconds before the full immersion. The caretaker Mogilevich died while trying to get off the ship. He was pinned down by a log and carried into the water. Expedition leader Schmidt.
Boris Mogilevich became the only one who died during the entire Chelyuskin expedition.
Rescue of the Chelyuskinites
104 people, led by O.Yu., were captured by ice. Schmidt. Among the captives of the ice were two very young children - Alla Buiko, born in 1932, and the previously mentioned Karina Vasilyeva. To save people, a government commission was created under the leadership of Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars V.V. Kuibyshev. On her instructions, an emergency "troika" headed by the head of the station at Cape Severny (now Cape Schmidt) G.G. dealt with rescue issues on the Chukotka Peninsula. Petrov. They were instructed to mobilize dog and reindeer sleds and to alert the planes that were at that moment in Chukotka. Animals were required for the transfer of fuel from the bases at Cape Severny and the Uelen polar station to the Vankarem point closest to the Schmidt camp. Aircraft were intended to save people.
In the photo, Otto Schmidt on an ice floe in the camp
The rescue of the Chelyuskinites is a truly glorious page in the history of polar aviation. Her actions were constantly reported in the press. Many experts did not believe in the possibility of salvation. Some Western newspapers wrote that people on the ice are doomed, and it is inhumane to arouse hopes of salvation in them, this will only aggravate their torment. Icebreakers that could sail in the winter conditions of the Arctic Ocean did not yet exist. There was only hope for aviation. The government commission sent three groups of aircraft to rescue. In addition to two "Fleisters" and one "Junkers", the rest of the aircraft were domestic.
The first landing in the expedition camp on March 5, 1934 was made by the crew of Anatoly Lyapidevsky on an ANT-4 aircraft. Prior to that, he made 28 sorties, but only the 29th was successful. It was not easy to find a drifting ice floe with people in the fog. Lyapidevsky managed to land in 40-degree frost on a site measuring 150 by 400 meters. It was a real feat.
Pilots M.V. Vodopyanov, I.V. Doronin, N.P. Kamanin, S.A. Levanevsky, A.V. Lyapidevsky, V.S. Molokov and M.T. Slepnev, who took part in this operation, rightfully became the first Heroes of the Soviet Union. Their names in those years, and even at a later time, the whole country knew. However, not everyone, especially now, knows that the pilots seconded to carry out the extremely dangerous mission of evacuating the camp O.Yu. Schmidt, there were significantly more than seven. Only a third of them were awarded the titles of Heroes.
However, there were few available means of air evacuation: at Cape Severny there was a damaged H-4 aircraft with pilot Kukanov, and on Uelen there were two ANT-4 aircraft with pilots Lyapidevsky and Chernyavsky and one U-2 with pilot Konkin. The technical condition of the last three cars also caused concern. At the suggestion of the government commission, additional air transport was allocated for the operation. Part of it was decided to be transferred as far north as possible by water, so that the planes would go further to the rescue area "under their own power."
In accordance with this plan, two light aircraft "Sh-2" on the steamer "Stalingrad" were supposed to start sailing from Petropavlovsk; five R-5 aircraft and two U-2 vehicles, which were to be controlled by a group of pilots of the reconnaissance regiment of the Special Red Banner Far Eastern Army (OKDVA), headed by Kamanin, intended to transport the Smolensk steamer from Vladivostok; from there, but by the steamship "Council", it was supposed to relocate the planes of pilots Bolotov and Svyatogorov. From the very beginning, the rest of the aircraft had to face the most difficult flights: three aircraft (two PS-3s and one R-5), at the controls of which the pilots Galyshev, Doronin and Vodopyanov were supposed to be, had to cover a distance of almost 6000 km over unexplored mountain ranges and tundra, flying out of Khabarovsk. Finally, the reserve group of pilots (Levanevsky and Slepnev) were required to break into the rescue area from the United States, namely from Alaska. As a result, for the evacuation of the Chelyuskinites, in addition to the four aircraft in the disaster zone, sixteen more aircraft were involved.
Lyapidevsky took out 10 women and two children, and for the second time his engine failed and he joined the Chelyuskinites. The mass evacuation began 13 days later and lasted two weeks. Pilots in the hardest weather conditions made 24 flights. All of them then became the first Heroes of the Soviet Union - Anatoly Lyapidevsky, Mauritius Slepnev, Vasily Molokov, Nikolai Kamanin, Mikhail Vodopyanov and Ivan Doronin (the Gold Star medal appeared later), they were then awarded the Orders of Lenin. The rest were presented for orders and medals.
Upon returning home, all participants in the ice epic bathed in glory. Streets were named after them geographic features. They say that in the list of Soviet names, among Dzdravperma and Vladilen, a new one appeared - "Otyushminald" - "Otto Yulievich Schmidt on an ice floe."
Political information in the Chelyuskin camp, drawing by P. Reshetnikov
All participants of the ice drift, as well as G.A. Ushakov and G.G. Petrov, were awarded the Order of the Red Star and a six-month salary. The same orders, but without conferring the titles of Heroes, were also awarded to members of their crews, including American mechanics. Then L.V. became holders of the highest award of the country. Petrov, M.A. Rukovsky, W. Lavery, P.A. Pelyutov, I.G. Devyatnikov, M.P. Shelyganov, G.V. Gribakin, K. Armstedt, V.A. Aleksandrov, M.L. Ratushkin, A.K. Razin and Ya.G. Savin. In addition, all of the named aviators, unlike the Chelyuskinites, received bonuses in the amount of an annual salary. Other pilots who participated in the rescue operation and also risked their lives, the authorities noted more modestly.
By the same decree of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, in accordance with which G.A. Ushakov and G.G. Petrov, the Order of the Red Star and a six-month salary were awarded to V.L. Galyshev, B.A. Pivenshtein, B.V. Bastanzhiev and I.M. Demirov. These pilots, for various reasons, stopped literally a step away from the ice camp, did no less than, for example, Levanevsky, who also did not break through to the Chelyuskinites and did not take out a single person from the ice floe, but, nevertheless, became a Hero (according to official version It's believed that high rank Sigismund Aleksandrovich received Ushakov for the transfer to Vankarem, according to unofficial information - for giving I.V. Stalin, where he expressed his readiness to carry out further tasks of the government). The rest of the pilots who were involved in the rescue operation, but who, against their will, failed to take an effective part in it, were much less fortunate. They just forgot...
80 years have passed since the names of the Chelyuskin heroes became a legend and a symbol of human achievement and selflessness. And this is one of the few cases when the state and the entire Russian, then Soviet, people empathized with the drama of the pioneers of the North. This is the rare case when everyone felt that they were not an expendable material of history, which, sadly, is very specific to Russian history, but a part of one state and people that they think about and for the sake of which they strain all their strength. Perhaps this is the most important lesson of the feat of the Chelyuskinites and the rescue expedition.
The article was written specifically for the magazine "Picturesque Russia"
Photo from the archive of the Schmidt family
