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{{Short description|Air attacks by German aviation on Gorky during World War II}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2017}}
{{
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict = Bombing of Gorky
| partof = the [[Strategic bombing during World War II]]
| image =
| image_size = 350px
| caption = Soldiers of the
| date = November 4, 1941 - June 23, 1943
| place = [[Nizhny Novgorod|Gorky]], [[Russian SFSR]], [[Soviet Union]]
| coordinates =
| map_type =
| latitude =
| longitude =
| map_size =
| map_caption =
| territory =
| result = Soviet Victory
| status =
| combatant1 = {{flagicon|Soviet Union|1936}} [[
| combatant2 = {{flagicon|Nazi Germany}} [[
| combatant3 =
| commander1 =
| commander2 =
| commander3 =
| strength1 = {{plainlist|
* 515 antiaircraft guns
* 17 radars
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* 47 fighter planes
}}
| strength2 = {{plainlist|
*Bomber groups KG 27 and KG 55
}}
| strength3 =
| casualties1 =
28<br/>
590<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://vestinn.ru/news/society/42985/|title=Спецпроект "Регион в цифрах": бомбардировка города Горький|website=vestinn.ru|date=May 6, 2015 |access-date=2017-12-05}}</ref>
| casualties2 =
| casualties3 =
| notes =
| campaignbox = {{Campaignbox Axis-Soviet War}}
{{Campaignbox Barbarossa}}
}}
'''The bombing of Gorky''' by the German ''[[Luftwaffe]]'' was the most destructive attack on Soviet war production on the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]] in [[World War II]]. It lasted intermittently from October 1941 - June 1943, with 43 raids carried out.
The main target was the [[GAZ|Gorky Automobile Plant]] (GAZ), which was manufacturing [[T-60 tank|T-60]] light infantry tanks. Defences proved inadequate, though a full-size dummy model of the main factory, and a ‘false village’ of painted images on the ground, caused some confusion to enemy pilots. The whole plant was eventually destroyed, and an inquiry immediately demanded by Stalin. The plant was reconstructed in four months.
Gorky is
== Background ==
The destruction of Gorky's industry was in [[operation Barbarossa]] from the very beginning. It was one of the largest manufacturers and suppliers of weapons for the [[Red Army]]. Germany planned to capture and occupy the city during the second half of September 1941.<ref>[http://school-97.ucoz.ru/predmstr/hist/gorkvoyn.htm Горьковчане в годы Великой Отечественной войны]</ref> The city was the main center of the entire [[Volga region]] and in it was concentrated the main industry and state power over the regions. Occupation of Gorky meant for Germany complete control over the Volga region. First, the Germans were to destroy the defense industry of the city - Gorky Automobile Plant, [[Sokol
On October 31, 1941, [[Stalin]] ordered GAZ to increase the production of
The leadership of the city knew that Gorky could be attacked at any moment by [[Luftwaffe|German aviation]]. It was necessary to strengthen the city's air defense and mask factories. But the necessary measures were not
Nikolay Markov, commander of the Gorky Brigade Air Defense District, was appointed in October 1941. Arriving in Gorky, he noticed that the defense of the city
== The Attacks ==
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{{Hidden end}}
]]
Reconnaissance flights over Gorky began in the autumn of 1941. German planes flew at high altitude, braking over GAZ. The first scout plane
[[File:Последствия артобстрела завода им. Ленина в Горьком.jpg|thumb|Gorky. [[NITEL (Russian company)|Nitel]] plant after the bombing raid]]▼
▲'''The first raid of Tuesday, November 4 to Wednesday 5''' began at 4:30 pm.<ref group="L" name="Как нас бомбили">{{cite journal |author = Димова Т. |url= http://lib-avt.ru/kraevedenie/texts/kak-nas-bombili |title= Как нас бомбили |type= newspaper |edition= Народная весть |date=May 13, 2005 |pages = 12 |language= ru}}</ref> According to air defense estimates, about 150 aircraft participated in it and 11 aircraft flew to the city. The planes approached individually and in groups of 3-16 at an interval of 15–20 minutes. The bombing lasted all night. In addition to bombs, leaflets were also dropped. GAZ, [[NITEL (Russian company)|Nitel]] and the [[RUMO Plant|Dvigatel Revolyutsii]] factory were struck, 55 people died, 141 were wounded. According to German data, 15 planes participated in this raid.<ref group="L" name="svastika">{{cite book |author1=Н. Н. Баженов |author2=Д. М. Дегтев |author3=М. В. Зефиров |url=http://www.e-reading.club/book.php?book=95467 |title=Свастика над Волгой. Люфтваффе против сталинской ПВО |location=[[Москва]] |year=2007 |publisher=[[АСТ (издательство)|АСТ]] |page=650 |series=Неизвестные войны |isbn= 9785971345251 }}</ref> The first aircraft appeared over the city in the light of day and dropped bombs. Then they began to shoot people from machine guns running along the streets. From the direct hit in the main building of the Nitel, director and part of leadership died. During the night bombing, the main impact occurred on secondary objects, residential urban areas and the field in the Stakhanovsky village. The incendiary and high-explosive bombs weighing from 70 to 250 kg and heavy [[Parachute mine|bomb-mines]] BM-1000 weighing 871 kg were dropped.
In several places there was panic (in addition to the raids, [[Battle of Moscow|the Wehrmacht was already near Moscow]]). Part of the population began to leave the urban areas. Some plants stopped production, but the production of T-60 tanks by GAZ was still growing rapidly.<ref group="L" name="Автозавод в годы войны">{{cite journal |author = Гордин А. |url= http://lib-avt.ru/kraevedenie/texts/my-u-stankov-stoim-kak-u-orudiy-chast-1 |title= "Мы у станков стоим, как у орудий": [автозавод в годы войны] |type= газета |edition= Автозаводец |date=May 8, 2012 |language= ru}}</ref> The paucity of antiaircraft guns allowed German aircraft to sight and bomb from low altitude. A total of 127 people died, 176 were injured severely, 195 were wounded (data vary in different sources). A large number of the deceased were refugees from Moscow, resettled in the [[Avtozavodsky City District, Nizhny Novgorod|Avtozavodsky City District]]. No German aircraft were shot down.
'''On Saturday, November 8, 1941,''' the Gorky Brigade Air Defense District was reinforced by the 58th and 281st separate anti-aircraft artillery divisions, the 142nd Fighter Aviation Division and the 45th anti-aircraft search belt.▼
▲
On the same day, at 3:20 am, a reconnaissance aircraft Ju 88D flew over Gorky. And from Wednesday, November 12 to Tuesday, 18, 1941, the Germans launched a series of raids by single-seat aircraft with the main purpose of destroying the Kanavinsky Bridge, but missed.▼
▲
=== The bombing of 1942 ===
▲[[File:Последствия
'''On the night of February Tuesday, 3 to Wednesday, 4''', a single aircraft, shutting down the engines and, flying from a great height, broke through the air defense shield and dropped 3 bombs on GAZ. Wheel and engine workshops were damaged. 17 workers died, 41 were wounded. In this raid, for the first time, German agents-spotters who penetrated into Gorky were seen. They carried out target designation, launching the signal flares of red and white from the ground.▼
▲
In total, as a result of the bombing of February 1942, 20 people died and 48 people were injured. Damage inflicted to industrial facilities was insignificant.
At the end of May,
The single reconnaissance planes
=== June 1943 ===
[[File:Aerial_photography_of_Gorky.jpg
A — Reinforced (pontoon) bridge (5 supports, distance between supports ~ 120m, length 740m, width 21m);<br/>
B - The [[Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin|Kremlin]] (1 - House of Soviets, 2 - Military school, 3 - Arsenal);<br/>
С - The [[Nizhny Novgorod Fair|Fair]] (1 - The Main Fair building, 2 - Exchange);<br/>
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{{Hidden end}}
]]
In June 1943, after a prolonged calm, Gorky underwent a series of massive night attacks by German aviation. The main goal was again GAZ. The raids were carried out in preparation for a major offensive [[Operation Citadel|Citadel operation]] (summer-autumn 1943), during which
==== German Aviation ====
Two-engine bombers of the squadrons KG 27 and KG 55 participated in the raids, which rose from the airfields near Orel and Bryansk and, bypassing the Moscow air defense zone, they flew up to Gorky from
[[File:GAZ Bombing scheme. 4 June 1943.jpg|thumb|The Bombing of the workshops of [[GAZ|Automobile Plant]] during an air raid on the night of June 4 to Monday, June 5, 1943]]
'''In the first raid on the night of June 4–5''', in order to cover up, the disinformation about the preparation of the Luftwaffe attack on Moscow was launched. According to air defense data, approximately 45 He 111, Ju 88 and Fw 200 took part in it. The planes flew from the directions Vladimir-Kovrov-Gorky and Kulebaki-Arzamas-Gorky. The bombing began at 12:45 am, about 20 planes broke through to the city. A total of 289 bombs were dropped, 260 of which were dropped on GAZ, the main conveyor, a spring workshop, and a smithy No. 3 were put out of operation. Several houses and a hospital were destroyed. In Avtozavodsky City District and at the plant, 70 people died and 210 were wounded. Attempts to break into the northern part of the city to the plants Krasnoe Sormovo, Aviation Plant Nr. 21 "Ordzhonikidze", and Gorky machine-building plant failed.<ref group="L" name="100дней">{{cite journal |author = Н.В. Колесникова |url= http://www.unn.ru/pages/e-library/museum/NM_05_06.pdf |title= "Сто дней и ночей..." (По материалам фондов музея истории ОАО "ГАЗ") |type=журнал |edition= Нижегородский музей |year=2005 |number=1-2(5-6) |pages=68–71 }}</ref> 5 German aircraft were lost. According to German data, 168 He 111 and Ju 88 aircraft participated in the raid, of which 149 aircraft attacked Gorky.▼
▲
'''In the second raid on the night of June 5–Tuesday, 6''', according to air defense estimates, 80 He 111 aircraft participated. The bombing lasted from 12:31 am to 02:08 am. The raid was carried out by 6 groups from different altitudes and directions. Mainly, the western and northern sides of GAZ were attacked. The main power transmission line is disabled, the water supply network is badly damaged. Completely burnt assembly workshop, a department of adjacent industries, a rubber warehouse, a fleet of tow trucks, a locomotive depot, a chassis workshop, a dietetal. Finally, the main workshop burned down. About 100 bombs were dropped at the plant. The residential district and the tuberculosis hospital suffered. In the Monastyrka village 60-80 houses were burned and destroyed. According to German data, 128 planes were involved in the raid and 2 were lost. At the same time, some of the aircraft in the bombing of Gorky did not participate, but bombed [[Stalinogorsk]].▼
▲
'''The third raid on June 6–Wednesday, 7''' was the most powerful, according to air defense. It involved 157 [[Heinkel He 111|He 111]] and [[Junkers Ju 88|Ju 88]] aircraft (according to German data there were 154 aircraft, some of which bombed [[Stalinogorsk]]).▼
▲
The main blow fell on the central and south-western parts of the city (GAZ, Sotsgorod, Myza). The wheel workshop of GAZ was completely destroyed by fire. Also, the tool-stamping body, the press-body and mechanical workshops, and the [[motive power depot]] were damaged. A total of 170 bombs were dropped at the plant. 38 people died, 83 were injured. The microdistricts of Sotsgorod, Americansky posyolok and Monastyrka were severely damaged. Also, the telephone exchange, the district executive committee, the [[Outpatient clinic (hospital department)|polyclinic]], the central club, the [[electrical substation]], the [[police station]] and the [[Garage (residential)|garage]] of the district committee of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|CPSU (b)]] were damaged. Several houses on the Molotov avenue (now avenue of October) were destroyed. In the Avtozavodsky district 73 people died, 149 were injured. Artillery shot down 4 aircraft, and fighter planes shot down 2 aircraft.
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June 7 in Germany announced on the radio about the destruction of an automobile plant in Gorky.
According to the results of 4 raids in the plant, 993 air bombs were dropped. According to the medical service, 698 people were injured: 233 people died, 24 people died from wounds in hospitals, and 465 were injured.
According to the results of the operation, German bombers had carried out 43 raids, 26 of which were at night,<ref group="L">{{cite book| author = Коллектив авторов, редактор — А. Ф. Журавлев | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Jtw6AQAAIAAJ | title = История города Горького: краткий очерк |location= Горький |year= 1971 |publisher= Волго-Вятское книжное издательство | pages = 443, 575 }}</ref> a total of 645 sorties were carried out by German aircraft, 1631 high-explosive and 3390 incendiary bombs were dropped on the city. 254 civilians and 28 air defense soldiers died, more than 500 civilians and 27
==== Consequences of bombardments ====
The bombing of the largest industrial center of the country caused an immediate reaction of the supreme power of the Soviet Union. On June 5, Stalin personally created a resolution of the State Defense Committee No. 3524 "On the Air Defense of Gorky". To investigate the reasons for the failure to fulfill the tasks, a commission was appointed, consisting of the head of the [[NKVD]] [[Lavrenty Beria|Lavrentiy Beria]], the chief of the [[NKGB]] [[Vsevolod Merkulov]], the secretary of the [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Central Committee]] of the [[CPSU]] (b) [[Aleksandr Shcherbakov (20th-century politician)|Alexander Shcherbakov]], the chairman of the [[Moscow Soviet]] [[Vasily Pronin]] and the commander of the air defense of the country Mikhail Gromadin.
After the commission's investigation, the commander of the air defense of the region, Major General Alexei Alexandrovich Osipov was demoted and GAZ director Alexander Lifshits was removed from his post. On June 8, 100 anti-aircraft guns of small and medium caliber, 250 large-caliber machine guns, 100 searchlights and 75 [[Semyon Alexandrovich Ginzburg|Semyon Ginzburg]], people's Commissar for Construction, arrived in Gorky to deal promptly with the reconstruction.
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First, Colonel Slyusarev ordered the creation of day and night patrols of Gorky. Immediately after this decision, he went back to the Seimas, where eight air regiments were stationed. He ordered them to be dispersed over the airfields of the division area.
In December, the organizing committee decided to create several large bomb shelters in the [[Administrative divisions of Nizhny Novgorod#Upper City|Upper City]]. By February 15, 1942, it was planned to build 5 facilities:
# The [[Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin|Kremlin]] - Ivanovsky descent under the Minin garden,
# The Zhdanov Embankment (now the Verkhnevolzhskaya Embankment) - In front of the [[Nizhny Novgorod State Technical University|Gorky Industrial Institute]],
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# Kazansky Railway Station,
# The ravine at the end of Vorobyov Street (now Malaya Pokrovskaya).
They were built by 2,300 people. Also, citizens throughout the city were digging trenches and erecting defensive fortifications, because of the German offensive near Moscow. However, later they were not needed, since on December 5, 1941, the Red Army launched an offensive.
=== Air Defense Actions ===
Air defense in the city had 433 medium-caliber guns and 82 small caliber guns, 13 SUN-2 gun radar gunposts, two Pegmatit radar (RUS-2s), 231 antiaircraft searchlights, 107 barrage balloons and 47 fighter aircraft based at [[Strigino International Airport|Strigino]], [[Pravdinsk, Balakhna|Pravdinsk]] and
Despite the considerable number and equipment of air defense forces, to prevent the aiming bombing, it was not possible. The prolonged absence of bombardments and the successful offensive of the Red Army contributed to a weakening of vigilance, there were many shortcomings in the organization of defense. Avtozavodsky City District defended the 784th anti-aircraft artillery regiment, which consisted mainly of girls who had recently joined the army.
=== Masking Gorky ===
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On the Oka bridge, a different masking technique was used. For this, boats were launched onto the water, which were alongside the bridge all the time. When announcing the air alarm, they released a special dense smoke screen. Thus, the German pilots could not attack the bridge because of poor visibility.
==
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== References ==
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== External links ==
{{commons category-inline}}
{{World War II city bombing}}
{{World War II}}
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[[Category:Conflicts in 1942|Gorky]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1943|Gorky]]
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