Satellite map of Polotsk. Battles in the Polotsk fortified area Villages of the Polotsk district of the Vitebsk region
On the page interactive map Polotsk from the satellite. Read more at. Below is satellite map and real time search Google Maps, photo of the city and Vitebsk region of Belarus.
Satellite map of Polotsk - Belarus
We observe on the satellite map of Polotsk how exactly the buildings are located on Sushkov and Uspenskaya streets. The opportunity to see the entire territory of the district, the streets - Gagarin and Mironova, squares and lanes.
The satellite map of the city of Polotsk presented here online contains photos of buildings and houses from space. You can find out where the street begins. Kuibyshev and Bogdanovich. Using the Google search service, you will find the desired object in the city. We advise you to change the scale of the scheme +/- and move its center in the right direction, for example, to find the streets of Polotsk - Building and Leningradskaya.
Squares and shops, buildings and roads, squares and houses, Vologin and Zodchey streets. On the page detailed information and photos of all objects. To find the necessary house in real time on the map of the city and the Vitebsk region in Belarus.
Detailed satellite map Polotsk and Polotsk region provided Google service Maps.
Coordinates - 55.48,28.77
They built it along the Ushacha River to cover the Vitebsk-Smolensk direction from Poland. But in the summer of 1941, it had to be used in battles with the German tank group of Hermann Goth. Goth proposed to take Minsk by means of an ultra-deep coverage: through Glubokoe, Postavy, Polotsk and Beshenkovichi, go to Orsha! But Hitler insisted on a less risky capture of Minsk: through Traby and Molodechno to reach Smolevichi, which was done. When the 19th Panzer Division ran into the stubborn Russian defense near Traby, Goth sent the tanks into his deep coverage towards Polotsk. As a result, the 19th Panzer Division, without meeting Soviet troops, passed along good roads through Glubokoe and Postavy for about 200 km.
On June 27, her advance detachment reached the crossing near the Ushacha River, and was spotted by an observer of the pillbox, standing near the village of Kutnyany. The enemy was immediately hit by a powerful blow from the howitzers of Major Kokolov. The Germans, who traveled as much as 200 km without a fight, were punished for their carelessness: some died, while others were captured.
Grigory Kuzmich Kolokolov later recalled: “It is difficult to say which of the Germans then managed to carry their legs. The officers and soldiers of the observation posts, not meeting a single shot from the enemy, went to look at the results of their collective labor. Small groups of Germans who survived from our artillery fire, during this time almost managed to dig trenches for themselves! They were so frightened that they surrendered without any resistance.
During interrogation, the prisoners testified that they did not expect to meet resistance here. They were going to capture the bridges across the Western Dvina in Polotsk and hold them until the approach of the main forces.
Meanwhile, thanks to the delay of the Germans in the battles in the Minsk fortified area, fully equipped rifle divisions from Udmurtia, Perm and Bashkiria managed to arrive in the Polotsk region. The positions of the Polotsk fortified area were occupied by the division of Colonel Alexei Ivanovich Zygin, who arrived from Chelyabinsk.
In the area of the village of Latyshki, three German scouts swam across the Ushacha River. Not finding a camouflaged pillbox on the field and, having established that there were no Red Army soldiers in the village, they signaled to their own that the path was clear. A German detachment of infantry with a cannon crossed the river. Entering the village, the German soldiers rounded up all the inhabitants outside its outskirts. Separating the men of military age from the villagers, the Germans drove them to the river. A resident of this village, D.V. Tolochko later recalled: “Suddenly, a command rang out, and strangers opened fire on the peasants from rifles and machine guns. They fired explosive bullets. Among them was my dad - Vasily Markovich Tolochko, 43 years old. But a moment before the shooting, he dived into the water and swam away. The remaining 28 people were killed.
The Germans then set fire to the houses. In the last hut, the soldier found the baby in the cradle and carried him out into the street. The child's mother rushed to him, but she was shot dead. The dead woman was taken by the arms and legs, rocked and thrown into the fire. And the German with the baby approached the crowd of women, asked something, and then gave the child to one of them.
The further development of the tragedy was stopped by Soviet artillery, which opened fire from the direction of the village of Merugi. Unexpectedly hit with a machine-gun burst and the previously silent pillbox. The Germans, under the cover of a smoke screen, tried to attack him. But every time they went on the attack, the machine-gun fire forced them to cling to the ground. The gun put on direct fire did not help the enemy either. The outcome of the battle was decided by the attack of the battalion of Captain Kalashnikov. Having lost up to 15 people only killed, including one officer, the invaders retreated towards the village of Farinovo.
On July 3, 1941, having pulled up the main forces, the 19th Panzer Division of the Wehrmacht resumed the offensive. Having met a strong rebuff in the zone of the Polotsk pillboxes, German Goth turned the tank division around to the town of Disna. Instead, the arrived 18th Motorized Division (infantry division moving on trucks) took up the assault on the pillboxes. At the critical moment of the battle, Aleksey Zygin, who led the defense of the Polotsk fortified area, even left the observation post to personally lead the battle. All assault attacks were repulsed. Goth increased the pressure by bringing into battle the 14th motorized division, which arrived from near Minsk. Then Zygin, having created a mobile detachment from a large number of trucks, guns and an infantry battalion, began to transfer it to the most dangerous sectors of the defense. Captain A.I. commanded them. Kochnev. This detachment was especially helpful when releasing our pillboxes, surrounded by the Germans.
Late in the evening, a combat group from a mobile detachment under the command of political instructor M.I. Kargopoltseva arrived at the village where the Germans were going to spend the night. Some of them, laying down their weapons, carelessly bathed in the lake. Battery commander Agapetov prepared data for firing, and his guns opened fire. The Germans and their military equipment were destroyed.
From the first days of the fighting in the Polotsk fortified area, the commander of the 152-mm howitzer battery, Senior Lieutenant Fyodor Andreevich Demidov, became especially famous. Even before the war, he was awarded the Order of Lenin for saving the collective farm crop from the fire. Now, with the fire of his powerful howitzers, he destroyed the enemy, trampling our land. His colleague G.K. Kolokolov recalled Demidov: “He was a very brave and knowledgeable commander. His howitzer battery gave the Germans a lot of trouble. He died under the following circumstances. At the water tower of the Farinovo station, the Germans equipped an artillery observation post (NP). From its height, our positions were clearly visible to a depth of 3 km. The tower was a fairly solid structure, and destroying it with artillery fire from closed firing positions is a very expensive and unpromising business. Therefore, Demidov volunteered to destroy it with fire ... direct fire! But it was very dangerous, because with such shooting, the enemy would notice the howitzer and try to destroy it. Despite this, Demidov personally led the firing of a 152-mm howitzer and destroyed the tower with just six shells, and along with it destroyed the ill-fated NP. Unfortunately, the Germans spotted where the fire was coming from and opened heavy mortar fire at the position of Demidov's howitzer. From the rupture of one of the mines, our glorious hero-artilleryman died. It was our first hard loss. They buried him under the canopy of centuries-old pines not far from the firing positions of his battery.
On July 4, the 19th Panzer Division succeeded in crossing the Western Dvina and seizing a bridgehead at Disna. Parts of as many as three of our rifle divisions tried to drive the Germans into the Dvina. But they couldn't. In order to break the resistance of the Polotsk defenders, the Germans shelled their positions from artillery and bombed them from the air for two days.
On July 7, about 30 German tanks of the 19th division went on the offensive. All day long, on the edge of the forest east of Disna, there was a battle. Zygin's soldiers repulsed enemy attacks and even captured one tank and two armored cars, including them in their mobile detachment. On July 8 and 9, the Germans tried to break through under Borkovichi. Their fierce attacks were repulsed due to the presence of a large number of shells. Lieutenant Syrovatsky wrote in his diary that in two evenings only one of his batteries fired 442 shells at the enemy.
On July 9, the German 20th Panzer Division broke into Vitebsk. There was a danger of encirclement of the defenders of the Polotsk fortified area, but they did not retreat from the pillboxes. Then about 100 German tanks attacked in the Borovukha direction. Fighting broke out in the points of Zaruchevye, Zalesye, Oserotki, Makhirovo. Under the influence of strong enemy fire, our units had to leave part of the pillboxes of the first line.
On July 10, near Mekhelevo, the Germans managed to block 6 pillboxes, blow up 2 and move about 100 tanks to Gorodok. On the same day, Wehrmacht infantry divisions began to approach the battlefield. Two of them crossed the Western Dvina at night. On July 11, they attacked pillboxes at Borovukha-1 and helped the 19th Panzer and 14th Motorized Divisions in the attack on Nevel.
These days, the battle for Smolensk was already beginning, and the defenders of the Polotsk fortified area still did not give up, pulling back significant forces of German troops. As a result, 16 German ones attacked 6 Soviet divisions in the Polotsk area! (For comparison, in the army of Paulus, which in August 1942 will break into Stalingrad, there will be only 13 divisions). And while our troops even managed to attack! So parts of Colonel T.P. Miloradov attacked the crossing near the town of Ulla, destroying up to 50 enemy trucks. At the discovered airfield, about 30 German aircraft were put out of action. German Goth would later write: "The advance of the 18th motorized division from Ulla to Gorodok was delayed by the strike of the garrison of the fortress of Polotsk on its rear."
The infantry divisions of the Wehrmacht, who approached on foot, began to prepare for the decisive assault on the Polotsk fortified area. Artillery was delivered to the positions, including 88-mm anti-aircraft guns, which had a high accuracy of hitting. The reconnaissance conducted by the Germans showed that the Soviet positions were well camouflaged, had anti-tank gouges and barbed wire fences. Between the pillboxes, trenches were dug for defenders from rifle units.
On the morning of July 15, the artillery of the 6th Infantry Division opened heavy fire on pillboxes near the village of Gomel. 152 guns were fired from 37 mm anti-tank guns to heavy 210 mm mortars and special 250 mm caliber guns. The main fire of the German artillery was concentrated on two pillboxes of the first line. For an hour, dozens of guns shot them point blank. According to the memoirs of Lieutenant Heinrich Gaape, it was surprising that the Russian concrete bunkers continued to stand in this hellish fire.
At 5 am, the guns shifted their fire deep into the defense, and assault groups went on the attack.
To the amazement of the attackers, one of the pillboxes of the first line immediately opened machine-gun fire. He was supported by pillboxes of the second line and even regimental artillery of rifle units! The storm dragged on. Only after destroying our fighters in the trenches, the German assault groups were able to get close to the pillboxes and proceed to destroy them. The pillbox garrisons fought to the last. The Germans, using flamethrowers and explosive charges, dealt with five concrete bunkers by noon.
In this area, our defenses were broken through. The German units that stormed the pillboxes to the left of the village of Gomel did not achieve success. All their attacks were repulsed.
However, our units failed to stop the offensive launched by the Germans on July 13 on Nevel. Bypassing Polotsk from the north, the 19th tank and 14th motorized divisions of the Wehrmacht rushed to Nevel. On July 15, the Germans cut railway Polotsk-Idritsa and even captured the left-bank part of Polotsk. Columns of German trucks immediately moved through it with fuel and ammunition necessary for the capture of Smolensk. On July 16, the tanks of the 19th division broke into Nevel, and the defenders of the Polotsk fortified area were threatened with encirclement. The command allowed Alexei Zygin to begin the withdrawal of troops to Velikiye Luki. Their retreat was covered by the battalion of Captain Kochnev and several garrisons of machine-gun pillboxes. These heroes did everything they could, holding their positions until the evening of July 19th!
On July 21, during a night attack, Zygin's units managed to break out of the encirclement along with equipment and heavy weapons. For the skillful leadership of the Polotsk fortified area, personal courage and the successful withdrawal of units from the encirclement, Alexei Zygin was awarded the Order of Lenin and he was given the military rank of Major General. A.I. also received the Order of Lenin. Kochnev - for the successful cover of the withdrawal, courage and bravery.
The Polotsk fortified area, built to contain the Polish army for 14 days, was able to delay the Germans for 22 days! Thanks to this, it was possible to drag out the Battle of Smolensk until September 10th. After its capture, the Germans had to turn to Ukraine altogether in order to break the defense of the Kyiv fortified area of the Stalin Line. There the fighting continued until September 26, 1941.
Germany could not defeat the Soviet Union in a protracted war, so it relied on a lightning war. But due to such protracted battles in the fortified areas of the Stalin Line, the blitzkrieg plan, designed to capture Moscow by August 25, finally failed.
And although the Wehrmacht will continue to take one Soviet city after another in October and November 1941, the war between Germany and the USSR will, in the end, be lost.
Satellite map of Polotsk. Explore the satellite map of Polotsk online in real time. A detailed map of Polotsk was created based on satellite imagery high resolution. As close as possible, the satellite map of Polotsk allows you to explore in detail the streets, individual houses and sights of Polotsk. Satellite map of Polotsk easily switches to regular card(scheme).
Polotsk- the oldest Belarusian city, which is associated with many historical events. The date of foundation of Polotsk is 862. It was formed on the banks of the Dvina and for many centuries was a trading center through which "the path from the Varangians to the Greeks" passed. Today, 83 thousand people live in Polotsk.
There are a lot of attractions in the city, so tourists constantly come there. The main building of Polotsk is St. Sophia Cathedral. It was erected in the 11th century and since that time has experienced a lot in its lifetime. The interior of the cathedral is amazing. The frescoes on the walls of the cathedral are especially beautiful. One of them is a copy of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper.
Another unique religious building of the city, its spiritual center is the Spaso-Efrosinevsky Monastery. It is within the walls of this monastery that the greatest shrine of the Belarusian land is kept - the relics of Euphrosyne of Polotsk.
In addition to Orthodox buildings in Polotsk, numerous monuments to famous people of Belarus have been erected on the streets of the city and interesting museums have been opened.
