This year, for the first time in many years, sailors from Crimea joined the Black Sea Fleet. Two hundred recruits officially received the rank of private. It is reported that in Sevastopol there were so many people willing to serve in the army that the competition for one place reached 10 people.
25 thousand people are currently serving in the Black Sea Fleet. This is a fifth of all the naval personnel of Russia. The Black Sea Fleet is comprised of more than fifty submarines, guard and small warships, combat boats, minesweepers, amphibious warships and boats. The flagship of the fleet is the guard missile cruiser 'Moskva' with a crew of 510.
Last spring, the main base of the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol de facto came under the jurisdiction of Russia, and the Kharkiv agreement, according to which the fleet was based in Crimea, has been denounced by the Russian Federation. However, there was a time when no one divided the fleet, as well as its place of deployment and the artillery fortification constructions of coastal defense, into Russian and Ukrainian.
One of the most powerful fortification constructions of the Soviet Union is the historic armored tower battery-35, construction of which began in the early 20th century to strengthen Sevastopol as the Black Sea Fleet base.
Before the First World War, the General Staff decided to strengthen Sevastopol with powerful types of weapons, large modern guns, and batteries designed to "remove the enemy, who would try to bombard the ports from the sea through the heights to the south of the city" with its fire.
They did not have time to do it before the war and before the revolution, too. The construction resumed only in 1925. It was built by the entire Union – the armored battery constructions were made by the Izhorskij factory, 'Russian diesel' made engines, 'Elektropribor' and 'Krasnaya Zarya' fire and communication control devices, military and chemical governance of the Red Army designed ventilation and anti-gas equipment. Execution of works on manufacturing of equipment of cellars, tower units, and the ammunition supply system was entrusted to the Metallic factory. Installation work was carried out by workers of the Leningrad Metal Factory.
In the summer of 1929, Stalin came to see the construction site, and in the fall it was completed. The battery could protect against sea shells, aerial bombs and toxic substances. It was armed with four 305-mm guns in two-gun turrets, which were manufactured by the Obukhov factory in 1914-1916. The control over battery fire was carried out from two command centers, which were locted 300-450 meters from the artillery units. The location of the battery allowed to fire in a circular sector of 360 degrees on land, against ground targets, against manpower, armored vehicles and field artillery of the enemy.
It became the basis of artillery fire in the heroic defense of Sevastopol. The firing range allowed to keep a huge area around Sevastopol under fire: in the north to Bakhchisaray, inclusive, and in the south to Simeiza and the Bajdarsky Gate.
By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the coastal defense of the main base of the Black Sea Fleet had a developed system of coastal batteries. If in the fall of 1941 the city had 45 cannon, in the spring of 1942, the defense line already had 151 cannon. During the defense of Sevastopol, battery №35 was a part of the 1st separate artillery battalion of the coastal defense of the main base of the Black Sea Fleet. First Lieutenant Leshchenko and Senior Political Instructor Sunguryan commanded this battery.
On October 30, 1941, forward units of the 11th German army reached the area of Sevastopol. The battle for the main base of the Black Sea Fleet started. The plans of the enemy to seize Sevastopol crumbled and they were forced to make three attacks – November and December 1941 and June 1942.
On the outskirts of the city the Germans had a great quantitative superiority over the Soviet field artillery. The enemy concentrated corps artillery, artillery of army and front command near Sevastopol. By blocking ground and controlling naval communications, the enemy had plenty of ammunition, while the Soviet field artillery could get them only by sea. Artillery support of ground forces fell heavily on the coastal artillery. After the end of the first attack of the Nazis, the entire coastal defense artillery was kept in a separate independent group headed by the chief of artillery of the coastal defense Lieutenant-Colonel Fain.
It gave the opportunity to use it more efficiently and centrally. Because of the low vitality of weapons of the coastal and naval artillery, for firing, it was decided to involve it every time with special permission of artillery staff of the Sevastopol Defense Region at the requests of the chiefs of artillery sectors. Fire could be opened independently at planes, but under the conditions of sharp course angles of target.
From the side of the enemy, coastal batteries were subjected to continuous bombardment from the air and shelling from heavy and superheavy weapons. According to the memoirs of the commander of the German army in Crimea, Manstein, "in general, during the Second World War, Germans never reached such massive use of artillery, as in the attack on Sevastopol - the most impregnable fortress in the world."
However, when it was decided to evacuate the Sevastopol Defense Region Command, the Military Council of the fleet and the Maritime Army, Commandant of the coastal defense main base of the Black Sea Fleet, coastal service Major General Morgunov, ordered the commander of the battery №35, captain Leshchenko, to undermine the battery after discharging of ammunition. Bu the order of People's Commissar of Navy fleet from December 4, 1943, turret battery №35 was excluded from the composition of Navy fleet, as killed during combat missions.
It played a major role in the heroic defense of Sevastopol, becoming the backbone of the system of artillery defense of the fortress. During the occupation of Sevastopol, hospital and command post of the commander of the German 17th Army, General Allmendinger, was established in surviving casemates of the battery №35. On May 12, 1944, the last German soldiers near the battery surrendered. Battery was freed. After the war, the battery №35 was not restored, but its casemates were used as ammunition cellars. Today it is a museum, and its story deserves special attention.
In 2003, the Commission on toponymy of the city administration posted an appeal to the public of Sevastopol, with a call to protect the historical monument. Four years were spent on the coordination of documents, and in 2007 the creation of the Museum historical and memorial complex Heroic Defenders of Sevastopol '35th Coastal Battery' started. Thousands of people - specialists in various professions, took part in its construction.
The memorial complex was created on private funds. Enterprises of the Industry Group 'Tavrida-Electric' took over the main part of expenses for design, construction, maintenance and development of the complex, it was founded by Alexey Chaly, who now heads the Legislative Assembly of Sevastopol.
Entrance to the museum and excursions to the territory of complex are free. The central part of this complex - the Pantheon of memory with tens of thousands of names of the last defenders of Sevastopol, and these lists are constantly updated. There, you can watch the film about the defenders of Sevastopol, after seeing it, many of people are crying. The film also touched Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko to the core, she came there to look at the museum complex.
Today, there is still search, identification and burial of the dead defenders of Sevastopol. And all this - with the support of concerned citizens who consider it their duty, to remember the people who defeated fascism.
