И вновь у нас реконструкция...

[pilottttt]

Пятого декабря 1941 года началось контрнаступление советских войск против немцев под Москвой, а через три дня – восьмого декабря – была полностью освобождена территория нынешней Лобни. К годовщине тех событий была приурочена небольшая военная реконструкция, происходившая у нас тут в минувшую пятницу. Узнав об этом, мы, конечно же, немедленно выдвинулись к месту происшествия вместе с фототехникой.

Местом происшествия стали окрестности знаменитого противотанкового рва, сохранившегося ещё со времён тех событий и недавно благоустроенного (если можно так сказать про противотанковый ров) энтузиастами. Зрителей было не так много, как в прошлый раз, но мы, помня предыдущий опыт, решили подобрать себе позицию, с которой будет хоть что-то видно. В результате мы очутились, что называется, в самом сердце немецких войск.

Советские войска выглядели гораздо скромнее в плане наличия военной техники (И.М.Х.О., знаменитая 85-миллиметровая зенитка 52-К здесь бы очень не помешала – именно из такого орудия Гайк Шадунц отстреливался от немецких танков прямо здесь, в двух шагах от этого места)

Началось

Едва не подбили квадрокоптер (он виден в кадре над высоковольтными опорами)

Возможно, я чересчур привередлив, но как-то уж очень неторопливо всё это происходило. И – что-то мне подсказывает, что, если бы немцы вот так же медленно и открыто перемещались по реальному полю боя – то личный состав немецких войск очень скоро бы сошёл на нет.

А потом был фейерверк в честь победы – прямо сразу, не дожидаясь темноты – и потому его было едва видно.

Comments

[cmcmck]

We never saw those awful uniforms of course, but we did see an awful lot of their bombs and missiles, especially in the south east corner where I grew up. When I was a kid there were still bomb sites and ruins. I was born in a temporary prefabricated house because my grandparents' house had been destroyed by a V1 flying bomb in 1944.

They called it 'hell fire corner'.

[pilottttt]

Yes, I've read a lot about it.
They came up with a lot of things to fight without getting too close to the British Isles. As a result, mostly civilians suffered from all this.

[cmcmck]

Hitler learned nothing from Napoleon and you had 'General Winter' on your side' He's one of the greatest generals of all time.

[gwendraith]

What a great re-enactment, an interesting day out for you and you got some great pictures. We fortunately didn't get invaded by the Germans but they tried very hard to break us with their constant bombing of the major cities.

I have an interesting fact. My great uncle Alex was killed in WW1 aged 19. The day of the battle of Flers-Coucelette, France, on 15th September 1916 was the day he died. Alongside the troops was the first ever tanks used in battle. I went to the national archive to read the war diaries and found something an officer had written...
"A new engine of war, a petrol- driven armoured car, termed “the tank” was used for the first time. Four of these machines were allotted to the division during these operations and are considered to have done splendid work".

I think the soldiers, including my great uncle, must have been comforted by having the support of the tanks although in reality many broke down but the Mark 2 ones were better.

[pilottttt]

Yeah, I've heard about it. At that time we had several utopian projects of something similar to a tank (for example: Tsar Tank – by the way, the model of this monster is now standing near Lobnya, and one day I will get there with a camera.)
In no case will I write that he was lucky to be present at such an event - not only because he died, but also because he happened to live during the World War. Such wars are started by politicians who have not divided something among themselves, and other people are paying for it with their lives.

[mouse13uk]

What a strange thing the Tsar tank was! Yes, you must get a photo of it.

I agree, being in WW1 and subsequent wars was not a good experience for anyone. So many lives lost and for what? I spent six months researching my great uncle after finding him missing from the family tree. I eventually traced him to a peaceful corner of a French cemetery. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission were helpful enough to give the map reference of where his battlefield grave had been for 3 years before moving him, and an unknown soldier buried there with him, to the final resting place. After 100 years alone I have visited his grave twice and also the site where he fell in battle and was buried (now peaceful farm land). I shed so many tears doing that research.

[pilottttt]

It's wonderful that you finally found him!
The remains of soldiers who died in the winter of 1941 are still being found and buried in our surrounding forests. And most often it turns out that there is no one left alive who would have known this person during his lifetime.

[gwendraith]

>The remains of soldiers who died in the winter of 1941 are still being found and buried in our surrounding forests
That's so very sad. It's the same in France. They have teams of people who try to identify soldiers who are still being found today. We have a system here - maybe your country does too - DNA is so popular here and people can add their results to a special database. When the remains of soldiers are found their DNA is taken and it can be seen if there is a match on the database and if there is the relative is contacted. The soldiers are given a proper burial and any relatives found on the database have the opportunity to attend the funeral service and see where they are buried. Usually they know the missing relative, most often a grandfather or great grandfather or great uncle, but sometimes they don't know who the soldier is but are pleased to find out they are related and can pay their respects to them and restore them to the family tree.