Sursky defensive line map. Sursky line of defense

Built on the territory of the Chuvash and Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics, intended to delay the Nazi troops on the outskirts of Kazan along with the Kazan defensive line.

On the territory of the Chuvash ASSR, the Sursky line passed along the Sura along the line with. Zasurskoye, Yadrinsky district - the village of Pandikovo, Krasnochetaisky - with. Sursky Maidan of the Alatyrsky districts - Alatyr to the border with the Ulyanovsk region. Tens of thousands of residents of the ChASSR took part in the construction of the structure. The Sursky Frontier was built in 45 days.

Building background

When in October 1941 the Wehrmacht was advancing towards Moscow and Moscow was preparing for defense, the State Defense Committee discussed and adopted a preliminary plan for the construction of defensive and strategic lines in the deep rear on the Oka and Don. Volga. In the main and additional plans for rear defensive construction, the task was to strengthen Gorky, Kazan, Kuibyshev, Ulyanovsk, Saratov, Stalingrad and other cities. In the event of an unsuccessful development of defensive operations for the Soviet troops, they had to detain the enemy at new lines.

Start of construction

The construction of the Sursky defensive line began at the end of October 1941.

The construction of the defensive line, later called the Sursky Line, began in 1941, when German troops were already near Moscow. In accordance with the instructions of the State Defense Committee of October 16, 1941, the Council of People's Commissars of the Chuvash ASSR and the Bureau of the Chuvash Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks decide: “To mobilize from October 28, 1941 for the construction of the Sursky and Kazan defensive lines on the territory of the Chuvash ASSR. Mobilization is subject to the population of the republic not younger than 17 years old, physically healthy.

Construction progress

The mobilized population was united in work teams of 50 people. A foreman's plot was assigned to each district. The first secretaries of the Chuvash Republican Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the chairmen of the executive committees of the district councils of workers' deputies were sent as chiefs of the foremen's sections. They were instructed "ensure the normal work of the mobilized in their area": place in the surrounding villages, barracks, build dugouts. Collective farms were supposed to organize the supply of food and fodder, medical stations - the necessary medicines. Military field installations (VPS) were organized with centers - Yadrin, Shumerlya, Poretskoye, Alatyr.

The technical management was carried out by military engineers of the 11th and 12th Army Directorates of the Glavoboronstroy of the People's Commissariat of Defense of the USSR. Personnel from enterprises of Chuvashia were also involved (in particular, Eremin, the head of construction of the Cheboksary Plant 320 (the current plant named after Chapaev), took part in the construction. all available reserves of metal, cement and stone, "organize the production of reinforced concrete, machine-gun caps and the manufacture of brackets and pokok for bunkers at the enterprises of the Chuvash ASSR".

The Commissioner of the People's Commissariat of Communications for Chuvashia, Voronin, undertook to provide uninterrupted telephone and telegraph communications with field construction and construction sites. The departments were staffed mainly by local personnel. Thus, teachers, land surveyors, foresters, senior officials of the Tatar, Chuvash, Mari Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics were mobilized for the construction of the Sursky boundary as part of the 1st and 12th UOS. A total of 845 local specialists were mobilized. In addition, 160 specialists arrived on the order of the Main Directorate of Defense Construction.

By a resolution of a special meeting of the Council of People's Commissars and the Bureau of the Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks dated October 28, 1941, it was provided that each district had to provide its workers with equipment - shovels, picks, crowbars, sledgehammers, saws, wheelbarrows, stretchers, etc. 226 wheeled and 77 caterpillar tractors, 5 excavators. Measures were taken to provide workers with the necessary building materials (construction tools, timber, cement, bricks, etc.). “Place the population in the surrounding villages, barracks, buildings of forestry and other organizations, and build dugouts on the missing area. Provide food at the expense of collective farms, organize boiler stations ... ”- noted in the document. “In order to improve the uninterrupted power supply of the mobilized, the chairmen of the executive committees of the district councils were obliged to ensure the creation of a rolling stock of food at the work site of the district for at least 10 days and demanded that there be no interruptions in the supply of workers with food”, mobile hospitals-isolations, medical stations were organized , sanitary-epidemic and disinfection units. For this, the necessary number of medical workers, medicines, and dressings were allocated.

Chuvashstroytrest was given the task to make 500 pieces of reinforced concrete caps for machine-gun bunkers, artels - ax handles, cuttings for shovels, wooden spoons, bowls, bast shoes, mittens. The extraction of rubble stone in the Marposadsky and Cheboksary regions, mass logging began.

At the construction of defensive structures, socialist competition was organized "for the early and high-quality completion of the construction of defensive structures, ... for the high quality of work, the exchange of work experience and its dissemination among workers was organized." A challenge Red Banner of the Council of People's Commissars and the Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks was established, which was awarded to the advanced team. A system was introduced to encourage advanced sections, brigades, links and individual workers. On the foremen's plots, trade in essential goods was organized. Many mobilized did not have good clothes and shoes. During work, shoes wore out especially quickly. To solve the problem, at the request of the mobilized, trade in bast and bast shoes was organized. In some areas there were cases of non-fulfillment of the plan for the mobilization of labor force, transportation, lack of certain goods, inventory. However, such shortcomings were quickly corrected.

Completion of construction

On January 21, 1942, a telegram was sent to the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs L.P. Beria, signed by the head of the 12th Army Department Leonyuk, the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars Somov, the secretary of the regional committee Charykov: “The task of the State Defense Committee for the construction of the Sursky defensive line has been completed. The volume of excavated land is 3 million cubic meters, 1,600 firing points (bunkers and sites), 1,500 dugouts and 80 km of trenches with communication lines have been built.

Built on the territory of the Chuvash and Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics, intended to delay the Nazi troops on the outskirts of Kazan along with the Kazan defensive line.

Building background

Start of construction

The construction of the Sursky defensive line began at the end of October 1941.

Construction progress

Completion of construction

The Sursky line of defense is a line of defense, a structure near the Sura River, built on the territory of the Chuvash and Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics, intended to delay the Nazi troops on the outskirts of Kazan along with the Kazan defensive line.

Construction background: When in October 1941 the Wehrmacht was advancing towards Moscow and Moscow was preparing for defense, the State Defense Committee discussed and adopted a preliminary plan for the construction of defensive and strategic lines in the rear on the Oka, Don, and Volga. In the main and additional plans for rear defensive construction, the task was to strengthen Gorky, Kazan, Kuibyshev, Ulyanovsk, Saratov, Stalingrad and other cities. In the event of an unsuccessful development of defensive operations for the Soviet troops, they had to detain the enemy at new lines.

Start of construction The construction of the Sursky defensive line began at the end of October 1941.

Construction progress: The mobilized population was united in work teams of 50 people. A foreman's plot was assigned to each district. The first secretaries of the Chuvash Republican Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the chairmen of the executive committees of the district councils of workers' deputies were sent as chiefs of the foremen's sections. They were instructed to "ensure the normal work of the mobilized in their area": to place in the surrounding villages, barracks, build dugouts. Collective farms were supposed to organize the supply of food and fodder, medical stations - the necessary medicines. Military field installations (VPS) were organized with centers - Yadrin, Shumerlya, Poretskoye, Alatyr.

Completion of construction: On January 21, 1942, a telegram was sent to the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs L.P. Beria, signed by the head of the 12th Army Department Leonyuk, the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars Somov, the secretary of the regional committee Charykov: “The GKO task for the construction of the Sursky defensive line has been completed. The volume of excavated land is 3 million cubic meters, 1,600 firing points (bunkers and sites), 1,500 dugouts and 80 km of trenches with communication lines have been built.

More, incl.

Forgotten front in the rear: fighters of the Sur line in Chuvashia
"Invisible Tears of War". IA REGNUM project about how the Sursky defensive line and the Kazan bypass in Chuvashia were built / The project of IA REGNUM under the coordination of Modest Kolerov "Nothing is forgotten" is dedicated to people and events that left a deep mark on the history, politics and art of Russia and the world. In our time, we see how they determined the face of modernity, asked questions that require reflection and answers / May, 2018

IA REGNUM continues to raise half-forgotten and little-known pages from the history of the Great Patriotic War and tell how the Sursky line and the Kazan bypass were built within the territory of Chuvashia. Related: | | 100th anniversary of Z. Tyurkina

the USSR

In the course of preparing materials, it turns out that many in the family had someone involved in large-scale defensive construction. Which is not surprising: “all human and material resources” were mobilized in Chuvashia to fulfill the task of the State Defense Committee, “there was not a single collective farm in the republic that did not send its best representatives” to the construction site, which received the name nationwide. On the basis of archival materials collected by a REGNUM correspondent in the State Archive of Modern History of Chuvashia (BU "GASI"), we continue to talk about the labor heroism of the participants in those events.

2. On the construction of the Sursky defensive line, 1941

"Mom, you won't see me again"

In Chuvashia, the construction of the frontier began in October 1941. Six military field installations (VPS) were organized on the territory of the republic. Along the Sursky construction line - with centers in Yadrin, Shumerla, Poretsky, Alatyr. Two UPUs were in the Kazan direction: in the villages of Oktyabrskoye and Yantikovo. In a report to the head of the department of propaganda and agitation of the CPSU (b) Alexandrov, sent from Chuvashia, it is noted that the length of the borders was 380 km, 4,897,000 cubic meters of earth were excavated, and 5,329,000 man-days were spent on construction.

3. From the report to the head of the propaganda department. From the funds of BU "GASI". P-1. Op. 23. D. 398

In the party archives of the Chuvash regional committee, it was noted that “tens of thousands of workers and food carts” were sent to work, while “columns of the most remote regions had to travel a hundred kilometers.” Residents "at least 17 years old, physically healthy" were mobilized. An average of 85,000 people took part in the construction every day, with some periods reaching 110,000 people. According to archival data, as of October 1, 1941, there were 1,102,200 inhabitants in Chuvashia, of which 511,608 were aged from 17 to 54. In general, over 208 thousand inhabitants were mobilized from the territory of Chuvashia during the war years, of which 106 thousand died.

“They worked at the construction site: collective farmers, individual farmers, workers, employees, housewives and students of higher and secondary educational institutions,” says, in particular, in the report to the head of the propaganda and agitation department of the military-industrial complex (b) Aleksandrov.

“The work was carried out without a single day off for the entire construction period, without interruption even in the most severe frosts, reaching up to 40 degrees on some days. The remoteness of the frontier, its weak population made it difficult to accommodate people and complicated the delivery of food and fodder, ”says, in particular, the decision of the bureau of the Chuvash regional party committee on the results of the construction of the Sursky defensive line and the Kazan bypass.

According to other evidence, in 1941 the cold reached 50 degrees. And this means that it was not only abnormally cold, but the ground also froze, turning into boulders and barely thawing even when making fires. Technique was then a rarity and luxury, so the work was carried out everywhere by hand - shovels, picks, sledgehammers, saws, carts were used. But even these simple tools were chronically lacking.

For example, in the Cheboksary region in the agricultural artel "Sailor" for 38 people there was one scrap, in the agricultural artel named after. Vodopyanova for 45 people - one scrap, in the Marposadsky district at the work site of the Verny Put collective farm for 159 people - seven scraps, at the work site of the Zarya collective farm for 46 people - three scraps. Therefore, “the rest of the collective farmers are waiting for one person to remove the frozen cover of the earth in order to continue working with shovels,” data are given in the collection of documents “Top Secret” of the Chuvash State Institute for the Humanities (compiler Evgeny Kasimov and Dmitry Zakharov).

Construction was complicated by living conditions. People lived in dugouts, barracks, tents, huts, the more fortunate ones settled in houses in nearby settlements. During work, there was always a shortage of rooms where people could be warmed, and warm clothes - mittens and shoes wore out especially quickly, so the trade in bast and bast shoes was organized.

The food was monotonous, while there were always interruptions in delivery. As a result, the workers were left without food for several days. There were facts of importation of rotten food, with worms. Someone could not stand it and deserted.

People froze their limbs, fell into ditches, there were cases of collapse during excavation. For some, this building was the last. For example, a letter from a 17-year-old girl from the Kanash region has been preserved:

“Mom, send me linen, bread and potatoes. You won't see me anymore, just like I won't see you. People say that before, while digging trenches, people died. Apparently, I won't have to go home."

"Fought for high productivity"

The hope of victory and the expectation of peace in their native land helped to endure and endure. But people lived not only in hope. Labor feats were performed daily before their eyes, which inspired and motivated others. Among the builders, who were also called fighters, socialist competition unfolded with the challenge of the Red Banner, many took on increased obligations. "Party-political and propaganda-mass work" was also organized.

“The Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks allocated responsible republican and district party and Soviet workers for this work. In total, 420 people worked at the construction site as political instructors, and 3,200 people worked as agitators. Political instructors and agitators carried out systematic explanatory, mass-political work, daily being among the workers, conducting reports, conversations, reading newspapers, political information among them, issuing combat leaflets, showing examples of Stakhanov's work by personal example, passing on the experience of construction leaders to all brigades and sections. The wide popularization of Stakhanov's methods of work contributed to the expansion of socialist emulation and increased labor productivity. All construction workers were drawn into socialist competition, who literally fought for high labor productivity, for early completion of construction, ”the decision of the bureau of the Chuvash regional party committee says, in particular.

Important factors that also helped to surrender the defensive lines ahead of schedule are iron discipline and criminal liability for failure to comply with orders. For example, in order No. 28, issued by the head of military field facility No. 6 Voskanyan, there is a surname list of section chiefs and chief engineers who “do not fulfill their promises on assets, the decisions of these assets” and “instructions on the correct organization of labor, the placement of people ".

“Foremen and foremen of these sections are rarely on the highway, and section chiefs and chief engineers do not eliminate criminal laxity among engineering and technical personnel,” Voskanyan’s order says.

Therefore, all managers were instructed to “be on the track from morning until the end of work”, “absences” were allowed only for 1 hour - “for lunch”. And a warning: in case of non-compliance, the perpetrators "will be held criminally liable, regardless of the persons."

Such facts were not widespread, unlike examples of labor heroism. In particular, evidence of this is stored in the party archive of the Krasnochetaisky district of Chuvashia (in the GASI fund), the characteristics of the leaders have been preserved - in total more than 100 documents, including handwritten ones. Distinguished students received bonuses, vacations, letters of thanks and other awards.

4. Characteristics of Dimitry Barinov. From the funds of BU "GASI". P-101. Op. 1. D. 434

Characteristics as evidence of heroism

Here are some excerpts from the preserved characteristics. Head of one of the military training centers Pavel Gerasimov, whose VUP was recognized as one of the best, received a commendation for having “achieved a strengthening of discipline” and an increase in labor productivity: “daily output per one fighter-worker is 140%”.

5. Characteristics of Pavel Gerasimov. From the funds of BU "GASI". P-101. Op. 1. D. 434

“The main condition for success is Bolshevik discipline, based on constant coverage of the issues of the Patriotic War, on socialist competition, its daily summing up on the basis of individual and team assignments,” reads, in particular, in the description.

6. Description of Dmitry Bozrikov. From the funds of BU "GASI". P-101. Op. 1. D. 434

Foreman of one of the sections Ivan Ogandeikin was nominated as a candidate for the rally of shock workers and Stakhanovites of the VPS-2, since his brigade fulfilled the production standards of 170–175%, and he proved himself to be a “good political worker”. In addition, under his leadership, "514 rubles were collected for the defense fund among the construction workers and 810 rubles worth of money and clothing lottery tickets were sold."

7. Description of Ivan Ogandeikin. From the funds of BU "GASI". P-101. Op. 1. D. 434

In the characteristic for the political instructor Gerasim Kudryaeva it is noted that he "was constantly among the workers of defense installations and correctly combined political mass work with production work." Fighters-workers of the Atnar VUP, where he worked as a commissar, fulfilled the production standards by 170–200%.

8. Characteristics of Gerasim Kudryaev. From the funds of BU "GASI". P-101. Op. 1. D. 434

Not far behind men and women. For example, a farmer Elena Yandaikina“Put into practice the words of Comrade Stalin in the report of November 6, 1941”:

9. Characteristics for Elena Yandaikina. From the funds of BU "GASI". P-101. Op. 1. D. 434

"From the day the defensive work began, she did not have a single day of absence and daily fulfilled the daily norms for earthwork of 2.5 km at a norm of 1.8 km, which is 139%, recently she has been fulfilling the daily norm by 150-160%" .

Doctor of one of the districts Maria Munina“during her work on the construction site, she showed exceptional sensitivity and concern for the collective farm workers of the construction site.”

10. Characteristics of Maria Munina. From the funds of BU "GASI". P-101. Op. 1. D. 434

“I received workers from 5 am to 11 pm, regardless of working hours. On her own initiative, she often went to the workers on the construction site and provided the necessary medical assistance at the place of work. She has done a lot of preventive work. By urgent and energetic measures, she quickly managed to prevent the epidemic incidence of typhus that had arisen, ”the description notes, in particular.

11. From the report of the military department of the Yadrinsky RK of the CPSU (b). From the funds of BU "GASI". P-115. Op. 14. D. 47.

The report of the military department of the Yadrinsky RK of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks states that in the Yadrinsky district, out of those employed in construction, 906 people fulfilled the norm from 100% to 150%, 240 people - from 150% to 200%, 88 people - over 200%. And "in the forefront, as always, were the Communists and Komsomol members."

"In particular, a member of the party Shmelev I. Nick. works as a shift chief of the fire brigade, despite his old age, daily exceeded production standards in the construction of military installations.

12. Characteristics of Grigory Amaroshkin. From the funds of BU "GASI". P-101. Op. 1. D. 434

Rewarding

Following the results of the construction, the Bureau of the Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks filed a petition with the State Defense Committee “On granting government awards to the best participants who showed genuine examples of labor heroism on defensive lines.” There were over 50 of them. Another 234 people were awarded a diploma of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Chuvash ASSR (data from the State Archive of the Modern History of Chuvashia).

Among those presented for the award is the foreman of excavators Mikhail Bezborodov, (Alatyrsky district), who worked on construction from the first days until the end of the completion of work. He was considered one of the best foremen, organizers of Stakhanov's work. Members of "his brigade systematically fulfilled the production rate by 200%."

“I worked as a digger without a break” Maria Khozikova, which "as a deputy of the village council showed a personal example to the workers of her brigade", "systematically fulfilled the daily norm up to 250%". Minslu Sharafutdinova worked as a link link of diggers, “involved all members in the socialist competition and achieved mastery of the Stakhanov method of work”: all “9 people of her link fulfilled the production rate up to 480%”. Head of UPU Section No. 2 Matvey Kuzmin(Krasnochetaysky district), “having correctly calculated the labor force, as well as achieving high labor productivity, he completed the construction of his section 7 days ahead of schedule with a “good” rating.

The award ceremonies themselves were more than just a celebration.

“The presentation of certificates of honor must be organized in such a way that it mobilizes the collective farm masses for better agricultural work, for which it is important to prepare the awardees themselves for performances when receiving certificates of honor, as well as to organize a speech by collective farm leaders, Soviet party workers. All speeches must be briefly recorded in the minutes. Send us the protocol of delivery, ”the acting statement says. Secretary of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Chuvash ASSR A. Izmailova sent to the secretary of the Krasnochetaisk district committee of the CPSU (b) M. Kuzmin.

13. Order. From the funds of BU "GASI". P-101. Op. 1. D. 434

The presentation protocol, which is also kept at the State Architectural Institute, contains excerpts from the speeches of the awardees. Certificates of honor were presented on May 4, 1942 "at a meeting of the party, Soviet and collective farm activists" of the Krasnochetaisky district with the participation of more than 240 people.

“In the days of the Patriotic War, our valiant soldiers of the Red Army and all Soviet peoples are fighting the brutal German occupiers until complete defeat. Our workers, office workers, men and women work tirelessly in factories. And they give the front more and more tanks, planes, cannons, machine guns, mortars, rifles and ammunition.

14. Protocol for the presentation of certificates of honor. From the funds of BU "GASI". P-101. Op. 1. D. 434.

Our collective farmers, men and women, work tirelessly in the fields and give the front more and more grain, meat and raw materials for industry. We are faced with the task of successfully completing the spring sowing and obtaining a high harvest in 1942, ”is, for example, a fragment of the speech Ivan Zorkov.

Beria's letter

In a telegram sent from Chuvashia to the NKVD Lavrenty Beria , it is said that “during the construction of the border, the local population of Chuvashia showed examples of excellent work. Many collective farms-brigades showed high labor enthusiasm, systematically fulfilling the norms by 2-3 times”:

15. Telegram for Beria. From the funds of BU "GASI". P-1. Op. 23. D. 398

“Engineering and technical personnel were forged at work. Many engineering and technical workers showed themselves as organizers and leaders of production. Having completed the work, the local population and the engineering and technical staff of the 12th Army Directorate are ready to fulfill any new task of the Party and the Government with the same energy.

In Mordovia, they were preparing to give battle to the Nazi troops on the banks of the Sura

Almost 65 years ago, the last volleys of the Great Patriotic War were fired. These days go further into history, fewer and fewer living witnesses remain, and the more valuable and dear for us is the surviving information of that time. Today, on the eve of the 65th anniversary of the Victory, it is necessary to look back again, to remember the military and labor exploits of the war years. Among them is the construction of defensive structures of the Volga-Sura defensive line, which was carried out in the winter of 1941-1942 and became the largest campaign to mobilize the population for labor service in Mordovia.

In the fall of 1941, hostilities approached the Moscow Military District. At the beginning of October, there was no continuous front in the Moscow direction. The enemy was just preparing for the final blow. No one could predict the outcome of this battle. Having suffered losses during the offensive operation, the German troops could hardly catch their breath and tried to gather reserves. No less exhausted, the Red Army tried to at least hold the enemy. The German command was well aware that in the circumstances it was important not so much to capture the Soviet capital as "to deprive the enemy of the military-industrial basis for the restoration of his armed forces" - it was at this moment that General Paulus and Colonel Heusinger, who constituted the "orientation of the Chief of the General Staff ground forces." To achieve this goal, even before the full onset of winter, it was planned to reach the Vologda-Gorky-Saratov-Stalingrad-Maikop line. With such a balance of power, Moscow actually turned into a helpless colossus. At the same time, the USSR State Defense Committee was developing a plan to create a new strategic echelon of the armed forces consisting of nine armies. The frontiers were determined almost identical: Vytegra - Rybinsk - Gorky - Saratov - Stalingrad - Astrakhan. Thus, if the plans of Hitler's analysts nevertheless came true, then, perhaps, the bank of the Mordovian Sura River would become the basis of a new defensive line. Work on the construction of the Sursky defensive line began on October 7, 1941. The Council of People's Commissars of the Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic received a letter signed by the commander of the 47th Military Topographic Detachment, Major Mikhailov, in which he asked for assistance in conducting topographic research, which, on an urgent assignment from the General Staff of the Red Army, was scheduled to be completed on time from October 10 to December 1. The corresponding circular was sent to 12 eastern regions of the republic. While the topographers were fulfilling their task, the decision-making bodies were working out options for the upcoming work, their scope, forms and methods of implementation. If you look at the map of Mordovia, then in its southwestern part you can see that a significant part of the border with neighbors runs along the Sura River. This natural line was taken as the basis of the defensive line. The extreme points are the confluence of the Barysh River with the Sura and a section of the Ruzaevka-Inza railway. Soon military engineering units appeared in Mordovia. It is unlikely that the curious at that time could notice it. At that time, there were enough military units on the territory of the republic. On November 23, 1941, the Council of People's Commissars and the Bureau of the Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks of the Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic adopted a joint resolution on the construction of special fortifications passing through the territory of the republic and the neighboring region. It clearly, strictly, almost militarily painted: who, what and when performs. So, the total length of the fortification lines is 80 kilometers. The volume of upcoming work: excavation - 4 million cubic meters, logging and timber removal - 120 thousand cubic meters. It was necessary to spend 2.5 million man-days. According to the plan, 67 thousand people, 50 tractors (including 20 caterpillars), 4700 horses were going to be involved in the construction. To service all labor army workers, 22 doctors, 63 junior medical staff, 22 construction technicians, 44 road workers were allocated. Even the smallest details were not forgotten. For every ten people - 8 iron shovels, 3 crowbars, 3 axes, 2 cleavers, one cross saw and other equipment (up to chisels and planes). The district committees of the party allocated political instructors from their composition for the entire period of work on the basis of: for 300 people mobilized - one political instructor. Senior officials of the Council of People's Commissars of Mordovia were appointed deputy chiefs of field construction and sapper brigades. Most of the second secretaries of the district committees and employees of the district executive committees were appointed deputy battalion commanders responsible for mobilizing the population and transport, for accommodation, catering, educational work and for completing events on time. Soyuzpechat should have allocated 7,000 copies of the Krasnaya Mordovia newspaper, 2,000 of Mokshen Pravda, and 3,000 of Erzyan Pravda for special construction. Separately, a clause was written on the immediate consideration of cases of violators of the law on labor conscription. The deadlines for implementation were the most stringent. The line of fortifications consisted of an anti-tank ditch, scarps, cut-off ditches, open trenches, rifle squads, trenches for heavy machine guns and cannons, and forest debris. The system of field fortifications included dugouts, dugouts, command posts. The former Deputy Minister of Culture of Mordovia, the first dean of the Faculty of Law Alexandra Ivanovna Guseva (Kosareva) also visited the construction of the Volga-Sura defensive line: - In early November, all young girls and childless women of the village received summons to the labor front. They said that on the 10th we need to come to the village school. Take warm clothes and food with you for 3-4 days. Most were able to grab only boiled potatoes and bread from home. The youth at that time no longer walked in bast shoes. But we were warned that they should be worn to work along with woolen stockings and canvas shoes. We went out in the direction of Chamzinka. From neighboring villages, young girls from other villages joined us along the way. People were streaming. We were led by the military. Where they were taking us, we did not know. While we were walking to the place of work, we stopped for the night in the villages. We were assigned to spend the night with local residents, several people per hut. They slept on straw scattered on the floor without undressing. A few days later we reached Novosursk. I remember that at that time it was a small village with a street going down to the Sura River. We were placed at home. I was settled with relatives and neighbors in my native village. 8-10 people lived in one house. Slept on the floor. Only if someone fell ill, the hostess allowed them to sit on the stove. Our job was to make the sloping bank of the Sura an impregnable wall. So that the tanks could not pass through it. That year there were terrible frosts. The temperature dropped to 45 degrees. If you stand in bast shoes on the ground for a few seconds, then they begin to freeze. The ground was also frozen. In order for it to thaw, we kindled fires and only then hollowed it out with crowbars and shovels. Then the soil on a stretcher was pulled out and taken away. The banks were cut to make them sheer. Trenches were dug in certain places. Our group from the Romodanovsky district was responsible for its own section of the coast. We were fed by the local collective farm. Large loaves of bread were brought on sledges, as well as millet and flour, from which we cooked stew. It was impossible to bring potatoes, as they froze on the way. Working conditions were really difficult. Front rations: flour and bread - 1 kg, cereals - 0.150 kg, meat - 0.100 kg (in theory, of course). To get from the place of temporary stay to work and back, other Labor Army soldiers had to walk 15-20 kilometers. The working norm for men is 2 cubic meters per day, for women, who were the vast majority, 1.75 cubic meters. And this despite the fact that the yard was forty degrees of frost. The very first months showed that the work could hardly be completed within the allotted month. From the cold, hunger and the onset of disease, people fled back to their villages. As of December 10, 199 people came to the Romodanovsky district alone, 93 of whom managed to return back. Of those who fled, 10 deserters were arrested, 4 (all women) were convicted. There were other problems as well. In addition to the fact that some districts “underdelivered” the required amount of manpower (the Ruzaevsky district, for example, instead of 4 thousand people sent only 2170), among those already mobilized, there were teenagers, pregnant women, disabled old women, and terminally ill people. Added to all this was the eternal organizational confusion. Some did not have tools for digging trenches, others worked without technical documentation, and the third did not have time to bring food. The regional committee of the party barely kept up with patching up the holes, but still, by December 16, only 13 percent of the earthworks had been completed. The onset of the new 1942 along the entire Surskaya line, which received the official name - "Rear defensive line No. 30", was modestly noted. The defeat of the Germans near Moscow clarified a lot. But there was no guarantee of an easy victory. The objects of the frontier were accepted by representatives of the commandant's office, and those volumes of work that the Labor Army did not have time to complete were transferred for execution to the People's Commissariat of Public Utilities of the MASSR, along with documentation, estimates, and funds. On January 15, 1942, the builders reported on the completion of the first phase of work. “Everyone seemed to have forgotten about us,” Alexandra Ivanovna continues. - And they stopped feeding, and they didn’t force them to work. Whomever you ask, no one can tell if our help is still needed. We sat, thought, and went home. More precisely, they did not go, but ran. If the road to work took three days, then they got back twice as fast. Still, I really wanted to go home. Only once did we stop in the Tatar village of Lomaty. I remember that they gave us tea there and managed to place everyone on the beds for the first time, as we left the house. When they finally got to their native village, they rested for a whole week. Our legs hurt so much after a long walk that we couldn't even walk. Just rested and got used to being at home, the agenda comes again. They collected three carts from our collective farm - 12 girls (I was appointed a foreman) - and sent to the village of Sabaevo, Kochkurovsky district. Placed at the end of the village, closer to the place of work. Trenches were dug along the Sura, and our task this time was to camouflage them. Axes cut the turf along the river, these trenches were covered with them, then straw was laid on top and covered with snow. After such a disguise, even we ourselves could not show exactly where these traps, made according to the principle of "wolf pits", were located. Many years later, I visited my nephew at a children's camp in Sabaevo and noticed that the ditches that we hid under the snow were still there. In early April, before the flood, we were released. There was no snow anymore, the exhausted horses could not pull the carts, they had to harness themselves. We returned home, immediately fell ill - furunculosis, malaria, rheumatism. Treated until the summer. Many workers and collective farmers who built fortifications received well-deserved awards - certificates of honor and cash prizes. The leaders of the work were awarded orders and medals. The sixth sapper army, replenished on the banks of the Sura with residents of Mordovia, Chuvashia and the Penza region, went to the front, which by that time was already near Tula. They had to go there on foot. The erected frontier did not become a place of hot battles. Over time, the collective farmers began to dismantle the fortifications. Attempts by the authorities to somehow resist the theft were unsuccessful, and in April 1944 the command of the Volga Military District allowed the sale of "wooden-earth defensive structures and materials obtained from their development." An end was put in the history of the Sursky frontier.