As 19-year-old Gelfenstein saved Leningrad

Date September 23, 1941 included in all the decent textbooks of Soviet history - on this day, our troops stopped the Germans at Pulkovo Heights. But in fact the battle for Leningrad began two days earlier. Before the overland offensive, the fascists abandoned their aircraft to destroy the Red Banner Baltic Fleet, based in Kronstadt. Without the fiery shield of long-range naval artillery, our city could not last long.
The plans of Hitler's generals were foiled by the senior operator of the Redut-3 radar station, Grigoriy Gelfenstein, 19, who "saw" enemy planes for many tens of kilometers from their intended goal and warned the command posts of the air defense system. I read somewhere that the first time he called Kronstadt and said that there would be a raid, he was called a panic, a provocateur and a German saboteur, surrounded with a mat, threatened with finding and shooting - many did not know about radar at that time (the technique was new) and the rumors, who by the sound worked, could not hear anything for 200 km. Therefore, they did not really believe him.

But "just in case" seamen alarmed something, announced, reluctantly, but announced - such as "training". Therefore, the first scurf from the Germans was the most productive, but the second and third were no more - just then, when he called, at the end of the questions were no longer asked, immediately declared an alarm.

Gelfenstein remembers:

Prior to this, in my practice, there have already been occasions when our data were not trusted. At that time everything that was concerned with radar was strictly classified, and an uninitiated person could not even imagine that with the help of special equipment one can confidently observe aircraft at a distance of 180-220 km behind the front line.

And now I feel that there, at the CP of the air defense of the KBF, the reports are taken somehow dispassionately. There is no excitement, no concern, there are no questions to us, and we do not hear the sounds of the sirens of "Air Trouble" ... But in this case, I could not possibly misunderstand! With excitement I decide to go to the extreme, something strictly forbidden ... As a senior in the shift, in the current extreme situation, I also decided to act extremistically. I take full responsibility only for myself! I take a telephone receiver from the operator-telephonist V. Mayorov, who is sitting next to him, and directly, openly, to the officer who usually receives and writes our coded reports:

• It's coming at you! ON YOU! Them 230-250 !! Let's worry !!!

Of course, I do not remember now literally any more what and how extra excitedly said besides this, but said convincingly that I did not understand the extreme seriousness of my unusual treatment!

By voice and by my excitement there, at the Air Defense Corps of the KBF I was now correctly understood ... Literally in 2-3 seconds after this, through the thin wooden walls of our equipment room, we heard the long sounds of alarming sirens floating over the bay, over the coast.

By the way, in 3.5 months a similar situation occurred at the US Pearl Harbor. The radar operator found the columns of Japanese bombers - but was sent to the headquarters to be more subtle. Accordingly, he did not twitch further, turned off the station and went to rest. The result you know.

In the evening of September 23, 1941, Admiral V.F. Tributs arrived in the village of Bolshie Izhora. The purpose of his arrival was to get acquainted with the staff of the "Redut-3" station of the 72nd Radio VOOS radio. Tributz, pausing for a moment, turned to the commanders and fighters: "You deserve gratitude from the Commander of the Leningrad Front, K.G. Zhukov for the skilful and exemplary performance of his duties. Thanks to your skill and vigilance, the Baltic Fleet managed to repulse the massive raids of German aviation and retained its power to destroy enemy formations. Two weeks passed, as the Germans managed to close the ring around Leningrad, the artillery of the fleet and sailors, along with the Red Army soldiers, would break this ring. And we will do it. You have preserved our power. " Then he shook hands with every commanding officer and men in the ranks, and departed on the embankment to the bay.

This is all the more interesting because Soviet radar stations were designed and manufactured in Leningrad - but all of them were taken from Leningrad before the approach of the Germans. In the village of Bolshiye Izhora was the only modern radar station, which was simply forgotten near Narva - but the fighters of the radio battalion could take it from there to Leningrad, retreating. It was called "Redut-3", because it was the third in the air defense system of Leningrad - the other two stations were an old experimental station in Toksovo (it was not taken out, because it was a stationary structure, and very miserable) and somehow assembled from the polygon set of devices ersatz-locator. The station in Bolshiye Izhorah belonged to the type "RUS-2" (Radio Striker of Aircraft, type 2), the old version - with separate machines and antennas for transmission and for signal reception. Later, while in a blockade, in conditions of a colossal lack of resources, the Leningrad designers were able to develop the RUS-2c station (the so-called Pegmatit) in which the same antenna was used for receiving and transmitting (which greatly reduced the demand for scarce materials and the system became cheaper).

In general, at that time the station where Grisha Gelfenstein was sitting was the only long-range radar in the Leningrad air defense system.
By the spring of 1942, there were already 8 such stations near Leningrad. All of them were made by hungry people in the besieged city under bombing. Because they realized that there were not enough planes left in the city, gasoline for them - even less, to fly for patrolling in such conditions, wasting precious gasoline and the remnants of the motor resource - insanity. Only radars can allow at least somehow to prevent the Germans from bombing the city.

By the way, Gelfenstein says that for no more than three days, no more than 20-25 enemy bombers were shot down by the fire of anti-aircraft artillery above the bay. He counted them in dense columns on the approach and then, when they left in groups, then subtracted one figure from the other - that's the loss for you. But, of course, the main effect of anti-aircraft artillery was not in downed planes, but that the Germans could not calmly and accurately drop bombs. Therefore, the success of their bombing was rather modest (although they sank the battleship "Marat", and the battleship "October Revolution" damaged - well, after all, in a raid the Germans threw everything that had in the Army Group "North", and the Fuhrer threw the bombers to "solve the problem" with the Russian fleet in the Baltic).

Whatever it was, Grisha Gelfenstein largely saved the Baltic Fleet, and helped the defense of the city.