In the tragic summer of 1941, most of the inhabitants of our country involuntarily asked themselves the question: how long will the Red Army hold out, retreating under the onslaught of the enemy? The fighting spirit - both in the army and in the rear - was broken. To return it, a real miracle or a feat was required, which would show: for a Russian soldier there is nothing impossible! And then Soviet planes in August - September 1941 flew to bomb … Berlin.
Daring plan
At the very beginning of the war, after a number of Soviet airfields located directly at the border were destroyed, the German command decided that all our military aviation had been crushed. In July 1941, Hermann Goering boastfully declared: "No bomb will ever fall on the capital of the Reich." History has shown that he was wrong. The tempting idea to bomb Berlin was born in the minds of Soviet commanders almost immediately after the outbreak of hostilities by the Nazis against the USSR. As soon as the first German bombs fell on Moscow in July 1941, the Soviet command thought about revenge. But how do you implement it? People's Commissar of the Navy, Admiral N. G. Kuznetsov immediately proposed to carry out a raid on Berlin, having picked up our aircraft from the Cahul airfield, which was located on the Saaremaa island of the Moonsund archipelago in the Baltic Sea. Kuznetsov honestly warned the command,that this operation is risky and will take place at the limit of the technical capabilities of the aircraft and the physical strength of the pilots. Nevertheless, it was decided to try to implement the admiral's plan.
Strategic airfield
Stalin himself gave the go-ahead for the preparation and conduct of the raid on Berlin. But how to implement this difficult task? From the front line to Berlin 1000 kilometers. To fly, so as not to be hit by an enemy air defense system, it is necessary at an altitude of 7000 meters with a temperature overboard of -45 … -50 ° C. It seemed that only people made of iron were able to withstand such a long flight. But that's not all! The runway of the Cahul airfield, designed for light fighters, was hopelessly short for heavy bombers. Nevertheless, the order of the Supreme Commander - to bomb Berlin - had to be carried out on time. The commander of the 1st mine-torpedo aviation regiment of the Baltic Fleet Air Force Evgeny Preobrazhensky urgently modernized the runways,formed a list of crews and drew a map of the proposed route.
The flight was scheduled for August 7, 21:00. Fifteen DB-ZF aircraft took to the air and, gaining altitude, with three links went towards Germany. Throughout the eight-hour flight, the pilots experienced superhuman stress, being in the terrible cold in oxygen masks. But, despite the maximum flight altitude, Soviet aircraft were still discovered by the Germans. Catastrophe? Not at all! The Nazis mistook Soviet bombers for their own planes that had gone astray. They even offered - by radio communication - to land at the nearest airport, kindly transmitting its coordinates. The Germans did not receive an answer to their request, but they still did not open fire: they were so sure that there could be no enemy aircraft in the skies over Germany. An unpleasant surprise was soon discovered: 10 out of 15 aircraft began to run out of fuel. It was only enough to return home. It was decided to bomb the port facilities of the German Stettin, located below, and go to their airfield. But the remaining five bombers continued their flight.
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In the enemy's lair
When Berlin appeared under the wings of the planes, the Soviet pilots could not believe their eyes. The city lived an ordinary measured life. Lights were on in the houses, passers-by walked along the streets, trams rang, and cars hummed at traffic lights. Blackout in the German capital was completely absent. A few moments later, the peace of the night city was disturbed by the explosions of 250-kilogram bombs dropped on the military-industrial facilities of Berlin. The residents were in a panic.
Realizing that they might not fly back, the radio operator Vasily Krotenko went on the air to report on the completed task. The radio waves instantly conveyed an important message that was so awaited in Moscow: “My place is Berlin! The task was completed. We return to the base."
Beams of powerful anti-aircraft searchlights slid across the sky, and angry bursts of barrage of German air defense fire sounded. But, fortunately for our pilots, they hit blindly. The Germans could not believe that enemy aircraft could bomb them from a height of 7,000 meters. The beams of their searchlights searched in vain and did not find the enemy at an altitude of 4,500-5,000 meters. Thanks to this mistake of the Germans, all five bombers turned around and safely lay on the return course. Sounds fantastic, but the operation went without loss. Only one aircraft under the command of Alexander Kurban was fired upon by Soviet air defense during its return. But even then they got off with a slight fright: the plane sat on its belly …
Fear has big eyes
When in the morning the sun rose over Berlin, burning after a night bombardment, the German leadership faced a difficult question: how to explain to citizens what happened last night. We decided to lie. German radio stations reported 150 British planes rushing towards Berlin. In turn, the newspapers informed the residents that the British aircraft bombed Berlin at night, there were killed and wounded. The newspapers proudly emphasized that six British planes had been shot down during the night attack. The British themselves dispelled the blatant lie, officially informing the world: "The German message about the bombing of Berlin is interesting and mysterious, since on August 7-8, the British aircraft did not rise from their airfields due to unfavorable weather conditions." Only after that did German propaganda admit that Berlin had been bombed by the Russians. Hitler was furious. He couldn't understand in any wayhow Soviet planes - in spite of the technical capabilities of aviation of those years - ended up in the skies over Berlin.
Meanwhile, in Moscow, Stalin personally thanked the organizer of the operation, Commander-in-Chief of the Navy N. G. Kuznetsova: “Your sea pilots are worthy of the greatest praise. They were the first to fly the route to Berlin. This fact has historical significance."
Only forward
In the period from August 8 to September 4, 1941, Yevgeny Preobrazhensky's group repeatedly bombed Berlin. Residents of the city in panic closed their windows with blackout, and the ubiquitous searchlights were looking for Russian planes in the sky. According to N. G. Kuznetsov, after the first time bombing Berlin became much more difficult. A powerful air defense system worked around the city. During each next raid, tactics had to be changed. Nevertheless, both anti-aircraft fire and German fighters practically did not reach an altitude of 7000 meters, so each sortie took place almost without losses. A total of 86 sorties were made. 311 high-explosive and incendiary bombs with a total weight of 36 tons were dropped on the city, not counting the shells filled with leaflets.
Realizing that it was pointless to fight Soviet bombers directly over Berlin and its environs, Hitler, having calculated where the sorties were coming from, ordered the destruction of the Cahul airfield. By this time, Tallinn had already been surrendered, and it became almost impossible to defend the islands of the Moonsund archipelago.
On September 5, 1941, the huge forces of the German group "North" specially assembled for this operation destroyed the Cahul airfield. The bombing of Berlin was over - for now … But the inhabitants of the German capital, who had experienced all the delights of night bombing, could no longer sleep peacefully …