The gloomy Sinyavinsky swamps, which are spread in the forests of the Leningrad region, still keep a silent silence. It was in these parts that on September 25, 1942, two suddenly united shock groups of the Germans cut off part of the Soviet troops from the rest of the forces of the Volkhov Front and the 8th and 2nd shock armies, as well as the 4th and 6th Guards Rifle Corps, were surrounded.
The advantage of the Nazis was not immediately obvious, and after several bloody battles, the surrounded soldiers firmly took up positions in the impassable swamps, knowing that the Germans would not follow them into such wilderness. The terrible hell into which the surrounded Soviet troops stepped gave a chance to buy some time, but the main forces of the USSR were thrown back, and the ring of enemy encirclement became only stronger.
Pain, fear, despair - this is what all the Sinyavinsky swamps are saturated with. The Germans tirelessly fired at the swampy terrain with small arms, and a little later, heavy artillery and aviation attacks were added to this. Pieces of human bodies and disfigured corpses have become a familiar picture of the madness reigning here.
Every day, the war took away new lives of Soviet soldiers who were left with minimal supplies of food, medicine and ammunition. The dampness and cold of the swampy earth exhausted all living things. The trenches and dugouts were gradually filled with water and only digging it out with buckets made it possible to somehow hide from enemy fire. There was nothing to treat the sick and wounded, and most of them died in terrible agony.
On September 30, the encircled Soviet troops attempted to break through the enemy's ring and break out of the encirclement, but failed. The attempt of the Volkhov Front to rescue the encircled was also unsuccessful.
On October 5, after a strong artillery barrage, the Nazis threw back the encircled Soviet troops to the positions they had occupied before the start of the Sinyavino operation. The battle in the "Valley of Death" of the Sinyavinsky Marshes ended there.
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Of the small number of those who managed to survive in this meat grinder, many were left disabled, at least because frequent exposure to cold water caused irreparable damage to internal organs. But most of the fighters remained there.
Black diggers often talk about how Soviet fighters who look like they have just been killed are raised from the Sinyavinsky swamps. Silt limited the penetration of oxygen to dead bodies, stopping decomposition processes. But it is worth removing the corpse to the surface, as it disintegrates right before our eyes.
The entire area of these swamps is considered a bad place with bad energy. Black diggers looking for sunken military equipment do not walk the unfortunate swamps alone. As soon as someone fights off the group, a failure almost always happens to him, and some even die under completely ridiculous circumstances.
Locals say that the peace of the dead soldiers, which are dotted with swampy forests, is better not to disturb at all, so as not to incur disaster.