In Lake Ladoga, fragments of barge No. 725 were discovered only recently, which historians call the “Russian Titanic” because of the huge number of victims. She sank on September 17, 1941, more than a thousand people died - mainly graduates and cadets of military schools, members of their families - hundreds of women and children.
A warning that was not heeded
Barge 725 was supposed to transport people to the other side of the lake to the port of Novaya Ladoga. Then they had a land route - to Cherepovets. There, on the orders of Voroshilov, it was planned to create a new special battalion from the evacuated cadets. But, besides the military, there were many civilians on the barge - the cadets were carrying their wives, mothers, and children. No passenger records were kept, loading took place in a bustle. According to some sources, there were 1200 people on the barge, according to others - 1500.
It was stormy on Ladoga, but the command decided to tow, despite the objection of the captain of the tug "Orel" Ivan Erofeev. The barge left on the night of September 17. The passengers slept in the hold. But soon the increased pitching woke up many. At three o'clock in the morning, the old wooden barge was overwhelmed by streams of water - the skin burst.
As the few survivors later recalled, people rushed to the deck, but the central hatch was closed. A wild traffic jam has formed on the steps of the stairs. The passengers took out an ax somewhere and began to chop the hatch - the first to let out the women and children.
The barge was slowly sinking to the bottom. A group of military personnel organized the pumping of water from the hold - someone was carrying buckets, someone was pumping a hand pump. But the water kept coming in. Waves washed people off the deck. It was very cold: the water temperature was no more than 5 degrees, the air temperature was 9. Among the cadets there were first-class swimmers. They naively thought that they could get to the shore by swimming - all died from hypothermia.
Tug "Eagle".
Promotional video:
Messerschmitts responded to SOS
The only glimpse of salvation came when the gunboat Selemdzha passed by the barge. But all the signals - gunshots, waving a white sheet, lighting a torch - went unnoticed. It was cloudy, the waves were rolling. The half-submerged barge almost merged with the water.
The first responded to the SOS signals, which were non-stop tug "Orel", were … German fighters. According to eyewitnesses, it was hell. The barge was overwhelmed by waves, from above people were shot by "Messerschmitts". The cadets even tried to shoot back with rifles … The shooting of the passengers and crew of the barge continued all day!
The exact death toll on barge 725 is unknown, as is the number of survivors. According to various estimates, just over 200 people were saved.
“My father managed to survive miraculously, although he did not know how to swim,” says Mikhail Kisin from St. Petersburg. - When he went to the bottom, his companion dived after him and pulled him to the surface, hooked him to a snag, then began to save other people and drowned himself. The father dangled on this snag until he was lifted into tow.
The wind was getting stronger. The culmination of the tragedy was the moment when the middle part of the barge with the people on it was pulled out. She crumbled to pieces, everyone went under the water instantly.
Author: Irina Molchanova
Survivor diary
Arkady Shvarev.
I ran on the water like Saint George
Arkady Shvarev, 22, found himself on barge 725 as part of a small group of graduates of the Naval Medical Academy. Immediately after the disaster, he described in detail what happened.
1941-17-09. I woke up at about 5 am from the storm and cold; stood or sat up to their knees in the water seeping through the sides (or rather, in a slurry mixed with horse dung). Almost everyone was poisoned (in the water or at neighbors).
The barge creaked terribly, bent over and groaned like a terminally ill old woman. She heeled alternately on different sides, she had to run across all the time. They began to dump cars: two loaded trucks and a brand new ZIS, then a magnificent dark red dugel.
The storm continued, the ramparts rolling over the deck. Only now did I feel that the danger was becoming apparent. And, strange to say, before this weak and almost helpless, he gained energy and vigor. The barge had not yet fully sunk, but the waves continued to roll across the deck, washing people into the water. Then they began to hold on to each other (8-10 people in a group). Suddenly a ship appeared on the leaden horizon (it was the Selemdzha gunboat - Ed.), Which was apparently heading towards us. There were shouts of joy: “Help! They are saving us! " The ship was approaching, then froze in place, held out for a while, suddenly lay down on a different course and began to leave us. It was a heartbreaking sight, women (not yet drowned) were crying, many were shouting, almost all were cursing. I also yelled: “Finn! You bastard! ", Because I was surethat this is not our ship. The ground and some of our men fired into the air with machine guns, rifles and pistols. The tug also signaled with low, intermittent, tragic horns … And at this time the barge was completely sunk. We were standing on the upper deck, hidden 20 centimeters under the water. Only the barge house and part of the stern were sticking out of the water.
Many began to undress. I took off my overcoat, folded it in four, put it under my feet on the deck in order to stand higher. At that time, standing knee-deep in water, Zhenya Dosychev and I discussed the picture of the crash, admired the colors, argued about the shades of the clouds, recalled Aivazovsky's "Ninth Wave". We had the right to this impudence, since we died together and on an equal basis with everyone else. Strange, but the last thing I thought about was death. Did you hope for salvation? No, because there was nowhere to wait for help. Was I sure that I would stay alive? Yes, of course, subconsciously …
Before my eyes, Matvey Malkiel shot himself, Semyon Bat tried to shoot himself (his wife had already drowned), but he was prevented. Many said goodbye to each other, kissed, some cried. Others tried to knit rafts from logs. Hundreds of people died! Young, energetic, full of hope people disappeared, drowned without complaints and cries for help.
… "Eagle" suddenly turned around and went to approach our rafts. I saw how huge shafts of water threw the tiny ship, its keel was visible for moments; it was very difficult for him to maneuver, at any moment the wreckage and rafts could break the small tug. At this time, a huge water rampart lifted a dense jumble of debris and people to a great height and threw it onto our rafts. Almost all of them were washed away from the rafts, some were also hit by heavy logs. I, without waiting for the rushing logs to end my existence, rushed over them in the direction of the tug, which was five meters away from me. Zhenya Dudarev (who was still on the raft) later said that I, like Saint George, on the water, without diving, ran to the tug itself. Indeed, I jumped so quickly and successfully from one log to another,from one board to another chip that they did not have time to dive. Only at the last moment, at the very side of the "Eagle", I fell off the log, but managed to grab the end of the rope thrown from the tug …
