A building housing the radio transceiver and its equipment also went up in smoke. The pilots' house, a food warehouse and the meteorological base were destroyed. Nevertheless, they managed to hit several station buildings, and a raging fire broke out. The Germans found the going hard because they did not expect civilian meteorologists to strike back. The Germans expected them to fire a rifle, at best but they were in for a rude surprise when the Soviets started firing naval guns from a considerable distance," he added. "They believed that ordinary polar explorers alone were holed up inside their huts and could do nothing to repel an attack. "It appears that the Germans felt like they could get away with it," Yermolov commented. "We are firing all our available weapons," the message read. Its 40-meter-high precipice served as a natural fortress and made it possible to watch incoming ships and to shoot at the enemy from earth and timber bunkers.Īccording to archive records, the station's crew sent a radio message on August 25, 1942, reporting a German U-boat attack that shelled the facility. Camouflaged earth and timber fortifications, covered with stones, also remain intactĬape Zhelaniya was a convenient location for observing enemy movements. A cannon was placed in the rampart's central section and surrounded by ammunition stores. They consist of large artillery ramparts. Part of Cape Zhelaniya's defensive fortifications have survived to this day. As the Soviet Union went to war with Germany, civilian scientists also started defending the Motherland. An experienced gunner also arrived, helped install the cannon, trained the station crew, and conducted target shooting practice. After the war began, the Sedov delivered equipment for the station, as well as a 45-mm cannon with ammunition. The crew of the icebreaker Georgy Sedov later took the baby girl to the mainland. In early spring, hydrologist Tatyana Pinchukova, 33, died after giving birth to a girl. Throughout 1941, a Soviet meteorological station operated on Cape Zhelaniya, with an entire town for its specialists. Fortifications were built posthaste on Kanin Nos, Yugorsky Shar, Cape Zhelaniya and in other areas. In 1941, Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union, and senior commanders of the Soviet Navy's Northern Fleet realized that it was important to safeguard the Northern Sea Route from enemy forces.
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