Vyazma.

  Not long ago, I wrote a post about remaining fortifications of the Moscow defense zone, where mentioned the catastrophic 1941 defeat of the Red army near the town of Vyazma. It pushed me to visit this town last weekend, because one of my great-grandfathers perished there during that war. His remains, buried in one of mass graves were not found until the 1980s.  He was one of many thousands of men who met a similar fate during that terrible time. The portrait with a carved wooden frame is the only one thing that remains of him.
   Vyazma is situated in Smolensk oblast, 230 kilometers from Moscow, and connected by the train line to Belorusky. The train ride to Vyazma take about two hours. The Vyazma train station is quite large, and the most interesting thing is the many old Soviet locomotives with red stars on them.

 A steam locomotive behind the typical post-war station building. For me, day trips like this, where I travel light without a car, have a more physical aspect. During the work week I usually sit a lot, so I need more physical activity during the weekends. I like sports connected with overcoming distance, like jogging, skiing, skating, etc., but I hate jogging in the same forest near my home over and over, as I’m familiar with every bit of it. So I choose a spot on the map, usually a rural and forest area or small town, decide how I want to get there, then devote the entire day. I also select the interesting sites that I want to visit, and where to eat and relax en route, and when I want to arrive at my destination. I also have locate the nearest train station where long-distance trains stop. I frequently can’t do everything before nightfall, so a night-time long-distance train is the only one way to get home. And I like to a have paper map with me, since my smartphone battery might die on the way, especially during the cold season.

 Historically, Vyazma was sort of an entrance for various foreign invaders. The first written mention of this was a 1239 reference to the towns of Smolensk principality. In 1403, Vyazma was conquered by the duchy of Lithuania. Later it joined the Principality of Moscow, but in 1507 Vyazma was burned and ransacked in a raid by Lithuanians. In the 17th century the town became the main fortress on the western border, because Smolensk, with its mighty Kremlin, was captured by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the time of troubles. A new fortress was built in 1632. Its only one remaining tower can be seen in the photo above. There were originally a total of six, but the bricks of all except one were used for new buildings after the fortress lost its military significance.

The tower remained only because it was situated on the property of the monastery situated there in the past.

 Another bloody page in the history of Vyazma was written in November of 1812, when a big battle took place between the rear guard of the Grande Armée, and the Russians commanded by General Mikhail Andreyevich Miloradovich. This is the monument dedicated to that battle.

 The building beside the monument was a church. One of the churches of the monastery which the preserved fortress tower that I previously mentioned.

 Most of the Orthodox churches were closed down during the Soviet era. Since then, a library has been housed there.

  In the autumn of 1941, during Operation Typhoon near Vyazma, many red army formations were encircled by the enemy. More than 400,000 red army soldiers died, more than 600,000 were captured. A group of troops of about 85,000 soldiers broke the enemy encirclement  and managed to survive. Even now, bones of many of the perished still lie in local forests and fields. On October 7, 1941, the Germans captured Vyazma. During the occupation, Nazis established two concentration camps in the town, Dulag 184 and Dulag 230. About 80,000 people died there and were buried in mass graves. The victims included Jews, political officers, and POWs. I'll write more about Dulag 184 toward the end of the post. I paid a visit to it in the evening.

 The monument to General Yefremov, behind the eternal flame. He was a military commander of the Soviet Union. He took part in the October Revolution, joined the Bolshevik Party, and became a division commander. He also became a military advisor to the National Government of China in 1928. During World War II, he commanded the Soviet Central Front in August 1941, and then the Soviet 33rd Army, from October 1941.

   General Yefremov decided to personally lead the strike force of his army when Zhukov decided to take Vyazma in February of 1942. General Belov's Cavalry Corps was able to join them before the Germans cut them off from other advancing Soviet forces. Operating in the German rear next to Soviet partisans, they were supplied by air until April when they were given permission to link up with the main Soviet forces. Most of Gen. Belov's Cavalry Corps made it to the Soviet 10th Army. However, Yefremov decided to take a shorter route which was detected by the Germans. Subsequently, the 33rd army was destroyed and he committed suicide to avoid being taken prisoner by the Germans.

 A photo of Vyazma during the German occupation. The decrepit condition of Trinity Cathedral on the hill is the fault of the Soviet state. Like most other temples, it was closed and plundered during Soviet times. By the way, Germans returned the cathedral to believers at the end of 1941, as they were more religiously tolerant.

  The same cathedral today. Despite the fact that Germans specially destroyed many buildings of Vyazma during their retreat in 1943, they didn't destroyed churches. More than a half of Vyazma churches were demolished before and after the war. The bricks of many of them were used for new construction. The Soviet government didn't appreciate that part of Russian cultural heritage.

  Back side.

   Vyazma was mostly destroyed between 1941 and 1943, and the local churches are the most prominent structures remaining.  The most beautiful among them is the Church of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God Hodegetria, which was built in 1632. To me, this white miracle resembles the Nativity Church at Putinki in Moscow (which wasn't named after Putin, as you might think, but rather from the name of the village where the church was situated before the entire area became part of Moscow).

 The grave of the hero of the Patriotic War 1812, General Zherebtsov, near the church. His grave was lost in the chaos of 20th century, but was then found during the recent restoration of Hodegitria Church.

  It’s not often that I see a church with the year of its construction on its walls, but look at the third floor of bell tower.

 The plaque at the bottom of this monument says that Svetlana Savitskaya was the second Soviet woman cosmonaut, and used this plane for flight practice.

   Despite the destruction, some old buildings did survive. However, there’s no sense of an historical town left--just pieces of old Russia throughout the Soviet environment. Most of Vyazma looks quite similar.

  Looking at this abandoned house, you can understand how many homes in old Vyazma looked long ago. This type of architecture was pretty common there. I think it may have been a house for the head of the church that’s situated behind it.

  I found this place in front of the church. Here, more than seventy Soviet soldiers were shot. The location of the cross is not accurate--actually the mass grave is situated ten meters from this site. That was told to me by the elderly lady who cares about the church. When the soldiers were found and buried, a small apple tree was planted on the exact place of their grave. The tree became thick and tall over the years.

 Another shot of the church.

 A photo of the river which has the same name as the town. The view is beautiful and very... Russian.

 Ultimately, I found a local monument to Lenin (name one Russian town without one). A feature that I’ve seen in many towns is a Lenin statue looking at a nearby church. I think that his eyes are sad at the moment when he sees reality around. This old idol of a perished civilization doesn't like what he sees and how the country where he was once a God now lives. And this is maybe the only time when I can agree with him.

  The church where the local museum is situated now. I didn't go there, because I’ve seen plenty of local museums and they’re usually pretty similar. One interesting photo from the time of Second World War is connected with this photo.

  I was referring to this photo with a United States M3 tank. I heard that Soviet tankers didn't like this Lend Lease tank. They soon found that it was hopelessly outdated for front line fighting, and retired them to quieter sectors.

  This column means that Vyazma has the rank of the “City of military glory". The City of military glory is a honorary title awarded for outstanding heroism during World War II. So when you ride the long-range train from Moscow, you will hear the announcement for the Vyazma stop as "The next stop is the City of military glory of Vyazma."

 A Soviet typical post-war cinema. They usually have names like "Victory," "Motherland," or something like that. This one is named "Victory," I’ve seen cinemas with the same in many places. Now they’re usually occupied by supermarkets, or abandoned like this one. The red inscriptions mean “now” and “soon” (about the movies). And as you see, the cinema isn't showing anything now and is not likely to in the future.

 This is the last place where I where I could take a photo. The battery of my camera had died, due to the cold. After that, I headed to see the place where the wartime Nazi concentration camp had been situated. Now it’s an industrial area. As I said in the beginning of the post, the name of this Vyazma concentration camp was “Dulag 184.” Dulag, or Durchgangslager, was the type of the camp where inmates were temporarily held before being sent to the main camps. In the first year of the war those camps usually looked like simple paddocks where POWs were held with the help of a barbed wire fence. Therefor the prisoners lived for a long time without any protection from cold, rain, wind or sun. At the same time, Germans used POWs as slave workers for digging trenches, and building fortifications and other infrastructure. Camp just like this one in Vyazma were set up in many other occupied towns. The monuments, mounds, obelisks, and memorials for them are scattered all over the western part of European Russia.

   In twenty minutes, I reached the meat-processing plant that had been built on the site of Dulag 184 after the war. How ironic--a meat processing plant built on the place where people had been considered nothing more than meat!  Germans soldiers had moved the captured Red Army soldiers into an unfinished aircraft factory, which had no roof, no windows, and no doors. The entire building was open to draughts and wind. There was not enough place for all the captured soldiers in the building, so the Germans built the paddock surrounded by barbed wire nearby. All those who died from hunger or wounds were dumped by the Germans into excavated burial pits. Some of those pits are still located under the meat plant area and the forest nearby. A small memorial was erected on this place several years ago. The memorial was created due to requests from many of the relatives of people who had died in the camp. Those who traveled to Vyazma to commemorate their deceased relatives were in need of a place where they could do it.
    In addition to the monuments connected with the Great Patriotic War in Vyazma, original wartime fortifications also remain. They are located near the Vyazma-Bryanskaya railway station, seven kilometers from the town center. The Germans built an airfield there in 1942. For protection of the staff they also built three small bunkers. All of them remain to this day. It was night when I reached them. The bunkers are all similar and situated about 400 meters from each other. Unfortunately, it was completely dark by then and I couldn't take any smartphone photos of them. After that, I returned to Vyazma’s main train station.

  I don't know why, but I took photos inside the station with my iphone as I waited for my train home. It was the last train of the day. I arrived in Moscow late at night, hailed a taxi to my house, and fell right to sleep.