New archives have been published by the Defense Ministry, entitled “1944: the Nikolaev Operation.” The declassified documents show how Soviet Ukraine was liberated from the Nazis. They contain operation maps, battle logs, eyewitness accounts, and testimonies of German prisoners of war about mass executions of civilians. Twenty-five thousand people were shot.
In the grounds of a hospital there was a concentration camp. During the occupation, Nikolaev became an enemy fortress; there was a minefield around the town. Soviet commanders decided to send volunteers to the rear of the Nazis, along the river. There were 67 men — ten times fewer than the enemy. Natalia Malinovskaya is the daughter of Marshal Malinovsky, who was commanding the Third Ukrainian Front at this time. She knows about the events from those days, including from her father’s diaries.
“The shabby, useless fishing boats were quickly patched up and lowered into the water. There was a gale-force wind, fog, and they had to travel 15 kilometers in these flimsy boats, along the bank occupied by the enemy. By some miracle they succeeded,” said Natalia Malinovskaya, daughter of Marshal Rodion Malinovsky.
In just a couple of days, the Soviet heroes killed 700 Nazis, and withstood 18 attacks. Only 11 men from the group survived. Afterwards, our attack aircraft and artillery arrived. The city was liberated, and all the soldiers from the Nikolaev landing force were awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.