Holidays of Russia - Day of Defenders of the Moscow Sky

More than 650 thousand soldiers took part in the air defense of the capital of the USSR during the Great Patriotic War Anti-aircraft gunners shot down enemy bombers, and fighter aviation regiments fought back the Messerschmitts in the sky The soldiers helped the residents of Moscow under falling shells and machine gun fire, were on the roofs of buildings during fascist plane raids, extinguished incendiary bombs and fought fires 19-year-old sergeant Yuri Nikulin served in the air defense forces On the initiative of the circus and cinema artist, the Day of Defenders of the Moscow Sky was established, which is celebrated annually on July 22 Nazi bombers carried out their first air raid on the capital exactly a month after the start of the war The city's defenders were ready for an air attack On this day, Viktor Tikhomirov, an employee of NII-20, was working at the radar station, setting up the RUS-2 device On the night of July 22, he discovered that the station was receiving a whole “packet” of signals reflected from unknown obstacles V Tikhomirov reported his observations to the headquarters of the military unit As it turned out, the signals were given by a group of 220 bombers flying towards Moscow The battle in the sky lasted for four hours The Nazis dropped about 100 tons of high-explosive and 45 thousand incendiary bombs on the capital Pilots from airfields in the Moscow zone made 173 sorties, disrupting the battle formation of enemy aircraft Thanks to the coordinated actions of aviation and anti-aircraft gunners, 22 bombers were destroyed, and only 9 aircraft from the enemy armada broke through to Moscow Hitler's plan for the lightning destruction of the capital of the USSR was defeated The Germans assigned an important role to massive air strikes against strategically important capital targets Therefore, Moscow residents did everything possible to protect the heart of the Motherland from destruction For camouflage, artists painted river canals on the roofs of houses, and barges painted to resemble streets were placed on the Moscow River The Kremlin stars were hidden in boxes, the Mausoleum was covered with boards Roofs and hipped towers were painted rusty, and crosses were removed from cathedrals The bypass canal, central squares and main roads, landmarks for bombing, were covered with plywood, and on the outskirts of the city, in vacant lots, lighting was installed to simulate working enterprises Barrages of balloons soared over the main objects (the Kremlin, the Bolshoi Theater, etc), which became a symbol of the defense of the capital The sky monitoring was carried out by VNOS - air surveillance, warning and communications troops About 850 barrage balloons were used to protect the capital They prevented German fighters from descending for targeted bombing During the entire war over Moscow, due to the collision of fascist planes with balloon cables, 150 combat aviation units were destroyed At night, Moscow plunged into darkness, and only the rays of hundreds of searchlights illuminated the sky All residents took part in the air defense of the city Muscovites created squads to fight fires; women and schoolchildren built shelters for buildings, stood guard on roofs and helped the wounded Their contribution to the defense of the capital was no less important than the anti-aircraft gunners and fighter aviation regiments Thanks to the dedication of the militia and the competent organization of air defense throughout the war, the city was saved from significant destruction In memory of air defense fighters and residents of the capital, the Day of Defenders of the Moscow Sky was established