The «Ice raids» of the soviet diversionists: the activity of the I.G. Starinov' task engineering force in the Azov sea region in early 1942

In December 1941, it was created a task engineering force of the Southern Front under the command of the Soviet "diversionist number 1", the Red Army Colonel I.G. Starinov. A subordinate sapper battalion was attached to his group. The mining of the defensive lines around Rostov-on-Don became the first task for Starinov's sappers. Rostov University and local enterprise participated in the designing and manufacturing of mines. From early February 1942, they passed on the raids in the enemy's rear, crossing the Taganrog Bay by ice. Every evening on the northern coast of the Bay of Taganrog, between Taganrog and Mariupol, have been directed from 4 to 8 groups numbering 6-8 people. Every group carried 8-12 mines, including 2-3 mines-surprises and 6-8 anti-vehicle mines. All the groups gave tasks to mine the roads with the purpose to destroy the enemy's vehicles and manpower. All the time Starinov's diversionists had to work under difficult circumstances. Initially, the group's activity was hampered by heavy blizzards and frost. Since mid-February, a warm spell has set in, and the ice covered with cracks and water. The groups got over at least 30 km, and in some cases up to 70 km. Small bridges and telegraph poles were mined by the mines-surprises. After the explosion, the enemy began to move on the roads and was blown up by another mine installed at 200-500 m from the explosion of anti-vehicle and anti-personnel mines. Totally, on the northern coast of the Taganrog Bay operated 116 groups, which have installed 274 different mines. By the explosions of mines and small arms fire over 100 enemy soldiers and officers has been destroyed. The exact calculation of the losses is not possible due to the lack of the relevant evidence. Over the entire period of fightings, the battalion lost 13 men killed, died of wounds and frostbite, 24 missing in action and 19 wounded and frostbitten. The specificity of Starinov group's actions is evinced in the very nature of their combat tasks, the use of technical equipment, considered organization and preparation of the diversions, as well as in relatively small losses. All of these are important and necessary indicators of the diversionist. Therefore, the actions of the task engineering force and the composite battalion under the command of I.G. Starinov could be considered one of the examples of successful actions of the Soviet diversionists during the Great Patriotic War.

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