Geography of the USSR. Kiev under the german occupation

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PART THREE. THE BLASTING

We have already seen that during the retreat, the engineering units and NKVD divisions of the 37th Southwestern Front Army blew up the Dnieper bridges.

In addition, the electrical substation and the pumping station also exploded, the train station was set on fire and the trains that did not have time to evacuate were dynamited, as well as the rail exchangers.
But tue city of Kiev was captured virtually intact. The city center and its large buildings had been spared the damage of urban fighting. So the German command and administrative staff quickly began to occupy the best buildings in the city

When everything was calm, on September 20 or 21, and thanks to different informants, German sappers began clearing explosives of buildings of some Kiev institutions, after which the German high command decided that there would be no more explosions in Kiev.

But five days later, on September 24, 1941, a gigantic explosion in an arsenal of explosives near the post building, shook the entire city.



A huge explosion surprises the German occupants

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Fifteen minutes later, another large explosion totally destroyed the Grand Hotel, where numerous German high-ranking officers were staying. And with an interval of 10 to 15 minutes, hotels, shops and residential buildings in Khreshchatyk and adjacent streets began to explode. Huge mines and tons of dynamite hidden in the foundations of dozens of buildings were detonated by remote control by the Soviets many kilometers away





Molotov cocktails previously stored on the roofs of these buildings caught fire.
The German units tried to extinguish the fire, as the supply network had been destroyed, hoses were used that extended from Khreshchatyk to the Dnieper, but were cut by saboteurs.
The fires and explosions continued until September 28 and were carried out with the help of radio-controlled mines, secretly placed by special NKVD teams long before the city surrendered.
As a result of these massive attacks, almost everything was burned in Khreshchatyk, only a few buildings survived at the end of the street.
The fires could not be extinguished until September 29. The magnitude of urban destruction was enormous. Even then more explosives were found and deactivated in the Opera House, the Central Bank, the headquarters of the Communist Party and the NKVD. In total about 700 explosives were deactivated in every place of the city. And even in October the buildings of the Duma and that of the Supreme Soviet still exploded.



One of the first explosions in Khreschatyk Street.



The fire begins.



German firefighters near the ruins of the house Nº. 28 (commander's office)









German soldiers watch a fire truck, to prevent the saboteurs from cutting the hoses.



The city center after the chain of explosions.











Four images of the ruins of the Ginzburg Skyscraper, after the bomb.

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A german soldier pic in front the ruins of the Ginzburg Skyscraper.



Khreshchatyk Street completely razed by explosions and subsequent fires.

The exact number of German losses is still unknown, of course just over two hundred casualties, including numerous high ranking officers. And several thousand civilians city inhabitants must have died.
It is only clear that this action produced a surprising psychological effect on the German high command. Unfortunately, as we all know, the outrage and German revenge would fall on the Jewish population that was immediately massacred in the Babi Yar ravine, just outside the city.

To be continue.

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PART FOUR – THE CITY AND ITS BUILDINGS

One of the biggest buildings of Kiev, the train station was set on fire.



The smoke from the fire comes out from the broken roof.



Another view of the train station building with hundreds of broken glass and the destroyed roof, after the fire.



Another farther view.



Image after the repair of the roof of the building and the replacement of the broken glass.





The station worked intensely during the rest of the German occupation of the city.



Although at the end of 1943, when the Germans withdrew from the city, the station was burned again.



We can see the inscription "KIEW HBF" on the side of the building, after the liberation of the city.



I found this photo of the time of the occupation, in which the overpass over the platforms and the train tracks are appreciated.

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As we said Before, the city center and its large buildings had been spared the damage of urban fighting. Now we will see some of the ones occupied by the German command and administrative staff, as well as other notable buildings in the city.

The building of the Central Committee of the Communist Party.













Back view

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The building of the Supreme Council of the RSS of Ukrain.



Image taken in late 1941 or early 1942.





An officer seems to be ordering the soldiers to prepare.



An image of a press report in which four soldiers and two female assistants tour the city. We will see others, later.

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The Reichskommissariat Ukraine administration building . Before the war, the headquarters of the Kiev military district.





On Bankova Street





A map similar to this would be on its walls, reflecting a project that never came true.

The State Opera.







In this large building, German engineers deactivated explosives that would have completely destroyed it.



The building the market, with a big swastika flag.

To be continue.

[TabsTabs1964]

PART FIVE – LIFE IN KIEV

When the Germans arrived in Kiev, about 325,000 of its inhabitants had been evacuated from the city's five train stations. There was still a population of 400,000 inhabitants.
After the evacuation, entire neighborhoods like Lipki's, where members of the NKVD and their families lived, were deserted.
The population frantically ransacked the shops between September 17 when the Soviet troops withdrew and the 19, when the Germans entered. Absolutely everything was looted to be able to exchange goods for food in the future.



Remains of looting near the market of Bessarabia.

So the Germans found a large city with no food and no electricity supply network or drinking water supply network (which had been destroyed by the Soviets) Despite the propaganda images, that was the reality.
But the entire population had the obligation to work. Write down in the records and get theirs "Arbeiteskarte". The streets were immediately cleaned and barricades that impeded movement were dismantled.



First remove the barricades from the streets



Already without barricades Khreshchatyk Street, view from Bessarabska Square. In the center of the photo, on the left side, the building of the central department store.



The inhabitants look curiously at a German motorcyclist on a street still with barricades.





Apartment buildings like the one in the photo were uninhabited, ready for the Germans to settle in them. An advertising poster tells us: "Drink homemade Kvas" (a kind of Ukrainian beer)



The lack of drinking water was a serious problem.

Over time, the city's water supply was repaired and electricity was supplied to the buildings occupied by Germans and Volksdeutsche.

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But the city still had to face a serious new problem. After the fires caused by the Soviets, which razed part of the city center, thousands of Kievites remained in the street with their belongings.



Fire victims in the park near the fountain in Kalinin Square (behind City Hall).



Next two other images. The second in front the Bohdan Khemelnytsky Monumet in Sofía Square.





Now a view from very high, with the monument and refugees. In the background a building already familiar to us.

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The civilian population went hungry during the occupation. The surrounding peasants carried their products and as always, throughout history, they exchanged them for jewels and goods of the inhabitants of the city. The food supply was only guaranteed for the occupants and for the volksdeutsche.



Dmitrievskaya Street, the Germans are buying something in the spontaneous market



An image of the corner of Shevchenko Boulevard and Vladimirskaya Street, behind Shevchenko Park.





A restaurant only for Germans



Grocery store only for Germans Bolshaya Zhitomirskaya Street, 40



As in any other large occupied city, the Germans edited their own map of the city.



The parades were also commonplace with good weather