Geography of the USSR. Smolensk under the german occupation

[TabsTabs1964]

"Kranwagen vor der Narwa-Kaserne". Crane truck in front of Narva Barracks



Have you noticed what these soldiers are seeing between several intact buildings?

A soccer game !!



This other building is next to the wall.



Look at the tower



Virtually any intact building was occupied by some service of the Germans

[TabsTabs1964]

Distillery building


In ruins after the battle





This tall structure, perhaps a grain warehouse, was near the railway station in the Zadneprovie district, in the northern part of the city.











Again the same tower. The sign in the nearest building says Linokombinat: Linen Mill



Kolkhoz Square

[TabsTabs1964]

Another important building was the so called "House of the Specialists", built between 1934 and 1936 as a residential building for the technical and creative intelligentsia of the region. In this case, the building suffered significant damage.















Russian POWs in front this building

It was a building with 76 apartments with a shopping area on the ground floor, south of the city occupying a whole block along Gagarin Avenue. On its pediment there is an inscription "House of specialists"

It was restored in the 50s

[TabsTabs1964]

There was another curious building that caught the attention of the German soldiers and was photographed extensively. Its silhouette stood out clearly in the smolensk sky line.

The Commune House or simply "Teapot" was Smolensk's first skyscraper, construction of which began in the pre-war years. It was a truly unheard of structure for the city. Seven floors towering over low wooden buildings.













Very close to the Monastery of the Ascension and visually making a triangle with the cathedral somewhat further away



The monastery of the Ascensión, near to the Teapot building

[TabsTabs1964]

Its interior structure was not common either. No elevator and no corridors. Water supply only on the ground floor. Shared bathrooms in the basement.



Building plan

On the ground floor, a kindergarten and a kitchen for the little residents of the house.

The rooms in the longhouse were very narrow: 8-12 square meters. As conceived by the creators, all the inhabitants of the building had to live as a common family, united by a desire to benefit the country and dispersed to their rooms only at night.




tabstabs collection



However, these plans did not come true: the war began and the building was badly damaged. After the war it was a temporary shelter, it was left empty after a fire in the mid-70s.

[TabsTabs1964]

A view of the cathedral from the top of the Teapot building





Two current images. In color and black and white.





The building is still there, at the top of the hill.

[reneblacky]

you have gotton this guy sold on the site. I cannot wait for them to come in. you should make them into a book! I would be the first in in line for one!!

I'd be in for a book too, only one I have comparable is Paul Carell's "Operation Barbarossa the war in Russia as photographed by the soldiers"

[TabsTabs1964]

Thanks for your kind words Rene, and also for the comparison!

I was unfamiliar with Paul Carell's book and just bought the German edition on ebay.de for very little money.



Thanks twice, buddy.

Cheers!! and keep safe Down Under!!

Santi

[reneblacky]

No probs and you WILL enjoy the book

[TabsTabs1964]

Bolshaya Sovetskaya Street. It is one of the oldest and most important streets in Smolensk, descending from the central part of the city to the central bridge over the Dnieper and passing in front of the symbol of the city, the Cathedral of the Assumption, which towers over its own hill.



The Germans called it the Hauptstrasse (the Main Street) It was the road that linked the avenues in the south of the city with the railway station in the northern district.



Vehicle traffic was constant on that avenue.



Picture taken at the intersection of Bolshaya Sovetskaya and Leninskaya streets