Biography Shpanov Nikolai Nikolaevich
(1896-1961)
Shpanov Nikolai Nikolaevich (1896-1961). Writer, screenwriter. He was born in Nikolsko-Ussuriisk in the Far East in the family of a railwayman. He graduated two courses at the Polytechnic Institute and the Higher Balloon School in Leningrad. Published since 1926. He was the editor of the journals “Air Fleet Messenger”, “Airplane” and others. Member of the Union of Soviet Writers since 1939. Nikolai Shpanov – author of over thirty books, of which the most famous were “The First Strike”, “Arsonists” , “War Invisible”, etc.
Shpanov’s work “The First Strike: The Tale of a Future War”, published before the war itself, in the summer of 1939, was advertised as “Soviet military science fiction”. But it was not meant for children. The book was published by the military publishing house of the People’s Commissariat of Defense and, moreover, not somehow, but in the training
AS Yakovlev wrote: “Not one commander bitterly recalled later about the evil” fantasy “, which, unfortunately, our propaganda before the war pierced, sowing illusions that the war, if it happens, will be won quickly, with little blood and on the territory of the enemy “(Yakovlev, AS The Purpose of Life, Moscow, 1974. P. 237).
According to Shpanov, the war could begin like this:
“… Everyone, everyone, everyone! Today, August 18, at seventeen hours, large formations of German aircraft flew over the Soviet border. The enemy was met with some of our Air Force. After a fierce battle the enemy planes turned back, pursued by our pilots…”
More Shpanov describes the events of the first day of the war by the hour.
“17.00 – German aircraft crossed the border of the USSR
One minute later – an air battle in 17.01
After 29 minutes – the last enemy aircraft leaves the USSR In
another four minutes
17.45-19.00 – the German staff officer captures the complete disruption of the strike prepared by the fascist aircraft. “The Bolsheviks met us at the very border… We were met by extermination units at a depth of two to four kilometers… As we approached the border, they were already in the air and were waiting for us… No large bomber compound sent for the blockage of the Bolshevik airfields, did not reach its goal… ”
Then the Soviet aviation unit described by Shpanov begins to carry out a combat mission-to strike a counterblow.
“19.00 – assault units take off to attack enemy airfields.
19.20 – 720 high-speed long-distance bombers and reconnaissance planes take off. The aim is the bombing of the industrial area of Fürth-Nuremberg, where important aircraft, chemical and other military factories are concentrated.
21.00-22.30. Despite the fact that the Soviet air columns have retired already more than a thousand kilometers from their borders, they almost do not meet resistance. Soviet pilots conduct aerial battles, as a result of which Germans lose 55 percent of Messerschmid fighter planes, 45 percent of Arado-Udet fighter jets and 96.5 percent of Henschel bombers shot down or damaged.
24.00-02.00. Soviet bombers are destroying the target. At the aviation plant “Dornier” lights are extinguished. The German workers are eagerly awaiting the moment when the bombs are thrown at the factory in which they are located and the “Internationale” is sung. Our aircraft methodically, with amazing accuracy, drop bombs on objects. From the bombs thrown at the hulls of the chemical plant “Farbenindustri” in Bamberg, warehouses are lighting up. The huge gasholder with poisonous substances is bursting. Blasting, tearing, suffocating gases: mustard, lewisite, phosgene – spread along the banks of Main. Explosives explode into the air.
03.00. August 19. The chief of the Soviet Air Force reports to the commander-in-chief: “Soviet aviation, protecting the Red Army from the blows of German aviation, facilitated the advance of the Red Army across the border… The military industrial facilities of Fürth-Nuremberg were largely destroyed” … ”
Short biography from the book: Torchinov V. A., Leontyuk AM Around Stalin: Historical and Biographical Handbook, St. Petersburg, 2000
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