An incredible feat of a Russian soldier, which was appreciated even by the Nazis. Fifty facts: the exploits of Soviet soldiers during the Great Patriotic War

30.04.2020

Introduction

History does not know a larger-scale, fierce, destructive and bloody confrontation than that which our people had to wage against the fascist aggressors. In the war of 1941-1945. the fate of not only the Fatherland, but also many other peoples and countries - essentially all of humanity. The servicemen of the internal troops fought against the invaders shoulder to shoulder with the Red Army. Eternal and holy is the feat of our compatriots who overcame fascism and won Great Victory.

The Great Patriotic War will forever remain in the memory of the descendants and successors of the great people great country. About thirty million of our compatriots died heroically for the freedom of our Motherland. Sometimes it seemed to the enemy that the collapse of the USSR was inevitable: the Germans near Moscow and Leningrad were breaking through near Stalingrad. But the Nazis simply forgot that for centuries Genghis Khan, Batu, Mamai, Napoleon and others have tried unsuccessfully to conquer our country. The Russian man was always ready to stand up for his Motherland and fight to the last breath. There was no limit to the patriotism of our soldiers. Only a Russian soldier saved a wounded comrade from under heavy fire from enemy machine guns. Only the Russian soldier mercilessly beat the enemies, but spared the prisoners. Only a Russian soldier died, but did not give up.

Sometimes German commanders were horrified by the rage and perseverance, courage and heroism of ordinary Russian soldiers. One of the German officers said: "When my tanks go on the attack, the earth trembles under their weight. When the Russians go into battle, the earth trembles with fear of them." One of the captured German officers looked into the faces of Russian soldiers for a long time and, in the end, sighing, said: "Now I see that Russian spirit, about which we have been told many times." Many feats were accomplished by our soldiers during the Great Patriotic War. Young guys sacrificed themselves for this long-awaited Victory. Many of them did not return home, went missing or were killed on the battlefields. And each of them can be considered a hero. After all, it was they who, at the cost of their lives, led our Motherland to the Great Victory. Soldiers perished knowing full well that they were giving their lives in the name of happiness, in the name of freedom, in the name of clear skies and clear sun, in the name of future happy generations.

Yes, they accomplished a feat, they died, but did not give up. The consciousness of one's duty to the Motherland drowned out the feeling of fear, pain, and thoughts of death. This means that this action is not an unaccountable feat, but a conviction in the rightness and greatness of a cause for which a person consciously gives his life.

Victory in the Great Patriotic War is a feat and glory of our people. No matter how the assessments and facts of our history have changed in recent years, May 9, Victory Day, remains a sacred holiday for our people. Eternal glory to the soldiers of war! Their feat will forever remain in the hearts of millions of people who value peace, happiness and freedom.

feat hero soldier war

1. Feats Soviet soldiers and officers during the Great Patriotic War

The war between the USSR and Nazi Germany was not an ordinary war between two states, between two armies. It was the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet people against the Nazi invaders. From the very first days of the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet people had to deal with a very serious enemy who knew how to wage a big modern war. Hitler's mechanized hordes, regardless of losses, rushed forward and betrayed to fire and sword everything that they met on the way. Thanks to iron discipline, military skill and selflessness, millions of Soviet people, who looked death in the face, won and survived. exploits Soviet heroes became a beacon for other warrior heroes to look up to.

Viktor Vasilievich Talalikhin

Born September 18, 1918 in the village. Teplovka, Volsky district, Saratov region. He graduated from the Borisoglebokoe military aviation school for pilots. He took part in the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940. He made 47 sorties, shot down 4 Finnish aircraft, for which he was awarded the Order of the Red Star (1940).

In the battles of the Great Patriotic War since June 1941. Made more than 60 sorties. In the summer and autumn of 1941, he fought near Moscow<#"justify">. Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub

(1920-1991), Air Marshal (1985), Hero Soviet Union(1944 - twice; 1945). During the Great Patriotic War in fighter aviation, the squadron commander, deputy regiment commander, conducted 120 air battles; shot down 62 aircraft.

Three times Hero of the Soviet Union Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub on La-7 shot down 17 enemy aircraft (including the Me-262 jet fighter<#"justify">. Alexey Petrovich Maresyev

Maresyev Aleksey Petrovich fighter pilot, deputy squadron commander of the 63rd Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment, Guards Senior Lieutenant.

Born on May 20, 1916 in the city of Kamyshin, Volgograd Region, in a working class family. He was drafted into the Soviet army in 1937. He served in the 12th Aviation Border Detachment. He made his first sortie on August 23, 1941 in the Krivoo Rog area. Lieutenant Maresyev opened a combat account at the beginning of 1942 - he shot down a Ju-52. By the end of March 1942, he brought the number of downed Nazi aircraft to four.

In June 1943, Maresyev returned to service. He fought on the Kursk Bulge as part of the 63rd Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment, was a deputy squadron commander. In August 1943, during one battle, Alexei Maresyev shot down three enemy FW-190 fighters at once.

On August 1943, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Senior Lieutenant Maresyev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Later he fought in the Baltic States, became a regiment navigator. In 1944 he joined the CPSU. In total, he made 86 sorties, shot down 11 enemy aircraft: 4 - before being wounded and seven - with amputated legs. In June 1944, Major Maresyev of the Guards became an inspector-pilot of the Office of Higher educational institutions Air Force. The legendary fate of Alexei Petrovich Maresyev is the subject of Boris Polevoy's book "The Tale of a Real Man".

Retired Colonel A.P. Maresyev was awarded two orders of Lenin, orders October revolution, the Red Banner, the Patriotic War of the 1st degree, two Orders of the Red Banner of Labor, the Order of Friendship of Peoples, the Red Star, the Badge of Honor, "For Merit to the Fatherland" 3rd degree, medals, foreign orders. He was an honorary soldier of a military unit, an honorary citizen of the cities of Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Kamyshin, Orel. Named after him minor planet solar system, public fund, youth patriotic clubs. He was elected a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Author of the book "On the Kursk Bulge" (M., 1960).

Even during the war, Boris Polevoy's book "The Tale of a Real Man" was published, the prototype of the protagonist of which was Maresyev.

Krasnoperov Sergey Leonidovich

Krasnoperov Sergey Leonidovich was born on July 23, 1923 in the village of Pokrovka, Chernushinsky district. In May 1941, he volunteered for the ranks Soviet army. For a year he studied at the Balashov Aviation School of Pilots. In November 1942, attack pilot Sergei Krasnoperov arrived in the 765th assault aviation regiment, and in January 1943 he was appointed deputy squadron commander of the 502nd assault aviation regiment of the 214th assault air division of the North Caucasian Front. For military distinctions he was awarded the Orders of the Red Banner, the Red Star, the Order of the Patriotic War of the 2nd degree.

The regiment commander, Lieutenant Colonel Smirnov, wrote about Sergei Krasnoperov: “Such heroic deeds of Comrade Krasnoperov are repeated in every sortie. The pilots of his flight became masters of the assault business. created for himself military glory, enjoys well-deserved military authority among the personnel of the regiment. And indeed. Sergei was only 19 years old, and for his exploits he had already been awarded the Order of the Red Star. He was only 20 years old, and his chest was adorned with the Golden Star of a Hero.

Seventy-four sorties were made by Sergei Krasnoperov during the days of fighting on the Taman Peninsula. As one of the best, he was entrusted 20 times to lead a group of "silts" to attack, and he always carried out a combat mission. He personally destroyed 6 tanks, 70 vehicles, 35 wagons with cargo, 10 guns, 3 mortars, 5 points of anti-aircraft artillery, 7 machine guns, 3 tractors, 5 bunkers, an ammunition depot, a boat, a self-propelled barge were sunk, two crossings across the Kuban were destroyed.

Matrosov Alexander Matveevich

Matrosov Alexander Matveevich - rifleman of the 2nd battalion of the 91st separate rifle brigade (22nd Army, Kalinin Front), private. Born February 5, 1924 in the city of Yekaterinoslav (now Dnepropetrovsk). In October 1942 he entered the Krasnokholmsk Infantry School, but soon most cadets were sent to the Kalinin Front. IN active army since November 1942. On February 27, 1943, the 2nd battalion received the task of attacking a stronghold near the village of Chernushki (Loknyansky district of the Pskov region). As soon as our soldiers passed through the forest and reached the edge of the forest, they came under heavy machine-gun fire from the enemy. Two machine guns were destroyed, but the machine gun from the third bunker continued to shell the entire hollow in front of the village. Then Matrosov got up, rushed to the bunker and closed the embrasure with his body. At the cost of his life, he contributed to the combat mission of the unit.

A few days later, the name of Matrosov became known throughout the country. The feat of Matrosov was used by a journalist who happened to be with the unit for a patriotic article. Despite the fact that Matrosov was not the first to perform such an act of self-sacrifice, it was his name that was used to glorify the heroism of Soviet soldiers. Subsequently, over 200 people performed the same feat, but it was no longer widely reported. His feat has become a symbol of courage and military prowess, fearlessness and love for the Motherland.

“It is known that Alexander Matrosov was far from the first in the history of the Great Patriotic War who accomplished such a feat. More precisely, he had 44 predecessors (5 in 1941, 31 in 1942 and 8 before February 27, 1943). And the very first to close the enemy machine gun with his body was political instructor Pankratov A.V. Subsequently, many more commanders and soldiers of the Red Army performed a self-sacrificing feat. Until the end of 1943, 38 soldiers followed the example of Matrosov, in 1944 - 87, in Last year war - 46. The last in the Great Patriotic War closed the machine gun embrasure with his body, Sergeant Arkhip Manita. It happened in Berlin 17 days before the Victory ...

out of 215 who accomplished the “feat of Matrosov”, the heroes were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Some feats were appreciated only many years after the war. For example, a Red Army soldier of the 679th rifle regiment Abram Levin, who closed the embrasure of the bunker with his body in the battle for the village of Kholmets on February 22, 1942, was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, I degree, only in 1967. There are also documented cases when the brave men who performed the "sailor's" feat remained alive. These are Udodov A.A., Rise R.Kh., Mayborsky V.P. and Kondratiev L.V.” (V. Bondarenko "One Hundred Great Feats of Russia", M., "Veche", 2011, p. 283).

The title of Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Matveyevich Matrosov was posthumously awarded on June 19, 1943. He was buried in the city of Velikiye Luki. September 8, 1943 by order People's Commissar Defense of the USSR, the name of Matrosov was assigned to the 254th Guards Rifle Regiment, he himself was forever enrolled (one of the first in the Soviet Army) in the lists of the 1st company of this unit. Monuments to the Hero were erected in St. Petersburg, Tolyatti, Velikiye Luki, Ulyanovsk, Krasnoyarsk, Ufa, Dnepropetrovsk, Kharkov, and the streets and squares of Alexander Matrosov in cities and villages former USSR there are at least a few hundred.

Ivan Vasilievich Panfilov

In the battles near Volokolamsk, the 316th rifle division General I.V. Panfilov. Reflecting continuous enemy attacks for 6 days, they knocked out 80 tanks and destroyed several hundred soldiers and officers. Enemy attempts to capture the Volokolamsk region and open the way to Moscow<#"justify">. Nikolai Frantsevich Gastello

Nikolai Frantsevich was born on May 6, 1908 in Moscow, in a working-class family. Graduated from 5 classes. He worked as a mechanic at the Murom Locomotive Plant of Construction Machines. In the Soviet Army in May 1932. In 1933 he graduated from the Lugansk military pilot school in bomber units. In 1939 he participated in the battles on the river. Khalkhin - Gol and the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940. In the army since June 1941, the squadron commander of the 207th long-range bomber aviation regiment (42nd bomber aviation division, 3rd bomber aviation corps DBA), Captain Gastello, on June 26, 1941, carried out another flight on a mission. His bomber was hit and caught fire. He directed the burning aircraft at a concentration of enemy troops. From the explosion of a bomber, the enemy suffered big losses. Behind perfect feat On July 26, 1941, he was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Gastello's name is forever listed in the lists of military units. On the site of the feat on the Minsk-Vilnius highway, a memorial monument was erected in Moscow.

9. Zoya Anatolyevna Kosmodemyanskaya ("Tanya")

Zoya Anatolyevna Kosmodemyanskaya was born on September 8, 1923 in the village of Osino-Gai (now Tambov Region). October 31, 1941 Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya voluntarily became a fighter of the reconnaissance and sabotage unit No. 9903 of the headquarters Western Front. The training was very short - already on November 4, Zoya was transferred to Volokolamsk, where she successfully completed the task of mining the road. On November 17, 1941, the order of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command No. 0428 appeared, ordering “to destroy and burn to the ground all settlements in the rear of the German troops at a distance of 40-60 km in depth from the front line and 20-30 km to the right and left of the roads. To destroy settlements within the indicated radius of action, immediately drop aircraft, make extensive use of artillery and mortar fire, teams of scouts, skiers and partisan sabotage groups equipped with Molotov cocktails, grenades and explosives.

And the very next day, the leadership of unit No. 9903 received a combat mission - to destroy 10 settlements, including the village of Petrishchevo, Ruzsky district, Moscow region. As part of one of the groups, Zoya also went on a mission. She was armed with three KS Molotov cocktails and a revolver. Near the village of Golovkovo, the group with which Zoya was walking came under fire, suffered losses and broke up. On the night of November 27, Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya reached Petrishchevo and managed to set fire to three houses there. After that, she spent the night in the forest and again returned to Petrishchevo in order to fulfill the combat order to the end - to destroy this settlement.

But overnight the situation in the village changed. The occupiers gathered local residents for a meeting and ordered them to guard the houses. It was a local resident named Sviridov who noticed Zoya at the moment when she tried to set fire to his barn with hay. Sviridov ran after the Germans, and Kosmodemyanskaya was captured. They mocked Zoya terribly. They flogged with belts, brought a burning kerosene lamp to their lips, drove barefoot through the snow, tore out their fingernails. Kosmodemyanskaya was beaten not only by the Germans, but also by local residents, whose houses she burned down. But Zoya held herself with amazing courage. She never gave her real name during the interrogation, she said that her name was Tanya.

November 1941 Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya was hanged by the invaders. Before her death, she uttered a proud phrase, which later became famous: “There are 170 million of us, you can’t outweigh everyone!” On January 27, 1942, the first publication in the press appeared about the feat of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya - an article by P. Lidov "Tanya" (it was published by Pravda.) Soon the heroine's identity was established, and on February 18 a second article appeared - "Who was Tanya." Two days before, a decree had been issued to award Kosmodemyanskaya the title of Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously. She became the first woman to be awarded this title during the Great Patriotic War. The heroine was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.

About the feat of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya already in 1944 they filmed about him Feature Film, monuments to the heroine adorned the streets of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kyiv, Kharkov, Tambov, Saratov, Volgograd, Chelyabinsk, Rybinsk, poems and stories were written about Zoya, and there are several hundred streets named after her in the cities and villages of the former USSR.

Aliya Moldagulova

Aliya Moldagulova was born on April 20, 1924 in the village of Bulak, Khobdinsky district, Aktobe region. After the death of her parents, she was brought up by her uncle Aubakir Moldagulov. With his family, she moved from city to city. She studied at the 9th high school Leningrad. In the fall of 1942, Aliya Moldagulova joined the army and was sent to a sniper school. In May 1943, Aliya submitted a report to the school command with a request to send her to the front. Aliya ended up in the 3rd company of the 4th battalion of the 54th rifle brigade under the command of Major Moiseev. By the beginning of October, Aliya Moldagulova had 32 dead fascists on her account.

In December 1943, Moiseev's battalion was ordered to drive the enemy out of the village of Kazachikha. By seizing it locality Soviet command hoped to cut the railway line along which the Nazis were transferring reinforcements. The Nazis fiercely resisted, skillfully using the benefits of the area. The slightest advance of our companies came at a heavy price, and yet slowly but steadily our fighters approached the enemy's fortifications. Suddenly, a lone figure appeared ahead of the advancing chains.

Suddenly, a lone figure appeared ahead of the advancing chains. The Nazis noticed the brave warrior and opened fire from machine guns. Catching the moment when the fire weakened, the fighter rose to his full height and dragged the entire battalion with him.

After a fierce battle, our fighters took possession of the height. The daredevil lingered in the trench for some time. There were traces of pain on his pale face, and strands of black hair broke out from under his cap with earflaps. It was Aliya Moldagulova. She destroyed 10 fascists in this battle. The wound was light, and the girl remained in the ranks.

In an effort to restore the situation, the enemy rushed into counterattacks. On January 14, 1944, a group of enemy soldiers managed to break into our trenches. A hand-to-hand fight ensued. Aliya mowed down the Nazis with well-aimed bursts of the machine gun. Suddenly, she instinctively felt danger behind her. She turned sharply, but it was too late: the German officer fired first. Gathering the last of her strength, Aliya threw up her machine gun and the Nazi officer fell to the frozen ground...

The wounded Aliya was carried out by her comrades from the battlefield. The fighters wanted to believe in a miracle, and they offered blood to save the girl. But the wound was fatal.

On June 1944, Corporal Aliya Moldagulova was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Conclusion

From the very first days of the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet people had to deal with a very serious enemy. Soviet people spared neither strength nor life in order to hasten the hour of victory over the enemy. Shoulder to shoulder with men, women also forged victory over the enemy. They courageously endured the incredible hardships of wartime, they were unparalleled workers in factories, collective farms, hospitals and schools.

Win or die - this was the question in the war against German fascism, and our soldiers understood this. They deliberately gave their lives for their homeland when the situation demanded it.

What fortitude was shown by those who did not hesitate to cover with their bodies the embrasure of the enemy bunker, which was spewing deadly fire!

Such feats soldiers and officers Nazi Germany did not, and could not, do. The spiritual motives of their actions were reactionary ideas of racial superiority and motives, and later - the fear of just retribution for the crimes committed and automatic, blind discipline.

The people glorify those who bravely fought and died, with the death of a hero, bringing closer the hour of our victory, they glorify the survivors who managed to defeat the enemy. Heroes do not die, their glory is immortal, their names are forever listed not only in the lists of personnel Armed Forces but also in the memory of the people. The people make up legends about heroes, put up beautiful monuments to them, and call the best streets of their cities and villages after them. More than 100 thousand soldiers, sergeants and officers of the troops were awarded orders and medals of the Soviet Union, and almost 200 students of the troops were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. More than 50 monuments and obelisks were erected in honor of the soldiers of the internal troops, about 60 streets and more than 200 schools were named. The feats of those who defended the life and independence of our Motherland will forever remain in the memory of the people.

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Dear friend!

I'll tell you about the war with the Nazis. I'll tell you quite a bit - six cases from the life of soldiers at the front. These cases are only drops in the endless sea of soldier's exploits, because millions of Soviet people fought against the Nazis, and everyone put their military labor into victory.

The Great Patriotic War began in the summer of 1941 and ended in the spring of 1945. During this time, the starlings flew away from us four times to warm lands and four times returned to their native birdhouses. The children who entered the first class in the first military year, by the end of the war finished primary school. And all this long, long time, bloody battles, fierce battles did not subside. The enemy was strong. He managed to go far to our land. The greatest courage was needed, military skill was needed, and selfless labor was needed to throw the invaders out of the borders of the Motherland and finally finish them off on their own land.

We all - both adults and children - are indebted to those who did not return from the war, who gave their lives for the Motherland to live. How can this debt be paid? There is only one answer to this question - love for the Motherland, readiness to defend it from any enemy, constant work for the benefit of the Motherland. You, my little friend, know this and grow up as an honest, hardworking, courageous person worthy of your country.

triangular letter

The division of heavy guards mortars stopped in an oak forest until a new order. The oak forest was young, the trees were sparse, enemy bombers could notice the cluster of cars. Therefore, the mortars immediately began to dig shelters for cars and mask them with branches. Finished work late at night. It was still visible, and the soldier Boris Mikhailov took up the letter. He tried to write more often, he knew that his mother worries about him every day and every hour.

"Dear mommy! Boris wrote. - I'm alive and well. They feed well. The weather is warm. We are standing in the forest. Don't worry about me. We are resting now. I hug you tightly and kiss you tightly. Your Borya.

Boris did not have an envelope. Much was missing during the war. Bread, such as salt. And such simple things as envelopes. They somehow learned to do without them ... Boris bent a paper sheet along the upper corner - it turned out to be an oblique sail, bent the sail - it turned out to be a house with a roof; he also bent the lower corners of the house and tucked it under the roof - it turned out a triangle, a letter and an envelope together ...

It was too late to go to the clerk who sent the mail. Boris put the letter in the pocket of his tunic - until morning, lay down on his greatcoat under a bush, wrapped himself up with his head so that mosquitoes would not bite, and sleep immediately came to him.

The dream was short. As soon as dawn broke, the division was alerted.

A column of cars with launchers and eres - rockets, leaving the oak forest, moved through an open field. The sun was rising behind the column. Big, red. Dust covered it. But the sun rose above the dusty cloud, as if it wanted to see where the guards mortarmen were going.

The front line was ahead. From there, because of this line, a projectile flew. Boris in the cab of the truck did not hear his whistle, so he was not afraid, but surprised when the black earth rose up in the field. The cars picked up speed. Shells exploded either in the field or on the road. Fortunately, the road descended into a ravine. Enemy observers now did not see cars, and the shelling stopped.

The ravine was wide, deep, with steep walls. Through it, as if through a safe tunnel, soldiers walked to the front line, cars drove - with guns, with shells, with kitchens and bread. IN reverse side the tractor pulled a tank with a downed turret. A horse harnessed to a buggy carried two wounded, they lay motionless, their heads were wrapped in bandages.

“Now, if they wound me or kill me like that? .. - thought Boris. “When my mother finds out that I was killed, she will cry for a long time.”

Low over the ravine, with the roar of an engine and the sound of machine guns, a Messerschmitt, a German fighter, swept by. Our machine guns, disguised on the slope, fired at him. Immediately a fighter with red stars appeared. Chased after the enemy.

So the mortars went. Without accidents. Artillery shelling, shelling from an airplane is a common thing in a war.

We stopped in a lowland overgrown with bushes.

From the lowland began the ascent to a wide hillock. The slope of the hillock was a yellow wheat field. From the top, frequent shooting, booming explosions were heard. There was a fight going on.

The mortarmen unanimously removed the launchers from the trucks. They put it on the ground. Eres uploaded. They dragged them, heavy, to the machines. When the last truck left, the Guards mortars were ready to fire.

The battle on the hillock then calmed down, judging by the shooting, then flared up again. What was there and how? The sun saw what and how. It rose quite high.

It was hot. Not a breath of wind. But suddenly the wheat at the far end of the field swayed. It was as if the wind had blown over there. He blew, pumped the wheat harder and harder. Peering, Boris saw the discordant lines of foot soldiers. It was they, and not the wind, that shook the wheat, descending from the hillock lower and lower. "Retreat!" - Boris guessed and was frightened of his guess.

The infantrymen had already withdrawn to the middle of the field, when fiery jets roared, escaping from the eres. Drawing smoky arcs, rocket shells flew over the hillock. It blew over the hillock - the first eres, the fastest, the most impatient, crashed down on the Nazis. Another one followed. And thrashed, pounded on the ground.

The foot soldiers stopped. They looked at the sky, surprised. Someone shouted. Someone threw up a cap. And everyone ran to the hillock, to its peak, which had just been abandoned.

Not seeing who was nearby, but feeling his comrades, the soldier Mikhailov ran, skirting the bushes, jumping over the bumps. He flew into the wheat, got tangled in it with his boots. But he soon got used to it, pushed it apart, like a bather in water. In those moments, he forgot everything. He only knew that he had to run and run forward. And he had no fear of anything.

When Boris ran to the top of the mound, there were no infantrymen there. They went down another slope, chasing the enemies. Only one - young, like Boris - was sitting on the edge of the trench.

Guards with us... Guards with us... - he repeated quietly.

Boris thought that the soldier had been left to thank them for their help. But suddenly he realized that the soldier was wounded, and he shouted or whispered the words “the guardsmen are with us” when the infantry stopped in the wheat and saw traces of formidable eres above them.

The feat of a soldier

February cold chills to the bone. It’s good that there is no wind, otherwise it’s not cunning and stiff. There is dead silence at the forefront. Old, shot soldiers know: the German does not like to bother himself from early morning. Our orders for the time being not to break the silence, to wait for the signal. Therefore, most of the soldiers are in dugouts, in the trenches only those who are supposed to be there at the moment. Who shaves or writes letters, who inspects and cleans weapons. Although the dugouts are quite noisy, no one bothers anyone.

They brought breakfast. When the thermoses with hot porridge were empty, it became even noisier. Jokes, stories, stories rained down - what happened to whom. One of the fighters took out an inseparable girlfriend from a traveling bag - a sonorous two-row. The song flowed. Timidly at first, then louder and more confident. And in this song one could hear the Russian prowess, the people's power and longing for their native lands. Everyone sang - who could and could not. Even the young, still beardless guys who arrived recently with replenishment and, perhaps, were now waiting for their first fight. The commander of the machine-gun crew, senior sergeant Khatif Khasanov, a slender handsome guy, while the music was playing, was sitting in the corner of the dugout, resting his chin on his palm. His usually lively, playful eyes lacked the usual gleam. He went somewhere with his thoughts. But now the song is over.

Grisha, give me...

The soldiers did not know that the senior sergeant could play the accordion. Therefore, everyone, not hiding their curiosity, moved closer.

Hatif played the waltz "On the hills of Manchuria." I played my own way. The waltz sounded unusual: somehow languidly, gently. Grisha, the owner of the accordion, was the first to feel it.

Sounds interesting, he said. - It's like I'm hearing it for the first time. Where do they play like that, comrade senior sergeant? In Tataria?

No. In Vladivostok. Before the war, I lived there. From there to the front...

Have you ever been to Kazan?

By itself. I worked there as a turner. On the railway.

Questions abounded about what kind of city Kazan was, what the university where Lenin studied looked like, and what kind of life it was like there. At the end, as if expressing a common desire, the harmonist Grisha asked:

Play something in Tatar, comrade senior sergeant.

Hatif smiled. His eyes, which had just been covered with sadness, flashed with enthusiasm. Fingers quickly ran over the white buttons, took a chord - and a bright, cheerful march burst out. He made even those who, during the waltz, stretched out on the couch, indifferently pulling shag, rise up.

I kind of heard this march somewhere, comrade senior sergeant, - Grisha said again.

This march, brother, sounded in Moscow, on Red Square. This is the famous "Red Army March" by Salih Saydashev.

The senior sergeant wanted to say something else, probably about the composer Saidashev, but at that moment the door flung open and a soldier who was on patrol burst into the dugout along with clubs of frosty air. He glanced around, looking for someone, saw Khasanov and quickly squeezed his way to him. He spoke in a hoarse whisper:

Fritz aimed a loudspeaker at us. The Red Army is being scolded. Give them a skull! ..

So after all, evil takes! That means they're mixing me with manure!

What evil takes is good, In battle, anger is very useful. A little patience. That's when we get up, we'll show the German what it is, our Red Army!

From all sides came:

Yes, hurry up!

And that's right: we sit here like moles in holes.

Is it really the Day of the Red Army that we will not celebrate with anything ?!

Khatif reassured the fighters and left the dugout. Indeed, a powerful loudspeaker blared at the positions of the Nazis. Almost every word was heard in the echoing silence. Khasanov listened. He chuckled.

The Germans, taking advantage of the lull, decided to moralize our soldiers on the defensive. The announcer, distorting the Russian speech, smugly ranted that the main forces of the Red Army had been destroyed, that Great Germany, led by the wise genius of the Fuhrer, would soon win. He spoke for a long time and everything in the same spirit. However, the words with which the transmission ended made the senior sergeant wary. The announcer suggested that the brave, Russian "soldiers" surrender, as their 24th rifle brigade was surrounded.

Khasanov ordered the patrol to continue observation, while he himself went through a winding trench to the company commander, senior lieutenant Kozlov. Khatif was the secretary of the company party organization. He, as a party organizer, had to tell the commander about the mood of the personnel, and talk about today's radio provocation of the Nazis. What's this? Another lie or ... Actually, the Nazis are masters of wishful thinking. How many times they shouted to the whole world about the capture of Moscow, the fall of Leningrad. But Moscow and Leningrad did not fall! Moreover, near Moscow, the Fritz got so in the teeth that they ran for three hundred kilometers without looking back. That was back in forty-one. And now forty-three! And the Red Army began to drive the fascist invaders from their native land. That's it, and their rifle brigade should move forward. Everything speaks for it. Take, for example, a guide to overcoming water barriers, which the General Staff sent out to all units and formations. Isn't this a sign of coming soon? The commanders and fighters, one might say, learned the manual by heart. Everyone feels that a decisive offensive is not far off and is looking forward to it. There are political discussions in all divisions. And they all come down to one thing: “The battle for the Dnieper is the battle for Kyiv! The liberation of Kyiv and fraternal Ukraine is our sacred duty.”

These days, party organizer Khasanov forgot about sleep and rest. He visited platoons and squads, talked to people, talked about the situation on the fronts, and was interested in the mood. For his open character, readiness to help everyone in case of need, the ability to cheer him up in difficult times with a soldier's joke, he was loved in the company. Therefore, in every trench, dugout, he was a welcome person. People were drawn to him and willingly listened to him. Khasanov had enough for everything: only on the Dnieper bridgehead, he taught seventeen fighters to shoot from a machine gun, prepared seven people to join the party.

Hatif failed to reach the company commander: German artillery hit. The artillery raid, which lasted half an hour, unrecognizably changed the front line. Sparkling with the whiteness of the still untouched, on the eve of the fallen snow, it was now disfigured by black pits of funnels. Acrid powder smoke hung, uprooted trees lay here and there, trunks twisted by shells stuck out absurdly.

The battalion was ordered to change position and prepare for battle near the village of Tolkachevka.

Engaged in the dawn of February 19, 1943. This morning, the soldiers became aware that they were surrounded. The Germans did not lie this time.

The company of senior lieutenant Kozlov turned out to be to the left of the village, on a small hillock. The trenches of the Communists and Komsomol members were ahead. Everyone understood that the battle was going to be fierce.

Party organizer Khasanov, together with the company commander, went around all the trenches. They talked to the soldiers, checked the firing points. On the advice of the senior lieutenant, Hatif moved his calculation to the left flank of the company in order to carry out cut-off fire on the attackers.

It didn't take long for the enemy to attack. After a short artillery and mortar shelling, tanks appeared, followed by infantry. Hatif counted thirty-six medium tanks.

The command followed:

Skip tanks! Cut off the infantry!

Armored vehicles with crosses on their sides, bypassing the hillock, entered the hollow that lay in front of the village. And then, as planned, they were met by an anti-tank battery. At the same time, Kozlov's company hit the infantry, lagging behind the tanks, from all trunks. The Germans mixed up, began to retreat. The machine-gun crew of Khasanov, who was in ambush, did not enter into action until that moment. When the Germans fled, "Maxim" Hatif began to mow down their flanking fire. Fritz died a lot.

The attack was repulsed, but not for long. Shells howled again, explosions roared. The artillery preparation this time was unlike the first: the Germans processed the positions of the battalion much more diligently. Then the infantry went again.

Khasanov exchanged glances with his second number.

Perhaps no less than a regiment rushing?

If not more...

Hatif gripped the machine gun grips tighter. In appearance, he seemed completely calm, only a feverish gleam in his eyes betrayed the excitement that always seized him before a fight. And my heart was still beating loudly.

On the German invaders - fire!

The machine gun trembled, thrashed in his hands. Hatif angrily noted how the Germans were falling - either killed, or fleeing from bullets. "Come on, Maxim!" Well done!" Suddenly, the machine gun reared up - the ground collapsed on Hatif. He shook himself off. Lucky! Just a little bit more - Khan. Only it seemed as if a deafening rush went over my head, everything floats in my eyes - and not a sound ... And the Germans ... They go like in a silent movie.

Senior Sergeant Khatif Khasanov endured more than one difficult battle, liberating Ukrainian villages, villages, cities. Deserved awards - the Order of the Red Star, the medal "For Courage". Each award was memorable and difficult in its own way: there are no easy victories in war.

Autumn was coming. The trees began to change color. In peacetime, these Ukrainian villages would thunder with harvesting, filling everything around with the chirping of reapers and combines. And now it's not up to this - there are fights.

On August 10, the battalion, which was attached to the machine-gun company of Hatif, received an order to capture the village of Nekhaevka.

It so happened that for some reason known to one war (either the intelligence data was outdated, or the regimental headquarters miscalculated something, or most likely, the enemy mixed up all the calculations), the battle for the village turned from an attack into a defense. Moreover, the enemy was advancing in a dense ring: apparently, reserves arrived in time.

…Hatif looked around. It was necessary to quickly choose a new position. This is the only thing that could save the day. And the place is flat - no cover. He was lucky: a bush and immediately behind it a large funnel. This means that there is no need to dig in, and most importantly, there was water at the bottom - “maxim” will not die of thirst. There is plenty of ammunition, the position also seems to be not bad. You can hold on!

As usual, Khasanov allowed the Fritz to close range and only then hit the gray-green figures dancing on the gunsight.

Aha, bastards, I put you! Well, well, lie down!

Hatif heard a non-commissioned officer or an officer yelling: “Vorverts, vorverts!”

The chain was lifted three times, and all three times “maxim” Hatif laid it down until it crawled back. The crater was full of spent cartridges. The gun fired up. Hatif, taking advantage of the respite, scooped up water with a helmet and poured it into the machine gun casing. Then he scooped up more and rinsed his face. It seemed to him that his cheeks hissed no less than the barrel of the Maxim.

The mortar hit. “We decided to smoke,” Hatif thought.

Mines splashed on the right, on the left. Here's one that fell right next to it. Dust from the helmet fell behind the collar. “I would like to go to the bathhouse, scrape off the dirt, it’s probably the size of a finger on my back,” Hatif thought. And he objected to himself: “Wait a minute, now the Germans will arrange a bath for you!”

The machine gun shook again, freeing itself from the ground thrown by mines, and fired until there were enough cartridges. Then, as in the battle near Tolkachevka, grenades were used ...

Hatif woke up, feeling that he was choking: water was poured on him. He opened his eyes: a German soldier with a bucket was standing over him.

From what part? Who is the commander?

Hatif was silent.

The bloody, wounded body of Khasanov was brought to Nekhayevka. The interrogations and torture began again. They were tortured in a way that only fascists can do.

Silence.

Hatif was dragged into the garden.

The Communists do not betray their homeland!.. Ours will come!.. They will take revenge!.. - having gathered the last of his strength, he croaked.

The villagers were driven to the place of execution. Anticipating the evil, people cried, closed their eyes - they had never seen such a thing before ... The Nazi executioner cut off the head of a Soviet soldier with an ax ...

... Front-line friends found the body of the hero. Found in the same garden. And they were buried there. There was a farewell salute.

A month later, having learned about the feat of Khasanov, the commander of the 60th Army, Lieutenant-General Chernyakhovsky, signed a report to award Khatif Khasanovich Khasanov posthumously the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of October 17, 1943 named another hero of our country.

Hatif's brother-soldiers reached the banks of the Dnieper, in a week they crossed the river in twenty-three places. And on November 6, the banner of freedom was raised over the capital of Ukraine - Kiev, for which Khatif Khasanov gave his life.

During the years of the Great Patriotic War, not much was known about the incredible feat of a simple Russian soldier Kolka Sirotinin, as well as about the hero himself. Perhaps no one would have ever known about the feat of a twenty-year-old artilleryman. If not for one case.

In the summer of 1942, an officer of the 4th Panzer Division of the Wehrmacht, Friedrich Fenfeld, died near Tula. Soviet soldiers discovered his diary. From its pages, some details of that very last battle of Senior Sergeant Sirotinin became known.

It was the 25th day of the war ...

In the summer of 1941, the 4th tank division of the Guderian group, one of the most talented German generals, broke through to the Belarusian city of Krichev. Parts of the 13th Soviet Army were forced to retreat. To cover the retreat of the artillery battery of the 55th Infantry Regiment, the commander left artilleryman Nikolai Sirotinin with a gun.

The order was brief: to hold up the German tank column on the bridge over the river Dobrost, and then, if possible, catch up with our own. The senior sergeant carried out only the first half of the order...

Sirotinin took up a position in a field near the village of Sokolnichi. The cannon sank in high rye. There is not a single noticeable landmark for the enemy nearby. But from here the highway and the river were clearly visible.

On the morning of July 17, a column of 59 tanks and armored vehicles with infantry appeared on the highway. When the lead tank reached the bridge, the first - successful - shot rang out. With the second shell, Sirotinin set fire to an armored personnel carrier at the tail of the column, thereby creating a traffic jam. Nikolai fired and fired, knocking out car after car.

Sirotinin fought alone, he was both a gunner and a loader. He had 60 shells in his ammunition load and a 76-millimeter cannon - an excellent weapon against tanks. And he made a decision: to continue the battle until the ammunition runs out.

The Nazis rushed to the ground in a panic, not understanding where the shooting was coming from. The guns were fired at random, in squares. Indeed, on the eve of their intelligence could not detect Soviet artillery in the vicinity, and the division advanced without any special precautions. The Germans made an attempt to clear the blockage by pulling the wrecked tank off the bridge with two other tanks, but they were also knocked out. The armored car, which tried to ford the river, got bogged down in the swampy bank, where it was destroyed. For a long time the Germans failed to determine the location of the well-camouflaged gun; they believed that a whole battery was fighting them.

This unique battle lasted a little over two hours. The crossing was blocked. By the time Nikolai's position was discovered, he had only three shells left. Sirotinin refused the offer to surrender and fired from a carbine to the last. Having entered the rear of Sirotinin on motorcycles, the Germans destroyed a lone gun with mortar fire. At the position they found a lone cannon and a soldier.

The result of the battle of Senior Sergeant Sirotinin against General Guderian is impressive: after the battle on the banks of the Dobrost River, the Nazis lost 11 tanks, 7 armored vehicles, 57 soldiers and officers.

The stamina of the Soviet fighter aroused the respect of the Nazis. The commander of the tank battalion, Colonel Erich Schneider, ordered to bury a worthy enemy with military honors.

From the diary of Lieutenant Friedrich Hönfeld of the 4th Panzer Division:

July 17, 1941. Sokolnichi, near Krichev. In the evening they buried an unknown Russian soldier. He alone stood at the cannon, shot a column of tanks and infantry for a long time, and died. Everyone was amazed at his bravery… Oberst (colonel – editorial note) said in front of the grave that if all the Fuhrer’s soldiers fought like this Russian, they would conquer the whole world. Three times they fired volleys from rifles. After all, he is Russian, is such admiration necessary?

From the testimony of Olga Verzhbitskaya, a resident of the village of Sokolnichi:

I, Verzhbitskaya Olga Borisovna, born in 1889, a native of Latvia (Latgale), lived before the war in the village of Sokolnichi, Krichevsky district, together with my sister.
We knew Nikolai Sirotinin and his sister until the day of the battle. He was with my friend, bought milk. He was very polite, always helping older women to get water from the well and in other hard work.
I remember well the evening before the fight. On a log at the gate of the Grabsky house, I saw Nikolai Sirotinin. He sat and thought about something. I was very surprised that everyone was leaving, and he was sitting.
When the fight started, I was not at home yet. I remember how tracer bullets flew. He walked for about two or three hours. In the afternoon, the Germans gathered at the place where the Sirotinin gun stood. We, the locals, were also forced to come there. To me, as knowing German, the chief German of about fifty with orders, tall, bald, gray-haired, ordered to translate his speech to local people. He said that the Russian fought very well, that if the Germans had fought like that, they would have taken Moscow long ago, that this is how a soldier should defend his homeland - fatherland.
Then a medallion was taken out of the pocket of our dead soldier's tunic. I remember firmly that it was written there “the city of Orel”, to Vladimir Sirotinin (I don’t remember his patronymic), that the name of the street was, as I remember, not Dobrolyubova, but Freight or Lomovaya, I remember that the house number was two digits. But we could not know who this Sirotinin Vladimir was - the father, brother, uncle of the murdered man or someone else - we could not.
The German chief told me: “Take this document and write to your relatives. Let a mother know what a hero her son was and how he died.” Then a young German officer who was standing at the grave of Sirotinin came up and snatched a piece of paper and a medallion from me and said something rudely.
The Germans fired a volley of rifles in honor of our soldier and put a cross on the grave, hung up his helmet, pierced by a bullet.
I myself saw the body of Nikolai Sirotinin well, even when he was lowered into the grave. His face was not covered in blood, but the tunic on the left side had a large bloody stain, his helmet was pierced, and there were many shell casings lying around.
Since our house was not far from the battlefield, next to the road to Sokolniki, the Germans were standing near us. I myself heard how they spoke for a long time and admiringly about the feat of the Russian soldier, counting the shots and hits. Some of the Germans, even after the funeral, stood at the cannon and the grave for a long time and talked quietly.
February 29, 1960

Testimony of the telephone operator M. I. Grabskaya:

I, Grabskaya Maria Ivanovna, born in 1918, worked as a telephone operator at DEU 919 in Krichev, lived in my native village of Sokolnichi, three kilometers from the city of Krichev.
I remember well the events of July 1941. About a week before the arrival of the Germans, Soviet artillerymen settled in our village. The headquarters of their battery was in our house, the battery commander was a senior lieutenant named Nikolai, his assistant was a lieutenant named Fedya, of the fighters, I remember the Red Army soldier Nikolai Sirotinin the most. The fact is that the senior lieutenant very often called this fighter and entrusted him with both tasks as the most intelligent and experienced.
He was a little above average height, dark brown hair, a simple, cheerful face. When Sirotinin and senior lieutenant Nikolai decided to dig a dugout for the locals, I saw how he deftly threw the earth, noticed that he was apparently not from the boss's family. Nicholas jokingly replied:
“I am a worker from Orel, and I am no stranger to physical labor. We, the Oryols, know how to work.”

Today, in the village of Sokolnichi, there is no grave in which the Germans buried Nikolai Sirotinin. Three years after the war, his remains were transferred to the mass grave of Soviet soldiers in Krichev.

Pencil drawing made from memory by a colleague of Sirotinin in the 1990s

The inhabitants of Belarus remember and honor the feat of the brave artilleryman. In Krichev there is a street named after him, a monument has been erected. But, despite the fact that the feat of Sirotinin, thanks to the efforts of the workers of the Archive of the Soviet Army, was recognized back in 1960, he was not awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. A painfully absurd circumstance got in the way: the soldier's family did not have his photograph. And it is necessary to apply for a high rank.

Today there is only a pencil sketch made after the war by one of his colleagues. In the year of the 20th anniversary of the Victory, Senior Sergeant Sirotinin was awarded the Order Patriotic war of the first degree. Posthumously. Such is the story.

Memory

In 1948, the remains of Nikolai Sirotinin were reburied in a mass grave (according to the military burial record card on the OBD Memorial website - in 1943), on which a monument was erected in the form of a sculpture of a soldier grieving for his dead comrades, and on the marble boards in the list of the buried is indicated surname Sirotinina N.V.

In 1960, Sirotinin was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st class.

In 1961, a monument in the form of an obelisk with the name of the hero was erected at the site of the feat near the highway, next to which a real 76-mm gun was installed on a pedestal. In the city of Krichev, a street is named after Sirotinin.

A memorial plaque with brief reference about N. V. Sirotinin.

The museum of military glory in secondary school No. 17 of the city of Orel has materials dedicated to N. V. Sirotinin.

In 2015, the council of school No. 7 of the city of Orel petitioned for the school to be named after Nikolai Sirotinin. Nikolai's sister, Taisiya Vladimirovna, attended the celebrations. The name for the school was chosen by the students themselves on the basis of their search and information work.

When reporters asked Nikolai's sister why Nikolay volunteered to cover the retreat of the division, Taisiya Vladimirovna replied: "My brother could not have done otherwise."

The feat of Kolka Sirotinin is an example of loyalty to the Motherland for all our youth.

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During the Great Patriotic War, not much was known about the incredible feat of a simple Russian soldier Nikolai Sirotinin, as well as about the hero himself. Perhaps no one would have ever known about the feat of a twenty-year-old artilleryman. If not for one case.