Participants of the Second World War who accomplished great feats. The heroic feat of Soviet youth during the Second World War
Heroes of the Great Patriotic War
1. Ivan Timofeevich Lyubushkin (1918-1942)
In the fall of 1941, there were fierce battles in the area of the city of Orel. Soviet tank crews fought off the fierce attacks of the Nazis. At the beginning of the battle, Senior Sergeant Lyubushkin's tank was damaged by an enemy shell and could not move. The crew took on an unequal battle with fascist tanks pressing from all sides. Five enemy vehicles were destroyed by courageous tankers! During the battle, another shell hit Lyubushkin’s car and the crew was wounded.
The tank commander continued to fire at the advancing fascists and ordered the driver to repair the damage. Soon Lyubushkin's tank was able to move and joined its column.
For courage and bravery, I. T. Lyuboshkin was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on October 10, 1941.
In one of the battles in June 1942, Lyubushkin died a heroic death.
2. Alexander Matveevich Matrosov (1924-1943)
On February 23, 1943, fierce battles broke out on one of the sections of the Kalinin Front near the village of Chernushki, north of the city of Velikiye Luki. The enemy turned the village into a heavily fortified stronghold. Several times the soldiers launched an attack on the fascist fortifications, but destructive fire from the bunker blocked their path. Then a private of the Sailors Guard, making his way to the bunker, covered the embrasure with his body. Inspired by Matrosov’s feat, the soldiers went on the attack and drove the Germans out of the village.
For his feat, A. M. Matrosov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Today, the regiment in which Sailors served bears the name of a hero who is forever included in the unit’s lists.
3. Nelson Georgievich Stepanyan (1913-1944)
During the Great Patriotic War, the commander of the assault regiment Stepanyan made 293 successful combat missions to attack and bomb enemy ships.
Stepanyan became famous for his high skill, surprise and audacity of striking the enemy. One day, Colonel Stepanyan led a group of planes to bomb an enemy airfield. The attack aircraft dropped their bombs and began to leave. But Stepanyan saw that several fascist planes remained undamaged. Then he directed his plane back, and approaching the enemy airfield, he lowered the landing gear. The enemy's anti-aircraft artillery stopped firing, thinking that the Soviet plane was voluntarily landing on their airfield. At this moment, Stepanyan stepped on the gas, retracted the landing gear and dropped the bombs. All three aircraft that survived the first raid burst into flames with torches. And Stepanyan’s plane landed safely at its airfield.
October 23, 1942 for excellent performance of command tasks to the glorious son Armenian people was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. He was awarded a second Gold Star medal posthumously on March 6, 1945.
4. Vasily Georgievich Klochkov (1911-1941)
November 1941. Moscow has been declared in a state of siege. In the Volokolamsk direction, in the area of the Dubosekovo crossing, 28 soldiers of the rifle division of Major General I.V. Panfilov, led by political instructor Klochkov, fought to the death.
On November 16, the Nazis sent a company of machine gunners against them. But all enemy attacks were repulsed. The Nazis left about 70 corpses on the battlefield. After some time, the Nazis moved 50 tanks against 28 brave men. The soldiers, led by the political instructor, courageously entered into an unequal battle. One after another, valiant warriors fell to the ground, struck down by fascist bullets. When the cartridges ran out and the grenades were running out, political instructor Klochkov gathered the surviving soldiers around him and, with grenades in his hands, went towards the enemy.
At the cost of their own lives, Panfilov’s men did not let the enemy tanks rush towards Moscow. The Nazis left 18 damaged and burned vehicles on the battlefield.
For unparalleled heroism, courage and bravery, political instructor V. G. Klochkov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
After the war, a monument was erected to the Panfilov heroes at the Dubosekovo crossing.
5. Alexander Mikhailovich Roditelev (1916-1966)
During the battles for Koenigsberg in April 1945, the commander of the sapper platoon, junior lieutenant Roditelev, with eight sappers, acted as part of an assault group.
With a swift rush, the assault group reached the enemy artillery positions. Wasting no time, Roditelev ordered the artillerymen to attack. In the ensuing hand-to-hand combat, he himself destroyed six fascists. Unable to withstand the onslaught of Soviet soldiers, 25 German soldiers surrendered, the rest fled, leaving 15 heavy guns. A few minutes later, the Nazis attempted to return the abandoned guns. The sappers repulsed three counterattacks and held artillery positions until the main forces marched. In this battle, a group of sappers under the command of Roditelev destroyed up to 40 Nazis and captured 15 serviceable heavy guns. The next day, April 8, Roditelev with twelve sappers blew up an enemy bunker, cleared 6 blocks of the city from the Nazis and captured up to 200 soldiers and officers.
For the courage and bravery shown in battles with the German fascists, A. M. Roditelev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
6. Vladimir Dmitrievich Lavrinenkov (Born 1919)
Fighter pilot Lavrinenkov spent his first battle near Stalingrad. Soon he already had 16 enemy aircraft destroyed. With each flight his skill grew and strengthened. In battle, he acted decisively and boldly. The number of enemy aircraft shot down increased. Together with his comrades, he covered attack aircraft and bombers, repelled enemy air raids, conducting air battles - lightning battles with the enemy, from which he always emerged victorious.
By the end of the war, the communist Lavrinenkov had 448 combat missions, 134 air battles, in which he personally shot down 35 enemy aircraft and 11 as part of a group.
The Motherland twice awarded V.D. Lavrinenkov with the Gold Star medals of the Hero of the Soviet Union.
7. Viktor Dmitrievich Kuskov (1924-1983)
The motorman of the torpedo boat Kuskov fought throughout the war on the ships of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet. The boat on which he served took part in 42 combat operations and sank 3 enemy ships.
In one of the battles, a direct hit from an enemy shell into the engine compartment destroyed the left engine and damaged the oil line of the second engine. Kuskov himself was seriously shell-shocked. Overcoming the pain, he reached the engine and closed the hole in the oil line with his hands. The hot oil burned his hands, but he unclenched them only when the boat left the battle and broke away from the enemy.
In another battle, in June 1944, a direct hit from an enemy shell started a fire in the engine room. Kuskov was seriously wounded, but continued to remain at his post, fighting the fire and water that flooded the engine compartment. However, the ship could not be saved. Kuskov, together with Petty Officer Matyukhin, lowered the crew members into the water using lifebelts, and the seriously wounded boat commander and officer were held in the water in their arms for two hours until our ships arrived.
For fearlessness and dedication, a high understanding of military duty and saving the life of the ship commander, communist V.D. Kuskov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on July 22, 1944.
8. Rufina Sergeevna Gasheva (Born 1921)
School, a pioneer detachment, three years of study at Moscow State University - this ordinary biography was radically changed by the war. 848 combat missions are recorded in the summer book of Rufina Gasheva, navigator of the squadron of the 46th Guards Taman Light Bomber Regiment. More than once she had to get into the most difficult situations. In one of the battles in Kuban, Gesheva’s plane was shot down by a fascist fighter and fell behind the front line. For several days, the girl made her way behind enemy lines to her regiment, where she was already considered dead. Near Warsaw, having parachuted out of a burning plane, she landed on a minefield.
In 1956, Rufina Sergeevna Gasheva was demobilized with the rank of major. Taught English language at the Academy of Armored Forces named after R. Ya. Malinovsky, worked at Voenizdat. Since 1972 she has been retired in Moscow. For the courage shown in battles with the enemy, Rufina Sergeevna Gasheva was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on February 23, 1945.
10. Evgenia Maksimovna Rudneva (1921-1944)
In the first days of the Great Patriotic War, MSU student Zhenya Rudneva volunteered to go to the front. During the course she mastered the art of navigating. And then there were successful bombings of concentrations of enemy troops and enemy equipment in the Kuban, North Caucasus, and Crimea. The navigator of the Guards Bomber Aviation Regiment, Senior Lieutenant Rudneva, made 645 combat missions. In April 1944, while carrying out another combat mission in the Kerch region, E. M. Rudneva died heroically. On October 26, 1944, the navigator of the Guards Bomber Regiment, Evgenia Maksimovna Rudneva, was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
12. Manshuk Zhiengalievna Mametova (1922-1943)
The best machine gunner of the 21st Guards Rifle Division was considered a Kazakh girl, Manshuk Mametova. She was an example of valor and fearlessness, the pride of the division’s fighters.
On October 15, 1943, there was a fierce battle for the city of Nevel. Manshuk supported the advance of her unit with machine-gun fire. She was wounded in the head. Gathering her last strength, the girl pulled the machine gun into an open position and began shooting the Nazis point-blank, clearing the way for her comrades. Even dead, Manshuk clutched the handles of the machine gun...
From all over our Motherland letters were sent to Alma-Ata, where Manshuk lived and where she left for a great feat. And in Nevel, near whose walls the heroine died, there is a street named after her. The courageous machine gunner was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously on March 1, 1944.
13. Elena Fedorovna Kolesova (1921-1942)
On a frosty November night in 1941 near Moscow, a detachment of girl reconnaissance girls, led by twenty-year-old Muscovite Komsomol member Elena Kolesova, went behind enemy lines. For exemplary performance of this task, Lelya Kolesova was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. Since April 1942, Kolesova’s group operated in one of the districts of the Minsk region. Under the leadership of its brave commander, the group collected and transmitted information about the location of the Nazis, the transfer of enemy troops and military equipment, passed highways and railways, blew up enemy trains and bridges. On September 11, 1942, Elena Kolesova died in an unequal battle with punitive forces near the village of Vydritsa, Minsk Region. The heroine’s name was borne by the pioneer squad of Moscow school No. 47, where she worked as a pioneer leader and teacher. The glorious intelligence officer, who gave her life for the freedom and independence of our Motherland, was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on February 21, 1944.
14. Anatoly Konstantinovich Avdeev, gunner fighter anti-tank artillery regiment, born in 1925.
On July 5, 1944, Avdeev’s gun crew was ordered to prevent a breakthrough fascist troops from the encirclement in the Volma region (Belarus). Having taken up an open firing position, the soldiers shot the Nazis at point-blank range. The battle lasted 13 hours. During this time, the gun crew repelled 7 attacks. Almost all the shells ran out, and 5 gun crew members died the death of the brave. The enemy is attacking again. Avdeev's gun is damaged by a direct hit from a shell, and the last soldier in the crew is killed. Left alone, Avdeev does not leave the battlefield, but continues to fight with a machine gun and grenades. But now all the cartridges and the last grenade have been used up. The Komsomol member grabs an ax lying nearby and destroys four more fascists.
Mission accomplished. The enemy did not pass, leaving up to 180 corpses of soldiers and officers, 2 self-propelled guns, a machine gun and 4 vehicles on the battlefield in front of Avdeev’s gun.
By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the glorious son of the Russian people, Avdeev, was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
15. Vladimir Avramovich Alekseenko, Deputy commander of an aviation regiment, born in 1923, Russian.
Attack aviation pilot Alekseenko completed 292 successful combat missions during the war years. He stormed enemy batteries shelling Leningrad, smashed the enemy on Karelian Isthmus, in the Baltics and in East Prussia. Dozens of aircraft shot down and destroyed at airfields, 33 tanks, 118 vehicles, 53 railway cars, 85 carts, 15 armored personnel carriers, 10 ammunition depots, 27 artillery pieces, 54 anti-aircraft guns, 12 mortars and hundreds of killed enemy soldiers and officers - this is the combat Captain Alekseenko's account.
For 230 successful combat missions to carry out assault strikes against enemy concentrations of troops and equipment, for courage and bravery, communist V. A. Alekseenko was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on April 19, 1945. On June 29, 1945, for new military exploits at the front, he was awarded a second Gold Star medal.
16. Andrey Egorovich Borovykh, commander of an aviation squadron, born in 1921, Russian.
During the Great Patriotic War, fighter pilot Andrei Borovoy fought on the Kalinin Front. His battle path ran through Orel and Kursk, Gomel and Brest, Lvov and Warsaw and ended near Berlin. He flew to intercept enemy aircraft, accompanied our bombers behind enemy lines, and conducted aerial reconnaissance. In the first two years of the war alone, Major Borovoy made 328 successful combat missions, participated in 55 air battles, in which he personally shot down 12 enemy aircraft.
In August 1943, the communist Borovykh was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. He was awarded the second Gold Star medal on February 23, 1945 for shooting down another 20 enemy aircraft in the next 49 air battles.
In total, during the war years, Borovoy made about 600 successful combat missions.
After the Great Patriotic War, A.E. Borovykh was elected as a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR and a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.
17. Boris Aleksandrovich Vladimirov , commander of a rifle division, born in 1905, Russian.
General Vladimirov especially distinguished himself in January 1945 in the Vistula-Oder operation. As a result of a well-thought-out and skillfully organized battle, his division on January 14-15 successfully broke through the deeply echeloned German defenses at the line of the Vistula River. Pursuing the enemy, the division fought about 400 km from January 16 to 28, suffering minor losses in personnel and military equipment. The soldiers under the leadership of General Vladimirov were among the first to enter the territory of Nazi Germany and, having made a difficult maneuver in a wooded area, with fierce resistance from the Nazis, pushed them back from the border and defeated the five thousand-strong garrison of the city of Schneidemuhl. In the area of the city of Schneidemuhl, the division's soldiers captured huge trophies, including 30 trains with military equipment, food and military equipment.
For his skillful leadership of the division in difficult battle conditions and the personal courage and heroism shown, communist B. A. Vladimirov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
18. Alexander Borisovich Kazaev , commander of a rifle regiment, born in 1919, Ossetian.
On April 13, 1945, a rifle regiment under the command of Major Kazaev, conducting offensive battles against the fascist group on the Zemland Peninsula, approached a heavily fortified enemy defense line. All attempts to break through the defenses from the front were unsuccessful. The division's advance was stopped. Then Major Kazaev, with a daring and unexpected maneuver, blocked the enemy’s main stronghold with small forces, and with his main forces broke through the defenses from the flanks and ensured the successful offensive of the entire division.
During the offensive battles from April 13 to 17, 1945, Major Kazaev’s regiment destroyed more than 400 and captured 600 Nazi soldiers and officers, captured 20 guns and freed 1,500 prisoners languishing in concentration camps.
For his skillful leadership of the regiment's combat operations and his courage, A. V. Kazaev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
21. Ermalai Grigorievich Koberidze, commander of a rifle division, born in 1904, Georgian, communist.
Career military man, Major General E. G. Koberidze on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War - since June 1941. He especially distinguished himself in battles in July 1944. On July 27, 1944, the division commander, General Koberidze, personally with the advanced detachment of the division went to the eastern bank of the Vistula and organized its crossing. Under heavy enemy fire, the fighters, inspired by the division commander, crossed to the west bank and captured a bridgehead there. Following the advance detachment, the entire division, waging heavy fighting, completely crossed over to the western bank of the river within two days and began consolidating and expanding the bridgehead.
For skillful management of the division in the battles for the Vistula and the personal heroism and courage shown at the same time, E. G. Koberidze was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
22. Caesar Lvovich Kunikov , commander of the landing detachment of sailors of the Novorossiysk Naval Base of the Black Sea Fleet, Russian.
On the night of February 3-4, 1943, a landing detachment of sailors under the command of Major Kunikov landed on the enemy-occupied and heavily fortified coast in the Novorossiysk region. With a swift blow, the landing detachment knocked the fascists out of their strong point and firmly entrenched themselves in the captured bridgehead. At dawn a fierce battle broke out. The paratroopers repelled 18 enemy attacks during the day. By the end of the day, ammunition was running low. The situation seemed hopeless. Then Major Kunikov’s detachment made a surprise raid on an enemy artillery battery. Having destroyed the gun crew and captured the guns, they opened fire on the attacking enemy soldiers.
For seven days, the paratroopers repulsed fierce enemy attacks and held the bridgehead until the main forces arrived. During this period, the detachment destroyed over 200 Nazis. In one of the battles, Kunikov was mortally wounded.
For courage and courage, the communist Ts. L. Kunikov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
24. Kafur Nasyrovich Mamedov . On October 18, 1942, a battalion of marines of the Black Sea Fleet, in which sailor Mamedov fought, fought a difficult battle with superior enemy forces. Nazi troops managed to break through and surround the company commander's command post. Sailor Mamedov rushed to the commander’s rescue and shielded him from the enemy’s attack with his chest. The brave warrior saved the commander at the cost of his own life.
For courage, bravery and self-sacrifice in the battle with the fascist invaders, the son of the Azerbaijani people, Komsomol member K. N. Mamedov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
29. Maguba Guseinovna Syrtlanova , deputy commander of a night bomber squadron, born in 1912, Tatar, communist.
Guard senior lieutenant Syrtlanova fought in the North Caucasus, Taman Peninsula, Crimea, Belarus, Poland and East Prussia during the Great Patriotic War. In battles she showed exceptional courage, courage and courage, and flew 780 combat missions. In the most difficult meteorological conditions, Syrtlanova guided groups of aircraft to specified areas with great accuracy.
For the courage and bravery of the guard, senior lieutenant M. G. Syrtlanova was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Many people know the exploits of heroes during the Great Patriotic War. Representatives of all post-war generations listen with pleasure and rapture to stories about the exploits accomplished ordinary people for the sake of saving their homeland. Many of the heroes' names are constantly heard and are often mentioned in various sources. But there are also a huge number of surnames that, for one reason or another, have not received such wide popularity.
Agashev Alexey Fedorovich
On October 15, 1942, the squad commander of a separate company of machine gunners of the 146th separate rifle brigade, junior sergeant A.F. Agashev. the order was given. According to the order, the junior sergeant with the squad entrusted to him was supposed to get behind enemy lines and organize activities there to destroy personnel from among the retreating Nazi troops. Alexei and his squad managed to recapture one of the bunkers from the enemy (destroying 10 fascists in the process) and organize a defense there.
October 16, 1942 to junior sergeant A.F. Agashev An order was received to organize covering fire for a group of reconnaissance officers. Thanks to the skillful and coordinated actions of the squad led by Alexei Agashev, it was possible to prevent the encirclement of the reconnaissance group (16 Nazis were destroyed).
On October 18, 1942, having received the task from the command to deliver the language, the squad under the control of Alexei, interacting with four intelligence officers, managed to capture and deliver two languages to headquarters.
For his skillful leadership of the department's personnel and the successful completion of assigned tasks, this man was nominated for the Order of the Red Banner.
Bakirov Karim Magizovich
Squad commander of the 3rd separate rifle battalion of the 146th separate rifle brigade K.M. Bakirov. after the commander of the group of Red Army soldiers was out of action, he took command upon himself, leading the group by a strong-willed decision.
Under the leadership of Karim, the group managed to break into several German bunkers, throw grenades at them and destroy a large number of fascists (about 50 people). After this, a counterattack by German troops began. Karim managed to organize a repulse of the attack, while he personally managed to destroy 25 Nazis. Despite the serious injury he received as a result of the firefight, the sergeant continued to remain on the battlefield and lead the Red Army soldiers. Karim was on the battlefield until the Nazis were repulsed.
Thanks to his demonstrated perseverance and courage, Bakirov managed to organize and successfully repel the enemy’s counterattack. For these actions, Sergeant Bakirov Karim Magizovich was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.
Burak Nikolay Andreevich
Senior Lieutenant Burak N.A., commander of the fire platoon of the 3rd battery of the separate artillery battalion of the 146th separate rifle brigade, during the battle on August 15-17, 1942, he was with his platoon (consisting of two guns) in the direct fire zone of enemy guns, at a distance of 500- 600 meters from the enemy.
Thanks to the initiative, determination and personal endurance of the senior lieutenant, in three days of battle the platoon personnel managed to destroy 3 enemy bunkers (including their garrisons), 3 machine gun points, as well as an anti-tank gun.
After the infantry began to advance, Nikolai gave the order to the platoon personnel to hook onto the KV tanks and move to the front line. As a result, the guns ended up right next to the populated area occupied by the Germans, which greatly facilitated the advance of the infantry.
In the battle, Senior Lieutenant Burak's arm was torn off, however, despite this severe wound, he remained close to his guns and supervised the actions of the personnel subordinate to him. It was possible to remove him from the battlefield only by order of higher command.
This feat was noted by the command. Senior Lieutenant Burak Nikolai Andreevich was awarded a government award - the Order of the Red Banner.
This is only a small part of the feats that were accomplished by Soviet people during the war. The participation of every soldier, home front worker, and doctor in the difficult task of bringing victory over the treacherous invaders closer can already be considered a feat worthy of great rewards. But not everyone is destined to be rewarded with various government awards. Those who perform a feat sincerely, with all their hearts, devoting it to their people and fatherland, will not demand any special treatment and chase various awards.
People who did not spare their lives to defend their Motherland during the Great Patriotic War are those from whom all subsequent generations, without exception, should take an example. The exploits of these people should in no case be forgotten by the residents of our free country, which became free precisely thanks to the exploits of the Great Patriotic War.
Fomina Maria Sergeevna
An essay about the feat of the people during the Great Patriotic War. Examples are given from fiction, heroes-compatriots.
Download:
Preview:
(MBOU "Secondary School No. 2")
G. Gus – Khrustalny
Vladimir region
Composition
Completed by a 7th grade student
MBOU secondary school No. 2
Russian teacher
Preview:
Municipal budgetary educational institution
"Secondary school No. 2
With in-depth study of individual subjects
named after the Knight of the Order of the Red Star A. A. Kuzor"
(MBOU "Secondary School No. 2")
G. Gus – Khrustalny
Vladimir region
Composition
“The feat of the people during the Great Patriotic War”
Completed by a 7th grade student
MBOU secondary school No. 2
Fomina Maria Sergeevna (12 years old)
Russian teacher
language and literature Baranova T.A
The Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 is one of the most terrible trials that befell the Russian people. This terrible tragedy, which lasted four years, brought a lot of grief. From the first days of the war, everyone stood up to defend the Motherland. It’s scary to think that our peers, children twelve or thirteen years old, also gave their lives for the fate of the country.
The Russian people endured a lot during the war. Remember the heroic feat of Leningrad - the inhabitants held out in the encircled city for nine hundred days and did not give it up. People withstood hunger, cold, and enemy bombing.
Our soldiers performed many feats during the Great Patriotic War. Young warriors sacrificed themselves for the long-awaited victory. Many of them did not return home, and each one can be considered a hero. After all, it was they who, at the cost of their lives, led the Motherland to a great victory. The consciousness of his duty to the Fatherland drowned out the feeling of fear, pain, and thoughts of death.
They fought everywhere: at the front with weapons, during the occupation as partisans, in the rear and in the fields. This was a great test of the strength of the Russian character. Everyone contributed their share to the future victory, bringing it closer. In addition to large-scale military operations, there were battles local significance. B. Vasiliev was the first to talk about one such battle in his story “The Dawns Here Are Quiet.” Five girls stood in the middle of the Russian land against an enemy, strong, well-armed, who significantly outnumbered them. But they didn’t let anyone through, they fought to the death until the end. The war intertwined five maiden destinies into one for one purpose. Those who need to continue the human race die, but the male warrior Vaskov remains to live. The sergeant major will feel this guilt all his life.
Remembering the war, heroism and courage of people fighting for peace is the responsibility of everyone living on earth. Therefore one of the most important topics Our literature is the theme of the feat of the people in the Great Patriotic War. These works show the significance of struggle and victory, the heroism of Soviet people, their moral strength, and devotion to the Motherland. Yu. Bondarev in his book Hot Snow talks about the soldiers who defended Stalingrad. Only four artillerymen and two machine gunners survived. Bessonov, walking around the positions after the battle, cried, not ashamed of his tears, cried because his soldiers survived, won, did not allow fascist tanks into Stalingrad, because they carried out the order, although they themselves died. Probably, each of them wanted to survive, because they knew that at home they were loved, believed in, and waited for. But the soldiers died, knowing full well that they were giving their lives in the name of happiness, in the name clear skies and clear sun, in the name of future happy people.
Our fellow countrymen also took part in the Great Patriotic War. We are proud of Vasily Vasilyevich Vasilyev, who during the war years made about two hundred sorties, striking at enemy rear lines. On September 8, one thousand nine hundred and forty-three, the pilot did not return from the mission. Posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. We admire the feat of Gennady Fedorovich Chekhlov, who was also awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In battles on Polish territory in January nineteen forty-five, he destroyed two anti-tank guns. We remember junior sergeant Sergei Aleksandrovich Valkov, who died heroically while crossing the Vistula River, when he repelled enemy counterattacks, destroying eighteen enemy soldiers.
Victory in the Great Patriotic War is a feat and glory of our people. No matter how much they change last years assessments and facts of our history, May 9, Victory Day, remains a sacred holiday of our state.
We, the younger generation, must know and not forget what share fell to everyone who made a decisive contribution to the victory over Nazi Germany. The feat of the people who won the Great Patriotic War and defended the freedom and independence of the Motherland will live for centuries. Only by learning from the past can we prevent new wars.
During Soviet times, their portraits hung in every school. And every teenager knew their names. Zina Portnova, Marat Kazei, Lenya Golikov, Valya Kotik, Zoya and Shura Kosmodemyansky. But there were also tens of thousands young heroes, whose names are unknown. They were called “pioneer heroes”, Komsomol members. But they were heroes not because, like all their peers, they were members of a pioneer or Komsomol organization, but because they were real patriots and real people.
Army of Youth
During the Great Patriotic War, a whole army of boys and girls acted against the Nazi occupiers. In occupied Belarus alone, at least 74,500 boys and girls, young men and women fought in partisan detachments. In big Soviet Encyclopedia it is written that during the Great Patriotic War, more than 35 thousand pioneers - young defenders of the Motherland - were awarded military orders and medals.
It was an amazing “movement”! The boys and girls did not wait until adults “called” them, they began to act from the first days of the occupation. They took a mortal risk!
Likewise, many others began to act at their own peril and risk. Someone found leaflets scattered from airplanes and distributed them in their regional center or village. Polotsk boy Lenya Kosach collected 45 rifles, 2 light machine guns, several baskets of cartridges and grenades from the battlefields and hid it all securely; an opportunity presented itself - he handed it over to the partisans. Hundreds of other guys created arsenals for the partisans in the same way. Twelve-year-old excellent student Lyuba Morozova, knowing a little German, engaged in “special propaganda” among the enemies, telling them how well she lived before the war without the “new order” of the invaders. Soldiers often told her that she was “red to the bone” and advised her to hold her tongue until it ended badly for her. Later Lyuba became a partisan. Eleven-year-old Tolya Korneev stole a pistol with ammunition from a German officer and began looking for people who would help him reach the partisans. In the summer of 1942, the boy succeeded in this, meeting his classmate Olya Demesh, who by that time was already a member of one of the units. And when the older guys brought 9-year-old Zhora Yuzov to the detachment, and the commander jokingly asked: “Who will babysit this little guy?”, the boy, in addition to the pistol, laid out four grenades in front of him: “That’s who will babysit me!”
For 13 years, Seryozha Roslenko, in addition to collecting weapons, conducted reconnaissance at his own risk: there will be someone to pass on information to! And I found it. From somewhere the children got the idea of conspiracy. In the fall of 1941, sixth-grader Vitya Pashkevich organized a semblance of the Krasnodon “Young Guard” in Borisov, occupied by the Nazis. He and his team carried weapons and ammunition from enemy warehouses, helped underground fighters to escape prisoners of war from concentration camps, and burned an enemy warehouse with uniforms with thermite incendiary grenades...
Experienced Scout
In January 1942, one of the partisan detachments operating in the Ponizovsky district of the Smolensk region was surrounded by the Nazis. The Germans, pretty battered during the counteroffensive Soviet troops near Moscow, they did not risk immediately liquidating the detachment. They did not have accurate intelligence information about its strength, so they waited for reinforcements. However, the ring was held tightly. The partisans were racking their brains about how to get out of the encirclement. Food was running out. And the detachment commander requested help from the Red Army command. In response, an encrypted message came over the radio, in which it was reported that the troops would not be able to help with active actions, but an experienced intelligence officer would be sent to the detachment.
And indeed, at the appointed time, the noise of the engines of an air transport was heard above the forest, and a few minutes later a paratrooper landed in the location of the surrounded people. The partisans who received the heavenly messenger were quite surprised when they saw in front of them... a boy.
– Are you an experienced intelligence officer? – asked the commander.
- I am. What, it doesn’t look like it? “The boy was wearing a uniform army pea coat, cotton pants and a hat with earflaps with an asterisk. Red Army soldier!
- How old are you? – the commander still could not come to his senses from surprise.
- It's going to be eleven soon! – the “experienced intelligence officer” answered importantly.
The boy's name was Yura Zhdanko. He was originally from Vitebsk. In July 1941, the ubiquitous shooter and expert on local territories showed the retreating Soviet unit a ford across the Western Dvina. He was no longer able to return home - while he was acting as a guide, Hitler’s armored vehicles entered his hometown. And the scouts who were tasked with escorting the boy back took him with them. So he was enrolled as a graduate of the motor reconnaissance company of the 332nd Ivanovo Rifle Division named after. M.F. Frunze.
At first he was not involved in business, but, naturally observant, sharp-eyed and memorative, he quickly learned the basics of front-line raid science and even dared to give advice to adults. And his abilities were appreciated. They began to send him behind the front line. In the villages, he, dressed in disguise, with a bag over his shoulders, begged for alms, collecting information about the location and number of enemy garrisons. I also managed to take part in the mining of a strategically important bridge. During the explosion, a Red Army miner was wounded, and Yura, after providing first aid, led him to the unit’s location. For which he received his first medal “For Courage”.
...It seems that a better intelligence officer could not have been found to help the partisans.
“But you, boy, didn’t jump with a parachute...” the intelligence chief said sadly.
- Jumped twice! – Yura objected loudly. “I begged the sergeant... he quietly taught me...
Everyone knew that this sergeant and Yura were inseparable, and he could, of course, follow the lead of the regimental favorite. The Li-2 engines were already roaring, the plane was ready to take off, when the guy admitted that, of course, he had never jumped with a parachute:
“The sergeant didn’t allow me, I only helped lay the dome.” Show me how and what to pull!
- Why did you lie?! - the instructor shouted at him. - He was lying against the sergeant in vain.
- I thought you would check... But they wouldn’t: the sergeant was killed...
Having arrived safely at the detachment, ten-year-old Vitebsk resident Yura Zhdanko did what adults could not... He was dressed in all the village clothes, and soon the boy made his way to the hut where the German officer in charge of the encirclement lodged. The Nazi lived in the house of a certain grandfather Vlas. It was to him, under the guise of a grandson, that a young intelligence officer came from the regional center and was given a rather difficult task - to obtain from the enemy officer documents with plans for the destruction of the encircled detachment. An opportunity arose only a few days later. The Nazi left the house lightly, leaving the key to the safe in his overcoat... So the documents ended up in the detachment. And at the same time, Yura brought grandfather Vlas, convincing him that it was impossible to stay in the house in such a situation.
In 1943, Yura led a regular Red Army battalion out of encirclement. All the scouts sent to find the “corridor” for their comrades died. The task was entrusted to Yura. Alone. And he found a weak spot in the enemy ring... He became an Order Bearer of the Red Star.
Yuri Ivanovich Zhdanko, recalling his military childhood, said that he “played in a real war, did what adults couldn’t, and there were a lot of situations when they couldn’t do something, but I could.”
Fourteen-year-old savior of prisoners of war
14-year-old Minsk underground fighter Volodya Shcherbatsevich was one of the first teenagers whom the Germans executed for participating in the underground. They captured his execution on film and then distributed these images throughout the city as a warning to others...
From the first days of the occupation of the Belarusian capital, mother and son Shcherbatsevichs hid Soviet commanders in their apartment, for whom underground fighters from time to time arranged escapes from a prisoner of war camp. Olga Fedorovna was a doctor and provided assistance to those released medical care, changed into civilian clothes, which she and her son Volodya collected from relatives and friends. Several groups of rescued people have already been brought out of the city. But one day on the way, already outside the city blocks, one of the groups fell into the clutches of the Gestapo. Handed over by a traitor, the son and mother ended up in fascist dungeons. They withstood all the torture.
And on October 26, 1941, the first gallows appeared in Minsk. On this day in last time, surrounded by a pack of machine gunners, Volodya Shcherbatsevich walked through the streets of his native city... The pedantic punishers captured the report of his execution on photographic film. And perhaps we see on it the first young hero who gave his life for his Motherland during the Great Patriotic War.
Die, but take revenge
Here is another amazing example of young heroism from 1941...
Osintorf village. One August day, the Nazis, together with their henchmen from local residents - the burgomaster, the clerk and the chief policeman - raped and brutally killed the young teacher Anya Lyutova. By that time, a youth underground was already operating in the village under the leadership of Slava Shmuglevsky. The guys gathered and decided: “Death to traitors!” Slava himself volunteered to carry out the sentence, as did teenage brothers Misha and Zhenya Telenchenko, aged thirteen and fifteen.
By that time, they already had hidden a machine gun found in the battlefields. They acted simply and directly, like a boy. The brothers took advantage of the fact that their mother had gone to relatives that day and was supposed to return only in the morning. They installed a machine gun on the balcony of the apartment and began to wait for the traitors, who often passed by. We didn't miscalculate. When they approached, Slava began shooting at them almost point-blank. But one of the criminals, the burgomaster, managed to escape. He reported by telephone to Orsha that the village was attacked by a large partisan detachment (a machine gun is a serious thing). Cars with punitive forces rushed in. With the help of bloodhounds, the weapon was quickly found: Misha and Zhenya, not having time to find a more reliable hiding place, hid the machine gun in the attic of their own house. Both were arrested. The boys were tortured most cruelly and for a long time, but not one of them betrayed Slava Shmuglevsky and other underground fighters to the enemy. The Telenchenko brothers were executed in October.
The Great Conspirator
Pavlik Titov, for his eleven years, was a great conspirator. He fought as a partisan for more than two years in such a way that even his parents did not know about it. Many episodes of his combat biography remained unknown. This is what is known.
First, Pavlik and his comrades rescued a wounded Soviet commander who had been burned in a burnt tank - they found a reliable shelter for him, and at night they brought him food, water, and brewed some medicinal decoctions according to his grandmother’s recipes. Thanks to the boys, the tanker quickly recovered.
In July 1942, Pavlik and his friends handed over to the partisans several rifles and machine guns with cartridges they had found. Missions followed. The young intelligence officer penetrated the Nazis' location and kept count of manpower and equipment.
He was generally a cunning guy. One day he brought a bale of fascist uniforms to the partisans:
- I think it will be useful for you... Not to carry it yourself, of course...
- Where did you get it?
- Yes, the Krauts were swimming...
More than once, dressed in the uniform obtained by the boy, the partisans carried out daring raids and operations.
The boy died in the fall of 1943. Not in battle. The Germans carried out another punitive operation. Pavlik and his parents were hiding in the dugout. The punishers shot the entire family - father, mother, Pavlik himself and even his little sister. He was buried in a mass grave in Surazh, near Vitebsk.
In June 1941, Leningrad schoolgirl Zina Portnova came with her younger sister Galya to visit her grandmother in the village of Zui (Shumilinsky district of the Vitebsk region) for the summer holidays. She was fifteen... First, she got a job as an auxiliary worker in a canteen for German officers. And soon, together with her friend, she carried out a daring operation - she poisoned more than a hundred Nazis. She could have been captured right away, but they began to follow her. By that time, she was already connected with the Obol underground organization “Young Avengers”. In order to avoid failure, Zina was transferred to a partisan detachment.
Once she was instructed to scout out the number and type of troops in the Oboli area. Another time - to clarify the reasons for the failure in the Obol underground and establish new connections... After completing the next task, she was captured by punitive forces. They tortured me for a long time. During one of the interrogations, the girl, as soon as the investigator turned away, grabbed the pistol from the table with which he had just threatened her and shot him. She jumped out the window, shot a sentry and rushed to the Dvina. Another sentry rushed after her. Zina, hiding behind a bush, wanted to destroy him too, but the weapon misfired...
Then they no longer interrogated her, but methodically tortured and mocked her. They gouged out their eyes and cut off their ears. They drove needles under her nails, twisted her arms and legs... On January 13, 1944, Zina Portnova was shot.
"Kid" and his sisters
From a report of the Vitebsk underground city party committee in 1942: “Baby” (he is 12 years old), having learned that the partisans needed gun oil, without an assignment, on his own initiative, brought 2 liters of gun oil from the city. Then he was tasked with delivering sulfuric acid for sabotage purposes. He also brought it. And he carried it in a bag behind his back. The acid spilled, his shirt was burned, his back was burned, but he did not throw the acid.”
The “baby” was Alyosha Vyalov, who enjoyed special sympathy among the local partisans. And he acted as part of a family group. When the war began, he was 11, his older sisters Vasilisa and Anya were 16 and 14, the rest of the children were a little younger. Alyosha and his sisters were very inventive. They set fire to the Vitebsk railway station three times, prepared to blow up the labor exchange in order to confuse the population records and save young people and other residents from being taken to the “German paradise”, blew up the passport office in the police premises... They have dozens of acts of sabotage. And this is in addition to the fact that they were messengers and distributed leaflets...
“Baby” and Vasilisa died soon after the war from tuberculosis... A rare case: on the Vyalovs’ house in Vitebsk a Memorial plaque. These children should have a monument made of gold!..
Meanwhile, we also know about another Vitebsk family - Lynchenko. 11-year-old Kolya, 9-year-old Dina and 7-year-old Emma were the messengers of their mother, Natalya Fedorovna, whose apartment served as a reporting area. In 1943, as a result of the failure, the Gestapo broke into the house. The mother was beaten in front of her children, they shot above her head, demanding to name the members of the group. They also mocked the children, asking them who came to their mother and where she herself went. They tried to bribe little Emma with chocolate. The children didn't say anything. Moreover, during the search in the apartment, seizing the moment, Dina took out encryption codes from under the board of the table, where one of the hiding places was, and hid them under her dress, and when the punishers left, taking her mother away, she burned them. The children were left in the house as bait, but they, knowing that the house was being watched, managed to warn the messengers with signs who were going to the failed appearance...
Prize for the head of a young saboteur
The Nazis promised a round sum for the head of Orsha schoolgirl Olya Demesh. Hero of the Soviet Union, former commander of the 8th Partisan Brigade, Colonel Sergei Zhunin, spoke about this in his memoirs “From the Dnieper to the Bug”. A 13-year-old girl at the Orsha-Tsentralnaya station blew up fuel tanks. Sometimes she acted with her twelve-year-old sister Lida. Zhunin recalled how Olya was instructed before the mission: “It is necessary to place a mine under the gasoline tank. Remember, only for a gasoline tank!” “I know what kerosene smells like, I cooked with kerosene gas myself, but gasoline... let me at least smell it.” There were a lot of trains and dozens of tanks at the junction, and you had to find “the one.” Olya and Lida crawled under the trains, sniffing: is this one or not this one? Gasoline or not gasoline? Then they threw stones and determined by the sound: empty or full? And only then they hooked the magnetic mine. The fire destroyed a huge number of carriages with equipment, food, uniforms, fodder, and steam locomotives were also burned...
The Germans managed to capture Olya’s mother and sister and shot them; but Olya remained elusive. During the ten months of her participation in the Chekist brigade (from June 7, 1942 to April 10, 1943), she showed herself not only to be a fearless intelligence officer, but also derailed seven enemy echelons, participated in the defeat of several military-police garrisons, and had to his personal account 20 destroyed enemy soldiers and officers. And then she was also a participant in the “rail war”.
Eleven-year-old saboteur
Vitya Sitnitsa. How he wanted to be a partisan! But for two years from the beginning of the war he remained “only” a conductor of partisan sabotage groups passing through his village of Kuritichi. However, he learned something from the partisan guides during their short rests. In August 1943, he and his older brother were accepted into the partisan detachment. They were assigned to the economic platoon. Then he said that peeling potatoes and taking out slops with his ability to lay mines was unfair. Moreover, the “rail war” is in full swing. And they began to take him on combat missions. The boy personally derailed 9 echelons of enemy manpower and military equipment.
In the spring of 1944, Vitya fell ill with rheumatism and was sent to his relatives for medicine. In the village, he was captured by Nazis dressed as Red Army soldiers. The boy was brutally tortured.
Little Susanin
He began his war against the Nazi invaders at the age of 9. Already in the summer of 1941, in the house of his parents in the village of Bayki in the Brest region, the regional anti-fascist committee equipped a secret printing house. They issued leaflets with reports from the Sovinforburo. Tikhon Baran helped distribute them. For two years the young underground worker was engaged in this activity. The Nazis managed to get on the trail of the printers. The printing house was destroyed. Tikhon’s mother and sisters hid with relatives, and he himself went to the partisans. One day, when he was visiting his relatives, the Germans came to the village. The mother was taken to Germany, and the boy was beaten. He became very ill and remained in the village.
Local historians dated his feat to January 22, 1944. On this day, punitive forces appeared in the village again. All residents were shot for contacting the partisans. The village was burned. “And you,” they told Tikhon, “will show us the way to the partisans.” It is difficult to say whether the village boy heard anything about the Kostroma peasant Ivan Susanin, who more than three centuries earlier led the Polish interventionists into a swampy swamp, only Tikhon Baran showed the fascists the same road. They killed him, but not all of them got out of that quagmire.
Covering detachment
Vanya Kazachenko from the village of Zapolye, Orsha district, Vitebsk region, became a machine gunner in a partisan detachment in April 1943. He was thirteen. Anyone who served in the army and carried at least a Kalashnikov assault rifle (not a machine gun!) on their shoulders can imagine what it cost the boy. Guerrilla raids most often lasted many hours. And the machine guns of that time were heavier than the current ones... After one of the successful operations to defeat the enemy garrison, in which Vanya once again distinguished himself, the partisans, returning to the base, stopped to rest in a village not far from Bogushevsk. Vanya, assigned to guard duty, chose a place, disguised himself and covered the road leading to the settlement. Here the young machine gunner fought his last battle.
Noticing the carts with the Nazis suddenly appearing, he opened fire on them. By the time his comrades arrived, the Germans managed to surround the boy, seriously wound him, take him prisoner and retreat. The partisans did not have the opportunity to chase the carts to beat him up. For about twenty kilometers, Vanya, tied to a cart, was dragged by the Nazis along an icy road. In the village of Mezhevo, Orsha region, where there was an enemy garrison, he was tortured and shot.
The hero was 14 years old
Marat Kazei was born on October 10, 1929 in the village of Stankovo, Minsk region of Belarus. In November 1942 he joined the partisan detachment named after. 25th anniversary of October, then became a scout at the headquarters of the partisan brigade named after. K.K. Rokossovsky.
Marat's father Ivan Kazei was arrested in 1934 as a “saboteur”, and he was rehabilitated only in 1959. Later, his wife was also arrested, but later, however, she was released. So it turned out to be a family of an “enemy of the people” who were shunned by their neighbors. Kazei’s sister, Ariadne, was not accepted into the Komsomol because of this.
It would seem that all this should have made the Kazei angry with the authorities - but no. In 1941, Anna Kazei, the wife of an “enemy of the people,” hid wounded partisans in her home - for which she was executed by the Germans. Ariadne and Marat went to the partisans. Ariadne remained alive, but became disabled - when the detachment left the encirclement, her legs froze, which had to be amputated. When she was taken to the hospital by plane, the detachment commander offered to fly with her and Marat so that he could continue his studies interrupted by the war. But Marat refused and remained in the partisan detachment.
Marat went on reconnaissance missions, both alone and with a group. Participated in raids. He blew up the echelons. For the battle in January 1943, when, wounded, he roused his comrades to attack and made his way through the enemy ring, Marat received the medal “For Courage”. And in May 1944, Marat died. Returning from a mission together with the reconnaissance commander, they came across the Germans. The commander was killed immediately, Marat, firing back, lay down in a hollow. There was nowhere to leave in the open field, and there was no opportunity - Marat was seriously wounded. While there were cartridges, he held the defense, and when the magazine was empty, he picked up his last weapon - two grenades, which he did not remove from his belt. He threw one at the Germans, and left the second. When the Germans came very close, he blew himself up along with the enemies.
In Minsk, a monument to Kazei was erected using funds raised by Belarusian pioneers. In 1958, an obelisk was erected at the grave of the young Hero in the village of Stankovo, Dzerzhinsky district, Minsk region. The monument to Marat Kazei was erected in Moscow (on the territory of VDNH). The state farm, streets, schools, pioneer squads and detachments of many schools of the Soviet Union, the ship of the Caspian Shipping Company were named after the pioneer hero Marat Kazei.
The boy from the legend
Golikov Leonid Aleksandrovich, scout of the 67th detachment of the 4th Leningrad Partisan Brigade, born in 1926, native of the village of Lukino, Parfinsky district. This is what is written on the award sheet. A boy from a legend - that’s what fame called Lenya Golikova.
When the war began, a schoolboy from the village of Lukino, near Staraya Russa, got a rifle and joined the partisans. Thin and short, at 14 he looked even younger. Under the guise of a beggar, he walked around the villages, collecting the necessary data on the location of fascist troops and the amount of enemy military equipment.
Together with his peers, he once picked up several rifles at a battle site and stole two boxes of grenades from the Nazis. They then handed all this over to the partisans. “Comrade Golikov joined the partisan detachment in March 1942, the award sheet says. - Participated in 27 military operations... Exterminated 78 German soldiers and officers, blew up 2 railway and 12 highway bridges, blew up 9 vehicles with ammunition... On August 15, in the new combat area of the brigade, Golikov crashed a passenger car in which the general was Major of the Engineering Troops Richard Wirtz, heading from Pskov to Luga. A brave partisan killed the general with a machine gun and delivered his jacket and captured documents to the brigade headquarters. The documents included: a description of new types of German mines, inspection reports to higher command and other valuable intelligence data.”
Lake Radilovskoye was a gathering point during the brigade’s transition to a new area of operations. On the way there, the partisans had to engage in battles with the enemy. The punishers monitored the progress of the partisans, and as soon as the forces of the brigade united, they forced a battle on it. After the battle at Lake Radilovskoe, the main forces of the brigade continued their journey to the Lyadsky forests. The detachments of I. Grozny and B. Eren-Price remained in the lake area to distract the fascists. They never managed to connect with the brigade. In mid-November, the occupiers attacked the headquarters. Many soldiers died defending him. The rest managed to retreat to the Terp-Kamen swamp. On December 25, the swamp was surrounded by several hundred fascists. With considerable losses, the partisans broke out of the ring and entered the Strugokrasnensky region. Only 50 people remained in the ranks, the radio did not work. And the punishers scoured all the villages in search of partisans. We had to follow untrodden paths. The path was paved by scouts, and among them Lenya Golikov. Attempts to establish contact with other units and stock up on food ended tragically. There was only one way out - to make our way to the mainland.
After crossing the Dno-Novosokolniki railway late at night on January 24, 1943, 27 hungry, exhausted partisans came to the village of Ostray Luka. Ahead, the Partizansky region, burned by punitive forces, stretched 90 kilometers. The scouts did not find anything suspicious. The enemy garrison was located several kilometers away. The partisans' companion, a nurse, was dying from a serious wound and asked for at least a little warmth. They occupied the three outer huts. Brigade commander Glebov decided not to post patrols so as not to attract attention. They were on duty alternately at the windows and in the barn, from where both the village and the road to the forest were clearly visible.
About two hours later, my sleep was interrupted by the roar of an exploding grenade. And immediately the heavy machine gun began to rattle. Following the traitor's denunciation, punitive forces arrived. The partisans jumped out into the courtyard and through the vegetable gardens, firing back, and began to rush towards the forest. Glebov with a military escort covered the retreating forces with light machine gun and machine gun fire. Halfway there, the seriously wounded chief of staff fell. Lenya rushed to him. But Petrov ordered to return to the brigade commander, and he himself, covering the wound under his padded jacket with an individual bag, again stitched with a machine gun. In that unequal battle, the entire headquarters of the 4th partisan brigade was killed. Among the fallen was the young partisan Lenya Golikov. Six managed to reach the forest, two of them were seriously injured and could not move without outside help...Only on January 31, near the village of Zhemchugovo, exhausted and frostbitten, did they meet the scouts of the 8th Guards Panfilov Division.
For a long time, his mother Ekaterina Alekseevna knew nothing about Leni’s fate. The war had already moved far to the west when one Sunday afternoon a horseman in military uniform stopped near their hut. Mother went out onto the porch. The officer handed her big package. With trembling hands I accepted it old woman, called my daughter Valya. The package contained a certificate bound in crimson leather. There was also an envelope, which Valya opened quietly and said: “This is for you, mom, from Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin himself.” With excitement, the mother took a bluish sheet of paper and read: “Dear Ekaterina Alekseevna! According to the command, your son Leonid Aleksandrovich Golikov died a brave death for his homeland. For the heroic feat performed by your son in the fight against the German invaders behind enemy lines, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, by Decree of April 2, 1944, awarded him the highest degree of distinction - the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. I am sending you a letter from the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR conferring on your son the title of Hero of the Soviet Union to be kept as a memory of a heroic son whose feat will never be forgotten by our people. M. Kalinin." - “That’s what he turned out to be, my Lenyushka!” - the mother said quietly. And in these words there was grief, pain, and pride for his son...
Lenya was buried in the village of Ostraya Luka. His name is inscribed on the obelisk installed on the mass grave. The monument in Novgorod was opened on January 20, 1964. The figure of a boy in a hat with earflaps and a machine gun in his hands is carved from light granite. The hero’s name is given to streets in St. Petersburg, Pskov, Staraya Russa, Okulovka, the village of Pola, the village of Parfino, a motor ship of the Riga Shipping Company, in Novgorod - a street, the House of Pioneers, a training ship for young sailors in Staraya Russa. In Moscow, at the Exhibition of Economic Achievements of the USSR, a monument to the hero was also erected.
The youngest hero of the Soviet Union
Valya Kotik. A young partisan reconnaissance officer of the Great Patriotic War in the Karmelyuk detachment, which operated in temporarily occupied territory; the youngest Hero of the Soviet Union. He was born on February 11, 1930 in the village of Khmelevka, Shepetovsky district, Kamenets-Podolsk region of Ukraine, according to one information in the family of an employee, according to another - a peasant. Of education, there are only 5 classes of secondary school in the regional center.
During the Great Patriotic War, being in the temporarily occupied Nazi troops territory, Valya Kotik worked to collect weapons and ammunition, drew and posted caricatures of the Nazis. Valentin and his peers received their first combat mission in the fall of 1941. The guys lay down in the bushes near the Shepetovka-Slavuta highway. Hearing the noise of the engine, they froze. It was scary. But when the car with the fascist gendarmes caught up with them, Valya Kotik stood up and threw a grenade. The head of the field gendarmerie was killed.
In October 1943, a young partisan scouted the location of the underground telephone cable of Hitler's headquarters, which was soon blown up. He also participated in the bombing of six railway trains and a warehouse. On October 29, 1943, while at his post, Valya noticed that the punitive forces had staged a raid on the detachment. Having killed a fascist officer with a pistol, he raised the alarm, and thanks to his actions, the partisans managed to prepare for battle.
On February 16, 1944, in a battle for the city of Izyaslav, Khmelnitsky region, a 14-year-old partisan scout was mortally wounded and died the next day. He was buried in the center of a park in the Ukrainian city of Shepetivka. For his heroism in the fight against the Nazi invaders, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of June 27, 58, Kotik Valentin Aleksandrovich was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. He was awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, and the medal “Partisan of the Great Patriotic War,” 2nd degree. A motor ship and a number of secondary schools are named after him; there used to be pioneer squads and detachments named after Vali Kotik. In Moscow and its hometown in 60, monuments were erected to him. There is a street named after the young hero in Yekaterinburg, Kyiv and Kaliningrad.
Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya
Of all the young heroes, both living and dead, only Zoya was and remains known to the majority of residents of our country. Her name has become a household name just like the names of other iconic Soviet heroes, such as Nikolai Gastello and Alexander Matrosov.
Both before and now, if someone in our country becomes aware of a feat that was then accomplished by a teenager or young man killed by enemies, they say about him: “like Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya.”
...The surname Kosmodemyansky in the Tambov province was borne by many clergy. Before the grandfather of the young heroine, Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, about whom our story will go, Pyotr Ivanovich, the rector of the temple in their native village, Osiny Gai, was his uncle Vasily Ivanovich Kosmodemyansky, and before him his grandfather, great-grandfather, and so on. And Pyotr Ivanovich himself was born into the family of a priest.
Pyotr Ivanovich Kosmodemyansky died a martyr’s death, as did his granddaughter later: in the hungry and cruel year of 1918, on the night of August 26-27, communist bandits fueled by alcohol dragged the priest out of the house, in front of his wife and three younger children they beat him half to death, tying him up by the hands to the saddle, dragged through the village and thrown into ponds. Kosmodemyansky’s body was discovered in the spring, and, according to the same eyewitnesses, “it was unspoiled and had a waxy color,” which is Orthodox tradition an indirect sign of the spiritual purity of the deceased. He was buried in a cemetery near the Church of the Sign, in which Pyotr Ivanovich served in recent years.
After the death of Pyotr Ivanovich, the Kosmodemyanskys remained in the same place for some time. The eldest son Anatoly left his studies in Tambov and returned to the village to help his mother with the younger children. When they grew up, he married the daughter of a local clerk, Lyuba. On September 13, 1923, daughter Zoya was born, and two years later, son Alexander.
Immediately after the start of the war, Zoya signed up as a volunteer and was assigned to an intelligence school. The school was located near the Moscow Kuntsevo station.
In mid-November 1941, the school received orders to burn the villages in which the Germans were stationed. We created two divisions, each with ten people. But on November 22, near the village of Petrishchevo there were only three scouts - Kosmodemyanskaya, a certain Klubkov and the more experienced Boris Krainov.
They decided that Zoya should set fire to the houses in the southern part of the village, where the Germans were quartered; Klubkov was in the north, and the commander was in the center, where the German headquarters was located. After completing the task, everyone had to gather in the same place and only then return home. Krainov acted professionally, and his houses caught fire first, then those located in the southern part caught fire, but those in the northern part did not catch fire. Krainov waited for his comrades almost the entire next day, but they never returned. Later, after some time, Klubkov returned...
When it became known about the capture and death of Zoya, after the liberation of the village partially burned by the Soviet army by the scouts, the investigation showed that one of the group, Klubkov, turned out to be a traitor.
The transcript of his interrogation contains detailed description what happened to Zoya:
“When I approached the buildings that I was supposed to set on fire, I saw that sections of Kosmodemyanskaya and Krainova were on fire. Approaching the house, I broke the Molotov cocktail and threw it, but it did not catch fire. At this time, I saw two German sentries not far from me and decided to run away into the forest, located 300 meters from the village. As soon as I ran into the forest, two German soldiers pounced on me and handed me over to a German officer. He pointed a revolver at me and demanded that I reveal who had come with me to set fire to the village. I said that there were three of us in total and named the names of Krainova and Kosmodemyanskaya. The officer immediately gave some order and after some time Zoya was brought in. They asked her how she set the village on fire. Kosmodemyanskaya replied that she did not set the village on fire. After that, the officer began to beat her and demanded testimony, she remained silent, and then they stripped her naked and beat her with rubber truncheons for 2-3 hours. But Kosmodemyanskaya said one thing: “Kill me, I won’t tell you anything.” She didn't even say her name. She insisted that her name was Tanya. After which she was taken away, and I never saw her again.” Klubkov was tried and shot.
