Heroes of the Great Patriotic War The years 1941-1945 and their exploits are briefly described in many articles and books dedicated to that era. Quite a lot of different films have been made about this. However, the meager information presented in this way cannot fully tell how big a role they played in the overall victory over fascism. But the contribution of each hero individually was simply colossal and inherently unique. In this article, the given facts are also listed very succinctly, but this does not detract from their significance in the historical aspect!
Heroes of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 and their exploits, briefly:
Matrosov’s famous feat was admired and applauded by virtually the entire country. His name has always appeared among the most famous heroes USSR of that time.
It was hard to imagine that this brave man at a critical moment in the battle he will be able to take the extraordinary step of covering the embrasure with his own body, from which the German gun was firing. In fact, by this action, Sailors allowed his comrades to successfully complete the attack on German positions, but at the same time lost his own life.
In 1941, the Nazis dominated the skies, so this period It was extremely difficult for Soviet pilots to compete with them. But, even despite this, on June 26, the crew, led by Captain Gastello, flew out on a combat mission. The purpose of this sortie was to destroy the enemy mechanized column.
However, the Nazis reliably guarded their unit and as soon as they noticed the enemy planes, they opened heavy fire on them from anti-aircraft guns. As a result of this shelling, Gastello's plane was damaged - the fuel tank caught fire. Of course, even in this situation the pilot could jump out of the parachute and land safely. However, he chose a completely different path - he sent the burning plane directly to the accumulation of German equipment.
Victor Talalikhin
He made his first ram in August 1941, when he damaged a German bomber, but at the same time he managed to jump out of the plane by parachute and thus save his life.
Later, Victor managed to destroy 5 more German planes, but in October of the same year, near Podolsk, during another air battle, the hero died.
He was the commander of a partisan detachment, which became a real hell for the Nazis. The partisans, led by Herman, were able to destroy a lot of military equipment and manpower of the enemy, derailed entire trains and destroyed German military locations. But in 1943, in the Pskov region, the detachment was surrounded.
And even being in such a difficult situation, Herman did not lose his composure, but ordered his soldiers to fight their way through the German positions. The partisans fought desperately against superior enemy forces. In one of the battles, Alexander German received a fatal bullet wound, but the feat of his militia will live forever!
Khrustitsky successfully led a tank brigade and distinguished himself during Operation Iskra, which was carried out on the Leningrad Front. Thanks to this success, the German group in this area was subsequently completely eliminated. The battle of Volosovo, which took place in 1944, was fatal for Vladislav.
Finding himself surrounded, Khrustitsky gave the command to his tank unit via radio communication to counterattack the enemy troops, after which his vehicle was the first to go into open fight. As a result of the bloody battle, the village of Volosovo was liberated from the Nazis, but the brave commander fell in this exhausting battle.
In the Lugansk region, an underground youth organization, which included about 100 young people, successfully resisted the fascist regime. The youngest member of this group was only 14 years old. This mainly included young activists and Soviet soldiers cut off from the main units. The most famous members of the Young Guard militia were Sergei Tyulenin, Ulyana Gromova, Oleg Koshevoy, Vasily Levashov. The main activity of this organization was to distribute anti-fascist leaflets among the local population.
Massive damage to the Germans was caused when young underground fighters burned down a workshop in which damaged German tanks were being restored. Also, members of the “Young Guard” managed to liquidate the invaders’ exchange, from which people were sent en masse to Germany for forced labor. In the future, this group planned a large-scale uprising against the Nazis, but their plans were revealed due to traitors. The Nazis shot about 70 people, but the memory of their brave feat will live forever!
Kosmodemyanskaya was part of the Western Front and its main activity was to organize sabotage actions aimed at destroying the occupying forces. In 1941, during another mission, Zoya was caught by the Germans, then she was tortured for a long time in the hope of extracting information from her about other members of the group. However, the 18-year-old girl steadfastly endured all the trials, without saying a single extra word to the Nazis regarding her sabotage activities.
Having come to terms with this fact, the Nazis hanged Kosmodemyanskaya. However, even before her death, Zoya, seeing that peaceful local residents had come to watch her execution, shouted parting words to them that the enemy would be defeated anyway and sooner or later retribution for the Nazis would definitely come!
Matvey Kuzmin
It just so happened that, by the will of fate, Matvey Kuzmin accomplished a feat very similar to the famous story about Ivan Susanin. He also had to lead a unit of invaders through the forest area. Having assessed the situation, Matvey first sent his grandson ahead of him, who was supposed to notify the partisans that the enemy was approaching.
Thanks to this prudent action, the Nazis were actually trapped and a terrible mortal battle ensued. As a result of the shootout, Kuzmin was killed by a German officer, but the feat of this elderly man, who was already 84 years old at that time, will remain in the memory of people forever!
Osipenko led a small partisan detachment. Together with his comrades, he organized various acts of sabotage and during one of them he had to blow up an enemy train. To achieve this goal, Efim Osipenko crawled under the railway bridge and threw homemade explosives under the train itself.
Initially, there was no explosion, but the hero was not taken aback, and managed to hit the grenade with a pole from the railway sign, after which it detonated, and the long train went downhill. Efim miraculously survived this situation, but completely lost consciousness from the blast wave.
In 1942, Zina Portnova distributed leaflets with anti-fascist slogans, and later, having got a job in a German canteen, she was able to commit several acts of sabotage there. Since 1943, the brave girl went to the partisan detachment, where she also continued to engage in sabotage activities against the invaders. However, the defectors handed Zina over to the enemy, after which she was subjected to terrible torture at the hands of the Nazis, but did not submit to them.
During one of the interrogations, the girl noticed that there was a loaded pistol on the table. Without hesitation, she grabbed a weapon and shot three of her tormentors right on the spot. Realizing that her fate was already predetermined, Zina Portnova steadfastly met death in prison, where she was shot by the Nazis.
Of course, each of the listed feats is thoroughly imbued with the courage and fortitude of the fighters against the occupation regime of Nazi Germany. These stories were used to instill a sense of patriotism among young people in the Soviet Union. We were always proud of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War and wanted to emulate them. Children were told about them in school during lessons and even in kindergartens.
The heroes of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 and their exploits are briefly described in this article. The memory of those bloody events and the inexhaustible heroism that reigned among the Soviet people will live forever, since one can only admire their exploits! Even future generations, having read a book about the war or watched a film telling about those distant events, will be amazed by the fortitude of the spirit of their legendary ancestors! Thematic Video:
Every day in Russia, ordinary citizens perform feats and do not pass by when someone needs help. The exploits of these people are not always noticed by officials, they are not awarded certificates, but this does not make their actions any less significant.
A country should know its heroes, so this selection is dedicated to brave, caring people who have proven by their deeds that heroism has a place in our lives. All events occurred in February 2014.
Schoolchildren from the Krasnodar region Roman Vitkov and Mikhail Serdyuk saved an elderly woman from a burning house. While heading home, they saw a building on fire. Running into the yard, the schoolchildren saw that the veranda was almost completely engulfed in fire. Roman and Mikhail rushed into the barn to get a tool. Grabbing a sledgehammer and an ax, breaking out the window, Roman climbed into the window opening. An elderly woman was sleeping in a smoky room. They managed to get the victim out only after breaking the door.
“Roma is smaller in build than me, so he easily got through the window opening, but he couldn’t get back out with his grandmother in his arms in the same way. Therefore, we had to break down the door and this was the only way we managed to get the victim out,” said Misha Serdyuk.
Residents of the village of Altynai Sverdlovsk region Elena Martynova, Sergey Inozemtsev, Galina Sholokhova saved the children from the fire. The owner of the house committed the arson by blocking the door. At this time, there were three children aged 2–4 years and 12-year-old Elena Martynova in the building. Noticing the fire, Lena unlocked the door and began to carry the children out of the house. Galina Sholokhova and the children’s cousin Sergei Inozemtsev came to her aid. All three heroes received certificates from the local Ministry of Emergency Situations.
And in Chelyabinsk region priest Alexey Peregudov saved the life of the groom at the wedding. During the wedding, the groom lost consciousness. The only one who was not at a loss in this situation was Priest Alexey Peregudov. He quickly examined the man lying down, suspected cardiac arrest and provided first aid, including indirect massage hearts. As a result, the sacrament was successfully completed. Father Alexey noted that he had only seen chest compressions in movies.
A veteran distinguished himself in Mordovia Chechen war Marat Zinatullin, who saved an elderly man from a burning apartment. Having witnessed the fire, Marat acted like a professional firefighter. He climbed up the fence onto a small barn, and from there climbed onto the balcony. He broke the glass, opened the door leading from the balcony to the room, and got inside. The 70-year-old owner of the apartment was lying on the floor. The pensioner, who was poisoned by smoke, could not leave the apartment on his own. Marat, opening front door from the inside, carried the owner of the house into the entrance.
An employee of the Kostroma colony, Roman Sorvachev, saved the lives of his neighbors in a fire. Entering the entrance of his house, he immediately identified the apartment from which the smell of smoke was coming. The door was opened by a drunk man who assured that everything was fine. However, Roman called the Ministry of Emergency Situations. The rescuers who arrived at the scene of the fire were unable to enter the premises through the door, and the uniform of an Emergencies Ministry employee prevented them from entering the apartment through the narrow window frame. Then Roman climbed up the fire escape, entered the apartment and pulled out an elderly woman and an unconscious man from a heavily smoky apartment.
A resident of the village of Yurmash (Bashkortostan), Rafit Shamsutdinov, saved two children in a fire. Fellow villager Rafita lit the stove and, leaving two children - three year old girl And one and a half year old son, went to school with the older children. Rafit Shamsutdinov noticed smoke from the burning house. Despite the abundance of smoke, he managed to enter the burning room and take out the children.
Dagestani Arsen Fitzulaev prevented a disaster at a gas station in Kaspiysk. Only later did Arsen realize that he was actually risking his life.
An explosion unexpectedly occurred at one of the gas stations within the boundaries of Kaspiysk. As it turned out later, a woman passing by enormous speed The foreign car crashed into a gas tank and knocked down the valve. A minute of delay, and the fire would have spread to nearby tanks with flammable fuel. In such a scenario, casualties could not be avoided. However, the situation was radically changed by a modest gas station worker, who, through skillful actions, prevented the disaster and reduced its scale to a burnt-out car and several damaged cars.
And in the village of Ilyinka-1, Tula region, schoolchildren Andrei Ibronov, Nikita Sabitov, Andrei Navruz, Vladislav Kozyrev and Artem Voronin pulled a pensioner out of a well. 78-year-old Valentina Nikitina fell into a well and could not get out on her own. Andrei Ibronov and Nikita Sabitov heard the cries for help and immediately rushed to save the elderly woman. However, three more guys had to be called in for help - Andrei Navruz, Vladislav Kozyrev and Artem Voronin. Together the guys managed to pull an elderly pensioner out of the well.
“I tried to climb out, the well is shallow - I even reached the edge with my hand. But it was so slippery and cold that I couldn’t grab the hoop. And when I raised my arms, ice water poured into my sleeves. I screamed, called for help, but the well is located far from residential buildings and roads, so no one heard me. How long this lasted, I don’t even know... Soon I began to feel sleepy, with the last of my strength I raised my head and suddenly saw two boys looking into the well!” – said the victim.
In the village of Romanovo, Kaliningrad region, twelve-year-old schoolboy Andrei Tokarsky distinguished himself. He saved his cousin who fell through the ice. The incident occurred on Lake Pugachevskoye, where the boys and Andrei’s aunt came to skate on the cleared ice.
A policeman from the Pskov region Vadim Barkanov saved two men on. While walking with his friend, Vadim saw smoke and flames of fire escaping from the window of an apartment in a residential building. A woman ran out of the building and began to call for help, since two men remained in the apartment. Calling the firefighters, Vadim and his friend rushed to their aid. As a result, they managed to carry two unconscious men out of the burning building. The victims were taken by ambulance to the hospital, where they received the necessary medical care.
Heroes of the Great Patriotic War
Alexander Matrosov
Submachine gunner 2nd separate battalion 91st separate Siberian volunteer brigade named after Stalin.
Sasha Matrosov did not know his parents. He was brought up in orphanage and a labor colony. When the war began, he was not even 20. Matrosov was drafted into the army in September 1942 and sent to the infantry school, and then to the front.
In February 1943, his battalion attacked a Nazi stronghold, but fell into a trap, coming under heavy fire, cutting off the path to the trenches. They fired from three bunkers. Two soon fell silent, but the third continued to shoot the Red Army soldiers lying in the snow.
Seeing that the only chance to get out of the fire was to suppress the enemy’s fire, Sailors and a fellow soldier crawled to the bunker and threw two grenades in his direction. The machine gun fell silent. The Red Army soldiers went on the attack, but deadly weapon it began to chirp again. Alexander’s partner was killed, and Sailors was left alone in front of the bunker. Something had to be done.
He didn't have even a few seconds to make a decision. Not wanting to let his comrades down, Alexander closed the bunker embrasure with his body. The attack was a success. And Sailors posthumously received the title of Hero Soviet Union.
Military pilot, commander of the 2nd squadron of the 207th long-range bomber aviation regiment, captain.
He worked as a mechanic, then in 1932 he was drafted into the Red Army. He ended up in an air regiment, where he became a pilot. Nikolai Gastello participated in three wars. A year before the Great Patriotic War, he received the rank of captain.
On June 26, 1941, the crew under the command of Captain Gastello took off to strike a German mechanized column. It happened on the road between the Belarusian cities of Molodechno and Radoshkovichi. But the column was well guarded by enemy artillery. A fight ensued. Gastello's plane was hit by anti-aircraft guns. The shell damaged the fuel tank and the car caught fire. The pilot could have ejected, but he decided to fulfill his military duty to the end. Nikolai Gastello directed the burning car directly at the enemy column. This was the first fire ram in the Great Patriotic War.
The name of the brave pilot became a household name. Until the end of the war, all aces who decided to ram were called Gastellites. If you follow official statistics, then during the entire war there were almost six hundred ramming attacks on the enemy.
Brigade reconnaissance officer of the 67th detachment of the 4th Leningrad partisan brigade.
Lena was 15 years old when the war began. He was already working at a factory, having completed seven years of school. When the Nazis captured his native Novgorod region, Lenya joined the partisans.
He was brave and decisive, the command valued him. Over the several years spent in the partisan detachment, he participated in 27 operations. He was responsible for several destroyed bridges behind enemy lines, 78 Germans killed, and 10 trains with ammunition.
It was he who in the summer of 1942, near the village of Varnitsa, blew up a car in which there was a German major general engineering troops Richard von Wirtz. Golikov managed to get important documents about the German advance. The enemy attack was thwarted, and the young hero was nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for this feat.
In the winter of 1943, a significantly superior enemy detachment unexpectedly attacked the partisans near the village of Ostray Luka. Lenya Golikov died like a real hero - in battle.
Pioneer. Scout of the Voroshilov partisan detachment in the territory occupied by the Nazis.
Zina was born and went to school in Leningrad. However, the war found her on the territory of Belarus, where she came on vacation.
In 1942, 16-year-old Zina joined the underground organization “Young Avengers”. She distributed anti-fascist leaflets in the occupied territories. Then, undercover, she got a job in a canteen for German officers, where she committed several acts of sabotage and was only miraculously not captured by the enemy. Many experienced military men were surprised at her courage.
In 1943, Zina Portnova joined the partisans and continued to engage in sabotage behind enemy lines. Due to the efforts of defectors who surrendered Zina to the Nazis, she was captured. She was interrogated and tortured in the dungeons. But Zina remained silent, not betraying her own. During one of these interrogations, she grabbed a pistol from the table and shot three Nazis. After that she was shot in prison.
An underground anti-fascist organization operating in the area of modern Lugansk region. There were more than a hundred people. The youngest participant was 14 years old.
This underground youth organization was formed immediately after the occupation of the Lugansk region. It included both regular military personnel who found themselves cut off from the main units, and local youth. Among the most famous participants: Oleg Koshevoy, Ulyana Gromova, Lyubov Shevtsova, Vasily Levashov, Sergey Tyulenin and many other young people.
The Young Guard issued leaflets and committed sabotage against the Nazis. Once they managed to disable an entire tank repair workshop and burn down the stock exchange, from where the Nazis were driving people away for forced labor in Germany. Members of the organization planned to stage an uprising, but were discovered due to traitors. The Nazis captured, tortured and shot more than seventy people. Their feat is immortalized in one of the most famous military books by Alexander Fadeev and the film adaptation of the same name.
28 people from the personnel of the 4th company of the 2nd battalion of the 1075th rifle regiment.
In November 1941, a counter-offensive against Moscow began. The enemy stopped at nothing, making a decisive forced march before the onset of a harsh winter.
At this time, fighters under the command of Ivan Panfilov took up a position on the highway seven kilometers from Volokolamsk, a small town near Moscow. There they gave battle to the advancing tank units. The battle lasted four hours. During this time, they destroyed 18 armored vehicles, delaying the enemy's attack and thwarting his plans. All 28 people (or almost all, historians’ opinions differ here) died.
According to legend, the company political instructor Vasily Klochkov, before the decisive stage of the battle, addressed the soldiers with a phrase that became known throughout the country: “Russia is great, but there is nowhere to retreat - Moscow is behind us!”
The Nazi counteroffensive ultimately failed. The Battle of Moscow, which was assigned the most important role during the war, was lost by the occupiers.
In childhood future hero suffered from rheumatism, and doctors doubted that Maresyev would be able to fly. However, he stubbornly applied to the flight school until he was finally enrolled. Maresyev was drafted into the army in 1937.
He met the Great Patriotic War at a flight school, but soon found himself at the front. During a combat mission, his plane was shot down, and Maresyev himself was able to eject. Eighteen days later, seriously wounded in both legs, he got out of the encirclement. However, he still managed to overcome the front line and ended up in the hospital. But gangrene had already set in, and doctors amputated both of his legs.
For many, this would have meant the end of their service, but the pilot did not give up and returned to aviation. Until the end of the war he flew with prosthetics. Over the years, he made 86 combat missions and shot down 11 enemy aircraft. Moreover, 7 - after amputation. In 1944, Alexey Maresyev went to work as an inspector and lived to be 84 years old.
His fate inspired the writer Boris Polevoy to write “The Tale of a Real Man.”
Deputy squadron commander of the 177th Air Defense Fighter Aviation Regiment.
Viktor Talalikhin began to fight already in the Soviet-Finnish war. He shot down 4 enemy planes in a biplane. Then he served at an aviation school.
In August 1941, he was one of the first Soviet pilots to ram, shooting down a German bomber in a night air battle. Moreover, the wounded pilot was able to get out of the cockpit and parachute down to the rear of his troops.
Talalikhin then shot down five more German aircraft. He died during another air battle near Podolsk in October 1941.
73 years later, in 2014, search engines found Talalikhin’s plane, which remained in the swamps near Moscow.
Artilleryman of the 3rd counter-battery artillery corps of the Leningrad Front.
Soldier Andrei Korzun was drafted into the army at the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War. He served on the Leningrad Front, where there were fierce and bloody battles.
On November 5, 1943, during another battle, his battery came under fierce enemy fire. Korzun was seriously injured. Despite the terrible pain, he saw that the powder charges were set on fire and the ammunition depot could fly into the air. Gathering his last strength, Andrei crawled to the blazing fire. But he could no longer take off his overcoat to cover the fire. Losing consciousness, he made a final effort and covered the fire with his body. The explosion was avoided at the cost of the life of the brave artilleryman.
Commander of the 3rd Leningrad Partisan Brigade.
A native of Petrograd, Alexander German, according to some sources, was a native of Germany. He served in the army since 1933. When the war started, I joined the scouts. He worked behind enemy lines, commanded a partisan detachment that terrified enemy soldiers. His brigade destroyed several thousand fascist soldiers and officers, derailed hundreds of trains and blew up hundreds of cars.
The Nazis set up for Herman real hunt. In 1943, his partisan detachment was surrounded in the Pskov region. Making his way to his own, the brave commander died from an enemy bullet.
Commander of the 30th Separate Guards Tank Brigade of the Leningrad Front
Vladislav Khrustitsky was drafted into the Red Army back in the 20s. At the end of the 30s he completed armored courses. Since the fall of 1942, he commanded the 61st separate light tank brigade.
He distinguished himself during Operation Iskra, which marked the beginning of the defeat of the Germans on the Leningrad Front.
Killed in the battle near Volosovo. In 1944, the enemy retreated from Leningrad, but from time to time they attempted to counterattack. During one of these counterattacks, Khrustitsky's tank brigade fell into a trap.
Despite heavy fire, the commander ordered the offensive to continue. He radioed to his crews with the words: “Fight to the death!” - and went forward first. Unfortunately, the brave tanker died in this battle. And yet the village of Volosovo was liberated from the enemy.
Commander of a partisan detachment and brigade.
Before the war he worked for railway. In October 1941, when the Germans were already near Moscow, he himself volunteered for a complex operation in which his railway experience was needed. Was thrown behind enemy lines. There he came up with the so-called “coal mines” (in fact, these are just mines disguised as coal). With the help of this simple but effective weapon, hundreds of enemy trains were blown up in three months.
Zaslonov actively agitated the local population to go over to the side of the partisans. The Nazis, realizing this, dressed their soldiers in Soviet uniforms. Zaslonov mistook them for defectors and ordered them to join the partisan detachment. The way was open for the insidious enemy. A battle ensued, during which Zaslonov died. A reward was announced for Zaslonov, alive or dead, but the peasants hid his body, and the Germans did not get it.
Commander of a small partisan detachment.
Efim Osipenko fought back in Civil War. Therefore, when the enemy captured his land, without thinking twice, he joined the partisans. Together with five other comrades, he organized a small partisan detachment that committed sabotage against the Nazis.
During one of the operations, it was decided to undermine the enemy personnel. But the detachment had little ammunition. The bomb was made from an ordinary grenade. Osipenko himself had to install the explosives. He crawled to the railway bridge and, seeing the train approaching, threw it in front of the train. There was no explosion. Then the partisan himself hit the grenade with a pole from a railway sign. It worked! A long train with food and tanks went downhill. The detachment commander survived, but completely lost his sight.
For this feat, he was the first in the country to be awarded the “Partisan of the Patriotic War” medal.
Peasant Matvey Kuzmin was born three years before the abolition of serfdom. And he died, becoming the oldest holder of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
His story contains many references to the story of another famous peasant - Ivan Susanin. Matvey also had to lead the invaders through the forest and swamps. And, like the legendary hero, he decided to stop the enemy at the cost of his life. He sent his grandson ahead to warn a detachment of partisans who had stopped nearby. The Nazis were ambushed. A fight ensued. Matvey Kuzmin died at the hands of a German officer. But he did his job. He was 84 years old.
A partisan who was part of a sabotage and reconnaissance group at the headquarters of the Western Front.
While studying at school, Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya wanted to enter a literary institute. But these plans were not destined to come true - the war interfered. In October 1941, Zoya came to the recruiting station as a volunteer and, after a short training at a school for saboteurs, was transferred to Volokolamsk. There, an 18-year-old partisan fighter, along with adult men, performed dangerous tasks: mined roads and destroyed communication centers.
During one of the sabotage operations, Kosmodemyanskaya was caught by the Germans. She was tortured, forcing her to give up her own people. Zoya heroically endured all the trials without saying a word to her enemies. Seeing that it was impossible to achieve anything from the young partisan, they decided to hang her.
Kosmodemyanskaya bravely accepted the tests. Moments before her death, she shouted to the assembled locals: “Comrades, victory will be ours. German soldiers, before it’s too late, surrender!” The girl’s courage shocked the peasants so much that they later retold this story to front-line correspondents. And after publication in the newspaper Pravda, the whole country learned about Kosmodemyanskaya’s feat. She became the first woman to be awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War.
What feats of the Great Patriotic War do we know about? Alexander Matrosov, who covered the embrasure; Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, who was tortured by the Nazis; pilot Alexey Maresyev, who lost both legs, but continued to fight... It’s unlikely that anyone will be able to remember the names of other heroes. Meanwhile, there are a lot of people who have done the impossible to defend their homeland. The streets of our cities are named after them, but we don’t even know who they are or what they did. The editors decided to correct this situation - we invite you to find out about the 10 most incredible feats Great Patriotic War.
Nikolai Gastello
Nikolai Gastello
Nikolai Gastello was a military pilot, captain, commander of the 2nd squadron of the 207th long-range bomber aviation regiment. Before the Great Patriotic War, Gastello worked as a simple mechanic. He went through three wars, a year before the Second World War he received the rank of captain.
On June 26, 1941, the crew commanded by Nikolai Gastello took off to strike a German mechanized column located between the Belarusian cities of Molodechno and Radoshkovichi. During the operation, Gastello's plane was hit by a shell anti-aircraft gun— the plane caught fire. Nikolai could have ejected, but instead he directed the burning plane into a German column. Before this, during the entire period of the Second World War, no one had done anything like this, therefore, after Gastello’s feat, all the pilots who decided to go for a ram were called Gastelloites.
Lenya Golikov Lenya Golikov
During the Great Patriotic War, Lenya Golikov was in the Leningrad partisan brigade as a brigade scout of the 67th detachment of the 4th. When the Second World War began, he was 15 years old; he joined the partisan detachment when the Germans captured his native Novgorod region. During his stay in the partisan brigade, he managed to take part in twenty-seven operations, destroy several bridges behind enemy lines, destroy ten trains transporting ammunition, and kill more than seventy Germans.
In the summer of 1942, near the village of Varnitsa, Lenya Golikov blew up a car in which German Engineering Troops Major General Richard von Wirtz was riding. As a result of this operation, Golikov was able to obtain important documents that spoke about the German offensive. This made it possible to disrupt the impending German attack. For this feat of laziness, Golikov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. He died in battle in the winter of 1943 near the village of Ostray Luka, he was 16 years old.
Zina Portnova Zina Portnova
Zina Portnova was a scout for the Voroshilov partisan detachment, which operated in German-occupied territory. When the war began, Zina was in Belarus on vacation. In 1942, at the age of 16, she joined underground organization“Young Avengers”, where at first she was engaged in distributing anti-fascist leaflets in the territories occupied by the Germans. Then Zina got a job in a canteen for German officers. There she committed a number of acts of sabotage; the Germans did not capture her only by a miracle.
In 1943, Zina joined the partisan detachment, where she continued to engage in sabotage behind enemy lines. But soon, thanks to reports from traitors who had gone over to the German side, Zina was captured, where she was subjected to severe torture. However, the enemies underestimated the young girl - torture did not force her to betray her own, and during one of the interrogations, Zina managed to grab a pistol and kill three Germans. Soon after this, Zina Portnova was shot, she was 17 years old.
Young guard Young guard
This was the name of the underground anti-fascist organization, which carried out its activities in the area of the modern Lugansk region. The “Young Guard” included more than a hundred participants, the youngest of whom was only fourteen years old. The most famous members of the Young Guard are Oleg Koshevoy, Ulyana Gromova, Lyubov Shevtsova, Vasily Levashov, Sergei Tyulenin and others.
Members of this underground organization produced and distributed leaflets in German-occupied territory, and also committed sabotage. As a result of one of the sabotages, they were able to disable an entire repair shop in which the Germans were repairing tanks. They also managed to burn down the stock exchange, from where the Germans were driving people to Germany.
The traitors handed over the Young Guard members to the Germans just before the planned uprising. More than 70 members of the organization were captured, tortured, and then shot.
Victor Talalikhin Victor Talalikhin
Viktor Talalikhin was the deputy squadron commander of the 177th Air Defense Fighter Aviation Regiment. Talalikhin took part in the Soviet-Finnish war, during which he managed to destroy four enemy aircraft. After the war, he went to serve in an aviation school. During the Second World War, in August 1941, he shot down a German bomber by ramming it, and remained alive, getting out of the cockpit and parachuting to the rear of his own.
After this, Viktor Talalikhin managed to destroy five more fascist planes. However, already in October 1914, the hero died while participating in another air battle near Podolsk. In 2014, Viktor Talalikhin’s plane was found in the swamps near Moscow.
Andrey Korzun Andrey Korzun
Andrei Korzun was an artilleryman of the 3rd counter-battery artillery corps of the Leningrad Front. Korzun was drafted into the army at the very beginning of the Second World War. His battery came under heavy enemy fire on November 5, 1943. In this battle, Andrei Korzun was seriously wounded. Seeing that the powder charges were set on fire, because of which the ammunition depot could fly into the air, Korzun, experiencing severe pain, crawled towards the burning powder charges. He no longer had the strength to take off his overcoat and cover the fire with it, so he, losing consciousness, covered it with himself. As a result of this feat of Korzun, no explosion occurred.
Alexander German Alexander German
Alexander German was the commander of the 3rd Leningrad partisan brigade. Alexander served in the army since 1933, and when the Great Patriotic War began, he became a scout. Then he began to command a partisan brigade, which managed to destroy several hundred trains and cars and kill thousands of German soldiers and officers. Germans for a long time They tried to reach German’s partisan detachment, and in 1943 they succeeded: on the territory of the Pskov region, the detachment was surrounded, and Alexander German was killed.
Vladislav Khrustitsky Vladislav Khrustitsky
Vladislav Khrustitsky was the commander of the 30th Separate Guards Tank Brigade on the Leningrad Front. Vladislav served in the army since the 20s; at the end of the 30s he completed armored courses, and in the fall of 1942 he began to command the 61st separate light tank brigade. Vladislav Khrustitsky distinguished himself during Operation Iskra, which gave impetus to the future defeat of the Nazis on the Leningrad Front.
In 1944, the Germans were already retreating from Leningrad, but the tank brigade of Vladislav Khrustitsky fell into a trap near Volosovo. Despite the fierce fire from the enemy, Khrustitsky radioed the order “Fight to the death!”, after which he was the first to go forward. In this battle, Vladislav Khrustitsky died, and the village of Volosovo was liberated from the Nazis.
Efim Osipenko Efim Osipenko
Efim Osipenko was the commander of a partisan detachment, which he organized with several of his comrades immediately after the Germans seized his land. Osipenko's detachment committed anti-fascist sabotage. During one of these sabotages, Osipenko was supposed to throw explosives made from a grenade under a German train, which he did. However, there was no explosion. Without hesitation, Osipenko found a railway sign and hit the grenade with a stick attached to it. It exploded, and the train with food and tanks for the Germans went downhill. The hero survived, but lost his sight. For this operation, Efim Osipenko received the medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War”; this was the first award of such a medal.
Matvey Kuzmin Matvey Kuzmin
Matvey Kuzmin became the oldest participant in the Second World War who received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, but, alas, posthumously. He was 83 years old when the Germans took him prisoner and demanded that he lead them through the forest and swamps. Matvey sent his grandson ahead to warn the partisan detachment that was next to them about the approaching Germans. Thus, the Germans were ambushed and defeated. During the battle, Matvey Kuzmin was killed by a German officer.
1. Introduction. ………………………………………………………………………………….. 2
2. Heroes-border guards……………………………………………………. 5
3. The feat of Viktor Talalikhin………………………………………………………5
4. The feat of Alexander Pankratov……………………………………….. 9
5. The heroism of the defenders of Sevastopol…………………………………………………….. 11
6. The feat of the submarine “Shch-408”………………………………………………………. eleven
7. Defense of Moscow…………………………………………………….. 12
8. Partisan movement………………………………………………... 14
9. Defense of Stalingrad……………………………………………………………... 18
10. The exploits of Soviet patriots…………………………………………. 19
11. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………… 23
12. List of references…………………………………….. 24
Introduction.
Russia with Russian bayonets
She saved herself and saved us
Guys! Isn't Moscow behind us?
No, much more than Moscow...
I always listened with great interest to my dad’s stories about my grandfather, who went through the Great Patriotic War. Unfortunately, my grandfather himself died long ago. I listened and wondered if I or my friends could do the same as those who defended our Motherland in that war. Maybe those youth thought differently, or maybe they had something that we lack. Unfortunately, in school the topic of war was limited to the start date and end date of the war and the study of the main battles. But it was not clear what motivated them, the young ones, because they were not promised anything, they were not paid money, they themselves were eager to go to the front: they took credit for their years, if they were not taken into the army, they fought in the rear, at the machine tool, in partisan detachments. Maybe, having written this report, I will be able to understand at least a little how we differ from them or whether we are still the same.
On June 22, 1941, around 4 a.m., when millions Soviet citizens still sleeping peacefully, fascist germany treacherously attacked the Soviet Union without presenting any claims. Thousands of bombs and shells began exploding almost all along the western state border of the USSR; the pre-dawn silence was filled with the roar of German planes and the roar of tank engines.
The Nazis concentrated 82% of the total number of active forces on the western borders of the USSR ground army. Together with the troops of the satellite countries, 190 fully equipped divisions were deployed here. The invading army consisted of 5.5 million soldiers and officers, about 4,300 tanks, 4,980 combat aircraft, 47,200 guns and mortars.
Taking advantage of three-fold, and in some areas five-fold superiority, the Nazi hordes rushed into the depths of our country. In the main directions: southern - to Kyiv, northern - to Leningrad and central - to Moscow - a difficult military situation was created.
A mortal danger looms over our Motherland - to be free or to fall into dependence on the fascist invaders.
The Communist Party of the Soviet government immediately accepted necessary measures to protect the Motherland from fascist enslavement, to mobilize human and material resources to defeat the enemy.
The leadership of the country's Armed Forces was headed by the Supreme Command Headquarters created on July 10 (since August 8, 1941 - the Supreme High Command Headquarters), the chairman of which was appointed I.V. Stalin.
In order to unite the efforts of the front and rear, on June 30, the State Defense Committee was formed under the chairmanship of I.V. Stalin, who concentrated all power in his hands. The State Defense Committee led the restructuring of the economy, the mobilization of the country's forces and resources.
On July 3, J.V. Stalin gave a speech in which the detailed program of the party was outlined and Soviet government aimed at ensuring victory over the enemy. J.V. Stalin explained to the people the just nature of the Great Patriotic War, the sacred duty of everyone Soviet man defend the Motherland, defend the gains of socialism, called for courage and heroism at the front and selfless work in the rear. The Chairman of the State Defense Committee addressed the working class, collective farm peasantry and intelligentsia with the call “Everything for the front!” Everything for victory! The Red Army was given the task of defending every inch of land, fighting to the last drop of blood for its cities and villages, exhausting and bleeding Nazi troops in defensive battles, defeating and expelling them from Soviet soil, and helping the peoples of Europe throw off the fascist yoke.
On the first day of the Patriotic War, a resolution of the Komsomol Central Committee was prepared, published on June 23. “In connection with the treacherous, predatory attack of the German fascists on our country,” the document said, “the Central Committee of the Komsomol demands tenfold vigilance, cohesion, discipline, and organization from all Komsomol organizations.” The Komsomol Central Committee demanded that “every Komsomol member be ready to fight with arms in hand against the attacking, arrogant enemy for the Motherland, for honor, for freedom.”
The Komsomol quickly responded to the call of its leadership to defend the Motherland. Young patriots of the capital, leaving for the front, wrote this in an appeal to Moscow youth: “We grew up, received an education and a profession under Soviet power, on Soviet soil, under the Soviet sun. What could be more honorable for us than to defend our beloved Motherland against the invasion of Hitler’s gangs! We are obliged, and therefore we rightfully demand that we be sent to the front. We will take revenge on our enemies with full consciousness of duty to our Motherland.” In total, 50 thousand applications for voluntary departure to the front were submitted in Moscow during the three days of the war. “All Komsomol members of the Leningrad organization submitted applications to be sent as volunteers to the front,” reported the Leningrad City Committee of the Komsomol Central Committee.
The unprecedented impulse of Soviet youth, first of all, was manifested in the fact that every boy and girl in the district Komsomol committee, in the military registration and enlistment office or at the enterprise declared their desire to immediately go into battle against fascism. More than 100 thousand Komsomol members of Moscow and the Moscow region, most of them voluntarily, joined the ranks of the Soviet Army already in the first months of the war.
From the very first days of the war, showing massive heroism, infantrymen, artillerymen, tank crews, sailors, pilots - warriors of all branches of the Soviet Armed Forces - bravely fought against the invaders.
Border Guard Heroes.
The Soviet border guard heroes were the first to engage in battle with the enemy.
At one of the border outposts, said Lieutenant I.S. Rubanik, a fierce battle took place with superior enemy forces. “The enemy paid for those killed in the unequal battle with black fascist blood, leaving up to 1,000 killed and wounded soldiers and officers on the battlefield.” The losses of the border guards amounted to 40 people killed and wounded.
On the western border, near the Ukrainian village of Paripsy, 136 border guards died a brave death. For an hour and a half they held back the onslaught of 16 fascist tanks. One of the heroes, junior lieutenant N.D. Sinokop, wrote on a piece of paper: “I will die for my Motherland, but I will not surrender to the enemy alive.”
The garrison of the Brest Fortress, consisting of a small part of the combat border forces, delayed the advance of two enemy infantry divisions for almost a month and inflicted heavy losses on them.
The front-line soldiers, without lying, spoke truthfully about heavy losses and retreat, especially in 1941. This is evidenced, in particular, by a letter from Red Army soldier Yegor Zlobin, sent to his relatives on July 20, 1941. Let us refer to a short excerpt from it: “... Dad and Mom, you know that the Germans attacked the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, and I have already been in battle since June 22: from 5 o’clock at night the Germans crossed, and we were no more than 20 kilometers from him in the camps, and from these days, dad and mom, I saw the country. As from the first days the Germans began to beat us, we couldn’t find a place. We were surrounded by him. He beat us up. About 50 people remained from the regiment, or they died or were taken into military service. Well, I forcibly jumped out of his hot clutches and ran... And the Germans were met by new units of the Red Army. As soon as they started to beat him, only feathers flew ... "
It wasn’t just Yegor Zlobin who was given such lines. And yet he decided to write the truth. One detail: there are no complaints or whining in the letter. And in the words “they started to beat him, only feathers fly” - the confidence that the enemy will be defeated, no matter what.
During the terrible days, the Pravda newspaper wrote: “The Soviet border guards fought like lions, having taken the first sudden blow of the vile enemy... They fought hand-to-hand, and only through their dead bodies was the enemy able to advance.”
The feat of Viktor Talalikhin.
But the Soviet pilots especially distinguished themselves in battles with the enemy. On the night of July 22, 1941, there was the first enemy air raid on Moscow, and on July - August German air raids became more frequent. On July 25, the regiment pilots opened the scoring, captain Ivan Samsonov shot down a Junkers 88. IN last days In July 1941, Viktor Talalikhin was appointed deputy commander of the first squadron, and then he began to serve as acting commander.
Viktor Talalikhin shot down the first bomber on the night of August 5-6 - it was a German Junkers-88 bomber.
Near Moscow, August 1941 was a restless, alarming and menacing wartime. Endless night bombing by German planes of Moscow and all its suburbs. I, who lived through those difficult summer and autumn months of the first year of the war, who experienced bombings and machine gun fire, remember a heightened sense of danger, and the victory of Soviet pilots and anti-aircraft gunners in the Moscow sky gave me hope.
We learned about the night ramming of a German Heinkel-111 aircraft by fighter pilot Viktor Talalikhin on August 8, 1941.
From the very early morning of August 6, aviation technicians and aircraft mechanics Sergei Borzov, Philip Usatyuk and Vladimir Tsvetkov prepared the fighters for flight.
Talalikhin's "Hawk" was prepared for flight. Borzov reported to the regimental engineer A.M. Menshov about the completion of the task: the engine was tested, gas tanks were filled, a preliminary inspection of the aircraft was carried out.
V. Talalikhin had to fly out for night duty, he approached the plane. Victor in a leather raglan, cap and chrome boots, with a tablet. He checked everything thoroughly and asked to rearrange the foot control pedals, shortening them. Victor Talalikhinsel into the cockpit and prepared for combat duty. The night from August 6 to 7 was warm, quiet, starry. Searchlights started working in the Moscow sky. Many bright rays pierced the dark sky, searching for enemy aircraft.
The fighters stood in shelter on the edge of a small forest, near the village, waiting for a combat signal. The planes of Viktor Talalikhin, Pyotr Funtov, Alexander Pechenevsky, Ivan Tyapin, Alexander Bogdanov, Grigory Finogenov received the message: “Enemy planes appeared in square 82 at an altitude of 4 thousand meters.” The regiment commander called the 1st squadron at 22:55. Talalikhin heard the command: “Air!” Talalikhin’s “Hawk” rose into the sky and gained altitude. Below are the Lvovskaya and Stolbovaya railway stations. Talalikhin noticed a shiny point from which green-red flashes were coming. This is from the engines of an enemy aircraft.
Talalikhin quickly led the "hawk" towards the target - the Heinkel-111 bomber. He walked at an altitude of 4.5 km. The bomber is armed with seven machine guns and one cannon. Talalikhin walked behind the bomber, began to catch the Heinkel in his sight, and pressed the trigger. The right engine of the fascist bomber began to smoke, and the Heinkel 111 shuddered. Talalikhin attacked again, aiming for the cockpit. The German plane changed course, turning west. Talalikhin attacks again and again, releasing several bursts of fire. Having increased its speed, the Heinkel-111 began to descend, but the Hawk pursued it.
The air night duel continued. The fascist bomber, shot down but not finished, continued to fly, again the attack was the sixth. Talalikhin presses the trigger, but the machine gun is silent, the cartridges are out,
Heinkel 111 goes into the darkness of the night. Talalikhin instantly makes a decision - to go for a ram, informs the ground - the ammunition has run out. Talalikhin catches up with the Heinkel-111, approaches it, masterfully aligns himself with the tail of the plane, a machine-gun burst flashes from the Heinkel-111, Talalikhin’s right hand is burned - his hand is shot through. But the “hawk” is at the target - 10 meters left. Talalikhin rammed the bomber with his entire vehicle, the “hawk” turned over in the air, the pilot left the plane and flew for about a thousand meters in a long jump, and then opened the parachute.
A fascist Heinkel-111 bomber crashes near a birch grove between the villages of Dobrynikha and Shcheglyatyevo.
This was the first in the history of war night ram, the heroic feat of Viktor Talalikhin. Ram is highest degree heroism , when the life of a pilot is in the balance, when the unknown lies ahead: is it possible to jump out of a crumpled and damaged plane? Ramming is a special courage of the pilot. Ramming is on the verge of self-sacrifice. Soviet pilots made a daytime ram on the first day of the war near Leningrad, and during the war years, Soviet pilots made hundreds of rams. There were pilots who rammed twice and three times. German pilots They didn’t go to ram into war.
Having thrown himself out of the plane, Talalikhin landed on the bottom of a shallow river. Severki near the outskirts of the village of Mansurovo. Having climbed ashore, Viktor Talalikhin felt pain in his legs and lower back, and the wound on his arm was especially bothersome.
Talalikhin's watch stopped at 23:28 (it was at this moment that the ramming occurred). The pilot was in flight for 33 minutes. The Mansurites found the pilot on the bank of the Severka River. They treated him cautiously - they didn’t know who he was. I.M. were the first to see Talalikhin and approached him. Buralkin , V.D. Zaelkin and V.G. Larionov, collective farmers from Mansurov.
The pilot said: “I belong,” and, overcoming the pain, stood up. The collective farmers carefully led the wounded Viktor Talalikhin to the last house in the village, where E.I. lived. Larionov. Marfa Ivanovna Larinova immediately bandaged Victor’s hand, brought him linen, gave him milk and put him to rest.
Victor, waking up at dawn, looked out of the window; not far away he could see the edge of the forest. In the morning, Victor was given tea, and Yegor Ivanovich Larionov escorted Talalikhin to the place where the plane crashed. After examining the remains of the plane, they returned to the house. The Larionovs already had a cart at home by order of the collective farm chairman N.I. Zaelkina. All Mansurites. escorted Viktor Talalikhin to the village of Stepygino.
That August night they were waiting for the pilot V. Talalikhin at the airfield, but he still wasn’t there. Everyone asked: “Where is Talalikhin, what happened to him?” Victor’s friend, pilot Alexander Pechenevsky, was worried; it was already three o’clock, but his comrade was still not there...
Morning: 9 hours 45 minutes... A U-2 plane appeared over Podolsk, flying to the airfield... Talalikhin got out of the plane with a bandaged hand. Victor is surrounded by fellow soldiers.
Regiment commander Korolev urgently reported to the air unit headquarters about Talalikhin’s feat. Air Corps Commander I.D. Klimov gave instructions to Major Korolev to personally go to the site of the fall of the fascist bomber and present materials for conferring the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on pilot Viktor Talalikhin. Major Korolev went to the downed Heinkel-111 plane together with Talalikhin. Four fascists lay motionless ten meters away. While at the downed plane, MI. Korolev and V.V. Talalikhin was seen by correspondents and a photojournalist who had arrived from Moscow. In the photo, Viktor Talalikhin stands next to the fascist bomber he rammed in a long raincoat. Right hand Talalikhin in a sling.
His parents learned about Victor’s heroic deed from a radio message. On the same day in the evening, Viktor Talalikhin will arrive in Moscow.
On August 8, 1941, all central newspapers reported on the military feat of fighter pilot V. Talalikhin, publishing a “decree of the Presidium Supreme Council USSR", which stated: “...for the exemplary performance of combat missions of the command on the front of the fight against German fascism and the courage and heroism shown at the same time, award the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the presentation of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal to fighter pilot junior lieutenant Viktor Vasilyevich Talalikhin.”
Early morning of October 27, cold and clear. By the middle of the day clouds appeared and a piercing blow blew cold wind. The Nazis are rushing towards Moscow, columns of tanks are moving along the Warsaw Highway, bombers are flying into the suburbs in waves.
A squadron of “hawks” under the command of Viktor Talalikhin on the morning of October 27 flew towards the village of Kamenki, flying at low level. Kamenki is located on the 85th km of Warsaw Highway. Fascist scouts fly here day and night. The squadron flew up to Kamenka at 11 o'clock in the morning. In the continuous clouds, six Hawks discovered six Messerschmitts.
- “Messers” on the left! They're attacking! Act boldly and decisively!” - Talalikhin ordered over the radio.
And he was the first to rush into battle. Followers are behind him. From the fire of V. Talalikhin and A. Bogdanov, one Messerschmitt fell down. The rest left. The combat mission of Talalikhin's squadron was to discover the enemy's field airfield, from where the Junkers and Heinkels flew to bomb our combat positions. But suddenly a large squadron of Messerschmitts emerged from the clouds and directed fire at Talalikhin’s plane. One Messerschmitt was shot down, but at the same moment Talalikhin’s plane began to descend. “Comrade commander!” cried the wingmen, but Viktor Talalikhin remained silent. Talalikhin's "Hawk" was riddled with bullets from three "Mssserschmitts". The squadron commander died a heroic death. The plane crashed into a dense forest, Viktor Talalikhin did not deviate from the battle, he boldly walked towards the enemy in those difficult October days of 1941 hanging over the country. It was necessary to win, it was necessary to save Russia, but heroes also die. The chief of staff of the regiment flew to the scene of death on a U-2 plane. In the thicket of the forest, the remains of the plane and the deceased Hero of the Soviet Union Viktor Talalikhin were found. Victor's funeral took place in Moscow at the meat-packing plant club.
The feat of Alexander Pankratov.
During the Great Patriotic War, the first feat of a heroic warrior, who covered the embrasure of an enemy bunker with his body, was performed by the political commissar of a tank company, Alexander Konstantinovich Pankratov, from the 125th tank regiment of the 28th tank division, commanded by Colonel I.D. Chernyakhovsky. A turner at the Vologda plant "Northern Communar", Komsomol member Alexander Pankratov, volunteered to serve in the army in October 1938. He was sent to the 21st Tank Brigade. There he graduated from the school for junior commanders, learned to drive a tank, and fire a tank cannon.
The command sent him to the Smolensk Military-Political School, from which he graduated in January 1941 with the rank of junior political instructor. And soon the war broke out.
Having a hard time experiencing the failure of the first days of the war, Alexander wrote home: “Don’t worry, mom! We will defeat the Nazis anyway, and if I have to die, I will die a hero.” This was Pankratov’s real oath, given to his homeland and his own mother, that he was ready for a feat, which he accomplished in the battles for Novgorod on August 24, 1941.
Leaving Novgorod, our units retreated to the east and took up defense on the eastern banks of the Volkhov and Maly Volkhovets rivers. Here stood the Kirillov Monastery, which the Nazis used as an artillery observation post.
On the night of August 24-25, the 125th Tank Regiment was given the task of secretly crossing Maly Volkhovets and capturing the Kirillov Monastery. This task was entrusted to a company in which Pankratov was the political instructor. The company crossed unnoticed, without firing a single shot, and began to make its way to the monastery. The Nazis noticed our fighters and opened machine-gun fire. The company lay down. Pankratov with a group of daredevils crawled to the monastery. The Nazis discovered them too and began pouring lead on them from the pillbox. The political instructor pulled ahead a little and found himself in “dead” space. Squeezing the last lemon grenade, Pankratov crawled closer to the embrasure and threw the grenade inside. There was an explosion in the bunker. Then Pankratov made a sharp jerk towards the embrasure with the exclamation: “Attack, forward!” and covered the barrel of the enemy’s machine gun with his body. And his company, shouting “hurray,” broke through to the monastery.
The homeland highly appreciated the hero's feat. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated March 16, 1942, junior political instructor Alexander Konstantinovich Pankratov was awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
A similar feat was accomplished on February 23, 1943 by Alexander Matrosov. All those who accomplished such feats before and after Matrosov began to be called sailors, and Pankratov was the first sailor. We couldn't think of anything worse, but it's a fact. If we were to call such heroes something, we should call them Pankratovites. After all, Alexander Pankratov was the first in the history of war to perform a feat of self-sacrifice, covering the enemy’s machine gun with his chest.
The heroism of the defenders of Sevastopol.
The defenders of Sevastopol showed unprecedented courage and resilience. October 30, 1941 The fighting was unprecedentedly fierce. The defenders of Sevastopol fought to the death, but did not surrender to the enemy: “Fight the enemy the Sevastopol way, to the last drop of blood!”
In the note of the sailor-machine gunner “My Motherland! Russian land! I, the son of Lenin’s Komsomol, his pupil, fought as my heart dictated, destroyed the reptiles while my heart beat in my chest. I'm dying, but I know that we will win. The enemy should not be in Sevastopol! Black Sea sailors! Hold on tight! Destroy the fascist mad dogs!”
During a difficult battle for one of the heights, many sailors were shell-shocked or wounded. And although the paratroopers arrived and brought ammunition, some food and water, the forces were clearly unequal. But only on December 20, when only three wounded sailors remained alive, the Nazis managed to capture the bunker and take possession of the heights. Courageous Black Sea residents destroyed several German tanks. And when the supply of bottles with a combustible mixture was used up, they were tied with grenades and thrown under the tanks.
At the end of 1941 German troops broke through to Leningrad. All Leningraders capable of holding weapons in their hands joined the army. Seven hundred thousand young people built a belt of defensive structures around the city.
The feat of the submarine "Shch-408".
Not only infantrymen, but also sailors fought heroically for Leningrad. Of the submarines that tried to break into the Baltic in the spring of 1943, some died. The fate of the submarine "Shch-408" under the command of Lieutenant Commander P.S. Kuzmin is known. May 25, 1943 Submarine“Shch-408” under the command of Lieutenant Commander Pavel Kuzmin tried for three days to overcome German nets and mines placed in the area of Vaindlo Island on the way from the Gulf of Finland to the Baltic Sea. The battery ran out, air supplies ran out, people began to suffocate and lose consciousness. From fuel tanks damaged by mine explosions, diesel bubbles floated to the surface and burst. Based on these spots, the submarine was discovered by enemy aircraft and boats.
The ship's commander, Pavel Kuzmin, a native of the city of Grozny, reported the difficult situation to the fleet command post. After which he ordered the main ballast tanks to be blown out and to ascend. The submarine was immediately surrounded by enemy torpedo boats and opened fire on it. Pavel Kuzmin climbed onto the bridge and called the artillery crew onto the deck. The boat, being on the surface, entered unequal battle. And a radiogram went ashore with a request to urgently send planes. Three aviation groups of the 71st Regiment flew from naval airfields to help the submariners; four of our planes were shot down, but the efforts were in vain - the pilots were late.
"Shch-408" was able to hit two enemy boats with artillery fire. And when the shells ran out, she went under the water without lowering the flag.
Defense of Moscow.
The heroic defense of Kyiv, Leningrad, Odessa, Sevastopol and Smolensk was of great importance for disrupting the fascist plan of the “blitzkrieg” and for the defense of Moscow.
In preparation for the capture of Moscow, Hitler gave an ominous, barbaric directive: “The city must be surrounded so that not a single Russian soldier, not a single resident - be it a man, a woman, or a child - can leave it. Any attempt to suppress by force. Make the necessary preparations so that Moscow and its surroundings are flooded with water using huge structures. Where Moscow stands today, a sea should appear that will forever hide the capital of the Russian people from the civilized world.”
In the historical battle for Moscow main blow took over the rifle divisions of I.V. Panfilov, the group of troops of General L.M. Dovator, the 1st Guards Tank Brigade of M.E. Katukov.
316th Rifle Division under the command of General Panfilov was the force that was supposed to not let the enemy pass in the Volokolamsk direction. The last echelon of fighters from the Kresttsy and Borovichi area arrived at the Volokolamsk station on October 11, 1941. There was no prepared defense, just as there were no other troops.
The division took up defensive positions on the 41st kilometer front from Ruza to Lotoshino and immediately began to create resistance centers in the likely directions of enemy attack. Ivan Vasilyevich Panfilov was sure that the enemy would rely on tanks as the main striking force. But... “The brave and skillful tank is not afraid,” said Panfilov.
“We will not surrender Moscow to the enemy,” wrote I.V. Panfilov to his wife Maria Ivanovna, “we will destroy the reptile in the thousands, hundreds of his tanks. The division is fighting well...” From October 20 to October 27 alone, the 316th Rifle Division knocked out and burned 80 tanks, killing more than nine thousand enemy soldiers and officers.
The exhausting battles did not stop; by the end of October the division's front was already 20 kilometers - from the Dubosekovo junction to settlement Teryaevo. Having brought up new forces, replacing broken divisions with new ones and concentrating more than 350 tanks against Panfilov’s division, by mid-November the enemy was ready for a general offensive. “We will have breakfast in Volokolamsk, and dinner in Moscow,” the Nazis hoped.
The 1077th Regiment held the defense on the right flank rifle division, in the center were two battalions of the 1073rd regiment of Major Elin, on the left flank, on the most critical section of Dubosekovo - Nelidovo, seven kilometers southeast of Volokolamsk, was the 1075th regiment of Colonel Ilya Vasilyevich Kaprov. It was against him that the main forces of the enemy were concentrated, trying to break through to the Volokolamsk highway and the railway.
On November 16, 1941, the enemy offensive began. The battle that was fought at night near Dubosekovo by a group of tank destroyers of the 4th company of the 2nd battalion of the 1075th regiment, led by political instructor Vasily Georgievich Klochkov, was included in all history textbooks. For four hours, Panfilov’s men held back enemy tanks and infantry. They repelled several enemy attacks and destroyed 18 tanks. Most of the legendary warriors who accomplished this unparalleled feat, including Vasily Klochkov, died a brave death that night. The rest (D.F. Timofeev, G.M. Shemyakin, I.D. Shadrin, D.A. Kozhubergenov and I.R. Vasiliev) were seriously wounded. The battle of Dubosekovo went down in history as a feat of 28 Panfilov men; in 1942, all its participants were awarded the title of Heroes of the Soviet Union by the Soviet command...
Panfilov’s men became a terrible curse for the Nazis; there were legends about the strength and courage of the heroes. On November 17, 1941, the 316th Rifle Division was renamed the 8th Guards Rifle Division and awarded the Order of the Red Banner. Hundreds of guardsmen were awarded orders and medals.
On November 19, the division lost its commander... For 36 days it fought under the command of General I.V. Panfilov 316th Rifle Division, defending the capital on the main direction. During his lifetime, the division's soldiers in fierce battles destroyed over 30 thousand fascist soldiers and officers and more than 150 tanks.
Having failed to achieve decisive successes in the Volokolamsk direction, the main enemy forces turned to Solnechnogorsk, where they intended to break through first to Leningradskoye, then to Dmitrovskoye Highway and enter Moscow from the north-west.
Partisan movement.
The partisans operating behind enemy lines provided serious assistance to the Soviet Army.
During combat operations, partisan detachments of Mozhaisk, Volokolamsk, Lotoshinsky, Ruzsky and other districts of the Moscow region distinguished themselves.
Performed an immortal feat heroine Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya
. On November 29, 1941, in the village of Petrishchevo near Moscow, the Germans hanged partisan Tanya, who set fire to a stable with German horses. Under the name Tanya was hiding the Moscow schoolgirl Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, who was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for her feat. The Germans did not catch the partisan themselves, she was betrayed by her comrade and peer, who walked with her on the fateful night of November 26, who at the same time had to throw his incendiary bottle. He chickened out last minute, he was afraid of being hanged by the Germans, but was shot by the Russians.
Vasily Klubkov chickened out and was caught. Zoya did not chicken out, she did her job and went to the appointed place. She could have gone further into the forest, but she did not want to leave her comrade in danger. Zoya trustingly waited for Klubkov, but instead of him, the German soldiers sent by him came to the edge of the forest.
Zoya was interrogated in the presence of Klubkov. She refused to identify herself, refused to answer where she came from and why. She said that she did not know Klubkov and was seeing him for the first time.
Then the officer looked at Klubkov. Klubkov said: “She’s lying, we’re from the same detachment. We carried out a task together. Her name is Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya...”
The story with Klubkov not only explained how the Germans established the true name of the partisan Tanya, but also made her interrogation by the Germans pointless. After all, the enemies had already learned the name from the traitor and real biography heroine, and the location of the partisan detachment. And Zoya’s feat was measured not by the damage inflicted on the enemy, but by her moral superiority over him, expressed in her refusal to buy her life or at least an easy death at the cost of betrayal.
Klubkov, sent as a German agent to Moscow, either confessed himself or was exposed as an enemy spy. He was shot according to martial law. Obviously, before his death, the traitor told about Zoya’s last hours.
Here are excerpts from the essay by Peter Lidov:
"...And then they brought Zoya in, pointed to the bunk. She sat down. On the table opposite her were telephones, a typewriter, a radio, and staff papers were laid out.
The officers began to converge. The owners of the house (Voronin) were ordered to leave. The old woman hesitated, and the officer shouted: “Uterus, fuck!” - and pushed her in the back.
The commander of the 332nd Infantry Regiment of the 197th Division, Lieutenant Colonel Rüderer, himself interrogated Zoya.
Sitting in the kitchen, the Voronins could still hear what was happening in the room. The officer asked questions, and Zoya (here she called herself Tanya) answered them without hesitation, loudly and boldly.
- Who you are? - asked the lieutenant colonel.
- I will not say.
- Did you set the stable on fire?
- Yes I.
- Your aim?
- Destroy you.
Pause.
- When did you cross the front line?
- On Friday.
- You got there too quickly.
- Well, yawn, or what?
Zoya was asked about who sent her and who was with her. They demanded that she give up her friends. The answers were heard through the door: “no,” “I don’t know,” “I won’t tell,” “no.” Then the belts whistled in the air, and you could hear them lashing your body. A few minutes later, the young officer rushed out of the room into the kitchen, buried his head in his hands and sat there until the end of the interrogation, closing his eyes and plugging his ears. Even the fascist’s nerves couldn’t stand it... Four hefty men, taking off their belts, beat the girl. The owners of the house counted two hundred blows, but Zoya did not make a single sound. And then she answered again: “no,” “I won’t tell”; only her voice sounded muffled than before...
Non-commissioned officer Karl Bauerlein (later captured) was present at the torture inflicted on Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya by Lieutenant Colonel Rüderer. In his testimony he wrote:
“The little heroine of your people remained firm. She did not know what betrayal was... She turned blue from the cold, her wounds were bleeding, but she did not say anything.”
Zoya spent two hours in the Voronins’ hut. After interrogation, she was taken to Vasily Kulik’s hut. She walked under escort, still undressed, walking barefoot in the snow.
When she was brought into Kulik’s hut, she had a large bluish-black spot on her forehead and abrasions on her legs and arms. She was breathing heavily, her hair was disheveled, and black strands stuck together on her high forehead, covered with drops of sweat. The girl’s hands were tied behind her with a rope, her lips were bitten and bloody and swollen. She probably bit them when they tried to torture them out of a confession.
She sat down on the bench. A German sentry stood at the door. She sat calmly and motionless, then asked for a drink. Vasily Kulik approached the tub of water, but the sentry beat him to it, grabbed the lamp from the table and brought it to Zoya’s mouth. He wanted to say that he should be given kerosene to drink, not water.
Kulik began to ask for the girl. The sentry snapped, but then reluctantly gave in and allowed Zoya to get a drink. She greedily drank two large mugs.
The soldiers who lived in the hut surrounded the girl and laughed loudly. Some stabbed her with their fists, others held lit matches to their chins, and someone ran a saw across her back.
Having had enough fun, the soldiers went to bed. Then the sentry raised his rifle at the ready and ordered Zoya to get up and leave the house. He walked down the street from behind, placing his bayonet almost close to her back. Then he shouted: “Tsuryuk!” - and took the girl to reverse side. Barefoot, in only her underwear, she walked through the snow until the tormentor himself was chilled and decided that it was time to return to a warm shelter.
This sentry watched Zoya from ten o'clock in the evening until two o'clock in the morning and every hour took her outside for fifteen to twenty minutes...
Finally a new sentry took up post. The unfortunate woman was allowed to lie down on a bench. Taking a moment, Praskovya Kulik spoke to Zoya.
-Whose will you be? - she asked.
- Why do you need this?
- Where are you from?
- I am from Moscow.
- Are there any parents?
The girl didn't answer. She lay there until the morning without moving, saying nothing more and not even groaning, although her legs were frostbitten and, apparently, were in great pain.
In the morning, the soldiers began to build a gallows in the middle of the village.
Praskovya spoke to the girl again:
- The day before yesterday - was it you?
- I... Did the Germans burn out?
- No.
- It's a pity. What burned?
- Their horses were burned. They say the weapon burned...
At ten o'clock in the morning the officers arrived. One of them asked Zoya again:
- Tell me: who are you?
Zoya didn't answer...
The owners of the house did not hear the continuation of the interrogation: they were pushed out of the house and let in when the interrogation was already over.
They brought Zoya's things: a blouse, trousers, stockings. There was also her duffel bag, and in it were matches and salt. The hat, fur jacket, downy knitted sweatshirt and boots were gone. The non-commissioned officers managed to divide them among themselves, and the mittens went to the red-haired cook from the officer's kitchen.
Zoya was dressed, and the owners helped her pull stockings onto her blackened legs. They hung bottles of gasoline taken from her and a board with the inscription: “Arsonist” on her chest. So they took him to the square where the gallows stood.
The execution site was surrounded by ten horsemen with drawn sabers, more than a hundred German soldiers and several officers. To local residents it was ordered to gather and be present at the execution, but few of them came, and some, having come and stood, quietly went home so as not to witness the terrible spectacle.
Under a loop lowered from the crossbar, two boxes were placed one on top of the other. They lifted the girl, placed her on a box and put a noose around her neck. One of the officers began pointing the lens of his Kodak at the gallows. The commandant made a sign to the soldiers performing the duty of executioners to wait.
Zoya took advantage of this and, turning to the collective farmers and collective farm women, shouted in a loud and clear voice:
- Hey, comrades! Why are you looking sad? Be brave, fight, beat the fascists, burn, poison!
The fascist standing next to him swung his hand and wanted to either hit her or cover her mouth, but she pushed his hand away and continued:
- I'm not afraid to die, comrades! It is happiness to die for your people!
The photographer had photographed the gallows from a distance and close up and was now positioning himself to photograph it from the side. The executioners looked restlessly at the commandant, and he shouted to the photographer:
- Aber doh schneller! (Hurry up!)
Then Zoya turned towards the commandant and shouted to him and the German soldiers:
- You'll hang me now, but I'm not alone. There are two hundred million of us, you can’t outweigh them all. You will be avenged for me. Soldiers! Before it's too late, surrender: victory will still be ours!
The executioner pulled the rope, and the noose squeezed Zoya’s throat. But she spread the noose with both hands, rose up on her toes and shouted, straining all her strength:
- Farewell, comrades! Fight, don't be afraid...
The executioner rested his forged shoe on the box, which creaked on the slippery, trampled snow. The top drawer fell down and hit the ground with a loud sound. The crowd recoiled. Someone's scream rang out and died away, and the echo repeated it at the edge of the forest..."
Defense of Stalingrad.
In 1942, German troops broke through to North Caucasus and led an offensive in the Stalingrad direction.
The defense of Stalingrad was entrusted to the 62nd Army of General V.I. Chuikov. The whole world knows the words of the legendary hero, uttered by him when he was appointed commander of the army: “I understand the task very well, I will carry out the task, but in general I will either die or Stalingrad will be lost.”
Every great battle gives birth to its heroes. The Battle of Stalingrad has no equal in history.
In continuous air battles Soviet pilots fought valiantly with the enemy. Pilot crew N. Divichenko , who made three combat sorties every day, went on a solo hunt on December 21, 1942. Having dropped bombs on an enemy airfield in the Morozovskaya area, the plane was damaged and was returning on one engine. Then the second engine was damaged by anti-aircraft fire and caught fire. There was a strong explosion in the car. The navigator's cabin was torn off and he bailed out. Divichenko and the shooters died.
Former student of GITIS Natasha Kachuevskaya , who voluntarily went to the front, performed what seemed like an incredible feat on the Stalingrad front as a nurse. After a long battle, 20 people were wounded. Kachuevskaya carried them out along with their weapons, provided first aid and, by order of the commander, took several seriously wounded to the medical battalion. Suddenly she noticed a group of German machine gunners who had infiltrated our rear. They were chasing the car. Natasha carried the wounded to the dugout, and she, armed with rifles and grenades, took cover nearby. The Nazis surrounded the dugout. Well-aimed shots disabled two Nazis, but she herself was mortally wounded. Gathering her last strength, Natasha inserted fuses into the grenades and detonated them at the moment when at least a dozen fascists came close to her. Some of them were killed, others were wounded. Natasha Kachuevskaya also died, but the wounded were saved. They were taken to the hospital by soldiers from a neighboring company.
On February 2, 1943, the grandiose battle of Stalingrad ended. With this major battle, a turning point in the course of the Great Patriotic War began; from that moment on, the strategic initiative passed to the side of the Soviet command.
The largest battle of World War II was the Battle of Kursk.
Feats of Soviet patriots.
The chronicles of the Great Patriotic War record hundreds of thousands of remarkable feats of Soviet patriots.
Komsomolskaya Pravda Galina Kyiv in the winter of 1942 she found herself at the front near Staraya Russa as a company political instructor. In the battle she was seriously wounded, and the medical commission declared her unfit for military service. But, having recovered from her wound, the patriot was again eager to go to the front. And with the help of the Komsomol Central Committee, she received permission. At the beginning of May 1943, G. Kievskaya was appointed Komsomol organizer of the battalion of the 125th Infantry Division. During this battle, the attack of our Red Army soldiers failed. And at this critical moment the girl stood up to her full height and shouted “For the Motherland!” rushed forward. The soldiers, carried away by the heroic example of the Komsomol member, stood up, but the enemy could not withstand such an onslaught and abandoned the heights.
2nd year student of the Chuvash Pedagogical Institute Ivan Alekseev , drafted into the Red Army, participated in battles as an anti-aircraft gunner. After the first wound, he wrote to his sister: “Now I’m stronger, I don’t complain about my health. And don’t forget your older brother - he shot down many enemy planes with his cannons... Soon, having defeated the enemy, he will return home.” In another letter he gives advice: “Study, read, help the front in any way you can.” Having received the news of the death of brother Vasily, he answered sparingly: “There is no hope to wait. I will avenge him!”
June 13, 1944 Death tore Ivan Alekseev from the ranks of Soviet soldiers. In his suicide note, he asked to convey the following words to the “gray-haired father”: “Your son Vanya fulfilled your father’s advice and orders, sparing neither his strength nor his life.”
Lyudmila Pavlinchenko fought near Odessa and Sevastopol. Army newspapers and leaflets called for learning the art of marksmanship from snipers. Lyudmila accounted for 309 killed Nazis. At the front she was wounded, shell-shocked, and frostbitten, but she didn’t even want to hear about being sent to the rear. For her accomplished feat of arms, L. Pavlinchko was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
The news of the exploits spread throughout the vast country "Young Guard" in Krasnodar. True to their oath, the Young Guards carried out a great deal of mass political work among the population. In total, during the occupation they issued more than 30 leaflet titles, which ended with the words: “Death to the German occupiers!” On the night of November 7, 1942, Komsomol members strengthened red flags on a number of buildings in the city. Immediately after the November holidays, the underground organized the escape of 20 prisoners of war from the Pervomaiskaya hospital and freed more than 70 soldiers and commanders from the camp on the Volchanok farm.
All Young Guards became a symbol of perseverance, greatness of spirit, love for the Motherland and hatred of its enemies.
On January 1, 1943, failure unexpectedly occurred - due to the fault of a traitor. Arrests and torture began. Underground workers were hung by the neck from a window frame, their fingers were crushed by the door and needles were driven under their nails, they were beaten with sticks and whips. The investigator's office, in which the Komsomol members were tortured, looked more like a slaughterhouse, as it was spattered with blood.
On the walls of the prison cells they left farewell inscriptions that testify to the steadfastness and courage of the Young Guards.
I.A. Zemnukhov wrote: “Dear mom and dad! We need to endure everything steadfastly! Greetings from the loving son of Zemnukhov.” L. Shevtsova’s inscription was laconic and tragic: “Farewell mother, your daughter Lyubka is leaving for the damp earth.”
January 30, 1945 Soviet submarine "S-13" under the command of captain 3rd rank A.I.Marinesko accomplished a truly heroic feat. She tracked down the German liner Wilhelm Gustow, which was transporting more than 6 thousand Nazis from Danzig to Kiel. Despite the raging storm, an hour before midnight our submarine attacked an enemy ship. Several torpedoes, one after another, quickly rushed towards the target. After a strong explosion, the liner was blown up.
Young communist pilot A.K. Horovets near the village of Zasorinye, he entered into battle with 20 enemy bombers, shooting down 9 of them. The rest, throwing bombs, turned back. It has never happened in aviation before that a pilot shot down nine enemy planes in one air battle! Communist A.K. Gorovets, who died in this unequal battle, was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Komsomol guard junior lieutenant A.A.Derevianko wrote to his mother: I will die, only heroically.” And he remained true to his oath. In the battle near Belgorod, Derevianko knocked out three Tiger tanks. A few minutes later, new tanks attacked his anti-aircraft gun. With the exclamation “We are Russians!” We will not retreat! Derevianko knocked out another tank. Without having time to load the gun, the Soviet patriot was crushed by the tank tracks. The courageous artilleryman was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
In 1939 Sr. lieutenantA. I. Pokryshkin graduates from aviation school with excellent grades and leaves for Kirovograd, to the 55th Fighter Aviation Regiment. This is where his flying biography began. Pokryshkin met the war in Moldova. And already on June 23 he opens the account - he shoots down the first Me -109. On July 3, already having several victories in the air, he was shot down by anti-aircraft fire over the Prut River. The plane was destroyed during landing at the edge of the forest. The pilot, despite his leg injury, managed to reach the regiment's location on the fourth day.
On October 5, 1941, in the Zaporozhye region, Pokryshkin was shot down for the second time. For several days he emerges from encirclement and fights at the head of a group of soldiers.
At the end of 1941 the main combat work Pokryshkina is a scout capable of providing reliable information to the command of the Southern Front. In November, when the lower edge of the clouds dropped to 30 meters, on a low-level flight, Pokryshkin alone (before that, two I-16 fighters flew out on the same mission and did not return) finds the main group of the general’s tank army in the Rostov-on-Don area von Kleist - more than 200 cars. For this feat he was awarded the Order of Lenin.
The air battle began in Kuban. The 16th gained particular fame guards regiment, whose first squadron was commanded by Alexander Pokryshkin. On April 12, in one of the very first battles upon arrival in Kuban, in front of the front air force commander, Lieutenant General K. A. Vershinin, he shot down four Messerschmitts. For this success, the innovative pilot was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. A few weeks later, Pokryshkin’s name was already thundering in the front-line and central press. On May 24, 1943, A.I. Pokryshkin was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The legendary battle of April 29, 1943, in which he shot down 5 bombers, is widely known. In the essay “Master of the Sky - Alexander Pokryshkin,” front-line correspondents A. Malyshko and A. Verkholetov wrote: “Does he shoot?” friends say about him. “He comes down with all his fire, burns like a blast furnace.” All firing points on Pokryshkin’s vehicle were transferred to one trigger. Four against 50, three against 23, alone against 8 Pokryshkin entered the battle. And I never knew defeat. Possessing a clear style, A. I. Pokryshkin himself appears with articles in the military press, where he writes about the famous “thunderstorm formula” he created: “Altitude - speed - maneuver - fire!”, about the “Kuban whatnot”, about the “falcon strike” , about a new method of patrolling at high speeds based on the principle of movement of a clock pendulum and other tactical innovations. “Feat requires thought, skill and risk” - this was the credo of the legendary pilot, whom the Hero of the Soviet Union famous pilot
and the writer M. L. Gallai accurately called him “a thinker in our business.”
In February 1944, a call to high authorities followed. The renowned ace is offered the general position of head of the combat training department fighter aircraft Air Force. Pokryshkin without hesitation refuses the promotion and returns to the front. In March 1944, Pokryshkin became commander of the 16th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment (4th Ukrainian Front).
On July 8, 1944, he received the rank of colonel and was appointed commander of the 9th Guards Fighter Air Division.
On August 9, 1944, for 550 combat missions and 53 downed aircraft, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for the third time. A.I. Pokryshkin became the first to be awarded this title, and remained the only three times Hero until the day of Victory over Germany.
Officially, Pokryshkin has 650 combat missions and 59 personally shot down aircraft.
Conclusion.
On May 9, 1945, the Soviet people, all progressive humanity, celebrated a great holiday - Victory Day, which announced the end of the bloodiest war.
The rejoicing of our people on this “holiday with tears in our eyes” knew no bounds. The terrible bloodshed ended and a new, peaceful life began.
In the front ranks of the warriors who fought on land, sea and in the air were young people. The famous Soviet commander G.K. Zhukov speaks with unusual warmth about the heroism and courage of young soldiers: “I have seen many times how soldiers rise to attack. It is not easy to rise to your height when the air is permeated with deadly metal. But they got up! But many of them barely knew the taste of life: 19-20 years old - best age for a person - everything is ahead! And for them very often there was only a German dugout ahead, spewing machine-gun fire!”
We also won because there were those at the guns, in the tanks, on the planes whose energy and unquenchable passion for heroism in the name of saving the Motherland worked miracles.
During the war years, 7 thousand students of the Youth Union became Heroes of the Soviet Union, 60 Komsomol members were awarded this title twice. 9 million young men and women who joined the Komsomol during the war made an invaluable contribution to the achievement of Victory with their military and labor feats.
Let us bow to those great years,
Theme to glorious commanders and soldiers.
And the country's marshals and privates,
Let us bow to both the dead and the living, -
To all those who must not be forgotten,
Let's bow, bow, friends.
The whole world, all the people, the whole Earth -
Let us bow down for that great battle.
. Alexander Vert. Russia in the war of 1941-1945. Progress Publishing House.
Moscow 1967
Bibliography:
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