The feat of soldiers and officers during the years of the Second World War. Heroes of World War II: USSR
Introduction
History does not know a larger-scale, fierce, destructive and bloody confrontation than that which our people had to wage against the fascist aggressors. In the war of 1941-1945. the fate of not only the Fatherland, but also many other peoples and countries - essentially all of humanity. The servicemen of the internal troops fought against the invaders shoulder to shoulder with the Red Army. Eternal and holy is the feat of our compatriots who defeated fascism and won the Great Victory.
The Great Patriotic War will forever remain in the memory of the descendants and successors of the great people great country. About thirty million of our compatriots died heroically for the freedom of our Motherland. Sometimes it seemed to the enemy that the collapse of the USSR was inevitable: the Germans near Moscow and Leningrad were breaking through near Stalingrad. But the Nazis simply forgot that for centuries Genghis Khan, Batu, Mamai, Napoleon and others have tried unsuccessfully to conquer our country. The Russian man was always ready to stand up for his Motherland and fight to the last breath. There was no limit to the patriotism of our soldiers. Only a Russian soldier saved a wounded comrade from under heavy fire from enemy machine guns. Only the Russian soldier mercilessly beat the enemies, but spared the prisoners. Only a Russian soldier died, but did not give up.
Sometimes German commanders were horrified by the rage and perseverance, courage and heroism of ordinary Russian soldiers. One of the German officers said: "When my tanks go on the attack, the earth trembles under their weight. When the Russians go into battle, the earth trembles with fear of them." One of the captured German officers looked into the faces of Russian soldiers for a long time and, in the end, sighing, said: "Now I see that Russian spirit, about which we have been told many times." Many feats were accomplished by our soldiers during the Great Patriotic War. Young guys sacrificed themselves for this long-awaited Victory. Many of them did not return home, went missing or were killed on the battlefields. And each of them can be considered a hero. After all, it was they who, at the cost of their lives, led our Motherland to the Great Victory. Soldiers perished knowing full well that they were giving their lives in the name of happiness, in the name of freedom, in the name of clear skies and clear sun, in the name of future happy generations.
Yes, they accomplished a feat, they died, but did not give up. The consciousness of one's duty to the Motherland drowned out the feeling of fear, pain, and thoughts of death. This means that this action is not an unaccountable feat, but a conviction in the rightness and greatness of a cause for which a person consciously gives his life.
Victory in the Great Patriotic War is a feat and glory of our people. No matter how the assessments and facts of our history have changed in recent years, May 9, Victory Day, remains a sacred holiday for our people. Eternal glory to the soldiers of war! Their feat will forever remain in the hearts of millions of people who value peace, happiness and freedom.
feat hero soldier war
1. The exploits of Soviet soldiers and officers during the Great Patriotic War
The war between the USSR and Nazi Germany was not an ordinary war between two states, between two armies. It was the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet people against the Nazi invaders. From the very first days of the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet people had to deal with a very serious enemy who knew how to wage a big battle. modern war. Hitler's mechanized hordes, regardless of losses, rushed forward and betrayed to fire and sword everything that they met on the way. Thanks to iron discipline, military skill and selflessness, millions of Soviet people, who looked death in the face, won and survived. The exploits of the Soviet heroes became a beacon to which other warrior heroes were equal.
Viktor Vasilievich Talalikhin
Born September 18, 1918 in the village. Teplovka, Volsky district, Saratov region. He graduated from the Borisoglebokoe military aviation school for pilots. He took part in the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940. He made 47 sorties, shot down 4 Finnish aircraft, for which he was awarded the Order of the Red Star (1940).
In the battles of the Great Patriotic War since June 1941. Made more than 60 sorties. In the summer and autumn of 1941, he fought near Moscow<#"justify">. Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub
(1920-1991), Air Marshal (1985), Hero Soviet Union(1944 - twice; 1945). During the Great Patriotic War in fighter aviation, the squadron commander, deputy regiment commander, conducted 120 air battles; shot down 62 aircraft.
Three times Hero of the Soviet Union Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub on La-7 shot down 17 enemy aircraft (including the Me-262 jet fighter<#"justify">. Alexey Petrovich Maresyev
Maresyev Aleksey Petrovich fighter pilot, deputy squadron commander of the 63rd Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment, Guards Senior Lieutenant.
Born on May 20, 1916 in the city of Kamyshin, Volgograd Region, in a working class family. He was drafted into the Soviet army in 1937. He served in the 12th Aviation Border Detachment. He made his first sortie on August 23, 1941 in the Krivoo Rog area. Lieutenant Maresyev opened a combat account at the beginning of 1942 - he shot down a Ju-52. By the end of March 1942, he brought the number of downed Nazi aircraft to four.
In June 1943, Maresyev returned to service. He fought on the Kursk Bulge as part of the 63rd Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment, was a deputy squadron commander. In August 1943, during one battle, Alexei Maresyev shot down three enemy FW-190 fighters at once.
On August 1943, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Senior Lieutenant Maresyev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Later he fought in the Baltic States, became a regiment navigator. In 1944 he joined the CPSU. In total, he made 86 sorties, shot down 11 enemy aircraft: 4 - before being wounded and seven - with amputated legs. In June 1944, Major Maresyev of the Guards became an inspector-pilot of the Office of Higher educational institutions Air Force. The legendary fate of Alexei Petrovich Maresyev is the subject of Boris Polevoy's book "The Tale of a Real Man".
Retired Colonel A.P. Maresyev was awarded two Orders of Lenin, Orders of the October Revolution, Red Banner, Patriotic War 1st degree, two Orders of the Red Banner of Labor, Orders of Friendship of Peoples, Red Star, Badge of Honor, "For Merit to the Fatherland" 3rd degree, medals, foreign orders. He was an honorary soldier of a military unit, an honorary citizen of the cities of Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Kamyshin, Orel. A small planet is named after him solar system, public fund, youth patriotic clubs. He was elected a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Author of the book "On the Kursk Bulge" (M., 1960).
Even during the war, Boris Polevoy's book "The Tale of a Real Man" was published, the prototype of the protagonist of which was Maresyev.
Krasnoperov Sergey Leonidovich
Krasnoperov Sergey Leonidovich was born on July 23, 1923 in the village of Pokrovka, Chernushinsky district. In May 1941, he volunteered for the Soviet Army. For a year he studied at the Balashov Aviation School of Pilots. In November 1942, attack pilot Sergei Krasnoperov arrived in the 765th assault aviation regiment, and in January 1943 he was appointed deputy squadron commander of the 502nd assault aviation regiment of the 214th assault air division of the North Caucasian Front. For military distinctions he was awarded the Orders of the Red Banner, the Red Star, the Order of the Patriotic War of the 2nd degree.
The regiment commander, Lieutenant Colonel Smirnov, wrote about Sergei Krasnoperov: “Such heroic deeds of Comrade Krasnoperov are repeated in every sortie. The pilots of his flight became masters of the assault business. created for himself military glory, enjoys well-deserved military authority among the personnel of the regiment. And indeed. Sergei was only 19 years old, and for his exploits he had already been awarded the Order of the Red Star. He was only 20 years old, and his chest was adorned with the Golden Star of a Hero.
Seventy-four sorties were made by Sergei Krasnoperov during the days of fighting on the Taman Peninsula. As one of the best, he was entrusted 20 times to lead a group of "silts" to attack, and he always carried out a combat mission. He personally destroyed 6 tanks, 70 vehicles, 35 wagons with cargo, 10 guns, 3 mortars, 5 points of anti-aircraft artillery, 7 machine guns, 3 tractors, 5 bunkers, an ammunition depot, a boat, a self-propelled barge were sunk, two crossings across the Kuban were destroyed.
Matrosov Alexander Matveevich
Matrosov Alexander Matveevich - rifleman of the 2nd battalion of the 91st separate rifle brigade (22nd Army, Kalinin Front), private. Born February 5, 1924 in the city of Yekaterinoslav (now Dnepropetrovsk). In October 1942 he entered the Krasnokholmsk Infantry School, but soon most of the cadets were sent to the Kalinin Front. In the army since November 1942. On February 27, 1943, the 2nd battalion received the task of attacking a stronghold near the village of Chernushki (Loknyansky district of the Pskov region). As soon as our soldiers passed through the forest and reached the edge of the forest, they came under heavy machine-gun fire from the enemy. Two machine guns were destroyed, but the machine gun from the third bunker continued to shell the entire hollow in front of the village. Then Matrosov got up, rushed to the bunker and closed the embrasure with his body. At the cost of his life, he contributed to the combat mission of the unit.
A few days later, the name of Matrosov became known throughout the country. The feat of Matrosov was used by a journalist who happened to be with the unit for a patriotic article. Despite the fact that Matrosov was not the first to perform such an act of self-sacrifice, it was his name that was used to glorify the heroism of Soviet soldiers. Subsequently, over 200 people performed the same feat, but it was no longer widely reported. His feat has become a symbol of courage and military prowess, fearlessness and love for the Motherland.
“It is known that Alexander Matrosov was far from the first in the history of the Great Patriotic War who accomplished such a feat. More precisely, he had 44 predecessors (5 in 1941, 31 in 1942 and 8 before February 27, 1943). And the very first to close the enemy machine gun with his body was political instructor Pankratov A.V. Subsequently, many more commanders and soldiers of the Red Army performed a self-sacrificing feat. Until the end of 1943, 38 soldiers followed the example of Matrosov, in 1944 - 87, in Last year war - 46. The last in the Great Patriotic War closed the machine gun embrasure with his body, Sergeant Arkhip Manita. It happened in Berlin 17 days before the Victory ...
out of 215 who accomplished the “feat of Matrosov”, the heroes were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Some feats were appreciated only many years after the war. For example, a Red Army soldier of the 679th Infantry Regiment, Abram Levin, who closed the embrasure of the bunker with his body in the battle for the village of Kholmets on February 22, 1942, was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, I degree, only in 1967. There are also documented cases when the brave men who performed the "sailor's" feat remained alive. These are Udodov A.A., Rise R.Kh., Mayborsky V.P. and Kondratiev L.V.” (V. Bondarenko "One Hundred Great Feats of Russia", M., "Veche", 2011, p. 283).
The title of Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Matveyevich Matrosov was posthumously awarded on June 19, 1943. He was buried in the city of Velikiye Luki. On September 8, 1943, by order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR, the name of Matrosov was assigned to the 254th Guards Rifle Regiment, he himself was forever enrolled (one of the first in the Soviet Army) in the lists of the 1st company of this unit. Monuments to the Hero were erected in St. Petersburg, Tolyatti, Velikiye Luki, Ulyanovsk, Krasnoyarsk, Ufa, Dnepropetrovsk, Kharkov, and the streets and squares of Alexander Matrosov in cities and villages former USSR there are at least a few hundred.
Ivan Vasilievich Panfilov
In the battles near Volokolamsk, the 316th Infantry Division of General I.V. Panfilov. Reflecting continuous enemy attacks for 6 days, they knocked out 80 tanks and destroyed several hundred soldiers and officers. Enemy attempts to capture the Volokolamsk region and open the way to Moscow<#"justify">. Nikolai Frantsevich Gastello
Nikolai Frantsevich was born on May 6, 1908 in Moscow, in a working-class family. Graduated from 5 classes. He worked as a mechanic at the Murom Locomotive Plant of Construction Machines. In the Soviet Army in May 1932. In 1933 he graduated from the Lugansk military pilot school in bomber units. In 1939 he participated in the battles on the river. Khalkhin - Gol and the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940. In the army since June 1941, the squadron commander of the 207th long-range bomber aviation regiment (42nd bomber aviation division, 3rd bomber aviation corps DBA), Captain Gastello, on June 26, 1941, carried out another flight on a mission. His bomber was hit and caught fire. He directed the burning aircraft at a concentration of enemy troops. From the explosion of the bomber, the enemy suffered heavy losses. For the accomplished feat on July 26, 1941, he was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Gastello's name is forever listed in the lists of military units. On the site of the feat on the Minsk-Vilnius highway, a memorial monument was erected in Moscow.
9. Zoya Anatolyevna Kosmodemyanskaya ("Tanya")
Zoya Anatolyevna Kosmodemyanskaya was born on September 8, 1923 in the village of Osino-Gai (now the Tambov Region). On October 31, 1941, Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya voluntarily became a fighter of the reconnaissance and sabotage unit No. 9903 of the headquarters of the Western Front. The training was very short - already on November 4, Zoya was transferred to Volokolamsk, where she successfully completed the task of mining the road. On November 17, 1941, the order of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command No. 0428 appeared, ordering “to destroy and burn to the ground all settlements in the rear of the German troops at a distance of 40-60 km in depth from the front edge and 20-30 km to the right and left of the roads. To destroy settlements within the indicated radius of action, immediately drop aircraft, make extensive use of artillery and mortar fire, teams of scouts, skiers and partisan sabotage groups equipped with Molotov cocktails, grenades and explosives.
And the very next day, the leadership of unit No. 9903 received a combat mission - to destroy 10 settlements, including the village of Petrishchevo, Ruzsky district, Moscow region. As part of one of the groups, Zoya also went on a mission. She was armed with three KS Molotov cocktails and a revolver. Near the village of Golovkovo, the group with which Zoya was walking came under fire, suffered losses and broke up. On the night of November 27, Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya reached Petrishchevo and managed to set fire to three houses there. After that, she spent the night in the forest and again returned to Petrishchevo in order to fulfill the combat order to the end - to destroy this settlement.
But overnight the situation in the village changed. The occupiers gathered local residents for a meeting and ordered them to guard the houses. It was a local resident named Sviridov who noticed Zoya at the moment when she tried to set fire to his barn with hay. Sviridov ran after the Germans, and Kosmodemyanskaya was captured. They mocked Zoya terribly. They flogged with belts, brought a burning kerosene lamp to their lips, drove barefoot through the snow, tore out their fingernails. Kosmodemyanskaya was beaten not only by the Germans, but also by local residents, whose houses she burned down. But Zoya held herself with amazing courage. She never gave her real name during the interrogation, she said that her name was Tanya.
November 1941 Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya was hanged by the invaders. Before her death, she uttered a proud phrase, which later became famous: “There are 170 million of us, you can’t outweigh everyone!” On January 27, 1942, the first publication in the press appeared about the feat of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya - an article by P. Lidov "Tanya" (it was published by Pravda.) Soon the heroine's identity was established, and on February 18 a second article appeared - "Who was Tanya." Two days before, a decree had been issued to award Kosmodemyanskaya the title of Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously. She became the first woman to be awarded this title during the Great Patriotic War. The heroine was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.
Already in 1944, a feature film was shot about the feat of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, monuments to the heroine adorned the streets of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kyiv, Kharkov, Tambov, Saratov, Volgograd, Chelyabinsk, Rybinsk, poems and stories were written about Zoya, and her honor, there are several hundred in the cities and villages of the former USSR.
Aliya Moldagulova
Aliya Moldagulova was born on April 20, 1924 in the village of Bulak, Khobdinsky district, Aktobe region. After the death of her parents, she was brought up by her uncle Aubakir Moldagulov. With his family, she moved from city to city. She studied at the 9th secondary school in Leningrad. In the fall of 1942, Aliya Moldagulova joined the army and was sent to a sniper school. In May 1943, Aliya submitted a report to the school command with a request to send her to the front. Aliya ended up in the 3rd company of the 4th battalion of the 54th rifle brigade under the command of Major Moiseev. By the beginning of October, Aliya Moldagulova had 32 dead fascists on her account.
In December 1943, Moiseev's battalion was ordered to drive the enemy out of the village of Kazachikha. By capturing this settlement, the Soviet command hoped to cut the railway line along which the Nazis were transferring reinforcements. The Nazis fiercely resisted, skillfully using the benefits of the area. The slightest advance of our companies came at a heavy price, and yet slowly but steadily our fighters approached the enemy's fortifications. Suddenly, a lone figure appeared ahead of the advancing chains.
Suddenly, a lone figure appeared ahead of the advancing chains. The Nazis noticed the brave warrior and opened fire from machine guns. Catching the moment when the fire weakened, the fighter rose to his full height and dragged the entire battalion with him.
After a fierce battle, our fighters took possession of the height. The daredevil lingered in the trench for some time. There were traces of pain on his pale face, and strands of black hair broke out from under his cap with earflaps. It was Aliya Moldagulova. She destroyed 10 fascists in this battle. The wound was light, and the girl remained in the ranks.
In an effort to restore the situation, the enemy rushed into counterattacks. On January 14, 1944, a group of enemy soldiers managed to break into our trenches. A hand-to-hand fight ensued. Aliya mowed down the Nazis with well-aimed bursts of the machine gun. Suddenly, she instinctively felt danger behind her. She turned sharply, but it was too late: the German officer fired first. Gathering the last of her strength, Aliya threw up her machine gun and the Nazi officer fell to the frozen ground...
The wounded Aliya was carried out by her comrades from the battlefield. The fighters wanted to believe in a miracle, and they offered blood to save the girl. But the wound was fatal.
On June 1944, Corporal Aliya Moldagulova was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Conclusion
From the very first days of the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet people had to deal with a very serious enemy. The Soviet people spared neither strength nor life in order to hasten the hour of victory over the enemy. Shoulder to shoulder with men, women also forged victory over the enemy. They courageously endured the incredible hardships of wartime, they were unparalleled workers in factories, collective farms, hospitals and schools.
Win or die - this was the question in the war against German fascism, and our soldiers understood this. They deliberately gave their lives for their homeland when the situation demanded it.
What fortitude was shown by those who did not hesitate to cover with their bodies the embrasure of the enemy bunker, which was spewing deadly fire!
Soldiers and officers of fascist Germany did not perform such feats, and could not do so. The spiritual motives of their actions were reactionary ideas of racial superiority and motives, and later - the fear of just retribution for the crimes committed and automatic, blind discipline.
The people glorify those who bravely fought and died, with the death of a hero, bringing closer the hour of our victory, they glorify the survivors who managed to defeat the enemy. Heroes do not die, their glory is immortal, their names are forever inscribed not only in the lists of personnel of the Armed Forces, but also in people's memory. The people make up legends about heroes, put up beautiful monuments to them, and call the best streets of their cities and villages after them. More than 100 thousand soldiers, sergeants and officers of the troops were awarded orders and medals of the Soviet Union, and almost 200 graduates of the troops were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. More than 50 monuments and obelisks were erected in honor of the soldiers of the internal troops, about 60 streets and more than 200 schools were named. The feats of those who defended the life and independence of our Motherland will forever remain in the memory of the people.
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Heroes of the Great Patriotic War
The war demanded from the people the greatest exertion of strength and huge sacrifices on a national scale, revealed the steadfastness and courage of the Soviet man, the ability to sacrifice himself in the name of the freedom and independence of the Motherland. During the war years, heroism became widespread, became the norm for the behavior of Soviet people. Thousands of soldiers and officers immortalized their names in the defense of the Brest Fortress, Odessa, Sevastopol, Kyiv, Leningrad, Novorossiysk, in the battle of Moscow, Stalingrad, Kursk, in the North Caucasus, the Dnieper, in the foothills of the Carpathians, during the storming of Berlin and in other battles.
For heroic deeds in the Great Patriotic War, over 11 thousand people were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (some of them posthumously), 104 of them twice, three three times (G.K. Zhukov, I.N. Kozhedub and A.I. Pokryshkin ). During the war years, this title was first awarded to Soviet pilots M.P. Zhukov, S.I. Zdorovtsev and P.T. Kharitonov, who rammed Nazi planes on the outskirts of Leningrad.
One of the most famous pilots of that time is Alexei Petrovich Maresyev
Maresyev Aleksey Petrovich fighter pilot, deputy squadron commander of the 63rd Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment, Guards Senior Lieutenant.
Born on May 20, 1916 in the city of Kamyshin, Volgograd Region, in a working class family. Russian. At the age of three, he was left without a father, who died shortly after returning from the First World War. After graduating from the 8th grade of secondary school, Alexei entered the FZU, where he received the specialty of a locksmith. Then he applied to the Moscow Aviation Institute, but instead of the institute, he went to build Komsomolsk-on-Amur instead of the institute on a Komsomol ticket. There he sawed wood in the taiga, built barracks, and then the first residential quarters. At the same time he studied at the flying club. He was drafted into the Soviet army in 1937. He served in the 12th Aviation Border Detachment. But, according to Maresyev himself, he did not fly, but "wafted his tails" at the planes. He really took to the air already at the Bataysk Military Aviation Pilot School, which he graduated in 1940. He served as a flight instructor.
He made his first sortie on August 23, 1941 in the Krivoy Rog region. On April 4, 1942, in an air battle over the Demyansk bridgehead (Novgorod region), Maresyev's fighter was shot down. He tried to land on the ice of a frozen lake, but released the landing gear early. The plane began to quickly lose altitude and fell into the forest.
Maresyev crawled to his own. He had frostbite on his feet and had to be amputated. However, the pilot decided not to give up. When he got the prostheses, he trained long and hard and got permission to return to duty. He learned to fly again in the 11th reserve aviation brigade in Ivanovo.
In June 1943, Maresyev returned to service. He fought on the Kursk Bulge as part of the 63rd Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment, was a deputy squadron commander.
On August 24, 1943, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Senior Lieutenant Maresyev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
In July 1946, Maresyev was honorably dismissed from the Air Force. In 1956, he became the executive secretary of the Soviet Committee of War Veterans, and in 1983, the first deputy chairman of the committee. In this position, he worked until the last day of his life.
Retired Colonel A.P. Maresyev was awarded two Orders of Lenin, Orders of the October Revolution, Red Banner, Patriotic War 1st degree, two Orders of the Red Banner of Labor, Orders of Friendship of Peoples, Red Star, Badge of Honor, "For Merit to the Fatherland" 3rd degree, medals, foreign orders. He was an honorary soldier of a military unit, an honorary citizen of the cities of Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Kamyshin, Orel. A minor planet in the solar system, a public foundation, and youth patriotic clubs are named after him. He was elected a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Author of the book "On the Kursk Bulge" (M., 1960).
Even during the war, Boris Polevoy's book "The Tale of a Real Man" was published, the prototype of which was Maresyev (the author changed only one letter in his last name).
He died suddenly on May 18, 2001.
Many have been awardedTitle of Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously:Matrosov Alexander Matveevich,Sevastyanov Alexey Tikhonovich,Nikolai Frantsevich Gastello...
Matrosov Alexander Matveevich
Matrosov Alexander Matveyevich - rifleman of the 2nd battalion of the 91st separate rifle brigade (22nd Army, Kalinin Front), private. Born February 5, 1924 in the city of Yekaterinoslav (now Dnepropetrovsk). Russian. Member of the Komsomol. He lost his parents early. 5 years brought up in Ivanovsky orphanage(Ulyanovsk region). Then he was brought up in the Ufa children's labor colony. At the end of the 7th grade, he remained to work in the colony as an assistant teacher. In the Red Army since September 1942. In October 1942 he entered the Krasnokholmsk Infantry School, but soon most of the cadets were sent to the Kalinin Front.
In the army since November 1942. He served in the 2nd Battalion of the 91st Separate Rifle Brigade. For some time the brigade was in reserve. Then she was transferred near Pskov to the area of \u200b\u200bthe Big Lomovaty Bor. Right from the march, the brigade entered the battle.
On February 27, 1943, the 2nd Battalion received the task of attacking a stronghold near the village of Chernushki. As soon as our soldiers passed through the forest and reached the edge of the forest, they came under heavy enemy machine gun fire - three enemy machine guns in bunkers covered the approaches to the village. One machine gun was suppressed by an assault group of machine gunners and armor-piercers. The second bunker was destroyed by another group of armor-piercers. But the machine gun from the third bunker continued to shell the entire hollow in front of the village. Efforts to silence him were unsuccessful. Then, in the direction of the bunker, Private A.M. Matrosov crawled. He approached the embrasure from the flank and threw two grenades. The machine gun fell silent. But as soon as the fighters went on the attack, the machine gun came to life again. Then Matrosov got up, rushed to the bunker and closed the embrasure with his body. At the cost of his life, he contributed to the combat mission of the unit.
A few days later, the name of Matrosov became known throughout the country. The feat of Matrosov was used by a journalist who happened to be with the unit for a patriotic article. At the same time, the regiment commander learned about the feat from the newspapers. Moreover, the date of the death of the hero was moved to February 23, coinciding the feat with the day of the Soviet Army. Despite the fact that Matrosov was not the first to perform such an act of self-sacrifice, it was his name that was used to glorify the heroism of Soviet soldiers. Subsequently, over 300 people performed the same feat, but this was no longer widely reported. His feat has become a symbol of courage and military prowess, fearlessness and love for the Motherland.
The title of Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Matveyevich Matrosov was posthumously awarded on June 19, 1943. He was buried in the city of Velikiye Luki. On September 8, 1943, by order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR, the name of Matrosov was assigned to the 254th Guards Rifle Regiment, he himself was forever enrolled (one of the first in the Soviet Army) in the lists of the 1st company of this unit. Monuments to the Hero were erected in Ufa, Velikiye Luki, Ulyanovsk, etc. The Museum of Komsomol Glory in the city of Velikiye Luki, streets, schools, pioneer squads, motor ships, collective farms and state farms bore his name.
Sevastyanov Alexey Tikhonovich
Sevastyanov Aleksey Tikhonovich, flight commander of the 26th Fighter Aviation Regiment (7th Fighter Aviation Corps, Leningrad Air Defense Zone), junior lieutenant. Born on February 16, 1917 in the village of Kholm, now the Likhoslavl district of the Tver (Kalinin) region. Russian. Graduated from the Kalinin Carriage Building College. In the Red Army since 1936. In 1939 he graduated from the Kachin Military Aviation School.
Member of the Great Patriotic War since June 1941. In total, during the war years, junior lieutenant Sevastyanov A.T. made more than 100 sorties, shot down 2 enemy aircraft personally (one of them by ramming), 2 - in a group and an observation balloon.
The title of Hero of the Soviet Union Alexei Tikhonovich Sevastyanov was awarded posthumously on June 6, 1942.
April 23, 1942 Sevastyanov A.T. died in an unequal air battle, defending the "Road of Life" across Ladoga (shot down 2.5 km from the village of Rakhya, Vsevolozhsk district; a monument was erected in this place). He was buried in Leningrad at the Chesme cemetery. Forever enrolled in the lists of the military unit. A street in St. Petersburg, the House of Culture in the village of Pervitino, Likhoslavl District, are named after him. The documentary "Heroes Don't Die" is dedicated to his feat.
Nikolai Frantsevich Gastello
Nikolai Frantsevich was born on May 6, 1908 in Moscow, in a working-class family. Graduated from 5 classes. He worked as a mechanic at the Murom Locomotive Plant of Construction Machines. In the Soviet Army in May 1932. In 1933 he graduated from the Lugansk military pilot school in bomber units. In 1939 he participated in the battles on the river. Khalkhin - Gol and the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940. In the army since June 1941, the squadron commander of the 207th long-range bomber aviation regiment (42nd bomber aviation division, 3rd bomber aviation corps DBA), Captain Gastello, on June 26, 1941, carried out another flight on a mission. His bomber was hit and caught fire. He directed the burning aircraft at a concentration of enemy troops. From the explosion of the bomber, the enemy suffered heavy losses. For the accomplished feat on July 26, 1941, he was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Gastello's name is forever listed in the lists of military units. On the site of the feat on the Minsk-Vilnius highway, a memorial monument was erected in Moscow.
Not only men distinguished themselves during the Second World War, but also women:
Zoya Anatolyevna Kosmodemyanskaya ("Tanya")
Zoya Anatolyevna ["Tanya" (09/13/1923 - 11/29/1941)] - Soviet partisan, Hero of the Soviet Union was born in Osino-Gai, Gavrilovsky district, Tambov region, in the family of an employee. In 1930 the family moved to Moscow. She graduated from 9 classes of school No. 201. In October 1941, the Komsomol member Kosmodemyanskaya voluntarily joined a special partisan detachment operating on
the task of the headquarters of the Western Front in the Mozhaisk direction.
Twice sent to the rear of the enemy. At the end of November 1941, while performing the second combat mission in the area of the village of Petrishchevo (Russian district of the Moscow region), she was captured by the Nazis. Despite severe torture, she did not give out military secrets, did not give her name.
On November 29, she was hanged by the Nazis. Her devotion to the Motherland, courage and selflessness have become an inspiring example in the fight against the enemy. On February 6, 1942, he was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Many in the Great Patriotic War were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union several times:
Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub
(1920–1991), Air Marshal (1985), Three times Hero of the Soviet Union. During the Great Patriotic War in fighter aviation, the squadron commander, deputy regiment commander, conducted 120 air battles; shot down 62 aircraft.
One of the most memorable battles Kozhedub fought on February 19, 1945 (sometimes the date is February 24).
Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub also distinguished himself in the Battle of Kursk.
Kozhedub's total score does not include at least two aircraft - American R-51 Mustang fighters. In one of the battles in April, Kozhedub tried to drive off German fighters from the American Flying Fortress with cannon fire. US Air Force escort fighters misunderstood the intentions of the La-7 pilot and opened barrage fire from a long distance. Kozhedub, apparently, also mistook the Mustangs for Messers, left the fire with a coup and, in turn, attacked the “enemy”.
He damaged one Mustang (the plane, smoking, left the battlefield and, after flying a little, fell, the pilot jumped out with a parachute), the second R-51 exploded in the air. Only after a successful attack did Kozhedub notice the white stars of the US Air Force on the wings and fuselages of the planes he shot down. After landing, the regiment commander, Colonel Chupikov, advised Kozhedub to keep quiet about the incident and gave him the developed film of the photo-machine gun. The existence of a film with footage of burning Mustangs became known only after the death of the legendary pilot.
Ivan Vasilievich Panfilov
In the battles near Volokolamsk, the 316th Infantry Division of General I.V. Panfilov. Reflecting continuous enemy attacks for 6 days, they knocked out 80 tanks and destroyed several hundred soldiers and officers. Enemy attempts to capture the Volokolamsk area and open the wayto Moscow
failed from the west. For heroic actions, this formation was awarded the Order of the Red Banner and transformed into the 8th Guards, and its commander, General I.V. Panfilov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Ivan Vasilyevich Panfilov, Major General of the Guards, commander of the 8th Guards Rifle Division of the Red Banner (former 316th) Division, was born on January 1, 1893 in the city of Petrovsk, Saratov Region. Russian. From the age of 12 he worked for hire, in 1915 he was drafted into the tsarist army. In the same year he was sent to the Russian-German front. Voluntarily joined the Red Army in 1918. He was enrolled in the 1st Saratov Infantry Regiment of the 25th Chapaev Division. Participated in civil war, fought against Dutov, Kolchak, Denikin and the White Poles.
The Great Patriotic War found Major General Panfilov at the post of military commissar of the Kyrgyz Republic. Having formed the 316th rifle division, he went with it to the front and in October - November 1941 fought near Moscow. For military distinctions he was awarded two Orders of the Red Banner (1921, 1929) and the medal "XX Years of the Red Army".
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During the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet people showed unparalleled heroism and once again became an example of self-sacrifice in the name of Victory. The Red Army soldiers and partisans did not spare themselves in battle with the enemy. However, there were cases when victory was won not by strength and courage, but by cunning and ingenuity.
Winch against impregnable bunker
During the battle for Novorossiysk, Marine Stepan Shchuka, a descendant of Kerch fishermen who had hunted in the Black Sea for generations, served and fought on the Malaya Zemlya bridgehead.
Thanks to his ingenuity, the soldiers managed to take the enemy pillbox (long-term firing point), which had previously seemed impregnable, without loss. It was a stone house with thick walls, the paths to which were blocked with barbed wire. Empty tin cans were hung on the “thorn”, rattling from every touch.
All attempts to take the bunker by force ended in failure - the assault groups suffered losses from machine-gun, mortar and artillery fire and were forced to retreat. Stepan, on the other hand, was able to get a winch with a cable, and at night, imperceptibly crept up to the wire fences, he attached this cable to them. And when he came back, he brought the mechanism into action.
When the Germans saw the creeping barrier, they first opened heavy fire, and then completely ran out of the house. Here they were taken prisoner. Later, they said that when they saw the creeping barrier, they were afraid that they were dealing with evil spirits and panicked. The fort was taken without loss.
Turtle saboteurs
Another case occurred on the same “Malaya Zemlya”. There were many turtles in that area. Once one of the fighters came up with the idea to tie a tin can to one of them and release the amphibian towards the German fortifications.
Hearing the strumming, the Germans thought that the Red Army soldiers were cutting barbed wire, on which empty tin cans were hung as a sound signal, and spent about two hours consuming ammunition, shooting a section where there was not a single soldier.
The next night, our fighters launched dozens of such amphibious "saboteurs" towards the enemy's positions. The roar of cans in the absence of a visible enemy did not give the Germans peace of mind, and for a long time they spent a huge amount of ammunition of all calibers, fighting off non-existent enemies.
Detonation of mines for several hundred kilometers
The name of Ilya Grigoryevich Starinov is inscribed as a separate line in the history of the Russian army. Having gone through the Civil, Spanish, Soviet-Finnish and Great Patriotic Wars, he immortalized himself as a unique partisan and saboteur. It was he who created simple, but extremely effective mines to undermine German trains. Under his leadership, hundreds of demolition men were trained, who turned the rear of the German army into a trap. But his most outstanding sabotage was the destruction of Lieutenant General Georg Braun, who commanded the 68th Wehrmacht Infantry Division.
When our troops, retreating, left Kharkov, the military and directly the first secretary of the Kyiv regional committee of the CPSU (b) Nikita Khrushchev insisted that the house in which Nikita Sergeyevich lived was mined in the city on Dzerzhinsky Street. He knew that the German officers from the command, when they stand up in the occupied cities, lodged with maximum comfort, and his house was the best suited for these purposes.
Ilya Starinov with a group of sappers planted a very powerful bomb in the boiler room of the Khrushchev mansion, which was activated by a radio signal. The fighters dug a 2-meter well right in the room and laid a mine with equipment there. So that the Germans would not find it, they "hid" in another corner of the boiler room, poorly disguised, another fake mine.
A couple of weeks later, when the Germans had already completely occupied Kharkov, the explosives were activated. The signal for the explosion was given as far as Voronezh, the distance to which was 330 kilometers. Only a funnel remained from the mansion, several German officers died, including the aforementioned Georg Braun.
The Russians are insolent and shoot with sheds
Many actions of the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War aroused surprise in the German troops, close to shock. Chancellor Otto von Bismarck is credited with the phrase: “Never fight the Russians. To your every stratagem they will respond with unpredictable stupidity.”
Multiple rocket launchers, which our soldiers affectionately nicknamed “Katyushas”, fired M-8 82 mm and M-13 132 mm shells. Later, more powerful modifications of these ammunition began to be used - 300 mm caliber rockets under the M-30 index.
Guides for such projectiles were not provided for on cars, and launchers were made for them, on which, in fact, only the angle of inclination was regulated. The shells were placed on the installations either in one row or in two, and directly in the factory shipping package, where there were 4 shells in a row. To launch, it was only necessary to connect the shells to a dynamo with a spinning handle, which initiated the ignition of the propellant charge.
Sometimes due to inattention, and sometimes simply due to negligence, without reading the instructions, our gunners forgot to take out the wooden stops for the shells from the packaging packs, and they flew away to the enemy positions right in the packages. The dimensions of the packages reached two meters, because of which there were rumors among the Germans that the completely insolent Russians were “shooting barns”.
With an ax to the tank
An equally incredible event took place in the summer of 1941 on the North-Western Front. When units of the 8th Panzer Division of the Third Reich surrounded our troops, one of German tanks drove to the edge of the forest, where his carriage saw a smoking field kitchen. It smoked not because it was hit, but because firewood was burning in the stove, and soldier's porridge and soup were cooked in cauldrons. The Germans did not notice anyone nearby. Then their commander got out of the car to profit from provisions. But at that moment, a Red Army soldier appeared from under the ground and rushed at him with an ax in one hand and a rifle in the other.
The tanker quickly jumped back, closed the hatch and started firing at our soldier with a machine gun. But it was too late - the fighter was too close and was able to escape from the shelling. Climbing onto an enemy vehicle, he began to hit the machine gun with an ax until he bent its barrel. After that, the cook closed the observation slots with a rag and began to thrash with an ax already on the tower itself. He was alone, but he went to the trick - he began to shout to his comrades who were supposedly nearby to carry anti-tank grenades as soon as possible in order to undermine the tank if the Germans did not surrender.
In a matter of seconds, the hatch of the tank opened and outstretched hands stuck out. Pointing a rifle at the enemy, the Red Army soldier forced the crew members to tie each other up, after which he ran to stir the food that was being prepared, which could burn. The brother-soldiers who returned to the edge, who had successfully repelled the enemy’s attack by that time, found him just like that: he was peacefully stirring porridge, and four captured Germans were sitting next to him and their tank was not far away.
The soldiers were full, and the cook received a medal. The hero's name was Ivan Pavlovich Sereda. He went through the whole war and was awarded more than once.
What exploits of the Great Patriotic War do we know about? Alexander Matrosov, who closed the embrasure; Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, who was tortured by the Nazis; pilot Alexei Maresyev, who lost both legs, but continued to fight ... It is 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 protect their homeland. The streets of our cities are named after them, and we do not even know who they are and what they have done. The editors decided to correct this situation - we invite you to learn about the 10 most incredible feats of the Great Patriotic War.
Nicholas Gastello Nicholas 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 hit the German mechanized column, located between the Belarusian cities of Molodechno and Radoshkovichi. During the operation, Gastello's plane was hit by an anti-aircraft gun - the plane caught fire. Nikolai could have ejected, but instead he directed the burning plane at the German column. Before that, during the entire period of the Second World War, no one had done this, therefore, after the feat accomplished by Gastello, all the pilots who decided to go to the ram were called Gastellites.
Lenya Golikov Lenya Golikov
Lenya Golikov during the Great Patriotic War 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 carrying 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 the German major general of engineering troops, Richard von Wirtz, was driving. As a result of this operation, Golikov was able to obtain important documents that spoke of the German offensive. This made it possible to thwart the impending German attack. For this feat, Golikov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. He died in battle in the winter of 1943 near the village of Ostraya Luka, he was 16 years old.
Zina Portnova Zina Portnova
Zina Portnova was a scout of the Voroshilov partisan detachment, which operated in the territory occupied by the Germans. When the war began, Zina was in Belarus on vacation. In 1942, at the age of 16, she joined the 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 the canteen for German officers. There, she committed a series of sabotage, the Germans did not capture her only by a miracle.
In 1943, Zina joined a partisan detachment, where she continued to engage in sabotage behind enemy lines. But soon, thanks to reports from traitors who sided with the Germans, Zina was captured, where she was subjected to severe torture. However, the enemies underestimated the young girl - the torture did not force her to betray her own, and during one of the interrogations, Zina managed to grab a gun 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 an underground anti-fascist organization that operated in the area of the modern Luhansk 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, Sergey Tyulenin and others.
Members of this underground organization issued and distributed leaflets in the German-occupied territory, and also committed acts of sabotage. As a result of one of the sabotage, they were able to disable an entire repair shop in which the Germans repaired tanks. They also managed to burn down the stock exchange, from where the Germans drove people to Germany.
The traitors handed over the members of the Young Guard to the Germans just before the planned uprising. More than 70 members of the organization were taken prisoner, tortured and then shot.
Viktor Talalikhin Viktor Talalikhin
Victor 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, going to ram him, and survived, getting out of the cockpit and parachuting down to the rear of his own.
After that, Viktor Talalikhin managed to destroy five more fascist aircraft. However, already in October 1914, the hero died while participating in another air battle near Podolsk. In 2014, the plane of Viktor Talalikhin was found in the swamps near Moscow.
Andrey Korzun Andrey Korzun
Andrey 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, due to 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 him with himself. As a result of this feat of Korzun, the explosion did not occur.
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 joined the scouts. Then he began to command a partisan brigade, which managed to destroy several hundred trains and cars, kill thousands of German soldiers and officers. The Germans tried for a long time to reach partisan detachment German, 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 from the 1920s, at the end of the 30s he graduated from 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 fierce fire from the enemy, Khrustitsky radioed the order "Stand 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.
Yefim Osipenko Yefim Osipenko
Yefim Osipenko was the commander of a partisan detachment that he organized with several of his comrades immediately after the seizure of his land by the Germans. Osipenko's detachment committed anti-fascist sabotage. During one of these diversions, Osipenko had to throw an explosive 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 a grenade with a stick attached to it. It exploded, the train with food and tanks for the Germans went downhill. The hero survived, but lost his sight. For this operation, Yefim 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 to 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.
February 5, 1924 Alexander Matrosov was born. He was a Red Army soldier, submachine gunner of the 2nd Separate Battalion of the 91st Separate Siberian Volunteer Brigade named after Stalin. During the Great Patriotic War, Alexander closed the embrasure of the German bunker with his chest, sacrificing his life to help his comrades. We will talk about the ten most selfless deeds Soviet soldiers.
Alexander Matrosov
In September 1942, Alexander was drafted into the army. On February 27, 1943, the 2nd battalion received the task of attacking a stronghold near the village of Chernushki. As soon as the Soviet soldiers passed through the forest and reached the edge of the forest, they fell under strong fire enemy - three machine guns in bunkers covered the approaches to the village.
Two-man assault groups were sent to suppress the firing points. One machine gun was suppressed by an assault group of machine gunners and armor-piercers; the second bunker was destroyed by another group of armor-piercers, but the machine gun from the third bunker continued to shoot through the entire hollow in front of the village. Efforts to silence him were unsuccessful. Then Private Pyotr Ogurtsov and Private Alexander Matrosov crawled towards the bunker. On the outskirts of the bunker, Ogurtsov was seriously wounded, and Matrosov decided to complete the operation alone. He approached the embrasure from the flank and threw two grenades. However, as soon as our fighters went on the attack, fire was again opened from the bunker. Then Matrosov got up, rushed to the bunker and closed the embrasure with his body.
Mikhail Sementsov
Mikhail Sementsov - military pilot, senior lieutenant of the guard, deputy squadron commander of the 41st Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment. In total, he personally shot down 18 and in a group of 12 enemy aircraft. He was awarded the Order of Lenin, two Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of the Red Star.
On February 12, 1945, Captain Sementsov, as part of a group of fighters, flew to cover a squadron of Pe-2 bombers that were attacking the German airfield Neisse. In the target area, the bombers attacked a large group of enemy fighters. In the ensuing battle, Sementsov, covering his comrades, shot down a German FW-190, however, being in a firing position, he himself was shot down.
Petr Bityutsky
Political instructor of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army, Hero of the Soviet Union. In September 1934 he was called up for service in the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army. In 1937 Bityutsky graduated from the 7th Stalingrad Military Aviation Pilot School.
By August 1941, political instructor Pyotr Bityutsky was the military commissar of the squadron of the 66th assault aviation regiment of the 15th mixed air division of the Southwestern Front. During his participation in the war, he made more than 50 sorties, shot down 4 enemy aircraft.
On August 13, 1941, near Kyiv, Bityutsky flew out at the head of a fighter unit to escort bombers. Covering them from German fighters, he ensured the successful bombing of an enemy tank column. Then, covering his comrades, Bityutsky entered into an air battle with three Me-109 fighters, shooting down one of them with machine-gun fire. Against another fighter, Bityutsky used an air ram, while dying himself.
Rimma Shershneva
Rimma Shershneva is a Soviet partisan. In November 1942, she was enrolled in the Rozov partisan brigade of the Minsk partisan unit. On November 25, 1942, the brigade attacked the garrison of enemy troops occupying the village of Lomovichi.
Rimma Shershneva, in violation of the order of the brigade commander to remain at the base, followed the formation and took part in the attack. During the street battle, the partisans were stopped by machine-gun fire from a bunker with circular fire located at the crossroads. Fighter Bondarchuk with a grenade in his hand tried to get closer to the bunker, but was killed by machine-gun fire. Immediately after that, Rimma Shershneva quickly ran up to the body of a fighter and, picking up a grenade, crawled to the embrasure and threw a grenade there. The grenade hit the target, but the machine-gun burst hit the partisan. A minute after the grenade was thrown, Rimma Shershneva, having risen, rushed to the embrasure. After that, the machine gun fell silent and our soldiers were able to continue the attack. Rimma died a few days later from blood loss.
Minnigali Gubaidullin
Commander of a machine-gun platoon of the 309th Guards Rifle Regiment of the 109th Guards Rifle Division of the 28th Army of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, Guard Lieutenant, Hero of the Soviet Union.
On September 26-27, 1943, Gubaidullin showed courage and courage in the battles on the Molochnaya River. Wounded twice, he refused to leave the battlefield. On March 8, 1944, the platoon commander, Lieutenant Gubaidullin, received an order to suppress the firing point on one of the mounds at any cost and thus break the enemy’s defensive line at the Dudchany-Ryadovoye line.
During the assault, a seriously wounded lieutenant, covering his comrades, closed the embrasure of an enemy bunker with his body and died.
Valeria Gnarovskaya
At the beginning of the war, Valeria Gnarovskaya graduated from nursing courses and went to the front, fought near Stalingrad. Only in the battle near the village of Holaya Dolina, Valeria Gnarovskaya saved more than 40 wounded soldiers and commanders and destroyed about 30 German soldiers.
In September 1943, Gnarowska had three hundred wounded soldiers and officers on her account, whom she carried out under fire from the battlefield. In the autumn of 1943, our troops fought intense battles on the banks of the Dnieper, the enemy resisted especially fiercely on the outskirts of Zaporozhye. The battalion, in which Gnarovskaya served, having liberated the village of Verbove, marched towards the Dnieper in marching order. As soon as they left the village, they came under fire from a disguised enemy ambush. The fight was short. The Nazis fled, but ours also had losses. After burying the dead, they gathered all the wounded. They pitched tents in the forest, placed the wounded before being sent to the hospital. Gnarovskaya stayed with them.
On the morning of September 23, 1943, two repulsed fascist "tigers" unexpectedly approached the camp from our rear. The tanks went straight for the tents. Lera collected bags with grenades from all the wounded and, hung with them, rushed under the tracks. There was a deafening explosion, the tank froze, shrouded in black smoke. At the cost of her life, Valeria saved seventy wounded soldiers.
Yakov Paderin
In September 1941 Yakov Paderin went to the front. He was sent to serve on the Kalinin Front in the 1326 Infantry Regiment of the 355th Division of the 39th Army. After the liberation of Kalinin, there were stubborn battles for the city of Staritsa. On December 27, 1941, the division advanced on the village of Ryabinikha. The Germans built dugouts and bunkers there, connecting them with passages.
The seventh company, where Yakov Nikolayevich Paderin fought, was sent under cover of the forest to bypass the village. Fighters under fire of the enemy stubbornly moved forward. Showing an example of courage, Paderin walked in front. At the planned line, everyone prepared for the attack. Suddenly, an enemy machine gun fired from the flank. It was decided to destroy it before the attack.
Yakov Paderin approached the bunker and prepared grenades. But there was a trench nearby, from which they were shelling. Paderin threw the last grenades into the trench and with a jerk reached the bunker, rushed at the machine gun, closing the embrasure with his body. The gun was silent. Paderin died saving the lives of his comrades. The company immediately went on the attack, destroyed the Nazis with grenades and bayonets, freeing the village of Ryabinikha.
Alexander Pankratov
Junior political officer of a tank company of the 28th tank division. In October 1938 he was drafted into the Red Army. Receives a direction to Smolensk, to the 32nd training battalion of the 21st tank brigade. In the battles for the defense of Novgorod in August 1941, he fought as part of the 28th Panzer Division under the command of Colonel Chernyakhovsky.
The springboard for heavy fighting, in addition to the city itself, was the Kirillov Monastery, which stood separately on the right bank of the Volkhov. On the night of August 24-25, the 125th tank regiment launched a covert attack on the monastery with a crossing over the Maly Volkhovets River. The German side was ready for this and met the Red Army with a dense defense. The commander of the tank company, Lieutenant Platonov, was killed, the attack stopped. The junior political officer Pankratov managed to crawl to the enemy machine gun. With the help of several grenades, he tried to destroy the firing point, but the attempt was unsuccessful - after a while the machine gun resumed firing. The advance of soldiers under heavy fire without numerous losses was impossible. Then the political instructor Pankratov rushed to the enemy machine gun and closed it with himself. This saved the rest of the fighters, giving them a few seconds for the decisive throw. Timur Frunze
Fighter pilot Timur Frunze was the son of politician and military leader Mikhail Frunze. At the end of December 1941, Timur was assigned to the 161st Fighter Aviation Regiment. Since January 7, 1942, as part of the 57th mixed aviation division of the North-Western Front, he participated in the Demyansk offensive operation. On January 19, 1942, while performing a combat mission to cover the troops, Frunze, paired with the flight commander and lead pair, Lieutenant Ivan Shutov, patrolling in the Staraya Russa area, found 30 bombers escorted by fighters. Deciding to attack, they shot down a Henschel Hs.126 spotter. In the ensuing battle with four Me-109 and Me-115 fighters, one Me-109 was shot down.
However, three more Me-115s soon joined the battle, and Shutov's plane was shot down. Covering the damaged plane of a friend, Timur Frunze used up all the ammunition and was killed in the air by a direct hit in the head. The car set on fire went into a tailspin and crashed into the ground 500 meters northwest of the village of Otvidino, Starorussky district.