Heroes of the Great Patriotic War

1. Ivan Timofeevich Lyubushkin (1918-1942)

In the fall of 1941, there were fierce battles in the area of ​​the city of Orel. Soviet tank crews fought off the fierce attacks of the Nazis. At the beginning of the battle, Senior Sergeant Lyubushkin's tank was damaged by an enemy shell and could not move. The crew took on an unequal battle with fascist tanks pressing from all sides. Five enemy vehicles were destroyed by courageous tankers! During the battle, another shell hit Lyubushkin’s car and the crew was wounded.

The tank commander continued to fire at the advancing fascists and ordered the driver to repair the damage. Soon Lyubushkin's tank was able to move and joined its column.

For courage and bravery, I. T. Lyuboshkin was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on October 10, 1941.

In one of the battles in June 1942, Lyubushkin died a heroic death.

2. Alexander Matveevich Matrosov (1924-1943)

On February 23, 1943, fierce battles broke out on one of the sections of the Kalinin Front near the village of Chernushki north of the city of Velikiye Luki. The enemy turned the village into a heavily fortified stronghold. Several times the soldiers launched an attack on the fascist fortifications, but destructive fire from the bunker blocked their path. Then a private of the Sailors Guard, making his way to the bunker, covered the embrasure with his body. Inspired by Matrosov’s feat, the soldiers went on the attack and drove the Germans out of the village.

For his feat, A. M. Matrosov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Today, the regiment in which Sailors served bears the name of a hero who is forever included in the unit’s lists.

3. Nelson Georgievich Stepanyan (1913-1944)

During the Great Patriotic War, the commander of the assault regiment Stepanyan made 293 successful combat missions to attack and bomb enemy ships.

Stepanyan became famous for his high skill, surprise and audacity in striking the enemy. One day, Colonel Stepanyan led a group of planes to bomb an enemy airfield. The attack aircraft dropped their bombs and began to leave. But Stepanyan saw that several fascist planes remained undamaged. Then he directed his plane back, and approaching the enemy airfield, he lowered the landing gear. The enemy's anti-aircraft artillery stopped firing, thinking that the Soviet plane was voluntarily landing on their airfield. At this moment, Stepanyan stepped on the gas, retracted the landing gear and dropped the bombs. All three aircraft that survived the first raid burst into flames with torches. And Stepanyan’s plane landed safely at its airfield.

On October 23, 1942, for the excellent performance of command tasks, the glorious son of the Armenian people was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. He was awarded a second Gold Star medal posthumously on March 6, 1945.

4. Vasily Georgievich Klochkov (1911-1941)

November 1941. Moscow has been declared in a state of siege. In the Volokolamsk direction, in the area of ​​the Dubosekovo crossing, 28 soldiers of the rifle division of Major General I.V. Panfilov, led by political instructor Klochkov, fought to the death.

On November 16, the Nazis sent a company of machine gunners against them. But all enemy attacks were repulsed. The Nazis left about 70 corpses on the battlefield. After some time, the Nazis moved 50 tanks against 28 brave men. The soldiers, led by the political instructor, courageously entered into an unequal battle. One after another, valiant warriors fell to the ground, struck down by fascist bullets. When the cartridges ran out and the grenades were running out, political instructor Klochkov gathered the surviving soldiers around him and, with grenades in his hands, went towards the enemy.

At a price own life Panfilov’s men did not allow enemy tanks rushing towards Moscow to pass through. The Nazis left 18 damaged and burned vehicles on the battlefield.

For unparalleled heroism, courage and bravery, political instructor V. G. Klochkov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

After the war, a monument was erected to the Panfilov heroes at the Dubosekovo crossing.

5. Alexander Mikhailovich Roditelev (1916-1966)

During the battles for Koenigsberg in April 1945, the commander of a sapper platoon, junior lieutenant Roditelev, and eight sappers acted as part of an assault group.

With a swift rush, the assault group reached the enemy artillery positions. Wasting no time, Roditelev ordered the artillerymen to attack. In the ensuing hand-to-hand combat he himself killed six fascists. Unable to withstand the onslaught of Soviet soldiers, 25 German soldiers surrendered, the rest fled, leaving 15 heavy guns. A few minutes later, the Nazis attempted to return the abandoned guns. The sappers repulsed three counterattacks and held artillery positions until the main forces marched. In this battle, a group of sappers under the command of Roditelev destroyed up to 40 Nazis and captured 15 serviceable heavy guns. The next day, April 8, Roditelev with twelve sappers blew up an enemy bunker, cleared 6 blocks of the city from the Nazis and captured up to 200 soldiers and officers.

For the courage and bravery shown in battles with the German fascists, A. M. Roditelev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

6. Vladimir Dmitrievich Lavrinenkov (Born 1919)

Fighter pilot Lavrinenkov spent his first battle near Stalingrad. Soon he already had 16 enemy aircraft destroyed. With each flight his skill grew and strengthened. In battle, he acted decisively and boldly. The number of enemy aircraft shot down increased. Together with his comrades, he covered attack aircraft and bombers, repelled enemy air raids, conducting air battles - lightning battles with the enemy, from which he always emerged victorious.

By the end of the war, the communist Lavrinenkov had 448 combat missions, 134 air battles, in which he personally shot down 35 enemy aircraft and 11 as part of a group.

The Motherland twice awarded V.D. Lavrinenkov with the Gold Star medals of the Hero of the Soviet Union.

7. Viktor Dmitrievich Kuskov (1924-1983)

Motor mechanic torpedo boat Kuskov fought throughout the war on the ships of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet. The boat on which he served took part in 42 combat operations and sank 3 enemy ships.

In one of the battles, a direct hit from an enemy shell into the engine compartment destroyed the left engine and damaged the oil line of the second engine. Kuskov himself was seriously shell-shocked. Overcoming the pain, he reached the engine and closed the hole in the oil line with his hands. The hot oil burned his hands, but he unclenched them only when the boat left the battle and broke away from the enemy.

In another battle, in June 1944, a direct hit from an enemy shell started a fire in the engine room. Kuskov was seriously wounded, but continued to remain at his post, fighting the fire and water that flooded the engine compartment. However, the ship could not be saved. Kuskov, together with Petty Officer Matyukhin, lowered the crew members into the water using lifebelts, and the seriously wounded boat commander and officer were held in the water in their arms for two hours until our ships arrived.

For fearlessness and dedication, a high understanding of military duty and saving the life of the ship commander, communist V.D. Kuskov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on July 22, 1944.

8. Rufina Sergeevna Gasheva (Born 1921)

School, a pioneer detachment, three years of study at Moscow State University - this ordinary biography was radically changed by the war. 848 combat missions are recorded in the summer book of Rufina Gasheva, navigator of the squadron of the 46th Guards Taman Light Bomber Regiment. More than once she had to get into the most difficult situations. In one of the battles in Kuban, Gesheva’s plane was shot down by a fascist fighter and fell behind the front line. For several days, the girl made her way behind enemy lines to her regiment, where she was already considered dead. Near Warsaw, she parachuted out of a burning plane and landed on a minefield.

In 1956, Rufina Sergeevna Gasheva was demobilized with the rank of major. Taught English language at the Academy of Armored Forces named after R. Ya. Malinovsky, worked at Voenizdat. Since 1972 she has been retired in Moscow. For the courage shown in battles with the enemy, Rufina Sergeevna Gasheva was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on February 23, 1945.

10. Evgenia Maksimovna Rudneva (1921-1944)

In the first days of the Great Patriotic War, MSU student Zhenya Rudneva volunteered to go to the front. During the course she mastered the art of navigating. And then there were successful bombings of concentrations of enemy troops and enemy equipment in the Kuban, North Caucasus, and Crimea. The navigator of the Guards Bomber Aviation Regiment, Senior Lieutenant Rudneva, made 645 combat missions. In April 1944, while carrying out another combat mission in the Kerch region, E. M. Rudneva died heroically. On October 26, 1944, the navigator of the Guards Bomber Regiment, Evgenia Maksimovna Rudneva, was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

12. Manshuk Zhiengalievna Mametova (1922-1943)

The best machine gunner of the 21st Guards Rifle Division was considered a Kazakh girl, Manshuk Mametova. She was an example of valor and fearlessness, the pride of the division’s fighters.

On October 15, 1943, there was a fierce battle for the city of Nevel. Manshuk supported the advance of her unit with machine-gun fire. She was wounded in the head. Gathering her last strength, the girl pulled the machine gun into an open position and began shooting the Nazis point-blank, clearing the way for her comrades. Even dead, Manshuk clutched the handles of the machine gun...

From all over our Motherland letters were sent to Alma-Ata, where Manshuk lived and where she left for a great feat. And in Nevel, near whose walls the heroine died, there is a street named after her. The courageous machine gunner was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously on March 1, 1944.

13. Elena Fedorovna Kolesova (1921-1942)

On a frosty November night in 1941 near Moscow, a detachment of girl reconnaissance girls, led by twenty-year-old Muscovite Komsomol member Elena Kolesova, went behind enemy lines. For exemplary performance of this task, Lelya Kolesova was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. Since April 1942, Kolesova’s group operated in one of the districts of the Minsk region. Under the leadership of its brave commander, the group collected and transmitted information about the location of the Nazis, the transfer of troops and military equipment of the enemy, passed highways and railways, blew up enemy trains and bridges. On September 11, 1942, Elena Kolesova died in an unequal battle with punitive forces near the village of Vydritsa, Minsk Region. The heroine’s name was borne by the pioneer squad of Moscow school No. 47, where she worked as a pioneer leader and teacher. The glorious intelligence officer, who gave her life for the freedom and independence of our Motherland, was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on February 21, 1944.

14. Anatoly Konstantinovich Avdeev, gunner fighter anti-tank artillery regiment, born in 1925.

On July 5, 1944, Avdeev’s gun crew was ordered to prevent the fascist troops from breaking out of the encirclement in the Volma region (Belarus). Having taken up an open firing position, the soldiers shot the Nazis at point-blank range. The battle lasted 13 hours. During this time, the gun crew repelled 7 attacks. Almost all the shells ran out, and 5 gun crew members died the death of the brave. The enemy is attacking again. Avdeev's gun is damaged by a direct hit from a shell, and the last soldier in the crew is killed. Left alone, Avdeev does not leave the battlefield, but continues to fight with a machine gun and grenades. But now all the cartridges and the last grenade have been used up. The Komsomol member grabs an ax lying nearby and destroys four more fascists.

The task is completed. Enemy failed, leaving up to 180 corpses of soldiers and officers on the battlefield in front of Avdeev’s gun, 2 self-propelled guns, a machine gun and 4 vehicles.

By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the glorious son of the Russian people, Avdeev, was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

15. Vladimir Avramovich Alekseenko, Deputy commander of an aviation regiment, born in 1923, Russian.

Attack aviation pilot Alekseenko made 292 successful combat missions during the war years. He stormed enemy batteries shelling Leningrad, crushed the enemy on the Karelian Isthmus, in the Baltic states and in East Prussia. Dozens of aircraft shot down and destroyed at airfields, 33 tanks, 118 vehicles, 53 railway cars, 85 carts, 15 armored personnel carriers, 10 ammunition depots, 27 artillery pieces, 54 anti-aircraft guns, 12 mortars and hundreds of killed enemy soldiers and officers - this is the combat account of Captain Alekseenko.

For 230 successful combat sorties in assault strikes against enemy concentrations of troops and equipment, for courage and bravery, communist V. A. Alekseenko was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on April 19, 1945. On June 29, 1945, for new military exploits at the front, he was awarded a second Gold Star medal.

16. Andrey Egorovich Borovykh, commander aviation squadron, born in 1921, Russian.

During the Great Patriotic War, fighter pilot Andrei Borovoy fought on the Kalinin Front. His battle path ran through Orel and Kursk, Gomel and Brest, Lvov and Warsaw and ended near Berlin. He flew to intercept enemy aircraft, accompanied our bombers behind enemy lines, and conducted aerial reconnaissance. In the first two years of the war alone, Major Borovoy made 328 successful combat missions, participated in 55 air battles, in which he personally shot down 12 enemy aircraft.

In August 1943, the communist Borovykh was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. He was awarded the second Gold Star medal on February 23, 1945 for shooting down another 20 enemy aircraft in the next 49 air battles.

In total, during the war years, Borovoy made about 600 successful combat missions.

After the Great Patriotic War, A.E. Borovykh was elected as a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR and as a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

17. Boris Aleksandrovich Vladimirov , commander of a rifle division, born in 1905, Russian.

General Vladimirov especially distinguished himself in January 1945 in the Vistula-Oder operation. As a result of a well-thought-out and skillfully organized battle, his division on January 14-15 successfully broke through the deeply echeloned German defenses at the line of the Vistula River. Pursuing the enemy, the division fought about 400 km from January 16 to 28, suffering minor losses in personnel and military equipment. The soldiers under the leadership of General Vladimirov were among the first to enter the territory of Nazi Germany and, having made a difficult maneuver in a wooded area, with fierce resistance from the Nazis, pushed them back from the border and defeated the five thousand-strong garrison of the city of Schneidemuhl. In the area of ​​the city of Schneidemuhl, the division's soldiers captured huge trophies, including 30 trains with military equipment, food and military equipment.

For skillful leadership of the division in difficult battle conditions and the personal courage and heroism shown, communist B. A. Vladimirov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

18. Alexander Borisovich Kazaev , commander rifle regiment, born in 1919, Ossetian.

On April 13, 1945, a rifle regiment under the command of Major Kazaev, conducting offensive battles against the fascist group on the Zemland Peninsula, approached a heavily fortified enemy defense line. All attempts to break through the defenses from the front were unsuccessful. The division's advance was stopped. Then Major Kazaev, with a daring and unexpected maneuver, blocked the main enemy stronghold with small forces, and with his main forces broke through the defenses from the flanks and ensured the successful offensive of the entire division.

During the offensive battles from April 13 to April 17, 1945, Major Kazaev’s regiment destroyed more than 400 and captured 600 Nazi soldiers and officers, captured 20 guns and freed 1,500 prisoners languishing in concentration camps.

For his skillful leadership of the regiment's combat operations and his courage, A. V. Kazaev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

21. Ermalai Grigorievich Koberidze, commander of a rifle division, born in 1904, Georgian, communist.

Career military man, Major General E. G. Koberidze on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War - since June 1941. He especially distinguished himself in battles in July 1944. On July 27, 1944, the division commander, General Koberidze, personally forward detachment The division reached the eastern bank of the Vistula and organized its crossing. Under heavy enemy fire, the fighters, inspired by the division commander, crossed to the west bank and captured a bridgehead there. Following the advance detachment, the entire division, waging heavy fighting, completely crossed over to the western bank of the river within two days and began consolidating and expanding the bridgehead.

For his skillful management of the division in the battles for the Vistula and the personal heroism and courage shown at the same time, E. G. Koberidze was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

22. Caesar Lvovich Kunikov , commander of the landing detachment of sailors of the Novorossiysk Naval Base Black Sea Fleet, Russian.

On the night of February 3-4, 1943, a landing detachment of sailors under the command of Major Kunikov landed on the enemy-occupied and heavily fortified coast in the Novorossiysk region. With a swift blow, the landing detachment knocked the fascists out of their strong point and firmly entrenched themselves in the captured bridgehead. At dawn a fierce battle broke out. The paratroopers repelled 18 enemy attacks during the day. By the end of the day, ammunition was running low. The situation seemed hopeless. Then Major Kunikov’s detachment made a surprise raid on an enemy artillery battery. Having destroyed the gun crew and captured the guns, they opened fire on the attacking enemy soldiers.

For seven days, the paratroopers repulsed the enemy’s fierce attacks and held the bridgehead until the main forces arrived. During this period, the detachment destroyed over 200 Nazis. In one of the battles, Kunikov was mortally wounded.

For courage and bravery, communist Ts. L. Kunikov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

24. Kafur Nasyrovich Mamedov . On October 18, 1942, a battalion of marines of the Black Sea Fleet, in which sailor Mamedov fought, fought a difficult battle with superior enemy forces. Nazi troops managed to break through and encircle command post company commander. Sailor Mamedov rushed to the commander’s rescue and shielded him from the enemy’s attack with his chest. The brave warrior saved the commander at the cost of his own life.

For courage, bravery and self-sacrifice in the battle with the fascist invaders to his son Azerbaijani people Komsomol member K.N. Mamedov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

29. Maguba Guseinovna Syrtlanova , deputy commander of a night bomber squadron, born in 1912, Tatar, communist.

Guard senior lieutenant Syrtlanova fought in the North Caucasus, Taman Peninsula, Crimea, Belarus, Poland and East Prussia during the Great Patriotic War. In battles she showed exceptional courage, courage and bravery, and flew 780 combat missions. In the most difficult meteorological conditions Syrtlanova guided groups of aircraft to specified areas with great precision.

For the courage and courage of the guard, senior lieutenant M. G. Syrtlanova was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

During the Great Patriotic War, many Soviet citizens (not just soldiers) performed heroic deeds, saving other people's lives and bringing closer the USSR's victory over the German invaders. These people are rightfully considered heroes. In our article we will recall some of them.

Heroes men

The list of heroes of the Soviet Union who became famous during the Great Patriotic War is quite extensive, so Let's name the most famous:

• Nikolai Gastello (1907-1941): Hero of the Union posthumously, squadron commander. After being bombed by German heavy equipment, Gastello's plane was shot down. The pilot rammed a burning bomber into an enemy column;
• Victor Talalikhin (1918-1941): Hero of the USSR, deputy squadron commander, participated in the Battle of Moscow. One of the first Soviet pilots to ram the enemy in a night air battle;
• Alexander Matrosov (1924-1943): Hero of the Union posthumously, private, rifleman. In a battle near the village of Chernushki (Pskov region), he blocked the embrasure of a German firing point;
• Alexander Pokryshkin (1913-1985): three times Hero of the USSR, fighter pilot (recognized as an ace), improved combat techniques (about 60 victories), went through the entire war (about 650 sorties), air marshal (since 1972);
• Ivan Kozhedub (1920-1991): three times Hero, fighter pilot (ace), squadron commander, participant Battle of Kursk, carried out about 330 combat missions (64 victories). He became famous for his effective shooting technique (200-300 m before the enemy) and the absence of cases when the plane was shot down;
• Alexey Maresyev (1916-2001): Hero, deputy squadron commander, fighter pilot. He is famous for the fact that after the amputation of both legs, using prosthetics, he was able to return to combat flights.

Rice. 1. Nikolai Gastello.

In 2010, an extensive Russian electronic database “Feat of the People” was created, containing reliable information from official documents about the war participants, their exploits and awards.

Heroes of women

It is especially worth highlighting the women heroes of the Great Patriotic War.
Some of them:

• Valentina Grizodubova (1909-1993): the first female pilot - Hero of the Soviet Union, instructor pilot (5 world aviation records), commander of an air regiment, made about 200 combat missions (132 of them at night);
• Lyudmila Pavlichenko (1916-1974): Hero of the Union, world-famous sniper, instructor at a sniper school, participated in the defense of Odessa and Sevastopol. Destroyed about 309 enemies, of which 36 were snipers;
• Lydia Litvyak (1921-1943): Posthumous hero, fighter pilot (ace), squadron flight commander, participated in the Battle of Stalingrad, battles in Donbass (168 sorties, 12 victories in air combat);
• Ekaterina Budanova (1916-1943): Hero Russian Federation posthumously (she was listed as missing in the USSR), fighter pilot (ace), repeatedly fought against superior enemy forces, including launching a frontal attack (11 victories);
• Ekaterina Zelenko (1916-1941): Hero of the Union posthumously, deputy squadron commander. The only Soviet female pilot who participated in Soviet-Finnish war. The only woman in the world to ram an enemy plane (in Belarus);
• Evdokia Bershanskaya (1913-1982): the only woman awarded the Order of Suvorov. Pilot, commander of the 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment (1941-1945). The regiment was exclusively female. For his skill in performing combat missions, he received the nickname “night witches.” He particularly distinguished himself in the liberation of the Taman Peninsula, Feodosia, and Belarus.

Rice. 2. Pilots of the 46th Guards Aviation Regiment.

05/09/2012 in Tomsk the modern movement “ Immortal Regiment", designed to honor the memory of the heroes of the Second World War. Through the streets of the city, residents carried about two thousand portraits of their relatives who participated in the war. The movement became widespread. Every year the number of participating cities increases, even covering other countries. In 2015, the “Immortal Regiment” event received official permission and took place in Moscow immediately after the Victory Parade.

Before the war, these were the most ordinary boys and girls. They studied, helped their elders, played, raised pigeons, and sometimes even took part in fights. But the hour has come severe tests and they proved how huge an ordinary little child’s heart can become when a sacred love for the Motherland, pain for the fate of one’s people and hatred for enemies flares up in it. And no one expected that it was these boys and girls who were capable of accomplishing a great feat for the glory of the freedom and independence of their Motherland!

Children left in destroyed cities and villages became homeless, doomed to starvation. It was scary and difficult to stay in enemy-occupied territory. Children could be sent to a concentration camp, taken to work in Germany, turned into slaves, made donors for German soldiers, etc.

Here are the names of some of them: Volodya Kazmin, Yura Zhdanko, Lenya Golikov, Marat Kazei, Lara Mikheenko, Valya Kotik, Tanya Morozova, Vitya Korobkov, Zina Portnova. Many of them fought so hard that they earned military orders and medals, and four: Marat Kazei, Valya Kotik, Zina Portnova, Lenya Golikov, became Heroes of the Soviet Union.

From the first days of the occupation, boys and girls began to act at their own risk, which was truly fatal.

"Fedya Samodurov. Fedya is 14 years old, he is a graduate of a motorized rifle unit, commanded by Guard Captain A. Chernavin. Fedya was picked up in his homeland, in a destroyed village in the Voronezh region. Together with the unit, he took part in the battles for Ternopil, with machine-gun crews he kicked the Germans out of the city. When almost the entire crew was killed, the teenager, together with the surviving soldier, took up the machine gun, firing long and hard, and detained the enemy. Fedya was awarded the medal "For Courage".

Vanya Kozlov, 13 years old,he was left without relatives and has been in a motorized rifle unit for two years now. At the front, he delivers food, newspapers and letters to soldiers in the most difficult conditions.

Petya Zub. Petya Zub chose an equally difficult specialty. He decided long ago to become a scout. His parents were killed, and he knows how to settle accounts with the damned German. Together with experienced scouts, he gets to the enemy, reports his location by radio, and the artillery, at their direction, fires, crushing the fascists." ("Arguments and Facts", No. 25, 2010, p. 42).

A sixteen year old schoolgirl Olya Demesh with her younger sister Lida At the Orsha station in Belarus, on the instructions of the commander of the partisan brigade S. Zhulin, fuel tanks were blown up using magnetic mines. Of course, girls attracted much less attention from German guards and policemen than teenage boys or adult men. But the girls were just right to play with dolls, and they fought with Wehrmacht soldiers!

Thirteen-year-old Lida often took a basket or bag and went to the railway tracks to collect coal, obtaining intelligence about German military trains. If the guards stopped her, she explained that she was collecting coal to heat the room in which the Germans lived. Olya’s mother and little sister Lida were captured and shot by the Nazis, and Olya continued to fearlessly carry out the partisans’ tasks.

The Nazis promised a generous reward for the head of the young partisan Olya Demesh - land, a cow and 10 thousand marks. Copies of her photograph were distributed and sent to all patrol officers, policemen, wardens and secret agents. Capture and deliver her alive - that was the order! But they failed to catch the girl. Olga destroyed 20 German soldiers and officers, derailed 7 enemy trains, conducted reconnaissance, participated in the “rail war”, and in the destruction of German punitive units.

Children of the Great Patriotic War

What happened to the children during this terrible time? During the war?

The guys worked for days in factories, factories and factories, standing at the machines instead of brothers and fathers who had gone to the front. Children also worked at defense enterprises: they made fuses for mines, fuses for hand grenades, smoke bombs, colored flares, and assembled gas masks. Worked in agriculture, grew vegetables for hospitals.

In school sewing workshops, pioneers sewed underwear and tunics for the army. The girls knitted warm clothes for the front: mittens, socks, scarves, and sewed tobacco pouches. The guys helped the wounded in hospitals, wrote letters to their relatives under their dictation, staged performances for the wounded, organized concerts, bringing a smile to war-weary adult men.

A number of objective reasons: teachers leaving for the army, evacuation of the population from western to eastern regions, inclusion of students in labor activity In connection with the family's breadwinners leaving for the war, the transfer of many schools to hospitals, etc., prevented the deployment in the USSR during the war of universal seven-year compulsory education, which began in the 30s. In the remaining educational institutions training was carried out in two, three, and sometimes four shifts.

At the same time, the children were forced to store firewood for the boiler houses themselves. There were no textbooks, and due to a shortage of paper, they wrote on old newspapers between the lines. However, new schools were also opened, additional classes. Boarding schools were created for evacuated children. For those youth who left school at the beginning of the war and were employed in industry or agriculture, schools for working and rural youth were organized in 1943.

In the chronicles of the Great Patriotic War there are still many little-known pages, for example, the fate of kindergartens. “It turns out that in December 1941, in besieged MoscowKindergartens operated in bomb shelters. When the enemy was repulsed, they resumed their work faster than many universities. By the fall of 1942, 258 kindergartens had opened in Moscow!

From the memories of Lydia Ivanovna Kostyleva’s wartime childhood:

“After the death of my grandmother, I was assigned to kindergarten, older sister at school, mom at work. I went to kindergarten alone, by tram, when I was less than five years old. Once I got seriously ill with mumps, I was lying at home alone with high temperature, there was no medicine, in my delirium I imagined a piglet running under the table, but everything turned out okay.
I saw my mother in the evenings and on rare weekends. The children were raised on the street, we were friendly and always hungry. WITH early spring They ran to the mosses, since there were forests and swamps nearby, and picked berries, mushrooms, and various early grasses. The bombings gradually stopped, Allied residences were located in our Arkhangelsk, this brought a certain flavor to life - we, the children, sometimes received warm clothes and some food. Mostly we ate black shangi, potatoes, seal meat, fish and fish oil, on holidays - “marmalade” made from seaweed, tinted with beets.”

More than five hundred teachers and nannies dug trenches on the outskirts of the capital in the fall of 1941. Hundreds worked in logging operations. The teachers, who just yesterday were dancing with the children in a round dance, fought in the Moscow militia. Natasha Yanovskaya, a kindergarten teacher in the Baumansky district, died heroically near Mozhaisk. The teachers who remained with the children did not perform any feats. They simply saved children whose fathers were fighting and whose mothers were at work.

Most kindergartens became boarding schools during the war; children were there day and night. And in order to feed children in half-starvation, protect them from the cold, give them at least a modicum of comfort, occupy them with benefit for the mind and soul - such work required great love for children, deep decency and boundless patience." (D. Shevarov " World of News", No. 27, 2010, p. 27).

Children's games have changed, "... new game- to the hospital. Hospital has been played before, but not like this. Now the wounded for them - real people. But they play war less often, because no one wants to be a fascist. Trees perform this role for them. They shoot snowballs at them. We learned to provide assistance to victims - those who fell, were hurt."

From a boy’s letter to a front-line soldier: “We used to often play war, but now much less often - we’re tired of the war, it would sooner end so that we could live well again...” (Ibid.).

Due to the death of their parents, many homeless children appeared in the country. The Soviet state, despite the difficult wartime, still fulfilled its obligations to children left without parents. To combat neglect, a network of children's reception centers and orphanages was organized and opened, and employment of teenagers was organized.

Many families of Soviet citizens began to take in orphans to raise them., where they found new parents. Unfortunately, not all teachers and heads of children's institutions were distinguished by honesty and decency. Here are some examples.

"In the autumn of 1942, in the Pochinkovsky district of the Gorky region, children dressed in rags were caught stealing potatoes and grain from collective farm fields. It turned out that the pupils of the district orphanage. And they did this not at all out of a good life. Upon further investigation, local police discovered a criminal group, or, in fact, a gang, consisting of employees of this institution.

In total, seven people were arrested in the case, including the director of the orphanage Novoseltsev, accountant Sdobnov, storekeeper Mukhina and other persons. During the searches, 14 children's coats, seven suits, 30 meters of cloth, 350 meters of textiles and other illegally appropriated property, allocated with great difficulty by the state during this harsh wartime, were confiscated from them.

The investigation established that by failing to supply the required quota of bread and products, these criminals stole seven tons of bread, half a ton of meat, 380 kg of sugar, 180 kg of cookies, 106 kg of fish, 121 kg of honey, etc. during 1942 alone. The orphanage workers sold all these scarce products on the market or simply ate them themselves.

Only one comrade Novoseltsev received fifteen portions of breakfast and lunch every day for himself and his family members. The rest of the staff also ate well at the expense of the pupils. The children were fed “dishes” prepared from rotten vegetables, citing poor supplies.

For the entire 1942, they were only given one candy for the 25th anniversary once. October Revolution... And what is most surprising, the director of the orphanage Novoseltsev in the same 1942 received a certificate of honor from the People's Commissariat of Education for excellent educational work. All these fascists were deservedly sentenced to long terms of imprisonment." (Zefirov M.V., Dektyarev D.M. “Everything for the front? How victory was actually forged,” pp. 388-391).

At such a time, the whole essence of a person is revealed.. Every day we face a choice - what to do.. And the war showed us examples of great mercy, great heroism and great cruelty, great meanness.. We must remember this!! For the sake of the future!!

And no amount of time can heal the wounds of war, especially children’s wounds. “These years that once were, the bitterness of childhood does not allow me to forget...”

Description of the presentation Heroes of the Great Patriotic War of 1941 -1945. by slides

Heroes of the Great Patriotic War of 1941 -1945. The work was carried out by a 9th grade student of the municipal budgetary educational institution "Rusanovskaya secondary school" Krening Angelina

Vasily Zaitsev Vasily Grigorievich Zaitsev - sniper, only during the Battle of Stalingrad between November 10 and December 17, 1942 he was able to destroy 225 soldiers and officers German army. Among the enemies he killed were 11 snipers, including Major Koenig himself, the head of the Wehrmacht sniper school. Naturally, Zaitsev’s actions were not limited to Battle of Stalingrad, but he brought the greatest impact as an instructor, training 28 novice snipers who destroyed more than three thousand enemy soldiers.

Ivan Kozhedub Three times Hero of the Soviet Union, Ivan became a famous fighter pilot during the Second World War. During the war, he flew 330 combat missions and took part in 120 air battles. He managed to achieve something unprecedented - to shoot down 62 enemy aircraft, 2 heavy bombers, 16 fighters, 3 attack aircraft and 1 jet fighter. Another record of the pilot-hero is this interesting fact- Kozhedub was never shot down during the entire war. Ivan shot down his first plane only during his fortieth flight.

Khanpasha Nuradilov Chechen by nationality Khanpasha Nuradilovich Nuradilov - already in his first battle destroyed 120 fascists with his machine gun. In January 1942, he destroyed another 50 enemy soldiers, suppressing 4 enemy machine gun points. In February, wounded in the arm, Khanpasha Nuradilov remained behind the machine gun, killing about 200 Nazis. In the spring of 1942, Nuradilov killed more than 300 soldiers of the enemy army. The record was recorded by the squadron commander. Unfortunately, on September 12, 1942, the hero was killed in battle. Before he died, he destroyed another 250 fascists and 2 machine guns. He was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Marat Kazei 14-year-old teenager, participant partisan detachment, along with his senior comrades, went on reconnaissance missions - both alone and with a group, participated in raids, and undermined echelons. In January 1943, wounded, he roused his comrades to attack and made his way through the enemy ring, Marat received the medal “For Courage”. And in May 1944, while performing another mission near the village of Khoromitskiye, Minsk Region, a 14-year-old soldier died. Returning from a mission together with the reconnaissance commander, they came across the Germans. The commander was killed immediately, and Marat, firing back, lay down in a hollow. There was nowhere to leave in the open field, and there was no opportunity - the teenager was seriously wounded in the arm. While there were cartridges, he held the defense, and when the magazine was empty, he took last weapon- two grenades, from the belt. He threw one at the Germans right away, and waited with the second: when the enemies came very close, he blew himself up along with them. In 1965, Marat Kazei was awarded the title of Hero of the USSR.

Valya Kotik The youngest Hero of the USSR, partisan reconnaissance in the Karmelyuk detachment. In a village occupied by German troops, he fought his own little war - the boy secretly collected weapons and ammunition and handed them over to the partisans. Since 1942, he carried out intelligence assignments. And in the fall of the same year, Valya and her boys the same age received their first real combat mission: to eliminate the head of the field gendarmerie. In October 1943, the young soldier scouted out the location of the underground telephone cable of Hitler's headquarters, which was soon blown up, and also participated in the destruction of six railway trains and a warehouse. On October 29, 1943, while at his post, Valya noticed that the punitive forces had staged a raid on the detachment. Having killed a fascist officer with a pistol, the teenager raised the alarm, and the partisans managed to prepare for battle. On February 16, 1944, five days after his 14th birthday, in the battle for the city of Izyaslav, Kamenets-Podolsk, now Khmelnitsky region, the scout was mortally wounded and died the next day. In 1958, Valentin Kotik was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Lenya Golikov. Lenya 16 -year-old teenager joined the partisans. He took part in 27 combat operations, destroyed 78 German soldiers and officers, blew up 2 railway and 12 highway bridges, and blew up 9 vehicles with ammunition. . . On August 12, in the new combat area of ​​the brigade, Golikov crashed a passenger car in which Major General of the Engineering Troops Richard Wirtz was located. For his feat, Lenya was nominated for the highest government award - the Gold Star medal and the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. But I didn’t have time to receive them. From December 1942 to January 1943, the partisan detachment in which Golikov was located fought fiercely out of encirclement. Only a few managed to survive, but Leni was not among them: he died in a battle with a punitive detachment of fascists on January 24, 1943 near the village of Ostraya Luka, Pskov region, before he turned 17 years old.

Sasha Chekalin After the occupation of his native village by Nazi troops in October 1941, 16-year-old Sasha joined the “Advanced” partisan exterminator detachment, where he managed to serve for only a little more than a month. One day, a group of partisans, including Sasha Chekalin, set up an ambush near the road to the city of Likhvin (Tula region). A car appeared in the distance. A minute passed and the explosion tore the car apart. Several more cars followed and exploded. One of them, crowded with soldiers, tried to get through. But a grenade thrown by Sasha Chekalin destroyed her too. At the beginning of November 1941, Sasha caught a cold and fell ill. The commissioner allowed him to rest with a trusted person in the nearest village. But there was a traitor who gave him away. At night, the Nazis broke into the house where the sick partisan lay. Chekalin managed to grab the prepared grenade and throw it, but it did not explode. . . The Nazis hanged a teenager in the central square of Likhvin. After the liberation of the city, partisan Chekalin’s comrades buried him with military honors. The title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded to Alexander Chekalin in 1942.

Zina Portnova In 1942, Zina joined the Obol underground Komsomol youth organization “Young Avengers” and actively participated in distributing leaflets among the population and sabotage against the invaders. Since August 1943, Zina has been a scout in the Voroshilov partisan detachment. In December 1943, she received the task of identifying the reasons for the failure of the Young Avengers organization and establishing contacts with the underground. But upon returning to the detachment, Zina was arrested. The brave, courageous young partisan did not lose heart before the Gestapo, for long time torture, the girl turned gray. “... Once in the prison yard, prisoners saw how a completely gray-haired girl, when she was being led to another interrogation-torture, threw herself under the wheels of a passing truck. But the car was stopped, the girl was pulled out from under the wheels and again taken for questioning...” On January 10, 1944, in the village of Goryany, now Shumilinsky district, Vitebsk region of Belarus, 17-year-old Zina was shot. The title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded to Zinaida Portnova in 1958.

Twelve of several thousand examples of unparalleled childhood courage
Young heroes The Great Patriotic War - how many were there? If you count - how could it be otherwise?! - the hero of every boy and every girl whom fate brought to war and made soldiers, sailors or partisans, then tens, if not hundreds of thousands.

According to official data from the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense (TsAMO) of Russia, during the war there were over 3,500 military personnel under the age of 16 in combat units. At the same time, it is clear that not every unit commander who risked raising a son of the regiment found the courage to declare his pupil on command. You can understand how their father-commanders tried to hide the age of the little fighters, who in fact acted instead of fathers for many, by looking at the confusion in the award documents. On the yellowed archival sheets, the majority of minor military personnel indicate a clearly inflated age. The real one became clear much later, after ten or even forty years.

But there were also children and teenagers who fought in partisan detachments and were members of underground organizations! And there were much more of them: sometimes whole families joined the partisans, and if not, then almost every teenager who found himself on the occupied land had someone to avenge.

So “tens of thousands” is far from an exaggeration, but rather an understatement. And, apparently, we will never know the exact number of young heroes of the Great Patriotic War. But this is no reason not to remember them.

The boys walked from Brest to Berlin

The youngest of all known little soldiers - at least according to documents stored in military archives - can be considered a graduate of the 142nd Guards Rifle Regiment of the 47th Guards Rifle Division, Sergei Aleshkin. In archival documents you can find two certificates of awarding a boy who was born in 1936 and ended up in the army on September 8, 1942, shortly after the punitive forces shot his mother and older brother for connections with the partisans. The first document, dated April 26, 1943, is about awarding him the medal “For Military Merit” due to the fact that “Comrade. ALESHKIN, the favorite of the regiment,” “with his cheerfulness, love for his unit and those around him, in extremely difficult moments, inspired cheerfulness and confidence in victory.” The second, dated November 19, 1945, is about awarding students of the Tula Suvorov Military School with the medal “For Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945”: in the list of 13 Suvorov students, Aleshkin’s name comes first.

But still, such a young soldier is an exception even for wartime and for a country where the entire people, young and old, rose up to defend the Motherland. Most of the young heroes who fought at the front and behind enemy lines were on average 13–14 years old. The very first of them were defenders Brest Fortress. ...

The youngest Heroes of the Soviet Union

These four names - Lenya Golikov, Marat Kazei, Zina Portnova and Valya Kotik - have been the most famous symbol of the heroism of the young defenders of our Motherland for over half a century. Having fought in different places and having accomplished feats of different circumstances, they were all partisans and all were posthumously awarded the country's highest award - the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Two - Lena Golikov and Zina Portnova - were 17 years old by the time they showed unprecedented courage, two more - Valya Kotik and Marat Kazei - were only 14.

Lenya Golikov was the first of the four to receive the highest rank: the decree on the assignment was signed on April 2, 1944. The text says that Golikov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union “for exemplary fulfillment of command assignments and demonstrated courage and heroism in battle.” And indeed, in less than a year - from March 1942 to January 1943 - Lenya Golikov managed to take part in the defeat of three enemy garrisons, in the blowing up of more than a dozen bridges, in the capture of a German major general with secret documents... And died heroically in battle near the village of Ostray Luka, without waiting for a high reward for the capture of a strategically important “tongue”.

Zina Portnova and Valya Kotik were awarded the titles of Heroes of the Soviet Union 13 years after the Victory, in 1958. Zina was awarded for the courage with which she conducted underground work, then served as a liaison between the partisans and the underground, and ultimately endured inhuman torment, falling into the hands of the Nazis at the very beginning of 1944. Valya - based on the totality of his exploits in the ranks of the Shepetovka partisan detachment named after Karmelyuk, where he came after a year of work in an underground organization in Shepetivka itself. And Marat Kazei received the highest award only in the year of the 20th anniversary of the Victory: the decree conferring on him the title of Hero of the Soviet Union was promulgated on May 8, 1965. For almost two years - from November 1942 to May 1944 - Marat fought as part of the partisan formations of Belarus and died, blowing up both himself and the Nazis surrounding him with the last grenade.

For last half century the circumstances of the exploits of the four heroes became known throughout the country: more than one generation of Soviet schoolchildren grew up on their example, and even today’s students are certainly told about them. But even among those who did not receive the highest award, there were many real heroes - pilots, sailors, snipers, scouts and even musicians.

Sniper Vasily Kurka

The war found Vasya a sixteen-year-old teenager. In the very first days he was mobilized to the labor front, and in October he achieved enrollment in the 726th Infantry Regiment of the 395th Infantry Division. At first, the boy of non-conscription age, who also looked a couple of years younger than his age, was left in the wagon train: they say, there is nothing for teenagers to do on the front line. But soon the guy achieved his goal and was transferred to a combat unit - to a sniper team.

Vasily Kurka. Photo: Imperial War Museum

Amazing military fate: from the first to last day Vasya Kurka fought in the same regiment of the same division! He made a good military career, rising to the rank of lieutenant and taking command of a rifle platoon. He chalked up, according to various sources, from 179 to 200 Nazis killed. He fought from Donbass to Tuapse and back, and then further to the West, to the Sandomierz bridgehead. It was there that Lieutenant Kurka was mortally wounded in January 1945, less than six months before the Victory.

Pilot Arkady Kamanin

15-year-old Arkady Kamanin arrived at the location of the 5th Guards Attack Air Corps with his father, who had been appointed commander of this illustrious unit. The pilots were surprised to learn that the son of the legendary pilot, one of the seven first Heroes of the Soviet Union, a participant in the Chelyuskin rescue expedition, would work as an aircraft mechanic in a communications squadron. But they soon became convinced that the “general’s son” did not live up to their negative expectations at all. The boy did not hide behind the back of his famous father, but simply did his job well - and strived towards the sky with all his might.

Sergeant Kamanin in 1944. Photo: war.ee

Soon Arkady achieved his goal: first he takes to the air as a flight attendant, then as a navigator on a U-2, and then goes on his first independent flight. And finally - the long-awaited appointment: the son of General Kamanin becomes a pilot of the 423rd separate communications squadron. Before the victory, Arkady, who had risen to the rank of sergeant major, managed to fly almost 300 hours and earn three orders: two of the Red Star and one of the Red Banner. And if it weren’t for meningitis, which literally killed an 18-year-old boy in the spring of 1947, perhaps Kamanin Jr. would have been included in the cosmonaut corps, the first commander of which was Kamanin Sr.: Arkady managed to enter the Zhukovsky Air Force Academy back in 1946.

Frontline intelligence officer Yuri Zhdanko

Ten-year-old Yura ended up in the army by accident. In July 1941, he went to show the retreating Red Army soldiers a little-known ford on the Western Dvina and did not have time to return to his native Vitebsk, where the Germans had already entered. So he left with his unit to the east, all the way to Moscow, from there to begin the return journey to the west.

Yuri Zhdanko. Photo: russia-reborn.ru

Yura accomplished a lot along this path. In January 1942, he, who had never jumped with a parachute before, went to the rescue of partisans who were surrounded and helped them break through the enemy ring. In the summer of 1942, together with a group of fellow reconnaissance officers, he blew up a strategically important bridge across the Berezina, sending not only the bridge deck, but also nine trucks driving along it to the bottom of the river, and less than a year later he turned out to be the only one of all the messengers who managed to break through to the encircled battalion and help it get out of the “ring”.

By February 1944, the chest of the 13-year-old intelligence officer was decorated with the medal “For Courage” and the Order of the Red Star. But a shell that exploded literally under his feet interrupted Yura’s front-line career. He ended up in the hospital, from where he was sent to the Suvorov Military School, but did not pass due to health reasons. Then retired young scout he retrained as a welder and on this “front” he also managed to become famous, having traveled almost half of Eurasia with his welding machine - building pipelines.

Infantryman Anatoly Komar

Among the 263 Soviet soldiers who covered enemy embrasures with their bodies, the youngest was 15-year-old private of the 332nd reconnaissance company of the 252nd rifle division of the 53rd army of the 2nd Ukrainian Front, Anatoly Komar. The teenager joined the active army in September 1943, when the front came close to his native Slavyansk. This happened to him in almost the same way as to Yura Zhdanko, with the only difference being that the boy served as a guide not to the retreating, but to the advancing Red Army soldiers. Anatoly helped them go deep into the German frontline, and then left with the advancing army to the west.

Young partisan. Photo: Imperial War Museum

But, unlike Yura Zhdanko, Tolya Komar’s front-line path was much shorter. For only two months he had the opportunity to wear the shoulder straps that had recently appeared in the Red Army and go on reconnaissance missions. In November of the same year, returning from a free search behind German lines, a group of scouts revealed themselves and was forced to break through to their own in battle. The last obstacle on the way back was a machine gun, pinning the reconnaissance unit to the ground. Anatoly Komar threw a grenade at him, and the fire died down, but as soon as the scouts got up, the machine gunner began shooting again. And then Tolya, who was closest to the enemy, stood up and fell on the machine gun barrel, at the cost of his life, buying his comrades precious minutes for a breakthrough.

Sailor Boris Kuleshin

In the cracked photograph, a boy of about ten stands against the backdrop of sailors in black uniforms with ammunition boxes on their backs and the superstructure of a Soviet cruiser. His hands tightly grip a PPSh assault rifle, and on his head he wears a cap with a guards ribbon and the inscription “Tashkent.” This is a student of the crew of the leader of the Tashkent destroyers, Borya Kuleshin. The photo was taken in Poti, where, after repairs, the ship called for another load of ammunition for the besieged Sevastopol. It was here that twelve-year-old Borya Kuleshin appeared at the Tashkent gangplank. His father died at the front, his mother, as soon as Donetsk was occupied, was driven to Germany, and he himself managed to escape across the front line to his own people and, together with the retreating army, reach the Caucasus.

Boris Kuleshin. Photo: weralbum.ru

While they were trying to persuade the ship’s commander, Vasily Eroshenko, while they were making a decision on what combat unit enroll the cabin boy, the sailors managed to give him a belt, a cap and a machine gun and take a photograph of the new crew member. And then there was the transition to Sevastopol, the first raid on “Tashkent” in Bori’s life and the first clips in his life for an anti-aircraft artillery gun, which he, along with other anti-aircraft gunners, gave to the shooters. At his combat post, he was wounded on July 2, 1942, when German aircraft tried to sink a ship in the port of Novorossiysk. After the hospital, Borya followed Captain Eroshenko to a new ship - the guards cruiser "Red Caucasus". And already here he received a well-deserved reward: nominated for the medal “For Courage” for the battles on “Tashkent”, he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner by the decision of the front commander, Marshal Budyonny and member of the Military Council, Admiral Isakov. And in the next front-line photo he is already showing off in the new uniform of a young sailor, on whose head is a cap with a guards ribbon and the inscription “Red Caucasus”. It was in this uniform that in 1944 Borya went to the Tbilisi Nakhimov School, where in September 1945 he, along with other teachers, educators and students, was awarded the medal “For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945.”

Musician Petr Klypa

Fifteen-year-old student of the musical platoon of the 333rd Infantry Regiment, Pyotr Klypa, like other minor inhabitants of the Brest Fortress, had to go to the rear with the beginning of the war. But Petya refused to leave the fighting citadel, which, among others, was defended by his only relative - his older brother, Lieutenant Nikolai. So he became one of the first teenage soldiers in the history of the Great Patriotic War and a full participant heroic defense Brest Fortress.

Peter Klypa. Photo: worldwar.com

He fought there until the beginning of July, until he received an order, together with the remnants of the regiment, to break through to Brest. This is where Petya's ordeal began. Having crossed the tributary of the Bug, he, along with other colleagues, was captured, from which he soon managed to escape. I got to Brest, lived there for a month and moved east, behind the retreating Red Army, but did not reach it. During one of the overnight stays, he and a friend were discovered by police, and the teenagers were sent to forced labor in Germany. Petya was released only in 1945 by American troops, and after verification he even managed to serve for several months in Soviet army. And upon returning to his homeland, he again ended up in jail because he succumbed to the persuasion of an old friend and helped him speculate with the loot. Pyotr Klypa was released only seven years later. For this he had to thank the historian and writer Sergei Smirnov, who piece by piece recreated the history of the heroic defense of the Brest Fortress and, of course, did not miss the story of one of its youngest defenders, who, after his liberation, was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.