He commanded the 316th Guards Rifle Division, which fought heroically in the Battle of Moscow. It is symbolic that January 3, 1903 is the birthday of Alexander Alfredovich Bek (1903-1972), a Russian writer, author of the novel “Volokolamsk Highway,” which describes the feat of Panfilov’s life and death. Here is a short quote from the novel: “Mass heroism is not a force of nature. Our quiet, unprepossessing general prepared us for this day, for this struggle, he foresaw, anticipated its character, steadily, patiently sought to understand the task, “rubbed in his fingers” with his plan. Let me remind you once again that our old charter did not know such words as “node of resistance” or “strong point.” The war dictated them to us. Panfilov's ear heard this dictation. He was one of the first in the Red Army to penetrate the unprecedented secret record of an unprecedented war.
A small group isolated from everyone is also a knot, a strong point of struggle. Panfilov took advantage of every opportunity, almost every minute of communication with commanders and soldiers, to explain and instill in us this truth. He was very popular in the division. In different, sometimes inexplicable ways, his words and sayings, his jokes, thrown as if by chance, reached many people and were transmitted from one to another via a soldier’s wireless telephone. And once the fighters have accepted it and internalized it, this is already better management.”
In addition to Alexander Bek, both writers and military leaders wrote a lot about Panfilov. Therefore, it seems interesting to me to recreate his so-called “unofficial” image. The youngest daughter of the illustrious general, Maya Ivanovna, who lives in Moscow on Heroev-Panfilovtsev Street, helped me with this. Together with her, we contacted by telephone Valentina Ivanovna Panfilova, the eldest daughter of the hero, living in Alma-Ata, and Sergei Ivanovich Usanov, the former commissar of the artillery division of the Panfilov division.

The eldest daughter's story

My father met my mother Maria Ivanovna Panfilova (Kolomiets) in 1921,” Valentina Ivanovna began, “in the Ukrainian town of Ovidiopol. A Red Army detachment under his command was redeployed there from the fronts of the civil war. The 28-year-old walked around looking for places to stay for his subordinates. In one of them I met the local beauty Maria. A few weeks later, a wedding took place right at the detachment’s headquarters. From that day until the Great Patriotic War, the parents were not separated, no matter where Ivan Vasilyevich’s service took him.

He was already an experienced commander then. In the imperialist army he rose to the rank of sergeant major. In the civilian division, V.I. Chapaev was the commander of a mounted reconnaissance detachment. By the way, an interesting coincidence. When Ivan Vasilyevich commanded the 316th Infantry Division near Moscow in 1941, Chapaev’s son served under him as commander of an artillery division.

The father's pre-war service record can be represented by the places of birth of the children. I was born in Kyiv, where he studied at the school of red commanders. Evgeniy in Osh, where his father began the fight against the Basmachi. Vladilen is in Kyzil-Kiya, Galina is not far from Ashgabat, Maya is in Chardzhou. My mother followed my father everywhere with us, saying: “Where there is a needle, there is a thread.” And she was never a burden. She cooked food for the soldiers and washed them. I remember well how we wandered from place to place. Smaller children were loaded into baskets, which were tied with ropes and hung on the backs of camels.

For the first time, my mother separated from my father in 1941. And that was only because she worked at that time as the chairman of the district executive committee and party discipline did not allow her to run away to his front. But she was always there in spirit. She often wrote letters. Yes, what kind! Real Russian women, no matter how much they love their husbands, in times of severe danger for the Fatherland, will never wish them to hide, sit out, but rather bless them for risk and even death, if it is inevitable. That's how mom was.

From a letter from M.I. Panfilova to her husband:

“Vanya, I somehow didn’t want to talk about this, and I believe and hope: we will wait for the day of joyful victory, then we will live again cheerfully and happily, as we lived, and we will rejoice at our children, and that you and I have not lived in vain in the world. Vanya, if you still have to die for our Motherland, then die in such a way that you can sing songs and write poems about the glorious hero. Vanya, I don’t think about it, but still this is war and a cruel war, we need to be prepared for everything, and these are my true wishes as a husband and friend ... "

“I went to the front with my father,” Valentina Ivanovna continued. - He didn’t resist for long. Mom too. I was already 18! Only one was an agreement not to show the family connection to anyone. We didn't show it. Thanks to this, I learned a lot about dad, as if from the outside. She served in the medical battalion, and the wounded did not hesitate to discuss their division commander. It was felt, loved, called “father”.

Panfilov’s authority in the units and the fighters’ love for him began to emerge in Kazakhstan, where the 316th was formed,” Sergei Ivanovich Usanov told me. - You can’t tell about all the nuances. There are seemingly little things, but they are worth a lot. The division, for example, brought together representatives of 33 nationalities of the USSR. So Ivan Vasilyevich, despite his workload, studied some languages, emphasizing: “My subordinate and I must be able to exchange at least two words in his dialect.”

Panfilov managed to put together our division of multilingual and semi-literate people in a few months. It is very important that he knew what the soldiers needed to be taught first of all: to go one on one with a tank and knock it out. Panfilov organized groups of tank destroyers in his units. He gave them a fighting technique. He ensured that every fighter mastered it. And when we talk about the heroism of a handful of Panfilov’s men who stopped a large fascist tank formation at the Dubosekovo crossing and destroyed 50 combat vehicles, then we see glimpses of Panfilov’s feat. And when we remember that the 316th Division destroyed 30 thousand fascist soldiers and officers and more than 150 tanks in less than a month of fighting, then Panfilov’s feat emerges in its entirety. If every division commander had achieved such a result then, then already in November 1941 Hitler would have nothing to fight with!

From a letter from I.V. Panfilov to his wife:

“We will not surrender Moscow to the enemy. We destroy the reptile by the thousands and the tanks by the hundreds. The division is fighting well. Murochka, work tirelessly to strengthen the rear. I valiantly carry out your order and my word... The division will be a guards division! I kiss you, my friend and loving wife.”

How the division commander died

In November 1941, in the village of Gusenovo near Volokolamsk, the headquarters of the commander of the 316th (8th Guards) Rifle Division, commanded by General Panfilov, was located. Here the general died on November 18, 1941 from a German mine fragment.

From the memoirs of Marshal of the Armored Forces M.E. Katukov:

“On the morning of November 18, two dozen tanks and chains of motorized infantry again began to surround the village of Gusenevo. Here at that time Panfilov’s command post was located - a hastily dugout next to the peasant hut. The Germans fired at the village with mortars, but the fire was indirect and they did not pay attention to it.

Panfilov received a group of Moscow correspondents. When he was informed about the enemy tank attack, he hurried from the dugout to the street. He was followed by other division headquarters workers. Before Panfilov had time to climb the last step of the dugout, a mine crashed nearby. General Panfilov began to slowly sink to the ground. They picked him up. So, without regaining consciousness, he died in the arms of his comrades. They examined the wound: it turned out that a tiny fragment had pierced his temple.”

Panfilov was not a dugout commander,” Usanov continued. - He spent most of his time in regiments and even in battalions, moreover, in those that at that moment were experiencing the most fierce pressure from the enemy. This is not ostentatious reckless courage, but an understanding of the combat expediency of such behavior. On the one hand, the division commander’s personal command experience greatly helped to correct the situation in difficult areas, on the other, his appearance at a critical moment in the battle greatly raised the spirit of soldiers and officers.

On November 18, 1941, recalled Valentina Ivanovna, a group of seriously wounded people was brought to the first aid station. One of them was conscious. He ground his teeth and groaned. I tried to calm him down: just be patient, they will do the operation now.
- Eh, sister, can you understand my pain? After all, I don’t feel sorry for an arm or a leg. The heart bleeds. Our father was killed...
- He, warm-hearted, like many, did not know that “father” was my folder. Later I found out that he died during another fascist attack. He jumped out of the command post and ran to the division's OP. A small fragment of a mine pierced straight into my temple.
“On the eve of his death,” Usanov continued the story, “Ivan Vasilyevich’s cherished desires were fulfilled. I remember how newspapers were brought to the command post with the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on awarding the division with the Order of the Red Banner and transforming it into the 8th Guards. Tears of joy appeared in Panfilov’s eyes. He wiped them and said, “I’m not ashamed. Big deal. This party shook hands with all of us, both living and dead. Go and tell people so.”

And after Panfilov’s death, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously). Here are the lines from the performance: “In the fight against the German invaders on the approaches to Moscow, the division fought fierce battles with enemy forces four times superior. For a month, units of the division not only held their positions, but also, with swift counterattacks, defeated the 2nd Tank, 29th Motorized, 11th and 110th Infantry Divisions.”

Few managed to achieve such performance even in the victorious year of 1945. That is why, on the personal instructions of Stalin, the body of the Guard, Major General I.V. Panfilov was taken to Moscow, to the Central House of the Soviet Army for a solemn funeral service. The ashes of the hero were buried at the Novodevichy cemetery in a common grave with the ashes of the fighting friend of the glorious cavalryman L. Dovator and the ace of the Moscow sky V. Talalikhin.

From a poem about the father of his youngest daughter:

He left us all the valuables
that you can't buy on the counter.
And you can’t get it in the store rush.
They certainly don’t give them as gifts.
He left us CONSCIENCE, HONOR and WORK.

Nuclear attack on the USSR

On January 1, 1957, according to the Dropshot plan adopted in the United States in 1949, D-Day was supposed to occur - a nuclear attack on the USSR.

According to the plans of overseas strategists, by this time the United States should have achieved an overwhelming quantitative advantage of 10:1 in nuclear weapons and some lead in conventional weapons. 300 atomic bombs and 29 thousand tons of conventional ones were to be dropped on the USSR.
The 1949 plan prophetically stated:“On January 1, 1957, the United States will be involved in a war against the USSR due to an act of aggression by the USSR and its satellites.”

These hopes were not destined to come true, since Soviet scientists and engineers created atomic and missile weapons that would cause irreversible damage to a potential aggressor.

Memory of Ilya Muromets

On January 1, 1188, Ilya Muromets, a Russian hero who became an epic hero in folk memory, died.

Ilya Muromets, Pechersky, nicknamed Chobotok, was the son of Ivan Timofeevich Chobotov from the Murom village of Karacharovo, Vladimir region. He was born on September 5, 1143. Due to the weakness of his legs that struck him from childhood, Ilya lived motionlessly for 30 years in humility, love and prayers to God. Legends have brought to us the miracle of healing of the future defender of the Russian land. After healing, Ilya Muromets used his miraculous spiritual and physical strength only to fight the enemies of the Fatherland and restore justice. It is known that Ilya Muromets had no defeats, but he never exalted himself and released his defeated enemies in peace. Having received an incurable wound in the chest in one of the battles, he, obeying the call of his heart, left the world, took monastic vows at the Kiev Pechersk Lavra and shut himself up. Ilya Muromets departed to the Kingdom of Heaven in the 45th year of his life on January 1, 1188. He was canonized in 1643, and his incorruptible relics rest in the Anthony Caves of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra.

Studies of the relics of Ilya Muromets, carried out in the 70s of the last century, established that his height was 177 cm (very tall for the 12th century), and his build was heroic. Wounds and injuries received in battles were found on the incorrupt body. The wound in the heart area, according to experts, was the main cause of his death.

Memorial Day is celebrated on January 1st. He is the patron of the Strategic Missile Forces and the Russian Border Guard Service.

Today
June 11
Tuesday
2019

On this day:

Battle of Kulevcha

On June 11, 1829, Russian troops under the command of infantry general Ivan Dibich inflicted a decisive defeat on the Turkish army at Kulevcha in eastern Bulgaria.

Battle of Kulevcha

On June 11, 1829, Russian troops under the command of infantry general Ivan Dibich inflicted a decisive defeat on the Turkish army at Kulevcha in eastern Bulgaria.

The Russian army, numbering 125 thousand people and 450 guns, besieged the fortress of Silistria occupied by Turkish troops. On June 11, a Russian detachment attacked the Turks and captured the heights of the village of Kulevcha.

The victory in the Battle of Kulevcha gave the Russian army passage through the Balkans to Adrianople (now Edirne, Turkey). The Turkish army lost 5 thousand people killed, 1.5 thousand prisoners, 43 guns and all food. The Russian army lost 1,270 people killed.

After the conclusion of the Treaty of Adrianople, Russian troops left Kulevch. Thousands of Bulgarians rushed after them, fearing Turkish reprisals. Kulevch was deserted, and the settlers founded a new village in the Odessa region, which is still called Kulevch, where do they live today? about 5,000 ethnic Bulgarians.

Execution of Tukhachevsky

On June 11, 1937, in Moscow, the highest commanders and political workers of the Soviet Armed Forces, Tukhachevsky, Primakov, Yakir, Uborevich, Eideman and others were shot by a military tribunal on charges of organizing a “military-fascist conspiracy in the Red Army.”

Execution of Tukhachevsky

On June 11, 1937, in Moscow, the highest commanders and political workers of the Soviet Armed Forces, Tukhachevsky, Primakov, Yakir, Uborevich, Eideman and others were shot by a military tribunal on charges of organizing a “military-fascist conspiracy in the Red Army.”

This process went down in history as the “Tukhachevsky case.” It arose 11 months before the execution of the sentence in July 1936. Then, through Czech diplomats, Stalin received information that A conspiracy is brewing among the leadership of the Red Army, led by Deputy People's Commissar of Defense Mikhail Tukhachevsky, and that the conspirators are in contact with leading generals of the German High Command and the German intelligence service. As confirmation, a dossier stolen from SS security services, which contained documents of the special department “K” - a camouflaged organization of the Reichswehr that dealt with the production of weapons and ammunition prohibited by the Treaty of Versailles. The dossier contained recordings of conversations between German officers and representatives of the Soviet command, including protocols of negotiations with Tukhachevsky. These documents began a criminal case under the code name “Conspiracy of General Turguev” (the pseudonym of Tukhachevsky, under which he came to Germany with an official military delegation in the early 30s of the last century).

Today in the liberal press there is a fairly widespread version that “stupid Stalin” became victim of a provocation by the secret services of Nazi Germany, who planted fabricated documents about a “conspiracy in the Red Army” for the purpose of beheading Soviet Armed Forces on the eve of the war.

I had a chance to familiarize myself with Tukhachevsky’s criminal case, but there was no evidence of this version there. I'll start with the confessions of Tukhachevsky himself. The marshal's first written statement after the arrest was dated May 26, 1937. He wrote to the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs Yezhov: “Having been arrested on May 22, arriving in Moscow on the 24th, first interrogated on the 25th, and today, May 26, I declare that I recognize the existence of an anti-Soviet military-Trotskyist conspiracy and that I was at its head. I undertake to independently present to the investigation everything concerning the conspiracy, without concealing any of its participants, not a single fact or document. The foundation of the conspiracy dates back to 1932. The following people took part in it: Feldman, Alafuzov, Primakov, Putna, etc., which I will show in detail later.” During interrogation by the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs, Tukhachevsky said: “Back in 1928, I was drawn into a right-wing organization by Yenukidze. In 1934 I personally contacted Bukharin; I established espionage connections with the Germans since 1925, when I traveled to Germany for exercises and maneuvers... During a trip to London in 1936, Putna arranged a meeting for me with Sedov (the son of L.D. Trotsky - S.T.).. ."

There are also materials in the criminal case that were previously collected on Tukhachevsky, but which were not put to use at the time. For example, testimony from 1922 of two officers who served in the past in the tsarist army. They named... Tukhachevsky as the inspirer of their anti-Soviet activities. Copies of the interrogation protocols were reported to Stalin, who sent them to Ordzhonikidze with the following meaningful note: “Please read. Since this is not impossible, it is possible.” Ordzhonikidze's reaction is unknown - he apparently did not believe the slander. There was another case: the secretary of the party committee of the Western Military District complained to the People's Commissariat for Military and Naval Affairs about Tukhachevsky (wrong attitude towards communists, immoral behavior). But People's Commissar M. Frunze imposed a resolution on the information: “The party believed comrade Tukhachevsky, believes and will believe.” An interesting excerpt from the testimony of the arrested brigade commander Medvedev states that back in 1931 he “became aware” of the existence of a counter-revolutionary Trotskyist organization in the central departments of the Red Army. On May 13, 1937, Yezhov arrested Dzerzhinsky’s former ally A. Artuzov, and he testified that information received from Germany in 1931 reported a conspiracy in the Red Army under the leadership of a certain General Turguev (pseudonym Tukhachevsky), who had been in Germany. Yezhov’s predecessor Yagoda said at the same time: “This is frivolous material, hand it over to the archives.”

After the end of the Great Patriotic War, fascist documents with assessments of the “Tukhachevsky case” became known. Here are some of them.

Goebbels’ diary entry dated May 8, 1943 is interesting: “There was a conference of Reichsleiter and Gauleiter... The Fuhrer remembered the incident with Tukhachevsky and expressed the opinion that we were completely wrong when we believed that Stalin would destroy the Red Army in this way. The opposite was true: Stalin got rid of the opposition in the Red Army and thus put an end to defeatism."

In his speech in front of subordinates in October 1943, Reichsführer SS Himmler said: “When large show trials were going on in Moscow, and the former tsarist cadet was executed, and subsequently the Bolshevik general Tukhachevsky and other generals, all of us in Europe, including us, members of the party and the SS, adhered to the opinion that the Bolshevik system and Stalin made one of their biggest mistakes here. By assessing the situation this way, we greatly deceived ourselves. We can state this truthfully and confidently. I believe that Russia would not have survived all these two years of war - and now it is already in its third - if it had retained the former tsarist generals.”

On September 16, 1944, a conversation took place between Himmler and the traitor general A.A. Vlasov, during which Himmler asked Vlasov about the Tukhachevsky case. Why did he fail? Vlasov replied: “Tukhachevsky made the same mistake as your people on July 20 (attempt on Hitler). He did not know the law of masses.” Those. and the first and second conspiracy do not deny.

IN in his memoirs, a major Soviet intelligence officer Lieutenant General Pavel Sudoplatov states: “The myth about the involvement of German intelligence in Stalin’s massacre of Tukhachevsky was first started in 1939 by defector V. Krivitsky, a former officer of the Red Army Intelligence Department, in the book “I Was an Agent of Stalin.” At the same time, he referred to the white General Skoblin, a prominent agent of the INO NKVD among the white emigration. Skoblin, according to Krivitsky, was a double who worked for German intelligence. In reality, Skoblin was not a double. His intelligence file completely refutes this version. The invention of Krivitsky, who became a mentally unstable person in emigration, was later used by Schellenberg in his memoirs, taking credit for falsifying the Tukhachevsky case.”

Even if Tukhachevsky had turned out to be clean before the Soviet authorities, in his criminal case I found such documents that, after reading them, his execution seems well deserved. I will give some of them.

In March 1921, Tukhachevsky was appointed commander of the 7th Army, aimed at suppressing the uprising of the Kronstadt garrison. TO As we know, it was drowned in blood.

In 1921 Soviet Russia was engulfed in anti-Soviet uprisings, the largest of which in European Russia was a peasant uprising in the Tambov province. Considering the Tambov rebellion as a serious danger, the Politburo of the Central Committee in early May 1921 appointed Tukhachevsky commander of the troops of the Tambov district with the task of completely suppressing it as soon as possible. According to the plan developed by Tukhachevsky, the uprising was largely suppressed by the end of July 1921.

The atmosphere of Venus has been explored

On June 11, 1985, the automatic interplanetary station "Vega-1" reached the outskirts of the planet Venus and carried out a complex of scientific research under the international project "Venus - Halley's Comet". Back on June 4, 1960, the USSR government issued a decree “On plans for space exploration,” which ordered the creation of a launch vehicle for flight to Mars and Venus.

The atmosphere of Venus has been explored

On June 11, 1985, the automatic interplanetary station "Vega-1" reached the outskirts of the planet Venus and carried out a complex of scientific research under the international project "Venus - Halley's Comet". Back on June 4, 1960, the USSR government issued a decree “On plans for space exploration,” which ordered the creation of a launch vehicle for flight to Mars and Venus.

From February 1961 to June 1985, 16 Venus spacecraft were launched in the USSR. In December 1984, the Soviet spacecraft Vega-1 and Vega-2 were launched to explore Venus and Halley's comet. On June 11 and 15, 1985, these spacecraft reached Venus and dropped landing modules into its atmosphere.
As a result of experiments carried out by the devices, the atmosphere of the planet was studied in detail, which is the densest among the terrestrial planets, since it contains up to 96 percent carbon dioxide, up to 4 percent nitrogen and some water vapor. A thin layer of dust was discovered on the surface of Venus. Most of it is occupied by hilly plains, the highest mountains rise 11 kilometers above the average surface level.

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I have been in Zelenograd since 1968. I live. When we arrived with our parents (almost in the center of the city, the 1st microdistrict) there was a dugout and trenches of the defending Panfilovites. Now they are filled in and flowers are planted!
I'll be happy to add a little more history, since I grew up on this land.
FIRST BATTLES OF THE 316TH RIFLE

In connection with the treacherous attack of Germany on the USSR and the rapid advance of fascist troops deep into our country, on July 5, 1941, the Bureau of the Central Committee of the Central Asian Republics proposed the creation of volunteer military formations on the territory of the district. On July 12, 1941, the district commander, General Trofimenko, in agreement with the General Staff, issued order No. 0044 on the creation of the 316th Infantry Division under the command of Major General Ivan Vasilyevich Panfilov.

The strength of the division was determined to be 11 thousand people. The following were appointed commanders of rifle regiments: 1073rd rifle regiment. - G.E. Edin (commissar P.V. Logvinenko), 1075th regiment - I.V. Kaprov (Commissioner A.L. Mukhamedyarov), 1077th regiment - Z.S. Shekhtman (Commissioner A.M. Korsakov). The artillery regiment was commanded by G.F. Kurganov.

After a month of military training and recruitment, on August 17, 1941, the division departed from Central Asia to the front in the Novgorod region (Borovichi district) as part of the 52nd Army. Upon arrival on foot in Kresttsy, the division continued to engage in military training. Due to the critical situation in the areas of Smolensk and Volokolamsk, on October 10, 1941, the division was redeployed to this area.

In the zone where Panfilov's division arrived, there were no other forces and means to create a continuous defense. It was necessary by any means to stop the enemy rushing towards Moscow. Front commander G.K. On October 13, 1941, Zhukov, by order No. 0346, prohibited withdrawal from the assigned line in the Volokolamsk area. The defense line for the division was determined to be 41 km. The regiments were located as follows: 1075th regiment. - left, 1073rd rifle regiment - in the center, 1077th s.p. - on right. On October 14, 1941, the first fierce battle with superior German troops took place on the left flank of the 1075th regiment. There was a threat to his surroundings. The reserve battalion of 600 men sent to help was completely destroyed, and its commander, Captain M. Lysenko, was also killed. This was the first heroic but tragic battle of Panfilov’s men.

On October 16, 1941, the German command sent 4 more divisions to Panfilov’s division - two infantry and two tank (100 tanks). On October 18, 1941, the enemy, trying to encircle and destroy Panfilov’s division, brought another 150 tanks and a motorized infantry regiment into battle. Fighting heroically, our soldiers defended every meter of their native land at the cost of their lives.

Suffering huge losses, German troops stubbornly rushed towards Moscow. A real threat looms over the capital. By October 27, the enemy, throwing another 125 tanks at Volokolamsk, captured it. This resulted in a lot of bloodshed for the invaders and the failure of the lightning war plan.

For courage and heroism in the October battles, 19 Panfilov men were awarded the Order of the Red Banner on November 7, 1941, including political instructor V.G. Klochkov, Commissioner P.V. Logvinenko, division commander I.V. Panfilov and others. The advance of the German troops was stopped.

AT THE DUBOSEKOVO TERMINATION

The German command was preparing for a new decisive assault on Moscow. It became known that for this purpose the enemy was concentrating a strike force consisting of 5 army corps, 2 motorized corps, 4 tank divisions. His main goal was to break through the defense line, reach the Volokolamsk highway and capture Moscow by December.

On the left flank, in the very place where, having rounded a small hill near the village of Nelidovo, the highway approaches the Dubosekovo junction, a unit was holding the line, where Vasily Klochkov was the political instructor. The division's scouts reported that it was in this area that the Germans concentrated large infantry and tank units.

November 15, 1941 I.V. Panfilov visited the positions of the 4th company of the 1075th regiment. After some comments on the choice of positions and equipment of trenches, he reminded: “Remember the order - hold this line, even if the entire German army comes at you.”

Grigory Shemyakin, who miraculously survived, recalls: “The morning... November 16 was quiet, cloudy, frosty. It began with a raid by a flight of enemy bombers, and then with heavy artillery and mortar fire. Before the roar of explosions had even died down and the smoke had cleared, machine gunners rushed to attack the trench and trenches. They believed that after such a bombing and shelling, no one could be alive. But the Red Army men courageously repelled the attack of the Germans marching at full speed. Several dozen fascists remained lying on the battlefield. This was only the beginning of the battle, the beginning of testing the stamina and heroism of our soldiers, although we also had losses. And suddenly... A column of German tanks moved towards the junction. We were helped by life itself, school, patriotic education, responsibility for comrades, for the Motherland, perseverance and courage, readiness to overcome fear, but to carry out the order “there is nowhere to retreat.” In these terrible moments, the soldiers did not flinch in the face of mortal danger. The battle lasted for four hours, cartridges, petrol bottles, and grenades ran out...” From Zelenograd to the Volokolamsk highway was the line of defense of Panfilov’s army.
Photos of the monuments to the Panfilov Heroes near Volokolamsk

Panfilov Ivan Vasilyevich - Biography Ivan Vasilyevich Panfilov (born December 20, 1892 (January 1, 1893) in the city of Petrovsk, Saratov province - died November 18, 1941 near the village of Gusenevo, Volokolamsk district, Moscow region) - Soviet military leader, major general, Hero of the Soviet Union (1942, posthumously). In 1915, he was drafted into the tsarist army and sent to the Russian-German front. In 1918, he voluntarily joined the Red Army and was enlisted in the 1st Saratov Infantry Regiment of the 25th Chapaev Division. A participant in the Civil War, he fought as part of the 25th Chapaev Rifle Division. After the Civil War, he graduated from the two-year Kyiv United Infantry School, and soon after that he was assigned to the Central Asian Military District. He took an active part in the fight against the Basmachi. Member of the CPSU(b) since 1920. Since 1938 - military commissar of the Kyrgyz SSR. During the Great Patriotic War - commander of the 316th Rifle Division (from November 17, 1941 - 8th Guards Division, famous for heavy defensive battles in the Volokolamsk direction. This division was recruited from residents of Alma-Ata (now Almaty) and Frunze (now Bishkek) "Mass heroism is not an element. Our quiet, unprepossessing general prepared us for this day, for this struggle, foresaw, anticipated its character, steadily, patiently sought to understand the task, “rubbed in his fingers” with his plan. Let me remind you once again that our old The charter did not know such words as “node of resistance” or “strong point". The war dictated them to us. Panfilov’s ear heard this dictation. He was one of the first in the Red Army to penetrate the unprecedented secret record of an unprecedented war. A small group isolated from everyone is also a knot, a supporting point of the struggle. Panfilov took advantage of every opportunity, almost every minute of communication with commanders, with soldiers, to explain this way and that, to instill in us this truth,” as battalion commander Baurzhan Momysh-Uly quotes in his book “Volokolamsk Highway » writer Alexander Beck. According to the memoirs of his granddaughter Aigul Baikadamova, he considered the main calling of a military leader to be preserving the lives of soldiers in war, a warm attitude and care. The soldiers called Panfilov “General Dad.” He told the soldiers and commanders: “I don’t need you to die, I need you to stay alive!” After parts of the division surrendered Volokolamsk, General Panfilov was going to be put on trial. However, this did not happen due to the intervention of the commander of the 16th Army, Lieutenant General K.K. Rokossovsky, who stated: “I trust Panfilov. If he left Volokolamsk, then that means it was necessary!” A platoon of tank destroyers from this particular division on November 16, 1941, during fierce battles, stopped the advance of 50 enemy tanks for 4 hours, destroying 18 of them, which went down in history as the Feat of 28 Panfilov heroes. On November 16, the division was attacked by the forces of two German tank divisions - the 2nd Tank Division attacked the positions of the 316th Infantry Division in the center of defense, and the 11th Tank Division struck in the Dubosekovo area, at the positions of the 1075th Infantry Regiment. Units of the division led by Panfilov fought heavy defensive battles with superior enemy forces, in which the personnel showed massive heroism. During the battles on November 16-20 in the Volokolamsk direction, the 316th Infantry Division (from November 17, Red Banner, from November 18, Guards) stopped the advance of two tank and one infantry divisions of the Wehrmacht. For successful actions during these battles, the division, which had already become the 8th Guards Red Banner, received the honorary title of Panfilov on November 23. Colonel General Erich Gepner, who commanded the 4th Panzer Group, whose striking forces were defeated in battles with the 8th Guards Division, calls it in his reports to the commander of Group Center Fedor von Bock - “a wild division fighting in violation of all regulations and the rules of combat, whose soldiers do not surrender, are extremely fanatical and are not afraid of death.” He died on November 18, 1941 near the village of Gusenevo, Volokolamsk district, Moscow region, from fragments of a German mortar mine. This is how Marshal (in 1941 - Colonel) Katukov, whose 4th Tank Brigade fought on a neighboring sector of the front, describes the moment of the death of General Panfilov: On the morning of November 18, two dozen tanks and chains of motorized infantry again began to surround the village of Gusenevo. Here at that time there was Panfilov’s command post - a hastily dugout next to the peasant hut. The Germans fired at the village with mortars, but the fire was indirect and they did not pay attention to it. Panfilov received a group of Moscow correspondents. When he was informed about the enemy tank attack, he hurried from the dugout to the street. He was followed by other division headquarters workers. Before Panfilov had time to climb the last step of the dugout, a mine crashed nearby. General Panfilov began to slowly sink to the ground. They picked him up. So, without regaining consciousness, he died in the arms of his comrades. They examined the wound: it turned out that a tiny fragment had pierced his temple. - Katukov M. E. At the forefront of the main blow. - M. : Military Publishing House, 1974. - pp. 83-84. A direct witness to the death of the general was also Senior Lieutenant D.F. Lavrinenko, the most effective tanker of the Red Army during the entire Great Patriotic War, who was located next to his command post and was greatly shocked by the death of Panfilov.

Letter from Guard Major General I.V. Panfilov to his wife November 13, 1941 Hello, dear Murochka. First of all, I hasten to share the joy with you. Mura, you have probably heard more than once on the radio and write a lot in the newspapers about the heroic deeds of the soldiers, commanders and our unit in general. The trust that was placed in me - the protection of our native capital - is justified. You. Murochka, you can’t imagine what good fighters I have, the commanders are true patriots, they fight like lions, everyone has one thing in their hearts - not to allow the enemy to reach their native capital, to mercilessly destroy the reptiles. Death to fascism! Mura, today, by order of the front, hundreds of soldiers and division commanders were awarded the Order of the Union. Two days ago I was awarded the third Order of the Red Banner. This, Mura, is just the beginning. I think that soon my division should be a guards division, there are already three heroes. Our motto is to be everyone's hero. Moore, bye. Follow the newspapers, you will see about the affairs of the Bolsheviks. Now, Murochka, how do you live there, how are things in Kyrgyzstan, how do the guys study and, finally, how does my Makushechka live? I miss you very much, but I think that fascism will soon end, then we will again build the great cause of communism. Valya feels good, I think that soon she will also be an order bearer, they accepted her into the party, they are very pleased with her work. Murochka, I sent you 1000 rubles... Dear Murochka, you are very stingy, you don’t write at all. During all this time I received one letter from you. Write more often, you know how good it is when you receive news from home. Write. I kiss you and the children deeply: Zhenya, Viva, Galochka and my dear Makochka. Say hello to everyone... Write, address: Active Army, division headquarters. Kisses, yours I. Panfilov. Greetings from Valyushka * (* - Valentina - daughter of I.V. Panfilov - worked at the forward post of the division's medical battalion)

Alexis writes:

I'll try now... I don't have a video at all, either on the first or second link.

It’s strange, the first link opens the Military Chronicle portal, and on it is a film (43.30 min.) dedicated to Panfilov, from the GENERALS series. From the abstract:
...The fate of General Ivan Vasilyevich Panfilov, who died in November 1941 during the defense of Moscow, is told by the guests of the program: the general’s daughter Maya Ivanovna, director of the museum. I.Panfilova in Zelenograd T.Melekhina, veterans of the battle of Moscow
Ivan Panfilov became famous as an excellent commander of the Red Guard rifle division, as well as a major general. However There is a lot of inaccurate information in this film; it was filmed with the participation of Mlechin.
In battles, Panfilov could skillfully use mobile units, thanks to which he saved his division. It was also the first time he was able to use layered artillery anti-tank defense. This helped the troops gain resilience, and they did not allow the enemy to break through the defenses. All seven days the division and cadet regiment S.I. Mladentsev successfully repelled all attacks of the German enemy.
Ivan Panfilov, even in the most difficult battles, remained calm and cool, thanks to which he excellently led the division and made correct and rational decisions. The division, for its exemplary performance of combat missions of any complexity, was transformed into the Eighth Guards Rifle Division. General Panfilov's division always firmly held its position; it was impossible to defeat it, since it always skillfully repulsed all enemy attacks. ...
I liked the film. I still don’t understand whether the inaccurate information (what is this?) appeared due to Mlechin’s participation in the trial, or is it something else.
(Addendum)

Alexis writes:

I'm more interested in books.

Vicky advises:
Baurzhan Momysh-uly. General Panfilov. - Alma-Ata, 1965.
Valentina Panfilova. My father: memories. - Alma-Ata: Zhazushi, 1971. - 96 p.
The texts of the books themselves are unknown to me, but there is an article dedicated to the 75th anniversary of his birth (I just didn’t understand what it means makala), with a description of the track record:
BAUYRZHAN MOMYSHULY
(makala)

December 31, 1967

“Kazakhstanskaya Pravda”, No. 302

General Panfilov

(On the 75th birthday anniversary)

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