Modernity, with its measure of success in the form of monetary units, gives birth to far more heroes of scandalous gossip columns than true heroes, whose actions evoke pride and admiration.
Sometimes it seems that real heroes remain only on the pages of books about the Great Patriotic War.
But at any time there remain those who are ready to sacrifice what is most dear to them in the name of loved ones, in the name of the Motherland.
On Defender of the Fatherland Day, we will remember five of our contemporaries who accomplished feats. They did not seek fame and honor, but simply fulfilled their duty to the end.
Sergey Burnaev
Sergey Burnaev was born in Mordovia, in the village of Dubenki on January 15, 1982. When Seryozha was five years old, his parents moved to the Tula region.
The boy grew and matured, and the era changed around him. His peers were eager to go into business, some into crime, and Sergei dreamed of a military career, wanted to serve in the Airborne Forces. After graduating from school, he managed to work at a rubber shoe factory, and then was drafted into the army. However, he ended up not in the landing force, but in the special forces detachment of the Vityaz Airborne Forces.
Serious physical activity and training did not frighten the guy. The commanders immediately drew attention to Sergei - stubborn, with character, a real special forces soldier!
During two business trips to Chechnya in 2000-2002, Sergei established himself as a true professional, skillful and persistent.
On March 28, 2002, the detachment in which Sergei Burnaev served conducted a special operation in the city of Argun. The militants turned a local school into their fortification, placing an ammunition depot in it, as well as breaking through an entire system of underground passages under it. The special forces began to examine the tunnels in search of the militants who had taken refuge in them.
Sergei walked first and came across bandits. A battle ensued in the narrow and dark space of the dungeon. During the flash from the machine gun fire, Sergei saw a grenade rolling on the floor, thrown by a militant towards the special forces. The explosion could have injured several soldiers who did not see this danger.
The decision came in a split second. Sergei covered the grenade with his body, saving the rest of the soldiers. He died on the spot, but diverted the threat from his comrades.
A bandit group of 8 people was completely eliminated in this battle. All of Sergei’s comrades survived this battle.
For the courage and heroism shown during the performance of a special task in conditions involving risk to life, by decree of the President of the Russian Federation of September 16, 2002 No. 992, Sergeant Burnaev Sergei Aleksandrovich was awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation (posthumously).
Sergei Burnaev is forever included in the lists of his military unit of the Internal Troops. In the city of Reutov, Moscow region, on the Alley of Heroes of the military memorial complex “To all Reutov residents who died for the Fatherland,” a bronze bust of the hero was installed.
Denis Vetchinov
Denis Vetchinov was born on June 28, 1976 in the village of Shantobe, Tselinograd region of Kazakhstan. I spent an ordinary childhood as a schoolboy of the last Soviet generation.
How is a hero raised? Probably no one knows this. But at the turn of the era, Denis chose a career as an officer, after military service he entered a military school. Maybe it was also due to the fact that the school from which he graduated was named after Vladimir Komarov, a cosmonaut who died during a flight on the Soyuz-1 spacecraft.
After graduating from college in Kazan in 2000, the newly minted officer did not run from difficulties - he immediately ended up in Chechnya. Everyone who knew him repeats one thing - the officer did not bow to bullets, took care of the soldiers and was a real “father to the soldiers” not in words, but in essence.
In 2003, the Chechen war ended for Captain Vetchinov. Until 2008, he served as deputy battalion commander for educational work in the 70th Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment, and in 2005 he became a major.
Life as an officer is not easy, but Denis did not complain about anything. His wife Katya and daughter Masha were waiting for him at home.
Major Vetchinov was predicted to have a great future and general's shoulder straps. In 2008, he became deputy commander of the 135th motorized rifle regiment of the 19th motorized rifle division of the 58th army for educational work. The war in South Ossetia found him in this position.
On August 9, 2008, the marching column of the 58th Army on the approach to Tskhinvali was ambushed by Georgian special forces. Cars were shot from 10 points. The commander of the 58th Army, General Khrulev, was wounded.
Major Vetchinov, who was in the column, jumped from an armored personnel carrier and entered the battle. Having managed to prevent chaos, he organized a defense, suppressing Georgian firing points with return fire.
During the retreat, Denis Vetchinov was seriously wounded in the legs, however, overcoming the pain, he continued the battle, covering with fire his comrades and the journalists who were with the column. Only a new serious wound to the head could stop the major.
In this battle, Major Vetchinov destroyed up to a dozen enemy special forces and saved the lives of Komsomolskaya Pravda war correspondent Alexander Kots, VGTRK special correspondent Alexander Sladkov and Moskovsky Komsomolets correspondent Viktor Sokirko.
The wounded major was sent to the hospital, but died on the way.
On August 15, 2008, for the courage and heroism shown in the performance of military duty in the North Caucasus region, Major Denis Vetchinov was awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation (posthumously).
Aldar Tsydenzhapov
Aldar Tsydenzhapov was born on August 4, 1991 in the village of Aginskoye, in Buryatia. The family had four children, including Aldara's twin sister Aryuna.
The father worked in the police, the mother was a nurse in a kindergarten - a simple family leading the ordinary life of residents of the Russian outback. Aldar graduated from school in his native village and was drafted into the army, ending up in the Pacific Fleet.
Sailor Tsydenzhapov served on the destroyer “Bystry”, he was trusted by the command, and was friends with his colleagues. There was only a month left before demobilization, when on September 24, 2010, Aldar took up duty as a boiler room crew operator.
The destroyer was preparing for a combat voyage from the base in Fokino in Primorye to Kamchatka. Suddenly, a fire broke out in the ship's engine room due to a short circuit in the wiring when the fuel pipeline broke. Aldar rushed to plug the fuel leak. A monstrous flame raged around, in which the sailor spent 9 seconds, managing to eliminate the leak. Despite the terrible burns, he got out of the compartment on his own. As the commission subsequently established, the prompt actions of sailor Tsydenzhapov led to the timely shutdown of the ship’s power plant, which otherwise could have exploded. In this case, both the destroyer itself and all 300 crew members would have died.
Aldar, in critical condition, was taken to the Pacific Fleet hospital in Vladivostok, where doctors fought for the hero’s life for four days. Alas, he died on September 28.
By Decree of the President of Russia No. 1431 of November 16, 2010, sailor Aldar Tsydenzhapov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation.
Sergei Solnechnikov
Born on August 19, 1980 in Germany, in Potsdam, in a military family. Seryozha decided to continue the dynasty as a child, without looking back at all the difficulties of this path. After the 8th grade, he entered a cadet boarding school in the Astrakhan region, then without exams he was admitted to the Kachin Military School. Here he was caught by another reform, after which the school was disbanded.
However, this did not turn Sergei away from a military career - he entered the Kemerovo Higher Military Command School of Communications, from which he graduated in 2003.
A young officer served in Belogorsk, in the Far East. “A good officer, real, honest,” friends and subordinates said about Sergei. They also gave him the nickname “battalion commander Sun”.
I didn’t have time to start a family - I spent too much time on service. The bride waited patiently - after all, it seemed that there was still a whole life ahead.
On March 28, 2012, routine exercises on throwing the RGD-5 grenade, which are part of the training course for conscript soldiers, took place at the unit’s training ground.
19-year-old private Zhuravlev, getting excited, threw a grenade unsuccessfully - it hit the parapet and flew back where his colleagues were standing.
The confused boys looked in horror at the death lying on the ground. Battalion commander Sun reacted instantly - throwing the soldier aside, he covered the grenade with his body.
The wounded Sergei was taken to the hospital, but from numerous injuries he died on the operating table.
On April 3, 2012, by decree of the President of the Russian Federation, Major Sergei Solnechnikov was awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation (posthumously) for heroism, courage and dedication shown in the performance of military duty.
Irina Yanina
“War does not have a woman’s face” is a wise phrase. But it just so happened that in all the wars that Russia waged, women found themselves next to men, enduring all the hardships and hardships equally with them.
Born in Taldy-Kurgan, Kazakh SSR on November 27, 1966, the girl Ira did not think that war would enter her life from the pages of books. School, medical school, a position as a nurse in a tuberculosis clinic, then in a maternity hospital - a purely peaceful biography.
Everything was turned upside down by the collapse of the Soviet Union. Russians in Kazakhstan suddenly became strangers and unnecessary. Like many, Irina and her family left for Russia, which had its own problems.
The husband of the beautiful Irina could not stand the difficulties and left the family in search of an easier life. Ira was left alone with two children in her arms, without normal housing and a corner. And then there was another misfortune - my daughter was diagnosed with leukemia, from which she quickly faded away.
Even men break down from all these troubles and go on a drinking binge. Irina did not break down - after all, she still had her son Zhenya, the light in the window, for whom she was ready to move mountains. In 1995, she entered service in the Internal Troops. Not for the sake of heroic deeds - they paid money there and gave rations. The paradox of modern history is that in order to survive and raise her son, a woman was forced to go to Chechnya, into the thick of it. Two business trips in 1996, three and a half months as a nurse under daily shelling, in blood and dirt.
Nurse of the medical company of the operational brigade of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia from the city of Kalach-on-Don - in this position, Sergeant Yanina found herself in her second war. Basayev's gangs were rushing to Dagestan, where local Islamists were already waiting for them.
And again, battles, wounded, killed - the daily routine of medical service in war.
“Hello, my little, beloved, most beautiful son in the world!
I really miss you. Write to me how you are doing, how is school, who are your friends? Aren't you sick? Don't go out late in the evenings - there are a lot of bandits now. Stay near the house. Don't go anywhere alone. Listen to everyone at home and know that I love you very much. Read more. You are already a big and independent boy, so do everything right so that you don’t get scolded.
Waiting for your letter. Listen to everyone.
Kiss. Mother. 08/21/99"
Irina sent this letter to her son 10 days before her last fight.
On August 31, 1999, a brigade of internal troops, in which Irina Yanina served, stormed the village of Karamakhi, which terrorists had turned into an impregnable fortress.
That day, Sergeant Yanina, under enemy fire, assisted 15 wounded soldiers. Then she drove to the line of fire three times in an armored personnel carrier, taking another 28 seriously wounded from the battlefield. The fourth flight was fatal.
The armored personnel carrier came under heavy enemy fire. Irina began to cover the loading of the wounded with return fire from a machine gun. Finally, the car managed to move back, but the militants set the armored personnel carrier on fire with grenade launchers.
Sergeant Yanina, while she had enough strength, pulled the wounded out of the burning car. She did not have time to get out herself - the ammunition in the armored personnel carrier began to explode.
On October 14, 1999, medical service sergeant Irina Yanina was awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation (posthumously); she was forever included in the lists of personnel of her military unit. Irina Yanina became the first woman awarded the title of Hero of Russia for her military actions in the Caucasian Wars.
Heroes of the Great Patriotic War
Alexander Matrosov
Submachine gunner of the 2nd separate battalion of the 91st separate Siberian volunteer brigade named after Stalin.
Sasha Matrosov did not know his parents. He was brought up in an orphanage and a labor colony. When the war began, he was not even 20. Matrosov was drafted into the army in September 1942 and sent to the infantry school, and then to the front.
In February 1943, his battalion attacked a Nazi stronghold, but fell into a trap, coming under heavy fire, cutting off the path to the trenches. They fired from three bunkers. Two soon fell silent, but the third continued to shoot the Red Army soldiers lying in the snow.
Seeing that the only chance to get out from under fire was to suppress the enemy’s fire, Sailors and a fellow soldier crawled to the bunker and threw two grenades in his direction. The machine gun fell silent. The Red Army soldiers went on the attack, but the deadly weapon began to chatter again. Alexander’s partner was killed, and Sailors was left alone in front of the bunker. Something had to be done.
He didn't have even a few seconds to make a decision. Not wanting to let his comrades down, Alexander closed the bunker embrasure with his body. The attack was a success. And Matrosov posthumously received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Military pilot, commander of the 2nd squadron of the 207th long-range bomber aviation regiment, captain.
He worked as a mechanic, then in 1932 he was drafted into the Red Army. He ended up in an air regiment, where he became a pilot. Nikolai Gastello participated in three wars. A year before the Great Patriotic War, he received the rank of captain.
On June 26, 1941, the crew under the command of Captain Gastello took off to strike a German mechanized column. It happened on the road between the Belarusian cities of Molodechno and Radoshkovichi. But the column was well guarded by enemy artillery. A fight ensued. Gastello's plane was hit by anti-aircraft guns. The shell damaged the fuel tank and the car caught fire. The pilot could have ejected, but he decided to fulfill his military duty to the end. Nikolai Gastello directed the burning car directly at the enemy column. This was the first fire ram in the Great Patriotic War.
The name of the brave pilot became a household name. Until the end of the war, all aces who decided to ram were called Gastellites. If you follow official statistics, then during the entire war there were almost six hundred ramming attacks on the enemy.
Brigade reconnaissance officer of the 67th detachment of the 4th Leningrad partisan brigade.
Lena was 15 years old when the war began. He was already working at a factory, having completed seven years of school. When the Nazis captured his native Novgorod region, Lenya joined the partisans.
He was brave and decisive, the command valued him. Over the several years spent in the partisan detachment, he participated in 27 operations. He was responsible for several destroyed bridges behind enemy lines, 78 Germans killed, and 10 trains with ammunition.
It was he who, in the summer of 1942, near the village of Varnitsa, blew up a car in which was the German Major General of the Engineering Troops Richard von Wirtz. Golikov managed to obtain important documents about the German offensive. The enemy attack was thwarted, and the young hero was nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for this feat.
In the winter of 1943, a significantly superior enemy detachment unexpectedly attacked the partisans near the village of Ostray Luka. Lenya Golikov died like a real hero - in battle.
Pioneer. Scout of the Voroshilov partisan detachment in the territory occupied by the Nazis.
Zina was born and went to school in Leningrad. However, the war found her on the territory of Belarus, where she came on vacation.
In 1942, 16-year-old Zina joined the underground organization “Young Avengers”. She distributed anti-fascist leaflets in the occupied territories. Then, undercover, she got a job in a canteen for German officers, where she committed several acts of sabotage and was only miraculously not captured by the enemy. Many experienced military men were surprised at her courage.
In 1943, Zina Portnova joined the partisans and continued to engage in sabotage behind enemy lines. Due to the efforts of defectors who surrendered Zina to the Nazis, she was captured. She was interrogated and tortured in the dungeons. But Zina remained silent, not betraying her own. During one of these interrogations, she grabbed a pistol from the table and shot three Nazis. After that she was shot in prison.
An underground anti-fascist organization operating in the area of modern Lugansk region. There were more than a hundred people. The youngest participant was 14 years old.
This underground youth organization was formed immediately after the occupation of the Lugansk region. It included both regular military personnel who found themselves cut off from the main units, and local youth. Among the most famous participants: Oleg Koshevoy, Ulyana Gromova, Lyubov Shevtsova, Vasily Levashov, Sergey Tyulenin and many other young people.
The Young Guard issued leaflets and committed sabotage against the Nazis. Once they managed to disable an entire tank repair workshop and burn down the stock exchange, from where the Nazis were driving people away for forced labor in Germany. Members of the organization planned to stage an uprising, but were discovered due to traitors. The Nazis captured, tortured and shot more than seventy people. Their feat is immortalized in one of the most famous military books by Alexander Fadeev and the film adaptation of the same name.
28 people from the personnel of the 4th company of the 2nd battalion of the 1075th rifle regiment.
In November 1941, a counter-offensive against Moscow began. The enemy stopped at nothing, making a decisive forced march before the onset of a harsh winter.
At this time, fighters under the command of Ivan Panfilov took up a position on the highway seven kilometers from Volokolamsk, a small town near Moscow. There they gave battle to the advancing tank units. The battle lasted four hours. During this time, they destroyed 18 armored vehicles, delaying the enemy's attack and thwarting his plans. All 28 people (or almost all, historians’ opinions differ here) died.
According to legend, the company political instructor Vasily Klochkov, before the decisive stage of the battle, addressed the soldiers with a phrase that became known throughout the country: “Russia is great, but there is nowhere to retreat - Moscow is behind us!”
The Nazi counteroffensive ultimately failed. The Battle of Moscow, which was assigned the most important role during the war, was lost by the occupiers.
As a child, the future hero suffered from rheumatism, and doctors doubted that Maresyev would be able to fly. However, he stubbornly applied to the flight school until he was finally enrolled. Maresyev was drafted into the army in 1937.
He met the Great Patriotic War at a flight school, but soon found himself at the front. During a combat mission, his plane was shot down, and Maresyev himself was able to eject. Eighteen days later, seriously wounded in both legs, he got out of the encirclement. However, he still managed to overcome the front line and ended up in the hospital. But gangrene had already set in, and doctors amputated both of his legs.
For many, this would have meant the end of their service, but the pilot did not give up and returned to aviation. Until the end of the war he flew with prosthetics. Over the years, he made 86 combat missions and shot down 11 enemy aircraft. Moreover, 7 - after amputation. In 1944, Alexey Maresyev went to work as an inspector and lived to be 84 years old.
His fate inspired the writer Boris Polevoy to write “The Tale of a Real Man.”
Deputy squadron commander of the 177th Air Defense Fighter Aviation Regiment.
Viktor Talalikhin began to fight already in the Soviet-Finnish war. He shot down 4 enemy planes in a biplane. Then he served at an aviation school.
In August 1941, he was one of the first Soviet pilots to ram, shooting down a German bomber in a night air battle. Moreover, the wounded pilot was able to get out of the cockpit and parachute down to the rear to his own.
Talalikhin then shot down five more German aircraft. He died during another air battle near Podolsk in October 1941.
73 years later, in 2014, search engines found Talalikhin’s plane, which remained in the swamps near Moscow.
Artilleryman of the 3rd counter-battery artillery corps of the Leningrad Front.
Soldier Andrei Korzun was drafted into the army at the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War. He served on the Leningrad Front, where there were fierce and bloody battles.
On November 5, 1943, during another battle, his battery came under fierce enemy fire. Korzun was seriously injured. Despite the terrible pain, he saw that the powder charges were set on fire and the ammunition depot could fly into the air. Gathering his last strength, Andrei crawled to the blazing fire. But he could no longer take off his overcoat to cover the fire. Losing consciousness, he made a final effort and covered the fire with his body. The explosion was avoided at the cost of the life of the brave artilleryman.
Commander of the 3rd Leningrad Partisan Brigade.
A native of Petrograd, Alexander German, according to some sources, was a native of Germany. He served in the army since 1933. When the war started, I joined the scouts. He worked behind enemy lines, commanded a partisan detachment that terrified enemy soldiers. His brigade destroyed several thousand fascist soldiers and officers, derailed hundreds of trains and blew up hundreds of cars.
The Nazis staged a real hunt for Herman. In 1943, his partisan detachment was surrounded in the Pskov region. Making his way to his own, the brave commander died from an enemy bullet.
Commander of the 30th Separate Guards Tank Brigade of the Leningrad Front
Vladislav Khrustitsky was drafted into the Red Army back in the 20s. At the end of the 30s he completed armored courses. Since the fall of 1942, he commanded the 61st separate light tank brigade.
He distinguished himself during Operation Iskra, which marked the beginning of the defeat of the Germans on the Leningrad Front.
Killed in the battle near Volosovo. In 1944, the enemy retreated from Leningrad, but from time to time they attempted to counterattack. During one of these counterattacks, Khrustitsky's tank brigade fell into a trap.
Despite heavy fire, the commander ordered the offensive to continue. He radioed to his crews with the words: “Fight to the death!” - and went forward first. Unfortunately, the brave tanker died in this battle. And yet the village of Volosovo was liberated from the enemy.
Commander of a partisan detachment and brigade.
Before the war he worked on the railway. In October 1941, when the Germans were already near Moscow, he himself volunteered for a complex operation in which his railway experience was needed. Was thrown behind enemy lines. There he came up with the so-called “coal mines” (in fact, these are just mines disguised as coal). With the help of this simple but effective weapon, hundreds of enemy trains were blown up in three months.
Zaslonov actively agitated the local population to go over to the side of the partisans. The Nazis, realizing this, dressed their soldiers in Soviet uniforms. Zaslonov mistook them for defectors and ordered them to join the partisan detachment. The way was open for the insidious enemy. A battle ensued, during which Zaslonov died. A reward was announced for Zaslonov, alive or dead, but the peasants hid his body, and the Germans did not get it.
Commander of a small partisan detachment.
Efim Osipenko fought during the Civil War. Therefore, when the enemy captured his land, without thinking twice, he joined the partisans. Together with five other comrades, he organized a small partisan detachment that committed sabotage against the Nazis.
During one of the operations, it was decided to undermine the enemy personnel. But the detachment had little ammunition. The bomb was made from an ordinary grenade. Osipenko himself had to install the explosives. He crawled to the railway bridge and, seeing the train approaching, threw it in front of the train. There was no explosion. Then the partisan himself hit the grenade with a pole from a railway sign. It worked! A long train with food and tanks went downhill. The detachment commander survived, but completely lost his sight.
For this feat, he was the first in the country to be awarded the “Partisan of the Patriotic War” medal.
Peasant Matvey Kuzmin was born three years before the abolition of serfdom. And he died, becoming the oldest holder of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
His story contains many references to the story of another famous peasant - Ivan Susanin. Matvey also had to lead the invaders through the forest and swamps. And, like the legendary hero, he decided to stop the enemy at the cost of his life. He sent his grandson ahead to warn a detachment of partisans who had stopped nearby. The Nazis were ambushed. A fight ensued. Matvey Kuzmin died at the hands of a German officer. But he did his job. He was 84 years old.
A partisan who was part of a sabotage and reconnaissance group at the headquarters of the Western Front.
While studying at school, Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya wanted to enter a literary institute. But these plans were not destined to come true - the war interfered. In October 1941, Zoya came to the recruiting station as a volunteer and, after a short training at a school for saboteurs, was transferred to Volokolamsk. There, an 18-year-old partisan fighter, along with adult men, performed dangerous tasks: mined roads and destroyed communication centers.
During one of the sabotage operations, Kosmodemyanskaya was caught by the Germans. She was tortured, forcing her to give up her own people. Zoya heroically endured all the trials without saying a word to her enemies. Seeing that it was impossible to achieve anything from the young partisan, they decided to hang her.
Kosmodemyanskaya bravely accepted the tests. Moments before her death, she shouted to the assembled locals: “Comrades, victory will be ours. German soldiers, before it’s too late, surrender!” The girl’s courage shocked the peasants so much that they later retold this story to front-line correspondents. And after publication in the Pravda newspaper, the whole country learned about Kosmodemyanskaya’s feat. She became the first woman to be awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War.
During the Great Patriotic War, not much was known about the incredible feat of the simple Russian soldier Kolka Sirotinin, as well as about the hero himself. Perhaps no one would ever have known about the feat of the twenty-year-old artilleryman. If not for one incident.
In the summer of 1942, Friedrich Fenfeld, an officer of the 4th Panzer Division of the Wehrmacht, died near Tula. Soviet soldiers discovered his diary. From its pages, some details of that very last battle of Senior Sergeant Sirotinin became known.
It was the 25th day of the war...
In the summer of 1941, the 4th Panzer Division of Guderian’s group, one of the most talented German generals, broke through to the Belarusian city of Krichev. Units of the 13th Soviet Army were forced to retreat. To cover the retreat of the artillery battery of the 55th Infantry Regiment, the commander left artilleryman Nikolai Sirotinin with a gun.
The order was brief: to delay the German tank column on the bridge over the Dobrost River, and then, if possible, catch up with our own. The senior sergeant carried out only the first half of the order...
Sirotinin took up a position in a field near the village of Sokolnichi. The gun sank in the tall rye. There is not a single noticeable landmark for the enemy nearby. But from here the highway and the river were clearly visible.
On the morning of July 17, a column of 59 tanks and armored vehicles with infantry appeared on the highway. When the lead tank reached the bridge, the first – successful – shot rang out. With the second shell, Sirotinin set fire to an armored personnel carrier at the tail of the column, thereby creating a traffic jam. Nikolai shot and shot, knocking out car after car.
Sirotinin fought alone, being both a gunner and a loader. It had 60 rounds of ammunition and a 76-mm cannon - an excellent weapon against tanks. And he made a decision: to continue the battle until the ammunition runs out.
The Nazis threw themselves to the ground in panic, not understanding where the shooting was coming from. The guns fired at random, across squares. After all, the day before, their reconnaissance had failed to detect Soviet artillery in the vicinity, and the division advanced without special precautions. The Germans attempted to clear the jam by dragging the damaged tank from the bridge with two other tanks, but they were also hit. An armored vehicle that tried to ford the river got stuck in a swampy bank, where it was destroyed. For a long time the Germans were unable to determine the location of the well-camouflaged gun; they believed that a whole battery was fighting them.
This unique battle lasted a little over two hours. The crossing was blocked. By the time Nikolai's position was discovered, he had only three shells left. When asked to surrender, Sirotinin refused and fired from his carbine to the last. Having entered Sirotinin's rear on motorcycles, the Germans destroyed the lone gun with mortar fire. At the position they found a lone gun and a soldier.
The result of the battle of Senior Sergeant Sirotinin against General Guderian is impressive: after the battle on the banks of the Dobrost River, the Nazis were missing 11 tanks, 7 armored vehicles, 57 soldiers and officers.
The tenacity of the Soviet soldier earned the respect of the Nazis. The commander of the tank battalion, Colonel Erich Schneider, ordered the worthy enemy to be buried with military honors.
From the diary of Chief Lieutenant of the 4th Panzer Division Friedrich Hoenfeld:
July 17, 1941. Sokolnichi, near Krichev. In the evening, an unknown Russian soldier was buried. He stood alone at the cannon, shot at a column of tanks and infantry for a long time, and died. Everyone was surprised at his courage... Oberst (Colonel - editor's note) said before the grave that if all the Fuhrer's soldiers fought like this Russian, they would conquer the whole world. They fired three times in volleys from rifles. After all, he is Russian, is such admiration necessary?
From the testimony of Olga Verzhbitskaya, a resident of the village of Sokolnichi:
I, Olga Borisovna Verzhbitskaya, born in 1889, a native of Latvia (Latgale), lived before the war in the village of Sokolnichi, Krichevsky district, together with my sister.
We knew Nikolai Sirotinin and his sister before the day of the battle. He was with a friend of mine, buying milk. He was very polite, always helping elderly women get water from the well and do other hard work.
I remember well the evening before the fight. On a log at the gate of the Grabskikh house I saw Nikolai Sirotinin. He sat and thought about something. I was very surprised that everyone was leaving, but he was sitting.
When the battle started, I was not home yet. I remember how the tracer bullets flew. He walked for about two to three hours. In the afternoon, the Germans gathered at the place where Sirotinin’s gun stood. They forced us, local residents, to come there too. As someone who knows German, the chief German, about fifty years old with decorations, tall, bald, and gray-haired, ordered me to translate his speech to the local people. He said that the Russian fought very well, that if the Germans had fought like that, they would have taken Moscow long ago, and that this is how a soldier should defend his homeland - the Fatherland.
Then a medallion was taken out of the pocket of our dead soldier’s tunic. I firmly remember that it was written “the city of Orel”, Vladimir Sirotinin (I didn’t remember his middle name), that the name of the street was, as I remember, not Dobrolyubova, but Gruzovaya or Lomovaya, I remember that the house number was two digits. But we could not know who this Sirotinin Vladimir was - the father, brother, uncle of the murdered man or anyone else.
The German chief told me: “Take this document and write to your relatives. Let the mother know what a hero her son was and how he died.” Then a young German officer standing at Sirotinin’s grave came up and snatched the piece of paper and medallion from me and said something rudely.
The Germans fired a volley of rifles in honor of our soldier and put a cross on the grave, hanging his helmet, pierced by a bullet.
I myself clearly saw the body of Nikolai Sirotinin, even when he was lowered into the grave. His face was not covered in blood, but his tunic had a large bloody stain on the left side, his helmet was broken, and there were many shell casings lying around.
Since our house was located not far from the battle site, next to the road to Sokolnichi, the Germans stood near us. I myself heard how they spoke for a long time and admiringly about the feat of the Russian soldier, counting shots and hits. Some of the Germans, even after the funeral, stood for a long time at the gun and the grave and talked quietly.
February 29, 1960
Testimony of telephone operator M.I. Grabskaya:
I, Maria Ivanovna Grabskaya, born in 1918, worked as a telephone operator at Daewoo 919 in Krichev, lived in my native village of Sokolnichi, three kilometers from the city of Krichev.
I remember the events of July 1941 well. About a week before the Germans arrived, Soviet artillerymen settled in our village. The headquarters of their battery was in our house, the battery commander was a senior lieutenant named Nikolai, his assistant was a lieutenant named Fedya, and of the soldiers I remember most of all the Red Army soldier Nikolai Sirotinin. The fact is that the senior lieutenant very often called this soldier and entrusted him, as the most intelligent and experienced, with this and that task.
He was slightly above average height, dark brown hair, a simple, cheerful face. When Sirotinin and senior lieutenant Nikolai decided to dig a dugout for the local residents, I saw how he deftly threw the earth, I noticed that he was apparently not from the boss’s family. Nikolai answered jokingly:
“I am a worker from Orel, and I am no stranger to physical labor. We Orlovites know how to work.”
Today in the village of Sokolnichi there is no grave in which the Germans buried Nikolai Sirotinin. Three years after the war, his remains were transferred to the mass grave of Soviet soldiers in Krichev.
Pencil drawing made from memory by a colleague of Sirotinin in the 1990s Residents of Belarus remember and honor the feat of the brave artilleryman. In Krichev there is a street named after him, and a monument has been erected. But, despite the fact that Sirotinin’s feat, thanks to the efforts of the workers of the Soviet Army Archive, was recognized back in 1960, he was not awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. A painfully absurd circumstance got in the way: the soldier’s family did not have his photograph. And it is necessary to apply for a high rank.
Today there is only a pencil sketch made after the war by one of his colleagues. In the year of the 20th anniversary of the Victory, Senior Sergeant Sirotinin was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, first degree. Posthumously. This is the story.
Memory
In 1948, the remains of Nikolai Sirotinin were reburied in a mass grave (according to the military burial registration card on the OBD Memorial website - in 1943), on which a monument was erected in the form of a sculpture of a soldier grieving for his fallen comrades, and on the marble plaques the list of those buried indicated surname Sirotinin N.V.
In 1960, Sirotinin was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.
In 1961, at the site of the feat near the highway, a monument was erected in the form of an obelisk with the name of the hero, near which a real 76-mm gun was installed on a pedestal. In the city of Krichev, a street is named after Sirotinin.
At the Tekmash plant in Orel, a memorial plaque was installed with a brief information about N.V. Sirotinin.
The Museum of Military Glory in Secondary School No. 17 in the city of Orel contains materials dedicated to N.V. Sirotinin.
In 2015, the council of school No. 7 in the city of Orel petitioned to name the school after Nikolai Sirotinin. Nikolai’s sister Taisiya Vladimirovna was present at the ceremonial events. The name for the school was chosen by the students themselves based on the search and information work they did.
When reporters asked Nikolai’s sister why Nikolai volunteered to cover the division’s retreat, Taisiya Vladimirovna replied: “My brother could not have done otherwise.”
The feat of Kolka Sirotinin is an example of loyalty to the Motherland for all our youth.
EXECUTIONS OF RUSSIAN SOLDIERS AND OFFICERS IN OUR DAYS Prepared by 7th A class student Maria Dyachenko
IGITOV YURI SERGEEVICH 1973 -1994 Very often, the exploits of Russian soldiers and officers of our days become generally known only after the death of the heroes. This is exactly what happened in the case of private Yuri Igitov, who was awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation posthumously for performing his official duty and a special task. Yuri Sergeevich took part in the first Chechen war. He was 21 years old, but despite his young age, he turned out to be a courageous and valiant warrior. Yuri's platoon was surrounded by Dudayev's militants. Most of Yuri's comrades died from numerous enemy shots. The brave private Igitov, at the cost of his own life, covered the retreat of his comrades until the last bullet. And when the enemy advanced, Yuri blew up a grenade without surrendering to the enemy.
SOLNECHNIKOV SERGEY ALEXANDROVICH 1980 -2012 In everyday military service there is always a place for feat. Sergei Solnechnikov, or battalion commander Sun, as his friends and subordinates called him, accomplished a real military feat during military exercises in 2012. Saving his soldiers from death, the battalion commander covered with his own body an activated grenade, which flew off the edge of the parapet and could explode at any minute. Thanks to Sergei’s dedication, a major tragedy was avoided and the lives of the soldiers were saved. The battalion commander was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation. And our memory of the actions of such simple heroes is a reward for bravery and courage, which cost them their lives.
YANINA IRINA YUREVNA 1966 -1999 Nowadays, heroic deeds are performed not only by men, but also by valiant Russian women. A sweet, fragile girl, Irina was a nurse and participant in combat operations during the First Chechen War. August 31, 1999 became fatal in her life. Threatening her own life, nurse Yanina saved more than 40 people on the line of fire, making three trips in an armored personnel carrier. Irina's fourth trip ended tragically. During the enemy counter-offensive, she not only organized the lightning-fast loading of wounded soldiers, but also covered the withdrawal of her colleagues with a machine-gun burst. Unfortunately, two grenades hit the armored personnel carrier. The nurse rushed to the aid of the wounded commander and privates. Irina saved the young fighters from certain death, but did not have time to get out of the burning car herself. The armored personnel carrier's ammunition detonated. For her valor and courage, Irina Yanina was awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation posthumously. Irina is the only woman who was awarded this title for combat operations in the North Caucasus.