Hero of the Soviet Union Ulyana Gromova is a member of the headquarters of the underground Komsomol organization "Young Guard".
Ulyana Matveevna Gromova was born on January 3, 1924 in Krasnodon (modern Lugansk People's Republic). Russian by nationality. At school, Ulyana was the best student and read a lot. She kept a notebook where she wrote down expressions she liked from the books she had just read. For example, in her notebook there were these quotes:
“It is much easier to see heroes die than to listen to some coward scream for mercy.” (Jack London)
“The most precious thing a person has is life. It is given to him once, and he must live it in such a way that there is no excruciating pain for the years spent aimlessly, so that the shame does not burn for a mean and petty past, and so that when dying, he can say: his whole life and all efforts were devoted to the most beautiful thing in the world - the struggle for the liberation of humanity." (Nikolai Ostrovsky)
In March 1940, she joined the Komsomol.
When the war began, Ulyana wrote in her notebook: “Our life, creative work, our future, our entire Soviet culture is in danger. We must hate the enemies of our Fatherland; hate the enemies of human happiness, ignite with an invincible thirst to avenge the torment and death of our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, friends, for the death and torment of every Soviet citizen."
Ulyana Gromova was one of the leaders and organizers of the youth struggle against the Nazi occupiers in the mining town of Krasnodon. Since September 1942, Gromova was a member of the headquarters of the underground Komsomol organization "Young Guard".
Each member of the “Young Guard” took an oath: “I, joining the ranks of the “Young Guard”, in the face of my friends in arms, in the face of my native, long-suffering land, in the face of all the people, I solemnly swear: to unquestioningly carry out any task given to me by my elders comrade, to keep in the deepest confidence everything that concerns my work in the Young Guard.
I swear to take revenge mercilessly for the burned, devastated cities and villages, for the blood of our people, for the martyrdom of thirty heroic miners. And if this revenge requires my life, I will give it without a moment’s hesitation.
If I break this sacred oath under torture or because of cowardice, then may my name and my family be cursed forever.
Blood for blood! Death for death!"
The "Young Guard" distributes leaflets in hundreds and thousands - at bazaars, in cinemas, in clubs. Leaflets are found on the police building, even in the pockets of police officers. In underground conditions, new members are accepted into the ranks of the Komsomol, temporary certificates are issued, and membership fees are accepted. As Soviet troops approach, an armed uprising is being prepared and weapons are being obtained in a variety of ways. At the same time, strike groups carried out acts of sabotage and terrorism: they killed policemen and Nazis, freed captured Soviet soldiers, burned the labor exchange along with all the documents located there, thereby saving several thousand Soviet people from being deported to Nazi Germany..
The organization was discovered by the police, members of the Young Guard were captured. On January 10, 1943, Ulyana was also captured. Ulyana’s mother recalled her daughter’s arrest:
“The door swings open and the Germans and police burst into the room.
- Are you Gromova? - said one of them, pointing to Ulyasha.
She straightened up, looked around at everyone and said loudly:
- I!
- Get ready! - the policeman barked.
“Don’t yell,” Ulya answered calmly.
Not a single muscle moved on her face. She easily and confidently put on her coat, tied a scarf around her head, put a piece of oatcake in her pocket and, coming up to me, kissed me deeply. Raising her head, she looked so tenderly and warmly at me, at the table where the books lay, at her bed, at her sister’s children, timidly looking out from the other room, as if she was silently saying goodbye to everything. Then she straightened up and said firmly:
-I'm ready!
This is how I will remember her for the rest of my life."
Even in the cell, Ulyana spoke with conviction about the struggle: “The struggle is not such a simple thing, in any conditions, in any situation, you must not bend, but find a way out and fight. We can also fight in these conditions, we just need to be more decisive and organized. We can arrange an escape and continue your business in freedom. Think about it." In her cell, Ulyana read poetry to her comrades.
Ulyana Gromova behaved with dignity during interrogations, refusing to give any testimony about the activities of the underground.
"...Ulyana Gromova was hung by her hair, a five-pointed star was cut out on her back, her breasts were cut off, her body was burned with a hot iron and the wounds were sprinkled with salt, she was put on a hot stove. The torture continued for a long time and mercilessly, but she was silent. When, after the next beatings, the investigator Cherenkov asked Ulyana why she behaved so defiantly, the girl replied: “I didn’t join the organization to ask for your forgiveness later; I only regret one thing, that we didn’t have enough time to do! But never mind, perhaps the Red Army will still have time to rescue us!..." (from the book by A.F. Gordeev "Feat in the Name of Life").
Ulyana Gromova reads Lermontov's "Demon" in her prison cell
Before her death, Ulyana wrote a letter to her family on the wall of her cell:
January 15, 1943
Goodbye mom, goodbye dad,
Farewell, all my relatives,
Farewell, my beloved brother Yelya,
You won't see me again.
I dream about your engines in my dreams,
Your figure always stands out in the eyes.
My beloved brother, I am dying,
Stand stronger for your Motherland.
Goodbye.
Greetings from Ulya Gromova.
After brutal torture, on January 16, 1943, 19-year-old Ulyana was shot and thrown into a mine. She did not live to see the liberation of Krasnodon by Soviet troops for only 4 weeks. She was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on September 13, 1943 (posthumously).
Ulyana Gromova was a determined, courageous underground worker, distinguished by her firm convictions and ability to instill confidence in others. These qualities manifested themselves with particular force during the most tragic period of her life, when in January 1943 she ended up in fascist dungeons.
Ulyana Matveevna Gromova was born on January 3, 1924 in the village of Pervomaika, Krasnodonsky district. There were five children in the family, Ulya was the youngest. Father, Matvey Maksimovich, often told children about the glory of Russian weapons, about famous military leaders, about past battles and campaigns, instilling in children pride in their people and their Motherland. Mother, Matryona Savelyevna, knew many songs, epics, and was a real folk storyteller.
In 1932, Ulyana went to first grade at Pervomaisk School No. 6. She studied excellently, moved from class to class with Certificates of Merit. “Gromova is rightfully considered the best student of the class and the school,” said the former director of secondary school No. 6 I.A. Shkreba. “Of course, she has excellent abilities, high development, but the main role belongs to work - persistent and systematic. She studies with soul, interest. Thanks to this, Gromova’s knowledge is wider, her understanding of phenomena is deeper than that of many of her fellow students.”
Ulyana read a lot, was a passionate fan of M. Yu. Lermontov and T. G. Shevchenko, A. M. Gorky and Jack London. She kept a diary where she wrote down expressions she liked from the books she had just read.
In 1939, Gromova was elected a member of the academic committee. In March 1940, she joined the Komsomol. She successfully completed her first Komsomol assignment - a counselor in a pioneer detachment. She carefully prepared for each gathering, made clippings from newspapers and magazines, and selected children's poems and stories.
Ulyana was a tenth-grader when the Great Patriotic War began. By this time, as I. A. Shkreba recalled, “she had already developed firm concepts about duty, honor, and morality. She is a strong-willed nature.” She was distinguished by a wonderful sense of friendship and collectivism. Together with her peers, Ulya worked in the collective farm fields and cared for the wounded in the hospital. In 1942 she graduated from school.
During the occupation, Anatoly Popov and Ulyana Gromova organized a patriotic group of youth in the village of Pervomaika, which became part of the Young Guard. Gromova is elected a member of the headquarters of the underground Komsomol organization. She takes an active part in preparing the military operations of the Young Guards, distributes leaflets, collects medicines, works among the population, agitating Krasnodon residents to disrupt the plans of the invaders to supply food and recruit young people to Germany.
On the eve of the 25th anniversary of the Great October Revolution, together with Anatoly Popov, Ulyana hung a red flag on the chimney of mine No. 1-bis.
Ulyana Gromova was a determined, courageous underground worker, distinguished by her firm convictions and ability to instill confidence in others. These qualities manifested themselves with particular force during the most tragic period of her life, when in January 1943 she ended up in fascist dungeons. As Valeria Borts’ mother, Maria Andreevna, recalls, Ulyana spoke with conviction about the fight in the cell: “We must not bend in any conditions, in any situation, but find a way out and fight. We can also fight in these conditions, we just need to be more decisive and organized ".
Ulyana Gromova behaved with dignity during interrogations, refusing to give any testimony about the activities of the underground.
"... Ulyana Gromova was hung by her hair, a five-pointed star was cut out on her back, her breasts were cut off, her body was burned with a hot iron and the wounds were sprinkled with salt, she was put on a hot stove. The torture continued for a long time and mercilessly, but she was silent. When, after the next beatings, the investigator Cherenkov asked Ulyana why she behaved so defiantly, the girl replied: “I didn’t join the organization to ask for your forgiveness later; I only regret one thing, that we didn’t have enough time to do! But never mind, perhaps the Red Army will still have time to rescue us!..." From the book by A.F. Gordeev "Feat in the Name of Life"
“Ulyana Gromova, 19 years old, a five-pointed star was carved on her back, her right arm was broken, her ribs were broken” (KGB Archives of the USSR Council of Ministers, d. 100-275, vol. 8).
She was buried in the mass grave of heroes in the central square of the city of Krasnodon.
By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated September 13, 1943, Ulyana Matveevna Gromova, a member of the headquarters of the underground Komsomol organization "Young Guard", was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
"Sad Demon, spirit of exile,
He flew over the sinful earth.
And the best days of memories
A crowd crowded in front of him...”
In January 1943, in Nazi-occupied Krasnodon, arrests of underground members from the anti-fascist organization “Young Guard” took place. The young boys and girls thrown into prison experienced a deep shock, although they were preparing for the fact that their activities could end in failure.
Among those who not only managed to endure arrest with dignity, but also strengthened the spiritual strength of their comrades, was Ulyana Gromova. The girl, who turned 19 just a week before her arrest, read poetry to her friends in her cell—Lermontov’s “Demon.”
While studying at school, Ulyana read a lot. The girl was a passionate fan of Lermontov, Gorky, Jack London and Taras Shevchenko. She recorded memorable expressions from books in her diary. Among them was this saying by Jack London: “It is much easier to see heroes die than to listen to some coward screaming for mercy.”
Ulyana remembered these words in the last days of her life - the plea for mercy never left her lips.
Ulyana Gromova in 1940. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
Model student
Ulyana Gromova was born in the Donbass, in the village of Pervomaika, into a working-class family. Ulyana's father Matvey Maksimovich Gromov, a participant in the Russian-Japanese War, at one time came to Krasnodon and worked at the mine until his retirement. Uli's mother, Matryona Savelyevna, was a housewife and raised five children. Ulyana was the youngest child in the family.
At school, Ulyana moved from class to class with certificates of merit and was an active pioneer. The teachers noted not only the girl’s abilities, but also her ability to work persistently and systematically to solve assigned problems.
In March 1940, Ulyana Gromova joined the Komsomol. Her first assignment was to work as a counselor with elementary school students.
From the diary of Ulyana Gromova:
« March 24. Having picked up several magazines with stories and poems, at 9 o'clock. 30 min. I went to school in October. To my surprise, 6 people came. I waited until half past 12, but no one else came. This made me angry, and I sent them home...
Komsomol card of Ulyana Gromova. Photo: Frame youtube.com
Mischievous boys, they probably hate that I waste so much time...
5th of April. Today is my day with the October students, and on other days Vera Kharitonovna Zimina works with them additionally. But again failure. Today there is a line throughout the school. But still, the guys are great: today they receive the red banner. Well done for this. Now they are Red Banners. One has to envy them.
April 9. I read “The Frog the Traveler,” and not everyone listens the same way or attentively. During my entire visit I observed the following picture: guys in hats and dressed. I don’t know how to explain the inattention of the listeners. I probably don’t know how, and this is true, to interest all the guys. I’m still not very familiar with them, and I don’t have the experience to entice them.”.
These lines clearly show increased demands on oneself. Those who knew Ulyana said that she coped with the duties of a counselor perfectly.
Rebellious
Peaceful dreams of the future were interrupted by the war, which Ulyana met as a 10th grade student. Together with her peers, she worked in the collective farm fields, cared for the wounded in the hospital, read newspapers and books to them, and helped them write letters to their relatives.
At the beginning of June 1942, Ulyana Gromova graduated from high school with “good” and “excellent” marks with excellent behavior. And just a month and a half later, her small homeland was occupied by the Germans. Ulyana did not evacuate, deciding not to leave her sick mother.
In the very first days of the occupation, the Germans settled in the Gromovs’ house. The owners themselves were actually evicted onto the street, and until late autumn the family huddled in a small shed.
Ulyana perceived the occupation as a personal insult. Being cautious with the Germans, she did not hesitate to openly express her contempt for those who cooperated with the Nazis. Her relatives asked her to be careful, but the girl did not pay attention to this. She hated the very idea of a submissive existence under the rule of the “new order.”
It is not surprising that it was Ulyana, together with Maya Peglivanova And Anatoly Popov organized a patriotic youth group in the village of Pervomaika, which in September 1942 became part of the Young Guard.
USSR postage stamp, 1944: “Glory to the Komsomol Heroes of the Young Guard of the city of Krasnodon!” Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
Red flag of hope
A month later, Ulyana was elected a member of the organization’s headquarters. She took an active part in preparing military operations, compiling and distributing anti-fascist leaflets, collecting medicines, campaigning among the population, calling not to obey the enemy and disrupt his plans to supply food to the Nazis, as well as recruiting young people to work in Germany.
Ulyana carried out one of her most daring actions on the night of November 7, 1942. In honor of the 25th anniversary of the October Revolution, she, together with Anatoly Popov, hoisted a red flag on the chimney of mine No. 1-bis in occupied Krasnodon.
Reproduction of portraits of the leaders of the underground Komsomol organization “Young Guard”. Photo: RIA Novosti
By the end of 1942, the situation at the front was such that the threat of retreat from Donbass loomed over the Nazis.
Under these conditions, German counterintelligence, the Gestapo, police and gendarmerie intensified efforts to defeat the communist underground. The Young Guards, brave and enterprising, were not outstanding conspirators, so the exposure of the organization was a matter of time. On January 1, 1943, the first arrests took place, on January 5 they became widespread, and by January 11, the entire backbone of the organization, including Ulyana Gromova, was in the hands of the Nazis.
After the first arrests of her comrades, Ulyana hatched plans for their release, but did not have time to put them into practice.
“My beloved brother, I am dying”
Once in a prison cell, she did not lose heart and encouraged others. During interrogations, her confidence in her own rightness infuriated her German accomplices. “I didn’t join the organization to then ask for your forgiveness; I only regret one thing, that we didn’t have time to do enough!” she said in the investigator’s face.
They tried to break the daring girl with torture. The dry lines of the forensic examination, made after the discovery of the corpses of the Young Guards, read: “Ulyana Gromova, 19 years old, a five-pointed star was carved on her back, her right arm was broken, her ribs were broken.”
She had to endure terrible torment, but she did not betray anyone and did not give any testimony. Ulyana’s incredible resilience helped her comrades hold on.
Realizing that she only had a few hours to live, Ulya scrawled a farewell note on the wall of her cell:
"Goodbye mom,
Goodbye dad
Goodbye all my family,
Goodbye my beloved brother Elya,
You won't see me again.
I dream about your engines in my dreams,
Your figure always stands out in the eyes.
My beloved brother, I am dying,
Stand stronger for your Motherland."
After the release of Krasnodon, the inscription on the wall of the prison will find Vera Krotova- friend and distant relative of Ulyana. The piece of paper on which Vera copied Ulyana’s farewell words is now kept in the museum.
Matvey Maksimovich Gromov, the father of Ulyana Gromova, stands near his house on which a memorial plaque hangs. 1972 Photo: RIA Novosti / Datsyuk
A life for which you are not ashamed
On January 16, 1943, Ulyana Gromova and her comrades were taken to the pit of the Krasnodon mine No. 5, where they were executed, after which the bodies were thrown into the mine. Some of the underground fighters were thrown down alive. Then the mine was bombarded with grenades.
On February 14, 1943, the city of Krasnodon was liberated by Soviet troops. The bodies of the dead Young Guards were lifted from the mine and on March 1, 1943, buried with military honors in a mass grave in the Komsomol Park, in the very center of the city of Krasnodon.
By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated September 13, 1943, Ulyana Matveevna Gromova, a member of the headquarters of the underground Komsomol organization “Young Guard”, was posthumously awarded the honorary title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Among the favorite phrases from books that Ulyana wrote in her diary were words from Nikolai Ostrovsky’s book “How the Steel Was Tempered”: “The most precious thing a person has is life. It is given to him once, and he must live it in such a way that there is no excruciating pain for the years spent aimlessly, so that the shame for a petty and petty past does not burn, and so that, dying, he can say: all his life and all his strength were given to the most beautiful thing in the world - the struggle for the liberation of humanity."
Ulyana Gromova managed to live her short life as her favorite writers taught her.
G Ulyana Matveevna Romova is a member of the headquarters of the underground Komsomol organization "Young Guard".
Born on January 3, 1924 in the village of Sorokino (from 1938 and now - the city of Krasnodon, Lugansk region, Ukraine) in a working-class family. Russian. She graduated from school No. 6 in the city of Krasnodon.
During the Great Patriotic War, one of the leaders and organizers of the youth struggle against the Nazi occupiers in Krasnodon. Since September 1942, Komsomol member U.M. Gromova was a member of the headquarters of the underground Komsomol organization "Young Guard". She participated in the development of a plan to set fire to the labor exchange, wrote the texts of leaflets and posted them around the city. On the eve of the 25th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution, she participated in hoisting the red flag over mine No. 1-bis. She was arrested by the Nazis and, after brutal torture, killed on January 16, 1943.
She was buried in a mass grave in the central square of the city of Krasnodon, where the Young Guard memorial complex was built.
Z The title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded posthumously to Ulyana Matveevna Gromova by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated September 13, 1943.
She was awarded the Order of Lenin and a medal.
Streets and alleys in large and small cities of Russia and the CIS countries were named after her, many pioneer detachments, squads, and a motor ship were named. At the school where Ulyana Gromova studied, a classroom named after her was created. The Young Guard Museum contains materials telling about the life and exploits of the Heroine. A bust was erected in the park named after the Young Guard in Lugansk.
IMMORTALITY
“I, joining the ranks of the Young Guard, in the face of my friends in arms, in the face of my native, long-suffering land, in the face of all the people, solemnly swear:
Unquestioningly carry out any task given to me by a senior comrade,
To keep everything related to my work in the Young Guard in the deepest secrecy.
I swear to take revenge mercilessly for the burned, devastated cities and villages, for the blood of our people, for the martyrdom of thirty heroic miners. And if this revenge requires my life, I will give it without a moment’s hesitation.
If I break this sacred oath under torture or because of cowardice, then may my name and my family be cursed forever.
Blood for blood! Death for death!"
This oath of allegiance to the Motherland and the fight until the last breath for its liberation from the Nazi invaders was given by members of the underground Komsomol organization "Young Guard" in the city of Krasnodon, Voroshilovgrad region. They gave it in the fall of 1942, standing opposite each other in a small mountain, when a piercing autumn wind howled over the enslaved and devastated land of Donbass. The small town lay hidden in the darkness, the fascists stood in the miners' houses...
The "Young Guard" distributes leaflets in hundreds and thousands - at bazaars, in cinemas, in clubs. Leaflets are found on the police building, even in the pockets of police officers.
In underground conditions, new members are accepted into the ranks of the Komsomol, temporary certificates are issued, and membership fees are accepted. As Soviet troops approach, an armed uprising is being prepared and weapons are being obtained in a variety of ways.
At the same time, strike groups carry out acts of sabotage and terrorism.
On the night of November 7–8, Ivan Turkenich’s group hanged two policemen.
On November 9, Anatoly Popov’s group on the Gundorovka-Gerasimovka road destroys a passenger car with three senior Nazi officers.
On November 15, Viktor Petrov’s group liberates 75 Red Army soldiers and commanders from a concentration camp in the village of Volchansk.
In early December, Moshkov’s group burned three cars on the Krasnodon-Sverdlovsk road...
A few days after this operation, Tyulenin’s group carried out an armed attack on the Krasnodon-Rovenki road against the guards, who were driving 500 head of cattle taken from the residents. Destroys the guards, scatters the cattle across the steppe.
Members of the “Young Guard”, who, on instructions from the headquarters, settled in occupation institutions and enterprises, are slowing down their work with skillful maneuvers. Sergei Levashov, working as a driver in a garage, disables three cars one after another, Yuri Vitsenovsky causes several accidents at the mine.
On the night of December 5-6, a brave trio of Young Guards - Lyuba Shevtsova, Sergei Tyulenin and Viktor Lukyanchenko - carry out a brilliant operation to set fire to the labor exchange. By destroying the exchange with all the documents, the Young Guards saved several thousand Soviet people from being deported to Nazi Germany.
On the night of November 6-7, members of the organization hang on the buildings of the school, the former district consumer union. hospitals and on the highest tree of the city park there are red flags... “When I saw the flag on the school,” says M.A. Litvinova, a resident of the city of Krasnodon, “involuntary joy and pride overwhelmed me. I woke up the children and quickly ran across the road to Mukhina. I found her standing in her underwear on the windowsill, tears flowing in streams down her thin cheeks. She said: “Marya Alekseevna, this was done for us, Soviet people. We are remembered, we are not forgotten."
The organization was discovered by the police...
Members of the Young Guard were subjected to terrible torture. But they survived, revealing such a height of spiritual beauty that it will inspire many, many more generations.
The head of the organization was Oleg Koshevoy. Despite his youth, he turned out to be an excellent organizer. Dreaminess was combined in him with exceptional practicality and efficiency. Tall, broad-shouldered, he radiated strength and health, and more than once he himself took part in bold forays against the enemy. Being arrested, he infuriated the Gestapo with his unshakable contempt for them. Perseverance and will did not leave him. After each interrogation, gray strands appeared in his stripes. He went to execution completely gray-haired.
Having kept their oath to the end, most of the members of the Young Guard organization died, only a few people remained alive. They walked to their execution with Vladimir Ilyich Lenin’s favorite song, “Tortured by Heavy Captivity.”
The “Young Guard” is not a single, exceptional phenomenon in the territory captured by the fascist occupiers. A proud Soviet man is fighting everywhere. And although the members of the militant organization “Young Guard” died in the struggle, they are immortal, because their spiritual traits are the traits of the new Soviet man, the traits of the people of the country of socialism...
The city of Krasnodon was liberated by Soviet troops on February 14, 1943. Alexander Fadeev wrote an essay about the Young Guards hot on the heels of events, when not everything about their activities was known. Later, in the novel “The Young Guard,” A. Fadeev revealed in detail the circumstances of the work and death of the Young Guard.
An underground party organization led by the district party committee operated in Krasnodon. The secretary of the district committee was Philip Petrovich Lyutikov, a participant in the October armed uprising. As part of the Ukrainian partisans and in parts of the Soviet Army, he fought against the White Guard gangs of Denikin in Ukraine, in 1924, at Lenin’s call, he joined the ranks of the Communist Party, a year later he was one of the first in Ukraine to be awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and awarded the title of Hero of Labor. For many years F.P. Lyutikov was in leadership positions in Donbass.
The underground district committee of the party led the entire struggle against the occupiers in the city and region, including the activities of the Young Guards, made it organized, taught young patriots purposefulness and strict secrecy in their work.
The Motherland highly appreciated the heroic feat of young patriots. MIND. Thunderous,
You've probably heard the quote more than once Nikolai Ostrovsky that life is given to a person once and he needs to live it in such a way that there is no excruciating pain for the years spent aimlessly... These words were written in the diary Ulyana Gromova, whose feat went down in history forever.
Ulya was born in a small mining village in the Donbass in 1924. The girl grew up smart, loved to read and wrote down the sayings she liked in a book.
In that girl one could find the charisma, intelligence and stamina of an adult man. Now it seems that life, from childhood, was preparing her for terrible trials. Later, friends and others recalled that the only thing Ulya was afraid of was frogs.
Before finishing school, all children dream about the future, but Ulyana’s thoughts were interrupted by the war. The girl tried her best to help defeat the enemy: she worked in the fields, assisted the wounded in hospitals.
When the enemies occupied her native village, Ulya and her family were unable to evacuate due to her mother’s illness. Moreover, the Germans occupied her house, so the girl and her mother had to huddle in a barn. Ulyana took this as a personal insult.
In September 1942, together with Maya Peglivanova And Anatoly Popov the girl organized a resistance group, which later became part of the famous “Young Guard”.
Already in November of the same year, Ulya was accepted into the headquarters of the underground organization created by the guys Krasnodon. The girl was engaged in the production and distribution of anti-fascist propaganda leaflets.
With no less zeal, the girl took on any useful work: she collected medicines and provisions, urged her fellow countrymen not to give up, and convinced young people not to go to work in Germany.
Uli’s most desperate act can be called the fact that, together with Anatoly Popov, this girl hung a red flag at one of the mines in captured Krasnodon. The guys did it November 7, 1942 on the day of the anniversary of the October Revolution.
When news began to arrive from the front that the Red Army would soon liberate Donbass, the Young Guards tried to prepare for the meeting and provide them with all possible assistance. They even managed to get weapons...
It is worth remembering that these were yesterday’s schoolchildren who did not and could not have had any experience of underground activities. It is not surprising that the first arrests of Young Guard members soon began.
Ulyana’s mother recalled that when the police came for her daughter, she calmly got dressed, kissed her, put a flatbread in her pocket and left. In the cell, the girl encouraged other prisoners. Her love of reading made itself felt here too: Ulya recited by heart "Demon" Lermontov.
Despite the terrible torture (according to sources, the girl was tied by the hair, her breasts were cut off, a star was burned out on her back, and salt was sprinkled on the wounds), Gromova did not say a word to her enemies, except once, when the girl regretted that the organization had managed to do too little.
January 16, 1943 19-year-old Ulyana Gromova was shot, and her mutilated body was thrown into a mine, where the corpse of Anatoly Popov and other underground fighters was already located.
A month later, Krasnodon was released. The bodies of the Young Guard were buried in a mass grave in the city center. Ulyana Gromova and five other members of the organization were awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.
In 1946, based on this story, the writer Alexander Fadeev created a novel "Young guard", in which Ulyana Gromova became the prototype of the character of the same name. According to legend, Stalin personally reproached Fadeev for the non-ideological nature of the work. They say that young guys could not successfully fight the invaders without clear leadership of the party.
In 1951, the second edition of The Young Guard was published, in which communist characters appeared who played a leadership and guiding role. Only after this did the novel become part of the school curriculum.