The soldier killed 50 fascists. Heroes of the country

Dmitry Romanovich Ovcharenko (1919 - January 28, 1945) - Hero of the Soviet Union, private, riding a machine gun company.

Dmitry Romanovich Ovcharenko was born in the village of Ovcharovo, Kharkov province (now in the Troitsky district of the Lugansk region) into a peasant family. Dmitry's father was a rural carpenter.

Primary education - 5 classes. He worked on a collective farm. In 1939 he was drafted into the Red Army. Non-partisan.

On the fronts of the Great Patriotic War from the very first days. In the very first days of the war, Dmitry was slightly wounded, and he was transferred from a combat unit as a sled driver to an ammunition depot.

On July 13, 1941, in battles near the city of Balti, while delivering ammunition to his company near the town of Arctic fox, the riding machine-gun company of the 389th Infantry Regiment of the 176th Infantry Division of the 9th Army of the Southern Front, Red Army soldier Dmitry Ovcharenko was surrounded by a detachment of enemy soldiers and officers numbering 50 people. At the same time, the enemy managed to take possession of his rifle. However, D.R. Ovcharenko was not taken aback and, grabbing an ax from the cart, cut off the head of the officer who was interrogating him, threw 3 grenades at the enemy soldiers, destroying 21 soldiers. The rest fled in panic. He then caught up with the second officer and also cut off his head. The third officer managed to escape. After which he collected documents and maps from the dead and, along with the cargo, arrived at the company on time.

Submission of Dmitry Ovcharenko for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, signed by the commander of the Southern Front, Lieutenant General D.I. Ryabyshev and member of the Military Council L.R. Cornish

By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated November 9, 1941, “for the exemplary performance of combat missions of the command on the front of the fight against the Nazi invaders and the courage and heroism shown,” Red Army soldier Dmitry Romanovich Ovcharenko was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold medal Star".

Dmitry was reinstated as a machine gunner and continued to fulfill his military duty. Dmitry’s commander noted the high morale of the fighter, who on July 27, at an altitude of 239.8, set an example to his comrades with his hurricane machine-gun fire.

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In the battles for the liberation of Hungary in the area of Sheregeyesh station, machine gunner of the 3rd Tank Brigade, Private D.R. Ovcharenko was seriously wounded. He died in hospital from his wounds on January 28, 1945.

From book:

Vyacheslav Bondarenko. 100 great feats of Russia.

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Heroes of the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945):

How three Cossacks chopped up a German convoy- Heroes of the country
Letter from 1941(feat of the crew of the BT-7 tank) - Ivan Kolosov
Non-cinema Rambaud. The feat of Red Army soldier Dmitry Ovcharenko- Vyacheslav Bondarenko
How cook Ivan Sereda killed a fascist tank with an ax- Heroes of the country
How Kolya Sirotinin stopped Guderian's tank division- Vadim Tabakov, Victor Malishevsky
The feat of the crew of the KV-1 tank. One tank against the German battle group Rous - Military History Magazine
"But dogs suddenly rushed at the enemy..."- Andrey Kulish
Feat of 33 heroes Legendary duel- Municipal educational institution secondary school No. 36
Defense of Adzhimushka in 1942- Mikhail Bersenev
The last battle of the prisoners of the 20th block- Military Review
Long whistle at Belukha Island about the feat of the crew of the icebreaking steamer "Alexander Sibiryakov") - Vladimir Roshchupkin
History of the "Dunka" regiment- Elena Gordeeva
How Paulus was captured: eyewitness accounts of the last days of the great battle- Lyudmila Ovchinnikova
Real Stalingrad(Stalingrad in photographs of Soviet, German and American reporters) - Historical truth

How one ax fighter defeated 50 Germans

July 13, 1941 Red Army soldier Dmitry Ovcharenko, armed with one axe om, defeated an enemy platoon, killing 23 Germans.

It was July 1941. Units of our Southern Front successfully held back the German-Romanian offensive in Bessarabia. The defense of Soviet troops in Moldova, unlike the Baltic states and Belarus, remained stable. The actions of the Air Force of the Southern Front were highly active: attacks were carried out on crossings and concentrations of enemy troops.
On July 13, the riding machine gun company of the 389th Infantry Regiment of the 176th Infantry Division of the 9th Army of the Southern Front, Red Army soldier Dmitry Romanovich Ovcharenko was carrying ammunition for his unit. While five kilometers from the forward positions, he met a platoon of German soldiers traveling in two trucks Opel Blitz. Such a meeting in the deep rear turned out to be for Ovcharenko unexpected, and he immediately lost his rifle. Approached Ovcharenko a German officer began to interrogate him about the location of his unit and the composition of the cargo being transported.
However, the Germans, inspecting the cart on which he was riding Ovcharenko, did not pay attention to the one in it axe.

Small sapper axe model 1889. The length of the ax is 445 mm. The height of the ax is 229 mm. Blade width – 177.8 mm.

After waiting for the Germans to calm down and lose their vigilance, Ovcharenko took advantage of this with an ax and cut off the head of the officer who was interrogating him, and then threw three grenades sticking out from the officer’s belt at the enemy soldiers. The grenade explosions killed 21 soldiers. The rest fled in panic. Then Ovcharenko chased the fleeing Germans, caught up with another officer and also cut off his head, after which he collected documents and maps from the dead and arrived at the company with the cargo. At first no one believed the fighter, but the company political instructor, arriving at the scene of action, was convinced of the veracity of the testimony Ovcharenko. “The chest is covered in crosses, and the head is in the bushes,” the political instructor joked as he looked at the corpse of a German officer. The Red Army soldiers accompanying the political instructor brought both trucks abandoned by the Germans back from the inspection trip.

M-24 Stielhandgranate

After this incident, the Red Army soldier was entrusted with a machine gun - before that Ovcharenko, a 32-year-old collective farmer from the Troitsky district of the Lugansk region, was considered fit only for non-combatant service, which is why he ended up as a sled driver. Now some people claim that in fact they were not brave Germans, but cowardly Romanians, but the documents seized by our Red Army soldier clearly indicate that they were precisely Germans.
On the 27th of the same month, defending height 239.8 Dmitry Ovcharenko destroyed an enemy company with a machine gun.
By the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated November 9, 1941, “for the exemplary performance of combat missions of the command on the front of the fight against the Nazi invaders and the courage and heroism shown at the same time” to the Red Army soldier Ovcharenko Dmitry Romanovich was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal.
Dmitry Romanovich did not live to see victory: during the time in the area of the Sheregeyesh station, a machine gunner of the 3rd tank brigade, private Ovcharenko was seriously wounded, from which he died in hospital on January 28, 1945.

Dmitry Romanovich Ovcharenko. Born in the village of Ovcharovo, Kharkov province (now in the Troitsky district of the Lugansk region) into a peasant family. Dmitry's father was a rural carpenter. Primary education, 5 classes. He worked on a collective farm. In 1939 he was drafted into the Red Army. Non-partisan.

Prologue

When he was born, he announced himself with such a cheerful cry that his mother was afraid: there were German occupiers in the village. Kaiser Wilhelm captured Ukraine in 1918 and brought Hetman Skoropadsky to power. The newborn did not know about this, did not understand that in an occupied area a peasant son should behave quietly. The woman in labor was surprised when, following the first cry of her baby, the enthusiastic voices of men, women, and children were heard from the street. Someone opened the window, and the sounds of a song burst into the room. The man with the saber over his shoulder took off his star helmet, shook his forelock and, carefully pressing the tiny creature to his chest, exclaimed:

Rejoice, lad! You were born free!

Tears came to the mother's throat. Her heart sank. She cried and smiled. Her Mitya was born under a lucky red star.

When he grew up, his father taught him to wield an axe. On the long autumn evenings and in the winter cold, Dimka heard so many stories about the axe.

Once the whole village took up axes: the Kaiser’s warriors were very annoying...

For the rest of his life, Dima remembered this story about how the people’s anger flared.

It was such a grind that just hold on! - concluded the father, and his eyes sparkled mischievously.

Oil painting: it was the 13th, near the village of Arctic fox...

On the fronts of the Great Patriotic War - from the first days. In the very first days of the war, Dmitry was slightly wounded, and he was transferred from a combat unit as a sled driver to an ammunition depot. On July 13, 1941, in battles near the city of Balti (Moldova), while delivering ammunition to his company near the town of Arctic Fox, the riding machine gun company of the 389th Infantry Regiment of the 176th Infantry Division of the 9th Army of the Southern Front suddenly collided with Red Army soldier D. R. Ovcharenko with a detachment of enemy soldiers and officers numbering 50 people. At the same time, the enemy managed to take possession of his rifle.

However, D. R. Ovcharenko was not at a loss. Snatching an ax from the cart, he cut off the head of the officer who was interrogating him, threw 3 grenades at the enemy, killing 21 soldiers. The rest fled in panic. Then he caught up with the second officer and cut off his head too. The third officer managed to escape. Ovcharenko collected documents and maps from the dead and arrived at the company along with the cargo.

Submission of Dmitry Ovcharenko for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, signed by the commander of the Southern Front, Lieutenant General D. I. Ryabyshev and member of the Military Council L. R. Korniets.

In the battles for the liberation of Hungary in the area of the Sheregeyesh station, the machine gunner of the 3rd Tank Brigade, Private D. R. Ovcharenko, was seriously wounded. He died in hospital from his wounds on January 28, 1945.

I should make nails out of these people -
There couldn't be any stronger nails in the world!

Eternal memory to you!

Forgive us, Dmitry Romanovich, for the fact that we are not like that...

Information from the report on irreparable losses. Scan of a document from the Memorial OBD. Please note that there is a typo in the document: the draft year is 1944

The investigation is being conducted by wits.
How this could have happened: a modern interpretation of the event

Despite its apparent improbability and the strange name of the settlement, this is most likely real. A place called Arctic fox (Ukrainian Pesets) exists: this village is located in the Novoushytsky district of the Khmelnytsky region. And from the Moldovan city of Balti it’s not just a stone’s throw, but, in principle, not so far. It’s just that in the rush of the offensive, the Aryan-Jubermans lost their vigilance and really got what they deserved.

Fifty Nazis is a clear exaggeration: the capacity of the Hanomag (Sd Kfz 251) is 12 people, including the crew. If it’s a truck, then more: 15 people in one. In reality there were 27-30 fascists. They see a cart with one “subhuman” coming. We stopped. Ain the officer went to interrogate the Russian Mongol, or most likely, he just decided to make fun of him. What did he want to know from him? How do I get to the library? The rest got out, some to relieve themselves, some to drink, and some to clear their heads. And, it seems, they barked a moment of Dostoevshchina when their too talkative officer was planted with a tomahawk between the eyes.

It is clear that Ovcharenko did not blow off the officer’s head. Most likely, he simply hacked to death: like Raskolnikov’s grandmother. An ax is not a rifle, you can’t hear a shot, and if Ovcharenko also successfully planted it, then the fascist didn’t even have time to gasp. The fussing near the cart by the comrades of the murdered man could be regarded as giving a portion of slaps to the sluggish Red Army soldier.

Or maybe they didn’t look in their direction at all, because they didn’t meet a cavalry division, but one rumpled and mortally tired Sancho Panza.
If anyone watched it, they were 100% dumbfounded by what they saw, because at that time the film “Rambaud” had not yet been made, and such 3D effects were new:

What kind of chaos is this!? He didn’t say a word, but immediately hit the scoreboard with an ax!

Our fighter, having eliminated the obstacle on the right, grabs three grenades from the cart and throws them towards the German picnic on the side of the road. Imagine: you are sitting on a July day in the company of normal guys from the right area, your friend has gone to wince as a nerd and then... a GRENADE falls next to you! It is unknown what flashed through the heads of the stunned Nazis at that moment, one can only assume:

1) Donnerweter! ("Damn it!!!").
2) Ahhh! Ambush! There are a lot of them there!
3) However, lemons look strange in this barbaric country...

Whatever they were thinking, it exploded in a big way. The Germans, some completely and some in parts, fell to the ground. Surely none of the fascists could have imagined that some “downtrodden child of the East” (the definition of the Slavic brothers according to Goebbels) would be SO offended by a simple question:

Is there anything? What if I find it?

The ending is logical: some of the Krauts were killed, some escaped. Except for one officer who was not impressed enough and decided to see if he could run fast with his ass half torn off. Our hero caught up with the German Paralympian and made him like Papa Carlo Pinocchio. I did everything right: why run around the gardens of the village of Arctic fox? After all, you didn’t plant rutabaga; it’s not yours to trample it down.

Then the laws of drama come into play: only one is left alive. After the bloodbath that had been committed, the Red Army soldier Ovcharenko collected his trophies and went on about his business, of which he had a lot, unlike the German goons who wandered around with unclear goals in places where they were not welcome.

Stories on topic

Such a case is also known. Red Army soldier Vataman killed ten Germans with a Panzerfaust, wielding it like a mace. The fighter either ran out of ammunition, or it was more convenient to kill the bastards.

On January 28, 1945, Hero of the Soviet Union Dmitry Ovcharenko died in the battles for the liberation of Hungary. The Red Army soldier received a gold star for the fact that on July 13, 1941, in the south of Ukraine, near the village of Pesets, he single-handedly repelled an attack by 50 Nazi German troops and destroyed almost half of them. Ovcharenko accomplished a unique feat: using only an ax and grenades, he killed 23 fascists. Critics question the reliability of some facts, but historians emphasize that the feat was documented by Soviet officers. Read about how an ordinary soldier managed to deal with a Wehrmacht detachment in the material of RT.

Mitriy Ovcharenko
RIA News

73 years ago, on January 28, 1945, the life of the machine gunner of the 3rd Tank Brigade Dmitry Ovcharenko was cut short. The private died after being seriously wounded during the liberation of the Hungarian city of Sheregeyes, located 70 km southwest of Budapest. According to some reports, the hero’s burial place is still unknown.

Ovcharenko became one of the few Soviet military personnel who received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union in the first weeks of the Great Patriotic War. The gold star was awarded to the machine gunner on November 9, 1941 for his unprecedented feat. According to official documents, the unarmed village guy was able to deal with more than 20 fascists.

Ax and grenades

At first glance, Dmitry Ovcharenko was an ordinary ordinary soldier of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA) with a five-grade education. The young man was born into the family of a carpenter in the village of Ovcharovo, Kharkov province in 1919 (the exact date of birth is unknown). Russian writer and playwright Mark Kolosov in 1941 in his book “People and Feats” describes the life story of Dmitry Ovcharenko:

“When he grew up, his father taught him to use an axe. On the long autumn evenings and in the winter cold, Dimka heard so many stories about the axe. One time the whole village took up axes. The Kaiser's warriors were very annoying. Dima remembered this story about how the people’s anger flared for the rest of his life.”

At the end of June 1941, Ovcharenko served as a machine gunner in the 3rd machine gun company of the 389th Infantry Regiment of the 176th Infantry Division. The Red Army soldier found himself in the thick of battles with Hitler’s army and was wounded literally in the very first days of the war.

But Dmitry did not stay in the hospital and began helping his unit, working as a driver. His duties included transporting ammunition and food. As a personal weapon, Private Ovcharenko used the so-called three-ruler (Mosin rifle) and an ax.

On July 13, 1941, near the village of Pesets (southern Ukraine), Ovcharenko, as usual, was transporting ammunition on a cart. Suddenly he was surrounded by two enemy vehicles. 50 German soldiers and three officers got out of the cars. The incident occurred approximately four to five kilometers from the positions of the 3rd machine gun company.

German army soldiers
Bundesarchiv

One of the Wehrmacht commanders approached Ovcharenko and knocked the three-ruler out of his hands. The officer began asking the soldier about who he was, where he was going and what he was transporting. Left without a rifle, the private was not at a loss: he grabbed an ax from the cart and with one blow took off the head of the officer who was interrogating him, after which he threw, one after another, three grenades lying in the cart towards the German vehicles.

“21 German soldiers were killed, the rest fled in panic. Following the wounded officer, Ovcharenko, with an ax in his hands, pursued him and in the garden of the village. Arctic fox caught him and cut off his head. The third officer managed to escape,” this is how the private’s feat of being awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union is described in the Submission. Thus, the rider killed 21 out of 50 soldiers and two out of three officers.

The murder of the commander and the reaction of the Soviet soldier frightened the confused Germans. Fear and, possibly, poor moral and psychological preparation became the reasons for the flight of the surviving Wehrmacht soldiers.

Ovcharenko took documents, maps, tablets from the dead Nazis and, along with weapons, delivered the trophies to the headquarters of the 389th Infantry Regiment. After his final recovery, machine gunner Ovcharenko returned to his regiment.

A feat that has become a legend

For many, Dmitry Ovcharenko’s feat is reminiscent of a Hollywood action movie from the 1980s, when one almost unarmed fighter copes with dozens of opponents. The story of the extermination of 23 Wehrmacht soldiers, as well as the battle of 28 Panfilov men near Moscow, has been repeatedly questioned in the Soviet and Russian media.

Skeptics note that in mid-July 1941, Ovcharenko’s regiment fought near the Moldavian city of Beltsy, and the village (or town) Pesets, where the machine gunner accomplished his feat, belongs to the Novoushytsky district of the Khmelnytsky region of the Ukrainian SSR. The distance from it to Balti is approximately 170 km. At the same time, the nomination for the title of Hero of the USSR indicated that the positions of Ovcharenko’s unit were four to five kilometers from the place of his battle with the Germans.

Some details of the battle are also questioned. It is argued that even with a large scale it is impossible to cut off a person’s head with an ax. In addition, near the front line, the Germans moved mainly in armored personnel carriers, which could accommodate no more than 13 people. An ordinary Hitler truck was small and could fit about 15 military personnel.

At the same time, the authenticity of the murder of 23 Wehrmacht soldiers by Private Ovcharenko is evidenced by the above-mentioned Submission to the title of Hero of the USSR. The document was signed by the commander of the Southern Front, Lieutenant General Dmitry Ryabyshev, and member of the Military Council Leonid Korniets.

Historians who insist that the feat was real agree that there may have been some inaccuracies in the presentation. For example, Ovcharenko most likely simply hacked to death German officers with an ax, rather than deliberately cutting off their heads.

Also, the number of Nazis who died from the actions of the sled could have been somewhat lower. At the same time, the very fact of a spontaneous battle with superior enemy forces and the ingenuity and heroism shown by Ovcharenko are beyond doubt.

"Not every soldier is capable"

Military publicist and historian Yuri Melkonov believes that Ovcharenko’s feat really looks incredible, but it is pointless to check its authenticity in our time. In his opinion, only Soviet military leaders could establish the most reliable circumstances of the battle, and they tried to carefully check such stories from their subordinates.

“Of course, the sensational dispute about 28 Panfilov’s men involuntarily arises before our eyes. I also have no doubt about the feat of the Komsomol members, but let me remind you that the information about it is based on a newspaper article. Here we have an official document signed by officers who, during the war years, made every effort to check and double-check the stories of military exploits,” Melkonov noted in a conversation with RT.

The expert is convinced that Soviet commanders most likely visited the scene of the massacre and compared Ovcharenko’s story with the picture they saw. Melkonov emphasized that the key to the success of the driver was the prevailing feeling among the Germans of an early victory over the USSR. The occupiers did not expect to encounter such fierce resistance.

According to RT’s interlocutor, not every soldier is capable of the feat that Ovcharenko accomplished. Killing an enemy is always a difficult test for a soldier’s psyche. In addition, in the summer of 1941, Soviet troops suffered major defeats, and some military personnel were demoralized.

“Ovcharenko showed ingenuity and extraordinary courage, taking advantage of the confusion of the Germans. I think that he was a man of unbending will, devoted to his duty, land and Motherland. And he strived by any means to liberate his native land from the fascist invaders,” Melkonov concluded.

Dmitry Romanovich Ovcharenko. Born in 1919 - died of wounds on January 28, 1945 at the Sheregeyes station (Hungary). Soviet soldier, Hero of the Soviet Union (1941). On July 13, 1941, he single-handedly entered the battle against 50 Nazis and, using grenades and an ax, destroyed 21 enemies.

Dmitry Ovcharenko was born in 1919 in the village of Ovcharovo, Kharkov province (now Troitsky district, Lugansk region) in the family of a rural carpenter.

By nationality - Ukrainian.

Mother - Vasilisa Ignatievna Ovcharenko, lived in the village of Ovcharovo.

Graduated from 5 grades of primary school. He worked on a collective farm.

In 1939 he was drafted into the Red Army. From the first days of the Great Patriotic War he was at the front. In the very first days of the war, Dmitry was slightly wounded, and he was transferred from a combat unit as a sled driver to an ammunition depot.

On July 13, 1941, in battles near the city of Balti (Moldova), while delivering ammunition to his company near the town of Pesets, Khmelnytsky region, the riding machine gun company of the 389th Infantry Regiment of the 176th Infantry Division of the 9th Army of the Southern Front, Red Army soldier Dmitry Ovcharenko suddenly collided with a detachment of enemy soldiers and officers numbering 50 people. At the same time, the enemy managed to take possession of his rifle. However, Ovcharenko was not taken aback and, grabbing an ax from the cart, cut off the head of the officer who was interrogating him, threw 3 grenades at the enemy soldiers, killing 21 soldiers. The rest fled in panic. Then he caught up with the second officer in the garden of the town of Arctic fox and also cut off his head. The third officer managed to escape. After which he collected documents and maps from the dead and arrived at the company along with the cargo.

Soon Dmitry was reinstated as a machine gunner and continued to fulfill his military duty.

The command noted the high morale of the soldier, who on July 27, at an altitude of 239.8, set an example to his comrades with his hurricane machine-gun fire.

On August 3, having assessed the scale of the accomplished feat, the commander of the 389th Infantry Regiment, Major S.V. Kramskoy and the military commissar, senior political instructor Zekin, sent a nomination to D.R. Ovcharenko for the highest award - the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

In the battles for the liberation of Hungary in the area of the Sheregeyesh station, Dmitry Ovcharenko, at that time a machine gunner of the 3rd Tank Brigade, was seriously wounded. He died in hospital from his wounds on January 28, 1945. There is also a version that he died in battle and was not buried because he remained in territory occupied by the enemy.