WITH Ysolyatin Ivan Matveevich - Komsomol organizer of the 520th Infantry Regiment of the 167th Infantry Division of the 38th Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front, junior sergeant.
Born on December 24, 1923 in the village of Taushkan, Sukholozhsky district, Sverdlovsk region, into a peasant family. Russian. Member of the CPSU(b)/CPSU since 1943. Graduated from 10th grade. Worked at the Klyuchi mine.
In the Red Army since November 1941. In the active army since July 1942.
Komsomol organizer of the 520th Infantry Regiment (167th Infantry Division, 38th Army, 1st Ukrainian Front) junior sergeant Ivan Sysolyatin with a group of soldiers fought bravely for three days, from November 3 to 5, 1943, for the village of Pushcha-Voditsa and the village of Svyatoshino (now within the boundaries of the hero city of Kyiv). The brave warrior was among the first to enter the capital of the Ukrainian SSR - the city of Kyiv.
U By the order of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on January 10, 1944, for the exemplary performance of combat missions of the command and the heroism and courage shown, junior sergeant Ivan Matveevich Sysolyatin was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the presentation of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal (No. 2453).
After the war I.M. Sysolyatin continued to serve in the Armed Forces of the USSR. In 1947, he graduated from the Higher Military-Political Courses, and in 1950 from the Military-Political Academy, and in the same year he was appointed assistant to the head of the political department of the Komsomol corps.
From 1952 to 1958 I.M. Sysolyatin served as part of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany as an assistant to the head of the political department of the corps, army and assistant to the head of the political department of the Group of Forces in Germany for Komsomol work.
From 1958 to 1960 he was deputy head of the political department of the corps. For seven years, from 1960 to 1967, he worked as head of the political department of two divisions of the Leningrad Military District.
From 1967 to 1970 - head of the political department of the 30th Rifle Corps. In 1969 he completed courses at the General Staff Academy. From 1970 to 1974 - member of the military council of the 6th Army.
From 1974 to 1976 - head of the political department of the Military Institute of Physical Education.
In 1976, I.M. Sysolyatin is appointed head of the political department - deputy head of the Military Academy of Communications for political affairs. From this position, with the rank of lieutenant general, he was transferred to the reserve in 1986 and then retired.
Lived in the hero city of Leningrad (since 1991 - St. Petersburg). Died on January 3, 2006. He was buried at the Serafimovskoye Memorial Cemetery in St. Petersburg.
He was awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, two Orders of the Patriotic War, 2nd degree, two Orders of the Red Star, the Order "For Service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" 3rd degree, and many medals. Awarded the title of honorary resident of the city of Vyshgorod, Kyiv region of Ukraine. On May 6, 2005, the honored veteran was presented with a commemorative wristwatch from the President of the Russian Federation in honor of the 60th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War.
In the village of Taushkan, Sukholozhsky district, Sverdlovsk region, in memory of the glorious fellow countryman, a memorial plaque was erected. In 2005, in the city of Sukhoi Log, Sverdlovsk Region, Heroes Square was inaugurated, on which two memorial steles were installed, one - I.M. Sysolyatin, the other - to his cousin, the legendary battalion commander, Hero of the storming of the fascist Reichstag S.A. Neustroev.
All materials about the Hero, including his photograph and his memories, were kindly provided to the “Heroes of the Country” website by the grandson of the Hero of the Soviet Union I.M. Sysolyatin - Andrey Sirotkin (hero city Leningrad - St. Petersburg)
IVAN SYSOLYATIN. CHOICE
It seemed that I would never forget that battle, that crossing, that front-line path, that height...
But time takes its toll, clearing the memory of the burden of the past, filling it with new impressions, and the present, new, comes with pain. It’s hard to see how consumer psychology is corrupting my compatriots, corroding their morality, creating uncertainty and indifference. Many of them are already ashamed of their past and are in a hurry to rewrite history completely, as if we had all forgotten the warning of the sages: “If you shoot at the past with a pistol, it will respond with a shot from a cannon.”
People stopped dreaming, stopped listening to each other, lost their guidelines - the goal, the meaning of life. It becomes more and more difficult to reach their hearts, their consciousness. But there is no other way. And while we, the romantics and creators of the 30s and 40s, are alive, who created and defended in the bloodiest war a huge power with the fairest social system on Earth, our dream must live and establish itself on the planet. We live by it. We were optimistic. Our goal was clear and noble. We lived hard, but fun. We did not hide from creditors, did not shoot debtors - we created the future.
I come from peasant origin. Born on December 24, 1923 in the village of Taushan, Sukholozhsky district, Sverdlovsk region. He graduated from high school in the city of Sukhoi Log, and then two courses at a pedagogical college in the city of Irbit in the same Sverdlovsk region. From June 1940 to November 1941 he worked at the Cheremshano-Klyuchevsky mine administration in the village. Altynay, Sukholozhsky district. The news of the war found me at work - as the secretary of the Komsomol organization of the Cheremshano-Klyuchevsky mine administration, I was on duty at the village Council. It was our custom: in the absence of the chairman and secretary of the council, a person on duty was appointed from among the communists or activists of the Komsomol organization. They maintained telephone contact with the district, received information, instructions, and responded to requests. So on June 22, it was I who received that fateful message about the start of the war and the order to inform the leadership, the entire population, and especially those liable for military service in the village. At that time, the film "Tractor Drivers" was showing in the club. I asked the projectionist to interrupt the show, entered the cinema hall and informed my fellow villagers about the beginning of the war. Nobody started watching the movie anymore. Everyone poured out into the street and an impromptu rally began.
A common misfortune united people and mobilized their strength for shock, often unpaid work. We all understood: the country would need colossal material resources to ensure its defense capability. I remember the director of the mine invited me and asked the Komsomol organization to help the miners. The youth warmly responded to the request. In our free time from our main work, we lowered fastening material into the mine, carried it along the faces, and cleared the rocks from the faces. In addition, they helped the village workers harvest the crops, shoveled and stacked straw... In a word, the work was labor-intensive, and the overwhelming majority of Komsomol members were almost children. But we did not lose heart. We worked hard - and went home with a song. And at that time there was some special aura that united us all with an important cause.
Events at the front were not in our favor. The male population in production has noticeably thinned out. Teenagers and women took over. These people were the support of the rear. But for young men of pre-conscription age, it was already becoming awkward to “sit out” at home in front of their fellow villagers. Many wanted to get to the front as quickly as possible. I had the opportunity to fulfill my wish. On November 10, 1941, the Sukholozhsky district committee of the Komsomol gathered activists for a meeting. I am among the invitees. On the second floor of the building where the meeting took place, there was a military registration and enlistment office. For many meeting participants, this coincidence was fateful. Almost everyone wrote applications asking to be drafted into the active army. Of course, not everyone was called up. But on the same day, a marching company of volunteers was formed, and we were sent to one of the villages, where a military unit began to form.
Today, when my memory recalls the events of those days in detail, I perceive what happened differently. For me, individual strokes have now acquired greater significance, which, having emerged in relief through the thickness of the years, helped to discern the true values of the human soul. I remember when I was leaving for Sukhoi Log for that Komsomol meeting, my mother Matryona Sergeevna gave me five rubles. And suddenly news comes from the military registration and enlistment office that his son has been drafted into the army. What must my relatives have gone through? And if he left forever... War spares no one... And then they said goodbye in an inhuman way, in a hurry, as they say. And then, on the march, our company is overtaken by a cart. My father, Matvey Averyanovich, begged a horse from the mine department, he and his mother collected some food, a bowl, a spoon, a mug and, hoping for nothing, they organized a chase. Mom stayed at home. And this was the last meeting with my father before a long separation - I did not see him until the beginning of 1945. Soon after our meeting he was called up for service. Based on his age and health, he was assigned to the labor army. By that time, my brother Stepan Matveevich had already died defending Moscow. Another brother, Nikolai, had already served in the Far East for two years. And only the youngest, Alexander, remained to work at the mine. Subsequently, he was drafted and took part in battles against the Nazi invaders. It turned out that all the men in our family became warriors.
After our marching company arrived at the place of formation of the new military unit, we went through quarantine, then basic military training, and took the military oath. And I received an appointment to the communications company of the 520th Infantry Regiment of the 167th Infantry Division. My entire front-line life passed in this regiment until January 1945. In the meantime, I was actively mastering the specialty of a telephone operator: I learned to lay a cable, mastered the switchboard, then performed the duties of a mounted messenger between regimental and division headquarters. I had a serious, responsible matter, but it was gradually overshadowed by another, no less important, as it turned out later, matter. The company elected me secretary of the Komsomol organization. The guys, when choosing a Komsomol leader, probably proceeded from a simple premise - he, they say, received experience in Komsomol work before being drafted into the army, so let him work...
Subsequently, this became a turning point in my destiny - the choice made by my colleagues opened the way to political work, although I did not set such a goal for myself and did not even imagine how all this would turn out for me. But it was interesting to work. I somehow intuitively felt that the Komsomol is the very organization where a collective opinion is formed, where they will notice and encourage someone who has distinguished themselves, warn or discipline someone who has stumbled, where everyone is in full view of everyone every minute, every hour, where the collective mind will prevail over emotions. Gradually I understood my role and purpose in the lives of these young men. And the more meaningfully I looked at the activities of the political instructor (unfortunately, I don’t remember his last name) and the company commander, Captain Gorny, the more deeply I understood the meaning of what they were doing, and adopted the forms and methods of educational work. I gratefully accepted their help and was very proud that they treated me with respect and trusted me with this delicate, responsible matter.
In the everyday organizational activities of manning, combat coordination, and mastering military equipment, time flew by. In April 1942, our 167th Infantry Division was sent to the city of Morshansk, Tambov Region, for additional armament, and in July they marched to the area of Zadonsk, Voronezh Region. And here it is, our first meeting with a real, and not a poster-mythical enemy. At first we came under massive artillery and mortar fire and continuous bombing. The situation is bad. There is a feeling of hopelessness and powerlessness. They beat you, but you can’t do anything, there’s nothing to reach, get the bastard, tear it to pieces. You lie like an animal behind a bump, and you don’t know whether you’ll wait for your response. Our 520th Infantry Regiment entered into battle with superior enemy forces in the area of the Malaya and Bolshaya Vereyka rivers. At Surikov Heights we went on the defensive. In conditions of frequently changing conditions, the command actively led the units, so as a messenger I had enough work. And as a telephone operator too. Moreover, as it seemed to me, during the most intense periods of the battle, our platoon commander, Senior Lieutenant Vladimir Ivanovich Andreev, sat me down at the switchboard.
At that time, I experienced my first losses: my comrades, with whom I was conscripted at the Sukholozhsk military registration and enlistment office, fell in battle - the squad leader, Sergeant Veniamin Potapov, the 45-mm gunner, Private Alexander Pakulin, and many, many others. The significance of these losses did not immediately dawn on me. Indeed, in addition to the main thing - the death of a person is an irreparable loss for relatives and for the state, there is another very important meaning in their self-sacrifice. They paid with their lives so that we, their colleagues, would understand and appreciate the greatness of their unnoticed feat on a weekday of war. Remember how the great Russian poet, front-line soldier Alexander Trifonovich Tvardovsky, talks about this, addressing the world’s first cosmonaut:
And maybe with no less courage
Their hearts were endowed with
Although there are no orchestras, no flowers, no flags
The feat on a weekday war was not worth it.Meanwhile, the war went on as usual, according to its own laws, subjecting us to ever new tests. At the very end of 1942 - at the beginning of 1943, our regiment found itself in a difficult situation. The command had to look for some original solution - the standard one doomed us to failure. Accurate information about the enemy was needed, and most importantly, it was necessary to clarify what was happening in the rear of his troops. Regiment commander Lieutenant Colonel P.G. Akulov decides to send me and the messenger Ivan Astashev on reconnaissance. Perhaps he proceeded from the fact that we were well versed in the area, maybe he had other considerations in this regard. He formulated the task clearly: to scout out what the enemy has in the territory up to the city of Tim. Ivan and I solved the problem in an original way - we scouted out the area, mobilized the local residents and, with their help, took the language. For completing this task, I was nominated for an award, and I was the first of the soldiers to receive the medal “For Military Merit.”
This was the first award. But there was also the first wound. I'll start everything in order. In July 1943, I was appointed battalion Komsomol organizer. The situation at the front is tense. Defensive battles, counterattacks, reconnaissance in force in order to identify enemy forces and means and capture languages, offensive battles. We constantly harassed the enemy and tried to seize the initiative. Every piece of land, every high-rise building was difficult. In August we fought for height 209.9 on the approaches to the village of Vasilki, Sumy region. It was key in the heavily fortified defense system. We have made repeated attempts to master it. That battle was successful - we managed to take this height and the village of Vasilki. It was in that battle that I was wounded, but remained in the chain of attackers.
From the very first days of my stay in the Komsomol, two very important thoughts were instilled in us. First, think about your Motherland first, and then about yourself, second, be an example for others in everything. We all internally agreed with this attitude, but in everyday life it was perceived as a kind of slogan, and was not fully comprehended to any philosophical depth. It was perceived something like this: if it’s necessary for the job, let’s be exemplary. The circumstances of combat life forced me to rethink this thesis. At the front, a person is completely visible, because in the face of death everyone is equal. That’s why people evaluate each other more directly and harshly. So the leaders there are not pompous talkers, but strong-willed, brave soldiers who know how to do their job, are active, authoritative, and whose opinions are listened to. Which they are following. If you want to become a leader, know what is expected of you. This law is the same for both formal and informal leaders. By the way, the requirements for me, as a formal worker, were stricter. After all, any good deed of mine was assessed in a simplistic manner - “by his position, he was supposed to be ahead of everyone on a white horse and straight into the flames.” I myself have never planned my actions in advance. They followed from the logic of my behavior in various circumstances. We’re going into battle, and I’m not thinking about what and how I’ll do there, I’m thinking about how to stir up the guys, raise their morale, make everyone feel that they’re not going into battle alone, there’s a lot of us, we’d like just reach the fascist, and then we’ll screw things up, break off the Fritz’s horns...
It must be said that in 1943 we fought differently - desperately, daringly, unpredictably for the enemy. The war taught us something. We gained this experience with our own blood and the blood of our comrades. There was some kind of looseness. Everyone knew perfectly well what to do and how to do it. And if he makes a mistake or does not have time to complete his maneuver, he will destroy himself and others. In war, the laws are cruel. Therefore, when the division reached the city of Romny and launched an assault, the battle was very fierce. According to the command's plan, our battalion was supposed to drive the defenders out of the tobacco factory. The battalion party organizer, Senior Lieutenant Mikhail Sabenin, and I raised the battalion to attack and were the first to break into the tobacco factory. We managed to repulse all the Nazi counterattacks and hold the captured line while the others finished the job. This battle was memorable because the command awarded me an award - the medal "For Courage".
The war was heading towards the Dnieper. There have been changes in my life. In March 1943, after almost six months of candidate experience, I was accepted as a member of the CPSU(b). In September, with the rank of junior sergeant, I was appointed Komsomol organizer of the 520th Infantry Regiment. We were advancing, and ahead was a powerful water barrier, turned by the Nazis into an impregnable defensive line. Commanders and political workers, party and Komsomol organizations prepared themselves, prepared their personnel for difficult trials. They found out who could swim and who couldn’t, and accumulated watercraft and available materials to force the swim. Anything that could keep a fighter afloat was suitable, even bags of straw. Active educational and propaganda work was carried out, the exchange of experience among personnel and planned classes were organized. From among the most trained and battle-tested warriors, forward detachments were created and coordination training was organized. The regiment commander, Lieutenant Colonel Pyotr Grigorievich Akulov, and the regiment commissar, Lieutenant Colonel Stepan Maksimovich Semenov, were distinguished by their special activity and purposeful work. True, the commissar did not have the opportunity to cross the Dnieper. He was seriously wounded on the approaches, and was replaced by Major A.A. Starykh, who later became a Hero of the Soviet Union. And the advance detachment was headed by Assistant Chief of Staff Captain V.I. Polinsky.
I managed to, as they say, “infiltrate” this detachment. Our task is to cross to the right bank of the Dnieper, seize a bridgehead near Vyshgorod and ensure the crossing of the main forces. The night of September 30 turned out to be stormy. We rejoiced at the opportunity to remain unnoticed for at least some time. But the enemy soon discovered our detachment, hung up flares, and opened first random, and then organized, multi-layered fire. With the support of artillery fire from the left bank, we landed on the right bank and captured a bridgehead in the area of the village. Vyshgorod and repelled the continuous counterattacks of the Nazis until the main forces of the regiment crossed and the battles began to expand the bridgehead. It didn't get any easier for us. The Germans resisted fiercely. They could not come to terms with the fact that their impregnable defense system had been violated, but the crossing was ours, and military difficulties became normal work. It was impossible to get used to losses alone.
With heavy fighting, now attacking, now defending, we approached Kyiv. On November 3-5, there were bloody battles near the village of Pushcha Voditsa and the village of Svyatoshino. The goal was very close. The attackers vowed to liberate the capital of Soviet Ukraine by the 26th anniversary of the Great October Revolution, and they kept their word. By six o'clock in the morning on November 6, everything was finished - the city was completely cleared of the Nazis. I was one of the first to rush into Kyiv and hoisted a banner over the Government House. These were stellar days in my life. I was happy that we had won another major victory, that I had survived this meat grinder. Then, on my twentieth birthday, I was awarded the rank of junior lieutenant, and in January, along with other soldiers who crossed the Dnieper, I was awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The high title of honorary citizen of Vyshgorod and a memorial plaque in the Ural village of Taushkan, where I was born - all this happened later. In the meantime, there was a war ahead.
We were advancing. The more fiercely the enemy resisted, the more actively the rotation of personnel took place - the dead and those out of action were replaced by guys from the replenishment, more often by unfired fighters. And again work. Selecting assets, creating viable organizations, uniting them, preparing them for social work in combat conditions - this was the main meaning of our work. We cared about interchangeability, about reserves in case of inevitable losses - we prepared another in advance to replace one Komsomol organizer. The main burden of this work fell on the shoulders of the constantly declining Komsomol soldiers. Experience is a big deal. I remember crossing the Dniester. We have seized a bridgehead and are fighting off counterattacks. We only have light weapons. The enemy has tanks and armored vehicles. We have a lot of newbies, untested soldiers. Our fighters wavered and began to retreat to the edge of the river. The regiment's agitator, Lieutenant Afanasy Volga, and I rushed to cross the line. They threatened with weapons (that was the case, the word was no longer accepted), stopped, organized a counterattack, and threw the enemy back to their original positions. The commander of the 1st Guards Army then awarded many people with awards for holding the bridgehead, including Volga and me with the Order of the Patriotic War, II degree. But when we today, discussing the feat of the people of the front generation, say in the words of the poet: “This is not for the dead, it is necessary for the living!”, I think not everyone delves into the deep essence of this phrase. It’s too simple to simply be in debt to those who, at the cost of their own lives, saved you from the brown plague. There is another matter, perhaps more important. We must cultivate in ourselves, through their example, a sense of conscience to such a level where the feeling of shame for cowardice would prevail over the natural feeling of fear. Then a person consciously makes a sacrifice and accomplishes a feat. It is today that this problem is becoming particularly relevant for our country, in conditions when they are trying to deprive our people of the most important thing - their past, their history.
Gradually, with fighting, we were drawn into the Carpathians. Combat activity on both sides either increased and resulted in fierce battles, or died out. After a short break in the offensive, we were preparing to continue it. I remember I also trained my activists. It was decided that I myself would go with the battalion advancing in the center. On the left flank, it must be said, the most dangerous direction, and even with the battalion, which received new reinforcements the day before, Sergeant Alexey Pashchenko will go. And on the right flank is Lieutenant A. Saltanov. According to the command's plan, we were supposed to go on the attack behind the barrage of fire. Artillery preparation began. When the fire was transferred, it was not possible to immediately raise the battalions; there were too many soldiers who had not been fired upon. We were the first to rise, trying to cheer up the guys. After some time, the others also rose to storm the commanding heights. The main thing to start the attack was done - we got up and went. Then it's a matter of technique. They took that ill-fated height without me and Sasha Pashchenko. He was wounded, I was shell-shocked. I was picked up by orderlies from a neighboring unit in an unconscious state. Our regiment was informed that Lieutenant I.M. Sysolyatin died the death of the brave. The funeral from the regiment flew to the mother. And also news to the military registration and enlistment office about the posthumous award of the Order of the Patriotic War, II degree. I received this order later at the Sukholozhsk military registration and enlistment office during a short leave in January 1945. And before that, after recovery, he arrived in his native regiment. Fighting continued in the Carpathians on Polish territory.
In September 1944, the Ukrainian government was preparing a gala reception in honor of the most distinguished soldiers in the battles for its liberation. I was one of three delegates from the 1st Guards Army. We were called from the front line, changed clothes, instructed, and then through the division headquarters and army headquarters we were introduced to the front commander, Colonel General Petrov, and a member of the front Military Council, Lieutenant General Mehlis. At the front headquarters they gave me a letter of gratitude from the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Comrade Stalin. I returned from the gala reception full of impressions. I saw so many famous, respected people! I received such a boost of energy before the upcoming battles. But the war did not last long for me and ended in January 1945. I was recalled to the Front Political Directorate and offered to go to higher military-political courses at the Main Political Directorate. From a government point of view, the decision is probably far-sighted. In the future, the Armed Forces needed competent personnel, and even with front-line experience. I was sad to part with my guys. And the further time takes me from those days, the more precious they are to me, the warmer the memories of them. Then another thought tormented me - there was a feeling of awkwardness about the postponed, unfinished business. It turned out that he had escaped. There was another consolation - the guys knew me: I never ran away from difficulties, I looked for them myself, but the time came - and I made my choice - political work became my profession, the meaning of my life. The chance couldn't be missed. I became a professional soldier. Defender of the Motherland.
Ivan Sysolyatin was born in the village of Altynai near Yekaterinburg, where he spent his childhood at school, and where the war broke into his youth. Ivan, together with his closest friend Veniamin Potapov, was suddenly called to the military registration and enlistment office and offered to volunteer for the front, as an example to other fellow countrymen. “So they called us, but I didn’t have anything with me - my mother gave me 5 rubles for the journey, she said: “Probably, that’s enough for you...”, recalls Ivan Matveevich. We walked to the station, then they were assigned to a communications company.
Ivan became a signalman, telephone operator, radio operator, horse messenger - he drove with reports day and night. He still remembers the wonderful horse Masha, he was the smartest animal: he saved Ivan more than once, lying down during shelling in such a way as to protect the young messenger from bullets. The first tears in the war were when his beloved horse was killed under him. He, crying, carried the saddle on himself until the very part, then there were other horses with the equestrian messenger, but there was no such one. His best friend Venya Potapov died near the village of Vereyki, Ivan did not see how it happened, he was able to find him only at the end of a hot summer day. Venya lay at the edge of a field strewn with dead. Ivan buried his friend as best he could, right there in the field, digging a grave with a sapper's shovel, which he always had with him. He said about this shoulder blade that if they were wounded in battle, then when they fell, they tried to immediately, lying down, dig a hole under themselves in order to roll down there and hide from the bullets. Or maybe, if you can’t escape the bullets, then you’ll stay in this “grave.”
As soon as the institution of Komsomol members was established, in the rifle battalion where Ivan served, the choice fell on him. The Komsomol organizer had no right to say “no” in any situation, and must be ready all the time. To know that he is the one who will go where others simply cannot at any moment. “A mine exploded at a height near us. I saw how a comrade who was next to me had his head torn off, but I was only wounded, I was lucky... The commissar, despite my injury, ordered me at this height to gather the wounded into a trench and be with them. Even though I could barely walk myself, I had to support the guys, then deliver them to the populated area; the wounded were transported on carts, and I was on foot. Probably because Komsomol organizer. We just took a break and went to fight the city of Sumy,” these were the “privileges” the Komsomol members had. In the photograph from the wartime, Ivan Sysolyatin has several awards, he told his own story about each, each as a milestone of the war. The first - “For military merit” - was received in 1942, when the commander Ivan Sysolyatin, together with Ivan Stashov, was sent to reconnaissance. “We came to the village, literally stepping on the heels of the Germans; they left there quite recently. The local population was very happy with us and gave our “sons” fresh milk. It turned out that when the Nazis left the village, one of the Germans was so drunk that he could not get up. Local residents did not know what to do with it. Without hesitation, we tied him to the saddle and took the “tongue” to the unit. But by that time the Germans had begun to build defensive structures out of snow and rubble on our way. What could we do? We spurred our horses at speed alone and passed their front line. How did the bullets not reach us? But we returned to the unit alive and with loot - no one expected that we would bring a “tongue”, even if he was not yet able to move his tongue.” The second award appeared on Ivan’s chest in 1943. Then, near the city of Romny, together with a friend, they burst onto a hill, behind which there was territory under the guns of the Germans. It was impossible for our troops to overcome it - the ravine was shot through and was clearly visible. The guys made their way to the tobacco factory, it was on a hill, they installed a machine gun and held this height until our soldiers occupied the territory. It was just the two of them, shooting non-stop. What were they thinking then? Maybe that one more step will be taken and victory will become closer?
And the most important test lay ahead - in September 1943, troops were preparing to cross the Dnieper. How this most significant and tragic battle of the Second World War was planned and carried out is not the subject of this narrative. It is important for us now to understand how the one who was later called a hero lived these terrible days. And then he was a very young guy, with a childish smile and an absolutely non-belligerent look. Ivan Sysolyatin joined the famous advanced detachments, which were assigned a special role in a large-scale operation - to divert the enemy’s attention. “I was a junior sergeant then, the group was headed by Captain Polinsky. How we dragged along “improvised watercraft”, rafts with mounted machine guns and other weapons, how in small areas the progress was slowed down by seemingly viscous water - now it’s impossible to convey. We advanced before dawn in complete silence; we had to make it before the enemy woke up and noticed us in the first rays of the sun. We could not immediately cross the Dnieper. First the island got in the way, we spent the night there without sleep, so that at dawn, tired from terrible stress, we plunged into the water again and came under heavy fire. The Germans from the high bank of the Dnieper (it’s not for nothing that the city of Vyshgorod is located there) shot us point-blank, the water stood on end from the explosions, just a wall of sand and water, already empty “water craft” and the caps of dead soldiers rushed past us along the Dnieper - the losses were very large. And those few who managed to get to the shore still had to gain a foothold and defend the bridgehead.” How they, deafened by explosions, after a sleepless night on planks and logs traveling in the deadly rain to the long-awaited land, managed to capture a brick factory, break into Vyshgorod, and simply survive - it is now impossible to understand.
Ivan Sysolyatin was given the Gold Hero Star for this fight. He became an honorary citizen of Vyshgorod and came there after the war. But that’s for later, but for now he was awarded leave and went home to the Urals. He was greeted as it should be to greet Heroes of the Fatherland. At the meeting, he asked all his fellow countrymen to stand up and honor the memory of the fallen, and especially his best friend, Veniamin Potapov. The hall was crying because there was not a single one whose heart would skip a beat in anticipation of news from the front. Ivan returned to the front, reached the Carpathians, and in February 1945 he was summoned to the political department of the front and announced that he was being sent to study in Moscow. And then our hero, who had withstood the most difficult trials, burst into tears. He cried with joy. From the fact that he did not have to return to the front, that his war, which had lasted indefinitely, was coming to an end.
He graduated with honors from the Academy of Political Administration and remained to serve in the army. He took part in the famous first Victory Parade on Red Square in 1945. All his life, his beloved wife Ksenia Yakovlevna was next to him, the same girl who met the hero who came on vacation in 1943. She says that Ivan Matveevich does not like to talk about the war, but the bullet-riddled skirts of his combat overcoat, which had been kept in the family for a long time, speak for themselves. And a towel from a field bag, all with neat bullet holes. And what is a field bag, it’s very close - the heart.
Sysolyatin Ivan Afanasyevich (10/16/1936-09/04/1999) - poet, prose writer. Member of the Russian Federation since 1993. Born in the Tattinsky ulus in the family of a collective farmer.
In 1955 he graduated from high school. Served in the ranks of the Soviet Army. In 1957-59. - lumberjack of the industrial plant, literary employee of the ulus newspaper “Kommunist”. In 1965 he graduated from the Yakut State University and until 1980 he worked as a teacher, head teacher, and director of a school in the Megino-Kangalassky ulus. Since 1980 - first as head of the department, and then as deputy editor of the Erkeeyi newspaper. He began publishing poems and stories during his school years. As a student, he studied in the literary circle “Sergelyakh Lights”. He published his first collection of poems, “Kun Diekki” (“Towards the Sun”), in 1972. He wrote poems and stories for children of middle and high school age. The main theme of I. Sysolyatin’s work is the difficult childhood years of the Great Patriotic War, friendship between children of different nationalities, issues of restructuring the educational process at school, etc. In 1982, his story “Attanyy” (“Farewell”) received third prize at the republican competition. The novel “Oh Kurduk Ogonston” (“I Believe”) tells the story of the life and feat of Hero of the Soviet Union Fyodor Popov.
Works
Kun diekki: Hohoonnor. - Dyokuskai: Kinige Publishing House, 1972. - 32 p.
Ivan Ivanovich Sysolyatin was born on November 17, 1924 in the village of Permyaki, Kirov Region. The eldest son in a simple peasant family. From 1937 to 1940, in parallel with his studies at high school, he worked in forest areas. After graduating from school, from 1940 to 1942 he became the foreman of a field crew. At that time, he could not even imagine how far his fate would take him, and how much his life would change.
Ivan Ivanovich was drafted into the ranks of the Soviet Army in May 1942 by the Arbash District Military Council (photo 1). After graduating from the Lvov Military Infantry School, from April 1943 to May 1943, he fought on the Kalinin Front as part of the 46th Guards Rifle Division. After his first serious wound near Velikiye Luki in 1943, he spent three months in the hospital. From August 1943 to January 1944 he fought on the Smolensk Front in the 9th Guards Rifle Division as a machine gun platoon commander. During his service he was slightly wounded near Orsha (Belarus).
In January 1944, the young commander led the assault on the German fortifications. The assault group consisted of 46 people, the position was taken - this is the last thing the wounded commander remembered before losing consciousness. He was treated in Udmurtia, in hospital No. 3638, (city of Sarapul) (photo 2, 2a)
Grandfather remembered the return to the rear forever. He rarely remembered the pain of war. He remembered people who gave their clothes and food to the wounded, about doctors who had the strength to fight for every life, about children who were adults beyond their years, about small fragile children who, with their careful care, won the lives of soldiers from death.
In July 1944, after recovery, Ivan Ivanovich returned to the army again and until July 1946 served in the 34th reserve rifle division of the 14th rifle regiment as a training platoon commander. After that, for two years he commanded a machine-gun platoon of the regimental school of the 12th Guards Mechanized Division of the 42nd Guards Mechanized Regiment. By 1966, after completing advanced training courses for commanders in Gomel and the “Vystrel” courses in Moscow, Ivan Ivanovich was appointed commander of the battalion 336 OPMP DKBF in Baltiysk.
On November 18, 1966, on the basis of a directive from the USSR Ministry of Defense, the 309th separate marine corps battalion was formed from units of the marine regiment of the Baltic Fleet and personnel of the 135th motorized rifle regiment of the Transcaucasian Military District in the Red Banner Black Sea Fleet. Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Ivanovich Sysolyatin was appointed commander of the battalion.
On December 15, 1967, the 810th separate marine regiment of the Black Sea Fleet was formed at the base of the 309th separate marine corps battalion of the Black Sea Fleet. The regiment commander is Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Ivanovich Sysolyatin (photo 3).
On December 17, 1967, the regiment was visited by Admiral of the USSR Fleet S.G. Gorshkov. and was pleased to note the high quality of the work performed by all officials who took part in the creation of a new unit of the Marine Corps. The photograph taken at the military unit in Kazachya Bay shows S.G. Gorshkom and regiment commander I.I. Sysolyatin. (photo 4).
During its existence, the regiment repeatedly took part in combat service in the regions of Egypt, Syria, Guinea, and Angola. The landing forces formed on the basis of the regiment performed all combat service tasks with high results. On October 31, 1974, the OPMP was awarded the Pennant of the Minister of Defense “For Courage and Military Valor.” The Pennant was presented by the Minister of Defense, Marshal of the Soviet Union A.A. Grechko. and the head of the main political department of the Soviet Army and Navy, Army General A.A. Epishev. (on the podium from left to right, Army General A.A. Epishev, Colonel I.I. Sysolyatin, Marshal of the Soviet Union A.A. Grechko) (photo 5)
In addition to performing government tasks for military service, the regiment’s personnel more than once participated in various-scale exercises of the USSR Armed Forces and the Armed Forces of the Warsaw Pact countries. Exercises and maneuvers “Rhodope”, “Ocean”, “South”, joint exercises of the Navy of the Syrian Republic and the United Arab Republic “Armor”, other major fleet-scale events could not do without amphibious landings (photos 6, 7 and 8).
From 1967 to 1970, the Black Sea Fleet marines took part in glory parades on Red Square in Moscow. It was the Black Sea Fleet marines who were the first to take off their peacoats at the parade in honor of Victory Day. Since then, the Marine Corps has entered Red Square without pea coats in any weather (photo 9, second from left I.I. Sysolyatin).
In 1971, Ivan Ivanovich left the post of regiment commander with the rank of colonel and until 1977 he worked at the school named after P.S. Nakhimov.
After his retirement, grandfather did not lose touch with his regiment. Colleagues called and came to visit and invited me to meeting evenings. After the parade in honor of Victory Day, we made sure to take the bus to the monument to Defenders of the Fatherland, where grandfather was expected with flowers and congratulations.
Ivan Ivanovich died on February 26, 1997.
Grandfather was seen off by two families: we - his grandchildren, children, wife; and his regiment, his lieutenants, who had long since become generals. They remembered how their grandfather organized theme nights for them, how they tidied up their dorm together, how they went through exercises, how their grandfather explained to them what it meant to be Marine Corps officers. And it seems to me that his work did not pass without a trace.
Svetlana Minaeva