Who lay down with his chest on the embrasure. Closing the embrasure. Alexander Matrosov and his predecessors. With and without stars Hero

The expression “chest on the embrasure” in the Russian language has long become familiar and is often used in a figurative sense. It appeared after it became known about the feat of a private in the Red Army Alexandra Matrosova. During a decisive battle, a 19-year-old guy covered the embrasure of a German bunker with his chest. Matrosov's feat became textbook in the Soviet Union, however, according to historians, during the war years about 400 people closed bunkers with their own bodies, and some of them managed to survive after dozens of wounds received.

Alexander Morozov died on the battlefield on February 27, 1943, however, Soviet historians considered it ideologically correct to date the feat to February 23. In recent years, there has been a lot of debate on the topic of “was there a feat?” and whether Sailors really covered the embrasure with his chest. According to some versions, he stood up to throw a grenade at the bunker, and at that moment was shot by machine gun fire. Be that as it may, the fact remains: intentionally or not, the feat was accomplished, and the fighter died heroically on the battlefield.

Leonty Kondratyev

Today, historians name hundreds of names of other fighters who repeated this feat on different fronts and in different years. And, more importantly, they managed to survive in an unequal battle. Back on October 30, 1942, during a battle with the Nazi invaders on the outskirts of Tuapse, an assistant platoon commander, foreman, rushed into the embrasure with his chest Leonty Kondratyev. Incredibly, the soldier was able to survive after his injuries; he was treated in military hospitals for four months and was able to return to the front after a while. True, fate decreed that already in April 1943 he died in another battle.

Georgy Maisuradze

On October 10, 1943, fierce battles took place near the Belarusian village of Glushets. The private covered the firing point with his own body Georgy Maisuradze. After a long rehabilitation, the hero never returned to duty and was demobilized for medical reasons. George returned to his homeland in Georgia, he lived for another 22 years.

Stepan Kochnev

On New Year's Eve 1943, a German bunker neutralized the platoon commander Stepan Kochnev. The battle took place near the Ukrainian village of Novaya Ekaterinivka. His comrades considered the hero killed, and he was presented with a posthumous award. In fact, Kochnev was captured by the Germans and remained in concentration camps in Poland until April 1945. After everything he had experienced, Stepan returned to peaceful life and went to Chelyabinsk, where he worked as an accountant. The wounds received made themselves felt, the hero died in 1966.

Alexander Udodov

A heroic feat was also accomplished during the storming of Sevastopol. A private rushed into the embrasure Alexander Udodov. The fighter was incredibly lucky: in the hospital, the doctors did the impossible and brought him back to life. The recovery was long, there was exactly a year left until victory. Due to his injuries, Alexander was no longer able to return to the front; however, having been demobilized, he came to his native Donetsk, where he worked in a mine for a long time. Alexander Udodov died in 1985.

Vladimir Maiborsky

Sergeant Major Vladimir Maiborsky repeated Matrosov's feat on July 13, 1944. Before this decisive battle, the fighter had already been in the ranks of the Red Army, and in the militia, and in Poland in a concentration camp (from which he escaped three times), and in the ranks of the partisans. Having rushed to the bunker, he received numerous wounds, but the doctors managed to cure him. Rehabilitation took almost a year. After being discharged from the army due to disability, Vladimir became chairman of the village council and lived until 1987.

Tovye Rise

Monument to Alexander Matrosov near the building of the Museum of Komsomol Combat Glory named after. Alexandra Matrosova. Photo: ria.ru

The history of the Great Patriotic War is a history of selfless service to the Motherland. About the unforgettable exploits of the soldiers of the Red Army - in the selection.

Alexander Matveevich

Matrosov Alexander Matveevich - machine gunner of the 2nd separate battalion of the 91st separate Siberian volunteer brigade named after I.V. Stalin of the 6th Stalin Siberian Volunteer Rifle Corps of the 22nd Army of the Kalinin Front, Red Army soldier. On September 8, 1943, by order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR I.V. Stalin, the name of Matrosov was assigned to the 254th Guards Rifle Regiment, and he himself was forever included in the lists of the 1st company of this unit. This was the first order of the USSR NGO during the Great Patriotic War to enroll the fallen Hero forever in the lists of the military unit.

Born on February 5, 1924 in the city of Yekaterinoslav (now Dnepropetrovsk - the administrative center of the Dnepropetrovsk region of Ukraine). Russian. Member of the Komsomol. Lost his parents early. He was raised for 5 years in the Ivanovo security orphanage (Ulyanovsk region). In 1939, he was sent to a car repair plant in the city of Kuibyshev (now Samara), but soon escaped from there. By the verdict of the people's court of the 3rd section of the Frunzensky district of the city of Saratov on October 8, 1940, Alexander Matrosov was sentenced under Article 192 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR to two years in prison for violating the passport regime (Judicial Collegium for Criminal Cases of the Supreme Court of the RSFSR on May 5, 1967, this verdict canceled). He served time in the Ufa children's labor colony. With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, he repeatedly made written requests to be sent to the front.

He was drafted into the Red Army by the Kirov District Military Commissariat of the city of Ufa, Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, in September 1942 and sent to the Krasnokholm Infantry School (October 1942), but soon most of the cadets were sent to the Kalinin Front.

In the active army since November 1942. Served as part of the 2nd separate rifle battalion of the 91st separate Siberian volunteer brigade named after (later the 254th Guards Rifle Regiment of the 56th Guards Rifle Division, Kalinin Front). For some time the brigade was in reserve. Then she was transferred near Pskov to the area of ​​Bolshoi Lomovatoy Bor. Straight from the march, the brigade entered the battle.
On February 27, 1943, the 2nd battalion received the task of attacking a strong point in the area of ​​the village of Pleten, west of the village of Chernushki, Loknyansky district of the Pskov region. As soon as our soldiers passed through the forest and reached the edge, they came under heavy enemy machine-gun fire - three enemy machine guns in bunkers covered the approaches to the village. One machine gun was suppressed by an assault group of machine gunners and armor-piercers. The second bunker was destroyed by another group of armor-piercing soldiers. But the machine gun from the third bunker continued to fire at the entire ravine in front of the village. Attempts to silence him were unsuccessful. Then Red Army soldier Alexander Matrosov crawled towards the bunker. He approached the embrasure from the flank and threw two grenades. The machine gun fell silent. But as soon as the fighters went on the attack, the machine gun came to life again. Then Matrosov stood up, rushed to the bunker and closed the embrasure with his body. At the cost of his life, he contributed to the accomplishment of the unit’s combat mission.

He was buried in the village of Chernushki, Loknyansky district, and in 1948 the ashes of A.M. Matrosov was reburied in the city of Velikiye Luki, Pskov region, on the left bank of the Lovat River at the intersection of Rosa Luxemburg Street and the Alexander Matrosov embankment.

A few days later, the name of Alexander Matrosov became known throughout the country. Matrosov’s feat was used by a journalist who happened to be with the unit for a patriotic article. At the same time, the date of the Hero’s death was moved to February 23, coinciding the feat with the birthday of the Red Army. Despite the fact that Alexander Matrosov was not the first to commit such an act of self-sacrifice, it was his name that was used to glorify the heroism of Soviet soldiers. Subsequently, over three hundred people performed a similar heroic act. The feat of Alexander Matrosov became a symbol of courage and military valor, fearlessness and love for the Motherland.

By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated June 19, 1943, 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 displayed, Red Army soldier Alexander Matveevich Matrosov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Awarded the Order of Lenin (posthumously).

Each generation has its own idols and heroes. Today, when movie and pop stars are placed on the podium, and scandalous representatives of bohemia are role models, it’s time to remember those who truly deserve eternal memory in our country. We will talk about Alexander Matrosov, with whose name Soviet soldiers went into the meat grinder of the Great Patriotic War, trying to repeat his heroic feat, sacrificing their lives in the name of the independence of the Fatherland. Over time, memory erases small details of events and makes the colors faded, making its own adjustments and explanations for what happened. Only many years later it became possible to reveal some mysterious and untold moments in the biography of this young man, who left such a significant mark in the glorious annals of our Motherland.

Anticipating the angry reactions of those who are inclined to leave the facts in the form in which they were presented by the Soviet media, it is necessary to immediately make a reservation that the research carried out by historians and memoirists in no way detracts from the merits of a man whose name has been borne on the streets of many for more than half a century cities. No one set out to denigrate him, but the Truth requires the establishment of justice and the disclosure of true facts and names that were at one time distorted or simply left unattended.

According to the official version, Alexander was from Dnepropetrovsk, having gone through the Ivanovo and Melekessky orphanages in the Ulyanovsk region and the Ufa labor colony for children. On February 23, 1943, his battalion received the task of destroying a Nazi stronghold near the village of Chernushki, in the Pskov region. However, the approaches to the settlement were covered by three machine-gun crews hidden in bunkers. Special assault groups were sent to suppress them. Two machine guns were destroyed by the joint forces of submachine gunners and armor-piercers, but attempts to silence the third were unsuccessful. In the end, privates Pyotr Ogurtsov and Alexander Matrosov crawled towards him. Soon Ogurtsov was seriously wounded, and Sailors approached the embrasure alone. He threw a couple of grenades and the machine gun fell silent. But as soon as the Red Guards rose to attack, shooting rang out again. Saving his comrades, Sailors found himself at the bunker with one swift throw and covered the embrasure with his body. The moments gained were enough for the fighters to get closer and destroy the enemy. The feat of the Soviet soldier was described in newspapers, magazines and films, his name became a phraseological unit in the Russian language.

After lengthy searches and research by people studying the biography of Alexander Matrosov, it became obvious that only the date of birth of the future hero of the USSR, as well as the place of his death, deserves trust. All other information was quite contradictory, and therefore deserved a closer look.

The first questions arose when, in response to an official request for the place of birth indicated by the hero himself in the city of Dnepropetrovsk, a clear answer came that the birth of a child with that name and surname in 1924 was not registered by any registry office. Further searches in Soviet times by the main researcher of Matrosov's life, Rauf Khaevich Nasyrov, led to public censure of the writer and accusations of revisionism of the heroic pages of wartime. Only much later was he able to continue the investigation, which resulted in a number of interesting discoveries.
Following barely noticeable “breadcrumbs”, the bibliographer initially, based on eyewitness accounts, suggested and then practically proved that the hero’s real name is Shakiryan, and his true place of birth is the small village of Kunakbaevo, which is located in the Uchalinsky district of Bashkiria. A study of documents in the Uchalinsky City Council made it possible to find a record of the birth of a certain Mukhamedyanov Shakiryan Yunusovich on the very day indicated by the official biographical version of the life of Alexander Matrosov, February 5, 1924. Such a discrepancy in the data on the place of birth of the famous hero suggested the idea of ​​checking the authenticity of the remaining biographical data.

None of Shahiryan’s close relatives were alive at that time. However, during further searches, childhood photographs of the boy were found, which were miraculously preserved by former fellow villagers. A detailed examination of these photographs and comparison of them with later photographs of Alexander Matrosov allowed scientists from the Forensic Research Institute in Moscow to give a final conclusion about the identity of the people depicted in them.

Few people know that there is another Alexander Matrosov, the namesake of the main person in the article, who also became a Hero of the Soviet Union. Born on June 22, 1918 in the city of Ivanovo, during the Great Patriotic War he rose to the rank of senior sergeant, platoon commander of a reconnaissance company. In the summer of 1944, Sailors, together with other intelligence officers, captured a bridge on the Belarusian Svisloch River, which was a tributary of the Berezina. For more than a day, a small group held it, repelling the attacks of the fascists, until the main forces of our troops arrived. Alexander survived that memorable battle, successfully ended the war and died in his native Ivanovo on February 5, 1992 at the age of seventy-three.

During conversations with Alexander Matrosov’s fellow soldiers, as well as residents of the village where he was born, and former pupils of orphanages, a picture of the life of this famous man gradually began to emerge. Shakiryan Mukhamedyanov’s father returned from the Civil War as an invalid and could not find a permanent job. Due to this, his family experienced great financial difficulties. When the boy was only seven years old, his mother died. It became even more difficult to survive, and often the father and his little son begged for alms, wandering through the neighbors' yards. Very soon a stepmother appeared in the house, with whom young Shahiryan was never able to get along, having run away from home.

His short wanderings ended with the boy ending up in a reception center for children under the NKVD, and from there he was sent to modern Dimitrovgrad, which was then called Melekess. It was in this orphanage that he first appears as Alexander Matrosov. But in official documents he was recorded under this name when he entered the colony located in the village of Ivanovka on February 7, 1938. There, the boy named a fictitious place of birth and a city in which he, in his own words, had never been. Based on the documents issued to him, all sources subsequently indicated exactly this information about the place and date of birth of the boy.

Why was Shakiryan recorded under this name? His fellow villagers recalled that at the age of fifteen, in the summer of 1939, he came to his small homeland. The teenager was wearing a visor and a striped vest under his shirt. Even then he called himself Alexander Matrosov. Apparently, he did not want to indicate his real name in the colony because he knew about the general unkind attitude towards the national people. And given his liking for maritime symbols, it was not difficult to come up with a name he liked, as many street children did at that time. However, at the shelter they still remembered that Sashka was called not only Shurik the sailor, but also Shurik-Shakiryan, as well as “Bashkir” - because of the teenager’s dark skin, which again confirms the identity of the two personalities in question.

Both fellow villagers and the orphanage's pupils spoke of Sashka as a lively and cheerful guy who loved to strum the guitar and balalaika, knew how to tap dance and was the best at playing "knucklebones". They even remembered the words of his own mother, who at one time said that because of his dexterity and excessive activity, he would become either a capable young man or a criminal.

The generally accepted version of the hero’s biography says that Matrosov worked for some time as a carpenter at a furniture factory in Ufa, but how he ended up in the labor colony to which this enterprise was attached is not said anywhere. But this section of his biography contains colorful references to what a wonderful example Alexander was for his peers at the time he became one of the best boxers and skiers in the city, and what wonderful poetry he wrote. To create a greater effect in the fictional story, a lot is said about Matrosov’s active work as a political informant, as well as about the fact that the hero’s father, being a communist, died from a bullet from a fist.

An interesting fact related to the fighter who accomplished the feat is the presence of at least two almost identical Komsomol tickets in the name of Alexander Matrosov. Tickets are kept in different museums: one in Moscow, the other in Velikiye Luki. Which of the documents is genuine remains unclear.

In fact, in 1939, Matrosov was sent to work at the Kuibyshev Car Repair Plant. However, he soon fled from there due to unbearable working conditions. Later, Sasha and his friend were arrested for non-compliance with the regime. The next documentary evidence about the guy’s life appears almost a year later. For violating the terms of the subscription that he would leave Saratov within 24 hours, according to archival data, on October 8, 1940, Alexander Matrosov was sentenced by the Frunzensky District People's Court to two years in prison under Article 192 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR. An interesting fact is that on May 5, 1967, the Supreme Court of the USSR returned to the cassation hearing of Matrosov’s case and overturned the verdict, apparently so as not to tarnish the name of the hero with unpleasant details of his life.

Actually, after the court’s decision, the young man ended up in a labor colony in Ufa, where he served his entire sentence. At the very beginning of the war, seventeen-year-old Alexander, like thousands of his peers, sent a letter to the People's Commissar of Defense with a request to be sent to the front, expressing his passionate desire to defend the Motherland. But he got to the front line only at the end of February 1943, together with other cadets of the Krasnokholmsky school, where Sailors was enrolled in October 1942 after the colony. Due to the difficult situation on all fronts, the graduating cadets, who had not been fired upon, were sent in full force as reinforcements to the Kalinin Front.

Here follows a new discrepancy between real facts and the officially accepted biography of this person. In accordance with the documents, Alexander Matrosov was enlisted in the rifle battalion, part of the 91st separate Siberian volunteer brigade, named after Joseph Stalin, on February 25. But the Soviet press indicates that Alexander Matrosov accomplished his feat on February 23. Having read about this later in the newspapers, Matrosov’s fellow soldiers were extremely surprised by this information, because in fact, the memorable battle in the Pskov region, not far from the village of Chernushki, which the battalion, in accordance with the order of the command, was supposed to recapture from the Germans, took place on February 27, 1943 .

Why was such an important date changed not only in newspapers, but also in many historical documents describing the great feat? Anyone who grew up during Soviet times is well aware of how the government and many other official bodies liked to mark various, even the most insignificant events, with memorable anniversaries and dates. This is what happened in this case. The approaching anniversary, the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the Red Army, required “real confirmation” to inspire and raise the morale of Soviet soldiers. Obviously, it was decided to coincide the feat of fighter Alexander Matrosov with a memorable date.

The details of exactly how events unfolded on that terrible February day when a courageous nineteen-year-old boy died are described in detail in many articles and textbooks. Without dwelling on this, it is only worth noting that the feat of Alexander Matrosov in the official interpretation clearly contradicts the laws of physics. Even one bullet fired from a rifle, hitting a person, will definitely knock him down. What can we say about a machine gun burst at point blank range? Moreover, the human body cannot serve as any serious barrier to machine gun bullets. Even the first notes of front-line newspapers said that Alexander’s corpse was found not in the embrasure, but in front of him in the snow. It is unlikely that Matrosov threw himself at her with his chest; this would have been the most absurd way to defeat an enemy bunker. Trying to reconstruct the events of that day, the researchers settled on the following version. Since there were eyewitnesses who saw Matrosov on the roof of the bunker, most likely he tried to shoot or throw grenades at the machine gun crew through the ventilation window. He was shot, and his body fell onto the vent, blocking the possibility of venting the powder gases. While dumping the corpse, the Germans hesitated and ceased fire, and Matrosov’s comrades were able to overcome the area under fire. Thus, the feat really took place; at the cost of the life of the Sailors, he ensured the success of the assault on his detachment.

There is also a misconception that Alexander's feat was the first of its kind. However, it is not. Many documented facts have been preserved of how, already in the first years of the war, Soviet soldiers rushed to enemy firing points. The very first of them were Alexander Pankratov, a political commissar of a tank company, who sacrificed himself on August 24, 1941 during the attack on the Kirillov Monastery near Novgorod, and Yakov Paderin, who died on December 27, 1941 near the village of Ryabinikha in the Tver region. And in “The Ballad of Three Communists” by Nikolai Semenovich Tikhonov (the author of the famous phrase: “I should make nails out of these people ...”), the battle near Novgorod on January 29, 1942 is described, in which three soldiers rushed to the enemy pillboxes at once - Gerasimenko, Cheremnov and Krasilov.

It also requires mentioning the fact that even before the end of March 1943, at least thirteen people - soldiers of the Red Army, inspired by the example of Alexander Matrosov, carried out a similar act. In total, more than four hundred people performed a similar feat during the war years. Many of them were posthumously awarded and received the title of Hero of the USSR, but their names are familiar only to meticulous historians, as well as fans of historical wartime articles. Most of the brave heroes remained unknown, and subsequently dropped out of official chronicles altogether. Among them were the dead soldiers of the assault groups, who fought that very day next to Matrosov and managed not only to suppress the enemy’s bunkers, but also, deploying fascist machine guns, to return fire on the enemy. In this context, it is very important to understand that the image of Alexander, in whose honor monuments were built and streets were named in cities throughout Russia, precisely personifies all the nameless soldiers, our ancestors, who gave their lives for the sake of victory.

Initially, the hero was buried where he fell, in the village of Chernushki, but in 1948 his remains were reburied in the cemetery of the city of Velikiye Luki, located on the banks of the Lovat River. The name of Alexander Matrosov was immortalized by Stalin’s order of September 8, 1943. In accordance with this document, it was for the first time forever included in the list of the first company of the 254th Guards Regiment, where Sasha served. Unfortunately, the leadership of the Red Army, creating an epic image of a fighter who despised death in the name of saving his comrades, pursued another rather unpleasant goal. Neglecting artillery preparation, the authorities encouraged the Red Army soldiers to launch deadly frontal attacks on enemy machine guns, justifying the senseless loss of life as an example of a brave soldier.

Even when finding out the real history of the hero, whom many generations of residents of our country know as Alexander Matrosov, after clarifying his personality, place of birth, individual pages of his biography and the essence of the heroic act itself, his feat is still undeniable and remains a rare example of unprecedented courage and valor! The feat of a very young youth who spent only three days at the front. We sing a song to the madness of the brave...

Information sources:
-http://www.warheroes.ru/hero/hero.asp?Hero_id=597
-http://izvestia.ru/news/286596
-http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/
-http://www.pulter.ru/docs/Alexander_Matrosov/Alexander_Matrosov

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Everyone knows the 19-year-old boy, submachine gunner of the Siberian Volunteer Rifle Corps of the 22nd Army of the Kalinin Front, Alexander Matrosov. On February 27, 1943, he blocked the embrasure of a German bunker with his chest. But there were dozens of others whose names are known to only a few.

Rimma in love

It is believed that the 17-year-old partisan Rimma Shershneva became the only woman who gave her life to save her comrades. This happened on December 5, 1942. The partisans operated in the Polesie region. While performing a combat mission, they were fired upon by a camouflaged German bunker.

Rimma was too young, so she was not taken to the front. They gave in after persistent requests to the Komsomol Central Committee, where the girl wrote asking to be sent to the front line. Rimma was sent to a partisan school, where she learned to shoot perfectly from our and captured weapons, mastered the art of sappers, and learned to jump with a parachute. Together with a detachment of the same young and brave guys, Komsomol member Shershneva was thrown behind enemy lines. Friends recalled that Rimma was the most optimistic, often sang and encouraged everyone.

During the fatal attack, many Red Army soldiers were killed. The German bunker had all-round visibility and fired almost non-stop. Then Rimma decided to silence him at the cost of her life.

More than a dozen bullets hit her, but the girl lived another nine days. She kept asking if the commander was alive. They say she was in love with him.

Gardener foreman

Hunan Avetisyan was a foreman of gardeners when he went to war. A brave guy died near Novorossiysk in September 1943. Senior Sergeant Avetisyan served as an assistant platoon commander of the 1st Infantry Company of the 390th Infantry Regiment.

The division received an order to break through the enemy's defense on Mount Dolgaya. During the artillery preparation, several fascist firing points were not suppressed. Unan had already been to this mountain, went with his comrades on reconnaissance, so he quickly moved towards the enemy bunker. Our soldiers managed to throw grenades at it, but then they started shooting from another one. Three close comrades of Avetisyan died before his eyes. He was also wounded; he no longer had the strength to throw the grenade. And then Unan decided to close the embrasure with his chest. The machine gun fell silent. The combat mission was completed.

Peasant son

Yakov Paderin was born in 1901 into a peasant family, but he did not have to engage in peaceful labor for long. Yakov fought in the Civil War, then participated in the creation of collective farms. During the Great Patriotic War he served as an infantryman and was known as a brave and experienced soldier.

Paderin accomplished his feat during the capture of the small village of Ryabinikha in the Tver region. Our troops suffered heavy losses. It was winter, Yakov was wearing a camouflage suit. He got close to the machine gun, which did not allow our soldiers to develop their offensive. However, when Paderin prepared to destroy the firing point, it turned out that he had no ammunition left. There was only one way out. Yakov rushed at the machine gun with his bare hands and silenced it for a while. This was enough for his comrades to arrive and finish off the fascist.

Service technician

Abram Levin born in 1918 in Kyiv in the family of a driver and a dressmaker. But he graduated from school and an auto-mechanical technical school in Moscow. On July 3, 1941, immediately after college, Abram began working as a service technician at the Moscow Likhachev Automobile Plant. He had a reservation, but already on September 1, Levin abandoned it and volunteered for the front. He fought in the 158th Rifle Division, which in February 1942, after a 100-kilometer march, entered the battle near Rzhev. Abram covered the machine gun embrasure with his chest in the battle for the village of Zhiranovo.

16-year-old partisan

Mikhail Belush died at the age of 16. There is very little information about the teenage hero. It is known that Mikhail was a Belarusian partisan. Moreover, behind him were eight trains of Germans that were derailed.

Belush’s last fight took place in the village of Kupisk, Novogrudok district. The partisans from the “October” detachment were advancing, but their actions were complicated by the presence of two bunkers among the Nazis. Mikhail showed miracles of dexterity and heroism. He destroyed one bunker with a bunch of grenades, but the other had to be covered with his own body.

The boy's body was buried with all honors. After the war, he was reburied in a mass grave in the Korelichi region.

Caretaker and photographer

A native of the Kazakh village of Makinka Nikita Golovnya was a jack of all trades. After serving in the army, he worked at a local school. At first - as a military commander, then - as a supply manager. Before the war, Nikita got married and became interested in photography. He set up something like a circle in the village and taught this to children. Golovnya also played the button accordion beautifully and sang songs.

In July 1941, Nikita and his wife went to the front. In the very first months, Golovnya received two serious injuries, after which he spent a long time in the hospital.

Nikita died near Rzhev, and managed to accomplish two feats in one day. First, he shielded the commander from an enemy bullet, and then, being wounded, he neutralized a German bunker, covering it with his body.

It’s amazing how many heroes there were who gave their lives without hesitation. Alexander Pankratov, Cholponbay Tuleberdiev, Pyotr Gutchenko, Alexander Pokalchuk, Nikolay Serdyukov, Vladimir Ermak, Gazinur Gafiatullin, Alexander Volkov, Alexander Tipanov, Minnigali Gubaidullin, Tuichi Erdzhigitov, Dmitry Ushkov... These were people of different ages and nationalities, professions and hobbies. One thing united them - love for the Motherland.

In the photo: Pavel Sokolov-Skal’s poster “The Feat of Komsomol Member Alexander Matrosov” / Photo: TASS

According to the official Soviet version, on February 27, 1943, the 2nd battalion, in which Sailors served, received an order to attack a strong point near the village of Chernushki, Loknyansky district, Kalinin (Pskov) region. Soviet soldiers reached the edge of the forest and came under fire from three German bunkers that blocked the approaches to the village. Three assault groups of two people each were sent to suppress the fire. Two bunkers were destroyed, but the machine gun of the third bunker continued to shoot through the ravine in front of the village. It was not possible to suppress it, then two Red Army soldiers were sent towards the enemy bunker - Pyotr Ogurtsov and Alexander Matrosov. Ogurtsov was seriously wounded and 19-year-old Matrosov had to carry out the order alone. He approached the bunker and threw two grenades in its direction. The fire stopped for a while, but as soon as the Soviet soldiers went on the attack, the machine gun started firing again. Then Matrosov rushed to the embrasure and covered it with his body. For a few moments the machine gun fell silent again, and the Soviet soldiers were able to reach the part not covered by the bunker. This version is somewhat different from the real events of those days. Take, for example, the fact that in fact Sailors died not during the assault on Chernushki, but near the village of Pleten.

In general, contradictions begin already in the question of Matrosov’s origin. According to the official version, he was born in Yekaterinoslavl (Dnepr), Ukrainian SSR, on February 5, 1924. However, it later turned out that in none of the Dnepropetrovsk registry offices there is any mention of the birth of Alexander Matrosov in 1924. There is another version, according to which not only the hero’s birthplace was different, but even his name. Some researchers believe that Matrosov’s real name is Shakiryan Mukhamedyanov and he was born in the village of Kunakbaevo in Bashkiria. He took the surname Matrosov when he became a street child, after he ran away from home, and under it he enrolled in an orphanage. At the same time, it is known for certain that Alexander himself always called himself Matrosov. And according to the third version, he was a native of the village of Vysoky Klok, Samara province. The boy's mother, left without a husband, sent the child to an orphanage to save him from starvation.

Alexander Matrosov

It is also noteworthy that Matrosov’s past was not heroic at all. He was convicted under Article 162 (theft of someone else's property) of the Criminal Code and, as a teenager, was sent to a security colony in the Ulyanovsk region. Then he was sent to Kuibyshev to work as a molder at a factory, but Matrosov escaped from there. In October 1940, the people's court in Saratov sentenced him to two years in prison because, despite the order to leave the city within 24 hours, Matrosov continued to live here. He was sent to the Ufa children's labor colony. There he became a mechanic's apprentice, and soon an assistant teacher. In 1967, the people's court verdict was overturned.

After the start of the Great Patriotic War, Sailors repeatedly asked to be sent to the front. In September 1942, he was drafted into the Red Army and sent to study at the infantry school. In mid-January 1943, he, along with other school cadets, was sent to the Kalinin Front. There it was decided to form a powerful task force under the command of Lieutenant General Mikhail Gerasimov, which was supposed to “capture the Loknya area and capture or destroy the Kholm group of enemy forces.” The main blow was to be delivered by the 91st Separate Rifle Brigade, which was part of the 6th Stalinist Siberian Volunteer Rifle Corps. On February 12, Sailors arrived at the location of the 91st Special Brigade and began serving as a submachine gunner in the 2nd Separate Rifle Battalion. Most soldiers then were armed with rifles, so machine guns were trusted only to the best fighters. Despite the fact that at the beginning of the offensive the 6th Rifle Corps outnumbered the enemy, most of the soldiers, like the Sailors, were young, untrained recruits. The brigade, which included Alexander, was tasked with breaking the knots of enemy resistance.

German bunker

On February 16-17, the advance of troops began. Days and nights the soldiers cleared a path for themselves, walked through forests and swamps, and because of the lack of roads they were forced to transport materiel and ammunition by hand. On February 24, the opponents noticed the concentration of Soviet soldiers and sent a reconnaissance group, part of which was killed and captured. The next day, Gerasimov's group encountered the Germans. “In the Kholm-Loknyansky direction... 6 sk from 12.00 after a short artillery preparation went on the offensive along the entire front and by 17.00, overcoming stubborn enemy resistance and impassability, fought. ...91 Special Brigade continued the battle for Chernoye.” The 2nd battalion, in which sailors served, was sent to the rescue of the 3rd battalion. On the night of February 26, they bypassed the village of Chernushka Severnaya to attack the enemy from the north. The Germans were able to split the battalion into three parts, but after a stubborn battle they were reunited. The enemy continued stubborn resistance. So in the battle of Chernushka, Alexander Matrosov received his first baptism of fire.

Gerasimov's group continued the offensive in the Kholm-Loknyansky direction. On February 27, the 2nd battalion, together with part of the 4th battalion, launched an attack on the village of Pleten. The goal was to destroy the enemy defending the villages of Chernushka and Chernaya. On the approaches to the village, the Germans created a powerful stronghold of three bunkers. The 4th battalion was advancing from the front, the “Matrosovsky” 2nd battalion entered from the flank, reached the edge of the forest and turned towards Pleten. But the Germans were ready for such a maneuver; the bunkers had a good view and the exits from the edges of the forests and groves were under heavy fire. The situation was complicated by the fact that the day before the mortar company of the 2nd battalion lost its materiel. However, the soldiers still had anti-tank rifles (ATRs). Two assault groups managed to destroy the flank bunkers, but the machine gun from the central bunker continued to fire at the ravine. Attempts to destroy him using anti-tank guns were unsuccessful.

Then Red Army soldiers Pyotr Ogurtsov and Alexander Matrosov were sent to the bunker. Ogurtsov was seriously wounded, and Sailors approached the embrasure from the flank. He threw two grenades towards the bunker, and the fire stopped for a while. The Soviet soldiers got up and went on the attack, but then the Germans returned fire again. Then Matrosov rushed to the bunker and closed the embrasure with his body. The fire from the bunker fell silent again. The German machine gunner's view was limited. At this time, the Soviet soldiers were able to reach the dead zone of the bunker, where they could not be hit by enemy fire. The attack continued, the village of Pleten was taken.

Matrosov's feat

Senior Lieutenant Pyotr Volkov reported about Matrosov’s actions to the head of the political department of the 91st brigade. His report formed the basis of the legend about Matrosov’s feat. However, in post-Soviet times, other versions of what happened began to appear. So, there is a version that Matrosov was shot on the roof of the bunker when he climbed there. His body closed the ventilation hole to remove the powder gases, and while the Germans were trying to throw Matrosov off, the Soviet troops were able to maneuver. Some researchers do not believe at all in the advisability of covering the embrasure with one’s body. They refer to the fact that for German machine guns the human body could not become a serious obstacle. There is also a completely dubious version that Matrosov’s act was an accident, he simply tripped and fell on the embrasure. Eyewitnesses refute them all. According to the stories of Pyotr Ogurtsov, who was supposed to destroy the bunker together with Matrosov, everything happened according to the official version of the death of his colleague.

Matrosov's feat inspired many soldiers and was quickly adopted by Soviet propaganda. It cannot be said that the action of the 19-year-old Red Army soldier was unique. Both before him and after him, soldiers more than once rushed into the embrasure. In total, more than 400 soldiers accomplished a similar feat, one of them even managed to survive. Sailors was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union “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.” He was buried not far from the place of death, and then the ashes were transferred to Velikiye Luki. Matrosov's name was the first to be forever included in the unit's lists.