During the battles, the heroic children of the Great Patriotic War did not spare their own lives and walked with the same courage and courage as adult men. Their fate is not limited to exploits on the battlefield - they worked in the rear, propagandized communism in the occupied territories, helped supply troops, and much more.
It is believed that the victory over the Germans is the merit of adult men and women, but this is not entirely true. Child heroes of the Great Patriotic War made no less contribution to the victory over the regime of the Third Reich, and their names should not be forgotten either.
Young pioneer heroes of the Great Patriotic War also acted bravely, because they understood that not only their own lives, but also the fate of the entire state were at stake.
The article deals with the heroic children of the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945), more precisely, about the seven brave boys who received the right to be called heroes of the USSR.
The stories of child heroes of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 are a valuable source of data for historians, even if children did not take part in bloody battles with weapons in their hands. Below, in addition, you can see the photos of the pioneer heroes of the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945, learn about their brave deeds during the hostilities.
All stories about children-heroes of the Great Patriotic War contain only verified information, their full name and full name of their loved ones have not changed. However, some data may not correspond to the truth (for example, the exact dates of death, birth), since during the conflict, documentary evidence was lost.
Probably the most child-hero of the Great Patriotic War is Valentin Aleksandrovich Kotik. The future brave and patriot was born on February 11, 1930 in a small settlement called Khmelevka, in the Shepetovsky district of the Khmelnitsky region and studied at the secondary Russian-language school No. 4 of the same town. As an eleven-year-old boy who had only to study in the sixth grade and learn about life, from the first hours of the confrontation, he decided for himself that he would fight the invaders.
When the autumn of 1941 came, Kotik, together with his close comrades, carefully organized an ambush to the police in the city of Shepetovka. In the course of a well-thought-out operation, the boy managed to eliminate the head of the policemen by throwing a combat grenade under his car.
Around the beginning of 1942, a small saboteur joined a detachment of Soviet partisans who fought deep behind enemy lines during the war. Initially, young Valya was not sent into battle - he was appointed to work as a signalman - a rather important position. However, the young fighter insisted on his participation in battles against the German fascist invaders, invaders and assassins.
In August 1943, the young patriot was admitted, showing extraordinary initiative, into a large and actively operating underground group named after Ustim Karmelyuk under the direction of Lieutenant Ivan Muzalev. Throughout 1943, he regularly took part in battles, during which he repeatedly received a bullet, but even in spite of this, he returned to the front line again, not sparing his life. Valya was not shy about any work, and therefore also often went on intelligence missions in his underground organization.
The young soldier performed one famous feat in October 1943. Quite by accident, Kotik discovered a well-hidden telephone cable, which was located shallow underground and was extremely important for the Germans. This telephone cable provided a connection between the headquarters of the Supreme Commander (Adolf Hitler) and occupied Warsaw. This played an important role in the liberation of the Polish capital, since the Nazi headquarters had no connection with the high command. In the same year, Kotik helped to blow up an enemy warehouse with cartridges for weapons, and also destroyed six railway echelons with the equipment the Germans needed, and in which they hijacked the Kievites, mined them and blew them up without remorse.
At the end of October of the same year, the little patriot of the SRSR Valya Kotik accomplished another feat. Being part of the partisan grouping, Valya stood on patrol and noticed how enemy soldiers surrounded his group. The kitty was not taken aback and first of all killed the enemy officer who commanded the punitive operation, and then raised the alarm. Thanks to such a bold act of this brave pioneer, the partisans managed to react to the encirclement and were able to fight off the enemy, avoiding huge losses in their ranks.
Unfortunately, in the battle for the city of Izyaslav in mid-February of the following year, Valya was mortally wounded by a shot from a German rifle. The pioneer hero died of his injury the next morning at the age of just 14.
The young warrior was forever at peace in his hometown. Despite the significance of Vali Kotik's deeds, his merits were noticed only thirteen years later, when the boy was awarded the title of "Hero of the Soviet Union", but already posthumously. In addition, Valya was also awarded the Order of Lenin, the Red Banner and the Patriotic War. Monuments were erected not only in the hero's native village, but also throughout the USSR. Streets, orphanages and so on were named after him.
Pyotr Sergeevich Klypa is one of those who can easily be called a rather controversial person, who, being a hero of the Brest Fortress and possessing the Order of the Patriotic War, was also known as a criminal.
The future defender of the Brest Fortress was born at the end of September 1926 in the Russian city of Bryansk. The boy spent his childhood practically without a father. He was a railroad worker and died early - the boy was raised only by his mother.
In 1939, Peter was taken to his army by his older brother, Nikolai Klypa, who at that time had already been promoted to the rank of lieutenant of the spacecraft, and under his command was the musical platoon of the 333rd regiment of the 6th rifle division. The young soldier became a pupil of this platoon.
After the capture of the territory of Poland by the troops of the Red Army, he, together with the 6th rifle division, was sent to the area of the city of Brest-Litovsk. The barracks of his regiment were located close to the famous Brest Fortress. On June 22, Pyotr Klypa woke up in the barracks when the Germans began bombing the fortress and the surrounding barracks. The soldiers of the 333rd Infantry Regiment, in spite of panic, were able to give an organized rebuff to the first attack of the German infantry, and young Peter also actively participated in this battle.
From the first day, together with his friend Kolya Novikov, he began to go on reconnaissance around the dilapidated and surrounded fortress and carry out the orders of his commanders. On June 23, during a regular reconnaissance, young soldiers managed to find a whole warehouse of ammunition that was not destroyed by the explosions - this ammunition greatly helped the defenders of the fortress. For many more days, Soviet soldiers repulsed enemy attacks using this find.
When Senior Lieutenant Alexander Potapov became the commander of the 333-so far, he appointed the young and energetic Peter as his messenger. He did a lot of useful things. Once he brought a large supply of bandages and medicines to the medical unit, which were badly needed by the wounded. Every day, Peter also brought water to the soldiers, which was sorely lacking for the defenders of the fortress.
By the end of the month, the situation of the Red Army soldiers in the fortress became catastrophically difficult. To save the lives of innocent people, the soldiers sent children, old people and women prisoners to the Germans, giving them a chance to survive. The young scout was also offered to surrender, but he refused, deciding to continue to participate in battles against the Germans.
In early July, the defenders of the fortress practically ran out of cartridges, water and food. Then by all means it was decided to go for a breakthrough. It ended in complete failure for the soldiers of the Red Army - the Germans killed most of the soldiers, and took the remaining half prisoners. Only a few managed to survive and break through the encirclement. One of them was Pyotr Klypa.
However, after a couple of days of grueling pursuit, the Nazis seized and captured him and other survivors. Until 1945, Peter worked in Germany as a farm laborer for a fairly wealthy German farmer. He was liberated by the troops of the United States of America, after which he returned to the ranks of the Red Army. After demobilization, Petya became bandits and robbers. There was even murder on his hands. He spent a significant part of his life in prison, after which he returned to normal life and had a family and two children. Peter Klypa died in 1983 at the age of 57. His early death was caused by a serious illness - cancer.
Among the children-heroes of the Great Patriotic War (WWII), the young partisan fighter VilorChekmak deserves special attention. The boy was born at the end of December 1925 in the glorious city of Simferopol sailors. Vilor had Greek roots. His father, a hero of many conflicts with the participation of the USSR, died during the defense of the capital of the USSR in 1941.
Vilor studied well at school, experienced extraordinary love and had artistic talent - he painted beautifully. When he grows up, he dreamed of painting expensive pictures, but the events of bloody June 1941 crossed out his dreams once and for all.
In August 1941, Vilor could no longer sit out when the others shed blood for him. And then, taking his beloved shepherd dog, he went to the partisan detachment. The boy was a real defender of the Fatherland. His mother discouraged him from going into an underground group, since the guy had a congenital heart defect, but he still decided to save his homeland. Like many other boys of his age, Vilor began to serve as a scout.
In the ranks of the partisan detachment, he served only a couple of months, but before his death he performed a real feat. On November 10, 1941, he was on duty, covering his fellows. The Germans began to surround the partisan detachment and Vilor was the first to notice their approach. The guy risked everything and fired a rocket launcher to warn his fellows about the enemy, but by the same act he attracted the attention of a whole detachment of Nazis. Realizing that he could not leave, he decided to cover the retreat of his brothers in arms, and therefore opened fire on the Germans. The boy fought until the last shot, but then he did not give up. He, like a real hero, rushed at the enemy with explosives, blew himself up and the Germans.
For his achievements, he received a medal "For Military Merit" and a medal "For the Defense of Sevastopol".
Medal "For the Defense of Sevastopol".
Among the famous child heroes of the Great Patriotic War, it is also worth highlighting Kamanin Arkady Nakolaevich, who was born in early November 1928 in the family of the famous Soviet military leader and General of the Red Army Air Force Nikolai Kamanin. It is noteworthy that his father was one of the first citizens of the USSR, who received the highest title of Hero of the Soviet Union in the state.
Arkady spent his childhood in the Far East, but then moved to Moscow, where he lived for a short time. As the son of a military pilot, Arkady could fly in airplanes as a child. In the summer, the young hero always worked at the airport, and also briefly worked at a plant for the production of aircraft for various purposes as a mechanic. When hostilities began against the Third Reich, the boy moved to the city of Tashkent, where his father was sent.
In 1943, Arkady Kamanin became one of the youngest military pilots in history, and the youngest pilot of the Great Patriotic War. Together with his father, he went to the Karelian front. He was enlisted in the 5th Guards Assault Air Corps. At first he worked as a mechanic - far from the most prestigious job on board an airplane. But very soon he was appointed navigator-observer and flight mechanic on the plane to establish communication between separate units called U-2. This plane had twin control, and Arkasha himself piloted the plane more than once. Already in July 1943, the young patriot was flying without anyone's help - completely independently.
At the age of 14, Arkady officially became a pilot and was enlisted in the 423rd Separate Communications Squadron. Since June 1943, the hero fought against the enemies of the state as part of the 1st Ukrainian Front. In the fall of the victorious 1944, he became part of the 2nd Ukrainian Front.
Arkady was more involved in communication assignments. He flew over the front lines more than once to help the partisans establish communications. At the age of 15, the guy was awarded the Order of the Red Star. He received this award for helping the Soviet pilot of the Il-2 attack aircraft, which crashed in the so-called no-man's land. If the young patriot did not interfere, the politician would have perished. Then Arkady received another Order of the Red Star, and then the Order of the Red Banner. Thanks to his successful operations in the sky, the Red Army was able to plant a red flag in occupied Budapest and Vienna.
After defeating the enemy, Arkady went to continue his studies in high school, where he quickly caught up with the program. However, the guy was killed by meningitis, from which he died at the age of 18.
Lenya Golikov is a well-known killer-occupier, partisan and pioneer who for his exploits and extraordinary devotion to the Fatherland, as well as dedication, earned the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, as well as the Medal "Partisan of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree." In addition, his homeland awarded him the Order of Lenin.
Lenya Golikov was born in a small village in the Parfinsky district, in the Novgorod region. Her parents were ordinary workers, and the boy could face the same calm fate. At the time of the outbreak of hostilities, Lenya finished seven classes and was already working at a local plywood factory. He began to participate actively in hostilities only in 1942, when the enemies of the state had already seized Ukraine and went to Russia.
In mid-August of the second year of the confrontation, being at that moment a young but already quite experienced scout of the 4th Leningrad underground brigade, he threw a combat grenade under an enemy vehicle. In that car sat a German major general from the engineering troops - Richard von Wirtz. Previously, it was believed that Lenya decisively eliminated the German commander, but he was able to miraculously survive, although he was seriously injured. In 1945, American troops took this general prisoner. However, on that day, Golikov managed to steal the general's documents, which contained information about new enemy mines that could cause significant damage to the Red Army. For this achievement, he was nominated for the highest title in the country "Hero of the Soviet Union".
In the period from 1942 to 1943, Lena Golikov managed to kill almost 80 German soldiers, blew up 12 highway bridges and 2 more railway bridges. Destroyed a couple of food depots important to the Nazis and blew up 10 vehicles with ammunition for the German army.
On January 24, 1943, Leni's detachment got into battle with the dominant forces of the enemy. Lenya Golikov died in a battle near a small settlement called Ostraya Luka in the Pskov region from an enemy bullet. Together with him, his brothers in arms died. Like many others, he was awarded the title of "Hero of the Soviet Union" already posthumously.
One of the heroes of the children of the Great Patriotic War was also a boy named Vladimir Dubinin, who actively acted against the enemy on the territory of Crimea.
The future partisan was born in Kerch on August 29, 1927. From childhood, the boy was extremely brave and stubborn, and therefore from the first days of hostilities against the Reich he wanted to defend his homeland. It was thanks to his perseverance that he ended up in a partisan detachment that operated near Kerch.
Volodya, as a member of a partisan detachment, conducted reconnaissance activities together with his close comrades and brothers in arms. The boy delivered extremely important information and information about the location of enemy units, the number of Wehrmacht soldiers, which helped the partisans prepare their military offensive operations. In December 1941, during another reconnaissance, Volodya Dubinin provided comprehensive information about the enemy, which made it possible for the partisans to completely defeat the Nazi punitive detachment. Volodya was not afraid to participate in battles - at first he simply brought ammunition under heavy fire, and then he took the place of a seriously wounded soldier.
Volodya had the trick to lead enemies by the nose - he "helped" the Nazis to find the partisans, but in fact he led them into an ambush. The boy successfully completed all the tasks of the partisan detachment. After the successful liberation of the city of Kerch during the Kerch-Feodosia landing operation of 1941-1942. a young partisan joined the sapper detachment. On January 4, 1942, during the demining of one of the mines, Volodya died along with a Soviet sapper from a mine explosion. For his merits, the pioneer hero received a posthumous award of the Order of the Red Banner.
Sasha Borodulin was born on the day of a famous holiday, namely on March 8, 1926 in a hero city called Leningrad. His family was rather poor. Sasha also had two sisters, one older than the hero, and the second younger. The boy did not live in Leningrad for long - his family moved to the Republic of Karelia, and then returned to the Leningrad region - to the small village of Novinka, which was 70 kilometers from Leningrad. In this village, the hero went to school. There he was chosen as the chairman of the pioneer squad, which the boy had dreamed of for a long time.
Sasha was fifteen years old when the fighting began. The hero finished 7th grade and became a member of the Komsomol. In the early autumn of 1941, the boy volunteered for a partisan detachment. At first, he conducted exclusively reconnaissance operations for the partisan unit, but soon took up arms.
In late autumn 1941, he showed himself in the battle for the Chashcha railway station in the ranks of the partisan detachment under the command of the famous partisan leader Ivan Boloznev. For his bravery in the winter of 1941, Alexander was awarded another very honorable in the country, the Order of the Red Banner.
Over the next months, Vanya showed courage more than once, went to reconnaissance and fought on the battlefield. On July 7, 1942, the young hero and partisan was killed. It happened near the village of Oredezh, in the Leningrad region. Sasha stayed behind to cover the retreat of his comrades. He sacrificed his life to let his brothers-in-arms go. After his death, the young partisan was twice awarded the same Order of the Red Banner.
The above names are far from all the heroes of the Great Patriotic War. Children have accomplished many feats that should not be forgotten.
A boy named Marat Kazei made no less than other child heroes of the Great Patriotic War. Despite the fact that his family was out of favor with the government, Marat still remained a patriot. At the beginning of the war, Marat and his mother Anna hid partisans. Even when the arrests of the local population began in order to find those who were harboring the partisans, his family did not betray theirs to the Germans.
After that, he himself went to the ranks of the partisan detachment. Marat was actively eager to fight. He performed his first feat in January 1943. When the next skirmish was going on, he was easily wounded, but he still raised his comrades and led them into battle. Being surrounded, the detachment under his command broke through the ring and was able to avoid death. For this feat, the guy received a medal "For Courage". Later he was also given a medal "Partisan of the Patriotic War" 2nd degree.
Marat died along with his commander during a battle in May 1944. When the cartridges ran out, the hero threw one grenade at the enemies, and the second blew himself up so as not to be captured by the enemy.
However, not only the photos and surnames of the boys of the pioneer heroes of the Great Patriotic War now adorn the streets of large cities and textbooks. There were also young girls among them. It is worth mentioning the bright but sadly cut short life of the Soviet partisan Zina Portnova.
After the war began in the summer of 1941, the thirteen-year-old girl ended up in the occupied territory and was forced to work in the canteen for German officers. Even then, she worked underground and, on the orders of the partisans, poisoned about a hundred Nazi officers. The fascist garrison in the city began to catch the girl, but she managed to escape, after which she joined the partisan detachment.
At the end of the summer of 1943, during another mission in which she participated as a scout, the Germans captured a young partisan. One of the local residents confirmed that it was Zina who then poisoned the officers. The girl began to be brutally tortured in order to find out information about the partisan detachment. However, the girl did not say a word. Once she managed to escape, she grabbed a pistol and killed three more Germans. She tried to escape, but was taken prisoner again. After she was tortured for a very long time, practically depriving the girl of any desire to live. Zina still did not say a word, after which she was shot on the morning of January 10, 1944.
For her merits, the seventeen-year-old girl received the title of Hero of the SRCP posthumously.
These stories, stories about children-heroes of the Great Patriotic War should never be forgotten, but on the contrary - they are always in the memory of descendants. It is worth remembering about them at least once a year - on the day of the Great Victory.
Twelve of several thousand examples of unparalleled childhood courage
Young heroes of the Great Patriotic War - how many were there? If you count - how could it be otherwise ?! - the hero of every boy and every girl whom fate brought to war and made soldiers, sailors or partisans, then tens, if not hundreds of thousands.
According to official data from the Central Archives of the Ministry of Defense (TsAMO) of Russia, during the war years, more than 3,500 servicemen under the age of 16 were numbered in combat units. At the same time, it is clear that not every subunit commander who risked taking on the education of the regiment's son found the courage to announce his pupil on command. You can understand how their fathers-commanders tried to hide the age of the little fighters, who in fact were for many instead of their fathers, by the confusion in the award documents. On the yellowed archival sheets, the majority of underage servicemen are clearly overstated. The real one came to light much later, after ten or even forty years.
But there were also children and adolescents who fought in partisan detachments and were members of underground organizations! And there there were much more of them: sometimes whole families went to the partisans, and if not, then almost every teenager who found himself in the occupied land had someone to avenge.
So "tens of thousands" is far from an exaggeration, but rather an understatement. And, apparently, we will never know the exact number of young heroes of the Great Patriotic War. But this is not a reason not to remember them.
Boys walked from Brest to Berlin
The youngest of all the known little soldiers - in any case, according to the documents stored in the military archives - can be considered a graduate of the 142nd Guards Rifle Regiment of the 47th Guards Rifle Division, Sergei Aleshkin. In the archival documents, you can find two certificates about the awarding of a boy who was born in 1936 and ended up in the army since September 8, 1942, shortly after the punishers shot his mother and older brother for communication with the partisans. The first document dated April 26, 1943 - about rewarding him with the medal "For Military Merit" in connection with the fact that "Comrade. Aleshkin, the regiment's favorite, "with his cheerfulness, love for the unit and those around him, in extremely difficult moments, instilled courage and confidence in victory." The second, dated November 19, 1945, on awarding the pupils of the Tula Suvorov Military School with the medal "For Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945": in the list of 13 Suvorovites, the name of Aleshkin is the first.
But still, such a young soldier is an exception even for wartime and for a country where all the people, young and old, rose to defend the Motherland. Most of the young heroes who fought at the front and behind enemy lines were on average 13-14 years old. The very first of them were defenders of the Brest Fortress, and one of the regiment's sons - holder of the Order of the Red Star, the Order of Glory III degree and the medal "For Courage" Vladimir Tarnovsky, who served in the 370th artillery regiment of the 230th rifle division, left his autograph on the wall of the Reichstag in the victorious May 1945 ...
The youngest Heroes of the Soviet Union
These four names - Lenya Golikov, Marat Kazei, Zina Portnova and Valya Kotik - have been the most famous symbol of the heroism of the young defenders of our Motherland for over half a century. Fighting in different places and performing feats of different circumstances, all of them were partisans and all were posthumously awarded the country's highest award - the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Two - Lena Golikov and Zina Portnova - by the time they had the opportunity to show unprecedented courage, were 17 years old, two more - Valea Kotik and Marat Kazei - were only 14 each.
Lenya Golikov was the first of the four who was awarded the highest rank: the assignment decree was signed on April 2, 1944. The text says that the title of Hero of the Soviet Union Golikov was awarded "for exemplary performance of command assignments and displayed courage and heroism in battles." And indeed, in less than a year - from March 1942 to January 1943 - Lenya Golikov managed to take part in the defeat of three enemy garrisons, in blowing up more than a dozen bridges, in the capture of a German major general with secret documents ... the battle near the village of Ostraya Luka, without waiting for a high reward for the capture of a strategically important "language".
Zina Portnova and Valya Kotik were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union 13 years after the Victory, in 1958. Zina was awarded an award for the courage with which she carried out underground work, then performed the duties of a liaison between the partisans and the underground, and in the end endured inhuman torment, falling into the hands of the Nazis at the very beginning of 1944. Valya - according to the totality of exploits in the ranks of the Shepetivka partisan detachment named after Karmelyuk, where he came after a year of work in an underground organization in Shepetivka itself. And Marat Kazei was awarded the highest award only in the year of the 20th anniversary of Victory: the decree on conferring the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on him was promulgated on May 8, 1965. For almost two years - from November 1942 to May 1944 - Marat fought as part of the partisan formations of Belarus and died, blowing up himself and the Nazis who surrounded him with the last grenade.
Over the past half century, the circumstances of the exploits of the four heroes have become known throughout the country: more than one generation of Soviet schoolchildren has grown up on their example, and the present people are certainly told about them. But even among those who did not receive the highest award, there were many real heroes - pilots, sailors, snipers, scouts and even musicians.
Sniper Vasily Kurka
The war found Vasya as a sixteen-year-old teenager. In the very first days, he was mobilized to the labor front, and in October he achieved enrollment in the 726th Infantry Regiment of the 395th Infantry Division. At first, the boy of non-recruitment age, who also looked a couple of years younger than his age, was left in the train: they say, there is nothing for teenagers on the front line to do. But soon the guy got his way and was transferred to a combat unit - to the sniper team.
Vasily Kurka. Photo: Imperial War Museum
An amazing military fate: from the first to the last day, Vasya Kurka fought in the same regiment of the same division! He made a good military career, rising to the rank of lieutenant and taking command of a rifle platoon. He wrote down to his own account, according to various sources, from 179 to 200 killed Nazis. He fought from Donbass to Tuapse and back, and then further, to the West, to the Sandomierz bridgehead. It was there that Lieutenant Kurka was mortally wounded in January 1945, less than six months before the Victory.
Pilot Arkady Kamanin
The 15-year-old Arkady Kamanin arrived at the location of the 5th Guards Assault Air Corps with his father, who was appointed commander of this illustrious unit. The pilots were surprised to learn that the son of the legendary pilot, one of the first seven Heroes of the Soviet Union, a member of the Chelyuskin rescue expedition, would work as an aircraft mechanic in a communications squadron. But they soon became convinced that the "general's son" did not live up to their negative expectations at all. The boy did not hide behind the back of the famous father, but simply did his job well - and strove with all his might to the sky.
Sergeant Kamanin in 1944. Photo: war.ee
Soon Arkady achieved his goal: first he rises into the air as a letnab, then as a navigator on the U-2, and then goes on the first independent flight. And finally - the long-awaited appointment: the son of General Kamanin becomes the pilot of the 423rd separate communications squadron. Before the victory, Arkady, who had reached the rank of foreman, managed to fly almost 300 hours and earned three orders: two - the Red Star and one - the Red Banner. And if it were not for meningitis, who literally in a matter of days killed an 18-year-old guy in the spring of 1947, perhaps in the cosmonaut corps, the first commander of which was Kamanin Sr., Kamanin Jr. would also have been listed: Arkady managed to enter the Zhukovsky Air Force Academy back in 1946.
Frontline intelligence officer Yuri Zhdanko
Ten-year-old Yura ended up in the army by accident. In July 1941, he went to show the retreating Red Army soldiers a little-known ford on the Western Dvina and did not manage to return to his native Vitebsk, where the Germans had already entered. So he left together with a part to the east, to Moscow itself, in order to start the return journey to the west from there.
Yuri Zhdanko. Photo: russia-reborn.ru
On this path, Yura managed a lot. In January 1942, he, who had never jumped with a parachute before, went to the rescue of the encircled partisans and helped them break through the enemy ring. In the summer of 1942, together with a group of fellow intelligence officers, he blows up a strategically important bridge across the Berezina, sending not only the bridge bed to the bottom of the river, but also nine trucks passing through it, and less than a year later he turns out to be the only messenger who managed to break through to the surrounded battalion and help him get out of the "ring".
By February 1944, the 13-year-old scout's chest was decorated with the Medal For Courage and the Order of the Red Star. But a shell that exploded literally underfoot interrupted Yura's front-line career. He ended up in the hospital, from where he went to the Suvorov School, but did not pass for health reasons. Then the retired young intelligence officer retrained as a welder and on this "front" also managed to become famous, having traveled with his welding machine almost half of Eurasia - he was building pipelines.
Infantryman Anatoly Komar
Among the 263 Soviet soldiers who covered the enemy embrasures with their bodies, the youngest was 15-year-old private of the 332nd reconnaissance company of the 252nd Infantry Division of the 53rd Army of the 2nd Ukrainian Front Anatoly Komar. The teenager entered the army in September 1943, when the front came close to his native Slavyansk. It happened with him in almost the same way as with Yura Zhdanko, with the only difference that the boy served as a guide not for the retreating, but for the advancing Red Army men. Anatoly helped them to go deep into the front line of the Germans, and then left with the advancing army to the west.
Young partisan. Photo: Imperial War Museum
But, unlike Yura Zhdanko, the front line of Tolya Komar was much shorter. Only two months he had a chance to wear the shoulder straps that had recently appeared in the Red Army and go on reconnaissance. In November of the same year, returning from a free search in the rear of the Germans, a group of scouts revealed themselves and was forced to break through to their own in battle. The last obstacle on the way back was the machine gun, which pressed the reconnaissance to the ground. Anatoly Komar threw a grenade at him, and the fire died down, but as soon as the scouts got up, the machine gunner started firing again. And then Tolya, who was closest to the enemy, got up and fell on the machine-gun barrel, at the cost of his life buying his comrades precious minutes for a breakthrough.
Sailor Boris Kuleshin
In the cracked photograph, a boy of about ten is standing against the backdrop of sailors in black uniforms with ammunition boxes on their backs and the superstructures of a Soviet cruiser. His hands are tightly gripping the PPSh submachine gun, and on his head is a peakless cap with a guards' ribbon and the inscription "Tashkent". This is a pupil of the crew of the leader of the Tashkent destroyer Borya Kuleshin. The picture was taken in Poti, where, after repairs, the ship entered for another load of ammunition for the besieged Sevastopol. It was here at the gangway of "Tashkent" that twelve-year-old Borya Kuleshin appeared. His father died at the front, his mother, as soon as Donetsk was occupied, was driven to Germany, and he himself managed to escape through the front line to his own and, together with the retreating army, to reach the Caucasus.
Boris Kuleshin. Photo: weralbum.ru
While they were persuading the commander of the ship Vasily Eroshenko, while they were deciding which combat unit to enroll in the cabin boy, the sailors managed to give him a belt, a peakless cap and a machine gun and take a picture of the new crew member. And then there was a transition to Sevastopol, the first raid on the "Tashkent" in Boris's life and the first in his life clips for an anti-aircraft artillery machine, which he, along with other anti-aircraft gunners, handed to the shooters. At his combat post, he was wounded on July 2, 1942, when German aircraft tried to sink a ship in the port of Novorossiysk. After the hospital, Borya followed Captain Eroshenko to a new ship - the Krasny Kavkaz guards cruiser. And already here I found him a well-deserved reward: presented for the battles on the "Tashkent" for the medal "For Courage", he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner by the decision of the front commander Marshal Budyonny and a member of the Military Council Admiral Isakov. And in the next front-line picture, he is already showing off in the new uniform of a young sailor, on whose head there is a peakless cap with a guards' ribbon and the inscription "Red Caucasus". It was in this uniform that in 1944 Borya went to the Tbilisi Nakhimov School, where in September 1945, along with other teachers, educators and pupils, he was awarded the medal "For Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945."
Musician Petr Klypa
Fifteen-year-old pupil of the musical platoon of the 333rd Infantry Regiment Pyotr Klypa, like other underage inhabitants of the Brest Fortress, had to go to the rear with the beginning of the war. But Petya refused to leave the fighting citadel, which, among others, was defended by his only family member - his older brother, Lieutenant Nikolai. So he became one of the first teenage soldiers in the history of the Great Patriotic War and a full participant in the heroic defense of the Brest Fortress.
Petr Klypa. Photo: worldwar.com
He fought there until early July, when he received an order to break through to Brest along with the remnants of the regiment. This is where Petit's ordeal began. Having crossed the tributary of the Bug, he, among other colleagues, was captured, from which he soon managed to escape. He reached Brest, lived there for a month and moved east, following the retreating Red Army, but did not reach it. During one of the nights he and a friend were found by policemen, and the teenagers were sent to forced labor in Germany. Petya was released only in 1945 by American troops, and after checking he even managed to serve in the Soviet army for several months. And upon returning to his homeland, he again ended up behind bars, because he succumbed to the persuasions of an old friend and helped him speculate on the looted. Pyotr Klypa was released only seven years later. He needed to thank the historian and writer Sergei Smirnov for this, who, bit by bit, recreated the history of the heroic defense of the Brest Fortress and, of course, did not miss the history of one of its youngest defenders, who after his liberation was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree.
More than a dozen years ago, Mikhail Efremov was born - a brilliant military leader who showed himself during the periods of two wars - the Civil and Patriotic. However, the deeds that he performed were not immediately appreciated. After his death, many years passed until the moment when he received the well-deserved title. What other heroes of the Great Patriotic War have been forgotten?
Steel commander
At the age of 17, Mikhail Efremov joined the ranks of the army. He began his service as a volunteer in an infantry regiment. Two years later, with the rank of ensign, he participated in the famous breakthrough under the command of Brusilov. Mikhail joined the ranks of the Red Army in 1918. The hero of the Great Patriotic War gained fame thanks to armored strips. Due to the fact that the Red Army did not have armored trains with good equipment, Mikhail decided to create them on his own, using improvised means.
Mikhail Efremov met the Great Patriotic War at the head of the 21st Army. Under his leadership, the soldiers held back the enemy troops on the Dnieper, defended Gomel. Preventing the Nazis from reaching the rear of the Southwestern Front. Mikhail Efremov met the beginning of the Patriotic War, leading the 33rd Army. At this time, he took part in the defense of Moscow and in the subsequent counteroffensive.
In early February, a strike group commanded by Mikhail Efremov made a breach in the enemy's defenses and reached Vyazma. However, the soldiers were cut off from the main forces and surrounded. For two months, the fighters raided the rear of the Germans, destroyed enemy soldiers and military equipment. And when the cartridges with food ran out, Mikhail Efremov decided to break through to his own, asking on the radio to organize a corridor.
But the hero could not do it. The Germans noticed the movement and defeated Efremov's strike group. Mikhail himself, in order not to be captured, shot himself. He was buried by the Germans in the village of Slobodka with all military honors.
In 1996, persistent veterans and search engines achieved that Efremov was awarded the title of Hero of Russia.
In honor of the feat of Gastello
What other heroes of the Great Patriotic War have been forgotten? In 1941, a DB-3F bomber took off from the airfield near Smolensk. Alexander Maslov, and it was he who controlled the combat aircraft, was given the task of eliminating the enemy column moving along the Molodechno-Radoshkovichi road. The plane was knocked out by enemy anti-aircraft guns, the crew was reported missing.
A few years later, namely in 1951, in order to honor the memory of the famous bomber Nikolai Gastello, who rammed on the same highway, it was decided to transfer the remains of the crew to the village of Radoshkovichi, to the central square. During the exhumation, a medallion was found that belonged to Sergeant Grigory Reutov, who was a rifleman in Maslov's crew.
They did not change the historiography, however, the crew began to be listed not as missing, but as dead. Heroes of the Great Patriotic War and their exploits were recognized in 1996. It was in this year that the entire crew of Maslov received the corresponding rank.
The pilot whose name has been forgotten
The exploits of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War will remain in our hearts forever. However, not all heroic deeds are remembered.
Peter Eremeev was considered an experienced pilot. He received his for repelling several German attacks in one night. Having shot down several Junkers, Peter was wounded. However, having bandaged the wound, after a few minutes he again flew on another plane to repel the enemy attack. And already a month after this memorable night, he accomplished the feat.
On the night of July 28, Eremeev was assigned to patrol the airspace over Novo-Petrovsk. It was at this time that he noticed an enemy bomber that was heading for Moscow. Peter went into his tail and began to shoot. The enemy went to the right, while the Soviet pilot lost him. However, he immediately noticed another bomber, which was leaving for the West. Coming close to him, Eremeev pressed the trigger. But the shooting was never opened, as the cartridges ran out.
Without thinking for a long time, Peter cut the propeller into the tail of the German plane. The fighter turned over and began to fall apart. However, Eremeev escaped by jumping out with a parachute. They wanted to present him for this feat, however, they did not have time to do this. On the night of August 7, it was repeated by Viktor Talalikhin. It was his name that was inscribed in the official chronicle.
But the heroes of the Great Patriotic War and their exploits will never be forgotten. This was proved by Alexey Tolstoy. He wrote an essay called "Battering Ram", in which he described the feat of Peter.
Only in 2010 he was recognized as a hero
In the Volgograd region there is a monument on which the names of the Red Army soldiers who died in this area are written. All of them are heroes of the Great Patriotic War, and their exploits will forever remain in history. That monument bears the name Maxim Passar. The corresponding title was awarded to him only in 2010. And it should be noted that he fully deserved it.
He was born in the Khabarovsk Territory. Hereditary hunter became one of the best among snipers. He showed himself back in 1943, he destroyed about 237 Nazis. The Germans established a significant award for the head of the well-aimed Nanai. Enemy snipers were hunting him.
He accomplished his feat at the very beginning of 1943. In order to free the village of Peschanka from enemy soldiers, it was first necessary to get rid of two German machine guns. They were well fortified on the flanks. And it was Maxim Passar who had to do it. 100 meters before the firing points, Maxim opened fire and destroyed the crews. However, he did not manage to survive. The hero was covered by enemy artillery fire.
Minor heroes
All of the above heroes of the Great Patriotic War and their exploits were forgotten. However, all of them must be remembered. They did everything possible to bring Victory Day closer. However, not only adults were able to prove themselves. There are also heroes who have not even turned 18 years old. And it is about them that will be discussed further.
Along with adults, several tens of thousands of teenagers took part in the hostilities. They, like adults, died, received orders and medals. Images of some were taken for Soviet propaganda. All of them are heroes of the Great Patriotic War, and their exploits have been preserved in numerous stories. However, five teenagers should be singled out who received the corresponding title.
Not wanting to surrender, blew himself up along with enemy soldiers
Marat Kazei was born in 1929. It happened in the village of Stankovo. Before the war, he managed to finish only four classes. Parents were recognized as "enemies of the people." However, despite this, Marat's mother, back in 1941, began to hide the partisans at home. For which she was killed by the Germans. Marat and his sister went to the partisans.
Marat Kazei constantly went to reconnaissance, took part in numerous raids, undermined trains. He received the medal "For Courage" in 1943. He managed to raise his comrades to attack and break through the ring of enemies. In this case, Marat was wounded.
Talking about the exploits of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War, it is worth mentioning that a 14-year-old soldier died in 1944. It happened while completing the next task. Returning from reconnaissance, he and his commander were fired upon by the Germans. The commander died immediately, and Marat began to shoot back. He had nowhere to go. And there was no possibility as such, since he was wounded in the arm. Until the cartridges ran out, he held the defense. Then he took two grenades. He threw one at once, and kept the other until the Germans approached. Marat blew himself up, thus killing several more opponents.
Marat Kazei was recognized as a Hero in 1965. Minor heroes of the Great Patriotic War and their exploits, stories about which are widespread in large enough numbers, will remain in the memory for a long time.
The heroic deeds of a 14-year-old boy
The partisan intelligence officer Valya was born in the village of Khmelevka. It happened in 1930. Before the capture of the village by the Germans, he graduated from only 5 classes. After that, he began to collect weapons, ammunition. He passed them on to the partisans.
In 1942 he became a scout for the partisans. In the fall, they were given the task of destroying the chief of the field gendarmerie. The task was completed. Valya, together with several of his peers, blew up two enemy vehicles, killing seven soldiers and the boss himself, Franz Koenig. About 30 people were injured.
In 1943, he was engaged in exploration of the location of an underground telephone cable, which was subsequently successfully blown up. Valya also took part in the destruction of several trains and warehouses. In the same year, while at the post, the young hero noticed the punishers who decided to arrange a raid. Having destroyed the enemy officer, Valya raised the alarm. Thanks to this, the partisans prepared for battle.
He died in 1944 after the battle for the city of Izyaslav. In that battle, the young warrior was mortally wounded. He received the title of hero in 1958.
A little bit short of 17
What other heroes of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 should be mentioned? The scout in the future Lenya Golikov was born in 1926. From the very beginning of the war, having got himself a rifle, he went to the partisans. Disguised as a beggar, the guy went around the villages, collecting data on the enemy. He passed all the information to the partisans.
The guy joined the detachment in 1942. During his entire combat path, he took part in 27 operations, destroyed about 78 enemy soldiers, blew up several bridges (railway and highway), blew up about 9 vehicles with ammunition. It was Lenya Golikov who blew up the car in which Major General Richard Witz was traveling. All his merits are fully listed in the award list.
These are the minor heroes of the Great Patriotic War and their exploits. Children sometimes performed such feats that adults did not always have the courage to do. It was decided to award Lenya Golikov with the Gold Star medal and the title of Hero. However, he could not get them. In 1943, the combat detachment, which included Lenya, was surrounded. Only a few people left the encirclement. And Leni was not among them. He was killed on January 24, 1943. Until the age of 17, the guy never lived.
Killed through the fault of a traitor
The heroes of the Great Patriotic War rarely remembered themselves. And their exploits, photos, images remained in the memory of many people. Sasha Chekalin is one of them. He was born in 1925. He joined the partisan detachment in 1941. Served in it for no more than a month.
In 1941, the partisan detachment inflicted significant damage on the enemy forces. Numerous warehouses burned, cars were constantly blown up, trains went downhill, sentries and enemy patrols regularly disappeared. The fighter Sasha Chekalin took part in all this.
In November 1941, he caught a bad cold. The commissioner decided to leave him in the nearest village with a trusted person. However, there was a traitor in the village. It was he who betrayed the underage fighter. Sasha was captured by partisans at night. Finally, the constant torture was over. Sasha was hanged. For 20 days it was forbidden to remove him from the gallows. And only after the liberation of the village by the partisans, Sasha was buried with military honors.
It was decided to assign him the corresponding title of Hero in 1942.
Shot after prolonged torture
All of the above people are heroes of the Great Patriotic War. And their exploits for children are the best stories. Next, we will talk about a girl who was not inferior in courage not only to her peers, but also to adult soldiers.
Zina Portnova was born in 1926. The war found her in the village of Zuya, where she came to rest with her relatives. From 1942 she was engaged in posting leaflets directed against the invaders.
In 1943 she entered the partisan detachment, becoming a scout. In the same year she received her first assignment. She had to identify the reasons for the failure of the organization called "Young Avengers". She was also supposed to establish contact with the underground. However, at the moment of returning to the detachment, Zina was captured by German soldiers.
During interrogation, the girl managed to grab a pistol lying on the table, shoot the investigator and two more soldiers. While trying to escape, she was captured. She was constantly tortured, trying to force her to answer questions. However, Zina was silent. Eyewitnesses claimed that once, when she was taken out for another interrogation, she threw herself under a car. However, the car stopped. The girl was taken out from under the wheels and taken away for interrogation. But she was silent again. These are the heroes of the Great Patriotic War.
1945 the girl did not wait. In 1944 she was shot. Zina at that time was only 17 years old.
Conclusion
The heroic deeds of soldiers during the hostilities were estimated at several tens of thousands. Nobody knows exactly how many brave and courageous deeds were committed in the name of the Motherland. This review described some of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War and their exploits. It is impossible to briefly convey all the strength of character that they possessed. But there is simply not enough time for a full story about their heroic deeds.
Before the war, these were the most ordinary boys and girls. They studied, played, ran, jumped, broke noses and knees, helped the elders. Their names were known only to relatives, classmates, friends. The terrible hour came, and they showed how huge and fearless a child's heart can become when sacred love for the Motherland and hatred for its enemies flares up in it.
For the courage and heroism shown during the Great Patriotic War, thousands of children and adolescents were awarded orders and medals. Thus, over 200 of them were awarded the medal "Partisan of the Great Patriotic War", over 15,000 - the medal "For the Defense of Leningrad", over 20,000 - the medal "For the Defense of Moscow".
Five young patriots were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Demonstration of photos
You see portraits of young heroes of the Great Patriotic War, but do you know their names? Why were they awarded high government awards?
Leonid Golikov was born on June 17, 1926 in the Novgorod region. Before the war, having finished seven classes, he worked at a plywood factory.
Leonid was a scout of the 67th detachment of the 4th Leningrad partisan brigade. He participated in 27 military operations. On account of Leni Golikov 78 killed Germans, he destroyed 2 railway and 12 highway bridges, 2 food and fodder warehouses and 10 vehicles with ammunition. In addition, he was an escort of a convoy with food, which was transported to besieged Leningrad.
Leonid Golikov received his first award, the Medal For Courage, in July 1942. Everyone who knew Lenya when he was a partisan noted his courage and courage.
Once, returning from reconnaissance, Lenya went to the outskirts of the village, where he found five Germans looting in an apiary. The Nazis were so carried away by the extraction of honey and brushing off the bees that the weapon was put aside. The scout took advantage of this, destroying three Germans. The remaining two fled.
The feat of Leonid Golikov is especially famous when on August 13, 1942, he was returning from reconnaissance from the Luga-Pskov highway, not far from the village of Varnitsy, Strugokrasnensky district. A brave partisan with a grenade blew up a car with a German Major General of the Engineering Troops Richard von Wirtz, captured and delivered to the brigade headquarters, delivered a briefcase with important documents, including drawings and descriptions of new samples of German mines, inspection reports to higher command and other documents.
On January 24, 1943, a group of partisans of just over 20 people went to the village of Ostraya Luka. There were no Germans in the village, and the exhausted people stopped to rest in three houses. After some time, the village was surrounded by a detachment of punishers in the amount of 150 people, made up of local traitors and Lithuanian nationalists. The guerrillas, who were taken by surprise, nevertheless entered the battle.
Only a few people were able to break out of the encirclement, and later reported to the headquarters about the death of the detachment. Lyonya Golikov, like most of his comrades, died in battle in Ostraya Luka.
By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of April 2, 1944, Leonid Aleksandrovich Golikov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously).
Alexander Chekalin
Chekalin Alexander Pavlovich was born on March 25, 1925, Russian, from peasants, student, resident of the village of Peskovatskoye, Tula region.
In July 1941, Alexander Chekalin volunteered for a fighter detachment, then a partisan detachment "Vanguard", led by DT Teterichev, where he became a scout. Was engaged in the collection of intelligence information about the location and number of German units, their weapons, routes of movement. He participated on equal terms in ambushes, mined roads, disrupted communications and derailed trains.
On November 2, Shura Chekalin fell ill and was sent to the village. Mousebridge to a trusted person for treatment. Here he learned that the Germans had learned of his whereabouts. Chekalin left at night to the village of Peskovatskoye, where his relatives lived. The traitors betrayed the young patriot. At night, the Nazis surrounded and then broke into the house where the sick Chekalin was lying. Shura did not give up without a fight. Snatching a grenade, he threw it at the feet of the fascists who surrounded him, deciding to destroy them and perish himself. The grenade did not explode. The Nazis seized him and took him to the headquarters in the city of Likhvin.
He was tortured at the headquarters, but no amount of torture broke the spirit of the partisan. The executioners failed to force any of the confessions they needed. The next morning, his execution took place on Likhvin Square. They drove all the inhabitants of Likhvin to watch the execution of Sasha. According to the recollections of fellow villagers, when a young partisan, barefoot, was taken to the square, there were bloody footprints on the road.
By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on February 4, 1942 Chekalin Alexander Pavlovich was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Marat Kazei
Marat Ivanovich Kazei was born on October 10, 1929 in the village of Stankovo, Minsk region. The boy was named Marat by his father, a former sailor of the Baltic Fleet, in honor of the battleship Marat, on which he himself had a chance to serve.
Marat's mother, Anna Kazei, from the first days of the occupation, began to cooperate with the Minsk underground. The history of the first Minsk underground workers turned out to be tragic. Not having sufficient skills in such activities, they were soon exposed by the Gestapo and arrested. The underground worker Anna Kazei, along with her comrades in the struggle, was hanged by the Nazis in Minsk.
For 13-year-old Marat Kazei and his 16-year-old sister Ariadne, the death of their mother served as the impetus for the beginning of an active struggle against the Nazis - in 1942 they became fighters of a partisan detachment.
Marat was a scout. The clever boy many times successfully infiltrated enemy garrisons in villages, obtaining valuable intelligence information.
In battle, Marat was fearless - in January 1943, even being wounded, several times he attacked the enemy. He took part in dozens of sabotages on railways and other objects of particular importance to the Nazis.
In March 1943, Marat saved an entire partisan detachment. When the punishers took the Furmanov partisan detachment "in pincers" near the village of Rumok, it was scout Kazei who managed to break through the enemy's "ring" and bring help from neighboring partisan detachments. As a result, the punishers were defeated.
In the winter of 1943, when the detachment left the encirclement, Ariadne Kazei received severe frostbite. To save the girl's life, the doctors had to amputate her legs in the field, and then fly her to the mainland by plane. She was taken to the deep rear, to Irkutsk, where the doctors managed to get her out.
And Marat continued to fight the enemy even more angrily, more desperately, taking revenge for his murdered mother, for his crippled sister, for the desecrated Motherland ...
For courage and courage, Marat, who at the end of 1943 was only 14 years old, was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, medals "For Courage" and "For Military Merit".
It was May 1944 in the yard. Operation "Bagration" was already in full swing, which would bring Belarus freedom from the Nazi yoke. But Marat was not destined to see this. On May 11, the Nazis discovered a reconnaissance group of partisans near the village of Khoromitskie. Marat's partner died immediately, and he himself entered the battle. The Germans took him into the "ring", hoping to capture the young partisan alive. When the cartridges ran out, Marat blew himself up with a grenade.
Marat was buried in his native village.
For his heroism in the struggle against the German fascist invaders, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of May 8, 1965, Kazi Marat Ivanovich was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Ariadna Kazei returned to Belarus in 1945. Despite the loss of her legs, she graduated from the Minsk Pedagogical University, taught at school, and was elected a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of Belarus. In 1968, the partisan heroine, Honored Teacher of Belarus Ariadna Ivanovna Kazey was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor.
Ariadna Ivanovna died in 2008. But the memory of her and her brother, Marat Kazei, is alive. The monument to Marat was erected in Minsk; several streets in the cities of Belarus and in the countries of the former USSR are named after him.
Valentin Kotik
Valentin Aleksandrovich Kotik was born in 1930 in the village of Khmelevka, Shepetovsky district, Kamyanets-Podolsk region (modern name - Khmelnitsky region) of Ukraine in a peasant family. He graduated from five classes of secondary school in the city of Shepetovka.
During the Great Patriotic War, being on the territory of the Shepetovsky region temporarily occupied by the Nazi troops, Valya Kotik worked to collect weapons and ammunition, drew and pasted cartoons of the Nazis. Since 1942, he was in touch with the Shepetovskaya underground party organization and carried out its intelligence assignments. In August 1943 he became a scout for the Shepetivka partisan detachment named after Karmelyuk.
In October 1943, Valya Kotik scouted the location of the underground telephone cable of the Hitlerite headquarters, which was soon blown up. He also participated in the bombing of six train trains and a warehouse.
On October 29, 1943, while at the post, Valya noticed that the punishers had staged a raid on the detachment. After killing a fascist officer with a pistol, he raised the alarm, and the partisans had time to prepare for battle.
Valentin Kotik was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree and the medal "Partisan of the Patriotic War" of the 2nd degree.
On February 16, 1944, in a battle for the city of Izyaslav (Ukraine), 14-year-old partisan intelligence officer Valya Kotik was mortally wounded and died the next day. He is buried in the center of the park in the city of Shepetovka.
By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on June 27, 1958, Valentin Aleksandrovich Kotik was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously).
Zinaida Portnova
Zinaida Martynovna Portnova was born in Leningrad, in a working class family, on February 20, 1926. She studied at school, studied in a circle and did not think about exploits.
At the beginning of June 1941, few people in Leningrad thought about the war. And therefore, the parents calmly sent Zina and her younger sister Galya for the summer to their grandmother, in Belarus.
In the village of Zuya, in the Vitebsk region, the rest did not last long. The offensive of the Nazis was swift, and very soon the threat of occupation hung over the village where Zina and her sister lived.
The grandmother gathered her granddaughters on the road and sent them along with the refugees. However, the Nazis cut the road, and there was no chance of returning to Leningrad. So 15-year-old Zina Portnova ended up in the occupation.
The resistance to the Nazis on the territory of Belarus was especially fierce. From the first days of the war, partisan detachments and underground groups were created here.
In the Shumilinsky district of the Vitebsk region, a youth underground organization "Young Avengers" was created, the history of which is similar to the story of the legendary "Young Guard". Fruza (Efrosinya) Zenkova became the leader of the "Young Avengers", rallying around her local youth, ready to resist the Nazis.
Fruza had connections with the "adult" underground workers and with the local partisan detachment. The Young Avengers coordinated their actions with the partisans.
Fruza Zenkova, the leader of the Komsomol resistance, was 17 at the beginning of the war. Zina Portnova, who has become one of the most active participants in Young Avengers, is 15.
What could these children oppose to the Nazis?
They started with putting up leaflets, petty sabotage like damage to the property of the Nazis. The further, the more serious the shares became. Undermining the power plant, setting fire to factories, burning at the station wagons with flax, intended to be sent to Germany - in total, more than 20 successful acts of sabotage were on the account of the "Young Avengers".
Hitler's counterintelligence was on the trail of the underground. The Nazis managed to introduce a provocateur into their ranks, who would betray most of the members of the organization.
But this will happen later. Prior to that, Zina Portnova will carry out one of the most ambitious sabotage in the history of "Young Avengers". A girl who worked as a dishwasher in the cafeteria of refresher courses for German officers poisoned the food prepared for lunch. As a result of the sabotage, about a hundred Nazis were killed.
The enraged Nazis arrested the entire staff of the cafeteria. Zina escaped arrest that day by accident. When the first signs of poisoning appeared, the Nazis broke into the dining room and stumbled upon Portnova. They thrust a plate into her hands and forced her to eat the poisoned soup. Zina understood that by refusing, she would betray herself. Retaining amazing composure, she ate a few spoons, after which the Germans, letting go of her, were distracted by other kitchen workers. The Nazis decided that the dishwasher knew nothing about the poisoning.
Zina was saved from death by a strong body and her grandmother, who managed to soften the effect of the poison with folk remedies.
Since the summer of 1943, Zina Portnova was a fighter in the Voroshilov partisan detachment, participating in many operations against the Nazis.
On August 26, 1943, German counterintelligence carried out mass arrests of members of the Young Avengers organization. By a lucky coincidence, only a few activists and the leader of the "Avengers" Fruza Zenkov did not fall into the hands of the Nazis.
The torture and interrogation of the underground lasted for three months. On October 5 and 6, all of them, more than 30 boys and girls, were shot.
When the partisan detachment became aware of the defeat of the youth underground, Zina Portnova was instructed to try to restore contact with those who escaped arrest, and to learn about the reasons for the failure.
However, during the execution of this assignment, Zina herself was identified and detained as a member of the underground.
The provocateur did a good job - the Nazis knew almost everything about her. And about her parents in Leningrad, and about her role in the organization "Young Avengers". The Germans, however, did not know that it was she who poisoned the German officers. Therefore, she was offered a deal - life in exchange for information about the whereabouts of Fruza Zenkova and the base of the partisan detachment.
But the carrot-and-stick method didn't work. Neither buy Zina nor intimidate her.
During one of the interrogations, the Nazi officer was distracted, and Zina reacted instantly, grabbing a pistol lying on the table. She shot the Nazi, jumping out of the office, and ran away. She managed to shoot two more Germans, but could not escape - Zina was shot in the legs.
After that, the Nazis were driven only by rage. She was tortured not for the sake of information, but in order to give her the most terrible torture possible, to make the girl scream, to ask for mercy.
Zina endured everything steadfastly, and this resilience infuriated the executioners even more.
During the last interrogation in the Gestapo prison in the city of Polotsk, the Nazis gouged out her eyes.
Early in the morning in January 1944, the crippled but not broken Zina was shot.
Her grandmother died under German bombs during a large-scale punitive operation of the Nazis. Sister Galya was miraculously rescued by being able to take her to the mainland by plane.
The truth about the fate of Zina and other underground fighters became known much later, when Belarus was completely liberated from the Nazis.
By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of July 1, 1958, Portnova Zinaida Martynovna was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for her heroism in the fight against the Nazi invaders.
Among the young heroes of the Great Patriotic War is the "son of the regiment" of the 7th Marine Brigade, 13-year-old Valery Volkov, who died in the defense of Sevastopol and was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.
The youngest pilot of the Great Patriotic War is Arkady Kamanin, who began flying independently at the age of 14. By April 1945, he had flown over 650 sorties on a U-2 aircraft, and was awarded the Order of the Red Banner and two Orders of the Red Star.
The 14-year-old partisan Vasily Korobko, who died in April 1944 in Belarus, was awarded the Order of Lenin, the Red Banner, and the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree.
At the age of 12, the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree (posthumously) was awarded to a coherent partisan detachment, Konstantin Yanin, who at the cost of his life warned Soviet soldiers about the Nazis' mining of the bridge.
Covering the retreat of a partisan detachment in the Leningrad region in the summer of 1942, the holder of the Order of the Red Banner, Alexander Borodulin, was killed.
The Order of the Red Star and the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree, the Ushakov medal was awarded to the cabin boy of the North, Alexander Kovalev, who covered a hole in the engine of a torpedo boat with his body.
Boys. Girls. The burden of adversity, calamity, and grief of the war years fell on their fragile shoulders. And they did not bend under this weight, they became stronger in spirit, more courageous, more enduring.
Little heroes of the big war. They fought alongside their elders - fathers, brothers.
Fought everywhere. At sea, like Borya Kuleshin. In the sky, like Arkasha Kamanin. In a partisan detachment, like Lenya Golikov. In the Brest Fortress, like Valya Zenkina. In the Kerch catacombs, like Volodya Dubinin. Underground, like Volodya Shcherbatsevich.
And young hearts did not flinch for a moment!
Their matured childhood was filled with such trials that, even a very talented writer could think of them, it would be hard to believe. But that was it. It was in the history of our big country, it was in the fates of its little guys - ordinary boys and girls.
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School in the partisan region.
T. Cat. , From the book "Children-Heroes",
Getting bogged down in a swampy swamp, falling and rising again, we went to our own - to the partisans. The Germans fought in their native village.
And so the Germans bombed our camp for a month. “The guerrillas have been destroyed,” they finally sent a report to their high command. But invisible hands again derailed trains, blew up weapons depots, and destroyed German garrisons.
Summer was over, autumn was already trying on its motley, crimson outfit. It was hard for us to imagine September without school.
- I know what letters! - said eight-year-old Natasha Drozd once and brought out a round "O" in the sand with a stick and next to it the uneven gate "P". Her friend drew some numbers. The girls played school, and neither one nor the other noticed with what sadness and warmth the commander of the partisan detachment Kovalevsky was watching them. In the evening, at the council of commanders, he said:
“The kids need school…” and added quietly: “You can't deprive them of their childhood.
On the same night, Komsomol members Fedya Trutko and Sasha Vasilevsky went out on a combat mission, along with Pyotr Ilyich Ivanovsky. They returned a few days later. Pencils, pens, primers, problem books were taken from pockets, from bosom. Peace and home, great human care breathed from these books here, among the swamps, where there was a mortal struggle for life.
- It's easier to blow up a bridge than to get your books, - Pyotr Ilyich flashed his teeth cheerfully and took out ... a pioneer forge.
None of the partisans said a word about the risk they were exposed to. There could be an ambush in every house, but none of them had the idea of abandoning the assignment, returning empty-handed. ,
Three classes were organized: first, second and third. School ... Stakes hammered into the ground, intertwined with a rag, a cleared area, instead of a board and chalk - sand and a stick, instead of a party, instead of a part, instead of a roof over your head - a camouflage from German planes. In cloudy weather we were overcome by mosquitoes, sometimes snakes crawled, but we did not pay attention to anything.
How the children valued their school-glade, how they caught every word of the teacher! There were one textbooks, two per class. In some subjects there were no books at all. They remembered a lot from the words of the teacher, who sometimes came to the lesson directly from a combat mission, with a rifle in his hands, surrounded by a ribbon with cartridges.
The soldiers brought everything that they could get for us from the enemy, but there was not enough paper. We carefully removed the birch bark from the fallen trees and wrote on it with coals. There was no case that someone did not complete their homework. Only those guys who were urgently sent to reconnaissance skipped classes.
It turned out that we had only nine pioneers, the remaining twenty-eight children had to be accepted as pioneers. From the parachute given to the partisans, we sewed a banner, made a pioneer uniform. The partisans were accepted into the pioneers, the commander of the detachment himself tied the ties to the newcomers. The headquarters of the pioneer squad was immediately elected.
Without stopping classes, we built a new dugout school for the winter. To insulate it, a lot of moss was needed. They pulled him out so that his fingers ached, sometimes tore off his nails, painfully cut his hands with grass, but no one complained. No one demanded excellent studies from us, but each of us did this. And when the hard news came that our beloved comrade Sasha Vasilevsky had been killed, all the pioneers of the squad took a solemn oath: to study even better.
At our request, the squad was named after a deceased friend. On the same night, in revenge for Sasha, the partisans blew up 14 German cars and derailed the train. The Germans threw 75 thousand punishers against the partisans. The blockade began again. All who knew how to handle weapons went into battle. Families retreated into the depths of the swamps, and our pioneer squad also retreated. Our clothes froze, we ate flour brewed in hot water once a day. But in retreat, we captured all of our textbooks. At the new place, the classes continued. And we kept our oath to Sasha Vasilevsky. In the spring, at the exams, all the pioneers answered without hesitation. Strict examiners - detachment commander, commissar, teachers - were pleased with us.
As a reward, the best students received the right to participate in shooting competitions. They fired from the squad leader's pistol. It was the highest honor for the guys.