Pravoslavie.fm is an Orthodox, patriotic, family-oriented portal and therefore offers the readers' attention the top 10 amazing feats of the Russian army. The top does not include [...]

Pravoslavie.fm is an Orthodox, patriotic, family-oriented portal and therefore offers the readers' attention the top 10 amazing feats of the Russian army.

The top does not include single exploits of Russian soldiers like Captain Nikolai Gastello, sailor Pyotr Koshka, soldier Mercury of Smolensky or Staff Captain Pyotr Nesterov, because with the level of mass heroism that the Russian army has always distinguished, it is absolutely impossible to determine the top ten soldiers. They are all equally great.

The places in the top are not distributed, since the described feats belong to different eras and it is not entirely correct to compare them with each other, but they all have one thing in common - a vivid example of the triumph of the spirit of the Russian army.

• The feat of the squad Evpatiy Kolovrat (1238).

Evpatiy Kolovrat is a native of Ryazan, there is not much information about him, and they are contradictory. Some sources say that he was a local governor, others a boyar.

News came from the steppe that the Tatars were marching on Russia. Ryazan was the first on their way. Realizing that the Ryazanites had little of their own for the successful defense of the city, the prince sent Evpatiy Kolovrat to seek help in the neighboring principalities.

Kolovrat left for Chernigov, where he was overtaken by the news of the devastation of his native land by the Mongols. Without hesitating a minute, Kolovrat with a small squad hurriedly moved towards Ryazan.

Unfortunately, he found the city already ravaged and burned down. Seeing the ruins, he gathered those who could fight with an army of about 1700 people rushed in pursuit of the entire horde of Batu (about 300,000 soldiers).

Having overtaken the Tatars in the vicinity of Suzdal, he gave battle to the enemy. Despite the small size of the detachment, the Russians managed to crush the Tatar rearguard with a surprise attack.

Batu was very stunned by this frantic attack. Khan had to throw his best parts into battle. Batu asked to bring Kolovrat to him alive, but Evpatiy did not surrender and bravely fought with an outnumbered enemy.

Then Batu sent an envoy to Evpatiy to ask what the Russian soldiers want? Evpatiy answered - "just die"! The battle continued. As a result, the Mongols, who were afraid to approach the Russians, had to use catapults and, only in this way, they were able to defeat Kolovrat's squad.

Khan Batu, struck by the courage and heroism of the Russian soldier, gave the body of Evpatiy to his squad. For their courage, Batu ordered the rest of the soldiers to be released without harming them.

The feat of Evpatiy Kolovrat is described in the Old Russian "The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu".

• Suvorov's crossing over the Alps (1799).

In 1799, Russian troops that participated in the battles with the French in Northern Italy as part of the Second Anti-French Coalition were recalled home. However, on the way home, the Russian troops were to provide assistance to the Rimsky-Korsakov corps and defeat the French in Switzerland.

For this, the army was led by Generalissimo Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov. together with a wagon train, artillery and wounded made an unprecedented crossing over the alpine passes.

In the campaign, Suvorov's army fought through Saint-Gotthard and the Devil's Bridge and made the transition from the Reuss Valley to the Muten Valley, where it was surrounded. However, in the battle in the Muten Valley, where she defeated the French army and left the encirclement, after which she crossed the snow-covered, inaccessible Ringenkopf (Paniks) pass and went through the city of Chur towards Russia.

During the battle for the Devil's Bridge, the French managed to damage the span and to overcome the abyss. under fire, Russian soldiers tied the boards of a nearby barn with officers' scarves and went into battle over them. And while overcoming one of the passes, in order to knock the French down from a height, several dozen volunteers, without any climbing equipment, climbed a steep cliff to the top of the pass and hit the French in the rear.

The son of Emperor Paul I, Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich, participated in this campaign under the command of Suvorov as an ordinary soldier.

• Defense of the Brest Fortress (1941).

The Brest Fortress was built by the Russian military in 1836-42 and consisted of a citadel and three fortifications that protected it. Later, it was modernized several times, became the property of Poland and again returned to Russia.

By the beginning of June 1941, units of two rifle divisions of the Red Army were located on the territory of the fortress: the 6th Oryol Red Banner and the 42nd Infantry Division and several small units. In total, by the morning of June 22, there were about 9,000 people in the fortress.

The Germans decided in advance that the Brest Fortress, standing on the border with the USSR and therefore chosen as one of the objects of the first strike, would have to be taken only by infantry - without tanks. Their use was hampered by forests, swamps, river channels and canals that surrounded the fortress. The German strategists took the 45th division (17,000 men) no more than eight hours to capture the fortress.

Despite the surprise attack, the garrison gave the Germans a tough rebuff. The report said: “The Russians are fighting fiercely, especially behind our attacking companies. In the Citadel, the enemy organized a defense with infantry units supported by 35-40 tanks and armored vehicles. The fire of Russian snipers led to large losses among officers and non-commissioned officers. " Within one day on June 22, 1941, the 45th Infantry Division only lost 21 officers and 290 lower ranks in killed.

On June 23, at 5:00, the Germans began shelling the Citadel, while trying not to hit their soldiers trapped in the church. On the same day, tanks were used against the defenders of the Brest Fortress for the first time.

On June 26, on the North Island, German sappers blew up the wall of the school building for political personnel. 450 prisoners were taken there. The Eastern Fort remained the main focus of resistance on the North Island. On June 27, 20 commanders and 370 fighters from the 393rd Anti-Aircraft Battalion of the 42nd Infantry Division, led by the commander of the 44th Infantry Regiment, Major Pyotr Gavrilov, were defending there.

On June 28, two German tanks and several self-propelled guns returning from repair to the front continued to fire at the Eastern Fort on the North Island. However, this did not bring visible results, and the commander of the 45th division turned to the Luftwaffe for support.

On June 29, at 8:00 am, a German bomber dropped a 500-kilogram bomb on the Eastern Fort. Then another 500-kilogram and finally 1800-kilogram bomb was dropped. The fort was practically destroyed.

Nevertheless, a small group of fighters headed by Gavrilov continued to fight in the Eastern Fort. The major was captured only on 23 July. Residents of Brest said that until the end of July or even before the first days of August, shooting was heard from the fortress and the Nazis brought their wounded officers and soldiers from there to the city where the German army hospital was located.

However, the official date of the end of the defense of the Brest Fortress is July 20, based on the inscription that was found in the barracks of the 132nd separate battalion of the NKVD escort troops: “I am dying, but I am not giving up. Goodbye, Motherland. 20 / VII-41 ".

• Campaigns of Kotlyarevsky's detachments during the Russian-Persian wars of 1799-1813.

All the exploits of the detachments of General Pyotr Kotlyarevsky are so amazing that it is difficult to choose the best one, so we will present them all:

In 1804, Kotlyarevsky with 600 soldiers and 2 guns fought for 2 days in the old cemetery from 20,000 soldiers of Abbas Mirza. 257 soldiers and almost all of Kotlyarevsky's officers were killed. There were many wounded.

Then Kotlyarevsky, wrapping the wheels of the cannons with rags, made his way through the besieging camp at night, took by storm the nearby fortress of Shah-Bulakh, knocking out a Persian garrison of 400 people from there, and sat down in it.

For 13 days he fought off a corps of 8000 Persians besieging the fortress, and then at night he lowered guns along the wall and left with a detachment to the fortress Mukhrat, which he also took by assault, knocking out the Persians from there, and again prepared for defense.

To drag the cannons through the deep ditch during the second crossing, four soldiers volunteered to fill it with their bodies. Two were crushed to death, and two continued their march.

In Mukhrat, the Russian army came to the rescue of the battalion of Kotlyarevsky. In this operation and during the capture of the Ganzha fortress somewhat earlier, Kotlyarevsky was wounded four times, but remained in the ranks.

In 1806, in a field battle at Khonashin in 1644, Major Kotlyarevsky's fighters defeated the 20-thousandth army of Abbas Mirza. In 1810, Abbas-Mirza again marched against Russia with troops. Kotlyarevsky took 400 rangers and 40 horsemen and came forward to meet them.

"On the way" he took by storm the Migri fortress, defeating the 2,000-strong garrison, and captured 5 artillery batteries. After waiting for 2 companies of reinforcement, the colonel took a battle with 10,000 of the Shah's Persians and forced him to retreat to the Araks River. Taking 460 infantry and 20 mounted Cossacks, the colonel destroyed the 10 thousand detachment of Abbas Mirza, having lost 4 Russian soldiers killed.

In 1811, Kotlyarevsky became a major general, crossing the impregnable ridge with 2 battalions and a hundred Cossacks and seizing the Akhalkalak fortress by storm. The British sent the Persians money and weapons for 12,000 soldiers. Then Kotlyarevsky went on a campaign and took by storm the fortress Kara-Kakh, where military warehouses were located.

In 1812, in a field battle at Aslanduz, 2,000 Kotlyarevsky's soldiers with 6 guns defeated the entire army of Abbas Mirza of 30,000 people.

By 1813, the British rebuilt the Lankaran fortress for the Persians according to the advanced European models. Kotlyarevsky took the fortress by storm, having only 1759 people against a 4-thousandth garrison and during the attack almost completely destroyed the defenders. Thanks to this victory, Persia asked for peace.

• The capture of Izmail by Suvorov (1790).

The Turkish fortress Izmail, which covered the Danube crossings, was built by French and English engineers to the Ottomans. Suvorov himself believed that it was "a fortress without weak points."

However, having arrived on December 13 near Izmail, Suvorov spent six days actively preparing for the assault, including training the troops to storm the models of the high fortress walls of Izmail.

Near Izmail, in the area of ​​the present village of Safyany, in the shortest possible time, earthen and wooden analogs of the ditch and walls of Izmail were built - the soldiers trained to throw a moat with a fascinator, quickly put up ladders, after climbing the wall, they quickly chopped and chopped the stuffed animals installed there, imitating defenders.

For two days, Suvorov conducted artillery training with field guns and cannons of the rowing flotilla ships, on December 22 at 5:30 in the morning the assault on the fortress began. Resistance in the streets of the city lasted until 4 pm.

The attacking troops were divided into 3 detachments (wings), 3 columns each. A detachment of Major General de Ribas (9,000 men) attacked from the river side; the right wing under the command of Lieutenant-General PS Potemkin (7,500 people) was to strike from the western part of the fortress; the left wing of Lieutenant-General A. N. Samoilov (12,000 people) - from the east. The cavalry reserves of Brigadier Westphalen (2,500 men) were on the land side. In total, Suvorov's army numbered 31,000 people.

Turkish casualties totaled 29,000 killed. 9 thousand were taken prisoner. Of the entire garrison, only one person escaped. Slightly wounded, he fell into the water and swam across the Danube on a log.

The losses of the Russian army amounted to 4 thousand people killed and 6 thousand wounded. All 265 guns, 400 banners, huge supplies of provisions and jewelry for 10 million piastres were captured. M. was appointed commandant of the fortress. I. Kutuzov, in the future a famous commander, the winner of Napoleon.

The conquest of Ishmael was of great political importance. It influenced the further course of the war and the conclusion in 1792 of the Yassy Peace between Russia and Turkey, which confirmed the annexation of Crimea to Russia and established the Russian-Turkish border along the Dniester River. Thus, the entire northern Black Sea region from the Dniester to the Kuban was assigned to Russia.

Andrey Segeda

In contact with

Heroes of the Great Patriotic War

Gunner-machine gunner of the 2nd separate battalion of the 91st separate Siberian volunteer brigade named after Stalin.

Sasha Matrosov did not know his parents. He was brought up in an orphanage and a labor colony. When the war began, he was not even 20. Matrosov was drafted into the army in September 1942 and sent to an infantry school, and then to the front.

In February 1943, his battalion attacked a Nazi stronghold, but fell into a trap, falling under heavy fire, which cut off the path to the trenches. They were shooting from three bunkers. Two soon fell silent, but the third continued to shoot the Red Army soldiers who lay in the snow.

Seeing that the only chance to get out of the fire was to suppress the enemy's fire, Sailors with a fellow soldier crawled to the bunker and threw two grenades in his direction. The machine gun fell silent. The Red Army went on the attack, but the deadly weapon rattled again. Partner Alexander was killed, and Matrosov was left alone in front of the bunker. I had to do something.

He did not have even a few seconds to make a decision. Not wanting to let down his comrades, Alexander closed the embrasure of the bunker with his body. The attack was crowned with success. And Matrosov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Military pilot, commander of the 2nd squadron of the 207th long-range bomber aviation regiment, captain.

He worked as a mechanic, then in 1932 he was drafted into the Red Army. He got into an air regiment, where he became a pilot. Nikolai Gastello took part in three wars. A year before the Great Patriotic War, he received the rank of captain.

On June 26, 1941, the crew under the command of Captain Gastello flew out to strike a German mechanized convoy. It was on the road between the Belarusian towns of Molodechno and Radoshkovichi. But the column was well guarded by enemy artillery. A fight ensued. Gastello's plane was hit by an anti-aircraft gun. The shell damaged the fuel tank, and the car caught fire. The pilot could have ejected, but he decided to fulfill his military duty to the end. Nikolai Gastello directed the burning car directly at the enemy column. This was the first fiery ram in the Great Patriotic War.

The name of the brave pilot has become a household name. Until the end of the war, all the aces who decided to go to the ram were called the Ghatellots. If you follow the official statistics, then during the entire war there were almost six hundred rams of the opponent.

Brigadier scout of the 67th detachment of the 4th Leningrad partisan brigade.

Lena was 15 years old when the war began. He already worked at the plant, having completed his seven-year period. When the Nazis captured his native Novgorod region, Lenya joined the partisans.

He was brave and determined, the command appreciated him. For several years spent in a partisan detachment, he participated in 27 operations. On his account there are several destroyed bridges behind enemy lines, 78 destroyed Germans, 10 trains with ammunition.

It was he who, in the summer of 1942, near the village of Varnitsa, blew up a car in which there was a German Major General of the Engineering Troops Richard von Wirtz. Golikov managed to obtain important documents about the German offensive. The enemy's attack was thwarted, and the young hero was nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for this feat.

In the winter of 1943, a significantly superior enemy detachment unexpectedly attacked the partisans near the village of Ostraya Luka. Lenya Golikov died like a real hero - in battle.

Pioneer. A scout of the Voroshilov partisan detachment in the territory occupied by the Nazis.

Zina was born and went to school in Leningrad. However, the war found her on the territory of Belarus, where she came on vacation.

In 1942, 16-year-old Zina joined the underground organization Young Avengers. She distributed anti-fascist leaflets in the occupied territories. Then, under cover, she got a job in a canteen for German officers, where she committed several sabotage and only miraculously was not captured by the enemy. Many experienced military men were surprised at her courage.

In 1943, Zina Portnova joined the partisans and continued to engage in sabotage behind enemy lines. Due to the efforts of the defectors who surrendered Zina to the Nazis, she was captured. In the dungeons she was interrogated and tortured. But Zina was silent, not betraying her own. During one of these interrogations, she grabbed a pistol from the table and shot three Nazis. After that, she was shot in prison.

An underground anti-fascist organization operating in the area of ​​the modern Luhansk region. It numbered over a hundred people. The youngest participant was 14 years old.

This underground youth organization was formed immediately after the occupation of the Luhansk region. It included both professional soldiers who were cut off from the main units, and local youth. Among the most famous participants: Oleg Koshevoy, Ulyana Gromova, Lyubov Shevtsova, Vasily Levashov, Sergey Tyulenin and many other young people.

The "Young Guard" issued leaflets and committed sabotage against the Nazis. Once they managed to disable an entire tank repair shop, burn down the stock exchange, from where the Nazis drove people to forced labor in Germany. The members of the organization planned to stage an uprising, but were exposed due to the traitors. The Nazis caught, tortured and shot over seventy people. Their feat is immortalized in one of the most famous military books by Alexander Fadeev and the film adaptation of the same name.

28 people from the personnel of the 4th company of the 2nd battalion of the 1075th rifle regiment.

In November 1941, a counteroffensive against Moscow began. The enemy stopped at nothing, making a decisive march before the onset of a harsh winter.

At this time, soldiers under the command of Ivan Panfilov took up a position on a highway seven kilometers from Volokolamsk, a small town near Moscow. There they gave battle to the advancing tank units. The battle lasted four hours. During this time, they destroyed 18 armored vehicles, delaying the enemy's attack and thwarting his plans. All 28 people (or almost all, historians differ here) died.

According to legend, the company's political instructor Vasily Klochkov, before the decisive stage of the battle, addressed the soldiers with a phrase that became known throughout the country: "Russia is great, but there is nowhere to retreat - Moscow is behind!"

The fascist counteroffensive ultimately failed. The battle for Moscow, which was assigned the most important role in the course of the war, was lost by the invaders.

As a child, the future hero suffered from rheumatism, and doctors doubted that Maresyev would be able to fly. However, he stubbornly applied to the flying school, until he was finally enrolled. Maresyev was drafted into the army in 1937.

He met the Great Patriotic War at the flight school, but soon got to the front. During the sortie, his plane was shot down, and Maresyev himself was able to eject. For eighteen days, seriously wounded in both legs, he got out of the encirclement. However, he still managed to overcome the front line and ended up in the hospital. But gangrene had already begun, and doctors amputated both of his legs.

For many, this would mean the end of the service, but the pilot did not give up and returned to aviation. Until the end of the war, he flew with prostheses. Over the years, he made 86 sorties and shot down 11 enemy aircraft. And 7 - after amputation. In 1944, Alexey Maresyev went to work as an inspector and lived to be 84 years old.

His fate inspired the writer Boris Polevoy to write The Story of a Real Man.

Deputy squadron commander of the 177th Air Defense Fighter Aviation Regiment.

Viktor Talalikhin began fighting already in the Soviet-Finnish war. He shot down 4 enemy planes on a biplane. Then he served in an aviation school.

In August 1941, one of the first Soviet pilots rammed a German bomber in a night air battle. Moreover, the wounded pilot was able to get out of the cockpit and parachute down to the rear of his own.

Then Talalikhin shot down five more German planes. He died during another air battle near Podolsk in October 1941.

73 years later, in 2014, the search engines found Talalikhin's plane, which remained in the swamps near Moscow.

Artilleryman of the 3rd counter-battery artillery corps of the Leningrad Front.

Soldier Andrei Korzun was drafted into the army at the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War. He served on the Leningrad front, where fierce and bloody battles were fought.

On November 5, 1943, during another battle, his battery came under fierce enemy fire. Korzun was seriously injured. Despite the terrible pain, he saw that the powder charges were set on fire and the ammunition depot could fly into the air. Gathering his last strength, Andrei crawled to the blazing fire. But he could not take off his greatcoat to cover the fire. Losing consciousness, he made one last effort and covered the fire with his body. The explosion was avoided at the cost of the life of the brave artilleryman.

Commander of the 3rd Leningrad Partisan Brigade.

A native of Petrograd, Alexander German, according to some sources, was a native of Germany. He served in the army since 1933. When the war began, he became a scout. He worked behind enemy lines, commanded a partisan detachment, which terrified enemy soldiers. His brigade killed several thousand Nazi soldiers and officers, derailed hundreds of trains and blew up hundreds of vehicles.

The Nazis arranged a real hunt for Herman. In 1943, his partisan detachment was surrounded in the Pskov region. Making his way to his own, the brave commander was killed by an enemy bullet.

Commander of the 30th Separate Guards Tank Brigade of the Leningrad Front

Vladislav Khrustitsky was drafted into the ranks of the Red Army back in the 1920s. In the late 30s he graduated from the armored courses. Since the fall of 1942, he commanded the 61st separate light tank brigade.

He distinguished himself during Operation Iskra, which marked the beginning of the defeat of the Germans on the Leningrad Front.

Killed in a battle near Volosovo. In 1944, the enemy retreated from Leningrad, but from time to time made attempts to counterattack. During one of these counterattacks, Khrustitsky's tank brigade fell into a trap.

Despite heavy fire, the commander ordered to continue the offensive. He turned to the radio to his crews with the words: "Fight to the death!" - and went forward first. Unfortunately, the brave tanker died in this battle. And yet the village of Volosovo was liberated from the enemy.

Commander of a partisan detachment and brigade.

Before the war he worked on the railway. In October 1941, when the Germans were already standing near Moscow, he volunteered for a complex operation in which his railway experience was needed. Was thrown behind enemy lines. There he invented the so-called "coal mines" (in fact, these are just mines disguised as coal). With the help of this simple but effective weapon, hundreds of enemy trains were undermined in three months.

Zaslonov actively agitated the local population to go over to the side of the partisans. The Nazis, having learned this, changed their soldiers into Soviet uniforms. Zaslonov mistook them for defectors and ordered them to be admitted to the partisan detachment. The way was opened for the insidious enemy. A battle ensued, during which Zaslonov died. A reward was announced for Zaslonov, alive or dead, but the peasants hid his body, and the Germans did not get it.

Commander of a small partisan detachment.

Efim Osipenko fought back in the Civil War. Therefore, when the enemy seized his land, without thinking twice, he went to the partisans. Together with five more comrades, he organized a small partisan detachment, which committed sabotage against the Nazis.

During one of the operations, it was decided to undermine the enemy composition. But there was not enough ammunition in the detachment. The bomb was made from an ordinary grenade. The explosives had to be installed by Osipenko himself. He crawled to the railway bridge and, seeing the approaching train, threw her in front of the train. There was no explosion. Then the partisan himself hit the grenade with a pole from the railway sign. It worked! A long train with provisions and tanks went downhill. The squad leader survived, but completely lost his sight.

For this feat, he was the first in the country to be awarded the medal "Partisan of the Patriotic War."

The peasant Matvey Kuzmin was born three years before the abolition of serfdom. And he died, becoming the oldest holder of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Its history contains many references to the history of another famous peasant - Ivan Susanin. Matvey also had to lead the invaders through the forest and swamps. And, like the legendary hero, he decided to stop the enemy at the cost of his life. He sent his grandson ahead to warn a detachment of partisans that had stopped nearby. The Nazis were ambushed. A fight ensued. Matvey Kuzmin was killed by a German officer. But he did his job. He was 84 years old.

A partisan who was part of the sabotage and reconnaissance group of the headquarters of the Western Front.

While studying at school, Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya wanted to enter a literary institute. But these plans were not destined to come true - the war prevented. In October 1941, Zoya, as a volunteer, came to the recruiting station and after a short training at a school for saboteurs was transferred to Volokolamsk. There, an 18-year-old fighter of a partisan unit, along with adult men, performed dangerous tasks: she mined roads and destroyed communication centers.

During one of the sabotage operations, Kosmodemyanskaya was captured by the Germans. She was tortured, forcing her to betray her. Zoya heroically endured all the trials without saying a word to her enemies. Seeing that it was impossible to get anything from the young partisan, they decided to hang her.

Kosmodemyanskaya steadfastly accepted the test. An instant before her death, she shouted to the assembled local residents: “Comrades, victory will be ours. German soldiers, before it's too late, surrender! " The courage of the girl shocked the peasants so much that they later retold this story to front-line correspondents. And after the publication in the newspaper Pravda, the whole country learned about the feat of Kosmodemyanskaya. She became the first woman to be awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War.

During the Great Patriotic War, not much was known about the incredible feat of the simple Russian soldier Kolka Sirotinin, as well as about the hero himself. Perhaps no one would have known about the feat of the twenty-year-old artilleryman. If not for one case.

In the summer of 1942, an officer of the 4th Panzer Division of the Wehrmacht, Friedrich Fenfeld, was killed near Tula. Soviet soldiers found his diary. From its pages, some details of that very last battle of senior sergeant Sirotinin became known.

It was the 25th day of the war ...

In the summer of 1941, the 4th Panzer Division of Guderian's group, one of the most talented German generals, broke through to the Belarusian city of Krichev. Parts of the 13th Soviet Army were forced to retreat. To cover the withdrawal of the artillery battery of the 55th Infantry Regiment, the commander left the artilleryman Nikolai Sirotinin with a gun.

The order was brief: to detain a German tank column on the bridge over the Dobrost River, and then, if possible, to catch up with our own. The senior sergeant only complied with the first half of the order ...

Sirotinin took up a position in a field near the village of Sokolnichi. The cannon was drowning in the tall rye. Nearby there is not a single noticeable landmark for the enemy. But from here the highway and the river were clearly visible.

On the morning of July 17, a column of 59 tanks and armored vehicles with infantry appeared on the highway. When the lead tank reached the bridge, the first - successful - shot rang out. With the second round, Sirotinin set fire to an armored personnel carrier in the tail of the column, thereby creating a traffic jam on the road. Nikolai shot and shot, knocking car after car.

Sirotinin fought alone, both a gunner and a loader. It had 60 rounds in ammunition and a 76mm cannon - an excellent weapon against tanks. And he made a decision: to continue the battle until the ammunition runs out.

The Nazis threw themselves to the ground in panic, not understanding where the shooting was coming from. The guns fired at random across the squares. Indeed, on the eve of their reconnaissance, they could not detect Soviet artillery in the vicinity, and the division advanced without special precautions. The Germans attempted to clear the blockage by pulling the wrecked tank off the bridge with two other tanks, but they were also knocked out. The armored vehicle, which tried to wade through the river, got stuck in the swampy bank, where it was destroyed. For a long time, the Germans were unable to determine the location of the well-camouflaged gun; they believed that a whole battery was fighting them.

This unique battle lasted a little over two hours. The crossing was blocked. By the time Nikolai's position was discovered, he had only three shells left. Sirotinin refused the offer to surrender and fired from the carbine to the last. Going to the rear of Sirotinin on motorcycles, the Germans destroyed the lone gun with mortar fire. In position, they found a lone cannon and a fighter.

The result of the battle of senior sergeant Sirotinin against General Guderian is impressive: after the battle on the banks of the Dobrost River, the Nazis lost 11 tanks, 7 armored vehicles, 57 soldiers and officers.

The perseverance of the Soviet soldier earned the respect of the Nazis. The commander of the tank battalion, Colonel Erich Schneider, ordered to bury a worthy enemy with military honors.

From the diary of Chief Lieutenant of the 4th Panzer Division Friedrich Hönfeld:

July 17, 1941. Sokolniki, near Krichev. An unknown Russian soldier was buried in the evening. He alone stood at the cannon, shot a column of tanks and infantry for a long time, and died. Everyone was amazed at his courage ... Oberst (colonel - editor's note) before the grave said that if all the soldiers of the Fuhrer fought like this Russian, they would have conquered the whole world. Three times they fired volleys from rifles. After all, he is Russian, is such admiration necessary?

From the testimony of Olga Verzhbitskaya, a resident of the village of Sokolnichi:

I, Verzhbitskaya Olga Borisovna, born in 1889, a native of Latvia (Latgale), lived before the war in the village of Sokolnichi, Krichevsky district, together with my sister.

We knew Nikolai Sirotinin and his sister before the day of the battle. He was with me with a friend, buying milk. He was very polite, he always helped elderly women to get water from the well and in other hard work.

I remember well the evening before the fight. On a log at the gate of the Grabskys' house, I saw Nikolai Sirotinin. He sat and thought about something. I was very surprised that everyone was leaving, and he was sitting.

When the fight began, I was not yet at home. I remember the tracer bullets flying. He walked for about two or three hours. In the afternoon, the Germans gathered at the place where Sirotinin's cannon stood. We, local residents, were also forced to come there. As someone who knows German, the main German of about fifty with orders, tall, bald, gray-haired, ordered to translate his speech to local people. He said that the Russian fought very well, that if the Germans had fought like this, they would have taken Moscow long ago, that this is how a soldier should defend his Motherland - Fatherland.

Then they took out a medallion from the pocket of our slain soldier's tunic. I remember firmly that it was written "the city of Oryol", to Vladimir Sirotinin (I did not remember the middle name), that the name of the street was, as I recall, not Dobrolyubov, but Gruzovaya or Lomovaya, I remember that the house number was two digits. But to know who this Sirotinin Vladimir - father, brother, uncle of the murdered man or someone else - we could not.

The German chief told me: “Take this document and write to your relatives. Let the mother know what a hero her son was and how he died. " Then a young German officer who was standing at Sirotinin's grave came up and snatched the piece of paper and the medallion from me and said something rudely.

The Germans fired a volley of rifles in honor of our soldier and put a cross on the grave, hung up his helmet, pierced by a bullet.

I myself clearly saw the body of Nikolai Sirotinin, even when he was lowered into the grave. His face was not bloody, but his tunic on the left side had a large bloody stain, his helmet was punctured, and there were many shell casings lying around.

Since our house was located not far from the battlefield, next to the road to Sokolnichi, the Germans were standing next to us. I myself heard how they talked long and admiringly about the feat of the Russian soldier, counting the shots and hits. Some of the Germans, even after the funeral, stood for a long time at the cannon and the grave and talked quietly.

February 29, 1960

Testimony of the telephone operator M.I.Grabskaya:

I, Grabskaya Maria Ivanovna, born in 1918, worked as a telephone operator at DEU 919 in Krichev, lived in my native village Sokolnichi, three kilometers from the city of Krichev.

I remember well the events of July 1941. Approximately a week before the arrival of the Germans, Soviet artillerymen settled in our village. The headquarters of their battery was in our house, the battery commander was a senior lieutenant named Nikolai, his assistant was a lieutenant named Fedya, of the fighters I remember most of all was the Red Army soldier Nikolai Sirotinin. The fact is that the senior lieutenant very often called this soldier and assigned him, as the most intelligent and experienced, both tasks.

He was slightly above average height, dark brown hair, a simple, cheerful face. When Sirotinin and senior lieutenant Nikolai decided to dig a dugout for local residents, I saw him cleverly throwing the ground, noticed that he was apparently not from the parental family. Nikolay, jokingly, replied:

“I am a worker from Orel, and I am no stranger to physical labor. We, the Orlovskys, know how to work. "

Today, in the village of Sokolnichi, there are no graves in which the Germans buried Nikolai Sirotinin. Three years after the war, his remains were transferred to the mass burial place of Soviet soldiers in Krichev.

Residents of Belarus remember and honor the heroic deed of the brave artilleryman. In Krichev there is a street named after him, a monument is erected. But, despite the fact that the feat of Sirotinin, thanks to the efforts of the workers of the Archive of the Soviet Army, was recognized back in 1960, the title of Hero of the Soviet Union was not awarded to him. A painfully ridiculous circumstance interfered: the soldier's family did not have a photograph of him. And it is necessary to submit documents for a high rank.

Today there is only a pencil sketch made by one of his colleagues after the war. In the year of the 20th anniversary of the Victory, senior sergeant Sirotinin was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War of the first degree. Posthumously. Such is the story.

Memory

In 1948, the remains of Nikolai Sirotinin were reburied in a mass grave (according to the registration card of a military burial on the website of the Memorial WBS - in 1943), on which a monument was erected in the form of a sculpture of a soldier grieving for his dead comrades, and on marble plaques in the list of buried surname Sirotinina N.V.

In 1960, Sirotinin was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.

In 1961, a monument in the form of an obelisk with the name of the hero was erected at the place of the feat near the highway, near which a real 76-mm gun was installed on a pedestal. In the city of Krichev, a street is named after Sirotinin.

A memorial plaque with a brief information about NV Sirotinin was installed at the Tekmash plant in Orel.

The Museum of Military Glory in secondary school No. 17 in the city of Orel contains materials dedicated to NV Sirotinin.

In 2015, the council of school No. 7 in the city of Oryol petitioned to assign the school the name of Nikolai Sirotinin. Nikolai's sister Taisia ​​Vladimirovna was present at the ceremonial events. The name for the school was chosen by the students themselves on the basis of their search and information work.

When reporters asked Nikolai's sister why it was Nikolai who volunteered to cover the division's retreat, Taisia ​​Vladimirovna replied: "My brother could not have done otherwise."

The feat of Kolka Sirotinin is an example of loyalty to the Motherland for all our youth.

On the night of February 2 to 3, 1945, the prisoners of the Mauthausen concentration camp were raised from the bunks by machine-gun fire. Shouts of "Hurray!" left no doubt: a real battle is going on in the camp. These are 500 prisoners of block 20 (death row) attacked machine-gun towers.

In the summer of 1944, Unit 20 appeared in Mauthausen, for the Russians. It was a camp within a camp, separated from the general territory by a 2.5-meter-high fence, on top of which there was an electric wire. Three towers with machine guns stood along the perimeter. The prisoners of the 20th block received ¼ of the general camp ration. They were not supposed to have spoons or plates. The unit has never been heated. There were no frames or glass in the window openings. There were not even bunks in the block. In winter, before driving the prisoners into the block, the SS men filled the floor of the block with water from a hose. People lay down in the water and just didn't wake up.

The "suicide bombers" had a "privilege" - they did not work like other prisoners. Instead, they did "physical exercise" all day — running around the block or crawling non-stop.
During the existence of the block, about 6 thousand people were destroyed in it. By the end of January, about 570 people remained alive in block 20.
With the exception of 5-6 Yugoslavs and a few Poles (participants in the Warsaw uprising), all the prisoners of the "death block" were Soviet prisoners of war officers sent here from other camps.
Prisoners were sent to the 20th block of Mauthausen, who even in concentration camps posed a threat to the Third Reich due to their military education, strong-willed qualities and organizational abilities. All of them were taken prisoner wounded or unconscious, and during their time in captivity they were declared "incorrigible". In the accompanying documents each of them had the letter "K", which meant that the prisoner was to be liquidated as soon as possible. Therefore, those who arrived in the 20th block were not even branded, since the life of the prisoner in the 20th block did not exceed several weeks.

On the appointed night, around midnight, the "suicide bombers" began to get their "weapons" from their hiding places - boulders, pieces of coal and fragments of a broken washstand. The main "weapons" were two fire extinguishers. 4 assault groups were formed: three were to attack machine-gun towers, one, if necessary, to repulse an external attack from the camp.
Around one in the morning, shouting "Hurray!" the suicide bombers of the 20th block began to jump through the window openings and rushed to the towers. Machine guns opened fire. Foamy jets of fire extinguishers hit the machine gunners' faces, and a hail of stones flew. Even pieces of ersatz soap and wooden blocks flew from their feet. One machine gun choked, and members of the assault group immediately began to climb the tower. Taking possession of the machine gun, they opened fire on the neighboring towers. The prisoners, using wooden planks, short-circuited the wire, threw blankets on it and began to climb over the wall.
Of the nearly 500 people, more than 400 managed to break through the outer fence and ended up outside the camp. As agreed, the fugitives split into several groups and rushed in different directions to make it difficult to capture. The largest group ran towards the forest. When the SS men began to overtake her, several dozen people separated and rushed to meet their pursuers in order to take their last battle and delay the enemies for at least a few minutes.
One of the groups stumbled upon a German anti-aircraft battery. Having removed the sentry and burst into the dugouts, the fugitives strangled the gun servant with their bare hands, seized weapons and a truck. The group was overtaken and accepted their last fight.
About a hundred of the prisoners who escaped to freedom died in the very first hours. Stuck in deep snow, in the cold (the thermometer showed minus 8 degrees that night), exhausted, many simply physically could not walk more than 10-15 km.
But more than 300 were able to escape from the pursuit and hid in the vicinity.

In search of the fugitives, in addition to guarding the camp, units of the Wehrmacht, SS units and the local field gendarmerie stationed in the vicinity were involved. The captured fugitives were taken to Mauthausen and shot at the wall of the crematorium, where the bodies were immediately burned. But most often they were shot at the place of capture, and corpses were already brought to the camp.
In German documents, the measures for the search for the fugitives were called "Mühlfiertel's Hunt for Hares." The local population was involved in the search.
The Volkssturm fighters, members of the Hitler Youth, members of the local NSDAP cell and non-party volunteers eagerly searched for "rabbits" in the vicinity and killed them right on the spot. They killed with improvised means - axes, pitchforks, since they were saving cartridges. The corpses were taken to the village of Ried in der Riedmarkt, and dumped in the courtyard of the local school.

Here, the SS men were counting, crossing out the sticks painted on the wall. A few days later, the SS men announced that "the score was settled."
But.
One person from the group that destroyed the German anti-aircraft battery survived. For ninety-two days, risking her life, the Austrian peasant woman Langthaler hid two fugitives on her farm, whose sons at that time were fighting in the Wehrmacht. Nineteen of those who fled were never caught. The names of 11 of them are known. 8 of them survived and returned to the Soviet Union.

In 1994, Austrian director and producer Andreas Gruber made a film about the events in the Mühlviertel district ("Hasenjagd: Vor lauter Feigheit gibt es kein Erbarmen").

The Russian soldier at all times amazed adversaries with his staunchness, strength and courage. The enemy, often, simply lost hope of crushing the Russians, who fearlessly went on the attack, fearing neither pain nor death, and won victory after victory. Impressed by the invincibility of the Russian people, the enemies spoke of our compatriots as great indestructible warriors who instilled fear and horror in the hearts of those who opposed them.

The Japanese lieutenant Tadeuchi Sakurai, who participated in the siege of Port Arthur, was greatly impressed by how the Russian soldiers for a long time held the hardest blow, courageously repelling the attack of the Japanese troops.

"Despite all our bitterness against the Russians, we still recognize their courage and bravery, and their stubborn defense for 58 hours deserves deep respect and praise."

photos.wikimapia.org

Russian sailors also showed their best side, proving their valor and courage in battles. They are ready to fight as long as the ship is afloat. This is confirmed by the words of a French naval officer who saw with his own eyes the battles of the Russian ships Varyag and Koreets, who fought to the last.

"The battle between" Varyag "and" Koreyets ", who met shells from six large Japanese ships and mines from eight torpedo boats, will remain an unforgettable event of the current century. The heroism of the Russian sailors not only prevented the Japanese from seizing both ships, but prompted the Russians to abandon the battle only after the enemy squadron had suffered sensitive defeats. "

photoshare.ru

The Russian soldier is ready to fight even when the situation is obviously losing, going on the attack practically with his bare hands. So it was with the rearguard 20th corps of the 10th Russian army, which died in East Prussia on the fields of the First World War. The soldiers, left without ammunition, fearlessly rushed at the enemy in a bayonet attack under the fire of German machine guns and artillery guns. The German military commander Brandt, who saw everything with his own eyes, was literally stunned by the heroism of the Russian soldiers.

“The attempt to break through was sheer madness, but this holy madness is a heroism that showed the Russian warrior as we know him from the time of Skobelev, the storming of Plevna, the battles in the Caucasus and the storming of Warsaw! The Russian soldier knows how to fight very well, he endures all sorts of hardships and is able to be persistent, even if he is inevitably facing certain death! "

moiarussia.ru

The Russian pilots did not go unnoticed, too, filigreely destroying enemy aircraft under a hail of bullets. The fearlessness of our pilots always made any enemy tremble with fear. The military columnist for the Austrian edition of Pester Loyd wrote about this during the First World War.

“It would be ridiculous to speak with disrespect about Russian pilots. Russian pilots are more dangerous enemies than French ones. Russian pilots are cold-blooded. In the attacks of the Russians, perhaps, there is no orderliness, just like that of the French, but in the air Russian pilots are unshakable and can endure heavy losses without any panic, the Russian pilot is and remains a formidable enemy. "

bivouac.ru

When the enemy got as close as possible, the Russian soldier, not wanting to surrender to the enemy, preferred to burn in a tank, go to ram in an airplane, sink with his ship, but the enemy would not be able to survive. The chief of staff of the ground forces of Nazi Germany, Colonel-General Franz Halder, was extremely surprised at the categorical reluctance of the Russians to surrender.

“It should be noted the persistence of individual Russian formations in battle. There were cases when the garrisons of pillboxes blew themselves up together with pillboxes, not wanting to surrender "

gallery.ru

The enemies were also surprised by the cunning of the Russian warrior, who, with the help of resourcefulness, was able to emerge victorious from the most difficult situations. Field Marshal of the Wehrmacht Erich von Manstein recalled how the Russians more than once managed to outwit the Nazis.

“It often happened that Soviet soldiers raised their hands to show that they were surrendering to us, and after our infantrymen approached them, they again resorted to weapons; or the wounded man feigned death, and then fired at our soldiers from the rear "

smallarms.ru

At all times, the most terrible thing for any adversary was that the Russian soldier only became hardened in battles, becoming even stronger and more dangerous. Field Marshal of the Wehrmacht Ludwig von Kleist spoke about the amazing metamorphoses of the Russians.

“The Russians showed themselves from the very beginning as first-class warriors, and our successes in the first months of the war were simply due to better training. Having gained combat experience, they became first-class soldiers. They fought with exceptional tenacity, had amazing endurance. "

muz4in.net

The chief of staff of the 4th Army of Nazi Germany, General Gunther Blumentritt, was imbued with true respect for the Russian soldier, who was able to withstand any difficulties, no matter what.

“The Russian soldier prefers hand-to-hand combat. His ability to endure hardship without flinching is truly surprising. Such is the Russian soldier whom we recognized and for whom we were imbued with respect a quarter of a century ago. "

Monetnik.ru

The Russian man, who stood guard over his Fatherland, always instilled fear and awe in the minds of enemies who risked challenging the Russian. Anyone who found himself on the other side of the front line sooner or later realized that it was simply not possible to break a Russian soldier. He will stand to the last, bravely fighting any enemy and in any situation.