February 27 marks exactly 71 years since Alexander Matrosov accomplished the legendary feat. His heroic deed became another symbol of the indomitable power of the Red Army, and cases of such self-sacrifice began to occur more and more often on all fronts of the Great Patriotic War. It is interesting that many heroes made throws at the embrasure even before the feat of Alexander Matrosov, but it was he who gained the greatest popularity.

"RG" recalls the feat of Matrosov himself, as well as the most famous similar deeds of Soviet soldiers.

Alexander Matrosov

May 5, 1924 in Yekaterinoslav (now Dnepropetrovsk) Alexander Matrosov was born. The future hero lost his parents early and spent his childhood and youth, first in orphanages, and then in boarding schools. In 1939, at the age of fifteen, he was sent to Kuibyshev (Samara) to a car repair plant, but, after working there for two weeks, he fled. This escape "cost" Matrosov two years in prison in a labor colony near Ufa.

From the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War, Alexander asked to go to the front, where he finally got in November 1942. On February 27, 1943, the 2nd battalion, in which the future hero served, received an order to attack the Germans near the village of Pleten, Pskov Region. Having approached the village from the side of the forest, the Red Army soldiers came under heavy machine-gun fire from three bunkers. The first two fortifications were captured and destroyed, but the fire of the third bunker did not subside. Then a submachine gunner Matrosov crawled in his direction. Once within grenade throw, he threw two at the black rectangle of the concrete fortification. The fire died down only for a few seconds: as soon as the fighters went on the attack after Matrosov, the bunker again opened fire on them, then Alexander reached the bunker with one jerk and covered the embrasure with his body, giving the rest of the battalion a chance to regroup.

Matrosov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, his self-sacrifice to his homeland and comrades-in-arms became a household word.

Grigory Kunavin

Grigory Pavlovich Kunavin was born in 1903 and spent almost his entire life in the small Ural town of Kamensk-Uralsky. The hardworking eldest son of a peasant father from childhood was the support of his mother and younger brothers. When he got his own family, he got a job at a railway station near the city. In the first days of the war, Grigory Pavlovich was not called up, since the railway was an important front-line facility and its employees had a preferential status. But just a few weeks later, after the legendary appeal of Levitan, Corporal Kunavin, having persuaded the draft board, was already at the forefront. The museum dedicated to the hero in Kamensk-Uralsky still keeps letters that he regularly sent to his wife after the battle of Moscow, the liberation of Minsk and other cities.

The 41-year-old corporal accomplished his feat not far from the Polish village of Harasimoviche. In a narrow section of the combat clash, there was a fascist bunker, which, without stopping, fired in response to any attempts by the Red Army soldiers to approach it. Then Kunavin, who no longer had grenades, approached the bunker with a jump, climbed on it and blocked the loophole of the fortification with his body. The few moments it took the Germans to remove the desperate Soviet warrior from the embrasure allowed the Red Army men point-blank to throw grenades at the concrete fortification.

As a token of gratitude to the Russian brother-liberator, the general meeting of the inhabitants of the village of Gerasimovichi decided to start the first lesson in the first grade of the village school every year with a story about a hero warrior and his comrades-in-arms, whose blood the right to happiness and freedom was obtained.

And decades after the feat of Kunavin, the Ural hero is remembered here, and school excursions are led to his monument. He received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously, in his beloved city of Kamensk-Uralsky a monument was erected to him and the railway station adjacent to the city was named.

Rimma Shershneva

The only woman who repeated the feat of Matrosov, or rather, it would be more accurate to say - ahead of him, was born in 1925 in the Belarusian city of Dobrush. Even before she had finished school, at the age of 16, she rushed to the front and a few days after graduation she was enrolled in radio operator courses. The fragile sixteen-year-old girl did not stop there and learned to jump with a parachute, comprehended the intricacies of the subversive business. It is not surprising that immediately after graduation, she ended up in the Gastello partisan detachment.

At the end of November 1942, a detachment of partisans, in which Rimma was also, liberated the small village of Lomovichi near Minsk together with the Red Army. Cleaning street after street, the partisans stumbled upon an impregnable stone bunker. The first attempt to undermine it with a grenade led to the death of a Red Army soldier. Immediately, Shershneva grabbed a grenade from a dead comrade and rushed to the bunker, despite the fact that the machine gunner inside the stone structure had already turned his weapon in her direction. Throwing a grenade into the fortification, the partisan hung on an enemy machine gun.

I saw everything with my own eyes. Ahead suddenly appeared Rimma Shershneva and another boy. He was immediately knocked down by a fascist bullet. And Rimma ran fifteen or twenty meters and fell. A moment - and she was already crawling to the bunker. She jumped up again and shouted something to us, threw a grenade, and a minute later she rushed to the embrasure, and the Nazi machine gun fell silent. For a moment, the guerrillas froze in amazement. Then with a frantic "Ur-rra-a!" rushed forward. I ran to the bunker, climbed on it. I look - our Rimma hung lifelessly on an enemy machine gun, closing the deadly rectangle of the embrasure. I carefully dragged her up to the dome of the bunker. I look, he is still breathing ..., - Victor Chistov later recalled the girl's comrade.

Amazingly, the girl fought for her life for another 10 days after the feat before dying from blood loss. Posthumously, she was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, in her hometown a street and a gymnasium were named after her.

Cholponbai Tuleberdiev

A Red Army soldier of the 6th Rifle Army of the Voronezh Front was born in 1922 in the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, into a peasant family. The villagers remember him as a cheerful and sympathetic guy. From the first days of the war, he wanted to serve and defend his homeland, and in December 1942 he was at the forefront.

On August 6, 1942, near the village of Selyavnoye, Voronezh Region, a detachment of 11 riflemen from the ninth company swam across the Don River to conduct reconnaissance in force. But on the other side of the river they were met by the fierce fire of an enemy bunker. Having volunteered first, Tuleberdiev circled the "stone fortress" from the flank and threw a grenade, but the enemy fire did not subside. Then, full of courage, the soldier closed the enemy embrasure with his body, which gave his comrades a chance to destroy the German machine gunner.

By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of February 4, 1943, the Red Army soldier Tuleberdiev Cholponbay was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Several monuments have been erected to Cholponbai, both in his native Kyrgyzstan and at the place of his feat - in the Voronezh region, books and documentaries are dedicated to him.

Joseph Laar

Born in 1905, in the village of Podgornoye, Stavropol Territory, Estonian. He graduated from the 4th grade, worked on a collective farm and enjoyed great respect there for his love of work and constant readiness to help his neighbor. Like Kunavin, Laar devoted his "civilian life" to the railway and had the opportunity not to take part in the war, but volunteered to the front line on his own.

He fought on the Western, Southern and North Caucasian fronts, was awarded the Order of the Red Star, had several wounds and was subsequently transferred to the Guards Rifle Regiment. Laar entered his name in history on August 7, 1943, during the breakthrough of the enemy positions in the area of ​​the Leninsky farm in the Krasnodar Territory. His feat completely coincides with the exploits of other sailors.

Private Laar, taking advantage of a machine gunner's second hitch and not having grenades, died a heroic death, covering a gun spewing fire, which saved dozens of lives. In addition to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, Joseph Laar is enrolled forever in the lists of his military unit. Streets in the cities of Nevinnomyssk and Cherkessk, as well as in the city of Jigeva in the Republic of Estonia bear his name.

Petr Barbashev

The commander of the submachine gunners of the motorized rifle regiment and Hero of the Soviet Union Pyotr Parfenovich Barbashev was a man of outstanding talents. He was born on January 23, 1919 in the village of Bolshoi Sugan, Novosibirsk Region. Even before the war, he worked on the collective farm "Memory of Kirov", then led the Mariinsky hut-reading room, even was elected a village deputy. Largely because of his organizational skills, upon arrival in the army, he immediately got into the school of junior commanders, which he successfully graduated from. He was at the forefront from the first days of the war, was listed on the lists of those who especially distinguished themselves in the defense of the North Caucasus in the fall of 1942. "... During the preparation of offensive operations on November 8-9, 1942, he carried out the task of the command for reconnaissance of enemy forces. He acted skillfully and courageously in reconnaissance," the award sheet says.

On November 9, 1942, in a fierce battle in the village of Gizel in North Ossetia, junior sergeant Barbashev, together with a small reconnaissance group, stumbled upon a Nazi machine-gun bunker. Having spent two grenades on the fortification and, seeing no other way to suppress enemy fire, Barbashev blocked the machine gunner's sector of fire and died a heroic death.

His name is carved on a marble plaque near the Novosibirsk hydroelectric power station, streets and schools in Vladikavkaz, Novosibirsk and Gizel are named after him.

Anatoly Komar

Anatoly, or, as his colleagues called him for his young age, Tolya-Komar was born in the village of Kurchanskaya, Krasnodar Territory, in 1928. When his father went to the front in 1941, thirteen-year-old Tolya decided to get there at all costs. Therefore, when in September 1943 a group of scouts passed through his village, in need of a person who knew the area, he volunteered to help them. Subsequently, Komar was accepted into the reconnaissance company as the son of the regiment, and for helping the scouts he received the medal "For Courage".

In November 1943, already as a full-fledged member of the reconnaissance group, Tolya participated in the survey of the rear territories of the enemy. Not far from the village of Onufrievka, Kirovograd region, behind enemy lines, scouts stumbled upon a car with German officers. Having destroyed them, the Red Army discovered the plans of the German troops and other valuable information.

On the way back to the unit, the reconnaissance group stumbled upon a German firing point - a machine gun installed in a trench, protected from all sides by embankments. As the smallest and most inconspicuous Tolya, he crept up to the trench and threw a grenade. The gun was silent. But as soon as the group continued to move, the Germans opened fire again, killing and wounding several Red Army soldiers who were in front of him at a glance. Feeling that a few more seconds and the extracted securities would perish along with the remnants of the group, the Gnat jumped onto the embrasure and closed it with his body.

The fifteen-year-old hero became the youngest soldier to take such a desperate step. He did not receive the "Star of the Hero" posthumously, but several streets in cities in Ukraine and Russia are named after him, as well as one of the ships.

"The year of fire will make a noise,

It's time for fierce and formidable battles,

But always, like a beloved son,

Will remember and honor Ukraine

Anatoly Komar"

Sergei Telnakov

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

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

Alexander Matrosov

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

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

German bunker

On February 16-17, the advance of the troops began. Days and nights, the soldiers cleared their way, passed through forests and swamps, due to impassability, they were forced to transport materiel and ammunition on their hands. On February 24, the opponents noticed the concentration of Soviet soldiers and sent a reconnaissance group, part of which was killed and captured. The next day, Gerasimov's group ran into the Germans. “On the Kholm-Loknyansky direction ... 6 sk from 12.00 after a short artillery preparation went on the offensive on the entire front and by 17.00, overcoming the stubborn resistance of the enemy and impassability, fought. ... 91 Osbr continued the battle for Chernoe. To the rescue of the 3rd battalion, they sent the 2nd, in which the sailors served. On the night of February 26, they went around the village of Chernushka Severnaya to attack the enemy from the north. The Germans were able to divide the battalion into three parts, but after a stubborn battle they reunited. The enemy continued stubborn resistance. So in the battle near Chernushka, Alexander Matrosov received his first baptism of fire.

Gerasimov's group continued the offensive in the Kholm-Loknyansky direction. On February 27, the 2nd battalion, together with part of the 4th battalion, launched an attack on the village of Pleten. The goal was to destroy the enemy defending the villages of Chernushka and Chernaya. On the outskirts of the village, the Germans created a powerful stronghold of three bunkers. The 4th battalion was advancing from the front, the "matrosovsky" 2nd came in from the flank, went to the edge of the forest and turned to Pleten. But the Germans were ready for such a maneuver, the bunkers had a good view and the exits from the edges of forests and groves were under heavy fire. The situation was complicated by the fact that on the eve of the mortar company of the 2nd battalion lost materiel. However, the soldiers still had anti-tank rifles (PTR). Two assault groups managed to destroy the flank bunkers, but the machine gun from the central bunker continued to bombard the hollow. Attempts to destroy it from the PTR did not bring success.

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

Matrosov's feat

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

Matrosov's feat inspired many soldiers and was quickly taken over by Soviet propaganda. It cannot be said that the act of the 19-year-old Red Army soldier was unique. And before him, and after him, the soldiers more than once rushed to the embrasure. In all, more than 400 soldiers accomplished a similar feat, one of them even managed to survive. Matrosov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union "for the exemplary performance of the combat missions of the command on the front of the fight against the Nazi invaders and the courage and heroism shown in this." He was buried near the place of death, and then the ashes were transferred to Velikiye Luki. The name of Matrosov was the first to be permanently included in the lists of the unit.

Many people from the school history of Soviet times know the feat of Alexander Matrosov. Streets were named in honor of the young hero, monuments were erected, his feat inspired others. Being very young, barely getting to the front, he covered the enemy bunker with himself, which helped his fellow soldiers win the battle with the Nazis.

Over time, many facts and details of the life and exploits of Alexander Matrosov were either distorted or lost. To this day, the subject of a dispute between scientists remains his real name, place of birth, work. The circumstances under which he committed a heroic deed are still being studied and clarified.

Official biography

According to the official version, the date of birth of Alexander Matveevich Matrosov is February 5, 1924. Yekaterinoslav (now the Dnieper) is considered to be his birthplace. As a child, he happened to live in orphanages in Ivanovo and Melekess (Ulyanovsk region), as well as in a labor colony for children in Ufa. Before going to the front, he managed to work as an apprentice fitter and assistant teacher. Matrosov many times asked to be sent to the front. Finally, after spending some time as a cadet at the Krasnokholmsky Infantry School near Orenburg, he was sent as a submachine gunner to the second separate rifle battalion of the 91st Siberian Volunteer Brigade, named after I.V. Stalin.

Matrosov's feat

On February 23, 1943, his battalion was given a combat mission to destroy a German stronghold near the village of Chernushki (Pskov region). On the outskirts of the village there were three enemy bunkers with machine-gun crews. Two managed to destroy the assault groups, while the third continued to hold the defense.

An attempt to destroy the machine-gun crew was made by Peter Ogurtsov and Alexander Matrosov. The first was seriously wounded, and Matrosov had to move on alone. The grenades thrown into the bunker only briefly forced the calculation to stop shelling, it resumed immediately, as the fighters tried to come closer. To enable his comrades-in-arms to complete the task, the young man rushed to the embrasure and covered it with his body.

This is how everyone knows the feat of Alexander Matrosov.

Identification

The question that interested historians in the first place - did such a person really exist? It became especially relevant after the filing of an official request for the place of birth of Alexander. The young man himself indicated that he lived in the Dnieper. However, as it turned out, in the year of his birth, not a single local registry office registered a boy with that name.

Further investigation and search for the truth about the feat of Alexander Matrosov was carried out by Rauf Khaevich Nasyrov. According to him, in fact, the hero's name was Shakiryan. He was originally from the village of Kunakbaevo, Uchalinsky district of Bashkiria. Studying documents in the city council of the city of Uchaly, Nasyrov found records that on February 5, 1924 (Matrosov's official date of birth), Mukhamedyanov Shakiryan Yunusovich was born. After that, the researcher began to check other data presented in the official version.

All close relatives of Mukhamedyanov had already died at that time. Nasyrov managed to find his childhood photographs. After a detailed study and comparison of these photographs with the well-known photographs of Alexander Matrosov, expert scientists came to the conclusion that all the photographs depict the same person.

Facts from life

Some facts from life were established in the course of conversations with fellow villagers, pupils of orphanages and fellow soldiers.

Mukhamedyanov's father was a participant in the civil war, returning disabled, he found himself without a job. The family was in poverty, and when the boy's mother died, the father with his seven-year-old son often simply asked for alms. After some time, the father brought another wife, with whom the boy could not get along and was forced to run away from home.

He did not wander for long: from the reception center for children in which he ended up, he was sent to an orphanage in Melekesse. It was then that he introduced himself as Alexander Matrosov. However, an official record with that name appears only in the colony where he ended up in February 1938. The place of birth named by him was also recorded there. It was these data that subsequently fell into all sources.

It is assumed that Shakiryan decided to change his name, as he was afraid of a negative attitude towards himself as a representative of a different nationality. And he chose such a surname because he loved the sea very much.

There is another version of the origin. Some believe that he was born in the village of Vysoky Kolok, Novomalyklinsky District (Ulyanovsk Region). In the late 1960s, several local residents identified themselves as Alexander's relatives. They claimed that his father did not return from the civil war, and his mother could not feed three children and gave one of them to an orphanage.

Official information

According to the official version, the young man worked in Ufa at a furniture factory as a carpenter, but there is no information about how he ended up in the labor colony to which this factory was attached.

In the Soviet era, Matrosov was presented as a role model: a boxer and a skier, an author of poetry, a political informant. It was also indicated everywhere that his father was a communist who was shot with a fist.

One of the versions says that his father was a kulak, who was dispossessed and sent to Kazakhstan, after which Alexander ended up in an orphanage.

Real events

In fact, in 1939 Matrosov worked at the Kuibyshev car repair plant. He did not stay there for long and because of the difficult working conditions he fled. Some time later, he and his friend were arrested for non-compliance with the regime.

Another document related to Alexander Matrosov belongs to the next year, before that no mention of it was found. In October 1940, the Frunzensky District People's Court sentenced him to two years in prison. The reason was the violation of the written undertaking not to leave during the day. This sentence was canceled only in 1967.

Entry into the army

There is also no exact information about this period of the hero's life. According to the documents, he was assigned to a rifle battalion on February 25th. However, in all references to his feat, February 23 is indicated. On the other hand, according to available official data, the battle during which Matrosov died took place on the 27th.

Controversy around the feat

The feat itself became a subject of controversy. According to experts, even if he approached the firing point, a machine-gun burst, especially fired at close range, would have knocked him down, not allowing him to close the embrasure for a long time.

According to one version, he crept up to the calculation to destroy the machine gunner, but for some reason he could not stay on his feet and fell, blocking his view. In fact, it was pointless to cover the embrasure with oneself. Perhaps the soldier was killed while trying to throw a grenade, and for those who were behind him, it might seem that he tried to cover the embrasure with himself.

According to supporters of the second version, Matrosov was able to climb onto the roof of the fortification in order to try to destroy the German machine gunners, using a hole to remove powder gases for this. He was killed, and the body blocked the vent. The Germans were forced to digress in order to remove him, which gave the Red Army the opportunity to go on the offensive.

Regardless of how everything happened in reality, Alexander Matrosov committed a heroic deed, securing victory at the cost of his life.

Other heroes

It should also be noted that the feat of Alexander Matrosov in the Great Patriotic War was not unique. Since that time, numerous documents have been preserved confirming that even at the beginning of the war, soldiers tried to cover German firing points with themselves. The first, reliably known heroes were Alexander Pankratov and Yakov Paderin. The first accomplished his feat in August 1941 in the battle near Novgorod. The second died in December of the same year near the village of Ryabinikha (Tver region). The poet N. S. Tikhonov, the author of The Ballad of Three Communists, described the feat of three soldiers at once, Gerasimenko, Cheremnov and Krasilov, who rushed to the enemy firing points in the battle near Novgorod in January 1942.

After the hero Alexander Matrosov, 13 more soldiers accomplished the same feat in just one month. In total, there were more than 400 such brave young people. Many were awarded posthumously, some were awarded the title of Hero of the USSR, although almost no one knows about their feat. Most of the brave soldiers never got to know, their names somehow disappeared from official documents.

Here, attention should be paid to the fact that Alexander Matrosov, whose monuments stand in many cities (Ufa, Dnepropetrovsk, Barnaul, Velikiye Luki, etc.), due to certain circumstances, became a collective image of all these soldiers, each of whom accomplished his feat and remained unknown.

Name immortalization

Initially, Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Matrosov was buried at the place of his death, but in 1948 his remains were reburied in the city of Velikiye Luki. By order of I. Stalin on September 8, 1943, his name was forever included in the list of the first company of the 254th Guards Regiment, the place of his service. During the war, the military leadership, having poorly trained soldiers at hand, used his image as an example of selflessness and self-sacrifice, encouraging young people to take unjustified risks.

Perhaps Alexander Matrosov is not known to us by his real name, and the details of his life are actually different from the picture that the Soviet government painted for the sake of political propaganda and inspiring inexperienced soldiers. This does not change his feat. This young man, who had been at the front for only a few days, sacrificed his life for the victory of his comrades. Thanks to his courage and valor, he rightfully deserved all the honors.

The myth of the feat of Alexander Matrosov lies in the assertion that Matrosov closed the embrasure of the German bunker with his chest and thereby ensured the success of the attack of his unit. The date of the feat is also mythological - February 23, 1943, the day of the Red Army.

Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Matveyevich Matrosov was born on February 6, 1924 in Dnepropetrovsk. The date and place of birth are conditional, since Sasha lost his parents in early childhood and was brought up in the Ivanovo and Melekessky orphanages in the Ulyanovsk region. For some kind of criminal offense (according to the official version - for unauthorized leaving the place of work, for which they also gave a term then) he was convicted and ended up in the Ufa labor colony for minors, was among the activists there and after his release worked in the same colony as an assistant educator. In September 1942, Matrosov was enrolled in the Krasnokholmsk Infantry School, but already in January 1943 it was sent to the Kalinin Front.

According to the official version, on February 23, 1943, on the day of the 25th anniversary of the Red Army, Alexander Matrosov, private of the 2nd battalion of the 91st rifle Siberian volunteer brigade, in the battle near the village of Chernushki near Velikiye Luki in Pskovskaya
region closed the embrasure of the German bunker with his chest, which ensured the successful advancement of his
divisions. In the report of the agitator of the political department of the 91st brigade of Siberian volunteers, senior lieutenant Volkov, it was said: “In the battle for the village of Chernushki, the Komsomol member Matrosov, born in 1924, committed a heroic deed - he closed the embrasure of the bunker with his body, which ensured the advancement of our shooters forward. Blackies are taken. The attack continues. I will report the details when I return." However, in the evening of the same day, Volkov died, and the details of the incident remained unknown. The report of the political department of the brigade to the political department of the 6th Rifle Volunteer Corps noted: “The Red Army soldier of the 2nd battalion Komsomol member Matrosov showed exceptional courage and heroism. The enemy from the bunker opened heavy machine-gun fire and did not allow our infantry to advance. Tov. Sailors received an order to destroy the enemy's fortified point. Despising death, he closed the embrasure of the bunker with his body. The enemy machine gun fell silent. Our infantry went forward, and the bunker was occupied. Tov. Matrosov died a heroic death for the Soviet Motherland. On June 19, 1943, Alexander Matrosov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. According to one version, the initiator of enrolling Matrosov forever in the lists of the unit and assigning the regiment his name was the commander of the Kalinin Front, Andrei Eremenko, who just in August 1943 met with Stalin during his trip to the front and convinced the Supreme Commander to make Matrosov's feat known throughout the country . By order of the People's Commissar of Defense of September 8, 1943, the 254th Guards Rifle Regiment, which included the 2nd Battalion of the 91st Separate Rifle Brigade, was given the name "254th Guards Rifle Regiment named after Alexander Matrosov", and the hero himself was forever enlisted in the lists of the 1st company of this regiment. He became the first of the heroes forever listed in the lists of the military unit.

The report on the irretrievable losses of the 91st separate rifle brigade for the period from February 24 to March 30, 1943 states that the Red Army soldier Matrosov, born in 1924, a member of the Komsomol, was killed on February 27 and buried near the village of Chernushki. It was also mentioned here who and at what address should be reported about the death: Ufa, the children's labor colony of the NKVD, barrack 19, Matrosova, his wife. Judging by this entry, the hero had a family, but an orphan boy, who had no one in the world but his homeland, was better suited for the heroic myth. By the way, Volkov's political report was dated February 27, and February 23 was taken in the award sheet purely for propaganda reasons.However, close the machine-gun embrasure with your bodyjust impossible. Even one rifle bullet that hits the hand inevitably knocks a person down. And a machine-gun burst at point-blank range will surely throw any, the heaviest body, from the embrasure. The commander of the platoon in which Matrosov fought, Lieutenant L. Korolev, described in the front-line newspaper the feat of his subordinate: “... He ran to the bunker and fell into the embrasure. The machine gun choked on the hero's blood and fell silent.

I didn't have to give a command. The soldiers lying in front heard how Sasha, falling on the embrasure, shouted: “Forward!” And the whole platoon, as one man, got up and rushed to the bunker. Sergeant Kuznetsov was the first to run up to the entrance. Soldiers from his squad ran after him. The silent fight in the bunker lasted no more than a minute. When I entered there, there were six dead German soldiers and two machine guns lying among the shells and empty belts.And there, in front of the embrasure, on the snow covered with soot and blood, lay Sasha Matrosov. The last machine-gun burst cut short his young life. He was dead, but the battalion had already crossed the hollow and broke into the village of Chernushki. The order was carried out. Sasha Matrosov sacrificed himself to pave the way for the battalion to victory.

Korolev here turns the metaphor into reality, causing the machine gun to "choke on the hero's blood." True, it immediately turns out that there was not one machine gun in the bunker, but two. The lieutenant cannot explain how it happened that both barrels immediately choked with blood. However, the number of machine guns, as well as the data on the six corpses of the Germans, allegedly remaining in the bunker, must be approached with caution. No other source mentions them. If the press reported on the heroic death of one Soviet soldier or officer, then he must have accounted for several destroyed enemies.

But on one point Korolev did not deviate from the truth. According to him, the corpse of Matrosov was not lying on the embrasure, but in the snow in front of the pillbox. In this regard, however, it becomes completely incomprehensible how a dead submachine gunner could drown out an enemy machine gun.

Only in 1991, the front-line writer Vyacheslav Kondratiev, perhaps relying on eyewitness accounts, gave a different description of the feat: “Yes, Matrosov accomplished a feat, but not at all the one described. Back in the war, having learned about the feat of Matrosov, we were perplexed: why rush to the embrasure when you got so close to the firing point? After all, you can throw a grenade into the wide bell of a pillbox, you can open heavy automatic fire on it and thereby silence the enemy machine gun for a while. But Sasha, apparently, did not have a grenade, there was also no machine gun - the penal company in which he was, in all likelihood, was armed only with "native" rifles. And Matrosov was forced to act differently: he, bypassing the pillbox (more precisely, the pillbox. - B.S.), climbed on him and tried to press the barrel of the machine gun from above, but the German soldiers, grabbing his hands, dragged him down and shot him. The company took advantage of this hitch. It was a feat reasonable, skillful ... "

This version is consistent with the testimony of some participants in the battle, who saw that Matrosov was on top of the bunker. It’s just that the assumption that Matrosov was trying to bend the muzzle of a machine gun to the ground from above looks doubtful. This is almost impossible to do because the muzzle almost does not protrude from the embrasure. It is more likely that Matrosov managed to get close to the vent of the bunker and tried to shoot the machine-gun crew, but he himself was hit by an enemy bullet. As he fell, he closed the vent. While the Germans were pushing the corpse from the roof of the bunker to the ground, they were forced to cease fire, which the Soviet company took advantage of, overcoming the shelled space. Obviously, there were only two Germans with one machine gun. While one of them was busy with the corpse, the other was forced to cease fire. The machine gunners had to flee, and the Red Army men who burst into the bunker found Matrosov's corpse with a wound in the chest in front of the embrasure. They decided that the fighter closed the embrasure with himself. Thus the legend was born. Meanwhile, the inscription on Matrosov's Komsomol ticket, made immediately after the battle by the assistant to the head of the political department, Captain I.G. Nazdrachev, says: “I lay down on the enemy’s combat point and drowned it out, showing heroism.” Here you can see confirmation of the version that Matrosov did not close the embrasure with his body, but lay down on the vent, which in the end really “drowned out” the enemy machine gun.

There is no evidence that Matrosov was in the penal company. On the contrary, Matrosov was a fighter of the elite 6th Rifle Siberian Volunteer Corps named after Stalin. It is possible that just the service of the hero in the formation, named after the leader, became an additional factor in the fact that the feat became known throughout the country.

Matrosov Alexander Matveevich was born in Yekaterinoslavl in 1924, on February 5th. He died in 1943, on February 27th. Alexander Matrosov was a submachine gunner, a Red Army soldier, a member of the Komsomol. He received the title for his selfless deed during the war. The feat of Matrosov was widely covered in literature, magazines, newspapers and cinema.

Biography of Matrosov Alexander Matveevich. Childhood

According to the official version, he was brought up in orphanages and a labor colony in Ufa. At the end of seven classes, he began to work in the last colony. According to another version, Alexander Matrosov's name was Mukhamedyanov Shakiryan Yunusovich. He took his future surname for himself at a time when he was a homeless child (ran away from home after his father's new marriage), and signed up under it when he entered the orphanage. Since that time, his name was Matrosov Alexander Matveevich. There is another version, according to which the boy's mother, saving him from starvation after she was left alone without a husband, gave him to the Melekessky orphanage, from where he was transferred to the Ivanovsky orphanage of the Mainsky district. The papers of orphanages about Matrosov's stay in them have not been preserved.

Patriotic version of childhood

According to this option, the dispossessed peasant Matvey Matrosov was sent to Kazakhstan. There he went missing. His son, left an orphan, ended up in an orphanage, but soon ran away from there. Homeless, Sasha reached Ufa, where he was enrolled in a labor colony. During his stay there, he became an excellent example for other pupils: he was a successful boxer and skier, a TRP badge, an amateur poet, and a political informant. At the age of 16, Matrosov was accepted into the Komsomol. Then he was appointed assistant teacher. But the activist was caught with one pupil. For this, Sasha was expelled from the Komsomol. When the war began, he worked at a factory.

What is the heroism of the Red Army?

What is the feat of Matrosov? In short, the Red Army soldier rushed to the embrasure, ensuring the advancement of our shooters. However, to this day, researchers are arguing which version became accurate. During the period of perestroika, they began to talk about the incorrectness of the original version. As an argument, the fact was cited that from an ordinary shot, for example, into the hand from a rifle, a person loses his balance. A powerful burst from a machine gun, in this case, should throw the body a few meters away. According to Kondratiev (front-line writer), the feat of Alexander Matrosov was that he climbed onto the roof of the bunker and tried to tilt the machine gun muzzle to the ground. However, a historian who studies the events in which Alexander Matrosov participated argues with him. The truth about the feat that he accomplished, according to his version, is that the hero tried to shoot the crew into the vent. The Germans could not simultaneously fire on our soldiers and fight off the Red Army. So Alexander Matrosov died. The truth about the feat of the Red Army may not be revealed for sure, but his act allowed our shooters to cross the shelled space.

The beginning of the war

Sailors repeatedly addressed in writing with requests to send him to the front. He was called up for service in 1942 and began to study at an infantry school near Orenburg. However, the very next year, in 1943, together with classmates, he went to the Kalinin Front as a volunteer marching company. Since the end of February, already at the front, Matrosov Alexander Matveyevich served in the 2nd separate rifle battalion of the 91st Siberian separate volunteer brigade named after. Stalin. He could not finish school, as he died at the very beginning of the war in a battle near Chernushka. The hero was buried there, and then his ashes were reburied in the Pskov region, in the city of Velikiye Luki. For his heroic deed, Matrosov Alexander Matveyevich was posthumously awarded the Hero of the USSR.

Official version of events

The 2nd battalion, in which Matrosov served, received an order to attack a stronghold near the village of Chernushki. But when the Soviet soldiers reached the edge of the forest, they came under heavy German fire: in the bunkers, three machine guns blocked the approach to the village. To suppress the firing points, assault groups of 2 people were sent. Two machine guns were suppressed by groups of armor-piercers and machine gunners. But there was still firing from the third firing point. All attempts to silence the machine gun were unsuccessful. Then privates Alexander Matrosov and Pyotr Ogurtsov advanced to the bunker. On the outskirts of the second fighter was seriously wounded. Sailors decided to complete the attack alone. Having crept up from the flank to the embrasure, he threw two grenades. The gunfire stopped. But as soon as our soldiers went on the attack, the fire was opened again. Then Private Matrosov got up and, rushing towards the bunker, closed the embrasure with his body. So, at the cost of his own life, the Red Army soldier contributed to the fulfillment of the combat mission assigned to the unit.

Alternative versions

According to a number of authors, Matrosov Alexander Matveyevich was already killed on the roof of the bunker, while he was trying to throw grenades at him. Then, having fallen, he closed the ventilation hole that removed the powder gases. This is what gave our soldiers a break and allowed them to make a throw while the Germans removed the body of Matrosov. In some publications, there were opinions about the "unintentionality" of the Red Army soldier's act. It was said that Matrosov really, having got close to the machine-gun nest, tried, if not to shoot the enemy machine gunner, then at least prevent him from shooting further, but for some reason (stumbled or was wounded) fell into the embrasure.

So, with his body, inadvertently, he blocked the view of the Germans. The battalion, taking advantage of this, albeit small, hitch, was able to continue its offensive.

contradictions

Some authors tried to argue about the rationality of Matrosov's act, opposing his attempt to close the embrasure with what could be used in other ways to suppress the enemy's firing points. So, for example, one of the former commanders of a reconnaissance company says that the human body cannot be any effective or significant obstacle to a German machine gun. There is even a version that Matrosov was hit by a burst when he tried to rise to throw a grenade. To the fighters standing behind him, it looked like he was trying to cover them with himself from machine gun fire.

Propaganda value of the act

The feat of Alexander Matrosov in Soviet propaganda was a symbol of military prowess and courage, the selflessness of a soldier, his fearless love for his homeland and unconditional hatred of the invaders. For ideological reasons, the date of the heroic deed was moved to February 23, timed to coincide with the Day of the Soviet Army and Navy. At the same time, in the nominal list of the irretrievable losses of the Second Rifle Separate Battalion, Alexander Matrosov was recorded on the 27th, along with five other Red Army soldiers and 2 junior sergeants. As a matter of fact, the future hero got to the front only on February 25th.

Conclusion

Despite the large number of contradictions, both in Matrosov's biography itself and in the versions of his actions, his act will not cease to be heroic. In many cities of the former republics of the Soviet Union, streets and squares still bear the name of the hero. Many soldiers, both before Matrosov and after him, committed similar acts. According to a number of authors, such people justified the senseless death of people in battles. The soldiers were forced to launch frontal attacks on enemy machine-gun emplacements, which they did not even try to suppress during the artillery preparation. Matrosov Alexander Matveevich became not only a hero of the Soviet Union, but also a national hero of Bashkiria.

Yunus Yusupov, who, according to one version, was his father, after Sasha's death, proudly walked around his village, saying that "his Shakiryan" was a real person. True, the villagers did not believe him, but this did not diminish the father's pride in his son. He believed that Shakiryan should become the second, after Salavat Yulaev, Bashkir national hero. Mystification reinforces mythical ideas: the hero becomes more human, more alive, more convincing. Regardless of who he really was - Shakiryan or Sasha, the son of a Bashkir or a Russian - the main moments of his life are undeniable. In his fate there were orphanages, and a colony, work and service. But besides everything, in his life there was also a feat in the name of the freedom of the Soviet people.