Pankratov Alexander Konstantinovich - Biography. Pankratov Alexander Konstantinovich - Biography of Alexander Pankratov during the war years

Alexander Pankratov was born in the village of Abakshino, Vologda region. In addition to him, the family raised three more children. At the age of five he lost his father.

He graduated with honors from the Rakhulevskaya primary school, and then from the Agafonovskaya school for working youth. In 1931, A. Pankratov went to Vologda to continue his studies and entered the 7th grade, while simultaneously studying to become an electrician. In 1934 he graduated from the factory apprenticeship school (FZU) at the Northern Communard plant, specializing in metal lathe. In February 1935, he got a job in the fire assembly department of the Vologda Steam Locomotive Repair Plant and worked as a turner. Stakhanovite, member of the OSOAVIAKHIM circle.

In October 1938, Pankratov was drafted into the Red Army. Receives a referral to Smolensk, to the 32nd training battalion of the 21st tank brigade. After some time, he becomes secretary of the Komsomol organization of the company. His interest in studying attracts the attention of the command. In August 1939 he was sent to Gomel. There Pankratov takes courses for junior political instructors of the Belarusian Military District. He shows himself at his best and, as one of the most capable, in January 1940 he is sent to the Smolensk Military-Political School. In April of the same year he joined the ranks of the CPSU (b). On January 18, 1941, A. Pankratov graduated from college with the military rank of “junior political instructor.”

In the days when the Great Patriotic War began, A. Pankratov was in the Baltic states. He received baptism of fire near Siauliai from June 23 to June 27, 1941. In the battles for the defense of Novgorod in August 1941, he fought as part of the 28th Tank Division under the command of Colonel I. D. Chernyakhovsky. The staging area for heavy fighting, in addition to the city itself, was the Kirillov Monastery, which stood separately on the right bank of the Volkhov. The tall monastery buildings served as a convenient point for adjusting fire on the positions of the Red Army. On the night of August 24-25, the 125th Tank Regiment launched a covert attack on the monastery, crossing the Maly Volkhovets River. However, the German side was ready for this and met the Red Army with dense defense. The tank company commander, Lieutenant Platonov, was killed and the attack stopped. Junior political instructor Pankratov managed to crawl to the enemy machine gun. With the help of several grenades, he tried to destroy the firing point, but the attempt was unsuccessful - after some time the machine gun resumed firing. Advancement of soldiers under heavy fire without numerous losses was impossible. Then political instructor Pankratov rushed to the enemy machine gun and covered it with himself. This allowed the fighters to get a few seconds for the decisive throw. The company, having launched an attack, managed to break into the Kirillov Monastery and capture it.

A feat of this kind was the first in the history of the Great Patriotic War. Soviet propaganda undeservedly kept silent about him for many years and it was believed that the first hero to make such a self-sacrifice was Alexander Matrosov on February 27, 1943. Today it is known that more than 400 people performed a similar feat during the war, 58 of them before Alexander Matrosov.

Awards

March 16, 1942 title of Hero of the Soviet Union, posthumously.
The order of Lenin.

Memory

Velikiy Novgorod . On November 19, 1965, a monument was built on the western bank of the Maly Volkhovets River, a few meters from the Blue Bridge. Carved on the granite stone is the Hero’s star and the words: “Instant death has become eternal glory. Hero of the Soviet Union, junior political instructor Alexander Konstantinovich Pankratov, who covered an enemy machine gun with his body on August 24, 1941 in the battles for Novgorod.”
Velikiy Novgorod. On April 29, 1965, one of the longest streets in the city (2.5 km) was named after Alexander Pankratov. There is also a memorial plaque installed on it.
Vologda. On Pankratova Street there is a house with a memorial plaque depicting a bas-relief of the hero.
Vologda. Stele with the inscription: “Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Konstantinovich Pankratov studied here.” It is located in front of the building of the former FZU on Chernyshevsky Street, where today the Museum of Vocational Education is located.
In the mechanical shop of the Vologda PVRZ, where A.K. Pankratov worked, a memorial plaque was installed.
A ship of the Leningrad River Shipping Company was named after the hero.
Sports prizes named after A.K. Pankratov were established in Novgorod and Vologda.

Born on March 10, 1917 in the village of Abakshino, now the Vologda district of the Vologda region, in a peasant family. Lived in the city of Vologda. He graduated from 7th grade and the FZU school. He worked as a turner at the Northern Communard plant. Since 1938 in the Red Army. In 1940 he graduated from the Smolensk Military and Political School.

Since June 1941 on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War. On August 24, 1941, the political instructor of the company of the 125th Tank Regiment (28th Tank Division, North-Western Front), junior political instructor A.K. Pankratov, during the storming of the Kirillovsky Monastery in the Novgorod region, blocked the destructive fire of an enemy machine gun with his body, allowing the soldiers to break into enemy location and destroy his observation post that was adjusting battery fire. On March 16, 1942, for courage and military valor shown in battles with enemies, he was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Awarded the Order of Lenin.

An obelisk to the Hero and a memorial plaque were installed in Novgorod. A school in Vologda, a motor ship, and streets in Vologda and Novgorod bear his name.

* * *

On the bank of Maly Volkhovets, where the road from Novgorod rushes towards Leningrad, there is an obelisk. Here, back in August 1941, junior political instructor Alexander Pankratov accomplished a feat. A feat that even now, years later, causes deep excitement: he was one of the first to close the embrasure of an enemy bunker.

Looking through the central newspapers of the first year of the Great Patriotic War, we found material about this feat in Pravda. Other newspapers also wrote. Correspondence from the Northwestern Front reported:

“During the assault on the Kirillovsky Monastery, the enemy’s left-flank machine gun did not allow the group led by junior political instructor Pankratov to reach the monastery area. Pankratov rushed forward, threw a grenade and wounded the machine gunner. The enemy machine gun fell silent, but as soon as the chain rose, it came to life again and opened heavy fire. Then Pankratov shouted “Forward!” rushes at the machine gun and with his body covers the destructive fire, giving the company the opportunity to break through. In this battle A.K. Pankratov died. The soldiers brutally took revenge on the fascists for the death of the political instructor.”

Who is he, Alexander Pankratov? Where are you from, how did you live, what did you do before your finest hour?

He was born in 1917, into the family of a poor peasant. Early on he experienced need and labor. His father fought for the young Soviet Republic; upon returning, he died of his wounds. Sasha was very proud of his father. He told his mother: “If I have to defend my Motherland, I will fight like my father...”

Until 1931 they lived in the village of Abakshino, near Vologda. Then we moved to Vologda. Having completed his seven-year education here, Sasha became a “factory kid” - he studied at a factory apprenticeship school. When he turned 16, he began working on a lathe, just like adults. At the age of 19 he was appointed foreman of a turning and mechanical workshop. At the Vologda Locomotive Repair Plant, old-timers still remember him, speaking warmly about him. The machine on which he worked has also been preserved.

At the factory, Sasha joined the Komsomol. He was elected chairman of the shop trade union organization, head of the Osoaviakhim organization.

In 1938, the time came for conscription into the army, and he happily went into military service. Alexander ends up in a tank brigade, where from the first days of his service he shows himself to be a conscientious warrior who loves the army. Soon he is sent to the school of junior commanders. He studies with great diligence. He begins to operate a tank earlier than other cadets.

At school, Pankratov actively participates in public life: he edits a wall newspaper, works as an agitator, and as a Komsomol leader. This was what predetermined his future fate. When the brigade received instructions to select a politically trained fighter for the junior political instructor course, the choice fell on Pankratov. And he leaves to study in Gomel.

After staying there for about 5 months, Sasha returns to Smolensk, but as a cadet at the military and political school. Upon graduation from college, Pankratov was awarded the rank of junior political instructor. The treasured cubes appeared on the buttonholes.

Alexander celebrated New Year 1941 in Daugavpils. He was appointed deputy commander of a tank company for political affairs. Now he served in the 10th Light Tank Brigade.

In February, his unit was relocated to another location. Some tens of kilometers separated them from the fascists who were preparing for war with our people. Here, near the border, Pankratov especially felt how the clouds of the approaching war were gathering. He spent all his time among the company’s tankers, mentally preparing them for possible battles. He told them:

- We need to be on combat readiness every minute... We are standing not far from the border...

The political instructor was not mistaken. On the morning of June 22, German troops poured into Lithuanian soil from East Prussia. The company was the first to enter the battle. The tankers held firm. More than once the attacks were led by political instructor Pankratov.

The fight against the enemy was difficult. We had to fight with outdated light tanks against German medium tanks... But the Soviet tankers fought heroically. Several times a day they repelled enemy attacks. Retreating to the east, they exhausted the protshshik. In these unequal battles, the brigade lost all its tanks. But the warriors did not stop fighting. Armed with rifles and machine guns, they continued to fight.

The escape route of the remaining tankers in the brigade passed through Latvia to the Pskov region. Pankratov at this time led reconnaissance groups that penetrated the location of enemy troops; He also fought as a sniper. The battalion commander admired his courage.

On the retreat route, the remnants of the brigade joined the 28th Tank Division, which was then commanded by Colonel I. D. Chernyakhovsky, a later famous commander. There were no cars in the division. But the tankers continued to fight, defending every inch of their native land. They were shooters, snipers, machine gunners, and destroyers of enemy tanks.

The political instructor often made his way behind enemy lines and brought back valuable intelligence information. The number of notches on the butt of his sniper rifle grew - the number of killed fascists.

Here is ancient Novgorod. Pankratov came to its walls from the very border. Standing in front of the “Millennium of Russia” monument, he thought that from here the Nazis would attack Leningrad, and this could not be allowed.

The political instructor, together with his unit, fought bravely on the streets of Novgorod.

Trying to break through to Leningrad, the enemy crossed the Maly Volkhovets River on August 23 and penetrated the division’s defenses near the village of Spas-Nereditsa. It was necessary to knock him out. The company's attack was led by a political instructor. With an exclamation: “Forward! For the Motherland! — was the first to rush at the enemy. Behind him, as one, the whole company rose. Many Nazis were killed, and the survivors fled across the river.

The next day, Pankratov took part in the storming of the Kirillov Monastery. This monastery stood in the center of the island formed by the Maly Volkhovets and Levoshnya rivers, and towered over open terrain, which allowed the enemy to monitor the movement of our division and adjust the fire of batteries and mortars.

The offensive began before morning, in the darkness of the night. The company under the command of Lieutenant Platonov quickly and silently crossed to the island in boats. Making their way through the coastal tall grass and bushes, the fighters approached the monastery unnoticed. When the assault began, the enemy opened fire from machine guns and machine guns. Lieutenant Platonov was killed by an enemy bullet. The political instructor walking next to him took command of the detachment.

- Forward! Behind me! - he commanded.

Having made a dash, the fighters found themselves at the entrance gate. But the left flank machine gun prevented us from entering the monastery. Then the political instructor, rushing forward, threw a grenade at the firing point. The machine gun fell silent for a while. But then he opened furious fire again. Pankratov with the exclamation “Forward!” rushed to the machine gun and covered it with his body, allowing the company to break through into the monastery.

...On the bank of Maly Volkhovets there is an obelisk in honor of the feat of Alexander Pankratov. People stop at the obelisk to honor the memory of the hero. The land surrounding the obelisk is sacred to the Soviet people: here the first feat of great courage was accomplished, becoming an example for the soldiers who extinguished the fire of enemy machine guns with their chests.

The first to rush into the enemy embrasure

Born on March 10, 1917 in the village of Abakshino - now the territory of the Oktyabrsky village council of the Vologda region. The family raised four children. They lived poorly. Having lost his father at the age of five, the boy went through a harsh school of life. He learned to read early, graduated with honors from the Rakhulevskaya elementary school, and then the Agafonovskaya school for working youth (now within the boundaries of the village of Molochnoe). In 1931, Alexander goes to Vologda and enters the 7th grade, while simultaneously studying for electrician courses. At the end of 1934, he graduated from the Federal Educational Institution of the Northern Communard plant with a degree in metal lathe. Since February 1935, he has worked as a turner in the fire assembly shop of the Vologda Steam Locomotive Repair Plant, actively participates in the Stakhanov movement, and attends OSOAVIAKHIM circles. In October 1938, Alexander Pankratov was drafted into the Red Army. The service begins in the 32nd training battalion of the 21st tank brigade, which was stationed in Smolensk. In his company, he was elected secretary of the Komsomol organization, and attended party school classes in the evenings. His desire for study and political work was noticed. In August 1939, the young man was sent to Gomel for courses for junior political instructors of the Belarusian Military District. As one of the most capable cadets, in January 1940 he was transferred to the Smolensk Military-Political School. In April 1940 he was accepted into the ranks of the CPSU(b). January 18, 1941 A.K. Pankratov graduated from college and received the military rank of junior political instructor. Alexander Pankratov met the Great Patriotic War in the Baltic states. In the battles for the defense of Siauliai from June 23 to 27, 1941, as stated in the award sheet, “the junior political instructor of the company of the first battalion of the 125th tank regiment proved himself to be an exceptionally conscientious, courageous commander-educator.” A
Meanwhile, the enemy was approaching Novgorod. The most combat-ready military unit that opposed the Germans in the battles for the city in August 1941 was the 28th Tank Division of Colonel I.D. Chernyakhovsky - later a famous Soviet military leader. On August 15, 1941 alone, soldiers of the 28th Panzer Division repelled 13 German attacks. However, on August 19, the enemy managed to break into the northeastern outskirts of Novgorod. Intelligence established that the Germans had created an observation post within the walls of the Kirillov Monastery, from where they adjusted their artillery fire. On the night of August 24-25, the 125th Tank Regiment was given the task of secretly crossing the Maly Volkhovets River and capturing the monastery with a surprise attack. This task was entrusted to the company of Lieutenant Platonov, in which the junior
The political instructor was Alexander Pankratov. However, the expectation of surprise did not justify itself; the Nazis met our fighters with heavy machine-gun fire. The company commander was killed, the soldiers lay down. Having assessed the situation, junior political instructor Pankratov crawled to the enemy machine gun and threw grenades at it. The enemy machine-gun crew stopped firing for some time, but soon resumed it with renewed vigor. The advance of the soldiers of the company of junior political instructor Alexander stopped again, and many dead and wounded appeared on the battlefield. Then our fellow countryman shouted “Forward!” made a sharp jerk towards the enemy embrasure and covered the flame-belching machine gun barrel with his chest. The company immediately went on the attack and broke into the monastery. The government highly appreciated the feat of a native of Vologda. On March 16, 1942, he was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. On November 19, 1965, near Novgorod, on the western bank of the Maly Volkhovets River, an obelisk was erected in honor of the feat of Alexander Pankratov. In Vologda, on one of the houses on Pankratov Street, a memorial plaque with a bas-relief of the hero was installed. In front of the building of the former FZU on Chernyshevsky Street, where the Museum of Vocational Education is now located, there is a stele with the inscription: “Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Konstantinovich Pankratov studied here.” The immortal feat of our fellow countryman cannot be forgotten; he will forever go down in the history of the Great Patriotic War.

The memory of Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Pankratov was honored in Veliky Novgorod

On the occasion of Defender of the Fatherland Day, a rally was held at the monument to Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Pankratov with the participation of veterans, youth and representatives of the Moscow historical research club “SV - Search”.
The example of the feat of Alexander Pankratov, who was the first to throw himself into the embrasure of a German machine gun on August 24, 1941, was later repeated more than 400 times during the Great Patriotic War to save others. And the heroic act itself was named Alexander Matrosov - the story about him turned out to be a little more famous. However, historians have dotted the i's - the name of Alexander Pankratov has actually returned from oblivion. Students of the 8th school have been collecting and supplementing information about the hero for more than half a century, corresponding with relatives, and organizing search operations in battlefields. For representatives of the Moscow club “SV-Poisk”, participation in the rally is a kind of duty of honor, even a very young cadet of the Alexander Nevsky Cadet Corps Daniil Karpunin was part of the group, for him the name Alexander Pankratov sounded for the first time, the older participants of the Moscow delegation have long known about the feat hero. Moreover, now others are being introduced to this story. A wreath and red carnations were laid at the stele in memory of Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Pankratov. On the same day, participants of the Moscow club “SV-Poisk” took part in the “Ski landing” on the ice of Lake Ilmen in memory of the soldiers of the 19th Yakut rifle brigade.
Yuri Levikov

The truth about the feat

The Vologda Regional Scientific Universal Library hosted a Lesson of Courage “The Truth about Feat,” dedicated to the 95th anniversary of the birth of Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Konstantinovich Pankratov.
The head of the search club from Moscow “SV-Poisk” Sergei Valentinovich Zvyagin spoke about significant and little-known events from the life of the Hero, his self-sacrifice in the name of life and Victory. The club he heads operates within the framework of the military-patriotic program “Forgotten Names of Russia.” Search work is carried out in archives, libraries, and expeditions. The complete list of people who accomplished the feat that bears the name of Alexander Matrosov in history is still not known. The figure is known - “more than 400”, and the first of them was Alexander Pankratov. The genuine interest of those gathered in the hall, most of whom were young people - students of secondary vocational educational institutions, was aroused by the story about their peers who covered the embrasures of fascist bunkers with their bodies. Perhaps that is why, at the end of the Lesson of Courage, several young people immediately signed up for the search club “SV - Poisk”, which is preparing a new expedition this summer.
The daughter of Hero of the Soviet Union L.A. Cheremnova, Raisa Leontyevna Cheremnova, was present at the event as an honorary guest.

Alexander Konstantinovich Pankratov- (March 10, 1917, Abakshino village, Vologda province - August 24, 1941, Novgorod). Hero of the Soviet Union, junior political instructor of a tank company of the 28th tank division. He was the first in history to cover an enemy machine gun with his body.

Alexander Pankratov was born in the village of Abakshino, Vologda region. In addition to him, the family raised three more children. At the age of five he lost his father.

junior political instructor, awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on March 16, 1942, the first in the history of the Great Patriotic War to perform a feat of self-sacrifice (in 1941 he closed the embrasure with his chest)

Date of birth: 03/10/1917
Place of birth: Abakshino village, Oktyabrsky s/s, Vologda district
Date of death: 08/24/1941

(03/10/1917, village of Abakshino, Vologda district - 08/24/1941, near Novgorod)

On August 24, 1941, the political instructor of the company of the 125th Tank Regiment of the 28th Tank Division of the North-Western Front, in the battles near Novgorod, rushed at an enemy machine gun and blocked the enemy’s destructive fire with his chest. In the history of the Great Patriotic War, this was the first act of such self-sacrifice, which was subsequently repeated by more than 200 soldiers. Alexander Matrosov, whose feat in the fall of 1943 the Soviet press, familiar with the corresponding order of Stalin, called “an example of valor and heroism for all soldiers,” was the 59th who stepped into immortality at the cost of his own life.

Alexander Pankratov was born on March 10, 1917 in the village of Abakshino - now the territory of the Oktyabrsky village council of the Vologda region. The family raised four children. They lived poorly. Having lost his father at the age of five, the boy went through a harsh school of life. He learned to read early, graduated with honors from the Rakhulevskaya elementary school, and then the Agafonovskaya school for working youth (now within the boundaries of the village of Molochnoe). In 1931, Alexander goes to Vologda and enters the 7th grade, while simultaneously studying for electrician courses. At the end of 1934 he graduated from the Federal Educational Institution of the Northern Communard plant with a degree in metal lathe. Since February 1935, he has been working as a turner in the fire assembly shop of the Vologda Steam Locomotive Repair Plant, actively participates in the Stakhanov movement, and attends OSOAVIAKHIM circles.

In October 1938, Alexander Pankratov was drafted into the Red Army. The service begins in the 32nd training battalion of the 21st tank brigade, which was stationed in Smolensk. In his company, he was elected secretary of the Komsomol organization, and attended party school classes in the evenings. His desire for study and political work was noticed. In August 1939, the young man was sent to Gomel for courses for junior political instructors of the Belarusian Military District. As one of the most capable cadets, in January 1940 he was transferred to the Smolensk Military-Political School. In April 1940 he was accepted into the ranks of the CPSU(b). On January 18, 1941, A.K. Pankratov graduated from college and received the military rank of junior political instructor.

Alexander Pankratov met the Great Patriotic War in the Baltic states. In the battles for the defense of Siauliai from June 23 to 27, 1941, as the award sheet says, “the junior political instructor of the company of the first battalion of the 125th tank regiment proved himself to be an exceptionally conscientious, courageous commander-educator.” Meanwhile, the enemy was approaching Novgorod. The most combat-ready military unit that opposed the Germans in the battles for the city in August 1941 was the 28th Tank Division of Colonel I. D. Chernyakhovsky, later a famous Soviet military leader. On August 15, 1941 alone, soldiers of the 28th Panzer Division repelled 13 German attacks. However, on August 19, the enemy managed to break into the northeastern outskirts of Novgorod. Intelligence established that the Germans had created an observation post within the walls of the Kirillov Monastery, from where they adjusted their artillery fire. On the night of August 24-25, the 125th tank regiment was given the task of secretly crossing the Maly Volkhovets River and capturing the monastery with a surprise attack. This task was entrusted to the company of Lieutenant Platonov, in which Alexander Pankratov was the junior political instructor. However, the expectation of surprise did not justify itself; the Nazis met our fighters with heavy machine-gun fire. The company commander was killed, the soldiers lay down. Having assessed the situation, junior political instructor Pankratov crawled to the enemy machine gun and threw grenades at it. The enemy machine-gun crew stopped firing for some time, but soon resumed it with renewed vigor. The advance of the soldiers of the company of junior political instructor Alexander stopped again, and many dead and wounded appeared on the battlefield. Then our fellow countryman shouted “Forward!” made a sharp jerk towards the enemy embrasure and covered the flame-belching machine gun barrel with his chest. The company immediately went on the attack and broke into the monastery.

The government highly appreciated the feat of a native of Vologda. On March 16, 1942, he was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

On November 19, 1965, near Novgorod, on the western bank of the Maly Volkhovets River, an obelisk was erected in honor of the feat of Alexander Pankratov. In Vologda, on one of the houses on Pankratov Street, a memorial plaque with a bas-relief of the hero was installed. In front of the building of the former FZU on Chernyshevsky Street, where the Museum of Vocational Education is now located, there is a stele with the inscription: “Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Konstantinovich Pankratov studied here.” The immortal feat of our fellow countryman cannot be forgotten; he will forever go down in the history of the Great Patriotic War.

Literature:

Vologda residents are Heroes of the Soviet Union. – Vologda, 1959;

Shkaderevich M.I. The immortal feat of Alexander Matrosov. – M., 1973. – P. 63–65;

Legostaev I. Throw into immortality. – Tallinn, 1978;

Last letters from the front. – M., 1991;

Orlov V.N. Feat in the name of Victory. – Vologda, 2000.

V.B.Konasov

From letters of A.K. Pankratov to his mother Alexandra Nikandrovna Pankratova:

“How quickly time flies. It seems that just recently I was standing at a machine, and today I have already graduated from military school. The gray-haired honored general, shaking hands, gave the order: “Take care of your Motherland, we have only one!” (Alexandra Nikandrovna received this letter with a photograph of her son in the winter of 1940).

“Don't worry, mom! We will defeat the fascists anyway, and if I have to die, I will die.”

Last letters from the front. – M., 1991. – P.123–124.

From a letter from fellow soldiers Alexander Pankratov to his mother:“He died a hero’s death, having accomplished an unprecedented feat. The soldiers and commanders of our unit keep the name of the glorious hero in their hearts with great love.”

Orlova V.N. Feat in the name of Victory. – Vologda, 2000. – P. 23.

“...Junior political instructor Alexander Pankratov died the death of the brave. With his body he covered the enemy machine gun, from which the German officer began to fire at the detachment, armed only with rifles. The soldiers brutally took revenge on the fascists for the death of the political instructor.”

Hero of the Soviet Union I.A. Kaberov:“...Many years later, the details of this feat and the name of the hero became known to me. And I also learned that Alexander Pankratov is my fellow countryman. This was the same Sasha Pankratov, with whom we studied together at the FZO school and worked at the Vologda Locomotive Repair Plant.”

Kaberov I.A. There's a swastika in sight. – L.: Lenizdat, 1975. – P.160.