Pioneers - heroes of the Second World War. Pioneer heroes during the Great Patriotic War Message about children pioneers

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Pioneer heroes

When the Great Patriotic War began, not only adult men and women joined the fighting line. Thousands of boys and girls, your peers, rose to defend the Motherland. They sometimes did things that strong men could not do. What guided them in that terrible time? Craving for adventure? Responsibility for the fate of your country? Hatred towards the occupiers? Probably all together. They accomplished a true feat. And we cannot help but remember the names of young patriots.

Lenya Golikov

He grew up as an ordinary village boy. When the German invaders occupied his native village of Lukino, in the Leningrad region, Lenya collected several rifles from the battlefields and obtained two bags of grenades from the Nazis to give them to the partisans. And he himself remained in the partisan detachment. He fought along with adults. At just over 10 years old, in battles with the invaders, Lenya personally destroyed 78 German soldiers and officers and blew up 9 vehicles with ammunition. He participated in 27 combat operations, the explosion of 2 railway and 12 highway bridges. On August 15, 1942, a young partisan blew up a German passenger car in which there was an important Nazi general. Lenya Golikov died in the spring of 1943 in an unequal battle. He was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Marat Kazei

Schoolboy Marat Kazei was just over 13 years old when he went to join the partisans with his sister. Marat became a scout. He made his way into enemy garrisons, looked out for where German posts, headquarters, and ammunition depots were located. The information he delivered to the detachment helped the partisans inflict heavy losses on the enemy. Like Golikov, Marat blew up bridges and derailed enemy trains. In May 1944, when the Soviet Army was already very close and the partisans were about to unite with it, Marat was ambushed. The teenager shot back until the last bullet. When Marat had only one grenade left, he let the enemies get closer and pulled the pin... Marat Kazei posthumously became a Hero of the Soviet Union.

Zinaida Portnova

In the summer of 1941, Leningrad schoolgirl Zina Portnova went on vacation to her grandmother in Belarus. There the war found her. A few months later, Zina joined the underground organization “Young Patriots”. Then she became a scout in the Voroshilov partisan detachment. The girl was distinguished by fearlessness, ingenuity and never lost heart. One day she was arrested. The enemies had no direct evidence that she was a partisan. Perhaps everything would have worked out if Portnova had not been identified by the traitor. She was tortured for a long time and cruelly. During one of the interrogations, Zina grabbed a pistol from the investigator and shot him and two other guards. She tried to escape, but the girl, exhausted from torture, did not have enough strength. She was captured and soon executed. Zinaida Portnova was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Valentin Kotik

At the age of 12, Valya, then a fifth-grader at the Shepetovskaya school, became a scout in a partisan detachment. He fearlessly made his way to the location of enemy troops, obtaining valuable information for the partisans about security posts of railway stations, military warehouses, and the deployment of enemy units. He did not hide his joy when adults took him with them to a combat operation. Valya Kotik has blown up 6 enemy trains and many successful ambushes. He died at the age of 14 in an unequal battle with the Nazis. By that time, Valya Kotik already wore on his chest the Order of Lenin and the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, and the medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War,” 2nd degree. Such awards would honor even the commander of a partisan unit. And here is a boy, a teenager. Valentin Kotik was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Vasily Korobko

The partisan fate of a sixth-grader from the village of Pogoreltsy, Vasya Korobko, was unusual. He received his baptism of fire in the summer of 1941, covering with fire the withdrawal of our units. Consciously remained in the occupied territory. Once, at my own risk, I sawed down the bridge piles. The very first fascist armored personnel carrier that drove onto this bridge collapsed from it and became inoperable. Then Vasya became a partisan. The detachment blessed him to work at Hitler's headquarters. There, no one could even imagine that the silent stoker and cleaner perfectly remembers all the icons on enemy maps and catches German words familiar from school. Everything that Vasya learned became known to the partisans. Once the punitive forces demanded that Korobko lead them to the forest from where the partisans were making forays. And Vasily led the Nazis to the police ambush. In the dark, the punishers mistook the police for partisans and opened fire on them, destroying many traitors to the Motherland.

Subsequently, Vasily Korobko became an excellent demolitionist and took part in the destruction of 9 echelons of enemy personnel and equipment. He died while carrying out another partisan mission. The exploits of Vasily Korobko were awarded the Order of Lenin, the Red Banner, the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, and the medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War,” 1st degree.

Vitya Khomenko

Like Vasily Korobko, seventh-grader Vitya Khomenko pretended to serve the occupiers while working in the officers' canteen. I washed dishes, heated the stove, and wiped tables. And I remembered everything that the Wehrmacht officers, relaxed by Bavarian beer, talked about. The information obtained by Victor was highly valued in the underground organization “Nikolaev Center”. The Nazis noticed the smart, efficient boy and made him a messenger at headquarters. Naturally, the partisans became aware of everything contained in the documents that fell into the hands of Khomenko.

Vasya died in December 1942, tortured by enemies who became aware of the boy’s connections with the partisans. Despite the most terrible torture, Vasya did not reveal to the enemies the location of the partisan base, his connections and passwords. Vitya Khomenko was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.

Galya Komleva

In the Luga district of the Leningrad region, the memory of the brave young partisan Galya Komleva is honored. She, like many of her peers during the war years, was a scout, supplying the partisans with important information. The Nazis tracked down Komleva, captured her, and threw her into a cell. Two months of continuous interrogations, beatings, and abuse. They demanded that Gali name the names of the partisan contacts. But the torture did not break the girl; she did not utter a word. Galya Komleva was mercilessly shot. She was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.

Utah Bondarovskaya

The war found Utah on vacation with his grandmother. Just yesterday she was playing carefree with her friends, and today circumstances demanded that she take up arms. Utah was a liaison officer and then a scout in a partisan detachment that operated in the Pskov region. Dressed as a beggar boy, the fragile girl wandered around enemy lines, memorizing the location of military equipment, security posts, headquarters, and communications centers. Adults would never be able to deceive the enemy's vigilance so cleverly. In 1944, in a battle near an Estonian farm, Yuta Bondarovskaya died a heroic death along with her older comrades. Utah was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st class, and the medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War,” 1st class.

Volodya Dubinin

Legends were told about him: how Volodya led an entire detachment of Nazis tracking down partisans in the Crimean quarries by the nose; how he slipped like a shadow past reinforced enemy posts; how could he remember, down to one soldier, the number of several Nazi units located in different places at once... Volodya was the partisans’ favorite, their common son. But war is war, it spares neither adults nor children. The young intelligence officer died when he was blown up by a fascist mine while returning from his next mission. The commander of the Crimean Front, having learned about the death of Volodya Dubinin, gave the order to posthumously award the young patriot the Order of the Red Banner.

Sasha Kovalev

He was a graduate of the Solovetsky Jung School. Sasha Kovalev received his first order - the Order of the Red Star - for the fact that the engines of his torpedo boat No. 209 of the Northern Fleet never failed during 20 combat trips to sea. The young sailor was awarded the second, posthumous award - the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree - for a feat of which an adult has the right to be proud. This was in May 1944. While attacking a fascist transport ship, Kovalev’s boat received a hole in the collector from a shell fragment. Boiling water was gushing out of the torn casing; the engine could stall at any minute. Then Kovalev closed the hole with his body. Other sailors came to his aid, and the boat continued to move. But Sasha died. He was 15 years old.

Nina Kukoverova

She began her war against the Nazis by distributing leaflets in a village occupied by enemies. Her leaflets contained truthful reports from the fronts, which instilled in people faith in victory. The partisans entrusted Nina with intelligence work. She did an excellent job with all tasks. The Nazis decided to put an end to the partisans. A punitive detachment entered one of the villages. But its exact numbers and weapons were not known to the partisans. Nina volunteered to scout out the enemy forces. She remembered everything: where and how many sentries, where the ammunition was stored, how many machine guns the punishers had. This information helped the partisans defeat the enemy.

While performing her next task, Nina was betrayed by a traitor. She was tortured. Having achieved nothing from Nina, the Nazis shot the girl. Nina Kukoverova was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.

Marx Krotov

Our pilots, who were ordered to bomb the enemy airfield, were eternally grateful to this boy with such an expressive name. The airfield was located in the Leningrad region, near Tosno, and was carefully guarded by the Nazis. But Marx Krotov managed to get close to the airfield unnoticed and give our pilots a light signal.

Focusing on this signal, the bombers accurately attacked targets and destroyed dozens of enemy aircraft. And before that, Marx collected food for the partisan detachment and handed it over to the forest fighters.

Marx Krotov was captured by a Nazi patrol when he, together with other schoolchildren, was once again aiming our bombers at the target. The boy was executed on the shores of Lake Belye in February 1942.

Albert Kupsha

Albert was the same age and comrade of Marx Krotov, whom we have already talked about. Together with them, Kolya Ryzhov took revenge on the invaders. The guys collected weapons, handed them over to the partisans, and led the Red Army soldiers out of encirclement. But they accomplished their main feat on New Year's Eve 1942. On instructions from the partisan commander, the boys made their way to the Nazi airfield and, giving light signals, guided our bombers to the target. Enemy planes were destroyed. The Nazis tracked down the patriots and, after interrogation and torture, shot them on the shores of Lake Belye.

Sasha Kondratiev

Not all young heroes were awarded orders and medals for their courage. Many, having accomplished their feat, were not included in the award lists for various reasons. But the boys and girls did not fight the enemy for the sake of medals; they had another goal - to pay off the occupiers for their suffering Motherland.

In July 1941, Sasha Kondratyev and his comrades from the village of Golubkovo created their own squad of avengers. The guys got hold of weapons and began to act. First, they blew up a bridge on the road along which the Nazis were transporting reinforcements. Then they destroyed the house in which the enemies had set up a barracks, and soon they set fire to the mill where the Nazis ground grain. The last action of Sasha Kondratyev’s detachment was the shelling of an enemy aircraft circling over Lake Cheremenets. The Nazis tracked down the young patriots and captured them. After a bloody interrogation, the guys were hanged in the square in Luga.

Lara Mikheenko

Their destinies are as similar as drops of water. Study interrupted by the war, an oath to take revenge on the invaders until the last breath, partisan everyday life, reconnaissance raids on enemy rear lines, ambushes, explosions of trains. Except that death was different. Some were executed in public, others were shot in the back of the head in a remote basement.

Lara Mikheenko became a partisan intelligence officer. She found out the location of enemy batteries, counted the cars moving along the highway towards the front, remembered which trains and with what cargo arrived at Pustoshka station. Lara was betrayed by a traitor. The Gestapo did not make allowances for age - after a fruitless interrogation, the girl was shot. It happened on November 4, 1943. Lara Mikheenko was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.

Shura Kober

Nikolaev schoolboy Shura Kober, in the very first days of the occupation of the city where he lived, joined an underground organization. His task was to reconnaissance of the redeployment of Nazi troops. Shura completed every task quickly and accurately. When a radio transmitter in a partisan detachment failed, Shura was tasked with crossing the front line and contacting Moscow. What crossing the front line is, only those who have done it know: countless posts, ambushes, the risk of coming under fire from both strangers and their own. Shura, having successfully overcome all obstacles, brought invaluable information about the location of Nazi troops in the front line. After some time, he returned to the partisans, again crossing the front line. Fought. I went on reconnaissance missions. In November 1942, the boy was betrayed by a provocateur. He was one of 10 underground members who was executed in the city square.

Sasha Borodulin

Already in the winter of 1941, he wore the Order of the Red Banner on his tunic. There was a reason for it. Sasha, together with the partisans, fought the Nazis in open battle, participated in ambushes, and went on reconnaissance more than once.

The partisans were unlucky: the punishers tracked down the detachment and encircled them. For three days the partisans evaded pursuit and broke through the encirclement. But the punishers again and again blocked their path. Then the detachment commander called 5 volunteers, who were supposed to cover the withdrawal of the main partisan forces with fire. At the commander’s call, Sasha Borodulin was the first to step out of the ranks. The brave five managed to delay the punitive forces for some time. But the partisans were doomed. Sasha was the last to die, stepping towards the enemies with a grenade in his hands.

Vitya Korobkov

12-year-old Vitya was next to his father, army intelligence officer Mikhail Ivanovich Korobkov, who was operating in Feodosia. Vitya helped his father as much as he could and carried out his military orders. It happened that he himself took the initiative: he posted leaflets, obtained information about the location of enemy units. He was arrested along with his father on February 18, 1944. There was very little time left before our troops arrived. The Korobkovs were thrown into the Old Crimean prison, and they extorted testimony from the intelligence officers for 2 weeks. But all the efforts of the Gestapo were in vain.

How many were there?

We talked about only a few of those who, before reaching adulthood, gave their lives in the fight against the enemy. Thousands, tens of thousands of boys and girls sacrificed themselves for victory.

There is a one-of-a-kind museum in Kursk, where unique information about the fate of children of war is collected. Museum staff managed to identify more than 10 thousand names of sons and daughters of regiments and young partisans. There are absolutely amazing human stories.

Tanya Savicheva. She lived in besieged Leningrad. Dying of hunger, Tanya gave the last crumbs of bread to other people, with the last of her strength she carried sand and water to the city attics so that she would have something to extinguish incendiary bombs. Tanya kept a diary in which she talked about how her family was dying of hunger, cold, and disease. The last page of the diary remained unfinished: Tanya herself died.

Maria Shcherbak. She went to the front at the age of 15 under the name of her brother Vladimir, who died at the front. She became a machine gunner in the 148th Infantry Division. Maria ended the war as a senior lieutenant, holder of four orders.

Arkady Kamanin. He was a graduate of an air regiment; at the age of 14 he first boarded a combat aircraft. He flew as a gunner-radio operator. Liberated Warsaw, Budapest, Vienna. He earned 3 orders. 3 years after the war, Arkady, when he was only 18 years old, died from wounds.

Zhora Smirnitsky. At the age of 9 he became a fighter in the Red Army and received weapons. He acted as a liaison officer and went on reconnaissance missions behind the front line. At the age of 10 he received the rank of junior sergeant, and on the eve of the victory he received his first high award - the Order of Glory, 3rd degree...

How many were there? How many young patriots fought the enemy along with adults? Nobody knows this for sure. Many commanders, in order not to get into trouble, did not enter the names of young soldiers into company and battalion lists. But this did not make the heroic mark they left on our military history any paler.

Twelve of several thousand examples of unparalleled childhood courage
Young heroes of the Great Patriotic War - how many were there? If you count - how could it be otherwise?! - the hero of every boy and every girl whom fate brought to war and made soldiers, sailors or partisans, then tens, if not hundreds of thousands.

According to official data from the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense (TsAMO) of Russia, during the war there were over 3,500 military personnel under the age of 16 in combat units. At the same time, it is clear that not every unit commander who took the risk of raising a son of the regiment found the courage to declare his pupil on command. You can understand how their father-commanders, who actually served as fathers to many, tried to hide the age of the little fighters by looking at the confusion in the award documents. On yellowed archival sheets, the majority of underage military personnel clearly indicate an inflated age. The real one became clear much later, after ten or even forty years.

But there were also children and teenagers who fought in partisan detachments and were members of underground organizations! And there were much more of them: sometimes whole families joined the partisans, and if not, then almost every teenager who found himself on the occupied land had someone to avenge.

So “tens of thousands” is far from an exaggeration, but rather an understatement. And, apparently, we will never know the exact number of young heroes of the Great Patriotic War. But this is no reason not to remember them.

The boys walked from Brest to Berlin

The youngest of all known little soldiers - at least according to documents stored in military archives - can be considered a graduate of the 142nd Guards Rifle Regiment of the 47th Guards Rifle Division, Sergei Aleshkin. In archival documents you can find two certificates of awarding a boy who was born in 1936 and ended up in the army on September 8, 1942, shortly after the punitive forces shot his mother and older brother for connections with the partisans. The first document, dated April 26, 1943, is about awarding him the medal “For Military Merit” due to the fact that “Comrade. ALESHKIN, the favorite of the regiment,” “with his cheerfulness, love for his unit and those around him, in extremely difficult moments, inspired cheerfulness and confidence in victory.” The second, dated November 19, 1945, is about awarding students of the Tula Suvorov Military School with the medal “For Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945”: in the list of 13 Suvorov students, Aleshkin’s name comes first.

But still, such a young soldier is an exception even for wartime and for a country where the entire people, young and old, rose up to defend the Motherland. Most of the young heroes who fought at the front and behind enemy lines were on average 13–14 years old. The very first of them were defenders of the Brest Fortress, and one of the sons of the regiment - holder of the Order of the Red Star, Order of Glory III degree and medal "For Courage" Vladimir Tarnovsky, who served in the 370th artillery regiment of the 230th rifle division - left his autograph on the Reichstag wall in victorious May 1945...

The youngest Heroes of the Soviet Union

These four names - Lenya Golikov, Marat Kazei, Zina Portnova and Valya Kotik - have been the most famous symbol of the heroism of the young defenders of our Motherland for over half a century. Having fought in different places and having accomplished feats of different circumstances, they were all partisans and all were posthumously awarded the country's highest award - the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Two - Lena Golikov and Zina Portnova - were 17 years old by the time they showed unprecedented courage, two more - Valya Kotik and Marat Kazei - were only 14.

Lenya Golikov was the first of the four to receive the highest rank: the decree on the assignment was signed on April 2, 1944. The text says that Golikov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union “for exemplary execution of command assignments and demonstrated courage and heroism in battle.” And indeed, in less than a year - from March 1942 to January 1943 - Lenya Golikov managed to take part in the defeat of three enemy garrisons, in the blowing up of more than a dozen bridges, in the capture of a German major general with secret documents... And died heroically in battle near the village of Ostray Luka, without waiting for a high reward for the capture of a strategically important “tongue”.

Zina Portnova and Valya Kotik were awarded the titles of Heroes of the Soviet Union 13 years after the Victory, in 1958. Zina was awarded for the courage with which she conducted underground work, then served as a liaison between the partisans and the underground, and ultimately endured inhuman torment, falling into the hands of the Nazis at the very beginning of 1944. Valya - based on the totality of his exploits in the ranks of the Shepetovka partisan detachment named after Karmelyuk, where he came after a year of work in an underground organization in Shepetivka itself. And Marat Kazei received the highest award only in the year of the 20th anniversary of the Victory: the decree conferring on him the title of Hero of the Soviet Union was promulgated on May 8, 1965. For almost two years - from November 1942 to May 1944 - Marat fought as part of the partisan formations of Belarus and died, blowing up both himself and the Nazis surrounding him with the last grenade.

Over the past half century, the circumstances of the exploits of the four heroes have become known throughout the country: more than one generation of Soviet schoolchildren has grown up on their example, and even today’s children are certainly told about them. But even among those who did not receive the highest award, there were many real heroes - pilots, sailors, snipers, scouts and even musicians.

Sniper Vasily Kurka

The war found Vasya a sixteen-year-old teenager. In the very first days he was mobilized to the labor front, and in October he achieved enrollment in the 726th Infantry Regiment of the 395th Infantry Division. At first, the boy of non-conscription age, who also looked a couple of years younger than his age, was left in the wagon train: they say, there is nothing for teenagers to do on the front line. But soon the guy achieved his goal and was transferred to a combat unit - to a sniper team.

Vasily Kurka. Photo: Imperial War Museum

Pilot Arkady Kamanin

15-year-old Arkady Kamanin arrived at the location of the 5th Guards Attack Air Corps with his father, who had been appointed commander of this illustrious unit. The pilots were surprised to learn that the son of the legendary pilot, one of the seven first Heroes of the Soviet Union, a participant in the Chelyuskin rescue expedition, would work as an aircraft mechanic in a communications squadron. But they soon became convinced that the “general’s son” did not live up to their negative expectations at all. The boy did not hide behind the back of his famous father, but simply did his job well - and strived towards the sky with all his might.

Sergeant Kamanin in 1944. Photo: war.ee

Ten-year-old Yura ended up in the army by accident. In July 1941, he went to show the retreating Red Army soldiers a little-known ford on the Western Dvina and did not have time to return to his native Vitebsk, where the Germans had already entered. So he left with his unit to the east, all the way to Moscow, from there to begin the return journey to the west.

Yuri Zhdanko. Photo: russia-reborn.ru

By February 1944, the chest of the 13-year-old intelligence officer was decorated with the medal “For Courage” and the Order of the Red Star. But a shell that exploded literally under his feet interrupted Yura’s front-line career. He ended up in the hospital, from where he was sent to the Suvorov Military School, but did not pass due to health reasons. Then the retired young intelligence officer retrained as a welder and on this “front” he also managed to become famous, having traveled almost half of Eurasia with his welding machine - building pipelines.

Infantryman Anatoly Komar

Among the 263 Soviet soldiers who covered enemy embrasures with their bodies, the youngest was 15-year-old private of the 332nd reconnaissance company of the 252nd rifle division of the 53rd army of the 2nd Ukrainian Front, Anatoly Komar. The teenager joined the active army in September 1943, when the front came close to his native Slavyansk. This happened to him in almost the same way as to Yura Zhdanko, with the only difference being that the boy served as a guide not to the retreating, but to the advancing Red Army soldiers. Anatoly helped them go deep into the German front line, and then left with the advancing army to the west.

Young partisan. Photo: Imperial War Museum

In the cracked photograph, a boy of about ten stands against the backdrop of sailors in black uniforms with ammunition boxes on their backs and the superstructure of a Soviet cruiser. His hands tightly grip a PPSh assault rifle, and on his head he wears a cap with a guards ribbon and the inscription “Tashkent.” This is a student of the crew of the leader of the Tashkent destroyers, Borya Kuleshin. The photo was taken in Poti, where, after repairs, the ship called for another load of ammunition for the besieged Sevastopol. It was here that twelve-year-old Borya Kuleshin appeared at the Tashkent gangplank. His father died at the front, his mother, as soon as Donetsk was occupied, was driven to Germany, and he himself managed to escape across the front line to his own and, together with the retreating army, reach the Caucasus.

Boris Kuleshin. Photo: weralbum.ru

Musician Petr Klypa

Fifteen-year-old student of the musical platoon of the 333rd Infantry Regiment, Pyotr Klypa, like other minor inhabitants of the Brest Fortress, had to go to the rear with the beginning of the war. But Petya refused to leave the fighting citadel, which, among others, was defended by his only relative - his older brother, Lieutenant Nikolai. So he became one of the first teenage soldiers in the Great Patriotic War and a full participant in the heroic defense of the Brest Fortress.

Peter Klypa. Photo: worldwar.com

He fought there until the beginning of July, until he received an order, together with the remnants of the regiment, to break through to Brest. This is where Petya's ordeal began. Having crossed the tributary of the Bug, he, along with other colleagues, was captured, from which he soon managed to escape. I got to Brest, lived there for a month and moved east, behind the retreating Red Army, but did not reach it. During one of the overnight stays, he and a friend were discovered by police, and the teenagers were sent to forced labor in Germany. Petya was released only in 1945 by American troops, and after verification he even managed to serve in the Soviet army for several months. And upon returning to his homeland, he again ended up in jail because he succumbed to the persuasion of an old friend and helped him speculate with the loot. Pyotr Klypa was released only seven years later. For this he had to thank the historian and writer Sergei Smirnov, who piece by piece recreated the history of the heroic defense of the Brest Fortress and, of course, did not miss the story of one of its youngest defenders, who, after his liberation, was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.

Pioneer heroes have always been the special pride of party ideologists and supporters of communism. These children were real examples for the younger generation, and the main focus was always on their proper upbringing in the USSR.

Teenagers in pioneer ties, who at different times accomplished feats in the name of the Soviet Motherland and the Communist Party, personified the high moral qualities of the Soviet man: steadfastness in the fight against an ideological enemy, unquestioning adherence to Lenin’s precepts, readiness to give his life for a common cause.

Every Soviet person knew the names of the most famous pioneer heroes. They were included in the Book of Honor of the Lenin Pioneer Organization (1954). The first in the list of names of pioneer heroes is the name of Pavlik Morozov, who was killed with his fists for helping Soviet power. Then no one doubted his feat.

Only years later did real facts about these young personalities begin to emerge. For example, that Pavlik Morozov was never a pioneer at all. Now many historians are arguing whether the legendary pioneer heroes existed at all or whether their images were invented for the sake of socialist propaganda.

Valya Kotik (1930-1944)

Valentin Kotik, a native of the village of Khmelevka (Ukraine), went straight to the front from the sixth grade of high school. Due to his young age, he was not accepted into armed units, so Valya joined the partisans. During the war years, many teenagers helped to defend their Motherland to the best of their ability.

The cat especially distinguished himself in this. He was wounded more than once. Over the years of service, he committed brave and desperate acts that saved his squad. Karmelyuk, in which he served. He was mortally wounded in the battle for Izyaslav. Posthumously Hero of the Soviet Union.

Lenya Golikov (1926-1943)

Leonid Golikov was born in the village of Lukino (Novgorod region). After finishing 7th grade, I went to work at a plywood factory. During the war, Lenya was also a partisan, and also a scout. Personally destroyed about eight dozen Germans, 2 fascist food warehouses, and a lot of equipment.

In 1942, a strange story happened to a boy. The commander of his detachment wrote a report to the commander about another feat of Golikov: on the Luga-Pskov highway, he blew up a Nazi car and shot German General Richard von Wirtz with a machine gun. A couple of years later it turned out that Wirtz was alive. His name appeared in many documents.

Leonid Golikov died in battle in the village of Ostray Luka. He is also a hero of the USSR and is included in the list of pioneer heroes, although he crossed the 15-year mark already at the beginning of the war.

Marat Kazei (1929-1944)

This pioneer hero was born in the Belarusian SSR, in the village of Stankovo. Marat's parents were activists and ardent communists. At the same time, both were subjected to repression and were arrested: the father - “for sabotage”, the mother - for sympathizing with the ideas of Trotskyism. During the war, Marat’s mother more than once hid partisans in the house and treated the wounded. She was hanged by the Germans for this.

The boy and his older sister Ariadne joined a partisan detachment, where they fought until their death. Kazei was a scout, participated in dangerous sabotage and raids against the Nazis. During the war years he distinguished himself with unparalleled courage; seriously wounded, he raised the soldiers to attack.

Marat died in the village of Khoromitskiye, where he was supposed to meet with a contact. His comrade was killed immediately. Kazei found himself surrounded alone. When the cartridges ran out, he waited for the Nazis to come closer and blew himself up with them with a grenade. Only 2 decades later he received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for his feat.

Volodya Dubinin (1927-1942)

Vladimir was born in Kerch; During the war he was also a partisan. For his colleagues, he became a real son of the regiment. Volodya was a skilled intelligence officer, had an excellent memory, and knew how to be invisible to the Nazis.

Since 2009, February 12 has been declared by the UN as International Day of Child Soldiers. This is the name given to minors who, due to circumstances, are forced to actively participate in wars and armed conflicts.

According to various sources, up to several tens of thousands of minors took part in the fighting during the Great Patriotic War. “Sons of the regiment”, pioneer heroes - they fought and died along with adults. For military merits they were awarded orders and medals. The images of some of them were used in Soviet propaganda as symbols of courage and loyalty to the Motherland.

Five minor fighters of the Great Patriotic War were awarded the highest award - the title of Hero of the USSR. All - posthumously, remaining in textbooks and books by children and teenagers. All Soviet schoolchildren knew these heroes by name. Today RG recalls their short and often similar biographies.

Marat Kazei, 14 years old

Member of the partisan detachment named after the 25th anniversary of the October Revolution, scout at the headquarters of the 200th partisan brigade named after Rokossovsky in the occupied territory of the Belarusian SSR.

Marat was born in 1929 in the village of Stankovo, Minsk region of Belarus, and managed to graduate from the 4th grade of a rural school. Before the war, his parents were arrested on charges of sabotage and “Trotskyism,” and numerous children were “scattered” among their grandparents. But the Kazey family was not angry with the Soviet regime: In 1941, when Belarus became an occupied territory, Anna Kazey, the wife of the “enemy of the people” and the mother of little Marat and Ariadne, hid wounded partisans in her home, for which she was executed by the Germans. And the brother and sister joined the partisans. Ariadne was subsequently evacuated, but Marat remained in the detachment.

Along with his senior comrades, he went on reconnaissance missions - both alone and with a group. Participated in raids. He blew up the echelons. For the battle in January 1943, when, wounded, he roused his comrades to attack and made his way through the enemy ring, Marat received the medal "For Courage".

And in May 1944, while performing another mission near the village of Khoromitskiye, Minsk Region, a 14-year-old soldier died. Returning from a mission together with the reconnaissance commander, they came across the Germans. The commander was killed immediately, and Marat, firing back, lay down in a hollow. There was nowhere to leave in the open field, and there was no opportunity - the teenager was seriously wounded in the arm. While there were cartridges, he held the defense, and when the magazine was empty, he took the last weapon - two grenades from his belt. He threw one at the Germans right away, and waited with the second: when the enemies came very close, he blew himself up along with them.

In 1965, Marat Kazei was awarded the title of Hero of the USSR.

Valya Kotik, 14 years old

Partisan reconnaissance in the Karmelyuk detachment, the youngest Hero of the USSR.

Valya was born in 1930 in the village of Khmelevka, Shepetovsky district, Kamenets-Podolsk region of Ukraine. Before the war, he completed five classes. In a village occupied by German troops, the boy secretly collected weapons and ammunition and handed them over to the partisans. And he fought his own little war, as he understood it: he drew and pasted caricatures of the Nazis in prominent places.

Since 1942, he contacted the Shepetivka underground party organization and carried out its intelligence orders. And in the fall of the same year, Valya and her boys the same age received their first real combat mission: to eliminate the head of the field gendarmerie.

"The roar of the engines became louder - the cars were approaching. The faces of the soldiers were already clearly visible. Sweat was dripping from their foreheads, half-covered by green helmets. Some soldiers carelessly took off their helmets. The front car came level with the bushes behind which the boys were hiding. Valya stood up, counting the seconds to himself The car passed, an armored car was already facing him. Then he stood up to his full height and, shouting “Fire!”, threw two grenades one after another... At the same time, explosions sounded from the left and right, and the front one quickly jumped to the ground. , threw themselves into a ditch and from there opened indiscriminate fire from machine guns,” is how a Soviet textbook describes this first battle. Valya then completed the task of the partisans: the head of the gendarmerie, Chief Lieutenant Franz Koenig and seven German soldiers died. About 30 people were injured.

In October 1943, the young soldier scouted out the location of the underground telephone cable of Hitler's headquarters, which was soon blown up. Valya also participated in the destruction of six railway trains and a warehouse.

On October 29, 1943, while at his post, Valya noticed that the punitive forces had staged a raid on the detachment. Having killed a fascist officer with a pistol, the teenager raised the alarm, and the partisans managed to prepare for battle. On February 16, 1944, five days after his 14th birthday, in the battle for the city of Izyaslav, Kamenets-Podolsk, now Khmelnitsky region, the scout was mortally wounded and died the next day.

In 1958, Valentin Kotik was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Lenya Golikov, 16 years old

Scout of the 67th detachment of the 4th Leningrad Partisan Brigade.

Born in 1926 in the village of Lukino, Parfinsky district, Novgorod region. When the war began, he got a rifle and joined the partisans. Thin and short, he looked even younger than 14 years old. Under the guise of a beggar, Lenya walked around the villages, collecting the necessary information about the location of the fascist troops and the amount of their military equipment, and then passed this information on to the partisans.

In 1942 he joined the detachment. “He took part in 27 combat operations, destroyed 78 German soldiers and officers, blew up 2 railway and 12 highway bridges, blew up 9 vehicles with ammunition... On August 12, in the new combat area of ​​the brigade, Golikov crashed a passenger car in which there was a major general of engineering troops Richard Wirtz, heading from Pskov to Luga,” such data is contained in his award certificate.

In the regional military archive, Golikov’s original report with a story about the circumstances of this battle has been preserved:

“On the evening of August 12, 1942, we, 6 partisans, got out onto the Pskov-Luga highway and lay down near the village of Varnitsa. There was no movement at night. It was dawn. A small passenger car appeared from the direction of Pskov. It was walking fast, but near the bridge, where We were there, the car was quieter. Partisan Vasiliev threw an anti-tank grenade, but Alexander Petrov threw the second grenade and hit the beam. The car did not stop immediately, but went another 20 meters and almost caught up with us. Two officers jumped out of the car. fired a burst from a machine gun. The officer sitting at the wheel ran across the ditch towards the forest. I fired several bursts from my PPSh. Petrov started shooting at the second officer, who kept looking around, screaming. Petrov shot back and killed this officer. Then the two of us ran to the first wounded officer, took the briefcase and documents. We barely dragged it into the bushes (150 meters from the highway). , we heard an alarm, a ringing, a scream in the neighboring village. Grabbing a briefcase, shoulder straps and three captured pistols, we ran to ours...”

For this feat, Lenya was nominated for the highest government award - the Gold Star medal and the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. But I didn’t have time to receive them. From December 1942 to January 1943, the partisan detachment in which Golikov was located fought fiercely out of encirclement. Only a few managed to survive, but Leni was not among them: he died in a battle with a punitive detachment of fascists on January 24, 1943 near the village of Ostraya Luka, Pskov region, before he turned 17 years old.

Sasha Chekalin, 16 years old

Member of the "Advanced" partisan detachment of the Tula region.

Born in 1925 in the village of Peskovatskoye, now Suvorovsky district, Tula region. Before the start of the war, he graduated from 8 classes. After the occupation of his native village by Nazi troops in October 1941, he joined the “Advanced” partisan destroyer detachment, where he managed to serve for only a little more than a month.

By November 1941, the partisan detachment inflicted significant damage on the Nazis: warehouses burned, cars exploded on mines, enemy trains derailed, sentries and patrols disappeared without a trace. One day, a group of partisans, including Sasha Chekalin, set up an ambush near the road to the city of Likhvin (Tula region). A car appeared in the distance. A minute passed and the explosion tore the car apart. Several more cars followed and exploded. One of them, crowded with soldiers, tried to get through. But a grenade thrown by Sasha Chekalin destroyed her too.

At the beginning of November 1941, Sasha caught a cold and fell ill. The commissioner allowed him to rest with a trusted person in the nearest village. But there was a traitor who gave him away. At night, the Nazis broke into the house where the sick partisan lay. Chekalin managed to grab the prepared grenade and throw it, but it did not explode... After several days of torture, the Nazis hanged the teenager in the central square of Likhvin and for more than 20 days they did not allow his corpse to be removed from the gallows. And only when the city was liberated from the invaders, the partisan Chekalin’s comrades-in-arms buried him with military honors.

The title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded to Alexander Chekalin in 1942.

Zina Portnova, 17 years old

Member of the underground Komsomol youth organization "Young Avengers", scout of the Voroshilov partisan detachment on the territory of the Belarusian SSR.

Born in 1926 in Leningrad, she graduated from 7 classes there and went on vacation to relatives in the village of Zuya, Vitebsk region of Belarus, for the summer holidays. There the war found her.

In 1942, she joined the Obol underground Komsomol youth organization “Young Avengers” and actively participated in distributing leaflets among the population and sabotage against the invaders.

Since August 1943, Zina has been a scout in the Voroshilov partisan detachment. In December 1943, she received the task of identifying the reasons for the failure of the Young Avengers organization and establishing contacts with the underground. But upon returning to the detachment, Zina was arrested.

During the interrogation, the girl grabbed the fascist investigator's pistol from the table, shot him and two other Nazis, tried to escape, but was captured.

From the book “Zina Portnova” by the Soviet writer Vasily Smirnov: “She was interrogated by the executioners who were the most sophisticated in cruel torture... They promised to save her life if only the young partisan confessed everything, named the names of all the underground fighters and partisans known to her. And again the Gestapo met with a surprising their unshakable firmness of this stubborn girl, who in their protocols was called the “Soviet bandit,” Zina, exhausted by torture, refused to answer questions, hoping that they would kill her faster.... Once in the prison yard, the prisoners saw a completely gray-haired girl when she They took me for another interrogation and torture, and threw herself under the wheels of a passing truck. But the car was stopped, the girl was pulled out from under the wheels and taken again for interrogation...”

On January 10, 1944, in the village of Goryany, now Shumilinsky district, Vitebsk region of Belarus, 17-year-old Zina was shot.

The title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded to Zinaida Portnova in 1958.