The exploits of the Russian army. The incredible feat of a soldier, which was appreciated even by the Nazis

Hero of the Battle of Kulikovo. The monk of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery Alexander Peresvet was drafted into the Russian squad by Dmitry Donskoy himself. The prince knew that "This Peresvet, when he was in the world, was a glorious hero, he had great strength and fortress." Having received the blessing of his abbot Sergius of Radonezh, the monk went to beat the Mongols with his brother, also a monk, Andrei Oslyabey, on the Kulikovo field. Before the battle, Peresvet prayed all night in the hermit's cell.

Enoch had to open the battle in a personal duel with the Tatar knight Chelubey. The latter was famous for his invincibility, as a duel warrior. Already on the Kulikovo field, before the start of the battle, Chelubey arrogantly challenged the best Russian heroes to a duel, but "no one dared to go against him, and everyone told his neighbor to come out, and no one went." Then a Russian monk volunteered: "This man is looking for an equal, but I want to meet him."

Peresvet was not dressed in battle armor - instead of a helmet and armor, he had only a schema with the image of a cross. According to Christian custom, the monk said goodbye to his fellow soldiers and asked Andrei Oslyablya and other soldiers to pray for him. Peresvet mounted his horse and, armed with a spear, rushed at the Tatar. The heroes collided with such terrible force that the spears broke, and both mighty warriors fell from their horses to the ground dead. But the death of the invincible Tatar knight gave additional strength to the Russian soldiers, and the Kulikovo battle was won. And Peresvet was canonized as a saint.

It is customary to associate the defense of the Fatherland only with the masculine gender. However, in Russian history there were female defenders who fought for Russia with no less courage. As a young girl in 1806, Nadezhda fled her noble nest to fight Napoleon. Dressing in a Cossack uniform and introducing herself as Alexander Durov, she managed to enter the Lancers. The girl participated in the battles of Fridlan and in the battle of Heilsberg, and in the battle with the French near the city of Gutstadt, Durova showed fantastic courage, and slept from the death of officer Panin. For her feat, Nadezhda was awarded the St. George Cross. True, at the same time, the main secret of Nadezhda was revealed, and soon Emperor Alexander I himself found out about the soldier. Nadezhda Andreevna was taken to the capital of the Russian Empire. With a courageous woman, Alexander I wished to meet personally. Durova's meeting with the emperor took place in December 1807. The emperor handed Durova the St. George Cross, and everyone was surprised at the courage and courage of the interlocutor. Alexander I intended to send Nadezhda to her parents' house, but she snapped - "I want to be a warrior!" The emperor was amazed, and left Nadezhda Durova in the Russian army, allowing her to introduce herself by her last name - Alexandrova, in honor of the emperor.

Nadezhda Durova began the war of 1812 with the rank of second lieutenant of the Ulansky regiment. Durova took part in many battles of that war. There was Nadezhda near Smolensk, Mir, Dashkovka, and there was also on the Borodino field. During the Battle of Borodino, Durov was at the forefront, was injured, but remained in the ranks.

Alexander Kazarsky

Hero of the Russian-Turkish war of 1828-1829. Commander of the 18-gun brig "Mercury". On May 14, 1829, the brig under the command of Alexander Kazarsky, who was on patrol near the Bosphorus, was overtaken by two Turkish ships of the line: the 100-gun Selemiye under the flag of the commander of the Turkish fleet and the 74-gun Real Bay. To oppose them "Mercury" could only eighteen small-caliber guns. The superiority of the enemy was more than thirtyfold! Seeing that the low-speed brig would not be able to get away from the Turkish ships, the commander of the "Mercury" gathered the officers for a military council. Everyone was unanimous in favor of the fight. Shouting "Hurrah!" met this decision and the sailors. In front of the hook-chamber, Kazarsky placed a loaded pistol. The last surviving member of the team was supposed to blow up the ship in order to avoid its capture by the enemy. The Russian brig fought for 3 hours with two huge ships of the Turkish fleet that overtook him. When Russian ships appeared on the horizon, Kazarsky unloaded a pistol lying near the hook-chamber into the air. Soon, the wounded but not defeated brig entered the Sevastopol Bay.

The victory of "Mercury" was so fantastic that some connoisseurs of naval art refused to believe it. The English historian F. Jane, having learned about the battle that had taken place, declared publicly: “It is absolutely impossible to allow such a small vessel as the Mercury to disable two battleships.”

Petr Koshka

Hero of the Sevastopol defense of 1854-1855. The fighting for the city did not stop day or night. At night, hundreds of volunteers staged sorties into the enemy's trenches, bringing "tongues", extracting valuable information, recapturing weapons and food from the enemy. Sailor Koshka became the most famous "night hunter" of Sevastopol. He participated in 18 night attacks and almost every night he will make single sorties into the camp of the enemy. During one of the night trips, he brought three captured French officers, who, armed with one knife (Koshka did not take any other weapon with him for night hunting), took them right away from the campfire. How many "languages" Koshka brought for the whole company, no one bothered to count. Ukrainian economy did not allow Peter Markovich to return empty-handed. He brought with him rifled English fittings, which fired farther and more accurately than smooth-bore Russian guns, tools, provisions, and once brought a boiled, still hot beef leg to the battery. The cat pulled this leg straight out of the enemy cauldron. It happened like this: the French were cooking soup and did not notice how the Cat got close to them. There were too many enemies to attack them with a cleaver, but the troublemaker could not resist, so as not to mock the enemy. He jumped up and yelled “Hurrah!!! Fight!!!". The French fled, and Peter took the meat from the cauldron, turned the cauldron over onto the fire and disappeared into the clouds of steam. A well-known case is how Koshka saved the body of his comrade, sapper Stepan Trofimov, from desecration. The French, mocking, put his half-naked corpse on the parapet of the trench and guarded him day and night. It was not possible to recapture the body of a comrade, but not for Peter Koshka. Having quietly crept up to the dead man, he put the body on his back and, in front of the astonished English, ran back. The enemy opened fire on the impudent sailor, but Koshka safely reached his trenches. Several enemy bullets hit the body he was carrying. For this feat, Rear Admiral Panfilov presented the sailor of the second article to promotion and to the Order of St. George.

During the Russo-Japanese War, Avvakum Nikolaevich Volkov became a full Knight of St. George. He received the first George Cross of the 4th degree for bravery at the beginning of the war. Just a few weeks later, when it was necessary to find out the location of the Japanese troops, Volkov, a trumpeter and bugler, volunteered to go on reconnaissance. Dressed in Chinese clothes, the young soldier reconnoitered the location of two large enemy detachments. But soon I came across a Japanese patrol of 20 dragoons led by an officer. The Japanese guessed who this unusual young Chinese was. Drawing a revolver from his bosom, the scout killed three dragoons with point-blank shots. And while the rest were trying to take him alive, Volkov jumped on the horse of one of the dead. A long chase, attempts to bypass and shooting did not bring success. Volkov broke away from his pursuers and safely returned to his regiment. For this feat, Avvakum Volkov was awarded the St. George Cross of the 3rd degree. In one of the battles, the wounded Avvakum is taken prisoner by the Japanese. After a short trial, he was sentenced to death. However, the soldier managed to escape that night. After ten days of exhausting wanderings in the remote taiga, Volkov returned to the regiment, and received the St. George Cross of the 2nd degree. But the war continued. And before the battle near Mukden, Volkov again volunteered for reconnaissance. This time, an experienced scout, having completed the task, removed the guard from the enemy powder magazine and blew it up. For a new feat, he received the St. George Cross of the 1st degree and became a full Knight of St. George.

Kozma Kryuchkov

During the First World War, the name of Kozma Kryuchkov was known throughout Russia. The brave Don Cossack flaunted on posters and leaflets, cigarette packs and postcards. Kryuchkov was the first to be awarded the St. George Cross, having received a 4th degree cross for the destruction of eleven Germans in battle. The regiment in which Kozma Kryuchkov served was stationed in Poland, in the town of Kalwaria. Having received an order from the authorities, Kryuchkov and three of his comrades went on guard patrol, and suddenly ran into a 27-man German uhlans. Despite the inequality of forces, the Don people did not even think of giving up. Kozma Kryuchkov tore the rifle off his shoulder, but in his haste he jerked the bolt too sharply, and the cartridge jammed. At the same moment, a German who approached him cut the Cossack's fingers with a saber, and the rifle flew to the ground. The Cossack drew his saber and entered into battle with 11 enemies surrounding him. After a minute of battle, Kozma was already covered in blood, while his own blows for the most part turned out to be fatal to enemies. When the Cossack's hand was "tired of chopping," Kryuchkov grabbed the pike of one of the lancers and pierced the last of the attackers one by one with German steel. By that time, his comrades had dealt with the rest of the Germans. 22 corpses lay on the ground, two more Germans were wounded and taken prisoner, and three fled. 16 wounds were later counted on the body of Kozma Kryuchkov.

Yakov Pavlov

Hero of the Battle of Stalingrad. On the evening of September 27, 1942, Yakov Pavlov received a combat mission from the company commander, Lieutenant Naumov, to reconnoiter the situation in a 4-story building in the city center, which had an important tactical position. This house went down in the history of the Battle of Stalingrad as "Pavlov's House". With three fighters, he managed to drive the Germans out of the building and completely capture it. Soon the group received reinforcements, ammunition and a telephone line. The Nazis continuously attacked the building, tried to smash it with artillery and air bombs. Skillfully maneuvering the forces of a small "garrison", Pavlov avoided heavy losses and defended the house for 58 days and nights, not allowing the enemy to break through to the Volga.

Usually, at the word knight, images arise in our minds that are familiar from childhood to the novels of Walter Scott or already from films about King Arthur and his knights of the round table. This is a heavily armed mounted warrior, defender of the weak and oppressed. And the events themselves take place in "good old England" or "sweet France".

However, historians have long established that heavily armed cavalry has been an integral part of the Russian army since the time of the Old Russian state. In this respect, the Russians were heirs to the traditions of the heavy cavalry of the Sarmatians-Alans. And the very word "knight" is Slavic, Old Russian - "knight", close to the word tsar, South Russian - "person, knight", Polish - "ruсerz". According to one version, this word goes back to the Indo-European words "lynx" - to ride, and "sar" - a noble person. According to another version, to the German word ritter - "horseman". In Europe, knights were not actually called knights. In France, these were chevalier (chevalier) - "riding a horse"; in Spain - caballero (caballero) - "rider, knight, nobleman" (from Latin caballarius "groom" from Latin caballus "horse"); in Italy - cavaliere ("cavalier"); in England - knight (from OE cniht "guy"); in Germany - ritter ("rider").

In Russia, most often these warriors were denoted by the word "hrabor" or "knight" (from the Indo-European "vidyati" - to win, Skt. Vijaya). The word knight was also widespread among other Slavic peoples: Bosnian, Slovenian, Croatian - vitez, Serbian - vitez.

As a result, a myth has developed that the real knights are “out there”, in the West. We liked to draw Russian soldiers with such simple-hearted, powerful heroes - "felt boots", who were taken more not by skill and knowledge, but by "silushka", or in general luck. These ideas go back to the 18th century, when there was a process of total revision of Russian, which was written in the interests of the West, often just Germans. The church also contributed, which instilled the idea that the Russian-Slavs have always been a “God-fearing”, meek, almost timid people. How did the “peaceful” and “God-fearing” Russians defend themselves in the conditions of constant war on the northwestern, western, southern and eastern borders, and even often internal wars, and then also occupy the territory, more than which no other people occupied ( meaning directly Russian territory, and not overseas colonies), with this view it remains a mystery.

If you study the texts of epics, annals, and the pages of the wars waged by the Russians, everything falls into place. There have never been any "peace-loving goons" (otherwise the Russians would simply not exist anymore, or they would live out their lives as part of a foreign state). It should be noted right away that in the military aspect, the Russian people are invincible. Even the last brief outbursts of his military activity, such as sending paratroopers to Pristina or defeating the Georgian army drilled by the best Western instructors, still cause hysteria and panic in the world. And this despite the fact that now the Russian giant is lulled by "fairy tales" about "world peace", the triumph of pacifism and humanism, and other nonsense. Russian warriors at all times knew how to very toughly defend the people's right to life, putting any enemy in their place.

The prince was at the head of the squad. It originally had four main functions. Firstly, the prince is a military leader, the protector of the tribe, the land-principality. This is his main task - to protect his people, if he could not cope with it, in the Old Russian state he could simply be expelled. Secondly, the duty of the prince is the “outfit”, that is, maintaining order in the territory entrusted to him. Thirdly, the prince performed a judicial function, within its framework such a monument of Russian law as "Russian Truth" appeared. Fourthly, the prince had sacred power, performed priestly functions before the adoption of Christianity. Left without a prince (later the tsar), the Russian people felt uncomfortable, they lost contact with heaven. No wonder Prince Vladimir carried out two religious reforms - he set up idols in 980, and in about 988 he converted to Christianity and began the baptism of Russia. And with the adoption of Christianity, the attitude towards the prince, as the high priest, almost did not change. It was the princes who were engaged in the promotion of Christianity to the masses. The first Russian saints were also princes. In the future, this view of princely power was strengthened by the Byzantine theory of the divine origin of power. This attitude was preserved in Muscovite Russia and the Russian Empire, where the church has always been in a subordinate position, in relation to the royal (imperial) power.

The prince always acted surrounded by a loyal squad, comrades-in-arms, comrades-in-arms, guards and the strike force of the entire Russian army. In the 9th-12th centuries, the prince and the squad is something inseparable, a single whole. Relations in the squad were similar to family relations and initially they were replaced, because the warrior who entered the squad lost contact with his clan and tribe. The word "team" is among all Slavic peoples. It comes from the word "friend" (one's own, assistant, comrade-in-arms).

The size of the squad could range from several tens to several thousand soldiers. However, these were selected professional soldiers, whose life was devoted only to military service (in the modern world, military special forces can be compared with them). If simple "howls" - militias, after completing the task - a campaign, repelling a raid, an invasion, went home and returned to their former lives as a farmer, artisan or hunter, then the combatants were professional warriors. According to the Arab traveler Ibn Fadlan from 922, together with the prince of Kyiv, "400 men from among the heroes, his associates, are in his castle." The squad of Svyatoslav Igorevich, with whom he crushed Khazaria and conquered Bulgaria, amounted to about 10 thousand fighters. The squad of his great-grandson, the son of Yaroslav the Wise - Svyatoslav II Yaroslavich, with whom he defeated the Polovtsian army, consisted of 3 thousand soldiers.

Based on the fact that the combatants were always at the forefront, meeting danger with their breasts, they received a privileged position. They received the best parts of war booty. The prince generously endowed warriors with gold and silver. At feasts, they ate from the best utensils and got the best cuts. Suffice it to recall the resentment of the combatants against Vladimir: “Woe to our heads: he gave us to eat with wooden spoons, not silver ones.” Hearing this, Vladimir ordered to look for silver spoons, saying: “I won’t find a squad with silver and gold, but with a squad I will get silver and gold, as my grandfather and father with a squad found gold and silver.” For Vladimir loved the squad and consulted with her about the structure of the country, and about the war, and about the laws of the country.

It should be noted that feasts with warriors played an important role at that time. The Russian feast was a real ritual action, going back to ancient times (apparently, from primitive hunters eating a hunted animal together), performing it, people felt they were part of a single clan, tribe, people. Sitting at the same table, everyone could feel like a part of a huge, powerful whole (feeling of unity).

With the development of the social system, by the XI-XII centuries. the squad is divided into two layers: the squad is the oldest, best, front, and the squad is young, younger. Senior warriors (princely men, boyars) began to receive not only movable valuables taken on campaigns, but also regular tributes from cities and settlements. They began to occupy the highest military and civil positions - posadniks, governors, thousandths, ambassadors, advisers to the prince, his near duma. A feudal system was taking shape, at the top of which was the prince. His direct vassals were senior boyars (some could descend from tribal princes), they received entire cities as volosts. Performing administrative, tax, judicial and military functions, they simultaneously received the right to "feed" from the territory under their control. The vassals of the senior boyars were petty boyars, and, possibly, junior combatants.

The younger squad included, apparently, several categories: children, youths, kits, grids, stepchildren, boyar children, swordsmen. As the feudal system developed, they ceased to be "friends" of the prince, becoming a military service estate. They could receive small villages for service and merit, from several households and in the future became "nobles".

The exact meaning of the ranks of the junior squad is unknown. So, there is an assumption that the bodyguards of the prince, who lived directly next to him, in grid houses, were called “grids”. "Swordsmen" were part of the immediate environment of the prince, performing various kinds of administrative functions. The word "kmeti" meant not only warriors, but also free community members. It is even more difficult with the “youths” (in translation, “who do not have the right to speak, vote”). This word originally denoted the junior member of the clan, who did not have the right to express his opinion in the council of adult men. According to the sources, it is clear that not all the youths were junior combatants, some of them served as yard servants. Therefore, there is an opinion that the youths constituted the lowest rank of the junior squad and performed official duties at the princely court. Perhaps some of them were "apprentices", children who underwent military training (some of them could be children of combatants). On the other hand, in the sources, the squad in general can be called youths. So, in the Tale of Bygone Years it is reported that when the Polovtsian invasion began: “Svyatopolk began to gather soldiers, intending to go against them. And the men said to him: "Do not try to go against them, for you have few soldiers," He said: "I have my 700 youths who can resist them."

Another category of the younger squad is "children's". They were higher in rank than the youths. They did not serve in the court, they could occupy high administrative posts. According to I. Ya. Froyanov, children of the nobility, boyars could make up a significant proportion of them (Froyanov I. Ya. Kievan Rus: Essays on socio-political history).

Thus, in the 12-13 centuries, the free squad of the times of “military democracy” began to lose mobility and turn into a feudal estate burdened with lands and villages. The senior warriors had their own personal squads, which were merged into the general rati, in case of military necessity. But even after turning into feudal lords, the combatants remained the striking force of the army, its advisers and associates.

Russian warriors and Russian combatants from the earliest antiquity were distinguished by a special psychology, which was characterized by the cult of "combat anger", contempt for death, desperate audacity and courage, aggressive neglect of the enemy's forces. One can recall several statements of the great Russian commander Alexander Suvorov, who, raising the "miracle heroes", was the successor of the ancient glory of the Russian: "... nothing can stand against Russian weapons - we are strong and self-confident"; “We are Russians, we will overcome everything”; “No army in the world can resist the brave Russian grenadier”; “Nature produced only one Russia. She has no rivals”; "... the Russians cannot retreat"; "In vain will move on Russia all of Europe: she will find there Thermopylae, Leonidas and her coffin."

An excellent example of the Russian warrior and the Russian spirit is given by the exploits of the great Svyatoslav. Before a decisive battle with the Romans (Byzantines), who significantly outnumbered his squads, Svyatoslav said: “So we will not shame the Russian land, but we will lie down with our bones, for the dead have no shame. If we run, we will be ashamed. We will not run, but we will become strong, but I will go ahead of you: if my head lies down, then take care of yourself. And the combatants answered: "Where your head lies, there we will lay down our heads."

In the presentation of the Roman chronicler Leo the Deacon, Svyatoslav made a similar speech in the besieged Dorostol, when the idea of ​​​​a secret retreat from the besieged city on ships or peace negotiations with the Romans was expressed at the military council. Svyatoslav (the Byzantine calls him Sfendoslav) took a deep breath and exclaimed bitterly: “The glory that followed the army of the Ross, who easily defeated neighboring peoples and enslaved entire countries without bloodshed, has perished, if we now shamefully retreat before the Romans. So, let us be imbued with the courage [which our ancestors bequeathed] to us, remember that the power of the Ross has so far been invincible, and we will fight fiercely for our lives. It does not befit us to return to our homeland, fleeing; [we must] either win and stay alive, or die with glory, having accomplished feats [worthy] of valiant men!” Further, Leo the Deacon reports that the dews (he often calls them "Tauro-Scythians" and "Scythians") never surrender to enemies, even defeated, when there is no longer any hope for salvation, they kill themselves.

Initially, the composition of the squad did not differ in social homogeneity. Most of the combatants in the first centuries of the development of the ancient Russian state had a simple origin, from free community members, warriors of tribes, lands. They occupied their position not by origin, but by personal qualities. It was earned by one's own courage, deserved, or obtained by a lucky chance. Social mobility was then very high. An ordinary warrior, a militiaman could become a princely combatant, and his descendants could become boyars. In turn, the kind of ancient Slavic princes, elders could easily be interrupted, or descend to the level of the common people. At the initial stage, they were taken to the squad solely on personal qualities: military skill, courage, courage. So, one can recall the story of the Tale of Bygone Years about how Prince Vladimir made a kozhemyaku, who defeated the Pecheneg hero in single combat, a “great husband” and his father too. Yes, and epics report that Ilya was a "peasant's son", and Alyosha was "of the priestly family." And with Dobrynya Nikitich, not everything is clear. His court is rich, but in some epics he is called the "peasant's son."

It should be noted that many people have a very wrong idea about epics as about “fairy tales”. This is largely due to the fact that for children the epics are retold in a "fabulous", simplified form. They excluded "adult", cruel, even bloody episodes, softened the vocabulary. The person grew up, but the ideas remained childish. Epics are not fairy tales, but songs, the main distinguishing feature of which is that the folk storytellers-singers who performed them recounted true events. In ancient times, they were performed throughout the territory of Russia. In the 18-19 centuries, when they began to be recorded and searched for, they were preserved only in the Russian North, especially among the free Pomor peasants.

The melodies of these songs are long and majestic. The plots are sometimes cruel, like life itself. The performers were not afraid to use "adult" words. It is clear that over the centuries inaccuracies and corrections could appear in the epics. So, the ancient Khazars, Pechenegs and Polovtsy were replaced by the late Tatars. However, the historical basis is visible in them very visibly. And so much so that the famous Soviet historian B. D. Grekov called the epic epic "oral history." It is Russian chronicles, epics and Byzantine sources that give us most of the data on the structure of the Russian army. Initially, the word “team”, “army” covered the entire set of full-fledged men. Only with the deepening of social stratification, only the military elite, the direct associates of the prince, began to be called the "team".

To be continued…

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

In the summer of 1942, an officer of the 4th Panzer Division of the Wehrmacht, Friedrich Fenfeld, died near Tula. Soviet soldiers discovered his diary. From its pages, some details of that very last battle of Senior Sergeant Sirotinin became known.

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

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

The order was brief: to hold up the German tank column on the bridge over the river Dobrost, and then, if possible, catch up with our own. The senior sergeant carried out only the first half of the order...

Sirotinin took up a position in a field near the village of Sokolnichi. The cannon sank in high rye. There is not a single noticeable landmark for the enemy nearby. But from here the highway and the river were clearly visible.

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

Sirotinin fought alone, he was both a gunner and a loader. He had 60 shells in his ammunition load and a 76-millimeter cannon - an excellent weapon against tanks. And he made a decision: to continue the battle until the ammunition runs out.

The Nazis rushed to the ground in a panic, not understanding where the shooting was coming from. The guns were fired at random, in squares. Indeed, on the eve of their intelligence could not detect Soviet artillery in the vicinity, and the division advanced without any special precautions. The Germans made an attempt to clear the blockage by pulling the wrecked tank off the bridge with two other tanks, but they were also knocked out. The armored car, which tried to ford the river, got bogged down in the swampy bank, where it was destroyed. For a long time the Germans failed to determine the location of the well-camouflaged gun; they believed that a whole battery was fighting them.

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

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

The stamina of the Soviet fighter aroused the respect of the Nazis. The commander of the tank battalion, Colonel Erich Schneider, ordered to bury a worthy enemy with military honors.

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

July 17, 1941. Sokolnichi, near Krichev. In the evening they buried an unknown Russian soldier. He alone stood at the cannon, shot a column of tanks and infantry for a long time, and died. Everyone was amazed at his bravery… Oberst (colonel – editorial note) said in front of the grave that if all the Fuhrer’s soldiers fought like this Russian, they would conquer the whole world. Three times they fired volleys from rifles. After all, he is Russian, is such admiration necessary?

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

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

We knew Nikolai Sirotinin and his sister until the day of the battle. He was with my friend, bought milk. He was very polite, always helping older women to get water from the well and in other hard work.

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

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

Then a medallion was taken out of the pocket of our dead soldier's tunic. I remember firmly that it was written there “the city of Orel”, to Vladimir Sirotinin (I don’t remember his patronymic), that the name of the street was, as I remember, not Dobrolyubova, but Freight or Lomovaya, I remember that the house number was two digits. But we could not know who this Sirotinin Vladimir was - the father, brother, uncle of the murdered man or someone else - we could not.

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

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

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

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

February 29, 1960

Testimony of the telephone operator M. I. Grabskaya:

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

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

He was a little above average height, dark brown hair, a simple, cheerful face. When Sirotinin and senior lieutenant Nikolai decided to dig a dugout for the locals, I saw how he deftly threw the earth, noticed that he was apparently not from the boss's family. Nicholas jokingly replied:

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

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

The inhabitants of Belarus remember and honor the feat of the brave artilleryman. In Krichev there is a street named after him, a monument has been erected. But, despite the fact that the feat of Sirotinin, thanks to the efforts of the workers of the Archive of the Soviet Army, was recognized back in 1960, he was not awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. A painfully absurd circumstance got in the way: the soldier's family did not have his photograph. And it is necessary to apply for a high rank.

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

Memory

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

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

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

A memorial plaque with a brief note about N. V. Sirotinin was installed at the Tekmash plant in Orel.

The museum of military glory in secondary school No. 17 of the city of Orel has materials dedicated to N. V. Sirotinin.

In 2015, the council of school No. 7 of the city of Orel petitioned for the school to be named after Nikolai Sirotinin. Nikolai's sister, Taisiya Vladimirovna, attended the celebrations. The name for the school was chosen by the students themselves on the basis of their search and information work.

When reporters asked Nikolai's sister why Nikolay volunteered to cover the retreat of the division, Taisiya Vladimirovna replied: "My brother could not have done otherwise."

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

Perhaps each of us heard about the feat of the legendary heroes-defenders of the Brest Fortress, but fate turned out so that the other defenders of the other fortress were almost completely forgotten. After all, they fought in another, somewhat earlier war, the First World War, which, like the exploits of its heroes, for many years was not customary to mention for ideological reasons. But there was a lot of room for the feat of Russian weapons. We are talking about the defenders of the Osovets fortress.

This battle will go down in history as the "attack of the dead"

The memory of a German soldier about the attack of the dead:

Osovets Fortress was not impressive up close: low walls, ordinary brick, thickets around. From afar, it did not at all seem like a fortress, but some kind of abandoned middle-class school. Captain Schultz, looking at the Russian fortifications, grinned: "The German car will drive over this bump and won't even notice." Sergeant Major Baer and I shared the commander's mood, but for some reason my heart was restless.

Our regiment was raised on command at 3 o'clock in the morning. The soldiers were lined up near the railroad. Our task is to hit the Russian fortifications from the right flank. Exactly at 4 o'clock in the morning the artillery came into action. The heavy sounds of gunshots and explosions did not subside for half an hour. Then everything seemed to freeze. And from the side of the central entrance of the fortress, "gas workers" appeared. So we called the Landwehr unit, which used poison gas to destroy the enemy. "Gas workers" began to bring cylinders closer to the fortress and pull hoses. Some of the hoses were pushed into openings leading underground, some were simply thrown on the ground. The fortress was in a lowland, and these efforts were enough to poison the Russians.

The "gasmen" worked nimbly. Everything was ready in fifteen minutes. Then they turned on the gas. We were ordered to put on gas masks. Feldwebel Baer said that he heard a conversation between two officers from the "gas workers" - as if they decided to use some new gas that kills very effectively. They also said that the command decided to poison the Russians, since, according to the military intelligence report, they do not have gas masks. “The battle will be quick and without losses,” he assured either me or himself.

The gas quickly filled the low. It seemed that this was not a deadly cloud creeping onto the fortress, but an ordinary morning fog, albeit very thick. And then terrible, chilling sounds were heard from this fog. Fantasy painted terrible pictures: a person could scream like that only when he was turned inside out by an unknown, inhuman, diabolical force. Glory to Christ our Lord, this did not last long. About an hour later, the gas cloud dissipated, and Captain Schultz gave the command to advance. Our group approached the walls and threw the ladders prepared in advance on them.

It was quiet. The soldiers climbed up. Corporal Bismarck was the first to climb the wall. Already at the top, he suddenly staggered and almost fell back, but still managed to hold on. Dropping to one knee, he tore off his gas mask. He was thrown out immediately. The next soldier behaved in much the same way. He somehow unnaturally shuddered, his legs weakened, and he knelt down. The third soldier, who climbed onto the fortification, fell in a deep faint on Sergeant Baer, ​​who miraculously stayed on the stairs, preventing him from falling down. I helped Baer lift the soldier back onto the wall and, almost simultaneously with the sergeant major, ended up on the fortification.

What I saw below, in the heart of the fortress, I will never forget. Even years later, I see a picture, in comparison with which the works of the great Bosch seem like humorous sketches. There was no more gas cloud inside the fortress. Almost the entire parade ground was littered with dead bodies. They lay in some kind of brown-red mass, the nature of whose origin was not necessary to guess. The mouths of the dead were wide open and parts of the internal organs fell out of them and mucus flowed. The eyes were bloodied, some of them were completely drained. Apparently, when the gas went out, the soldiers ran out of their shelters into the street to inhale the saving air, which was not there.

I vomited right in the gas mask. Gastric juice and army stew flooded the windows and cut off the breath. With difficulty finding the strength, I tore off the gas mask. “God, what is this? What!" - endlessly repeated one of ours. And from below, more and more soldiers were pushing, and we were forced to go down. Below, we began to move towards the center of the parade ground, where the Russian banner hung. Feldwebel Baer, ​​who was considered an atheist among us, quietly repeated: "Lord, Lord, Lord ...". From the side of the left flank and the main gate towards the center of the square, soldiers of other units that broke into the fortress were moving. Their condition was no better than ours.

Suddenly, on my right side, I noticed movement. The dead soldier, judging by the buttonholes and epaulettes - a Russian lieutenant, rose on his elbows. Turning his face, or rather a bloody mess with a leaky eye, he croaked: “Platoon, charge!”. All of us, absolutely all of the German soldiers who were at that moment in the fortress, and these are several thousand people, froze in horror. "Platoon, charge!" the dead man repeated, and a mess of corpses stirred around us, along which we walked towards our victory. Some of our people lost consciousness, someone grabbed a rifle or a comrade. And the lieutenant continued to move, rose to his full height, took out his saber from the scabbard.

"Platoon, attack!" the Russian officer croaked in an inhuman voice and staggered towards us. And all our huge victorious force in a second turned to flight. With cries of horror, we rushed to the main entrance. More precisely, now to the exit. And behind our backs the army of the dead was rising. The dead grabbed us by the legs, knocked us to the ground. We were strangled, beaten with hands, chopped with sabers, stabbed with bayonets. Shots were fired at our backs. And we all ran, ran in wild horror, not looking back, not helping our fallen comrades to rise, sweeping and pushing those who ran ahead. I can't remember when I stopped - in the evening of the same day or maybe the next.

Later I learned that the dead were not dead at all, but simply not completely poisoned Russian soldiers. Our scientists found out that the Russians in the Osovets fortress drank linden tea, and it was he who partially neutralized the effect of our new secret gas. Although, maybe they lied, these scientists. There were also rumors that during the assault on the fortress, about a hundred German soldiers died from a heart attack. Several hundred more were slaughtered, hacked to death, shot dead by the Russian HellRaisers. Russians, who, it was said, almost all died the next day.

All German soldiers who participated in this operation were released from further military service. Many have gone crazy. Many, including myself, still wake up at night and scream in horror. Because there is nothing worse than a dead Russian soldier.

The siege of the fortress took place in 1915 and lasted 190 days. All this time the fortress was intensively shelled by German artillery. The Germans even rolled up their two legendary "Big Berts", which the Russians managed to knock out with return fire.

Then the headquarters command decided to take the fortress, poisoning its defenders with gas. On August 6, at 4 am, a dark green mist of a mixture of chlorine and bromine flowed onto the Russian positions, reaching them in 5-10 minutes. A gas wave 12-15 meters high and 8 km wide penetrated to a depth of 20 km.

The gas was so poisonous that in these few hours, even the grass withered and withered.

The doomed fortress, it seemed, was already in German hands. But when the German chains approached the trenches, from a thick green chlorine fog, they fell upon them ... counterattacking Russian infantry. The sight was terrifying: the soldiers walked into the bayonet with their faces wrapped in rags, shaking from a terrible cough, literally spitting out pieces of the lungs on the bloodied tunics. These were the remnants of the 13th company of the 226th infantry Zemlyansky regiment, a little more than 60 people. But they plunged the enemy into such horror that the German infantry, not accepting the battle, rushed back, trampling each other and hanging on their own barbed wire. And from the Russian batteries shrouded in chlorine clubs, what seemed to be dead artillery began to hit them. Several dozen half-dead Russian soldiers put three German infantry regiments to flight! The world military art did not know anything like this.

The same officer who raised the soldiers to attack - Vladimir Karpovich Kotlinsky was born in the city of Ostrov, Pskov province. Father from the peasants of the village of Verkaly, Igumen district, Minsk province, now the territory of the Shatsk village council in the Republic of Belarus. The name of the mother is not directly indicated in the available sources. It has been suggested that this is the telegraph operator of the Pskov-1 station, Natalya Petrovna Kotlinskaya. It is also assumed that there was at least one other child in the family, Vladimir's younger brother, Eugene (1898-1968).

After graduating from a real school in 1913, Vladimir Kotlinsky passed the exams at the Military Topographic School in St. Petersburg. In the summer of 1914, after the first year of the junkers, they underwent standard geodetic practice near Rezhitsa in the Vitebsk province.

July 19 (August 1), 1914, the day Germany declared war on Russia, is considered the first day of the First World War. A month later, the school held an early release of junkers with distribution in parts. Vladimir Kotlinsky was assigned the rank of second lieutenant with secondment to the 226th infantry Zemlyansky regiment, which later became part of the garrison of the Osovets fortress.

Little is known about the details of Kotlinsky's service before his feat. The article "The Feat of Pskov", published in 1915 after his death, among other things says:

At the beginning of the war, a young man, lieutenant Kotlinsky, who had just graduated from the military topographic school, was seconded to the N-sky regiment at the beginning of the war. This man seemed to have absolutely no idea what a sense of fear or even a sense of self-preservation was. Already in the past work of the regiment, he did a lot of good, commanding one of the companies.