More than a dozen years ago, Mikhail Efremov was born - a brilliant military leader who proved himself during the periods of two wars - Civil and Patriotic. However, the feats that he accomplished were not immediately appreciated. After his death, many years passed until he received a well-deserved title. What other heroes of the Great Patriotic War were forgotten?

Steel Commander

At the age of 17, Mikhail Efremov joined the army. He began his service as a volunteer in an infantry regiment. Two years later, with the rank of ensign, he participated in the famous breakthrough under the command of Brusilov. Mikhail joined the Red Army in 1918. The hero of the Great Patriotic War gained fame thanks to armored guns. Due to the fact that the Red Army did not have armored trains with good equipment, Mikhail decided to create them on his own, using improvised means.

Mikhail Efremov met the Great Patriotic War at the head of the 21st Army. Under his leadership, the soldiers held back the enemy troops on the Dnieper, defended Gomel. Not allowing the Nazis to go to the rear of the Southwestern Front. Mikhail Efremov met the beginning of the Patriotic War, leading the 33rd Army. At this time, he participated in the defense of Moscow and in the subsequent counteroffensive.

In early February, the strike group, commanded by Mikhail Efremov, made a hole in the enemy's defenses and went to Vyazma. However, the soldiers were cut off from the main forces and surrounded. For two months, the fighters carried out raids on the rear of the Germans, destroyed enemy soldiers and military equipment. And when the cartridges with food ran out, Mikhail Efremov decided to break through to his own, asking by radio to organize a corridor.

But the hero never did. The Germans noticed the movement and defeated Efremov's shock group. Mikhail himself, in order not to be captured, shot himself. He was buried by the Germans in the village of Slobodka with full military honors.

In 1996, persistent veterans and search engines ensured that Efremov was awarded the title of Hero of Russia.

In honor of Gastello's feat

What other heroes of the Great Patriotic War were forgotten? In 1941, a DB-3F bomber took off from the airfield near Smolensk. Alexander Maslov, and it was he who flew the combat aircraft, was given the task of eliminating the enemy column moving along the Molodechno-Radoshkovichi road. The plane was hit by enemy anti-aircraft guns, the crew was declared missing.

A few years later, namely in 1951, in order to honor the memory of the famous bomber Nikolai Gastello, who rammed on the same highway, it was decided to transfer the remains of the crew to the village of Radoshkovichi, to the central square. During the exhumation, they found a medallion that belonged to Sergeant Grigory Reutov, who was a gunner in Maslov's crew.

They did not change the historiography, however, the crew began to be listed not as missing, but as dead. Heroes of the Great Patriotic War and their exploits were recognized in 1996. It was in this year that the entire crew of Maslov received the corresponding title.

The pilot whose name has been forgotten

The exploits of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War will remain in our hearts forever. However, not all heroic deeds are remembered.

Pyotr Yeremeev was considered an experienced pilot. He received his for repulsing several German attacks in one night. Having shot down several Junkers, Peter was wounded. However, having bandaged the wound, a few minutes later he again took off on another plane to repel an enemy attack. And a month after this memorable night, he accomplished a feat.

On the night of July 28, Eremeev was assigned to patrol the airspace over Novo-Petrovsk. It was at this time that he noticed an enemy bomber that was heading for Moscow. Peter went into his tail and started shooting. The enemy moved to the right Soviet pilot while losing it. However, he immediately noticed another bomber, which went to the West. Coming close to him, Eremeev pressed the trigger. But the shooting was never opened, as the cartridges ran out.

Without thinking for a long time, Peter cut his propeller into the tail of a German aircraft. The fighter turned over and began to fall apart. However, Eremeev escaped by jumping out with a parachute. For this feat they wanted to hand him over, but they did not have time to do this. On the night of August 7, the pod was repeated by Viktor Talalikhin. It was his name that was inscribed in the official chronicle.

But the heroes of the Great Patriotic War and their exploits will never be forgotten. This was proved by Alexei Tolstoy. He wrote an essay called "Battering Ram", in which he described the feat of Peter.

Only in 2010 he was recognized as a hero

In the Volgograd region there is a monument on which the names of the Red Army soldiers who died in these parts are written. All of them are heroes of the Great Patriotic War, and their exploits will forever remain in history. On that monument is the name Maxim Passar. The corresponding title was awarded to him only in 2010. And it should be noted that he fully deserved it.

He was born in the Khabarovsk Territory. Hereditary hunter has become one of the best among snipers. He showed himself back in By 1943, he destroyed about 237 Nazis. The Germans set a significant reward for the head of the well-aimed Nanai. He was hunted by enemy snipers.

He accomplished his feat at the very beginning of 1943. In order to liberate the village of Peschanka from enemy soldiers, it was necessary first to get rid of two German machine guns. They were well fortified on the flanks. And it was Maxim Passar who had to do it. 100 meters before the firing points, Maxim opened fire and destroyed the crews. However, he failed to survive. The hero was covered by enemy artillery fire.

Underage Heroes

All of the above heroes of the Great Patriotic War and their exploits were forgotten. However, all of them must be remembered. They did everything possible to bring the Victory Day closer. However, not only adults managed to prove themselves. There are some heroes who are not even 18 years old. And it is about them that we will talk further.

Along with adults, several tens of thousands of teenagers participated in the hostilities. They, like adults, died, received orders and medals. The images of some were taken for Soviet propaganda. All of them are heroes of the Great Patriotic War, and their exploits have been preserved in numerous stories. However, five teenagers should be singled out, who received the corresponding title.

Not wanting to surrender, he blew himself up along with enemy soldiers

Marat Kazei was born in 1929. It happened in the village of Stankovo. Before the war, he managed to finish only four classes. Parents were recognized as "enemies of the people." However, despite this, Marat's mother, back in 1941, began to hide partisans at home. For which she was killed by the Germans. Marat and his sister joined the partisans.

Marat Kazei constantly went to reconnaissance, took part in numerous raids, undermined the echelons. He received the medal "For Courage" in 1943. He managed to raise his comrades to attack and break through the ring of enemies. At the same time, Marat was wounded.

Talking about the exploits of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War, it is worth saying that a 14-year-old soldier died in 1944. It happened while doing another job. Returning from reconnaissance, he and his commander were fired upon by the Germans. The commander died immediately, and Marat began to shoot back. He had nowhere to go. And there was no opportunity as such, since he was wounded in the arm. Until the cartridges ran out, he held the line. Then he took two grenades. He threw one immediately, and kept the second until the Germans approached. Marat blew himself up, killing several more opponents in this way.

Marat Kazei was recognized as a Hero in 1965. The underage heroes of the Great Patriotic War and their exploits, stories about which are widespread in a fairly large number, will remain in memory for a long time.

Heroic deeds of a 14-year-old boy

The partisan scout Valya was born in the village of Khmelevka. It happened in 1930. Before the capture of the village by the Germans, he graduated from only 5 classes. After that, he began to collect weapons and ammunition. He passed them on to the partisans.

Since 1942 he became a scout for the partisans. In the fall, he was given the task of destroying the head of the field gendarmerie. The task was completed. Valya, together with several of his peers, blew up two enemy vehicles, killing seven soldiers and the commander Franz Koenig himself. About 30 people were injured.

In 1943, he was engaged in reconnaissance of the location of an underground telephone cable, which was subsequently successfully blown up. Valya also took part in the destruction of several trains and warehouses. In the same year, while on duty, the young hero noticed the punishers, who decided to round up. Having destroyed the enemy officer, Valya raised the alarm. Thanks to this, the partisans prepared for battle.

He died in 1944 after the battle for the city of Izyaslav. In that battle, the young warrior was mortally wounded. He received the title of hero in 1958.

A little short of 17

What other heroes of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 should be mentioned? Scout in the future Lenya Golikov was born in 1926. From the very beginning of the war, having obtained a rifle for himself, he joined the partisans. Under the guise of a beggar, the guy went around the villages, collecting data on the enemy. He passed all the information to the partisans.

The guy joined the detachment in 1942. During his entire military career, he took part in 27 operations, destroyed about 78 enemy soldiers, blew up several bridges (railway and highway), blew up about 9 vehicles with ammunition. It was Lenya Golikov who blew up the car in which Major General Richard Witz was driving. All his merits are fully listed in the award list.

These are the underage heroes of the Great Patriotic War and their exploits. Children sometimes performed such feats that even adults did not always have the courage. It was decided to award Lenya Golikov with the medal " Golden Star and the title of Hero. However, he was never able to get them. In 1943, the combat detachment, which included Lenya, was surrounded. Only a few people got out of the encirclement. And Leni was not among them. He was killed on January 24, 1943. Until the age of 17, the guy never lived.

Killed by a traitor

The heroes of the Great Patriotic War rarely remembered themselves. And their exploits, photos, images remained in the memory of many people. Sasha Chekalin is one of those. He was born in 1925. He joined the partisan detachment in 1941. He served no more than a month.

In 1941, the partisan detachment inflicted significant damage on the enemy forces. Numerous warehouses were on fire, cars were constantly undermined, trains went downhill, sentries and enemy patrols regularly disappeared. The fighter Sasha Chekalin took part in all this.

In November 1941, he caught a bad cold. The commissioner decided to leave him in the nearest village with a trusted person. However, there was a traitor in the village. It was he who betrayed the underage fighter. Sasha was captured by partisans at night. And finally, the constant torture was over. Sasha was hanged. For 20 days he was forbidden to be removed from the gallows. And only after the liberation of the village by the partisans, Sasha was buried with military honors.

The corresponding title of Hero was decided to be awarded to him in 1942.

Shot after prolonged torture

All of the above people are heroes of the Great Patriotic War. And their exploits for children are the best stories. Then we will talk about a girl who, in courage, was not inferior not only to her peers, but also to adult soldiers.

Zina Portnova was born in 1926. The war found her in the village of Zuya, where she came to rest with her relatives. Since 1942, she has been posting leaflets against the invaders.

In 1943 she joined a partisan detachment, becoming a scout. In the same year, she received her first assignment. She was supposed to uncover the reasons for the failure of the organization called "Young Avengers". She was also supposed to establish contact with the underground. However, at the moment of returning to the detachment, Zina was seized by German soldiers.

During the interrogation, the girl managed to grab a pistol lying on the table, shoot the investigator and two more soldiers. While trying to escape, she was captured. She was constantly tortured, trying to force her to answer questions. However, Zina remained silent. Eyewitnesses claimed that once, when she was taken out for another interrogation, she threw herself under a car. However, the car stopped. The girl was taken out from under the wheels and taken away for interrogation. But she was silent again. That's what the heroes of the Great Patriotic War were like.

The girl did not wait for 1945. In 1944 she was shot. Zina at that time was only 17 years old.

Conclusion

The heroic deeds of soldiers during the fighting numbered several tens of thousands. No one knows exactly how many brave and courageous deeds were committed in the name of the Motherland. This review described some of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War and their exploits. Briefly, it is impossible to convey all the strength of character that they possessed. But there is simply not enough time for a full story about their heroic deeds.

Many of us know the names of at least some of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War who fought bravely against the enemy, freeing their land from him. Panfilov’s heroes, Maresyev, who became the direct prototype of the character in The Tale of a Real Man, Pokryshkin, who surpassed the German air aces in combat skills ... But not everyone remembers that on that terrible war next to the adults there were always children, completely sharing with their older comrades all the hardships and hardships of the war.

It is generally accepted that the Great Patriotic War claimed the lives of about 27 million people. According to the latest research, 10 million of them are soldiers, and the rest are old people, women and children. Those whom war, according to numerous international conventions, should not hurt. Alas, the reality is far worse.

Almost all the teenagers who remained in the rear are worthy of the title of Heroes, as they worked on an equal basis with adults, giving out up to two norms of products per day. They died of exhaustion, died under the bombings, fell asleep from constant lack of sleep, fell under cars and turned out to be crippled, hitting the mechanisms of the machine with their hand or foot ... Everyone brought Victory closer to the best of their ability.

IN Soviet years in schools they studied the names of those teenagers who fought at the front. Many people remember the story "The Son of the Regiment". So, the story described in it is not unique. On the contrary, many pioneer heroes fought in partisan detachments, constantly lived with the risk of exposure, being connected. For their lives, no one would have given a penny: the Nazis were equally cruel to everyone. Today we will list some of those children who gave their lives in exchange for peace for their country.

To forget about their feat is a crime. Today it is difficult to find at least one Big City, in which a monument to pioneer heroes was erected, but today's youth is practically not interested in the immortal achievements of their then peers.

The Other Side of the Medal

It is not difficult to understand that a lot of orphans appeared in the country. Despite the hardest times, the state fulfilled its obligations to the younger generation. Many orphanages and shelters were organized, where, after difficult military roads, former children of regiments often ended up, often having “adult” awards by that time.

Most of the educators and specialists of orphanages were real heroes, experts in their field. They managed to warm the children's souls, were able to make them forget about the suffering that the kids endured in the zones of military conflict. Unfortunately, among them came across those who could be called “humans” only by their appearance.

Yes, only one Smolensk region in those years, at least two cases were identified when children from orphanages were forced to steal rotten potatoes from the fields just so as not to die of hunger. The state constantly provided orphanages with food, but in this case it was literally "guzzled" by the leadership of these institutions. In a word, children in those terrible years had a very hard time. One can only admire the courage of those of them who found the strength to fight the enemy on an equal footing.

What they were doing?

On the battlefields, the guys collected and dug out rifles, pistols and other weapons from under the snow, subsequently handing them over to the partisans. They risked terribly, and it's not just the Germans: then there were even more unexploded mines and shells on the battlefields. Many of the pioneer heroes of the Great Patriotic War were scouts, handing over medicines to partisans and soldiers who had broken away from their own. Often it was these little brave men who helped arrange escapes for captured Red Army soldiers. The "children's" front became especially massive in Belarus.

Many children sincerely hated the Germans, because as a result of the war they lost all their relatives and friends, who were often killed right in front of them. Left in the burnt and devastated villages, they were doomed to a terrible famine. This is not often talked about, but the Nazi "doctors" often used children as donors. Of course, no one cared about their health. Many pioneer heroes, whose portraits are in the article, became crippled and disabled. Unfortunately, even in the official course of history, little is said about this.

The role of children in the air defense of the country is also noticeable. The guys were on duty on the roofs of houses, dropping and extinguishing incendiary bombs, along with adults participated in the construction of various fortified areas. In the areas occupied by the Germans, the pioneer heroes of the Great Patriotic War managed to collect warm clothes and other uniforms, which were then transported to partisan detachments and even to active units of the Red Army.

Labor heroism

The labor feat of the children of the war is known when they worked for days at defense enterprises. Child labor was used in the manufacture of fuses and fuses, smoke bombs and gas masks. Teenagers even participated in the assembly of tanks, not to mention the production of machine guns and rifles. Terribly starving, they honestly grew vegetables on any suitable piece of land in order to send them to active army, soldiers. In school circles, they sewed uniforms for fighters until late. Many of them, already very old, with a smile and tears, recalled pouches, mittens and pea coats made by children's hands.

Today in the press you can often find tearful stories about "good" German soldiers. Yes, that happened too. But how do you like the fun of the “valiant” fighters of the Wehrmacht, who, throwing a piece of bread into the field, staged a real hunt for hungry children rushing to eat? How many children died because of such amusements of the Germans throughout the country! This is well written in the article by Solokhin N. Ya. from the city of Lyudinovo (Kaluga region) “We do not come from childhood.” It is not surprising that the courage and bravery of young fighters, who experienced all the “charms” of enemy occupation, often amazed even seasoned, battle-hardened soldiers.

Many of the pioneer heroes have not been named, but we must remember what these children went through. How many of these guys died in the very first months of the war, trying with all their might to prevent the enemy, we are unlikely to ever know.

Children of regiments

Take at least Fedya Samodurov. He was only 14 years old when he became an "adopted son" in a motorized rifle unit commanded by Captain A. Chernavin. Picked him up in the ashes Voronezh region which used to be his home village. Bravely fought in the battles for the city of Ternopil, helping the machine-gun crew. When all the fighters were dead, one took up the machine gun. Long and stubbornly firing back, he gave time to the rest to retreat. He died a heroic death.

He was only 13 years old. For two years he was under the care of the fighters in the unit. He delivered them food, letters and newspapers, often making his way to the front line under the crossfire of the enemy who attacked the USSR.

Pioneer heroes often not only performed the functions of signalmen, but worked in much more dangerous field specialties. An example of this is Petya Zub. This guy immediately decided to become a scout. His parents were killed, and therefore he wanted to pay off the Nazis in full. As a result, he became a gunner. Making his way right into the enemy’s location, he corrected artillery volleys on the radio. Regular military men are well aware of how dangerous this specialty is, what courage it takes to adjust the fire of their guns, actually being in their zone of destruction! Petya also did not survive that war.

Testimony of Vladimir Bogomolov

As you can see, the pioneer heroes of the Great Patriotic War were by no means a unique phenomenon. Famous writer Vladimir Bogomolov described the feat of a juvenile intelligence officer in the story "Ivan". At the very beginning of the war, the boy survived the death of his father and sister, who were his only relatives. He visited a partisan detachment, and then found himself in Trostyanets, a death camp.

The most severe conditions did not break him. Killed in 1943. He was noticed by traitorous policemen while monitoring a secret branch railway through which the Germans were supplied. During interrogations, a teenager of 12 years kept himself straight, with dignity, in no way hiding his contempt and hatred for the enemy. He was shot, like many pioneer children. Heroes, however, were not only among the boys.

Portnova Zina

The fate of the girls was no less terrible. Zina Portnova, who was 15 years old, left Leningrad in the summer of 1941 for the village of Zui, Vitebsk region. Parents sent to visit relatives. Soon the war began, and the girl almost immediately joined the Young Avengers organization, whose task was to help the partisans. Participated in sabotage by poisoning food in the dining room for officers. She was engaged in the distribution of leaflets, conducted intelligence activities behind enemy lines. In a word, she did what other pioneer heroes did.

Zina Portnova was identified as a traitor and captured at the end of 1943. During the interrogation, she managed to grab a pistol from the investigator's table and shoot him and two other henchmen. She tried to run, but she was captured. After cruelest torture was shot on January 13, 1944 in the prison of the city of Polotsk.

Nadezhda Bogdanova

Fortunately, there were still those who managed to survive it among the children who fought. terrible time. One of them was Nadya Bogdanova. The heroic pioneer paid a terrible price for her participation in the liberation movement.

In Vitebsk, her hometown, the war came early. Nadia immediately joined the partisan detachment, delivered food and medicine to the fighters. At the end of 1941, she and her friend Vanya (he was only 12 years old) were captured by the Germans at the exit from the city. The Nazis did not get a word from the children, and therefore immediately sent them to be shot. Vanya was struck by bullets immediately, and Nadezhda lost her creature and fell literally a moment before her chest would have been smashed in one gulp. In a pit filled with corpses, the partisans found the girl.

Like many other pioneer heroes of the Second World War, she found the strength to fight the hated enemy further. In 1942, Nadya managed to place an explosive charge on the bridge, which went up into the air along with the German transport. Unfortunately the police saw it. The child was brutally tortured, and then thrown into a snowdrift. It seems incredible, but Hope survived. She was almost blind, but the brilliant academician Filatov managed to restore her sight after the war.

The girl was awarded medals, the Red Banner and the Patriotic War of the 1st degree.

Vladimir Dubinin

Like many of his peers, Volodya Dubinin went to the partisans at the beginning of the war. In Kerch, where they fought, there were deep quarries. Having set up headquarters there, the fighters painfully "bite" the Nazis, constantly arranging attacks on them. It was not possible to smoke out the partisans.

They solved the problem in a simpler way: diligently tracking down people and learning about all the moves, the Germans walled them up with cement and bricks. But young Volodya Dubinin, climbing into the smallest branches of the mines, regularly continued to deliver food, drink and ammunition to people. Then the Nazis, angry at the lack of progress in the extermination of the partisans, decided to completely flood the quarries. Volodya found out about this almost immediately. Having transferred the information to his comrades, he, along with them, began to build a system of dams. When the water stopped, it reached the fighters to the waist.

In 1942, during one of the next sorties, Volodya came across soldiers ... Soviet soldiers! It turned out that this was part of the landing force that was liberating Kerch. Unfortunately, when retreating, the Germans closed the approaches to the quarries with a dense network of teenagers and four sappers blew themselves up on one of them, having managed to reach the very entrance to the mines before that ... Like many other biographies of pioneer heroes, Vladimir's feat was immortalized only after the war.

Olga and Lydia Demesh

No less tragic is the story of Olya Demes, who, together with her younger sister Lida, blew up fuel tanks with magnetic mines at the Orsha station. Girls attracted much less attention to themselves than boys and grown men. Neither of them counted - seven (!) Exploded echelons and 24 enemy soldiers.

Lida often took a bag for coal with her and walked along the tracks for a long time, remembering the time of arrival of enemy trains, the number of soldiers who arrived, and the types of weapons brought. If she was stopped by sentries, she said that she was collecting coal to heat the room in which German soldiers live. Lydia died, like many pioneer heroes. Photos of their faces are all that remains in the memory of teenagers. She, along with the mother of the girls, was shot.

For Olya's head, the Nazis promised a cow, a plot of land and 10,000 marks in cash. The most valuable was her photograph sent to all posts, secret agents and policemen. The girl could not be caught. She participated in the "rail war" for a long time, fought in a partisan detachment.

Valentin Kotik

One of the youngest fighters is Valya Kotik. The pioneer hero was born in 1930. For a long time, the boy and his comrades were connected, collecting weapons and cartridges through the forests, subsequently handing them over to the partisans. The command of the detachment, appreciating his courage and dedication, made Valentine connected. He quickly and accurately transmitted data on the number and weapons of the enemy to his senior comrades, and once managed to eliminate an enemy officer.

Shortly thereafter, the boy finally moved to the partisans. He died at the age of 14, having been mortally wounded during the storming of the city of Izyaslav. To date, Valya Kotik, a pioneer hero, is considered the youngest of those guys who accepted death with weapons in their hands.

Golikov Leonid

When the war began, Lena was 15 years old. The Germans captured his native village, brutally killed many of its inhabitants. Together with the adults, the boy went into the woods, to the partisans. His battle path turned out to be glorious and bright.

In 1942, sitting in an observation post by the road, Lenya Golikov saw a luxurious, varnished German car drive along it. Oddly enough, she had no accompaniment. The young partisan was not at a loss and immediately threw a grenade at her. The explosion knocked the car back, it stopped. Immediately, a couple of Germans jumped out of it and rushed towards the boy.

But Lenya Golikov met them with dense fire from the PPSh. He killed one German immediately, and the second - when he pulled towards the forest. One of the dead was Richard Witz, a general.

At the beginning of 1943, the detachment, in which Lenya was, spent the night in a hut three kilometers from the location of the Germans. The next morning, she was literally riddled with machine guns: a traitor was found in the village. The teenager received the title of Hero posthumously. Like other pioneer heroic deeds, his act served a good purpose, greatly undermining the morale of the invaders.

In their memoirs, the Germans often recall that they had an extremely difficult time in the USSR: “It seemed that every pillar was shooting at us, every child could turn out to be a warrior who fought no worse than an adult soldier.”

Sasha Borodulin

Sasha Borodulin knew perfectly well what fate awaited children who fell into the clutches of the policemen and the Nazis. He himself found the partisans and persistently began to ask to fight. So that the adults would not doubt his desire, the boy showed them a carbine with a supply of cartridges, recaptured from a German motorcyclist.

The commander, who knew Sasha before the war, allowed him to join them. At that time, Alexander "knocked" as much as 16 years old. The young soldier was immediately assigned to the reconnaissance detachment. Time has shown that the commander was not mistaken in the makings of the boy. Sasha was extremely brave and resourceful. Once he was sent to the German rear with the task of finding out the size of the enemy, putting his main forces on the map. The boy boldly walked around the station, managing to make his way to the windows of residential buildings right under the noses of the sentries. He quickly learned and remembered all the necessary data.

The task was accomplished brilliantly. In that battle, Alexander acted boldly, literally from the front rows throwing grenades at the enemies. He received three heavy bullet wounds at once, but did not abandon his comrades. Only after all the partisans, having completely defeated the enemy, went into the forest, Sasha independently bandaged himself and, covering the retreat, joined his comrades.

The authority of the fearless fighter after that increased incredibly. The partisans sent the seriously wounded Sasha to the hospital, but he promised to return immediately after his recovery. He kept his word completely and soon fought again along with his comrades.

One summer, the partisans suddenly met with a punitive detachment, which included up to 200 people. The fight was terrible, everyone fought to the death. Borodulin also died in that battle.

Like all pioneer heroes of the Second World War, he was presented for an award. Posthumously.

Unknown pages of history

The townsfolk know little about the history of those terrible days. For example, the fate of kindergartens is still undisclosed. So, in December 1941, kindergartens continued to operate in Moscow bomb shelters. By the autumn of 1942, 258 preschool institutions, many of which resumed work much earlier than many universities.

Many teachers and nannies died heroically while defending Moscow from the advancing enemy troops. The children were in kindergarten almost all day. The war deprived little people of the most precious thing - childhood. They quickly forgot how to play, act up and practically did not play pranks.

However, wartime children had one unusual game. To the hospital. Often it was not a game at all, as the kids helped the wounded, who were often placed in the premises of kindergartens. But the children of the war practically did not play “war games”. They had enough of the cruelty, pain and hatred that they saw daily. In addition, no one wanted to be a Fritz. People who were scorched by the war as children are easy to recognize: they hate films about it, do not like to remember those events that deprived them of their home, family, friends and childhood itself.

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School in the partisan region.

T. Cat. , From the book "Children-Heroes",
Getting bogged down in a swampy swamp, falling and rising again, we went to our own - to the partisans. The Germans were raging in their native village.
And for a whole month the Germans bombed our camp. “The partisans have been destroyed,” they finally sent a report to their high command. But invisible hands again derailed trains, blew up weapons depots, destroyed German garrisons.
Summer was over, autumn was already trying on its motley, crimson outfit. It was hard for us to imagine September without school.
- Here are the letters I know! - eight-year-old Natasha Drozd once said and drew a round "O" on the sand with a stick and next to it - an uneven gate "P". Her friend drew some numbers. The girls played school, and neither one nor the other noticed how sadly and warmly the commander was watching them partisan detachment Kovalevsky. In the evening, at the council of commanders, he said:
- The children need a school ... - and added quietly: - You can’t deprive them of their childhood.
On the same night, Komsomol members Fedya Trutko and Sasha Vasilevsky went on a combat mission, with Pyotr Ilyich Ivanovsky with them. They returned a few days later. Pencils, pens, primers, problem books were taken out of pockets, from the bosom. Peace and home, great human concern wafted from these books here, among the swamps, where there was a mortal battle for life.
- It's easier to blow up the bridge than to get your books, - Pyotr Ilyich gleefully flashed his teeth and took out ... a pioneer bugle.
None of the partisans said a word about the risk they were exposed to. There could be an ambush in every house, but it never occurred to any of them to refuse the task, to return empty-handed. ,
Three classes were organized: first, second and third. School ... Stakes driven into the ground, intertwined with willows, a cleared area, instead of a board and chalk - sand and a stick, instead of desks - stumps, instead of a roof over your head - a disguise from German aircraft. In cloudy weather, mosquitoes overwhelmed us, sometimes snakes crawled in, but we paid no attention to anything.
How the children valued their school-glade, how they caught every word of the teacher! Textbooks accounted for one, two per class. In some subjects there were no books at all. Much was remembered from the words of the teacher, who sometimes came to the lesson directly from a combat mission, with a rifle in his hands, belted with cartridges.
The soldiers brought everything they could get for us from the enemy, but there was not enough paper. We carefully removed the birch bark from fallen trees and wrote on it with coals. There was no case that someone did not comply homework. Only those guys who were urgently sent to reconnaissance missed classes.
It turned out that we had only nine pioneers, the remaining twenty-eight guys had to be accepted as pioneers. From the parachute donated to the partisans, we sewed a banner, made a pioneer uniform. The partisans accepted the pioneers, the commander of the detachment himself tied the ties to the newly arrived. The headquarters of the pioneer squad was immediately elected.
Without stopping classes, we were building a new dugout school for the winter. A lot of moss was needed to insulate it. They pulled him out so that his fingers hurt, sometimes they tore off his nails, painfully cut his hands with grass, but no one complained. No one demanded excellent studies from us, but each of us made this demand on ourselves. And when the heavy news came that our beloved comrade Sasha Vasilevsky had been killed, all the pioneers of the squad took a solemn oath: to study even better.
At our request, the squad was given the name of a deceased friend. On the same night, in revenge for Sasha, the partisans blew up 14 German vehicles and derailed the train. The Germans threw 75 thousand punishers against the partisans. The blockade began again. Everyone who knew how to handle weapons went into battle. Families retreated into the depths of the marshes, and our pioneer team also retreated. Our clothes were frozen, we ate flour boiled in hot water once a day. But as we retreated, we seized all our textbooks. Classes continued at the new location. And we kept the oath given to Sasha Vasilevsky. During the spring examinations, all the pioneers answered without hesitation. Strict examiners - the commander of the detachment, the commissar, the teachers - were pleased with us.
As a reward, the best students were given the right to participate in shooting competitions. They fired from the squad leader's pistol. It was the highest honor for the guys.

During the fighting, the children-heroes of the Great Patriotic War did not spare own lives and walked with the same courage and courage as grown men. Their fate is not limited to exploits on the battlefield - they worked in the rear, promoted communism in the occupied territories, helped supply troops and much more.

There is an opinion that the victory over the Germans is the merit of adult men and women, but this is not entirely true. Children-heroes of the Great Patriotic War made no less contribution to the victory over the regime of the Third Reich and their names should not be forgotten either.

The young pioneer heroes of the Great Patriotic War also acted bravely, because they understood that not only their own lives were at stake, but also the fate of the entire state.

The article will focus on the children-heroes of the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945), more precisely, on the seven brave boys who received the right to be called heroes of the USSR.

The stories of child heroes of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 are a valuable source of data for historians, even if the children did not take part in bloody battles with weapons in their hands. Below, in addition, it will be possible to get acquainted with the photos of the pioneer heroes of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, learn about their brave deeds during the hostilities.

All stories about the children-heroes of the Great Patriotic War contain only verified information, their full names and the names of their loved ones have not changed. However, some data may not be true (for example, the exact dates of death, birth), since documentary evidence was lost during the conflict.

Probably the most child-hero of the Great Patriotic War is Valentin Alexandrovich Kotik. The future brave man and patriot was born on February 11, 1930 in a small settlement called Khmelevka, in the Shepetovsky district of the Khmelnytsky region, and studied at the Russian-language secondary school No. 4 of the same town. Being an eleven-year-old boy who was only obliged to study in the sixth grade and learn about life, from the first hours of the confrontation he decided for himself that he would fight the invaders.

When the autumn of 1941 came, Kotik, together with his close comrades, carefully organized an ambush for the policemen of the city of Shepetovka. In the course of a well-thought-out operation, the boy managed to eliminate the head of the policemen by throwing a live grenade under his car.

Around the beginning of 1942, a small saboteur joined a detachment of Soviet partisans who fought during the war deep behind enemy lines. Initially, young Valya was not sent into battle - he was assigned to work as a signalman - a rather important position. However, the young fighter insisted on his participation in the battles against the Nazi invaders, invaders and murderers.

In August 1943, the young patriot, having shown an extraordinary initiative, was accepted into a large and actively operating underground group named after Ustim Karmelyuk under the leadership of Lieutenant Ivan Muzalev. Throughout 1943, he regularly took part in battles, during which he received a bullet more than once, but even despite this, he returned to the front line again, not sparing his life. Valya was not shy about any work, and therefore he also often went on intelligence missions in his underground organization.

One famous feat the young fighter accomplished in October 1943. Quite by chance, Kotik discovered a well-hidden telephone cable, which was not deep underground and was extremely important for the Germans. This telephone cable provided a connection between the rate supreme commander(Adolf Hitler) and occupied Warsaw. It played important role in the liberation of the Polish capital, since the headquarters of the Nazis had no connection with the high command. In the same year, Kotik helped to blow up an enemy warehouse with ammunition for weapons, and also destroyed six railway trains with the equipment necessary for the Germans, and in which the Kievites were stolen, mining them and blowing them up without remorse.

At the end of October of the same year, the little patriot of the USSR Valya Kotik accomplished another feat. Being part of a partisan grouping, Valya stood on patrol and noticed how enemy soldiers surrounded his group. The cat did not lose his head and first of all killed the enemy officer who commanded the punitive operation, and then raised the alarm. Thanks to such a bold act of this brave pioneer, the partisans managed to react to the environment and were able to fight off the enemy, avoiding huge losses in their ranks.

Unfortunately, in the battle for the city of Izyaslav in mid-February of the following year, Valya was mortally wounded by a shot from a German rifle. The pioneer hero died of his wound the next morning at the age of some 14 years.

The young warrior was forever rested in his hometown. Despite the significance of the exploits of Vali Kotik, his merits were noticed only thirteen years later, when the boy was awarded the title of "Hero of Soviet Union", but posthumously. In addition, Valya was also awarded the "Order of Lenin", the "Red Banner" and the "Patriotic War". Monuments were erected not only in the hero's native village, but throughout the entire territory of the USSR. Streets, orphanages, and so on were named after him.

Pyotr Sergeevich Klypa is one of those who can easily be called a rather controversial personality, who, being a hero of the Brest Fortress and possessing the "Order of the Patriotic War", was also known as a criminal.

The future defender of the Brest Fortress was born at the end of September 1926 in the Russian city of Bryansk. The boy spent his childhood almost without a father. He was a railway worker and died early - the boy was raised only by his mother.

In 1939, Peter was taken to the army by his older brother, Nikolai Klypa, who at that time had already reached the rank of lieutenant of the spacecraft, and under his command was a musical platoon of the 333rd regiment of the 6th rifle division. The young soldier became a pupil of this platoon.

After the Red Army captured the territory of Poland, he, along with the 6th Infantry Division, was sent to the area of ​​the city of Brest-Litovsk. The barracks of his regiment were located close to the famous Brest Fortress. On June 22, Petr Klypa woke up in the barracks already at the time when the Germans began to bomb the fortress and the barracks surrounding it. Soldiers of the 333rd rifle regiment despite the panic, they were able to give an organized rebuff to the first attack of the German infantry, and young Peter also actively participated in this battle.

From the first day, together with his friend Kolya Novikov, he began to go on reconnaissance in the dilapidated and surrounded fortress and carry out the instructions of his commanders. On June 23, during the next reconnaissance, the young fighters managed to find a whole ammunition depot that was not destroyed by explosions - this ammunition greatly helped the defenders of the fortress. For many more days, Soviet soldiers fought off enemy attacks using this find.

When senior lieutenant Alexander Potapov became the commander of 333-for the time being, he appointed the young and energetic Peter as his contact. He did a lot of good things. Once he brought to the medical unit a large supply of bandages and medicines, which were badly needed by the wounded. Every day, Peter also brought water to the soldiers, which was sorely lacking for the defenders of the fortress.

By the end of the month, the position of the Red Army soldiers in the fortress became catastrophically difficult. To save the lives of innocent people, the soldiers sent children, the elderly and women as prisoners to the Germans, giving them a chance to survive. The young intelligence officer was also offered to surrender, but he refused, deciding to continue participating in the battles against the Germans.

In early July, the defenders of the fortress almost ran out of ammunition, water and food. Then, by all means, it was decided to go for a breakthrough. It ended in complete failure for the soldiers of the Red Army - the Germans killed most of the soldiers, and captured the rest. Only a few managed to survive and break through the environment. One of them was Peter Klypa.

However, after a couple of days of exhausting pursuit, the Nazis seized and captured him and other survivors. Until 1945, Peter worked in Germany as a laborer for a fairly wealthy German farmer. He was liberated by the troops of the United States of America, after which he returned to the ranks of the Red Army. After demobilization, Petya became a bandit and robber. He even had murder on his hands. He spent a significant part of his life in prison, after which he returned to a normal life and started a family and two children. Peter Klypa died in 1983 at the age of 57. His early death was caused by a serious illness - cancer.

Among the children-heroes of the Great Patriotic War (WWII), the young partisan fighter VilorChekmak deserves special attention. The boy was born at the end of December 1925 in the glorious city of sailors Simferopol. Vilor had Greek roots. His father, a hero of many conflicts with the participation of the USSR, died during the defense of the capital of the USSR in 1941.

Vilor studied well at school, experienced extraordinary love and had artistic talent - he drew beautifully. When he grew up, he dreamed of painting expensive paintings, but the events of bloody June 1941 crossed out his dreams once and for all.

In August 1941, Vilor could no longer sit back while others bled for him. And then, taking his beloved shepherd dog, he went to the partisan detachment. The boy was a real defender of the Fatherland. His mother dissuaded him from going to an underground group, since the guy had a congenital heart defect, but he still decided to save his homeland. Like many other boys of his age, Vilor began to serve in a scout.

He served in the ranks of the partisan detachment for only a couple of months, but before his death he accomplished a real feat. November 10, 1941, he was on duty, covering his brothers. The Germans began to surround the partisan detachment and Vilor was the first to notice their approach. The guy risked everything and fired a rocket launcher to warn his fellows about the enemy, but by the same act he attracted the attention of a whole detachment of Nazis. Realizing that he could no longer leave, he decided to cover the retreat of his brothers in arms, and therefore opened fire on the Germans. The boy fought until the last shot, but even then he did not give up. He, like a real hero, rushed at the enemy with explosives, blew himself up and the Germans.

For his achievements, he received the medal "For Military Merit" and the medal "For the Defense of Sevastopol".

Medal "For the Defense of Sevastopol"

Among the famous children-heroes of the Great Patriotic War, it is also worth highlighting Kamanin Arkady Nakolaevich, who was born in early November 1928 in the family of the famous Soviet military leader and General of the Red Army Air Force Nikolai Kamanin. It is noteworthy that his father was one of the first citizens of the USSR, who received the highest title of Hero of the Soviet Union in the state.

Arkady spent his childhood on Far East, but then moved to Moscow, where he lived for a short time. As the son of a military pilot, Arkady could fly airplanes as a child. In the summer, the young hero always worked at the airport, and also briefly worked at a plant for the production of aircraft for various purposes as a mechanic. When did it start fighting against the Third Reich, the boy moved to the city of Tashkent, where his father was sent.

In 1943, Arkady Kamanin became one of the youngest military pilots in history, and the youngest pilot of the Great Patriotic War. Together with his father, he went to the Karelian front. He was enlisted in the 5th Guards Assault Air Corps. At first he worked as a mechanic - far from the most prestigious job on board an aircraft. But very soon he was appointed as a navigator-observer and a flight mechanic on an airplane to establish communication between separate parts called U-2. This plane had a pair control, and Arkasha himself flew the plane more than once. Already in July 1943, the young patriot was flying without anyone's help - completely on his own.

At the age of 14, Arkady officially became a pilot and was enrolled in the 423rd Separate Communications Squadron. Since June 1943, the hero fought against the enemies of the state as part of the 1st Ukrainian Front. Since the autumn of the victorious 1944, he became part of the 2nd Ukrainian Front.

Arkady took part in communication tasks to a greater extent. He flew over the front line more than once to help the partisans establish communications. At the age of 15, the guy was awarded the Order of the Red Star. He received this award for helping the Soviet pilot of the Il-2 attack aircraft, which crashed on the so-called no man's land. If the young patriot had not intervened, Polito would have perished. Then Arkady received another Order of the Red Star, and after that, the Order of the Red Banner. Thanks to his successful actions in the sky, the Red Army was able to plant a red flag in occupied Budapest and Vienna.

After defeating the enemy, Arkady went to continue his studies in high school, where he quickly caught up with the program. However, the guy was killed by meningitis, from which he died at the age of 18.

Lenya Golikov is a well-known invader killer, partisan and pioneer who, for his exploits and extraordinary devotion to the Fatherland, as well as dedication, earned the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, as well as the Medal "Partisan of the Patriotic War, 1st degree." In addition, the homeland awarded him the Order of Lenin.

Lenya Golikov was born in a small village in the Parfinsky district, in the Novgorod region. Her parents were ordinary workers, and the boy could expect the same calm fate. At the time of the outbreak of hostilities, Lenya had completed seven classes and was already working at a local plywood factory. He began to actively participate in hostilities only in 1942, when the enemies of the state had already captured Ukraine and went to Russia.

In mid-August of the second year of the confrontation, being at that moment a young but already quite experienced intelligence officer of the 4th Leningrad underground brigade, he threw a live grenade under an enemy car. In that car sat a German major general from the engineering troops - Richard von Wirtz. Previously, it was believed that Lenya decisively eliminated the German commander, but he miraculously managed to survive, although he was seriously injured. In 1945 American troops the general was taken prisoner. However, on that day, Golikov managed to steal the general's documents, which contained information about new enemy mines that could cause significant harm to the Red Army. For this achievement, he was presented to the country's highest title of "Hero of the Soviet Union".

In the period from 1942 to 1943, Lena Golikov managed to kill almost 80 German soldiers, blew up 12 highway bridges and 2 more railway ones. Destroyed a couple of food depots important to the Nazis and blew up 10 ammunition vehicles for the German army.

On January 24, 1943, the Leni detachment fell into a battle with the predominant forces of the enemy. Lenya Golikov died in a battle near a small settlement called Ostraya Luka, in the Pskov region, from an enemy bullet. Together with him, his brothers in arms died. Like many others, he was awarded the title of "Hero of the Soviet Union" posthumously.

One of the heroes of the children of the Great Patriotic War was also a boy named Vladimir Dubinin, who actively acted against the enemy in the Crimea.

The future partisan was born in Kerch on August 29, 1927. From childhood, the boy was extremely brave and stubborn, and therefore, from the first days of hostilities against the Reich, he wanted to defend his homeland. It was thanks to his perseverance that he ended up in a partisan detachment that operated near Kerch.

Volodya, as a member of the partisan detachment, conducted reconnaissance operations together with his close comrades and brothers in arms. The boy delivered extremely important information and information about the location of enemy units, the number of Wehrmacht fighters, which helped the partisans prepare their combat offensive operations. In December 1941, during another reconnaissance, Volodya Dubinin provided comprehensive information about the enemy, which made it possible for the partisans to completely defeat the Nazi punitive detachment. Volodya was not afraid to take part in the battles - at first he simply brought ammunition under heavy fire, and then stood in the place of a seriously wounded soldier.

Volodya had a trick to lead the enemy by the nose - he "helped" the Nazis find the partisans, but in fact led them into an ambush. The boy successfully completed all the tasks of the partisan detachment. After the successful liberation of the city of Kerch during the Kerch-Feodosiya landing operation of 1941-1942. a young partisan joined a detachment of sappers. On January 4, 1942, during the demining of one of the mines, Volodya died together with a Soviet sapper from a mine explosion. For his merits, the hero-pioneer was posthumously awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

Sasha Borodulin was born on the day of a famous holiday, namely March 8, 1926 in the hero city called Leningrad. His family was rather poor. Sasha also had two sisters, one older than the hero, and the other younger. The boy did not live long in Leningrad - his family moved to the Republic of Karelia, and then returned to the Leningrad region again - in the small village of Novinka, which was located 70 kilometers from Leningrad. In this village, the hero went to school. In the same place, he was elected chairman of the pioneer squad, which the boy dreamed of for a long time.

Sasha was fifteen years old when the fighting began. The hero graduated from the 7th grade and became a member of the Komsomol. In the early autumn of 1941, the boy joined a partisan detachment of his own free will. At first, he conducted exclusively reconnaissance activities for the partisan unit, but soon took up arms.

In the late autumn of 1941, he proved himself in the battle for the Chascha railway station in the ranks of a partisan detachment under the command of the famous partisan leader Ivan Boloznev. For his courage in the winter of 1941, Alexander was awarded another very honorable order of the Red Banner in the country.

Over the following months, Vanya repeatedly showed courage, went to reconnaissance and fought on the battlefield. On July 7, 1942, the young hero and partisan died. It happened near the village of Oredezh, in the Leningrad region. Sasha remained to cover the retreat of his comrades. He sacrificed his life to let his brothers in arms get away. After his death, the young partisan was twice awarded the same Order of the Red Banner.

The above names are far, far from all the heroes of the Great Patriotic War. The children accomplished many feats that should not be forgotten.

No less than other child heroes of the Great Patriotic War, a boy named Marat Kazei committed. Despite the fact that his family was out of favor with the government, Marat still remained a patriot. At the beginning of the war, Marat and his mother Anna hid the partisans. Even when the arrests of the local population began in order to find those who harbor the partisans, his family did not give theirs to the Germans.

After that, he himself joined the ranks of the partisan detachment. Marat was actively eager to fight. He accomplished his first feat in January 1943. When there was another skirmish, he was slightly wounded, but he still raised his comrades and led them into battle. Being surrounded, the detachment under his command broke through the ring and was able to avoid death. For this feat, the guy received the medal "For Courage". Later, he was also given the medal "Partisan of the Patriotic War" 2nd class.

Marat died along with his commander during the battle in May 1944. When the cartridges ran out, the hero threw one grenade at the enemies, and the second one blew himself up so as not to be captured by the enemy.

However, not only the photos and names of the boys of the pioneer heroes of the Great Patriotic War now adorn the streets major cities and textbooks. There were also young girls among them. It is worth mentioning the bright, but sadly cut short life of the Soviet partisan Zina Portnova.

After the war broke out in the summer of 1941, the thirteen-year-old girl ended up in the occupied territory and was forced to work in the canteen for German officers. Even then, she worked underground and, on the orders of the partisans, poisoned about a hundred Nazi officers. The fascist garrison in the city began to catch the girl, but she managed to escape, after which she joined the partisan detachment.

At the end of the summer of 1943, during the next task in which she participated as a scout, the Germans captured a young partisan. One of the local residents confirmed that it was Zina who then poisoned the officers. The girl was brutally tortured in order to find out information about the partisan detachment. However, the girl did not say a word. Once she managed to escape, she grabbed a pistol and killed three more Germans. She tried to escape, but she was taken prisoner again. After that, she was tortured for a very long time, practically depriving the girl of any desire to live. Zina still did not say a word, after which she was shot on the morning of January 10, 1944.

For her services, the seventeen-year-old girl received the title of Hero of the SRSR posthumously.

These stories, stories about the children-heroes of the Great Patriotic War should never be forgotten, but on the contrary, they will always be in the memory of posterity. It is worth remembering them at least once a year - on the day of the Great Victory.

Twelve of several thousand examples of unparalleled childish courage
Young heroes of the Great Patriotic War - how many were there? If you count - how else? - 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 years there were over 3,500 servicemen under the age of 16 in combat units. At the same time, it is clear that not every unit commander who dared to take on the education of the son of the regiment, found the courage to declare a pupil on command. You can understand how their fathers-commanders, who really were many instead of fathers, tried to hide the age of the little fighters, by the confusion in the award documents. On the yellowed archival sheets, most of the underage servicemen indicate a clearly overestimated age. The real one became clear much later, after ten or even forty years.

But there were still children and teenagers who fought in partisan detachments and were members of underground organizations! And there were much more of them: sometimes whole families went to the partisans, and if not, then almost every teenager who ended up 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 that is no reason not to remember them.

The boys went from Brest to Berlin

The youngest of all the known little soldiers - at least, according to the documents stored in the military archives - can be considered a pupil of the 142nd Guards Rifle Regiment of the 47th Guards Rifle Division Sergei Aleshkin. In archival documents, one 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 punishers shot his mother and older brother for their connection with the partisans. The first document dated April 26, 1943 - on awarding him the medal "For Military Merit" due to the fact that "Comrade. Aleshkin, the regiment's favorite, ""with his cheerfulness, love for the unit and those around him, in extremely difficult moments, instilled vigor and confidence in victory." The second, dated November 19, 1945, is about awarding students of the Tula Suvorov Military School with the medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945": in the list of 13 Suvorov students, Aleshkin's name is first.

But still, such a young soldier is an exception even for wartime and for a country where all the people, young and old, have risen to defend their homeland. 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 the defenders of the Brest Fortress, and one of the sons of the regiment was a holder of the Order of the Red Star, the Order of Glory III degree and the medal "For Courage" Vladimir Tarnovsky, who served in the 370th artillery regiment of the 230th rifle division, left his autograph on the wall of the Reichstag in the victorious May 1945 ...

Most young Heroes 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. They fought in different places and accomplished feats of different circumstances, all of them were 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 - by the time they had to show unprecedented courage, were 17 years old, two more - Valya Kotik and Marat Kazei - only 14.

Lenya Golikov was the first of the four who was awarded the highest rank: the decree on assignment was signed on April 2, 1944. The text says that Golikov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union "for the exemplary performance of command assignments and the courage and heroism shown in battles." 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 undermining more than a dozen bridges, in capturing a German major general with secret documents ... And heroically die in battle near the village of Ostraya Luka, without waiting for a high reward for capturing a strategically important "language".

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 eventually endured inhuman torment, falling into the hands of the Nazis at the very beginning of 1944. Valya - according to the totality of exploits in the ranks of the Shepetov partisan detachment named after Karmelyuk, where he came after a year of work in an underground organization in Shepetovka itself. And Marat Kazei was awarded the highest award only in the year of the 20th anniversary of the Victory: the decree on awarding him the title of Hero of the Soviet Union was published 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 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 the current generation is 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 caught Vasya at the age of sixteen. In the very first days, he was mobilized to the labor front, and in October he achieved admission to the 726th rifle regiment 395th Rifle Division. At first, a boy of unconscripted 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 got his way and was transferred to a combat unit - to a team of snipers.

Vasily Kurka. Photo: Imperial War Museum

Amazing military fate: from the first to last day Vasya Kurka fought in the same regiment of the same division! He made a good military career, rising to the rank of lieutenant and taking command of a rifle platoon. Recorded at his own expense, according to various sources, from 179 to 200 destroyed Nazis. He fought from the Donbass to Tuapse and back, and then further, to the West, to the Sandomierz bridgehead. It was there that Lieutenant Kurka was mortally wounded in January 1945, less than six months before the Victory.

Pilot Arkady Kamanin

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

Sergeant Kamanin in 1944. Photo: war.ee

Soon Arkady achieved his goal: first he takes to the air as a letnab, then as a navigator on the U-2, and then goes on his first independent flight. And finally - the long-awaited appointment: the son of General Kamanin becomes a pilot of the 423rd separate communications squadron. Before the victory, Arkady, who had risen to the rank of foreman, managed to fly almost 300 hours and earn three orders: two - the Red Star and one - the Red Banner. And if it weren’t for meningitis, which literally killed an 18-year-old guy in the spring of 1947, literally in a matter of days, Kamanin Jr. would have been included in the cosmonaut detachment, the first commander of which was Kamanin Sr.: Arkady managed to enter the Zhukovsky Air Force Academy back in 1946.

Front-line scout Yuri Zhdanko

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. And so he left with a part to the east, to Moscow itself, in order to start the return journey to the west from there.

Yuri Zhdanko. Photo: russia-reborn.ru

On this path, Yura managed a lot. In January 1942, he, who had never jumped with a parachute before, went to the rescue of encircled partisans and helped them break through the enemy ring. In the summer of 1942, together with a group of reconnaissance colleagues, he blows up a strategically important bridge across the Berezina, sending to the bottom of the river not only the bridge deck, but also nine trucks passing through it, and less than a year later turns out to be the only one of all the messengers who managed to break through to the surrounded battalion and help him get out of the "ring".

By February 1944, the chest of the 13-year-old scout was decorated with the medal "For Courage" and the Order of the Red Star. But a shell that exploded literally underfoot interrupted Yura's front-line career. He ended up in the hospital, from where he went to Suvorov School but failed due to health reasons. Then the retired young intelligence officer retrained as a welder and also managed to become famous on this “front”, having traveled with his welding machine almost half of Eurasia - he built pipelines.

Infantryman Anatoly Komar

Among 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 got into the active army in September 1943, when the front came close to his native Slavyansk. It happened with him almost the same way as with Yura Zhdanko, with the only difference that the boy served as a guide not for the retreating, but for the advancing Red Army. Anatoly helped them go deep into the front line of the Germans, and then left with the advancing army to the west.

Young partisan. Photo: Imperial War Museum

But, unlike Yura Zhdanko, Tolya Komar's front-line path was much shorter. For only two months he had a chance to wear epaulettes that had recently appeared in the Red Army and go on reconnaissance. In November of the same year, returning from a free search in the rear of the Germans, a group of scouts revealed themselves and was forced to break through to their own with a fight. The last obstacle on the way back was a machine gun, which pressed the reconnaissance to the ground. Anatoly Komar threw a grenade at him, and the fire subsided, but as soon as the scouts got up, the machine gunner began to shoot again. And then Tolya, who was closest to the enemy, got up and fell on a machine-gun barrel, at the cost of his life, buying his comrades precious minutes for a breakthrough.

Sailor Boris Kuleshin

In the cracked photograph, a ten-year-old boy stands against the backdrop of sailors in black uniforms with ammunition boxes on their backs and the superstructures of a Soviet cruiser. His hands are tightly squeezing a PPSh assault rifle, and on his head is a peakless cap with a guards ribbon and the inscription "Tashkent". This is a pupil of the crew of the leader of the destroyers "Tashkent" Borya Kuleshin. The picture was taken in Poti, where, after repairs, the ship called for another cargo of ammunition for the besieged Sevastopol. It was here that the twelve-year-old Borya Kuleshin appeared at the gangway of the Tashkent. His father died at the front, his mother, as soon as Donetsk was occupied, was taken to Germany, and he himself managed to escape across the front line to his own people and, together with the retreating army, get to the Caucasus.

Boris Kuleshin. Photo: weralbum.ru

While they were persuading the commander of the ship, Vasily Eroshenko, while they were deciding which combat unit to enroll the cabin boy in, the sailors managed to give him a belt, cap and machine gun and take a picture of the new crew member. And then there was a transition to Sevastopol, the first raid on "Tashkent" in Borya's life and the first clips for an anti-aircraft gun in his life, which he, along with other anti-aircraft gunners, gave to the shooters. At his combat post, he was wounded on July 2, 1942, when German aircraft tried to sink the ship in the port of Novorossiysk. After the hospital, Borya followed Captain Eroshenko to new ship- Guards cruiser "Red Caucasus". And already here he found his well-deserved award: presented for the battles on the "Tashkent" to the medal "For Courage", he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner by the decision of the front commander, Marshal Budyonny and a member of the Military Council, Admiral Isakov. And in the next front-line picture, he already flaunts in a new uniform of a young sailor, on whose head is a peakless cap with a guards ribbon and the inscription "Red Caucasus". It was in this uniform that in 1944 Borya went to the Tbilisi Nakhimov School, where in September 1945, among other teachers, educators and pupils, he was awarded the medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945."

Musician Petr Klypa

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

Peter Klypa. Photo: worldwar.com

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