Pravoslavie.fm is an Orthodox, patriotic, family-oriented portal and therefore offers readers the top 10 amazing feats of the Russian army.
The top does not include single exploits of Russian warriors like captain Nikolai Gastello, sailor Pyotr Koshka, warrior Mercury Smolensky or staff captain Pyotr Nesterov, because with the level of mass heroism that has always distinguished the Russian army, it is absolutely impossible to determine the top ten best warriors. They are all equally great.
Places in the top are not distributed, since the feats described relate to different eras and it is not entirely correct to compare them with each other, but they all have one thing in common - a vivid example of the triumph of the spirit of the Russian military.
- The feat of the squad of Evpatiy Kolovrat (1238).
Evpatiy Kolovrat is a native of Ryazan; there is not much information about him, and it is contradictory. Some sources say that he was a local governor, others - a boyar.
News came from the steppe that the Tatars were marching against Rus'. First on their way lay Ryazan. Realizing that own strength For the successful defense of the city, the Ryazan people had little, the prince sent Evpatiy Kolovrat to seek help in the neighboring principalities.
Kolovrat left for Chernigov, where he was overtaken by the news of the destruction of his native land by the Mongols. Without hesitating for a minute, Kolovrat and his small squad hurriedly moved towards Ryazan.
Unfortunately, he found the city already devastated and burned. Seeing the ruins, he gathered those who could fight and, with an army of about 1,700 people, rushed in pursuit of Batu’s entire horde (about 300,000 soldiers).
Having overtaken the Tatars in the vicinity of Suzdal, he gave battle to the enemy. Despite the small number of the detachment, the Russians managed to crush the Tatar rearguard with a surprise attack.
Batu was very stunned by this frantic attack. Khan had to throw his best parts into battle. Batu asked to bring Kolovrat to him alive, but Evpatiy did not give up and courageously fought with an enemy outnumbered.
Then Batu sent a parliamentarian to Evpatiy to ask what the Russian soldiers want? Evpatiy answered - “just die”! The fight continued. As a result, the Mongols, who were afraid to approach the Russians, had to use catapults and only in this way were they able to defeat Kolovrat’s squad.
Khan Batu, amazed by the courage and heroism of the Russian warrior, gave Evpatiy’s body to his squad. For their courage, Batu ordered the rest of the soldiers to be released without harming them.
The feat of Evpatiy Kolovrat is described in the ancient Russian “Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu.”
- Suvorov's crossing of the Alps (1799).
In 1799, Russian troops who participated in battles with the French in Northern Italy as part of the Second Anti-French Coalition were recalled home. However, on the way home, Russian troops were supposed to assist Rimsky-Korsakov's corps and defeat the French in Switzerland.
For this purpose, the army was led by Generalissimo Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov. together with the convoy, artillery and the wounded, she made an unprecedented transition through the Alpine passes.
During the campaign, Suvorov's army fought through St. Gotthard and the Devil's Bridge and made the transition from the Reuss Valley to the Muten Valley, where it was surrounded. However, in the battle in the Muten Valley, where she defeated the French army and broke out of encirclement, she then crossed the snow-covered, inaccessible Ringenkopf (Panix) pass and headed towards Russia through the city of Chur.
During the battle for the Devil's Bridge, the French managed to damage the span and bridge the gap. Russian soldiers, under fire, tied the boards of a barn nearby with scarves of officers and went into battle along them. And while overcoming one of the passes, in order to knock the French down from a height, several dozen volunteers, without any climbing equipment, climbed a steep cliff to the top of the pass and hit the French in the rear.
The son of Emperor Paul I took part in this campaign under the command of Suvorov as an ordinary soldier. Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich.
- Defense Brest Fortress(1941).
The Brest Fortress was built by the Russian military in 1836-42 and consisted of a citadel and three fortifications that protected it. Later it was modernized several times, became the property of Poland and again returned to Russia.
By the beginning of June 1941, units of two Red Banner rifle divisions of the Red Banner and 42nd Rifle Divisions and several small units were located on the territory of the fortress. In total, by the morning of June 22, there were about 9,000 people in the fortress.
The Germans decided in advance that the Brest Fortress, located on the border with the USSR and therefore chosen as one of the targets of the first strike, would have to be taken only by infantry - without tanks. Their use was hampered by forests, swamps, river channels and canals surrounding the fortress. German strategists gave the 45th division (17,000 people) no more than eight hours to capture the fortress.
Despite the surprise attack, the garrison gave the Germans a tough rebuff. The report said: “The Russians are resisting fiercely, especially behind our attacking companies. In the Citadel, the enemy organized a defense with infantry units supported by 35-40 tanks and armored vehicles. The fire of Russian snipers led to heavy losses among officers and non-commissioned officers." In one day, June 22, 1941, the 45th Infantry Division lost 21 officers and 290 lower ranks in killed.
On June 23, at 5:00, the Germans began shelling the Citadel, while trying not to hit their soldiers blocked in the church. On the same day, tanks were used for the first time against the defenders of the Brest Fortress.
On June 26, on the North Island, German sappers blew up the wall of the political school building. 450 prisoners were taken there. The East Fort remained the main center of resistance on the North Island. On June 27, 20 commanders and 370 soldiers from the 393rd anti-aircraft battalion of the 42nd Infantry Division, led by the commander of the 44th Infantry Regiment, Major Pyotr Gavrilov, defended there.
On June 28, two German tanks and several self-propelled guns returning from repairs to the front continued to fire at the East Fort on the North Island. However, this did not bring visible results, and the commander of the 45th division turned to the Luftwaffe for support.
On June 29 at 8:00 a.m., a German bomber dropped a 500-kilogram bomb on the Eastern Fort. Then another 500 kg bomb was dropped and finally an 1800 kg bomb. The fort was practically destroyed.
However, a small group of fighters led by Gavrilov continued to fight in the Eastern Fort. The major was captured only on July 23. Residents of Brest said that until the end of July or even until the first days of August, shooting was heard from the fortress and the Nazis brought their wounded officers and soldiers from there to the city where the German army hospital was located.
However, the official date for the end of the defense of the Brest Fortress is considered to be July 20, based on the inscription that was discovered in the barracks of the 132nd separate battalion of NKVD convoy troops: “I am dying, but I am not giving up. Goodbye, Motherland. 20/VII-41".
- Campaigns of Kotlyarevsky's troops during the Russian-Persian wars of 1799-1813.
All the exploits of the troops of General Pyotr Kotlyarevsky are so amazing that it is difficult to choose the best, so we will present them all:
In 1804, Kotlyarevsky with 600 soldiers and 2 guns fought off Abbas Mirza’s 20,000 soldiers for 2 days in an old cemetery. 257 soldiers and almost all of Kotlyarevsky’s officers died. There were many wounded.
Then Kotlyarevsky, wrapping the wheels of the cannons with rags, made his way through the besiegers’ camp at night, stormed the nearby Shah-Bulakh fortress, knocking out the Persian garrison of 400 people, and settled in it.
For 13 days he fought off the corps of 8,000 Persians besieging the fortress, and then at night he lowered his guns down the wall and left with a detachment to the Mukhrat fortress, which he also took by storm, knocking out the Persians from there too, and again prepared for defense.
To pull the cannons through the deep ditch during the second march, four soldiers volunteered to fill it with their bodies. Two were crushed to death, and two continued the hike.
In Mukhrat, the Russian army came to the rescue of Kotlyarevsky’s battalion. In this operation and during the capture of the Ganja fortress a little earlier, Kotlyarevsky was wounded four times, but remained in service.
In 1806, in the field battle of Khonashin, 1644 soldiers of Major Kotlyarevsky defeated the 20,000-strong army of Abbas Mirza. In 1810, Abbas Mirza again marched with troops against Russia. Kotlyarevsky took 400 rangers and 40 horsemen and set out to meet them.
“On the way,” he stormed the Migri fortress, defeating a 2,000-strong garrison, and captured 5 artillery batteries. Having waited for 2 companies of reinforcements, the colonel took battle with the Shah’s 10,000 Persians and forced him to retreat to the Araks River. Taking 460 infantry and 20 mounted Cossacks, the colonel destroyed Abbas Mirza's 10,000-strong detachment, losing 4 Russian soldiers killed.
In 1811, Kotlyarevsky became a major general, crossing the impregnable Gorny ridge with 2 battalions and a hundred Cossacks and storming the Akhalkalak fortress. The British sent the Persians money and weapons for 12,000 soldiers. Then Kotlyarevsky went on a campaign and stormed the Kara-Kakh fortress, where military warehouses were located.
In 1812, in the field battle of Aslanduz, 2,000 Kotlyarevsky soldiers with 6 guns defeated the entire army of Abbas Mirza of 30,000 people.
By 1813, the British rebuilt the Lankaran fortress for the Persians according to advanced European models. Kotlyarevsky took the fortress by storm, having only 1,759 people against a 4,000-strong garrison and during the attack almost completely destroyed the defenders. Thanks to this victory, Persia sued for peace.
- Capture of Izmail by Suvorov (1790).
The Turkish fortress of Izmail, which covered the Danube crossings, was built by French and English engineers for the Ottomans. Suvorov himself believed that this was “a fortress without weak points.”
However, having arrived near Izmail on December 13, Suvorov spent six days actively preparing for the assault, including training troops to storm models of the high fortress walls of Izmail.
Near Izmail, in the area of the present village of Safyany, earthen and wooden analogues of the moat and walls of Izmail were built in the shortest possible time - the soldiers trained to throw a Nazi ditch into the moat, quickly set up ladders, after climbing the wall they quickly stabbed and chopped the stuffed animals installed there, simulating defenders.
For two days, Suvorov conducted artillery preparation with field guns and cannons of the rowing flotilla ships; on December 22, at 5:30 a.m., the assault on the fortress began. Resistance on the city streets lasted until 16:00.
The attacking troops were divided into 3 detachments (wings) of 3 columns each. Major General de Ribas's detachment (9,000 people) attacked from the river side; the right wing under the command of Lieutenant General P. S. Potemkin (7,500 people) was supposed to strike from the western part of the fortress; the left wing of Lieutenant General A. N. Samoilov (12,000 people) - from the east. Brigadier Westphalen's cavalry reserves (2,500 men) were on the land side. In total, Suvorov's army numbered 31,000 people.
Turkish losses amounted to 29,000 killed. 9 thousand were captured. Of the entire garrison, only one person escaped. Slightly wounded, he fell into the water and swam across the Danube on a log.
The losses of the Russian army amounted to 4 thousand people killed and 6 thousand wounded. All 265 guns, 400 banners, huge reserves of provisions and jewelry worth 10 million piastres were captured. M. was appointed commandant of the fortress. I. Kutuzov, future famous commander, winner of Napoleon.
The conquest of Ishmael was of great political significance. It influenced the further course of the war and the conclusion of the Peace of Iasi between Russia and Turkey in 1792, which confirmed the annexation of Crimea to Russia and established the Russian-Turkish border along the Dniester River. Thus, the entire northern Black Sea region from the Dniester to the Kuban was assigned to Russia.
Andrey Szegeda
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Imagine trying to save a blind man from a burning building, walking step by step through searing flames and smoke. Now imagine that you are blind too. Jim Sherman, born blind, heard his 85-year-old neighbor's cries for help when she was trapped in her burning house. He found his way, moving along the fence. Once he got to the woman's house, he somehow managed to get inside and find his neighbor Annie Smith, who was also blind. Sherman pulled Smith from the fire and took her to safety.
Skydiving instructors sacrificed everything to save their students
Few people will survive a fall of several hundred meters. But two women did it thanks to the dedication of two men. The first gave his life to save a man whom he saw for the first time in his life.
Skydiving instructor Robert Cook and his student Kimberley Dear were about to make their first jump when the plane's engine failed. Cook told the girl to sit on his lap and tied their belts together. As the plane crashed to the ground, Cook's body bore the brunt of the impact, killing the man but leaving Kimberly alive.
Another skydiving instructor, Dave Hartstock, also saved his student from being hit. This was Shirley Dygert's first jump, and she jumped with an instructor. Diegert's parachute did not open. During the fall, Hartstock managed to get under the girl, softening the blow to the ground. Dave Hartstock injured his spine, the injury paralyzed his body from the neck down, but both survived.
Mere mortal Joe Rollino (pictured above) performed incredible, inhuman things during his 104-year life. Although he only weighed about 68 kg, in his prime he could lift 288 kg with his fingers and 1,450 kg with his back, for which he won various competitions several times. However, not the title “Most strong man in the world" made him a hero.
During World War II, Rollino served in the Pacific and received a Bronze and Silver Star for bravery in action. official duties, as well as three purple hearts for battle wounds that left him in the hospital for a total of 2 years. He carried away 4 of his comrades from the battlefield, two in each hand, and also returned to the thick of the battle for the rest.
Fatherly love can inspire superhuman feats, and this was proven by two fathers on opposite sides of the world.
In Florida, Joeph Welch came to the aid of his six-year-old son when an alligator grabbed the boy's arm. Forgetting about his own safety, Welch hit the alligator, trying to force it to open its mouth. Then a passerby arrived and began punching the alligator in the stomach until the animal finally let go of the boy.
In Mutoko, Zimbabwe, another father saved his son from a crocodile when it attacked him in a river. Father Tafadzwa Kacher began poking reeds into the animal's eyes and mouth until his son ran away. Then the crocodile targeted the man. Tafadzwa had to gouge out the animal's eyes. The boy lost his leg in the attack, but he will be able to tell of his father's superhuman bravery.
Two ordinary women lifted cars to save loved ones
Not only men are capable of demonstrating superhuman abilities in critical situations. The daughter and mother showed that women can be heroes too, especially when a loved one is in danger.
In Virginia, a 22-year-old girl saved her father when the jack slipped from under the BMW he was working under and the car fell onto the man's chest. There was no time to wait for help, the young woman lifted the car and moved it, then performed artificial respiration on her father.
In Georgia, a jack also slipped and a 1,350-pound Chevrolet Impala fell onto young man. Without outside help His mother Angela Cavallo lifted the car and held it for five minutes until neighbors pulled her son out.
Superhuman abilities are not only strength and courage, but also the ability to think quickly and act in an emergency.
In New Mexico, a school bus driver suffered a seizure, putting children in danger. A girl waiting for the bus noticed that something had happened to the driver and called her mother. The woman, Rhonda Carlsen, immediately took action. She ran next to the bus and, using gestures, asked one of the children to open the door. After that, she jumped inside, grabbed the steering wheel and stopped the bus. Thanks to her quick reaction, none of the schoolchildren were injured, not to mention people passing by.
A truck and trailer drove along the edge of a cliff in the dead of night. The cab of a large truck stopped right above the cliff, with the driver inside. A young man came to the rescue, he broke the window and pulled the man out with his bare hands.
This happened in New Zealand in the Waioeka Gorge on October 5, 2008. The hero was 18-year-old Peter Hanne, who was at home when he heard the crash. Without thinking about his own safety, he climbed onto the balancing car, jumped into the narrow gap between the cab and the trailer, and broke the rear window. He carefully helped the injured driver out as the truck swayed under his feet.
In 2011, Hanne was awarded the New Zealand Bravery Medal for this heroic act.
War is full of heroes who risk their lives to save their fellow soldiers. In the movie Forrest Gump, we saw how the fictional character saved several of his fellow soldiers, even after he was wounded. IN real life You can find a more abrupt plot.
Take, for example, the story of Robert Ingram, who received the Medal of Honor. In 1966, during an enemy siege, Ingram continued to fight and save his comrades even after he was shot three times: in the head (which left him partially blind and deaf in one ear), in the arm, and in the left knee. Despite his wounds, he continued to kill North Vietnamese soldiers who attacked his unit.
Aquaman is nothing compared to Shavarsh Karapetyan, who saved 20 people from a sinking bus in 1976.
The Armenian speed swimming champion was jogging with his brother when a bus with 92 passengers left the road and fell into the water 24 meters from the shore. Karapetyan dived, kicked out the window and began to pull out people who were by that time in cold water at a depth of 10 m. They say that for each person he saved it took 30 seconds, he saved one after another until he lost consciousness in the cold and dark water. As a result, 20 people survived.
But Karapetyan’s exploits did not end there. Eight years later, he saved several people from a burning building, suffering severe burns in the process. Karapetyan received the Order of the USSR Badge of Honor and several other awards for underwater rescue. But he himself claimed that he was not a hero at all, he simply did what he had to do.
A man takes off a helicopter to save his colleague
The TV show site turned into a tragedy when a helicopter from the popular TV series Magnum PI crashed into drainage ditch in 1988.
During landing, the helicopter suddenly tilted, went out of control and fell to the ground, while the whole thing was captured on film. One of the pilots, Steve Kux, was pinned under the helicopter in shallow water. And then Warren “Tiny” Everal ran up and picked up the helicopter from Kax. It was a Hughes 500D, which weighs at least 703kg empty. Fast reaction Everala and his superhuman strength saved Kax from a helicopter that pinned him in the water. Even though the pilot injured himself left hand, he escaped death thanks to a local Hawaiian hero.
On the eve of Defender of the Fatherland Day and the seventieth anniversary of Victory, heroes of bygone times are increasingly remembered. But even in our time there are people who, out of duty, risk their lives every day. FederalPress compiled a list of the top 10 heroes who gave their lives for others in peacetime. Of course, there are much more than ten stories about the courage of doctors, firefighters, police officers, soldiers and officers.
On the eve of Defender of the Fatherland Day and the seventieth anniversary of Victory, heroes of bygone times are increasingly remembered. But even in our time there are people who, out of duty, risk their lives every day. FederalPress compiled the top 10 heroes who gave their lives for others in peacetime. Of course, there are much more than ten stories about the courage of doctors, firefighters, police officers, soldiers and officers. We just wanted to remind you that there is always a place for heroism in life.
In September 2014, an emergency occurred on the territory of a military unit during an exercise in Lesnoy. The junior sergeant pulled the pin on the grenade and dropped the ammunition. Colonel Serik Sultangabiev managed to react in time.
The President of Russia, on the recommendation of the command of the Internal Troops, signed a decree conferring the highest rank of ““” on the colonel.
In July 2014, several journalists and photojournalist Andrei Stenin went to Donbass to provide reliable information about what was happening in southeastern Ukraine.
The circumstances of the death of Andrei Stenin in Donbass. As FederalPress previously reported, the column of refugees in which the photographer was located came under fire to the northwest settlement Dmitrovka. Ukrainian army, presumably the 79th airmobile brigade, opened fire on the vehicles of civilians with cannons and machine guns. As a result, ten cars were destroyed, but several people managed to escape and hide in the roadside bushes.
The next day, representatives of the Ukrainian command inspected the site of the shelling of the convoy, after which the area with the remains of the dead and broken vehicles was treated with Grad rocket launchers. All journalists who died in Donbass were posthumously awarded.
Last June, a major accident occurred at the Achinsk Oil Refinery. During startup work at the gas fractionation unit, a volumetric explosion and fire occurred. As a result.
In January 2012, a fire occurred in the basement of a residential building in Omsk. Thick black smoke came from there and enveloped the second entrance of the house; people were asking for help from the windows. Arriving firefighters evacuated 38 people, eight of them children, and went to the smoky basement.
Despite zero visibility, the fire brigade under the leadership of senior warrant officer of the sixth fire department Alexander Kozhemyakin carried out two gas cylinders which could explode.
Half an hour later, the firefighters' breathing apparatus alarms went off. This meant that the air in the cylinders was running out. Kozhemyakin, realizing that there was a real threat to the lives of his subordinates, became the leader and helped his comrades get out of the smoke-filled and cluttered basement. While freeing a subordinate entangled in a wire, the commander suddenly lost consciousness. For more than an hour, emergency doctors tried to bring him back to life, but without regaining consciousness. He was posthumously awarded the Order of Courage.
In September 2010, in the engine room of the destroyer "Bystry" on naval base In Fokino, a fire broke out due to a short circuit in the wiring when the fuel pipeline broke. Aldar Tsydenzhapov, who took up duty as a boiler crew operator, immediately rushed to plug the leak. He was in the center of the fire for about nine seconds; after eliminating the leak, he was able to independently get out of the compartment engulfed in flames, receiving severe burns. The prompt actions of Aldar and his colleagues led to the timely shutdown of the ship's power plant, which otherwise could have exploded and caused severe damage to the ship.
Aldar was taken to the Pacific Fleet hospital in Vladivostok in serious condition. Doctors fought for his life for four days, but he died. In 2011, the sailor posthumously became.
During the Great Patriotic War, heroism was the norm of behavior of Soviet people; the war revealed perseverance and courage Soviet man. Thousands of soldiers and officers sacrificed their lives in the battles of Moscow, Kursk and Stalingrad, in the defense of Leningrad and Sevastopol, in the North Caucasus and the Dnieper, during the storming of Berlin and in other battles - and immortalized their names. Women and children fought alongside men. Home front workers played a big role. People who worked, exhausting themselves, to provide the soldiers with food, clothing and, at the same time, a bayonet and a shell.
We will talk about those who gave their lives, strength and savings for the sake of Victory. These are the great people of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.
Doctors are heroes. Zinaida Samsonova
During the war, more than two hundred thousand doctors and half a million average doctors worked at the front and in the rear. medical personnel. And half of them were women.
The working day of doctors and nurses in medical battalions and front-line hospitals often lasted several days. Sleepless nights medical workers stood relentlessly near the operating tables, and some of them pulled the dead and wounded out of the battlefield on their backs. Among the doctors there were many of their “sailors” who, saving the wounded, covered them with their bodies from bullets and shell fragments.
Without sparing, as they say, their belly, they raised the spirit of the soldiers, raised the wounded from their hospital beds and sent them back into battle to defend their country, their homeland, their people, their home from the enemy. Among the large army of doctors, I would like to name the name of the Hero Soviet Union Zinaida Aleksandrovna Samsonova, who went to the front when she was only seventeen years old. Zinaida, or, as her fellow soldiers sweetly called her, Zinochka, was born in the village of Bobkovo, Yegoryevsky district, Moscow region.
Just before the war, she entered the Yegoryevsk Medical School to study. When the enemy entered her native land and the country was in danger, Zina decided that she must definitely go to the front. And she rushed there.
IN active army she has been since 1942 and immediately finds herself on the front line. Zina was a sanitary instructor for a rifle battalion. The soldiers loved her for her smile, for her selfless assistance to the wounded. Zina went through the most terrible battles with her fighters, this Battle of Stalingrad. She fought on the Voronezh Front and on other fronts.
Zinaida Samsonova In the fall of 1943, she participated in the landing operation to capture a bridgehead on the right bank of the Dnieper near the village of Sushki, Kanevsky district, now Cherkasy region. Here she, together with her fellow soldiers, managed to capture this bridgehead.
Zina carried more than thirty wounded from the battlefield and transported them to the other side of the Dnieper. There were legends about this fragile nineteen-year-old girl. Zinochka was distinguished by her courage and bravery.
When the commander died near the village of Kholm in 1944, Zina, without hesitation, took command of the battle and raised the soldiers to attack. In this fight last time Her fellow soldiers heard her amazing, slightly hoarse voice: “Eagles, follow me!”
Zinochka Samsonova died in this battle on January 27, 1944 for the village of Kholm in Belarus. She was buried in a mass grave in Ozarichi, Kalinkovsky district, Gomel region.
For her perseverance, courage and bravery, Zinaida Aleksandrovna Samsonova was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
The school where Zina Samsonova once studied was named after her.
A special period of activity of Soviet employees foreign intelligence associated with the Great Patriotic War. Already at the end of June 1941, the newly created State Defense Committee of the USSR considered the issue of foreign intelligence work and clarified its tasks. They were subordinated to one goal - the speedy defeat of the enemy. For exemplary performance of special tasks behind enemy lines, nine career foreign intelligence officers were awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union. This is S.A. Vaupshasov, I.D. Kudrya, N.I. Kuznetsov, V.A. Lyagin, D.N. Medvedev, V.A. Molodtsov, K.P. Orlovsky, N.A. Prokopyuk, A.M. Rabtsevich. Here we will talk about one of the scout-heroes - Nikolai Ivanovich Kuznetsov.
From the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, he was enrolled in the fourth directorate of the NKVD, whose main task was to organize reconnaissance and sabotage activities behind enemy lines. After numerous trainings and studying the morals and life of the Germans in a prisoner of war camp, under the name of Paul Wilhelm Siebert, Nikolai Kuznetsov was sent behind enemy lines along the line of terror. At first, the special agent conducted his secret activities in the Ukrainian city of Rivne, where the Reich Commissariat of Ukraine was located. Kuznetsov communicated closely with enemy intelligence officers and the Wehrmacht, as well as local officials. All information obtained was transferred to the partisan detachment. One of the remarkable exploits of the USSR secret agent was the capture of the Reichskommissariat courier, Major Gahan, who was carrying a secret map in his briefcase. After interrogating Gahan and studying the map, it turned out that a bunker for Hitler was built eight kilometers from the Ukrainian Vinnitsa.
In November 1943, Kuznetsov managed to organize the kidnapping of German Major General M. Ilgen, who was sent to Rivne to destroy partisan formations.
The last operation of intelligence officer Siebert in this post was the liquidation in November 1943 of the head of the legal department of the Reichskommissariat of Ukraine, Oberführer Alfred Funk. After interrogating Funk, the brilliant intelligence officer managed to obtain information about the preparation of the assassination of the heads of the “Big Three” of the Tehran Conference, as well as information about the enemy’s attack on Kursk Bulge. In January 1944, Kuznetsov was ordered to go to Lviv along with the retreating fascist troops to continue his sabotage activities. Scouts Jan Kaminsky and Ivan Belov were sent to help Agent Siebert. Under the leadership of Nikolai Kuznetsov, several occupiers were destroyed in Lviv, for example, the head of the government chancellery Heinrich Schneider and Otto Bauer.
From the first days of the occupation, boys and girls began to act decisively, and a secret organization “Young Avengers” was created. The guys fought against the fascist occupiers. They blew up a water pumping station, which delayed the sending of ten fascist trains to the front. While distracting the enemy, the Avengers destroyed bridges and highways, blew up a local power plant, and burned down a factory. Having obtained information about the actions of the Germans, they immediately passed it on to the partisans.
Zina Portnova was assigned increasingly complex tasks. According to one of them, the girl managed to get a job in a German canteen. After working there for a while, she carried out an effective operation - she poisoned food for German soldiers. More than 100 fascists suffered from her lunch. The Germans began to blame Zina. Wanting to prove her innocence, the girl tried the poisoned soup and only miraculously survived.
Zina Portnova In 1943, traitors appeared who revealed secret information and handed our guys over to the Nazis. Many were arrested and shot. Then command partisan detachment Portnova instructed her to establish contact with those who survived. The Nazis captured the young partisan when she was returning from a mission. Zina was terribly tortured. But the answer to the enemy was only her silence, contempt and hatred. The interrogations did not stop.
“The Gestapo man came to the window. And Zina, rushing to the table, grabbed the pistol. Apparently catching the rustle, the officer turned around impulsively, but the weapon was already in her hand. She pulled the trigger. For some reason I didn’t hear the shot. I just saw how the German, clutching his chest with his hands, fell to the floor, and the second one, sitting at the side table, jumped up from his chair and hastily unfastened the holster of his revolver. She pointed the gun at him too. Again, almost without aiming, she pulled the trigger. Rushing to the exit, Zina pulled the door open and jumped out next room and from there to the porch. There she shot at the sentry almost point-blank. Running out of the commandant’s office building, Portnova rushed like a whirlwind down the path.
“If only I could run to the river,” the girl thought. But from behind there was the sound of a chase... “Why don’t they shoot?” The surface of the water already seemed very close. And beyond the river the forest turned black. She heard the sound of machine gun fire and something spiky pierced her leg. Zina fell on river sand. She still had enough strength to rise slightly and shoot... She saved the last bullet for herself.
When the Germans got very close, she decided it was all over and pointed the gun at her chest and pulled the trigger. But there was no shot: it misfired. The fascist knocked the pistol out of her weakening hands.”
Zina was sent to prison. The Germans brutally tortured the girl for more than a month; they wanted her to betray her comrades. But having taken an oath of allegiance to the Motherland, Zina kept it.
On the morning of January 13, 1944, a gray-haired and blind girl was taken out to be executed. She walked, stumbling with her bare feet in the snow.
The girl withstood all the torture. She truly loved our Motherland and died for it, firmly believing in our victory.
Zinaida Portnova was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
The Soviet people, realizing that the front needed their help, made every effort. Engineering geniuses simplified and improved production. Women who had recently sent their husbands, brothers and sons to the front took their place at the machine, mastering professions unfamiliar to them. “Everything for the front, everything for victory!” Children, old people and women gave all their strength, gave themselves for the sake of victory.
This is how the collective farmers’ call sounded in one of the regional newspapers: “... we must give the army and the working people more bread, meat, milk, vegetables and agricultural raw materials for industry. We, the state farm workers, must hand over this together with the collective farm peasantry.” Only from these lines can one judge how obsessed the home front workers were with thoughts of victory, and what sacrifices they were willing to make to bring this long-awaited day closer. Even when they received a funeral, they did not stop working, knowing that it was The best way to take revenge on the hated fascists for the death of their relatives and friends.
On December 15, 1942, Ferapont Golovaty gave all his savings - 100 thousand rubles - to purchase an aircraft for the Red Army, and asked to transfer the aircraft to a pilot of the Stalingrad Front. In a letter addressed to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, he wrote that, having escorted his two sons to the front, he himself wanted to contribute to the cause of victory. Stalin responded: “Thank you, Ferapont Petrovich, for your concern for the Red Army and its Air Force. The Red Army will not forget that you gave all your savings for the construction combat aircraft. Please accept my greetings." The initiative was given serious attention. The decision about who exactly would get the plane was made by the Military Council of the Stalingrad Front. combat vehicle awarded to one of the best - the commander of the 31st Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment, Major Boris Nikolaevich Eremin. The fact that Eremin and Golovaty were fellow countrymen also played a role.
Victory in the Great Patriotic War was achieved through superhuman efforts of both front-line soldiers and home front workers. And we need to remember this. Today's generation should not forget their feat.
Almost every day in our lives there is a place for heroism. Most often they are committed by military personnel, rescuers, and police officers. To whom it is due due to duty. But they are not the only ones who risk their lives to save others.
You often hear grumbling about the topic: the people have become smaller, the people are completely different, there are no men left at all. Well, then everything, as the classic wrote: “yes, there were people in our time...” Since the time of Lermontov, little has changed: “You are not heroes...”, other accusations against these modern handsome young men in tapered trousers and young men in stylish jackets on shiny cars. Looking fashionable and even glamorous. And looking at them, one can really doubt: why should they become heroes? They have more perfumes and cosmetics than any beauty. And, unfortunately, we will be wrong in our doubts.
Why "Unfortunately? Yes, because we really want there to be no room for heroic deeds in our lives. Because heroic deeds often have to be done alone, due to the negligence and carelessness of others.
This, however, does not make the surprise and admiration for modern heroes any less. Just as there are no fewer heroes themselves who are ready to sacrifice themselves for the sake of others. Here are the most striking examples of this.
1. A real colonel
This is the biggest story right now. In the Urals, the colonel covered with himself a grenade that a soldier accidentally dropped. This happened in military unit 3275 in the city of Lesnoy Sverdlovsk region during the exercise on September 25. The sergeant was apparently confused or lost in thought; there is even talk that the night before he had been playing computer games and didn’t get enough sleep, so I couldn’t hold the grenade with the pin pulled out. She rolled on the ground. The soldiers froze in horror. In general, you can imagine these terrible moments. Only the unit commander, 41-year-old Colonel Serik Sultangabiev, was not at a loss. Without hesitation for a second, he rushed to RGD-5. And the next moment there was an explosion.
Fortunately, none of the soldiers were injured. The colonel was urgently taken to the hospital, where medical teams operated on Serik Sultangabiev for 8 hours straight. As a result, the officer lost his left eye and two fingers on his right hand. The bulletproof vest saved his life.
Now Colonel Serik Sultangabiev has been presented with the Order of Courage. The documents necessary for this have already been sent to Moscow by the Ural command internal troops Ministry of Internal Affairs.
2. Solnechnikov’s feat
Of course, when talking today about Sultangabiev’s feat, he is immediately compared with the feat of another officer - Sergei Solnechnikov. Major from the city of Belogorsk, Amur Region. Became a Hero of Russia posthumously. He also covered a grenade that one of his soldiers dropped during a training exercise. An explosion occurred and the officer received numerous injuries. An hour and a half later, he died on the operating table of a military hospital. The wounds turned out to be incompatible with life. So the major, at the cost of his own life, saved hundreds of his subordinates. I did it without hesitation. Last August he would have turned only 34 years old. In honor of Major Sergei Solnechnikov, both in his hometown of Volzhsk and in Belogorsk, where he served, monuments are erected and streets are named in his honor.
3. Saved 300 people
Another hero, who was remembered at the end of September in his native Buryatia and talked about raising funds for the construction of a monument in his honor, has not yet received such an honor. Aldar Tsydenzhapov, a sailor of the Russian Pacific Fleet, died in the fall of 2010 while serving on the destroyer Bystry. Aldar, at the cost of his life, prevented a major accident on a warship, saving the ship itself and 300 crew members from death. The 19-year-old guy received the title of Hero posthumously...
4. A ship in honor of a hero
And in the Irkutsk region, at the end of September, a ship named after the hero-rescuer: “Vitaly Tikhonov” was launched. The completely restored ship was named in honor of the tragically deceased deputy head of the Baikal search and rescue team. Vitaly Vladimirovich died during training camps. For 25 years he saved people, participated in more than 500 search operations, saved more than 200 people. It was not possible to save him...
These feats can hardly be forgotten. Although people, it would seem, died while serving, which in general itself is associated with all sorts of risks. But in everyday life we are lucky to have heroes.
5. Hollywood is taking a break
The other day, the head of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Kaluga Region, Sergei Bachurin, presented traffic police inspector Evgeniy Vorobyov with a valuable gift and thanked his mother Valentina Semyonovna.
Evgenia Vorobyov will also be awarded by the Minister of Internal Affairs Vladimir Kolokoltsev. A corresponding submission to the minister has already been prepared. How did Vorobyov distinguish himself? On the birthday of his hometown of Kaluga, Evgeniy Vorobyov managed to stop the car, which high speed rushed straight towards the column of carnival procession participants walking along the main street. The policeman managed to jump into the car full speed ahead and press the brake. The car dragged the policeman along the asphalt for several meters and stopped literally a few centimeters from the people. After that, the policeman pulled the drunk driver out of the car and tied him up. Agree, such scenes can only be seen in Hollywood action films, and all the stunts are performed by well-trained stuntmen. Meanwhile, this was done by a simple traffic police officer.
6. In honor of a fellow countryman and a real Cossack
These days, people in the Volgograd region are remembering their heroic fellow countryman. At the end of September, a monument to the Cossack Ruslan Kazakov was erected on the Nagolny farm, Kotelnikovsky district, Volgograd region. He himself voluntarily went to Simferopol to ensure order during the referendum on the status of Crimea, to ensure order there.
Kazakov served as part of a local Cossack self-defense unit. On March 18, he was patrolling the territory of a military unit. At that moment, his young colleague, an 18-year-old guy, was shot in the leg by a sniper. Seeing that the younger comrade had fallen, Ruslan Kazakov rushed to him and covered him with his body. And he was immediately killed by the next shot. Posthumously Ruslan Kazakov was awarded the Order of Courage. A monument was erected in his honor in his homeland.
7. Hero-traffic cop
A traffic police officer from Saratov, risking his life, blocked the path of an out-of-control truck.
Police lieutenant, traffic police regiment inspector for Saratov Daniil Sultanov stood at the intersection. The prohibitory traffic light came on. And suddenly Daniil saw an out-of-control truck rushing down the road, hitting cars and unable to stop on its own. Then Daniel blocked his way with his car and thus stopped the speeding truck, which was sweeping away everything in its path. Daniel was able to save a dozen lives. The traffic police inspector himself escaped with a concussion.
In total, 12 cars and 4 people were injured in the accident. The incident could have ended terrible tragedy, if not for the feat of Daniil Sultanov.
No one in the country keeps special statistics, but if there were, it would probably become clear how many people, thanks to heroes, continue to live. Someone was rescued from a fire, someone was pulled out of a pond. These people always come to help themselves, they are not called, they are not asked for it. And not only in our country. Recently in Saratov, father and son Osherov, both named Sergei, and Alexander Dubrovin were awarded. While on vacation in Israel, three residents of Saratov saved a drowning mother and child and a woman. For which they were awarded medals. If not for them, mother and son would have died.
These are our contemporaries. And no matter how much psychologists tell us that sacrificing oneself for the sake of others is not right. That you need to live solely for your own sake, there are those for whom this rule is simply unacceptable. And they, without hesitation, cover the other...
Photo at the opening of the article: Residents of the city of Volzhsky before the farewell ceremony for Major Sergei Solnechnikov - Hero of Russia / Photo RIA Novosti / Kirill Braga.