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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

February 29, 1960

Testimony of the telephone operator M. I. Grabskaya:

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

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

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

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

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

Pencil drawing made from memory by a colleague of Sirotinin in the 1990s

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

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

Memory

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Heroism and readiness of the Russian soldier for self-sacrifice

The heroism and readiness of the Russian warrior for self-sacrifice have been known since ancient times. In all the wars that Russia waged, victories were based precisely on these features of the character of the Russian soldier. When equally fearless officers were at the head of the Russian troops, the heroism reached such a scale that it made the whole world talk about itself. This was precisely the feat of a detachment of Russian troops under the command of Colonel Pavel Mikhailovich Karyagin, which took place during the Russian-Persian war of 1804-1813. Many contemporaries compared it to the battle of 300 Spartans against the innumerable troops of Xerxes I at Thermopylae.

On January 3, 1804, the Russian army stormed the second largest city of present-day Azerbaijan, Ganja, and the Ganja Khanate became part of the Russian Empire. The purpose of this war was to ensure the security of previously acquired possessions in Georgia. However, the activity of the Russians in Transcaucasia did not please the British. Their emissaries persuaded the Persian Shah Feth-Ali, better known as Baba Khan, to ally with Britain and declare war on Russia.

The war began on June 10, 1804, and until the end of that year, Russian troops constantly defeated the superior forces of the Persians. In general, the Caucasian war was very remarkable, there is a strong belief that if the enemy did not outnumber the Russians by 10 times in battle, then he did not dare to attack. However, the feat of the battalion under the leadership of the commander of the 17th Jaeger Regiment, Colonel Karyagin, even against this background, is amazing. The enemy outnumbered these Russian forces by more than forty times.

In 1805, an army of twenty thousand led by the heir to the Persian throne, Abbas Mirza, moved to Shusha. There were only six companies of rangers in the city under the leadership of Major Lisanevich. All that Commander Tsitsianov could put forward as reinforcements at that moment was the battalion of the 17th Jaeger Regiment. Tsitsianov appointed the commander of the regiment Karyagin, whose personality was already legendary by that moment, to command the detachment.

On June 21, 1805, 493 soldiers and officers with two guns moved from Ganja to help Shusha, but these forces did not have time to unite. The detachment was intercepted by the army of Abbas Mirza on the way. Already on the twenty-fourth of June, Karyagin's battalion met the advance detachments of the enemy.

Due to the relative small number of Persians (there were about four thousand), the battalion lined up in a square and continued to move. By evening, however, the main Persian forces began to approach. And Karyagin decided to take up defense at the Tatar cemetery, located on a hilltop 10-15 miles from the Shah-Bulakh fortress.

The Russians hastily surrounded the camp with a moat and carts, and all this was done in the process of a continuous battle. The battle lasted until the very night and cost the Russian detachment 197 people. However, the losses of the Persians were so great that the next day Abbas Mirza did not dare to attack, and ordered to shoot the Russians from artillery. On June 26, the Persians diverted the stream, leaving the Russians without water, and installed four batteries of falconets - 45-millimeter cannons, to shoot the defenders. By this time, Karyagin himself had been shell-shocked three times and wounded by a bullet in the side right through. However, no one even thought about surrender, and it was offered on very honorable terms.

The remaining 150 people in the ranks made sorties for water at night. During one of them, the detachment of Lieutenant Ladinsky defeated all the falcon batteries and captured 15 guns. “What wonderful Russian fellows were the soldiers in our detachment. I didn’t need to encourage and excite their courage, ”Ladinsky later recalled. For four days, the detachment fought with the enemy, but the fifth soldiers ate the last crackers, the officers had long been eating grass by this point. Karyagin equipped a detachment of foragers of forty people under the leadership of an officer of unknown origin, Lieutenant Lisenkov, who turned out to be a French spy. As a result of his betrayal, only six people returned, wounded to the last extreme.

According to all the rules, under these conditions, the detachment had to surrender to the enemy, or accept a heroic death. However, Karyagin made a different decision - to capture the Shah-Bulakh fortress and wait for reinforcements there. With the help of the Armenian guide Yuzbash, the detachment, having abandoned the convoy and buried the captured falconets, secretly left the positions at night. And in the morning, having broken the gates of cannons, he captured Shah-Bulakh.
The Persian army surrounded the fortress as soon as the Russians managed to repair the gates. There were no food supplies in the fortress. Then Karyagin took four days to think about the next offer to surrender, subject to the supply of the detachment by the Persians. The conditions were accepted and the surviving soldiers were able to get stronger and put themselves in order.

At the end of the fourth day, Karyagin told the ambassador "Tomorrow morning, let his highness occupy Shah Bulakh." Karyagin did not sin in anything either against military duty or against this word - at night the Russian detachment left the fortress and moved to capture another fortress, Mukhrat. The rearguard of the detachment, which consisted exclusively of wounded soldiers and officers, was led by Kotlyarevsky - a person also legendary, the future general and "Conqueror of Azerbaijan".

During this transition, another feat was accomplished. The road was crossed by a ditch, through which it was impossible to transport guns, and without artillery, the capture of the fortress became impossible. Then four heroes descended into the ditch and made a bridge from their guns, which rested on their shoulders. The second gun went off, killing two daredevils. History has preserved for posterity the name of only one of them - the battalion leader Gavrila Sidorov.

The Persians caught up with Karyagin's detachment on the way to Mukhrat. The battle was so hot that the Russian guns changed hands several times. However, having inflicted serious damage on the Persians, the Russians retreated to Mukhrat with few losses and occupied it. Now their positions have become impregnable. To another letter from Abbas Mirza with an offer of high ranks and huge money in the Persian service, Karyagin replied: “Your parent has mercy on me; and I have the honor to notify you that, when fighting with the enemy, they do not seek mercy, except for traitors.

The courage of a small Russian detachment under the leadership of Karyagin saved Georgia from being captured and plundered by the Persians. By distracting the forces of the Persian army, Karyagin gave Tsitsianov the opportunity to gather forces and launch an offensive. Ultimately, all this led to a brilliant victory. And the Russian soldiers, for the umpteenth time, covered themselves with unfading glory.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To be continued…

For which the non-commissioned officer was granted immediately with all degrees of the St. George Cross.

The Order of St. George, or the St. George Cross, was the highest award for privates and non-commissioned officers of the tsarist army. It could only be obtained for exceptional merit and valor. The award had several degrees, and the full Knight of St. George was not often met.

In 1915, Aleksey Danilovich Makukha, a telephone operator of the 148th Caspian Infantry Regiment, was awarded all degrees at once, and his name appeared on the pages of newspapers and magazines. For many soldiers, he became an example of resilience and a true national hero.

On the fronts of the First World

There was an exhausting positional war. For several months now, Russian troops have held the territories occupied during the Battle of Galicia. The Austrians repeatedly stormed the fortifications of the Caspian regiment. Among the defenders was Private Alexei Makukha.

On March 21, 1915, during the fighting in Bukovina, the enemy carried out massive artillery preparation and launched an offensive. The Austrians managed to capture one of the Russian fortifications. The wounded Alexei Makukha was captured and interrogated.

The Austrians hoped that the telephone operator, who heard the conversations of the command, had important information about the location of the Russian troops. Threats failed to force the captured soldier to give out military secrets, and the Austrian officers turned to physical torture.

“The officers threw him to the ground on his face and twisted his arms behind his back. Then one of them sat down on him, and the other, turning his head back, opened his mouth with a dagger-bayonet and, stretching out his tongue with his hand, cut him twice with this dagger. Blood gushed from Makukha’s mouth and nose,” the Iskra weekly magazine described what happened in 1915.

Liberation and glory

The cut-up telephone operator could no longer tell his captors anything, and they lost interest in him. At this time, the counteroffensive of the Russian troops began. With a bayonet attack, the Austrians were driven out of the newly occupied fortification. Private Makukha was found lying in blood and handed over to the orderlies. In the infirmary, they sewed his tongue, hanging on a thin piece of skin, and then sent him to the hospital.

It was precisely such cases that the front-line press was looking for in order to inspire the soldiers. When the newspapers wrote about the exploit of Alexei Makukha, a wave of popular indignation arose. The people were indignant at the atrocities committed by representatives of a cultured nation. Glory came to the telephone operator.

Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich promoted him to junior non-commissioned officer and ordered him to be awarded all degrees of the St. George Cross.

In addition, the Grand Duke asked Emperor Nicholas II to assign a double pension to the telephone operator as an exception. The sovereign supported the proposal, and Makukha, after being dismissed from service, was entitled to a pension of 518 rubles and 40 kopecks a year.

The Petrograd clergy presented the hero with an icon of St. Alexis the Man of God, and photographers from popular publications asked him to pose with crosses on his chest and his tongue hanging out. Gradually, the telephone operator recovered and after a few months he could talk in a whisper. How his future fate turned out, history is silent.

However, Makukha was not the only hero who survived captivity and a terrible interrogation. Newspapers of that time report on the corporal of the Kharkov escort team Vasily Vodyany, who was captured by the Germans in April 1915. During interrogation, his ears and tongue were cut off. Junior sergeant Ivan Pichuev had stripes cut out on his legs with a knife and his tongue was also cut off. Senior constable Ivan Zinoviev was tortured by the Germans with electric current and red-hot iron.

THE COMMANDER WHO DID NOT LOSE A SINGLE BATTLE

Russia has always been famous for its generals. But the name of Ivan Paskevich stands apart. During his life he won four military campaigns (Persian, Turkish, Polish and Hungarian) without losing a single battle.

minion of fate

In 1827, a commemorative medal "For the Capture of Tabriz" was cast. On it, a group of Persian foremen bows with respect to a Russian warrior, holding a spear in his right hand, and a shield in his left. So the sculptor Fyodor Tolstoy depicted Ivan Fedorovich Paskevich, who in the 19th century was a symbol of the valor and invincibility of Russian weapons.

Last but not least, Paskevich's character traits helped to achieve recognition: on the one hand, slowness and prudence, on the other, decisiveness and ruthlessness. They seemed to balance each other, creating the image of an ideal commander.

Fortune smiled at the young officer from the first days of his service. Ranks and orders stuck to him, and bullets and cannonballs flew past. During the Patriotic War of 1812, luck and talent helped the 30-year-old major general to distinguish himself in the most important battles at Borodino, near Saltanovka, Maloyaroslavets and Smolensk.

After the war, Paskevich was given command of the First Guards Division, where Grand Dukes Mikhail Pavlovich and Nikolai Pavlovich, later Emperor Nicholas I, were among his subordinates. This played a role in the later career of the military leader and his relationship with the tsar.

Paskevich first met Nikolai Pavlovich in defeated Paris. During the review of the troops, Alexander I unexpectedly introduced the commander to his younger brother: "Meet one of the best generals in my army, whom I have not yet had time to thank for his excellent service." In correspondence, until the end of his life, Nicholas I would respectfully call Paskevich "father-commander."

Count of Erivan

The year 1826 prepares new trials for Ivan Paskevich. Sending a loyal general to the Caucasus, Nicholas I officially asks him to assist Alexei Yermolov, but in fact plans to remove the wayward "proconsul". The management of the Caucasus and the outbreak of war with Persia required a person with such characteristics as Paskevich.

September 3, 1826 Valerian Madatov occupies Elizavetpol. Paskevich hurries to help him, as the huge army of Abbas-Mirza moved to liberate the city. The general battle began on September 14 with an artillery skirmish.

Under the cover of artillery, the Persian infantry battalions moved forward towards the grenadier regiments, while pushing back the ranks of the Cossack and Azerbaijani militias. They retreated, and the inspired Persians did not notice how they fell into a trap - a large ravine where they were forced to stop.

The main forces of the Russians immediately attacked the Persians and finally defeated them by evening.

The brilliant victory of the 10,000th corps under the command of Paskevich over the 35,000th army of Abbas Mirza put this battle in a series of legendary victories for Suvorov.

Later, Paskevich took a stronghold - the Erivan fortress, which did not submit to either Gudovich or Tsitsianov. “The destruction of hell would not have the same price for sinners as the capture of the Erivan fortress for the Armenians,” Khachatur Abovyan sings of the feat of the Russian general.

Before the Russian-Persian battles had died down, the newly minted Count Paskevich-Erivansky was preparing for a new challenge - the war with the Ottoman Porte. In June 1828, he was forced to besiege the fortress of Kars, under the walls of which he defeated the Turkish cavalry. Considered impregnable by the British, the fortress surrenders with a large number of guns and gunpowder.

When Paskevich approached Erzerum, the city of 100,000 chose to open the gates in a panic. And then the fortresses of Akhalkalaki, Poti, Khertvis, Akhaltsikhe fell. During the capture of Akhaltsikhe, even the 30,000th Turkish corps, which came to defend its walls, did not help.

The state did not remain in debt and marked Paskevich with the orders of St. Andrew and St. George, 1st degree.

Rebel Europe

Poland rebelled in 1830. The Polish elite wanted to return to the borders of the Commonwealth, and the people protested against foreign power. The constitution granted earlier by Alexander I allowed the Poles to have their own army, and now the good intentions of the tsar became an indirect cause of the ongoing Russian-Polish war.

An attempt by General Dibich to suppress the uprising did not give the desired result. A harsh winter and Diebitsch's death from cholera allowed the rebellion to grow. Predictably, Paskevich was thrown to suppress the rebellion.

The field marshal, in the spirit of his best victories, impeccably laid siege to Warsaw, and a day later, on August 26, 1831, the Polish capital capitulated - exactly on the day of the 19th anniversary of the Battle of Borodino.

The field marshal quickly restores order: “Warsaw is at your feet, the Polish army, on my orders, is retreating to Polotsk,” he reports to the emperor. The war soon ended, but it took 8 whole months to restore the destroyed Polish cities.

“There is a law, there is strength, and even more there is a constant strong will,” he wrote another time to Nikolai. This rule is guided by Paskevich - the new governor of the Kingdom of Poland - in the arrangement of the post-war country. He is concerned not only with the army, but also with civil problems - education, the situation of the peasants, the improvement of roads.

A new wave of revolutions swept across Europe in the late 1840s. Now Paskevich is needed in Hungary - the Austrian government turned to him with such a request.

Having made a difficult transition through the Carpathians, on June 5, 1849, Paskevich was preparing to put an end to the rebels in one maneuver. “Do not spare the canals!” Nicholas I admonished him.

The denouement came quickly, and the 30,000-strong Hungarian army surrendered to the mercy of the winner. Karl Nesselrode wrote: "Austria must forever remember the service rendered to her by Russia in 1849." Paskevich then received the rank of Field Marshal of Prussia and Austria.

In beams of glory

In the Crimean War that broke out in 1853, in which Russia was confronted by several states at once, Paskevich no longer took such an active part as before, but his balanced position and strategic foresight helped the empire retain its eastern possessions.

“Everywhere is Russia, where Russian weapons rule,” Paskevich said. He not only declared, but also proved with his military victories. The popularity of the commander was huge - both among the people and among the military and civilian ranks.

“Well done, Erivan grip! Here is a Russian general! These are Suvorov manners! Resurrection Suvorov! Give him an army, then he would surely take Tsargrad, ”Griboedov conveyed the enthusiastic reaction of the masses.

Paskevich's influence on Russia's military policy can hardly be overestimated. Any selection of candidates for positions from the commander of the regiment to the commander of the corps was coordinated with him. By the 1840s, under the command of Paskevich were four infantry corps - the core of the empire's ground forces. At the behest of Nicholas I, the general received from the troops the same honors as he himself.

He was held in high esteem not only at home. As the historian V. A. Potto wrote, “the Shah of Persia sent Paskevich diamond signs of the Order of the Lion and the Sun on a diamond chain worth sixty thousand rubles, so that this order would be hereditarily transferred to the names of Paskevich.”

Paskevich became the fourth and last cavalier in the history of Russia, awarded all four degrees of the Order of St. George, and his military path was so long that he managed to capture four emperors. Paskevich was in the rays of glory. Even the aging commander enjoyed the unlimited trust of the emperor. When at the beginning of 1856 Ivan Paskevich passed away throughout the army and a 9-day mourning was declared in the Kingdom of Poland.

This is how the “downtrodden” Russian soldiers fought, defending the “rotten tsarism”, until the revolution decomposed the exhausted and tired army. It was they who held back the terrible blow of the German military machine, preserving the very possibility of the country's existence. And not only his own. “If France was not wiped off the face of Europe, then we owe this primarily to Russia,” Marshal Foch, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, later said.

In the then Russia, the names of the defenders of the Osovets fortress were known to almost everyone. That's on whose feat to educate patriotism, isn't it? But under Soviet rule, only army engineers were supposed to know about the defense of Osovets, and even then, only in a utilitarian way. technical section. The name of the commandant of the fortress was deleted from history: not only was Nikolai Brzhozovsky a “royal” general, he also later fought in the ranks of the Whites. After the Second World War, the history of the defense of Osovets was completely transferred to the category of taboos: comparisons with the events of 1941 were too unflattering.

Russian soldier on duty.

By the end of August 1915, due to changes on the Western Front, the strategic need for the defense of the Osovets fortress lost all meaning. In connection with this, the supreme command of the Russian army decided to stop defensive battles and evacuate the garrison of the fortress. In 1918, the ruins of the heroic fortress became part of independent Poland. Starting from the 1920s, the Polish leadership included Osowiec in their system of defensive fortifications. A full-scale restoration and reconstruction of the fortress began. The restoration of the barracks was carried out, as well as the dismantling of the rubble that hindered the further progress of work.
When sorting out the rubble, near one of the forts, the soldiers stumbled upon a stone vault of an underground tunnel. The work went on with passion and a wide hole was quickly punched. Encouraged by his comrades, a non-commissioned officer descended into the gaping darkness. A burning torch tore out of the pitch darkness the damp old masonry and pieces of plaster underfoot.
And then something incredible happened.
Before the non-commissioned officer could take a few steps, from somewhere in the dark depths of the tunnel, a firm and menacing shout resounded loudly:
- Stop! Who goes?
Unther was dumbfounded. “Uterus Bosca,” the soldier crossed himself and rushed upstairs.
And as it should be, at the top, he received a proper thrashing from an officer for cowardice and stupid inventions. Having ordered the non-commissioned officer to follow him, the officer himself went down into the dungeon. And again, as soon as the Poles moved along the damp and dark tunnel, from somewhere in front, from the impenetrable black haze, a shout sounded just as menacing and demanding:
- Stop! Who goes?
Following that, in the ensuing silence, the bolt of a rifle clearly clanged. Instinctively, the soldier hid behind the officer. Thinking and rightly judging that the evil spirits would hardly have armed themselves with a rifle, the officer, who spoke Russian well, called out to the invisible soldier and explained who he was and why he had come. In the end, he asked who his mysterious interlocutor was and what he was doing underground.
The Pole expected everything, but not such an answer:
- I, the sentry, and put here to guard the warehouse.
The officer's mind refused to accept such a simple answer. But, nevertheless, pulling himself together, he continued the negotiations.
“Can I come over,” the Pole asked excitedly.
- Not! came a stern voice from the darkness. "I can't let anyone into the dungeon until I'm relieved of duty."
Then the stunned officer asked if the sentry knew how long he had been here, underground.
“Yes, I know,” came the reply. “I took over nine years ago, in August 1915. It seemed like a dream, an absurd fantasy, but there, in the darkness of the tunnel, was a living person, a Russian soldier who had been on guard for nine years. And most incredible of all, he did not rush to people, perhaps enemies, but still, people of society with whom he had been deprived for nine whole years, with a desperate plea to release him from terrible imprisonment. No, he remained faithful to his oath and military duty and was ready to defend the post entrusted to him to the end. Carrying out his service in strict accordance with the military regulations, the sentry declared that he could only be removed from his post by a divorcee, and if he was not there, then “the Emperor”.
Long negotiations began. They explained to the sentry what had happened on earth during these nine years, they said that the tsarist army, in which he served, no longer exists. There is not even the king himself, not to mention the breeder. And the territory he guards now belongs to Poland. After a long silence, the soldier asked who was in charge in Poland, and, having learned that the president, demanded his order. Only when Pilsudski's telegram was read to him did the sentry agree to leave his post.
The Polish soldiers helped him to climb up to the summer land filled with bright sun. But before they could see the man, the sentry shouted loudly, covering his face with his hands. Only then did the Poles remember that he had spent nine years in complete darkness and that they had to blindfold him before taking him outside. Now it was too late - the soldier, unaccustomed to sunlight, was blind.
Somehow they calmed him down, promising to show him to good doctors. Closely surrounding him, the Polish soldiers looked at this unusual sentry with respectful surprise.
Thick dark hair fell in long, dirty tufts over his shoulders and back, descending below the waist. A broad black beard fell to his knees, and on his face, overgrown with hair, only sightless eyes stood out. But this underground Robinson was dressed in a solid overcoat with shoulder straps, and on his feet he had almost new boots. One of the soldiers drew attention to the sentinel's rifle, and the officer took it from the hands of the Russian, although he parted with the weapon with obvious reluctance. Exchanging exclamations of surprise and shaking their heads, the Poles examined this rifle.
It was an ordinary Russian three-line model of 1891. Only her appearance was amazing. It seemed as if it had been taken from a pyramid in a model soldier's barracks just a few minutes ago: it was carefully cleaned, and the bolt and barrel were carefully oiled. In the same order were clips with cartridges in the pouch on the sentry's belt. The cartridges also shone with grease, and there were exactly as many of them as the guard commander had given them to the soldier nine years ago, when he took up his post. The Polish officer was curious about what the soldier was lubricating with his weapons.
- I ate canned food, which is stored in the warehouse, - he answered, - and oiled the rifle and cartridges.
The soldier was offered to stay in Poland, but he eagerly rushed to his homeland, although his homeland was no longer the same, and was called differently. The Soviet Union met the soldier of the tsarist army more than modestly. And his feat remained unsung, because, according to the ideologists of the new country, there was no place for feats in the tsarist army. After all, only a Soviet person could perform a feat. The real feat of a real person turned into a legend. In a legend that did not retain the main thing - the name of the hero.

Updated 05 Jan 2019. Created 02 May 2014