Alexander Matveevich Matrosov. Born on February 5, 1924 in Yekaterinoslav (now Dnepropetrovsk) - died on February 27, 1943 near the village of Chernushki (now Pskov region). Hero of the Soviet Union (June 19, 1943).
Alexander Matrosov was born on February 5, 1924 in the city of Yekaterinoslav (later renamed Dnepropetrovsk, and now Dnepr).
According to another version, Matrosov’s real name is Shakiryan Yunusovich Mukhamedyanov, and his place of birth is the village of Kunakbaevo, Tamyan-Katay canton of the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (now Uchalinsky district of Bashkortostan).
At the same time, Matrosov himself called himself Matrosov.
He was brought up in the Ivanovsky (Mainsky district) and Melekessky orphanages in the Ulyanovsk region and in the Ufa children's labor colony. After finishing 7th grade, he worked in the same colony as an assistant teacher.
After the start of the Great Patriotic War, Sailors repeatedly made written requests to be sent to the front. In September 1942, he was drafted into the army and began his studies at the Krasnokholmsky Infantry School (near Orenburg), but already in January 1943, together with the school cadets, a volunteer as part of a marching company, he went to the Kalinin Front.
From February 25, 1943 at the front, he served as part of the 2nd separate rifle battalion of the 91st separate Siberian volunteer brigade named after I.V. Stalin, later - the 254th Guards Rifle Regiment of the 56th Guards Rifle Division, Kalinin Front.
The feat of Alexander Matrosov (official version)
On February 27, 1943, the 2nd battalion received an order to attack a strong point in the area of the village of Chernushki, Loknyansky district, Kalinin region (from October 2, 1957 - Pskov region).
As soon as the Soviet soldiers entered the forest and reached the edge, they came under heavy enemy fire - three machine guns in bunkers covered the approaches to the village. Assault groups of two were sent to suppress the firing points. One machine gun was suppressed by an assault group of machine gunners and armor-piercers. The second bunker was destroyed by another group of armor-piercing soldiers, but the machine gun from the third bunker continued to shoot through the entire ravine in front of the village. Attempts to suppress it were unsuccessful.
Then Red Army soldiers Pyotr Ogurtsov and Alexander Matrosov crawled towards the bunker. On the approaches to the bunker, Ogurtsov was seriously wounded, and Sailors decided to complete the operation alone. He approached the embrasure from the flank and threw two grenades. The machine gun fell silent. But as soon as the fighters rose to attack, fire was opened again from the bunker. Then Matrosov stood up, rushed to the bunker and closed the embrasure with his body.
At the cost of his life, he contributed to the accomplishment of the unit’s combat mission.
He was buried there in the village, and in 1948 his ashes were reburied in the city of Velikiye Luki, Velikie Luki Region (since October 2, 1957 - Pskov Region).
By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated June 19, 1943, Red Army soldier Alexander Matrosov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union “for the exemplary performance of combat missions of the command on the front of the fight against the Nazi invaders and the courage and heroism shown.”
The order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR dated September 8, 1943 stated: “The great feat of Comrade Matrosov should serve as an example of military valor and heroism for all soldiers of the Red Army”. By the same order, the name of A. M. Matrosov was assigned to the 254th Guards Rifle Regiment, and he himself was forever included in the lists of the 1st company of this regiment.
Alexander Matrosov became the first Soviet soldier to be permanently included in the unit lists.
The feat of Alexander Matrosov (alternative version)
In post-Soviet times, other versions of Matrosov’s death began to be considered.
According to one version, Matrosov was killed on the roof of the bunker when he tried to throw grenades at it. Having fallen, he closed the ventilation hole to remove the powder gases, which made it possible for the soldiers of his platoon to make a throw while the machine gunners tried to throw off his body.
A number of publications have stated that Alexander Matrosov’s feat was unintentional. According to one of these versions, Matrosov actually made his way to the machine gun nest and tried to shoot the machine gunner or at least prevent him from shooting, but for some reason he fell on the embrasure (he stumbled or was wounded), thereby temporarily blocking the machine gunner’s view. Taking advantage of this hitch, the battalion was able to continue the attack.
In other options, the problem of the rationality of trying to close the embrasure with your body was discussed when there were other ways to suppress enemy fire. According to a number of experts, the human body could not serve as any serious obstacle to the bullets of a German machine gun.
A version was also put forward that Sailors was hit by a machine-gun burst at the moment when he stood up to throw a grenade, which for the soldiers behind him looked like an attempt to cover them from fire with his own body.
In all these articles, only the feat of Alexander Matrosov is discussed and there is no mention of several hundred similar cases when other methods of suppressing fire also did not lead to success and the slightest delay could lead to the death of other fighters.
Pyotr Ogurtsov, who tried to suppress the German bunker together with Matrosov, fully confirms the official version of his comrade’s feat.
However, other cases were not studied in as much detail as the death of Matrosov, and any attempt to suppress fire from a bunker at close range (which in itself is a feat) often led to the death of soldiers near the embrasure. And this gave commanders and political instructors the opportunity to include information about repeating Matrosov’s feat in the battle report.
It should be noted that a number of cases of deaths of soldiers at the embrasure of an enemy bunker were noted before 1943. However, reports of such exploits begin to multiply only after the story of the death of Alexander Matrosov was replicated.
Alexander Matrosov. The truth about the feat
In Soviet literature, Matrosov's feat became a symbol of courage and military valor, fearlessness and love for the Motherland. For ideological reasons, the date of the feat was moved to February 23 and dedicated to the Day of the Red Army and Navy, although in the personal list of irretrievable losses of the 2nd separate rifle battalion, Alexander Matrosov was recorded on February 27, 1943, along with five more Red Army soldiers and two junior sergeants, and Sailors got to the front only on February 25th.
In total during the war years Matrosov’s feat was repeated by more than 400 people(about fifty - even before Matrosov’s death), one warrior even survived.
A memorial complex has been erected at the site of the death of Alexander Matrosov.
Monuments to Alexander Matrosov are installed in the cities: Barnaul; Velikie Luki; Dnieper; Durtyuli; Isheevka - in one of the village parks; Ishimbay - in the central city park of culture and recreation named after. A. Matrosova; Koryazhma; Krasnoyarsk; Kurgan - near the former cinema named after Matrosov (now Toyota technical center), monument (1987, sculptor G. P. Levitskaya); Oktyabrsky is a monument to Alexander Matveevich Matrosov in the village of Naryshevo, a street in the city is named in his honor; Salavat - bust of Matrosov (1961), sculptor Eidlin L. Yu.; St. Petersburg (in Moscow Victory Park and on Alexander Matrosov Street); Tolyatti; Ulyanovsk; Ufa - a monument to Matrosov (1951, sculptor Eidlin L. Yu.) on the territory of the Ministry of Internal Affairs school and a memorial to A. Matrosov and M. Gubaidullin in Victory Park (1980); Kharkov; Sibay, Republic of Bashkortostan, bust; Halle (Saxony-Anhalt) - GDR (1971, re-casting of the Sailors' monument in Ufa); memorial sign: town. Mikhailo-Kotsyubinskoe.
A number of streets and parks in many cities of Russia and the CIS countries are named after Alexander Matrosov; OJSC "RiM" (Mine named after A. Matrosov) - Magadan business unit of the company "Polyus Gold International" (Tenkinsky district of the Magadan region); passenger motor ship of the Passazhirrechtrans company operating on the Yenisei on the Krasnoyarsk - Dudinka line; Museum of Komsomol Glory named after. Alexandra Matrosova (Velikiye Luki).
Alexander Matrosov in art:
Filmed about Alexander Matrosov movies: “Private Alexander Matrosov”; "Alexander Matrosov. The truth about the feat" (documentary, 2008).
Books about Alexander Matrosov:
Anver Bikchentaev - The right to immortality (M.: Soviet writer, 1950)
Bikchentaev A. G. - The eagle dies on the fly (Ufa, 1966)
Nasyrov R.Kh. - Where are you from, Sailors? (Ufa, 1994)
Giving the soldiers of their platoon the opportunity to attack a strong point. His feat was widely covered in newspapers, magazines, literature, cinema and became a stable expression in the Russian language (“chest on the embrasure”).
| Alexander Matveevich Matrosov | |
|---|---|
| Date of birth | February 5(1924-02-05 ) |
| Place of birth |
|
| Date of death | February 27(1943-02-27 ) (19 years old) |
| Place of death |
|
| Affiliation | USSR USSR |
| Branch of the military | infantry |
| Years of service | 1942-1943 |
| Rank | |
| Battles/wars | Great Patriotic War |
| Awards and prizes | |
| Alexander Matveevich Matrosov at Wikimedia Commons | |
Biography
According to the official version, Alexander Matveevich Matrosov was born on February 5, 1924 in the city of Yekaterinoslav, Yekaterinoslav province of the Ukrainian SSR, now the city of Dnieper, the administrative center of the Dnepropetrovsk region of Ukraine.
Matrosov's real name is Shakiryan Yunusovich Mukhamedyanov, and his place of birth is the village of Kunakbaevo, Tamyan-Katay canton of the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (now Uchalinsky district of Bashkortostan). He took the surname Matrosov when he was a homeless child (after he ran away from home after his father’s new marriage) and signed up under it when he was assigned to an orphanage. At the same time, he himself wore a vest and called himself Sashka Sailor.
The official response from the Ukrainian internal affairs bodies indicates that in 1924, the birth of Alexander Matveevich Matrosov was not registered in any of the Dnipropetrovsk registry offices.
Pre-war years
Alexander Matveevich Matrosov was convicted under Article 162 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR. The teenager was brought to the security colony in the village of Ivanovka, Mainsky District, Ulyanovsk Region, on February 7, 1938. After graduating from school in the Ivanovo orphanage, in 1939 Matrosov was sent to Kuibyshev to work as a molder at Plant No. 9 (car repair plant), but he soon escaped from there.
On October 8, 1940, the people's court of the 3rd precinct of the Frunzensky district of the city of Saratov convicted Matrosov under Part 2 of Article 192a of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR and sentenced him to two years in prison. He was found guilty of continuing to stay in the city, despite his written agreement to leave Saratov within 24 hours. Sailors was sent to the Ufa Children's Labor Colony No. 2 under the NKVD of the USSR, where he arrived on April 21, 1941. At the end of April 1941, a group of juvenile prisoners preparing for a group escape (about 50 people, including Sailors) was opened in the colony; only the organizer was convicted. He worked as a mechanic's apprentice until March 5, 1942. After the start of the Great Patriotic War, the colony's factory began producing defense products (special closures). On March 15, 1942, he was appointed assistant teacher and elected chairman of the colony's central conflict commission.
On May 5, 1967, the Judicial Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR overturned the verdict of October 8, 1940.
At the beginning of the war
The instructor of the political department of the 91st separate rifle brigade, senior lieutenant Pyotr Ilyich Volkov, reported to the political department about the feat of A. Matrosov.
As a result of stubborn battles on February 27, 1943, units of the 91st brigade occupied three settlements: Chernushka North, Chernushka South, Chernoye Severnoye and the height marked “85.4”. On February 28, there were battles for Chernoye Yuzhnoe and Brutovo. Losses of the brigade on February 27, 1943: 1327 people, of which killed: command personnel - 18, junior command personnel - 80, privates - 313. By the end of the day on February 28, 1943, the offensive near Lokney was stopped. Loknya was liberated a year later - February 26, 1944.
By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated June 19, 1943, Red Army soldier Alexander Matrosov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union “for the exemplary performance of combat missions of the command on the front of the fight against the Nazi invaders and the courage and heroism shown.”
Alexander Matrosov became the first Soviet soldier to be permanently included in the unit lists.
Feat
Official version
On February 27, 1943, the 2nd battalion received an order to attack a strong point in the area of the village of Chernushki, Loknyansky district, Kalinin region (from October 2, 1957 - Pskov region). As soon as the Soviet soldiers entered the forest and reached the edge, they came under heavy enemy fire - three machine guns in bunkers blocked the approaches to the village. Assault groups of two were sent to suppress the firing points. One machine gun was suppressed by an assault group of machine gunners and armor-piercers; the second bunker was destroyed by another group of armor-piercing soldiers, but the machine gun from the third bunker continued to shoot through the entire ravine in front of the village. Attempts to suppress it were unsuccessful. Then the Red Army soldiers Pyotr Aleksandrovich Ogurtsov (born 1920, Balakovo, Saratov region) and Alexander Matrosov crawled towards the bunker. On the approaches to the bunker, Ogurtsov was seriously wounded, and Sailors decided to complete the operation alone. He approached the embrasure from the flank and threw two grenades. The machine gun fell silent. But as soon as the fighters went on the attack, fire was opened again from the bunker. Then Matrosov stood up, rushed to the bunker and closed the embrasure with his body. At the cost of his life, he contributed to the accomplishment of the unit’s combat mission.
Alternative versions
In post-Soviet times, other versions of the event began to be considered.
According to one version, Matrosov was killed on the roof of the bunker when he tried to throw grenades at it. Having fallen, he closed the ventilation hole to remove the powder gases, which made it possible for the soldiers of his platoon to make a throw while the machine gunners tried to throw off his body.
A number of publications have stated that Alexander Matrosov’s feat was unintentional. According to one of these versions, Matrosov actually made his way to the machine gun nest and tried to shoot the machine gunner or at least interfere with his shooting, but for some reason he fell on the embrasure (he stumbled or was wounded), thereby temporarily blocking the machine gunner’s view. Taking advantage of this hitch, the battalion was able to continue the attack.
In other options, the problem of the rationality of trying to close the embrasure with one's body was discussed in the presence of other methods of suppressing enemy fire. According to former reconnaissance company commander Lazar Lazarev, the human body could not serve as any serious obstacle to the bullets of a German machine gun. He also puts forward the version that Sailors was hit by machine-gun fire at the moment when he stood up to throw a grenade, which for the soldiers behind him looked like an attempt to cover them from fire with his own body.
These versions are refuted by eyewitness accounts. In particular, Pyotr Ogurtsov, who tried to suppress the German bunker together with Matrosov, fully confirms the official version of his comrade’s feat.
Propaganda significance
In Soviet literature, Matrosov's feat became a symbol of courage and military valor, fearlessness and love for the Motherland. For ideological reasons, the date of the feat was moved to February 23 and dedicated to the Day of the Red Army and Navy, although in the personal list of irretrievable losses of the 2nd separate rifle battalion, Alexander Matrosov was recorded on February 27, 1943, along with five more Red Army soldiers and two junior sergeants, and Sailors arrived at the front only on February 25. A large number of streets, squares, etc. were named after him. On the same day - February 27, 1943, the platoon commander from the 2nd separate rifle battalion (in which Sailors served), Mikhail Pavlovich Lukyanov, accomplished the same feat near the village of Chernoe.
People who have accomplished similar feats
More than 250 people performed similar feats during the war, with 45 people accomplishing this feat before Matrosov; Seven people survived after performing such a feat, although they were seriously injured. Therefore, the statement “repeated the feat of Alexander Matrosov” in itself is absolutely meaningless for two reasons:
- 1) Because 45 people could not repeat this feat, so they accomplished it before Matrosov.
- 2) The feat can be repeated only by the one who accomplished it first, i.e. everyone else, including Sailors himself, only repeated the feat of Alexander Pankratov.
Awards
Memory
- He was buried in the city of Velikiye Luki.
- On September 8, 1943, the name of Matrosov was assigned to the 254th Guards Rifle Regiment, and he himself was forever included in the lists of the 1st company of this unit. After the end of World War II, the regiment was stationed in Tallinn (military unit 92953). In 1994, the 254th Guards Rifle Regiment named after Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Matrosov was transferred to Yelnya, Smolensk region and disbanded until 2000. On February 23, 2004, the 752nd motorized rifle regiment of the 3rd motorized rifle regiment of constant readiness in Nizhny Novgorod was renamed into the 254th guards motorized rifle regiment named after Alexander Matrosov, then transformed into the 9th separate motorized rifle brigade (military unit 54046), which was disbanded by 2010.
- A memorial complex was erected at the site of the death of Alexander Matrosov.
- Monuments to Alexander Matrosov were installed in the following cities and other localities:
- Isheevka - in one of the village parks.
- Ishimbay - in the Central Park of Culture and Leisure named after. A. Matrosov (third version of the monument);
- Krasnodar - at school No. 14, which bears his name.
- Kurgan - near the former cinema named after Matrosov (now the Toyota technical center), monument (1987, sculptor G.P. Levitskaya);
- Oktyabrsky is a monument to Alexander Matveevich Matrosov in the village of Naryshevo, a street in the city is named in his honor;
- Salavat - bust of Matrosov (1961), sculptor Eidlin L. Yu.;
- St. Petersburg (in Moscow Victory Park and on Alexander Matrosov Street);
- Sibay, Republic of Bashkortostan, bust;
- Sevastopol (monument in Balaklava);
- Ufa - a monument in the park named after. Lenin (1951, sculptor Eidlin L. Yu.); bust on the territory of the Ministry of Internal Affairs school (former children's labor colony No. 2); memorial to A. Matrosov and M. Gubaidullin in Victory Park (1980, sculptors L. Kerbel, N. Lyubimov, G. Lebedev);
- Halle (Saxony-Anhalt) - GDR (1971, recasting of the Sailors' monument in Ufa).
- Memorial sign:
- A number of streets and parks in many cities of Russia and the CIS countries are named after Alexander Matrosov.
- OJSC "RiM" (Mine named after A. Matrosov) - Magadan business unit of the company "Polyus Gold International" (Tenkinsky district of the Magadan region).
- A passenger ship of the Passazhirrechtrans company, operating on the Yenisei on the Krasnoyarsk - Dudinka line, is named after Alexander Matrosov.
- Museum of Alexander Matrosov (Ufa, opened in 1968 in children's labor colony No. 2, now at the Ufa Law Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia) There was a helmet and a sapper shovel that belonged to A. Matrosov. In the 1990s, the exhibits were transferred to the newly created Museum of Military Glory, but were lost. The iron cot on which the colonist Sasha slept, several certificates, and copies of letters survived.
- Museum of Komsomol Glory named after. Alexandra Matrosova (Velikiye Luki).
- Postage stamps were issued in 1944 and 1963.
- In 1983, for the 40th anniversary of the death of the Hero, a postal artistic stamped envelope was issued.
Movies
- "Alexander Matrosov. The truth about the feat" (Russia, 2008).
Works
- Anver Bikchentaev. The right to immortality. - M.: Soviet writer, 1950. - 288 p.
- Bikchentaev A. G. The eagle dies on the fly. Ufa, 1966.
- Nasyrov R. Kh. Where are you from, Matrosov? Ufa, 1994
Enlisted in military unit 53129 MPK-332 Petropavlovsk - Kamchatsky
Many people from the school history course of Soviet times know the feat of Alexander Matrosov. Streets were named in honor of the young hero, monuments were erected, and his feat inspired others. Being very young, as soon as he got to the front, he covered an enemy bunker with himself, which helped his fellow soldiers win a victory in the battle with the Nazis.
Over time, many facts and details of the life and exploits of Alexander Matrosov were either distorted or lost. To this day, the subject of dispute between scientists remains his real name, place of birth, and work. The circumstances under which he committed a heroic act are still being studied and clarified.
Official biography
According to the official version, the date of birth of Alexander Matveevich Matrosov is February 5, 1924. The place of his birth is considered to be Ekaterinoslav (now Dnieper). As a child, he lived in orphanages in Ivanovo and Melekess (Ulyanovsk region), as well as in a labor colony for children in Ufa. Before going to the front, he managed to work as an apprentice mechanic and assistant teacher. Sailors applied many times with a request to be sent to the front. Finally, after spending some time as a cadet at the Krasnokholmsky Infantry School near Orenburg, he was sent as a submachine gunner to the second separate rifle battalion of the 91st Siberian Volunteer Brigade, named after I.V. Stalin.
Matrosov's feat
On February 23, 1943, his battalion was given a combat mission, which was to destroy a German stronghold near the village of Chernushki (Pskov region). On the approaches to the village there were three enemy bunkers with machine-gun crews. The assault groups managed to destroy two, but the third continued to hold the defense.
An attempt to destroy the machine gun crew was made by Pyotr Ogurtsov and Alexander Matrosov. The first was seriously wounded, and Matrosov had to move on alone. The grenades thrown into the bunker only briefly forced the crew to stop shelling; it resumed immediately as the fighters tried to come closer. To give his comrades the opportunity to complete the task, the young man rushed to the embrasure and covered it with his body.
This is exactly how everyone knows the feat of Alexander Matrosov.
Identification
The question that interested historians in the first place was whether such a person really existed? It became especially relevant after the submission of an official request for Alexander’s place of birth. The young man himself indicated that he lived in Dnieper. However, as it turned out, in the year of his birth, not a single local registry office registered a boy with that name.
Further investigation and search for the truth about the feat of Alexander Matrosov was carried out by Rauf Khaevich Nasyrov. According to his version, the hero’s real name was Shakiryan. He was originally from the village of Kunakbaevo, Uchalinsky district of Bashkiria. While studying documents in the city council of the city of Uchaly, Nasyrov found records that Mukhamedyanov Shakiryan Yunusovich was born on February 5, 1924 (the official date of birth of Matrosov). After this, the researcher began to check other data presented in the official version.
All close relatives of Mukhamedyanov had already died at that time. Nasyrov managed to find his childhood photographs. After a detailed study and comparison of these photographs with known photographs of Alexander Matrosov, scientific experts came to the conclusion that all photographs depict the same person.
Facts from life
Some facts from life were established during conversations with fellow villagers, inmates of orphanages and fellow soldiers.
Mukhamedyanov’s father was a participant in the civil war, and when he returned disabled, he found himself without a job. The family was poor, and when the boy’s mother died, the father and his seven-year-old son often simply begged for alms. After some time, the father brought another wife, with whom the boy could not get along and was forced to run away from home.
He did not wander for long: from the reception center for children in which he ended up, he was sent to an orphanage in Melekess. It was then that he introduced himself as Alexander Matrosov. However, an official record with that name appears only in the colony where he ended up in February 1938. The place of his birth was also recorded there. It was this data that subsequently found its way into all sources.
It is assumed that Shakiryan decided to change his name because he was afraid of a negative attitude towards himself as a representative of a different nationality. And I chose this surname because I loved the sea very much.
There is another version about the origin. Some believe that he was born in the village of Vysoky Kolok, Novomalyklinsky district (Ulyanovsk region). In the late 1960s, several local residents called themselves relatives of Alexander. They claimed that his father did not return from the civil war, and his mother could not feed her three children and sent one of them to an orphanage.
Official information
According to the official version, the young man worked in Ufa at a furniture factory as a carpenter, but there is no information about how he ended up in the labor colony to which this factory was attached.
During the Soviet era, Matrosov was presented as a role model: a boxer and skier, an author of poetry, a political informant. It was also stated everywhere that his father was a communist, shot to death with his fist.
One version says that his father was a kulak, who was dispossessed and sent to Kazakhstan, after which Alexander ended up in an orphanage.
Real events
In fact, Matrosov worked at the Kuibyshev Carriage Repair Plant in 1939. He didn’t last long there and fled due to difficult working conditions. Some time later, he and his friend were arrested for non-compliance with the regime.
Another document related to Alexander Matrosov dates back to the next year; before that, no mention of him had been found. In October 1940, the Frunzensky District People's Court sentenced him to two years in prison. The reason was a violation of the undertaking not to leave for 24 hours. This sentence was overturned only in 1967.
Joining the army
There is also no exact information about this period of the hero’s life. According to the documents, he was assigned to the rifle battalion on February 25. However, all mentions of his feat indicate February 23. On the other hand, according to available official data, the battle during which Sailors died took place on the 27th.
Controversy surrounding the feat
The feat itself became a subject of controversy. According to experts, even if he approached the firing point, a machine-gun burst, especially one fired almost point-blank, would knock him down, preventing him from closing the embrasure for a long time.
According to one version, he approached the crew to destroy the machine gunner, but for some reason he could not stay on his feet and fell, blocking the view. In fact, it was pointless to cover the embrasure. It is possible that the soldier was killed while trying to throw a grenade, and for those who were behind him, it might have seemed that he tried to cover the embrasure with himself.
According to supporters of the second version, Matrosov was able to climb onto the roof of the fortification to try to destroy the German machine gunners, using a hole to remove powder gases. He was killed and his body blocked the ventilation hole. The Germans were forced to be distracted to remove him, which gave the Red Army the opportunity to go on the offensive.
Regardless of how everything happened in reality, Alexander Matrosov committed a heroic act, ensuring victory at the cost of his life.
Other heroes
It should also be noted that the feat of Alexander Matrosov in the Great Patriotic War was not unique. Since that time, numerous documents have been preserved confirming that even at the beginning of the war, soldiers tried to cover German firing points with themselves. The first reliably famous heroes were Alexander Pankratov and Yakov Paderin. The first accomplished his feat in August 1941 in a battle near Novgorod. The second died in December of the same year near the village of Ryabinikha (Tver region). The poet N. S. Tikhonov, author of “The Ballad of Three Communists,” described the feat of three soldiers at once, Gerasimenko, Cheremnov and Krasilov, who rushed to enemy firing points in the battle near Novgorod in January 1942.
After the hero Alexander Matrosov, within only one month, 13 more soldiers accomplished the same feat. In total, there were more than 400 such brave young people. Many were awarded posthumously, some were awarded the title of Hero of the USSR, although almost no one knows about their feat. Most of the brave soldiers were never known; their names somehow disappeared from official documents.
Here you should pay attention to the fact that Alexander Matrosov, whose monuments stand in many cities (Ufa, Dnepropetrovsk, Barnaul, Velikiye Luki, etc.), due to certain circumstances, became the collective image of all these soldiers, each of whom accomplished his own feat and remained unknown.
Perpetuating the name
Initially, Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Matrosov was buried at the site of his death, but in 1948 his remains were reburied in the city of Velikiye Luki. By order of I. Stalin dated September 8, 1943, his name was forever included in the list of the first company of the 254th Guards Regiment, his place of service. During the war, the military leadership, with poorly trained soldiers at hand, used his image as an example of dedication and self-sacrifice, encouraging young men to take unnecessary risks.
Perhaps Alexander Matrosov is not known to us by his real name, and the details of his life in reality differ from the picture that the Soviet government painted for the sake of political propaganda and inspiration for inexperienced soldiers. This does not negate his feat. This young man, who had been at the front for only a few days, sacrificed his life for the victory of his comrades. Thanks to his courage and valor, he rightfully deserved all honors.
Friends, in this article we will talk about one of, perhaps, the most famous heroes of the Great Patriotic War, Alexander Matrosov. This glorious fellow (at the time of his heroic death, Sasha was only 19 years old!) ensured the success of the attack on enemy positions at the cost of his own life. For which he was subsequently awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously. But let's talk about everything in order.
Beginning of 1943. The Great Patriotic War is in full swing. Soviet troops continue to suffer huge losses, but the enemy’s plan for the lightning-fast seizure of our Motherland has already been thwarted... Fighting is taking place throughout almost the entire European territory of the USSR.
Alexander Matrosov then served as a submachine gunner of the 2nd in a separate rifle battalion of the 91st separate Siberian volunteer brigade named after I.V. Stalin. On February 27, 1943, his battalion took part in battle near the village of Chernushki, Loknyansky district, Kalinin region.
It is known that upon reaching the edge of the village near the village, Soviet soldiers came under heavy fire from three German bunkers. Two of them were neutralized by the efforts of the assault groups, but attempts to destroy the third were unsuccessful - the stormtroopers sent to it were destroyed. The fire of the third German machine gun did not allow the entire battalion to continue moving forward, shooting through the entire ravine in front of the village.
Then two young Red Army soldiers - Pyotr Aleksandrovich Ogurtsov (born in 1920) and Alexander Matveevich Matrosov (born in 1924) - crawled to the ill-fated bunker. Peter was seriously wounded on the approaches to an enemy machine gun, and, assessing the current situation, Sasha decided to continue the task assigned to them alone.
Having reached the enemy embrasure, Sailors threw two grenades from the flank, and the machine gun fell silent. When his colleagues rose to continue moving, the deadly weapon suddenly began to ring again. And at that very moment, Sasha made a decision that would forever inscribe his name in the annals of the history of the Second World War, and Russian history in general. He closed the embrasure of the enemy bunker with his body, thereby allowing the battalion to continue moving! At the cost of his own life, this brave young man contributed to the accomplishment of the combat mission.
A few words about Sasha Matrosov’s childhood. The boy never knew either his father or his mother - he was an orphan. The guy was brought up in an orphanage in the Ulyanovsk region, and then in a labor colony in the city of Ufa. In October 1942, Matrosov was drafted into the army, and in November of the same year he went to the front of his own free will. In February 1943, Sasha passed away...
This guy is an example of unshakable will and fearlessness. Not everyone can consciously (Matrosov managed to overcome even the basic instincts of self-preservation) throw himself with his chest into the embrasure of an enemy bunker so that your colleagues remain alive and complete the combat mission...
The feat of Alexander Matrosov is an excellent example of boundless courage and measured self-sacrifice, and that is why all people living in the vastness of our vast Motherland are obliged to know, honor and remember about it! Especially representatives of the younger generation.
From school, everyone is familiar with the legend of Alexander Matrosov - the legend of how a brave Soviet soldier rushed with his chest into the embrasure of a bunker (a wooden-earthen firing point), which silenced the Nazi machine gun and ensured the success of the attack. But we are all growing up and doubts begin to appear: why rush to the bunker embrasure if there are aviation, tanks, and artillery. And what can be left of a person who has come under the aimed fire of a machine gun?
According to the version of Soviet propaganda, Private Alexander Matrosov allegedly accomplished his feat on February 23, 1943 in a battle near the village of Chernushki near Velikiye Luki. Posthumously, Alexander Matveevich Matrosov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The feat was allegedly accomplished on the day of the 25th anniversary of the Red Army, and Sailors was a fighter in the elite Sixth Volunteer Rifle Corps named after Stalin - these two circumstances played an important role in the creation of the state myth. But in fact, Alexander Matrosov died on February 27...
According to the official version, Alexander Matveevich Matrosov was born on February 5, 1924 in the city of Yekaterinoslav, and was brought up in the Ivanovsky (Mainsky district) and Melekessky orphanages of the Ulyanovsk region and in the Ufa children's labor colony. After finishing 7th grade, he worked in the same colony as an assistant teacher.
According to another version, Matrosov’s real name is Shakiryan Yunusovich Mukhamedyanov, and his place of birth is the village of Kunakbaevo, Tamyan-Katay canton of the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (now Uchalinsky district of Bashkortostan). At the same time, Matrosov himself called himself Matrosov.
Contrary to popular belief, Sailors was not a fighter in the penal battalion. Such rumors arose because he was a pupil of a children's colony for juvenile criminals in Ufa, and at the beginning of the war he worked there as a teacher.
According to the official version, on February 27, 1943, the 2nd battalion received an order to attack a strong point in the area of the village of Chernushki, Loknyansky district, Kalinin region (from October 2, 1957 - Pskov region). As soon as the Soviet soldiers entered the forest and reached the edge, they came under heavy enemy fire - three machine guns in bunkers covered the approaches to the village. Assault groups of two were sent to suppress the firing points. One machine gun was suppressed by an assault group of machine gunners and armor-piercers; the second bunker was destroyed by another group of armor-piercing soldiers, but the machine gun from the third bunker continued to shoot through the entire ravine in front of the village. Attempts to suppress it were unsuccessful. Then Red Army soldiers Pyotr Ogurtsov and Alexander Matrosov crawled towards the bunker. On the approaches to the bunker, Ogurtsov was seriously wounded, and Sailors decided to complete the operation alone. He approached the embrasure from the flank and threw two grenades. The machine gun fell silent. But as soon as the fighters rose to attack, fire was opened again from the bunker. Then Matrosov stood up, rushed to the bunker and closed the embrasure with his body. At the cost of his life, he contributed to the accomplishment of the unit’s combat mission.
The first report on Matrosov’s feat stated: “In the battle for the village of Chernushki, Komsomol member Matrosov, born in 1924, committed a heroic act - he closed the bunker embrasure with his body, which ensured the advancement of our riflemen forward. Chernushki was taken. The offensive continues.” This story, with minor changes, was reproduced in all subsequent propaganda. For decades, no one thought that Alexander Matrosov’s feat was contrary to the laws of nature. After all, it is impossible to close a machine gun embrasure with your body. Even one rifle bullet hitting the hand inevitably knocks a person down. And a point-blank machine-gun burst will throw any, even the heaviest, body from the embrasure. Front-line soldiers remember how bursts of fire from a German MG machine gun cut trees in half...
The question arises of the rationality of trying to close the embrasure with your body when there are other ways to suppress enemy fire. The human body could not serve as any serious obstacle to the bullets of a German machine gun.
A propaganda myth, of course, is not able to abolish the laws of physics, but it can make people forget about these laws. Throughout the war, over 400 Red Army soldiers accomplished the same feat as Alexander Matrosov, and some before him.
Several "sailors" were lucky - they survived. Being wounded, these soldiers threw grenades at enemy bunkers. One might say that a kind of terrible competition of units and formations was taking place, each of which considered it an honor to have its own Sailor. Fortunately, it was very easy to enroll a person as a “sailor.” Any Red Army soldier who died near an enemy bunker was suitable for this. In reality, events did not develop as reported in newspaper and magazine publications.
As the front-line newspaper wrote in hot pursuit, Matrosov’s corpse was found not in the embrasure, but in the snow in front of the bunker. What could really be happening?
It was only in post-Soviet times that other versions of the event began to be considered.
According to one version, Matrosov was killed on the roof of the bunker when he tried to throw grenades at it. Having fallen, he closed the ventilation hole to remove the powder gases, which made it possible for the soldiers of his platoon to make a throw while the machine gunners tried to throw off his body.
A number of publications have stated that Alexander Matrosov’s feat was unintentional. According to one of these versions, Matrosov actually made his way to the machine gun nest and tried to shoot the machine gunner or at least prevent him from shooting, but for some reason he fell on the embrasure (he stumbled or was wounded), thereby temporarily blocking the machine gunner’s view. Taking advantage of this hitch, the battalion was able to continue the attack.
There is a version that Sailors was hit by a machine gun burst at the moment when he stood up to throw a grenade, which for the soldiers behind him looked like an attempt to cover them from fire with his own body.
Perhaps Matrosov was able to climb onto the bunker (eyewitnesses saw him on the roof of the bunker), and he tried to shoot the German machine gun crew through the ventilation hole, but was killed. Dropping the corpse to free an outlet, the Germans were forced to cease fire, and Matrosov’s comrades during this time covered the area under fire. The German machine gunners were forced to flee. The sailors truly ensured the success of their unit’s attack at the cost of their lives. But he didn’t throw himself at the embrasure with his chest - this method of fighting enemy bunkers is absurd. However, for the propaganda myth, the fanatical image of a fighter who despised death and threw himself at a machine gun with his chest was necessary. The Red Army soldiers were encouraged to launch frontal attacks on enemy machine guns, which they did not even try to suppress during artillery preparation. The example of Matrosov justified the senseless death of people. It seems that Stalin’s propagandists dreamed of turning Soviet people into something like Japanese kamikazes, so that they would die fanatically, without thinking about anything.
The clever scribblers from GlavPUR and front-line propaganda timed the death of Matrosov to coincide with February 23 - the 25th anniversary of the Red Army, and the fact that "Matrosov's feat" had already been accomplished by others more than 70 times before - they did not care... On the personal list of irrevocables losses of the 2nd separate rifle battalion, Alexander Matrosov was recorded on February 27, 1943, along with five more Red Army soldiers and two junior sergeants. And Sailors only got to the front on February 25...
