Closing the embrasure. Alexander Matrosov and his predecessors

Alexander Matveevich

Matrosov Alexander Matveevich - machine gunner of the 2nd separate battalion of the 91st separate Siberian volunteer brigade named after I.V. Stalin of the 6th Stalin Siberian Volunteer Rifle Corps of the 22nd Army of the Kalinin Front, Red Army soldier. On September 8, 1943, by order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR I.V. Stalin, 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. This was the first order of the USSR NGO during the Great Patriotic War to enroll the fallen Hero forever in the lists of the military unit.

Born on February 5, 1924 in the city of Yekaterinoslav (now Dnepropetrovsk - the administrative center of the Dnepropetrovsk region of Ukraine). Russian. Member of the Komsomol. Lost his parents early. He was raised for 5 years in the Ivanovo security orphanage (Ulyanovsk region). In 1939, he was sent to a car repair plant in the city of Kuibyshev (now Samara), but soon escaped from there. By the verdict of the people's court of the 3rd section of the Frunzensky district of the city of Saratov on October 8, 1940, Alexander Matrosov was sentenced under Article 192 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR to two years in prison for violating the passport regime (Judicial Collegium for Criminal Cases of the Supreme Court of the RSFSR on May 5, 1967, this verdict canceled). He served time in the Ufa children's labor colony. With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, he repeatedly made written requests to be sent to the front.

He was drafted into the Red Army by the Kirov District Military Commissariat of the city of Ufa, Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, in September 1942 and sent to the Krasnokholm Infantry School (October 1942), but soon most of the cadets were sent to the Kalinin Front.

In the active army since November 1942. Served as part of the 2nd separate rifle battalion of the 91st separate Siberian volunteer brigade named after (later the 254th Guards Rifle Regiment of the 56th Guards Rifle Division, Kalinin Front). For some time the brigade was in reserve. Then she was transferred near Pskov to the area of ​​Bolshoi Lomovatoy Bor. Straight from the march, the brigade entered the battle.
On February 27, 1943, the 2nd battalion received the task of attacking a strong point in the area of ​​the village of Pleten, west of the village of Chernushki, Loknyansky district of the Pskov region. As soon as our soldiers passed through the forest and reached the edge, they came under heavy enemy machine-gun fire - three enemy machine guns in bunkers covered the approaches to the village. 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 fire at the entire ravine in front of the village. Attempts to silence him were unsuccessful. Then Red Army soldier Alexander Matrosov crawled towards the bunker. 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, the machine gun came to life again. 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 in the village of Chernushki, Loknyansky district, and in 1948 the ashes of A.M. Matrosov was reburied in the city of Velikiye Luki, Pskov region, on the left bank of the Lovat River at the intersection of Rosa Luxemburg Street and the Alexander Matrosov embankment.

A few days later, the name of Alexander Matrosov became known throughout the country. Matrosov’s feat was used by a journalist who happened to be with the unit for a patriotic article. At the same time, the date of the Hero’s death was moved to February 23, coinciding the feat with the birthday of the Red Army. Despite the fact that Alexander Matrosov was not the first to commit such an act of self-sacrifice, it was his name that was used to glorify the heroism of Soviet soldiers. Subsequently, over three hundred people performed a similar heroic act. The feat of Alexander Matrosov became a symbol of courage and military valor, fearlessness and love for the Motherland.

By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated June 19, 1943, 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 displayed, Red Army soldier Alexander Matveevich Matrosov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Awarded the Order of Lenin (posthumously).

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”).

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 your body was discussed when there were other ways to suppress 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 Chernoye.

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, Matrosov’s name 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 the Great Patriotic War, 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 motor 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

Alexander Matrosov is a Red Army soldier, famous for his heroic feat when he covered the embrasure of a German bunker with his chest. Not everyone knows that more than 400 people performed the same feats during the war, and the first was political instructor Alexander Pankratov

Matrosov's feat: how was it?

Thanks to wide publicity in the media and cinema, the feat of Alexander Matrosov became a household name. The future hero was born in Yekaterinoslav (now Dnepropetrovsk) on February 5, 1924. He was brought up in an orphanage, and after completing seven years of school he worked as an assistant teacher in a colony.

In 1942, Matrosov was drafted into the army. After graduating from the infantry school in the Orenburg region, he was sent to the Kalinin Front, where he served as part of a separate rifle battalion of the Siberian Volunteer Brigade named after Stalin.

In February 1943, the unit where Sailors served was given the task of attacking a stronghold in the area of ​​the village of Chernushki, Loknyansky district. However, the approaches to the village were impregnable - they were carefully guarded by three machine gunners in bunkers.

An assault group of submachine gunners managed to suppress one machine gun, and the second bunker was neutralized by armor-piercing soldiers. Only the machine gun from the third bunker continued to shoot through the entire ravine. Red Army soldiers Pyotr Ogurtsov and Alexander Matrosov crawled towards the enemy. On the approaches to the bunker, Ogurtsov was seriously wounded and could no longer move. Sailors decided to complete the operation alone. He approached the embrasure from the flank and threw two grenades. However, the enemy was not neutralized. Then Matrosov rushed to the bunker and closed the embrasure with his body.

The order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR states: "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 Alexander 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.

Who was the first to close the embrasure?

Alexander Pankratov was born on March 10, 1917 into a poor family in the village of Abakshino, near Vologda. He learned to read early, and in 1931 he entered both the seventh grade of a Vologda school and a course for electricians. Four years later, he got a job as a turner at the Vologda Steam Locomotive Repair Plant, actively participates in the Stakhanov movement, and attends OSOAVIAKHIM circles.

Service in the Red Army begins for Alexander Pankratov in 1938, in the training battalion of the 21st Tank Brigade, which was stationed in Smolensk. In his company, he was elected secretary of the Komsomol organization, and attended party school classes in the evenings. His desire to study did not go unnoticed. In January 1940, he was transferred to the Smolensk Military-Political School and accepted into the ranks of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks). On January 18, 1941, Alexander Pankratov received the military rank of junior political instructor.

When the Great Patriotic War began, Alexander Pankratov served the Baltic states. His description states that the political instructor there proved himself to be an “exceptionally conscientious, courageous commander-educator.”

On August 19, 1941, fierce battles took place in the Cyril Monastery of Veliky Novgorod. There the Germans created an observation post from where they adjusted their artillery fire. On the night of August 25, the company, in which Alexander Pankratov was the junior political instructor, was tasked with secretly crossing the Maly Volkhovets River and capturing the monastery with a surprise attack.

However, the Nazis met the Soviet soldiers with heavy fire. The company commander was killed, the soldiers lay down. Having assessed the situation, junior political instructor Pankratov crawled to the enemy machine gun and threw grenades at it. The enemy machine-gun crew stopped firing for some time, but soon resumed it with renewed vigor.

Then Pankratov shouted “Forward!” made a sharp jerk towards the enemy embrasure and covered the machine gun barrel with his chest. The company immediately went on the attack and broke into the monastery. In March 1942, Alexander Pankratov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

17-year-old partisan Rimma Shershneva

Among the heroes who covered the embrasure were women. On December 5, 1942, a partisan detachment carrying out a combat mission in the Polesie region of Belarus came under fierce enemy fire. As it turned out, they were shooting from a camouflaged German bunker. Grenades did not help neutralize the enemy.

None of the squad had time to notice how 17-year-old Rimma Shershneva suddenly made a dash towards the bunker and closed the embrasure. The partisans destroyed the Nazis holed up in the bunker and successfully completed the combat mission.

Viktor Chistov, who fought in the same unit with Rimma, recalls those events: “I ran up to the bunker and climbed onto it. I looked - our Rimma hung lifelessly on the enemy machine gun, covering the deadly rectangle of the embrasure with herself. I carefully dragged her up to the dome of the bunker. I looked, she was still breathing... Rimma lived for another nine days. Almost all this time she was unconscious, and when she came to her senses, she certainly asked if the commander was alive. She died on the tenth day, the doctors could not do anything - after all, there were more than a dozen bullets. wounds." She was posthumously awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

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 into 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 as a teacher there.

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 (since 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 really, at the cost of their lives, ensured the success of the attack of their unit. 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...

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); Kharkiv; 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)