The Soviet government raised wonderful people. A lot of work in raising a new person
performed labor and heroism Pioneer organization named after V.I. Lenin. During the war, young pioneers went voluntarily to the front, attributing years to themselves. They worked in the rear in factories from morning until night, providing products for the soldiers under the slogan “Everything for the front, everything for Victory!” These were Soviet children, raised in the ideals of devotion to the Soviet Motherland, ready for heroism and work in the name of the most just society on earth. Otherwise, today - “row for yourself, for your country and people - don’t give a damn, if you feel bad - run abroad.” Today they are raising boys for the Bourgeoisie, bad boys. And that time was - the Time of Heroes.

Yes, it was they who became the people of the future, they stepped into immortality.

Pioneer heroes during the Great Patriotic War

Valya Kotik is the youngest Hero Soviet Union. He was 14 years old.

Already in the first days of the war, while defending Brest Fortress A pupil of the musical platoon, 14-year-old Petya Klypa, distinguished himself. Many pioneers participated in partisan detachments, where they were often used as scouts and saboteurs, as well as in carrying out underground activities; Among the young partisans, Marat Kazei, Volodya Dubinin, Lenya Golikov and Valya Kotik are especially famous (all of them died in battle, except for Volodya Dubinin, who was blown up by a mine; and all of them, except for the older Lenya Golikov, were 13-14 years old at the time of their death) .

There were often cases when teenagers school age fought as part of military units(the so-called “sons and daughters of regiments” - the story of the same name by Valentin Kataev, the prototype of which was 11-year-old Isaac Rakov, is known).

For military merits, tens of thousands of children and pioneers were awarded orders and medals:
Order of Lenin were awarded - Tolya Shumov, Vitya Korobkov, Volodya Kaznacheev; Order of the Red Banner - Volodya Dubinin, Yuliy Kantemirov, Andrey Makarikhin, Kostya Kravchuk;
Orders Patriotic War 1st degree —Petya Klypa, Valery Volkov, Sasha Kovalev; Order of the Red Star - Volodya Samorukha, Shura Efremov, Vanya Andrianov, Vitya Kovalenko, Lenya Ankinovich.
Hundreds of pioneers were awarded
Medal "Partisan of the Great Patriotic War",
medal "For the Defense of Leningrad"- over 15,000,
"For the defense of Moscow"- over 20,000 medals
Four pioneer heroes were awarded the title
Hero of the Soviet Union:
Lenya Golikov, Marat Kazei, Valya Kotik, Zina Portnova.

Utah Bondarovskaya

Wherever the blue-eyed girl Yuta went, her red tie was always with her...
In the summer of 1941, she came from Leningrad on vacation to a village near Pskov. Here terrible news overtook Utah: war! Here she saw the enemy. Utah began to help the partisans. At first she was a messenger, then a scout. Dressed as a beggar boy, she collected information from the villages: where the fascist headquarters were, how they were guarded, how many machine guns there were.
Returning from a mission, I immediately tied a red tie. And it was as if the strength was increasing! Utah supported the tired soldiers with a sonorous pioneer song and a story about their native Leningrad...
And how happy everyone was, how the partisans congratulated Utah when the message came to the detachment: the blockade had been broken! Leningrad survived, Leningrad won! That day, both Yuta’s blue eyes and her red tie shone as it seems never before.
But the earth was still groaning under the enemy yoke, and the detachment, together with units of the Red Army, left to help the Estonian partisans. In one of the battles - near the Estonian farm of Rostov - Yuta Bondarovskaya, the little heroine of the great war, a pioneer who did not part with her red tie, died a heroic death. The Motherland awarded its heroic daughter posthumously with the medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War”, 1st degree, and the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.

Galya Komleva

When the war began, and the Nazis were approaching Leningrad, for underground work in the village of Tarnovichi - in the south Leningrad region- the counselor was left high school Anna Petrovna Semenova. To communicate with the partisans, she selected her most reliable pioneers, and the first among them was Galina Komleva. Cheerful, brave, inquisitive girl of six years old school years was awarded books six times with the signature: “For excellent studies”
The young messenger brought assignments from the partisans to her counselor, and forwarded her reports to the detachment along with bread, potatoes, and food, which were obtained with great difficulty. Once, when a messenger from a partisan detachment did not arrive at the meeting place on time, Galya, half-frozen, snuck into the detachment herself, handed over a report and, having warmed up a little, hurried back, carrying a new task to the underground fighters.
Together with Komsomol member Tasya Yakovleva, Galya wrote leaflets and scattered them around the village at night. The Nazis tracked down and captured the young underground fighters. They kept me in the Gestapo for two months. They beat me severely, threw me into a cell, and in the morning they took me out again for interrogation. Galya didn’t say anything to the enemy, didn’t betray anyone. The young patriot was shot.
The Motherland celebrated the feat of Galya Komleva with the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.

Kostya Kravchuk

On June 11, 1944, units leaving for the front were lined up in the central square of Kyiv. And before this battle formation, they read out the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on awarding the pioneer Kostya Kravchuk with the Order of the Red Banner for saving and preserving two battle flags of rifle regiments during the occupation of the city of Kyiv...
Retreating from Kyiv, two wounded soldiers entrusted Kostya with the banners. And Kostya promised to keep them.
At first I buried it in the garden under a pear tree: I thought our people would return soon. But the war dragged on, and, having dug up the banners, Kostya kept them in the barn until he remembered an old, abandoned well outside the city, near the Dnieper. Having wrapped his priceless treasure in burlap and rolled it with straw, he got out of the house at dawn and, with a canvas bag over his shoulder, led a cow to a distant forest. And there, looking around, he hid the bundle in the well, covered it with branches, dry grass, turf...
And throughout the long occupation the pioneer carried out his difficult guard at the banner, although he was caught in a raid, and even fled from the train in which the Kievites were driven away to Germany.
When Kyiv was liberated, Kostya, in a white shirt with a red tie, came to the military commandant of the city and unfurled banners in front of the well-worn and yet amazed soldiers.
On June 11, 1944, the newly formed units leaving for the front were given replacements by the rescued Kostya.

Lara Mikheenko

For the operation of reconnaissance and explosion of the railway. bridge over the Drissa River, Leningrad schoolgirl Larisa Mikheenko was nominated for a government award. But the Motherland did not have time to present the award to her brave daughter...
The war cut the girl off from her hometown: in the summer she went on vacation to the Pustoshkinsky district, but was unable to return - the village was occupied by the Nazis. The pioneer dreamed of breaking out of Hitler's slavery and making her way to her own people. And one night she left the village with two older friends.
At the headquarters of the 6th Kalinin Brigade, the commander, Major P.V. Ryndin, initially found himself accepting “such little ones”: what kind of partisans are they? But how much even very young citizens can do for the Motherland! The girls were able to do what they couldn’t strong men. Dressed in rags, Lara walked through the villages, finding out where and how the guns were located, the sentries were posted, what German vehicles were moving along the highway, what kind of trains were coming to Pustoshka station and with what cargo.
She also took part in combat operations...
The young partisan, betrayed by a traitor in the village of Ignatovo, was shot by the Nazis. The Decree on awarding Larisa Mikheenko the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, contains the bitter word: “Posthumously.”

Vasya Korobko

Chernihiv region. The front came close to the village of Pogoreltsy. On the outskirts, covering the withdrawal of our units, a company held the defense. A boy brought cartridges to the soldiers. His name was Vasya Korobko.
Night. Vasya creeps up to the school building occupied by the Nazis.
He makes his way into the pioneer room, takes out the pioneer banner and hides it securely.
The outskirts of the village. Under the bridge - Vasya. He pulls out iron brackets, saws down the piles, and at dawn, from a hiding place, watches the bridge collapse under the weight of a fascist armored personnel carrier. The partisans were convinced that Vasya could be trusted, and entrusted him with a serious task: to become a scout in the enemy’s lair. At the fascist headquarters, he lights the stoves, chops wood, and he takes a closer look, remembers, and passes on information to the partisans. The punishers, who planned to exterminate the partisans, forced the boy to lead them into the forest. But Vasya led the Nazis to a police ambush. The Nazis, mistaking them for partisans in the dark, opened mad fire, killed all the policemen and killed them themselves. big losses.
Together with the partisans, Vasya destroyed nine echelons and hundreds of Nazis. In one of the battles he was hit by an enemy bullet. Your little hero, who lived a short, but such bright life, The Motherland awarded the Order of Lenin, the Red Banner, the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, and the medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War,” 1st degree.

Sasha Borodulin

There was a war going on. Enemy bombers were buzzing hysterically over the village where Sasha lived. The native land was trampled by the enemy's boot. Sasha Borodulin, a pioneer with the warm heart of a young Leninist, could not put up with this. He decided to fight the fascists. Got a rifle. Having killed a fascist motorcyclist, he took the first battle trophy - a real one German machine gun. Day after day he conducted reconnaissance. More than once he went on the most dangerous missions. He was responsible for many destroyed vehicles and soldiers. For carrying out dangerous tasks, for demonstrating courage, resourcefulness and courage, Sasha Borodulin was awarded the Order of the Red Banner in the winter of 1941.

Punishers tracked down the partisans. The detachment escaped them for three days, twice broke out of encirclement, but the enemy ring closed again. Then the commander called for volunteers to cover the detachment’s retreat. Sasha was the first to step forward. Five took the fight. One by one they died. Sasha was left alone. It was still possible to retreat - the forest was nearby, but the detachment valued every minute that would delay the enemy, and Sasha fought to the end. He, allowing the fascists to close a ring around him, grabbed a grenade and blew them up and himself. Sasha Borodulin died, but his memory lives on. The memory of the heroes is eternal!

Vitya Khomenko

Pioneer Vitya Khomenko passed his heroic path of struggle against the fascists in the underground organization "Nikolaev Center".
...Vitya’s German at school was “excellent”, and the underground workers instructed the pioneer to get a job in the officers’ mess. He washed dishes, sometimes served officers in the hall and listened to their conversations. In drunken arguments, the fascists blurted out information that was of great interest to the Nikolaev Center.
The officers began sending the fast, smart boy on errands, and soon he was made a messenger at headquarters. It could never have occurred to them that the most secret packages were the first to be read by underground workers at the turnout...
Together with Shura Kober, Vitya received the task of crossing the front line to establish contact with Moscow. In Moscow, at the headquarters partisan movement, they reported the situation and talked about what they observed along the way.
Returning to Nikolaev, the guys delivered a radio transmitter, explosives, and weapons to the underground fighters. And again fight without fear or hesitation. On December 5, 1942, ten underground members were captured by the Nazis and executed. Among them are two boys - Shura Kober and Vitya Khomenko. They lived as heroes and died as heroes.
The Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree - posthumously - was awarded by the Motherland to its fearless son. The school where he studied is named after Vitya Khomenko.

Volodya Kaznacheev

1941... I graduated from fifth grade in the spring. In the fall he joined the partisan detachment.
When, together with his sister Anya, he came to the partisans in the Kletnyansky forests in the Bryansk region, the detachment said: “What a reinforcement!..” True, having learned that they were from Solovyanovka, the children of Elena Kondratyevna Kaznacheeva, the one who baked bread for the partisans , they stopped joking (Elena Kondratievna was killed by the Nazis).
The detachment had a “partisan school”. Future miners and demolition workers trained there. Volodya mastered this science perfectly and, together with his senior comrades, derailed eight echelons. He also had to cover the group’s retreat, stopping the pursuers with grenades...
He was a liaison; often went to Kletnya, delivering valuable information; After waiting until dark, he posted leaflets. From operation to operation he became more experienced and skillful.
The Nazis placed a reward on the head of partisan Kzanacheev, not even suspecting that their brave opponent was just a boy. He fought alongside the adults until the day he native land was not freed from the fascist evil spirits, and rightfully shared with the adults the glory of the hero - the liberator of his native land. Volodya Kaznacheev was awarded the Order of Lenin and the medal "Partisan of the Patriotic War" 1st degree.

Nadya Bogdanova

She was executed twice by the Nazis, and for many years her military friends considered Nadya dead. They even erected a monument to her.
It’s hard to believe, but when she became a scout in the partisan detachment of “Uncle Vanya” Dyachkov, she was not yet ten years old. Small, thin, she, pretending to be a beggar, wandered among the Nazis, noticing everything, remembering everything, and brought the most valuable information to the detachment. And then, together with partisan fighters, she blew up the fascist headquarters, derailed a train with military equipment, and mined objects.
The first time she was captured was when, together with Vanya Zvontsov, she hung out a red flag in enemy-occupied Vitebsk on November 7, 1941. They beat her with ramrods, tortured her, and when they brought her to the ditch to shoot her, she no longer had any strength left - she fell into the ditch, momentarily outstripping the bullet. Vanya died, and the partisans found Nadya alive in a ditch...
The second time she was captured at the end of 1943. And again torture: they poured ice water on her in the cold, burned a five-pointed star on her back. Considering the scout dead, the Nazis abandoned her when the partisans attacked Karasevo. Local residents came out paralyzed and almost blind. After the war in Odessa, Academician V.P. Filatov restored Nadya’s sight.
15 years later, she heard on the radio how the intelligence chief of the 6th detachment, Slesarenko - her commander - said that the soldiers would never forget their fallen comrades, and named among them Nadya Bogdanova, who saved his life, a wounded man...
Only then did she show up, only then did the people who worked with her learn about what an amazing destiny of a person she, Nadya Bogdanova, was awarded with the Order of the Red Banner, the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, and medals.

Valya Zenkina

The Brest Fortress was the first to take the enemy's blow. Bombs and shells exploded, walls collapsed, people died both in the fortress and in the city of Brest. From the first minutes, Valya’s father went into battle. He left and did not return, died a hero, like many defenders of the Brest Fortress.
And the Nazis forced Valya to make her way into the fortress under fire in order to convey to its defenders the demand to surrender. Valya made her way into the fortress, talked about the atrocities of the Nazis, explained what weapons they had, indicated their location and stayed to help our soldiers. She bandaged the wounded, collected cartridges and brought them to the soldiers.
There was not enough water in the fortress, it was divided by sip. The thirst was painful, but Valya again and again refused her sip: the wounded needed water. When the command of the Brest Fortress decided to take the children and women out from under fire and transport them to the other side of the Mukhavets River - there was no other way to save their lives - the little nurse Valya Zenkina asked to be left with the soldiers. But an order is an order, and then she vowed to continue the fight against the enemy until complete victory.
And Valya kept her vow. Various trials befell her. But she survived. She survived. And she continued her struggle in the partisan detachment. She fought bravely, along with adults. For courage and bravery, the Motherland awarded its young daughter the Order of the Red Star.

Nina Kukoverova

Every summer, Nina and her younger brother and sister were taken from Leningrad to the village of Nechepert, where clean air, soft grass, where there is honey and fresh milk... Roar, explosions, flames and smoke hit this quiet region in the fourteenth summer of the pioneer Nina Kukoverova. War! From the first days of the arrival of the Nazis, Nina became a partisan intelligence officer. I remembered everything I saw around me and reported it to the detachment.
A punitive detachment is located in the village of the mountain, all approaches are blocked, even the most experienced scouts cannot get through. Nina volunteered to go. She walked for a dozen kilometers through a snow-covered plain and field. The Nazis did not pay attention to the chilled, tired girl with a bag, but nothing escaped her attention - neither the headquarters, nor the fuel depot, nor the location of the sentries. And when the partisan detachment set out on a campaign at night, Nina walked next to the commander as a scout, as a guide. That night, fascist warehouses flew into the air, the headquarters burst into flames, and the punitive forces fell, struck down by fierce fire.
Nina, a pioneer who was awarded the medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War”, 1st degree, went on combat missions more than once.
The young heroine died. But the memory of Russia’s daughter is alive. She was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree. Nina Kukoverova is forever included in her pioneer squad.

Arkady Kamanin

He dreamed of heaven when he was just a boy. Arkady's father, Nikolai Petrovich Kamanin, a pilot, participated in the rescue of the Chelyuskinites, for which he received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. And my father’s friend, Mikhail Vasilyevich Vodopyanov, is always nearby. There was something to make the boy's heart burn. But they didn’t let him fly, they told him to grow up.
When the war began, he went to work at an aircraft factory, then he used the airfield for any opportunity to take to the skies. Experienced pilots, even if only for a few minutes, sometimes trusted him to fly the plane. One day the cockpit glass was broken by an enemy bullet. The pilot was blinded. Losing consciousness, he managed to hand over control to Arkady, and the boy landed the plane at his airfield.
After this, Arkady was allowed to seriously study flying, and soon he began to fly on his own.
One day, from above, a young pilot saw our plane shot down by the Nazis. Under heavy mortar fire, Arkady landed, carried the pilot into his plane, took off and returned to his own. The Order of the Red Star shone on his chest. For participation in battles with the enemy, Arkady was awarded the second Order of the Red Star. By that time he had already become an experienced pilot, although he was fifteen years old.
Arkady Kamanin fought with the Nazis until the victory. The young hero dreamed of heaven and conquered the sky!

Lida Vashkevich

An ordinary black bag would not attract the attention of visitors local history museum, if it weren’t for the red tie lying next to her. A boy or girl will involuntarily freeze, an adult will stop, and they will read the yellowed certificate issued by the commissioner
partisan detachment. The fact that the young owner of these relics, pioneer Lida Vashkevich, risking her life, helped fight the Nazis. There is another reason to stop near these exhibits: Lida was awarded the medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War”, 1st degree.
...In the city of Grodno, occupied by the Nazis, a communist underground operated. One of the groups was led by Lida’s father. Contacts of underground fighters and partisans came to him, and each time the commander’s daughter was on duty at the house. From the outside looking in, she was playing. And she peered vigilantly, listened, to see if the policemen, the patrol, were approaching,
and, if necessary, gave a sign to her father. Dangerous? Very. But compared to other tasks, this was almost a game. Lida obtained paper for leaflets by buying a couple of sheets from different stores, often with the help of her friends. A pack will be collected, the girl will hide it at the bottom of a black bag and deliver it to the appointed place. And the next day the whole city reads
words of truth about the victories of the Red Army near Moscow and Stalingrad.
The girl warned the people's avengers about the raids while going around safe houses. She traveled from station to station by train to convey an important message to the partisans and underground fighters. She carried the explosives past the fascist posts in the same black bag, filled to the top with coal and trying not to bend so as not to arouse suspicion - coal is lighter explosives...
This is what kind of bag ended up in the Grodno Museum. And the tie that Lida was wearing in her bosom back then: she couldn’t, she didn’t want to part with it.

Names of pioneer heroes
(incomplete list)

Aksen Timonin

Alyosha Kuznetsov

Albert Kupsha

Arkady Kamanin - the youngest pilot of World War II

Valery Volkov

Valya Zenkina

Valya Kotik, Hero of the Soviet Union

Vanya Andrianov

Vanya Vasilchenko

Vanya Gritsenko

Vasya Korobko

Vasya Shishkovsky

Vitya Kovalenko

Vitya Korobkov

Vitya Khomenko

Vitya Cherevichkin

Volodya Dubinin

Volodya Kaznacheev

Volodya Kolyadov

Volodya Samorukha

Volodya Shcherbatsevich

Galya Komleva

Grisha Hakobyan

Dima Potapenko

Zhenya Popov

Zina Portnova, Hero of the Soviet Union

Camilia Shaga

Kirya Baev

Kolya Myagotin

Kolya Ryzhov

Kostya Kravchuk

Lara Mikheenko

Lenya Ankinovich

Lenya Golikov, Hero of the Soviet Union

Lida Vashkevich

Lida Matveeva

Lyusya Gerasimenko

Marat Kazei, Hero of the Soviet Union

Maria Mukhina

Marx Krotov

Misha Gavrilov

Nadya Bogdanova

Nina Kukoverova

Nina Sagaidak

Pavlik Morozov

Pavlusha Andreev

Pyotr Zaichenko

Musya Pinkenzon

Sasha Borodulin

Sasha Kovalev

Sasha Kolesnikov

Tikhon Baran

Tolya Shumov

Shura Kober

Shura Efremov

Utah Bondarovskaya



The article provides information about the pioneer heroes of the Great Patriotic War:
- Valya Kotik
- Vitya Khomenko
- Vitya Cherevichkin
- Volodya Dubinin
- Zina Portnova
- Lara Mikheenko
- Lenya Golikov
- Marat Kazei

Valya Kotik

Name Vali Kotika became a symbol of fidelity to duty, determination, and selfless courage. The young partisan died a few days after his fourteenth birthday. Fourteen is very little. At this age, you usually just make plans for the future, prepare for it, dream about it. Valya also built, prepared, dreamed. There is no doubt that if he had lived to this day, he would have become outstanding personality. But he did not become an astronaut, nor an innovator, nor a scientist-inventor. He remained forever young, remained a pioneer.

About the Hero of the Soviet Union Vale Kotike Hundreds of stories, short stories, and essays have been written. A monument to the young hero stands in the city of his feat, Shepetovka, and in the capital of our Motherland, Moscow.

The story of the short and glorious life of the pioneer is known throughout the country. For millions of young pioneers Valya Kotik became an example in character education. And a piece of his soul, his brave heart lives in them.

He was born on February 11, 1930 in the village of Khmelevka, Shepetovsky district, Khmelnitsky region. He studied at school No. 4 in the city of Shepetovka, and was a recognized leader of the pioneers, his peers. When the Nazis burst into Shepetivka, Valya Kotik Together with my friends I decided to fight the enemy. The guys collected weapons at the battle site, which the partisans then transported to the detachment on a cart of hay.

Having taken a closer look at the boy, the communists entrusted Valya with being a liaison and intelligence officer in their underground organization. He learned the location of enemy posts and the order of changing the guard. The day came when Valya accomplished his feat.

The roar of the engines became louder - the cars were approaching. The faces of the soldiers were already clearly visible. Sweat dripped from their foreheads, half-covered by green helmets. Some soldiers carelessly took off their helmets.

The front car reached the bushes behind which the boys were hiding. Valya stood up, counting down the seconds to himself. The car passed, and there was already an armored car opposite him. Then he rose to his full height and shouted “Fire!” he threw two grenades one after another... At the same time, explosions were heard from the left and right. Both cars stopped, the front one caught fire. The soldiers quickly jumped to the ground, threw themselves into a ditch and from there opened indiscriminate fire from machine guns.

Valya did not see this picture. He was already running along a well-known path into the depths of the forest. There was no pursuit; the Germans were afraid of the partisans. The next day, Gebietskommissar Government Advisor Dr. Worbs, in a report to his superiors, wrote: “Attacked by large forces of bandits, the Fuhrer’s soldiers showed courage and restraint. They took on an unequal battle and scattered the rebels. Oberleutnant Franz Koenig skillfully led the fighting. While chasing bandits, he was seriously wounded and died on the spot from loss of blood. Our losses: seven killed and nine wounded. The bandits lost twenty people killed and about thirty wounded...” Rumors about the partisan attack on the Nazis and the death of the executioner, the chief of the gendarmerie, quickly spread in the city.

The pioneer, who had just turned fourteen years old, fought shoulder to shoulder with adults, liberating his native land. He is responsible for six enemy trains blown up on the way to the front. Valya Kotik was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, and the medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War,” 2nd degree.

Valya Kotik died as a hero, and the Motherland posthumously awarded him the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. A monument to him was erected in front of the school where this brave pioneer studied.

Vitya Khomenko

Pioneer's own heroic path of struggle against the Nazis Vitya Khomenko took place in the underground organization "Nikolaev Center".

...Vitya’s German at school was “excellent”, and the underground workers instructed the pioneer to get a job in the officers’ mess. He washed dishes, sometimes served officers in the hall and listened to their conversations. In drunken arguments, the fascists blurted out information that was of great interest to the Nikolaev Center.

The officers began sending the fast, smart boy on errands, and soon he was made a messenger at headquarters. It could never have occurred to them that the most secret packages were the first to be read by underground workers at the turnout...

Together with Shura Kober, Vitya received the task of crossing the front line to establish contact with Moscow. In Moscow, at the headquarters of the partisan movement, they reported the situation and talked about what they observed on the way.

Returning to Nikolaev, the guys delivered a radio transmitter, explosives, and weapons to the underground fighters. And again fight without fear or hesitation. On December 5, 1942, ten underground members were captured by the Nazis and executed. Among them are two boys - Shura Kober and Vitya Khomenko. They lived as heroes and died as heroes.

The Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree - posthumously - was awarded by the Motherland to its fearless son. The school where he studied is named after Vitya Khomenko.

Vitya Cherevichkin

A teenager of about fourteen is looking from the photograph. He has short hair. High forehead. Concentrated face and thoughtful look. The boy's name is Vitya Cherevichkin. His photograph can be seen in the Palace of Pioneers in Rostov. The fifth-graders of the 78th Rostov school named their pioneer detachment after the young hero. One of the streets in Rostov also bears his name. The song “Vitya Cherevichkin lived in Rostov...” was composed about him, which rang in the pioneer detachments and which tells about Vitya’s life and studies, about his blue-winged pigeons, about his feat and death in the winter of 1941...

"VITYA CHEREVICHKIN LIVED IN ROSTOV..."

These were the days when there were fierce battles with the Nazis on the banks of the Lower Don. The enemy was rushing towards Rostov, and he managed to occupy the city. It's here hard time. Vitya saw the glow of fires, heard shooting in the city, knew that the Nazis were robbing and shooting Soviet people. He could answer all this in one word: “Fight!” One day the boy saw that the SS men were driving residents out of a large building. Telephone wires were stretched there. Shiny cars drove up one after another. Messengers were constantly scurrying from the banks of the Don. “This is headquarters,” Vitya realized. He soon learned that large fascist formations were concentrated in the area of ​​the Red Aksai plant. Vitya decided to establish contact with the Soviet troops at all costs. They stood in Bataysk, on the other side of the Don. But how to do this?

Even before the war started Vitya Cherevichkin, like many of his peers, loved to chase pigeons. The family had relatives in Bataysk, and pigeons instead of postmen. Vitya Cherevichkin news from Rostov was often carried to Bataysk. From time to time, Soviet planes appeared over the city. And Vitya decided to show them the location of the fascist headquarters. When the engine hummed in the sky, the boy released pigeons over the headquarters. But the pilot either did not notice his signals or did not understand. The plane disappeared. Then the young scout wrote a note with important messages, tied it to the leg of a red pigeon and threw his pet up:

Fly to Bataysk!..

Vitya was worried. What if the dove doesn't make it? Maybe there are no relatives in Bataysk anymore? Who will convey his report to the Soviet command? As soon as the Soviet plane appeared over Rostov again, pigeons once again rose from Vitya’s hands and began circling over the fascist headquarters. The pilot flew the plane very low. Vitya began energetically giving hand signals. Suddenly someone grabbed him by the shoulder. The boy was noticed by a fascist officer.

Vitya tried to break free, but a soldier ran up from somewhere. The young hero was taken to German headquarters.

Are you a scout?.. Where are the partisans?.. - the officer raged during the interrogation, threatening the boy with a pistol. Vitya was beaten and trampled, but no amount of torture could break his will. He was silent. And in the evening the teenager was taken towards the Don. He walked, moving his legs heavily. But he kept his head high. His enemies followed him relentlessly. The roar of the Soviet offensive could already be heard from across the Don. Vita's pigeon flew to Bataysk. Here he was noticed, and the note was transmitted to our headquarters. Now shells and bombs were exploding in the area of ​​the Red Aksai plant, where large enemy forces had accumulated. Plumes of black smoke covered the block where the fascist headquarters stood. It was Soviet artillery and aviation that crushed the enemy, concentrating fire on those points that he, the young intelligence officer Vitya Cherevichkin, indicated. Soviet troops returned to Rostov, and the young Leninist with war stories was buried in a mass soldier’s grave

Volodya Dubinin

Volodya Dubinin- a brave partisan intelligence officer, the hero of the well-known book by L. Kassil and M. Polyanovsky “Street of the Youngest Son.”

In pre-war times, the Dubinin family consisted of four people. According to the stories of his mother Evdokia Timofeevna, Volodya was restless, active, always striving to realize in life what filled his hot head with dreams.

Volodya spent his childhood in Kerch. When the Patriotic War broke out, Volodya was only 14 years old. Together with the adults, he went to the Starokarantinsky quarries. With his comrades Vanya Gritsenko and Tolya Kovalev Volodya Dubinin often went on reconnaissance missions. Young scouts brought valuable information to the detachment about the location of enemy units and the number of Nazi troops. Based on this data, the partisans planned their military operations. It was reconnaissance that helped the detachment in December 1941 give a worthy rebuff to the punitive forces. During the battle in the adits, Volodya Dubinin brought ammunition to the partisans, and then he himself took the place of the seriously wounded soldier.

The boy knew well the layout of the underground galleries and the location of all exits to the surface. And when in January 1942, after the liberation of Kerch by units of the Red Army, sappers began to clear the area around the quarries, he volunteered to help them.

On January 2, the young hero was killed by a mine. By order of the commander of the Crimean Front, he was posthumously awarded the Order of the Red Banner. The school where Volodya Dubinin studied and the street where he lived now bear his name.

Zina Portnova

L Yeningrad schoolgirl, Zina Portnova in June 1941, she came with her younger sister Galya for the summer holidays to her grandmother in the village of Zui, near the Obol station (Shumilinsky district of the Vitebsk region). She was fifteen...

An underground Komsomol youth organization “Young Avengers” was created in Obol (headed by E. S. Zenkova) and Zina was elected a member of its committee in 1942. Since August 1943, she became a scout for the partisan detachment named after. K. E. Voroshilov brigade named after. V.I. Lenin. She took part in daring operations against the enemy, in sabotage, distributed leaflets, and conducted reconnaissance on instructions from a partisan detachment.

At first she got a job as a helper in the canteen for German officers. And soon, together with her friend, she carried out a daring operation - she poisoned more than a hundred Nazis. They could have grabbed her right away, but they started keeping an eye on her. To avoid failure, Zina was transferred to a partisan detachment.

Once she was instructed to scout out the number and type of troops in the Oboli area. Another time - to clarify the reasons for the failure in the Obol underground and establish new connections... Returning from a mission to find out the reasons for the failure of the Young Avengers organization, Zina was arrested in the village of Mostishche and identified as a traitor. The Nazis captured the young partisan and tortured her. The answer to the enemy was Zina’s silence, her contempt and hatred, her determination to fight to the end. During one of the interrogations, she grabbed the investigator’s pistol from the table, shot him and two other Nazis, tried to escape, but was captured.

Then they no longer interrogated her, but methodically tortured and mocked her. They gouged out their eyes and cut off their ears. They drove needles under her nails, twisted her arms and legs... The brave young pioneer was brutally tortured, but before last minute remained persistent, courageous, unbending. On January 13, 1944, Zina Portnova was shot.

And soon the 1st Baltic Front launched a rapid offensive. A major operation of the Soviet troops began, called "Bagration". The million-strong group of enemy armies was defeated. Soviet troops with the help of partisans they liberated the Belarusian land from the Nazis.

About the exploits of the young Avengers Soviet people I found out fifteen years later, when in July 1958 the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was published. For the exploits and courage shown during the Great Patriotic War, large group members of the Obol underground Komsomol organization "Young Avengers" were awarded orders of the Soviet Union. And on the chest of the head of the organization, Efrosinya Savelyevna Zenkova, the Golden Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union sparkled. This high award of the Motherland was posthumously awarded to Romashka - Zina Portnova. Near Obol, near the highway, among green young trees and flowers, there is a tall granite monument. The names of the dead young avengers are carved on it in gold letters.

In Leningrad, on a quiet Baltiyskaya street, the house in which the legendary Romashka lived has been preserved. Nearby is the school where she studied. And a little further away, among the new buildings, there is a wide street named Zina Portnova, on which a marble wall with its bas-relief is installed.

Lara Mikheenko

A Leningrad schoolgirl was nominated for a government award for the operation of reconnaissance and explosion of a railway bridge across the Drissa River. Larisa Mikheenko. But the Motherland did not have time to present the award to her brave daughter...

The war cut the girl off from her hometown: in the summer she went on vacation to the Pustoshkinsky district, but was unable to return - the village was occupied by the Nazis. The pioneer dreamed of breaking out of Hitler's slavery and making her way to her own people. And one night she left the village with two older friends.

At the headquarters of the 6th Kalinin Brigade, the commander, Major P.V. Ryndin, initially refused to accept “such little ones”: what kind of partisans are they? But how much even very young citizens can do for the Motherland! Girls were able to do what strong men could not. A bare-haired, barefoot girl. She has no weapons in her hands - only a beggar's bag. But this girl is a fighter, because the information that she delivers to the detachment helps the partisans beat the enemy... Dressed in rags, Lara walked through the villages, finding out where and how the guns were located, the sentries were posted, what German vehicles were moving along the highway, what for trains and with what cargo they arrive at Pustoshka station. She also took part in combat operations...

The young partisan, betrayed by a traitor in the village of Ignatovo, was shot by the Nazis on November 4, 1943, and on November 7, the partisan detachment united with units of the Soviet Army. In the Decree on awarding Larisa Mikheenko The Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, bears the bitter word: “Posthumously.”

Lenya Golikov

Lenya Golikov born in 1926 in the village of Lukino, Polavsky district, Leningrad region (now it is Parfinsky district, Novgorod region). Leni's father, Golikov Alexander Ivanovich, worked as a timber rafting foreman, and her mother, Ekaterina Alekseevna, was a housewife.

In 1935, Lenya entered a school located in the neighboring village of Manuylovo. There he joined the pioneers. Like most boys, he grew up active, cheerful, and hooligan. This is how he remained in the memories of his peers: the organizer of children's games and battles, the initiator of long trips on rafts along the river. Lenka loved to wander through the forest, sit with a fishing rod by the river, loved to read books and sing.

In 1939, his father became seriously ill and Lenya went to work at the Tulitov floating point.

When the war began and the Nazis occupied the village of Lenino, he did not want to work for the Nazis and quit his job. From the first days of the occupation, local partisans operated in the Starorussky and Polava regions. More than once Lenya wandered through the forest in search of partisans, dreaming of joining the detachment. Having learned from my teacher at the Manuylov school V.G. Semenov about the formation of a partisan brigade, Lenya turned to the command with a request to enlist him in the detachment. He was refused, however, he did not back down and A.P. Luchin, captivated by the boy’s persistence, himself begs I.I. Gleich (commander of the newly formed detachment to take Golikova connected). Together with his peers, he once picked up several rifles at the battlefield and stole two boxes of grenades from the Nazis. They then handed all this over to the partisans.

Lenya Golikov was awarded a medal for bravery. For 10 days, the partisan detachment fought fierce battles in the area of ​​​​the village of Sosnitsa, destroying 100 Nazis and liberating several settlements. Considerable credit for the success of the company belonged to Lena Golikova. It was he who indicated the combat position in the attic of the school, from where the partisans blocked the path of the Nazis, who were trying to recapture the village of Sosnitsa, with hurricane fire.

In January 1943, hot on the heels of punitive forces, the partisans retreated to the Dno-Novosokolniki railway. There, behind the railway, the burned but not conquered Partisan region began. There was only one last push left to make, but the unexpected happened. On the morning of January 24, the brigade headquarters stopped in the village of Ostraya Luka, Dedovichi district, to bury nurse Tonya Bogdanova. In order not to attract attention, they decided not to post patrols, they simply took turns on duty in the barn. The village headman turned out to be a traitor and sent his son to punish. At night the partisans were surrounded by the Nazis. Firing back, they began to retreat to the forest. Wounded chief of staff of the 4th brigade T.P. Petrov covered the retreat of his comrades. In front of Leni Golikova Brigade commander S.M. was mortally wounded. Glebov. As soon as Lenya accepted the bag of documents from his hands, he was struck down by a machine gun burst. Thus the life of the young patriot was cut short. He was buried together with S.M. Glebov and T.P. Petrov. and other partisans in the village of Ostraya Luka, Dedovichi district, Pskov region.

"Golikov joined the partisan detachment in March 1942 - the award sheet says. - Participated in 27 combat operations... Exterminated 78 German soldiers and officers, blew up 2 railway and 12 highway bridges, blew up 9 vehicles with ammunition... August 15 in the brigade’s new combat area Golikov crashed a car in which the major general was engineering troops Richard Wirtz, heading from Pskov to Luga. A brave partisan killed the general with a machine gun and delivered his jacket and captured documents to the brigade headquarters. The documents included: a description of new types of German mines, inspection reports to higher command and other valuable intelligence data."

The concept of the Hero was spent during his lifetime, for the money he earned in reconnaissance secret documents. But he didn’t have time to get it.

The hero's name is given to streets in Leningrad, Pskov, Staraya Russa, Okulovka, the village of Pola, the village of Parfino, a state farm in the Parfinsky district, a motor ship of the Riga Shipping Company, in Novgorod - a street, the House of Pioneers, a training ship for young sailors in Staraya Russa, pioneer squads and detachments areas. Monuments to the hero were erected in Moscow and Novgorod. IN regional center On Volkhov, the monument was erected near Victory Square. A story, a poem, several essays, and a song were written about his feat and fearlessness.

Marat Kazei

On the first day of the war Marat Kazei I saw two people in the cemetery. One, in the uniform of a Red Army tankman, spoke to a village boy.

Listen, where is your...

The stranger's eyes darted around restlessly. Marat also drew attention to the fact that the pistol was hanging almost on the tankman’s stomach. “Our people don’t carry weapons like that,” flashed through the boy’s head.

I'll bring... milk and bread. Now. - He nodded towards the village. - Otherwise, come to us. Our hut is on the edge, close...

Bring it here! - Already completely emboldened, the tanker ordered.

“Probably Germans,” thought Marat, “paratroopers”...

The Germans did not drop bombs on their village. Enemy planes flew further to the east. Instead of bombs, a fascist landing force fell. The paratroopers were caught, but no one knew how many of them were dropped...

Several of our border guards were resting in the hut. Anna Alexandrovna, Marat’s mother, placed a pot of cabbage soup and a pot of milk in front of them.

Marat flew into the hut with such a look that everyone immediately sensed something was wrong.

They are in the cemetery!

The border guards ran to the cemetery behind Marat, who led them along a short path.

Noticing the armed people, the disguised fascists rushed into the bushes. Marat is behind them. Having reached the edge of the forest, the “tankers” began to shoot back...

In the evening, a truck drove up to the Kazeevs’ house. Border guards and two prisoners were sitting in it. Anna Alexandrovna rushed to her son in tears - he was standing on the step of the cabin, the boy’s legs were bleeding, his shirt was torn.

Thank you, mom! - The soldiers took turns shaking the woman’s hand. - We raised a brave son. Good fighter!

War struck the Belarusian land. The Nazis burst into the village where Marat lived with his mother, Anna Alexandrovna Kazeya. In the fall, Marat no longer had to go to school in the fifth grade. The Nazis turned the school building into their barracks. The enemy was fierce.

Anna Aleksandrovna Kazei was captured for her connection with the partisans, and Marat soon learned that his mother had been hanged in Minsk. The boy's heart was filled with anger and hatred for the enemy. Together with his sister, Komsomol member Ada, the pioneer Marat Kazei went to join the partisans in the Stankovsky forest. He became a scout at the headquarters of a partisan brigade. He penetrated enemy garrisons and delivered valuable information to the command. Using this data, the partisans developed a daring operation and defeated the fascist garrison in the city of Dzerzhinsk...

Marat took part in battles and invariably showed courage and fearlessness, and together with experienced demolitionists he mined railway.

In May 1944, while carrying out another reconnaissance mission, he was surrounded by the Nazis, fired back to the last bullet and, not wanting to surrender, blew himself up and the enemies surrounding him with a grenade.

Pioneer for courage and bravery Marat Kazei On May 8, 1965 he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. A monument to the young hero was erected in the city of Minsk.

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Pioneer heroes

When the Great Patriotic War began, not only adult men and women joined the battle line. Thousands of boys and girls, your peers, rose to defend the Motherland. They sometimes did things that strong men could not do. What guided them in that terrible time? Craving for adventure? Responsibility for the fate of your country? Hatred towards the occupiers? Probably all together. They accomplished a true feat. And we cannot help but remember the names of young patriots.

Lenya Golikov

He grew up as an ordinary village boy. When the German invaders occupied his native village of Lukino, in the Leningrad region, Lenya collected several rifles from the battlefields and obtained two bags of grenades from the Nazis to give them to the partisans. And he himself remained in the partisan detachment. He fought along with adults. At just over 10 years old, in battles with the invaders, Lenya personally destroyed 78 German soldiers and officers and blew up 9 vehicles with ammunition. He participated in 27 combat operations, the explosion of 2 railway and 12 highway bridges. On August 15, 1942, a young partisan blew up a German passenger car in which there was an important Nazi general. Lenya Golikov died in the spring of 1943 in an unequal battle. He was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Marat Kazei

Schoolboy Marat Kazei was just over 13 years old when he went to join the partisans with his sister. Marat became a scout. He made his way into enemy garrisons, looked out for where German posts, headquarters, and ammunition depots were located. The information he delivered to the detachment helped the partisans inflict heavy losses on the enemy. Like Golikov, Marat blew up bridges and derailed enemy trains. In May 1944, when Soviet Army was already very close and the partisans were about to unite with her, Marat was ambushed. The teenager shot back until the last bullet. When Marat had only one grenade left, he let the enemies get closer and pulled the pin... Marat Kazei posthumously became a Hero of the Soviet Union.

Zinaida Portnova

In the summer of 1941, Leningrad schoolgirl Zina Portnova went on vacation to her grandmother in Belarus. There the war found her. A few months later, Zina joined the underground organization “Young Patriots”. Then she became a scout in the Voroshilov partisan detachment. The girl was distinguished by fearlessness, ingenuity and never lost heart. One day she was arrested. The enemies had no direct evidence that she was a partisan. Perhaps everything would have worked out if Portnova had not been identified by the traitor. She was tortured for a long time and cruelly. During one of the interrogations, Zina grabbed a pistol from the investigator and shot him and two other guards. She tried to escape, but the girl, exhausted from torture, did not have enough strength. She was captured and soon executed. Zinaida Portnova was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Valentin Kotik

At the age of 12, Valya, then a fifth-grader at the Shepetovskaya school, became a scout in a partisan detachment. He fearlessly made his way to the location of enemy troops, obtaining valuable information for the partisans about security posts of railway stations, military warehouses, and the deployment of enemy units. He did not hide his joy when adults took him with them to combat operation. Valya Kotik has blown up 6 enemy trains and many successful ambushes. He died at the age of 14 in an unequal battle with the Nazis. By that time, Valya Kotik already wore on his chest the Order of Lenin and the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, and the medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War,” 2nd degree. Such awards would honor even the commander of a partisan unit. And here is a boy, a teenager. Valentin Kotik was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Vasily Korobko

The partisan fate of a sixth-grader from the village of Pogoreltsy, Vasya Korobko, was unusual. He received his baptism of fire in the summer of 1941, covering with fire the withdrawal of our units. Consciously remained in the occupied territory. Once, at my own risk, I sawed down the bridge piles. The very first fascist armored personnel carrier that drove onto this bridge collapsed from it and became inoperable. Then Vasya became a partisan. The detachment blessed him to work at Hitler's headquarters. There, no one could even imagine that the silent stoker and cleaner perfectly remembers all the icons on enemy maps and catches German words familiar from school. Everything that Vasya learned became known to the partisans. Once the punitive forces demanded that Korobko lead them to the forest from where the partisans were making forays. And Vasily led the Nazis to the police ambush. In the dark, the punishers mistook the police for partisans and opened fire on them, destroying many traitors to the Motherland.

Subsequently, Vasily Korobko became an excellent demolitionist and took part in the destruction of 9 echelons of enemy personnel and equipment. He died while carrying out another partisan mission. The exploits of Vasily Korobko were awarded the Order of Lenin, the Red Banner, the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, and the medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War,” 1st degree.

Vitya Khomenko

Like Vasily Korobko, seventh-grader Vitya Khomenko pretended to serve the occupiers while working in the officers' canteen. I washed dishes, heated the stove, and wiped tables. And I remembered everything that the Wehrmacht officers, relaxed with Bavarian beer, talked about. The information obtained by Victor was highly valued in the underground organization “Nikolaev Center”. The Nazis noticed the smart, efficient boy and made him a messenger at headquarters. Naturally, the partisans became aware of everything contained in the documents that fell into the hands of Khomenko.

Vasya died in December 1942, tortured by enemies who became aware of the boy’s connections with the partisans. Despite the most terrible torture, Vasya did not reveal the location of the partisan base, his connections and passwords to the enemies. Vitya Khomenko was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.

Galya Komleva

In the Luga district of the Leningrad region, the memory of the brave young partisan Galya Komleva is honored. She, like many of her peers during the war years, was a scout, supplying the partisans with important information. The Nazis tracked down Komleva, captured her, and threw her into a cell. Two months of continuous interrogations, beatings, and abuse. They demanded that Gali name the names of the partisan contacts. But the torture did not break the girl; she did not utter a word. Galya Komleva was mercilessly shot. She was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.

Utah Bondarovskaya

The war found Utah on vacation with his grandmother. Just yesterday she was playing carefree with her friends, and today circumstances demanded that she take up arms. Utah was a liaison officer and then a scout in a partisan detachment that operated in the Pskov region. Dressed as a beggar boy, the fragile girl wandered around enemy lines, memorizing the location of military equipment, security posts, headquarters, and communications centers. Adults would never be able to deceive the enemy's vigilance so cleverly. In 1944, in a battle near an Estonian farm, Yuta Bondarovskaya died a heroic death along with her older comrades. Utah was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st class, and the medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War,” 1st class.

Volodya Dubinin

Legends were told about him: how Volodya led an entire detachment of Nazis tracking down partisans in the Crimean quarries by the nose; how he slipped like a shadow past reinforced enemy posts; how could he remember, down to one soldier, the number of several Nazi units located in different places at once... Volodya was a favorite of the partisans, their common son. But war is war, it spares neither adults nor children. The young intelligence officer died when he was blown up by a fascist mine while returning from his next mission. The commander of the Crimean Front, having learned about the death of Volodya Dubinin, gave the order to posthumously award the young patriot the Order of the Red Banner.

Sasha Kovalev

He was a graduate of the Solovetsky Jung School. Sasha Kovalev received his first order - the Order of the Red Star - for the fact that the engines of his torpedo boat No. 209 of the Northern Fleet never failed during 20 combat trips to sea. The young sailor was awarded the second, posthumous award - the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree - for a feat of which an adult has the right to be proud. This was in May 1944. While attacking a fascist transport ship, Kovalev’s boat received a hole in the collector from a shell fragment. Boiling water was gushing out of the torn casing; the engine could stall at any minute. Then Kovalev closed the hole with his body. Other sailors came to his aid, and the boat continued to move. But Sasha died. He was 15 years old.

Nina Kukoverova

She began her war against the Nazis by distributing leaflets in a village occupied by enemies. Her leaflets contained truthful reports from the fronts, which instilled in people faith in victory. The partisans entrusted Nina with intelligence work. She did an excellent job with all tasks. The Nazis decided to put an end to the partisans. A punitive detachment entered one of the villages. But its exact numbers and weapons were not known to the partisans. Nina volunteered to scout out the enemy forces. She remembered everything: where and how many sentries, where the ammunition was stored, how many machine guns the punishers had. This information helped the partisans defeat the enemy.

While performing her next task, Nina was betrayed by a traitor. She was tortured. Having achieved nothing from Nina, the Nazis shot the girl. Nina Kukoverova was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.

Marx Krotov

Our pilots, who were ordered to bomb the enemy airfield, were eternally grateful to this boy with such an expressive name. The airfield was located in the Leningrad region, near Tosno, and was carefully guarded by the Nazis. But Marx Krotov managed to get close to the airfield unnoticed and give our pilots a light signal.

Focusing on this signal, the bombers accurately attacked targets and destroyed dozens of enemy aircraft. And before that, Marx collected food for the partisan detachment and handed it over to the forest fighters.

Marx Krotov was captured by a Nazi patrol when he, together with other schoolchildren, was once again aiming our bombers at the target. The boy was executed on the shores of Lake Belye in February 1942.

Albert Kupsha

Albert was the same age and comrade of Marx Krotov, whom we have already talked about. Together with them, Kolya Ryzhov took revenge on the invaders. The guys collected weapons, handed them over to the partisans, and led the Red Army soldiers out of encirclement. But they accomplished their main feat in New Year's Eve 1942 On assignment partisan commander the boys made their way to the Nazi airfield and, giving light signals, led our bombers to the target. Enemy planes were destroyed. The Nazis tracked down the patriots and, after interrogation and torture, shot them on the shores of Lake Belye.

Sasha Kondratiev

Not everyone young heroes for their courage they were awarded orders and medals. Many, having accomplished their feat, were not included in the award lists for various reasons. But the boys and girls did not fight the enemy for the sake of medals; they had another goal - to pay off the occupiers for their suffering Motherland.

In July 1941, Sasha Kondratyev and his comrades from the village of Golubkovo created their own squad of avengers. The guys got hold of weapons and began to act. First, they blew up a bridge on the road along which the Nazis were transporting reinforcements. Then they destroyed the house in which the enemies had set up a barracks, and soon they set fire to the mill where the Nazis ground grain. The last action of Sasha Kondratyev’s detachment was the shelling of an enemy aircraft circling over Lake Cheremenets. The Nazis tracked down the young patriots and captured them. After a bloody interrogation, the guys were hanged in the square in Luga.

Lara Mikheenko

Their destinies are as similar as drops of water. Study interrupted by the war, an oath to take revenge on the invaders until the last breath, partisan everyday life, reconnaissance raids on enemy rear lines, ambushes, explosions of trains. Except that death was different. Some were executed in public, others were shot in the back of the head in a remote basement.

Lara Mikheenko became a partisan intelligence officer. She found out the location of enemy batteries, counted the cars moving along the highway towards the front, remembered which trains and with what cargo arrived at Pustoshka station. Lara was betrayed by a traitor. The Gestapo did not make allowances for age - after a fruitless interrogation, the girl was shot. It happened on November 4, 1943. Lara Mikheenko was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.

Shura Kober

Nikolaev schoolboy Shura Kober, in the very first days of the occupation of the city where he lived, joined an underground organization. His task was to reconnaissance of the redeployment of Nazi troops. Shura completed every task quickly and accurately. When a radio transmitter in a partisan detachment failed, Shura was tasked with crossing the front line and contacting Moscow. Only those who have done it know what crossing the front line is like: countless posts, ambushes, the risk of coming under fire from both strangers and their own. Shura, having successfully overcome all obstacles, brought invaluable information about the location of Nazi troops in the front line. After some time, he returned to the partisans, again crossing the front line. Fought. I went on reconnaissance missions. In November 1942, the boy was betrayed by a provocateur. He was one of 10 underground fighters who was executed in the city square.

Sasha Borodulin

Already in the winter of 1941, he wore the Order of the Red Banner on his tunic. There was a reason. Sasha, together with the partisans, fought the Nazis in open battle, took part in ambushes, and went on reconnaissance more than once.

The partisans were unlucky: the punishers tracked down the detachment and encircled them. For three days the partisans evaded pursuit and broke through the encirclement. But the punitive forces blocked their path again and again. Then the detachment commander called 5 volunteers who were supposed to cover the withdrawal of the main partisan forces with fire. At the commander’s call, Sasha Borodulin was the first to step out of the ranks. The brave five managed to delay the punitive forces for some time. But the partisans were doomed. Sasha was the last to die, stepping towards the enemies with a grenade in his hands.

Vitya Korobkov

12-year-old Vitya was next to his father, army intelligence officer Mikhail Ivanovich Korobkov, who was operating in Feodosia. Vitya helped his father as much as he could and carried out his military orders. It happened that he himself took the initiative: he posted leaflets, obtained information about the location of enemy units. He was arrested along with his father on February 18, 1944. There was very little time left before our troops arrived. The Korobkovs were thrown into the Old Crimean prison, and they extorted testimony from the intelligence officers for 2 weeks. But all the efforts of the Gestapo were in vain.

How many were there?

We talked about only a few of those who, before reaching adulthood, gave their lives in the fight against the enemy. Thousands, tens of thousands of boys and girls sacrificed themselves for victory.

There is a one-of-a-kind museum in Kursk, where unique information about the fate of children of war is collected. The museum staff managed to identify more than 10 thousand names of sons and daughters of regiments and young partisans. There are absolutely amazing human stories.

Tanya Savicheva. She lived in besieged Leningrad. Dying of hunger, Tanya gave the last crumbs of bread to other people, with the last of her strength she carried sand and water to the city attics so that she would have something to extinguish incendiary bombs. Tanya kept a diary in which she talked about how her family was dying of hunger, cold, and disease. The last page of the diary remained unfinished: Tanya herself died.

Maria Shcherbak. She went to the front at the age of 15 under the name of her brother Vladimir, who died at the front. Became a machine gunner of the 148th rifle division. Maria ended the war as a senior lieutenant, holder of four orders.

Arkady Kamanin. He was a graduate of an air regiment; at the age of 14 he first boarded a combat aircraft. He flew as a gunner-radio operator. Liberated Warsaw, Budapest, Vienna. He earned 3 orders. 3 years after the war, Arkady, when he was only 18 years old, died from wounds.

Zhora Smirnitsky. At the age of 9 he became a fighter in the Red Army and received weapons. He acted as a liaison officer and went on reconnaissance missions behind the front line. At the age of 10 he received the rank of junior sergeant, and on the eve of the victory he received his first high award - the Order of Glory, 3rd degree...

How many were there? How many young patriots fought the enemy along with adults? Nobody knows this for sure. Many commanders, in order not to get into trouble, did not enter the names of young soldiers into company and battalion lists. But this does not make the heroic mark they left on our military history, did not become paler.

Children - heroes of the Great Patriotic War

Marat Kazei

War struck the Belarusian land. The Nazis burst into the village where Marat lived with his mother, Anna Alexandrovna Kazeya. In the fall, Marat no longer had to go to school in the fifth grade. The Nazis turned the school building into their barracks. The enemy was fierce.

Anna Aleksandrovna Kazei was captured for her connection with the partisans, and Marat soon learned that his mother had been hanged in Minsk. The boy's heart was filled with anger and hatred for the enemy. Together with his sister, Komsomol member Ada, the pioneer Marat Kazei went to join the partisans in the Stankovsky forest. He became a scout at the headquarters of a partisan brigade. He penetrated enemy garrisons and delivered valuable information to the command. Using this data, the partisans developed a daring operation and defeated the fascist garrison in the city of Dzerzhinsk...

Marat took part in battles and invariably showed courage and fearlessness; together with experienced demolition men, he mined the railway.

Marat died in battle. He fought to the last bullet, and when he had only one grenade left, he let his enemies get closer and blew them up... and himself.

For his courage and bravery, pioneer Marat Kazei was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. A monument to the young hero was erected in the city of Minsk.

Lenya Golikov

He grew up in the village of Lukino, on the banks of the Polo River, which flows into the legendary Lake Ilmen. When his native village was captured by the enemy, the boy went to the partisans.

More than once he went on reconnaissance missions and brought important information to the partisan detachment. And enemy trains and cars flew downhill, bridges collapsed, enemy warehouses burned...

There was a battle in his life that Lenya fought one on one with a fascist general. A grenade thrown by a boy hit a car. A Nazi man got out of it with a briefcase in his hands and, firing back, began to run. Lenya is behind him. He pursued the enemy for almost a kilometer and finally killed him. The briefcase contained very important documents. The partisan headquarters immediately transported them by plane to Moscow.

There were many more fights in his short life! And the young hero, who fought shoulder to shoulder with adults, never flinched. He died near the village of Ostray Luka in the winter of 1943, when the enemy was especially fierce, feeling that the earth was burning under his feet, that there would be no mercy for him...

Valya Kotik

He was born on February 11, 1930 in the village of Khmelevka, Shepetovsky district, Khmelnitsky region. He studied at school No. 4 in the city of Shepetovka, and was a recognized leader of the pioneers, his peers.

When the Nazis burst into Shepetivka, Valya Kotik and his friends decided to fight the enemy. The guys collected weapons at the battle site, which the partisans then transported to the detachment on a cart of hay.

Having taken a closer look at the boy, the communists entrusted Valya with being a liaison and intelligence officer in their underground organization. He learned the location of enemy posts and the order of changing the guard.

The Nazis planned a punitive operation against the partisans, and Valya, having tracked down the Nazi officer who led the punitive forces, killed him...

When arrests began in the city, Valya, along with his mother and brother Victor, went to join the partisans. The pioneer, who had just turned fourteen years old, fought shoulder to shoulder with adults, liberating his native land. He is responsible for six enemy trains blown up on the way to the front. Valya Kotik was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, and the medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War,” 2nd degree.

Valya Kotik died as a hero, and the Motherland posthumously awarded him the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. A monument to him was erected in front of the school where this brave pioneer studied.

Zina Portnova

The war found the Leningrad pioneer Zina Portnova in the village of Zuya, where she came for vacation, not far from the Obol station in the Vitebsk region. An underground Komsomol-youth organization “Young Avengers” was created in Obol, and Zina was elected a member of its committee. She took part in daring operations against the enemy, in sabotage, distributed leaflets, and conducted reconnaissance on instructions from a partisan detachment.

It was December 1943. Zina was returning from a mission. In the village of Mostishche she was betrayed by a traitor. The Nazis captured the young partisan and tortured her. The answer to the enemy was Zina’s silence, her contempt and hatred, her determination to fight to the end. During one of the interrogations, choosing the moment, Zina grabbed a pistol from the table and fired at point-blank range at the Gestapo man.

The officer who ran in to hear the shot was also killed on the spot. Zina tried to escape, but the Nazis overtook her...

The brave young pioneer was brutally tortured, but until the last minute she remained persistent, courageous, and unbending. And the Motherland posthumously celebrated her feat with its highest title - the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Kostya Kravchuk

On June 11, 1944, units leaving for the front were lined up in the central square of Kyiv. And before this battle formation, they read out the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on awarding the pioneer Kostya Kravchuk with the Order of the Red Banner for saving and preserving two battle flags of rifle regiments during the occupation of the city of Kyiv...

Retreating from Kyiv, two wounded soldiers entrusted Kostya with the banners. And Kostya promised to keep them.

At first I buried it in the garden under a pear tree: I thought our people would return soon. But the war dragged on, and, having dug up the banners, Kostya kept them in the barn until he remembered an old, abandoned well outside the city, near the Dnieper. Having wrapped his priceless treasure in burlap and rolled it with straw, he got out of the house at dawn and, with a canvas bag over his shoulder, led a cow to a distant forest. And there, looking around, he hid the bundle in the well, covered it with branches, dry grass, turf...

And throughout the long occupation the pioneer carried out his difficult guard at the banner, although he was caught in a raid, and even fled from the train in which the Kievites were driven away to Germany.

When Kyiv was liberated, Kostya, in a white shirt with a red tie, came to the military commandant of the city and unfurled banners in front of the well-worn and yet amazed soldiers.

On June 11, 1944, the newly formed units leaving for the front were given replacements by the rescued Kostya.

Vasya Korobko

Chernihiv region. The front came close to the village of Pogoreltsy. On the outskirts, covering the withdrawal of our units, a company held the defense. A boy brought cartridges to the soldiers. His name was Vasya Korobko.

Night. Vasya creeps up to the school building occupied by the Nazis.

He makes his way into the pioneer room, takes out the pioneer banner and hides it securely.

The outskirts of the village. Under the bridge - Vasya. He pulls out iron brackets, saws down the piles, and at dawn, from a hiding place, watches the bridge collapse under the weight of a fascist armored personnel carrier. The partisans were convinced that Vasya could be trusted, and entrusted him with a serious task: to become a scout in the enemy’s lair. At the fascist headquarters, he lights the stoves, chops wood, and he takes a closer look, remembers, and passes on information to the partisans. The punishers, who planned to exterminate the partisans, forced the boy to lead them into the forest. But Vasya led the Nazis to a police ambush. The Nazis, mistaking them for partisans in the dark, opened furious fire, killed all the policemen and themselves suffered heavy losses.

Together with the partisans, Vasya destroyed nine echelons and hundreds of Nazis. In one of the battles he was hit by an enemy bullet. The Motherland awarded its little hero, who lived a short but such a bright life, the Order of Lenin, the Red Banner, the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, and the medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War,” 1st degree.

Nadya Bogdanova

She was executed twice by the Nazis, and for many years her military friends considered Nadya dead. They even erected a monument to her.

It’s hard to believe, but when she became a scout in the partisan detachment of “Uncle Vanya” Dyachkov, she was not yet ten years old. Small, thin, she, pretending to be a beggar, wandered among the Nazis, noticing everything, remembering everything, and brought the most valuable information to the detachment. And then, together with partisan fighters, she blew up the fascist headquarters, derailed a train with military equipment, and mined objects.

The first time she was captured was when, together with Vanya Zvontsov, she hung out a red flag in enemy-occupied Vitebsk on November 7, 1941. They beat her with ramrods, tortured her, and when they brought her to the ditch to shoot her, she no longer had any strength left - she fell into the ditch, momentarily outstripping the bullet. Vanya died, and the partisans found Nadya alive in a ditch...

The second time she was captured at the end of 1943. And again torture: they poured ice water on her in the cold, burned a five-pointed star on her back. Considering the scout dead, the Nazis abandoned her when the partisans attacked Karasevo. Local residents came out paralyzed and almost blind. After the war in Odessa, Academician V.P. Filatov restored Nadya’s sight.

15 years later, she heard on the radio how the intelligence chief of the 6th detachment, Slesarenko - her commander - said that the soldiers would never forget their fallen comrades, and named among them Nadya Bogdanova, who saved his life, a wounded man...

Only then did she show up, only then did the people who worked with her learn about what an amazing destiny of a person she, Nadya Bogdanova, was awarded with the Order of the Red Banner, the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, and medals.

Young heroes of the Great Patriotic War

Educational material for extracurricular activities literary reading or history for primary school on topic: WWII

Before the war, these were the most ordinary boys and girls. They studied, helped their elders, played, raised pigeons, and sometimes even took part in fights. These were ordinary children and teenagers, whom only family, classmates and friends knew about.

But the hour has come severe tests and they proved how huge an ordinary little child’s heart can become when a sacred love for the Motherland, pain for the fate of one’s people and hatred for enemies flares up in it. Together with the adults, the weight of adversity, disaster, and grief of the war years fell on their fragile shoulders. And they did not bend under this weight, they began stronger in spirit, more courageous, more resilient. And no one expected that it was these boys and girls who were capable of accomplishing a great feat for the glory of the freedom and independence of their Motherland!

No! - we told the fascists, -

Our people will not tolerate

So that Russian bread is fragrant

Called by the word "brot"....

Where is the strength in the world?

So that she can break us,

Bent us under the yoke

In those regions where on the days of victory

Our great-grandparents

Have you feasted so many times?..

And from sea to sea

The Russian regiments stood up.

We stood up, united with the Russians,

Belarusians, Latvians,

People of free Ukraine,

Both Armenians and Georgians,

Moldovans, Chuvash...

Glory to our generals,

Glory to our admirals

And to the ordinary soldiers...

On foot, swimming, horseback,

Tempered in hot battles!

Glory to the fallen and the living,

Thank you to them from the bottom of my heart!

Let's not forget those heroes

What lies in the damp ground,

Giving my life on the battlefield

For the people - for you and me.

Excerpts from S. Mikhalkov’s poem “True for Children”

Kazei Marat Ivanovich(1929-1944), partisan of the Great Patriotic War, Hero of the Soviet Union (1965, posthumously). Since 1942, scout for a partisan detachment (Minsk region).

The Nazis burst into the village where Marat lived with his mother, Anna Alexandrovna. In the fall, Marat no longer had to go to school in the fifth grade. The Nazis turned the school building into their barracks. The enemy was fierce. Anna Aleksandrovna Kazei was captured for her connection with the partisans, and Marat soon learned that his mother had been hanged in Minsk. The boy's heart was filled with anger and hatred for the enemy. Together with his sister Hell Marat, Kazei went to the partisans in the Stankovsky forest. He became a scout at the headquarters of a partisan brigade. He penetrated enemy garrisons and delivered valuable information to the command. Using this data, the partisans developed a daring operation and defeated the fascist garrison in the city of Dzerzhinsk. Marat took part in battles and invariably showed courage and fearlessness; together with experienced demolition men, he mined the railway. Marat died in battle. He fought to the last bullet, and when he had only one grenade left, he let his enemies get closer and blew them up... and himself. For courage and bravery, fifteen-year-old Marat Kazei was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. A monument to the young hero was erected in the city of Minsk.

Portnova Zinaida Martynovna (Zina) (1926-1944), young partisan of the Great Patriotic War, Hero of the Soviet Union (1958, posthumously). Scout of the partisan detachment “Young Avengers” (Vitebsk region).

The war found Leningrad resident Zina Portnova in the village of Zuya, where she came for vacation, not far from the Obol station in the Vitebsk region. An underground Komsomol-youth organization “Young Avengers” was created in Obol, and Zina was elected a member of its committee. She took part in daring operations against the enemy, distributed leaflets, and conducted reconnaissance on instructions from a partisan detachment. In December 1943, returning from a mission in the village of Mostishche, Zina was handed over as a traitor to the Nazis. The Nazis captured the young partisan and tortured her. The answer to the enemy was Zina’s silence, her contempt and hatred, her determination to fight to the end. During one of the interrogations, choosing the moment, Zina grabbed a pistol from the table and shot point-blank at the Gestapo man. The officer who ran in to hear the shot was also killed on the spot. Zina tried to escape, but the Nazis overtook her. The brave young partisan was brutally tortured, but until the last minute she remained persistent, courageous, and unbending. And the Motherland posthumously celebrated her feat with its highest title - the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Kotik Valentin Alexandrovich(Valya) (1930-1944), young partisan of the Great Patriotic War, Hero of the Soviet Union (1958, posthumously). Since 1942 - liaison officer for an underground organization in the city of Shepetivka, scout for a partisan detachment (Khmelnitsky region, Ukraine).

Valya was born on February 11, 1930 in the village of Khmelevka, Shepetovsky district, Khmelnitsky region. Studied at school No. 4. When the Nazis burst into Shepetivka, Valya Kotik and his friends decided to fight the enemy. The guys collected weapons at the battle site, which the partisans then transported to the detachment on a cart of hay. Having taken a closer look at the boy, the leaders of the partisan detachment entrusted Valya to be a liaison and intelligence officer in their underground organization. He learned the location of enemy posts and the order of changing the guard. The Nazis planned a punitive operation against the partisans, and Valya, having tracked down the Nazi officer who led the punitive forces, killed him. When arrests began in the city, Valya, along with his mother and brother Victor, went to join the partisans. An ordinary boy, who had just turned fourteen years old, fought shoulder to shoulder with adults, liberating his native land. He was responsible for six enemy trains that were blown up on the way to the front. Valya Kotik was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, and the medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War,” 2nd degree. Valya died as a hero in one of the unequal battles with the Nazis.

Golikov Leonid Alexandrovich(1926-1943). Young partisan hero. Brigade scout of the 67th detachment of the fourth Leningrad partisan brigade, operating in the Novgorod and Pskov regions. Participated in 27 combat operations.

In total, he destroyed 78 fascists, two railway and 12 highway bridges, two food and feed warehouses and 10 vehicles with ammunition. He distinguished himself in battles near the villages of Aprosovo, Sosnitsa, and Sever. Accompanied a convoy with food (250 carts) to besieged Leningrad. For valor and courage he was awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner of Battle and the medal "For Courage".

On August 13, 1942, returning from reconnaissance from the Luga-Pskov highway, near the village of Varnitsa, he blew up a passenger car in which there was a German Major General of the Engineering Troops, Richard von Wirtz. In a shootout, Golikov shot and killed the general, the officer accompanying him, and the driver with a machine gun. The intelligence officer delivered a briefcase with documents to the brigade headquarters. These included drawings and descriptions of new models of German mines, inspection reports to higher command and other important papers of a military nature. Nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. On January 24, 1943, Leonid Golikov died in an unequal battle in the village of Ostraya Luka, Pskov Region. By decree of April 2, 1944, the Presidium of the Supreme Council awarded him the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Arkady Kamanin dreamed of heaven when I was just a boy. Arkady's father, Nikolai Petrovich Kamanin, a pilot, participated in the rescue of the Chelyuskinites, for which he received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. And my father’s friend, Mikhail Vasilyevich Vodopyanov, is always nearby. There was something to make the boy's heart burn. But they didn’t let him fly, they told him to grow up. When the war began, he went to work at an aircraft factory, then at an airfield. Experienced pilots, even if only for a few minutes, sometimes trusted him to fly the plane. One day the cockpit glass was broken by an enemy bullet. The pilot was blinded. Losing consciousness, he managed to hand over control to Arkady, and the boy landed the plane at his airfield. After this, Arkady was allowed to seriously study flying, and soon he began to fly on his own. One day, from above, a young pilot saw our plane shot down by the Nazis. Under heavy mortar fire, Arkady landed, carried the pilot into his plane, took off and returned to his own. The Order of the Red Star shone on his chest. For participation in battles with the enemy, Arkady was awarded the second Order of the Red Star. By that time he had already become an experienced pilot, although he was fifteen years old. Arkady Kamanin fought with the Nazis until the victory. The young hero dreamed of heaven and conquered the sky!

Utah Bondarovskaya in the summer of 1941 she came from Leningrad on vacation to a village near Pskov. Here she overtook her terrible war. Utah began to help the partisans. At first she was a messenger, then a scout. Dressed as a beggar boy, she collected information from the villages: where the fascist headquarters were, how they were guarded, how many machine guns there were. The partisan detachment, together with units of the Red Army, left to help the Estonian partisans. In one of the battles - near the Estonian farm of Rostov - Yuta Bondarovskaya, the little heroine of the big war, died a heroic death. The Motherland posthumously awarded its heroic daughter the medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War”, 1st degree, and the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.

When the war began and the Nazis were approaching Leningrad, high school counselor Anna Petrovna Semenova was left for underground work in the village of Tarnovichi - in the south of the Leningrad region. To communicate with the partisans, she selected her most reliable guys, and the first among them was Galina Komleva. During her six school years, the cheerful, brave, inquisitive girl was awarded books six times with the signature: “For excellent studies.” The young messenger brought assignments from the partisans to her counselor, and forwarded her reports to the detachment along with bread, potatoes, and food, which were obtained with great difficulty. Once, when a messenger from a partisan detachment did not arrive at the meeting place on time, Galya, half-frozen, snuck into the detachment herself, handed over a report and, having warmed up a little, hurried back, carrying a new task to the underground fighters. Together with the young partisan Tasya Yakovleva, Galya wrote leaflets and scattered them around the village at night. The Nazis tracked down and captured the young underground fighters. They kept me in the Gestapo for two months. The young patriot was shot. The Motherland celebrated the feat of Galya Komleva with the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.

Leningrad schoolgirl Larisa Mikheenko was nominated for a government award for the operation of reconnaissance and explosion of a railway bridge across the Drissa River. But the young heroine did not have time to receive her award.

The war cut the girl off from her hometown: in the summer she went on vacation to the Pustoshkinsky district, but was unable to return - the village was occupied by the Nazis. And then one night Larisa and two older friends left the village. At the headquarters of the 6th Kalinin Brigade, commander Major P.V. Ryndin initially refused to accept “such little ones.” But young girls were able to do what strong men could not. Dressed in rags, Lara walked through the villages, finding out where and how the guns were located, the sentries were posted, what German vehicles were moving along the highway, what kind of trains were coming to Pustoshka station and with what cargo. She also took part in combat operations. The young partisan, betrayed by a traitor in the village of Ignatovo, was shot by the Nazis. In the Decree on awarding Larisa Mikheenko the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, there is a bitter word: “Posthumously.”

Could not put up with the atrocities of the Nazis and Sasha Borodulin. Having obtained a rifle, Sasha destroyed the fascist motorcyclist and took his first battle trophy - a real German machine gun. This was a good reason for his admission to the partisan detachment. Day after day he conducted reconnaissance. More than once he went on the most dangerous missions. He was responsible for many destroyed vehicles and soldiers. For carrying out dangerous tasks, for demonstrating courage, resourcefulness and courage, Sasha Borodulin was awarded the Order of the Red Banner in the winter of 1941. Punishers tracked down the partisans. The detachment left them for three days. In the group of volunteers, Sasha remained to cover the detachment’s retreat. When all his comrades died, the brave hero, allowing the Nazis to close a ring around him, grabbed a grenade and blew them up and himself.

The feat of a young partisan

(Excerpts from M. Danilenko’s essay “Grishina’s Life” (translation by Yu. Bogushevich))

At night, punitive forces surrounded the village. Grisha woke up from some sound. He opened his eyes and looked out the window. A shadow flashed across the moonlit glass.

- Dad! - Grisha called quietly.

- Sleep, what do you want? - the father responded.

But the boy did not sleep anymore. Stepping barefoot on the cold floor, he quietly went out into the hallway. And then I heard someone tear open the doors and several pairs of boots thundered heavily into the hut.

The boy rushed into the garden, where there was a bathhouse with a small extension. Through the crack in the door Grisha saw his father, mother and sisters being taken out. Nadya was bleeding from her shoulder, and the girl was pressing the wound with her hand...

Until dawn, Grisha stood in the outbuilding and looked ahead with wide open eyes. The moonlight filtered sparingly. Somewhere an icicle fell from the roof and crashed on the rubble with a quiet ringing sound. The boy shuddered. He felt neither cold nor fear.

That night a small wrinkle appeared between his eyebrows. Appeared never to disappear again. Grisha's family was shot by the Nazis.

A thirteen-year-old boy with an unchildishly stern look walked from village to village. I went to Sozh. He knew that somewhere across the river his brother Alexei was, there were partisans. A few days later Grisha came to the village of Yametsky.

A resident of this village, Feodosia Ivanova, was a liaison officer for a partisan detachment commanded by Pyotr Antonovich Balykov. She brought the boy to the detachment.

The detachment commissar Pavel Ivanovich Dedik and the chief of staff Alexei Podobedov listened to Grisha with stern faces. And he stood in a torn shirt, with his legs knocked against the roots, with an unquenchable fire of hatred in his eyes. The partisan life of Grisha Podobedov began. And no matter what mission the partisans were sent on, Grisha always asked to take him with them...

Grisha Podobedov became an excellent partisan intelligence officer. Somehow the messengers reported that the Nazis, together with policemen from Korma, robbed the population. They took 30 cows and everything they could get their hands on and were heading towards the Sixth Village. The detachment set off in pursuit of the enemy. The operation was led by Pyotr Antonovich Balykov.

“Well, Grisha,” said the commander. - You will go with Alena Konashkova on reconnaissance. Find out where the enemy is staying, what he is doing, what he is thinking of doing.

And so a tired woman with a hoe and a bag wanders into the Sixth Village, and with her a boy dressed in a large padded jacket that is too large for his size.

“They sowed millet, good people,” the woman complained, turning to the police. - Try to raise these fellings with little ones. It's not easy, oh, it's not easy!

And no one, of course, noticed how the boy’s keen eyes followed each soldier, how they noticed everything.

Grisha visited five houses where fascists and policemen stayed. And I found out about everything, then reported in detail to the commander. A red rocket soared into the sky. And a few minutes later it was all over: the partisans drove the enemy into a cleverly placed “bag” and destroyed him. The stolen goods were returned to the population.

Grisha also went on reconnaissance missions before the memorable battle near the Pokat River.

With a bridle, limping (a splinter had gotten into his heel), the little shepherd scurried among the Nazis. And such hatred burned in his eyes that it seemed that it alone could incinerate his enemies.

And then the scout reported how many guns he saw at the enemies, where there were machine guns and mortars. And from partisan bullets and mines, the invaders found their graves on Belarusian soil.

At the beginning of June 1943, Grisha Podobedov, together with partisan Yakov Kebikov, went on reconnaissance to the area of ​​​​the village of Zalesye, where a punitive company from the so-called Dnepr volunteer detachment was stationed. Grisha snuck into the house where the drunken punishers were having a party.

The partisans silently entered the village and completely destroyed the company. Only the commander was saved; he hid in a well. In the morning, a local grandfather pulled him out of there, like a filthy cat, by the scruff of the neck...

This was the last operation in which Grisha Podobedov participated. On June 17, together with foreman Nikolai Borisenko, he went to the village of Ruduya Bartolomeevka to buy flour prepared for the partisans.

The sun was shining brightly. A gray bird fluttered on the roof of the mill, watching people with its cunning little eyes. Broad-shouldered Nikolai Borisenko had just loaded a heavy sack onto the cart when the pale miller came running.

- Punishers! - he exhaled.

The foreman and Grisha grabbed their machine guns and rushed into the bushes growing near the mill. But they were noticed. Evil bullets whistled, cutting off the branches of the alder tree.

- Get down! - Borisenko gave the command and fired a long burst from the machine gun.

Grisha, aiming, fired short bursts. He saw how the punishers, as if they had stumbled upon an invisible barrier, fell, mowed down by his bullets.

- So for you, so for you!..

Suddenly the sergeant-major gasped loudly and grabbed his throat. Grisha turned around. Borisenko twitched all over and fell silent. His glassy eyes now looked indifferently into high sky, and his hand dug, as if stuck, into the stock of the machine gun.

The bush, where only Grisha Podobedov now remained, was surrounded by enemies. There were about sixty of them.

Grisha clenched his teeth and raised his hand. Several soldiers immediately rushed towards him.

- Oh, you Herods! What did you want?! - the partisan shouted and slashed at them point-blank with a machine gun.

Six Nazis fell at his feet. The rest lay down. More and more often bullets whistled over Grisha’s head. The partisan was silent and did not respond. Then the emboldened enemies rose again. And again, under well-aimed machine gun fire, they pressed into the ground. And the machine gun had already run out of cartridges. Grisha pulled out a pistol. - I give up! - he shouted.

A tall and thin as a pole policeman ran up to him at a trot. Grisha shot him straight in the face. For an elusive moment, the boy looked around at the sparse bushes and clouds in the sky and, putting the pistol to his temple, pulled the trigger...

You can read about the exploits of young heroes of the Great Patriotic War in the books:

Avramenko A.I. Messengers from Captivity: a story / Trans. from Ukrainian - M.: Young Guard, 1981. - 208 e.: ill. — (Young heroes).

Bolshak V.G. Guide to the Abyss: Document. story. - M.: Young Guard, 1979. - 160 p. — (Young heroes).

Vuravkin G.N. Three pages from a legend / Trans. from Belarusian - M.: Young Guard, 1983. - 64 p. — (Young heroes).

Valko I.V. Where are you flying, little crane?: Document. story. - M.: Young Guard, 1978. - 174 p. — (Young heroes).

Vygovsky B.S. Fire of a young heart / Transl. from Ukrainian — M.: Det. lit., 1968. - 144 p. - (School library).

Children of the wartime / Comp. E. Maksimova. 2nd ed., add. - M.: Politizdat, 1988. - 319 p.

Ershov Ya.A. Vitya Korobkov - pioneer, partisan: a story - M.: Voenizdat, 1968 - 320 p. — (Library of a young patriot: About the Motherland, exploits, honor).

Zharikov A.D. Exploits of the Young: Stories and Essays. — M.: Young Guard, 1965. —- 144 e.: ill.

Zharikov A.D. Young partisans. - M.: Education, 1974. - 128 p.

Kassil L.A., Polyanovsky M.L. Street of the youngest son: a story. — M.: Det. lit., 1985. - 480 p. — (Student’s military library).

Kekkelev L.N. Countryman: The Tale of P. Shepelev. 3rd ed. - M.: Young Guard, 1981. - 143 p. — (Young heroes).

Korolkov Yu.M. Partisan Lenya Golikov: a story. - M.: Young Guard, 1985. - 215 p. — (Young heroes).

Lezinsky M.L., Eskin B.M. Live, Vilor!: a story. - M.: Young Guard, 1983. - 112 p. — (Young heroes).

Logvinenko I.M. Crimson Dawns: document. story / Transl. from Ukrainian — M.: Det. lit., 1972. - 160 p.

Lugovoi N.D. Scorched childhood. - M.: Young Guard, 1984. - 152 p. — (Young heroes).

Medvedev N.E. Eaglets of the Blagovsky forest: document. story. - M.: DOSAAF, 1969. - 96 p.

Morozov V.N. A boy went on reconnaissance: a story. - Minsk: State Publishing House of the BSSR, 1961. - 214 p.

Morozov V.N. Volodin front. - M.: Young Guard, 1975. - 96 p. — (Young heroes).