In 1950, under the ruins near the Brest Fortress, the remains of documents were discovered, indicating fierce battles in the first months of the war. Previously, there was an opinion that the Germans suffered military operations in June-July 1941 without any significant losses. However, the discovered papers said the opposite. Soldiers and officers of the Red Army fought to the last drop of blood. Among them was Fomin Efim Moiseevich, the regimental commissar mentioned in the found document. Until 1950, few people knew his name.
22nd of June
Before presenting the biography of Efim Moiseevich Fomin, we need to recall the tragic events that occurred in 1945. After all, the name of this man is inextricably linked with, more precisely, the seizure of the ancient citadel by the Germans.
Early in the morning, at four o'clock, new, hitherto unseen stars appeared above a quiet and surprisingly non-military garrison located in a picturesque area. They dotted the horizon, and their appearance was accompanied by a strange roar, which, however, neither Efim Moiseevich Fomin nor the other officers could hear. The garrison was asleep. His awakening came only when the predawn darkness was illuminated by violent flashes of explosions and a monstrous roar arose, shaking the earth within a radius of several kilometers. Thousands of German mortars opened fire on the border strip. Thus began the war.
Ruined Fortress
The German army failed to implement the Barbarossa plan, but the first months of the war were successful for it. No one could tell what happened at the end of June in the Brest Fortress. Silent stones witnessed the bloody battles. But a miracle happened and they started talking. In 1944, Brest was liberated. Then on the walls of the destroyed fortress they discovered inscriptions made by Soviet soldiers and officers in the first days of the war. One of them says: “I’m dying, but I’m not giving up.” Some inscriptions were signed by soldiers.
The last witnesses
The name of Fomin Efim Moiseevich was not found on the walls of the Brest Fortress. His feat is evidenced by the above-mentioned document, as well as by those few witnesses and participants in the battles who, fortunately, remained alive. Some of them were captured and sent to camps after the end of the war. This was the fate of all Soviet soldiers who found themselves under occupation. Only a few managed to move first a German concentration camp, and then a domestic one. But those who survived spoke about the battles for the Brest Fortress, including about the defense of the citadel in the area near the Kholm Gate, which was led by Efim Moiseevich Fomin.
Fighting in the first days of the war
Let's return to the event on June 21. A sudden roar of cannonade, shells, bombs. People awakened by the explosions are in panic... Efim Moiseevich Fomin takes command of the unit. He is in the central fortress, instantly gathers fighters, and instructs one of them to lead a counterattack. Thus, Soviet soldiers destroy the machine gunners who broke through to the very center of the citadel. And then follow the battles, which continue, according to many historical sources, until the end of July. Efim Moiseevich Fomin was an active participant in the defense of the Brest Fortress in the first four days of the war.
Legends of the citadel
How Soviet soldiers defended the citadel became known only at the end of the war. Then those who survived were sent to camps. And only in 1954 did rehabilitation begin. They started talking about the Brest Fortress. Many legends and myths arose.
How did the fighters manage to hold out for so long? Probably it's all about the powerful stone fortress? Or superior weapons? Or perhaps in the training of military personnel? The Brest Fortress was truly defended by military professionals. Only, unfortunately, there were very few of them, because the bulk of them were on exercises. As for the fortress, yes, this impressive citadel was able to prevent enemy attacks... in the 18th and 19th centuries. In the twentieth century, and with modern German aviation, the powerful walls of the fortress lost all meaning.
The defense of the fortress rested solely on the incredible patriotism and courage of Soviet soldiers, such as Commissar Efim Moiseevich Fomin. From June 21 to 22, there was only one battalion and several subunits at the location. Three lieutenants lived in a dormitory, and Fomin was also here. The day before, he received a vacation, during which he planned to bring his family, who were in Latvia, to Brest. But he was not destined to leave the fortress. A few hours before the start of the war, he went to the station. There were no tickets. I had to go back.
One of the shells hit the office with the commissioner. Fomin almost suffocated from the acrid smoke, but he still managed to get out of the room. Thanks to experienced command, the fighters took up defensive positions within several hours. The wives and children of the commanders were sent to the basements. Fomin addressed the soldiers, urging them to remember their duty and not give in to panic. The machine gunners took up positions on the second floor near the windows.
At the Kholm Gate
Fomin and his fighters took up a position near the Kholm Gate. There was a bridge across which the Germans made many attempts to reach the center of the fortress. The enemy was unable to reach the gate for several days. Ammunition, the quantity of which was by no means adequate for wartime, was used very sparingly. One day one of the fighters said that he needed to keep the last cartridge for himself. Commissioner Efim Moiseevich Fomin objected, saying that he too should be sent to the enemy. And you can die in hand-to-hand combat.
But Fomin failed to die in hand-to-hand combat. On June 26, the enemy still captured the Soviet command. The half-dead commissar fell into the hands of the Nazis and was soon shot.
Portrait of a Commissioner
Efim Moiseevich Fomin did not receive the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. But in 1957 he was posthumously awarded the Order of Lenin. What this man was like is known thanks to the memories of a few of his colleagues.
He ended up in the Brest Fortress three months before the start of the war. But already in this short period of time he managed to gain authority among officers and soldiers. Fomin knew how to listen, was an understanding and responsive person. Perhaps he acquired these qualities thanks to a difficult fate. According to the recollections of his colleagues, he was short, black-haired, with intelligent, slightly sad eyes.
short biography
At the age of six, the future commissioner was orphaned. In 1922 he was sent to an orphanage located in Vitebsk. In need, maturity comes very early. By the age of 15, Efim had already graduated from second-level school and became a completely independent person. He worked for some time at a Vitebsk shoe factory, then moved to the city of Pskov.
The nomadic life of a military man began in 1932. Fomin visited Pskov, Crimea, Latvia, Moscow. He rarely saw his wife and son. His short life was spent traveling. His military career was successful, but shortly before the war he was sent to Brest on unjust charges. Few photographs of Fomin Efim Moiseevich have survived to this day. One of them can be seen in this article.
The hero of today's article was not a fearless, experienced warrior. He wore a military tunic for many years, but he had the opportunity to be in battle only in the last days of his life. The morning of June 22 became a baptism of fire for Commissar Efim Fomin.
Many books have been written about the heroes of the Brest Fortress and no less films have been created. The image of Efim Fomin was embodied by talented actors on the theater stage and in cinema. In 2010, the film “Brest Fortress” was released, in which he played the commissar
Original taken from grimnir74 in EFIM FOMIN. "COMMISSIONER, COMMISSIONER, SMILE..."
Jewish eyes, Soviet upbringing...Commissar Fomin...His favorite song was the song from the film “Children of Captain Grant” And when his soul became heavy, he sang “Captain, captain, smile...”... A black-haired young man with a slightly sad look - this is how we see Regimental Commissar Fomin in the photograph. He took over the leadership of the defense of the Brest Fortress, and defended it to the last... He was only 32, and the soldiers considered him their father... But there were always traitors...
The son of a blacksmith and seamstress from the small Belarusian town of Kolyshki near Vitebsk, he grew up an orphan. He left his relatives who sheltered him after the death of his parents and went to an orphanage. And then, the classic story of a Soviet boy growing up at that time...Work at a shoe factory in Vitebsk, moving to Pskov, promotion along the Komsomol line. And then Efim Fomin became the commander of the Red Army.
By the beginning of the war, he was already married and had a small son, Yura. On June 21, Fomin was going to Latvia to move his family to his place in Brest. Didn’t have time...Luckily his wife and son, who managed to evacuate from Latvia.
And Fomin had to become a combat commissar on June 22. He was not a classic fearless hero. And the people who knew him did not notice anything outstanding or combative in his face. But he was a Man who knew how to take responsibility for his actions. And yet, his soldiers were dear to him...
Efim Fomin is described in an essay about the history of the Brest Fortress:
“He was only thirty-two years old, and he still expected a lot from life. He had a family dear to his heart, a son whom he loved very much, and anxiety for the fate of his loved ones always lived persistently in his memory next to all the worries, sorrows and dangers that weighed heavily on his shoulders from the first day of the defense of the fortress.
Soon after the shelling began, Fomin, together with Matevosyan, ran down the stairs to the basement under the regimental headquarters, where by this time hundreds of one and a half soldiers from the headquarters and economic units had already gathered. He barely had time to jump out of the office where the incendiary shell hit, and came downstairs half-naked, when the war found him in bed, carrying his uniform under his arm. Here, in the basement, there were many of the same half-naked people, and Fomin’s arrival went unnoticed. He was as pale as the others, and just as warily listened to the roar of nearby explosions shaking the basement. He was clearly confused, like everyone else, and asked Matevosyan in a low voice if he thought that it was ammunition depots set on fire by saboteurs that were exploding. He seemed afraid to utter the last fatal word - “war.”
Then he got dressed. And as soon as he was wearing a commissar’s tunic with four sleepers on the buttonholes and he tightened his waist belt with his usual movement, everyone recognized him. Some movement passed through the basement, and dozens of pairs of eyes turned to him at once. He read in those eyes a silent question, an ardent desire to obey and an uncontrollable desire for action. People saw in him a representative of the party, a commissar, a commander; they believed that only he now knew what to do. Let him be the same inexperienced, untrained warrior like them, the same mortal man who suddenly found himself among the raging menacing elements of war! Those questioning, demanding eyes immediately reminded him that he was not just a man and not only a warrior, but also a commissar. And with this consciousness, the last traces of confusion and indecision disappeared from his face, and in his usual calm, even voice, the commissioner gave his first orders.
From that moment to the end, Fomin never forgot that he was a commissar. If tears of impotent anger, despair and pity for his dying comrades appeared in his eyes, it was only in the darkness of the night, when no one could see his face. People invariably saw him as stern, but calm and deeply confident in the successful outcome of this difficult struggle. Only once, in a conversation with Matevosyan, in a moment of brief lull, Fomin broke out what he had been hiding from everyone in the very depths of his soul.
“Still, it’s easier to die alone,” he sighed and quietly said to the Komsomol organizer. “It’s easier when you know that your death will not be a disaster for others.”
He said nothing more, and Matevosyan remained silent in response, understanding what the commissioner was thinking.
He was a commissar in the highest sense of the word, setting an example of courage, dedication and modesty in everything. Soon he had to put on the tunic of a simple soldier: Nazi snipers and saboteurs were hunting primarily for our commanders, and the entire command staff was ordered to change clothes. But even in this tunic, everyone knew Fomin - he appeared on the most dangerous bridges and sometimes he himself led people into attacks. He hardly slept, he was exhausted from hunger and thirst, like his fighters, but he was the last to receive water and food, when they could be obtained, strictly making sure that no one decided to show him any preference over others.
Several times, scouts who searched the killed Nazis brought Fomin biscuits or buns found in German backpacks. He sent it all to the basements - to children and women, without leaving a single crumb for himself. One day, thirsty soldiers dug a small hole-well in the basement where the wounded were located, which provided about a glass of water per hour. The first portion of this water - cloudy and dirty - was brought upstairs by the paramedic Milkevich to the commissar, offering him a drink.
It was a hot day, and for the second day there was not a drop of moisture in Fomin’s mouth. His dry lips were cracked and he was breathing heavily. But when Milkevich handed him the glass, the commissar sternly looked up at him with red eyes, sore from insomnia.
- Take it away to the wounded! - he said hoarsely, and it was said in such a way that Milkevich did not dare to object.
Already at the end of the defense, Fomin was wounded in the arm when a German grenade thrown through the window exploded. He went down to the basement to get a bandage. But when the orderly, around whom several wounded soldiers were crowded, saw the commissar and rushed towards him, Fomin stopped him.
- Them first! - he ordered briefly. And, sitting down on a box in the corner, he waited until it was his turn.
For a long time, Fomin’s fate remained unknown. The most contradictory rumors circulated about him. Some said that the commissar was killed during the fighting in the fortress, others heard that he was captured. One way or another, no one saw with their own eyes either his death or his captivity, and all these versions had to be questioned.
Fomin’s fate became clear only after it was possible to find in the Belsky district of the Kalinin region the former sergeant of the 84th Infantry Regiment, and now the director of a high school, Alexander Sergeevich Rebzuev.
On June 29 and 30, Sergeant Rebzuev found himself together with the regimental commissar in one of the premises of the barracks, when Nazi saboteurs blew up this part of the building with explosives. The soldiers and commanders who were here, for the most part, were destroyed by this explosion, buried and crushed by the rubble of the walls, and those who were still alive were pulled out half-dead from under the ruins by machine gunners and taken prisoner. Among them were Commissioner Fomin and Sergeant Rebzuev.
The prisoners were brought to their senses and, under strong escort, were driven to the Kholm Gate. There they were met by a Nazi officer who spoke good Russian, who ordered machine gunners to thoroughly search each of them.
All documents of Soviet commanders were destroyed long ago by order of Fomin. The commissar himself was dressed in a simple soldier's quilted jacket and tunic without insignia. Gaunt, bearded, in tattered clothes, he was no different from other prisoners, and the soldiers hoped that they would be able to hide from the enemies who this man was and save the life of their commissar.
But among the prisoners there was a traitor who did not run over to the enemy earlier, apparently only because he was afraid of getting a bullet in the back from Soviet soldiers. Now his time has come, and he decided to curry favor with the Nazis.
Smiling flatteringly, he stepped out of the line of prisoners and turned to the officer.
“Mr. Officer, this man is not a soldier,” he said insinuatingly, pointing at Fomin. - This is the commissar, the big commissioner. He told us to fight to the end and not surrender.
The officer gave a short order, and the machine gunners pushed Fomin out of the line. The smile faded from the traitor’s face - the inflamed, sunken eyes of the prisoners looked at him with a silent threat. One of the German soldiers nudged him with the butt of his gun, and, immediately disappearing, the traitor again stood in line.
Several machine gunners, on the order of an officer, surrounded the commissar in a ring and led him through the Kholm Gate to the bank of Mukhavets. A minute later, bursts of machine gun fire could be heard from there.
At this time, not far from the gate on the bank of Mukhavets there was another group of prisoners - Soviet soldiers. Among them were soldiers of the 84th regiment, who immediately recognized their commissar. They saw how the machine gunners placed Fomin at the fortress wall, how the commissar raised his hand and shouted something, but his voice was immediately drowned out by shots.
The remaining prisoners were escorted out of the fortress half an hour later. Already at dusk they were driven to a small stone barn on the bank of the Bug and locked there for the night. And when the next morning the guards opened the doors and the command was given to leave, the German guards were missing one of the prisoners.
In a dark corner of the barn, lying on the straw, was the corpse of a man who had betrayed Commissar Fomin the day before. He lay with his head thrown back, his glazed eyes terribly bulging, and blue fingerprints were clearly visible on his throat. This was retribution for betrayal.”
The organizer and leader of the legendary defense of the Brest Fortress was only thirty-two... And he was scared, like everyone else. But he couldn’t do otherwise... And I was glad to know that the traitor immediately got what he deserved... Although this will not bring back the big and bright man with a slightly sad smile, who supported himself with the song “Captain, captain, smile...”
Efim Moiseevich Fomin was posthumously awarded the Order of Lenin. And the main award was received by his son Yuri Fomin
resident of Kiev, candidate of historical sciences, having learned the details of his father’s death:
In 1951, as a student, I went to Brest with the hope of finding out something about my father. At the military registration and enlistment office they showed me the district newspaper “For the Glory of the Motherland” with materials about the remains of 34 Soviet soldiers, their weapons and belongings discovered in the ruins of the fortress. A partially preserved order for the fortress dated June 24, 1941 was found in the commander’s bag, where Regimental Commissar Fomin was named among the leaders of the defense.
From the editorial office of the said newspaper they told me the address of one of the defenders of the Brest Fortress, the former clerk of the headquarters of the 84th Infantry Regiment A.M. Phil, who lived in Yakutia. I sent him a letter and received an answer in January 1952. A.M. Fil said that he fought in the fortress under the command of Commissar Fomin, he knows that the shell-shocked commissar with several fighters was captured by the Nazis and executed.”
No. 70. Letter from an ordinary clerk of the headquarters of the 84th infantry regiment, Alexander Mitrofanovich Fil, to Yuri Efimovich Fomin, the son of Efim Moiseevich Fomin.
Comrade Fomin Yu.E.
If you are the son of Efim Moiseevich Fomin, I ask you to stand up before reading my letter. Let the image of an honest warrior, a courageous defender of the Russian land, a hero of the Patriotic War against the black forces of the enemy, a fearless leader of the heroic defense of the Brest-Litovsk fortress in June 1941, be a bright memory in your filial heart.
I know Regimental Commissar Efim Moiseevich Fomin from his service in the 84th infantry regiment, 6th rifle division. When he arrived to us, I was already serving at the unit headquarters. Below average height, stocky, freshly shaved, ruddy, from the first days, with his attention to every detail, to the most insignificant flaw, his responsiveness and simplicity, he acquired the good name of the Red Army environment - “father”. All members of the large team resorted to his help, without timidity in their hearts. Efim Moiseevich was always among the fighters. I don’t remember a day or evening when he didn’t visit the units in his free time from class. I don’t remember such a case when the commissioner did not satisfy the request of the applicant. Strictness and kindness, exactingness and practical help were his daily routine for educating the unit’s personnel. Until late (before lights out), Commissar Fomin - the “father” - moved from the location of his unit to another, talked about various topics of personal life, military, was interested in the requests and desires of the soldiers, told stories of past campaigns of the Red Army, explained the policies of the enemies, called for study, vigilance and loyalty to the oath. Sometimes, in the close circle of gathered fighters, he had, as they say, “intimate” conversations on various intimate topics, had fun and joked. Very often he was in the presence of staff workers who lived on the same floor as him, along the same corridor. When, in conversations about relatives, the staff soldiers (including me) remembered children and wives, Commissar Fomin (as I remember now), sitting on his bed, lowered his gaze, and immediately, smiling, continued the conversation with a story about his family, which was in the Latvian SSR. If you are his son, then he talked a lot about you. Then he talked about his funny, good son, whom he loved very much.
Until the last day before the war, he lived in the fortress, in his office, on the second floor. If you were there, in the fortress, you should remember...
21.VI.41 by order of the command of the West. OVO units of the 6th and 42nd infantry divisions were taken to the training ground for exercises at dawn on 22.VI.41 in a selected composition. The unit commander, Major Dorodnykh, left the fortress with the battalions at 22.30. Commissioner Fomin E.M. went to the station to pick up my family. In connection with the departure for exercises, the head. technical office work int. 2nd rank Nevzorova P., I remained by order of the command to fulfill the position of head. office work. That evening, quiet and warm, the films “4th Periscope”, “Circus”, “Ruslan and Lyudmila” and others were shown in the fortress. In the building of the garrison club (near the ruins of the White Palace of the Polish army), where the film “4- th periscope,” before the start of the show, Commissioner Fomin held a short conversation about the content of the film, pointing out the vile machinations of the enemies of the socialist Motherland, after which, surrounded by fighters, he stood near the club, as if continuing the conversation he had begun in front of the audience. Leaving the club, the commissioner said goodbye to the fighters, saying that he would have continued the conversation, but his official duty required him to leave for a short time. There was peace and happiness on this wonderful evening. The fortress was resting.
At approximately 1.00 Commissar Fomin returned from the station. It was already the beginning of the fateful June 22, 1941. The staff staff was still awake, and he came in to find out why this was so. We did what. That evening I wrote a letter home and didn’t finish it, I left it until the morning, many were reading books. When we asked why they didn’t leave, Commissioner Fomin replied: “It’s a little strange, even a surprise, the tickets are all sold.” Then he joked a little and went to bed. We also went to bed.
At dawn at 4.00 the first exploding shell hit a small house opposite the hospital gate, and then... the war began.
In difficult moments of battles, at the climax of attacks, your father always found words for the heart of a Russian, Soviet warrior. As a son, I want to tell you a little more than the usual story. Your father loved the simple human life very much. He loved our Soviet fighters very much, and with all his heart, with every fiber of his soul, he despised enemies and alarmists. He hated the Krauts and Hans terribly. When they reported to him about the fallen soldiers, tears flowed from his courageous eyes. Many times, using all kinds of tactical cunning, he organized a breakthrough and exit from the fortress under his leadership, but... it was impossible. Our small group, almost unarmed, was surrounded by units (as I learned from correspondence in 1950) of the 12th Arm. enemy corps.
28.VI.41 was the most decisive day and the most terrible day of the war. The Germans threw everything they could throw at the fortress. On this day we were at the same entrance, in the same building where we wrote the first order. I was wounded and was on defense at one of the windows of the building. The explosion collapsed the ceiling of the building and I was crushed by the collapse. When I began to remember myself, I was already surrounded by Germans among other fighting friends of the fortress. Your father, regimental commissar E.M. Fomin, was then still with Captain Zubachev in another department of the building. According to eyewitnesses, Commissar Fomin was unconscious when the Germans burst into the building we occupied. On this day, a fate befell the survivors for the rest of their lives.
Your father, regimental commissar Fomin Efim Moiseevich was the first organizer of the defense of the fortress and until the last minutes of the struggle he himself believed and instilled in the soldiers the victory of Soviet weapons over fascism. In the last minutes of the battle, he was wearing a simple Red Army sweatshirt, a tunic with insignia and a TT pistol, when he ran along the line of defense past me and other comrades, inspiring us to fight to the death. His face was already pale then. At that moment I saw him for the last time, then what I wrote about above followed (he was stunned and shell-shocked by the explosion, but soon came to his senses).
The custom of fascist monsters is to remove their hats and sort them by hair cut in one direction and with hair cut in the other. From subsequent stories in the camp it was definitely established that the regimental father was E.M. Fomin. was shot by the Nazis at the first fort on the way across the wooden bridge from the fortress to the mountains. Tiraspol. There was a kind of “gathering point”, and the vile part, the smallest of the number of “Westerners” who underwent a 45-day gathering, who on 22.VI threw white sheets out of the windows, but were partly destroyed, from eyewitness accounts, pointed to your father and his title. I can't remember exactly, but maybe this will help you...
This place, watered with the pure blood of the faithful son of the party and the Soviet people, will be an eternal and blessed memory.
In order to give you a little idea of how courageous your father was, I will say a few words of secondary importance. From 21.6 in the evening until the last day of defense, the fighters brought together one “harvest” (as we called it then) of raw green peas. Your father also received a portion, but he gave it to the wounded. The scouts brought Efim Moiseevich other “gifts” (bread, buns), although it was in grams, but he never ate it, but gave it away with the words: “You are our strength, comrade fighters, without you I will not be able to defend the fortress, Therefore, share and eat yourself, the day will definitely come when we will gather around a large round table, eat and drink.” We didn't have water either; They drank what their comrade released. It was.
Once again I apologize for writing little and poorly. You must understand me that the memories of what I experienced very... excites me, and, despite the past 10 years, everything appears before my eyes as exciting and terrible.
Today, the memory of Efim Fomin is kept by his grandson...
The image of Fomin is depicted in the best feature films about the defense of the Brest Fortress.
And in the Brest Fortress itself, not far from the Kholm Gate, there is a marble memorial plaque on which it is written that Regimental Commissar Fomin died here. Flowers are often brought here...
Bright Memory of this Man...
Defender of the Hero Fortress Brest
He graduated from the Pskov Soviet Party School (1929), until 1932 - at party and trade union work in Pskov, then at political work in the Red Army, participated in the liberation of Western Ukraine (1939). Since 1941 - deputy commander for political affairs of the 84th Infantry Regiment on the territory of the Brest Fortress.
June 24 E.M. Fomin joined the defense headquarters, becoming deputy commander of the combined group of Captain I.N. Zubachev. Order No. 1 stated that the current situation required the organization of unified leadership of the defense of the fortress for further combat against the enemy. From that day on, great responsibility for the fate of the besieged Citadel, for the fate of soldiers, women and children, fell on the shoulders of the defense leaders.
Commissioner Fomin was always seen where it was more dangerous. He led the soldiers into attacks, encouraged the wounded, and took care of them. His calmness, dedication and courage raised the morale of the soldiers.
By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of January 3, 1957, E.M. Fomin was awarded the Order of Lenin posthumously.
His name was given to a garment factory in Brest, a secondary school in his homeland in the village of Kolyshki, streets in Minsk and Brest, immortalized in the memorial complex "Brest Hero Fortress", a memorial plaque was installed at the site of the execution at the Kholm Gate, on the alley "In Their Names" the streets of Brest are named" - a bas-relief portrait.
In Pskov, a street in the Zavokzalny district is named after him.
Victory will be ours
The bright image of my father, the regimental commissar, E.M., lives in my memory. Fomina. He was one of the organizers and leaders of the heroic defense of the Brest Fortress and died at the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War in July 1941.
I was 11 years old then, and my memories of my father are naturally associated with childhood. Like all boys my age, I loved to play “war” and was very proud that my father was a military man. When we lived in Kharkov, I remember he carved for me a wooden saber with a beautiful hilt. True, it soon broke, and I cried bitterly, and my father, comforting me, promised to make me a new one and kept his word. While on business trips, he brought gifts and interesting books, trying to instill in me a love of reading.
I remember my father’s neatness and exactingness towards himself. He was always smart, dressed in shape and shaved. At the same time, he was not a dry, callous pedant. He was distinguished by his love of life. On occasionjoked and laughed, was fond of playing chess, which he called “combat training,” and was happy about a new book, a movie, a good song.
Many of my father’s colleagues noted his sincere attention to people, and my mother, Augustina Gerasimovna, and I knew that at any time a Red Army soldier, commander or political worker could turn to him with a request or for advice. One day in Daugavpils, he learned that one fighter, originally from the Caucasus, was very worried - his mother was ill. Thanks to his father's help, the guy was granted leave. Father always tried to encourage a person, if necessary, help him in word or deed.
In March 1941, my father received a new assignment - to the western border in Brest. My mother and I stayed temporarily to live in Daugavpils. From my father’s letters it was known that he had a lot of work to do at his new duty station: he sought to bring his regiment to the forefront. Having no apartment, he lived in a fortress, in a regiment location, in a service room, where there was a table for work and a bed. Father promised to come and take us to Brest as soon as possible.
The last telephone conversation with him took place in the early morning of June 19, 1941. Mom said that some military families were leaving Daugavpils and asked what we should do. The father replied: “Do as everyone else does...”
Three days later the war began. The Nazis invaded the Baltic states. On June 25, 1941, my mother and I, with the assistance of Captain M. Chapenko, together with other military families, left Daugavpils to the east. On July 3, we arrived in the city of Chapaevsk, Kuibyshev region, where we lived for three difficult years of war. There was no information about the fate of my father, although my mother sent inquiries about him wherever possible. Later, already in 1942, they sent a notice that he had been listed as missing since September 1941. This left hope that the father had finally escaped from Brest, and what next was unknown. But we were sure: sooner or later we would find out about our father’s fate. He was not the kind of person to disappear without a trace...
In Chapaevsk, Avgustina Gerasimovna worked at a military factory that produced ammunition for the front, and I studied at high school. We didn't have an apartment and we lived with someone else's family.
In the fall of 1944, we were invited by war invalids who were returning with their families from Chapaevsk to Ukraine. They were given a heated carriage for the move. Mom hoped that together we could get to Kharkov, where, of course, no one was waiting for us, although we lived there before the war. However, along the way, the train changed its route - it did not go through Kharkov, and we ended up in Kirovograd.
We were given a room in a small house covered with clay on the outskirts of the city. It was a difficult war time. There was no electricity, no fuel reserves, and there was a shortage of basic food products. Mom bought a small metal stove that heated the living room with a clay floor, and cooked food on it. In order to have at least some fuel, she went to the railway station in the evenings (she did not take me with her), walked along the tracks, climbed under the cars and collected fumes - incompletely burned coal thrown out of locomotive furnaces. During the day, she worked as a salesperson in a trading organization. For her conscientious work, she was awarded the medal “For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.”
Augustina Gerasimovna never remarried and devoted her entire life to raising her son. When in 1948, after graduating from high school, I entered the Faculty of Law at Kyiv University, my mother followed me to Kyiv. She was not afraid of the difficulties that stood in her way in a large unfamiliar city. We didn’t have an apartment in Kyiv, there was no one who could help us arrange it. Mom went to any job where they could provide a place to live, so that we could be together and I could continue my studies.
In 1951, as a student, I went to Brest with the hope of finding out something about my father. At the military registration and enlistment office they showed me the district newspaper “For the Glory of the Motherland” with materials about the remains of 34 Soviet soldiers, their weapons and belongings discovered in the ruins of the fortress. A partially preserved order for the fortress dated June 24, 1941 was found in the commander’s bag, where Regimental Commissar Fomin was named among the leaders of the defense.
From the editorial office of the said newspaper they told me the address of one of the defenders of the Brest Fortress, the former clerk of the headquarters of the 84th Infantry Regiment A.M. Phil, who lived in Yakutia. I sent him a letter and received an answer in January 1952. A.M. Fil said that he fought in the fortress under the command of Commissar Fomin, he knows that the shell-shocked commissar with several fighters was captured by the Nazis and executed. After this, I turned to the USSR Ministry of Defense and other authorities with a request to take measures to establish the fate of the defenders of the Brest Fortress, in particular, my father. However, I was told that the military district does not have the opportunity to conduct excavations in the Brest Fortress.
As you know, the remarkable front-line writer, Lenin Prize laureate Sergei Sergeevich Smirnov did a lot to study the defense of the Brest Fortress. We first met him in July 1956 in Moscow at a meeting of the defenders of the Brest Fortress, dedicated to the 15th anniversary of its heroic defense. The writer gave me his book “Fortress on the Border” with the inscription: “To the son of the hero and head of the defense of the fortress, Yuri Fomin, as a memory of our meeting and with deep respect for the memory of the hero father. S.S. Smirnov.”
At the same time, I met the participants of the Brest Defense, A.A., who came to Moscow. Vinogradov, P.M. Gavrilov, S.M. Matevosyan, A.I. Semenko and others, heard their excited stories about the heroism of the defenders of the fortress. Later I visited Brest many times, and in 1979 I went there with Avgustina Gerasimovna. With heartache they looked at the ruins of the fortress, disfigured by fire, shells and bullets, through the red stones of which the blood of its defenders seemed to bleed through.
On Brest land and in Kyiv there were many meetings with participants in the defense of the fortress, fellow soldiers of my father - A.M. Filem, A.S. Rebzuev, I.G. Bondarem, A.M. Surkhaykhanov and others. They said that from the first minutes of the battle, regimental commissar E.M. Fomin became the organizer of the defense, showed exceptional courage and bravery, leading the soldiers by personal example to fight the enemy.
The heroic feat of the commissioner, of course, was not accidental. Its origins are connected with the life path of his father, unfortunately short, but illuminated by loyalty to the ideas of freedom and social justice, devotion to the Soviet Fatherland. This is confirmed by the condensed facts of his biography.
Efim Moiseevich Fomin was born on January 15, 1909 in the town of Kolyshki, Liozno district, Vitebsk region, into a poor working family. His parents - his father - a blacksmith, his mother - a seamstress - died early, and he was raised first by his aunt, then by his uncle. At the age of 12, he began his career as an apprentice, or rather, as a servant, for a hairdresser in Vitebsk, then he was an apprentice shoemaker. He was brought up in an orphanage, worked at the Vitebsk shoe factory, where in 1924 he was admitted to the Komsomol.
Following party mobilization in March 1932, my father became a career political worker in the Red Army. He worked first in Pskov, then in Feodosia and Simferopol as secretary of the Komsomol organization of an anti-aircraft regiment, political instructor of a company, instructor of the political department of a rifle division, military commissar of a rifle regiment.
In 1938 he completed courses at the political department of the Kharkov Military District. For his excellent studies and active social work, the district commander thanked him in his order, and the political department awarded him a personalized watch with the inscription “For special success in mastering Bolshevism.”
In August 1938, he was appointed to the post of military commissar of the 23rd Kharkov Order of Lenin Red Banner Rifle Division. Together with this division in 1939, he took part in the liberation of Western Ukraine.
In the summer of 1940, the 23rd Division entered Latvian territory and was located in Daugavpils. EAT. Fomin, being the division's political officer and head of the propaganda department, devoted a lot of strength and energy to educating soldiers and commanders and increasing their combat readiness. However, there were people who were able to slander the father. In March 1941, he was transferred to Brest and demoted to the post of deputy commander for political affairs of the 84th Infantry Regiment of the 6th Oryol Red Banner Rifle Division.
Only many years later, already in our time, at the request of veterans of the 23rd Division, which became the 71st Guards Division during the war, the USSR Minister of Defense on May 8, 1991 canceled the clause of the old order of 1941 on the application to E.M. Fomin received an undeserved punishment and reinstated him in the position of deputy division commander. By the way, when transferred to Brest, my father remained in his previous military rank - regimental commissar, corresponding to the rank of colonel.
Arriving in April 1941 at a new duty station in Brest, E.M. Fomin in a short time managed to win the trust and love of soldiers and commanders. His fellow soldier A.M. later recalled this. Fil: “From the first days, with his attention, his responsiveness and simplicity, he acquired the good name “father” among the Red Army. All members of the large team resorted to his help without timidity in their hearts. Strictness and kindness, exactingness and practical assistance were the main methods of his work in training personnel.”
At dawn on June 22, with the first explosions of enemy shells in the Brest Fortress, Commissar Fomin found himself at the center of events. Due to the absence of commanders, he took command of the units located in the barracks and ordered the soldiers to take up defense in the area of the Kholm Gate of the citadel. The Nazis' attempt to break through these gates was repulsed. After this, he organized a counterattack against a German detachment that broke through the nearby Terespol Gate in the center of the fortress. As a result, this detachment was defeated and driven back. The first success inspired the defenders of the citadel.
So that the soldiers would see another senior commander in their ranks, he ordered the Komsomol organizer of the regiment S.M. Matevosyan to put on his spare tunic with the insignia of a regimental commissar. On his orders, the Komsomol organizer tried to break out of the fortress in an armored car in order to contact the command of the Soviet troops, but to no avail. The Nazis blocked all exits from the fortress.
Commissar Fomin took part in battles with the Nazis, often leading bayonet attacks himself, leading the fighters by personal example. At the same time, he understood that separated groups from different military units would not be able to resist the superior forces of the Nazis for long, so he sought to unite all the defenders of the fortress. On June 24, 1941, on his initiative and with his active participation, during a break between battles, the commanders of individual groups fighting in the citadel gathered for a meeting in one of the casemates. They decided to unite into a consolidated group and create a single command and defense headquarters. A communist, a participant in the civil war, captain I.N. Zubachev was appointed commander, and regimental commissar E.M. Fomin became his deputy. These measures contributed to increasing organization and strengthening the resistance of the citadel's defense.
Together with Captain Zubachev, my father led the fighting of an organized breakthrough from the encirclement, but they were unsuccessful. The strength of the defenders of the fortress, who did not receive help from anywhere, melted away, and their situation became more and more difficult.
The Nazis blocked all approaches to the Mukhavets River, which washes the fortress. As a result of this, the defenders of the fortress (and many of them were wounded) suffered severely from thirst. There was no water, food, medicine, and ammunition had run out. However, the heroes held out until the last bullet, until the last drop of blood.
According to the surviving defenders of the fortress, Commissar Fomin showed will and endurance in incredibly difficult conditions. No wonder they called him the soul of defense. When one of the fighters said that he would keep the last cartridge for himself, the father objected: “We can die in hand-to-hand combat, but we will shoot the cartridges at the fascists.” He convinced those who were discouraged that aimless death and suicide are cowardice, and life must be devoted entirely to the fight against a fierce enemy.
Along with everyone else, Commissar Fomin suffered from thirst and hunger and did not allow him to be given any preference. Paramedic S.E. Milkevich once brought the commissar some muddy water, which they collected with difficulty in a hole dug under the floor. My father had been thirsty for several days, but he said: “Water is only for the wounded.” When he was wounded in the arm, he went down to the basement, where several wounded were waiting for bandages. The paramedic rushed to him, but the father said: “Them first,” and began to wait for his turn. The scouts brought the commissar bread and biscuits found from the killed Nazis, and he gave them to the wounded, women and children who were in the basements.
In the rare breaks between battles, Efim Moiseevich tried to encourage the fighters with a heartfelt word, instilled in them faith in our victory over the enemy, and called on them to fulfill their military duty to the end.
During one of the assaults, the Nazis captured a small group of exhausted, half-dead soldiers, among whom was the father. They identified him and shot him near the fortress wall. As defense participant D.A. Abdullaev recalled, the commissar managed to shout to the soldiers: “Don’t lose heart. Victory will be ours".
The ideals of freedom and social justice for which my father and his comrades fought and tragically died are close and dear to me. They did not seek rewards and glory and died for the sake of life on earth.
Awards
The order of Lenin
Ranks
regimental commissar
Positions
Secretary of the Komsomol organization of the anti-aircraft regiment
company political instructor
Instructor of the political department of the rifle division
military commissar of the rifle regiment
military commissar of the 23rd Kharkov Order of Lenin Red Banner Rifle Division 1938-1941
deputy commander of the 84th Infantry Regiment of the 6th Oryol Red Banner Division 1941
One of the leaders of the defense of the Brest Fortress in June 1941
Biography
Efim Moiseevich Fomin (15.1.1909, Kolyshki, Liozno district, Vitebsk province - 30.6.1941, Brest) - Soviet officer, regimental commissar, deputy commander of the 84th Infantry Regiment of the 6th Oryol Red Banner Division. One of the leaders of the defense of the Brest Fortress in June 1941.
Born in the town of Kolyshki, Vitebsk district (now the village of Kolyshki, Liozno district) into a poor Jewish family (father is a blacksmith, mother is a seamstress). After the death of his parents, he was raised by his aunt, then by his uncle.
1921 - Apprentice hairdresser, then shoemaker in Vitebsk.
1922 - Admitted as a pupil to the Vitebsk orphanage.
1924 - Admitted to the Komsomol.
1927-1929 - Pskov district communist party-Soviet school of the second level.
1929 - Kolomna Soviet Party School. Upon graduation, he worked as an instructor for the Kolomna district party committee.
1930 - Joined the ranks of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks).
1932 - Due to party mobilization, he was sent to party political work in the Red Army. Secretary of the Komsomol organization of the anti-aircraft regiment, political instructor of the company, instructor of the political department of the rifle division, military commissar of the rifle regiment.
1938 - Completed courses at the political department of the Kharkov Military District. For excellent studies and active social work, he received gratitude from the command, and from the political department - a personalized watch with the inscription “For special success in mastering Bolshevism.”
August 1938 - Military Commissar of the 23rd Kharkov Order of Lenin Red Banner Rifle Division.
September 1939 - As part of the division, he took part in a campaign in Western Ukraine.
Summer 1940 - As part of the division, he entered the territory of Latvia and was in Daugavpils.
March 1941 - Due to undeserved accusations, he was transferred to Brest to the position of deputy commander of the 84th Infantry Regiment of the 6th Oryol Red Banner Rifle Division.
June 22, 1941 - Led the defense of the Brest Fortress in the ring barracks in the area near the Kholm Gate.
June 30, 1941 - In captivity he was handed over by a traitor and shot at the Kholm Gate of the fortress, according to R. Aliyev - he was captured on June 26, and on the same day he was shot southeast of Terespol.
Posthumous rehabilitation
May 8, 1991 - At the request of veterans of the 23rd division, the USSR Minister of Defense canceled the paragraph of the 1941 order on the application of undeserved punishment to E. M. Fomin and reinstated him as deputy division commander.
In cinema
In the film “Brest Fortress” (2010), the role of Efim Fomin was played by Pavel Derevyanko.
Notes
Memoirs of Yuri Fomin
Svetlana Gladysh. The immortal garrison fights.
R. Aliyev. Storming of the Brest Fortress. - M.: Yauza; Eksmo, 2008.
