what feat did Alexander Matrosov accomplish?
- Nowadays, it’s a little disgusting - when on the Internet all sorts of losers in life try to “crap” the exploits of Great people, and the most disgusting thing is that there are a lot of “????” who willingly believe everything that is shoved into them from the Internet. I mean the comment above, the artificial intelligence of Alexey.
Having broken through to the firing point and fired the cartridges, Sailors lay down with his chest on the embrasure and silenced the bunker for a while. Those seconds turned out to be decisive for the attackers.
The news of Matrosov's feat spread like lightning around the troops, urging them to go forward to defeat the enemy.
Alexander had many followers. But Sailors was not the first to cover the enemy’s firing point with his chest. Before the events near Chernushki, Red Army soldiers had already accomplished such a feat. There is an explanation for this fact: the divisional newspaper was the first to tell about Matrosov’s feat, and then the material was published in the central press. From that time on, the whole country learned about him, and his name became a symbol of heroism.
From documents stored in the Podolsk military archive, it follows that the first was Alexander Pankratov, political instructor of the 28th Tank Division. On August 24, 1941, in the battle for the Kirillov Monastery near Novgorod, he rushed at an enemy machine gun, silencing it. In total, the list of heroes who accomplished a similar feat on the battlefields of the Great Patriotic War includes over two hundred soldiers.
- On February 27, 1943, the 2nd battalion received the task of attacking a strong point in the area of the village of Chernushki, Loknyansky district, Kalinin region (since October 2, 1957, Pskov region). As soon as the Soviet soldiers passed through the forest and reached the edge, they came under heavy enemy fire; three machine guns in bunkers covered the approaches to the village. Assault groups of two were sent to suppress the firing points.
One machine gun was suppressed by an assault group of machine gunners and armor-piercers; the second bunker was destroyed by another group of armor-piercing soldiers, but a machine gun from the third bunker continued to shoot through the entire ravine in front of the village. Attempts to suppress it were unsuccessful. Then the Red Army soldiers Ptr Ogurtsov and Alexander Matrosov crawled towards the bunker. On the approaches to the bunker, Ogurtsov was seriously wounded, and Sailors decided to complete the operation alone. He approached the embrasure from the flank and threw two grenades. The machine gun fell silent. But as soon as the fighters rose to attack, fire was opened again from the bunker. Then Matrosov stood up, rushed to the bunker and closed the embrasure with his body. At the cost of his life, he contributed to the accomplishment of the unit’s combat mission. - Slipped in the wrong place!
- In reality, events did not develop as reported in newspaper and magazine publications. As the front-line newspaper wrote in hot pursuit, Matrosov’s corpse was found not in the embrasure, but in the snow in front of the bunker. In fact, everything happened like this:
Sailors was able to climb onto the bunker (eyewitnesses saw him on the roof of the bunker), and he tried to shoot the German machine gun crew through the ventilation hole, but was killed. Dropping the corpse to free an outlet, the Germans were forced to cease fire, and Matrosov’s comrades during this time covered the area under fire. The German machine gunners were forced to flee. Alexander Matrosov really accomplished the feat, at the cost of his life ensuring the success of his unit’s attack. But Alexander did not throw himself at the embrasure with his chest - this method of fighting enemy bunkers is absurd.
Each generation has its own idols and heroes. Today, when movie and pop stars are placed on the podium, and scandalous representatives of bohemia are role models, it’s time to remember those who truly deserve eternal memory in our country. We will talk about Alexander Matrosov, with whose name Soviet soldiers went into the meat grinder of the Great Patriotic War, trying to repeat his heroic feat, sacrificing their lives in the name of the independence of the Fatherland. Over time, memory erases small details of events and makes the colors faded, making its own adjustments and explanations for what happened. Only many years later it became possible to reveal some mysterious and untold moments in the biography of this young man, who left such a significant mark in the glorious annals of our Motherland.
Anticipating the angry reactions of those who are inclined to leave the facts in the form in which they were presented by the Soviet media, it is necessary to immediately make a reservation that the research carried out by historians and memoirists in no way detracts from the merits of a man whose name has been borne on the streets of many for more than half a century cities. No one set out to denigrate him, but the Truth requires the establishment of justice and the disclosure of true facts and names that were at one time distorted or simply left unattended.
According to the official version, Alexander was from Dnepropetrovsk, having gone through the Ivanovo and Melekessky orphanages in the Ulyanovsk region and the Ufa labor colony for children. On February 23, 1943, his battalion received the task of destroying a Nazi stronghold near the village of Chernushki, in the Pskov region. However, the approaches to the settlement were covered by three machine-gun crews hidden in bunkers. Special assault groups were sent to suppress them. Two machine guns were destroyed by the joint forces of submachine gunners and armor-piercers, but attempts to silence the third were unsuccessful. In the end, privates Pyotr Ogurtsov and Alexander Matrosov crawled towards him. Soon Ogurtsov was seriously wounded, and Sailors approached the embrasure alone. He threw a couple of grenades and the machine gun fell silent. But as soon as the Red Guards rose to attack, shooting rang out again. Saving his comrades, Sailors found himself at the bunker with one swift throw and covered the embrasure with his body. The moments gained were enough for the fighters to get closer and destroy the enemy. The feat of the Soviet soldier was described in newspapers, magazines and films, his name became a phraseological unit in the Russian language.
After lengthy searches and research by people studying the biography of Alexander Matrosov, it became obvious that only the date of birth of the future hero of the USSR, as well as the place of his death, deserves trust. All other information was quite contradictory, and therefore deserved a closer look.
The first questions arose when, in response to an official request for the place of birth indicated by the hero himself in the city of Dnepropetrovsk, a clear answer came that the birth of a child with that name and surname in 1924 was not registered by any registry office. Further searches in Soviet times by the main researcher of Matrosov's life, Rauf Khaevich Nasyrov, led to public censure of the writer and accusations of revisionism of the heroic pages of wartime. Only much later was he able to continue the investigation, which resulted in a number of interesting discoveries.
Following barely noticeable “breadcrumbs”, the bibliographer initially, based on eyewitness accounts, suggested and then practically proved that the hero’s real name is Shakiryan, and his true place of birth is the small village of Kunakbaevo, which is located in the Uchalinsky district of Bashkiria. A study of documents in the Uchalinsky City Council made it possible to find a record of the birth of a certain Mukhamedyanov Shakiryan Yunusovich on the very day indicated by the official biographical version of the life of Alexander Matrosov, February 5, 1924. Such a discrepancy in the data on the place of birth of the famous hero suggested the idea of checking the authenticity of the remaining biographical data.
None of Shahiryan’s close relatives were alive at that time. However, during further searches, childhood photographs of the boy were found, which were miraculously preserved by former fellow villagers. A detailed examination of these photographs and comparison of them with later photographs of Alexander Matrosov allowed scientists from the Forensic Research Institute in Moscow to give a final conclusion about the identity of the people depicted in them.
Few people know that there is another Alexander Matrosov, the namesake of the main person in the article, who also became a Hero of the Soviet Union. Born on June 22, 1918 in the city of Ivanovo, during the Great Patriotic War he rose to the rank of senior sergeant, platoon commander of a reconnaissance company. In the summer of 1944, Sailors, together with other intelligence officers, captured a bridge on the Belarusian Svisloch River, which was a tributary of the Berezina. For more than a day, a small group held it, repelling the attacks of the fascists, until the main forces of our troops arrived. Alexander survived that memorable battle, successfully ended the war and died in his native Ivanovo on February 5, 1992 at the age of seventy-three.
During conversations with Alexander Matrosov’s fellow soldiers, as well as residents of the village where he was born, and former pupils of orphanages, a picture of the life of this famous man gradually began to emerge. Shakiryan Mukhamedyanov’s father returned from the Civil War as an invalid and could not find a permanent job. Due to this, his family experienced great financial difficulties. When the boy was only seven years old, his mother died. It became even more difficult to survive, and often the father and his little son begged for alms, wandering through the neighbors' yards. Very soon a stepmother appeared in the house, with whom young Shahiryan was never able to get along, having run away from home.
His short wanderings ended with the boy ending up in a reception center for children under the NKVD, and from there he was sent to modern Dimitrovgrad, which was then called Melekess. It was in this orphanage that he first appears as Alexander Matrosov. But in official documents he was recorded under this name when he entered the colony located in the village of Ivanovka on February 7, 1938. There, the boy named a fictitious place of birth and a city in which he, in his own words, had never been. Based on the documents issued to him, all sources subsequently indicated exactly this information about the place and date of birth of the boy.
Why was Shakiryan recorded under this name? His fellow villagers recalled that at the age of fifteen, in the summer of 1939, he came to his small homeland. The teenager was wearing a visor and a striped vest under his shirt. Even then he called himself Alexander Matrosov. Apparently, he did not want to indicate his real name in the colony because he knew about the general unkind attitude towards the national people. And given his liking for maritime symbols, it was not difficult to come up with a name he liked, as many street children did at that time. However, at the shelter they still remembered that Sashka was called not only Shurik the sailor, but also Shurik-Shakiryan, as well as “Bashkir” - because of the teenager’s dark skin, which again confirms the identity of the two personalities in question.
Both fellow villagers and the orphanage's pupils spoke of Sashka as a lively and cheerful guy who loved to strum the guitar and balalaika, knew how to tap dance and was the best at playing "knucklebones". They even remembered the words of his own mother, who at one time said that because of his dexterity and excessive activity, he would become either a capable young man or a criminal.
The generally accepted version of the hero’s biography says that Matrosov worked for some time as a carpenter at a furniture factory in Ufa, but how he ended up in the labor colony to which this enterprise was attached is not said anywhere. But this section of his biography contains colorful references to what a wonderful example Alexander was for his peers at the time he became one of the best boxers and skiers in the city, and what wonderful poetry he wrote. To create a greater effect in the fictional story, a lot is said about Matrosov’s active work as a political informant, as well as about the fact that the hero’s father, being a communist, died from a bullet from a fist.
An interesting fact related to the fighter who accomplished the feat is the presence of at least two almost identical Komsomol tickets in the name of Alexander Matrosov. Tickets are kept in different museums: one in Moscow, the other in Velikiye Luki. Which of the documents is genuine remains unclear.
In fact, in 1939, Matrosov was sent to work at the Kuibyshev Car Repair Plant. However, he soon fled from there due to unbearable working conditions. Later, Sasha and his friend were arrested for non-compliance with the regime. The next documentary evidence about the guy’s life appears almost a year later. For violating the terms of the subscription that he would leave Saratov within 24 hours, according to archival data, on October 8, 1940, Alexander Matrosov was sentenced by the Frunzensky District People's Court to two years in prison under Article 192 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR. An interesting fact is that on May 5, 1967, the Supreme Court of the USSR returned to the cassation hearing of Matrosov’s case and overturned the verdict, apparently so as not to tarnish the name of the hero with unpleasant details of his life.
Actually, after the court’s decision, the young man ended up in a labor colony in Ufa, where he served his entire sentence. At the very beginning of the war, seventeen-year-old Alexander, like thousands of his peers, sent a letter to the People's Commissar of Defense with a request to be sent to the front, expressing his passionate desire to defend the Motherland. But he got to the front line only at the end of February 1943, together with other cadets of the Krasnokholmsky school, where Sailors was enrolled in October 1942 after the colony. Due to the difficult situation on all fronts, the graduating cadets, who had not been fired upon, were sent in full force as reinforcements to the Kalinin Front.
Here follows a new discrepancy between real facts and the officially accepted biography of this person. In accordance with the documents, Alexander Matrosov was enlisted in the rifle battalion, part of the 91st separate Siberian volunteer brigade, named after Joseph Stalin, on February 25. But the Soviet press indicates that Alexander Matrosov accomplished his feat on February 23. Having read about this later in the newspapers, Matrosov’s fellow soldiers were extremely surprised by this information, because in fact, the memorable battle in the Pskov region, not far from the village of Chernushki, which the battalion, in accordance with the order of the command, was supposed to recapture from the Germans, took place on February 27, 1943 .
Why was such an important date changed not only in newspapers, but also in many historical documents describing the great feat? Anyone who grew up during Soviet times is well aware of how the government and many other official bodies liked to mark various, even the most insignificant events, with memorable anniversaries and dates. This is what happened in this case. The approaching anniversary, the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the Red Army, required “real confirmation” to inspire and raise the morale of Soviet soldiers. Obviously, it was decided to coincide the feat of fighter Alexander Matrosov with a memorable date.
The details of exactly how events unfolded on that terrible February day when a courageous nineteen-year-old boy died are described in detail in many articles and textbooks. Without dwelling on this, it is only worth noting that the feat of Alexander Matrosov in the official interpretation clearly contradicts the laws of physics. Even one bullet fired from a rifle, hitting a person, will definitely knock him down. What can we say about a machine gun burst at point blank range? Moreover, the human body cannot serve as any serious barrier to machine gun bullets. Even the first notes of front-line newspapers said that Alexander’s corpse was found not in the embrasure, but in front of him in the snow. It is unlikely that Matrosov threw himself at her with his chest; this would have been the most absurd way to defeat an enemy bunker. Trying to reconstruct the events of that day, the researchers settled on the following version. Since there were eyewitnesses who saw Matrosov on the roof of the bunker, most likely he tried to shoot or throw grenades at the machine gun crew through the ventilation window. He was shot, and his body fell onto the vent, blocking the possibility of venting the powder gases. While dumping the corpse, the Germans hesitated and ceased fire, and Matrosov’s comrades were able to overcome the area under fire. Thus, the feat really took place; at the cost of the life of the Sailors, he ensured the success of the assault on his detachment.
There is also a misconception that Alexander's feat was the first of its kind. However, it is not. Many documented facts have been preserved of how, already in the first years of the war, Soviet soldiers rushed to enemy firing points. The very first of them were Alexander Pankratov, a political commissar of a tank company, who sacrificed himself on August 24, 1941 during the attack on the Kirillov Monastery near Novgorod, and Yakov Paderin, who died on December 27, 1941 near the village of Ryabinikha in the Tver region. And in “The Ballad of Three Communists” by Nikolai Semenovich Tikhonov (the author of the famous phrase: “I should make nails out of these people ...”), the battle near Novgorod on January 29, 1942 is described, in which three soldiers rushed to the enemy pillboxes at once - Gerasimenko, Cheremnov and Krasilov.
It also requires mentioning the fact that even before the end of March 1943, at least thirteen people - soldiers of the Red Army, inspired by the example of Alexander Matrosov, carried out a similar act. In total, more than four hundred people performed a similar feat during the war years. Many of them were posthumously awarded and received the title of Hero of the USSR, but their names are familiar only to meticulous historians, as well as fans of historical wartime articles. Most of the brave heroes remained unknown, and subsequently dropped out of official chronicles altogether. Among them were the dead soldiers of the assault groups, who fought that very day next to Matrosov and managed not only to suppress the enemy’s bunkers, but also, deploying fascist machine guns, to return fire on the enemy. In this context, it is very important to understand that the image of Alexander, in whose honor monuments were built and streets were named in cities throughout Russia, precisely personifies all the nameless soldiers, our ancestors, who gave their lives for the sake of victory.
Initially, the hero was buried where he fell, in the village of Chernushki, but in 1948 his remains were reburied in the cemetery of the city of Velikiye Luki, located on the banks of the Lovat River. The name of Alexander Matrosov was immortalized by Stalin’s order of September 8, 1943. In accordance with this document, it was for the first time forever included in the list of the first company of the 254th Guards Regiment, where Sasha served. Unfortunately, the leadership of the Red Army, creating an epic image of a fighter who despised death in the name of saving his comrades, pursued another rather unpleasant goal. Neglecting artillery preparation, the authorities encouraged the Red Army soldiers to launch deadly frontal attacks on enemy machine guns, justifying the senseless loss of life as an example of a brave soldier.
Even when finding out the real history of the hero, whom many generations of residents of our country know as Alexander Matrosov, after clarifying his personality, place of birth, individual pages of his biography and the essence of the heroic act itself, his feat is still undeniable and remains a rare example of unprecedented courage and valor! The feat of a very young youth who spent only three days at the front. We sing a song to the madness of the brave...
Information sources:
-http://www.warheroes.ru/hero/hero.asp?Hero_id=597
-http://izvestia.ru/news/286596
-http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/
-http://www.pulter.ru/docs/Alexander_Matrosov/Alexander_Matrosov
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M Atrosov Alexander Matveevich - machine gunner of the 2nd separate battalion of the 91st separate Siberian volunteer brigade named after I.V. Stalin of the 6th Stalin Siberian Volunteer Rifle Corps of the 22nd Army of the Kalinin Front, Red Army soldier.
Born on February 5, 1924 in the city of Yekaterinoslav (now Dnepropetrovsk - the administrative center of the Dnepropetrovsk region of Ukraine). Russian. Lost his parents early. Since 1935, he was brought up in the Ivanovo regime orphanage (Ulyanovsk region), where he graduated from 7 classes. In 1939, he was sent to a car repair plant in the city of Kuibyshev (now Samara), but soon escaped from there. By the verdict of the people's court of the 3rd section of the Frunzensky district of the city of Saratov on October 8, 1940, Alexander Matrosov was sentenced under Article 192 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR to two years in prison for violating the passport regime (the Judicial Collegium for Criminal Cases of the Supreme Court of the RSFSR on May 5, 1967 overturned this sentence) . He served time in the Ufa children's labor colony. With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, he repeatedly made written requests to be sent to the front... Member of the Komsomol.
He was drafted into the Red Army by the Kirov District Military Commissariat of the city of Ufa, Bashkir ASSR in September 1942 and sent to the Krasnokholm Infantry School (October 1942), but soon most of the cadets were sent to the Kalinin Front.
In the active army since November 1942. He served as part of the 2nd separate rifle battalion of the 91st separate Siberian volunteer brigade named after I.V. Stalin (later 254th Guards Rifle Regiment, 56th Guards Rifle Division, Kalinin Front). For some time the brigade was in reserve. Then she was transferred near Pskov to the area of Bolshoi Lomovatoy Bor. Straight from the march, the brigade entered the battle.
On February 27, 1943, the 2nd battalion received the task of attacking a strong point in the area of the village of Pleten, west of the village of Chernushki, Loknyansky district of the Pskov region. As soon as our soldiers passed through the forest and reached the edge, they came under heavy enemy machine-gun fire - three enemy machine guns in bunkers covered the approaches to the village. One machine gun was suppressed by an assault group of machine gunners and armor-piercers. The second bunker was destroyed by another group of armor-piercing soldiers. But the machine gun from the third bunker continued to fire at the entire ravine in front of the village. Attempts to silence him were unsuccessful. Then Red Army soldier Alexander Matrosov crawled towards the bunker. He approached the embrasure from the flank and threw two grenades. The machine gun fell silent. But as soon as the fighters went on the attack, the machine gun came to life again. Then Matrosov stood up, rushed to the bunker and closed the embrasure with his body. At the cost of his life, he contributed to the accomplishment of the unit’s combat mission.
He was buried in the village of Chernushki, Loknyansky district, and in 1948 the ashes of A.M. Matrosov was reburied in the city of Velikiye Luki, Pskov region, on the left bank of the Lovat River at the intersection of Rosa Luxemburg Street and the Alexander Matrosov embankment.
A few days later, the name of Alexander Matrosov became known throughout the country. Matrosov’s feat was used by a journalist who happened to be with the unit for a patriotic article. At the same time, the date of the Hero’s death was moved to February 23, coinciding the feat with the birthday of the Red Army. Despite the fact that Alexander Matrosov was not the first to commit such an act of self-sacrifice, it was his name that was used to glorify the heroism of Soviet soldiers. Subsequently, over three hundred people performed a similar heroic act, but this was no longer widely publicized. The feat of Alexander Matrosov became a symbol of courage and military valor, fearlessness and love for the Motherland.
U by the Order of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on June 19, 1943, for the exemplary performance of combat missions of the command on the front of the fight against the Nazi invaders and the courage and heroism shown, Red Army soldier Alexander Matveevich Matrosov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
On September 8, 1943, by order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR I.V. Stalin name A.M. Matrosov was assigned to the 254th Guards Rifle Regiment, and he himself was forever included in the lists of the 1st company of this unit. This was the first order of the USSR NGO during the Great Patriotic War to enroll the fallen Hero forever in the lists of the military unit.
Awarded the Order of Lenin (09/08/1943, posthumously).
In the Victory Park of the capital of Bashkiria - the city of Ufa, a majestic monument was erected dedicated to the immortal feat of Alexander Matrosov and Minnigali Gubaidullin, at the foot of which the Eternal Flame burns. Monuments to the Hero were erected in Ufa, Velikiye Luki, Ulyanovsk, Krasnoyarsk, Dnepropetrovsk, St. Petersburg and other cities. A children's cinema in the city of Ufa and a street bear the name of Alexander Matrosov; a memorial museum to A.M. Matrosov at the Ufa Law Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. His name was given to the Museum of Komsomol Glory of the city of Velikiye Luki, which since September 27, 2007 has been a structural subdivision of the Velikiye Luki Museum of Local Lore - "Center for Patriotic Initiatives named after Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Matrosov", streets, schools, ships, collective farms and state farms.
From the award list of A.M. Matrosova:
“During his service in the 2nd battalion of the 91st main brigade in a company of machine gunners since February 1943, he proved himself to be an honest, devoted son of the Motherland, politically literate, and decisive.
During the battles with the German invaders in the area of the village. Chernushki, Kalinin region, performed a heroic feat: when a company was advancing on a fortified enemy site (a bunker), the Red Army soldier Sailors, making his way to the bunker, covered the embrasure with his body, which made it possible to overcome the enemy’s defense point..."
ORDER
ABOUT THE AWARDING OF THE 254TH GUARDS RIFLE REGIMENT NAMED AFTER ALEXANDER MATROSOV AND THE ENROLLMENT OF ALEXANDER MATROSOV FOREVER IN THE LISTS OF THE REGIMENT
23 February 1943, guard private of the 254th Guards Rifle Regiment of the 56th Guards Rifle Division, Alexander Matveevich Matrosov, at the decisive moment of the battle with the Nazi invaders for the village. Chernushki, having broken through to the enemy bunker, covered the embrasure with his body, sacrificed himself and thereby ensured the success of the advancing unit.
U by the Order of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on June 19, 1943 to Guard Private Comrade. Matrosov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
IN The great feat of Comrade Matrosov should serve as an example of military valor and heroism for all soldiers of the Red Army.
D To perpetuate the memory of the Hero of the Soviet Union, Guard Private Alexander Matveevich Matrosov
I order:
1. The 254th Guards Rifle Regiment of the 56th Guards Rifle Division will be given the name:
"254th Guards Rifle Regiment named after Alexander Matrosov".
2. Hero of the Soviet Union Guard Private Alexander Matveevich Matrosov will be enlisted forever in the lists of the 1st company of the 254th Guards Regiment named after Alexander Matrosov.
P the rikaz should be read in all companies, batteries and squadrons.
People's Commissar of Defense Marshal of the Soviet Union
Alexander Matrosov is a hero of the Soviet Union who accomplished a great feat during the war against Nazi Germany.
During the fighting, Alexander helped his colleagues by shielding them from machine-gun fire, which suppressed the advance of the Red Army forces.
After his feat, he became famous in the ranks of the Red Army - he was called a hero and considered an example of courage. Alexander Matrosov received the highest award - Hero of the Soviet Union, but posthumously.
early years
Alexander was born on February 5, 1924 in the big city of Yekaterinoslavl and spent his entire childhood in an orphanage. Then Alexander was transferred to the Ufa children's labor colony, where, after finishing seven classes, he became an assistant teacher.
There is no detailed information about Matrosov’s entire childhood, since many documents and records were damaged during the fighting in 1941-1945.
Participation in hostilities
From an early age, Alexander loved his homeland and was a true patriot, so as soon as the Great Patriotic War with the Germans began, he immediately began making attempts to go straight to the front, fight for his country and stop the invaders. He wrote numerous telegrams in which he asked to be drafted into the army.
In September 1942, Matrosov was called up as a volunteer and sent to the Krasnokholmsky Infantry School near Orenburg, where he mastered combat skills. At the beginning of the next year, he went straight to the front line - to the Kalinin Front. From 02/25/1943 he served in the 91st separate Siberian Volunteer Army in the 2nd rifle battalion.
Heroic death in battle
In one of the battles - on February 27, 1943, Alexander died heroically in battle. This happened near the small village of Chernushki, in the Pskov region. The Soviet army was advancing and as soon as it passed through a dense forest, it found itself at a well-exposed edge, where there was practically no cover. Thus, Alexander’s unit came under heavy enemy fire.
The Germans attacked from well-prepared bunkers with three machine guns, which did not allow the Red Army soldiers to take a single step. To destroy the bunkers, three groups of two fighters each were created. The soldiers managed to destroy two of the three bunkers, but the third still did not want to give in and continued to actively fire at the positions of the Red Army forces.
A large number of soldiers died, and then Alexander, together with his comrade P. Ogurtsov, decided to destroy the bunker. They crawled straight towards the enemy, where the machine gun was firing. Ogurtsov was wounded almost immediately, Sailors continued to approach the enemy position. Alexander managed to successfully approach the bunker from the flank and bombard the Germans inside the fortification with two grenades, after which the machine gun finally fell silent, which means it was possible to continue the offensive.
However, as soon as the soldiers of the Soviet army rose from the ground, powerful fire opened again from the bunker. Alexander, without thinking twice, immediately jumped straight to the machine gun and covered his comrades with his own body, after which the offensive was successfully continued and the bunker was soon destroyed. Similar feats were performed before 1943, but for some reason this incident attracted the attention of the country. At the time of his death, Alexander was only nineteen years old.
Heritage
After the heroic deed of Alexander Matrosov became known throughout the Red Army, his image became propaganda. Alexander's personality became a shining example of valor, courage and bravery, as well as love for his colleagues and the Motherland. Alexander was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union in the summer of the same year - on June 19. Sailors also earned an honorary award for his bravery - the Order of Lenin.
After the end of the war, the memory of Matrosov’s feat did not subside at all, but on the contrary. The authorities built a memorial complex at the site of the death of the young soldier, where people could come and lay flowers in memory of the fallen hero. Also, dozens of monuments to Matrosov were erected throughout the country, and streets were named after him.
Matrosov’s feat was covered in literary works and, of course, in cinema. Among the cinematographic films there were both documentaries and feature films.
Interesting Facts
During the Great Patriotic War, other fighters performed similar feats. In total, during the fighting, similar feats were accomplished by about four hundred soldiers of the Red Army. Interestingly, one of these heroes even managed to survive after such a dangerous step - the rest sacrificed themselves;
After the heroic death of Matrosov, the number of similar feats increased significantly; the soldiers were inspired by the feat of Alexander.
Alexander Matveevich
Matrosov Alexander Matveevich - machine gunner of the 2nd separate battalion of the 91st separate Siberian volunteer brigade named after I.V. Stalin of the 6th Stalin Siberian Volunteer Rifle Corps of the 22nd Army of the Kalinin Front, Red Army soldier. On September 8, 1943, by order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR I.V. Stalin, the name of Matrosov was assigned to the 254th Guards Rifle Regiment, and he himself was forever included in the lists of the 1st company of this unit. This was the first order of the USSR NGO during the Great Patriotic War to enroll the fallen Hero forever in the lists of the military unit.
Born on February 5, 1924 in the city of Yekaterinoslav (now Dnepropetrovsk - the administrative center of the Dnepropetrovsk region of Ukraine). Russian. Member of the Komsomol. Lost his parents early. He was raised for 5 years in the Ivanovo security orphanage (Ulyanovsk region). In 1939, he was sent to a car repair plant in the city of Kuibyshev (now Samara), but soon escaped from there. By the verdict of the people's court of the 3rd section of the Frunzensky district of the city of Saratov on October 8, 1940, Alexander Matrosov was sentenced under Article 192 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR to two years in prison for violating the passport regime (Judicial Collegium for Criminal Cases of the Supreme Court of the RSFSR on May 5, 1967, this verdict canceled). He served time in the Ufa children's labor colony. With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, he repeatedly made written requests to be sent to the front.
He was drafted into the Red Army by the Kirov District Military Commissariat of the city of Ufa, Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, in September 1942 and sent to the Krasnokholm Infantry School (October 1942), but soon most of the cadets were sent to the Kalinin Front.
In the active army since November 1942. Served as part of the 2nd separate rifle battalion of the 91st separate Siberian volunteer brigade named after (later the 254th Guards Rifle Regiment of the 56th Guards Rifle Division, Kalinin Front). For some time the brigade was in reserve. Then she was transferred near Pskov to the area of Bolshoi Lomovatoy Bor. Straight from the march, the brigade entered the battle.
On February 27, 1943, the 2nd battalion received the task of attacking a strong point in the area of the village of Pleten, west of the village of Chernushki, Loknyansky district of the Pskov region. As soon as our soldiers passed through the forest and reached the edge, they came under heavy enemy machine-gun fire - three enemy machine guns in bunkers covered the approaches to the village. One machine gun was suppressed by an assault group of machine gunners and armor-piercers. The second bunker was destroyed by another group of armor-piercing soldiers. But the machine gun from the third bunker continued to fire at the entire ravine in front of the village. Attempts to silence him were unsuccessful. Then Red Army soldier Alexander Matrosov crawled towards the bunker. He approached the embrasure from the flank and threw two grenades. The machine gun fell silent. But as soon as the fighters went on the attack, the machine gun came to life again. Then Matrosov stood up, rushed to the bunker and closed the embrasure with his body. At the cost of his life, he contributed to the accomplishment of the unit’s combat mission.
He was buried in the village of Chernushki, Loknyansky district, and in 1948 the ashes of A.M. Matrosov was reburied in the city of Velikiye Luki, Pskov region, on the left bank of the Lovat River at the intersection of Rosa Luxemburg Street and the Alexander Matrosov embankment.
A few days later, the name of Alexander Matrosov became known throughout the country. Matrosov’s feat was used by a journalist who happened to be with the unit for a patriotic article. At the same time, the date of the Hero’s death was moved to February 23, coinciding the feat with the birthday of the Red Army. Despite the fact that Alexander Matrosov was not the first to commit such an act of self-sacrifice, it was his name that was used to glorify the heroism of Soviet soldiers. Subsequently, over three hundred people performed a similar heroic act. The feat of Alexander Matrosov became a symbol of courage and military valor, fearlessness and love for the Motherland.
By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated June 19, 1943, for the exemplary performance of combat missions of the command on the front of the fight against the Nazi invaders and the courage and heroism displayed, Red Army soldier Alexander Matveevich Matrosov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Awarded the Order of Lenin (posthumously).
