Panfilovites. The feat of the Panfilov heroes during the Great Patriotic War. Panfilov heroes. The history of the feat The history of 28 Panfilovites is brief

According to the classic version of the feat, on November 16, 1941, 28 people from the personnel of the 4th company of the 2nd battalion of the 1075th rifle regiment, headed by the political instructor of the 4th company Vasily Klochkov

At the request of citizens

State Archives Russian Federation headed by Doctor of Historical Sciences Sergey Mironenko, gave a new reason for discussion about the feat of 28 Panfilov heroes.

“In connection with the numerous appeals of citizens, institutions and organizations, we are posting a reference report of the chief military prosecutor N. Afanasyeva"On 28 Panfilov's men" dated May 10, 1948, based on the results of an investigation by the Chief Military Prosecutor's Office, stored in the USSR Prosecutor's Office fund, "reads a statement on the website of the State Archives of the Russian Federation.

The publication of this reference-report is not a sensation - its existence is known to everyone who was interested in the history of the feat.

On its basis, the head of the State Archives of the Russian Federation, citizen Mironenko, himself made statements that "there were no 28 Panfilov heroes - this is one of the myths imposed by the state."

But before talking about myth and truth, let's recall the classic story of Panfilov's heroes.

Classic version of the feat

Political instructor Vasily Klochkov. Photo: Public Domain

According to her, on November 16, 1941, 28 people from the personnel of the 4th company of the 2nd battalion of the 1075th rifle regiment, headed by the political instructor of the 4th company Vasily Klochkov held the defense against the advancing Nazis in the area of ​​the Dubosekovo junction, 7 kilometers southeast of Volokolamsk. During the 4-hour battle, they destroyed 18 enemy tanks, and the advance of the Germans towards Moscow was suspended. All 28 soldiers were killed in the battle.

In April 1942, when the feat of 28 Panfilov's soldiers became widely known in the country, the command of the Western Front came out with a petition to confer the title of Heroes on all 28 soldiers Soviet Union... By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of July 21, 1942, all 28 guardsmen listed in the essay Krivitsky, was awarded the posthumous title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

"Resurrected" Dobrobabin managed to serve the Germans and take Vienna

The investigation, the report on the results of which was published by the GARF, began in November 1947, when the military prosecutor's office of the Kharkov garrison was arrested and prosecuted for treason. Ivan Dobrobabin... According to the case file, while at the front, Dobrobabin voluntarily surrendered to the Germans and in the spring of 1942 entered their service. He served as the chief of police in the village of Perekop, temporarily occupied by the Germans, in the Valkovsky district of the Kharkiv region. In March 1943, when the area was liberated from the Germans, Dobrobabin was arrested by the Soviet authorities as a traitor, but escaped from custody, again went over to the Germans and again took a job in the German police, continuing his active treacherous activities, arresting Soviet citizens and direct implementation of the compulsory sending labor to Germany.

When, after the war, Dobrobabin was arrested again, during a search they found a book about 28 Panfilov heroes, in which it was written in black and white that he ... is one of the dead heroes and, accordingly, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Dobrobabin, realizing what position he was in, honestly told how it was. He really took part in the battle at the Dubosekovo junction, but was not killed, but received a shell shock and was taken prisoner. Escaping from the prisoner of war camp, Dobrobabin did not make his way to his own, but went to his native village, which was under occupation, where he soon accepted the elder's offer to join the police.

But this is not all the vicissitudes of his fate. When in 1943 the Red Army went on the offensive again, Dobrobabin fled to relatives in the Odessa region, where no one knew about his work for the Germans, waited for the arrival of Soviet troops, was again called up for military service, participated in the Jassy-Chisinau operation, the capture of Budapest and Vienna, he ended the war in Austria.

By the verdict of the military tribunal of the Kiev military district on June 8, 1948, Ivan Dobrobabin was sentenced to 15 years in prison with disqualification for a period of five years, confiscation of property and deprivation of medals "For the Defense of Moscow", "For Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941 -1945 "," For the capture of Vienna "and" For the capture of Budapest "; By the decree of the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces of February 11, 1949, he was deprived of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

During the 1955 amnesty, his sentence was reduced to 7 years, after which he was released.

Ivan Dobrobabin moved in with his brother, lived an ordinary life and died in December 1996 at the age of 83.

Krivitsky's list

But let's go back to 1947, when it turned out that one of the 28 Panfilov men, not only was alive, but also got dirty with the service of the Germans. The prosecutor's office was ordered to check all the circumstances of the battle at the Dubosekovo junction in order to find out how everything really happened.

According to the materials of the prosecutor's office, the first description of the battle of the Panfilov guardsmen who stopped the German tanks appeared in the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper in an essay by a front-line correspondent Vasily Koroteeva... In this note, the names of the heroes were not named, but it was said that "every one was killed, but the enemy was not allowed to pass."

The next day, the Red Star published an editorial "The Testament of 28 Fallen Heroes", which stated that 28 soldiers stopped the advance of 50 enemy tanks, destroying 18 of them. The note was signed by the literary secretary of the "Red Star" Alexander Krivitsky.

And finally, on January 22, 1942, signed by Alexander Krivitsky, the material "About 28 fallen heroes" appeared, which became the basis of the classic version of the feat. There, for the first time, all 28 heroes were named by name - Vasily Georgievich Klochkov, Ivan Evstafievich Dobrobabin, Ivan Alekseevich Shepetkov, Abram Ivanovich Kryuchkov, Gavriil Mitin Stepanovich, Alikbai Kasaev, Grigory Alekseevich Petrenko, Dmitry Ms. Mikhailovich, Dutov Pyotr Danilovich, Mitchenko Nikita, Shopokov Duishenkul, Konkin Grigory Efimovich, Shadrin Ivan Demidovich, Moskalenko Nikolay, Yemtsov Pyotr Kuzmich, Kuzhebergenov Daniil Alexandrovich, Timofeev Dmitry Fomich, Yamil'yevich Bofimov, Nikolay Ignatovich Alexandrovich, Trofimov Nikolay Igarovich , Bezrodny Grigory, Sengirbaev Musabek, Maksimov Nikolay, Ananyev Nikolay.

Archbishop Pitirim of Volokolamsk and his entourage, participants in the World Conference “Religious Leaders for Saving the Sacred Gift of Life from a Nuclear Catastrophe,” laid wreaths at the memorial at the Dubosekovo junction - at the site of the feat of 28 soldiers. Photo: RIA Novosti / Yuri Abramochkin

Survivors of Dubosekovo

In 1947, prosecutors who checked the circumstances of the battle at the Dubosekovo junction, found out that not only Ivan Dobrobabin survived. "Resurrected" Daniil Kuzhebergenov, Grigory Shemyakin, Illarion Vasiliev, Ivan Shadrin. Later it became known that Dmitry Timofeev was also alive.

All of them were wounded in the battle at Dubosekovo, Kuzhebergenov, Shadrin and Timofeev went through German captivity.

It was especially difficult for Daniil Kuzhebergenov. He spent only a few hours in captivity, but this was enough to accuse him of voluntarily surrendering to the Germans. As a result, in the presentation for the award, his name was replaced by a namesake, who even theoretically could not participate in that battle. And if the rest of the survivors, except Dobrobabin, were recognized as heroes, then Daniil Kuzhebergenov, until his death in 1976, remained only a partially recognized participant in the legendary battle.

Meanwhile, the prosecutors, after examining all the materials and hearing the testimony of witnesses, came to the conclusion that "the feat of 28 Panfilov guardsmen, highlighted in the press, is a fiction of the correspondent Koroteev, the editor of Krasnaya Zvezda Ortenberg, and especially the literary secretary of the newspaper Krivitsky."

Panfilov heroes, veterans of the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945 Illarion Romanovich Vasiliev (left) and Grigory Melentyevich Shemyakin at a solemn meeting dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi troops near Moscow, in the Kremlin Palace. Photo: RIA Novosti / Vladimir Savostyanov

Testimony of the regiment commander

This conclusion is based on the interrogations of Krivitsky, Koroteev and the commander of the 1075th rifle regiment Ilya Kaprova... All 28 Panfilov heroes served in Karpov's regiment.

During interrogation in the prosecutor's office in 1948, Kaprov testified: “There was no battle between 28 Panfilov's men and German tanks at the Dubosekovo junction on November 16, 1941 - this is sheer fiction. On this day, at the Dubosekovo junction, the 4th company fought with German tanks as part of the 2nd battalion, and really fought heroically. More than 100 people from the company died, and not 28, as they wrote in the newspapers. None of the correspondents contacted me during this period; I never spoke to anyone about the battle of 28 Panfilovites, and he could not speak, since there was no such battle. I did not write any political reports on this matter. I do not know on the basis of what materials were written in the newspapers, in particular in the "Krasnaya Zvezda", about the battle of 28 guardsmen from the division im. Panfilov. At the end of December 1941, when the division was withdrawn to form, the correspondent of "Krasnaya Zvezda" Krivitsky came to my regiment together with representatives of the division's political department. Glushko and Egorov... It was then that I first heard about 28 Panfilov guardsmen. In a conversation with me, Krivitsky said that it was necessary that there were 28 Panfilov guardsmen who fought against German tanks. I told him that the whole regiment fought with German tanks, and in particular the 4th company of the 2nd battalion, but I did not know anything about the battle of 28 guardsmen ... The captain gave the names of Krivitsky from memory Gundilovich, who had conversations with him on this topic, there were no documents about the battle of 28 Panfilov's men in the regiment and could not be. "

Tank T-34 on the distant approaches to the capital, in the area of ​​Volokolamsk highway, Western Front. November 1941. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

Interrogations of journalists

Alexander Krivitsky testified during interrogation: “During a conversation with Comrade Krapivin in the PUR, he was interested in where I got the words of political instructor Klochkov, written in my basement:“ Russia is great, but there is nowhere to retreat - Moscow is behind ”, - I told him that I had invented it I myself ...

… In terms of sensations and actions of 28 heroes - this is my literary speculation. I did not speak to any of the wounded or surviving guardsmen. From the local population, I spoke only with a boy of 14-15 years old, who showed the grave where Klochkov was buried. "

And here is what Vasily Koroteev said: “Approximately 23-24 November 1941, I, together with the war correspondent of the newspaper“ Komsomolskaya Pravda ” Chernyshev I was at the headquarters of the 16th army ... When leaving the headquarters of the army, we met the commissar of the 8th Panfilov division, Yegorov, who spoke about the extremely difficult situation at the front and said that our people were fighting heroically in all sectors. In particular, Yegorov gave an example of a heroic battle of one company with German tanks, 54 tanks attacked the line of the company, and the company detained them, destroying some of them. Egorov himself was not a participant in the battle, but told from the words of the regiment commissar, who also did not take part in the battle with German tanks ... Egorov recommended writing in the newspaper about the heroic battle of the company with enemy tanks, having previously familiarized himself with the political report received from the regiment ...

The political report said about the battle of the fifth company with enemy tanks and that the company was “to death” - it died, but did not leave, and only two people turned out to be traitors, raised their hands to surrender to the Germans, but they were destroyed by our soldiers. The report did not mention the number of company soldiers who died in this battle, and did not mention their names. We did not establish this even from conversations with the regiment commander. It was impossible to get into the regiment, and Yegorov did not advise us to try to get into the regiment ...

Upon arrival in Moscow, I reported to the editor of the newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda Ortenberg about the situation, told about the company's battle with enemy tanks. Ortenberg asked me how many people were in the company. I answered that the composition of the company, apparently, was incomplete, about 30-40 people; I also said that two of these people turned out to be traitors ... I did not know that an editorial was being prepared on this topic, but Ortenberg called me up again and asked how many people were in the company. I told him that there were about 30 people. Thus, the number of 28 people who fought appeared, since two out of 30 turned out to be traitors. Ortenberg said that one cannot write about two traitors, and, apparently, after consulting with someone, he decided to write in the front line about only one traitor. "

Calculation of the PTRD-41 anti-tank gun in position during the battle for Moscow. Moscow region, winter 1941-1942. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

"I was told that I would find myself in Kolyma"

So, there was no feat of 28 Panfilov heroes, and this is literary fiction? This is the opinion of the head of GARF Mironenko and his supporters.

But don't jump to conclusions.

First, the secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) Andrey Zhdanov, to whom the findings of the prosecutor's investigation were reported, did not give them any progress. Let's say a party leader decided to "leave the question".

Alexander Krivitsky in the 1970s talked about how the prosecutor's office was investigating in 1947-1948: “I was told that if I refused to testify that the description of the battle at Dubosekovo I did not speak to the Panfilovites before the publication of the article, then I will soon find myself in Pechora or Kolyma. In such a situation, I had to say that the battle at Dubosekovo is my literary fiction. "

The regiment commander Kaprov in his other testimony was also not so categorical: “At 14-15 o'clock the Germans opened heavy artillery fire ... and again went on the attack with tanks ... More than 50 tanks were advancing in the regiment's sectors, and the main blow was directed at the positions of the 2nd battalion , including the section of the 4th company, and one tank even went out to the location of the regiment's command post and lit hay and a booth, so I accidentally was able to get out of the dugout: the railroad embankment saved me, people who survived after attacks by German tanks. The 4th company suffered the most: 20-25 people, led by the company commander Gundilovich, survived. The rest of the companies suffered less. "

"Memorial to the heroes of Panfilov" at the Dubosekovo junction. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

There was a battle at Dubosekovo, the company fought heroically

The testimony of local residents testifies that on November 16, 1941, at the Dubosekovo junction, there really was a battle between Soviet soldiers and the advancing Germans. Six fighters, including political instructor Klochkov, were buried by residents of the surrounding villages.

No one doubts that the soldiers of the 4th company at the Dubosekovo junction fought heroically.

There is no doubt that the 316th Infantry Division of General Panfilov in defensive battles in the Volokolamsk direction in November 1941 managed to hold back the enemy's onslaught, which became the most important factor that allowed the Nazis to be defeated near Moscow.

According to the archival data of the USSR Ministry of Defense, the entire 1075th Infantry Regiment on November 16, 1941, destroyed 15 or 16 tanks and about 800 enemy personnel. That is, we can say that 28 soldiers at the Dubosekovo junction did not destroy 18 tanks and not all of them were killed.

But there is no doubt that their perseverance and courage, their self-sacrifice made it possible to defend Moscow.

Of the 28 people included in the lists of heroes, 6 who were considered dead, wounded and shell-shocked, miraculously survived. One of them turned out to be faint-hearted Ivan Dobrobabin. Does this cancel the feat of the other 27?

Memorial in Dubosekovo. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / Lodo27

300 Spartans - a myth propagated by the Greek state?

One of the most famous military feats in the history of mankind, which everyone has heard about, is the feat of 300 Spartans, who fell in the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC against a 200,000-strong Persian army.

Not everyone knows that not only 300 Spartans fought with the Persians at Thermopylae. The total number of the Greek army, representing not only Sparta, but also other policies, according to various estimates, ranged from 5,000 to 12,000 people. Of these, about 4000 died in the battle, and about 400 were captured. Moreover, according to Herodotus, under Pheromopylae not all of the 300 soldiers died tsar Leonidas... Warrior Pantin, sent by Leonidas as a messenger and only therefore did not appear on the battlefield, hanged himself, for in Sparta he was awaited by shame and contempt. Aristodemus, who did not find himself on the battlefield only because of illness, drank the cup of shame to the end, having lived the rest of the years with the nickname Aristodemus the Coward. And this despite the fact that he heroically fought in the subsequent battles with the Persians.

Despite all these circumstances, you are unlikely to see Greek historians or the head of the Greek archive frenziedly bombarding the Greek media with materials that "300 Spartans are a myth propagated by the state."

So why, tell me, Russia does not stop trying to trample on its heroes, who gave their lives in the name of the Fatherland?

Heroes remain heroes

Historians agree that the feat of 28 Panfilov heroes was of great importance, having played an exceptional mobilizing role, becoming an example of perseverance, courage and self-sacrifice. The phrase "Russia is great, but there is nowhere to retreat - Moscow is behind!" became a symbol of the defenders of the Motherland for decades to come.

In the fall of 2015, the film "Panfilov's 28" directed by the director should be released on the screens of Russia Andrey Shaliopa... Fundraising for the painting, which will tell the classic story of the feat of the defenders of Moscow, took place and continues by the method of crowdfunding (public funding). The project "Panfilov's 28" raised 31 million rubles, which makes it one of the most successful crowdfunding projects in Russian cinema.

Perhaps this is the best answer to the question of what the feat of 28 Panfilov heroes is for our contemporaries.

In the fall of 1941, the Volokolamsk region near Moscow became for three dozen soldiers of the Red Army the real Thermopylae gorge of three hundred Spartans ... And although the feat of these people will not be described by Herodotus, it did not become less significant from this. After all, it was here that the fate of the capital of our state was decided for a few hours.

This gigantic composition, depicting warriors of different nationalities who defended Moscow from the Nazis many decades ago, is located one and a half kilometers from the unremarkable Dubosekovo railway station near Moscow in the Volokolamsk region. However, not many residents of this ancient town, as well as summer residents passing the railway station on weekends by train and accustomed to monumental figures towering in the fields, come to mind what happened here 75 years ago ...

Then the tank brigades of the Wehrmacht were advancing at great speed towards Moscow. A state of siege has long been declared in the city, many members of the government have been evacuated, residents are ready for defense. Captured Maloyaroslavets, Kalinin, Kaluga, Volokolamsk ... And in order to get to the capital, the Germans had only to overcome one line of defense of the Soviet army, located at the Volokolamskoe highway near the Dubosekovo railway junction. Having broken through it, the German tanks could simply drive onto the highway and go to Moscow along it. And at the moment when the plan of the 1941 campaign of the year seems almost complete to the Nazis, and, according to the memoirs of contemporaries of those events, the Wehrmacht officers joke that after having breakfast in Volokolamsk, they will have dinner in Moscow, several dozen Soviet Spartans suddenly stand in their way, who at the cost their own lives frustrate the plan of the Germans.

Ivan Vasilievich Panfilov

The 316th rifle division of General Ivan Panfilov, defending Volokolamskoe highway, and the cavalry corps of General Lev Dovator were to stand on the way of the Nazis to the Volokolamskoe highway.

The Volokolamsk front in mid-November 1941 was stretched for almost 40 kilometers. It was to be broken through by two divisions of German tanks with the support of infantry. At the same time, the tanks, on the one hand, were to be opposed by cavalrymen with bald caps, and on the other, by arrows who did not even have artillery pieces.

At 6 a.m. on November 16, Lieutenant General Rudolf Fayel's 2nd Panzer Division attacked the center of the 316th Infantry Division. And at the same time, the eleventh tank division of Major General Walter Scheller rushes to the most unprotected place in the Soviet defense - the Petelino-Shiryaevo-Dubosekovo line - that is, the very edge of the Panfilov division, where the second battalion of the 1075th rifle regiment was located ... But the main and most terrible the blow of the Germans will fall precisely on the Dubosekovo railway crossing, which was defended by the 4th company of the second battalion, which consisted of only three dozen people. They had to hold back almost 50 German tanks and several hundred Wehrmacht infantrymen. And all this - just imagine - also under the bombing of the Luftwaffe. At the same time, the only thing that protected the Soviet riflemen from artillery and enemy bomb attacks was a high railway embankment with rails.

There is a transcript of an interview with one of the participants in that meat grinder, Private Ivan Vasiliev, who was lucky enough to stay alive. It was recorded on December 22, 1942 and published only years later:

“On the 16th at 6 in the morning, the German began to bomb our right and left flanks, and we got a lot. 35 planes bombed us. They took a battle with tanks. From the right flank they fired from an anti-tank rifle, but we didn't have it ... They started jumping out of the trenches and throwing bundles of grenades under the tanks ... Bottles of fuel were thrown at the crews. "

In this first attack, according to Vasiliev, the riflemen of the 4th company managed to destroy about 80 German infantrymen and 15 tanks ... And this despite the fact that the fighters had only two anti-tank guns and one machine gun at their disposal ...

The battle at Dubosekovo station was the first battle in which Soviet soldiers used anti-tank guns, that is, anti-tank guns. And the problem was not only that their production had just begun by that time.

By themselves, the B-32 bullets with which this weapon was charged, the armor of German tanks 35 millimeters thick could only hit at close range, and even then not in a frontal attack, but in the stern at best ...

The main weapons of Panfilov's men in this battle were Molotov cocktails and RPG-40 grenades.

Although the RPG-40 was considered an anti-tank grenade, its effectiveness against German vehicles was even lower than that of the PTRD. One such grenade was capable of penetrating at best 20 millimeters of armor, and even then only if it was attached to this armor. That is why, in order to blow up just one tank, you had to make a whole bunch of grenades, and then, running out of the trench under heavy enemy fire, get close to the tank and throw this bunch onto the tower - the most vulnerable spot in the armored vehicle.

After blowing up a tank in a similar situation, the attacker survived only if he was very lucky. Just making such a maneuver, the political instructor of the 4th Panfilov company Vasily Klochkov died, who on November 16 had to perform the duties of the company commander, since he was already shell-shocked.

This is the last picture of 30-year-old Klochkov, in which he was captured with his daughter just before being sent to the front ...

On the photo there is an inscription: "For the future of my daughter I am going to war."

The second German attack on Dubosekovo began at two in the afternoon. After a small shelling of Panfilov's positions, a group of 20 tanks and two companies of infantrymen armed with machine guns entered the battle. Amazingly, this German attack was also repulsed, despite the fact that by that time only seven seriously wounded soldiers remained in the 4th company. But in the end, the Germans were never able to reach the Volokolamskoe highway, and the commander of the Army Group "Center" Fyodor von Bock, realizing that the plan to take Volokolamka had failed, transferred the tank divisions to the Leningradskoe highway ...

Fedor von Bock

But why, despite the fact that the heroes of Panfilov's division managed to stop the advance of the Germans towards Moscow, recently their feat is considered by many liberal historians who began to appear in our country during perestroika to be nothing more than a propaganda legend?

Some experts are sure that an article entitled "The Testament of 28 Fallen Heroes" published by the editor of the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper Alexander Krivitsky on November 28, 1941, that is, less than two weeks after the battle at Dubosekovo, served as a fertile ground for this ...

The article was written in the first person, and as if the journalist not only participated in the battle himself, but also directly controlled its course ...

“The soldiers silently watched the approaching submachine gunners. Distributed the goals precisely. The Germans went, as if for a walk, to their full height. "

But these words summed up the battle:

“All twenty-eight folded their heads. They died, but did not let the enemy pass. "

At the same time, the most curious thing, as it turned out later, was that Krivitsky himself did not drive even close to the battlefield, and his correspondent Viktor Koroteev did not visit Dubosekovo, who decided to confine himself to an interview with an instructor-informant at the headquarters of the 316th division.

Alexander Krivitsky

At the same time, what is most striking, the journalists took the number of fighters of 28 people, as they say, from the ceiling. Indeed, in fact, in the 4th company there were 162 fighters, but on the eve of the battle, the command decided to create a mobile group of the most trained tank destroyers, which included 30 people. The rest simply had nothing to equip - there were few anti-tank rifles then, and those 11 that were at the disposal of the division decided to give this special detachment.

But then why did not 30 people become the canonical number of Panfilovites, but 28? Some historians are sure that the editor of Krasnaya Zvezda decided to reduce the number of heroes by two because of Stalin's directive number 308, issued on September 18, 1941. And in it it was prescribed - "to curb cowards and alarmists with an iron hand." So the diligent writer, who combined journalism with fiction, and at the same time with educational PR, among the heroes in the article appeared 2 traitors who allegedly tried to surrender, but were shot by their own. True, before putting it into the set, the editor considered that 2 traitors for 30 people was too much, and their number was reduced to one, while he did not change the number of heroes.

And this propaganda, in which the editor decided to bury the living, albeit wounded, fighters, moreover, shamelessly mistaking their names and surnames, soon became official information about the feat of Panfilov, designed to raise the morale of the army. And then she entered Soviet textbooks.

In 1948, the military prosecutor's office and the NKVD decided to investigate what actually happened near Dubosekovo on November 16, 1941 and who of Panfilov's division died a heroic death, and who survived or surrendered. Then, unexpectedly for everyone, it turned out: one of the Panfilovites, Ivan Dobrobabin, who, according to the article of the inventor Krivitsky, who confused the names of the division fighters, distinguished himself in the battle near Volokolamsk, in fact not only did not perform any feats, but since August 1942 he worked quite freely against the Nazis, being the head of the auxiliary police in one of the villages occupied by the Germans.

Ivan Dobrobabin

And another hero of the opus from the "Red Star" - Daniil Kozhubergenov, who was mistakenly named in the article after the never existed Askar Kozhebergenev, as well as all the other Panfilovites who allegedly died near Dubosekovo ...

Daniil Kozhubergenov

On that day, he did not participate in the battle at Dubosekovo simply because he was sent to the headquarters as a liaison with the report. That's why he survived. However, the editor of the article decided that none of the Panfilovites should survive ... And when Kozhubergenov tried to declare that the rumors about his death were too exaggerated, he was simply sent to the penal battalion as an impostor.

Soon, Kozhubergenov, a private in the penal battalion, miraculously managed to avoid death and no less meat grinder than the one in which his comrades died in the battle near Rzhev. And then, never being recognized as a Panfilov hero and having received a serious injury, Daniil Kozhubergenov will return to his native Alma-Ata, where he will end his days working as a stoker.

But, belittling the feat of 28 Panfilov's men only by the fact that not 28 of them participated in the battle, but a little more, and the fact that some of them managed to survive, historians of perestroika times and the liberal 90s for some reason do not remember the feats of other soldiers of the division of General Panfilov , which was committed there, near Volokolamsk, 2 days after the battle at the railway crossing.

Perhaps they do not remember it because illiterate propaganda campaigns with the wrong names of heroes were not written about him, and because in this heroic battle there were certainly no survivors left.

In the village of Strokovo near Moscow, there is a mass grave of the very eleven Panfilov sappers who died covering the retreat of Panfilov's 316 division to another defensive line. The task of the cover group was to delay the tanks at Strokovo in order to enable the main forces of the division to regroup and retreat.

The group included eight sappers, a junior political instructor and an assistant platoon commander. All under the leadership of junior lieutenant Peter Firstov. Only 11 people. And these eleven fighters had to stop 10 German tanks, which were accompanied by numerous infantry. It's hard to believe, but in this battle, which lasted 3 hours, 6 German tanks were destroyed and about a hundred German infantrymen and crew members were killed. When the Germans retreated, among the fighters of the covering group, only three people remained alive - Lieutenant Firstov himself and two sappers - Vasily Semyonov and Pyotr Genievsky. They would die already during the second tank attack, detaining the Germans for several hours. They were buried by the residents of the village of Strokova, who witnessed that battle.

But, despite the indisputable facts, namely, that at the cost of their lives in the fall of 1941, our fighters managed to stop the most powerful army in the world on the outskirts of the capital at that time, today, like 20 years ago during perestroika, and then privatization and humiliating loans from the IMF, many talk about the exploits of Panfilov as a myth of Soviet propaganda. Although, in order to prove this, such pseudo-historians have to cling to inaccuracies in the journalist's article, which the author himself will later declare to be his own fiction. But, clinging to this fiction, some historians go further and not only do not recognize in the majority of the Red Army soldiers, heroes and liberators of Europe from fascism, who died in the Great Patriotic War, but also call them rapists of this very Europe.

The history of the Second World War is full of heroic pages. However, over the 70 years that have passed since the Victory Day, many falsifications have been revealed, as well as stories about how some events took place that raise doubts about their reliability. Among them is the feat of 28 Panfilovites, which is mentioned in the anthem of Moscow and which more than once became the basis for scripts of feature films.

Background

In the first months after, in the cities of Frunze and Alma-Ata, the 316th rifle division was formed, the command of which was entrusted to the then military commissar Major General I.V. Panfilov. At the end of August 1941, this military formation became part of the active army and was sent to the front near Novgorod. Two months later, he was transferred to the Volokolamsk region and ordered to occupy a 40 km long defense zone. The soldiers of Panfilov's division had to constantly conduct exhausting battles. Moreover, in the last week of October 1941 alone, they destroyed and burned 80 units of enemy equipment, and the enemy's losses in manpower amounted to more than 9 thousand officers and soldiers.

The division under the command of Panfilov included 2 artillery regiments. In addition, she had one tank company under her command. However, one of its rifle regiments was ill-prepared, as it was formed shortly before going to the front. The Panfilovites, as they were later called in the Soviet press, were opposed by three tank and one rifle divisions of the Wehrmacht. The enemies launched an offensive on October 15.

One of the most famous Soviet patriotic legends, which originated during the Great Patriotic War, tells about the events at the Dubosekovo junction, which allegedly took place on November 16, 1941. She first appeared in the newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda, in an essay by front correspondent V. Koroteev. According to this primary source, 28 people who were part of the fourth company of the second battalion of the 1075th regiment, commanded by political instructor V. Klochkov, destroyed 18 enemy tanks during a fierce 4-hour battle. Moreover, almost all of them died in an unequal battle. The article also contained a phrase that, according to Koroteev, Klochkov uttered before his death: "Russia is great, but there is nowhere to retreat - Moscow is behind!"

The feat of 28 Panfilov's men: the story of one falsification

The day after the first article in “Krasnaya Zvezda”, material was published under the authorship of A. Yu. Krivitsky, entitled “The Testament of 28 Fallen Heroes”, whom the journalist referred to as Panfilovites. The feat of the soldiers and their political instructor was described in all details, but the publication did not mention the names of the participants in the events. They first got into the press only on January 22, when the same Krivitsky presented the feat of the Panfilovites in a detailed essay, acting as an eyewitness to those events. It is interesting that Izvestia wrote about the battles near Volokolamsk as early as November 19 and reported only 9 destroyed tanks and 3 burned ones.

The story of the heroes who defended the capital at the cost of their lives shocked the Soviet people and soldiers who fought on all fronts, and the command of the Western Front prepared a petition addressed to the People's Commissar of Defense to appropriate the 28 brave soldiers mentioned in A. Krivitsky's article, titles of Heroes of the Soviet Union. As a result, on July 21, 1942, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet signed a corresponding decree.

Official exposure

Already in 1948, a large-scale investigation was carried out with the aim of establishing whether the feat of 28 Panfilov's men really took place. The reason was that a year earlier, a certain I. E. Dobrobabin had been arrested in Kharkov. He was brought to justice with the wording "for treason", as the investigators discovered irrefutable facts confirming that during the war years he voluntarily surrendered and entered the service of the invaders. In particular, it was possible to establish that this former policeman in 1941 was a participant in the battle under the Dubosekovo patrol. Moreover, it turned out that he and Dobrobabin, mentioned in Krivitsky's article, are one and the same person, and he was posthumously awarded the title of Hero. Further investigation made it possible to consider everything stated in the articles in which the feat of the Panfilovites near Moscow was described as falsification. The revealed facts formed the basis of a certificate signed by the then Prosecutor General of the USSR G. Safonov, which was presented on June 11, 1948.

Criticism in the press

The results of the investigation, which cast doubt on the fact that the feat of the Panfilovites in the form described in the publications of "Krasnaya Zvezda" actually took place, did not get into the Soviet press. It was only in 1966 that the first article appeared in Novy Mir about the November battles at Dubosekovo. In it, the author urged to study the facts concerning who the Panfilovites were, whose feat was described in all history textbooks. However, this topic did not receive further development in the Soviet press until the beginning of perestroika, when thousands of archival documents were declassified, including the results of the 1948 investigation, which established that the feat of the Panfilov heroes was just a literary fiction.

Where does the number 28 come from?

The transcript of the interrogation of the correspondent Koroteev sheds light on how and why in 1941 there was a distortion of the facts concerning the Panfilov soldiers. In particular, he points out that upon returning from the front, he presented information about the battle of the 5th company of the 316th rifle division, which fell on the battlefield without surrendering its positions, to the editor of Krasnaya Zvezda. The latter asked him how many fighters there were, and Koroteev, who knew that she was understaffed, replied that it was 30-40, adding that he himself was not in the 1075th rifle regiment, since it was impossible to get into his position. In addition, he said that, according to a political report from the regiment, two soldiers tried to surrender, but were shot by their comrades. Thus, it was decided to publish the number 28 and write about only one faint-hearted fighter. This is how the legend and the fictional “dead, all as one, Panfilov's men” appeared, whose feat was sung in verses and songs.

Attitude to a heroic deed

Today it is blasphemous to argue about whether Panfilov's men were heroes. The feat of all those soldiers who honestly fulfilled their duty in November 1941 is undoubted, as is their great merit in the fact that the Soviet troops did not allow the fascist invaders into the capital of our Motherland. Another thing is that the fact that traitors were among the awardees is an insult to the memory of real heroes who did not spare their lives for the sake of achieving the Great Victory, the 70th anniversary of which will soon be celebrated by all humanity not suffering from historical amnesia.

The feat of 28 Panfilov heroes

November 16, 1941 with a new the offensive of the fascist army on Moscow 28 soldiers from the division of General Panfilov performed their immortal feat at the Dubosekovo junction

By the end of October 1941, the first stage of the German offensive operation on Moscow called "Typhoon" was completed. German troops, having defeated parts of three Soviet fronts near Vyazma, reached the closest approaches to Moscow.

At the same time, the German troops suffered losses and needed some respite for the units to rest, put them in order and replenish them. By November 2, the front line in the Volokolamsk direction had stabilized, the German units temporarily went over to the defensive.

On November 16, German troops went on the offensive again, planning to defeat the Soviet units, encircle Moscow and victoriously end the 1941 campaign. On the Volokolamsk direction, the Germans were blocked by the 316th rifle division of Major General I.V. Panfilov, who defended on a 41-kilometer-long front from the village of Lvovo to the Bolychevo state farm.

Ivan Vasilievich Panfilov

On the right flank, its neighbor was the 126th Infantry Division, on the left - the 50th Cavalry Division from the corps Dovator.

Lev Mikhailovich Dovator

On November 16, the division was attacked by two German panzer divisions: Lieutenant General Rudolf Fayel's 2nd Panzer Division attacked positions of the 316th Infantry Division in the center of defense, and Major General Walter Scheller's 11th Panzer Division struck in the area Dubosekovo on the positions of the 1075th Infantry Regiment, at the junction with the 50th Cavalry Division.

Walter Scheller

PzKpfw-IIIG of the 11th Panzer Division at the Dubosekovo junction

year of release - 1937; weight - 15.4 t; crew - 5 people; armor - 14.5 mm;gun - 37 mm;

speed - 32 km / h

The main blow fell on the position of the 2nd battalion of the regiment.

The 1075th Infantry Regiment in previous battles suffered significant losses in personnel and equipment, but before new battles it was significantly replenished with personnel. The question of artillery armament of the regiment is not completely clear. According to the state, the regiment was supposed to have a battery of four 76-mm regimental guns and an anti-tank battery of six 45-mm guns.

Morally outdated French guns also had weak ballistics; nothing is known about the presence of armor-piercing shells for them. However, it is known that for firing at tanks from guns of this type, shrapnel shells were used, the fuse of which was set to strike. From a 500-meter distance, such a projectile penetrated 31 millimeters of German armor.

At the same time, it is known that in general, the 316th Infantry Division on November 16, 1941 had 12 - 45-mm anti-tank guns, 26 - 76-mm divisional guns, 17 - 122-mm howitzers and 5 - 122-mm corps guns. that could be used in battle with German tanks. The neighbor, the 50th Cavalry Division, also had its own artillery. The regiment's infantry anti-tank weapons were represented by 11 ATGMs (four of them were in the second battalion), RPG-40 grenades and Molotov cocktails.

Anti-tank rifles characterized by high armor penetration, especially when using cartridges with B-31 bullets, which had a tungsten carbide core.

PTRD could hit German tanks only at close range from a 300-meter distance, piercing 35-mm armor at such a distance.

The battle at the Dubosekovo junction became the first case of the use of anti-tank rifles, the production of which was just beginning to unfold, and their number was still insufficient.

It is here at Dubosekova, and the fourth company of the 1075th rifle regiment took over the battle. According to the staff of the 04/600 division, the company was supposed to have 162 people, and by December 16 there were about 120 people in the stand. Where did the number 28 come from?

The fact is that on the eve of the battle, a special group of tank destroyers in the amount of about 30 people was created from among the most persistent and most accurate fighters, the command of which was entrusted to a 30-year-old political instructor Vasily Klochkov.

Vasily Georgievich Klochkov - Diev

All anti-tank guns were transferred to this group, and therefore the number of destroyed tanks does not look fantastic at all - out of 54 tanks moving towards Panfilov, the heroes managed to destroy 18 vehicles, the loss of 13 of which was admitted by the Germans themselves. But the Germans recognized the tank as lost only if it could not be restored, and if after the battle the tank was sent for overhaul with the replacement of the engine or weapons, such a tank was not considered lost.

A few days later, the list of these fighters was compiled from memory by the company commander, Captain Gundilovich, at the request of the Krasnaya Zvezda correspondent, Alexander Yuryevich Krivitsky. The captain may not have remembered someone, but someone probably got on this list by mistake - he died earlier or fought with the Germans as part of another unit, because the group included not only the captain's subordinates, but also volunteers from other units a shelf.

Despite the fact that, at the end of the battle, the battlefield remained with the Germans, and most of our fighters who participated in this battle were killed, the homeland did not forget the feat of the heroes, and already on November 27 the newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda first informed the people of this feat, and on the next day, an editorial appeared in the same newspaper under the heading "The Testament of the 28 Fallen Heroes." This article indicated that 29 Panfilov men fought with enemy tanks. At the same time, the 29th was called a traitor. In fact, this 29th was sent Klochkov with a report to Dubosekovo... However, there were already Germans and a soldier in the village. Daniil Kozhabergenov was captured. On the evening of November 16, he escaped from captivity to the forest. For some time he was in the occupied territory, after which he was discovered by horsemen Dovator located in the raid on the German rear. After connection exits Dovator from the raid, was interrogated by the special department, admitted that he did not participate in the battle, and was sent back to the division Dovator.

The main blow falls on the positions of the 2nd battalion, which occupied the defense line of Petelino-Shiryaevo-Dubosekovo. The 4th company of this battalion covered the most important section - a railway crossing near Dubosekovo, behind which a direct road to Moscow opened. The firing points immediately before the move were organized by the soldiers of the 2nd platoon of tank destroyers - a total of 29 people. They were armed with anti-tank PTRD rifles, as well as anti-tank grenades and Molotov cocktails. There was one machine gun.

bottles with cop

On the eve of this battle, the commander of the second platoon, D. Shirmatov, was wounded, so the "Panfilovites" commanded the platoon commander Sergeant I. Ye. Dobrobabin.

Ivan Efstafievich Dobrobabin

He made sure that the firing positions were equipped conscientiously - five full-profile trenches were dug, reinforced with railway sleepers.

reconstruction of the "Panfilov's" trenches

At 8 o'clock in the morning on November 16, the first fascists appeared near the fortifications. The "Panfilovites" hid themselves and did not show their presence. As soon as most of the Germans climbed to the height in front of the positions, Dobrobabin gave a short whistle. A machine gun immediately responded, shooting the Germans point-blank, from a hundred meters.

Other soldiers of the platoon also opened heavy fire. The enemy, having lost about 70 people, rolled back in disarray. After this first collision, the 2nd platoon had no losses at all.
Soon, German artillery fire fell on the railway crossing, after which the German submachine gunners again rose to the attack. She was again beaten back, and again without loss. In the afternoon, two German PzKpfw-IIIG tanks appeared at Dubosekovo, accompanied by an infantry platoon. “Panfilov's men” managed to destroy several infantrymen and set one tank on fire, after which the enemy retreated again. The relative calm in front of Dubosekovo was due to the fact that a fierce battle had been raging for a long time at the positions of the 5th and 6th companies of the 2nd battalion.

Regrouping, the Germans conducted a short artillery preparation and threw a tank battalion into the attack, supported by two companies of machine gunners. The tanks went in a deployed front, 15-20 tanks in a group, in several waves.

The main blow was delivered in the direction of Dubosekovo as the most tank-accessible area.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, before the move, a heated battle broke out. Anti-tank rifles, of course, could not stop the offensive of a dozen German tanks, and the battle began near the village itself. The soldiers had to jump out of the trenches under cannon and machine-gun fire, in order to throw a bunch of anti-tank grenades or a Molotov cocktail for sure. At the same time, they still had to repel the attacks of enemy machine gunners, shoot at the tankers jumping out of the burning tanks ...

As a participant in that battle testifies, one of the platoon soldiers could not stand it and jumped out of the trench with his hands up. Carefully aiming, Vasiliev removed the traitor.
From the explosions in the air, there was a constant curtain of dirty snow, soot and smoke. This is probably why Dobrobabin did not notice how the enemy on the right and left practically destroyed the 1st and 3rd platoons. One by one, the soldiers and his platoon perished, but the number of destroyed tanks also grew. The seriously wounded were hastily dragged into the dugout equipped in the positions. The slightly wounded did not go anywhere and continued to fire ...
Finally, having lost several tanks and up to two infantry platoons before the move, the enemy began to retreat. One of the last shells fired by the Germans severely concussed Dobrobabin, and he lost consciousness for a long time.

The command was taken by the political instructor of the 4th company V.G. Klochkov, sent to the position of the second platoon of the company by Gundilovich. The surviving fighters later spoke of Klochkov respectfully - without any pathetic phrases, he lifted the spirit of the fighters, exhausted and sooty after hours of battle.

The soul of the detachment of guards was a political instructor V.G. Klochkov. Already in the first days of the fighting near the walls of the capital, he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner and was honored to participate in the military parade on Red Square on November 7, 1941.
Vasily Klochkov made his way into the trenches at the Dubosekovo junction and stayed with his soldiers to the end. Twenty black, with white crosses, clanking caterpillars, smugly rumbling fascist tanks, an avalanche approached the Dubosekovsky trench. The Nazi infantry ran after the tanks. Klochkov remarked: “There are many tanks, but there are more of us. Twenty pieces of tanks, less than one tank per brother. " The warriors decided to fight to the death. The tanks advanced very close. The battle began. The command was given by political instructor Klochkov. Under fire, Panfilov's men jumped out of the trench and threw bundles of grenades under the tracks of tanks, and bottles of fuel - on the engine unit or the gas tank.

For four hours a firestorm raged over the trenches of the brave men. Shells exploded, bottles with a combustible mixture flew, shells hissed and whistle, flames raged, melting snow, earth and armor. The enemy could not stand it and retreated. Fourteen steel monsters with ominous white crosses on their sides blazed on the battlefield. The survivors fled home. Thinned the ranks of the defenders. In the haze of the approaching twilight, the rumble of engines was heard again. Having licked his wounds, filling his belly with fire and lead, the enemy, seized by a new attack of rage, again rushed to the attack - 30 tanks moved on a handful of brave men.

Political instructor Klochkov looked at the soldiers.
“Thirty tanks, friends!” He said. Probably, we will have to die here for the glory of the Motherland. Let the Motherland know how we fight here, how we defend Moscow. We have nowhere to retreat - Moscow is behind. "

These words of Klochkov entered the hearts of the fighters as a call to the Motherland, a demand, its order, instilling in them a new strength of selfless courage. Now it was already clear that in this battle the soldiers would find their own death, but still they wanted to make the enemy pay dearly for their lives. The soldiers, bleeding to death, did not leave their combat posts. The attack of the Nazis was drowned out. Suddenly, another heavy tank tries to break through to the trench. Political instructor Klochkov stands up to meet him. His hand grips a bunch of grenades - the last bunch. Badly wounded with grenades, he rushed to the enemy tank and blew it up.

The brave political instructor did not hear how a strong explosion echoed across the snowy expanses. Next to Klochkov, head to head, lay the wounded soldier Ivan Nashtarov and, as if in a dream, from somewhere far away, heard the voice of the political instructor "We are dying, brother ... Someday they will remember us ... If you live, tell us ...". The second attack was repulsed. Again the enemy did not pass. He tossed about in smoke and flame and, finally, backing away, growling in impotent rage, turned to a shameful flight, leaving 18 of his 50 tanks to burn out. Fortitude 28 Soviet heroes heroes turned out to be stronger than enemy armor. More than 150 fascist conquerors lay in the snow at the site of the fierce battle. The battlefield died down. The legendary trench was silent. The defenders of their native land performed what had to be done. Stretching out their weary hands, as if covering the wounded, blood-soaked native land with their lifeless bodies, those who stood were lying. For boundless courage, heroism, military valor and courage, the Soviet government posthumously awarded the participants in the battle at the Dubosekovo junction with the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
The Panfilovites became a terrible curse for the Nazis, legends circulated about the strength and courage of the heroes. On November 17, 1941, the 316th Rifle Division was renamed the 8th Guards Rifle Division and awarded the Order of the Red Banner. Hundreds of guardsmen were awarded orders and medals.
On November 19, the division lost its commander ... It fought for 36 days under the command of General I.V. Panfilov 316th Rifle Division, defending the capital in the main direction.
Not having achieved decisive successes in the Volokolamsk direction, the main enemy forces turned to Solnechnogorsk, where they intended to break through first to Leningradskoe, then to Dmitrovskoe highway and enter Moscow from the north-west.
As it turned out later, not all 28 Panfilov men died in this unparalleled battle. Red Army soldier Nashtarov, seriously wounded, gathered his last strength, crawled off the battlefield and was picked up by our scouts at night. In the hospital, he spoke about the feat of Soviet soldiers. He died three days after the battle. The Red Army soldiers Illarion Romanovich Vasiliev, Grigory Melentyevich Shemyakin were half-dead were picked up on the battlefield and after being cured they returned to their native division. The Red Army soldier Ivan Demidovich Shadrin was captured by the Germans in an unconscious state during the battle. For more than three years, he experienced all the horrors of Nazi concentration camps, remaining loyal to his homeland and To the Soviet people... Vasiliev died in the city of Kemerovo, Shemyakin died in Alma-Ata in December 1973, Shadrin died, who lived in the Kirovsky settlement of the Alma-Ata region.
The names of the Panfilov heroes are included in the annals of the Great Patriotic War in gold letters

By the end of the day, despite stubborn resistance, the 1075th Rifle Regiment was driven out of its positions and forced to retreat. An example of self-sacrifice was shown not only by the “Panfilovites” near Dubosekovo. Two days later, 11 sappers of the 1077th rifle regiment from the same 316th Panfilov division for a long time delayed the offensive of 27 German tanks with infantry near the village of Strokovo at the cost of their lives.

For two days of fighting, the 1075th regiment lost 400 people killed, 100 wounded and 600 missing. From the 4th company, which defended Dubosekovo, hardly a fifth of them remained. The losses in the 5th and 6th companies were even heavier.

Contrary to legends, not all "Panfilovs" were killed in the battle - seven fighters from the 2nd platoon survived, and all were seriously wounded. These are Natarov, Vasiliev, Shemyakin, Shadrin, Timofeev, Kozhubergenov and Dobrobabin. Before the arrival of the Germans, local residents managed to deliver the most seriously wounded Natarov and Vasiliev to the medical battalion. Shemyakin, heavily shell-shocked, was crawling through the forest from the village, where he was discovered by the cavalrymen of General Dovator. The Germans managed to take two prisoners - Shadrin (he was unconscious) and Timofeev (seriously wounded).

Natarov, taken to the medical battalion, soon died of his wounds. Before his death, he managed to tell something about the battle at Dubosekovo. So this story fell into the hands of A. Krivitsky, literary editor of the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper.

But, as we remember, six people still survived from the second platoon - Vasiliev and Shemyakin recovered in hospitals, Shadrin and Timofeev went through the hell of concentration camps, and Kozhubergenov and Dobrobabin continued to fight for their own people. Therefore, when they declared themselves, the NKVD reacted to this very nervously. Shadrin and Timofeev were immediately recorded as traitors. It is not known what else they were doing while being held captive by the Nazis. The rest were looked at very suspiciously - after all, the whole country knows that all 28 heroes died! And if these say that they are alive. So they are either impostors or cowards. And it remains to be seen which is worse.

ALMATY, 3 Dec - Sputnik. The Smersh case of 1942-1944, declassified in the fall of this year, puts an end to the disputes about the role of Kazakhstanis in the defense of Moscow on November 16, 1941, at the Dubosekovo junction.

How did the investigation of the feat of Kazakhstanis near Dubosekovo begin?

In order to finally establish the truth, representatives of the Russian Military Historical Society had to study previously classified archives for two years, said the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Vladimir Medinsky in the newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

Indisputable evidence was found by researchers in one of the folders "Main Directorate of Counterintelligence" Smersh ", 1st Baltic direction". It took a special department of the NKVD, and subsequently the Smersh employees, to collect materials, according to the chronology of the documents found, two years. And an investigation was carried out in hot pursuit.

The collection of factual data about what happened near Dubosekovo began from the moment when the Red Army soldier Daniil Kuzhebergenov was arrested. He was suspected that, fighting as part of units in the Volokolamsk direction, in mid-November 1941, he surrendered to the enemy with weapons in his hands. His escape, which he made a few hours later, aroused even more suspicion among the special officers. By that time, Kuzhebergenov, according to the Chekists, was among the 28 dead Panfilov heroes.

© Sputnik / Nikolay Khizhnyak

At first, Daniel claimed that he really participated in that battle, but later, according to the surviving papers, he retracted his words. As a result, the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously) among 28 was awarded to another Kuzhebergenov - Askar.

It was the unexpected "resurrection" of Daniil Kuzhabergenov that prompted a more extensive investigation into the circumstances of the battle and an article written about him by the military correspondent of the newspaper "Krasnaya Zvezda" Krivitsky.

What "told" the secret archives of "Smersh"

All these data from 1942-1943 are very similar to the investigation carried out by the General Prosecutor's Office in the case of Panfilov's men in 1948. But only up to this point. Historians now call further materials of a later investigation as fabricated, since a wave of repression of the army generals began and reasons were needed to bring high army officials to justice. That is why the results of the first, which passed, as they say, in hot pursuit, were then classified and emerged only now.

© Sputnik / Vladislav Vodnev

The documents that fell into the hands of historians a few months ago reliably confirm not only that the battle at the Dubosekovo junction really took place, but also that the journalist Krivitsky described them very close to reality.

"Testimony of the former military commissar of the 1075th Guards Rifle Regiment ... senior battalion commissar Mukhamedyarov Akhmedzhan Latypovich.

Question: - Where, when did the 28 Panfilov guardsmen fight with tanks and who exactly led this battle?

Answer: - ... The enemy, concentrating his main forces on his right flank, decided to strike on the left flank of our defense, that is, on the location of the 4th rifle company in the area of ​​the Dubosekovo, Shiryaevo and Petelino junction. The first attack of the enemy was directed to the second platoon of the 4th rifle company. The platoon first repulsed the attack of the enemy machine gunners. The latter, met with friendly and powerful fire from the heroes, leaving up to 80 people killed and wounded on the battlefield, was forced to retreat to its original position. "

Further, according to Mukhamedyarov, the German command sent about 50 tanks against the second platoon of the company, which were attacking in several echelons. Considering that there was practically no artillery support and there was not enough anti-tank rifles, the defenders of the line were forced to admit armored vehicles at close range and disable them with bundles of hand grenades and bottles filled with a combustible mixture. The battle, as a result of which 18 heavy enemy armored vehicles were disabled, lasted about five hours. All 28 soldiers of the platoon, including political instructor Vasily Klochkov, were killed and crushed by tanks. As a result, the enemy managed to break through the defenses.

Historical sensation from the archives of the FSB

The authenticity of the feat of the Panfilov heroes was confirmed after a deep study of the archives of the Russian FSB. So, the researchers managed to find the testimony of the chief of staff of the 1075th Guards Rifle Regiment, Senior Lieutenant Andrei Vetkov.

"... A very large role in the entire preparation of materials and perversions was played by the too great haste that was shown by those who prepared the materials and those who checked and promoted these materials. One thing is certain, whatever crept into the case, mass heroism, manifested in the battle with Nazi tanks in the battle near Dubosekovo on November 16, 1941, is an irrefutable fact, and nothing should erase the fond memory of 28 Panfilov heroes who died in the fight against German monsters for the happiness and freedom of their beloved Motherland, "said he is being interrogated by the NKVD on July 5, 1942.

© Sputnik / S. Kalmykov

Ivan Vasilyevich Panfilov (left), commander of the 316th rifle division, Major General

As the author of the article, Vladimir Medinsky, notes, it follows from the documents that, speaking of the feat, Andrei Vetkov does not doubt a single word, although he is somewhat confused when it comes to the award list. Then it was important for the investigation to find out where the inaccuracies in the award list came from. But it was no longer possible to interrogate the people who formed him and made mistakes in his stories, to the military commander Krivitsky: one of them, the commander of the 4th rifle company Gundilovich, died, while others were at the fronts and in hospitals hundreds or even thousands of kilometers away.

At the same time, it is noted that errors in the award documents could well have crept in as a result of the confusion that reigned at that moment in this sector of the front. Nevertheless, all doubts about the heroism of Kazakhstani soldiers are swept aside by just one short reference from the archive, which the author of the study cites:

"From the personnel of the 4th company of the 1075th Guards Rifle Regiment, operating in the battles at the Dubosekovo junction on 06.07.42, he serves in the regiment as an assistant to the chief of staff, former foreman of the 4th company Dzhivago Philip Trofimovich. Others there are no persons from the 4th rifle company operating in the Dubosekovo junction area as of 06.07.42 in the regiment. "

That is, of all the fighters who were in the rifle company in October 1941, only one fighter had fought by the summer of 1942.

Journalist Krivitsky wrote about what he saw with his own eyes

The accusations that have been heard in recent years against the war correspondent Krivitsky, thanks to whom the whole USSR learned about the feat of 28 Panfilov heroes in the USSR, were also dispelled by documents from the archives that suddenly saw the light of day.

"During the stay of the representatives of the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper, with the permission of the division command, they, together with Colonel Kaprov, the head of the political department of the division, senior battalion commissar Golushko and the commander of the second battalion, Captain Gundilovich, went to the battle area, where 28 heroes died, the Dubosekovo patrol," one of the interrogations of the former military commissar of the regiment Mukhamedyarov.

After returning, the group said that at the battle site, in the trenches and nearby, the bodies of 27 heroes who died during the defense were found. The body of political instructor Vasily Klochkov was not found on the spot, because after his death, secretly from the Germans, local residents sought it out and "buried it behind the guardhouse of the trackman of the Dubosekovo junction." It was on the basis of these data that Krivitsky wrote his material about the feat.

"The arithmetic, of course, does not converge. How much was exactly? At what moment of the battle? How many of the 130 soldiers of the company remained alive - and at the moment of which of the tank attacks? But all this" premium arithmetic "could not converge, especially then, considering the situation, "- writes the author of the article, Vladimir Medinsky.

At the same time, he concludes that the fact of the feat of 28 Kazakhstani Panfilov heroes not only was in reality, but turned out to be even more realistic and legendary than we imagined it all these many years.