The battles have long died down. The veterans leave one by one. But the heroes of the Second World War of 1941-1945 and their exploits will forever remain in the memory of grateful descendants. This article will tell about the brightest personalities of those years and their immortal deeds. Some were still quite young, while others were no longer young. Each of the characters has its own character and its own destiny. But all of them were united by love for the Motherland and a willingness to sacrifice themselves for its good.

Alexander Matrosov.

Orphanage pupil Sasha Matrosov went to war at the age of 18. Immediately after the infantry school, he was sent to the front. February 1943 turned out to be "hot". Alexander's battalion went on the attack, and at some point the guy, along with several comrades, was surrounded. It was not possible to break through to our own - enemy machine guns fired too densely. Soon Matrosov was left alone. His comrades perished under the bullets. The young man had only a few seconds to make a decision. Unfortunately, it turned out to be the last in his life. Wanting to bring at least some benefit to his native battalion, Alexander Matrosov rushed to the embrasure, covering it with his body. The fire is silent. The attack of the Red Army was ultimately successful - the Nazis retreated. And Sasha went to heaven as a young and handsome 19-year-old guy ...

Marat Kazei

When the Great Patriotic War began, Marat Kazei was only twelve. He lived in the village of Stankovo ​​with his sister and parents. In the 41st he was in occupation. Marat's mother helped the partisans, providing them with her shelter and feeding them. Once the Germans found out about this and shot the woman. Left alone, the children, without hesitation, went to the forest and joined the partisans. Marat, who had completed only four classes before the war, helped his senior comrades as much as he could. He was even taken on reconnaissance; and he also participated in undermining the German trains. In the 43rd, the boy was awarded the medal "For Courage", for the heroism shown during the breakthrough of the encirclement. The boy was wounded in that terrible battle. And in 1944, Kazei was returning from intelligence with an adult partisan. They were noticed by the Germans and began to fire. The older comrade died. Marat fired back to the last bullet. And when he had only one grenade left, the teenager let the Germans get closer and blew himself up along with them. He was 15 years old.

Alexey Maresyev

The name of this man is known to every inhabitant of the former Soviet Union. After all, we are talking about a legendary pilot. Alexei Maresyev was born in 1916 and dreamed of the sky since childhood. Even the transferred rheumatism did not become an obstacle on the way to the dream. Despite the prohibitions of doctors, Alexei entered the flight - they took him after several futile attempts. In 1941, the stubborn young man went to the front. The sky was not what he dreamed of. But it was necessary to defend the Motherland, and Maresyev did everything for this. Once his plane was shot down. Wounded in both legs, Alexey managed to land the car on the territory occupied by the Germans and even somehow get through to his own. But time has been lost. The legs were "devoured" by gangrene, and they had to be amputated. Where to go to a soldier without both limbs? After all, she was completely crippled ... But Alexei Maresyev was not one of those. He remained in the ranks and continued to fight the enemy. As many as 86 times the winged car with the hero on board managed to take to the skies. Maresyev shot down 11 German planes. The pilot was lucky to survive that terrible war and feel the heady taste of victory. He died in 2001. "The Tale of a Real Man" by Boris Polevoy is a work about him. It was the feat of Maresyev that inspired the author to write it.

Zinaida Portnova

Born in 1926, Zina Portnova met the war as a teenager. At that time, a native resident of Leningrad was visiting relatives in Belarus. Once in the occupied territory, she did not sit on the sidelines, but joined the partisan movement. She glued leaflets, established contact with the underground ... In 1943, the Germans grabbed the girl and dragged her to their lair. During the interrogation, Zina somehow managed to take a pistol from the table. She shot her tormentors - two soldiers and an investigator. It was a heroic act that made the attitude of the Germans towards Zina even more brutal. It is impossible to convey in words the torment that the girl experienced during the terrible torture. But she was silent. Not a word could be squeezed out by the Nazis from her. As a result, the Germans shot their captive without getting anything from the heroine Zina Portnova.

Andrey Korzun

Andrei Korzun turned thirty in 1941. He was immediately called to the front, sent to the artillerymen. Korzun took part in the terrible battles near Leningrad, during one of which he was seriously wounded. It was November 5, 1943. As he fell, Korzun noticed that the ammunition depot was on fire. It was necessary to urgently put out the fire, otherwise the explosion of huge force threatened to take many lives. Somehow, bleeding and in pain, the gunner crawled to the warehouse. The artilleryman did not have the strength to take off his overcoat and throw it on the flame. Then he covered the fire with his body. The explosion didn't happen. Andrei Korzun failed to survive.

Leonid Golikov

Another young hero is Lenya Golikov. Born in 1926. Lived in the Novgorod region. With the outbreak of war, he left to partisan. The courage and determination of this teenager was not to take. Leonid destroyed 78 fascists, a dozen enemy trains and even a couple of bridges. The explosion that went down in history and claimed the German General Richard von Wirtz was his doing. The car of an important rank flew into the air, and Golikov took possession of valuable documents, for which he received the star of the Hero. A brave partisan died in 1943 near the village of Ostraya Luka during a German attack. The enemy significantly outnumbered our fighters in number, and they had no chance. Golikov fought until his last breath.
These are just six of the great many stories that permeated the entire war. Everyone who passed it, who even for a moment brought victory closer, is already a hero. Thanks to such as Maresyev, Golikov, Korzun, Matrosov, Kazei, Portnova and millions of other Soviet soldiers, the world got rid of the brown plague of the 20th century. And the reward for their deeds was eternal life!

During the Great Patriotic War, many Soviet citizens (not only soldiers) performed heroic deeds, saving other people's lives and bringing the USSR's victory over the German invaders closer. These people are rightfully considered heroes. In our article, we recall some of them.

Heroes men

The list of heroes of the Soviet Union who became famous during the Great Patriotic War is quite extensive, therefore Let's name the most famous:

• Nikolai Gastello (1907-1941): Hero of the Union posthumously, squadron commander. After being bombed by German heavy equipment, Gastello's plane was hit. On a burning bomber, the pilot rammed an enemy column;
• Viktor Talalikhin (1918-1941): Hero of the USSR, deputy squadron commander, participated in the battle for Moscow. One of the first Soviet pilots who rammed the enemy in a night air battle;
• Alexander Matrosov (1924-1943): Hero of the Union posthumously, private, shooter. In a battle near the village of Chernushki (Pskov region), he closed the embrasure of a German firing point;
• Alexander Pokryshkin (1913-1985): three times Hero of the USSR, fighter pilot (recognized as an ace), improved combat techniques (about 60 victories), went through the entire war (about 650 sorties), air marshal (since 1972);
• Ivan Kozhedub (1920-1991): three times Hero, fighter pilot (ace), squadron commander, participant in the Battle of Kursk, made about 330 sorties (64 victories). He became famous for his effective shooting technique (200-300 m before the enemy) and the absence of cases when the plane was shot down;
• Alexey Maresyev (1916-2001): Hero, deputy squadron commander, fighter pilot. He is famous for the fact that after the amputation of both legs, using prostheses, he was able to return to combat flights.

Rice. 1. Nikolai Gastello.

In 2010, an extensive Russian electronic database "The Feat of the People" was created, containing reliable information from official documents about the participants in the war, their exploits and awards.

Women's heroes

Separately, it is worth highlighting the women heroes of the Great Patriotic War.
Some of them:

• Valentina Grizodubova (1909-1993): the first female pilot - Hero of the Soviet Union, instructor pilot (5 world air records), commander of an air regiment, made about 200 sorties (of which 132 were night);
• Lyudmila Pavlichenko (1916-1974): Hero of the Union, world famous sniper, instructor at the sniper school, participated in the defense of Odessa and Sevastopol. Destroyed about 309 opponents, including 36 snipers;
• Lydia Litvyak (1921-1943): Hero posthumously, fighter pilot (ace), squadron flight commander, participated in the Battle of Stalingrad, battles in the Donbass (168 sorties, 12 victories in air battles);
• Ekaterina Budanova (1916-1943): Hero of the Russian Federation posthumously (she was reported missing in the USSR), fighter pilot (ace), repeatedly fought against superior enemy forces, including going into a frontal attack (11 victories);
• Ekaterina Zelenko (1916-1941): Hero of the Union posthumously, deputy squadron commander. The only Soviet female pilot who participated in the Soviet-Finnish war. The only woman in the world who rammed an enemy aircraft (in Belarus);
• Evdokia Bershanskaya (1913-1982): the only woman awarded the Order of Suvorov. Pilot, commander of the 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment (1941-1945). The regiment was exclusively female. For the skill of performing combat missions, he received the nickname "night witches". Particularly distinguished himself in the liberation of the Taman Peninsula, Feodosia, Belarus.

Rice. 2. Pilots of the 46th Guards Aviation Regiment.

05/09/2012 in Tomsk, the modern movement "Immortal Regiment" was born, designed to honor the memory of the heroes of the Second World War. Through the streets of the city, residents carried about two thousand portraits of their relatives who participated in the war. The movement became massive. Every year the number of participating cities increases, covering even other countries. In 2015, the Immortal Regiment action received official permission and took place in Moscow immediately after the Victory Parade.

During the Great Patriotic War, heroism was the norm for the behavior of Soviet people, the war revealed the resilience and courage of the Soviet people. Thousands of soldiers and officers sacrificed their lives in the battles near Moscow, Kursk and Stalingrad, during the defense of Leningrad and Sevastopol, in the North Caucasus and the Dnieper, during the storming of Berlin and in other battles - and immortalized their names. Women and children fought alongside men. Home front workers played a big role. People who worked, exhausted, to provide the soldiers with food, clothing, and thus a bayonet and a projectile.
We will talk about those who gave their lives, strength and savings for the sake of the Victory. Here they are the great people of the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945.

Medical heroes. Zinaida Samsonova

During the war years, more than two hundred thousand doctors and half a million paramedical personnel worked at the front and in the rear. And half of them were women.
The working day of doctors and nurses of medical battalions and front-line hospitals often lasted several days. Sleepless nights, medical workers stood relentlessly near the operating tables, and some of them pulled the dead and wounded from the battlefield on their backs. Among the doctors there were many of their "sailors", who, saving the wounded, covered them with their bodies from bullets and shell fragments.
Not sparing, as they say, their belly, they raised the spirit of the soldiers, raised the wounded from the hospital bed and sent them back to battle to defend their country, their homeland, their people, their home from the enemy. Among the large army of doctors, I would like to name the Hero of the Soviet Union Zinaida Alexandrovna Samsonova, who went to the front when she was only seventeen years old. Zinaida, or, as her brother-soldiers cutely called her, Zinochka, was born in the village of Bobkovo, Yegoryevsky district, Moscow region.
Before the war, she went to study at the Yegorievsk Medical School. When the enemy entered her native land, and the country was in danger, Zina decided that she must go to the front. And she rushed there.
She has been in the army since 1942 and immediately finds herself at the forefront. Zina was a sanitary instructor in a rifle battalion. The soldiers loved her for her smile, for her selfless assistance to the wounded. With her fighters, Zina went through the most terrible battles, this is the Battle of Stalingrad. She fought on the Voronezh Front and on other fronts.

Zinaida Samsonova

In the autumn of 1943, she participated in a landing operation to seize a bridgehead on the right bank of the Dnieper near the village of Sushki, Kanevsky district, now Cherkasy region. Here she, together with her brother-soldiers, managed to capture this bridgehead.
Zina took out more than thirty wounded from the battlefield and transported them to the other side of the Dnieper. There were legends about this fragile nineteen-year-old girl. Zinochka was distinguished by courage and courage.
When the commander died near the village of Holm in 1944, Zina, without hesitation, took command of the battle and raised the fighters to attack. In this battle, her fellow soldiers heard her amazing, slightly hoarse voice for the last time: “Eagles, follow me!”
Zinochka Samsonova died in this battle on January 27, 1944 for the village of Kholm in Belarus. She was buried in a mass grave in Ozarichi, Kalinkovsky district, Gomel region.
Zinaida Alexandrovna Samsonova was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for her steadfastness, courage and bravery.
The school where Zina Samsonova once studied was named after her.

A special period in the activity of Soviet foreign intelligence officers is associated with the Great Patriotic War. Already at the end of June 1941, the newly created State Defense Committee of the USSR considered the issue of the work of foreign intelligence and specified its tasks. They were subordinated to one goal - the speedy defeat of the enemy. For the exemplary performance of special tasks behind enemy lines, nine career foreign intelligence officers were awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union. This is S.A. Vaupshasov, I.D. Kudrya, N.I. Kuznetsov, V.A. Lyagin, D.N. Medvedev, V.A. Molodtsov, K.P. Orlovsky, N.A. Prokopyuk, A.M. Rabtsevich. Here we will talk about one of the scout-hero - Nikolai Ivanovich Kuznetsov.

From the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, he was enrolled in the fourth department of the NKVD, whose main task was to organize reconnaissance and sabotage activities behind enemy lines. After numerous trainings and studying in the camp for prisoners of war the manners and life of the Germans, under the name of Paul Wilhelm Siebert, Nikolai Kuznetsov was sent behind enemy lines along the line of terror. At first, the special agent conducted his secret activities in the Ukrainian city of Rivne, where the Reich Commissariat of Ukraine was located. Kuznetsov was in close contact with enemy officers of the special services and the Wehrmacht, as well as local officials. All information obtained was transferred to the partisan detachment. One of the remarkable feats of a secret agent of the USSR was the capture of the courier of the Reichskommissariat, Major Gahan, who carried a secret map in his briefcase. After interrogating Gahan and studying the map, it turned out that a bunker for Hitler was built eight kilometers from Ukrainian Vinnitsa.
In November 1943, Kuznetsov managed to organize the abduction of German Major General M. Ilgen, who was sent to Rovno to destroy partisan formations.
The last operation of the intelligence officer Siebert in this post was the elimination in November 1943 of the head of the legal department of the Reichskommissariat of Ukraine, Oberführer Alfred Funk. After interrogating Funk, the brilliant intelligence officer managed to obtain information about the preparations for the assassination of the heads of the "Big Three" of the Tehran Conference, as well as information about the enemy's offensive on the Kursk Bulge. In January 1944, Kuznetsov was ordered, along with the retreating fascist troops, to go to Lvov to continue his sabotage activities. Scouts Jan Kaminsky and Ivan Belov were sent to help agent Siebert. Under the leadership of Nikolai Kuznetsov, several invaders were destroyed in Lvov, for example, the head of the government office, Heinrich Schneider and Otto Bauer.

From the first days of the occupation, the boys and girls began to act decisively, a secret organization "young avengers" was created. The guys fought against the fascist invaders. They blew up a pumping station, which delayed the sending of ten fascist echelons to the front. Distracting the enemy, the Avengers destroyed bridges and highways, blew up a local power plant, and burned down a factory. Obtaining information about the actions of the Germans, they immediately passed them on to the partisans.
Zina Portnova was assigned more and more difficult tasks. According to one of them, the girl managed to get a job in a German canteen. After working there for a while, she carried out an effective operation - she poisoned food for German soldiers. More than 100 fascists suffered from her dinner. The Germans began to accuse Zina. Wanting to prove her innocence, the girl tried the poisoned soup and only miraculously survived.

Zina Portnova

In 1943, traitors appeared who revealed secret information and handed over our guys to the Nazis. Many were arrested and shot. Then the command of the partisan detachment instructed Portnova to establish contact with those who survived. The Nazis grabbed the young partisan when she was returning from a mission. Zina was terribly tortured. But the answer to the enemy was only her silence, contempt and hatred. The interrogations didn't stop.
“The Gestapo man went to the window. And Zina, rushing to the table, grabbed a pistol. Obviously sensing a rustle, the officer turned around impulsively, but the weapon was already in her hand. She pulled the trigger. For some reason I didn't hear the shot. She only saw how the German, clutching his chest with his hands, fell to the floor, and the second, who was sitting at the side table, jumped up from his chair and hastily unfastened the holster of his revolver. She pointed the gun at him as well. Again, almost without aiming, she pulled the trigger. Rushing to the exit, Zina yanked open the door, jumped out into the next room and from there onto the porch. There she almost point-blank shot at the sentry. Running out of the building of the commandant's office, Portnova rushed down the path in a whirlwind.
“If only I could run to the river,” thought the girl. But the sound of the chase was heard from behind ... "Why don't they shoot?" The surface of the water seemed to be quite near. And beyond the river was a forest. She heard the sound of machine gun fire, and something sharp pierced her leg. Zina fell on the river sand. She still had enough strength, slightly rising, to shoot ... She saved the last bullet for herself.
When the Germans ran up very close, she decided that it was all over, and pointed the gun to her chest and pulled the trigger. But the shot did not follow: a misfire. The fascist knocked the pistol out of her weakening hands.
Zina was sent to prison. For more than a month, the Germans brutally tortured the girl, they wanted her to betray her comrades. But having taken an oath of allegiance to the Motherland, Zina kept her.
On the morning of January 13, 1944, a gray-haired and blind girl was taken to be shot. She walked, stumbling barefoot, through the snow.
The girl withstood all the torture. She truly loved our Motherland and died for it, firmly believing in our victory.
Zinaida Portnova was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

The Soviet people, realizing that the front needed their help, made every effort. Engineering geniuses simplified and improved production. Women who recently accompanied their husbands, brothers and sons to the front took their place at the machine tool, mastering professions unfamiliar to them. Everything for the front, everything for victory! Children, old people and women gave all their strength, gave themselves for the sake of victory.

This is how the call of collective farmers sounded in one of the regional newspapers: “... we must give the army and the working people more bread, meat, milk, vegetables and agricultural raw materials for industry. We, the workers of state farms, must hand over this together with the collective farm peasantry. Only by these lines can one judge how obsessed the home front workers were with thoughts of victory, and what sacrifices they were ready to make in order to bring this long-awaited day closer. Even when they received funerals, they did not stop working, knowing that this was the best way to take revenge on the hated fascists for the death of their loved ones.

On December 15, 1942, Ferapont Golovaty gave all his savings - 100 thousand rubles - to purchase an aircraft for the Red Army, and asked to transfer the aircraft to the pilot of the Stalingrad Front. In a letter addressed to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, he wrote that, having escorted his two sons to the front, he himself wanted to contribute to the cause of victory. Stalin answered: “Thank you, Ferapont Petrovich, for your concern for the Red Army and its Air Force. The Red Army will not forget that you gave all your savings to build a combat aircraft. Please accept my regards." The initiative was given serious attention. The decision on who exactly will get the personalized aircraft was made by the Military Council of the Stalingrad Front. The combat vehicle was handed over to one of the best - the commander of the 31st Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment, Major Boris Nikolayevich Eremin. The fact that Eremin and Golovaty were countrymen also played a role.

The victory in the Great Patriotic War was obtained by inhuman efforts, both front-line soldiers and home front workers. And this must be remembered. Today's generation should not forget their feat.

Heroes of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 and their exploits

The battles have long died down. The veterans leave one by one. But the heroes of the Second World War of 1941-1945 and their exploits will forever remain in the memory of grateful descendants. This article will tell about the brightest personalities of those years and their immortal deeds. Some were still quite young, while others were no longer young. Each of the characters has its own character and its own destiny. But all of them were united by love for the Motherland and a willingness to sacrifice themselves for its good.

Alexander Matrosov

Orphanage pupil Sasha Matrosov went to war at the age of 18. Immediately after the infantry school, he was sent to the front. February 1943 turned out to be "hot". Alexander's battalion went on the attack, and at some point the guy, along with several comrades, was surrounded. It was not possible to break through to our own - enemy machine guns fired too densely.

Soon Matrosov was left alone. His comrades perished under the bullets. The young man had only a few seconds to make a decision. Unfortunately, it turned out to be the last in his life. Wanting to bring at least some benefit to his native battalion, Alexander Matrosov rushed to the embrasure, covering it with his body. The fire is silent. The attack of the Red Army was ultimately successful - the Nazis retreated. And Sasha went to heaven as a young and handsome 19-year-old guy ...

Marat Kazei

When the Great Patriotic War began, Marat Kazei was only twelve. He lived in the village of Stankovo ​​with his sister and parents. In the 41st he was in occupation. Marat's mother helped the partisans, providing them with her shelter and feeding them. Once the Germans found out about this and shot the woman. Left alone, the children, without hesitation, went to the forest and joined the partisans.

Marat, who had completed only four classes before the war, helped his senior comrades as much as he could. He was even taken on reconnaissance; and he also participated in undermining the German trains. In the 43rd, the boy was awarded the medal "For Courage", for the heroism shown during the breakthrough of the encirclement. The boy was wounded in that terrible battle.

And in 1944, Kazei was returning from intelligence with an adult partisan. They were noticed by the Germans and began to fire. The older comrade died. Marat fired back to the last bullet. And when he had only one grenade left, the teenager let the Germans get closer and blew himself up along with them. He was 15 years old.

Alexey Maresyev

The name of this man is known to every inhabitant of the former Soviet Union. After all, we are talking about a legendary pilot. Alexei Maresyev was born in 1916 and dreamed of the sky since childhood. Even the transferred rheumatism did not become an obstacle on the way to the dream. Despite the prohibitions of doctors, Alexei entered the flight - they took him after several futile attempts.

In 1941, the stubborn young man went to the front. The sky was not what he dreamed of. But it was necessary to defend the Motherland, and Maresyev did everything for this. Once his plane was shot down. Wounded in both legs, Alexey managed to land the car on the territory occupied by the Germans and even somehow get through to his own.

But time has been lost. The legs were "devoured" by gangrene, and they had to be amputated. Where to go to a soldier without both limbs? After all, she was completely crippled ... But Alexei Maresyev was not one of those. He remained in the ranks and continued to fight the enemy.

As many as 86 times the winged car with the hero on board managed to take to the skies. Maresyev shot down 11 German planes. The pilot was lucky to survive that terrible war and feel the heady taste of victory. He died in 2001. "The Tale of a Real Man" by Boris Polevoy is a work about him. It was the feat of Maresyev that inspired the author to write it.

Zinaida Portnova

Born in 1926, Zina Portnova met the war as a teenager. At that time, a native resident of Leningrad was visiting relatives in Belarus. Once in the occupied territory, she did not sit on the sidelines, but joined the partisan movement. Pasted leaflets, established contact with the underground ...

In 1943, the Germans grabbed the girl and dragged her to their lair. During the interrogation, Zina somehow managed to take a pistol from the table. She shot her tormentors - two soldiers and an investigator.

It was a heroic act that made the attitude of the Germans towards Zina even more brutal. It is impossible to convey in words the torment that the girl experienced during the terrible torture. But she was silent. Not a word could be squeezed out by the Nazis from her. As a result, the Germans shot their captive without getting anything from the heroine Zina Portnova.

Andrey Korzun

Andrei Korzun turned thirty in 1941. He was immediately called to the front, sent to the artillerymen. Korzun took part in the terrible battles near Leningrad, during one of which he was seriously wounded. It was November 5, 1943.

As he fell, Korzun noticed that the ammunition depot was on fire. It was necessary to urgently put out the fire, otherwise an explosion of enormous force threatened to take many lives. Somehow, bleeding and in pain, the gunner crawled to the warehouse. The artilleryman did not have the strength to take off his overcoat and throw it on the flame. Then he covered the fire with his body. The explosion didn't happen. Andrei Korzun failed to survive.

Leonid Golikov

Another young hero is Lenya Golikov. Born in 1926. Lived in the Novgorod region. With the outbreak of war, he left to partisan. The courage and determination of this teenager was not to take. Leonid destroyed 78 fascists, a dozen enemy trains and even a couple of bridges.

The explosion that went down in history and claimed the German General Richard von Wirtz was his doing. The car of an important rank flew into the air, and Golikov took possession of valuable documents, for which he received the star of the Hero.

A brave partisan died in 1943 near the village of Ostraya Luka during a German attack. The enemy significantly outnumbered our fighters in number, and they had no chance. Golikov fought until his last breath.

These are just six of the great many stories that permeated the entire war. Everyone who passed it, who even for a moment brought victory closer, is already a hero. Thanks to such as Maresyev, Golikov, Korzun, Matrosov, Kazei, Portnova and millions of other Soviet soldiers, the world got rid of the brown plague of the 20th century. And the reward for their deeds was eternal life!

Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, Zina Portnova, Alexander Matrosov and other heroes

Submachine gunner of the 2nd Separate Battalion of the 91st Separate Siberian Volunteer Brigade named after Stalin.

Sasha Matrosov did not know his parents. He was brought up in an orphanage and a labor colony. When the war began, he was not even 20. Matrosov was drafted into the army in September 1942 and sent to an infantry school, and then to the front.

In February 1943, his battalion attacked the Nazi stronghold, but fell into a trap, falling under heavy fire, cutting off the path to the trenches. They fired from three bunkers. Two soon fell silent, but the third continued to shoot the Red Army soldiers who lay in the snow.

Seeing that the only chance to get out of the fire was to suppress the enemy's fire, Matrosov crawled to the bunker with a fellow soldier and threw two grenades in his direction. The gun was silent. The Red Army went on the attack, but the deadly weapon chirped again. Alexander's partner was killed, and Matrosov was left alone in front of the bunker. Something had to be done.

He didn't even have a few seconds to make a decision. Not wanting to let his comrades down, Alexander closed the embrasure of the bunker with his body. The attack was successful. And Matrosov posthumously received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Military pilot, commander of the 2nd squadron of the 207th long-range bomber aviation regiment, captain.

He worked as a mechanic, then in 1932 he was called up for service in the Red Army. He got into the air regiment, where he became a pilot. Nicholas Gastello participated in three wars. A year before the Great Patriotic War, he received the rank of captain.

On June 26, 1941, the crew under the command of Captain Gastello took off to attack a German mechanized column. It was on the road between the Belarusian cities of Molodechno and Radoshkovichi. But the column was well guarded by enemy artillery. A fight ensued. Aircraft Gastello was hit by anti-aircraft guns. The shell damaged the fuel tank, the car caught fire. The pilot could eject, but he decided to fulfill his military duty to the end. Nikolai Gastello sent a burning car directly to the enemy column. It was the first fire ram in the Great Patriotic War.

The name of the brave pilot has become a household name. Until the end of the war, all the aces who decided to go for a ram were called Gastellites. According to official statistics, almost six hundred enemy rams were made during the entire war.

Brigadier scout of the 67th detachment of the 4th Leningrad partisan brigade.

Lena was 15 years old when the war began. He already worked at the factory, having finished the seven-year plan. When the Nazis captured his native Novgorod region, Lenya joined the partisans.

He was brave and determined, the command appreciated him. For several years spent in the partisan detachment, he participated in 27 operations. On his account, several destroyed bridges behind enemy lines, 78 destroyed Germans, 10 trains with ammunition.

It was he who, in the summer of 1942, near the village of Varnitsa, blew up a car in which the German Major General of the Engineering Troops Richard von Wirtz was located. Golikov managed to obtain important documents about the German offensive. The enemy attack was thwarted, and the young hero for this feat was presented to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

In the winter of 1943, a significantly superior enemy detachment unexpectedly attacked partisans near the village of Ostraya Luka. Lenya Golikov died like a real hero - in battle.

(1926-1944)

Pioneer. Scout of the partisan detachment named after Voroshilov in the territory occupied by the Nazis.

Zina was born and went to school in Leningrad. However, the war found her on the territory of Belarus, where she came for the holidays.

In 1942, 16-year-old Zina joined the underground organization Young Avengers. It distributed anti-fascist leaflets in the occupied territories. Then, under cover, she got a job working in a canteen for German officers, where she committed several acts of sabotage and only miraculously was not captured by the enemy. Her courage surprised many experienced soldiers.

In 1943, Zina Portnova joined the partisans and continued to engage in sabotage behind enemy lines. Due to the efforts of defectors who surrendered Zina to the Nazis, she was captured. In the dungeons, she was interrogated and tortured. But Zina was silent, not betraying her. At one of these interrogations, she grabbed a pistol from the table and shot three Nazis. After that, she was shot in prison.

Underground anti-fascist organization operating in the area of ​​modern Luhansk region. There were over a hundred people. The youngest participant was 14 years old.

This youth underground organization was formed immediately after the occupation of the Lugansk region. It included both regular military personnel, who were cut off from the main units, and local youth. Among the most famous participants: Oleg Koshevoy, Ulyana Gromova, Lyubov Shevtsova, Vasily Levashov, Sergey Tyulenin and many other young people.

The "Young Guard" issued leaflets and committed sabotage against the Nazis. Once they managed to disable an entire tank repair shop, burn down the stock exchange, from where the Nazis drove people to forced labor in Germany. The members of the organization planned to stage an uprising, but were exposed because of the traitors. The Nazis caught, tortured and shot more than seventy people. Their feat is immortalized in one of the most famous military books by Alexander Fadeev and the film adaptation of the same name.

28 people from the personnel of the 4th company of the 2nd battalion of the 1075th rifle regiment.

In November 1941, a counteroffensive against Moscow began. The enemy did not stop at nothing, making a decisive forced march before the onset of a harsh winter.

At this time, the fighters under the command of Ivan Panfilov took up a position on the highway seven kilometers from Volokolamsk, a small town near Moscow. There they gave battle to the advancing tank units. The battle lasted four hours. During this time, they destroyed 18 armored vehicles, delaying the enemy's attack and frustrating his plans. All 28 people (or almost all, here the opinions of historians differ) died.

According to legend, the political instructor of the company, Vasily Klochkov, before the decisive stage of the battle, turned to the fighters with a phrase that became known throughout the country: "Russia is great, but there is nowhere to retreat - Moscow is behind!"

The Nazi counteroffensive ultimately failed. The battle for Moscow, which was assigned the most important role during the war, was lost by the occupiers.

As a child, the future hero suffered from rheumatism, and the doctors doubted that Maresyev would be able to fly. However, he stubbornly applied to the flight school until he was finally enrolled. Maresyev was drafted into the army in 1937.

He met the Great Patriotic War at the flight school, but soon got to the front. During a sortie, his plane was shot down, and Maresyev himself was able to eject. Eighteen days, seriously wounded in both legs, he got out of the encirclement. However, he still managed to overcome the front line and ended up in the hospital. But gangrene had already begun, and the doctors amputated both of his legs.

For many, this would mean the end of the service, but the pilot did not give up and returned to aviation. Until the end of the war, he flew with prostheses. Over the years, he made 86 sorties and shot down 11 enemy aircraft. And 7 - already after amputation. In 1944, Alexei Maresyev went to work as an inspector and lived to be 84 years old.

His fate inspired the writer Boris Polevoy to write The Tale of a Real Man.

Deputy squadron commander of the 177th Air Defense Fighter Aviation Regiment.

Victor Talalikhin began to fight already in the Soviet-Finnish war. He shot down 4 enemy planes on a biplane. Then he served in the aviation school.

In August 1941, one of the first Soviet pilots made a ram, shooting down a German bomber in a night air battle. Moreover, the wounded pilot was able to get out of the cockpit and descend by parachute to the rear of his own.

Talalikhin then shot down five more German planes. Killed during another air battle near Podolsk in October 1941.

After 73 years, in 2014, search engines found Talalikhin's plane, which remained in the swamps near Moscow.

Artilleryman of the 3rd counter-battery artillery corps of the Leningrad Front.

Soldier Andrei Korzun was drafted into the army at the very beginning of World War II. He served on the Leningrad front, where there were fierce and bloody battles.

November 5, 1943, during the next battle, his battery came under fierce enemy fire. Korzun was seriously wounded. Despite the terrible pain, he saw that the powder charges were set on fire and the ammunition depot could fly into the air. Gathering the last of his strength, Andrey crawled to the blazing fire. But he could no longer take off his overcoat to cover the fire. Losing consciousness, he made a last effort and covered the fire with his body. The explosion was avoided at the cost of the life of a brave gunner.

Commander of the 3rd Leningrad Partisan Brigade.

A native of Petrograd, Alexander German, according to some sources, was a native of Germany. He served in the army from 1933. When the war began, he became a scout. He worked behind enemy lines, commanded a partisan detachment, which terrified the enemy soldiers. His brigade destroyed several thousand fascist soldiers and officers, derailed hundreds of trains and blew up hundreds of vehicles.

The Nazis staged a real hunt for Herman. In 1943, his partisan detachment was surrounded in the Pskov region. Making his way to his own, the brave commander died from an enemy bullet.

Commander of the 30th Separate Guards Tank Brigade of the Leningrad Front

Vladislav Khrustitsky was drafted into the Red Army back in the 1920s. In the late 30s he graduated from armored courses. Since the autumn of 1942, he commanded the 61st separate light tank brigade.

He distinguished himself during Operation Iskra, which marked the beginning of the defeat of the Germans on the Leningrad Front.

He died in the battle near Volosovo. In 1944, the enemy retreated from Leningrad, but from time to time made attempts to counterattack. During one of these counterattacks, Khrustitsky's tank brigade fell into a trap.

Despite heavy fire, the commander ordered to continue the offensive. He turned on the radio to his crews with the words: "Stand to the death!" - and went forward first. Unfortunately, the brave tanker died in this battle. And yet the village of Volosovo was liberated from the enemy.

Commander of a partisan detachment and brigade.

Before the war, he worked on the railroad. In October 1941, when the Germans were already standing near Moscow, he himself volunteered for a difficult operation, in which his railway experience was needed. Was thrown behind enemy lines. There he came up with the so-called "coal mines" (in fact, these are just mines disguised as coal). With the help of this simple but effective weapon, a hundred enemy trains were blown up in three months.

Zaslonov actively agitated the local population to go over to the side of the partisans. The Nazis, having learned this, dressed their soldiers in Soviet uniforms. Zaslonov mistook them for defectors and ordered them to be allowed into the partisan detachment. The path to the insidious enemy was open. A battle ensued, during which Zaslonov died. A reward was announced for living or dead Zaslonov, but the peasants hid his body, and the Germans did not get it.

During one of the operations, it was decided to undermine the enemy composition. But there was little ammunition in the detachment. The bomb was made from an ordinary grenade. The explosives were to be installed by Osipenko himself. He crawled to the railway bridge and, seeing the approach of the train, threw it in front of the train. There was no explosion. Then the partisan himself hit the grenade with a pole from the railway sign. It worked! A long train with food and tanks went downhill. The squad leader survived, but lost his sight completely.

For this feat, he was the first in the country to be awarded the medal "Partisan of the Patriotic War."

The peasant Matvey Kuzmin was born three years before the abolition of serfdom. And he died, becoming the oldest holder of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

His story contains many references to the history of another famous peasant - Ivan Susanin. Matvey also had to lead the invaders through the forest and swamps. And, like the legendary hero, he decided to stop the enemy at the cost of his life. He sent his grandson ahead to warn a detachment of partisans who had stopped nearby. The Nazis were ambushed. A fight ensued. Matvey Kuzmin died at the hands of a German officer. But he did his job. He was in his 84th year.

Volokolamsk. There, an 18-year-old partisan fighter, along with adult men, performed dangerous tasks: she mined roads and destroyed communication centers.

During one of the sabotage operations, Kosmodemyanskaya was caught by the Germans. She was tortured, forcing her to betray her own. Zoya heroically endured all the trials without saying a word to the enemies. Seeing that it was impossible to get anything from the young partisan, they decided to hang her.

Kosmodemyanskaya steadfastly accepted the test. A moment before her death, she shouted to the assembled local residents: “Comrades, victory will be ours. German soldiers, before it's too late, surrender!" The courage of the girl so shocked the peasants that they later retold this story to front-line correspondents. And after the publication in the Pravda newspaper, the whole country learned about the feat of Kosmodemyanskaya. She became the first woman to be awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War.