Boris Bogatkov is a Soviet poet known for his front-line poems. He earned the title of hero of the Great Patriotic War posthumously - he died in the war. In Novosibirsk, where the poet spent most of his life, a street, school number 3, and a library are named after him. And in 1977, a monument was erected to Bogatkov. Now let's talk in more detail about the life and work of the poet, who did not live up to his 21st birthday for only a few months.
Boris Bogatkov: biography
The poet was born on October 3, 1922 in the small village of Balakhta, which is located near Achinsk (Krasnoyarsk Territory). His mother, Maria Evgenievna, worked as a mathematics teacher at school, and his father, Andrei Mikhailovich, was in the party service and very often went on business trips.
Boris was the only child in the Bogatkov family, and his parents devoted all his free time to him. It is not surprising that the boy learned to read early, and from childhood became interested in literature. However, such an idyllic atmosphere in the family did not last long.
In 1931, Boris's mother fell ill. Soon she was admitted to the hospital, from where she had not returned. Shortly before her death, she wrote a letter to her son, asking him not to cry for her and grow up a worthy person.
Moving to Novosibirsk
After the death of the most dear person, Boris Andreevich Bogatkov was taken up by his mother’s colleague Tatyana Evgenievna Zykova. However, the woman with her family at that time lived in Novosibirsk, so Boris had to move. Here he settled on Oktyabrskaya Street, in house No. 3, and was immediately enrolled in the 2nd grade of school No. 3. Bogatkov studied medium, but he adored history and literature, becoming more and more interested in poetry over the years. His favorite writer was Mayakovsky. Imitating his idol, he began to write poetry at the age of 10. Gradually, his works began to be printed in wall newspapers, on the pages of Pioneer Truth.
In 1933, Boris was accepted into pioneers. He took a very active part in school life, had many friends among peers.
Teenage years
Boris Bogatkov had very tender feelings for Tatyana Evgenyevna because she took him to her and raised her as her own son. Nevertheless, he really missed his dead mother.
In his teenage years, the future writer became interested in sports - he went in for swimming and skiing, went to football, attended a track and field athletics club. In these years, friends and acquaintances described him as a young man of high stature and athletic build. Boris was distinguished by his firmness of character, courage and willpower. Like many front-line poets, he was not indifferent to the people around him. Could stand up for the weak or grab the bully. In addition, he followed what was happening in the country. By the age of 16, he had his own opinion on the development of literature, science, and poetry. He liked to argue about the place of man in public life.
Youth
Boris Bogatkov maintained good relations with his father. Very often the boy went to his parent in Achinsk, where he was transferred by official necessity.
After leaving school, Boris entered the road college, while continuing to attend classes at evening school. Nevertheless, he did not leave poetry, in his free evenings he studied in a circle of young writers and poets. In addition, having graduated from evening school, he entered the literary institute, combining it with a technical school.
In 1938, the poet wrote the first major creation - The Duma of the Red Flag.
And in 1940, a poetry council was organized under the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, led by Antokolsky, and Bogatkov was also accepted into it. By this time, the writer began to actively publish in the Siberian Lights and Achinskaya Gazeta.
The creativity of the young poet interested Alexei Tolstoy, who made Boris his scholarship holder.
Start of war
The Great Patriotic War began. Arriving at the draft board, Boris Andreevich Bogatkov asked to send his flight school. The young man dreamed of air battles with the Nazis, but he was assigned to the ranks of aviation technicians. This was a serious blow for him and was reflected in his work. So he wrote after this in one of his poems: “So, I’ll be at the airport, / I will not be at the front, but in the rear?”
But Boris did not come to terms with fate and volunteered to go to the front as part of the infantry. However, in the fall, the poet received severe shell shock and was demobilized to Novosibirsk.
Here he settled with his adoptive mother in a small log cabin. In the recovery period after being wounded, he actively wrote. In his works sounded military subjects, he urged the people to work and fight the invaders.
Bogatkov begins to collaborate with TASS Windows, the newspaper Krasnoyarskaya Zvezda, Boris’s poems and songs appear in the satirical program Fire Over Enemy.
Soldier song
Poems by Boris Bogatkov by this time already become widely known among soldiers. So, once a poet, walking along one of Novosibirsk streets, witnessed such an incident. Soldiers came from the exercises, and then the commander ordered: "Sing it." And the answer came: “In my native Trans-Ural factory / It’s firmly made, the Nazis are afraid ...”
These were the words of a song about the guards, authored by Bogatkov. The soldiers passed by, no one, of course, knew the author of the work. Nevertheless, for the writer himself this event became very joyful.
Again to the front
Like other front-line poets, Boris wanted to be on the battlefield, and not sit out in the rear. And in 1942, despite the strictest bans of physicians, the poet went to the front as part of the Siberian Volunteer Division.
Before leaving, Boris wrote a letter to a fellow soldier that he was very happy to finally return to the front. And also says goodbye to Tatyana Evgenievna, who, with tears in her eyes, escorts her adopted son, who assured her that nothing terrible will happen to him.
Boris Bogatkov falls on the Western Front. His division gradually goes to the approaches to Smolensk. Here the way to the Siberians was blocked by the Gnezdilovskie heights, well fortified by the Germans. This was one of the most important fascist fortifications, as it covered the communications of the German army.
Bogatkov’s regiment was sent to storm the Gnezdilov Heights. The poet was a sergeant and commanded a detachment. Several times, his soldiers tried to storm, but the attack was choked under enemy machine-gun fire.
Then Bogatkov got up from the trench and went on the attack, singing a song he wrote: “We left the factories, came from collective farm fields ...” Other soldiers began to rise to their commander, picking up the song. Despite huge losses, the Siberian division managed to break through the German fortifications.
Death
Bogatkov was among the first to burst into the trenches of the enemy, the battle began, and the poet was killed by a machine gun in the back. The battle ended with the capture of Gnezdilovsky heights. The soldiers carried the body of their commander on their overcoats and laid them under a birch. Here, for the last time, those who were lucky enough to survive the battle came to say goodbye. So on August 11, 1943 the poet died.
Boris Andreevich Bogatkov: “Agenda”
“Agenda” is probably the most famous poem of the writer, which is included in the school curriculum. The work was written in 1941, at the very beginning of World War II. In it, the poet describes the state in which a person goes to war, walking around a peaceful city. At the same time, there is neither sadness nor sorrow in the poem. It is all permeated with joy and enthusiasm. Actually, that’s exactly how Bogatkov perceived departure to the front.