The history of the Great Patriotic War and the heroic feat of the Soviet people have been inscribed in the tablets of memory for centuries. Many monuments on the territory of the Russian Federation and the former Soviet republics remind us of these terrible years and make us bow our heads in sorrow for the fallen heroes. Piskarevsky Memorial Cemetery and the Green Belt of Glory in the hero city of Leningrad, Brest Fortress in the hero city of Brest, Malakhov Kurgan in the hero city of Sevastopol, catacombs in the hero city of Odessa, Victory Park on Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow, Mamaev Kurgan in the hero city Volgograd and others. But there is one more memorial complex in Volgograd (Stalingrad) that also preserves the memory of the heroes of the war against the Nazis - Heroes Alley.
Memorial Alley
Heroes Avenue in Volgograd (then Stalingrad) was opened in 1955. It connects the central city embankment and the Square of the Fallen Fighters. On the granite memorial plate, from which the alley originates, are images of two important USSR awards. They noted the military prowess and heroic deeds of Soviet soldiers and civilians. This is the Order of Lenin and the Golden Star medal. The awards depicted are the insignia of the city for its contribution to the fight against fascism.
The alley passes through the territory where previously three streets of the old city of Tsaritsyn were located: Preobrazhenskaya, Voznesenskaya and Moscow. In accordance with them are walking paths. The alley is paved with colored paving stones, and above it there is a lighting system resembling a starry sky. Along the Avenue of Heroes memorial steles rise on which the feats of 127 heroes of the defense of Stalingrad are immortalized. The pedestrian zone is framed by pyramidal poplars.
Let's keep it in memory!
The authors of the idea of the Alley of Heroes were architects Alabyan, Levitan, Goldman. However, their project was not fully implemented. They did not defeat the Square of Glory and did not establish a triumphal arch between the squares. In 2010, a nationwide discussion was held on the need for the construction of this arch. The authorities of Volgograd promised to raise it to the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Stalingrad, but in another place - at the intersection of Lenin Avenue and the streets of the 13th Guards Division.
At the beginning of the alley, in addition to the images of the awards, there is another horizontal stone stele with words reminding everyone passing here about the valor and glory of the Stalingraders, whose names are carved on vertical steles. They read: "Heroes of the Soviet Union, awarded the title for exploits in the Battle of Stalingrad."
Perpetuated through the ages
In the list of 127 names we will find those that were well known to people of the Soviet generation. Among the immortalized names of heroes on the Walk of Fame are representatives of different peoples and nationalities.
Perhaps the most famous is Ruben Ibarruri, the 22-year-old representative of the Spanish people, the son of the leader of the Communist Party of Spain, Dolores Ibarruri. Emigrating to the USSR as far back as 1935, he fought bravely in the ranks of the Soviet army near Stalingrad, and commanded a company of machine gunners. Near the railway station of Kotluban after the death of the battalion commander, he took command, took up the battalion to attack against enemy tanks. In the battle he was seriously wounded and soon died.
Feat - Glory!
Among the names on the Alley of Heroes is the name of the Russian soldier Yakov Pavlov, who was part of the same company, which was aimed at capturing and holding the "Stalingrad Fortress" - a four-story building on Penzenskaya Street, a hundred meters from the Volga. Preventing the enemy from crossing the river is an important strategic task facing the Soviet command. 25 warriors, among whom was Kalmyk Gorya Khokhlov, held an important height until the approach of the main forces.
"Soviet Danko" - Ukrainian Mikhail Panikakha burned his head tank during an enemy tank attack, and he himself burned down with the tank.
Kazakh pilot Nurken Abdirov on a burning plane rammed a column of fascist fuel trucks, repeating the feat of Nikolai Gastello.
The machine gunner Khanpasha Nuradilov, a Chechen by nationality, being seriously wounded, resisted three enemy mortar batteries. In one battle, he destroyed 962 fascists.
And the teacher of Russian and Tatar languages, Hafiz Fattyakhutdinov, who fought with a machine gun in his hands, destroyed 400 fascist soldiers and officers, leading a small detachment of Soviet soldiers of 10 people. They opposed the enemy forces, seventy times their own.
The exploits of many of those immortalized in stelae on the Alley of Heroes have not yet been described. And this is the task of modern historians and local historians. So we can restore and preserve the memory of the still unknown moments of the military history of 1941-1945. and the heroes of their homeland.