Victory in the Great Patriotic War was achieved as a result of a fierce, bloody struggle. Millions of Soviet servicemen, officers and privates perished on the fronts. As a result of fascist aggression, peaceful citizens fell victim. Heroes of the war were many defenders. S. D. Nomokonov is a sniper who destroyed enemy soldiers and officers in the west and in the east. During the war years in the USSR, great attention was paid to the training of specialists in accurate shots. In the hard fight against fascism the outcome of any confrontation depended not only on the experience and proper tactics of warfare by the commanding personnel of the army, company, battalion, but also on a single soldier. In a real battle, the command issued special tasks that only a sniper could complete. Rifle was the main combat weapon of precision shot specialists.
Outstanding wartime snipers
World War II snipers made an invaluable contribution to the overall victory over Nazi Germany. The skill of sniper work was subject only to the best of the best. It was important to be able not only to shoot accurately at the target, but also to withstand many hours of waiting, frost, snowstorms, rain, heat, to be able to observe, to provide camouflage at the ambush site. The outcome of the entire operation and the lives of dozens, hundreds of Soviet soldiers and officers depended on the outcome of each sniper duel.
World War II snipers had different nationality and religion, but each of them sought to destroy the German invaders as much as possible. Often, snipers from the shelter managed to destroy a significant number of enemy soldiers in one battle. According to official statistics, snipers, who entered the top ten in the number of destroyed units of enemy forces, killed more than 4200 people, and the first 20 - more than 7500 officers and soldiers.
Famous Evenki during the war
Representatives of the small and indigenous peoples of the USSR took a direct part in the hostilities on the fronts of World War II. The famous Evenks, who were especially distinguished in the battles, were also snipers: Kulbertinov Ivan Nikolaevich, Nomokonov Semyon Danilovich, Sazhiev Togon Sanzhievich and others. Many of them repeatedly proved their allegiance to the Motherland, desperately fighting the enemy.
Childhood and the family of S. D. Nomokonov
Semen Danilovich Nomokonov - sniper legend of the Great Patriotic War. Born in 1900, on August 12, in the village of Delyun (Trans-Baikal Territory, Sretensky District). He was baptized at 15, after which he received the name Semyon. By nationality Evenk. From an early age he lived in taiga and forest. He was a hereditary hunter, skillfully owned a gun from nine years old and even then received the nickname "Eye of a kite."
He married at 19, settled with his wife on the bank of the Urulga River in a birch bark plague. Six children were born. In order to feed and support everyone, Nomokonov was engaged in hunting. However, a great misfortune came to the family: one after another, four sons and an only daughter died from a scarlet fever epidemic. Unable to cope with the loss, the wife of Semyon Danilovich soon died. The tragedy happened when Semyon Danilovich was in the field, which he only found out about when he returned home. Only son Vladimir survived, who was still a small boy and demanded care, so in 1928 Semyon married a second time. The wife gave birth to Nomokonova two daughters and six sons. His chosen one was a lonely girl Marfa Vasilievna. She insisted on settling in the dawn of a new life. Since that time, Nomokonov began working as a carpenter in the taiga village of Nizhny Stan, from where in 1941 he was mobilized into the ranks of the Red Army by the Shilkinsky regional military registration and enlistment office.
Mobilization in the Red Army
When the Great Patriotic War began, Semyon Danilovich was 41 years old. In the Chita region he was enrolled in the evacuation platoon of 348 rifle regiment. According to the documents - the book of the Red Army man - he was listed as an illiterate carpenter, and in the column "nationality" it was noted: "Tungus Hamnegan." By this time he managed to live a difficult life. But service at the front was not easy. The reason for this was the national origin of the fighter. Due to the language barrier, Nomokonov did not always correctly understand the orders, so the commanders did not want to send him into battle along with the rest of the soldiers. He was transferred to the field kitchen, but soon the cook drove away Semyon, because he cut the bread incorrectly. After this, Nomokonov received another penalty from the commander due to the fact that when packing uniforms he constantly confused the sizes.
In one of the battles in the early days of August 1941, Semen Danilovich was injured, but after a few days he was able to get on his feet, although he was still hard to hear. By order of the chief surgeon, the Evenk of the non-Heroic type from Siberia was sent to manufacture crutches. Russian colleagues let out mocking phrases that Nomokonov understands only the command "for lunch" and sleeps on the go.
The unit under the command of Sergeant Smirnov, in which the Red Army soldier Nomokonov was transferred, took his first battle on August 16, 1941, and easily repelled the attack of the Nazi infantry. For scattered stumps, Semen Danilovich took a good position and destroyed several enemy soldiers. After the first casualties, the enemy immediately retreated. But after a short time, heavy tanks arrived. Tungus and sergeant are the only ones from the unit who survived. However, this time they did not have to leave the environment. The counterattack of the Red Army, which had begun, threw the enemy and the front line to the west. And again, Nomokonov was transferred to an auxiliary service - to the funeral team. From that moment he was the sapper of the 539th infantry regiment.
In the fall of 1941, helping one of the wounded on the battlefield, Semyon Danilovich noticed that the German had aimed at them. In response, there was an instant reaction of the Siberian hunter - he raised his rifle and fired a shot, hitting exactly the enemy. Already in the evening of the same day, the rumor about a well-aimed shot reached the entire unit, including the command. Seeds Danilovich transferred to a sniper platoon. From this moment began the path of Nomokonov to the glory of a sniper. The first combat weapon of Semyon Danilovich was a three-line Mosin rifle, which he discovered in the forest. The weapon was without an optical sight, but this did not prevent the sniper from successfully completing combat missions.
Soon, enemy troops broke through the front. Behind the rear of the enemy was a hospital, to which S. D. Nomokonov was attached, almost all the soldiers were killed, and those who survived headed west to surrender to the Germans. Only Nomokonov was not depressed, did not succumb to panic, and, like an experienced hunter, easily found his way to his own. On this line of the North-Western Front, the 11th army steadfastly fought and 34th army was formed, in which the commanders and soldiers who had left the encirclement were enlisted. The new units were ordered to detain enemy forces at all costs on a site near Staraya Russa. During this period, Nomokonov received an entry in the Red Army book stating that he was armed with the “Tula rifle No. 2753”.
The advent of the legend
Great fame about him passed at the end of 1941, when he shot eight German intelligence officers on the Valdai Heights, which saved the wounded commander.
It was thanks to this incident that Semyon Danilovich was enlisted in the platoon of snipers of Lieutenant Repin Ivan. The newspaper For the Northwestern Front "For Homeland" in December 1941 published a message that S. D. Nomokonov from Transbaikalia eliminated 76 Germans. But these were only official data. The Tunguska sniper was a rather modest man. The story of his exploit was listened with partiality, not too trusting the testimony of a short fighter sniper. Distrust greatly wounded his soul. This led him to destroy enemy soldiers and officers without resorting to strict reporting. Nomokonov decided to report only reliable cases. According to captain Boldyrev, chief of staff of the 695 rifle regiment, S. D. Nomokonov killed 360 fascist soldiers during the war years. The Hitlerites, who conducted a constant mortar and artillery hunt for Semyon Danilovich, also learned about his accuracy. However, the Soviet sniper carefully chose their positions. Nomokonov always adhered to the rule that the target can appear at any time. You always need to be ready to take cover and freeze in place, gather in a lump. In such a situation, the head should be kept low and “turn” only with the eyes. A sniper could hit a target from 300-500 meters, and the record distance from which he destroyed the target was 1000 meters. Nomokonov wore hunting equipment during the war, so on a mission he often used various shoelaces, cords, mirror fragments, flyers. For silent movement at the right time, the shooter used brodns woven from horsehair. In 1942, a sniper went into combat positions already with a rifle with an optical sight.
In April 1942, the Chita delegation arrived at the front, headed by the secretary of the regional committee of the CPSU (b) G. Voronov, as a gift to the famous fellow countryman, they presented a nominal watch.
According to official information, during the war years, Semyon Danilovich Nomokonov eliminated 367 enemies, including the Germans and the Japanese. On his pipe, he marked the killed opponents with dots (soldiers) and crosses (officers). More than 150 soldiers taught their skills in precision shots to the younger generation, while working as a shooting instructor, more than 150 soldiers taught sniper art. An outstanding student of S. D. Nomokonov was his fellow countryman T. S. Sanzhiev, who was able to destroy 186 enemy officers and soldiers. During the service, Nomokonov was repeatedly wounded, but escaped German captivity. Twice he was shell-shocked and 8 times wounded, but did not leave the service. Repeatedly enemy artillery opened heavy fire, mortar shelling of the territory was undertaken, where the Soviet gunner could supposedly be located. The Nazis thus tried to destroy Nomokonov.
Having become a sniper, Semyon Danilovich was supposed to keep records of the destroyed officers and soldiers of the enemy. A tube, which was always with him, became a kind of evidence of his military successes.
The famous sniper passed the battle route from the Valdai Heights and the Karelian Isthmus to East Prussia. I also had to fight in Ukraine, in Lithuania, and during the Soviet-Japanese war - in Manchuria. He served on 5 fronts, 2 divisions and 6 regiments. It inspired fear and horror on the enemy invaders, why he received the nickname "Taiga Shaman".
An experienced hunter declared the Nazis “Dain-Tulugui”, which translated from his native language meant “merciless war”. He emerged victorious from all sniper duels. After many years, the achievements of an outstanding shooter will inspire filmmakers to create the movie “Sniper 2. Tungus”.
Participation in hostilities against Japan
The battle path of Nomokonov Semyon Danilovich was completed at the spurs of Greater Khingan in the Far East. In the area of the village of Khodatun of the Transbaikal Front, a sniper destroyed 15 soldiers of the Kwantung Army, and the group of snipers, which he led, killed about 70 enemies. For this battle, the Soviet shooter was awarded the last award - the Order of the Red Star. Also, by order of the front commander, Nomokonov received a horse, binoculars and a personalized sniper rifle.
Battle rewards
For military merits, Semyon Danilovich repeatedly received state awards: orders and medals, as well as valuable items.
The first award - the order to them. V.I. Lenin - for the destruction of 151 Nazis and the training of 16 snipers Nomokonov S. D., who was in the rank of senior sergeant, received in June 1942. For the elimination of more than 250 enemy soldiers and officers in December 1943, the Soviet sniper was awarded the Order of the Red Star.
The 221st Infantry Division of the 34th Infantry Corps of the 34th Army became the last duty station of S. D. Nomokonov. In March 1945 he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for training 99 snipers and eliminating 294 German soldiers and officers.
Life after the war
Semen Danilovich Nomokonov in the post-war period was a very popular person. Articles about his exploits were repeatedly published in newspapers and books. He received many letters from ordinary people from all over the Soviet Union. Once they wrote to him from Hamburg. One German woman was very worried about the question: was there a note on his pipe about the death of her son Gustav Erlich? Did he pray, like a man of such great merit, for his victims? This letter was read to Nomokonov, the answer to which was written down by one of his sons. The famous sniper admitted the possibility that on his pipe, with which he spent the whole war, there could be a mark on the destruction of the son of a respected woman. But Nomokonov could not remember all the German killers and robbers. In addition, he considered it important to point out to the woman the fact of how cruel the Nazi invaders were in their actions: "If you, German women, had seen with your own eyes what your sons had done in Leningrad ..."
After the war sniper Nomokonov continued to work at the state farm. In the mid-1960s, having retired, he moved the Mogoytuysky district to the village of Zagulay (Aginsky Buryat Autonomous District), where he was hired by the collective farm. V.I. Lenin. Semen Danilovich Nomokonov died in 1973, July 15.
Facts about the legendary sniper
Until 1931, the name Tungus was used, after which the Evenki became the generally accepted ethnonym. According to official documents, S. D. Nomokonov was listed as a “Tungus from the Hamnegan family,” therefore both Buryats and Evenks consider him a fellow countryman. Hamnegan is translated into Russian as a forest man.
Semyon Danilovich began to learn to read at the age of 32 years, along with his son Vladimir.
During the war, Nomokonov Vladimir was also a sniper, destroyed about 50 Nazis. Father and son fought in neighboring sectors of the front, but their meeting did not take place until after the war ended.
The famous rifle Semyon Danilovich is in the Museum of the History of the Order of them. V.I. Lenin of the Siberian Military District.
Feats of the participants of the Great Patriotic War continue to attract the attention of researchers. Many of them were prototypes of the heroes of military films. Nomokonov Semyon Danilovich was no exception. His biography was the basis for the film "Sniper 2. Tungus." Events also unfold during the years of World War II, in 1943, and talk about the everyday life of wartime, the difficulties of completing combat missions and self-sacrifice.
Nomokonov often received tubes as a gift. For example, the front commander, who became aware of Nomokonov’s sniper duels, personally presented him with a tube made of ivory. Currently, one of them has been deposited in the Moscow Museum, the other in Chita, and the third in Achinsk.
The memory of the descendants of S. D. Nomokonov
Grateful descendants carefully preserve and enhance the memory of the famous countryman and compatriot.
About the legendary sniper writer Sergey Zarubin wrote the book “Sniper Tube”.
In the postwar period, S. D. Nomokonov was awarded the title of Honorary Soldier of the Trans-Baikal Military District (now Siberian).
In honor of the great fellow countryman, bullet shooting competitions are held at home.
In January 2010, the candidacy of S. D. Nomokonov took first place in the competition "Great People of Transbaikalia", which was organized under the patronage of the Administration of the Transbaikal Territory.
For military merits, Nomokonov S. D. was not during his lifetime awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. To commemorate the 65th anniversary of the Victory in the 1941-1945 war, the volunteers and organizers sent to the Ministry of Defense a presentation on awarding the sniper to the title of Hero of the Russian Federation, but the agency did not find significant reasons for conferring this title.