History has preserved many names of heroes who sacrificed their lives for the victory over the Nazi invaders. Their names are forever inscribed in the annals of the great Victory. Books and films have been created about someone, only names and rather sketchy biographical information have been preserved about others.
Who is Samusenko Alexandra Grigoryevna? The biography and exploits of this beautiful girl are presented to your attention in the article. She is one of the few women to take command of a tank platoon. It belongs to the second category. Information about her short life, 10 years of which was given to military service, has survived quite a bit. However, this information also makes one think about the amazing heroism of a simple Soviet girl who did not live to victory for more than two months.
Where was Alexander born: unresolved question
Few known in the history of women tankers of World War II. Alexandra Samusenko is one of the most mysterious characters of those times. It was not possible to establish how and where exactly she spent her early years, even the question of the date of her birth is debatable. It is only known for sure that Alexandra was born in 1922.
The place of the future heroine's birth is also shrouded in mystery. Employees of the commission to perpetuate the memory of those who died during the Second World War are sure that the early years of Alexandra passed near Gomel, in the village of Svyatoy, now called Kirovo. However, there is another point of view: according to official data, which can be found in memory books, Alexandra Samusenko was born in Chita. It is this city that appears in the award documents.
It is difficult to say what is the reason for this confusion. Maybe mistakes crept into the documents, or maybe Alexandra and her parents actually moved to Chita as a child. Some researchers put forward the opposite hypothesis: the Samusenko family from Chita migrated to the village of Svyatoe. But this is easy to challenge, because Alexander was drafted from Chita into the army, as evidenced by the existing award documents.
Is Alexandra Samusenko a Tatar?
The question is open about the nationality of Samusenko. Of course, it seems obvious that she could well have been born in Belarus, and later moved with her parents to Chita. This is evidenced by the name of Alexandra, as well as information available to historians about her short life. However, in award sheets and other documents in the column "nationality" it is indicated that Samusenko was a Tatar. Alexandra’s father’s name is Gregory, so it’s difficult to assume that she considered herself a Tatar because of her father’s nationality. Historians have to figure out what are the reasons for such an unexpected "nationality" of the heroine of the Great Patriotic War that these are attempts to hide their past or is there a simple confusion in the documents?
Regiment daughter
There is another mystery. The documents contain information that from 1934, that is, from the age of twelve, Alexandra was brought up in one of the units of the Red Army. Historians have not yet been able to find out why the girl at such a young age was in the army. One can only assume that her parents were either repressed or died. However, the first option is quite doubtful: in the Stalin era, a child whose parents were repressed would hardly have expected such a fate. Therefore, it is most likely to assume that Alexandra's mother and father died.
However, this hypothesis is not confirmed. The award sheets indicate that Alexandra's mother lived in Moscow on Bolshaya Ordynka during the war, that is, she was alive and well. How, with a living mother, did the girl become a pupil of the Red Army? The answer to this question has not yet been obtained.
An attempt to hoax for the sake of military service?
Some researchers refute evidence that Samusenko was the daughter of a regiment. There is information according to which, before the war, Sasha lived in Gomel and studied at a factory school. And information about her biography was hidden and falsified by Alexandra herself, since her father had a criminal record, and it was important for the girl to hide this fact from the public in order to be able to become a fighter of the Soviet army.
However, it is known for certain that already in 1938, as a young sixteen-year-old girl, practically a teenager, Alexandra Samusenko became a Red Army soldier. According to some sources, she even participated in the Soviet-Finnish conflict of 1939-1940. However, this information is very controversial, since the authorities of the USSR at that time did not feel the need to mobilize women to participate in hostilities.
The beginning of World War II
What else interesting will her biography tell? Samusenko Alexandra Grigorievna at the front was already June 22, 1941, becoming one of the first defenders of the Soviet Union from the German invaders.
Samusenko participated in fierce battles that took place in the autumn and summer of 1941, fighting in the ranks of the Western and Bryansk fronts. During this time, Alexander was wounded several times. Fortunately, the injuries were not dangerous.
It is worth noting that Samusenko was accompanied by luck: in total during the battles she was wounded three times, while only the last wound received in 1943 was severe.
Alexandra Grigoryevna Samusenko: feat
In 1943, Alexandra participated in the Battle of Kursk. At that time, the girl managed to become a senior lieutenant and was assigned to the Order of the Red Star. She managed to achieve such a high reward by the fact that, under continuous enemy fire and air attacks, she managed to transmit instructions to the soldiers and valuable intelligence, without which it would hardly have been possible to achieve success in the battle.
In the same year, Samusenko was seriously injured, but a few months later she returned to duty and participated in the Lviv-Sandomir operation.
Memories of Eyewitnesses: Cheerful and Persistent
The author of one of the few photographs of Alexandra that has survived to this day, Anatoly Morozov, recalled that he met a brave tanker near Orel. At the time of the meeting, Alexandra Samusenko, the communications officer, was resting from a fierce tank battle. The photographer was amazed that, despite the fact that Alexandra had occasion to take part in a number of battles, personally destroy enemies and survive several serious injuries, the girl did not lose her cheerfulness and optimism.
In the book by V. S. Murmantseva, “Soviet Women in the Great Patriotic War”, mention can also be made of Alexander Samusenko. Murmantseva writes that Alexandra Samusenko is a tanker who never loses his temper, even in those moments when male fighters did not know how to proceed. Thanks to clear instructions from Samusenko, the Red Army quickly managed to take control of themselves.
The amazing personality of Alexandra recalls Peter Demidov. In the book “In the service of the god of war”, he describes a meeting with a twenty-five-year-old female tankman whose patriotism and courage surprised even experienced fighters. Demidov also mentions that Alexandra sent a letter to Kalinin asking for help to enter the tank school. The request of the girl was granted.
Beautiful Alexandra
Information about how Alexander looked was also interesting, because only one photograph was saved, taken by the above-mentioned Anatoly Morozov. The writer Fabian Garin writes in his book Flowers on Tanks that Samusenko looked very feminine: a long braid laid on the back of her head and a slim graceful figure made her very attractive. However, Alexandra’s behavior could hardly be called appropriate for a woman: the girl smoked a lot, allowed herself obscene expressions. This is not surprising: it is difficult to imagine what happened in this short life to this young woman, who, by the will of fate, was abandoned in the midst of war.
No less interesting is the question of how Alexander managed to build relationships with other fighters. After all, Samusenko Alexandra Grigoryevna is a tank commander, and this is a huge rarity. In his book, Fabian Garin writes that the young women officer was sympathetic to the Red Army men, only no one wanted to obey her: it seemed to many that it was insulting to follow the orders of the girl.
Liberator of Poland
Alexander met the year 1945 as a captain. Together with her tank unit, Samusenko participated in the liberation of Polish lands from German invaders.
In the same year, there was a meeting with the American Joseph Beyrle, who managed to escape from Nazi captivity. Joseph wanted to be of service to the front: instead of going to the rear, he preferred to remain in the ranks of the Red Army. The paratrooper's knowledge came in handy, because several Shermans were part of the tank brigade.
Joseph Beyrle went down in history as the only soldier who happened to fight in both the American and the Red Army. Most likely, he was familiar with Alexandra Samusenko. By the way, Joseph is the father of John Beyrle, who in 2008-2011 was the American ambassador to the Russian Federation.
The death of Alexandra: two hypotheses
It was not possible to find out exactly how Alexander died. It is known that she died shortly before the victory, which makes her departure from life even more tragic.
March 3, 1945, just seven tens of kilometers from Berlin, while carrying out an intelligence mission in the Polish city of Lobese, Alexandra was fired upon. The shell hit her tank, which after a few moments was engulfed in flames. The girl managed to get out of the burning car and threw into the fire an officer’s tablet with important documents that should not have been handed over to the enemy. Witnesses claim that until the last second Samusenko continued to shoot back from enemies. The wounds received by Alexandra were too serious: they could not save her life.
However, there is another version of the death of this outstanding woman. Researchers suggest that the tank column came under fire at night, while Alexander, not expecting danger, was sitting on the armor. The girl hid behind the side of the tank, slowly moving next to him, thus trying to protect herself from splinters. However, the tank suddenly turned around, and the girl died under his tracks.
Everlasting memory
A month before the victory, Samusenko was presented to the Order of the Patriotic War of the II degree. Unfortunately, the reward was received posthumously. The hero of the Great Patriotic War, Alexander Samusenko, was buried in the central square of the Polish city of Lobez. The documents indicate that she was buried in Germany, but this is not surprising: at the time of the death of Alexandra, Lobez remained part of the territory of the Third Reich.
Unfortunately, little information has been preserved about Alexandra's life. However, even these data make one amazed at the courage, courage and courage of a simple girl who stood in the way of the Nazi invaders and defended her native land at the cost of her life.
The life and death of Alexandra Samusenko was a real feat, which not everyone dares to ... Eternal memory to the heroes ...