Until June 1941, these were the most ordinary boys who strictly observed the laws of pioneer. Studying, helping adults, playing games and communicating with peers is what formed the basis of their life. And when the Nazi invaders came to Soviet soil, the fire of sacred love for the Motherland immediately broke out in their children's hearts, and at the cost of their own lives, the pioneers stood up to defend it. Enormous trials fell over the fragile shoulders of young boys and girls overnight in the form of a whole arsenal of adversity, calamity, deprivation. But they did not break them, but only made them more enduring, stronger and more purposeful. Valya Kotik, Zina Portnova, Vitya Korobkov, Vladimir Shcherbatsevich - this is only a small part of those who, along with adults, were not afraid to repel the enemy. And of course, one cannot but note the feat that Shura Kober and Vitya Khomenko performed. Their biographies are like two drops of water.
Both of them were brought up in an incomplete family, lost their normal childhood, were in an underground organization, and even died on the same day. What is known about these teenagers, on which almost every pioneer was equal? Let's consider this question in more detail.
Shura
Kober Alexander Pavlovich was born in the city of Nikolaev (Ukraine) on November 5, 1926. Geographically, he lived in a working settlement. The future pioneer hero practically did not know his father, since he had lost his life even before World War II (during the testing of a warship on the Black Sea). From childhood, Shura showed an interest in reading. His favorite books were The Adventures of Captain Hatteras, Suvorov, Gadfly. In addition to literature, Kober Alexander Pavlovich was fond of playing the violin and even attended a music school.
An occupation
A carefree and rosy childhood for Shura ended in August 1941. The Germans captured Nikolaev. Almost all government institutions, including kindergartens and schools, stopped working.
The Nazis allowed only two cinemas and the Hermitage Theater to function. In the early days of the occupation, Kober Alexander Pavlovich defended his hometown, but his fight against the enemy was classified, and he did not immediately become a member of the underground organization. He managed to rally a small team of children around him and began to stop the Germans from realizing their vile plans.
So, once a future hero pioneer damaged a communication cable, which stretched toward a military airfield. The teenager secretly managed to collect and disguise a certain arsenal of weapons, including ammunition, grenades and rifles. Often Kober Alexander Pavlovich supplied food to the townspeople, whom the Germans made prisoners of the Shpalag-364 concentration camp.
Underground
Attempts to secretly fight the Nazi troops did not go unnoticed by Anna Simanovich and Klavdiya Krivda. It was with the help of these people that the teenager became a member of the underground organization "Nikolaev Center". After some time, Shura was already fulfilling important assignments, namely: fixing the location of fascist units, monitoring the location of military facilities and reporting all potential emergency situations. That's all, briefly about Shura Kober. But the feat that he accomplished with Vitya Khomenko should always be stated in all the details and details.
Vitya
Naturally, one should dwell on the biography of the like-minded Alexander Kober.
Vitya Khomenko was born on September 12, 1926 in the Ukrainian Kremenchug. The boy also early lost his father, who fought on the side of the Reds during the Civil War. Viti’s childhood was not easy: his mother alone was forced to raise him and two sisters. The boy knew early what labor was, and he had little time for games with his peers. He became a real support for his mother and always helped her with housekeeping. At school, the pioneer was distinguished by zeal, diligence and discipline. From childhood, Vitya dreamed of sailing and at every opportunity he liked to swim. When the summer holidays came, the teenager ran to the river to dive plenty.
War
Vitya learned about the invasion of the German invaders when he was in a pioneer camp located near Nikolaev. Soon he returned home (to Nikolaev) and began to intensively reflect on how to resist foreign invaders. The boy began to spend more time on the street, returning to his native land, when it was already getting dark.
Naturally, the mother was perplexed where her son disappeared for days on end. As it turned out, he, like Shura Kober (a pioneer hero), embarked on a secret fight against the Nazis. What did Vitya do? He tracked city posters and imperceptibly from all ripped off the printed orders of the Germans. In addition, the teenager made a home-made radio and in one of the basements of a residential building, along with friends, listened to the voice of Yuri Levitan, who broadcast the latest news from the capital of the USSR. Then the boys wrote them down on paper and secretly let the townspeople and residents of the surrounding villages read them.
Access to German documents
After some time, Vitya Khomenko decides to squeeze deeper into the enemy environment. He arranges to work for the Nazis as an assistant in the kitchen of a field hospital. Even at school, a pioneer showed teachers good knowledge of the German language, and this circumstance, coupled with qualities such as dexterity and diligence, will play into his hands: Vitya quickly gained the confidence of the Nazis. As a result, no one bothers the teenager to communicate with wounded German soldiers who do not hold back the fact that they do not want to be killed for the sake of fulfilling the odious and unrealistic ideas of the Führer. Reich soldiers do not conceal from the pioneer the names of generals and officers whose orders they execute.
Vitya Khomenko does not miss the slightest detail expressed by the Fritz. He spends a lot of time in the German canteen “Ost”, where from time to time he receives a task from the Nazis: to deliver a particular package of secret documents to a specific address. For the underground organization "Nikolaev Center" this information was invaluable, and, of course, Victor passed on the contents of the papers received from the Germans to his commanders.
Once the Nazis handed over to him very important documents that were of paramount importance. In fact, it was a scheme for the advancement of fascist troops in the Caucasus. But it was not possible to transmit secret documents to the commanders of the Russian army in Moscow remotely: the walkie-talkie broke ... In addition, the underground members ran out of supplies of paper products, medicines and weapons. It was decided to deliver a secret package of documents to the capital, entrusting this responsible and risky business to two young but experienced underground workers.
Way to Moscow
They were Vitya Khomenko and Shura Kober. But how to leave the city and not cause suspicion among the Germans? They were able to lull the Germans' vigilance, informing them that they were going to the village to exchange basic necessities for bread.
When only dawn, the boys left the safe house. Shura Kober, whose biography is not well known to the modern young generation, hid a secret report in a makeshift bamboo stick. The path to the capital was difficult and dangerous. First, the pioneers sailed along the Kuban River in a boat, and after it sank, they were forced to swim to the shore. After that, they found a place where a detachment of the Red Army was stationed, whose commanders prompted Alexander and Victor the way to the headquarters of the Transcaucasian Front. At the end of August 1942, underground fighters in a military aircraft from the Georgian capital went to Moscow. After they handed over a secret package of documents for their intended purpose. The task was completed.
Road back
Soon it was necessary to return to Nikolaev. The pioneers and radio operator Lydia Britkina decided to deliver by plane. All three by parachute were evacuated from the aircraft when the plane reached the territory of the Nikolaev region. In addition to radio operators and underground workers, parachutes with valuable cargo were dropped from the aircraft: weapons, ammunition, a device for printing campaign materials, and a radio transmitter. One such parachute did not land where it was needed. Vitya, Alexander and Lida, who successfully catapulted in the vicinity of the village of Sebino (Novoodesky District), later learned that the Germans found the parachute “x”. Underground workers decided to act as follows: Khomenko will go to Nikolaev, and Lida and Shura Kober (a pioneer hero) will remain in place to find out how events will develop further.
Khomenko got to the New Odessa-Nikolaev highway, and towards him he got a car, in the cabin of which the Germans were sitting. Without losing his temper, the teenager raised his hand. The Germans were discouraged by this behavior, but still stopped. But Khomenko was a good connoisseur of the German language, which bribed the enemy. Fritz suggested Vita to bring it, and thus the underground member appeared in Nikolaev. Soon he was already in the "Nikolaev center". After a while, Shura Koberg also managed to safely get home.
Arrest of Viti
But there was a problem with the final transportation of valuable cargo. Communist Vsevolod Bondarenko agreed to help with his delivery, who, along with Khomenko, went to carry out the task.
In order not to arouse suspicion, Bondarenko rolled a wheelbarrow loaded with a whole pile of worn clothes, and Vitya walked next to him. There was very little left to the destination when the German patrol blocked the path to the underground. Khomenko and his companion were arrested.
Shura arrest
Soon another member of the anti-fascist underground was arrested. One of the November nights of 1942, the Nazis drove up to the house where Shura Kober lived. In a matter of minutes, the Germans expelled the pioneer from their homes and pushed them into the car by force. Then he ended up in a prison cell. And the next day, Alexander met there with his friend Vitya Khomenko. As it turned out, the Germans entered an underground organization by introducing their own person into it. And after some time the provocateur issued members of the "Nikolaev center". The following days, the pioneers were subjected to severe torture and bloody torture: the Germans want at all costs to find out how the underground members managed to transmit the secret report to Moscow. But the teenagers did not say a word to the enemy. The reprisals against the pioneers turned out to be cruel.
Execution
They and ten other underground members were executed on December 5, 1942. The Germans erected a gallows in Bazarnaya Square, and the executioners fulfilled their bloody mission. Shura and Victor died as heroes. A few years later, the pioneers for their feat were awarded the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree. In the fall of 1959, a monument to Shura Kober and Vita Khomenko was erected in the Pioneer Square of Nikolaev.