Many of us know the names of at least some of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War who bravely fought the enemy, freeing their land from it. Panfilovās heroes, Maresyev, who became the direct prototype of the āTale of a Real Manā character, Pokryshkin, who surpassed the German air aces in combat skill ... But not everyone remembers that children were constantly next to the adults in that terrible war, completely sharing with their senior comrades all the hardships and hardships of war.
It is believed that the Great Patriotic War claimed the lives of about 27 million people. According to recent studies, 10 million of them are soldiers, and the rest are old people, women and children. Those whom war, according to numerous international conventions, should not hurt. Alas, reality is much worse.
Almost all adolescents who remained in the rear deserve the title of Heroes, as they worked on an equal footing with adults, issuing up to two production standards per day. They were dying of exhaustion, dying under bombardments, falling asleep from a constant lack of sleep, fell under cars and crippled, having put their hand or foot in the machinery of the machine ... Everyone brought Victory closer as they could.
In Soviet times, the schools studied the names of those teenagers who fought at the front. Many remember the story "Son of the regiment." So, the story described in it is not unique. On the contrary, many pioneer heroes of the Great Patriotic War fought in partisan detachments, constantly lived with the risk of exposure, being connected. For their life, no one would have given a dime: the Nazis were equally cruel to everyone. Today we will list some of those children who gave their lives in exchange for peace for their country.
Forgetting their feat is a crime. Today it is difficult to find at least one large city in which a monument to the pioneer heroes was erected, but today's youth is practically not interested in the immortal accomplishments of their then peers.
The other side of the coin
It is easy to understand that a lot of orphans have appeared in the country. Despite the most difficult time, the state fulfilled its obligations to the younger generation. Many orphanages and orphanages were organized, where after the difficult military roads often came the former children of the regiments, who often had āadultā awards by that time.
Most of the teachers and specialists of orphanages were real heroes, aces in their field. They managed to warm children's souls, were able to make them forget about the suffering that the kids suffered in the zones of military conflict. Unfortunately, among them there were also those whom āpeopleā could be called only by their appearance.
So, in only one Smolensk region in those years at least two cases were revealed when inmates of orphanages were forced to steal rotten potatoes from the fields just so as not to starve to death. The state constantly provided orphanages with food, but in this case the leadership of these institutions literally āateā it. In a word, children in those terrible years had a very hard time. One can only admire the courage of those of them who found the strength to fight the enemy on an equal footing.
What they were doing?
At the battlefields, the guys collected and dug rifles, pistols and other weapons from under the snow, subsequently passing them to the partisans. They risked terribly, and the matter was not only in the Germans: then on the battlefields there were even more unexploded mines and shells. Many of the heroes who pioneered the Great Patriotic War were scouts, passing on medicines and dressings to partisans and soldiers detached from their homes. Often, these very little brave men helped arrange shoots for the captive Red Army soldiers. Especially massive "children's" front has become in Belarus.
Many children sincerely hated the Germans, because as a result of the war they lost all their relatives and friends, who were often killed right before their eyes. Left in the scorched and devastated villages, they found themselves doomed to terrible hunger. This is not often talked about, but Hitlerās ādoctorsā often used children as donors. Of course, no one cared about their health. Many hero pioneers whose portraits are in the article have become crippled and disabled. Unfortunately, even in the official history course, this is spoken a little.
The children's role in the air defense of the country is also noticeable. The guys were on duty on the roofs of houses, dropping and extinguishing fire bombs, along with adults participated in the construction of various fortified areas. In the areas occupied by Germans, the pioneer heroes of the Great Patriotic War managed to collect warm clothes and other uniforms, which were then transported to partisan detachments and even to active units of the Red Army.
Labor heroism
The labor feat of the children of war is known when they worked for days at defense enterprises. Child labor was used in the manufacture of fuses and fuses, smoke bombs and gas masks. Teenagers even participated in the assembly of tanks, not to mention the production of machine guns and rifles. Terribly starving, they honestly grew vegetables on any suitable patch of land in order to send them to the army, soldiers. In school circles, soldiers were uniformly sewed until late. Many of them, already being deep old men, with a smile and tears recalled the pouches, mittens and pea jackets made by children's hands.
Today in the press you can often find tearful stories about the "good" German soldiers. Yes, it happened. But how do you like the fun of the āvaliantā Wehrmacht fighters who, having thrown a piece of bread in the field, arranged a real hunt for hungry children rushing for food? How many children died because of such amusements of the Germans throughout the country! This is well written in the article by N. N. Solokhin from the city of Lyudinovo (Kaluga Region) āWe are not from childhoodā. It is not surprising that the courage and courage of young soldiers who experienced all the "charms" of an enemy occupation often struck even experienced, battle-hardened soldiers.
Many of the names of the pioneer heroes remained unknown, but we must remember what these children had to go through. How many of these guys died in the very first months of the war, trying to prevent the enemy with all their might, we are unlikely to ever know.
Children of the regiments
Take at least Fedya Samodurov. He was only 14 years old when he became the āadoptive sonā in the motorized rifle unit, commanded by Captain A. Chernavin. They picked him up on the ashes in the Voronezh region, which had previously been his native village. Bravely fought in battles for the city of Ternopil, helping machine-gun crew. When all the soldiers died, one took up the machine gun. Long and stubbornly firing back, he gave time to the others to retreat. He died the death of the brave.
Vanya Kozlov. He was only 13 years old. For two years he was under guardianship of the soldiers in the unit. Delivered them food, letters and newspapers, often making their way to the front line under the crossfire of an enemy who attacked the USSR.
Hero pioneers often not only performed the functions of signalmen, but worked in much more dangerous military field specialties. An example of this is Petya Tooth. This guy immediately decided to become a scout. His parents were killed, but because he wanted to fully pay off the Nazis. As a result, he became a gunner. Making his way directly to the enemyās location, he adjusted artillery volleys by radio. The military personnel know very well how dangerous this specialty is, what courage is needed in order to adjust the fire of their guns, actually being in their zone of destruction! Petya also did not survive that war.
Certificate of Vladimir Bogomolov
As you can see, the pioneer heroes of the Great Patriotic War were not at all some unique phenomenon. The famous writer Vladimir Bogomolov described the exploit of a young scout in the novel "Ivan". At the very beginning of the war, the boy survived the death of his father and sister, who were his only relatives. He visited a partisan detachment, and then found himself in Trostyants, a death camp.
The most severe conditions did not break him. He died in 1943. He was noticed by the traitors-policemen while observing the secret branch of the railway along which the Germans were supplied. During interrogations, a teenager of 12 years kept himself upright, with dignity, not hiding his contempt and hatred of the enemy. He was shot, like many pioneer children. Heroes, however, were not only among the boys.
Portnova Zina
The fate of the girls was no less terrible. Zina Portnova, who turned 15 years old, left Leningrad for the village of Zui in the Vitebsk region for the summer of 1941. Parents sent to stay with relatives. Soon the war began, and the girl almost immediately joined the Young Avengers organization, whose task was to help the partisans. Participated in sabotage, poisoning food in the dining room for officers. She was engaged in the distribution of leaflets, conducted intelligence activities behind enemy lines. In a word, she did what other pioneer heroes did.
Zina Portnova was identified as a traitor and captured at the end of 1943. During interrogation, she managed to grab a gun from the investigator's table and shoot him and two other henchmen. She tried to escape, but she was captured. After the most severe torture, she was shot on January 13, 1944 in the prison of the city of Polotsk.
Nadezhda Bogdanova
Fortunately, there were still among the warring children those who managed to survive this terrible time. One of them was Bogdanova Nadia. The pioneer hero paid a terrible price for his participation in the liberation movement.
In Vitebsk, her hometown, the war came early. Nadia immediately joined the partisan detachment, delivering food and medicine to the soldiers. At the end of 1941, she and her friend Vanya (he was only 12 years old) were captured by the Germans at the exit from the city. The Nazis did not get a word from the children, and therefore immediately sent them to death. Vanya was struck immediately by bullets, and Nadezhda lost her creation and fell literally a moment before she would be turned around with her chest in one gulp. Partisans found the girl in the pit filled with corpses.
Like many other pioneer heroes of the Second World War, she found the strength to fight the hated enemy further. In 1942, Nadia managed to lay a charge of explosives on the bridge, which flew into the air with German transport. Unfortunately, the policemen saw this. The child was brutally tortured, and then thrown into a snowdrift. Seems incredible, but Hope survived. She was almost blind, but the brilliant academician Filatov was able to return her sight after the war.
The girl was awarded medals, the Order of the Battle of the Red Banner and World War 1 degree.
Vladimir Dubinin
Like many of his peers, Volodya Dubinin at the beginning of the war went to the partisans. In Kerch, where they fought, there were deep quarries. Having established a headquarters there, the soldiers painfully "bit" the Nazis, constantly arranging attacks on them. It was not possible to smoke partisans.
They solved the issue easier: carefully tracking people and learning about all the moves, the Germans immured them with cement and bricks. But young Volodya Dubinin, crawling into the smallest branches of the mines, regularly continued to deliver people food, drink and ammunition. Then the Nazis, angry at the lack of progress in the extermination of the partisans, decided to completely flood the quarries. Volodya found out about this almost immediately. Having transmitted information to his comrades, he began to build a system of dams along with them. When the water stopped, it reached the soldiers to the waist.
In 1942, during one of the next sorties, Volodya came across a soldier ... Soviet soldiers! It turned out that this is part of the landing that liberated Kerch. Unfortunately, the Germans closed their approaches to the quarries with a dense network of mine fields. A teenager and four sappers were blown up on one of them, having managed before this to reach the very entrance to the mines ... Like many other biographies of pioneer heroes, Vladimir's feat was immortalized only after the war.
Olga and Lidia Demesh
No less tragic is the story of Oli Demesh, who, together with her younger sister Lida, detonated fuel tanks with magnetic mines at Orsha station. Girls attracted much less attention than boys and adult men. Not to their account - seven (!) Detonated trains and 24 enemy soldiers.
Lida often took a bag of coal with her and walked along the tracks for a long time, remembering the time of arrival of enemy troops, the number of soldiers arrived, and the types of weapons brought. If the sentries stopped her, she said that she was collecting coal for heating the room in which German soldiers live. Lydia died, like many pioneer heroes. A photo of their faces is all that remains in memory of these heroic teenagers. She and the girlsā mother were shot.
For the head of Olya, the Nazis promised a cow, a land allotment and 10 thousand marks of monetary reward. The most valuable was her picture sent to all posts, secret agents and police officers. It was not possible to grab the girl. She took part in the ārail warā for a long time, fought in a partisan detachment.
Valentin Kotik
One of the youngest fighters is Valya Kotik. The pioneer hero was born in 1930. For a long time, the boy and his comrades were connected, collecting weapons and cartridges in the forests, subsequently passing them to the partisans. The command of the detachment, appreciating its courage and dedication, made Valentine connected. He quickly and accurately transmitted data on the size and armament of the enemy to his senior comrades, and once managed to eliminate the enemy officer.
Soon after, the boy finally moved to the partisans. He died at the age of 14, being mortally wounded during the assault on the city of Izyaslav. Today, Valya Kotik, a pioneer hero, is considered the youngest of those guys who accepted death with guns in their hands.
Golikov Leonid
When the war began, Lena was 15 years old. The Germans captured his native village and brutally killed many of its inhabitants. Together with adults, the boy went into the woods, to the partisans. His battle path was glorious and bright.
In 1942, sitting in an observation post near the road, Lenya Golikov saw a gorgeous, varnished German car driving through it. Oddly enough, but she had no escort. The young partisan was not at a loss and immediately threw a grenade at her. The car was thrown off by an explosion, she stopped. Immediately a couple of Germans jumped out of it, who rushed towards the kid.
But Lenya Golikov met them with dense fire from PPSh. He killed one German at once, and the second - when he yanked towards the forest. One of the dead was Richard Witz, general.
At the beginning of 1943, the detachment, in which Lenya was, spent the night in a hut three kilometers from the location of the Germans. The next morning it was literally riddled with machine guns: a traitor was found in the village. The title of Hero teenager received posthumously. Like other feats of the pioneer heroes, his deed did a good service, greatly undermining the morale of the invaders.
In their memoirs, the Germans often recall that it was extremely difficult for them in the USSR: āIt seemed that every pillar shot at us, every child could be a warrior who fought no worse than an adult soldier.ā
Sasha Borodulin
Sasha Borodulin knew perfectly well what fate awaits children who fell into the clutches of policemen and Nazis. He himself found the partisans and persistently began to ask to fight. So that the adults did not doubt his desire, the boy showed them a carbine with a stock of ammunition, recaptured from a German motorcyclist.
The commander, who knew Sasha before the war, allowed him to join them. At that time, Alexander āhitā for 16 years. The young soldier was immediately assigned to the reconnaissance detachment. Time has shown that the commander was not mistaken in the makings of a boy. Sasha was extremely brave and resourceful. Once he was sent to the German rear with the task of finding out the number of the enemy, putting his main forces on the map. The boy boldly walked around the station, managing to make his way to the windows of residential buildings right under the nose of the sentries. He quickly learned and remembered all the necessary data.
The task was brilliantly completed. In that battle, Alexander acted boldly, literally from the first rows, throwing grenades at the enemies. He immediately received three heavy bullet wounds, but did not abandon his comrades. Only after all the partisans, having completely defeated the enemy, went into the forest, Sasha independently bandaged himself and, covering the withdrawal, joined his comrades.
The authority of the fearless fighter after that has grown incredibly. The partisans sent Sasha to the hospital, seriously injured, but he promised to return immediately after recovery. He kept his word completely and soon he again fought along with his comrades.
One summer, partisans suddenly met with a punitive detachment of up to 200 people. The fight was terrible, everyone fought to the death. In that battle, Borodulin also died.
Like all pioneer heroes of the Second World War, he was presented for the award. Posthumously.
Unknown History Pages
The inhabitants know little of the history of those terrible days. For example, the fate of kindergartens is still unsolved. So, in December 1941, kindergartens continued to work in Moscow bomb shelters. By the autumn of 1942, 258 pre-school institutions had been opened in the city, many of which resumed work much earlier than many universities.
Many educators and nannies heroically died while defending Moscow from the advancing enemy troops. Children were in kindergartens almost all day. The war deprived little people of the most precious thing - childhood. They quickly forgot how to play, be capricious, and practically did not get naughty.
However, the children of wartime had one unusual game. To the hospital. Often this was not a game at all, as the kids provided assistance to the wounded, who were often placed in the premises of kindergartens. But the children of war practically didnāt play war games. They lacked the cruelty, pain and hatred that they saw daily. In addition, no one wanted to be a āFritzā. People who were scorched by the war in childhood are easy to recognize: they hate movies about it, they donāt like to remember the events that deprived them of their homes, families, friends and childhood.