July 17, 1941, Sokolnichi, near Krichev, the Germans were burying an unknown Russian soldier in the evening. Yes, this Soviet soldier was buried by the enemy. With honours. Much later it turned out that it was the gun commander of the 137th rifle division 13th Army Senior Sergeant Nikolai Sirotinin.
In the summer of 1941, the 4th Panzer Division of Heinz Guderian, one of the most talented German tank generals, broke through to the Belarusian town of Krichev. Parts of the 13th Soviet Army retreated. Only the gunner Kolya Sirotinin did not retreat - just a boy, short, quiet, frail. He had just turned 19 at the time. Nicholas volunteered. The second was the commander himself. Kolya took up a position on a hill right on the collective farm field. The cannon sank in the high rye, but he could clearly see the highway and the bridge over the Dobrost River. When the lead tank reached the bridge, Kolya knocked it out with the first shot. The second shell set fire to an armored personnel carrier that closed the column, creating a traffic jam.
It is still not entirely clear why Kolya was left alone in the field. But there are versions. He, apparently, just had a task - to create a “cork” on the bridge, knocking out the head car of the Nazis. The lieutenant was at the bridge and corrected the fire, and then, apparently, called for a traffic jam from German tanks fire from our other artillery. Because of the river. It is authentically known that the lieutenant was wounded and then he left in the direction of our positions. There is an assumption that Kolya was supposed to go to his own after completing the task. But ... he had 60 shells. And he stayed!
Two tanks tried to pull the lead tank off the bridge, but were also hit. The armored car tried to cross the river Dobrost not on the bridge. But she got bogged down in the swampy shore, where another shell found her. Kolya fired and fired, knocking out tank after tank...
Guderian's tanks ran into Kolya Sirotinin, as if into the Brest Fortress. Already burned 11 tanks and 7 armored personnel carriers 57 soldiers were killed! The fact that more than half of them were burned by Sirotinin alone is for sure (artillery from across the river also got some). For almost two hours of this strange battle, the Germans could not understand where the Russian battery had dug in. And when they reached Kolya's position, they were very surprised that there was only one gun. Nikolay had only three shells left. They offered to surrender. Kolya responded by firing at them from a carbine.
After the battle, Lieutenant 4th tank division Henfeld wrote in his diary: “July 17, 1941. Sokolnichi, near Krichev. In the evening they buried an unknown Russian soldier. He alone stood at the cannon, shot a column of tanks and infantry for a long time, and died. Everyone was surprised at his courage ... Oberst (colonel) before the grave said that if all the Fuhrer's soldiers fought like this Russian, they would conquer the whole world. Three times they fired volleys from rifles. After all, he is Russian, is such admiration necessary?
In the afternoon, the Germans gathered at the place where the gun stood. We were also forced to come there, local residents- recalls Verzhbitskaya. - To me, as knowing German, the chief German with orders ordered to translate. He said that this is how a soldier should defend his homeland - Fatherland. Then, from the pocket of our killed soldier's tunic, they took out a medallion with a note about who and where. The chief German told me: “Take it and write to your relatives. Let a mother know what a hero her son was and how he died.” I was afraid to do this ... Then, standing in the grave and covering the body of Sirotinin with a Soviet raincoat, a young German officer tore out a piece of paper and a medallion from me and said something rudely. For a long time after the funeral, the Nazis stood by the cannon and the grave in the middle of the collective farm field, not without admiration counting shots and hits.
Today, in the village of Sokolnichi, there is no grave in which the Germans buried Kolya. Three years after the war, the remains of Kolya were transferred to mass grave, the field was plowed and sown, the cannon was handed over for salvage. And he was called a hero only 19 years after the feat.
Despite the fact that Sirotinin's heroism was recognized back in 1960 thanks to the efforts of the employees of the Archives of the Soviet Army, he was not awarded the title of Hero of the USSR. A painfully absurd circumstance prevented him: the soldier's family did not have his photograph. The photo card was necessary for the submission of documents. As a result, a person who gave his life for his country is little known in his Fatherland and was awarded only the Order of the Patriotic War of the first degree.
The war with the German invaders claimed the lives of millions of Soviet people, slaughtering a colossal number of men, women, children and the elderly. horror fascist attack experienced by every inhabitant of our vast country. An unexpected offensive, the latest weapons, experienced soldiers - Germany had it all. Why did the brilliant plan "Barbarossa" failed?
The enemy did not take into account one very important detail: he was advancing on the Soviet Union, whose inhabitants were ready to die for every scrap native land. Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Georgians and other nationalities of the Soviet state fought together for their Motherland and died for the free future of their descendants. One of these brave and valiant soldiers was Nikolai Sirotinin.
A young resident of the city of Orel worked at a local industrial complex"Tekmash", and already on the day of the attack was wounded during the bombardment. As a result of the first air raid, the young man was sent to the hospital. The wound was not severe, and the young body quickly recovered, and Sirotinin's desire to fight remained. Little is known about the hero, even the exact date of his birth is lost. At the beginning of the century, it was not customary to solemnly celebrate every birthday, and some citizens simply did not know it, but only remembered a year.
And Nikolai Vladimirovich was born in difficult times in 1921. It is also known from the testimonies of contemporaries and comrades that he was modest, polite, short and thin. There are very few documents about this great man, and the events at the 476th kilometer of the Warsaw highway became known, largely thanks to the diary of Friedrich Hoenfeld. It was the German chief lieutenant of the 4th Panzer Division who wrote down in his notebook the story of the heroic deed of a Russian soldier:
July 17, 1941. Sokolnichi, near Krichev. In the evening they buried an unknown Russian soldier. He alone stood at the cannon, shot a column of tanks and infantry for a long time, and died. Everyone was surprised at his courage ... Oberst (colonel) before the grave said that if all the Fuhrer's soldiers fought like this Russian, they would conquer the whole world. Three times they fired volleys from rifles. After all, he is Russian, is such admiration necessary?»
Immediately after the hospital, Sirotinin ended up in the 55th Rifle Regiment, which was based near the small Soviet town of Krichev. Here he was assigned as a gunner, which, judging by further developments, obviously Sirotinin succeeded. The regiment remained on the river with the entertaining name "Goodness" for about two weeks, but the decision to retreat, nevertheless, was made.
Nikolai Sirotinin was remembered by the locals as a very polite and sympathetic person. According to Verzhbitskaya, he always helped the elderly carry water or scoop it from the well. It is unlikely that anyone could see in this young senior sergeant a brave hero capable of stopping a tank division. However, he still became one.
To withdraw the troops, cover was needed, which is why Sirotinin remained in position. According to one of the many versions, the soldier was supported by his commander and also stayed, but he was wounded in battle and went to the main team. Sirotinin was supposed to create a traffic jam on the bridge and join his own, but this young man decided to stand to the end in order to give his brother-soldiers maximum time to retreat. The goal of the young fighter was simple, he wanted to carry as much as possible more lives enemy army and disable all equipment.
The location of the only 76-mm gun, from which the attackers were fired, was well thought out. The gunner was surrounded by a thick field of rye, and the gun was not visible. Tanks and armored vehicles, accompanied by armed infantry, quickly moved through the territory under the leadership of the talented Heinz Guderian. It was still the period when the Germans hoped for a lightning-fast seizure of the country and the defeat of the Soviet troops.
Their hopes were dashed thanks to such warriors as Nikolai Vladimirovich Sirotinin. Subsequently, the Nazis more than once faced the desperate courage of the Soviet soldiers, and each such feat had a serious demoralizing effect on the German troops. At the end of the war, there were legends about the courage of our soldiers even in the enemy camp.
Sirotinin's task was to prevent the advance of the tank division for the maximum period. The senior sergeant's plan was to block the first and last link of the column and inflict the greatest possible losses on the enemy. The calculation turned out to be correct. When the first tank caught fire, the Germans tried to retreat from the line of fire. However, Sirotinin hit the trailing car, and the column turned out to be an immobilized target.
The Nazis rushed to the ground in a panic, not understanding where the shooting was coming from. Enemy intelligence provided information that there was not a single battery in this area, so the division advanced without any special precautions. Fifty-seven shells were used up by the Soviet soldier not in vain. The tank division was stopped and defeated by one Soviet man. Armored vehicles tried to wade across the rivulet, but were firmly bogged down in coastal silt.
During the entire battle, the Germans did not even suspect that they were faced with only one defender of the USSR. The position of Sirotinin, located at the collective farm cowshed, was taken only after only 3 shells remained. However, even deprived of ammunition for the gun and the ability to continue firing, Nikolai Vladimirovich shot the enemy from a carbine. Only after his death did Sirotinin surrender his position.
The German command and soldiers were horrified when they realized that only one Russian soldier opposed them. Sirotinin's behavior caused genuine delight and respect among the Germans, including Guderian., despite the fact that the losses of the division were huge.
The enemy lost eleven tanks and seven armored personnel carriers. As a result of the shelling of the enemy, 57 soldiers were out of action.
One man was worth an entire panzer division, no wonder even the enemies gave three volleys at his grave as a sign of the highest recognition of bravery .
The feat of Nikolai Sirotinin was lost among the glorious examples of courage Soviet soldiers. Its history was studied and covered only in the early 60s. At the same time, his family also learned about the heroic battle. In the post-war period, the grave of Sirotinin, which was made by the Germans in a village called Sokolnichi, had to be removed. Remains valiant warrior were buried in a mass grave. The cannon, from which Sirotinin shot down a tank division, has been scrapped for recycling. Today, nevertheless, a monument has been erected, and in Krichev there is a street with his last name.
The inhabitants of Belarus remember and respect the feat, although not everyone in Russia knows this glorious story. Time gradually covers with its patina the events of wartime. Despite the fact that the heroism of Sirotinin was recognized back in 1960 thanks to the efforts of the workers of the Archive of the Soviet Army, the title of Hero of the USSR was not awarded.
A painfully absurd circumstance got in the way: the soldier's family did not have his photograph. The photo card has become necessary for the submission of documents. As a result, a person who gave his life for his country is little known in his Fatherland and was awarded only the Order of the Patriotic War of the first degree.
However, Sirotinin did not fight for glory, and it is unlikely that when he died, he thought about orders. Most likely, this person devoted to the USSR hoped that his descendants would be free, and that a person with a fascist swastika would never set foot on Russian soil. Apparently, he was mistaken, although it is still not too late to resist the vile attempts to rewrite history.
In this article, we again mention his glorious name so that the memory of the heroes of the war is not erased. Everlasting memory and glory to Nikolai Vladimirovich Sirotinin, a true patriot and brave son of his country!
Original taken from patrik1990 Russians don't give up! No man is an island!
In the summer of 1941, on the bridge near the village of Sokolnichi tank column General Guderian was stopped by one single soldier - artilleryman Nikolai Sirotinin. He, covering the retreat of his regiment, managed to single-handedly knock out 11 tanks and 7 armored vehicles of the enemy, actually defeating one of the Wehrmacht's tank divisions.
The war with the German invaders claimed the lives of millions of Soviet people, slaughtering a colossal number of men, women, children and the elderly. The horrors of the fascist attack were experienced by every inhabitant of our vast country. An unexpected offensive, the latest weapons, experienced soldiers - Germany had it all. Why did the brilliant plan "Barbarossa" failed?
The enemy did not take into account one very important detail: he was advancing on the Soviet Union, whose inhabitants were ready to die for every piece of their native land. Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Georgians and other nationalities of the Soviet state fought together for their Motherland and died for the free future of their descendants. One of these brave and valiant soldiers was Nikolai Sirotinin.
A young resident of the city of Orel worked at the local industrial complex "Tekmash", and on the day of the attack he was wounded during the bombardment. As a result of the first air raid, the young man was sent to the hospital. The wound was not severe, and the young body quickly recovered, and Sirotinin's desire to fight remained. Little is known about the hero, even the exact date of his birth is lost. At the beginning of the century, it was not customary to solemnly celebrate every birthday, and some citizens simply did not know it, but only remembered a year.
And Nikolai Vladimirovich was born in difficult times in 1921. It is also known from the testimonies of contemporaries and comrades that he was modest, polite, short and thin. There are very few documents about this great man, and the events at the 476th kilometer of the Warsaw highway became known, largely thanks to the diary of Friedrich Hoenfeld. It was the German Lieutenant of the 4th Panzer Division who wrote down in his notebook the story of the heroic deed of a Russian soldier:
July 17, 1941. Sokolnichi, near Krichev. In the evening they buried an unknown Russian soldier. He alone stood at the cannon, shot a column of tanks and infantry for a long time, and died. Everyone was surprised at his courage ... Oberst (colonel) before the grave said that if all the Fuhrer's soldiers fought like this Russian, they would conquer the whole world.Three times they fired volleys from rifles. After all, he is Russian, is such admiration necessary?»
Immediately after the hospital, Sirotinin ended up in the 55th Rifle Regiment, which was based near the small Soviet town of Krichev. Here he was appointed as a gunner, which, judging by subsequent events, Sirotinin clearly succeeded. The regiment remained on the river with the entertaining name "Goodness" for about two weeks, but the decision to retreat, nevertheless, was made.
Nikolai Sirotinin was remembered by the locals as a very polite and sympathetic person. According to Verzhbitskaya, he always helped the elderly carry water or scoop it from the well. It is unlikely that anyone could see in this young senior sergeant a brave hero capable of stopping a tank division. However, he still became one.
To withdraw the troops, cover was needed, which is why Sirotinin remained in position. According to one of the many versions, the soldier was supported by his commander and also stayed, but he was wounded in battle and went to the main team. Sirotinin was supposed to create a traffic jam on the bridge and join his own, but this young man decided to stand to the end in order to give his brother-soldiers maximum time to retreat. The goal of the young soldier was simple, he wanted to take as many lives as possible to the enemy army and disable all equipment.
The location of the only 76-mm gun, from which the attackers were fired, was well thought out. The gunner was surrounded by a thick field of rye, and the gun was not visible. Tanks and armored vehicles, accompanied by armed infantry, quickly moved through the territory under the leadership of the talented Heinz Guderian. It was still the period when the Germans hoped for a lightning-fast seizure of the country and the defeat of the Soviet troops.
Their hopes were dashed thanks to such warriors as Nikolai Vladimirovich Sirotinin. Subsequently, the Nazis more than once faced the desperate courage of the Soviet soldiers, and each such feat had a serious demoralizing effect on the German troops. At the end of the war, there were legends about the courage of our soldiers even in the enemy camp.
Sirotinin's task was to prevent the advance of the tank division for the maximum period. The senior sergeant's plan was to block the first and last link of the column and inflict the greatest possible losses on the enemy. The calculation turned out to be correct. When the first tank caught fire, the Germans tried to retreat from the line of fire. However, Sirotinin hit the trailing car, and the column turned out to be an immobilized target.
The Nazis rushed to the ground in a panic, not understanding where the shooting was coming from. Enemy intelligence provided information that there was not a single battery in this area, so the division advanced without any special precautions. Fifty-seven shells were used up by the Soviet soldier not in vain. The tank division was stopped and defeated by one Soviet man. Armored vehicles tried to wade across the rivulet, but were firmly bogged down in coastal silt.
During the entire battle, the Germans did not even suspect that they were faced with only one defender of the USSR. The position of Sirotinin, located at the collective farm cowshed, was taken only after only 3 shells remained. However, even deprived of ammunition for the gun and the ability to continue firing, Nikolai Vladimirovich shot the enemy from a carbine. Only after his death did Sirotinin surrender his position.
The German command and soldiers were horrified when they realized that only one Russian soldier opposed them. The behavior of Sirotinin caused genuine delight and respect among the Germans, including Guderian, despite the fact that the losses of the division were huge.
The feat of Nikolai Sirotinin was lost among the glorious examples of the courage of Soviet soldiers. Its history was studied and covered only in the early 60s. At the same time, his family also learned about the heroic battle. In the post-war period, the grave of Sirotinin, which was made by the Germans in a village called Sokolnichi, had to be removed. The remains of the valiant warrior were reburied in a mass grave. The cannon, from which Sirotinin shot down a tank division, has been scrapped for recycling. Today, nevertheless, a monument has been erected, and in Krichev there is a street with his last name.
The inhabitants of Belarus remember and respect the feat, although not everyone in Russia knows this glorious story. Time gradually covers with its patina the events of wartime. Despite the fact that the heroism of Sirotinin was recognized back in 1960 thanks to the efforts of the employees of the Archives of the Soviet Army, the title of Hero of the USSR was not awarded.
A painfully absurd circumstance got in the way: the soldier's family did not have his photograph. The photo card has become necessary for the submission of documents. As a result, a person who gave his life for his country is little known in his Fatherland and was awarded only the Order of the Patriotic War of the first degree.
However, Sirotinin did not fight for glory, and it is unlikely that when he died, he thought about orders. Most likely, this person devoted to the USSR hoped that his descendants would be free, and that a person with a fascist swastika would never set foot on Russian soil. Apparently, he was mistaken, although it is still not too late to resist the vile attempts to rewrite history.
In this article, we again mention his glorious name so that the memory of the heroes of the war is not erased. Eternal memory and glory to Nikolai Vladimirovich Sirotinin, a true patriot and brave son of his country! Happy Victory Day everyone!!!
Sergeant Sirotinin completed the main task: the column of tanks was delayed, the 6th Infantry Division was able to cross the Sozh River without loss.
Oberleutnant Friedrich Hönfeld's diary entries have been preserved:
“He alone stood at the cannon, shot a column of tanks and infantry for a long time, and died. Everyone was surprised at his courage ... Oberst (colonel) before the grave said that if all the Fuhrer's soldiers fought like this Russian, they would conquer the whole world. Three times they fired volleys from rifles. After all, he is Russian, is such admiration necessary?
Olga Verzhbitskaya, a resident of the village of Sokolnichi, recalls: “In the afternoon, the Germans gathered at the place where the Sirotinin cannon stood. We, the locals, were also forced to come there. As someone who knows German, the chief German of about fifty with orders, tall, bald, gray-haired, ordered me to translate his speech to local people. He said that the Russian fought very well, that if the Germans had fought like that, they would have taken Moscow long ago, that this is how a soldier should defend his homeland - fatherland ... ".
The inhabitants of the village of Sokolniki and the Germans arranged a solemn funeral for Nikolai Sirotinin. German soldiers gave the deceased sergeant military salute three shots.
The memory of Nikolai Sirotinin
First, Sergeant Sirotinin was buried at the battlefield. Later he was reburied in a mass grave in the city of Krichev.
In Belarus, they remember the feat of the Oryol artilleryman. In Krichev, a street was named after him, and a monument was erected. After the war, archive workers Soviet army did a great job to restore the chronicle of events. The feat of Sirotinin was recognized in 1960, but the title of Hero Soviet Union was not appropriated due to a bureaucratic inconsistency - the Sirotinin family did not have photographs of their son. In 1961, an obelisk with the name of Sirotinin was erected on the site of the feat, and a real weapon was placed. On the 20th anniversary of the Victory, Sergeant Sirotinin was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st class.
AT hometown Orla also did not forget about the feat of Sirotinin. A memorial plaque dedicated to Nikolai Sirotinin was installed at the Tekmash plant. In 2015, school number 7 in the city of Orel was named after Sergeant Sirotinin.
It fell to Kolya Sirotinin at the age of 19 to challenge the saying "One man is not a warrior." But he did not become a legend of the Great Patriotic War, like Alexander Matrosov or Nikolai Gastello.
In the summer of 1941, the 4th Panzer Division, one of the divisions of the 2nd Panzer Group of Heinz Guderian, one of the most talented German tank generals, broke through to the Belarusian town of Krichev. Parts of the 13th Soviet Army retreated. Only the gunner Kolya Sirotinin did not retreat - just a boy, short, quiet, frail.
On that day, it was necessary to cover the withdrawal of troops. “Two people with a cannon will remain here,” said the battery commander. Nicholas volunteered. The second was the commander himself.
Kolya took up a position on a hill right on the collective farm field. The cannon sank in the high rye, but he could clearly see the highway and the bridge over the Dobrost River. When the lead tank reached the bridge, Kolya knocked it out with the first shot. The second shell set fire to an armored personnel carrier that closed the column.
Here we must stop. Because it is still not entirely clear why Kolya was left alone in the field. But there are versions. He, apparently, just had a task - to create a "cork" on the bridge, knocking out the head car of the Nazis. The lieutenant at the bridge corrected the fire, and then, apparently, caused the fire of our other artillery to jam from German tanks. Because of the river. It is authentically known that the lieutenant was wounded and then he left in the direction of our positions. There is an assumption that Kolya was supposed to go to his own after completing the task. But ... he had 60 shells. And he stayed!
Two tanks tried to pull the lead tank off the bridge, but were also hit. The armored car tried to cross the river Dobrost not on the bridge. But she got bogged down in a swampy shore, where another shell found her. Kolya fired and fired, knocking out tank after tank...
Guderian's tanks ran into Kolya Sirotinin, as if into the Brest Fortress. Already burned 11 tanks and 6 armored personnel carriers! For almost two hours of this strange battle, the Germans could not understand where the Russian battery had dug in. And when they reached Kolin's position, he had only three shells left. They offered to surrender. Kolya responded by firing at them from a carbine.
This, the last, battle was short-lived ...
“Still, he is Russian, is such admiration necessary?” Lieutenant of the 4th Panzer Division Henfeld wrote these words in his diary: “July 17, 1941. Sokolnichi, near Krichev. In the evening they buried an unknown Russian soldier. He alone stood at the cannon, shot a column of tanks and infantry for a long time, and died. Everyone was surprised at his courage ... Oberst (colonel) before the grave said that if all the Fuhrer's soldiers fought like this Russian, they would conquer the whole world. Three times they fired volleys from rifles. After all, he is Russian, is such admiration necessary?
In the afternoon, the Germans gathered at the place where the gun stood. We, the locals, were also forced to come there,” recalls Verzhbitskaya. - As a German speaker, I was ordered by the chief German with orders to translate. He said that this is how a soldier should defend his homeland - Fatherland. Then, from the pocket of our killed soldier's tunic, they took out a medallion with a note about who and where. The chief German told me: “Take it and write to your relatives. Let a mother know what a hero her son was and how he died.” I was afraid to do it... Then a young German officer, who was standing in the grave and covering the body of Sirotinin with a Soviet cape, tore out a piece of paper and a medallion from me and said something rudely. For a long time after the funeral, the Nazis stood at the cannon and the grave in the middle of the collective farm field, not without admiration, counting the shots and hits ...
Today, in the village of Sokolnichi, there is no grave in which the Germans buried Kolya. Three years after the war, the remains of Kolya were transferred to a mass grave, the field was plowed up and sown, the cannon was handed over for salvage. And he was called a hero only 19 years after the feat. And not even a Hero of the Soviet Union - he was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, I degree.
Only in 1960 did the employees of the Central Archive of the Soviet Army scout out all the details of the feat. A monument to the hero was also erected, but clumsy, with a fake gun and just somewhere off to the side.
The Nazis missed 11 tanks and 7 armored vehicles, 57 soldiers and officers after the battle on the banks of the Dobrost River, where the Russian soldier Nikolai Sirotinin stood in the barrier.
The inscription on the monument: “Here at dawn on July 17, 1941, he entered into single combat with a column of fascist tanks and in a two-hour battle repulsed all enemy attacks, senior artillery sergeant Nikolai Vladimirovich Sirotinin, who gave his life for the freedom and independence of our Motherland”
Senior Sergeant Nikolai SIROTININ is from Orel. Drafted into the army in 1940. On June 22, 1941, he was wounded during an air raid. The wound was light, and a few days later he was sent to the front - to the Krichev region, in the 6th Infantry Division as a gunner. Awarded with the Order Patriotic War I degree posthumously.
You will probably be surprised, but the feat of Nikolai Sirotinin is just a legend, a beautiful myth.
Here is the investigation carried out by hranitel-slov
To begin with, let's check the author of the diary - Henfeld / Henfeld from which it all started. Let's check on German version OBD Memorial - Volksbund. By the way, I never found the diary itself, traces of it are lost and it is known from later retellings, and most likely only one or two people saw it. and at the moment no traces of such an officer have been found in the 4th Panzer Division. There are also no ä and ö options,
also for every ie, ei
(to be fair, I found several candidates-
the first (and only) matched as much as possible - Obergefreiter Friedrich Hanfeld 03/29/1913 -03/05/1943 Nagatkino (Staraya Russa region)
Mismatch - neither the date (a year later), nor the title, nor the place (significantly to the north), nor the part (4 TD was not in that area)
There is also Friedrich Hennefeld, but he died in 1945
Do not remember such a character and veterans of the division.
There is no such officer in the losses indicated in the KTV 4. panzerdivizion from 10.1941 to 3.1942
But anyway, this collective image war hero, what a great many known and unknown!
Our story will also be about Nicholas. He also delayed the German mechanized group for several hours. The most interesting thing is that he did it in the same place, on Warsaw highway near the same village of Sokolnichi. Even more surprising is that our Nikolai accomplished his feat on the same early summer morning on July 17, 1941. Perhaps we are talking about the same person? No, different ones. And our history has two main differences.
Firstly, our story actually happened, and not as another, well-known, but fictional.
Secondly, our Nikolai remained alive.
By July 15-16, 1941, a threatening situation was created on the Western Front in the Mogilev region. Several Soviet divisions from 13A, 20A and 4A tried with all their might to hold back the onslaught of the 24th and 46th motorized corps from the 2nd tank group of General Heinz Guderian, who was rushing to Smolensk. However, the situation did not develop in favor of the Soviet troops. Taking advantage of the weakness of our defense, the enemy broke through the front near Mogilev in several places. Three armored wedges - the 10th Panzer Division north of Mogilev, the 3rd Panzer in the center and the 4th Panzer to the south - aimed their converging blows in the direction of Krichev.
Realizing the real threat of the environment, the command Western Front the beginning of a hasty withdrawal of troops across the river. Sozh. The only road for the retreating units to the saving eastern coast ran through the bridges in Krichev. A huge number of our troops rushed there.
The German command, building on success, embarked on decisive actions, the purpose of which was to quickly capture Krichev, encircle a group of Soviet troops and prevent their withdrawal to new lines of defense. The pragmatic Germans believed that it was much more convenient to smash our encircled troops in a pocket than to face them again, but already at a new line of defense, which was deployed along the eastern bank of the Sozh. Therefore, the German command gave the order: " An attack on Krichev must be carried out without regard to the time of day, and if necessary, even before the arrival of all subordinate units ... ".
One of the main tasks of capturing Krichev was assigned by the command of the 24th motorized corps to the 4th tank division, advancing from the south-west along the western bank of the Sozh along the Varshavskoe highway. The choice of the direction of the main attack on Krichev was determined by the favorable situation prevailing in this sector.
On July 15, the forward units of the 4th Panzer Division (this was the strike group of Colonel Heinrich Eberbach as part of the 1st and 2nd battalions of the 35th Tank Regiment and the 7th Reconnaissance Battalion) captured the bridges across the Pronya River with a sudden blow and pushed back the defending Soviet troops on the eastern bank of the Sozh. In essence, the road to Krichev was open, it was only about 50 km away and, according to intelligence, there were no large enemy forces ahead. However, Colonel Eberbach was in no hurry. Forcing events was hindered by several serious reasons.
Artillery, infantry and auxiliary units lagged behind due to the high rate of advance. Because of this, there was no one and nothing to restore the blown up during the retreat Soviet troops bridge over the river Lobuchanka. But there was another very important reason— the technical condition of the tanks. For about a week, it was not possible to carry out the necessary maintenance and repair of armored vehicles. The division command makes a decision: since the bridge over the Lobuchanka will be ready no earlier than July 16, the forced delay will be spent on a qualitative reinforcement of the strike group. Having decided to sacrifice the tanks that played the role of a "steel roller", the command of the division withdraws the 1st battalion of the 35th tank regiment from the strike group to carry out urgent technical work. Only the 2nd battalion remains in the Eberbach campfgruppe, and it was decided to give the main role for breaking the enemy defenses to artillery, which, along with other units, is already on the way.
July 16 at 15:00 (hereinafter local time) received regular reports from air reconnaissance and mobile patrols of the 7th reconnaissance battalion. They reported that the Russian units in several motorized and foot columns were withdrawing along secondary roads in an easterly direction towards Krichev. In the city itself, a concentration of enemy troops was discovered.
The command of the 4th division understands that it is impossible to delay and on July 16 at 19h. 30 minutes. Kampfgruppe moved to Krichev. It consists of: 2nd battalion of the 35th tank regiment, 1st company of the 34th motorcycle battalion, 2nd battalion of the 12th rifle regiment, 1st and 3rd divisions of the 103rd artillery regiment, 79th 1st Pioneer Battalion, parts of the pontoon division, one heavy and one light anti-aircraft battery.
Behind the already restored bridge over the Lobuchanka, it is only 10 km from it to the village of Cherikov, and there some 25 km along an excellent highway to main goal- Kricheva. But almost immediately we had to move off the main road, because in the forest through which the highway went, an impenetrable blockage several hundred meters long was made by the retreating Soviet units. When going around it, there was a short skirmish with enemy infantry.
At 22h. 15 minutes. tanks of the 35th regiment managed to capture the bridge across the river intact. Udoga. The Kampfgruppe entered Cherikov, the last settlement before Krichev. It was quiet in Cherikov. The local population was not seen. Russian soldiers taken prisoner on the outskirts of the village reported that their units retreated in the direction of Krichev. Here the Kampfgruppe makes the last stop and waits for its last reinforcement reserve - the 1st battalion of the 33rd rifle regiment, the 740th artillery battalion of 15 cm guns, the 3rd battery of the 604th battalion of heavy 21 cm mortars, the battery of the 69th artillery regiment of 10-cm cannons and the 324th battery of spotters. Now the Kampfgruppe of Oberst Heinrich Eberbach is completely ready to attack Krichev.
The echelon, with the last units of the 137th Infantry Division, unloaded four days ago 60 km west of Krichev. There was only one task - to find and join the main forces of the native 137th Infantry Division. And the 137th SD, being part of the 13th Army, by that time was already in the thick of the war. The first echelons with its units arrived at the Orsha station on June 29th. On July 5, parts of the division took part in short skirmishes with the enemy, and on the morning of July 13, its real baptism of fire took place. On this day of his first battle with. Chervonny Osovets, the 137th SD repelled all enemy attacks and did not retreat a single step.
But the 2nd Battalion knew nothing of this. In the frontal confusion, he never managed to find his division, and now, having merged with the retreating units, he went east to Krichev. In the city, the army command detains the battalion and sends it to the defense of the southwestern outskirts.
On July 16, the 2nd Security Guard of the 409th Regiment under the command of Captain Kim took up defenses about four kilometers west of Krichev, near the village of Sokolnichi. The battalion has six hundred men, four 45-mm anti-tank guns and twelve machine guns. In the evening of the same day, a tractor appeared on the highway, pulling a 122-mm howitzer. The tractor had a broken radiator and it dragged slowly, with difficulty. The gunners asked to be taken in.
At the end of the day, the last passenger car passed along the empty highway towards the city. The captain sitting in it said that the Germans would be here in the morning. A short summer night has come...
In the morning, the battalion was to take its first battle in this war.
July 17 at 3 p.m. 15 minutes. the Kampfgruppen of Colonel Eberbach moved in the direction of Krichev. The first two hours of the march passed quietly. At 5:15 a.m., a report was received from the head group: “At the exit from the forest near mark 156 (this is about a couple of kilometers before reaching Sokolnichi), enemy defenses were discovered. Anti-tank guns, artillery."
From the memoirs of F. E. Petrov, gunner of the 45-millimeter gun of the battery of the 2nd battalion of the 409th rifle regiment:
“They appeared before dawn, and we immediately opened fire on them.”
The head reconnaissance and patrol group from the 79th Pioneer Battalion, consisting of Pz.I light tanks and SdKfz 251/12 armored personnel carriers, having found the battalion's entrenched defenses, also returned fire. The task of the group was very important - reconnaissance in force. It was necessary to pinpoint the enemy's strongholds and firing points as accurately as possible, to determine their coordinates and landmarks.
Petrov F. E.:“I saw a tank approaching the bridge. He fired tracer shells, saw how they flew at us. The second gun was also fired. I don’t remember how many shells I fired, I felt blood flowing down my face - when I rolled back, the metal part of the sight above my eye hit. I reported to the commander of the gun, Krupin, that I could not shoot, and he himself stood behind the gun. I sat in a ditch, an explosion - and I was covered with earth. They dug me up when the shooting subsided, bandaged me. They changed their position, tanks were waiting again, but they were not there ... "
The reconnaissance and patrol group, having completed its task, retreated 2 km back. Target coordinates were transferred to the main group. Colonel Eberbach takes out his main trump card - artillery. Having deployed it, the Kampfgruppe from heavy guns dealt a powerful fire attack on the defense positions of the Soviet battalion.
The commander of the 2nd battalion realized that the forces were too unequal. The enemy artillery is somewhere beyond the forest, beyond the reach of our magpies. We also recall that it was based on large-caliber guns. There was only one thing left - to save the battalion from destruction.
Petrov F. E: "At about 8-9 in the morning, the battalion commander ordered to retreat. Our retreat was observed by a German aircraft. The guns were the last to leave, covering the infantry.
9 o'clock 30 minutes. Eberbach, making sure that the defenders left their positions, ordered to turn off his artillery and again moved along the highway to the city. Just before Krichev, the Kampfgruppe made a short last stop. Big fights were coming locality, therefore, a regrouping of forces was necessary. Now the tanks of the 2nd Battalion, 35th Tank Regiment were ahead, moving in two columns on both sides of the highway. They were supported by the 1st company of the 34th motorcycle battalion and the 1st company of the 12th rifle regiment with the task of clearing the streets from pockets of resistance. At 12:30, without encountering serious resistance, the Germans entered the city of Krichev.
Petrov F.E.: “Our calculation took up a position on the main street, on the right side of the roadway, the second gun was installed on another street, as tanks were waiting on the road from the Chausy station. After some time, two more horse-drawn guns appeared from another unit, the adjutant of the battalion commander ordered these crews to take up the defense as well. They stood in front of my gun. Several minutes passed, shelling began, a lorry rushed by, an unfamiliar commander standing on the bandwagon shouted that German tanks were following him. I saw how the shells hit the guns in front, how the fighters fell down there. Our platoon leader, seeing this, ordered to retreat. He fired the last shell, and ran down the street, under the whistle of bullets. There were three of us, ran into the yard, from there through the garden into the ravine. I didn’t see the gun commander and platoon commander anymore, what happened to the second gun - I don’t know either.
The advanced tank groups reached the station and the bridges across the Sozh, but the retreating Soviet units managed to blow them up. Two of them, apparently, blew up units of the 73rd regiment of the 24th division of the NKVD. One was blown up by Captain Kim's battalion during the retreat.
From memories Larionov S.S., commander of a machine-gun company of the 2nd battalion of the 409th rifle regiment, retired captain:
“Leaving, we blew up the bridge. I remember he went up, and there was still a Red Army soldier with a rifle on him .... By this time, I had seven machine guns left in my company ... "
Krichev fell. By the evening of July 17, units of the Kampfgruppen had advanced about 20 more kilometers to the north and, near the village of Molyavichi, joined units of the 3rd Panzer Division. Chaussky cauldron slammed shut. Heavy fighting began both inside the pocket and along the entire line along the Sozh River. But that's another story.
The 2nd Battalion of the 409th Infantry Regiment, in its first battle against the most powerful enemy grouping, completed its task. The battalion delayed the advancing strike group for several hours, which saved many lives. The further fate of the soldiers of the 2nd Security Council was not easy. The remnants of the battalion joined the 7th Airborne Brigade and continued to fight shoulder to shoulder with Zhadov's paratroopers. Someone like F.E. Petrov, was captured near Krichev, someone like S.S. Larionov, went through the whole war. Someone, and they were the majority, died. S.S. Larionov recalled that very soon he had 12-14 people left in his company ...
Unfortunately, in this story there was no place for the legendary Russian lone artilleryman Nikolai Sirotinin, who allegedly single-handedly stopped the German tank column, inflicting monstrous losses in manpower and equipment. German documents do not contain even hints on this occasion. The lists of losses in the 2nd Panzer Group for July 17 confirm only one officer killed in the units that were part of Colonel Eberbach's Kampfgruppe. There were no lost tanks either. Yes, this is understandable if you carefully study the very nature of the battle. Tanks in that battle on the Warsaw highway simply did not participate. Everything was decided by artillery and well-coordinated interaction of all units of the Kampfgruppe. In 1941, we still had nothing to oppose to this monstrous German blitzkrieg machine. The war has just begun...
As for Nikolai Sirotinin, then, most likely, he is the hero of a folk legend. No truthful documents on his existence, and even more so on participation in that battle, have not been found to date.
And the last. And yet in our history was Nikolai. And not a mythical, but a real warrior who really delayed the German strike group of the 4th Panzer Division near the village of Sokolnichi on July 17, 1941 for how many hours. True, he did this not alone, but with his battalion. And he was far from Russian by nationality.
It's time to open the veil of time that hid this man from us. Meet.
Nikolai Andreevich Kim(Chong Phung).
By nationality - Korean.
It was he who commanded the 2nd Rifle Battalion that July morning. It was he who organized the defense on the Warsaw highway. It was he who completed the task and detained the enemy.
Is it possible to call what this commander and his battalion accomplished a feat? It is difficult to unambiguously answer this question. Of course, a beautiful legend about a 19-year-old youth who alone held out for a couple of hours against a steel German avalanche looks much more spectacular. Just wanted to remind enthusiastic fans fairytale heroes that the real war had nothing to do with fairy tales in which foolish Germans search for 2 hours in an open field for a direct-fire cannon. The steel fist of Heinrich Eberbach would have destroyed a lone cannon without any cover in a few minutes, after his first shot, without even resorting to the help of tanks or artillery. For this, the campfgruppe had everything necessary: thugs from the assault groups of the pioneer battalion, capable of taking any armored pillbox with their bare hands, desperate bastards from the motorcycle battalion, single-handedly capturing fortified bridges and holding them until the approach of the main forces. German professionalism and experience could only be countered by your own experience and knowledge.
The soldiers of the 2nd battalion of the 409th regiment were lucky. They entered their first battle with a mature combat commander, behind whom were the events on the CER, the war with the White Finns, the Academy. Frunze. Perhaps it was these qualities of the commander that made it possible to fulfill the combat mission assigned to the battalion.
Nikolai Andreevich Kim fought on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War from the first to last day. And his autobiography will help to learn more about him.
« The son of a peasant, was born in 1904 in the village of Sinelnikovo, Molotov district of the Far East, from the age of eight he studied at a local rural school (from 1912 to 1916). He graduated from it at the age of twelve. Continued his studies at high school until 1923. From 1923 to 1925 he was engaged in agriculture with his father in his native village.
In autumn 1925 he entered the Moscow Infantry School and graduated in 1928. After graduating from school, he was appointed commander of a platoon of the 107th regiment in the city of Dauria.
In 1931 he received the highest position and was sent as a company commander of the 76th Infantry Regiment of the Stalinist Division. In 1934 he was appointed commander of a training machine-gun company in the same division. In 1935, he was appointed assistant chief of staff of the 2nd Nerchinsk Rifle Regiment of the 1st Pacific Division. In 1936 he was appointed head of the regimental school of the 629th rifle regiment in the mountains. Arzamas at the 17th Infantry Division.
From 1937 to 1940 he studied at the Moscow Academy. Frunze. After graduating from the Academy, in autumn, he was appointed commander of a battalion in the 409th rifle regiment of the 137th division in the city of Saransk.
With the outbreak of war, he was appointed chief of staff of the 409th regiment in the same division. In September 1941 he was wounded and treated at the Stalingrad hospital. After recovering at the end of 1941, he was appointed chief of staff of the 1169th regiment, which was stationed in the mountains. Astrakhan. In March 1942, he participated in the battles in the Izyum-Voronezh, Kramatorsk, Kharkov areas. In June 1942 he was appointed commander of the 1173 Infantry Regiment of the same division. In the battle near Rostov-on-Don in September 1942 he was wounded and treated in the Makhachkala hospital. After recovery, he was appointed commander of the 1339th Infantry Regiment of the 58th Army.
In the battle near the Arden he was wounded and was treated again in the Makhachkala hospital. After leaving the hospital, he was appointed commander of the 111th Guards Red Banner Regiment of the 46th Army of the 3rd Ukrainian Front. Got back to the hospital. From 1944 to 1945, he was commander of the 703rd Infantry Regiment and took part in the battles near Budapest. After the capture of Budapest, he received a direction to Berlin.
In 1945, after the surrender of Germany, our regiment was disbanded, and I was appointed commander of the 323rd Infantry Regiment of the 43rd Division. Our regiment passed through Romania and stopped in the mountains. Odessa. In 1946, the 323rd Rifle Regiment of the 43rd Division occupied the first place in combat training in the Odessa District. For some unknown reason, by order No. 100, I retired.
In the Great Patriotic war He was awarded four Orders of the Red Banner of War and the Order of the Red Star.
Currently, I am the Deputy Director for Political Affairs at the Rybokombinat. Mikoyan Glavkamchatskprom. I live in the Kamchatka region, Ust-Bolsheretsky district, Rybokombinat them. Mikoyan.
Guard Lieutenant Colonel KIM N.A.
1949, April, 15th.»
Nikolai Andreevich died on December 7, 1976. The city of Bikin buried him with full military honors.
That's what online meetings are like!
Personally, my opinion is this: let the legends live, they are not based on an empty place, this is a collective image of heroes, of which there were actually a great many. Otherwise, we would not have won this war. The feat of Kolya Sirotin consists of a dozen feats of Russian soldiers, about which we unfortunately do not know anything. Let's not forget the real heroes and treat the legends of any war with understanding.
sources
http://hranitel-slov.livejournal.com/54329.html http://maxpark.com/community/2694/content/787254 The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy is made -
