ALMATY, December 3 – Sputnik. The case classified as “Smersh” from 1942-1944, declassified in the fall of this year, puts an end to the debate about the role of Kazakhstanis in the defense of Moscow on November 16, 1941 at the Dubosekovo crossing.
How did the investigation into the feat of the Kazakhs near Dubosekovo begin?
In order to finally establish the truth, representatives of the Russian Military Historical Society had to study previously classified archives for two years, reports the Minister of Culture Russian Federation Vladimir Medinsky in the publication "Rossiyskaya Gazeta".
Indisputable evidence was discovered by researchers in one of the folders “Main Directorate of Counterintelligence “Smersh”, 1st Baltic Direction.” According to the chronology of the discovered documents, it took the special department of the NKVD, and subsequently the Smersh employees, two years to collect the materials. And a hot pursuit investigation was carried out.The collection of factual data about what happened near Dubosekovo began from the moment when Red Army soldier Daniil Kuzhebergenov was arrested. He was suspected of the fact that, while fighting as part of units in the Volokolamsk direction, in mid-November 1941 he surrendered to the enemy with weapons in his hands. His escape, which he made a few hours later, aroused even more suspicion among the special forces. By that time, Kuzhebergenov, according to the security officers, was among the 28 Panfilov heroes who died.
© Sputnik / Nikolay Khizhnyak
At first, Daniil claimed that he really participated in that battle, but later, according to the surviving papers, he retracted his words. As a result of the title of Hero Soviet Union(posthumously) among the 28, another Kuzhebergenov, Askar, was awarded.
It was the unexpected “resurrection” of Daniil Kuzhabergenov that became the reason for the start of a more extensive investigation into the circumstances of the battle and an article written about him by the military correspondent of the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper Krivitsky.
What the secret archives of Smersh “told” about
All these data from 1942-1943 are very similar to the investigation conducted by the Prosecutor General's Office in the case of Panfilov's men in 1948. But only until this moment. Further materials from the later investigation are now being called fabricated by historians, since a wave of repressions against the army generals began and reasons were needed to bring high army officials to justice. That is why the results of the first, which took place, as they say, in hot pursuit, were then classified and only came to light now.
© Sputnik / Vladislav Vodnev
Documents that fell into the hands of historians several months ago reliably confirm not only that the battle at the Dubosekovo crossing actually took place, but also that the journalist Krivitsky described them very close to reality.
“Testimony of the former military commissar of the 1075th Guards Rifle Regiment... senior battalion commissar Akhmedzhan Latypovich Mukhamedyarov.
Question: - Where and when did 28 Panfilov guardsmen fight with tanks and who specifically led this battle?
Answer: - ...The enemy, having concentrated his main forces on his right flank, decided to strike at the left flank of our defense, that is, at the location of the 4th rifle company in the area of the Dubosekovo, Shiryaevo and Petelino junction. The first enemy attack was directed at the second platoon of the 4th rifle company. The platoon first repelled the attack of enemy machine gunners. The latter, met by friendly and powerful fire from the heroes, leaving up to 80 people killed and wounded on the battlefield, was forced to retreat to their original position."
Further, according to Mukhamedyarov, the German command sent about 50 tanks against the second platoon of the company, which launched an offensive in several echelons. Considering that there was practically no artillery support and there were not enough anti-tank rifles, the defenders of the line were forced to allow armored vehicles to come within close range and disable them with bundles of hand grenades and bottles filled with a flammable mixture. The battle, as a result of which 18 heavy enemy armored vehicles were disabled, lasted about five hours. All 28 platoon soldiers, including political instructor Vasily Klochkov, were killed and crushed by tanks. As a result, the enemy managed to break through the defenses.Historical sensation from the FSB archives
The authenticity of the feat of the Panfilov heroes was confirmed after a deep study of the archives of the Russian FSB. Thus, researchers were able to discover testimony from the chief of staff of the 1075th Guards Rifle Regiment, Senior Lieutenant Andrei Vetkov.
“... A very large role in the entire preparation of materials and the perversions committed was played by the too much haste shown by both those who prepared the materials and those who checked and promoted these materials. One thing is certain, no matter what crept into the matter, mass heroism, demonstrated in the battle with Nazi tanks in the battle near Dubosekovo on November 16, 1941 is an irrefutable fact, and nothing should erase the blessed memory of the 28 Panfilov heroes who died in the fight against German monsters for the happiness and freedom of their beloved Motherland,” said he is interrogated by the NKVD on July 5, 1942.
© Sputnik / S. Kalmykov
Ivan Vasilyevich Panfilov (left), commander of the 316th Infantry Division, Major General
As the author of the article, Vladimir Medinsky, notes, it follows from the documents that, speaking about the feat, Andrei Vetkov does not doubt a single word, although he is somewhat confused when it comes to the award list. Then it was important for the investigation to find out where the inaccuracies in the award list came from. But it was no longer possible for Military Correspondent Krivitsky to interrogate the people who formed him and who made mistakes in his stories: one of them, the commander of the 4th Infantry Company Gundilovich, died, and the others were at the fronts and in hospitals hundreds, or even thousands of kilometers away.
It is noted that errors in the award documents could well have crept in as a result of the confusion that reigned at that moment in this sector of the front. Nevertheless, all doubts about the heroism of the Kazakh soldiers are swept away by just one short certificate from the archive, which is cited by the author of the study:
“From the personnel of the 4th company of the 1075th Guards Rifle Regiment, which operated in the battles at the Dubosekovo crossing on 07/06/42, former foreman of the 4th company Dzhivago Philip Trofimovich is serving in the regiment as assistant to the chief of staff. there were no persons from the 4th rifle company operating in the area of the Dubosekovo crossing in the regiment as of 07/06/42."
That is, of all the soldiers listed in the rifle company in October 1941, by the summer of 1942 only one fighter was fighting.
Journalist Krivitsky wrote about what he saw with his own eyes
The accusations that last years were addressed to the war correspondent Krivitsky, thanks to whom the entire USSR learned about the feat of 28 Panfilov heroes, were also dispelled by documents from the archives that so unexpectedly saw the light.
“During the stay of representatives of the newspaper “Red Star”, with the permission of the division command, they, together with Colonel Kaprov, the head of the division’s political department, senior battalion commissar Golushko, and the commander of the second battalion, Captain Gundilovich, went to the battle area where 28 heroes died, the Dubosekovo crossing,” it says in one of the interrogations of the former military commissar of the regiment Mukhamedyarov.After returning, the group said that at the battle site, in the trenches and nearby, the bodies of 27 heroes who died during the defense were found. The body of political instructor Vasily Klochkov was not found on the spot, because after his death, secretly from the Germans, local residents found him and “buried him behind the guard’s guardhouse at the Dubosekovo crossing.” It was on the basis of these data that Krivitsky wrote his material about the feat.
“The arithmetic, of course, doesn’t add up. How much was it exactly? At what point in the battle? How many of the 130 company soldiers remained alive - and at the time of which of the tank attacks? But all this “reward arithmetic” could not come together, especially then, given the situation,” writes the author of the article, Vladimir Medinsky.
At the same time, he concludes that the fact of the feat of 28 Kazakh Panfilov heroes not only happened in reality, but turned out to be even more realistic and legendary than we imagined it all these many years.
“How can we determine what supported us in those immeasurably difficult days? We were ordinary Soviet people. We loved our homeland. Every inch of land given to the enemy seemed like a cut off piece of one’s own body.”
From the memoirs of Z.S. Shekhtman, former commander of the 1077th regiment of the 8th Guards Rifle Division named after I.V. Panfilov
The 316th Rifle Division under the command of General Panfilov was the force that was supposed to not let the enemy pass in the Volokolamsk direction. The last echelon of fighters from the Kresttsy and Borovichi area arrived at the Volokolamsk station on October 11, 1941. There was no prepared defense, just as there were no other troops.
The division took up defensive positions on the 41st kilometer front from Ruza to Lotoshino and immediately began to create centers of resistance in the likely directions of enemy attack. Ivan Vasilyevich Panfilov was sure that the enemy would rely on tanks as the main striking force. But... “The brave and skillful tank is not afraid,” said Panfilov.
“We will not surrender Moscow to the enemy,” wrote I.V. Panfilov to his wife Maria Ivanovna, “we will destroy the reptile in the thousands, hundreds of his tanks. The division is fighting well...” From October 20 to October 27 alone, the 316th Rifle Division knocked out and burned 80 tanks, killing more than nine thousand enemy soldiers and officers.
The exhausting battles did not stop; by the end of October the division's front was already 20 kilometers - from the Dubosekovo junction to settlement Teryaevo. Having brought up new forces, replacing broken divisions with new ones and concentrating more than 350 tanks against Panfilov’s division, by mid-November the enemy was ready for a general offensive. “We will have breakfast in Volokolamsk, and dinner in Moscow,” the Nazis hoped.
On the right flank the 1077th regiment of the rifle division held the defense, in the center there were two battalions of the 1073rd regiment of Major Elin, on the left flank, on the most critical section of Dubosekovo - Nelidovo, seven kilometers southeast of Volokolamsk, there was the 1075th regiment of Colonel Ilya Vasilyevich Kaprov. It was against him that the main forces of the enemy were concentrated, trying to break through to the Volokolamsk highway and the railway.
On November 16, 1941, the enemy offensive began. The battle that was fought at night near Dubosekovo by a group of tank destroyers of the 4th company of the 2nd battalion of the 1075th regiment, led by political instructor Vasily Georgievich Klochkov, was included in all history textbooks. For four hours, Panfilov’s men held back enemy tanks and infantry. They repelled several enemy attacks and destroyed 18 tanks. Most of the legendary warriors who accomplished this unprecedented feat, including Vasily Klochkov, died that night a brave death. The rest (D.F. Timofeev, G.M. Shemyakin, I.D. Shadrin, D.A. Kozhubergenov and I.R. Vasiliev) were seriously wounded. The battle of Dubosekovo went down in history as a feat of 28 Panfilov men; in 1942, all its participants were awarded the title of Heroes of the Soviet Union by the Soviet command...
Panfilov’s men became a terrible curse for the Nazis; there were legends about the strength and courage of the heroes. On November 17, 1941, the 316th Rifle Division was renamed the 8th Guards Rifle Division and awarded the Order of the Red Banner. Hundreds of guardsmen were awarded orders and medals.
On November 19, the division lost its commander... For 36 days it fought under the command of General I.V. Panfilov 316th Rifle Division, defending the capital on the main direction. During his lifetime, the division's soldiers in fierce battles destroyed over 30 thousand fascist soldiers and officers and more than 150 tanks.
Having failed to achieve decisive successes in the Volokolamsk direction, the main enemy forces turned to Solnechnogorsk, where they intended to break through first to Leningradskoye, then to Dmitrovskoye Highway and enter Moscow from the north-west.
In 1967, in the village of Nelidovo, located one and a half kilometers from the Dubosekovo crossing, the Museum of Panfilov Heroes was opened. In 1975, a memorial ensemble made of granite “Feat 28” was erected at the site of the battle (sculptors N.S. Lyubimov, A.G. Postol, V.A. Fedorov, architects V.E. Datyuk, Yu.G. Krivushchenko, I. I. Stepanov, engineer S.P. Khadzhibaronov), consisting of six monumental figures personifying warriors of six nationalities who fought in the ranks of 28 Panfilovites.
Russia is great, but there is nowhere to retreat - behind Moscow" - these words were uttered right here, not far from the village of Dubosekovo, in the cold November 1941. They were uttered just before the battle by Vasily Georgievich Klochkov - political instructor of the 4th company of the 2nd battalion 1075- 1st Infantry Regiment of the 316th Infantry Division of the 16th Army of the Western Front. One of the 28 Panfilov heroes
On November 16, 1941, a group of tank destroyers from the 2nd platoon of the 4th company of the 1075th regiment of the 316th Infantry Division entered into battle with dozens of German tanks and machine gunners. Platoon commander D. Shirmatov was wounded on the eve of the battle and was evacuated to the rear, so the platoon deputy commander took command
Panfilov's men competently prepared to meet the enemy: they dug five trenches in advance, reinforced them with sleepers, prepared weapons - rifles, a machine gun, anti-tank grenades, Molotov cocktails, two anti-tank rifles (ATR). They decided to fight to the death. In the morning, German machine gunners launched an attack on the village of Krasikovo. Having brought them to a distance of 100-150 meters, the fighters opened fire. Dozens of Nazis were killed.
Later, the second attack, accompanied by artillery shelling, was repulsed. When two tanks, accompanied by machine gunners, moved towards Panfilov’s position, the soldiers managed to set fire to one tank, and there was a short lull. After another artillery barrage, around noon, German tanks went on the attack again, in a deployed front, in waves, 15-20 tanks in a group. More than 50 tanks attacked the sector of the entire regiment, but their main attack was directed at the positions of Dobrobabin’s platoon. This sector was the most vulnerable to a tank attack.
Panfilov's survivor
A mortal battle with armored vehicles began. Tanks had to be brought closer in order to be sure to throw anti-tank grenades and petrol bombs. There was a curtain of snow, soot and earth in the air from the explosions of enemy shells. Panfilov’s men did not notice that our units from the right flank had retreated to other lines. One after another, the soldiers died and were wounded, but the tanks they had shot down burst into flames and burned.
Dobrobabin sent the seriously wounded to the dugout at the trench. 14 German tanks were shot down and set on fire, dozens of Nazis were killed, and the attack failed. However, Dobrobabin himself, in the midst of the battle, lost consciousness from a terrible explosion and no longer knew that the political instructor of the 4th company had managed to get to Panfilov’s men
The battle of Dubosekovo went down in history as a feat of 28 Panfilov men; all its participants were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union in 1942. The remains of the fallen Panfilov heroes in the spring of 1942 were buried with military honors in the village of Nelidovo.
In 1967, the Museum of Panfilov Heroes was opened in the village of Nelidovo (1.5 km from Dubosekovo). The museum displays exhibits associated with the names of Panfilov’s heroes -
There is a mass grave in the village of Nelidovo.
In 1975, a memorial ensemble “Feat 28” was erected at the site of the battle (granite, sculptors.
Do you know who the Panfilovites are? What feat did they accomplish? We will answer these and other questions in the article. Panfilov's soldiers are the military personnel of the 316th Rifle Division, which was formed in the cities of Frunze, Kyrgyz USSR, and Alma-Ata, Kazakh USSR, and later became known as the 8th Guards Division. They participated in the defense of Moscow in 1941 under the leadership of Major General I.V. Panfilov, who had previously served as commissar of the army of the Kirghiz SSR.
Version
What did Panfilov's men become famous for? Their feat is known to many. In the 1075th Infantry Regiment (4th company, 2nd battalion), 28 people served who received the greatest fame. It was they who began to be called “Panfilov’s heroes.” In the USSR, a version of the event that happened in 1941, on November 16, was widespread. It was on this day that the Germans began to attack Moscow again, and the soldiers of the 4th company accomplished a feat. They carried out defense seven kilometers southeast of Volokolamsk (the Dubosekovo crossing area) under the leadership of political instructor Vasily Klochkov. During the battle, which lasted four hours, the soldiers were able to destroy 18 Nazi tanks.
In Soviet historiography it is written that all 28 people, called heroes, died (later they began to indicate “almost all”).
According to Red Star correspondents, before his death, political instructor Klochkov uttered the phrase: “Great is Mother Rus', but there is nowhere to go - Moscow is behind us!” It was included in Soviet university and school history textbooks.
Consensus
Did Panfilov's men really accomplish a feat? In 1948 and 1988, the formal version of the act was studied by the Main Army Prosecutor's Office of the USSR and was recognized as an artistic invention. The open publication of these documents by Sergei Mironenko caused an impressive public outcry.
At the same time, the heavy fortification battles of the 316th Infantry Division against the 35th Infantry and 2nd Tank Divisions, which took place in 1941, on November 16, in the Volokolamsk direction, are a historical fact. In fact, the entire personnel of the 1075th Regiment took part in the battle. Writers' versions of the battle usually do not indicate that the real heroes of the battle had to fight not only tanks, but also numerous enemy infantry.
Major General Panfilov commanded a typical military formation during the battles on the Moscow course. His division was poorly trained, motley, hastily created to plug the gaps that appeared in the Soviet defense. The defending Red Army soldiers did not have a sufficient number of serious anti-tank weapons. That is why persistent resistance to the impact of powerful iron machines is a feat and also Sergei Mironenko is not questioned.
Despite the discussions, the scientific consensus is that the true facts of the battles were recorded by war correspondents in a distorted form. Further, on the basis of these articles, far from actual historical facts books.
Memories
So what are Panfilov’s men famous for? The feat of these people is priceless. Captain Gundilovich Pavel gave the names of 28 missing and killed soldiers, whom he could remember from the results of the battle, to the journalist Alexander Krivitsky (some believe that Krivitsky himself found these names in the lists of missing and dead).
In Russia and other former Soviet republics, steles and other monuments have been installed on which the names of these 28 soldiers are inscribed, and they are included in the official anthem of Moscow. However, according to the documents, some of the named persons were captured (Timofeev, Shadrin, Kozhubergenov), others died earlier (Shopokov, Natarov), or later (Bondarenko). Some were maimed in battle, but remained alive (Shemyakin, Vasiliev), and I. E. Dobrobabin even energetically helped the Nazis and was subsequently convicted.
Criticism
And yet, is the feat of Panfilov’s men true or fiction? Sergei Mironenko believes that there was no feat, that this was one of the legends imposed by the state. Critics of the official version usually cite the following assumptions and arguments:
- It is not clear how Krivitsky and Koroteev learned an impressive number of details of the battle. Information that information was received in the hospital from a battle participant, Notarov, who was mortally wounded, is doubtful. Indeed, according to the documents, this man died on November 14, two days before the battle.
- Nothing is known about the battle with these details, neither the commander of the 1075th regiment, Colonel Kaprov, nor the commander of the 316th formation, Major General Panfilov, nor the military commander of the 2nd battalion (which included the 4th company) Major Reshetnikov, nor the commander of the 16th army to Lieutenant General Rokossovsky. German sources also report nothing about him.
- By November 16, the 4th company was 100% manned, meaning it could not consist of only 28 soldiers. I.V. Kaprov (military commander of the 1075th Rifle Regiment) claimed that there were approximately 140 souls in the company.
Facts of the inquiry
People decided to find out whether the feat of Panfilov’s men was fact or fiction. In November 1947, the military prosecutor's office of the Kharkov garrison arrested and prosecuted I. E. Dobrobabin for treason. Experts found out that Dobrobabin, while still fighting at the front, surrendered to the Nazis of his own free will and in the spring of 1942 went to serve with them.
This man took the post of chief of police in the village of Perekop (Valkovsky district, Kharkov region) temporarily captured by the Germans. During his arrest, they found a book about 28 Panfilov heroes, and it turned out that he took part in this daring battle, for which he was awarded the title of Hero of the USSR. During the interrogation, it turned out that Dobrobabin at Dubosekovo was indeed lightly wounded and captured by the Germans, but he did not perform any feats, and everything that the authors told about him in the book does not correspond to reality.
Are the 28 Panfilov men fictional characters? The General Military Prosecutor's Office of the USSR thoroughly studied the history of the battle at the Dubosekovsky junction. For the first time, the authenticity of the story about Panfilov’s men was publicly doubted by E. V. Cardin, who published the article “Facts and Legends” in the almanac “New World” (1996, February).
And in 1997, an article by Olga Edelman and Nikolai Petrov “New about the heroes of the USSR” appeared in the same magazine, which stated that the official version of the feat was studied by the Main Army Prosecutor's Office of the USSR in 1948 and recognized it as a literary fiction.
Krivitsky's testimony
The interrogated Krivitsky (the newspaper's secretary) testified that 28 Panfilov's men were his literary fiction. He said he had not spoken to any of the surviving or wounded Guardsmen. Of the local residents, he only communicated with a boy of 14-15 years old, who brought him to the grave where Klochkov was buried.
In 1943, from the formation in which 28 heroes served, he was sent a letter conferring the rank of guardsman. He visited the division three or four times. Krapivin asked Krivitsky where he found the famous statement of political instructor Klochkov about the impossibility of retreat. And he replied that he composed it himself.
Conclusion
So, the investigation materials revealed that the Panfilov heroes are the invention of the editor of “Red Star” Ortenberg, the journalist Koroteev and, most of all, Krivitsky (the newspaper’s secretary).
In 1988, the Main Army Prosecutor's Office of the USSR again took up the circumstances of the feat. As a result, the military chief prosecutor of justice, Lieutenant General A.F. Katusev, published the article “Alien Glory” in the Military Historical Journal (1990, No. 8-9). He wrote in it that the massive feat of the entire division, the entire regiment, was reduced to the scale of a fabulous platoon through the negligence of dishonest correspondents. The Doctor of Historical Sciences, Director of the State Archive of the Russian Federation, has the same opinion. S. V. Mironenko.
Support
Surely Panfilov's heroes really existed. Marshal of the Soviet Union D.T. Yazov defended the official version. He relied on the analysis of Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences G. A. Kumanev “Forgery and Feat.” In 2011 (September), the newspaper “ Soviet Russia” published the article “Shamelessly ridiculed feat,” including a letter from the marshal in which he criticized Mironenko.
The battle of Dubosekovo was studied by the writer V. O. Osipov. According to his data and the testimony of the soldiers of Panfilov’s formation, it is said that the author of the famous above phrase is precisely political instructor Klochkov, and not correspondent Krivitsky. Personal letters from Klochkov were found that have survived to this day. In them, he wrote to his wife about his feeling of special guarantee for Moscow. Among other things, similar calls were published in issues of the division newspaper in Panfilov’s appeals.
Ideological significance
Today even children know what feat Panfilov’s men accomplished. Researcher at the Institute of Islamic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences K. S. Drozdov (candidate of historical sciences) believes that the battle at the Dubosekovo crossing played “an extraordinary mobilizing role, becoming an example of self-sacrifice, courage and perseverance.” Soviet propaganda set her as an example for the soldiers of the Red Army. Marshal of the Soviet Union D.T. Yazov believes that the actions of Panfilov’s men became a model of perseverance for the defenders of Leningrad and Stalingrad, with their name our soldiers reflected on Kursk Bulge frantic attacks of the enemy.
November 16, 1941 at the Dubosekovo crossing, the 1075th regiment of the 316th division took on battle with superior enemy forces. The 316th division, commanded by Major General Panfilov, was in the direction of the main attack throughout October. The heroism of Panfilov’s men immediately became known to the Soviet people, and the division and its commander became legendary after the battles in the Volokolamsk direction. It is not surprising that the heroic division attracted increased attention from the press. On November 16, 1075 the regiment was attacked by superior German forces. The regiment repelled the attack, knocking out several tanks. The Germans brought up their reserves and broke through the defenses by evening. Heroically resisting soviet soldiers were forced to retreat, suffering huge losses. The fate of the regiment also befell the rest of the division. Almost defeated during the November battles, it was forced to retreat to the Istra line. On November 18, General Panfilov himself died in battle. Subsequently, the 316th Division was transformed into the 8th Guards Rifle Division and took part in the battles near the famous village of Kryukovo on the Leningradskoe Highway. And only at the end of December 1941. she went to the rear for reorganization. The commander of the 1075th regiment Kaprov recalled: "By November 16, 1941, the regiment that I commanded was on the left flank of the division and covered the exits from Volokolamsk to Moscow and railway. The 2nd battalion occupied the defense: the village. Novo-Nikolskoye-
villagePetelino and Dubosekovo junction....
> The fourth company was commanded by Captain Gundilovich, political instructor Klochkov... By November 16, 1941, there were 120 in the company-
140 people.
...
>. In total there were 10 battalions in the area-
12 enemy tanks. I don’t know how many tanks went to the 4th company’s site, or rather, I can’t determine. With the help of the regiment and the efforts of the 2nd battalion, this German tank attack was repulsed. In the battle the regiment destroyed 5-
6 German tanks, and the Germans retreated... Around 14.00-
At 15.00 the Germans opened heavy artillery fire on all positions of the regiment, and German tanks again went on the attack. ...
>Over 50 tanks attacked the regiment's sector, and the main attack was directed at the positions of the 2nd battalion, since this sector was most accessible to enemy tanks.
For about 40-
45 minutes later, enemy tanks crushed the location of the 2nd battalion,including the section of the 4th company. ...
>
When I crossed the railway embankment, people who had survived the attack by German tanks began to gather around me. The 4th Company suffered the most from the attack; Led by company commander Gundilovich, 20 people survived-
25, the rest all died. The remaining companies suffered less damage." The Soviet people learned about the heroism of the Division from the Izvestia newspaper within 3 days. November 19, 1941 it contained a note by G. Ivanov, “The 8th Guards Division in Battles,” which described the battle of one of the companies. The encircled company put up heroic resistance, knocking out 9 tanks (3 of them burned out), and forcing the rest to retreat. There is no information about where Ivanov received the information, but the information, firstly, is plausible, and secondly, operational, from which we can conclude that Ivanov received it from sources close to the front line. Thirdly, the information did not raise any questions in the Authorities. But more on that below. Koroteev About a week later, the Red Star correspondent Koroteev visited the headquarters of the 16th Army (which included Panfilov’s division). This is how he himself describes it in 1948. during interrogation by the investigator, the way in which he received the information. "
Around 23-On November 24, 1941, I, together with the war correspondent of the newspaper "Komsomolskaya Pravda" Chernyshev, was at the headquarters of the 16th Army... When leaving the army headquarters, we met the commissar of the 8th Panfilov Division Egorov, who spoke about the extremely difficult situation at the front and said that our people are fighting heroically in all areas. In particular, Egorov gave an example of the heroic battle of one company with German tanks; 54 tanks advanced on the company’s line, and the company delayed them, destroying some of them. Egorov himself was not a participant in the battle, but spoke from the words of the regiment commissar, who also did not participate in the battle with German tanks... Egorov recommended writing in the newspaper about the heroic battle of the company with enemy tanks, having previously become acquainted with the political report received from the regiment...
The political report spoke about the battle of the fifth company with enemy tanks and that the company stood “to the death” - it died, but did not retreat, and only two people turned out to be traitors, they raised their hands to surrender to the Germans, but they were destroyed by our soldiers. The report did not say about the number of company soldiers who died in this battle, and their names were not mentioned. We did not establish this from conversations with the regiment commander. It was impossible to get into the regiment, and Egorov did not advise us to try to get into the regiment.
Upon arrival in Moscow, I reported the situation to the editor of the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper, Ortenberg, and talked about the company’s battle with enemy tanks. Ortenberg asked me how many people were in the company. I answered him that the company apparently was incomplete, about 30-40 people; I also said that two of these people turned out to be traitors... I didn’t know that the front line was being prepared on this topic, but Ortenberg called me again and asked how many people were in the company. I told him that there were about 30 people. Thus, the number of those who fought appeared to be 28, since out of 30 two turned out to be traitors. Ortenberg said that it was impossible to write about two traitors, and, apparently, after consulting with someone, he decided to write about only one traitor in the editorial.
On November 27, 1941, my short correspondence was published in the newspaper, and on November 28, the Red Star published the editorial “The Testament of 28 Fallen Heroes,” written by Krivitsky"
.
Either not trusting Koroteev’s literary abilities, or guided by considerations of subordination in the journalistic table of ranks, or for some other reasons, the editor-in-chief of “Red Star” Ortenberg assigns the writing of the editorial not to the “getter” of information, but to the lit. newspaper secretary A.Yu. Krivitsky. Who eagerly gets down to business, and already on November 28, an editorial filled with pathos entitled “Testament” appears in “Red Star”
28 fallen heroes." "
Resistance might seem crazy. Fifty armored monsters against twenty-nine people! In what war, in what times did such an unequal battle take place! But the Soviet soldiers accepted it without flinching. They didn't back down, they didn't retreat. "We have no way back"-
they told themselves.
Only one out of twenty-nine lost heart. When the Germans, confident of their easy victory, shouted to the guards-
"Give up!"-
only one raised his hands up. A salvo immediately rang out. Several guardsmen simultaneously, without agreement, without command, shot at the coward and traitor. It was the homeland that punished the apostate.
Already eighteen mangled tanks stood motionless on the battlefield. The battle lasted more than four hours, and the armored fist of the Nazis could not break through the line defended by the guards. But the ammunition ran out, the cartridges in the anti-tank rifle magazines ran out. There were no more grenades.
Fascist vehicles approached the trench. The Germans jumped out of the hatches, wanting to take the surviving brave men alive and deal with them. But there is only one warrior in the field, if he is a Soviet warrior! Political instructor Diev grouped the remaining comrades around him and a bloody battle ensued again. Our people fought, remembering the old motto: “The Guard dies, but does not surrender.”
And they laid down their heads-
all twenty-eight. We died, but did not let the enemy through!"
- writes Krivitsky, showing an example of how a journalist does not have the right to work. Too lazy to check the information. Or they were scared - after all, to do this they need to go closer to the front line and put the precious journalistic life at risk. And this is unacceptable: it is women who give birth to soldiers, but there are few journalists, and they must be protected. How many fighters fought is unknown? Well, let there be about thirty people. Are two traitors for thirty people too many? Well, let there be one. What is the surname of the political instructor? There, like some hero named Diev was mentioned, so let him be Diev! How many tanks were destroyed? Well, let there be 18.50 tanks in the regiment's sector? Not heroic enough, let it be 50 to 28 people. The rear journalists apparently did not even think about the fact that this number was completely implausible. Neither Koroteev nor Krivitsky are professional military journalists wearing shoulder straps! - they didn’t even think about how physically 54 tanks could advance in an area defended by 28 people. Provided that about 50 tanks is a lot even for the area defended by the regiment, as Kaprov’s testimony quoted above clearly shows. 
Journalist Chernyshev from Komsomolskaya Pravda, together with Koroteev “received information” at the headquarters of the 16th Army, also wrote an article entitled “Glory to fearless patriots.” Where he described the battle described to him by the division commissar who did not participate in it from the words of the regiment commissar who did not participate in it. I even added for authenticity the names of Lieutenant Bezvremny and senior political instructor Kalachev, it is not known whether on my own or from the words of one of the staff officers of the 16th Army. This is how not the most successful literary works appeared, which generalized and “creatively” processed real events mid November. Well, it would seem, God bless this. After all, why not consider the articles of Chernyshev and Krivitsky to be literary fiction based on real facts mass heroism, and not close this topic? But, alas, it doesn’t work. After all, if Chernyshev had enough conscience and common sense To stop at “what has been achieved,” then Krivitsky and Ortenberg decided to squeeze as much as possible out of the heroic theme. In January 1942, Krivitsky published an essay “About 28 Fallen Heroes,” in which he already lists by name those killed in a battle he himself invented. And Ortenberg, who personally sucked the number 28 out of his finger, prints it! 
Ortenberg “When guardsmen die in battle, winged glory flies from the military banner and invisibly stands as an honorary and permanent guard at the head of the dead. The news of the feat of twenty-eight Panfilov guardsmen who laid down their lives on the battlefield spread far across Soviet soil. We didn’t know yet all the details of their death, the names of the heroes had not yet been named, their bodies were still resting on the ground captured by the enemy, but rumors about the fabulous valor of twenty-eight Soviet heroes were already going around the fronts.
Only now have we been able to reconstruct the full picture of the death of a handful of brave guardsmen."- Krivitsky writes proudly. 
Krivitsky A. Yu. We have already seen the method of “establishing a complete picture of the battle.” But where do the surnames come from? Throughout November and half of December, the 1075th regiment (like the entire division) fought bloody stubborn battles, repeatedly changing locations. In some companies, 20% of the personnel remained alive. And as soon as the regiment is withdrawn to the rear for reorganization, a Moscow journalist arrives with the division commissar (as the one that most distinguished itself and suffered in the battles of November 16). And they demand the names of 28 people who fought off the attack of German tanks on November 16. Which, naturally, puts the regiment commander and commissar at a dead end. From the testimony of regiment commander I.V. Kaprova to the investigator of the Main Military Prosecutor's Office: "
At the end of December 1941, when the division was withdrawn for formation, the Red Star correspondent Krivitsky came to my regiment along with representatives of the political department of the division Glushko and Egorov. Here I first heard about the 28 Panfilov guardsmen. In a conversation with me, Krivitsky said that it was necessary to have 28 Panfilov guardsmen who fought with German tanks. I told him that the entire regiment and especially the 4th company of the 2nd battalion fought with German tanks, but I know nothing about the battle of 28 guardsmen... Krivitsky’s last name was given to Krivitsky from memory by Captain Gundilovich, who had conversations with him about this topic, there were and could not be any documents about the battle of 28 Panfilov men in the regiment. Nobody asked me about last names"
.
In response to an urgent request, or rather an order, to name the 28 names of those who fought the tanks on November 16, regiment commander Kaprov names the 4th company of the 2nd battalion, and directs the journalist to the company commander Gundilovich. When asked “where exactly did you fight on November 16,” he answers that he fought in the Dubosekovo area. And the requirement to name 28 fighters by name is satisfied as follows. From Krivitsky’s testimony to the GVP investigator: “Kaprov did not tell me the names, but instructed Mukhamedyarov and Gundilovich to do this, who compiled the list, taking information from some kind of statement or list.
Thus, I have a list of the names of 28 Panfilov men who died in battle with German tanks at the Dubosekovo crossing. Arriving in Moscow, I wrote a letter to the newspaper under the heading “About 28 fallen heroes”; the basement was sent for a visa to the PUR. When talking at the PUR with Comrade Krapivin, he asked where I got the words of political instructor Klochkov, written in my basement: “Russia is great, but there is nowhere to retreat - Moscow is behind us,” I told him that I had invented it myself.
The basement was placed in the "Red Star" of January 22, 1942. Here I used the stories of Gundilovich, Kaprov, Mukhamedyarov, Egorov. As for the feelings and actions of the 28 heroes, this is my literary conjecture. I did not speak with any of the wounded or surviving guardsmen. I'm from the local populationril only with a boy of about 14-15, who showed the grave where Klochkov was buried.
...In 1943, from the division where 28 Panfilov heroes were and fought, they sent me a letter conferring on me the rank of guardsman. I was only in the division three or four times."
Gundilovich P.M. Commander of the 4th company. Thus, the myth of 28 is already taking shape. Now there is a battle site and 28 names, selected, however, completely randomly. The latter almost ruined the journalist Krivitsky. After a month and a half of difficult fighting (let me remind you that on November 16 alone the company lost over 100 people), when the composition of the company was constantly changing, even the best commander will not be able to accurately account for the losses in killed and wounded. Therefore, among the “28 heroically fallen” were: - Sergeant Dobrobabin, who deserted and subsequently worked as a policeman (more about him below). - liaison Kuzhebergenov, who did not participate in the battle and was captured by the Germans. - row. Notarov, as it turned out later, fell two days before the battle on November 16. - row. Timofeev, who ended up in German captivity wounded. - Foreman Shemyakin and a row. Shadrin, seriously wounded and taken to rear hospitals. The last three were subsequently awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. A discrepancy also occurred with the surname of the political instructor, who was already named Diev in the first publication, but in the company lists bore the surname Klochkov. Apparently, the surname Diev belongs to some other person. And I will talk about some research in this direction at the end of the article. For some reason, the hero’s name stuck in the head of a staff member, and he told it to journalists on November 23-24. So Diev was mentioned in Koroteev’s November article and Krivitsky’s editorial. And when Krivitsky received 28 names of fighters and saw that the deceased political instructor of the 4th company of the 2nd battalion bore the last name Klochkov, the journalist, without blinking an eye, came up with another story. He explained the confusion with the names of the political instructor by the fact that Klochkov was a political instructor according to his passport, and one of the Ukrainian fighters jokingly dubbed him Diev. He was a very active (active) man. Krivitsky developed vigorous activity. The matter was not limited to just articles; by the end of the war, books about 28 Panfilovites were already in print. The feat was adopted by Soviet propaganda as an exemplary one. Krivitsky wrote tirelessly, the battle at Dubosekovo acquired absolutely incredible, truly fabulous details. Krivitsky described in detail who said what and who thought what, his books were published in large editions and translated into foreign languages. 28 Panfilov men were the most powerful business project of their time in the field of PR. It all almost ended soon after the war. In 1947 the “fallen hero” Dobrobabin was arrested, who managed to desert, work as a policeman, flee to another area during the advance of the Red Army, and be re-enlisted in the army from the liberated territory, hiding his service in the police. He was ruined (as it almost ruined Krivitsky) by his own arrogance. Anyone else with such a biography would have hidden, but Dobrobabin, armed with Krivitsky’s book about his heroism, went to demand the hero’s star. And after checking he was arrested. During the investigation, the prosecutor’s office found out that four more “fallen heroes” were alive and decided to investigate the case. The results of the work of the Stalinist prosecutor's office are known and published: http://statearchive.ru/607 The conclusion of the people in uniform is clear. Thus, the investigation materials have established that the feat of 28 Panfilov guardsmen, covered in the press, is an invention of the correspondent Koroteev, the editor of “Red Star” Ortenberg, and especially the literary secretary of the newspaper Krivitsky. This fiction was repeated in the works of writers N. Tikhonov, V. Stavsky, A. Bek, N. Kuznetsov, V. Lipko, M. Svetlov and others and was widely popularized among the population of the Soviet Union.
The memory of 28 Panfilovites was immortalized by the installation of a monument in the village.
Nelidovo, Moscow region. A marble obelisk with a memorial plaque was installed in the Alma-Ata Culture and Recreation Park; The Federation Park and several streets of the capital of the republic are named after them. The names of 28 Panfilovites were assigned to many schools, enterprises and collective farms of the Soviet Union.
Chief Military Prosecutor of the USSR Armed Forces
Lieutenant General of Justice
N. Afanasyev.
The investigation of the prosecutor's office was directed as intended - i.e. Andrei Aleksandrovich Zhdanov, secretary of the Central Committee, who oversaw the ideological and propaganda direction. But the matter was not progressed. As the historian Aleksey Isaev, the author of the book “anti-Suvorov”, which dealt in detail with the history of the “28 Panfilovites”, said about this: “In my opinion, it would be more reasonable if Krivitsky was sent to Verkhoyansk for this. Then the story would be extremely instructive and would remain in journalism textbooks as an example of what not to do. But the Soviet government, represented by such a person, like A.A.Zhdanov,showed softness." Isaev also drew attention to the fact that data on the losses of such a number of tanks undoubtedly should have been reflected in the German archives. And they were always reflected. But nothing similar to the destruction of two dozen tanks on November 16 at Dubosekovo was found. It is also important to note that during the entire war and post-war period this was the only case when the prosecutor’s office was involved in such an investigation. The consequences of journalistic and human baseness could be very far-reaching. 28 people who did not distinguish themselves in anything special received the stars of Heroes, which disavowed the very concept of feat. The mass heroism of hundreds of people is forgotten and replaced by feat 28, which was also invented for career purposes. The party leadership is put in the position of hostages when it is forced to follow the lead of an irresponsible and unscrupulous scribbler. Moreover, one of Panfilov’s men turned out to be a policeman. Let him go now? Or imprison a “hero”? Both solutions are bad. What if this story leaks abroad? With what gusto will they pounce on her in conditions Cold War enemy! It is impossible to agree with Isaev on one thing: that Zhdanov showed softness. Zhdanov sent the received document to members of the Politburo and personally to Stalin. Thus, the fact that the case was not progressed is not on Andrei Aleksandrovich’s conscience. Moreover, since Zhdanov informed other senior party leaders about the circumstances of the case, it can be assumed that he wanted to give the case a legal proceeding. It seems that only a progressive illness and imminent death prevented Zhdanov from dotting all the i’s in this matter. But be that as it may, Krivitsky escaped with a slight fright. Someone may ask, is it really so important whether the forgery is exposed or not? Is it necessary to “say to the end who is a bastard,” as Mayakovsky said? Time has shown that then, in 1948, it was certainly necessary to do this. There are among us (and, alas, there are more and more of them) patriots who sincerely believe that any lie can and should be used if it is aimed at a “good patriotic” cause. Let's try to take their position. Let’s forget that for the rest of their lives, 28 Panfilov men fed Krivitsky and fed him much more nutritiously than an ordinary Soviet person. That all his life he (like his boss in “Red Star” Ortenberg) wrote about the war and depicted exploits, raising children on opuses, the degree of conscientiousness of which we already know. That Krivitsky, who, according to his own statement, was in the division 3-4 times throughout the war, received the rank of guardsman on a par with the true heroes of the war. That the mythical feat of the 28th overshadowed real mass heroism. That the stars of heroes were received by people who were no different from any of the hundreds of thousands of other ordinary participants in the battle for Moscow. That out of a hundred dead soldiers of the 4th company, only 28 were “worthy” of being counted as heroes, and no one remembered the soldiers of neighboring companies, each of which lost up to 4/5 of its strength. That among the heroes there was a policeman and a deserter... In a word, let’s forget about the moral side of the matter and begin to be guided by considerations of “pragmatic patriotism” a la modern Russian professional patriots. But even from this position, the myth of 28 needed to be exposed. For Krivitsky’s forgery, which was not exposed in time, backfired on Perestroika.
Perestroika
Putin's noughties
It seems that the authors of both this and other similar emotional letters are inclined to support, without deeply understanding the essence of the issue, any campaign fanned in the press. This time they warmly responded to the call of Kumanev and Dobrobaba. Katusev F. A. Alien glory of Ivan Dobrobaba
We've already dined on Soviet soldiers twice. First in post-war years, then to Perestroika. But new times require new varieties of corpse eating. The USSR was destroyed for the sake of celebration market economy- or rather, for the sake of the opportunity for legal enrichment that it provides. And former secretaries of regional committees, Komsomol leaders, security officers and directors of enterprises, having ditched great country, thanks to the market economy, have turned into those against whom they once swore to fight at party meetings, and into those from whom they swore an oath to protect the Soviet people. A market economy has its own laws. Demand gives rise to supply, and if there was anything the humiliated people were okay with, it was the demand for the heroic deeds of their ancestors. And so it began. In the USSR, parades on Red Square took place in anniversary years - 1965, 75, 85 and 90. Starting with Yeltsin, they became annual. Victory Day is celebrated on such a scale that even Brezhnev could not have dreamed of, not to mention Stalin, who celebrated the anniversary twice and then decided that he should not rest on his laurels, he must move forward. To new reasons for pride. They take mummered “veterans” around the city, who are fit to be sons of real veterans, and paint everything they can in St. George’s (not red!) colors. Nightclubs invite you to a “Victory Night” party, food workers hang guard ribbons on “Danish-style cod.” Stickers “T-34” are hung on BMWs, and “To Berlin” - on Volkswagens; striptease competitions (sorry, modern dance) and bodybuilding competitions are timed to coincide with Victory Day. Biotoilets and beer cans are painted in patriotic colors... And many already consider this the norm. The film directed by Shalopa is from the same series. Challopa's motives have nothing to do with patriotism. As he himself says in interview , "I really love stories about heroes. And the 28 Panfilov men are a very beautiful story. Besides the fact that this story is real, among other things, it is also very beautiful, because this battle is small in numberAheroes vs. large number enemies, and a battle, and such,
selfless. This is history, this is a feat, this is a story of dedication. This is very cool.
This is a very famous feat, a very famous feat. Moreover, looking back, there are not many great feats Patriotic War, which are immediately recognizable. This is one such feat. And there is no film. What a luck!"(starting at 3:35). And the choice of the scandalous name was clearly deliberate. Could Challope not have known about all the pitfalls? Could not. It is clear that Challope is deceiving when he says that when starting to create the film, he sifted through a bunch of data and studied archival documents. It is nonsense in our era for the authors of historical cinema to conduct historical research. But to unearth the necessary evidence and evaluate it is not even a matter of days, but of hours. And all this can be done without leaving home, the Internet provides such an opportunity. After all, if you read it more or less carefully, it would become clear that it is absolutely impossible to make a film based on Krivitsky’s stories in Kumanev’s interpretation. And yet, the name “28...” was chosen. The version of “conscientious idiocy” is valid in the case of regulars of the goblin site. But in the case of those who shear the wool from them, it does not roll. Everything around which spears were and are breaking, and all that had to be done to stop everything and not whip up mass hysteria was to remove 2 things from the film. - -- Remove "28" from the title. Call it “Panfilov’s men”, “Panfilov’s heroes”, “4th company”, “Dubasekovo”... To the best of your imagination, there are a lot of options. -- Remove the policeman Dobrobaba from the film.
And what difference does it make whether it’s all true or not, some will ask the question again. The main thing is that there should be a propaganda effect - this is how other patriots argue. Without even noticing that they are reasoning exactly as Goebbels once reasoned. And exactly as Goebbels declares to those who do not like the glorification of a fictitious feat, that they are not patriots. Moreover, their argumentation simply coincides word for word with Dobrobaba’s argumentation! They say that you deny the heroism of the police and the cooking of journalists - agree to the point that it was not we who won the war. You don’t love your homeland, you scoundrels! 
Monument to Dobrobaba in Tsimlyansk. Already with a star, but for now with an unofficial one. Is Vlasov next? But Goebbels, unlike his current Russian like-minded people who, out of desperation, use his arguments to justify the film - old people, Medina and other goblins - was a smart guy. And he understood that such outright nonsense would have a propaganda effect, if at all, but with a “-” sign. Goebbels would have twisted his finger at his temple and sent such an employee to the Eastern Front for stupidity and incompetence. Let's finish with the vile PR campaign that preceded the film, and let's talk about the film itself. Perhaps, despite everything, the film itself turned out right? No. Here we need to make a short excursion into the history of the film. Shallopa and Puchkov collected money for it for several years. And how many more years they would have collected (and then, you see, either the donkey or the padishah will die), it is unknown. However, there were sponsors who provided the missing money, of which only 20% of the final cost of the film was collected on the Internet. The main sponsor (read, customer) was the Ministry of Culture, headed by Medinsky. It was then that the above-mentioned micro-Goebbels, working according to manuals, got involved in the film’s PR. Starikov, Marakhovsky, etc. 
The notorious Russian Military Historical Society, which is also headed by Medinsky, also took an active part in promoting the film. And which was noted for Lately such actions as the sticker of royal eagles on the cars of the Victory Parade, the monument to Nicholas II in Belgrade and... the installation of that same Mannerheim plaque. And where does Kumanev, already known to us, sit on the scientific council (headed by Churov). By the way, when Medinsky writes angry rebuke to “complete scum,” he quotes not just anyone, but his deputy for the Russian Military Inspectorate, Kumanev. Actually, there is no one to quote from academic historians except Kumanev... Or rather, there is already someone: now we have Medinsky himself, an academic historian: the same doctor of sciences as Kumanev, but not yet an academician, that’s ahead. Krivitsky gives birth to Kumanev, Kumanev gives birth to Medinsky... And what will happen next is scary to think about. 
Thus, in addition to the people who chipped in for a “correct and honest” pro-Soviet film, the film also had another customer. Whose kung fu do you think was better? Let's see! Not a single red flag in the film, which seemed to be filmed in order to differ in the pro-Soviet direction from the Mikhalkov-Bondarchuks. Not a single mention of Soviet power or Comrade Stalin. The film never mentions Soviet internationalism. This is despite the fact that half of the division (and this regiment as well) are Kazakhs and Kyrgyz. They shouted that they would make a Soviet film! But in the end, the White Guard sponsor ordered it, and the principled authors of the “honest and correct” film acted like girls. Those who are danced by the one who treats them. But in the film there is Dobrobaba. They don’t call him by his last name, but they call him by his first and patronymic. Apparently, the authors of the film felt a spiritual kinship with the policeman: "
In my opinion, it is better not to be considered a traitor than to humiliate a real hero. Dobrobabin was a man who wanted to live and not die"
.
- dir. Shalopa.
Moreover, there are probably more Dobrobabies in the film than anyone else. And he behaves most heroically: in full accordance with his own tales recorded by Kumanev. REFERENCE
The Perekop Rural Council hereby certifies that during the period of the German occupation of the village of Perekop from October 1941 to September 1943, the German occupiers and the village elders and local village police who assisted them were: 1) hijacked by youthto Germany for hard labor -170 people; 2) cattle stolen -up to 100 heads;5/II -- 1948
The real Diev?
Apparently, the surname “Diev”, heard by Chernyshov and Koroteev at the headquarters of the 16th Army, is a distortion of the surname Georgiev. Jr. political instructor Andrei Nikolaevich Georgiev, who was the commissar of the tank destroyer detachment, actually died in an unequal battle with German tanks, remaining at the head of a small detachment to cover the exit from the encirclement of our units. Political instructor Georgiev, nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, appears in the memoirs of the commandant of the regiment headquarters Melnikov as Egordiev. Obviously, the mistake occurred due to the confusion of the Georgiev-Egordiev surnames. When transmitting information about the feat along the chain from the regiment to the division headquarters, and then to the correspondents, he turned into Yegor Diev. So the name Diev ended up in the articles of Chernyshev and Koroteev, written according to the traces that had not yet cooled down. When Krivitsky was looking for real names to match them with his lies, he did not find the end of this story. And I’m unlikely to have looked for it. He announced that the first killed political instructor he came across was Diev (he turned out to be Klochkov), and from more than 100 names of the dead soldiers of his company, he randomly chose the remaining 27. This is what true heroism looked like in those November days of 1941. Even in those days, the accomplishments of the tank destroyer unit under the leadership of Commander Ugryumov and Commissar Georgiev deserved to become known at army headquarters. Let's give the floor to the award list. Georgiev Andrey Nikolaevich. ml. political instructor Commissioner of the fighter detachment 1073 rifle regiment of the 8th Guards. Panfilov's divisions. born 1916 Russian. Member of the CPSU(b). ... 17 fighters led by Commissar Georgiev fought fiercely and stubbornly in an unequal battle under hurricane fire from tanks, machine guns, and submachine gunners. Commissar Georgiev personally inspiring the fighters, standing tall with a bunch of grenades with the slogan “For the Motherland, for Stalin!” rushed to the tank and destroyed it. Of the first 4 tanks, 2 tanks were destroyed, 2 were knocked out and turned back.... ... As a result of the heroic struggle of the fighters led by Comrade Georgiev, the enemy could not move the tanks to this area for 24 hours, during which time the battalions of the 1073rd Infantry regiment and the 690th Infantry Regiment escaped the encirclement.... Of the 17 brave men, 13 died in this battle. At the moment of throwing a grenade to completely explode the destroyed tanks, Commissar Georgiev was also killed by a shell in the chest.
In addition to the identification of surnames (the Dievs are not on the lists of the Panfilov division) and the description of the feat, there is one more circumstance that allows us to think that Andrei Nikolaevich Georgiev is the political instructor Diev. This place is from the book “Volokolamsk Highway” by Alexander Bek. The book is narrated in the first person - from the perspective of the battalion commander Momysh-Ula. And in it, the red commander and his biographer never deviate from what Momysh-Uly saw personally, with his own eyes. Except for one short episode. Placing the card on his lap, he continued to listen. - And Ugryumov? - Panfilov’s face immediately seemed older, the folds around his mouth became more pronounced. - And Georgiev? By the bridge? I see. Is anyone left alive? Wait a minute, I’ll make a note. ... Panfilov gently, without knocking, hung up and returned the card to Dorfman. - Remember, Comrade Momysh-Uly, Lieutenant Ugryumov? I answered briefly: - Yes. Of course, I wish I could remember the snub-nosed, freckled lieutenant whom the cook Vakhitov once surrounded with porridge, who looked like a village boy - a boy with a reasonable speech and a strong hand. - Died... Did you know political instructor Georgiev? He also died. Almost all of this small detachment laid down their heads. But he didn’t let the tanks through. Nine cars were blown up, the rest left. You see, Comrade Dorfman, things are becoming clearer. But there are still many mysteries. - Panfilov scratched his trimmed head. - It looks like a book with torn pages. We must ensure that these pages do not disappear. We need to restore them. Read this book. Let us also pay attention to the fact that even in the very first note of correspondent Ivanov, written hot on the heels of November 19, this exact number of tanks was mentioned: 9. It is clear that we are talking about the same feat, rumors about which were heard by Krivitsky and turned into them for commercial purposes into a shameless deceitful concoction. No, it was not at all by chance that such an uncharacteristic episode ended up in this book. Baurdzhan Momysh-Uly and his biographer Alexander Bek knew who the hero really was. And they gave a subtle hint in the book through the lips of General Panfilov. "...a book with torn out pages. We must ensure that these pages do not disappear. We must restore them. Read this book."- General Panfilov bequeaths to us. And we carry out the order of the dead general.
