Every year there are fewer and fewer people who took an active part in the Great Patriotic War, witnessed the mass heroism of Soviet soldiers and could convincingly tell about those distant years of hard times.

Recently, most mass media outlets have been reporting more and more sparingly and subjectively about the contribution of the USSR to the defeat of nazi Germany, about the reasons for the outbreak of war, and even more so about those who brought Victory closer by their daily feat of arms. Now no one is surprised that not every high school graduate can clearly say whether his grandfather fought, who he was at the front, what orders and medals he was awarded. Sociological studies show that young people can name one or two Heroes of the Soviet Union, but they do not know why they were awarded such high titles. What can we say about little-known heroes, about simple "war workers"? Almost no one knows about their front-line biography. In the archives lie unclaimed millions of documentary evidence that heroism on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War was truly massive, and people who committed heroic deeds, dearly loved their multinational Homeland.

In order not to be unfounded, in this issue we decided to tell about some of them, without changing a word in the archive documents.

Axe on the machine gun

One day in August 1941, near the headquarters kitchen of one of our units, a group of fascists attacked the regimental commander. Cook Ivan Sereda with a bunch of grenades rushed to the rescue of the commander. He came from the rear and with a well-aimed throw, destroying 14 fascists, saved the commander.

The next day, a heavy battle broke out. Our soldiers went on the attack, the fascists stubbornly defended... Suddenly, a tank came to the aid of the fascist infantry and, firing several machine-gun bursts, forced our soldiers to lie down... The invaders launched a counterattack and advanced ever closer to the site of the headquarters kitchen.

Seeing this, Ivan Sereda took a bunch of grenades in one hand, an axe in the other and began to sneak up on the tank. Fascist submachine gunners noticed him and opened fire. Wanting to deceive them, Sereda pretended to be hit by a bullet and fell into the grass. The fascists stopped firing, and Sereda crawled.

Finally, he hid in the bushes. A moment later, the enemy tank caught up with him. Then Sereda jumped on the car and hit the ax on the barrel of the machine gun. The tank stopped.

With a shout of "Hurrah!" the Red Army rushed to the attack and captured the tank. The enemy attack was repulsed.

(From the report of the assistant head of the political department of the North-Western Front for work among Komsomol members.) Note: Guards private Ivan Pavlovich Sereda was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on August 31, 1941.

The soldier took command of the company

...Guards private Klimashkin Alexey Fedotovich repeatedly showed courage and heroism.

When breaking through the enemy defenses on January 31, 1944, under heavy enemy artillery fire, Klimashkin rolled out an easel machine gun to an open firing position and destroyed over 40 Nazis with accurate machine gun fire, which ensured the successful advance of the rifle division.

During the counterattack on February 1, 1944, under the influence of heavy enemy fire, our soldiers could not get out of the trenches. Then Klimashkin with the call "For the Motherland, forward!" was the first to jump out of the trench and by personal example drew the fighters into hand-to-hand combat. The enemy retreated. In this battle Klimashkin personally destroyed 16 Nazis.

February 7, 1944 in a heavy battle killed the company commander - the only officer. Guards private Klimashkin took command of the company, and the combat mission was successfully completed. In this battle, Klimashkin destroyed 12 Nazis and, being wounded, refused to be evacuated to the hospital.

On February 17, 1944, Klimashkin showed exceptional courage in battle. He destroyed 26 enemy soldiers and, when he ran out of ammunition, continued to fight with grenades and bayonets. In this battle of the Guard, Private Klimashkin died a brave death.

(From the order of the Minister of Defense of the USSR on the enrollment of A. F. Klimashkin forever in the lists of the 174th Guards Rifle Red Banner, Orders of Suvorov and Kutuzov Regiment.) Note: On June 3, 1944, A. F. Klimashkin was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.

For a day there was an unequal battle

...The desired dream came true: Russian miracle heroes broke into the enemy's lair and reached the Oder River.

On the night of January 24, 1945, the unit in which Junior Sergeant Ivan Kuzmin served as a guard began to cross the river. With the first landing party on makeshift boats, Kuzmin landed on the enemy shore. Dragging the soldiers with him, the sniper jumped on the dam that blocked the path of the landing party. Ahead was a village heavily fortified by the enemy. It had to be occupied by the guards and held until the main forces arrived.

After a short but heated fight, the fighters broke into the village. The first among them was the guardsman Kuzmin. Against a handful of brave men, the German command threw selected units... Kuzmin and his comrades fortified themselves in a two-story house and blocked the path of the Germans with concentrated fire. Three times the enemy infantry stormed the house. But all the attacks were repulsed...

A German tank opened fire on the house. The wall was collapsing. Bricks and plaster fell on the daredevils. Two of them were injured, two were under the rubble of bricks. But the fire on the Nazis continued. Two more attacks were repulsed. Only under the cover of a tank did the Nazis manage to block the house.

Then, having descended together with his comrades to the basement, Kuzmin and his fighting friends resumed their destructive fire on the enemy.

For a whole day, the brave men led by Kuzmin fought an unequal battle with the enemy, not allowing the Germans to reach the crossing point. In that battle, sniper Kuzmin destroyed 25 Nazis...

(From the leaflet "Heroic feat of Komsomol member Ivan Kuzmin".)

Smash the enemy with a dive kick

The navigator of the Guard squadron, Captain Ivan Matveyevich Zhmurko, became famous for accurate bomb attacks on the enemy...

219 times Zhmurko flew to bomb German fortifications, airfields, tanks, clusters of cars. Zhmurko achieved particular success in dive bombing. On one of the roads along which the Germans were pulling their equipment to the rear, Zhmurko defeated an enemy convoy with a dive strike. Dozens of trucks were reduced to a pile of burnt iron.

(From the leaflet "Ivan Zhmurko". Note: Squadron navigator I. M. Zhmurko was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on May 15, 1946.

"Triple strike response to an enemy strike"

...Guardsmen of the assault detachments of officers Ryapolov and Shapkarin together, with shouts of "Forward to Konigsberg!" rose to the attack.

The first to overcome the minefield and wire fence guards Sergeant Ivan Kiselyov. Following his example, all the members of the assault squad rushed forward. Skilfully combining fire and movement, the guards approached the Prussian fort.

The Nazis opened heavy fire on the attackers with cannons, machine guns and submachine guns.

The guards responded to the enemy's blow with a triple blow. Assault detachments, showing maneuver, quickly bypassed the fort from the flanks and began to threaten a complete encirclement... The guards launched a fierce attack... Grenades flew through the embrasures and crevices... The fort has fallen. More than 100 German soldiers and officers surrendered.

Here are the names of the heroes of the assault on the fort: guardsmen Captains Ryapolov and Shapkarin, lieutenants Batishchev and Petrenko, Senior Sergeant Dymshakov, sergeants Kiselyov, Dokukha, Bignatobetov, Romanov, privates Dubovsky, Ignatiev, Aghabedyan.

Their glory will never fade! The fort has fallen, and so will Koenigsberg!

(From the Department of Manuscript Collections of the Institute of History of the USSR Academy of Sciences.)

Note: printed in the printing house of the Red Army newspaper "For the Motherland!" on April 8, 1945.

"Ensured the capture of the bridgehead"

...Being the commander of the boat, which together with others was loaded on cars and followed to the place of crossing the water barrier, the foreman of the 1st article Mikhail Sotnikov did not lose his head during the raid of enemy aircraft on the column, opened fire with a machine gun and shot down the Messerschmitt-109, for which he was presented with the award - the Order of the Red Star.

When the motor vehicles and boats approached the Spree, the enemy, having discovered the place of descent, opened concentrated fire from machine guns, machine guns and mortars. Despite this, the work continued. Taking the first group of paratroopers, Sotnikov led the boat to the enemy shore.

The enemy increased their fire, but the foreman of the 1st article delivered the landing force with skilful maneuvering almost without losses, and was the first to get ashore with a submachine gun in his hands. With a shout of "For the Motherland!" he led the paratroopers to the attack.

In an extremely difficult battle situation, under the constantly increasing crossfire of the enemy, Sotnikov made several landing flights to the enemy's shore, which ensured the capture of the bridgehead by our troops.

(From the combat stats.) Note: foreman of the 1st article Mikhail Trifonovich Sotnikov became a Hero of the Soviet Union on May 31, 1945.

"Assumed command"

...Guards Senior Sergeant Kravets Lyudmila Stepanovna, medical instructor of the company, provided first aid to wounded soldiers and commanders in all conditions.

On April 17, 1945, during the battles on the outskirts of Berlin, the first rifle company came under heavy enemy fire and was forced to lie down. The company commander was out of action, and the situation was critical.

And medical instructor Kravets took command... With a cry of "For the Motherland, forward!" the first rushed to wade through a deep stream, dragging the fighters with her. The enemy was shot down from the line covering the road to Berlin.

Moving forward, despite the danger, she pulled a tanker out of the burning tank and, having helped him, continued to lead the battle.

In the last battles, Lyudmila Stepanovna was twice wounded, but did not leave the battlefield...

(From the award list.) Note: Senior Sergeant L. S. Kravets, medical instructor of the Guards Company, was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on May 31, 1945.

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