Was there a senior sergeant Sirotinin? Nikolai Sirotinin is not a myth. Sirotin is a hero.

S Irotin Nikolai Yakovlevich - commander of the SU-76 battery of the 156th tank regiment (45th mechanized Dniester brigade, 5th mechanized Dniester corps, 6th tank army, 2nd Ukrainian Front), senior lieutenant.

Born on May 21, 1922 in the city of Dno, now Pskov region, into a working-class family. Russian. Graduated from Dnovskaya secondary school. He worked as a mechanic at the locomotive depot of the Dno railway station. In 1940 he entered the Leningrad Artillery School.

During the Great Patriotic War in the active army from July 1941. He graduated from the courses for junior political instructors in 1942.

He fought on the Northern, Leningrad, Volkhov, and 2nd Ukrainian fronts. Wounded twice.

He particularly distinguished himself in the Iasi-Kishinev strategic offensive operation on the territory of Romania.

On August 22, he was one of the first in the regiment to break into the city of Vaslui (50 kilometers south of Iasi, Romania). Under enemy fire, he reached the railway station of the city of Vaslui, where he destroyed one self-propelled gun, knocked out 1 tank, 2 machine guns and up to 40 Nazis. In the area of ​​the station, the battery was attacked by enemy bomber aircraft, and N.Ya. Sirotin’s self-propelled artillery unit was set on fire. He continued to fire from the burning installation. Died in this battle.

At the kaza of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on March 24, 1945, for the courage and heroism shown in the Iasi-Kishinev operation, senior lieutenant Sirotin Nikolai Yakovlevich awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously).

He was buried in the city of Vaslui.

In the city of Dno, a memorial plaque was installed on the street named after him. In front of the building of the locomotive depot of the Dno railway station there is a monument to former workers of the locomotive depot who died in battles for their Motherland during the Great Patriotic War. The name of N.Ya. Sirotin is immortalized on the monument.

Awarded the Order of Lenin (03/24/1945), the medal “For Courage” (07/28/1942).

N.Ya. Sirotin received his baptism of fire on the Northern Front, where, together with other cadets of the Leningrad Artillery School, he participated in the artillery group of Colonel G.F. Odintsov in repelling the German attack on Leningrad at the turn of the Plussa River in the Luga defensive region.

As part of the 115th Rifle Division of the 54th Army, he took part in defensive and offensive battles on the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts.

In September 1941, he was wounded on the Leningrad Front near Nevskaya Dubrovka.

On January 11, 1942, during the offensive battles on the Volkhov front in the Kirishi district of the Leningrad region in the area of ​​the Larionov Ostrov tract, junior political instructor of the machine gun company of the 576th rifle regiment of the 115th rifle division N.Ya. Sirotin met with a group of Germans in the amount of 20 people, who tried to surround him and take him prisoner. He took the fight, killed 9 soldiers with a machine gun, and put the rest to flight.
On March 16, 1942, he participated in repelling an enemy counterattack, killed 7 German soldiers and pulled a wounded battalion commissar out of fire.
On March 9, 1942, using a sniper rifle, he destroyed two enemy machine gunners who were on the railway line and impeding the advance of rifle units. He was awarded the medal "For Courage".

In June 1943 he was seriously wounded. After long treatment and retraining, he was sent at the beginning of August 1944 to the 2nd Ukrainian Front, where he participated in the Iasi-Kishinev offensive operation as part of the 45th mechanized brigade of the 5th mechanized corps.

From the award list

On August 20, 1944, the regiment received the combat mission to enter a breakthrough into the enemy’s deeply layered defenses.
The battery under the command of Senior Lieutenant Sirotin, moving as part of the regiment's head outpost, in the Kojaske-Veke area met strong enemy resistance and with his daring and decisive actions, Senior Lieutenant Sirotin destroyed one tank, 3 anti-tank guns, and several machine gun nests.
During the pursuit of the retreating enemy, he destroyed one self-propelled gun, 2 armored personnel carriers with guns, 70 carts with cargo and 6 vehicles with infantry.
On August 22, 1944, Senior Lieutenant Sirotin was one of the first to break into the city of Vaslui and destroy 8 heavy machine guns, up to a company of soldiers and officers.
Under enemy fire, he reached the railway station of the city of Vaslui, where he destroyed one self-propelled gun, knocked out 1 tank, 2 machine guns and up to 40 Nazis.
Battery Comrade Sirotina was attacked by 12 Junkers. Comrade Sirotin was wounded, the installation caught fire. He continued to fire from the burning installation and died a hero's death, ensuring the capture of the station by approaching tanks.
For the exemplary and excellent performance of a combat mission and the manifestation of exceptional courage, bravery and heroism, Comrade. Sirotin is worthy of a government award - the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Acting commander of the 156th Tank Regiment, Captain Sharkunov
August 30, 1944

During the Great Patriotic War, not much was known about the incredible feat of the simple Russian soldier Kolka Sirotinin, as well as about the hero himself. Perhaps no one would ever have known about the feat of the twenty-year-old artilleryman. If not for one incident.

In the summer of 1942, Friedrich Fenfeld, an officer of the 4th Panzer Division of the Wehrmacht, died near Tula. Soviet soldiers discovered his diary. From its pages, some details of that very last battle of Senior Sergeant Sirotinin became known.

It was the 25th day of the war...

In the summer of 1941, the 4th Panzer Division of Guderian’s group, one of the most talented German generals, broke through to the Belarusian city of Krichev. Units of the 13th Soviet Army were forced to retreat. To cover the retreat of the artillery battery of the 55th Infantry Regiment, the commander left artilleryman Nikolai Sirotinin with a gun.

The order was brief: to delay the German tank column on the bridge over the Dobrost River, and then, if possible, catch up with our own. The senior sergeant carried out only the first half of the order...

Sirotinin took up a position in a field near the village of Sokolnichi. The gun sank in the tall rye. There is not a single noticeable landmark for the enemy nearby. But from here the highway and the river were clearly visible.

On the morning of July 17, a column of 59 tanks and armored vehicles with infantry appeared on the highway. When the lead tank reached the bridge, the first – successful – shot rang out. With the second shell, Sirotinin set fire to an armored personnel carrier at the tail of the column, thereby creating a traffic jam. Nikolai shot and shot, knocking out car after car.

Sirotinin fought alone, being both a gunner and a loader. It had 60 rounds of ammunition and a 76-mm cannon - an excellent weapon against tanks. And he made a decision: to continue the battle until the ammunition runs out.

The Nazis threw themselves to the ground in panic, not understanding where the shooting was coming from. The guns fired at random, across squares. After all, the day before, their reconnaissance had failed to detect Soviet artillery in the vicinity, and the division advanced without special precautions. The Germans attempted to clear the jam by dragging the damaged tank from the bridge with two other tanks, but they were also hit. An armored vehicle that tried to ford the river got stuck in a swampy bank, where it was destroyed. For a long time the Germans were unable to determine the location of the well-camouflaged gun; they believed that a whole battery was fighting them.

This unique battle lasted a little over two hours. The crossing was blocked. By the time Nikolai's position was discovered, he had only three shells left. When asked to surrender, Sirotinin refused and fired from his carbine to the last. Having entered Sirotinin's rear on motorcycles, the Germans destroyed the lone gun with mortar fire. At the position they found a lone gun and a soldier.

The result of the battle of Senior Sergeant Sirotinin against General Guderian is impressive: after the battle on the banks of the Dobrost River, the Nazis were missing 11 tanks, 7 armored vehicles, 57 soldiers and officers.

The tenacity of the Soviet soldier earned the respect of the Nazis. The commander of the tank battalion, Colonel Erich Schneider, ordered the worthy enemy to be buried with military honors.

From the diary of Chief Lieutenant of the 4th Panzer Division Friedrich Hoenfeld:

July 17, 1941. Sokolnichi, near Krichev. In the evening, an unknown Russian soldier was buried. He stood alone at the cannon, shot at a column of tanks and infantry for a long time, and died. Everyone was surprised at his courage... Oberst (Colonel - editor's note) said before the grave that if all the Fuhrer's soldiers fought like this Russian, they would conquer the whole world. They fired three times in volleys from rifles. After all, he is Russian, is such admiration necessary?

From the testimony of Olga Verzhbitskaya, a resident of the village of Sokolnichi:

I, Olga Borisovna Verzhbitskaya, born in 1889, a native of Latvia (Latgale), lived before the war in the village of Sokolnichi, Krichevsky district, together with my sister.

We knew Nikolai Sirotinin and his sister before the day of the battle. He was with a friend of mine, buying milk. He was very polite, always helping elderly women get water from the well and do other hard work.

I remember well the evening before the fight. On a log at the gate of the Grabskikh house I saw Nikolai Sirotinin. He sat and thought about something. I was very surprised that everyone was leaving, but he was sitting.

When the battle started, I was not home yet. I remember how the tracer bullets flew. He walked for about two to three hours. In the afternoon, the Germans gathered at the place where Sirotinin’s gun stood. They forced us, local residents, to come there too. As someone who knows German, the chief German, about fifty years old with decorations, tall, bald, and gray-haired, ordered me to translate his speech to the 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, and that this is how a soldier should defend his homeland - the Fatherland.

Then a medallion was taken out of the pocket of our dead soldier’s tunic. I firmly remember that it was written “the city of Orel”, Vladimir Sirotinin (I didn’t remember his middle name), that the name of the street was, as I remember, not Dobrolyubova, but Gruzovaya or Lomovaya, I remember that the house number was two digits. But we could not know who this Sirotinin Vladimir was - the father, brother, uncle of the murdered man or anyone else.

The German chief told me: “Take this document and write to your relatives. Let the mother know what a hero her son was and how he died.” Then a young German officer standing at Sirotinin’s grave came up and snatched the piece of paper and medallion from me and said something rudely.

The Germans fired a volley of rifles in honor of our soldier and put a cross on the grave, hanging his helmet, pierced by a bullet.

I myself clearly saw the body of Nikolai Sirotinin, even when he was lowered into the grave. His face was not covered in blood, but his tunic had a large bloody stain on the left side, his helmet was broken, and there were many shell casings lying around.

Since our house was located not far from the battle site, next to the road to Sokolnichi, the Germans stood near us. I myself heard how they spoke for a long time and admiringly about the feat of the Russian soldier, counting shots and hits. Some of the Germans, even after the funeral, stood for a long time at the gun and the grave and talked quietly.

February 29, 1960

Testimony of telephone operator M.I. Grabskaya:

I, Maria Ivanovna Grabskaya, born in 1918, worked as a telephone operator at Daewoo 919 in Krichev, lived in my native village of Sokolnichi, three kilometers from the city of Krichev.

I remember the events of July 1941 well. About a week before the Germans arrived, Soviet artillerymen settled in our village. The headquarters of their battery was in our house, the battery commander was a senior lieutenant named Nikolai, his assistant was a lieutenant named Fedya, and of the soldiers I remember most of all the Red Army soldier Nikolai Sirotinin. The fact is that the senior lieutenant very often called this soldier and entrusted him, as the most intelligent and experienced, with this and that task.

He was slightly above average height, dark brown hair, a simple, cheerful face. When Sirotinin and senior lieutenant Nikolai decided to dig a dugout for the local residents, I saw how he deftly threw the earth, I noticed that he was apparently not from the boss’s family. Nikolai answered jokingly:

“I am a worker from Orel, and I am no stranger to physical labor. We Orlovites know how to work.”

Today in the village of Sokolnichi there is no grave in which the Germans buried Nikolai Sirotinin. Three years after the war, his remains were transferred to the mass grave of Soviet soldiers in Krichev.

Pencil drawing made from memory by a colleague of Sirotinin in the 1990s

Residents of Belarus remember and honor the feat of the brave artilleryman. In Krichev there is a street named after him, and a monument has been erected. But, despite the fact that Sirotinin’s feat, thanks to the efforts of the workers of the Soviet Army Archive, was recognized back in 1960, he was not awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. A painfully absurd circumstance got in the way: the soldier’s family did not have his photograph. And it is necessary to apply for a high rank.

Today there is only a pencil sketch made after the war by one of his colleagues. In the year of the 20th anniversary of the Victory, Senior Sergeant Sirotinin was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, first degree. Posthumously. This is the story.

Memory

In 1948, the remains of Nikolai Sirotinin were reburied in a mass grave (according to the military burial registration card on the OBD Memorial website - in 1943), on which a monument was erected in the form of a sculpture of a soldier grieving for his fallen comrades, and on the marble plaques the list of those buried indicated surname Sirotinin N.V.

In 1960, Sirotinin was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.

In 1961, at the site of the feat near the highway, a monument was erected in the form of an obelisk with the name of the hero, near which a real 76-mm gun was installed on a pedestal. In the city of Krichev, a street is named after Sirotinin.

At the Tekmash plant in Orel, a memorial plaque was installed with a brief information about N.V. Sirotinin.

The Museum of Military Glory in Secondary School No. 17 in the city of Orel contains materials dedicated to N.V. Sirotinin.

In 2015, the council of school No. 7 in the city of Orel petitioned to name the school after Nikolai Sirotinin. Nikolai’s sister Taisiya Vladimirovna was present at the ceremonial events. The name for the school was chosen by the students themselves based on the search and information work they did.

Dedicated to a real hero

Recently, many so-called historians have appeared, or people trying to classify themselves as such, who are trying to refute not even the feat, but the very existence of Nikolai Sirotinin. These false historians are based on data from the Book of Memory for the Oryol region, which reports the death of Nikolai Sirotinin on July 16, 1944 near Karachev1 in the Bryansk region, German sources, their own “research”, so to speak, mostly illiterate in essence, and, purely selectively , based on data from witnesses of that battle. But the main thing is not all this, but the fact that, as a long discussion with one of these “historians” showed, the main argument, omitting various kinds of insults, was the following: “this is not there anywhere, which means it cannot be.”

The purpose of this series of notes is precisely to show the main arguments in favor, based on newly discovered circumstances and analysis of existing data, which allow us to look at what happened both on that day near Krichev and before the battle from a literary, but a historical point of view and immediately after it. As a result, it was possible to restore almost completely the entire picture of what happened both before and after Nikolai Sirotinin’s feat on July 17, 1941, as if from his own point of view.

We will not dwell here on the entire difficult situation that had developed by that time on this section of the front in Belarus, and we will resort to it only if it is relevant to the feat itself. And we will not describe that battle itself now, since this is the topic of a separate note. In short, I would like to say that the battle was not the same as it was described in the literature, since Nikolai was not alone in the first attacks on Sokolnichi (in the first part of the day on July 17), and participated, along with others, along with all the personnel of the combined rifle regiment of the 5th army. But that battle, which everyone knows about from literary sources, when he was left alone with the column - this was the third attempt to cross the Dobrost River, and, basically, no longer by tank, but by artillery units. But now the main thing is to show how everything was before this day.

So, first of all, I would like to start with the fact that from the documents about Nikolai, only the conscript’s medical card has been preserved, weight - 53 kg, height - 164 cm, year of birth - 1921, and his letter home, 1940, from the 55th Infantry Regiment from under Polotsk, possibly written immediately after conscription in October of the same year. Its 17th Infantry Division was stationed in Belarus throughout the pre-war period, and by the beginning of the war it was redeployed to the line of the river. Ditva, where she came into direct contact with the enemy.

By June 1941, he was already a senior sergeant, a gun commander. In about 2/3 of a year, it was quite possible to rise to such a rank and position. After all, this was a special time when the very possibility of war was already felt by all the people and leaders at all levels. Naturally, in these critical conditions, a lucky, smart and skillful gunner boy could quickly receive the ranks of both sergeant and senior sergeant. Still, tomorrow there could be a war and it was necessary to prepare personnel, and, especially, to set an example for others.

One of the main counter-arguments that Nikolai could not have ended up at Krichev was that at that time his entire 55th Regiment of the 17th Infantry Division was in retreat to Kalinkovichi, which is 250 km southwest of Krichev. Below we present in full that part of the memoirs of the commander of the 55th Infantry Regiment, Major Skripka, explaining what and how happened then: “On the evening of June 24, the division commander received an order to withdraw to the eastern bank of the Ditva River. Leaving a rifle company at the height as a rear marching outpost, the regiment retreated to a new line at night. The outpost was supposed to join the regiment in the morning. However, at dawn, the roar of a strong battle was heard from the direction of the height. In addition, the regiment was ordered, without stopping at the Ditva line, to withdraw to Lida. As a result, the outpost did not return to the regiment "Her fate is unknown."

So we received a clear answer as to why Nikolai retreated on his own and not in the same way as his entire division. One company of the 55th regiment died at the end of June, at dawn on June 25, apparently having finally been surrounded, isolated from the entire retreating regiment and the entire division, that is, without the possibility of receiving reinforcements. And Nikolai either survived that battle, or, more likely, had an order from the company commander to find the regiment and report their death.

Here it is necessary to especially mention the heroism of these soldiers and officers, since apart from those meager lines of Major Skrypka, no one said anything about them. And Nikolai, who knew more, also died, but later and in other circumstances. But then, starting in the early morning of June 25, Nikolai alone decided to move independently towards the east, ending up in Sokolnichi near Krichev, where the front line was formed.

By the way, the fact that Krichev appears on the map in the direction from the Lida region and due east is yet another proof that this is not a coincidence. Since the regiment, from the point of view of N. Sirotinin, retreated to an unknown destination2, and there was no one at the Ditva line in the morning, he was left alone, then in these conditions it was logical to move precisely to the east, in the hope of catching up with the regiment. But just like that, unfortunately, the paths of Kolya and the regiment diverged even more, since his unit, by order, did not logically retreat to the southeast. If we assume that Nicholas walked 30-35 km every day (which is close to the value of 35 km of one day’s journey according to Herodotus, see V. Yanovich, “Great Scythia: History of Pre-Kievan Rus”), then this distance to Sokolnichi is about 500 km, it was covered in 14-17 days. He approached Minsk (which is about halfway) already when the encirclement ring closed over units of the 3rd and 10th Army on June 27. Of course, the young man could have walked more in a day, but this was the limit, given that he had to be careful, look around the environment, or close to the environment, move through wooded areas and not roads, and, in the end, in addition, at the same time still find sources of drink and food.

So, by July 7-10, he reaches the front line at Sokolnichi, held by the forces of the 4th and 13th armies. Upon reaching this line of defense, Nikolai comes under the control of Captain Kim, the chief of staff, who, due to the prevailing circumstances (and the enemy rapidly and unexpectedly continued his offensive from the north-west), performed many functions in his person, including, obviously, establishing deserters from among the retreating troops3. There was no doubt about what Nikolai told him. Apparently, both his documents and his uniform were in order, and it was both practically and theoretically impossible to contact his division, which was retreating to Kalinkovichi at that time, to verify the information received. Therefore, he was assigned to the regiment located on this line of defense, but only as a “penalty officer” - a gunner.

Note that these dates, calculated based on the time of movement on foot, surprisingly coincide with the dates from witnesses who claim Kolya’s appearance in Sokolnichi around July 9-10. Residents of Sokolnichi have more vivid memories of him, since he helped with housework in one of the courtyards. Fellow villagers also remember the “high commander,” obviously Captain Kim. And all this is also not random coincidences and guesses, but everything is so, or almost so, and it happened.

It should be noted that by July 16, the encirclement ring north of Krichev was closed, where units of the 16th and 20th armies were surrounded near Smolensk, so the capture of Krichev as the last line on the right bank of the river. Sozh, was given special importance. Indeed, a photograph has been preserved from July 14, 1941, in which General von Langerman, commander of units of the 2nd Panzer Army, discusses the details of the operation near Krichev with Colonels Eberbach and Schneider4, direct participants in the battles near Sokolniki, commanders of tank and artillery units, respectively.

As a result, Krichev fell, and Wehrmacht units strengthened their positions on the right bank. Subsequently, attempts were made to recapture this city, due to the awareness of its strategic importance, but this did not lead to anything, but only led to the failure of almost the entire personnel of the 4th Airborne Forces, who took up defense on the left bank of the river. Sozh. This is how the decision of an individual commander to surrender positions at Sokolnichi decided the fate of the entire corps.

So, it can be considered definitely reliable that a Red Army soldier, senior sergeant Nikolai Sirotinin, from the 55th Infantry Regiment of the 17th Infantry Division, in the period starting from July 9-10, 1941, found himself at the line of defense near the village of Sokolnichi, across the Dobrost River and entered into battle with the enemy, starting at dawn on July 17, along with other fighters.

Both then, and especially now, every person has a choice - to remain honest to the end and fulfill his duty to the Motherland, or to live the life of a plankton and ultimately be consigned to oblivion.

Notes

1 As it turns out, there were no military operations in the Karachev region in 1944 and there could not have been any, and the coincidence of the names of the cities (compare “Krichev” and “Karachev”) and the date of death on July 16 look somehow strange, which is close to the actual date of July 17, 1941, with an “error” of exactly three years.

2 By the way, the order to retreat the entire 17th division to the southeast seems inexplicable and incomprehensible, when the enemy’s offensive during this period of time took place mainly to the east, along all sectors of the front. At the same time, other parts of the Red Army managed to hold back the offensive, for example, with a competent retreat and dynamic use of the anti-tank artillery brigade of the 5th Army, directing it to the most needed place. You can learn more about this from the memoirs of its commander, who later became army commander, K.S. Moskalenko, “In the southwestern direction. Book 1.” It is worth noting that by the end of the summer of 1941 the front line was extended towards the west precisely in the area in front of Kiev and precisely on the front line of the 5th Army, perhaps thanks to these competent actions of the artillerymen.

3 Let us note that it was precisely this function that he managed to perform in the best possible way, and of all the memories of the war, he left for us a short and verbally said “there was a lot of bad things.” But from the memoirs of Lieutenant Larionov, commander of a machine gun company, Captain Kim was later demoted, mainly, apparently, for surrendering positions near Sokolnichi, which resulted in the capture of Krichev. In these conditions, from the point of view of Captain Kim, it was “natural” to keep silent about some fighter, especially since he, even if as a hero, died, and therefore could no longer say anything in his own defense. And the fact that, according to the memoirs of the same Larionov, Kim called the fighters who fulfilled their duty with honor “looters”, only because they grabbed German machine guns from the battlefield, already says a lot about this, if after all so to speak, man.

4 By the way, Colonel Erich Schneider, who later became a lieutenant general, was that “tall and bald Oberst,” according to local residents, who took part in Kolya’s funeral in Sokolnichi on the afternoon of July 17, 1941, after the capture of Krichev.

There is evidence that Schneider was tall and bald. In particular, this is clearly visible in the photograph taken on October 1, 1941 on page 58 from the book “Panzer Warfare on the Eastern Front”. This is how it should be when, as it would seem, from a series of random coincidences, “a puzzle is put together.”

First of all, it is worth mentioning how Nikolai ended up near Krichev. He left the encirclement on June 25, 1941, and alone walked 500 km to the east until he reached the front line, in the Sokolnichi area. His 55th Infantry Regiment retreated in an orderly manner to the southeast. Here he ended up in a combined battalion, which was tasked with holding the defense of Krichev from the west (there are two roads there - Varshavka and the old road, just north of it). From July 9-10 he is in Sokolnichi, in one of the houses where the headquarters is located. The main part of the battalion is a little north, but south of Khotilovichi. On July 16, the battalion arrives and digs in a howitzer with 6 shells (at Khotilovichi) plus 3 forty-fives. Another 2 forty-fives (Kolina and Petrova) are located right on Varshavka, only Kolina is probably a little further from the highway and is not so noticeable in the rye field. In the evening of the same day, German reconnaissance officers (a Soviet-made car) visit the positions and discover a Petrov cannon and a howitzer at Khotilovichi.

On the morning of July 17, another reconnaissance in force is carried out, by the efforts of the reconnaissance group, but without approaching the bridge over the Dobrost River, the group loses several tanks (ALL guns fire heavily (5 45 mm guns + howitzer) and retreats. 2nd enemy attack with T-3 tanks fell entirely on positions south of Khotilovichi, bypassing the highway, and on Varshavka itself at this time tanks were still smoking in the morning. Unfortunately, by the 2nd attack there was only ONE Kolya gun left at Sokolnichi and Larionov’s gun with bottles south of Khotilovichi. The main part of the battalion retreated behind Sozh river (to the crossing) and 4 guns - to Krichev. This moment, by the way, was also described by the villagers.

During this attack, Kolya deployed the cannon (its weight is 1.5 tons) and shot at the sides of the tanks at a distance of about 1-1.5 km (quite enough to penetrate the armor, calculations confirm). At this moment, the howitzer is running out of shells, but the enemy thinks that this howitzer is firing. When the tanks reached the trenches, bottles were also set on fire. As a result, the remaining undamaged tanks ironed the trenches (after all, one gun is not enough), but the pulrota killed all the infantry. Therefore, without support, the remaining tanks returned to their positions (almost not enough).

The 3rd attack again fell on Larionov at Khotilovichi, but he, having carried out the order, having lost about half of his personnel (having previously grabbed captured machine guns from the battlefield), left his position. Without encountering ANY resistance (Kolya’s gun was “silent” because Kolya again turned it in the direction of the highway), the tanks (Eberbach’s group) rode towards Krichev (a lorry with scouts was ahead) along another, northern road and across the field. The command is given to launch armored vehicles, guns, trucks with infantry and motorcyclists towards Varshavka (this was already Schneider’s group).

Kolya sets fire to the first tank near the bridge (or right on the bridge), and the last large transport object in sight (a car or an armored personnel carrier). The group is at a loss as Eberbach reported free traffic on the highway and has NO IDEA WHERE THE SHOOTING IS COMING FROM.

They carefully inspect the positions at Khotilovici (where Eberbach passed), but there is NO ONE there. Kolya’s positions are barely visible to the enemy (smoke and blowing noise near the bridge). At this time, Kolya is doing a simple soldier’s job - killing the enemy (and he is neither forward nor backward, well, not at all).

Since they cannot break through the bridge (congestion and smoke), the enemy again goes around, along the forest road and then through Sokolnichi (on motorcycles) and/or in a deep detour through Khotilovichi (but there with caution, and for a long time). Here the invaders are already coming to Kolya’s rear and firing mortars after Kolya “snarled” with a carbine and possibly killed another enemy.

After this, Kolya’s funeral was held, and the German soldiers were sent to the rear, perhaps they were buried in their homeland (since Eberbach had already reported on the capture of Krichev and additional force was not needed). Schneider, as an educated person and a warrior since World War I (of the old school), appreciates Kolya’s choice of position, courage and determination. Thanks to Schneider, NO punitive actions are carried out against the local population, although here they should have been especially significant, given the HUGE losses in 2 attacks and 1 movement along the highway.

As a result, from the enemy’s point of view, a lot of equipment was set on fire and a lot of enemy manpower was put out of action due to absurdity. Because if the column had stood still and not moved, it would have avoided losses (Krichev was taken anyway). But they couldn’t send scouts ahead of the column (as insurance), because they were deployed in Krichev (ahead of the tank strike group).

That's the whole battle in which Kolya AS A SOLDIER had real luck and the bird Sva-Slava will forever sing a song to him!!!

Let us remember that each of us always has a choice, either to live and die like a hero, or to be known as a corrupt plankton and be consigned to oblivion.

May 9th, 2013

At the age of 19, Kolya Sirotinin had the chance to challenge the saying “Alone in the field 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. Units of the 13th Soviet Army were retreating. Only gunner Kolya Sirotinin did not retreat - just a boy, short, quiet, puny.

On that day it was necessary to cover the withdrawal of troops. “Two people with a cannon will remain here,” said the battery commander. Nikolai volunteered. The commander himself remained second.

Kolya took up a position on a hill right on the collective farm field. The gun was buried in the tall 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 his first shot. The second shell set fire to an armored personnel carrier that brought up the rear of the column.

We need to stop here. Because it is still not entirely clear why Kolya was left alone in the field. But there are versions. He, apparently, had precisely the task of creating a “traffic jam” on the bridge by knocking out the lead vehicle of the Nazis. The lieutenant was at the bridge and adjusted the fire, and then, apparently, called fire from our other artillery from German tanks into the jam. Because of the river. It is reliably known that the lieutenant was wounded and then he went towards our positions. There is an assumption that Kolya should have retreated to his own people 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 vehicle tried to cross the Dobrost River without using a bridge. But she got stuck in the swampy bank, where another shell found her. Kolya shot and shot, knocking out tank after tank...

Guderian's tanks ran into Kolya Sirotinin as if they were facing the Brest Fortress. 11 tanks and 6 armored personnel carriers were already on fire! For almost two hours of this strange battle, the Germans could not understand where the Russian battery was dug in. And when we reached Kolya’s position, he only had three shells left. They offered to surrender. Kolya responded by firing at them from a carbine.

This last battle was short-lived...

“After all, he is Russian, is such admiration necessary?” Chief Lieutenant of the 4th Panzer Division Henfeld wrote these words in his diary: “July 17, 1941. Sokolnichi, near Krichev. In the evening, an unknown Russian soldier was buried. He stood alone at the cannon, shot at a column of tanks and infantry for a long time, and died. Everyone was surprised at his courage... Oberst (Colonel) said before the grave that if all the Fuhrer’s soldiers fought like this Russian, they would conquer the whole world. They fired three times in volleys from rifles. After all, he is Russian, is such admiration necessary?

In the afternoon, the Germans gathered at the place where the cannon stood. They forced us, local residents, to come there too,” recalls Verzhbitskaya. “As someone who knows German, the chief German with orders ordered me to translate.” He said that this is how a soldier should defend his homeland - the Fatherland. Then from the pocket of our dead soldier’s tunic they took out a medallion with a note about who and where. The main German told me: “Take it and write to your relatives. Let the mother know what a hero her son was and how he died.” I was afraid to do this... Then a young German officer, standing in the grave and covering Sirotinin’s body with a Soviet raincoat, snatched 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, Kolya’s remains were transferred to a mass grave, the field was plowed and sown, and the cannon was scrapped. And he was called a hero only 19 years after his feat. And not even a Hero of the Soviet Union - he was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.

Only in 1960, employees of the Central Archive of the Soviet Army discovered all the details of the feat. A monument to the hero was also erected, but it was awkward, with a fake cannon and just somewhere off to the side.

The Nazis were missing 11 tanks and 7 armored vehicles, 57 soldiers and officers after the battle on the banks of the Dobrost River, where Russian soldier Nikolai Sirotinin stood as a barrier.

The inscription on the monument: “Here at dawn on July 17, 1941, senior artillery sergeant Nikolai Vladimirovich Sirotinin, who gave his life for the freedom and independence of our Motherland, entered into single combat with a column of fascist tanks and in a two-hour battle repelled all enemy attacks.”

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 slight, and a few days later he was sent to the front - to the Krichev area, to the 6th Infantry Division as a gunner. Posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.

You will probably be surprised, but the feat of Nikolai Sirotinin is just a legend, a beautiful myth.

This is the investigation carried out by hranitel-slov

First, let's check the author of the diary - Henfeld / Henfeld, from whom it all began. Let's check with the German version of the 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 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 options ä and ö,
also just in case ie, ei

(to be fair, I found several candidates -
the first (and only) maximum match - Obergefreiter Friedrich Hanfeld 03/29/1913 -03/05/1943 Nagatkino (Staraya Russa area)
Discrepancy - neither the date (a year later), nor the rank, nor the location (much to the north), nor the unit (4th TD was not in that area)
There is also Friedrich Hennefeld, but he died in 1945

Veterans of the division do not remember such a character either.

There is no such officer in the losses indicated in the KTV 4. panzerdivizion from 10.1941 to 3.1942

But in any case, this is a collective image of a war hero, of whom there were a great many famous and unknown!

Our story will also be about Nikolai. He also delayed the German mechanized group for several hours. The most interesting thing is that he did it there, on the Warsaw highway near the same village of Sokolnichi. Even more surprising is that our Nikolai accomplished his feat on the same early summer morning, July 17, 1941. Perhaps we are talking about the same person? No, about different ones. And our story has two main differences.

Firstly, our story actually happened, and not like another, known but fictional one.

Secondly, our Nikolai remained alive.

By July 15-16, 1941, a threatening situation had arisen on the Western Front in the Mogilev region. Several Soviet divisions from 13A, 20A and 4A tried their best to hold back the onslaught of the 24th and 46th motorized corps from the 2nd Panzer Group of General Heinz Guderian, who was rushing towards 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 tank wedges - the 10th Tank Division north of Mogilev, the 3rd Tank Division in the center and the 4th Tank Division to the south - aimed their converging attacks in the direction of Krichev.

Realizing the real threat of encirclement, the command of the Western Front began a hasty withdrawal of troops across the river. Sozh. The only road to the saving eastern shore for the retreating units ran through the bridges in Krichev. A huge number of our troops rushed there.

The German command, building on their success, began decisive actions, the goal 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 defeat our encircled troops in a cauldron than to encounter them again, but on a new line of defense, which was deployed along the eastern bank of the Sozh. Therefore, the German command gave the order: “ The 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 ... ".

The command of the 24th Motorized Corps assigned one of the main tasks of capturing Krichev to the 4th Tank Division, advancing from the south-west along the western bank of Sozh along the Warsaw Highway. The choice of the direction of the main attack on Krichev was determined by the favorable situation in this area.

On July 15, the advanced units of the 4th Panzer Division (this was the strike group of Colonel Heinrich Eberbach, consisting of the 1st and 2nd battalions of the 35th Tank Regiment and the 7th Reconnaissance Battalion) captured the bridges over the Pronya River in a surprise attack and pushed back the defending Soviet troops to the eastern bank of the Sozh. Essentially, the road to Krichev was open, it was only about 50 km away and, according to intelligence data, there were no large enemy forces ahead. However, Colonel Eberbach was in no hurry. Several serious reasons prevented the acceleration of events.

Due to the high pace of the offensive, artillery, infantry and auxiliary units fell behind. Because of this, there was no one and nothing to restore the bridge across the river, which was blown up during the retreat by Soviet troops. Lobuchanka. But there was another very important reason - the technical condition of the tanks. For about a week it has not been possible to carry out the necessary maintenance and repair of armored vehicles. The division command makes a decision: since the bridge across Lobuchanka will be ready no earlier than July 16, the forced delay will be spent on qualitatively strengthening the strike group. Having decided to sacrifice the tanks that played the role of a “steel roller,” the division command 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 Eberbach's Kampfgruppe, and it was decided to give the main role for breaking into the enemy's defenses to the artillery, which, along with other units, is already on the way.

On July 16 at 15-00 (hereinafter local time) regular reports were received from air reconnaissance and mobile patrols of the 7th reconnaissance battalion. They reported that Russian units were retreating in an easterly direction towards Krichev in several motorized and foot columns along secondary roads. A concentration of enemy troops was discovered in the city itself.

The command of the 4th division understands that there is no time to delay, and on July 16 at 19:00. 30 min. The Kampfgruppe advanced 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, 79- 1st pioneer battalion, parts of the pontoon division, one heavy and one light anti-aircraft battery.

Behind us is the already restored bridge across Lobuchanka, from it it is only 10 km to the village of Cherikov, and then some 25 km along an excellent highway to the main goal - Krichev. But almost immediately we had to leave the main road, because in the forest through which the highway ran, the retreating Soviet units had created an impassable blockage several hundred meters long. While going around it there was a short skirmish with enemy infantry.

At 10 p.m. 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. No local population was seen. Russian soldiers captured on the outskirts of the village reported that their units had retreated in the direction of Krichev. Here the Kampfgruppe makes its last stop and awaits 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 heavy 21-cm mortar division, 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 Orsha station on June 29. On July 5, units 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 near the village. Chervonny Osovets, 137th SD repelled all enemy attacks and did not retreat a single step.

But the 2nd Battalion did not know any of this. In the confusion at the front, he never managed to find his division, and now, having merged with the retreating units, he walked 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 SB 409th Regiment, under the command of Captain Kim, took up defense approximately four kilometers west of Krichev, near the village of Sokolnichi. The battalion consists of six hundred people, four 45-mm anti-tank guns and twelve machine guns. In the evening of the same day, a tractor appeared on the highway, dragging a 122-mm howitzer. The tractor's radiator was broken and it was dragging slowly and with difficulty. The artillerymen asked to receive them.

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 arrived...

In the morning the battalion had to take on its first battle in this war.

July 17 at 3 o'clock. 15 minutes. Colonel Eberbach's Kampfgruppe 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 lead 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 Petrov F.E., gunner of a 45-mm gun of the battery of the 2nd battalion of the 409th rifle regiment:

“They showed up before dawn and we immediately opened fire on them.”

The lead reconnaissance and patrol group from the 79th Pioneer Battalion, consisting of Pz.I light tanks and SdKfz 251/12 armored personnel carriers, having discovered the entrenched defense of the battalion, also returned fire. The task of the group was very important - reconnaissance in force. It was necessary to pinpoint enemy strongholds and firing points as accurately as possible, and determine their coordinates and landmarks.

Petrov F. E.:“I saw a tank approaching the bridge. He fired tracer shells and saw them flying at us. The second gun also fired. I don’t remember how many shells I fired, I felt blood running down my face - I was hit by the metal part of the sight above my eye during the rollback. I reported to the gun commander Krupin that I couldn’t fire, and he himself stood behind the gun. I sat down in a ditch, there was an explosion and I was covered with earth. They dug me out when the shooting stopped and bandaged me. We changed our position, tanks were waiting again, but they weren’t there...”

The reconnaissance and patrol group, having completed its task, retreated back 2 km. The coordinates of the targets were transmitted to the main group. Colonel Eberbach pulls out his main trump card - artillery. Having deployed it, the Kampfgruppe launched a powerful fire strike from heavy cannons at the defense positions of the Soviet battalion.

The commander of the 2nd battalion realized that the forces were too unequal. The enemy's artillery is somewhere behind the forest, out of reach of our forty-fives. Let us also recall that it was based on large-caliber guns. There was only one thing left to do - save the battalion from destruction.

Petrov F. E: “At about 8-9 am the battalion commander ordered a retreat. Our retreat was observed by a German plane. The guns were the last to leave, covering the infantry.”

9 o'clock 30 min. Eberbach, making sure that the defenders had abandoned their positions, ordered his artillery to be withdrawn and again moved along the highway towards the city. Just before Krichev, the Kampfgruppe made a short last stop. Fighting was imminent in a large populated area, so a regrouping of forces was necessary. Now ahead were the tanks of the 2nd Battalion of the 35th Tank Regiment, 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 state rifle regiment with the task of clearing the streets of pockets of resistance. At 12:30 p.m., without encountering serious resistance, the Germans entered the city of Krichev.

Petrov F.E.: “Our crew took a position on the central street, on the right side of the roadway, the second gun was installed on another street, as they were waiting for tanks on the road from the Chausy station. After some time, two more horse-drawn guns appeared from another unit, and the battalion commander’s adjutant ordered these units to take up defensive positions. They stood in front of my gun. Several minutes passed, the shelling began, a semi-truck rushed by, and an unfamiliar commander standing on the running board shouted that German tanks were following him. I saw how the shells hit the guns in front, and how the soldiers fell there. Our platoon commander, seeing this, ordered a retreat. He fired the last shell, and they ran down the street, bullets whistling. There were three of us, we ran into the yard, from there through the garden into the ravine. I no longer saw the gun commander and platoon commander; I also don’t know what happened to the second gun.”

The advanced tank groups reached the station and bridges over 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 NKVD Division. One was blown up by Captain Kim's battalion during the retreat.

From memories Larionov S.S., commander of the machine gun company of the 2nd battalion of the 409th Infantry Regiment, retired captain:

“When we left, 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 Kampfgruppe advanced north another approximately 20 kilometers and, near the village of Molyavichi, united with units of the 3rd Panzer Division. The Chaussky cauldron slammed shut. Heavy fighting began both inside the cauldron and along the entire line along the Sozh River. But that is another story.

The 2nd Battalion of the 409th Infantry Regiment, in its first battle against the most powerful enemy group, completed its task. The battalion delayed the advancing strike group for several hours, which saved many lives. The further fate of the fighters of the 2nd SB 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 by Krichev, someone like S.S. Larionov, went through the entire war. Some, 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 a German tank column, inflicting terrible losses on it in manpower and equipment. German documents do not even contain hints about this case. The lists of casualties in the 2nd Panzer Group for July 17 confirm only one killed officer in the units that were part of Colonel Eberbach's Kampfgruppe. No lost tanks were recorded either. Yes, this is understandable if you carefully study the very nature of the battle. Tanks simply did not participate in that battle on the Warsaw Highway. Everything was decided by artillery and the coordinated interaction of all units of the Kampfgruppe. In 1941, we still had nothing to oppose this monstrous German blitzkrieg machine. The war had just begun...

As for Nikolai Sirotinin, then, most likely, he is the hero of a folk legend. To date, no truthful documents on his existence, much less on his participation in that battle, have been found.

And one last thing. And yet in our history there was Nikolai. And not a mythical, but a real warrior who actually delayed for several hours the German strike group of the 4th Panzer Division near the village of Sokolnichi on July 17, 1941. True, he did this not alone, but with his battalion. And he was far from Russian by nationality.

It's time to open the curtain of time that hid this man from us. Meet me.

Nikolai Andreevich Kim(Chong Phung).

By nationality - Korean.

It was he who commanded the 2nd Infantry 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.

Can what this commander and his battalion accomplished be called a feat? It is difficult to answer this question unambiguously. Of course, the beautiful legend about a 19-year-old youth who alone held out for a couple of hours against a German steel avalanche looks much more impressive. I just wanted to remind the enthusiastic fans of fairy-tale heroes that the real war had nothing in common with fairy tales in which foolish Germans spend 2 hours looking for a cannon firing at direct fire in an open field. The steel fist of Heinrich Eberbach would destroy a lone gun without any cover in a few minutes, after its first shot, without even resorting to the help of tanks or artillery. For this, the Kampfgruppe had everything necessary: ​​thugs from the assault groups of the pioneer battalion, capable of taking any armored pillbox with their bare hands, desperate kradschützets from the motorcycle battalion, single-handedly capturing fortified bridges and holding them until the main forces arrived. German professionalism and experience could only be countered by one’s own experience and knowledge.

The men of the 2nd Battalion, 409th Regiment were lucky. They entered into their first battle with a mature combat commander, who had behind him events on the Chinese Eastern Railway, the war with the White Finns, the Academy. Frunze. Perhaps it was these qualities of the commander that made it possible to complete the combat mission assigned to the battalion.

Nikolai Andreevich Kim fought on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War from the first to the last day. And his autobiography will help you learn more about him.

« The son of a peasant, he was born in 1904 in the village of Sinelnikovo, Molotovsky district of the Far East, and from the age of eight he studied at the local rural school (from 1912 to 1916). He graduated from it at the age of twelve. He continued his studies at secondary school until 1923. From 1923 to 1925 he was engaged in farming with his father in his native village.

In the fall of 1925 he entered the Moscow Infantry School and graduated in 1928. After graduating from school, he was appointed platoon commander of the 107th regiment in Dauria.

In 1931, he received the highest position and was sent as a company commander of the 76th Infantry Regiment of the Stalin Division. In 1934, he was appointed commander of a training machine gun company in the same division. In 1935, he was appointed deputy chief of staff of the 2nd Nerchinsk Infantry Regiment of the 1st Pacific Division. In 1936, he was appointed head of the regimental school of the 629th Infantry Regiment in the city. Arzamas at the 17th Infantry Division.

From 1937 to 1940 he studied at the Moscow Academy. Frunze. After graduating from the Academy, in the fall, he was appointed battalion commander in the 409th Infantry Regiment of the 137th Division in the city of Saransk.

At the beginning of the war, he was appointed chief of staff of the 409th regiment in the same division. In September 1941 he was wounded and treated in the Stalingrad hospital. After recovery 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 took part in the battles in the Izyum-Voronezh, Kramatorsk, and Kharkov directions. In June 1942, he was appointed commander of the 1173rd 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 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. I ended up in the hospital again. From 1944 to 1945 - commander of the 703rd Infantry Regiment and participated in the battles near Budapest. After the capture of Budapest, he was sent to Berlin.

In 1945, after the surrender of Germany, our regiment was disbanded, 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 Infantry Regiment of the 43rd Division in combat training took first place in the Odessa district. For an unknown reason, by order No. 100, I retired.

During the Great Patriotic War he was awarded four Orders of the Red Banner of Battle and the Order of the Red Star.

Currently I am serving as Deputy Director for Political Affairs at the Fish Processing Plant named after. Mikoyan "Glavkamchatskprom". I live in the Kamchatka region, Ust-Bolsheretsky district, Fish Processing Plant named after. 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.

These are the kinds of meetings that happen on the Internet!

My personal opinion is this: let the legends live, they are not based on nothing, they are a collective image of heroes, of whom there were in fact 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 know nothing. Let's not forget 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 was made - Lesson in a German school:
- Hans! Decline the Russian word for "run".
Hans:
“I’m running, he’s running, she’s running, you’re running...

Nikolai Vladimirovich Sirotinin died at the age of 20 on July 17, 1941. (Krichev, Belarusian SSR) - senior artillery sergeant. He was buried by the Germans on the banks of the Sozh River in the city of Krichev, Polotsk region (a monument at the mass grave where Nikolai Sirotinin was buried).

“He stood alone at the cannon, shot at a column of tanks and infantry for a long time, and died. Everyone was surprised at his courage... Oberst (Colonel) said before the grave that if all the Fuhrer’s soldiers fought like this Russian, they would have conquered the whole world. Three "They fired in volleys from rifles several times. After all, he is Russian, is such admiration necessary?"

— From the diary of Chief Lieutenant of the 4th Panzer Division Friedrich Hoenfeld.

“In the afternoon, the Germans gathered at the place where Sirotinin’s cannon stood. They also forced us, the local residents, to come there. As someone who knows German, the chief German, about fifty years old with decorations, tall, bald, gray-haired, ordered me to translate his speech to the locals 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 - the Fatherland..." ( From the testimony of Olga Verzhbitskaya, a resident of the village of Sokolnichi).

Retreating under the pressure of the 4th Panzer Division, commanded by von Langerman, units of the 13th Army of the Red Army retreated. On July 17, the battery commander decided to leave one 76-mm gun with a crew of two people and an ammunition load of 60 shells at the bridge over the Dobrost (Dobrast) river at the 476th kilometer of the Moscow-Warsaw highway. The task is to cover the retreat and the German tank column. One of the crew numbers was the battalion commander himself; Nikolai Sirotinin volunteered second.

The lead tank that reached the bridge was hit first, then the armored personnel carrier that trailed the column. The battery commander was wounded and, since the combat mission was completed, retreated towards the Soviet positions. Sirotinin refused to leave - there were many shells left.

Two tanks trying to pull the damaged one from the bridge were destroyed. The wading armored personnel carrier got stuck and was also shot by Sirotinin. The battle lasted two and a half hours. The Nazis lost 11 tanks, 7 armored vehicles, 57 soldiers and officers. When asked to surrender, Sirotinin refused and fired from his carbine to the last. At the position after being captured by the Germans, 3 shells out of 60 were discovered.

Employees of the archive of the USSR Ministry of Defense T. Stepanchuk and N. Tereshchenko:

The drawing was made by a colleague from memory many years later.

“Local historian Melnikov said: he managed to find out that the unknown hero’s name was Nikolai and before the battle he lived in the house of Anastasia Evmenovna Grabskaya. With the help of village residents, he found the address of Grabskaya’s daughter Maria, who is now working in the city of Vladimir. From her they learned that the artilleryman’s surname seems to be , Sirotnikov, he was originally from Orel, he was of average height, handsome, polite, calm, and his eyes were mischievous, with gold in them. And Sirotnikov still had a father and mother in Orel...

Melnikov asked if the Oryol regional military registration and enlistment office knew about the fate of Nikolai Sirotnikov and his parents. The answer came in the negative. Then the local historian turned for help to the reception of the Minister of Defense, from where the letter was forwarded to us, to the archive.

It was established that in the summer of 1941, the 6th Infantry Division fought near Krichev, which fought into the interior of the country... The most important thing for us - the lists of soldiers and officers who defended near Krichev - has not been preserved.

Then we decided to go to the place. We talk with residents all day. And this is what we learn from their stories.

On July 10, 1941, our artillery battery arrived in the village of Sokolnichi, located three kilometers west of Krichev. One of the battery guns was commanded by the young artilleryman Nikolai. He chose a firing position on the outskirts of the village. In one evening, the entire crew dug an artillery trench, and then two more spare ones, niches for shells and shelters for people.

The battery commander (his last name could not be established) and artilleryman Nikolai settled in the house of Anastasia Evmenovna Grabskaya. We helped the owners dig a dugout.

On the morning of the fifteenth, faint rumbles of gunfire were heard from Mogilev. Every hour they became louder, and the previously deserted Warsaw Highway was filled with a stream of refugees and retreating units.

By the evening of July 16, the highway was empty. When almost all of our troops had already passed, Nikolai was assigned to cover the retreat.

At dawn, the roar of enemy engines came from the forest. The shelling of the village began. Then an enemy column crawled onto the highway like a giant spotted boa constrictor. In front is an armored personnel carrier, behind it are trucks filled with soldiers.

A camouflaged cannon hit the column.

An armored personnel carrier caught fire and several damaged trucks fell into ditches. Several more armored personnel carriers and a tank crawled out of the forest. Nikolai knocked out a tank. Trying to get around the tank, two armored personnel carriers turned sideways and got stuck firmly in the swamp.... Another shell exploded near the gun itself, and Nikolai fell.

There was no one left to defend the 476th kilometer of the Warsaw Highway...

When the Nazis burst into the village, they did not immediately believe that they were held back by only one Soviet soldier. They walked around the gun for a long time, counting empty charging boxes and looking at the highway littered with equipment and corpses. Shocked by the artilleryman's fearlessness...they themselves buried the Russian soldier.

And you know,” they finally told us, “grandmother Verzhbitskaya may know the last name: she was at the funeral and spoke in their language with the main commander of the Germans. This is her hut.

We found Olga Borisovna Verzhbitskaya at home. Yes, she knows German and translated the colonel’s words. So long and bald. Before lowering the artilleryman into the grave, the Nazis rummaged through his pockets. They found a medallion and a piece of paper in it: a narrow strip from a school notebook with the parents’ address.

Translate what is written there,” the colonel ordered.

I translated it, and the Nazis took the medallion. I remember the last name - Sirotinin. Name - Nikolai. Lived in Orel on Dobrolyubova Street. I didn’t remember Sirotinina’s house number and patronymic.

Maybe the artilleryman's surname is Sirotnikov?

No,” Olga Borisovna shook her head. - I remember exactly: Sirotinin.

In Orel, we begin our search with a visit to the regional military registration and enlistment office. And immediately a pleasant surprise: here we meet the Hero of the Soviet Union, Colonel Mandrykin, who himself fought near Krichev in July of forty-one. We ask him to tell us about the battles.

Our battalion was retreating along the Warsaw highway beyond the Sozh River,” Mandrykin began. - We were the last to retreat. Only the young artilleryman remained behind, who promised to cover our retreat. I don't remember the last name. Was it before this? - Mandrykin shrugs.

Together we go to the city military registration and enlistment office. We turn over one, another, third case. And suddenly!.. “Sirotinin Nikolai Vladimirovich. Born in 1921. A native of Orel. Called up on October 5, 1940 from the Tekmash plant. Sent to the disposal of the 55th Infantry Regiment, Mt. Polotsk Home address: Orel, Dobrolyubova street, No. 32.”

...Dobrolyubova Street, No. 32. Small house. We knock, we come in. A thin old man of about seventy with the Order of Lenin on his railway jacket rises towards him. With a calloused palm he smoothes his clipper-cropped head, looking into our eyes without blinking. A gray-haired woman comes out of a side room.

Vladimir Kuzmich Sirotinin.

Elena Korneevna.

We have a large family, five children,” says Vladimir Kuzmich. - I served as a driver on a steam locomotive, and now I have retired. My wife is a housewife... Nikolai was our second oldest. There are just no photographs of him. He was not keen on filming. When I was little, I loved to meet my locomotive at the semaphore.

He was affectionate and hard-working. He helped babysit the younger ones,” the mother adds.

After school, he worked at a factory as a turner. He joined the army and trained there to be an artilleryman...

The body of Nikolai Sirotinin was transferred to Krichev, to the steep bank of the Sozh. A monument was erected over the grave.

("Ogonyok". 1958)

If you believe the essay in the Oryol collection “Good Name”: ““Two people with a cannon will remain here,” said the battery commander. Nikolai volunteered. The second was the commander himself. On the morning of July 17, a column of German tanks appeared on the highway.

Kolya took up a position on a hill right on the collective farm field. The cannon sank in the tall rye, but he could clearly see the highway and the bridge over the Dobrost River, says Natalya Morozova, director of the Krichevsky Museum of Local Lore. When the lead tank reached the bridge, Kolya knocked it out with his first shot. The second shell set fire to an armored personnel carrier that brought up the rear of the column. We need to stop here. Because it is still not entirely clear why Kolya was left alone in the field. But there are versions. He, apparently, had precisely the task of creating a “traffic jam” on the bridge by knocking out the lead vehicle of the Nazis. The lieutenant was at the bridge and adjusted the fire, and then, apparently, called fire from our other artillery from German tanks into the jam. Because of the river. It is reliably known that the lieutenant was wounded and then he went towards our positions. There is an assumption that Kolya should have retreated to his own people 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 vehicle tried to cross the Dobrost River without using a bridge. But she got stuck in the swampy bank, where another shell found her. Kolya shot and shot, knocking out tank after tank... Guderian’s tanks ran into Kolya Sirotinin as if they were facing the Brest Fortress. 11 tanks and 6 armored personnel carriers were already on fire! It is certain that more than half of them were burned by Sirotinin alone (some were also taken by artillery from across the river). For almost two hours of this strange battle, the Germans could not understand where the Russian battery was dug in. And when we reached Kolya’s position, he only had three shells left. They offered to surrender. Kolya responded by firing at them from a carbine. This last battle was short-lived..."

Posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.