The famous border guard Karatsupa. Great tracker Karatsupa. Nikita's difficult childhood and early orphanhood

On April 25, 1910, a man was born who became a legend of the Russian border troops. This is the “grandfather of all border guards” Nikita Fedorovich Karatsupa. During his life, he detained 338 state border violators, which is a record in the history of the border guard. On the 106th anniversary of the birth of Nikita Karatsupa, “Defend Russia” publishes a selection of facts from the biography of the legendary border guard.

First steps in training

Nikita Karatsupa became an orphan early on. The boy's father died shortly after his birth, and his mother died when little Nikita was only six years old. After the death of his parents, his older brother and sister also did not take part in his upbringing - his sister went to work and got married, and his brother joined Makhno’s gang and died during the civil war in Ukraine.

He became a pupil of one of the orphanages in Kokchetav. But Nikita did not stay in the shelter for long - in 1917 he ran away and became a street child. Karatsupa begged, worked odd jobs, and wandered. Two years later, he was hired to work as a shepherd by one of the local bais.

At the same time, Karatsupa got his first dog, Druzhka. The boy managed to teach Druzhka to herd sheep on his own and protect the flock from wolves.

Faithful Hindu

Karatsupa decided to serve in the border troops after a border guard came to the village where he lived on leave. He talked a lot about how they guard the border in Karelia, and even gave Karatsupa a book on cynology, “Police Dog.”

At the age of 22, Nikita Karatsupa joined the NKVD border troops. At first they did not want to accept him because of his small stature, to which Karatsupa objected: “the intruder will not notice.” He was sent to serve in the Far East. After a short training, Nikita found himself at one of the outposts on the border with Manchuria.

The commander of the border post, Captain Nikandrov, drew attention to the fact that border guard Karatsupa easily finds a common language with horses and dogs. He recommended sending Nikita to Khabarovsk to study at the Far Eastern District School of Service Dog Breeding of the NKVD.

Karatsupa arrived at school late and did not get a dog. However, Nikita was not at a loss and got himself a service dog on his own. One day, under a bridge, he found two puppies and took them into his care. When the dogs grew up, Karatsupa chose the most lively puppy and gave him the nickname Hindu. He gave the second puppy to his classmate.

According to the documents, the Hindu was described as a “guard dog of a local domestic breed,” although in reality he was an ordinary mongrel.

However, there was a large admixture of East European Shepherd in him, which made the Indian very hardy and smart.

Pathfinder Experience

During his studies at the dog breeding school, Karatsupa learned to recognize a large number of tracks of people and animals, as well as human tracks disguised as hoof prints of forest animals.

Soon he could already determine from the tracks the number of intruders, their approximate appearance, speed of movement and even what kind of cargo they were carrying with them.

In addition, Karatsupa carefully studied the smells in case he found himself at the border without a dog and had to rely only on his own sense of smell.

In total, he remembered about 240 aromas.

First of all, these were the smells of possible contraband that criminals carried across the border at that time - leather, colognes, plastic, alcohol, rubber, etc. Karatsupa also remembered the smells of flowers, trees and animals that he encountered at the border.

Faster than the wind

Karatsupa paid a lot of attention to shooting training and hand-to-hand combat.

But the most important physical discipline for him was long-distance running. Such athletic training allowed him to subsequently move at the same pace as the dog.

Subsequently, in order to keep up with the dog, Nikita took off his boots, overcoat and cap and in this form pursued the intruder.

Karatsupa made most of his arrests with the help of sniffer dogs. But sometimes even without it - observation helped. Once Nikita Karatsupa detained saboteurs trying to blow up a bridge. The criminals disguised themselves as fishermen, but Karatsupa did not like the way the “fishermen” put the worms on the hook.

The equipment of the legendary border guard included a saber and a dragoon. Later he wore outfits with submachine guns and . However, Karatsupa's favorite weapon was the Mauser pistol.

Nikita Karatsupa and Hindu at the border post

Absolute record

During his service, Karatsupa had five dogs and all of them had the same name - Hindu. All of them died in battles with saboteurs from battle wounds or were poisoned. He tried to save the last Hindu and even brought him to Moscow, relying on the capital’s veterinary luminaries. But they couldn’t help - the dog died. In memory of his four-legged friend, Nikita Fedorovich asked taxidermists to make a stuffed animal from the dead dog. Today it can be seen in the exhibition of the Central Border Museum of the FSB of Russia.

By the way, in Soviet literature and the press the border dogs of Karatsupa were called not Hindus, but Ingus. This was done for ideological reasons, so as not to offend the people of India, which was friendly to the USSR.

During his twenty years of service, Karatsupa detained 338 border violators and participated in more than 120 military clashes. Personally destroyed about 130 spies and saboteurs who did not want to surrender. In battles with the enemy he was wounded three times. Since 1937, he served at the headquarters of the Grodekovsky border detachment in various command positions. In May 1944, he was transferred to the Belarusian Border District, where Nikita Karatsupa participated in the restoration of the state border, as well as in the search and destruction of gangs and Nazi collaborators.

“Defend Russia” thanks you for your help in preparing the materials.

How an orphan from Ukraine became a legend of the border troops

Even Indian hunters would envy the skills of the Soviet border guard. The history of border protection knows many names that have become legendary. The border service is such that there is no peacetime in it - at any moment you have to be prepared for criminal attacks from smugglers, saboteurs, and armed gangs. Even the calmest sections of the border are only relatively calm - the slightest relaxation allowed by the border guards can lead to serious consequences. But even in the large list of border guard heroes there is a name that stands out especially.

Shepherd of the Kazakh bai. This man not only received the unofficial title of “grandfather of all border guards” during his lifetime, but also stood on a par with the epic heroes who once also guarded the borders of Rus'.

When a boy named Nikita was born into the simple peasant family of Fyodor Karatsupa, who lived in the Ukrainian village of Alekseevka, on April 12, 1910, nothing said that an extraordinary future awaited the baby.

Moreover, life did not spoil little Nikita. Shortly after his birth, his father died. Mother, Marfa Kuzminichna, moved to Kazakhstan in 1913 with three children in search of a better life.

Nikita was six when her mother died. The older brother and sister did not concern themselves with Nikita’s fate. Thekla went to work and got married, leaving her younger brother to his own devices. Grigory went to Ukraine, where during the Civil War he joined the Makhnovists and was killed in one of the battles.

Nikita Karatsupa - border guard from legend

Young Nikita was sent to an orphanage, where he, however, did not stay - he ran away and began to wander. During the Civil War there were hundreds of thousands like him. Nikita could have died at any moment, but fate seemed to be protecting him.

At the age of 9, the boy was hired to work for one of the Kazakhstani bais and began to herd a flock of sheep. A shepherd cannot do without such an assistant as a dog, and Nikita also got one. The dog's name was Druzhok.

Here Nikita Karatsupa's innate talent first awakened. The boy managed to train an untrained dog so that it could independently herd a flock of sheep, protecting them from wolves.

Border guards at work

Inconspicuous border guard. During the Civil War, the shepherd Nikita was a messenger in the partisan detachment of the “Reds” and in this role managed to annoy Kolchak’s men a lot, who were never able to catch the clever boy.

After the Civil War, Nikita Karatsupa tried several professions, but did not find himself in them. Everything changed when one day a border guard guarding the border in Karelia arrived in the village where Nikita lived. From his story, the young guy learned about the border service and how dogs are used in it.

Nikita decided to become a border guard. However, when he was drafted into the army in 1932, the military registration and enlistment office did not appreciate the former shepherd’s impulse. “He’s short for a border guard,” they told him. The short Karatsupa immediately retorted: “Nothing, even the intruder will not notice the short border guard.”

Training of service dog instructors at the site of the 59th Khasan border detachment, 1939, Karatsupa - left

Taken aback, the military registration and enlistment office workers sent the conscript to the border troops. After completing the initial training course, he was sent to the border with Manchuria. The Far East was turbulent at that time - in 1930-1931 alone, border guards detained 15,000 violators.

Private Karatsupa attracted the attention of the head of the outpost. The guy was an excellent tracker, well versed in the tracks of people and animals, and could determine who walked, when and in what direction. In addition, Nikita got along well with horses and dogs.

On the recommendation of the head of the outpost, Private Karatsupa was sent for further training to the Far Eastern District School of Junior Command Staff of Service Dog Breeding of the NKVD Border and Internal Guard.

Nikita Karatsupa guarding the state border, 1955

Hindu from under the bridge. The training began with embarrassment - Karatsupe did not get a dog at school, since he arrived later than the training course began. This, however, did not bother the young border guard. One day he found two small stray puppies under a bridge. From mongrel mongrels, which he named Indus and Irgus, Karatsupa raised service and detection dogs. Nikita handed Irgus over to another cadet, and the border guard kept the more lively Hindu for himself.

The Hindu would not have passed any modern exhibition - he was a simple mongrel without a pedigree, but among his ancestors there were clearly East European shepherd dogs. Karatsupa was not mistaken - the dog turned out to be extremely talented and intelligent, with an extremely high efficiency.

Their first violators, Indus and Karatsupa, were detained while still practicing at a dog breeding school. There, a young border guard was involved in the search for a brutal serial killer. Karatsupa and his dog followed the trail for several tens of kilometers and still overtook the criminal, who did not want to give up and was destroyed.

Nikita Karatsupa and his faithful Hindu

When the service dog handler Karatsupa arrived at the Poltavka outpost of the Grodekovsky border detachment after graduating from school, they looked at him skeptically. The attitude towards newcomers is always wary, and the exploits of the border guard at school were considered exaggerated.

However, skepticism dissipated very quickly, because Karatsupa and Hindu showed themselves in all their glory. During the first three years of service, they accounted for 131 detained violators.

Universal Soldier. Karatsupa himself not only had an amazing ability to work, but also constantly developed his skills. For example, he distinguished about 240 different odors. He constantly systematized and generalized his observations related to official tracking. Subsequently, the next generations of border guards will be trained at the scientific base created by Karatsupa.

One of Nikita Karatsupa's Hindus

Nikita Karatsupa is known primarily as an instructor of service dog breeding, but he often had to detain violators without the help of a dog. This was helped by constant training in shooting and hand-to-hand combat.

In addition, Karatsupa constantly trained long-distance running in order to move in the same rhythm with the dog following the scent. It happened that the border guard would take off his cap, overcoat, boots and, lightly, with one Mauser, continue to follow the dog.

Service dog breeding instructor Karatsupa seemed to know and be able to do everything. One day he identified the saboteurs who were preparing to blow up a bridge using just one detail. The criminals, masquerading as fishermen, incorrectly placed the worm on the hook, which did not escape the attention of the avid fisherman Karatsupa. As a result, the saboteurs were detained.

Effigy of the last Hindu Nikita Karatsupa in the Museum of Border Troops in Moscow

Colleagues simply could not keep up with Karatsupa and his dogs, so very often the border guard detained violators only with the dog. He was not afraid of either the armament of his opponents or their numbers. Once Nikita Karatsupa independently detained a gang of drug couriers, which included nine people.

From Manchuria to Vietnam. There were legends about the glory of Karatsupa in the Far East. Once, while chasing an intruder, a border guard stopped the car to catch up with a saboteur who had fled on a hitchhiker. The stopped truck needed to be unloaded from food so that he could catch up with the car in which the criminal left.

The border guard put a note on the bags left on the ground: “Whoever dares to take even a gram will be found and severely punished. Border guard Karatsupa and the dog Hindu.” As a result, the criminal was detained, but no one touched the cargo - such was Nikita Fedorovich’s authority among the local population.

Hero of the Soviet Union border guard Nikita Karatsupa. Photo source: P. Bernstein, RIA Novosti

It is impossible to cover the entire biography of a border guard-tracker in one article. He spent most of his service in the Far East, but in 1944 he was transferred to Belarus, where he restored the border and fought Nazi collaborators. There was also a completely unique page in Karatsupa’s life - in 1957 he went on a business trip to Vietnam, where he helped create local border troops virtually from scratch.

Nikita Fedorovich Karatsupa entered the reserve in 1961 with the relatively modest rank of colonel. Moreover, his general track record is as follows: 338 detained violators, participation in 120 clashes with saboteurs and criminals, in which Nikita Karatsupa personally destroyed 127 opponents who offered armed resistance.

The saboteurs were on a real hunt for Karatsupa himself, trying to destroy the legendary border guard. Nikita Fedorovich was wounded three times, and more than once his faithful dogs saved him from death. During his service, Karatsupa had five of them, all of them, in honor of the very first dog, were called Hindus, and all of them died in battles with saboteurs.

In the homeland of Nikita Fedorovich in Ukraine, a memorial sign was erected in honor of the 100th anniversary of the famous border guard

The last wounded Hindu Karatsupa, then already known throughout the country, was taken to Moscow to the best veterinarians. However, they were unable to save the dog. The Fifth Hindu is now in the Museum of Border Troops - taxidermists made a stuffed animal from the dead dog at the personal request of Nikita Fedorovich.

Dog nickname. Until the last years of his life, Nikita Fedorovich Karatsupa worked at the Museum of Border Troops, helped in training young people, and created a large theoretical base and methodology for training service dogs.

Karatsupa was a unique specialist who literally knew all the secrets of a dog’s soul. For example, he knew how to give commands to dogs... over the phone. And the formidable watchdogs, hearing the voice from the telephone receiver, obeyed unquestioningly.

An interesting point - for a long time in books and articles about Karatsup his dogs appeared under “pseudonyms” - not “Indus”, but “Ingus”. Someone very cautious was afraid of international complications - they say that the dog name “Hindu” could offend our friendly Indians.

The grave of the legendary border guard at the Troekurovsky cemetery in Moscow

Apparently, the Indians were not offended - one of the border outposts in India bears the name of Nikita Karatsupa, whose fame has reached those distant places. There is a similar outpost in Vietnam, where they appreciated the help the legendary Soviet border guard provided during the creation of the border service in the country. In 1995, after the death of Nikita Karatsupa, the outpost where he began his brilliant career - Poltavka - received his name.

...During his life, Nikita Fedorovich Karatsupa received many awards, but he was awarded the highest after retiring. On June 21, 1965, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal...

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On April 25, the famous border guard, Hero of the Soviet Union, Colonel Nikita Fedorovich Karatsupa would have turned 100 years old. During 20 years of service on the Far Eastern border, he and his shepherd dog Ingus detained 338 violators, destroyed 129 spies and saboteurs, and emerged with honor from 120 military clashes. He trained about a thousand trackers, and the experience he gained in service dog breeding is still in demand today.

After graduating from school, Karatsupa, together with his “pupil,” begins service on the border in Primorye, at the Poltavka outpost of the Grodekovsky detachment. It was in this area that he made most of the arrests. As Karatsupa himself recalls, he once had to run 40 km from the border to catch a criminal. It was possible to catch up with the offender only in Ussuriysk at a local cinema. According to the border guard, he recognized the criminal by his cap, kmslib.ru reports.

Hero of Komsomolskaya Pravda

In 1936, Karatsupa was awarded the Order of the Red Star. At the same time, Komsomolskaya Pravda journalists came to Primorye to collect interesting information about the order bearers. It was thanks to the essays of one of the correspondents, Evgeny Ryabchikov, that Karatsup received all-Union fame and recognition. He became a folk hero for everyone, from street boys and young guys seeking to join the ranks of border guards, to outstanding military figures.

After the Far East, Nikita Fedorovich served in the troops of the Western and Transcaucasian border districts. From 1957 to 1961 Karatsupa served in Moscow in the Main Directorate of Border Troops. It is interesting that when in the mid-1950s. Friendly relations were established with India; for ethical reasons, in new publications about Karatsupa, the Hindu was replaced by Ingus. The famous border guard had several service dogs under this name, all of them died in battles with saboteurs. When the first Ingus died, Nikita Fedorovich buried him, indicated his date of birth, but did not indicate the date of death. “Ingus did not die for me, he remained in my heart forever,” said the border guard.

In 1961, Karatsupa retired to the reserve, and in June 1965 he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Nikita Fedorovich wrote the book “Notes of a Pathfinder” about his service and rich experience; a documentary film “Pathfinder” was also shot about the life of the legendary border guard. Nikita Fedorovich Karatsupa died in November 1994.

The history of border protection knows many names that have become legendary. The border service is such that there is no peacetime in it - at any moment you have to be prepared for criminal encroachment from smugglers, saboteurs, and armed gangs.

Shepherd of the Kazakh bai

Even the calmest sections of the border are only relatively calm - the slightest relaxation allowed by the border guards can lead to dire consequences.

But even in the large list of border guard heroes there is a name that stands out especially. This man not only received the unofficial title of “grandfather of all border guards” during his lifetime, but also stood on a par with the epic heroes who once also guarded the borders of Rus'.

When in a simple peasant family Fedora Karatsupa, who lived in the Ukrainian village of Alekseevka, on April 12, 1910, a boy was born, named Nikita, nothing said that the baby had an extraordinary future.

Moreover, life did not spoil little Nikita. Shortly after his birth, his father died. Mother, Marfa Kuzminichna, in 1913, with three children, in search of a better life, she moved to Kazakhstan.

Nikita was six when her mother died. The older brother and sister did not concern themselves with Nikita’s fate. Thekla went to work and got married, leaving her younger brother to his own devices. Gregory went to Ukraine, where during the Civil War he joined the Makhnovists and was killed in one of the battles.

Here Nikita Karatsupa’s innate talent first awakened. The boy managed to train an untrained dog so that it could independently herd a flock of sheep, protecting them from wolves.

Hero of the Soviet Union border guard Nikita Karatsupa. 1974 Photo: RIA Novosti / Peter Bernstein

The Inconspicuous Border Guard

During the Civil War, the shepherd Nikita was a messenger in the partisan detachment of the “Reds” and in this role managed to annoy Kolchak’s men a lot, who were never able to catch the clever boy.

The short Karatsupa immediately retorted: “Nothing, even the intruder will not notice the short border guard.”

Private Karatsupa attracted the attention of the head of the outpost. The guy was an excellent tracker, he was well versed in the tracks of people and animals, he could determine who passed, when and in what direction. In addition, Nikita got along well with horses and dogs.

Hindu from under the bridge

The training began with embarrassment - Karatsupe did not get a dog at school, since he arrived later than the training course began. This, however, did not bother the young border guard. One day he found two small stray puppies under a bridge.

From mongrel mongrels, which he named Indus and Irgus, Karatsupa raised service and detection dogs.

Nikita handed Irgus over to another cadet, and the border guard kept the more lively Hindu for himself.

However, skepticism dissipated very quickly, because Karatsupa and Hindu showed themselves in all their glory. During the first three years of service, they accounted for 131 detained violators.

Universal Soldier

Karatsupa himself not only had an amazing ability to work, but also constantly developed his skills. For example, he distinguished about 240 different odors. He constantly systematized and generalized his observations related to official tracking. Subsequently, the next generations of border guards will be trained at the scientific base created by Karatsupa.

Colleagues simply could not keep up with Karatsupa and his dogs, so very often the border guard detained violators only with the dog.

He was not afraid of either the armament of his opponents or their numbers. Once Nikita Karatsupa independently detained a gang of drug couriers, which included nine people.

From Manchuria to Vietnam

There were legends about the glory of Karatsupa in the Far East. Once, while chasing an intruder, a border guard stopped the car to catch up with the saboteur, who fled on a hitchhiker. The stopped truck needed to be unloaded from food so that he could catch up with the car in which the criminal left.

The border guard put a note on the bags left on the ground: “Whoever dares to take even a gram will be found and severely punished. Border guard Karatsupa and the dog Hindu.” As a result, the criminal was detained, but no one touched the cargo with a finger - such was Nikita Fedorovich’s authority among the local population.

The last wounded Hindu Karatsupa, then already known throughout the country, was taken to Moscow to the best veterinarians in the country. However, they were unable to save the dog. The Fifth Hindu is now in the Museum of Border Troops - taxidermists made a stuffed animal from the dead dog at the personal request of Nikita Fedorovich.

Dog nickname

Until the last years of his life, Nikita Fedorovich Karatsupa worked at the Museum of Border Troops, helped in training young people, and created a large theoretical base and methodology for training service dogs.

In 1995, after the death of Nikita Karatsupa, the outpost where he began his brilliant career - Poltavka - received his name.

During his life, Nikita Fedorovich Karatsupa received many awards, but he was awarded the highest after retiring. On June 21, 1965, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal.