Was there Senior Sergeant Sirotinin? Nikolay sirotinin hero artilleryman one against all

The war with the German invaders claimed millions of lives Soviet people, massacring a colossal number of men, women, children and the elderly. horror fascist attack experienced by every inhabitant of our vast country. An unexpected offensive, the latest weapons, experienced soldiers - Germany had it all. Why did the brilliant plan "Barbarossa" failed?

The enemy did not take into account one very important detail: he was advancing on the Soviet Union, whose inhabitants were ready to die for every piece of their native land. Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Georgians and other nationalities Soviet state fought together for the Motherland and died for the free future of their descendants. One of these brave and valiant soldiers was Nikolai Sirotinin.

A young resident of the city of Orel worked at the local industrial complex "Tekmash", and on the day of the attack he was wounded during the bombardment. As a result of the first air raid, the young man was sent to the hospital. The wound was not severe, and the young body quickly recovered, and Sirotinin's desire to fight remained. Little is known about the hero, even the exact date of his birth is lost. At the beginning of the century, it was not customary to solemnly celebrate every birthday, and some citizens simply did not know it, but only remembered a year.

And Nikolai Vladimirovich was born in difficult times in 1921. It is also known from the testimonies of contemporaries and comrades that he was modest, polite, short and thin. There are very few documents about this great man, and the events at the 476th kilometer of the Warsaw highway became known, largely thanks to the diary of Friedrich Hoenfeld. It was the German Lieutenant 4th tank division wrote in his notebook the story of the heroic deed of a Russian soldier:

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

Immediately after the hospital, Sirotinin ended up in the 55th Rifle Regiment, which was based near the small Soviet town of Krichev. Here he was appointed as a gunner, which, judging by subsequent events, Sirotinin clearly succeeded. The regiment remained on the river with the entertaining name "Goodness" for about two weeks, but the decision to retreat, nevertheless, was made.

Nikolai Sirotinin was remembered by the locals as a very polite and sympathetic person. According to Verzhbitskaya, he always helped the elderly carry water or scoop it from the well. It is unlikely that anyone could see in this young senior sergeant a brave hero capable of stopping a tank division. However, he still became one.

To withdraw the troops, cover was needed, which is why Sirotinin remained in position. According to one of the many versions, the soldier was supported by his commander and also stayed, but he was wounded in battle and went to the main team. Sirotinin was supposed to create a traffic jam on the bridge and join his own, but this young man decided to stand to the end in order to give his brother-soldiers maximum time to retreat. The goal of the young fighter was simple, he wanted to carry as much as possible more lives enemy army and disable all equipment.

The location of the only 76-mm gun, from which the attackers were fired, was well thought out. The gunner was surrounded by a thick field of rye, and the gun was not visible. Tanks and armored vehicles, accompanied by armed infantry, quickly moved through the territory under the leadership of the talented Heinz Guderian. It was still the period when the Germans hoped for a lightning-fast seizure of the country and the defeat of the Soviet troops.

Their hopes were dashed thanks to such warriors as Nikolai Vladimirovich Sirotinin. Subsequently, the Nazis more than once faced desperate courage Soviet soldiers, and each such feat had a serious demoralizing effect in German troops. At the end of the war, there were legends about the courage of our soldiers even in the enemy camp.

Sirotinin's task was to prevent the advance of the tank division for the maximum period. The senior sergeant's plan was to block the first and last link of the column and inflict the greatest possible losses on the enemy. The calculation turned out to be correct. When the first tank caught fire, the Germans tried to retreat from the line of fire. However, Sirotinin hit the trailing car, and the column turned out to be an immobilized target.

The Nazis rushed to the ground in a panic, not understanding where the shooting was coming from. Enemy intelligence provided information that there was not a single battery in this area, so the division advanced without any special precautions. Fifty-seven shells were used up by the Soviet soldier not in vain. The tank division was stopped and defeated by one Soviet man. Armored vehicles tried to wade across the rivulet, but were firmly bogged down in coastal silt.

During the entire battle, the Germans did not even suspect that they were faced with only one defender of the USSR. The position of Sirotinin, located at the collective farm cowshed, was taken only after only 3 shells remained. However, even deprived of ammunition for the gun and the ability to continue firing, Nikolai Vladimirovich shot the enemy from a carbine. Only after his death did Sirotinin surrender his position.

The German command and soldiers were horrified when they realized that only one Russian soldier opposed them. Sirotinin's behavior caused genuine delight and respect among the Germans, including Guderian., despite the fact that the losses of the division were huge.

The enemy lost eleven tanks and seven armored personnel carriers. As a result of the shelling of the enemy, 57 soldiers were out of action.
One man was worth an entire panzer division, no wonder even the enemies gave three volleys at his grave as a sign of the highest recognition of bravery .

The feat of Nikolai Sirotinin was lost among the glorious examples of the courage of Soviet soldiers. Its history was studied and covered only in the early 60s. At the same time, his family also learned about the heroic battle. IN postwar period the grave of Sirotinin, which was made by the Germans in a village called Sokolnichi, had to be removed. Remains valiant warrior were reburied in mass grave. The cannon, from which Sirotinin shot down a tank division, has been scrapped for recycling. Today, nevertheless, a monument has been erected, and in Krichev there is a street with his last name.

The inhabitants of Belarus remember and respect the feat, although not everyone in Russia knows this glorious story. Time gradually covers with its patina the events of wartime. Despite the fact that the heroism of Sirotinin was recognized back in 1960 thanks to the efforts of the workers of the Archive of the Soviet Army, the title of Hero of the USSR was not awarded.

A painfully absurd circumstance got in the way: the soldier's family did not have his photograph. The photo card has become necessary for the submission of documents. As a result, a person who gave his life for his country is little known in his Fatherland and was awarded only the Order of the Patriotic War of the first degree.

However, Sirotinin did not fight for glory, and it is unlikely that when he died, he thought about orders. Most likely, this person devoted to the USSR hoped that his descendants would be free, and that a person with a fascist swastika would never set foot on Russian soil. Apparently, he was mistaken, although it is still not too late to resist the vile attempts to rewrite history.
In this article, we again mention his glorious name so that the memory of the heroes of the war is not erased. Eternal memory and glory to Nikolai Vladimirovich Sirotinin, a true patriot and brave son of his country!

Sergeant Sirotinin completed the main task: the column of tanks was delayed, the 6th Infantry Division was able to cross the Sozh River without loss.
Oberleutnant Friedrich Hönfeld's diary entries have been preserved:
“He alone stood at the cannon, shot a column of tanks and infantry for a long time, and died. Everyone was surprised at his courage ... Oberst (colonel) before the grave said that if all the Fuhrer's soldiers fought like this Russian, they would conquer the whole world. Three times they fired volleys from rifles. After all, he is Russian, is such admiration necessary?
Olga Verzhbitskaya, a resident of the village of Sokolnichi, recalls: “In the afternoon, the Germans gathered at the place where the Sirotinin cannon stood. We, the locals, were also forced to come there. As someone who knows German, the chief German of about fifty with orders, tall, bald, gray-haired, ordered me to translate his speech to local people. He said that the Russian fought very well, that if the Germans had fought like that, they would have taken Moscow long ago, that this is how a soldier should defend his homeland - fatherland ... ".
The inhabitants of the village of Sokolniki and the Germans arranged a solemn funeral for Nikolai Sirotinin. The German soldiers gave the dead sergeant a military salute with three shots.
The memory of Nikolai Sirotinin
First, Sergeant Sirotinin was buried at the battlefield. Later he was reburied in a mass grave in the city of Krichev.
In Belarus, they remember the feat of the Oryol artilleryman. In Krichev, a street was named after him, and a monument was erected. After the war, the employees of the Archive of the Soviet Army did a great job to restore the chronicle of events. The feat of Sirotinin was recognized in 1960, but the title of Hero Soviet Union was not appropriated due to a bureaucratic inconsistency - the Sirotinin family did not have photographs of their son. In 1961, an obelisk with the name of Sirotinin was erected on the site of the feat, and a real weapon was placed. On the 20th anniversary of the Victory, Sergeant Sirotinin was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st class.
In his hometown of Orel, they also did not forget about the feat of Sirotinin. A memorial plaque dedicated to Nikolai Sirotinin was installed at the Tekmash plant. In 2015, school number 7 in the city of Orel was named after Sergeant Sirotinin.

During the Great Patriotic War, covering the retreat of his regiment, Nikolai Vladimirovich Sirotinin single-handedly destroyed 11 tanks, 7 armored vehicles, 57 enemy soldiers and officers in one battle. ) - senior sergeant of artillery. During the Great Patriotic War, covering the retreat of his regiment, in one battle he single-handedly destroyed 11 tanks, 7 armored vehicles, 57 enemy soldiers and officers.It fell to Kolya Sirotinin at the age of 19 to challenge the saying "One man is not a warrior." But he did not become a legend of the Great Patriotic War, like Alexander Matrosov or Nikolai Gastello. In the summer of 1941, the 4th Panzer Division, one of the divisions of the 2nd Panzer Group of Heinz Guderian, one of the most talented German tank generals, broke through to the Belarusian town of Krichev. Part 13 Soviet army retreated. Only the gunner Kolya Sirotinin did not retreat - just a boy, short, quiet, frail. On that day, it was necessary to cover the withdrawal of troops. “Two people with a cannon will remain here,” said the battery commander. Nicholas volunteered. The second was the commander himself. On the morning of July 17, a convoy appeared on the highway German tanks.

Kolya took up a position on a hill right on the collective farm field. The cannon sank in the high rye, but he could clearly see the highway and the bridge over the Dobrost river. When the lead tank reached the bridge, Kolya knocked it out with the first shot. The second shell set fire to an armored personnel carrier that closed the column. Here we must stop. Because it is still not entirely clear why Kolya was left alone in the field. But there are versions. He, apparently, just had a task - to create a "cork" on the bridge, knocking out the head car of the Nazis. The lieutenant at the bridge corrected the fire, and then, apparently, caused the fire of our other artillery to jam from German tanks. Because of the river. It is authentically known that the lieutenant was wounded and then he left in the direction of our positions. There is an assumption that Kolya was supposed to go to his own after completing the task. But ... he had 60 shells. And he stayed!

Two tanks tried to pull the lead tank off the bridge, but were also hit. The armored car tried to cross the river Dobrost not on the bridge. But she got bogged down in a swampy shore, where another shell found her. Kolya fired and fired, knocking out tank after tank... Guderian's tanks came up against Kolya Sirotinin, as if Brest fortress. Already burned 11 tanks and 6 armored personnel carriers! For a long time the Germans failed to determine the location of the well-camouflaged gun; they believed that a whole battery was fighting them. For almost two hours of this strange battle, the Germans could not understand where the Russian battery had dug in. And when they reached Kolin's position, he had only three shells left. They offered to surrender. Kolya responded by firing at them from a carbine. This, the last, battle was short-lived ...

July 17, 1941. Sokolnichi, near Krichev. In the evening they buried an unknown Russian soldier. He alone stood at the cannon, shot a column of tanks and infantry for a long time, and died. Everyone marveled at his courage... Oberst before the grave said that if all the Fuhrer's soldiers fought like this Russian, they would conquer the whole world. Three times they fired volleys from rifles. After all, he is Russian, is such admiration necessary?
- From the diary of Oberleutnant of the 4th Panzer Division Friedrich Hoenfeld

The history of the Great Patriotic War is full of dramatic events, as well as examples of the amazing selflessness of the Soviet people who sacrificed their lives to crush fascism. Among them is the feat of Nikolai Vladimirovich Sirotinin, which caused sincere admiration even among the enemies who buried the hero with full military honors.

Biography

Komsomol member Nikolai Sirotinin was born in 1921 in the city of Orel. After leaving school, the young man worked for some time at the Oryol Tekmash plant, and in 1940 he was drafted into the ranks of the Red Army. Sirotinin served in Polotsk, and already on the first day of the war he was wounded during an enemy air raid. After a short treatment in the hospital, Nikolai was sent to the front in the Krichev region. At the time of his last fight the young man had the rank of senior sergeant and served as a gunner of the 6th (according to some sources, the 17th) rifle division of the 13th army.

The situation at the line of defense near the river Dobrost

In mid-July 1941, Soviet troops continued to retreat along almost the entire length of the front. The division, in which Nikolai Sirotinin served, reached the line of defense near the Dobrost River and suffered heavy losses, as they did not have enough equipment and military equipment to resist the onslaught of the 4th Panzer Division under the command of Colonel von Langermann. This unit of the Wehrmacht was part of the 2nd Panzer Group of Colonel-General Heinz Guderian, who distinguished himself during the occupation of France and Poland.

On the day when the feat of Sergeant Nikolai Sirotinin was accomplished (July 17), the commander of the battery in which the hero served decided to organize a cover for the retreat of his military unit. For this purpose, one gun was installed near the bridge on the 476th km of the Moscow-Warsaw highway across the Dobrost River. He was supposed to be served by two people, one of whom was the battalion commander himself. Nikolai Sirotinin also volunteered to stay at the crossing. He was supposed to help fire at the enemy tanks as soon as they reached the bridge.

in 1941: combat

The gun was camouflaged on a hill in dense rye. From this position, the highway and the bridge were clearly visible, but it was difficult for the enemy to notice and destroy it.

A column of German armored vehicles appeared at dawn. With the first shot, Nikolai knocked out the lead tank of the column, which had reached the bridge, and with the second, the armored personnel carrier closing it. Thus, a traffic jam formed on the road, and the 6th Infantry Division got the opportunity for a calm retreat.

When the shock from the sudden artillery attack passed, the Germans began to shoot back and wounded the battalion commander of the Soviet gun. Since the combat mission of detaining the enemy tank column was completed, the commander retreated to the Soviet positions, but Sergeant Sirotinin refused to follow him, saying that the gun had several dozen unused shells left, and he wanted to disable it if possible large quantity enemy tanks.

The feat of Sirotinin Nikolai Vladimirovich: the death of a hero

The Germans tried to pull the wrecked lead tank off the bridge with the help of two other armored vehicles. Then Sirotinin knocked them out too, thereby infuriating the Nazis. An attempt was also made to ford the river, but the first tank got stuck near the shore and was destroyed by Soviet gun fire. The battle lasted about two and a half hours, during which Sirotinin destroyed 11 tanks, 6 armored vehicles, as well as more than fifty enemy soldiers and officers.

Finally, the enemies surrounded the hero and offered him to surrender. But Sirotinin continued the fight, firing from a carbine, until he was killed.

Funeral

The history of wars knows only a few examples when the enemy showed respect to his defeated enemy, bowing before his valor. It was precisely such feelings that the feat of Nikolai Sirotinin aroused in the German command. Moreover, the testimony of several eyewitnesses has been preserved about the funeral of the hero. In particular, one of the residents of the village of Sokolnichi, who owned German, which the occupiers, together with fellow villagers, drove to the place where the Sirotinin cannon was located, subsequently said that the “chief German”, before burying the body of the Soviet sergeant, made a speech. In it, he praised the courage of the Russian soldier and urged his soldiers to love the Motherland just as much as dead hero. Even more interesting are the recollections of Lieutenant Friedrich Henfeld, who in his diary was indignant at the fact that Colonel von Langermann ordered German soldiers to fire three volleys from rifles in honor of a Russian soldier.

Memory

The feat of Nikolai Sirotinin was not appreciated by the country at its true worth. The fact is that Kolya's relatives did not have a single photograph of the boy, so he was not presented for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The only award for the young man was the Order Patriotic War first degree.

In 1948, the body of the hero was reburied in and his name was indicated on the marble plaque, among others. In 1958, Ogonyok published an article “The Legend of a Feat”, from which the inhabitants of the Soviet Union learned about the events of July 17, 1941, which took place on the bridge over the Dobrost river. The feat of Nikolai Sirotinin shocked hundreds of thousands of people. In 1961, an obelisk was erected at the place where the young man alone held the defense against a column of German tanks. In addition, a commemorative plaque with short story about the feat of Sirotinin mounted on the wall of the workshop of the Tekmash plant, where the hero worked before the war.

Opinions

Since more than 70 years have passed since the feat of Nikolai Sirotinin took place, it is almost impossible to find living eyewitnesses of those events. That is why some researchers, in pursuit of a sensation, try to present it as a beautiful heroic legend, forgetting that the deceased young man had a family, and relatives are still alive. In addition, if the story of the feat of Sergeant Sirotinin was a fairy tale, then why was almost no one aware of this for about 20 years? And, finally, on the edge of one of the Belarusian villages and today is where the remains of a 19-year-old boy who died for the Motherland lie. This circumstance alone allows us to consider him a hero and to bow before the feat of his comrades who saved the world from the "brown plague".

Now you know what the feat of Nikolai Sirotinin is. It is very difficult to talk about him briefly and without emotion. After all, this story cannot but touch the soul, for it is an exceptional example of selflessness and love for the Motherland of a still young man who, like everyone else, wanted to live ...

The Barbarossa plan, developed by the strategists of the Third Reich, assumed a lightning-fast capture of the European part of the Soviet Union; the Germans planned to be in Moscow as early as August 1941.

One of the transport arteries that the Nazis used to move towards Moscow was the Warsaw highway, laid in the second half of the 19th century. The highway was of strategic importance, which was noted by the Russian autocrats. Now columns of German tanks and armored vehicles were moving along it towards the capital of our Motherland.

To delay the enemy troops and support the retreating Soviet units, the commander of an artillery battery (his last name could not be determined) decided to install one gun on the 476th kilometer of the highway near the bridge over the Dobrost River, which, due to an oversight, was not blown up.

The battalion commander himself and senior sergeant Nikolai Vladimirovich Sirotinin, gunner of gun 55, entered the calculation rifle regiment. Sirotinin was a native of the city of Orel, drafted into the army in the autumn of 1940, he served in Polotsk.

Sirotinin volunteered to cover the retreat of the Soviet units. Near the village of Sokolnichi, in the dense rye, they camouflaged the anti-tank gun well. German intelligence did not notice her and reported to the command that the passage was free.

Near the bridge Combat vehicles The 4th Panzer Division, commanded by Wilibald von Langermann, showed up at dawn on 17 July. The first shot of an anti-tank gun knocked out the lead tank of the column, the second shot - an armored personnel carrier, closing the column. The jam was created, and the Germans did not manage to eliminate it immediately. Sirotinin, and he remained at the gun after the departure of the battalion commander alone, with an aimed hit destroyed the cars that were trying to clear the jam.

The Germans could not determine the source of the fire for a long time, they were sure that a whole battery was hitting them.

Two and a half hours, until the last shell, senior sergeant Sirotinin fought with the invader, he destroyed 11 tanks, 7 armored personnel carriers, 57 soldiers and officers. When the Germans approached his position, he continued to shoot back with a carbine.

This feat became known thanks to an investigation conducted by Mikhail Melnikov, a library worker in the village of Sokolnichi, who collected evidence villagers who were eyewitnesses of that battle.

One of them, Ekaterina Puzyrevskaya, who spoke German, recalls the words of a German officer who said that every soldier should defend his homeland in this way - fatherland.

The memory of this selfless battle was kept in the diary of Ober-Lieutenant of the 4th Panzer Division Friedrich Hoenfeld, he reports that the Germans were delighted with the act of the Russian, and buried him with honor.

Senior Sergeant Nikolai Sirotinin was in his twenty-first year. His feat is comparable to the legendary feats of Alexander Matrosov, Nikolai Gastello and the feat of 28 Panfilov's men.