(1944-02-17 ) (14 years) A place of death Affiliation

USSR USSR

Years of service Battles/wars Awards and prizes

Valya Kotik (Valentin Aleksandrovich Kotik; February 11 - February 17) - pioneer hero, young reconnaissance partisan, the youngest Hero of the Soviet Union. At the time of his death he was 14 years old. Hero Title Soviet Union awarded posthumously.

Biography

He was born on February 11, 1930 in the village of Khmelevka, Shepetovsky district, Kamenetz-Podolsk (from 1954 to the present - Khmelnytsky) region of Ukraine in the family of an employee.

By the beginning of the war, he had only moved to the sixth grade of school No. 4 in the city of Shepetovka, but from the first days of the war he began to fight the German invaders. In the autumn of 1941, together with his comrades, he killed the head of the field gendarmerie near the city of Shepetovka by throwing a grenade into the car in which he was traveling. Since 1942, he took an active part in the partisan movement on the territory of Ukraine. At first he was a liaison of the Shepetovskaya underground organization, then he participated in the battles. Since August 1943 - in the partisan detachment named after Karmelyuk under the command of I. A. Muzalev, he was wounded twice. In October 1943, he discovered an underground telephone cable, which was soon blown up, and the connection between the invaders and Hitler's headquarters in Warsaw was cut off. He also contributed to the undermining of six railway echelons and a warehouse.

On October 29, 1943, while on patrol, he noticed punishers who were about to raid the detachment. After killing the officer, he raised the alarm; thanks to his actions, the partisans managed to repulse the enemy.

In the battle for the city of Izyaslav on February 16, 1944, he was mortally wounded and died the next day. He was buried in the center of the park in the city of Shepetovka. In 1958, Valentin was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Awards

• Hero of the Soviet Union (June 27, 1958);
• Order of the Patriotic War, 1st class;
• medal "Partisan of the Patriotic War" II degree.

Memory

• Streets were named after Valya Kotik (in the cities of Bor, Donetsk, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Kaliningrad, Kyiv, Krivoy Rog, Korosten, Nizhny Novgorod, Onatskivtsi, Rivne, Starokonstantinov, Shepetovka), pioneer squads, schools (in Yekaterinburg), motor ship, pioneer camps (in Tobolsk, Berdsk and Nizhny Novgorod).
• In 1957, the film "Eaglet", dedicated to Valya Kotik and Marat Kazei, was filmed at the Odessa Film Studio.
• Monuments to the hero were erected:
  • in Moscow in 1960, on the territory of the Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy (now the All-Russian Exhibition Center), at the entrance to pavilion No. 8, a bust was erected (sculptor N. Kongisern);
  • in Shepetivka in 1960 (sculptors L. Skiba, P. Fleet, I. Samotos);
  • in the city of Bor;
  • in the village of Yagodnoye near Togliatti, the territory of the former pioneer camp "Scarlet Sails";
  • in Simferopol on the Alley of Heroes in the Children's Park.
• In Tashkent, before the collapse of the USSR, there was a park named after Vali Kotik, after the proclamation of independence of Uzbekistan, it was renamed the park of Zafar Diyor.
• He was the prototype of the character of the Russian-Japanese-Canadian animated fantasy film "First Squad".

see also

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Notes

Literature

• Heroes of the Soviet Union. Brief biographical dictionary. - M .: Military Publishing, 1987. - T. 1.
• Anna Kotik."Last Stand".
• Kotik A. N. He was a pioneer. Mother's story. - M., 1958 (reissued 1980).
• Najafov G.D. The brave don't die. - M., 1968.
• Najafov G.D. . - M .: Malysh, 1980. - 300,000 copies.
• Krivoruchko M. G. and others. memory immortal feat. - M., 1972.
• Vladimov M.V., Yanvarev E.I. From the Dnieper to the Danube. - Kyiv, 1977.
• Bugai E. M., Makukhin M. E. From the cohort of the courageous. - Lvov: Kamenyar, 1978.
• Palmov V.V. Stormtroopers over the Dnieper. - Kyiv: Politizdat, 1984.
• Pride and glory of Podolia. - Lvov, 1985.
• Pecherskaya A.N. Children-heroes of the Great Patriotic War: stories. - M .: Drofa-Plus, 2005. - 60 p.

Links

An excerpt characterizing Kotik, Valentin Aleksandrovich

“Yes, yes, exactly pink,” said Natasha, who also now seemed to remember what was said in pink, and in this very she saw the main extraordinary and mysteriousness of the prediction.
“But what does that mean? Natasha said thoughtfully.
“Ah, I don’t know how extraordinary all this is! Sonya said, clutching her head.
A few minutes later, Prince Andrei called, and Natasha went in to him; and Sonya, experiencing a feeling of excitement and tenderness rarely experienced by her, remained at the window, pondering the whole unusualness of what had happened.
On this day there was an opportunity to send letters to the army, and the countess wrote a letter to her son.
“Sonya,” said the countess, looking up from her letter as her niece passed her. - Sonya, will you write to Nikolenka? said the countess in a low, trembling voice, and in the look of her tired eyes, peering through glasses, Sonya read everything that the countess meant by these words. This look expressed both prayer, and fear of refusal, and shame at what had to be asked, and readiness for irreconcilable hatred in case of refusal.
Sonya went up to the countess and, kneeling down, kissed her hand.
“I will write, maman,” she said.
Sonya was softened, agitated and touched by everything that happened that day, especially by the mysterious performance of divination that she just saw. Now that she knew that on the occasion of the resumption of relations between Natasha and Prince Andrei, Nikolai could not marry Princess Marya, she gladly felt the return of that mood of self-sacrifice in which she loved and used to live. And with tears in her eyes and with joy in the consciousness of committing a generous deed, she, interrupted several times by tears that clouded her velvety black eyes, wrote that touching letter, the receipt of which so struck Nikolai.

In the guardhouse, where Pierre was taken, the officer and soldiers who took him treated him with hostility, but at the same time respectfully. There was also a sense of doubt in their attitude to him about who he was (not really important person), and hostility due to their still fresh personal struggle with him.
But when, on the morning of the next day, the shift came, Pierre felt that for the new guard - for officers and soldiers - he no longer had the meaning that he had for those who took him. And indeed, in this big, fat man in a peasant's caftan, the guards of the other day no longer saw that living person who fought so desperately with the marauder and the escort soldiers and uttered a solemn phrase about saving the child, but they saw only the seventeenth of those held for some reason, according to the order of the higher authorities, taken by the Russians. If there was anything special in Pierre, it was only his untimid, concentrated, thoughtful look and French, in which, surprisingly for the French, he spoke well. Despite the fact that on the same day Pierre was connected with other suspects taken, since the officer needed a separate room that he occupied.
All the Russians kept with Pierre were people of the lowest rank. And all of them, recognizing the gentleman in Pierre, shunned him, especially since he spoke French. Pierre sadly heard ridicule over himself.
The next day, in the evening, Pierre learned that all these detainees (and, probably, including himself) were to be tried for arson. On the third day, Pierre was taken with others to a house where a French general with a white mustache, two colonels and other Frenchmen with scarves on their hands were sitting. Pierre, along with others, was asked questions about who he is with that allegedly exceeding human weaknesses, accuracy and determination with which defendants are usually treated. where was he? for what purpose? etc.
These questions, leaving aside the essence of life's work and excluding the possibility of disclosing this essence, like all the questions asked at the courts, were aimed only at substituting the groove along which the judges wanted the defendant's answers to flow and lead him to the desired goal, that is, to the accusation. As soon as he began to say something that did not satisfy the purpose of the accusation, they accepted the groove, and the water could flow wherever it wanted. In addition, Pierre experienced the same thing that the defendant experiences in all courts: bewilderment, why did they ask him all these questions. He felt that it was only out of condescension or, as it were, courtesy that this trick of the substituted groove was used. He knew that he was in the power of these people, that only power had brought him here, that only power gave them the right to demand answers to questions, that the only purpose of this meeting was to accuse him. And therefore, since there was power and there was a desire to accuse, there was no need for the trick of questions and trial. It was obvious that all answers had to lead to guilt. When asked what he was doing when they took him, Pierre answered with some tragedy that he was carrying a child to his parents, qu "il avait sauve des flammes [whom he saved from the flame]. - Why did he fight with a marauder? Pierre answered, that he defended a woman, that the protection of an offended woman is the duty of every man, that... He was stopped: it did not go to the point. Why was he in the yard of the house on fire, where witnesses saw him? He answered that he was going to see what was being done in Moscow. They stopped him again: they did not ask him where he was going, but why he was near the fire? Who is he? They repeated the first question to which he said that he did not want to answer. Again he answered that he could not say this .
- Write it down, it's not good. Very bad, - the general with a white mustache and a red, ruddy face said sternly to him.
On the fourth day, fires began on Zubovsky Val.
Pierre was taken with thirteen others to the Crimean Ford, to the carriage house of the merchant's house. Walking through the streets, Pierre was choking on the smoke that seemed to be rising over the whole city. Fires were visible from all sides. Pierre did not yet understand the meaning of the burned Moscow and looked at these fires with horror.
Pierre stayed in the carriage house of a house near the Crimean Ford for another four days, and during these days, from the conversation of the French soldiers, he learned that everyone contained here was expecting the decision of the marshal every day. What marshal, Pierre could not learn from the soldiers. For a soldier, obviously, the marshal seemed to be the highest and somewhat mysterious link in power.
These first days, until September 8, the day on which the prisoners were taken for a second interrogation, were the most difficult for Pierre.

X
On September 8, a very important officer entered the barn to the prisoners, judging by the respectfulness with which he was treated by the guards. This officer, probably a staff officer, with a list in his hands, made a roll call to all Russians, calling Pierre: celui qui n "avoue pas son nom [the one who does not speak his name]. And, indifferently and lazily looking at all the prisoners, he ordered the guard it is proper for the officer to properly dress and tidy them up before taking them to the marshal. An hour later a company of soldiers arrived, and Pierre and thirteen others were taken to the Maiden's Field. The day was clear, sunny after the rain, and the air was unusually clean. The smoke did not creep down, as in the day when Pierre was taken out of the guardhouse of the Zubovsky Val, smoke rose in pillars in the clear air. The fire of fires was nowhere to be seen, but pillars of smoke rose from all sides, and all of Moscow, all that Pierre could see, was one conflagration. on all sides one could see wastelands with stoves and chimneys and occasionally charred walls of stone houses. Pierre looked at the conflagrations and did not recognize the familiar quarters of the city. In some places one could see the surviving churches. The Kremlin, undestroyed, whitened from afar with its towers and Ivan Ve face. Nearby, the dome of the Novo Devichy Convent shone merrily, and the bells and whistles were heard especially loudly from there. This Blagovest reminded Pierre that it was Sunday and the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin. But it seemed that there was no one to celebrate this holiday: the ruin of the conflagration was everywhere, and from the Russian people there were only occasionally ragged, frightened people who hid at the sight of the French.

The pioneer hero Valya Kotik, who could have turned 80 today, blew up six German echelons during the Great Patriotic War and died in battle with the Germans when he was only 14 years old. Not so long ago, his name was known in all corners of the Soviet Union, and every schoolchild could retell the story of his feat by heart.

The youngest Hero of the Soviet Union Valya Kotik - Valentin Alexandrovich Kotik - was born on February 11, 1930 in the village of Khmelevka, Shepetovsky district, Kamenetz-Podolsk (now Khmelnitsky) region of Ukraine. Ukrainian pioneer studied at high school in the regional center - the city of Shepetovka - up to the fifth grade.

When the war began, Valya Kotik was only 11 years old. His native Shepetovsky district was occupied by Nazi troops. According to Vali's official biography, from the first days of the war, the boy worked to collect weapons and ammunition, which were then transported to the partisans, drew and pasted caricatures of the Nazis, according to the Heroes of the Country website.

In 1942, he joined the Shepetivka underground party organization and carried out its intelligence assignments. In August 1943, the young intelligence officer was a fighter in the Shepetovsky partisan detachment named after. Karmelyuk under the command of Ivan Alekseevich Muzalev, according to the website biogr.ru.

In October 1943, the young partisan reconnoitered the location of the underground telephone cable of the Nazi headquarters, which was soon blown up. He also participated in the undermining of six railway echelons, a warehouse. He has many successful ambushes to his credit.

On October 29, 1943, while on duty, Valya Kotik noticed that the punishers had raided the detachment. Having killed a fascist officer with a pistol, he raised the alarm, and the partisans had time to prepare for battle.

On February 16, 1944, in the battle for the city of Izyaslav Kamenetz-Podolsky, a partisan intelligence officer who had just turned 14 years old was mortally wounded. The next day he died. He was buried in the center of the Shepetovka park.

Already at the time of his death, Valya Kotik wore on his chest the Order of Lenin and the Patriotic War of the 1st degree, the medal "Partisan of the Patriotic War" of the 2nd degree. Such awards would do honor even to the commander of a partisan formation, they write "Arguments and Facts".

On June 27, 1958, Valentin Aleksandrovich Kotik was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR for his heroism in the fight against the Nazi invaders.

Every Soviet child knew about the hero of the pioneer Valya Kotik. His name was given not only to pioneer detachments, squads and schools, but also to the ship. A monument to the young hero was erected in front of the school where he studied, and in Moscow - at VDNKh. Streets in Russian and Ukrainian cities bear his name.

In addition, Valya Kotik became one of the prototypes of the hero Valya Kotko from the movie "Eaglet", released in 1957. Another prototype of the screen image was the Belarusian schoolboy Marat Kazei, who during the war went to the partisans when he was a little over 13 years old.

Marat was also a young scout: he made his way to the enemy garrisons, looked out for the location of German posts, headquarters, and ammunition depots. He blew up bridges and derailed enemy trains. In May 1944, when Soviet army was already very close, the teenager was ambushed. He fired back to the last bullet, and when he had only one grenade left, he let the enemies get closer and pulled out the pin. Marat Kazei became a Hero of the Soviet Union in 1965 - also posthumously.

According to the plot of the feature film "Eaglet", during the Great Patriotic War, the Germans occupy a small Ukrainian town. Pioneer Valya Kotko, nicknamed Orlyonok by the partisans, helps the detachment to follow the Germans and get weapons. Surrounded by Nazis, he blows himself up with a grenade.

I must say that by the time the film was released in 1957, the nickname "Eaglet" was already a household name for any young hero. This meaning of the word comes from a song written before the war by composer Viktor Bely and poet Yakov Shvedov, calling card which is also the song "Smuglyanka".

The song "Eaglet" ("Eaglet, eaglet, fly higher than the sun ...") was written in 1936 for the play "Boy", staged at the Moscow City Council Theater. The hero of the play Khlopchik was not a partisan, he was a young apprentice shoemaker from Belarus and helped the Red Army. And when the White Poles occupied the city, Khlopchik did not betray the underground fighters during interrogation, for which he was sentenced to death.

Biography

Valya Kotik is a pioneer hero, a young reconnaissance partisan, the youngest Hero of the Soviet Union. At the time of his death he was 14 years old. The title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded posthumously.

He was born on February 11, 1930 in the village of Khmelevka, Shepetovsky district, Kamenetz-Podolsk (from 1954 to the present - Khmelnytsky) region of Ukraine in the family of an employee.

By the beginning of the war, he had only moved to the sixth grade of school No. 4 in the city of Shepetovka, but from the first days of the war he began to fight the German invaders. In the autumn of 1941, together with his comrades, he killed the head of the field gendarmerie near the city of Shepetovka, throwing a grenade into the car in which he was traveling. Since 1942, he took an active part in the partisan movement on the territory of Ukraine. At first he was a liaison of the Shepetovskaya underground organization, then he participated in the battles. Since August 1943 - in the Karmelyuk partisan detachment under the command of I. A. Muzalev, he was wounded twice. In October 1943, he discovered an underground telephone cable, which was soon blown up, and the connection between the invaders and Hitler's headquarters in Warsaw was cut off. He also contributed to the undermining of six railway echelons and a warehouse.

On October 29, 1943, while on patrol, he noticed punishers who were about to raid the detachment. After killing the officer, he raised the alarm; thanks to his actions, the partisans managed to repulse the enemy.

In the battle for the city of Izyaslav on February 16, 1944, he was mortally wounded and died the next day. He was buried in the center of the park in the city of Shepetovka. In 1958, Valentin was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Awards

Hero of the Soviet Union (June 27, 1958);
The order of Lenin;
Order of the Patriotic War, 1st class;
medal "Partisan of the Patriotic War" II degree.

Memory

Streets were named after Valya Kotik (in the cities of Bor, Donetsk, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Kaliningrad, Kyiv, Krivoy Rog, Korosten, Nizhny Novgorod, Onatskovtsy, Rivne, Starokonstantinov, Shepetovka), pioneer squads, schools (in Yekaterinburg), motor ship, pioneer camps (in Tobolsk, Berdsk and Nizhny Novgorod).

In 1957, at the Odessa film studio, the film "Eaglet" was shot, dedicated to Valya Kotik and Marat Kazei.

Monuments to the hero were erected:

in Moscow in 1960, on the territory of the Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy, at the entrance to pavilion No. 8, a bust was erected (sculptor N. Kongisern);

In Shepetivka in 1960 (sculptors L. Skiba, P. Flit, I. Samotos);
in the city of Bor;

in the village of Yagodnoye near Togliatti, the territory of the former pioneer camp "Scarlet Sails";

In Simferopol on the Alley of Heroes in the Children's Park.
In the village Chegdomyn - 2 at school N5.

In Tashkent, before the collapse of the USSR, there was a park named after Vali Kotik, after the proclamation of independence of Uzbekistan, it was renamed the park of Zafar Diyor.

He was the prototype of the character of the Russian-Japanese-Canadian animated film in the fantasy genre "First Squad".

One of the most famous child heroes of the Great Patriotic War is Valya Kotik. feat ( summary his biography and military activities is the subject of this review) this boy is probably known to every schoolchild. This paper describes his life and participation in the battles in the partisan detachment. His personality became an example of the courage and heroism of the Soviet people, shown during the years of the German invasion of our Motherland. The fate of the child was all the more tragic because he died at the age of fourteen, however, despite his young age, he did a lot to liberate his native city, for which he was awarded the highest military award.

Childhood

In 1930, Valya Kotik was born into the family of an employee. The feat (a summary of which will be described below) of this boy had great importance not only in a practical, but also in an ideological sense, since his actions have become an example to follow. He was the youngest in the family and was in the sixth grade at the time of the enemy invasion.

At first, the child began to pay attention to the posts of the Nazis and distribute propaganda leaflets calling for a fight against the invaders. So, the student attracted the attention of the head of the local underground organization, who settled in his house. At first, the little hero of the great war, Valya Kotik, mistook him for an enemy spy and traitor, however, having learned the truth, he became a member of his group. They began to give him small assignments: to follow German officers, mine and guard weapons. A capable child showed courage, quickness and ingenuity, so that he began to be given more responsible and serious assignments.

Participation in the partisan movement

The boy quickly got the hang of handling weapons and explosives. He was able to mine roads and highways along which patrols passed. One day, the child noticed in a car passing by the head of the local gendarmerie, who was driving to his hometown of Shepetovka. The student threw a grenade and the car exploded.

Thus, Valya Kotik made a great contribution to the liberation of the city. Feat (summary of his military biography reflects tragic fate many partisan children) of the boy lies in the fact that he combined physical dexterity with ideological conviction, thanks to which he did not leave his detachment even at the time when he was offered to cross to safe areas of the country.

1942-1944

At first, the student served as a liaison in an underground group, but soon began to participate in battles. An important stage in his military biography was the transition under the command of Lieutenant Muzalev, who led the occupied territories. The teenager actively fought on the side of the Red Army and was wounded twice.

In 1943, Valya Kotik interrupted Warsaw's connection with the main German headquarters. The feat, the brief content of which allows only approximately to judge the significance of this step, facilitated the actions of the members of the underground organization in the liberation of the conquered territory. Also, the boy took part in undermining the German trains. In addition to observation and skillful organizational skills, he also proved to be an excellent sentinel. One day, he was one of the entire group of partisans who noticed an impending raid on his comrades and raised the alarm in time, thus saving all the people.

Doom

Valya Kotik, a feat whose biography is mandatory studied in all Soviet schools, fought on Ukrainian territory. As mentioned above, he was offered to move to a safer area, but he did not want to leave his native squad. He took part in the liberation operation to remove the occupation from the city of Izyaslav. According to one version, the boy was sent to reconnaissance, noticed a German patrol, raised the alarm, but was mortally wounded, after which he quickly died. Some scholars believe that the young hero's wound was light, but he died due to shelling during the evacuation. He was buried in his hometown. Many streets of Russian cities, as well as pioneer camps, schools, squads, are named after him. Several monuments have been erected to him, including in the capital of our country itself. A number of films have been dedicated to his life.

Confession

Among the many partisans who made a significant contribution to the victory, Valya Kotik, a pioneer hero, stands out. Heroes of Russia, the USSR always received top honors and orders. So the boy at first received partisan medals, and in 1958 he was awarded the main honorary title of the country. As mentioned above, a film was made about him.

According to the plot of the picture, the character is a young schoolboy who sacrifices his life by blowing himself up with a grenade so as not to be captured by the enemy. It is significant that many young fighters became famous after their tragic death. In this series, Kotik takes a place of honor, as he carried out a number of actions of strategic importance. Destroying the connection with the bet is a step whose significance went beyond local success. Therefore, on school lessons in history, attention should be paid to the importance of his underground activities in the liberation of Ukraine from German occupation.

February 11, 1930 in Ukraine, in the village of Khmelevka, Kamenetz-Podolsk region, the youngest Hero of the Soviet Union was born into a peasant family

Times do not choose, says the well-known wisdom. Someone gets a childhood with pioneer camps and waste paper collection, someone with game consoles and social media accounts.

A military secret

The generation of children of the 1930s got a cruel and terrible war that took away relatives, friends, and childhood itself. And instead of children's toys, the most persistent and courageous took rifles and machine guns in their hands. They took it to take revenge on the enemy and fight for the Motherland.

War is not a child's business. But when she comes to your house, the usual ideas change dramatically.

In 1933 the writer Arkady Gaidar wrote "The Tale of military secret, Malchish-Kibalchish and his hard word". This work by Gaidar, written eight years before the start of the Great Patriotic War, was destined to become a symbol of memory for all the young heroes who fell in the fight against the Nazi invaders.

Like all Soviet boys and girls, of course, I heard the tale of Malchish-Kibalchish. But he hardly thought that he would have to be in the place of the brave hero Gaidar.

Valya Kotik. Photo: Public Domain

He was born on February 11, 1930 in Ukraine, in the village of Khmelevka, Kamenetz-Podolsk region, into a peasant family.

Valya had the usual childhood of a boy of that time, with the usual pranks, secrets, sometimes bad grades. Everything changed in June 1941, when the war broke into the life of sixth grader Valya Kotik.

Desperate

The swift Nazi blitzkrieg of the summer of 1941, and now Valya, who by that time lived in the city of Shepetovka, was already in the occupied territory with his family.

The victorious power of the Wehrmacht inspired fear in many adults, but did not frighten Valya, who, together with his friends, decided to fight the Nazis. To begin with, they began to collect and stash weapons left at the battlefields that were in full swing around Shepetovka. Then they became bolder to the point that they began to steal machine guns from the gaping Nazis.

And in the fall of 1941, a desperate boy committed a real sabotage - setting up an ambush along the road, he blew up a car with the Nazis with a grenade, destroying several soldiers and the commander of a field gendarmerie detachment.

The underground learned about Vali's affairs. It was almost impossible to stop the desperate boy, and then he was attracted to underground work. He was instructed to collect information about the German garrison, put up leaflets, act as a messenger.

For the time being, the smart guy did not arouse suspicion among the Nazis. However, the more successful actions became on the account of the underground, the more attentively the Nazis began to look for their assistants among the local residents.

The young partisan saved the detachment from the punishers

In the summer of 1943, the threat of arrest loomed over Vali's family, and he, along with his mother and brother, went into the forest, becoming a fighter in the Karmelyuk partisan detachment.

The command tried to take care of the 13-year-old guy, but he was eager to fight. In addition, Valya showed himself to be a skilled scout and a person who is able to find a way out of the most difficult situation.

In October 1943, Valya, who was on partisan patrol, ran into punishers who were preparing to attack the base of the partisan detachment. The boy was tied up, but, having decided that he did not pose a threat and could not provide valuable intelligence, they left him under guard here, at the edge of the forest.

Valya himself was wounded, but managed to get to the forester's hut, who was helping the partisans. After recovery, he continued to fight in the detachment.

Valya participated in undermining six enemy echelons, destroying the strategic communications cable of the Nazis, as well as in a number of other successful actions, for which he was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree and the medal "Partisan of the Patriotic War of the 2nd degree".

Vali's last fight

On February 11, 1944, Valya turned 14 years old. The front was rapidly rolling to the West, and the partisans, as best they could, helped the regular army. Shepetovka, where Valya lived, had already been liberated, but the detachment moved on, preparing for its last operation - the assault on the city of Izyaslav.

After it, the detachment was to be disbanded, the adults were to join the regular units, and Valya was to return to school.

The battle for Izyaslav on February 16, 1944 turned out to be hot, but it was already ending in favor of the partisans, when Valya was seriously wounded by a stray bullet.

Soviet troops burst into the city to help the partisans. The wounded Valya was urgently sent to the rear, to the hospital. However, the wound turned out to be fatal - on February 17, 1944, Vali Kotik died.

Valya was buried in the village of Khorovets. At the request of his mother, the ashes of his son were transferred to the city of Shepetovka and reburied in the city park.

A large country that survived terrible war, could not immediately appreciate the feats of all those who fought for her freedom and independence. But over time, everything fell into place.

For the heroism shown in the fight against the Nazi invaders, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of June 27, 1958, Kotik Valentin Alexandrovich was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

In history, he never became Valentine, remaining just Valya. The youngest Hero of the Soviet Union.

His name, like the names of other pioneer heroes, whose exploits were told to Soviet schoolchildren of the post-war period, was subjected to defamation in the post-Soviet period.

But time puts everything in its place. A feat is a feat, and betrayal is a betrayal. Valya Kotik, in a difficult time of trial for the Motherland, turned out to be more courageous than many adults, who to this day are looking for excuses for their cowardice and cowardice. Eternal glory to him!