Hero Nikolai Sirotinin. Nikolai Sirotinin - alone against a column of German tanks

At the age of 19, Kolya Sirotinin had the chance to challenge the saying “Alone in the field is not a warrior.” However, he did not become a legend of the Great Patriotic War, like Alexander Matrosov or Nikolai Gastello.

In the summer of 1941 to Belarusian city The 4th Panzer Division of Heinz Guderian, one of the most talented German generals-tankers. Units of the 13th Soviet Army were retreating. Only gunner Kolya Sirotinin did not retreat - just a boy, short, quiet, puny.
If you believe the essay in the Oryol collection “ good name", it was necessary to cover the withdrawal of troops. “Two people with a cannon will remain here,” said the battery commander. Nikolai volunteered. The second was the commander himself, junior lieutenant Evdokimov Vasily Vasilyevich.
On the morning of July 17, a convoy appeared on the highway German tanks.
- Kolya took 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 in 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...

“After all, he is Russian, is such admiration necessary?”

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 Soviet Union- he was posthumously awarded the order Patriotic War I degree.
Only in 1960, employees of the Central Archive 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.

Local historian M.F. Melnikov decided to solve this riddle. The search lasted several years and was crowned with success.
July 17, 1941, under pressure from the 24th tank corps The Germans slowly retreated to Krichev, bloodless in continuous battles, units of the 45th rifle corps and the 137th division. To cover their retreat, a company of infantrymen was left near the village of Sokolnichi, near the small swampy Dobrost River. The soldiers were promised artillery support. But artillery pieces they didn't see it anywhere. And they became completely despondent when a rumbling column of fascist tanks and cars appeared on the highway. After all, the Red Army soldiers only had rifles and anti-personnel grenades. And suddenly the first shell from a gun camouflaged in the roadside bushes on the bridge hit a leading German tank. Then the vehicles and armored personnel carriers trailing the column caught fire. There is a traffic jam on the highway. Tanks and cars, flying into each other, turned to the sides and sank into the swamp. And the destructive fire continued.
“We were jubilant,” recalled the witness of that battle, the political instructor of the company E. Shemyakin, who covered the withdrawal of our units, “the tanks and vehicles of the fascists were burning very hot!” Well done artillerymen, they didn’t disappoint! We sincerely thought that no less than a full battery was firing at Hitler’s warriors. Only a few days later they started talking in the regiment that near Krichev only one artilleryman fought with enemy tanks.
Indeed, the battle with the German tanks was fought by one gunner of a 76-mm gun from the 409th rifle regiment 137th Division, twenty-year-old senior sergeant N.V. Sirotinin, posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, for this feat.
The words are carved on the obelisk: “Here at dawn on July 17, 1941, senior sergeant, artilleryman N.V. 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. 1921 -1941."

During the Great Patriotic War incredible feat Not much was known about 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 found 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 withdrawal 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, gray-haired, ordered me to translate his speech 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 from 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.

German main boss told me: “Take this document and write to your family. 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 a piece of paper and a 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 on the left side had a large bloody stain, the helmet was broken, 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 talked 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 one, 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 to physical labor I'm not used to it. 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 a mass burial site 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 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 mass grave(according to the registration card data military burial on the OBD Memorial website - in 1943), on which there is a monument in the form of a sculpture of a soldier grieving for his fallen comrades, and on the marble plaques in the list of those buried the surname N.V. Sirotinin is indicated.

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

In 1961, at the site of the feat, a monument was erected near the highway 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.

A memorial plaque with brief information about N.V. Sirotinin.

In the Museum of Military Glory in high school No. 17 of the city of Orel there are materials dedicated to N.V. Sirotinin.

In 2015, the council of school No. 7 in the city of Oryol 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.

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 Tank Division, one of the divisions of the 2nd tank group Heinz Guderian, one of the most talented German tank generals. 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. Awarded the Order Patriotic War, 1st degree posthumously.

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 it using 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. A at the moment No traces of such an officer were 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 anyway, this collective image war heroes, there were a great many famous and unknown ones!

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 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're talking about 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. Some Soviet divisions from 13A, 20A and 4A tried with all their might 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.

Having understood real threat environment, command 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. It rushed there huge amount our troops.

The German command, building on its success, began decisive action, 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 face them again, but on a new line of defense, which was deployed along the eastern bank of the Sozh. That's why 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 entrusted one of the main tasks of capturing Krichev to the 4th tank division, advancing from the southwestern direction along west bank Sozha on Varshavskoe 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 Colonel Heinrich Eberbach's strike group 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 — technical condition 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 aerial reconnaissance and mobile patrols of the 7th Reconnaissance Battalion. They reported that Russian units in several motorized and foot columns were withdrawing along secondary roads to east direction towards Krichev. 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, 79th Pioneer Battalion, parts of the pontoon division, one heavy and one light anti-aircraft battery.

Behind us is the already restored bridge over Lobuchanka, from it it is only 10 km to the village of Cherikov, and then some 25 km along an excellent highway to main goal- Kricheva. 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. 15min. 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. 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 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 min. 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. Major battles were coming locality, therefore, a regrouping of forces was necessary. Now the tanks of the 2nd battalion of the 35th tank regiment were ahead, 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 main street, on right side roadway, the second gun was installed on another street, as tanks were waiting on the road from 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. Began heavy fighting both inside the boiler and along the entire border along the Sozh River. But that's 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. Further fate It was not easy for the fighters of the 2nd SB. 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 on this occasion. 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 mythical, but 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. Certainly, 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 fairy-tale heroes, What 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 assault groups pioneer battalion, capable of taking any armored pillbox with their bare hands, desperate kradschützets from a motorcycle battalion, single-handedly capturing fortified bridges and holding them until the main forces arrive. 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, behind whom were events on the Chinese Eastern Railway, the war with the White Finns, the Academy. Frunze. Perhaps it was precisely these qualities of the commander that made it possible to fulfill combat mission, placed in front of the battalion.

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

« The son of a peasant, born in 1904 in the village of Sinelnikovo, Molotovsky district of the Far East, 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 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 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 rifle regiment The 43rd division in combat training took first place in the Odessa district. According unknown reason By order No. 100 I retired.

In 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!

Personally, my opinion is this: let the legends live, they are not based on empty space, this is 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 -

Even today the whole of Belarus remembers the feat of Nikolai Sirotinin. In this country the feat has not yet been forgotten Soviet people who saved the world from the fascist plague. And how offensive it must be to his family that in his homeland, Oryol, few people know about this feat.

In 1940, upon reaching 18 years of age, Nikolay Sirotinin was drafted into the Red Army. He ended up serving in the 6th Infantry Division, where by the summer of 1941 he held the position of gunner. On the first day of the Great Patriotic War, he received his first wound during an air raid. Fortunately, it turned out to be light, so the soldier remained in service.

At this time the offensive German troops continued to develop across the territory of the USSR. In particular, Guderian's 4th Panzer Division made its way to the city of Krichev, in Belarus. Units of our 13th Army were forced to retreat before the onslaught of a significantly superior enemy.

During the retreat, it was necessary to organize cover in one of the areas. To do this, it was necessary to create a “traffic jam” on the bridge over the Dobrost River. Two artillerymen were required - a gunner and a spotter. Nikolai Sirotinin volunteered.

Kolya set up his position not far from the bridge, right on the hill of the collective farm field. His gun was completely hidden in the tall rye, while he had a clear view of both the highway and the bridge.

Early in the morning of July 17, a column of German tanks approached the bridge. When the lead vehicle drove onto the bridge, the first shot of our cannon rang out. It turned out to be very effective - the German tank stopped and started smoking. The next shot set the trailing armored personnel carrier on fire. Our artillery located across the river, whose fire was directed by a spotter, began to fire at the stopped column. He was subsequently wounded and retreated towards our positions. Sirotinin could have done the same, since the task assigned to him had already been completed. But he had as many as 60 shells. And he decided to stay!

And at this time, in order to clear the way, two tanks began to pull the lead tank off the bridge. Sirotinin could not allow this. With several well-aimed shots, he set them on fire, thereby sealing the traffic jam on the bridge. One of the armored vehicles tried to ford the river, but got stuck firmly in the swampy ground. Here she was found by another shell from our artilleryman.

Sirotinin kept shooting and shooting, knocking out tank after tank from the Germans. The column rested against it, as if against the Brest Fortress. After some time, German losses already amounted to 11 tanks and 6 armored personnel carriers, more than half of which were accounted for by Sirotinin. For almost two hours of battle, the Germans could not figure out where such well-aimed fire was getting them from. When they figured this out and surrounded the hero’s position, he had only three shells left in stock. The offer to surrender was followed by fire from a carbine.

The last battle was short-lived. The body of Nikolai Sirotinin was buried there, on a hill...

It should be noted that even the enemy appreciated the heroism of our soldier. In the evening, the Germans gathered near the place where the Soviet cannon stood. They counted the shots and hits, not without admiration. Then local residents were forced to come there, and a German oberst (colonel) even spoke to them. He noted that this is how a soldier tasked with defending his homeland should fight.

Nikolai Sirotinin, a young sergeant from Orel, in one two-hour battle there were 11 tanks, 6 armored personnel carriers and armored cars, 57 German soldiers and officers. The best artilleryman of the Great Patriotic War. His feat was highly appreciated even by his enemies.

Childhood and the beginning of the war

There are few dry facts about Nikolai Sirotinin’s childhood. Born on March 7, 1921 in the city of Orel. Lived on Dobrolyubova Street, 32. Father - Vladimir Kuzmich Sirotinin, mother - Elena Korneevna. There are five children in the family, Nikolai is the second oldest. His father notes that as a child Nikolai met him at the semaphore - Vladimir Kuzmich worked as a driver. Mom noted his hard work, affectionate disposition and help in raising younger children. After graduating from school, Nikolai went to work at the Tokmash plant as a turner.

On October 5, 1940, Nikolai was drafted into the army. He was assigned to the 55th Infantry Regiment in the city of Polotsk Byelorussian SSR. Of the documents about Nikolai, only the conscript’s medical card and a letter home have been preserved. According to the medical card, Sirotinin was of small build - 164 cm and weighed only 53 kg. The letter dates back to 1940, most likely written immediately after his arrival at the 55th Infantry Regiment.

In June 1941, Nikolai became a senior sergeant. The approach of war was felt more and more clearly by both the people and the leaders, so in such conditions, an intelligent and hardworking young man quickly received the rank of sergeant, and then senior sergeant.

June–July 1941

At the beginning of July 1941, Hein Guderian's tanks broke through the weak defense line near Bykhov and began crossing the Dnieper. They easily continued to go east along the Sozh River, to Slavgorod, through Cherikov to the city of Krichev, to strike Soviet troops near Smolensk. The Soviet army retreated before the enemy and took up defense near Sozh.

The left bank of the Sozh River is steep and with deep ravines. On the road from the city of Cherikov to Krichev there were several such ravines. A group of Soviet soldiers, on July 17, 1941, attacked a Wehrmacht tank division, fired at it and crossed the Sozh to inform the command about the German tank division approaching Krichev. Units of the 6th Infantry Division were located in Krichev, and after news of the tanks an order was received to cross the Sozh. But parts of the division could not do this quickly. The second order was short: to delay the tank division as long as possible. Under favorable circumstances, catch up with your unit. But senior sergeant Nikolai Sirotinin managed to carry out only the first part of the order.

One warrior in the field

Nikolai Sirotinin volunteered. Nikolai installed a 45 mm anti-tank gun on a low hillock, in a rye field near the Dobrost River. The cannon was completely hidden by the rye. The firing point of Sirotinin was located near the village of Sokolnichi, which is located four km from Krichev. The location was ideal for unnoticed shelling.

The road leading to Krichev was 200 meters away. The road was clearly visible from the hillock of Sirotinin, and there was a swampy area near the road, and this meant that the tanks would not be able to move either to the left or to the right if something happened. Sirotinin understood what he was doing, there was only one task - to hold out as long as possible in order to gain time for the division.

Sergeant Sirotinin was an experienced artilleryman. Nikolai chose the moment when he could strike the armored car going ahead of the column of tanks. When the armored car was not far from the bridge, Sirotinin fired and hit the armored vehicle. Then the sergeant hit a tank driving around an armored car to set both vehicles on fire. The next tank behind him got stuck in a barrel, driving around the armored car and the first knocked out tank.

The tanks began to turn towards the place of shelling, but the rye well hid Sirotinin’s point. The sergeant turned the gun to the left and began to aim at the tank bringing up the rear of the column - he knocked it out. He shot at the truck with the infantry - and again at the target. The Germans tried to move out, but the tanks got stuck in the swampy area. It was only on the seventh destroyed tank that the Germans were able to understand where the shelling was coming from, but due to Sirotinin’s successful position, heavy fire did not kill him, but only wounded him in the left side and arm. One of the armored cars began to fire at the sergeant, then after three shells Sirotinin neutralized the enemy armored car.
There were fewer shells, and Sirotinin decided to shoot less often, but more accurately. One after another, he aimed at tanks and armored cars, hit, everything exploded, flew, and there was black smoke in the air from the burning equipment. The angry Germans opened mortar fire on Sirotinin.

German losses were: 11 tanks, 6 armored personnel carriers and armored cars, 57 German soldiers and officers. The battle lasted 2 hours. There weren’t many shells left, about 15. Nikolai saw that the Germans were rolling out weapons into position and fired 4 times. Sirotinin destroyed the German cannon. The shell would only be enough for one time. He stood up to load the gun - and at that moment he was shot from behind by German motorcyclists. Nikolai Sirotinin died.

After the fight

Sergeant Sirotinin completed the main task: the tank column was delayed, the 6th rifle division was able to cross the Sozh River without losses.
The diary entries of Oberleutnant Friedrich Hoenfeld have been preserved:
“He stood alone at the gun, 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?
Olga Verzhbitskaya, a resident of the village of Sokolnichi, recalls: “In the afternoon, the Germans gathered at the place where Sirotinin’s cannon 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, that this is how a soldier should defend his homeland - the Fatherland...”
Residents of the village of Sokolniki and the Germans held a solemn funeral for Nikolai Sirotinin. German soldiers given to the deceased sergeant military salute three shots.

Memory of Nikolai Sirotinin

First, Sergeant Sirotinin was buried at the battle site. 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 they named a street in his honor and erected a monument. After the war, the workers of the Soviet Army Archive did a great job to restore the chronicle of events. Sirotinin’s feat was recognized in 1960, but the title of Hero of the Soviet Union was not awarded due to a bureaucratic inconsistency - Sirotinin’s family did not have photographs of their son. In 1961, an obelisk with the name of Sirotinin was erected at the site of the feat, and real weapons were installed. On the 20th anniversary of the Victory, Sergeant Sirotinin was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.
IN hometown Orle also did not forget about Sirotinin’s feat. The Tekmash plant installed memorial plaque, dedicated to Nikolai Sirotinin. In 2015, school No. 7 in the city of Orel was named after Sergeant Sirotinin.