The real course of events became known - albeit to a very limited circle of people - already in 1948, during the trial of one of the participants in that legendary battle, Ivan Dobrobabin. Panfilov was tried for collaboration with the German occupiers. The trial materials became available to the general public in 1990 thanks to the Russian historian Boris Sokolov. As it turned out, almost everything in the legend about Panfilov’s men is not true. The soldiers who took part in the battle were not 28, but about 140. The number of tanks they destroyed was greatly exaggerated. A few hours later, Dubosekovo was captured by the Germans, so there is no need to talk about the fact that Panfilov’s men stopped the enemy. There were survivors of the battle, but the very fact of their existence contradicted the legend. And the country for which they shed blood on the battlefield treated them no better than deserters. The distortion of facts is simply monstrous. And all responsibility for it lies not with the abstract “propaganda machine”, but with specific people: “Red Star” correspondent Vladimir Koroteev and the editor-in-chief of this newspaper David Ortenberg.
On November 23–24, 1941, Vladimir Koroteev, together with another journalist, a reporter for Komsomolskaya Pravda, talked with Rokossovsky at the headquarters of the 16th Army. The subject of the conversation was the heroism of soldiers who devote all their strength to the defense of the Fatherland. The journalists were asked to write a report “from the trenches,” but they were still not allowed to go to the front line. I had to be content with second-hand materials. At headquarters they met the commissar of the Panfilov division, Yegorov. Talking about the heroism of the soldiers, Egorov gave an example of a battle between one of the companies and German tanks and suggested writing about this battle. The commissar did not know the exact number of company soldiers. He reported only two cases of betrayal. In the evening, the editorial office worked on the material and settled on the fact that there should have been about 30 soldiers left in the company. The number 28 was obtained by simple subtraction: after all, two were traitors, not heroes. In addition, the next issue was published on November 28, so it turned out to be a beautiful headline. Neither the editor nor the author of the article could have imagined what consequences the publication of the note would have... The topic of Panfilov’s men quickly became popular. A number of more essays about Panfilov’s heroes appeared (however, Koroteev himself never returned to the topic; it was transferred to another journalist, Krivitsky). Stalin really liked the legend, and all 28 Panfilov men were posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
What really happened at the Dubosekovo crossing? And what was the feat of Panfilov’s men? The opinion of historians is this: indeed, the soldiers of Panfilov’s division showed heroism, delaying the advance of the tanks for four hours and allowing the command to bring up troops for the decisive battle. However, the entire battalion deserved glory, and not just the famous 4th company of the 1075th regiment of the 316th Infantry Division. And the main feat of the soldiers was that, having overcome their fear of tanks, with minimal technical support (according to some sources, the entire company had only two anti-tank rifles!) they managed to stop a tank column.
According to the investigation materials, the company on November 16, 1941 was preparing not for defense, but for a counteroffensive. But they didn’t have time: the Germans went on the attack earlier. Despite the fact that the surviving participants in the battle must have provided accurate information, historians still cannot come to a consensus regarding the composition of the German troops that took part in the attacks. Some believe that only tanks were involved in the battle without infantry support. Others insist that the armored vehicles were supported by infantrymen. And the number of tanks varies from 20 to 70. Even more strange is that the name of the Panfilov commander is still the subject of controversy. According to one version, command was taken over by the platoon commander I.E. Dobrobabin, and only after he was wounded, the political instructor of the 4th company V.G. Klochkov, sent by the company commander Gundilovich, managed to get to the Panfilov men. During the first attack, five or six tanks moved into the area that Panfilov’s men were defending (the legendary 20 tanks are the total number of vehicles that attacked the entire regiment). The second platoon, commanded by Dobrobabin, managed to knock out one of them. But in general, in the company’s sector, thanks to the courage of the soldiers, five or six tanks were knocked out. The Germans retreated. Several lines of tanks, 15–20 in each, already launched the next attack. The second battle lasted about 40 minutes and ended in complete defeat. There were 15 German tanks left on the battlefield (later three more were added to them and it was agreed that all the tanks were knocked out by the soldiers of the fourth company). And from the company, which had 120–140 fighters before the battle, only a few people remained in the ranks. Some died, others surrendered.
After the battle, a German funeral team walked across the battlefield. I. D. Shadrin (unconscious) and D. F. Timofeev (severely wounded) were discovered and captured. There is information that Shadrin lay on the battlefield for six days until the Germans established that he was alive. Two more seriously wounded - I.M. Natarov and I.R. Vasiliev - were taken by local residents to the medical battalion. G. M. Shemyakin, periodically losing consciousness, crawled until the horsemen of General Dovator discovered him in the forest. There were two more survivors: D. A. Kozhubergenov (Kozhabergenov) and I. E. Dobrobabin.
The fate of the surviving heroes turned out differently. Natarov died in the medical battalion from his wounds. The six surviving Panfilovites tried to remind themselves: Vasiliev and Shemyakin - after being discharged from hospitals, Shadrin and Timofeev - later, having gone through all the horrors of the concentration camps. They treated the “resurrected” heroes with extreme caution. After all, the whole country knew that all the participants in the battle at Dubosekov died a heroic death. Incessant checks, interrogations, and bullying began. They were especially hostile towards Shadrin and Timofeev: for a Soviet soldier to be captured was tantamount to betraying the Motherland. However, over time, all four received their Gold Stars - some earlier, some later.
The fate of two more Panfilovites was much more tragic: D. A. Kozhubergenov and I. E. Dobrobabin. Daniil Aleksandrovich Kozhubergenov was the liaison officer of the political instructor of the 4th company V. G. Klochkov. In the battle he was shell-shocked, in an unconscious state he was captured by the Germans, but after a few hours he managed to escape, came across Dovator’s cavalry and, together with them, broke out of the encirclement. Having learned from the newspapers that he was considered dead, he was the first of Panfilov’s men to declare himself. But instead of being awarded, he was arrested. Investigator Soloveichik forced Kozhubergenov at gunpoint to sign an “impostor.” He was sent to a marching company, but after being seriously wounded near Rzhev, he was decommissioned, and he returned to Alma-Ata. And in order to avoid problems in the future, we decided to “adjust” the list of heroes. So instead of Daniil Aleksandrovich Kozhubergenov, Askar Kozhebergenov appeared. They even came up with a biography for him. But the real participant in the battle died as an “impostor” in 1976. He has still not been rehabilitated and is not officially recognized.
I. E. Dobrobabin was shell-shocked during the battle and covered with earth. This is probably why the German funeral team did not immediately find him. At night he woke up and crawled to the forest. When, trying to find his own people, Dobrobabin entered the village, he was captured by the Germans and sent to the Mozhaisk camp. During the evacuation of the camp, he managed to escape from the train by breaking the boards and jumping out at full speed. It was impossible to break through to our own people: all the surrounding villages were occupied by the Germans. Then Dobrobabin decided to make his way to his native village of Perekop in Ukraine. There were no Germans in Perekop, and he settled with his sick brother Grigory, who helped him, through the headman P. Zinchenko, who sympathized with the Soviet regime, obtain a certificate of permanent residence in this village. But a denunciation soon followed, and Dobrobabin was sent to the Levandal camp. Apparently, there were also bribe takers among the Germans, because his relatives managed to buy him out of there. But in August 1942, an order appeared to send specialists to work in Germany. His relatives persuaded him to accept the position of policeman in the village: he wouldn’t have to go to Germany, and he could help his own people. This decision almost became fatal. When in 1943, during the retreat of the Germans, Dobrobabin broke out to his own people and, appearing at the field military registration and enlistment office in the village of Tarasovka, Odessa region, told Lieutenant Usov everything, an indelible suspicion fell on his honor. After a check that did not reveal the fact of treason, he was enlisted with the rank of sergeant in the 1055th regiment of the 297th division. Dobrobabin distinguished himself in battles more than once and was awarded the Order of Glory, 3rd degree. But they refused to give him the Hero Star, despite the petition of the chief of counterintelligence of the 2nd Ukrainian Front.
After demobilization, Dobrobabin returned to the city of Tokmak, where he lived before the war. Here a street was named after him and there was a full-length monument to him. But no one needed a living hero. Moreover, Ivan Dobrobabin was repressed as a former police officer. He was arrested and tried on June 8–9, 1948. For “treason to the Motherland,” Dobrobabin was sentenced to 25 years in the camps. However, this term was reduced to 15 years (after all, one of the 28 Panfilovites). According to the court in Moscow, he was deprived of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Not a single witness was called to the trial from the village of Perekop (40 km from Kharkov, where the trial took place), who would confirm his fight against the Germans. The “traitor” was also not given a lawyer. The Panfilov hero went to the camps... At the monument to Dobrobabin, they cut off his head and welded another one, also a Panfilov hero, only he died.
Dobrobabin was released early after 7 years, still deprived of all awards. His name was not mentioned anywhere (he was considered dead), and in 1960 it was officially forbidden to mention Dobrobabin. For many years, the Moscow military historian G. Kumanev worked on the rehabilitation of the hero. And he achieved his goal: in 1993, the Supreme Court of Ukraine rehabilitated Dobrobabin. And after the death of Ivan Evstafievich (he died on December 19, 1996), the title of Hero of the Soviet Union was returned to him by the so-called “Permanent Presidium of the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR”, headed by Sazhi Umalatova.
And the phrase of political instructor Klochkov, which has become a catchphrase, is entirely on the conscience of journalists. The Panfilov division was formed mainly from Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and Uzbeks; much less than half of it was Russian. Many knew almost no Russian (only basic commands). So political instructor Klochkov would hardly have made pathetic speeches in front of the company: firstly, a good half of the soldiers would not have understood anything, and secondly, the roar from the explosions was such that even the commands were not always heard.
On the eve of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the start of the counter-offensive of Soviet troops near Moscow, the “democratic” public and press once again raised the question of whether there were actually 28 Panfilovites, myth or reality their feat. Today, in the press, on television and on the Internet, discussions have once again flared up about the reality of political instructor Vasily Klochkov (Deev), the significance of the battle at the Dubosekovo junction and the influence of the battle near Moscow on the entire course of not only the Great Patriotic War, but also the Second World War. In the West, it is customary to compare the Moscow defensive-counteroffensive battle with the attack of the English corps near El Alamein (North Africa), which won the first victory over the combined group of German-Italian troops under the command of E. Rommel. True, the “researchers” of this fact do not focus on the number of military units, which were 23 times less deployed in the sands of Egypt than near Moscow.
28 Panfilovites - myth or truth
The first investigation, which did not reach the general public, was carried out in 1942 by special departments of the NKVD (since 1943, SMERSH agencies) after the facts were established that not all the soldiers of the fourth company died, and some of the 28 Panfilov men were captured by to the Germans. In the conclusion of the Military Prosecutor's Office of 1948, also marked “for official use,” A. Krivitsky’s article, published in the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper in November 1941, was called “fiction.”
Of course, the events at Dubosekovo were not subject to wide public discussion, but among the people, in the kitchens of the intelligentsia, quite often, after a glass of vodka, doubts were expressed regarding not only the significance of the counter-offensive near Moscow, but also the contribution of the Soviet Union to the victory in World War II. These facts were so widespread that the fifth (ideological) department of the KGB reported them to Yu.V. Andropov, and he reported to the General Secretary of the CPSU L.I. Brezhnev, to which he immediately responded at the November 1966 plenum. Brezhnev called the facts of V. Klochkov’s denial of reality and his phrases “Moscow is behind us and we have nowhere to retreat” unacceptable, and rumors about the unreality of 28 Panfilov’s men should be considered provocative.
Later, in times of general openness and irresponsibility not only for the spoken word, but also for the written phrase, the director of the State Archives S.V. Mironenko published his historical research on the pages of the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper. He not only published tendentious facts compiled from the prosecutor’s investigation of 1948, but also argued that the feat of Panfilov’s men was a myth, and their names were invented by correspondent A. Krivitsky.
Today, due to the openness of archives and the all-pervasiveness of the Internet, any interested historian can independently draw a conclusion about who the 28 Panfilovites are - myth or truth.
A little history
For the first time, mention of the heroic battle of the 4th company of the 1075th Infantry Regiment, 316th Infantry Division at the Dubosekovo junction, during which 15 tanks were destroyed (according to the Wehrmacht archives, only 13), was published by the front-line correspondent of the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper V.I. Koroteev 27 November 1941. A day later, in the editorial of the same newspaper edition, the editorial secretary A.Yu. Krivitsky published extensive material “About 28 Fallen Heroes,” which listed the military ranks and names of 28 fallen heroes. All further publications were written either by Alexander Yuryevich, or based on his editorial dated November 28, 1941.
The death of an entire platoon, whose fighters disrupted a tank breakthrough by their death, destroying 15 tanks, received a wide public response, and in July 1942, all 28 Panfilov men mentioned in A. Krivitsky’s first publication were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. At the same time, in the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR there was a clarification - “posthumously”. Thus, the fact of the death of the soldiers of the fourth company was legitimized.
In fact, of the 28 “posthumously” awarded Heroes of the Soviet Union, not all died. Two of them (G. Shemyakin and I. Vasiliev) were wounded and were treated in the hospital for a long time, but survived. Participants in the battle D. Timofeev and I. Shadrin were captured, but were not deprived of a high award.
I. Dobrobabin, having been captured, went into service with the Germans, which he ended up as the chief of police in the village of Perekop, after the liberation of which he again fought in units of the Red Army. In 1948, after the end of the investigation by the Main Military Prosecutor's Office, he was stripped of the title of Hero and served 7 years in “places not so remote.” His attempts during “glasnost” to achieve rehabilitation failed.
Initially included in the list for awarding the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, political commissar V. Klochkov’s liaison officer Daniil Aleksandrovich Kozhabergenov did not participate in the battle at Dubosekovo, and was sent with a report to the battalion headquarters and was captured. He fled from there and took part in a raid on the fascist rear as part of the formation of General Lev Dovator. After returning from the raid, he was interrogated by SMERSH authorities and truthfully described all the vicissitudes of this period of his life. No reprisals from the NKVD D.A. Kozhabergenov was not subjected, however, in the Decree on conferring the highest award, his person was replaced by a relative of Askar Kozhabergenov. And here lies the secret of one of the bureaucratic incidents, of which there were probably a sufficient number during the bloodiest war in human history. Modern research has established that Askar was enrolled in the 316th Infantry Division in January 1942 and, therefore, could not take part in the battle at Dubosekovo. A. Kozhabergenov died in January 1942 during a raid by one of the Panfilov detachments along the German rear.
Today it has been documented that the names of all 28 participants in the battle at the Dubosekovo crossing, who were either killed or missing, were dictated from memory to A.Yu. Krivitsky by the commander of the fourth company, Captain Pavel Gundilovich. The captain's name was initially listed in the documents for conferring the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, but then in the final version of the Decree he was awarded the Order of Lenin. Pavel Gundilovich died in April 1942 during the counter-offensive of Soviet troops near Moscow.
The bodies of six soldiers found after the liberation of the village in February - April 1942 were buried in a mass grave near the Dubosekovo crossing in the village of Nelidovo. Among the dead, the body of political instructor Vasily Klochkov was identified with one hundred percent probability.
So was it a feat?
Let's look at the bare facts... According to German archives, the Soviet defense in the Dubosekovo area was supposed to be broken through by battle group 1, consisting of a shock tank battalion supported by a rifle regiment. An anti-tank company and an artillery battalion were attached to the group, which were supposed to neutralize Soviet tanks (if they were brought into battle). The losses established by the German side were 13 tanks, 8 of which were hit by anti-tank grenades or anti-tank rifles, and 5 were burned with bottles of Molotov cocktails. The tank battalion was equipped with PzKpfw IV tanks with a crew of 5 people. Thus, the Nazis lost 65 people only due to the destruction of tanks. But we must also take into account the loss of manpower of the fighters of the fascist rifle regiment, which was necessarily accompanied by a breakthrough.
Therefore, the question “Panfilov’s 28 men - a myth or a real reality?” is, to say the least, immoral. And better than the catchphrase of the Russian Minister of Culture V.R. Medinsky - “...their feat is symbolic and is in the same series of feats as the 300 Spartans,” it is impossible to say about this battle.
In the years Great Patriotic War many heroic deeds were performed. People gave their own lives so that the future population of the country would be happy and live without worries. Take, for example, the battles Leningrad. The soldiers stopped the cartridges with their chests and went on the offensive to prevent the Germans from moving forward. But did all the exploits we know about actually happen? Let's figure it out and the real story of the heroes - 28 Panfilov's men will help us with this.
As we are used to seeing
We were told about the real story from our school desks 28 Panfilovites. Of course, the information given in school is taken as the ideal. Therefore, the story, which has been familiar since youth, goes like this.
In mid-November 1941, when only five months had passed after the start of Hitler's invasion, 28 men from one of the rifle regiments defended themselves near Volokolamsk from the Nazi offensive. The head of the operation was Vasily Klochkov. The fight with the enemies lasted more than four hours. During all this time, the heroes were able to raze about twenty tanks to the ground, stopping the Germans for several hours. Unfortunately, no one managed to survive - everyone was killed. In the spring of 1942, the whole country was already aware of what they had done 28 heroes. An order was issued that stated that posthumous orders of Heroes of the Soviet Union should be awarded to all fallen soldiers. In the summer of the same year, the titles were awarded.
The real story of the heroes - 28 Panfilov's men - Secrets.Net
Or didn't everyone die?
Ivan Dobrobabin, after the end of the war, in 1947, was convicted of treason. According to the prosecutor's office, at the beginning of 1942 he was captured by the Germans, with whom he later remained in the service. A year later, Soviet forces finally got to him, putting him behind bars. But it takes a long time Ivan didn't stay - he ran away. His next action is clear - he left again to serve the Nazis. He worked in the German police, where he arrested citizens of the Soviet Union.
After the end of the war, a forced search was made at Dobrobabin’s house. The police were shocked to find a book about 28 Panfilov men, where Ivan was listed as killed! Of course, he had the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
The traitor to his homeland understands that his position leaves much to be desired. Therefore, it is advisable to tell the authorities everything that really happened. According to him, he was among these 28 people, but the Nazis did not kill him, but simply shell-shocked him. While checking all the dead, the Germans found Dobrobabina alive and taken prisoner. He did not stay in the camp for long - he managed to escape. Ivan goes to the village where he was born and spent his youth. But it turned out to be occupied by the Germans. It was too late to go back, so he decides to stay in the police service.
This is not the end of the traitor's story. In 1943, the Russian army advances again. Ivan has no choice but to flee to Odessa where his relatives lived. There, of course, no one suspected that the pious Russian soldier was working for the Nazis. When Soviet troops approached the city, Dobrobabin again found himself in the ranks of his compatriots, continuing the joint offensive. The war ended for him Vienna.
After the war, in 1948, a military tribunal took place. Based on the resolution, Ivan Dobrobabina sentenced to fifteen years in prison, confiscation of property and deprivation of all orders and medals, including one of the highest ranks received posthumously. In the mid-50s, the term of imprisonment was reduced to seven years.
His fate after prison was such that he moved to his brother, where he lived to the age of 83 and died an ordinary death.
The newspaper doesn't lie
In 1947, it turns out that not everyone died. One not only remained alive, but also betrayed the country by ending up in German service. The prosecutor's office began an investigation into the events that actually happened.
According to the documents, the newspaper " Red Star"was one of the first to publish a note about the heroic feat. The correspondent was Vasily Koroteev. He decided to omit the names of the soldiers, but only said that no one remained alive.
A day later, a small article entitled “The Testament of Panfilov’s Men” appears in the same newspaper. It says that all the fighters were able to stop the enemy’s advance on the Soviet Union. Alexander Krivitsky was the secretary of the newspaper at that time. He also signed the article.
After signing the material about the feat of the heroes in “Red Star”, a material appears in which all the names of the dead heroes were published, where, of course, Ivan Dobrobabin.
A few survived!
If you believe the chronicle of events about the real history of 28 Panfilov’s men, then it becomes clear that during the verification of the heroes’ case, Ivan Dobrobabin was not the only survivor of that battle. According to sources, at least five more people besides him did not die. During the battle, they were all wounded, but survived. Some of them were captured by the Nazis.
Daniil Kuzhebergenov, one of the participants in the battle, was also captured. He stayed there for only a few hours, which was quite enough for the prosecutor’s office to admit that he himself surrendered to the Germans. This led to his name being replaced by another at the award ceremony. Of course, he did not receive the award. And until the end of his life he was not recognized as a participant in the battle.
The prosecutor's office studied all the materials of the case and came to the conclusion that there was no story about the 28 Panfilovites. The journalist supposedly made this up. How true this is is known only to the archive, where all the documents of that time are stored.
Interrogation of the commander
Ilya Karpov is the commander of the 1075th regiment, where all 28 people served. When the prosecutor's office conducted an investigation, Karpov was also present. He said that there were no 28 heroes who stopped the Germans.
In fact, at that time the fascists were opposed by the fourth company, from which over a hundred people died. Not a single newspaper correspondent approached the regiment commander for an explanation. Of course Karpov did not talk about any 28 soldiers, since they simply did not exist. He was completely unaware of what was the basis for writing an article in the newspaper.
In the winter of 1941, a correspondent from the newspaper “ Red Star", from which the commander learns about certain Panfilovites who defended the Motherland. The newspapermen admitted that this is exactly how many people were needed to write the note.
According to journalists
Alexander Krivitsky, who was a correspondent for the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper, reports that his material about 28 Panfilovites standing in defense of the country is a complete fiction. None of the soldiers testified to the journalist.
According to the prosecutor's office that conducted the investigation, everyone who was in the battle died. Two men from the company raised their hands, which only meant that they were ready to surrender to the Germans. Our soldiers did not tolerate betrayal and themselves killed two traitors. There was not a word in the documents about the number of people who died in the battle. Moreover, the names remained unknown.
When the journalist returned to the capital again, he told the editor “ Red Star"about a battle where Russian soldiers took part. Later, when asked about the number of people participating, Krivitsky replied that there were about forty people, two of whom were traitors. Gradually the number dropped to thirty people, two of whom surrendered to the Germans. Therefore, exactly 28 people are considered heroes.
Local residents think that...
According to the local population, at that time there were actually fierce battles with Nazi forces. Six people who were found dead were buried in this area. There is no doubt that Soviet soldiers truly heroically defended the country.
07:57 02.08.2017
All of us, citizens who are not indifferent to the past, present and future of Russia, know about the feat of the Panfilov heroes who fought to the death near the walls of Moscow in 1941. On November 15-16, the Nazis launched two strike groups created in the first half of November 1941 on the offensive, trying to bypass Moscow from the north through Klin - Solnechnogorsk and from the south through Tula - Kashira.
© Photo: Anna Sergeeva/ ZUMAPRESS.com/ Globallookpress/ Russian Ministry of Defense/ Vladimir Pesnya/ RIA Novosti
All of us, citizens who are not indifferent to the past, present and future of Russia, know about the feat of the Panfilov heroes who fought to the death near the walls of Moscow in 1941. On November 15-16, the Nazis launched two attack groups created in the first half of November 1941, trying to bypass Moscow from the north through Klin - Solnechnogorsk and from the south through Tula - Kashira. In particular, the Germans planned to reach Moscow along the Volokolamsk Highway, but At the Dubosekovo crossing, 28 soldiers from the 316th Infantry Division, Major General I.V. Panfilov, fought with a company of German infantry, and then with German tanks. The battle lasted over four hours. A handful of Soviet soldiers stood in the way of German tanks and, at the cost of their lives, did not allow the Germans to reach the Volokolamsk highway. Almost everyone died. The feat of 28 Panfilov men went down in history, as they thought then, forever, and the words of the company’s political instructor V. G. Klochkov: “Russia is great, but there is nowhere to retreat, Moscow is behind!” - all the defenders of Moscow knew. Major General Ivan Vasilyevich Panfilov, the commander of the 316th Infantry Division, laid down his bright head near Moscow on November 18, 1941. The magazine “New World” began to deny the feat of Panfilov’s men in 1997: under the authorship of Nikolai Petrov and Olga Edelman, the article “New about Soviet Heroes” was published. Westerners cannot come to terms with the existence of Panfilov’s heroes in our history and are attacking the feat with a united front heroes. In their opinion, the correspondent of the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper V.I. Koroteev did not understand the events, the editor-in-chief D. Ortenberg also did not understand, the correspondent A.Yu. Krivitsky also did not understand, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR also did not understand and undeservedly awarded 28 Panfilov heroes. It seems that it was not the indicated persons who did not understand the events, but the persons who question the fact of the feat, since they have absolutely no idea of the USSR in harsh wartime, the degree of responsibility for the work performed by every citizen of the country. It is naive to believe that an article in a newspaper was enough to be nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. But until recently, Westerners had no reason to question the fact of Panfilov’s feat. And suddenly, like manna from heaven, a certificate appears for them, which the prosecutor’s office allegedly addressed to Zhdanov. Very opportunely, the director of the State Archives of the Russian Federation, Sergei Mironenko, retrieved this certificate from dark hiding places. As in that proverb, the Westerners didn’t have a penny and suddenly an altyn appeared. All people seeking to turn the real feat of Panfilov’s men into a myth, and turn the myth invented by those attacking the feat into real events, have one thing in common: they all refer to the certificate - Afanasyev's report. It is also impossible not to pay attention to the fact that their texts do not contain the very sources to which the authors refer. The last technique of Westerners was pointed out by the remarkable historian and researcher A.V. Isaev, who wrote a series of books called “Antisuvorov”, in which he exposes the falsification of facts of the Great Patriotic War by English citizen V. B. Rezun, who publishes in Russia under the pseudonym Viktor Suvorov. At one time, this Suvorov filled the shelves of Russian stores with “historical” books about the war (apparently, he has very rich sponsors), and in each book there are links , links to open Soviet sources, texts from these books. But if you consider it necessary, take the time and find the books that the author refers to, you will find that in many cases their texts are completely inconsistent with the texts given by him in his books. I'm not even talking about the capabilities of today's technology, which can create any document with a signature, seal and date. Suddenly, with the beginning of perestroika, these “documents” began to be found in dozens, and Westerners began to wave them as flags of irrefutable evidence of the truth. The whistleblowers contradict themselves. For example, they write that “as a result, already on July 21, 1942, the Presidium of the Supreme Council signed a corresponding decree” awarding 28 Panfilov members the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. With the word “already” they seek to emphasize the haste in rewarding heroes. In fact, the word “already” in the text is inappropriate, since Panfilov’s men accomplished the feat on November 16, 1941, and the award decree was issued eight months after the feat was accomplished, which indicates that there was sufficient time to verify the accuracy of the information presented. In articles devoted to the heroic feat -Panfilov’s men during the Great Patriotic War, many write that already in 1948 a large-scale investigation was carried out with the goal of establishing whether the feat of 28 Panfilov’s men really took place. But not a single article asked the question why the prosecutor’s office, which in 1947 was dealing with the Dobrobabin case, began to deal with another matter, namely, assessing whether the feat of 28 Panfilov’s men took place or not. Who authorized the prosecutor's office to investigate the issue of the feat of 28 Panfilov men? A large-scale investigation was allegedly carried out by investigators from the Kharkov Military Prosecutor's Office, who allegedly came to the conclusion that everything stated in the articles describing the feat of Panfilov men near Moscow was falsification. But the authors of the articles, which to one degree or another deny the feat of 28 Panfilov men, did not show any of the readers the conclusion of the prosecutor’s office and did not even provide a single verbatim excerpt from the case material. This suggests that they did not familiarize themselves with the materials of the prosecutor’s office, but completely trusted the comments of S. Mironenko. Not only official, but also any justified revelation is not visible in the information presented. It is suspicious that documents casting doubt on the feat of 28 Panfilovites were discovered during the Khrushchev Thaw and Gorbachev’s perestroika, that is, during mass falsifications and forgeries. In fact, as Doctor of Historical Sciences, Minister of Culture V. R. Medinsky correctly noted, the investigation of the Main Military The prosecutor's office (GVP) on May 10, 1948 showed: “There was a battle at Dubosekovo. It was led by the 4th company of the 1075th Infantry Regiment.” But S. Mironenko does not notice this conclusion of the prosecutor’s office, but stubbornly imposes on the public the opinion that there was no battle at Dubosekovo. His attitude towards the feat in the articles of Sergei Mironenko’s comrades-in-arms is clearly expressed as an insult to the memory of real heroes who did not spare their lives to achieve the Great Victory. But none of the real heroes are named. It turns out that the real heroes are those who have no name, whom the country does not know. Replacing real heroes with virtual ones means depriving the nation of its heroes. Our enemies understand this and constantly reproach us for glorifying individual heroes and forgetting about thousands of others. Another source tells us: “In July 2015, the State Archive published on its official website a scanned copy of the certificate-report of the USSR Chief Military Prosecutor Nikolai Afanasyev about the “so-called feat of 28 Panfilov’s men.” A report prepared in May 1948 stated that the story of the feat of 28 division soldiers under the command of Major General Ivan Panfilov, who at the cost of their lives stopped German tanks in the battle near Moscow on November 19, 1941, was in fact invented by a newspaper employee." Red Star." Was there such a certificate? Most likely, it was not a feat, but the certificate was invented. It is difficult to believe that I.V. Stalin in 1947-1948 could allow such outrage against the memory of heroes. It is possible that this certificate-report by Afanasyev appeared decades later, since no one knew or wrote anything about it for more than half a century. If archives with tens of thousands of documents burned in Moscow and St. Petersburg and no one was held responsible for this, then hardly anyone will be afraid of responsibility for a fake certificate. Vladimir Tikhomirov, trying to explain Stalin’s position, wrote the following: “Of course, this episode in itself about the falsification of the feat during the battle of Moscow (under the leadership of Zhukov) did not mean anything, but this case was the very brick with which the security officers built the execution wall for Marshal of Victory... However, Afanasyev’s report was not useful. Apparently, the leader of the peoples decided to forgive the marshal or was simply frightened by the increased power of the MGB. As a result, Zhukov got off with a strict party reprimand.” G. K. Zhukov got off not with a reprimand, but with exile away from Moscow to a post that was far from being a marshal. With this decision, J.V. Stalin saved G.K. Zhukov from trial for the illegal export of material assets from Germany, and did not build an execution wall, as the author writes. We must understand that Stalin constantly supported and promoted G.K. Zhukov. It was G.K. Zhukov and I.S. Konev that Stalin entrusted in 1945 with leading the fronts that took Berlin. In a few short paragraphs, the author managed to denigrate both the MGB and Dobrobabin. And the author does not know that on November 16, 1941, Dobrobabin fought as a hero. You have to not love Russia to write like that. Consider the author’s one phrase: “There weren’t enough heroes then.” And he writes this about a time when there were so many heroes that there were not enough correspondents to describe the exploits of our soldiers and officers. At that time, even cowards became heroes. The author also managed to slander I.V. Stalin, under whose leadership the USSR produced twice as many weapons during the war years as Germany together with Europe, which worked for it, and won not only the Battle of Moscow, but also the entire war, defeating the armies of Germany, Italy, Hungary, Romania and Finland. The author guesses that the reader will not understand why Stalin allowed some military prosecutor's office of the Kharkov garrison to make a statement about the falsification of the feat of the Panfilov heroes. In an effort to explain this paradox, the author actually declared the conclusions of the Kharkov prosecutor's office about the feat of 28 Panfilov men to be untrue, since the author himself indicates that the prosecutor's office made its statement to fight Zhukov. And how does the author begin the article! They broke into the apartment and hit me in the teeth. A work of fiction, a detective story, like the whole article. And on the basis of such articles, the feat of our soldiers is called into question! It is alarming that copies of the documents were not only published, but also commented on by the director of the State Archive of the Russian Federation, Sergei Mironenko, who is vested with full power. Then S. Mironenko stated that in reality there were no 28 Panfilov men, and their feat was an invention of Soviet propaganda. Elena Panfilova, the granddaughter of the commander of the 316th Infantry Division Ivan Vasilyevich Panfilov, when asked about the feat of the Panfilov men, answers the following: “I don’t understand who we need to raise this topic again. Not long ago my mother, Maya Ivanovna, passed away. She was the daughter of Ivan Vasilyevich, from childhood she knew that her father was a hero, who died on November 18, 1941 along with his soldiers. And suddenly it turns out that “everything was wrong, the feat was invented.” Let such statements be on the conscience of those who make them. Even the Germans recognized, were amazed and admired the heroism of the soldiers of Panfilov’s division and called this division wild and fearless. Do your own people doubt it?! We recently visited Volokolamsk for commemorative events dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Moscow. We were received very warmly there. There were a lot of young people. None of them asked if there was a feat. They know: there was.” Boris Sokolov, a cameraman during the Great Patriotic War, explains: “Panfilov’s men, of course, were not 28. But much more - hundreds, a division! A journalist from the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper, where the article about the feat first appeared, decided to voice exactly this figure and these names. As I understand it, they were, in turn, voiced to him by the unit commander - whom he, the commander, was able to remember literally on the run. Later it turned out that three of those listed as dead after that battle at Dubosekovo actually remained alive. But double-checking information under exploding shells and conducting detailed interviews with eyewitnesses at the table, as you understand, was unrealistic. I’m telling you as a documentarian: it was on this line of the front that the soldiers of Panfilov’s division stopped German tanks.” The second granddaughter, Aigul, when asked by Sergei Prudnikov about her attitude to the fact that the feat of Panfilov’s men became the topic of heated discussion in society, answered: “This is a sore subject. In general, all these “whistleblowers” are masters who, without having fought, without smelling gunpowder, without knowing anything in practice, begin to argue what is right and what is wrong. My mother, for example, always wanted to meet with the historian Volkogonov, who in the late 1980s suddenly began to claim that the Soviet Union was not preparing for war. She was indignant: how could I not prepare, if I graduated from courses for military sergeants and had the “Voroshilov shooter” badge? We prepared, we knew what would happen! In 1994, on the eve of the New Year, in our Alma-Ata newspaper "Karavan" a huge article was published - "28 Panfilov's Men: True or Fiction?" A certain journalist Rakip Nasyrov went to Dubosekovo, walked around, looked and decided, simply decided, that this battle could not have happened at all, General Panfilov is an unprofessional and the general’s shoulder straps need to be torn off from him! When this article came out, my first thought was to not show it to my mother. What the hell, the veterans have already cut off the phone! And, frankly, this publication stole several years of my mother’s life...” The third granddaughter of I.V. Panfilov, Aula, said: “I never thought that we would have to defend our already deceased comrades and parents.” Ildar Sharipov wrote: “What is written about this feat in Wikipedia can be considered a vile substitution.” The author of an article from a generally respected source reports that the battle of 28 Panfilov men on the Volokolamsk highway is the invention of a writer and military correspondent. Not true! There is a substitution of meanings and concepts, whose deep roots grow from two perestroikas - Khrushchev's and Gorbachev's. It is no secret that the main goal in war is victory. Everything that helps bring it closer and achieve it intensifies and multiplies. Everything that interferes is discarded in one way or another. The time for analysis comes after the war and after the victory. This was the case with Panfilov’s men. Three years after the victory, a prosecutor's investigation was carried out, the results of which leave no doubt: near Dubosekovo, where that battle took place, more than a hundred soldiers from different parts of the USSR died a brave death. Most of Panfilov’s men died, but the fascists were not allowed to enter Moscow... On November 24, 2016, a film screening of the domestic film “Panfilov’s 28 Men” starts. It is noteworthy that funds for its creation also came from ordinary Russians - more than 30 million (30 million 762 thousand 62 rubles - L.M.) rubles were collected using the Internet, which is almost a record in our country.”Money 35,086 people sent. “It was a real miracle,” said Andrei Shalyopa at the screening of “Panfilov’s Men” for journalists. This trust of thousands of people was incredibly touching, but at the same time we felt an unprecedented responsibility.” While people were sending money to film the film, the head of the State Archive, Sergei Mironenko, published on the department’s website and commented on Afanasyev’s certificate-report. But people listened not to Mironenko, but to their grandfathers and fathers who fell in battle, died and were still alive, who managed to convey the truth to their children and grandchildren. In 2015, a Moscow group of Panfilov veterans asked that the director of the Russian State Archive, Sergei Mironenko, and the head of the Federal Archive Agency be brought to justice Andrei Artizov for the discussion they launched in the press about the feat of 28 Panfilov men. One can understand these people, who miraculously survived the battles that defended Moscow and the country, but in their old age were condemned by the above-mentioned persons. Mironenko was removed from office. Apparently, there were reasons. Professor Doctor of Historical Sciences Andrei Klimov, during his lecture, when asked whether 28 Panfilov heroes even existed, answered: “Today I will try to prove that this is not a myth. The military actions of Panfilov’s men became a symbol of fearlessness and an unshakable will to victory, the unbreakable military brotherhood of representatives of the fraternal peoples of the Soviet Union.” And he proved it. Doctor of Historical Sciences, Minister of Culture V. R. Medinsky said that 28 Panfilov’s men are like 300 Spartans. And Ivan Proshkin, assessing the feat of the Panfilovites, correctly noted: “The feat of the Panfilovites: the future of Russia lies with the heroes of the past.” To assess the full significance of the feat of the Panfilovites for Russia, one must imagine the degree of danger hanging over the country in November 1941. The armies of Germany and its allies in June 1941 were twice the size of the Red Army, but thanks to the courage of Soviet soldiers and officers, the presence in the Red Army of the best artillery in the world, self-loading automatic rifles, machine guns and other small arms, the receipt of new, superior German, medium tanks T-34 and heavy KV tanks, aircraft, the presence in the army of a huge amount of weapons that were morally outdated, but capable of disabling enemy infantry and equipment, the Red Army withstood the first blow and onslaught of the enemy. Despite the fact that the Nazis were unable to take Leningrad and abandon the liberated divisions near Moscow, the position of our troops near Moscow remained critical. According to all theoretical calculations, the USSR should have lost this war. The USA predicted that we would hold out for several months, England - for several weeks, and for Germany, August was the deadline for the capture of Moscow, and October - the territory of the USSR to the Urals along the Moscow-Astrakhan line. All these forecasts and plans were justified. The USA and England knew well the strength of the troops of Germany and its allies, and the Germans meticulously calculated everything. The capture of Moscow could well have taken place, and this meant one thing for the peoples of the USSR - death. Hitler has repeatedly stated that he is waging a war of extermination in the east. Our Soviet people were not exterminated thanks to the feat accomplished by our people, our army, 28 Panfilov men. And all this talk about how the troops abandoned Moscow in 1812, but Russia won the war with Europe, does not take into account a number of factors. At that time, Moscow was not the capital of the Russian Empire, the country’s defense capability did not depend on the work of its industry, the capabilities of Napoleon’s army to seize Russian territory after the capture of Moscow were limited due to the lack of military equipment of the 20th century. The existence or not of Russia depended on the results of the Battle of Moscow , to live or not to live for the Russian and other peoples of the USSR. In one of the most difficult directions near Moscow, in the Volokolamsk region, the 316th Infantry Division of Major General Panfilov fought in a defense zone about 40 kilometers long. The division was attacked by three tank and one rifle divisions of the Wehrmacht. If we take into account that one Wehrmacht rifle division was twice as large as one rifle division of the Red Army, then we can say that three tank and two German rifle divisions were attacking Panfilov’s division.I. V. Panfilov found a solution that dramatically improves the ability to fight tanks. The organization of defense of the 316th Infantry Division is still being studied by the military of many countries. Panfilov prepared his division well, including in the fight against enemy tanks. He explained that a tank is the same tractor, but with a cannon, and taught how to destroy tanks and not be afraid of them. Considering that the majority of army soldiers were drafted from villages and hamlets (all skilled workers were reserved and produced weapons), this explanation was understandable to them. On November 16, 1941, the most terrible blow fell on Panfilov’s men holding the defense at the Dubosekovo crossing. The defense was held by soldiers of the 4th company of the 1075th regiment under the command of political instructor Vasily Klochkov. They were attacked by 50 tanks and infantry. The battle lasted more than four hours. Despite the huge losses, the Germans continued to attack the positions of Panfilov’s men. Most of Panfilov’s men, of course, understood that given the existing balance of forces they were not destined to survive, but in Russian, both Russians, Kazakhs, and fighters of other nationalities fought to the death. Commander Vasily Klochkov , like the fighters, he understood that he would die, but he could not even admit the thought of leaving his positions, or allowing the enemy troops to break through. That’s why he said: “Russia is great, but there is nowhere to retreat. Moscow is behind us! These words of a man going to his death for his Motherland, for everyone who lived in our country at that time, for us living today, expressed the thoughts and feelings of all the soldiers who fought near Moscow. These were the words of the entire Soviet people, who stood as an irresistible force in the path of the enemy. Political instructor Klochkov died, being seriously wounded, throwing himself with a bunch of grenades under a German tank and blowing it up along with himself. As they say now, not everyone died, but 22 of the 28 Panfilov men who fought nearby under the command of Klochkov. The Germans did not break through to the Volokolamsk highway. The enemy left eighteen tanks and hundreds of his soldiers on the battlefield. But S. Mironenko and his comrades shoved pieces of paper of dubious origin in our faces and shouted that the feat of 28 Panfilov’s men did not happen and Klochkov did not utter the above words. But even in these papers, put on public display by Mironenko, it is written that there was a battle at Dubosekovo on November 16, 1941. In addition to these papers, there are other archival documents confirming the untruthfulness of Mironenko’s words. For example, information from the political report of the head of the political department of the 316th Infantry Division, battalion commissar Galushko, to the head of the political department of the 16th Army, regimental commissar Maslenov. The village of Gusenevo, November 17, 1941: “...11/16/1941 in the morning, at 08:00, the enemy launched an offensive on the left flank of our defense in the area of 1075 SP. The enemy advanced in the amount of 50-60 heavy and medium tanks and quite a large number of infantry and machine gunners. The 1075th joint venture suffered heavy losses, two companies were completely lost, the data on losses is being clarified, we will report in the next report. 1075 SP fought to the last opportunity, the regiment command left the command post only when enemy tanks appeared at the command post.” This whole team of ill-wishers often lies in an effort to cover up the heroic past of our people with black paint, to deprive the nation of dignity, to form a new Russian, embarrassed the past of his homeland and feeling his own inferiority. For example, Vladimir Tikhomirov writes: “Afanasyev’s secret report haunted historians for a long time. These documents were first unearthed by front-line soldier and publicist Emil Cardin, who published the article “Legends and Facts” in the magazine “New World” in 1966. The article received a sharp rebuke from Secretary General Leonid Brezhnev himself, who called Cardin a slanderer. Nevertheless, rumors about the report periodically surfaced in various “samizdat” publications.” “Whistleblowers” are not telling the truth. In the article “Legends and Facts,” published in 1966 in the magazine “New World,” there is not a word about Afanasyev’s secret report. E. Cardin in “Legends and Facts” glorifies his own and criticizes historians and publicists who are not his own, in particular A. Krivitsky. He writes: “Years have passed since then, and it turned out: several of Panfilov’s twenty-eight men are alive! A. Krivitsky also mentions this in his book “I Will Never Forget.” He names the names of Shemyakin, Vasiliev, Shadrin, and reports that they sent him their photographs. But it does not make any changes to the description of the battle, nor does it provide any new details. Whether he saw them or not, whether he finally tried to find out from the direct participants how this unprecedented duel took place, nothing is known.” The entire campaign to discredit the feat of Panfilov’s men is built on similar statements, designed to ensure that the reader will not read the material , which the “whistleblower” refers to. They understand that their arguments are impure, and with false statements that in 1966 E. Cardin wrote about prosecutorial statements in 1947 and reports in 1948 denying the feat of Panfilov’s men, they are trying to mislead our society. They are trying to say with untruthful statements that already in 1966 there were reports, copies of which were presented by Sergei Mironenko. But such information is not confirmed in the article “Legends and Facts”, which the “whistleblowers” point to. There is no mention of memos denying the feat of Panfilov’s heroes, neither in 1966, nor in 1976, nor even in 1986, nor in all of these decades. In the copy of the memo allegedly by the USSR Prosecutor General G. N. Safonov, there is no Safonov’s signature, which causes doubt about the authenticity of the document. Also, Safonov’s position was not indicated, which could not have been in the document sent to the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks to Comrade Zhdanov. The type of document is also not indicated, that is, memorandum, order, presentation, decision, etc. There are no patronymic initials, as in the West, there is no date, day, month and year of sending the document. In the upper left corner there is someone’s signature and printed: 17/V, but the year is not indicated. In the upper right corner it is written: “July 11, 48” (with the number 4 written in pencil, and the number 8 typed). Further in the same corner it is written: No. 145 LSS. The letter “L” is usually placed when registering orders for personnel, but this is not an order. In the same corner it is written in pencil: owl. secret... - and then the entry was made using a different text. Can you trust a document without a signature, position and date with a number of other comments? But this so-called document formed the basis for denying the feat of the Panfilov heroes. In the copy of the second certificate-report “About 28 Panfilov’s men” (we need to come up with such a name!) of the country’s chief military prosecutor N.P. Afanasyev, the person to whom the report is addressed is missing. One can only judge from the comments of S. Mironenko’s associates that the report was intended for USSR Prosecutor G. N. Safonov. In the certificate, too, as is customary in the West, there are no patronymic initials. It was no coincidence that Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences G. A. Kumanev, who defended the truth about Panfilov’s heroes, called his article “Feat and Forgery,” and Marshal of the Soviet Union D. T. Yazov agreed with him. Every citizen of Russia must understand that the signature of the USSR Chief Prosecutor N.P. Afanasyev, allegedly under the so-called certificate-report, cannot be accepted as a weighty argument for denying the feat of 28 Panfilov men on November 16, 1941 in the battle of Moscow. Sergei Mironenko, who published a copy of the certificate - the report of the country's chief military prosecutor N.P. Afanasyev and a report without the signature of the USSR Prosecutor General G.N. Safonov, claims that he was guided by the desire for truth, but the factual material points to other goals. At the beginning of his speech, he refers to German sources, and at the end he states the following: “This is the vile essence of the Soviet state, for which real heroes mean nothing.” What undisguised hatred for the Panfilov heroes, whom he declares to be fictitious heroes, but does not name a single real hero of the Moscow Battle! The West and its servants inside Russia are trying to deprive us of their heroes, to convince us that among, for example, 28 Panfilov heroes who were awarded gold star of the Hero of the Soviet Union, there were no heroes. Westerners began to debunk heroes even during perestroika and, as it seems to them, have now debunked all the heroes and great people of Russia. It would seem that there should be no doubt that 28 Panfilov’s men fought heroically near Moscow and almost all died. Two, as it turned out later, were captured, four more remained alive. So what's all the fuss about? There is clearly an order from forces unfriendly to Russia, mockery of those who are pure and holy for the people, and of all of us who love Russia, proud of its history and culture, its labor and military exploits. Author: Leonid Maslovsky The opinion expressed in the publication of Leonid Maslovsky is his personal position and may not coincide with the opinion of the editors of the Zvezda TV channel website.
This is a certificate-report of the Chief Military Prosecutor of the USSR N. Afanasyev “About 28 Panfilovites” dated May 10, 1948. The document debunks the legend of the origin of the formula of the struggle for independence: “There is nowhere to retreat - Moscow is behind us...” And gives the bitter truth about the 28 Panfilov heroes.
For those who are not aware of the significant history of the Great Patriotic War with the 28 Panfilov heroes who defended Moscow from the Nazis in 1941, here is a short historical background. We are talking about an investigation into the details of the battle at the Dubosekovo crossing in the Volokolamsk district of the Moscow region, in which 28 servicemen of the 4th company of the 2nd battalion of the 1075th rifle regiment of the 8th Panfilov Guards division of the Red Army took part. This is the same battle that is included in all history textbooks. And the words of political instructor Klochkov: “There is nowhere to retreat - Moscow is behind us...” and completely became winged.
And the pages of the prosecutor’s investigation published by the State Archive indicate that most likely such words were not said. All this is nothing more than a fantasy of the literary secretary of the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper Krivitsky, based on an essay by front-line correspondent Koroteev, who described the battle of the 5th company of the N-regiment of the Panfilov division under the command of political instructor Diev. An essay about the battle of Panfilov’s men with 54 Wehrmacht tanks was published on November 27, and on the 28th, Krivitsky’s editorial appeared in “Red Star”, which already included the number of fighters and quoting political instructor Klochkov.
In the published prosecutor's investigation, Krivitsky admits in black and white that the words of the political instructor are the fruit of his imagination. And the number of heroes killed was calculated very approximately: there seemed to be 30 soldiers, but two tried to surrender and were shot. The editor-in-chief of Krasnaya Zvezda, Ortenberg, considered, as the prosecutor's investigation says, that two traitors were too many and left one. There, in the office of the editor-in-chief, it was decided that every single soldier died a heroic death, having destroyed 18 tanks.
Perhaps the essay would not have been noticed, but Krivitsky’s editorial under the loud headline "The Testament of 28 Fallen Heroes" paid more than close attention. The names of those killed in battle also appeared, the words of political instructor Klochkov were replicated in poetry and prose not by front-line reporters, but by respected writers. They themselves, having never been to the front, supplemented the dry newspaper lines with expression.
The investigation of this story did not take place during the years of perestroika and was not initiated by some structure seeking to denigrate the glory of the winners. The main military prosecutor's office investigated the case of treason against the Motherland by Ivan Dobrobabin. In 1942, he voluntarily surrendered to the Germans and served them in the police. During the arrest, the traitor was found with a book “About 28 Panfilov’s Heroes”, where he was listed as a dead hero.
The prosecutor's office began to investigate the plot and found out that in addition to Dobrobabin, the list of dead heroes included four more living Panfilovites. In addition to the traitor Dobrobabin, Daniil Kuzhebergenov was also captured by the Germans, who spoke during interrogations ( the document does not indicate who he told - the Germans or the Soviet SMERSH - Note "RM") that he is the one who died, one of the 28.
And Kuzhenbergenov was immortalized in poetry by the famous poet of that era, Nikolai Tikhonov:
Stands guard near Moscow
Kuzhebergenov Daniil,
I swear on my head
Fight to the last strength...
Further, the military prosecutor's office finds out that there was no battle at the Dubosekovo crossing on the day marked by the publication in Krasnaya Zvezda. On November 16, the Germans quickly broke the resistance of Panfilov’s troops on this section of the front, the 1075th regiment suffered serious losses and retreated to the next line of defense. Fellow soldiers had not heard of any feat of the 28 heroes. This is confirmed by the words of representatives of local authorities. The chairman of the Nelidovo village council testified that the Germans passed through the line on November 16 and were knocked out on December 20 during the counter-offensive of the Red Army. Local residents were able to discover under the snow rubble and bury in a mass grave the remains of only six soldiers, including political instructor Klochkov.
The prosecutor's investigation is read in one breath. Although, of course, the Chief Military Prosecutor of the USSR Armed Forces, Lieutenant General N. Afanasyev, does not use any detective techniques. This is a dry investigation of facts leading to hard conclusions. The prosecutor's office states: there was no feat of the indicated 28 Red Army soldiers, there was no battle described by the Red Star journalists.
Now some are demanding that we not recognize the facts of the investigation, which allegedly call into question the heroism of the Soviet people as a whole. Others demand the renaming of streets named in memory of Panfilov’s heroes. Extremes when assessing history are commonplace. The famous publicist Maxim Shevchenko accurately formulated a reasonable attitude to what happened in a speech on the Ekho Moskvy radio:
“...28 Panfilovites was an important mobilization myth. And 28 Panfilov men, and political instructor Klochkov, and a Kyrgyz who stood under a tank with a grenade, perhaps a fairy tale. But this fairy tale, which people believed, inspired a huge number of people to fight. This tale justified the terrible hardships and sacrifices that people endured. Therefore, let’s assume that the 28 Panfilov men in particular and their battle were depicted by the journalist in some metaphorical form. Let us ask ourselves: were there no battles in which 28 soldiers were on the same Lamsky line near Volokolamsk, where the Panfilov division stopped the advance of the German Operation Typhoon? Were. Therefore, Panfilov’s men are heroes. General Panfilov is a hero. It's cumulative. There were many Panfilovites along the entire front. But the correspondent did not get there. He was not allowed to go to the front line. They will also kill him, or he will be captured by the Germans. The next question is: how does this discredit the memory of those who died near Moscow? They defeated the fascists. There are thousands of nameless Panfilovites like this. They lie in the ravines..."
It’s hard to argue with Shevchenko’s arguments: the characters are not to blame for the way they were written about. They fought honestly and as best they could. They are heroes. But what the so-called “Red Star” journalists did... They did not just betray the meaning of the journalistic profession, the main principle of which is “I saw - I want to tell.” They planted a nasty mine that would go off years later in the heroic story of the Great Victory. But the truth is the truth. She, no matter how bitter she is, does not tolerate excuses “inappropriate, inappropriate.” The strength of the victorious people lies precisely in the ability to recognize the truth at any time, even the most inopportune time. And just the way she is.
