During the Great Patriotic War, not much was known about the incredible feat of 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 discovered 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, 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, and that this is how a soldier should defend his homeland - the Fatherland.
Then a medallion was taken out of 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.
The German chief told me: “Take this document and write to your relatives. 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 the piece of paper and 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 had a large bloody stain on the left side, his helmet was broken, and 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, and noticed that he was apparently not from the boss’s family. Nikolai answered jokingly:
“I am a worker from Orel, and I am no stranger to physical labor. 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 the mass grave of 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 a 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 a mass grave (according to the military burial registration card on the OBD Memorial website - in 1943), on which a monument was erected in the form of a sculpture of a soldier grieving for his fallen comrades, and on the marble plaques the list of those buried indicated surname Sirotinin N.V.
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.
At the Tekmash plant in Orel, a memorial plaque was installed with a brief information about N.V. Sirotinin.
The Museum of Military Glory in Secondary School No. 17 in the city of Orel contains 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.
The Barbarossa plan, developed by the strategists of the Third Reich, envisaged a lightning-fast capture of the European part of the Soviet Union; the Germans planned to be in Moscow already in August 1941.
One of the transport arteries that the Nazis used to advance to Moscow was the Warsaw Highway, built in the second half of the 19th century. The highway was of strategic importance, which was noted by Russian autocrats. Now columns of German tanks and armored vehicles were marching along it towards the capital of our Motherland.To delay the enemy troops and support the retreating Soviet units, the commander of the artillery battery (his last name could not be determined) decided to install one gun on the 476th kilometer of the highway near the bridge over the Dobrost River, which due to an oversight was not blown up.
The calculation included the battalion commander himself and senior sergeant Nikolai Vladimirovich Sirotinin, gunner of the 55th Infantry Regiment. Sirotinin was a native of the city of Orel, he was drafted into the army in the fall of 1940, and served in Polotsk.
Sirotinin volunteered to cover the withdrawal of Soviet units. Near the village of Sokolnichi, in the thick rye, they well camouflaged an anti-tank gun. German intelligence did not notice her and reported to the command that the passage was clear.
In the area of the bridge, the military equipment of the 4th Panzer Division under the command of Willibald von Langerman appeared at dawn on July 17. The first shot of an anti-tank gun knocked out the lead tank of the column, the second shot knocked out an armored personnel carrier bringing up the rear of the column. A traffic jam was created, and the Germans did not manage to eliminate it immediately. Sirotinin, and he remained alone at the gun after the battalion commander’s withdrawal, with a targeted hit he destroyed the vehicles that were trying to clear the jam.
For a long time the Germans could not determine the source of the fire; they were sure that a whole battery was hitting them.
For two and a half hours, until the last shell, senior sergeant Sirotinin fought with the invader; he destroyed 11 tanks, 7 armored personnel carriers, 57 soldiers and officers. When the Germans approached his position, he continued to fire back with his carbine.
This feat became known thanks to an investigation conducted by a library worker in the village of Sokolnichi, Mikhail Melnikov, who collected testimony from village residents who were eyewitnesses of that battle.
One of them, Ekaterina Puzyrevskaya, who spoke German, recalls the words of a German officer who said that every soldier should defend his homeland - the Fatherland.
The memory of this selfless battle was preserved by an entry in the diary of Chief Lieutenant of the 4th Panzer Division Friedrich Hönfeld; he reports that the Germans were delighted with the Russian’s act and buried him with honor.
Senior Sergeant Nikolai Sirotinin was twenty-one years old. His feat is comparable to the legendary exploits of Alexander Matrosov, Nikolai Gastello and the feat of 28 Panfilov men.
Recently, many so-called historians have appeared, or people trying to classify themselves as such, who are trying to refute not even the feat, but the very existence of Nikolai Sirotinin. These false historians are based on data from the Book of Memory for the Oryol region, which reports the death of Nikolai Sirotinin on July 16, 1944 near Karachev in the Bryansk region, German sources, their own “research”, so to speak, which is mostly illiterate in nature, and, purely selectively , based on data from witnesses of that battle. But the main thing is not all this, but the fact that, as a long discussion with one of these “historians” showed, the main argument, omitting various kinds of insults, was the following: “this is not there anywhere, which means it cannot be.”
The purpose of this article is to show the main arguments in favor, based on newly discovered circumstances and analysis of existing data, which allow us to look at what happened both on that day near Krichev, and before the battle and immediately after it, from not a literary, but a historical point of view him. As a result, it was possible to restore almost completely the entire picture of what happened both before and after Nikolai Sirotinin’s feat on July 17, 1941, as if from his own point of view.We will not dwell here on the entire difficult situation that had developed by that time on this section of the front in Belarus, and we will resort to it only if it is relevant to the feat itself. And we will not describe that battle itself now, since this is the topic of a separate note. In short, I would like to say that the battle was not the same as it was described in the literature, since Nikolai was not alone in the first attacks on Sokolnichi (in the first part of the day on July 17), and participated, along with others, along with all the personnel of the combined rifle regiment of the 5th army. But that battle, which everyone knows about from literary sources, when he was left alone with the column - this was the third attempt to cross the Dobrost River, and, basically, no longer by tank, but by artillery units. But now the main thing is to show how everything was before this day.
So, first of all, I would like to start with the fact that from the documents about Nikolai, only the conscript’s medical card has been preserved, weight - 53 kg, height - 164 cm, year of birth - 1921, and his letter home, 1940, from the 55th Infantry Regiment from under Polotsk, possibly written immediately after conscription in October of the same year. Its 17th Infantry Division was stationed in Belarus throughout the pre-war period, and by the beginning of the war it was redeployed to the line of the river. Ditva, where she came into direct contact with the enemy.
Rice. Part of N. Sirotinin’s medical record.
By June 1941, he was already a senior sergeant, a gun commander. In about 2/3 of a year, it was quite possible to rise to such a rank and position. After all, this was a special time when the very possibility of war was already felt by all the people and leaders at all levels. Naturally, in these critical conditions, a lucky, smart and skillful gunner boy could quickly receive the ranks of both sergeant and senior sergeant. Still, tomorrow there could be a war and it was necessary to prepare personnel, and, especially, to set an example for others.
One of the main counter-arguments that Nikolai could not have ended up at Krichev was that at that time his entire 55th Regiment of the 17th Infantry Division was in retreat to Kalinkovichi, which is 250 km southwest of Krichev. Below we present in full that part of the memoirs of the commander of the 55th Infantry Regiment, Major Skripka, explaining what and how happened then: “On the evening of June 24, the division commander received an order to withdraw to the eastern bank of the Ditva River. Leaving a rifle company at the height as a rear marching outpost, the regiment at night the outpost was supposed to join the regiment in the morning. However, at dawn the roar of a strong battle was heard from the heights. Moreover, the regiment was ordered to withdraw to Lida without stopping at the Ditva line. As a result, the outpost did not return to the regiment. . Her fate is unknown."
So we received a clear answer as to why Nikolai retreated on his own and not in the same way as his entire division. One company of the 55th regiment died at the end of June, at dawn on June 25, apparently having finally been surrounded, isolated from the entire retreating regiment and the entire division, that is, without the possibility of receiving reinforcements. And Nikolai either survived that battle, or, more likely, had an order from the company commander to find the regiment and report their death.
Here it is necessary to especially mention the heroism of these soldiers and officers, since apart from those meager lines of Major Skrypka, no one said anything about them. And Nikolai, who knew more, also died, but later and in other circumstances. But then, starting in the early morning of June 25, Nikolai alone decided to move independently towards the east, ending up in Sokolnichi near Krichev, where the front line was formed.
By the way, the fact that Krichev appears on the map in the direction from the Lida region and due east is yet another proof that this is not a coincidence. Since the regiment, from the point of view of N. Sirotinin, retreated to an unknown destination2, and there was no one at the Ditva line in the morning, he was left alone, then in these conditions it was logical to move precisely to the east, in the hope of catching up with the regiment. But just like that, unfortunately, the paths of Kolya and the regiment diverged even more, since his unit, by order, did not logically retreat to the southeast. If we assume that Nicholas walked 30-35 km every day (which is close to the value of 35 km of one day’s journey according to Herodotus, see V. Yanovich, “Great Scythia: History of Pre-Kievan Rus”), then this distance to Sokolnichi is about 500 km, it was covered in 14-17 days. He approached Minsk (which is about halfway) already when the encirclement ring closed over units of the 3rd and 10th Army on June 27. Of course, the young man could have walked more in a day, but this was the limit, given that he had to be careful, look around the environment, or close to the environment, move through wooded areas and not roads, and, in the end, in addition, at the same time still find sources of drink and food.
So, by July 7-10, he reaches the front line at Sokolnichi, held by the forces of the 4th and 13th armies. Upon reaching this line of defense, Nikolai comes under the control of Captain Kim, the chief of staff, who, due to the prevailing circumstances (and the enemy quickly and unexpectedly continued the offensive from the north-west), performed many functions in his person, including, obviously, establishing deserters from among the retreating troops3. There was no doubt about what Nikolai told him. Apparently, both his documents and his uniform were in order, and it was both practically and theoretically impossible to contact his division, which was retreating to Kalinkovichi at that time, to verify the information received. Therefore, he was assigned to the regiment located on this line of defense, but only as a “penalty officer” - a gunner.
Note that these dates, calculated based on the time of movement on foot, surprisingly coincide with the dates from witnesses who claim Kolya’s appearance in Sokolnichi around July 9-10. Residents of Sokolnichi have more vivid memories of him, since he helped with housework in one of the courtyards. Fellow villagers also remember the “high commander,” obviously Captain Kim. And all this is also not random coincidences and guesses, but everything is so, or almost so, and it happened.
It should be noted that by July 16, the encirclement ring north of Krichev was closed, where units of the 16th and 20th armies were surrounded near Smolensk, so the capture of Krichev as the last line on the right bank of the river. Sozh, was given special importance. Indeed, a photograph has been preserved from July 14, 1941, in which General von Langerman, commander of units of the 2nd Panzer Army, discusses the details of the operation near Krichev with Colonels Eberbach and Schneider4, direct participants in the battles near Sokolniki, commanders of tank and artillery units, respectively.
As a result, Krichev fell, and Wehrmacht units strengthened their positions on the right bank. Subsequently, attempts were made to recapture this city, due to the awareness of its strategic importance, but this did not lead to anything, but only led to the failure of almost the entire personnel of the 4th Airborne Forces, who took up defense on the left bank of the river. Sozh. This is how the decision of an individual commander to surrender positions at Sokolnichi decided the fate of the entire corps.
So, it can be considered definitely reliable that a Red Army soldier, senior sergeant Nikolai Sirotinin, from the 55th Infantry Regiment of the 17th Infantry Division, in the period starting from July 9-10, 1941, found himself at the line of defense near the village of Sokolnichi, across the Dobrost River and entered into battle with the enemy, starting at dawn on July 17, along with other fighters.
Both then, and especially now, every person has a choice - to remain honest to the end and fulfill his duty to the Motherland, or to live the life of a plankton and ultimately be consigned to oblivion.
Notes
1 As it turns out, there were no military operations in the Karachev region in 1944 and there could not have been, and the coincidence of the names of the cities (compare “Krichev” and “Karachev”) and the date of death on July 16 look somehow strange, which is close to the actual date of July 17, 1941, with an “error” of exactly three years.
2 By the way, the order to retreat the entire 17th division to the southeast seems inexplicable and incomprehensible, when the enemy’s offensive during this period of time took place mainly to the east, along all sectors of the front. At the same time, other parts of the Red Army managed to hold back the offensive, for example, with a competent retreat and dynamic use of the anti-tank artillery brigade of the 5th Army, directing it to the most needed place. You can learn more about this from the memoirs of its commander, who later became army commander, K.S. Moskalenko, “In the southwestern direction. Book 1.” It is worth noting that by the end of the summer of 1941 the front line was extended towards the west precisely in the area in front of Kiev and precisely on the front line of the 5th Army, perhaps thanks to these competent actions of the artillerymen.
3 Let us note that it was precisely this function that he managed to perform in the best possible way, and of all the memories of the war, he left for us a short and verbally said “there was a lot of bad things.” But from the memoirs of Lieutenant Larionov, commander of a machine gun company, Captain Kim was later demoted, mainly, apparently, for surrendering positions near Sokolnichi, which resulted in the capture of Krichev. In these conditions, from the point of view of Captain Kim, it was “natural” to keep silent about some fighter, especially since he, even if as a hero, died, and therefore could no longer say anything in his own defense. And the fact that, according to the memoirs of the same Larionov, Kim called the fighters who fulfilled their duty with honor “looters”, only because they grabbed German machine guns from the battlefield, already says a lot about this, if after all so to speak, man.
4 By the way, Colonel Erich Schneider, who later became a lieutenant general, was that “tall and bald Oberst,” according to local residents, who took part in Kolya’s funeral in Sokolnichi on the afternoon of July 17, 1941, after the capture of Krichev.
There is evidence that Schneider was tall and bald. In particular, this is clearly visible in the photograph taken on October 1, 1941 on page 58 from the book “Panzer Warfare on the Eastern Front”. This is how it should be when, as it would seem, from a series of random coincidences, “a puzzle is put together.”
First of all, it is worth mentioning how Nikolai ended up near Krichev. He left the encirclement on June 25, 1941, and alone walked 500 km to the east until he reached the front line, in the Sokolnichi area. His 55th Infantry Regiment retreated in an orderly manner to the southeast. Here he ended up in a combined battalion, which was tasked with holding the defense of Krichev from the west (there are two roads there - Varshavka and the old road, just north of it). From July 9-10 he is in Sokolnichi, in one of the houses where the headquarters is located. The main part of the battalion is a little north, but south of Khotilovichi. On July 16, the battalion arrives and digs in a howitzer with 6 shells (at Khotilovichi) plus 3 forty-fives. Another 2 forty-fives (Kolina and Petrova) are located right on Varshavka, only Kolina is probably a little further from the highway and is not so noticeable in the rye field. In the evening of the same day, German reconnaissance officers (a Soviet-made car) visit the positions and discover a Petrov cannon and a howitzer at Khotilovichi.
On the morning of July 17, another reconnaissance in force is carried out, by the efforts of the reconnaissance group, but without approaching the bridge over the Dobrost River, the group loses several tanks (ALL guns fire heavily (5 45 mm guns + howitzer) and retreats. 2nd enemy attack with T-3 tanks fell completely on the positions south of Khotilovichi, bypassing the highway, and at Varshavka itself at this time the tanks were still smoking in the morning. Unfortunately, by the 2nd attack there was only ONE Kolya gun left at Sokolnichi and Larionov’s gun with bottles south of Khotilovichi. Sozh river (to the crossing) and 4 guns - to Krichev. This moment, by the way, was also described by the villagers.
Rice. Directions of N. Sirotinin’s firing and the approximate line of our defense (in green)
During this attack, Kolya deployed the cannon (its weight is 1.5 tons) and shot at the sides of the tanks at a distance of about 1-1.5 km (quite enough to penetrate the armor, calculations confirm). At this moment, the howitzer is running out of shells, but the enemy thinks that this howitzer is firing. When the tanks reached the trenches, bottles were also set on fire. As a result, the remaining undamaged tanks ironed the trenches (after all, one gun is not enough), but the pulrota killed all the infantry. Therefore, without support, the remaining tanks returned to their positions (almost not enough).The 3rd attack again fell on Larionov at Khotilovichi, but he, having carried out the order, having lost about half of his personnel (having previously grabbed captured machine guns from the battlefield), left his position. Without encountering ANY resistance (Kolya’s gun was “silent” because Kolya again turned it in the direction of the highway), the tanks (Eberbach’s group) rode towards Krichev (a lorry with scouts was ahead) along another, northern road and across the field. The command is given to launch armored vehicles, guns, trucks with infantry and motorcyclists towards Varshavka (this was already Schneider’s group).
Kolya sets fire to the first tank near the bridge (or right on the bridge), and the last large transport object in sight (a car or an armored personnel carrier). The group is at a loss as Eberbach reported free traffic on the highway and has NO IDEA WHERE THE SHOOTING IS COMING FROM. They carefully inspect the positions at Khotilovici (where Eberbach passed), but there is NO ONE there. Kolya’s positions are barely visible to the enemy (smoke and blowing noise near the bridge). At this time, Kolya is doing a simple soldier’s job - killing the enemy (and he is neither forward nor backward, well, not at all).
Since they cannot break through the bridge (congestion and smoke), the enemy again goes around, along the forest road and then through Sokolnichi (on motorcycles) and/or in a deep detour through Khotilovichi (but there with caution, and for a long time). Here the invaders are already coming to Kolya’s rear and firing mortars after Kolya “snarled” with a carbine and possibly killed another enemy.
After this, Kolya’s funeral was held, and the German soldiers were sent to the rear, perhaps they were buried in their homeland (since Eberbach had already reported on the capture of Krichev and additional force was not needed). Schneider, as an educated person and a warrior since World War I (of the old school), appreciates Kolya’s choice of position, courage and determination. Thanks to Schneider, NO punitive actions are carried out against the local population, although here they should have been especially significant, given the HUGE losses in 2 attacks and 1 movement along the highway.
As a result, from the enemy’s point of view, a lot of equipment was set on fire and a lot of enemy manpower was put out of action due to absurdity. Because if the column had stood still and not moved, it would have avoided losses (Krichev was taken anyway). But they couldn’t send scouts ahead of the column (as insurance), because they were deployed in Krichev (ahead of the tank strike group).
That's the whole battle in which Kolya AS A SOLDIER had real luck and the bird Sva-Slava will sing forever a song for him!!!
Let us remember that each of us always has a choice, either to live and die like a hero, or to be known as a corrupt plankton and be consigned to oblivion.
It was real hell. The tanks caught fire one after another. The infantry hiding behind the armor lay down. The commanders are at a loss and cannot understand the source of the heavy fire. It seems like the whole battery is beating. Aimed fire. There are 59 tanks, dozens of machine gunners and motorcyclists in the German column. And all this power is powerless in the face of Russian fire. Where did this battery come from? Intelligence reported that the way was open. The Nazis did not yet know that there was only one soldier standing in their way, and that there was only one warrior in the field, if he was Russian.
Nikolai Vladimirovich Sirotinin was born in 1921 in the city of Orel. Before the war he worked at the Tekmash plant in Orel. 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 55th Infantry Regiment of the 6th Infantry Division as a gunner.
On the bank of the Dobrost River, which flows near the village of Sokolnichi, the battery where Nikolai Sirotinin served stood for about two weeks. During this time, the fighters managed to get to know the village residents, and Nikolai Sirotinin was remembered by them as a quiet, polite boy. “Nikolai was very polite, he always helped elderly women get water from wells and do other hard work,” recalled village resident Olga Verzhbitskaya.
On July 17, 1941, his rifle regiment was retreating. Senior Sergeant Sirotinin volunteered to cover the retreat.
Sirotinin settled down on a hill in the thick rye near the collective farm stable that stood next to Anna Poklad’s house. From this position the highway, river, and bridge were clearly visible. When German tanks appeared at dawn, Nikolai blew up the lead vehicle and the one that trailed the column, creating a traffic jam. Thus, the task was completed, the tank column was delayed. Sirotinin could have gone to his own people, but he stayed - after all, he still had about 60 shells. According to one version, initially two people remained to cover the division's retreat - Sirotinin and the commander of his battery, who stood at the bridge and adjusted the fire. However, then he was wounded, and he went to his own, and Sirotinin was left to fight alone.
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. Nikolai shot and shot, knocking out tank after tank. The Germans had to shoot at random, since they could not determine his location. In 2.5 hours of battle, Nikolai Sirotinin repulsed all enemy attacks, destroying 11 tanks, 7 armored vehicles, 57 soldiers and officers.
When the Nazis finally reached Nikolai Sirotinin’s position, he only had three shells left. They offered to surrender. Nikolai responded by firing at them from a carbine.
Chief Lieutenant of the 4th Panzer Division Henfeld wrote 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?
Olga Verzhbitskaya recalled:
“In the afternoon, the Germans gathered at the place where the cannon stood. They also forced us, the local residents, to come there. 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 Vaterland Then from the pocket of our dead soldier’s tunic they took out a medallion with a note about who and where it was from. The main German told me: “Take it and write to your family. Let the mother know what kind of hero her son was and how he died.” 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.
This pencil portrait was made from memory only in the 1990s by one of Nikolai Sirotinin’s colleagues.Sirotinin's family learned about his feat only in 1958 from a publication in Ogonyok.
In 1961, a monument was erected near the highway near the village: “Here at dawn on July 17, 1941, senior sergeant-artilleryman Nikolai Vladimirovich Sirotinin, who gave his life for the freedom and independence of our Motherland."
Monument at the mass grave where Nikolai Sirotinin is buriedAfter the war, Sirotinin was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree. But they were never nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. To complete the paperwork, we needed a photo of Kolya. She wasn't there. Here is what Nikolai Sirotinin’s sister Taisiya Shestakova recalls about this:
- We had his only passport card. But during the evacuation in Mordovia, my mother gave it to me to enlarge it. And the master lost her! He brought completed orders to all our neighbors, but not to us. We were very sad.Did you know that Kolya alone stopped a tank division? And why didn't he get a Hero?
We found out in 1961, when Krichev local historians found Kolya’s grave. We went to Belarus with the whole family. The Krichevites worked hard to nominate Kolya for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. But in vain: to complete the paperwork, you definitely needed a photograph of him, at least some kind. But we don’t have it! They never gave Kolya the Hero. In Belarus his feat is known. And it’s a shame that few people know about him in his native Orel. They didn’t even name a small alley after him.
However, there was a more compelling reason for the refusal - the immediate command must apply for the title of hero, which was not done.
A street in Krichev, a school-kindergarten and a pioneer detachment in Sokolnichi are named after Nikolai Sirotinin.
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, Belarusian 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 march east along the Sozh River, to Slavgorod, through Cherikov to the city of Krichev, to strike the 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 hit 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 a truck with 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 his main task: the tank column was delayed, and 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 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, 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. The German soldiers gave the fallen sergeant a military salute with 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 deal of work 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 his hometown of Orel, they also did not forget about Sirotinin’s feat. A memorial plaque dedicated to Nikolai Sirotinin was installed at the Tekmash plant. In 2015, school No. 7 in the city of Orel was named after Sergeant Sirotinin.
