Submariner Marinesko Alexander Ivanovich. Attack of the Century

He should have been born in the days of free pirates, when desperate wildcats who did not recognize any laws or rules were held in high esteem at sea. Alexander Marinesko's violent temper always prevented his undoubted talent from being fully realized. But there’s nothing you can do about it – the man-legend of the Soviet submarine fleet was a controversial personality.

The son of a Romanian citizen.

In 1893, a sailor of the Romanian Royal Navy, Ion Marinescu, a hot-tempered and temperamental man, beat the officer who had offended him. The obstinate sailor was tied up and put in a punishment cell. According to Romanian laws, Marinescu faced the death penalty for this offense. The sailor did not want to lose his life, and therefore escaped from the punishment cell, swam across the Danube and ended up in the Russian Empire.
Here he settled in Odessa, where he married a rich Ukrainian girl, at the same time somewhat changing his surname - from “Marinescu” to “Marinesko”.
In this family, on January 15, 1913, a boy was born, whom his parents named Alexander.
The father's sailor genes, as well as his temperament, were fully manifested in his son. After graduating from six classes of a labor school, at the age of 13 Sasha Marinesko became an apprentice sailor of the Black Sea Shipping Company. The teenager’s talents and abilities were appreciated and he was sent to the school of young boys. Alexander completed it brilliantly, and in 1930 he was admitted to the Odessa Naval College.
In May 1933, a graduate of the Marinesko College became an assistant captain on the merchant ship "Red Fleet". Those who served under Marinesko’s command claim that he himself dreamed of a career as a purely peaceful sea captain, but life decreed otherwise.

Marine talent without signs of discipline.

In the fall of 1933, 20-year-old Alexander Marinesko was sent to serve in the Navy on a Komsomol ticket. A capable graduate of the nautical technical school was sent to the highest command courses of the RKKF, after which he became a navigator of the submarine Shch-306 of the Baltic Fleet.
Marinesko was a capable man, but at the same time harsh, always saying what he thought, regardless of what it threatened him with. From time immemorial, truth-tellers have not been very favored, and in the case of Marinesko, the matter was complicated by the fact that he himself was not alien to the joys of life. The young sailor, like his father, was liked by women and loved to drink. These two passions would later backfire on Marinesko.
His very first certification in 1935 said: “Insufficiently disciplined. He knows his specialty well. Can manage personnel under constant supervision. Conclusions: pay attention to increasing discipline.”
In 1936, ranks were introduced in the navy and Marinesko became a lieutenant. In the summer of 1938, he was awarded the rank of senior lieutenant, and he himself was appointed commander of the M-96 Malyutka submarine.
Captain Marinesko's relationship with discipline remained difficult, but he was forgiven a lot, since under his command in 1940 the M-96 became the best in the Baltic Fleet. The Marinesko submarine held the diving speed record - 19.5 seconds, with a standard of 35 seconds.

Marinesko could end up in the Caspian Sea.

Incredibly, it could have turned out that Marinesko, who held the rank of lieutenant commander at the beginning of the war, would not have taken part in the hostilities at all. The command decided to transfer the M-96 along with its crew to the Caspian Sea by rail, and the implementation of this plan was prevented only by the rapid encirclement of Leningrad by fascist troops.
The boat was put into operation, and from July 1941 it began to make military campaigns. Captain Marinesko combined successful actions, for which he was awarded the Order of Lenin, with regular violations of discipline, due to which he was even expelled from the candidates for party membership.
However, Marinesko’s talent as a commander outweighed him, and after undergoing retraining, he was appointed to the position of commander of the medium submarine “S-13”, where he would serve until the end of the war.
In September 1944, Captain 3rd Rank Alexander Marinesko was nevertheless accepted as a member of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), and in October, during a military campaign, he attacked the German transport Siegfried. Having failed to sink the ship with torpedoes, the crew of the S-13 shoots it on the surface with cannons. Marinesko reported that the transport began to quickly sink into the water, but German sources indicate that the Siegfried was towed to the port and restored there. Be that as it may, for this campaign Captain Marinesko was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

Two transports to atone for the Swedish embrace.

[ “Wilhelm Gustloff” turned out to be the ship of the largest displacement that the USSR Navy managed to destroy during the Great Patriotic War. ]

It would seem that the captain's career was going well. But that was not the case. Marinesko's boat was at a base in Hanko, Finland. The captain himself and his friend went to celebrate the New Year, 1945, in the city of Turku. As often happened with Marinesko, the fun got out of control. He spent the night with a charming Swede, the owner of a local hotel. And everything would have been fine if ... her fiancé had not come to the flighty lady in the morning. The offended man did not get into a fight, but complained to the authorities. When all the details of Marinesko’s party became known to the command, SMERSH took over. The Swede was considered a German agent, and Marinesko himself was suspected of divulging military secrets. The case smelled like a tribunal, but the leadership stood up for the captain - he was given a chance to atone for his guilt in a military campaign.
It was this campaign of the captain – the “penalty officer” – that became historical. On January 30, 1945, the S-13, on the approach to Danzig Bay, overtook the German transport Wilhelm Gustloff (length 208 m, width 23.5 m, displacement 25,484 tons). The ship was destroyed by three torpedoes.
The Wilhelm Gustloff turned out to be the largest displacement ship that the USSR Navy managed to destroy during the Great Patriotic War, so it is not surprising that this success was called the “attack of the century.”
Later, disputes arose about who was on board the ship. West German historians, and after them many domestic “tearers of the veil”, agreed that Marinesco was a war criminal, because there were “thousands of refugees and many children” on the ship.

[After the sinking of Steuben, Alexander Marinesko became the record holder among Soviet submariners for the total tonnage of enemy ships sunk. ]

Nevertheless, the claims about “thousands of refugees” still raise serious doubts among many researchers. The same German historians admit that the Gustloff had all the attributes of a warship, and therefore was a legitimate military target.
It is known that this ship was a training base for German submariners, and at the time of the attack there were several dozen crews on board for the newest German submarines. In addition to fighters from other military units, the ship also contained senior SS and Gestapo officials, Gauleiters of the Polish lands, heads of a number of concentration camps - in a word, it was a real fascist “Noah’s Ark” that destroyed the crew of Captain Marinesko.
Another legend is connected with this success: supposedly mourning was declared in Germany, and Hitler declared Marinesko a “personal enemy.” In fact, this did not happen - the thousand-year-old Reich was crumbling before our eyes, and its bosses had no time for “Wilhelm Gustloff.”
On February 10, 1945, in the area of ​​the same Danzig Bay, “S-13” attacks and sinks the transport “General von Steuben” with a displacement of 14,660 tons. And again there are discrepancies - some historians say that we were talking about a ship, although it was a legitimate target, but was transporting the wounded, others insist that Soviet submariners destroyed a ship carrying 3,500 German tankers.
Be that as it may, after the sinking of the Steuben, Alexander Marinesko became the record holder among Soviet submariners for the total tonnage of enemy ships sunk.

From the navy to prison.

The S-13's return to base was triumphant. Marinesko was forgiven for all his sins and was even nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. True, such a high reward was not given to the “penalty officer”, limiting himself to the Order of the Red Banner. The boat did not, as was customary with such success, become a Guards boat, but only a Red Banner boat. The temperamental captain was offended: after all, when the submarine commander was awarded the Golden Star, the entire crew was awarded orders, but here it turned out that his subordinates were deprived of well-deserved awards.
The fame of Marinesko spread throughout the entire fleet, but his character did not change. He greeted the end of the war with such spree that even those commanders who had always protected him ran out of patience. It was proposed to remove Captain Marinesko from his post and send him to treatment for alcoholism. The resolution of the issue dragged on until the fall, but on September 14, 1945, by order of the People's Commissar of the Navy, “for neglect of official duties, systematic drunkenness and everyday promiscuity,” captain 3rd rank Alexander Marinesko was removed from the post of commander of “S-13” and demoted in rank to senior lieutenant . In November 1945, he was transferred from the Navy to the reserve.
The civil post-war life of Alexander Ivanovich was difficult. In 1948, he worked as deputy director of the blood transfusion institute and convicted his boss of embezzlement. However, the director, much more dexterous in chicanery than the straightforward Marinesko, turned things around in such a way that the submariner himself ended up in places not so remote. Having had a hard time in the “zone” in fights with former police officers and criminals, in October 1951 he was released early.
Marinesko lived in Leningrad, worked at various enterprises, but could not find his place in life after the navy. For some time he worked in the carpentry workshop of the Higher Naval School of Weapons Engineers, and the cadets whispered in the corners that this shabby-looking man was “the same Marinesko.”

Posthumous hero.

Only in 1960, his former colleagues, war heroes, managed to ensure that the order to deprive Alexander Marinesko of the rank of captain of the 3rd rank was canceled. This allowed him to receive a personal military pension, which improved his financial situation.
They really remembered him too late, when he ended up in the hospital with a terrible diagnosis of cancer. Friends turned to the commander of the Leningrad naval base, Admiral Baikov, for help. He was asked to give instructions to treat Marinesko in a military hospital. We must pay tribute to the admiral: he not only gave the appropriate instructions, but also allocated his car to transport the legend of the fleet.
But nothing could be changed in the fate of Captain Marinesko. He died on November 25, 1963, at the age of 50.
After numerous petitions from Navy veterans, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated May 5, 1990, Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

P.S.

The legendary Admiral Nikolai Kuznetsov, one of the founders of the Soviet Navy, the man who personally made the decision to demote Marinesko, and himself twice demoted by the highest government leadership, wrote in the Neva magazine in 1968: “In the complex and restless nature of the commander of the S -13 “high heroism, desperate courage coexisted with many shortcomings and weaknesses. Today he could perform a heroic deed, and tomorrow he could be late for his ship preparing to leave for a combat mission, or in some other way grossly violate military discipline. As an admiral, I, as an admiral, have a completely negative attitude towards Marinesko’s numerous serious misconduct in the service and at home. But knowing his courage, determination and ability to achieve major military successes, I am ready to forgive him a lot and pay tribute for his services to the Motherland.”

In 1997, the newly created Museum of the History of Russian Submarine Forces received the name of Alexander Marinesko.

Alexander Marinesko is one of the most controversial figures of the Great Patriotic War, around whom controversy still does not subside. A man covered in many myths and legends. Undeservedly forgotten, and then returned from oblivion.

Today in Russia they are proud of him and perceive him as a national hero. Last year, a monument to Marinesko appeared in Kaliningrad, his name was included in the Golden Book of St. Petersburg. Many books have been published dedicated to his feat, among them the recently published “Submariner No. 1” by Vladimir Borisov. And in Germany they still cannot forgive him for the death of the ship Wilhelm Gustloff. We call this famous battle episode “the attack of the century,” but the Germans consider it the largest maritime disaster, perhaps even more terrible than the death of the Titanic.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that the name Marinesco is known to everyone in Germany, and the theme of “Gustloff” today, many years later, excites the press and public opinion. Especially recently, after the story “The Trajectory of the Crab” was published in Germany and almost immediately became a bestseller. Its author, the famous German writer, Nobel Prize laureate Günther Grass, reveals the unknown pages of the flight of East Germans to the West, and in the center of events is the Gustlof disaster. For many Germans, the book became a real revelation...

It is not for nothing that the death of the Gustlof is called a “hidden tragedy”, the truth about which was hidden for a long time by both sides: we always said that the ship was the flower of the German submarine fleet and never mentioned the thousands of dead refugees, and the post-war Germans, who grew up with a sense of repentance for crimes of the Nazis, hushed up this story because they feared accusations of revanchism. Those who tried to talk about those killed at the Gustlof, about the horrors of the flight of Germans from East Prussia, were immediately perceived as “extreme right-wing”. Only with the fall of the Berlin Wall and entry into a united Europe did it become possible to look more calmly to the east and talk about many things that were not customary to remember for a long time...

The price of the "attack of the century"

In those days, the Soviet army was rapidly advancing to the West, in the direction of Konigsberg and Danzig. Hundreds of thousands of Germans, fearing retribution for the atrocities of the Nazis, became refugees and moved towards the port city of Gdynia - the Germans called it Gotenhafen. On January 21, Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz gave the order: “All available German ships must save everything that can be saved from the Soviets.” The officers received orders to redeploy submarine cadets and their military equipment, and to place refugees, and primarily women and children, in any free corner of their ships. Operation Hannibal was the largest evacuation in the history of navigation: over two million people were transported to the west.

Gotenhafen became the last hope for many refugees - not only large warships stood here, but also large liners, each of which could take thousands of refugees on board. One of them was the Wilhelm Gustloff, which seemed unsinkable to the Germans. Built in 1937, the magnificent cruise ship with a cinema and swimming pool served as the pride of the Third Reich and was intended to demonstrate to the world the achievements of Nazi Germany. Hitler himself participated in the launching of the ship, which contained his personal cabin. For Hitler’s cultural leisure organization “Strength through Joy,” the liner delivered vacationers to Norway and Sweden for a year and a half, and with the outbreak of World War II it became a floating barracks for cadets of the 2nd training division of submarines.

On January 30, 1945, the Gustlof set off on its last voyage from Gotenhafen. German sources vary on how many refugees and military personnel were on board. As for refugees, until 1990 the figure was almost constant, since many survivors of that tragedy lived in the GDR - and there this topic was not subject to discussion. Now they began to testify, and the number of refugees grew to ten thousand people. As for the military, the figure remained almost unchanged - it was within one and a half thousand people. The counting was carried out by “passenger assistants,” one of whom was Heinz Schön, who after the war became the chronicler of the death of the Gustloff and the author of several documentary books on this topic, including “The Gustloff Disaster” and “SOS - Wilhelm Gustloff.”

So, how many managed to survive this disaster? According to Schön, 1,239 people survived, of which half, 528, were German submarine personnel, 123 female naval auxiliaries, 86 wounded, 83 crew members and only 419 refugees. These figures are well known in Germany and today there is no point in hiding them here. Thus, 50% of the submariners survived and only 5% of the refugees. We have to admit that mostly women and children died - they were completely unarmed before the war. This was the price of the “attack of the century”, and this is why in Germany today many Germans consider Marinesko’s actions a war crime.

Refugees become hostages of a ruthless war machine

The fact is that the Gustlof left Gotenhafen without proper escort and earlier than planned, without waiting for the escort ships, since it was necessary to urgently transfer German submariners from the already surrounded East Prussia. The Germans knew that this area was especially dangerous for ships. The fatal role was played by the side lights turned on on the Gustlof after a message was received about a detachment of German minesweepers moving towards it - it was by these lights that Marinesco discovered the liner. And finally, the ship left on its last voyage not as a hospital ship, but as a military transport, painted gray and equipped with anti-aircraft guns.

To this day, Schön’s figures are practically unknown to us, but data continue to be used that the flower of the German submarine fleet died on the Gustlof - 3,700 sailors, who could have manned 70 to 80 submarines. This figure, taken from a report in the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet on February 2, 1945, was considered indisputable in our country and was not questioned. The legends created back in the 1960s with the light hand of the writer Sergei Sergeevich Smirnov, who raised the then unknown pages of the war - the feat of Marinesko and the defense of the Brest Fortress, are still unusually tenacious. But no, Marinesko was never a “personal enemy of Hitler,” and three days of mourning were not declared in Germany for the death of the Gustlof. This was not done for the simple reason that thousands more people were awaiting evacuation by sea, and news of the disaster would have caused panic. Mourning was declared for Wilhelm Gustloff himself, the leader of the National Socialist Party in Switzerland, who was killed in 1936, and his killer, student David Frankfurter, was called Hitler's personal enemy.

Why do we still hesitate to name the true scale of that tragedy? As sad as it is to admit it, we are afraid that Marinesko’s feat will fade. However, today even many Germans understand: the German side provoked Marinesko. “It was a brilliant military operation, thanks to which the initiative for dominance in the naval war in the Baltic was firmly seized by Soviet sailors,” says Yuri Lebedev, deputy director of the Museum of Russian Submarine Forces named after A.I. Marinesko. “With its actions, the S-13 submarine brought the the end of the war. It was a strategic success for the Soviet navy, and for Germany, Marinesko’s greatest feat was that he destroyed the seemingly unsinkable symbol of Nazism, a dream ship promoting the “Third Reich” and civilians. on the ship, they became hostages of the German military machine. Therefore, the tragedy of the death of the Gustloff is not an indictment of Marinesco, but of Hitler’s Germany.”

By recognizing that on the sunken Gustlof there were not only German submariners, but also refugees, we will take another step towards recognizing a historical, albeit unpleasant fact for us. But we need to get out of this situation, because in Germany “Gustlof” is a symbol of trouble, and in Russia it is a symbol of our military victories. The issue of Gustloff and Marinesco is a very complex and delicate one, affecting the present and future of relations between Russia and Germany. It is not for nothing that the German Consul General Ulrich Schöning, who recently visited the Museum of the Russian Submarine Forces named after A.I. Marinesko, left the following entry in the book of honorary visitors: “60 years after the tragic events of the Second World War, the time has finally come when Russians and Germans are building the future together. This is encouraged by the death of the German liner Wilhelm Gustloff in January 1945.”

Today we have the opportunity, even in such a difficult issue, to move towards reconciliation - through historical authenticity. After all, history is not black and white. And the uniqueness of Marinesko is that his personality leaves no one indifferent. His legendary personality may be destined for immortality. He became a legend and will remain so...

On January 30, late in the evening, submariner Marinesko accomplished his greatest feat. The “Attack of the Century” has been described in abundance. It would never have happened if Marinesko, contrary to orders, had not changed course at sea. Marinesko leaves the area and, like a free predator, goes hunting and tracks down the ocean giant - "Wilhelm Gustlov"... All three torpedoes hit the target. There were about ten thousand people on the liner. Less than a thousand were saved...

On January 30, 1945, the legendary Russian submariner Alexander Marinesko sank the German transport Wilhelm Gustlow.

German writer Nobel Prize laureate Günter Grass released a novel-essay, “The Trajectory of the Crab,” which is based on the sinking of the liner Wilhelm Gustlow, the pride of the German fleet, by the legendary submariner. The novel became a bestseller, and Europe reawakened interest in the events of the previous war and in the personality of Marinesko.

2003 can be called the year of the submariner Marinesko. January 15 marked the 90th anniversary of his birth. In November, the 25th, it will be 40 years since his death. Between these round dates is today's, non-round date: on January 30, late in the evening, he accomplished his main feat.

"Izvestia" at one time wrote about the feat of Alexander Marinesko, submariner No. 1. After each publication in "Izvestia" there were huge bags of angry letters - "Shocked... My God!", "The story with Marinesko is our national shame," " How long will Russia’s faithful sons be in the position of servants?”, “I can no longer be in your vile party...”. Demonstrations took place in cities in defense of Marinesco.

HE WAS NOT AFRAID OF ANYTHING

Actually, initially - Marinescu. His father is Romanian. In 1893, he beat an officer and was threatened with the death penalty, but he escaped from the punishment cell and swam across the Danube. He married a Ukrainian, changed the letter “u” at the end of his last name to “o”.

In terms of determination, daring and fearlessness, Alexander Ivanovich is like his father.

At the age of 13 he began sailing as a sailor's apprentice.

At the school of cabin boys, as the best, his training period was shortened and he was transferred to a nautical school without exams.

Then - higher courses for command personnel. In the midst of classes, an order came: the student Marinesko should be expelled and demobilized from the navy. The reason is "questionnaire". He was even turned down by the merchant navy.

Proud and proud Marinesko did not write a single request to sort it out.

In the end, he was reinstated and completed the course ahead of schedule.

A year after Marinesko received the Malyutka submarine, it set a diving speed record, carried out torpedo firing more successfully than anyone else, and in 1940 was recognized as the best in the Baltic. At the beginning of the war, Marinesko sank a transport with a displacement of 7,000 tons on the low-power "Malyutka" and was awarded the Order of Lenin. Alexander Ivanovich is transferred to S-13. On the very first trip with the new commander, the boat sinks another transport. Another order is the Red Banner.

The feat was destined for him.

No amount of study gave me what I received from God. At sea, he acted contrary to all the laws of underwater warfare and even logic. Sometimes he attacked from the side of the German coast, from shallow water, and escaped from the pursuit - to the place of drowning. He climbed into the most dangerous places - because he was not expected there, and there was a higher logic in this illogicality.

13 “esok” submarines fought in the Baltic.

The only one that survived was the one with the unlucky number.

He was not afraid of anything, neither on sea nor on land. But if at sea he was prudent and cunning, then on the shore he knew neither moderation nor caution. With his superiors he is direct, sometimes daring. His directness and independence irritated the coastal staff. They didn't like him. And he had no sympathy for them.

During his entire service in the navy - from 1933 and throughout the war until 1945, Alexander Ivanovich “lost it” twice. Both unauthorized absence and lateness were associated with drinking.

Explanations are needed here. The Germans were much better prepared for submarine warfare. The Baltic was heavily mined and, like Leningrad, it was under siege. For many months the boats stood idle at the docks - undergoing repairs. But most importantly, in 1943, while crossing the barriers, several first-class boats were blown up. There was a pause until the autumn of 1944.

At the same time, in 1944, Marinesko’s father died from severe wounds.

He turned to Orel, the division commander: “I’m tired of idleness. I’m ashamed to look the team in the eyes.”

The fatal year 1945 came for Marinesco. He and his friend were released to the city (Turku, neutral Finland). In an empty hotel restaurant, with Slavic latitude, they asked to set a table for six. As he himself recalled: “We drank moderately, ate a bite, and began to slowly sing Ukrainian songs.” Marinesko charmed the young beautiful hotel owner - a Swede - and stayed with her.

In the morning the maid knocked and said that the hostess’s fiance was waiting downstairs with flowers. “Drive away,” he said. - “You won’t marry me, will you?” “I won’t marry,” said Marinesko, “but drive me away anyway.” Soon there was a knock on the door again, this time from an officer from the boat: “Trouble, there’s a commotion at the base, they’re looking for you. They’ve already told the Finnish authorities...”. “Drive away,” she said. “How come, I can’t.” - “I drove away my groom for your sake. What kind of winners you are, you’re afraid to sleep with a woman.”

And the commander said to the officer: “You didn’t see me.”

Came back in the evening.

There was a rumor that he had been recruited by enemy intelligence. Marinesko had to appear before a military tribunal.

The crew refused to go to sea with another commander.

Alexander Evstafievich Orel, division commander (later - admiral, commander of the Baltic Fleet):

I allowed them to go to sea, let him atone for his guilt there. They told me: “How did you let such an Arkharovite go?” And I believed him, he did not return from the campaign empty.

DESTRUCTION

The “Attack of the Century” has been described in abundance. I will only say that it would never have happened if Marinesko, contrary to orders, had not changed course at sea. For 20 days the "eska" cruised in vain in a given area. Marinesko leaves the area and, like a free predator, goes hunting and tracks down the ocean giant - “Wilhelm Gustlov”. All three torpedoes hit the target.

Günther Grass believes that there were about ten thousand people on the liner. Less than a thousand were saved.

The main sufferers are children, old people and women. There were too few lifeboats and life rafts, the “sun” deck that led to them became icy like a skating rink, when it tilted, people fell into the sea crater. 18 degrees below zero with an icy wind. The refugees, huddled on the upper deck - at the height of a ten-story building, froze to death and continued to stand like pillars of ice. “Old people and children,” writes Günther Grass, “were trampled to death on wide staircases and narrow gangways. Everyone thought only of themselves.” The teaching officer shot three children and his wife in the cabin and shot himself.

Today the last of the officers of the S-13 submarine is alive - navigator Nikolai Yakovlevich Redkoborodov:

Torpedomen made inscriptions in chalk on all torpedoes - “For the Motherland!”, “For Stalin!”, “For the Soviet people!”, “For Leningrad!”

In the empty swimming pool of "Gustlova", lined with multi-colored tiles and mosaics, girls from the auxiliary naval battalion - 370 people - were crammed together. Torpedo with the inscription "For the Soviet people!" fell into the pool and turned everything into mush. “Many girls were torn to pieces by fragments of tiles and mosaic panels. The water was rising quickly, pieces of human bodies, sandwiches... life jackets were floating in it.”

The most terrible thing was the sight of the dead children: “They all fell from the ship with their heads down. So they got stuck in their bulky vests with their legs up…”

More than four thousand children died.

A “collective cry” from the sinking ship and from the sea - from the boats and rafts - was covered by the siren of the dying "Gustlov" - an eerie two-voice. “It’s impossible to forget this scream,” the pregnant woman was 18 years old at the time.

“Yes, it was mostly women and children who died: the indecently obvious majority were saved by men, including all four captains.”

Contrary to persistent and beautiful legends, there was no three-day mourning in Germany, and Hitler did not declare Marinesko a personal enemy. Not a word about the death of the Fuhrer's favorite airliner. Such a message could undermine the nation's fortitude.

Soviet propaganda was also silent.

The Soviet military command gladly picked up this version: they could not forgive Marinesko for his spree.

Meanwhile, the once snow-white tourist liner "Wilhelm Gustlow" has long become a floating training base for German submariners; "suicide bombers" were trained here (out of 30,000 German submariners, more than 80% died). On board the liner, according to Günther Grass, there were more than a thousand submariners (according to other sources - 3,700), a women's battalion of the Navy, a military unit of the 88th anti-aircraft regiment, and Croatian volunteers. It was an armed liner, subordinate to the Navy, which was traveling without identification marks, with an escort.

As the whole world, including the Germans, later admitted, “this was a legitimate target for attack.”

After this attack, Marinesko was in no hurry to return to the base and 10 days later he also sank a powerful cruiser, which had about three thousand soldiers and officers on board.

* * *

“Attack of the century” is not our assessment, this is how English historians assessed the feat of the “Eski” crew. Western researchers - English, West German, Swedish - have spent decades researching the history of the S-13 submarine, the crew of which sank an eighth of the tonnage of all other Baltic submariners during the war. Why is Marinesko not a Hero? - they ask themselves. And they come to the conclusion: the Soviet military command did not believe in the fantastic victorious results.

Divisional Commander A. Orel introduced Marinesko to the Golden Star. Marinesko's award was reduced to the Order of the Red Banner. Guilt was subtracted from the feat. Accordingly, the rewards for the entire crew were sharply reduced.

Awarding Marinesko the Gold Star will have a corrupting effect on the sailors, I heard this explanation myself from the Navy leadership. It is necessary that the Hero must be textbook, statutory.

The textbook would never do anything like that. However, needless to say, entire nations were extra-statutory.

Navigator Redkoborodov:

For many decades his name was called in a half-whisper, as if they were talking not about a feat, but about a crime.

STATE "ATTACK OF THE CENTURY"

After he and the entire crew were deprived of their well-deserved awards, Marinesko gave himself free rein - drinking, conflicts with his superiors. According to the writer A. Kron, he began to have epileptic seizures. It’s hard to believe, but Alexander Ivanovich, with his pride and self-esteem, asks the party committee of the BPL KBF: I’m tired, I’m drinking because I’m sick, please send me for treatment...

It was August 1945. The war was already over. Now the state doesn’t even need him sober. Marinesko was simply fired from the navy, demoted in rank by two steps at once.

What the Soviet government did to him right up to his miserable death and after his death can also be called the “attack of the century.”

Again, an involuntary parallel - with them, with us. In the post-war years, the destruction of "Gustlov" continued - various divers, treasure hunters, and other predators were looking for the legendary Amber Room and the gold of the Imperial Bank there.

In the second half of the eighties, a monument to Marinesko was erected in Liepaja with the money of sailors. By order of the Navy's political department, Marinesko's name was torn off the monument at night, like a thief. It was then that Izvestia became involved in a two-year (seven publications!) struggle, not just unequal, but hopeless, for the name of the legendary submariner, for awarding him the title of Hero. Not only the military department attacked Izvestia (official admirals threatened to sue), but also the Main Political Directorate of the Army, the Ministry of Defense of the USSR. Minister Marshal Yazov personally wrote a complaint to the Central Committee against Izvestia.

The editor-in-chief (I.D. Laptev) did not flinch. But it was not Yazov’s complaint that was most unpleasant.

Marinesko's daughter from her first marriage, Leonora, complained to Izvestia.

Why are you harassing the Navy Department? - she told me on the phone. - Do you want to quarrel between me and them? You don’t know your father, he abandoned my mother and me and did not pay child support.

What time was this?

It turned out that at a time when Alexander Ivanovich was completely helpless and himself needed at least a penny of support.

At this time, it was not he, but you who should have helped him.

You won't achieve anything anyway, he'll never get the Hero.

Leonora passed on her complaint to Krasnaya Zvezda, which used it in its new persecution of Marinesko.

And Tanya, the daughter from Alexander Ivanovich’s second marriage, called after the first publication:

Thank you.

The fatal, mystical Marinesco, both during his life and after his death, split the whole world in two.

LETTERS FROM CAPTIVITY

Since 1948, Marinesko worked at the Institute of Blood Transfusion as deputy director. The grabber director was building a dacha and wanted to get rid of his principled deputy. With the consent of the director, Alexander Ivanovich delivered the discarded peat briquettes lying in the yard to the homes of low-paid workers. The director, Vikenty Kukharchik, called the OBKhSS himself.

The first composition of the court disintegrated. The prosecutor, a front-line soldier, seeing the linden, refused to charge, both people's assessors expressed a dissenting opinion. Only judge Praskovya Vasilyevna Varkhoeva did not give up.

Marinesko was sentenced to 3 years in prison.

They don’t send you far for such a period. But Marinesko was driven to Kolyma. They pushed me into the same carriage with the recent police officers.

From Marinesko’s story to Kron: “The distribution of food is in their hands... I sense that we won’t get there. I began to take a closer look at the people - not all of them are bastards. I see: mostly the swamp, it is always on the side of the strong! Luckily, several sailors were nearby. They came to an agreement ... During the next distribution of food, a fight broke out. I confess to you: I kicked in the ribs and was happy.” The head of the train appeared, sorted it out, and “power” was transferred to the sailors.

These letters are more than half a century old. Alexander Ivanovich wrote them to Valentina Ivanovna Gromova, his second wife.

"Hello, dear, dear Valyushka!

The city of Vanino is a large village, there is no running water, no sewage system.

A strong snowstorm covered our house up to the roof, and in order to get out, we had to crawl through a hole in the ceiling (for a makeshift stove) and clear the snow from the door.

I have not lost hope and am firmly convinced that I will live out my life happily with you (until 80-90 years old), I have already started preparations, on this payday I gave 50 rubles to a tailor, whom I ordered to sew a “Muscovite” - a short coat from an overcoat, and In total, you need to pay 200 rubles for the work.

With that, he who loves you immensely, is your servant and husband. 4/1-1951"

These are censored letters.

And this is real life. A book was stolen from Marinesko - a gift from his wife. Having learned about this, the owner of the cell, the “godfather,” said: “In a minute you will have the book.” But it turned out that the young thief had already cut the book into cards. By order of the “bokhan”, four men killed the guy: they swung him around and hit the floor.

In his own, animal way, he was “taken care of” in the cell. What is the attraction of a person even for a lesson? After all, they did not know about Marinesko’s exploits.

Alexander Ivanovich found a way to correspond not through the camp mailbox. “Hello, dear Valyusha! The authorities came to check on us and, having learned that I was not writing letters through mailbox 261/191, they took all your letters that I kept and punished me by removing me from the team leader and transferring me to loader.

Goodbye, my invisible happiness! 29/1-1951"

“Hello, dear, sweet and closest of all that exists in the world, Valyusha!

My overcoat turned out to be a very good “Muscovite”.

Alexander Ivanovich wanted to save money for trousers, but...

Marinesko broke up with his first family a long time ago, and suddenly - a surprise.

“I received news: Leonora Alexandrovna (eighteen-year-old daughter - author) sent a “Writ of Execution” to the mailbox. Laura, of course, could have written me a letter, explained her situation, and, of course, I would have helped her somehow, but , apparently, her mother managed the matter in such a way as to finally take off my pants. But what can I do? Until now, I received 200 rubles in my hands, and now I will live without them for 20/4-51 years.

Marinesko's mother, old woman Tatyana Mikhailovna, having learned about the “Writ of Execution” against her son from his adult daughter, got a job to help her son. She wrote a letter to Stalin.

“Our dear and beloved Joseph Vissarionovich!

The mother of war hero Alexandra Marinesko, who has suffered in agony, writes to you.

A lie hangs over my son!

Our dear Joseph Vissarionovich! I kneel before you, I beg you - help... Comfort the mother’s heart. Become a father to my son.

We know that you are the fairest person on earth."

Anxiety is brewing: “Dear Valyusha! I’m writing a third letter, but there’s still no answer from myself. You’re probably already tired of waiting for me.”

She answered from some northern Zateyka, where she worked on a geological exploration expedition. She called to her.

“There was no limit to my joy. But are there any ships in Zateyka where I could get a job as a foreman of a ship? And will they take me?

Now I have a good “Muscovite”, but there’s nothing else, it’s not even quite decent to go straight to you in Zateika, which means I need to go to Leningrad for documents and other small things - at least for a razor. If you only knew how much I want to be with you! I don't want to linger even for a moment. But now it has become much more difficult to earn credits. Today I received my mother’s letter... She is going to send a parcel to me. I won’t write about my feelings, because it’s all my fault. Write to her that when I am free and we save some money, we will definitely come to her in Odessa..."

Notice that the unfortunate prisoner extends his future:

“You and I have no more than 50-60 years of life left. My dear child, you write to me that you have become white. And my beard is white to a single hair, as well as my temples. When we are together, then, probably, everyone will be admire us - young, but white. Don’t worry, we will give you “life”.

“My beloved Valyusha! I put in a lot of work for the fastest release, but the reason is money: if I had 500 rubles, I would return 2 months earlier. Even here money decides the issue.

Today I feel very bad, pain in the right side of my chest and temperature up to 38 degrees, but I need to work - I need credits for working days. I pray to God almost every day for a quick date with you. But God obviously doesn't hear me, but thank him for giving me hope!

“All life depends on ourselves - on our attitude towards each other and towards people.”

On October 10, 1951, he was released early. I stayed there for almost two years. By this time, the director of the institute had already been imprisoned for embezzlement.

He worked as a loader, a topographer, and then came to the Mezon plant, he earned a lot of gratitude, his portrait hung on the Board of Honor. Until 1960, when Alexander Kron spoke in the newspaper, no one around knew about the military merits of Alexander Ivanovich. The owner of the apartment once saw the Order of Lenin and asked about it. “There was a war,” he answered briefly, “many received it.”

In the late fifties, having lived together for 15 years, Alexander Ivanovich broke up with Valentina. We remained on good terms.

He received a small pension, so his earnings were limited. Yes, and alimony. The factory managers agreed and allowed us to earn above the ceiling. An audit came, according to the court (court again!) Marinesko began to return the surplus. When I became mortally ill - two cancers, of the throat and the esophagus, the excess began to be deducted from the pension.

About two hundred officers, among them 20 admirals and generals, 6 Heroes of the Soviet Union, 45 commanders and commissars of submarines, appealed to the CPSU Central Committee: “Taking into account the exceptional services of A.I. Marinesko to our Motherland, we earnestly request and petition for Marinesko to be granted a personal pension “It cannot be considered fair that such a distinguished submarine commander found himself in an immeasurably worse position in pension provision than officers who did not participate in the war.”

The request was refused.

Marinesko wrote to Kron: “Lately, at the 51st year of my life, I am beginning to lose faith in Soviet power.”

After Marinesko's death, his name was removed from circulation.

The shipbuilders turned to the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Admiral Gorshkov, with a request to name one of the ships after Alexander Marinesko. The admiral put a resolution on the collective letter - “Unworthy.”

Sergei Georgievich Gorshkov received both of his Gold Hero Stars many years after the war - as a gift. It was with his participation that the epic of Malaya Zemlya with Colonel Brezhnev was inflated. He commanded the fleet for 30 years.

I met with the Commander-in-Chief.

Marinesko? “He was just lucky with this sinking,” he answered with irritation. - Yes, and in 1945 this no longer played a role, the end of the war...

This means that those who stormed Berlin three months later have no price at all.

He, Sergei Georgievich, refused to support the petition for a personal pension for Marinesko’s mother. Tatyana Mikhailovna outlived her son by 12 years. She lived in Odessa in a communal apartment, in her ninth decade she went to the yard for firewood and water and received a pension of 21 rubles.

* * *

It’s her own fault, mother, it’s her own fault: she gave birth to the wrong son.

* * *

LET'S JUST NOT Clink Clinks

There was also joy at the end of life. A small corner has appeared. The woman who shared the last torment.

Valentina Aleksandrovna Filimonova:

We met at a friend's house. The trousers are patched, the jacket is patched at the elbows. The only thing was a shirt, the collar of the shirt was falling off, it was only held on by the tie. Clean, very tidy, but already so poor. He went to see me off and stayed with me. He had some kind of attractive force, like hypnosis, both children and adults felt it. His gait was extraordinary: his head was slightly raised - he walked proudly, majestically. Especially when we went out to the embankment, to the Neva - it merged with the granite. I brought 25 rubles as a paycheck, and a little more as an advance payment. And I, in order to show my mother that there really was a man in the house, began to add my money to his and gave it to my mother.

A year later, we went with him to a meeting of veteran submariners, I didn’t understand anything: they called Sasha’s name and there was such a thunderous ovation, they didn’t allow me to talk further. It was only then, a year later, that I found out WHO he was.

That's all they had to live - a year. The other two, Alexander Ivanovich, were painfully, mortally ill.

M. Weinstein, former divisional mechanic, friend:

Marinesko was in a very bad hospital. He did not have enough experience for the hospital. We, veterans, went to the commander of the Leningrad naval base, Baikov. The admiral was furious: “In our hospital, the devil knows who is being treated, but there is no place for Marinesko?” He immediately gave orders and gave me his car.

Valentina Alexandrovna:

It was then, and not later, as many write, on the way from hospital to hospital that we saw ships in the roadstead, and Sasha cried for the only time: “I will never see them again.”

The last person to see Marinesko was Mikhail Vainstein:

He was in a gloomy mood: “That’s it, this is the end.” It's time for dinner, and my wife is hesitating. He says: “Nothing, let him look, he can do it.” She unbandaged his stomach, and I saw a tube coming from the stomach. Valentina Aleksandrovna inserted a funnel and began pouring something liquid. He and I drank a glass of cognac, it didn’t matter. - the doctors gave permission. He said: “We just won’t drink glasses,” and they poured cognac into the funnel. His throat was black, apparently, he had been irradiated. And the second time I came, the tube was already clogged in his throat, Sasha was choking, and Valentina. Alexandrovna cleared it every 20-30 minutes. Now, when death was near, his fighting spirit, as always in the most difficult moments of the war. Apparently, when I entered, he was confused, he could no longer speak, he took a sheet of paper. and wrote: “Misha, you have frightened eyes. Give it up. Now I believe in life. They will put in an artificial esophagus for me."

The money that was overpaid to him at the factory did not have time to deduct everything from his small pension. And the dead man remained in debt to Soviet power.

* * *

Fate, as if testing him, subjected him to double tests. Two dismissals from the fleet (the first was due to a “questionnaire”). Two ships. Two cancers with two tubes.

And the hat was also thrown around the circle twice - on the monument and during life. On October 4, 1963, writer Sergei Smirnov said in a television program that the legendary submariner lived in virtual poverty.

Money poured into Leningrad from all over the country, including from students and pensioners - often three or five rubles.

Valentina Aleksandrovna was now able to quit her job; a bed was placed next to her in the room.

He died, but the translations were still going on.

In 1990, on the anniversary of the Victory, Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko was finally posthumously awarded the Gold Star.

In May 1990, a government decree posthumously awarded one of the most famous Soviet submariners, Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko, whose brief biography formed the basis of this article. For many years his name was hushed up due to a number of circumstances that earned him scandalous fame and overshadowed his military exploits.

Young Black Sea sailor

The future legendary submariner was born on January 15, 1913 in one of the coastal cities. His father, Ion Marinesco, was a Romanian worker, and his mother, Tatyana Mikhailovna Koval, was a peasant woman from the Kherson province. Having completed 6 classes and barely reaching the age of 13, he got a job on one of the ships of the Black Sea Fleet as a sailor's apprentice. Since then, the biography of Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko has been inextricably linked with the sea. His diligence and patience were noticed, and soon the capable guy was assigned to cabin boy school, after which he was already listed in the ship’s crews not as a student, but as a full-fledged 1st class sailor.

Having continued his education at the Odessa Naval College and graduating in 1933, Alexander Ivanovich sailed for several years on the ships “Ilyich” and “Red Fleet” as a third and then second mate. Those who knew him subsequently said that in his youth Marinesko did not at all plan to become a military sailor, but gave preference to the merchant fleet. Perhaps his father played a role in this, who worked for several years as a sailor on various civilian ships, and, undoubtedly, told his son a lot about his travels.

Komsomol ticket to naval life

A sharp turn in the biography of Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko occurred in 1933, after he, along with a group of other young sailors, received a Komsomol ticket to a special course for naval command personnel. In those years, this was tantamount to an order, and to refuse meant to cross out your entire future career, no matter where you tried to arrange it. So, the local Komsomol committee made the choice of his future life path for him. However, such examples were by no means uncommon in the pre-war years.

After completing the course, Marinesko took up the position of navigator on a submarine called Haddock, and then, after undergoing additional training, was first promoted to assistant commander of the L-1 submarine, and then took a command position in the M-96 submarine. By the beginning of the war, the shoulders of the young submariner Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko were already adorned with the shoulder straps of a lieutenant commander.

Addiction

In the first days of the war, the submarine commanded by Marinesko was relocated to Tallinn, from where it went on combat duty in the waters. Despite the absence of any serious achievements in those days, Alexander Ivanovich performed his combat duty conscientiously, but he had a sin, not so rare in Rus' ─ he loved to drink, and when he was drunk, everything happened to him. And Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko hopelessly spoiled his biography with this addiction.

The troubles began in August 1941, after the fact of drunkenness and gambling among the officers of the division to which his submarine was assigned became public. Marinesko, one of the first to appear on the list of participants in the spree, was deprived of the title of candidate party member, and the division commander was court-martialed and sentenced to 10 years in the camps, but with a deferment of the sentence and immediate dispatch to the front.

Alexander Ivanovich managed to partially restore his reputation only the next year, when, after a successfully carried out military operation, he was awarded the Order of Lenin and reinstated as a candidate party member. At the same time, Marinescu opened the account of sunk enemy ships by attacking in mid-August 1942 a ship that was part of a large German transport convoy.

Commander of the submarine "S-13"

At the end of December, for his heroism and high combat results, Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko was awarded the rank of captain of the 3rd rank. However, the newly appointed division commander added a “fly in the ointment” to this “barrel of honey”, noting in his description that his subordinate was prone to frequent drinking. Nevertheless, the officer who distinguished himself and received a promotion was appointed commander of the submarine S-13, on which he was destined to serve until September 1945 and accomplish his main feat. Her photo is presented below.

Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko practically did not go to sea during 1943, as he performed a number of tasks related to the preparation of replenishment of personnel for the Baltic submarine fleet. However, life on the shore was fraught with many temptations, which he was unable to resist. Twice during this year, “drunk stories” ended in a guardhouse for him, followed by penalties along the party line.

At the end of October 1944, Marinesko again took part in combat operations, and in one of them he discovered and then pursued a German transport ship for a long time. It was not possible to sink it with torpedoes, but as a result of successful hits from the onboard guns, the ship suffered serious damage, and, towed to the port, stood for repairs until the end of the war. For this campaign, Alexander Ivanovich was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

Unpleasant story

Marinesko met the victorious year of 1945 with another “adventure”, after which he managed to avoid the tribunal only with great difficulty. Shortly before this, the submarine he commanded was seriously damaged during an artillery duel with the German ship Siegfried and was undergoing repairs for a long time in the port of the Finnish city of Turku.

By the end of December, the commander went on another spree and disappeared from the submarine on a holiday night. The next day he did not return, after which he was put on the wanted list. As it turned out later, on the shore of Marinesko he met a Swedish woman who ran a restaurant in the city, and took advantage of the hospitality of the loving hostess.

Threat of being court-martialed

It should be noted that the commander’s personal life did not work out, and vodka was to blame. Shortly before the events described, the third marriage fell apart, and Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko, whose wife and daughter did not want to tolerate his drunken antics, clearly felt a shortage of female affection.

For unauthorized abandonment of a warship during wartime, he was threatened with a tribunal, but the high authorities decided to defer the punishment and give the offending submariner a chance to atone. Therefore, the military campaign that Marinesko set off on in early January essentially decided the fate of his future life. Only extraordinary success in a military operation could save him from inevitable punishment. Everyone understood this, and, of course, first of all, the commander of the submarine himself, Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko.

The attack of the century, which began with malfeasance

For almost three weeks, the Marinesko submarine was in its assigned water area, trying in vain to detect the enemy. Finally, he decided, contrary to the orders of the command, to change the course of the submarine and continue the “hunt” in a different square. It is difficult to say what made him commit such a blatant violation of the charter.

Whether this was a manifestation of intuition, passion, or whether the usual Russian “seven troubles ─ one answer” pushed him onto the path of malfeasance, no one can say with certainty. Most likely, the extreme need to rehabilitate oneself for previous sins, or, more simply put, to accomplish a feat played a role. Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko, as they say, went all-in.

Sinking of the giant ship

One way or another, but, having left the given square, the submariners soon discovered a large enemy transport ship, the Wilhelm Gustloff (its photo is presented below). It was a pre-war cruise liner with a displacement of 25 thousand tons, used for the needs of the army and was currently sailing almost without an escort. The difficult situation that developed towards the end of the war did not allow the Germans to provide adequate cover for their transport ships.

On board the Gustloff, as it later turned out, there were more than 10 thousand people, the vast majority of whom were refugees from the regions of East Prussia, that is, old people, women and children, which later gave certain circles grounds to accuse Marinesko of exterminating civilians. One can only object to them that, firstly, looking through the periscope, the submariners could not determine the composition of the ship’s passengers, and secondly, in addition to refugees, there were quite a large number of military personnel on board, redeployed for combat operations.

Having quietly approached the enemy ship, the submariners fired 3 torpedoes at it, each of which successfully hit the target. Subsequently, Soviet propaganda organs called this strike the “attack of the century.” The enemy transport was sent to the bottom, and with it almost half of those on board. According to data collected by military historians, as a result of that attack, 4,855 people died, of which 405 were submarine cadets, 89 were crew members, 249 were women serving in the navy and 4,112 were refugees and wounded (including about 3 thousand .children).

Continuation of the combat operation

During all the years of the war, the motor ship Wilhelm Gustloff was the largest ship of its type destroyed by Soviet sailors, and the second in the number of victims, second only to the transport ship Goya, sent to the bottom by the submarine L-3. More than 7,000 people died on it.

Having safely disappeared from the place where the German motor ship was plunging into the sea, falling to the stern, the crew of the S-13 continued the hunt. In the same square, 10 days later, submariners discovered and sank another enemy ship, the General Steuben, which was also very impressive in size and had a displacement of 15 thousand tons. Thus, the combat campaign undertaken by the S-13 crew from January to February 1945 became the most effective raid by Soviet submariners in the entire history of this type of military.

"Floating Penal Battalion"

In those days, the biography and photo of Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko appeared on the pages of many Soviet newspapers, but the fleet command was in no hurry to present either him or the rest of the team members for awards. The commander gained too scandalous fame for his drunken antics. By the way, the crew of the submarine entrusted to him was composed mostly of those who had serious problems with the disciplinary regulations. So the S-13 submarine was jokingly called a “floating penal battalion.”

At the very end of the war, Marinesko undertook another ─ the last military campaign in his life, this time unsuccessful and ineffective. Those who communicated with him at that time said that Alexander Ivanovich began to have epileptic attacks, provoked by his increasing drunkenness. On this basis, the conflict with the authorities escalated significantly. As a result, in September 1945, an order was issued to remove him from his post and demote him to the rank of senior lieutenant.

The vicissitudes of fate

The post-war biography of Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko looks extremely sad and ridiculous. Having soon retired from military service, he went to sea for some time on various merchant ships, and in 1949, to the complete surprise of everyone, he took the position of director of the Leningrad Institute of Blood Transfusion. How the former sailor was brought into the purely medical sphere is unknown, but only very soon he was convicted of major thefts and sentenced to 3 years in prison. So fate brought the hero-submariner to Kolyma.

Having been released from prison and having neither home nor family, Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko worked for two years as a topographer as part of several geological expeditions, and then, returning to Leningrad in 1953, took a position as head of the supply department of the Mezon plant. He died on November 25, 1963 after a serious illness and was buried at the Bogoslovskoye cemetery.

Hero's Memory

Already during the period of perestroika, the Izvestia newspaper initiated the process of rehabilitation of the hero-submariner, and on May 5, 1990, by personal decree of USSR President M.S. Gorbachev, he was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. From that time on, his military journey began to be widely covered in the media, and 7 years later, not far from the cemetery where the hero was buried, at 47 Kondratyevsky Ave., the Museum of Russian Submarine Forces, named after Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko, was opened. Photos of the war years, models of submarines and original exhibits at the exhibition tell about the glorious military path of Soviet and Russian sailors.

Nowadays, monuments to the posthumously rehabilitated submariner hero are erected in St. Petersburg, Kronstadt, Odessa and Kaliningrad. Several feature films and documentaries, as well as literary works, are dedicated to him. In particular, the feat of Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko is briefly described in the novel “The Trajectory of the Crab,” authored by the German writer, Nobel Prize laureate Gunter Grass. In addition, streets in many Russian cities are named after the hero.

Alexander Marinesko became “submariner No. 1” thanks to the “Attack of the Century”, during which the liner Wilhelm Gustloff was sunk. He was very self-willed, drank a lot, was in prison, and accomplished his main feat contrary to the orders of his superiors.

Baltic from Odessa

Marinesko was born in Odessa, since childhood he loved and knew the sea, he learned to dive and swim perfectly at the age of 7. According to Marinesko himself, every morning he and his friends went to the sea and spent time there swimming and catching gobies, mackerel, chirus and flounder.
Biographers argue about Marinesko's criminal youth. Odessa in those years really was a gangster city, exactly as Babel described it in his famous stories.
Inherited from his father, a sailor and Romanian by nationality, Marinesko inherited a violent temper and a thirst for adventure. In 1893, Marinescu Sr. beat an officer and was put on trial, where he faced the death penalty. He escaped from the punishment cell, swam across the Danube, married a Ukrainian woman, and went into hiding for a long time.
It would seem that everything in the character and biography of Marinesko Jr. led him to become the captain of a Soviet merchant ship on the Black Sea, a smuggler and a merry fellow. But fate and Marinesko decided differently: not the southern, but the northern seas, not the merchant fleet, but the military fleet, not the captain of a sea ship, but the commander of an underwater predator.
Of the 13 diesel-electric torpedo submarines of the Baltic Fleet class “C” (medium), only one survived during the war, under the unlucky number 13. The one commanded by Odessa Marinesko.

Alcoholism

The author of the Soviet apologetic book dedicated to Marinesko - “The Sea Captain” - Alexander Kron recalls that his first acquaintance with the legendary submariner took place in 1942: Marinesko was drinking alcohol with his colleagues.
“Drunk” stories happened to Marinesko regularly. In October 1941, the submariner was expelled from the list of candidates for membership in the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) for organizing gambling card games and alcohol abuse. Exactly a year later, then still the commander of the M-96 boat, Marinesko successfully landed a Soviet landing force in the Narva Bay, hunting for the German Enigma encryption machine. The operation ended in failure - the car was never found - but the submariner’s actions were highly appreciated, Marinesko was nominated for an award and reinstated as a candidate party member, but in the combat description they again mentioned a penchant for alcohol.
In April 1943, Marinesko was appointed commander of the S-13 boat, the same one on which he would perform his main military exploits. And his civic “exploits” never stopped: “During the summer and autumn of 1943, Marinesko visited the guardhouse twice, and received a warning and then a reprimand through the party line. The reason for the penalties was not the drinking itself; Alexander Ivanovich drank no more than others at that time, but in one case, unauthorized absence, in another, being late.”

Women

The most scandalous incident, after which Marinesko was almost sent to a military tribunal, happened to him in early 1945. The case took place in Turku, on the territory of neutral Finland. In October 1944, during a military raid, the Marinesco crew destroyed the German transport Siegfried: the torpedo attack on the Soviet submarine failed and the sailors entered into an artillery duel, in which the S-13 won, however, receiving damage.

Therefore, from November to December 1944, the S-13 was under repair in Finland. The crew and captain were languishing from idleness, and the blues set in. Throughout his life, Marinesko was married three times and at that time his next marriage was falling apart. On New Year's Eve, Marinesko and another Soviet officer went on a spree... and disappeared.
As it turned out later, Marinesko met the owner of one of the local hotels, a Swede, and stayed overnight with her. The commander of the Soviet submarine was wanted. It was wartime, Finland had just emerged from the war, in general, there were different concerns. But Marinesko was just having fun - his love for women turned out to be stronger than his sense of duty.

"Penalty" boat

After the Finnish scandal, Marinesko had one path - to the tribunal. But the crew loved the commander, and his superiors valued him as an experienced sailor, although at that time Marinesko had no outstanding military successes. The commander of the Baltic Fleet, Vladimir Tributs, decided to defer the punishment: so the S-13 became the only “penalty” boat, by analogy with the penal battalions, in the Soviet fleet. On the January campaign of 1945, Marinesko, in fact, set off for a feat. Only a very large sea “prey” could save him from punishment.

"Attack of the Century"

For almost a month, the S-13 cruised unsuccessfully in the given area. The submariners were unable to detect the target. Marinesko decides to violate the order and change course. What motivated him? Passion, flair, the need to distinguish himself, or the sailor waved his hand, saying, “seven troubles, one answer” - we will never know.
On January 30, at 21:15, S-13 discovered in the Baltic waters the German transport "Wilhelm Gustlow", accompanied by an escort, on board which, according to modern estimates, was over 10 thousand people, most of whom were refugees from East Prussia: old people, children, women. But there were also German submarine cadets, crew members and other military personnel on the Gustlov.
Marinesko began the hunt. For almost three hours, the Soviet submarine followed the giant transport ship (the displacement of the Gustlov was over 25 thousand tons. For comparison, the steamship Titanic and the battleship Bismarck had a displacement of about 50 thousand tons).
Having chosen the moment, Marinesko attacked the Gustlov with three torpedoes, each of which hit the target. The fourth torpedo with the inscription “For Stalin” got stuck. The sailors miraculously managed to avoid an explosion on the boat. While escaping pursuit from a German military escort, the C-13 was bombed by over 200 depth charges.
Ten days later, the C-13 sank another German giant liner, the General Steuben, with a displacement of almost 15 thousand tons.
Thus, Marinesko’s winter campaign became the most outstanding combat raid in the history of the Soviet submarine fleet, but the commander and crew were deprived of well-deserved awards and glory. Perhaps because Marinesko and his team were the least likely to resemble textbook Soviet heroes.

Criminal record and epileptic seizures

The sixth raid, which Marinesko carried out in the spring of 1945, was considered unsuccessful. According to the testimony of people who knew Marinesko, he began to have epileptic seizures, and conflicts with his superiors and drunken stories continued. The submariner allegedly independently appealed to the management with a request to dismiss him from the fleet, but the order of the People's Commissar of the Navy N.G. Kuznetsov speaks of removal from duty “due to neglect of his duties, drunkenness and everyday promiscuity.”
At the end of the forties, Marinesko finally left the sea and became deputy director of the Leningrad Research Institute of Blood Transfusion. Strange choice! Soon, Marinesko was accused of embezzlement and sentenced to three years: an obscure act and a rather mild sentence for those years. However, the legendary submariner served part of his sentence in Kolyma.

Somersaults of memory

Disputes about the personality of Marinesko and the legendary “Attack of the Century” have not subsided for fifty years. What was that? Immediately after the Second World War, a monument to Marinesco was erected in the Museum of the Royal Navy of Great Britain. In the USSR, the team was deprived of well-deserved awards, the feat was hushed up, and in 1967, the newspaper “Soviet Baltic” published an article saying that “Gustlov” was sunk by first mate Efremenkov, and Marinesko was “inoperative.”
In the mid-80s, Izvestia started a two-year newspaper war with the USSR Ministry of Defense and the leadership of the Navy; according to Marinesko, an undeservedly forgotten hero; the military adhered to a different point of view. Even Marinesko’s daughters from different marriages had different attitudes towards their father’s personality: one considered him a scoundrel, the other thanked the people who were trying to restore the good name of Alexander Ivanovich.
Abroad, attitudes towards Marinesko’s personality are also ambiguous. Nobel Prize winner in literature Günther Grass published the book “The Trajectory of the Crab” - an artistic study of the “Attack of the Century” - where he described the commander of a Soviet submarine in the darkest colors. American journalist John Miller twice came to the Soviet Union for information about Marinesko in order to write a book about the drunkard and rebel, who gained fame as an “underwater ace” for his desperate courage.
Marinesko’s later military certifications are full of reprimands and other “service inconsistencies,” but in one of the early ones, his naval teachers wrote: “Can neglect personal interests for the sake of service,” and even supposedly there is a very short description: “Capable of feat.”