Biography of V.G. Zaitseva
Vasily Zaitsev, legendary sniper, hero Soviet Union about whom several films have been made, was born on the twenty-third of March 1915 in the village of Elenkina, Orenburg province ( Chelyabinsk region), in an ordinary peasant family. WITH early childhood was taught to shoot a hunting rifle by his grandfather Andrei Alekseevich, and at the age of 12 he received a rifle as a gift.
Vasily's incomplete secondary education fit into seven classes, after which the guy entered construction college in Magnitogorsk, from which he graduated in 1930. In 1937, he entered service in the Pacific Fleet as a clerk in the artillery department. The Great Patriotic War found him at the post of head of the financial department in Preobrazhenie Bay.
In the summer of 1942, after several reports with a request to be sent to the front, Vasily Zaitsev ended up in the 284th Infantry Division. And in September 1942 he took part in the battle for Stalingrad.
From the very beginning, Vasily Grigorievich showed himself to be a skillful and extraordinary sniper; from a distance of 800 meters he could destroy three opponents at once from an ordinary soldier’s rifle. For courage and outstanding sniper abilities awarded a medal“For courage” and a sniper rifle. The fame of the outstanding sniper spread on all fronts.
Vasily Zaitsev combined many valuable qualities for a fighter and shooter: sensitive hearing, keen vision, endurance, composure and military cunning. Choosing unerringly best positions, knew how to perfectly disguise them and remain invisible to the Germans. In the battle for Stalingrad alone, he accounted for 225 killed Nazis, among whom were eleven snipers.
And the whole world knows about the victorious battle with the experienced German supersniper Heinz Thorwald, sent specifically to destroy Vasily Zaitsev. Since, in turn, Zaitsev was given the task of eliminating Torvald, which was carried out successfully.
In January 1943, the brave sniper was seriously wounded by a mine explosion during the disruption of the Nazi attack on a regiment of our troops near Stalingrad by Zaitsev’s group. He went blind and only after repeated operations with Professor Filatov was able to restore his vision. At the end of February 1943, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Subsequently, Vasily Zaitsev led a sniper school, headed a mortar platoon and then commanded a company. I had the opportunity to take part in such high-profile battles as the battle for the Dnieper and the liberation of Donbass. Victory found the fighter in a Kiev hospital, where he was being treated after another injury. Vasily Zaitsev became the author of two teaching aids for snipers and one proprietary technique that is still used in sniper hunting - hunting with “sixes”, when three pairs of snipers (observers and shooters) cover the same battle zone.
When the Great Patriotic War ended, Vasily Zaitsev began to live in Kyiv and work as the commandant of the city district. At the same time I entered correspondence department All-Union Institute of Textile and Light Industry, then headed the garment factory "Ukraine" and supervised college of light industry. Zaitsev was also invited to participate in the tests sniper rifle Dragunov.
Hero of the USSR Vasily Grigorievich Zaitsev died on December 15, 1991, and was buried at the Lukyanovsky cemetery (Kiev), despite his last desire to find his final refuge in the land of Volgograd. His will was fulfilled only on January 31, 2006, when the ashes of the legendary shooter were reburied on Mamayev Kurgan (Volgograd).
Two films were made about the great sniper, hero of the Soviet Union Vasily Zaitsev feature films: “Enemy at the Gates” (2001, USA – Germany – Great Britain) and “Angels of Death” (2002, Russia). Also about his biography was filmed documentary « Legendary Sniper"(2013, Russia).
Biographies and exploits of Heroes of the Soviet Union and cavaliers Soviet orders:
Z Aytsev Vasily Grigorievich - sniper of the 1047th rifle regiment 284th rifle division 62nd Army Stalingrad Front, junior lieutenant.
Born on March 23, 1915 in the village of Elininsk, Agapovsky district, Chelyabinsk region, into a peasant family. Russian. Member of the CPSU(b)/CPSU since 1943. Graduated from seven incomplete classes high school. In 1930 he graduated from a construction college in the city of Magnitogorsk, where he received a specialty as a reinforcement engineer.
Since 1937 he served in Pacific Fleet, where he was assigned as a clerk in the artillery department. The diligent, disciplined sailor was accepted into the Komsomol. After studying at the Military Economic School, he was appointed head of the financial department in the Pacific Fleet, in Preobrazhenye Bay. The war found him in this position.
By the summer of 1942, Petty Officer 1st Article Zaitsev had already submitted five reports with a request to be sent to the front. Finally, the commander granted his request and Zaitsev left for the active army. On a dark September night in 1942, together with other Pacific Americans, Zaitsev crossed the Volga and began to participate in the battles for the city.
Already in the first battles with the enemy, Zaitsev showed himself to be an outstanding shooter. One day the battalion commander called Zaitsev and pointed out the window. The fascist was running 800 meters away. The sailor took careful aim. A shot rang out and the German fell. A few minutes later, two more invaders appeared in the same place. They suffered the same fate. As a reward, Zaitsev received a sniper rifle along with the medal "For Courage". By that time, Zaitsev had killed 32 Nazis from a simple “three-line rifle”. Soon people in the regiment, division, and army started talking about him.
Zaitsev combined all the qualities inherent in a sniper - visual acuity, sensitive hearing, restraint, composure, endurance, military cunning. He knew how to choose the best positions and disguise them; usually hid from the Nazis in places where they could not even imagine a Soviet sniper. The famous sniper beat the enemy mercilessly. Only in the period from November 10 to December 17, 1942, in the battles for Stalingrad, V.G. Zaitsev destroyed 225 enemy soldiers and officers, including 11 snipers, and his comrades in arms in the 62nd Army - 6,000.
One day Zaitsev made his way to a burnt house and climbed into a dilapidated black stove. From this unusual position, two entrances to the enemy dugouts and the approach to the basement of the house where the Germans were preparing food were clearly visible. A sniper killed 10 fascists that day.
One dark night Zaitsev made his way to the front along a narrow path. Somewhere not far away a fascist sniper had taken refuge; it must be destroyed. For about 20 minutes Zaitsev examined the area, but could not find the hidden enemy “hunter”. Pressing himself tightly against the wall of the barn, the sailor stuck out his mitten; she was violently torn from her hand.
Having examined the hole, he moved to another place and did the same. And again the shot. Zaitsev clung to the stereo tube. I began to carefully scan the area. A shadow flashed on one of the hills. Here! Now we need to lure the fascist out and take aim. Zaitsev lay in ambush all night. At dawn German sniper was destroyed.
Actions Soviet snipers alarmed the enemies, and they decided to take urgent measures. When our scouts captured the prisoner, he reported that the European champion in bullet shooting, the head of the Berlin sniper school, Major König, had been delivered by plane to the Stalingrad area from Berlin, who had received the task of killing, first of all, the “main” Soviet sniper.
The fascist sniper who appeared on the front was experienced and cunning. He often changed positions, settling down in a water tower, in a damaged tank, or in a pile of bricks. Daily observations did not give anything definite. It was difficult to say where the fascist was.
But then something happened. The enemy broke the optical sight of Ural resident Morozov, and wounded soldier Shaikin. Morozov and Shaikin were considered experienced snipers; they often emerged victorious in complex and difficult battles with the enemy. There was no longer any doubt - they had stumbled upon the fascist “super sniper” that Zaitsev was looking for.
Zaitsev went to the position previously occupied by his students and friends. With him was his faithful front-line friend Nikolai Kulikov. On the leading edge, every bump, every stone is familiar. Where could the enemy be hiding? Zaitsev's attention was drawn to a pile of bricks and a sheet of iron next to it. It was here that the Berlin “guest” could find refuge.
Nikolai Kulikov was constantly waiting for the order to shoot in order to attract the enemy’s attention. And Zaitsev watched. The whole day went by like this.
Before dawn, the warriors went into ambush again. Zaitsev in one trench, Kulikov in another. Between them there is a rope for signals. Time dragged on agonizingly. Planes were buzzing in the sky. Somewhere nearby shells and mines were exploding. But Zaitsev did not pay attention to anything. He did not take his eyes off the iron sheet.
When it dawned and the enemy positions were clearly visible, Zaitsev pulled the rope. At this conditioned signal, his comrade raised the mitten he was wearing on the board. The expected shot did not come from the other side. An hour later, Kulikov raised his mitten again. The long-awaited bang of a rifle shot was heard. The hole confirmed Zaitsev’s assumption: the fascist was under an iron sheet. Now we had to take aim at him.
However, you can’t rush: you can get scared. Zaitsev and Kulikov changed their position. They watched all night. First half next day waited too long. And in the afternoon, when the direct rays of the sun fell on the enemy’s position, and our snipers’ rifles were in the shadows, our combat friends began to act. Something sparkled at the edge of the iron sheet. A random piece of glass? No. It was a rifle scope fascist sniper.
Kulikov carefully, as an experienced sniper can do, began to lift his helmet. The fascist fired. The helmet fell. The German, apparently, concluded that he had won the fight - he had killed the Soviet sniper, whom he had been hunting for 4 days. Deciding to check the result of his shot, he stuck half his head out of the cover. And then Zaitsev pulled the trigger. He hit it straight. The fascist’s head sank, and the optical sight of his rifle, without moving, glittered in the sun until the evening.
As soon as it got dark, our units went on the attack. Behind a sheet of iron, the soldiers found the body of a fascist officer. This was the head of the Berlin sniper school, Major Koenig.
Vasily Zaitsev did not have the opportunity to celebrate the day of the victorious completion of the grandiose battle with his military friends. Battle of Stalingrad. In January 1943, following the order of the division commander to disrupt German attack on the right-flank regiment by the forces of Zaitsev’s sniper group, which at that time consisted of only 13 people, was seriously wounded and blinded by a mine explosion. Only on February 10, 1943, after several operations performed in Moscow by Professor Filatov, his vision returned.
By Decree of the Presidium Supreme Council USSR on February 22, 1943 for the exemplary performance of combat missions of the command on the front of the fight against by the German invaders and the courage and heroism shown to the junior lieutenant Zaitsev Vasily Grigorievich awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the presentation of the Order of Lenin and medal " Gold Star».
Throughout the war V.G. Zaitsev served in the army, in whose ranks he began his combat career, headed a sniper school, commanded a mortar platoon, and then was a company commander. He crushed the enemy in the Donbass, participated in the battle for the Dnieper, fought near Odessa and on the Dniester. May 1945 Captain V.G. I met Zaitsev in Kyiv - again in the hospital.
During the war years V.G. Zaitsev wrote two textbooks for snipers, and also invented the still used technique of sniper hunting with “sixes” - when three pairs of snipers (a shooter and an observer) cover the same battle zone with fire.
He visited Berlin after the end of the war. There I met with friends who had gone through the battle route from the Volga to the Spree. In a solemn ceremony, Zaitsev was presented with his sniper rifle with the inscription: “To the Hero of the Soviet Union Vasily Zaitsev, who buried more than 300 fascists in Stalingrad.”
Nowadays this rifle is kept in the Volgograd Museum of City Defense. Next to it there is a sign: “During the period of street fighting in the city, sniper of the 284th Infantry Division V.G. Zaitsev used this rifle to destroy more than 300 Nazis, trained sniper art 28 Soviet soldiers. When Zaitsev was wounded, this rifle was handed over to the best snipers parts".
After the end of the Great Patriotic War demobilized and settled in Kyiv. At first he was the commandant of the Pechersk region. Studied by correspondence All-Union Institute textile and light industry, became an engineer. He worked as director of a machine-building plant, director of the Ukraina clothing factory, and headed the light industry technical school.
Died on December 15, 1991. He was buried in Kyiv at the Lukyanovskoye military cemetery, although his last wish was to be buried in the Stalingrad land that he defended.
On January 31, 2006, the ashes of Vasily Grigorievich Zaitsev were transported to the hero city of Volgograd, and solemnly reburied on Mamayev Kurgan.
Awarded the Order Lenin (02/22/1943), 2 Orders of the Red Banner (12/04/1942; 10/10/1944), Order of the Patriotic War 1st degree (03/11/1985), medals, including “For Courage” (10/25/1942).
By decision of the Volgograd City Council people's deputies dated May 7, 1980 for special merits manifested in the defense of the city and the defeat Nazi troops in the Battle of Stalingrad he was awarded the title " Honorary Citizen hero city of Volgograd.
The name of the Hero is given to a motor ship that cruised along the Dnieper. In the city of Yaroslavl, at the memorial to military financiers, a bust of the Hero was installed.
About the sniper V.G. Zaitsev has shot two films. “Angels of Death”, 1992, directed by Yu.N. Ozerov, in leading role Fyodor Bondarchuk, and “Enemy at the Gates”, 2001, directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, in the role of Zaitsev - Jude Law.
Composition:
There was no land for us beyond the Volga. M., 1981.
The mass sniper movement arose in the fall of 1941. And already in January 1942, over 4,200 fighters took part in the “fighter competitions”. More and more often, unplanned “decorations” appeared in German trenches: signs with threatening inscriptions “Caution! A Russian sniper is shooting."
The patriotic movement of fighter snipers arose in parts of the NKVD, a once very formidable department headed by Lavrentiy Beria. Border troops The NKVD, as well as the NKVD fighter battalions and rifle divisions, turned out to be the most prepared for the war with Nazi invaders. Apparently, due to the fact that Beria was subsequently shot as an “enemy of the people,” the feat of the border guards and soldiers of the NKVD divisions was not given due attention in Soviet historiography. But in the border battles with the Nazis, the soldiers in green caps killed six times more enemies than they lost themselves. The Germans never had such a ratio of losses throughout the entire Second World War. Divisions of the NKVD troops played a significant role during the defense of Moscow in the fall of 1941 and in 1942, when the enemy broke through to Stalingrad. Divisions died, sometimes losing more than 80% of their personnel in battles, but did not retreat...
The movement of fighters from the NKVD structure quickly spread to the entire Red Army. It was attended by artillerymen, mortarmen, and tank crews, who learned to hit the enemy like snipers - with the first shot.
On the Stalingrad front it thundered battle glory sniper Vasily Zaitsev.
Who is he - the sniper Zaitsev, who in the period November 10 to December 17, 1942, in the battles for Stalingrad, destroyed 225 enemy soldiers and officers, including 11 snipers?
The war found Vasily in the Far East, in Preobrazhenie Bay on Pacific Ocean, where he served as chief sergeant.
He was born into a peasant family in the Urals, worked, graduated from seven-year school, was drafted into Navy. An excellent business executive, a specialist in his field. But then the war began, and he rushes to the front, but not everyone is taken there. There is an enemy at hand in Japan. A million-strong Kwantung Army was stationed in Manchuria on the border with the USSR...
But, apparently, the information of the famous Soviet intelligence officer Richard Sorge, who reached Stalin that Japan had found another enemy in the Far East, and by order of the boss General Staff The Red Army of Marshal Shaposhnikov reached out from Siberia and Far East trains with troops, first to Moscow, and then to Stalingrad. There were not very many troops, but this was the very case about which they say “the spool is small, but expensive.” These were personnel units, well trained and regularly armed. They played a very important role in the war.
As part of a combined detachment of sailors in September 1942, Vasily ended up on the Stalingrad Front, in the 62nd Army of General Chuikov, in the 284th Infantry Division, 1047th Infantry Regiment.
On September 22, 1942, having crossed to the right bank of the Volga, the division’s fighters immediately entered the battle and broke into the territory of the Stalingrad hardware plant. They were opposed by the troops of General Paulus - in Germany they were also called Hitler's guard.
But the Pacific people did not give up, showing unprecedented perseverance. For five days and nights there were fierce battles for every workshop, floor, and flight of stairs. In one of the hand-to-hand battles, Zaitsev received a bayonet wound in the shoulder, but did not leave the battle. His comrade, shell-shocked in battle, was loading a rifle, and Vasily was shooting at the Germans. He shot and didn’t miss. The grandson of the Ural hunter turned out to be a worthy student of his grandfather. Using a simple three-line rifle without a sniper scope, he destroyed 32 Nazis.
“The enemy’s machine gunners inflicted great damage on us,” recalled the hero of Stalingrad. There was no life. At first, wanting to somehow ease the situation, I removed the machine gunners, but they were immediately replaced by new ones. He began to break the sights of machine guns, but this required high accuracy. In the end, it became clear that I alone would not make the difference... By decision of the Komsomol meeting of the regiment, supported by the unit commander, a school was opened in the hardware shops, where I trained the first ten snipers...”
On the front line, the “hares,” as his students were nicknamed in the 62nd Army, worked in pairs, backing each other up and primarily knocking out enemy officers, machine gunners, rangefinders, signalmen...
Zaitsev was especially glorified by the sniper duel with the German “super sniper”, whom Vasily himself calls Major Koening in his memoirs (according to other sources, this is the head of the sniper school in Zossen, SS Standartenführer Heinz Thorwald), sent to Stalingrad with special task kill Russian snipers, and first of all - destroy Zaitsev himself. And Vasily, in turn, received the task of destroying the eminent German. After one of the Soviet snipers had his optical sight broken by a bullet, and another in the same area was wounded, Zaitsev still managed to establish the enemy’s position... And Standartenführer Torvald was gone.
In January 1943, Zaitsev was seriously shell-shocked and could no longer see. Saved his vision famous professor Filatov in a Moscow hospital. And on February 22, 1943, Vasily Grigorievich Zaitsev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Vasily Grigoryevich’s story about how in two months of fighting he destroyed 242 Nazis and trained 28 snipers right on the front line (and they eliminated another 1,106 fascists) was published by the Main Political Directorate of the Red Army in a brochure, and Vasily himself was sent to improve his skills at the Higher Rifle Courses command staff"Shot". After graduation, Vasily fought again, took part in the liberation of Donbass and Odessa, the battle for the Dnieper and Berlin operation. And again he was seriously wounded...
Upon recovery comrades in arms They handed him his own sniper rifle on the steps of the Reichstag, which became a relic in his native division and was passed on to the best shooter. Now this rifle is on display at the Museum of the Battle of Stalingrad in Volgograd. And the Mauser rifle with a ten-fold Zeiss scope, which belonged to the German Standartenführer, whom Vasily shot in Stalingrad, can be seen in Central Museum Armed forces in Moscow.
Born on March 23, 1915 in the village of Elininsk, Agapovsky district, Chelyabinsk region. He graduated from 7 classes and a construction technical school in Magnitogorsk, where he received a specialty in fittings. Since 1937, he served in the Pacific Fleet (as a clerk in the artillery department). After studying at the Military Economic School, he was appointed head of the financial department of the Pacific Fleet, in Preobrazhenye Bay. It was in this position that he met the war.
By the summer of 1942, Sergeant Major 1st Article V.G. Zaitsev submitted 5 reports to send him to the front. From September 21, 1942 to active army, defended Stalingrad. Already in the first fights he showed himself to be a marksman (and not surprisingly: from the age of 12 he went hunting alone). He destroyed his first enemies with a simple “three-ruler” rifle, then he was given a sniper rifle. By order of the troops of the 62nd Army No. 39/n dated October 25, 1942, for 40 destroyed enemies, the chief foreman of the 1st article, V. G. Zaitsev, was awarded the medal “For Courage.”
Zaitsev combined all the qualities inherent in a sniper: visual acuity, sensitive hearing, restraint, composure, endurance, military cunning. He knew how to choose the best positions and disguise them; usually hid from the Nazis in places where they could not even guess his location. On November 2, 1942, sniper of the 1047th Infantry Regiment (284th Infantry Division, 62nd Army of the Stalingrad Front) V.G. Zaitsev was presented with the Order of Lenin for the destruction of 110 enemy soldiers and officers. By order of the troops of the Stalingrad Front No. 100/n dated December 4, 1942, he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.
During the period from November 10 to December 17, 1942, in the battles for Stalingrad, he destroyed 225 enemy soldiers and officers. For these exploits, on December 18, 1942, junior lieutenant V.G. Zaitsev was presented by the command to highest degree differences in the country. In January 1943, while carrying out the order of the division commander to disrupt a German attack on the right-flank regiment with a sniper group of 13 people, Zaitsev was seriously wounded and blinded by a mine explosion. Only on February 10, 1943, after several operations performed in Moscow by Professor Filatov, his vision returned. By that time, his official account included 242 destroyed enemies (some sources round this figure to 245). By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated February 22, 1943, junior lieutenant Vasily Grigorievich Zaitsev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal (No. 801).
Since April 1944 - again in the active army (3rd Ukrainian Front). On May 10, 1944, while repelling an attack by enemy infantry and tanks towards the location of the division headquarters command post, he personally destroyed 18 enemies and was again seriously wounded. For this battle he was presented with the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree. By order of the 8th troops Guards Army 1st Belorussian Front No. 383/n dated October 10, 1944, Guard Senior Lieutenant V.G. Zaitsev was awarded the second Order of the Red Banner.
Throughout the war, Vasily Zaitsev served in the army, in whose ranks he began his combat career, headed a sniper school, commanded a mortar platoon, and then was the commander of a separate anti-aircraft machine gun company of the 79th Guards Rifle Division. He crushed the enemy in the Donbass, participated in the battle for the Dnieper, fought near Odessa and on the Dniester. During the war years, he wrote 2 textbooks for snipers, and also invented the still used technique of sniper hunting with “sixes” - when 3 pairs of snipers (a shooter and an observer) cover the same battle zone with fire. May 1945, Captain V.G. Zaitsev met the Guard in Kyiv - again in the hospital.
He visited Berlin after the end of the war. There I met with friends who had gone through the battle route from the Volga to the Spree. In a solemn ceremony, V.G. Zaitsev was presented with his sniper rifle with the inscription: “To the Hero of the Soviet Union Vasily Zaitsev, who buried more than 300 fascists in Stalingrad.” Nowadays this rifle is kept in the Volgograd Museum of City Defense. Next to it there is a sign: “During the period of street fighting in the city, sniper of the 284th Infantry Division V.G. Zaitsev used this rifle to destroy more than 300 Nazis, taught 28 Soviet soldiers the art of sniper. When Zaitsev was wounded, this rifle was passed on to the best snipers of the unit.” . According to materials Soviet press, Vasily Zaitsev’s final battle score is “more than 300” enemies destroyed. Most likely, this number includes enemies he destroyed not only with a sniper rifle (as the last award sheet states that on May 10, 1944 he personally destroyed 18 enemies, but it is not specified what type of weapon: rifle, machine gun, machine gun...)
After the war, V.G. Zaitsev was demobilized for health reasons and lived in Kyiv. At first he was the commandant of the Pechersk region. He studied in absentia at the All-Union Institute of Textile and Light Industry and became an engineer. He worked as director of a machine-building plant, director of the Ukraina clothing factory, and headed the light industry technical school. He died on December 15, 1991, and was buried in Kyiv at the Lukyanovsky military cemetery. On January 31, 2006, the ashes of Vasily Grigorievich Zaitsev were transported to the hero city of Volgograd and solemnly reburied on Mamayev Kurgan. By the decision of the Volgograd City Council of People's Deputies of May 7, 1980, for special services shown in the defense of the city and the defeat of Nazi troops in the Battle of Stalingrad, he was awarded the title "Honorary Citizen of the Hero City of Volgograd." The Hero's name is given to a motor ship plying along the Dnieper.
Awarded the orders: Lenin (02/22/1943), Red Banner (12/04/1942, 10/10/1944), Patriotic War 1st degree (03/11/1985); medals.
* * *
From the materials of V. G. Zaitsev’s award sheets:
From wartime press materials:
|
|
From press materials of the post-war years:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
The mere mention of the name of sniper Vasily Zaitsev instilled horror in the fascist soldiers.
SPECIALLY to hunt him, Hitler sent the Third Reich super-shooter Major König to Stalingrad, but he never returned to Berlin: Zaitsev’s bullet got him too. Famous story about the duel of the best shooters of World War II was used as the basis for the plot of the Hollywood film “Enemy at the Gates.”
IN JANUARY 1943 Zaitsev was seriously wounded and ended the war on the Dniester. After the Victory, he settled in Kyiv, where he found his one and only Zinochka, who became his faithful wife and a reliable friend. 14 years ago Vasily Grigorievich passed away. Then fulfill the order of your husband - to bury him on the Mamayev Kurgan next to his comrades in arms - by objective reasons it didn't work out.
And now 92-year-old Zinaida Sergeevna decided to remove the stone from her soul and rebury her husband’s ashes on the land that he defended without sparing his life, and which made him a hero for all time.
An agreement was reached between the mayors of Kyiv and Volgograd that this ceremony should take place on January 31.
They recently visited Kyiv to visit the widow of Vasily Zaitsev. Zinaida Sergeevna told our correspondents about some little known facts biography of her legendary husband.
About accuracy, reward and Chuikov
WHEN little Vasya asked his hunter grandfather to shoot with a rifle, he made him a bow and said: once you learn to hit a squirrel in the eye with it, you will get a gun. The grandson turned out to be capable and within a few days received a rifle, from which he later skillfully fired at wolves. After all, he spent a whole month shooting from an ordinary rifle in Stalingrad. He filled so many fascists that rumors reached Chuikov: “Well, bring me this Zaitsev.” He looked at him and... handed him a real sniper rifle...
Zaitsev found out about his being awarded the title of Hero by accident. When he was blown up by a mine and went blind, he was sent to Moscow. The operation was successful. Somehow he was lying in the ward with other fighters, and on the radio they announced that “Vasily Grigorievich Zaitsev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.” He completely ignored this, and a comrade in the ward jumps up to him and pats him on the shoulder: “Vaska, they gave you a Hero!”
After the hospital, he returned to Chuikov again. Vasily Grigorievich had a very reverent relationship with him, almost brotherly, although at the front Chuikov beat Zaitsev with a stick a couple of times. Soviet propaganda constantly idealized our army commanders and front-line life. But the same Chuikov was of simple peasant blood, he could tell his mother and shout. There was everything at the front - they loved to party and drink more than the front-line 100 grams, for which Chuikov could beat him. Anyone!
Few people know that until the age of 75, Vasily Grigorievich shot as skillfully as he did during the Battle of Stalingrad. I remember once they invited him to evaluate the training of young snipers. When they fired back, the commander said: “Well, Vasily Grigorievich, shake off the old days.” Zaitsev takes the rifle, and all three bullets hit the bull's eye. Instead of the soldiers, he received the cup.
About work, wedding and fun company
AFTER the war, Vasily Grigorievich was first the commandant of the Pechersky district in Kyiv, then the director of an automobile repair plant, the director of the Ukraina clothing factory, then headed the technical school of light industry.
I wasn’t such a simple Kievite either (laughs). We met when I served as secretary of the party bureau of a machine-building plant. Then I was taken to the regional party committee. We had a wonderful relationship, but even thoughts about any romance did not arise. One day Zaitsev calls me: “Zinaida Sergeevna, can you run in?” I come, and besides him there is a lady in the office. They hand me some papers! The lady, it turns out, is the head of the registry office. I was taken aback, I blinked, and looked at Zaitsev. And he told me so sternly: “Sign, I’m telling you! Sign!” That’s how I became Zaitseva. No wedding, white dress and “bitter!” we didn't have.
When we first got married, I immediately took him to a closed studio at the regional committee. Dressed from head to toe. A hero is a hero, but in such positions you also had to look your best, and he didn’t have extra trousers back then. We left the studio, he hugs me and says: “No one has ever paid such attention to me...”
You see, I respected him, but there were no Italian passions in our relationship. At that time I was no longer 18 years old, I had a previous marriage behind me, my son was an adult... Vasily loved me very much, he couldn’t get enough of it - not all women were so lucky. And I was behind him all the years like behind a stone wall. We quarreled once in several decades...
Everyone wanted to be friends with a hero, especially SUCH one. And somehow he found a cheerful company. They began to gather periodically in our house. One day I couldn’t stand it and asked everyone to leave. To this Vasily said: “If you don’t understand me, I’m leaving for my place in the Urals.” I packed my things, took a ticket to Chelyabinsk and disappeared for a week. I decided for myself: either he realizes his mistake and returns, or he will continue to organize sabantuis, and I will still lose him. Zaitsev returned. Silently he opened the door with his key, silently hugged me, had dinner, and went to bed. I didn’t ask him anything then, or many years later, and he didn’t say anything. We just forgot everything, like a bad dream.
About the foreigner, the nurse and people's memory
ABOUT MATERIAL benefits, with which heroes were then bestowed, there were no less legends than about them themselves. Of course, there were those who were given five-room mansions on Khreshchatyk and along the Volga per year, but this was definitely not Zaitsev. He was given an apartment, but without special rooms for servants, as they said back then. We bought the car ourselves. We didn't have a dacha. He was abroad only in the GDR and Czechoslovakia. In Germany there was military unit, to which Zaitsev was assigned for life. There he had “his own” bed and bedside table. And then one day he met with residents of the GDR in a club. A woman rises in the hall and says that she is the daughter of that same Koenig. Zaitsev was quickly removed from the stage and sent from Germany to Kyiv on the same day. They were afraid that they would kill him out of revenge, since he sent more than 300 Nazis to the next world.
Every time we came to Mamayev Kurgan, Vasily remembered that he was buried fifteen times at the front, but he was alive. It was beneficial for the Nazis to start rumors that Zaitsev himself had finally been shot. True, one day he was actually almost buried alive. After being seriously wounded, he lay unconscious in the hospital. And just then the orderlies went around the hospital to collect the dead. They saw Zaitsev lying and not breathing, so they took him away. When they began to fill it with earth, Vasily moved his hand. Thank God the nurse saw it. Vasily corresponded with this girl for many years.
...Today there is a lot of debate about how to talk about the war. I think we need to do it honestly. Without ideology. But the main thing is that neither in 60 years, nor in 100 years can we forget about it. This is OUR pride. And it doesn’t matter who Zaitsev was - Russian, Tatar or Ukrainian. He defended the country, which has now become 15 small states. There were millions like him. And they should know about them. In each of these 15 states...
