Zaitsev Vasily Grigorievich sniper of the 1047th Infantry Regiment (284th Infantry Division, 62nd Army, Stalingrad Front) junior lieutenant. Born on March 23, 1915 in the village of Elino, now Agapovsky district, Chelyabinsk region, in a peasant family. Russian. Member of the CPSU since 1943. Graduated from a construction technical school in Magnitogorsk. Since 1936 in the Navy. Graduated from the Military Economic School. The war found Zaitsev in the position of head of the financial department in the Pacific Fleet, in Preobrazhenye Bay.
In the battles of the Great Patriotic War from September 1942. He received a sniper rifle from the hands of the commander of his 1047th regiment, Metelev, a month later, along with the medal "For Courage". By that time, Zaitsev had killed 32 Nazis from a simple “three-line rifle”. In the period from November 10 to December 17, 1942, in the battles for Stalingrad, he killed 225 soldiers and officers of the pr-ka, including 11 snipers (among whom was Heinz Horwald). Directly at the forefront, he taught sniper training to soldiers in the commanders, trained 28 snipers. In January 1943, Zaitsev was seriously wounded. Professor Filatov saved his sight in a Moscow hospital.
The title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the presentation of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal was awarded to Vasily Grigorievich Zaitsev on February 22, 1943.
Having received the Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union in the Kremlin, Zaitsev returned to the front. He finished the war on the Dniester with the rank of captain. During the war, 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.
After the war he was demobilized. He worked as director of the Kyiv Machine-Building Plant. Died on December 15, 1991.
Awarded the Order of Lenin, 2 Orders of the Red Banner, Order of the Patriotic War 1st degree, and medals. The ship plying along the Dnieper bears his name.
Two films have been made about the famous duel between Zaitsev and Horvald. "Angels of Death" 1992 directed by Yu.N. Ozerov, starring Fyodor Bondarchuk. And "Enemy at the Gates" 2001, directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, in the role of Zaitsev - Judy Lowe.
Famous sniper during World War II. Streets are named after him, most people in the post-Soviet space know about him. History remembers Vasily as one of the most effective shooters.
Vasily Zaitsev: biography
Vasily was born on March 23, 1915 in the village of Eleninka, Orenburg region (now Chelyabinsk region) into an ordinary peasant family. He studied at a rural school, where he graduated from 7th grade. At the age of 15, he graduated from a construction technical school, where he studied to become a fitter.
Since childhood, Vasily’s grandfather, Andrei, often took him and his brother hunting with him. Already at the age of 12, the future sniper had a gun. The grandfather taught his grandchildren the intricacies of hunting, tracking, patience and shooting sense. Perhaps these lessons predetermined Vasily’s future.
In 1937, Vasily Zaitsev served as a clerk in the Pacific Fleet. Then he undergoes training in accounting and continues to serve as the head of the financial department. With the outbreak of war, he asks the command to send him to the front. After 5 reports he gets the go-ahead. And 27-year-old Vasily is sent to the zone of the most fierce and bloody battles - to Stalingrad. Later, in a city on the Volga, where the Nazi invasion was stopped, he will say his famous phrase: “There is no land for us beyond the Volga. We have stood and will stand to the death!”
Sniper of the 62nd Army
Before the front, Vasily underwent some training. From the first days, he proved himself to be an extremely accurate shooter, killing 3 Nazis from a distance of almost a kilometer with an ordinary rifle. The command transferred him to the sniper group. There he received a sniper - a mass-produced weapon, quite simple. From it, Zaitsev managed to destroy 32 invaders. After this, the rookie sniper becomes famous among the entire group of troops.
Hunt for the hunter
In almost one month, Vasily kills 225 fascists. Rumors about him are spreading throughout the country and even around the world. In the partially occupied and almost completely destroyed Stalingrad, the name of Zaitsev is of particular importance. He becomes a real hero, one of the symbols of resistance. Leaflets with new achievements of the shooter are regularly distributed among the population and personnel of the Red Army.
The Nazi leadership hears rumors about Vasily Zaitsev. They understand his importance in propaganda terms, so they send their best ace sniper on a mission to kill the Soviet marksman. This ace was Major König (according to other sources - Heinz Thorwald, possibly König's call sign). He trained snipers in a special school and was a true professional. Immediately upon arrival, he wounds one Red Army rifleman and falls into the weapon of another. Conventional sniper rifles zoom in 3-4 times, since working with high magnification is already difficult for the shooter. The magnification on the Nazi major’s rifle was tenfold! This speaks volumes about Koenig's professionalism and virtuosity.
Fight with the Major
Having learned about the arrival of a super sniper in the city, the Soviet leadership gives the order to destroy him personally to Zaitsev; later this battle will be considered legendary. It reflected not only the battle of two snipers, but also the battle of two peoples, two ideologies.
After long tracking, Vasily discovered Koenig's position. The long wait paid off: a ray of sun momentarily reflected from the German’s optics. This was enough for Vasily; a second later the Nazi fell dead. Soviet propaganda joyfully informed the people: Vasily Zaitsev won. The Hero of the Soviet Union will later describe in detail
After the war he remained to live in Kyiv. He worked as a manager at a clothing factory.
Died in 1991. 15 years later he was reburied with honors in Stalingrad, as he had bequeathed.
Vasily Zaitsev: film
The figure of the Soviet sniper was widely reflected in culture: many documentaries were shot and a considerable number of works were written. The most famous feature film about Vasily Zaitsev is “Enemy at the Gates,” an American production. Jude Law plays the role of Zaitsev.
The main storyline revolves around the fight between Vasily Zaitsev and Koenig. There is also a parallel love story with a sniper girl and Vasily’s friend. Shot in 2001, the film boasts magnificent visual effects. The scene of crossing the Volga and the landing of Soviet troops in Stalingrad turned out to be extremely colorful and catchy. It demonstrates the heavy losses of the Soviet troops: blood everywhere, the dead lying next to the living, pain, screams, panic. The scenery of Stalingrad itself also turned out quite good: devastation, concrete desert - it all looks very atmospheric. A large crowd allows you to appreciate the scale of the battles.
But the film was shot by Americans, so there was some propaganda involved. The Soviet leadership is shown entirely as cowards, bloodthirsty killers, and tyrants. The scene when newly arrived recruits launch a frontal attack on a tank with one rifle between them, and then the commanders shoot their own in the back, makes you think. There are also a number of inconsistencies. For example, the commander of Zaitsev and the entire Stalingrad Front was Khrushchev, who in reality was not even close there. It’s just that the colorful figure of Nikita Sergeevich is very familiar to American people.
"Enemy at the Gates" is a good movie from a purely technical point of view, but spoiled by propaganda. However, if you ignore the obvious American component, you can watch it with pleasure.
Exactly a year ago, the remains of the famous Stalingrad sniper, about whom the feature film “Enemy at the Gates” was filmed overseas, were reburied with honors in Volgograd on Mamayev Kurgan next to the graves of his comrades. February 2 marks 64 years since the end of the Battle of Stalingrad - the greatest battle , which decided the outcome of World War II. If the Nazis captured the city on the Volga, Turkey and Japan would enter the war on the side of Germany, and a direct road to Caucasian oil and Ural metal would open before Hitler. But, having exhausted the enemy in fierce battles, the defenders of the Volga stronghold surrounded and destroyed the 300,000-strong enemy group, and its commander, Field Marshal von Paulus, along with tens of thousands of soldiers and officers, were captured. The famous sniper Vasily Zaitsev also contributed to the Stalingrad victory, destroying more than 300 fascists, including the Berlin supersniper Major Koenig. He lived most of his life in Kyiv. The widow of the hero, Zinaida Zaitseva, tells the FACTS correspondent about some of her little-known pages.
“American filmmakers got almost everything wrong”
Zinaida Sergeevna, have you watched the American feature film “Enemy at the Gates”, shot in 2001, after the death of Vasily Grigorievich? How do you like it?
But no way! It is built on complete lies. The only true episode is the one that tells how Vasya’s grandfather taught him to shoot wolves as a boy. But everything else! According to the creators of the film, the soldiers with whom Zaitsev went to the front were locked in the NKVD cars so that they would not desert. Then, during the crossing of the Volga, almost half of the division allegedly died from artillery shelling and bombing; they were driven into battle almost by force, giving rifles to only every second person, and telling the rest: “You will take it from a dead comrade.”
Not true! Before Stalingrad, Vasily Grigorievich served in the Pacific Fleet in the Marine Corps for five years. What kind of men are these, you know. From the first day of the war, both Vasya and his comrades were eager to go to the front. But only at the end of the summer of 1942 did the command satisfy the sailors’ reports, for which they had initially been imprisoned, and formed a division of volunteers. And the Pacific Islanders rode to the front, each with their own service weapon.
Their entire division crossed to the burning Stalingrad completely without losses. At night, secretly, without noise. The attack of the sailors stunned the Nazis. They nicknamed the Marines "Black Devils." True, the guys soon had to part with their naval uniform: the black pea coats were too noticeable. But the sailors left their vests under their tunics.
I’m terribly offended that American filmmakers made Zaitsev look like some kind of illiterate Russian bear, to whom a political instructor tells him how to write words correctly. Before the army, Vasily Grigorievich graduated well from seven-year school and accounting school. And in the navy he served as a clerk, and then as the chief of finance of a unit. Tell me, could an illiterate idiot work after the war as the director of an automobile repair plant, graduate from the Institute of Light Industry, manage the Ukraina clothing factory, become the chairman of the capital's Podolsk regional executive committee, or the director of a technical school?
“Marry me, and no bastard will dare to offend you!”
At first, Zaitsev did not admit to anyone that he was a Hero of the Soviet Union, they only knew at the military registration and enlistment office, continues Zinaida Zaitseva. - It was I who made him wear a Gold Star on his jacket when we got married.
How did you two meet?
In the post-war years, I worked in the Kiev regional party committee. Vasily Grigorievich, as already mentioned, also held leadership positions. So we met at various party meetings. He was short, we were both the same height - sixty-five meters. Modest, shy. Open, sincere, sometimes naive, like a child. With such a person you can be frank and know that what you tell will not go anywhere. We became friends with him.
But, I admit, I didn’t imagine him as a husband. By that time, she was a widow; her first husband, also a front-line soldier, died after the war from stomach cancer; she was raising a teenage son.
And suddenly trouble happened - someone wrote an anonymous letter about me to the CPSU Central Committee. That I am abusing my official position, allegedly living beyond my means, and that as a woman I am this and that. In a word, the commission has arrived, let's check everything. Nothing was found. Again I am summoned to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine and shown this very anonymous letter. Reading it gives me goosebumps! - and suddenly I see a familiar phrase that I told only one employee - the instructor of our department.
The fact is that I worked as a deputy head of the light industry department of the regional party committee. You understand what it was like for a woman when there was nothing in the stores. I had access to both tailoring workshops and factories By the way, the first thing I did the next day after Vasya and I signed was to take him to the workshop, where we made him the first suit in his life, a good coat Otherwise he , poor, and went to work (chairman of the district executive committee!) in an old military uniform!
And then one day I got ready to go on vacation. This instructor (not a good woman, I’ll tell you, she was an envious woman, a gossip) asks where I’m going. I say: to Gagra. “Yes, what kind of outfits are needed there!” - She seemed to widen her eyes sympathetically. But I know - she’s ready to eat me! And casually, as a joke, I throw out: “And I have panvelvet robes!..” So she even brought in these non-existent robes.
That lady was fired miserably. Well, that evening I was shaking, and out of old habit, I went to Vasily Grigorievich to cry. Zaitsev listened to me and calmly said: “Marry me. And no bastard will dare to offend you!” And I agreed. As if as a joke. In the morning, work overwhelmed me again. Suddenly, after a couple of days, he called and asked to come in. When I entered, a woman was sitting in the office near his desk with some documents. I thought: I have to wait, it will go away now. Vasily Grigorievich said: “Come and sign”
It was a registry office employee. That's how Vasya and I got married. He became friends with my son, who later became a military man and is now a retired colonel.
“Zaitsev’s life was saved by a photo of a Bandera relative who happened to be in his possession.”
“We wanted more children,” recalls the widow of the sniper-hero. - But God didn’t give it. Vasily is all wounded! In his leg, instead of part of the joint, there was a gold plate that held the bones together. Back in Stalingrad, during hand-to-hand combat, a fascist hit him in the back with a bayonet. Doctors later said that Zaitsev was born in a shirt: the tip of the bayonet pierced the lung, but did not reach the heart only because the heart shrank at that moment.
And he almost remained blind after one of the last battles in Stalingrad. Intelligence reported that the Germans were preparing a powerful attack in their division’s sector. Having dispersed, thirteen of our snipers opened targeted fire on all enemy command and observation posts and, at the beginning of the offensive, destroyed most of the enemy officers.
The Germans going on the attack were confused, and our machine gunners and artillerymen cut off their path to retreat. Zaitsev decided to take the enemy prisoner. Can you imagine, during the battle he jumped out of the trench and ran towards the Nazis, shouting: “Hende hoch!” The Germans began to get up from the ground and raise their hands.
But at that moment, from the other side, the Nazis hit their own: they fired a volley of six-pound donkey mines - a German six-barreled rocket mortar. Vasya said that he even saw one of these fools, turning over in the air, flying straight at him. But he, you see, was embarrassed to crouch to the ground, he did not want to lose his dignity in front of the enemy.
The mine fell about thirty meters from him, suddenly jumped and exploded. The face and eyes were cut by shrapnel. Darkness fell. For a long time he saw nothing! No matter how hard the doctors fought
Zaitsev also had moments of despair. But optimism won. Vasya said that he was born on March 23, 1915 in the taiga, in a forester’s bathhouse during Holy Week. The next day, the mother discovered that the baby had two teeth. And this is a bad omen! Such a person would subsequently be torn apart by a predatory beast. Perhaps that is why Vasily’s grandfather, concerned about the future of his grandson, was cruel and merciless in his zeal to teach the boy to shoot wolves, not to be afraid of spending the night in the winter taiga or other difficulties, and to look for a way out of the most difficult situations.
Having stopped seeing, Zaitsev noticed that with blindness, hearing, smell, and memory become more acute. And he decided: if his vision did not return, he would hit the enemy by ear. But, thank God, a few weeks later, already in Moscow, his sight was saved by the famous ophthalmologist Academician Filatov.
After treatment, Vasily Grigorievich graduated from the Higher Officer Course “Vystrel”, returned to the front, commanded a sniper unit. Zaitsev's subordinates were called “bunnies,” and he himself was called the “chief Hare.” Probably because in Stalingrad he had the naval rank of “chief sergeant,” which was equivalent to the land rank of “senior sergeant.”
One day, soon after the liberation of Odessa, our soldiers met a boy in the Transnistrian floodplains. He said that nearby there was a German hospital where the Nazis took blood from Soviet children. Lieutenant Zaitsev gathered his guard and went there. After a short fight in one of the rooms, he saw a boy lying on a table. A thin transparent hand stuck out a needle with a tube from which the child’s blood dripped into the jar. Vasily pulled it out, took the exhausted boy in his arms and carried him to our doctors.
Years have passed. Once Vasily Grigorievich and I were relaxing in a sanatorium in Pushcha-Voditsa. Suddenly there was a knock on the door of our room, and a handsome young colonel appeared on the threshold. It turned out that this was the same boy. He visited us very often afterwards.
And Zaitsev almost reached Berlin during the war. But during the capture of the famous Seelow Heights, he was so wounded that after the front-line hospital he was sent to Kyiv for further treatment.
He drove home in a captured car. One. In the Lvov area he sees a fallen pine tree lying across the asphalt. Got out of the car, let's think about what to do. Suddenly, three young men in paramilitary uniforms appeared from behind the bushes, with German machine guns at the ready. Vasino's weapon remained in the car.
One of Bandera’s men took it out of the cab and began to disembowel the tablet. Photos of fellow soldiers fell out of it and scattered on the ground. One of them attracted the attention of a fourth armed man, apparently an older one, who appeared from the forest: “Who is this, do you know him?” “He’s from our unit, we fought together,” Zaitsev answered and gave his last name. “That’s right, this is my brother,” said the commander. He ordered his boys to collect the scattered things, gave them a guide and wished them a good journey. And if it weren’t for that photo, Vasya would not have made it to Kyiv.
Living in Kyiv, did Vasily Grigorievich miss his native Urals?
And we often went to visit his relatives. Ukraine became his second homeland. At a time when one could easily get the label of a Ukrainian bourgeois nationalist, the Russian peasant, communist Zaitsev often liked to wear an embroidered shirt on holidays. I taught him to sing Ukrainian folk songs. And he always valued people other than their nationality. After all, we forged victory together.
He lost many comrades, of very different nationalities - Russians, Ukrainians, Tatars - in Stalingrad.
Nowhere, probably, did Zaitsev experience as much as in this city. He knew and, years later, remembered every street here, every path in the Mamayev Kurgan area. And in peacetime, his uncle Vasya, an honorary citizen of Volgograd, was known here by young and old.
Zaitsev was very much loved by another famous Stalingrad resident, Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov, continues Zinaida Zaitseva. - During ceremonial feasts, he seated us near him. One day, I remember, we sat down - the table was full of appetizers, and next to each of us were large bowls of black caviar. I made a sandwich for my husband, Vasily Ivanovich. “Zina, why are you doing nonsense! - Chuikov suddenly barked in his commanding bass voice. “You eat caviar with a spoon, you eat it with a spoon, they won’t serve that much in Kyiv!”
Vasily Grigorievich loved young people very much, and when his health allowed, he went to meetings with schoolchildren, students, and military personnel with great pleasure. He especially liked to visit military units.
Once, when he was already over seventy, the military organized a shooting competition for the prize of the sniper Zaitsev. The young soldiers seemed to shoot well. Then they asked him to remember his youth. They gave me a soldier's padded jacket, a hat, a carbine And what do you think? Vasya hit all three bullets into the center of the target! Although by that time he rarely even held a hunting rifle in his hands. The military were delighted. They gave me a crystal goblet. There it is on the sideboard.
But neither he nor I wanted to remember one meeting. They invited him to the GSVG - Group of Soviet Forces in Germany. Zaitsev was received with a bang in the units. Then the Berlin mayor's office suddenly invited him to speak to German civilians. They also seemed to treat him friendly. They asked me to talk about the duel with Major Koenig. And suddenly a woman stands up and says to Zaitsev: “Everything you told is not true! I am the daughter of Major Koenig"
Everyone was taken aback, of course. Vasily Grigorievich’s face turned gray from injustice. The organizers of the meeting on the Soviet side quickly put Zaitsev in a car with guards and drove him to the unit. After all, after the battle, to prove that Zaitsev killed Koenig, the scouts brought in the documents of the fascist sniper. In Stalingrad he caused serious mischief, killing two of our snipers and several officers. During the duel, Koenig shot one sniper, Zaitsev's comrade, and broke the optical sight, and wounded another. Then he wounded the political instructor, who for a second rose above the parapet of the trench. A sniper scope allows you to even see the pupils of the eyes of enemy soldiers, but you should not be distracted by them, your task is to incapacitate officers, machine gunners, snipers, Vasily Grigorievich said. The duel lasted four days. In the end, Zaitsev and his assistant Nikolai Kulikov identified, outwitted and destroyed the enemy.
When did Vasily Grigorievich die?
December 15, 1991. His heart was weak. I suffered two heart attacks, and now I have a third. They took me to the hospital. There was also a stroke there. My husband was transferred to neurology. I was really bad. I feel like this is the last night. I ask that I be allowed to stay overnight near him. They didn't allow it. Of course, I couldn’t sleep at home. In the morning she seemed to have dozed off. And suddenly I hear a terrible roar in the apartment. It seemed like all the furniture was shaking. I look into all the rooms - everything seems to be in place. And suddenly there was silence.
I look at my watch - this one strikes. They stopped and it was five in the morning. I called the hospital: they said he just died. During our last trip, when we walked along Mamayev Kurgan, Vasily Grigorievich thought and said: “Zina, I beg you very much. When I die, bury me here. All my guys are lying here"
Of course, I was indignant. They say, what kind of talk in the ranks, we’ll live a while. I jokingly say: have you decided to leave me? I just want to cry. “Yes, of course, we’ll live for a while, don’t worry,” - it seemed to him that he himself was already embarrassed that he had started this conversation.
And now we have to bury it. I tell the children about Volgograd. - “Where will we go to visit the grave?” - “You are young, if you want, you can visit Volgograd, Volgograd residents will welcome you with dear souls.”
I am sending a telegram to Volgograd. I've been waiting a day for an answer. It's time to put the deceased in the coffin. But we can’t find a decent coffin! There are none at all! It was a time of shortages. Gorbachev is out of work, the Union has collapsed, my telegram, as it later turned out, did not reach Volgograd. In the end, they found some simple coffin and buried Vasily Grigorievich at the Lukyanovsky military cemetery. The monument was erected well. Volgograd residents helped. The children and I regularly visited the grave.
But I constantly thought that I had not fulfilled his will. I felt guilty. Soon I went to Volgograd and shared my grief. The Volga residents were ready to rebury, but the sanitary service said that this was possible only after 15 years!
I began to wait. And last winter, Volgograd residents came and did everything. And on the anniversary of the Stalingrad victory, February 2, our Zaitsev was solemnly buried in the land of Mamayev Kurgan. I couldn't go - I was sick. I'm already ninety years old. And now, as if a stone had been lifted from my soul, I feel better and am going to go and worship the graves of my husband and his military friends. Probably it was Vasily Grigorievich who extended my life.
The legendary sniper of the Great Patriotic War Vasily Zaitsev during the Battle of Stalingrad, in a month and a half, destroyed more than two hundred German soldiers and officers, including 11 snipers.
Warrior
The war found Vasily Zaitsev serving in the Pacific Fleet as head of the financial unit, to which he was appointed thanks to his education. But Vasily, who received his first hunting rifle as a gift from his grandfather at the age of 12, did not even think about working in the accounting department. He wrote five reports asking to be sent to the front. Finally, the commander heeded the requests, and Zaitsev left for the active army to defend his homeland. The future sniper was enlisted in the 284th Infantry Division.
Deserved a "sniper"
After short military training, Vasily, together with other Pacific soldiers, crossed the Volga and took part in the battles for Stalingrad. From the very first meetings with the enemy, Zaitsev proved himself to be an outstanding shooter. Using a simple “three-ruler”, he skillfully killed an enemy soldier. During the war, his grandfather’s wise hunting advice was very useful to him. Later Vasily will say that one of the main qualities of a sniper is the ability to camouflage and be invisible. This quality is necessary for any good hunter.
Just a month later, for his demonstrated zeal in battle, Vasily Zaitsev received the medal “For Courage”, and in addition to it... a sniper rifle! By this time, the accurate hunter had already disabled 32 enemy soldiers.
Sniper savvy
A good sniper is a living sniper. The feat of a sniper is that he does his job again and again. To succeed in this difficult task, you need to perform a feat every day and every minute: beat the enemy and stay alive!
Vasily Zaitsev firmly knew that the pattern was the path to death. Therefore, he constantly came up with new hunting models. Hunting another hunter is especially dangerous, but even here our soldier always rose to the occasion. Vasily, as if in a chess game, outplayed his opponents. For example, he made a realistic sniper doll, and he disguised himself nearby. As soon as the enemy revealed himself with a shot, Vasily began to patiently wait for his appearance from cover. And time didn't matter to him.
From ingenuity to science
Zaitsev commanded a sniper group and, caring for the growth of them and his own professional skills, accumulated considerable didactic material, which later made it possible to write two textbooks for snipers. One day, two riflemen, returning from a firing position, met their commander. The punctual Germans have gone to lunch, which means you can take a break yourself - you still won’t be able to catch anyone in your crosshairs. But Zaitsev noted that now is the time to shoot. It turns out that even when there was no one to shoot at, the smart hunter calmly calculated the distances to the places where the enemy might appear and wrote them down in a notebook, so that on occasion, without wasting a second, he could hit the target. After all, there may not be another chance.
Duel with a German "super sniper"
The Soviet marksman greatly annoyed the German “machine,” so the German command sent its best marksman from Berlin to the Stalingrad front: the head of the sniper school. The German ace was given the task of destroying the “Russian hare”. In turn, Vasily received an order to destroy the German “super sniper”. A game of cat and mouse began between them. From the actions of the German, Vasily realized that he was dealing with a seasoned professional. But as a result of several days of mutual hunting, Vasily Zaitsev outwitted the enemy and emerged victorious.
This duel made our sniper famous worldwide. This plot is reflected in modern cinema: in the 1992 Russian film “Angels of Death” and in the Western “Enemy at the Gates” (2001).
Group hunt
Unfortunately, there was no time to celebrate the victory in the principled duel. Division commander Nikolai Batyuk congratulated Vasily and assigned his group of snipers a new important task. It was necessary to disrupt the impending German offensive on one of the sections of the Stalingrad front. “How many fighters do you have at your disposal,” asked the commander. - “13”. - “Well, I hope you can handle it.”
In carrying out the task, Zaitsev’s group used a new combat tactic at that time - group hunting. Thirteen sniper rifles took aim at the most attractive points in the enemy's position. The calculation is this: Hitler’s officers will come out for a final inspection of the offensive line - fire!
The calculation was completely justified. The offensive was disrupted. True, the experienced fighter Vasily Zaitsev, in the heat of battle, launched an open attack on the German infantry, not expecting that the German artillery would fire a salvo at friends and foes...
Return to the front
When Vasily came to his senses, he was enveloped in darkness. As a result of the severe injury, his eyes were seriously damaged. In his memoirs, he admits that when his hearing became more acute, he was thinking about picking up a rifle... Fortunately, after several operations, his vision returned, and on February 10, 1943, sniper Zaitsev saw the light again.
For the demonstrated military skill and valor, the commander of the sniper group was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, awarded the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal. However, as at the beginning of his military journey, Vasily did not even think of staying away from the main events and soon returned to the front. He celebrated victory in the Great Patriotic War with the rank of captain.
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, in the active army, he 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-line 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 petty officer 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 with the highest degree of distinction 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 Guards Army of the 1st Belorussian Front No. 383/n dated October 10, 1944, the Guard awarded Senior Lieutenant V.G. Zaitsev 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 the Soviet press, Vasily Zaitsev's final battle tally 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 "Ukraine" 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.
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From the materials of V. G. Zaitsev’s award sheets:
From wartime press materials:
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From press materials of the post-war years:
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