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The history of the Great Patriotic War is full of examples not only of the monstrous hardships and trials that millions of people had to endure during these terrible four years, but also examples of incomparable valor and courage.
At first glance, ordinary people, without flinching in the face of death, day by day brought victory closer, sometimes at the cost of their own lives. Their exploits continue to inspire posterity and be examples of sacrificial love for the motherland and their people.
10 Leonid Golikov
The feat accomplished by this boy is a vivid example of heroism and great love for his Motherland. The war began when Lena was barely 15 years old. Without much thought, he went to the partisan detachment, where he performed combat missions on a par with adult soldiers.
In 1942, Lenya officially became a scout, and a little later he joined the Komsomol there. This incredibly gifted boy had a lot of military victories: 27 military operations, 78 killed and captured German officers, several episodes of blowing up enemy cars and bridges.
In January 1943, 27 partisans, exhausted by the pursuit, heroically died to the last drop of blood, fighting against the enemy forces many times superior. Among them was Lena. A year later, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously ….
9. Marat Kazei
When the enemy came to our land, Marat’s mother began to help the Minsk partisans in every possible way, risking her own life every day. She sheltered in her house and looked after the wounded soldiers. Knowing what she was doing, the Germans sentenced her to death and hanged her in 1942.
After the tragic death of his mother, Marat joins a partisan detachment and, despite his age, becomes a scout. Bold and resourceful, Marat more than once penetrated the very lair of the enemy and returned uncaught with valuable information for the soldiers.
In the spring of 43, this courageous boy saved a whole detachment of partisans. In the fight against the enemy, Marat was not a coward in the face of death and showed unparalleled courage that even his adult comrades admired.
The pioneer hero died tragically on May 11, 1944. When he and his comrade were returning from another mission, they were surrounded by the Germans. Having lost his partner in a shootout, the hero himself blew himself up with a grenade, eliminating the possibility of being captured alive.
8. Viktor Talalikhin
The feat of this hero is described in many textbooks and it is simply impossible to call it accidental or episodic: a person must approach this all his life.
This brave pilot was the first in the Great Patriotic War to make the legendary “ram”. To do this, it was necessary to have incredible skill in driving a combat vehicle and courage bordering on recklessness.
The pilot brought his fighter as close as possible to the tail of the Xe-111 and slashed at it with a propeller, despite the fact that he had already been wounded in the arm.
This legendary pilot gave his last battle on October 27, 1941. Then he had to fight with significantly superior enemy forces, and the hero was mortally wounded in this air battle.
7. Andrey Korzun
In 1943, Korzun served in the 12th Guards Artillery Regiment on the Leningrad Front. His military gun repeatedly “packs” destroyed enemy batteries.
On November 5, 1943, when the gun crew was taken to cover, Korzun alone continued to cover the enemy with continuous artillery fire.
Being mortally wounded, Andrey covered a box with ignited charges. Thus, at the cost of his own life, he prevented the explosion of ammunition.
6. Yefim Osipenko
Yefim Osipenko was the commander of a small partisan detachment. He had combat experience since the Civil War. Therefore, when the Germans attacked the Soviet Union, without thinking twice, he went to the partisan detachment, in which he and his comrades committed a series of sabotage against the Nazis.
During the next task, it was decided to undermine the enemy’s train. But there was a shortage of ammunition in the detachment. The bomb was made from an ordinary grenade. It was supposed to be installed by Osipenko himself.
He crawled to the railway bridge and threw it in front of an oncoming train. There was no explosion. Then the hero had to hit the explosives on his own with a pole from a railway sign. The train was derailed, but the valiant partisan lost his sight forever.
For this feat, Osipenko was the first person in the Soviet Union to be awarded the medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War.”
5. Alexander German
The war caught him while studying at the military academy. Herman immediately began to ask to be sent to the front. In July 1941, he went to serve as a scout on the North-Western Front.
A year later, he was appointed commander of the Third Leningrad Partisan Brigade, which numbered about 100 people.
Herman became famous as an intelligent and courageous commander. He could at the right time show military ingenuity. All the operations he developed were successful and caused significant damage to the enemy forces.
In early September 1943, the German partisan brigade was attacked by the Nazis. Our forces won a victory, but suffered serious losses, breaking out of the encirclement. German died heroically in a terrible battle on September 6, 1943.
4. Konstantin Zaslonov
In October 1941, at his own request, he was sent behind enemy lines as part of a group of railroad workers. His partisan nickname was “Uncle Kostya”.
Acting in the very lair of the enemy, he organized an underground group, whose members, by using “coal mines” (explosive devices disguised as coal), destroyed 93 enemy locomotives in three months.
In addition to active subversion, Zaslonov was able to organize a full-fledged partisan detachment, which conducted a series of victorious military raids in the Vitebsk-Orsha-Smolensk region, destroying a large number of Nazis and enemy equipment.
November 13, 1942 Konstantin Zaslonov died heroically in battle with a detachment of punishers.
3. Alexander Matrosov
This nineteen-year-old guy became famous during the Great Patriotic War for the fact that on February 27, 1943, he closed the embrasure of the enemy bunker with his own chest.
Matrosov’s name has since become a household name, and his feat has forever remained in the history of the glorious deeds of our people.
2. Vladislav Khrustitsky
During the war he commanded the 30th Separate Guards Tank Brigade on the Leningrad Front. Khrustitsky is one of the heroes of the battle for Leningrad, who brought the blockade closer with his exploits.
The enemy forces did everything to occupy the northern capital. Acting on the rear and communications of the Nazis, Khrustitsky’s tankers successfully resisted the enemy.
Thanks to the efforts of this fearless hero, the enemy suffered colossal human losses. In these battles, Khrustitsky showed rare stamina and heroism.
In 1944 he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously.
1. Alexey Maresiev
Many of us in our school years read the famous novel “The Tale of a Real Man”. However, now not everyone remembers that the plot of this book is based on a real biography of an amazing person and brave pilot Alexei Maresyev.
After a severe wound, both legs were amputated, but in spite of everything, he refused to go into reserve and say goodbye to the sky and continued combat flights.
Incredibly, being disabled, this hero destroyed almost twice as many enemy aircraft as before.
After the war, partly thanks to The Tale of a Real Man, he became widely known, he was invited to various celebrations dedicated to the memories of the war, often organized meetings with children: the personality of the legendary pilot became an example for a whole generation to follow, and his name became a household name and the personification of human courage, overcoming absolutely any test.
Maresyev went through the entire war and died in 2001.