The Chelyabinsk memorial in honor of the pioneer heroes on the Aloe Field (architect T. Filippova) was built during the next reconstruction of the children's park for the 250th anniversary of Chelyabinsk in 1986. It was thoroughly restored in 1999 - the lining was changed, and the bronze bas-reliefs were replaced with cast iron ones. In total, the area is surrounded by 12 bas-reliefs - of course, in fact, there are much more pioneer heroes. On what basis these twelve were selected - it is not known, I personally do not see any logic here. Nevertheless, in order not to inflate the topic, I will limit myself to only those twelve that are immortalized in the Chelyabinsk memorial. Sculptors - authors of bas-reliefs will be indicated in brackets.

Heroes who died as children - there is a certain sublime tragedy in this, even idealism, which has always attracted attention. I don’t know if today’s youth is interested (I doubt it), but in childhood we read stories about partisans, scouts and saboteurs - since then there was a lot of such literature, especially for children. Later it became interesting - who really were all these people, how much their real history differs from the heroic image created by Soviet propaganda? Therefore, whenever possible, when searching for information, I also tried to take into account alternative points of view and, if possible, choose intravital photographs.

In fact, paper tablets with the faces of pioneer heroes surrounded the Chernomor fountain even before the installation of bronze bas-reliefs.

[Photo taken in 1967; from the archive of Andrey Myasnikov]

Yes, and in an earlier photo (from the forties and fifties?), some tablets are also visible - I wonder whose portraits were on them?

[Photo from here]

Pavlik Morozov (sculptor A.P.Sulenev)

Perhaps the most controversial personality of the entire pantheon is a name that, back in the Soviet years, became a household name, a symbol of an ideological fighter for ideals, who even betrayed his own father for them. This is probably why the face of Pavlik - perhaps the only one of all the cast-iron bas-reliefs on the Aloe Field - is constantly polluted by vandals.

Soviet propaganda traditionally presented Pavlik Morozov as a role model for the younger generation. According to the version of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1974), the future hero was born on November 14, 1918 in a peasant family in the village of Gerasimovka (now the Sverdlovsk region). During the period of collectivization, the boy, allegedly, became an active participant in the fight against the kulaks, organized and led the first pioneer detachment in his native Gerasimovka. Official Soviet history says that at the end of 1931, Pavlik convicted his father Trofim Morozov, then the chairman of the village council, of selling blank forms with a seal to special settlers from among the dispossessed kulaks. Based on the testimony of a teenager, Morozov Sr. was sentenced to ten years (according to some sources, five years).

Following this, Pavlik, as alleged, made a number of other "feats": he reported about the bread hidden from a neighbor, accused the husband of his own aunt of stealing state grain, and stated that part of the stolen grain was with his own grandfather, Sergey Sergeevich Morozov. He spoke about the property, hidden from confiscation by the same uncle, actively participated in the actions, looking for hidden property together with representatives of the village council. According to the official Soviet version, on September 3, 1932, when Pavlik's mother left the village for a short time, the teenager, together with his eight-year-old brother Fedya, went to the forest, where they were killed. The murderers, as determined by the investigation, turned out to be Pavlik's cousin, 19-year-old Danila, grandfather Sergey Morozov, who at that time was 81 years old. Pavlik's grandmother, 79-year-old Ksenia Morozova, was declared an accomplice in the crime, and Pavlik's uncle, 70-year-old Arseny Kulukanov, was recognized as its organizer. At a show trial in a district club, they were all sentenced to death. Pavlik's father, Trofim, was also shot, although at that time he was far in the North. It was said that he dug a hole for himself before being shot.

After the death of Pavlik, his mother, Tatyana Morozova, received an apartment in the Crimea as compensation for her son, who was raised to heaven by Soviet propaganda, part of which she rented to the guests. The woman traveled a lot around the country with stories about the exploits of Pavlik. Over the years, she developed the habit of talking about him in such terms, in which it was customary to talk about a pioneer hero. She died in 1983 in her apartment filled with bronze busts of Pavlik.

The "official" presentation of Pavlik's exploits for children, in the format of a filmstrip, can be viewed. Many things were named after him in the country, in particular, we have a children's railway station in the TsPKiO.

Kolya Myagotin (sculptor M.I. Kharlamov)

Another fighter against the kulaks during collectivization, this time in the Trans-Urals - a few years ago a monument was even erected to him in Kurgan.

Kolya was an excellent student, actively participated in public life, was a pioneer leader, a member of the academic committee and the editorial board of the school newspaper. In the summer, the young pioneer worked in his native collective farm named after the VIII District Congress. The kulaks tried to destroy the young, not yet strong collective farm: they spoiled the collective farm equipment, mutilated and stole collective farm cattle. Pioneer Kolya Myagotin began to write about the intrigues of the kulaks in the regional newspaper. He reported one of the cases of large-scale kulak theft of collective-farm grain to the village Soviet. In October 1932, the kulak Fotei Sychev persuaded the kulakists, the hooligans of the brothers Ivan and Mikhail Vakhrushev, to kill the pioneer. A point-blank shot ended the life of a thirteen-year-old pioneer forever.

However, for 76 years, the case of the murder of Kolya Myagotin was twice challenged by the General Prosecutor's Office and twice considered in the Supreme Court. As a result, the picture of what happened was somewhat different from what was described in the books.

Kolya did not expose any thieves of collective farm grain, on the contrary, he himself hunted by stealing sunflower seeds from the collective farm field. For the next such occupation, he was caught by none other than a Red Army soldier guarding the field. As a result of the quarrel, the hot-tempered watchman shot at Kolya, and the 12-year-old friend of the teenager, Petya Vakhrushev, managed to escape. First, Vakhrushev told the whole truth. But at the second interrogation, he unexpectedly changed his testimony, indicating that Kolya was killed by his two older brothers. Thus, the Vakhrushev brothers were accused of the murder, and along the way, a number of kulaks allegedly involved in the theft of grain and the death of Kolya were exposed. On December 30, 1932, the visiting session of the Ural Regional Court in Kurgan in the case of the murder of Kolya Myagotin sentenced five residents of the village of Kolesnikovo to death, six people to ten years in prison and one to a year of forced labor. Immediately after the trial, Petya Vakhrushev disappeared without a trace. A week later, his mother was found hanged. And the late Kolya Myagotin, like the same imaginary hero Pavlik Morozov, was surrounded by ideological background and "in absentia" made a pioneer. Only in 1999, the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, in the case of the murder of Kolya Myagotin, fully rehabilitated ten people as innocent. Two of the elements of the crime were reclassified from a political article into an ordinary one - a criminal one.

Grisha Hakobyan (sculptor E.I. Makarov)

No, this character has nothing to do with the famous illusionist dynasty. Moreover, it is believed that it is completely fictional and, as they say, was created by order of the Central Committee of the Komsomol of Azerbaijan. As far as I understand, the Armenian analogue of Pavlik Morozov from the Azerbaijani city of Ganja is a literary fiction of the writer Sargis Mnatsakanyan, who wrote the book "Hero Pioneer Grisha Hakobyan" in 1958. I did not find the book itself, although there is a 1960 children's filmstrip of the same name, where Mnatsakanyan is listed in the imprint as a consultant.

The fact that a native of the second largest Azerbaijani city of Ganja, an Armenian by nationality, was made such a hero could have two reasons. On the one hand, this could speak of the internationalism of Soviet Azerbaijan. According to another version, the violation of the traditional for the Caucasus, especially for a Muslim family, by maintaining respect for elders on the part of an Azerbaijani could seem even less plausible compared to a boy of Armenian origin. And most of the Ganja residents, to whom we turned, do not remember or do not know anything about Grisha Hakobyan.

However, this is what Leonard Kondrashenko mentions in the book "Artek":

In 1929, after the First All-Union Rally, S. M. Mnatsakanyan rested in Artek. He was the chairman of the council of the detachment, the leader in this detachment was Grisha Hakobyan, the future pioneer hero.

It follows from this that the pioneer Grisha Hakobyan actually existed, or at least had a real prototype - but how things stand with the feat is unknown, at least I could not find anything more reliable about this.

Vasya Korobko (sculptor B.A. Maganov)

The first of the heroes in question, immortalized for a feat in the Great Patriotic War. The son of a regiment, a partisan who died a hero's death in 1944 at the age of 17. In this case, by the way, the official and unofficial stories are extremely unanimous - I was not able to find polar opposite opinions, as in the case of the heroes of the collectivization period (the same pattern is typical for the following characters; an interesting but fact is that the pioneer heroes of the Great Patriotic War are called to the order is less disputes and disagreements than the heroes of the times of collectivization and the Civil War).

The partisan fate of a sixth-grader from the village of Pogoreltsy, Semyonovsky district, Chernihiv region, turned out to be unusual. He received his baptism of fire in the summer of 1941. The front came close to the village of Pogoreltsy. On the outskirts, covering the retreat of our units, the company held the defense. Vasily brought cartridges to the fighters. Consciously remained in the occupied territory. From the school building occupied by the Nazis, he saved the pioneer banner of the squad. Once, at my own peril and risk, I sawed the piles of the bridge, pulled out the metal brackets holding its structures. The very first fascist armored personnel carrier that drove onto this bridge collapsed from it and went out of order. Then Vasya became a partisan. On the instructions of the command of the detachment, he became a scout, getting a job as a stoker and cleaner in the Nazi headquarters. Everything that Vasily learned became known to the partisans.

Somehow, the punishers demanded from Korobko that he lead them to the forest, from where the partisans made sorties. And Vasily led the Nazis to a police ambush. The Nazis, mistaking them for partisans in the dark, opened furious fire, killed many policemen and themselves suffered heavy losses. Vasya Korobko fought in the partisan unit named after Nikolai Nikitovich Popudrenko (one of the organizers and leaders of the party underground and the partisan movement in Ukraine, secretary of the Chernigov underground regional committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine, commander of the partisan unit. Heroically died in July 1943 in a battle with superior forces opponent). Vasily Korobko became an excellent demolition man, took part in the destruction of nine echelons with manpower and equipment of the enemy. The exploits of Vasily Korobko were awarded the Orders of Lenin, the Red Banner, the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree, and the medal "Partisan of the Patriotic War" of the 1st degree. Later, he was accepted into the partisan formation of the Hero of the Soviet Union Pyotr Petrovich Vershigora ... He died a hero's death in battle on April 1, 1944 while performing the next task.

Kychan Dzhakypov (sculptor V.M. Tsepelev)

Kychan was called the "Kirkiz Pavlik Morozov", although in fact the story here was somewhat different - the young shepherd handed over the bandits to the authorities, for which he was killed. And yes, this is a real person, although in the literary presentation, which became the official version of his feat, the real events were still a little embellished.

The myth about him was created by the writer Shukurbek Beishanaliev, who wrote the book "Kychan". In Soviet times, the story of Shukurbek Beishenaliev, not counting the Kyrgyz editions, was reprinted seven times in Moscow, was translated and published in Azerbaijani, Belarusian, Karakalpak, Latvian, Lithuanian, Moldavian, Uzbek and Ukrainian. The Kyrgyz akyn Abdarasul Toktomyshev wrote the poem "Dzhakyp ulu" ("Son of Dzhakyp"), the play "Kychan" was staged for a long time at the State Drama Theater in the capital of Kyrgyzstan, the composer Satylgan Osmonov wrote an opera about the pioneer hero.

Well, what is the attitude towards Kychan in his homeland? The director of the State Museum of the History of Kyrgyzstan, Dzhumaly Mamankulov, answers this question: “Of course, not everyone knows about his act now. They only know in Kyrgyz schools, where the work of the famous Kyrgyz prose writer Shukurbek Beishenaliev is studied. "Of course not, or rather, there is no interest. Historical truth - yes, it was, that's true. Kachan Dzhakypov - he is the son of Munuldor, but they did it a little differently, like a literary one, but the prototype is his. We have him in the historical museum photo, this is the work of our artists, when he is stabbed. In general, there are several types of Kychan Dzhakypov: both photographs and an image with oil paint. Unfortunately, we don’t have things. Only the tie remained, and the cap is called in our language. And that’s all - there is nothing more."

Marx Krotov (sculptor B.A. Maganov)

Another hero of the Great Patriotic War is a teenager who helped partisans in the occupied territory.

This boy with such an expressive name was infinitely grateful to our pilots, who were ordered to bomb the enemy airfield. The airfield was located in the Leningrad region, near Tosno, and was carefully guarded by the Nazis. But Marx Krotov managed to quietly get close to the airfield and give our pilots a light signal.

Focusing on this signal, the bombers accurately attacked targets and destroyed dozens of enemy aircraft. And before that, Marx collected food for the partisan detachment and handed it over to the forest fighters.

Marx Krotov was captured by a Nazi patrol when he once again, together with other schoolchildren, aimed our bombers at the target. The boy was executed on the shores of Lake Beloye in February 1942.

Two "other schoolchildren" were named Albert Kupsha and Kolya Ryzhov - the obelisk at the place of their execution still stands. Why only Marx got into the pantheon of pioneer heroes is a big mystery.

Sasha Kovalev (sculptor E.I. Makarov)

Jung of the Northern Fleet - at the age of 15 he fled to the front, by 1944 he graduated from the Jung school and died in the same year, blown up by a mine.

The war began when Sasha was resting in a pioneer camp. Dad went to the front. Soon trouble came to the house, the father died a heroic death. And on the same day, Sasha's mother died during the bombing. It was a terrible day. Sasha and his friend fled to the front, which was very close. A friend died. And Sasha was taken to the carriage with the sailors. The train was heading north. Sasha graduated from the naval school with honors as a minder, and he was given the opportunity as an excellent student. Selection of the operating fleet. Without hesitation, Sasha asked for the Northern Fleet.

The wiki article is more specific and factual, and tells us the following:

Born in the family of engineer Philip Markovich Rabinovich and Elena Yakovlevna Rabinovich (Chernomordik). In 1937, his parents were repressed. After the arrest of his parents, he was brought up in the family of the aunt of the translator Rita Kovaleva-Wright (Chernomordik) and the captain of the Northern Fleet Nikolai Petrovich Kovalev. At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, he was evacuated to the Yaroslavl region, and later returned to the place of service of N. P. Kovalev in Arkhangelsk, where he entered the boat. In 1942, he entered the Solovetsky school, a cabin boy under the name Alexander Nikolayevich Kovalev, in the minder training company. After its completion, he was assigned to the destroyer Gromkiy, and after that, to a torpedo boat. Participated in 20 combat operations of the Northern Fleet.

On May 8, 1944, the TK-209 torpedo boat, on which Sasha Kovalev served, under the command of A.I. hot water mixed with oil and gasoline. Sasha Kovalev covered the hole with his body, receiving severe burns. At the same time, it was possible to keep the boat running, the motor did not explode and two crews of torpedo boats were saved, since at that moment there was another team of boatmen on the boat, picked up from the same TKA-217 boat that had just been destroyed by German aircraft. On May 9, 1944, Sasha Kovalev died as a result of the explosion of a German phosphorus mine, which did not explode the day before on a boat after being bombed by enemy aircraft. He was awarded the Ushakov medal, the Order of the Red Star and the Order of the Patriotic War 1st class (posthumously).

Volodya Dubinin (sculptor I.V. Beschastnov)

Also a very famous person, not least thanks to the very popular children's book by Lev Kassil (and the movie based on it). In particular, several pioneer camps were named after this pioneer hero.

When World War II broke out, Volodya was only 14 years old. Together with the adults, he went to the Starokarantinsky quarries. Volodya was a liaison and intelligence agent in this underground fortress, which for about two months desperately resisted the Nazi invaders. The occupiers fought against a detachment of quarries and walled up the exits from it. Since Volodya was the smallest, he managed to get to the surface through very narrow manholes that were not noticed by the enemies. The boy knew well the layout of the underground galleries, the location of all exits to the surface. And when in January 1942, after the liberation of Kerch by the Red Army units, the sappers began to clear the area around the quarries, he volunteered to help them. On January 2, the young hero died after being blown up by a mine. Volodya Dubinin was buried in a partisan grave, not far from the quarries.

On none of the resources where this story is described, I could not find any noticeable discrepancies, that is, in this case, no one doubts the facts.

Valya Kotik (sculptor M.I. Kharlamov)

Valya Kotik is usually depicted wearing a partisan hat with a red ribbon obliquely. It is understandable - he fought in the partisan formation of Kamenetz-Podolsk.

During the Great Patriotic War, while on the territory of the Shepetovsky district temporarily occupied by Nazi troops, Valya Kotik collected weapons and ammunition, drew and pasted cartoons of the Nazis. Since 1942, he had a connection with the Shepetovskaya underground party organization and carried out her instructions for intelligence.

The wiki adds a little more specifics.

In the autumn of 1941, together with his comrades, he killed the head of the field gendarmerie near the city of Shepetovka, throwing a grenade at the car in which he was traveling. Since 1942, he took an active part in the partisan movement on the territory of Ukraine. At first he was a liaison of the Shepetovskaya underground organization, then he participated in the battles. Since August 1943 - in the partisan detachment named after Karmelyuk under the command of I. A. Muzalev, he was wounded twice. In October 1943, he discovered an underground telephone cable, which was soon blown up, and the connection between the invaders and Hitler's headquarters in Warsaw was cut off. He also contributed to the undermining of six railway echelons and a warehouse. On October 29, 1943, while on patrol, he noticed punishers who were about to raid the detachment. After killing the officer, he raised the alarm; thanks to his actions, the partisans managed to repulse the enemy. In the battle for the city of Izyaslav on February 16, 1944, he was mortally wounded and died the next day.

Marat Kazei (sculptor I.V. Beschastnov)

Also partisan "son of the regiment".

In the very first battle on January 9, 1943, in the area of ​​​​the Stankovsky forest, Marat Kazei showed courage and courage. Being wounded in the arm, he went on the attack several times. Later, dozens of times he penetrated enemy garrisons and delivered valuable intelligence to the command. Repeatedly participated in sabotage on railways and highways. Using the data obtained by Marat, the partisans developed a daring operation and defeated the fascist garrison in the city of Dzerzhinsk ... In March 1943, near the village of Rumok, the D. Furmanov partisan detachment was surrounded, and all attempts by its commander to contact other detachments were unsuccessful. Marat Kazei volunteered to establish contact with the encircled detachment. He brought reinforcements in time, and the battle ended with the defeat of the fascist punishers. In December 1943, in a battle on the Slutsk Highway, Marat Kazei obtained valuable enemy documents - military maps and plans of the Nazi command.

On May 11, 1944, returning from a mission, Marat and the reconnaissance commander stumbled upon the Germans near the village of Khorometskoye, Uzdensky district, Minsk region. The commander was killed immediately, Marat, firing back, lay down in a hollow. There was nowhere to leave in an open field, and there was no possibility - Marat was seriously wounded. While there were cartridges, he kept the defense, and when the store was empty, he picked up his last weapon - two grenades, which he did not remove from his belt. He threw one at the Germans, and left the other. When the Germans came very close, he blew himself up along with the enemies.

Wiki again only slightly supplements the official version with dry facts.

He was a scout at the headquarters of the partisan brigade. K. K. Rokossovsky. In addition to reconnaissance, he participated in raids and sabotage. For courage and courage in battles, he was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree, medals "For Courage" (wounded, raised partisans to attack) and "For Military Merit". Returning from reconnaissance and surrounded by the Germans, Marat Kazei blew himself up and his enemies with a grenade.

Zina Portnova (sculptor S.P. Manaenkov)

Member of the underground organization "Young Avengers", intelligence officer of the partisan detachment.

Participated in the distribution of leaflets among the population and sabotage against the invaders. Working in the canteen of retraining courses for German officers, she poisoned food at the direction of the underground (more than a hundred officers died). During the proceedings, wanting to prove to the Germans her innocence, she tried poisoned soup. Miraculously, she survived. Since August 1943, the intelligence officer of the partisan detachment. K. E. Voroshilova. In December 1943, returning from a mission to find out the reasons for the failure of the Young Avengers organization, she was captured in the village of Mostishche and identified by a certain Anna Khrapovitskaya. At one of the interrogations in the Gestapo of the village of Goryany (Belarus), grabbing the investigator’s pistol from the table, she shot him and two more Nazis, tried to escape, was captured. Shot after being tortured.

I don’t know about you, but I have a distinct dissonance with these clear eyes in the photo - “together with my friend, she poisoned more than a hundred people”, “shot the investigator and two more Nazis”. And this at the age of 17, an extremely brave girl!

Lenya Golikov (sculptor A.P.Sulenev)

A brigade reconnaissance officer of a partisan detachment operating on the territory of the Leningrad and Pskov regions. He died on January 24, 1943 in an unequal battle in the village of Ostraya Luka, Pskov region.

In August 1942, Lenya was in ambush near the road. Suddenly he saw that a luxurious German car was driving along the road. He knew that very important fascists were transported on such cars, and decided to stop this car at all costs. First, he looked to see if there were guards, let the car come closer, and then threw a grenade at it. A grenade exploded next to the car, and immediately two hefty Fritz jumped out of it and ran to Lena. But he was not afraid and began to shoot at them with a machine gun. He immediately laid down one, and the second began to run away into the forest, but Lenin's bullet caught up with him as well. One of the Nazis turned out to be General Richard Witz. They found important documents with him and immediately sent them to Moscow. Soon, from the General Staff of the partisan movement, an order was received to present all participants in the daring operation to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. And there was only one participant... Young Lenya Golikov! It turns out that Lenya obtained valuable information - drawings and descriptions of new samples of German mines, inspection reports to higher command, minefield maps and other important military papers.
http://pionery-geroi.ucoz.ru/index/marat_kazej/0-9

On March 31 of this year, Vasily Ivanovich Korobko, a hero of the Great Patriotic War, a partisan, would have turned ninety years old. But, unfortunately, the particle "would" in this case leaves no hope. Vasya Vasily Ivanovich did not become, but died the next day after he turned seventeen years old.

Vasya was born in the Chernihiv region, in a small village with the sad name Pogoreltsy (the name was given for a reason, the village once burned down almost to the ground). He grew up as the most ordinary boy, not quiet and not a tomboy.

The war began, the front was approaching his native village. There was still an opportunity to evacuate, but Vasya became stubborn. He kept repeating that our soldiers would be more needed here. And he was right in a way.

Our units retreated, their path ran through the village. A company remained at its edge, covering the withdrawal of its own. This is where the boy came in. They wanted to kick him out - but it wasn't there. Vasek turned out to be an indispensable assistant, nimble and dexterous. He brought ammunition and did not even seem to get tired.

... Ours are gone. More and more enemy planes circled over the village. And once Vasya saw an air battle: several "Messers" landed on our plane and knocked it out. The car fell behind the village, not far away. Vasya was one of the first to come running: the pilot was alive. The boy dragged him to the nurse's house. Helped to look after, wore products. And when the pilot (Viktor Petrovich Grigoriev) recovered, he saw him out of the village at night and said goodbye. In parting, the fighter gave the boy a cap.

... The fire victims were occupied by the Nazis. Vasek really wanted to contact the partisans. But while the essence and the matter, he did not sit idly by, he acted on his own. I sawed the piles of the rural bridge alone at night, pulled out the metal brackets. And unnoticed by anyone, he disappeared. The next morning, the whole village was talking about partisan sabotage, thanks to which the fascist armored personnel carrier failed.

There is also such a fact in Vasya's biography: the enemies turned the school into their headquarters. And Vasya saved the banner of his pioneer squad from there! After all, the boy himself was a standard-bearer in the pre-war period. Who, if not him, knows how expensive the banner is? He sat in ambush all day long, waiting for the office where the relic stood to be empty. And waited! He climbed in the window so quietly that no one noticed. In one hand he held a grenade - in case of failure. But luckily it didn't work...

The time has come - Vasya found the way to the partisan detachment of Alexander Petrovich Balabay. Became a scout. And in order not to arouse suspicion, he got a job with the Nazis as a stoker. He began to work so regularly that he not only worked on stoves, but also cleaned at the headquarters every day. They saw him with a rag, then with a broom. He brought such cleanliness - any-expensive! True, he was in no hurry to please the enemies, he kept, so to speak, a passionless mine. Like, you just really want to eat, that's why it works. And when did he manage to transmit information, and even put up leaflets? By the way, I adapted one right on the door of the commandant's office. The fact that he studied German at school and knew many words also helped the boy.

It was thanks to Vasya's information that the detachment raided the enemy in December 1941. More than a hundred Nazis were destroyed that night!

Soon Vasya began to notice that they began to watch him. Prepared to disappear, but did not have time. One day he was summoned to the commandant's office. True, the enemies doubted their guesses, but decided to act. Vasya was offered an exchange: information for life. He takes them out to the partisans - they don't touch him for this. Vasya agreed. The campaign was scheduled for the next night, until that moment the boy was locked up. Yes, they did not guess that Vasya had a lot of information. No wonder he cleaned everywhere he could. He knew that these days the policemen were preparing an ambush. And I guessed that in the dark the Nazis orient themselves poorly on the ground. Two deaths cannot happen, but one cannot be avoided. Dying is so right...

The courage of the city takes, as you know. I took it this time. In the darkness, the Nazis mistook the policemen for partisans - after all, they spoke Russian. And Vasya at the very beginning of the battle safely disappeared ...

There is evidence that this did not happen quite so. That the fascists, not yet suspecting a partisan in Vasya, and seeing in him only a diligent worker, began to ask if he knew the area well. And Vasya himself volunteered to lead the punishers to the partisans. How it actually happened is now unknown. But the result is the same: the boy outwitted the enemies, and then disappeared.

Now he lived in a detachment, engaged in subversive activities. The enemies already realized that a partisan was working for them, they were looking for Vasya. But to no avail.

... The time has come - both the village of Pogoreltsy and the region were cleared of the enemy. No matter how Vasily asked to leave with the soldiers, they did not take him. Left at home. An order is an order, you must obey. Only a few weeks later Vasily came to the draft board and asked to go to the front. And so he ended up in a sabotage group, which was part of the First Ukrainian Partisan Division. Vasya was already an experienced fighter, often went on missions and reconnaissance. The front rolled back to the west, and in the Belarusian forests the Nazis regrouped their forces, preparing to strike. Intelligence was needed constantly. And one task became fatal for Vasya: his group stumbled upon enemies, significantly outnumbered.

Korobko Vasily Ivanovich Vasily Ivanovich () () Born on March 31, 1927 in the village of Pogoreltsy, Semenovsky district, Chernihiv region.

He took an active part in the partisan movement in the Chernihiv region. He was a scout and liaison officer, and later a bomber. Together with the partisans, Vasya derailed sixteen echelons with Nazi soldiers and military equipment, disabled ten steam locomotives.

Chernihiv region. The front came close to the village of Pogoreltsy. On the outskirts, covering the retreat of our units, the company held the defense. The boy brought the cartridges to the fighters. His name was Vasya Korobko. Night. Vasya sneaks up to the school building occupied by the Nazis. He sneaks into the pioneer room, takes out the pioneer banner and hides it securely. Outskirts of the village. Under the bridge - Vasya. He pulls out the iron staples, saws the piles, and at dawn from the shelter he watches the bridge collapse under the weight of the fascist armored personnel carrier. The partisans were convinced that Vasya could be trusted, and they entrusted him with a serious task: to become a scout in the enemy's lair.

At the headquarters of the Nazis, he heats stoves, chop wood, and he looks closely, remembers, and transmits information to the partisans. The punishers, who planned to exterminate the partisans, forced the boy to lead them into the forest. But Vasya led the Nazis to an ambush of the police. The Nazis, mistaking them for partisans in the dark, opened furious fire, killed all the policemen and themselves suffered heavy losses. At the headquarters of the Nazis, he heats stoves, chop wood, and he looks closely, remembers, and transmits information to the partisans. The punishers, who planned to exterminate the partisans, forced the boy to lead them into the forest. But Vasya led the Nazis to an ambush of the police. The Nazis, mistaking them for partisans in the dark, opened furious fire, killed all the policemen and themselves suffered heavy losses.

He died in Belarus in one of the battles, he was hit by an enemy bullet on April 1, 1944. He died in Belarus in one of the battles, he was hit by an enemy bullet on April 1, 1944. The Motherland awarded her little hero, who lived a short but such a bright life, with the Orders of Lenin, the Red Banner, the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree, and the medal "Partisan of the Patriotic War" of the 1st degree.

| Patriotic, spiritual and moral education of schoolchildren | Young heroes of the Great Patriotic War | Pioneers-heroes of the Great Patriotic War | Vasya Korobko

Pioneers-heroes of the Great Patriotic War

Vasya Korobko

Korobko, Vasily Ivanovich or Vasya Korobko (March 31, 1927, Pogoreltsy village, Semyonovsky district, Chernihiv region - April 1, 1944) - pioneer hero, young partisan, awarded the Order of Lenin, the Red Banner, the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, the medal "Partisan of the Patriotic War" 1 degree.

Together with the partisans, Vasya destroyed nine trains, hundreds of Nazis. In one of the battles he was killed.

With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the front came close to the village of Pogoreltsy. On the outskirts, covering the retreat of our units, the company held the defense. Vasya Korobko brought the cartridges to the fighters.

Once, at his own peril and risk, Vasya sawed the piles of a bridge near his native village. The very first fascist armored personnel carrier that drove onto this bridge collapsed from it and went out of order. Then Vasya became a partisan. The partisans were convinced that Vasya could be trusted, and they entrusted him with a serious task: to become a scout in the enemy's lair.

At the headquarters of the Nazis, he heats stoves, chop wood, and he looks closely, remembers, and transmits information to the partisans. The punishers, who planned to exterminate the partisans, forced the boy to lead them into the forest. But Vasya led the Nazis to an ambush of the police. The Nazis, mistaking them for partisans in the dark, opened furious fire, killed all the policemen and themselves suffered heavy losses.

Vasily Korobko became an excellent demolition man, took part in the destruction of nine trains with manpower and equipment of the enemy.

Later, he was accepted into the partisan formation of the Hero of the Soviet Union Pyotr Petrovich Vershigora ... He died a hero's death in battle on April 1, 1944 while performing the next task.

Awards.

The exploits of Vasily Korobko were awarded the Orders of Lenin, the Red Banner, the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree, and the medal "Partisan of the Patriotic War" of the 1st degree.

The standard-bearer of the pioneer squad. Korobko, Vasily Ivanovich or Vasya Korobko (March 31, 1927, Pogoreltsy village, Semyonovsky district, Chernihiv region - April 1, 1944) - pioneer hero, young partisan, awarded the Order of Lenin, the Red Banner, the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, the medal "Partisan of the Patriotic War" 1 degree.

Together with the partisans, Vasya destroyed nine echelons, hundreds of Nazis. The thunder of battles reached the village of Pogoreltsy in the Chernihiv region. At the end of August, a group of Red Army soldiers passed through the village, leading the wounded comrades under the arms.

They are retreating... Vasya Korobko, a short, strong boy, silently looked after the detachment that had hidden behind the outskirts. Heavy vehicles with black crosses on their towers were crawling in from the other end of the village. - Fascists!

Suddenly, someone pulled Vasya by the sleeve. - Run! - it was a school friend Ivan Kudin. The boys rushed into the yard, hid behind the fence.

Look, look, we went to school... - Ivan! In the same place ... - Vasya was mentally transported there, into the school corridors, along which forged boots were already stomping.

Here the Nazis burst into the teacher's room, into the library, approached the pioneer room. - There's a banner! Vasya clenched his fists angrily. - Their grenades, bastards! Grenades! - Where do you have them? Ivan asked quietly. - Let's get...

Gardens, levada Vasya crept closer to the school. Suddenly he saw a German officer come out into the yard, holding a red cloth in his hands. “This is the banner of the young Bolsheviks, the pioneers,” he said to the soldiers surrounding him.

Vasya's prickly ball rolled up to his throat. Here he, the standard-bearer, carried this red banner in front of the formation of his squad. Under this banner, the pioneers of the village marched to the holidays, to pioneer rallies. And now Vasily is sitting behind an elderberry bush and watching how the enemy mocks the red banner ... "No, you will not succeed, fascists!"

In the evening, a Nazi officer sat in the teacher's room at the Pogorelsky school and wrote a letter home, to the city of Dresden. “... My dear son Siegfried! Today we captured another Ukrainian village with the funny name Pokhareltsy. At school, we got the banner of the little Bolsheviks who studied here. I will send you this banner, you can make a rug out of it for our dog... Let this gift remind you of the glorious victories of your father, the Fuhrer's faithful soldier.

But when the officer got up to put the promised gift in the parcel box, the banner was nowhere to be found. The Hitlerite scolded his soldiers, scolded non-commissioned officers ...

Throughout the past evening, Vasya watched the officer from the hiding place, in whose hands he saw the banner. The boy had a bold plan: to take him away from the enemy. It was getting dark. The officer enters the teacher's room, sits down at the table ... He writes something. Nearby is a red flag. Vasya is squeezing in his palm a grenade found in the trenches outside the village. In the other hand is a bayonet. “The main thing is to instantly jump into the room,” the boy thought. - The German will not have time to recover from surprise ... A blow with a bayonet. If it fails… Then…” Vasya squeezed the grenade. Suddenly the officer got up and left. A moment - and Vasya was in the room ... The red flag was in his hands. Familiar words caught my eye: “Be ready!”

"Always ready!" - Mentally answers Vasya and, having hidden the banner under his shirt, disappears outside the window.

And at midnight, the young patriot crept up to the wooden bridge outside the outskirts. He pulled out the iron staples with a crowbar, sawed the piles ... In the morning, the motorized column of the Nazis moved on. Suddenly, outside the village, the head all-terrain vehicle broke through the bridge deck and got stuck in the muddy ground.

He was hit by rear cars. Cursing, the Nazis fussed near the bridge. The officer was especially furious: yesterday the banner mysteriously disappeared, today the bridge collapsed, which the sappers examined in the evening and found it to be in good order ... Only Vasya knew where the pioneer banner had gone and why the bridge had failed ... The Nazis repaired the crossing for a long time: pioneer Vasya Korobko detained them for almost a whole day .

Then Vasya became a partisan. On the instructions of the command of the detachment, he became a scout, getting a job as a stoker and cleaner in the Nazi headquarters. Everything that Vasily learned became known to the partisans. Somehow, the punishers demanded from Korobko that he lead them to the forest, from where the partisans made sorties. And Vasily led the Nazis to a police ambush. The Nazis, mistaking them for partisans in the dark, opened furious fire, killed many policemen and themselves suffered heavy losses.

Vasya Korobko fought in the partisan unit named after Nikolai Nikitovich Popudrenko.

On a dark December night, he led a partisan detachment to his native village. Having unexpectedly attacked the German garrison, the people's avengers destroyed over 100 fascists, 9 cars, 18 motorcycles, 2 guns, an ammunition depot.

... In the spring of 1944, with a group of comrades, Vasya went on a very important task. Over 100 kilometers passed a small detachment, bypassing the Nazi garrisons, avoiding any kind of meeting. We walked on the land of the enemy. From the opposite bank across the bridge, day and night, tank columns rushed to the front, infantry marched, long carts dragged. Lying in the bushes, Vasya looked at the bridgeheads through binoculars. Near the pillboxes there is a barbed wire fence in several rows. And near the water - minefields. “There are no approaches to the bridge,” Vasily determined and looked inquiringly at his friends. Everyone was silent. Patrol boats rushed along the river.

There is a plan. At night, far from the bridge, three partisans entered the water. In front of them, each of them pushed a small raft, tied from dry branches. There are explosives on the rafts. The current picked up and carried the daredevils ...

How many minutes to sail? Fifteen, twenty? And then what? They will leave the rafts with explosives under the bridge supports, and they will sail on. And suddenly a flare flashed brightly overhead. Something lashed the water next to Vasily. There was a crackle of machine gun fire.

- Help! - sounded muffled near. Vasya turned around and saw the raft of his comrade, circling alone on the water. Vasya extended his hand and pulled the raft towards him. And at the same moment I saw how the machine-gun burst covered the second comrade.

“But I will still swim. You can't kill me!" Vassily repeated stubbornly to himself. And he swam like a living torpedo, bringing death to the enemy. The bullet burned his right shoulder, but Vasily rowed even more furiously with his left hand. "I'll swim, I'll swim!"

Here is the bridge overhead. Having pressed the rafts with explosives to one of the supports, Vasily pulled out the detonator pin with his teeth. A terrible explosion shook the steel bulk of the bridge, and with a crash it fell into the black mouth of the river.

The task was completed, but at the same time, a young partisan, a pupil of the pioneer squad of the Pogorelsky secondary school in the Chernihiv region, Vasily Korobko, died. His memory will live forever.

... Pioneers line up to collect. The chairman of the council of the squad commands: - Team, to take out the banner, stand still! A moment passes ... another ... In the solemn silence, a clear voice of the right-flank sounds: - The honorary standard-bearer of the squad, Vasily Korobko, died a hero's death in the battle against the Nazi invaders.

A moment of silence, and suddenly the silence is broken by the beat of drums, the sound of a bugle. Chasing a step, the young standard-bearer, accompanied by assistants, takes out the pioneer banner, beaten off from the enemy by Vasya Korobko. The wind sways the red banner, and it, like an unquenchable flame, flies over the pioneer formation as a symbol of the immortality of those who gave their lives for the happiness of the Soviet Motherland.

B. Adamovich. From the book "Children Heroes of the Great Patriotic War"