The real story of “Panfilov’s 28 Men.” Facts and documentary information. The legend of “28 Panfilov’s men” turned out to be a newspaper myth. What feat did the 28 Panfilov men accomplish briefly?

June 7 on the website of the state archive Russian Federation published a certificate dated May 10, 1948, compiled by military prosecutor N. Afanasyev. The pages contain a brief report on the progress of the investigation into the famous myth of “Panfilov’s 28 men.”

“Panfilov Heroes” - 28 people from the personnel of the 316th Infantry Division who participated in the defense of Moscow in 1941 under the command of Major General Ivan Vasilyevich Panfilov. During the Soviet era, the legend about them became widespread: supposedly on November 16, during a new offensive of the German army on the capital, the guards destroyed 18 enemy tanks. However, since then, reports have appeared more than once that the story of “Panfilov’s 28 men” is a myth constructed as part of state propaganda. A document published by the State Archives of the Russian Federation confirmed that this story is an ordinary Soviet fairy tale.

The report begins by telling about the fate of one of the “Panfilovites” - Sergeant Ivan Evstafievich Dobrobabin. In 1942, he was captured by the Germans and agreed to become chief of police in the occupied village of Perekop. When the liberation of the Kharkov region began in 1943, Dobrobabin was arrested for treason, but escaped and again ended up in the German army. After 5 years, Ivan was finally taken into custody, he admitted guilt and received 15 years for high treason. During Dobrobabin’s arrest, they found a book “About 28 Panfilov Heroes”: it described the battles in the Dubosekovo area. But information about the exploits of the soldiers and Ivan himself was never confirmed.

The first message about the guardsmen of Panfilov’s division appeared on November 27, 1941 in the newspaper “Red Star”, written by front-line correspondent V.I. Koroteev. The essay described the battles of the 5th company under the command of political instructor V.G. Dieva, when soldiers destroyed 18 German tanks. At the end there was information that “every one of them died, but they did not let the enemy through.” The next day, the same publication published an editorial by literary secretary A.Yu. Krivitsky, which said that 29 Panfilov men fought with enemy tanks. The material was called “The Testament of 28 Fallen Heroes,” because, according to the newspaper, one of the guards wanted to surrender, but was shot by his colleagues. The article ended with the following saying: “all 28 of them laid down their heads. They died, but did not let the enemy through.” The soldiers' names were not indicated.

On January 22, 1942, the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper published an essay entitled “About 28 Fallen Heroes,” written by the same Alexander Krivitsky. Only now the author poses as an eyewitness to military events, naming for the first time the names of the participants and the details of their deaths. All the poems, verses and essays telling the story of the “Panfilovites” only retell the materials of the literary secretary in different interpretations. On July 21, 1942, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, all 28 guardsmen listed in the essay were posthumously awarded the title of hero Soviet Union.

In May 1942 at Western Front A Red Army soldier of the Guards Division named after was arrested. Panfilova Kuzhebergenov Daniil Aleksandrovich for attempting to surrender to German captivity. During interrogations, it turned out that he was on the list of 28 dead guardsmen. It turned out that Daniil did not participate in the battles near Dubosekov, but simply gave testimony based on newspaper reports where they wrote about him as a hero. Having received this data, Colonel I.V. Kaprov reported to the awards department of the State Administration of the NGO that Kuzhebergenov was mistakenly included among the “28 Panfilovites.”

Already in August 1942, a check began against three applicants for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union from among 28 guardsmen. The Military Prosecutor's Office, the battalion commissar, as well as the senior instructor of GlavPURKKA dealt with the cases of Illarion Romanovich Vasiliev, Grigory Melentyevich Shemyakin and Ivan Demidovich Shadrin. The resulting report stated that 28 heroes were on the list of the 4th company, which occupied the defense of Dubosekov. Due to the serious impact of superior enemy forces, the regiment suffered heavy losses and retreated to a defensive line. For the withdrawal, regiment commander I.V. Kaprov and military commissar Mukhomedyarov were removed from their positions. Nothing was said about the exploits of the 28 guardsmen during the battles.

Monument to 28 Panfilov guardsmen. Almaty

Local residents from the nearby village of Nelidovo said that Panfilov’s division fought near them on November 16, 1941. However, the Germans were repulsed only on December 20 by the arriving units of the Soviet army. Due to prolonged snowfalls, the corpses of the dead were not collected and funerals were not held. Therefore, in February 1942, several bodies were found on the battlefield, including the corpse of political instructor V.G. Klyuchkova. In the organized mass grave in which it is believed that Panfilov’s men are buried, in fact lie 6 soldiers of the Soviet army. Other residents settlement they said that after the battle they saw the surviving guardsmen Illarion Vasiliev and Ivan Dobrobabin. Thus, the only established message about the feat of “28 Panfilov’s men” is the November message in “Red Star” by correspondent V.I. Koroteev and secretary Krivitsky.

On November 23-24, when leaving the headquarters, Koroteev met the commissar of the 8th Panfilov division S.A. Egorova. He told him about the soldiers of one company who held back the advance of 54 tanks. Sergei Andreevich himself was not a participant in the fighting and spoke from the words of another commissar, who was also not present there. The correspondent got acquainted with the report about the company that “stood to death - died, but did not retreat,” in which only two turned out to be traitors. When Vasily Ignatievich arrived in Moscow, he reported to the editor of “Red Star” D.I. Ortenberg the situation and suggested writing about the heroic feat of the guards. David Iosifovich liked the idea: he clarified the number of soldiers several times and decided that from the incomplete composition of the company (about 30-40 people) it was enough to subtract two deserters and get the same number 28. On November 27, 1941, a short article was published in the newspaper, and on November 28 - the previously mentioned editorial “Testament of 28 Fallen Heroes”.

During interrogations, Kravitsky and Ortenberg confirmed each other’s words: the author said that the idea for the article was suggested to him by the editor himself, but he does not know where the number of guardsmen came from and their names. Alexander Yuryevich even went to the village of Dubosekovo to talk with regiment commander Karpov, commissar Mukhamelyarov and company commander Gundilovich. They told him about the dead and the feat, but they themselves did not participate in the battle. The famous expression “Russia is great, but there is nowhere to retreat - Moscow is behind” is a literary invention of the author. The editor was happy to post such material and provided it with the slogan “Death or Victory.”

War memorial. Village Dubosekovo

The decisive part of the investigation was the testimony of the former commander of the 1075th Infantry Regiment, I.V. Kaprova:

“There was no battle between 28 Panfilov men and German tanks at the Dubosekovo crossing on November 15, 1941 - this is a complete fiction. I didn’t say anything to anyone, none of the correspondents contacted me at that time, and I couldn’t talk about the feat of 28 guardsmen, because there was no such battle. And I didn’t write a report on this matter. Later, I heard about this for the first time when, in a conversation with me, Krivitsky stated that exactly this number of guardsmen was needed, to which I told him that the entire regiment was fighting German tanks. The names for the article were dictated by Captain Gundilovich, but there were and could not be any documents about the 28 Panfilov men in the regiment. I don’t know who initiated the compilation of award sheets and lists of 28 guardsmen.”

Thus, it becomes clear that “28 Panfilov’s Men” is a fiction of “Red Star”: editor Ortenberg, literary secretary Krivitsky and correspondent Koroteev. Unfortunately, this investigation did not prevent the erection of a monument to the guardsmen in the village of Nelidovo, Moscow region, and naming schools, streets, enterprises and collective farms of the Soviet Union after their names. Moreover, in the fall of 2015 it will be released Feature Film- “Twenty-eight Panfilov’s men.” Funds for the production of the film were collected through a crowdfunding campaign and funding from the Ministry of Culture - a total of about 60 million rubles.

Panfilov’s soldiers are the soldiers of the 316th Rifle Division (from November 18, 1941 - the 8th Guards Division, from November 23 - named after its deceased commander, Major General I.V. Panfilov), who showed in October - November 1941 during the Moscow battles of mass heroism in defensive battles in the Volokolamsk direction.

On November 16, 28 soldiers of the 4th company of the 2nd battalion of the 1075th rifle regiment under the command of political instructor Vasily Georgievich Klochkov, who occupied the defense 7 km southeast of Volokolamsk, in the area of the Dubosekovo crossing, showed unparalleled heroism and fortitude on November 16.

Panfilov’s men in a 4-hour battle destroyed 18 enemy tanks and almost all died, including Klochkov, but did not let the German tanks pass. 28 Panfilov men were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. This battle is known in history as the feat of 28 Panfilov heroes. 1975 - the memorial ensemble “Feat of 28” was erected at the site of the battle.”

28 Panfilovites ( alternative versions feat)

Modern historians present the battle at Dubosekovo in a completely different light. Some of them even question the official version of the battle of 28 Panfilov men.

How many Panfilovites were there?

The investigation, which was carried out after the war by the MGB and the military prosecutor's office, showed that in the legendary battle at the Dubosekovo crossing it was not 28 “Panfilofe Guardsmen” who took part, but a full company of 120–140 people, which was crushed by German tanks, having managed to knock out only 5-6 of them. No more than 25–30 fighters survived, the rest died or were captured.

An error crept in in the first newspaper reports about the feat of Panfilov’s men, because journalists, from the words of political workers, decided that the company was incomplete and consisted of only 30 people. Since it was known that at the beginning of the battle two fighters ran over to the Nazis, Chief Editor“Red Star” David Ortenberg subtracted two traitors from 30 and received the number 28, which became canonical. However, in the essay he allowed to write only about one traitor, whom the Red Army soldiers allegedly immediately shot. Two traitors, and even for 30 people, would be a lot and would not allow us to talk about an insignificant renegade.

Mentions of combat

There is no mention of the battle with such details either in Soviet or German official documents. Neither the commander of the 2nd battalion (which included the 4th company), Major Reshetnikov, nor the commander of the 1075th regiment, Colonel Kaprov, nor the commander of the 316th division, Major General Panfilov, nor the commander of the 16th Army, General, says anything about him - Lieutenant Rokossovsky. There are no reports about it in German sources either (and the loss of 18 tanks in one battle was a notable event for the Nazis at the end of 1941).

Is the legendary feat a fiction of journalists?

The version that there was no battle as such at all was publicly voiced by many historians. Sergei Mironenko, who then headed the state archive, officially stated that the whole story about the feat of Panfilov’s men is just a myth. Based on declassified archives, some historians came to the conclusion that the legendary feat was an invention of Red Star journalist Alexander Krivitsky (literary secretary of the newspaper), who was the first to talk about the battle. Finding himself on the front line, he tried to write an essay about the events taking place. Everything about the battle was recorded from the words of the current division commissar, who spoke about the battle in great detail. The battle was fought by the 4th company, which consisted of more than 120 soldiers, and not 28 heroes, as was later said in the printed publication. Many facts are distorted.

During interrogation, Krivitsky testified: During a conversation in the PUR with Comrade Krapivin, he was interested in where I got the words of political instructor Klochkov: “Russia is great, but there is nowhere to retreat - Moscow is behind us,” I told him that I had invented this myself...

Krivitsky and Koroteev, the authors of the material published in Krasnaya Zvezda, stated during the investigation that they were based only on oral stories of fellow soldiers who died and their colleagues, war correspondents, but were not familiar with anyone who could definitely know the details of the battle. The military prosecutor's office came to the conclusion that the story, as published in Krasnaya Zvezda, was the work of journalists. But the battle actually took place.

Unexpected arrest

1948 - in the Kharkov region. They arrested the former soldier Dobrobabin, who was captured by the Germans during the war. During his arrest, a book was found on him, describing the feat of Panfilov’s men and, in particular, his name was indicated as one of the dead participants in the battle. The main military prosecutor's office of the USSR conducted an investigation, during which it was possible to find out that several more people who were considered killed in the battle at the Dubosekovo crossing actually survived, and the described clash cited by journalists does not have direct documentary evidence - and the very fact of the battle is in doubt was not installed.

Not only Ivan Dobrobabin survived. They “resurrected” Daniil Kuzhebergenov, Grigory Shemyakin, Illarion Vasiliev, Ivan Shadrin. Later it became known that Dmitry Timofeev was also alive. All of them were wounded in the battle at Dubosekovo; Kuzhebergenov, Shadrin and Timofeev passed through German captivity.

From the testimony of Colonel Kaprova

All 28 Panfilov heroes served in Ilya Karpov’s regiment. During interrogation at the prosecutor's office in 1948, Kaprov (commander of the 1075th Infantry Regiment) testified: “There was no battle between 28 Panfilov men and fascist tanks at the Dubosekovo crossing on November 16, 1941 - this is a complete fiction. That day, at the Dubosekovo crossing, as part of the 2nd battalion, the 4th company fought with German tanks, and in fact fought heroically. More than 100 people from the company died and not 28, as written in the newspapers. None of the correspondents contacted me at that time; I never told anyone about the battle of 28 Panfilov’s men, and I couldn’t tell, because there was no such battle. I did not write any political report on this matter. I don’t know, based on what materials they wrote in newspapers, in particular in Krasnaya Zvezda, about the battle of 28 guardsmen from the division named after. Panfilova.

Memorial at the Dubosekovo crossing, dedicated to the feat of 28 Panfilov heroes

There was a battle at Dubosekovo

According to the testimony of local residents, on November 16, 1941, there was actually a battle at the Dubosekovo crossing Soviet soldiers with the Germans. Six fighters, including political instructor Klochkov, were buried by residents of surrounding villages.

No one doubts that the soldiers of the 4th company at the Dubosekovo junction fought heroically.

There is no doubt that the 316th Rifle Division of General Panfilov in defensive battles in the Volokolamsk direction in November 1941 was able to hold back the enemy onslaught, which became the most important factor that allowed the Germans to be defeated near Moscow.

According to the archives of the USSR Ministry of Defense, the entire 1075th Infantry Regiment on November 16, 1941 destroyed 15 or 16 tanks and about 800 enemy personnel. That is, we can say that 28 soldiers at the Dubosekovo crossing did not destroy 18 tanks and not all of them died.

conclusions

Based on the explanations of eyewitnesses of the battle and hundreds of declassified archives, historians still managed to establish the truth - the battle actually took place, and there was a feat. Only the fact of the existence of these same 28 Panfilovites remains a big question.

The legendary battle at the Dubosekovo crossing happened exactly 75 years ago. The weather then, in November 1941, was the same as now - in November 2016: snowfall and drifting snow were confirmed by a convincing minus. The Germans were clearly in a hurry to take the Soviet capital in the calendar autumn and especially bombed the Volokolamsk bridgehead.

The regiments that the German command was going to send on a march to Red Square landed 100 kilometers from Moscow. The 316th Motorized Rifle Division stood across the brave columns of the Wehrmacht and dragged out the fighting for four long days; as a result, it forced the enemy to transfer troops to another direction, and gave its own the opportunity to regroup forces for the effective defense of Moscow.

Volokolamsk Moscow region / Alexander Zhuravlev

The tactics, as we know, justified themselves, and even the most furious critic does not dare to dispute these well-known facts. And the point here is not at all the success of Soviet propaganda. The battle for Moscow has firmly settled in those fields, in archival funds, and in our memory from the Soviet school, where they taught - for which the division was given the name of its division commander.

An anniversary is always an extra reason to pick, pat, and troll. And when there is a big anniversary, hyped, ideologically fragile - even more so. “The Feat of Twenty-Eight” is a constant field of irreconcilable “trench” battles in the landscape of social networks, where the line of contact stretches like a scar along the entire length of the Internet. Tell me that you believe in 28 Panfilovites, and I will immediately tell you who you are. And I'll label it.

One or two documents to kindle “Facebook justice”. And it’s just a small thing - to sow doubts. Trolling is not a problem these days - anyone, in any way. The reference report “About 28 Panfilovites” by the USSR Chief Military Prosecutor Afanasyev became a turning point for the whole Panfilov's history. The Battle of Moscow was openly called a Soviet fake.

“Investigation materials have established that the feat of 28 Panfilov guardsmen, covered in the press, is an invention of the correspondent Koroteev, the editor of the Red Star Ortenberg, and especially the literary secretary of the newspaper Krivitsky. This fiction was repeated in the works of writers N. Tikhonov, V. Stavsky, A. Beck, N. Kuznetsov, V. Lipko, M. Svetlov and others and was widely popularized among the population of the Soviet Union,” the chief military prosecutor of the USSR Armed Forces Nikolai Afanasyev concludes in his investigation.

The counterargument was the date of the investigation of the feat by the Chief Military Prosecutor's Office. Skeptics immediately picked it up: since they dug so deeply and drew conclusions so boldly, it means there was an order from above. “The Legend of 28 Panfilov’s Men” was openly popularized by Zhukov, but after the war the marshal fell into disgrace, and a publicly debunked feat could seriously spoil the commander’s blood.

Monument to the Panfilov heroes at the Dubosekovo crossing / Alexander Zhuravlev

However, the hasty and “untenable conclusions” of the Main military prosecutor's office they noticed in time “in the right place”: Afanasyev’s prosecutor’s certificate was shelved, and the version of the “false feat” was hushed up. And they even asked the question: who benefits from all this - denying the feat near Moscow? Krivitsky only confirmed in the 70s that such a “order,” typical of the Stalinist regime, directly required him to admit that “Panfilov’s 28 are the figment of his author’s imagination.”

“I was told that if I refused to testify that I had completely invented the description of the battle at Dubosekovo and that I had not spoken to any of the seriously wounded or surviving Panfilov soldiers before publishing the article, then I would soon find myself in Pechora or Kolyma. Given the situation, I had to say that the battle at Dubosekovo was my literary fiction,” recalls literary secretary of the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper Alexander Krivitsky.

But call 28 Panfilov’s men a myth, and your opponents will immediately peck you and label you with shame. A sharp edge where adequate discussion is easily curtailed, society is roughly chopped into two irreconcilable parts. The leaking of another document - and shreds flew through the back streets. While some are attacking, others are defending, pulling up reserves in order to get a worthy “response”. Just have time to throw something on the fan...

“Those who are now trying to denigrate the feat of the soldiers of the 8th Guards Division themselves admit that during the defense of Moscow such and such a section of the front was defended by a division formed in Almaty - the 8th Guards Rifle Division. The critics themselves admit this. Everything else is insinuation . The clearest example our heritage - during the war years, all peoples united and, despite any hardships, stood as a united front in defense of their Fatherland. And now they want to knock this out from us and impose other positions that are alien to us,” said Kupesbai Zhanpeisov, chairman of the Almaty City Committee of WWII Veterans.

The story of that battle was promoted to the point of legend by the editors of Krasnaya Zvezda, the master of Soviet military editorial. Front-line correspondent Koroteev found a front-line report about the battle of Dubosekovo and, with the note “everyone died, but they didn’t let the enemy through,” he sent it to his boss, the editor-in-chief of “Red Star” Ortenberg. So, from a real front-line feat, the Soviet media worker began to scrupulously “cut down” a pop motif.

“Upon arrival in Moscow, I reported the situation to the editor of the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper, Ortenberg, and talked about the company’s battle with enemy tanks. Ortenberg asked me how many people were in the company. I answered that there were about 30 people and that two of these people turned out to be traitors ... Thus, the number of those who fought appeared - 28 people. Ortenberg said that it was impossible to write about two traitors, and decided to write about only one traitor in the front line,” from the testimony of Krasnaya Zvezda frontline correspondent Vasily Koroteev to the Chief Military Prosecutor.

Ortenberg sent his subordinate, Literary Secretary Krivitsky, to report from the scene. The feat had to hook the reader with heroic details. And Krivitsky sincerely believed that he was not cheating when directing certain moments. Country in conditions of war and offensive Hitler's Germany. For the editor-in-chief of "Red Star" the issue of propaganda was not a question in principle. Later, during interrogation, he directly admits that he imposed the number “28” on Krivitsky, as well as the format of the editorial: the will of fallen heroes.

“Krivitsky said: it is necessary to have 28 Panfilov guardsmen who fought with German tanks. I told him that the entire regiment fought with German tanks and especially the 4th company of the 2nd battalion, and really fought heroically, but about I don’t know anything about the battle of 28 guardsmen... More than 100 people from the company died, and not 28, as was written about in the newspapers,” from the testimony of the commander of the 1075th Infantry Regiment, Ilya Kaprov, to the Chief Military Prosecutor.

Place of the battle at the Dubosekovo crossing / Alexander Zhuravlev

Regimental commander Kaprov, according to the materials of his interrogation, stated that he first heard about 28 Panfilov’s men only at the end of 1941. There has never been any documentation about that legendary battle in the division. But no one from the command officially confirmed anything to correspondent Krivitsky; he entered the names himself, from memory. The division generally learned about their heroes when award certificates arrived from the Center for 28 especially distinguished people. Such a reporter’s flight does not in any way amount to a version of an accidental editorial error.

Krivitsky at the site of the battle near Dubosekovo does not find either participants in the feat or eyewitnesses and limits himself to interviewing the local population, but they were holed up in their homes and basements and also heard the story of Panfilov’s men only from words. And when “Red Star” publishes that story, the real feat is finally hidden behind the screen of legend and doomed to eternal doubt. In his final version, literary secretary Krivitsky writes about 29 Panfilovites: 28 heroes and 1 traitor.

Quote from the newspaper "Red Banner" / website illustration

During interrogations, Krivitsky himself called the legend of the 28 Panfilov men “literary speculation.” The document from the Main Military Prosecutor's Office was declassified only in 2015, and it was this document that provoked a new fuss - a new reason to dispel the “myth 28.” I doubted it a little - and was immediately caught... As soon as you begin to deny a seemingly dry figure, you immediately cast a shadow over the whole battle near Moscow. And nothing else.

The laws of propaganda have not changed much since the days of Soviet power, it’s just that now there is a choice - whose position to take. And the choice today is harsh. Yes or no. Either on that western side of the Dubosekovo crossing, or on this one. And look - don't be mistaken. They will remember, and more than once. And - a chevron on the avatar of either a Soviet “vatnik” or a “Maidanut” convert. There is no third.

Rally in honor of the opening of the monument to WWII soldiers in Volokolamsk / Alexander Zhuravlev

“It wasn’t 28 soldiers who fought against the tanks, the 4th company was killed there. All of them were killed, but they didn’t let the Germans through. 28 guardsmen, 100 Panfilov guardsmen - that’s a different question. There’s no need to pull out hard facts and denigrate the heroes and their feats. It’s impossible. allow revision general history“so as not to repeat the tragic mistakes that were made in the pre-war years,” says Bulat Sultanov, a professor at the Kazakh-German University.
“Indeed, the outcome of the war was decided - now we can talk about it - by Siberians and Kazakhstanis, Kazakhs. Of course, somewhere in the park the names could have been written inaccurately, someone could have been captured after the battle, there could have been inaccuracies, but no one could remember the feat of the Panfilovites has the right to challenge,” insists the scientific secretary of the National Congress of Historians Ziyabek Kabuldinov.
"They are starting to say that soviet people and the Soviet Army fought under the guns of the NKVD. Every new generation comes and tries to carry out an audit. We do not learn to respect history as it is, regardless of political or ideological predilections, or modern fashion, which is dictated from somewhere, sometimes financed,” says Maharram Maharramov, a member of the Mazhilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Those on this eastern side honestly admit: it’s high time to publicly apologize to the entire 4th company. Not 28 died repelling German tanks, but a good hundred. These are two thirds of the real heroes of the battle of Moscow, whose names are not even “Googled”. You need to apologize and repent if you have to, but don’t touch the legend of 28 anymore. It’s not our business to rethink the exploits of our grandfathers.

“The fourth company of the 2nd battalion of the 1075th rifle regiment of the Panfilov division fought in an unequal battle with fascist tanks at the Dubosekovo junction. There were 130 of them. As the regiment commander Kaprov later recalled, only 20-25 people remained alive,” says the head museum complex "Volokolamsk Kremlin" Galina Odina.

"The current generation of Kazakhstanis and Russians must carefully preserve the memory of how Soviet people fought for his freedom and how many victims he laid on the single altar of Victory. The surrender of the Soviet capital could delay the day of victory over the fascist yoke for a long time. The whole people realized the inadmissibility of this,” said Begziya Iskakova, vice-president of Aluminum of Kazakhstan JSC (ERG), at the opening of the monument to the heroes of the Second World War.
“It seems to me that everyone was a hero who was not afraid to look the enemy in the face, who in November-December 1941 stood to the death for their country. And in the trenches, it seems to me, people did not divide each other by nationality, religion, origin. And as long as we remember this, everything will be in order: in every region, home, family,” Nurzhan Omarov, assistant military attache of the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the Russian Federation, spoke at a rally in Volokolamsk.
“In the hearts of the young, their generation is entrusted with the task of keeping this feat and this memory. You cannot give anyone a chance to try to refute it in Once again, and maybe again and again, in a few years, I don’t know, but these attempts will continue,” Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Moscow Region of the Russian Federation Elmira Khaimurzina addressed those gathered in the Victory Park of Volokolamsk.

Unexploded grenade from 1941 / Alexander Zhuravlev

History does not openly look at a small journalistic mistake that provoked big political consequences. If the stars of the heroes only strengthened the legend 28, then they would definitely not have assigned the name of a division general for a fictitious feat in those days. The country that defeated fascism had enough real exploits even without semi-mythical stories. Why bother with unnecessary gardens?

“In the entire history of the Soviet Army, only two divisions were named after their commanders: the 25th Chapaev Division and the 8th Guards Panfilov Division. No other division was named after its commander,” said a guide at the Museum of Panfilov Heroes in the village of Nelidovo Larisa Musician.

Who really benefits from debunking a legend into a myth? Does the country really have so many feats that have been promoted far beyond the bounds, or at least human deeds that have been heard about no less than Borat’s fakes? Is there anything else you can be truly proud of? Why deny what you can’t change, - own story? And why don’t these facts, including those, become the very bond that we have been unsuccessfully looking for for 25 years?

Do you know who the Panfilovites are? What feat did they accomplish? We will answer these and other questions in the article. Panfilovites are the military personnel of the 316th Rifle Division, which was formed in the cities of Frunze, Kyrgyz USSR, and Alma-Ata, Kazakh USSR, and later became known as the 8th Guards Division. They participated in the defense of Moscow in 1941 under the leadership of Major General I.V. Panfilov, who had previously served as commissar of the army of the Kirghiz SSR.

Version

What did Panfilov's men become famous for? Their feat is known to many. In the 1075th Infantry Regiment (4th company, 2nd battalion), 28 people served who received the greatest fame. It was they who began to be called “Panfilov’s heroes.” In the USSR, a version of the event that happened in 1941, on November 16, was widespread. It was on this day that the Germans began to attack Moscow again, and the soldiers of the 4th company accomplished a feat. They carried out defense seven kilometers southeast of Volokolamsk (the Dubosekovo crossing area) under the leadership of political instructor Vasily Klochkov. During the battle, which lasted four hours, the soldiers were able to destroy 18 Nazi tanks.

In Soviet historiography it is written that all 28 people, called heroes, died (later they began to indicate “almost all”).

According to Red Star correspondents, before his death, political instructor Klochkov uttered the phrase: “Great is Mother Rus', but there is nowhere to go - Moscow is behind us!” It was included in Soviet university and school history textbooks.

Consensus

Did Panfilov's men really accomplish a feat? In 1948 and 1988, the formal version of the act was studied by the Main Army Prosecutor's Office of the USSR and was recognized as an artistic invention. The open publication of these documents by Sergei Mironenko caused an impressive public outcry.

At the same time, the heavy fortification battles of the 316th Infantry Division against the 35th Infantry and 2nd Tank Divisions, which took place in 1941, on November 16, in the Volokolamsk direction, are a historical fact. In fact, the entire personnel of the 1075th Regiment took part in the battle. Writers' versions of the battle usually do not indicate that the real heroes of the battle had to fight not only tanks, but also numerous enemy infantry.

Major General Panfilov commanded a typical military formation during the battles on the Moscow course. His division was poorly trained, motley, hastily created to plug the gaps that appeared in the Soviet defense. The defending Red Army soldiers did not have sufficient quantity serious anti-tank weapons. That is why persistent resistance to the impact of powerful iron machines is a feat and also Sergei Mironenko is not questioned.

Despite the discussions, the scientific consensus is that the true facts of the battles were recorded by war correspondents in a distorted form. Further, on the basis of these articles, far from actual historical facts books.

Memories

So what are Panfilov’s men famous for? The feat of these people is priceless. Captain Gundilovich Pavel gave the names of 28 missing and killed soldiers, whom he could remember from the results of the battle, to the journalist Alexander Krivitsky (some believe that Krivitsky himself found these names in the lists of missing and dead).

In Russia and other former Soviet republics, steles and other monuments have been installed on which the names of these 28 soldiers are inscribed, and they are included in the official anthem of Moscow. However, according to the documents, some of the named persons were captured (Timofeev, Shadrin, Kozhubergenov), others died earlier (Shopokov, Natarov), or later (Bondarenko). Some were maimed in battle, but remained alive (Shemyakin, Vasiliev), and I. E. Dobrobabin even energetically helped the Nazis and was subsequently convicted.

Criticism

And yet, is the feat of Panfilov’s men true or fiction? Sergei Mironenko believes that there was no feat, that this was one of the legends imposed by the state. Critics of the official version usually cite the following assumptions and arguments:

It is not clear how Krivitsky and Koroteev learned an impressive number of details of the battle. Information that information was received in the hospital from a battle participant, Notarov, who was mortally wounded, is doubtful. Indeed, according to the documents, this man died on November 14, two days before the battle.
Nothing is known about the battle with these details, neither the commander of the 1075th regiment, Colonel Kaprov, nor the commander of the 316th formation, Major General Panfilov, nor the military commander of the 2nd battalion (which included the 4th company) Major Reshetnikov, nor the commander of the 16th army to Lieutenant General Rokossovsky. German sources also report nothing about him.
By November 16, the 4th company was 100% manned, meaning it could not consist of only 28 soldiers. I.V. Kaprov (military commander of the 1075th Rifle Regiment) claimed that there were approximately 140 souls in the company.

Facts of the inquiry

People decided to find out whether the feat of Panfilov’s men was fact or fiction. In November 1947, the military prosecutor's office of the Kharkov garrison arrested and prosecuted I. E. Dobrobabin for treason. Experts found out that Dobrobabin, while still fighting at the front, surrendered to the Nazis of his own free will and in the spring of 1942 went to serve with them.

This man took the post of chief of police in the village of Perekop (Valkovsky district, Kharkov region) temporarily captured by the Germans. During his arrest, they found a book about 28 Panfilov heroes, and it turned out that he took part in this daring battle, for which he was awarded the title of Hero of the USSR. During interrogation, it turned out that Dobrobabin was indeed lightly wounded and captured by the Germans at Dubosekovo, but he did not perform any feats, and everything that the authors told about him in the book does not correspond to reality.

Are the 28 Panfilov men fictional characters? The General Military Prosecutor's Office of the USSR thoroughly studied the history of the battle at the Dubosekovsky junction. For the first time, the authenticity of the story about Panfilov’s men was publicly doubted by E. V. Cardin, who published the article “Facts and Legends” in the almanac “New World” (1996, February).

And in 1997, an article by Olga Edelman and Nikolai Petrov “New about the heroes of the USSR” appeared in the same magazine, which stated that the official version of the feat was studied by the Main Army Prosecutor's Office of the USSR in 1948 and recognized it as a literary fiction.

Krivitsky's testimony

The interrogated Krivitsky (the newspaper's secretary) testified that 28 Panfilov's men were his literary fiction. He said he had not spoken to any of the surviving or wounded Guardsmen. Of the local residents, he only communicated with a boy of 14-15 years old, who brought him to the grave where Klochkov was buried.

In 1943, from the formation in which 28 heroes served, he was sent a letter conferring the rank of guardsman. He visited the division three or four times. Krapivin asked Krivitsky where he found the famous statement of political instructor Klochkov about the impossibility of retreat. And he replied that he composed it himself.

Conclusion

So, the investigation materials revealed that the Panfilov heroes are the invention of the editor of “Red Star” Ortenberg, the journalist Koroteev and, most of all, Krivitsky (the newspaper’s secretary).

In 1988, the Main Army Prosecutor's Office of the USSR again took up the circumstances of the feat. As a result, the military chief prosecutor of justice, Lieutenant General A.F. Katusev, published the article “Alien Glory” in the Military Historical Journal (1990, No. 8-9). He wrote in it that the massive feat of the entire division, the entire regiment, was reduced to the scale of a fabulous platoon through the negligence of dishonest correspondents. The Doctor of Historical Sciences, Director of the State Archive of the Russian Federation, has the same opinion. S. V. Mironenko.

Support

Surely Panfilov's heroes really existed. Marshal of the Soviet Union D.T. Yazov defended the official version. He relied on the analysis of Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences G. A. Kumanev “Forgery and Feat.” In 2011 (September), the newspaper “ Soviet Russia” published the article “Shamelessly ridiculed feat,” including a letter from the marshal in which he criticized Mironenko.

The battle of Dubosekovo was studied by the writer V. O. Osipov. According to his data and the testimony of the soldiers of Panfilov’s formation, it is said that the author of the famous above phrase is precisely political instructor Klochkov, and not correspondent Krivitsky. Personal letters from Klochkov were found that have survived to this day. In them, he wrote to his wife about his feeling of special guarantee for Moscow. Among other things, similar calls were published in issues of the division newspaper in Panfilov’s appeals.

Ideological significance

Today even children know what feat Panfilov’s men accomplished. Researcher at the Institute of Islamic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences K. S. Drozdov (candidate of historical sciences) believes that the battle at the Dubosekovo crossing played “an extraordinary mobilizing role, becoming an example of self-sacrifice, courage and perseverance.” Soviet propaganda set her as an example for the soldiers of the Red Army. Marshal of the Soviet Union D.T. Yazov believes that the actions of Panfilov’s men became a model of perseverance for the defenders of Leningrad and Stalingrad; with their name, our soldiers repelled the frantic attacks of the enemy on the Kursk Bulge.

The emergence of the official version

The history of the official version of events is set out in the materials of the investigation of the Main Military Prosecutor's Office. The hero's feat was first reported by the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper on November 27, 1941 in an essay by front-line correspondent V.I. Koroteev. The article about the participants in the battle said that “every one of them died, but they did not let the enemy through.”

Over fifty enemy tanks moved to the lines occupied by twenty-nine Soviet guardsmen from the division. Panfilov... Only one out of twenty-nine became faint-hearted... only one raised his hands up... several guardsmen simultaneously, without saying a word, without a command, shot at the coward and traitor...

The editorial further stated that the remaining 28 guardsmen destroyed 18 enemy tanks and “laid down their heads - all twenty-eight. They died, but did not let the enemy pass...” The editorial was written by the literary secretary of “Red Star” A. Yu. Krivitsky. The names of the guardsmen who fought and died were not indicated in both the first and second articles.

Criticism of the official version

Critics of the official version usually cite the following arguments and assumptions:

Investigation materials

In November 1947, the Military Prosecutor's Office of the Kharkov garrison was arrested and prosecuted for treason against the Motherland I. E. Dobrobabin. According to the case materials, while at the front, Dobrobabin voluntarily surrendered to the Germans and in the spring of 1942 entered their service. He served as chief of police in the village of Perekop, temporarily occupied by the Germans, Valkovsky district, Kharkov region. In March 1943, during the liberation of this area from the Germans, Dobrobabin was arrested as a traitor by Soviet authorities, but escaped from custody, again went over to the Germans and again got a job in the German police, continuing his active treasonous activities, arrests Soviet citizens and the direct implementation of the forced transfer of labor to Germany.

During Dobrobabin’s arrest, a book about 28 Panfilov heroes was found, and it turned out that he was listed as one of the main participants in this heroic battle, for which he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Dobrobabin’s interrogation established that in the Dubosekov area he was indeed slightly wounded and captured by the Germans, but did not perform any feats, and everything that was written about him in the book about Panfilov’s heroes does not correspond to reality. In this regard, the Main Military Prosecutor's Office of the USSR conducted a detailed investigation into the history of the battle at the Dubosekovo crossing. The results were reported by the Chief Military Prosecutor Armed Forces country by Lieutenant General of Justice N.P. Afanasyev to the USSR Prosecutor General G.N. Safonov May 10, 1948. Based on this report, on June 11, a certificate was drawn up signed by Safonov and addressed to A. A. Zhdanov.

For the first time, V. Cardin publicly doubted the reliability of the story about Panfilov’s men, who published the article “Legends and Facts” in the magazine “New World” (February 1966). A number of new publications followed in the late 1980s. An important argument was the publication of declassified materials from the investigation of the military prosecutor's office in 1948.

In particular, these materials contain the testimony of the former commander of the 1075th Infantry Regiment, I.V. Kaprova:

...There was no battle between 28 Panfilov men and German tanks at the Dubosekovo crossing on November 16, 1941 - this is a complete fiction. On this day, at the Dubosekovo crossing, as part of the 2nd battalion, the 4th company fought with German tanks, and they really fought heroically. Over 100 people from the company died, and not 28, as was written about in the newspapers. None of the correspondents contacted me during this period; I never told anyone about the battle of 28 Panfilov’s men, and I couldn’t talk about it, since there was no such battle. I did not write any political report on this matter. I don’t know on the basis of what materials they wrote in newspapers, in particular in Krasnaya Zvezda, about the battle of 28 guardsmen from the division named after. Panfilova. At the end of December 1941, when the division was withdrawn for formation, the Red Star correspondent Krivitsky came to my regiment along with representatives of the political department of the division Glushko and Egorov. Here I first heard about the 28 Panfilov guardsmen. In a conversation with me, Krivitsky said that it was necessary to have 28 Panfilov guardsmen who fought with German tanks. I told him that the entire regiment and especially the 4th company of the 2nd battalion fought with German tanks, but I know nothing about the battle of 28 guardsmen... Krivitsky’s last name was given to Krivitsky from memory by Captain Gundilovich, who had conversations with him on this topic, There were and could not be any documents about the battle of 28 Panfilov men in the regiment. Nobody asked me about last names. Subsequently, after lengthy clarification of the names, it was only in April 1942 that the division headquarters sent ready-made award sheets and a general list of 28 guardsmen to my regiment for signature. I signed these sheets to award 28 guardsmen the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. I don’t know who initiated the compilation of the list and award sheets for 28 guardsmen.

Materials from the interrogation of correspondent Koroteev (clarifying the origin of the number 28) are also given:

Around November 23-24, 1941, I, together with the military correspondent of the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper Chernyshev, was at the headquarters of the 16th Army... When leaving the army headquarters, we met the commissar of the 8th Panfilov division, Egorov, who spoke about the extremely difficult situation at the front and reported that our people are fighting heroically in all areas. In particular, Egorov gave an example of the heroic battle of one company with German tanks; 54 tanks advanced on the company’s line, and the company delayed them, destroying some of them. Egorov himself was not a participant in the battle, but spoke from the words of the regiment commissar, who also did not participate in the battle with German tanks... Egorov recommended writing in the newspaper about the heroic battle of the company with enemy tanks, having previously become acquainted with the political report received from the regiment...

The political report spoke about the battle of the fifth company with enemy tanks and that the company stood “to the death” - it died, but did not retreat, and only two people turned out to be traitors, they raised their hands to surrender to the Germans, but they were destroyed by our soldiers. The report did not say about the number of company soldiers who died in this battle, and their names were not mentioned. We did not establish this from conversations with the regiment commander. It was impossible to get into the regiment, and Egorov did not advise us to try to get into the regiment.

Upon arrival in Moscow, I reported the situation to the editor of the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper, Ortenberg, and talked about the company’s battle with enemy tanks. Ortenberg asked me how many people were in the company. I answered him that the company apparently was incomplete, about 30-40 people; I also said that two of these people turned out to be traitors... I didn’t know that the front line was being prepared on this topic, but Ortenberg called me again and asked how many people were in the company. I told him that there were about 30 people. Thus, the number of those who fought appeared to be 28, since out of 30 two turned out to be traitors. Ortenberg said that it was impossible to write about two traitors, and, apparently, after consulting with someone, he decided to write about only one traitor in the editorial.

The interrogated secretary of the newspaper, Krivitsky, testified:

During a conversation at the PUR with Comrade Krapivin, he asked where I got the words of political instructor Klochkov, written in my basement: “Russia is great, but there is nowhere to retreat - Moscow is behind us,” I told him that I had invented it myself...

...As far as the feelings and actions of the 28 heroes are concerned, this is my literary conjecture. I did not speak with any of the wounded or surviving guardsmen. From the local population, I only spoke with a boy of about 14-15 years old, who showed me the grave where Klochkov was buried.

...In 1943, from the division where 28 Panfilov heroes were and fought, they sent me a letter conferring on me the rank of guardsman. I was only in the division three or four times.

Conclusion of the prosecutor's office investigation:

Thus, the investigation materials have established that the feat of 28 Panfilov guardsmen, covered in the press, is an invention of the correspondent Koroteev, the editor of “Red Star” Ortenberg, and especially the literary secretary of the newspaper Krivitsky.

Official version support

Marshal of the Soviet Union D. T. Yazov defended the official version, relying, in particular, on the study of historian G. A. Kumanev “Feat and Fraud.” In September 2011, the newspaper “Soviet Russia” published the material “Shamelessly ridiculed feat,” which included a letter from the marshal criticizing Mironenko. The same letter, with slight abbreviations, was published by Komsomolskaya Pravda:

... It turned out that not all “twenty-eight” were dead. What of this? The fact that six of the twenty-eight named heroes, being wounded and shell-shocked, survived against all odds in the battle of November 16, 1941, refutes the fact that an enemy tank column rushing towards Moscow was stopped at the Dubosekovo crossing? Doesn't refute. Yes, indeed, it later became known that not all 28 heroes died in that battle. Thus, G. M. Shemyakin and I. R. Vasiliev were seriously wounded and ended up in the hospital. D. F. Timofeev and I. D. Shadrin were captured wounded and experienced all the horrors of fascist captivity. The fate of D. A. Kuzhebergenov and I. E. Dobrobabin, who also survived, was not easy, but various reasons excluded from the list of Heroes and to this day have not been restored in this capacity, although their participation in the battle at the Dubosekovo crossing is, in principle, beyond doubt, which was convincingly proven in his research by Doctor of Historical Sciences G. A. Kumanev, who personally met with them. ... By the way, the fate of these particular Panfilov heroes who “resurrected from the dead” served as the reason for writing a letter in May 1948 from the Chief Military Prosecutor, Lieutenant General of Justice N.P. Afanasyev, to the Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, A.A. Zhdanov...
However, Andrei Aleksandrovich Zhdanov ... immediately determined that all the materials of the “investigation of the case of 28 Panfilov men”, set out in the letter of the Chief Military Prosecutor, were prepared too clumsily, the conclusions, as they say, were “sewn with white threads.” … As a result of further progress, the “case” was not given any further progress, and it was sent to the archives...

D. Yazov cited the words of Krasnaya Zvezda correspondent A. Yu. Krivitsky, who was accused of the fact that the feat of 28 Panfilov men was a figment of his author’s imagination. Recalling the progress of the investigation, A. Yu. Krivitsky said:

I was told that if I refused to testify that I had completely invented the description of the battle at Dubosekovo and that I had not spoken to any of the seriously wounded or surviving Panfilov soldiers before publishing the article, then I would soon find myself in Pechora or Kolyma. In such a situation, I had to say that the battle at Dubosekovo was my literary fiction.

Documentary evidence of the battle

Commander of the 1075th Regiment I. Kaprov (testimony given during the investigation into the Panfilov case):

...In the company by November 16, 1941 there were 120-140 people. My command post was located behind the Dubosekovo crossing, 1.5 km from the position of the 4th company (2nd battalion). I don’t remember now whether there were anti-tank rifles in the 4th company, but I repeat that in the entire 2nd battalion there were only 4 anti-tank rifles... In total, there were 10-12 enemy tanks in the 2nd battalion’s sector. I don’t know how many tanks went (directly) to the 4th company’s sector, or rather, I can’t determine...

With the help of the regiment and the efforts of the 2nd battalion, this tank attack was repulsed. In the battle, the regiment destroyed 5-6 German tanks, and the Germans retreated. At 14-15 o'clock the Germans opened strong artillery fire... and again went on the attack with tanks... More than 50 tanks were advancing on the regiment's sectors, and the main attack was directed at the positions of the 2nd battalion, including the sector of the 4th company, and one the tank even went to the regimental command post and set fire to the hay and the hut, so that I was accidentally able to get out of the dugout: the embankment saved me railway, people who had survived the attack by German tanks began to gather around me. The 4th company suffered the most: led by company commander Gundilovich, 20-25 people survived. The remaining companies suffered less.

According to archival data from the USSR Ministry of Defense, the entire 1075th Infantry Regiment on November 16, 1941 destroyed 15 (according to other sources - 16) tanks and about 800 enemy personnel. The losses of the regiment, according to the report of its commander, amounted to 400 people killed, 600 people missing, 100 people wounded.

Testimony of the chairman of the Nelidovsky village council Smirnova at the investigation into the Panfilov case:

The battle of Panfilov’s division near our village of Nelidovo and the Dubosekovo crossing took place on November 16, 1941. During this battle, all our residents, including myself, were hiding in shelters... The Germans entered the area of our village and the Dubosekovo crossing on November 16, 1941 and were repulsed by units of the Soviet Army on December 20, 1941. At this time there were large snow drifts, which continued until February 1942, due to which we did not collect the corpses of those killed on the battlefield and did not conduct funerals.

...In early February 1942, we found only three corpses on the battlefield, which we buried in a mass grave on the outskirts of our village. And then, in March 1942, when it began to melt, military units carried three more corpses to the mass grave, including the corpse of political instructor Klochkov, whom the soldiers identified. So in the mass grave of Panfilov’s heroes, which is located on the outskirts of our village of Nelidovo, 6 soldiers of the Soviet Army are buried. No more corpses were found on the territory of the Nelidovsky Council.

From a note from Colonel General S. M. Shtemenko to the Minister of the USSR Armed Forces N. A. Bulganin on August 28, 1948:

No operational documents or documents from political bodies specifically mentioning the actual heroic feat and death of 28 Panfilov men in the area of the Dubosekovo crossing were found... Only one document confirms the death of the political instructor of the 4th company Klochkov (mentioned among the 28 mi). Therefore, we can clearly assume that the first reports about the battle of the 28 Panfilov men on November 16, 1941 were made by the newspaper “Red Star”, which published an essay by Koroteev, an editorial from the newspaper and an essay by Krivitsky “About 28 Fallen Heroes”. These messages, apparently, served as the basis for the nomination of 28 people to the title of Heroes of the Soviet Union.

Reconstruction of the battle

By the end of October 1941, the first stage of the German Operation Typhoon (attack on Moscow) was completed. German troops, having defeated units of three Soviet fronts near Vyazma, reached the immediate approaches to Moscow. At the same time, the German troops suffered losses and needed some respite to rest the units, put them in order and replenish them. By November 2, the front line in the Volokolamsk direction had stabilized, and German units temporarily went on the defensive. On November 16, German troops again went on the offensive, planning to defeat Soviet units, encircle Moscow and victoriously end the 1941 campaign.

The fate of some Panfilovites

Momyshuly, Bauyrzhan. After the war, the brave officer continued to serve in the Armed Forces of the USSR. In 1948 he graduated Military Academy General Staff. Since 1950 - senior lecturer at the Military Academy of Logistics and Supply of the Soviet Army. Since December 1955, Colonel Momysh-uly has been in reserve. Member of the USSR Writers' Union. Made history military science as the author of tactical maneuvers and strategies that are still studied in military universities. Gave lectures on combat training during a visit to Cuba in 1963 (published in Spanish-language newspapers). He met with the Minister of Defense of Cuba, Raul Castro, and was awarded the title of honorary commander of the 51st regiment of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba. In the military educational institutions The military experience of Momyshuly is studied separately in the USA, Cuba, Israel, and Nicaragua. "Volokolamsk Highway" became a required reading book for members of the Palmach, and later for officers of the Israel Defense Forces. Fernando Heredia wrote that “most Cubans begin the study of Marxism-Leninism with the Volokolamsk Highway.” He died on June 10, 1982.

Alma-Ata, park named after 28 Panfilov guardsmen. A memorial stone dedicated to Grigory Shemyakin, who was born in 1906 (old style) or 1907 (new style) and actually died in 1973, but the year of death is engraved on the stone as 1941, since, according to the official version, all 28 Panfilovites died.

Kozhabergenov (Kuzhebergenov) Daniil Alexandrovich. Political commissar Klochkov's liaison officer. He did not directly participate in the battle, since in the morning he was sent with a report to Dubosekovo, where he was captured. On the evening of November 16, he escaped from captivity into the forest. For some time he was in the occupied territory, after which he was discovered by the cavalry of General L.M. Dovator, who were on a raid on the German rear. After Dovator’s unit left the raid, he was interrogated by a special department, admitted that he did not participate in the battle, and was sent back to Dovator’s division. By this time, a proposal had already been drawn up to award him the title of Hero, but after an investigation, his name was replaced by Askar Kozhabergenov. Died in 1976.

Kozhabergenov (Kuzhebergenov) Askar (Aliaskar). He arrived in Panfilov's division in January 1942 (thus, he could not participate in the battle at Dubosekov). In the same month, he died during a raid by Panfilov’s division on the German rear. Included in the nomination for the title of Hero instead of Daniil Aleksandrovich Kozhabergenov, after it turned out that the latter remained alive. By Decree of the Presidium Supreme Council On July 21, 1942, the USSR, together with other Panfilovites, was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously.

Vasiliev, Illarion Romanovich. In the battle on November 16, he was seriously wounded and ended up in the hospital (according to various versions, he was either evacuated from the battlefield or picked up after the battle local residents and was sent to the hospital, or crawled for three days and was picked up by Dovator’s horsemen). After recovery, he was sent to the active army, to a rear unit. In 1943 he was demobilized from the army due to health reasons. After the publication of the Decree awarding him the title of Hero (posthumously), he announced his participation in the battle. After appropriate verification, without much publicity, he received the Hero star. He died in 1969 in Kemerovo.

Natarov, Ivan Moiseevich. According to Krivitsky’s articles, he took part in the battle near Dubosekov, was seriously wounded, taken to the hospital and, dying, told Krivitsky about the feat of Panfilov’s men. According to the political report of the military commissar of the 1075th Infantry Regiment, Mukhamedyarov, stored in the TsAMO funds, he died two days before the battle - on November 14. By Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council USSR On July 21, 1942, together with other Panfilovites, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously.

Timofeev, Dmitry Fomich. During the battle he was wounded and captured. He managed to survive in captivity and returned to his homeland after the end of the war. He applied for the Hero star, and after appropriate verification received it without much publicity shortly before his death in 1950.

Shemyakin, Grigory Melentievich. During the battle he was wounded and ended up in the hospital (there is information that he was picked up by soldiers of Dovator’s division). After the publication of the Decree awarding him the title of Hero (posthumously), he announced his participation in the battle. After appropriate verification, without much publicity, he received the Hero star. He died in 1973 in Alma-Ata.

Shadrin, Ivan Demidovich. After the battle on November 16, he was captured in an unconscious state, according to his own statement. Until 1945 he was in a concentration camp, after liberation he spent another 2 years in a Soviet filtration camp for former prisoners of war. In 1947, he returned home to the Altai Territory, where no one was waiting for him - he was considered dead, and his wife lived in his house with her new husband. For two years he did odd jobs, until in 1949 the secretary of the district committee, who learned his story, wrote about him to the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. After appropriate verification, without much publicity, he received the Hero star. Died in 1985.

Memory

Notes

M. M. Kozlov. The Great Patriotic War. 1941-1945. Encyclopedia. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1985. - P. 526.
Reference report “About 28 Panfilov’s men.” State Archives RF. F.R - 8131 account. Op. 37. D. 4041. Lll. 310-320. Published in the magazine " New world", 1997, No. 6, p. 148
“Adjusted for myth” POISK - newspaper of the Russian scientific community
Ponomarev Anton. The Panfilov heroes who stopped the Germans on the outskirts of Moscow in 1941 are remembered in Russia, First channel(November 16, 2011). Retrieved November 16, 2012.
Gorokhovsky A. The famous feat of twenty-eight Panfilov’s men at the Dubosekovo crossing was invented by Red Star journalists and the party leadership of the Red Army // Data: newspaper. - 11/17/2000.
In particular, the loss of 10 tanks on November 6, 1941 in the battles near Mtsensk made a strong negative impression on the command of the 4th tank division and was especially noted in Guderian's memoirs - Kolomiets M. 1st Guards Tank Brigade in the battles for Moscow // Front-line illustration. - No. 4. - 2007.
“Red Army soldier Natarov, being wounded, continued the battle and fought and fired from his rifle until his last breath and died heroically in battle.” Political report of A.L. Mukhamedyarov dated November 14, 1941. Published: Zhuk Yu. A. Unknown pages battle for Moscow. Moscow battle. Facts and myths. - M.: AST, 2008.
A shamelessly ridiculed feat // Soviet Russia. - 1.9.2011.
Marshal Dmitry Yazov: “28 Panfilov heroes - a fiction? Who stopped the Germans then?” // TVNZ. - 15.9.2011.
Cardin V. Legends and facts. Years later // Questions of literature. - No. 6, 2000.
Transcript of the program “The Price of Victory” 10/16/2006. Radio "Echo of Moscow". Author - Martynov Andrey Viktorovich, historian, Ph.D. (Retrieved November 16, 2012)
Isaev A. Five circles of hell. The Red Army is in "cauldrons". - M.: Yauza, Eksmo, 2008. - P. 327.
Fedoseev S. Infantry vs tanks // Around the world: magazine. - April 2005. - No. 4 (2775).
Shirokorad A. B.. God of War of the Third Reich. - M.: 2003. - P. 38-39.
Alien glory // Military history magazine. - 1990. - No. 8, 9.
See the material in the “Seekers” program dated March 19, 2008 [ specify]
During the investigation into the issue of rehabilitation, Dobrobabin stated: “I really served in the police, I understand that I committed a crime against the Motherland”; confirmed that, in fear of punishment, he voluntarily left the village of Perekop with the retreating Germans. He also claimed that he “had no real opportunity to go over to the side Soviet troops or go to partisan detachment", which was considered inconsistent with the circumstances of the case.