On the eve of the 69th anniversary of the liberation of Pskov from the Nazi invaders, I ask Pskov News to return to the holy theme of heroism, because I hope for the newspaper's help in restoring historical justice.

In 1941, after leaving the Baltic states, a blow Nazi German troops Ostrov and Pskov took over. In the sky above our city, the pilots of the 158th Fighter Aviation Regiment, which was formed before the war and was located in Kresty, fought heroically. The fleet consisted of 63 aircraft. The regiment commander was Arkady Petrovich Aframeev.

In those days, pilots made the first air rams in the Pskov sky. Already on June 28, junior lieutenants P.T. Kharitonov and S.I. Zdorovtsev, June 29 - Junior Lieutenant M.P. Zhukov.

On July 8, 1941, the first Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was signed during the war years on awarding the title of Hero to three pilots. Soviet Union.

On July 22, 2005, a monument was unveiled to the heroes - in front of the military airfield. The feat of the pilots Kharitonov, Zdorovtsev and Zhukov was immortalized. But did we do what we had to? Indeed, soon an air ram in the sky near Pskov was made by another pilot - foreman N.Ya. Totmin.

On July 4, 1941, at 16:00, eight Yu-88s, under the cover of two Messers, raided the Rozhnopolye airfield, which was located near Pskov. Our pilots had just returned from a combat mission, and only the plane of Nikolai Totmin was refueled. Sergeant Major Totmin flew out alone towards the enemy.

Later, the report noted: “With bold attacks, he upset the battle formations of the bombers, forced them to randomly drop bombs. Enemy fighters launched an attack on Totmin's aircraft, which instantly turned around and cut off the plane of the enemy aircraft with a frontal ram. The plane was also damaged, the pilot landed on the airfield by parachute.

By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated July 22, 1941, Nikolai Yakovlevich Totmin, who rammed an enemy aircraft, was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. This feat was accomplished 72 years ago.

Nikolai Totmin was born on December 19, 1919 in the village of Ust-Yarul, now the Irbeysky District of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, into a peasant family. He graduated from the 2 courses of the Kansk Agricultural College, flying club. He served in the Red Army from 1939. In 1940 he graduated from the Bataysk Military Aviation School. Since June 1941 - at the front.

The pilots of the regiment, in which the first Heroes of the Soviet Union served during the Great Patriotic War, made 798 sorties and conducted 244 air battles, in which they destroyed 38 enemy aircraft. Nikolai Yakovlevich Totmin shot down 3 enemy aircraft, made 63 sorties. In an air battle near Leningrad on October 23, 1942, Totmin died.

In the village of Ust-Yarul, a street is named after the hero, and in Pskov, which the pilot defended, his name has not yet been immortalized.

In a year, our city will celebrate the 70th anniversary of the liberation from the Nazi invaders. The duty of the people of Pskov is to perpetuate the name of the Hero of the Soviet Union Nikolai Yakovlevich Totmin.

Antonina Sokolova

W Dorovtsev Stepan Ivanovich - commander of the aviation unit of the 158th Aviation Fighter Regiment (39th Fighter Aviation Division, Northern Front), junior lieutenant.

Born on December 24, 1916 on the farm Zolotarevka, Semikarakorsk region Rostov region in a peasant family. Russian. Member of the Komsomol. He graduated from the tractor-mechanical school. After the family moved to the city of Astrakhan, he got a job in ship repair shops. Soon Zdorovtsev passed the exams for a longboat mechanic and went to work first at the Chapaevsky fishery, and then as a longboat mechanic in OSVOD - the Society for the Promotion of the Development of Water Transport and the Protection of People's Life on Waterways.

Soon Zdorovtsev was promoted to the post of head of the OSVOD city rescue station. Divers were needed at the station, and Zdorovtsev enrolled in diving courses. In February 1937, he was sent to study at the Astrakhan flying club, from which he graduated at the end of that year, officially receiving the title of diver.

In the Red Army since 1938. He graduated from the Stalingrad Military Aviation School in October 1940. Together with his classmate M.P. Zhukov Zdorovtsev was sent to serve in the 158th Fighter aviation regiment Leningrad Military District, based at the Kresty airfield in the city of Pskov. There he especially carefully began to work out the methods of conducting aerial fire. Noticing the abilities of junior lieutenant Zdorovtsev, the command sent him to the city of Pushkin for courses for flight commanders. The training ended for Zdorovtsev with participation in an air parade over Palace Square in Leningrad.

In the early morning of June 22, 1941, the 158th Fighter Aviation Regiment was alerted. Several days passed in the incessant flights of duty units. Our troops retreated across the Western Dvina River. The fighters covered the cities of Pskov, Ostrov and the communications of the approach of our troops to the front line from attacks by fascist aviation. Zdorovtsev in the first battles proved to be a courageous and talented fighter pilot.

On June 27, 1941, junior lieutenant Zdorovtsev flew out to intercept an enemy aircraft flying in the direction of our airfield. Having discovered a fascist bomber, Zdorovtsev attacked him, came close from above and fired a long burst. The enemy plane, enveloped in flames, flew like a stone to the ground. It was Zdorovtsev's first victory.

On June 28, 1941, a group of our fighters patrolled over the city of Ostrov. Soon 10 German Ju-88 bombers appeared in the sky, accompanied by ME-109 fighters. Our fighters entered the battle and did not allow the fascist bombers to reach the city. In this air battle, Zdorovtsev completely used up ammunition. On the way back to his airfield, he met an enemy bomber. Not wanting to let the Nazi plane through with impunity, the pilot decided to ram it. Boosting the engine, Zdorovtsev approached from below under the tail of the bomber and cut down the tail of the Junkers with a propeller. He managed to keep his damaged I-16 in flight, while the Junkers was falling from wing to wing. The fascist pilots who jumped out with a parachute were captured by our infantry. Zdorovtsev landed safely and after 2 hours on the same plane flew to a new mission.

Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of July 8, 1941 for a perfect air ramming to a junior lieutenant Stepan Ivanovich Zdorovtsev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. He, along with pilots P.T. Kharitonov, who rammed on June 27 and M.P. Zhukov, who rammed on June 29, 1941, became the first Hero of the Soviet Union in the Great Patriotic War.

On July 9, 1941, fellow soldiers congratulated the Hero on this high rank. After the ceremonial formation, junior lieutenant Zdorovtsev flew out for reconnaissance. On the way back in the Pskov region, he met a group of enemy fighters and entered into battle with them. The forces turned out to be too unequal, and Zdorovtsev died in this battle.

On the Volga, a passenger ship is named after the Hero, in Astrakhan and Volgograd - streets. In 1975, a street in the city of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) was named after the Hero. A monument to the Hero was erected in the city of Astrakhan. It is also worn by schools in many settlements countries.

By order of the Minister of Defense of the USSR, S.I. Zdorovtsev was forever enlisted in the lists of the military unit.

Awarded the Order of Lenin.

Pskov, Leningrad highway

Memorial Sign to pilots - the first Heroes of the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War– Zdorovtsev S.I., Kharitonov P.T., Zhukov M.P. was opened on July 22, 2005 in the year of the 60th anniversary of the Victory. Defending Pskov, they went to the ram, sacrificing their lives for the Motherland. It is unlikely that they expected to survive in battle, but they managed to defeat death by landing their planes.

military monument

By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of July 8, 1941, they were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. During the war years, this was the first Decree on conferring a high rank.

Heroes of the Soviet Union. Memorial Sign to Pilots on a modern map

Funds for the erection of a memorial sign were raised by students educational institutions Western Administrative District of Moscow and residents of Pskov and the region. The monument is installed on the international highway St. Petersburg-Kyiv (Kresty area).

Left commemorative plaque. Right commemorative plaque

Born December 24, 1916 on the farm Zolotarevka, now the Semikarakorsky district of the Rostov region, in a peasant family. Russian. Member of the Komsomol, candidate member of the CPSU (b).

In 1929, his family moved to the village of Konstantinovskaya, Rostov Region, where Stepan continued to study. In 1933 he graduated from 9 classes and in the same year he entered and graduated from the tractor-mechanical school (now PU-91 bears his name, on the building - Memorial plaque, a bust of the hero is installed in the courtyard of the school).

After the family moved to the city of Astrakhan, he got a job in ship repair shops. Soon Zdorovtsev passed the exams for a longboat mechanic and went to work first at the Chapaevsky fishery, and then as a longboat mechanic in OSVOD. He worked as an instructor of the Nizhnevolzhsky committee of the trade union of rivermen and at the same time studied at the Astrakhan flying club.

In the Red Army since 1938. He graduated from the Stalingrad Military Aviation School in October 1940 and was sent to serve in the 158th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the Leningrad Military District.

Member of the Great Patriotic War from its first day. Flight commander of the 158th Fighter Aviation Regiment (39th Fighter Aviation Division, Northern Front) - Zdorovtsev S.I. He distinguished himself by covering the air approaches to Leningrad in the Pskov region as part of the regiment.

On June 28, 1941, in an air battle with three enemy bombers, having used up ammunition, he shot down a German Junkers-88 aircraft with a ram attack, while retaining his own.

For this feat on July 8, 1941 he received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. On July 9, 1941, fellow soldiers congratulated the Hero on this high rank. After the ceremonial formation, junior lieutenant Zdorovtsev flew out for reconnaissance. On the way back in the Pskov region, he met a group of enemy fighters and entered into battle with them. The forces turned out to be too unequal, in this battle Zdorovtsev died.

Born December 16, 1916 in the village of Knyazhevo, now the Morshansky district of the Tambov region, in a peasant family. Russian. Secondary education. After graduating from pedagogical courses, he worked as a teacher at school No. 12 in the city of Ulan-Ude.

He studied at the Ulan-Ude flying club, opened on February 4, 1934. In the Red Army since 1938. He graduated from the Bataysk military aviation school for pilots in 1940.

Member of the Great Patriotic War since June 1941. Pilot of the 158th Fighter Aviation Regiment (39th Fighter Aviation Division, Northern Front), candidate member of the CPSU, Junior Lieutenant Kharitonov June 28, 1941 in an air battle over Leningrad, having used up all the ammunition, for the first time during the defense of Leningrad used an air ram, cutting off the steering wheel with a propeller the height of the enemy aircraft. Member of the CPSU (b) / CPSU since 1942.

After the war he continued to serve in the Air Force. In 1953 he graduated from the Air Force Academy. Since 1955, Kharitonov has been a colonel in the reserve. Lived in Donetsk. He worked at the headquarters of the Civil Defense of the city. He died on February 1, 1987, was buried in Donetsk.

Hero of the Soviet Union was born on October 10, 1917 in the village of Ruzhbovo, Cherepovets district, Novgorod province, into a peasant family.

In 1933 he graduated from a rural school and the Shukhobod vocational school. Then he enlisted in Leningrad, studied at the school of construction apprenticeship in roofing and tin.

In September 1934, at the invitation of his older brother, he came to Yaroslavl, graduated from the FZU at the Yaroslavl rubber-asbestos plant and began working as an electrician at a tire factory. He was an active member of the Komsomol: a pioneer leader in primary school, a member of the "Light Cavalry", an agitator for the first elections of deputies to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

After graduating from the Yaroslavl flying club, Mikhail Zhukov was selected by the commission and sent by the district military commissariat to the 7th military school Pilots named after the Stalingrad Red Banner Proletariat. In May 1941, junior lieutenant Zhukov was appointed pilot of the 158th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the 39th Fighter Aviation Division.

Union Mikhail Petrovich Zhukov

Mikhail Zhukov made his first sortie on the second day of the war. In the air I met a German bomber "Ju-88". The German pilot did not accept the air battle, turned around and flew out of the loitering zone with Mikhail.

On June 24, 1941, M. Zhukov blocked the flight of a fascist intelligence officer, who, having failed to complete the task of aerial photography of the area, turned around and went into the clouds. He opened a combat score on the fourth sortie, shooting down the Junkers.

On June 29, 1941, in an air battle over Lake Pskov, Mikhail Petrovich used up all the ammunition and, not wanting to miss the enemy, drove a German bomber into the lake by diving. He returned unharmed to his base airfield.

On July 8, 1941, the first Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in the Great Patriotic War on awarding the title of Hero of the Soviet Union to pilots of the 158th Fighter Aviation Regiment S.I. was published on the radio and in newspapers. Zdorovtsev, P.T. Kharitonov and M.P. Zhukov.

The 39th Fighter Aviation Division, in which Mikhail Zhukov served, guarded the approaches to Leningrad, the "Road of Life" through the Shlisselburg Bay of Lake Ladoga, the Volkhovskaya Hydroelectric Power Station - the only power plant that supplied Leningrad with electricity. Especially carefully the pilots guarded the "Road of Life", along which the city was supplied with food, ammunition and military equipment, redeployment of troops and evacuation of Leningraders exhausted from hunger.

In the book of Yaroslavl writers "Stalin's tribe" it is written: "The life of Mikhail Zhukov - usual life young man Stalin era. The Zhukov family is a wonderful family of Soviet patriots. Seven brothers and one sister from the family of the Cherepovets peasant Pyotr Ermolaevich Zhukov are at the front, fighting with a cruel, insidious enemy. A true family of Russian "bogatyrs".

In the combat description for Mikhail Zhukov dated December 31, 1943, the commander of the 2nd air squadron, Captain Drevyatnikov, wrote:

“During the war, he made 259 sorties, of which 50 were to escort bombers, 5 attack, 167 to cover his troops, airfields and facilities. Participated in 47 air battles, in which he shot down 3 bombers personally and in a group of Me-109 fighters and a bomber. In air battles, he showed himself to be courageous, resolute, with a high sense of mutual assistance.

On January 12, 1943, formations of the 67th Army of the Leningrad Front, the 2nd Shock Army of the Volkhov Front launched Operation Iskra to break the blockade of Leningrad in order to restore land communications linking the city with the country.

Supported by Air Force Aviation, Artillery and Aviation Baltic Fleet, 67th and 2nd armies delivered counter attacks on enemy troops on a narrow ledge between Shlisselburg and Sinyavino. On January 18, the troops of the fronts met in the area of ​​workers' settlements No. 1 and No. 5. The January "Iskra" burned a hole in the enemy siege 8-11 kilometers wide and broke the blockade ring.

On the day the operation began, Mikhail flew out on his last 263rd sortie. The four fighters, led by Senior Lieutenant Zhukov, covered our ground troops in the area of ​​Neva Dubrovka. They entered the battle with nine enemy fighters. Mikhail Zhukov's plane was shot down and crashed into enemy territory.

I can't forget this fight

The air is filled with death

And from the sky silent rain

The stars are falling...

V.Vysotsky

70 years have passed since the last volleys of the Great Patriotic War died down. In our country there is not a single family in which the memory of her would not be kept. And all those who fought with weapons in their hands, who stood at the machines, sowed bread, raised children and waited for news from the closest and dearest people, have long become heroes of the most terrible war in the history of mankind. There were millions of them, those who at the front and in the rear brought Victory Day closer.

And yet the protagonist of this war is rightfully soviet soldier. During the Great Patriotic War, more than 11 thousand soldiers, officers and generals of the Soviet Army and partisans were awarded the highest and honorary award country - the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Six of them accomplished their feat in the battles for the Island. Two more fought on island soil. In this article we will talk about them. And about their feat.

If circumstances require it

It was June 28, 1941 on the outskirts of Leningrad. At 1300 hours, 6 I-16s of the 158th Fighter Aviation Regiment took off to intercept the German bombers. In the area of ​​​​the city of Ostrov, Soviet fighters attacked the enemy. They scattered a group of "Junkers" and began to pursue them.

P.T. Kharitonov

Ensign Petr Timofeevich Kharitonov worried - it was his first dogfight. In addition, during the battle, Kharitonov's car was damaged, machine guns failed. The enemy aircraft with a decrease went further and further ... Kharitonov increased engine speed and decided to destroy the enemy at any cost. He aimed his car at the enemy plane - forward and down. With every second, the distance between them decreased, 50 meters remained to the ground. Pyotr Kharitonov came close to the bomber and hit its tail with a propeller. Having lost control, the fascist bomber crashed into the ground. Three of the enemy's crew were burned, the fourth jumped out with a parachute, and he was taken prisoner. Later, he showed that the crew of the aircraft consisted of experienced aces, for the bombing of the cities of England and France, they all had Iron Crosses.

The plane of Pyotr Kharitonov was shaking violently due to a damaged propeller. However, he found a landing site and landed safely.

Not knowing about the feat of P.T. Kharitonova, his fellow soldier junior lieutenant Stepan Ivanovich Zdorovtsev at 14:10 on the same day, he took off to repel an attack by fascist bombers. In the Ostrov area, Soviet fighters disrupted the battle formation of the enemy group with swift attacks. The German pilots, randomly dropping bombs, began to leave with a sharp climb. Stepan Zdorovtsev caught up with the Junkers when the altimeter needle was already showing 7000 meters.

S.I. Zdorovtsev

The Nazis fired furiously. With several bursts, the Soviet fighter silenced both gunners forever. And now the head of the fascist pilot is in sight, but ... the cartridges have run out. Zdorovtsev did not hesitate for a second. At maximum speed, he began to approach the enemy and chopped off his elevator. The bomber, having lost control, began to randomly fall. The pilot and navigator jumped out with parachutes, but were taken prisoner on the ground.

On his wounded car, with propeller blades partially broken off, Zdorovtsev barely made it to his airfield.

By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of July 8, 1941, pilots Pyotr Timofeevich Kharitonov and Stepan Ivanovich Zdorovtsev were awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. Together with them, this high title was awarded to Mikhail Zhukov, who also shot down an enemy plane in the sky over Lake Pskov with a ram. These were the first Heroes of the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War.

The news of the first rams in the sky of the Pskov region spread throughout all aviation units. Soon their feat was repeated by many Soviet pilots. If this was required by circumstances, if cannons, machine guns failed in an air battle, if shells ran out, they were ready to destroy fascist aircraft with their own machine and went to ram.

On July 4, 1941, the pilot of the 158th Fighter Aviation Regiment, foreman Nikolai Yakovlevich Totmin was inspecting his plane at the Rozhkopolye airfield near Ostrov, when he heard the howling, characteristic of the Junkers, the rumble of engines. The pilot quickly took a seat in the cockpit of the I-16 and took off alone.

Six Yu-88s under cover of Messerschmitts were already approaching the airfield. The Nazi pilots were already preparing to drop their bombs, when suddenly fiery trails from the Soviet fighter stretched towards them. The Junkers at the rear of the group caught fire. The attack was so unexpected that the enemy was confused. The formation of the bombers broke up, they began to hastily free themselves from the cargo, dropping bombs anywhere.

Nikolai Totmin continued to fire at the enemy. But then the Messerschmitts fell on the Soviet pilot. Totmin found himself between two enemy fighters. He turned his I-16 on one fascist, preparing to shoot him or ram him, but he turned away, not accepting the fight. At this time, the second Me-109 opened fire on our aircraft. However, the pilot managed to get out of the attack and himself go into the tail of the Nazi aircraft. But two other Messerschmitts were already hanging over Totmin. The German fighter, the one that was ahead of the Soviet aircraft, climbed steeply up and, turning around, began to dive at Totmin. Nikolai Yakovlevich maneuvered and went from bottom to top in a frontal attack. The distance between the fighters was rapidly shrinking. IN last moment the nerves of the fascist could not stand it, and he turned away. Totmin, sharply listing the plane, cut off the plane of the Messerschmitt with its wing, which tumbled down.

The Soviet plane, which received a lot of damage during the ramming, went into a tailspin. The foreman made every effort to save the car, but it was all in vain. Not far from the ground, he left the plane using a parachute.

On July 22, 1941, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Nikolai Yakovlevich Totmin was awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

But the war was just beginning. And the front-line fate of our Heroes developed in different ways. On August 25, 1941, Pyotr Timofeevich Kharitonov destroyed another enemy aircraft with a ramming attack. For this feat, he was awarded the second Order of Lenin. And in September 1941, Pyotr Kharitonov was seriously wounded in an air battle. He was able to return to service only in 1944 and continued his combat path. In total, during the war, he personally shot down 14 enemy aircraft.

On July 9, 1941, Junior Lieutenant Stepan Ivanovich Zdorovtsev flew out to reconnoiter the recently abandoned airfield. His task included only reconnaissance, but, once above the familiar airfield, the pilot could not restrain himself and delivered an assault strike on the Nazi aircraft that were parked. The enemy fighters that took off caught up with him and forced a fight. The forces were too unequal. The comrades who flew out to search for Zdorovtsev noticed the smoke of fires at an enemy airfield, but they did not manage to find the pilot himself ...

Nikolai Yakovlevich Totmin made 93 sorties, shot down 7 enemy aircraft in 26 air battles. He died in an air battle on October 23, 1942 near Leningrad in the vicinity of Tosno.

Repeated the feat of Gastello

In late June - early July 1941, the combat situation for the troops of the North-Western Front was extremely unfavorable. It was not possible to hold the line on the Western Dvina River. Tank and motorized formations of the 4th Panzer Group of the Wehrmacht, crossing the river, moved to Ostrov and Pskov. Soviet bomber aircraft struck at the enemy's tank and motorized columns.

On July 4, a squadron of the 10th high-speed bomber aviation regiment of the 41st mixed aviation division flew out to bombard such a column, led by Leonid Vasilyevich Mikhailov.

Captain Mikhailov was an experienced pilot. For courage and skill shown in the battles with the White Finns in the winter of 1939-1940, he was awarded the order Red Banner. Captain Gavriil Vasilyevich Levenets, the navigator of the lead aircraft, also had combat experience, whose chest was decorated with 2 such orders. The gunner-radio operator senior sergeant Ivan Dmitrievich Sheremetyev was also an order bearer.

Nine SB bombers have already passed Pskov, below they appeared fascist tanks. And then Me-109 fighters attacked the squadron. Captain Mikhailov ordered the crews to keep a tighter formation and turn around on a combat course. And the sky was torn open by explosions of anti-aircraft shells and machine-gun bursts of Messerschmitts. Our crews fought off their attacks with difficulty.

Having dropped the first series of bombs, the squadron went on a new approach. At that moment, an anti-aircraft shell hit Mikhailov's plane. Despite the growing fire, the captain once again led the squadron to the target. It was still possible to jump out on parachutes, land a burning plane on the forest, but L.V. Mikhailov, G.V. Levenets and I.D. Sheremetyev made a different decision. Captain Mikhailov transferred command of the group to his deputy, Senior Lieutenant M.A. Zhivolupu, and he himself sent a burning plane into a cluster of enemy tanks ... So in the sky of the Island near the village of Rubenyaty L.V. Mikhailov and his comrades repeated the feat of Nikolai Gastello.

On July 22, 1941, Captain Leonid Vasilyevich Mikhailov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

With a fight across the front line

On June 22, 1941, a bomber pilot was caught Pavel Andreevich Markutsu in Moscow, where he arrived to take exams at the Air Force Academy. From the first days of the Great Patriotic War, he fought the Nazis in the air, bombed enemy positions.

P.A.Markuts

On July 2, 1941, the commander of the 44th High-Speed ​​Bomber Aviation Regiment, Senior Lieutenant Pavel Markutsa, reconnoitered the enemy troops in the area of ​​the Western Dvina River and bombed the crossing. At this time, his plane was attacked by 8 enemy fighters. The forces were clearly unequal. The crew commander, Senior Lieutenant Markutsa, without hesitation, quickly approached the enemy's lead vehicle. The Nazis did not expect a daring attack by the Soviet pilot. A short burst of machine-gun fire and one enemy plane crashed to the ground. The Nazis, waking up from surprise, again attacked the bomber. The navigator and gunner-radio operator died in an air battle, Pavel Markutsa was also wounded. And then one of the machine-gun bursts overtook his car. Flames broke out, the plane began to fall. The car, breaking the tops of trees, crashed into the forest and exploded.

P.A. Markutsa managed to get out of the cockpit and crawl to the side before the plane exploded. He unfastened the straps of his parachute, cocked the pistol and took cover in the forest. With the onset of darkness, Pavel Andreevich began to go out by deaf paths to the east, to the front line. On the third day of his journey, he met a group of soldiers of the 749th Infantry Regiment, who were surrounded. The Red Army soldiers were armed. Some of them were on horseback and wagons along with wounded soldiers. There were no commanders among them, and senior lieutenant Markutsa, the party organizer of the squadron, led the infantrymen. Along the way, they were joined by many more Soviet soldiers who went out to their own across the front line. Pavel Andreevich created a combat-ready detachment from disparate groups. Moving along the roads, the fighters of the combined detachment smashed the enemy's patrols and posts along the way, tore communication lines, destroyed small garrisons, blew up bridges, and sowed panic in the rear of the German units. On the seventh day of a difficult and dangerous journey, a detachment under the command of Senior Lieutenant P.A. Markutsy broke through the front line with a fight. To location Soviet troops in the area of ​​​​the city of Ostrov, 312 Red Army soldiers and members of the families of Red Army officers, 122 horses, a convoy of 60 carts with wounded soldiers and staff documents left. Pavel Andreevich personally carried 2 regimental banners from the encirclement.

The command highly appreciated the actions of the brave pilot in combat missions and operations behind enemy lines. On the tunic of Pavel Andreevich, next to the Order of the Red Banner, which marked his military prowess and courage before the start of World War II, the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal shone. July 27, 1941 M.I. Kalinin personally presented the Hero with a high award.

In October 1941, the 44th High-Speed ​​Bomber Aviation Regiment arrived at the Leningrad Front. P.A. made more than one sortie. Markuts, protecting the Leningrad sky from fascist vultures. On November 22, 1941, Senior Lieutenant Markutsa died in an air battle near Leningrad. Air Marshal A.A. Novikov wrote in his book Winged Bogatyrs: “He was an excellent pilot and a wonderful soul. The whole life of Pavel Andreevich Markutsa was devoted to the service of the Motherland.

They fought in the sky

In 1941, an attack aircraft pilot Andrey Nikiforovich Vitruk already had considerable combat experience. After all, he participated in the battles at Khalkhin Gol, in the so-called " liberation campaign» The Red Army in Western Belarus, in the war with Finland ...

From the very first days of the Great Patriotic War, A.N. Vitruk in the army. He fights in the sky of the Pskov region, takes part in the attack of the German advancing units in the vicinity of the city of Ostrov. At the end of July 1941, Major Vitruk headed the 65th Assault Aviation Regiment. On October 8, together with the 41st, 120th and 172nd fighter regiments, as well as the U-2 squadron, the regiment became part of the hastily formed reserve air group of Colonel N.A. Sales.

This air group was thrown to the Mozhaisk line of defense of the Western Front, to help the 77th Air Force GARDEN of the Moscow Military District. Until October 19, the aircraft of the air group completed 508 sorties. They disabled several tanks, hundreds of vehicles, blew up three ammunition depots, destroyed five bridges and crossings, dispersed and destroyed up to two infantry battalions. At the same time, the pilots flew in difficult weather conditions, often at an altitude of only 100–150 m and with a horizontal visibility of 600–800 m.

The effectiveness of the actions of the 65th ShAP was highly appreciated by the command. A few days later, Major General Sbytov, commander of the Air Force of the Moscow Military District, signed a submission on conferring the title of Hero of the Soviet Union to the commander of the 65th ShAP, Major Vitruk. It indicated that the pilot had shown exceptional courage in carrying out combat missions and had completed 21 sorties by that time.

Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of February 24, 1942 for the skillful command of the regiment, exemplary performance of combat missions of command on the front of the fight against fascist german invaders and the courage and heroism shown at the same time, Lieutenant Colonel Vitruk Andrey Nikiforovich was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Like all pre-war boys, Ivan Timofeevich Zhurba admired the skill and courage of Soviet pilots. And therefore, by the beginning of the war, Ivan managed to finish 8 classes of high school and the Artyomovsky flying club. In June 1941, he was sent to the Voroshilovgrad military aviation pilot school.

I.T. Zhurba

From September 1943, Senior Lieutenant I.T. Zhurba participated in the battles. The attack pilot smashed the enemy in the sky over Pavlograd, Zaporozhye, Dnepropetrovsk. March 12, 1944 near Nikolaev, breaking through strong enemy anti-aircraft fire, he dived on a convoy and destroyed 4 cars, a gas tanker and three military carts with a direct hit. As part of the 3rd, then the 2nd Baltic Fronts, commanding a unit of the 305th assault aviation division, by September 1944, the senior lieutenant made 108 sorties for reconnaissance and attack, destroyed 7 tanks, 6 bunkers, 5 ammunition depots and fuel, 2 aircraft at the airport. Ivan Zhurba participated in the breakthrough of the defensive line on the Velikaya River, near Pskov, in the battles for Ostrov, Tartu. In September 1944, near the city of Tartu, the Ilov group, led by Lieutenant Ivan Zhurba, attacked and defeated an enemy airfield.

By the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of February 23, 1945, for the exemplary performance of the combat missions of the command on the front of the fight against the Nazi invaders and the courage and heroism shown at the same time, Senior Lieutenant Ivan Timofeevich Zhurba was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

The enemy attack was repulsed

Nikita Vasilievich Nikitchenko He was drafted into the Red Army in March 1942. First he served in Primorye, and since May 1944 - in the army in the 42nd separate assault engineer-sapper battalion (9th assault engineer-sapper brigade, 3rd Baltic Front).

His immortal feat N.V. Nikitchenko committed in the battles for the liberation of the Pskov land. On June 26, 1944, in the area of ​​​​the village of Pogostishche, Pskov (now Ostrovsky) district of the Pskov region, Nikita Nikitchenko was on a mission to mine tank-dangerous directions in front of the front line of our units. The Germans launched a counterattack in this area, launched 6 tanks and 2 Ferdinand self-propelled guns. When the tanks attacked, Nikitchenko, who was accompanying the shell-shocked senior lieutenant Denisov to the first-aid post at that time, noticed that the tanks were breaking through to the location of the infantry units, and one “tiger” was heading for the artillery firing position. The Red Army soldier rushed, without hesitation, with two anti-tank mines under his tracks and died. His feat inspired the soldiers, and the enemy attack was repulsed. N.V. Nikitchenko was buried in the village of Murashino, Pskov district, Pskov region.

For heroic deeds and self-sacrifice on March 24, 1945, Nikita Vasilyevich Nikitchenko was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

The war is long over... The trenches were numb and flattened to the ground, the front roads were overgrown with grass. There are fewer and fewer who survived these terrible years. More than 70 years separate us from the events referred to in this article. Gone to eternity and its Heroes. But we have the right to forget about them. To remember those who, at the cost of their lives, won the Victory is our duty, a tribute to eternal respect and eternal gratitude.

Irina Nikiforova, Senior Research Fellow, Military Historical Museum-Reserve

Beloved by the country of the brave,

I want to look closely

The hero has a simple face.

Semyon Kirsanov.

Introduction

Story Air force(VVS) is rich in many glorious and heroic pages. For 100 years, Russian aviation has become truly legendary. Already during the First World War, during the trials of the Great Patriotic War, Russian pilots fully demonstrated their skill and courage in air battles and honorably fulfilled the tasks assigned to them. Winged defenders of the Fatherland, designers and engineers, technicians and workers of the aviation industry have always been the embodiment of courage and skill, talent and hard work. The names of the best of them have become national and world treasures.And we can rightfully be proud of the fact that the Vologda region has made a significant contribution to the creation of a domestic aerospace empire.

Tamara Spivak in the historical and literary narrative about the participation of the Vologda residents in the formation and development of domestic aviation, about the heroism of the Vologda pilots writes:

“Whatever you say, the word “first” carries a special magical energy. You pronounce it, and something is sure to stir in your soul, as if you touched something mysterious, unknown. And if this word also correlates with your stepfather's land!?

… who was the first to be awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War? Do you remember? .. With difficulty? .. Yes, of course, these were the pilots of the 158th Fighter Aviation Regiment, junior lieutenants Pyotr Kharitonov, Stepan Zdorovtsev and our fellow countryman, a native of the Cherepovets region Mikhail Zhukov.

It is necessary to know the names of famous countrymen. We are striving for this. Most recently, our school was named after the famous pilot, Twice Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Fedorovich Klubov, a museum was opened, which contains many exhibits related to aviation. I would like to make a contribution and present material about another of our fellow countrymen, fighter pilot M.P. Zhukov.

The purpose of this work is to study the life and combat way M.P. Zhukov.

Research objectives:

Consider the formation of the personality of MP Zhukov in the prewar years.

To trace the formation of the worldview of the Soviet patriot.

To study the reviews about the pilot in the press (in journalism, memoirs, poetry).

To systematize the information about the hero obtained in the museum of the Shukhobod basic comprehensive school.

Main part

The formation of the personality of the hero

And it gnaws, gnaws at anxiety: is it possible that the unrecognized will go into oblivion?

T. Spivak

In the first days of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the whole country learned about the heroic deed of three pilots: Stepan Zdorovtsev, Pyotr Kharitonov and Mikhail Zhukov, who for the first time in the history of air combat rammed enemy aircraft and were the first in the Great Patriotic War who were awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.

On July 10, 1941, the Pravda newspaper wrote:“These are the first order-bearers of the Holy Patriotic War of the Soviet peoples against the bloody dogs of fascism. As soon as the telegraph and radio spread around the country the Decree on the first heroes of the Patriotic War, the names of the Heroes of the Soviet Union Stepan Zdorovtsev, Mikhail Zhukov, Pyotr Kharitonov became popular and loved .... This is how ordinary Soviet people fight and win, not those who know fear in the struggle, proud sons of our winged people. They multiply skill and courage and beat the enemy, mercilessly bringing down tons of steel on him, destroying him in the air.

A native of the Cherepovets region, fighter pilot M.P. Zhukov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on July 8, 1941 for ramming a Nazi bomber in the Leningrad sky.

Mikhail was born on November 10, 2017 in the village of Ruzhbovo, Vologda Oblast, in a large peasant family. Russian.

The museum funds of Cherepovets contain several photographs depicting the family of Hero of the Soviet Union Mikhail Zhukov. Here is his mother - Anna Matveevna, along with the still very young Misha and his older brother Semyon. The picture was taken in Yaroslavl, where Mikhail Zhukov worked for some time at a local tire factory.

In 1930 he graduated from the primary rural school in the village. Cover.

Then he studied at part-time high school in with. Abakanovo.

In 1931, he entered the Shukhobod vocational school, from which he graduated with honors in 1933. As a bonus, he was presented with all the tools he made during his practice.

In January 1934 he was sent to the Leningrad School of Builders of the New Apprenticeship.

Since September of the same year, he worked as a mechanic at the Yaroslavl Tire Plant. At the same time he studied at the FZU at the rubber-asbestos plant. At the end of the FZU, he received the 4th category (the highest for students) and went to work in the electrical shop of a tire plant.

Sunday at the construction of the rubber plant. 1929

In the fall of 1936, he was sent to the flying club on a Komsomol ticket.

Installed on the building where the Yaroslavl flying club was located

Michael s young years I dreamed of becoming a pilot in my heart. Those were heroic times. Soviet people set unprecedented labor records, built factories, power plants and railways, mastered the open spaces of the sea and the air ocean ...

Zhukov came to the Yaroslavl flying club. He studied diligently, carefully looked at everything. When he made his first solo flight, the dream began to become a reality, and Mikhail entered the Stalingrad Aviation School. He was awarded the rank of second lieutenant.

In October 1940 he graduated from the Stalingrad Military Aviation School. At the school, he mastered the R-5, UTI-4, I-16 aircraft.

Fighter I-16 in flight

In the Red Army (Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army) since November 1938.

Participated in the Great Patriotic War from June 1941. He served as a pilot in the 3rd Squadron of the 158th Air Defense Fighter Regiment. Participated in the defense of Leningrad.

"Road of Life" in April 1942. Aviation covers cars going to Leningrad (fig. from the historical and literary narrative about the participation of Vologda residents in the formation and development of domestic aviation, about the heroism of Vologda pilots ... T. Spivak)

06/23/41 at 11.00 he made the first sortie.

The first meeting with the enemy took place on June 23, on the second day of the war. Zhukov patrolled over the airfield. The river glittered below, a long military column was moving along the bridge, heading towards the front.

And the enemy was already creeping up, hiding in the clouds. Mikhail Zhukov was high in the sky, but still managed to make out a black shadow that flashed under him - the fascist was flying to the bridge with a load of bombs.

Zhukov threw his car at the enemy. The enemy plane is getting closer and closer. A swastika resembling a spider is already visible. And Mikhail's hand lay on the trigger of the machine gun. The Junkers (German Yu-88 bomber) met Zhukov with a shower of tracer bullets, and a duel ensued. “Just don’t miss!” thought Zhukov. It was the first time he had seen an enemy so close. There were bullet streaks on the metal plating. The enemy could not stand it, trembled, abruptly went into a dive, trying to evade pursuit. This is how intense combat everyday life began for the young pilot.

Usually they say: skill comes with age. Mikhail Zhukov and his comrades-in-arms did not have a long time to master the science of winning. It was necessary to beat the enemy now, today. And, meeting in the air with the "Junkers", "Heinkel", Zhukov looked closely at the habits of the fascist aces, studied their tactics, sought out vulnerabilities. Already in the first days of the war, he knew that it was best to beat the "Junkers" from below, which the armored fascist was mortally afraid of ...

On June 27, 1941, a fascist bomber was rammed by Zhukov's colleague, junior lieutenant Kharitonov.

On June 28, 1941, another pilot of the 158th Fighter Aviation Regiment, Junior Lieutenant Zdorovtsev, rammed.

On June 29, 1941, Mikhail Zhukov was on duty at the airfield. At 5 hours 40 minutes, twelve enemy bombers appeared over the airfield.Ju-88". As part of the eight I-16 fighters under the command of Lieutenant V. Iozitsa, Zhukov flew out to intercept. The "Junkers" went without cover: at that time they were too confident in their superiority, in their invulnerability in the air. After all, they were hammered in for a long time and persistently: “The Slavs will never understand anything in air war- this is the weapon of powerful people, the German form of combat" [T. Spivak]

With a decisive attack, our fighters disrupted the formation of enemy aircraft. They began to randomly drop bombs and turn around on their territory. But one bomber decided to quietly break through to the airfield and drop bombs on it ...

Mikhail Zhukov sent his car into one attack after another. But now all the ammunition has been used up. And then the brave pilot went to ram. He literally landed on an enemy bomber, but he dodged it, and Zhukov could not manage to overtake the fascist vulture, although Mikhail's fighter hung over the tail of the enemy aircraft all the time. Only Zhukov was about to hit the bomber with a propeller or plane as it descended. A wave of close explosion threw Zhukov's car up, but he continued to pursue the enemy. Slightly ahead flew flight commander Gorbachevsky, on the left - Lieutenant Fedorenko. Mikhail felt confident next to such friends.

A.I. Gorbachevsky IN AND. Fedorenko

Lake Pskov sparkled ahead. The German pilot descended almost to the water itself. Zhukov "settled" on him even tighter. Departing from a possible ramming, the fascist completely pressed the car to the water surface and his plane buried its nose into the lake. Zhukov leveled his I-16 and returned to his airfield. This was his third sortie.

At the airfield, Mikhail Petrovich said to his fighting friends:

- As for the battering ram, I think so, you should not be surprised. Technique is technique, but in war and hand-to-hand combat one must be able to fight. A ram is like hand-to-hand combat in the air.

Memories of M. Zhukov

Aviation Major General Pokryshev recalls: “I remember those days well... Our regiment was then based not far from Pskov. It was difficult time. As soon as one group of fascist planes flew away, another appeared. You can imagine the tenseness of the situation if, for example, on the twenty-eighth of June, the pilots of our regiment participated in twenty group air battles. So these days you could see all sorts of tricks. And not provided for by the charters - too. Like a ram, for example...

Mikhail Zhukov acted with the same courage and determination as his comrades Stepan Zdorovtsev and Pyotr Kharitonov. Just like them, when the ammunition came out, he rushed at the enemy to ram his plane, and therefore his actions deserved such high praise. This is equivalent to throwing at a pillbox embrasure. It happened that the heroes remained alive, but this did not make their feat less significant. ».

Chief Marshal Aviation Novikov recalls: “Mikhail Zhukov pursued his enemy... and overtook him only over Lake Pskov... The bomber crashed into the water .

The exploits of the Leningrad pilots showed that even our young people, who had not actually been fired upon, not only did not flinch in front of an experienced enemy, but in the very first days of the war they began to beat him. This meant that the moral factor was and remains our true ally.

A day or two after the ramming of Zdorovtsev and Zhukov, I reported to the commander of the troops of the Northern Front, M.M. Popov and A.A. Zhdanov (a member of the Military Council of the front) about three fellow soldiers and offered to introduce them to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

On the same day, only a little later, Zhdanov called Moscow in my presence and reported to I.V. Stalin about the heroes of Leningrad. Stalin supported our idea of ​​rewarding distinguished pilots. No documents about this have been preserved in the archives, they simply did not exist. Zhdanov's conversation with Stalin and a telegram to Headquarters replaced the usual award lists ».

In a documentary essay by Valentin Vikulov entitled "One of the First", published in the newspaper "Communist" in 1975, an excerpt from a letter from the head of the archives of the USSR Ministry of Defense Korenyak is given:« On June 29, 1941, the pilots of the regiment repelled numerous attempts by enemy aircraft to attack the Retuppe station and the city of Pskov. On this day, junior lieutenant Zhukov especially distinguished himself in air battles. Lacking ammunition, he pursued an enemy bomber, imitated attacks and pressed on until he drove him into Lake Pskov » .

On July 8, 1941, junior lieutenant Mikhail Petrovich Zhukov was awarded the titleHero of the Soviet Union. He was awarded the Gold Star medal No. 542 .

Fellow soldiers congratulate M.P. Zhukov with the award of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. July 1941.

On that July morning, the battle was hot. Tired and excited, Mikhail Zhukov smoothly landed his plane, taxied almost to the very forest where the combat vehicles were hiding. “I’m going straight to the lake. I need to swim, take off my fatigue, ”the pilot thought and quickly got out of the cockpit. But his comrades ran across the field towards him, and the junior lieutenant lingered at the plane. And friends, shouting something joyfully, ran up to Zhukov and began to rock him. When, finally, he set foot on the ground, friends congratulated Mikhail:

- With the title of Hero...

- On the radio, the Decree was transmitted ...

- Congratulations! We are proud...

The comrades sincerely, heartily shook hands with the pilot. The cars of Zdorovtsev and Kharitonov appeared on the horizon.

- All three of you have been awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, - said flight commander Gorbachevsky and, following the others, ran to the planes taxiing to the parking lot.

Zhukov saw how the pilots grabbed Zdorovtsev and Kharitonov in their arms and began to pump too ...

Michael wanted to be alone. He did not go to the lake, but sat on the edge of the airfield, thoughtful. I thought about how I wanted to have wings to soar above the earth, and, proud and happy, I received these wings. And he remembered his whole short, twenty-four-year life...

Zdorovtsev, Kharitonov, Zhukov!

The whole country hugs you!

And everyone from grandfathers to grandchildren,

They say native names.

Let the ranks of heroes multiply

May in our stormy days

Everyone fights like these three

And they win like they do!

The poet Alexander Prokofiev, the author of the words of the famous song "Comrade", dedicated his poems to Zhukov's feat:

Wherever the enemy meets on the way

And whatever he does

Don't let go, don't let go

Here is the military law.

The country gave the second law,

Like the first one, it's good:

Give everything to the enemy in full,

Smash and destroy!

And Zhukov in the military way

I knew these laws

Overtook the enemy, did not let go -

And drove into the lake!

Leningrad military journalist A. V. Burov interviewed the hero. He found the pilot at his "hawk", who had just returned from a combat mission. Brown eyes, black hair, a swarthy manly face. Broad-shouldered, stately. The pilot said:

Our old mother is now alone. Brothers Alexander and Pavel - in the Army. Athanasius and Ivan have experience civil war and also fight the enemy. The younger brothers, Semyon and Timofey, of course, do not sit at home - both are of military age. It turns out, six, I'm the seventh. And the eighth, Evdokia, is a nurse.

Upon learning that her son had been awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union, the 64-year-old mother of the pilot, a collective farmer from the distant Cherepovets village of Ruzhbovo, Anna Matveevna Zhukova, wrote on the pages of Krasnaya Zvezda:

"... Dear and beloved Misha! I give you an order: continue to smash the fascist dogs just as fearlessly and courageously ... And I say to other sons: my dear, beloved, defend every inch of Soviet land, fight the damned enemy to the last drop of blood! .."

About him, or rather, about them, because since that time their names have become inseparable, not only written, not only broadcast on the radio. They were talked about in the regiments, in the squadrons. They discussed, argued, tried on their feat for themselves ...

The rams and the Nazis did not pass over in silence. They declared this method of destroying the enemy a "barbaric" method of warfare, a method of the "doomed". Apparently, they needed these statements in order to justify their own fear of a battering ram. The history of the Great Patriotic War does not know a single case when a German pilot would consciously and purposefully carry out a ramming attack. Moreover, faced with such an incomprehensible phenomenon for them as a ram, the German pilots further tried to avoid approaching our fighters at a distance of less than a hundred meters. Years after the war, the Chief Air Marshal, twice Hero of the Soviet Union A.A., was thinking about the reasons for such behavior of the enemy in aerial combat. Novikov. "I think, - he wrote, - that the reason here is not the lack of combat qualities of the enemy. The matter is much more subtle. Hitler's pilots, especially their old well-trained cadres, were not from a timid dozen. And on important objects, such as Leningrad or Moscow, the Nazi command threw not yellow-mouthed chicks, but seasoned and experienced pilots, confident in themselves and in their technology. But courage is different... »

Needless to say, the courage of the Nazis was the courage of professional killers. They destroyed their opponent in order to gain dominance, and therefore the main thing for them was to preserve own life. Soviet soldiers defended their land, their fathers and children in that war. For the sake of the destruction of the conquerors, they were ready to sacrifice their lives.

A ram in the sky as a kind of manifestation of heroism and selflessness is a purely Russian phenomenon [T. Spivak].

well deserved award

The 39th Fighter Aviation Division, in which Mikhail Zhukov served, guarded the approaches to Leningrad, the "Road of Life" through the Shlisselburg Bay of Lake Ladoga, the Volkhovskaya Hydroelectric Power Station - the only power plant that supplied Leningrad with electricity. They were accompanied by transport planes that delivered ammunition, medicines, food to the city, and took the wounded, children, and the elderly back. They escorted attack aircraft, covered ports and other important objects, fought fierce battles with enemy aircraft.

09/03/1941 Zhukov won another victory - he shot down a multi-purpose twin-engine aircraft Me-110 in a pair.

On October 22, 1941, about thirty enemy ships with an infantry landing went to Ladoga in order to capture about. Sukho, located in the southeastern part of the lake and held by a small garrison of Soviet soldiers. By capturing the island, the enemy intended to cut the Ladoga communications and thereby disrupt the connection of Leningrad with the eastern regions of the country.

Having received a radio message about an enemy landing, the command of the Leningrad Front raised several squadrons of attack aircraft into the air. The actions of attack aircraft were covered by fighters.

For half an hour, attack aircraft ironed the fascist infantry, bombed enemy ships. Seventeen self-propelled ships and barges were engulfed in flames. More than twenty enemy planes were shot down in the air battle.

In this battle, Lieutenant Zhukov shot down one enemy fighter personally, and the second in a group. And, in addition, he made four calls to attack enemy ships and infantry.

On December 3, 1941, near Cape Osinovets, he shot down two enemy aircraft. And on that day, pilots of the 158th Fighter Aviation Regiment shot down 8 enemy planes over the "Road Life".

For excellent actions in the defeat of the Finnish landing on Lake Ladoga, Lieutenant Zhukov was awardedOrder of the Red Banner .

At the beginning of May 1942, Mikhail Zhukov had a chance to visit Yaroslavl. He met with friends, spoke at the regional meeting of the fighters of the general education. The hero urged young patriots to intensify assistance to the front, master military knowledge, and devote all their strength to the cause of victory.

Returning to the regiment, he continued his combat work.

In the photograph of 1942, Zhukov with the Star of the Hero on his tunic, surrounded by Vologda party and Komsomol workers. This is one of the last pictures. At the beginning of the 43rd Vologda region bad news will come.

On June 26, 1942, Zhukov participated in repulsing a massive raid on the Volkhovskaya hydroelectric power station.

56 Ju-88 bombers under cover of 9 Me-109 and 3 Me-110 fighters made a massive raid on Volkhovstroy, trying to destroy the main energy base of Leningrad. Sergei Litavrin, Mikhail Zhukov, Ilya Shishkan, Grigory Medvedev, Yuri Golovach, Pyotr Shestakov, Panteley Vysotsky, Ivan Plekhanov, Alexander Kanin, Grigory Bogomazov flew out to meet the fascist armada. They cut through all nine enemies, shot down 13 fascist planes, they themselves did not lose a single car, not a single pilot! The fight lasted 1 hour 10 minutes!

The pilots were already landing when they received a new order from the air division commander:

18 Junkers-88s are heading towards Volkhovstroy. Attack them!

There was almost no ammunition, but the pilots complied with this order too - the Nazis did not go to the hydroelectric power station. Our pilots imitated attacks, frightened the enemies with the ghost of a battering ram, and dispersed them! ..

In the book of Yaroslavl writers "Stalin's Tribe" it is written: "The life of Mikhail Zhukov is the ordinary life of a young man of the Stalin era. The Zhukov family is a wonderful family of Soviet patriots. Seven brothers and one sister from the family of the Cherepovets peasant Pyotr Ermolaevich Zhukov are at the front, fighting with a cruel, insidious enemy. The true family of Russian "bogatyrs".

In a combat description dated December 31, 1943, the commander of the 2nd air squadron, captain Drevyatnikov, wrote to Mikhail Zhukov: “During the war, he made 259 sorties, of which 50 were to escort bombers, 5 attack, 167 to cover his troops, airfields and objects. He participated in 47 air battles, in which he shot down 3 bombers personally and in a group of a Me-109 fighter and a bomber. In air battles, he showed himself to be courageous, resolute, with a high sense of mutual assistance.

01/12/43In the morning, at the very beginning of the breakthrough of the blockade of Leningrad, the commander of the same regiment (13th Air Army, Leningrad Front), Senior Lieutenant M.P. Zhukov, as part of 4 fighters, covered the advancing ground troops in the Mga - Verkhnyaya Dubrovka area. Over the village of Moscow Dubrovka, the group entered the battle from 9 German fighters. In the midst of the battle, an enemy shell hit the gas tank of his Kittyhawk. An almost burned-out fighter crashed into a snowy field...

In total, Senior Lieutenant Zhukov made 263 sorties, conducted 66 air battles, shot down 9 aircraft personally and 5 in a group.

01/20/43 For courage and heroism, he was awardedOrder of the Patriotic War 1st degree posthumously .

Memorable places

The courageous image of Mikhail Zhukov will never be erased from the memory of Yaroslavl residents. In 1948, a street in Yaroslavl was named after him. The hero is forever listed in the list of workers of the orders of Lenin and October revolution Yaroslavl Tire Plant and the Book of Honor of the plant. A memorial plaque was erected on the building of GPTU-7, where MP Zhukov studied, and in 1974 a bronze bust of the hero was placed in the square of the school. The bust of the Hero was also installed at school No. 3, the Komsomol organization of which long years bore his name.

The memory of MP Zhukov is also immortalized in his homeland: in the village of Abakanovo, the village of Shukhobod, at school No. 14 in the city of Cherepovets, the pioneer team of which was honored with his name.

We managed to get in touch with the Shukhobod basic general education school, whose students have been collecting materials about their legendary countryman for many years. A museum has been created at the school, which stores the most unique documents, including correspondence between school students and the sister of M. Zhukov, memories of him by his friends, classmates, a certificate from the Ministry of Defense about awards and titles, and a death notice. This is the most valuable material that can serve as the basis of our next research work. The significance of such work is undeniable, because the name of the hero should be known to the younger generation, his life, feat is an example of selfless service to his people. It is also necessary to take into account the fact that the last publications in the regional press dedicated to Mikhail Zhukov date back to February 1974 (the article "The Brave Falcon") and 1975 (correspondence of 1941).

Museum of Military Glory. Shukhobod school

Conclusion

The Great Patriotic War is moving further and further away from us, but it does not diminish in memory, on the contrary, the greatness of this sad era is growing. Our memory of the Great Patriotic War becomes more and more significant over the years: time allows us to see deeper and wider the results of the feat of the Soviet people in the battle against fascism. The Great Patriotic War was the most difficult test for our country. A test of everything: man, technology, economics, science, the Armed Forces, for which history allotted 1418 days and nights. And there was not a single “easy” day among them. Therefore, the exploits of Soviet soldiers committed by them during the Great Patriotic War will never be forgotten.

Son of his motherland!

Hero and patriot!

As in your courage

character and strength

Natural and simple

National dignity of Russia!

Vladimir Solovyov

List of sources used

Spivak T.O. Winged courage. Publishing house "Griffin", Vologda, 2007, - p. 224, ill.

Archive of the Museum of Military Glory of the Shukhobod Basic Educational School

In preparing the research work, materials from the funds were used: Patriotic Internet project "Heroes of the Country", .

Application

Correspondence with the hero's sister