Pioneers heroes portraits with names. Pioneers are heroes. Pioneer heroes of the Great Patriotic War

Home News In the country Read more

Pioneer heroes

When the Great Patriotic War began, not only adult men and women joined the fighting line. Thousands of boys and girls, your peers, rose to defend the Motherland. They sometimes did things that strong men could not do. What guided them in that terrible time? Craving for adventure? Responsibility for the fate of your country? Hatred towards the occupiers? Probably all together. They accomplished a true feat. And we cannot help but remember the names of young patriots.

Lenya Golikov

He grew up as an ordinary village boy. When the German invaders occupied his native village of Lukino, in the Leningrad region, Lenya collected several rifles from the battlefields and obtained two bags of grenades from the Nazis to give them to the partisans. And he himself remained in the partisan detachment. He fought along with adults. At just over 10 years old, in battles with the invaders, Lenya personally destroyed 78 German soldiers and officers and blew up 9 vehicles with ammunition. He participated in 27 combat operations, the explosion of 2 railway and 12 highway bridges. On August 15, 1942, a young partisan blew up a German passenger car in which there was an important Nazi general. Lenya Golikov died in the spring of 1943 in an unequal battle. He was posthumously awarded the title of Hero Soviet Union.

Marat Kazei

Schoolboy Marat Kazei was just over 13 years old when he went to join the partisans with his sister. Marat became a scout. He made his way into enemy garrisons, looked out for where German posts, headquarters, and ammunition depots were located. The information he delivered to the detachment helped the partisans inflict heavy losses on the enemy. Like Golikov, Marat blew up bridges and derailed enemy trains. In May 1944, when the Soviet Army was already very close and the partisans were about to unite with it, Marat was ambushed. The teenager shot back until the last bullet. When Marat had only one grenade left, he let the enemies get closer and pulled the pin... Marat Kazei posthumously became a Hero of the Soviet Union.

Zinaida Portnova

In the summer of 1941, Leningrad schoolgirl Zina Portnova went on vacation to her grandmother in Belarus. There the war found her. A few months later, Zina joined the underground organization “Young Patriots”. Then she became a scout in the Voroshilov partisan detachment. The girl was distinguished by fearlessness, ingenuity and never lost heart. One day she was arrested. The enemies had no direct evidence that she was a partisan. Perhaps everything would have worked out if Portnova had not been identified by the traitor. She was tortured for a long time and cruelly. During one of the interrogations, Zina grabbed a pistol from the investigator and shot him and two other guards. She tried to escape, but the girl, exhausted from torture, did not have enough strength. She was captured and soon executed. Zinaida Portnova was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Valentin Kotik

At the age of 12, Valya, then a fifth-grader at the Shepetovskaya school, became a scout in a partisan detachment. He fearlessly made his way to the location of enemy troops, obtaining valuable information for the partisans about security posts of railway stations, military warehouses, and the deployment of enemy units. He did not hide his joy when adults took him with them to a combat operation. Valya Kotik has blown up 6 enemy trains and many successful ambushes. He died at the age of 14 in an unequal battle with the Nazis. By that time, Valya Kotik was already wearing the Order of Lenin on his chest and Patriotic War 1st degree, medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War” 2nd degree. Such awards would honor even the commander of a partisan unit. And here is a boy, a teenager. Valentin Kotik was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Vasily Korobko

The partisan fate of a sixth-grader from the village of Pogoreltsy, Vasya Korobko, was unusual. He received his baptism of fire in the summer of 1941, covering with fire the withdrawal of our units. Consciously remained in the occupied territory. Once, at my own risk, I sawed down the bridge piles. The very first fascist armored personnel carrier that drove onto this bridge collapsed from it and became inoperable. Then Vasya became a partisan. The detachment blessed him to work at Hitler's headquarters. There, no one could even imagine that the silent stoker and cleaner perfectly remembers all the icons on enemy maps and catches German words familiar from school. Everything that Vasya learned became known to the partisans. Once the punitive forces demanded that Korobko lead them to the forest from where the partisans were making forays. And Vasily led the Nazis to the police ambush. In the dark, the punishers mistook the police for partisans and opened fire on them, destroying many traitors to the Motherland.

Subsequently, Vasily Korobko became an excellent demolitionist and took part in the destruction of 9 echelons of enemy personnel and equipment. He died while carrying out another partisan mission. The exploits of Vasily Korobko were awarded the Order of Lenin, the Red Banner, the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, and the medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War,” 1st degree.

Vitya Khomenko

Like Vasily Korobko, seventh-grader Vitya Khomenko pretended to serve the occupiers while working in the officers' canteen. I washed dishes, heated the stove, and wiped tables. And I remembered everything that the Wehrmacht officers, relaxed with Bavarian beer, talked about. The information obtained by Victor was highly valued in the underground organization “Nikolaev Center”. The Nazis noticed the smart, efficient boy and made him a messenger at headquarters. Naturally, the partisans became aware of everything contained in the documents that fell into the hands of Khomenko.

Vasya died in December 1942, tortured by enemies who became aware of the boy’s connections with the partisans. Despite the most terrible torture, Vasya did not reveal to the enemies the location of the partisan base, his connections and passwords. Vitya Khomenko was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.

Galya Komleva

In the Luga district of the Leningrad region, the memory of the brave young partisan Galya Komleva is honored. She, like many of her peers during the war years, was a scout, supplying the partisans with important information. The Nazis tracked down Komleva, captured her, and threw her into a cell. Two months of continuous interrogations, beatings, and abuse. They demanded that Gali name the names of the partisan contacts. But the torture did not break the girl; she did not utter a word. Galya Komleva was mercilessly shot. She was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.

Utah Bondarovskaya

The war found Utah on vacation with his grandmother. Just yesterday she was playing carefree with her friends, and today circumstances demanded that she take up arms. Utah was a liaison officer and then a scout in a partisan detachment that operated in the Pskov region. Dressed as a beggar boy, the fragile girl wandered around enemy lines, memorizing the location of military equipment, security posts, headquarters, and communications centers. Adults would never be able to deceive the enemy's vigilance so cleverly. In 1944, in a battle near an Estonian farm, Yuta Bondarovskaya died a heroic death along with her older comrades. Utah was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st class, and the medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War,” 1st class.

Volodya Dubinin

Legends were told about him: how Volodya led an entire detachment of Nazis tracking down partisans in the Crimean quarries by the nose; how he slipped like a shadow past reinforced enemy posts; how could he remember, down to one soldier, the number of several Nazi units located in different places at once... Volodya was the partisans’ favorite, their common son. But war is war, it spares neither adults nor children. The young intelligence officer died when he was blown up by a fascist mine while returning from his next mission. The commander of the Crimean Front, having learned about the death of Volodya Dubinin, gave the order to posthumously award the young patriot the Order of the Red Banner.

Sasha Kovalev

He was a graduate of the Solovetsky Jung School. Sasha Kovalev received his first order - the Order of the Red Star - for the fact that the engines of his torpedo boat No. 209 of the Northern Fleet never failed during 20 combat trips to sea. The young sailor was awarded the second, posthumous award - the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree - for a feat of which an adult has the right to be proud. This was in May 1944. While attacking a fascist transport ship, Kovalev’s boat received a hole in the collector from a shell fragment. Boiling water was gushing out of the torn casing; the engine could stall at any minute. Then Kovalev closed the hole with his body. Other sailors came to his aid, and the boat continued to move. But Sasha died. He was 15 years old.

Nina Kukoverova

She began her war against the Nazis by distributing leaflets in a village occupied by enemies. Her leaflets contained truthful reports from the fronts, which instilled in people faith in victory. The partisans entrusted Nina with intelligence work. She did an excellent job with all tasks. The Nazis decided to put an end to the partisans. A punitive detachment entered one of the villages. But its exact numbers and weapons were not known to the partisans. Nina volunteered to scout out the enemy forces. She remembered everything: where and how many sentries, where the ammunition was stored, how many machine guns the punishers had. This information helped the partisans defeat the enemy.

While performing her next task, Nina was betrayed by a traitor. She was tortured. Having achieved nothing from Nina, the Nazis shot the girl. Nina Kukoverova was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.

Marx Krotov

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

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

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

Albert Kupsha

Albert was the same age and comrade of Marx Krotov, whom we have already talked about. Together with them, Kolya Ryzhov took revenge on the invaders. The guys collected weapons, handed them over to the partisans, and led the Red Army soldiers out of encirclement. But they accomplished their main feat in New Year's Eve 1942. On instructions from the partisan commander, the boys made their way to the Nazi airfield and, giving light signals, guided our bombers to the target. Enemy planes were destroyed. The Nazis tracked down the patriots and, after interrogation and torture, shot them on the shores of Lake Belye.

Sasha Kondratiev

Not all young heroes were awarded orders and medals for their courage. Many, having accomplished their feat, were not included in the award lists for various reasons. But the boys and girls did not fight the enemy for the sake of medals; they had another goal - to pay off the occupiers for their suffering Motherland.

In July 1941, Sasha Kondratyev and his comrades from the village of Golubkovo created their own squad of avengers. The guys got hold of weapons and began to act. First, they blew up a bridge on the road along which the Nazis were transporting reinforcements. Then they destroyed the house in which the enemies had set up a barracks, and soon they set fire to the mill where the Nazis ground grain. The last action of Sasha Kondratyev’s detachment was the shelling of an enemy aircraft circling over Lake Cheremenets. The Nazis tracked down the young patriots and captured them. After a bloody interrogation, the guys were hanged in the square in Luga.

Lara Mikheenko

Their destinies are as similar as drops of water. Study interrupted by the war, an oath to take revenge on the invaders until the last breath, partisan everyday life, reconnaissance raids on enemy rear lines, ambushes, explosions of trains. Except that death was different. Some were executed in public, others were shot in the back of the head in a remote basement.

Lara Mikheenko became a partisan intelligence officer. She found out the location of enemy batteries, counted the cars moving along the highway towards the front, remembered which trains and with what cargo arrived at Pustoshka station. Lara was betrayed by a traitor. The Gestapo did not make allowances for age - after a fruitless interrogation, the girl was shot. It happened on November 4, 1943. Lara Mikheenko was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.

Shura Kober

Nikolaev schoolboy Shura Kober, in the very first days of the occupation of the city where he lived, joined an underground organization. His task was to reconnaissance of the redeployment of Nazi troops. Shura completed every task quickly and accurately. When a radio transmitter in a partisan detachment failed, Shura was tasked with crossing the front line and contacting Moscow. What crossing the front line is, only those who have done it know: countless posts, ambushes, the risk of coming under fire from both strangers and their own. Shura, having successfully overcome all obstacles, brought invaluable information about the location of Nazi troops in the front line. After some time, he returned to the partisans, again crossing the front line. Fought. I went on reconnaissance missions. In November 1942, the boy was betrayed by a provocateur. He was one of 10 underground members who was executed in the city square.

Sasha Borodulin

Already in the winter of 1941, he wore the Order of the Red Banner on his tunic. There was a reason. Sasha, together with the partisans, fought the Nazis in open battle, took part in ambushes, and went on reconnaissance more than once.

The partisans were unlucky: the punishers tracked down the detachment and encircled them. For three days the partisans evaded pursuit and broke through the encirclement. But the punitive forces blocked their path again and again. Then the detachment commander called 5 volunteers who were supposed to cover the withdrawal of the main partisan forces with fire. At the commander’s call, Sasha Borodulin was the first to step out of the ranks. The brave five managed to delay the punitive forces for some time. But the partisans were doomed. Sasha was the last to die, stepping towards the enemies with a grenade in his hands.

Vitya Korobkov

12-year-old Vitya was next to his father, army intelligence officer Mikhail Ivanovich Korobkov, who was operating in Feodosia. Vitya helped his father as much as he could and carried out his military orders. It happened that he himself showed initiative: he posted leaflets, obtained information about the location of enemy units. He was arrested along with his father on February 18, 1944. There was very little time left before our troops arrived. The Korobkovs were thrown into the Old Crimean prison, and they extorted testimony from the intelligence officers for 2 weeks. But all the efforts of the Gestapo were in vain.

How many were there?

We talked about only a few of those who, before reaching adulthood, gave their lives in the fight against the enemy. Thousands, tens of thousands of boys and girls sacrificed themselves for victory.

There is a one-of-a-kind museum in Kursk, where unique information about the fate of children of war is collected. The museum staff managed to identify more than 10 thousand names of sons and daughters of regiments and young partisans. There are absolutely amazing human stories.

Tanya Savicheva. She lived in besieged Leningrad. Dying of hunger, Tanya gave the last crumbs of bread to other people, with the last of her strength she carried sand and water to the city attics so that she would have something to extinguish incendiary bombs. Tanya kept a diary in which she talked about how her family was dying of hunger, cold, and disease. The last page of the diary remained unfinished: Tanya herself died.

Maria Shcherbak. She went to the front at the age of 15 under the name of her brother Vladimir, who died at the front. She became a machine gunner in the 148th Infantry Division. Maria ended the war as a senior lieutenant, holder of four orders.

Arkady Kamanin. He was a graduate of an air regiment; at the age of 14 he first boarded a combat aircraft. He flew as a gunner-radio operator. Liberated Warsaw, Budapest, Vienna. He earned 3 orders. 3 years after the war, Arkady, when he was only 18 years old, died from wounds.

Zhora Smirnitsky. At the age of 9 he became a fighter in the Red Army and received weapons. He acted as a liaison officer and went on reconnaissance missions behind the front line. At the age of 10 he received the rank of junior sergeant, and on the eve of the victory he received his first high award - the Order of Glory, 3rd degree...

How many were there? How many young patriots fought the enemy along with adults? Nobody knows this for sure. Many commanders, in order not to get into trouble, did not enter the names of young soldiers into company and battalion lists. But this did not make the heroic mark they left on our military history any paler.

"Pioneers Heroes"

Before the war, these were the most ordinary boys and girls. We studied, helped elders, played, ran and jumped, broke our noses and knees. Only their relatives, classmates and friends knew their names.
THE HOUR HAS COME - THEY SHOWED HOW HUGE A LITTLE CHILDREN'S HEART CAN BECOME WHEN A SACRED LOVE FOR THE MOTHERLAND AND HATE FOR ITS ENEMIES FLASHES IN HIM.
Boys. Girls. The weight of adversity, disaster, and grief of the war years fell on their fragile shoulders. And they did not bend under this weight, they became stronger in spirit, more courageous, more resilient.
Little heroes of the big war. They fought alongside their elders - fathers, brothers, alongside communists and Komsomol members.
They fought everywhere. At sea, like Borya Kuleshin. In the sky, like Arkasha Kamanin. In a partisan detachment, like Lenya Golikov. IN Brest Fortress as Valya Zenkina. In the Kerch catacombs, like Volodya Dubinin. In the underground, like Volodya Shcherbatsevich.
And the young hearts did not waver for a moment!
Their matured childhood was filled with such trials that, even if a very talented writer had invented them, it would have been difficult to believe. But it was. It happened in the history of our great country, it happened in the destinies of its little children - ordinary boys and girls.

Utah Bondarovskaya

Wherever the blue-eyed girl Yuta went, her red tie was always with her...
In the summer of 1941, she came from Leningrad on vacation to a village near Pskov. Here terrible news overtook Utah: war! Here she saw the enemy. Utah began to help the partisans. At first she was a messenger, then a scout. Dressed as a beggar boy, she collected information from the villages: where the fascist headquarters were, how they were guarded, how many machine guns there were.
Returning from a mission, I immediately tied a red tie. And it was as if the strength was increasing! Utah supported the tired soldiers with a sonorous pioneer song and a story about their native Leningrad...
And how happy everyone was, how the partisans congratulated Utah when the message came to the detachment: the blockade had been broken! Leningrad survived, Leningrad won! That day, both Yuta’s blue eyes and her red tie shone as it seems never before.
But the earth was still groaning under the enemy’s yoke, and the detachment, together with units of the Red Army, left to help the Estonian partisans. In one of the battles - near the Estonian farm of Rostov - Yuta Bondarovskaya, the little heroine of the great war, a pioneer who did not part with her red tie, died a heroic death. The Motherland awarded its heroic daughter posthumously with the medal "Partisan of the Patriotic War" 1st degree, Order of the Patriotic War 1st degree.

Valya Kotik

He was born on February 11, 1930 in the village of Khmelevka, Shepetovsky district, Khmelnitsky region. He studied at school No. 4 in the city of Shepetovka, and was a recognized leader of the pioneers, his peers.
When the Nazis burst into Shepetivka, Valya Kotik and his friends decided to fight the enemy. The guys collected weapons at the battle site, which the partisans then transported to the detachment on a cart of hay.
Having taken a closer look at the boy, the communists entrusted Valya with being a liaison and intelligence officer in their underground organization. He learned the location of enemy posts and the order of changing the guard.
The Nazis planned a punitive operation against the partisans, and Valya, having tracked down the Nazi officer who led the punitive forces, killed him...
When arrests began in the city, Valya, along with his mother and brother Victor, went to join the partisans. The pioneer, who had just turned fourteen years old, fought shoulder to shoulder with adults, liberating his native land. He is responsible for six enemy trains blown up on the way to the front. Valya Kotik was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, and the medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War,” 2nd degree.
Valya Kotik died as a hero, and the Motherland posthumously awarded him the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. A monument to him was erected in front of the school where this brave pioneer studied. And today the pioneers salute the hero.

Marat Kazei

War struck the Belarusian land. The Nazis burst into the village where Marat lived with his mother, Anna Alexandrovna Kazeya. In the fall, Marat no longer had to go to school in the fifth grade. The Nazis turned the school building into their barracks. The enemy was fierce.
Anna Aleksandrovna Kazei was captured for her connection with the partisans, and Marat soon learned that his mother had been hanged in Minsk. The boy's heart was filled with anger and hatred for the enemy. Together with his sister, Komsomol member Ada, the pioneer Marat Kazei went to join the partisans in the Stankovsky forest. He became a scout at the headquarters of a partisan brigade. He penetrated enemy garrisons and delivered valuable information to the command. Using this data, the partisans developed a daring operation and defeated the fascist garrison in the city of Dzerzhinsk...
Marat took part in battles and invariably showed courage and fearlessness, and together with experienced demolitionists he mined railway.
Marat died in battle. He fought to the last bullet, and when he had only one grenade left, he let his enemies get closer and blew them up... and himself.
For his courage and bravery, pioneer Marat Kazei was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. A monument to the young hero was erected in the city of Minsk.

Zina Portnova

The war found the Leningrad pioneer Zina Portnova in the village of Zuya, where she came for vacation, not far from the Obol station in the Vitebsk region. An underground Komsomol-youth organization “Young Avengers” was created in Obol, and Zina was elected a member of its committee. She took part in daring operations against the enemy, in sabotage, distributed leaflets, and conducted reconnaissance on instructions from a partisan detachment.
...It was December 1943. Zina was returning from a mission. In the village of Mostishche she was betrayed by a traitor. The Nazis captured the young partisan and tortured her. The answer to the enemy was Zina’s silence, her contempt and hatred, her determination to fight to the end. During one of the interrogations, choosing the moment, Zina grabbed a pistol from the table and fired at point-blank range at the Gestapo man.
The officer who ran in to hear the shot was also killed on the spot. Zina tried to escape, but the Nazis overtook her...
The brave young pioneer was brutally tortured, but before last minute remained persistent, courageous, unbending. And the Motherland posthumously celebrated her feat with its highest title - the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Lenya Golikov

He grew up in the village of Lukino, on the banks of the Polo River, which flows into the legendary Lake Ilmen. When his native village was captured by the enemy, the boy went to the partisans.
More than once he went on reconnaissance missions and brought important information to the partisan detachment. And enemy trains and cars flew downhill, bridges collapsed, enemy warehouses burned...
There was a battle in his life that Lenya fought one on one with a fascist general. A grenade thrown by a boy hit a car. A Nazi man got out of it with a briefcase in his hands and, firing back, began to run. Lenya is behind him. He pursued the enemy for almost a kilometer and finally killed him. The briefcase contained very important documents. The partisan headquarters immediately transported them by plane to Moscow.
There were many more fights in his short life! And the young hero, who fought shoulder to shoulder with adults, never flinched. He died near the village of Ostray Luka in the winter of 1943, when the enemy was especially fierce, feeling that the earth was burning under his feet, that there would be no mercy for him...
On April 2, 1944, a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was published conferring the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on pioneer partisan Lena Golikov.

Galya Komleva

When the war began and the Nazis were approaching Leningrad, high school counselor Anna Petrovna Semenova was left for underground work in the village of Tarnovichi - in the south of the Leningrad region. To communicate with the partisans, she selected her most reliable pioneers, and the first among them was Galina Komleva. During her six school years, the cheerful, brave, inquisitive girl was awarded books six times with the caption: “For excellent studies.”
The young messenger brought assignments from the partisans to her counselor, and forwarded her reports to the detachment along with bread, potatoes, and food, which were obtained with great difficulty. One day, when a messenger from a partisan detachment did not arrive on time at the meeting place, Galya, half-frozen, made her way into the detachment, handed over a report and, having warmed up a little, hurried back, carrying a new task to the underground fighters.
Together with Komsomol member Tasya Yakovleva, Galya wrote leaflets and scattered them around the village at night. The Nazis tracked down and captured the young underground fighters. They kept me in the Gestapo for two months. They beat me severely, threw me into a cell, and in the morning they took me out again for interrogation. Galya didn’t say anything to the enemy, didn’t betray anyone. The young patriot was shot.
The Motherland celebrated the feat of Galya Komleva with the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.

Kostya Kravchuk

On June 11, 1944, units leaving for the front were lined up in the central square of Kyiv. And before this battle formation, they read out the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on awarding the pioneer Kostya Kravchuk with the Order of the Red Banner for saving and preserving two battle flags of rifle regiments during the occupation of the city of Kiev...
Retreating from Kyiv, two wounded soldiers entrusted Kostya with the banners. And Kostya promised to keep them.
At first I buried it in the garden under a pear tree: I thought our people would return soon. But the war dragged on, and, having dug up the banners, Kostya kept them in the barn until he remembered an old, abandoned well outside the city, near the Dnieper. Having wrapped his priceless treasure in burlap and rolled it with straw, he got out of the house at dawn and, with a canvas bag over his shoulder, led a cow to a distant forest. And there, looking around, he hid the bundle in the well, covered it with branches, dry grass, turf...
And throughout the long occupation, the non-pioneer kept his difficult guard at the banner, although he was caught in a raid, and even escaped from the train in which the Kievites were driven away to Germany.
When Kyiv was liberated, Kostya, in a white shirt with a red tie, came to the military commandant of the city and unfurled banners in front of the well-worn and yet amazed soldiers.
On June 11, 1944, the newly formed units leaving for the front were given the rescued Kostya replacements.

Lara Mikheenko

For the operation of reconnaissance and explosion of the railway. bridge over the Drissa River, Leningrad schoolgirl Larisa Mikheenko was nominated for a government award. But the Motherland did not have time to present the award to her brave daughter...
The war cut the girl off from her hometown: in the summer she went on vacation to the Pustoshkinsky district, but was unable to return - the village was occupied by the Nazis. The pioneer dreamed of breaking out of Hitler's slavery and making her way to her own people. And one night she left the village with two older friends.
At the headquarters of the 6th Kalinin Brigade, the commander, Major P.V. Ryndin, initially found himself accepting “such little ones”: what kind of partisans are they? But how much even very young citizens can do for the Motherland! Girls were able to do what strong men could not. Dressed in rags, Lara walked through the villages, finding out where and how the guns were located, the sentries were posted, what German vehicles were moving along the highway, what kind of trains were coming to Pustoshka station and with what cargo.
She also took part in combat operations...
The young partisan, betrayed by a traitor in the village of Ignatovo, was shot by the Nazis. The Decree on awarding Larisa Mikheenko the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, contains the bitter word: “Posthumously.”

Vasya Korobko

Chernihiv region. The front came close to the village of Pogoreltsy. On the outskirts, covering the withdrawal of our units, a company held the defense. A boy brought cartridges to the soldiers. His name was Vasya Korobko.
Night. Vasya creeps up to the school building occupied by the Nazis.
He makes his way into the pioneer room, takes out the pioneer banner and hides it securely.
The outskirts of the village. Under the bridge - Vasya. He pulls out iron brackets, saws down the piles, and at dawn, from a hiding place, watches the bridge collapse under the weight of a fascist armored personnel carrier. The partisans were convinced that Vasya could be trusted, and entrusted him with a serious task: to become a scout in the enemy’s lair. At the fascist headquarters, he lights the stoves, chops wood, and he takes a closer look, remembers, and passes on information to the partisans. The punishers, who planned to exterminate the partisans, forced the boy to lead them into the forest. But Vasya led the Nazis to a police ambush. The Nazis, mistaking them for partisans in the dark, opened furious fire, killed all the policemen and themselves suffered heavy losses.
Together with the partisans, Vasya destroyed nine echelons and hundreds of Nazis. In one of the battles he was hit by an enemy bullet. Your little hero, who lived a short but such a bright life, the Motherland awarded the Order of Lenin, the Red Banner, the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, and the medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War,” 1st degree.

Sasha Borodulin

There was a war going on. Enemy bombers were buzzing hysterically over the village where Sasha lived. The native land was trampled by the enemy's boot. Sasha Borodulin, a pioneer with the warm heart of a young Leninist, could not put up with this. He decided to fight the fascists. Got a rifle. Having killed a fascist motorcyclist, he took his first battle trophy - a real German machine gun. Day after day he conducted reconnaissance. More than once he went on the most dangerous missions. He was responsible for many destroyed vehicles and soldiers. For carrying out dangerous tasks, for demonstrating courage, resourcefulness and courage, Sasha Borodulin was awarded the Order of the Red Banner in the winter of 1941.
Punishers tracked down the partisans. The detachment escaped them for three days, twice broke out of encirclement, but the enemy ring closed again. Then the commander called for volunteers to cover the detachment’s retreat. Sasha was the first to step forward. Five took the fight. One by one they died. Sasha was left alone. It was still possible to retreat - the forest was nearby, but the detachment valued every minute that would delay the enemy, and Sasha fought to the end. He, allowing the fascists to close a ring around him, grabbed a grenade and blew them up and himself. Sasha Borodulin died, but his memory lives on. The memory of the heroes is eternal!

Vitya Khomenko

Pioneer Vitya Khomenko passed his heroic path of struggle against the fascists in the underground organization “Nikolaev Center”.
...Vitya’s German was “excellent” in school, and the underground workers instructed the pioneer to get a job in the officers’ mess. He washed dishes, sometimes served officers in the hall and listened to their conversations. In drunken arguments, the fascists blurted out information that was of great interest to the Nikolaev Center.
The officers began sending the fast, smart boy on errands, and soon he was made a messenger at headquarters. It could never have occurred to them that the most secret packages were the first to be read by underground workers at the turnout...
Together with Shura Kober, Vitya received the task of crossing the front line to establish contact with Moscow. In Moscow, at the headquarters of the partisan movement, they reported the situation and talked about what they observed on the way.
Returning to Nikolaev, the guys delivered a radio transmitter, explosives, and weapons to the underground fighters. And again fight without fear or hesitation. On December 5, 1942, ten underground members were captured by the Nazis and executed. Among them are two boys - Shura Kober and Vitya Khomenko. They lived as heroes and died as heroes.
The Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree - posthumously - was awarded by the Motherland to its fearless son. The school where he studied is named after Vitya Khomenko.

Volodya Kaznacheev

1941... I graduated from fifth grade in the spring. In the fall he joined the partisan detachment.
When, together with his sister Anya, he came to the partisans in the Kletnyansky forests in the Bryansk region, the detachment said: “What a reinforcement!..” True, having learned that they were from Solovyanovka, the children of Elena Kondratyevna Kaznacheeva, the one who baked bread for the partisans , they stopped joking (Elena Kondratievna was killed by the Nazis).
In the squad there was " partisan school"Future miners and demolitions were trained there. Volodya mastered this science perfectly and, together with his senior comrades, derailed eight echelons. He also had to cover the group’s retreat, stopping the pursuers with grenades...
He was a liaison; he often went to Kletnya, delivering valuable information; After waiting until dark, he posted leaflets. From operation to operation he became more experienced and skillful.
The Nazis placed a reward on the head of partisan Kzanacheev, not even suspecting that their brave opponent was just a boy. He fought alongside the adults until the very day when his native land was liberated from the fascist evil spirits, and rightfully shared with the adults the glory of the hero - the liberator of his native land. Volodya Kaznacheev was awarded the Order of Lenin and the medal "Partisan of the Patriotic War" 1st degree.

Nadya Bogdanova

She was executed twice by the Nazis, and for many years her military friends considered Nadya dead. They even erected a monument to her.
It’s hard to believe, but when she became a scout in the partisan detachment of “Uncle Vanya” Dyachkov, she was not yet ten years old. Small, thin, she, pretending to be a beggar, wandered among the Nazis, noticing everything, remembering everything, and brought the most valuable information to the detachment. And then, together with partisan fighters, she blew up the fascist headquarters, derailed a train with military equipment, and mined objects.
The first time she was captured was when, together with Vanya Zvontsov, she hung out a red flag in enemy-occupied Vitebsk on November 7, 1941. They beat her with ramrods, tortured her, and when they brought her to the ditch to shoot her, she no longer had any strength left - she fell into the ditch, momentarily outstripping the bullet. Vanya died, and the partisans found Nadya alive in a ditch...
The second time she was captured at the end of 1943. And again torture: they poured ice water on her in the cold, burned a five-pointed star on her back. Considering the scout dead, the Nazis abandoned her when the partisans attacked Karasevo. Local residents came out paralyzed and almost blind. After the war in Odessa, Academician V.P. Filatov restored Nadya’s sight.
15 years later, she heard on the radio how the intelligence chief of the 6th detachment, Slesarenko - her commander - said that the soldiers would never forget their dead comrades, and named among them Nadya Bogdanova, who saved his life, a wounded man...
Only then did she show up, only then did the people who worked with her learn about what an amazing destiny of a person she, Nadya Bogdanova, was awarded with the Order of the Red Banner, the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, and medals.

Valya Zenkina

The Brest Fortress was the first to take the enemy's blow. Bombs and shells exploded, walls collapsed, people died both in the fortress and in the city of Brest. From the first minutes, Valya’s father went into battle. He left and did not return, died a hero, like many defenders of the Brest Fortress.
And the Nazis forced Valya to make her way into the fortress under fire in order to convey to its defenders the demand to surrender. Valya made her way into the fortress, talked about the atrocities of the Nazis, explained what weapons they had, indicated their location and stayed to help our soldiers. She bandaged the wounded, collected cartridges and brought them to the soldiers.
There was not enough water in the fortress, it was divided by sip. The thirst was painful, but Valya again and again refused her sip: the wounded needed water. When the command of the Brest Fortress decided to take the children and women out from under fire and transport them to the other side of the Mukhavets River - there was no other way to save their lives - the little nurse Valya Zenkina asked to be left with the soldiers. But an order is an order, and then she vowed to continue the fight against the enemy until complete victory.
And Valya kept her vow. Various trials befell her. But she survived. She survived. And she continued her struggle in the partisan detachment. She fought bravely, along with adults. For courage and bravery, the Motherland awarded its young daughter the Order of the Red Star.

Nina Kukoverova

Every summer, Nina and her younger brother and sister were taken from Leningrad to the village of Nechepert, where there is clean air, soft grass, honey and fresh milk... Roar, explosions, flames and smoke hit this quiet land in the fourteenth summer of pioneer Nina Kukoverova . War! From the first days of the arrival of the Nazis, Nina became a partisan intelligence officer. I remembered everything I saw around me and reported it to the detachment.
A punitive detachment is located in the village of the mountain, all approaches are blocked, even the most experienced scouts cannot get through. Nina volunteered to go. She walked for a dozen kilometers through a snow-covered plain and field. The Nazis did not pay attention to the chilled, tired girl with a bag, but nothing escaped her attention - neither the headquarters, nor the fuel depot, nor the location of the sentries. And when the partisan detachment set out on a campaign at night, Nina walked next to the commander as a scout, as a guide. That night, fascist warehouses flew into the air, the headquarters burst into flames, and the punitive forces fell, struck down by fierce fire.
Nina, a pioneer who was awarded the medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War”, 1st degree, went on combat missions more than once.
The young heroine died. But the memory of Russia’s daughter is alive. She was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree. Nina Kukoverova is forever included in her pioneer squad.

Arkady Kamanin

He dreamed of heaven when he was just a boy. Arkady's father, Nikolai Petrovich Kamanin, a pilot, participated in the rescue of the Chelyuskinites, for which he received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. And my father’s friend, Mikhail Vasilyevich Vodopyanov, is always nearby. There was something to make the boy's heart burn. But they didn’t let him fly, they told him to grow up.
When the war began, he went to work at an aircraft factory, then he used the airfield for any opportunity to take to the skies. Experienced pilots, even if only for a few minutes, sometimes trusted him to fly the plane. One day the cockpit glass was broken by an enemy bullet. The pilot was blinded. Losing consciousness, he managed to hand over control to Arkady, and the boy landed the plane at his airfield.
After this, Arkady was allowed to seriously study flying, and soon he began to fly on his own.
One day, from above, a young pilot saw our plane shot down by the Nazis. Under heavy mortar fire, Arkady landed, carried the pilot into his plane, took off and returned to his own. The Order of the Red Star shone on his chest. For participation in battles with the enemy, Arkady was awarded the second Order of the Red Star. By that time he had already become an experienced pilot, although he was fifteen years old.
Arkady Kamanin fought with the Nazis until the victory. The young hero dreamed of the sky and conquered the sky!

Lida Vashkevich

An ordinary black bag would not attract the attention of visitors to a local history museum if it were not for a red tie lying next to it. A boy or girl will involuntarily freeze, an adult will stop, and they will read the yellowed certificate issued by the commissioner
partisan detachment. The fact that the young owner of these relics, pioneer Lida Vashkevich, risking her life, helped fight the Nazis. There is another reason to stop near these exhibits: Lida was awarded the medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War”, 1st degree.
...In the city of Grodno, occupied by the Nazis, a communist underground operated. One of the groups was led by Lida’s father. Contacts of underground fighters and partisans came to him, and each time the commander’s daughter was on duty at the house. From the outside looking in, she was playing. And she peered vigilantly, listened, to see if the policemen, the patrol, were approaching,
and, if necessary, gave a sign to her father. Dangerous? Very. But compared to other tasks, this was almost a game. Lida obtained paper for leaflets by buying a couple of sheets from different stores, often with the help of her friends. A pack will be collected, the girl will hide it at the bottom of a black bag and deliver it to the appointed place. And the next day the whole city reads the words of truth about the victories of the Red Army near Moscow and Stalingrad.
The girl warned the people's avengers about the raids while going around safe houses. She traveled from station to station by train to convey an important message to the partisans and underground fighters. She carried the explosives past the fascist posts in the same black bag, filled to the top with coal and trying not to bend so as not to arouse suspicion - coal is lighter explosives...
This is what kind of bag ended up in the Grodno Museum. And the tie that Lida was wearing in her bosom back then: she couldn’t, didn’t want to part with it.

Little heroes of the big war.

PIONEERS HEROES

Before the war, these were the most ordinary boys and girls. We studied, helped elders, played, ran and jumped, broke our noses and knees. Only their relatives, classmates and friends knew their names.
THE HOUR HAS COME - THEY SHOWED HOW HUGE A SMALL CHILDREN'S HEART CAN BECOME WHEN A SACRED LOVE FOR THE MOTHERLAND AND HATE FOR ITS ENEMIES FLASHES IN IT.
Boys. Girls. The weight of adversity, disaster, and grief of the war years fell on their fragile shoulders. And they did not bend under this weight, they became stronger in spirit, more courageous, more resilient.
Little heroes of the big war. They fought alongside their elders - fathers, brothers, alongside communists and Komsomol members.
They fought everywhere. At sea, like Borya Kuleshin. In the sky, like Arkasha Kamanin. In a partisan detachment, like Lenya Golikov. In the Brest Fortress, like Valya Zenkina. In the Kerch catacombs, like Volodya Dubinin. In the underground, like Volodya Shcherbatsevich.
And the young hearts did not waver for a moment!
Their matured childhood was filled with such trials that, even if a very talented writer had invented them, it would have been difficult to believe. But it was. It happened in the history of our great country, it happened in the destinies of its little children - ordinary boys and girls.

Utah Bondarovskaya

Valya Kotik

Marat Kazei

...War struck the Belarusian land. The Nazis burst into the village where Marat lived with his mother, Anna Alexandrovna Kazeya. In the fall, Marat no longer had to go to school in the fifth grade. The Nazis turned the school building into their barracks. The enemy was fierce.
Anna Aleksandrovna Kazei was captured for her connection with the partisans, and Marat soon learned that his mother had been hanged in Minsk. The boy's heart was filled with anger and hatred for the enemy. Together with his sister, Komsomol member Ada, the pioneer Marat Kazei went to join the partisans in the Stankovsky forest. He became a scout at the headquarters of a partisan brigade. He penetrated enemy garrisons and delivered valuable information to the command. Using this data, the partisans developed a daring operation and defeated the fascist garrison in the city of Dzerzhinsk...
Marat took part in battles and invariably showed courage and fearlessness; together with experienced demolitionists, he mined the railway.
Marat died in battle. He fought to the last bullet, and when he had only one grenade left, he let his enemies get closer and blew them up... and himself.
For his courage and bravery, pioneer Marat Kazei was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. A monument to the young hero was erected in the city of Minsk.

Zina Portnova

The war found the Leningrad pioneer Zina Portnova in the village of Zuya, where she came for vacation, not far from the Obol station in the Vitebsk region. An underground Komsomol-youth organization “Young Avengers” was created in Obol, and Zina was elected a member of its committee. She took part in daring operations against the enemy, in sabotage, distributed leaflets, and conducted reconnaissance on instructions from a partisan detachment.
...It was December 1943. Zina was returning from a mission. In the village of Mostishche she was betrayed by a traitor. The Nazis captured the young partisan and tortured her. The answer to the enemy was Zina’s silence, her contempt and hatred, her determination to fight to the end. During one of the interrogations, choosing the moment, Zina grabbed a pistol from the table and fired at point-blank range at the Gestapo man.
The officer who ran in to hear the shot was also killed on the spot. Zina tried to escape, but the Nazis overtook her...
The brave young pioneer was brutally tortured, but until the last minute she remained persistent, courageous, and unbending. And the Motherland posthumously celebrated her feat with its highest title - the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Lenya Golikov

Galya Komleva

Kostya Kravchuk

Lara Mikheenko

Vasya Korobko

Chernihiv region. The front came close to the village of Pogoreltsy. On the outskirts, covering the withdrawal of our units, a company held the defense. A boy brought cartridges to the soldiers. His name was Vasya Korobko.
Night. Vasya creeps up to the school building occupied by the Nazis.
He makes his way into the pioneer room, takes out the pioneer banner and hides it securely.
The outskirts of the village. Under the bridge - Vasya. He pulls out iron brackets, saws down the piles, and at dawn, from a hiding place, watches the bridge collapse under the weight of a fascist armored personnel carrier. The partisans were convinced that Vasya could be trusted, and entrusted him with a serious task: to become a scout in the enemy’s lair. At the fascist headquarters, he lights the stoves, chops wood, and he takes a closer look, remembers, and passes on information to the partisans. The punishers, who planned to exterminate the partisans, forced the boy to lead them into the forest. But Vasya led the Nazis to a police ambush. The Nazis, mistaking them for partisans in the dark, opened furious fire, killed all the policemen and themselves suffered heavy losses.
Together with the partisans, Vasya destroyed nine echelons and hundreds of Nazis. In one of the battles he was hit by an enemy bullet. The Motherland awarded its little hero, who lived a short but such a bright life, the Order of Lenin, the Red Banner, the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, and the medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War,” 1st degree.

Sasha Borodulin

Vitya Khomenko

Pioneer Vitya Khomenko passed his heroic path of struggle against the fascists in the underground organization “Nikolaev Center”.
...Vitya’s German at school was “excellent,” and the underground members instructed the pioneer to get a job in the officers’ mess. He washed dishes, sometimes served officers in the hall and listened to their conversations. In drunken arguments, the fascists blurted out information that was of great interest to the Nikolaev Center.
The officers began sending the fast, smart boy on errands, and soon he was made a messenger at headquarters. It could never have occurred to them that the most secret packages were the first to be read by underground workers at the turnout...
Together with Shura Kober, Vitya received the task of crossing the front line to establish contact with Moscow. In Moscow, at the headquarters of the partisan movement, they reported the situation and talked about what they observed on the way.
Returning to Nikolaev, the guys delivered a radio transmitter, explosives, and weapons to the underground fighters. And again fight without fear or hesitation. On December 5, 1942, ten underground members were captured by the Nazis and executed. Among them are two boys - Shura Kober and Vitya Khomenko. They lived as heroes and died as heroes.
The Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree - posthumously - was awarded by the Motherland to its fearless son. The school where he studied is named after Vitya Khomenko.

Volodya Kaznacheev

1941... I graduated from fifth grade in the spring. In the fall he joined the partisan detachment.
When, together with his sister Anya, he came to the partisans in the Kletnyansky forests in the Bryansk region, the detachment said: “What a reinforcement!..” True, having learned that they were from Solovyanovka, the children of Elena Kondratyevna Kaznacheeva, the one who baked bread for the partisans , they stopped joking (Elena Kondratievna was killed by the Nazis).
The detachment had a “partisan school”. Future miners and demolition workers trained there. Volodya mastered this science perfectly and, together with his senior comrades, derailed eight echelons. He also had to cover the group’s retreat, stopping the pursuers with grenades...
He was a liaison; he often went to Kletnya, delivering valuable information; After waiting until dark, he posted leaflets. From operation to operation he became more experienced and skillful.
The Nazis placed a reward on the head of partisan Kzanacheev, not even suspecting that their brave opponent was just a boy. He fought alongside the adults until the very day when his native land was liberated from the fascist evil spirits, and rightfully shared with the adults the glory of the hero - the liberator of his native land. Volodya Kaznacheev was awarded the Order of Lenin and the medal "Partisan of the Patriotic War" 1st degree.

Nadya Bogdanova

She was executed twice by the Nazis, and for many years her military friends considered Nadya dead. They even erected a monument to her.
It’s hard to believe, but when she became a scout in the partisan detachment of “Uncle Vanya” Dyachkov, she was not yet ten years old. Small, thin, she, pretending to be a beggar, wandered among the Nazis, noticing everything, remembering everything, and brought the most valuable information to the detachment. And then, together with partisan fighters, she blew up the fascist headquarters, derailed a train with military equipment, and mined objects.
The first time she was captured was when, together with Vanya Zvontsov, she hung out a red flag in enemy-occupied Vitebsk on November 7, 1941. They beat her with ramrods, tortured her, and when they brought her to the ditch to shoot her, she no longer had any strength left - she fell into the ditch, momentarily outstripping the bullet. Vanya died, and the partisans found Nadya alive in a ditch...
The second time she was captured at the end of 1943. And again torture: they poured ice water on her in the cold, burned a five-pointed star on her back. Considering the scout dead, the Nazis abandoned her when the partisans attacked Karasevo. Local residents came out paralyzed and almost blind. After the war in Odessa, Academician V.P. Filatov restored Nadya’s sight.
15 years later, she heard on the radio how the intelligence chief of the 6th detachment, Slesarenko - her commander - said that the soldiers would never forget their fallen comrades, and named among them Nadya Bogdanova, who saved his life, a wounded man...
Only then did she show up, only then did the people who worked with her learn about what an amazing destiny of a person she, Nadya Bogdanova, was awarded with the Order of the Red Banner, the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, and medals.

Valya Zenkina

Nina Kukoverova

Every summer, Nina and her younger brother and sister were taken from Leningrad to the village of Nechepert, where there is clean air, soft grass, honey and fresh milk... Roar, explosions, flames and smoke hit this quiet land in the fourteenth summer of pioneer Nina Kukoverova. War! From the first days of the arrival of the Nazis, Nina became a partisan intelligence officer. I remembered everything I saw around me and reported it to the detachment.
A punitive detachment is located in the village of the mountain, all approaches are blocked, even the most experienced scouts cannot get through. Nina volunteered to go. She walked for a dozen kilometers through a snow-covered plain and field. The Nazis did not pay attention to the chilled, tired girl with a bag, but nothing escaped her attention - neither the headquarters, nor the fuel depot, nor the location of the sentries. And when the partisan detachment set out on a campaign at night, Nina walked next to the commander as a scout, as a guide. That night, fascist warehouses flew into the air, the headquarters burst into flames, and the punitive forces fell, struck down by fierce fire.
Nina, a pioneer who was awarded the medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War”, 1st degree, went on combat missions more than once.
The young heroine died. But the memory of Russia’s daughter is alive. She was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree. Nina Kukoverova is forever included in her pioneer squad.

Arkady Kamanin

Lida Vashkevich

An ordinary black bag would not attract the attention of visitors to a local history museum if it were not for a red tie lying next to it. A boy or girl will involuntarily freeze, an adult will stop, and they will read the yellowed certificate issued by the commissioner
partisan detachment. The fact that the young owner of these relics, pioneer Lida Vashkevich, risking her life, helped fight the Nazis. There is another reason to stop near these exhibits: Lida was awarded the medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War”, 1st degree.
...In the city of Grodno, occupied by the Nazis, a communist underground operated. One of the groups was led by Lida’s father. Contacts of underground fighters and partisans came to him, and each time the commander’s daughter was on duty at the house. From the outside looking in, she was playing. And she peered vigilantly, listened, to see if the policemen, the patrol, were approaching,
and, if necessary, gave a sign to her father. Dangerous? Very. But compared to other tasks, this was almost a game. Lida obtained paper for leaflets by buying a couple of sheets from different stores, often with the help of her friends. A pack will be collected, the girl will hide it at the bottom of a black bag and deliver it to the appointed place. And the next day the whole city reads
words of truth about the victories of the Red Army near Moscow and Stalingrad.
The girl warned the people's avengers about the raids while going around safe houses. She traveled from station to station by train to convey an important message to the partisans and underground fighters. She carried the explosives past the fascist posts in the same black bag, filled to the top with coal and trying not to bend so as not to arouse suspicion - coal is lighter explosives...
This is what kind of bag ended up in the Grodno Museum. And the tie that Lida was wearing in her bosom back then: she couldn’t, didn’t want to part with it.

Brave heart.

Like Volodya Dubinin

fought for Kerch

The young hero saved a partisan detachment from death, hiding in the quarries.

sea soul

During the Great Patriotic War, the city of Kerch became the scene of brutal and bloody battles. The front line passed through it four times, and the fighting was so fierce that less than 15 percent of the city's buildings survived.

There were many heroes in the battles for Kerch, but the city still remembers the youngest of them - 14-year-old Volodya Dubinin.

Volodya was born on August 29, 1927 in the family of Nikifor Semenovich and Evdokia Timofeevna Dubinin. Volodya's father, Nikifor Dubinin, in the years Civil War fought against the whites in a partisan detachment, and later became a sailor. He worked both on the Black Sea and in the Arctic, so the family managed to travel around the country.

Volodya grew up as an active, inquisitive, slightly hooligan guy. He loved to read, was interested in aircraft modeling, photography...

When the war began, Nikifor Dubinin was drafted into the army. Evdokia Timofeevna with Volodya and his sister moved to her relatives in the Old Quarantine area.

The closer the advancing Nazis were to Kerch, the more actively the city’s leadership prepared for guerrilla warfare in the event of its occupation. The Adzhimushkay and Starokarantinsky quarries, which were real fortresses, were to become the bases of the partisan detachments.

Elusive scouts

Volodya and his friends learned about the partisan detachment in the Starokarantinsky quarries. The boys began to ask adults to take them into partisans. After some hesitation, the commander

Alexander Zyabrev gave the go-ahead to the detachment. Boys who were able to exit quarries through narrow crevices were indispensable as scouts.

Once at home, Volodya found a medal “For Labor Valor” and pinned it on his shirt, remarking: “Beautiful.” Sister Valya, who was two years older than Volodya, reasoned:

- But this is not your reward. You have to deserve such a medal. And you are still small!

Volodya blushed, took off his medal and answered:

- You'll see what I'll become.

After the occupation of Kerch, Volodya went with his detachment to the quarries.

The partisans in the quarries of Old Quarantine very soon began to harass the German command. However, the Nazis could not knock them out of there. Then they began a siege, blocking all exits and diligently filling the cracks with cement.

This is where the boys came in handy. Volodya Dubinin, Vanya Gritsenko, Tolya Korolev came out of the quarries where adults could not get out, and brought valuable information about the enemy.

When the Nazis blocked all the large holes, only the small and nimble Volodya could crawl into the remaining ones. Then other boys began to work as a “cover group” - they distracted the soldiers blocking the entrances, giving them the opportunity to get out. Also at the agreed time, the guys met Volodya returning from reconnaissance.

Racing with death

Volodya and the other guys were not only engaged in reconnaissance. During battles, they brought ammunition, provided assistance to the wounded, and carried out other instructions from the commander.

In December 1941, the Nazis decided to flood the Starokarantinsky quarries and put an end to the partisans. Volodya, who was in reconnaissance, found out about this when there were only a few hours left before the start of the punitive action.

Risking his life, during the day, almost in full view of German patrols, Volodya managed to penetrate

into the catacombs and warn the partisans of the danger. The commander raised the alarm, and people began hastily building dams in order to thwart the plans of the Nazis.

It was a race against death. At some point, the water in the quarries rose almost to the waist. Nevertheless, in two days the partisans managed to create a system of dams that prevented the Nazis from destroying the detachment.

The scout Volodya Dubinin played a major role in saving the partisans.

Hero forever

On the eve of the new year, 1942, the command set the task for scout Dubinin to get to the Adzhimushkai quarries and contact the partisan detachment based there.

But when Volodya went to carry out the order, he came across... Soviet soldiers. These were naval landing soldiers who liberated Kerch during the Kerch-Feodosia operation.

The joy of Volodya and his comrades knew no bounds. But the Nazis surrounded the Starokarantinsky quarries with a network of minefields, and the partisans could not leave them. The adults were physically unable to leave where Volodya was leaving.

And then Volodya volunteered to be a guide for the sappers. The first day of mine clearance was successful, but on January 4, 1942, at about 10 a.m., a thunderclap thundered at the entrance to the quarries. powerful explosion. Four sappers and Volodya Dubinin were blown up by a mine.

The dead sappers and Volodya were buried in a mass partisan grave in the Youth Park of Kerch.

Posthumously, Vladimir Nikiforovich Dubinin was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

The city of Kerch still faced fierce fighting, a second occupation and the long-awaited final liberation on April 11, 1944.

In 1973, Kerch was awarded the title “Hero City”.

In the battles for Kerch, thousands of Soviet soldiers showed courage and heroism, but the feat of Volodya Dubinin was not lost among them.

One of the streets of his native city was named after him, and in 1964 on it

A monument to Volodya was unveiled.

In 1949, writers Lev Kassil and Max Polyanovsky published the book “Street of the Youngest Son,” dedicated to Volodya Dubinin. From that moment on, the young partisan gained all-Union fame.

Decades later, during the years of perestroika, some will think that this glory is undeserved, like the medal that little Volodya pinned on his shirt.

But history itself put everything in its place. The feat of Volodya Dubinin and the memory of him are still alive.

Andrey Sidorchik