Where the feat of 28 Panfilov men was accomplished. Panfilov's men

Original taken from kritik in The real story of “Panfilov’s 28 Men”. Facts and documentary information

Today I’m going to see the film “Panfilov’s 28 Men”. And I would like to know the real story of these “heroic” people, so that when writing a review of the film, I would know how much the script distorts reality.

Crew of a 45-mm 53-K anti-tank gun on the outskirts of a village near Moscow, November - December 1941

The most famous of the division's soldiers were 28 people (“Panfilov heroes”, or “28 Panfilov heroes”) from among the personnel of the 4th company of the 2nd battalion of the 1075th rifle regiment. According to the widely spread version of the event in the USSR, on November 16, when a new German offensive on Moscow began, soldiers of the 4th company, led by political instructor Vasily Klochkov, while defending in the area of the Dubosekovo crossing, 7 km southeast of Volokolamsk, accomplished a feat during a 4-hour battle, destroying 18 enemy tanks. All 28 people, called heroes in Soviet historiography, died (later they began to write “almost all”). The phrase “Russia is great, but there is nowhere to retreat - Moscow is behind us!”, which, according to Red Star journalists, was said by political instructor Klochkov before his death, was included in Soviet school and university history textbooks.

In 1948 and 1988, the official version of the feat was studied by the Main Military Prosecutor's Office of the USSR and recognized as fiction. According to Sergei Mironenko, “there were no 28 Panfilov heroes - this is one of the myths propagated by the state.” At the same time, the very fact of heavy defensive battles of the 316th Infantry Division against the 2nd and 11th German tank divisions (approx. the number of personnel of the German divisions significantly exceeded the Soviet) in the Volokolamsk direction on November 16, 1941 and the heroism shown by the division’s fighters did not disputed.

Historical analysis

According to the materials of the investigation of the Main Military Prosecutor's Office, the newspaper "Red Star" first reported about the heroic deed on November 27, 1941 in an essay by front-line correspondent V.I. Koroteev. The article about the participants in the battle said that “every one of them died, but they did not let the enemy through”; the commander of the detachment, according to Koroteev, was “Commissar Diev.”

According to other sources, the first publication about the feat appeared on November 19, 1941, just two days after the events at the Dubosekovo crossing. Izvestia correspondent G. Ivanov in his article “8th Guards Division in Battles” describes the battle surrounded by one of the companies defending on the left flank of the 1075th Infantry Regiment of I.V. Kaprova: 9 tanks were knocked out, 3 were burned, the rest turned back.

Criticism of the official version

Critics of the official version usually cite the following arguments and assumptions:
Neither the commander of the 2nd battalion (which included the 4th company), Major Reshetnikov, nor the commander of the 1075th regiment, Colonel Kaprov, nor the commander of the 316th division, Major General Panfilov, nor the commander of the 16th th Army Lieutenant General Rokossovsky. German sources say nothing about it either (while the loss of 18 tanks in one battle at the end of 1941 would have been a noticeable event for the Germans).
It is unclear how Koroteev and Krivitsky found out a large number of details of this battle. The information that information was received in the hospital from a mortally wounded participant in the battle, Natarov, is doubtful, since, according to documents, Natarov died two days before the battle, on November 14.
By November 16, the 4th Company was at full strength, meaning it could not have only 28 soldiers. According to the commander of the 1075th Infantry Regiment, I.V. Kaprova, there were about 140 people in the company.

Investigation materials

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

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

For the first time, E. V. Cardin publicly doubted the reliability of the story about Panfilov’s men, who published the article “Legends and Facts” in the magazine “New World” (February 1966). After this, however, he received a personal rebuke from Leonid Brezhnev, who called the denial of the official version “slander against the heroic history of our party and our people.”

A number of new publications followed in the late 1980s. An important argument was the publication of declassified materials from the investigation of the military prosecutor's office in 1948. In 1997, the New World magazine, authored by Nikolai Petrov and Olga Edelman, published an article “New about Soviet heroes”, in which it was stated (including on the basis of the text of the top secret certificate “About 28 Panfilovites” given in the article) that on May 10, 1948, the official version of the feat was studied by the Main Military Prosecutor's Office of the USSR and recognized as literary fiction.

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

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

Crew of the PTRD-41 anti-tank rifle in position during the Battle of Moscow. Moscow region, winter 1941-1942

Materials from the interrogation of correspondent Koroteev are also given:

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

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

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

The interrogated secretary of the newspaper, Krivitsky, testified:

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

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

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

Conclusion of the prosecutor's office investigation:

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

The Main Military Prosecutor's Office of the USSR again dealt with the circumstances of the feat in 1988, as a result of which the chief military prosecutor, Lieutenant General of Justice A. F. Katusev published the article “Alien Glory” in the Military Historical Journal (1990, No. 8-9). In it, he concluded that “the massive feat of the entire company, the entire regiment, the entire division was downplayed by the irresponsibility of not entirely conscientious journalists to the scale of a mythical platoon.” The same opinion is shared by the director of the State Archive of the Russian Federation, Doctor of Historical Sciences S. V. Mironenko.

Documentary evidence of the battle

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

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

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

On the 16th, at 6 am, the Germans began bombing our right and left flanks, and we were getting a fair amount of it. 35 planes bombed us.

After the aerial bombardment, a column of machine gunners left the village of Krasikovo... Then Sergeant Dobrobabin, who was a platoon deputy commander, whistled. We opened fire on the machine gunners... It was around 7 am... We repulsed the machine gunners... We killed about 80 people.

After this attack, political instructor Klochkov approached our trenches and began to talk. He greeted us. “How did you survive the fight?” - “Nothing, we survived.” He says: “Tanks are moving, we’ll have to endure another fight here... There are a lot of tanks coming, but there are more of us. 20 tanks, each brother won’t get one tank.”

We were all trained in a fighter battalion. They didn’t give themselves such horror that they immediately went into panic. We were sitting in the trenches. “It’s okay,” says the political instructor, “we’ll be able to repel the tank attack: there’s nowhere to retreat, Moscow is behind us.”

We took the fight to these tanks. They fired from an anti-tank rifle from the right flank, but we didn’t have one... They started jumping out of the trenches and throwing bunches of grenades under the tanks... They threw bottles of fuel at the crews. I don’t know what was exploding there, there were only big explosions in the tanks... I had to blow up two heavy tanks. We repulsed this attack and destroyed 15 tanks. 5 tanks retreated to reverse side to the village of Zhdanovo... In the first battle there were no losses on my left flank.

Political instructor Klochkov noticed that the second batch of tanks was moving and said: “Comrades, we will probably have to die here for the glory of our homeland. Let our homeland know how we fight, how we defend Moscow. Moscow is behind us, we have nowhere to retreat.” ... When the second batch of tanks approached, Klochkov jumped out of the trench with grenades. The soldiers are behind him... In this last attack, I blew up two tanks - a heavy one and a light one. The tanks were burning. Then I got under the third tank... from the left side. On the right side, Musabek Singerbaev - a Kazakh - ran up to this tank... Then I was wounded... I received three shrapnel wounds and a concussion.

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

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

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

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

German tanks attack Soviet positions in the Istra region, November 25, 1941

Reconstruction of the battle

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

The 316th Rifle Division occupied defense on the Dubosekovo front - 8 km southeast of Volokolamsk, that is, approximately 18-20 kilometers along the front, which was a lot for a formation weakened in battle. On the left flank the neighbor was the 126th Infantry Division, on the right - a combined regiment of cadets of the Moscow Infantry School named after the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR.

On November 16, the division was attacked by the German 2nd Panzer Division with the task of improving positions for the offensive of the 5th Army Corps, scheduled for November 18. The first blow was delivered by two combat groups against the positions of the 1075th Infantry Regiment. On the left flank, where the 2nd battalion occupied positions, the stronger 1st combat group, consisting of a tank battalion with artillery and infantry units, was advancing. The task of the day was to occupy the villages of Rozhdestveno and Lystsevo, 8 km north of the Dubosekovo junction.

The 1075th Infantry Regiment suffered significant losses in personnel and equipment in previous battles, but before the new battles it was significantly replenished with personnel. According to the testimony of the regiment commander, Colonel I.V. Kaprova, there were 120-140 people in the 4th company (according to the staff of the 04/600 division, there should be 162 people in the company). The issue with the artillery armament of the regiment is not completely clear. According to the staff, the regiment was supposed to have a battery of four 76-mm regimental guns and an anti-tank battery of six 45-mm guns. There is information that the regiment actually had two 76-mm regimental guns of the 1927 model, several 76-mm mountain guns of the 1909 model and 75-mm French divisional guns Mle.1897. The anti-tank capabilities of these guns were low - regimental guns penetrated only 31 mm of armor from 500 m, and mountain guns were not equipped with armor-piercing shells at all. The outdated French guns had weak ballistics, and nothing is known about the presence of armor-piercing shells for them. At the same time, it is known that in total the 316th Rifle Division on November 16, 1941 had twelve 45-mm anti-tank guns, twenty-six 76-mm divisional guns, seventeen 122-mm howitzers and five 122-mm hull guns that could be used in battle with German tanks. Our neighbor, the 50th Cavalry Division, also had its own artillery.

The regiment's infantry anti-tank weapons were represented by 11 PTRD anti-tank rifles (of which the 2nd battalion had 4 rifles), RPG-40 grenades and Molotov cocktails. The real combat capabilities of these weapons were low: anti-tank rifles had low armor penetration, especially when using cartridges with B-32 bullets, and could only hit German tanks at close range, exclusively at the side and stern at an angle close to 90 degrees, which in a frontal situation a tank attack was unlikely. In addition, the battle near Dubosekovo was the first case of the use of anti-tank rifles of this type, the production of which was just beginning to develop. Anti-tank grenades were an even weaker weapon - they penetrated up to 15-20 mm of armor provided they were in direct contact with the armor plate, so it was recommended to throw them onto the roof of the tank, which in battle was a very difficult and extremely dangerous task. To increase the destructive power of these grenades, fighters usually tied several of them together. Statistics show that the proportion of tanks destroyed by anti-tank grenades is extremely small.

On the morning of November 16, German tank crews conducted reconnaissance in force. According to the memoirs of the regiment commander, Colonel I.V. Kaprova, “in total, 10-12 enemy tanks were in the battalion’s sector. I don’t know how many tanks went to the 4th company’s site, or rather, I can’t determine... In the battle, the regiment destroyed 5-6 German tanks, and the Germans retreated.” Then the enemy brought up reserves and new strength fell on the regiment's positions. After 40-50 minutes of battle, the Soviet defense was broken through, and the regiment was essentially destroyed. Kaprov personally collected the surviving soldiers and took them to new positions. According to regiment commander I.V. Kaprova, “in the battle, Gundilovich’s 4th company suffered the most. Only 20-25 people survived. led by a company of 140 people. The remaining companies suffered less. More than 100 people died in the 4th Rifle Company. The company fought heroically." Thus, it was not possible to stop the enemy at the Dubosekovo junction; the regiment’s positions were crushed by the enemy, and its remnants retreated to a new defensive line. According to Soviet data, in the battles of November 16, the entire 1075th regiment knocked out and destroyed 9 enemy tanks.

Breakthrough of German troops in the Volokolamsk direction on November 16-21, 1941. Red arrows mark the advance of the 1st combat group through the battle formations of the 1075th Infantry Regiment in the Nelidovo-Dubosekovo-Shiryaevo sector, blue arrows indicate the second. The dotted lines indicate the starting positions for the morning, afternoon and evening of November 16 (pink, purple and blue, respectively)

In general, as a result of the battles on November 16-20 in the Volokolamsk direction, Soviet troops stopped the advance of two tank and one infantry divisions of the Wehrmacht. Realizing the futility and impossibility of achieving success in the Volokolamsk direction, von Bock transferred the 4th Panzer Group to the Leningradskoe Highway. At the same time, on November 26, the 8th Guards Rifle Division was also transferred to the Leningradskoye Highway in the area of the village of Kryukovo, where, as on the Volokolamskoye Highway, together with other units it stopped the 4th Tank Group of the Wehrmacht.

Look documentary: “Panfilov’s men. The truth about the feat"

Conclusion: of course, it’s up to us to decide where they “embellished” the story a little, and where it really is the truth.
In any case, a number of factors indicate that this history and feat of people has the right to exist...

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

Version

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

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

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

Consensus

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

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

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

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

Memories

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

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

Criticism

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

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

Facts of the inquiry

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

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

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

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

Krivitsky's testimony

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

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

Conclusion

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

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

Support

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

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

Ideological significance

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

The emergence of the official version

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

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

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

Criticism of the official version

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

Investigation materials

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The interrogated secretary of the newspaper, Krivitsky, testified:

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

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

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

Conclusion of the prosecutor's office investigation:

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

Official version support

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

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

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

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

Documentary evidence of the battle

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Reconstruction of the battle

The fate of some Panfilovites

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Memory

Notes

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

21.11.2015 0 80037

One of the most famous feats performed during the Great Patriotic War, counts feat of 28 Panfilovites- soldiers of the Guards Division, commanded by Major General Ivan Vasilyevich Panfilov.

Almost three quarters of a century have passed since then. And now some historians have begun to publicly assert that there was no battle between Panfilov’s men and German tanks on November 16, 1941 near Dubosekovo, as well as a massive feat of the guardsmen. All this was allegedly invented by the newspaper men from Krasnaya Zvezda. Where is the truth?

Monument to 28 Panfilov heroes at the Dubosekovo junction

Generally accepted version

Events, as they are depicted in numerous books and articles about Panfilov’s heroes, developed like this. On November 15, 1941, German troops launched a new attack on Moscow. In some places, the front approached the capital by 25 kilometers. Our troops offered fierce resistance to the Nazis.

On November 16, in the area of the Dubosekovo railway crossing, not far from the Volokolamsk highway, Panfilov’s men knocked out 18 tanks in a four-hour battle and stopped the enemy.

All our soldiers died in that battle, including political instructor V.G. Klochkov, who said the words before the battle that became famous: “Russia is great, but there is nowhere to retreat - Moscow is behind us!” In July 1942, 28 Panfilov men were posthumously awarded the title of Heroes of the Soviet Union.

How it was

However, in reality, events at the Dubosekovo crossing developed somewhat differently. After the war, it turned out that several Panfilov men who were awarded the title of hero were alive, and several others who were on the award list did not participate in the battle on November 16 for various reasons.

In 1948, the Main Military Prosecutor's Office of the USSR opened a case and conducted a special closed investigation. His materials were transferred to the Politburo of the Central Committee. They also decided not to reconsider the issue of awards.

Let's try to reconstruct the events of those dramatic days on the basis of surviving documents. On November 16, the German 11th Tank Division attacked the positions of the 1075th Infantry Regiment in the Dubosekovo area. The main blow fell on the 2nd battalion, where there were only four anti-tank rifles, RPG-40 grenades and Molotov cocktails.

According to the testimony of the former regiment commander I.V. Kaprova, there were then 10-12 enemy tanks against the 2nd battalion. 5-6 tanks were destroyed - and the Germans retreated. At two o'clock in the afternoon the enemy began a heavy artillery bombardment - and again his tanks went on the attack. Over 50 tanks were now advancing on the regiment's location. The main attack was again directed at the positions of the 2nd battalion.

According to archival data from the Ministry of Defense, the 1075th Infantry Regiment destroyed 15-16 tanks and about 800 German soldiers on November 16. The regiment's losses, according to the commander's report, amounted to 400 people killed, 100 people wounded, 600 people were declared missing.

Most of them are also killed or seriously wounded, trapped under deep snow. The 4th company of the 2nd battalion suffered the most. At the beginning of the battle there were from 120 to 140 people in it, but no more than thirty survived.

German tanks overthrew our defenses and occupied the Dubosekov area, but they were at least four hours late. During this time, our command managed to regroup forces, bring up reserves and close the breakthrough.

The Germans no longer advanced in this direction towards Moscow. And on December 5-6, the general counter-offensive of the Soviet troops began - and by the beginning of January 1942, the enemy was driven back 100-250 kilometers from the capital.

Birth of a legend

How was the legend of the 28 Panfilov heroes born? The military prosecutor's office also looked into this. Krasnaya Zvezda correspondent Vasily Koroteev, who was the first to write about Panfilov’s heroes, testified during the investigation in 1948: “Around November 23-24, 1941, I, together with the war correspondent of Komsomolskaya Pravda Chernyshev, were at the headquarters of the 16th Army...

When leaving the army headquarters, we met the commissar of the 8th Panfilov division, Yegorov, who spoke about the extremely difficult situation at the front and said that our people were fighting heroically in all sectors. In particular, Egorov gave an example of the heroic battle of one company with German tanks.

54 tanks were advancing on the company line - and the company detained them and destroyed some of them. Egorov himself was not a participant in the battle, but spoke from the words of the regiment commissar... Egorov recommended writing in the newspaper about the heroic battle of the company with enemy tanks, having previously become acquainted with the political report received from the regiment.

The political report spoke of the company’s battle with enemy tanks and that the company fought to the death and died. But she did not retreat, and only two people turned out to be traitors, they raised their hands to surrender to the Germans, but they were destroyed by our fighters. The report did not say about the number of company soldiers who died in this battle, and their names were not mentioned. It was impossible to get into the regiment, and Egorov did not advise us to try to get into the regiment.

Upon arrival in Moscow, I reported the situation to the editor of the newspaper “Red Star” Ortenberg. I told about the company’s battle with enemy tanks. Ortenberg asked me how many people were in the company. I told him that the company’s composition was apparently incomplete, about 30 people -40; I also said that two of these turned out to be traitors.”

Koroteev’s essay about Panfilov’s heroes was published in Red Star on November 27, 1941. It said that the participants in the battle “every one of them died, but they did not let the enemy through.” On November 28, the same newspaper published an editorial entitled “The Testament of 28 Fallen Heroes.”

It was written by the literary secretary of the newspaper Alexander Krivitsky. On January 22, 1942, the same Krivitsky published an essay in “Red Star” entitled “About 28 fallen heroes.” As an eyewitness or as a person who heard the stories of the soldiers, he writes about their personal experiences, about the heroic behavior of the guardsmen and for the first time names 28 names of the dead.

In April 1942, the command Western Front appealed to the People's Commissar of Defense with a petition to award the soldiers named in the publication the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In July, a corresponding decree was issued by the Presidium of the Supreme Council.

But let's go back to 1948. The military prosecutor's office also interrogated Krivitsky.

In particular, he showed:

“During a conversation at the PUR (the Main Political Directorate of the Red Army. - Author’s note) they were interested in where I got the words of political instructor Klochkov: “Russia is great, but there is nowhere to retreat - Moscow is behind us!” I replied that I had invented it myself... In part the same feelings and actions of 28 characters - this is my literary conjecture.

I did not talk to any of the wounded or surviving guardsmen. From the local population, I only spoke with a boy of about 14-15 years old, who showed me the grave where Klochkov was buried.”

Former commander of the 1075th regiment Ilya Kaprov said that he gave the names of the fighters to Krivitsky from memory
Captain Gundilovich. Of course, the entire regiment fought with German tanks on November 16, he added, and especially the 4th company of the 2nd battalion, which found itself in the direction of the enemy’s main attack.

Incomplete acquaintance with the materials of the prosecutor's investigation of 1948 led some researchers to incorrect conclusions and disoriented a number of journalists.

More than a hundred of our soldiers - Russians, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and Uzbeks - died in the Dubosekovo crossing area. All of them deserve the title of heroes. In the most difficult conditions, poorly armed, the guards delayed the tank offensive of the Nazis.

The enemy never reached the Volokolamsk highway. There was a feat. Only the wings of glory and historical recognition did not touch all of Panfilov’s heroes. This often happens in war.

Vasily MITSUROV, Candidate of Historical Sciences

The history of the Second World War is full of heroic pages. However, over the 70 years that have passed since the Victory Day, many falsifications have been revealed, as well as stories about how some events took place that raise doubts about their authenticity. Among them is the feat of 28 Panfilov men, which is mentioned in the anthem of Moscow and which has more than once become the basis for feature film scripts.

Background

In the first months after, the 316th Infantry Division was formed in the cities of Frunze and Alma-Ata, the command of which was entrusted to the then military commissar, Major General I.V. Panfilov. At the end of August 1941, this military formation became part of the active army and was sent to the front near Novgorod. Two months later he was transferred to the Volokolamsk area and ordered to occupy a 40 km long defense line. The soldiers of Panfilov's division had to constantly fight exhausting battles. Moreover, in the last week of October 1941 alone, they shot down and burned 80 units of enemy equipment, and the enemy’s losses in manpower amounted to more than 9 thousand officers and soldiers.

The division under the command of Panfilov included 2 artillery regiments. In addition, she had one tank company under her command. However, one of its rifle regiments was poorly prepared, as it was formed shortly before being sent to the front. The Panfilovites, as they were later called in the Soviet press, were opposed by three tank and one rifle divisions of the Wehrmacht. The enemies went on the offensive on October 15.

One of the most famous Soviet patriotic legends that originated during the Great Patriotic War tells about the events at the Dubosekovo crossing, which allegedly took place on November 16, 1941. It first appeared in the newspaper “Red Star”, in an essay by front correspondent V. Koroteev. According to this primary source, 28 people who were part of the fourth company of the second battalion of the 1075th regiment, commanded by political instructor V. Klochkov, destroyed 18 enemy tanks during a fierce 4-hour battle. Moreover, almost all of them died in an unequal battle. The article also included a phrase that, according to Koroteev, Klochkov said before his death: “Russia is great, but there is nowhere to retreat - Moscow is behind us!”

The feat of 28 Panfilov men: the story of one falsification

The day after the first article in “Red Star”, a material was published under the authorship of A. Yu. Krivitsky, entitled “Testament of 28 fallen heroes,” whom the journalist called only Panfilov’s men. The feat of the soldiers and their political instructor was described in every detail, but the publication did not mention the names of the participants in the events. They first hit the press only on January 22, when the same Krivitsky presented the feat of Panfilov’s men in a detailed essay, speaking as an eyewitness to those events. It is interesting that Izvestia wrote about the battles near Volokolamsk back on November 19 and reported only 9 tanks destroyed and 3 burned.

The story about the heroes who defended the capital at the cost of their lives shocked Soviet people and soldiers who fought on all fronts, and the command of the Western Front prepared a petition addressed to the People's Commissar of Defense to award the 28 brave soldiers listed in A. Krivitsky's article the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. As a result, already on July 21, 1942, the Presidium of the Supreme Council signed a corresponding decree.

Official disclosure

Already in 1948, a large-scale investigation was carried out with the goal of establishing whether the feat of 28 Panfilov men really took place. The reason was that a year before, a certain I.E. Dobrobabin was arrested in Kharkov. He was brought to justice with the wording “for treason,” as investigators discovered irrefutable facts confirming that during the war he voluntarily surrendered and entered the service of the occupiers. In particular, it was possible to establish that this former policeman was a participant in the battle near the Dubosekovo junction in 1941. Moreover, it turned out that he and Dobrobabin, mentioned in Krivitsky’s article, are the same person, and he was posthumously awarded the title of Hero. Further investigation made it possible to consider everything stated in the articles that described the feat of Panfilov’s men near Moscow to be falsification. The revealed facts formed the basis of a certificate signed by the then Prosecutor General of the USSR G. Safonov, which was presented on June 11, 1948.

Criticism in the press

The results of the investigation, which cast doubt on the fact that the feat of Panfilov’s men in the form described in the publications of “Red Star” actually took place, never made it into the Soviet press. It was only in 1966 that the first article concerning the November battles at Dubosekovo appeared in Novy Mir. In it, the author called for studying the facts concerning who Panfilov’s men were, whose feat was described in all history textbooks. However further development this topic did not receive attention in the Soviet press until the beginning of perestroika, when thousands of archival documents were declassified, including the results of the 1948 investigation, which established that the feat of the Panfilov heroes was just a literary fiction.

Where does the number 28 come from?

The transcript of the interrogation of correspondent Koroteev sheds light on how and why the distortion of facts concerning Panfilov’s soldiers occurred in 1941. In particular, he points out that upon returning from the front, he presented information about the battle of the 5th company of the 316th Infantry Division, which was killed on the battlefield without giving up its positions, to the editor of “Red Star”. He asked him how many fighters there were, and Koroteev, who knew that it was understaffed, replied that it was 30-40, adding that he himself was not in the 1075th Infantry Regiment, since it was impossible to get to its position. In addition, he said that, according to a political report from the regiment, two soldiers tried to surrender, but were shot by their comrades. Thus, it was decided to publish the number 28 and write only about one faint-hearted fighter. This is how the legend and fictional “Panfilov’s men died, all as one,” appeared, whose feat was sung in poetry and songs.

Attitude to the feat

Today it is blasphemous to argue about whether Panfilov’s men were heroes. The feat of all those soldiers who honestly fulfilled their duty in November 1941 is undoubted, as is their enormous merit in the fact that Soviet troops did not allow the fascist invaders into the capital of our Motherland. Another thing is that the fact that traitors were among those awarded is an insult to the memory of real heroes who did not spare their lives to achieve Great Victory, the 70th anniversary of which will soon be celebrated by all humanity that does not suffer from historical amnesia.