Stalingrad battle. heroic defenders of "Pavlov's house"

Pavlov's house became one of the historical objects of the Battle of Stalingrad, which still causes controversy among modern historians.

During fierce fighting, the house withstood a considerable number of counterattacks from the Germans. For 58 days, a group of Soviet soldiers bravely held the line, destroying more than a thousand enemy soldiers during this period. In the post-war years, historians carefully tried to restore all the details, and the composition of the commanders who carried out the operation led to the first disagreements.

Who was on the defensive

According to the official version, Ya.F. Pavlov, in principle, is associated with this fact and the name of the house, which he received later. But there is another version, according to which Pavlov led the assault directly, and I.F. Afanasyev was then responsible for the defense. And this fact is confirmed by military reports, which became a source for restoring all the events of that period. According to his soldiers, Ivan Afanasyevich was a rather modest person, perhaps this pushed him a little into the background. After the war, Pavlov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In contrast, Afanasiev was not awarded such an award.

The strategic importance of the house

An interesting fact for historians was that the Germans marked this house on the map as a fortress. And indeed the strategic importance of the house was very important - from here a wide view of the territory was opened, from where the Germans could break through to the Volga. Despite the daily attacks from the enemy, our fighters defended their positions, reliably closing the approaches from the enemies. The Germans who took part in the assault could not understand how the people in Pavlov's house could withstand their attacks without food and ammunition reinforcements. Subsequently, it turned out that all provisions and weapons were delivered through a special trench dug underground.

Is Tolik Kuryshov a fictional character or a hero?

Also, a little-known fact that was discovered in the course of research was the heroism of an 11-year-old boy who fought along with the Pavlovians. Tolik Kuryshov helped the soldiers in every possible way, who, in turn, tried to protect him from danger. Despite the commander's ban, Tolik still managed to accomplish a real feat. Having penetrated into one of the neighboring houses, he was able to get documents important for the army - a plan of capture. After the war, Kuryshov did not advertise his feat in any way. We learned about this event from the surviving documents. After a series of investigations, Anatoly Kuryshov was awarded the Order of the Red Star.

Where were the civilians?

Was there an evacuation or not - this issue also caused a lot of controversy. According to one version, civilians were in the basement of the Pavlovsk house for 58 days. Although there is a thorium that people were evacuated through dug trenches. Yet modern historians adhere to the official version. Many documents testify that people really were in the basement all this time. Thanks to the heroism of our soldiers, none of the civilians suffered during these 58 days.

Today, Pavlov's house has been completely restored and immortalized with a memorial wall. On the basis of the events associated with the heroic defense of the legendary house, books have been written and even a film has been made that has won many world awards.

Marshal of the Soviet Union, twice Hero of the Soviet Union Vasily Chuikov said: “There were dozens and hundreds of such stubbornly defending objects in the city; inside them "with varying success" for weeks there was a struggle for every room, for every ledge, for every march of the stairwell.

Pavlov's house is a symbol of the steadfastness, courage and heroism of the Soviet people, shown during the days of the Battle of Stalingrad. The house became an impregnable fortress. 58 days the legendary garrison held it and did not give it to the enemy. All this time, there were civilians in the basement of the building. Near Pavlov's House stood his "twin brother" - House of Zabolotny. The company commander, senior lieutenant Ivan Naumov, received an order from the regiment commander, Colonel Yelin, to turn two four-story houses located in parallel into strongholds, and sent two groups of fighters there.

The first consisted of three privates and sergeant Yakov Pavlov, who drove the Germans out of the first house and entrenched themselves in it. Second group - platoon Lieutenant Nikolai Zabolotny took over the second home. He sent a report to the command post of the regiment (in the destroyed mill): “The house is occupied by my platoon. Lieutenant Zabolotny. Zabolotny's house at the end of September 1942, the German artillery completely destroyed. Under its ruins, almost the entire platoon and Lieutenant Zabolotny himself perished.

« dairy house”- with this name this building entered the history of the Battle of Stalingrad. It was called so by the color of the facade. Like a number of other buildings in the city center, it was of great tactical importance. To drive the Germans out of there, units of the Soviet troops repeatedly went on the attack. The Germans carefully prepared for the defense, and only at the cost of heavy losses did they manage to capture it.

Abundantly watered with the blood of Soviet soldiers and The railwaymen's house, the ruins of which were taken by storm only in early December. Now the street where this building was once located bears the name of Senior Lieutenant Ivan Naumov, who died defending the "dairy house". This is how he describes the storming of the House of Railwaymen participant of the Battle of Stalingrad Gennady Goncharenko:

“... The conditions of the terrain made it possible in one area - the south - to distract the Nazi garrison, who had settled in the House of Railwaymen, and in the other - the east - to carry out an assault after a fire raid. The last shot from the cannon rang out. The assault group has only three minutes at its disposal. During this time, under the cover of a smoke screen, our fighters had to run to the house, break into it and start hand-to-hand combat. In three hours, our soldiers completed their combat mission, clearing the House of Railway Workers from the Nazis ... "

Do not erase from the history of the battle and September 19, when Soviet soldiers stormed the building of the State Bank. The machine-gun fire of the Nazis reached the central pier - the enemy threatened to cut off the crossing. This is how General Alexander Rodimtsev recalls this episode in his book “The Guardsmen fought to the death.”

“... We were very disturbed, like a huge boulder on the way, by the building of the State Bank, almost a quarter of a kilometer long. “This is a fortress,” the soldiers said. And they were right. Strong, meter-thick stone walls and deep cellars protected the enemy garrison from artillery shelling and air bombing. The entrance doors to the building were only from the side of the enemy. The surrounding area from all four floors was shot through with multi-layered rifle and machine-gun fire. This building really looked like a medieval fortress and a modern fort.”

But no matter how strong the fascist stronghold was, it could not resist the onslaught and courage of the Soviet soldiers, who captured this most important defensive point of the fascists in a night battle. The fiercest battle for every house, every building predetermined the outcome of the entire battle. And our grandfathers and fathers won it.

All of these buildings were part of the defense system of the 42nd Guards Rifle Regiment of the 13th Guards Rifle Division.

Pavlov's house in Volgograd. Photo from www.wikipedia.org

It just so happened that during the year a private (by the standards of war) object of defense and its defenders became the object of attention of two creative teams at once. Directed by Sergei Ursulyak, he staged a wonderful multi-part television film "Life and Fate" based on the novel of the same name by Vasily Grossman. Its premiere took place in October 2012. And in February of this year, a television film is shown on the Kultura TV channel. As for the blockbuster "Stalingrad" by Fyodor Bondarchuk, which was released last fall, this is a completely different creation, with a different concept and approach. About his artistic merits and fidelity to historical truth (or rather, the absence of such) is hardly worth spreading. Enough has been said about this, including in a very sensible publication “Stalingrad without Stalingrad” (“NVO” No. 37, 10/11/13).

Grossman's novel, his television version, and Bondarchuk's film show the events that took place in one of the strongholds of the city's defense - albeit to a different extent, albeit not directly. But literature and cinema are one thing, and life is another. Or rather, history.

FORTRESS TO THE ENEMY DOES NOT SURRENDER

In September 1942, fierce battles broke out in the streets and squares of the central and northern parts of Stalingrad. “The fight in the city is a special fight. It is not strength that decides the issue, but skill, dexterity, resourcefulness and surprise. City buildings, like breakwaters, cut the battle formations of the advancing enemy and directed his forces along the streets. Therefore, we firmly held on to especially strong buildings, created in them a few garrisons capable of conducting all-round defense in the event of an encirclement. Especially strong buildings helped us create strongholds, from which the defenders of the city mowed down the advancing fascists with machine guns and machine guns, ”general Vasily Chuikov, commander of the legendary 62nd Army, later noted.

Unparalleled in world history in terms of scale and ferocity, the Battle of Stalingrad, which became a turning point in the course of the entire Second World War, ended victoriously on February 2, 1943. But street fighting continued in Stalingrad until the end of the battle on the banks of the Volga.

One of the strongholds, the importance of which the Commander-62 spoke about, was the legendary Pavlov's House. Its end wall overlooked January 9 Square (later Lenin Square). The 42nd regiment of the 13th Guards Rifle Division operated at this turn, which joined the 62nd Army in September 1942 (commander General Alexander Rodimtsev). The house occupied an important place in the defense system of the Rodimtsev guardsmen on the outskirts of the Volga. It was a four-story brick building. However, he had a very important tactical advantage: from there he controlled the entire surrounding area. It was possible to observe and fire at the part of the city occupied by that time by the enemy: up to 1 km to the west, and even more to the north and south. But the main thing is that from here the paths of a possible breakthrough of the Germans to the Volga were visible: it was within easy reach. Intense fighting here continued for more than two months.

The tactical significance of the house was correctly assessed by the commander of the 42nd Guards Rifle Regiment, Colonel Ivan Yelin. He ordered the commander of the 3rd Infantry Battalion, Captain Alexei Zhukov, to seize the house and turn it into a stronghold. On September 20, 1942, the fighters of the squad, led by Sergeant Yakov Pavlov, made their way there. And on the third day, reinforcements arrived: a machine-gun platoon of Lieutenant Ivan Afanasyev (seven people with one heavy machine gun), a group of armor-piercers of senior sergeant Andrey Sobgaida (six people with three anti-tank rifles), four mortarmen with two mortars under the command of Lieutenant Alexei Chernyshenko and three machine gunners. Lieutenant Ivan Afanasiev was appointed commander of this group.

The Nazis almost all the time conducted massive artillery and mortar shelling around the house, attacked it from the air, and continuously attacked it. But the garrison of the "fortress" - this is how Pavlov's house was marked on the headquarters map of the commander of the 6th German army, Paulus - skillfully prepared him for all-round defense. The fighters fired from different places through loopholes pierced in bricked-up windows and holes in the walls. When the enemy tried to approach the building, he was met by dense machine-gun fire from all firing points. The garrison steadfastly repelled enemy attacks and inflicted significant losses on the Nazis. And most importantly, in operational and tactical terms, the defenders of the house did not allow the enemy to break through to the Volga in this area.

At the same time, Lieutenants Afanasiev, Chernyshenko and Sergeant Pavlov established fire cooperation with strongholds in neighboring buildings - in the house that was defended by the soldiers of Lieutenant Nikolai Zabolotny, and in the mill building, where the command post of the 42nd Infantry Regiment was located. The interaction was facilitated by the fact that an observation post was equipped on the third floor of Pavlov's house, which the Nazis could not suppress. “A small group, defending one house, destroyed more enemy soldiers than the Nazis lost during the capture of Paris,” said Army Commander-62 Vasily Chuikov.

INTERNATIONAL SQUAD

DEFENDERS

Pavlov's house was defended by fighters of different nationalities - Russians Pavlov, Alexandrov and Afanasiev, Ukrainians Sobgaida and Glushchenko, Georgians Mosiashvili and Stepanoshvili, Uzbek Turganov, Kazakh Murzaev, Abkhaz Sukhba, Tajik Turdyev, Tatar Romazanov. According to official figures - 24 fighters. But in reality - up to 30. Someone dropped out due to injury, someone died, but they got a replacement. One way or another, Sergeant Pavlov (he was born on October 17, 1917 in Valdai, Novgorod region) celebrated his 25th birthday in the walls of “his” house along with his fighting friends. True, nothing is written about this anywhere, and Yakov Fedotovich himself and his fighting friends preferred to remain silent on this score.

As a result of continuous shelling, the building was seriously damaged. One end wall was almost completely destroyed. In order to avoid losses from blockages, part of the firepower, by order of the regiment commander, was moved outside the building. But the defenders of the House of Sergeant Pavlov, the House of Lieutenant Zabolotny and the mill, turned into strongholds, continued to steadfastly hold the line, despite the fierce attacks of the enemy.

It is impossible not to ask: how did Sergeant Pavlov's brother-soldiers not only manage to survive in a fiery hell, but also effectively defend themselves? Firstly, not only Lieutenant Afanasiev, but also Sergeant Pavlov were experienced fighters. Yakov Pavlov has been in the Red Army since 1938, and this is a solid period. Before Stalingrad, he was the commander of the machine-gun squad, gunner. So he does not need experience. Secondly, the reserve positions they equipped helped a lot. In front of the house was a cemented fuel depot, an underground passage was dug to it. And about 30 meters from the house there was a water tunnel hatch, to which an underground passage was also made. Ammunition and meager supplies of food came to the defenders of the house through it.

During shelling, everyone, except for observers and outposts, descended into shelters. Including civilians who were in the basements, who for various reasons could not be evacuated immediately. The shelling stopped, and the entire small garrison was again in their positions in the house, again firing at the enemy.

For 58 days and nights the garrison of the house held the defense. The fighters left it on November 24, when the regiment, along with other units, launched a counteroffensive. All of them were awarded government awards. And Sergeant Pavlov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. True, after the war - by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of June 27, 1945 - after he had joined the party by that time.

For the sake of historical truth, we note that most of the time the defense of the outpost house was led by Lieutenant Afanasiev. But he was not awarded the title of Hero. In addition, Ivan Filippovich was a man of exceptional modesty and never stuck out his merits. And “above” they decided to present the junior commander to the high rank, who, together with his fighters, was the first to break through to the house and take up defense there. After the fighting, someone made a corresponding inscription on the wall of the building. She was seen by military leaders, war correspondents. Under the name "Pavlov's House" the object was originally listed in combat reports. One way or another, the building on January 9 Square went down in history as Pavlov's House. Yakov Fedotovich himself, despite being wounded, fought with dignity after Stalingrad - already as an artilleryman. He ended the war on the Oder in the uniform of a foreman. He was later promoted to an officer's rank.

FOLLOWING THE PARTICIPANTS

DEFENSE OF STALINGRAD

Now in the hero city there are about 8 thousand participants of the Great Patriotic War, of which 1200 direct participants in the Battle of Stalingrad, as well as 3420 combat veterans. Yakov Pavlov could rightly be on this list - he could remain in the restored city that he defended. By nature, he was very sociable, many times he met with the inhabitants who survived the war and restored it from the ruins. Yakov Fedotovich lived with the cares and interests of the city on the Volga, participated in events for patriotic education.

The legendary Pavlov's House in the city became the first restored building. And the first was telephoned. Moreover, part of the apartments there were received by those who came to the restoration of Stalingrad from all over the country. Not only Yakov Pavlov, but also other surviving defenders of the house, which went down in history under his name, have always been the dearest guests of the townspeople. In 1980, Yakov Fedotovich was awarded the title of "Honorary Citizen of the Hero City of Volgograd". But...

After demobilization in August 1946, he returned to his native Novgorod region. Was at work in party bodies in the city of Valdai. Received higher education. Three times he was elected a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR from the Novgorod region. Peaceful ones were added to his military awards: the Order of Lenin, the Order of the October Revolution, and medals.

Yakov Fedotovich Pavlov passed away in 1981 - the consequences of front-line wounds affected. But it just so happened that there were many legends and myths around the “House of Sergeant Pavlov” that went down in history and himself. Sometimes their echoes can be heard now. So, for many years the rumor was that Yakov Pavlov did not die at all, but took monastic tonsure and became Archimandrite Kirill. But at the same time, they say, he asked me to convey that he was not alive.

Is it so? The situation was investigated by the staff of the Volgograd State Panorama Museum of the Battle of Stalingrad. And what? Father Kirill in the world really was ... Pavlov. And he really participated in the Battle of Stalingrad. That's just with the name of the problem came out - Ivan. Moreover, Yakov and Ivan Pavlov were sergeants during the battle on the Volga, both ended the war as junior lieutenants. Ivan Pavlov served in the Far East in the initial period of the war, and in October 1941, as part of his unit, he arrived at the Volkhov Front. And then - Stalingrad. In 1942 he was wounded twice. But survived. When the fighting in Stalingrad died down, Ivan accidentally found among the rubble a gospel burnt by fire. He considered this a sign from above, and Ivan's war-scorched heart suggested: keep the volume with you!

In the ranks of the tank corps, Ivan Pavlov fought through Romania, Hungary and Austria. And everywhere with him in a knapsack was a burnt Stalingrad church book. Demobilized in 1946, he went to Moscow. In the Yelokhov Cathedral I asked: how to become a priest? And as he was, in military uniform, he went to enter the theological seminary. They say that many years later, Archimandrite Kirill was summoned to the military registration and enlistment office of the city of Sergiev Posad near Moscow and asked what to report “upstairs” about the defender of Stalingrad, Sergeant Pavlov. Kirill asked to be told that he was not alive.

But this is not the end of our story. During the search, the employees of the panorama museum (it is located just opposite the Pavlov House, across Sovetskaya Street, and I have been there many times as a student, as I studied at a nearby university) managed to establish the following. Among the participants in the Battle of Stalingrad were three Pavlovs, who became Heroes of the Soviet Union. In addition to Yakov Fedotovich, this is a tankman captain Sergei Mikhailovich Pavlov and an infantryman of the guard senior sergeant Dmitry Ivanovich Pavlov. On the Pavlovs and Afanasievs, as well as on the Ivanovs and Petrovs, Russia is holding on.

Volgograd–Moscow

Pavlov's house - by the fall of 1942, the only house that had survived the bombing in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe square named after. January 9. On the night of September 27, he was captured by a reconnaissance group (3 soldiers led by Sergeant Ya.F. Pavlov), the group held him for almost three days. Then reinforcements arrived under the command of Lieutenant I.F. Afanasiev, only 24 fighters. For 58 days, the garrison of Pavlov's house repelled enemy attacks, and on November 24, 1942, as part of the regiment, it went on the offensive ...

From the encyclopedia "The Great Patriotic War"

Her fate should be included in textbooks and encyclopedias. But, alas, you will not find the name of Zinaida Petrovna Selezneva (after Andreeva's husband) there. And without it, the history of the defense of Pavlov's house remains incomplete.

Zina was born in this house on July 11, 1942. It is hard to imagine what our fighters experienced when they looked at a baby swaddled in a footcloth who ended up on the front line. What were they thinking when they heard a child's cry between the explosions of shells. They did not tell anyone about this even after the Victory.

Only the dry result of the battle for the house near the Volga is known, which is still incomprehensible to Western historians: a handful of not very armed fighters (one heavy machine gun, three anti-tank rifles, two mortars and seven machine guns) held back the onslaught of enemy infantry, tanks and aircraft for almost two months !..

For a long time it was not possible to smuggle the mother and baby across the Volga, the house was under round-the-clock dense fire. The girl with her mother and several other women lived in the basement almost until the end of October.

The story of Zinaida Petrovna Andreeva, which I wrote back in 1990, did not find a place on the newspaper page at that time, only a few lines came out. Perhaps he seemed too ordinary in the editorial office ...

Zinaida Petrovna Selezneva (Andreeva) tells:

My grandfather and grandmother lived in this house. They had an office there - they worked as janitors. And when the bombing started, my mother ran to them. My father was taken to the defense of Stalingrad back in the spring, he was a worker at Red October. His name was Pyotr Pavlovich Seleznev. He didn't see me. So he died, not knowing that I was born ... There were no doctors, my mother's sisters helped in childbirth. The soldiers gave footcloths for diapers. The dysentery was terrible, and as soon as I was born, I began to die. They had already dug a grave for me in the earthen floor, and when they were digging, they came across an icon-medallion. As soon as it was shaken off the ground, I returned to life. But in this house there were still older children - five, six, seven years old ... Then we were transported across the Volga, and in 1943 we returned to the city. Mom went to the factory, lived in a dugout. Only in 1949 did they receive a room with a shared room. I remember the destroyed Stalingrad. I was about seven years old, my girlfriend went to music, and I went with her, I loved to carry her music folder. We lived very poorly, and I was so happy with this folder. Everything is destroyed, and we go to a music school.

After the eighth grade, she went to work, at the same time she studied at an evening school. He was elected secretary of the Komsomol committee. The first of those who defended our house, after the war, was Ivan Filippovich Afanasyev, lieutenant, commander of the garrison. Moreover, he remained blind after being wounded. He had two children, they lived very poorly, but he wanted to help us with something. I was eighteen years old, I studied at a technical school. Ivan Filippovich came to us with a stick, and my mother said: "We have guests ..."

Then Voronov, Ramazanov, Zhukov and Turgunov found out our address and began to send parcels. They all called me daughter. Turgunov sent me a certificate, in the village council he assured me that I was really born in Pavlov's house. This was for the benefit. The last letter is from him. He did not recognize periods, commas, but everything is clear anyway.

"Hello dear daughter Petrovna! First of all, let me greet you and your family, my warm, sincere, fiery greetings; Goodbye hugs and kisses with respect to you, your dear respected father. April 15, 1992 ... "

The last defender of the Pavlov House, Kamoljon Turgunov, died in March 2015 at the age of 92. 14 of his children, 62 grandchildren and 85 great-grandchildren live in Uzbekistan.

Saying goodbye to Zinaida Andreeva, I suddenly saw a photograph of Yuri Vizbor in her room. "Do you love Vizbor?" I rejoiced. “If it weren’t for him,” Zinaida Petrovna sighed, “my mother and I would still huddle in a communal apartment for a long time. Yuri came to Volgograd on a business trip from the audio magazine Krugozor. It seems he was preparing a report. We had a very short conversation, but he guessed how we live. He didn’t tell us anything, but he went to the regional committee himself. A month later we received a one-room apartment ... "

Yuri Vizbor

STALINGRAD MEDAL

Stalingrad medal, simple medal.
There are higher than this award.
But this steel shines with something special,
Circle of war - medal of Stalingrad.

Still to be through mud and ice
Pass half of Europe through bullets, shells.
But it shines already in the forty-third year
The star of victory is the medal of Stalingrad. From heaven it rains, then a cheerful snowball,

And life goes on, imagine how it should be.
I silently take this white circle
And silently kiss the medal of Stalingrad.
Drops of blood fell on the lush green grass.

Two colors converged, the steppe became world
crossroads.
No wonder the two great colors of this medal -
Green field with a thin red stripe.

Pavlov's house became one of the historical objects of the Battle of Stalingrad, which still causes controversy among modern historians.

During fierce fighting, the house withstood a considerable number of counterattacks from the Germans. For 58 days, a group of Soviet soldiers bravely held the line, destroying more than a thousand enemy soldiers during this period. In the post-war years, historians carefully tried to restore all the details, and the composition of the commanders who carried out the operation led to the first disagreements.

Who was on the defensive

According to the official version, Ya.F. Pavlov, in principle, is associated with this fact and the name of the house, which he received later. But there is another version, according to which Pavlov led the assault directly, and I.F. Afanasyev was then responsible for the defense. And this fact is confirmed by military reports, which became a source for restoring all the events of that period. According to his soldiers, Ivan Afanasyevich was a rather modest person, perhaps this pushed him a little into the background. After the war, Pavlov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In contrast, Afanasiev was not awarded such an award.

The strategic importance of the house

An interesting fact for historians was that the Germans marked this house on the map as a fortress. And indeed the strategic importance of the house was very important - from here a wide view of the territory was opened, from where the Germans could break through to the Volga. Despite the daily attacks from the enemy, our fighters defended their positions, reliably closing the approaches from the enemies. The Germans who took part in the assault could not understand how the people in Pavlov's house could withstand their attacks without food and ammunition reinforcements. Subsequently, it turned out that all provisions and weapons were delivered through a special trench dug underground.

Is Tolik Kuryshov a fictional character or a hero?

Also, a little-known fact that was discovered in the course of research was the heroism of an 11-year-old boy who fought along with the Pavlovians. Tolik Kuryshov helped the soldiers in every possible way, who, in turn, tried to protect him from danger. Despite the commander's ban, Tolik still managed to accomplish a real feat. Having penetrated into one of the neighboring houses, he was able to get documents important for the army - a plan of capture. After the war, Kuryshov did not advertise his feat in any way. We learned about this event from the surviving documents. After a series of investigations, Anatoly Kuryshov was awarded the Order of the Red Star.

Where were the civilians?

Was there an evacuation or not - this issue also caused a lot of controversy. According to one version, civilians were in the basement of the Pavlovsk house for 58 days. Although there is a thorium that people were evacuated through dug trenches. Yet modern historians adhere to the official version. Many documents testify that people really were in the basement all this time. Thanks to the heroism of our soldiers, none of the civilians suffered during these 58 days.

Today, Pavlov's house has been completely restored and immortalized with a memorial wall. On the basis of the events associated with the heroic defense of the legendary house, books have been written and even a film has been made that has won many world awards.