How many heroes lay chest on the embrasure

In the modern Russian language, widespread verbal stamps are common, which have become so because of frequent use. "Mamaev's ruin" is the disorder in the house, the "ice slaughter" - the victory of our hockey team, the "Mongol-Tatar yoke" - the oppressed position of the henpecked husband, "like a Swede near Poltava" - about someone's extremely difficult situation. Each of these formulations originated for historical reasons, although not everyone who uses them knows about which. The winged expression "chest-closed embrasure" is applied to those who could make a decisive contribution to the success of a case, disregarding personal interests and not paying attention to obstacles, and sometimes a threat to their own interests, of course, in a figurative sense.

This phrase has come into use relatively recently. The case was near Pskov, where in February 1943 the Soviet army conducted heavy offensive battles, acting against the German Army Group North. Of the three German bunkers, two were suppressed, the third was stubborn. Ordinary 2nd Battalion of 91st Separate Siberian Brigade named after Stalin Alexander Matrosov managed to get close to him from the flank nearest to all and throw two grenades into the loophole. The machine gun stopped, but after a short time the enemy fire resumed, apparently, one of the shooters survived. Then the Sailors lay down on the embrasure with his chest and, at the cost of his own life, enabled the attacking battalion to continue the attack for several minutes, which turned out to be precious.

The hero was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, and his exploit was actively used by military propaganda to raise morale and as an example for imitation. Many printed editions, from front-page sheets to the central press, described in a colorful manner how exactly Matrosov threw himself chest on the embrasure. A photo of a simple Russian soldier was replicated. The date of the heroic deed was transferred from 29 to 23 February, as if it was timed to coincide with the day of the Soviet Army. The last words that Aleksandr shouted, lying on their chests on the embrasure, were not ignored. Of course, without mentioning the native party, the beloved Soviet homeland and Stalin's name, this feat could not be committed. It turned out that he was preceded by a rather long, ideologically verified speech.

In the post-war years, Alexander Matrosov, along with Nikolai Gastello, Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, Victor Talalikhin and other heroes who sacrificed their lives in the name of Victory, entered the official historiography of the Great Patriotic War. How everything really happened and what words he shouted, rushing chest on the embrasure, no one had ever figured out. Usually, everything that often repeats itself gradually becomes an indisputable truth.

However, people who fought and had experience in breaking through the fortified positions of the enemy, sometimes in private conversations, expressed cautious doubts about the effectiveness of this method of suppressing firing points. Hypothetically, you can block the line of fire with your own body, but you need to act very carefully in order to fall just as the situation requires. Again, the defending opponent can push the corpse with the barrel of a machine gun. In general, there are many inconsistencies. Even the opinion was expressed that the Sailors did not want to lie down on the embrasure, but simply fell in front of it, trying to hit the enemy with more realistic means, such as the same grenades. Saying such considerations for many decades was risky, as well as casting doubt on the whole official version of Soviet historical science.

Actually, what Alexander Matrosov thought about at the time of his death does not matter much. Another thing is important. In any case, he was a real hero, like all Soviet soldiers who fell in battle or returned from the war. And before 1943 and after it only more than two dozen such exploits were officially recorded, but the names of those who committed them are not so widely known. Biography of Alexander Matrosov was quite suitable for military propaganda, and his simple Russian name was remembered more easily than, for example, the name of Gerai Lyatif oglu Asadov, who also closed the embrasure with his body.

Eternal glory to the fallen defenders of the Motherland!