Nikolai Sirotinin: the heroic deed of a Soviet soldier

The story of Nikolay Sirotinin first became public in the distant 1958. Then unknown to anyone the librarian of the village of Sokolnichi V. Melnik described the story of the opposition of an artillery soldier to an enemy tank battalion. Nikolai Sirotinin, whose exploit still remains a vivid example of the personal heroism of a Soviet soldier, became the main hero of this story.

Nikolay Sirotinin: data about the fighter

In the family of Vladimir Kuzmich Sirotinin and Elena Korneevna Sirotinina, on March 7, 1921, a son was born, who was named Nikolai. The father of the boy worked as a locomotive driver, his mother worked on farming and raised children, there were three of them besides Kolya in the family. There was a family in the city of Eagle. After graduation, it is known that Nikolai worked at the Tekmash plant. In 1940 he was drafted to the front. Served as an ordinary soldier of the Red Army near Polotsk.

Nikolai Sirotinin: a feat

In June 1940, the Belarusian city of Krichev attempted to occupy the 4th Panzer Division, which was in the group of troops of Heinz Guderian, one of the outstanding German commanders. Separate units of the 13th Soviet Army were forced to retreat. To cover the retreat of the column, it was necessary to support artillery. Two gunmen left the gun and a twenty-year-old, frail little boy Nikolai Vladimirovich Sirotinin. The gun was hidden in a collective farm field in high rye. The disposition of the Russians was good, the gun stood on a hill, but the enemy did not see them. Before the gunners opened an overview of the road and bridge across the river Dobrost.

July 17, 1941, a column of German tanks drove to the highway. The battery commander coordinated the shooting from the guns. The first shot, Sergeant Sirotinin, killed the first tank on the bridge, the second hit the armored personnel carrier with a closing convoy. So the young fighter managed to create a cork. The enemy, in turn, decided that he was dealing with a whole battery of guns and at least a dozen soldiers.

At this time, the lieutenant-spotter was wounded and retreated to the rest of the units. Nikolai was to follow the example of his commander, but Sirotinin saw that he still had 60 shells, he remained to hold off the onslaught of the enemy.

A cork was formed on the bridge, two tanks tried to push the pod car, but they were waiting for the same fate. As a result, the hero Sirotinin knocked 11 tanks, 6 armored personnel carriers, 57 infantrymen.

Only two hours later the enemy command determined where the gun of Nicholas was. By this time he had three shells left. At the end of the battle, the artilleryman fired back from the carbine, but he was not given up alive, although the German commander offered such an option.

Nikolai Sirotinin, whose feat went down in the history of the Great Patriotic War, was buried as a hero in the village of Sokolnichi by the German military. For a long time the enemies could not believe that they were opposed only by one Russian.

The history was restored thanks to the notes of General Friedrich Hendlef, commander of the 4th Panzer Division. Yes, and villagers from the village of Sokolniki heard a triple volley was released into the sky.

Fiction or a real story?

Nikolai Sirotinin, whose feat was an example of courage and valor on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, when the enemy was strong, and the Russian soldier had only a gun, became famous throughout the country. This story was published by a local historian from Krichev MF. Melnikov in the magazine "Ogonyok" in 1958. Modern researchers decided to track the authenticity of the battle at Sokolniki and found out that indeed such a defensive operation was carried out and the Soviet troops really managed to detain the enemy on the outskirts of the city.

Also today, the fact is known that this feat of the Soviet soldier Nikolai Sirotinin was reissued two years later in the "Literature." In this article, the story is overgrown with facts, and the number of damaged equipment has become much larger.

In 1987, in the book "It Was Our End of the Expensive Centuries," the same local historian published the story "The Word of the Great Soldier," in which he embellished the legend.

And was Nicholas?

Among the researchers of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet period such inconsistency of the facts for some reason did not cause doubts. Modern historians came to a more detailed study of this issue. They found out that in fact there was such a soldier Nikolai Vladimirovich Sirotinin, but only he served in another division, which had never been in these parts.

But anyway, the battle near the village of Sokolnichi took place. This is a historically reliable fact, documented.

As for the feat done by Sirotinin, there is no documentary confirmation, except for the local historian's notes. The graves of the Russian soldier-hero are also not there. According to eyewitnesses, she was moved to another place, and the remains of Nicholas are reburied in a mass grave. W tion of the Hero of the Soviet Union, the legendary warrior was not received because of the lack of photos of the relatives of the deceased. Posthumously he was awarded only the Order of the Second World War of the 1st degree.

One of the researchers of our time "unearthed" the real story of the battle on the Warsaw highway, which was held in those days on the outskirts of the city of Krichev. The troops of the Red Army began hastily retreating beyond the Sozh River. The second infantry battalion under the command of Nikolai Andreevich Kim, a Korean by nationality, was to cover up the soldiers. He from the first day of the war joined the ranks of the Red Army, went this way to the end and remained alive. This is his fighters have fulfilled the task assigned to them, detained the enemy and allowed the Russian soldiers to relocate without significant losses.

"Nikolai Sirotinin: A warrior in the field, 41-year feat"

In 2013, one of the patriotically tuned channels was shot a forty-minute film about the heroes of the Great Patriotic War (in particular, the author tried to perpetuate a lone artilleryman Nikolai Sirotinin). As documentary evidence were provided archival evidence of the residents of the village of Sokolnichi. The picture was very instructive, emotional and motivating. The author tried to show that Nikolai Sirotnin performed his feat not because he was fearless, but because of a sense of duty and love for his homeland.

The role of single heroes in the Great Patriotic War

During the Great Patriotic War, there were people whose personal example allowed to raise the fighting spirit of the Russian soldier, who in the first failed years of defeats on the entire front line was very weak. It was thanks to such heroes, let legendary, was repulsed by fascist Germany. Nikolai Sirotinin is a collective image of a Russian soldier, a hero who alone can stop the division and defeat the enemy with bare hands.

Such legends are important for the upbringing of modern youth, but do not forget about real people who have accomplished this feat. At the cost of their lives, they defeated the enemy, enabled us, future generations, to live in peacetime and breathe deeply.