Myth or truth: did Panfilov’s heroic deed really happen? Panfilov's heroes. The story of the feat of 28 Panfilov men - a real story or not

According to the classic version of the feat, on November 16, 1941, 28 people from the personnel of the 4th company of the 2nd battalion of the 1075th rifle regiment led by the political instructor of the 4th company Vasily Klochkov

At the request of citizens

State Archives Russian Federation, headed by Doctor of Historical Sciences Sergei Mironenko, gave a new reason for discussion about the feat of 28 Panfilov heroes.

“Due to numerous requests from citizens, institutions and organizations, we are posting a certificate-report of the chief military prosecutor N. Afanasyeva“About 28 Panfilovites” dated May 10, 1948, based on the results of an investigation by the Main Military Prosecutor’s Office, stored in the collections of the USSR Prosecutor’s Office,” says a message on the website of the State Archive of the Russian Federation.

The publication of this certificate-report is not a sensation - its existence is known to everyone who was interested in the history of the feat.

On its basis, the head of the State Archive of the Russian Federation, citizen Mironenko, himself made statements that “there were no 28 Panfilov heroes - this is one of the myths propagated by the state.”

But before we talk about myth and truth, let's remember the classic story of Panfilov's heroes.

Classic version of the feat

Political instructor Vasily Klochkov. Photo: Public Domain

According to it, on November 16, 1941, 28 people from the personnel of the 4th company of the 2nd battalion of the 1075th rifle regiment, led by the political instructor of the 4th company Vasily Klochkov held the defense against the advancing Nazis in the area of ​​the Dubosekovo junction, 7 kilometers southeast of Volokolamsk. During the 4-hour battle, they destroyed 18 enemy tanks, and the German advance towards Moscow was suspended. All 28 fighters were killed in the battle.

In April 1942, when the feat of 28 Panfilov men became widely known in the country, the command of the Western Front came out with a petition to award all 28 soldiers the title of Heroes Soviet Union. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated July 21, 1942, all 28 guardsmen listed in the essay Krivitsky, was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

The “resurrected” Dobrobabin managed to serve the Germans and take Vienna

The investigation, a certificate-report on the results of which was published by GARF, began in November 1947, when the military prosecutor's office of the Kharkov garrison was arrested and prosecuted for treason against the Motherland. Ivan 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.

When Dobrobabin was arrested again after the war, during a search they found a book about 28 Panfilov heroes, in which it was written in black and white that he... was one of the dead heroes and, accordingly, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Dobrobabin, understanding the situation he found himself in, honestly told how it happened. He actually took part in the battle at the Dubosekovo junction, but was not killed, but received a shell shock and was captured. Having escaped from the prisoner of war camp, Dobrobabin did not make his way to his own people, but went to his native village, which was under occupation, where he soon accepted the elder’s offer to join the police.

But this is not all the vicissitudes of his fate. When the Red Army went on the offensive again in 1943, Dobrobabin fled to his relatives in the Odessa region, where no one knew about his work for the Germans, waited for the arrival of Soviet troops, was again called up for military service, participated in the Iasi-Kishinev operation, the capture of Budapest and Vienna, ended the war in Austria.

By the verdict of the military tribunal of the Kiev Military District on June 8, 1948, Ivan Dobrobabin was sentenced to 15 years in prison with disqualification for five years, confiscation of property and deprivation of medals “For the Defense of Moscow” and “For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941.” -1945”, “For the capture of Vienna” and “For the capture of Budapest”; By decree of the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces of February 11, 1949, he was deprived of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

During the 1955 amnesty, his sentence was reduced to 7 years, after which he was released.

Ivan Dobrobabin moved in with his brother, lived an ordinary life and died in December 1996 at the age of 83.

Krivitsky list

But let's go back to 1947, when it turned out that one of the 28 Panfilov men, not only was alive, but also got dirty with his service with the Germans. The prosecutor's office was ordered to check all the circumstances of the battle at the Dubosekovo crossing in order to find out how everything really happened.

According to the materials of the prosecutor's office, the first description of the battle of the Panfilov guardsmen who stopped German tanks appeared in the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper in an essay by a front-line correspondent Vasily Koroteeva. This note did not name the names of the heroes, but said that “every one of them died, but they did not let the enemy through.”

The next day, the editorial “The Testament of 28 Fallen Heroes” appeared in the Red Star, which stated that 28 soldiers stopped the advance of 50 enemy tanks, destroying 18 of them. The note was signed by the literary secretary of “Red Star” Alexander Krivitsky.

And finally, on January 22, 1942, signed by Alexander Krivitsky, the material “About 28 Fallen Heroes” appeared, which became the basis for the classic version of the feat. There, for the first time, all 28 heroes were named by name - Klochkov Vasily Georgievich, Dobrobabin Ivan Evstafievich, Shepetkov Ivan Alekseevich, Kryuchkov Abram Ivanovich, Mitin Gavriil Stepanovich, Kasaev Alikbay, Petrenko Grigory Alekseevich, Esibulatov Narsutbay, Kaleinikov Dmitry Mitrofanovich, Natarov Ivan Moiseevich, Shemyakin Gregory Mikhailovich, Dutov Pyotr Danilovich, Mitchenko Nikita, Shopokov Duishenkul, Konkin Grigory Efimovich, Shadrin Ivan Demidovich, Moskalenko Nikolay, Yemtsov Pyotr Kuzmich, Kuzhebergenov Daniil Alexandrovich, Timofeev Dmitry Fomich, Trofimov Nikolay Ignatievich, Bondarenko Yakov Alexandrovich, Vasiliev Larion Romanovich , Belashev Nikolay Nikonorovich , Bezrodny Grigory, Sengirbaev Musabek, Maksimov Nikolay, Ananyev Nikolay.

Archbishop Pitirim of Volokolamsk and his entourage, participants in the World Conference “Religious Leaders for Saving the Sacred Gift of Life from a Nuclear Catastrophe,” laid wreaths at the memorial at the Dubosekovo crossing, the site of the feat of 28 soldiers. Photo: RIA Novosti / Yuri Abramochkin

Survivors of Dubosekovo

In 1947, prosecutors checking the circumstances of the battle at the Dubosekovo crossing found out that not only Ivan Dobrobabin survived. “Resurrected” Daniil Kuzhebergenov, Grigory Shemyakin, Illarion Vasiliev, Ivan Shadrin. Later it became known that Dmitry Timofeev was also alive.

All of them were wounded in the battle at Dubosekovo; Kuzhebergenov, Shadrin and Timofeev passed through German captivity.

It was especially difficult for Daniil Kuzhebergenov. He spent only a few hours in captivity, but that was enough to accuse him of voluntarily surrendering to the Germans. As a result, in the presentation for the award, his name was replaced by a namesake, who, even theoretically, could not participate in that battle. And if the rest of the survivors, except for Dobrobabin, were recognized as heroes, then Daniil Kuzhebergenov, until his death in 1976, remained only a partially recognized participant in the legendary battle.

Meanwhile, employees of the prosecutor's office, having studied all the materials and heard the testimony of witnesses, came to the conclusion - “the feat of 28 Panfilov guardsmen, covered in the press, is an invention of the correspondent Koroteev, the editor of the Red Star Ortenberg, and especially the literary secretary of the newspaper Krivitsky.”

Panfilov heroes, veterans of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 Illarion Romanovich Vasiliev (left) and Grigory Melentyevich Shemyakin at a ceremonial meeting dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi troops near Moscow, in the Kremlin Palace. Photo: RIA Novosti / Vladimir Savostyanov

Testimony of the regiment commander

This conclusion is based on interrogations of Krivitsky, Koroteev and the commander of the 1075th Infantry Regiment Ilya Kaprova. All 28 Panfilov heroes served in Karpov’s regiment.

During interrogation at the prosecutor’s office in 1948, Kaprov testified: “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 division’s political department 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 fought with German tanks, and especially the 4th company of the 2nd battalion, but I don’t know anything about the battle of 28 guardsmen... The captain gave Krivitsky’s last name from memory Gundilovic, who had conversations with him on this topic, there were and could not be any documents about the battle of 28 Panfilov’s men in the regiment.”

T-34 tank on the distant approaches to the capital, in the Volokolamsk highway area, Western Front. November 1941. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

Interrogations of journalists

Alexander Krivitsky testified during interrogation: “When talking in the PUR with Comrade Krapivin, he was interested in 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,” I told him that I made it up I 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.”

And here’s what Vasily Koroteev said: “Around November 23-24, 1941, I, together with a war correspondent for 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, 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 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 people who fought was 28, since two of the 30 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.”

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

“I was told that I would end up in Kolyma”

So, there was no feat of the 28 Panfilov heroes, and this is a literary fiction? This is what the head of GARF Mironenko and his supporters think.

But don't rush to conclusions.

Firstly, Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) Andrey Zhdanov, to whom the findings of the prosecutor's investigation were reported, did not give them any progress. Let’s say a party leader decided to “drop the question.”

Alexander Krivitsky in the 1970s talked about how the investigation of the prosecutor’s office proceeded in 1947-1948: “I was told that if I refuse to testify, that I completely invented the description of the battle at Dubosekovo and that none of the seriously wounded or those who remained I didn’t talk to any living Panfilovites before publishing the article, then I’ll soon find myself in Pechora or Kolyma. In such a situation, I had to say that the battle at Dubosekovo was my literary fiction.”

Regimental commander Kaprov in his other testimony was also not so categorical: “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 in 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 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: 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."

“Memorial to the Panfilov heroes” at the Dubosekovo crossing. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

There was a battle at Dubosekovo, the company fought heroically

Testimony from local residents indicates that on November 16, 1941, at the Dubosekovo crossing, there really was a battle between Soviet soldiers and the advancing Germans. Six fighters, including political instructor Klochkov, were buried by residents of surrounding villages.

No one doubts that the soldiers of the 4th company at the Dubosekovo junction fought heroically.

There is no doubt that the 316th Infantry Division of General Panfilov, in defensive battles in the Volokolamsk direction in November 1941, managed to hold back the enemy’s onslaught, which became the most important factor that allowed the Nazis to be defeated near Moscow.

According to archival data from the USSR Ministry of Defense, the entire 1075th rifle regiment On November 16, 1941, he destroyed 15 or 16 tanks and about 800 enemy personnel. That is, we can say that 28 soldiers at the Dubosekovo crossing did not destroy 18 tanks and not all of them died.

But there is no doubt that their perseverance and courage, their self-sacrifice made it possible to defend Moscow.

Of the 28 people included in the lists of heroes, 6, who were considered dead, wounded and shell-shocked, miraculously survived. One of them turned out to be Ivan Dobrobabin who was cowardly. Does this negate the feat of the other 27?

Memorial in Dubosekovo. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / Lodo27

300 Spartans - a myth propagated by the Greek state?

One of the most famous military exploits in the history of mankind, which everyone has heard about, is the feat of the 300 Spartans who fell in the Battle of Thermopylae against the 200,000-strong Persian army in 480 BC.

Not everyone knows that it was not only 300 Spartans who fought the Persians at Thermopylae. Total number The Greek army, representing not only Sparta, but also other policies, according to various estimates, ranged from 5,000 to 12,000 people. Of these, about 4,000 died in the battle, and about 400 were captured. Moreover, according to Herodotus, at Theromopylae not all of the 300 warriors died Tsar Leonid. Warrior Pantin, sent by Leonidas as a messenger and only therefore not being on the battlefield, hanged himself, because shame and contempt awaited him in Sparta. Aristodemus, who was not on the battlefield only because of illness, drank the cup of shame to the end, living the rest of his years with the nickname Aristodemus the Coward. And this despite the fact that he fought heroically in subsequent battles with the Persians.

Despite all these circumstances, you are unlikely to see Greek historians or the head of the Greek archive frantically bombarding the Greek media with materials about how “the 300 Spartans are a myth propagated by the state.”

So why, tell me, will Russia never stop trying to trample on its heroes who gave their lives in the name of the Fatherland?

Heroes remain heroes

Historians agree that the feat of 28 Panfilov heroes was of great significance, playing an exceptional mobilizing role, becoming an example of perseverance, courage and self-sacrifice. The phrase “Russia is great, but there is nowhere to retreat - Moscow is behind us!” became a symbol of the defenders of the Motherland for decades to come.

In the fall of 2015, the film “Panfilov’s 28” directed by Andrey Shalopa. Fundraising for the film, which will tell the classic story of the feat of the defenders of Moscow, was and is being carried out using the crowdfunding method. The project “Panfilov’s 28” raised 31 million rubles, which makes it one of the most successful crowdfunding projects in Russian cinema.

Perhaps this is the best answer to the question of what the feat of 28 Panfilov heroes means for our contemporaries.

Panfilov’s soldiers are the soldiers of the 316th Rifle Division (from November 18, 1941 - the 8th Guards Division, from November 23 - named after its deceased commander, Major General I.V. Panfilov), who showed in October - November 1941 during the Moscow battles of mass heroism in defensive battles in the Volokolamsk direction.

On November 16, 28 soldiers of the 4th company of the 2nd battalion of the 1075th rifle regiment under the command of political instructor Vasily Georgievich Klochkov, who occupied the defense 7 km southeast of Volokolamsk, in the area of ​​​​the Dubosekovo crossing, showed unparalleled heroism and fortitude on November 16.

Panfilov’s men in a 4-hour battle destroyed 18 enemy tanks and almost all died, including Klochkov, but did not let the German tanks pass. 28 Panfilov men were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. This battle is known in history as the feat of 28 Panfilov heroes. 1975 - the memorial ensemble “Feat of 28” was erected at the site of the battle.”

28 Panfilovites (alternative versions of the feat)

Modern historians present the battle at Dubosekovo in a completely different light. Some of them even question the official version of the battle of 28 Panfilov men.

How many Panfilovites were there?

The investigation, which was carried out after the war by the MGB and the military prosecutor's office, showed that in the legendary battle at the Dubosekovo crossing it was not 28 “Panfilofe Guardsmen” who took part, but a full company of 120–140 people, which was crushed by German tanks, having managed to knock out only 5-6 of them. No more than 25–30 fighters survived, the rest died or were captured.

An error crept in in the first newspaper reports about the feat of Panfilov’s men, because journalists, from the words of political workers, decided that the company was incomplete and consisted of only 30 people. Since it was known that at the beginning of the battle two fighters defected to the fascists, Red Star editor-in-chief David Ortenberg subtracted two traitors from 30 and received the number 28, which became canonical. However, in the essay he allowed to write only about one traitor, whom the Red Army soldiers allegedly immediately shot. Two traitors, and even for 30 people, would be a lot and would not allow us to talk about an insignificant renegade.

Mentions of combat

There is no mention of the battle with such details either in Soviet or German official documents. 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 Army, General, says anything about him - Lieutenant Rokossovsky. There are no reports about it in German sources either (and the loss of 18 tanks in one battle was a notable event for the Nazis at the end of 1941).

Is the legendary feat a fiction of journalists?

The version that there was no battle as such at all was publicly voiced by many historians. Sergei Mironenko, who then headed the state archive, officially stated that the whole story about the feat of Panfilov’s men is just a myth. Based on declassified archives, some historians came to the conclusion that the legendary feat was an invention of Red Star journalist Alexander Krivitsky (literary secretary of the newspaper), who was the first to talk about the battle. Finding himself on the front line, he tried to write an essay about the events taking place. Everything about the battle was recorded from the words of the current division commissar, who spoke about the battle in great detail. The battle was fought by the 4th company, which consisted of more than 120 soldiers, and not 28 heroes, as was later said in the printed publication. Many facts are distorted.

During interrogation, Krivitsky testified: During a conversation in the PUR with Comrade Krapivin, he was 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 told him that I had invented this myself...

Krivitsky and Koroteev, the authors of the material published in Krasnaya Zvezda, stated during the investigation that they were based only on oral stories of fellow soldiers who died and their colleagues, war correspondents, but were not familiar with anyone who could definitely know the details of the battle. The military prosecutor's office came to the conclusion that the story, as published in Krasnaya Zvezda, was the work of journalists. But the battle actually took place.

Unexpected arrest

1948 - in the Kharkov region. They arrested the former soldier Dobrobabin, who was captured by the Germans during the war. During his arrest, a book was found on him, describing the feat of Panfilov’s men and, in particular, his name was indicated as one of the dead participants in the battle. The main military prosecutor's office of the USSR conducted an investigation, during which it was possible to find out that several more people who were considered killed in the battle at the Dubosekovo crossing actually survived, and the described clash cited by journalists does not have direct documentary evidence - and the very fact of the battle is in doubt was not installed.

Not only Ivan Dobrobabin survived. They “resurrected” Daniil Kuzhebergenov, Grigory Shemyakin, Illarion Vasiliev, Ivan Shadrin. Later it became known that Dmitry Timofeev was also alive. All of them were wounded in the battle at Dubosekovo; Kuzhebergenov, Shadrin and Timofeev passed through German captivity.

From the testimony of Colonel Kaprova

All 28 Panfilov heroes served in Ilya Karpov’s regiment. During interrogation at the prosecutor's office in 1948, Kaprov (commander of the 1075th Infantry Regiment) testified: “There was no battle between 28 Panfilov men and fascist tanks at the Dubosekovo crossing on November 16, 1941 - this is a complete fiction. That day, at the Dubosekovo crossing, as part of the 2nd battalion, the 4th company fought with German tanks, and in fact fought heroically. More than 100 people from the company died and not 28, as written in the newspapers. None of the correspondents contacted me at that time; I never told anyone about the battle of 28 Panfilov’s men, and I couldn’t tell, because there was no such battle. I did not write any political report on this matter. I don’t know, based on what materials they wrote in newspapers, in particular in Krasnaya Zvezda, about the battle of 28 guardsmen from the division named after. Panfilova.

Memorial at the Dubosekovo crossing, dedicated to the feat of 28 Panfilov heroes

There was a battle at Dubosekovo

According to the testimony of local residents, on November 16, 1941, at the Dubosekovo crossing, there was actually a battle between Soviet soldiers and the Germans. Six fighters, including political instructor Klochkov, were buried by residents of surrounding villages.

No one doubts that the soldiers of the 4th company at the Dubosekovo junction fought heroically.

There is no doubt that the 316th Rifle Division of General Panfilov in defensive battles in the Volokolamsk direction in November 1941 was able to hold back the enemy onslaught, which became the most important factor that allowed the Germans to be defeated near Moscow.

According to the archives of the USSR Ministry of Defense, the entire 1075th Infantry Regiment on November 16, 1941 destroyed 15 or 16 tanks and about 800 enemy personnel. That is, we can say that 28 soldiers at the Dubosekovo crossing did not destroy 18 tanks and not all of them died.

conclusions

Based on the explanations of eyewitnesses of the battle and hundreds of declassified archives, historians still managed to establish the truth - the battle actually took place, and there was a feat. Only the fact of the existence of these same 28 Panfilovites remains a big question.

For two years, representatives of the Russian Military Historical Society studied the archives. Declassified case classified as “Smersh” 1942-1944. designed to put an end to endless attempts at ideological reconstruction of the feat of our soldiers at the Dubosekovo crossing in 1941. Among the evidence of the feat are two descriptions of the battle, three new evidence that Panfilov’s men really fought to the death, details of how the heroes died, as well as confirmation of the phrase spoken by political instructor Klochkov:

Russia is great, but there is nowhere to retreat - Moscow is behind us!

There is evidence, but where did the long-term doubts come from? For decades, the feat of 28 Panfilov men was shrouded in many versions, conjectures and assumptions.

Photo: Diego Fiore / Shutterstock.com

It all started with articles by journalist Koroteev and literary secretary Krivitsky, who talked about the unequal battle of Panfilov’s men on the pages of “Red Star”. (“Testament of 28 fallen heroes” dated November 28, 1941, “About 28 fallen heroes” dated January 22, 1942). The first article described some details of the battle, during which 18 enemy tanks were destroyed.

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... laid down their heads - all twenty-eight. They died, but did not let the enemy through...

In the second, January article, Krivitsky already published the names and surnames of Panfilov’s men who died in the unequal battle.

The battle lasted more than four hours. Already fourteen tanks stood motionless on the battlefield. Sergeant Dobrobabin has already been killed, fighter Shemyakin has been killed... Konkin, Shadrin, Timofeev and Trofimov are dead... With inflamed eyes, Klochkov looked at his comrades - “Thirty tanks, friends,” he told the soldiers, “we will all have to die, probably. Russia is great, but there is nowhere to retreat. Moscow is behind us.”... Kuzhebergenov walks straight under the barrel of an enemy machine gun, arms crossed over his chest, and falls dead...

By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated July 21, 1942, at the request of the command of the Western Front, all 28 guardsmen who were listed in Krivitsky’s article were posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Russian State University for the Humanities historian Alexander Krushelnitsky is not inclined to believe that there were exactly 50 tanks, as was written in the article, but at the same time he does not question the feat of Panfilov’s men and other defenders of Moscow.

Tanks never went into battle just like that, on their own. Behind them came the infantrymen who carried out the breakthrough. Subsequently, the Germans simply called them “shell grenadiers.” And the density of machine-gun fire that these infantrymen created was such that not one of the 28, if there were only 28 of them and if they were armed only exclusively with small arms and Molotov cocktails, not one of them simply survived would. Because 50 tanks are not even 50 cars on the road. Any person who served in the army, who underwent the so-called tank test, knows what a tank attack is. And he knows how high a degree of courage is required to simply stay in place, not to run. Honor and glory to those of our guys, may the kingdom of heaven be upon them, who then died near Moscow, who did not run and actually stopped the tanks. Many more of our soldiers died there. And the whole trouble is that those who died there are still nameless. And this is a huge number of people.

Many historians, oddly enough, were wary of the information about the disclosure of new documents about the feat of 28 Panfilov men. Some are convinced that the feat at the Dubosekovo crossing is just Krivitsky’s author’s fantasy. But in this case there is a purely scientific approach. The same cannot be said about those who are directly interested in the deheroization of our history. Many of them specifically drew attention at one time to the fact that articles about Panfilov’s men and Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya appeared in newspapers almost simultaneously. There were many conspiracy theories and desires to once again accuse people of deliberate glorification for the purpose of propaganda of people who fought on the fields of the Great Patriotic War. In the case of the Panfilovites, the reason for doubt was a certificate - the report of the chief military prosecutor N. Afanasyev “About 28 Panfilovites” dated May 10, 1948, which in our time was presented by the State Archives of the Russian Federation and with which it all began:

Based on the materials of the inspection, as well as the personal explanations of Koroteev, Krivitsky and the editor of “Red Star” Ortenberg, it was established that the feat of 28 Panfilov guardsmen, covered in the press, is an invention of the correspondent Koroteev, Ortenberg and especially Krivitsky.

Photo: www.globallookpress.com

The note itself told how in November 1947, the military prosecutor's office of the Kharkov garrison arrested Ivan Evstafievich Dobrobabin for treason. . During his arrest, they found a book about “28 Panfilov heroes,” and he himself was listed as one of the participants in the heroic battle at Dubosekovo, for which he received the title of Hero.

Read also:

Soldier's honor: archival data revealed the truth about 28 Panfilovites and unknown defenders of Moscow On the Day of the Unknown Soldier, the Russian Ministry of Defense declassified documents telling about the exploits of the defenders of Moscow...

During the interrogation of Dobrobabin, it turned out that other participants in the battle were also alive, there were no feats, and everything that was written about Panfilov’s men was nothing more than fiction. Based on this stuffing, it was decided to conduct a more detailed investigation. The articles of “Red Star” were subjected to detailed analysis.

One more circumstance was also taken into account. In May 1942, Red Army soldier Daniil Aleksandrovich Kuzhebergenov was arrested for voluntarily surrendering to German captivity, posing as a surviving Panfilov hero. Later, he admitted that he did not participate in the battle of Dubosekovo, but gave evidence based on newspaper articles, taking advantage of the fact that his name was indicated in the essay.

At the request of the commander of the 1075th regiment, Colonel Kaprov, instead of Daniil Kuzhebergenov, Askar Kuzhebergenov, who allegedly died in a battle with German tanks near Dubosekovo, was included in the Decree on awarding. However, Askar is not listed on the lists of the 4th company of the Kuzherbegenovs and, thus, could not have been among the “28 Panfilovites.”

It was on this certificate that the heroic story of “Panfilov’s 28 men” crumbled in 1948. Krivitsky himself subsequently admitted that he was under pressure at that time. There are also publicly available testimonies from local residents, from which it follows that the battle did take place. This is how the chairman of the Nelidovo Council, Smirnova, described that day:

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 me, were hiding in shelters... The Germans entered the area of ​​our village and the Dubosekovo crossing on November 16, 1941 and were repulsed in units Soviet army 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 the village.

Photo: www.globallookpress.com

About the same thing can be read in the stories of other residents. They also recalled how they carried the corpse of political instructor Klochkov to the mass grave. According to Doctor of Historical Sciences, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vladimir Lavrov, it is too early to draw 100% conclusions about what actually happened at the Dubosekovo crossing, since any historical documents require detailed and thorough study.

“Now the Minister of Culture (Vladimir Medinsky - approx. Constantinople) came out with the fact that documents had been found confirming that there were 28 of them, that this was the battle. But I haven’t seen the documents themselves yet. You need to watch them and only then respond to them. Historical science is such that they will find just one document, and it will turn out that things were not quite as they thought before. But if we take Mironenko’s position, scientific supervisor State Archives of the Russian Federation, he relied on documents from 1948 as a professional historian. The minister said that for us the myth is more important than the historical truth. But if Medinsky’s assistants found documents confirming his, Medinsky’s, position, and confirming what was published during the war, well, wonderful. Even if we proceed from the documents of 1948, it was certainly a feat. And not 28, but a much larger number of people.”

Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky today refers to earlier documents from 1942-43, which indicate that the feat of 28 Panfilovites took place. As for who might need the falsification, there is a version that it was necessary against the backdrop of a wave of repression by the army generals and it was necessary to find at least some reasons to bring army officials to justice. Historians and publicists are now actively discussing the latest information about the feat of 28 Panfilov men.

V. Medinsky. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

As for this particular battle, my position remains the same, that in the form, in the form in which this battle was described and then replicated in Soviet propaganda materials, this battle did not happen, says the editor-in-chief of the Skepticism magazine, Ph.D. Sciences Sergey Soloviev. - This feat of Panfilov’s division does not devalue, but this particular episode with the words of political instructor Klochkov: there is nowhere to retreat, Moscow is behind, and 18 destroyed tanks by 28 soldiers did not happen. From my point of view, there was certainly a feat that was accomplished by the soldiers and commanders of Panfilov’s division during the defense of Moscow, who, under the most difficult conditions, managed to stop the German offensive at the cost of their own lives. Not excluding Panfilov himself.

Russian State University for the Humanities historian Alexander Krushelnitsky does not question the feat of Panfilov and his fighters.

No one ever dared to challenge Panfilov’s feat. Panfilov died a heroic death defending his homeland. And a huge number of soldiers, commanders, and political workers subordinate to him shared his fate. I would like to look at that scoundrel who would question the very heroism of the victims. All those who died in the Great Patriotic War are all unconditional heroes. And there is no conversation.

I. Panfilov. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

And indeed, for the common man, all this hype that has arisen around the feat of Panfilov’s men is perhaps unnecessary. This should be considered as an occasion to remember once again the heroism of our soldiers who died a brave death on the fields of the Great Patriotic War.

Let the experts understand the documents. The most important thing is that we already believe in the feat of people that they accomplished, defending not only the capital, but all of Mother Russia and all of Europe from Hitler’s evil spirits. And the more children know and remember the words, even if fictitious, of political instructor Klochkov that “there is nowhere to retreat,” the more secure the feat of our entire people will be.

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 testimony former commander 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.

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.

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

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 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 from the Military Academy of the 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. He entered the history of 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

see also

Notes

1. M. M. Kozlov. The Great Patriotic War. 1941-1945. Encyclopedia. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1985. - P. 526.
2. Reference report “About 28 Panfilov’s men.” State Archive 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
3. “Adjusted for myth” POISK - newspaper of the Russian scientific community
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. “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.
8. A shamelessly ridiculed feat // Soviet Russia. - 1.9.2011.
9. Marshal Dmitry Yazov: “28 Panfilov heroes - a fiction? Who stopped the Germans then?” // TVNZ. - 15.9.2011.
10. Cardin V. Legends and facts. Years later // Questions of literature. - No. 6, 2000.
11. 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)
12. Isaev A. Five circles of hell. The Red Army is in "cauldrons". - M.: Yauza, Eksmo, 2008. - P. 327.
13. Fedoseev S. Infantry vs tanks // Around the world: magazine. - April 2005. - No. 4 (2775).
14. Shirokorad A. B.. God of War of the Third Reich. - M.: 2003. - P. 38-39.
15. Alien glory // Military history magazine. - 1990. - No. 8, 9.
16. See the material in the “Seekers” program dated March 19, 2008 [ specify]
17. 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 join a partisan detachment,” which was considered inconsistent with the circumstances of the case.

07:57 02.08.2017

All of us, citizens who are not indifferent to the past, present and future of Russia, know about the feat of the Panfilov heroes who fought to the death near the walls of Moscow in 1941. On November 15-16, the Nazis launched two strike groups created in the first half of November 1941 on the offensive, trying to bypass Moscow from the north through Klin - Solnechnogorsk and from the south through Tula - Kashira.

© Photo: Anna Sergeeva/ ZUMAPRESS.com/ Globallookpress/ Russian Ministry of Defense/ Vladimir Pesnya/ RIA Novosti

All of us, citizens who are not indifferent to the past, present and future of Russia, know about the feat of the Panfilov heroes who fought to the death near the walls of Moscow in 1941. On November 15-16, the Nazis launched two attack groups created in the first half of November 1941, trying to bypass Moscow from the north through Klin - Solnechnogorsk and from the south through Tula - Kashira. In particular, the Germans planned to reach Moscow along the Volokolamsk Highway, but At the Dubosekovo crossing, 28 soldiers from the 316th Infantry Division, Major General I.V. Panfilov, fought with a company of German infantry, and then with German tanks. The battle lasted over four hours. A handful of Soviet soldiers stood in the way of German tanks and, at the cost of their lives, did not allow the Germans to reach the Volokolamsk highway. Almost everyone died. The feat of 28 Panfilov men went down in history, as they thought then, forever, and the words of the company’s political instructor V. G. Klochkov: “Russia is great, but there is nowhere to retreat, Moscow is behind!” - all the defenders of Moscow knew. Major General Ivan Vasilyevich Panfilov, the commander of the 316th Infantry Division, laid down his bright head near Moscow on November 18, 1941. The magazine “New World” began to deny the feat of Panfilov’s men in 1997: under the authorship of Nikolai Petrov and Olga Edelman, an article “New about Soviet heroes” was published. Westerners cannot come to terms with the existence of Panfilov heroes in our history and are advancing with a united front on the feat heroes. In their opinion, the correspondent of the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper V.I. Koroteev did not understand the events, the editor-in-chief D. Ortenberg also did not understand, the correspondent A.Yu. Krivitsky also did not understand, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR also did not understand and undeservedly awarded 28 Panfilov heroes. It seems that it was not the indicated persons who did not understand the events, but the persons who question the fact of the feat, since they have absolutely no idea of ​​the USSR in harsh wartime, the degree of responsibility for the work performed by every citizen of the country. It is naive to believe that an article in a newspaper was enough to be nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. But until recently, Westerners had no reason to question the fact of Panfilov’s feat. And suddenly, like manna from heaven, a certificate appears for them, which the prosecutor’s office allegedly addressed to Zhdanov. Very opportunely, the director of the State Archive of the Russian Federation, Sergei Mironenko, retrieved this certificate from dark hiding places. As in that proverb, the Westerners didn’t have a penny and suddenly an altyn appeared. All the people trying to turn the real feat of Panfilov’s men into a myth, and turn the myth invented by those attacking the feat into real events, have one thing in common: they all refer to the certificate - Afanasyev's report. It is also impossible not to pay attention to the fact that their texts do not contain the very sources to which the authors refer. The last technique of Westerners was pointed out by the remarkable historian and researcher A.V. Isaev, who wrote a series of books called “Antisuvorov”, in which he exposes the falsification of facts of the Great Patriotic War by English citizen V. B. Rezun, who publishes in Russia under the pseudonym Viktor Suvorov. At one time, this Suvorov filled the shelves of Russian stores with “historical” books about the war (apparently, he has very rich sponsors), and in each book there are links , links to open Soviet sources, texts from these books. But if you consider it necessary, take the time and find the books that the author refers to, you will find that in many cases their texts are completely inconsistent with the texts given by him in his books. I'm not even talking about the capabilities of today's technology, which can create any document with a signature, seal and date. Suddenly, with the beginning of perestroika, these “documents” began to be found in dozens, and Westerners began to wave them as flags of irrefutable evidence of the truth. The whistleblowers contradict themselves. For example, they write that “as a result, already on July 21, 1942, the Presidium of the Supreme Council signed a corresponding decree” awarding 28 Panfilov members the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. With the word “already” they seek to emphasize the haste in rewarding heroes. In fact, the word “already” is inappropriate in the text, since Panfilov’s men accomplished the feat on November 16, 1941, and the award decree was issued eight months after the feat was accomplished, which indicates that there was sufficient time to verify the accuracy of the information presented. In articles devoted to the heroic feat -Panfilov’s men during the Great Patriotic War, many write that already in 1948 a large-scale investigation was carried out with the goal of establishing whether the feat of 28 Panfilov’s men really took place. But not a single article asked the question why the prosecutor’s office, which in 1947 was dealing with the Dobrobabin case, began to deal with another matter, namely, assessing whether the feat of 28 Panfilov’s men took place or not. Who authorized the prosecutor's office to investigate the issue of the feat of 28 Panfilov men? A large-scale investigation was allegedly carried out by investigators from the Kharkov Military Prosecutor's Office, who allegedly came to the conclusion that everything stated in the articles describing the feat of Panfilov men near Moscow was falsification. But the authors of the articles, which to one degree or another deny the feat of 28 Panfilov men, did not show any of the readers the conclusion of the prosecutor’s office and did not even provide a single verbatim excerpt from the case material. This suggests that they did not familiarize themselves with the materials of the prosecutor’s office, but completely trusted the comments of S. Mironenko. Not only official, but also any justified revelation is not visible in the information presented. It is suspicious that documents casting doubt on the feat of 28 Panfilovites were discovered during the Khrushchev Thaw and Gorbachev’s perestroika, that is, during mass falsifications and forgeries. In fact, as Doctor of Historical Sciences, Minister of Culture V. R. Medinsky correctly noted, the investigation of the Main Military The prosecutor's office (GVP) on May 10, 1948 showed: “There was a battle at Dubosekovo. It was led by the 4th company of the 1075th Infantry Regiment.” But S. Mironenko does not notice this conclusion of the prosecutor’s office, but stubbornly imposes on the public the opinion that there was no battle at Dubosekovo. His attitude towards the feat in the articles of Sergei Mironenko’s comrades-in-arms is clearly expressed as an insult to the memory of real heroes who did not spare their lives to achieve the Great Victory. But none of the real heroes are named. It turns out that the real heroes are those who have no name, whom the country does not know. Replacing real heroes with virtual ones means depriving the nation of its heroes. Our enemies understand this and constantly reproach us for glorifying individual heroes and forgetting about thousands of others. Another source tells us: “In July 2015, the State Archive published on its official website a scanned copy of the certificate-report of the USSR Chief Military Prosecutor Nikolai Afanasyev about the “so-called feat of 28 Panfilov’s men.” A report prepared in May 1948 reported that the story of the feat of 28 division soldiers under the command of Major General Ivan Panfilov, who at the cost of their lives stopped German tanks in the battle near Moscow on November 19, 1941, was in fact invented by a newspaper employee." Red Star." Was there such a certificate? Most likely, it was not a feat, but the certificate was invented. It is difficult to believe that I.V. Stalin in 1947-1948 could allow such outrage against the memory of heroes. It is possible that this certificate-report by Afanasyev appeared decades later, since no one knew or wrote anything about it for more than half a century. If archives with tens of thousands of documents burned in Moscow and St. Petersburg and no one was held responsible for this, then hardly anyone will be afraid of responsibility for a fake certificate. Vladimir Tikhomirov, trying to explain Stalin’s position, wrote the following: “Of course, this episode in itself about the falsification of the feat during the battle of Moscow (under the leadership of Zhukov) did not mean anything, but this case was the very brick with which the security officers built the execution wall for Marshal of Victory... However, Afanasyev’s report was not useful. Apparently, the leader of the peoples decided to forgive the marshal or was simply frightened by the increased power of the MGB. As a result, Zhukov got off with a strict party reprimand.” G. K. Zhukov got off not with a reprimand, but with exile away from Moscow to a post that was far from being a marshal. With this decision, J.V. Stalin saved G.K. Zhukov from trial for the illegal export of material assets from Germany, and did not build an execution wall, as the author writes. We must understand that Stalin constantly supported and promoted G.K. Zhukov. It was G.K. Zhukov and I.S. Konev that Stalin entrusted in 1945 with leading the fronts that took Berlin. In a few short paragraphs, the author managed to denigrate both the MGB and Dobrobabin. And the author does not know that on November 16, 1941, Dobrobabin fought as a hero. You have to not love Russia to write like that. Consider the author’s one phrase: “There weren’t enough heroes then.” And he writes this about a time when there were so many heroes that there were not enough correspondents to describe the exploits of our soldiers and officers. At that time, even cowards became heroes. The author also managed to slander I.V. Stalin, under whose leadership the USSR produced twice as many weapons during the war years as Germany together with Europe, which worked for it, and won not only the Battle of Moscow, but also the entire war, defeating the armies of Germany, Italy, Hungary, Romania and Finland. The author guesses that the reader will not understand why Stalin allowed some military prosecutor's office Kharkov garrison to make a statement about the falsification of the feat of the Panfilov heroes. In an effort to explain this paradox, the author actually declared the conclusions of the Kharkov prosecutor's office about the feat of 28 Panfilov men to be untrue, since the author himself indicates that the prosecutor's office made its statement to fight Zhukov. And how does the author begin the article! They broke into the apartment and hit me in the teeth. Piece of art, fiction, detective story, like the whole article. And on the basis of such articles, the feat of our soldiers is called into question! It is alarming that copies of the documents were not only published, but also commented on by the director of the State Archives of the Russian Federation, Sergei Mironenko, who is vested with full power. Then S. Mironenko stated that in reality there were no 28 Panfilov men, and their feat was an invention of Soviet propaganda. Elena Panfilova, the granddaughter of the commander of the 316th Infantry Division Ivan Vasilyevich Panfilov, when asked about the feat of the Panfilov men, answers the following: “I don’t understand who we need to raise this topic again. Not long ago my mother, Maya Ivanovna, passed away. She was the daughter of Ivan Vasilyevich, from childhood she knew that her father was a hero, who died on November 18, 1941, along with his soldiers. And suddenly it turns out that “everything was wrong, the feat was invented.” Let such statements be on the conscience of those who make them. Even the Germans recognized, were amazed and admired the heroism of the soldiers of Panfilov’s division and called this division wild and fearless. Do your own people doubt it?! We recently visited Volokolamsk for commemorative events dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Moscow. We were received very warmly there. There were a lot of young people. None of them asked if there was a feat. They know: there was.” Boris Sokolov, to the Great Patriotic War cameraman, explains: “Of course, there were not 28 Panfilov men. But there were much more - hundreds, a division! A journalist from the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper, where the article about the feat first appeared, decided to voice exactly this figure and these names. As I understand it, they were, in turn, voiced to him by the unit commander - whom he, the commander, was able to remember literally on the run. Later it turned out that three of those listed as dead after that battle at Dubosekovo actually remained alive. But double-checking information under exploding shells and conducting detailed interviews with eyewitnesses at the table, as you understand, was unrealistic. I’m telling you as a documentarian: it was at this line of the front that the soldiers of Panfilov’s division stopped German tanks.” The second granddaughter, Aigul, when asked by Sergei Prudnikov about her attitude to the fact that the feat of Panfilov’s men became the topic of heated discussion in society, answered: “This is a sore subject. In general, all these “whistleblowers” ​​are masters who, without having fought, without smelling gunpowder, without knowing anything in practice, begin to argue what is right and what is wrong. My mother, for example, always wanted to meet with the historian Volkogonov, who in the late 1980s suddenly began to claim that the Soviet Union was not preparing for war. She was indignant: how could I not prepare, if I graduated from courses for military sergeants and had the “Voroshilov shooter” badge? We prepared, we knew what would happen! In 1994, on the eve of the New Year, in our Alma-Ata newspaper "Karavan" a huge article was published - "28 Panfilov's Men: Fact or Fiction?" A certain journalist Rakip Nasyrov went to Dubosekovo, walked around, looked and decided, simply decided, that this battle could not have happened at all, General Panfilov is an unprofessional and the general’s shoulder straps need to be torn off from him! When this article came out, my first thought was to not show it to my mother. What the hell, the veterans have already cut off the phone! And, frankly, this publication stole several years of my mother’s life...” The third granddaughter of I.V. Panfilov, Aula, said: “I never thought that we would have to defend our already deceased comrades and parents.” Ildar Sharipov wrote: “What is written about this feat in Wikipedia can be considered a vile substitution.” The author of an article from a generally respected source reports that the battle of 28 Panfilov men on the Volokolamsk highway is the invention of a writer and military correspondent. Not true! There is a substitution of meanings and concepts, whose deep roots grow from two perestroikas - Khrushchev's and Gorbachev's. It is no secret that the main goal in war is victory. Everything that helps to bring it closer and achieve it is strengthened and multiplied. Everything that interferes is discarded in one way or another. The time for analysis comes after the war and after the victory. This was the case with Panfilov’s men. Three years after the victory, a prosecutor’s investigation was carried out, the results of which leave no doubt: near Dubosekovo, where that battle took place, more than a hundred soldiers from different parts of the USSR died a brave death. Most of Panfilov’s men died, but the fascists were not allowed to enter Moscow...On November 24, 2016, a film screening of the domestic film “Panfilov’s 28 Men” starts. It is noteworthy that funds for its creation also came from ordinary Russians - more than 30 million (30 million 762 thousand 62 rubles - L.M.) rubles were collected using the Internet, which is almost a record in our country.”Money 35,086 people sent. “It was a real miracle,” said Andrei Shalyopa at the screening of “Panfilov’s Men” for journalists. This trust of thousands of people was incredibly touching, but at the same time we felt an unprecedented responsibility.” While people were sending money to film the film, the head of the State Archives, Sergei Mironenko, published on the department’s website and commented on Afanasyev’s certificate-report. But people listened not to Mironenko, but to their grandfathers and fathers who fell in battle, died and were still alive, who managed to convey the truth to their children and grandchildren. The Moscow group of Panfilov veterans in 2015 asked to bring to justice the director of the Russian State Archive Sergei Mironenko and the head of the Federal Archive Agency Andrei Artizov for the discussion they launched in the press about the feat of 28 Panfilov men. One can understand these people, who miraculously survived the battles that defended Moscow and the country, but in their old age were condemned by the above-mentioned persons. Mironenko was removed from office. Apparently, there were reasons. Professor Doctor of Historical Sciences Andrei Klimov, during his lecture, when asked whether 28 Panfilov heroes even existed, answered: “Today I will try to prove that this is not a myth. The military actions of Panfilov’s men became a symbol of fearlessness and an unshakable will to victory, the unbreakable military brotherhood of representatives of the fraternal peoples of the Soviet Union.” And he proved it. Doctor of Historical Sciences, Minister of Culture V. R. Medinsky said that 28 Panfilov’s men are like 300 Spartans. And Ivan Proshkin, assessing the feat of the Panfilovites, correctly noted: “The feat of the Panfilovites: the future of Russia lies with the heroes of the past.” To assess the full significance of the feat of the Panfilovites for Russia, one must imagine the degree of danger hanging over the country in November 1941. The armies of Germany and its allies in June 1941 were twice the size of the Red Army, but thanks to the courage of Soviet soldiers and officers, the presence in the Red Army of the best artillery in the world, self-loading automatic rifles, machine guns and other small arms, the receipt of new, superior German, medium tanks T-34 and heavy KV tanks, aircraft, the presence in the army of a huge amount of weapons that were obsolete, but capable of disabling enemy infantry and equipment, the Red Army withstood the first blow and onslaught of the enemy. Despite the fact that the Nazis were unable to take Leningrad and abandon the liberated divisions near Moscow, the position of our troops near Moscow remained critical. According to all theoretical calculations, the USSR should have lost this war. The USA predicted that we would hold out for several months, England - for several weeks, and for Germany, August was the deadline for the capture of Moscow, and October - the territory of the USSR to the Urals along the Moscow-Astrakhan line. All these forecasts and plans were justified. The USA and England knew well the strength of the troops of Germany and its allies, and the Germans meticulously calculated everything. The capture of Moscow could well have taken place, and this meant one thing for the peoples of the USSR - death. Hitler has repeatedly stated that he is waging a war of extermination in the east. Our Soviet people were not exterminated thanks to the feat accomplished by our people, our army, 28 Panfilov men. And all this talk about how the troops abandoned Moscow in 1812, but Russia won the war with Europe, does not take into account a number of factors. At that time Moscow was not the capital Russian Empire , the country’s defense capability did not depend on the work of its industry; the capabilities of Napoleon’s army to seize Russian territory after the capture of Moscow were limited due to the lack of military equipment of the twentieth century. The results of the Battle of Moscow determined whether or not Russia would exist, whether or not the Russian and other peoples should live or not. THE USSR. In one of the most difficult directions near Moscow, in the Volokolamsk region, the 316th Infantry Division of Major General Panfilov fought in a defense zone about 40 kilometers long. The division was attacked by three tank and one rifle divisions of the Wehrmacht. If we take into account that one Wehrmacht rifle division was twice as large as one rifle division of the Red Army, then we can say that three tank and two German rifle divisions were attacking Panfilov’s division.I. V. Panfilov found a solution that dramatically improves the ability to fight tanks. The organization of defense of the 316th Infantry Division is still being studied by the military of many countries. Panfilov prepared his division well, including in the fight against enemy tanks. He explained that a tank is the same tractor, but with a cannon, and taught how to destroy tanks and not be afraid of them. Considering that the majority of army soldiers were drafted from villages and hamlets (all skilled workers were reserved and produced weapons), this explanation was understandable to them. On November 16, 1941, the most terrible blow fell on Panfilov’s men holding the defense at the Dubosekovo crossing. The defense was held by soldiers of the 4th company of the 1075th regiment under the command of political instructor Vasily Klochkov. They were attacked by 50 tanks and infantry. The battle lasted more than four hours. Despite the huge losses, the Germans continued to attack the positions of Panfilov’s men. Most of Panfilov’s men, of course, understood that given the existing balance of forces they were not destined to survive, but in Russian, both Russians, Kazakhs, and fighters of other nationalities fought to the death. Commander Vasily Klochkov , like the fighters, he understood that he would die, but he could not even admit the thought of leaving his positions, or allowing the enemy troops to break through. That’s why he said: “Russia is great, but there is nowhere to retreat. Moscow is behind us! These words of a man going to his death for his Motherland, for everyone who lived in our country at that time, for us living today, expressed the thoughts and feelings of all the soldiers who fought near Moscow. These were the words of the entire Soviet people, who stood as an irresistible force in the path of the enemy. Political instructor Klochkov died, being seriously wounded, throwing himself with a bunch of grenades under a German tank and blowing it up along with himself. As they say now, not everyone died, but 22 of the 28 Panfilov men who fought nearby under the command of Klochkov. The Germans did not break through to the Volokolamsk highway. The enemy left eighteen tanks and hundreds of his soldiers on the battlefield. But S. Mironenko and his comrades shoved pieces of paper of dubious origin in our faces and shouted that the feat of 28 Panfilov’s men did not happen and Klochkov did not utter the above words. But even in these papers, put on public display by Mironenko, it is written that there was a battle at Dubosekovo on November 16, 1941. In addition to these papers, there are other archival documents confirming the untruthfulness of Mironenko’s words. For example, information from the political report of the head of the political department of the 316th Infantry Division, battalion commissar Galushko, to the head of the political department of the 16th Army, regimental commissar Maslenov. The village of Gusenevo, November 17, 1941: “...11/16/1941 in the morning, at 08:00, the enemy launched an offensive on the left flank of our defense in the area of ​​1075 SP. The enemy advanced in the amount of 50-60 heavy and medium tanks and quite a large number of infantry and machine gunners. The 1075th joint venture suffered heavy losses, two companies were completely lost, the data on losses is being clarified, we will report in the next report. 1075 SP fought to the last opportunity, the regiment command left the command post only when enemy tanks appeared at the command post.” This whole team of ill-wishers often lies in an effort to cover up the heroic past of our people with black paint, deprive the nation of dignity, and form a new Russian, embarrassed the past of his homeland and feeling his own inferiority. For example, Vladimir Tikhomirov writes: “Afanasyev’s secret report haunted historians for a long time. These documents were first unearthed by front-line soldier and publicist Emil Cardin, who published the article “Legends and Facts” in the magazine “New World” in 1966. The article received a sharp rebuke from Secretary General Leonid Brezhnev himself, who called Cardin a slanderer. Nevertheless, rumors about the report periodically surfaced in various “samizdat” publications.” “Whistleblowers” ​​write lies. In the article “Legends and Facts,” published in 1966 in the magazine “New World,” there is not a word about Afanasyev’s secret report. E. Cardin in “Legends and Facts” glorifies his own and criticizes historians and publicists who are not his own, in particular A. Krivitsky. He writes: “Years have passed since then, and it turned out: several of Panfilov’s twenty-eight men are alive! A. Krivitsky also mentions this in his book “I Will Never Forget.” He names the names of Shemyakin, Vasilyev, Shadrin, and reports that they sent him their photographs. But it does not make any changes to the description of the battle, nor does it provide any new details. Whether he saw them or not, whether he finally tried to find out from the direct participants how this unprecedented duel took place, nothing is known.” The entire campaign to discredit the feat of Panfilov’s men is built on similar statements, designed to ensure that the reader will not read the material , which the “whistleblower” refers to. They understand that their arguments are impure, and with false statements that in 1966 E. Cardin wrote about prosecutorial statements of 1947 and reports of 1948 denying the feat of Panfilov’s men, they are trying to mislead our society. They are trying to say with untruthful statements that already in 1966 there were reports, copies of which were presented by Sergei Mironenko. But such information is not confirmed in the article “Legends and Facts”, which the “whistleblowers” ​​point to. There is no mention of memos denying the feat of Panfilov’s heroes, neither in 1966, nor in 1976, nor even in 1986, nor in all of these decades. In the copy of the memo allegedly by the USSR Prosecutor General G. N. Safonov, Safonov’s signature is missing, which causes doubt about the authenticity of the document. Also, Safonov’s position is not indicated, which could not have been in the document sent to the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks to Comrade Zhdanov. The type of document is also not indicated, that is, memorandum, order, presentation, decision, etc. There are no patronymic initials, as in the West, there is no date, day, month and year of sending the document. In the upper left corner there is someone’s signature and printed: 17/V, but the year is not indicated. In the upper right corner it is written: “July 11, 48” (with the number 4 written in pencil, and the number 8 typed). Further in the same corner it is written: No. 145 LSS. The letter “L” is usually placed when registering orders for personnel, but this is not an order. In the same corner it is written in pencil: owl. secret... - and then the entry was made according to a different text. Is it possible to trust a document without a signature, position and date with a number of other comments? But this so-called document formed the basis for denying the feat of the Panfilov heroes. In the copy of the second certificate-report “About 28 Panfilov’s men” (we need to come up with such a name!) of the country’s chief military prosecutor N.P. Afanasyev, the person to whom the report is addressed is missing. One can only judge from the comments of S. Mironenko’s associates that the report was intended for USSR Prosecutor G. N. Safonova. The certificate also, as is customary in the West, does not contain patronymic initials. It was no coincidence that Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences G. A. Kumanev, who defended the truth about Panfilov’s heroes, titled his article “Feat and Forgery,” and Marshal of the Soviet Union D. T. Yazov agreed with him. Every citizen of Russia must understand that the signature of the USSR Chief Prosecutor N.P. Afanasyev, allegedly under the so-called certificate-report, cannot be accepted as a weighty argument for denying the feat of 28 Panfilov men on November 16, 1941 in the battle of Moscow. Sergei Mironenko, who published a copy of the certificate -report of the country's chief military prosecutor N.P. Afanasyev and a report without the signature of the USSR Prosecutor General G.N. Safonov, claims that he was guided by the desire for truth, but the factual material points to other goals. At the beginning of his speech, he refers to German sources, and at the end he states the following: “This is the vile essence of the Soviet state, for which real heroes mean nothing.” What undisguised hatred for the Panfilov heroes, whom he declares to be fictitious heroes, but does not name a single real hero of the Battle of Moscow! The West and its servants inside Russia are trying to deprive us of their heroes, to convince us that among, for example, 28 Panfilov heroes who were awarded gold star of the Hero of the Soviet Union, there were no heroes. Westerners began to debunk heroes even during perestroika and, as it seems to them, have now debunked all the heroes and great people of Russia. It would seem that there should be no doubt that 28 Panfilov’s men fought heroically near Moscow and almost all died. Two, as it turned out later, were captured, four more remained alive. So what's all the fuss about? There is clearly an order from forces unfriendly to Russia, mockery of those who are pure and holy for the people, and of all of us who love Russia, proud of its history and culture, its labor and military exploits. Author: Leonid Maslovsky The opinion expressed in the publication of Leonid Maslovsky is his personal position and may not coincide with the opinion of the editors of the Zvezda TV channel website.