Who was the Young Guard? The terrible truth about the young guard

In 1946, the writer’s novel was published in the Soviet Union Alexandra Fadeeva“Young Guard”, dedicated to the struggle of young underground fighters against the fascists.

Novel and film "Hot on the heels"

Fadeev’s novel was destined to become a bestseller for several decades to come: “The Young Guard” went through more than 270 editions during the Soviet period with a total circulation of over 26 million copies.

The Young Guard was included in school curriculum, and there was not a single Soviet student who had not heard about Oleg Koshev, Lyuba Shevtsova And Ulyana Gromova.

In 1948, Alexander Fadeev's novel was filmed - a film with same name"The Young Guard" was directed by Sergey Gerasimov, involving students from the acting department of VGIK. The path to the stars began with the “Young Guard” Nonna Mordyukova, Inna Makarova, Georgy Yumatov, Vyacheslav Tikhonov…

Both the book and the film had an amazing feature - they were created not just based on real events, but literally “hot on the heels”. The actors came to the places where everything happened and talked with the parents and friends of the dead heroes. Vladimir Ivanov, who played Oleg Koshevoy, was two years older than his hero. Nonna Mordyukova was only a year younger than Ulyana Gromova, Inna Makarova was a couple of years younger than Lyuba Shevtsova. All this gave the picture incredible realism.

Years later, during the collapse of the USSR, the efficiency of creating works of art will become an argument with which they will prove that history underground organization The “Young Guard” is a fiction of Soviet propaganda.

Why did the young underground fighters from Krasnodon suddenly get so much attention? There were, after all, much more successful groups that did not receive a little fame and recognition from the Young Guard?

Mine number five

No matter how cruel it sounds, the popularity of the Young Guard was predetermined by its tragic ending, which occurred shortly before the liberation of the city of Krasnodon from the Nazis.

In 1943, the Soviet Union was already carrying out systematic work to document Nazi crimes in the occupied territories. Immediately after the liberation of cities and villages, commissions were formed whose task was to record cases of massacres of Soviet citizens, establish the burial places of victims, and identify witnesses to crimes.

On February 14, 1943, the Red Army liberated Krasnodon. Almost immediately, local residents became aware of the massacre committed by the Nazis against young underground fighters.

The snow in the prison yard still contained traces of their blood. In the cells on the walls, relatives and friends found the last messages of the Young Guards who were leaving to die.

The place where the bodies of those executed were located was also not a secret. Most of the Young Guards were thrown into the 58-meter pit of the Krasnodon mine No. 5.

The shaft of the mine where members of the underground organization “Young Guard” were executed by the Nazis. Photo: RIA Novosti

“Hands were twisted, ears were cut off, a star was carved on the cheek.”

The work of lifting bodies was hard both physically and psychologically. The executed Young Guards were subjected to sophisticated torture before their deaths.

The protocols for examining corpses speak for themselves: “ Ulyana Gromova, 19 years old, a five-pointed star is carved on his back, his right arm is broken, his ribs are broken...”

« Lida Androsova, 18 years old, taken out without an eye, ear, hand, with a rope around her neck, which cut heavily into her body. Dried blood is visible on the neck.”

« Angelina Samoshina, 18 years. Signs of torture were found on the body: arms were twisted, ears were cut off, a star was carved on the cheek...”

« Maya Peglivanova, 17 years. The corpse was disfigured: breasts, lips were cut off, legs were broken. All outer clothing has been removed."

« Shura Bondareva, 20 years old, taken out without the head and right breast, the whole body was beaten, bruised, black in color.”

« Victor Tretyakevich, 18 years. He was pulled out without a face, with a black and blue back, with crushed arms.”

"I may die, but I have to get her"

In the process of studying the remains, another terrible detail became clear - some of the guys were thrown into the mine alive and died as a result of falling from a great height.

A few days later, work was suspended - due to the decomposition of the bodies, lifting them became dangerous for the living. The bodies of the others were much lower and it seemed that they could not be raised.

Father of the deceased Lida Androsova, Makar Timofeevich, an experienced miner, said: “I may die from the poison of my daughter’s corpse, but I must get her.”

Mother of the deceased Yuri Vintsenovsky recalled: “A gaping abyss around which small parts of our children’s clothes were lying: socks, combs, felt boots, bras, etc. The wall of the waste heap is all splattered with blood and brains. With a heart-rending cry, each mother recognized the expensive things of her children. Moans, screams, fainting... The corpses that could not fit in the bathhouse were laid out on the street, in the snow under the walls of the bathhouse. A terrible picture! In the bathhouse, around the bathhouse there are corpses, corpses. 71 corpses!

On March 1, 1943, Krasnodon saw off the Young Guard on their last journey. They were buried with military honors in a mass grave in the Komsomol Park.

Funeral of the Young Guards. Photo: RIA Novosti

Comrade Khrushchev reports

Soviet investigators fell into the hands of not only material evidence of the massacre, but also German documents, as well as Hitler’s accomplices who were directly related to the death of the Young Guard.

It was not possible to quickly understand the circumstances of the activities and deaths of other underground groups due to a lack of information. The uniqueness of the “Young Guard” was that, as it seemed, everything about it became known at once.

In September 1943, Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine Nikita Khrushchev writes a report on the activities of the Young Guard based on established data: “The Young Guard began their activities with the creation of a primitive printing house. Students in grades 9-10 - members of an underground organization - made a radio receiver on their own. After some time, they were already receiving messages from the Soviet Information Bureau and began publishing leaflets. Leaflets were posted everywhere: on the walls of houses, in buildings, on telephone poles. Several times the Young Guard managed to stick leaflets on the backs of police officers... Members of the Young Guard also wrote slogans on the walls of houses and fences. On religious holidays, they came to church and stuffed handwritten leaflets into the pockets of believers with the following content: “As we lived, so we will live, as we were, so we will be under the Stalinist banner,” or: “Down with Hitler’s 300 grams, give me a Stalinist kilogram.” On the day of the 25th anniversary October revolution a red banner hoisted by members of an underground organization soared over the city...

The Young Guard did not limit itself to propaganda work; it made active preparations for an armed uprising. For this purpose, they collected: 15 machine guns, 80 rifles, 300 grenades, more than 15,000 rounds of ammunition and 65 kg of explosives. By the beginning of the winter of 1942, the organization was a cohesive, fighting detachment with experience in political and military activities. The underground members thwarted the mobilization of several thousand residents of Krasnodon to Germany, burned the labor exchange, saved the lives of dozens of prisoners of war, recaptured 500 head of cattle from the Germans and returned them to the residents, and carried out a number of other acts of sabotage and terrorism.”

Operational award

1. To assign /posthumously/ to Oleg Vasilievich KOSHEV, Ivan Alexandrovich ZEMNUKHOV, Sergei Gavrilovich TYULENIN, Ulyana Matveevna GROMOVA, Lyubov Grigorievna SHEVTSOVA the title of Hero Soviet Union, as the most outstanding organizers and leaders of the Young Guard.

2. Award 44 active members of the “Young Guard” with the Order of the USSR for their valor and courage in the fight against the German invaders behind enemy lines / of which 37 people were posthumously /.”

Stalin I supported Khrushchev's proposal. The note addressed to the leader was dated September 8, and already on September 13, a Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was issued on awarding Young Guards.

No unnecessary feats were attributed to the boys and girls from the Young Guard - they managed to do a lot for untrained amateur underground fighters. And this is the case when there was no need to embellish anything.

What was corrected in the film and book?

And yet, there are things that are still debated. For example, about the contribution to the common cause of each of the leaders. Or about whether it is legal to call Oleg Koshevoy a commissioner of the organization. Or about who was responsible for the failure.

For example, one of the Nazi collaborators stated at the trial that he betrayed the Young Guard, unable to withstand torture, Victor Tretyakevich. Only 16 years later, in 1959, during the trial of Vasily Podtyny, who served as deputy chief of the Krasnodon city police in 1942-1943, it became known that Tretyakevich became a victim of a slander, and the real informer was Gennady Pocheptsov.

Pocheptsov and his stepfather Vasily Gromov were exposed as Nazi collaborators back in 1943, and were executed by court verdict. But Pocheptsov’s role in the death of the Young Guard was revealed much later.

Because of new information in 1964, Sergei Gerasimov even re-edited and partially re-sounded the film “The Young Guard”.

Alexander Fadeev had to rewrite the novel. And not because of inaccuracies, which the writer explained by the fact that the book was fiction and not documentary, but because of the special opinion of Comrade Stalin. The leader did not like the fact that the youth in the book acted without the help and guidance of their older communist comrades. As a result, in the 1951 version of the book, Koshevoy and his comrades were already guided by wise party members.

Patriots without special training

Such additions were then used to denounce the Young Guard as a whole. And some people are ready to present the relatively recently discovered fact that Lyuba Shevtsova completed a three-month NKVD course as a radio operator as proof that the Young Guards are not patriotic schoolchildren, but seasoned saboteurs.

In fact, there was neither a leading role of the party nor sabotage preparation. The guys did not know the basics of underground activities, improvising on the go. Under such conditions, failure was inevitable.

It is enough to remember how Oleg Koshevoy died. He managed to avoid detention in Krasnodon, but did not succeed in crossing the front line as he had planned.

He was detained by field gendarmerie near the city of Rovenki. Koshevoy was not known by sight, and he could well have avoided exposure if not for a mistake that was completely impossible for a professional illegal intelligence officer. During the search, they found a Komsomol card sewn into his clothes, as well as several other documents incriminating him as a member of the Young Guard.

Their courage overwhelmed their enemies

The desire to keep a Komsomol card in such a situation is a crazy act, life-threatening boyishness. But Oleg was a boy, he was only 16 years old... His last hour He faced February 9, 1943 with steadfastness and courage. From the testimony Schultz- gendarme of the German district gendarmerie in the city of Rovenki: “At the end of January, I participated in the execution of a group of members of the underground Komsomol organization “Young Guard”, among whom was the leader of this organization Koshevoy... I remember him especially clearly because I had to shoot him twice . After the shots, all those arrested fell to the ground and lay motionless, only Koshevoy stood up and, turning around, looked in our direction. This made me very angry Fromme and he ordered the gendarme Drewitz finish him off. Drewitz approached the lying Koshevoy and killed him with a shot in the back of the head..."

His comrades also died fearlessly. SS man Drewitz told during interrogation about last minutes life of Lyuba Shevtsova: “Of those executed in the second batch, I remember Shevtsova well. She drew my attention with her appearance. She had a beautiful, slender figure and a long face. Despite her youth, she behaved very courageously. Before the execution, I brought Shevtsova to the edge of the execution pit. She did not utter a word about mercy and calmly, with her head raised, accepted death.”

“I didn’t join the organization to then ask for your forgiveness; I only regret one thing, that we didn’t have time to do enough!” Ulyana Gromova threw it in the face of the Nazi investigator.

“Bandera’s myth”: how Young Guards were registered as Ukrainian nationalists

During the years of independent Ukraine, a new misfortune befell the Young Guard - it was suddenly declared ... an underground organization of Ukrainian nationalists.

This version is recognized by all historians who have studied documents related to the Young Guard as complete nonsense. It must be said that the city of Krasnodon, adjacent to the modern Russian-Ukrainian border, has never belonged to the territory where the positions of nationalists are strong.

The author of the “stuffing” is US citizen Evgeniy Stakhov. A veteran of the Bandera movement in the early 1990s, he began to introduce himself in interviews as the organizer of the nationalist underground in the Donbass, to which he “joined” the Young Guard. Stakhov’s revelations were refuted not only real facts, in which he was confused, but also by the statements of those Young Guards who survived and lived until the 1990s. However, to this day in Ukraine and in Russia you can sometimes hear about the “Bandera trace” of the Young Guard.

After Euromaidan in Ukraine, the desecration of the memory of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War has become the norm. The Young Guard members are lucky - the city of Krasnodon is located on the territory of the Lugansk People's Republic, where the memory of the patriots who gave their lives for their Motherland is still sacred.

What was the fate of the surviving Young Guards? What do we know about them? Only eight members of the Young Guard survived the Great Patriotic War.

Arutyunyants Georgy

During the arrests of underground members in January 1943, Georgy managed to leave the city. In the ranks of the Red Army, he took part in battles with the Nazi invaders.

In 1957, Harutyunyants graduated from the Military-Political Academy named after V.I. Lenin, served in the ranks Soviet army. He was an unusually modest and sympathetic person. IN last years During his life, Colonel Harutyunyants worked at the V.I. Lenin Academy as a teacher. Graduated from graduate school. In 1969 he was awarded academic degree candidate historical sciences.

Awarded the Order of the Red Star, the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, and the medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War,” 1st degree

G. M. Harutyunyants died on April 26, 1973 after a serious and long illness. He was buried in Moscow at the Novodevichy cemetery.

Borts Valeria

After the liberation of Krasnodon, Valeria Borts continued her studies: she passed the exams for high school and in August 1943 she entered the Moscow Institute of Foreign Languages.

After graduating from the institute, she worked as a translator and referent for Spanish and English languages at the Bureau of Foreign Literature at the Military Technical Publishing House. In 1963, Valeria Davydovna was sent to Cuba as an editor technical literature on Spanish, and in 1971 she was sent to Poland, where she continued to serve in the ranks of the Soviet Army. In 1953 she joined the CPSU. But at the end of her life - in 1994 - she left the Communist Party.

She was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, the Order of the Red Star and the medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War”, 1st degree, as well as many medals for impeccable service in the ranks of the Soviet Army.

Valeria Borts - Master of Sports of the USSR in motor sports (1960). In 1957, she and her husband first took part in official rally competitions. At the end of her life, Valeria Davydovna, a reserve lieutenant colonel, lived in Moscow. She died on January 14, 1996; her ashes, according to her will, were scattered over pit No. 5 in Krasnodon.

In 1948, Nina Mikhailovna graduated from the Donetsk Party School, and in 1953 from the Voroshilovgrad Pedagogical Institute. She worked in the apparatus of the Voroshilovgrad Regional Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine.

At the end of her life she was retired; she died on January 1, 1982, and was buried in Lugansk.

She was awarded the Order of the Red Star and the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, medals “Partisan of the Patriotic War”, 1st degree, “For the victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945” and others.

Ivantsova Olga

At the beginning of January 1943, after the first arrests of underground workers, Olga and her sister left the city. In February, together with units of the Red Army, they returned to Krasnodon.

Upon returning to Krasnodon, she became a Komsomol worker. Working as the second secretary of the Komsomol district committee, Olga Ivantsova raised funds for the Young Guard tank column and the Heroes of Krasnodon air squadron, and took an active part in the creation of the Young Guard museum and in collecting exhibits for it. Olga Ivantsova was the first tour guide of the museum.

In 1947, Olga Ivantsova was elected deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR of the 2nd convocation. In 1948, she joined the ranks of the CPSU. In 1954 she graduated from the Lviv Higher Trade School. I was at party work in the city of Krivoy Rog, Dnepropetrovsk region, and worked in trade. She was awarded the Order of the Red Star and the medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War”, 1st degree.

Olga Ivanovna died on June 16, 2001, and was buried in Krivoy Rog.

Levashov Vasily

In August 1945, Vasily Ivanovich Levashov, lieutenant of the 1038th Infantry Regiment of the 295th rifle division, was sent to courses at the Leningrad Political School named after Engels, and in 1947, after graduation, to Navy. Until 1949, Vasily Ivanovich served on the Black Sea, on the cruiser Voroshilov, and from 1949 to 1953 he studied at the Lenin Military-Political Academy. After graduation he served on warships

Krasnoznamenny Baltic Fleet: was deputy commander of the destroyer "Stoikiy" and the cruiser "Sverdlov".

Since 1973, he worked as a senior lecturer in the department of party political work (associate professor) at the Higher Naval School of Radio Electronics named after A. S. Popov in Leningrad. He graduated from service with the rank of captain 1st rank. From 1991 until the end of his life, he was a member of the RCRP.

On June 22, 2001, he compiled the “Address of the last Young Guard member to the youth.” He died on July 10, 2001, and was buried on July 13 at the Old Peterhof military cemetery in St. Petersburg.

Family: wife Ninel Dmitrievna, daughter Maria and granddaughter Nellie, named after her grandmother.

Orders:

Red Star - for participation in the liberation of Kherson.

Patriotic War, 2nd degree - for the liberation of Warsaw.

Patriotic War, 2nd degree - for participation in the capture of Küstrin.

Patriotic War 1st degree - for the capture of Berlin.

Medals:

"For the liberation of Warsaw."

"For the capture of Berlin."

"For the victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945."

"Partisan of the Patriotic War" 2nd degree.

"For military merits."

Lopukhov Anatoly

In January 1943, Anatoly Lopukhov managed to avoid arrest. He left Krasnodon, for a long time hid in mining villages. In the Aleksandrovka area, not far from Voroshilovgrad, he crossed the front line and voluntarily joined the ranks of the Red Army. He took part in the battles for the liberation of Ukraine. On October 10, 1943 he was wounded.

After the hospital, he came to his native Krasnodon. Here he took an active part in the creation of the “Young Guard” museum, was its first director, carried out a large educational work among young people. In September 1944, Anatoly Lopukhov entered the Leningrad Anti-Aircraft Artillery School. After graduation, he was a platoon commander and secretary of the Komsomol bureau of the unit, then assistant to the head of the school’s political department for work among Komsomol members. In 1948, Anatoly Vladimirovich became a member of the Communist Party. In 1955, Captain Lopukhov was admitted to the Military-Political Academy named after V.I. Lenin. After graduation, he served as a political worker in military air defense units of the Soviet Army. In subsequent years, he worked in many regions of the Soviet Union, and was repeatedly elected as a deputy of city and regional Soviets of Working People's Deputies.

Awarded the Order of the Red Star, medals “Partisan of the Patriotic War” 1st degree, “For Courage” and others.

He died on October 5, 1990 in Dnepropetrovsk, where he lived after military service.

Shishchenko Mikhail

In the post-war years, Mikhail Tarasovich worked as chairman of the Rovenkovsky district committee of the coal miners' trade union, assistant to the head of the Dzerzhinsky mine administration, secretary of the party organization of the Almaznyansky mine administration, and deputy manager of the Frunzeugol trust. In 1961 he graduated from the Rovenkovsky Mining College. In 1970, he was appointed deputy head of the logistics department of the Donbassantracite plant. In recent years, he worked as assistant director of the mine named after the XXIII Congress of the CPSU for personnel. Residents of the city of Rovenki repeatedly elected him as a deputy of the city council.

He was awarded the Order of the Red Star and the October Revolution, and the medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War”, 1st degree.

Died May 5, 1979. He was buried in the city cemetery in Rovenki.

Yurkin Radium

In October 1943, the Central Committee of the Komsomol sent Radiy to the initial training school for pilots, after which in January 1945 he was assigned to the Pacific Fleet. He took part in battles with Japanese militarists. Then he served in the Red Banner Baltic and Black Sea fleets.

In 1950, Radiy Yurkin graduated from the Yeisk Military Aviation School. During his studies, he was elected a member of the Krasnodar Regional Komsomol Committee and was a delegate to the XI Congress of the Komsomol. In 1951 he became a member of the CPSU. In 1957, due to health reasons, he was transferred to the reserve. Lived in the city of Krasnodon. He worked as a mechanic in the Krasnodon motorcade. He devoted a lot of time and effort to the military-patriotic education of youth, and was a passionate promoter of the unprecedented feat of his fellow Young Guards. Together with other surviving Young Guard members, Radiy Petrovich participated in the rehabilitation of Viktor Tretyakevich, who became a victim of a slander on the part of one of the policemen, who claimed that Viktor could not stand the torture and betrayed his comrades. Only in 1959 was it possible to restore his honest name.

Discussion:

Documentary film “Young Guard”:

“Young Guard” is an underground anti-fascist Komsomol organization of boys and girls that operated during the Great Patriotic War (from September 1942 to January 1943), mainly in the city of Krasnodon, Voroshilovgrad region of the Ukrainian SSR.

The organization was created shortly after the occupation of the city of Krasnodon by Nazi Germany, which began on July 20, 1942. The “Young Guard” numbered about one hundred and ten participants - boys and girls. The youngest member of the underground was fourteen years old.

Krasnodon underground

During the work of a special commission of the Voroshilovgrad regional committee of the Communist Party (b)U in 1949-1950, it was established that an underground party group led by Philip Lyutikov was operating in Krasnodon. In addition to his assistant Nikolai Barakov, communists Nina Sokolova, Maria Dymchenko, Daniil Vystavkin and Gerasim Vinokurov took part in the underground work.

The underground began its work in August 1942. Subsequently, they established contact with underground youth organizations in Krasnodon, whose activities they directly supervised.

Creation of the "Young Guard"

Underground anti-fascist youth groups arose in Krasnodon immediately after the occupation of the city by Nazi Germany began on July 20, 1942. By the beginning of September 1942, Red Army soldiers who found themselves in Krasnodon joined them: soldiers Evgeny Moshkov, Ivan Turkenich, Vasily Gukov, sailors Dmitry Ogurtsov, Nikolai Zhukov, Vasily Tkachev.

At the end of September 1942, underground youth groups united into a single organization “Young Guard”, the name of which was proposed by Sergei Tyulenin. Ivan Turkenich was appointed commander of the organization. Who was the commissioner of the Young Guard is still not known for certain.

The overwhelming majority of the Young Guard members were Komsomol members; temporary Komsomol certificates for them were printed in the organization’s underground printing house along with leaflets

Activities of the Young Guard

Over the entire period of its activity, the Young Guard organization issued and distributed more than five thousand anti-fascist leaflets in the city of Krasnodon with data on the real state of affairs at the front and calls on the population to rise up in a merciless fight against the German occupiers.

Along with underground communists, members of the organization participated in sabotage in the electromechanical workshops of the city.

On the night of November 7, 1942, on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution, Young Guards hoisted eight red flags on the tallest buildings in the city of Krasnodon and its surrounding villages.

On the night of December 5-6, 1942, on the Constitution Day of the USSR, Young Guards set fire to the building of the German labor exchange (people dubbed it the “black exchange”), where lists of people (with addresses and completed work cards) intended to be stolen for forced labor were kept. work to Nazi Germany, thereby about two thousand boys and girls from the Krasnodon region were saved from forced deportation.

The Young Guards were also preparing to stage an armed uprising in Krasnodon in order to defeat the German garrison and join the advancing units of the Red Army. However, shortly before the planned uprising, the organization was discovered.

Disclosure of the "Young Guard"

Shortly before fleeing from the advancing Red Army units, German counterintelligence, Gestapo, police and gendarmerie intensified efforts to capture and liquidate the Komsomol-Communist underground in the Krasnodon area.

Using informants (most of whom, after the liberation of the Ukrainian SSR, were exposed and convicted of treason and collaboration with the Nazis), the Germans got on the trail of young partisans and in January 1943, mass arrests of members of the organization began.

On January 1, 1943, Evgeny Moshkov and Viktor Tretyakevich were arrested; their arrest was caused by the fact that they were trying to sell New Year's gifts from looted German trucks at the local market, which had been attacked by Young Guards the day before.

On January 2, Ivan Zemnukhov was arrested, who tried to rescue Moshkov and Tretyakevich, and on January 5, the police began mass arrests of underground workers, which continued until January 11, 1943.

Traitor

Until 1959, it was believed that the Young Guards were handed over to the SS by the Young Guard commissar Viktor Tretyakevich, who was pointed out by former occupation police investigator Mikhail Emelyanovich Kuleshov during the 1943 trial, saying that Viktor could not stand the torture.

However, in 1959, during the trial of Vasily Podtyny, who was admitted to treason against the Motherland, who served as deputy chief of the Krasnodon city police in 1942-1943 and for sixteen years hid under an assumed name, often changing jobs and places of residence, new circumstances of the death of the fearless were revealed Young Guards.

A special one created after the process state commission established that Viktor Tretyakevich was the victim of a deliberate slander, and the real traitor was identified as one of the organization members, Gennady Pocheptsov, who on January 2, 1943, on the advice of his stepfather Vasily Grigoryevich Gromov, the head of mine No. 1-bis and a secret agent of the Krasnodon police, made the occupation authorities the corresponding denunciation and named the names of all members of the Young Guard known to him.

After the liberation of Krasnodon by the Red Army, Pocheptsov, Gromov and Kuleshov were recognized as traitors to the Motherland and, according to the verdict of the USSR military tribunal, were shot on September 19, 1943.

Vasily Gromov, immediately after the liberation of Krasnodon, was forced to participate in the recovery of the corpses of Young Guards thrown into a mine by the Nazis.

Modern period national history, called “perestroika,” took a toll not only on the living, but also on the heroes of the past.

The debunking of the heroes of the revolution and the Great Patriotic War in those years was put on stream. This cup has not passed from the underground members of the Young Guard organization. The “debunkers of Soviet myths” poured a huge amount of slop on the young anti-fascists who were destroyed by the Nazis.

The essence of the “revelations” was that no “Young Guard” organization supposedly existed, and if it did exist, then its contribution to the fight against the fascists was so insignificant that it is not worth talking about.

Got it more than others Oleg Koshevoy, who in Soviet historiography was called the organization's commissar. Apparently, the reason for the special hostility towards him on the part of the “whistleblowers” ​​was precisely his status as a “commissar”.

It was even argued that in Krasnodon itself, where the organization operated, no one knew about Koshevoy, that his mother, who had been a wealthy woman even before the war, was making money from her son’s posthumous fame, that for this reason she identified the corpse of an old man instead of Oleg’s body...

Elena Nikolaevna Koshevaya, Oleg’s mother, was not the only one who was wiped out in the late 1980s. In the same tone and almost the same words they insulted Lyubov Timofeevna Kosmodemyanskaya- mother of two Heroes of the Soviet Union who died during the war - Zoe and Alexandra Kosmodemyansky.

Those who trampled on the memory of heroes and their mothers are still working in Russian media, hold high degrees of candidates and doctors of historical sciences and feel excellent...

“Hands were twisted, ears were cut off, a star was carved on the cheek...”

Meanwhile, the real history of the Young Guard is captured in documents and testimonies of witnesses who survived the Nazi occupation.

Among the evidence true history The Young Guard also has protocols for examining the corpses of Young Guards raised from the pit of Mine No. 5. And these protocols best speak of what the young anti-fascists had to endure before their death.

The shaft of the mine where members of the underground organization “Young Guard” were executed by the Nazis. Photo: RIA Novosti

« Ulyana Gromova, 19 years old, a five-pointed star carved on his back, his right arm was broken, his ribs were broken...”

« Lida Androsova, 18 years old, taken out without an eye, ear, hand, with a rope around her neck, which cut heavily into her body. Dried blood is visible on the neck.”

« Angelina Samoshina, 18 years. Signs of torture were found on the body: arms were twisted, ears were cut off, a star was carved on the cheek...”

« Maya Peglivanova, 17 years. The corpse was disfigured: breasts, lips were cut off, legs were broken. All outer clothing has been removed."

« Shura Bondareva, 20 years old, taken out without the head and right breast, the whole body was beaten, bruised, black in color.”

« Victor Tretyakevich, 18 years. He was pulled out without a face, with a black and blue back, with crushed arms.” Experts found no traces of bullets on the body of Viktor Tretyakevich - he was among those who were thrown into the mine alive...

Oleg Koshevoy together with Any Shevtsova and several other Young Guards were executed in the Thundering Forest near the city of Rovenka.

The fight against fascism is a matter of honor

Ivan Turkenich, commander of the Young Guard. 1943 Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

So what was the Young Guard organization and what role did Oleg Koshevoy play in its history?

The mining town of Krasnodon, in which the Young Guards operated, is located 50 kilometers from Lugansk, which during the war was called Voroshilovgrad.

At the turn of the 1930s and 1940s, many working-class youth, brought up in the spirit of Soviet ideology, lived in Krasnodon. For young pioneers and Komsomol members, participation in the fight against the Nazis who occupied Krasnodon in July 1942 was a matter of honor.

Almost immediately after the occupation of the city, several underground youth groups were formed independently of each other, which were joined by Red Army soldiers who found themselves in Krasnodon and escaped from captivity.

One of these Red Army soldiers was Lieutenant Ivan Turkenich, elected commander of a united underground organization created by young anti-fascists in Krasnodon and called the “Young Guard”. The creation of the united organization took place at the end of September 1942. Among those who joined the headquarters of the Young Guard was Oleg Koshevoy.

An exemplary student and a good friend

Oleg Koshevoy was born in the city of Pryluky, Chernihiv region, on June 8, 1926. Then Oleg’s family moved to Poltava, and later to Rzhishchev. Oleg's parents separated, and from 1937 to 1940 he lived with his father in the city of Anthracite. In 1940, Oleg’s mother Elena Nikolaevna moved to Krasnodon to live with her mother. Soon Oleg also moved to Krasnodon.

Oleg, according to the testimony of most of those who knew him before the war, was a real example to follow. He studied well, was fond of drawing, wrote poetry, played sports, and danced well. In the spirit of that time, Koshevoy was engaged in shooting and fulfilled the standard for receiving the Voroshilov Shooter badge. After learning to swim, he began helping others and soon began working as a lifeguard.

Commissioner and member of the headquarters of the underground Komsomol organization “Young Guard” Oleg Koshevoy. Photo: RIA Novosti

At school, Oleg helped those who were behind, sometimes taking five people in tow who were not doing well in their studies.

When the war began, Koshevoy, who, among other things, was also the editor of the school wall newspaper, began to help wounded soldiers in the hospital, which was located in Krasnodon, published the satirical newspaper “Crocodile” for them, and prepared reports from the front.

Oleg had a very warm relationship with his mother, who supported him in all his endeavors; friends often gathered in the Koshevoy’s house.

Oleg’s school friends from Krasnodon school No. 1 named after Gorky became members of his underground group, which in September 1942 joined the Young Guard.

He couldn't do otherwise...

Oleg Koshevoy, who turned 16 in June 1942, was not supposed to stay in Krasnodon - just before the Nazis occupied the city, he was sent for evacuation. However, it was not possible to go far, since the Germans were advancing faster. Koshevoy returned to Krasnodon. “He was gloomy, blackened with grief. A smile no longer appeared on his face, he walked from corner to corner, depressed and silent, did not know what to put his hands to. What was happening around was no longer astonishing, but was crushing my son’s soul with terrible anger,” recalled Oleg’s mother Elena Nikolaevna.

During perestroika times, some “tearers of the veil” put forward the following thesis: those who before the war declared loyalty to communist ideals, during the years of severe trials thought only about saving their own lives at any cost.

Based on this logic, the exemplary pioneer Oleg Koshevoy, admitted to the Komsomol in March 1942, had to hide and try not to attract attention to himself. In reality, everything was different - Koshevoy, having experienced the first shock of seeing his city in the hands of the invaders, begins to assemble a group from his friends to fight the fascists. In September, the group assembled by Koshev becomes part of the Young Guard.

Oleg Koshevoy was involved in planning the operations of the Young Guards, he himself participated in the actions, and was responsible for communications with other underground groups operating in the vicinity of Krasnodon.

Still from the film “Young Guard” (directed by Sergei Gerasimov, 1948). The scene before the execution. Photo: Still from the film

Red banner over Krasnodon

The activities of the Young Guard, which consisted of about 100 people, may indeed not seem the most impressive to some. During their work, the Young Guards produced and distributed about 5 thousand leaflets with calls to fight the fascists and with messages about what was happening at the fronts. In addition, they carried out a number of acts of sabotage, such as destroying grain prepared for export to Germany, dispersing a herd of cattle that was intended for the needs of the German army, and blowing up a passenger car with German officers. One of the most successful actions of the Young Guard was the arson of the Krasnodon labor exchange, as a result of which the lists of those whom the Nazis intended to steal to work in Germany were destroyed. Thanks to this, approximately 2,000 people were saved from Nazi slavery.

On the night of November 6-7, 1942, Young Guards hung red flags in Krasnodon in honor of the anniversary of the October Revolution. The action was a real challenge to the invaders, a demonstration that their power in Krasnodon would be short-lived.

The red flags in Krasnodon had a strong propaganda effect, which was appreciated not only by residents, but also by the Nazis themselves, who intensified the search for underground fighters.

The “Young Guard” consisted of young Komsomol members who had no experience in conducting illegal work, and it was extremely difficult for them to resist the powerful apparatus of Hitler’s counterintelligence.

One of the last actions of the Young Guard was a raid on cars with New Year's gifts for German soldiers. The underground members intended to use the gifts for their own purposes. On January 1, 1943, two members of the organization, Evgeniy Moshkov And Victor Tretyakevich, were arrested after bags stolen from German cars were found in their possession.

German counterintelligence, seizing on this thread and using previously obtained data, within a few days uncovered almost the entire underground network of the Young Guards. Mass arrests began.

Koshevoy was given a Komsomol card

Mother of the Hero of the Soviet Union, partisan Oleg Koshevoy Elena Nikolaevna Koshevaya. Photo: RIA Novosti / M. Gershman

To those who were not arrested immediately, the headquarters gave the only order possible under these conditions - to leave immediately. Oleg Koshevoy was among those who managed to get out of Krasnodon.

The Nazis, who already had evidence that Koshevoy was a commissar of the Young Guard, detained Oleg’s mother and grandmother. During interrogations, Elena Nikolaevna Kosheva’s spine was damaged and her teeth were knocked out...

As already mentioned, no one prepared the Young Guards for underground work. This is largely why most of those who managed to escape from Krasnodon were unable to cross the front line. Oleg, after an unsuccessful attempt on January 11, 1943, returned to Krasnodon to go to the front line again the next day.

He was detained by field gendarmerie near the city of Rovenki. Koshevoy was not known by sight, and he could well have avoided exposure if not for a mistake that was completely impossible for a professional illegal intelligence officer. During the search, they found a Komsomol card sewn into his clothes, as well as several other documents incriminating him as a member of the Young Guard. According to the requirements of the conspiracy, Koshevoy had to get rid of all the documents, but boyish pride for Oleg turned out to be higher than considerations of common sense.

It’s easy to condemn the mistakes of the Young Guard, but we are talking about very young boys and girls, almost teenagers, and not seasoned professionals.

“They had to shoot him twice...”

The occupiers showed no leniency towards the members of the Young Guard. The Nazis and their collaborators subjected the underground members to sophisticated torture. Oleg Koshevoy did not escape this fate either.

He, as a “commissar,” was tormented with special zeal. When the grave with the bodies of the Young Guards executed in the Thundering Forest was discovered, it turned out that 16-year-old Oleg Koshevoy was gray-haired...

The Young Guard commissar was shot on February 9, 1943. From the testimony Schultz- gendarme of the German district gendarmerie in the city of Rovenki: “At the end of January, I participated in the execution of a group of members of the underground Komsomol organization “Young Guard”, among whom was the leader of this organization Koshevoy... I remember him especially clearly because I had to shoot at him twice. After the shots, all those arrested fell to the ground and lay motionless, only Koshevoy stood up and, turning around, looked in our direction. This made me very angry Fromme and he ordered the gendarme Drewitz finish him off. Drewitz approached the lying Koshevoy and killed him with a shot in the back of the head...”

Schoolchildren at the pit of mine No. 5 in Krasnodon - the place of execution of Young Guards. Photo: RIA Novosti / Datsyuk

Oleg Koshevoy died just five days before the city of Krasnodon was liberated by Red Army units.

The Young Guard became widely known in the USSR because the history of its activities, unlike many other similar organizations, was documented. Those who betrayed, tortured and executed the Young Guard were identified, exposed and convicted.

By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of September 13, 1943, the Young Guard Ulyana Gromova, Ivan Zemnukhov, Oleg Koshevoy, Sergei Tyulenin, Lyubov Shevtsova was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. 3 members of the “Young Guard” were awarded the Order of the Red Banner, 35 — the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, 6 — the Order of the Red Star, 66 — the medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War,” 1st degree.

Reproduction of portraits of the leaders of the underground Komsomol organization “Young Guard”. Photo: RIA Novosti

"Blood for blood! Death for death!

The commander of the Young Guard, Ivan Turkenich, was among the few who managed to cross the front line. He returned to Krasnodon after the liberation of the city as commander of a mortar battery of the 163rd Guards Rifle Regiment.

In the ranks of the Red Army, he went from Krasnodon further to the west, to take revenge on the Nazis for his killed comrades.

On August 13, 1944, Captain Ivan Turkenich was mortally wounded in the battle for the Polish city of Glogow. The command of the unit nominated him for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, but it was awarded to Ivan Vasilyevich Turkenich much later - only on May 5, 1990.

"Krasnodontsy". Sokolov-Skalya, 1948, reproduction of the painting

Oath of members of the Young Guard organization:

“I, joining the ranks of the Young Guard, in the face of my friends in arms, in the face of my native long-suffering land, in the face of all the people, solemnly swear:

Unquestioningly carry out any task given to me by a senior comrade. To keep everything related to my work in the Young Guard in the deepest secrecy.

I swear to take revenge mercilessly for the burned, devastated cities and villages, for the blood of our people, for the martyrdom of thirty miner heroes. And if this revenge requires my life, I will give it without a moment’s hesitation.

If I break this sacred oath under torture or because of cowardice, then may my name and my family be cursed forever, and may I myself be punished by the harsh hand of my comrades.

Blood for blood! Death for death!

Oleg Koshevoy continued his war against the Nazis even after his death. Aircraft of the squadron of the 171st Fighter Wing, 315th Fighter Division under the command of Captain Ivana Vishnyakova bore on their fuselages the inscription “For Oleg Koshevoy!” The squadron pilots destroyed several dozen fascist aircraft, and Ivan Vishnyakov himself was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

The “Oath” monument in Krasnodon, dedicated to members of the underground Komsomol organization “Young Guard”. Photo: RIA Novosti / Tyurin

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Who betrayed the Young Guard?
Mythology of the Great Patriotic War

For decades, the heroes of the Young Guard have aroused and continue to arouse the admiration of new generations. However, in the mid-1950s, new details about the activities of the Young Guards unexpectedly emerged. Newspaper publications signed by Kim Kostenko caused a real shock in society.

Members of the Young Guard

The fact is that at the end of the Khrushchev Thaw, the special correspondent of Komsomolskaya Pravda, Kim Kostenko, managed to get acquainted with secret materials concerning the Young Guard. The journalist found out absolutely incredible, at first glance, facts.
It turned out that members of the organization Stakhovich, Vyrikova, Lyadskaya, Polyanskaya, called traitors in A. Fadeev’s novel “The Young Guard,” were in fact honest patriots. Moreover, it was Viktor Tretyakovich (in the book - Stakhovich), and not Oleg Koshevoy, who was the commissioner of the Young Guard! Tretyakovich was captured on the same day as Moshkov and Zemnukhov. He did not betray anyone and died as a hero. The underground organization was betrayed by a completely different person - Gennady Pocheptsov. Having learned about the first arrests, he got scared and wrote a denunciation to the police, in which he listed all the Young Guard members.

It is unlikely that Alexander Fadeev could not have been unaware of these facts. However, he fulfilled the social order of the party, and Fadeev was advised by a major from the KGB. It should also be taken into account that when the writer arrived in Krasnodon, he received a paper in which the role of each underground fighter was briefly outlined, and the names of the traitors were mentioned separately: Tretyakevich, Vyrikova, Lyadskaya and Polyanskaya. So far, researchers have not been able to establish the authorship of the forged document.

Of course, Fadeev did not want to destroy these people. However, the customer of the book - the Komsomol Central Committee - demanded that the book be created in an extremely short time. In this rush there was no way to check all existing documents. Oleg Koshevoy’s mother, with whom Fadeev lived, also played a significant role in distorting the truth. It was her personal memories that formed the basis of the novel. Many families of Krasnodon heroes bitterly complained that the writer never came to see them and talked to them.

Until 1990, the Tretyakovich family was labeled as “relatives of a traitor.” For many years they collected eyewitness accounts and documents about Victor's innocence. It was only seven years ago that he was finally rehabilitated.

In 1990, the real commander of the Young Guard, Ivan Turkenich, was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Previously, this was unthinkable, because Turkenich ended up in Krasnodon after escaping from German captivity.

Olga Lyadskaya was only 17 years old when she was captured by the Germans for the first time. The young beauty attracted the attention of Deputy Chief of Police Zakharov, who had a separate office for intimate meetings. A few days later, her mother managed to ransom her daughter for a bottle of moonshine. After the release of Krasnodon, Olga told the SMERSH investigator her epic story. He decided to “help” her and handed the girl a piece of paper, which she signed without looking. This was a confession of complicity with the occupiers. For him, Olga Alexandrovna received ten years in prison. And after the publication of the novel “The Young Guard,” she became an important state criminal and found herself in the Lubyanka. The authorities wanted to arrange a show trial over her, but it did not take place - Lyadskaya was diagnosed with a severe form of tuberculosis. The “traitor to the Young Guard” was released only in 1956. In her hometown, no one ever reproached her. Olga managed to graduate from college and give birth to a child. However, in the 60s, publications about the Young Guard reappeared, in which she again appeared as a traitor. Lyadskaya wrote everywhere, demanding justice! Finally, the letter reached the desk of a decent person - an employee of the prosecutor's office, and he, having carefully studied her case, dropped the serious charges.

Both Zinaida Vyrikova and Sima Polyanskaya were injured. Almost nothing is known about the fate of the second. Vyrikova saw Sima among those exiled in Bugulma. Zinaida Alekseevna herself had to go through both exile and camps. She was arrested before the novel was published. He was released already in 1944, but was soon expelled from the Komsomol. Zinaida Alekseevna got married, changed her last name, and moved to live in another city. But they still recognized her: “Oh, the one who betrayed the Young Guard!” For many years, the innocent woman lived in fear of possible arrest. Of course, she also wrote and tried to reach higher authorities, but to no avail. By the way, the surviving Young Guards knew very well about the innocence of Tretyakovich, Lyadskaya, Vyrikova, but for some reason they remained silent...

Chapter from the book “100 Great Mysteries of Russian History”

Who betrayed the Young Guards?
A.F. Gordeev / Dedicated to the Heroes of Krasnodon...

In the plans for ideological sabotage against the USSR developed by Western intelligence services, one of the key directions was the deheroization of the history of the Soviet state, discrediting the heroes of the military and labor exploits of the Soviet people.

Back in the late 50s - early 60s, attempts were made in the press to debunk the exploits of Panfilov’s soldiers, defenders of the Brest Fortress, Heroes of the Soviet Union Z. Kosmodemyanskaya, A. Matrosov, N. Kuznetsov and others, but this subversive campaign was not widely developed . But in the years of the so-called "perestroika", when Gorbachev and Yakovlev not only did not stop the denigration of our Soviet past, but even encouraged it, lies and slander fell upon thousands of heroes, living and dead, with unprecedented meanness.

The activities of the underground Komsomol organization “Young Guard” in Krasnodon during the Great Patriotic War also attracted the close attention of ideological saboteurs. The Komunist newspaper has already written about the fables that are being spread in print and on the radio about the Young Guards by a visitor from the United States, OUN member E. Stakhiv (see the article by V. Tsurkan, “A Yakshcho Without a Mask” in No. 4, 1996). However, unfortunately, no one heeded the voice of the newspaper, and Stakhiv continues to poison the consciousness of people, ours and foreign, with his speeches on Radio Ukraine.

Below we publish an article by professor of Dnepropetrovsk Agrarian University Anatoly Fedorovich Gordeev, in which, based on a study of previously unpublished archival materials, new aspects of the activities of the Young Guard are revealed.

Still from the film “Young Guard”

Today we are increasingly convinced that a spiritual crisis, aggravated by economic destabilization, has led the younger generation to lose historical memory. An important role in this humiliating process for society was played by the “democratic press”, which falsified the events and facts of our past. Using its pages, right-wing politicians and cultural figures use dubious methods and techniques to discredit the ideals of the past, which are generally accepted principles of human existence. So, with the aim of rehabilitating traitors convicted by the Soviet government who helped the Nazis commit. crimes against humanity, ideological attacks are being launched against the Krasnodon Young Guard.

The history of its creation and activities in the conditions of fascist occupation, the myth about that is being intensively exaggerated. that the German punitive services crushed the Komsomol youth underground without the help of collaborators and traitors, and that a group of local residents, accused of involvement in the failure and death of the patriots, were repressed on “cases” fabricated by the NKVD members.

For example, A. Kobelnyuk in the article “Oleg Koshovy as a commissar of the “Young Guard” ("Voice of Ukraine", May 19, 1993) writes: “Who is celebrating the “Young Guard”? I on the chain is important to the remaining appearance... They were not in a hurry to arrest the Young Guards, because they respected that this organization was integrated into the Yakut system I was surrounded by guards. When the advancing Radians began to approach Krasnodon, arrests began. Well, the outcome of the bull is tragic and real and without any protection." As we see, A. Kobelnyuk is trying to convince readers of the humanity of the German occupation authorities and the fatal doom of the members of the Komsomol and youth underground. However, these “discoveries” are very far from the realities of the war years. Until January 1943, the Nazis did not have specific information about the Young Guards. As the former commander of the gendarmerie team, captain of the gendarmerie Renatus Ernst-Emil, testified during the investigation (1947), the anti-fascist actions of the Krasnodon residents suggested that the punitive forces were doing so. that a well-concealed underground organization operates in the Krasnodon region. “We believed,” he noted, “that this business was led by the communists and, first of all, destroyed them. However, the fight against us continued."

The “innovations” about the absence of traitors also do not stand up to criticism. It would be possible not to dwell on this side of the topic raised if there were not certain moral standards that citizens of a civilized society never neglect. The point is that not every crime directed against a person as a fighter for his rights can be forgotten or justified due to the statute of limitations or due to extreme conditions its completion. Exposing the inconsistency of the thesis - traitors appeared later. V.P. Minaev - brother of Young Guard member N. Minaeva - in an interview with a correspondent of the Tovarishch newspaper (No. 21, 1995) stated: “For me, obviously, this is not easy a lie, this is a malicious ideological position from which you can fire at anyone... In fact, those suspected of treason were arrested immediately or in the first months after the liberation of Krasnodon.But not everyone was punished - the witnesses were unable to confirm convincing testimony with documents, so how the Germans destroyed documents.

Yes, it is true. German punitive services (Gestapo, SD. field gendarmerie, police) during the retreat of their military units archives were carefully removed or destroyed hastily. As former Krasnodon police investigator T. Usachev testified, all of her investigative materials, incl. the case of the “Young Guard” were destroyed by order of the district gendarmerie before the liberation of Krasnodon by Soviet troops.

However, Soviet documents have been preserved, incl. military, law enforcement agencies, shedding light on the situation around the Young Guard. Here is one of them - a special message from the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the Ukrainian SSR Sergienko "On the death of the underground Komsomol organization "Young Guard" in the Krasnodon region of the Voroshilovgrad region" dated March 31, 1943 to the Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) N.S. Khrushchev. The report says: “Gennady Prokofievich Pocheptsov, a member of the organization, who, knowing about the activities and composition of the Young Guard, betrayed the entire organization to intelligence, came to the aid of the gendarmerie and the police... The traitor Gennady Prokofievich Pocheptsov has been arrested and an investigation is underway.”

The fact of betrayal was not denied by the collaborators of the Krasnodon region. Thus, former policeman I.N. Cherenkov, during interrogation on July 13, 1946, claimed that the “Young Guard organization” was discovered as a result of the betrayal of a member of this organization, Gennady Pocheptsov." Former lawyer of the Krasnodon city government and senior police investigator M. Kuleshov, explaining reasons for the failure of the underground, stated during the investigation: “A thorough search for those responsible for distributing leaflets, appeals and hanging flags was unsuccessful, which infuriated the German gendarmerie, and the latter therefore demanded that Sulikovsky (the head of the Krasnodon regional police - A.G.) accept decisive measures, and the latter, in turn, “pressed” his local police inspectors. At the height of the organizational activities of the Young Guard, Gennady Pocheptsov came to the aid of the police.”

It is important to note that betrayal as one of the reasons for the death of the Komsomol youth underground is clearly mentioned in many speeches and publications of the surviving Young Guard members, their parents, relatives, friends and the testimony of local residents. The fact of betrayal in Krasnodon is noted in N.S. Khrushchev’s memo to I.V. Stalin dated September 3, 1943. N.S. Khrushchev drew the attention of the Secretary General to the fact that “in January 1943, at the time of the active activity of the organization, denunciation of traitors, the Gestapo arrested most of the members of the Young Guard. The fact of betrayal is also present in the articles and monographic studies of G. Emchenko, K. Ivantsov, A. Kolotovich, V. Kostenko, V. Semistyagi, P. Tronko and other researchers of the Krasnodon underground .

It should be said that in the documents of the Central Committee of the LKSMU and in the materials of Soviet justice on the fate of the Young Guard, among the persons suspected of betrayal, in addition to Pocheptsov, there are also M. Bobrovny, V. Gromov, O. Lyadskaya, M. Linchevskaya, I. Ostapenko. S. Polyanskaya, V. Tretyakevich and others. However, an analysis of interrogation protocols and other investigative materials shows that Pocheptsov was still the real traitor to the Young Guard.

As you know, the Young Guard was created in early October 1942 on the initiative of V. Tretyakevich. The core of it was the anti-fascist youth groups of I. Zemnukhov, which spontaneously arose and operated scatteredly in Krasnodon and its environs. E. Moshkov, N. Sumsky, S. Tyulenin and others. On October 6, 1942, Pocheptsov was accepted into the organization. Judging by the transcript of his interrogation on April 8, 1943, he joined the organization to fight against the Nazis. The young man joined the May Day group, which was led first by B. Glavan and then by A. Popov.

Having become an underground member, Pocheptsov attends some illegal meetings of the Young Guards and participates in collecting weapons on instructions from the organization’s headquarters. On November 20, together with group member D. Fomin, he posted anti-fascist leaflets in the area of ​​mine No. 1-bis. However, as documents show, he did not show any initiative or special activity. His actions clearly show self-doubt, cowardice, and some hidden desire to avoid risk and responsibility. Pocheptsov failed to make and hang a red flag at mine No. 1-bis on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the Great October Revolution, although B. Glavan gave him the reagent necessary for painting the white material in advance. The young man also failed to take the partisan oath. On the day of his appointment. On December 15, he (without warning the leadership of the underground organization) went to the village of Gundorovskaya to buy food, where he stayed for two days.

Pocheptsov also did not comply with the instructions of the Young Guard headquarters regarding the non-disclosure of the secrets of the underground and the observance of strict secrecy by members of the organization. When his parents inquired about the reasons for their son’s frequent absence in the evenings and secret conversations with D. Fomin and A. Popov, he told them that he was a member of an underground organization. Recalling this fact, Pocheptsov on June 17, 1943, during a confrontation with his stepfather V. G. Gromov, stated: - I told Gromov about my membership in the underground youth organization after the October holidays, i.e. in mid-November 1942. There was a conversation in our house about the fact that red flags and leaflets were hung out for the October holidays. I told Gromov that this is the work of our guys, and after that I told him that I am a member of an underground youth organization. I did not tell who is part of it, its structure, etc., and Gromov did not ask me about it. Somewhat later, I told him the members of our organization - Demyan Fomin and Anatoly Popov, who often came to see me." It should be noted that the parents of many Young Guards (L. Androsova, G. Arutyunyanants, V. Zhdanova, O. Koshevoy, A. Nikolaev, V. Osmukhin, V. Petrov, V. Tretyakevich and others) not only knew about the underground activities of their sons and daughters, but also helped them in every possible way in equipping a printing house, storing weapons, radios, collecting medicines, making leaflets, red flags, etc. .p. And one could understand the youthful gullibility of Pocheptsov, who first became involved in the underground struggle behind enemy lines and, apparently, was proud of the courage of his comrades in the organization. But his stepfather was a secret agent of the Krasnodon police. Some modern “researchers”, passionate about the idea (of rehabilitation repressed during the years of Soviet power, they try to deny Gromov’s cooperation with the German punitive services and make him a martyr of the NKVD.Is this so?

Before the enemy occupation of Krasnodon, V.G. Gromov worked as the head of the ventilation service of mine No. 1-bis. Due to the threat of capture of the city by German troops He and a group of miners from the region are evacuated to the east of the country, but are surrounded and spent some time in a concentration camp for displaced persons. Soon he escapes from the camp and makes his way to Krasnodon. There he gets a job as a fixer at the N91-bis mine of directorate No. 10. On October 9, 1942, Gromov, after a conversation with the deputy chief of the district police, Zakharov, agreed to cooperate with the police. “I, Vasily Grigorievich Gromov,” he wrote, “give this signature to the Sorokino police that I undertake to identify and report to the police partisans, communists who evade registration and live illegally, anti-fascists, rocket scientists and other persons engaged in activities hostile to the Germans. For the purpose of secrecy, I will sign all my reports with the nickname “Vanyusha.”

Soon, as documents show, Gromov presented the police with a list of 16 people; those who took part in the explosion of mine No. 1-bis during the retreat of Red Army units from Krasnodon; and reported on the communists Emelyanov, Levkin and Trukhanov who evaded registration, who were arrested and sent to Germany. In November 1942, Zakharov received a message about members of the extermination battalion who remained in the city on instructions from the Soviet military command. These people, incl. Vinokurov and Pachenkov were captured on suspicion of hanging red flags at the Voroshilov school and other facilities. As saboteurs following the denunciation of "Vanyusha", the communists V. Artemov, M. Dymchenko and K. Fomin were arrested and shot. In total, based on Gromov’s denunciations, for the period from October 1942 to January 1943, 34 people were arrested in Krasnodon and its suburbs (partisans, fighters of the extermination battalion, party, Soviet activists). Most of them were shot, tortured in police dungeons, or taken by force to Germany.

Gromov was also involved in the failure of the Young Guards. On January 1, 1943, as you know, the police seized the leaders of the Young Guard, V. Tretyakevich and E. Moshkov, on suspicion of stealing German New Year's gifts. For some reason, Pocheptsov decided that the police were on the trail of the Young Guard and, not finding a way out of the current situation, turned to his stepfather for advice. Gromov suggested that his stepson immediately inform the police about the underground organization. Gromov confirmed this treacherous parting word during interrogation on May 25, 1943: “I told him that he could be arrested and, in order to save his life, he must write a statement to the police and hand over the members of the organization. He listened to me.”

Following the advice of his stepfather (according to other sources - an order), Pocheptsov wrote a statement addressed to the head of mine No. 1 bis Zhukov. “I found traces of an underground youth organization and became a member of it,” he reported. “When I recognized its leaders, I am writing a statement to you. Please come to my apartment and I will tell you everything in detail. My address: Chkalova Street, N912, no. 1, apartment of Vasily Grigorievich Gromov. 12/20/42 Pocheptsov Gennady. It is characteristic that Pocheptsov never denied his betrayal and willingly recalled the details of his vile act. On July 14, 1943, being confronted with M. Kuleshov, he testified ; “I actually submitted an application to the manager of mine N91 bis Zhukov, and therefore spoke about my intention to extradite the members of the Krasnodon underground youth organization to the German authorities." The question arises: why did Pocheptsov turn to Zhukov, and not to the police? The traitor was not informed about the cooperation stepfather with Zakharov, but he personally knew the head of the mine, who openly praised fascism and called on the Krasnodon residents to support in every possible way " new order"and enjoyed the confidence of the German command. "I decided to submit an application through Zhukov,” Pocheptsov testified at a meeting of the Military Tribunal of the NKVD troops. - thinking that he will not hand over the statement to the police or will hand it over later, and when I am arrested, I will have an excuse that I filed a statement.”

On the morning of January 5, 1943, Pocheptsov was taken to the police and interrogated. According to Kuleshov, the informant confirmed the authorship of the applicant and his affiliation with the underground organization, named the members of the city headquarters led by V. Tretyakevich, the composition of the May Day group and its leader A. Popov, the goals and objectives of the underground activities, indicated the location of storage of weapons and ammunition hidden in the Gundorovskaya mine... Having received information about the youth underground, Sulikovsky gave the order to urgently form operational police groups and begin arrests. On the same day, Pocheptsov was confronted with Moshkov and Popov, whose interrogations were accompanied by brutal beatings and cruel torture. As the former deputy chief of the Krasnodon district police, V. Podtyny, who was arrested in 1959, showed, following Pocheptsov’s denunciation, from January 5 to January 11, 1943, most of the Young Guards were arrested. Pocheptsov himself was released and was not arrested.

73 people were brought in to deal with the underground fighters, incl. the most active and loyal policemen to the Germans. Police offices turned into torture chambers. The former head of the Krasnodon gendarme post, Otto Shei, on whose orders over 50 Young Guards were shot, testified; “During interrogations, all Young Guards without exception were subjected to all kinds of torture.” Drenched in blood, with broken faces, in clothes torn to shreds, they refused to testify and openly expressed contempt for the fascists and traitors. The executioners achieved nothing, for example, from I. Zemnukhov and L. Ivanikhioi, who were beheaded during torture. Other young underground fighters also held up courageously during interrogations. Many of them made patriotic statements during torture. Beaten almost to death, E. Moshkov angrily answered the executioners: “You can hang me! Do you hear? All the same, with my corpse you will not obscure the sun that will rise over Krasnodon!” When the sadists mocked Sergei Tyulenin, he shouted: “Long live the Lenin Komsomol! Yes, long live Stalin!”

The Young Guards, beaten and tortured, were executed. Their bodies were thrown into a 53-meter pit in the N5 mine. Pocheptsov, while remaining free, was not tormented by remorse, but was very afraid of retribution. When the Germans retreat from Krasnodon, he and his stepfather try to evacuate to the German rear, but after three days of wandering around the front-line farms, they return home. Pocheptsov was arrested twice: first on February 16 (he managed to get out of custody by deception) and the second time on March 8, 1943. To mitigate his guilt, he casts a shadow of suspicion on Tretyakevich, accusing him of betraying the youth underground. However, under the pressure of facts, he is forced to renounce his lies and admit personal involvement in the death of the patriotic organization. On June 5, 1943, he told the investigator: “I was not aware of any betrayal by Tretyakevich.”

The investigation into the case of the Young Guard traitors lasted 5 months. On August 1, 1943, an indictment was presented to Pocheptsov and Gromov. Having familiarized himself with it, Pocheptsov stated: “I plead guilty in full to the charges brought against me, namely that, as a member of the underground youth organization “Young Guard,” I voluntarily handed over its members to the police, named the leaders of this organization and said about the presence of weapons. After the indictment was approved by the head of the operational group of the NKGB of the Ukrainian SSR, Lieutenant Colonel Bondarenko, the case against Pocheptsov and his stepfather was considered by the Military Tribunal of the NKVD troops of the Voroshilovgrad (now Lugansk) region, the visiting sessions of which were held in Krasnodon from August 15 to 18, 1943. When Gromov, contrary to previous in his testimony, began to assert that he did not advise his stepson to betray the underground members, the latter asked to speak and said, “Gromov is not telling the truth, he advised me to file a police report against members of the youth organization, telling me that by doing this I would save my life and the life of my family, according to We never quarreled with him on this issue." In his last word, Pocheptsov, addressing the court, stated: “I am guilty, I committed a crime against my Motherland, I betrayed my comrades, judge me as the law requires.”

Having found Gromov and Pocheptsov guilty of treason, i.e. for committing a crime under Article 54-1-a of the Criminal Code of the Ukrainian SSR, the Military Tribunal sentenced them to capital punishment - execution by shooting with confiscation of personal property.

On September 9, 1943, the issue of the verdict of the Military Tribunal of the NKVD troops was discussed at the Military Council of the Southwestern Front. His resolution, signed by the front commander, Army General R.Ya. Malinovsky, stated: “The verdict of the Military Tribunal of the NKVD troops of the Voroshilovgrad region dated August 18 of this year in relation to ... Vasily Grigorievich Gromov and Gennady Prokofievich Pocheptsov is to be approved and carried out on place where the crime was committed in public."

Having familiarized themselves with the verdict of the Military Tribunal, Gromov and Pocheptsov appealed to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR with a petition for pardon. Pocheptsov wrote: “I consider the verdict of the tribunal to be correct: I filed a statement with the police as a member of an underground youth organization, saving my life and the life of my family. But the organization was discovered for other reasons. My statement did not play a corresponding role, because it was written later than "The organization was exposed. And therefore I ask the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Union to save my life, since I am still young. I ask for the opportunity to wash away the black stain that has fallen on me. I ask to be sent to the front line."

However, the petitions of the convicts were rejected, the verdict of the Military Tribunal was carried out on September 19, 1943.

Thus, the Krasnoden Komsomol-youth underground was revealed as a result of betrayal by the “Krasnodon residents” themselves, and to deny this in order to rehabilitate the former servants of the fascist occupiers means deliberately falsifying real reasons Krasnodon tragedy, deliberately belittling the enduring significance of the struggle of young Soviet patriots in the most difficult conditions of the German occupation regime.

Facts testify: on the eve of the Nazi aggression against the Soviet Union, in the territory of Eastern Ukraine there was a social stratum of the population of anti-Soviet orientation. It was on her that the fascist bosses, General Krasnov and other White Cossack leaders counted during the Second World War. And the anti-Sovietists did everything to justify their hopes. From the first days of the occupation of the Krasnodon region, Gromov, Zakharov, Zhukov, Kuleshov, Podtynny, Sulikovsky, Statsenko, Usachev and dozens of others took the path of active cooperation with the German authorities. Therefore, to consider the collaboration of fascist collaborators as a “myth of traitors” or to mistake one of them for an NKVD agent, as some researchers of the history of the Young Guard are trying to do, is not only immoral, but also criminal. Among other things, falsification of history leads to ignoring modern decisions of law enforcement agencies, in particular the presidium of the Lugansk regional court. which, in fulfillment of the law of Ukraine of April 17, 1991 “On the rehabilitation of victims of political repression in Ukraine,” on December 9, 1992, reviewed the conclusion of the Lugansk regional prosecutor’s office on criminal cases on charges of Gromov and Pocheptsov and recognized that they were convicted justifiably and are not subject to rehabilitation .