In order that now, in the 21 century, Russia could not just live, but also implement grand projects - like a bridge between Taman and Kerch - people living in previous centuries had to fight and win victories. And often - and give life so that others can continue the work.
29 August one of those who died in the twentieth century for Kerch and for the whole country - Vladimir Nikiforovich Dubinin - would have turned 90 years. Now he would be one of the youngest veterans of the Great Patriotic War. But ... He is forever 14-year-old. And tens of millions of Soviet schoolchildren were known not by name and patronymic, but only by name - Volodya.
The future hero 29 August 1927 was born in the family of Kerch sailor Nikifor Semenovich Dubinin. At the time, Nikifor Semenovich fought in the Civil War on the side of the Reds.
Once Volodya, along with his second cousin Vanya Gritsenko, like the other boys in Kerch, climbed the quarries in the village of Old Quarantine. The guys started a game of hide-and-seek there, and suddenly Volodya fell into a deep hole. And I was surprised to see the inscription: “N. Dubinin, I. Gritsenko, 1919”. Adults dragged the boy and began to scold for negligence, but he thought only about the inscription. His father at this time was on the voyage. When Nikifor Semenovich returned, the son told him about what he had seen in the quarries.
My father was surprised that the inscription was preserved, and began to tell Volodya about how he and his friend were partisan in Civil. Of course, these stories had an encouraging effect on the boy. But who would have thought then that Volodya himself would have to face a war - and not at all with the Civil ...
Volodya became seriously interested in building model aircraft in the circle at the House of Pioneers. At first he was not very good at it. The boys launched models from Mithridates, and once Volodin the glider did not take off. The other guys laughed at him, and only one of them, Zhenya Bychkov, tried to explain what the mistakes were. But, as soon as the boys were left alone, the weather in Kerch suddenly deteriorated. It began to rain, and with it the thunderstorm. Zhenya stumbled and injured his leg. He told a friend to save the model, but Volodya decided to save Zhenya and helped him down. Since then, the guys became friends and became involved in gliders together. And soon Volodya started to get it. And not just to succeed - in the city competitions his model set a record. For this he was awarded a ticket to the Artek pioneer camp.
Perhaps he would continue to do this business, would have become an outstanding aircraft designer. But soon the same day came, which dramatically changed the fate of the whole nation and the whole country - 22 June 1941 of the year ... The Great Patriotic War began.
Nikifor Semenovich Dubinin was sent to the front. Oh, how Volodya begged to take him with him! Naturally, my father could not do this ... Having distributed his model aircraft, Volodya went to the city committee of the Komsomol - he wanted to sign up for the front as a volunteer. But, of course, nothing came of this either - he was too brave. He was ordered to go instead of the front - to school.
But the cousin's uncle - the same Gritsenko who once fought with his father in Grazhdanskaya - entrusted the boy with the first thing: he ordered them to collect empty bottles to make incendiary shells against fascist tanks.
Soon Kerch began to bomb. From the school were left alone ruins. Volodya wanted even more to fight the fascists.
The second cousin, Vanya Gritsenko, was older. He was taken to a partisan detachment, which was supposed to descend into the adits in the Old Quarantine - the ones where the boys once played hide and seek. Volodya found out about this and began to ask for a detachment. At first, adults really did not want to take it because of age. But the detachment commander, Alexander Zyabrev, hesitated, decided to still give the daredevil a chance. Together with them another boy came down to the ground - Tolya Kovalev.
The guys wanted a real case. They asked for exploration, but they were instructed to "prose life" - to peel potatoes. Well, for the life support of the detachment it was necessary to do this.
But soon the partisans made a raid, during which Alexander Zyabrev was killed. The guerrillas vowed to avenge the death of the commander. The fascists, frightened by the outburst, learned about the detachment and sealed off Old Quarantine, and mined outlets from the quarries.
The guerrillas lacked the elementary necessary for survival: water. It was necessary for someone to go up: not only to get water, but also to find out what the fascists are doing. And it was here that the courage and enthusiasm of the youngest participants, boys, who can crawl through narrow manholes where adults do not sneak in, were useful.
Volodya, along with Vanya and Tolya, happily took on new tasks, although they were very difficult and risky. Once, in the course of reconnaissance, Volodya approached Gritsenko’s house, where his mother, Evdokia Timofyevna, was now living. He looked at her, but he could not seem to her ...
When the fascists attempted to take a detachment, entrenched in the quarries, by storm - the boys brought ammunition, helped adult fighters in every possible way. They extinguished a fire that broke out from a bomb. In general, they provided invaluable assistance to the detachment.
Once in the course of reconnaissance, Volodya found out important information: the fascists were preparing to flood the quarries in order to crack down on the partisans. When he tried to warn his comrades, he saw that there were enemies near the manhole, through which he usually made his way. Then he distracted the Nazis with a rope, tied it to the bushes and began to pull. The enemy soldiers thought that someone was hiding in the bushes, distracted from the manhole, and Volodya darted there.
Unfortunately, almost all communications with the outside world for the detachment were lost. The guerrillas decided to break through the new passage, where the fascists would not have noticed. It was necessary to send someone upstairs. But only a tiny loophole remained, which only Volodya could get into. He was sent. It was already the eve of the new, 1942 of the year.
The guerrillas did not yet know that the city had just been liberated during the Kerch-Feodosiya landing operation. This joyful message to them was brought by the young intelligence officer. Together with him came the Soviet sappers, who cleared the entrances to the quarries. Volodya’s mother was able to come there too, proud of her son.
It would seem that the worst experienced. People escaped from the underground fortress, saw their homes, their loved ones. Met New Year. But February 4 Volodya Dubinin volunteered to help the sappers who wanted to demine the entire area. Unfortunately, during the operation, a mine exploded, which claimed the life of a brave boy and four adult sappers.
And for Kerch, as it turned out, the worst was still ahead. The fascists managed to retake the city. But he was released again.
And, probably, this is not a coincidence that it was on the 90th anniversary of the birth of Volodya Dubinin, on August 29, 2017, that the first arch of the Crimean bridge was installed. Indeed, now, in our time, we had to liberate Crimea again - and not from anyone, but from the ideological heirs of those who bombed Kerch and other cities, who mined the passages in the quarry, trying to strangle a small detachment, who killed Volodya Dubinin ... And now the heirs of fascism are trying to kill and historical memory ... But it’s so good that at least Crimea and a significant territory of Donbass were saved from this modern horror. And the names of the heroes are with us. And the right to Crimea has exactly the people among whom these heroes grew up, the people who respect them and sacredly preserve the memory of them.