Gastello, ram

No doubt everyone at school went through. history about the fiery ram of the enemy tank columns, on the unanimous decision of the heroic crew to send a burning plane to an enemy convoy. Gastello called collective farms and pioneer squads, factories and ships. For the USSR, this is a legendary name.

Hero

The father of Nikolai Gastello, Franz Gastilo, moved to Moscow at the beginning of the last century from Belarus. He got a job at a foundry of the Moscow-Kazan Railway. To give the appearance of nobility of origin, he changed the sonorous name of Gastilo to a more expressive one - Gastello. April 26 (May 6), 1907 a boy was born, they called him Nikolai. From 1914 to 1918 he studied at the Sokolniki City Men's College. Due to hunger, the family moved to Bashkiria in 1918, but in 1919 they returned to Moscow, where the next year he finished 5 classes. He began his working life in 1923. He worked as an apprentice carpenter in Moscow, then as a locksmith at the Murom Locomotive Repair Plant. In 1928 he was admitted to the CPSU (b). In 1930, the Gastello family returned to Moscow and Nikolai joined the First State Mechanical Plant for Construction Machines on May 1st. In 1932, according to a special set, the Moscow Party Committee sent Nikolai Gastello to the 11th Lugansk Flight School. After a year and a half, he is a pilot of the TB-3 aircraft. In 1939 he became commander of a detachment of heavy bombers. He received baptism of fire in battles near Khalkin-Gol, a participant in the Soviet-Finnish war. Autumn 1940 aviation a part is relocated to the western borders, to the city of Velikiye Luki, and then to the Borovskoye air town near Smolensk.

Myth

The events of the first days of the war in the Soviet press covered the sounds of fanfare of a quick victory over the adversaries. And superfluous confirmation of this speed should be the feats of the heroes, among which the crew of Captain Gastello was among. The beginning of the glorification of the "Soviet Kamikazes" was the article by correspondents P. Pavlenko and P. Krylov in the newspaper Pravda:

"At dawn 6 July, pilots gathered at loudspeakers at different parts of the front. The Moscow radio station spoke, the voice announcer was an old acquaintance — he was at once breathing home, Moscow. The Informbureau report was broadcast. The announcer read a brief message about the heroic feat of Captain Gastello. sections of the front - repeated this name ...

Long before the war, when he and his father worked at one of the Moscow factories, they said about him: "Where you put it, everywhere is an example." It was a man who stubbornly educated himself in difficulties, a man who had saved up strength for a great cause. Felt Nikolai Gastello standing man.

When he became a military pilot, it was immediately confirmed. He was not famous, but quickly went to fame. In 1939, he bombed the White Finnish military factories, bridges and pillboxes; in Bessarabia, he dropped our parachute landing forces to keep the Romanian boyars from plundering the country. From the very first day of the Great Patriotic War, Captain Gastello, at the head of his squadron, smashed fascist tank columns, smashed military objects, broke bridges into splinter chips.

About captain Gastello already had fame in the flight units. The air people quickly recognize each other. Captain Gastello's last feat will never be forgotten. 26 Jun, led by his squadron Captain Gastello, fought in the air. Far below, on the ground, there was also a battle. The enemy’s motorized units broke through to Soviet soil. The fire of our artillery and aircraft restrained and stopped their movement. While leading his battle, Gastello did not lose sight of the ground battle. Black spots of tank clusters, huddled gasoline tanks talked about a hitch in the hostilities of the enemy. And fearless Gastello continued his work in the air. But here the projectile of the enemy anti-aircraft guns smashes the petrol tank of his aircraft. The car is on fire. No exit.

So, to end up on this way? Slip, before it's too late, on a parachute and, once in the territory occupied by the enemy, surrender to shameful captivity? No, this is not an option. And Captain Gastello does not unfasten his shoulder straps, does not leave a flaming car. Down to the ground, to the crowded tanks of the enemy, he is racing a fiery wad of his plane. The fire is already near the pilot. But the earth is near. Eyes of Gastello, tormented by fire, still see, scorched hands are hard. The dying plane is still listening to the hands of the dying pilot. So life will end now - not an accident, not a captivity - a feat! Gastello's car crashes into the "crowd" of tanks and cars - and a deafening explosion with long peals rocks the air of battle: enemy tanks explode.

We remember the name of the hero - captain Nikolai Frantsevich Gastello. His family lost a son and a husband, the Motherland acquired a hero. In memory will remain forever the feat of a man who has calculated his death as a fearless blow to the enemy. "
Pravda, 10 July 1941 of the year

In the same patriotic spirit another official press was broadcasting:

"In the early days of World War II, the squadron commander of long-range bombers Captain Gastello began to perform combat missions.

Squadron aircraft made several sorties a day. 25 June a fascist bomber unexpectedly appeared on our aerodrome at low level flight and fired at it with a machine gun. At this time, his plane was Gastello. He quickly jumped into the car at the shooter and shot down the enemy with accurate fire. The crew of the downed bomber was captured.

26 June 1941 in the 4 o'clock in the morning the squadron of the 207 long-bomber air regiment of the 42 th aviation division of the Western Front under the command of captain N.F. Having dropped the bomb load on the enemy tanks accumulated for refueling, Gastello's plane was returning. On the way, his plane was hit by an anti-aircraft gun. The fuel tank caught fire. The car enveloped in flames could not reach its airfield. Captain Gastello sent a burning plane to a cluster of benzocisterns and enemy vehicles. The plane exploded, but the enemy suffered great damage. NF Gastello and his crew died. The feat of communist Gastello in the difficult initial period of the war became a symbol of courage and heroism. "

Somehow or so we were taught in school. And we did not hesitate to take everything on faith. After all, teachers can not lie. But they lied without knowing it ...

First, about minor inaccuracies (if I may say so). Why virtually all sources say - "Captain Gastello and his crew." Let us be specific: captain N.F. Gastello, lieutenant A.A. Burdenyuk, Lieutenant G. N. Skorobogaty, Senior Sergeant A. A. Kalinin. In the history textbooks and in the print editions, very often different numbers of the aviation regiment were indicated: either the 27 air regiment or the 20 regiment, although in reality the 207 long-range brigade regiment. You tell me - annoying little thing? On the little things very often pierced. Confused aircraft type: instead of DB-3 (long-range bomber) indicate TB-3 (heavy bomber). Both in appearance and design are two completely different aircraft. DB-3F, later renamed IL-4, was produced with 1938g. until the middle of 1944g. Full series - 5256 machines. But back to the date of June 26 1941.

Feat

The man who actually accomplished this feat, if it can be called a feat, was called Alexander Maslov. In the place where 70-Gustella bust is now standing, the remains of Maslov and his crew once rested.

And Gastello himself, forgotten by all, rests in a completely different grave - with the inscription “to unknown pilots”. The remains of two more, who were then with him, still not found, smolder in the Belarusian land.

... It was the fifth day of the war. In a day Minsk will fall, the armies will break out of the encirclement, they must be withdrawn at any cost. The task of the 207-th long-range bomber regiment is to bomb the enemy's manpower and equipment.

Of course, they were doomed in advance. “DB-3f”, on which they flew - heavy vehicles, for the bombing of cities and factories in the deep rear. And they are thrown on columns with tanks, without the cover of fighters. 15 crew killed per day. Two weeks later, nothing was left of the regiment.

In the morning, a link commanded by Captain Maslov flew out. Above the goal of the commander hit the anti-aircraft gun, the plane caught fire. Maslov gave the command "parachute" and turned the burning car to the column, he wanted to ram. Did not get - burning aircraft fell into the field.

No one from the crew managed to escape - the height was small. Local residents got the pilots from the wreckage, buried hastily.

A few hours later, a link of Gastello took off. The command vehicle did not return from the mission. And soon there is a report led by Gastello - Vorobyov and Rybas. They allegedly saw the commander’s flaming plane crash into the thick of German tanks. The fact that Vorobyov arrived on the regiment of July only 10 did not bother anyone anymore. The country had a hard time. The country needed a feat. The country needed role models. And Maslova was considered missing.

In the 1951 year, to commemorate the heroic date of Gastello, who was almost deified, the Council of Ministers of the BSSR decided to rebuild the remains of the heroes, and place the wreckage of the crashed plane in the museum. We left to the place of the exploit (the fact that the plane fell "on the fascist column" in 200 meters from the road did not bother anyone). Opened the grave. And froze, as if struck with thunder.

Maslov and his crew were lying "cheekily" in the tomb of the national hero Gastello. And the hero, apparently, was he, not Gastello.

But it was too late to change anything in history. The remains of Maslov were taken out of the grave in the square and reburied once more - in a common cemetery. And where he used to lie, they put a huge Gustella bust. In place of the failed Moscow ram, another monument was erected, also Gastello. The wreckage of Maslov’s plane was taken to Minsk, to the Belarusian State Museum of the History of War, and they began to exhibit Gastello as an airplane there.

Maslov's relatives were told to keep their mouth shut. And the case of Maslov in the archive was destroyed.

And all the time while the pioneers were singing about him, Nikolai Gastello himself was lying in an unknown tomb with the inscription “unknown pilots”. Three hours after Maslov’s ramming, he was hit over the village of Matzki, which is in 20 kilometers from the place where Maslov’s plane crashed. In the blazing car, Gastello walked over and over the road, German wool from machine guns. It's on a heavy, distant bomber! Bombs were gone.

Finale

The ending of this story is still quite optimistic. In 1996, the government finally recognized Maslova. By presidential decree number 636 "For courage and heroism shown in the fight against the Nazi invaders," the entire crew was posthumously awarded the title Hero of Russia. Again, the general wording, about the ram - not a word ... Gastallov crew members also received awards. Here they decided for some reason to do with the Order of the Patriotic War.

But still on the site of Maslov's deed stands the monument of Gastello. And until now, Nikolai Gastello, who, to the annoyance of historians, did not accomplish the feat that was needed, lies in a modest nameless grave.