"Goodbye, goodbye and remember me ..."
People who were born after the war, it is even difficult to imagine what the name of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya meant during the war years. I remember how my father brought a newspaper from work and began to read to us aloud the essay by Peter Lidov about the deceased partisan. On the lines: “At night she was led barefoot through the snow,” his voice quivered, and her father, a stern-tempered man, suddenly began to cry. Me, a schoolgirl, then it struck. I never saw my father cry. “For Zoya!” The pilots wrote on the sides of the planes. “For Zoya!” - tankers with this name on the armor went into battle.At the beginning of the 90 of the last century, articles began to appear in many publications, the authors of which tried to defame the name of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya and her feat. What was not there! They recalled that Zoe, after suffering meningitis, was treated in a sanatorium, where there were patients with nervous diseases. And the spiteful conclusion was ready: maybe Zoe was insane? The meanness of such an assumption of the authors did not confuse. Then they started writing about the fact that there was no Zoe in Petrishchevo. There, allegedly, the Germans seized some other partisan.
I was outraged by these attacks on the deceased young heroine. I remembered my father's tears. And I, being already a correspondent of Komsomolskaya Pravda, writing about the war, decided to try to find fellow soldiers Zoya Kosmodemyanskoy - she was not the only one who came from Moscow to the village of Petrishchevo, Ruzsky District, Moscow Region. The trackers of the Moscow school number 1272 helped me find such addresses, where I had been invited to meetings with partisans almost every year. I invited the four fellow soldiers of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya to the editorial board of Komsomolskaya Pravda and wrote down their memories.
“31 of October 1941 of the year early in the morning we were gathering around the cinema“ Colosseum ”(now in this building is the Sovremennik Theater),” Klavdia Alexandrovna Miloradova told. - All with backpacks behind, in winter coats or quilted quilted jackets. How did we go to war? Like my other fellow soldiers, at first I received a ticket to the district Komsomol committee. I did not walk, but flew with happiness through the empty streets, blocked by metal hedgehogs. In the Moscow city committee of the Komsomol, where dozens of guys and girls gathered with the same vouchers, we were invited for an interview one by one. Here they asked us - are we ready to become fighters of a special military unit that will act in the rear of the enemy?
We were told about the difficulties that await us in the forests behind the front line. But we kept saying one thing: “We want to fight!”. I did not see anyone refuse to go behind enemy lines.
Soon trucks arrived at the Coliseum cinema. Laughing and helping each other, we climbed into the bodies, sat on wooden benches that swayed along the way.
In those days, the stations were jammed. Residents sought to leave Moscow, away from the front. And we were sincerely glad that we would be given a combat mission, and we will defend our Moscow. Such we were in those days.
Machines stopped in the area of Kuntsevo, on Mozhayskoye highway, near one-story houses. At headquarters, volunteers learned that they were enrolled in the military unit 9903. This was a special unit at the headquarters of the Western Front, it was tasked to reconnoiter behind enemy lines, cut communication wires, set fire to houses where the Germans were stationed. The fascists drove many owners into sheds and summer kitchens.
Near Mozhayskoye highway, it was then the outskirts of Moscow, we were taught to shoot, throw grenades, put mines, crawl in a flaying manner. You know, when I first paid attention to Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya? We, the girls, becoming fighters, tried to imitate the guys - in their walk, in the manner of communication, they even began to smoke. But Zoe was different, at every step she had: "Excuse me, sorry!".
It felt the teacher's breed. Unwittingly, looking at her, I thought: how will she fight? It is too fragile, delicate. She had a gentle, inspired face.
Subsequently, in my opinion, not a single portrait conveyed the particular tenderness of her gaze. And Zoya surprised us. In the evenings in the red corner we turned on a gramophone and, beating our boots, danced merrily. There was a Russian dance, as well as tango and foxtrot sounds. Zoya did not go dancing. Somehow I entered her room. She wrote something in a notebook. “Zoe! Why are you separated from us? Do not go to the dance? ". Zoya looked at me with indignation: "How can you have fun and even dance at such a time?" To our houses came the cannonade. The war came close to Moscow. ”
Such was Zoe's character. The hardness of beliefs sometimes turned straightforward. Later we will find out how she was going to live. In the notebooks that her mother, Lyubov Timofeevna, was examining, remained extracts from the works of her favorite writers, who determined, judging by these short notes, her moral values, her spiritual appearance. “Everything should be fine in a person ...”, Zoya wrote down the words of A.P. Chekhov. “Man is great! It sounds proud! .. ", - the lines from the play by A.M. appear in notebooks. Gorky.
She dreamed of entering the Literary Institute. Become a writer. Bright ideals that shaped the character of a dreamy, romantic girl, she will have to defend at the cost of life.
“It is difficult to explain and understand now - how we felt when we learned that we were to go on a mission,” said A.F. Voronin. - We were sincerely glad that they trusted us to contribute their own - albeit a small contribution to the defense of Moscow. The biggest punishment for us was the removal from a combat mission. That was our youth. It's impossible to believe in your death in 18 years. ”
Veterans remembered how Zoe returned from her first assignment. Together with a group of fighters, she put anti-tank mines on the Volokolamsk highway. In this direction, the German went to Moscow. Tanks. The cold came. Chalk snowstorm. Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya returned from a job with a cold. She was in a fever. I tied my ear with a scarf. But she went for the commander of our unit, Arthur Sprogis, and asked him not to remove him from combat work. Along with everyone, she went to training every day. Zoe was really getting better. She was examined by doctors of the detachment. There was no more temperature. Zoe was getting ready to go on a combat mission again. But what did her sensitive soul feel at that moment? On the last page of her notebook, she wrote the lines from Shakespeare: "Farewell, goodbye and remember me." This notebook, which remained under the pillow, was found after its death.
The last time Zoe, along with a group of fighters, left the base of the 19 squad of November 1941 of the year. It was a clear, sunny day. Zoya was lively, smiling. She remembered this as her fellow soldiers. She had 10 days left to live ... In the evening twilight, two groups — a total of 20 people — crossed the shaky bridge across the Nara River. Experienced scouts led them through the front line. What role was assigned to this small group extending beyond the front line? In just a few days, a counteroffensive by our troops will begin near Moscow. And every message about the location of enemy combat units was especially important now. The soldiers carried with them grenades and incendiary bottles. They were given the task of burning houses where communications centers were located or clusters of enemy soldiers were seen. The fighters walked through the woods knee-deep or even waist-deep in the snow. They cut communication wires, watched the roads along which the enemy tanks and infantry moved.
“Zoe was a sensitive person,” said K.A. Miloradov. - Once her kindness touched me to tears. It was my turn to go on reconnaissance - I crawled to the highway. Lying in the snow, frozen, of course. When she returned to her people, Zoe raked the coals of the fire, they were still hot, covered them with needles and said: “Sit here, it's warmer here. Warmed for me a mug of water. When we wanted to drink, we tore off the icicles from the branches, sucked the snow ”.
The group commanders were inexperienced. And although the fighters seemed to be secretly making their way in a dense forest, they ran into an ambush near the village of Golovkino.
Fighters who walked in a single file, came to the clearing. As it turned out, here the Germans put up machine guns. There was a burst of machine guns. The fighters of both groups, in surprise, rushed in all directions. Near the commander Boris Krainov gathered just 12 people. He led them further into the forest. On the map that Krainov received before going on a mission, the village of Petrishchevo was also marked. 27 November 1941 three went to this village. These were the commander himself, Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya and the fighter Vasily Klubkov. They went to different parts of the village Petrishchevo. The commander outlined the gathering place. All three were to meet near the conspicuous tall pine, which made the notches.
Flames shot up above the village. This is Boris Krainov set fire to one of the houses, to which the wires stretched. He returned to the place of the appointed meeting and waited for the return of Zoya and Klubkov. At this time, Zoe saw one of the houses, behind the lighted windows of which German uniforms flashed. A barn adjoined the house, and Zoya approached him cautiously, hoping that a fire in the barn would spread to the house occupied by the Germans. She took out the incendiary bottle. But then her strong hands grabbed her by the shoulders. A man in a sheepskin coat called the Germans. As it turned out, she was detained by a peasant SA Sviridov. The Germans awarded him - pouring a glass of vodka.
Zoya was brought to the hut, and the interrogation began: “Where does she come from? Who was with her? Where are the others hiding? ” Zoya firmly answered all questions: “I don’t know! I will not say!". She hid her last name and first name. She said that her name is Tanya.
But the documents 1942 year. Employees of the Moscow city committee and the Komsomol regional committee arrived in Petrishchevo. They recorded residents' stories about the fate of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya. "In the house gr. Sedova M.I. German patrols led a partisan with their hands tied around the hours of 7. During the search the room was still 15-20 Germans. They laughed at her all the time and shouted: “Partisan! Partizan! ”Then the Germans transferred her to the c. Voronina A.P. The officer began to ask the partisan in Russian: “Where are you from?”. She replied: "From Saratov." "Where are you going?". Answer: “To Kaluga”. "Who were you with?" Answer: "There were two of us, the Germans detained a friend in the forest."
She held herself courageously, proudly, answered questions sharply.
She was stripped, put on the bench and began to flog with rubber sticks. But she was still silent. “After spanking in 10 hours of the evening from home gr. Voronina, barefoot, with her hands tied, was led into a house in the bottom of her under the snow. Kulik V.A. The girl was put on the bench. Her lips were black, parched, her face was swollen, her forehead was broken. She asked to drink. Instead of water, one of the Germans brought a kerosene lamp under her chin. ”
But before climbing the scaffold, Zoe had to go through another shock. She was brought to the hut, where among the Germans was a fighter Vasily Klubkov, who came with her to Petrishchevo. Just under torture, Zoe refused to give her name. And here in front of her sat her comrade and, pleasingly looking into the eyes of a German officer, not only called her name, but also told about their military unit, where she was, and who had come to Petrishchevo.
This history Zoya’s fellow soldiers knew, but until the beginning of the 90s, Klubkov’s betrayal did not betray publicity. Obviously, the leaders of a special military unit did not want any shadow to fall on it.
Claudia Alexandrovna Miloradova told me: “This happened three months after Zoya’s death. One of our fighters, let's call him Peter, accidentally met Klubkova in Kuntsevo, near our partisan base. They talked, and Peter invited Klubkov to his home. They talked all night. Peter was amazed that Klubkov knew nothing about Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya. Although Lidov’s essay on her exploit was published in many newspapers, they read it on the radio. Tangle was not interested in the fate of Zoe, although they went on a mission in the same village. His behavior seemed strange to his fellow soldier. The next day they went to their military unit 9903 together.
To the questions of the commander of the Tangle he gave confused answers, he could not explain where he was behind the front line. As a result, he was arrested. 60 years his testimony was kept under the heading "Secret."
Here is what Vasiliy Klubkov told: “Going to one of the houses, I took out a bottle of“ KV ”, but then I saw two Germans. Frightened and ran to the forest. The Germans caught up with me, knocked me down, took away weapon and duffle bag. I was led to some hut. A German officer pointed a gun at me and said that he would kill me if I did not tell the truth. I was scared and said that there were three of us in Petrishchevo. He named the names of commander Krainov and Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya. The officer gave the command. And soon the soldiers led Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya. Looking at me, she said she did not know me. But I, remembering the threat of the officer, called her name. The officer hit Zoya. But she replied: "Kill me, but I will not tell you anything." I never saw her again. ”
The officer said to me: “Now you will work in favor of German intelligence. You have changed your homeland and severe punishment awaits you there. And we will learn you and send to the rear of the Soviet troops. ” I agreed".
Tangle underwent short-term training in the German intelligence school. He was ordered to return to his military unit 9903 in the Kuntsevo district. Try to find out what new operations are being prepared here, go over the front line and report the German intelligence on the password ... The coils were arrested, convicted and shot in April 1942 of the year.
Zoya not only suffered torture, but also was betrayed by her fellow soldier. In vain this fact was hidden. The story of Zoe becomes even more tragic. And the character of the heroine, who, unbroken, went to the scaffold, acquires truly epic features.
Well-known sociologist S.G. Kara-Murza wrote about Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya: “The popular consciousness chose her and included the holy martyrs in the pantheon. And her image, separated from the real biography, began to serve as one of the pillars of the self-consciousness of our people. ”
Ahead was the whole war. Zoya was called the Russian Joan of Arc. She did not lead troops into battle. But her spiritual strength and dedication helped her gather strength, get up for a deadly attack on enemy fire, stay on the third shift in the dank shop, to launch more weapons for the front. Zoya was remembered both in tanks before the battle and at military airfields.
I remember how a lieutenant came to our Stalingrad basement, where women hid with us, children. His fighters, frozen and tired, slept side by side on a concrete floor. He sat down with us near an improvised lamp made from a sleeve, and took out a photograph of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya from his breast pocket. “We will avenge Zoya!” He said, stroking the picture with his hand. I did not know his name and the part in which he served. In that situation it was not customary to ask about it. One thing he said - they came from Don. I presented our endless, snow-covered steppes, where the wind knocked down. In my view, they were all heroes.
But the lieutenant recalled Zoe. I was struck by the expression of his face, and the intonation of his voice: “For some of us, she could have become a bride,” he said, without taking his palm off the picture.
Her bright spirit flew into our stuffy basement, whose walls shook with explosions.
... After the liberation of the village of Petrishchevo, Lyubov Timofeevna, the mother of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, along with her friend Klavdiya Miloradova and other brother-soldiers, as well as experts and workers of the Moscow Komsomol Committee, came to these places. They recorded the stories of residents who saw the execution of Zoe, remembered her last words. Going to the gallows, Zoe climbed onto the boxes. One of the residents hit her with a stick on the legs. The German soldier began to photograph Zoya. She shouted to the Germans: “Before it’s too late, surrender. You hang me now. But do not hang all! We are 170 million! Victory will be ours! Our comrades will avenge you for me! ” On the scaffold, she threatened the Germans. Zoya wanted to say something else, but the executioner knocked a box out from under her feet.
Zoe's name has become a symbol of perseverance. She was the first woman in the war years to become the Hero of the Soviet Union.
One of our fighters and officers, she was a bride by age, the other - a sister or daughter. Each house had its own military grief. But Zoya was remembered and revered by all. My uncle, a priest of a farm church in the Rostov region, remembered her in his prayers.
Peter Lidov wrote in his essay: “The feat of Tanya (as Zoya called herself) and everything related to him is a whole epic that has not yet been fully disclosed.” The journalist did not live up to the Victory. He died in a battle near Poltava. But his word "epic" in the sketch turned out to be prophetic. Name Kosmodemyanskoy called villages and streets, schools and ships, children's boarding houses and libraries.
The fate of Zoe, young, beautiful, romantic, martyred, was like a thunderbolt, which highlighted the whole bestial essence of fascism, its terrible features. Her bright image is a military banner that fluttered ahead of the regiments of the Red Army.
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