The war took eight sons
History This family takes it so much to the soul that it is treated indifferently and condescendingly (they say, war is war) can only be a callous person, like an empty vessel: it seems there is a capacity, but there is no maintenance. I write this with bitterness, because I met such people. And one even said that losing one child or eight is a mountain of equal proportions. I will not measure the scale of others and throw up my troubles not with my hands, but I will begin the story.
The husband of Mary, George Ignatievich, was much older than his wife. In his youth, he served as a clerk, he worked meticulously and tirelessly. Then he himself began to keep the shop. And he liked, already by the time almost forty years old man, a modest girl. I didn’t walk around the bush for a long time, I went before Easter and asked directly if I would agree to get married. I remember a scene from the film “White Dew”: “You: love, love, su-shu, la-la - and for divorce! And I didn’t explain to your mother, I didn’t say anything about love, but for almost fifty years I had a soul ... ”And this is how it turned out.
The family grew before our eyes, children were born. And love, about which no one spoke, was the most important thing in the Frolov family. Of course, spouses had quarrels, but until the very last day Georgy Ignatievich called the spouse for “you” and Masha. And they were able to treat other people like a human being. And they did not tremble at their good.
The neighbors remembered such a case: the family was already large, a new home was needed, more spaciously. But not enough money. We bought a little stone, laid in the yard. This hill grew, slowly losing the "k" suffix. But once a heavy downpour literally fell on Zadonsk, a wall fell on the main “avenue” - Kamenka. And Frolov gave all their reserves to restore the wall. Even not very long to consult with each other. It happened - they helped without understanding what was personal and what was public.
George Ignatievich did not recognize that the war had begun - he died a month before it began. Suddenly, in one day. One comforted widow: almost all of their children - ten sons and two daughters - were already on their feet, were adults. And they lived in another city - Leningrad.
The first to go there, long before the war, the eldest son Michael. Calm, prudent, he had an extraordinary thirst for knowledge. At school I practically did not receive fours, I read voraciously. That's the whole Mishin simple recipe for admission to the institute: to learn everything they ask, and read a lot. By the time his father died, Michael was already an accomplished man. He graduated from the Polytechnic Institute, became a teacher of the Naval Academy and earned the rank of lieutenant colonel! On the very first day of the war, Mikhail spoke on the radio, urged not to lose heart and fight the enemy. He himself was engaged in the protection of ships from the enemy’s magnetic mines. Mikhail Georgievich invented a very effective non-winding method of protection and received a copyright certificate. Many believed that Frolov’s method even surpassed Kurchatov: it did not require a large amount of wire, it came out much cheaper. Not a single ship on which this method was used was blown up on a Nazi mine. For this achievement, Mikhail was awarded the Stalin Prize. But he did not have time to find out about it: during the tests of a warship he was bombed, was seriously wounded and died in one of the hospitals in Leningrad. And for the time being, the family did not know anything about the achievements of their first child, because the work was secret. It was believed that Mikhail was only giving lectures at the academy ...
The second son, Dmitry, from childhood "sick" by the sea. He dreamed of joining the fleet and realized his dream as best he could: he did not spend a single day without charging, he was seriously involved in sports, he studied well. The dream has come true. In the late thirties, Dmitry plowed the seas and oceans. He had seen a lot and could tell a lot to his family, but before the war he didn’t even have time to go home - on the Baltic navy began to defend Leningrad. At the end of autumn 1941, the ship Dmitry served on was blown up by a mine. Only three sailors survived, among them Frolov, heavily shell-shocked. Somehow collecting boards on the water, they built a kind of raft, so they stayed in icy water for several hours until help arrived. At that time, Dmitry survived, although doctors fought for his life for a long time. Again went to the fleet. He was not lucky: Dmitry was repeatedly injured. Doctors saved. But the last wound was especially severe: in the head. And although the young man was once again brought back to life, but not for long: he returned home and died of wounds.
The third brother's name was Constantine. He also grew up a brave boy, and this courage was sometimes some kind of desperate. So, Don is known for his treacherous fast current, although it is called Silent. So, once the girls were drowning. Kostya, then a schoolboy, noticed this, ran to the shore, rushed off a cliff into the water and pulled out both. I was not afraid of anything - and I won. And the gardener was what! He cultivated a special sort of roses - large flowers turned out to be of various shades, even black ones. When Kostya began to care for the girl, half of Zadonsk looked at his bouquets with a good envy.
After graduating from a vocational school in his hometown, he went to his elder brothers in Leningrad, entered the evening department of one of the institutes, and began working. Got married In the first days of the war he volunteered. Once I called my wife: “I came from the front - happy day! Meet me at the station, I will soon arrive by train! ”Not remembering herself for joy, she reached the station in half an hour. And I saw the cordon: the train was bombed, almost all the people in it died ...
The fourth brother Tikhon became a roller operator, and before the start of the war he enrolled in the flying club. At the front he served in artillery, and then in the flight troops: a youthful hobby came in handy. He flew the most dangerous mission, was wounded many times. Here are what lines were printed about Tikhon in the garrison newspaper:
"George Ulyanovsky, Tikhon Frolov,
They follow - Fedyakov and Tamarov,
We flew over the haze of distant fires,
Over the sea of burning fires.
A lot of Nazi regiments
Large group of German
From the vastness of Russian drove Meretskov,
Frolov raised "IL" above Batetskaya.
Frolov invaders crushed down
Bombed And in the night flights.
He became a navigator assault regiment,
I drove planes to the west ... ”
In the spring of 1944, Tikhon became the squadron commander, and soon he was given the rank of captain.
He often sent home letters — perhaps more often than the other brothers. “Hello, dear mother and Anya! Yesterday I received a letter from Tony (this is the second sister) in which she writes that Michael and Nina died. It's too hard for me news. And in all of this blamed the damn Fritz. It was they who brought the premature death to a very valuable person of our country and my brother. They made two young children orphans. But let them remember: we, brothers, ten, died one- in his place becomes another. I also learned from this letter that Leonid was taken to the army. This is the way it should be, the country demands it, and each of us is obliged to avenge the death of the dead and for young orphans. So it will be.
In the spring of 1945, Tikhon led his regiment to bomb the Koenigsberg forts and died. Tikhon was buried in a mass grave.
Not much is known about Vasily. He, too, followed his brothers to Leningrad, worked as a turner at the plant. I volunteered. He wrote letters to his mother, and in the last one: “It is unlikely that I will return from here - this is going to be a bit of a crush here. But we are adding pepper to them, the Fritzes will find their grave here. I embrace everyone tightly and love very much ... ”Vasily died on Nevskaya Dubrovka.
Nikolai grew up as a boy who was not too glib, but he loved his mother very much. He was very afraid of dogs (there were many of them in Zadonsk at that time). One day, the mother went to the village to change some things for food. Late in the evening, Kolka, who was afraid that the mother would not be bitten by the dogs, went to the outskirts of the city to meet her. He leaned against the fence and stood behind the sighs hiding fear.
He was an excellent fisherman, he could lure a rich catch with a simple bait. At the Leningrad plant before the war he worked as a mechanic. And sensible mechanic - the engineers went to him for advice. Golden Hands - he himself collected several televisions. In the very first year of the war, Nikolai graduated from the junior commanders school. He was wounded many times. From the war back, but soon died.
Leonid had a reservation, they didn’t take him to the front. There were several reasons for this. The first - long before the war, while still a boy skiing, he fell severely and damaged his kidneys. And the second is different. In the summer of 1941, Leonid, a turner, worked at the Leningrad plant. This was a top-class master, the director of the plant firmly and firmly ordered the guy to forget about the front - such people were needed on the spot. But Lenka did not want this. He wrote a statement after a statement - everyone rejected. But once the employees of the military registration and enlistment office made a mistake: they were a little late with confirmation of the reservation. And Leonid, having improved the day, got on the train with other volunteers. Twice on the way, telegrams were sent to him from the factory director with a request-order to return, but the turner Frolov did not return. He served on the "fly" - a mobile repair station, avenged the dead brothers. A Tanks repaired right on the battlefield. Once a fascist shell hit the "fly" ...
Peter arrived in Leningrad, while still a schoolboy. True, the conscience did not allow hanging on the neck of the brothers, and slowly from them he got a job at the factory, after the lessons he rushed to change. Famously drove a motorcycle - and in the pre-war and wartime: delivered reports. I went and exploration. He was injured, but did not bury himself in the hospital, ran to the front. Killed in 1943 year.
Alexey, who worked at the evacuated plant, was never released to the front. He worked all the war, not sparing himself. After the war he lived in Kazan until his death.
Mitro, or Mitrofan, grew up among the brothers to the weakest, he had a severe illness in his early childhood, he almost died. But he managed to make war for a whole year and survived. He lived in Leningrad, but every summer came to his native Zadonsk, took care of the house and garden. And it all seemed to Mitro that the day would come - his entire big happy family would come together ... But this dream did not come true.
Sister Antonina also went to Leningrad before the war. There, at first in a foreign city for them, she replaced her brothers mother. Married, her son was born Valerik. She did not evacuate, remained in the besieged city. Here is what she wrote home, in Zadonsk, to her mother and sister in the autumn of 1943, “Hello, dear mother and Anyuta! I did not write to you for a long time, I could not. I was sick, and there wasn’t much good — I didn’t want to upset and worry you. I'm still alive, but I don’t know what will happen next. There was a lot of horror. And now they continue. I work from morning to night. Therefore, Valerik from kindergarten do not take. He is crying, but what to do? I caught a cold, coughing, but I have no way out of this impasse. Tearing him from his lunch and wear in kindergarten. How we sometimes dream of potatoes in the "uniform"! A year and a half, as we did not eat it ... "
Soon Tonya and a three-year-old son could not get out of bed. The boy has forgotten how to walk. They were found and rescued by colleagues of Antonina. Fed up, went out. And then the parcel arrived from far away Zadonsk. True, she spent a very long time on the way, the apples had time to rot, the rats gnawed the corner of the box, a part of the wheat spilled out of the hole. But still it was a huge help ...
Anna grew up a girl very responsible. Like almost all the children of Frolov, she studied very well. Throughout the war, Anna was with her mother, helping her with all her might. She arranged her life only after the war, but the marriage did not work out, the marriage quickly fell apart. Unfortunately, Anna lost her only child - a daughter. She worked as a teacher and since then all her unspent love has been given to other people's children.
And what about Maria Matveyevna? How did she manage to cope with her enormous grief? Somehow I could. Her heart didn’t become hardened, although someone would condemn for it ... Maria Matveyevna lived a long life, died in 96 years. She knew by heart the letters of all her dead children. Often sat on a stool near the house. Alien children passed by - bestowed on uncomplicated candy or gingerbread.
And the street where the once large Frolov family lived is now named after them. This is a great merit of Lipetsk journalist Alexander Kosyakin, who learned about this family and wrote first.
There is now a monument to the mother in Zadonsk - they installed it on the sixtieth anniversary of our Victory. The administration of the Lipetsk region allocated most of the money for the monument, but Lipchans and Leningraders also collected considerable amounts of money (excuse me for this inaccuracy, but I cannot say here "Petersburgers" ...). Modest monument. But to pass by without thinking about anything will not work ...
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