Battle girlfriend

19
Battle girlfriend


"Russian Planet" recalls a resident of Tomsk, who bought a tank for the front and became the first woman to be a driver tank

Danish director Gert Friborg visited Tomsk, where he shot some scenes for his short film “Fighting Girlfriend” - a biographical tape about the life of Maria October Oktyabrskaya. Most of the material was prepared in the director's homeland, but it was decided to shoot some scenes in the city, which is closely intertwined with the fate of the main character. History outstanding woman awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union, in the material "Russian Planet".

Exiled daughter, Komsomol member and commissar's wife

Maria Garagulya was born in Tavricheskaya province (Crimea) on August 16 1905 of the year * in the village of Kiyat, now renamed the village of Blizhny. She grew up in a family of peasants who were deported to the Urals after dispossession in 1930. Primary education, six classes, Maria received in the city of Dzhankoy in the south of Crimea, where she moved to 1921 year. From there, four years later, she moved to Sevastopol. She managed to work at the cannery there, then was a telephone operator at a local telephone exchange.

In Sevastopol, Maria met her future husband, cadet Ilya Ryadnenko, whom she married in 1925. During the marriage, she both changed their last name, becoming the October. After graduating from college, Ilya Oktyabrsky was sent from one city to another, and Maria followed it.

According to Galina Bitko, who runs the cultural and educational department of the Tomsk Regional Museum of Local Lore, few personal belongings that belonged to Maria Oktyabrskaya have survived to this day. Memories, notes and memoirs of fellow soldiers and contemporaries have been preserved. They all speak with equal warmth of Maria Vasilyevna's pre-war life.

“Cheerful, cheerful, friendly and beautifully dressed, she always attracted people to herself. She organized an embroidery circle for the wives of commanders. The real needlewoman is real, - the participant of the Great Patriotic War Irina Levchenko told about a woman so. “Thanks to Maria Vasilyevna’s concerns, the soldiers’ barracks took on a cozy, homely look. There were curtains on windows and doors, embroidered with a cross and a satin stitch, napkins on bedside tables. And the flowers, if not in vases - in banks, but still alive. "

To all the questions about how she does everything, Maria proudly answered: “The commissioner's wife should set an example in everything!” She was constantly elected to the women's council of the units and garrisons to which Maria followed her husband. She was an active participant and organizer of defense and cultural events among the families of officers, as well as in amateur art activities.

After completing the courses of medical service, she learned the shooting business and graduated from the chauffeur courses. It is also known that from 50 rifle shots she got into 48 targets, threw a grenade well, pushed the core and threw a disk. Ilya Oktyabrsky was proud of his beloved wife.

In 1941, their fate divorced. A day after the start of the war, Maria, along with other family members of the officers, was evacuated to Tomsk, where she could arrive only in August. At the new site, she immediately began working at a local construction site, and then at the Leningrad Technical School of Anti-aircraft Artillery, also evacuated to Tomsk. At the end of the summer, she learned about the death of her husband. Ilya Oktyabrsky died on August 9 near Kiev.

Buying a tank and writing to the leader

Maria Oktyabrskaya went to Novosibirsk to meet with the wives of the officers who died in the war. After that, she decided to join the Red Army. By that time, she was almost 40 years old, and therefore she received letters of refusal to request to send her to the front.

She was prevented from getting into operation and cervical vertebra tuberculosis, which Maria Vasilyevna had once been ill with.

Then the widow of the Commissioner of October began to save money on the tank. For a start, with the help of her sister, she sold all the property that she had accumulated by that time. After that, she took up embroidery, as the necessary funds from the sale of belongings could not be obtained. When the entire amount - 50 thousand rubles - was on hand, she transferred the money to the State Bank. And she wrote a telegram to Joseph Stalin, which was published in March 1943 by the Krasnoye Znamya newspaper. In her address to the Supreme Commander, Maria asked to build a tank for her personal savings, and to send her along with him to the front as a driver. In the same newspaper was published the answer of the Leader of the peoples:

“Thank you, Maria Vasilyevna, for your concern for the armored forces of the Red Army. Your wish will be fulfilled. Accept my greetings, I. Stalin. "

As an October mechanic and requested, the tank was called "Fighting Girlfriend." While he was being collected, Maria was sent to study in Omsk, where she had to learn to drive. As Galina Bitko notes, she passed all the exams as “excellent”. After that I went to the Urals and got the car straight off the assembly line.


Tank T-34 “Fighting Girlfriend” at the time of its transfer to the crew by the team of the Sverdlovsk bread and pasta factory, the winter of 1943. Photo: tankfront.ru

After that, Maria Oktyabrskaya was sent to the Western Front, near Smolensk. There she joined the 26-th Elninskaya Guards Tank Brigade with the tank. In mid-September 1943, the tank "Fighting Girlfriend" arrived in Tatsinsky corps. The crew of the tank is also known: the commander is junior lieutenant Peter Chebotko, the gunner is Gennady Yasko, the radio operator is Mikhail Galkin, the driver is Maria Oktyabrskaya. At the same time, all crew members are front-line soldiers awarded with orders and medals. According to the employee of the museum, the crew of the tank called the mechanic only “Mama Vasilyevna”, to which she always answered them - “sons”.

The death of "Fighting girlfriend"

It is well known about the two battles of the members of the crew of “Fighting Girlfriend” and Maria Oktyabrskaya. One of the combat missions in November 1943 of the year was the need to cut the railway line near the village of Novoe Selo in the Senno district of the Vitebsk region of the Republic of Belarus. Complicated the task of the accumulation of enemy troops, whose troops were necessary to break, to perform the task. October, which at that time had already become a guard sergeant, along with her tank was among the first to be in the German positions.

For three days, Maria, seriously wounded, repaired her “Fighting Girlfriend”, which she shot down during the battle. Before failing, the tank managed to destroy more than 50 German soldiers and officers, as well as destroy the enemy cannon. After October was able to repair the tank, the entire crew returned to the location of the unit. For this battle, the woman received the Order of the Patriotic War, I degree.

The second famous battle in the biography of the heroine of the war took place in the area of ​​the Krynka station of the Vitebsk region. In mid-January 1944, a tank attack on the train station began. Among the attackers was the “Fighting Friend”, which crushed several anti-tank guns located in the village with its caterpillars. During the battle, the enemy shell hit the tank's "sloth" - one of the steering wheels of the combat vehicle. Due to damage, the equipment got up, and Maria, despite fierce shooting, went outside for repair.

When almost everything was ready, a mine exploded near Maria Oktyabrskaya. Several fragments wounded her in the head. Nevertheless, she was able to put the tank on the course this time too. After she returned to the unit, the first operation was performed in the field hospital, during which it became clear that more serious surgical intervention was necessary.

Death and memory

During Maria Oktyabrskaya's stay at the hospital, she was awarded the Order for the battle near Novy Selo. During the presentation was attended by the entire composition of the "Fighting girlfriend." Then, on February 16, the driver was taken to Smolensk by plane. She spent almost a month in the hospital, but the doctors could not help her, and 15 March 1944, Maria Oktyabrskaya, passed away. In early August of the same year, by decree of Joseph Stalin, she was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.

As a result, the crew of the tank was replaced by three wrecked and burned down cars during the war. On the fourth machine, they managed to end the war, reaching Konigsberg. As a sign of respect and memory of Maria Oktyabrskaya, on each new tank received instead of the burnt down, the crew deduced the name of the very first tank - “Fighting friend”.

Tomsk citizens honor the memory of the heroine. So, for example, a memorial plaque is installed on the wall of the case of the electrolamp plant, with the following text: “At this place stood the house in which 1941 – 1943 lived in the year Maria Oktyabrskaya — Hero of the Soviet Union, sergeant, tank mechanic“ Fighting friend ”, built on her personal savings. Died in the battles for the Motherland in 1944 year. " In addition, a monument was erected near the gymnasium No. 24. Contrary to some opinions, Tomsk street Oktyabrskaya is not related to heroin. But in honor of Mary is named one of the streets of Smolensk.

* Date of birth indicated on award documents. Some sources indicate the date of birth as July 21 1902 of the year.
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19 comments
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  1. +8
    April 3 2016 07: 25
    And the horse will stop racing, and the Russian Woman can be the driver-mechanic on the tank!
    The heroine forever and ever!
    1. +1
      April 3 2016 14: 36
      A small digression. Previously, either the tanks were cheaper, or people were much richer, I can’t imagine how much the T90 costs now to buy it yourself, or even less the plane. But people and planes then bought.

      The article is excellent, thanks!
      1. 0
        April 3 2016 15: 52
        cheaper cost. Prices for planes and tanks, as an option, can be viewed in dollars and multiplied by 10 to get the current value in dollars. A rough idea should give. hi
        1. 0
          April 3 2016 21: 34
          T-34 cost depending on the manufacturer's factory from 120.000 to 170.000 rubles.
          1. 0
            April 4 2016 03: 06
            And how many workers were there?
            1. 0
              April 4 2016 07: 14
              "...
              Chairman of the USSR State Planning Committee Nikolai Voznesensky in his work “The USSR Military Economy during the Patriotic War” noted that the average monthly salary of workers in the USSR Union industry (enterprises of union and republican subordination existed) increased from 375 rubles in 1940 to 573 rubles in 1944 (by 53%). And in the steel industry, it reached 697 rubles, and in the coal industry - 729 rubles. The salary of engineering and technical workers in the same period increased from 768 rubles to 1209 rubles. Moreover, in the steel industry it reached 1725 rubles, and in the coal industry - 1502 rubles. In the republican industry and agriculture revenues were lower.

              The memoirs of veterans and contemporaries in general confirm the words of the head of the State Planning Commission. So, planer Jacob Roytman from 1936, he worked at the Odessa plant them. Lenin in the "closed" shop, which carried out defense orders, said that he received 720 rubles a month. According to him, this "amount seemed huge." Pyotr Butov, after training in the mining school, worked in the mine number 15-16 in Gukovo, a mechanic of an electric locomotive of trolleys. In 1939, I earned about 1 thousand rubles per month. And this despite the fact that "lunch at our miner's dining room cost 30 kopecks." Fedor Titov graduated from college in the 1936 year, receiving a specialty locksmith-train engine 3-th level. From the 3 rank before the war began, it grew to 6, earned about 500 rubles per month, so much then the best suit to order cost.

              Mikhail Borisov, after completing their studies at the flying club, they wanted to leave the instructor. They offered 750 rubles, plus full provision - free food, free form. Claudia Deryabina (Ryzhkov) worked as an aero club instructor. Received 625 rubles. The instructors were fully provisioned - breakfast in the dining room, lunch and dinner brought to the airfield, lived in private apartments. Pavel Ankudinov reports that he received 100 rubles in the first year of study, and each new year a dozen were added. And as an instructor, he received 700 rubles, plus free good food and uniforms. "They lived well, this does not take away."
              http://topwar.ru/27954-rubl-v-gody-velikoy-otechestvennoy-voyny.html
              1. 0
                April 5 2016 18: 46
                Those workers strongly refusing themselves everything, for 2 years could buy a conditional tank.
                Not very bad.
  2. +8
    April 3 2016 07: 35
    They buried M.V.Octyabrskaya in the Smolensk Kremlin, on the banks of the Dnieper, next to the heroes of the Patriotic War of 1812.
  3. +8
    April 3 2016 07: 40
    to be a mechanic 34chki and a man was not easy! Eternal Glory to the Heroine of the Present !!!! Glory yes Our Memory !!!! Courageous - A Real Russian Woman !!!! My bow!
  4. +7
    April 3 2016 08: 19
    We know about female pilots, but it became interesting whether there were female tankers. I started to raise the materials, and it turned out that there were as many female tankers as pilots. I myself sat in the tank (although not a tanker) I think that for a woman, this is already feat. I just worship such women. Probably they are only in Russia.
  5. Riv
    0
    April 3 2016 09: 12
    ... Chuck Norris, acting in a documentary, proudly played the role of a Russian girl ...
  6. +3
    April 3 2016 11: 22
    That's about whom films should be made, and not about fictional thieves in law, as in the "Leningrad-46" movie.
  7. -2
    April 3 2016 17: 57
    How to buy a tank.
    The plant works with voltage, it has a plan, for example - 200 tanks per month. They can barely cope. For not fulfilling the plan - a camp and completely different plans. On wood. And then a man comes. I want to buy a tank. What will 201st do to him?

    The second one. 50 000. Where does this money come from?
    What are the embroidery and cost of the belongings? You know what salaries and prices were.
    Engineer 200-300 rubles, worker 100.
    General - 1600. Well, he's a general.
    A Moskvich car shortly after the war cost 8000, Victory - 16. A tank is 000 Victories. Rave.
    No need to shag grandma.
    What does the Sovinformburo not think of.
    1. 0
      April 3 2016 18: 09
      Shaggy grandmother to help. This time
      http://bvf.ru/forum/archive/index.php/t-908013.html
      By the way, read about the Maly Theater, which donated money, about the "Mongolian Arat" squadron and much more, and after that, with full pleasure, fuck your grandmother))) Google to help.
      1. +1
        April 3 2016 23: 20
        Quote: avia12005
        Shaggy grandmother to help. This time
        http://bvf.ru/forum/archive/index.php/t-908013.html
        By the way, read about the Maly Theater, which donated money, about the "Mongolian Arat" squadron and much more, and after that, with full pleasure, fuck your grandmother))) Google to help.

        Yes, I was aware of the theater when Google was not there.
        The thing is that at least a million pay, but if the production facilities of the enterprise allow you to ship 200 tanks a month, then 300 will not work.

        I advise you to read the archives of old magazines.
        There it is reported, in TM, for example, number 1-2 for 42 g, that in the first 5 months of the war, 6 million occupiers were killed.
        In issue 5-6 for the same year, it is reported that already killed and wounded and captured in the last 12 months of the war, the enemy lost only 4 million.
        Propaganda hunted down the slons. Real numbers are much smaller.
        Like this. Well, a lot of stories about how they collapsed and went to ram. Then historians begin to refer to such stories.
        About the real state of affairs, for example, about the terrible Leningrad blockade, not a word anywhere.
        So think about it.
        Well, it’s not clear where the girl got 50.
        The people lived very poorly.
  8. +1
    April 3 2016 21: 01
    the one who wants for the homeland not only a tank aircraft carrier will buy work is necessary
  9. 0
    April 4 2016 21: 13
    Something we love among the propagandists of some incomprehensible heroes, and preferably more dead. In one of the topics about the purchase of airplanes I have already lucidly explained that everything that was said in the newspaper Pravda during the war was not true. laughing And that a simple farmer could not buy as many as two aircraft, when the great designer Yakovlev barely scraped for the purchase of one of his aircraft. But the collective farmer was not at all simple, but a little criminal authority with money. So here - the girl sold the embroidery and gathered it on the tank?!? Ah, what an artisan! No. And everyone believes in it?

    But ABOUT PRESENT AND LIVING HEROES, our propagandists - FORGET.
    For example, such an old woman lives (it seems she still lives!) - Olga Sotnikova.

    Passed the whole war from 1941 to 1945 year. Repeatedly injured. Already a significant fact in itself! I didn’t buy any tanks, it was not clear what means, but I just fought honestly.

    Started the war as a driver of an ambulance. Ended the war as IS-2 HEAVY TANK COMPANY COMMANDER !!!! This alone is for me personally a strong indicator! soldier

    It was a LOT of BATTLES and basically conducted them successfully! THIS IS A REAL HERO! Yes, it seems to be still alive!

    And the propagandists - as they were weak, remained ...
  10. 0
    April 5 2016 14: 47
    The battle path of Maria of October is a fact established. This alone is enough. And what difference does it make who bought the tank, I think it’s completely possible, then the people could give the last for Victory. This is all about money today. And then the will decided.
  11. 0
    April 5 2016 22: 54
    Quote: Dzimka
    This is all about money today. And then the will decided.

    I don’t know, I don’t know ... Will is certainly good. But explain to me slow-witted, like a woman, selling embroidery? in war ?? - could to the tank to earn? (I remind you that she is not the owner of some huge factory, and the banal "factory" in the Stalinist USSR is a direct way to the camp)

    That's what I don't understand - why do people, even 70 years later, believe the inventions of newspaper correspondents like "(not) Pravda"? request

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