Fake Truth. About the project For victory - execution? The truth about the death match Archive of the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda for 1942
Myths and truth about the "death match" in Kyiv, summer 1942.
I think many people know that in the summer of 2012 the European Football Championship will begin in Kyiv. But not many people know that by the beginning of the championship, a film will be released on cinema screens. "Death Match" , which was filmed this summer in Kyiv and Kharkov. The film is based on real events that took place during the Nazi occupation of Kyiv. And to completely surprise you, I will say that in leading role starred ... who would you think? And none other than Sergei Bezrukov, who played the goalkeeper!
Now the real story, in which everything is not entirely clear, but we will try to figure it out. death match - a football match played in Nazi-occupied Kyiv in the summer of 1942 between the Soviet and German teams. A number of football players from Kiev were shot; rumored to have refused to lose the meeting.
Before talking about myself death match Let's delve a little into the background. In 1941, when the Germans succeeded in capturing Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine remained large group footballers.
These were Nikolai Klimenko, Igor Kuzmenko, Nikolai Korotkikh, Mikhail Goncharenko, Viktor Sukharev, Nikolai Trusevich, Vladimir Balakin, Mikhail Melnik, Mikhail Putistin, Mikhail Sviridovsky. The players were involved in the construction of defensive structures and could not subsequently get out of the siege. During the fascist occupation, famine prevailed in Kyiv. But through an acquaintance, the players managed to get a job as workers at the bakery No. 1. We worked as a team - just like we used to play. In order to distract from hard work and not lose their sports skills, every day after work the football players played in the factory yard and practiced a lot. Although the Germans seized more and more Ukrainian land, the players did not part with the hope that the enemy would be defeated and they would still be able to play for the Kiev "Dynamo".
The guys named their new team "Start". But every citizen of Kiev knew who they were. After all, before the war, Kiev "Dynamo" they played just as brightly as they do today. The Nazis also knew this, but for the time being they did not touch it, not seeing any threat in the players. A year later, in the summer of 1942, the German command decided to diversify the cultural life of the captured capital and opened a "Ukrainian" stadium. However, Ukrainians were not allowed to enter. Football was a game for pure-blooded Aryans.
Most likely, it was precisely with the aim of demonstrating the strength of the Aryan nation that the Germans decided to hold a series of football matches in which German players would oppose the best teams from foreigners. Just remembered the team " Start". And Ukrainians were allowed to come to the stadium, which had been closed before. Let them look at the defeat of their former idols.
The first game took place on June 5, 1942 . The decoration of the grand opening of the stadium was a football match. "Start" defeated the Ukrainian team with a score of 7: 2 "Rukh". Other games with "Start" took place in the stadium "Zenith" that on Kerosinnaya street
Then the team played against Soviet football players Flakelf(team of German anti-aircraft gunners). The first meeting took place on August 6, 1942. "Start" won with a crushing score of 5:1.
Three days later, the Germans staged a rematch, putting together a reinforced team. Before the start of the game, the players greeted each other. Germans: "Heil!", people of Kiev: "Physical education - hello!". The first goal was scored by the Germans. Then Ivan Kuzmenko equalized the score with a long-range shot, and Makar Goncharenko scored two goals in the first half. The second half was held in an equal tough fight. The Germans scored two goals and equalized, but then "Start" snatched the victory 5:3. It was this duel in the Soviet Union that later became known as the death match, after which the players were allegedly shot. It was said that before the match, a German commander, who was watching the match, entered the locker room of Dynamo football players. And in a harsh form, threatening with camps and execution, he ordered to lose.
“Behind the fence, on the right side, there was a dressing room, the door of which was open, and I went inside. In the room were: N. Trusevich, who was putting on a sweater, A. Klimenko was already in uniform, eating bread, breaking off pieces, and another one, "Who I didn't know, was lacing up his boots. At that moment, an officer came in and kicked me out of the locker room. What he was talking about with the players will remain a secret forever". O. Yasinsky.
Perhaps things were a little different. Just for the 25th anniversary of the Victory, at the suggestion of the KGB, the Central Committee of the CPSU and personally Leonid Brezhnev, propaganda was launched to restore historical justice. Then he was posthumously awarded the title of Hero Soviet Union NKVD saboteur Ivan Kudra, who died in the Kiev underground. After long investigations, the players of the team were also rehabilitated "Start" who, after the war, were summoned for interrogation by the KGB for a long time almost as traitors to the motherland. Now they are heroes. Dynamo players N. Trusevich, A. Klimenko, I. Kuzmenko and M. Korotkikh were posthumously awarded a medal "For Courage", and the surviving players "Start": B. Balakin, N. Goncharenko, N. Melnikov, M. Pustynin, V. Sukharev and N. Sviridov were awarded the medal " For military merit".
The invaders, anticipating their defeat on the football field, did not want to humiliate their army. Therefore, the match was organized in a small stadium "Zenith" located far from the city center. But despite the plans of the Nazis, Kyiv fans filled the stadium to capacity - they stood in the aisles, on the trees. This meeting evoked a surge of patriotism among the Soviet people. It was not football passions that raged at the stadium. Everything turned as if there was a battle between the teams of the Wehrmacht and the Red Army. Most of the fans had someone at the front. The stadium roared, anti-fascist cries were heard. The Germans did not like it, they arrested many brawlers and fans, they fired from machine guns and pistols into the air ...
But after the match ended, the Germans did not arrest a single player. The proof is that after the football match " Flakelf" - "Start" Kyiv team played two more matches. One - with the same Flakelf", it took place on August 9, 1942, and the second - with the team" Rukh", which included employees of the Ukrainian authorities and workers of local factories. Both matches" Start"won. Football meetings" start"ended only in the fall, when the rains began.
So what really happened and where did the legend about " death match", according to which the entire winning team was allegedly shot by the Germans?
Here is what Yu. Krasnoshchok said about this:
"During the fascist occupation, while working at a telephone exchange, I heard from the Germans, as well as from the Ukrainian policemen, that the Dynamo team was arrested not for winning the match, but for the fact that, while working at the bakery No. bread for German organizations in Kyiv, broken glass. Many workers of the bakery were arrested, including four Dynamo players - Trusevich, Klimenko, Kuzmenko and Korotkikh. My acquaintance, a state security officer, later told me the same thing. And the former chairman of the Kyiv council, Leonty Forostovsky, in his book "Kyiv under fortune-telling occupations" does not write anything about the execution of the team.
It should be noted that out of the sixteen players of "Start" the invaders shot only four, and all of them were lieutenants of the NKVD. It just so happened in Soviet football: the players of the Lokomotiv team received a salary as drivers, the Dynamo players - as employees of the NKVD. This was the main reason for their arrest. Who, if not officers of the NKVD, could be suspected of terrorism. But the four players mentioned were not involved in this sabotage."
Their rivals - German and Hungarian football players - came to the defense of the arrested Kyiv Dynamo players. German athletes still have the ideals of fair wrestling, because not so much time has passed since they organized the XI World Sports Olympiad in Berlin in 1936. They did not believe that such talented football players would throw glass into bread intended for military hospitals, the wounded and medical staff, for women mobilized by the Nazis to work in the occupation administration of the country. And perhaps it would have been possible to avoid the execution of Kyiv football players. But after the sports equipment factory was set on fire" Sport", where the sleigh was repaired for german army, the Gestapo shot more than half of the workers of this small factory and liquidated 200 hostages in the Syrets camp. Four Dynamo players also got into this group ...
Death match case , played by football players of Ukraine and Nazi Germany in the summer of 1942, initiated by the Hamburg prosecutor's office back in 1974, was recently finally closed by investigators. According to the press secretary of the Hamburg prosecutor's office Rüdeger Bagger, the investigating commission thoroughly studied the data provided not only by the Ukrainian side, but also the materials seized from the film crew of the first German television channel ARD
"Representatives of the German justice had the opportunity to speak with witnesses who were still children during the match", - the radio station quotes Bagger. German investigators managed to find out the circumstances of the death of Ukrainian players. Rüdeger Bagger explained: " It was possible to find out that the players Nikolai Trusevich, Ivan Kuzmenko and Alexei Klimenko died a long time after the game, or rather, in the spring of 1943 in a concentration camp on Syrets. They were shot at the direction of the camp commandant. So their deaths have nothing to do with the outcome of that game.". So far, it has not been possible to prove the existence of an SS officer who threatened the players.
In 1965, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR awarded the surviving participants in the death match with medals " For military merit". The dead were awarded medals For courage". Thus, a football victory was equated to a military feat on the battlefield. And at the stadium Dynamo» A monument dedicated to the feat of fearless football players was erected in Kyiv.
Those who are interested can watch a very interesting documentary film that tells about these events. .
How often, when we are told that we have read about something or something in the newspaper, in response we hear a contemptuous answer - “Yes, everyone is lying there, in these newspapers!” That is, for some reason, a person initially questions the reliability of the materials contained there. What does it say? Well, firstly, that this person himself is inclined to deceive and, accordingly, knowing this vice behind himself, he sees it in everyone else. And secondly, that he has the experience of what really was written in the newspaper yesterday, but today it is completely different.
And, nevertheless, even in this case, newspapers, including Pravda, remain the most valuable sources of information "on the affairs of bygone days." It is clear that published materials should be treated critically, but a careful analysis of printed newspaper materials can bring a lot of benefits.
This is how the filing of all issues of the Pravda newspaper for 1942 looks like. A heavy "album" has to be brought by the researcher on a cart!
Very good photo. We are not alone in the fight against Hitler, help will come.
And… help came! Also a very good and timely photo in the newspaper No. 327 of November 25, 1941, although the Matilda tank itself is not very visible on it. By the way, about the Matilda tanks, the Penza newspaper Stalinskoe Znamya wrote in 1941: English tanks, our fighters were convinced of their high qualities. A multi-ton tank is very mobile. It has steel armor, simple controls and powerful firepower to fight enemy tanks and infantry ... The armored British transporters following in the column were of great interest. They are well armed, they can be hit on air and ground targets with equal success.
Who is on the left in this photo, like this, not everyone will say without looking at the signature. Just at that time, they were going to write a book about this man, they were awarded for the defense of Moscow, they placed a photograph on the pages of Pravda, surrounded by people who are all well known to us today. Who is this? This is ... the future traitor General Vlasov. So far, among the heroes ...
Surprisingly, even then in Pravda there were materials written according to the principle “they wanted the best, but it turned out ... not very good.” It could be the desire of the author to please the authorities, or a direct order from her. In any case (although we will not know this now), we are dealing with a distortion of reality, and quite stupid and inept! Here, for example, we look at the article “Lenin and Stalin - the founders and leaders of Pravda” in the issue of May 5, 1942, dedicated to its anniversary. It says that the newspaper was founded at the direction of Lenin, on the initiative of Stalin. And here we read that at that time Stalin was in exile. True, then he fled from it, and, having arrived in St. Petersburg, he set about organizing the work of the newspaper. But after all, all this took time, that is, when Pravda began, he was quite far from it, and mobile phones did not yet exist. And on the day the 1st issue came out, he was again arrested and exiled to the Narym Territory for three years. And when did he manage the newspaper together with Lenin? And if this catches my eye, then did people really not notice this at that time, who still remembered how it all really happened? And after all, they noticed this and, probably, said something about it, although not all of them and not always loudly.
And here is the question: why was it necessary to write such an ambiguous article, after which any more or less thinking person had more questions than she gave answers. For example, I am like an editor who guards the foundations Soviet state, such an article would not be missed. But... she came out and, do you think, did she strengthen the people in a certain opinion, or, on the contrary, did she undermine this opinion in a certain way?
We read an article by M. Sergeev published in the same 1942 about the growing economic power of the United States. Everything seems to be fine. Such a powerful ally and his successes are encouraging. But ... where are the starving workers, about whom the same Pravda wrote just a year ago, the blacks hanged by the lynching, destitute farmers? How was this over with? Or simply not ordered to write? Meanwhile, it was necessary to write about this, because our ideological and economic differences did not go anywhere, and people had to be periodically reminded that “it’s bad there”, that “we are enemies”, but allies are only temporary. Then it would not have been necessary to break the rosy picture of the successes of the United States, and, therefore, to arouse the distrust of readers - yesterday, they say, so - today it is like that ...
On June 21, 1942, Pravda placed on the front page the text of an agreement between England and the USSR on cooperation for a period of 20 years, that is, until 1962. Great for 1942, right? What was missing? And here's what - an article about whether the "British bourgeoisie" will have enough goodwill to comply with it to the very end! Because immediately after the war, both this and all other treaties with England and the United States de facto, or even de jure, ceased to operate and ... it was necessary to refer to the article 42 published in the same article - “We already knew then that they can't be trusted!" and “That’s how bad they are!” By the way, the notorious George Orwell, who brought an article about Stalinism in the USSR to one of the British newspapers, also received a refusal, motivated by the fact that "now is not the time." “But how do you explain to the workers after the war why you started writing about it now, but didn’t write about it then?” he asked a reasonable question to the editor. “And then we’ll think about how to explain!” the editor replied. What if he printed it? Would this have affected the combat readiness of the Red Army and Lend-Lease supplies? No, of course, it’s just that people would not be deluded - “friendship is friendship, but tobacco is apart!”
The newspaper is “so bad” that you have to think about every word in it, because black letters printed on white paper cannot be cut down with an ax - this is a document! However, it is no less necessary to think about the photographs placed in it. Others are just a godsend for spies. Here is a photo in the newspaper of May 7, 1942, page 1: our tanks with troops on the armor are attacking the enemy. But look at the wheels. They don't have tires! And this, as you know, greatly worsened their performance characteristics. Moreover, in the photo of the T-34 in the newspaper for the 41st year, the wheels were with rubber, but here, as you can see, there is none. It is clear that the Germans at the front already knew that we were sorely lacking rubber, and that the roar from our tanks could be heard for many kilometers, which was used by the "quiet" German "Sturmgeshütz" based on the T-III. But ... why is it also a photo in the newspaper of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks to confirm? Well, they would shoot these tanks close up, so that apart from the tower and people, nothing would be visible! And if I were a German propagandist-agitator, I would immediately reprint this photo in all German newspapers and write that the Russians have run out of rubber, that their tanks are worse day by day, and our victory is close! And here - see "direct proof of that!"
In the source study analysis of newspaper material, important role plays the frequency of images of the same weapon in the photo. For example, in the Pravda newspaper for 1941, we see soldiers of the Red Army armed with PPD submachine guns, SVT and ABC rifles, and only by the end of the year they are replaced by PPSh and "three-rulers". In the newspaper for the 42nd year, SVT is only in one photo, but from the second half of the year, the PPSh completely replaced the PPD, and there are a lot of them in the photographs.
This photograph (No. 10 of January 10, 1942) simply does not belong in the newspaper! After all, on it you see PPD-34/38 - the rarest example and ... how, for example, would I use this photo if I were a German propagandist? And here's how: “You see that the Russians have raked out the last weapons from their warehouses, machine guns of 1934 are being used. The industry of the Soviets is falling apart! Our victory is near!
But Lend-Lease deliveries gradually began to affect, and rubber appeared on the front wheel of the T-34 again, which Pravda immediately “reports” on October 2, 1942!
Amazing, isn't it? And this despite the fact that the entire 41st year, our tankers fought on anonymous tanks, and pilots on anonymous combat aircraft. The planes had the names "bomber", "hawk", as if their very name contained a terrible a military secret. We should be proud of our technology, educate the people on the example of wonderful samples of our weapons, and what we had instead - solid anonymity, but how can we be proud of what has no name?
And only in No. 309 of November 5, stamps appeared in Pravda Soviet tanks T-34 and KV, and the article was written by Zh.Ya. Kotin! They wrote about tanks before that, even for some reason the numbers of the factories that produce them were given in the newspaper, but ... without designations! True, the KV itself was named before the T-34. On July 8 of the same year, in the article “The Struggle for KV”, the author of which was the director of the Kirov Plant S. Makhonin.
Here it is, the famous photograph of the assembly of KV tanks. But under it it is not written that this is HF! Secret!
And this is the first photo, under which it is written that it shows the assembly of Yak aircraft! (“Pravda”, June 8, 1942, No. 159. P. 3)
However, all this mystery of the 40s (the war after all!) Is not as funny as the “mysteriousness of the 80s”. Then, namely from 1980 to 1991, I hosted television shows for children on Penza television on children's technical creativity (“Let's make toys”, “Studio for young technicians”, “The stars are calling”, “Guys-inventors”), and after each On the second script submitted for editing, I was summoned to the Committee for the Protection of State Secrets in the Press! “Here you have it written here,” a woman in glasses asked me, shaking a volume of murderous thickness that we had a T-34/85 tank. Where did you get it from? It's classified information!"
An article about polar explorers who bought KV tanks for the front. Such articles at that time appeared in Pravda quite often, but the photographs for them were not always published, but in vain!
Knowing who I was dealing with, I pre-selected the best children's magazine. Young Technician"And showed the watchful lady:" That's where it comes from! She literally sniffed at this magazine, looked at all its output data and was wildly surprised: “Well, wow, but in my book it says that this is a military secret!” “And what year is yours, let me see?” “No, it’s also a secret!” That's how I worked then, and there was not a single case, not a single one, when I could not confirm my information with data from the open press, the magazines "Young Technician", "Technology of Youth" and "Modeler-Constructor", but I still called there whenever they encountered some military abbreviation. Once I could not stand it and asked how it is possible to keep such an illiterate fool in such a responsible position? Oh what happened! They invited me to the chief, and he very politely explained to me that spies are on the alert! “Then we need to put all the editors of these magazines!” “But we are in Penza! - the chief shrugged his shoulders, - you have to work according to the old instructions! On this they parted ways! So one can imagine on the basis of what and how this “committee” worked in that distant war time!
And, finally, observing the interests of the country, I would not give a photo of these German self-propelled guns in the newspaper. They are very unassuming! Even now they seem undignified, but even in the 42nd they did not seem solid. But the Germans fought on them and reached the Caucasus! On this shit, God forgive me! It would be necessary to place a gun with a larger caliber in the photographs of trophies, and the barrel towards the viewer. And visible, and scary, and joyful, and pride embraces! It has been tested on modern young people!
Everyone likes this photo with a captured cannon much more!
So it is obvious that the publication of a newspaper, especially if it is published in wartime, requires considerable skill and the highest professionalism. And with that, and with the other in Pravda, it was not bad, yes, but it would be possible to do all the same things much better, right? With more efficiency, at the same cost!
Very impressive photo, and there should be more of these?
A resident of Voronezh, Tatyana Mikhailovna Nigrova, carefully keeps letters from the front of her father, divisional engineer of the 120th Infantry Division Mikhail Ivanovich Nigrov, who went through the entire war starting in 1941 and completed his military career in Prague in 1945 with the rank of lieutenant colonel of the guard. And not just store. Her comparison of her father's letters with the history of the division, captured in the literature on the Great Patriotic War - in historical research, testimonies of veterans, in the memoirs of the Marshals of the Soviet Union Zhukov, Konev, as well as Colonel-General Pukhov, resulted in an interesting fragment of the annals of a national feat, of which her father was a regular officer, a worthy representative " Immortal Regiment”, who forged the Victory over Hitlerism.
From chronicle . On July 8, 1940, by order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR, Marshal of the Soviet Union S.K. Timoshenko, the 120th Rifle Division was formed. Artillery regiments were stationed in Livny.
From the letters of July 1941 . “Today, after a long wait, the wagons were finally given, and we are going to our battalion to build roads and bridges leading to the front ... The division is building defensive lines and swamping the area in the Zhukovka district of the Bryansk region ... The railway division is moving to Spas -Demensk on the Ugra River, Novoselki district, 20 km SE of Yelnya ... I am writing on my way from Bryansk. I am now driving in cars near Moscow to strengthen my position.”
From the chronicle. The division takes the first battle along railway Spas-Demensk and at the turn of Pronino - Stroyno - Gorodok. On July 22, the battle was exhausting. Since July 24, fighting near Yelnya. August 3 - especially bloody battles near Yelnya. August 30 - went on the attack on the Germans. September 6, 1941 - they liberated Yelnya with a fight and went to the Desna River at the line of Seliva - Kazarino, held the defense until September 17. On September 17, the division entered the reserve and was transferred to the Bologoe region of the Kalinin region.
From a letter dated September 20, 1941 “Now I am writing a letter on the train. We took part in the battles near Yelnya, and now we are moving beyond Moscow, we have already passed Moscow. The mood is good now. Soon we will begin to thoroughly drive the Germans.
From the chronicle. By order of NPO No. 318, the 120th Rifle Division in the battles for the city of Yelnya was transformed into the 6th Guards rifle division. Commander Petrov. Transferred to Bologoye near Mtsensk (Leningrad Front). On October 5-6, the first echelons of the division arrived at the station. Mtsensk.
From a letter dated October 12, 1941 . “I got a further promotion. He surrendered command of the battalion and was appointed divisional engineer. The work is big, but it's a pity that we have to leave the fighters and commanders, equipment and, in general, the whole economy. And one more thing, which I am very sorry about - it was my diary that disappeared, but I will restore it.
From the chronicle. On October 14, 1941, the division defended the Mamonovo-Babenkovo line. October 22-24 - battles near Mtsensk. On October 25, with stubborn battles, she retreated to the Vyazovka-Krasnaya Niva area, the task was to detain the enemy at the Chern line. On November 1, she defended the Zhadnoe-Arkhangelsk line. November 3 - battles for Pokrovsky Vyselki, knocked out the enemy from Teploe. November 7 - advanced, occupied the Khomutovka area. November 8 and 9 - held the line Warm - Rubber. Since November 14 - fighting on the outskirts of Efremov. November 17 - left Efremov, moved to the right bank Beautiful Swords. On November 27, the representative of the military council of the 3rd Army Southwestern Front presented the Guards Battle Banner to the division. On December 8, they advanced to Efremov - Medvedki. On November 11, there were battles.
From a letter dated December 19, 1941 . “Recently, they took Efremov with a fight, and now they drove the Germans towards Orel for 70 km and we are approaching the city of Novosil, and later on Orel. My diary is in trouble. When I was the last to leave Mtsensk on September 10 and blew up the bridges, the Germans attacked us, and my bag came unfastened and fell into the water. Of course, we beat the Germans, but the diary sank. We are now guardsmen, and I am the commander of the guards battalion.
From a letter dated January 26, 1942 “We are living well. The Germans began to beat thoroughly. We have captured the cities of Efremov and Novosil and now we are going to advance further. Valyusha! (wife. - V.V.). When I wrote you a note “leave Voronezh immediately,” then I was, of course, right. That's why I wrote you such a note then. And if the threat of the arrival of the Germans hangs over Voronezh, then do not listen to anyone - neither relatives nor acquaintances - and leave immediately. These German bastards shoot even small children. But for now I see that there is no danger to Voronezh, which is good, but Pavlovsk had this bastard. Of course, Voronezh will defend itself, but there may be an accidental breakthrough. I was given a new rank - "Captain". I command a sapper battalion."
From a letter dated February 23, 1942 “Congratulations on the Day of the Red Army! I also have joy. I was awarded a personalized watch. These days I had to be in strong battles, but so far everything is going well. The Germans are running and leaving everything: cars, guns and shells.
From the chronicle. From March 3 to March 12, 1942, the division was fighting to eliminate the Bolkhov group of the Nazis.
From a letter dated March 3, 1942 “Since February 16, we have been in the strongest battle, now we are forming. Valyusha! I was awarded hours. I send them home and I ask you to take them to the workshop, let them put in the glass, otherwise the arrows cling. And after that, take it to the engraver and order the inscription: “To Captain Nigrov M.I. from the Bryansk Front 01/27/42. No. 029". And let the clock stay at home. You have to work in every way: sometimes far from the front line, and sometimes on the front line and even almost behind German lines. Already used to it and kind of got used to it. For 5 months I have been performing two positions: divisional engineer and battalion commander. The most important thing is that our division never retreated and the Germans, when they hear that ours is standing guards division, they are not going on the offensive against us.
From the chronicle. From March 16 to March 20, 1942, the division waged bloody battles for mastering the Krivtsovsky knot. On March 21, she entered the reserve of the Bryansk Front.
From a letter dated April 16, 1942 “I am very happy that Vladimir Mikhailovich and I were awarded the Orders of the Red Banner. I'm sending you a newspaper clipping. We will receive an award in a few days."
From a letter dated April 29, 1942 “Yesterday, i.e. On April 28, a great event took place in my life: in a solemn atmosphere, I was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. It was easier to be in battle than to go to the podium. I was very worried, but everything ended well. With the receipt of the order, of course, there are more worries and responsibilities, because. it would be a shame to drop his high rank of an order bearer. As they say: "The Order creates public opinion". We are already old guardsmen and we know how to beat the Germans. I remember how Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin said about the Germans: "The devil is not so terrible as he is painted." And it is true: "The Germans make a lot of noise, but little sense." Interestingly, the day before yesterday, 4 planes flew to bomb the city, our anti-aircraft guards shot down 2 planes at once, one was shot down by our "hawk" that had risen, and the fourth fled, and before that he threw a leaflet where he threatened that he had bombed the whole city, but it turned out that 75% of the aircraft lost after his boastful leaflet. Yes! Fritz cruelly miscalculated, their "former self-confidence" is disappearing, and most importantly, we upset his plan for the "spring offensive". Now the Nazis have already stopped making noise about the summer offensive, and in one speech Hitler spoke about preparations for next winter. Oh and donkey! Soon the hour is near when the Fritz will again feel in their own skin our guard blows.
From the chronicle. From May 14 to May 18, 1942, the division advanced to the front line of defense.
From a letter dated May 19, 1942 “Yesterday I learned that I was awarded a new rank: Major. So you can congratulate me on my new title. The other day they poured a little on the Fritz, captured the prisoners, and they complain that they have absolutely no peace. These Fritz are real idiots - they dreamed that their estates would be here, and now, when they were beaten, they cry and say that they are being driven from here in vain. Oh! What asses they are!”
From a letter dated May 23, 1942 . “We are still living well - in the fresh air. Yesterday we observed a very interesting picture: two of our fighters landed the fascist reconnaissance "Butterfly", and this was done in 20 minutes. The Nazi plane landed very close to us. Ours captured the pilots, one of them turned out to be an aviation colonel, according to his stories, he bombed London, Greece and got caught here. It turned out to be very entertaining.”
From a letter dated May 29, 1942 . “We live well. The Fritz begin to complain more and more about us: we shoot down their planes every day, our guns tap, and the Fritz surrenders and complains about our aircraft and guns that there is no life from us. It is difficult to meet such fools, and even stuffed ones, they quite seriously say that they are not loved. Did these donkeys really think that they would be loved, and now they are surprised: they do not love us. In short, the spring Fritz are not fighting.
From a letter dated June 5, 1942 . “We are still standing in place, ahead of the Verkhovye, and so far we are not advancing. Obviously, we will wait until England starts to act. But, in general, the future will show.
From a letter dated June 14, 1942 “The Germans are complaining more and more that it’s hard for them, but soon, obviously, it will be even harder. I hope that you read in the newspapers about the treaty between the USSR and England and the USA. Now the Germans will howl. There is no doubt that last year it was more difficult to fight, but now they have begun to beat them very cleverly, the planes almost do not fly. Yes! It can be seen that the Fritz will soon be "kaput".
From a letter dated June 22, 1942 . “I was very alarmed that the Fritz began to bomb Voronezh. Well, we'll get revenge on them soon for everything. And we will take revenge so that the damned will remember for the rest of his life. I think we’ll start advancing by harvest time to prevent the Germans from harvesting.”
From the chronicle. On July 22-23, 1942, the sappers of the division produce engineering equipment and improve engineering structures.
From a letter dated July 31, 1942 “I was very worried about your fate. I'm very glad you got out. But how? How? I was very worried, and now feel better. I am very glad that you left and went to Alma-Ata. Valyusha! Write in more detail where and how you traveled. Your move to Krugloye was dangerous not from the air, but from the ground. I'm still in the old place. We are not going to move back, and it would be a shame to move, because we are guardsmen and have never retreated from the Germans. Our slogan is “Not a step back!”, and so far we are doing it sacredly.”
From a letter dated September 7, 1942 . “My leg is getting better, I already live in the battalion and am gradually getting better.”
From a letter dated September 25, 1942 . “I can already walk without crutches. The tumor is gone. We live well - in the old place. My address has changed a bit: field post 84, part 500, to me.”
From a letter dated October 4, 1942 . “War gives rise to a thousand surprises both for us and for you, and therefore everything must be endured steadfastly and not hung up. I don't have to worry about anything. True, we have been on the front line for more than a year, but we are already thoroughly used to it. The other day, the Fritz had a "guards evening", and to this day they are very angry with us. It was a lot of fun. Found them in their underwear. Painting!!!"
From chronicle . November 11, 1942 - very big battles. Early 1943: there are battles for Doly, Korsun, Vyazovoe, Turovets, Verkhnyaya Zalegoshch.
From a letter dated January 8, 1943 “We are in the old place. Valyusha! Yesterday I watched the movie "The Boy from Our Town". And you know how much life is similar to ours. Do you remember how I came from the Finnish front, do you remember how you and I saw each other at the front when our cars parted ways. Valyushka, dear, how all this is similar to our life with you. Look at this picture and write me your impression.
From a letter dated January 13, 1943 "Per last days we again moved a lot, and therefore, obviously, the mail does not have time to follow us. For 6 months now we have been going ahead of everyone, sometimes it’s hard, but it’s fun to go forward, and the mood is good. The Germans, as soon as they hear that our division is coming, they begin to run. So we live well. Every day our victory is more visible. The Desna and the Dnieper are already far behind (crossed out by the censor. - T.N.), and we are still moving forward and inflicting crushing blows on the enemy.
From a letter dated January 15, 1943. “I also want to write to you that if something happens to me, then you and Tanya can be proud of your father and husband, that you have never conceded to the enemy in anything, that Tanya’s father and your husband are a guardsman and an order bearer.”
From a letter dated January 26, 1943 “Of course, you heard on the radio that our city (Voronezh. - V.V.) was liberated. I haven't been there, but I'm thinking of going there."
From the chronicle. On February 1-7, 1943, there were battles. Major General Cherokmanov led the guard units. Ust-Kunach, Wolf Yards, Trubitsino, Vysokoye, Pokrovskoye and others went on the offensive.
From a letter dated February 22, 1943 “I chose a free minute and write. We are chasing the Fritz. I am far away from our city and have no way to contact him. Don't leave until the end of the war."
From a letter dated March 7, 1943 “I saw comrades who visited our city, they say that there is nowhere to go to warm up.”
From a letter dated April 26, 1943 “One fighter came from our city. He says that they live in our house, in some places the floors are broken. The Dynamo store has been destroyed."
From the chronicle. On May 5, 1943, the division took up defenses near Ponyri on the Kursk salient. On July 5-10, 1943, she defended the positions of Ponyri - Olkhovatka on the Soborovsky field. After heavy, bloody battles near Kursk, it concentrated in the Ponyri area (Bityug-1st, Bityug-2nd). July 11-12, 1943 went on the offensive, drove the Germans out of the villages of Gremyache, Volkovo, Ploskoe.
From a letter dated July 12, 1943“We were at war here. Everything is going well so far. In past battles, my guys distinguished themselves and destroyed 35 tanks. We all joyfully experienced our small victory. So we perked up a bit."
From a letter dated August 16, 1943 “We fought a decent fight, received from Comrade. Stalin's gratitude.
From a letter dated August 21, 1943 “We are moving, and it is possible that the post office cannot keep up with us. We live well. For recent operations received personally from comrade. Thanks to Stalin, and our unit was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. So, as you can see, we've been doing well."
From a letter dated September 4, 1943 “We drive and beat the Fritz and other aliens. We are again from Comrade. Stalin received gratitude. Mood is good".
From the chronicle. On September 8, 1943, the division crosses the Seim River. September 20 - Dniester. September 22 - Dnieper near Chernobyl.
From a letter dated October 1, 1943 “You probably read in the newspapers that your dad was awarded the highest award - the Order of Suvorov (Pravda newspaper of September 24, 1943). I am now very far, behind the biggest river - behind the gray Dnieper. Fritz run, and we beat them and go forward. My field mail is 04769.
From the chronicle. From December 12, 1943 to January 1, 1944 - Zhytomyr-Berdichevskaya offensive. December 29, 1943 captured the city of Korosten. From January 1 to February 2, 1944 - Rovno-Lutsk offensive operation. On January 16, they stormed the town of Tuchin. On January 27, the division crossed the Goryn River and approached the city of Rovno with fighting, and on February 2 captured the city with fighting.
From a letter dated February 6, 1944 “For many days now we have been chasing the Fritz again, and soon you will read in the newspapers about our wonderful division commander, General Onuprienko. We occupied several cities of great importance. And you will soon hear about our glorious deeds. The successes of our army are encouraging, and it is to be hoped that the war is drawing to a close. Surrendered the battalion to Baryshev.
From the chronicle. February 7, 1944 the division was named Rivne. On February 9, the city of Mlynov was liberated, on February 15 - fighting in the Brody area, took up defense.
From a letter dated February 16, 1944 “We are going west, the population is becoming different, the villages and towns bear little resemblance to ours, and our border is already close.”
From a letter dated February 24, 1944 “Our unit was given the title of Rivne, so our business is going well. Konoplin died the other day, he came under bombardment.”
From a letter dated March 18, 1944 “The other day they took another city, and Moscow saluted us. Our commander, General Pukhov, is a wonderful commander and always succeeds. It's just a pleasure to fight under his leadership. A very combative old man, and most importantly, very simple, he loves our division. We are living well. True, it can be difficult, but this is a war, and the more difficulties, the more successes.
From a letter dated March 30, 1944 “Well, we are doing well here. We fight a little. The other day we caught about fifty Fritz. They whine, whine, but still surrender. Fighting has become much easier. We will soon reach our legal border.”
From a letter dated April 4, 1944 “The mood is good, the Fritz are barely breathing, we made a “cauldron” for them here. Our business is going well so far."
Letter dated 7 May 1944 “We live in a beautiful pine forest in dugouts. The places are historical, Brusilov once made a remarkable breakthrough here. By the way, I came across Brusilov's book "My Memoirs", and when you walk around the area, you involuntarily remember that, starting from this very place, our fathers defeated the Austro-German troops. We celebrated May 1 here. It turned out well and fun. Our officers are all very good, businesslike and cheerful. We live together. Our general is especially good - a very brave warrior, brave, loves the truth and treats us well. We deeply respect and appreciate him.”
From a letter dated June 22, 1944 . "I'm still alive, but I'm wounded. Wounded lightly in the leg and shoulder. I go. I think in 8-10 days to quit crutches and return to duty. There is no time to get sick, we urgently need to catch up with the enemy. I decided not to go to the hospital, but I am being treated at the place of service - on the go. I almost didn't lose any blood.
From a letter dated July 8, 1944 “Obviously, when you receive this letter, they will broadcast on the radio about the glorious victories of Konev and Pukhov, so it means that I am also acting somewhere. Our business is going well so far. We begin to finally settle accounts with the Fritz.
From the chronicle. On July 14, 1944, the division as part of the 1st Ukrainian front broke through the defenses near Brody. July 17 crosses the Western Bug. July 20 captured the city of Rava-Russkaya. On July 22, it reached the state border with Poland. On July 24, 1944, she liberated the Polish city of Scinava. August 1 crosses the Vistula River. August 2, 1944 - the division takes part in the Lvov-Sandomierz operation, fights near the city of Sandomierz. On August 9, the division was awarded the Order of Suvorov, 2nd class.
From a letter dated August 9, 1944 “On August 8, he was discharged from the medical battalion and took up his duties. I'm already doing well. The wound has healed. Went through a lot the other day big river. The main thing is that I still bring some benefit and not in the rear.
From a letter dated September 14, 1944 “The last few days have been a lot of work. I was awarded another order - Patriotic War first degree. Now I have three orders. If anything happens, the orders will be sent to you and your daughter.”
From a letter dated September 28, 1944 “I did not write to you the most important thing, that we fought literally heroic battles. We jumped far ahead to the West, and the German beast wanted to detain us, but we resisted and received from Comrade. Thanks to Stalin, and our glorious division was awarded the second Order of Suvorov. We are all very glad that Comrade Stalin himself thanked us for our actions. It is very nice. I will tell you about the size of the battle this way, that in only one hollow a kilometer long we destroyed 28 tanks and stuffed 350 corpses German soldiers and officers. Well, here was my small share of the work. Now it has become a little quieter, but the work for me, as an engineer of the unit, is enough to failure. But work, you know, I'm used to, but I'm already tired, well, it's all nonsense. Hurry to finish off the German. Only after all the experiences did my head become completely gray-haired, and there were wrinkles on my face, like on a baked apple, but this is all nothing. Hurry to finish off the Germans!”
From a letter dated November 4, 1944 “After a while, we will probably do glorious deeds. Follow the newspapers. We are all commanded by Marshal Konev and General Cherokmanov, as you hear, know that our unit will go ahead, as we went before and went far beyond the Vistula. I think that the censor will not cross it out if I write that I was wounded then in the battle for Rava-Russkaya, that was a long time ago. Now I am preparing to fight, I have washed my underwear, adjusted the saddles, and put the horses in order. In a word, everything is in order. The faster we move forward, the sooner the war will end. The joy of Victory does not come by itself, it must be won! Our victory is already near, and the enemy is receiving due retribution.
From a letter dated December 15 1944“I have passed many cities, villages, regions. Perhaps the best places are the northern part of the Sumy region: there forests are intertwined with most fertile fields. I really liked these places. As for Western Ukraine, I didn’t like it here, the people were under the yoke of the landlords, some kind of gloomy, the land is bad. Poland is even worse off. The earth is sand and stones. The houses are dirty. The people are uncultured and cause only regret. The Poles lived poorly - "neither a stake nor a yard." Our Russian Red Army soldiers are only surprised: “How do the Poles live?” Dirt is especially striking. The entire population walks in rags. On Sunday, they dress up in fashionable costumes, but they themselves don’t even wash themselves, in a word, “silk on the belly, and silk inside.” In short, "Poland"!
From the chronicle. 1945 The division from the first of January and the whole month, as well as February, conducted an offensive on the Sandomierz bridgehead. January 12 broke into German territory.
On April 4, the Berlin offensive begins. On April 5, for the successful crossing of the Oder, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the division was awarded the Order of Alexander Nevsky, and on April 10, Colonel G.V. Ivanov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for participation in this operation. On May 1, the division reached the Elbe River in the Wittenberg area.
From a letter dated January 51945 “We are going to do big things, follow the newspapers, follow the actions of the 1st Ukrainian Front of Marshal Konev, General Pukhov, Guards General Cherokmanov and Colonel Ivanov. When you hear about these commanders, then know that I am also acting somewhere.
From a letter dated January 19 1945 “Finally, we entered the long-awaited battles. I have seen many battles, but I have never seen such a rout of the Germans. The Germans abandon everything: tanks, self-propelled guns, armored personnel carriers, motor vehicles and run without restraint. Their tanks from our guns burn like matches. The Germans are panic-stricken. They are taken prisoner in groups of 100-150 people. In short, the defeat of the Germans is complete. Yesterday Nikolay took 15 people prisoner. We go forward day and night. A little tired, but the mood is very good. All this brings us closer to the end of the war.”
From a letter dated March 14 1945 “The other day I received the fourth order and the medal “For the Defense of Moscow”. I wear 6 different awards and badges and 7 badges for wounds. Well, you know that I am now a lieutenant colonel. On the a short time our fast offensive run is over for the time being, we need to repair a little, because we have covered almost 500 km. To Berlin, as from Voronezh to Michurinsk, it takes 2-3 hours by car. And most importantly, all the rivers have been passed, the Spree remains, and that one is already near Berlin. Good? I think it's great!"
I think many people know that in the summer of 2012 the European Football Championship will begin in Kyiv. But not many people know that by the beginning of the championship, the film "Death Match" will be released on the cinema screens, which was filmed this summer in Kyiv and Kharkov. The film was based on real events that took place during the occupation of Kiev by the Nazis. And to completely surprise you, I’ll say that he starred in the title role ... who would you think? And none other than Sergey Bezrukov, who played the goalkeeper!
Now the real story, in which everything is not entirely clear, but we will try to figure it out.
The death match is a football match played in Nazi-occupied Kyiv in the summer of 1942 between Soviet and German teams. A number of football players from Kiev were shot; rumored to have refused to lose the meeting.
Players of the "Start" and the German team Flakelf after the game on August 9, 1942. The people of Kiev in red T-shirts (dark in the photo). From left to right, sitting: Y. Chernega, M. Melnik, M. Putistin (without a T-shirt). Standing: G. Timofeev, N. Trusevich, P. Komarov, A. Klimenko, N. Korotkikh, V. Sukharev, F. Tyutchev, M. Goncharenko
Before we talk about the death match itself, let's delve a little into the background. In 1941, when the Germans succeeded in capturing Kyiv, a large group of football players remained in the capital of Ukraine.
Dynamo workers at the bakery
The football team "Dynamo" (Kyiv), created in 1927, was a departmental team of the NKVD. Since the spring of 1936, she took part in the championships of the USSR, and in the first draw the people of Kiev won silver medals. With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, most of the players changed their T-shirts to tunics, went to the Red Army, the people's militia and extermination battalions.
After the occupation of Kyiv by German troops, many who could not get out of the encirclement made their way home. Returned from captivity N. Trusevich, M. Sviridovsky, F. Tyutchev, M. Putistin, N. Korotkikh, N. Golimbievsky, L. Gundarev, I. Kuzmenko, A. Klimenko, P. Komarov, Yu. Chernega, A. Tkachenko , M. Melnik. The main problem was the need for appropriate legalization in the occupied city. The strict regime established by the occupiers did not single chance young, healthy men to go unnoticed in the city. Therefore, many athletes, including football players, went to the registration, which was announced by the section of physical culture and sports of the department of education and culture of the city government. Initially, according to archival documents, about 200 people registered.
I. Kordik (Czech by nationality, previously worked as the head of the laboratory at the bakery, and the Germans was appointed "chief" of the bakery No. 1 on Degtyarevskaya St., 19) helped the players with employment in Kyiv. A passionate football lover, he met N. Trusevich and offered him and his comrades a job at his factory in order to create a football team. It was a permanent job that saved the players from being sent to Germany, and in hungry Kyiv it made it possible to somehow survive. Nine people got a job at the plant: Dynamo players Nikolai Trusevich, Mikhail Sviridovsky, Ivan Kuzmenko, Alexei Klimenko, Makar Goncharenko, Mikhail Putistin, Fedor Tyutchev, Pavel Komarov, and Vladimir Balakin, who played for Lokomotiv before the war. Worked in the yard loading. They formed the core of the football team of the bakery, which became known as "Start". Then they were joined by Dynamo players Mikhail Melnik, Nikolai Korotkikh, a cook in the dining room of the education and culture department of the city government on the street. Lenina, 22, Yuri Chernega, who worked in the protection of the city government, as well as Lev Gundarev, Alexander Tkachenko and Georgy Timofeev, who served in the police, and Vasily Sukharev, who played for Lokomotiv before the war. The youngest M. Melnik was 27 years old, the oldest F. Tyutchev - 35. Mikhail Sviridovsky was elected captain of the team.
On May 27, 1942, the director of the bakery, Chebanyuk, wrote a letter of application to the physical culture and sports section of the city government: “Kyiv bakery No. 1 asks to register a voluntary football team of the plant.” Since then, the team has gained official status.
The bakery team played in red shirts, according to the players, not because they wanted to, but simply because they found them. On June 4, 1942, the management of bakery No. 1 appeals to the physical culture and sports section of the city government with a request to allocate sports equipment for the factory team, namely: boots, shorts, T-shirts, leggings, knee pads, balls and a net for the gate. With the exception of boots and shorts, everything was already discharged on June 19th. This is most likely where the Start team got their red T-shirts from.
I. Kordik procured official permission for the team to play at the former Zenit stadium on the street. Kerosinnaya, 24 after the liquidation of the POW camp there.
M. M. Goncharenko
P. N. Komarov
I. S. Kuzmenko
M. F. Putistin
Start matches. Chronology
Officially, the football season of 1942 was opened in occupied Kyiv on June 7, although they started playing in the city in early spring.
The newspaper “New Ukrainian Word” on June 6, 1942 reported: “On Sunday, June 7 at 5:30 p.m. all amateurs will have the opportunity to see the first open competition of Rukh football teams - Khlebozavod, which will be held at the stadium of the Sports Palace (now the Republican Stadium). The bakery team won with a score of 2:0.
The next match took place on June 21, 1942. The day before, the New Ukrainian Word newspaper wrote: “At the Zenit stadium (Kerosinnaya, 24) on June 21 (Sunday), a football match between the team of the 1st Start bakery and the team of the Hungarian garrison. Famous football players such as Trusevich, Klimenko, Goncharenko and others will play in the Start team. Game score - 7:1 in favor of "Start".
On June 28, "Start" met with the combined artillery unit, and this time also won with a score of 7:1.
On July 5, 1942, a match between the Start and Sport teams of the Ukrainian sports society took place at the Zenit stadium. "Sport" consisted mainly of young players, although the goal was defended by one of the reserve goalkeepers of the Dynamo team, N. Golimbievsky, and another Dynamo player, L. Gundarev, was in the attack. This game ended with a brilliant victory for "Start" - 8:2.
The newspaper wrote about this match Last news"On July 6, 1942, in the article "Football in Kyiv": "Now, after 8 months of the liberation of Kyiv from the Bolshevik yoke, the most popular sports game, football, is starting to revive again. Some of the Kyiv football players were taken out by the Bolsheviks, but some remained, and as soon as spring came, football players began training on the green fields of the surviving stadiums. Now there are two football teams in Kyiv. One is the “Rukh” partnership, a young, capable, but insufficiently trained and well-played team, and the other of the 1st bakery “Start” ... Basically, this is the team of the former Kyiv team “Dynamo”. Such well-known players as Trusevich, Kuzmenko, Sviridovsky, Komarov, Goncharenko and others play here. The second half is selected from the most capable players from other disbanded sports societies and teams.”
On July 17, 1942, a match took place with the German railway team. Score 6:0 in favor of "Start".
The New Ukrainian Word of July 19, 1942 writes: “But this win cannot be recognized as an achievement of the Start players. The German team consists of individual strong players, but it cannot be called a team in the full sense of the word .... The Start team, as everyone knows, basically consists of the players of the former Dynamo masters team, therefore there should be much more of them than what they gave in this match ... ”This is the unexpected angle in which the comment about the victory of Kyiv football players was made.
July 19 at the stadium "Zenith" "Start" meets with the Magyar team. The match ended with the score 5:1 in favor of the Kyiv players. Then the Magyars proposed a rematch with a reinforced GK SZERO team. In this game, which took place on July 26, 1942, the people of Kiev won - 3:2.
August 6, 1942 "Start" met with the German team Flakelf, assembled from soldiers and officers of air defense (anti-aircraft gunners), as well as pilots and mechanics of the Kyiv airfield. The score - 5:1 in favor of "Start". And on August 9, 1942, a rematch between these teams took place. It was he who, it would seem, is no different from the rest, and was called the "death match". "Start" defeated Flakelf with a score of 5:3. The first goal was scored by Flakelf players. The stands filled with Germans rejoiced. By the end of the first half, the Ukrainian players were leading with a score of 2:1. And in the second half the defense of the Germans was completely broken... M. Goncharenko scored two goals out of five in this meeting. And one more noteworthy detail - not a single local newspaper published a report on the game.
Later, a legend arose that it was a meeting between the Start team and the Luftwaffe team - the German Air Force. After all, the fans - the people of Kiev, who were present at the stadium, saw the players and fans - the Germans in the form of pilots of the German military aviation. And it seems that after the match, the entire Start team was shot.
In fact, no one arrested or shot the players after the match. The players of both teams took pictures and calmly left the field. A couple of days later, the Germans handed over the photo to the football players, and they kept it for all subsequent years. And this match was not the last.
On August 16, 1942, "Start" met with the Ukrainian team "Rukh" and won with a score of 8:0.
This was the last match of Start, whose players from June 7 to August 16, 1942 played 10 matches (7 with the invaders, and 3 with the Ukrainian teams Sport and Rukh), winning 10 victories in them with goal difference 56 - 11. If, moreover, we take into account the conditions under which the grueling fights took place - both physically and psychologically - then this can be called a feat. Yes, the players defended their lives, but did not drop the honor of the professionals.
Posters of matches in occupied Kyiv
Arrests and executions
On August 18, 1942, football players who worked at the bakery - N. Trusevich, M. Putistin, I. Kuzmenko, A. Klimenko, M. Goncharenko, F. Tyutchev, M. Sviridovsky, V. Balakin and P. Komarov - were arrested .
A. G. Klimenko
F. I. Tyutchev
N. A. Trusevich
G. N. Timofeev
There are different versions for what. From the testimony of M. Sviridovsky on February 28, 1944: “We were betrayed by Vyachkis (Vyachkis G.P. - the champion of Ukraine in swimming, worked for the Gestapo and German intelligence, was awarded the order"Iron Cross", fled with the Germans. - Auth.). We were accused of the fact that Dynamo was organized by the NKVD, and if so, then the purpose of the organization is clear ... Of the 8 arrested, only Balakin, who was a member of the Lokomotiv team, was released. Chernega, Gundarev and Tkachenko were in front of the Germans, so they were not arrested.”
From the testimony during interrogation on December 2, 1943, M. Putistin: “On August 18, 1942, as a former Dynamo member, I was arrested by the Gestapo, where I spent 23 days. On September 11, 1942, I was sent to the Syrets concentration camp, where I stayed until October 5, 1943.”
From the testimony of M. Goncharenko: “On August 18, 1942, I was arrested by the Gestapo on the denunciation of a certain Shvetsov, who informed the Germans that I was an employee of the NKVD ...”
He worked in the police in 1942 - 1943. V. Yegorov testified during the interrogation on November 28, 1943: “Agent Vyachkis Georgy ... from his treacherous work I know the following: they were given the former Dynamo football team by the Gestapo, which was subsequently shot by the Germans.”
In a certificate compiled by the head of counterintelligence of the NPO Smersh of the First Ukrainian Front, Major General Osetrov in November 1943, the reason for the arrest of the footballers says: “In order to get rid of such a strong competitor, the traitors who were in the secret service in the Gestapo reported that all former Dynamo members are employees of the NKVD and left in Kyiv for reconnaissance purposes.
The last to be arrested was N. Korotkikh - on September 6, 1942. And he was the first to die - he was tortured to death by the Gestapo. He was the only one of the players who was a member of the party, they found a photo portrait in the form of the NKVD.
The rest of the players were kept in the Gestapo for about a month. Then in September 1942 they were transferred to the Syrets concentration camp. There M. Putistin worked as an electrician, F. Tyutchev and P. Komarov - his assistants. M. Sviridovsky and M. Goncharenko in a shoe shop on the street. Melnikova, 48 repaired boots for the Germans. N. Trusevich, I. Kuzmenko and A. Klimenko, then F. Tyutchev was transferred to them, were in the field team.
In February 1943, N. Trusevich, I. Kuzmenko and A. Klimenko were shot as hostages, that is, they died six months after the last game and arrest, and not in connection with the matches and their results.
Here is how I. Brodsky, a prisoner of the Syrets concentration camp, spoke about the death of football players on November 29, 1943 (he was in the team of prisoners who burned corpses in Babi Yar, on September 29, 1943, he escaped with a group of prisoners. In December 1943, he went to the Red Army and died at the front in 1944), a witness to the execution: “There was a visiting team of prisoners in the camp that worked for Korolenko, 33 - the Gestapo. I remember that it was in February 1943. This team was brought to the camp late in the evening. They said that the prisoners of the brought team wanted to kill the German, for this 5 people were shot at Korolenko, and now 20 more people will be shot for the same crime, which was done. The Germans selected 20 people, among whom were the football players of the Kyiv Dynamo team Trusevich and Klymenko, and they were immediately shot in front of the formation.
The newspaper Kyiv Pravda on November 17, 1943, in the article “What happened in Babi Yar”, with reference to eyewitnesses, wrote: “For a long time, a group of Kyiv Dynamo football players known in the country was imprisoned in a concentration camp. Among them were Trusevich, Klimenko, Kuzmenko and others. An unforgettable picture arises in the memory of the people of Kiev - a match between the German team and the team of workers of the bakery No. 1, which included these comrades. The Germans forced them to take part in this match, hoping to impress the people of Kiev with their unsurpassed art, to demonstrate the advantage of the Aryan breed ... This match was the last in the life of Dynamo. They were soon arrested, and on February 24, 1943, in front of the entire camp, during the execution of 42 people (for the escape of two prisoners), glorious football players were also killed.
For the first time in the article, the date of the death of three football players is called - February 24 and the reason for the execution of the hostages. Researchers and journalists have written a lot about the death of these football players, different versions have been put forward, often diametrically opposed, and still no one knows exactly what caused the execution of the hostages of the Syrets concentration camp, including Dynamo. The cause of the death was known exactly by F. Tyutchev, who worked with them in the visiting brigade and stood in one line when the hostages were counted. As a witness, he was interrogated several times in the cases of the executioners of the Syrets concentration camp, but not a single document contains information about how his comrades died.
In subsequent years, neither official authorities nor journalists were interested in this, and F. Tyutchev himself almost did not talk about it. With reference to Tyutchev, M. Goncharenko, Moscow journalist N. Dolgopolov and former Kyiv footballer V. Volkov put forward their versions of the death of N. Trusevich, I. Kuzmenko and A. Klimenko. All versions differ from each other, although there are similar details in the stories. They were voiced in the 1980s and 1990s, when Tyutchev was no more - he died in 1959.
The rest, except for P. Komarov, managed to escape from the concentration camp.
From the testimony of M. Sviridovsky: “Tyutchev was the first to escape from this camp. He fled with a group of loaders in four people, they fled from Podil. After that, Goncharenko and I fled from Melnikov, 48 of 16 people, that is, the whole brigade fled. The policemen helped us with the escape. Among them were athletes - football players. They noticed that we were starting to reel in the fishing rods, turned away, as if they did not see.
Mikhail Putistin was sent in October 1943 to load work at the Bolshevik plant, and he managed to escape. Pavel Komarov was taken to Germany during the evacuation of the Syrets concentration camp in September 1943.
The prosecutor's office of Hamburg did not find the perpetrators
On June 19, 1971, a monument to the fallen football players was erected at the capital's Dynamo stadium. After that, materials about the matches in occupied Kyiv appeared in many European publications.
One of the West German newspapers in 1973 published an article "Tragedy in Kyiv", which gave rise to the Hamburg prosecutor's office to initiate a criminal case on the basis of paragraph 211 (murder) of the German Criminal Code. As stated in the procedural documents, the process is conducted “against the division German Wehrmacht or the police, on suspicion of killing four Soviet prisoners of war, in 1942 in Kyiv ... they were forced to play a football match with a German air force unit. After this game, one of the unknown German officers was ordered to shoot four Soviet football players Nikolai Trusevich, Ivan Kuzmenko, Alexei Klimenko and Nikolai Korotkikh.
In February 2005, the Hamburg prosecutor's office put an end to this case. Attorney Jochen Kuhlmann said in a statement: “The real reason for the arrest of the players could not be established. Football players Trusevich, Kuzmenko and Klimenko were shot along with other prisoners in the Syrets concentration camp on the orders of the head of the camp, Paul Radomsky, in the spring of 1943 - a long time after the game on August 9, 1942. It is possible that the reason for the mass execution of prisoners in the Syrets camp was an assassination attempt against the chief of the Gestapo, but there is no exact data on this ... There are other versions - for the sabotage of the underground, which they carried out at the Kiev Mechanical Plant on February 23, 1943, for the attempted escape of the prisoners ... The question remains open which of the versions to give preference, since it is known that Paul Radomsky died on 03/14/1945 near Shtulweisenburg. The execution in the Syretsk concentration camp was carried out on his orders by unknown policemen, whose names could not be established ... The same applies to the fate of Nikolai Korotkikh. There is no exact data about the events that happened to him in the Gestapo in Kyiv, and about his death. There are no witnesses. The names of possible perpetrators are unknown or not named. Thus, there is no reason to initiate a new process.
and another parallel investigation:
These were Nikolai Klimenko, Igor Kuzmenko, Nikolai Korotkikh, Mikhail Goncharenko, Viktor Sukharev, Nikolai Trusevich, Vladimir Balakin, Mikhail Melnik, Mikhail Putistin, Mikhail Sviridovsky. The players were involved in the construction of defensive structures and could not subsequently get out of the siege. During the fascist occupation, famine prevailed in Kyiv. But through an acquaintance, the players managed to get a job as workers at the bakery No. 1. We worked as a team - just like we used to play. In order to distract from hard work and not lose their sports skills, every day after work the football players played in the factory yard and practiced a lot. Although the Germans seized more and more Ukrainian land, the players did not part with the hope that the enemy would be defeated and they would still be able to play for Dynamo Kiev.
The guys named their new team "Start". But every citizen of Kiev knew who they were. After all, before the war, Dynamo Kiev played just as brightly as they do today. The Nazis also knew this, but for the time being they did not touch it, not seeing any threat in the players. A year later, in the summer of 1942, the German command decided to diversify the cultural life of the captured capital and opened a “Ukrainian” stadium on Bolshaya Vasylkivska Street. However, Ukrainians were not allowed to enter. Football was a game for pure-blooded Aryans.
Most likely, it was precisely with the aim of demonstrating the strength of the Aryan nation that the Germans decided to hold a series of football matches in which German players would oppose the best teams from foreigners. They just remembered the "Start" command. And Ukrainians were allowed to come to the stadium, which had been closed before. Let them look at the defeat of their former idols.
The first game took place on June 5, 1942. The decoration of the grand opening of the stadium was a football match. "Start" defeated the Ukrainian team "Rukh" with a score of 7: 2. The rest of the games with the participation of "Start" were held at the stadium "Zenith", which is on Kerosinnaya Street
June 21 "Start" - the team of the Hungarian garrison - 6:2.
July 5 "Start" - the Romanian team - 11:0.
July 12 "Start" - a team of military railway workers - 9:1.
July 17 "Start" - military team "PGS" - 6:0.
July 19 "Start" - "MSG.Wal." (Hungary) - 5:1.
July 26 "Start" - "MSG.Wal." - 3:2.
Then the Flakelf team (team of German anti-aircraft gunners) played against the Soviet football players.
The first meeting took place on August 6, 1942. "Start" won with a crushing score of 5:1.
Three days later, the Germans staged a rematch, putting together a reinforced team. Before the start of the game, the players greeted each other. Germans: “Heil!”, Kievans: “Physical education - hello!”. The first goal was scored by the Germans. Then Ivan Kuzmenko equalized the score with a long-range shot, and Makar Goncharenko scored two goals in the first half. The second half was held in an equal tough fight. The Germans scored two goals and equalized the score, but then the "Start" pulled out a 5:3 victory. It was this duel in the Soviet Union that later became known as the death match, after which the players were allegedly shot. It was said that before the match, a German commander, who was watching the match, entered the locker room of Dynamo football players. And in a harsh form, threatening with camps and execution, he ordered to lose.
Behind the fence, on the right side, there was a dressing room, the door of which was open, and I went inside. In the room were: N. Trusevich, putting on a sweater, A. Klimenko was already in uniform, eating bread, breaking off pieces, and another one, whom I did not know, was lacing up his boots. At that moment, an officer came in and kicked me out of the locker room. What he talked about with the players will remain a secret forever. O. Yasinsky.
Perhaps things were a little different. Just for the 25th anniversary of the Victory, at the suggestion of the KGB, the Central Committee of the CPSU and personally Leonid Brezhnev, propaganda was launched to restore historical justice. Then the title of Hero of the Soviet Union was posthumously awarded to NKVD saboteur Ivan Kudra, who died in the Kiev underground. After lengthy investigations, the players of the "Start" team were also rehabilitated, who, after the war, were summoned for interrogations by the KGB for a long time almost as traitors to the motherland. Now they are heroes. Dynamo players N. Trusevich, A. Klimenko, I. Kuzmenko and M. Korotkikh were posthumously awarded the medal "For Courage", and the surviving players of the "Start": B. Balakin, N. Goncharenko, N. Melnikov, M. Pustynin, V. Sukharev and N. Sviridov were awarded the medal "For Military Merit".
The invaders, anticipating their defeat on the football field, did not want to humiliate their army. Therefore, the match was organized at a small stadium "Zenith", located far from the city center. But despite the plans of the Nazis, Kyiv fans filled the stadium to capacity - they stood in the aisles, on the trees. This meeting evoked a surge of patriotism among the Soviet people. It was not football passions that raged at the stadium. Everything turned as if there was a battle between the teams of the Wehrmacht and the Red Army. Most of the fans had someone at the front. The stadium roared, anti-fascist cries were heard. The Germans did not like it, they arrested many brawlers and fans, they fired from machine guns and pistols into the air ...
But after the match ended, the Germans did not arrest a single player. The proof is that after the football match "Flakelf" - "Start" the Kyiv team played two more matches. One - with the same "Flakelf", it took place on August 9, 1942, and the second - with the "Rukh" team, which included employees of the Ukrainian authorities and workers of local factories. Both matches "Start" won. Football matches "Start" ended only in the fall, when it started to rain.
So what really happened and where did the legend about the “death match” come from, according to which the entire winning team was allegedly shot by the Germans?
Here is what Yu. Krasnoshchok said about this:
"During the fascist occupation, while working at a telephone exchange, I heard from the Germans, as well as from Ukrainian policemen, that the Dynamo players were arrested not for winning the match, but because they, working at the bakery No. 1, threw them into flour, from which baked bread for German organizations in Kyiv, broken glass. Many workers of the bakery were arrested, including four Dynamo workers - Trusevich, Klimenko, Kuzmenko and Korotkikh. My acquaintance of the state security officer later told me about the same. Yes, and the former chairman of the Kyiv council Leonty Forostovsky in his book ""Kyiv under fortune-telling occupations"" he does not write anything about the execution of the team.
It should be noted that the occupiers shot only four of the sixteen players of "Start", and all of them were lieutenants of the NKVD. It just so happened in Soviet football: the players of the Lokomotiv team were paid as drivers, the players of Dynamo were paid as employees of the NKVD. This was the main reason for their arrest. Who, if not officers of the NKVD, could be suspected of terrorism. But the four players mentioned were not involved in this sabotage."
Their rivals - German and Hungarian football players - came to the defense of the arrested Kyiv Dynamo players. German athletes still have the ideals of fair wrestling, because not so much time has passed since they organized the XI World Sports Olympiad in Berlin in 1936. They did not believe that such talented football players would throw glass into bread intended for military hospitals, the wounded and medical staff, for women mobilized by the Nazis to work in the occupation administration of the country. And perhaps it would have been possible to avoid the execution of Kyiv football players. But after the Sport equipment factory, where sleds for the German army were being repaired, was set on fire, the Gestapo shot more than half of the employees of this small factory and liquidated 200 hostages in the Syrets camp. Four Dynamo players also got into this group ...
The case of the death match played by the football players of Ukraine and Nazi Germany in the summer of 1942, initiated by the prosecutor's office of Hamburg back in 1974, was recently finally closed by investigators. According to the press secretary of the Hamburg prosecutor's office Rüdeger Bagger, the investigating commission thoroughly studied the data provided not only by the Ukrainian side, but also the materials seized from the film crew of the first German television channel ARD
"Representatives of German justice had the opportunity to speak with witnesses who were still children during the match," the radio station quoted Bagger as saying. German investigators managed to find out the circumstances of the death of Ukrainian players. Rüdeger Bagger explained: “It was possible to find out that the players Nikolai Trusevich, Ivan Kuzmenko and Alexei Klimenko died a long time after the game, or rather, in the spring of 1943 in a concentration camp on Syrets. They were shot at the direction of the camp commandant. Thus, their death cannot be unrelated to the outcome of that game." To prove the existence of the SS officer who threatened the players still failed.
In 1965, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR awarded the surviving participants in the death match with medals "For Military Merit". The dead were awarded medals "For Courage". Thus, a football victory was equated to a military feat on the battlefield. And at the Dynamo stadium in Kyiv, a monument dedicated to the feat of fearless football players was erected.
Myasnoy Bor, Sinyavinsky Heights and Pogostye - the swamp truth of 1942
And me in last years more and more often I recall his stories in the spring of 1944, I remember his excitement, his voice, but I can’t remember the details. And a couple of years ago I read the memoirs of the war by Nikolai Nikolaevich Nikulin, a researcher at the Hermitage, who at the same time fought on the other side of this swamp as part of the 54th Army under the command of I.I. Fedyuninsky and stormed Pogostye for almost a year in order to unblock the 2nd Shock Army under the command of A.A. Vlasov, deputy commander of the Volkhov Front. N.N. Nikulin was 22 years younger than my father, and the need to pour out those terrible memories from himself did not arise in 1944, but in 1975. He wrote for himself and a narrow circle of relatives, but two years before his death he was persuaded (by the director of the Hermitage Piotrovsky) to publish notes. When I started reading them, similar stories of my father began to surface in my subconscious. Such a roll call of two not even comfreys, but swamps after 31 years. I will cite in the original the most poignant part of these memories, not for the faint of heart. Convinced communists should instead read the memoirs of Comrade Zhukov.
“I read somewhere that British intelligence has been preparing its agents for decades. They are taught in the best colleges, they create athletes, intellectuals, capable of everything experts in their field. Then such agents manage global affairs. In Asian countries, a task is given to a thousand or ten thousand people, somehow hastily trained, in the expectation that even if almost all fail and are destroyed, at least one will fulfill his mission. There is no time, no funds for training, no experienced teachers here. Everything is done in a hurry - they didn’t have time before, didn’t think about it, or even did a lot, but not like that. Everything happens by itself, by intuition, by mass, by number. This is the second way we fought. In 1942 there was no alternative. The wise Master in the Kremlin understood everything perfectly, knew and, suppressing everyone with an iron will, commanded one thing: “Attack!” And we attacked, attacked, attacked ... And the mountains of corpses near the Pogosti, Nevsky Piglets, nameless heights grew, grew, grew. Thus, the future victory was prepared. If the Germans had filled our headquarters with spies and the troops with saboteurs, if there had been mass betrayal and the enemies had developed a detailed plan for the collapse of our army, they would not have achieved the effect that was the result of the idiocy, stupidity, irresponsibility of the authorities and the helpless humility of the soldiers. I saw it in Pogostya, but it turned out to be everywhere.
The meanness of the Bolshevik system was especially clearly manifested during the war. Just as the most hard-working, honest, intelligent, active and intelligent people were arrested and executed in peacetime, the same thing happened at the front, but in an even more open, disgusting form. I'll give you an example. From higher spheres an order comes: take the height. The regiment storms it week after week, losing many men a day. Replenishment is continuous, there is no shortage of people. But among them are swollen dystrophics from Leningrad, to whom doctors have just prescribed bed rest and enhanced nutrition for three weeks. Among them are babies born in 1926, that is, fourteen years old. Not subject to conscription into the army ... "Vperrrred !!!", and that's it. Finally, some soldier or lieutenant, or captain (which is less common), seeing this blatant disgrace, exclaims: “You can’t ruin people! There, at a height, a concrete pillbox! And we only have a 76 mm fluff! She will not break through it! ”... The political instructor, SMERSH (the NKVD organization “Death to spies!” In her hands were punitive functions) and the tribunal are immediately connected. One of the informers, who are full in every unit, testifies: “Yes, in the presence of the soldiers he doubted our victory,” they immediately fill out a ready-made form, where you just need to enter the last name, and it’s ready: “Shoot before the ranks!” or "Send to the penal company!", Which is the same. So the most honest people, who felt their responsibility to society, perished. And the rest - “Forward, attack!”, “There are no such fortresses that the Bolsheviks could not take!”. And the Germans dug into the ground, creating a whole labyrinth of trenches and shelters. Go get them! There was a stupid, senseless killing of our soldiers. One must think that this selection of the Russian people is a time bomb: it will explode in several generations, in the twentieth I or XX II century when the mass of bastards selected and nurtured by the Bolsheviks will give rise to new generations of their own kind ... And the anguish and despair that I had to endure then have already become dull. It is impossible to imagine this despair, and only those who have experienced the need to simply get up and go to die will understand it. Not anyone else, namely you, should go into the fire, where at best you will be easily injured, and at worst - either your jaw will be torn off, or your stomach will be turned, or your eyes will be gouged out, or your skull will be blown off. It is you, although you so want to live!... And no one will notice your death: you will lie down in a large pile of corpses near the railway and rot, forgotten by everyone in a sticky slush Pogostinsky swamps. Poor, poor Russian peasants! They found themselves between the millstones of a historical mill, between two genocides. On the one hand, Stalin destroyed them, driving them into socialism with bullets, and now, in 1941-1945, Hitler killed myriads of innocent people. This is how the Victory was forged, this is how the Russian nation was destroyed, first of all, its soul.
Now I will add what I remember from the stories of my father. When breaking out of the boiler, he received a shrapnel wound in the head a centimeter above his left eye. While lying in shock, the Germans walked and finished shooting the wounded. They stopped near him, someone said “kaput”, seeing his face covered in blood and a hole in his forehead. The bullet was sorry. The fragment was stuck in the frontal bone and the hospital was afraid to remove it. At the site of the wound, a bump the size of a penny formed, with which we buried him. In the photograph of dad from the early sixties, which I want to place with this article, this can be seen ...
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