He repeated the feat of Susanin. Pioneers, repeating the feat of Ivan Susanin during the Great Patriotic War, the most senior hero of the Soviet Union

But the person who is installed a monument, did not like the effects. He said little at all, preferring the words of the case.

On July 21, 1858, a boy was born in the village of Kurakino Pskov province in the family of a serf peasant, who was called Matvey. Unlike many generations of their ancestors, the boy stayed with a fortued less than three years - in February 1861, Emperor Alexander II canceled the serfdom.

But in the life of the peasants of the Pskov province, little has changed - personal freedom did not get rid of the need to work hard day by day, year after year.

The grew up Matvey lived just like his grandfather and father, - when it came to him, married, got kids. Natalia's first wife died in his youth, and the peasant led the new hostess Efrosin to the house.

In total, Matvey eight children - two from the first marriage and six of the second.

The kings changed, the revolutionary passions thundered, and the life of Matvey was commissioned by the order.

He was strong and healthy - the youngest daughter Lydia was born in 1918, when the father soldered 60 years.

The established Soviet government began to collect peasants in the collective farm, but Matvey refused, remaining a sole peasant. Even when all who lived near the collective farm entered, Matvey did not want to change, remaining the last solemaker in everything else.

"Painter" in the occupation

Was's grandfather Kuzmich man unlikely and unreviving, for which the eyes called him "Biryukom" and "Painter".

For the stubborn reluctance to go to the collective farm in the 30th could Kuzmich and suffer, but the trouble went through. Apparently, harsh comrades from the NKVD decided that to sculpt the "enemy of the people" from the 80-year-old peasant - this is a bust.

In addition, Grandfather Kuzmich's processing preferred fishing and hunting in which there was a big master.

When the Great Patriotic War began, Matvey Kuzmin was almost 83 years old. When the enemy became rapidly approaching the village, where he lived, many neighbors hurried to evacuation. The peasant with the family preferred to remain.

Already in August 1941, the village where Grandfather Kuzmich lived, was occupied by the Nazis. The new authorities, having learned about the miraculously preserved peasant scenario, called him and offered to become a rustic old-age.

Matthew Kuzmin Germans thanked for confidence, but refused - it's a serious thing, and he was deafovat, and there was a silent. The speeches of the old man Hitlermen considered quite loyal and in a sign of special confidence left him his main working tool - a hunting rifle.

Deal

In early 1942, after the end of the Toropetsco-Holmovskaya operation, not far from the native village of Kuzmin, the defensive positions of the part of the Soviet 3rd shock army took.

In February, the Battalion of the German 1st Mornetral Division arrived in the village of Kurakino. The mountain rangers from Bavaria were transferred to this area to participate in the planned counterdar, whose purpose was to discard Soviet troops.

Before the detachment, based in Curakino, the task was to be secretly going to the rear to the Soviet troops located in the village of Peshino, and to defeat them a sudden blow.

To carry out this operation, a conductor was needed from the local, and the Germans again remembered Matvey Kuzmin.

On February 13, 1942, he was called by the commander of the German battalion, who said - the old man should bring the Hitler's squad to the fox. For this work, Kuzmich promised money, flour, kerosene, as well as a luxurious German hunting rifle.

The old hunter examined the gun, appreciating the "fee", and replied that he agrees to become a conductor. He asked to show the place where the Germans should be removed exactly, on the map. When Kombat showed him the desired area, Kuzmich noticed that there would be no difficulties, because he hunted many times in these places.

The rumor that Matvey Kuzmin will lead the Nazis in the Soviet rear, MiG had a village. While he went home, fellow villagers looked in his back with hatred. Someone even risked something to shout to him, but it was worth the grandfather to turn around, as the brand was retracted - to contact Kuzmich and before it was obligated, and now, when he was in Favor's fascists, and is suppressed.

Propaganda poster "Heroic feat of the Soviet Patriot Matvey Matveevich Kuzmina", 1942. Photo: wikipedia.org.

Mortal route

But before they managed to translate the Spirit and turn around to combat order, a squall fire was opened on them from all sides ...

Neither the Germans nor the inhabitants of Kurakino noticed that immediately after the conversation of Grandfather Kuzmich with a German commander from the village in the direction of the forest slipped one of his sons, Vasily ...

Vasily went to the location of the 31st separate Classical Rifle Brigade, saying that he has urgent and important information for the commander. He was taken to the commanded brigade colonel GorbunovuWith which he told the fact that he ordered to convey the Father - the Germans want to go to the rear to our troops at the village of Pershino, but he will bring them to the village of Malkino, where he should wait for an ambush.

To win time for her preparation, Matvey Kuzmin led Germans all night with the Germans, at dawn, to bring them under the fire of Soviet fighters.

The commander of the mountain rangers understood that the old man was overwriting him, and he released several bullets to the grandfather. The old hunter dropped on the snow, painted his blood ...

The German squad was broken by the headwood, the operation of the Nazis was ravaged, several dozen huntsmen were destroyed, the part was captured. Among the dead was the commander of the squad, who shot a conductor, who repeated the feat of Ivan Susanin.

Better late than never

About the feat of the 83-year-old peasant the country found out almost immediately. First about him told military Correspondent and Writer Boris Field, later embedded feat pilot Alexei Maresev.

Initially, the hero was buried in the native village of Kurakino, but in 1954 it was decided to reburial the remains at the Bratsky Cemetery of the city of Great Luki.

Another fact is amazing: the feat of Matthew Kuzmina was officially recognized in fact immediately, they wrote essays, stories and poems about him, but for more than twenty years, the feat was not marked by state awards.

Perhaps played the role that Grandfather Kuzmich was actually nobody - not a soldier, not a partisan, but simply an unlike an older hunter, who manifested the great strength of the Spirit and the clarity of the mind.

The 83-year-old Matvey Kuzmin became the most elderly owner of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for all the time of its existence.

If you are at the partisanskaya station, stop at the monument with the inscription "Hero of the Soviet Union Matvey Kuzmich Kuzmin", bow to him. After all, without such people, as he, there would be no today and our homeland.

The most elderly hero of the Soviet Union was the man born three years before the cancellation of serfdom.

From the serfdom

In Moscow, at the metro station "Partizanskaya", there is a monument - an elderly bearded man in the fur coat and Valenki peers somewhere in the distance. Running Muscovites and guests of the capital rarely bother themselves to read the inscription on the pedestal. And reading, it is unlikely that something will understand - well, the hero, partisans. But for the monument could choose someone and more accurately.
But the person who is installed a monument, did not like the effects. He said little at all, preferring the words of the case.
On July 21, 1858, a boy was born in the village of Kurakino Pskov province in the family of a serf peasant, who was called Matvey. Unlike many generations of their ancestors, the boy stayed with a fortued less than three years - in February 1861, Emperor Alexander II canceled the serfdom.
But in the life of the peasants of the Pskov province, little has changed - personal freedom did not get rid of the need to work hard day by day, year after year.
The grew up Matvey lived just like his grandfather and father, - when it came to him, married, got kids. Natalia's first wife died in his youth, and the peasant led the new hostess Efrosin to the house.
In total, Matvey eight children - two from the first marriage and six of the second.
The kings changed, the revolutionary passions thundered, and the life of Matvey was commissioned by the order.
He was strong and healthy - the youngest daughter Lydia was born in 1918, when the father soldered 60 years.
The established Soviet government began to collect peasants in the collective farm, but Matvey refused, remaining a sole peasant. Even when all who lived near the collective farm entered, Matvey did not want to change, remaining the last solemaker in everything else.

"Painter" in the occupation

He was 74 years old, when the authorities have made him the first in life official documents in which Matvey Kuzmich Kuzmin was. Until then, all the name was it just Kuzmich, and when the age passed over the seventh tenth - grandfather Kuzmich.
Was's grandfather Kuzmich man unlikely and unreviving, for which the eyes called him "Biryukom" and "Painter".
For the stubborn reluctance to go to the collective farm in the 30th could Kuzmich and suffer, but the trouble went through. Apparently, harsh comrades from the NKVD decided that to sculpt the "enemy of the people" from the 80-year-old peasant - this is a bust.
In addition, Grandfather Kuzmich's processing preferred fishing and hunting in which there was a big master.
When the Great Patriotic War began, Matvey Kuzmin was almost 83 years old. When the enemy became rapidly approaching the village, where he lived, many neighbors hurried to evacuation. The peasant with the family preferred to remain.
Already in August 1941, the village where Grandfather Kuzmich lived, was occupied by the Nazis. The new authorities, having learned about the miraculously preserved peasant scenario, called him and offered to become a rustic old-age.
Matthew Kuzmin Germans thanked for confidence, but refused - it's a serious thing, and he was deafovat, and there was a silent. The speeches of the old man Hitlermen considered quite loyal and in a sign of special confidence left him his main working tool - a hunting rifle.

In early 1942, after the end of the Toropetsco-Holmovskaya operation, not far from the native village of Kuzmin, the defensive positions of the part of the Soviet 3rd shock army took.
In February, the Battalion of the German 1st Mornetral Division arrived in the village of Kurakino. The mountain rangers from Bavaria were transferred to this area to participate in the planned counterdar, whose purpose was to discard Soviet troops.
Before the detachment, based in Curakino, the task was to be secretly going to the rear to the Soviet troops located in the village of Peshino, and to defeat them a sudden blow.
To carry out this operation, a conductor was needed from the local, and the Germans again remembered Matvey Kuzmin.
On February 13, 1942, he was called by the commander of the German battalion, who said - the old man should bring the Hitler's squad to the fox. For this work, Kuzmich promised money, flour, kerosene, as well as a luxurious German hunting rifle.
The old hunter examined the gun, appreciating the "fee", and replied that he agrees to become a conductor. He asked to show the place where the Germans should be removed exactly, on the map. When Kombat showed him the desired area, Kuzmich noticed that there would be no difficulties, because he hunted many times in these places.
The rumor that Matvey Kuzmin will lead the Nazis in the Soviet rear, MiG had a village. While he went home, fellow villagers looked in his back with hatred. Someone even risked something to shout to him, but it was worth the grandfather to turn around, as the brand was retracted - to contact Kuzmich and before it was obligated, and now, when he was in Favor's fascists, and is suppressed.

Mortal route

On the night of February 14, the German squad, which was led by Matvey Kuzmin, came out of the village of Curakino. They walked all night by trails known only by the old hunter. Finally, at dawn, Kuzmich brought the Germans to the village.
But before they managed to translate the Spirit and turn around to combat order, a squall fire was opened on them from all sides ...
Neither the Germans nor the inhabitants of Kurakino noticed that immediately after the conversation of Grandfather Kuzmich with a German commander from the village in the direction of the forest slipped one of his sons, Vasily ...
Vasily went to the location of the 31st separate Classical Rifle Brigade, saying that he has urgent and important information for the commander. He was taken to the commanded brigade Colonel Gorbunov, to whom he told the fact that he ordered to transfer his father, - the Germans want to go to the rear to our troops at the village of Pernino, but he will bring them to the village of Malkino, where he should wait for an ambush.
To win time for her preparation, Matvey Kuzmin led Germans all night with the Germans, at dawn, to bring them under the fire of Soviet fighters.
The commander of the mountain rangers understood that the old man was overwriting him, and he released several bullets to the grandfather. The old hunter dropped on the snow, painted his blood ...
The German squad was broken by the headwood, the operation of the Nazis was ravaged, several dozen huntsmen were destroyed, the part was captured. Among the dead was the commander of the squad, who shot a conductor, who repeated the feat of Ivan Susanin.
Better late than never
About the feat of the 83-year-old peasant the country found out almost immediately. The first of him was told by the military correspondent and writer Boris Field, later the designer feat of the pilot of Alexei Maresev.
Initially, the hero was buried in the native village of Kurakino, but in 1954 it was decided to reburial the remains at the Bratsky Cemetery of the city of Great Luki.
Another fact is amazing: the feat of Matthew Kuzmina was officially recognized in fact immediately, they wrote essays, stories and poems about him, but for more than twenty years, the feat was not marked by state awards.
Perhaps played the role that Grandfather Kuzmich was actually nobody - not a soldier, not a partisan, but simply an unlike an older hunter, who manifested the great strength of the Spirit and the clarity of the mind.

But justice enthusiasm. Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of May 8, 1965 for courage and heroism, manifested in the fight against the German fascist invaders, Kuzmin Matvey Kuzmich was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union with the presentation of the Order of Lenin.
The 83-year-old Matvey Kuzmin became the most elderly owner of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for all the time of its existence.
If you are at the partisanskaya station, stop at the monument with the inscription "Hero of the Soviet Union Matvey Kuzmich Kuzmin", bow to him. After all, without such people, as he, there would be no today and our homeland.

In Moscow, at the metro station "Partizanskaya", there is a monument - an elderly bearded man in the fur coat and Valenki peers somewhere in the distance.

Running Muscovites and guests of the capital rarely bother themselves to read the inscription on the pedestal. And reading, it is unlikely that something will understand - well, the hero, partisans. But for the monument could choose someone and more accurately.