Scout San Sanych

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

The fifth-grader Vovka, who seemed to be a very adult, when leaving on duty in the people's squad, once advised him: "And you run away …" The red-haired Vovka joked, and Sanka sunk into his soul. But in winter, my mother fell ill, and he sat with her all the time. I decided: "I'll finish the first grade and run away." Then another war year passed. Mom completely recovered and worked at the factory. Father wrote letters from the front and kept repeating: "If we win the war, we will gather together, and we will never part again." Sanka wanted it to come true as soon as possible. And in the spring of 1943, Sashka and a friend ran away from school and went to war …

They managed to get on a freight train, but were soon caught and sent home. On the way, Sasha ran away from his entourage: no one could stop him, he was driving to beat the Nazis … Having reached almost the very front, Sasha met the tanker Yegorov, who was returning to his regiment after the hospital. Sanka told him a sad fictional story that his father is also a tanker and is now at the front, and he lost his mother during the evacuation and was left all alone.. The tanker decided to bring Sasha to the commander, and he would decide what to do with him.

When Yegorov told his commander about Sashka, how he wants to beat the Nazis, how he escaped from the patrols, how clever he is, he asked: -How old is the boy? Egorov replied: "Twelve." The commander said: “There is no place for such little ones in the army. Therefore, feed the boy, and send him to the rear tomorrow! " Sashka almost burst into tears from resentment. All night he thought about what to do, and in the morning, when everyone was asleep, he got out of the dugout and began to make his way into the forest. Suddenly the command "AIR" was heard. It was German planes that began to bomb the positions of our troops. Fascist vultures flew right overhead and dropped bombs. Sashka had time to hear Sergeant Yegorov looking for him in the distance and calling “Sashka! Where are you? Come back. " Bombs exploded all around, and Sasha kept running and running. One bomb exploded very close and he was thrown by a wave into a crater from an exploding bomb. For several moments the boy lay unconscious, and when he opened his eyes, he saw in the sky how the downed fascist bomber fell, and a parachutist separated from him and landed directly on Sasha. The canopy of the parachute covered both. When the fascist saw the boy, he began to take out a pistol. Sashka contrived and threw a handful of earth into his eyes. The fascist lost his sight for some time and began to shoot at the blind. And then the incredible happened. Someone jumped over Sasha and grabbed the German. A struggle ensued, and when the German began to strangle our soldier, Sashka took a stone and hit the fascist on the head. He immediately fell unconscious, from under him crawled out Sergeant Yegorov. They tied the German and Yegorov brought him to the commander. When the commander asked Yegorov who took the "tongue", he proudly replied: "SASHKA!"

So at the age of twelve, Sashka was enlisted as the son of the regiment - in the 50th regiment of the 11th tank corps. And he received his first military award, the medal "FOR Courage", which was presented to him by the commander in front of all the soldiers ….

The soldiers immediately fell in love with Sasha for his courage and determination, treated him with respect and called him San Sanych. Twice he went on reconnaissance to the enemy's rear, and both times he coped with the task. True, for the first time I almost gave out our radio operator, who was carrying a new set of electric batteries for the radio. An appointment was made at the cemetery. Call sign - duck quacking. He got to the cemetery at night. The picture is terrifying: all the graves are torn apart by shells … Probably, more out of fear than was necessary, the boy cracked so hard that he did not notice how our radio operator crawled up behind him and, holding Sasha's mouth with his palm, whispered: "You are crazy, boy? Where has this been seen so that ducks quack at night ?! They sleep at night! " Nevertheless, the task was completed.

In June 1944, the 1st Belorussian Front began preparations for the offensive. Sasha was summoned to the corps reconnaissance department and introduced to the pilot-lieutenant colonel. The latter looked at the boy doubtfully, but the intelligence chief assured that San Sanych could be trusted, he is a "shot sparrow". The pilot-lieutenant colonel said that the Nazis are preparing a powerful defensive barrier near Minsk. Equipment is continuously being transferred to the front by rail. Unloading is carried out somewhere in the forest, on a disguised railway line 70 kilometers from the front line. This branch must be destroyed. But this is not at all easy to do. The reconnaissance paratroopers did not return from the mission. Air reconnaissance also cannot detect anything, everything is disguised. The task is to find a secret railway line within three days and mark its location by hanging old bed linen on the trees.

- This business, Sanya, - as if the voice of the commander sounded from afar, - we decided to entrust you. And the colonel put his big hand on his shoulder. At night, a group of scouts left on a mission. When everything was ready, the boy was brought to the commander of the group.

- Pass the front line with him, and then he has his task.

… We walked all the way in silence. The detachment stretched out in a chain so that Sanka could only see an elderly man and a young lieutenant. Then he was no longer with them on the way, and they parted. They changed San Sanych into civilian clothes and gave him a bale of bed linen. The result is a teenage street child who exchanges underwear for groceries. He made his way through the forest along the main railway. Paired fascist patrols every 300 meters. Badly exhausted, he dozed off during the day and almost got caught. I woke up from a strong kick. Two fascist policemen searched him, shook up the whole bale of linen. Discovered several potatoes, a piece of bread and bacon were immediately taken away. We also brought a couple of pillowcases and towels with Belarusian embroidery. At parting, "blessed":

- Get out, puppy, before we shoot you!

For several kilometers he made his way along the wire, until he came to the main railway line. Lucky: a military train, loaded with tanks, slowly turned off the main path and disappeared between the trees. Here it is, a mysterious branch! The Nazis disguised it perfectly. At night, Sanka climbed to the top of a tree growing at the junction of the railway line with the main highway and hung the first sheet there. By dawn, I hung out the bedding in three more places. He marked the last point with his own shirt, tying it by the sleeves. Now she fluttered in the wind like a flag. I sat in a tree until morning. It was very scary, but most of all I was afraid to fall asleep and miss the reconnaissance plane. The plane arrived on time. The Nazis did not touch him, so as not to betray themselves. The plane circled at a distance for a long time, then passed over Sasha, turned towards the front and waved its wings. It was a prearranged signal: "The branch has been spotted, go away - we will bomb!"

Sashka untied his shirt and went down to the ground. After only two kilometers away, I heard the hum of our bombers, and soon there were explosions where the enemy's secret branch passed. The echo of their cannonade accompanied him the entire first day of his journey to the front line. The next day, I went to the river and, having crossed it, met our scouts, with whom they crossed the front line. Sanya understood from the haggard faces that the scouts had been at the bridge for more than one day, but they could not do anything to destroy the crossing. The train that approached was unusual: the cars were sealed, the SS guards. They are transporting ammunition!

The train stopped, allowing an oncoming ambulance train to pass. The submachine gunners from the guards of the echelon with ammunition went to the opposite side from us - to see if there were any acquaintances among the wounded. Sashka snatched the explosives from the hands of the soldier and, without waiting for permission, rushed to the embankment. He crawled under the carriage, struck a match … Then the carriage wheels began to move, and the German's forged boot hung from the footboard. It’s impossible to get out from under the carriage… What to do? He opened the "dog lover" coal box on the move - and climbed into it along with the explosives. When the wheels thudded dully on the bridge deck, he struck a match again and lit the fuse-cord. There were only a few seconds left before the explosion. He jumped out of the box, slipped between the sentries, and off the bridge - into the water! Diving over and over again, I swam with the flow. Several guards and sentries fired at the sailing Sasha at the same time. And then explosives exploded. The wagons with ammunition began to break, as if in a chain. The fiery tornado engulfed the bridge, the train, and the guards.

No matter how hard San Sanych tried to sail away, a fascist boat caught up with him. The Nazis beat Sasha and from the beatings he lost consciousness. The brutalized Germans dragged Sasha into a house on the bank of the river and crucified him: his hands and feet were nailed to the wall at the entrance. The scouts saved San Sanych. They saw that he had fallen into the hands of the guards. Suddenly attacking the house, the Red Army men recaptured Sasha from the Germans. They took him off the wall, wrapped him in a raincoat and carried him in their arms to the front line. On the way we stumbled upon an enemy ambush. Many died in the fleeting battle. The wounded sergeant grabbed and carried Sasha out of this inferno. He hid it, leaving him his machine gun, went to fetch water to treat Sashka's wounds, but he was killed by the Nazis…. After a while, the dying Sasha was found by our soldiers and sent to a hospital in distant Novosibirsk on an ambulance train. In this hospital, Sashka was treated for five months. Without completing his treatment, he fled with the discharged tankers, persuading his nanny-grandmother to bring him an old clothes to "walk around the city."

San Sanych, caught up with his regiment already in Poland, near Warsaw. He was assigned to the tank crew. Once, by chance, he met the same pilot-lieutenant colonel who had sent him on a mission. He was very happy: “I've been looking for you for six months! I gave my word: if I'm alive, I will definitely find it! " The tankmen let Sasha go to the air regiment for a day, where he met the pilots who bombed that secret branch. They loaded him with chocolate and took him on airplanes. Then the entire air regiment lined up, and San Sanych was solemnly awarded the Order of Glory III degree. On April 16, 1945, at the Seelow Heights in Germany, Sasha knocked out Hitler's tiger tank. At the crossroads, the two tanks met head-on. San Sanych was for the gunner, fired first and hit the "tiger" under the tower. The heavy armor "cap" flew off like a light ball. On the same day, the Nazis also knocked out Sashkin's tank. The crew, fortunately, survived completely. On April 29, Sashkin's tank was again knocked out by the Nazis. The entire crew died, only Sashka survived, he was taken to the hospital wounded. He woke up only on May 8. The hospital was located in Karlshorst opposite the building where the German surrender act was signed. The wounded paid no attention to either the doctors or their own wounds - they jumped, danced, hugged each other. Having laid him on a sheet, Sasha was dragged to the window to show how Marshal Zhukov came out after the signing of the surrender. It was VICTORY!

San Sanych returned to Moscow in the summer of 1945. For a long time he did not dare to enter his house on Begovaya Street … He did not write to his mother for more than two years, fearing that she would take him from the front. I was not so afraid of anything as this meeting with her. I understood how much grief he brought to her!.. He entered noiselessly, as they had taught me to walk in reconnaissance. But the maternal intuition turned out to be thinner - she turned sharply, threw up her head and for a long, long time, without stopping, looked at Sasha, on his tunic, on which were adorned with two orders and five medals …

- Do you smoke? She finally asked.

- Aha! - Sashka lied to hide his embarrassment and not burst into tears.

-You are so small, you defended our HOMELAND! I'm so proud of you, my mother said. Sasha hugged his mother and they both burst into tears …

Kolesnikov A. A. died in 2001 in Moscow, at the age of 70.

His military memories formed the basis of Sergei Smirnov's essay entitled "San Sanych". Based on this plot, the screenwriter Vadim Trunin created in 1967 the script for the film It Was in Intelligence.