An absolutely incredible story

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

In the early spring of 1966, a bell rang in the office of Secretary General Leonid Brezhnev. The Minister of Foreign Affairs phoned and announced the visit of the President of France, General Charles de Gaulle, to the USSR, the distinguished guest expressed his wishes that among those who met him in Moscow, there would be his FRIEND and COMPANION, residing in the USSR, Armad Michel.

- So what? - the secretary general asked calmly. - What's the problem?

“There is no such citizen in the USSR,” the minister replied in a low voice. - Didn't find, Leonid Ilyich.

So, they were looking badly, - Brezhnev hung up the phone, pressed some button and ordered to look well

They searched for Michel's armada in the republics, territories and regions, involving the KGB.

Well, there was no, there was no person in the USSR with that name and surname, a scandal was brewing. One of the typists, not without hesitation, said that about three years ago, it seemed, she had to print this name ONCE, the document was intended for Nikita Khrushchev personally.

We urgently went to Khrushchev, who lived without a break at the dacha assigned to him.

The 72-year-old Khrushchev remembered immediately.

- Well, there was such an eccentric. From Azerbaijan. During the war he served with the French, in the partisans. So take these French veterans and send him one hundred thousand dollars. But take this eccentric and refuse. Well, I ordered him to be delivered directly to me. And just like that, according to the party he said: I like, they say, that you do not accept overseas handouts. But, on the other hand, it is somehow offensive to return the money to these capitalists. Would you like to contribute this amount to our Peace Fund, brother? That will be our way, in the Soviet way! And he brought in.

I kissed him. Because, although an eccentric, but a conscious one.

What am I talking about the Peace Fund Taldychu? - pick up financial statements and find it

Soon, a government cortege of several cars set off for the north of the Republic of Azerbaijan - to the city of Sheki, from there along a bumpy narrow road to a small village called Okhud.

It was evening time, the motorcade drove up to a modest house on the outskirts of the village - they already knew who to look for.

A rural agronomist, forty-seven years old, came out onto the porch, small in stature and, which is unusual for these places, fair-haired and blue-eyed.

Officials surrounded him and solemnly announced that he must urgently fly to Moscow, to Comrade Brezhnev himself. He was not surprised at anything or anyone and replied that there was a lot of things to do, they say he had no time.

Then they named de Gaulle's name and set out the essence of the matter.

The agronomist asked to swear and the officials swore by their children

On the same night Akhmedia Dzhabrailov (that is what he was called in the world), he is one of the most famous heroes of the French Resistance, Armad Michel, flew to Moscow.

Upon arrival, he was immediately taken to GUM, to the 200th section, which served only the top leadership of the country, (where everyone is equal) and there they picked up several suits, shirts, ties, shoes, socks, cufflinks, underwear, a raincoat, a demi-season coat and even umbrella from the rain. And then they were taken to Brezhnev.

The "comrades" escorted him to his office and reported the following:

“Tomorrow morning de Gaulle is arriving. The program of his stay includes a trip around the country, it may happen that the general wants to visit the house of his friend and comrade-in-arms - the village of Okhud, a map of the part of the village where his house was located was drawn up.

“These neighboring houses will be razed to the ground within two days. Those living in them will be relocated to more comfortable houses.

The agronomist's house will be raised in two floors, ringed with a veranda, two annexes will be added, as well as a barn, a stable, a spacious chicken coop, and a couple of garages for a personal car. The entire territory will be fenced off with a solid fence and registered as the property of the Dzhabrailov family.

And he needs to forget that he is an agronomist and humbly inform de Gaulle that he became one of the first Soviet farmers."

He listened, without interrupting any pause, said:

-I didn’t hear anything, consider that you didn’t say anything, - got up and left.

The next day, dressed with a needle, he met de Gaulle at Vnukovo-2

The general escaped down the gangway not for his age easily. A warm handshake with Brezhnev, De Gaulle leans towards the general secretary, there was something like an apology on the general's face, and then he rushed to the agronomist standing aside, they hugged and froze - everyone looked at them in amazement.

Ahmedia was taken directly from the airport to the residence allotted to de Gaulle - so the general wished, he asked to cancel the evening program, because he was impatient to talk with his friend, they would walk in the winter garden, dine by candlelight, unbuttoning the top buttons of their shirts, loosening the tie knots, walk along the alleys of the residence, throwing two identical blankets over your shoulders and at the same time talking and remembering.

And our hero in childhood and adolescence did not stand out in anything other than his appearance. He graduated from agricultural technical school, the war began, he signed up as a volunteer, and when he got to the front, he immediately asked for reconnaissance.

- Why? They asked him.

- Because I'm not afraid of anything

He was laughed at right in front of the line.

From the very first battle, but dragged "tongue" - a soldier a head taller and one and a half times heavier than himself.

For this he was punished - especially since the private of the German army did not possess any military secrets.

He refused the legitimate soldier's hundred grams before the battle.

This also did not add to the love of others.

Once he was caught studying a Russian-German dictionary.

- Was he going to be taken prisoner?

- The scout must know the language of the enemy. - he explained.

“But you’re not a scout.

“Bye,” he said.

His biography was thoroughly shoveled, but no German "traces" were found and, just in case, his surname was deleted from the list submitted for the medal.

In May 1942, as a result of an illiterately planned military operation, the battalion in which he served almost completely fell on the battlefield.

But he was not killed. In an unconscious state, he was taken prisoner and soon found himself in France, in the Montgoban concentration camp. He hid his knowledge of German, rightly believing that he might turn out to be a "six" for the Germans

In the concentration camp, he began to help the cleaning lady Jeanette, a Frenchwoman, carry trash after her and asked her to teach him French.

- Why do you need it? She asked.

- The scout must know the language of the allies. - he explained.

- Good. - she said. “Every day I will teach you five new words.

- Twenty-five. - he corrected.

- You won't remember. She laughed.

He never forgot a single word. Then came grammar, tenses, articles, and after a couple of months the student was chatting fluently in French.

And then he came up with a plan - simple, but so daring that he managed to implement it.

Jeanette took him outside the camp - along with the trash. And she sent me into the forest, to the French partisans

There he was assigned to the scout - to the rank and file. After four trips on assignments, he was appointed commander of the reconnaissance group.

A month later, when he derailed a freight train with German weapons, he was presented to the first French award.

A little later, he was handed a note written by Charles de Gaulle in his own hand. It was extremely brief:

“Dear Armad Michel! On behalf of the fighting France, thank you for your service.

And the signature. Yours Charles de Gaulle."

By the way, about pseudonyms. He chose the name Armada himself, and Michel the French version of his father's name (Mikail).

All this time, he continued to improve in the German language, obliging his intelligence officers to this.

And soon he began to practice campaigns behind enemy lines - in the uniforms of German officers and soldiers. He paid special attention to German documents.

I received assignments from my commanders, but planned them myself.

Throughout the war, there was not a single case that he disrupted or did not fulfill the task.

Later he received his first order - the Cross for Voluntary Service.

Two days later, in the uniform of a German captain, he led a small group of scouts and saboteurs on a difficult mission - it was necessary to stop a train with 500 French children sent to Germany.

He destroyed the train's guards and took all the children into the forest, but did not save himself - several shrapnel wounds and lost consciousness

He lay not far from the railroad tracks for almost a day.

In my pocket were impeccably executed German documents, as well as a photo of a woman with two fair-haired children, on the back of which was the inscription:

"To my dear Heinz from loving Marika and children."

Armad Michel loved such believable details.

He came to his senses when he realized that he had been found by the Germans and was being searched by them.

“He’s alive,” someone said.

Then he portrayed the delirium of a dying man and whispered something sentimental, such as:

- Dear Marika, I am leaving this life with the thought of you, children, Uncle Karl and great Germany

Later, the story about this episode became one of the most beloved among the partisans and other members of the Resistance.

And two years later, in public, during a friendly feast, de Gaulle asked our hero:

- Listen, all the time I forget to ask you - why did you drag some Uncle Karl at that moment?

Armad Michel responded with a phrase that caused Homeric laughter and also became winged.

- Actually, - I meant Karl Marx, but the Germans did not understand.

But that was later, and at that moment he was sent to the German officers' hospital. There he went on the mend and became, without any exaggeration, the favorite of all his new entourage.

The captain of the German army Heinz - Max Leitgeb was appointed neither more nor less - the commandant of the occupied French city of Albi is - a historical fact - he took up his new duties. I established contact with the partisans a week later.

The result of his labors "for the glory of the Reich" were the regular crashes of German trains, mass escapes of prisoners of war, mostly Soviet ones, and a host of other acts of sabotage

Six months later, he was nominated for one of the German military awards, but did not manage to receive it, because two months later, worried about his fate, de Gaulle (the general understood that how long the rope could not be twisted …) ordered Herr Leitgeb to retreat.

And Armad Michel again went into the forest, taking with him at the same time a "tongue" in a high rank and all the cash of the commandant's office.

And then - a personal acquaintance with de Gaulle, and - a victorious march through the streets of Paris. By the way, during this famous passage, Armad Michel walked along with the general. He ended the war with the rank of National Hero of France, Knight of the Cross for Voluntary Service, holder of the Highest Military Medal of France, Knight of the highest Order of the Legion of Honor.

All this splendor was crowned with the Military Cross - the highest of the highest military awards of the French Republic.

Presenting this award to him, de Gaulle said:

- Now you have the right to go ahead of the President of the country at military parades in France.

“If you don’t become one, my general,” said Armad Michel, “de Gaulle also had the same award.

“By the way, it's time for us to switch to 'you,'” de Gaulle said

By 1951, Armad Michel was a French citizen, had a French wife and two sons, had a small factory donated to him by the authorities in Dijon, and a responsible position in the office of President Charles de Gaulle.

And it was in this very year 1951 that he suddenly decided to visit his homeland, Azerbaijan.

De Gaulle presented him with a certificate of honorary citizen of France with the right to free travel on all types of transport.

And ten days later, the car company was named after Michel Armada.

In Moscow, he was thoroughly shocked by the MGB (Former NKVD, forerunner of the KGB):

- Why did you surrender? Why is in the photo in the uniform of a German officer? How did you manage to escape from the concentration camp alone? etc. etc., after which he was exiled to the village of Okhud and forbidden to leave this place.

All awards, letters, photos, even the right to free travel were taken away.

In the village of Okhud, he was identified as a shepherd.

Several years later, they took mercy and was appointed an agronomist.

In 1963, after one hundred thousand, which he gave to the Peace Fund. Khrushchev ordered the return of his personal documents and awards, except for the most important - the Military Cross.

It has long been an exhibit at the Museum of Military Glory. For in the USSR, only two people had such an award: Marshal Zhukov and the rural shepherd Akhmedia Dzhabrailov

He brought these awards to the village and placed them neatly at the bottom of the old family chest.

After meeting with de Golem, he did not use the services of his "comrades" - he went to the airport himself, bought a ticket and departed.

The maid of the Moscow Hotel, who entered his suite, was amazed, he left all his things: several suits, shirts, ties, two pairs of shoes, even underwear and an umbrella.

A few days later, cars will again drive up to his country house, but only one man, a man of about fifty, in an outlandish military uniform, is the head of the French Ministry of Defense, and even once his close friend and subordinate, will go up the porch.

They will hug and slap each other on the shoulders. Then they will enter the house. But before sitting down at the table, the general will fulfill his official mission. He will hand over to his comrade-in-arms an official letter from the President of France reminding him that the citizen of the USSR Akhmedia Mikail oglu Dzhabrailov has the right to visit France any number of times and for any period, at the expense of the French government.

And then the general will return the Armada to Michel the Military Cross, the legitimate award property of the hero of the French Resistance.

Armad Michel became a full cavalier of all the highest military awards in France.

In 1970, the label of "restricted to travel abroad" was removed from him, but he never had a chance to walk at military parades in France.

He died on October 10, 1994 in Sheki as a result of a car accident - a truck hit a telephone booth in which the hero of the Resistance was

Akhmedia Dzhebrailov was buried in the cemetery of the village of Okhud.

Akhmeda Dzhebrailov's son, the National Hero of Azerbaijan, Mikail Dzhebrailov, died in Karabakh in an ambush a year earlier.

If you see this in a movie, you will never believe it. But everything written is real, down to the last comma. And this unique story has not yet been filmed …