The Great Patriotic War was a time when the Soviet people showed what was called "mass heroism" in the official press. It really was massive - everyone, from young to old, was included in the battle with the Nazis, not sparing himself.

But there were people who did absolutely incredible things. Not only the whole country, but the whole world learned about their exploits. One of these legends of the war was the sniper Vasily Zaitsev.

He was born in March 1915 in the village of Yeleninka, Polotsk village, Verkhneuralsk district, Orenburg province, into a peasant family. his grandfather, Andrey Alekseevich Zaitsev, was a hereditary hunter-fisherman and from childhood he introduced his grandchildren to this occupation, especially singling out the eldest, Vasya.

Vasily grew up slowly in childhood, which is why his parents even had a fear that he would remain “small”. However, this did not bother the grandfather - he passed on to his grandson all the secrets of the skill of a taiga hunter. Although it is unlikely that little Vasya guessed where and when this science would come in handy.

Vasily Zaitsev graduated from a seven-year school, then a construction technical school with a degree in fittings, then accounting courses.

In 1937, Zaitsev was drafted into the army. Despite his low growth, the commission appreciated his good general physical development and sent him to the Pacific Fleet.

Zaitsev started as a clerk in the artillery department, and by the beginning of the war, thanks to his education, he became the head of the financial department.

Here, far from the Western Front, one could sit out the war in relative calm. Only such a prospect did not suit Vasily Zaitsev. By the summer of 1942, the foreman of the 1st article literally exhausted the command with reports with a request to send him to the front.

Vasily Zaitsev in Stalingrad, October 1942. Photo: Public Domain

baptism by fire

And, finally, he was enrolled in the second battalion of the 1047th regiment of the 284th rifle division. A unit formed from the sailors of the Pacific Fleet transferred to the infantry was transferred to Stalingrad.

On the night of September 22, 1942, the 284th Rifle Division successfully crossed the Volga, entering Stalingrad, where heavy fighting was in full swing.

The division immediately went into battle. And here an episode took place, which Vasily Zaitsev would later describe in his memoirs and which, in a very free interpretation, was included in the film "Stalingrad" Fyodor Bondarchuk.

Battalion Zaitsev led an attack on the positions of the Germans on the territory of the Stalingrad gas depot. The enemy, trying to stop the onslaught of the Soviet troops, set fire to the fuel tanks with artillery fire and air strikes. Here is how Zaitsev himself described what was happening in his book:

“Flames shot up over the base, gas tanks began to burst, the ground caught fire. Gigantic flames roared over the lines of attacking sailors with a deafening roar. Everything is on fire. Another minute - and we will turn into coals, into firebrands ...

Forward! Forward!

The soldiers and sailors, engulfed in fire, tore off their burning clothes on the move, but did not drop their weapons. An attack of naked burning people ... What the Nazis thought of us at that moment - I don’t know. Perhaps they mistook us for devils or saints, whom even the fire does not take, and therefore they fled without looking back. We kicked them out of the village adjacent to the gas depot, and stopped on the extreme western street, lay down among the small individual houses that this street consisted of. Here, someone threw me a cape, and I somehow covered myself ... From the hot air, the lips of the soldiers cracked, their mouths dried up, scorched hair stuck together - the teeth of the comb bent. But the battalion commander, Captain Kotov, was happy: the order had been fulfilled! The gas tanks were recaptured, they seized the unfinished red building, they seized the office of the hardware plant, the battles are going on in the shops and breaks of the asphalt and hardware plants!

So Zaitsev's battalion managed to drive the Germans out of their positions and gain a foothold in the city. So the “burned-out division” shown in Stalingrad did not actually die, but continued to successfully beat the Nazis.

It should be noted that Vasily Zaitsev and Fyodor Bondarchuk are connected by one more moment - in 1989 in the film directed by Yuri Ozerov"Stalingrad" Bondarchuk played the role of a sniper Ivana, the prototype of which was Vasily Zaitsev.

Death from the oven

The Battle of Stalingrad differs from others in that it developed into a months-long street battle, where the methods of conventional warfare were ineffective. As a result, small assault groups and snipers became the main strike force in these battles.

Soviet and German snipers staged a real hunt for enemy soldiers and officers. In the city, it became dangerous not only to walk, but even just to stick out of shelters.

Here the skills of a taiga hunter helped Vasily Zaitsev a lot. He had excellent eyesight and hearing, iron restraint, composure, endurance and military cunning.

For a sniper, the ability to disguise himself and not reveal himself ahead of time is extremely important. Vasily Zaitsev possessed these abilities like no other.

Once Vasily hid in a dilapidated oven, from which the entrances to the Nazi dugouts were clearly visible, as well as the basement, which served as a kitchen for the Nazis. In one evening, Zaitsev eliminated 10 enemy soldiers.

Only for the period from November 10 to December 17, 1942, Vasily Zaitsev destroyed 225 enemy soldiers and officers, including 11 enemy snipers. In total, the sniper groups of the 62nd Army that fought in Stalingrad liquidated 6,000 enemy soldiers and officers during this period.

Duel of two aces

The fame of Zaitsev's exploits also spread to the other side of the front line. The German command, in order to eliminate the Soviet sniper, called its specialist from Berlin - the head of the sniper school, whom Zaitsev calls in his memoirs " Major Koenig».

According to a number of historians, Zaitsev's opponent was the head of the sniper school in Zossen, SS Standartenführer Heinz Thorwald.

Koenig-Torvald managed to eliminate several Soviet snipers, after which Zaitsev began a counter hunt for him.

On the decisive day, Zaitsev acted in tandem with another sniper - Nikolai Kulikov. Here is what the Soviet ace himself writes about the climax of the duel: “We worked at night. Sat down until dawn. The Nazis fired at crossings across the Volga. It was dawning quickly, and with the advent of the day, the battle developed with renewed vigor. But neither the roar of guns, nor the explosions of shells and bombs - nothing could distract us from the task. The sun has risen. Kulikov made a "blind" shot: the sniper should have been interested. We decided to wait out the first half of the day, as the brilliance of the optics could give us away. After lunch, our rifles were in the shade, and the direct rays of the sun fell on the fascist position. Something glittered at the edge of the sheet: a random piece of glass or an optical sight? Kulikov carefully, as only the most experienced sniper can do, began to raise his helmet. The fascist fired. The Nazi thought that he had finally killed the Soviet sniper, whom he had been hunting for four days, and stuck out half his head from under the sheet. That's what I was counting on. Hit it right. The fascist's head sank, and the optical sight of his rifle, without moving, shone in the sun until evening ... "

The German's documents and rifle were delivered to the division commander. It turned out that Zaitsev's opponent had an optic with a 10x magnification on his weapon, while the Soviet sniper only had a 4x magnification. However, this did not help the German.

Victory in a hospital bed

For four months in Stalingrad, a group of snipers, commanded by Vasily Zaitsev, destroyed 1126 Nazis.

The battle ended for the sniper in January 1943, when he was severely wounded and lost his sight. The hero was taken to Moscow, where he was operated on by Professor Filatov himself, who returned the sniper the ability to see.

After treatment in the hospital, Zaitsev headed the school of snipers, then commanded a platoon, and later a company. But that was a little later.

And on February 22, 1943, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, for the courage and military prowess shown in battles with the Nazi invaders, Junior Lieutenant Zaitsev Vasily Grigoryevich was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Vasily Zaitsev wrote two textbooks on sniper business during the war years. In addition, he came up with the technique of sniper hunting by "sixes" - when three pairs of snipers (shooters and observers) cover the same battle zone with fire. This technique was widely used during the Chechen campaigns.

Captain Vasily Zaitsev met the victorious May 1945 in Kyiv, in the hospital, where he was treated after another wound.

Hero of the Soviet Union, participant in the Battle of Stalingrad Vasily Zaitsev, 1979. Photo: RIA Novosti / Igor Kostin

last will

In the same place, in Kyiv, Vasily Zaitsev spent a peaceful post-war life after demobilization.

He graduated from the institute, was the director of a garment factory, a factory, and headed a technical school. When the new SVD sniper rifle was adopted by the Soviet army, Vasily Zaitsev was among those who were connected to the tests.

The Zaitsev rifle is now kept in the Volgograd City Defense Museum as one of the main rarities. In 1980, the city authorities awarded Vasily Zaitsev the title of Honorary Citizen.

The last years of the life of the hero of Stalingrad can hardly be called happy - the exploits of the soldiers of the Great Patriotic War were ridiculed, in Ukraine, striving for independence, Bandera's shortcomings and their young like-minded people raised their heads.

Vasily Grigorievich Zaitsev died on December 15, 1991, just a few days before the country he fought for disappeared. His last wish was to be buried next to his comrades-in-arms on Mamaev Kurgan in Stalingrad.

However, in the conditions of the collapse of everything and everything, the last will of the hero was never heard.

Vasily Zaitsev was again remembered in Russia in 2001, when the film Enemy at the Gates dedicated to the Battle of Stalingrad was released in Hollywood. His main storyline was Zaitsev's fight with Major Koenig. The blockbuster, in which the role of Zaitsev went to actor Jude Law, looked like a frank "cranberry", but nevertheless allowed the memory of the hero of Stalingrad to be returned from oblivion in Russia.

On January 31, 2006, the last request of Vasily Zaitsev was fulfilled - his remains were solemnly reburied with military honors on Mamaev Kurgan.

Grave of Vasily Zaitsev on Mamaev Kurgan in Volgograd. Photo: wikipedia.org / Konstantin Dorokhin

Remember the shocking opening of Enemy at the Gates? One rifle for two, a KGB detachment and a full-length attack on German machine guns - a bloody massacre that so outraged the Russian audience, who claims to know history. And indeed, the war for Vasily Zaitsev began in a completely different way, as shown in Hollywood. In fact, everything was much worse.

The 284th Rifle Division, which, along with three thousand volunteer sailors, was enrolled in the Chief Petty Officer of the Pacific Fleet Vasily Zaitsev, crossed the Volga at night, very successfully, the Germans did not even notice it (in the film, the division was shot at the crossing by Ju 87 "Stuka" attack aircraft). But on the right bank they did not seem to be expected. There were no messengers from the command, no one set the division's combat mission, and its officers were afraid to aimlessly lead the fighters into an unfamiliar labyrinth of flaming ruins. So thousands of Red Army soldiers were idle in the open space near the berths.

“We lie one to one. An hour passed, then two. The night is running out. It is clear that soon we must join the battle. But where is the enemy, where is his cutting edge? No one then guessed to take the initiative - to scout. Early morning. Distant objects began to appear more clearly. Gas tanks are clearly visible to the left of us. What is behind them, who is there? Above the tanks is a railroad track, there are empty wagons. Who is behind them?" - Zaitsev recalls in "Notes of a Sniper".

Battle of Stalingrad, 1942

It couldn't end well. As soon as dawn broke, German observers noticed them, and such a senseless massacre began that Hollywood screenwriters familiar with Zaitsev's memoirs did not even dare to show it. Zaitsev describes: “Mines flew onto the bank of the Volga, into our very cluster. Enemy planes appeared in the air, began to throw fragmentation bombs. The sailors rushed along the shore, not knowing what to do.

So several hours passed. Mines and bombs fell, the sailors rushed about, there was no order. In the end, the junior commanders could not stand it. Lieutenants and captains raised their depleted units and, without orders, led them to attack what they saw in front of them - gas tanks.

But this position was not the best. When the Germans transferred fire to it, hell began there: “Flames shot up over the base, gas tanks began to burst, the earth caught fire. Gigantic flames roared over the lines of the attacking sailors with a deafening roar. The soldiers and sailors, engulfed in fire, tore off their burning clothes on the move, but did not drop their weapons. An attack of naked burning people ... What the Nazis thought of us at that moment - I don’t know. ”

You saw this attack in Bondarchuk's recent film. Like many things in that movie, what seems to be the nonsense of the screenwriter was in fact. So on September 22, 1942, Vasily Zaitsev began his Stalingrad epic. Ahead was a month of the most brutal street fighting in military history - the last offensive of the Germans to the Volga.

Zaitsev's division held out at the hardware plant and Mamaev Kurgan. The Germans knocked them out of the mound, but they defended the plant. On October 16, Zaitsev was the first in the division to receive the medal "For Courage", by which time he had already been wounded several times and twice mistakenly buried in a mass grave.

By November, the German offensive had fizzled out, and Soviet counterattacks began. “Warriors are successfully using new close combat tactics - in small assault groups ... The enemy also presented his tactical novelty: he created a high density of fire with the help of “wandering” light machine guns. At the right moment, light machine guns were thrown onto the parapet and, with concentrated fire, unexpectedly overwhelmed the approaches to their trenches. For our assault groups, they were more dangerous than any bunker or bunker, because they suddenly appeared and disappeared just as quickly.

This tactical confrontation changed the fate of the warrior Zaitsev. The Soviet commanders decided to fight the "roaming machine guns" with the help of snipers, and he, a fighter of a machine gun company, who had proven himself to be a marksman, was offered to change his military specialty and create a sniper group.

Spring on Mamaev Kurgan

Zaitsev's group entered the first sniper duel on the southern shoulder of Hill 102, the famous Mamaev Kurgan, along the slope of which the front line then passed. The Germans, who held the summit, suffered greatly there without drinking water - they could not reach the Volga in any way. We were saved by a small spring almost in neutral. The chief (nickname Zaitsev, short for chief foreman) brought about a dozen of his snipers there and one day arranged a small genocide for the Wehrmacht, shooting several dozen soldiers and officers.

Sniper of the 203rd Infantry Division (3rd Ukrainian Front) Senior Sergeant Ivan Petrovich Merkulov at the firing position. In March 1944, Ivan Merkulov was awarded the highest award - the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. During the war years, the sniper destroyed more than 144 enemy soldiers and officers

Even animals do not hunt each other at a watering place, but the fierceness of the Stalingrad battles was such that people became worse than animals. The soldiers of both armies fired at the orderlies, finished off the wounded, killed and tortured the prisoners. Somehow, Zaitsev with submachine gunners crept into the enemy's trench, went into the dugout and shot at close range the German soldiers who were sleeping after the battle. In his memoirs, Zaitsev admits that after that he was somehow uncomfortable for a long time, this action was too reminiscent of a vile murder.

The next day, Zaitsev's group noticed a new communication channel in the area of ​​​​the spring, which the Germans were digging, and it was unsuccessfully laid: from Soviet positions it was convenient to throw grenades at the working soldiers. Sniper Alexander Gryaznov volunteered. When he approached a place convenient for throwing and began to get grenades, a shot rang out. It was a trap: a German sniper figured out how to lure the Soviet into a firing position.

Zaitsev spent three days at the stereo tube, looking for the enemy. The German was in front of him, every now and then he fired at the Red Army, often successfully, but there were no glare and flashes. The enemy sniper was let down by a support company fighter who brought him hot food to the front line. When Zaitsev spotted a German with a smoking cauldron near a broken anti-aircraft gun, around which dozens of spent shells lay, the search for an enemy position narrowed down to a few square meters. It was soon discovered that one of the shells had no bottom. It turned out that the German was looking into the sight through it, so the optics did not glare in the sun. The rest was a matter of technique: the partner raised his helmet over the parapet, the German fired and Zaitsev killed him with a hit through the sleeve.

So in Stalingrad, a confrontation began that rewrote all sniper textbooks and charters. In constant battles, tactics evolved in an accelerated mode, every day required fresh decisions, stereotyped thinking was punished with a bullet in the head.

German snipers came up with the idea of ​​working in tandem with artillery and machine guns. They hid their shots in their roar, and for a long time the Red Army soldiers could not understand that they were being killed by a sniper, and not by random bullets and shrapnel. And having entered into a sniper duel, the German with a tracer (then they said - with a fuse) shot directed artillery fire at the position of the Soviet opponent (although with the same shot he gave out his own rookery). Zaitsev, in response, came up with a “sniper salvo”: his group occupied all positions dominating the terrain, provoked the Germans to open fire, and then shot everyone at once: the sniper, the artillerymen, and the machine gunners.

Then the Germans changed their fundamental tactical habits. Since the First World War, their snipers preferred to work from their trenches (the Soviets usually hid in the neutral zone), but in Stalingrad they suddenly took their positions beyond the front line and began to mask them with many false rookeries and dummies, which confused the Soviet snipers for a long time and killed many of them. And at that time, Soviet snipers came up with a decoy from tin cans: at night they hung them in front of the German trenches and stretched the rope to their trench. In the morning, her partner pulled her, the banks rattled, a German soldier looked out to see what was going on in neutral, and received a bullet in the forehead.

Snipers of the division of Senior Lieutenant F.D. Lunin conduct salvo fire on enemy aircraft

All these evolutions took place not in months, but in one or two November weeks. By the end of the Battle of Stalingrad, the confrontation with Soviet snipers had developed the sniper art in the Wehrmacht to such an extent that when the Allies landed in Normandy in 1944, the Americans, who were famous for their accuracy, and the British, who worthily fought German snipers in World War I, described what was happening in two words: sniper terror. However, the Germans did not even come close to the Soviet level of sniper business. The personal scores of the Soviet snipers outnumber the German ones to the same extent that the German tank aces outnumbered the Soviet ones. The best German sniper Matthias Hetzenauer (345 confirmed kills) would not have entered the top ten Soviet.

Legendary duel

The main sniper story from Stalingrad is, of course, the duel between Zaitsev and the German sniper ace who arrived from Berlin to kill him.

Here is how he describes the culmination of this confrontation in his Notes of a Sniper: “Kulikov carefully, as only the most experienced sniper can do, began to raise his helmet. The fascist fired. Kulikov got up for a moment, gave a loud cry, and fell down. Finally, the Soviet sniper, the "main hare", for whom he hunted for four days, was killed! - thought, probably, the German and stuck out half a head from under the sheet. I hit. The fascist's head sank, and the optical sight of his rifle still shone in the sun.

In his memoirs, Zaitsev names the name and rank of the German - Major Konings. In other versions of this story, the major is called König, Könings, and also Heins (sometimes Erwin) Thorwald. He usually serves as the head of the sniper school in Berlin, less often in Zossen, and sometimes he turns out to be an Olympic champion in bullet shooting. All this is very strange, because Zaitsev claims in his book that he took the documents from the murdered major.

In the USSR (and in modern Russia as well), questioning the stories of heroes was considered unacceptable sacrilege, so the first objections were made in the West. The British historian Frank Ellis, in his book The Stalingrad Cauldron, said that there is no documentary evidence of the existence of a major sniper Konings in the Wehrmacht, as well as Koenig, Konings, etc. Moreover, there was not even a Berlin school of snipers, which he allegedly headed. And it is quite easy to check that there were no Olympic champions with such a surname. Ellis went further and found an inconsistency in the description of the sniper duel: if the sun shone in the face of a German sniper in the evening, then he should have been facing the west, where the German, not Soviet, positions were.

Russian historian Alexei Isaev suggested that Zaitsev actually killed a German sniper who turned out to be a major. This is quite possible, since there was a practice of free hunting in the Wehrmacht: a major could be a signalman, an artilleryman, or even a logistician, and spent his free time at the forefront with a sniper rifle, hunting the Red Army, like deer in his Bavaria, for the sake of leisure. When the Soviet headquarters learned about the rank of the German killed by Zaitsev, they decided to use the case for propaganda. According to the law of the genre, the story was embellished, making the duel as epic as possible.

It turns out that the hero lied in his book? No, because he hardly wrote it. For this, there were special comrades, politically literate and literary gifted. And Vasily Zaitsev himself, in a television interview at a spring on Mamaev Kurgan, told this story in a completely different way. According to him, he did not hear anything about this major until he took the documents from the corpse. And only then was he informed at the headquarters that this, it turns out, was the head of the Berlin sniper school, who flew in to study the experience of Stalingrad sniper duels (the option - to kill the "main hare" - was apparently invented after the war, making the story even better).

The problem with propaganda is that stories are being promoted by the state media to such an extent that they overshadow the real story in the public mind, just as 28 mythical heroes overshadowed thousands of real heroes of the Panfilov division. And this is disrespectful to their memory.

However, this story is not yet clear. After his death, the sniper's wife spoke in a television interview about Zaitsev's trip to the GDR. The Germans themselves invited him, they wanted to talk with him about the past war. The visit ended in a scandal: a woman rose from the hall and accused Zaitsev of killing either her husband or her father (Zaitsev's wife did not remember exactly), insulted, shouted threats. The Soviet guard took the veteran out, put him on a plane and sent him to the Union. The most interesting thing is that the German woman named the name, rank and military specialty of the deceased: Major Konings, sniper ace. That is, the legendary duel is still not an invention?

Sniper records and historical shots

Shot range

In November 2009, British sniper Craig Harrison in Afghanistan from the L115A3 Long Range Rifle from a distance of 2475 meters killed two Taliban machine gunners with two shots, and destroyed the machine gun itself with the third. The bullets fired by Harrison flew to the target for about 6 seconds, while their speed dropped from 936 m / s to 251.8 m / s, and the vertical deviation was about 120 meters (that is, if the sniper was at the same height with the targets , he would have to aim 120 meters higher).

Number of people killed

Finnish sniper Simo Häyhä, nicknamed the White Death, killed 542 Red Army soldiers (according to confirmed data) or more than 700 (according to unconfirmed) during the Winter War in 110 days. On December 21, 1939, he killed 25 Soviet soldiers (presumably this record was broken in Korea by Australian Ian Robertson, who killed 30 Chinese soldiers in one morning, but he did not keep an official count, and his record is considered unconfirmed).

Hero of the Soviet Union, sniper of the 25th Chapaev division Lyudmila Mikhailovna Pavlichenko (1916-1974). Destroyed over 300 fascist soldiers and officers

beautiful shot

American Marine sniper Carlos Hascock, nicknamed White Feather, won a duel with a Viet Cong sniper in Vietnam, hitting the enemy's rifle scope exactly from a distance of about 300 meters. Steven Spielberg has confirmed that the sniper duel scene in Saving Private Ryan is based on this scene from Carlos Hascock's biography.

Anti-sniper

On November 4, 1942, the newspaper of the 284th Infantry Division "For Victory" published on the front page a correspondence entitled "Beat the Germans more viciously and more accurately, exterminate them like a sniper V. Zaitsev" ...

On November 4, 1942, the newspaper of the 284th Infantry Division "For Victory" published on the front page a correspondence entitled "Beat the Germans more viciously and more accurately, exterminate them like a sniper V. Zaitsev."

“The courageous defender of Stalingrad,” the correspondence said, “Vasily Zaitsev, whose fame is booming all over the front, tirelessly increases his combat score. Entering the pre-October competition, V. Zaitsev undertook to exterminate at least 150 invaders by the 25th anniversary of October. V. Zaitsev fulfills the obligation in good faith. In less than a month, he destroyed 139 Germans.

In conclusion, the editors cited the battle account of Vasily Grigorievich Zaitsev:

5.X. - destroyed 5 Germans, 6.X. - 4, 8.X. - 3, 10.X. - 10, 11.X. - 5, 13.X. - 6, 14.X. - 4, 16.X. - 3, 21.X. - 12, 22.X. - 9, 24.X. - 15, 25.X. - 2, 26.X. - 10, 27.X. - 4, 28.X. - 7, 29.X. - 11, ZO.Kh. - 7, 31.X. - 6, 1.XI. - 6, 2.XI. — 7, 3.XI. — 3.

At the end of November 1942, a telegram came from the editor of a front-line newspaper to the Pacific Fleet: “Your pupil, Chief Petty Officer Vasily Grigorievich Zaitsev is fighting on the streets of Stalingrad. He carries himself like a hero, like a true Russian warrior. Zaitsev sniper. In just a month of fighting in Stalingrad, he exterminated 149 Nazis from a sniper rifle. In addition, Zaitsev trained 10 snipers directly in the battles. Each of his students opened a combat account of the extermination of the Nazis. The entire Stalingrad Front knows about Zaitsev's affairs.

The divisional newspaper worked creatively, with initiative. As a result, 62 snipers grew up in the division, who tirelessly hunted for enemies. The leader of the snipers was Vasily Zaitsev. For 3 months of fighting for Stalingrad, the division destroyed 17,109 enemy soldiers and officers, including 3037 snipers.

The commander of the 62nd Army, General V. I. Chuikov, wrote: “I personally met with many noble snipers of Stalingrad, talked with them, helped them in any way I could. Vasily Zaitsev, Anatoly Chekhov, Viktor Medvedev and other snipers were on my special account, and I often consulted with them.

Zaitsev combined all the qualities inherent in a sniper - visual acuity, sensitive hearing, endurance, composure, endurance, military cunning. He knew how to choose the best positions, to mask them; usually hiding from the Nazis where they could not and assuming a Soviet sniper. The famous sniper beat the enemy mercilessly. Only in defensive battles near Stalingrad, from November 10 to December 17, 1942, he destroyed 225 fascists, including 11 snipers (including Erwin Koenig), and his comrades in arms in the 62nd Army - 6000.

One day, Zaitsev made his way to a burned-out house and climbed into a dilapidated black stove. From this unusual position, two entrances to the enemy dugouts and the approach to the basement of the house, where the Germans ate food, were clearly visible. 10 fascists were killed by a sniper that day.

…Night. Vasily made his way to the front line along a narrow path. Somewhere not far away, a fascist sniper took refuge; it must be destroyed. For about 20 minutes, Zaitsev examined the area, but the lurking enemy "hunter" could not be found. Clinging tightly to the wall of the barn, the sailor stuck out his mitten; she was violently yanked out of her hand. After examining the hole, he moved to another place and did the same. And another shot. Zaitsev clung to the stereo tube. I began to scan the area carefully. A shadow flickered on one of the hills. Here! Now we need to lure the fascist and take aim. Vasily lay in ambush all night. At dawn, the German sniper was destroyed.

The actions of the Soviet snipers alarmed the enemies, and they decided to take urgent measures. On a dark September night, our scouts captured a prisoner. He said that Major Koenig, the European champion in bullet shooting, the head of the Berlin school of snipers, had been delivered to the Stalingrad region from Berlin by plane, having received the task of killing, first of all, the “main” Soviet sniper.

The division commander, Colonel N.F. Batyuk, called snipers to him and said:

- I think that the fascist super-sniper who arrived from Berlin is a trifle for our snipers. Right, Zaitsev?

"That's right, Comrade Colonel," Vasily answered.

“Well, we need to destroy this super-sniper,” said the division commander. Just be careful and smart.

The fascist sniper who appeared on the front was experienced and cunning. He often changed positions, settled either in a water tower, or in a wrecked tank, or in a pile of bricks.

“I knew the “handwriting” of fascist snipers,” recalls Vasily Zaitsev, “by the nature of the fire and camouflage, I easily distinguished more experienced shooters from beginners, cowards from stubborn and determined ones. But the character of the head of the school of enemy snipers remained a mystery to me. Daily observations of our comrades did not give anything definite. It was difficult to say where the fascist was.

But here an incident happened. My friend Morozov from the Urals was smashed by the enemy's optical sight, and the soldier Shaikin was wounded. Morozov and Shaikin were considered experienced snipers, they often emerged victorious in complex and difficult battles with the enemy. There was no doubt now - they stumbled upon the fascist "super sniper" that I was looking for.

Zaitsev went to the position previously occupied by his students and friends. Together with him was a faithful front-line friend Nikolai Kulikov. On the front edge, every bump, every stone is familiar. Where could the enemy hide? Zaitsev's attention was attracted by a pile of bricks and a sheet of iron next to it. It was here that the Berlin "guest" could find refuge.

Nikolai Kulikov waited all the time for the order to shoot in order to attract the attention of the enemy. And Zaitsev watched. So the whole day passed.

Before dawn, the warriors again set out to ambush. Zaitsev in one trench, Kulikov in another. Between them is a rope for signals. Time dragged on. Planes were flying in the sky. Somewhere nearby, shells and mines were exploding. But Vasily paid no attention to anything. He did not take his eyes off the iron sheet.

When dawn broke and the positions of the enemy were clearly marked, Zaitsev pulled the rope. At this prearranged signal, his comrade picked up the mitten put on the board. From the other side, the expected shot did not follow. An hour later, Kulikov raised his mitten again. The long-awaited bang of a rifle shot rang out. The hole confirmed Zaitsev's assumption: the fascist was under an iron sheet. Now we had to take aim at him.

However, you can’t rush: you can scare away. Zaitsev and Kulikov changed their position. They watched all night. The first half of the next day was also waited out. And in the afternoon, when the direct rays of the sun fell on the position of the enemy, and the rifles of our snipers were in the shade, fighting friends began to act. Here, at the edge of the iron sheet, something shone. Random glass shard? No. It was the optical sight of a Nazi sniper's rifle. Kulikov carefully, as an experienced sniper can do, began to raise his helmet. The fascist fired. The helmet fell. The German, apparently, concluded that he won the duel - he killed the Soviet sniper, whom he hunted for 4 days. Deciding to test the result of his shot, he poked half his head out of hiding. And then Zaitsev pulled the trigger. Hit it right. The fascist's head sank, and the optical sight of his rifle, without moving, shone in the sun until evening ...

As soon as it got dark, our units went on the attack. Behind a sheet of iron, the soldiers found the corpse of a fascist officer. It was Major Erwin Konig, head of the Berlin sniper school.

When presenting the first government award, Vasily Zaitsev was asked what he would like to convey to Moscow.

“Tell me,” Zaitsev replied, “that as long as the enemy is not defeated, there is no land for us beyond the Volga!”

These simple words, which became the motto for the defenders of Stalingrad, expressed the inexorable determination of the Soviet soldiers to achieve the complete defeat of the fascist invaders.

Vasily Zaitsev was not only a great sniper, but also an excellent instructor. Directly at the forefront, he taught sniper business to fighters and commanders, trained 28 snipers.

- A sniper, - he taught young fighters, - is obliged to develop a sharp observation in himself. Taking up new positions, he should not rush. We must first carefully study the area, establish what, where and when the enemy is doing, and then, armed with this data, start hunting for the Krauts ... Somehow I was assigned with a group of comrades to take up new positions. There were six of us. In the new place, the Germans were a little scared, and some of the snipers were impatient.

Born on March 23, 1915 in the village of Elininsk, now the Agapovsky district of the Chelyabinsk region, in a peasant family. In 1930 he received the specialty of a fitter at the FZU school (now SPTU ...

Born on March 23, 1915 in the village of Elininsk, now the Agapovsky district of the Chelyabinsk region, in a peasant family. In 1930 he received the specialty of a fitter at the FZU school (now SPTU No. 19 in the city of Magnitogorsk). Since 1936 in the Navy. He graduated from the military - economic school, until 1942 he served in the Pacific Fleet.

Since September 1942 in the army. For the period from October 10 to December 17, 1942, the sniper of the 1047th Infantry Regiment (284th Infantry Division, 62nd Army, Stalingrad Front) Junior Lieutenant V. G. Zaitsev destroyed 225 enemy soldiers and officers. Directly at the forefront, he taught sniper business to fighters and commanders, trained 28 snipers. On February 22, 1943, for courage and military prowess shown in battles with enemies, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

In total, he destroyed 242 enemies (officially), including several well-known snipers.

Demobilized after the war. He worked as the director of the Kyiv Machine-Building Plant. He was awarded the Orders of Lenin, the Red Banner (twice), the Patriotic War of the 1st degree, and medals. His name is the ship plying the Dnieper.

Vasily Zaitsev became one of the most famous snipers of the Battle of Stalingrad. As the spirit of art lives in a real artist, so the talent of a magnificent shooter lived in Vasily Zaitsev. Zaitsev and the rifle were, as it were, a single whole.

The legendary Mamaev Kurgan!... Here, at a height riddled with shells and bombs, the Pacific sailor Vasily Zaitsev began his combat sniper score.

Remembering those harsh days, Marshal of the Soviet Union V. I. Chuikov writes:

“In the battles for the city, a massive sniper movement unfolded. It began in Batyuk's division on the initiative of the remarkable sniper Vasily Zaitsev, and then spread to all parts of the army.

The fame of the fearless Vasily Zaitsev thundered on all fronts, not only because he personally exterminated over 300 Nazis, but also because he taught dozens of other soldiers, as they were then called, "hare" in sniper art ... Our snipers forced the Nazis to crawl along land and played a significant role both in the defense and in the offensive of our troops.

Zaitsev's life path is typical for his contemporaries, for whom the interests of the Motherland are above all. The son of a Ural peasant, since 1937 he served in the Pacific Fleet as an anti-aircraft gunner. A diligent, disciplined sailor was accepted into the Komsomol. After studying at the military school, he was appointed head of the financial department in the Pacific Fleet, in Preobrazhenye Bay. Working as a quartermaster, Zaitsev lovingly studied weapons, pleased the commander and colleagues with excellent shooting results.

It was the 2nd year of the bloody war. Already 5 reports were submitted by the foreman of the 1st article Zaitsev with a request to be sent to the front. In the summer of 1942, the commander finally granted his request and Zaitsev left for the army. Together with other Pacific soldiers, he was enrolled in the division of N. F. Batyuk, crossed the Volga on a dark September night and began to participate in the battles for the city.

One day, the enemies decided to burn alive the daredevils who broke into the territory of the Metiz plant. German pilots smashed 12 gas storages with an air strike. Literally everything was on fire. It seemed that there was nothing alive on the Volga land. But as soon as the fire subsided, the sailors rushed forward again from the Volga. For five days in a row, fierce battles continued for every factory shop, house, floor.

Already in the first battles with the enemy, Vasily Zaitsev showed himself to be an outstanding shooter. Once the battalion commander called Zaitsev and pointed out the window. A fascist fled 800 meters away. The sailor took careful aim. A shot rang out and the German fell. A few minutes later, 2 more invaders appeared at the same place. They suffered the same fate.

In October, from the hands of the commander of his 1047th regiment, Metelev, he received a sniper rifle and a medal "For Courage". By that time, Zaitsev had killed 32 Nazis from a simple "three-ruler". Soon they started talking about him in the regiment, division, army.

During the battles for Stalingrad, the front-line press took the initiative to deploy a sniper movement that arose at the front at the initiative of the Leningraders. She talks extensively about the famous Stalingrad sniper Vasily Zaitsev, about other masters of well-aimed fire, called on all soldiers to mercilessly exterminate the fascist invaders.

/ November 29, 2017 / /

Vasily Zaitsev

Vasily Zaitsev was born in the village of Yeleninsky, the village of Velikopetrovsky, Verkhneuralsky district, Orenburg province, now with. Eleninka, Kartalinsky district, Chelyabinsk region Member of the Great Patriotic War, sniper, Hero of the Soviet Union (February 22, 1943).

"Angels of death"

The Germans learned about the sniper Zaitsev from Soviet newspapers. In the battles for Stalingrad, he destroyed 242 Nazis. Zaitsev’s words “There is no land for us beyond the Volga!” became the oath of the defenders of Stalingrad.

Snipers for tank, motorized and cavalry divisions of the SS troops, as well as the Wehrmacht, were trained at an elite school on the outskirts of Berlin Zossen. According to the American historian Samuel W. Mitcham, the leader of the “black order” himself, Reichsfuhrer SS Heinrich Himmler, who appreciated shooting art, apparently, primarily because of his misanthropic inclinations, visited the school more than once. He pompously awarded members of the SS who fulfilled the standards of special difficulty in bullet shooting at the annual celebrations in the “order castle” Wewelsburg, where the entire SS elite gathered, with a specially established silver badge (by the way, we also had the badge “Voroshilovsky shooter” ).

The head of the Zossen school, Heinz Thorwald, was known as the favorite of the Reichsführer. The wording of the party characteristics of the members of the NSDAP from the famous novel by Yulian Semenov absolutely suited him: “The character is Nordic, persistent ... Merciless to the enemies of the Reich.”

In parts of the SS and the Wehrmacht, the graduates of the school he headed in Zossen were famous for their infernal skill, nicknamed the "angels of death." In Stalingrad, dozens of defenders of the city died every day from their shots. The Germans held fire superiority until the second half of October 1942. And then Paulus sounded the alarm: the enemy began to multiply the number of even more accurate and inventive snipers, and one of them, by the name of Zaitsev, praised by the Russian front-line press, is especially dangerous ...

Himmler's chief of staff, SS-Obergruppenführer Karl Wolf, summoned SS-Standartenführer Thorwald:

- It's time to decorate your Knight's Cross with oak leaves and swords! My Storch will take you by air to Stalingrad. Hound this hare ... Remember, the Fuhrer himself is watching you!

Wolf did not exaggerate: when Hitler was informed that on a rearing patch of Russian defense, pressed against the Volga with iron tongs of the Wehrmacht, a “shepherd from the Urals”, the owner of a hare surname, in a matter of days sent more than a hundred of his officers and soldiers (yes, what!), to the forefathers, he went berserk. And he ordered to send to Paulus the best shooter of the Reich Torvald, in whom he saw the living embodiment of his dream of a superman, called to become the master of the world.

Reich Minister of Propaganda Dr. Goebbels, in turn, ordered to publish in the SS officialdom "Black Corps" an essay with a "true description" of the upcoming Stalingrad feat of Standartenführer ...

Career of the "shepherd from the Urals"

The hereditary hunter Andrei Alekseevich Zaitsev did not know that his grandson, whom he had learned to shoot, would someday be cursed with foam at the mouth by the most terrible German conqueror in world history.

However, the Zaitsevs had their own scores to settle with the Germans. The son of Andrei Alekseevich Grigory in the fall of 1914 was mobilized for war with the Kaiser, got into the 8th Army under the command of General Brusilov. While Gregory was fighting for the faith, the tsar and the Fatherland, in March the fifteenth, a boy was born to his wife, who was named Vasya. His wife gave birth in a forest bathhouse, without any medical care whatsoever. And a couple of days later, when she saw two erupted teeth in the tiny mouth, she threw up her hands: it’s not otherwise, predatory animals will tear the blood! There was such a belief in the Southern Urals ... It did not come true. But the trouble did not pass the husband.

Gregory returned a complete invalid. Hunting - an age-old trade, mainly feeding the Yeleninians - was now ordered to him ... But he had to live somehow, a considerable family. Andrei Alekseevich pinned all his hopes on his grandson Vasyatka, from childhood he took him on forest wanderings. He made a bow and arrows. Instructed:

“If you want to see what, say, a goat has horns, eyes, ears, sit in ambush so that it looks at you like a patch of hay or a bush of currants. Lie down, don't breathe and don't move your eyelashes... Grow with the ground, fall down to it like a maple leaf and move imperceptibly. Crawl close, otherwise the arrow will go past ...

I remember my grandfather's lessons. Under his leadership, the boy learned to "read" the tracks of forest animals, track down the beds of wolves and bears, set up ambushes in such a way that the best Yelenin miners could not detect. When he was twelve years old, grandfather made a royal gift: he presented a brand new berdan 20-gauge with a full bandolier of powder charges, buckshot and shot ... And he added:

- Spend your fire supplies sparingly, so that not a single shot is in vain!

Shoot offhand, catch scythes with snares, throw a lasso on the horns of wild goats from a tree - Zaitsev Jr. knew everything. And an extremely successful hunter-fisherman would have come out of it, but fate decreed otherwise.

In the Chelyabinsk steppe near Mount Magnitnaya, an unprecedented construction site has unfolded. What wind brought sixteen-year-old Vasily here is unknown. But something else is known for sure: the short stocky strong man became the drummer of the construction almost immediately. By the way, he had no education at all. A school in the village of Yeleninsky was not opened under Soviet rule, but my grandmother taught me to read and write. The smart Uralian finished his evening seven-year plan in Magnitogorsk. No break from production. Then he enrolled in an accounting course.

After graduating from the military economic school of the Pacific Fleet, Zaitsev became the head of the unit.

He met the Great Patriotic War as the chief foreman. He wrote reports on the command "Please send to the front!". Five such reports one after another! And the authorities are not joking, not serious:

“Wait a bit, the samurai will strike - the front will be even hotter here!”

So the bagpipe would have dragged on with the transfer to the army, until, once receiving a monetary allowance for the regiment at the bank, he heard women’s gossip behind him: look, they say, what healthy foreheads were attached by cashiers ... Vasily became so offended that he decided to get into from the rear to the front lines, even with a penalty box. Broke into the unit commander:

“Don’t let me go kindly - I’ll get through a military tribunal!”

And at that time, the 284th Rifle Division was being formed from the Pacific sailors in Vladivostok, which was supposed to be thrown into the Stalingrad inferno. And the commander, no matter how sorry it was to part with a sensible chief financial officer, reluctantly arranged for the chief foreman Zaitsev to be transferred there as an ordinary soldier ...

A week had not passed - his battalion plunged into the heating trucks and rolled into the trans-Volga steppes. On the night of September 22, 1942, the 284th division of Colonel Batyuk crossed in full strength to the right bank of the Volga, to the fire-breathing Stalingrad. On the move - into battle. The Nazis first tried to burn the daredevils who broke into the territory of the hardware plant. Arriving armada "Junkers" smashed 12 huge containers of gasoline. Flame, smoke covered the horizon, it seemed that nothing alive could remain here. But the Pacific people did not give up, showing unprecedented perseverance ... For five days and nights there were fierce battles for every shop, floor, stairwell.

More than once it came to hand-to-hand combat. In one of the fights, Vasily received a bayonet wound in the shoulder. The left hand came off. It was just right to evacuate to the rear. But the message along the Volga, seething with explosions of shells and bombs, was again broken, and no more reinforcements were expected ...

In those terrible days, when the fate of Stalingrad hung in the balance, Zaitsev said winged words that spread throughout the country:

“There is no land for us beyond the Volga!”

V.G. Zaitsev. Stalingrad, 1945 Photo by G.A. Zelma

As he said, so he did. Private Nikolai Logvinenko was nearby. In addition, on the contrary, his hands are intact, but his legs are like cotton from the resulting concussion. So Vasily suggested to Nikolai:

- You load the rifles, and I will manage with one hand.

And they survived! A week later, the hand healed, Zaitsev began to smash the enemy on his own. The rumor that an unusual shooter appeared in the battalion of Captain Kotov, who rarely misses, quickly spread. The regiment commander, Major Metelev, began to send Zaitsev to other areas of defense, occupied in the destroyed hardware workshops. A couple of days later, Vasily was greeted with a joyful exclamation:

- A sniper! Look, the fascist is running. Probably with a message...

He cut off the nimble liaison at five hundred meters from one bullet. From an ordinary three-ruler without any optics. Then the second, third ... Major Metelev led his personal sniper score. After 10 days, there were 42 destroyed Nazis on it.

And on October 21, the commander of the 62nd Army, Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov, handed Zaitsev a rifle with a telescopic sight with a lucky number 28-28, still rare in the Soviet troops.

“Enemy machine gunners did a lot of damage to us,” the hero of Stalingrad recalled. There was no life. At first, wanting to somehow alleviate the situation, I removed the machine gunners, but they were immediately replaced by new ones. He began to break the sights of machine guns, but this required high accuracy of hitting. In the end, it became clear that I alone would not do the weather ... By decision of the Komsomol meeting of the regiment, supported by the commander of the unit, a school was opened in the hardware workshops, where I trained the first ten snipers ... On the front line, "hare", as his students were called in 62 th army, worked in pairs, insuring each other and knocking out enemy officers, signalmen, rangefinders in the first place ...

This is hard to believe, but the lessons that the grandson of the Ural hunter taught to his comrades under bombing and machine-gun fire made it possible in a matter of days to grow such shooters who were not inferior to the vaunted professionals from Zossen, at least in accuracy.

Duel

But in war, accuracy alone is not enough. Stealth, disguise, cunning - that's what makes a good shooter a sniper. And the first duel with the "angel of death" almost became the last for Zaitsev - he received a bullet right in his helmet. A centimeter lower - and he will not be alive. Well, the partner helped out - he immediately "calmed" the German with an accurate shot.

After that deadly fight, Vasily refreshed his memory of the lessons that he had once received from his grandfather. I began to come up with my own tricks.

One fascist shooter arranged a position for himself very cleverly.

- Himself behind the railway embankment, the head and the rifle are covered by a wagon wheel, and shoots through a small hole in the center of the wheel, - Zaitsev recalled. - Nearly invulnerable. And they control us: just move the helmet on the parapet, here is a bullet ... What should we do?

The decision came suddenly. The Junkers arrived, the bombing began. Nurse Dora Shakhnevich at such moments, under fascist bombs, usually took out a mirror, lipstick, and busily put beauty on her pretty, but exhausted by military suffering face, in order to cope with herself.

Zaitsev saw this, and it dawned on him:

- Dora, give me a mirror!

And Vasily ordered his partner Viktor Medvedev:

- Come in on the right and look at the wheel, you will notice a stir - hit it right away!

A sunbeam pointed directly into the hole played a fatal role in the fate of Hitler's "William Tell" ...

Why William Tell? According to legend, one day the governor of the Swiss canton, Gessler, decided to find out if a revolt was brewing among the inhabitants of Uri. To do this, he ordered a pillar to be erected on the square and a ducal hat to be hoisted on it. Then the heralds announced that passers-by were obliged to bow to this headdress, symbolizing the power of the Austrians, and those who refused would face death. Gritting their teeth, the inhabitants obeyed the order, and only William Tell, who was walking in the square with his son, refused to bow to the hat. The German sniper did not bend his head ...

In an army newspaper, a focus with a ray of light was painted in paints. And wow, this issue of "trench truth" fell into the hands of front-line intelligence officers of the enemy! So at the headquarters of Paulus they learned about Zaitsev and reported to the Fuhrer.

And soon a captured German during interrogation said that in order to hunt for the “main Russian hare,” as the German staff officers called Vasily, “the head of the Wehrmacht sniper school, Major Koenig” arrived from Berlin (this is how the SS command disguised Standartenfuehrer Torvald, (der Kenig - king ).

There were heated discussions about the upcoming duel in the dugout of snipers at night. In order to destroy such a seasoned wolf, it was necessary first to “calculate” him, study his habits and techniques, wait for the moment when it would be possible to fire only one, but sure, decisive shot. After all, life was at stake.

Each of Vasily's comrades expressed his own guesses and assumptions, based on what he noticed at the forefront of the enemy. They offered all sorts of baits that Koenig could peck at.

“I knew the handwriting of fascist snipers by the nature of the fire and camouflage,” recalled Zaitsev, “and without much difficulty distinguished more experienced shooters from beginners, cowards from stubborn and determined enemies. But the head of the school, his character remained a mystery to me ...

Time passed, and the guest from the "Fatherland" did not show himself in anything. Zaitsev felt that an invisible enemy was somewhere nearby. But he often changed positions, apparently settling either in a water tower, or behind a wrecked tank, or in a pile of bricks, and just as carefully as Zaitsev did when looking for him.

The best shooter of the Reich "sent his calling card" suddenly. Morozov, a seriously wounded sniper, was brought into the dugout.

The enemy bullet shattered the optical sight and hit the right eye. In less than a few minutes, his partner Sheikin was also injured. These were the most capable students of Zaitsev, who more than once came out victorious in duels with fascist shooters. There was no doubt: they were caught by Koenig.

At dawn, Vasily, together with Nikolai Kulikov, went to those positions where his comrades had been wounded yesterday.

“Watching the familiar front line of the enemy, studied for many days, I don’t find anything new,” wrote Zaitsev. - The day is ending. But suddenly a helmet appears above the enemy trench and slowly moves along the trench. Fire? Not! This is a trick: for some reason the helmet sways unnaturally, it is probably carried by the assistant sniper, while he himself is waiting for me to give himself away with a shot ... From the patience that the enemy showed during the day, I guessed that the Berlin sniper was here. Special vigilance was required ... The second day passed. Whose nerves will be stronger? Who will outsmart whom?

On the third day, officer Danilov went into the ambush along with Zaitsev and Kulikov. The battle was in full swing around, shells and mines were flying overhead, but the trinity of brave hunters, crouching to their optical instruments, kept their eyes on what lay ahead.

- Yes, here it is, I'll show you with my finger! Danilov perked up.

Zaitsev wanted to warn the officer not to dare to stick his head out, but it was too late. Carried away, Danilov rose above the parapet for just a moment, but that was enough for Koenig. Wounded in the head, the officer collapsed to the bottom of the trench. Shooting Hitler's champion...

- I peered at the enemy positions for a long time, but I could not find his ambush. By the speed of the shot, I concluded that the sniper was somewhere right, - Vasily Grigorievich reproduces the most intense duel.

I continue to watch. On the left is a wrecked tank, on the right is a bunker. Where is the fascist? In a tank? No, an experienced sniper will not sit there. Too much of a target. Maybe in the bunker? Also no - the loophole is closed. Between the tank and the bunker on a flat area lies an iron sheet with a small pile of broken bricks. It has been lying for a long time, it has become familiar. I put myself in the position of the enemy and think about where it is better to take a sniper post. Is it possible to open a cell under that sheet at night and make hidden passages to it?

Assumption Zaitsev decided to check. He put a mitten on the board, lifted it up. Fascist pecked! Carefully lowering the bait and examining the hole, Vasily was convinced: no demolition, a direct hit. So, "Koenig" under the iron sheet ...

Now he needs to be lured out and "put" on the fly. Even the edge of the head. But right now it's useless. Too experienced, sophisticated enemy. Need time. Most importantly, he already understood his character. And I was sure: this nest "Koenig" will not change, too successful. But they need to change their position...

During the night they equipped a new cell, settled there before dawn. When the sun rose, Kulikov made a "blind" shot - to interest the enemy. Then they waited half a day - the brilliance of the optics could give out. In the afternoon, their rifles were in the shade, but the direct rays of the sun fell on the iron sheet under which the Koenig was hiding. And then something shone at the edge of the sheet. A shard of glass laid out for bait or an optical sight?

Kulikov carefully, as only the most experienced combatants could do, began to lift the helmet put on the automatic barrel. Immediately, a shot. Zaitsev's partner screamed loudly and appeared for a moment.

“The Hitlerite thought that he had finally killed the Soviet sniper he was hunting for, and stuck out half his head from the under-sheet,” Vasily Grigorievich recalled the climax. “He wanted to get a better look at me. That's what I was counting on. Hit it right. The head of the fascist sank, and the glass in the eyepiece of the sight of his rifle, without moving, shone in the sun until the evening ... "

The bullet hit Torvald in the face and exited the back of the head, piercing right through his helmet. Zaitsev and Kulikov pulled out his corpse from under the iron sheet at night, in the midst of the battle, when the Soviet troops in this area went on the attack and pressed the enemy. In the pocket of the jacket of the murdered lay documents in the name of "Major Koenig". Zaitsev delivered them to the division commander. Vasily disdained the rifle of the slain opponent and gave it to the trophy collectors, but he kept the Zeiss sight for himself ...

This fight of a simple Ural guy, who hunted only forest game before the Nazi invasion, with an SS war professional, equipped with the most advanced weapons, who, like no one else, knew how and even loved to kill representatives of the human race, is more than a duel of two shooters. This is a symbol of the great duel of our people with the devilish brown offspring ... And of course, it is far from an accident that it was the Russian man who sent the fascist "angel of death" into hellfire.

Misfire

The duel with Torvald was Zaitsev's twelfth. And on the thirteenth, alas, there was a misfire.

- Order of the Red Banner, officer rank, everyone's attention. In a word, I hovered on the air, - Vasily Grigorievich said years later. - When a new sniper appeared from the enemy side, they sent for me like a celebrity. Kulikov and I went to the area of ​​shooting ranges to a hardware plant.

The cars are lying broken, the guys are having breakfast. Hot buckwheat porridge with meat sauce. Before that, I was hungry. On the Volga, sludge and continuous fire. Boats can’t come up ... Not like crackers - every crumb was counted. And then - hot porridge! - Front-line one hundred grams were received by forty people. By the time breakfast arrived, less than thirty were still alive. Grey yourselves. Winter anyway...

The fighters greeted enthusiastically:

"Sit down, comrade lieutenant!" Sharpen your eyes!

I'm going to duel!

Why are you dueling! What a bastard you slammed! ...

- I brought the "sharpness of the eye", ate. He took cover behind the wagon wheel, prepared himself, and let me, I think, check how he shoots. Just raised a finger - it was blown away by an explosive bullet! That's all, I think, the sniper Zaitsev has run out ... Which of me is a shooter without a finger?

While the sniper was grieving about his mistake, it got dark. By nightfall, a fresh battalion had arrived from across the Volga. And immediately - on the offensive. Zaitsev is also on the attack. Hand-to-hand combat ensued in enemy trenches. Wounded again. I began to bandage myself, and then a shell exploded two steps away ... A severe concussion. He lay for more than a day, almost covered with earth.

As the position was recaptured, the fallen soldiers began to be brought to the Mamaev Kurgan to the mass grave. The funeral team also brought the lifeless Vasily there. And he would have laid down forever in Stalingrad land, but the nurse (her last name, Zaitsev later learned, was Vigovskaya) put her ear to his chest. And, lo and behold, I heard the beating of the heart! They sent a sniper almost buried alive across the Volga.

Need to live

He woke up in the hospital with a tight bandage over his eyes. Completely blind. Hemorrhage in the fundus of the eye, sandy cornea. 100% vision loss... But the eye surgeons did a miracle. After several operations carried out under the guidance of Academician Vladimir Petrovich Filatov, Vasily began to see again. No worse than before!

On February 20, 1943, Mikhail Kalinin, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, presented him with the gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin in the Kremlin. And the next day, Zaitsev, along with other famous shooters from all fronts, sat until late at night at a meeting at the General Staff, which was brought together by General of the Army E.A. Shchadenko for the exchange of sniper experience and its further dissemination.

The story of Vasily Grigorievich about how in two months of fighting he destroyed 242 Nazis and trained 28 snipers right on the front line (and they put another 1106 Nazis on the Volga bank), the Main Political Directorate of the Red Army published a brochure. The shooter-hero himself was sent to study at the Higher Academic Courses "Shot". Zaitsev ran a sniper school and wrote two textbooks. It is he who owns one of the methods of "hunting", which is still used today.

Then he again walked the front roads, being the commander of an anti-aircraft battery and an anti-aircraft division. Participated in the liberation of Donbass and Odessa, the battle for the Dnieper and the Berlin operation. On the Seelow Heights, he was again seriously wounded and met Victory Day in a hospital bed ...

Upon recovery, his fighting friends handed him his sniper rifle on the steps of the Reichstag, which after Stalingrad became the most expensive relic in his native guards division and passed to the best shooter. Now the legendary Zaitsev rifle is on display at the Museum of the Battle of Stalingrad in Volgograd. By the way, the Zeiss sight, which belonged to the SS Standartenführer and was given to the winner as a trophy, can also be seen in the Central Museum of the Armed Forces in Moscow...

The post-war life of Vasily Grigorievich was not cloudless. In the autumn of 1945, with the rank of captain, he was demobilized for health reasons. Six orders and seven wounds. Disabled person of the second group. And age - thirty years ... But the desire to overcome everything, to overcome any ailments and hardships still endowed this man with remarkable strength.

He graduated from the Kyiv Technological Institute of Light Industry, for many years he was the director of the Ukraina garment factory, one of the largest in the Soviet Union. His name was given to the ship that cruised along the Dnieper ... Deserved popularity.

Vasily Grigoryevich Zaitsev died in Kyiv, and his ashes, as he bequeathed, were reburied in Volgograd on Mamaev Kurgan.

By the way, when today you think about how the soldiers of our Fatherland surpassed and defeated the most powerful German army in the world, how they crushed the kingdom of the fascist beast, before which almost all of Europe meekly bowed, you involuntarily turn your eyes to people like Vasily Zaitsev, Russian people. Won as he won. Natural mind. Great patience. The height of the human spirit. By faith they won...

Two feature films were shot about Zaitsev: "Angels of Death" (Russia, 1992, directed by Yu.N. Ozerov, starring F. Bondarchuk) and "Enemy at the Gates" (USA, 2001, directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, starring Jude Law

Training enemy snipers: a training film that is shown today. Ways and tricks of snipers.

"Angels of Death" - Soviet old film about the war about snipers (1993), created on the basis of the film material of the two-part film "Stalingrad" (1989). Dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Stalingrad (1942-1943).