Alexander Matveevich

Matrosov Alexander Matveevich - submachine gunner of the 2nd separate battalion 91st Separate Siberian Volunteer Brigade named after I.V. Stalin of the 6th Stalinist Siberian Volunteer rifle corps 22nd Army of the Kalinin Front, Red Army soldier. September 8, 1943 by order People's Commissar defense of the USSR I.V. Stalin, the name of Matrosov was assigned to the 254th Guards Rifle Regiment, and he himself was forever enlisted in the lists of the 1st company of this unit. This was the first order of the NPO of the USSR during the Great Patriotic War about enrollment fallen Hero forever in the lists of the military unit.

Born on February 5, 1924 in the city of Yekaterinoslav (now Dnepropetrovsk - administrative center Dnepropetrovsk region of Ukraine). Russian. Member of the Komsomol. He lost his parents early. For 5 years he was brought up in the Ivanovo regime orphanage (Ulyanovsk region). In 1939 he was sent to a car repair plant in the city of Kuibyshev (now Samara), but soon escaped from there. By the verdict of the people's court of the 3rd section of the Frunzensky district of the city of Saratov dated October 8, 1940, Alexander Matrosov was convicted under article 192 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR to two years in prison for violation of the passport regime (Judicial Collegium for Criminal Cases Supreme Court The RSFSR on May 5, 1967 canceled this sentence). He served time in the Ufa children's labor colony. With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, he repeatedly applied with written requests to send him to the front.

He was drafted into the Red Army by the Kirov District Military Commissariat of the city of Ufa, Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in September 1942 and sent to the Krasnokholmsky Infantry School (October 1942), but soon most cadets were sent to the Kalinin Front.

AT active army from November 1942 he served in the 2nd separate rifle battalion of the 91st separate Siberian volunteer brigade named after (later the 254th guards rifle regiment 56th Guards rifle division, Kalinin Front). For some time the brigade was in reserve. Then she was transferred near Pskov to the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe Big Lomovaty Bor. Right from the march, the brigade entered the battle.
On February 27, 1943, the 2nd battalion received the task of attacking a stronghold in the area of ​​the village of Pleten, west of the village of Chernushki, Loknyansky district of the Pskov region. As soon as our soldiers passed through the forest and reached the edge of the forest, they came under strong enemy machine-gun fire - three enemy machine guns in bunkers covered the approaches to the village. One machine gun was suppressed by an assault group of machine gunners and armor-piercers. The second bunker was destroyed by another group of armor-piercers. But the machine gun from the third bunker continued to shell the entire hollow in front of the village. Efforts to silence him were unsuccessful. Then the Red Army soldier Alexander Matrosov crawled towards the bunker. He approached the embrasure from the flank and threw two grenades. The gun was silent. But as soon as the fighters went on the attack, the machine gun came to life again. Then Matrosov got up, rushed to the bunker and closed the embrasure with his body. At the cost of his life, he contributed to the combat mission of the unit.

He was buried in the village of Chernushki, Loknyansky district, and in 1948 the ashes of A.M. Matrosov was reburied in the city of Velikiye Luki, Pskov Region, on the left bank of the Lovat River at the intersection of Rosa Luxembourg Street and the Alexander Matrosov Embankment.

A few days later, the name of Alexander Matrosov became known throughout the country. The feat of Matrosov was used by a journalist who happened to be with the unit for a patriotic article. At the same time, the date of the death of the Hero was postponed to February 23, timed to coincide with the birthday of the Red Army. Despite the fact that Alexander Matrosov was not the first to perform such an act of self-sacrifice, it was his name that was used to glorify the heroism of Soviet soldiers. Subsequently, over three hundred people committed a similar heroic deed. The feat of Alexander Matrosov became a symbol of courage and military prowess, fearlessness and love for the Motherland.

Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of June 19, 1943 for the exemplary performance of combat missions of the command on the front of the fight against fascist german invaders and the courage and heroism shown at the same time, the Red Army soldier Matrosov Alexander Matveevich was posthumously awarded the title of Hero Soviet Union.

Awarded the Order of Lenin (posthumously).

Born February 5, 1924 in the city of Yekaterinoslav (modern Dnepropetrovsk). Some sources, such as Wikipedia, give other versions of his place and time of birth. According to her, famous hero During the Great Patriotic War, the name was Shakiryan Yunusovich Mukhamedyanov, who was born on the territory of the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, in the village of Kunakbaevo (modern Uchalinsky district of the Republic of Bashkortostan).

Both biographies agree that Alexander Matveevich Matrosov was brought up in Meleks and Ivanovo orphanages Ulyanovsk region, and later in the children's labor colony of the city of Ufa, after finishing seven classes of school, he was hired as an assistant teacher of the colony.

Where could Shakiryan's Russian surname come from? Wikipedia claims that the boy ran away from home after his father's new marriage, wandered around like a homeless child, ended up in an orphanage and already there, he called himself Alexander Matveevich Matrosov.

There is also a third version of the biography. According to her, Alexander was a native of the village of Vysoky Kolok, Stavropol district, Samara province (today it is the Novomalyklinsky district of the Ulyanovsk region). Left without a husband with 3 children, Sasha's mother gave him to the Meleksky orphanage in order to save her son from starvation and possible death.

When the war began, the seventeen-year-old youth several times asked in writing to be accepted to the front. It happened only in September 1942, when he was drafted into the Armed Forces and sent to study at an infantry school near Orenburg.

The feat accomplished by Alexander Matrosov

In January 1943, together with other cadets - volunteers of the marching company, he went to the front. Since February 25, 1943, he served in the 2nd separate rifle battalion 91st Separate Siberian Volunteer Brigade. IN AND. Stalin.

He accomplished his feat, which thundered throughout the country, on February 27, 1943, when the battalion launched an attack on a stronghold near the village of Chernushki, Pskov Region. Coming out of the forest to the edge, our soldiers came under machine-gun fire, the source of which were three German bunkers covering the approaches to the village. Assault groups of 2 people were sent to destroy enemy firing points.

Two points were quickly suppressed, and the third machine gun managed to shoot through the entire hollow located in front of the village for quite a long time. In another attempt to silence the machine gun, privates Alexander Matrosov and Pyotr Ogurtsov crawled towards the enemy. When Ogurtsov was wounded, Matrosov decided to finish the job on his own, threw two grenades at the bunker, and he calmed down. But soon the Nazis again opened fire on Soviet soldiers. Then Alexander abruptly rushed to the machine gun embrasure and closed it with his body. This feat cost him his life, thanks to this, the battalion was able to fulfill its combat mission- this is the official version of the biography of the brave hero.

There is also alternative version this feat. According to the same Wikipedia, Matrosov was killed immediately when he tried to throw grenades at the bunker. Falling, his body closed the vent on the roof, blocking the exit of powder gases. While the enemy was dropping the body down, our soldiers successfully carried out the offensive.

According to another unofficial biography recorded on Wikipedia, he simply stumbled (or was wounded) and fell into the embrasure, blocking the view of the German machine gunner. Of course, none of this detracts from his feat and willingness to sacrifice his life in the fight against the fascist invaders.

06/19/1943, Red Army soldier Matrosov Alexander Matveevich was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In order to lift fighting spirit in the active troops, his feat was set as an example and a necessary model of behavior for all soldiers of the Red Army.

Biographies and exploits of Heroes of the Soviet Union and holders of Soviet orders:

The myth of the feat of Alexander Matrosov lies in the assertion that Matrosov closed the embrasure of the German bunker with his chest and thereby ensured the success of the attack of his unit. The date of the feat is also mythological - February 23, 1943, the day of the Red Army.

Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Matveyevich Matrosov was born on February 6, 1924 in Dnepropetrovsk. The date and place of birth are conditional, since Sasha is in early childhood lost his parents and was brought up in the Ivanovo and Melekessky orphanages in the Ulyanovsk region. For some criminal offense (according to official version- for leaving his place of work without permission, for which he was also given a term then) was convicted and ended up in the Ufa labor colony for minors, was there among the activists and, after his release, worked in the same colony as an assistant educator. In September 1942, Matrosov was enrolled in the Krasnokholmsk Infantry School, but already in January 1943 it was sent to the Kalinin Front.

According to the official version, on February 23, 1943, on the day of the 25th anniversary of the Red Army, Alexander Matrosov, private of the 2nd battalion of the 91st rifle Siberian volunteer brigade, in the battle near the village of Chernushki near Velikiye Luki in Pskovskaya
region closed the embrasure of the German bunker with his chest, which ensured the successful advancement of his
divisions. In the report of the agitator of the political department of the 91st brigade of Siberian volunteers, senior lieutenant Volkov, it was said: “In the battle for the village of Chernushki, Komsomol member Matrosov, born in 1924, committed a heroic deed - he closed the embrasure of the bunker with his body, which ensured the advancement of our shooters forward. Blackies are taken. The attack continues. I will report the details when I return." However, in the evening of the same day, Volkov died, and the details of the incident remained unknown. In the report of the political department of the brigade to the political department of the 6th Infantry volunteer corps it was noted: “Exceptional courage and heroism was shown by the Red Army soldier of the 2nd battalion, Komsomol member Matrosov. The enemy from the bunker opened heavy machine-gun fire and did not allow our infantry to advance. Tov. Sailors received an order to destroy the enemy's fortified point. Despising death, he closed the embrasure of the bunker with his body. The enemy machine gun fell silent. Our infantry went forward, and the bunker was occupied. Tov. Sailors died a heroic death for Soviet Motherland". On June 19, 1943, Alexander Matrosov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. According to one version, the initiator of enrolling Matrosov forever in the lists of the unit and assigning the regiment his name was the commander of the Kalinin Front, Andrei Eremenko, who just in August 1943 met with Stalin during his trip to the front and convinced Supreme Commander to make Matrosov's feat known throughout the country. By order of the People's Commissar of Defense of September 8, 1943, the 254th Guards Rifle Regiment, which included the 2nd Battalion of the 91st Separate rifle brigade, was given the name "254th Guards Rifle Regiment named after Alexander Matrosov", and the hero himself was forever enrolled in the lists of the 1st company of this regiment. He became the first of the heroes forever listed in the lists of the military unit.

In a report about irretrievable losses The 91st separate rifle brigade for the period from February 24 to March 30, 1943 indicated that the Red Army soldier Matrosov, born in 1924, a member of the Komsomol, was killed on February 27 and buried near the village of Chernushki. It was also mentioned here who and at what address should be reported about the death: Ufa, the children's labor colony of the NKVD, barrack 19, Matrosova, his wife. Judging by this entry, the hero had a family, but an orphan boy, who had no one in the world but his homeland, was better suited for the heroic myth. By the way, Volkov's political report was dated February 27, and February 23 in award sheet It was taken purely for propaganda reasons.However, close the machine-gun embrasure with your bodyjust impossible. Even one rifle bullet that hits the hand inevitably knocks a person down. And a machine-gun burst at point-blank range will surely throw any, the heaviest body, from the embrasure. The commander of the platoon in which Matrosov fought, Lieutenant L. Korolev, described in the front-line newspaper the feat of his subordinate: “... He ran to the bunker and fell into the embrasure. The machine gun choked on the hero's blood and fell silent.

I didn't have to give a command. The soldiers lying in front heard how Sasha, falling on the embrasure, shouted: “Forward!” And the whole platoon, as one man, got up and rushed to the bunker. Sergeant Kuznetsov was the first to run up to the entrance. Soldiers from his squad ran after him. The silent fight in the bunker lasted no more than a minute. When I entered there, there were six dead German soldiers and two machine guns lying among the shells and empty belts.And there, in front of the embrasure, on the snow covered with soot and blood, lay Sasha Matrosov. The last machine-gun burst cut short his young life. He was dead, but the battalion had already crossed the hollow and broke into the village of Chernushki. The order was carried out. Sasha Matrosov sacrificed himself to pave the way for the battalion to victory.

Korolev here turns the metaphor into reality, causing the machine gun to "choke on the hero's blood." True, it immediately turns out that there was not one machine gun in the bunker, but two. The lieutenant cannot explain how it happened that both barrels immediately choked with blood. However, the number of machine guns, as well as the data on the six corpses of the Germans, allegedly remaining in the bunker, must be approached with caution. No other source mentions them. If the press reported on the heroic death of one Soviet soldier or officer, then he must have accounted for several destroyed enemies.

But on one point Korolev did not deviate from the truth. According to him, the corpse of Matrosov was not lying on the embrasure, but in the snow in front of the pillbox. In this regard, however, it becomes completely incomprehensible how a dead submachine gunner could drown out an enemy machine gun.

Only in 1991, the front-line writer Vyacheslav Kondratiev, perhaps relying on eyewitness accounts, gave a different description of the feat: “Yes, Matrosov accomplished a feat, but not at all the one described. Back in the war, having learned about the feat of Matrosov, we were perplexed: why rush to the embrasure when you got so close to the firing point? After all, you can throw a grenade into the wide bell of a pillbox, you can open heavy automatic fire on it and thereby silence the enemy machine gun for a while. But Sasha, apparently, did not have a grenade, there was no machine gun - penal company, in which he was, in all likelihood, was armed only with "native" rifles. And Matrosov was forced to act differently: he, bypassing the pillbox (more precisely, the pillbox. - B.S.), climbed on it and tried to press the barrel of the machine gun from above, but German soldiers, grabbing his hands, dragged him down and shot him. The company took advantage of this hitch. It was a feat reasonable, skillful ... "

This version is consistent with the testimony of some participants in the battle, who saw that Matrosov was on top of the bunker. It’s just that the assumption that Matrosov was trying to bend the muzzle of a machine gun to the ground from above looks doubtful. This is almost impossible to do because the muzzle almost does not protrude from the embrasure. It is more likely that Matrosov managed to get close to the vent of the bunker and tried to shoot the machine-gun crew, but he himself was hit by an enemy bullet. As he fell, he closed the vent. While the Germans were pushing the corpse from the roof of the bunker to the ground, they were forced to cease fire, which the Soviet company took advantage of, overcoming the shelled space. Obviously, there were only two Germans with one machine gun. While one of them was busy with the corpse, the other was forced to cease fire. The machine gunners had to flee, and the Red Army men who burst into the bunker found Matrosov's corpse with a wound in the chest in front of the embrasure. They decided that the fighter closed the embrasure with himself. Thus the legend was born. Meanwhile, the inscription on Matrosov's Komsomol ticket, made immediately after the battle by the assistant to the head of the political department, Captain I.G. Nazdrachev, says: "Lie down on combat point enemy and drowned it out, showing heroism. Here you can see confirmation of the version that Matrosov did not close the embrasure with his body, but lay down on the vent, which in the end really “drowned out” the enemy machine gun.

There is no evidence that Matrosov was in the penal company. On the contrary, Matrosov was a fighter of the elite 6th Rifle Siberian Volunteer Corps named after Stalin. It is possible that just the service of the hero in the formation, named after the leader, became additional factor that the feat became known throughout the country.

Matrosov Alexander Matveevich was born in Yekaterinoslavl in 1924, on February 5th. He died in 1943, on February 27th. Alexander Matrosov was a submachine gunner, a Red Army soldier, a member of the Komsomol. He received the title for selfless act during the war. The feat of Matrosov was widely covered in literature, magazines, newspapers and cinema.

Biography of Matrosov Alexander Matveevich. Childhood

According to the official version, he was brought up in orphanages and a labor colony in Ufa. At the end of seven classes, he began to work in the last colony. According to another version, Alexander Matrosov's name was Mukhamedyanov Shakiryan Yunusovich. He took his future surname for himself at a time when he was a homeless child (ran away from home after his father's new marriage), and enrolled upon admission to Orphanage right under it. Since that time, his name was Matrosov Alexander Matveevich. There is another version, according to which the boy's mother, saving him from starvation after she was left alone without a husband, gave him to the Melekessky orphanage, from where he was transferred to the Ivanovsky orphanage of the Mainsky district. The papers of orphanages about Matrosov's stay in them have not been preserved.

Patriotic version of childhood

According to this option, the dispossessed peasant Matvey Matrosov was sent to Kazakhstan. There he went missing. His son, left an orphan, ended up in an orphanage, but soon ran away from there. Homeless, Sasha reached Ufa, where he was enrolled in a labor colony. During his stay there, he became great example for other pupils: he was a successful boxer and skier, a TRP badge, an amateur poet, a political informant. At the age of 16, Matrosov was accepted into the Komsomol. Then he was appointed assistant teacher. But the activist was caught with one pupil. For this, Sasha was expelled from the Komsomol. When the war began, he worked at a factory.

What is the heroism of the Red Army?

What is the feat of Matrosov? In short, the Red Army soldier rushed to the embrasure, ensuring the advancement of our shooters. However, to this day, researchers are arguing which version became accurate. During the period of perestroika, they began to talk about the incorrectness of the original version. As an argument, the fact was cited that from an ordinary shot, for example, into the hand from a rifle, a person loses his balance. A powerful burst from a machine gun, in this case, should throw the body a few meters away. According to Kondratiev (front-line writer), the feat of Alexander Matrosov was that he climbed onto the roof of the bunker and tried to tilt the machine gun muzzle to the ground. However, a historian who studies the events in which Alexander Matrosov participated argues with him. The truth about the feat that he accomplished, according to his version, is that the hero tried to shoot the crew into the vent. The Germans could not simultaneously fire on our soldiers and fight off the Red Army. So Alexander Matrosov died. The truth about the feat of the Red Army may not be revealed for sure, but his act allowed our shooters to cross the shelled space.

The beginning of the war

Sailors repeatedly addressed in writing with requests to send him to the front. He was called up for service in 1942 and began to study at an infantry school near Orenburg. However, the very next year, in 1943, together with classmates, he went to the Kalinin Front as a volunteer marching company. Since the end of February, already at the front, Matrosov Alexander Matveyevich served in the 2nd separate rifle battalion of the 91st Siberian separate volunteer brigade named after. Stalin. He could not finish school, as he died at the very beginning of the war in a battle near Chernushka. The hero was buried there, and then his ashes were reburied in the Pskov region, in the city of Velikie Luki. For his heroic deed, Matrosov Alexander Matveyevich was posthumously awarded the Hero of the USSR.

Official version of events

The 2nd battalion, in which Matrosov served, received an order to attack a stronghold near the village of Chernushki. But when soviet soldiers went to the edge of the forest, they came under heavy German fire: in the bunkers, three machine guns blocked the approach to the village. To suppress the firing points, assault groups of 2 people were sent. Two machine guns were suppressed by groups of armor-piercers and machine gunners. But there was still firing from the third firing point. All attempts to silence the machine gun were unsuccessful. Then privates Alexander Matrosov and Pyotr Ogurtsov advanced to the bunker. On the outskirts of the second fighter was seriously wounded. Sailors decided to complete the attack alone. Having crept up from the flank to the embrasure, he threw two grenades. The gunfire stopped. But as soon as our soldiers went on the attack, the fire was opened again. Then Private Matrosov got up and, rushing towards the bunker, closed the embrasure with his body. Yes, the price own life, the Red Army soldier contributed to the execution of the combat mission assigned to the unit.

Alternative versions

According to a number of authors, Matrosov Alexander Matveyevich was already killed on the roof of the bunker, while he was trying to throw grenades at him. Then, having fallen, he closed the ventilation hole that removed the powder gases. This is what gave our soldiers a break and allowed them to make a throw while the Germans removed the body of Matrosov. In some publications, there were opinions about the "unintentionality" of the Red Army soldier's act. It was said that Matrosov really, having got close to the machine-gun nest, tried, if not to shoot the enemy machine gunner, then at least prevent him from shooting further, but for some reason (stumbled or was wounded) fell into the embrasure.

So, with his body, inadvertently, he blocked the view of the Germans. The battalion, taking advantage of this, albeit small, hitch, was able to continue its offensive.

contradictions

Some authors tried to argue about the rationality of Matrosov's act, opposing his attempt to close the embrasure with what could be used in other ways to suppress the enemy's firing points. So, for example, one of the former commanders of a reconnaissance company says that the human body cannot be any effective or significant obstacle to a German machine gun. There is even a version that Matrosov was hit by a burst when he tried to rise to throw a grenade. To the fighters standing behind him, it looked like he was trying to cover them with himself from machine gun fire.

Propaganda value of the act

The feat of Alexander Matrosov in Soviet propaganda was a symbol of military prowess and courage, the selflessness of a soldier, his fearless love for his homeland and unconditional hatred for the invaders. For ideological reasons, the date heroic deed postponed to February 23, timed to coincide with the Day Soviet army and Fleet. At the same time, in the personal list of the irretrievable losses of the Second Rifle Separate Battalion, Alexander Matrosov was recorded on the 27th, along with five other Red Army soldiers and 2 junior sergeants. As a matter of fact, the future hero got to the front only on February 25th.

Conclusion

In spite of a large number of contradictions, both in the very biography of Matrosov, and in the versions of his actions, his act will not cease to be heroic from this. In many cities of the former republics of the Soviet Union, streets and squares still bear the name of the hero. Many soldiers, both before and after Matrosov, committed similar acts. According to a number of authors, such people justified the senseless death of people in battles. The soldiers were forced to launch frontal attacks on enemy machine-gun emplacements, which they did not even try to suppress during the artillery preparation. Matrosov Alexander Matveevich became not only a hero of the Soviet Union, but also national hero Bashkiria.

Yunus Yusupov, who, according to one version, was his father, after Sasha's death, proudly walked around his village, saying that "his Shakiryan" real man. True, the villagers did not believe him, but this did not diminish the father's pride in his son. He believed that Shakiryan should become the second, after Salavat Yulaev, Bashkir national hero. Mystification reinforces mythical ideas: the hero becomes more human, more alive, more convincing. Regardless of who he really was - Shakiryan or Sasha, the son of a Bashkir or a Russian - the main moments of his life are undeniable. In his fate there were orphanages, and a colony, work and service. But besides everything, in his life there was also a feat in the name of the freedom of the Soviet people.

Alexander Matrosov (1924-1943),

Private rifle regiment, The hero of the USSR,

soldier who closed yourself fascist gun.

The feat of Alexander Matrosov entered the history of the Great Patriotic War against the Nazi invaders.
It was 1941. The youth aspired to the front, to fight the enemy. Alexander Matrosov was enrolled as a volunteer in the cadets of the infantry military school.

Cadets, knowing military science, made long marches, lived in dugouts in winter at 40 degrees below zero. Due to the difficult situation at the front near the city of Stalingrad, the cadets were released from the school ahead of schedule.

February 27, 1943. There was a fierce battle near the village of Chernushki, Pskov region. The soldiers came under heavy machine-gun fire from the enemy. Enemy machine-gun fire hindered the advance of our troops.

The bunker is a field defensive structure, the name is from the first letters of the words: wood-earthen firing point.

One enemy machine gun was suppressed by an assault group of machine gunners and armor-piercers, the second machine gun was suppressed by another group of Soviet fighters. And the machine gun from the third bunker continued to shell the entire hollow in front of the village.

The guards knew no fear in battle. Several attempts were made to suppress the enemy's firing point. It was not possible to take the bunker. Three machine gunners tried to crawl closer to the bunker. All three died a heroic death.

Place of A.Matrosov's feat

And then the liaison officer of the company commander - Guards Private Alexander Matrosov got up. Alexander with a machine gun and grenades began to make his way to the bunker.

The bunker did not allow the battalion, company, comrades to go forward. He knew that every minute was precious in battle and tried to get closer to the bunker as quickly as possible. But the enemy noticed him. Bullets streaked the snow in front of and behind him. It was dangerous to move. But, as soon as the machine-gun fire was diverted a little to the side, Alexander continued to crawl forward. The enemy firing point is already close.
One after another, the guardsman threw two grenades at the bunker. They exploded at the very bunker. For a moment of calm, Matrosov got up and made a jump forward. Again flashes of shots appeared from the embrasure. He lay down again. There were no more grenades. There are very few cartridges left in the disk.

Another minute passed. Matrosov threw up his machine gun and fired a burst through the embrasure. In the bunker, something exploded, the enemy machine gun fell silent.
Alexander rose to his full height, threw a machine gun over his head and shouted to his comrades: - “Forward!”. The soldiers stood up and rushed forward. But the enemy bunker came to life again. I had to lay them down again.

Rushing forward, with his chest, with his heart, Matrosov lay down on the enemy's firing point and drowned out the bunker. The way forward was open.

The village of Chernushki was taken. Above this small village was hoisted the flag of our Motherland, for the freedom of which Alexander Matrosov and his comrades gave their lives.
The divisional newspaper, then the central press, spoke about the feat of an ordinary guards rifle regiment. This feat has become a symbol of courage and military prowess, fearlessness and love for the motherland.

Alexander Matrosov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
More than 400 people performed similar feats during the Great Patriotic War.