Escape from German captivity story. Seven of the most daring known escapes from German captivity

Pilots often escaped from captivity on "captured aircraft". One such most famous escape was made by Mikhail Devyatayev. However, he was not the only one who escaped from captivity on an enemy plane. Even before him, Alexander Kostrov, Nikolai Loshakov flew to their own on German planes, and pilots Vladimir Moskalets, Panteleimon Chkuaseli and Aram Karapetyan even hijacked three German planes on July 3, 1944. One American pilot, Bob Hoover, also managed to pull this off.

The escape of Nikolai Loshakov

Loshakov was shot down in an air battle on May 27, 1943 on a Yak-1B plane, he jumped out with a parachute and was taken prisoner. After numerous interrogations in captivity, Nikolai Loshakov agrees to serve in the German aviation.

August 11, 1943, while in a camp near the city of Ostrov, together with another Soviet prisoner of war, sergeant of the armored forces Ivan Alexandrovich Denisyuk, escaped from German captivity capturing a freshly filled aircraft "Storch". After 3 hours, he landed in the Malaya Vishera area.

On December 4, 1943, Loshakov was convicted by the NKVD OSO for treason while in captivity for 3 years from August 12, 1943 to August 12, 1946. In January 1944 he was placed in the "Vorkutlag", and already on August 12, 1945 he was released from the camp with the removal of his criminal record.

Escape of Devyataev's group

Escape of a group of ten Soviet prisoners of war led by fighter pilot M. P. Devyataev

on the captured German bomber Heinkel He 111 on February 8, 1945 from the German concentration camp at the Peenemünde training ground (from the island of Usedom, where the V-1 and V-2 missiles were tested).

The group that escaped on a German bomber plane included 10 Soviet prisoners of war:

Mikhail Devyataev - Soviet fighter pilot, 104 GIAP (Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment), 9 GIAD (Guards Fighter Aviation Division, commander A. I. Pokryshkin), senior lieutenant, a native of the village of Torbeevo (Mordovia). He was shot down on July 13, 1944 in a battle near Lvov, left the wrecked plane with a parachute, landed at the location of the enemy, was captured and sent to the Lodz camp, then to New Königsberg, from where, together with other prisoners, he tried to escape by digging. After an unsuccessful escape attempt, he was sent to the Sachsenhausen death camp, where an underground hairdresser who sympathized with the communists replaced his suicide bomber token with the token of a teacher from Ukraine, Grigory Stepanovich Nikitenko, who died in the camp. For some time he was in the camp team of “stompers” who tested shoes for durability by order of shoe manufacturers, and in October, under a false name, he was sent to the island of Usedom as part of a group of prisoners. By his own admission, Devyatayev planned to escape on an enemy plane almost immediately after being captured (probably after he heard from Sergei Vandyshev a story about an unsuccessful attempt by another captured Soviet pilot to capture a German aircraft in the air in the first days of captivity).
Ivan Krivonogov, a native of the village of Korinka, Borsky District, Nizhny Novgorod Region, was an infantryman and held the rank of lieutenant. Participated in battles on the border, was taken prisoner in the first days of the war (July 6, 1941). In captivity, he lived under the false name "Ivan Korzh", posing as a Ukrainian. Just like Devyatayev, he participated in the unsuccessful preparation of the escape; in preparation for the escape, he killed a camp policeman, for which he was sent to the Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp near Strasbourg, and from there, at the end of 1943, to the island of Usedom; in 1944, together with a group of like-minded people, he tried to organize an escape from the island by boat, but they failed to realize their plan.
Vladimir Sokolov, a native of the Vologda region, an artilleryman, was taken prisoner in early 1942, tried to escape twice, was sent to a concentration camp for an escape attempt, where he met Krivonogov, together they were sent to Usedom and together they planned to escape from the island by boat.
Vladimir Nemchenko - born in 1925, Belarusian, a native of Novobelitsa (now a district of the city of Gomel), a participant in the defense of the city as part of the Gomel regiment of the people's militia, during which he was captured. After an escape attempt, the Germans knocked out one of his eyes and sent him to the island of Usedom.
Fedor Adamov is a native of the village of Belaya Kalitva, Rostov Region.
Ivan Oleinik - a native of the Kuban village of Anastasievskaya, met the beginning of the war in Ukraine during classes at a regimental school with the rank of sergeant. His platoon was surrounded and could not get through to his own, after which he organized a partisan detachment at the base of the platoon; was captured and sent to work in Germany.
Mikhail Yemets, a native of the village of Borki, Gadyachsky district, Poltava region, was a political instructor and held the rank of senior lieutenant. He was taken prisoner in June 1942.
Pyotr Kutergin - born in 1921, place of birth - Chernushka station in the Sverdlovsk Region (currently the station is located in the Perm Territory).
Nikolai Urbanovich, a native of a village near Bobruisk, was taken prisoner as a boy and was driven to Germany during the German offensive in 1941. After two escape attempts, he was sent to a concentration camp, and from there, in 1943, to Usedom. He met Devyataev while working in the brigade, through him Devyataev established contact with the Krivonogov-Sokolov group.
Timofei Serdyukov (in the memoirs of Devyataev is referred to as Dmitry) - met Devyataev in the camp after he escaped death by hiding under the name Nikitenko. Serdyukov was Devyatayev's bunk neighbor, and together with him was sent to Usedom. According to the memoirs of Devyatayev and Krivonogov, he had a very restless character and, knowing about Devyatayev's secret, and then about the escape plan, gave them a lot of anxiety.

Preparing to escape

After arriving on the island, Devyatayev became close to Krivonogov and Sokolov, who, with a group of Soviet prisoners, planned to escape by boat across the strait, and tried to convince them that it was better to escape on a captured enemy plane, after which they together began to recruit a team of prisoners who worked nearby with the airfield, trying to rally reliable, trustworthy people in the airfield team and oust those who inspire fear from it. A certain Gypsy, an assistant foreman from among the prisoners, was ousted from the airfield group by staging a theft; Nemchenko was put in his place. During work and in the evenings in the barracks, Devyatayev secretly studied the instrument panels and cockpit equipment of the Heinkel-111 aircraft from fragments of the cabins of broken cars located in a landfill near the airfield. The details of the upcoming escape were discussed by a small group, with the distribution of roles among the main participants and a discussion of actions in various situations that may arise in the implementation of the plan. The Heinkel-111 aircraft, subsequently captured, was targeted by Devyatayev's group about a month before the escape - as it turned out later, he carried on board the radio equipment used in missile tests. Shortly before the escape, Krivonogov, on the advice of Devyatayev, invited a German anti-aircraft gunner who sympathized with Russian prisoners of war to take part in the escape; he refused, fearing for his family, but did not betray any of the conspirators. According to Krivonogov, several more people knew or guessed about the impending escape, but for one reason or another they did not get into the final squad - one of the team members had doubts about the success of the event on the last night before the escape, and he refused to participate in the escape . A few days before the escape, Devyataev had a conflict with local criminal elements, who gave him a suspended death sentence (“ten days of life”), which forced him to speed up the preparation of the escape.

The escape

Gathering the group and killing the escort

In the early morning of February 8, 1945, Mikhail Devyatayev, seeing the stars in the sky through the window and noting the improvement in the weather after several days of bad weather, considered that this day would be successful for the long-planned escape. He informed his closest associate Ivan Krivonogov about his decision and asked him to get some cigarettes. Krivonogov exchanged a warm pullover with another prisoner for cigarettes and gave them to Devyatayev. Then Devyatayev, bypassing the barracks, announced his decision to Vladimir Sokolov, Vladimir Nemchenko, Petr Kutergin and Mikhail Emets. The young guy Timofey Serdyukov (whom Devyatayev considered Dmitry), guessing about Devyatayev's decision, also asked to join the group. During the formation of the working "five" Nemchenko and Sokolov made sure that the members of the existing team were brought to work near the airfield by two working "five", pushing outsiders out of the emerging groups.

Carrying out chores, they watched the movements at the airfield from the side. Devyatayev noticed the Junkers, near which there were no pilots, and decided to capture it, however, approaching it with his group, he found that the incomplete plane was not ready to fly. The escort soldier noticed that the group approached the planes without permission, but Sokolov explained to the escort that the day before he had received instructions from the German master who supervised the work to repair the caponier (shelter for aircraft). When the repair workers at the airfield began to cover the aircraft engines, preparing for the lunch break, Devyatayev instructed to make a fire, where the guard and the prisoners could warm up (at about 12 o'clock local time) and warm up the dinner that they were supposed to bring. After that, the group moved to action. Sokolov looked around and made sure that there were no strangers nearby, and Krivonogov, on a signal from Devyatayev, killed the guard, hitting him in the head with a pre-prepared iron sharpening. Krivonogov took the rifle of the murdered escort, and Devyatayev announced to those who were not yet aware that "we will now fly to our homeland." The clock, taken from the murdered watchman, showed 12 hours 15 minutes local time.

Capture of the bomber "Heinkel", problems during takeoff

When the mechanics left the airfield for a lunch break, Devyatayev and Sokolov secretly approached the Heinkel bomber, which had been planned in advance. Climbing onto the wing, Devyatayev knocked down the lock that closed the entrance to the plane with a blow from the block, penetrated the fuselage, and then into the pilot's cabin. Sokolov, on his instructions, uncovered the motors. Trying to start the engine, Devyatayev discovered that there was no battery in the plane, without which it was impossible to start the plane, and he informed the rest of his comrades who approached the plane a little later. (Some publications say that the group was led by Pyotr Kutergin, who put on the overcoat of the murdered guard and portrayed the escort; others state that the overcoat of the guard was in blood, and therefore it was impossible to use it.) Within a few minutes they managed to find a cart with batteries and fit it to the plane.

Devyatayev started both engines of the plane, instructed everyone to board and hide in the fuselage, and taxied the plane onto the runway. The plane picked up speed, but for unclear reasons, the aircraft's steering wheel could not be deflected, and the plane did not take off. Having rolled out of the runway near the coast, Devyatayev slowed down the plane and turned it sharply; the plane hit the ground, but the landing gear was not damaged. There was a panic on the plane, one of the team members threatened Devyatayev with a rifle. Devyatayev suggested that the unremoved steering clamps prevented the take-off, but this assumption was not confirmed. German soldiers gathered on the runway, not understanding what was happening. Devyatayev decided to make a second attempt to take off and directed the plane at the soldiers, and they immediately fled, after which he took the plane back to the launch pad. During the second attempt to take off, Devyatayev realized that the elevator trimmers installed “for landing” prevented the takeoff for the first time. Devyatayev and his comrades took the helm by force, after which the car took off.

Flight and avoidance

German bomber Heinkel He 111 in flight

After takeoff, the aircraft began to rapidly gain altitude and lose speed, and after trying to equalize the altitude with the helm, it began to decline sharply. However, Devyatayev managed to find an altitude trimmer control on an unfamiliar plane and stabilize the flight altitude (according to Devyatayev, the clock showed 12:36, and the whole operation took 21 minutes). Meanwhile, the air defense headquarters was notified of the hijacking - an alarm was announced at the airfield, and anti-aircraft gunners and fighter pilots were ordered to shoot down the hijacked aircraft. A fighter was raised to intercept, piloted by the owner of two Iron Crosses and the German Cross in Gold, Lieutenant Günter Hobom (German: Günter Hobohm), but without knowing the Heinkel course, it could only be discovered by chance. Later, Devyatayev’s plane was discovered by air ace Colonel Walter Dahl, returning from a mission on the Focke-Wulf-190, but he could not fulfill the order of the German command to “shoot down the lone Heinkel” due to lack of ammunition (according to Dahl himself, he fired his last ammunition at the Heinkel, but was unable to pursue it as his plane ran out of fuel). Devyatayev sent the plane into the clouds and broke away from the pursuit.

The crew determined the direction of the flight by the sun: the plane was heading north, towards the Scandinavian Peninsula. Having determined that there was a significant supply of fuel in the Heinkel's fuel tanks, the fugitives decided not to land in Scandinavia, but to turn east and fly over the sea heading for Leningrad. However, after some thought, they chose not to endanger their lives by flying a German plane with Luftwaffe identification marks over Soviet territory, but once again change direction, turn south and land behind the front line.

"Heinkel" approached the coastline in the combat area, about 300-400 kilometers from the launch site. Soviet anti-aircraft artillery opened fire on the plane, and it caught fire. Devyatayev managed to bring down the flames by throwing the plane down with a slip, and leveling it over the forest. After a “hard landing”, the wounded fugitives got out of the plane and, not being completely sure that they landed at the location of the Soviet troops (as it turned out later, the plane landed at the location of the 61st Army near the city of Voldemberg, about 8 kilometers behind the front line), tried to hide in the nearby forest, but became exhausted and were forced to return to the plane. Soon they were picked up by Soviet soldiers (who at first mistook them for Germans) and transported to the location of the unit, from where they were transferred to a military hospital a few days later.

The further fate of the participants in the escape

The fate of M. P. Devyataev

Devyatayev in 1945 was on the territory of Poland and Germany, occupied by Soviet troops, was subjected to interrogations and checks (according to some reports, he was placed in a filtration camp in Poland, which was under the control of Soviet troops). In September 1945, S.P. Korolev, who worked under the pseudonym "Sergeev", called him to the island of Usedom and brought him in for consultations. At the end of 1945, Devyatayev was transferred to the reserve (according to some reports, he was on the territory of a colony-settlement in the Pskov region for a short time) and for a long time, as a former prisoner of war, had difficulty finding work. In 1946 (according to other sources - in the early 1950s) he returned to Kazan and got a job in the Kazan river port as a loader, then studied to be a captain-mechanic, but for some time he could only sail on a service boat. Some publications contain information that Devyatayev was convicted of "treason" and sent to camps, but after 9 years he fell under an amnesty. 12 years after the events, on August 15, 1957, at the initiative of S.P. Korolev, Devyatayev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (according to some information, the award was presented for his contribution to Soviet rocket science), and other participants in the escape were awarded orders (including posthumously ). Shortly after the award, Devyatayev was assigned to test the "Rocket" - one of the first Soviet hydrofoils; For many years he worked as a captain of river vessels, and became the first captain of the Meteor ship. Almost until the end of his life, he actively participated in public life, shared his memories, repeatedly visited the island of Usedom and met with other participants in the events, published two autobiographical books about the events - “Escape from Hell” and “Flight to the Sun”.

The fate of other participants in the escape

At the end of March 1945, after testing and treatment, 7 out of 10 participants in the escape (Sokolov, Kutergin, Urbanovich, Serdyukov, Oleinik, Adamov, Nemchenko) were enlisted in one of the companies of the 777th Infantry Regiment (according to other sources - in the 447th Infantry Pinsk Regiment 397 rifle division) and sent to the front (even Nemchenko, who lost one eye, persuaded him to be sent to the front as a nurse in a rifle company). Three officers - Devyatayev, Krivonogov and Yemets - remained outside the combat zone until the end of the war, waiting for confirmation of military ranks.

The company, which included seven of the ten fugitives, participated in the assault on the city of Altdam. On April 14, during the crossing of the Oder, Sokolov and Urbanovich were killed, Adamov was wounded. According to Devyatayev: Kutergin, Serdyukov and Nemchenko died in the battle for Berlin a few days before the victory, and Oleinik died in the Far East, in the war with Japan. Of the seven, only one survived - Adamov, he returned to the village of Belaya Kalitva, Rostov Region, and became a driver. After the war, Yemets returned to the Sumy region and became a foreman on a collective farm.

Meaning

The escape of Devyatayev's group alarmed the German command. A few days later, Goering arrived on the island and ordered the camp commandant and the head of the air base to be shot (however, Hitler canceled his order and reinstated the commandant in his position). According to some sources, the hijacking of an aircraft equipped with special radio equipment made further testing of the V-2 so problematic that Hitler called the pilot a personal enemy. The escape of Alexander Kostrov

In 1943, he escaped by flying out of a POW camp on an Arado-96 plane. Only in 1955 Alexander Ivanovich Kostrov was rehabilitated after being sentenced to 25 years in labor camp in 1951 for allegedly surrendering and being recruited as a German intelligence agent and presented to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The decree was soon withdrawn. After the war, his fate was similar to the fate of other Devyatayevites: arrest, a short trial, and a long prison sentence for captivity. The hero was forgotten, and for a long time worked until his death at the Cheboksary plant, as an ordinary locksmith.

Escape of Arkady Kovyazin

In 1941, the DB-ZF bomber, which was piloted by the deputy commander of the air squadron of the 212th APDD, Lieutenant A.M. Kovyazin, was not "shot down", but shot down. This made it possible to make an emergency landing in the occupied territory and, having survived, the entire crew headed for the front line.

Kovyazin was captured along with gunner-radio operator M. Kolomiets (they were ambushed). Kovyazin was sent to work at the local airfield, where he met and became friends with one of the prisoners, Vladimir Krupsky. Krupsky enjoyed the confidence of the camp commandant and managed to arrange Kovyazin as a fireman in the hangar where the planes stood.

On October 4, 1943, when the technical staff left for lunch, he and another prisoner climbed into a refueled Fiesler-Storch-156 communications aircraft. After several attempts, the pilot managed to start the engine and take off. After his heroic escape, Kovyazin ended up in a filtration camp.

To a request made in 2010 to the Russian State Military Archive, the answer came: "Registration number 26121 ... December 12, 1944 left for the RVC." "Checked June 16, 1944 No. 90". after the check, Kovyazin continued to fight, “but not in the sky, but on the ground, in the infantry

Escape of the group of Moskalets, Chkuaseli, Karapetyan

On June 3, 1944, military pilots Vladimir Moskalets, Panteleimon Chkuaseli and Aram Karapetyan hijacked three planes at once from the Lida airfield in Belarus. Friends got access to the cars because they joined the German Air Force and immediately decided that at the first opportunity they would make an escape. The escape was prepared and carried out with the help of a special detachment of the NKVD operating behind enemy lines. In the city of Lida (Belarus), Karapetyan met his fellow countryman, who worked as a driver for the Germans. It was he who helped the pilots “get out” to the detachment that organized the escape. Soon the Nazis decided to relocate to a new airfield, and Karapetyan conveyed through a coherent request to quickly resolve the issue of escape. It was decided to fly on July 3, and in any weather. They took off directly from the parking lot across the runway and soon landed in the intended place. The fugitives became part of the Elusive partisan detachment and fought in it until it was disbanded.

On March 17, 1945, the military tribunal of the Moscow Military District sentenced all three pilots "for treason to the Motherland" to imprisonment in a forced labor camp for a period of 10 years with a loss of rights for 5 years.

During 1952, first Karapetyan (“for excellent work and exemplary discipline”), and then Moskalets and Chkuaseli were released, but only in 1959, after an additional check by the Chief Military Prosecutor’s Office, did this law enforcement agency raise the issue of canceling the illegal sentence*.

On March 23, 1959, the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR ruled to dismiss their case due to newly discovered circumstances, noting the following: “During the verification of this case, the former commander of one of the partisan detachments Sapozhnikov T.S., head of the operational department of the partisan brigade Volkov N.V. and other persons, from whose testimonies it follows that the explanations of Chkuaseli, Moskalets and Karapetyan regarding their connection with the partisan detachment and the circumstances of the flight to the side of the partisans are correct ... "*.

The heroic escape from German captivity of the Soviet pilot Mikhail Devyatayev predetermined the destruction of the Reich missile program and changed the course of the entire Second World War.

While in captivity, he hijacked a secret Nazi bomber, along with the control system for the world's first V-wing cruise missile. With these missiles, the Wehrmacht planned to remotely destroy London and New York, and then wipe Moscow off the face of the earth. But the captive Devyatayev was able to single-handedly prevent this plan from coming true.

The outcome of the Second World War might have been completely different if it were not for the heroism and desperate courage of one Mordvin named Mikhail Devyataev, who was captured and was among the few who withstood the inhuman conditions of the Nazi concentration camp. On February 8, 1945, he, along with nine other Soviet prisoners, hijacked the latest Heinkel-1 bomber with an integrated radio control and target designation system from a secret long-range V-2 cruise missile on board. It was the first ballistic cruise missile in the world, which was capable of hitting a target at a distance of up to 1500 km and destroying entire cities with a probability close to 100%. London was the first target.

In the Baltic Sea, on the line north of Berlin, there is an islet called Usedom. At its western tip was the secret Peenemünde base. It was called "Goering's Reserve". The newest aircraft were tested here and a secret missile center headed by Wernher von Braun was located right there. From ten launch sites located along the coast, at night, leaving fiery tongues, went into the sky "fau - 2. With this weapon, the Nazis hoped to reach right up to New York. But in the spring of 45, it was important for them to terrorize a closer point - London. However serial "fau - 1? She flew only 325 kilometers. With the loss of the launch base in the West, the cruise missile began to be launched from Peenemünde. From here to London more than a thousand kilometers. The rocket was raised on an airplane and launched already over the sea.

The aviation unit that tested the latest technology was headed by the thirty-three-year-old ace Karl Heinz Graudenz. Behind him were many military merits marked by Hitler's awards. Dozens of Heinkels, Junkers, Messerschmitts of the top-secret division took part in the feverish work on Peenemünde. Graudenz himself participated in the tests. He flew on the "Heinkel - 111?", which had the monogram "G. A." - "Gustav Anton". The base was carefully guarded by fighters and anti-aircraft guns, as well as by the SS service.

February 8, 1945 was an ordinary, busy day. Ober - Lieutenant Graudenz, having had a hasty lunch in the dining room, put the flight documents in order in his office. Suddenly the phone rang: who is it you took off like a crow? - Graudenz heard the rude voice of the air defense chief. - no one took off from me ... - didn’t take off ... I myself saw through binoculars - somehow "Gustav Anton" took off. “Get yourself another pair of binoculars, stronger ones,” the Graudens flared up. - my "Gustav Anton" with covered motors is standing. Only I can fly it. maybe our planes are already flying without pilots? - you look - it's better if "Gustav Anton" is in place ....

Ober - Lieutenant Graudenz jumped into the car and two minutes later was in the parking lot of his plane. Cases from motors and a trolley with batteries - that's all that the numb ace saw. "Raise fighters! Raise everything you can! Catch up and shoot down!" ... An hour later, the planes returned with nothing.

With a tremor in his stomach, Graudenz went to the telephone to report to Berlin about what had happened. Goering, having learned about the state of emergency at the most secret base, stamped his feet - “hang the guilty! On February 13, Goering and Bormann flew in on a Peenemünde ... the head of Karl Heinz Graudenz survived. Perhaps they remembered the former merits of the ace, but, most likely, Goering’s fury was softened by a saving lie : "The plane was overtaken over the Sea and shot down." Who hijacked the plane? The first thing that came to the mind of the Groudens was "tom-mi" ... The British were worried about the Base from which the "fau" flew. Probably their agent. But in a caponier - an earthen shelter for the aircraft, near which the hijacked "Heinkel" was located, they found the guard of a group of prisoners of war killed. They filled up the bomb craters that day. Urgent construction in the camp immediately showed: there were not enough ten prisoners. All of them were Russians. And a day later, the SS service reported : one of the fugitives is not the teacher Grigory Nikitenko at all, but the pilot Mikhail Devyataev.

Mikhail landed in Poland behind the front line, got to command, handed over a plane with secret equipment, reported everything he saw in German captivity and, thus, predetermined the fate of the Reich's secret missile program and the course of the entire war. Until 2001, Mikhail Petrovich did not even have the right to talk about the fact that he was introduced to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union by the designer of Soviet missiles s. P. queens. And that his escape from the Peenemünde missile base on February 8, 1945 allowed the Soviet command to find out the exact coordinates of the V-2 launch sites and bomb not only them, but also the underground workshops for the production of the "Dirty" uranium bomb. This was Hitler's last hope for the continuation of the Second World War until the complete destruction of the entire civilization.

The pilot said: “The airport on the island was false. Plywood mock-ups were put up on it. The Americans and the British bombed them. When I flew in and told Lieutenant General of the 61st Army Belov about this, he gasped and grabbed his head! fly 200 m from the seashore, where a real airfield is hidden in the forest. It was covered by trees on special mobile wheelchairs. That's why they couldn't find it. But there were about 3,5 thousand Germans and 13 V-1 installations and "V-2".

The main thing in this story is not the fact itself that exhausted Soviet prisoners from the concentration camp hijacked the latest military plane from a specially guarded secret base of the Nazis and reached "Own" in order to save themselves and report everything that they managed to see from the enemy. The main thing was the fact that the hijacked aircraft was not - 111 ... the control panel of the V-2 rocket - the world's first long-range cruise missile developed in Germany. Mikhail Petrovich in his book "Escape from Hell" publishes the memoirs of an eyewitness to the escape of Kurt Shanpa, who that day was one of the sentries at the Peenemünde base: "The last test launch of V - 2 ("V-2") was prepared ... unexpectedly, some plane took off from the western airfield ... when it was already over the sea, a V-2 rocket projectile rose from the ramp. ... Russian prisoners of war fled in the plane, which was placed at the disposal of Dr. Shteingof.

Devyatayev later said: “There was a radio receiver on the plane to set the course for the V-2 rocket.” The plane flew from above and guided the rocket by radio. We didn’t have anything like that then. and flew into the sea.

To break out of captivity, you needed ingenuity, determination and reliable comrades.

How many of our soldiers and officers were taken prisoner during the Great Patriotic War has not yet been counted. From the German side they talk about five million, Russian historians call the number 500 thousand less. How the Nazis treated the prisoners is known from documents and eyewitness accounts. About 2.5 million people died from exhaustion and torture, and 470,000 were executed. Even more passed through the concentration camps - 18 million people from different countries, of which 11 million were destroyed. Everything happened in the nightmare of the camps. Someone immediately resigned to fate, others, saving their own skin, joined to serve the Nazis. But there were always those who, with minimal chances of success, nevertheless decided to escape.

hijacked a plane

It was the 12th sortie of the 19-year-old Nikolai Loshakov. The Yak-16 engine failed, the pilot turned towards Leningrad, which was defended by their regiment in November 1942. In battle, he knocked out a Messerschmitt, but was squeezed in a vise by two enemy aircraft. Wounded in the arm and leg, Nikolai parachuted out of a burning plane over our territory, but a strong wind carried him towards the Fritz.

The Germans began to persuade the captured pilot to go over to their side: they decided that the youngster was shot down in the first battle and, out of fright, would agree to serve in their aviation. On reflection, Loshakov agreed, but decided to himself - this is the best way to thwart the Nazis' plan to form a squadron of traitors. He was sent to an alternate airfield in the city of Ostrov. However, the planes were not allowed. But freedom of movement was not restricted. An assistant was found for Nikolai - a captured infantryman Ivan Denisyuk who worked as an attendant. He was able to get a German flight jacket and cap, copy the location of the instruments on the plane. On August 11, 1943, a cargo Storch landed at the airfield, and the German pilot went to rest. Denisyuk quickly refueled the car, Loshakov quietly changed into a German uniform, calmly approached the plane, started the engine and soared into the sky. When the Germans realized that they had been scammed, it was too late. The fugitives, having covered 300 kilometers, landed the plane in a potato field. It was the first escape from captivity on a plane captured from the enemy.

valuable cargo

fighter pilot Mikhail Devyataev was taken prisoner in July 1944. Interrogations, torture, and Devyatayev is sent to the Lodz POW camp, from where he and his comrades try to escape a month later. They are caught, and now they - suicide bombers, in overalls with appropriate stripes - are sent to the Sachsenhausen camp. Here, 27-year-old Mikhail is helped by a local hairdresser: he changes the suicide tag for the identification number of an ordinary prisoner who died a few days ago. Under the name Grigory Nikitenko Mikhail ends up in Peenemünde, a training ground on the island of Usedom in the Baltic Sea, where V-missiles were tested. The prisoners were needed to perform unskilled work.

Mikhail DEVYATAEV stole the most important "Heinkel"

The thought of running away was constant. Look how many planes are around, and he is an ace pilot. But accomplices were needed - such that they would not surrender under any circumstances. Devyatayev slowly gathered a team and tried to get closer to the aircraft in order to study the dashboards. They decided to escape on a Heinkel-111 bomber. On February 8, 1945, ten conspirators won places for themselves in the brigades that were supposed to clean the airfield. They killed the escort with a sharpener, pulled off the covers from the plane, Devyatayev sat at the helm, and it turned out that the battery ... was removed. And every minute counts. They rushed to look, found, brought, installed. The car started up. But she couldn’t take off the first time: Mikhail didn’t fully understand the levers. I had to turn around for a new run. The Nazis were already rushing along the strip. The pilot flew the plane straight at them. Someone rushed to the anti-aircraft guns, others raised a fighter to intercept. But the fugitives managed to break away from the chase. Rising above the clouds, guided by the sun. They flew to the front line, and then Soviet anti-aircraft guns began firing at the Nazi plane. I had to land right in the field. Of course, they were not immediately believed that they were traitors who had fled from captivity, and not traitors who had gone over to the side of the enemy. But it soon became clear that of all the planes at the training ground, the daredevils hijacked the one on which the equipment for launching the world's first V-2 ballistic missiles was installed. So they not only saved themselves, but also delivered the most valuable cargo for our rocket scientists. Mikhail Devyatayev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union in 1957 for his contribution to Soviet rocket science. Unfortunately, of the ten who fled by the end of the war, only four remained alive.

Frenzied Tank

The Kummersdorf test site, 30 kilometers from Berlin, served as a test center for the Germans since the end of the 19th century. During the war, military equipment captured in battle was delivered there for a thorough study. Captured tankers also ended up in Kummersdorf: to understand how a tank works in battle, a crew was needed.

Another firing at the end of 1943. Prisoners are promised freedom if they survive after the ordeal. But our people know: there is no chance. In the tank, the commander orders to obey only him and sends the car to the observation tower, where the entire command of the Nazis is located. An armored personnel carrier called on alarm, the tank crushes with caterpillars at full speed and leaves the training ground without hindrance. In the concentration camp, which was located nearby, the tank demolishes the booth at the checkpoint and part of the fence - several prisoners escape. When the fuel runs out, the tankers will go to their own on foot. Only the radio operator made it alive, but he also died of exhaustion, having only briefly told his story to Lieutenant Colonel Pavlovtsev. He tried to find out the details from the Germans who lived near Kummersdorf. But no one wanted to talk, except for a decrepit old man, who confirmed the story with the "escaped" tank. Grandfather admitted that they were most struck by the episode with the children who were on the road. The tankers, who cared about every minute, stopped, drove the children away, and only then rushed on.

There are no witnesses to this incident, and its heroes are nameless. But the story formed the basis of the film "The Lark", filmed in 1964.

Revolt of the doomed

Polish Sobibor was an extermination camp. But workers were also needed at the death factory. Therefore, the strongest were left alive - for the time being. In September 1943, another group of Soviet Jewish prisoners of war arrived. Among them is a 34-year-old Alexander Pechersky who was assigned to the construction team. He organized an underground group and began planning an escape. At first they wanted to dig an underground passage. But to get through a narrow hole for several dozen people would take a considerable amount of time. It was decided to raise an uprising.

Untersturmführer became the first victim Berg. He came to a local atelier to try on a suit, but ran into a rebel axe. The next was the head of the camp guard. They acted clearly: some liquidated the leadership of the camp, others cut telephone wires, and others collected captured weapons. The rebels tried to get to the arsenal, but they were stopped by machine-gun fire. It was decided to get out of the camp. Some died in the minefield that surrounded Sobibor. The rest hid in the forest, divided into groups and dispersed. Most of the fugitives, including Alexander Pechersky, joined the partisans. 53 prisoners managed to escape alive.

Hunting for hares

Early 1945. Austria, Mauthausen concentration camp. A Soviet pilot was brought here Nikolai Vlasov- Hero of the Soviet Union, who made 220 sorties. He was taken prisoner in 1943, when his plane was shot down and he was wounded. The Nazis even allowed him to wear the Golden Star. They wanted to get an ace for themselves and called for joining the army of a traitor - a general Vlasov. And Nikolai tried to escape from all the camps where he happened to be. And in Mauthausen he organized a resistance group.

First, the headquarters, which consisted of several people, developed a plan. As weapons, they will have cobblestones from the pavement, sticks, wash basins broken into fragments. The guards on the towers are neutralized by jets from fire extinguishers. The current passed through the barbed wire will be shorted out by wet blankets and clothes. Agreed with the rest. 75 people, emaciated to the point that they could not walk, promised to give their clothes: they didn’t care anymore, and the fugitives could freeze in ten degrees below zero. The date was set: on the night of January 29th. But there was a traitor. Three days before the escape, the Nazis burned 25 people alive in the crematorium, among them all the organizers. But that didn't stop the others. On the night of February 3, the prisoners carried out their plan.

419 people escaped from the camp. 100 were killed by machine-gun fire from towers. The rest were hunted down. They raised everyone: the military, the gendarmerie, the people's militia, the Hitler Youth and local residents. They ordered not to take them alive, to bring the corpses to the backyard of the school in the village of Ried in der Riedmarkt. The dead were counted by crossing out the sticks with chalk on the blackboard.

The operation was called "Hare hunting in the Mühlviertel district."

People were excited! They shot at everything that moved. Fugitives were found in houses, carts, barnyards, haystacks and cellars and killed on the spot. The snow was stained with blood, - then the local gendarme wrote down Johan Kohout.

However, the nine sticks on the blackboard were not crossed out. Among the survivors were Mikhail Ryabchinsky and Nikolai Tsemkalo. They ventured into the hayloft of one of the houses: it was the only one without a portrait. Hitler. Then Mikhail, who spoke German, went to the hosts - Mary and Yogan Langthalers. Pious peasants, whose four sons were at the front, decided to help the Russians. They thought to appease God so that their offspring would remain alive. They managed to shelter the fugitives from the SS search teams until the very surrender. The sons of the Langthalers have indeed returned home. And Ryabchinsky and Tsemkalo kept in touch with their saviors all their lives and even visited them in Austria in 1965.

Mysterious Infection

Vladimir Bespyatkin in 1941 there were 12. His mother died four years before the start of the war, his father and older brothers were called to the front, and the boy stayed with his five-year-old sister Lida. They lived in the Donbass, in a factory barracks, starving. I had to beg for bread from the invaders. Once Volodya was seized by the police and taken to the building of a local orphanage. Begging to let him go, the boy let slip that his little sister was waiting at home. Then Lida was also brought to the orphanage.

It didn't get any better in this establishment. They were fed with a brew of burnt grain from burned fields. They were beaten for the slightest infraction. They could, angry, throw them out the window from the third floor or slash their throats with a knife. And, as it turned out, they conducted medical experiments on children. The only one who tried to somehow help the prisoners was the manager, Frau Betta, a German from the Volga region.

The worst thing for the children was to get into the isolation ward. They did not know what they were doing there, but no one returned from there. Only wooden boxes were taken away and burned, and the ashes were buried in a quarry. Once Volodya got into the isolation ward. There were two of them in the room. The second boy was drained of blood, and he fell asleep, exhausted. And Volodya's body was scratched with a metal brush. After a few hours, he became covered in blisters and realized that he, too, would be taken to the quarry in a wooden box. Gotta run!

As an adult, I recalled this situation many times and realized that Frau Betta had saved me, - Vladimir Bespyatkin recalled. - At night, the nurse snored very deliberately, and the office window turned out to be open. I wanted to call the boy who was being bled, but it turned out that he had died. Then I quietly went to the window and ran away. Crawling, rushing, hiding, he reached the Shchebenka station and knocked on the first house.

Irina Omelchenko, who sheltered the boy, became his second mother. After the liberation of Donbass, she also took Lida. Periodically appearing scabs bothered Vladimir all his life. The doctors could not figure out what the Nazis had infected him with.

Sang and dug

The Stalag Luft III camp contained officers - pilots of the allies, mainly the British and American armies. They lived in completely different conditions than Soviet prisoners of war: they were well fed, allowed to play sports, and arrange theatrical performances. This helped them to dig four deep tunnels: the sound of work was drowned out by choral singing. In one of the passages, a trolley even ran and there were ventilation pipes made up of milk cans. 250 people were digging tunnels. Each tunnel was given a name. "Harry" was the longest: 102 meters and passed at a depth of 8.5 meters. 76 people escaped during the night. However, most were caught. 50 were shot, the rest were returned to the camp. Only three managed to survive and get to their own.

On February 8, 1945, a group of Soviet prisoners of war led by Mikhail Devyatayev escaped. The escape of the group was made on a captured German Heinkel He 111 bomber plane from the German concentration camp Peenemünde, on which V-1 missiles were tested. The prisoners of the camps, trying to break free, showed the soldier's ingenuity and perseverance in achieving the goal. We will tell you about the seven most daring escapes from German captivity.

Mikhail Petrovich Devyataev
Guards senior lieutenant, fighter pilot Devyatayev and his comrades escaped from a German concentration camp on a stolen bomber. On February 8, 1945, a group of 10 Soviet prisoners of war captured a German Heinkel He 111 H-22 bomber and escaped from a concentration camp on the island of Usedom (Germany). It was piloted by Devyatayev. The plane was discovered by air ace Colonel Walter Dahl, returning from a mission, but he could not fulfill the order of the German command to “shoot down the lone Heinkel” due to lack of ammunition.

In the area of the front line, the plane was fired upon by Soviet anti-aircraft guns, they had to make an emergency landing. The Heinkel landed on its belly south of the village of Gollin at the location of the artillery unit of the 61st Army. Having flown a little over 300 km, Devyatayev delivered to the command strategically important information about the secret center at Usedom, where the rocket weapons of the Nazi Reich were produced and tested. He reported the coordinates of the FAA launch facilities, which were located along the seashore. The information delivered by Devyataev turned out to be absolutely accurate and ensured the success of the air attack on the Usedom training ground.

Obelisk to the feat of the Devyataev group in the city of Saransk, Republic of Mordovia

Nikolai Kuzmich Loshakov

The Soviet fighter pilot was shot down in an air battle and, having been captured, like Devyatayev, he managed to escape on a German plane. Loshakov was shot down in an air battle on May 27, 1943 on a Yak-1B plane, he jumped out with a parachute and was taken prisoner. After numerous interrogations in captivity, Nikolai Loshakov agrees to serve in the German aviation. On August 11, 1943, together with another Soviet prisoner of war, sergeant of the armored forces Ivan Alexandrovich Denisyuk, he escaped from German captivity on a Storch plane. On December 4, 1943, Loshakov was convicted by the NKVD OSO for treason while in captivity for 3 years from August 12, 1943 to August 12, 1946. In January 1944 he was placed in the "Vorkutlag", and already on August 12, 1945 he was released from the camp with the removal of his criminal record.

Nikolai Kuzmich Loshakov

Vladimir Dmitrievich Lavrinenkov

Soviet fighter ace, twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Colonel General of Aviation. By February 1943, Lavrinenkov made 322 sorties, participated in 78 air battles, shot down 16 personally and in a group of 11 enemy aircraft. In August 1943, he was rammed by a German Focke-Wulf Fw 189 reconnaissance aircraft, after which he was captured.

Lavrinenkov, who was then already a Hero of the Soviet Union, was taken to Berlin. Perhaps they wanted to take him to the high authorities, who would try to persuade the outstanding pilot to the side of the Nazis.

Lavrinenkov decided that it was especially impossible to delay the escape. Together with comrade Viktor Karyukin, they jumped out of the train that was taking them to Germany.

Our pilots flew out of the car, crashing into a pile of sand and, tumbling, rolled down a slope. Leaving the chase, in a few days the heroes reached the Dnieper. With the help of a peasant, they crossed to the left bank of the river and met with partisans in the forest near the village of Komarovka.

Vladimir Dmitrievich Lavrinenkov

Alexander Aronovich Pechersky

Red Army officer, leader of the only successful uprising in the death camp during World War II. On September 18, 1943, as part of a group of Jewish prisoners, Pechersky was sent to the Sobibor extermination camp, where he arrived on September 23. There he became the organizer and leader of the uprising of prisoners. On October 14, 1943, the prisoners of the death camp revolted. According to Pechersky's plan, the prisoners were supposed to secretly, one by one, eliminate the camp staff, and then, having taken possession of the weapons that were in the camp warehouse, kill the guards.

The plan was only partially successful - the rebels were able to kill 12 SS from the camp staff and 38 collaborator guards, but failed to take possession of the armory. The guards opened fire on the prisoners, and they were forced to break out of the camp through minefields. They managed to crush the guards and escape into the forest.

Alexander Aronovich Pechersky

Sergei Alexandrovsky
Militia soldier. In October 1941, the militia division, in which Sergey Aleksandrovsky fought, fought in encirclement and retreated to the Semlev area, Smolensk region. In October, hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers and officers found themselves in German captivity near Vyazma, Semlev and Dorogobuzh. Among the prisoners was Sergei Alexandrovsky.

Aleksandrovsky was sent to concentration camp No. 6, located in the city of Borisov, Minsk region. The barracks, surrounded by three rows of barbed wire, seemed to be a reliable protection against escapes.

On one of the January days of 1943, prisoners of war were herded to the appelplatz, where the head of the camp and a man in an unusual uniform climbed onto a truck used instead of a tribune. The latter was a certain Captain Lozhkin, who arrived on behalf of the ROA (Russian Liberation Army, which fought on the side of the Nazis). He spoke in detail about the activities of the ROA, adding that he had arrived on behalf of his commander, General Vlasov. In the camp, Lozhkin intended to select "deceived Russian people" for the ROA.
After that, a command was issued to those who are ready to serve in the ROA to fail. At first, no one came out of the crowd. Then a stocky, very thin man with a long gray beard (presumably Aleksandrovsky) jumped out from the center of the crowd. He threw something into the truck. There was a terrible explosion. The truck exploded, and everyone who was there died. The crowd of prisoners, taking advantage of the panic, rushed to the guard barracks. The prisoners seized their weapons and fled.

Sergei Ivanovich Vandyshev

Sergei Ivanovich Vandyshev - Soviet attack pilot, guard major. In 1942 he graduated with honors from the school, on the basis of which the 808th (later renamed the 93rd Guards) assault aviation regiment of the 5th Guards assault aviation division of the 17th air army was created, sent to Stalingrad.

In July 1944, during the attempts of the German counter-offensive on the Sandomierz bridgehead, a squadron of attack aircraft under the command of Major Vandyshev's guard received an order to destroy a large enemy ammunition depot. When returning home after the successful completion of the mission, Vandyshev's plane was shot down. The pilot was forced to land on enemy territory. Being seriously wounded, he was captured.

He was sent to a camp for Russian POW pilots in Koenigsberg. A great desire to break free led to the idea of organizing an escape. Together with fellow campers, Sergei Ivanovich participated in the undermining, thwarted due to betrayal.
On April 22, 1945, he escaped from captivity from the island of Rügen, along with other Soviet prisoners, organizing an uprising. According to other sources, he was released from a prisoner of war camp in the city of Luckenwalde, near Berlin, by the 29th motorized rifle brigade of the Soviet Army.
After the captivity, Vandyshev returned to his unit, was again appointed squadron commander, and participated in the capture of Berlin. During the fighting, he made 158 sorties, destroyed 23 tanks, 59 guns, participated in 52 air battles. He personally shot down 3 and in the group 2 enemy aircraft.

Sergei Ivanovich Vandyshev

Vladimir Ivanovich Muratov

Pilot Vladimir Ivanovich Muratov was born on December 9, 1923 in the Tambov region. From November 1943 to May 1944, Sergeant Muratov served in the 183rd Fighter Aviation Regiment, which later became the 150th Guards IAP. In May 1944, Muratov received an order to conduct reconnaissance. On the way back, a Nazi anti-aircraft shell hit his plane. During the explosion, the pilot was thrown out of the cockpit and he woke up in.

The prisoners were sent for one day to build caponiers at the airfield. Muratov witnessed how a German officer hit a Romanian mechanic with the rank of corporal in the face. Romanian wept. Having seized the moment, Muratov spoke to him and offered to run away together.
Romanian corporal Peter Bodeuts quietly got parachutes, prepared the plane for takeoff. Russian and Romanian together rushed into the cockpit. "The course is Soviet!" shouted Muratov. At the last moment, Ivan Klevtsov, who later became a Hero of the Soviet Union, joined the fugitives. Muratov miraculously managed to land the car at his own airfield.

On February 8, 1945, a group of Soviet prisoners of war led by Mikhail Devyatayev escaped. The group escaped on a captured German bomber Heinkel He 111 from the German concentration camp Peenemünde, where V-1 missiles were being tested. The prisoners of the camps, trying to break free, showed the soldier's ingenuity and perseverance in achieving the goal. We will tell you about the seven most daring escapes from German captivity.

MIKHAIL PETROVICH DEVYATAEV

Guards senior lieutenant fighter pilot Devyatayev and his comrades escaped from a German concentration camp on a stolen bomber. On February 8, 1945, a group of 10 Soviet prisoners of war captured a German bomber Heinkel He 111 H-22 and escaped from a concentration camp on the island of Usedom (Germany). It was piloted by Devyatayev. The plane was discovered by air ace Colonel Walter Dahl, returning from a mission, but he could not fulfill the order of the German command to “shoot down the lone Heinkel” due to lack of ammunition.

In the area of the front line, the plane was fired upon by Soviet anti-aircraft guns, and they had to make an emergency landing. The Heinkel landed on its belly south of the village of Gollin at the location of the artillery unit of the 61st Army. Having flown a little over 300 km, Devyatayev delivered to the command strategically important information about the secret center at Usedom, where the rocket of the Nazi Reich was produced and tested. He reported the coordinates of the V launchers, which were located along the seashore. The information delivered by Devyataev turned out to be absolutely accurate and ensured the success of the air attack on the Usedom training ground.

NIKOLAI KUZMICH LOSHAKOV

The Soviet fighter pilot was shot down in an air battle and, having been captured, like Devyatayev, he managed to escape on a German plane. Loshakov was shot down in an air battle on May 27, 1943 on a Yak-1B plane, he jumped out with a parachute and was taken prisoner. After numerous interrogations in captivity, Nikolai Loshakov agrees to serve in German aviation. On August 11, 1943, together with another Soviet prisoner of war, sergeant of the armored forces Ivan Aleksandrovich Denisyuk, he escaped from German captivity on a Storch plane. On December 4, 1943, Loshakov was convicted by the NKVD OSO for treason while in captivity for three years - from August 12, 1943 to August 12, 1946. In January 1944 he was placed in Vorkutlag and already on August 12, 1945 he was released from the camp with the removal of his criminal record.

VLADIMIR DMITRIEVICH LAVRINENKOV

Soviet fighter ace, twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Colonel General of Aviation. By February 1943, Lavrinenkov made 322 sorties, participated in 78 air battles, shot down 16 personally and in a group of 11 enemy aircraft. In August 1943, he rammed a German Focke-Wulf Fw 189 reconnaissance aircraft, after which he was captured.

Lavrinenkov decided that it was especially impossible to delay the escape. Together with comrade Viktor Karyukin, they jumped out of the train that was taking them to Germany.

Our pilots flew out of the car, crashing into a pile of sand, and, tumbling, rolled down the slope. Leaving the chase, in a few days the heroes reached the Dnieper. With the help of a peasant, they crossed to the left bank of the river and met with partisans in the forest near the village of Komarovka.

ALEXANDER ARONOVICH PECHERSKY

Red Army officer, leader of the only successful uprising in the death camp during World War II. On September 18, 1943, as part of a group of Jewish prisoners, Pechersky was sent to the Sobibor extermination camp, where he arrived on September 23. There he became the organizer and leader of the uprising of prisoners. On October 14, 1943, the prisoners of the death camp revolted. According to Pechersky's plan, the prisoners were supposed to secretly liquidate the camp personnel one by one, and then, having taken possession of the weapons that were in the camp warehouse, kill the guards.

SERGEY ALEKSANDROVSKY

Militia soldier. In October 1941, the militia division, in which Sergey Aleksandrovsky fought, fought surrounded and retreated to the Semlevo region of the Smolensk region. In October, hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers and officers found themselves in German captivity near Vyazma, Semlev and Dorogobuzh. Among the prisoners was Sergei Alexandrovsky.

After that, a command was issued to those who are ready to serve in the ROA to fail. At first, no one came out of the crowd. Then a stocky, very thin man with a long gray beard (presumably Aleksandrovsky) jumped out from the center of the crowd. He threw something into the truck. There was an explosion. The truck exploded, and everyone who was there died. The crowd of prisoners, taking advantage of the panic, rushed to the guard barracks. The prisoners seized their weapons and fled.

SERGEI IVANOVICH VANDYSHEV

He was sent to a camp for Russian POW pilots in Königsberg. A great desire to break free led to the idea of organizing an escape. Together with fellow campers, Sergei Ivanovich participated in the undermining, thwarted due to betrayal.

On April 22, 1945, he escaped from captivity from the island of Rügen, along with other Soviet prisoners, organizing an uprising. According to other sources, he was released from a prisoner of war camp in the city of Luckenwalde, near Berlin, by the 29th motorized rifle brigade of the Soviet army.

After the captivity, Vandyshev returned to his unit, was again appointed squadron commander, and participated in the capture of Berlin. During the fighting, he made 158 sorties, destroyed 23 tanks, 59 guns, participated in 52 air battles. He personally shot down three and in the group two enemy aircraft.

VLADIMIR IVANOVICH MURATOV

Pilot Vladimir Ivanovich Muratov was born on December 9, 1923 in the Tambov region. From November 1943 to May 1944, Sergeant Muratov served in the 183rd Fighter Aviation Regiment, which later became the 150th Guards IAP. In May 1944, Muratov received an order to conduct reconnaissance. On the way back, a fascist anti-aircraft shell hit his plane. During the explosion, the pilot was thrown out of the cockpit, and he woke up in captivity.

Romanian corporal Peter Bodeuts quietly got parachutes, prepared the plane for takeoff. Russian and Romanian together rushed into the cockpit. "The course is Soviet!" shouted Muratov. At the last moment, Ivan Klevtsov, who later became a Hero of the Soviet Union, joined the fugitives. Muratov miraculously managed to land the car at his own airfield.

Portal for the student. Self-training