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Every year the number of veterans and witnesses of the Second World War becomes less and less. And in just a dozen years they will no longer be alive. Therefore, it is now so important to find out the truth about these distant events in order to avoid misunderstandings and misinterpretations in the future.

Declassification is gradually being carried out state archives, and military historians have access to secret documents, and therefore exact facts, which make it possible to find out the truth and dispel all speculation that concerns certain points military history. The Battle of Stalingrad also has a number of episodes that cause mixed assessments both the veterans themselves and historians. One of these controversial episodes is the defense of one of the many dilapidated houses in the center of Stalingrad, which became known throughout the world as “Pavlov’s house.”

During the defense of Stalingrad in September 1942, the group Soviet intelligence officers captured a four-story building in the very center of the city and established a foothold there. The group was led by Sergeant Yakov Pavlov. A little later, machine guns, ammunition and anti-tank rifles were delivered there, and the house turned into an important stronghold of the division's defense.

The history of the defense of this house is as follows: during the bombing of the city, all the buildings turned into ruins, only one four-story house survived. Its upper floors made it possible to observe and keep under fire the part of the city that was occupied by the enemy, so the house itself played an important strategic role in the plans of the Soviet command.

The house was adapted for all-round defense. Firing points were moved outside the building, and underground passages were made to communicate with them. The approaches to the house were mined with anti-personnel and anti-tank mines. It was thanks to the skillful organization of defense that the warriors were able to repel enemy attacks for such a long period of time.

Representatives of 9 nationalities fought a staunch defense until Soviet troops launched a counteroffensive in the Battle of Stalingrad. It would seem, what is unclear here? However, Yuri Beledin, one of the oldest and most experienced journalists in Volgograd, is sure that this house should bear the name of the “house of soldier’s glory”, and not at all “Pavlov’s house”.

The journalist writes about this in his book, which is called “A Shard in the Heart.” According to him, battalion commander A. Zhukov was responsible for the seizure of this house. It was on his orders that company commander I. Naumov sent four soldiers, one of whom was Pavlov. Within 24 hours they repulsed German attacks. The rest of the time, while the defense of the house was being carried out, Lieutenant I. Afanasyev was responsible for everything, who came there along with reinforcements in the form of a machine-gun platoon and a group of armor-piercing men. General composition The garrison located there consisted of 29 soldiers.

In addition, on one of the walls of the house, someone made an inscription that P. Demchenko, I. Voronov, A. Anikin and P. Dovzhenko heroically fought in this place. And below it was written that Ya. Pavlov’s house was defended. In the end - five people. Why then, of all those who defended the house, and who were in absolutely equal conditions, only Sergeant Ya. Pavlov was awarded the star of the Hero of the USSR? And besides, most of the entries in military literature they say that it was under the leadership of Pavlov that the Soviet garrison held the defense for 58 days.

Then another question arises: if it is true that it was not Pavlov who led the defense, why were the other defenders silent? At the same time, the facts indicate that they were not silent at all. This is also evidenced by the correspondence between I. Afanasyev and fellow soldiers. According to the author of the book, there was a certain “political situation” that did not make it possible to change the established idea of ​​​​the defenders of this house. In addition, I. Afanasyev himself was a man of exceptional decency and modesty. He served in the army until 1951, when he was discharged for health reasons - he was almost completely blind from wounds received during the war. He was awarded several front-line awards, including the medal “For the Defense of Stalingrad.” In the book “House of Soldier's Glory,” he described in detail the time his garrison stayed in the house. But the censor did not let it through, so the author was forced to make some amendments. Thus, Afanasyev cited Pavlov’s words that by the time the reconnaissance group arrived there were Germans in the house. Some time later, evidence was collected that there was in fact no one in the house. Overall, his book is true story about the difficult time soviet soldiers heroically defended the house. Among these fighters was Ya. Pavlov, who was even wounded at that time. No one is trying to belittle his merits in defense, but the authorities were very selective in singling out the defenders of this building - after all, it was not only Pavlov’s house, but first and foremost a house large quantity Soviet soldiers - defenders of Stalingrad.

Breaking through the defense of the house was the main task of the Germans at that time, because this house was like a bone in the throat. German troops They tried to break the defense with the help of mortar and artillery shelling, and air bombing, but the Nazis failed to break the defenders. These events went down in the history of the war as a symbol of the perseverance and courage of the soldiers of the Soviet army.

In addition, this house has become a symbol of labor valor Soviet people. It was the restoration of Pavlov's house that marked the beginning of the Cherkasovsky movement to restore buildings. Immediately after finishing Battle of Stalingrad A.M. Cherkasova’s women’s teams began restoring the house, and by the end of 1943, more than 820 teams were working in the city, in 1944 – already 1192, and in 1945 – 1227 teams.

Pavlov's house became one of the historical sites of the Battle of Stalingrad, which still causes controversy among modern historians.

During fierce fighting, the house withstood a considerable number of counterattacks from the Germans. For 58 days, a group of Soviet soldiers bravely held the defense, destroying more than a thousand enemy soldiers during this period. IN post-war years historians carefully tried to restore all the details, and the composition of the commanders who carried out the operation led to the first disagreements.

Who held the line

According to official version led the operation Ya.F. Pavlov, in principle, is associated with this fact and the name of the house, which he subsequently received. But there is another version, according to which Pavlov directly led the assault, and I.F. Afanasyev was then responsible for the defense. And this fact is confirmed by military reports, which became the source for reconstructing all the events of that period. According to his soldiers, Ivan Afanasyevich was quite a modest person, it may have pushed it into the background a bit. After the war, Pavlov was awarded the title of Hero Soviet Union. Unlike him, Afanasiev was not awarded such an award.

Strategic importance of the house

An interesting fact for historians was that the Germans designated this house on the map as a fortress. And indeed the strategic importance of the house was very important - from here there was a wide view of the territory from where the Germans could break through to the Volga. Despite daily attacks from the enemy, our soldiers defended their positions, reliably closing the approaches from enemies. The Germans who took part in the assault could not understand how the people in Pavlov’s house could withstand their attacks without food or ammunition reinforcements. Subsequently, it turned out that all provisions and weapons were delivered through a special trench dug underground.

Is Tolik Kuryshov a fictional character or a hero?

Also little known fact, which was discovered during the research, was the heroism of an 11-year-old boy who fought along with the Pavlovians. Tolik Kuryshov helped the soldiers in every possible way, who, in turn, tried to protect him from danger. Despite the commander's ban, Tolik still managed to commit real feat. Having penetrated one of the neighboring houses, he was able to obtain important documents for the army - the capture plan. After the war, Kuryshov did not advertise his feat in any way. We learned about this event from surviving documents. After a series of investigations, Anatoly Kuryshov was awarded the order Red star.

Where were the civilians?

Whether there was an evacuation or not - this issue also caused a lot of controversy. According to one version, there were civilians in the basement of the Pavlovsk house for all 58 days. Although there is theory that people were evacuated through dug trenches. Yet modern historians adhere to the official version. Many documents indicate that people were indeed in the basement all this time. Thanks to the heroism of our soldiers, no civilians were harmed during these 58 days.

Today Pavlov's house has been completely restored and immortalized with a memorial wall. Based on the events related to the heroic defense of the legendary house, books have been written and even a film has been made, which has won many world awards.

In September 1942, fierce battles broke out in the streets and squares of the central and northern parts of Stalingrad. “A fight in the city is a special fight. Here the issue is decided not by strength, but by skill, dexterity, resourcefulness and surprise.

City buildings, like breakwaters, cut the battle formations of the advancing enemy and directed his forces along the streets. Therefore, we held tightly to particularly strong buildings and created a few garrisons in them, capable of conducting an all-round defense in the event of encirclement.

Particularly strong buildings helped us create strong points from which the city’s defenders mowed down the advancing fascists with machine gun and machine gun fire.”, - later noted the commander of the legendary 62nd Army, General Vasily Chuikov.

One of the strongholds, the importance of which was spoken by the commander of Army 62, was the legendary Pavlov’s House. Its end wall overlooked the January 9 Square (later Lenin Square). The 42nd Regiment of the 13th Guards Rifle Division, which joined the 62nd Army in September 1942 (divisional commander General Alexander Rodimtsev), operated at this line. The house occupied an important place in the defense system of Rodimtsev’s guards on the approaches to the Volga. It was a four-story brick building.

However, he had a very important tactical advantage: from there he controlled the entire surrounding area. It was possible to observe and fire at the part of the city occupied by the enemy by that time: up to 1 km to the west, and even more to the north and south.

But the main thing is that from here the paths of a possible German breakthrough to the Volga were visible: it was just a stone’s throw away. Intense fighting here continued for more than two months.

The tactical significance of the house was correctly assessed by the commander of the 42nd Guards Rifle Regiment, Colonel Ivan Elin. He ordered the commander of the 3rd Rifle Battalion, Captain Alexei Zhukov, to seize the house and turn it into a stronghold. On September 20, 1942, soldiers from the squad led by Sergeant Yakov Pavlov made their way there. And on the third day, reinforcements arrived: a machine-gun platoon of Lieutenant Ivan Afanasyev (seven people with one heavy machine gun), a group of armor-piercing soldiers of Senior Sergeant Andrei Sobgaida (six people with three anti-tank rifles), four mortar men with two mortars under the command of Lieutenant Alexei Chernyshenko and three machine gunners. Lieutenant Ivan Afanasyev was appointed commander of this group.

The Nazis conducted massive artillery and mortar fire on the house almost all the time, carried out air strikes on it, and continuously attacked.

But the garrison of the “fortress” - this is how Pavlov’s house was marked on the headquarters map of the commander of the 6th German Army, Paulus - skillfully prepared it for all-round defense. The soldiers fired from different places through embrasures punched in bricked up windows and holes in the walls.

When the enemy tried to approach the building, he was met by dense machine-gun fire from all firing points. The garrison steadfastly repelled enemy attacks and inflicted significant losses on the Nazis. And most importantly, in operational and tactical terms, the defenders of the house did not allow the enemy to break through to the Volga in this area.

At the same time, Lieutenants Afanasyev, Chernyshenko and Sergeant Pavlov established fire cooperation with strongholds in neighboring buildings - in the house defended by the soldiers of Lieutenant Nikolai Zabolotny, and in the mill building, where the command post of the 42nd Infantry Regiment was located. The interaction was facilitated by the fact that an observation post was equipped on the third floor of Pavlov’s house, which the Nazis were never able to suppress.

“A small group, defending one house, destroyed more enemy soldiers than the Nazis lost during the capture of Paris,” noted Army 62 commander Vasily Chuikov.

Pavlov's house was defended by soldiers different nationalities- Russians Pavlov, Aleksandrov and Afanasyev, Ukrainians Sobgaida and Glushchenko, Georgians Mosiashvili and Stepanoshvili, Uzbek Turganov, Kazakh Murzaev, Abkhaz Sukhba, Tajik Turdyev, Tatar Romazanov. According to official data - 24 fighters. But in reality - up to 30. Some dropped out due to injury, others died, but they were replaced.

As a result of continuous shelling, the building was seriously damaged. One end wall was almost completely destroyed. To avoid losses from the rubble, some of the firepower was moved outside the building by order of the regiment commander.

One cannot help but ask: how were Sergeant Pavlov’s fellow soldiers not only able to survive in the fiery hell, but also to defend themselves effectively? The reserve positions they equipped helped the fighters a lot.

In front of the house there was a cemented fuel warehouse; an underground passage was dug to it. And about 30 meters from the house there was a hatch for a water supply tunnel, to which an underground passage was also made. It brought ammunition and meager supplies of food to the defenders of the house.

During shelling, everyone, except observers and combat guards, went down to shelters. This included civilians in the basements who, for various reasons, could not be evacuated immediately. The shelling stopped, and the entire small garrison was again in its positions in the house, again firing at the enemy.

The garrison of the house held the defense for 58 days and nights. The soldiers left it on November 24, when the regiment, along with other units, launched a counteroffensive. All of them were awarded government awards. And Sergeant Pavlov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. True, after the war - by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of June 27, 1945 - after he had joined the party by that time.

Historical truth for the sake of noting that most At the time, the defense of the outpost house was led by Lieutenant Afanasyev. But he was not awarded the title of Hero. In addition, Ivan Filippovich was a man of exceptional modesty and never emphasized his merits.

And “at the top” they decided to promote to a high rank the junior commander, who, together with his fighters, was the first to break through to the house and take up defense there.

The Myth of Sergeant Pavlov's House

The main myth of the famous House of Sergeant Pavlov in Stalingrad is the assertion that during the defensive period of fighting in the city it was defended by a detachment of Soviet soldiers under the command of Sergeant Yakov Fedotovich Pavlov.

Sergeant Pavlov's house is a four-story building of the regional consumer union in the center of Stalingrad on the January 9 Square (then address: Penzenskaya street, 61). It became a symbol of the perseverance and heroism of the Red Army soldiers during the Battle of Stalingrad. At the end of September 1942, a reconnaissance group of four soldiers led by Sergeant Yakov Pavlov from the 42nd Guards Rifle Regiment of the 13th Guards Division of General Alexander Ilyich Rodimtsev occupied this house. There were no Germans there at that moment, although Pavlov himself later claimed the opposite in his memoirs. Since Pavlov’s group was the first to enter this building, later on maps it began to be designated as “Pavlov’s house.” A day later, a machine-gun platoon of senior lieutenant Ivan Filippovich Afanasyev was deployed to reinforce the defenders of the house, who took command. The number of defenders of the house increased to 24. Since those killed and wounded during the siege were replaced by new Red Army soldiers, a total of 29 soldiers defended “Pavlov’s house”. Of these, three died during the defense - mortar lieutenant A. N. Chernyshenko, privates I. Ya. Khait and I. T. Svirin. In addition, one nurse and two orderlies from local residents. Afanasiev also mentions in his memoirs two “cowards who were planning to desert,” who were apparently shot. All the time, a young mother with her newborn daughter also remained in the house, taking refuge there from the bombing. The defenders of Pavlov's House repelled German attacks and held the building, from which the approaches to the Volga were clearly visible. Pavlov recalled: “There wasn’t a day when the Nazis left our house alone. Our garrison, which did not allow them to take a step further, was worse than an eyesore for them. Day by day they intensified the shelling, apparently deciding to incinerate the house. Once the German artillery fired for a whole day without a break.” In front of the house there was a cemented gas storage facility, to which an underground passage was dug. Another convenient position was located behind the house, about thirty meters away, where there was a hatch for the water supply tunnel, into which an underground passage was also dug. When the shelling began, the fighters immediately went to shelter. This circumstance explains the relatively small losses suffered by the defenders of the house. The Germans preferred to shell “Pavlov’s house” rather than attack it, realizing that this building would be difficult to take by storm. November 26, after the encirclement of the 6th German army In Stalingrad, Pavlov was seriously wounded in the leg during an attack on a house occupied by the Germans, and he was evacuated to the hospital. Later he fought as a gunner and commander of a reconnaissance squad in artillery units. On June 17, 1945, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. And soon Sergeant Pavlov was awarded the rank of junior lieutenant, in which he retired to the reserve in 1946. After the war, Pavlov visited Stalingrad and signed the wall of the restored house. It also preserves an inscription made by one of the Red Army soldiers during the battles: “This house was defended by Guard Sergeant Yakov Fedotovich Pavlov.” The figure of Pavlov, canonized by Soviet propaganda during the war (an essay about “Pavlov’s house” appeared in Pravda at that time), overshadowed the figure of the one who really commanded the garrison of the legendary house - Lieutenant Afanasyev. Ivan Filippovich survived the war, but never received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In 1951, Pavlov published his memoirs “In Stalingrad,” where there is not a word about Afanasyev. Guard captain Afanasyev was seriously shell-shocked last days defense of “Pavlov’s House”, and after the war he was almost completely blind and in 1951 was forced to resign from the army. In 1970, he also released his memoirs, “House of Soldier's Glory.” In 1958, Afanasyev settled in Stalingrad, and in the early 1970s, thanks to a successful operation, his sight was restored. Afanasyev died in Stalingrad in 1975 at the age of 59 - wounds and concussions took their toll. Pavlov was elected three times as a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR from the Novgorod region, and graduated from the Higher Party School. In 1980 he was awarded the title of honorary citizen of Volgograd. Yakov Fedotovich Pavlov died in Novgorod on September 28, 1981, three weeks short of his 64th birthday. Old wounds also affected. Nowadays in Veliky Novgorod, in the boarding school named after Ya. F. Pavlov, there is a Pavlov Museum for orphans. The history of the “house of Pavlov” was reflected in Vasily Grossman’s novel “Life and Fate,” where Lieutenant Berezkin, whose prototype was Ivan Afanasyev, is shown as the head of the garrison. In 1965, a memorial wall was opened next to Pavlov’s house. Current address famous house: st. Sovetskaya, 39. And two houses away from it is open Memorial plaque on the house in which Ivan Afanasyev lived and died. The fact that Sergeant Pavlov was chosen for the role of the hero, and not Lieutenant Afanasyev, was explained not only by the random circumstance that on the cards famous house designated as “Pavlov’s house” - after the name of the unit commander who was the first to enter it. Even more important role What played out was that propaganda needed a hero from among the soldiers who defended Stalingrad, so the candidacy of Sergeant Pavlov was preferable to that of Lieutenant Afanasyev.

In his memoirs, General Rodimtsev directly names Lieutenant Afanasyev former boss garrison of the “house of Pavlov”, who turned “thanks to his energy and courage, this house into an indestructible fortress,” and describes his difficult fate: “For twelve whole years there was darkness all around him. Head of the Department of Eye Diseases of Volgograd medical institute Professor Alexander Mikhailovich Vodovozov became interested in the fate of the hero of Stalingrad and decided to perform eye surgery on him. The operation took place without anesthesia; the patient himself was an assistant to the professor.

Overcoming the pain, from which it seemed that his mind was about to fade, Afanasyev answered the professor’s questions during the operation, when syringe needles, the tip of a scalpel and other surgical instruments invaded the eyes.

This could only be endured by someone seasoned in severe trials warrior.

In the memory of Ivan Filippovich, Stalingrad remained a city of ruins. When the scientist restored his sight, Afanasyev saw another city, revived to life from the dust and ashes into which it had been turned by the Nazis...” Maybe it’s worth posthumously awarding Ivan Filippovich Afanasyev the title of Hero of Russia?