School in the partisan region. T. Kot., From the book “Children-Heroes. Lessons from the partisan school under the pine tree School in the partisan region author

From the book “Children-Heroes”, compiled by I.K. Goncharenko, N.B. Makhlin
Brave partisan.

With a deafening crash, motorcyclists in black helmets, with the sleeves of their dusty jackets rolled up high, like butchers’, burst into the quiet green street of Shepetivka; in shorts, as if they were not going to fight, but to sunbathe on the beach. And behind them an avalanche of cars, carts, and soldiers poured through the city. In a few days the Nazis robbed and desecrated hometown Vali Kotika.

...Three children were making their way along the edge of the sidewalk, looking back every now and then: Valya Kotik, Kolya Turukhan and Natasha Gorbatyuk.

The guys suddenly stopped, pressed closely against the cold wall of the building, on which recently (a trace is still visible) there was a sign “City Council”, and now hung a fascist flag.

A long black limousine stopped in front of the building, its brakes squeaking. A fascist officer, Shepetovsky Gebietskommissar Worbs, climbed out slowly and importantly.

He glanced with a contemptuous empty gaze at the grey-eyed, fair-haired boy in torn trousers, with his bare feet beaten to the point of bleeding, who at that moment involuntarily moved away from the wall. He glanced over and walked with a wooden soldier’s gait to the Gebietskommissariat. But if the fascist had fixed his gaze on the boy’s face for a few moments, he would have seen irreconcilable hatred in his eyes.

If Worbs had known who this lad would soon, very soon become, if Worbs had known then that his life was in the hands of this lad, he would have given the order in a voice full of malice to seize, torture, and kill the pioneer.

Worbs was so deeply convinced that here, in Shepetovka, everyone was only capable of bending their backs in front of every fascist, that half an hour later he did not even believe some corporal Otto Schultz, who reported that his weapon had been stolen.

You, Schultz, lost your machine gun somewhere,” Worbs attacked him. “Remember where the eggs and lard were requisitioned, look there!”

He could not have known that at that very time two boys and one girl rolled head over heels into a shell crater far from the Gebietskommissariat. These were the same guys who had been hanging out near the Gebitskommissariat half an hour earlier, and in their hands they were holding Corporal Schultz’s machine gun.

Natasha and Kolya, still breathing heavily from the fast run and the excitement they had experienced, examined the machine gun with a magazine probably full of cartridges.
- How do I like it, huh? - Valik said, his eyes sparkling provocatively, remembering all the details of what happened.

It was Valya who first noticed the machine gun near one of the gates. In the depths of the courtyard the voice of some Fritz was heard. Natasha and Kolya did not immediately guess why Valik suddenly whispered to them hastily:
- Hurry to the next yard!

As soon as they jumped over the fence, a machine gun fell into the grass next to them, and Valik jumped after it.
- Let's run!
- Where to put it now? - Natasha asked.
“To the piggy bank, of course,” answered Valik, “I’ll go home now to get a bicycle and a basket.”

The beginning of what the guys called the “piggy bank” was made the previous morning.

The guys swam in the river. The roller dove and hit his hand on something metal.
- Kolka, there’s some iron there, come here, we’ll pull it out! - he called his comrade.

The “iron” turned out to be a rifle. Valik dived again. The catch turned out to be even richer.

Never before had either Valik or Kolya Turukhan had to dive so much, even on a dare. Their eyes became red, like those of rabbits. My ears hurt. But on the shore, in the dense thickets of willow, there was a whole arsenal: rifles, a pistol, even a machine gun.

It’s a pity, there are no cartridges,” Valik lamented.

Where will the cartridges come from? Apparently, the soldiers who were surrounded here fired all their cartridges at the enemy, and then threw their weapons, which had become unnecessary, into the water so that the Germans would not get them.

The weapon was so hidden that no one could find it. The guys called this warehouse “the piggy bank.” Now a machine gun with cartridges has been added there.

For whom did the guys collect weapons? Frankly speaking, Valik did not know this for sure at that time. He Kolya Turukhan said to Natasha and Kolya:
- We will give it to those who will fight the fascists. And we ourselves are no longer small, right?

...Valya Kotik, an eleven-year-old pioneer from Voroshilov Street, has long been watched by the keen, attentive, invisible eyes of the underground.

They like the brave boy who stole a machine gun from under the Fritz’s nose, who discovered and dragged, together with his friends, rifles and even a machine gun, disassembled into parts, behind the barn. And all in front of the Germans, in a basket tied to the trunk of a bicycle.

Soon, very soon, the pioneer will pass the test, and the underground, as an equal, will take him into their family and say to him:
“We trust you, pioneer Valya Kotik, we believe that you will be able to complete any of our tasks, no matter what dangers it may pose!”

Leaflets

One of the many telephones on the Gebietskommissar's desk rang with short, frequent beeps - a device connected to the direct cable of the German General Staff Warsaw - Berlin.

“Is it really already known about this there too?” - he thought with fear, picking up the phone.

That’s right, from Berlin, from the office of the Gestapo chief himself, they asked about what measures had been taken to punish unknown persons who derailed a train with selected Nazi soldiers at night.

What measures? Worbs had nothing to report. Do not report that it is almost a day after the crash, and rescue teams are still continuing to pull out the corpses of soldiers and officers from under the wreckage of the carriages. For almost a day now, not a single echelon can leave Shepetovka to the east for the front.

The partisans' tracks led into the forest and were lost there. This is how the soldiers sent to search for the partisans reported to Worbs. They were simply afraid to venture into the depths of the forest; they knew they couldn’t get out of there.

It’s almost midnight, and Worbs still doesn’t leave his office, leafing through the policemen’s denunciations, interrogating the traitorous elders. But they cannot tell the fascist anything. They, too, like the Nazis, are afraid to stick their noses out of the villages.

In the middle of the night, an inaudible shadow crept up to the doors of the Gebietskommissariat. And while the sentry went around the corner of the house, another white piece of paper appeared on the door, next to the announcement of reception hours. The sentry did not pay any attention to him.

And the shadow silently slid further, from house to house. And on the walls, in one place or another, a white rectangle of paper remained. The moon peeked out from behind the clouds, and then it became clear that the quick shadow was the figure of a boy. So he turned the corner, looked around and, in order not to creak the gate, jumped straight over the fence into the yard in front of a small house.

Through the tightly curtained window, light was barely breaking through in one place.
“He’s not sleeping,” the boy thought and carefully pressed the latch of the front door.
In the corridor, he bent down, put the remaining pieces of paper in his hands into his shoe, and then stepped into the room.

The mother was waiting for her son.
- Where have you been, Valik?
- Yes, I was walking.

The mother sighed. He was walking... Since the occupiers arrived, the son became somehow secretive, he began to have secrets, secrets from her, his mother. Only once did the curtain lift slightly over her son’s unknown affairs.

Valya brought home several sheets of paper one evening.

In the room sat the owner of the hut, Radchuk, as well as Stratkov and Lukashenko, whom the underground had provided with forged certificates of early release from captivity. Both of them were now resting, recovering from long months of hard labor and hunger strike.

Radchuk tenaciously grabbed one of the sheets.

What is this?
“Take a good look for yourself,” said Valik.

These were leaflets dropped from an airplane and each and every one of them had been carefully selected by Valik. Valya thought that Radchuk would be just as happy about the news from the mainland as Lukashenko and Stratkov were, who eagerly read the leaflet from beginning to end.

But Radchuk didn’t read, he kept asking where he got the leaflets, how many there were, and where he hid them.

Valik became wary and fell silent. He also drew a caricature of Hitler next to the text, then put the leaflet in his pocket and went to bed.

Could Valya have imagined that the scoundrel Radchuk would run to the police the next morning to report the leaflets, that he would report there that Valya was drawing a caricature of Hitler?

But, apparently, Valik has already begun to develop the instincts of a real underground worker. Early in the morning, just before the sun rose, when Radchuk had not yet woken up, he left the house and hid a large stack of leaflets in a secluded place.

And at noon the police arrived. They turned everything in the apartment upside down and took the mother for questioning. They tortured her there until the evening, but then released her. But Vasya Lukashenko failed to escape from the police. He was arrested and sent to hard labor in Germany.

Since then, Valik has withdrawn even more into himself. And no matter how hard Radchuk tried to find out something about his affairs in order to finish off the pioneer and his mother, he failed to find out anything.

Leaflets continued to appear on the walls of Shepetovka houses. And Valik’s mother, Anna Nikitichna, could only guess that this matter did not take place without the participation of her son.

The unknown person pasting up the leaflets became more and more daring. The next morning there was a scandal in the Gebitskommissariat. All of Shepetivka laughed at the unlucky occupiers, who even opened their doors own office They couldn’t protect us from leaflets. There was no way they could fight the partisans who were derailing the trains.

And Valik, with his hands in his pockets, walked along the opposite side of the street and watched with pleasure as the policemen, who had received a scolding from Worbs for their idleness, ran around, and as a burly fellow scraped off a firmly glued leaflet with a dagger.

The policemen hurriedly ran past the curly-haired, gray-eyed boy. They had no time for him. It could never have occurred to them that the daredevil who pasted the leaflets on the doors of the Gebits Commissariat, the daredevil in search of whom they had been knocked off their feet, was there, walking nearby.

The partisans need Valya

A certain Stepan Didenko, who was released early from captivity, settled with the Kotiki. At first Valik didn’t like the new tenant.

Firstly, he tried to live in peace and harmony with everyone, even with the policemen, in whose huts Valik and his friends broke the windows at night. Secondly, every evening he went to main street cities. But now there was a cinema only for Germans, and a cafe only for them. No self-respecting person would go for an evening walk on the main street of the city, which was once so beautiful and cozy. And Didenko dressed up in a beautiful suit, went and returned home late.

Didenko was clearly interfering with Valya. What if he is like Radchuk, and is waiting for an opportunity to get wind of the leaflets that Valik kept in his boots?

One day, when Valik was already asleep, Stepan, as always, came late. Having looked at Valik’s worn-out shoes, he decided to fix them. He took some wood, a hammer, and some nails, placed the shoe on the corner of the table, and then he felt something fall out of the shoe onto his lap.

These were leaflets.

Didenko did not say anything to Anna Nikitichna. He repaired the shoes, put the leaflets back under the insoles, and placed them near Valik’s bed.

In the morning, Didenko, as always, left to do some business.

And Valik? How excited he was when he saw his repaired boots! After all, if Didenko turns out to be who he took him for, he will not escape the dungeon. What does he care - his mother and brother will end up in prison...

Didenko actually told his friends about the leaflets. His friends were underground fighters in Shepetivka. Until today, Valik didn’t need to know about this at all.

Finally, someone was found,” said Didenko, “who puts up leaflets at night.” We thought that there was an underground group unknown to us, and this was Valya Kotik.

And then a serious, long conversation took place between Valik and Stepan, after which Didenko said to Anna Nikitichna:
- Anna Nikitichna, we need your son...

Valik’s mother didn’t ask “to us”. Anna Nikitichna knew that Didenko was a partisan. After all, he was recommended to live with her by the communist Gorbatyuk. Through Anna Nikitichna, Gorbatyuk more than once conveyed to Didenko information he received from his trusted friends. Didenko’s friend, Uncle Vanya Nishenko, an outwardly harmless, elderly, stooped man with a cane, often visited her. But this is only external. At night he was transformed. Uncle Vanya's gait became light and elastic. He could lie for long hours, without moving, by the railway track, watching the movement of the trains, so that he could then transmit encrypted reports to the partisan headquarters by radio, without fear of the fact that the Nazis could take direction.

Yes, Anna Nikitichna understood very well what the words “we need your son” meant. This meant for both Valik and her entire small family the beginning of a different life, full of dangers. But she only said to Stepan:
- Fine. Since you, the partisans, need it, it means the Motherland needs it. Just... take care of him, Stepan. He's still young and hot...

And Valya Kotik became a liaison for the Shepetovsky underground fighters.

The weapons that the guys so carefully collected and hid migrated on carts of hay to the forest, to the partisan detachment.

But more and more machine guns, rifles, and explosives were needed, because more and more people came to the partisans, and they expanded their struggle against the occupiers more and more widely. Shepetivka underground fighters helped groups of prisoners of war break out from behind the barbed wire of the camps. And the liberated soldiers and commanders went into the forest, to the partisans, to take revenge on their enemies, to help their loved ones Soviet army.

The hunt for weapons sometimes brought Valya Kotik to the most unexpected places.

Once the ensemble “Funff Cylinder” came to Shepetivka from Germany.

“Only for Germans!” - the posters said.

But Valik managed to sneak into the former cinema unnoticed, where a visiting troupe was giving its performance. The hall was crowded. The soldiers endlessly applauded the five girls in short skirts, black stockings and shiny top hats with voluminous hairstyles. They shouted: “Encore, bravo!” and stamped their feet with delight.

But Valik was not at all interested in what was happening on stage. Hiding behind the curtain, he carefully looked around.

No, no one seemed to be following him.

The German, standing very close to him in the aisle, did not have enough space for the poor fellow - the handle of a revolver was peeking out of his unbuttoned holster... The Germans, carried away by the show, did not notice how the boy separated from the curtain, how the revolver migrated from the holster to his pocket.

Half an hour later, Stepan Didenko weighed the weapon in his palm:
- Good “gun”! Pav Luke just doesn’t have a suitable weapon. Let's give the revolver to him. Agree?

Of course, Valya agreed. He was very pleased that the revolver immediately fell into the hands of one of the bravest underground fighters in Shepetivka.

Shepherdesses

Anna Nikitichna began to notice that for some time Valentin had become addicted to grazing cows.

But he drove her not to the forest, where lush grass grew, but to the wasteland - the German food warehouses that supplied the front.

The guys - Valya, Natasha, Kolya - were playing naughty, jumping near the cow. The guards were so used to the boys that they didn’t even drive them away from the wire that surrounded the warehouses. Only when they got too close did the sentry raise his machine gun threateningly, and the guys instantly flew off to a decent distance.

A harmless company... And every day Stepan Didenko and Gorbatyuk accumulated more and more information about the location of posts, the time of changing of guards, the number of cars entering and leaving the warehouse. All this was conveyed by the guys who vigilantly followed every movement of the Germans.

Then one evening a truck pulled up to the warehouse. The guard had just changed, and the Germans were sitting calmly in the duty room. Some played harmonicas, others played cards.

A dapper man jumped out of the truck cab German officer and headed towards the guard. The Germans sitting there jumped up to greet the officer, but remained standing with their hands raised in the air. The muzzle of a machine gun was looking at them.

On the purest German A partisan in an officer's uniform told the guards that if any of them decided to move, the machine gun would speak, and then it was unlikely that any of the guards would be able to go on leave to Vaterland.

Following the officer, disguised partisans walked into the warehouse area. They brought cans of kerosene hidden in cardboard boxes. Among the partisans, the guards were surprised to see the same boys who were herding a cow near the warehouses. The boys led the partisans as if they had lived all their lives in this warehouse, showing:

Here is the food, here is the uniform...

A few minutes later, a car heavily loaded with food was speeding away from the warehouse engulfed in flames. And the guards continued to sit in the guardhouse, because a sign hung on the doors: “Mined.” Valya hung this sign just before he left.

After this operation, Styopa and Kolya joined the detachment. Valya still remained in Shepetovka.

The raid on huge warehouses, located just a hundred meters from the gendarmerie, guarded by dozens of sentries, seriously alarmed the Germans.

But soon another surprise awaited them.

Again, Valik walks around, masquerading as a shepherdess. But now behind Shepetivka, in a small forest. The cow grazes for itself, and Valya digs holes in one place or another with a small sapper shovel.

The partisans knew that a communication line ran through Shepetovka somewhere far to the west, to Berlin. But how to detect a carefully hidden cable in the ground? Several reconnaissance teams were ordered to search for him. I was looking for a cable and a roller.

He knew the small forest where Valya grazed the cow inside and out. Once before the war, in the summer, the guys picked berries here, mushrooms in the fall... Roller felt that something had changed in the fishing line. But what? Have the trees gotten bigger and denser? No, on the contrary, a clearing cut through the forest. It didn't exist before. This clearing changed the forest so much. But why did the Germans build it? Maybe…

Valya looked around and, making sure that there was no one here, began to dig the ground. Soon the shovel hit a brick. How can there be bricks here in the forest, in the ground? Valya dug the ground wider. Not one, but a whole row of bricks went somewhere underground from east to west along the clearing. Valya picked up the brick. A gray snake of thick leaded cable stretched somewhere in the stone bed. With the sharp end of the shovel, Valya began to hit the lead snake as hard as he could.

At this time, the Gebietskommissar was holding the receiver of the very telephone that was connected to this cable near his ear. He was preparing to inform his boss that he had developed a brilliant plan for the destruction of the partisans, and that to carry out this plan he would personally go to Slavuta the other day...

But we didn’t manage to talk: there was a crackling sound in the receiver, and the excited voice of the telephone operator said:
- Damage on the line.

And Valya, having cut the cable, put the brick in place, carefully leveled the ground, and covered the place where he was digging with green turf.

Let them try, look for the place of the break! And the Nazis had to look for a cable break for more than a week. There was no contact with Warsaw and Berlin for more than a week.

The grenade reached its target

No, the Gebietskommissar could no longer postpone the punitive expedition against the partisans. He had to go to Slavuta in order to quickly defeat them and finally report to the boss about at least one victory over the invisible, elusive, formidable partisans.

And the partisans learned that the Gebietskommissar was going to Slavuta.

Stepan Didenko gave the task to Valik:
- Follow the Gebitskommissar.

His friend Styopa Kishchuk went on the mission with Valik. Valya took an anti-tank grenade, and Styopa took a captured machine gun.

The guys lay down in the fishing line at the bend in the road.
In the distance appeared an armored car full of soldiers and an open black limousine of the State Commissioner.

And then a curly gray-eyed boy rose to his full height from the roadside bushes. His eyes were dark with anger, hatred for the fascist, the culprit of so many deaths of innocent people. The boy has a grenade in his hands.

Worbs leaned back into the corner of the car. Oh, now he would recognize this boy among thousands of others! But at that moment an explosion blew both the car and the State Commissioner to pieces.

In Shepetivka, raid after raid began. The Germans went out of their way to find the perpetrators of the daring attacks.

Clouds began to gather over the underground workers. In Slavuta, the provocateur betrayed Doctor Mikhailov, one of the leaders of the underground. The tentacles of the German secret police also reached Gorbatyuk. He died from torture in the office of the chief of the criminal police, the traitor Neumann, but did not betray anyone.

Natasha and her mother had to go into the forest. The Germans, of course, would not leave the wife and daughter of a communist free.

But the reprisals did not help. Trains on railway more and more often they went downhill.

One Saturday evening there was a knock on Valik’s window. Didenko arrived. Now he increasingly had to change safe houses.

Get ready, he said, your arrest is scheduled for Monday.

Anna Nikitichna, Valik and older brother Victor left on time. An hour after they left, the police raided the apartment...

Partisan scout

In front of the line are several people who have newly arrived in the detachment. On the left flank the smallest one is Valya Kotik. He is also armed. In his hands is a machine gun, one of several dozen German machine guns he obtained.

Following Commissar Kuzovkov, Valya pronounces the words of the partisan oath:
- I swear that I would rather die in a fierce battle with enemies than give myself, my family and everything Soviet people into slavery to bloody fascism...
- We swear! We swear! - all the partisans repeat. This is how life began for Valya Kotik in the partisan
Hero's squad Soviet Union Anton Zakharovich Odukha. Valya was assigned as a scout to Logutenko’s detachment.

Pioneer Valya Kotik has six echelons to his name. Six trains with ammunition, equipment, and manpower of the enemy were derailed by the pioneer.

And how much courage and endurance was needed to calmly pass by German sentries during reconnaissance in Slavuta and Izyaslav, in Polonnoy and Maidan-Vil, wherever the partisans had presence, wherever there were large German garrisons and military warehouses; to calmly walk past the fascists when you have leaflets or reports sewn into the lining of your jacket to the partisan “Center”, the underground regional committee!

The messenger was obliged to act quickly and clearly. And in case of failure, remain silent, remain silent until the end. This is the partisan law. And Valik fearlessly walked towards countless dangers. Valik and his friends in the partisan unit were called Korchaginians. And this high rank, invented by someone unknown, filled the heart of the pioneer with pride. After all, his favorite book is “How the Steel Was Tempered” by Nikolai Ostrovsky. Valik did not part with her even in the partisan detachment. When he was in school, he dreamed of being at least a little like his favorite hero. And the word “Korchaginets” indicated that his comrades in the detachment highly valued his services.

How many times did Valya risk his life, how many wonderful things did he accomplish? It is difficult to answer this question, because the pioneer risked his life every day, because the most remarkable deeds were considered by the partisans to be the most ordinary combat work. Valya thought so too. And, having completed the task, he briefly reported to the commander about it, and then - that’s it, he didn’t tell anyone else about it. And time has erased the memories of many of the pioneer’s exploits.

...Valya received a new task: to go on reconnaissance to the village of Bolotin, to check if there are Germans there.

The boy rode his horse carefully through the thicket of the forest. Here is Bolotin. The forest approaches the very huts. But what is this noise in the village, the cackling of chickens, the squealing of pigs?

Valya left his horse in the bushes and made his way very close to the only street crossing the village. And then I almost burst out laughing.

There were two wedges standing on the street. And around the courtyards, with arms outstretched, almost a whole platoon of fascists chased chickens and piglets.

Now you will have such triggers! - Valik whispered and threw two grenades one after another.

In a few leaps he was already in the bushes, near the horse. And the Nazis, deciding that they were being attacked by a whole detachment, fled from the village.

…One day, Logutenko’s group, which included Valya, was tasked with dealing with the German garrison of one of the villages in the region. The partisans moved through the forest for several hours in a row.

Halt,” the commander finally ordered.

The squad stopped, displaying secrets around them. Valik also took up post.

He peered vigilantly into the forest thicket. It seemed that everything was calm around. But suddenly someone heavy and rough crushed the boy under him, twisted his arms, and took away his machine gun. These were punishers following in the footsteps of the detachment.

Lie! - they ordered Valik through an interpreter. The Germans tried to find out from him where he was from, who gave him the weapon, where his comrades were. But Valik only pointed his finger at the sky. They threw it away, they say; with a parachute of his own. Leaving two sentries near him, the punishers carefully began to move deeper into the forest, towards the detachment.

Valik lay on the ground and feverishly thought about how to inform the partisans about the mortal threat hanging over them. He moved, something round and ribbed pressed into his leg.

Grenade! The Nazis forgot to take the grenade from him in the chaos! He carefully pulled up his hand, put it in his pocket, took off the ring, jumped up and, throwing a grenade at the feet of the sentry sitting on a stump, jumped to the side.

The partisans heard an explosion. The Nazis failed to take them by surprise.
And Valya?
Wounded by grenade fragments, he crawled through the forest for several kilometers and finally fell exhausted in the forester’s hut.

The forester was an assistant to the partisans; he picked up the pioneer and took him to a remote village to see a paramedic, and then informed the partisans about this.

Two weeks later Valya returned to the detachment. The bandage was still white on his head; he did not wait the required time, did not wait for his wounds to heal.

And here he stands in a line of festively dressed, fit partisans. The commander of the Odukha unit reads the Decree of the Presidium Supreme Council USSR on awarding partisans of the unit with medals.
- “For the courage and resourcefulness shown when carrying out command assignments behind enemy lines, award partisan Valentin Kotik the medal “Partisan of the Great” Patriotic War”.
I serve the Soviet Union! - Valik said.

...Forty-fourth year. February. Soon Valya will turn fourteen years old.

Only fourteen?! - the partisans are surprised. Everyone is used to considering him the eldest. In the partisan detachment, Valya grew up and matured. His gray eyes look with childish seriousness. Yes, the Nazis took his childhood away from him early on. It was they who forced the boy to take up weapons instead of books, notebooks, and toys.
- Only fourteen! - his comrades are surprised, having seen how he rushes on a horse, how he shoots from a machine gun, how he blows up trains.
“It’s already fourteen,” Valik frowns. He wants to seem more mature.

More than once he was offered to fly by plane to the mainland, to the rear, to study at school there. They told him: “You are still small.”

How much cunning and perseverance the pioneer had to use to stay in the detachment! No, he could not leave the detachment while the Nazis were trampling his native land.

The Germans retreated under the blows of the Soviet Army. The front was getting closer and closer to Shepetovka. The partisan unit received an order from the command of the Soviet Army to storm the city of Izyaslav, through which the Nazis sent all their echelons to the rear. Before the operation began, the commander called the boy to his place:

In this battle you will remain at the disposal of the headquarters.
- Let's attack! This is probably our last attack!
“No,” Myzalev answered firmly. “You heard: yesterday they took Shepetivka.” A school will open there soon. You must return safe and sound, yes. I don't want anything to happen to you in this last fight.

The raid on Izyaslav was a complete surprise for the Germans. After a short battle the city was taken. But the partisans knew: the Nazis would soon recover and try to recapture the city again. He meant too much to them. And Valya watched from the side as the partisan battalions dug in.

But he finally received the task of guarding an ammunition depot abandoned by the Germans. The roller lay down near the warehouse. Now he won't set foot from here!

Tanks rumbled from the west. The Germans threw “tigers” at the city. And the partisans don’t have a single anti-tank gun! Shells and mines began to explode closer and closer to the warehouse. The Nazis slowly pressed back the partisan units. Now the Germans are very close to the warehouse, which Valya Kotik is entrusted with guarding. He threw himself on the ground and began sending cartridge after cartridge towards the enemies.

And suddenly a thunderous “hurray” was heard from a distance. It was the troops of the Soviet Army who came to the aid of the partisans. Valya stood up, threw a grenade at the retreating fascists and immediately collapsed to the ground, struck by a fascist bullet.

Pioneer hero

Centuries-old trees rustle quietly in the city park. Under their shade, next to the graves of the soldiers of the Soviet Army who died for the liberation of Shepetivka, there is a monument to Valya Kotik, a pioneer partisan. There are always flowers near the monument. The guys keep the memory of the hero. His name is included in the Book of Honor of the All-Union Pioneer Organization named after V.I. Lenin. The school where he studied is named after Vali Kotika. The best students of the school are now sitting at the desk where he sat. The name of the Ukrainian pioneer hero became known far beyond the borders of the Soviet Union. The ocean-going motor ship Valya Kotik floats across the seas and oceans under the Soviet flag.
Posthumously Valya Kotik awarded the order Patriotic War, 1st degree, and on June 27, 1958 he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
S. CHUMAKOV

167 DECREE OF THE PRESIDIUM OF THE SUPREME COUNCIL OF THE USSR ON POSTHUTOMALLY AWARDING THE TITLE OF HERO OF THE SOVIET UNION TO PIONEER-PARTIZAN V. A. KOTIK.

FOR COURAGE AND HEROISM IN THE BATTLES AGAINST THE GERMAN-FASCIST INVADERS DURING THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR, THE PIONEER-PARTISAN WILL BE AWARDED
CAT VALENTIN ALEXANDROVICH
TITLE OF HERO OF THE SOVIET UNION
Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR K. Voroshilov Secretary of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR M. Georgadze
Moscow, Kremlin, June 27, 1958

A wrestling hall named after D. G. Mindiashvili was opened at the Partisan School.

Partisan secondary school named after. P.P. Petrova is a municipal budgetary educational institution. The school has more than 400 students and about 50 teachers.

The school was founded in 1929 on the basis of a previously operating parochial school. The first graduation took place in 1939. In 1970, the school was named after fellow countryman Pyotr Polikarpovich Petrov, participant partisan movement, delegate to the First Congress of USSR Writers in 1934

In 1972, the school moved to a new three-story building located on Gagarin Street, one of the central streets of the village. For 27 years now, the school has been headed by an excellent student of public education, Honored Teacher of the Russian Federation, director of the highest category, Nikolai Ilyich Khristyuk.

In 2001, a school history museum was created at the school. The work of the school museum is carried out in the following areas: the history of the village of Partizanskoye, the life and work of fellow countryman P.P. Petrov, the history of the Great Patriotic War in the destinies of fellow countrymen and the history of the school.

In 2002, a wrestling hall named after Dmitry Georgievich Mindiashvili was built at the school. School students are indispensable participants, winners and prize-winners of tournaments at various levels.

In 2006, the school received a grant that allowed it to purchase modern equipment. In the same year, the physical education and sports club “Start” was opened at the school. Classes at the club are held in four sports: volleyball, basketball, athletics, and table tennis. The club has created a yard mini-football team.

Currently, the school employs a qualified teaching staff. 40% of teachers are graduates of the Partizan Secondary School. Teachers of the highest category G. P. Esaulova, T. A. Kaufman and T. S. Khristyuk became winners of the pedagogical professional skills competition, which was held within the framework of the national project “Education”. T. A. Kaufman is a two-time winner of the regional competition of pedagogical excellence. Honored teachers work at the school Krasnoyarsk Territory L. N. Vladimirova, T. T. Dvornikova and L. M. Sharoiko. Six teachers are excellent in education Russian Federation, 11 teachers were awarded diplomas of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation.

Since 1990, 11 graduates have graduated from the school with gold and 25 with silver medals.

The school operates a boarding school where children from remote areas live. settlements Partizansky district. In addition, children from neighboring villages are transported to school by school bus.

Partisan secondary school named after. P. P. Petrova is located at the address: 663540, Krasnoyarsk region, Partizansky district, village. Partizanskoye, st. Gagarina, 93.

From the first days of occupation of the territory of our republic by the Nazi invaders, entire villages and families - with old people, women and children - went to the Belarusian forests and thickets to fight the enemy. Of course, the partisan detachments could not accept everyone, since they led a predominantly nomadic life and had a small economy at the bases and a limited amount of food. However, a solution was soon found in the creation of so-called family camps. They were equipped by the population itself, under the leadership and with the direct participation of the people's avengers, as a rule, in the depths of forests and swamps, between lakes, along the edges of which partisan detachments were usually located. Small groups of partisans were assigned to guard these camps.

Children of preschool and school age Those who were in family camps, along with adults, endured the difficulties and hardships of difficult partisan everyday life. Many lifelong events took place before the eyes of children and teenagers: seeing off partisans (among whom were close relatives of the children) on dangerous combat missions, bitter scenes of farewell to the dead, and the suffering of the wounded in unequal battles with the invaders. It was especially difficult for children in the winter months, when frosts and snowstorms were added to all the hardships of forest life, the lack of proper warm clothing and shoes, and forced movements from their habitable place to another base due to German raids and persecution also affected them.

During the war, forest partisan schools, unique in scale and nature of activity, operated in many family camps in Belarus. As Kirill Trofimovich Mazurov, a prominent organizer of the partisan movement in Belarus, recalled in his book “Unforgettable,” “despite the difficulties, the creation of schools in the forests was in full swing. The first to take up the call for the creation of schools to educate children in partisan zones (in villages and forest camps for the population) were Komsomol members of the Polesie region. The initiative later spread to Minsk, Pinsk and other regions. The creation of Soviet schools behind enemy lines... served not only to unite and educate children, but also instilled people’s faith in the inevitable expulsion of the Nazis.”

In the Brest region alone, as of May 1, 1944, 490 children were studying in such schools. All forest schools were primary, with only the first four grades. They, as a rule, were housed in dugouts and various structures built from wicker and other improvised materials. Partisan activists, teachers, parents, and children themselves took part in their organization. The work of forest schools took place in incredibly difficult conditions - there were no textbooks, notebooks, writing paper, visual aids, or normal equipped premises for classes. However, as always, the people's ingenuity and wisdom of the partisans came to the rescue. Thus, when making writing instruments, partisans cut out letters for the alphabet from oak bark for first-graders, made cool abacus from twigs, and prepared pieces of birch bark for writing. Craftsmen found a way to make ink: they made a decoction of oak acorns and threw a rusty nail or a piece of iron into it. This mixture sat for some time and ink was obtained. Often teaching aids were obtained from the local population, as well as through messengers and scouts in populated areas.

There were no chalkboards; instead, students wrote with planed sticks on the ground and sand. Cartridge casings were often used for counting. Due to the lack of textbooks and notebooks, pens and pencils, children wrote in the margins of newspapers and wrapping paper, back side German leaflets, or even just sticks on birch bark or sand. The alphabet was letters cut from birch bark, and the counting material was cones and acorns. The partisans equipped children with adapted study rooms, made desks and blackboards, and provided schools with notebooks and pens. Due to the lack of textbooks and programs, partisan teachers taught children using the political literature available in the detachments. Often teachers used orders from the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, texts from newspapers, brochures or Sovinformburo leaflets when working with children.

In the Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War, as one of the most valuable relics of the war, a letter dated November 22, 1942 from the Secretary of the LKSMB Central Committee K.T. Mazurov to the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Komsomol of Belarus M.V. Zimyanin about the work of forest schools is kept. Here are excerpts from it. Due to the lack of writing materials and students, “the Komsomol members of Nikolai Rozov’s detachment went to different villages on these issues and collected 150 pencils, several textbooks, and several dozen notebooks. In the Oktyabrsky district, a conference of teachers was held on September 14, and on September 15, Parent meeting. Schools began work on September 16. The number of students there is 271 people. Karpilovskaya school - 47 children, Rudobelskaya - 10, Rudnitskaya - 20, Staro-Dubrovskaya - 26, Novo-Dubrovskaya - 52.”

Some brigades even had pioneer organizations. From the memoirs of a former student of school No. 2 at the partisan detachment named after M.I. Kalinin of the brigade named after F.E. Dzerzhinsky T.K. Kot, who after the war began working as a teacher in schools in the Brest region. “The command of the detachment,” she recalled, “allowed us to sew pioneer uniforms from parachute fabric. We also made pioneer ties for ourselves. The entire team embroidered the Pioneer banner especially painstakingly and carefully. Soon, in a solemn ceremony, 28 more children were accepted as pioneers. After this, the headquarters of the pioneer squad was elected.

The Belarusian State Museum contains the wall newspapers “Our Study” and “Pioneer” of the pioneer organizations of the partisan brigades of the Brest region. They cover the life of young pioneers, studies and social work.

In addition to teaching children writing, reading and arithmetic, teachers carried out extensive political and educational work with them and instilled in them work skills. IN free time They camouflaged the camps, carried out work to improve them, and prepared berries, mushrooms, and firewood.

According to the surviving memories of former students and teachers, classes often began with reports from the Sovinformburo, which were received by partisan radio operators. Based on the reports, the children wrote dictations and studied geography.

In the poem “Classes under a Pine Tree,” written in January 1944 by M.V. Shlyakhtenko, there are these simple lines:

Only the sun rises above the earth
And the gray fog will clear,
Under the curly green
pine
Children of families study
partisan

Forest schools are most widespread in the Brest and Baranovichi regions. Here, about twenty partisan schools operated under partisan detachments and formations. It is reliably known that the first forest school in the Brest region was organized in the fall of 1943 at the detachment named after M.I. Kalinin, where 50 primary school children studied in three classes. At the family camp of the detachment named after A.A. Zhdanov of the brigade named after. Y.M.Sverdlova primary education 38 children were covered.

One of the detachments in the Brest forests was commanded by Lieutenant Evgeniy Georgievich Makarevich, the initiator of the creation of a forest school, where 98 children studied. After the death of E.G. Makarevich in June 1943, a detachment of the brigade named after. Y.M. Sverdlov was named after the commander. A report on the educational work among school-age children of the 4th family camp of this detachment for June 1944 is kept in the Belarusian State Museum. The report states that “in the family camp, 46 children attend school, of which 24 are in 1st grade, 13 in 2nd grade, and 9 in 3rd grade. The following subjects are studied in the lessons: Russian language, arithmetic, singing. The children memorized the poems “The Combat Missile Soared,” “The Nations Are Leading the Battle,” and “Our Glorious Land.” During extracurricular hours, conversations were held “About the actions of the partisans”, “About the population’s assistance to the partisans”, “About the heroic actions of the partisan Tanya”. In physical education in the 2nd and 3rd grades, the topics “Formation in a line and column”, “Turns in place and in motion”, “Getting out of formation” were studied.

In addition, the children were given lessons in short-distance running, long jumping, pull-ups on the horizontal bar, exercises in grenade throwing, studying the structure of a rifle, and training with models of small arms.

The organizer of educational work proudly reports in the report that at the forest school there was a systematic amateur art group and a children's work group (boys carved toys for preschool children and models of weapons from wood and bark, girls learned to knit and sew). The children looked after the school garden and collected medicinal herbs: during the season they collected 0.5 kg of lily of the valley flowers, 6 kg of fern leaves, 1 kg of chamomile flowers, 4 kg of valerian roots, 1.5 kg of linden blossoms.

IN school notebook, located in the “Partisan Camp” of our museum, describes in detail the report of teacher Polina Yasnovskaya about the educational work of the forest school of the detachment named after. A.A. Zhdanov brigade named after. Y.M. Sverdlov from May 12 to July 12, 1944. The detachment operated in the Drogichinsky district of the Brest region. 58 children were enrolled here - 23 boys and 35 girls of primary school age. As can be seen from the report, the school day here was set at 4 lessons of 45 minutes each. The breaks between lessons are as follows: small breaks of 10 minutes, large breaks of 30 minutes. Classes were held at the school in 2 shifts. Was compiled syllabus, hard school schedule. By the way, here, in addition to the previously mentioned subjects, there were subjects of natural history and handicrafts.

We read with interest today about teachers’ concern for the production of visual aids. With the help of partisan craftsmen, teachers and the children themselves, the following were made: a cut-out cardboard alphabet, a multiplication table, manuals for the development of oral and writing, in the sections of spelling, history, geography.

Students performed well. At the end school year final classes and exams were conducted in the presence of the commander partisan detachment, commissar, secretary of the Komsomol organization and a teacher from another detachment. Upon completion of school, students were given special certificates. One of these is kept in the Belarusian State Museum. It was issued at the end of the 1943/44 academic year to Elena Danilkovich, a 3rd grade student at the forest school of the detachment named after. M.I. Kalinina (the museum also contains a photo of a forest school student). The certificate was signed by commander F. Belyaev and the head teacher of the school, teacher P. Ivanovskaya.

Classes in forest schools were taught by teachers who lived in the places where the people's avengers were stationed or were invited by them from other settlements, and sometimes they were involved in working with children former students high school students from among the partisans. These were selfless people who loved their work infinitely, who were united by one thing - to raise worthy replacements, real citizens of their native Fatherland, possessing knowledge and skills partisan life and the ability to defend the Motherland. These are teachers such as M.S. Martinovich - teacher of the 123rd partisan brigade Polesie region, secretary of the October underground RK LKSMB, Ya.A. Chernyavskaya and V.G. Osipova - teachers of the family camp of the detachment named after. A.A. Zhdanov brigade named after. Y.M.Sverdlova and others. Often, teachers with weapons in their hands left their camps along with their husbands and older partisan brothers. In July 1944, mentors M.V. Shlyakhtenko and L.A. Gritsova, partisans of the detachment named after. S.M. Kirov, Brest region - died heroically in an unequal battle with the German occupiers.

Forest partisan schools raised children in the spirit of hatred of the enemy, love and devotion to their homeland. This is their undeniable value and their feasible contribution to the common Great Victory.

Nikolai SHEVCHENKO, assistant to the head of the Belarusian state museum history of the Great Patriotic War

School in the partisan region.

T. Cat. ,From the book “Children-Heroes”,
Getting stuck in a marshy swamp, falling and getting up again, we went to our own - to the partisans. The Germans were fierce in their native village.
And for a whole month the Germans bombed our camp. “The partisans have been destroyed,” they finally sent a report to their high command. But invisible hands again derailed trains, blew up weapons warehouses, and destroyed German garrisons.
Summer is over, autumn is already trying on its colorful, crimson outfit. It was hard for us to imagine September without school.
- These are the letters I know! - eight-year-old Natasha Drozd once said and drew a round “O” in the sand with a stick and next to it - an uneven gate “P”. Her friend drew some numbers. The girls were playing school, and neither one nor the other noticed with what sadness and warmth the commander of the partisan detachment Kovalevsky was watching them. In the evening at the council of commanders he said:
“The kids need school...” and added quietly: “We can’t deprive them of their childhood.”
That same night, Komsomol members Fedya Trutko and Sasha Vasilevsky went out on a combat mission, with Pyotr Ilyich Ivanovsky with them. They returned a few days later. Pencils, pens, primers, and problem books were taken out of their pockets and bosoms. There was a sense of peace and home, of great human concern, from these books here, among the swamps, where a mortal battle for life was taking place.
“It’s easier to blow up a bridge than to get your books,” Pyotr Ilyich flashed his teeth cheerfully and took out... a pioneer horn.
None of the partisans said a word about the risk they were exposed to. There could have been an ambush in every house, but it never occurred to any of them to abandon the task or return empty-handed. ,
Three classes were organized: first, second and third. School... Pegs driven into the ground, intertwined with wicker, a cleared area, instead of a board and chalk - sand and a stick, instead of desks - stumps, instead of a roof over your head - camouflage from German planes. In cloudy weather we were plagued by mosquitoes, sometimes snakes crawled in, but we didn’t pay attention to anything.
How the children valued their clearing school, how they hung on every word of the teacher! There were one textbook, two per class. There were no books at all on some subjects. We remembered a lot from the words of the teacher, who sometimes came to class straight from a combat mission, with a rifle in his hands, belted with ammunition.
The soldiers brought everything they could get for us from the enemy, but there was not enough paper. We carefully removed birch bark from fallen trees and wrote on it with coals. There has never been a case where someone did not comply homework. Only those guys who were urgently sent to reconnaissance skipped classes.
It turned out that we only had nine pioneers; the remaining twenty-eight guys had to be accepted as pioneers. We sewed a banner from a parachute donated to the partisans and made a pioneer uniform. Partisans were accepted into pioneers, and the detachment commander himself tied ties for new arrivals. The headquarters of the pioneer squad was immediately elected.
Without stopping our studies, we built a new dugout school for the winter. To insulate it, a lot of moss was needed. They pulled it out so hard that their fingers hurt, sometimes they tore off their nails, they cut their hands painfully with grass, but no one complained. No one demanded excellent academic performance from us, but each of us made this demand on ourselves. And when the hard news came that our beloved comrade Sasha Vasilevsky had been killed, all the pioneers of the squad took a solemn oath: to study even better.
At our request, the squad was given the name of a deceased friend. That same night, avenging Sasha, the partisans blew up 14 German vehicles and derailed the train. The Germans sent 75 thousand punitive forces against the partisans. The blockade began again. Everyone who knew how to handle weapons went into battle. Families retreated into the depths of the swamps, and our pioneer squad also retreated. Our clothes were frozen, we ate flour boiled in hot water once a day. But, retreating, we grabbed all our textbooks. Classes continued at the new location. And we kept the oath given to Sasha Vasilevsky. In the spring exams, all the pioneers answered without hesitation. The strict examiners - the detachment commander, the commissar, the teachers - were pleased with us.
As a reward, the best students received the right to participate in shooting competitions. They fired from the detachment commander's pistol. This was the highest honor for the guys.

Getting stuck in a marshy swamp, falling and getting up again, we went to our own - to the partisans. The Germans were fierce in their native village.
And for a whole month the Germans bombed our camp. “The partisans have been destroyed,” they finally sent a report to their high command. But invisible hands again derailed trains, blew up weapons warehouses, and destroyed German garrisons.
Summer is over, autumn is already trying on its colorful, crimson outfit. It was hard for us to imagine September without school.
- These are the letters I know! - eight-year-old Natasha Drozd once said and drew a round “O” in the sand with a stick and next to it - an uneven gate “P”. Her friend drew some numbers. The girls were playing school, and neither one nor the other noticed with what sadness and warmth the commander of the partisan detachment Kovalevsky was watching them. In the evening at the council of commanders he said:
“The kids need school...” and added quietly: “We can’t deprive them of their childhood.”
That same night, Komsomol members Fedya Trutko and Sasha Vasilevsky went out on a combat mission, with Pyotr Ilyich Ivanovsky with them. They returned a few days later. Pencils, pens, primers, and problem books were taken out of their pockets and bosoms. There was a sense of peace and home, of great human concern, from these books here, among the swamps, where a mortal battle for life was taking place.
“It’s easier to blow up a bridge than to get your books,” Pyotr Ilyich flashed his teeth cheerfully and took out... a pioneer horn.
None of the partisans said a word about the risk they were exposed to. There could have been an ambush in every house, but it never occurred to any of them to abandon the task or return empty-handed. ,
Three classes were organized: first, second and third. School... Pegs driven into the ground, intertwined with wicker, a cleared area, instead of a board and chalk - sand and a stick, instead of desks - stumps, instead of a roof over your head - camouflage from German planes. In cloudy weather we were plagued by mosquitoes, sometimes snakes crawled in, but we didn’t pay attention to anything.
How the children valued their clearing school, how they hung on every word of the teacher! There were one textbook, two per class. There were no books at all on some subjects. We remembered a lot from the words of the teacher, who sometimes came to class straight from a combat mission, with a rifle in his hands, belted with ammunition.
The soldiers brought everything they could get for us from the enemy, but there was not enough paper. We carefully removed birch bark from fallen trees and wrote on it with coals. There was no case of anyone not doing their homework. Only those guys who were urgently sent to reconnaissance skipped classes.
It turned out that we only had nine pioneers; the remaining twenty-eight guys had to be accepted as pioneers. We sewed a banner from a parachute donated to the partisans and made a pioneer uniform. Partisans were accepted into pioneers, and the detachment commander himself tied ties for new arrivals. The headquarters of the pioneer squad was immediately elected.
Without stopping our studies, we built a new dugout school for the winter. To insulate it, a lot of moss was needed. They pulled it out so hard that their fingers hurt, sometimes they tore off their nails, they cut their hands painfully with grass, but no one complained. No one demanded excellent academic performance from us, but each of us made this demand on ourselves. And when the hard news came that our beloved comrade Sasha Vasilevsky had been killed, all the pioneers of the squad took a solemn oath: to study even better.
At our request, the squad was given the name of a deceased friend. That same night, avenging Sasha, the partisans blew up 14 German vehicles and derailed the train. The Germans sent 75 thousand punitive forces against the partisans. The blockade began again. Everyone who knew how to handle weapons went into battle. Families retreated into the depths of the swamps, and our pioneer squad also retreated. Our clothes were frozen, we ate flour boiled in hot water once a day. But, retreating, we grabbed all our textbooks. Classes continued at the new location. And we kept the oath given to Sasha Vasilevsky. In the spring exams, all the pioneers answered without hesitation. The strict examiners - the detachment commander, the commissar, the teachers - were pleased with us.
As a reward, the best students received the right to participate in shooting competitions. They fired from the detachment commander's pistol. This was the highest honor for the guys.