5th Partisan Brigade. Partisan movement in the Soletsk region. I am a partisan brigade

The expedition under this name started from the monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad on Victory Square, continued at the Partisan Glory monument near Luga and ended in the partisan region in the Pskov region, where in February-March 1942 a food train was collected for besieged Leningrad. The chairman of the presidium of the Leningrad United Council of Veterans of the Partisan Movement, underground fighters and their descendants, Alexander VERETIN, told us about the details.

PHOTO by Valery SHARKUNOV" class="article-img">

In 1942, Pyotr Ryzhov was one of the youngest participants in the food train - he was eight years old. He had to see the legendary partisan Mikhail Kharchenko, near whose monument he was photographed, in person.
PHOTO by Valery SHARKUNOV

The expedition was dedicated to the Leningrad partisans, although most of it passed through the Pskov region - through Dedovichi, Dno and Porkhov, and the village of Ostraya Luka. And this is not surprising, since the then Leningrad region included the current Pskov region. Thirteen partisan brigades operated in the occupied territory, and all of them were called Leningrad. They were subordinate to the Leningrad headquarters of the partisan movement, and the fighters took the oath of the Leningrad partisans.

It was from the partisan region, the main part of which was in the current Dedovichi district of the Pskov region, that the famous food train was sent to Leningrad. Last year we went to these places on an expedition dedicated to his 75th anniversary, this year - the 100th anniversary of the birth of the legendary partisan Mikhail Kharchenko, one of those who ensured the safe delivery of the convoy.

I would like to draw your attention to this: there are many important details and nuances associated with the restoration of historical authenticity. The simplest example: in the memorial hall of the monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad on Victory Square, Leningrad partisans awarded the title of Hero are listed Soviet Union. Some were awarded during the war years, starting in 1942, others - on the eve of the twentieth anniversary of the Victory, in 1965. There were twenty of them in total, but for some reason they forgot one at the monument.

We are talking about the oldest in age - Matvey Kuzmich Kuzmin, a peasant from the Velikoluksky district. He was 84 years old. In a sense, he repeated the feat of Ivan Susanin. Just after the partisan convoy, the occupiers began a punitive operation against the partisans and he was forced to be an escort. Matvey Kuzmich managed to send his son to the partisans to warn where he would lead the enemy detachment. They set up an ambush, and the punitive forces came under crossfire. But Kuzmin himself died.

The decree on his award followed only in 1965. Perhaps this is also due to the fact that he was not included in the payroll of the 2nd Leningrad Partisan Brigade. We hope that, in fairness, his name will be included in the list of partisans - Heroes of the Soviet Union, immortalized in the memorial hall of the monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad.

By the way, their number includes the youngest of the people's avengers. His name is well known - Leonid Golikov. He was sixteen years old when, in an ambush on the road, he captured important documents of a German officer with plans for fortifications. Golikov died in battle in January 1943. We visited, of course, his grave in the village of Ostray Luka. And there is also an annoying mistake! On the monument there is a photograph not of him, but of his sister.

How could this happen? In 1944, a correspondent and a photojournalist were sent from the central Pravda to these places to prepare a report about the young partisan. But then they could not find a photograph with his image. What to do? They resorted to a trick: they photographed his sister, almost his age and very similar to him, in a partisan hat, and passed her off as Lenya Golikov. And Pravda published just such a portrait, which was subsequently reproduced in many publications.

Later they found a real photograph, but they did not change the photo on the monument. And it still remains that way. We ask the local authorities: “Well, today what’s stopping you from establishing the authentic photograph?” They answer: “Residents have already gotten used to it for many years, why bother them? They will also say that they were deceived before...” I believe that it is necessary, of course, to restore historical authenticity.

One more detail. The beginning and end of the convoy route are marked with memorial steles. The one in the village of Nivki shows the correct date: March 5, 1942. And near Zhemchugov, where the convoy crossed the front, for some reason it was mentioned that this event happened... in February. We will strive to have this annoying inaccuracy corrected.

Moreover, there is a version that the current point where the monument is erected is not entirely accurate; the convoy broke through the front line at all in this place. He really planned to pass at Zhemchugov, but the Germans put up a reinforced barrier there, since back in January 1942 a partisan convoy crossed the front line there with fodder for the Panfilov division, and back with weapons and medicine for the partisans.

By the way, today there are only a few people directly involved in those events. The driver Mikhail Kirillov, who accompanied the convoy, lives in St. Petersburg. He recently turned ninety years old. Another one is Pyotr Ryzhov, a participant in the food collection. He was then eight years old, he participated in the propaganda team, the raids of which preceded the gathering. Now he also lives in St. Petersburg and was one of the organizers of our expedition...

Residents of besieged Leningrad remember how great the importance of the food train was. But often very little was said about the high price it paid. While still collecting food, six carters were caught by punitive forces and hanged, including one boy. And when the occupiers learned about the safe arrival of the cargo in Leningrad, they became furious. By the fall of 1942, 375 villages in the Dedovichi district alone were razed by the Nazis, destroyed and burned, including their inhabitants. When our troops liberated this region in 1944, it was a lifeless space - only ashes and scorched earth...

And someone’s destinies were still broken, for example, by the “Leningrad affair.” One of his victims was Mikhail Nikitin, who led the Leningrad headquarters of the partisan movement throughout the war. In the mid-1990s, a monument was erected at the cemetery in the Donskoy Monastery in Moscow on which his name is immortalized. But this is absolutely not enough! We are trying to get a sign to appear on the house at 59 Bolshaya Morskaya Street, telling us that the Leningrad headquarters of the partisan movement was located in this building during the war.

In my opinion, we need to talk more about the role played by the partisans in the battle for Leningrad. March 29, the day the partisan convoy arrived in Leningrad, has long been a memorable day in Leningrad region. It should become like this in St. Petersburg. In this we are supported by the public organization “Residents of Siege Leningrad” and many other veteran organizations.

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A huge colored panel “Train on the Way”, measuring four by six meters, was presented by activist workers of the women’s council of the Shepetivka railway depot.

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At 18 Bolshaya Porokhovskaya Street there is a stone mansion in the Northern Art Nouveau style, fashionable for the 20th century. Let's take a closer look at it.

Counterfeit coins of various denominations surfaced here and there, and soon the police began to receive reports of “rather strange finds.”

The incident, which occurred on November 4, 1928 at the Skorokhod factory, had the most serious consequences.

The 5th Partisan Brigade provided significant assistance to those parts of the Volkhov Front that, having escaped to the Kyiv Highway, were surrounded by superior enemy forces. The 256th was surrounded rifle division, some units of the 372nd Division, individual units of the 7th Tank Brigade and other formations, scattered at a considerable distance from each other, without ammunition and food.

The command of the 5th Partisan Brigade, knowing the battle area well, helped many small units establish contact with each other, unite and, with the support of the partisans, repel enemy attacks. The district party committee, which was here together with the command of the 5th brigade, helped organize supplies for the encircled troops, took care of the wounded, and evacuated them along forest paths to the Soviet rear. At the call of the district committee, the population actively participated in helping the troops.

“The supply of the encircled group,” reported the Leningrad headquarters of the partisan movement, “is carried out through the partisans. Separate isolated groups of Red Army soldiers were infused and temporarily subordinated to the commander of the 5th partisan brigade.” The 5th Brigade outnumbered those surrounded Soviet troops. One of its regiments, under the command of A.F. Tarakanov, acted together with the troops in the encirclement ring, and the rest outside it, striking at the rear and communications of the enemy group carrying out the encirclement.

The enemy persistently sought, with superior forces, to destroy the Soviet units and the partisans operating with them. Through installed loudspeakers, the Nazis tried to demoralize Soviet soldiers. “You are surrounded by a dense ring,” they shouted, “don’t trust the partisan bandits. If you don’t surrender, you will be destroyed.” Colonel A.G. Koziev, who arrived by order of the Military Council of the Volkhov Front by plane, led the encircled Soviet troops. “A.G. Koziev,” as the commissar of the 5th brigade I.I. Sergunin recalls, “commanded the army men, and we (K.D. Karitsky and I.I. Sergunin - Yu.P.) were our partisan brigade.” . Soviet troops and partisans fought surrounded for two weeks.

The enormous assistance of the partisans to the encircled troops was noted by the commander of the 59th Army, I. T. Korovnikov. “The partisan brigade under the command of K.D. Karitsky, and especially the partisan regiment of Tarakanov,” he wrote, “did everything possible to help the 256th division. They helped it with porters, horse-drawn transport, shared ammunition, delivered food (from the Uvarovo region - Menyusha), evacuated the wounded and sick to their partisan hospitals."

Partisan formations, especially the 5th and 11th brigades, largely contributed to the offensive of the troops of the Volkhov Front and their successful advance to the city of Luga.

Along with the disabling of railways, the partisans intensified attacks on highways, which were clogged with columns of retreating enemy troops and their rear institutions, and convoys. Blocking roads, destroying bridges, creating rubble, partisan detachments and formations with broad participation of the population were destroyed through ambushes manpower and enemy equipment.

An exceptionally intense struggle unfolded for the Kiev Highway, which, after blocking the Warsaw Road, became the main communication for the 18th Army, especially its right-flank and central groups. As enemy troops retreated, the load on the Kiev Highway increased. Army, corps, divisional and regimental rear units accumulated on this highway. Cars and carts moved in 2-3 rows; there were columns with military equipment, tanks, armored vehicles, and artillery. Relying on large garrisons in a number of settlements and on railway stations, the Nazis tried to secure traffic on the highway.

Nikitenko N.V. Partisan brigade commanders: people and destinies (Commanders of partisan brigades operating in the occupied territory of the Leningrad and Kalinin regions during the Great Patriotic War) / Nikitenko Nikolai Vasilievich. - Pskov: Velikolukskaya City Printing House LLC, 2010. - 399 pp., photo.

Nikitenko Nikolay Vasilievich

Local historian and historian, author of books about heroic story our Motherland, the courage, talent and hard work of its inhabitants. The new book gives an objective picture of the partisan struggle in the temporarily occupied territory of the Leningrad and Kalinin regions of the RSFSR during the Great Patriotic War, talks about its active organizers and participants - commanders of partisan brigades operating in these regions. This book is the result of painstaking work with archival documents, meetings and correspondence with veterans of the partisan movement, relatives of partisan brigade commanders and their comrades in the struggle behind enemy lines.

“Despite the fact that there is already extensive literature on the partisan movement in the North-West of Russia during the Great Patriotic War, the book by N.V. Nikitenko “Partisan brigade commanders: people and destinies” is significant | a significant contribution to the study of popular struggle behind enemy lines. For the first time she talks about the biographies and destinies of all the commanders of the 13 Leningrad, 23 Kalinin and 2 Special Partisan Brigades Northwestern Front, operating in the territory temporarily occupied by the Nazi invaders, is equipped with their photographs. A significant part of the material is presented for the first time. The author does not idealize the brigade commanders, shows difficult moments, reveals “blank spots”, thanks to which the feeling of understatement about that dramatic time disappears.”

YES. Khalturin,
former commander of the 15th Kalinin Partisan Brigade

5th KALININ PARTIZAN BRIGADE

In the third part of the book “Commanders of the Kalinin Partisan Brigades,” the author, based on archival materials, restores biographies and talks about the fate of the commanders of the 5th Kalinin Partisan Brigade.

Margo Vladimir Ivanovich

(06/09/1913 - 10/17/1977) Commander of the 5th brigade from October 1942 until its connection with the Red Army units in the summer of 1944 (with a short break - the period of command of the brigade by M.I. Karnaushenko).
During the Great Patriotic War, Vladimir Ivanovich Margo, who had not previously served in the army, went from an ordinary partisan, a member of a small group of the Sebezh activists, to a major, commander of a brigade, which was one of the first and large formations of Kalinin partisans created in the deep behind enemy lines, in the border areas of three republics - the RSFSR, Belarus and Latvia. The report on the brigade's combat activities for the period from October 1942 to July 1944 occupies many pages, indicating significant damage inflicted on the enemy: 15 garrisons, 28 volost councils were destroyed, 24 railway trains were derailed, 10 tanks, 178 vehicles, dozens of bridges were destroyed and other objects - while the enemy lost 4,000 soldiers and officers killed and 1,500 wounded. In addition, ten thousand civilians were saved from being taken into fascist slavery.
“Brigade commander Margot was nearly thirty, but he looked older than his years,” wrote the commander of the 10th brigade, N.M., who knew him well. Varaksov. - What gave him solidity was his dark wedge-shaped beard, which Vladimir Ivanovich did not part with throughout the war. He is short, stocky, and in conversation and in his movements he is a purely civilian man. Good-natured, calm, and only wary eyes, casting steel in moments of anger, spoke of the remarkable willpower of the partisan - a former teacher.”
Vladimir Ivanovich Margo was born in the village of Demyanitsa (Manushkino), Velikoluksky district. By nationality - Latvian. Father Ivan Yakovlevich and mother Olga Yakovlevna were peasants, but they sought to give their children an education and bring them “into the people.” After graduating from the Velikoluksky Pedagogical College, he was sent to the Sebezhsky district as the head of the Perelazovo first-level school, then as a teacher at the Prikhab school for collective farm youth. Before the start of the Great Patriotic War, he had six years of work as a teacher and school inspector, three years as the head of the district department public education. Member of the CPSU(b) since 1941.
In June 1941 he joined the regional fighter battalion. With a group of party and economic activists under the leadership of the first secretary of the district party committee F.A. Krivonosov left Sebezh and arrived in the city of Toropets. There, the Kalinin regional party committee received an order - to return to their area, occupied by the Germans, and get acquainted with the situation, launch political work in the villages, begin organizing partisan detachments, in a word, raise people to fight the enemy.
V.Ya. was appointed commander of a small detachment that set off on the return journey a few days later. Vinogradov, head of the Sebezh regional department of the NKVD, commissioner - F.A. Crooked-nosed. During August-September 1941, the group managed, having visited many villages, to establish connections with reliable Soviet people, commit several acts of sabotage, and fire at a German convoy. IN AND. Margo gained invaluable experience working behind enemy lines. But they were unable to gain a foothold in order to conduct an armed struggle - the occupiers began an active search for members of the group, they had to spend the night in the forest, and the cold weather set in. At the end of October, a decision was made - to fight our way into the Soviet rear or join forces with a stronger detachment.
“This path was not easy and long,” recalled V.I. Margo. - In the Pustoshkinsky district, we were tracked down by security forces, and we barely escaped the encirclement. We were unable to meet the partisans in the Novosokolnichesky district... Only near Velikiye Luki did we finally meet with the partisan detachment.” But the transition across the front line ended in failure: in the area of ​​the Coverage station, the group ran into a large German detachment and was scattered. IN AND. Margo, left with three comrades, spent the night in the forest, his feet were severely frostbitten, and he could not walk: he was taken on a sled to the village to his parents. He was treated by them for two months, and then established contact with the Nevel partisans, and through them with the Kalinin regional party committee.
From Kalinin they were sent to short-term courses in the city of Kimry - they were taught tactics of action behind enemy lines. After their graduation, V.I. Margot was appointed commander, and A.S. Kulesh - commissar of a detachment of machine gunners formed to operate as part of the 2nd brigade G.N. Arbuzov, who was stationed in the Nevelsky district. “The detachment set off to its destination on May 22,” they wrote in “ Historical information" IN AND. Margo and A.S. Kulesh. - But we were drawn to our Sebezh region. And in this regard, we were helped by the fact that no one knew the actual situation in the area of ​​Idritsa and Sebezh and our desire met the interests of the operational group of the 3rd Shock Army and the regional department of the NKVD. Therefore, we were allowed to change direction and go out for action in the Pustoshkinsky, Idritsky and “if possible” Sebezhsky districts.”
A detachment of 67 people crossed the front line and on August 1st found themselves in the Pustoshkinsky district. “We operated there until September 17, replenished the detachment to 102 people, and on September 20 we arrived in northern part Sebezhsky district". The situation here was already different from what it was in the fall of 1941, when V.Ya.’s group left the area. Vinogradova. In the spring of 1942, in the Sebezh region, spontaneously, without “instructions” from above, on the initiative of patriotic citizens, several partisan groups arose, consisting mainly of commanders and Red Army soldiers who were encircled or escaped from captivity. They were commanded by P.P. Konopatkin, K.F. Nikiforov, I.S.Leonov, A.S. Volodin and others. And although they acted insufficiently organized and active, they were responsible for burned bridges, broken cars, destroyed occupiers and traitors. By the fall, these groups united into two - A.S. Volodin and I.S. Leonov - with a total number of 52 people. “Before October 4, we found and united the groups of Volodin and Leonov, recruited the most stable part of those liable for military service, and in the period from October 4 to 6, in the Lokhovnya forest, we formed a brigade consisting of three detachments.”
“I was approved as brigade commander,” wrote V.I. Margot. “Kulesh was appointed commissar, who soon after Krivonosov left for the Soviet rear... also assumed the duties of first secretary of the Sebezh underground district party committee.” Lieutenant K.F. was appointed chief of staff of the brigade. Nikiforov, the detachment commanders were A.T. Shcherbina, V.N. Nikonov, E.I. Malakhovsky. Combat activity began - already in October the garrisons in the villages of Borisenki and Tomsino were defeated. These and other operations, as well as the raid of the 1st Kalinin Partisan Corps, confused the occupiers and their henchmen, and, on the contrary, the brigade attracted volunteers who wanted to fight the enemy. By the summer of 1943, the brigade already had four detachments with over 600 people, and by the summer of 1944 there were eight detachments, uniting 1,163 people.
December 15, 1942 V.I. Margobyl was invited to the village of Oderevo, which is 30 kilometers from Sebezh, where the headquarters of the raiding 4th brigade led by Captain V.M. Lisovsky. He handed the order to the head of the operational group of the 3rd shock army, I.N. Krivosheev dated December 1st about the subordination of “Margot’s detachment of one hundred people to Comrade Lisovsky.” These were outdated data - the detachment had long ago become a brigade, the number of which was three times larger than in August. “I said rather restrainedly that we no longer have a detachment, but a brigade, I will obey the order, but first I will inform the underground district party committee about this,” V.I. recalled this. Margot. - Whatever he decides, so it will be. Lisovsky agreed with my opinion.” Of course, on the part of V.I. Margot this was a “move” bordering on refusal; he was confident that the “district committee”, which is located in his brigade, would support the brigade commander in his desire to maintain independence and not submit to the “outsiders”. When on the radio V.M. Lisovsky Margo and Kulesh contacted a member of the Military Council of the Kalinin Front, chief of staff of the partisan movement of the region S.S. Belchenko and reported their opinion, they received a radiogram in response: the brigade was allowed to remain independent, but to strengthen the 4th brigade, transfer one of the detachments to it. This decision was a compromise - V.M. Lisovsky was given Malakhovsky's detachment of 129 people and the groups of V. Rybakov and M. Vallas.

Headquarters of the 5th Partisan Brigade. In the first row (from left to right) - second - brigade commissar A.S. Kulesh, third - brigade commander V.I. Margo, far right - chief of staff of the brigade L.X. Slobodskaya. October 1943

Soon followed by another personnel order, about which V.I. For some reason, Margot didn’t say a word in his book “The Burning Forest,” although it concerned him personally. In the “Historical Information” this point is stated as follows: “The brigade commander until February 1943 was Comrade Margot. Then, for unknown reasons, Captain M.I. Karnaushenko was sent from the Soviet rear to the post of brigade commander. But he did not provide this work and after several indecent incidents he was recalled, and on April 27, 1943, Comrade Margot took back command of the brigade.” It seems that the “unknown reasons” were not a secret to the brigade command: most likely, the higher headquarters was not satisfied with the combat work. During this period, Margot was appointed deputy brigade commander for reconnaissance instead of senior lieutenant P.P. Konopatkina. (M.I. Karnaushenko and V.I. Margo were appointed to positions by order of the KShPD dated December 28, 1942, again V.I. Margo was appointed brigade commander from May 10, 1943. - Note N.N.).
The brigade carried out not only military operations, but also active political work with the population, established close ties with the underground fighters of Sebezh and Opochka, and had an intelligence network, which by the time the brigade was disbanded, numbered 167 people, in many enemy garrisons and settlements. In 1943, the influence of the partisans was so great that it was decided to form administrative bodies - seven sections, headed by commandants from partisans - local residents. In all villages, partisan elders were appointed on the recommendation of the commandants. Commandants and elders resolved issues of land use and distribution of hayfields among peasants, regulated the procurement of provisions for partisan detachments, organized the rescue of the population during punitive expeditions, and provided assistance to victims of punitive forces. About half a million rubles were collected for the country's defense fund, a significant amount for the construction of the Kalinin Partisan tank column.
Throughout the entire period, the 5th Brigade operated in the Sebezh region, without leaving it even during the most difficult periods of punitive expeditions. Lokhovnya, a tract located fifteen kilometers from Sebezh, became the partisan capital. It stretches in a continuous mass for many kilometers towards Latvia and Krasnogorodsk. The brigade's detachments were based at different periods in the villages of Borovye, Aguryanovo and others.
Detachments of the 5th brigade, together with other formations of Kalinin, Belarusian and Latvian partisans, repeatedly resisted punitive expeditions of the fascists.
The most difficult time for the partisans and the population began with the punitive expedition on April 16-20, 1944, when the enemy surrounded Lokhovnya and nearby villages. The partisans left their base area and took refuge in forests and swamps. Everything was destroyed, there was nowhere to hide, to grind grains. During the spring, the partisans “studied” all the swamps that were considered impassable, and individual islands of these swamps became a place of salvation. In May, hundreds of children hiding from the Nazis were sent to the Soviet rear.
“In numerous battles with punitive forces, he showed himself to be a capable leader, a brave, resourceful and decisive commander,” says the description of V.I. Margot, compiled by the headquarters of the partisan movement of the Kalinin region in August 1944. “By the time it joined the Red Army, the brigade held a large area, which made it possible for the army to reach the borders of the Latvian SSR.”
In July 1944, the 5th Brigade, together with units of the Red Army, took part in the fighting to liberate the area. Brigade detachments and their guides led units of our troops onto the enemy’s probable retreat path and intercepted retreating groups German soldiers, fired at them from ambushes. Our troops covered the entire northern part of the region in one day and with almost no losses. Having reached the border with Latvia, the brigade received an order to return and on July 20 entered Sebezh. Disbandment began.
IN AND. Margo was appointed chairman of the Sebezh district executive committee, and S.A. Kulesh - first secretary of the district party committee. They worked together for some time, and then V.I. Margot was transferred to Velikiye Luki, which became the regional center: he headed the regional department of public education. From 1949 to 1952 he studied in Moscow at the Higher Party School under the CPSU Central Committee, after which he was elected deputy chairman of the Velikiy Luki Regional Executive Committee, and then chairman of the regional trade union council.
In 1957, after the abolition of the Velikolukskaya region, V.I. Margot was elected secretary of the Velikiy Luki City Committee of the CPSU. In 1960 he retired. But he continued to work - he was a teacher at the Agricultural Institute, and since 1964 - first the rector of Velikoluksky pedagogical institute, and then director of the Velikoluksky branch Leningrad Institute physical education named after P.F. Lesgaft. From 1974 to 1977 - senior lecturer at the Agricultural Institute. He was repeatedly elected to elected party and Soviet bodies, and was constantly “visible” for his diverse social activities.

In the photo: V.I. Margo (far right) talks about the battle in the village of Glubochitsa, Sebezh region. From left to right: V.N. Vakarin - commissar of the 4th brigade, N.S. Stepanov - detachment commander of the 5th brigade, F.T. Boydin - commander of the 1st and 4th brigades, V.A. Sergeeva - intelligence officer of the 5th brigade, M.M. Wallas - political instructor of the 5th brigade platoon, S.A. Yakovlev - Chief of Staff of the 6th Brigade, O.A. Yuganson - chief of staff of the 5th brigade detachment, P.N. Petrovich - chief of intelligence of the 5th brigade. The village of Glubochitsa. 1968

On behalf of the Kalinin partisans V.I. Margot spoke on June 14, 1967 at a ceremonial meeting of workers dedicated to the awarding of the Order of Lenin to the Pskov region, participated in the preparation of meetings of former partisans on the Mound of Friendship, and he was on the editorial board of the book “The Unconquered Land of Pskov.”
Awarded with orders Lenin, Kutuzov 1st degree, Patriotic War 1st degree, medal “Partisan of the Patriotic War” 1st degree and others.

Sources and literature:

TCDNI, f. 479, op. 2, units hr. 93, l. 57; f. 479, op. 2, units hr. 109, pp. 2-11; f. 479, op. 2, units hr. 33, l. 44.
Margo V.I. Burning forest. L., 1979.

Polina Georgievna Khristoforova
GUERILLA MOVEMENT
IN THE SOUTH-WEST OF NOVGOROD REGION

Utorgoshsky partisan detachment

In the very first days of the occupation of the Soletsky region, the heroic struggle of underground fighters and partisans against the Nazi invaders began. Cut off from the Soviet rear and having no combat experience yet, they entered the fight against enemy units armed to the teeth. This is how the Utorgosh partisan detachment fought, commanded by the secretary of the district party committee G.A. Ryabkov and the chairman of the district executive committee A.Ya. Shilov.

In the first battles with the Nazis, which were waged by partisans, in most cases it was necessary to obtain weapons, ammunition and uniforms. The partisans had no place to rest, warm up or dry their clothes and shoes. The fascist invaders sought to isolate the local population from the partisans and deprive the latter of the support of local residents. People who were associated with the partisans were brutally exterminated by the Nazis. In city squares, in towns, on telegraph poles, on trees in parks and gardens, punitive forces hanged Soviet patriots, sent them to Gestapo prisons and dungeons, and tried in every possible way to intimidate and enslave Soviet people. But tens and hundreds of new fighters took the place of one killed patriot. The population of the occupied villages considered the partisans their defenders, their armed force, and helped them in every possible way, assisting them in the fight against the Nazi invaders.

At the end of July 1941, the detachment destroyed a group of fascists in the village. Melkovichi and captured war trophies. In September, the partisans derailed a military train with enemy personnel at the Kchera junction. On the Pavshitsy-Lyudyatino road they shot a column of enemy soldiers and on the Nikolaevo-Utorgosh road they captured the fascist post office. The partisans fought especially difficult battles in September 1942, when the German command stationed troops in all populated areas of the region and created large field police and punitive detachments to fight the partisans and protect their communications. While fighting, the partisans suffered heavy losses. The fascists, trying to destroy the partisans, followed on their heels. But they failed to destroy it: the people’s avengers, dividing into three groups, set up an ambush and gave the punitive forces a fight. The Nazis began to retreat, picking up the dead and wounded, and stopped pursuing the partisans.

Further fighting The Utorgosh partisan detachment was led as part of the 5th partisan brigade.

5th Partisan Brigade

1943 was a turning point during the Great Patriotic War. The Soviet Army won major victories on the Volga and near Kursk. Troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts broke the blockade of Leningrad. In January and February 1943, troops of the Northwestern Front destroyed groups of enemy troops in the Velikiye Luki and Demyansk area. The expulsion of the Nazi invaders from the territory of the Soviet country began.

This year was also characteristic for the partisan movement, which received massive development in all occupied regions of the country. It grew, strengthened and expanded. In the southwestern regions of the Novgorod region, the partisans united into the 5th Partisan Brigade, commanded by Heroes of the Soviet Union Konstantin Denisovich Karitsky and Commissar Ivan Ivanovich Sergunin (later secretary of the Novgorod Regional Committee of the CPSU). The brigade operated on the territory of the former Utorgoshsky, Batetsky, Soletsky and other regions, where the enemy’s most important communications were located - railways to Vitebsk, Novgorod-Luga, Dno-Pskov, highways. According to them, the fascist German command supplied its troops with military equipment, ammunition, food and human reserves. The brigade conducted major combat operations, cleared settlements from the punitive forces, destroyed their established “orders”, the bodies of the occupation authorities.

The most sensitive blows were delivered in the area of ​​​​the railways in order to disorganize the German rear and complicate the normal supply of the enemy army and its retreat. The partisans made surprise raids on railways, blew up railway tracks, derailed enemy trains and armored trains, and blew up bridges. The Nazi invaders found no peace anywhere from the people's avengers, were powerless to take any effective measures to combat them and were waiting for an opportunity to get out alive.

During the period from September 1943 to January 1944, the 5th Partisan Brigade defeated dozens of large enemy garrisons, the Peredolskaya and Lemenka railway stations, and the Kchera and Morino junction. And since October, the most important highway that fed the Novgorod group was completely closed German troops- highway Nikolaevo-Utorgosh-Medved. Over the course of two months, the brigade repelled three major attacks by German punitive expeditions.

By the end of February 1944, a significant part of the territory of the Leningrad region, including Soltsy, was liberated from the Nazi occupiers and the partisans operating in the territory of the Soltsy region ended hostilities.

Gorodishche underground workers

IN Patriotic War Boys and girls fought, who just yesterday had blithely ran into the field to breathe in the aroma of the air to the fullest, to pick an armful of flowers. They too came face to face with the enemy. They swore to take merciless revenge for burned, devastated cities and villages, for the blood of killed relatives, for torment and suffering. These were the Gorodishche underground workers, who played a significant role in the defeat of the German occupiers on Soletsk land. They were led by the 5th Partisan Brigade. The deputy commissar of the brigade for Komsomol work, Comrade Babenko, met with underground members more than once, gave them advice and instructions, and specific tasks. Through her contact Komsomol members Zhenya Nazarova, Masha Blokhina and Masha Stepanova, constant contact was established with the underground workers. They brought orders, leaflets and newspapers from headquarters.

On the part of the underground group, the liaison officers were Tatyana Timofeevna Yakovleva (later a teacher at the Gorodishchenskaya eight-year school), Natasha Ivanova and Sasha Sidina. The leader of the group was Fedya Maksimov, and the most dangerous assignments were carried out by his brother Petya. Once, noticing the movement of enemy vehicles on the Utorgosh-Nikolayevo highway, Fedya, in front of the Nazis, laid mines under the bridge, blew up two trucks and killed two German motorcyclists, and near Gorodishche he blew up another German car with soldiers and ammunition on the bridge. On the Gorodishche-Zvad highway, he destroyed a passenger car with a bunch of grenades, accompanied by an armored car and three German officers traveling in the car.

The underground fighters were the eyes and ears of the partisans behind enemy lines. They learned and transmitted information about the number, location and movement of enemy troops, distributed leaflets and newspapers among the population, and transmitted information about the atrocities of the Nazis against local residents to the partisan headquarters. The place where such information was transmitted was a broken enemy tank on the Vsheli-Gorodishche road.

On the day of the 26th anniversary October revolution Young underground fighters Natasha Ivanova and Anya Lyasota, taking great risks, planted a red flag in the center of the village of Utorgosh, on which was written: “Death to the German occupiers!” And at midnight, the red flag, planted by Sasha Sidina and Tanya Yakovleva, fluttered over the German canteen in Gorodishche. The Nazis were afraid to take down the flag for three days, fearing that it was mined.

Medved underground fighters

The Medved underground fighters Sasha Kulikov, Roman Sharkov, Vanya Zinoviev, Yasha Pashkov, Galya Sharkova, Petya Ganin, Misha Kulikov and others staunchly and courageously defended their homeland. They gave everything they could to win. Fellow villagers sacredly honor their names. In the Medvedsky Museum and rural library a large and interesting material has been collected about the life of young underground fighters.

The Motherland highly appreciated the feat young heroes. By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, for the courage and bravery shown during the harsh years of the war, the young patriots of the Medvedsky group were posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War...

Partisan priests

Russian Orthodox Church always strengthened the spirit of our people in years of difficult trials. This was the case during the Great Patriotic War, when all churches prayed for victory over Nazism and collected donations for the army. “The priests fought for the Fatherland with weapons in their hands. Father Fedor (Puzanov), rector of the Borkovskaya church, located in the Soletsky district of the Leningrad region, after the Germans burned the temple, came to Chebykin’s partisan regiment and demanded weapons. He was given a captured machine gun and four grenades. Father Fedor fought bravely and skillfully, for which he was awarded government awards.

The rector of the Vidon Church in the Utorgoshsky district, Father Methodius (Belov), managed to collect donations to the country’s defense fund in the occupied territory. Cash and valuables were transported by plane to Moscow. In addition, Father Methodius was engaged in reconnaissance: he obtained information necessary for the partisans. The Nazis tracked down the priest at the Dno station during another surveillance of the movement of German troops and tortured him to death in the Gestapo." (Quoted from: Mikhail Ershov. “Liturgy in the days of the blockade.” In the newspaper “For Orthodoxy and Autocracy” No. 7(42) for September 2004)

The largest historical victory of the Red Army at Stalingrad, the breakthrough by our troops of the enemy blockade of Leningrad and other victories in the Caucasus, Ukraine, Belarus and the Central Front made it possible to clear 2/3 of the Soviet land from fascist occupiers and force the Nazis to go on the defensive.

Guerrilla movement in the enemy-occupied territory of the Leningrad region during this period it especially intensified. In 1943, one after another, large partisan formations arose in the rear of the 16th and 18th Nazi armies stationed near Leningrad, Novgorod and Staraya Russa.

In those days, the 5th Brigade was born in battle. Its formation began on February 10, 1944 in the Pskov region, K.F. Karitsky was appointed brigade commander, I.I. Sergunin was appointed commissar, and T.A. Novikov was appointed chief of staff. The formation of the brigade took place in difficult conditions. The Nazis launched one punitive expedition after another.

When the formation of the brigade was completed, the Leningrad headquarters of the partisan movement determined the territory of Utorgoshsky, Batetsky, Soletsky, the southern part of Luga, Strugokrasnensky, partly Dnovsky and Porkhovsky districts as its area of ​​​​combat operations. This territory was of great strategic importance: the North-Western, Volkhov and Leningrad enemy groups met here, and the following railways passed: Warsaw and Vitebsk, Pskov-Porkhov-Dno-Staraya Russa, the Pskov-Luga highway, Nikolaevo-Shimsk-Staraya Russa. Through these communications, the fascist groups were supplied with everything they needed. Back to the southwest, enemy transport carried property looted from Soviet people. The main communication lines of enemy troops lay here. Here the occupation administration procured agricultural products and weapons for the army.

The 5th Brigade was given the task of delivering continuous attacks on highways and roads, destroying enemy transport, disrupting telephone and telegraph communications, conducting reconnaissance for the Red Army, disorganizing the economic activities of the invaders, rousing the population to actively fight the Nazis, creating unbearable conditions for enemy army, help soldiers of three fronts defeat the German invaders near Leningrad and Novgorod.

During the period of the people's armed uprising, the fighting of the partisans acquired a particularly wide scope. Entire regions and large sections of railways and highways came under the control of the rebels. Many Soviet people were saved from being taken to fascist hard labor. So, at the end of 1943, Egorov’s regiment in the area railway Utorgosh-Dno captured three trains with Soviet people being taken to Germany. The train's security was destroyed, and about 1,200 people were freed from fascist captivity.

During this period, the Nazis, having surrounded the village of Lubino, began a “hunt” for the local residents. At the Nizy station, carriages had already been delivered to send our people to Germany. The brigade command sent a group of machine gunners to the village. The battle broke out and the Nazis left Lubino. About 350 residents were freed. Many of those rescued joined partisan detachments.

At the end of 1943, events developed rapidly in the Soletsky region, where the organs of Soviet power were restored. The organizing team was headed by an experienced participant in the partisan struggle, communist L.S. Gabasov. It included I.I. Timoshenko and the chairman of the Soletsky village council A.V. Ivanov. Members of the troika held meetings in the villages and explained the situation at the fronts. The peasants unanimously decided to immediately begin building forest camps for the residents of those villages in which the Germans were located. My parents were also in such a camp in Platkovsky Bor. At the meetings there were many who wanted to voluntarily join the partisans.

While in forest camps, the peasants connected their lives even more firmly with the partisans, went on combat missions together, created rubble, destroyed bridges, and blew up railroads. Residents of the villages of Veretye, Polyany, Bolshoye and Maloye Zaborovye, together with the partisans, dismantled and burned six bridges on the Ploskovo-Dubrovo-Seltso highway in one night. Anyone who could wield a crowbar, ax or saw went to work for this job. Peasants from the villages of Zarechye and Ilemno, together with partisans, took part in a night raid on sections of the Dno-Soltsy railway.

The peasants of the villages of Yurkovo and Kryukovo created several blockages on the Dubrovo-Porechye road, blocking the path of the Nazis. Residents of the villages of the Dubrovsky village council, under the leadership of the authorized troika M.P. Gavrilov, blew up all the bridges on the Yazvische-Ostrov road.

During the year of struggle against the fierce enemy, the partisans of the 5th brigade destroyed more than 14,000 fascist soldiers and officers, captured 36 senior officers, derailed 81 trains with military equipment, destroyed 3 armored trains, blew up 22,996 sections of rail track, 265 bridges on highways. and 21 railways, 399 cars, 6 buses, 16 tanks, many convoys, warehouses, garages, motorcycles and other military property were destroyed,

In the 5th Partisan Brigade there were many residents of the Soltsy region who selflessly fought against the Nazis, thereby bringing the days of liberation from the Nazis closer to the cities of Novgorod and Soltsy. Many of them have already passed away. They fought on the land of Novgorod A.N. Kulebin, N.P. Ivanov, I.I. Zhelezkov, A.V. Kotova, G.I. Sokolov.

On January 20, 1944, units of the 59th Army cleared Novgorod of Nazi invaders. For 29 months, the Nazi barbarians occupied the city of Novgorod. They burned and destroyed almost all residential, public and industrial buildings. The ancients were also badly damaged architectural monuments, some of them were turned into ruins.

A.N. BARANOV, partisan of the 5th Partisan Brigade, member of the regional council of veterans.

Kazantsev A. Commissioner of the 5th Partisan Brigade // For the Fatherland, freedom and honor! : essays about the Heroes of the Soviet Union - Gorky residents. – Gorky, 1967. – Book. 3. – pp. 309-315

The last pre-war night found the commander of the electrical company Ivan Sergunin at the border in the small Lithuanian town of Shakai. From here he and units of the Red Army retreated to the east. Every day passed in stubborn, fierce battles. Our soldiers fought steadfastly, but under the onslaught of the enemy they had to retreat with heavy losses.

In one battle, the battalion commander was killed, his duties were assigned to Sergunin. On July 10, 1941, near Borisov, the battalion, together with other units, surrounded more than three hundred German paratroopers and destroyed almost all of them in a four-hour battle.

So it began combat biography former milling operator of the Gorky Automobile Plant, Captain Ivan Sergunin.

Soon Sergunin was summoned to the headquarters of the fortified area. Here a long conversation took place with a representative of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus - the person authorized to organize partisan detachments and sabotage groups to fight behind enemy lines.

On July 13, 1941 began partisan life Sergunina. At first he was the chief of staff and then the commissar of the partisan detachment named after V. Chkalov.

Participating directly in military operations against the fascist occupiers, Sergunin did a lot of work together with his communists among the residents of villages and villages. This work is evidenced by documents stored in the archive. One of them says: “As a result of great organizational and mass political work launched under the leadership of Comrade Sergunin, the population of the Utorgoshsky district went into the forests, hiding from the German invaders. The remaining working-age population opposes the Germans, disrupting traffic on the roads. Recently, the population has dismantled over 40 bridges on country roads, which is disrupting the work of German economic teams to plunder Soviet and collective farm property.”

From the first days of the struggle, Sergunin proved himself to be a skilled organizer. He couldn't live in peace. He knew how to support the morale of his comrades, he was on fire, fought with the enemy, setting an example of courage in battle. When he was in front, the partisans felt even more confident.

Deep behind enemy lines, where it seemed that the fascists had already become masters, the Chkalovites smashed the invaders, mined roads, blew up bridges, destroyed traitors and traitors to the Motherland, and raised the people to fight. Soon the small partisan group grew into a large detachment.

In the summer of 1942, the Chkalov detachment as part of the 3rd brigade repelled punitive attacks on partisan region. At this time, Sergunin not only carried out a large variety of party and political work, but he himself more than once participated in various military operations as an experienced saboteur and demolition officer. The partisans said about him: “Our commissar has a newspaper in one hand and a pistol in the other.” His talent as a political worker was combined with the courage of a fighter.

Commissioner Sergunin cared for the partisans in a fatherly way; he was strict towards those who committed misconduct. He enjoyed the universal love of the detachment and brigade.

Ivan Sergunin came from a working-class family of a hereditary blacksmith in the village of Vitkulovo, Nizhny Novgorod province. But he was drawn to the factory. As a seventeen-year-old boy, he came to the construction of the Gorky Automobile Plant. In 1937, conscription into the army, and then military school, from which he graduated in the fall of 1939.

In an alarming war time The 5th Leningrad Partisan Brigade was created. Its commander was Konstantin Dionisievich Karitsky, a communist, former border guard, its commissioner was Ivan Ivanovich Sergunin, and its chief of staff was Major Timofey Antipovich Novikov.

All three are career military men who went through a harsh army school.

Immediately after the formation of the 5th Partisan Brigade, it had to fight with numerically superior punitive forces concentrated in the Slavkovsky region. In a short time, the partisans of the 5th brigade derailed 4 military echelons and blew up 15 bridges on railways and dirt roads. Commissioner Sergunin, together with the communists, did a lot of work among the residents of villages and villages. The connection between the partisans and the local population grew stronger. Residents provided assistance to the partisans with food, clothing, and went on reconnaissance missions.

For the partisan movement, 1943 was a year of further growth of the popular struggle in all occupied areas. Beginning in the spring, partisan detachments and formations quickly grew at the expense of the local population.

Here is what Ivan Ivanovich Sergunin says: “The main object of combat operations of the 5th brigade was the enemy’s communications, primarily the railways. Here the partisans inflicted the most sensitive blows on the enemy. In one year, they derailed 81 enemy trains and 6 armored trains, while 79 locomotives, 395 wagons and 111 platforms with enemy ammunition, equipment and manpower, 2 tanks with fuel, 4 armored locomotives, 7 armored cars were destroyed.

These raids were carried out despite the strengthened security of the roads, despite the fact that the German command maintained large security garrisons at each post.”

The period from September to October 1943 was especially significant in the history of the partisan movement in the Novgorod region. During these months, in the areas occupied by the Nazis, a large mass of the population, united around the partisans and underground fighters, rose up to actively fight the enemy. A general popular uprising of the population of the occupied areas began.

This uprising was prepared by the entire course of events: the successes Soviet army on the fronts, the hatred of the Soviet people for the enemy, the increasing combat activity of the partisans, the growing political influence of the Bolshevik press on the broad masses.

The reason for the uprising was the order of the fascist command to evacuate the entire population of the occupied areas of the Novgorod and Leningrad regions to Germany.

In September 1943, a popular armed uprising began in the area of ​​operation of the 5th Partisan Brigade. By that time, the brigade began publishing the newspaper “Partisan Revenge,” which was edited by M. Abramov. The newspaper played a significant role in the ideological arming of the rapidly growing brigade and in organizing the work of the organs of Soviet power restored by the partisans behind enemy lines.

On September 1, 1943, the first issue of the newspaper “Partisan Revenge” was published. The editorial was written by Commissioner I.I. Sergunin. She called: “Peasant, peasant woman! Run away from German hard labor into the forests, to the partisans. Take machine guns and machine guns in your hands... Disrupt the German defense works. Don’t give the Germans bread and other products, hide bread, livestock and hay.”

This call played a big role. Suffice it to say that in the short period from October 1943 to January 1944, over 6 thousand people joined the 5th Brigade alone, not counting the fact that tens of thousands of Soviet people actively helped the partisans.

Sergunin clearly understood the enormous role of the press not only as a propagandist, but also as an organizer. And in the next issue, he passionately writes, addressing the Soviet people: “The German robbers rob the population before their retreat... The Nazis forcefully drive away Soviet citizens from their native places, dooming them to death. The salvation of thousands of people from fascist captivity is in armed struggle... To arms, comrades! With our own hands we will protect our wives and children, sisters and parents... Partisans! The protection of Soviet citizens and their property from the Germans lies on your conscience!”

The Nazis began to evacuate the population with their characteristic monstrous cruelty and ruthlessness.

The partisans were faced with the task of saving Soviet people from being taken into fascist slavery. Underground party organizations and the partisan command showed the population the only path to salvation - the path of active struggle against the fascist invaders.

“The Soviet people followed our call,” recalls I. I. Sergunin. - In Utorgoshsky, Soletsky, Batetsky, and then in other areas, a popular uprising arose. The rebels destroyed all local fascist government bodies - commandant’s offices and volost councils.”

Whole villages of peasants went into the forest with their families and property.

The brigade command launched combat activities to defeat the fascist garrisons.

During the period of the popular armed uprising, the combat operations of the partisans acquired a particularly wide scope. The entire population took part in the war against the Nazis. Entire regions and large sections of railways and highways were taken under the control of the partisans. Day and night there were stubborn battles on the railways and highways. The partisans obtained weapons and ammunition in battles, recaptured grain, livestock, and property of Soviet people sent to Germany, liberated the people and took them under their protection. The 5th Brigade's main focus during this period was the fight to preserve Soviet people and their property.

So, on October 9, after sabotage on the Vitebsk railway line in the Utorgosh-Dno section, a detachment of partisans stopped three trains with the population that the Nazis were taking away from Leningrad. The guards accompanying the train were killed. Of those released, 1,200 people capable of carrying weapons and fighting became partisans, and the rest were placed in forest camps and among the local population.

And the Soviet people thanked the partisans and their commissar Sergunin and commander Karitsky. They pronounced the names of Ivan Ivanovich and Konstantin Dionisievich with respect.

Their surnames always stood side by side - Karitsky and Sergunin. In wartime documents, the commander and commissar were called “KS” - after the first letters of their last names. And even under the name of the brigade newspaper “Partisan Revenge” there was: the organ of the partisan unit “KS”.

Karitsky likes to remember his commissar:

After one rather large operation carried out by a partisan brigade, the Nazis went mad and sent a punitive expedition against us - tanks, motorized units. We had to go into the forests. The Nazis pushed us back, drove us deep into the forest, and cut off all communication channels.

Hungry, sad mood. The Nazis launched attacks both from the ground and from the air. They threw leaflets asking us to surrender, but promised to spare our lives.

I remember I came to the dugout and saw Sergunin sitting angry, holding a fascist leaflet in his hands.

Look, he says, what the scoundrels dare to offer us! Well, we will answer them...

He called the newspaper editor Misha Abramov, gave him a leaflet to read and told him to write a response. He wrote. Sergunin read: everything seems to be correct, but there is no sharpness, no anger.

Sergunin loved a sharp word and didn’t go into his pocket for it. I decided to write an answer to the Germans myself. He sat for two hours, then read to us. We literally died with laughter - a pure letter from the Cossacks to the Turkish Sultan. There was continuous laughter in the detachments when the response to the Germans, written by Sergunin, was discussed. Then this letter went around the villages for a long time...

The partisans also recaptured the food that the enemy tried to take away. Thus, in several raids on the Warsaw and Vitebsk railway lines, Egorov’s regiment recaptured up to ten thousand pounds of grain from the invaders.

An important event for the partisans of the brigade was the presentation of the partisan combat banner for saving Soviet people from extermination and theft into fascist slavery. This was the first banner awarded to a partisan brigade.

The banner was presented by the Leningrad headquarters of the partisan movement at a time when fighting was going on all around. The award ceremony took place on the day of the 26th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution.

In the areas of combat operations of the 5th Brigade, the plans of the Nazi command to procure food and send the population to Germany were almost completely thwarted. And Commissar Sergunin, together with the communists, did a lot of work among the residents of villages and villages. Often meeting with the population of the occupied areas, Sergunin, with his passionate Bolshevik words, called on the people to mercilessly fight the German invaders. Speaking in the village of Kievets, at a rally dedicated to the 26th anniversary of the Great October Revolution, brigade commissioner I. I. Sergunin said: “Fan the flames of partisan struggle wider behind enemy lines, do not let the enemy burn our villages, with all your might, by all means, help the advancing Red Army.” Army...” Commissioner Sergunin and Commander Karitsky correctly understood the complex situation of the area, where the success of the brigade’s combat activities depended largely on the support of local residents. After all, there were German garrisons in almost every village.

Sergunin did not forget that after the liberation of the long-suffering land from the occupiers, working life will begin. At the end of November, having visited the villages of the Strugo-Krasnensky district, Sergunin, in a conversation with peasants, learned that the Nazis were taking away agricultural equipment and taking away the grain left for seeds from the residents. And having returned to the brigade, he instructs the editor of the newspaper “Partisan Revenge” to publish materials about the upcoming spring sowing work.

The year 1944 arrived. The partisans were looking forward to the decisive blow of the Soviet Army against the fascist invaders from Novgorod and Leningrad.

On January 14, 1944, on the day the troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts began the offensive, the Leningrad headquarters of the partisan movement gave the order: “Direct all forces to help the advancing Red Army.”

The 5th Partisan Brigade provided great assistance to the soldiers of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts. Having occupied the village of Okuluzhye, the partisans of the 5th brigade then fought together with the soldiers of the Soviet Army for the settlements of Vyazhishchi, Khvoshchno, Svyatie, Gorodishchi and others.

For heroic deeds and great assistance to the troops of the Soviet Army in breaking the blockade of Leningrad, the 5th partisan brigade was awarded two red banners from the Volodarsky and Moscow district party committees and the executive committees of Leningrad.

On February 22, 1944, all areas of the Novgorod region were liberated, and the partisans ended their fighting.

The party and people highly appreciated the military activities of the Novgorod partisans and underground communists. 5,247 partisans were awarded orders and medals of the Soviet Union, 18 partisans were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

The military feats of Ivan Ivanovich were appreciated by the Motherland. His chest is decorated with the Hero's star and many government awards.

After the war, Sergunin graduated from the Higher Party School under the Central Committee of the CPSU, and put a lot of effort into restoring the economy of the Novgorod region destroyed by the enemy.

On July 5, 1966, the plenum of the Novgorod regional committee of the CPSU elected Sergunin as second secretary of the regional committee.

In August of the same year, a group of participants of the motor rally “On the Roads of Military Glory of Gorky Citizens” visited Novgorod. Ivan Ivanovich warmly greeted his fellow countrymen, introduced them to the city, with its numerous historical and architectural monuments.

Novgorodians honor the names of heroic soldiers who gave their lives in the fight against the Nazi occupiers. U ancient wall Novgorod Kremlin contains graves of soldiers and officers who died for the liberation of the city, dear to the heart of every resident.

Nice to be back in hometown Gorky Hero of the Soviet Union... But Ivan Ivanovich remained on the land that was watered with the blood of his fighting friends.

Time has noticeably silvered the temples of the commissar of the 5th Partisan Brigade. In 1966, he turned fifty years old, but an unquenchable fire still burns in the eyes of our fellow countryman, and the commissioner’s heart beats in his chest.