2017-09-12T17:00:00+00:00

Gastello Nikolai Frantsevich (1907-1941).

Military pilot, Hero Soviet Union(posthumously).

Born April 23 (May 6), 1907 in Moscow. Father - Franz Pavlovich Gastyllo, a Belarusian, originally from the village of Pluzhyny (now the Karelichsky district of the Grodno region, Belarus), came to Moscow to work in 1900, worked as a cupola maker in foundries on Kazanskaya railway. Mother - Anastasia Semenovna Kutuzova (maiden name), Russian, seamstress.
In 1914-1918, Nikolai Gastello studied at the 3rd Sokolniki City Men's School. A.S. Pushkin.
In 1918, due to a famine, he was evacuated to Bashkiria as part of a group of Muscovite schoolchildren.
In 1919, he returned to Moscow, where he again entered the school.
Nikolai Gastello began his career in 1923, becoming a carpenter's apprentice.
In 1924, the Gastello family moved to Murom, where Nikolai became a mechanic at the Locomotive Plant named after. F.E. Dzerzhinsky, where his father also worked. In parallel with his work, Nikolai Gastello graduated from school (now - school number 33).
In 1928 he joined the CPSU(b).
In 1930, the Gastello family returned to Moscow and Nikolai went to work at the May 1st State Mechanical Plant of Construction Machinery. In 1930-1932, Nikolai Gastello lived in the village. Khlebnikovo.
In May 1932 he was drafted into the Red Army on a special recruitment basis. Sent to study at the aviation school of pilots in Lugansk
May 1932 - December 1933 - studying at the XI Military Aviation Pilot School.
1933-1938 - service in the 82nd heavy bomber squadron of the 21st heavy bomber aviation brigade based in Rostov-on-Don. Starting to fly as a right pilot on a TB-3 bomber, N.F. Gastello moved to the commander's seat from November 1934.
In 1938, as a result of the reorganization of the unit, Nikolai Frantsevich Gastello ended up in the 1st heavy bomber regiment.
In May 1939, he became a flight commander, and after a little over a year, he became deputy squadron commander.
In 1939, he participated in the battles at Khalkhin Gol as part of the 150th high-speed bomber aviation regiment, which was attached to the squadron of the 1st TBAP. Participated in the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940 and in the annexation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to the USSR (June-July 1940).
In the fall of 1940, the aviation unit was relocated to the western borders, to the city of Velikiye Luki, and then to the aviation town of Borovskoye near Smolensk.
In 1940, N.F. Gastello was awarded the rank of captain.
In the spring of 1941, Nikolai Gastello, having undergone appropriate retraining, mastered the DB-3f aircraft.
May 24, 1941 - June 23, 1941 - commander of the 4th squadron of the 207th DBAP.
June 24-26, 1941 - commander of the 2nd squadron of the same unit. On June 24, with the fire of a large-caliber machine gun, from an aircraft standing in the parking lot, he shot down a Junkers-88.

On June 26, 1941, on a DB-3f, as part of a flight of two bombers, bombed an enemy motorcade on the Molodechno-Radoshkovichi road. Gastello's aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft artillery fire. An enemy projectile damaged the fuel tank and Gastello made a fiery ram - sent a burning car to the mechanized column of the enemy. All crew members were killed. Together with the commander of the ship N.F. Gastello, the crew members were killed: Lieutenant A.A. Burdenyuk, Lieutenant G.N. Skorobogaty, Senior Sergeant A.A. Kalinin.

He was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, with the award of the Golden Star badge and the Order of Lenin (1941, posthumously). Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of July 26, 1941

Memory:
Gastello is a settlement in the Poronaysky district of the Sakhalin region
Them. Gastello - a mine in the Tenkinsky district of the Magadan region
Streets in many cities of Russia, Ukraine, as well as Belarus and Kazakhstan, including Lipetsk, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Ulan-Ude, bear the name of Gastello.

Monuments to N.F. Gastello were installed:
On the highway Minsk - Vilnius, at the place where, as it was believed, N. Gastello made his ramming (1976).
In Moscow, in Sokolniki.
In the city of Murom, Vladimir region.
In Ufa (1985).
In Lugansk (on the territory of the former Voroshilovgrad Higher Military Aviation School for Navigators).
In the village Radoshkovichi, in the park on the square that bears his name.
In the village Khlebnikovo (now - the territory of the city of Dolgoprudny), near school number 3, which bears his name.
In the city of Choibalsan, Mongolia, in the courtyard of school No. 1, which bears his name. The Mongols position this monument to Gastello, first of all, as a pilot - a participant in the battles at Khalkhin Gol.
In Rostov-on-Don.
In Odessa (Ukraine), on the street that bears his name, there is a school number 31 named after. N. Gastello. Opposite the school, in a small square, there is a monument to Nikolai Gastello.
In the Omsk region, on the territory of the children's health camp. Captain Gastello.
In the city of Fergana, Uzbek SSR, a monument was erected on the territory of the regiment of the Military Transport Aviation named after Gastello.
In Ufa there is a stadium named after N.F. Gastello.
In the city of Kyzyl there is a park of culture and recreation named after N.F. Gastello.
In the city of Khabarovsk, a square is named after the hero.

Monument to Nikolai Gastello in Ufa.

List of sources:
Site "Heroes of the Country". Gastello Nikolay Frantsevich.
Victor Gastello. Memory of a father.

		Monument in Ufa
		Annotation board in St. Petersburg
		Monument in Murom
		Memorial plaque in Rostov-on-Don (view 1)
		Memorial plaque in Rostov-on-Don (view 2)
		Monument in Dolgoprudny
		Annotation board in Dzerzhinsk
		Annotation board in Chelyabinsk
		Monument in the town of Pochinok
		Monument in the town of Pochinok (fragment)
		Annotation board in Minsk
		Annotation board in Moscow
		Monument in Moscow (view 1)
		Monument in Moscow (view 2)
		Bust in the museum in Grodno
		Building in Moscow
		Memorial plaque in Moscow
		Memorial plaque in Moscow (on the school)
		Annotation board in Sovetsk
		Annotation board in Kovrov

Gastello Nikolai Frantsevich - commander of the 4th aviation squadron of the 207th long-range bomber aviation regiment of the 42nd long-range bomber aviation division of the 3rd long-range bomber aviation corps, captain.

He graduated from the seven-year school No. 25 named after Pushkin in Moscow. Since 1924, he lived in the city of Murom, Vladimir province, worked as an apprentice rodman, molder and cupola operator at the Murom Locomotive Plant named after F.E. Dzerzhinsky. From 1928 he again lived in Moscow, in 1930-1932 he lived in the village of Khlebnikovo (now part of the city of Dolgoprudny, Moscow Region). Since 1930, he worked as a fitter and standardizer at the State Mechanical Plant of Construction Machines named after May Day.

Since May 1932 - in the Red Army, he was drafted into the Air Force according to a special recruitment. In 1933 he graduated from the 11th Luhansk Military Aviation Pilot School named after the Proletariat of Donbass. In 1934-1938 he served in the 82nd heavy bomber aviation squadron, then in the bomber aviation brigade in Rostov-on-Don: co-pilot, senior pilot, ship commander. From May 1938 he commanded a detachment in the 1st heavy bomber aviation regiment. In 1940, the regiment was relocated to Velikiye Luki, and in early 1941, to the Borovskoye airfield in the Smolensk region.

He fought on the Khalkhin-Gol River as part of the 150th high-speed bomber aviation regiment. Member of the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940. In May 1941, Captain Gastello was appointed commander of the 4th squadron of the 207th long-range bomber aviation regiment (42nd long-range bomber aviation division, 3rd bomber aviation corps, DBA).

Member of the Great Patriotic War from the first day. He made his first sortie on June 22, 1941 at 5.00 o'clock. In the first days of the war, the regiment suffered heavy losses. The remaining pilots and aircraft on June 24 were consolidated into two squadrons. Captain Nikolai Gastello became commander of the 2nd squadron. Completed 3 sorties. During the bombing of the airfield by an enemy aircraft on June 24, 1941, an enemy aircraft was shot down from the ground by machine-gun fire.

On June 26, 1941, while performing the next flight on a combat mission, his DB-3F bomber was hit and caught fire. Captain Gastello N.F. sent a burning plane to the accumulation of enemy troops in the area of ​​​​the village of Radoshkovichi on highway Molodechno-Radoshkovichi...

By the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of July 26, 1941, for the exemplary performance of the combat missions of the Command on the front of the fight against German fascism and the courage and heroism shown to the captain Gastello to Nikolai Frantsevich He was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal (posthumously).

Military ranks:
senior lieutenant (1935),
captain (1940).

He was awarded the Order of Lenin (07/26/1941, posthumously).

Memorial Museum of the Hero of the Soviet Union N.F. Gastello was opened after the war in Murom and settled in the house where he lived in 1924-1928 (Gastello street, house number 14). In front of the entrance to the museum, a monument to the Hero was erected by the Belarusian sculptor A.O. Bembel. Subsequently, materials from the museum were transferred to the local history museum, and the monument was moved to the square in front of the railway station, where it is still located. The name of the Hero is one of the streets of the village of Khlebnikovo (the city of Dolgoprudny), Dolgoprudny School No. 3, a monument is erected there. Monuments were also erected in Moscow, Ufa, Lugansk (Ukraine), Choibalsan (Mongolia), at the place of death near the village of Radoshkovichi (Belarus). Streets in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Ufa, Minsk and other cities are named after Nikolai Gastello. Schools in Moscow, pos. Khlebnikovo, Murom, in the village of Radoshkovichi, enterprises and educational institutions in many settlements of the former USSR. Memorial plaques have been installed in Moscow and Rostov-on-Don. In the USSR, the name of the Hero was given to the 194th Guards Regiment of Military Transport Aviation, but by now the regiment has been disbanded.

On June 26, 1941, in the afternoon, Gastello flew out at the head of a DB-3F flight to strike at German troops in the Molodechno-Radoshkovichi area, advancing on Minsk. There was no fighter cover. Our pilots found a German convoy moving along the highway. Dropping to 400 meters, they dropped bombs on enemy tanks and vehicles. After leaving the attack, Gastello ordered his wingmen Vorobyov and Rybas to return to the airfield, and he himself headed for another road, a country road. There was also a convoy along it. Dropping to an extremely low height, he walked along it. Shooters Kalinin and Skorobogaty, firing from machine guns, disabled 12 vehicles (including cars and a staff bus). German anti-aircraft guns opened fire on the aircraft. From the hit of an anti-aircraft projectile, the DB-3F caught fire. Gastello turned back to his territory. The fire flared up more and more. It was not possible to knock down the flame by sliding. Gastello realized that he could not reach his own, and decided to send the burning plane to the German station located in the village of Mocki military unit. He deployed his plane over the forest, but did not reach the village - the plane crashed at the edge of the forest. Crew members died together with Gastello: navigator Lieutenant A.A. Burdenyuk, gunner-radio operator senior sergeant A.A. Kalinin and shooter Lieutenant G.N. Skorobogaty (a pilot of the same regiment, he asked for it on a sortie instead of a regular shooter). All of them were posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree.

The explosion was seen by the wingmen when they flew up to the Radoshkoviches (rather large locality, marked on the map) and in the report they tied a battle to it. For a long time it was believed that the crew of Captain Gastello died while ramming an enemy column on the Molodechno-Radoshkovichi highway. A monument was erected at this place. Many years after the war, it turned out that another crew of the 207th long-range bomber aviation regiment, commander of the 3rd squadron, captain A.S., died there. Maslova (in 1996, all crew members were awarded the title of Hero of Russia).

By order of the Minister of Defense of the USSR, Captain Gastello N.F. forever enlisted in the lists of one of the aviation regiments. Monuments to the Hero were erected in Moscow, Minsk, in the urban-type settlement of Radoshkovichi, Molodechno district, Minsk region and on the territory of the Voroshilovgrad Higher Military Aviation School of Navigators. A memorial plaque was installed on the building of the Moscow school No. 270, where he studied. Collective farms, state farms, factories, factories, streets, pioneer squads, mine number 30 in the city of Kizel, Perm Region, and a motor ship were named after him.

Many thanks for preparing the biography to Alexander Melnikov.

FROM THE AWARD LIST OF THE SQUADRILL COMMANDER OF THE 207th LONG-TERM BOMBER AVIATION REGIMENT, CAPTAIN GASTELLO NIKOLAY FRANTSEVICH

Commander of the 4th Air Squadron of the 207th Aviation Regiment Captain Gastello Nikolai Frantsevich for his short combat activity in the fight against the arrogant enemy - Hitler's fascism, he wrote glorious lines in the history of our brave pilots and deserves to Soviet people knew one of the most devoted sons of his Motherland. From the beginning of the Patriotic War to last day made three sorties in his life. All of them were carried out accurately, with excellent results.

On June 24 in the morning, in anticipation of a combat mission, a flight and technical composition The 207th long-range bomber aviation regiment was at the airfield in their places, waiting for orders to fly to the enemy.

The presumptuous fascist Yu-88 aircraft, having on board a pilot awarded by Hitler for his barbaric actions with three crosses, including an iron cross, appeared at an altitude of 80-100 meters above the airfield. Having passed the first time, he turned around and, choosing a parking lot for aircraft, opened fire from the front and hatch machine guns, concentrating fire on the aircraft on which Captain Gastello was at that time. Captain Gastello with a long and well-aimed burst, direct fire disabled the right engine and mortally wounded the pilot. The insidious enemy tried to leave, but could not. His fate was decided by making an emergency landing, he was taken prisoner.

On June 26, Captain Gastello with the crew: Burdenyuk, Skorobogaty and Kalinin - led the DB-3 link to bomb the presumptuous Nazis. On the Molodechno-Radoshkovichi road, a line of enemy tanks appeared near Radoshkovichi. Gastello's link, having dropped bombs on a pile of tanks accumulated for refueling and shooting the crews of fascist vehicles from a machine gun, began to move away from the target. At this time, the fascist shell caught up with the car of Captain Gastello. Having received a direct hit, engulfed in flames, the plane could not go to its base, but at this difficult moment, Captain Gastello and his courageous crew were busy with the idea of ​​​​not allowing the enemy to native land. According to the observation of Senior Lieutenant Vorobyov and Lieutenant Rybas, they saw how Captain Gastello turned around on a burning plane and led him into the thick of the tanks. A column of fire enveloped the tanks and fascist crews in flames. The German fascists paid such a high price for the death of the pilot Captain Gastello and the death of the heroic crew.

Pilot Gastello and his crew are not in our ranks, he died a hero's death in the fight against German fascism, but his memory will long be kept in the hearts of those people for whose happiness Captain Gastello Nikolai Frantsevich fought and died and his crew.

The heroic deed of Captain Gastello is now known to the whole country, poets and writers, together with the people, have composed songs and battle stories about the glorious crew and its commander.

To the infinitely devoted son of our Motherland and Party, the courageous, brave falcon Soviet aviation, who died a hero's death in the fight against German fascism, we apply for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Commander of the 207th Regiment Captain Lobanov
Military Commissar of the 207th Regiment Battalion Commissar Kuznetsov

Gastello House-Museum, Murom. Copy.

According to the publication: "Workers of the Ivanovo and Vladimir regions during the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945)". Ivanovo book publishing house, 1959, p. 469-471.

Added by Sergey Kargapoltsev

Nikolai Frantsevich Gastello was born on May 6, 1907 in Moscow into a working-class family. In 1930-1932 he lived in the village of Khlebnikovo. He graduated from the school of military pilots. Participated in battles on the river. Khalkin-Gol and in battles during the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940. From the first days of the Great Patriotic War, he was at the epicenter of military battles.

Description of the feat

On June 26, 1941, having flown out with his squadron on another combat mission, he discovered a mechanized column of fascists on the Minsk-Molodechno highway, in the Radoshkovichi area. When the planes began to approach the target, the commander ordered to descend. Combat approach - and the bombs flew to the target. Puffs of black smoke and bursts of fire marked the accuracy and strength of the bombing. The Nazi anti-aircraft gunners opened heavy fire. The Gastello IL-4 aircraft was hit by enemy anti-aircraft artillery. The car, engulfed in flames, turned around, rushed to the accumulation of gas tanks and, crashing into a column, exploded along with the Nazi equipment. This was the first "fire ram", which was subsequently repeated by many brave pilots during the war.

Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated June 26, 1941 No. Captain Gastello Nikolai Frantsevich, commander of the air squadron, was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

School N3 is named after Gastello.

Street in microdistrict. Khlebnikovo is named after Gastello.

Nikolai Gastello was born on May 6, 1907 in Moscow, in a working-class family. In 1911, the family moved to Sokolniki, where Nikolai went to school. In Moscow, on the Ninth Sokolnicheskaya Street, there is the building of the school where N. Gastello studied.

From a letter from N. Gastello's first teacher Evgenia Sergeevna Talannikova: "An imperturbably calm character, perseverance in achieving the set goal, efficiency, courage, endurance raised in him a hero-pilot, a faithful son of the Motherland ..."

Since 1919, Nikolai Gastello has been studying in a teenagers' home and working as a carpenter's apprentice.

In the summer of 1924 the whole family moved to Murom. Father, Franz Pavlovich, works as a cupola worker at the locomotive repair plant of the Moscow-Kazan Railway, 17-year-old Nikolai works with his father as a mechanic and studies at general education courses.

In 1925, Nikolai was accepted into the Komsomol, and in 1928 - into the Communist Party.

In his free time from work and study, Nikolai is intensely involved in sports. He was a center forward on the football team. At the initiative of Nikolai, the Komsomol members of the plant built the Lokomotiv stadium on their own (now it is the stadium named after N. Gastello). Nikolai was an excellent skier, skater, parachute jumper.

In August 1930, the Gastello family returned to Moscow and lived in the village of Khlebnikovo along the Savelovskaya railway along the 2nd passage in house 7 (now the Gastello passage). Nikolai works at a machine-building plant named after. May 1 in Moscow as a rate fitter.

In 1932, at the call of the Youth for Airplanes party, Gastello left to study at the Luhansk Pilot School.

From autobiography: "Special military education: Graduated from II Military Pilot School in 1933. From 1933 to April 1941 he served in long-range heavy bomber aviation in Rostov-on-Don as a ship commander. From April 1941 he was a squadron commander of the 207th long-range heavy bomber regiment.

It happened on June 26, 1941, forty kilometers from Minsk, near the town of Minsk. Radoshkovichi. It was the fifth day of the war. Fascist troops rushed to Moscow. From the headquarters of the division received an urgent order: "The 207th air regiment, consisting of four aircraft, in pairs, bombard the enemy's motorized mechanized units that broke into the Molodechno-Radoshkovichi area. The height of the bombing is 600-800 meters. Route: Smolensk-Borisov-Minsk."

The task was entrusted to a flight of aircraft under the command of the commander of the 4th squadron, Captain Gastello. In one link with the captain, the task was carried out by Art. lieutenant Vorobyov, navigator-lieutenant Rybas. They became eyewitnesses of the feat.

The planes flew to Borisov at an altitude of 3000 m. Visibility was good. The bombers soon reached their target. A convoy of tanks and vehicles was moving along the Minsk Highway in a dense stream. Away from the highway near the village of Dekshnyany, a large accumulation of enemy equipment was observed. Cars were being refueled.

At a signal from Captain Gastello, the planes dived into the enemy column with a deafening roar. The bombs dropped by the navigator Burdenyuk exactly hit the target. The second approach - and again well-aimed blows to the enemy column. Long bursts of machine-gun fire from shooters Skorobogaty and Kalinin smashed the panicked fascists. The task was completed, and the planes began to turn back. The Nazis, as if coming to their senses, opened furious fire on the planes from anti-aircraft guns.

One of the shells exploded near Gastello's plane. Broke the gas tank. The motor fired up. The fire instantly spread to the wings and began to approach the cockpit. It was impossible to put out the flames. The plane burst into flames. It was possible to jump out with a parachute, but then - fascist captivity. Captain Gastello, and with him the members of his crew, went on a fiery ram, at the cost of their lives, struck at the enemy. With a merciless tornado, the bomber swiftly swept from the tail to the head of the column and crashed into the very thick of enemy vehicles! The crew stepped into immortality. The evening edition of the Soviet Information Bureau reported: "Dozens of fascist vehicles and tanks exploded along with the hero's plane."

The feat of N.F. Gastello and his crew are widely known in our country and abroad. During the years of the war, such a maneuver was repeated by 367 combat crews, and behind each of them is the greatness, fortitude of the soldiers and deep faith in victory over the enemy.

Anniversary booklet material

school museum N3

The bitter truth about Gastello...

Newspaper "Moskovsky Komsomolets", 2001

This text cannot claim historical accuracy!

Let's try to restore the chronology of the day when Nikolai Gastello entered immortality - June 26, 1941. On the fourth day of the war, the German tanks of Goth and Guderian advanced across Belarus at a speed of 100 km per day. And already on June 29, the 3rd, 4th, 10th and 13th armies of the Southwestern Front of the Red Army were surrounded.

Our troops were faced with the task of somehow, at any cost, to stop the enemy. On June 26, three Soviet DB-3 "F" bombers took off from the Borovskoye airfield near Smolensk. They were supposed to bomb in the area of ​​the Radoshkovichi-Molodechno highway, where a large concentration of German tanks was observed.

The pilots of these aircraft, according to the report of the command, were the captains: Nikolai Gastello, Alexander Maslov and Art. Lieutenant Fyodor Vorobyov.

Residents of the village saw how at about 12.00 on June 26 the German column was safely attacked by three "Stalin's falcons". Aircraft st. lieutenant Vorobyov, dropping bombs, turned around and went to his own - behind the front line. Two other bombers after completing the combat mission, i.e. on the way "home", were hit by German anti-aircraft guns.

One of them (burning, with a plume of thick smoke) "left in an unknown direction." This is evidenced by the reports of the 207th air regiment of the 42nd air division and local residents. And the second, also burning, made a U-turn, reached the enemy column and dived into the thick of German tanks ... Fedor Vorobyov, who returned to the airfield in Bryansk (since our troops were retreating, the 207th air regiment on the same day , June 26, moved to Bryansk), then indicated in the report; he and the navigator, Lieutenant Rybas, saw that the fearless plane that made the fiery ram was led by Captain Gastello.

"On June 26, 1941, an unprecedented heroic feat was performed by Captain Nikolai Gastello, who directed his wrecked plane to a column of enemy tanks and tanks. Dozens of cars were destroyed on the spot from the explosion of the plane of a brave pilot."

(History of the USSR. M .: Higher School, 1978. P. 241)

"The whole country at the beginning of the war became aware of the immortal feat of the communist pilot N.F. Gastello. The plane caught fire from an enemy shell. It was not possible to bring down the flames. The heroic crew sent the burning bomber to a column of enemy vehicles."

(History of the CPSU. M .: Politizdat, 1970. Vol. 5, book 1, p. 147)

Everything is quite clear here. And in three pines, that is, in three planes, you will not get lost. True, for a long time it was believed that Gastello was a fighter pilot, even the stamps issued in his honor depicted a brave pilot against the backdrop of a fighter. Why was the Hero assigned only to him, because the crew of the bomber was 4 people ?! But back to those events.

One bomber successfully returned to its base and continued to smash the Nazis. (Lieutenant Rybas would later go missing, and Senior Lieutenant Vorobyov would die in November 1941.) The commander of the second, Nikolai Gastello, accomplished an unprecedented feat - he was the first in the history of the war to ram and become a Hero of the Soviet. Union. Poems are composed about him, songs are sung about him, and young people were brought up and are being brought up on his feat.

Mystery shrouded in darkness long years shrouded the fate of the crew of the third Soviet bomber, which on June 26, together with Gastello and Vorobyov, flew off to bomb German equipment. And which was led by the pilot, Captain Alexander Maslov, drafted into the Red Army from Kolomna near Moscow.

That's how it worked out with him. The plane was hit by German anti-aircraft guns and caught fire in the air. But Maslov did not have the courage to deploy the bomber to enemy positions. And repeat the feat of his comrade-in-arms Nikolai Gastello. Maslov's plane "left in an unknown direction." Only in May of the 42nd, Maslov's relatives in Kolomna, as well as relatives of his crew members - navigator Lieutenant Vladimir Balashov, Jr. sergeant gunner-radio operator Grigory Reutov and ml. air gunner sergeant Bakhturaz Beyskbaev - the command of the 207th air regiment sent notices that their husbands (children) were "missing."

Until the beginning of the 1990s, this wording was perceived by the communist authorities as a betrayal and treason to the motherland. Indeed, where is the guarantee that the "missing" soldier or officer died the death of the brave, and did not surrender to the Germans? Worse, he could go to the police or Vlasov's army ...

When the wife of Captain Maslova Sofya Evgrafovna returned to Kolomna in 1944, her daughter Ira was refused to be accepted into kindergarten: There were many kids whose dads died at the front. And her father is still unknown who - maybe an enemy of the people. Maslov's family also did not receive a survivor's pension. Neighbors say that even her husband's parents turned their backs on Sofya Evgrafovna. Maslov's father, who was in the military and postwar period chairman of the Kolomna collective farm "Explorer", refused to help her. Mom and the captain's daughter lived in great need.

Sofya Evgrafovna often cried and complained about her fate. After all, her husband and Nikolai Gastello served in the same air regiment, were bosom friends, she herself knew both Kolya and his wife Anya very well, and were friends with families. And then one day everything turned upside down. Nikolai Gastello became a Hero of the Union, the idol of all boys and girls. And her Sasha turned into an outcast, whom they did not want to hear about either in the Kolomna district military registration and enlistment office or in the Kolomna district committee of the party. Are there few of them - the missing defenders of the motherland? Hundreds of thousands, maybe millions...

Sofya Evgrafovna did not know then what a fantastic metamorphosis fate had prepared on June 26, 1941 for the participants in that legendary flight.

In 1951, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the feat of Nikolai Gastello (a Belarusian by nationality), the fraternal republic decided to perpetuate the memory of its great countryman, put him in the village. Radoshkovichi monument. And rebury his remains together with the crew members (navigator Skorobogaty, air gunner Burdenyuk and gunner-radio operator Kalinin) in a mass grave in the Radoshkovichi Square. Until 1951, Gastello and his crew rested in the very place where they died heroically, stopping a column of German tanks - in the village. Dekshnyans. Then, in the 41st, the Germans were already in charge of the village, the remains of the crew were buried at night by local residents - hastily wrapping them in parachutes. (By the way, the post-war investigation of the feat showed that the Soviet bomber rammed not a column of tanks, but a German anti-aircraft battery: it fell 180 meters from the road where the equipment was moving. But this, of course, does not detract from the feat itself).

The entire procedure for the solemn reburial of the ashes of the heroes was to be done by the Radoshkovichi district military commissar, Lieutenant Colonel Kotelnikov. On June 26, 1951, with a huge crowd of people, they opened the old mass grave ...

In the surviving tablet of the pilot, which was immediately opened by the military commissar, he found ... documents in the name of Captain Alexander Spiridonovich Maslov, As well as miraculously surviving flying goggles and a comb. Even in the grave, a medallion was found in the name of gunner-radio operator Grigory Reutov, a member of the crew of Captain Maslov.

The military commissar's brain worked clearly. It turned out that the enemy troops were rammed not by the national hero Captain Gastello, but by Captain Maslov and his crew. Not Maslov's bomber "left in an unknown direction," as was thought until now, but Gastello's plane! After all, DB-3 "F" Art. Lieutenant Vorobyov returned safely to his airfield that day.

Lieutenant Colonel Kotelnikov did not talk about the documents found and the doubts that had arisen at the ceremony. "The brave crew of Gastello" with all military honors was solemnly reburied in the square of the village. Radoshkovichi. And Nikolai Gastello himself was opened bronze monument.

But in the evening of the same day, under the heading "Secret", the lieutenant colonel sent a letter to the Central Committee of the Communist Party (b) of Belarus. Apparently, he understood that an appeal to the USSR Ministry of Defense would not give any results, they would simply "bury" his letter there. In violation of military ethics, Kotelnikov informed the Central Committee about the finds: what to do? Soon from there (also classified as "Secret"), signed by the head. The administrative department of the Central Committee of Perepelitsyn received an answer: contact the department for accounting for the losses of the Soviet Army.

The first information about the feat of Nikolai Gastello appeared in the reports of the Soviet Information Bureau on July 5, 1941. In those days, Soviet people, both military and civilian, died in the thousands and hundreds of thousands. It was a default for Stalin and the heroic Red Army. After all, it was believed that she "would wage war only on enemy territory."

The party and its Leninist Politburo urgently needed "beacons of self-sacrifice." So that the fighter does not just die, but with a smile on his lips, does not just fall, mowed down by a machine-gun burst, but closing the embrasure with his chest. Not just crushed German tank, but threw himself under the tracks with a bunch of grenades.

The Germans had instructions: if your tank is hit, you must take measures to save the crew. Ours - if the tank caught fire, you must turn it into a long-term firing point. Only such "mass heroism" could save the fathers of the nation from disgrace and stop all talk of the genocide of their own people.

Air combat in the area of ​​the village. Radoshkovichi and the unprecedented ramming of enemy troops fit perfectly into that Stalinist ideology of "beacons of self-sacrifice." That's why no one even began to figure out - who is really the hero? The hero - and this is the true truth - was the whole country.

In the Kolomna apartment of Eduard Vasilyevich Kharitonov, military order reigns. And all the documents about the feat of his fellow countryman Alexander Maslov are laid out "on the shelves." Eduard Vasilyevich is a retired Air Force major. This matter came to grips with in 1990, when he became an assistant to the People's Deputy of the USSR Vladimir Stadnik. And when, under pressure from the public, the Ministry of Defense was forced to open, if not all, then part of its secret archives.

I am convinced, - says Eduard Vasilyevich, - that the first fiery ram was made by Captain Maslov. And Captain Gastello is a war criminal. In that battle, he jumped out with a parachute. And this is Art. 262 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR: "Abandonment of a dying warship." As a bomber pilot, Gastello had to parachute the crew first. And then jump on your own...

In the Central Military Archive of the Ministry of Defense, in Podolsk, in 1996, Eduard Vasilyevich discovered a list of "Irretrievable losses of the commanding and enlisted personnel of the 42nd Air Division from 22.06 to 28.06.41." (series "B", N138). It was signed by the assistant to the head of the department of the combat unit, foreman Bokov.

The list includes Gastello's crew: the captain himself, as well as Anatoly Burdenyuk, Grigory Skorobogaty and Alexei Kalinin. The "remarks" column says that "one person from this crew jumped with a parachute from a burning aircraft, who is unknown."

This, we note, is a command document. And why Eduard Kharitonov decided that Nikolai Gastello himself "landed", we'll talk later.

One more moment. For some time, there was a mass grave at the Gastello monument. It was reported that Gastello himself was buried here (i.e. there), and the names of the crew were called. Only these surnames were - Maslov, Balashov, Reutov, Beiskbaev. None of Gastello's crew was listed there!

When Kharitonov went to Radoshkovichi in 1991, this very mass grave was moved to another place (reburied for the second time!) - to an even more mass grave, where many Soviet soldiers and officers who had nothing to do with aviation were buried. And where in general it is difficult to find any "ends".

My father, an experienced lawyer, people's investigator of the Kolomna District Prosecutor's Office, began to engage in the feat of Maslov, Kharitonov recalls. - Sofya Evgrafovna turned to him in 1961 with a request to help restore the honest name of her husband ...

How did Maslova learn about the last minutes of her husband's life in conditions of deaf secrecy? The communists could not tell her everything and ask for forgiveness for the "inconvenience caused"!

After the Radoshkovichi district military commissar received a "go-ahead" from the Central Committee of Belarus to find out information about the dead crew, he made inquiries about Captain Maslov. And he informed his colleague about everything - the Kolomna district military commissar, Colonel Gladky.

In the 52nd Kolomna district military commissar met with Sofia Evgrafovna. She was shocked when she heard the story. It was her husband who committed the act that is attributed to Nikolai Gastello! In 1952, she wrote a petition to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. in which she asked:

Restore her family in civil rights;

To award her husband the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, since he (and his crew) accomplished an unparalleled feat, and not Captain Gastello.

The commission is working, Sofya Evgrafovna is presented with "material evidence": a tablet, glasses and a comb of Captain Maslov, which she immediately recognizes. On November 22 (Alexander Maslov's birthday), an official statement came from the Ministry of Defense: "Consider Captain Maslov not missing, but dead while performing a combat mission on June 26, 1941." A day later, a Chekist came to her communal apartment in Kolomna: "If you blather about your husband again, you will regret it!"

Sofya Evgrafovna was silent for exactly 10 years.

When the country was already widely celebrating the 20th anniversary of the exploit of Nikolai Gastello, it turned to the investigator Vasily Ivanovich Kharitonov. So that he draws up a legally competent petition to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

What caught the eye of the researchers? For example, why was Nikolai Gastello given the Hero of the Soviet Union, and three members of his crew were not even awarded medals "For Courage"? After all, they died together! And they died like heroes!

The very Decree on awarding the title of Hero to Captain Gastello raises questions. It was signed by Kalinin on July 26, 1941. And the commander of the 207th Air Regiment, Captain Lobanov, submitted a proposal for this rank ... July 25, 1941. It turns out that the "nationwide headman" grandfather Kalinin stood behind the captain.

But no, he was sitting in the Kremlin, and the captain fought heavy bloody battles with the fascist invaders in Belarus, enveloped in fire. By the way, in two days, on July 27, the 207th air regiment will cease to exist, not a single aircraft will remain in it ...

This performance was supposed to reach Moscow for at least a week! Yes, a month to lie in the office.

From whose words was the "authorship" of the ram attributed to Nikolai Gastello? The peasants who witnessed that battle could not know who was piloting the planes. Yes, they saw three bombers. We saw how one of them, having been bombed, went to his own, the other, burning, - "in an unknown direction", and the third, also lined, made an unprecedented dive. But who is who in the crews, on June 26, 1941, they did not know and could not know.

The award list for Captain Gastello, in particular, says: "According to the observation of Senior Lieutenant Vorobyov and Lieutenant Rybas, they saw ..." But in the heat of battle, under fire from anti-aircraft guns, burning aircraft are easy to confuse - that's one thing. And secondly, they could hardly see anything. In the military registration cards of these officers (by the way, the main documents for Captain Maslov on September 26, 64, according to act N34651 in the Central Archive of the USSR Ministry of Defense were destroyed for some reason), which Kharitonov found in the archive of the Ministry of Defense, it is reported that Rybas and Vorobyov served in 96th air regiment. And Gastello and Maslov - in the 207th. They could not rise into the air together! And is it not because Vorobyov and Rybas are referred to in the award list (dated July 25) that the third, real crew had already died by that time?

It is possible that the never-identified third crew was subjected to severe interrogation upon their return to base. After all, two commanders died, and for some reason the third returned safe and sound. Maybe, under pressure, the third crew was forced to say that they were in the thick of the battle. And if so, then "and saw and observed ..."?

But absolutely, there were three bombers. Aircraft engineer Borodin, who was preparing bombers for departure at the Borovskoye airfield on June 26, testified that in the morning Gastello, Maslov "and someone else", whom he does not remember, took off from the airfield together. These memoirs were recorded by Eduard Kharitonov on a dictaphone in 1991, when he was in Radoshkovichi and met with Borodin.

Who was tormented by many of these questions, but not the inhabitants of the village. Radoshkovichi and der. Dekshnyans. For back in July of the 41st, a group of peasants went into the forest, to the Matskovsky swamps. In the direction of that very "unknown direction" where the burning Soviet bomber went. And which, as it was believed then, was led by Captain Maslov.

Among the wreckage of the plane, they found a charred corpse, and in the pocket of the tunic - a letter addressed to Skorobogataya: Lieutenant Skorobogaty did not have time to send it to his wife. A soldier's medallion was also found. Careful post-war examination read the initials on it: A.A.K. It could (and most likely belonged to) gunner-radio operator Alexei Aleksandrovich Kalinin. Both Skorobogaty and Kalinin are members of Gastello's crew.

Now it is quite obvious that the enemy column of tanks (more precisely, an anti-aircraft battery) was rammed by the crew of Alexander Maslov, a resident of Kolomna near Moscow. And the crew of Nikolai Gastello crashed in the Matskovsky swamps.

The editors are in no way trying, as they say, to cast a shadow either on Nikolai Frantsevich Gastello or on the members of his crew. The flight of a long-range bomber in the first days of the war without fighter cover was a real feat. Regardless of whether the Motherland recognized it or not. We consider all three crews that bombed the concentrations of enemy troops that day in the area of ​​the Radoshkovichi-Molodechno highway to be heroes. Eternal memory to them.

But it is important to establish the truth. And it is known to all the locals in these parts. Just talking about it is forbidden: why correct history, change idols and heroes? Here is the book "They Defended Minsk". It was presented to Kharitonov in 1991 by the director of the Gastello Museum in Radoshkovichi, Mikhail Kosyak. What is he writing? "In good memory on the day of the 50th anniversary of the heroic death of the commander of the 3rd squadron of the 207th air regiment of the 42nd air division, captain A.S. Maslov in the area of ​​​​the village of Radoshkovichi."

Agree, these words belong to the director of the Maslov Museum, and not to Gastello. Yes, the museum's storerooms are full of photographs of Alexander Maslov, which the Belarusian KGB forbids to put on public display. If there is a person, there is a problem; if there is no person, there is no problem.

For a decade of tireless search, trial and error, the enthusiast Kharitonov succeeded in: "awarding" Maslov and his crew (of course, posthumously) with the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree. This happened already in May 1992 - 51 years after the accomplishment of the feat.

Starting his thorny path to the truth, Eduard Vasilievich in no way thought of "cancelling" or debunking the feat of Nikolai Gastello: the hero's authority was too high. Therefore, in appeals, he wrote this: "At the same time and in the same place, in the same air battle, the crew of Captain Maslov's bomber anticipated the feat of Nikolai Gastello ..." Knowing that he was prevaricating, that two feats were obtained instead of one. But, whatever one may say, one burning bomber crashed into the Matskovsky swamps, and not into enemy troops.

But such a wording suited very many - and above all the Soviet generals. It would be better to have one more hero than no hero at all.

Once Eduard Vasilievich was even in the balance of victory. From the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces they answered: yes, they say, Maslov and his crew deserve all respect. But we cannot assign Heroes to them due to the prescription of years ...

But literally six months after that, a decree was issued on conferring (posthumously) the title of Hero of the Soviet Union to Lieutenant Ibarruri, the son of the famous Spanish writer Dolores Ibarruri. Why didn't "prescription of years" apply to Lieutenant Ibarruri, but did it apply to Captain Maslov?

The double morality of the authorities, the complete secrecy of the topic, the impossibility of its free discussion prompted Kharitonov to decide to go to the end. Tell the whole truth, no matter how bitter it may seem.

Restructuring helped. Being Yeltsin's confidant in Kolomna, he personally knew Boris Nikolaevich. And I already decided that the time had come to tell the whole truth about June 26, 1941.

But it took him six whole years to put a draft decree on conferring the title of Hero of Russia on Maslov and his crew on Yeltsin's desk in the Kremlin. To ask for support, he went to the then governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region Nemtsov (gunner-radio operator Grigory Reutov was from the Nizhny Novgorod region). He spent 11 hours (!) in the waiting room, and Nemtsov never received him! The then Chairman of the State Duma Ivan Rybkin, State Duma deputy Kalashnikov and his assistant Gushchin helped, who somehow put B.N. draft decree.

Yeltsin, a democrat Yeltsin, refused to sign that decree, did not dare to "cancel" Gastello's feat. I had to use the old Soviet version. That "at one time, in one place and in one air battle, Captain Maslov anticipated the feat of Captain Gastello." So, in 1996, Maslov and his comrades-in-arms - Balashov, Reutov, Baiskbaev - posthumously became Heroes of Russia. And the shooter Baiskbaev is also a folk hero in Kazakhstan.

Now in Kolomna there is a street named after the Hero of Russia Captain Maslov. But the inhabitants of Kolomna, of course, do not know anything about his feat. And the fact that he was the real "prototype" of Nikolai Gastello - too.

The mayor of Kolomna promised to erect a monument to his countryman. But so far, he does not even have a bust in the Alley of Heroes: Kolomna is the only city in Russia where bronze sculptures have been installed for all Heroes-compatriots. Maslov's wife died in 1985, without waiting for her husband's full rehabilitation. And his daughter Ira (she is already over 60) lives in Belarus, and she received the Star of the Hero for her father.

Corrosive and scrupulous Kharitonov does not abandon his investigation. Tries to trace the fate of Captain Gastello. Remember we talked about the skydiver who jumped out of Gastello's burning plane? Who was it: Kalinin, Skorobogaty, Burdenyuk, or ... Gastello himself? Here is what one of the residents of the village of Matski tells, who was 15 years old in 1941, and this tragedy happened before his eyes. His last name, unfortunately, is unknown, although the story itself was recorded on film:

I saw a parachutist jump from the left wing of a burning bomber. He landed about 300 meters from me. And German soldiers drove to him in a car. The Germans have already entered the village. Our parachutist jumped to his feet, but the Germans fired an automatic burst, and he fell again. But he was not killed, but wounded. He walked to the car, the Germans held him by both hands ...

Deputy Commander of the USSR Air Force, Colonel-General Reshetnikov, who started the war as a junior lieutenant on DB-3 "F" type bombers, recalls:

I had a case when my plane was shot down in the air and it caught fire. First, I waited for the crew members to jump out with parachutes - you need to keep the plane at maximum height. And then he ejected himself. The gunner-radio operator jumps from the top hatch, the navigator - from the bottom. Only the pilot can jump from the wing...

In a word, it is highly likely that Nikolai Gastello was captured by the Germans. Kharitonov made an inquiry to the German Embassy. He asks to answer which of the Soviet pilots was captured on June 26, 1941 in the area of ​​​​the village of Radoshkovichi. Haven't received an answer yet. And will he? It is known that the captured Soviet pilots were shot by the Germans practically on the spot...

Vladimir CHUPRIN, Kolomna.

Russian Defense Ministry declassifies evidence of Gastello's "fiery" feat

TV channel "Star", 10.10.2015. www.tvzvezda.ru

Another textbook feat of the times of the Great Patriotic War - the fiery ram of Nikolai Gastello - has to be proven again. Some question everything that came from the loudspeakers "from the Soviet Information Bureau", about which they wrote school textbooks. To dispel the last doubts, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation published unique documents.

Back in the early 1990s, some experts tried to assign the feat of pilot Nikolai Gastello to another person, or even completely turn him tragic story into the "another myth" of Soviet propaganda. Perhaps the documents from the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense will finally stop the gossip. In particular, the request of the commander to award Gastello the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and eyewitness accounts of the fiery ram.

On the fourth day of the Great Patriotic War, enemy columns advanced towards Minsk. A combat flight to the area of ​​the village of Radoshkovichi was made by a flight under the command of Captain Nikolai Gastello. The pilots worked without ground or air cover. The experienced pilot Nikolai Gastello failed to return alive from this battle: a shell hit his plane. The pilot turned the aircraft engulfed in fire and sent it directly into the column of enemy tanks. Senior Lieutenant Fyodor Vorobyov and Lieutenant Anatoly Rybas wrote reports to the headquarters about the feat they had seen. From the reports of the headquarters, this information will go to the Soviet Information Bureau.

The fame of the feat of the pilot Gastello scattered instantly. And a month later, the Pravda newspaper published a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council on awarding the pilot the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In 1951, it was decided to rebury the remains of the crew of Nikolai Gastello. But during the exhumation, the things of another crew were found, the captain of which was Alexander Maslov. This gave rise to talk that the heroic feat was allegedly not performed by Gastello.

The fates of Gastello and Maslov constantly intersected in an amazing way. Two close friend pilots died on the same day while performing the same combat mission with a difference of several hours. Even in the book on irretrievable losses, the names of the crews of Gastello and Maslov were entered side by side.

Historians are sure that these coincidences are not accidental. On that fateful day, both pilots made a fiery ram. For those for whom this evidence is not enough, Gastello's grandson is ready to reveal the family secret. IN Soviet time commissions met three times, which were supposed to establish the truth in this story. They compared documents from the archives and eyewitness accounts, carried out additional checks, but each time they unanimously decided that Captain Gastello had indeed committed a fiery ram and was rightfully worthy of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Correspondent essay "Capital Gostello", made on July 10, 1941 in "Pravda" after the message of the Soviet Information Bureau:

“At dawn on June 26, in different sectors of the front, the pilots gathered at the loudspeakers. The Moscow radio station spoke, the announcer was an old acquaintance by voice - it immediately blew home, Moscow. The Information Bureau report was transmitted. The announcer read short message about the heroic deed of Captain Gastello. Hundreds of people - in different sectors of the front - repeated this name ...
Long before the war, when he worked with his father at one of the Moscow factories, they said about him: "Wherever you put it, everywhere is an example." He was a man stubbornly educating himself on difficulties, a man who was saving his strength for a great cause. It was felt that Nikolai Gastello was a standing person.
When he became a military pilot, this was immediately confirmed. He was not famous, but quickly rose to fame. In 1939, he bombed the White Finnish military factories, bridges and pillboxes, in Bessarabia he threw out our paratroopers in order to keep the Romanian boyars from plundering the country. From the very first day of the Great Patriotic War, Captain Gastello, at the head of his squadron, smashed fascist tank columns, smashed military installations to smithereens, broke bridges to pieces. Captain Gastello was already famous in the flying units. People of the air quickly get to know each other.
The last feat of Captain Gastello will never be forgotten. On June 26, at the head of his squadron, Captain Gastello fought in the air. Far below, on the ground, there was also a battle going on. Motorized units of the enemy broke through to Soviet soil. The fire of our artillery and aviation held back and stopped their movement. Leading his battle, Gastello did not lose sight of the ground battle.
Black spots of tank clusters, crowded gasoline tanks spoke of a hitch in the enemy's combat operations. And the fearless Gastello continued his work in the air. But now a shell of an enemy anti-aircraft gun breaks the gasoline tank of his aircraft.
The car is on fire. No exit.
So, how do you end your journey here? To slip, before it's too late, by parachute and, once in the territory occupied by the enemy, to surrender to shameful captivity?
No, this is not an option.
And Captain Gastello does not unfasten his shoulder straps, does not leave a flaming car. Down to the ground, to the crowded tanks of the enemy, he rushes the fiery lump of his plane. The fire is already near the pilot. But the land is near. Gastello's eyes, tormented by fire, still see, singed hands are hard. A dying plane still obeys the hands of a dying pilot.
So life will end now - not an accident, not captivity - a feat!
Gastello's car crashes into a "crowd" of tanks and cars - and a deafening explosion shakes the air of battle with long peals: enemy tanks explode.
We remember the name of the hero - Captain Nikolai Frantsevich Gastello. His family lost a son and husband, the Motherland acquired a hero.
The feat of a man who calculated his death as a fearless blow to the enemy will forever remain in memory.

P. Pavlenko, P. Krylov

This article had a wide resonance, Gastello's feat was widely used by Soviet propaganda.

Through the efforts of Soviet propaganda, the feat of Gastello became one of the most famous in the history of the Great Patriotic War, and Gastello's name became a household name. "Gastellites" began to be called the pilots who made the "fiery ram". In total, during the period of the Great Patriotic War, 595 "classic" air rams, 506 rams by a ground target aircraft, 16 sea rams and 160 tank rams were made.

Among the canonized heroes of the Great Patriotic War, Captain Nikolai Gastello is one of the most famous. For decades, it was believed that he made the first ground ramming, sending a burning aircraft to a cluster of enemy armored vehicles. His posthumous fame reached gigantic proportions. But over the years, after careful research, it turned out that the author of the famous ram was the pilot Isaac Preseizen.

Creation of a legend

Let's start with the facts.
On July 5, 1941, the evening report of the Soviet Information Bureau reported:
“The heroic feat was performed by the squadron commander, Captain Gastelo. An enemy anti-aircraft gun shell hit the gasoline tank of his aircraft. The fearless commander sent the plane engulfed in flames to the accumulation of vehicles and gasoline tanks of the enemy. Dozens of German vehicles and tanks exploded along with the hero's plane.

As you can see, there are few details of the feat. What kind of aircraft - a fighter, a bomber - is unclear. No event date. There is not even the name of the pilot, and a letter is missing in the surname. There is a sense of urgency in the preparation of the publication.

On July 10, an essay by P. Pavlenko and P. Krylov "Captain Gastello" appears in Pravda. There is already a first name and patronymic here - Nikolai Frantsevich, - a missing letter is inserted into the surname, some biographical data are also reported (he worked with his father at one of the Moscow factories, already participated as a pilot in the battles on the Khalkhin Gol River and in the Finnish campaign, from the first day of the Great Patriotic War bravely fought). As for the ram itself, no more than what is said in the summary of the Sovinformburo. Instead of details - rhetorical pathos. And the date of the event is July 3rd. Apparently, the authors of the essay took the same summary as its basis: since it is dated July 5, then the ram, they reasoned, had occurred two days earlier. Soon the date will officially change: the plane of Captain Nikolai Gastello did not return from a combat mission on June 26, 1941.

But who then paid attention to the dates! For readers, this is just a detail, the main thing is what the named pilot did. The essay in the main newspaper of the country had a great response. The first fiery ram since the beginning of the war, the clearest example of self-sacrifice in the name of the future Victory. Of course, such a feat against the backdrop of sad, one might say, depressing reports from the fronts, moving under the blows of German tank wedges every day to the east, wow, how impressive! It was already widely used by Soviet propaganda. However, we note: the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on awarding the title of Hero of the Soviet Union to Captain Gastello took place only on July 26, 41st. Why such a pause?
More on this below.

And now let's turn to the award list, signed by the commander of the 207th long-range bomber aviation regiment, captain Lobanov and regimental commissar Kuznetsov.

“On June 26, Captain Gastello with the crew - Burdenyuk, Skorobogaty and Kalinin - led the DB-3 link to bomb the presumptuous Nazis along the Molodechno-Radoshkovichi road. At Radoshkovichi, a string of enemy tanks appeared. The Gastello link, having dropped bombs on a pile of tanks that had accumulated for refueling and firing machine guns at the crews of fascist vehicles, began to move away from the target. At this time, the fascist shell caught up with the car of Captain Gastello. Having received a direct hit, engulfed in flames, the plane could not go to its base, but at this difficult moment, Captain Gastello and his courageous crew were busy with the thought of preventing the enemy from entering their native land.
According to the observation of Senior Lieutenant Vorobyov and Lieutenant Rybas, they saw how Captain Gastello turned around on a burning plane and led him into the thick of the tanks. A column of fire enveloped the tanks and fascist crews in flames ... ".

If in the evening summary of the Sovinformburo of July 5 and the essay by P. Pavlenko - P. Krylov it is said that Gastello attacked "a cluster of vehicles and gasoline tanks of the enemy", then tanks are already in the award list. Since eyewitnesses of the incident have already been named, who allegedly saw how it all happened, then the questions are quite reasonable: why such a discrepancy in their testimonies? So after all, the purpose of the ram were vehicles with tanks or tanks? Confusing one with the other experienced bombardier pilots is unlikely. If at first they named one thing, and after some time another, can they be trusted as witnesses? Heading for your own airfield, did you see well enough that Gastello's plane, engulfed in flames, crashed precisely into a cluster of enemy equipment?

This was prompted to doubt this by the “List of irretrievable losses of the commanding and enlisted personnel of the 42nd Air Division from 22.06. to 28.06. '41" signed by the head of the department of the combat unit, foreman Bokiya. It lists Gastello's crew by name. The line "Notes" reads: "One person from this crew jumped out with a parachute, who is unknown."

Where did this record come from in the wake of recent events? Is it not from the words of the same Vorobyov and Rybas? They could well see a parachute in the sky. But then why, this fact is in the document, but not a word about the most important thing - about the "fiery ram"? How can one not doubt: was there such a thing?

Years will pass and the inhabitants of the village of Matsky, near which a burning Soviet bomber fell on June 26, 41, will confirm the note in the archival document, adding details: the plane crashed on the edge of the swamp (about two kilometers from the Molodechno-Radoshkovichi highway). A pilot jumped from the wing of the plane with a parachute. When he landed, the Germans drove up to him in a car and captured him.

Only the pilot could jump from the DB-3 wing. So it was Gastello? But what about the crew? Saved his life, left him to perish? It is now impossible to answer all these questions unequivocally. It is possible that the crew had already died, and the pilot decided to use the last chance.

His further fate is unknown. Most likely, he was shot, as the Nazis usually did in the first weeks of the war with captured Soviet pilots.

At the site of the death of the bomber, local residents found a half-decayed tunic, and in it was an unsent letter addressed to Skorobogatova (apparently, the wife of Lieutenant Skorobogatov), ​​as well as a medallion with the initials "A.A.K" (Sergeant Alexei Aleksandrovich Kalinin). And, finally, one more confirmation that this is Gastello's plane: a fragment with a tag from the engine with serial number 87844 - this is exactly the number that was on his plane. As for the pilot himself, there are no material traces of him.

Yes, everything came together. It looks like he jumped out with a parachute at the last moment.
Now it is clear why it took a month to unleash the "heroic deed" of Captain Gastello. Rather vague, without any details, the reports of Vorobyov and Rybas, apparently, did not give grounds for the command of both the regiment and the division to see such in what happened. The division suffered heavy losses: the planes were forced to take off for the next bombing without fighter escort, a significant part of which died on airfields in the very first hours of the war. And the authorities demanded a result that would somehow justify the losses. Perhaps, in that nervous turmoil, the reports of the two named pilots worked. Leaving after the bombing, did you see a column of smoke from the fallen Gastello plane? Yep, here's the clue. But what if we imagine his death as a fiery ram? And "up" went the report. And then, as already mentioned, an evening summary of the "heroic deed", an essay in "Pravda" ... And off we go. It is possible that Vorobyov and Rybas were forced to redo the reports.

There was no other convincing evidence - whether there was a ram or not. Vorobyov and Rybas died in the same 41st. The reports are gone. Only mentions of them remain. Soon, due to heavy losses, the 207th DBAP was disbanded, most of its documents were lost.

And the fame of the "heroic feat" of the now Hero of the Soviet Union Nikolai Gastello continued to thunder around the country. And, only one of them. There is complete silence about the crew. In 1947, the playwright Isidor Stock wrote the play Gastello, in which the hero made his "fiery ram" alone - on a fighter jet. And only in 1958 they officially remembered his subordinates: they posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War 1st degree to navigator Lieutenant Anatoly Burdenyuk, gunner-radio operator Sergeant Alexei Kalinin and lower hatch gunner, squadron adjutant Lieutenant Grigory Skorobogatov. But they were rarely mentioned in official propaganda. But Gastello was elevated to the rank of a national hero. Dozens of streets, factories, mines, factories, pioneer squads were named after him, in Ufa - a stadium, in Khabarovsk - a square, in the village of Zelenoe, Minsk Region - a children's health camp - you can list here for a long time.

They didn’t make rams, but they got Heroes

On the eve of the 10th anniversary of the “fire ram”, it was decided to solemnly rebury the remains of Gastello’s crew. The inhabitants of the village of Dekshnyany then still remembered well where the burning plane fell and showed that place - 170-180 meters from the highway. None of the villagers said that it really was a “fiery ram” of German armored vehicles, because on June 26, 1941, this was not seen. And to express any doubts about this battering ram at that time was dangerous. The exhumation was led by the military commissar of the Radoshkovichs, Lieutenant Colonel Kotelnikov. The alleged grave was excavated. They found a half-decayed tablet with papers ... Gastello's regimental colleague, squadron commander Captain Alexander Maslov, and in a plastic cartridge - a medallion of gunner-radio operator junior sergeant Grigory Reutov. Maslov's crew flew out to the bombing with Gastello and were considered missing.

One can imagine the dismay of Lieutenant Colonel Kotelnikov. So what happens: the ram was made not by Gastello, but by Maslov?

The lieutenant colonel turned to the district committee for instructions, from there the request went even higher. The answer was very categorical: do not change anything, classify the belonging of the finds.

Like this! If the “feat of Captain Gastello” is approved at the very “top”, and the fame of him spread throughout the country, there is no turning back!

The remains of Maslov's crew were reburied without publicity, first in the Radoshkovichi square, and then in the cemetery. Fragments of the bomber were sent to the museums of the country - attributing them to Gastello's plane. In the center of Radoshkovichi, a bronze monument was erected to him, and then, at the site of the death of Maslov’s plane, a stela 9 meters high with a bust at the top ... again, Gastello.

All these "nuances" were discovered in the 1990s at the time of the declared publicity. In 1992, after publications in the media about the findings during the exhumation of the remains of the crew of a bomber that fell near the village of Dekshnyany, Captain Alexander Maslov, navigator Lieutenant Vladimir Balashov, main gunner-radio operator junior sergeant Grigory Reutov and bottom (hatch) gunner Bakhturas Beyskbaev were posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War 1 degree. And in 1996, by decree of President Yeltsin, all four were awarded the title of Hero of Russia.

It was impressive. It seems that justice has finally won! But the decree is a decree, and as there was no convincing evidence of the “fiery ram” and this crew, it did not appear. But new questions arose. The crash site, as already mentioned, is 170-180 meters from the highway. What was the purpose there?

The advocate of this version, retired Major Eduard Kharitonov, in the publication "The Secret of Two Captains" ("Moskovsky Komsomolets" 2001) claimed: an anti-aircraft battery. After the crew successfully bombed, but the bomber was set on fire, the crew commander decided to deal with this battery and sent his plane to it. But from what sources did the author conclude that this was so? Stationary anti-aircraft batteries, as a rule, covered airfields, headquarters, warehouses and other important objects. So what then attracted the Germans to the village of Dekshnyany in order to establish near it anti-aircraft guns? E. Kharitonov is silent about this. Meanwhile, it is known: on the march, the Germans completely managed with mobile anti-aircraft installations. In the first days of the war, their offensive was so swift (70-80 km per day!), That there was no need in the first echelons to haul anti-aircraft guns on tractors along roads already clogged with military equipment. The adjustment of the “details” to the chosen version is also visible in the publication on the eve of Victory Day in the same “Moskovsky Komsomolets” (2002) by Kirill Ekonomov “The Temptation of St. Edward." E. Kharitonov's statement about the ramming of an anti-aircraft battery by Maslov's plane, he resolutely refutes, but immediately treads another path to the "immortal feat", returning it to Gastello. Yes, K.Ekonomov agrees, his plane really did crash on the edge of a swamp near the village of Matski. But there is an explanation for this: having bombed on the highway, he found an enemy convoy on a country road. He attacked, many cars were shot from machine guns, but the plane caught fire from anti-aircraft fire. And then Gastello decided to send him to the village of Matschi, where a lot of German technology. However, the burning plane did not reach her and crashed near the swamp.

If so, then again the questions are: which of the local residents confirmed this and why then did the crew of the bomber senior lieutenant Vorobyov, flying, as claimed, in the same flight with Gastello, see neither the convoy nor the accumulation of equipment in the village? And again, how then to understand the already mentioned archival document - “the list of irretrievable losses of the commanding and enlisted personnel of the 42nd Air Division”, which notes: one of Gastello's crew members jumped out with a parachute?

Are there too many inconsistencies?

The son of Nikolai Frantsevich, retired colonel Victor Gastello, also took an active part in the controversy on the “Gastell theme”. He did not rely on any hard evidence. I relied only on the "evidence" of my father's colleagues, senior lieutenant Vorobyov and lieutenant Rybas - it all started with them. Of course, he did not see their written evidence, but in his numerous publications he is adamant: the feat of Captain Gastello has already entered History, so there is nothing! .. He called one of his articles: “Leave the heroes alone!”.
Sounds pathetic. But where is the truth in that pathos?

Quite characteristic: in this controversy, not one of its participants even mentioned the true author of precisely that feat that is so highly exalted.

And the true hero was left without the highest award

The fact that it was he who did this does not need any conjecture.

From the biographical note:
Isaac Zilovich (Zinovievich) Presizen was a native of the city of Proskurov (now the city of Khmelnitsky). He worked as a foundry shop molder at the Krasny Partisan plant. He was sent to the workers' faculty of the Leningrad plant "Electroapparat". He worked at the plant in his former specialty. In 1932 he was drafted into aviation by special recruitment. In 1934 he successfully graduated from the Higher Pilot School in Engels. Served in Belarus. In battles with the Nazi invaders from the first hours of the war.

From the award list:
“Comrade Presizen led the combat work of the squadron, he was constantly an example of fearlessness, courage and heroism ... Since June 22, 1941, the squadron under his leadership has 78 sorties, 160 hours of combat flight ...
Tov. Preseizen led his unit into battle to bombard the most critical areas in the Grodno, Vilna, Borisov, and Pleshchanitsa regions.
On June 27, 1941, during the bombing of large concentrations of enemy tank units, covered by exceptionally strong fire from anti-aircraft artillery and fighters, he and his crew were hit and, with a burning aircraft, fell into the thick of a concentration of tanks.
According to the report of the crews performing the mission, Presizen died a hero's death. Worthy of the title Hero of the Soviet Union.
Commander of the 128th Aviation Regiment of High-Speed ​​Bombers, Major Chuchev.
Chief of Staff of the Regiment Captain Drobyshev.
“I agree with the presentation of the commander of the AP for a government award.
Commander of the 12th Air Division, Colonel Aladinsky.
For the commander of the Air Force of the Western Front, Colonel ... ”(signature illegible).

Together with the pilot, a mechanic military technician of the 2nd rank P.F. Akinin and gunner-radio operator foreman A.V. Baranov. Before directing the burning aircraft at the accumulation of enemy armored vehicles, the commander shouted to them: “Jump!”. There was already such an agreement with the crew members in case the aircraft caught fire in the air. But they, apparently, were no longer able to use parachutes. And there must be such a coincidence - this ram (real, not imaginary!) Isaac Preseizen made in the same area near Radoshkovichi near the village of Rogovo, precisely on the highway along which tank and mechanized columns of the Nazis moved, 6 kilometers north of the plane crash site Gastello.

Before the presentation on Presizen to the title of Hero was written, the next day after the ramming, deputy regiment commander V.A. Sandalov flew to this place to make sure that what had happened was real.

Convinced. I saw a long black stripe on the highway and a pile of torn enemy armored vehicles. The movement of the enemy on this section of the highway stopped for some time. Sandalov photographed what he saw. The photograph, as a supporting document, was attached to the award submission.

It would seem that the feat is so conclusive that there should no longer be any doubts about it. But the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on conferring the title of "Hero of the Soviet Union" on Isaac Preseizen did not appear.

And then a vile thing happened: by order of the 128th air regiment No. 22 of September 1942, Preseisen was classified as ... missing. At that time, this meant for the family of a front-line soldier the suspicions of the authorities (did he surrender?) And instead of pensions and benefits, some miserable crumbs.

In January 1942, the wife of the pilot, Lydia, received a letter from the chief of staff of the 128th AP, Captain Drobyshev. The one whose signature is fixed under Presizen's submission to the title of Hero.

“Dear comrade Preseizen!
We still cannot believe that we have lost your husband and our comrade forever. We will wait for the victorious end of the war, when the fate of our comrades will become clearer. But even if Comrade Preseizen died, he gave his life very dearly.
We wish you vivacity, faith in victory. Our cause is just, victory will be ours.”

The chief of staff was cunning. “Even if he died…” What could be “if”, when he knew perfectly well how it really was! But, apparently, paying tribute to the hero-colleague, he wanted to somehow calm his conscience with this letter.

As for the conscience of those who decided to list the author of the feat as “missing”, one can be categorical here: what is not, is not.

So why did deliberate falsification occur?
Let's go back to July 41st.
So, the death of Preseisen to the title of "Hero of the Soviet Union" was written and signed by aviation chiefs up to the commander of the Air Force of the Western Front and, presumably, arrived in Moscow. And here - a report about the "fiery ram" of Captain Gastello, the evening report of July 5, and five days later an essay about him in Pravda ... The fame of the hero announced throughout the country was already gaining momentum.

Ramming a ground target aircraft is an extraordinary case. In Glavpur, of course, they understood that there were huge opportunities for propaganda. A national hero in the very first days of the war is still needed! So who do you prefer: Gastello or Presizen? Evidence of ramming Gastello is rather flimsy, Presizen's is obvious. There is also a convincing aerial photograph. But the Jewish surname, and even the name Isaac - and in the national heroes? This did not fit in the minds of those who decided this issue. But Nikolai Gastello was quite suitable for this: his mother is Russian, his father is Belarusian. His crew is international - this is the friendship of the peoples of the USSR in practice. In addition, the pilot is already with merit: he fought at Khalkhin Gol, in Finland. During a Junkers raid on the airfield, he shot him off the ground with a machine gun. In a word, fertile material for subsequent glorification. And the decision was made: in the heroes - Gastello! And what about Presizen? Yes, it’s very simple: to enroll him “in the missing” so that he does not cast a shadow on the son of the Russian and Belarusian peoples. And the authorities of the 128th air regiment took "under the hood".

An aerial photograph of the aftermath of the Preseisen ram was attached to the award list on ... Gastello.

So the feat was stolen.
Of course, both Nikolai Gastello and Alexander Maslov with their crews are worthy of blessed memory: they gave their lives for their Motherland. But do not lie, attributing to them what they did not do. As Alexander Tvardovsky said: "One lie is at a loss to us."

Two decades about Presizen - deaf silence. But the ideological bosses failed to hide what he had done forever. In the autumn of 1959, journalists V. Gaponov and V. Lipatov tracked down in Moscow the former mechanic of the 128th air regiment, Alexander Nikolayevich Rybakov, who was preparing the Preseizen plane for the last flight. He said that the whole regiment knew about his ramming. Isaac fought from the first hours of the war and was considered one of the best pilots of the regiment.

The essay "Feat" did not get into any of the central newspapers, it was published only in the newspaper "Soviet Podolia" in the homeland of the hero in Khmelnitsky. The authors then did not know that the "fiery ram" of Captain Gastello was a propaganda fiction, and ranked Presizen among the "Gastellites". But, nevertheless, this publication was a breakthrough in the dense veil that closed the feat. Isaac's older brother Moshe (Mikhail), who lived in Khmelnitsky, sent the newspaper to his nephew Dmitry Preseizen, also a pilot who served in the Amur Region.

Moshe and Dmitry tracked down several veterans of the 128th Air Regiment. Among them was V. Sandalov, who took a picture of the consequences of the Preseisen ram, now Major General, Hero of the Soviet Union. In 1975, he fully confirmed this ram.

After a request to the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense, they sent a copy of the award sheet for the deputy squadron commander I.Z. Preseizen. On the document, there was no refusal to confer the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Wherever they turned, brother and son of Isaac, trying to achieve justice! Polite replies came. Their true reason was explained not only by bureaucratic indifference. In a country where anti-Semitism has become an integral part of public policy, and there could be no talk of conferring the title of Hero on the Jewish pilot.

On the eve of his departure for permanent residence in Israel in August 1989, Moshe, with documents that left no doubt about the feat of his brother, turned to the People's Deputy of the USSR for the Khmelnitsky constituency, Deputy Minister of Defense, General of the Army V.M. move!

And only after 10 months in the district military registration and enlistment office there was a "stirring" about this. An award sheet was filled out for Presizen and sent to Moscow. On October 23, 1991, a presidential decree appeared, according to which he was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree. This award has already become on duty: it was received by all former front-line soldiers who were injured. If Presizen had remained alive, he would have received this order according to the general military registration and enlistment office list.

No matter how the ideological bosses hushed up his ram, publications have already appeared about him - in the journal "History of the USSR" (Edition of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR No. 3, 1960), in the Israeli journal "Aleph" (August 1988) and in other publications. But everywhere it appeared: Preseizen repeated the feat of Gastello.

Writer Sergei Smirnov, widely known for popularizing the defense of the Brest Fortress in 1941, did not remain indifferent when he learned about a ram near the village of Rogovo. But even he could not “break through” the posthumous awarding of the title of Hero to Presizen. However, he insisted on establishing a memorial there with the names of the crew members.

The authorities both in Russia and in Belarus are in no hurry to put a fair end to this story. In the fundamental reference book "Who's Who in Russian Aviation" (edited by A.E. Melnikov 2003), although it is said that neither Gastello nor Maslov committed ramming, there is not a word about Presizen. He is not mentioned in the Russian Air Force Museum in Monino either.
And to this day, not far from the Belarusian town of Radoshkovichi, at the site of the crash of Alexander Maslov’s plane, a pompous monument to Nikolai Gastello rises, and the award list with the presentation of Isaac Preseisen to the title of Hero remains in the archive and has not been realized.

Where history is written to order, where the truth is divided into “profitable” and “unprofitable”, where deliberate bureaucratic lies and fraud have become commonplace, manipulations with the imaginary rams of Gastello and Maslov and the real one - Presizen is no longer surprising. Unrighteous power cannot exist without falsehood.

Will the name of Isaac Presizen finally appear in the cohort of heroes, already recognized at the state level? I believe it will happen sooner or later. No matter how dispersed the darkness, the light cannot be defeated by it.
Because they were always honest and brave. Otherwise, this world would have fallen apart long ago.