Originally from Sukharevo
Our new hero - Vadim Felitsianovich Volozhinets was born into a large family on January 25, 1915. On this frosty winter day, six kilometers from Minsk in the Belarusian village of Sukharevo, a strong boy was born into a peasant family. They named him Vadey, Vadik, Vadim.
In 1929, his parents joined the collective farm.
“My family consisted of 12 people,” Vadim Felitsianovich recalled. - In addition to our parents, there were us - five brothers and five sisters. Before joining the collective farm, they had six hectares of land. It is clear that the earth could not feed us all, therefore, as soon as any of the children became an adult, they went to work in the city of Minsk."
From the fourth grade, Vadim continued his studies in Minsk. After graduating from the sixth grade, he entered the FZU (factory school) of the bakery industry at the department of mechanics. He completed his education in 1932 with good results, for which he was awarded a fifteen-day excursion Moscow - Leningrad.
After graduating from FZU he worked as a mechanic at the Minsk bakery. In 1934, Vadim entered the preparatory courses at the Minsk Medical Institute and the next year he successfully passed the exams at the university. As a student, Volozhinets lived not only on a scholarship, during the summer holidays he worked part-time and already with this money bought himself clothes and … books. After the fourth year, simultaneously with his studies, he worked at the Minsk ambulance station.
In the fifth year, a representative from the Border Troops Directorate arrived at their institute and selected 30 students who, after graduating from the university, expressed a desire to serve at the border. Among them was Vadim Volozhinets. Having received his diploma, from July 1, 1940, he was enrolled in the cadres of the border troops as a junior doctor and was sent to the 84th border detachment, which was stationed in the city of Oshmyany, Grodno region.
In September 1940, Volozhinets was transferred to the post of junior doctor of the 107th border detachment of the NKVD troops, which was located in the district town of Mariampol, Lithuanian SSR. In the medical center of the border detachment, in addition to the middle and junior medical staff, there were four doctors: the head of the border detachment's medical service, a 3rd rank military doctor Zlodeev, his deputy military doctor of the 3rd rank Sapozhnikov, junior doctors without rank Ivanenko and Vadim Volozhinets himself.
Troubled spring of 41st
Already in the spring of 1941, the border became uneasy. Armed attacks on border posts became more frequent, there were shootings, and there were wounded. Vadim had to repeatedly make urgent trips to the border. In case of injury, first medical aid was provided on the spot, then the wounded were brought to the border detachment, the heavier ones were sent to the hospital of the city hospital and then together they provided qualified medical care.
He especially remembered the case of an urgent trip to the border together with the head of the border detachment, Major Pyotr Semyonovich Shelymagin. The operational officer called the first-aid post and said that Volozhinets needed to take everything he needed to provide medical assistance and be ready to go to the border.
Vadim took a bag with all the necessary medicines and arrived at the headquarters, where the head of the border detachment was waiting for him. They got into the car and as soon as they drove out of the city, Pyotr Semyonovich ordered the driver: "Keep the maximum speed."
The road was not particularly good, and Volozhinets said to the chief: “Why should we take such a risk? You can go slower. To this Shelymagin replied that they could not go slower, since they were fulfilling Moscow's assignments.
When we arrived at the border post, the commander said that it would be necessary to provide medical assistance to a German soldier. We went to the barn where the wounded man was, and Vadim immediately began to help. Thirty minutes later, Fritz, slightly wounded in the chest, after receiving medical attention, felt better and asked for food.
Soon the head of the border detachment came. He inquired about the condition of the wounded man and asked if he could be evacuated. After contact with Moscow, permission was obtained to transport the German soldier to the hospital of the border detachment.
Evening fell and it became dark. We got into the car and drove off. We did not move along the border, but went immediately directly to the border detachment. We had barely traveled about ten kilometers when suddenly the car got stuck in a deep rut on a country road. Skidded, skidded, well, nothing.
There was no shovel in the car, and since no accompanying person was given, Volozhinets made a decision: to send the driver to the nearest settlement to search for the shovel. He himself stayed in the car with the wounded German. And here's another hitch - the driver has no weapon.
Sending him out on the night without a weapon was risky, and being without him was also dangerous: an attack could have happened. After a short reflection, Vadim got out of the car, found a cobblestone on the side of the road, and gave the driver his personal weapon and sent him to search for a shovel.
We had to wait a long time, there was darkness around us, nothing was visible. Suddenly I heard that someone was coming. To the question: "Who is coming?" - received a review. It was the driver. He brought a shovel. I had to tinker a lot before the car again found itself on a flat roadbed. According to the law of the border service, at least a needle taken from the local population must be given to the owner.
Volozhinets was forced to send the driver back to return the shovel, but this time he kept his personal weapon with him. The border guard returned quickly, and they set off. We arrived in Mariampol at dawn. At the checkpoint, the chief of staff of the border detachment, Major Alexander Sergeevich Grigoriev, was already waiting for them.
He asked if they had brought the wounded German? Having received a positive answer, the officer ordered to transfer the wounded to the first-aid post, and to go to rest themselves. Border medics treated the German soldier for a long time. He recovered, after which he was taken to the checkpoint and handed over to representatives of the neighboring side.
Don't panic
Before May Day, officers from the headquarters of the border detachment, as a rule, were sent to strengthen the protection of the border. Among them, Volozhinets went to one of the commandant's offices. Together with the military assistant Smirnov, they drove on horseback to all the outposts to conduct a medical examination of the border fighters.
Returning from the border, Vadim met a familiar officer in the city. Once Volozhinets treated him. He invited Vadim to take a walk. They got into a conversation, and the officer said that last night he talked with the detained defector. He frankly said that the Nazis are intensively preparing for an attack on the Soviet Union and this could happen as early as June 20, 1941.
The officer asked Vadim not to tell anyone about what he had heard from him. This gloomy message had a strong effect on Volozhinets. He returned to the location of the border detachment and, reporting to the chief about the completed assignment at the border section, he involuntarily drew attention to his bad mood, but did not say anything.
After a while, this difficult news became known to all the officers, and they began to send their families farther inland. The commanding staff was gathered for a meeting, and the head of the border detachment said that there were rumors about an attack by the Germans, but we border guards, as security officers, should not panic. It is necessary to increase vigilance and not succumb to provocations. It soon turned out that these were by no means rumors.
June 22nd, but not at four o'clock
The invaders treacherously attacked our country, but not on June 20, but on June 22, and the border guards were the first to enter the battle with them. Despite heavy artillery fire and an air raid on commandant's offices and outposts, the personnel of many border units were promptly withdrawn to the prepared line. The soldiers resisted the enemy, even when they were surrounded.
Vadim Filitsianovich was on duty at the detachment's first-aid post that tragic night. Exactly at 2:00 in the morning, the orderly came running and reported that the operational duty officer had called. He reported that a combat alert had been declared in connection with the fact that the Fritzes had begun fighting on the border. Volozhinets was slightly taken aback by such unexpected news, called the duty officer and received confirmation from him. After that, Vadim sent messengers to the apartments to collect the officers of the first-aid post.
By three o'clock in the morning, everyone arrived. A raid of fascist bombers began. There were deafening explosions, the wounded immediately appeared, military medics rushed to provide them with the necessary assistance.
Initially, the bombing was carried out by small groups of aircraft. But by eight o'clock in the morning, the air began to shudder from the continuous hum of enemy aircraft. At some point, the head of the first-aid post orders to stay in the location, and he decides to run over to the headquarters building.
He just managed to say: "If one of us dies, the other must live in order to provide medical assistance to the wounded." But it was too late. The bombs fell with a terrible whistle, there were continuous explosions everywhere.
Everyone immediately moved to the basement of the infirmary. Oddly enough, this allowed not only the medical staff to survive, but also the wounded. The bombing ended at some point, it became unusually quiet, and everyone rushed upstairs. They saw a terrible picture. The city of Mariampolis lay in ruins, the remaining buildings were on fire, and it became impossible to walk along some streets.
The number of wounded increased significantly. They were still placed in the basement. Assessing the situation, Volozhinets turned to his boss and said that it was dangerous to leave the wounded in such a state. In the event of a withdrawal, they simply cannot evacuate them.
The order has been given: retreat
The command of the border detachment provided them with vehicles to redirect the wounded to the Kaunas military hospital. When they loaded all the fighters with various wounds, Volozhinets recalled that the wife of a military doctor of the 3rd rank Sapozhnikov remained in the city (he was on improvement courses). Vadim found her, put her in the back of a truck and sent her along with the wounded.
Later it became clear that such a decision was absolutely correct. When in the evening the border guards were leaving Mariampol in an organized manner, the remaining vehicles were barely enough to load the staff documents, ammunition and necessary property.
The border guards retreated on foot to Kaunas. The head of the medical service, a military doctor of the 3rd rank Zlodeev left with the headquarters. Volozhinets walked along with the rest of the border fighters. When the wounded appeared, he gave them first aid. There was nothing to evacuate the border guards. But they couldn't just leave them either. Threatening with weapons, they stopped passing vehicles and loaded the wounded.
In the early morning of June 23, the convoy arrived in Kaunas. From there they moved further to Vilnius in an orderly manner.
As soon as the border guards left the city, enemy fighters swooped down again. Shelling, bombing began. The killed and wounded appeared. Volozhinets consulted with the leader of the column and told him that it was impossible to advance like this. He suggested that everyone line up in two lines and go not along the road, but along the side of the road. And of course, everyone needs to follow the command: "Get down!" After such innovations, they moved on with almost no losses.
Then they reached Polotsk, and then - to Berlin
So they got to the forest. Fascist planes suddenly appeared. At low altitude, they chased almost every fighter. So the paramedic Moiseev died from enemy fire, who did not manage to cross a large clearing and lay down, pressed down by dense machine-gun fire. Fritz turned the plane in the air, made a new approach and reopened fire. At this time, Moiseev got up, ran and immediately fell. So the enemy vultures methodically and systematically exterminated the border guards.
Then they retreated with battles. And we reached the city of Polotsk. After helping the wounded, Volozhinets had to personally evacuate them by road to the Vitebsk military hospital. On his way back, several people dressed in civilian clothes approached his truck. They asked Vadim where the border guards were.
Volozhinets asked a question:
The answer came immediately:
Later it turned out that with the rapid movement of the Nazis, the soldiers of the border occupied the bunker, which was rebuilt at the front line. They dragged machine guns and ammunition there and fired mercilessly at the advancing Fritz, inflicting heavy losses on them. Unable to capture and destroy the pillbox, the enemies were forced to bypass the long-term firing point in order to move forward. So the soldiers of the border found themselves in the enemy's rear.
Waiting until nightfall, they took their personal weapons with them, changed into civilian clothes in the nearest village, and went out into their territory along the German rear. They were taken to the headquarters and handed over to the command of the border detachment.
Vadim Felitsianovich Volozhinets subsequently fought at the Kursk Bulge, liberated Warsaw and took Berlin. He was awarded many military orders and medals. He went through the entire war and rose to the rank of major, and then, in peacetime, finished his service with the rank of colonel of the medical service.
He was an excellent border doctor and was awarded the title "Honored Doctor of the Tajik SSR".
Many people remember him. Eternal memory to him!
