“At dawn on July 6, in different sectors of the front, the pilots gathered at the loudspeakers. The Moscow radio station spoke, the announcer was an old acquaintance in his voice - he immediately breathed home, Moscow. The Information Bureau was broadcast. The announcer read a short message about the heroic deed of Captain Gastello. Hundreds of people - on different sectors of the front - they repeated this name …
Long before the war, when he and his father worked at one of the Moscow factories, they said about him: "Wherever you put it, everywhere is an example." He was a person who persistently educated himself on difficulties, a person who saved up strength for a big 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 went to fame. In 1939, he bombed the White Finnish military factories, bridges and pillboxes, in Bessarabia he threw out our parachute troops 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 Nazi tank columns, smashed military facilities to smithereens, and smashed bridges to pieces.
Glory was already going on about Captain Gastello in the flight units. People of the air quickly recognize 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. Motorized enemy units broke through to Soviet soil. Our artillery fire and aviation held back and stopped their movement. Leading his battle, Gastello did not lose sight of the ground battle. Black spots of tank accumulations, huddled gasoline tanks indicated a hitch in the enemy's hostilities. And the fearless Gastello continued his work in the air. But then a shell of an enemy anti-aircraft gun breaks the gas tank of his plane. The car is on fire. No exit.
Well, and finish on this your way? Glide before it's too late on a parachute and, once in the territory occupied by the enemy, surrender to shameful captivity? No, this is not an option. And Captain Gastello does not unfasten his shoulder straps, does not leave a burning car. Down to the ground, to the piled-up tanks of the enemy, he rushes a fiery ball of his plane. The fire is already near the pilot. But the land is close. Gastello's eyes, tormented by fire, still see, his scorched hands are firm. The dying plane still obeys the hand of the dying pilot. So now life will end - not with an accident, not with captivity - with a feat! Gastello's car crashes into the "crowd" of tanks and cars - and a deafening explosion shakes the air of battle with long rumblings: enemy tanks explode.
We remember the name of the hero - captain Nikolai Frantsevich Gastello. His family lost their 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 the memory."
Pravda, July 10, 1941
The person who actually performed this feat was called Alexander Maslov. In the place where the 70-pood monument to Gastello now stands, the remains of Maslov and his crew once rested.
And Gastello himself, forgotten by everyone, rests in a completely different grave - with the inscription "unknown pilots". The remains of two more, who were then with him, have not yet been found, smolder in the Belarusian land.
"DB-3f", on which they flew - heavy vehicles for the bombardment of cities and factories in the deep rear. And they are thrown onto the columns with tanks, without the cover of the fighters. Killed 15 crews per day. Two weeks later, nothing remained of the regiment.
In the morning, a flight under the command of Captain Maslov took off. Above the target of the commander, an anti-aircraft gun was knocked out, the plane caught fire. Maslov gave the command "parachute" and turned the burning car onto the column, wanted to ram. Didn't hit - the burning plane fell into the field.
None of the crew managed to escape - the height was low. Local residents took the pilots out of the wreckage and buried them hastily.
A few hours later, Gastello's flight flew out to bomb. The command vehicle did not return from the mission. And soon there is a report by Gastello's followers - Vorobyov and Rybas. They allegedly saw the commander's flaming plane crash into the midst of German tanks. The fact that Vorobyov arrived in the regiment only on July 10 did not bother anyone. The country was having a difficult time. The country needed a feat. The country needed role models. And Maslov was considered missing.
In 1951, in commemoration of the heroic date, the Council of Ministers of the BSSR decided to reburial the remains of the heroes, and expose the wreckage of the crashed plane in a museum. We left for the place of exploit. They opened the grave. Maslov and his crew lay in the grave of the national hero Gastello. But it was too late to change anything in history. Maslov's remains were taken out of the grave in the park and reburied once again - in the common cemetery. And where he used to lie, they erected a huge Gaster's bust. The wreckage of Maslov's plane was taken to Minsk, to the Belarusian State Museum of the History of War, and began to be exhibited there as a Gastello plane.
And all the time, while the pioneers sang songs about him, Nikolai Gastello himself lay in an unknown grave with the inscription "unknown pilots". Three hours after Maslov's ramming, he was knocked out over the village of Matski, which is 20 kilometers from the place where Maslov's plane crashed. In a flaming car, Gastello walked again and again over the road, the wool of the Germans from machine guns.
The ending of this story is still quite optimistic. In 1996, the authorities finally recognized Maslov. By presidential decree No. 636 "For courage and heroism shown in the fight against the German fascist invaders" the entire crew was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Russia. Again the general wording, not a word about the ram … The members of the Gaster's crew also received awards. For some reason, they decided to get by with the Order of the Patriotic War.
But until now, on the site of Maslov's feat, there is a monument to Gastello. And until now, Nikolai Gastello, who, to the chagrin of historians, did not the feat that was needed, lies in a modest, unmarked grave.
Propaganda is not an easy task, but thank God no one began to deny the very fact of the heroism of our ancestors who fought for our Motherland. Anything has happened in the history of our country, both forgotten feats and fabricated propaganda. The name Gastello has become a household name, so let us bow down to him and all the Heroes who fell in this war. Everlasting memory!
Captain Gastello flew to battle, Like a proud falcon above the clouds.
The storm flew on the wings of a falcon, To bring down a hail of steel on enemies.
But the enemy set fire to the gasoline tanks.
There was an explosion, and the plane flared up …
It seemed that a torch was flying under the sky, Like a meteor on a single flight!
The motor is shaking in the last shudder, A thunderstorm is raging and thundering all around.
No time for thought, for breath
There is no strength to open your eyes in the fire!
But the captain with all the will of the last
Drives directly into the enemy!
Tanks are burning, enemy tanks are dying, Metal thunders, knocking enemies down …
The captain is dead, and on his remains
The flame lays down around like a wreath.
So Captain Gastello died in battle …
Let us remember him forever, friends!
A people capable of such courage
You can neither intimidate nor win!
Music: V. Bely Lyrics: V. Vinnikov 1941
