The unprecedented battle of the Volga, which became a turning point in World War II, ended victoriously on February 2, 1943. Until the end of the battle in Stalingrad, street fighting continued. They took on a fierce character back in September 1942; they were uninterrupted in the central and northern parts of the city.
The battle in the city is special, the commander of the legendary 62nd Army, Vasily Chuikov, later noted: “It is not strength that decides the issue here, but skill, dexterity, resourcefulness and surprise. City buildings, like breakwaters, cut the battle formations of the advancing enemy and directed his forces along the streets. Therefore, we firmly held on to especially strong buildings, created in them a few garrisons, capable of conducting an all-round defense in case of encirclement. Particularly strong buildings helped us to create strong points, from which the defenders of the city mowed down the advancing fascists with machine guns and machine guns”.
One of the strongholds, the importance of which the commander-62 spoke about, was a dilapidated building in the central part of the city. In the history of the Battle of Stalingrad and throughout the Great Patriotic War, this object later entered as Pavlov's house. Its end wall overlooked the square on January 9 (later - Lenin). The 42nd Regiment of the 13th Guards Rifle Division, which joined the 62nd Army in September 1942 (Divisional Commander Alexander Rodimtsev), operated at this line. The four-story brick building occupied an important place in the defense system of Rodimtsev's guardsmen on the approaches to the Volga, since the entire surrounding area was controlled from there. It was possible to observe and fire at the part of the city occupied by the enemy by that time: to the west up to one kilometer, to the north and south - and even more. But most importantly, the paths of a possible breakthrough of the Germans to the Volga were visible, it was a stone's throw from it. Intense fighting here continued for over two months.
The tactical importance of the house was appreciated by the commander of the 42nd Guards Rifle Regiment, Colonel Ivan Yelin. He ordered the commander of the 3rd rifle battalion, Captain Zhukov, to seize the house and turn it into a stronghold. On September 20, 1942, the soldiers of the squad headed by Sergeant Pavlov made their way there. And on the third day, reinforcements arrived in time: a machine-gun platoon of Lieutenant Afanasyev (seven people with one heavy machine gun), a group of senior sergeant Sobgaida's armor-piercers (six people with three anti-tank rifles), four mortars with two mortars under the command of Lieutenant Chernyshenko and three submachine gunners. Lieutenant Afanasyev was appointed commander of the strong point.
The Nazis almost all the time conducted massive artillery and mortar fire at the house, struck at it from the air, and continuously attacked. But the garrison of the "fortress" - that is how Pavlov's house was marked on the headquarters map of the commander of the 6th German army, Colonel-General Paulus - skillfully prepared him for a perimeter defense. The soldiers fired from different places through the embrasures in the bricked windows and holes in the walls. When the Nazis tried to approach the building, they were met by heavy machine-gun fire. The garrison staunchly repulsed enemy attacks and inflicted tangible losses on the Nazis. And most importantly, in operational and tactical terms, the defenders of the house did not allow the enemy to break through to the Volga in this area. It was no coincidence that Paulus's map indicated that a battalion of Russians was allegedly in the house.
Lieutenants Afanasyev, Chernyshenko and Sergeant Pavlov established fire interaction with strong points in neighboring buildings - in the house defended by the soldiers of Lieutenant Zabolotny, and in the mill building, where the command post of the 42nd Infantry Regiment was located. On the third floor of Pavlov's house, an observation post was set up, which the Nazis were never able to suppress. A telephone line was installed in one of the basements and a field apparatus was installed. This point had the symbolic call sign "Mayak". “A small group, defending one house, destroyed more enemy soldiers than the Nazis lost in the capture of Paris,” noted Vasily Chuikov.
Pavlov's house was defended by fighters of 11 nationalities - Russians, Ukrainians, Jews, Belarusian, Georgian, Uzbek, Kazakh, Kalmyk, Abkhaz, Tajik, Tatar … According to official data - 24 fighters. In reality - from 26 to 30. There were dead, wounded, but a replacement came. Sergeant Pavlov (born October 17, 1917 in Valdai, in the Novgorod region) celebrated his 25th anniversary within the walls of his "home". True, nothing has been written about this anywhere, and Yakov Fedotovich himself and his military friends on this matter preferred to remain silent.
As a result of continuous shelling, the building was seriously damaged, one end wall was almost completely destroyed. In order to avoid losses from debris, by order of the regiment commander, part of the fire resources was removed outside the building. Despite fierce enemy attacks, the defenders of Pavlov's house, Zabolotny's house and the mill, turned by guardsmen into strong points, continued to hold the defense.
How did you manage not only to survive in the fiery hell, but also to defend effectively? First, both Afanasyev and Pavlov were experienced fighters. Sergeant from 1938 in the Red Army, before Stalingrad was the commander of the machine-gun section, gunner. Secondly, the reserve positions equipped by them helped the fighters a lot. In front of the house there was a cemented fuel depot. An underground passage was dug to it. Thirty meters from the house there was a water tunnel hatch, to which the soldiers also dug an underground passage. On it, ammunition and meager food rations came to the defenders of the house. During shelling, everyone, except for the observers and outposts, went down to the shelters. Including the civilians who remained in the house (when Pavlov and his soldiers occupied the house, there were about three dozen of them - women, old people, children), who for various reasons could not be immediately evacuated. The shelling stopped, and the entire small garrison was again in their positions in the building, again firing at the enemy. He held the defense for 58 days and nights. The soldiers left the stronghold on November 24, when the regiment, along with other units, launched a counteroffensive.
The country praised the feat of the defenders of the house. All of them have received government awards. Sergeant Pavlov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. True, after the war - by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of June 27, 1945, after Yakov Fedotovich joined the party.
For the sake of historical truth, we note that the actual defense of the outpost house was led by Lieutenant IF Afanasyev (1916-1975). After all, he was senior in rank. But Afanasyev was not awarded the title of Hero. Above, they decided to present a junior commander to the high rank, who, together with his fighters, was the first to break through to the house and took up defenses there. After the battles, someone made a corresponding inscription on the wall of the building. She was seen by military leaders, war correspondents. The object was initially listed under the name "Pavlov's house" in combat reports. So, the building on the square on January 9 went down in history as Pavlov's house.
But what about Lieutenant Afanasyev? Ivan Filippovich was a very modest man and never emphasized his merits. In fact, he remained in the shadow of the subsequent glory of his subordinate. Although the military merits of Yakov Fedotovich are indisputable. Pavlov, despite his injury, even after Stalingrad remained in the army, already as an artilleryman. And in the other part. He ended the war on the Oder as a foreman. Later he was awarded an officer rank.
Today in the hero-city there are about 1200 direct participants in the Battle of Stalingrad (approximately, because they are becoming less and less). Yakov Pavlov could rightfully be on this list - after all, he was invited to settle in the restored city. The hero was very sociable, many times he met with residents who survived the war and raised him from the ruins, with young people. Yakov Fedotovich lived with the concerns and interests of the city on the Volga, took part in events on patriotic education.
Pavlov's legendary house in the city became the first restored building. And the first was telephoned. Moreover, some of the apartments there were received by those who came to the restoration of Stalingrad from all over the country. The memorial inscription on the wall reads: “This house at the end of September 1942 was occupied by Sergeant Pavlov Ya. F. and his comrades A. P. Aleksandrov, V. S. Glushchenko, N. Y. Chernogolov. During September-November 1942 the house was heroically defended by soldiers of the 3rd battalion of the 42nd Guards Rifle Regiment of the 13th Guards Order of Lenin Rifle Division: Aleksandrov A. P., Afanasyev I. F., Bondarenko M. S., Voronov I. V., Glushchenko V. V. S., Gridin T. I., Dovzhenko P. I., Ivashchenko A. I., Kiselev V. M., Mosiashvili N. G., Murzaev T., Pavlov Ya. F., Ramazanov F. 3., Saraev V. K., Svirin I. T., Sobgaida A. A., Turgunov K., Turdyev M., Khait I. Ya., Chernogolov N. Ya., Chernyshenko A. N., Shapovalov A. E., Yakimenko G. I. But three surnames were not named …
All the surviving defenders of the house, which went down in history, have always been the most dear guests of the townspeople. In 1980, Yakov Fedotovich was awarded the title of "Honorary Citizen of the Hero City of Volgograd." But … immediately after demobilization in August 1946, the hero returned to his native Novgorod region. He worked in party bodies in the city of Valdai. Received higher education. Three times he was elected a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR from the Novgorod region. Peaceful ones were added to the military awards: the Orders of Lenin and the October Revolution, medals …
Yakov Fedotovich passed away in 1981 - the consequences of front-line wounds affected. But it just so happened that legends and myths formed around the house of Sergeant Pavlov and himself. Their echoes can be heard even now. So, for many years, rumor had it that Yakov Pavlov did not die at all, but took monastic vows and became Archimandrite Cyril. This, in particular, was reported by one of the central newspapers.
Whether this is so, the staff of the Volgograd State Panoramic Museum of the Battle of Stalingrad found out. And what? Father Kirill was really Pavlov in the world. But - Ivan. He took part in the Battle of Stalingrad. Moreover, then both Yakov and Ivan were sergeants, and both ended the war as junior lieutenants. In the initial period of the war, Ivan Pavlov served in the Far East, and in October 1941, as part of his unit, he arrived at the Volkhov front. Then - Stalingrad. In 1942 he was wounded twice. But he survived. When the fighting in Stalingrad died down, Ivan accidentally found a scorched gospel among the rubble. He considered this a sign from above, and his heart burnt by the war prompted: leave the volume with you.
In the ranks of the tank corps, Ivan Pavlov fought Romania, Hungary and Austria. And everywhere with him in his duffel bag was a charred church book from Stalingrad. Demobilized in 1946, he went to Moscow. In Yelokhovsky Cathedral I asked how to become a priest. As he was, in military uniform, he went to enter a theological seminary. Many years later, the employees of the military registration and enlistment office of the Moscow Region Sergiev Posad asked Archimandrite Kirill: what to report upstairs about Sergeant Pavlov, the defender of Stalingrad? Cyril replied: he is not alive.
But this is not the end of our story. In the course of searches, the museum staff (I visited there, as well as in Pavlov's house, many times as a student, because before the army I studied at a nearby university) managed to establish the following. Among the participants in the Battle of Stalingrad were three Pavlovs, who became Heroes of the Soviet Union. In addition to Yakov Fedotovich, this is a tanker captain Sergei Mikhailovich Pavlov and an infantryman of the guard senior sergeant Dmitry Ivanovich Pavlov. Russia holds on to the Pavlovs, as well as the Ivanovs and Petrovs.
As for the defenders of the legendary house, only one of them has survived to this day. This is the Uzbek Kamoljon Turgunov. After the victory on the Volga, he made a vow: he will have as many sons and grandchildren as his comrades died in the Battle of Stalingrad. Indeed, 78 grandchildren and more than thirty great-grandchildren came to express their respect to the aksakal. The last defender of Pavlov's house, who defended it with the PTR, was much outlived by Ivan Afanasyev, Yakov Pavlov and other fellow soldiers. Turgunov passed away on March 16, 2015. He was 93 …
