Vitaly ZHILIN, Lieutenant General, Honored Military Specialist of the Russian Federation, Candidate of Historical Sciences

Until relatively recently, in the 60-70s, the abundance of newspaper and magazine publications, military memoirs, fiction and documentaries about the Great Patriotic War contributed to the fact that there was no doubt that someone might not know when the war began, when it ended, what great battles took place in 1941-1945. Everyone knew the names of Matrosov, Gastello, Zhukov, Koshevoy and many others. Children, streets, ships, and schools were named after them. We were proud that these brave, fearless, indomitable people were our compatriots, and that some of them were our countrymen.

However, along with such bright feelings, every sane citizen of the country experienced a certain annoyance. Too often our enemies, the German-Fascist invaders, were portrayed as narrow-minded, frankly stupid, people unequal to us in terms of intelligence and abilities. Sometimes the question arose: if the enemy really was like this, then why did we fight with him for so long? Why, then, did the enemy reach Moscow and the Volga, and before that brought the whole of civilized Europe to its knees? The "varnished" facts didn't really look like the truth. And the description of the exploits of heroes often even reduced the actual scale of these personalities, without any stretch, great, extraordinary. Real heroes didn't need and don't need anyone trying to embellish their exploits. They speak for themselves.

In this essay I want to tell you, dear readers, about the glorious son of the Soviet people-the valiant tankman Polikarp Lazarevich Perepelitsa.

Polikarp Lazarevich Perepelitsa was born on April 6, 1918 in the village of Mostki, now Svatovsky district of the Luhansk region in the family of a peasant. Ukrainian. In the Armed Forces of the USSR since 1940.

Participant of the Great Patriotic War since June 1941. A tank driver of the 36th Tank Brigade distinguished himself in a battle on May 12, 1942 near the village of Nepokryty (Volchansky district, Kharkiv region). He died in this battle. The title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded posthumously on December 2, 1942. Awarded the Order of Lenin.

He was buried in the village of Nepokryty, now the village of Shestakovo, Volchansky district, Kharkiv region.

Can you imagine that you are in an armored car under the fire of several anti-tank guns operated by experienced, well-trained gunners, and every shell sent by them can end your life? And you don't just have to survive. You must complete the task, take the necessary line, liberate the village captured by the Nazis, in which women, the elderly, and children are under the Fascist yoke...

I am probably not mistaken that then you will be able to understand the feelings and thoughts of Polikarp Perepelitsa at that moment when he, tightly clutching the levers of the formidable "thirty-four", pressed on the pedals, directing the tank at the enemy battery when it was burning, but, despising pain and death itself, drove the car in flames, hit by a car on the road. another fascist weapon. He didn't think in

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that moment is about the reward, about making a feat. He was just doing his duty as a soldier. Until the end, he remained a Soviet man, a patriot of his Homeland, which was more precious to him than life.

...Polikarp Lazarevich Perepelitsa was born in the Donbass region on April 6, 1918. All his short life was spent in the Ukrainian steppe, among the waste land that stands like majestic mounds around the Donetsk mines.

Miners have always been distinguished by strong tempering, a sense of true patriotism. Belonging to the elite (I am sure that such an expression is quite appropriate here) of the working class, hard work, filled with daily risks, made Polycarp a special person. From the preserved photo, a strong-willed, confident tank warrior looks at us. Looking at him, you are immediately imbued with trust and respect for a person, you understand that such a person will not let you down.

The miners were given a reservation. And so Polykarp entered the military service later than his comrades.

In 1940, the air smelled of thunderstorms. The army needed not just soldiers, but those who could confidently and reliably master a complex military-technical specialty in a short time.

The twenty-two-year-old miner fully met the requirements. So P. Perepelitsa became a mechanic-driver of the T-34 medium tank.

How he met the war, where our hero fought in the difficult 41st, we do not know. Unfortunately, there is very little documentary evidence about it. We only know that Perepelitsa got to the front in the first days of the war. In May 1942, he was already a senior sergeant, a tank driver for the commander of the 1st tank battalion of the 36th Tank Brigade of the 38th Army of the Southwestern Front.

I do not intend to acquaint you, my dear readers, with the operational situation in the south and southwest during the Battle of Kharkov in 1942. A lot of research has been devoted to this operation. As you know, it ended with the most severe defeat of our troops, the encirclement and death of several armies.

The hero of my essay, of course, did not know that, in carrying out this operation, the Soviet command, unfortunately, made a number of serious mistakes. One of them was the underestimation of the enemy, who by that time (by May 1942) was well prepared for our offensive. As a result, the offensive of our troops, which began early in the morning of May 12, met a well-prepared, deeply echeloned German defense. In this case, unfortunately, the correctness of the Russian philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev was once again confirmed:"...In Russia, the entire nation is forever paying the price for the mistakes of statesmen."

The future Marshal of the Soviet Union, and at that time commander of the 38th Army K. S. Moskalenko recalls: "The 226th Rifle Division of Major General A.V. Gorbatov, reinforced by the 36th tank Brigade (Commander Colonel T. I. Tanaschishin), performed best. It quickly broke through the tactical depth of the Nazis ' defenses and then moved on to pursue the defeated units of the 294th and 211st regiments of the 71st Infantry Division. After a short, rapid battle, the 226th Rifle Division captured an important enemy resistance point in the village of Nepokryte, advancing 10 kilometers in a day." So, in a military laconic way, the famous marshal writes about the events of May 42. But behind these lines - the greatness of the feat of Soviet tankers who performed their soldier's duty.

The crew of the battalion commander, Captain M. D. Shestakov (it is in his honor that grateful residents of the Kharkiv region will later rename their village to Shestakovo) was the first to break into the village captured by the enemy. Senior Sergeant Polikarp Perepelitsa, the driver of the commander's tank, drove confidently, destroying everything in his path. Unexpectedly, another enemy battery was discovered. And now, one by one, four anti-tank guns are under the tracks of the tank. The fifth manages to hit the "thirty-four". The car is engulfed in flames. The commander jumps out of the burning tank and, burning himself, rushes forward to the German positions. An enemy bullet ends the life of a fearless combatant. Polycarp saw all this.

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Taking revenge for the commander, he, driving a terrible burning car, throws it with the last of his strength at the hated enemy.

Already on May 14, the commanders of the hero-sergeant are preparing an award list for him. In it, the hero's feat is described as follows: "On May 72, 1942, Perepelitsa drove the car to attack. In the tank was the battalion commander and led the battle of the battalion. Due to the fact that Perepelitsa destroyed firing points and enemy manpower with his tracks with bold and unexpected throws, the car reached the western outskirts of the village of Nepokrytoe unharmed. On his way, Perepelitsa crushed one anti-tank gun and one bunker.

Suddenly breaking into the village of Nepokrytoe, on the western outskirts of which he found a battery of 150-mm guns. Breaking into the battery location, he crushed four heavy guns and killed about 25 Germans. The fifth gun stopped his car and set it on fire.

Perepelitsa, as an ardent patriot of his homeland, tried to drive a burning car. Without letting go of the control levers, he burned.

For heroism and valor, com. Perepelitsa deserves the title of Hero of the Soviet Union ."

But the military council of the 38th Army did not agree with such a reward. "Worthy of the government award of the Order of Lenin" - this is his resolution.

Yes, in the most difficult days of May-June 1942, when our army was retreating after a severe defeat near Kharkov, the decision of the military council probably had its own logic. The standards for evaluating the feat were very high at that time.

But the truth prevailed. A well-known tankman, Colonel G. N. Orel (later Colonel-General of the tank forces), Deputy Commander of the Don Front for tank forces, supported the command of the brigade and on September 31, 1942 signed a submission for awarding P. L. Perepelitsa the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

And only on December 2, 1942, the brave tankman was posthumously awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

I would like to draw your attention to something else. The battalion commander, Captain M. D. Shestakov, who, as we remember, performed his feat and died a few minutes before his driver, was awarded the title of Hero on November 5, 1942. At the same time, judging by his award list, the heads of various instances did not have any doubts about what kind of award the deceased tankman deserved. Why there was a delay in awarding the high title of Hero to P. Perepelitsa, we will probably never know. We will not know, perhaps, about who else was then, on May 12, 1942, in the crew of the brave battalion commander and what is the fate of the other members of this heroic crew. Therefore, I would be very grateful to the tank veterans, to anyone who could tell me anything about that battle.

The remains of the brave soldier were buried in a mass grave in the village liberated by him and his comrades. An obelisk is installed at the place of the tankers ' death.

Fellow countrymen honor the memory of the hero. A street in his hometown of Anthracite, Donetsk region, is named after him. He was posthumously elected an honorary citizen of this mining town. A memorial plaque has been installed at the mine where Polikarp Lazarevich Perepelitsa worked. His name is forever included in the lists of the labor collective of this mine. I learned about all this from a historical reference sent by the military Commissar of the Luhansk region, Colonel A. Ptushka.

Yes, here's another thing: there are still legends about the" fire tankman " Polikarp Perepelitsa (which is exactly what he is called by the people) in the Kharkiv region today. That's why I called this essay so.

Unfortunately, new idols are being honored today. And I want to go back to where I started. If earlier there were many works about the war, literally the whole country knew the heroes of the war, but today the opposite is observed. Not only do today's schoolchildren not know the heroes, often even the dates of the beginning and end of the war are a mystery to them. This is very dangerous and shows serious flaws in the historical and moral education of young people - our future. I hope that my essays about tank heroes, in particular this essay about P. L. Perepelitsa, will make a certain contribution to the patriotic education of the younger generation.

I can't, I don't have the moral right not to mention the following. During the Great Patriotic War, all the peoples of the Soviet Union united in a single effort to defeat the hated enemy. Their patriotism and unbending will became the key to Victory.

Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR

On awarding the title of Hero of the Soviet Union to the commanding staff of the Red Army

For the exemplary performance of the command's tasks on the front of the fight against the German invaders and the bravery and heroism shown in this case, to be awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union with the award of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star Medal to Senior Sergeant Perepelitsa Polikarp Lazarevich.

Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR M. Kalinin

Secretary of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR A. Gorkin

Moscow, Kremlin, December 2, 1942

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