Yagunov, Pavel Maksimovich

Born into a peasant family. He graduated from the village school in 1913 , the 4th Tashkent United Military School in 1923 , the courses “Shot” (training middle-level commanders) in 1930 , the courses “Shot” (training senior commanders) in 1938 .

In his youth he was a peddler of letters and documents under the volost government. He left his parental home early in search of a job. He joined the Red Army as a volunteer in July 1919 . He served in a separate Turkestan Communist Battalion, participated in battles with the troops of General A.I. Denikin and the White Cossack units near Aktyubinsk . In September 1919 he joined the Communist Party. For many years he served in Central Asia, as part of the Trans-Caspian Front, participated in the liquidation of the Basmach movement of Enver Pasha and Dzhunaid Khan . He was the commander of a rifle battalion and regiment. Characterized as a strong-willed, militarily competent commander.

In 1938 he was commander of the 65th Rifle Regiment in the Far East with the rank of colonel. In July of that year, she was removed from her post and arrested in connection with the arrest of his former wife Yulia Alexandrovna (her brother, in turn, was arrested on charges of espionage). At the end of August 1938, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for not assisting the authorities in “exposing his ex-wife, an accomplice to a spy.” In June 1939, rehabilitated and reinstated in the party. He was appointed head of the Baku Infantry School.

According to the memoirs of her daughter, Klara Pavlovna Yagunova, “he could not stand it when he received special signs of attention. Once, the manager sent us a basket of selected fruits to our house. There was nobody at home, and I accepted her. Dad was terribly angry and demanded that they take the basket and never do it. I remember our arrival in the Far East . Father commanded the regiment. According to his order, first houses and apartments for subordinates were repaired, and then, in the last turn, with the onset of cold weather - for us. In Baku , being the senior boss, he was the last and far not the best to allocate apartments when distributing apartments ”(Abramov V.V. Kerch catastrophe 1942. M., 2006. P. 126-127).

Fights in Crimea

In September 1941 he was appointed commander of the 138th Infantry Division, which, since mid-January 1942, has been fighting in the 51st Army on the Kerch Peninsula . The division held a number of successful battles, with significant losses. Since March 1942 - head of the combat training department of the Crimean Front (in the rank of second deputy chief of staff of the front).

On May 14, 1942 , after the German troops had broken through the Crimean front's defense line, he was appointed commander of a combined detachment left to cover the evacuation of front forces across the Kerch Strait . The squad included a reserve of command and political staff of the front (several hundred people), cadets of aviation schools, the 1st reserve regiment of the Crimean front, the 65th separate railway recovery battalion, etc. Some retreating parts of the Crimean front also joined the squad. Fierce fighting on May 15-17 in the area of ​​Adzhimushkaya detained and distracted German troops and allowed a large part of the front to evacuate (for example, only on 16 and 17 May 41 thousand people were transported from three marinas to the Taman coast).

On May 17, the area of ​​the Adzhimushkaysky quarries, in which the detachment of Yagunov was located, was completely surrounded by Germans. Later, the former commander of the Crimean Front, General D. T. Kozlov recalled: "Colonel Yagunov honestly complied with the order, defending the village of Adzhimushkay."

Adzhimushkay quarry defense commander

After encirclement, a detachment of Yagunov defended in the Central Adzhimushkaysky quarries - underground mines for limestone mining. Yagunov created a control system for the "underground garrison", formed a headquarters, divided the personnel into three battalions, created intelligence and anti-tank units, a medical service, and established strict military discipline. Among his closest associates were the commissar of the garrison, the senior battalion commissar I.P. Parakhin, the deputy commander Colonel F.A. Verushkin, the deputy commander of the rear quartermaster II rank S.T. Kolesnikov, the chief of staff of the garrison senior lieutenant P.E. Sidorov ( colleague Yagunov at the Baku Infantry School), head of the political department battalion commissar F. I. Khramov, head of the food department quartermaster II rank A. I. Pirogov, battalion commanders lieutenant colonel G. M. Burmin, major (according to other sources, captain) A. P. Pa nov, captain V.M. Levitsky and others.

The garrison of the underground fortress, which amounted to several thousand people, from the first days was faced with a lack of ammunition, food, and, most importantly, water. Together with Commissar Parakhin, Yagunov visited the hospital almost every day, making sure that the rations laid by him completely reached the wounded. The Germans used artillery and tanks, as well as gases, against the Adzhimushkayis who made sorties. At the time of the first gas attack, he ordered to broadcast a radiogram: “To all the peoples of the Soviet Union! We, the defenders of the defense of the city of Kerch , gasp for gas, die, but do not surrender. " At the cost of huge losses, the fighters locked in the dungeon learned to defend themselves from gas attacks.

In late June - early July, the garrison made several sorties, during one of which trophies were captured - German weapons and ammunition. During their inspection, Yagunov died, neutralizing an unexploded grenade. He was the only member of the defense who was buried in a coffin made of truck body boards. In 1987, during a search, the grave was discovered. The remains are solemnly reburied in the central square of the village of Adzhimushkay.

One of the participants in the defense, A. I. Lodygin, recalled: “Under Yagunov, everyone in the quarries had confidence in a way out of this situation. After his death, many, as they say, hung their heads ... But after a long explanatory work, confidence reappeared. ” The new commander was Lieutenant Colonel G. M. Burmin. Only in October 1942 the surviving garrison soldiers were captured in a state of complete exhaustion. But even later, quarries became the base for partisans from local residents and prisoners of war.

The feat of Colonel Yagunov is devoted to the book by A. A. Sobolevsky, “The Commander of the Underground Garrison,” which was published in the Mordovian Book Publishing House on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Great Victory (1975).

By presidential decree No. 115 of May 05, 1990, Pavel Maksimovich Yagunov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner (posthumously).

• Knyazev G.N., Protsenko I.S. Valor is immortal: On the feat of the defenders of Adzhimushkaya. - M., 1986.
• Abramov V.V. Kerch catastrophe 1942. - M., 2006.
• Kolibukov N.I. Adzhimushkay. - M., 1975.
• Sobolevsky A. A. The commander of the underground garrison: a tale. - Saransk: Mordov. Prince Publishing House, 1975 .-- 184 p.

• Kuribayashi, Tadamiti