Sirotinin, Nikolai Vladimirovich

Before the war, he worked at the Tekmash plant in Orel ^{[3] [4]} . Drafted to the Red Army on October 5, 1940 ^{[4] [5]} , served in Polotsk ^[6] . Member of the Komsomol .

According to some reports, on June 22, 1941, he was slightly injured in an air raid. He served as a gunner in the 6th Infantry Division ^[1] or the 55th Infantry Regiment of the 17th Infantry Division .

Under the onslaught of the 4th Panzer Division of Heinz Guderian , commanded by von Langermann , units of the 13th Army retreated, and with them the regiment of Sirotinin. On July 17, 1941, the battery commander decided to leave at the bridge over the Dobrost River on the 476th kilometer of the Moscow-Warsaw highway one gun with a crew of two and an ammunition load of 60 shells to cover the retreat with the task of detaining the tank convoy. One of the calculation numbers was the battalion commander himself; the second volunteered Nikolai Sirotinin ^[1] .

The gun was camouflaged on a hill in dense rye; the position allowed a good view of the highway and the bridge. When a column of German armored vehicles appeared at dawn, Nikolai with the first shot knocked out the head tank that came out onto the bridge, and the second one about the middle of the column, and not its end, contrary to popular belief, (firing alone, he could not turn the entire gun himself and horizontal aiming carried out by turning the barrel) an armored personnel carrier , thereby creating a traffic jam. The commander made adjustments to the fire until he was seriously wounded and, since the combat mission was completed, moved away towards Soviet positions. However, Sirotinin refused to retreat, since the cannon still had a significant amount of unexpended shells ^[1] .

The Germans attempted to clear the mash by pulling a damaged tank from the bridge with two other tanks, but they were also hit. The armored vehicle, which tried to ford the river, bogged down in the swampy shore, where it was destroyed. The Germans for a long time could not determine the location of a well-camouflaged gun; they believed that a whole battery was fighting them ^[3] . The battle lasted two and a half hours, during which time 11 tanks, 7 armored vehicles, 57 soldiers and officers were destroyed ^[1] .

By the time the position of Nicholas was discovered, he had only three shells left. Sirotinin refused the offer to surrender and fired from a carbine to the last ^[1] .

According to another version, Sirotinin served in the 55th Infantry Regiment, but was cut off from his unit. In the evening of June 24, in the area of ​​the Ditva River, a rifle company was left as a rear marching outpost, which did not return to the regiment (according to Major Skrypka, commander of the 55th regiment). Nikolay could be one of the survivors and get to Sokolnichi in 14-17 days, where the front line was at that time, after which he joined the anti-tank battery of the 6th Infantry Division. Witnesses confirm the appearance of Kolya in Sokolnichi around July 9-10. Sokolnichi residents have very vivid memories of him, because before the battle on July 17, he helped with the housework in one of the yards. The 45-mm Sirotinin gun was not left alone for cover, but fought on July 17 as a battery, which operated together with the 2nd battalion of the 409th Infantry Regiment of the 137th Infantry Division , but the remaining battery guns were destroyed. After the departure of the battalion, Sirotinin was left alone and fought with the advancing column of German armored vehicles ^{[7] [8]} .

July 17, 1941. Sokolnichi , near Krichev. In the evening, an unknown Russian soldier was buried. He alone stood at the gun, for a long time he shot a column of tanks and infantry, and died. Everyone was amazed at his courage ... Oberst in front of the grave said that if all the soldiers of the Führer fought like this Russian, they would conquer the whole world. Rifled volleys three times. Still, he is Russian, is such a worship necessary?

- From the diary of Lieutenant of the 4th Panzer Division Friedrich Hönfeld ^[1]

In the afternoon, the Germans gathered at the place where the Sirotinin gun stood. There, we, too, were forced to come by local residents. As a German who knows the German language, the main German of about fifty with orders, tall, bald, gray-haired, ordered me to translate his speech to local people. He said that the Russian fought very well, that if the Germans fought like that, they would have taken Moscow long ago, that the soldier should defend his homeland - Vaterland ...

- testimony of Olga Verzhbitskaya, a resident of the village of Sokolnichi ^{[1] [9]}

He was buried in a mass grave on the banks of the Sozh River in the city of Krichev on the street named after him ^[10] .

• Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree (posthumous)

• In 1948, the remains of Nikolai Sirotinin were reburied in a mass grave ^[1] (according to a military burial card on the OBD Memorial website in 1943), on which is a monument in the form of a sculpture of a soldier mourning for his dead comrades, and on marble planks in surname N. V. Sirotinina indicated on the list of buried
• In 1960, Sirotinin was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War I degree ^[1] .
• In 1961, a monument in the form of an obelisk with the name of a hero was erected on the site of a feat near the highway, near which a real 76-mm gun was installed on a pedestal. In the city of Krichev, a street is named after Sirotinin.
• A memorial plaque with a brief reference about N. V. Sirotinin was installed at the Tekmash plant in Orel.
• The museum of military glory in the secondary school No. 17 of the city of Orel has materials dedicated to N. V. Sirotinin ^[11] .
• N.V. Sirotinin was never presented to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union . According to relatives, a photograph was needed for paperwork, but the only photograph that was available to relatives was lost in the evacuation. ^{[3] [1]} According to the official response of the Main Directorate of Personnel of the USSR Ministry of Defense, there is no reason for N.V. Sirotinin to be presented to a high rank, since during the war years the higher command didn’t take such a decision, and in the post-war years only unrealized submissions were re-examined ^[12] .
• In 2015, the Council of School No. 7 of Orel applied for the school to be named after Nikolai Sirotinin. At the celebrations was attended by the sister of Nikolai Taisiya Vladimirovna. The name for the school was chosen by the students themselves on the basis of their search and information work ^[13] .
• The song of Sergey Timoshenko “Alone in the field warrior” is dedicated to N. V. Sirotinin.

• Father - Vladimir Kuzmich Sirotinin (1888-1961), steam engine driver ^[4] .
• Mother - Elena Korneevna Sirotinina (1898-1963), housewife ^[4] .
• They were buried at the Afanasyevsky cemetery in Orel.

There were five children in the Sirotinin family, ^[4] including:

• Sister - Kira Vladimirovna (1919-1997).
• Sister - Taisiya Vladimirovna Shestakova (Sirotinina) (1923-2015).
• Brother - Veniamin Vladimirovich Sirotinin ^[3] (1927-1992).
• Sister - Nina Vladimirovna Sizonova (Sirotinina) ^[3] (born 03/01/1930) lives in the city of Orel.

When reporters asked Nicholas’s sister why it was Nicholas who volunteered to cover up the retreat of the division, Taisiya Vladimirovna replied: “My brother couldn’t do otherwise . ”

• Stepanchuk T., Tereshchenko N. Legend of the Feat // Spark: Journal. - 1958. - No. 19 .
• Melnikov M., Yushchenko L. This is not a legend // Literary newspaper: newspaper. - 1960. - No. of January 7 .
• Olga Kislyak. Enemies saluted him ... // Soviet Belarus: newspaper. - 2009. - No. of June 27 .
• Irina Nikishonkova, Vlad Chislov. How Kolya Sirotinin stopped the Guderian’s tank division // Komsomolskaya Pravda: newspaper. - 2004. - No. of June 22 . Archived on August 28, 2014.
• Bondarenko V.V. 100 great feats of Russia. M. , 2011
• Irina Nikishonkova. Kolya Sirotinin should become the pride of the Eagle (neopr.) . Online edition of the newspaper "Week in Orel" (May 12, 2011). Date of treatment June 4, 2011. Archived on May 14, 2013.
• History of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union 1941-1945 / Ed. N.A. Fokina et al. - Military Publishing House, 1961. - T. 2. - P. 68.
• V.P. Kiselev. Book on the combat route of the 137th SD // Fellow soldiers . - Nizhny Novgorod, 2005.
• SuldinA.V. July 17, 1941 // Great heroes of the Great War chronicle of the people's heroism. 1941-1942. - AST , 2015 .-- 160 s. - (Greatness of the USSR). - ISBN 978-5-17-089755-1 .
• Melnikov M.F. A word about the great soldier // Our land was walking the road of centuries. - Mn. : Polymya, 1987 .-- pp. 135-140.
• Scheufler G. Tank aces of the Wehrmacht. Memoirs of officers of the 35th Tank Regiment / Transl. with him. A. L. Utkina, ed. E. L. Shvedova. - M .: Centerpolygraph , 2015 .-- S. 142 ,. - (Beyond the front line. Memoirs). - ISBN 978-5-9524-5173-5 .

• No man is an island. Feat of the 41st. [Documentary]. The film company "Homeland". (2010).

• Kriegstagebuch (KTB) 4 pz div for July 16 and 17, 1941. NARAT315 R195
• A list of German losses on July 17, 1941 in the Krichev region
• Sirotinin Nikolay Vladimirovich // TsAMO . F. 58. Op. 977531. D. 39. L. 93 (Document specifying the loss). - Office for accounting for personal losses.