Panikakha, Mikhail Averyanovich

Mikhail Averyanovich Panikakha was born in the village of Mogilyov (now Tsarichansky district) of the Dnipropetrovsk region into a peasant family. Received primary education, worked on the farm .

In the Red Army since 1939 , he served as a sailor in the Pacific Fleet .

World War II

During the Great Patriotic War (March 1942), at his own request, he was sent to Stalingrad and enlisted in the 883th Infantry Regiment of the 193rd Infantry Division of the 62nd Army as a Red Army armor-piercer, although he did not take off his sailor uniform.

Feat

October 2, 1942 in the battle to defend the factory "Red October" Red Army soldier Mikhail Panikakha accomplished a feat. Enemy tanks moved to the trench in which he was located. Taking two bottles of flammable liquid , Mikhail crawled towards the head of the German tank. A bullet hit one of the bottles, the liquid instantly spilled over the fighter's body and ignited. Flaring up with a torch, Mikhail threw himself on the grill of the motor sunroof and broke a second bottle on it. The German tank stopped. For this feat on December 9, 1942, Mikhail Panikakha was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree . Mikhail was buried in a deep crater, near the factory "Red October" ^[1] .

Fascist tanks rushed to the positions of the Marine Corps battalion. Several enemy vehicles moved to the trench in which the sailor Mikhail Panikakha was located, firing from cannons and machine guns.

Through the rumble of shots and explosions of shells, the clang of caterpillars was heard more clearly. By this time, Panikakha had already consumed all of his grenades. He had only two bottles with a combustible mixture. He leaned out of the trench and swung, aiming the bottle at the nearest tank. At that moment, the bullet broke the bottle raised above his head. A warrior flashed with a living torch. But the hellish pain did not cloud his mind. He grabbed a second bottle. The tank was nearby. And everyone saw how a burning man jumped out of the trench, ran right up to the Nazi tank and hit a bottle on the grill of a motor hatch. A moment - and a huge flash of fire and smoke engulfed the hero along with the Nazi machine set on fire by him.

- Marshal of the Soviet Union V.I. Chuykov . From Stalingrad to Berlin ^[2]

He appeared to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union in November 1942, but received it only by decree of the President of the USSR of May 5, 1990 , posthumously.

For a long time there was a memorial sign with a memorial plate on the site of the hero’s feat. May 8, 1975 at this place a monument was erected.

The poet Demian Poor dedicated poetry to the feat of a soldier ^[2] .

Pal, having accomplished his feat,
To bring down the flames on the sleeve
Chest, shoulders, on the head,
Burning Torch Avenger Warrior
I didn’t ride on the grass
Seek salvation in the swamp.
He burned the enemy with his fire,
Legends are stacked about him, -
Immortal our Red Navy.

- Demian Poor ^[3]

• The Gold Star Medal (No. 11621);
• Order of the Patriotic War I degree .

• Monument at the place of achievement.
• Street in Volgograd .
• Street and monument in the Dnieper ^[4] .
• A street and a monument in the village of Mogilyov, Tsarichansky district, Dnipropetrovsk region .
• The Volgograd Maritime School of DOSAAF was named after Mikhail Panikikha, a bust of the hero was installed near the building ^[5] .
• Monument on the territory of the former military unit near the Oranienbaum platform in the Leningrad region ^[6] .
• The feat of Mikhail Panikikha is depicted in the panorama "Battle of Stalingrad."

• Kh. Kh. Kamalov . Marines in the battles for their homeland. Second edition, revised and revised. - M: Military Publishing, 1983. S.-121-122.

• Panikakha, Mikhail Averyanovich (Russian) . Site " Heroes of the country ".
• Heroes of Volgograd .