23.10.202027.05.2017

When in February of the 44th the P-5 biplane flying over the front line was fired upon by enemy anti-aircraft guns, the pilot could not use a parachute and throw the burning plane. There were children on board the two-seater car ... "Defend Russia" recalls the feat of the Guard Lieutenant Alexander Mamkin.

Operation "Star"

During the Great Patriotic War, the 105th Separate Aviation Regiment of the Civil Air Fleet (since July 1941, the personnel of the Soviet Civil Air Fleet, according to the order of the USSR People's Commissar of Defense, was considered drafted into the Red Army) was the first to establish regular communication with the Belarusian partisans. Pilots on low-speed biplanes P-5 and PO-2 delivered food, weapons and ammunition to the forests through the front line, transported the wounded to the rear hospitals. They also saved children.

At the beginning of 1944, in occupied Polotsk, the Germans organized a Nazi hospital near the orphanage No. 1.

This neighborhood posed a mortal threat to the orphans - the Nazi command decided to use children as blood donors for wounded soldiers. The orphans had to be rescued immediately.

Thus began Operation Zvezdochka. In February 1944, despite the close attention of the invaders, the partisans of the Polotsk-Lepel zone secretly took out of the city more than 150 pupils and about 40 workers of the orphanage deep into the territory under their control. This was the first stage of salvation. It was unsafe to stay with the partisans - the German command launched an intensified hunt for the avengers. It was necessary to deliver the orphans to the mainland, and this task fell on the shoulders of the pilots of the 105th Separate Aviation Regiment of the Civil Air Fleet.

Guard Lieutenant Alexander Mamkin was one of those who, maneuvering under the fire of enemy anti-aircraft guns, took the children away from the war.

Pilot Mamkin

Alexander Mamkin began flying before the war. In 1939, he graduated with honors from the Balashov Flight School of the Civil Air Fleet. As the best cadet, he was given the opportunity to choose where he wanted to work, but Alexander did not use his right. “Send me where you need me,” he told the flight crew allocation committee members.

So after graduating from the flight school, Mamkin worked for three years in the Tajik, and then in the Uzbek directorates of the civil air fleet. During this time, the pilot flew 1,700 hours and delivered over two hundred tons of mail and cargo.

From the first days of the war, Alexander strove to get to the front, but the GVF management decided that an experienced pilot was more needed in the rear.

Mamkin's request was granted a year later, and in August 1942 he arrived at the front.

Already in August 43, Mamkin received his first award - the Order of the "Patriotic War, 1st degree". “During the Patriotic War, he flew 74 sorties (…). He delivered 13,240 kg of ammunition to the partisans and took out 24 partisans, - said in the pilot's presentation to the order. - Always performs excellent combat missions, showing courage and courage. "

Feat

On April 11, 1944, Alexander took off in his P-5 on a regular flight - the next group of children was preparing for evacuation on a partisan site on Lake Velechye.

The oldest boy, Volodya Shishkov, was seated by Mamkin in the rear cabin, the teacher and nine more kids in the fuselage, two wounded partisans in cassettes similar to torpedo tubes. So in a double R-5 13 people fit.

The biplane, not without difficulty, lifted off the ground and, rising into the night sky, headed for its home base. The flight proceeded normally, but on approaching the front line, the R-5 was fired upon by enemy anti-aircraft guns. The plane caught fire.

From the engine compartment to the engine, from the engine to the cockpit - the fire spread very quickly.

In such situations, the instruction instructs the pilot to use a parachute and leave the car. But there are children on board! Having grown up without a father, he could not doom the orphans to a terrible death. The pilot decided to take the children to the airfield by all means.

Everything burned on it: a helmet, clothes, high fur boots. Overcoming the hellish pain, he pulled everything to the landing strip. And lasted! "Under enemy fire on a burning plane, burning himself, he flew to his territory, descended and made a landing," - said in a report on the combat work of the regiment for April 1944.

When the regimental medics and pilots arrive at the landing site, they will see on the white snow the blackened, smoking body of the pilot with canned food glasses fused into his face and will be amazed: how could a person endure the intolerable pain of the fire devouring the body? Fly the plane. Plant. Get out of the cockpit, - wrote Olga Zhukova, the granddaughter of a fellow soldier of the pilot, about the feat of Mamkin. - On burnt feet, step to the passenger door to open it. And - to fall, only after hearing the voice of the older boy, Volodya Shishkov: “Comrade pilot! Do not worry! I opened the door. Everyone is alive, we go out ... "

Memory

Oddly enough, the unparalleled feat of Alexander Mamkin was not awarded. In the submission to the posthumous Order of the Red Banner awarded to the pilot, not a word about saving children. The pilot was presented with the award for the next "33 sorties at night to the enemy's rear", the delivery of "9035 kg of ammunition, 41 servicemen", the removal of "113 wounded partisans." Yes, and the document was signed on April 8, 44th - 3 days before the last flight of the pilot.

The image of the hero and the children he saved was preserved in the newsreel - the cameramen found the pilot at the partisan airfield before his last flight.

These frames were used in various films, including the fourth part of the documentary epic “The Great Patriotic War. Partisans ".

The events that will be discussed took place in the winter of 1943-44, when the Nazis made a brutal decision: to use the pupils of the Polotsk Orphanage No. 1 as donors. The wounded German soldiers needed blood. Where can I get it? In children.

The first to defend the boys and girls was the director of the orphanage Mikhail Stepanovich Forinko. Of course, for the invaders, pity, compassion and, in general, the very fact of such atrocities did not matter, so it was immediately clear: these were not arguments. But the reasoning became weighty: how can sick and hungry children give good blood? No way. They do not have enough vitamins in their blood or at least the same iron. In addition, there is no firewood in the orphanage, the windows are broken, it is very cold. Children catch colds all the time, and patients - what kind of donors are they? Children should first be cured and fed, and only then used.

The German command agreed with this "logical" decision. Mikhail Stepanovich proposed to transfer the children and employees of the orphanage to the village of Belchitsy, where a strong German garrison was located. And again, iron, heartless logic worked. The first, disguised step to save the children was taken ... And then a big, thorough preparation began. The children were to be transferred to the partisan zone and then transported by plane.

And on the night of February 18-19, 1944, 154 children from the orphanage, 38 of their educators, as well as members of the underground group "Fearless" with their families and partisans of the Shchors detachment of the Chapaev brigade left the village. The children were from three to fourteen years old. And that's all - everything! - were silent, they were afraid to even breathe. The older ones carried the younger ones. Those who did not have warm clothes were wrapped in scarves and blankets. Even three-year-old kids understood the mortal danger - and were silent ...

In case the fascists understand everything and set off in pursuit, partisans were on duty near the village, ready to join the battle. And in the forest, a sleigh train was waiting for the children - thirty carts.

The pilots were very helpful. On the fateful night, knowing about the operation, they circled over Belchitsy, diverting the attention of the enemies. The kids were warned: if flares suddenly appear in the sky, they must immediately sit down and not move. During the journey, the column landed several times.

Everybody got to the deep partisan rear.

Now the children had to be evacuated to the front line. This had to be done as quickly as possible, because the Germans immediately discovered the "loss". It became more and more dangerous to be with the partisans every day. But the 3rd Air Army came to the rescue, the pilots began to take out the children and the wounded, at the same time delivering ammunition to the partisans. Two aircraft were allocated, under the wings they attached special capsule-cradles, which could accommodate several additional people. Plus, the pilots flew out without navigators - this place was also saved for passengers.

In general, more than five hundred people were taken out during the operation. But now we will talk about only one flight, the very last. It took place on the night of April 10-11, 1944. Lieutenant Alexander Mamkin was carrying the children of the guard. He was 28 years old. A native of the village of Krestyanskoe in the Voronezh region, a graduate of the Oryol financial and economic college and the Balashov school. By the time of the events in question, Mamkin was already an experienced pilot. Behind his shoulders - no less than seventy night flights to the German rear.

That flight was for him in this operation (it was called "Zvezdochka") not the first, but the ninth. Lake Vechelje was used as an airfield. We also had to hurry because the ice became more and more unreliable every day. The R-5 plane accommodated ten children, their teacher Valentina Latko and two wounded partisans. At first everything went well, but when approaching the front line, Mamkin's plane was shot down.

The front line was left behind, and the P-5 was on fire ... If Mamkin were alone on board, he would have gained altitude and jumped out with a parachute. But he was not flying alone. And he was not going to give up the death of boys and girls. It was not for this that they, who had just begun to live, fled on foot at night from the Nazis in order to break. And Mamkin was driving the plane ...

The flame reached the cockpit. The temperature melted the flight goggles, sticking to the skin. Clothes, a headset were on fire, it was hard to see in the smoke and fire. From the legs, only bones slowly remained. And there, behind the pilot, there was a cry. The children were afraid of fire, they did not want to die. And Alexander Petrovich flew the plane almost blindly. Overcoming the hellish pain, already, one might say, legless, he still stood firmly between the children and death.

Alexander Petrovich in a completely incomprehensible way was able to get out of the cabin himself. He managed to ask: "Are the children alive?" And I heard the voice of the boy Volodya Shishkov: “Comrade pilot, don't worry! I opened the door, everyone is alive, we go out ... ”And Mamkin lost consciousness.

The doctors could not explain how a man could drive the car, and even put it safely in, in whose face glasses were melted, and only bones remained from his legs? How could he overcome the pain, shock, with what efforts did he keep consciousness?

The hero was buried in the village of Maklok in the Smolensk region. From that day on, all the fighting friends of Alexander Petrovich, meeting already under a peaceful sky, drank their first toast "To Sasha!" ...

For Sasha, who grew up without a father from the age of two and remembered his childhood grief very well. For Sasha, who loved boys and girls with all his heart. For Sasha, who bore the surname Mamkin and himself, like a mother, gave the children life

This event took place in 1943, during the reconnaissance Belarusian partisans found out that there are about 200 children in the village of Belchitsy, most of whose parents were shot by the Nazis. The Nazis were preparing to take the children out and destroy them somewhere. But the partisans and the director of the orphanage were able to save the children by carrying out Operation Zvezdochka. We will tell you about the events of that time and the fearless feat of the pilot Alexander Mamkin in this article.

Polotsk orphanage №1. Children of the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945

Occupied Belarus. The village of Belchitsy. War is pain, millions of wounded and killed. In the fall of 1943, a reconnaissance group of partisans learned that an orphanage had moved from Polotsk to the village of Belchitsy, in which there were about 200 Soviet children. Many of the parents of the children were shot by the Nazis. The scouts on the same day met with the director of the orphanage Mikhail Stepanovich Forinko, who said that the children’s lives were in danger, that the Nazis were preparing to take them somewhere and destroy them. The decision was made - to save the children.

The operation to free Soviet children received the code name "Zvezdochka". The preparation took several months in total. And then came the intended day - February 18, 1944.

Operation Star

CHILDREN RESCUED DURING OPERATION "Zvezdochka"

Operation Zvezdochka consisted of two stages:

the first stage is the direct secret removal of children from under the noses of the fascists to the liberated partisan zone;
the second stage - sending children by air across the front line to the "mainland"

The first stage of Operation Star

The partisan detachment was instructed to approach the village of Belchitsy in order to meet the children and carry them into the forest in their arms. With the onset of darkness, Soviet soldiers occupied the edge not far from the village, turning it into a fortified line: trenches were dug in the snow, machine guns were placed.

At the appointed time, like bumblebees, Soviet planes hummed over the heads of the Nazis, inducing mortal fear. The Nazis climbed into cracks and trenches. at that moment the children went to the forest in small groups.

Partisans in white camouflage coats went forward to meet the children leaving the fascist garrison.

Sick and young children were carried in their arms by educators and senior pupils

Many kids walked on their own, falling through the snow at every step. Despite this, on that winter night, there was no groaning or crying of children. Soon the children were seated on carts, covered more warmly, and a sleigh train brought them at night to the partisan zone, to the location of the detachment. The partisans completed a responsible combat mission, saved Soviet children from death! All personnel were thanked. The group of partisans was presented with government awards.

The second stage of Operation Star

Now the children had to be evacuated to the front line. This had to be done as quickly as possible, because the Germans immediately discovered the "loss". It became more and more dangerous to be with the partisans every day, but the 3rd Air Army came to the rescue, the pilots began to take out the children and the wounded, at the same time delivering ammunition to the partisans. Two aircraft were allocated, under the wings they attached special capsule-cradles, which could accommodate several additional people. Plus, the pilots flew out without navigators - this place was also saved for passengers. In general, more than five hundred people were taken out during the operation. But now we will only talk about one flight, the very last.

Alexander Mamkin and his feat

It took place on the night of April 10-11, 1944. Lieutenant Alexander Mamkin was carrying the children of the guard. He was 28 years old. A native of the village of Krestyanskoe in the Voronezh region, a graduate of the Oryol financial and economic college and the Balashov school. By the time of the events in question, Mamkin was already an experienced pilot. Behind his shoulders - no less than seventy night flights to the German rear. That flight was not the first for him in this operation, but the ninth.

Lake Vechelje was used as an airfield. We also had to hurry because the ice became more and more unreliable every day. The R-5 plane accommodated ten children, their teacher Valentina Latko and two wounded partisans. At first everything went well, but when approaching the front line, Mamkin's plane was shot down. The front line was left behind, and the R-5 was on fire ... If Mamkin were alone on board, he would have gained altitude and jumped out with a parachute. But he was not flying alone. And he was not going to give up the death of boys and girls. It was not for this that they, who had just begun to live, fled on foot at night from the Nazis in order to break.

And Mamkin was flying the plane ... The flame reached the cockpit. The temperature melted the flight goggles, sticking to the skin. Clothes, a headset were on fire, it was hard to see in the smoke and fire.

From the legs, only bones slowly remained. And there, behind the pilot, there was crying

The children were afraid of fire, they did not want to die. And Alexander Petrovich flew the plane almost blindly. Overcoming the hellish pain, already, one might say, legless, he still stood firmly between the children and death.

PARTISAN GIVES LIEUTENANT MAMKIN'S CHILD

Mamkin found a site on the shore of the lake, not far from the Soviet units. The partition that separated it from the passengers had already burned out, and some of the clothes began to smolder. But death, swinging a scythe over the children, could not lower it. Mamkin did not. All passengers survived. Alexander Petrovich in a completely incomprehensible way was able to get out of the cabin himself. He managed to ask: "Are the children alive?" And I heard the voice of the boy Volodya Shishkov: “Comrade pilot, don't worry! I opened the door, everyone is alive, we go out ... ”And Mamkin lost consciousness.

The hero was buried in the village of Maklok in the Smolensk region. From that day on, all the fighting friends of Alexander Petrovich, meeting already under a peaceful sky, always remembered Sasha. Sasha, who grew up without a father from the age of two and remembered his childhood grief very well. Sasha, who loved boys and girls with all his heart. Sasha, who bore the surname Mamkin and himself, like a mother, gave the children life.

Alexander Petrovich Mamkin did not have children of his own, but the orphans he saved called themselves "Mamkin's children", and their children - "Mamkin's grandchildren" were often given the name "Alexander". Recently, the grandson of the oldest child rescued by Mamkin - Vladimir Shishkov - Roman said that Mamkin's great-great-grandson was growing up in his family in St. Petersburg! Bright memory and continuation of the Hero's life!

Alexander Mamkin awards

Alexander Mamkin went to the front as a volunteer. He made more than 70 night flights behind enemy lines to the partisans. Delivered over 20,000 kg of ammunition and removed 280 wounded.

For his courage and heroism he was awarded:

Medal "Partisan of the Patriotic War" 1 degree
Order of the Red Banner
Order of the Patriotic War 1 degree
Order of Alexander Nevsky

For an unparalleled feat he was posthumously nominated for the title of Hero of the USSR. For unknown reasons, neither the title nor the award for the last feat was awarded.

Results of the operation

The significance of Operation Star is difficult to overestimate. In the course of the multi-day operation, about two hundred children were transported to Soviet territory. The Nazis, learning that under their noses the partisans carried out such a daring operation, were literally shocked.

They tried to silence her, even spread a rumor that the orphanage was taken to Germany

But soon the entire population of Polotsk and the surrounding villages learned the truth about the fate of the children. The news of the rescue of children spread throughout all the partisan detachments, inspiring the patriots to new military deeds.

Articles of the participant of this heroic operation V.V. Barminsky

These articles were written by Vasily Vasilyevich Barminsky, a participant in those events. During the Great Patriotic War, he fought against the invaders in the ranks of the Shchors partisan detachment of the Chapaev brigade of the Polotsk-Lepel partisan formation. He happened to be one of the developers and participants of the Zvezdochka partisan operation to free the pupils of the Polotsk orphanage.

Poems about the feat of Alexander Mamkin

"Fiery Angel Dedication to Alexander Mamkin",Nina Gorlanova

There are no boundaries for the servants of darkness
So, the Nazis, deciding without fancy,
A sacrifice to the terrible god of war
Bring the blood of orphan children, but you took them under your wing
Flew through danger and night
Away from the place where evil reigns
Away from the war and horror! And fate did not give an end -
The enemy arose threatening disaster,
Like a kite circling over you
And stung like a snake with fire, you burn - but still not shot down
The goal is getting closer and closer to the border
You can only see from the ground how it flies
A burning bird in the dark sky, the weakness of the body before the Spirit is nothing,
Although the fire lashes like a whip
The cargo is priceless - and one thing is needed -
Numb the pain and smolder alive

God knows that it was not in vain that you suffered,
Doing more than a man could
You saved them - but staggered, fell
Burnt wings in the snow

P.S. Many thanks to the son of Vasily Vasilyevich Barminsky Vladimir Vasilyevich for providing the originals of his father's articles.

The feat of the pilot Alexander Mamkin. On the night of April 10-11, 1944, he burned alive in a downed, flamed plane, but found the courage to take out of the occupied zone the orphans of the Polotsk orphanage, from whom the Germans intended to pump blood for their wounded. Alexander Mamkin died, but more than 80 descendants of the orphans he saved, who called themselves Mamkin's children, live on earth.

At the place of the last landing of the pilot who, by burning alive, saved the orphanage children, a memorial sign MAMKIN'S CHILDREN was installed. They have not gathered here for a long time, in the village of Trudy, Polotsk district, at the monument to Alexander Mamkin. Once upon a time they came every year. Of course, not all of the more than one hundred former orphanage inmates whom he and another pilot, Dmitry Kuznetsov, were taken from the occupied territory. But they came, most often timed these visits to May 9th. A traditional rally was held at the monument in Trudy, they remembered, talked, cried. They all called themselves Mamkin's children. And their children considered themselves the grandchildren of this 28-year-old guy, who was burned to death saving the last ten of 154 orphanages. THREE GRAMS OF LARGE PER CHILD In the occupied Polotsk, the Germans at first did not pay much attention to the inmates of orphanage # 1. They even allocated a ridiculous ration: 75 grams of bread, three grams of cereals and a pinch of salt per child. It was impossible to survive on this, the underground workers helped the orphanage, people shared what they could. From time to time, babies whose parents died were brought to the orphanage, Jewish and Gypsy children were hidden here. And then the Germans suddenly became suspiciously supportive of the pupils. Several times they came with checks, examined the kids, shook their heads, noting that the pupils should be better fed. The wrong side of this attention turned out to be terrible - the Nazis were going to make donors from the Polotsk orphanages. The director of the orphanage, Mikhail Forinko, miraculously obtained permission to take the children to the village - they say, since an instruction was given to improve the health of the pupils, it will be easier to do it in the village. From the village of Belchitsy, from under the noses of the German garrison and policemen, one night the children were taken to the partisans. In the partisan camp, one and a half hundred children of different ages could not stay long either. It was decided to transport them across the front line. The operation was named "Star". Two light aircraft, which were allocated for the transfer of children, had to be slightly, as they would say now, upgrade - special capsule-cradles were attached under the wings, in which several people could fit. The pilots Mamkin and Kuznetsov flew alone, without navigators. Children were seated in the place designated for the navigator. By some miracle, there were up to ten of them.

A cameraman was also involved in Operation Zvezdochka. Therefore, documentary footage, where the pilot Mamkin takes children from the hands of partisans and puts them in the cockpit, entered many military chronicles. The children looked at the pilots with open mouths with admiration: they were already accustomed to the partisans, and the pilots in overalls, high fur boots, and special glasses seemed extraordinary to them. “I REMEMBER MAMKIN'S HANDS IN FIRE” From the memoirs of Galina Tishchenko, who at that time was eleven years old: “I remember the plane well: two open cabins, one for the pilot, the second for the navigator. But instead of the navigator, they put us, ten children, there. And under the wings were attached two oblong cassettes, two wounded partisans and our teacher Valentina Stepanovna Latko were placed there. Our group was the last. Prior to that, 138 people had already been safely transported. We took off on the night of April 10-11, from a partisan airfield on Lake Vechelje. Moonlit night, bright. There was no fear, on the contrary, it was interesting. Still, we quieted down when we heard a sound, as if a handful of stones had been violently thrown into the metal. We didn’t understand what it was. And a few seconds later we saw a flame ahead, where the cockpit was. It smelled of gasoline. The flames grew rapidly. I saw how the overalls smoldered on Mamkin. The upper fabric burned out and the wool turned out and flared up. And I also remember Mamkin's hands in this fire - they rushed about and did something. The plane went down sharply, and soon it was shaken by such a blow that it seemed to me that it was falling apart. I saw how Mamkin was thrown out of the cab. " The hospital doctors, where they managed to deliver Alexander Mamkin, were perplexed. The pilot literally burned alive, his clothes, a headset were on fire, flying glasses melted - they literally melted into his face. My legs were burned to the bone. How did he land the plane? Physically it was almost impossible. They could not save Alexander Mamkin. He lived in the hospital for several days and died of burns on April 17, 1944. He also had a parachute and was able to jump out of the plane and escape. But Alexander Mamkin saved the children. Before losing consciousness, he managed to ask if they were alive. In many publications in newspapers and magazines, in the books of memoirs of front-line soldiers and partisans, it is erroneously reported that Alexander Petrovich Mamkin was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for his feat (posthumously). This is even stated in the fundamental work of the Ministry of Transport "Peaceful wings during the war". Veterans of the regiment more than once wrote indignant letters to both the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Ministry of Defense, explaining that Lieutenant Mamkin was introduced to the Order of the Red Banner of the Guards among other pilots of the regiment on April 6, 1944, four days before the feat. Since then, the fellow soldiers and partisans, the pilot's countrymen, who remembered the feat, have several times turned to government agencies with a request to consider awarding the hero the title of Hero, but so far there has been no result .. One consolation. Alexander Petrovich Mamkin had no children, but the orphans he saved called themselves Mamkin's children, and their children, Mamkin's grandchildren, were often named Alexander. Recently, the grandson of Vladimir Shishkov, the oldest child rescued by Mamkin, reported that Mamkin's great-great-grandson is already growing in his family in St. Petersburg! Bright memory and continuation of the hero's life! And yet ... a hero should not be unrewarded! Every year on June 1, the world celebrates International Children's Day. In Russia, this day is not associated with any feat in the name of saving children. And there is such a feat!

However, the feat of Alexander Mamkin did not become a popularly known example of supermanhood. Although after the publication in Komsomolskaya Pravda on February 11, 1965, the article "Fire Flight" and the article "Because he lived in the world" on March 17, many schools began to fight for the name of the hero-pilot, although poems and stories were published about him. As if only "Golden Star" introduces the hero into the galaxy of legendary Alexander Matrosov, Nikolai Gastello, Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, Viktor Talalikhin ... As if a hero without a "star" and not a hero at all ... And I wanted to return to the history of a forgotten feat.

On the night of April 10-11, 1944, Guard Lieutenant Alexander Mamkin, a pilot of the 105th Guards Aviation Regiment of the Civil Air Fleet (GVF), already on the seventh flight took out from the enemy's deep rear the orphans of the Polotsk orphanage, rescued by Belarusian partisans from the fate of donors for wounded Nazis. Above the front line, the plane was fired upon, the cockpit was on fire. Mamkin burned alive, but continued to drive the car to his own people under crying, he managed to put it on the ice of a lake near the town of Velizh.

The regiment's medics did not understand how a man in a burning overalls could drive a car, how could a man in a burning overalls drive a car, how he could drive a car in melted canned glasses and in a fumes, clouding the cabin, land and cross the half-burnt body, step ... The oldest boy of the kids, Volodya Shishkov, opened the cabin door. Together with the teacher Valentina Latko, he carried out the frightened kids and two seriously wounded partisans.

Friends of Sasha Mamkin, and among them my father, the commander of the partisan squadron Nikolai Ivanovich Zhukov, all post-war meetings began, without clinking glasses, with a toast: “To Sasha! Let him be calm there. " His successful landing was explained by his great experience of night and blind flights, and his extraordinary courage was explained by the fact that Sasha drank the dashing of fatherlessness from the age of two: pity for disadvantaged children turned out to be stronger than the pain from burns. The hero was buried in the village of Maklok, in the 1960s he was reburied in Velizh, in the mass grave of the Lidova Gora memorial.

By a lucky chance, on the day of Sasha's last flight, Moscow cameramen arrived at the partisan airfield. They managed to take off, as the broad-shouldered pilot with a kind smile was sitting on the plane emaciated, poorly dressed in homemade clothes and shoes, kids. Our television and today quite often shows these footage on the International Children's Day, without naming, however, the name of the pilot. But they were included in the film of Belarusian documentary filmmakers “A Road Without Halt” in the early 1960s, their name was given.

IT IS WRONGLY REPORTED THAT FOR HIS FEAT ALEXANDER PETROVICH MAMKIN WAS AWARDED WITH THE ORDER OF THE RED BANNER (PERMANENTLY)

In many publications in newspapers and magazines, in books of memoirs of front-line soldiers and partisans, it is erroneously reported that Alexander Petrovich Mamkin was awarded the Order of the Red Banner (posthumously) for his feat. This is confirmed even in the fundamental work of the Ministry of Transport "Peaceful wings during the war". Veterans of the regiment more than once wrote indignant letters to both the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Ministry of Defense, explaining that Lieutenant Mamkin was introduced to the Order of the Red Banner of the Guards among other pilots of the regiment on April 6, 1944, four days before the feat.

And the order on awarding was issued on April 21, after the death of the hero, and was mistakenly perceived as posthumous. The error was “corrected” in the encyclopedic dictionary “XX century. Civil Aviation of Russia in Persons "(Moscow: Air Transport, 2000) to a new one:" A.P. Mamkin for outstanding feat was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War 1 st. posthumously". In fact, according to the archival certificate of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation dated April 15, 2002, this order was awarded on August 31, 1943. That is, Alexander Mamkin was not awarded for the feat, although, according to the recollections of veterans, the regiment sent a presentation for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

That is, for the feat ALEXANDER MAMKIN WAS NOT AWARDED, ALTHOUGH, IN THE MEMORIES OF VETERANS, THE REGULATION SENT FOR THE TITLE OF HERO OF THE SOVIET UNION

The aforementioned publication in Komsomolskaya Pravda of February 11, 1965 announced a document in the archives of the Ministry of Civil Aviation confirming the reports of the regiment's veterans: “At the same time, I am submitting material for conferring the posthumous title of HERO OF THE SOVIET UNION to the guard of Lieutenant Alexander Petrovich MAMKIN. Attachment: On 6 sheets and 7 photographs addressed to. On 2 sheets to the case ". The date on the certificate is June 28, 1944.

Over the past half a century since 1965, fellow soldiers and partisans, who remembered the feat, have addressed the USSR government several times with a request to consider the issue of awarding the hero with the title of Hero. In 1990, in response to the appeal of the people's deputy I.F. Klochkov was finally encouraged by the secretariat of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR with a letter signed by Colonel-General Arapov, First Deputy Head of the Main Personnel Directorate of the USSR Ministry of Defense: "The USSR Ministry of Defense considers it possible to consider the issue of awarding ... on the proposal of the Ministry of Civil Aviation." But soon the country called the USSR ceased to exist. And so does the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

In the early 2000s, Alexander Mamkin's fellow countrymen, residents of the Repyevsky district of the Voronezh region, raised funds to install a bust of the hero in the village of Repyevka. They opened a small museum. Several times we have addressed letters of petition, signed by hundreds of people, to the president, the government, and the Ministry of Defense.

But letters are sent to the Main Personnel Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, and from there a duty refusal came on the basis that the materials for the presentation for the title of Hero, attached to the letter to Lieutenant Colonel Lavrenov, were not preserved in the archive. But their duplicates are present in the archive!

I attached all these duplicates to the letter to the head of the Main Personnel Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, starting with the main document - "Act of Investigation of the Causes of Flight Combat Losses ..." - and a description of the feat.

I was surprised when I received an answer from December 20, 2011, illiterate due to ignorance of the history of the Great Patriotic War:

“From the materials you have provided, it follows that during the Great Patriotic War, Guard Lieutenant Alexander Petrovich Mamkin served in the 2nd separate and 105th Guards Aviation Regiments of the Civil Air Fleet. These units were not part of the Red Army (Navy). Taking into account the foregoing, in the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation the legal grounds for making representations about the assignment of A.P. Mamkin does not have the title of Hero of the Russian Federation (posthumously). "

Neither the executor nor the person who signed the next death sentence to the pilot, the head of the Main Personnel Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, Lieutenant General V.P. Goremykin, apparently, do not know that by order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR dated July 9, 1941, "the personnel of the Civil Air Fleet, directly enrolled in special air groups of the Civil Air Fleet, shall be considered drafted into the Red Army" (RGAE. F. 9527, Op. 1. D. 13. L. 64). By the way, I was amazed by the question of one of the employees of the award department, a young officer, who asked me: "What is the Civil Air Fleet?"

Formed on the basis of the 2nd special air group, the 105th air regiment of the civil air fleet for flights to the surrounded units, assistance in their withdrawal to their own and the establishment of air communication with partisans was awarded the title of the Guards, the Order of Alexander Nevsky, the name Panevezys - for participation in the liberation of the Lithuanian SSR ...

After such a refusal, it seemed senseless to raise the issue of not rewarding the hero with the title of Hero again. Now, when the 70th anniversary of the Victory has died down, I realized that I was wrong.

Consoles one thing. Alexander Petrovich Mamkin had no children, but the orphans he saved called themselves Mamkin's children, and their children, Mamkin's grandchildren, were often named Alexander. Recently, the grandson of Vladimir Shishkov, the oldest child rescued by Mamkin, announced that Mamkin's great-great-grandson is already growing in his family in St. Petersburg! Bright memory and continuation of the hero's life!

And yet ... a hero should not be unrewarded! Every year on June 1, the world celebrates International Children's Day. In Russia, this day is not associated with any feat in the name of saving children. And there is such a feat!