Who did Alexander Ivanovich Kolesnikov become after the war? The film "it was in intelligence". The son of the regiment, Alexander Kolesnikov. Commander of the Order of Glory III degree. The battle path - from Slutsk to Berlin

Kolesnikov Alexander Ivanovich (sergeant). Memories.

In March 1943, my friend and I ran away from school and went to the front. We managed to get on a freight train into a carriage with pressed hay. Everything seemed to be going well, but at one of the stations we were found and sent back to Moscow.

On the way back, I again fled to the front - to my father, who served as the deputy commander of the mechanized corps. Wherever I was, how many roads I had to walk, drive by passing cars ... Once in Nizhyn I accidentally met a wounded tanker from my father's unit. It turned out that the father had received news from my mother about my "heroic" act and promised to arrange an excellent "magnifying glass" for me at the meeting.

The latter significantly changed my plans. Without thinking twice, I joined the tankers who were heading to re-form in the rear. I told them that my father was also a tanker, that he had lost my mother during the evacuation, that he was left all alone ... tank corps... So at the age of 12 I became a soldier.

Twice I went on reconnaissance behind enemy lines, and both times I coped with the task. True, for the first time I almost gave out our radio operator, who was carrying a new set of electric batteries for the radio. An appointment was made at the cemetery. Call sign - duck quacking. It so happened that I got to the cemetery at night. The picture is terrifying: all the graves were torn apart by shells ... Probably, more from fear than from the real situation, he began to quack. He cracked so hard that he didn’t notice how our radio operator crawled up behind me and, holding my mouth with his hand, whispered: “Are you crazy, boy? Nevertheless, the task was completed. After successful campaigns in the enemy rear, they respectfully called me nothing but San Sanych.

In June 1944, the 1st Belorussian Front began preparations for the offensive. I was summoned to the corps reconnaissance department and introduced to the pilot-lieutenant colonel. The air ace examined me with great doubt. The intelligence chief intercepted his glance and assured that San Sanych could be trusted, that I had been a "shot sparrow" for a long time.

The pilot-lieutenant colonel was laconic. The Germans are preparing a powerful defensive wall near Minsk. Equipment is continuously being transferred to the front by rail. Unloading is carried out somewhere in the forest, on a disguised railway line 60-70 kilometers from the front line. This branch must be destroyed. But this is not at all easy to do. The reconnaissance paratroopers did not return from the mission. Air reconnaissance also cannot detect this branch: the camouflage is done flawlessly. The task is to find a secret railway line within three days and mark its location by hanging old bed linen on the trees.

They changed me into civilian clothes and gave me a bale of bed linen. The result is a teenage street child who exchanges underwear for groceries. I crossed the front line at night with a group of scouts. They had their own task, and soon we parted. I made my way through the forest along the main railroad... Every 300-400 meters there are paired fascist patrols. Pretty exhausted, I dozed off during the day and almost got caught. I woke up from a strong kick. Two policemen searched me, shook up the whole bale of linen. Discovered several potatoes, a piece of bread and bacon were immediately taken away. We also brought a couple of pillowcases and towels with Belarusian embroidery. At parting, "blessed":

Get out before you shoot!

And so he got off. Fortunately, the police didn't turn my pockets inside out. Then there would be trouble: on the lining of my jacket pocket was printed topographic map with the location of railway stations ...

On the third day, I came across the bodies of the paratroopers that the pilot-lieutenant colonel was talking about.

Soon a barbed wire barred my way. The restricted area has begun! I made my way along the wire for several kilometers until I reached the main railroad... Lucky: a military train, loaded with tanks, slowly turned off the main path and disappeared between the trees. Here it is, a mysterious branch!

The Nazis disguised it perfectly. Moreover, the echelon was moving "tail" forward! The locomotive was located behind the train. Thus, the impression was created that the steam locomotive was smoking on the main line.

At night, I climbed to the top of a tree growing at the junction of the railway line with the main highway and hung the first sheet there. By dawn, I hung out the bedding in three more places. He marked the last point with his own shirt, tying it by the sleeves. Now she fluttered in the wind like a flag.

I sat in a tree until morning. It was very scary, but most of all I was afraid to fall asleep and miss the reconnaissance plane. "Lavochkin-5" appeared on time. The Nazis did not touch him, so as not to betray themselves. The plane circled at a distance for a long time, then passed over me, turned towards the front and waved its wings. It was a prearranged signal: "The branch has been spotted, go away - we will bomb!"

He untied his shirt and went down to the ground. After only two kilometers away, I heard the hum of our bombers, and soon there were explosions where the enemy's secret branch passed. The echo of their cannonade accompanied me the entire first day of my journey to the front line.

The next day I went to the Sluch River. There were no auxiliary floating facilities to cross the river. Moreover, on opposite side the gatehouse of the enemy guard was visible. About a kilometer to the north, an old wooden bridge with a single railway track was visible. I decided to cross it on a German train: I would hook up somewhere on the brake pad. I have already done this several times.

Sentries were stationed both on the bridge and along the railway. I decided to try my luck at the junction, where trains stop, letting oncoming people pass. Crawling, hiding behind the bushes, along the way, reinforced with strawberries. And suddenly right in front of me - a boot! Thought it was German. I began to crawl back, but then I heard a muffled report:

Another train is passing, Comrade Captain!

The train that approached was unusual: the cars were sealed, the SS guards. They are transporting ammunition! The train stopped, allowing an oncoming ambulance train to pass. The submachine gunners from the guards of the echelon with ammunition went to the opposite side from us - to see if there were any acquaintances among the wounded.

And then it dawned on me! He snatched the explosives from the hands of the soldier and, without waiting for permission, rushed to the embankment. He crawled under the carriage, struck a match ... And then the carriage wheels began to move, the forged SS man's boots hung from the footboard. It’s impossible to get out from under the carriage ... What to do? He opened a coal box on the move - "dog lover" - and climbed into it along with the explosives. When the wheels thumped dully on the bridge deck, he struck a match again and lit the fuse-cord.

There were only a few seconds left before the explosion. I look at the burning fuse and think: I’m going to be torn to pieces now! He jumped out of the box, slipped between the sentries, and off the bridge - into the water! Diving over and over again, I swam with the flow. The shots of the sentries from the bridge echoed with the automatic rounds of the echelon SS men. And then my explosives went off. The wagons with ammunition began to break, as if in a chain. The fiery tornado engulfed the bridge, the train, and the guards.

Our scouts saved me. They saw that I survived the explosion, but fell into the hands of the guards. Suddenly attacking the gatehouse, the Red Army men recaptured me from the Germans. I woke up under the stove of a burnt Belarusian village. I learned that the scouts had taken me off the wall, wrapped me in a raincoat and carried me in their arms to the front line. On the way we stumbled upon an enemy ambush. Many died in the fleeting battle. The wounded sergeant grabbed me and carried me out of this inferno. He hid me and, leaving me his machine gun, went to fetch water to treat my wounds. He was not destined to return ...

How long I spent in my hiding place, I do not know. He lost consciousness, came to himself, again fell into oblivion. Suddenly I heard: tanks are coming, by the sound - ours. I screamed, but naturally, no one heard me with such a rumble of caterpillars. Overvoltage has once again lost consciousness. When I woke up, I heard Russian speech. What if the policemen? Only after making sure that they were his own, he called for help. They pulled me out from under the stove and immediately sent me to the medical battalion. Then there was a front-line hospital, an ambulance train and, finally, a hospital in distant Novosibirsk. I spent almost five months in this hospital. Without completing his treatment, he ran away with the discharged tankers, persuading his nanny-grandmother to bring me an old clothes to "walk around the city."

The regiment caught up with his already in Poland, near Warsaw. I was assigned to the tank crew. During the crossing of the Vistula, our crew received an ice plunge pool. The ferry rocked hard from the hit of the shell, and the T-34 dived to the bottom. The tower hatch, despite the efforts of the guys, did not open under water pressure. Water slowly filled the tank. Soon it reached my throat ...

On this ferry adventure, I met a lieutenant colonel pilot who once sent me on a search for a secret railway line.

How happy he was:

I've been looking for you for six months! I gave my word: if I'm alive, I will definitely find it!

On April 16, 1945, at the Seelow Heights, I had a chance to knock out Hitler's "tiger". At the crossroads, the two tanks met head-on. I was for the gunner, fired the first APCR round and hit the "tiger" under the turret. The heavy armor "cap" flew off like a light ball.

Our tank was also hit on the same day. The crew, fortunately, survived completely. We changed the car and continued to take part in the battles. Of this, the second tank, only three survived ...

By April 29, I was already in the fifth tank. Of his crew, only I was rescued. Faustpatron exploded in the engine section of our combat vehicle. I was at the gunner's place. The driver grabbed my legs and threw me through the front hatch. After that I began to get out myself. But just a few seconds were not enough: shells of the ammunition began to explode, and the driver died. I woke up in the hospital on May 8. The hospital was located in Karlshorst, opposite the building where the German surrender act was signed. None of us will forget this day. The wounded paid no attention to either the doctors, or the nurses, or their own wounds - they jumped, danced, hugged each other. Having laid me on a sheet, they dragged me to the window to show me how Marshal Zhukov came out after the signing of the surrender. Later, Keitel was brought out with his dejected retinue.

He returned to Moscow in the summer of 1945. For a long time I did not dare to enter my house on Begovaya Street ... I did not write to my mother for more than two years, for fear. that she will pick me up from the front. I was not so afraid of anything as this meeting with her. I understood how much grief I brought to her! .. I entered silently, as they taught me to walk in intelligence. But maternal intuition turned out to be thinner - she turned sharply, threw up her head and for a long, long time, without stopping, looked at me, at my tunic, awards ...

Do you smoke? she finally asked.

Aha! - I lied. to hide embarrassment and not give out tears. Many years later I visited the place where the bridge had been blown up and found a lodge on the bank. It is all destroyed - only ruins. Walked around, examined the new bridge. Nothing reminded of terrible tragedy, played out here during the war. And only I was very, very sad ...

Show source

"It Was in Intelligence" (1968) - a film (written by V. Trunin, with the participation of S. S. Smirnov, directed by Lev Mirsky) about childhood, mercilessly interrupted by the war, about children on whose shoulders the war brought down suffering and grief.
The hero of the film is a boy of 10–12 years old, fighting the Nazis like an adult. We do not know his story, we do not know what happened to his parents, we meet the boy in the midst of a conflagration, in the turmoil and haste of war. As happened in life, the soldiers become attached to a brave boy (played by Viktor Zhukov), who reminds each of them of their home, family, and the worries of peacetime, which not everyone will have to live up to. Platoons and companies "fight" for the boy, for the opportunity to keep him, take care of him, protect him. A safe life behind the back of caring "nannies" suits the boy least of all, and he rejoices at the minute when he is assigned an important task: the result of a large operation planned by the front will largely depend on his dexterity and courage.

The little soldier in cold blood deceives the Germans, who are unaware of the presence of a young scout in the very dense, green forest where they (together with their carefully camouflaged airfield) feel completely safe.
To the young hero manages to elude the fascists. There is tenacity in the boy, without which the hard soldier's work will not be done, but there is also boyish mischief. A daring challenge, unnecessarily thrown by him to a completely fooled enemy, leads to trouble - after completing the most difficult task, the boy still ends up in the hands of the Germans, and we "root" for him no less than the scouts trying to help out, recapture their little one from the enemy brave assistant. The boy's feat is great and reliable: the film was made seriously - you believe both in the truth of the characters, and in the truth of the circumstances proposed by the authors.

The film is based on true events from the combat biography of intelligence officer Alexander Ivanovich Kolesnikov (1931-2001). Alexander Ivanovich himself wrote about his capture by the Germans:

“No matter how hard I tried to sail away, I was overtaken and picked up by a boat of the fascist guard. By the time it did land, not far from the gatehouse, I had already lost consciousness from the beatings. The brutal Nazis crucified me: my hands and feet were nailed to the wall at the entrance. Our scouts saw that I had escaped the explosion, but fell into the hands of the guards. Suddenly attacking the gatehouse, the Red Army recaptured me from the Germans. I woke up under the stove of a burnt Belarusian village. I learned that the scouts had taken me off the wall, wrapped me in a raincoat. and carried me to the front line. On the way they stumbled upon an enemy ambush. Many died in a fleeting battle. The wounded sergeant grabbed me and carried me out of this inferno. He hid me and, leaving me his machine gun, went to fetch water to treat my wounds. Return he was not destined ... How long I spent in my hiding place, I don’t know. I lost consciousness, came to my senses, again fell into oblivion. Suddenly I heard: tanks were coming, by the sound of ours. Of course, no one heard the roar of the caterpillars. Overvoltage has once again lost consciousness. When I woke up, I heard Russian speech. What if the policemen? Only after making sure that they were his own, he called for help. They pulled me out from under the stove and immediately sent me to the medical battalion. Then there was a front-line hospital, an ambulance train and, finally, a hospital in distant Novosibirsk. "

A program that tells the story of A. Kolesnikov and he speaks himself

War is terrible in itself and neither the gender nor the age of the soldier matters. The main thing is its inner core. San Sanych Kolesnikov had it made of steel ...

It was one thousand nine hundred and forty-one. They walked on our land German soldiers, burned our villages and settlements, took children and women into captivity. Sasha's father went to the front and told him: "Take care of your mother, Sanka!" The boy really wanted to go to the front with his father, but no one seriously talked to him. The fifth-grader Vovka, who seemed to be a very adult, when leaving on duty in the people's squad, once advised him: "You run away ..." The red-haired Vovka joked, and Sanka sunk into his soul. But in winter, my mother fell ill, and he sat with her all the time. I decided: "I'll finish the first grade and run away." Then another war year passed. Mom completely recovered and worked at the factory. Father wrote letters from the front and kept repeating: "If we win the war, we will gather together, and we will never part again." Sanka wanted it to come true as soon as possible. And in the spring of 1943, Sasha and a friend ran away from school and went to war ... ..

They managed to get on a freight train, but were soon caught and sent home. On the way, Sasha ran away from his entourage: no one was able to stop him, he went to beat the Nazis ... Having reached almost the very front, Sasha met the tanker Yegorov, who was returning to his regiment after the hospital. Sanka told him a sad fictional story that his father is also a tanker and is now at the front, and he lost his mother during the evacuation and was left all alone .. The tanker decided to bring Sasha to the commander, and he would decide what to do with him.

When Yegorov told his commander about Sashka, how he wants to beat the Nazis, how he escaped from the patrols, how clever he is, he asked: -How old is the boy? Egorov replied: "Twelve." The commander said: “There is no place for such little ones in the army. Therefore, feed the boy, and send him to the rear tomorrow! " Sashka almost burst into tears from resentment. All night he thought about what to do, and in the morning, when everyone was asleep, he got out of the dugout and began to make his way into the forest. Suddenly the command "AIR" was heard. It was German planes that began to bomb the positions of our troops. Fascist vultures flew right overhead and dropped bombs. Sashka had time to hear Sergeant Yegorov looking for him in the distance and calling “Sashka! Where are you? Come back. "

Bombs exploded all around, and Sasha kept running and running. One bomb exploded very close and he was thrown by a wave into a crater from an exploding bomb. For several moments the boy lay unconscious, and when he opened his eyes, he saw in the sky how the shot down fascist bomber fell, and a parachutist separated from him and landed directly on Sasha. The canopy of the parachute covered both. When the fascist saw the boy, he began to take out a pistol. Sashka contrived and threw a handful of earth into his eyes. The fascist lost his sight for some time and began to shoot at the blind. And then the incredible happened. Someone jumped over Sasha and grabbed the German. A struggle ensued, and when the German began to strangle our soldier, Sashka took a stone and hit the fascist on the head. He immediately fell unconscious, from under him crawled out Sergeant Yegorov. They tied the German and Yegorov brought him to the commander. When the commander asked Yegorov who took the "tongue", he proudly replied: "SASHKA!"

So at the age of twelve, Sashka was enlisted as the son of the regiment - in the 50th regiment of the 11th tank corps. And he received his first military award, the medal "FOR Courage", which was presented to him by the commander in front of all the soldiers ....

The soldiers immediately fell in love with Sasha for his courage and determination, treated him with respect and called him San Sanych. Twice he went on reconnaissance to the enemy's rear, and both times he coped with the task. True, for the first time I almost gave out our radio operator, who was carrying a new set of electric batteries for the radio. An appointment was made at the cemetery. Call sign - duck quacking. He got to the cemetery at night. The picture is terrifying: all the graves are torn apart by shells ... Probably, more from fear than was necessary, the boy cracked so hard that he did not notice how our radio operator crawled up behind him and, holding Sasha's mouth with his palm, whispered: “Are you crazy, boy? Where have you seen that ducks quack at night ?! They sleep at night! " Nevertheless, the task was completed.

In June 1944, the 1st Belorussian Front began preparations for the offensive. Sasha was summoned to the corps reconnaissance department and introduced to the pilot-lieutenant colonel. The latter looked at the boy doubtfully, but the intelligence chief assured that San Sanych could be trusted, he was a "shot sparrow". The pilot-lieutenant colonel said that the Nazis are preparing a powerful defensive barrier near Minsk. Equipment is continuously being transferred to the front by rail. Unloading is carried out somewhere in the forest, on a disguised railway line 70 kilometers from the front line. This branch must be destroyed. But this is not at all easy to do. The reconnaissance paratroopers did not return from the mission. Air reconnaissance also cannot detect anything, everything is disguised. The task is to find a secret railway line within three days and mark its location by hanging old bed linen on the trees.

- This business, Sanya, - as if the voice of the commander sounded from afar, - we decided to entrust you. - And the colonel put his big hand on his shoulder. ”At night, a group of scouts left on a mission. When everything was ready, the boy was brought to the commander of the group.

- Pass the front line with him, and then he has his task. … We walked all the way in silence. The detachment stretched out in a chain so that Sanka could only see an elderly man and a young lieutenant. Then he was no longer with them on the way, and they parted. They changed San Sanych into civilian clothes and gave him a bale of bed linen. The result is a teenage street child who exchanges underwear for groceries. He made his way through the forest along the main railway. Paired fascist patrols every 300 meters. Badly exhausted, he dozed off during the day and almost got caught. I woke up from a strong kick. Two fascist policemen searched him, shook up the whole bale of linen. Discovered several potatoes, a piece of bread and bacon were immediately taken away. We also brought a couple of pillowcases and towels with Belarusian embroidery. At parting, "blessed":

- Get out, puppy, before we shoot you!

For several kilometers he made his way along the wire, until he came to the main railway line. Lucky: a military train, loaded with tanks, slowly turned off the main path and disappeared between the trees. Here it is, a mysterious branch! The Nazis disguised it perfectly. At night, Sanka climbed to the top of a tree growing at the junction of the railway line with the main highway and hung the first sheet there. By dawn, I hung out the bedding in three more places. He marked the last point with his own shirt, tying it by the sleeves. Now she fluttered in the wind like a flag. I sat in a tree until morning. It was very scary, but most of all I was afraid to fall asleep and miss the reconnaissance plane. The plane arrived on time. The Nazis did not touch him, so as not to betray themselves. The plane circled at a distance for a long time, then passed over Sasha, turned towards the front and waved its wings. It was a prearranged signal: “The branch has been spotted, go away - we will bomb! "

Sashka untied his shirt and went down to the ground. After only two kilometers away, I heard the hum of our bombers, and soon there were explosions where the enemy's secret branch passed. The echo of their cannonade accompanied him the entire first day of his journey to the front line. The next day, I went to the river and, having crossed it, met our scouts, with whom they crossed the front line. Sanya understood from the haggard faces that the scouts had been at the bridge for more than one day, but they could not do anything to destroy the crossing. The train that approached was unusual: the cars were sealed, the SS guards. They are transporting ammunition!

The train stopped, allowing an oncoming ambulance train to pass. The submachine gunners from the guards of the echelon with ammunition went to the opposite side from us - to see if there were any acquaintances among the wounded. Sashka snatched the explosives from the hands of the soldier and, without waiting for permission, rushed to the embankment. He crawled under the carriage, struck a match ... Then the carriage wheels began to move, and the German's forged boot hung from the footboard. It’s impossible to get out from under the carriage… What to do? He opened the "dog-lover" coal box on the move - and climbed into it along with the explosives. When the wheels thumped dully on the bridge deck, he struck a match again and lit the fuse-cord. There were only a few seconds left before the explosion. He jumped out of the box, slipped between the sentries, and off the bridge - into the water! Diving over and over again, I swam with the flow. Several guards and sentries fired at the sailing Sasha at the same time. And then explosives exploded. The wagons with ammunition began to break, as if in a chain. The fiery tornado engulfed the bridge, the train, and the guards.

No matter how hard San Sanych tried to sail away, a fascist boat caught up with him. The Nazis beat Sasha and from the beatings he lost consciousness. The brutalized Germans dragged Sasha into a house on the bank of the river and crucified him: his hands and feet were nailed to the wall at the entrance. The scouts saved San Sanych. They saw that he had fallen into the hands of the guards. Suddenly attacking the house, the Red Army men recaptured Sasha from the Germans. They took him off the wall, wrapped him in a raincoat and carried him in their arms to the front line. On the way we stumbled upon an enemy ambush. Many died in the fleeting battle. The wounded sergeant grabbed and carried Sasha out of this inferno. He hid it, leaving him his machine gun, went to fetch water to treat Sashka's wounds, but he was killed by the Nazis…. After a while, the dying Sasha was found by our soldiers and sent to a hospital in distant Novosibirsk on an ambulance train. In this hospital, Sashka was treated for five months. Without completing his treatment, he fled with the discharged tankers, persuading his nanny-grandmother to bring him an old clothes to "walk around the city."

San Sanych, caught up with his regiment already in Poland, near Warsaw. He was assigned to the tank crew. Once, by chance, he met the same pilot-lieutenant colonel who had sent him on a mission. He was very happy: “I've been looking for you for six months! I gave my word: if I'm alive, I will definitely find it! " The tankmen let Sasha go to the air regiment for a day, where he met the pilots who bombed that secret branch. They loaded him with chocolate and took him on airplanes. Then the entire air regiment lined up, and San Sanych was solemnly awarded the Order of Glory III degree. On April 16, 1945, at the Seelow Heights in Germany, Sasha knocked out Hitler's Tiger tank. At the crossroads, the two tanks met head-on. San Sanych was for the gunner, fired first and hit the "tiger" under the tower. The heavy armor "cap" flew off like a light ball. On the same day, the Nazis also knocked out Sashkin's tank. The crew, fortunately, survived completely. On April 29, Sashkin's tank was again knocked out by the Nazis. The entire crew died, only Sashka survived, he was taken to the hospital wounded.

He woke up only on May 8. The hospital was located in Karlshorst opposite the building where the German surrender act was signed. The wounded paid no attention to either the doctors or their own wounds - they jumped, danced, hugged each other. Having laid him on a sheet, Sasha was dragged to the window to show how Marshal Zhukov came out after the signing of the surrender. It was VICTORY! San Sanych returned to Moscow in the summer of 1945. For a long time he did not dare to enter his house on Begovaya Street ... He did not write to his mother for more than two years, fearing that she would take him from the front. I was not so afraid of anything as this meeting with her. I understood how much grief he brought to her! .. He entered noiselessly, as they had taught me to walk in reconnaissance. But the maternal intuition turned out to be thinner - she turned sharply, threw up her head and for a long, long time, without stopping, looked at Sasha, on his tunic, on which were adorned with two orders and five medals ...

- Do you smoke? She finally asked.
- Aha! - Sashka lied to hide his embarrassment and not burst into tears.
-You are so small, you defended our HOMELAND! I'm so proud of you, my mother said. Sasha hugged his mother and they both burst into tears ... ...

Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Kolesnikov has survived to this day, a feature film "It was in the intelligence" was shot about him. Be sure to check it out.

Plot

The film is based on real events from the combat biography of intelligence officer Alexander Ivanovich Kolesnikov. Young Sasha, like the hero of the film Vasya Kolosov, fled with his friend to the front in 1943.

Unlike the prototype, the hero of the film is an orphan. In the train, Vasya meets the sergeant, who has shown concern for the boy's fate. The sergeant brings him to the tank unit. To avoid the hassle associated with the appearance of the boy, the commander orders to send the boy to the rear. But Vasya runs away from the escorts and even manages to find a German parachutist in the forest. Having received a medal for capturing a fascist, Vasily becomes his own for the tankers. New adventures are ahead: captivity, miraculous salvation from the clutches of the enemy and a new meeting with tankers.

Cast

Vladimir Grammatikov - scout Marfutenko
Victor Zhukov - Vasya Kolosov
Victor Filippov - Egorov
Valery Malyshev - Senior Lieutenant Panov
Natalia Velichko - Olga
Sergey Pozharsky - Lieutenant Golovin
Leonid Reutov - Rakhimov

It was in intelligence

The film "It Was in Intelligence" is indeed a very well-made, patriotically oriented Soviet thriller for children (and perhaps an adult)! By the way, the film is based on absolutely real events: the real hero of the film's plot, A.I. Kolesnikov. lives (information from a year ago) in Moscow. His military memories were heard by the writer S.S. Smirnov. and turned into an essay called "San Sanych". After the publication of this essay in 1967 by the screenwriter V. Trunin, the script of the film "It was in intelligence" was written. Director Mirsky L.S., thanks to his assistant, the second director Ivanova N.G. (her former and only famous role in the cinema - a teacher in the film "Spring on Zarechnaya Street") found in an ordinary Moscow school 15-year-old Vitya Zhukov, who with great success he played his peer - Vasya Kolosov, the main character of the film. This role and the excellent cast, from my point of view, made the film an outstanding achievement of Soviet cinema. The audience of the film has been published on the Internet - 24 million viewers!

From the memoirs of Alexander Ivanovich Kolesnikov

In March 1943, my friend and I ran away from school and went to the front. We managed to get on a freight train, into a carriage with pressed hay. Everything seemed to be going well, but at one of the stations we were found and sent back to Moscow.

On the way back, I again fled to the front - to my father, who served as the deputy commander of the mechanized corps. Wherever I was, how many roads I had to walk, drive by passing cars: Once in Nizhyn I accidentally met a wounded tanker from my father's unit. It turned out that the father had received news from my mother about my "heroic" act and promised to arrange an excellent "magnifying glass" for me at the meeting.

The latter significantly changed my plans. Without thinking twice, I joined the tankers who were heading to re-form in the rear. I told them that my father was also a tanker, that he had lost my mother during the evacuation, that he was left all alone: They believed me, they accepted me as a son of the regiment - in the 50th regiment of the 11th Panzer Corps. So at the age of 12 I became a soldier.

Twice I went on reconnaissance behind enemy lines, and both times I coped with the task. True, for the first time I almost gave out our radio operator, who was carrying a new set of electric batteries for the radio. An appointment was made at the cemetery. Call sign - duck quacking. It so happened that I got to the cemetery at night. The picture is terrifying: all the graves are torn apart by shells: Probably, more from fear than from the real situation, he began to quack. He cracked so hard that he didn’t notice how our radio operator crawled up behind me and, holding my mouth with his hand, whispered: “Are you crazy, boy? Nevertheless, the task was completed. After successful campaigns in the enemy rear, they respectfully called me nothing but San Sanych.

The pilot-lieutenant colonel was laconic. The Germans are preparing a powerful defensive wall near Minsk. Equipment is continuously being transferred to the front by rail. Unloading is carried out somewhere in the forest, on a disguised railway line, 60-70 kilometers from the front line. This branch must be destroyed. But this is not at all easy to do. The reconnaissance paratroopers did not return from the mission. Air reconnaissance also cannot detect this branch: the camouflage is done flawlessly. The task is to find a secret railway line within three days and mark its location by hanging old bed linen on the trees.

They changed me into civilian clothes and gave me a bale of bed linen. The result is a teenage street child who exchanges underwear for groceries. I crossed the front line at night with a group of scouts. They had their own task, and soon we parted. He made his way through the forest, along the main railway. Every 300-400 meters - paired fascist patrols. Pretty exhausted, I dozed off during the day and almost got caught. I woke up from a strong kick. Two policemen searched me, shook up the whole bale of linen. Discovered several potatoes, a piece of bread and bacon were immediately taken away. We also brought a couple of pillowcases and towels with Belarusian embroidery. At parting, "blessed": - Get out before you shoot!

And so he got off. Fortunately, the police didn't turn my pockets inside out. Then there would be trouble: a topographic map with the location of railway stations was printed on the lining of my jacket pocket ...

On the third day, I came across the bodies of the paratroopers that the pilot-lieutenant colonel was talking about.

Soon a barbed wire barred my way. The restricted area has begun. He made his way along the wire for several kilometers until he came to the main railway line. Lucky: a military train, loaded with tanks, slowly turned off the main path and disappeared between the trees. Here it is, a mysterious branch!

The next day I went to the Sluch River. There were no auxiliary floating facilities to cross the river. In addition, on the opposite side, the gatehouse of the enemy guard was visible. About a kilometer to the north, an old wooden bridge with a single railway track was visible. I decided to cross it on a German train: I would hook up somewhere on the brake pad. I have already done this several times. Sentries were stationed both on the bridge and along the railway. I decided to try my luck at the junction, where trains stop, letting oncoming people pass. Crawling, hiding behind the bushes, along the way, reinforced with strawberries. And suddenly right in front of me - a boot! Thought it was German. He began to crawl back, but then he heard a muffled report: - Another train is passing, Comrade Captain!

I felt relieved from my heart. I pulled the captain by the boot, which really scared him. We got to know each other: together we crossed the front line. From the haggard faces, I realized that the scouts had been at the bridge for more than one day, but they could not do anything to destroy this crossing. The train that approached was unusual: the cars were sealed, the SS guards. They are transporting ammunition! The train stopped, allowing an oncoming ambulance train to pass. The submachine gunners from the guards of the echelon with ammunition went to the opposite side from us - to see if there were any acquaintances among the wounded.

And then it dawned on me! He snatched the explosives from the hands of the soldier and, without waiting for permission, rushed to the embankment. He crawled under the carriage, struck a match: And then the carriage wheels began to move, the forged boots of the SS man hung from the footboard. It is impossible to get out from under the carriage: What can be done? He opened a coal box - "dog lover" on the move - and climbed into it along with the explosives. When the wheels thumped dully on the bridge deck, he struck a match again and lit the fuse-cord.

No matter how hard I tried to sail further away, a Nazi guard boat overtook me and picked it up. By the time of his mooring to the shore, not far from the gatehouse, I had already lost consciousness from the beatings. The maddened Nazis crucified me: my hands and feet were nailed to the wall at the entrance. Our scouts saved me. They saw that I survived the explosion, but fell into the hands of the guards. Suddenly attacking the gatehouse, the Red Army men recaptured me from the Germans. I woke up under the stove of a burnt Belarusian village. I learned that the scouts had taken me off the wall, wrapped me in a raincoat and carried me in their arms to the front line. On the way we stumbled upon an enemy ambush. Many died in the fleeting battle. The wounded sergeant grabbed me and carried me out of this inferno. He hid me and, leaving me his machine gun, went to fetch water to treat my wounds. He was not destined to return ...

Finally the hatch was opened. The guys pushed me to the surface first. Then they took turns diving into the icy water to hook the rope onto the hooks. The sunken car was pulled out with great difficulty by two coupled "thirty-fours". On this ferry adventure, I met a lieutenant colonel pilot who once sent me on a search for a secret railway line. How glad he was: - I've been looking for you for six months! I gave my word: if I'm alive, I will definitely find it!

The tankmen let me go to the air regiment for a day. I met the pilots who bombed that secret line. They loaded me with chocolate, drove me to the U-2. Then the entire air regiment lined up, and I was solemnly presented with the Order of Glory, III degree. On the Seelow Heights, on April 16, 1945, I had a chance to knock out Hitler's "tiger". At the crossroads, the two tanks met head-on. I was for the gunner, fired the first APCR round and hit the "tiger" under the turret. The heavy armor "cap" flew off like a light ball.

Our tank was also hit on the same day. The crew, fortunately, survived completely. We changed the car and continued to take part in the battles. Of this, the second tank, only three survived:

By April 29, I was already in the fifth tank. Of his crew, only I was rescued. Faustpatron exploded in the engine section of our combat vehicle. I was at the gunner's place. The driver grabbed my legs and threw me through the front hatch. After that I began to get out myself. But literally a few seconds were not enough for him: shells of the ammunition began to burst and the driver died. I woke up in the hospital on May 8. The hospital was located in Karlshorst, opposite the building where the German surrender act was signed. None of us will forget this day. The wounded did not pay attention to either the doctors, or the nurses, or their own wounds - they jumped, danced, hugged each other. Having laid me on a sheet, they dragged me to the window to show me how Marshal Zhukov came out after the signing of the surrender. Later, Keitel was brought out with his dejected retinue.

He returned to Moscow in the summer of 1945. For a long time I did not dare to enter my house on Begovaya Street: I did not write to my mother for more than two years, fearing that she would take me away from the front. I was not so afraid of anything as this meeting with her. I understood how much grief I brought her! He entered silently, as I was taught to walk in reconnaissance. But maternal intuition turned out to be thinner - she turned sharply, threw up her head and for a long, long time, without stopping, looked at me, at my tunic, awards:

Do you smoke? she finally asked.

Aha! - I lied to hide my embarrassment and not give out tears.

Many years later I visited the place where the bridge was blown up. I found a lodge on the shore. It is all destroyed - only ruins. Walked around, examined the new bridge. Nothing reminded of the terrible tragedy that played out here during the war years. And only I was very, very sad ...

Alexander Kolesnikov. San Sanych ... Sasha's father went to the front and told him: "Take care of your mother, Sanka!" The boy really wanted to go to the front with his father, but no one seriously talked to him. The fifth-grader Vovka, who seemed to be a very adult, when leaving on duty in the people's squad, once advised him: "And you run away ..." And in the spring of 1943 Sashka and his friend fled from school lessons and went to war ... caught and sent home. But no one was able to stop Sasha: he was driving to beat the fascists. He escaped from his entourage. Almost at the very front line, the boy met the tanker Yegorov. The Red Army soldier believed in the boy's sad invented story that his father is also a tanker and is now at the front, and he lost his mother during the evacuation and was left all alone. The tanker took pity on the 12-year-old tomboy. Brought to his commander. “There is no place for such little ones in the army,” the commander said sternly. - Therefore, feed the boy, and tomorrow send him to the rear! Sashka almost burst into tears from resentment. All night I thought about what to do. In the morning, when everyone was asleep, I climbed out of the dugout to escape again. Suddenly the command "AIR" was heard. It was German planes that began to bomb the positions of our troops. Sashka managed to hear Sergeant Yegorov looking for him in the distance: “Sashka! Where are you? Come back. " One bomb exploded very close and he was thrown by a wave into a funnel. When I woke up, I saw in the sky a German parachutist who was landing right on Sasha. The canopy of the parachute covered both. The fascist, seeing the boy, took out a pistol. Sashka contrived and threw a handful of earth into his eyes. Suddenly, someone jumped over Sasha and grabbed the German. A struggle ensued, and when the German began to strangle our soldier, Sashka took a stone and hit the fascist on the head. He immediately fell unconscious, and Sergeant Yegorov crawled out from under him. When the commander asked Yegorov who took the "tongue", he proudly replied: "SASHKA!" So at the age of twelve, Sashka was enlisted as the son of the regiment - in the 50th regiment of the 11th tank corps. And he received his first military award, the medal "FOR Courage", which was presented to him by the commander in front of all the soldiers .... The soldiers immediately fell in love with Sasha for his courage and determination, treated him with respect and called him SanSanych. Somehow Sashka was tasked with finding a railway line disguised in the forest, along which the Nazis were transferring equipment to the front. The reconnaissance paratroopers did not return from the mission. Air reconnaissance also cannot detect anything. For everything about everything, the 12-year-old scout had 3 days ... Soon, where the enemy's secret branch passed, gaps blazed. The echo of their cannonade accompanied Sasha the entire first day of his return journey from the mission. The next day Sashka met our scouts, with whom they crossed the front line. For several days they had not been able to destroy the crossing. And then a train stopped on the bridge: the carriages were sealed, the SS guards. They are transporting ammunition! Sashka snatched the explosives from the hands of the soldier and rushed to the embankment. He crawled under the carriage, struck a match ... Then the carriage wheels began to move, the forged boot of a German dangled from the footboard. It’s impossible to get out from under the carriage ... What to do? He opened the "dog lover" coal box on the move - and climbed into it along with the explosives. When the wheels thumped dully on the bridge deck, he struck a match again and lit the fuse-cord. There were only a few seconds left before the explosion. He jumped out of the box, slipped between the sentries, and off the bridge - into the water! A fiery tornado engulfed the bridge, the train, and the guards ... But San Sanychad overtook the fascist boat. The Germans beat the boy so that he lost consciousness. The brutalized Germans dragged Sasha into a house on the bank of the river and crucified him: his hands and feet were nailed to the wall at the entrance. The scouts saved San Sanych - they recaptured the young scout from the Germans ... In the Novosibirsk hospital Sashka was treated for five months. He ran with the discharged tankers, persuading his nanny-grandmother to bring him an old clothes to “walk around the city”. ... When San Sanych caught up with his regiment near Warsaw, he was assigned to a tank crew, a gunner. In one of the battles, the entire crew was killed, only Sashka survived. He was taken to the hospital, wounded. There I met the victory! San Sanych returned to Moscow in the summer of 1945. For a long time he did not dare to enter his house on Begovaya Street ... He did not write to his mother for more than two years, fearing that she would take him from the front. I was not so afraid of anything as this meeting with her. I understood how much grief he brought to her! .. He entered noiselessly, as they had taught me to walk in reconnaissance. But maternal intuition turned out to be thinner - she turned sharply, threw up her head and for a long, long time, without stopping, looked at Sasha, on his tunic, on which were adorned with two orders and five medals ... - Do you smoke? She finally asked. - Aha! - Sashka lied to hide his embarrassment and not burst into tears. -You are so small, you defended our HOMELAND! I'm so proud of you, -said mom Sasha hugged mom and they both burst into tears …… P.S. Alexander Alexandrovich Kolesnikov died in 2001, a feature film "It was in the intelligence" was shot about him.