Biography of Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko. Alexander Marinesko - biography: hero-submariner and personal enemy of the Fuhrer

The name Alesandra Marinesko is still legendary among submarine sailors. January 15, 2013 marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of the legendary submariner.

The Vanino branch of the Memorial Society decided to establish memorial plaque To the hero Soviet Union submarine officer Alexander Marinesko, who served a sentence in the local forced labor camp in 1949 - 1951. How did the commander of a submarine end up behind barbed wire, which with constant success attacked enemy transports, including the Wilhelm Gustlow, reputed to be the Fuhrer’s favorite liner?..

After leaving Baltic Fleet in November 1945, he, who came to military service long before the war, it was not easy to find one’s place in civilian life. In 1949, Alexander Ivanovich was accepted into the Leningrad Research Institute of Blood Transfusion as deputy director for economic affairs.

The peaceful life of a combat officer did not work out. He took off his shoulder straps, but was still not afraid of anything or anyone. The director of the institute, Vikenty Kukharchik, who was preoccupied with the construction of a personal dacha, considered the principled deputy to be a hindrance. And he brought him under the charge: first he allowed the peat fuel that was lying in the institute’s yard to be delivered to the employees’ homes, and then he reported the theft to the police. In the courtroom, the prosecutor, convinced of a deliberate trick, dropped the charges. However, judge Praskovya Verkhoeva ignored the position of the state prosecutor: Marinesko was sentenced to three years in prison.

With such insignificant terms they are not sent far, but with the former commander of the S-13 submarine, which after the sinking of the largest enemy ship by tonnage was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, they did exactly the opposite. The marine painter Alexander Kron, many years later, recorded Marinesko’s story about what happened after the trial.

He kicked and was happy

“They took us to the Far East. We drove for a long time. The head of the carriage is a former punitive policeman originally from Peterhof; a healthy man, a beast who boasted of his exploits, a real SS man. Seasoned bandits gathered around him. The distribution of food is in their hands. We fed them once a day, two thicker bowls for the bandits, half a thinner bowl for the rest.

I hear we won't get there. I began to take a closer look at people - not all of them are bastards. I see: mostly a swamp, but always on the side of the strong. Slowly I picked up a group of good guys, all former sailors. One is especially good - a 23-year-old strongman, a diver, received a sentence for stealing a can of canned food: he really wanted to eat and could not resist, he took it while loading the food on the ship. They conspired to rebel. During the next distribution, the diver put a bowl of hot gruel on the headman’s head. A fight broke out. I confess to you: I kicked in the ribs and was happy.

Security appeared. Threatening them with weapons, they stopped the massacre. We demanded the head of the train. The chief appeared, realized that the riot was not against the guards, no one was going to run away, he reasoned intelligently: he appointed our diver as the head man. The picture suddenly changed. The bandits became quiet, the swamp moved towards us. We took control of the distribution of food, gave everyone equal food, pressed only the bandits, and they were silent.

In the port of Vanino, criminals with long sentences began to be shipped to Kolyma, but we were left behind...”

According to Alla Shashkina, author of the book “Vanino Transfer,” in 1949 there were three zones on the territory of today’s regional center. The shipment was rapidly replenished with prisoners after the opening of navigation in May. They were unloaded from the cars and, under guard, led to the hill, where today the district administration building and the adjacent private sector. Then this place was called Kulikovo Field: arrivals were brought here, documents were checked here, and from here they were sent to the sanitary inspection room and the bathhouse. After which the distribution into zones began, with Bandera and Vlasovites, thieves and “bitches” going separately, although political ones were also added to them. “Bitches” were called former thieves who betrayed the so-called thieves’ law. There were also “red caps” - prosecutors, police officers, and judges who were imprisoned.

There is information that during the navigation period, which lasted from May to September, the number of convicts brought to Vanino by railway to be sent by steamship to Kolyma, it reached two hundred thousand. It’s hard to believe, because 16 thousand people live in the current regional center, built up mostly with five-story buildings. Where were the masses of forced people housed? What did they feed him?

Anna Denisova, who worked in the transit sanitary department in 1949, recalled: “The prisoners were kept in terrible conditions. In the barracks there were three-story bunks, we worked a lot, but ate little...” Valery Yankovsky, the author of a journalistic book, described Vanino in the late 40s: “A strange town on a hill on the shore of the Tatar Strait, surrounded by a high wooden palisade, like an ancient fort. Only, of course, with barbed wire on top of the palisade...” Yankovsky had to work as an undertaker, and the easiest day, according to him, was the day when 13 boxes were knocked together from a slab.

And here is what Alexander Marinesko said about the first days of his stay in Vanino. “The prison has multi-story bunks, the top shelves are five meters high. Crowded conditions, dirt, card games, theft. The “legalists” rule cruelly, but it is even easier with them. “Bitches” are worse - no principles. The owner of the cell “godfather” is an old thief, for him the prison is both home and patrimony. But he was kind to us sailors. One day I complained to him: a book, a gift from my wife, had been stolen. “Godfather” says: I give my iron word, in ten minutes your book will be with you. But the young pickpocket, the one who stole it, could no longer fulfill the order to return the book. He cut it up to make playing cards. The “godfather” could not keep his word and went berserk. At his order, four men took the boy by the arms and legs, swung him around and hit the ground several times. The guards were then told: he fell from the bunk. This incident made a terrible impression on me, and I still feel indirectly guilty in the boy’s death.”

Krylov, Lunev and others

The work camp was located where the train station and port office are now. Every day, up to five hundred prisoners worked loading and unloading ships and building log piers at that time. From 1947 to 1950, Yakov Krylov was the foreman of the work camp. How did he, who fought against fascist Germany and imperialist Japan and was awarded four orders, end up in prison?

The fate of the infantryman Krylov is similar to the fate of the submariner Marinesko. After the war, Yakov was appointed deputy regiment commander for economic affairs. An order was issued to register the trophies, which included food and clothing. The audit revealed both surpluses and shortages. The surplus was capitalized, and for every ruble of shortage a 12-fold credit was made. The result of the required multiplication for the assistant regiment commander was unenviable: the shortage amounted to almost one hundred thousand rubles. He was sentenced to six years and deprived of military awards.

In Vanino, Krylov asked to go to a work camp, where credits were awarded for shock work, which meant it was possible to reduce his prison term. His team consistently completed 151 percent of the plan. The work camp, compared to other Vanino camps, differed in order. In his barracks one could relax calmly and write a letter. After the work shift, a buffet opened where they sold cigarettes and sweets. Although little money was given out...

After three years of exemplary work, Krylov received a certificate of release. After the passport was issued, I had to choose: either leave, or stay, but get a job without delay. From July 15, 1950, Krylov worked at the port as a civilian, and a year later he was appointed manager of the rigging warehouse. Military awards were returned in 1974. Along with orders Patriotic War, Red Star and Red Banner of Battle received the second medal “For Courage”. It was not awarded because he was hospitalized after a successful reconnaissance mission on August 18, 1942.

Of course, Krylov and Marinesko knew each other. This is what Alexander Ivanovich said about working at the port, after which he went to the fish factory. “When they began to transfer us to a camp position, we sailors asked to be sent together to loading work at the port. This work is hard. Soon I became a foreman of 25 people, and our team immediately began to fulfill more than 150 percent of the plan, which gave the deadline a one-to-three ratio. I was appreciated by my superiors because, as a former merchant seaman, I knew how to distribute cargo among the holds. The brigade also respected me and called me captain. I worked like that for several months, then the director of a local fish factory asked me from his superiors. An illiterate man originally from Nikolaev, who served his sentence and settled in Vanino. He needed an efficient deputy. It was easy to work with him, and I will say without boasting: I assigned the matter to him in such a way that when the deadline approached, he was very worried about my departure, tempted me with a heavenly life and big money, offered to invite my family to Vanino, but I did not agree. At the fish factory, I was almost free with money, but I kept myself in line, I didn’t take a drop into my mouth, although at times it was sad. I really missed my family.”

Alexander Lunev spoke warmly about Marinesko’s work in the port. A pilot, he went through the war, was awarded, got married after the war, and in 1947 he was sent to Korea, where the USSR confronted the United States. A barrel of fuel, released without a consignment note at the command of a senior in rank, turned into a tribunal for him, which sentenced him to three years. In Vanino, where he ended up in a work camp, for his exemplary work he was transferred to a non-escort group. Alexander called his wife, they rented a room. Once we were standing together in the area of ​​the work area, and Marinesko passed by. “Here is our foreman. A very good man,” - this is how Lunev introduced Alexander Ivanovich to his wife, and this chance meeting remained in Anna Ivanovna’s memory for the rest of her life.

What kind of people passed through the Vanino camp zones!.. Singer Lidia Ruslanova, poetess Olga Berggolts, trumpeter and composer Eddie Rosner. The daughter of Marshal Grigory Kulik, accused of conspiracy and executed in 1950, was delivered in a special carriage.

What was Anna Gromadskaya’s fault? The fact that she married Vladimir Enukidze, the son of Abel Enukidze, godfather Nadezhda Alliluyeva, who became Stalin’s wife and committed suicide?.. Gromadskaya was rehabilitated, found the children from whom she was separated. However, the grown-up daughter and son did not accept her as their own and loved one. And then Anna Mikhailovna returned to Vanino, where she felled the forest, seeking to fulfill the plan three times in order to reduce the time and see Dina and Sasha sooner. She returned to Vanino to start life from scratch...

Biography.

Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko was born on January 2 (15 - according to the new style) in Odessa in the family of a Romanian worker Ion Marinescu, his mother was Ukrainian. He graduated from 6 classes of labor school, after which he became a sailor's apprentice. For diligence and patience, he was sent to school as a cabin boy, after which he sailed on the ships of the Black Sea Shipping Company as a 1st class sailor. In 1930 he entered the Odessa Naval College and, after graduating in 1933, sailed as third and second mate on the ships “Ilyich” and “Red Fleet”.
In November 1933, he was sent to special courses for command staff of the RKKF, after which he was appointed navigator on the submarine Shch-306 (“Haddock”) of the Baltic Fleet. In March 1936, in connection with the introduction of personal military ranks, he received the rank of lieutenant, and in November 1938 - senior lieutenant. After completing retraining courses at the Red Banner Submarine Training Detachment named after S. M. Kirov, he served as assistant commander on the L-1, then in the same year as commander of the M-96 submarine. The first command certification, written by the commander of the submarine division V. Yunakov, was not at all positive; we read: “Disciplined, demanding of his subordinates. I am not demanding enough of myself. He is decisive, but has little initiative... He cares about his subordinates, but is sometimes rude in his treatment..."

Just a year after the “low-initiative and rude” Marinesko accepted the Malyutka submarine, it set a fantastic dive speed record in just 19.5 seconds, whereas according to the norms it was supposed to be 35! Many commanders simply did not believe it! In addition, the Marinesko boat was the most successful in torpedo firing and in 1940 was recognized as the best in the Baltic Fleet. The People's Commissar of the Navy awarded Marinesko a gold watch. In March 1940, he was accepted as a candidate member of the CPSU(b), and in November Marinesko was awarded the next military rank - captain-lieutenant. In the certification conclusions for 1940 it is written: “Worthy of appointment to a type C submarine.” Can be appointed commander of a division of M-type boats of the XII series.

The submarine of Captain Alexander Marinesko went out to meet the enemy a year after the start of the war.
From August 9 to August 25, 1942, the M-96 made a campaign in which Marinesko sank the German transport Helena with a displacement of 1850 tons in one salvo, followed by three patrol ships, after which he successfully evades the pursuing guards. The Germans dropped more than 200 depth charges on the submarine. For this campaign, on November 13, 1942, he was awarded the Order of Lenin, despite exclusion from candidates for party membership and a bunch of penalties.

On November 11, 1942, the M-96 received the task of landing a sabotage group on the coast of Narva Bay. At the end of the year, Marinesko was reinstated as a candidate member of the CPSU (b) and awarded the next military rank - captain 3rd rank. His 1942 certification noted: “Worthy of promotion to a larger tonnage submarine.” Marinesko is sent to study at the Naval Academy in Samarkand (the academy was transferred there during the siege of Leningrad). In his absence, the “conspiracy” M-96 under his command dies...

In April 1943, Captain 3rd Rank Marinesko received the S-13 under his command.

For two years, the disgraced commander Alexander Marinesko did not go to sea with his crew. And only in the fall of 1944 he received a patrol assignment. The boat collided with the German single transport "Siegfried" and attacked it. However, years of inactivity at the pier reduced the skill of the sailors and underwater torpedoing did not achieve its goal. Then the “S-13” surfaced, caught up with the transport and shot it with artillery guns. The very tactics of catching up and artillery combat require high skill and courage not only from the commander, but also from the crew. The damage to the transport was such that it only entered service in 1946. In November 1944, A. Marinesko was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

On December 22, 1944, the S-13 returned to Hanko and began preparing for a military campaign in southern part Baltic. It was then that the story described by A. Kron in the story “The Sea Captain” happened.
On New Year's Eve, he and his comrade, also a captain of the third rank, went ashore in Turku and went to a Finnish restaurant-hotel, where local residents were celebrating the year 1945. Marinesko and his comrades sat down at a table, and they drank to the imminent Victory. Then they argued with the musicians of the orchestra, who refused to play “The International” at their request, after which they almost got into a fight with the local Finns. To defuse the explosive situation, the owner of the hotel restaurant, a charming Swede, took the Russian officers upstairs. Marinesko stayed with her until the morning. In the morning, the hostess's fiancé, with whom she had quarreled the day before, arrived and, enraged, immediately reported where he should go. They came for Marinesko and took him away. SMERSH took a keen interest in the matter. Marinesko was suspected of spying for the enemy, and for unauthorized abandonment of the ship in a combat situation, he had to appear before a tribunal. However, the fleet commander still gave him the opportunity to atone for his guilt in a military campaign. “S-13” went there with the parting words of the submarine brigade commander: “Wash away the shame with blood!”
From January 9 to February 12, 1945, the S-13 submarine went to sea. At this time, an event occurred that was called the “attack of the century” (“the attack of the century” was called the British, not the Russians) and which caused extensive controversy and discussion in his assessment.

On January 30, 1945, at 21:20, on the approaches to the Danzig Bay, the commander of the submarine “S-13” discovered, pursued and sank with three torpedoes the German superliner “Wilhelm Gustloff” (displacement 25,484 tons) coming from Danzig, which had over 8 thousand on board Human.

According to an archival document - copies of the nomination for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union A.I. Marinesko, signed by Captain 1st Rank A. Orel on February 20, 1945. The document says, in particular: “On January 30, 1945, while on the outskirts of Danzig Bay, the commander of the S-13 discovered, pursued and sank with three torpedoes the German liner Wilhelm Gustloff with a displacement of 25,481 tons coming from Danzig... At the moment of sinking there were over 8 thousand people on board the liner, among them 3,700 trained submarine specialists who were heading to their destination for use in upcoming operations German submarine fleet. (Information about the sinking of the liner is confirmed by Swedish newspapers and radio stations). Only 988 people were saved. The sinking of the liner dealt an irreparable blow to the submarine fleet of Nazi Germany, since the sinking killed a number of submariners that would be enough to man 70 medium-tonnage submarines.”

In the same campaign, on February 10, the S-13 skillfully attacked and torpedoed the auxiliary cruiser General von Steuben with a displacement of 14,660 tons (carrying 3,600 tankers, which would be enough to staff several tank divisions). In total, Alexander Marinesko turned out to be the most effective of the Soviet submariners in terms of tonnage of sunk enemy transports and ships (42,557 tons). A. I. Marinesko carried out both attacks by breaking through the outpost. He was chasing German ships at the limit of the submarine's engines, and even in the surface position, which is mortally dangerous. It was a bold and daring approach to enemy ships at the minimum permissible range of a torpedo salvo. Therefore, the commander of “S-13” was not only forgiven for his previous sins, but also nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. However, the higher command, taking into account previous offenses, replaced the Golden Star with the Order of the Red Banner.

Already now there are discussions about who Alexander Marinesko was. Hero or bully? But in submariner circles, he certainly remains a legend. A. I. Marinesko died on November 25, 1963, and was buried at the Bogoslovskoye cemetery. After the death of A.I. Marinesko, his name was removed from circulation, and it was forbidden to mention the “S-13” feat. When the shipbuilders turned to the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Admiral S.G. Gorshkov with a request to name one of the ships the name of Alexander Marinesko, he put his resolution - “Unworthy”.

Only 27 years later, in 1990, after numerous representations and petitions from the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Admiral of the Fleet V. Chernavin, a member of the Military Council - Head of the Navy PU Admiral V. Panin, fleet veterans and the general public, by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR to Captain 3rd Rank Marinesko A. AND. posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
The submariner hero A.I. Marinesko had his own unique style during the war. At sea, he acted contrary to all the laws of underwater warfare and even logic. Sometimes he attacked from the side of the German coast, from shallow water, and escaped from the pursuit - to the place of drowning. He climbed into the most dangerous places - because he was not expected there, and there was a higher logic in this illogicality. It would seem reckless. But here's an interesting fact. 13 C-class submarines fought in the Baltic. All of them died, with the exception of one - under the command of A. I. Marinesko and under the unlucky number - 13.

Monument to Captain Marinesko in Kaliningrad.
Photo by Mikhail Vasiliev

At the end of 1944, at the German experimental missile base of the Wehrmacht ground forces - Peenemünde (Usedom island off the southern coast of the Baltic, near the current Polish-German border), military personnel unusual for this facility appeared - in the black uniform of German submariners. Many had smart beards, which was considered especially chic among the subordinates of Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz, who until 1943 commanded the submarine forces of the Kriegsmarine, and then headed the German Navy.

The first to see the arrivals were the regulars of the local casino, where Gestapo, Abwehr officers and training ground employees whiled away their evenings. According to the tradition established in the Third Reich, all visitors to a restaurant, cafe and other entertainment establishments, when a submarine officer in uniform entered, were required to stand up and greet him. If there was a lady with him, then he should raise a toast to her beauty, health and well-being.

However, the submariners who arrived at the missile base were without ladies, so a friendly conversation between the officers soon began - without formalities or adherence to etiquette. According to the guests, two submarines returning from a voyage to the shores of Russia experienced malfunctions on the high seas. They decided to eliminate them at the local ship repair plant - in the fishermen's village of Herngsdorf. Then the boats are going to make a call on the neighboring island of Rügen to replenish supplies of food and fuel. The submariners said nothing more, although they were already quite tipsy from the rum and schnapps diligently poured by the Gestapo.

SECRET EXPERIMENTS: THE GOAL IS STRATEGIC REVENGE

But the submariners arrived on the island of Usedom for a completely different purpose. They carried out the task perfectly secret program creation of “weapons of retaliation”. There, at the Peenemünde missile site, SS Sturmbannführer Baron Wernher von Braun, a graduate of the Berlin Technical Institute, and Knight's Cross for Military Merit with swords, Major General Walter Dornberger, who received a master's degree in ballistics from the Charlottenburg School of Technology, prepared for launch a giant two-stage rocket according to the A9/A10 “America” project.

Hitler and his henchmen had special hopes for this rocket monster as a most unique remedy defeats. It was expected that it would cover a distance of 4,800 km in one hour and cause severe destruction to New York or another large city on the Atlantic coast of the United States. It was in Peenemünde that prototypes of ballistic missiles were developed and tested for the first time in the world. It is there that the starting point of the subsequent rocket and space arms race is located.

The special interest of the Fuhrer of the Third Reich in the concerns of the German “land” missilemen is also explained by another: in Berlin they really counted on the use of their achievements in the Kriegsmarine. The discussion was about carrying out development work on the Lafferenze project, according to which several German submarines should become towers of special containers with ballistic missiles installed in them, adapted for launching from under water.

From a military-technical point of view, these would be the first submarines with missile weapons on board. In an atmosphere of exceptional secrecy, German submarine officers had to master the technology of transporting ballistic missiles to the Atlantic, preparing and launching them at targets approved by Hitler at the missile range.

There was more good news for the Fuhrer. The two-stage ballistic missile of the A9/A10 “America” project, as reported to Hitler, made a successful experimental flight on January 24, 1945, although it went off course and exploded somewhere over the Atlantic, off the coast of Greenland. The project leaders assured the leader of the Reich that the first three production missiles were already being assembled at an underground plant near the city of Krakow and would be ready for launch to America no later than October 1945.

Hitler waited with great hope for the arrival last days January 1945 - 30 and 31. But the developing success of the Russians in East Prussia forced him to speed up the withdrawal of the submariners stationed there to bases in Kiel, Bremen, Bremenshafen, Wilhemshaven, Hamburg, Stettin, Stralsund. This was done secretly, at night. And yet, in the East Prussian port of Pillau there remained quite a lot of graduates and teachers of the submarine training divisions, a huge amount of property and equipment. I had to agree with the command’s proposal to remove all the sailors not yet evacuated on one flight of the giant ocean liner Wilhelm Gustlow.

Before the Second World War and in its initial period, this liner went, as intended by the Fuhrer himself, on cruises with the “leading workers of production” of the Reich on board. The flights lasted only a week, Nazi labor shock workers could relax and even sunbathe. Then there was no time for them anymore - in 1940, “Gustlov” was included in the Kriegsmarine. Officially - as a training vessel for training submariners and a floating base. But, as it turned out today, at the end of the war, they secretly did not only this on board the liner. Large-scale strategic operations were planned there with the participation of submarines and the latest weapons in the interests of a new blockade of Great Britain in order to undermine its military potential and weaken the ranks of the Western allies in the anti-Hitler coalition. According to the Fuhrer and the developers of these top-secret operations, they could change the course of the war in Germany's favor. Therefore, submariners were intensively trained and new equipment was tested.

But Hitler could not even think that fate was preparing a blow for him that would smash these plans into dust, and at the same time the mystical belief in the magic of the number “13.” On the morning of January 13, at one of the submariner bases of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet, captain 3rd rank, commander of the S-13 submarine, affectionately called the “thirteenth ship” by the submariners themselves, Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko, celebrated his 32nd birthday with his comrades. He was an experienced officer who more than once successfully navigated his submarine from its native waters of the Baltic through the most dangerous minefields, blocking access to the sea. So Alexander Marinesko was considered lucky, superstitious people wondered: how lucky could a man who was born on January 13, 1913 and at the same time managed to get a submarine with index 13 under his command!

┘The Fuhrer was in a hurry to send “Wilhelm Gustlov”, but it was postponed for various reasons. The fact is that in addition to the military, including submariners, the liner intended to accommodate first a thousand, and then two thousand passengers. But in the end, an additional 4,500 functionaries boarded Nazi Party, officials of the administrations of East Prussia and Pomerania, who dreamed of getting out of the Koenigsberg hell as quickly as possible. Therefore, they rushed to the Gustlov gangway, dragging their household members, family jewelry and household belongings looted in the occupied territory. The landing lasted for two days, which turned out to be fatal for the ship, the “landing force” of thousands of military and civilians, including women and children. In total, according to German data, the liner took on board 10,582 people.

"ESKA" MARINESCO: RETURNS

On the dark night of January 30, 1945, a ten-deck giant with a displacement of more than 25 thousand tons left the pier of the port of Danzig and headed out to the open sea. He was accompanied by a powerful escort of patrol and anti-submarine ships. True, the escort commander did not feel much concern: the Americans and British were far away, and Russian submarines would not reach here due to dense minefields. He, like the captain of the Gustlov, knew well that during the war years the Russians had repeatedly sank transports with coal, iron ore and weapons in the Baltic, but at the same time lost more than 40 submarines and approximately 1,400 submariners. But now the liner is under reliable protection, and he is in no danger...

But what the escort commander and Hitler himself did not know that evening was that the submarine of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet S-13 had been lying hidden at the bottom near Danzig Bay for many hours. Her crew was suffocating from lack of oxygen, and the captain waited for darkness to emerge and allow the sailors to breathe in the intoxicatingly clean sea air.

The thirteenth "eska" surfaced at exactly 20.30 on January 30, 1945. Captain 3rd Rank Marinesko, through a veil of snow against the background of a leaden sky, was able to see through the periscope a huge ship, accompanied by escort ships. S-13, hiding behind the noise of the propellers and mechanisms of the giant transport, accompanied it unnoticed for some time. And then, taking a risky, but tactically advantageous position from the shore, the boat, at the command of the commander, fired four torpedoes at the target. Three of them hit the side of the enemy ship, creating huge holes below the waterline that a truck could have driven into, and exploded inside the huge hull. And the fourth, which unfortunately had the inscription “For Stalin!” on it, did not explode. The mortally wounded "Gustlov" tilted to the left side and after 26 minutes sank to the bottom along with its cargo and passengers.

This happened at 23.09. Escort ships and minesweepers gave chase, ironing depth charges bay in all directions. The boat quickly sank into the depths and lay on the ground. As they later said, only some miracle saved the S-13, which, after the end of the attack, secretly managed to break away from pursuit and go to the open sea. Yes, there was also an element of luck – despite the submarine’s number. But the main thing, of course, is experience and non-standard, creativity commander to carry out a combat mission, the highest combat training and crew cohesion.

The next day, newspapers in neutral Sweden and a number of other countries reported the death of the motor ship Wilhelm Gustlow. Hitler was beside himself: after all, he, the Fuhrer, together with Admiral Dönitz on May 5, 1937, was present at the ceremonial launching of the superliner - all of Germany saw these film footage! In addition, the sinking of the Gustlov occurred on January 30, the anniversary of the Nazis coming to power. It was on this day exactly 12 years ago that Hitler became Chancellor of Germany.

And already on February 9, the same C-13 under the command of Marinesko sank another large German transport, the General von Steuben. Everyone was talking about how the captain of the 3rd rank would soon become a Hero of the Soviet Union: if not today, then tomorrow, at least the day after tomorrow. But alas, this did not happen. Alexander Marinesko became disliked by many and fell into disgrace. Why?

SHE WAS CALLED TATYANA

On the night of New Year's Eve 1945, the submarine S-13 stood at the quay wall in the Finnish port of Turku (Finland left the war in the fall of 1944). The commander of the submarine, one of her officers and members of the Soviet control commission decided to celebrate New Year's holiday in the nearest restaurant at a small cozy hotel.

Soon after the start of the meal, the guests noticed that the hostess of the hotel, a beautiful young woman who spoke good Russian, was not taking her eyes off the S-13 commander. Perhaps, purely intuitively, as a woman, she felt the integrity and depth of Marinesko’s nature, who, as always, was the soul of the party. He, too, could not help but notice the gaze of the hostess’s wide-open blue eyes. There were toasts in her honor and congratulations for the imminent victory. They danced to the sounds of languid northern tango performed by a small orchestra with an indispensable solo accordion, and the conversation flowed peacefully at the tables.

At first Alexander was “stubborn”, but under the influence of a festive and very comfortable, almost homely atmosphere New Year's Eve succumbed to the charms of the northern beauty and eventually agreed to go up to her apartment, which was located there, next to the hotel. But Marinesko did not know that just a few hours earlier the hostess had quarreled with her fiancé. Maybe it would have all ended there, but he was deeply offended and, having learned that his passion preferred a Russian naval officer, he immediately ran to the Soviet military commandant’s office. At the same time, the “hot” Finnish guy did not fail to helpfully tell the commandant the woman’s home address.

Early in the morning, SMERSH military counterintelligence officers arrived at the apartment beautiful lady and took a captain of the 3rd rank with them in a known direction. True, they later released me. But in the end, Marinesko arrived on the boat only at 8 am. And here's a new problem. The Eski sailors, who were celebrating the New Year, quarreled with Finnish sailors. The matter ended in a brawl, in which the Russian submariners pretty much crushed the sides of the “hot guys”...

From this, great difficulties began in the service and in the life of Alexander Ivanovich. According to the cryptographer of the submarine S-13, military counterintelligence officers tried to get a “confession” from him that his commander, Captain 3rd Rank Marinesko A.I., allegedly handed over to a Finnish citizen... secret codes radio communications Soviet submarines. But the cryptographer turned out to be not a timid one. He did not flinch during interrogations and did not slander his commander. Moreover, the combat sailor managed to prove the absurdity of the accusations against Marinesko. And the heroine of the short novel herself insisted that she needed nothing but love from the Russian captain...

The most striking thing in all this romantic, but very sad story It turned out that the chosen one of the S-13 commander turned out to be not Swedish at all, as he initially believed, but Russian by origin - the daughter of emigrants from Russia who settled in Finland after 1917. Her name was Tatyana. The hotel that belonged to her was also called. Tatyana┘ The legendary submariner later named his daughter from his second marriage with this pure and bright name of Pushkin’s heroine.

The story of the hotel owner was used by envious people and spiteful critics to discredit the commander of the "Eski". Of course, by wartime standards, he, as an officer, could have been punished for what happened. But the trouble is that there were rumors that Marinesko had not done anything heroic, because the war was soon over. Alexander Ivanovich was a direct and harsh person, intolerant of falsehood and hypocrisy. He stabbed his offenders, including some senior officers and political workers, in the face. As a result, the commander of S-13 was removed from his post and demoted in military rank by two steps. In the end, the heroic officer was transferred to the reserve. For Marinesko, this was an irreparable blow.

ASSESSED POSTHEATHLY

Did those people who, with cold bureaucratic indifference, decide the fate of Marinesco, think about how many thousands of American and English sailors and infantrymen the lives of the S-13 commander and her crew saved? In fact, the plans of the Kriegsmarine command to intensify the activities of the German submarine fleet were thwarted (remember what they were doing in secret on board the liner)? By and large, it was truly the “attack of the century” - this is how the highly authoritative German magazine Der Spiegel described it. This issue, by the way, is one of the exhibits of the Museum of the Russian Submarine Forces in St. Petersburg, where some, including little-known, photographs and documents about the hero-submariner and his crew are presented. It received the same name - “attack of the century” - in specialized literature, after which it was included in the Guinness Book of Records.

It’s another matter that over time, Marinesko’s feat (like any feat) began to become overgrown with myths and legends. From publication to publication we had a passage that mourning was declared for Germany - for the first time since the death of the 6th Army of Field Marshal Paulus in the snow-covered Stalingrad cauldron that occurred exactly two years earlier. Another myth is that the escort commander was allegedly shot on the personal order of the Fuhrer. And that he allegedly added the name of the commander of the Russian submarine that sank the liner to the list of enemies of the Reich and his personal enemies. Another myth is that on board the liner there were supposedly 3,700 submariners evacuated from Pillau, among whom were 100 commanders and 70–80 trained crews for ocean-going submarines of the new project. German sources do not confirm this data. Yes, there were submariners, but not in such numbers - “only” about 1000 sailors and officers. But is the feat of Marinesko and his sailors any less significant?

We were specifically interested in the attitude of the Germans towards the sinking of the liner. Of course they consider this a tragedy. Several films and dozens of books talk about this in Germany. In particular, in the story “The Trajectory of the Crab” by the famous publicist and writer Günter Grass. The narration in this book is told from the perspective of a man who was allegedly born on Gustlov and was saved...

One of the authors of this essay visited the gigantic naval memorial at Laboe, near the North German port city of Kiel. Here, in the Hall of Memory, a three-meter model of “Gustlov” is presented, and on the wall next to it is a portrait of Marinesko. Contrary to many years of attempts made in Germany to accuse the commander of S-13 of committing a military crime, his “attack of the century”, from the point of view of experts in international maritime law, does not contradict the rules of warfare at sea. After all, the Gustlov was not a civilian ship, but was part of the Navy of the Third Reich. The legitimacy of the actions of Captain 3rd Rank Marinesko was not refuted by such an authoritative research center as the Institute of Maritime Law operating here in Kiel. But nevertheless, the debate about Marinesko and “Wilhelm Gustlov” does not stop today.

Be that as it may, the sinking of the Gustlov is one of the most daring special operations in the history of the Second World War, although the Escu was not prepared for special operations. But if you take the balance of forces - one boat against a powerful convoy of six ships - and the effectiveness. After all, never before in the entire history of wars at sea has a single boat been able to destroy such a large enemy ship, sending 9,343 people, including Wehrmacht soldiers, to the bottom at once. (Of the 10,582 people on board the Gustlov, 1,239 were saved.) It is no coincidence that the sailors of arrogant Britain, which from time immemorial considered itself the mistress of the seas, erected a bust of the Russian hero-submariner in the museum of the port city of Portsmouth.

But let's return to the fate of the S-13 commander. Unfortunately, the People's Commissar of the Navy (later Minister of the Navy and Commander-in-Chief) Admiral Kuznetsov also formally reacted to the decision “in the Marinesko case.” True, later Nikolai Gerasimovich sincerely regretted his mistake. Although very belatedly, he admitted that “the amazing feat of A. Marinesko was not appreciated at that time.” By the way, later fortune abruptly turned its back on Kuznetsov himself. In 1956, he, an honored naval commander, was also unreasonably removed from his post. And they also demoted him in rank by two levels - from Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union to Vice Admiral.

And Marinesko? His post-war life was bitter, in which he never found himself. Human envy and anger did their dirty work: on November 25, 1963, he died of a serious illness - in obscurity and poverty. Amazingly, in the fundamental five-volume “History of the Great Patriotic War” the feat of the S-13 and its commander, submariner No. 1, as he was called in the world press, is said in just three lines. And in the Soviet Military Encyclopedia (in 8 volumes, 1970s) and in the Military Encyclopedic Dictionary (1986), Marinesko is not even mentioned!

However, his comrades, with whom he risked his life on sea voyages, remained faithful to the hero’s memory; were just honest people, who could not indifferently look at the tyranny of soulless officials with big stars on their shoulder straps. After numerous appeals from veterans and the public, and after a series of publications in the Izvestia newspaper, justice triumphed. On May 5, 1990, Captain 3rd Rank Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously). Posthumously, he was awarded the Gold Star medal and the Order of Lenin.

Kiel–St. Petersburg–Moscow

He became the most effective submariner of the Great Patriotic War, but turned own life into an adventurous romance with a sad ending and almost sank into obscurity.

The name of Alexander Marinesko is not known to every resident of our country, although military experts dubbed one of his underwater attacks “the attack of the century,” which no one has yet been able to repeat.

Despite his highest professionalism and personal courage, he could not become an example to follow. And all because I had complex character, did not stand on ceremony with commanders and political workers, often sending them very far with or without reason. And Marinesko’s success with beautiful women aroused the envy and anger of other officers.

Native Odessa resident

Alexander Marinesko was born in 1913 in Odessa into a Romanian-Ukrainian family. His father was a Romanian sailor who brutally beat his commander. Fleeing from the tribunal and hard labor, he fled to Russia, settling in Odessa-mama.

In this coastal city, the fugitive quickly established contacts with local smugglers and swindlers, who mistook Ion Marinesco for one of their own and offered to participate in several risky operations.

According to some information, the man did not remain a smuggler for long. He did not sink to the level of a simple bandit, but found himself a job in the seaport. Ion married a peasant woman from the Kherson province, Tatyana Koval, who also came to Odessa in search of a better life.

Their son Alexander completely took after his father, adopting his indomitable and freedom-loving disposition. Many researchers of the biography of Alexander Marinesko admit that the boy, as part of gangs of the same barefoot tomboys, could steal on Privoz, but there is no direct evidence of his criminal childhood.

“I will become a real captain”

By the age of seven, Sasha swam like a fish, spending hours on the shore, where he listened to sea stories told by experienced fishermen. And even though most of these stories were ordinary fiction, the sea romance completely captured Sasha, who decided to become a real sailor.

The future hero was not interested in studying in a regular school, and after the 6th grade, at the age of 13, he ran away from home, getting a job as a sailor's mate on one of the ships of the Black Sea Fleet.

Alexander demonstrated such zeal and discipline that he was sent to study at a cabin school, and by the age of 17 his name appeared on the list of 1st class sailors.

In 1930, Sasha Marinesko, despite a serious competitive selection, easily entered the Odessa Maritime College. He demonstrates incredible zeal in his studies, greatly delighting his teachers.

In 1933, twenty-year-old Alexander received a diploma with honors and by the age of 20 became an assistant captain of the Red Fleet ship. An incredible career even for that time!

A blow to a childhood dream

The Red Army found such specialists needed, and within a few months Alexander received a Komsomol voucher for special courses for naval command personnel.

This was a serious blow to the pride of the young man, who saw himself as a free captain of a civilian ship, but was supposed to become a military sailor, unquestioningly obeying other people's orders.

Upon completion of the course, Alexander Marinesko was sent to serve as a navigator of the Shch-306 Haddock submarine, based in the Baltic Fleet. The cold Baltic was strikingly different from the gentle and welcoming Black Sea. The young officer was overcome by depression, which he increasingly relieved with alcohol.

Excellent student and slob

Hoping for a possible transfer to the reserve, he becomes aggressive and not always controllable, and does not reach into his pocket for a swear word. He does not think about the consequences of non-compliance with subordination, and gets into altercations at the first opportunity.

But during training trips he demonstrates such high professionalism that the command was forced to award him the rank of lieutenant in 1936, and senior lieutenant in 1938. Although in both submissions for the title it was stated: “Insufficiently disciplined.”

In those years, the country was preparing for the future big war, and throwing around personnel like Alexander Marinesko was akin to sabotage, for which the commanders could be repressed and sent to the Gulag (if not shot).

Investigations into drunken incidents in which the young officer was the main instigator were slowed down, and the penalties Alexander received were removed from him almost immediately.

The high professionalism of the submarine officer is evidenced by the fact that the M-96 submarine, commanded by... Lieutenant Commander Alexander Marinesko, was recognized as the best submarine of the Baltic Fleet in 1940.

Its crew set a diving speed record that is incredible even for today's submarines - 19.5 seconds. And this despite the fact that the standard was 35 seconds.

Womanizer and gambling organizer

Since the beginning of the war, the M-96 submarine patrolled the Gulf of Riga, and in his free time, Alexander Marinesko had fun in the company of other officers and women lung behavior.

In August 1941, a real scandal erupted when a group of submarine officers was caught organizing gambling. The ringleader of the company, as always, was Marinesko, who was immediately expelled from the list of candidates for membership in the CPSU(b).

Do you think it helped? In November 1942, Marinesko carried out a brilliant military operation to conduct a covert landing in Narva Bay. The paratroopers destroyed the German headquarters, which was supposed to be encryption machine"Enigma". And even though the car itself was not at the headquarters, it fell into the hands of the Soviet command large number super important documents.

For professionalism and courage, the officer received the next military rank of captain-lieutenant, the Order of Lenin and was reinstated as a candidate party member. Although his job description still contained a clause about excessive addiction to alcohol.

"Uncontrollable" commander of the legendary S-13

In the spring of 1943, Alexander Marinesko was appointed commander of the S-13 submarine, which was under repair for almost a year and did not go to sea. From idleness at the base, the officer started drinking and went on a spree; fortunately, there were always a lot of easily accessible women around financially well-off submariners. He was twice in the guardhouse and received penalties according to the party line.

In October 1944, during its first trip to sea, the submarine S-13 discovered the German transport Siegfried. The attack with four torpedoes was unsuccessful, and Marinesco gave the order to surface. The submarine shot at the ship with artillery guns, after which it disappeared into the abyss from the hunt that had unfolded on S-13. For this campaign, the officer received another Order of the Red Star, and all his previous sins were completely written off.

By the end of 1944, the S-13 submarine was transferred to one of the ports of Finland, which by that time had emerged from the war.

On the night of January 1, 1945, Alexander Marinesko voluntarily left the submarine that was on combat duty and went to visit his new lover (a Swede).

The crew, left without a commander, celebrated the New Year with a huge amount alcohol, after which he went to sort things out with the local population. It all ended in a mass brawl, which, only by luck, resulted in no casualties.

The commander of the Baltic Fleet, Vladimir Tributs, demanded that the commander of the S-13 and the entire crew be tried by a military tribunal. But he gave me the opportunity to rehabilitate myself by sending him on January 9th to a “penalty” combat campaign.

In fact, the S-13 submarine became the only “penalty” submarine of the Great Patriotic War.

Save lives and careers

For almost a month, S-13 patrolled the indicated square, which German ships did not enter at all. Realizing that after returning to the base he will appear before a military tribunal, Marinesko makes an unauthorized decision to change the patrol square. The political commissar, who tried to express outrage at the blatant violation of the order, was immediately sent to hell, and the boat headed towards the besieged city of Konigsberg.

On January 30, Alexander Marinesko saw through the periscope the huge floating hospital “Wilhelm Gustloff”, which before the war was a cruise ship. For unknown reasons, it was traveling without an escort and could have become an excellent target for S-13 torpedoes.

The commander personally took his submarine to the strike position. Each of the three fired torpedoes hit the target, and the Wilhelm Gustloff, which was carrying about 10.5 thousand people, sank. German documents indicate that the C-13 attack killed 4,855 people, including 405 submarine cadets who could have manned several dozen German submarine crews.

On February 10, in the area of ​​​​the Danzig Bay, C-13 attacked the Steuben ambulance transport, which carried more than 4 thousand wounded and refugees. The ship sank within minutes, and only 659 people were saved.

Later, Alexander Marinesko admitted that he mistook this ship armed with anti-aircraft guns for light cruiser"Emden".

Instead of glory - “spit in the soul”

The “penalty” crew returned to base as heroes. All submariners were forgiven for their old sins, and the commander was offered to be awarded the gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union.

But the brigade commander, Lev Kurnikov, followed the principle, recommending that Marinesko be awarded the Order of the Red Banner, which offended the officer “to death.”

On the next military campaign, Alexander Marinesko did not show much activity in searching for targets, drank on board, and the results of the campaign itself were considered unsatisfactory.

At the end of the war, Marinesko’s drunken antics were no longer overlooked. In September 1945, he was removed from command of the submarine, demoted in rank from captain of the third rank to senior lieutenant (two steps at once) and appointed commander of the T-34 minesweeper.

Alexander’s sea soul could not bear such an insult, and on November 30, 1945, he managed to retire to the reserve. For four years he served as an assistant captain of a merchant ship, and in 1949 he went to work as director of the Leningrad Institute of Blood Transfusion.

There, the submariner hero stole, after which he spent three years in the Kolyma camps.

In 1953, Alexander Marinesko returned to Leningrad, where they helped him get a job as head of the supply department at the Leningrad Mezon plant.

He was very ill, until 1960, when his friends managed to cancel his demotion, he received a meager pension. Died November 25, 1963 at the age of 50.

Restoring a glorious name

The times of perestroika and glasnost brought Alexander Marinesko back from complete oblivion. First, the Izvestia newspaper published an article about the captain of the S-13 submarine, who turned out to be the most productive Soviet submariner in terms of the total tonnage of fascist ships sunk to the bottom.

Mikhail Gorbachev was shocked to learn how brazenly the employees of the fleet's political department bullied the talented sailor, depriving him of well-deserved awards and titles.

It turned out that back in 1977, sculptor Valery Prikhodko, using money collected from sailors, erected a monument to Alexander Marinesko and members of his heroic crew in Liepaja. But that same night, by direct order from Moscow, the captain’s name and the word “heroic” were cut off from the monument.

The public outcry was so strong that on May 5, 1990, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR awarded Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously).

, captain 3rd rank, known for the "Attack of the Century". Hero of the Soviet Union (1990).

Biography

Born in Odessa in the family of a Romanian worker Ion Marinesko and a Ukrainian peasant woman Tatyana Mikhailovna Koval.

Battle path

Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff

"Wilhelm Gustloff" was the largest ship in terms of tonnage sunk by Soviet submariners, and the second in the number of victims (the leader is the ship "Goya", sunk on April 16, 1945 by the submarine "L-3"; about 7,000 people died on it).

Ratings

In some German publications during the Cold War, the sinking of the Gustloff was called a war crime, the same as the Allied bombing of Dresden. However, disaster researcher Heinz Schön concludes that the liner was a military target and its sinking was not a war crime, since: ships intended for transporting refugees, hospital ships had to be marked with the appropriate signs - a red cross, could not wear camouflage colors, could travel in the same convoy with military ships. They could not carry on board any military cargo, stationary or temporarily placed air defense guns, artillery pieces or other similar means.

In legal terms, the Wilhelm Gustloff was a Navy auxiliary ship that was allowed to board six thousand refugees. The entire responsibility for their lives, from the moment they boarded the warship, lay with the appropriate officials of the German navy. Thus, Gustloff was legal military purpose Soviet submariners, in view of the following facts:

Most of the dead were not related to the German Navy. Of the (estimated) 918 officers and cadets of the 2nd Submarine Training Division on board, just under half were (presumably) killed.

End of the war

The commander of S-13 was not only forgiven for his previous sins, but also presented with the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. However, the higher command replaced the Golden Star with the Order of the Red Banner.

The sixth military campaign from April 20 to May 13, 1945 was considered unsatisfactory. Then, according to the commander of the submarine brigade, Captain 1st Rank Kurnikov, Marinesko “had many cases of detecting enemy transports and convoys, but as a result of improper maneuvering and indecisiveness, he was unable to get close to attack... The actions of the submarine commander at the position were unsatisfactory. The submarine commander did not seek to search for and attack the enemy... As a result of the inactive actions of the submarine commander, the S-13 did not complete its combat mission...” On May 31, the commander of the submarine division submitted a report to the higher command, in which he indicated that the submarine commander drinks all the time, does not engage in official duties, and his further stay in this position is inappropriate.

On September 14, 1945, Order No. 01979 of the People's Commissar of the Navy N.G. Kuznetsov was issued, which stated: “For neglect of official duties, systematic drunkenness and everyday promiscuity of the commander of the Red Banner submarine S-13 of the Red Banner submarine brigade of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet, captain 3rd rank Marinesko Alexander Ivanovich should be removed from his position, demoted in military rank to senior lieutenant and placed at the disposal of the military council of the same fleet "(in 1960, the order of demotion was canceled, which made it possible for Marinesko, by that time already very ill, to receive a full pension) .

From October 18, 1945 to November 20, 1945, Marinesko was the commander of the T-34 minesweeper of the 2nd minesweeper division of the 1st Red Banner minesweeping brigade of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet (Tallinn sea defense region). On November 20, 1945, by order of the People's Commissar of the Navy No. 02521, senior lieutenant Marinesko A.I. was transferred to the reserve.

Submarines under the command of Alexander Marinesko made six combat cruises during the Great Patriotic War. Two transports were sunk, one was damaged. The M-96 attack in 1942 ended in failure. Alexander Marinesko is the record holder among Soviet submariners for the total tonnage of enemy ships sunk: 42,557 gross register tons.

After the war

After the war in 1949, Marinesko worked as a senior mate on ships of the Baltic State Trading Shipping Company, and in 1949 - deputy director of the Leningrad Research Institute of Blood Transfusion.

• Miroslav Morozov. .
• Oleg Strizhak. .
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Excerpt characterizing Marinesko, Alexander Ivanovich

He saw subtle cunning here, as people like Lavrushka always see cunning in everything, he frowned and was silent.
“It means: if there is a battle,” he said thoughtfully, “and in speed, then it’s so accurate.” Well, if three days pass after that very date, then it means that this very battle will be delayed.
It was translated to Napoleon as follows: “Si la bataille est donnee avant trois jours, les Francais la gagneraient, mais que si elle serait donnee plus tard, Dieu seul sait ce qui en arrivrait” [“If the battle takes place before three days, the French will win him, but if after three days, then God knows what will happen.”] - smilingly conveyed Lelorgne d "Ideville. Napoleon did not smile, although he was apparently in the most cheerful mood, and ordered these words to be repeated to himself.
Lavrushka noticed this and, to cheer him up, said, pretending that he did not know who he was.
“We know, you have Bonaparte, he beat everyone in the world, well, that’s another story about us...” he said, not knowing how and why in the end, boastful patriotism slipped into his words. The translator conveyed these words to Napoleon without ending, and Bonaparte smiled. “Le jeune Cosaque fit sourire son puissant interlocuteur,” [The young Cossack made his powerful interlocutor smile.] says Thiers. Having walked a few steps in silence, Napoleon turned to Berthier and said that he wanted to experience the effect that would have sur cet enfant du Don [on this child of the Don] the news that the person with whom this enfant du Don was speaking was the Emperor himself , the same emperor who wrote the immortally victorious name on the pyramids.
The news was transmitted.
Lavrushka (realizing that this was done to puzzle him, and that Napoleon thought that he would be afraid), in order to please the new gentlemen, immediately pretended to be amazed, stunned, bulged his eyes and made the same face that he was accustomed to when he was led around flog. “A peine l"interprete de Napoleon," says Thiers, "avait il parle, que le Cosaque, saisi d"une sorte d"ebahissement, no profera plus une parole et marcha les yeux constamment attaches sur ce conquerant, dont le nom avait penetre jusqu"a lui, a travers les steppes de l"Orient. Toute sa loquacite s"etait subitement arretee, pour faire place a un sentiment d"admiration naive et silencieuse, apres l"avoir recompense, lui fit donner la liberte. , comme a un oiseau qu"on rend aux champs qui l"ont vu naitre". [As soon as Napoleon’s translator said this to the Cossack, the Cossack, overcome by some kind of stupor, did not utter a single word and continued to ride, not taking his eyes off the conqueror, whose name had reached him through the eastern steppes. All his talkativeness suddenly stopped and was replaced by a naive and silent feeling of delight. Napoleon, having rewarded the Cossack, ordered to give him freedom, like a bird that is returned to its native fields.]
Napoleon rode on, dreaming of that Moscou, which so occupied his imagination, and l "oiseau qu"on rendit aux champs qui l"on vu naitre [a bird returned to its native fields] galloped to the outposts, inventing in advance everything that was not there and that he would tell his own people. He did not want to tell what really happened to him precisely because it seemed to him unworthy of telling. He went to the Cossacks, asked where the regiment that was in Platov’s detachment was, and in the evening. I found my master Nikolai Rostov, who was standing in Yankov and had just mounted a horse to go for a walk with Ilyin through the surrounding villages. He gave another horse to Lavrushka and took him with him.

Princess Marya was not in Moscow and out of danger, as Prince Andrei thought.
After Alpatych returned from Smolensk, the old prince seemed to suddenly come to his senses from his sleep. He ordered militiamen to be collected from the villages, to arm them, and wrote a letter to the commander-in-chief, in which he informed him of his intention to remain in the Bald Mountains to the last extremity, to defend himself, leaving it at his discretion to take or not take measures to protect the Bald Mountains, in which he would be taken one of the oldest Russian generals was captured or killed, and announced to his family that he was staying in Bald Mountains.
But, remaining himself in Bald Mountains, the prince ordered the sending of the princess and Desalles with the little prince to Bogucharovo and from there to Moscow. Princess Marya, frightened by her father's feverish, sleepless activity, which replaced his previous dejection, could not decide to leave him alone and for the first time in her life allowed herself to disobey him. She refused to go, and a terrible thunderstorm of the prince’s wrath fell upon her. He reminded her of all the ways in which he had been unfair to her. Trying to blame her, he told her that she had tormented him, that she had quarreled with his son, had nasty suspicions against him, that she had made it her life's task to poison his life, and kicked her out of his office, telling her that if she he won't leave, he doesn't care. He said that he did not want to know about her existence, but warned her in advance so that she should not dare to catch his eye. The fact that he, contrary to Princess Marya’s fears, did not order her to be forcibly taken away, but only did not order her to show herself, made Princess Marya happy. She knew that this proved that in the very secret of his soul he was glad that she stayed at home and did not leave.
The next day after Nikolushka's departure, the old prince dressed in his full uniform in the morning and got ready to go to the commander-in-chief. The stroller had already been delivered. Princess Marya saw him, in his uniform and all the decorations, leave the house and go into the garden to inspect the armed men and servants. Princess Marya sat by the window, listening to his voice coming from the garden. Suddenly several people with frightened faces ran out of the alley.
Princess Marya ran out onto the porch, onto the flower path and into the alley. A large crowd of militiamen and servants was moving towards her, and in the middle of this crowd several people were dragging a little old man in a uniform and orders by the arms. Princess Marya ran up to him and, in the play of small circles of falling light, through the shadow of the linden alley, she could not give herself an account of the change that had taken place in his face. One thing she saw was that the former stern and decisive expression on his face was replaced by an expression of timidity and submission. Seeing his daughter, he moved his weak lips and wheezed. It was impossible to understand what he wanted. They picked him up, carried him into the office and laid him on that sofa that he had been so afraid of late.
The doctor brought in drew blood that same night and announced that the prince had a stroke on the right side.
It became more and more dangerous to stay in Bald Mountains, and the next day after the prince was struck, they were taken to Bogucharovo. The doctor went with them.
When they arrived in Bogucharovo, Desalles and the little prince had already left for Moscow.
Still in the same position, no worse and no better, broken by paralysis, the old prince lay in Bogucharovo for three weeks in a new house built by Prince Andrei. The old prince was unconscious; he lay there like a mutilated corpse. He muttered something incessantly, twitching his eyebrows and lips, and it was impossible to know whether he understood or not what surrounded him. One thing that was certain was that he suffered and felt the need to express something else. But what it was, no one could understand; Was it some kind of whim of a sick and half-crazy person, did it relate to the general course of affairs, or did it relate to family circumstances?
The doctor said that the anxiety he expressed meant nothing, that it had physical causes; but Princess Marya thought (and the fact that her presence always increased his anxiety confirmed her assumption), thought that he wanted to tell her something. He obviously suffered both physically and mentally.
There was no hope for healing. It was impossible to transport him. And what would have happened if he had died on the way? “Wouldn’t it be better if there was an end, a complete end! - Princess Marya sometimes thought. She watched him day and night, almost without sleep, and, scary to say, she often watched him not with the hope of finding signs of relief, but watched, often wanting to find signs of approaching the end.
Strange as it was for the princess to recognize this feeling in herself, but it was there. And what was even more terrible for Princess Marya was that from the time of her father’s illness (even almost earlier, perhaps even when she, expecting something, stayed with him) all those who had fallen asleep in her woke up, forgotten personal desires and hopes. What had not occurred to her for years - thoughts about a free life without the eternal fear of her father, even thoughts about the possibility of love and family happiness, as temptations of the devil, constantly floated in her imagination. No matter how much she distanced herself from herself, questions constantly came to her mind about how she would arrange her life now, after that. These were temptations of the devil, and Princess Marya knew it. She knew that the only weapon against him was prayer, and she tried to pray. She stood in a position of prayer, looked at the images, read the words of the prayer, but could not pray. She felt that she was now embraced by another world - everyday, difficult and free activity, absolutely the opposite of that the moral world in which she was previously imprisoned and in which prayer was the best consolation. She could not pray and she could not cry, and the cares of life overwhelmed her.
It was becoming dangerous to stay in Vogucharovo. The approaching French were heard from all sides, and in one village, fifteen versts from Bogucharovo, an estate was plundered by French marauders.
The doctor insisted that the prince must be taken further; the leader sent an official to Princess Marya, persuading her to leave as soon as possible. The police officer, having arrived in Bogucharovo, insisted on the same thing, saying that the French were forty miles away, that French proclamations were going around the villages, and that if the princess did not leave with her father before the fifteenth, then he would not be responsible for anything.
The princess of the fifteenth decided to go. The worries of preparations, giving orders for which everyone turned to her, occupied her all day. She spent the night from the fourteenth to the fifteenth, as usual, without undressing, in the room next to the one in which the prince lay. Several times, waking up, she heard his groaning, muttering, the creaking of the bed and the steps of Tikhon and the doctor, turning him over. Several times she listened at the door, and it seemed to her that he was muttering louder than usual and tossing and turning more often. She could not sleep and went to the door several times, listening, wanting to enter but not daring to do so. Although he did not speak, Princess Marya saw and knew how unpleasant any expression of fear for him was to him. She noticed how dissatisfied he turned away from her gaze, sometimes involuntarily and persistently directed at him. She knew that her coming at night, at an unusual time, would irritate him.
But she had never been so sorry, she had never been so afraid of losing him. She remembered her entire life with him, and in every word and deed of his she found an expression of his love for her. Occasionally, between these memories, the temptations of the devil burst into her imagination, thoughts about what would happen after his death and how her new life would work out. free life. But she drove away these thoughts with disgust. By morning he calmed down and she fell asleep.
She woke up late. The sincerity that occurs during awakening showed her clearly what occupied her most during her father’s illness. She woke up, listened to what was behind the door, and, hearing his groaning, said to herself with a sigh that it was still the same.
- Why should that happen? What did I want? I want him dead! – she screamed with disgust at herself.
She got dressed, washed, said prayers and went out onto the porch. Horseless carriages were brought to the porch, into which things were packed.
The morning was warm and gray. Princess Marya stopped on the porch, never ceasing to be horrified by her spiritual abomination and trying to put her thoughts in order before entering him.
The doctor came down the stairs and approached her.
“He’s feeling better today,” said the doctor. - I was looking for you. You can understand something from what he says, with a fresher head. Let's go. He is calling you...
Princess Marya's heart beat so hard at this news that she, turning pale, leaned against the door so as not to fall. To see him, to talk to him, to fall under his gaze now, when Princess Marya’s whole soul was filled with these terrible criminal temptations, was painfully joyful and terrible.
“Let’s go,” said the doctor.
Princess Marya entered her father and went to the bed. He lay high on his back, with his small, bony hands covered with lilac knotty veins on the blanket, with his left eye staring straight and his right eye squinted, with motionless eyebrows and lips. He was all so thin, small and pitiful. His face seemed to have shriveled or melted, his features shriveled up. Princess Marya came up and kissed his hand. His left hand squeezed her hand so that it was clear that he had been waiting for her for a long time. He jerked her hand, and his eyebrows and lips moved angrily.
She looked at him in fear, trying to guess what he wanted from her. When she changed her position and moved so that her left eye could see her face, he calmed down, not taking his eyes off her for a few seconds. Then his lips and tongue moved, sounds were heard, and he began to speak, timidly and pleadingly looking at her, apparently afraid that she would not understand him.
Princess Marya, straining all her attention, looked at him. The comic labor with which he moved his tongue forced Princess Marya to lower her eyes and with difficulty suppress the sobs rising in her throat. He said something, repeating his words several times. Princess Marya could not understand them; but she tried to guess what he was saying and repeated the questioning words he said to the elephant.
“Gaga – fights... fights...” he repeated several times. There was no way to understand these words. The doctor thought that he had guessed right, and, repeating his words, asked: is the princess afraid? He shook his head negatively and repeated the same thing again...
“My soul, my soul hurts,” Princess Marya guessed and said. He hummed affirmatively, took her hand and began to press it to various places on his chest, as if searching for the real place for her.
- All thoughts! about you... thoughts,” he then said much better and more clearly than before, now that he was sure that he was understood. Princess Marya pressed her head against his hand, trying to hide her sobs and tears.
He moved his hand through her hair.
“I’ve been calling you all night...” he said.
“If only I knew...” she said through tears. – I was afraid to enter.
He shook her hand.
– Didn’t you sleep?
“No, I didn’t sleep,” said Princess Marya, shaking her head negatively. Unwittingly obeying her father, she now, just as he spoke, tried to speak more with signs and seemed to also be moving her tongue with difficulty.
- Darling... - or - friend... - Princess Marya could not make out; but, probably, from the expression of his gaze, a gentle, caressing word was said, which he never said. - Why didn’t you come?
“And I wished, wished for his death! - thought Princess Marya. He paused.
“Thank you... daughter, friend... for everything, for everything... forgive... thank you... forgive... thank you!..” And tears flowed from his eyes. “Call Andryusha,” he suddenly said, and something childishly timid and distrustful was expressed in his face at this demand. It was as if he himself knew that his demand made no sense. So, at least, it seemed to Princess Marya.
“I received a letter from him,” answered Princess Marya.
He looked at her with surprise and timidity.
- Where is he?
- He is in the army, mon pere, in Smolensk.
He was silent for a long time, closing his eyes; then in the affirmative, as if in response to his doubts and to confirm that he now understood and remembered everything, he nodded his head and opened his eyes.
“Yes,” he said clearly and quietly. - Russia is dead! Ruined! - And he began to sob again, and tears flowed from his eyes. Princess Marya could no longer hold on and cried too, looking at his face.
He closed his eyes again. His sobs stopped. He made a sign with his hand to his eyes; and Tikhon, understanding him, wiped away his tears.
Then he opened his eyes and said something that no one could understand for a long time, and finally only Tikhon understood and conveyed it. Princess Marya looked for the meaning of his words in the mood in which he spoke a minute before. She thought that he was talking about Russia, then about Prince Andrei, then about her, about his grandson, then about his death. And because of this she could not guess his words.
- Put on yours white dress“I love him,” he said.
Realizing these words, Princess Marya began to sob even louder, and the doctor, taking her by the arm, led her out of the room onto the terrace, persuading her to calm down and make preparations for departure. After Princess Marya left the prince, he again started talking about his son, about the war, about the sovereign, twitched his eyebrows angrily, began to exalt hoarse voice, and the second and final blow came to him.
Princess Marya stopped on the terrace. The day had cleared up, it was sunny and hot. She could not understand anything, think about anything and feel anything except her passionate love for her father, a love that, it seemed to her, she did not know until that moment. She ran out into the garden and, sobbing, ran down to the pond along the young linden paths planted by Prince Andrei.
- Yes... I... I... I. I wanted him dead. Yes, I wanted it to end soon... I wanted to calm down... But what will happen to me? “What do I need peace of mind when he’s gone,” Princess Marya muttered aloud, walking quickly through the garden and pressing her hands on her chest, from which sobs were convulsively escaping. Walking around the garden in a circle that led her back to the house, she saw m lle Bourienne (who remained in Bogucharovo and did not want to leave there) coming towards her and unknown man. This was the leader of the district, who himself came to the princess in order to present to her the necessity of an early departure. Princess Marya listened and did not understand him; she led him into the house, invited him to have breakfast and sat down with him. Then, apologizing to the leader, she went to the door of the old prince. The doctor with an alarmed face came out to her and said that it was impossible.
- Go, princess, go, go!
Princess Marya went back into the garden and sat down on the grass under the mountain near the pond, in a place where no one could see. She didn't know how long she was there. Someone's running female steps along the path made her wake up. She stood up and saw that Dunyasha, her maid, who was obviously running after her, suddenly, as if frightened by the sight of her young lady, stopped.
“Please, Princess... Prince...” Dunyasha said in a broken voice.
“Now, I’m coming, I’m coming,” the princess spoke hastily, not giving Dunyasha time to finish what she had to say, and, trying not to see Dunyasha, she ran to the house.
“Princess, God’s will is being done, you must be ready for anything,” said the leader, meeting her at the front door.
- Leave me alone. This is not true! – she angrily shouted at him. The doctor wanted to stop her. She pushed him away and ran to the door. “Why are these people with frightened faces stopping me? I don't need anyone! And what are they doing here? “She opened the door, and the bright daylight in this previously dim room terrified her. There were women and a nanny in the room. They all moved away from the bed to give her way. He was still lying on the bed; but the stern look of his calm face stopped Princess Marya at the threshold of the room.
“No, he’s not dead, that can’t be! - Princess Marya said to herself, walked up to him and, overcoming the horror that gripped her, pressed her lips to his cheek. But she immediately pulled away from him. Instantly, all the strength of tenderness for him that she felt in herself disappeared and was replaced by a feeling of horror at what was in front of her. “No, he is no more! He is not there, but there is right there, in the same place where he was, something alien and hostile, some terrible, terrifying and repulsive secret... - And, covering her face with her hands, Princess Marya fell into the arms of the doctor who supported her.
In the presence of Tikhon and the doctor, the women washed what he was, tied a scarf around his head so that his open mouth would not stiffen, and tied his divergent legs with another scarf. Then they dressed him in a uniform with orders and placed the small, shriveled body on the table. God knows who took care of it and when, but everything happened as if by itself. By nightfall, candles were burning around the coffin, there was a shroud on the coffin, juniper was strewn on the floor, a printed prayer was placed under the dead, shriveled head, and a sexton sat in the corner, reading the psalter.
As horses shy away, crowd and snort over a dead horse, so in the living room around the coffin a crowd of foreign and native people crowded - the leader, and the headman, and the women, and all with fixed, frightened eyes, crossed themselves and bowed, and kissed the cold and numb hand of the old prince.

Bogucharovo was always, before Prince Andrei settled there, an estate behind the eyes, and the Bogucharovo men had a completely different character from the Lysogorsk men. They differed from them in their speech, clothing, and morals. They were called steppe. The old prince praised them for their tolerance at work when they came to help with cleaning in the Bald Mountains or digging ponds and ditches, but did not like them for their savagery.
Prince Andrei's last stay in Bogucharovo, with its innovations - hospitals, schools and ease of rent - did not soften their morals, but, on the contrary, strengthened in them those character traits that the old prince called savagery. Some vague rumors always circulated between them, either about listing them all as Cossacks, or about new faith, into which they will be converted, then about some royal sheets, then about the oath to Pavel Petrovich in 1797 (about which they said that the will was still out then, but the gentlemen were taken away), then about Peter Feodorovich, who would reign in seven years, under whom everything it will be free and it will be so simple that nothing will happen. Rumors about the war in Bonaparte and his invasion were combined for them with the same unclear ideas about the Antichrist, the end of the world and pure will.
In the vicinity of Bogucharovo there were more and more large villages, state-owned and quitrent landowners. There were very few landowners living in this area; There were also very few servants and literate people, and in the life of the peasants of this area, those mysterious currents of Russian folk life, the causes and significance of which are inexplicable to contemporaries, were more noticeable and stronger than in others. One of these phenomena was the movement that appeared about twenty years ago between the peasants of this area to move to some warm rivers. Hundreds of peasants, including those from Bogucharov, suddenly began to sell their livestock and leave with their families somewhere to southeast. Like birds flying somewhere across the seas, these people with their wives and children strove to the southeast, where none of them had been. They went up in caravans, bathed one by one, ran, and rode, and went there, to the warm rivers. Many were punished, exiled to Siberia, many died of cold and hunger along the way, many returned on their own, and the movement died down by itself just as it had begun without an obvious reason. But the underwater currents did not stop flowing in this people and gathered for some new force, which had to manifest itself just as strangely, unexpectedly and at the same time simply, naturally and strongly. Now, in 1812, for a person who lived close to the people, it was noticeable that these underwater jets produced strong work and were close to manifestation.
Alpatych, having arrived in Bogucharovo some time before the death of the old prince, noticed that there was unrest among the people and that, contrary to what was happening in the Bald Mountains strip on a sixty-verst radius, where all the peasants left (letting the Cossacks ruin their villages), in the steppe strip , in Bogucharovskaya, the peasants, as was heard, had relations with the French, received some papers that passed between them, and remained in place. He knew through the servants loyal to him that the other day the peasant Karp, who had a great influence on the world, was traveling with a government cart, returned with the news that the Cossacks were destroying the villages from which the inhabitants were leaving, but that the French were not touching them. He knew that another man had even brought yesterday from the village of Visloukhova - where the French were stationed - a paper from the French general, in which the residents were told that no harm would be done to them and that they would pay for everything that was taken from them if they stayed. To prove this, the man brought from Visloukhov one hundred rubles in banknotes (he did not know that they were counterfeit), given to him in advance for the hay.