Syanov Ilya Yakovlevich - CSKA fan. “Father was a real hero Syanov Ilya Yakovlevich hero of the USSR

Ilya Yakovlevich Syanov(2.8.1905, Kazakhstan - 4.4.1988, Krasnodar Territory) - commander of the 1st rifle company of the 1st rifle battalion of the 756th rifle regiment of the 150th Idritskaya Order of Kutuzov, 2nd degree of the rifle division of the 3rd shock army 1- th Belorussian Front, senior sergeant. The hero of the USSR .

Biography

He was born on August 2, 1905 in the village of Semiozernoye, now the Auliekolsky district of the Kostanay region of Kazakhstan, into a peasant family. Russian. Member of the CPSU (b) since 1943. He graduated from 10 classes, a workers' faculty in the city of Orenburg. He worked as an economist-planner in the Kustanai regional executive committee.

After the war, foreman Syanov I. Ya. was demobilized. Lived in the city of Sochi, Krasnodar Territory. Died April 4, 1988. He was buried on the alley of honorable burials of the cemetery of the city of Kostanay.

He was awarded the orders of Lenin, the Red Banner, the Patriotic War of the 1st and 2nd degrees, and medals.

The pioneer team of school No. 13 of the city of Sochi was named after the Hero. By the Decree of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated August 31, 2000 No. 1325, the name of the Hero of the Soviet Union Ilya Yakovlevich Syanov was assigned to the Semiozersky secondary school No. 3 of the Auliekolsky district of the Kostanay region. One of the streets of the city of Kostanay bears his name.

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Literature

• Heroes of the Soviet Union - Kazakhstanis. Book 2. Alma-Ata, 1968.
• Heroes of the Soviet Union: A Brief Biographical Dictionary / Prev. ed. collegium I. N. Shkadov. - M .: Military Publishing, 1988. - T. 2 / Lyubov - Yashchuk /. - 863 p. - 100,000 copies. - ISBN 5-203-00536-2.
• Communists go! M.: Military Publishing, 1979.
• Roshchin I. I., Senkov I. S. Party organizers of the wartime. Moscow: Politizdat, 1983.

Links

15px . Site "Heroes of the Country". Retrieved 28 December 2013.

An excerpt characterizing Syanov, Ilya Yakovlevich

"Old" Lithuanian Gods in my hometown of Alytus, homely and warm, like a simple friendly family...

Igor SYANOV with his family in Kostanay, his father's homeland.

As part of the illustrious formation, Senior Sergeant Syanov reached Berlin. His company was among the first to break into the Reichstag and fought heroically against the enemy for two days. When on April 30, 1945, scouts Mikhail Yegorov and Meliton Kantaria hoisted the Banner of Victory on the dome, it was the company commanded by Syanov who provided fire support to them. For courage and heroism in 1946, Ilya Syanov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, among his awards - the Order of Lenin, the Red Banner, the Patriotic War of the 1st and 2nd degrees, the Gold Star medal. In 1969, Syanov was awarded the title of honorary citizen of Kustanai.

He remembers the hero and Sochi, where he lived after the war, and his son Igor Ilyich, who lives in Perm, as well as his relatives in Kostanay, recalls him with special warmth.

My father Ilya Syanov - commander of the 1st rifle company of the 1st rifle battalion of the 756th rifle regiment of the 150th Idritskaya Order of Kutuzov, 2nd degree rifle division of the 3rd shock army of the 1st Belorussian Front, - his son minted without hesitation. - Father was born on August 2, 1905 in the village of Semiozerny in a family of peasants. Before the war, he graduated from 10 classes, and then the workers' faculty in Orenburg. He worked as an economist-planner in the Kustanai regional executive committee. After the war he was demobilized and lived in Sochi. Father died on April 4, 1988, was buried in Kostanay.

Igor Ilyich, how do you remember your father?

My father was a real hero, and not only in the war. He was a man of principle, approached any business thoroughly, knew how to convince people, charge them with his energy. His character was strong and resolute. Wherever he served and worked, he was always treated with great respect. Hunting and fishing were his main hobbies. Father was an interesting storyteller, every time we listened to him with bated breath. After the war, he did not lose contact with front-line comrades, was friends with Meliton Kantaria, with regiment commander Vasily Shatilov. They often met - both in Sochi on vacation, and at our place, they could talk for hours - they recalled the war, fellow soldiers.

Every year, the hero's grandson Ilya and his son Alexander participate in the Immortal Regiment action.

Are there things in your house that remind you of your father?

I have all my father's awards, his letters, including those from the front. In the most prominent place we have a large portrait of my father hanging. It feels like he is always with us, watching from the side and supporting.

What do your children and grandchildren, the successors of the Syanov family, do?

Nina Vasilievna and I have two children, son Ilya and daughter Irina. There is a 17-year-old grandson Alexander, a student at an engineering college in Perm. The grandson is studying auto business, a serious guy. Every year on May 9, Sasha participates in the Immortal Regiment action, carries a portrait of his great-grandfather-hero. He is very proud of him, trying to be like him.

My brother Alexander lives in Sochi, he is a general, now retired. In Almaty - half-brother Sergey.

Igor Ilyich, tell me, do you keep in touch with your homeland, did you study in Kostanay?

I graduated from high school number 10 named after Kirov in Kostanay. He was the regional champion in pole vault, high jump, played for the regional volleyball team. But then he left for Russia. He graduated from the Polytechnic Institute with a degree in Calculation and Design of Tracked Vehicles. I don't think I chose this profession by accident. After graduating from high school, I worked as a designer at the Iskra production association. I always remember Kostanay with nostalgia, my father is buried there. Shortly before his death, his father asked to be buried in his homeland...

Two years ago, my wife Nina Vasilievna and I were at my father's grave. They cleaned it up and painted the fence. It is a pity that life circumstances do not allow to visit Kostanay more often...

“I remembered all the names and surnames”

The second cousin of the hero, retired colonel Pyotr SIYANOV, recalls (according to the documents, his last name is written that way):

My father Sergey Sergeevich is the uncle of Ilya Syanov. We have a very close-knit family, besides, we all lived together before the war. Ilya Yakovlevich was called to the front in 1942 at the age of 36, by that time he already had a family, two children - Igor and Alexander. Ilya Yakovlevich returned from the war in 1947. In Kustanai, he worked in the regional consumer union, then in Kazpotrebsoyuz in Alma-Ata.

What impressed me most about him was his attentive attitude to people. Until the end of his life he had an excellent memory, he remembered all the names and surnames. Everyone in the district respected him, they knew: he doesn’t just throw words into the wind, and if he sets a goal for himself, then he achieves it.

My first memories of Ilya Yakovlevich can probably be traced back to 1947, by the time he was demobilized from the army and he came home to Semiozerka. I remember how they met him, gave him a bus, in which we, the boys, crowded. And he patted each of us on the top, paid attention. He was a kind person. Ilya Yakovlevich had two children from his first marriage and a son, Sergei, from his second.

“Valued relatives and valued communication”

And here is what the pensioner Nikolai KUVAEV says about the hero:

My wife Anna is Ilya Yakovlevich's paternal cousin. In other words, their fathers are siblings, so they have always been close friends. I well remembered Ilya Yakovlevich - prominent, looked like an aristocrat, a heroic physique. He was a good economist. No wonder he was noticed, invited to work in Sochi. I remember the New Year's "Blue Light" in 1965 with his participation. So he told how in childhood he was fond of sports, played football. I still remember how in 1967 he came to us in Semiozerka from Alma-Ata. The whole family then gathered to meet him. Why are there relatives - all the villagers knew about this and were preparing for such an event! He was received with great honors. It was evident how pleased he was to visit his homeland, how he values ​​communication with fellow countrymen.

Photo from the family archive of the SYANOV family

Ilya Yakovlevich Syanov(2.8.1905, Kazakhstan - 4.4.1988, Krasnodar Territory) - commander of the 1st rifle company of the 1st rifle battalion of the 756th rifle regiment of the 150th Idritskaya Order of Kutuzov, 2nd degree of the rifle division of the 3rd shock army 1- th Belorussian Front, senior sergeant. The hero of the USSR .

Biography

He was born on August 2, 1905 in the village of Semiozernoye, now the Auliekolsky district of the Kostanay region of Kazakhstan, into a peasant family. Russian. Member of the CPSU (b) since 1943. He graduated from 10 classes, a workers' faculty in the city of Orenburg. He worked as an economist-planner in the Kustanai regional executive committee.

After the war, foreman Syanov I. Ya. was demobilized. Lived in the city of Sochi, Krasnodar Territory. Died April 4, 1988. He was buried on the alley of honorable burials of the cemetery of the city of Kostanay.

He was awarded the orders of Lenin, the Red Banner, the Patriotic War of the 1st and 2nd degrees, and medals.

The pioneer team of school No. 13 of the city of Sochi was named after the Hero. By the Decree of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated August 31, 2000 No. 1325, the name of the Hero of the Soviet Union Ilya Yakovlevich Syanov was assigned to the Semiozersky secondary school No. 3 of the Auliekolsky district of the Kostanay region. One of the streets of the city of Kostanay bears his name.

Write a review on the article "Syanov, Ilya Yakovlevich"

Literature

• Heroes of the Soviet Union - Kazakhstanis. Book 2. Alma-Ata, 1968.
• Heroes of the Soviet Union: A Brief Biographical Dictionary / Prev. ed. collegium I. N. Shkadov. - M .: Military Publishing, 1988. - T. 2 / Lyubov - Yashchuk /. - 863 p. - 100,000 copies. - ISBN 5-203-00536-2.
• Communists go! M.: Military Publishing, 1979.
• Roshchin I. I., Senkov I. S. Party organizers of the wartime. Moscow: Politizdat, 1983.

Links

. Site "Heroes of the Country". Retrieved 28 December 2013.

An excerpt characterizing Syanov, Ilya Yakovlevich

A week later, Pierre gave his wife a power of attorney to manage all the Great Russian estates, which accounted for more than half of his fortune, and left alone for St. Petersburg.

Two months passed after receiving news in the Bald Mountains about the battle of Austerlitz and the death of Prince Andrei, and despite all the letters through the embassy and all the searches, his body was not found, and he was not among the prisoners. The worst thing for his relatives was that there was still the hope that he had been raised by the inhabitants on the battlefield, and perhaps he was recovering or dying somewhere alone, among strangers, and unable to give news of himself. In the newspapers, from which the old prince first learned about the defeat of Austerlitz, it was written, as always, very briefly and vaguely, that the Russians, after brilliant battles, had to retreat and made a retreat in perfect order. The old prince understood from this official news that ours had been defeated. A week after the newspaper that brought the news of the Battle of Austerlitz, a letter arrived from Kutuzov, who informed the prince about the fate that befell his son.
“Your son, in my eyes,” wrote Kutuzov, with a banner in his hands, ahead of the regiment, fell a hero worthy of his father and his fatherland. To the general regret of me and the whole army, it is still unknown whether he is alive or not. I flatter myself and you with the hope that your son is alive, because otherwise, among the officers found on the battlefield, about whom the list was submitted to me through parliamentarians, and he would have been named.
Having received this news late in the evening, when he was alone at. in his study, the old prince, as usual, the next day went for his morning walk; but he was silent with the clerk, the gardener, and the architect, and, although he looked angry, he said nothing to anyone.
When, at the usual time, Princess Mary came in to see him, he stood behind the machine and sharpened, but, as usual, did not look back at her.
- BUT! Princess Mary! he suddenly said unnaturally and dropped the chisel. (The wheel was still spinning from its swing. Princess Marya remembered for a long time this dying creak of the wheel, which merged for her with what followed.)
Princess Mary moved towards him, saw his face, and something suddenly sank into her. Her eyes couldn't see clearly. She saw from her father’s face, not sad, not killed, but angry and unnaturally working on herself, that now, now, a terrible misfortune, the worst in life, a misfortune that she had not yet experienced, an irreparable, incomprehensible misfortune, hung over her and crushed her. the death of the one you love.
– Mon pere! Andre? [Father! Andrei?] - Said the ungraceful, awkward princess with such an inexpressible charm of sadness and self-forgetfulness that her father could not stand her gaze, and turned away with a sob.
- Got the message. None were taken prisoner, none were killed. Kutuzov writes, - he shouted piercingly, as if wanting to drive the princess away with this cry, - killed!
The princess did not fall, she did not become faint. She was already pale, but when she heard these words, her face changed, and something shone in her radiant, beautiful eyes. As if joy, the highest joy, independent of the sorrows and joys of this world, spilled over the strong sorrow that was in it. She forgot all her fear of her father, went up to him, took his hand, pulled him towards her and hugged his dry, sinewy neck.
“Mon pere,” she said. Don't turn away from me, let's cry together.

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE BANNER

Hero of the Soviet Union Ilya Syanov died in Sochi in 1988. I was seven years old, our teacher canceled the lessons, and the whole class went to the funeral ceremony at the House of Culture "Taxomotor". The teacher explained that this must be done so that we remember such an event for life.

Today an entire era is leaving us! When you get big, you will tell the children, she said.

In the spring of 1945, during the storming of Berlin, foreman Ilya Syanov commanded a company that was the first to break into the Reichstag. The soldiers of this company paved the way to the roof of the building for scouts Mikhail Yegorov and Meliton Kantaria, who hoisted the Banner of Victory over the Reichstag.

It soon became clear that Ilya Syanov left a notebook with notes about his life. For many years she lay in the table, but recently the son of the hero Alexander Syanov called me and allowed me to get acquainted with my father's diary. He lamented that lately a lot of fables have bred around the story of the hoisting of the Banner of Victory over Berlin. So maybe the memories of Ilya Syanov will allow everything to be put in its place.

History does not tolerate subjunctive moods. She knows for certain that during the Great Patriotic War, the troops of the heroic Red Army utterly defeated the fascist warriors. Berlin was taken by storm, and on April 30, 1945, at 10:50 p.m., Sergeant Mikhail Yegorov and Junior Sergeant Meliton Kantaria hoisted a scarlet banner over the Reichstag. Shots still rang out on the streets of the German capital, but the symbolic end to this war had already been put. We won!

The best way to defame a holy cause is to start doubting the little things. Say, of course, no one belittles the greatness of the Victory, but there are details that allow us to say that not everything in life was so heroic. Well, add in this place nasty gossip in the form of a version. Here are samples of such "versions", actively walking through the pages of various foreign magazines and newspapers.

“If the Banner of Victory was raised over the Reichstag on April 30 late in the evening, at 22 hours 50 minutes, then why did the commander of the First Belorussian Front, Marshal Georgy Zhukov, issue an order announcing this in the afternoon? Why was the radio reporting this earlier in the day? What, the Russians were in a hurry for the May Day holiday? No, something is not right…”

“Who did install this very banner? All textbooks say that Mikhail Egorov and Meliton Kantaria did it. But some of them are painfully symbolic, these soldiers. Russian and Georgian, just such a combination should have liked the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Surely everything was so prepared just for the official announcements. In reality, the Banner of Victory could be raised by other people. Only history has not preserved their names, since their biographies were far from heroic ... "

“Why, after many years, Russian President Boris Yeltsin suddenly awarded the title of Hero of Russia to Lieutenant Alexei Berest, who also participated in the storming of the Reichstag? Maybe it was he who installed the Banner of Victory ... "

In the notes of Ilya Syanov, there were answers to all these questions.

WHEN DID THE FLAG FLOW?

The phrase "Banner of Victory" arose in soldiers' conversations immediately after the Red Army crossed the German border. When the assault on Berlin began, the soldiers prepared scarlet shreds just in case. They reasoned, suddenly, luck would smile at me, I would be the first to be on the roof of the Reichstag! At the same time, nine special banners were made for the units of the 3rd shock army that stormed the city, according to the number of divisions that were part of the army. These were red panels measuring 188 x 92 centimeters, on which a five-pointed star, a sickle and a hammer were depicted in the upper left corner.

All nine banners were made in Moscow, at the House of the Red Army. They were sewn from ordinary red matter. The artist Vladimir Buntov painted the emblems. The projectionist Alexander Gabov planed the poles and attached panels to them. The head of the House of the Red Army, Grigory Golikov, delivered the banners to the political department of the 3rd shock army, and on April 22 they were distributed among the formations. The banner at number five, which later was to become the Banner of Victory, was received by the commander of the 150th Rifle Order of Kutuzov, 2nd degree, Idritskaya division, Major General Vasily Shatilov, in the suburbs of Berlin, the town of Karowe. Then it hit the 756th regiment, which was fighting in the main direction of attack, where the regiment commander Fyodor Zinchenko handed it to scouts Mikhail Yegorov and Meliton Kantaria. Together with a special group of fighters, led by Lieutenant Alexei Berest, as part of a company of submachine gunners under the command of foreman Ilya Syanov, the standard bearers were supposed to break into the Reichstag.

Unfortunately, none of the military historians has yet traced the path of the rest of the Banners of Victory. Only front-line journalist Vasily Subbotin, while working on the book “How Wars End,” found out that on the day of the Reichstag assault, the standard-bearer Pyotr Pyatnitsky was killed on the steps of the northern portal. He was from the 171st division, and carried the Victory Banner at number three. History is silent about the rest of the standard-bearers.

The assault on the Reichstag began on April 30 at 2 pm. The company of Ilya Syanov broke into the lobby of the building from the south side, from the square near the Brandenburg Gate. The Banner of Victory was uncovered and raised above one of the columns. At this time, fascist tanks flew into the square in front of the Reichstag, and a company of daredevils was cut off from the main forces and was surrounded.

However, the scarlet banner at the column was noticed from the command post of the division, reported to the headquarters of the corps, from there to the headquarters of the army, and at about 15 hours 30 minutes this was reported to the commander of the First Belorussian Front, Marshal Georgy Zhukov. This is how he described this episode in his book Memoirs and Reflections.

“The commander of the 3rd shock army, General Vasily Kuznetsov, who personally observed the historic battle for the capture of the Reichstag, called me at the command post at about 15:30 and joyfully said:

“Our banner flies on the Reichstag!” Hooray, Comrade Marshal!

“My dear, I heartily congratulate you and all your soldiers on a wonderful victory. This historic feat of the troops entrusted to you will never be forgotten by the Soviet people. And what about the Reichstag?

“In some compartments of the upper floors and in the basements of the building, the battle is still going on,” said Vasily Kuznetsov ... "

And the company of Ilya Syanov, meanwhile, still continued to fight surrounded. Only by 18 o'clock the enemy ring was broken through by the soldiers of the battalions of Vasily Davydov, Stepan Neustroev and Konstantin Samsonov. The Banner of Victory migrated to the window of the second floor. And then, when twilight was already thickening, Mikhail Yegorov and Meliton Kantaria, a group of soldiers of Lieutenant Alexei Berest, machine gunners of the company of Ilya Syanov went to the roof. But here it is probably time to give the floor to Mikhail Yegorov himself.

“In the middle of the roof is a dome. Huge, glazed hemisphere. Glasses, however, are all broken. I estimate on the go - twenty-five meters will be in height. How to get there? And then the Nazis, noticing the red flag, opened fire on the roof with machine guns. They fired either from the Tiergarten Park or from the Brandenburg Gate. If we start climbing the dome at this moment, if not a mine, the first sniper will shoot down! There is nothing to do, I had to abandon this idea for the time being. They began to look for a suitable place where to put the banner. On the south side, at the very edge of the roof, stood a sculpture of an equestrian knight clad in armor. His hand was extended forward. We later learned that it was a sculpture of Kaiser Wilhelm.

“Come on,” Meliton says, “let’s tie the banner to our hand.” And reliable, and it will look like we are going home with a victory.

They did so, fastening the banner with a soldier's belt, which Meliton took off. But after a few minutes they caught on. Kantaria says:

- No, Meliton, we need to remove the banner from our hand, otherwise, whatever one may say, it turns out that Fritz is holding our banner in his hand.

Again we are looking for where to put the banner. At this time, a shell exploded very close, and its fragment punched a hole in the horseman's sculpture. A hole was formed with a diameter just the size of a shaft. They inserted a banner into it, they didn’t even have to fix it with anything ... "

It was April 30, 1945 at 22:50 Moscow time. It was this moment that became truly historic.

THEY WAS THE FIRST

All night after that, there was a fight in the Reichstag. The building was protected by about five thousand Nazi soldiers. SS battalion, SD fighters, part of Hitler's bodyguards, paratroopers, Volkssturm. Several times they tried to break through to the roof and throw down the scarlet banner. Nobody managed to do this. But in small groups, our soldiers began to seep in here, everyone hung flags of their companies and battalions on the roof. This event, as it turned out later, served as the basis for the emergence of another "legend". With the light hand of unscrupulous journalists, in the early 80s, a “bike” began to walk around the country. Say, when Mikhail Yegorov and Meliton Kantaria burst onto the roof, they saw the flag of the 79th Rifle Corps already set there. He, allegedly, was hoisted earlier by the soldiers of the group of captain Vladimir Makov, consisting of senior sergeants Georgy Zagitov, Alexander Lisimenko, sergeants Alexei Bobrov and Mikhail Minin.

So this "legend" was dispelled in his memoirs by Ilya Syanov. I just wrote what I saw with my own eyes. There was not a single red flag on the Reichstag before the arrival of Mikhail Yegorov and Meliton Kantaria. No one! But during the night the roof seemed to bloom with scarlet flags.

Here, however, it is necessary to make one remark. It turns out that not everyone's desire for fame overshadows the concept of honor. When the “legend” about the second banner went for a walk through the magazine pages, Sergeant Mikhail Minin, who was still alive, sent a letter from Voronezh to the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper. So he wrote: “Of course, it doesn’t matter so much now who was the first of the soldiers to raise the Banner of Victory over the Reichstag. But I am writing for the sake of establishing justice. There is no need for our group to add someone else's glory, we have enough of our own. Mikhail Yegorov and Meliton Kantaria were on the roof of the Reichstag before us ... "

So, the old soldier turned out to be an honest man.

What happened to the Banner of Victory next? On the morning of May 1, 1945, the Germans in the Reichstag began to surrender in large groups. The shooting began to subside. At that moment, Komsomolskaya Pravda photojournalist Ivan Shagin was on the roof of the building. He took a panoramic picture of defeated Berlin, where in the foreground he captured the Banner of Victory attached to the statue of a cast-iron horseman. The fighters and officers who happened to be nearby, at his request, gave a salute from machine guns and pistols. This picture then flew around the world.

On May 2, 1945, Mikhail Yegorov and Meliton Kantaria moved the Victory Banner to the dome of the Reichstag, it was already safe. And a day later, the Banner of Victory was replaced by a large scarlet banner. The very same historical cloth became a relic, on June 20, 1945 it was delivered to Moscow and placed in the Central Museum of the Armed Forces. The Banner of Victory is kept here to this day.

FORGOTTEN LIEUTENANT

A year later, all participants in the historic event were awarded the titles of Heroes of the Soviet Union. Sergeant Mikhail Yegorov, junior sergeant Meliton Kantaria, company commander, foreman Ilya Syanov, battalion commanders, captains Vasily Davydov, Stepan Neustroev and Konstantin Samsonov, regiment commander, colonel Fyodor Zinchenko, division commander, Major General Vasily Shatilov received Gold Stars. To the surprise of everyone, the name of Lieutenant Alexei Berest was not on this list. Why did it happen? And Ilya Syanov answered this question in his notes. He worked on them shortly before his death, he had no reason to dissemble in something, to embellish something. And therefore, he told the story of the forgotten lieutenant honestly, without concealing either the good or the bad.

Yes, the deputy commander of the assault battalion, Lieutenant Aleksey Berest, accompanied the standard-bearers with a group of fighters from the beginning of the assault to the roof. During the battles for the Reichstag, he was relentlessly near them. At one point, he was even a parliamentarian, presented an ultimatum to the Nazis who sat in the basement. In a word, he showed heroism, but he did not receive the Golden Star.

It turns out that the presentation of Alexei Berest to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, along with others, was sent to the headquarters of the front. But then he was arrested. In the personal file of Alexei Berest, a characteristic was found, which said that he was very ruffy, quarrelsome, did not like to look into the mouth of his superiors, sometimes reread at the most inopportune moment. In a word, the performance was delayed at the headquarters. It's an amazing thing how to go on the attack - a fighter is good, but how to present for an award - his character is not the same! A man could not survive such injustice, she broke him. Began to abuse alcohol. In 1953, while working as a foreman of a small artel in the Neklinovsky district of the Rostov region, he beat an auditor who extorted a bribe from him. He spent two years in prison. After that, he worked as a sandblaster at the Rostselmash plant in Rostov-on-Don. He lived quietly and did not complain about fate. He tried not to remember his feat. And in November 1970, he again showed his heroic character. Rescuing a child, he threw himself under an approaching railway locomotive, saved the girl, and died himself.

“For a long time I could not come to my senses when I learned about this terrible tragedy,” Ilya Syanov wrote in his memoirs. - If the Motherland remains indebted to anyone, it is to Alyoshka Berest, a bright memory to his soul ...

By the way, the truth still triumphed. Many years later, on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the Great Victory, Lieutenant Alexei Berest was awarded the title of Hero of Russia. Unfortunately, this decision turned out to be belated.

* * *

Again, on the ninth of May, we will celebrate Victory Day throughout the country! We will once again remember those who died the death of the brave at the front, who died after the war. And on the footage of the newsreel, as a bright symbol of our Victory, a scarlet banner will soar over the defeated Reichstag again and again. We remember this feat of our soldiers and are justly proud of it! And we will always be proud ...

The Banner of Victory hit the 756th Regiment, which was fighting in the main direction of attack, where the regiment commander Fyodor Zinchenko handed it over to scouts Mikhail Yegorov and Meliton Kantaria. Together with a special group of fighters, led by Lieutenant Alexei Berest, as part of a company of submachine gunners under the command of foreman Ilya Syanov, the standard bearers were supposed to break into the Reichstag.

Hero of the Soviet Union Ilya Syanov died in Sochi in 1988. I was seven years old, our teacher canceled the lessons, and the whole class went to the funeral ceremony at the House of Culture "Taxomotor". The teacher explained that this must be done so that we remember such an event for life.

Today an entire era is leaving us! When you become big, you will tell the children, - she said.

In the spring of 1945, during the storming of Berlin, foreman Ilya Syanov commanded a company that was the first to break into the Reichstag. The soldiers of this company paved the way to the roof of the building for scouts Mikhail Yegorov and Meliton Kantaria, who hoisted the Banner of Victory over the Reichstag.

It soon became clear that Ilya Syanov left a notebook with notes about his life. For many years she lay in the table, but recently the son of the hero Alexander Syanov called me and allowed me to get acquainted with my father's diary. He lamented that lately a lot of fables have bred around the story of the hoisting of the Banner of Victory over Berlin. So maybe the memories of Ilya Syanov will allow everything to be put in its place.

History does not tolerate subjunctive moods. She knows for certain that during the Great Patriotic War, the troops of the heroic Red Army utterly defeated the fascist warriors. Berlin was taken by storm, and on April 30, 1945, at 10:50 p.m., Sergeant Mikhail Yegorov and Junior Sergeant Meliton Kantaria hoisted a scarlet banner over the Reichstag. Shots still rang out on the streets of the German capital, but the symbolic end to this war had already been put. We won!

The best way to discredit a holy cause is to start doubting the little things. Say, of course, no one belittles the greatness of the Victory, but there are details that allow us to say that not everything in life was so heroic. Well, add in this place nasty gossip in the form of a version. Here are samples of such "versions", actively walking through the pages of various foreign magazines and newspapers.

“If the Banner of Victory was raised over the Reichstag on April 30 late in the evening, at 22 hours 50 minutes, then why did the commander of the First Belorussian Front, Marshal Georgy Zhukov, issue an order announcing this in the afternoon? Why was the radio reporting this earlier in the day? What, the Russians were in a hurry for the May Day holiday? No, something is not right…”

“Who did install this very banner? All textbooks say that Mikhail Egorov and Meliton Kantaria did it. But some of them are painfully symbolic, these soldiers. Russian and Georgian, just such a combination should have liked the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Surely everything was so prepared just for the official announcements. In reality, the Banner of Victory could be raised by other people. Only history has not preserved their names, since their biographies were far from heroic ... "

“Why, after many years, Russian President Boris Yeltsin suddenly awarded the title of Hero of Russia to Lieutenant Alexei Berest, who also participated in the storming of the Reichstag? Maybe it was he who installed the Banner of Victory ... "

In the notes of Ilya Syanov, there were answers to all these questions.

WHEN WAS THE BANNER RAISED OVER THE REICHSTAG?

The phrase "Banner of Victory" arose in soldiers' conversations immediately after the Red Army crossed the German border. When the assault on Berlin began, the soldiers prepared scarlet shreds just in case. They reasoned, suddenly, luck would smile at me, I would be the first to be on the roof of the Reichstag! At the same time, nine special banners were made for the units of the 3rd shock army that stormed the city, according to the number of divisions that were part of the army. These were red panels measuring 188 × 92 centimeters, on which a five-pointed star, a sickle and a hammer were depicted in the upper left corner.

All nine banners were made in Moscow, at the House of the Red Army. They were sewn from ordinary red matter. The artist Vladimir Buntov painted the emblems. The projectionist Alexander Gabov planed the poles and attached panels to them. The head of the House of the Red Army, Grigory Golikov, delivered the banners to the political department of the 3rd shock army, and on April 22 they were distributed among the formations. The banner at number five, which later was to become the Banner of Victory, was received by the commander of the 150th Rifle Order of Kutuzov, 2nd degree, Idritskaya division, Major General Vasily Shatilov, in the suburbs of Berlin, the town of Karowe. Then it hit the 756th regiment, which was fighting in the main direction of attack, where the regiment commander Fyodor Zinchenko handed it to scouts Mikhail Yegorov and Meliton Kantaria. Together with a special group of fighters, led by Lieutenant Alexei Berest, as part of a company of submachine gunners under the command of foreman Ilya Syanov, the standard bearers were supposed to break into the Reichstag.

Unfortunately, none of the military historians has yet traced the path of the rest of the Banners of Victory. Only front-line journalist Vasily Subbotin, while working on the book “How Wars End,” found out that on the day of the Reichstag assault, the standard-bearer Pyotr Pyatnitsky was killed on the steps of the northern portal. He was from the 171st division, and carried the Victory Banner at number three. History is silent about the rest of the standard-bearers.

Berlin in May 1945.

The assault on the Reichstag began on April 30 at 2 pm. The company of Ilya Syanov broke into the lobby of the building from the south side, from the square near the Brandenburg Gate. The Banner of Victory was uncovered and raised above one of the columns. At this time, fascist tanks flew into the square in front of the Reichstag, and a company of daredevils was cut off from the main forces and was surrounded.

However, the scarlet banner at the column was noticed from the command post of the division, reported to the headquarters of the corps, from there to the headquarters of the army, and at about 15 hours 30 minutes this was reported to the commander of the First Belorussian Front, Marshal Georgy Zhukov. This is how he described this episode in his book Memoirs and Reflections.

“The commander of the 3rd shock army, General Vasily Kuznetsov, who personally observed the historic battle for the capture of the Reichstag, called me at the command post at about 15:30 and joyfully said:

- Our banner flies on the Reichstag! Hooray, Comrade Marshal!

- My dear, I heartily congratulate you and all your soldiers on a wonderful victory. This historic feat of the troops entrusted to you will never be forgotten by the Soviet people. And what about the Reichstag?

“In some compartments of the upper floors and in the basements of the building, the battle is still going on,” said Vasily Kuznetsov ... "

And the company of Ilya Syanov, meanwhile, still continued to fight surrounded. Only by 18 o'clock the enemy ring was broken through by the soldiers of the battalions of Vasily Davydov, Stepan Neustroev and Konstantin Samsonov. The Banner of Victory migrated to the window of the second floor. And then, when twilight was already thickening, Mikhail Yegorov and Meliton Kantaria, a group of soldiers of Lieutenant Alexei Berest, machine gunners of the company of Ilya Syanov went to the roof. But here it is probably time to give the floor to Mikhail Yegorov himself.

“In the middle of the roof is a dome. Huge, glazed hemisphere. Glasses, however, are all broken. I estimate on the go - twenty-five meters will be in height. How to get there? And then the Nazis, noticing the red flag, opened fire on the roof with machine guns. They fired either from the Tiergarten Park or from the Brandenburg Gate. If we start climbing the dome at this moment, if not a mine, the first sniper will shoot down! There is nothing to do, I had to abandon this idea for the time being. They began to look for a suitable place where to put the banner. On the south side, at the very edge of the roof, stood a sculpture of an equestrian knight clad in armor. His hand was extended forward. We later learned that it was a sculpture of Kaiser Wilhelm.

- Come on, - says Meliton, - tie the banner to the hand. And reliable, and it will look like we are going home with a victory.

They did so, fastening the banner with a soldier's belt, which Meliton took off. But after a few minutes they caught on. Kantaria says:

- No, Meliton, you need to remove the banner from your hand, otherwise, whatever one may say, it turns out that Fritz is holding our banner in his hand.

Again we are looking for where to put the banner. At this time, a shell exploded very close, and its fragment punched a hole in the horseman's sculpture. A hole was formed with a diameter just the size of a shaft. They inserted a banner into it, they didn’t even have to fix it with anything ... "

Participants in the assault on the Reichstag Konstantin Samsonov, Meliton Kantaria, Mikhail Yegorov, Ilya Syanov and Stepan Neustroev.

WHOFIRSTRAISED THE BANNER ON THE REICHSTAG?

All night after that, there was a fight in the Reichstag. The building was protected by about five thousand Nazi soldiers. SS battalion, SD fighters, part of Hitler's bodyguards, paratroopers, Volkssturm. Several times they tried to break through to the roof and throw down the scarlet banner. Nobody managed to do this. But in small groups, our soldiers began to seep in here, everyone hung flags of their companies and battalions on the roof. This event, as it turned out later, served as the basis for the emergence of another "legend". With the light hand of unscrupulous journalists, in the early 80s, a “bike” began to walk around the country. Say, when Mikhail Yegorov and Meliton Kantaria burst onto the roof, they saw the flag of the 79th Rifle Corps already set there. He, allegedly, was hoisted before them by the soldiers of the group of captain Vladimir Makov, consisting of senior sergeants Georgy Zagitov, Alexander Lisimenko, sergeants Alexei Bobrov and Mikhail Minin.

So this "legend" was dispelled in his memoirs by Ilya Syanov. I just wrote what I saw with my own eyes. There was not a single red flag on the Reichstag before the arrival of Mikhail Yegorov and Meliton Kantaria. No one! But during the night the roof seemed to bloom with scarlet flags.

Here, however, it is necessary to make one remark. It turns out that not everyone's desire for fame overshadows the concept of honor. When the “legend” about the second banner went for a walk through the magazine pages, Sergeant Mikhail Minin, who was still alive, sent a letter from Voronezh to the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper. So he wrote: “Of course, it doesn’t matter so much now who was the first of the soldiers to raise the Banner of Victory over the Reichstag. But I am writing for the sake of establishing justice. There is no need for our group to add someone else's glory, we have enough of our own. Mikhail Yegorov and Meliton Kantaria were on the roof of the Reichstag before us ... "

So, the old soldier turned out to be an honest man.

Fedor Zinchenko, Vasily Davydov and Ilya Syanov with the Banner of Victory.

What happened to the Banner of Victory next? On the morning of May 1, 1945, the Germans in the Reichstag began to surrender in large groups. The shooting began to subside. At that moment, Komsomolskaya Pravda photojournalist Ivan Shagin was on the roof of the building. He took a panoramic picture of defeated Berlin, where in the foreground he captured the Banner of Victory attached to the statue of a cast-iron horseman. The fighters and officers who happened to be nearby, at his request, gave a salute from machine guns and pistols. This picture then flew around the world.

On May 2, 1945, Mikhail Yegorov and Meliton Kantaria moved the Victory Banner to the dome of the Reichstag, it was already safe. And a day later, the Banner of Victory was replaced by a large scarlet banner. The very same historical cloth became a relic, on June 20, 1945 it was delivered to Moscow and placed in the Central Museum of the Armed Forces. The Banner of Victory is kept here to this day.

FORGOTTEN HERO ALEXEY BEREST

A year later, all participants in the historic event were awarded the titles of Heroes of the Soviet Union. Sergeant Mikhail Yegorov, junior sergeant Meliton Kantaria, company commander, foreman Ilya Syanov, battalion commanders - Konstantin Samsonov, captains Vasily Davydov, Stepan Neustroev and Konstantin Samsovnov, regiment commander, Colonel Fyodor Zinchenko, division commander, Major General Vasily Shatilov received Gold Stars . To the surprise of everyone, the name of Lieutenant Alexei Berest was not on this list. Why did it happen? And Ilya Syanov answered this question in his notes. He worked on them shortly before his death, he had no reason to dissemble in something, to embellish something. And therefore, he told the story of the forgotten lieutenant honestly, without concealing either the good or the bad.

Yes, the deputy commander of the assault battalion, Lieutenant Aleksey Berest, accompanied the standard-bearers with a group of fighters from the beginning of the assault to the roof. During the battles for the Reichstag, he was relentlessly near them. At one point, he was even a parliamentarian, presented an ultimatum to the Nazis who sat in the basement. In a word, he showed heroism, but he did not receive the Golden Star.

It turns out that the presentation of Alexei Berest to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, along with others, was sent to the headquarters of the front. But then he was arrested. In the personal file of Alexei Berest, a characteristic was found, which said that he was very ruffy, quarrelsome, did not like to look into the mouth of his superiors, sometimes reread at the most inopportune moment. In a word, the performance was delayed at the headquarters. It's an amazing thing how to go on the attack - a fighter is good, but how to present for an award - his character is not the same! A man could not survive such injustice, she broke him. Began to abuse alcohol. In 1953, while working as a foreman of a small artel in the Neklinovsky district of the Rostov region, he beat an auditor who extorted a bribe from him.

He spent two years in prison. After that, he worked as a sandblaster at the Rostselmash plant in Rostov-on-Don. He lived quietly and did not complain about fate. He tried not to remember his feat. And in November 1970, he again showed his heroic character. Rescuing a child, he threw himself under an approaching railway locomotive, saved the girl, and died himself.

- For a long time I could not come to my senses, having learned about this terrible tragedy, - Ilya Syanov wrote in his memoirs. - If the Motherland remains indebted to anyone, it is to Alyoshka Berest, a bright memory to his soul ...

By the way, the truth still triumphed. Many years later, on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the Great Victory, Lieutenant Alexei Berest was awarded the title of Hero of Russia. Unfortunately, this decision turned out to be belated.

Again, on the ninth of May, we will celebrate Victory Day throughout the country! We will once again remember those who died the death of the brave at the front, who died after the war. And on the footage of the newsreel, as a bright symbol of our Victory, a scarlet banner will soar over the defeated Reichstag again and again. We remember this feat of our soldiers and are justly proud of it! And we will always be proud ...

Irina SIZOVA.

REFERENCE

Participants in the assault on the Reichstag, awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union:

Division Commander - Major General Vasily Shatilov.

Regiment Commander - Colonel Fedor Zinchenko.

Battalion commanders - captain Vasily Davydov, captain Stepan Neustroev, captain Konstantin Samsonov.

Company commander - foreman Ilya Syanov.

Standard bearers - sergeant Mikhail Egorov, Lance Sergeant Meliton Kantaria.

Became a Hero of Russia many years later, in 1995, deputy battalion commander lieutenant.