Vasily Zaitsev sniper personal life. Vasily Zaitsev: the unknown story of the legendary sniper

On March 23, the hero of the Great Patriotic War, the famous sniper Vasily Grigorievich Zaitsev, would have celebrated his birthday.

Vasily was born in 1915 in the village of Eleninka, Polotsk village, Verkhneuralsky district, Orenburg province (now Kartalinsky district, Chelyabinsk region) in the family of a peasant, a commercial hunter. Vasily’s grandfather, Andrei Alekseevich Zaitsev, taught his grandchildren, Vasily and his younger brother, Maxim, to hunt from early childhood.

The shooter recalled: “In my memory, my childhood is marked by the words of my grandfather Andrei, who took me hunting with him, there he handed me a bow with homemade arrows and said: “You must shoot accurately, in the eye of every animal. Now you are no longer a child... Use your ammunition sparingly, learn to shoot without missing a beat. This skill can be useful not only when hunting for four-legged animals...” It was as if he knew or foresaw that I would have to carry out this order in the fire of the most brutal battle for the honor of our Motherland - in Stalingrad... I received from my grandfather a letter of taiga wisdom, love of nature and worldly experience.”

At the age of 12, Vasily received his first hunting rifle as a gift. On March 23, the hero of the Great Patriotic War, the famous sniper Vasily Grigorievich Zaitsev, would have celebrated the birthday.

Sniper Vasily Zaitsev

After finishing seven classes of high school, the young man left the village and entered the Magnitogorsk Construction College, where he studied to become a reinforcement worker. Then he completed accounting courses.

Since 1937, Vasily served in the Pacific Fleet, where he was assigned as a clerk in the artillery department. After studying at the Military Economic School, he was appointed head of the financial department in the Pacific Fleet, in Preobrazhenie Bay. The Great Patriotic War found him in this position.

By the summer of 1942, the foreman of the first article, Zaitsev, submitted five reports with a request to be sent to the front. Finally, the commander granted his request, and Zaitsev left for the active army, where he was enlisted in the 284th Infantry Division.

Throughout the war, the hero did not part with his sailor vest. “Blue and white stripes! - He remembered. - How impressively they emphasize in you the feeling of your own strength! Let the sea rage on your chest - I will endure it, I will stand. This feeling did not leave me either in the first or in the second year of service in the navy. On the contrary, the longer you live in a vest, the more familiar it becomes to you; sometimes it seems that you were born in it and are ready to thank your own mother for this. Yes, indeed, as Sergeant Major Ilyin said: “There is no sailor without a vest.” She always calls you to test your own strength.”

On a September night in 1942, together with other Pacific soldiers, Zaitsev, after short preparation for battles in urban conditions, crossed the Volga and took part in the battles for Stalingrad.

The sniper shows his rifle to the division commander

The baptism of fire took place in fierce battles. In a short period of time, the fighter became a legend among his fellow soldiers - he killed 32 Nazis with an ordinary Mosin rifle. They especially noted how a sniper from his “three-line rifle” hit three enemy soldiers from 800 meters.

Zaitsev received a real sniper rifle personally from the commander of the 1047th regiment, Metelev, along with the medal “For Courage”. “Our determination to fight here, in the ruins of the city,” said the commander, “under the slogan “Not a step back,” is dictated by the will of the people. The open spaces beyond the Volga are great, but with what eyes will we look at our people there? To which the fighter uttered a phrase that later became legendary: “There is nowhere to retreat, there is no land for us beyond the Volga!”

The art of a sniper is not only to accurately hit the target, like a target at a shooting range. Zaitsev combined all the qualities inherent in a sniper - visual acuity, sensitive hearing, restraint, composure, endurance, military cunning. He knew how to choose the best positions and disguise them; usually hid from enemy soldiers in places where they could not even imagine a Soviet sniper. The famous sniper hit the enemy mercilessly. Only in the period from November 10 to December 17, 1942, in the battles for Stalingrad, V.G. Zaitsev destroyed 225 enemy soldiers and officers, including 11 snipers, and his comrades in arms in the 62nd Army - 6000.

Zaitsev was especially glorified by a sniper duel with a German “super sniper”, whom Zaitsev himself calls Major Koenig in his memoirs (according to Alan Clark - head of the sniper school in Zossen, SS Standartenführer Heinz Thorwald Koenig), sent to Stalingrad with a special task of fighting Soviet snipers, and The first priority was the destruction of Zaitsev. Zaitsev, in turn, received the task of destroying Koenig personally from commander N.F. Batyuk. After one of the Soviet snipers had his optical sight broken by a bullet, and another in the same area was wounded, Zaitsev managed to establish the enemy’s position. About the fight that followed, Vasily Grigorievich wrote:

“It was clear that an experienced sniper was operating in front of us, so we decided to intrigue him, but we had to wait out the first half of the day, because the glare of the optics could give us away. After lunch, our rifles were already in the shadows, and direct rays of the sun fell on the fascist positions. Something glittered from under the sheet - a sniper scope. A well-aimed shot, the sniper fell. As soon as it got dark, ours went on the offensive and at the height of the battle we pulled out the killed fascist major from under the iron sheet. They took his documents and delivered them to the division commander.”

“I was sure that you would shoot this Berlin bird,” said the division commander.

Unlike all standard German and Soviet rifles of that time, which had a scope magnification of only 3-4 times, since only virtuosos could work with high magnification, the scope on the rifle of the head of the Berlin school had a magnification of 10 times. This is precisely what speaks about the level of the enemy that Vasily Zaitsev had to face.

Awarding sniper Zaitsev

In his book “Beyond the Volga there was no land for us. Notes of a Sniper” Vasily Grigorievich wrote about his fight with Koening: “It was difficult to say in which area he was located. He probably changed positions often and looked for me as carefully as I did for him. But then an incident happened: the enemy broke my friend Morozov’s optical sight, and wounded Sheikin. Morozov and Sheikin were considered experienced snipers; they often emerged victorious in the most difficult and difficult battles with the enemy.

Now there was no doubt - they had stumbled upon exactly the fascist “super sniper” that I was looking for... Now it was necessary to lure out and “put” at least a piece of his head on the gun. It was useless to achieve this now. Need time. But the character of a fascist has been studied. He will not leave this successful position. We definitely had to change our position... After lunch, our rifles were in the shade, and direct rays of the sun fell on the fascist position. Something glittered at the edge of the sheet: a random piece of glass or an optical sight? Kulikov carefully, as only the most experienced sniper can do, began to lift his helmet.

The fascist fired. The Nazi thought that he had finally killed the Soviet sniper, whom he had been hunting for four days, and stuck half his head out from under the leaf. That's what I was counting on. He hit it straight. The fascist’s head sank, and the optical sight of his rifle, without moving, sparkled in the sun until the evening...”

In January 1943, following the order of the division commander to disrupt a German attack on the right-flank regiment by Zaitsev’s sniper group, which at that time consisted of only 13 people, Zaitsev was seriously wounded and blinded by a mine explosion. Only on February 10, 1943, after several operations performed in Moscow by Professor Filatov, his vision returned.

Vasily Zaitsev

By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of February 22, 1943, for courage and military valor shown in battles with the Nazi invaders, junior lieutenant V. G. Zaitsev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, with the presentation of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal. .

Throughout the war, V.G. Zaitsev served in the army, headed a sniper school, commanded a mortar platoon, and then was a company commander. He has 242 enemy soldiers and officers killed. He took part in the liberation of Donbass, in the battle for the Dnieper, and fought near Odessa and on the Dniester. Captain V.G. Zaitsev met May 1945 in Kyiv - again in the hospital.

During the war years, Zaitsev wrote two textbooks for snipers, and also developed the still used technique of sniper hunting with “sixes” - when three pairs of snipers (shooters and observers) cover the same battle zone with fire.

After the end of the war, he was demobilized and settled in Kyiv. He was the commandant of the Pechersk region. He studied in absentia at the All-Union Institute of Textile and Light Industry. He worked as director of a machine-building plant, director of the Ukraina clothing factory, and headed the light industry technical school. Participated in army tests of the SVD rifle. The war hero met his wife Zinaida Sergeevna while holding the position of director of an automobile repair plant, and she worked as the secretary of the party bureau of a machine-building plant.

Zaitsev rifle in the museum

By the decision of the Volgograd City Council of People's Deputies of May 7, 1980, for special services shown in the defense of the city and in the defeat of Nazi troops in the Battle of Stalingrad, Vasily Grigorievich Zaitsev was awarded the title “Honorary Citizen of the Hero City of Volgograd.”

Zaitsev retained his accuracy into old age. One day he was invited to evaluate the training of young snipers. After the shooting, he was asked to demonstrate his skills to the young fighters. The 65-year-old warrior, taking a rifle from one of the young fighters, hit the “ten” three times. That time the cup was awarded not to excellent marksmen, but to him, an outstanding master of marksmanship.

Vasily Grigorievich died on December 15, 1991. He was buried in Kyiv at the Lukyanovsky military cemetery, although his will was to be buried in the Stalingrad land, which he defended.

Monument at the hero's grave

On January 31, 2006, the ashes of Vasily Grigorievich Zaitsev were solemnly reburied with full military honors in Volgograd on the Mamayev Kurgan.

In 1942, during the brutal battles for Stalingrad, Soviet snipers delivered sensitive blows to the Germans.

Skillfully camouflaging themselves, patiently waiting, they lay in wait for the enemy at the most unexpected moment and destroyed him with one well-aimed shot.

Vasily Zaitsev especially annoyed the Nazis.

Vasily Zaitsev is the famous sniper of the 62nd Army of the Stalingrad Front, Hero of the Soviet Union, the best sniper of the Battle of Stalingrad. During this battle from November 10 to December 17, 1942, he destroyed 225 enemy soldiers and officers, including 11 snipers.

In order to reduce the activity of Russian snipers and thus raise the morale of their soldiers, the German command decides to send the head of the Berlin sniper squad, SS Colonel Heinz Thorwald, to the city on the Volga to destroy the “main Russian hare.”

Torvald, transported to the front by plane, immediately challenged Zaitsev, shooting down two Soviet snipers with single shots.

Now the Soviet command was also worried, having learned about the arrival of the German ace. The commander of the 284th Infantry Division, Colonel Batyuk, ordered his snipers to eliminate Heinz at any cost.

The task was not easy. First of all, it was necessary to find a German, study his behavior, habits, handwriting. And this is all for one single shot.

Thanks to his vast experience, Zaitsev perfectly studied the handwriting of enemy snipers. By the camouflage and firing of each of them, he could determine their character, experience, and courage. But Colonel Thorvald puzzled him. It was impossible to even understand in which sector of the front he was operating. Most likely, he changes positions quite often, acts with great caution, tracking down the enemy himself.

One day at dawn, together with his partner Nikolai Kuznetsov, Zaitsev took a secret position in the area where their comrades had been wounded the day before. But the whole day of observation did not bring any results.

But suddenly a helmet appeared above the enemy trench and began to slowly move along the trench. But her swaying was somehow unnatural. “Bait,” Vasily realized. But for the whole day not a single movement was noticed. This means that the German lay in a hidden position all day without giving himself away. From this ability to be patient, Zaitsev realized that in front of him was the head of a sniper school. On the second day, the fascist again showed nothing of himself.

Then we began to understand that this was the same guest from Berlin.

The third morning at the position began as usual. A battle was breaking out nearby. But the Soviet snipers did not move and only observed the enemy positions. But political instructor Danilov, who went with them into the ambush, could not stand it. Having decided that he had noticed the enemy, he leaned out of the trench quite a bit and just for a second. This was enough for the enemy shooter to notice him, take aim and shoot him. Fortunately, the political instructor only wounded him. It was clear that only a master of his craft could shoot like that. This convinced Zaitsev and Kuznetsov that it was the guest from Berlin who fired and, judging by the speed of the shot, was right in front of them. But where exactly?

SMART SNIPER ZAYTSEV

There is a bunker on the right, but the embrasure in it is closed. There is a damaged tank on the left, but an experienced shooter will not climb there. Between them, on a flat area, lies a piece of metal, covered with a pile of bricks. Moreover, it has been lying there for a long time, the eye has become accustomed to it, and you won’t even notice it right away. Maybe a German under the leaf?

Zaitsev put his mitten on his stick and raised it above the parapet. A shot and an accurate hit. Vasily lowered the bait in the same position as he raised it. The bullet entered smoothly, without drift. Like a German under a sheet of iron.

The next challenge is to get him to open up. But today it is useless to do this. It’s okay, the enemy sniper will not leave the successful position. It's not in his character. The Russians definitely need to change their position.

The next night we took a new position and began to wait for dawn. In the morning, a new battle between infantry units broke out. Kulikov fired at random, illuminating his cover and piqued the interest of the enemy shooter. Then they rested throughout the first half of the day, waiting for the sun to turn around, leaving their shelter in the shadows, and illuminating the enemy’s with direct rays

Suddenly, right in front of the leaf, something sparkled. Optical sight. Kulikov slowly began to lift his helmet. The shot clicked. Kulikov screamed, stood up and immediately fell without moving.

The German made a fatal mistake by not counting the second sniper. He leaned out a little from under cover right under Vasily Zaitsev’s bullet.

Thus ended this sniper duel, which became famous at the front and was included in the list of classic techniques of snipers around the world.

By the way, curiously, the hero of the Battle of Stalingrad Vasily Zaitsev did not immediately become a sniper.

When it became clear that Japan would not start a war against the USSR, troops began to be transferred from Siberia and the Far East to the German front. This is how Vasily Zaitsev fell under Stalingrad. Initially, he was an ordinary infantryman-shooter of the famous 62nd Army of V.I. Chuikova. But he was distinguished by enviable accuracy.

September 22, 1942 The division in which Zaitsev served broke into the territory of the Stalingrad hardware plant and took up defensive positions there. Zaitsev received a bayonet wound, but did not leave the line. Having asked his shell-shocked comrade to load the rifle, Zaitsev continued to fire. And, despite being wounded and lacking a sniper scope, he destroyed 32 Nazis in that battle. The grandson of the Ural hunter turned out to be a worthy student of his grandfather.

“For us, the soldiers and commanders of the 62nd Army, there is no land beyond the Volga. We have stood and will stand to the death!” V. Zaitsev

Zaitsev combined all the qualities inherent in a sniper - visual acuity, sensitive hearing, restraint, composure, endurance, military cunning. He knew how to choose the best positions and disguise them; usually hid from enemy soldiers in places where they could not even imagine a Russian sniper. The famous sniper hit the enemy mercilessly.

Only in the period from November 10 to December 17, 1942, in the battles for Stalingrad, V.G. Zaitsev destroyed 225 enemy soldiers and officers, including 11 snipers, and his comrades in arms in the 62nd Army - 6000.

V. Zaitsev died on December 15, 1991. He was buried in Kyiv at the Lukyanovskoye military cemetery, although his last wish was to be buried in the Stalingrad land that he defended.

On January 31, 2006, the ashes of Vasily Grigorievich Zaitsev were solemnly reburied in Volgograd on Mamayev Kurgan.

The Great Patriotic War was a time when the Soviet people showed what the official press called “mass heroism.” It really was massive - everyone, young and old, joined in the battle with the Nazis, not sparing themselves.

But there were people who did absolutely incredible things. Not only the whole country, but the whole world learned about their exploits. One of these war legends was the sniper Vasily Zaitsev.

He was born in March 1915 in the village of Eleninka, Polotsk village, Verkhneuralsky district, Orenburg province, into a peasant family. His grandfather Andrey Alekseevich Zaitsev, was a hereditary hunter and commercial hunter and from childhood he introduced his grandchildren to this activity, especially highlighting the eldest, Vasya.

Vasily grew slowly as a child, which is why his parents even feared that he would remain a “small size.” However, the grandfather did not care - he passed on to his grandson all the secrets of the taiga hunter's skill. Although it’s unlikely that little Vasya could have guessed where and when this science would be useful to him.

Vasily Zaitsev graduated from a seven-year school, then a construction technical school with a degree in fittings, then accounting courses.

In 1937, Zaitsev was drafted into the army. Despite his short stature, the commission assessed his good general physical development and sent him to the Pacific Fleet.

Zaitsev started as a clerk in the artillery department, and by the beginning of the war, thanks to his education, he became the head of the financial unit.

Here, far from the Western Front, it would be possible to sit out the war in relative peace. Only this prospect did not suit Vasily Zaitsev. By the summer of 1942, the sergeant major of the 1st article literally tormented the command with reports asking to send him to the front.

Vasily Zaitsev in Stalingrad, October 1942. Photo: Public Domain

Baptism by fire

And finally, he was enlisted in the second battalion of the 1047th regiment of the 284th Infantry Division. A unit formed from sailors of the Pacific Fleet transferred to infantry was transferred to Stalingrad.

On the night of September 22, 1942, the 284th Rifle Division safely crossed the Volga, entering Stalingrad, where heavy fighting raged.

The division immediately entered the battle. And here an episode occurred, which Vasily Zaitsev would later describe in his memoirs and which, in a very free interpretation, was included in the film “Stalingrad” Fedor Bondarchuk.

Zaitsev's battalion led an attack on German positions on the territory of the Stalingrad gas depot. The enemy, trying to stop the onslaught of Soviet troops, set fire to fuel containers with artillery fire and air strikes. This is how Zaitsev himself described what was happening in his book:

“Flames shot up over the base, gas tanks began to burst, and the ground caught fire. Giant flames rushed over the chains of the attacking sailors with a deafening roar. Everything is on fire. Another minute - and we will turn into coals, into firebrands...

Forward! Forward!

The soldiers and sailors engulfed in fire tore off their burning clothes as they walked, but did not drop their weapons. Attack of naked burning people... I don’t know what the Nazis thought of us at that moment. Perhaps they mistook us for devils or saints, whom even fire cannot kill, and therefore fled without looking back. We drove them out of the village adjacent to the gas station and stopped on the extreme western street, lying down among the small individual houses that made up this street. Here someone threw a raincoat to me, and I somehow covered myself... From the hot air, the soldiers' lips were cracked, their mouths were dry, their singed hair stuck together - the teeth of the comb were bent. But the battalion commander, Captain Kotov, rejoiced: the order was carried out! They recaptured the gas tanks, took possession of the unfinished red building, seized the office of the hardware plant, fighting is taking place in the workshops and breaches of the asphalt and hardware plants!”

So Zaitsev’s battalion managed to knock the Germans out of their positions and gain a foothold in the city. So the “division burned to the ground” shown in “Stalingrad” did not actually die, but continued to successfully beat the Nazis.

It should be noted that Vasily Zaitsev and Fyodor Bondarchuk are connected by one more point - in 1989, in the director’s film Yuri Ozerov"Stalingrad" Bondarchuk played the role of a sniper Ivana, the prototype of which was Vasily Zaitsev.

Death from the oven

The Battle of Stalingrad differs from others in that it developed into a months-long street battle, where the methods of conventional warfare were ineffective. As a result, small assault groups and snipers became the main striking force in these battles.

Soviet and German snipers staged a real hunt for enemy soldiers and officers. It has become dangerous not only to walk in the city, but even just to lean out of shelters.

This is where Vasily Zaitsev’s skills as a taiga hunter helped him a lot. He had excellent eyesight and hearing, iron restraint, composure, endurance and military cunning.

It is extremely important for a sniper to be able to camouflage himself and not reveal himself ahead of time. Vasily Zaitsev possessed these abilities like no one else.

Once Vasily hid in a dilapidated oven, from which the entrances to the fascist dugouts were clearly visible, as well as the basement that served the Nazis as a kitchen. In one evening, Zaitsev eliminated 10 enemy soldiers.

During the period from November 10 to December 17, 1942 alone, Vasily Zaitsev destroyed 225 enemy soldiers and officers, including 11 enemy snipers. In total, the sniper groups of the 62nd Army that fought in Stalingrad eliminated 6,000 enemy soldiers and officers during this period.

Duel of two aces

The fame of Zaitsev’s exploits spread to the other side of the front line. To eliminate the Soviet sniper, the German command called its specialist from Berlin - the head of the sniper school, whom Zaitsev calls in his memoirs “ Major Koenig».

According to a number of historians, Zaitsev’s opponent was the head of the sniper school in Zossen, an SS Standartenführer Heinz Thorwald.

Koenig-Torvald managed to eliminate several Soviet snipers, after which Zaitsev began a counter hunt for him.

On the decisive day, Zaitsev acted in tandem with another sniper - Nikolai Kulikov. This is what the Soviet ace himself writes about the culmination of the duel: “We worked at night. We settled in until dawn. The Nazis fired at the crossings of the Volga. It was getting light quickly, and as daylight came the battle developed with renewed vigor. But neither the roar of guns, nor the explosions of shells and bombs - nothing could distract us from completing the mission. The sun has risen. Kulikov made a “blind” shot: the sniper should have been interested. We decided to wait out the first half of the day, since the glare of the optics could give us away. After lunch, our rifles were in the shade, and direct rays of the sun fell on the fascist position. Something glittered at the edge of the sheet: a random piece of glass or an optical sight? Kulikov carefully, as only the most experienced sniper can do, began to lift his helmet. The fascist fired. The Nazi thought that he had finally killed the Soviet sniper, whom he had been hunting for four days, and stuck half his head out from under the leaf. That's what I was counting on. He hit it straight. The fascist’s head sank, and the optical sight of his rifle, without moving, sparkled in the sun until the evening...”

The German's documents and rifle were delivered to the division commander. It turned out that Zaitsev’s opponent had optics with 10x magnification on his weapon, while the Soviet sniper had only 4x magnification. However, this did not help the German.

Victory in a hospital bed

Over four months in Stalingrad, a group of snipers commanded by Vasily Zaitsev destroyed 1,126 Nazis.

The battle ended for the sniper in January 1943, when he was seriously wounded and lost his sight. The hero was taken to Moscow, where Professor Filatov himself operated on him, returning the sniper’s ability to see.

After treatment in the hospital, Zaitsev headed a sniper school, then commanded a platoon, and subsequently a company. But that was a little later.

And on February 22, 1943, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, for courage and military valor shown in battles with the Nazi invaders, junior lieutenant Vasily Grigorievich Zaitsev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

During the war, Vasily Zaitsev wrote two textbooks on sniper business. In addition, he came up with the technique of sniper hunting with “sixes” - when three pairs of snipers (shooters and observers) cover the same battle zone with fire. This technique was widely used during the Chechen campaigns.

Captain Vasily Zaitsev met the victorious May 1945 in Kyiv, in the hospital, where he was treated after another injury.

Hero of the Soviet Union, participant in the Battle of Stalingrad Vasily Zaitsev, 1979. Photo: RIA Novosti / Igor Kostin

Last will

There, in Kyiv, Vasily Zaitsev spent his peaceful post-war life after demobilization.

He graduated from the institute, was the director of a clothing factory, plant, and headed a technical school. When the new SVD sniper rifle was adopted by the Soviet army, Vasily Zaitsev was among those who were involved in the tests.

Zaitsev's rifle is now kept in the Volgograd Museum of City Defense as one of the main rarities. In 1980, the city authorities awarded Vasily Zaitsev the title of Honorary Citizen.

The last years of the life of the hero of Stalingrad can hardly be called happy - the exploits of the soldiers of the Great Patriotic War were ridiculed, in Ukraine, which was striving for independence, Bandera's underdogs and their young like-minded people raised their heads.

Vasily Grigorievich Zaitsev died on December 15, 1991, just a few days before the country for which he fought disappeared. His last wish was to be buried next to his comrades on the Mamayev Kurgan in Stalingrad.

However, in the conditions of the collapse of everything and everyone, the hero’s last will was never heard.

Vasily Zaitsev was remembered again in Russia in 2001, when the film “Enemy at the Gates” dedicated to the Battle of Stalingrad was released in Hollywood. Its main storyline was the fight between Zaitsev and Major Koenig. The blockbuster, in which the role of Zaitsev went to actor Jude Law, looked like an outright “cranberry”, but nevertheless allowed the memory of the hero of Stalingrad to be brought back from oblivion in Russia.

On January 31, 2006, Vasily Zaitsev’s last request was fulfilled - his remains were solemnly reburied with military honors on Mamayev Kurgan.

The grave of Vasily Zaitsev on Mamayev Kurgan in Volgograd. Photo: wikipedia.org / Konstantin Dorokhin

The commander of the 62nd Army V.I. Chuikov and member of the military council K.A. Gurov examine the rifle of the legendary sniper V.G. Zaitsev

2013 is a special year for our historical memory. It is significant for the 70th anniversary of the victory in the Battles of Stalingrad and Kursk, the 70th anniversary of the radical turning point in the Great Patriotic War. Hero of the Soviet Union Vasily Grigorievich Zaitsev, the famous sniper who became famous in Stalingrad, continued his combat journey through Ukraine, participated in the battle for the Dnieper, and fought near Odessa and the Dniester. He celebrated Victory Day in Kyiv while being treated in a hospital.

It is amazing how the events of his childhood resonate in a person’s fate. Vasily Zaitsev’s sniper future was also predetermined. The shooter recalled: “In my memory, my childhood is marked by the words of my grandfather Andrei, who took me hunting with him, there he handed me a bow with homemade arrows and said: “You must shoot accurately, in the eye of every animal. Now you are no longer a child... Use your ammunition sparingly, learn to shoot without missing a beat. This skill can be useful not only in hunting for four-legged animals...” It was as if he knew or foresaw that I would have to carry out this order in the fire of the most brutal battle for the honor of our Motherland - in Stalingrad... I received from my grandfather a letter of taiga wisdom, love of nature and everyday experience."

Vasily Grigoryevich Zaitsev was born on March 23, 1915 in the village of Eleninka, Polotsk village, Verkhneuralsky district, Orenburg province (now Kartalinsky district, Chelyabinsk region) into a simple peasant family.

After finishing seven years of high school, Vasily left the village and entered the Magnitogorsk Construction College, where he studied to become a reinforcement worker.

In 1937, V. Zaitsev began working as a clerk in the artillery department of the Pacific Fleet and continued his education at the Military Economic School. After completing his training, he was appointed head of the financial department of the Pacific Fleet in Preobrazhenie Bay. However, he did not stay in this position for long - until the summer of 1942.

After five reports he submitted with a request to send to the front, first-class sergeant Vasily Zaitsev was finally given the go-ahead, and he and other Pacific volunteer sailors went to the front line to defend the Motherland. Throughout the war, the hero did not part with his sailor vest. “Blue and white stripes! How impressively they emphasize your sense of your own strength! Let the sea rage on your chest - I will endure it, I will stand. This feeling did not leave me either in the first or in the second year of service in the navy. On the contrary, the longer you live in a vest, the more familiar it becomes to you; sometimes it seems that you were born in it and are ready to thank your own mother for this. Yes, indeed, as Sergeant Major Ilyin said: “There is no sailor without a vest.” She always calls you to test your own strength.”

In September 1942, V. Zaitsev, as part of the 284th Infantry Division, crossed the Volga. The baptism of fire took place in the fierce battles for Stalingrad. In a short period of time, the fighter became a legend among his fellow soldiers - he killed 32 Nazis with an ordinary Mosin rifle. They especially noted how a sniper from his “three-line rifle” hit three enemy soldiers from 800 meters. Zaitsev received a real sniper rifle personally from the commander of the 1047th regiment, Metelev, along with the medal “For Courage”. “Our determination to fight here, in the ruins of the city,” said the commander, “under the slogan “Not a step back,” is dictated by the will of the people. The open spaces beyond the Volga are great, but with what eyes will we look at our people there? To which the fighter uttered a phrase that later became legendary: “There is nowhere to retreat, there is no land for us beyond the Volga!” The second part of this phrase will be engraved in 1991 on a granite slab - on the Kyiv grave of V. Zaitsev.

The sniper rifle handed to the shooter that day is now exhibited in the Volgograd State Panorama Museum “Battle of Stalingrad” as an exhibit. In 1945, the rifle was made personalized. After the Victory, an engraving was attached to the butt: “To the Hero of the Soviet Union, Guard Captain Vasily Zaitsev. He buried more than 300 fascists in Stalingrad.”

V. Zaitsev's rifle

The art of a sniper is not only to accurately hit the target, like a target at a shooting range. Zaitsev was a born sniper - he had a special military cunning, excellent hearing, a quick-witted mind that helped him choose the right position and react quickly, as well as incredible endurance. Another quality was especially noted - Zaitsev did not fire a single extra shot. The only time he broke this rule was when the sniper saluted on the day of the great Victory.

Head of the political department of the 284th Infantry Division, Lieutenant Colonel V.Z. Tkachenko presents a candidate card for membership of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks to the sniper of the 1047th Infantry Regiment, Sergeant Major V.G. Zaitsev. 1942

But the most legendary battle that glorified our shooter was a duel that lasted several days with the German sniper ace Major Koening, who specially arrived in Stalingrad to hunt snipers, and his priority task was the destruction of Zaitsev. As the soldier's legend said - on Hitler's personal order. In his book “Beyond the Volga there was no land for us. Notes of a Sniper” Vasily Grigorievich wrote about his fight with Koening: “It was difficult to say in which area he was located. He probably changed positions often and looked for me as carefully as I did for him. But then an incident happened: the enemy broke my friend Morozov’s optical sight, and wounded Sheikin. Morozov and Sheikin were considered experienced snipers; they often emerged victorious in the most difficult and difficult battles with the enemy. Now there was no doubt - they had stumbled upon exactly the fascist “super sniper” I was looking for... Now I had to lure out and “put” at least a piece of his head on the gun. It was useless to achieve this now. Need time. But the character of a fascist has been studied. He will not leave this successful position. We definitely had to change our position... After lunch, our rifles were in the shade, and direct rays of the sun fell on the fascist position. Something glittered at the edge of the sheet: a random piece of glass or an optical sight? Kulikov carefully, as only the most experienced sniper can do, began to lift his helmet. The fascist fired. The Nazi thought that he had finally killed the Soviet sniper, whom he had been hunting for four days, and stuck half his head out from under the leaf. That's what I was counting on. He hit it straight. The fascist’s head sank, and the optical sight of his rifle, without moving, sparkled in the sun until the evening...”

The captured Mauser 98k of the fascist sniper ace Koening is included in the exhibition of the Moscow Central Museum of the Armed Forces.

This sniper duel formed the basis of the plot of the feature film Enemy at the Gates (USA, Germany, Ireland, UK, 2001) directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud.

In 1943, a dramatic incident occurred with V. Zaitsev. After a mine explosion, the sniper was seriously wounded and lost his sight. Only after several operations in Moscow, performed by the famous ophthalmologist professor V.P. Filatov, the Soviet hero’s vision was restored.

V. Zaitsev wrote two textbooks for snipers, and also created his own shooting school. On the front line he trained soldiers in sniper skills, raising 28 students, who were nicknamed “hares” in their own way, but with respect. Zaitsev invented the still used method of sniper hunting with “sixes” - when three pairs of snipers (a shooter and an observer) cover the same battle zone with fire.

V. Zaitsev’s personal account is 225 enemy soldiers, of which 11 were snipers (according to unofficial estimates, he killed more than 500 fascists).

V. Zaitsev finished his military career in the post-war years, studied at the All-Union Institute of Textile and Light Industry, worked in Kyiv as director of the Ukraina clothing factory, and headed the light industry technical school. The war hero met his wife Zinaida Sergeevna while holding the position of director of an automobile repair plant, and she worked as the secretary of the party bureau of a machine-building plant.

By the decision of the Volgograd City Council of People's Deputies of May 7, 1980, for special services shown in the defense of the city and in the defeat of Nazi troops in the Battle of Stalingrad, V. G. Zaitsev was awarded the title “Honorary Citizen of the Hero City of Volgograd.” The hero is depicted in a panorama of the Battle of Stalingrad.

Vasily Zaitsev died on December 15, 1991. He was buried in Kyiv at the Lukyanovsky cemetery.

The grave of V. G. Zaitsev at the Lukyanovsky cemetery in Kyiv

Subsequently, the warrior-hero’s will was fulfilled - to bury him in the blood-soaked soil of Stalingrad, which he so heroically defended.

And on January 31, 2006, the last will of the legendary sniper was fulfilled; his ashes were solemnly reburied on Mamayev Kurgan in Volgograd.

Memorial plaque on Mamayev Kurgan

The hero’s wife said: “Today there is a lot of debate about how to talk about the war. I think we need to do it honestly. Without ideology. But the main thing is that neither in 60 years, nor in 100 years can we forget about it. This is OUR pride. And it doesn’t matter who Zaitsev was - Russian, Tatar or Ukrainian. He defended the country, which now became 15 small states. There were millions like him. And they should know about them. In each of these 15 states.”

In 1993, the Russian-French feature film “Angels of Death” was released (F. Bondarchuk played the role of sniper Ivan). The prototype of the main character was the fate of V. Zaitsev. More recently, a documentary film about Zaitsev appeared - “The Legendary Sniper” (2013).

And although the grave of the legendary sniper is no longer in Kyiv, they say that a ship plying along the Dnieper bears the name of the hero. I believe that in Ukraine there are still those who can answer the question: “Who is V.G. Zaitsev and why is the ship named after him?”

/ November 29, 2017 / /

Vasily Zaitsev

Vasily Zaitsev was born in the village of Eleninsky, village of Velikopetrovskaya, Verkhneuralsky district, Orenburg province, now the village. Eleninka, Kartalinsky district, Chelyabinsk region. Participant of the Great Patriotic War, sniper, Hero of the Soviet Union (February 22, 1943).

"Angels of death"

The Germans learned about the sniper Zaitsev from Soviet newspapers. In the battles for Stalingrad he destroyed 242 Nazis. Zaitsev’s words “There is no land for us beyond the Volga!” became the oath of the defenders of Stalingrad.

Snipers for tank, motorized and cavalry divisions of the SS troops, as well as the Wehrmacht, were trained at an elite school in the Berlin suburb of Zossen. According to the American historian Samuel W. Mitchum, the school was visited more than once by the leader of the “black order”, SS Reisführer Heinrich Himmler, who valued the art of shooting, apparently primarily because of his misanthropic tendencies. He pompously awarded SS members who fulfilled particularly difficult standards in bullet shooting at the annual celebrations in the “order castle” of Wewelsburg, where the entire SS elite gathered, with a specially established silver badge (by the way, we also held the “Voroshilov Shooter” badge in high esteem ).

The head of the Zossen school, Heinz Thorwald, was known as the Reichsführer's favorite. The wording of party characteristics for members of the NSDAP from the famous novel by Yulian Semyonov absolutely suited him: “Nordic character, persistent... Merciless to the enemies of the Reich.”

In the SS and Wehrmacht units, the graduates of the school he headed in Zossen were famous, nicknamed “angels of death” for their infernal skill. In Stalingrad, dozens of city defenders died every day from their shots. The Germans maintained fire superiority until the second half of October 1942. And then Paulus sounded the alarm: the enemy began to increase in the number of even more accurate and inventive snipers, and one of them, named Zaitsev, praised by the Russian front-line press, was especially dangerous...

The chief of Himmler's personal staff, SS-Obergruppenführer Karl Wolf, summoned SS Standartenführer Thorwald:

– It’s time to decorate your Knight’s Cross with oak leaves and swords! My Storch will take you by air to Stalingrad. Hunt down this hare... Remember, the Fuhrer himself is watching you!

Wolf was not exaggerating: when Hitler was informed that on a rearing patch of Russian defense, pressed to the Volga by the iron pincers of the Wehrmacht, the “shepherd from the Urals”, the owner of the hare surname, in a matter of days, sent to his forefathers more than a hundred of his officers and soldiers (and what kind!), he went berserk. And he ordered the best shooter of the Reich, Torvald, to be sent to Paulus, in whom he saw the living embodiment of his dream of a superman, destined to become the master of the world.

Reich Minister of Propaganda Dr. Goebbels, in turn, ordered the publication of an essay with a “true description” of the upcoming Stalingrad feat of the Standartenfuehrer in the SS official “Black Corps”...

Career of a “shepherd from the Urals”

The hereditary hunter Andrei Alekseevich Zaitsev did not know that his grandson, whom he taught to shoot, would someday be cursed with foam at the mouth by the most terrible German conqueror in world history.

However, the Zaitsevs had their own scores to settle with the Germans. Andrei Alekseevich's son Grigory was mobilized for the war with the Kaiser in the fall of 1914 and ended up in the 8th Army under the command of General Brusilov. While Gregory was fighting for the faith, the Tsar and the Fatherland, in March of the fifteenth, his wife gave birth to a boy, who was named Vasya. His wife gave birth to him in a forest bathhouse, without any medical assistance. And a couple of days later, seeing two teeth that had erupted in the little one’s mouth, she clasped her hands: no other way, the bloody beasts would tear the little one apart! There was such a belief in the Southern Urals... It did not come true. But my husband’s troubles were not over.

Grigory returned completely disabled. Hunting, an age-old trade that mainly fed the Eleninites, was now ordered from him... But he had to live somehow, he had a large family. Andrei Alekseevich pinned all his hopes on his grandson Vasyatka, and from childhood he took him on forest wanderings. Made a bow and arrows. Instructed:

“If you want to see what, say, a goat’s horns, eyes, ears are, sit in ambush so that he looks at you like you would at a piece of hay or a currant bush.” Lie down, don’t breathe and don’t move your eyelashes... Grow into the ground, fall to it like a maple leaf and move imperceptibly. Crawl close, otherwise the arrow will miss...

I remember my grandfather's lessons. Under his leadership, the boy learned to “read” the tracks of forest animals, track down the beds of wolves and bears, and set up ambushes in ways that the best Elenin miners could not detect. When he turned twelve years old, grandfather made a royal gift: he handed over a brand new 20-caliber Berdan gun with a full cartridge belt of powder charges, buckshot and shot... And he added:

- Use your fire supplies sparingly, so that not a single shot is wasted!

Shoot offhand, catch scythes with a snare, throw a lasso from a tree onto the horns of wild goats - Zaitsev Jr. knew how to do everything. And he would have emerged as an extremely successful hunter-commercial, but fate decreed otherwise.

In the Chelyabinsk steppe, near Magnitnaya Mountain, an unprecedented construction project took place. It is unknown how the wind brought sixteen-year-old Vasily here. But something else is known for sure: the short, stocky, strong man became a drummer in the construction almost immediately. By the way, he had no education at all. A school was not opened in the village of Yeleninsky under Soviet rule, but my grandmother taught me to read and write. The smart Ural resident completed his seven-year school year in Magnitogorsk. Without interruption from production. Then he enrolled in accounting courses.

After graduating from the military-economic school of the Pacific Fleet, Zaitsev became the chief of finance of the unit.

He met the Great Patriotic War as a chief foreman. I wrote reports on the command “Please send me to the front!” Five such reports one after another! And the bosses are either joking or serious:

- Wait a little, the samurai will strike - the front will be even hotter here!

So the bagpipes with transfer to the active army would drag on, until one day, receiving monetary allowance for the regiment at the bank, he heard women’s gossip behind his back: look, they say, what big foreheads got hired as cashiers... Vasily felt so offended that he decided to get into from the rear to the front line, even with a penalty box. I broke into the unit commander:

- If you don’t let me go, I’ll end up in a military tribunal!

And at this time, from the Pacific sailors in Vladivostok, the 284th Infantry Division was just being formed, which was to be thrown into the heat of Stalingrad. And the commander, no matter how sorry it was to part with the smart chief of finance, reluctantly arranged for Chief Sergeant Zaitsev to be transferred there as an ordinary soldier...

Less than a week later, his battalion loaded into heated vehicles and drove off to the Trans-Volga steppes. On the night of September 22, 1942, Colonel Batyuk’s 284th division in full force crossed to the right bank of the Volga, to fire-breathing Stalingrad. On the move - into battle. The Nazis first tried to burn the daredevils who burst into the territory of the hardware plant. The arriving armada of Junkers smashed 12 huge containers of gasoline. Flames and smoke covered the horizon, it seemed that nothing alive could remain here. But the Pacific Islanders did not give up, showing unprecedented tenacity... For five days and nights there were fierce battles for every workshop, floor, and stairwell.

More than once it came to hand-to-hand combat. In one of the battles, Vasily received a bayonet wound in the shoulder. My left arm is paralyzed. It was time to evacuate to the rear. But communication along the Volga, boiling from the explosions of shells and bombs, was again disrupted, and no more reinforcements were expected...

In these terrible days, when the fate of Stalingrad hung in the balance, Zaitsev said winged words that spread throughout the country:

“There is no land for us beyond the Volga!”

V.G. Zaitsev. Stalingrad, 1945 Photo by G.A. Zelma

As he said, so he did. Private Nikolai Logvinenko was nearby. On the contrary, his arms are intact, but his legs are like cotton wool from the concussion he received. So Vasily suggested to Nikolai:

“You load the rifles, and I’ll handle it with one hand.”

And they survived! A week later, the hand healed, Zaitsev began to defeat the enemy on his own. The rumor that an extraordinary shooter appeared in Captain Kotov's battalion, who rarely missed, quickly spread. The regiment commander, Major Metelev, began to send Zaitsev to other areas of defense, occupied in the destroyed hardware shops. A couple of days later, Vasily was greeted with a joyful exclamation:

- Ah, sniper! Look, the fascist is running. Probably with a report...

He cut down the nimble messenger at five hundred meters with one bullet. From an ordinary three-line camera without any optics. Then the second, third... Major Metelev kept his personal sniper score. After 10 days, there were 42 killed Nazis on it.

And on October 21, the commander of the 62nd Army, Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov, presented Zaitsev with a rifle with an optical sight, still rare in the Soviet troops, with the lucky number 28-28.

“The enemy’s machine gunners inflicted great damage on us,” recalled the hero of Stalingrad. There was no life. At first, wanting to somehow ease the situation, I removed the machine gunners, but they were immediately replaced by new ones. He began to break the sights of machine guns, but this required high accuracy. In the end, it became clear that I alone would not make the difference... By the decision of the Komsomol meeting of the regiment, supported by the unit commander, a school was opened in the hardware workshops, where I trained the first ten snipers... On the front line there are “hares,” as his students were called in 62 1st Army, worked in pairs, backing each other up and primarily knocking out enemy officers, signalmen, rangefinders...

It’s hard to believe, but the lessons that the grandson of a Ural hunter taught his comrades under bombing and machine-gun fire made it possible in a matter of days to raise shooters who were not inferior to the vaunted professionals from Zossen, at least in accuracy.

Duel

But in war, accuracy alone is not enough. Stealth, camouflage, cunning - that's what makes a good shooter a sniper. And the first duel with the “angel of death” almost became Zaitsev’s last - he received a bullet right in his helmet. A centimeter lower - and he would not live. Well, my partner helped out - he immediately “calmed down” the German with an accurate shot.

After that mortal battle, Vasily refreshed his memory of the lessons that he had once received from his grandfather. He began to come up with his own tricks.

One fascist shooter arranged his position very cleverly.

“He was behind the railway embankment, his head and rifle were covered by a carriage wheel, and he fired through a small hole in the center of the wheel,” Zaitsev recalled. - Almost invulnerable. And he controls us: if you move your helmet on the parapet, there’s a bullet... What should we do?”

The decision came suddenly. The Junkers arrived and the bombing began. At such moments, under fascist bombs, nurse Dora Shakhnevich usually took out a mirror, lipstick, and busily put beauty on her pretty face, but exhausted by the suffering of war, in order to control herself.

Zaitsev saw this and it dawned on him:

- Dora, give me a mirror!

And Vasily commanded his partner Viktor Medvedev:

- Come in from the right and look at the wheel, if you notice a movement, hit it immediately!

A sunbeam aimed directly at the hole played a fatal role in the fate of Hitler’s “William Tell”...

Why William Tell? As legend has it, one day the governor of the Swiss canton, Gessler, decided to find out whether a rebellion was brewing among the inhabitants of Uri. To do this, he ordered a pillar to be erected in the square and the ducal hat placed on it. Then the heralds announced that passersby were obliged to bow to this headdress, symbolizing the power of the Austrians, and those who refused would face death. Gritting their teeth, the residents obeyed the order, and only William Tell, who was walking in the square with his son, refused to bow to his hat. The German sniper did not lower his head...

In the army newspaper, the trick with a ray of light was painted in paint. And wow, this issue of “trench truth” fell into the hands of the enemy’s front-line scouts! This is how Paulus’s headquarters found out about Zaitsev and reported to the Fuhrer.

And soon the captured German during interrogation said that to hunt for the “main Russian hare,” as the German staff officers nicknamed Vasily, “the head of the Wehrmacht sniper school, Major Koenig,” arrived from Berlin (this is how the SS command disguised Standartenführer Thorwald, (der Koenig - the king ).

There were heated debates at night about the upcoming fight in the snipers' dugout. In order to destroy such a seasoned wolf, it was necessary to first “figure out” him, study his habits and techniques, and wait for the moment when it would be possible to fire just one, but sure, decisive shot. After all, life was at stake.

Each of Vasily’s comrades expressed his own guesses and assumptions, based on what he noticed at the enemy’s front line. They offered all sorts of bait that the Koenig could bite on.

“I knew the handwriting of fascist snipers by the nature of their fire and camouflage,” recalled Zaitsev, “and without much difficulty I distinguished more experienced shooters from beginners, cowards from stubborn and determined enemies. But the head of the school, his character remained a mystery to me...

Time passed, but the guest from the Fatherland showed no sign of himself. Zaitsev felt that an invisible enemy was somewhere nearby. But he often changed positions, apparently settling in either a water tower, or behind a damaged tank, or in a pile of bricks, and just as carefully as Zaitsev did, looking for him.

The best shooter of the Reich “sent his calling card” suddenly. The seriously wounded sniper Morozov was brought into the dugout.

An enemy bullet broke the optical sight and hit the right eye. Less than a few minutes later, his partner Sheikin was also wounded. These were Zaitsev’s most capable students, who more than once emerged victorious in fights with fascist riflemen. There was no doubt: the Koenig caught them.

At dawn, Vasily, together with Nikolai Kulikov, went to the positions where his comrades were wounded yesterday.

“Watching the familiar front line of the enemy, which I have studied for many days, I do not discover anything new,” wrote Zaitsev. - The day is ending. But then a helmet suddenly appears above the enemy trench and slowly moves along the trench. Fire? No! This is a trick: for some reason the helmet is swinging unnaturally, it is probably carried by the sniper’s assistant, and he himself is waiting for me to give myself away with a shot... Based on the patience that the enemy showed during the day, I guessed that the Berlin sniper was here. Special vigilance was required... The second day passed. Who will have stronger nerves? Who will outwit whom?

On the third day, officer Danilov went into the ambush together with Zaitsev and Kulikov. The battle was raging all around, shells and mines were flying overhead, but the trio of brave hunters, crouching to their optical instruments, kept an eye on what lay ahead.

- Yes, here it is, I’ll show you with my finger! — Danilov perked up.

Zaitsev wanted to warn the officer not to stick his head out, but it was too late. Carried away, Danilov rose above the parapet for just a moment, but that was enough for Koenig. The officer, wounded in the head, collapsed to the bottom of the trench. Hitler's champion shot...

“I peered at the enemy positions for a long time, but I couldn’t find his ambush. Based on the speed of the shot, I concluded that the sniper was somewhere right there,” Vasily Grigorievich recreates the intense fight.

- I continue to watch. On the left is a damaged tank, on the right is a bunker. Where is the fascist? In a tank? No, an experienced sniper will not sit there. Too noticeable a target. Maybe in a bunker? No, either - the embrasure is closed. Between the tank and the bunker on a flat area lies an iron sheet with a small pile of broken bricks. It’s been there for a long time, it’s become familiar. I put myself in the enemy’s position and wonder where it would be better to take a sniper post. Shouldn't we dig up a cell under that sheet at night and make hidden passages to it?

Zaitsev decided to check his assumption. He put a mitten on the board and lifted it. The fascist took the bait! Carefully lowering the bait and examining the hole, Vasily was convinced: no demolition, a direct hit. So, “Koenig” is under an iron sheet...

Now we need to lure him out and “put him on target.” At least the edge of your head. But now it is useless to achieve this. Too experienced, sophisticated enemy. Need time. The main thing is that he already understood his character. And he was sure: Koenig would not change this nest, it was too successful. But they definitely need to change their position...

During the night they equipped a new cell and moved in there before dawn. When the sun rose, Kulikov made a “blind” shot to interest the enemy. Then they waited for half a day - the glare of the optics could give away. In the afternoon, their rifles were in the shadows, but the direct rays of the sun fell on the iron sheet under which the Koenig was hiding. And then something sparkled at the edge of the sheet. A piece of glass laid out for bait or an optical sight?

Kulikov carefully, as only the most experienced fighters could do, began to lift the helmet mounted on the machine gun barrel. Immediately - a shot. Zaitsev’s partner screamed loudly and showed up for a moment.

“The Nazi thought that he had finally killed the Soviet sniper he was hunting for, and stuck half his head out of the under-sheet,” Vasily Grigorievich recalled the climactic moment. - He wanted to take a better look at me. That's what I was counting on. He hit it straight. The fascist’s head sank, and the glass in the eyepiece of his rifle’s sight, without moving, glittered in the sun until the evening...”

The bullet hit Torvald in the face and came out of the back of his head, piercing right through his helmet. Zaitsev and Kulikov pulled his corpse out from under the iron sheet at night, at the height of the battle, when Soviet troops in this area went on the attack and pushed back the enemy. In the pocket of the dead man’s jacket were documents addressed to “Major Koenig.” Zaitsev delivered them to the division commander. Vasily disdained the rifle of his defeated opponent and gave it to trophy collectors, but he kept the Zeiss scope for himself...

This fight between a simple Ural guy, who before the Nazi invasion hunted only forest game, with an SS war professional, equipped with the most advanced weapons, who, like no one else, knew how and even loved to kill representatives of the human race, is more than a duel of two shooters. This is a symbol of the great duel of our people with the devilish brown spawn... And of course, it is far from an accident that it was the Russian man who sent the fascist “angel of death” to hellfire.

Misfire

The duel with Torvald was Zaitsev's twelfth. And on the thirteenth, alas, there was a misfire.

- Order of the Red Banner, officer rank, everyone's attention. In a word, I was floating on the air,” Vasily Grigorievich said years later. “When a new sniper appeared from the enemy side, they sent for me like a celebrity. Kulikov and I went to the shooting range area to the hardware plant.

The carriages are lying broken, the guys are having breakfast. Hot buckwheat porridge with meat gravy. Before that I was hungry. There is slush and continuous fire along the Volga. The boats are not suitable... Not like crackers - every crumb was counted. And here - hot porridge! — About forty people received one hundred grams from the front. By the time breakfast arrived, less than thirty remained alive. Enjoy yourself to your heart's content. Winter after all...

The soldiers greeted them enthusiastically:

- Sit down, Comrade Lieutenant! Sharpen your eyes!

- I'm going to a duel!

- Why do you need a duel? What a bastard you killed!...

— I sharpened my eyes and ate. I took cover behind the carriage wheel, got ready, and let me, I think, check how he shoots. As soon as he raised his finger, it was blown away by an explosive bullet! That's it, I think the sniper Zaitsev is over... Which shooter am I without a finger?

While the sniper was grieving over his mistake, it got dark. By nightfall, a fresh battalion arrived from beyond the Volga. And immediately - go on the offensive. Zaitsev also goes on the attack. Hand-to-hand combat ensued in enemy trenches. Wounded again. I began to bandage myself, and then a shell exploded two steps away... Severe concussion. He lay there for more than a day, almost covered with earth.

As soon as the position was recaptured, the fallen soldiers began to be taken to Mamayev Kurgan to a mass grave. The funeral team also brought the lifeless Vasily there. And he would have laid down forever in the Stalingrad soil, but the nurse (her last name, Zaitsev later learned, was Vigovskaya) put her ear to his chest. And, what happiness, I heard my heartbeat! They sent a sniper who was almost buried alive beyond the Volga.

Need to live

He woke up in the hospital with a tight bandage over his eyes. Completely blind. Hemorrhage in the fundus of the eye, cornea covered with sand. 100% vision loss... But the eye surgeons performed a miracle. After several operations carried out under the guidance of Academician Vladimir Petrovich Filatov, Vasily began to see again. No worse than before!

On February 20, 1943, the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Mikhail Kalinin, presented him with the gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin in the Kremlin. And the next day, Zaitsev, together with other famous shooters from all fronts, sat until late at night at a meeting at the General Staff, which was convened by Army General E.A. Shchadenko for the exchange of sniper experience and its further dissemination.

Vasily Grigorievich’s story about how in two months of fighting he destroyed 242 Nazis and trained 28 snipers right on the front line (and they killed another 1,106 fascists on the Volga bank) was published by the Main Political Directorate of the Red Army as a brochure. The hero shooter himself was sent to study at the Higher Academic Courses “Vystrel”. Zaitsev led a sniper school and wrote two textbooks. It is he who owns one of the “hunting” techniques that is still used today.

Then he again walked the front roads, being the commander of an anti-aircraft battery and an anti-aircraft division. Participated in the liberation of Donbass and Odessa, the battle for the Dnieper and the Berlin operation. At the Seelow Heights he was again seriously wounded and celebrated Victory Day in a hospital bed...

After his recovery, his military friends handed him his sniper rifle on the steps of the Reichstag, which after Stalingrad became the most expensive relic in his native Guards division and was passed on to the best shooter. The now legendary Zaitsev rifle is on display at the Battle of Stalingrad Museum in Volgograd. By the way, the Zeiss sight, which belonged to the SS Standartenführer and went to his winner as a trophy, can also be seen in the Central Museum of the Armed Forces in Moscow...

The post-war life of Vasily Grigorievich was not cloudless. In the fall of 1945, with the rank of captain, he was demobilized for health reasons. Six orders and seven wounds. Disabled person of the second group. And his age is thirty years... But the desire to overcome everything, to overcome any illness and adversity still endowed this man with remarkable strength.

He graduated from the Kiev Technological Institute of Light Industry, and for many years was the director of the Ukraina garment factory, one of the largest in the Soviet Union. A ship that cruised along the Dnieper was named after him... Well-deserved popularity.

Vasily Grigorievich Zaitsev died in Kyiv, and his ashes, as bequeathed, were reburied in Volgograd on Mamayev Kurgan.

By the way, when today you think about how the soldiers of our Fatherland surpassed and defeated the most powerful German army in the world, how they crushed the kingdom of the fascist beast, before which almost all of Europe obediently bowed, you involuntarily turn your gaze to Russian people like Vasily Zaitsev. They won, just as he won. Natural mind. Great patience. The height of the human spirit. We won by our faith...

Two feature films were made about Zaitsev: “Angels of Death” (Russia, 1992, directed by Yu.N. Ozerov, starring F. Bondarchuk) and “Enemy at the Gates” (USA, 2001, directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, starring Jude Law

Training enemy snipers: a training film that is still shown today. Methods and tricks of snipers.

“Angels of Death” is an old Soviet war film about snipers (1993), created on the basis of film material from the two-part film “Stalingrad” (1989). Dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Stalingrad (1942-1943).