Hero of the Soviet Union Ivan Vasilyevich Panfilov
Ivan Vasilyevich Panfilov was born in 1893 in the city of Petrovsk, Saratov region. Russian. Member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. In the Soviet Army since 1918. Major General. Commander of the 316th Rifle Division.
In 1915, he was drafted into the tsarist army as a private. In 1918, he volunteered for the 1st Saratov Soviet Regiment, which merged into the 25th Rifle Division under the command of the legendary commander V. I. Chapaev. For his combat merits on the Polish front, he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. In 1923, he graduated from the Kyiv Higher Military School. In 1924, he was sent to Turkestan. Since 1938, I. V. Panfilov served as the military commissar of the Kyrgyz SSR.
In 1941, with the onset of the Great Patriotic War, he was tasked with forming the 316th Rifle Division.
On April 1, 1942, for personal bravery, initiative, and excellent execution of command assignments in the fight against the German-fascist invaders, I. V. Panfilov was posthumously awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Ivan Vasilyevich Panfilov is buried at Novodevichy Cemetery. The people remember and honor the memory of the Hero. In the city of Frunze, a monument was erected in 1942, and one of the streets of the capital, a park, secondary school No. 6, leather factory No. 2, a district, a village, and collective farms of the Kyrgyz SSR bear the name of the Hero.
Division Commander
Kalinin flipped the page of the desk calendar, noting to himself: April 12. An ordinary day, filled with a mass of tasks scheduled by the hour and minute, compressed into the days of wartime.
Gorkin quietly entered the office, greeted him, and placed a folder of papers on the table for signature.
Kalinin, without touching the folder, stood up from the table and approached the window.
— Spring, Alexander Fyodorovich, — he said, half asking, half stating, turning to Gorkin.
— Spring, — Gorkin confirmed and noted:
— The first military spring, Mikhail Ivanovich.
— So it is spring after all? — Kalinin smiled, infusing some hidden meaning into his words, as if to say: we have waited for it — spring has come! He returned to the table, opened the folder, and began to read: “Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on awarding the title of Hero of the Soviet Union to the commanding and rank-and-file personnel of the Red Army. For exemplary execution of combat tasks of the command on the front in the fight against the German-fascist invaders and the displayed courage and heroism, to award the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal to Major General Ivan Vasilyevich Panfilov...”
After finishing reading, he asked:
— Do you remember, Alexander Fyodorovich, what Panfilov did?
— Military commissar of the Kyrgyz SSR, — Gorkin replied matter-of-factly, as if there had been no recent conversation about spring.
— Thousands and thousands of lives of our remarkable people have been given to drive the fascists away from Moscow, — Kalinin said thoughtfully, and, pointing to the papers lying before him on the table, as if instead of white sheets he saw the people being discussed, he forcefully concluded:
— Eagle tribe! Did they not recognize how the Panfilov family is doing?
— Maria Ivanovna is working, the girls are growing up, studying. The eldest, Valentina, is at the front, in her father's division.
— That's what I'm saying — eagle tribe! — Kalinin exclaimed, pleased that he found in Gorkin's words confirmation of his thoughts. — We must inform our comrades from Kyrgyzstan that their warriors are fighting well against the fascist invaders, showing heroism and selflessness.
This spring day was preceded by the ominous autumn of forty-one...
...The train was approaching Ryazan. The carriage darkened. Panfilov pressed his face to the window: rain! The trees flashing along the way blurred, the outlines of wooden buildings. Water trickled down the glass. It got colder. Panfilov threw his overcoat over his shoulders and, tearing himself away from the window, continued his letter home to Frunze, to his wife Maria Ivanovna. He knew there would be a short stop at Ryazan station, the first on the way, and when would he have another chance to send a message home?
The division's trains were moving ahead; they were probably already approaching Moscow, and from there, without delay, would head towards Smolensk. Smolensk was the key to Moscow; where else would the division be but near Smolensk?
It had been just over a month since the order was given to form the 316th Rifle Division in Almaty, and now the trains were already being sent to the front...
Later, the commander of the 16th Army, into which the 316th would enter during the decisive days of the battle for Moscow, K. K. Rokossovsky, would write: “We have not seen such a full-blooded division — both in terms of numbers and support — for a long time. The commanders are strong...”
Division commander Major General Panfilov was a career military man. In the tsarist army, he was a non-commissioned officer and a sergeant major, and since 1915 he had been on the Southwestern Front. During the Civil War, Panfilov fought in Chapaev's division — commanding a platoon and a battalion. He was awarded two Orders of the Red Banner. He joined the party in 1920 at the front. Later, he became the military commissar of Kyrgyzstan.
How swiftly time flies! He is already forty-eight, and the silver of gray hair in his closely cropped head, but his brown eyes are remarkably youthful and fresh. Of short stature, Panfilov is fit and agile. On his tanned, slightly angular face, there is an expression of confidence and strength, and in the often appearing smile, the smile of a seasoned soldier, shines both natural deep intelligence and insight, as well as an indomitable cheerful cunning.
The wheels clatter, the trains are heading west.
“Hello, dear Mura!
I am approaching Ryazan, and from there — to Moscow. It’s autumn rain. The weather is not good. Everyone’s mood is combat-ready.
In about five days, I will probably be participating in battle towards Smolensk. We have been given the honorable task of not allowing the enemy to reach the heart of our Motherland — Moscow. The enemy will be defeated, and Hitler and his gang will be destroyed. There will be no mercy for the scoundrel for the tears of mothers, wives, and children. “Death to Hitler!” — on every soldier’s lips.
Mura, I have a stop. I’m rushing to drop off this letter. Valya is ahead, with the train. Her mood is cheerful, combat-ready.
How are you all doing, how is Maechka? Take care of her.
Kiss you tightly. Loving you, Papa...
Kiss you. Your Vanya.”
And he also managed to send a message from the road by telegram. “We are healthy, moving on. Kiss you tightly. Your Papa, Valya,” — he briefly telegraphed about himself and his eldest daughter, who had gone to the front as a volunteer. “I am a nurse; my place is now at the front. And besides... I will be close to you,” Panfilov remembered. Persistent, and already grown-up — she had turned eighteen. Thus unexpectedly began their combat fate — his, a career military man, a participant in the Civil War, a Chapaevite, and his daughter, a volunteer fighter...
By the bypass road, bypassing Moscow, the division's trains were directed northwest. So, not Smolensk, as Panfilov had assumed, but the Novgorod region. However, the 316th Division did not manage to enter battle on the banks of the Volkhov. In early October, by order of the Supreme Command Headquarters, it was hastily transferred to Moscow.
The first echelon arrived at the Volokolamsk station on October 7. The soldiers moved to the positions indicated by the commanders, through the crimson Russian forest, mixed with dense underbrush, and noted the fields, solitary log cabins, hunting watchtowers, entire villages and settlements that seemed to dissolve, hiding in the forest from foreign eyes.
The line of combat had to begin, as Panfilov joked, with marking stakes. The soldiers hastily dug in, dug anti-tank ditches, and set up positions...
Panfilov's division, as part of the 16th Army of K. K. Rokossovsky, held the defense 20-30 kilometers west of Volokolamsk, over a stretch of more than forty kilometers. The military well understood what it meant for one division to defend such a stretch. But then it was the autumn of forty-one...
The site of bloody battles became the Russian villages — Stara Tjaga, Fedosino, Knyazhevo, Ignatkov. Fierce battles flared up for the Bolychyovo state farm and the district center — the village of Ostashevo, for the city of Volokolamsk, burned as a result of continuous bombings and artillery shelling by the fascists...
From the report of the Soviet Information Bureau on October 28, 1941: “On October 28, our troops fought with the enemy in the Mozhaisk, Maloyaroslavets, Volokolamsk, and Kharkov directions. The attacks of the German-fascist troops on our positions in several sectors of the Western Front were repelled by the units of the Red Army with heavy losses for the enemy.”
On November 1, taking advantage of the lull, Panfilov began to write a letter home, which he had to finish during the cannonade: on the front line, short but fierce battles flared up here and there.
“Hello, dear Mura!
I kiss you and the children. We will not surrender Moscow to the enemy. We are destroying the scoundrel by the thousands and hundreds of his tanks. The division is fighting well.
I am sending articles from the newspapers. Murochka, work tirelessly on strengthening the rear. I am bravely fulfilling your orders and my word...
Valya is healthy”...
He hesitated a little, then wrote: “I am writing to you during the fiercest battle.” She will understand — they are fighting at the front. And since he wrote, it means he is alive.
Maria Ivanovna did not know what lay behind these sparse lines: the enemy's October offensive on Moscow had been thwarted, Operation “Typhoon,” aimed at a lightning encirclement of our capital, was failing, and the bloodless enemy, worn down by persistent continuous battles, was forced to await reinforcements in personnel reserves and equipment.
It got very cold in the Moscow region. In the mornings, strong frosts silvered the ground with hoarfrost, heralding an early harsh winter.
Having suffered defeat, the Hitlerites were intensively preparing for a new offensive.
“Soldiers! — orders from Hitler's headquarters drummed impatiently. — Before you is Moscow! In two years of war, all the capitals of the continent have bowed before us; you have marched through the streets of the best cities. Only Moscow remains. Make it bow, show it the power of our weapons. March through its squares. Moscow is the end of the war. Moscow is rest. Forward!”
But on Red Square, on November 7, 1941, the traditional festive parade of the Red Army troops took place.
The speech of the Supreme Commander called for heroism: “The whole world is watching you as a force capable of destroying the predatory hordes of invaders. The enslaved peoples of Europe, who have fallen under the yoke of the German invaders, look at you as their liberators. A great liberating mission has fallen to your lot. Be worthy of this mission! The war you are waging is a liberating war, a just war... Under the banner of Lenin — forward, to victory!”
Pride and joy for the combat actions of their division filled the hearts of commanders and soldiers, the best among them — participants of the parade.
And the long-standing bitterness of retreat gave way to confidence and vigor — not a step back, the enemy will be defeated! The cheerful mood did not leave Panfilov either. He shared his joy with Maria Ivanovna.
“You have probably heard many times on the radio and read a lot in the newspapers about the heroic deeds of the fighters, commanders, and in general about my unit. That trust that has been placed in me — the defense of our native capital — is justified.
You, Murochka, cannot imagine what good fighters and commanders I have — they are true patriots, fighting like lions, in each heart is one thing — not to allow the enemy to our native capital, to mercilessly destroy the scoundrels.
Mura, today by the order of the front, hundreds of fighters and commanders of the division have been awarded orders. Two days ago, I was awarded the third Order of the Red Banner. This is still, Mura, only the beginning. I think soon my division should become a guards division; there are already three Heroes...”
This letter was written on November 13, 1941. It was the last one.
In mid-November, events on the front unfolded rapidly: the enemy began a second offensive on Moscow.
The order of division commander Panfilov stated: “We have entered a phase of the most serious and intense battles for Moscow. The enemy will try to break through our defense; for this, he is throwing in new forces... Before us — the fighters, commanders, and political workers of the Volokolamsk direction, before all the warriors defending the approaches to Moscow — stands a great historical task — to withstand this new onslaught of the Hitlerite hordes, to meet it with steadfastness, courage, and selflessness.
The enemy is approaching our heart — Moscow. Without sparing our strength, we must go into battle with determination — to win or die. Not a step back! — such is the order of the Motherland to us, the defenders of Moscow.”
On November 15, General Panfilov visited the forward positions of the division, including the Dubosekovo crossing.
It was here that the handful of fighters from his division performed their immortal feat the next day.
At the Dubosekovo crossing, 28 guardsmen of the Panfilov division found their immortality. All of them were posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, including the glorious sons of Kyrgyzstan — Duyshenkul Shopokov, Nikolai Ananyev, Grigory Konkin, Grigory Shemyakin, Ivan Moskalenko, and Grigory Petrenko.
From the memoirs of the commander of the 16th Army K. K. Rokossovsky: “Immediately, the direction of the main strike in the sector of our army was determined. It was the left flank — the area of Volokolamsk, defended by the 316th division and the cadet regiment.
The attack began with the support of heavy artillery and mortar fire and a bombing raid by bombers. The planes, forming a circle, dove one after another, howling as they dropped bombs on the positions of our infantry and artillery.
After a while, tanks rushed at us, accompanied by dense chains of machine gunners. They acted in groups of 15-20 vehicles. We observed this whole picture with Lobachev from the command post of the 316th division commander General Panfilov.
The tanks were charging through... Up to ten were already burning or beginning to smoke... The accompanying machine gunners, caught under our fire, lay down. Some tanks still managed to reach the trenches. There, a fierce battle ensued...”
An unexpected battle, fierce and stubborn, flared up along the entire line of the division's defense. In a brutal clash, soldiers of the rifle squad led by the political instructor of the 6th rifle company of the 1075th regiment, Pyotr Vikhrev, who was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, fell. When ammunition ran out and there was only one cartridge left in the pistol, the political instructor preferred death to captivity.
To the last grenade, to the last bullet, the sapper junior lieutenant Pyotr Firstov and junior political instructor Alexei Pavlov fought the enemy near the village of Strokovo. Carrying out a combat mission to cover the retreat of their regiment to new positions, they fell in unequal battle, giving their lives to allow the regiment to maneuver.
The Volokolamsk highway, which the Hitlerites dreamed of breaking through to Moscow, without muffling the engines of the tanks, became a road of death for them. Attempts to break through on neighboring sectors also yielded no results. Every hour won from the enemy, every day, every twenty-four hours were precious for the defense of Moscow, and the Panfilovites, realizing this, held back the Hitlerites, bravely and courageously fighting for every inch of their native land.
On November 18, Panfilov was in the village of Gusenovo, where the division headquarters was located. In the morning, he was preparing to go to the observation point. Senior battalion commissioner Rutes entered. He was accompanied by special photo correspondent of the newspaper “Pravda” Kalashnikov. Rutes was beaming.
— Ivan Vasilyevich, what joy! — he extended the newspapers.
Panfilov opened the newspapers handed to him, silently scanned the upper lines, suddenly understood — it happened!
The newspapers published the Order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR “On renaming the 316th Rifle Division to the 8th Guards,” Panfilov read it aloud, and his voice seemed to expand the boundaries of the room, flying to the forward positions of the soldiers, where the battles did not cease, rushing to Moscow and further — to distant and close Kyrgyzstan: “In numerous battles for our Soviet Motherland against the Hitlerite invaders, the 316th Rifle Division showed examples of courage, bravery, discipline, and organization. With its brave and skillful actions from October 20 to 27, 1941, the 316th Rifle Division repelled the attacks of three infantry divisions and a tank division of the fascists. The personnel of the division fought bravely, halted the advance of superior enemy forces, drove them into retreat, and inflicted heavy losses, destroying up to 80 tanks and several battalions of infantry...”
— On this occasion, the photo correspondent arrived too, — noted Rutes when the general finished reading.
— Comrade General, — Kalashnikov addressed Panfilov, taking advantage of the support of the battalion commissioner, — may I take a few pictures? It’s just dark in the room.
— We are going to the observation point now; you can photograph outside, — Panfilov did not hide his pleasure. The morning began with good news, and the good, uplifted mood of the division commander was shared by those present.
Thus, while chatting, they went outside. They stopped. Panfilov listened to something, took the binoculars, which he had not parted with throughout his days on the front.
Kalashnikov clicked the shutter of the camera.
This photograph, taken fifteen minutes before the start of the artillery shelling by the fascists of the village of Gusenovo, remains as a memory of division commander Panfilov. It captures the division commander of the 8th Guards, Major General I. V. Panfilov, next to the chief of staff, Colonel I. I. Serebryakov, and the commissioner of the division S. A. Yegorov. Panfilov is in a sheepskin coat: winter has come early, snowy, and the frosts were strong. His face is strict, authoritative, his gaze is directed into the distance. What was he thinking then, what came to his mind?
They were walking down the street of the village to the observation point when mines began to explode ahead...
“Good day, dear Mama, Zhenya, Vivushka, Galochka, and Makushka!
I know it will be very hard for you to learn about the death of your beloved father, but I still decided to write in detail about everything that happened.
On the 18th, a message was published in the central newspaper about the awarding of the 316th division, commanded by my father, the title of guards and the awarding of the 8th Guards Division with the Order of the Red Banner. This was a great joy for the entire division. It was very pleasing for my father that his efforts were not in vain. During these days, fierce battles were underway. A large reinforcement of enemy tanks, aviation, and infantry approached. An unequal battle ensued.
Father was everywhere. Where the greatest danger threatened, he took command, inspiring the fighters and commanders with his courage and determination.
And then, on one of the sections where the enemy began to press with tanks... he was struck by a mine fragment.
At that time, I was working at the forward point of the medical battalion.
There was a stream of wounded, from whom I heard accidentally. It was very hard... But despite this, I did not abandon my work; I held on until the end.
After a while, we received news that my father was in the hospital, and I went there with the battalion commander. He was no longer alive.
The next day, the army headquarters sent a telegram to the Defense Committee. And when Comrade Stalin learned of Comrade Panfilov's death, he ordered Major General, Hero Comrade Panfilov to be buried in Moscow.
The coffin was placed in the large hall of the Central House of the Red Army (CDKA).
Everyone was calming me, and Kuznetsov said to me: “Well, Valentina Panfilova, what questions do you have for the Defense Committee? Come to me; I will receive you. Think carefully; maybe you will go home?”
I replied that I would stay in this division until the end of the war and that my excellent work would be revenge for my father.
There was a solemn farewell, carried out by the last shift of the honor guard.
Outside at the exit, soldiers and commanders of various branches of the military were lined up. All of them gave a farewell salute...
Mama and the kids, strengthen your spirit with hatred for the sworn enemy. Your revenge for your father will be expressed in good work, in excellent studies.
Kiss you tightly, Valya.”
Our story about the legendary division commander continues with an event that we cannot remain silent about.
From the memoirs of sculptor O. Manuilova: “Ivan Vasilyevich was known and loved in Frunze. The government of the republic decided to immortalize his memory and announced a competition for the construction of a monument in his honor...
When I began working on the portrait of Panfilov, I learned that the only image of Ivan Vasilyevich that remained was his enlarged passport photograph. I sought help from the widow of the commander; she invited me to her home, and under her supervision, I sculpted the bust until Maria Ivanovna said: “It resembles him.” Then I began to work on a large portrait, and again Maria Ivanovna observed the work, helping with advice, telling about her husband's character...
I also sculpted a bas-relief of Valentina Panfilova, who was a nurse at the front alongside her father.”
The second year of the war was underway.
Having suffered a crushing defeat near Moscow, the Hitlerite invaders sought to determine the outcome of the war on the Volga.
Many months of war still lay ahead before Victory.
Far from the front line, deep in the rear of the country — in Kyrgyzstan — on November 7, 1942, an event occurred, not very noticeable against the backdrop of those ominous war years, but in the hearts of the people who knew about it, it resonated strongly and memorably.
It was a festive yet businesslike day. Thousands of people gathered that day in Frunze at the intersection of Sadovaya Street (now Panfilov Street) and K. Marx Street (now Ryskulov Street), where the solemn opening of the monument to I. V. Panfilov — hero of the Civil and Great Patriotic Wars — took place.
This was the first monument erected in our country in honor of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War.
As if alive, Guard Major General I. V. Panfilov stood in the center of the city — energetic, courageous, resolute, and unyielding. People approached the monument, reading the words inscribed on the pedestal: “The idea of defending one's homeland, for which our people fight, must and indeed does give rise to heroes in our army,” and a poignant, joyful, proud feeling for their people, for their relatives and friends fighting at the front filled the souls of the people, strengthened, and infused strength. And they were so needed by the people to endure through these long days and years of war and to achieve victory.
P. LEDENEV