Marinesco children. Alexander Marinesko - biography: hero submariner and personal enemy of the Fuhrer

Cavalier of the highest military awards of the country and a constant headache for the naval command, personal enemy Hitler and a penal, reduced in officer rank. All this is about one person - the legendary commander of the submarine Baltic Fleet Hero Soviet Union. On the fifteenth of January he would have turned 105 years old. I won't tell you for all of Odessa Biographers of the hero are often confused - how to write his last name correctly. His father is Marinescu (the future commander of the Red Fleet was born in the family of a Romanian worker, Ion Marinescu, and a Ukrainian peasant woman who served as a governess for the Odessa rich). As a teenager, Alexander insisted that his surname be written in the Ukrainian manner, ending in "o", and his patronymic - according to the Russian analogy "Ivanovich". And so it went. From childhood, he fell ill with the sea: they lived in Odessa, and his father once served on warships. After the 6th grade, he came to study at the school, then went as a sailor on the ships of the Black Sea Shipping Company, studied at the Odessa Nautical College, worked as an assistant to the captain. Here - new turn in its fate: instead of the usual surface ships - submarines. Already in 1938, he took command of the M-type submarine ("Baby"). This ship, with a displacement of just over 200 tons, with a crew of 18, had modest weapons - only two torpedo tubes and one 45-millimeter gun in the wheelhouse fence. Nevertheless, these boats did their job, protecting the approaches to Soviet bases. By the way, it is on the "Baby" that Marinesko will receive his first award - a gold watch for first place in the competition among naval crews. It was three years before the war, but it was on this ship that Alexander Ivanovich would meet the Great Patriotic War. His front-line track record includes several successful military campaigns, attacks on enemy convoys, and the protection of our transports. There was even a unique operation - landing on the coast occupied by the enemy to capture encryption machine"Enigma". A daring action was entrusted to a no less daring commander, because by that time Marinesko was already known in the fleet for his desperate antics and unbearable character. However, when it was necessary to accomplish the impossible, the task was assigned to this "uncomfortable" officer. Unfortunately, the raid behind enemy lines was unsuccessful: the scouts miscalculated, and a valuable encryption device was not found at the headquarters of the German regiment. However, the campaign under the nose of the enemy was carried out without losses, for which the boat commander was awarded the highest order at that time - Lenin.
Attack of the century In 1943, the captain of the 3rd rank Marinesko received under his command a class C diesel-electric torpedo submarine number 13. An unlucky number turned out to be extremely successful for him. It is on this ship with a displacement of more than 800 tons, with more advanced weapons systems, including six torpedo tubes and a set of artillery, that he will make his most productive campaigns. In 1944, he attacked the large Siegfried transport, which, although it was not sunk, was seriously damaged and was under repair almost until the end of the war. The desperate nature of Marinesko manifested itself in the fact that he did not limit himself only to torpedo attack, and opened fire on transport also in the surface position from a 100-mm artillery gun and a 45-mm anti-aircraft gun. Only when the danger loomed over the boat itself (the German ships accompanying the Siegfried rushed to the surfaced submarine), the commander decided to go into the depths, which did not allow him to finish off the transport. No one thought that he would go down in history as the most bright victories the country's submarine fleet. On the thirtieth of January in the Bay of Danzig, a boat attacked the largest liner Nazi Germany"Wilhelm Gustloff" with a displacement of more than 25 thousand tons. Military journalist, writer, historian Viktor Gemanov, in his book “The S-13 Feat”, recreated, based on the stories of the crew members of the boat, a picture of what was happening on board. “The attack plan was born on the go,” the author writes. - All thoughts, all the will of the commander focused on the figures reported by the acoustician. Marinesco visibly imagined the relative position of the target. With the tension of thought, he moved the "figures" in the already established scheme of attack. As an experienced chess player, thinking a few moves ahead, he analyzed the possible options, substantiated, rejected, clarified. In the end, I settled on the most successful.
The submariners did the impossible: they not only caught up with a fairly high-speed transport, dodging detection attempts, not only sent three out of four torpedoes that fatally hit the target (the fourth ammunition got stuck in the vehicle), but they were also able to get out of the battle without loss. The Nazis furiously attacked the area where the submarine was supposed to be located with depth charges: more than 240 bombings were carried out in more than four hours. But Marinesko used a military trick here too - he hid ... behind the wreckage of the Wilhelm Gustloff itself, which was slowly sinking into the depths of the sea! In Germany, the loss of transport was hidden for a long time, but the commander of the Soviet submarine received the stigma of "the personal enemy of the Fuhrer." The fact is that on board the destroyed ship were not only higher ranks Reich, including high-ranking officials and generals, but also the personnel of the training division of submarines evacuated from East Prussia. Three decades later, the West German magazine Marine admitted that among the dead were 1,300 sailors from fully formed submarine crews. According to the chairman of the Association of Submariners, retired Captain 1st Rank Yevgeny Livshits, the Marinesko attack put an end to Germany's strategic military plans. “In the second half of 1944, the Germans commissioned up to 100 new submarines that hunted for caravans of American and British ships,” the veteran notes. - An even more massive attack could lead to the closure of the Second Front, to the transfer of Wehrmacht formations to the Eastern direction. The feat accomplished by Marinesco and his crew, in fact, took away the last hope of the Reich in the war and, moreover, saved the English and American fleets from gigantic losses. According to the laws of war In the same campaign, the S-13 distinguished itself in another operation, sinking the Steuben large transport, on board of which there were up to four thousand people, including wounded Wehrmacht soldiers. It is worth noting that after the war, this episode, like the destruction of the Gustloff, was interpreted in the West as an attack on "defenseless people", accusing Soviet submariners of almost a war crime. However, less engaged researchers, including Western ones, recognized the validity of Marinesko's actions in that situation. So, the German amateur historian Heinz Schön, who worked on the Gustloff as an assistant treasurer and survived that attack, came to the conclusion that the liner was still a military target. As Shen noted, transport intended for the transport of refugees, like hospital ships, had to be marked with appropriate signs, such as a red cross, which the Gustloff did not have. In addition, such ships could not go in the same convoy with warships, and they could not carry any military cargo, stationary and temporarily placed artillery pieces, air defense guns or other similar means.
At the same time, it should be noted that Soviet transport with refugees and the wounded repeatedly became a target for German submarines and aircraft during the war years. In particular, in 1941, the ship "Armenia" was sunk in the Black Sea, carrying over five thousand refugees and wounded soldiers. Only eight people survived that tragedy ... In November 1944, the fascist command declared the Baltic a "zone of unlimited war", setting the task of drowning literally everything in a row, which was carried out with German pedantry. What in this situation should have been the answer of the Soviet sailors? AT post-war years German Institute maritime law was forced to admit that "Wilhelm Gustloff" was still legal military purpose, as there were hundreds of specialist submariners, as well as anti-aircraft guns. In addition, as analysts noted, the last years before the death of the Wilhelm Gustloff served as a floating school for the crew of the German Navy. The decision to take on board civilians and the wounded in the absence of the ship's infirmary status belonged to the command of the ship, and therefore the responsibility should lie solely with it, experts in maritime law summarized in their report.

"It was brilliant military operation, thanks to which the initiative of dominance in the naval war in the Baltic was firmly intercepted by Soviet sailors, - says Yuri Lebedev, deputy director of the Museum of Russian Submarine Forces. - It was a strategic success of the Soviet fleet, and for Germany - the largest maritime disaster. By their actions, the S-13 submarine brought the end of the war closer. Marinesko's feat is that he destroyed the seemingly unsinkable symbol of Nazism, a dream ship propagating the Reich. And the civilians who were on the ship became hostages of the German military machine. Therefore, the Gustloff tragedy is not an accusation against Marinesco, but against Nazi Germany.”

“During that war, the Germans openly removed all moral restrictions from themselves and, without a twinge of conscience, violated all conceivable and unthinkable, written and unwritten rules of warfare,” notes retired captain 2nd rank captain Igor Maksimov, a fleet historian, member of the Union of Journalists. - In my opinion, this decision allowed other countries to act in the same way with respect to any German ships. Of the 1,205 warships and ships of the enemy destroyed in the Baltic Sea by all branches of the fleet, 124 are accounted for by submariners. This is over 366 thousand tons of displacement. It is no coincidence that the exploits of the submariners did not go unnoticed, they were appreciated according to their merits, many were awarded the highest awards of the Motherland.

Not to be forgotten Alexander Marinesko himself for that campaign was presented to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. But… The well-deserved award did not take place. The reason for this was the opinion of the command that the holder of the Golden Star should not be the bearer of such negative qualities that this officer had in abundance. Among the toughest accusations was a New Year's spree with the owner of a restaurant in Hanko, Finland, where the Baltic Fleet's floating base was located at that time. The same writer Viktor Gemanov recalls one of his post-war meetings with the former fleet commander, retired Admiral Vladimir Tributs. In a conversation about the exploits of the Baltic submariners during the war years, naturally, Marinesko was also mentioned. “And then I heard an unexpected and categorical statement by Vladimir Filippovich: “In no case do not write about him!” - the writer recalls. - "But why?" “He had shortcomings and omissions, and serious ones. And the main thing was drunkenness!” ”Viktor Gemanov himself, while preparing his book about the feat of the S-13, held dozens of meetings with members of her crew, with officers of the brigade headquarters and commanders of other boats. “I was shown the face of a real Marinesko - direct, open, not tolerant of falsehood, lies and duplicity in relations, a friendly and sociable person,” the writer noted. - The short, like a blow of a whip, the word "drunkenness" did not fit him. Yes, he did not shy away from the "People's Commissar's" hundred grams. On the shore, especially after difficult but successful military campaigns, having received the so-called "prize" for the sunken enemy ships, he acquired a train of "friends for an hour" and was not limited to the "People's Commissar". But it's not his fault, it's his misfortune. He measured others by himself, but he himself was without a "double bottom", all wide open. Therefore, they deceived and let him down. It was very disruptive to the service. Ruined life. Pasted a common label for the remaining days.
In September 1945, by order of the People's Commissar of the Navy, Captain 3rd rank Marinesko "for neglect of official duties, systematic drunkenness and everyday promiscuity" was removed from the post of commander of the S-13, demoted military rank to senior lieutenant and placed at the disposal of the Military Council of the Baltic Fleet. He still managed to serve as a minesweeper commander, but in November of the same year he was transferred to the reserve. He worked as a senior mate on merchant ships, was deputy director of the Research Institute of Blood Transfusion in Leningrad. In 1949, he went down in history: he delivered to the employees' homes decommissioned peat briquettes for heating, which were lying unaccounted for in the yard of the institute. For this he received thanks from his colleagues and ... a court verdict - three years in prison for squandering socialist property. After his release (his term as a front-line soldier was cut off by half) he worked as a topographer, and then as a supplier at one of the Leningrad enterprises. In the late 1950s, he fell seriously ill (the legendary submariner was diagnosed with throat cancer) and died on November 25, 1963.

“Father was an extraordinary person with a cool independent character, which was passed on to him with genes,” recalled the youngest daughter of Marinesko Tatiana (last year, unfortunately, she died). - Our grandfather, Ion, served in the Romanian Navy as a stoker. The mechanic hated him and once punched him in the face. In response, my grandfather hit him on the back with a shovel ... From my father, I learned never to humiliate myself, to be above insults, not to give up and defend my opinion. These qualities very often created difficulties in life, but they did not let them fall.

“My father had a character, very independent, he did not offend himself and his subordinates,” recalls another daughter of Marinesko, Leonora, who published the book “You are our pride, father” with her husband Boris Leonov. - As a child, I remember, he was very strict. But also kind. If punished, then on business. His boat C-13 is the only surviving of all the "esks". The team survived largely due to the fact that in military campaigns my father was bold in choosing tactics, fearless and even adventurous. But it was precisely these qualities, his "disobedience", which became the key to salvation and victories, that turned out to be not to the liking of individual commanders.

History has put everything in its place. Veterans of the fleet, primarily those who fought in the same waters as Marinesko, achieved the cancellation of the order to reduce him in rank, the restoration of his legal veteran and pension rights. True, this happened already at the end of his life, and yet he met death as a captain of the 3rd rank, albeit in reserve. This was followed by a review of the court verdict in the embezzlement case: it took years to make sure that there was no corpus delicti in that story. And, finally, on the eve of the 45th anniversary of the Victory, under pressure from the general public, USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev signed a decree conferring the title of Hero of the Soviet Union to Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko "for the courage and heroism shown in the fight against the Nazi invaders in the Great Patriotic War."

Alexander Marinesko holds the record among Soviet submariners in terms of the total tonnage of enemy ships sunk: 42,557 gross register tons. Monuments in Kaliningrad, Kronstadt, St. Petersburg, Odessa, films shot, published books became his memory. There are also Marinesko streets in different parts of the former Union: in 1990, the famous Builders Street in Leningrad, sung in the folk comedy Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath! The Museum of the Submarine Forces of Russia is also named after the officer - the only one in the country state museum the history of this kind of forces of the Navy, which keeps priceless relics in memory of the exploits of the defenders of the Fatherland on its sea and ocean frontiers.

Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko was born on January 15, 1913 in the city, as he said, of warmth, beauty and fun - Odessa.

His father, Ion Marinescu, was a native of the port city of Galati, served in the Romanian Royal Navy. Unable to bear the humiliation of the officer, he hit him, for which he was sentenced to death. On the night before the execution, he escaped from the punishment cell, swam across the Danube and moved to Odessa, where he married a Ukrainian woman and changed the last letter in his surname. Insane courage, self-confidence and unbending determination Alexander inherited from his father.

The future hero studied at the Odessa Labor School No. 36, having completed only six classes there, after which, for diligence and patience, he was transferred to a cabin boy and at the age of 13 began to go to sea on the ships of the Black Sea Fleet as a sailor of the 1st class.

At school, young Alexander showed such brilliant results that he was shortened the period of study, and without exams he was enrolled in the Odessa Nautical College, which after 40 years became the Maritime School named after A.I. Marinesko.

After graduating from a technical school, Marinesko went on the ships "Ilyich" and "Red Fleet". First as a third mate, then as a second. History has preserved for us the memories of his comrades from that period, they all speak of Alexander Marinesko as a principled and demanding leader, and at the same time as a joker and "the soul of the company."

Perhaps, if the fate of Marinesko had turned out differently, today we would remember him as a famous sea captain, but in November 1933, at the age of 20, Alexander Marinesko was drafted into the Red Army.

The revolutionary proletarian origin and the navigator's diploma played their fateful role, and instead of a soldier's overcoat, Alexander Ivanovich immediately puts on an officer's tunic and gets on higher courses commanders Workers 'and Peasants' Red Fleet (RKKF). There, as an external student, in a year from a young assistant captain they make a navigation officer and are assigned to serve in the submarine fleet.

The archives conveyed to us the service record of a graduate of the RKKF command staff courses, “assistant watch commander” (such a title was awarded to him after graduation) Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko:

“He knows his specialty well. Not disciplined enough. Can manage personnel under constant supervision. Conclusion: pay attention to increasing discipline.

Probably, the formation of the freedom-loving character of Alexander Ivanovich on the "war footing" was quite difficult. According to the recollections of colleagues of that period, he did not even strive to become a real professional military man, military service weighed on him, all Alexander Ivanovich's dreams were about the bridge of a merchant ship.

In November 1934, immediately after graduation, Marinesko was appointed navigator on the submarine Shch-306 (Haddock) of the Baltic Fleet. Since 1936, Alexander Ivanovich was promoted, went first on the Leninets L-1 boat, and then as the commander of the Malyutka M-96 boat.

On July 16, 1938, at the height of “spy mania” and the fight against “enemies of the people,” counterintelligence recalls the Romanian relatives of Alexander Marinesko, and he was fired from military service. The NKVD did not manage to make him a “Romanian spy”, since Marinesko had not been in Romania since birth, he did not correspond with his relatives. Most likely, the hand of the punitive machine of the NKVD from Alexander Ivanovich was taken away by the old blow of Iona Marinescu in the face of an unknown Romanian officer, because the death sentence in Romania to the father of Alexander Ivanovich was not canceled. It was not possible for the NKVD specialists to make a spy from Marinesko, but just in case, he was fired from the Navy.

Today we do not know how Alexander Ivanovich himself reacted then to such a turn, he did not leave memoirs after himself, and the writer Alexander Kron, who recorded his conversations with Marinesko after the war, did not ask him about it. However, the fact that Marinesko, after the NKVD changed its mind about appointing him a "Romanian spy", did not himself ask the command to reinstate him in the service, suggests that Alexander Ivanovich did not aspire back to the navy. By the way, one of Marinesko's sailors, Gennady Zelentsov, described in his memoirs his confidential conversation with the commander, which they had in a fishing boat two miles from Kronstadt, when the submarine was resting after a trip to the roadstead, and Marinesko went fishing.

« I never wanted to be in the military, - Marinesko Zelentsov said then. - Sea, peaceful ships Here's my love. I became a military man on duty«.

If Marinesko did not hesitate to say such words to his colleagues in 1944, when the war was in full swing, then, probably, in peaceful 1938, he definitely did not make plans to continue his military career.

On August 7, 1938, less than a month after being transferred to the reserve, as it is fashionable to say today, “under a discrediting article,” an order from the fleet commander to reinstate Lieutenant Marinesko in active service suddenly appears, and in November an order to award him the rank of senior lieutenant. Political vigilance gave way to harsh necessity.

New submarines left the stocks several times a year, and there were fewer and fewer competent naval officers every day, the number of "Trotskyists" and "pests" in the fleet turned out to be too large. And rehabilitated for the first time, Alexander Marinesko again climbed into the cabin of the submarine.

The career of a young submarine officer Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko in prewar period was standard for its time. Assistant commander on the submarine L-1, six months later already the commander of the M-96, a small submarine of series 6, called the "Baby" submariners.

With a surface displacement of 200 tons, a length of about 40 meters and a width of 3.5 meters, the "baby" consisted of 36 crew members. It was this crew, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Alexander Marinesko, who in 1940 became the best submarine crew in the Baltic Fleet based on the results of combat and political training.

Marinesko received a gold watch from the commander of the Baltic Fleet Tributs and an entry in the personal file from the division commander Yunakov:

“Disciplined, but demanding of himself is not enough. Decisive but not proactive. He takes care of his subordinates, but is often rude and unrestrained.

The subordinates, unlike the division commander, understood that it was better to run into rudeness and stay alive than to die stupidly in an atmosphere of “courtly” treatment, and appreciated their commander.

Aleksey Tikhonovich Astakhov, one of Alexander Marinesko's wartime colleagues, characterizes his commander as a complex person:

“Well, of course, everything happened. He made a lot of noise, if something was not for him. He demanded instructions and discipline at sea. God forbid, whoever oversleep on watch, immediately planted on his lip, for the second time out of the crew. But everyone understood that it was war. He always stood for his own, therefore, they say, he also had problems with his superiors, that he defended violators. He especially quarreled with the commissars. After all, it was customary for us in the crew. The sea is hard - you can relax on the shore. Therefore, many of ours ended up in the commandant's office on a drunken basis.

M-96 died in 1944 in the Narva Bay, mistakenly blown up by her own minefields, but that was later. And in July 1941, Marinesko went on her first military campaign.

In the early days of the Great Patriotic War, the M-96 submarine under the command of Marinesko was relocated to Paldiski, then to Tallinn, stood in position in the Gulf of Riga, and had no collisions with the enemy.

M-96 under the command of Marinesko fought cautiously. Alexander Ivanovich did not climb on the rampage, took care of the ship and people, thought out, as they say, retreat and maneuver, studied himself and taught his people to act in a combat situation.

Today it is no secret to anyone that in 1941 the Baltic Fleet irretrievably lost 27 submarines, largely due to the capricious mood of the command. M-96, thanks to Marinesko, was not included in this number. Yes, the M-96 did not achieve combat victories in 1941, but the crew gained the necessary combat experience.

Here is a record of Marinesko's memories of those days, made by Alexander Kron:

“There is nothing more painful than walking through a minefield. Mina does not impersonate anything, one can only guess about their location, relying on their own instincts and the stories of their comrades. Got into a minefield - crawl. Walk without wagging, the smallest. When touching the side of the minrep - do not shy away, but carefully work back. Quietly, so that the minrep does not break, divert the stern. It stretches like a string, but should slide off gently. Nerves must be kept in check. I really want to get out of here as soon as possible dangerous place- it is forbidden. You hear the rattle of a stretched cable, everyone hears it, and it is necessary for the team to know that the commander’s hand lying on the machine telegraph will not falter, he will not succumb to panic.

In October 1941, Marinesko distinguished himself, but not at sea, but on the shore. “For systematic drunkenness and organization of gambling in the division,” he is expelled from the candidates for party membership, but is left in office - a trained commander, as you know, is a “piece of goods”. Less fortunate was the commissar of the division, who, for the collapse of political work, was demoted and sent to the penal battalion to the front. It can be assumed that it was this fact that determined the special attitude of political bodies towards Commander Marinesko.

From the memoirs of Alexei Tikhonovich Astakhov:

“Alexander Ivanovich was not engaged in drill in vain. If you don’t need to go on a hike, then you don’t drive people. There were times when I took a big risk. When repairing or preparing, he let the sailors go on short vacations to their families, did business trips, ostensibly on business. And then sailors were forbidden to leave Kronstadt.

In February 1942, the M-96, wintering near the embankment of Leningrad, receives a direct hit from an artillery shell. The 4th and 5th compartments are flooded, but the crew manages to save the ship.

Another black streak ends for Marinesko in the second half of 1942, when the M-96, after repairs, again begins to perform combat missions.

On August 14, 1942, the M-96 sinks the Finnish Helen transport with a displacement of about 2 thousand tons, and in November successfully lands a sabotage group on the coast of the Narva Bay - this was an operation to search for the German Enigma cryptographic machine at the headquarters of the fascist regiment. Enigma itself could not be obtained, but the actions of Captain Marinesco were noted by the authorities. Alexander Ivanovich is awarded the Order of Lenin, reinstated as a candidate for the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, given the rank of captain of the 3rd rank and sent for retraining to Samarkand, where the Naval Academy was evacuated.

Upon returning from his studies, Marinesko takes command of the S-13 submarine, a modern ship with a displacement of almost a thousand tons, twice the size of the former "baby". Under the leadership of Alexander Ivanovich, there were already 50 crew members, he joins the party. The tone of the service description given to him by the division commander Orel also changes somewhat: “A fighting and brave commander, he knows underwater business perfectly. Disciplined, but Everyday life needs control." Apparently, Marinesko did not become a fully military man by that time, but most likely he did not want to.

The boat begins to prepare for a combat exit with a new commander and work out the tasks of the training course. Unsuccessful attempts to break through the German anti-submarine defense in the Gulf of Finland, during which four Soviet boats were lost, suspended the preparation of the S-13 for a military campaign.

Marinesko's crew went to sea only in October 1944, when Finland withdrew from the war and the blockade was lifted. And for the very first military campaign on this boat, Alexander Marinesko, like his team, was awarded the order Fighting Red Banner - managed to inflict critical damage on the enemy combat transport "Siegfried" and successfully escape from the pursuers.

Inspired by success, Marinesko allowed himself to go AWOL, which, given the conditions of hostilities, resulted in major trouble. There was a threat to remove the commander from command of the submarine. They say that division commander A.E. Orel stood up for a talented sailor, there was a rumor that the team even refused to go to sea with another commander. One way or another, after this difficult disciplinary collision, the submarine under the command of Marinesco carried out the so-called “Attack of the Century”.

German liner "Wilhelm Gustloff"

And on January 11, 1945, Marinesko went on his second military campaign on this boat, which brought him world fame. The sinking of the Gustloff and Steuben made Alexander Marinesko the most productive commander of the Soviet Navy and, as numerous historians write, saved him from the tribunal. Alexander Ivanovich is presented to the Hero of the Soviet Union, but is not awarded. It is believed that his legendary adventures with Swedes and captured cars are to blame, but, most likely, the higher command did not find any reason to give the highest award for not the most difficult military operation.

Estimates of "Attack of the Century" today are radically different. From heroically enthusiastic to extremely negative. Someone writes that Marinesko, having broken through a powerful anti-submarine defense, inflicted significant damage on the enemy, destroying dozens of crews of German submariners, someone calls Marinesko a war criminal who shot defenseless transports with women and children in cold blood.

The least biased sources today give a cautious assessment of this S-13 victory. Yes, the Gustloff was a legitimate military target, because in addition to refugees, there were military and artillery on board, and it was listed not as an ambulance, but as a military floating base. But he walked quietly, without maneuvering, with practically no guards. For some time, "Gustloff" went with the running lights on, and, most likely, it was then that the crew of the 13th discovered it. In 1945, an attack on such a target did not require the use of complex tactics and was an ordinary event for submariners of all countries.

Marinesko destroyed the transport, continued the mission, destroyed another one, the Steuben, and returned safely to the base. A campaign worthy of a military award, but no more.

Unfortunately, later Alexander Ivanovich became a hostage of someone else's PR. First, a negative one, when the big naval commanders did not want to make a hero out of an ordinary and not very disciplined commander, then a positive one, which continues to this day.

On January 30, 1945, near the Danzig Bay, in the Stolpmünde area, the S-13 boat, choosing best position to attack, for two hours pursued the largest German ship "Wilhelm Gustloff" ("Wilhelm Gustloff") with a displacement of 25,484 (!) tons.

The Gustloff was a large German liner built in Hamburg in the mid-1930s on the personal orders of Hitler. He was supposed to serve for "classless" cruise travel - even an ordinary worker could afford to rest on the Gustloff. The ship was promoted as "a symbol of the authorities' personal concern for the common people of Germany." The last peaceful exit of this ship was on August 25, 1939, on the eve of the war. It was later converted into a military transport vessel.

"Wilhelm Gustloff" turned out to be the ship of the largest displacement, which the Soviet Navy managed to destroy during the Great Patriotic War

On January 30, 1945, there was a strong storm in the Baltic, visibility was zero. The S-13 submarine entered from the coast and from a distance of less than a kilometer successfully fired three torpedoes - “For the Motherland!”, “For Soviet people!" and "For Leningrad!". The fourth jammed, but managed to neutralize it and successfully evade the pursuit of enemy guard ships.

According to various estimates, from 7 to 10 thousand people were on board the German liner, less than a thousand were saved. According to Admiral N.G. Kuznetsov, who headed the USSR Navy in the Great Patriotic War, "half of the passengers of the liner were highly qualified specialists - the color of the fascist submarine fleet." The German Navy suffered serious damage. According to the Marine magazine (1975, Nos. 2-5, 7-11, Germany), 406 submariners died with the ship. In addition, on board the Wilhelm Gustloff were a female naval battalion, a unit of the 88th anti-aircraft regiment, several detachments of Croatian volunteers, about two dozen Nazi leaders, SS and Gestapo officers. The rest are civilian refugees, including women and children.

In the same very successful C-13 campaign under the command of Marinesko, the General von Steuben transport with a displacement of 14,600 tons, carrying 3,600 tankers, was sunk. " For this one military campaign, - wrote in the article "Combat activity of submarines of the KBF in 1944-1945." Candidate of Naval Sciences V.A. Poleshchuk, - Marinesko, in essence, sent an entire division to the bottom!»

After the sinking of the Steuben, Marinesko became the record holder among Soviet submariners in terms of the total tonnage of enemy ships sunk.

German transport "General von Steuben"

Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko became the most successful submariner in the entire war, his two largest attacks were made with a breakthrough of outposts, pursuit of the enemy at maximum surface speed and reaching the minimum distance of a torpedo salvo.

Dozens of pages have been written today about how the fate of Alexander Marinesko developed after the war. Removed from office and demoted by People's Commissar of the Navy Kuznetsov "For negligence in official duties and domestic promiscuity", in 1946 he was transferred to the reserve. Work on the ships of the Baltic Shipping Company, which was probably the happiest period in his life, then his health deteriorated and he was decommissioned from the crew. Work on the shore, a criminal record and a camp, returning to Leningrad and work again.

In the late 1950s, with increasing turnover cold war and the start of a discussion on the role of participating countries anti-Hitler coalition in the defeat of fascism, the “submariner No. 1” was again remembered. Defense Minister Malinovsky in 1960 cancels the order of the People's Commissar Kuznetsov, reinstates him in rank and returns his pension. Soviet propagandists coin the term "attack of the century", and Kuznetsov himself, in his memoirs, already recalls the S-13 crew and Marinesko as heroes.

A.I. Marinesko - submariner number 1 of the twentieth century

Alexander Ivanovich managed to wait for rehabilitation during his lifetime. The legendary commander of the Red Banner submarine S-13 of the Red Banner submarine brigade of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet, after a serious and prolonged illness, died on November 25, 1963 in Leningrad, at the age of fifty, having died prematurely. He was buried at the Theological Cemetery.

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

Biography

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

Battle path

The sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff

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

Ratings

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

Legally speaking, the Wilhelm Gustloff was a Navy auxiliary ship that allowed 6,000 refugees to board. All responsibility for their lives, from the moment they boarded the warship, lay with the appropriate officials of the German navy. Thus, "Gustloff" was a legitimate military target of Soviet submariners, in view of the following facts:

Most of the dead had nothing to do with the German Navy. Of the (estimated) 918 officers and cadets of the 2nd training division of submarines on board, (presumably) slightly less than half died.

End of the war

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

The sixth military campaign from April 20 to May 13, 1945 was considered unsatisfactory. Then, according to the commander of the submarine brigade, Captain 1st Rank Kournikov, Marinesko “had many cases of detecting enemy transports and convoys, but as a result of improper maneuvering and indecision, he could not get close for an attack ... The actions of the submarine commander in position were unsatisfactory. The submarine commander did not seek to search for and attack the enemy ... As a result of the inactive actions of the S-13 submarine commander, the combat mission was not completed ... ". On May 31, the commander of the submarine division submitted a report to the higher command, in which he indicated that the submarine commander was drinking all the time, was not engaged in official duties, and his continued stay in this position was inappropriate.

On September 14, 1945, order No. 01979 of the People's Commissar of the Navy N. G. Kuznetsov was issued, which said: “For negligence in official duties, systematic drunkenness and everyday promiscuity of the commander of the Red Banner submarine S-13 of the Red Banner submarine brigade of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet, captain 3rd rank Marinesko Remove Alexander Ivanovich from his post, lower his military rank to senior lieutenant and put him at the disposal of the military council of the same fleet "(in 1960, the order to demote was canceled, which made it possible for Marinesko, by that time already very sick, to receive a full pension) .

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

Submarines under the command of Alexander Marinesko made six combat campaigns during the Great Patriotic War. Two transports sunk, one damaged. The M-96 attack in 1942 ended in a miss. Alexander Marinesko holds the record among Soviet submariners in terms of the total tonnage of enemy ships sunk: 42,557 gross register tons.

After the war

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

• Miroslav Morozov. .
• Oleg Strizhak. .
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An excerpt characterizing Marinesko, Alexander Ivanovich

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

Princess Mary was not in Moscow and out of danger, as Prince Andrei thought.
After the return of Alpatych from Smolensk, the old prince, as it were, suddenly came to his senses from a dream. He ordered to gather militia from the villages, arm them and wrote a letter to the commander-in-chief, in which he informed him of his intention to remain in the Bald Mountains to the last extreme, to defend himself, leaving it at his discretion to take or not to take measures to protect the Bald Mountains, in which he would be taken one of the oldest Russian generals was captured or killed, and announced to his family that he was staying in Lysy Gory.
But, remaining himself in the Bald Mountains, the prince ordered the dispatch of the princess and Desal with the little prince to Bogucharovo and from there to Moscow. Princess Mary, frightened by the feverish, sleepless activity of her father, which replaced his former omission, could not make up her mind to leave him alone and for the first time in her life allowed herself to disobey him. She refused to go, and a terrible thunderstorm of the prince's anger fell upon her. He reminded her of everything in which he had been unfair to her. Trying to accuse her, he told her that she had tormented him, that she had quarreled with him, that she had nasty suspicions against him, that she had made it her life's task to poison his life, and drove her out of his office, telling her that if she he won't leave, he doesn't care. He said that he did not want to know about her existence, but he warned her in advance that she should not dare to catch his eye. The fact that, contrary to Princess Mary's fears, he did not order her to be taken away by force, but only did not order her to show herself, pleased Princess Mary. She knew that this proved that in the very secret of his soul he was glad that she stayed at home and did not leave.
The next day after Nikolushka's departure, the old prince put on his full uniform in the morning and got ready to go to the commander-in-chief. The wheelchair has already been served. Princess Marya saw how he, in uniform and all the orders, left the house and went into the garden to review the armed peasants and the yard. Princess Mary saw at the window, listening to his voice, which was heard from the garden. Suddenly, several people ran out of the alley with frightened faces.
Princess Mary ran out onto the porch, onto the flower path and into the alley. A large crowd of militiamen and courtyards was advancing towards her, and in the middle of this crowd several people were dragging a little old man in a uniform and medals by the arms. Princess Marya ran up to him and, in the play of small circles of falling light, through the shadow of the linden alley, could not give herself an account of what a change had taken place in his face. One thing that she saw was that the former stern and resolute expression of his face was replaced by an expression of timidity and submissiveness. When he saw his daughter, he moved his helpless lips and wheezed. It was impossible to understand what he wanted. They picked him up, carried him into the office and laid him on the sofa that he was so afraid of. recent times.
The doctor brought in bled the same night and announced that the prince had a stroke on the right side.
It became more and more dangerous to stay in the Bald Mountains, and the next day after the prince's blow, they were taken to Bogucharovo. The doctor went with them.
When they arrived in Bogucharovo, Desalle and the little prince had already left for Moscow.
Still in the same position, no worse and no better, paralyzed, the old prince lay for three weeks in Bogucharovo in a new house built by Prince Andrei. The old prince was unconscious; he lay like a mutilated corpse. He kept mumbling something, twitching his eyebrows and lips, and it was impossible to know whether he understood or not what surrounded him. One thing could be known for sure - this is that he suffered and felt the need to express something more. But what it was, no one could understand; was it some whim of a sick and half-mad man, did it relate to the general course of affairs, or did it relate to family circumstances?
The doctor said that the anxiety he expressed meant nothing, that it had physical causes; but Princess Marya thought (and the fact that her presence always increased his anxiety confirmed her assumption), she thought that he wanted to tell her something. He obviously suffered both physically and mentally.
There was no hope for a cure. It was impossible to take him. And what would happen if he died dearly? “Would it not be better if it were the end, the end at all! Princess Mary sometimes thought. She watched him day and night, almost without sleep, and, scary to say, she often watched him, not with the hope of finding signs of relief, but watched, often wishing to find signs of the approach of the end.
Strange as it was, the princess was aware of this feeling in herself, but it was in her. And what was even more terrible for Princess Marya was that since the time of her father’s illness (even almost earlier, wasn’t it then, when she, expecting something, stayed with him), all those who had fallen asleep in her woke up in her, forgotten personal desires and hopes. What had not occurred to her for years - thoughts about a free life without the eternal fear of her father, even thoughts about the possibility of love and family happiness, like the temptations of the devil, were constantly rushing through her imagination. No matter how she pushed herself away from herself, questions constantly came to her mind about how she would arrange her life now, after that. These were the temptations of the devil, and Princess Marya knew this. She knew that the only weapon against him was prayer, and she tried to pray. She became in the position of prayer, looked at the images, read the words of the prayer, but could not pray. She felt that now she was embraced by another world - worldly, difficult and free activity, completely opposite to the moral world in which she had been imprisoned before and in which prayer was the best consolation. She could not pray and could not cry, and worldly care seized her.
Staying in Vogucharovo became dangerous. From all sides they could hear about the approaching French, and in one village, fifteen miles from Bogucharov, the estate was plundered by French marauders.
The doctor insisted that the prince should be taken further; the leader sent an official to Princess Mary, persuading her to leave as soon as possible. The police officer, having arrived in Bogucharovo, insisted on the same, saying that the French were forty miles away, that French proclamations were circulating in the villages, and that if the princess did not leave with her father before the fifteenth, then he would not be responsible for anything.
The princess on the fifteenth decided to go. The worries of preparations, giving orders, for which everyone turned to her, occupied her all day. She spent the night from the fourteenth to the fifteenth, as usual, without undressing, in the room next to the one in which the prince lay. Several times, waking up, she heard his groaning, muttering, the creaking of the bed, and the steps of Tikhon and the doctor turning him over. Several times she listened at the door, and it seemed to her that today he muttered louder than usual and tossed and turned more often. She could not sleep and several times approached the door, listening, wanting to enter and not daring to do so. Although he did not speak, Princess Marya saw, knew how unpleasant any expression of fear for him was to him. She noticed how dissatisfied he turned away from her gaze, sometimes involuntarily and stubbornly directed at him. She knew that her arrival at night, at an unusual time, would annoy him.
But she had never been so sorry, she had never been so afraid of losing him. She recalled her whole life with him, and in every word and deed of him she found an expression of his love for her. Occasionally, between these memories, the temptations of the devil burst into her imagination, thoughts about what would happen after his death and how her new, free life would be arranged. But with disgust she drove away these thoughts. By morning it was quiet, and she fell asleep.
She woke up late. The sincerity that comes with awakening clearly showed her what occupied her most in her father's illness. She woke up, listened to what was behind the door, and, hearing his groaning, told herself with a sigh that everything was the same.
- But what to be? What did I want? I want him dead! she cried out in disgust at herself.
She dressed, washed, read prayers and went out onto the porch. Horseless carriages were brought up to the porch, in which things were being packed.
The morning was warm and grey. Princess Marya stopped on the porch, never ceasingly horrified by her spiritual abomination and trying to put her thoughts in order before entering him.
The Doctor stepped down the stairs and approached her.
"He's better today," said the doctor. - I was looking for you. You can understand something from what he says, the head is fresher. Let's go. He is calling you...
Princess Mary's heart beat so violently at this news that she turned pale and leaned against the door so as not to fall. To see him, to talk to him, to fall under his gaze now, when Princess Mary's whole soul was overwhelmed by these terrible criminal temptations, was excruciatingly joyful and terrible.
“Come on,” the doctor said.
Princess Marya went in to her father and went up to the bed. He lay high on his back, with his small, bony hands covered with lilac knotted veins, on the blanket, with his left eye fixed straight and his right eye squinting, with motionless eyebrows and lips. He was all so thin, small and miserable. His face seemed to have shriveled or melted, shrunken features. Princess Mary came up and kissed his hand. Left hand She squeezed her hand so that it was clear that he had been waiting for her for a long time. He tugged at her hand, and his eyebrows and lips moved angrily.
She looked at him fearfully, trying to guess what he wanted from her. When she shifted her position and shifted so that her left eye could see her face, he calmed down, not taking his eyes off her for a few seconds. Then his lips and tongue moved, sounds were heard, and he began to speak, timidly and imploringly looking at her, apparently afraid that she would not understand him.
Princess Mary, straining all her powers of attention, looked at him. The comic labor with which he rolled his tongue forced Princess Marya to lower her eyes and with difficulty suppress the sobs rising in her throat. He said something, repeating his words several times. Princess Mary could not understand them; but she tried to guess what he was saying, and repeated inquiringly the elephants he had said.
“Gaga – fights… fights…” he repeated several times. It was impossible to understand these words. The doctor thought that he had guessed right, and, repeating his words, asked: is the princess afraid? He shook his head negatively and repeated the same thing again...
“My soul, my soul hurts,” Princess Mary guessed and said. He moaned affirmatively, took her hand and began to press it to various places on his chest, as if looking for a real place for her.
- All thoughts! about you… thoughts,” he then spoke much better and more clearly than before, now that he was sure that he was understood. Princess Mary pressed her head against his hand, trying to hide her sobs and tears.
He ran his hand through her hair.
“I called you all night…” he said.
“If I knew…” she said through her tears. - I was afraid to enter.
He shook her hand.
- Didn't you sleep?
“No, I didn’t sleep,” said Princess Mary, shaking her head negatively. Involuntarily obeying her father, she now, just as he spoke, tried to speak more in signs and, as it were, also with difficulty rolling her tongue.
- Darling ... - or - my friend ... - Princess Marya could not make out; but, probably, from the expression of his look, a tender, caressing word was said, which he never said. - Why didn't you come?
“And I wished, wished for his death! thought Princess Mary. He paused.
- Thank you ... daughter, friend ... for everything, for everything ... sorry ... thank you ... sorry ... thank you! .. - And tears flowed from his eyes. “Call Andryusha,” he suddenly said, and something childishly timid and distrustful expressed itself in his face at this request. It was as if he himself knew that his demand was meaningless. So, at least, it seemed to Princess Mary.
“I received a letter from him,” answered Princess Mary.
He looked at her with surprise and timidity.
- Where is he?
- He is in the army, mon pere, in Smolensk.
He was silent for a long time, closing his eyes; then in the affirmative, as if in answer to his doubts and in confirmation that he now understood and remembered everything, nodded his head and opened his eyes.
“Yes,” he said clearly and quietly. - Russia is dead! Ruined! And he sobbed again, and tears flowed from his eyes. Princess Mary could no longer restrain herself and wept too, looking at his face.
He closed his eyes again. His sobs stopped. He made a sign with his hand to his eyes; and Tikhon, understanding him, wiped away his tears.
Then he opened his eyes and said something that no one could understand for a long time and, finally, he understood and conveyed only Tikhon. Princess Mary was looking for the meaning of his words in the mood in which he spoke a minute before. Now she thought that he was talking about Russia, then about Prince Andrei, then about her, about her grandson, then about his death. And because of this, she could not guess his words.
“Put on your white dress, I love it,” he said.
Understanding these words, Princess Marya sobbed even louder, and the doctor, taking her by the arm, led her out of the room to the terrace, persuading her to calm down and make preparations for her departure. After Princess Mary left the prince, he again spoke about his son, about the war, about the sovereign, twitched his eyebrows angrily, began to raise a hoarse voice, and with him came the second and last blow.
Princess Mary stopped on the terrace. The day cleared up, it was sunny and hot. She could understand nothing, think of nothing, and feel nothing, except her passionate love for her father, a love which, it seemed to her, she had not known until that moment. She ran out into the garden and, sobbing, ran down to the pond along the young linden paths planted by Prince Andrei.
“Yes… I… I… I.” I wished for his death. Yes, I wanted it to end soon... I wanted to calm down... But what will happen to me? What do I need peace of mind when he’s gone, ”Princess Marya muttered aloud, walking quickly through the garden and pressing her hands on her chest, from which sobs frantically burst out. Walking around the circle in the garden, which led her back to the house, she saw m lle Bourienne (who remained in Bogucharovo and did not want to leave) and an unfamiliar man walking towards her. It was the leader of the district, who himself came to the princess in order to present to her the need for an early departure. Princess Mary listened and did not understand him; she led him into the house, offered him breakfast, and sat down with him. Then, apologizing to the leader, she went to the door of the old prince. The doctor, with an alarmed face, came out to her and said that it was impossible.
- Go, princess, go, go!
Princess Marya went back into the garden and under the hill by the pond, in a place where no one could see, sat down on the grass. She did not know how long she had been there. Someone's running female steps along the path made her wake up. She got up and saw that Dunyasha, her maid, obviously running after her, suddenly, as if frightened by the sight of her young lady, stopped.
“Please, princess ... prince ...” Dunyasha said in a broken voice.
“Now, I’m going, I’m going,” the princess began hastily, not giving Dunyasha time to finish what she had to say, and, trying not to see Dunyasha, she ran to the house.
“Princess, the will of God is being done, you must be ready for anything,” said the leader, meeting her at the front door.
- Leave me. It is not true! she yelled angrily at him. The doctor wanted to stop her. She pushed him away and ran to the door. “And why are these people with frightened faces stopping me? I don't need anyone! And what are they doing here? She opened the door, and the bright daylight in that previously dim room terrified her. There were women and a nurse in the room. They all moved away from the bed, making way for her. He lay still on the bed; but the stern look of his calm face stopped Princess Marya on the threshold of the room.
"No, he's not dead, it can't be! - Princess Mary said to herself, went up to him and, overcoming the horror that seized her, pressed her lips to his cheek. But she immediately pulled away from him. Instantly, all the strength of tenderness for him, which she felt in herself, disappeared and was replaced by a feeling of horror for what was before her. “No, he is no more! He is not there, but right there, in the same place where he was, something alien and hostile, some kind of terrible, terrifying and repulsive secret ... - And, covering her face with her hands, Princess Marya fell into the hands of the doctor, who supported her.
In the presence of Tikhon and the doctor, the women washed what he was, tied a handkerchief around his head so that his open mouth would not stiffen, and tied his diverging legs with another handkerchief. Then they put on a uniform with medals and laid a small shriveled body on the table. God knows who and when took care of this, but everything became as if by itself. By night, candles burned around the coffin, there was a cover on the coffin, juniper was sprinkled on the floor, a printed prayer was placed under the dead, shrunken head, and a deacon sat in the corner, reading a psalter.
As horses shied away, crowded and snorted over a dead horse, so in the living room around the coffin crowded people of strangers and their own - the leader, and the headman, and the women, and all with fixed, frightened eyes, crossed themselves and bowed, and kissed the cold and stiff hand of the old prince.

Bogucharovo was always, before Prince Andrei settled in it, a private estate, and the men of Bogucharov had a completely different character from those of Lysogorsk. They differed from them in speech, clothing, and customs. They were called steppes. The old prince praised them for their endurance in their work when they came to help clean up the Bald Mountains or dig ponds and ditches, but did not like them for their savagery.
The last stay in Bogucharovo of Prince Andrei, with his innovations - hospitals, schools and easier dues - did not soften their morals, but, on the contrary, strengthened in them those character traits that the old prince called savagery. Between them there were always some kind of obscure talk, either about listing them all as Cossacks, or about a new faith to which they would be converted, then about some royal lists, then about an oath to Pavel Petrovich in 1797 (about which they said that then even the will came out, but the gentlemen took it away), then about Peter Feodorovich, who will reign in seven years, under whom everything will be free and it will be so simple that nothing will happen. Rumors about the war in Bonaparte and his invasion combined for them with the same vague ideas about the Antichrist, the end of the world and pure will.
In the vicinity of Bogucharov there were more and more large villages, state-owned and quitrent landlords. There were very few landowners living in this area; there were also very few servants and literates, and in the life of the peasants of this area were more noticeable and stronger than in others, those mysterious jets of Russian folk life, the causes and significance of which are inexplicable to contemporaries. One of these phenomena was the movement between the peasants of this area to move to some warm rivers, which manifested itself about twenty years ago. Hundreds of peasants, including Bogucharov's, suddenly began to sell their livestock and leave with their families somewhere to the southeast. Like birds flying somewhere beyond the seas, these people with their wives and children strove to go there, to the southeast, where none of them had been. They went up in caravans, bathed one by one, ran, and rode, and went there, to the warm rivers. Many were punished, exiled to Siberia, many died of cold and hunger along the way, many returned on their own, and the movement died down by itself, just as it had begun without obvious reason. But the underwater streams did not stop flowing in this people and gathered for some kind of new force that could manifest itself just as strangely, unexpectedly, and at the same time simply, naturally and strongly. Now, in 1812, for a person who lived close to the people, it was noticeable that these underwater jets produced powerful work and were close to manifestation.
Alpatych, having arrived in Bogucharovo some time before the death of the old prince, noticed that there was unrest among the people and that, contrary to what was happening in the Bald Mountains on a sixty-verst radius, where all the peasants left (leaving the Cossacks to ruin their villages), in the steppe zone , in Bogucharovskaya, the peasants, as was heard, had relations with the French, received some papers that went between them, and remained in their places. He knew through the courtyard people devoted to him that the peasant Karp, who had recently traveled with a state-owned cart, and who had a great influence on the world, returned with the news that the Cossacks were devastating the villages from which the inhabitants came out, but that the French did not touch them. He knew that another peasant had even brought yesterday from the village of Visloukhovo, where the French were stationed, a paper from the French general, in which the inhabitants were declared that no harm would be done to them and that everything that was taken from them would be paid for if they stayed. As proof of this, the peasant brought from Visloukhov one hundred rubles in banknotes (he did not know that they were fake), given to him in advance for hay.

Alexander Marinesko is one of the most controversial figures of the Great Patriotic War, around whom controversy still does not subside. A man covered in many myths and legends. Undeservedly forgotten, and then returned from oblivion.

Today in Russia they are proud of him, they perceive him as national hero. Last year, a monument to Marinesko appeared in Kaliningrad, his name was entered in the Golden Book of St. Petersburg. Many books have been published dedicated to his feat, among them the recently published "Submariner No. 1" by Vladimir Borisov. And in Germany they still cannot forgive him for the death of the Wilhelm Gustloff ship. We call this famous combat episode the "Attack of the Century", while the Germans consider it the largest maritime disaster, perhaps even more terrible than the sinking of the Titanic.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that the name of Marinesko in Germany is known to everyone, and the topic of "Gustloff" today, after many years, excites the press and public opinion. Especially recently, after the story "The Trajectory of the Crab" came out in Germany and almost immediately became a bestseller. Its author is a famous German writer, laureate Nobel Prize Günther Grass, opens unknown pages the flight of East Germans to the west, and in the center of events is the Gustloff disaster. For many Germans, the book was a real revelation...

The death of the Gustloff is not without reason called a "hidden tragedy", the truth about which both sides hid for a long time: we always said that the ship was the color of the German submarine fleet and never mentioned the thousands of dead refugees, and the post-war Germans, who grew up with a sense of repentance for crimes of the Nazis, hushed up this story, because they feared accusations of revanchism. Those who tried to talk about those killed on the Gustloff, about the horrors of the German flight from East Prussia, were immediately perceived as "extreme right." Only with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the entry into a united Europe did it become possible to look east more calmly and talk about many things that for a long time were not customary to remember ...

The price of the "attack of the century"

Whether we like it or not, we still cannot get around the question: what did Marinesko drown - a warship of the Nazi elite or a ship of refugees? What happened in the Baltic Sea on the night of January 30, 1945?

In those days Soviet army rapidly moved to the West, in the direction of Koenigsberg and Danzig. Hundreds of thousands of Germans, fearing retribution for the atrocities of the Nazis, became refugees and moved towards the port city of Gdynia - the Germans called it Gotenhafen. On January 21, Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz gave the order: "All available German ships must save everything that can be saved from the Soviets." The officers were ordered to redeploy submarine cadets and their military equipment, and in any free corner of their ships - to accommodate refugees, and especially women and children. Operation Hannibal was the largest evacuation of the population in the history of navigation: over two million people were transported to the west.

Gotenhafen became the last hope for many refugees - there were not only large warships, but also large liners, each of which could take on board thousands of refugees. One of them was the Wilhelm Gustloff, which seemed unsinkable to the Germans. Built in 1937, this magnificent cruise ship with a cinema and a swimming pool served as the pride of the "Third Reich", it was intended to demonstrate to the whole world the achievements of Nazi Germany. Hitler himself participated in the descent of the ship, which was his personal cabin. For the Hitlerite cultural leisure organization "Strength through Joy", the liner delivered vacationers to Norway and Sweden for a year and a half, and with the outbreak of World War II it became a floating barracks for cadets of the 2nd diving training division.

January 30, 1945 "Gustloff" went on his last flight from Gotenhafen. About how many refugees and soldiers were on board, the data of German sources differ. As for refugees, until 1990 the figure was almost constant, since many of the survivors of that tragedy lived in the GDR - and there this topic was not subject to discussion. Now they began to testify, and the number of refugees grew to ten thousand people. In relation to the military, the figure almost did not change - it is within one and a half thousand people. The calculation was carried out by "passenger assistants", one of whom was Heinz Schön, who after the war became the chronicler of the death of the Gustloff and the author of several documentary books on this topic, including The Gustloff Catastrophe and SOS - Wilhelm Gustloff.

The submarine "S-13" under the command of Alexander Marinesko hit the liner with three torpedoes. The surviving passengers left terrible memories of the last minutes of the Gustloff. People tried to escape on life rafts, but most survived only a few minutes in ice water. Nine ships participated in the rescue of its passengers. The terrifying pictures are forever etched in my memory: children's heads are heavier than their legs, and therefore only their legs are visible on the surface. Lots of baby feet...

So, how many managed to survive this catastrophe? According to Shen, 1239 people survived, of which half, 528 people, were the personnel of German submariners, 123 women auxiliary personnel navy, 86 injured, 83 crew members and only 419 refugees. These figures are well known in Germany and today it makes no sense to hide them with us. Thus, 50% of the submariners and only 5% of the refugees survived. We have to admit that, basically, women and children died - they were completely unarmed before the war. Such was the price of the "attack of the century" and that is why in Germany today many Germans consider Marinesco's actions a war crime.

Refugees become hostages of a ruthless war machine

However, let's not rush to conclusions. The question here is much deeper - about the tragedy of war. Even the most just war is inhuman, because the civilian population suffers first of all from it. According to the inexorable laws of war, Marinesko sank a warship, and it is not his fault that he sank a ship with refugees. A huge blame for the tragedy lies with the German command, which was guided by military interests and did not think about civilians.

The fact is that the Gustloff left Gotenhafen without proper escort and ahead of schedule, without waiting for the escort ships, since it was necessary to urgently transfer German submariners from the already surrounded East Prussia. The Germans knew that this area was especially dangerous for ships. A fatal role was played by the side lights turned on on the Gustloff after a message was received that a detachment of German minesweepers was moving towards it - it was through these lights that Marinesko discovered the liner. And finally, on her last voyage, the ship left not as a hospital ship, but as a military transport, painted gray and equipped with anti-aircraft guns.

Until now, Shen's numbers are practically unknown to us, and data are still being used that the color of the German submarine fleet died on the Gustloff - 3,700 sailors, who could have equipped from 70 to 80 submarines. This figure, taken from the report of the Swedish newspaper "Aftonbladet" dated February 2, 1945, was considered indisputable by us and was not questioned. Until now, the legends created back in the 1960s with light hand writer Sergei Sergeevich Smirnov, who raised the then unknown pages of the war - Marinesko's feat and defense Brest Fortress. But no, Marinesco was never "Hitler's personal enemy", and a three-day mourning was not announced in Germany for the death of "Gustloff". This was not done for the simple reason that thousands more people were waiting to be evacuated by sea, and the news of the disaster would have caused panic. Mourning was declared for Wilhelm Gustloff himself, the leader of the National Socialist Party in Switzerland, who was killed in 1936, and his killer, student David Frankfurter, was named Hitler's personal enemy.

Why do we still hesitate to name the true extent of that tragedy? It is sad to admit it, but we are afraid that the feat of Marinesko will fade. However, today even many Germans understand that the German side provoked Marinesko. “It was a brilliant military operation, thanks to which the initiative to dominate the naval war in the Baltic was firmly intercepted by Soviet sailors,” says Yury Lebedev, deputy director of the A.I. Marinesko Museum of Russian Submarine Forces. the end of the war. It was a strategic success for the Soviet navy, and for Germany - the largest maritime disaster. Marinesco's feat is that he destroyed the seemingly unsinkable symbol of Nazism, a dream ship promoting the "Third Reich". on the ship, became hostages of the German military machine. Therefore, the tragedy of the death of the Gustloff is not an accusation against Marinesco, but against Hitler's Germany."

Recognizing that on the sunken "Gustloff" were not only German submariners, but also refugees, we will take one more step towards the recognition of a historical, albeit unpleasant for us, fact. But we need to get out of this situation, because in Germany "Gustloff" is a symbol of trouble, and in Russia it is a symbol of our military victories. The question of "Gustloff" and Marinesko is a very complex and delicate one, affecting the present and future of relations between Russia and Germany. It was not for nothing that Ulrich Schöning, Consul General of Germany, who recently visited the Museum of Russian Submarine Forces named after A.I. tragic events World War II, the time has finally come when Russians and Germans are building the future together. This is called for by the sinking of the German liner Wilhelm Gustloff in January 1945.

Today we have the opportunity to move towards reconciliation even in such a difficult issue - through historical authenticity. After all, there are no black and white colors in history. And the uniqueness of Marinesko is that his personality does not leave anyone indifferent. His legendary personality may be destined for immortality. He became a legend and will remain so...

Marinesko Alexander Ivanovich- (19131963), submariner of the Baltic Fleet, captain of the 3rd rank (1942), Hero of the Soviet Union (1990, posthumously). Member of the Communist Party since 1943. From 1933 in Leningrad, he served in the Baltic Fleet. Graduated special courses command staff in ... Encyclopedic reference book "St. Petersburg"

MARINESKO Alexander Ivanovich- (1913 63) submariner, captain of the 3rd rank (1942), Hero of the Soviet Union (1990, posthumously). During the Great Patriotic War, commanding the submarine C 13 (1943 45), he sank a German superliner in the Danzig Bay area on January 30, 1945 ... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

Marinesko Alexander Ivanovich- (1913 1963), sailor submariner of the Baltic Fleet, captain of the 3rd rank (1942), Hero of the Soviet Union (1990, posthumously). Member of the Communist Party since 1943. From 1933 in Leningrad, he served in the Baltic Fleet. He graduated from special courses for command staff ... ... St. Petersburg (encyclopedia)

Marinesko Alexander Ivanovich- Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko January 2 (15), 1913 (19130115) November 25, 1963 Captain of the third rank A.I. Marinesko Place of birth ... Wikipedia

Marinesko Alexander Ivanovich- (1913 1963), submariner, captain of the 3rd rank (1942), Hero of the Soviet Union (1990, posthumously). During the Great Patriotic War, commanding the submarine "C 13" (1943 1945), he sank a German superliner in the Danzig Bay area on January 30, 1945 ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

Marinesko, Alexander Ivanovich- MARINE / SKO Alexander Ivanovich (1913 1963) Soviet submariner, captain of the 3rd rank (1942), Hero of the Soviet. Union (1990, posthumously). Ukrainian by origin. He graduated from the junior school (1929) and the Odessa Naval School (1933). In the Navy since 1933. Served ... ... Marine Biographical Dictionary

Marinesko, Alexander Ivanovich- Genus. 1913, mind. 1963. Sailor submariner, hero of the Great Patriotic War. In 1945, he sank the German superliner "Wilhelm Gustlov" in the area of ​​​​the Danzig Bay and auxiliary cruiser"General Steuben". Captain of the 3rd rank ... ... Big biographical encyclopedia