Major General Nikolai Kuznetsov. Kuznetsov, Nikolai Fedorovich

Major General V.E. Kuznetsov

The history of the return of Crimea to Russia, the “Crimean Spring,” is still awaiting its detailed description. And it started not in 2014, but in the now distant 1992. Even then, in the spring of 1992, Crimea could have returned to Russia, the historical mistake could have been corrected, which turned into a tragedy of a divided people, which almost later became the cause of a big war. And the worthy son of the Fatherland, Russian general Valery Evgenievich Kuznetsov, whose feat is still practically unknown, made his invaluable contribution to correcting this mistake.

General Kuznetsov, photo from the 90s

V.E. Kuznetsov was born on March 8, 1946 in Veliky Ustyug, Vologda Region. In 1969 he graduated with a gold medal from the Omsk Higher Combined Arms Command School. M.V. Frunze, in 1977 - Military Academy named after. M.V. Frunze, in 1990 - Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces. K.E.Voroshilova.

In the Armed Forces of the USSR since August 1965.
In July - September 1969 - at the disposal of the commander of the Siberian Military District.
In 1969-1971 - commander of a platoon of cadets at the Omsk Higher Combined Arms Command School named after. M.V. Frunze.

In 1971-1973 - commander of a motorized rifle company;
In 1973-1974 - commander motorized rifle battalion 620 motorized rifle regiment of the 13th motorized rifle division.
In June - August 1977 - chief of staff - deputy commander of the 289th Guards Regiment motorized rifle regiment of the 97th Guards Motorized Rifle Division.
In 1977-1979 - Chief of Staff - Deputy Commander of Regiment 310 motorized rifle regiment of the 24th motorized rifle division.
In 1979-1981 - commander of the 203rd Guards motorized rifle regiment of the 70th Guards Motorized Rifle Division.
In 1981-1982 - commander of the 149th Guards motorized rifle regiment of the 201st motorized rifle division.
In 1982-1984 - commander of the 298th Guards motorized rifle regiment of the 37th Guards Tank Division.
In 1984-1985 - Chief of Staff - Deputy Commander of the 193rd Tank Division.
In 1985-1988 - commander of the 37th Guards Tank Division.
In 1990-1992 - last commander of the 32nd Army Crimean Corps of the USSR Armed Forces.
Veteran of the war in Afghanistan.

General Kuznetsov stood at the origins of the process of reunification of Crimea with Russia. In April 1992, Kuznetsov, summoned to Kyiv, responded with a categorical refusal to the demand of the Ministry of Defense of the newly independent Ukraine to be prepared for a possible war between Ukraine and Russia (!). Otherwise, he was threatened with immediate dismissal from service (as the Ukrainian leadership did then with other honest military leaders, who also rejected the very idea of ​​war with Russia). “I will not fight with Russia, I will not surrender my corps” - this was the decision made by Kuznetsov.

Being, in fact, the main security officer in Crimea, General Kuznetsov did not allow the escalation of tension on the territory of the peninsula and the emergence of an armed conflict here back in May 1992, provoked in this peaceful territory by the authorities of the rapidly becoming anti-Russian state of Ukraine. Thanks to his firmness and selfless loyalty to his officer's duty, the Republic of Crimea was then able to defend real autonomy for itself within the increasingly hostile Ukraine. And Valery Evgenievich Kuznetsov, all the time while the Republic managed to defend its independence at the cost of heroic efforts (later crushed by the Kyiv authorities in 1995), continued to serve faithfully and devotedly multinational to the people of Crimea. Now as a people's deputy of the Supreme Council, later as an assistant to the President of Crimea on military issues, and since April 1994 - in the then difficult and dangerous position of the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Crimea.

The Armavir Cossacks also had a chance to take part in those memorable events of the Crimean spring of 1992. A group of four Cossacks from the commandant hundred of the Armavir Cossack Society, who were at that time in Simferopol on a friendly visit to their Cossack brothers of the Crimean Cossack Circle (later the Crimean Cossack Union), took part in the defense of the headquarters of the 32nd Army Corps in Simferopol, in providing personal protection of the rebellious corps commander Kuznetsov and his family. The leader of the Armavir group of Kuban Cossacks was Ivan Maksimovich Korobeinik, then still a sub-squire. Upon returning from Kyiv, the commander of the Crimean Army Corps, General Kuznetsov, at a press conference officially announced his refusal to fight with Russia, his decision not to surrender command of the corps, and turned to the Crimeans with a request for support.

General V.E. Kuznetsov

Many residents of Simferopol and residents of other regions of Crimea immediately came to his defense, taking the building of the corps headquarters into a living ring and forming a round-the-clock picket, not allowing the arrest of the hero general. The backbone of the people's defense headquarters was made up of the Cossacks, and the most responsible part of organizing the defense was carried out by I. Korobeinik and his people. This “rise” of the Armavir people was facilitated by the unconditional organizational skills and courage of Ivan Korobeinik, the unity of his group, as well as the hope with which the Crimeans looked at the brothers from Russia who came to help them in difficult times. “Russia is with us” - this was the general mood of the Crimeans - the defenders of the army corps headquarters.

In addition to the author of this article, Ivan Korobeinik’s group included 2 more young Cossacks - Alexey and Yuri, and the youngest, Alexey, was only 17 years old at that time. However, neither the small number nor the young age of the majority of the group members prevented the Armavir people from completing the tasks assigned to them.

And the danger on the part of the Kyiv authorities of attempting to resolve the issue by force due to the fact that negotiations on the surrender of the rebellious general had reached a dead end was real. Special forces were drawn to the headquarters, in particular, special forces from Old Crimea, whose fighters were polite and apparently friendly to the defenders of the headquarters, but it was clear that everything would depend on what order the Ukrainian military personnel from Kyiv would receive. The assault on the headquarters could be carried out at any time. But then Ukraine was not yet ready to start killing its people.

And yet, Major General Kuznetsov completed perhaps the most important work of his life, which he began back in 1992. In March-April 2014, Kuznetsov, as the Minister of Defense of Crimea, carried out his return home to Russia.

General Kuznetsov always remembers with warmth the Kuban Cossacks who came to the aid of him and the people of Crimea at that difficult time. He is our comrade in the movement in support of the Serbian hero Ratko Mladic, and is an honorary member of the Society of Friends of General Mladic.

Valery Evgenievich is a member of the Russian Writers' Union and writes wonderful poetry. We invite readers to familiarize themselves with some of them:

Rus

There is endless snow and rain above you,
Now winter, now spring, now riots, now leaders,
No matter what age - over you war war,
Apparently, such a share has been given to us from above.

Round dance of the domes of golden-domed churches,
The vast expanse of forests and fields -
This ancient Rus' with a scorched soul,
In the silver of lakes and blue skies.

And lilac color, and rowan fire,
My little village, where the accordion yearns, -
This is ancient Rus' with a troubled fate,
And its shrine - majestic Moscow.

Moscow, June 1997

I'm here again...

I'm here again, in the land where I was born...
This is my city, this is my street,
An ancient house... How often have I dreamed about you
And warmed my soul without fire.

Memories of the past
Lived again. Opened over the hill
Dragonflies swarm over a sleeping stream
And frogs singing over the pond.

Overgrown pond, road under the mountain,
Church crosses over the northern river.
My ancient city, I am always with you,
My destiny has merged with your destiny.

Memory

Fields of war, military whirlwind,
Today the feather grass is rustling there,
Moments of battle, feat, immortality
Through the centuries our memory will be preserved.

Young faces frozen in stone,
Heavy is the granite and the peace of eternity.
And in the film you are still alive,
In that old front-line film.

And I see on the screen, through the gaps,
The idol of my soul from distant years,
Going into eternity, young, beautiful,
The commander was the first to attack.

Moscow, July 1997

Quiet Don

What a sky, there are clouds in the sky,
Like white birds, they float across the sky,
A quiet river glistens in the sun,
And it seems that the sky has fallen into the water.

Once upon a time here civil war,
Like a black bird above the blue-eyed sky,
I went through trouble and took away happiness
In dashing attacks and in fierce battles.

My Quiet Don, hello to you, hello,
After years, I finally returned to you,
You're like a saber trail of blood
It stretches among the Donetsk steppes.

Afghan roads

Afghan roads - landmines and mines,
There are serpentines in the mountains, ambushes along the way,
And the dust is knee-deep, and the heat is an avalanche
It flows from the heavens, and there is no turning back.

The column wearily crawls along a serpentine line,
He took refuge in the snow-white mountains of Salang,
An armored personnel carrier froze over a steep cliff,
A flag flutters on the mast with an antenna.

Dushman bullets plowed the road,
The pourer is burning, the earth is blazing,
An armored personnel carrier came to life, machine gun jets
They sweep away the enemy, the clouds move.

Moscow, 1997

In fatal moments

When I feel sad in fatal moments,
When I'm alone, far from home,
Suddenly I hear thunderclaps,
I will see the glare of a menacing fire.

Thunderstorm is the peace of my soul,
Balm for my mortal wounds,
I'm doomed to eternal languor
And the fire raging in the blood.

I don’t even know what I want,
I myself don’t know where I’m going,
The Almighty controls my destiny,
I am subdued to the heavenly sails.

The darkness is thickening, the clouds are darkening in the darkness,
The loud splash of rain can be heard everywhere,
From under the skies the mighty
Thunder rolls, lightning is visible.

The darkness is getting thicker and the glare is brighter than lightning,
Terrible storm, terrible, wild roar...
In the pitch darkness I see the faces of saints,
From the sky I hear an eternal call.

Alexey Yurievich Petrik,
coordinator of interregional social movement
"Society of Friends of General Mladic"
Armavir, Krasnodar region, Russia.

Kuznetsov, Nikolai Fedorovich

Fighter pilot, Honored Military Pilot of the USSR (1967), Hero Soviet Union(1943), Major General of Aviation, Doctor of Military Sciences. Sci. Participant of the Soviet-Finnish war. On the fronts of the Great Patriotic War from June 1941. He fought in the 436th (67th Guards) IAP and was a squadron commander. On January 6, 1943, in an air battle on the outskirts of Leningrad, an enemy fighter was rammed on a burning plane. He made 252 combat missions, in 150 air battles he shot down 25 enemy aircraft personally and 12 in a group. After the war, he continued to serve in the Air Force until 1978. Participant in the Korean War. In 1963-1972 was the head of the Cosmonaut Training Center. Author of the book "Front Above the Ground".

Kuznetsov, Nikolai Fedorovich

(12/26/1916-3/5/2000). Deputy squadron commander of the 436th Fighter Aviation Regiment (239th Fighter Aviation Division, 6th Air Army, Northwestern Front), captain. Born on December 26, 1916 in Petrograd into a working-class family. Russian. Member of the CPSU(b) since 1940. After graduating from the 7th grade and the secondary school, he worked as a turner at the Leningrad plant named after M.I. Kalinin. In the Red Army since 1935. Graduated Leningrad school aviation technicians in 1937, Kachin Military Aviation Pilot School in 1941. Participant of the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940. Participant of the Great Patriotic War since June 1941. Senior Lieutenant Kuznetsov N.F. especially distinguished himself on January 6, 1943. In an air battle, Kuznetsov's P-40K plane was shot down. On a burning fighter, the Soviet pilot, fighting off the demonstrative attacks of five German vultures, went to the front line. The Germans were unable to finish off the plane: Kuznetsov was burning, losing altitude, but moving away from the Germans first in one direction, then in the other, gliding through the air and stubbornly pulling towards his own. When there was nothing left to the front line, the three Messers turned to the side and left, and the two decided to attack the Russian from above, hitting the cockpit in order to surely finish him off. Then Kuznetsov lifted the nose of the plane up and responded to the attack with all six machine guns that the Kitty Hawk was armed with, and it hit and landed right on the German - then, working with the rudders, it dived sharply down. Kuznetsov did a masterful job - with his screw he cut off, or rather, broke off the fascist's tail. The German fell to the ground like a stone and exploded at the same second. And Kuznetsov continued to pull the damaged car towards his own people, he felt that the fire was about to make its way into the cabin - because of this, he did not open the canopy, he was afraid that if he only slightly opened the canopy, the flame would penetrate into the cabin, it would even penetrate through a very small gap, and then that’s it - the pilot will turn into a torch. Kuznetsov was unable to reach the airfield. His plane crashed just behind the front line. Then the pilot managed to walk about seven kilometers and lost consciousness from fatigue and loss of blood. And then there was a hospital, a difficult operation and a return to duty. The title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal was awarded to Nikolai Fedorovich Kuznetsov on May 1, 1943 for 213 combat missions, 17 personally and 12 in a group of downed enemy aircraft. He ended the war in Berlin, as a guard major, deputy commander of the 67th Fighter Regiment. In total, he conducted 252 air battles and shot down 37 enemy aircraft (including group victories). Took part in the Victory Parade. After the war he continued to serve in the Air Force. In 1949 he graduated from the Military Academy named after M.V. Frunze, in 1956 - from the Military Academy of the General Staff. With his active participation, in the late 50s - early 60s, a detachment of Soviet cosmonauts was created and the Cosmonaut Training Center was built. In 1963-1972 - Head of the Cosmonaut Training Center named after Yu. A. Gagarin. Since 1978, Honored Military Pilot of the USSR, Doctor of Military Sciences, Major General of Aviation Kuznetsov has been retired. Author of memoirs about the Great Patriotic War, “The Front Above the Ground,” as well as books about S.P. Korolev and Yu.A. Gagarin. On May 13, 1945, Nikolai Fedorovich was nominated for the title of twice Hero of the Soviet Union. The submission was signed by S. Rudenko - Commander of the 16th Air Army, Lieutenant General K. Telegin - Member of the Front Military Council and Marshal of the Soviet Union G. Zhukov. But for some reason Kuznetsov did not receive a second star. This story continued in 1999. The chairman of the so-called “permanent Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR” Sazha Umalatova signed the Certificate of awarding the title of twice hero, and presented the Hero Star made of low-grade gold. On March 5, 2000, Nikolai Fedorovich died in Star City. He was buried in the cemetery of the village of Leonikha near Moscow. Awarded 2 Orders of Lenin, 4 Orders of the Red Banner, Orders of Alexander Nevsky, Order of the Patriotic War 1st degree, 3 Orders of the Red Star, medals.

Large biographical encyclopedia. 2009 .

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* * *

The fate of this combat pilot personifies the continuity of generations in Soviet aviation. Having begun his service as a cadet at the Leningrad School of Aviation Technicians in 1935, he went through 3 wars, commanded large aviation formations, and headed the Cosmonaut Training Center.

Nikolai Kuznetsov was born in December 1916 in Petrograd, into a working-class family. Having graduated from the Leningrad School of Aviation Technicians in 1937, as part of the 68th Fighter Aviation Regiment he participated in the Soviet-Finnish War in the winter of 1939 - 1940, ensured the trouble-free operation of all aircraft in the flight during prolonged 40-degree frosts and was awarded the Order of the Red Star. Then, of his own free will, he was sent to the Kachin Military Aviation Pilot School, which he successfully graduated from in 1941.

Since June 1941 - on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War. Participant in the defense of Leningrad. At first he fought in the 191st Air Regiment, flying I-16 and Hurricane. Lieutenant N. F. Kuznetsov won his first victory in July 1941 in the Petrokrepost area, when a volley of rockets fired in unison by an I-16 flight destroyed 2 Me-110 multipurpose aircraft... After retraining to fly the Hurricane, Kuznetsov was part of the same regiment fought on the Kalinin Front.

In the fall of 1941, the wonderful Soviet artist Yar-Kravchenko worked in the regiment. From early morning until late evening, he was at the aircraft parking lots, on the runway, looking into the command post, into the dugouts, the pilots' dormitory and drawing, drawing tirelessly.

Yar-Kravchenko refused all privileges. He lived in a dugout at the airfield, ate the same thing as the pilots - often only crackers. He shared with them the bitterness of failures and the joy of victories. Maybe that's why his works were so expressive and realistic.

When the artist completed a series of aviation drawings and portraits in the combat regiments, journalist M. Zhestev wrote warm correspondence about him in one of the Leningrad newspapers:

“The names of our fighter pilots are covered with glory, they are loved by the people, and this love led the artist Yar-Kravchenko to folk heroes. With the masterful hand of a portrait painter, he created this wonderful front-line album.

When you look at this album, every stroke takes on extraordinary meaning. There are no air battles here. The heroism of the pilots is shown through the portrait. You feel it in the look of your eyes, the turn of your head, in every feature of your face..."

We flip through the album. Here is the Hero of the Soviet Union, junior lieutenant Kharitonov. He is sitting in the cockpit. The artist sketched his strong-willed face before flying into battle. Here are Kuznetsov, Grachev, and Plavsky standing at the airfield. These 3 winged heroes shot down 48 German aircraft in air battles. Here is the attack master, Captain Gorokhov, here are the pilots - night lights Appolonin, Matsievich, Grigoriev - people with a keen eye, fearlessly following the enemy in the wake of anti-aircraft explosions. And here is the pilot Murga. Under the portrait there are laconic lines: “In air battles, he destroyed 11 fascist planes...”

The album was published by the editors of the newspaper "Ataka" in November 1941. You leaf through it from beginning to end, from the first to the last portrait, and you don’t want to part with the people near and dear to you. Their cheerfulness, courage and bravery make your heart beat faster. You are deeply concerned by the image of the hero pilot, the glorious defender of the city of Lenin. It has many faces, this image, it is in the heart of every Soviet patriot."

I-16 type 17 N. F. Kuznetsova. 191st IAP, 1941.

Soon, having rearmed again, now with the American P-40 Kittyhawk, Kuznetsov was transferred to the 436th IAP (later became the 67th Guards IAP), where he fought until the end of the war.

Nikolai's combat tally grew quite quickly: on December 26, 1942, on his 26th birthday, he already won his 26th victory - an interesting coincidence of dates! And soon, on January 6, 1943, he fought his hardest battle during the entire period of the war.

On that day, a group of fighters from the 436th Air Regiment, having flown out to escort attack aircraft, was suddenly attacked by enemy aircraft. The Kuznetsov couple rushed towards the nearest Messera. Having approached the Germans from the direction of the sun with their wingman Goldobin, they began a battle.

The fight was fierce - the whole sky was covered with smoke. There was also a battle going on below. In one of the attacks, Kuznetsov’s car was hit by a Messer, damaging the oil line with a burst of fire. The splattered oil filled the entire lantern, for several minutes nothing was visible at all, only a small, unspotted space remained at the back. Then the oil flowed a little to the side, a gap formed in the glass of the lantern, and Kuznetsov involuntarily began to look in the air for his wingman: where is he?

But Goldobin was no longer there. A minute later he saw his wingman on fire, tumbling towards the ground with a long tail of smoke (Goldobin managed to jump out of the burning plane with a parachute, ended up with the partisans, remained alive and subsequently successfully continued to fight).

Friends congratulate N.F. Kuznetsov on another victory.

In general, Nikolai found himself alone against 5 Messers. They attacked him competently: at first Kuznetsov was attacked by a pair, then by a troika, then again by a pair and again by a troika, and so on, the Germans replaced each other, which, in fact, was what Kuznetsov needed: he pinned down the German fighters, did not allow them to reach our attack aircraft - he distracted 5 planes at once.

At some point, Kuznetsov noticed that one German plane had disappeared - one pair of Messers was in front, the second pair was behind, and there was no fifth plane, it had disappeared, although it should not have disappeared. He had to be found at all costs. But Senior Lieutenant N.F. Kuznetsov did not find the 5th German, did not have time to find him, he seemed to disappear without a trace in the bottomless blue sky, in the huge whitish sun.

At this time, the command of General F.P. Polynin sounded from the ground:

The stormtroopers have done their job, the stormtroopers are going home, and the hawks can return too. Hawks, hawks - home! Hawks, you can go back!

“Okay, it’s time for me to go to the airfield,” this was the last thought that flashed through Kuznetsov’s mind before a sharp blow that literally threw the plane to the side. It was the missing Messer that suddenly fell out of the luxurious winter sun, striking in its size, and attacked Kuznetsov. Metal hit his shoulder. It was like being hit with a sledgehammer. Left hand Kuznetsov’s engine immediately stopped working, it was broken, the lantern, splashed with oil, this time splattered with blood... The engine stopped pulling.

But there was no pain or red haze before my eyes. Kuznetsov turned around and dragged the burning plane towards the front line, towards his own people. The Kittyhawk's engine did not work. The front line was no less than 15 kilometers away. The altitude reserve allowed us to still pull - the instruments showed 3500 meters. Although the flames are unlikely to be extinguished by mere planning, it requires good speed. The front line was clearly visible - it passed along the railway thread far ahead, the thread dissolved in a faint frosty haze, going in an arc to the left and along the same arc to the right.

Kuznetsov was drawn to this railway, as his only life goal, which was very important to achieve. For the Messers, his plane now represented easy money, they began to shoot at the Kittyhawk, as if at a training ground, indicatively, the Germans seemed to be training in air exercises: first, a team of two came onto the plane, hit Kuznetsov with all guns, having shot back, turned to the side , and the troika took its place. And it also gushed from all the trunks.

And still the Germans were unable to finish off the plane: Kuznetsov was burning, losing altitude, but moving away from the Germans first in one direction, then in the other, gliding through the air and stubbornly pulling towards his own. When there was nothing left to the front line, the three Messers turned to the side and left, and the two decided to attack the Russian from above, hitting the cockpit in order to surely finish him off.

Then Kuznetsov lifted the nose of the plane up and responded to the attack with all 6 machine guns with which the Kittyhawk was armed, and it hit and landed right on the German - then, working with the rudders, it dived sharply down.

Kuznetsov did a masterful job - with his screw he cut off, or rather, broke off the enemy’s tail. The German fell to the ground like a stone, whipping up a tall plume of snow, and at the same second exploded. The sunny space turned pink from the strong flame.

And Kuznetsov continued to pull the damaged car towards his own people, feeling that the fire would soon make its way into the cabin. Because of this, he did not open the canopy, he was afraid that the flame would penetrate into the cabin - it would get through even a very small gap, and then that’s it - the pilot would turn into a torch.

Kuznetsov literally crawled through the air, across the railway line, descended behind the uneven line, battered by shells, looked at the altimeter, noting how much remained to the ground, and was surprised: he was already at an altitude of 100 meters below the level of the airfield. It was impossible to lower the landing gear - the Kittyhawk would instantly turn over with its paws up, so Kuznetsov continued to glide. And the land is already very close, the snowdrifts are just a stone's throw away. Kuznetsov opened the canopy and the next moment a sharp blow threw him out of the cabin.

He flew several meters through the air and buried himself in the snow. The blow caused Kuznetsov to lose consciousness for several moments, although he did not record this moment; he woke up quite quickly. It was dark. But just now, literally a few minutes ago, he saw a bright light, the sun, a haze rising from the snow, snow pink from the flames of a burning German, and suddenly - darkness, night. A doomed thought flashed through my head: “Did my eyes go out? Or did they burn out?”

Fighter R-40K "Kittyhawk" of senior lieutenant N. F. Kuznetsov. 436th IAP, winter 1943.

He moved his legs, both legs were working, he moved his right hand - the right hand was working, but the left hand, pressed to the body, was not, it was like a rag, someone else's. Whether she was killed, or what else happened to her, I don’t understand. There was no pain. A piece of snow fell on my face and scorched me with cold. Kuznetsov began to dig out the snow above him with his healthy hand and soon made it to the surface, into the light. He sighed in relief - his eyes saw.

Somehow I got to the plane - there was a walkie-talkie, from the cockpit you could contact your people, although communication with the ground from the ground is not the same as with the ground from the air. The radio turned out to be broken, there was no hope that anyone would try to help him. The plane continued to burn, the flames were not extinguished even by a high column of snow. The Kittyhawk's nose buried itself in a high snowdrift. Kuznetsov took shortened Finnish skis from the fuselage - not skis, but skis, almost child-like in appearance, very light. Kuznetsov always took them with him on flights in case they came in handy. And now they came in handy.

I heard something squelching in my boots. I thought I had landed in a swamp, scooped up some black, stinking liquid, but it turned out I didn’t. Blood was squelching in the high boots, flowing there from under the tunic. I turned off the side of the raglan, and there - it was scary to look at - a mess, half of the chest - a solid open wound. The blood had already thickened and turned into black jellied meat. Kuznetsov flew on missions without unscrewing his orders - he had old orders, with screws - Lenin, Red Star - and when the burst hit him, it turned the orders into crumbs, drove the metal into his body.

Friends congratulate Nikolai Kuznetsov on yet another victory.

Kuznetsov calmly, as if he was not the one who was wounded, estimated the size of the wound - about 20 centimeters by 12. He did not yet know that his ribs were broken. But the main thing is that the pain was not felt yet, there was numbness, there was nausea rolling up to the throat, there was something else, but not pain. It should be noted that the 30-degree frost was not felt either. Kuznetsov scooped out the bloody mess from the wound, tore off a piece of the sweater, wiped the wound, and put the pieces of iron remaining from the medals on the surface of the wound into his pocket. Then he tore a large tuft from his undershirt and stuffed it into the wound.

He got on his skis and moved towards the so-called rock road that fed the front - he knew the area well, the map, remembered where everything was - he had seen all this more than once from the air, he memorized it - cars constantly walked along the road, they carried shells, cartridges, food, wounded, Kuznetsov from the cars will definitely be seen and picked up.

I walked about 7 kilometers, and walking through the snow, on virgin soil, on short, constantly failing skis is difficult even for a healthy person who has not been cut by lead, not to mention a wounded person who has lost a lot of blood. When Kuznetsov became completely unbearable, he began to throw off the extra things that prevented him from walking. He threw off the tablet, then the scarf, then something else. The only thing I didn’t throw away was the TT pistol; a weapon can always come in handy. He didn’t think about the fact that he had to be held accountable for his weapons.

The day quickly faded, the sun set below the horizon, and soon it became dark. Exhausted, Nikolai sat down in the snow to rest a little and lost consciousness. He woke up to the fact that a large winter moon was hanging over his head, Christmas bright, magical, it was blinding, like the sun, making his eyes water. After rummaging in his pocket, Kuznetsov took out the watch he had taken from his hand and peered at it. It was already a lot of time, half past ten at night.

“Lord, have I really lost consciousness again?” he thought doomedly. “Don’t let me die, don’t let me...” A few minutes later, somewhere far away, maybe even beyond the boundaries of the earth, voices were heard, they seemed to have melted away from some bad dream, from stupor, and not from reality, and Kuznetsov again thought tiredly: “Hallucination. That’s it, I’m freezing... This is the end!”

But it was not a hallucination, it was reality. People were coming to Kuznetsov - the commander of the Air Army F.P. Polynin, in front of whose eyes the senior lieutenant carried out the ramming - the general saw everything from his command post - sent a group to search for the pilot: maybe he was still alive?

The group found the plane, realized that the pilot was alive, and followed Kuznetsov’s footsteps. She found him lying in the snow, already freezing. Paramedic Leleko was in the group. He gave him an injection, brought him to his senses, the soldiers put the pilot on skis, grabbed him by the arms from both sides and so, on skis, dragged him through the snow. In this unusual way - standing on skis - they managed to cover as much as 10 kilometers. For the last kilometers, Kuznetsov could no longer see anything: his eyes were swollen and shrank into tiny slits. Yes, and began to switch off.

He woke up warm, in a dugout. Some time later, at night, a car came for him - a semi-truck with an open body, the body was covered with spruce branches - spruce branches, and in the morning Kuznetsov was taken to the hospital. On the way we met a car coming from an aviation regiment; in the cabin next to the driver sat a doctor and a regimental navigator, the regimental commander sent them to support Kuznetsov, what if he needed help?

Kuznetsov, lying in the back, kept trying to break through the heavy stupor and tell people that he was still alive, there was no need to keep him in a coffin - the pilots in their unit were buried in coffins covered with spruce paws, this became a tradition in the aviation regiment, and Kuznetsov it seemed that he was being taken to a cemetery. But he was taken to the hospital. And it’s good that the regiment doctor was with him.

At the hospital, Kuznetsov was examined by a surgeon and made an inexorable conclusion:

You can't operate!

Why? - the aviation regiment doctor jumped up, turning very white. - How can you not?

Unfortunately, it's too late.

No, it's not too late. He was wounded only yesterday, there are no gangrene processes yet.

The surgeon gave in: Kuznetsov was taken to the operating table. The operation took a long time. Without anesthesia. The surgeon used pliers to straighten his ribs, bite off bones, and extract enamel from his medals from his muscles. Kuznetsov heard through the pain how the fragments fell with a ringing sound into the enamel basin. He put the plaque from the Order of the Red Star, which depicts a soldier with a rifle - those who are familiar with this order know a silver plate attached to ruby ​​enamel - in the pocket of his robe, and said to Kuznetsov, who was wincing in pain:

I, elder, will take this for myself. As a souvenir of the operation, if you don't mind.

When the operation was over, the doctor gave Kuznetsov half a glass of alcohol:

Have a drink! The pain will go away.

Indeed, after drinking alcohol, the pain became dull and distant...

* * *

While Kuznetsov was in the hospital, the command prepared and sent to the authorities a proposal to award him the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. By February 1943, the deputy squadron commander of the 436th Fighter Aviation Regiment, Senior Lieutenant N.F. Kuznetsov, flew 213 combat missions, personally shot down 17 enemy aircraft and 12 more as part of a group.

For the exemplary performance of combat missions of the command, courage, bravery and heroism shown in the fight against the Nazi invaders, by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated May 1, 1943, Captain Nikolai Fedorovich Kuznetsov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal. " (No. 966).

After treatment, Nikolai returned to the regiment and, having retrained for a new aircraft - the American Airacobra, continued to fight. He fought on the Kursk Bulge and participated in the liberation of Belarus and Poland. He ended the war in Berlin as a Guard major, deputy commander of the 67th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment for air rifle service.

In total, he completed 252 successful combat missions, in 150 air battles he shot down 37 enemy aircraft - 25 personally and 12 in a group with comrades.

Then, in the victorious May 1945, or rather on the 13th, he was presented with the title of twice Hero of the Soviet Union, which the division commander announced before the formation. On August 17, 1945, this submission was signed by S. I. Rudenko, the commander of the 16th Air Army, the future Marshal of Aviation, followed by a member of the Front Military Council, Lieutenant General K. Telegin and Marshal of the Soviet Union G. K. Zhukov. One must assume that this idea has been discussed more than once: this title is too high - twice Hero. But he received this award only 54 years later...

In the front row in the center is the commander of the 67th Guards IAP, Lieutenant Colonel A. B. Panov,
to his right is Hero of the Soviet Union N. F. Kuznetsov. Autumn 1943.

The documents went to Moscow and... got stuck. Despite the fact that they were signed by such high people, that’s how it is. Zhukov himself! Kuznetsov did not become interested in how the papers were progressing - it was inconvenient. It's none of his business. And Marshal Zhukov, by this time, had become inconvenient to Stalin, those who sat in the Kremlin and intrigued in government corridors. This was instantly noticed by various court shufflers, they began to stop all the cases signed by the legendary Marshal. They also stopped the paperwork for awarding Kuznetsov the title of twice Hero of the Soviet Union. Kuznetsov’s award file was written off and sent to the archives in the city of Podolsk. As if there were no 37 German planes shot down by him (M. Yu. Bykov in his research points to 21 personal and 12 group victories) and many other destroyed equipment: cars, armored cars, steam locomotives...

Meanwhile, life went on as usual. After the war, Nikolai Fedorovich continued to serve in the Air Force. In 1949 he graduated from the Military Academy named after M.V. Frunze. Then he had to fight a little more - from the beginning of 1952, Guard Colonel Kuznetsov commanded the 16th IAP fighting in the skies of North Korea. There, the regiment under his command shot down 26 enemy aircraft, losing 4 pilots. Kuznetsov himself made 27 combat missions on the MiG-15bis fighter.

Returning to the Soviet Union, Nikolai Kuznetsov commanded an aviation division. In 1956 he graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff, became a general, an honored military pilot of the country, and a Doctor of Military Sciences. From 1963 to 1972 he headed the Cosmonaut Training Center. With his active participation, dozens of the most important manned space missions were carried out. By the way, he built Star City - from the very first brick. Yuri Gagarin was his deputy...

In 1978, Aviation Major General N.F. Kuznetsov retired and settled in the Moscow region (in Star City, Shchelkovsky district, Moscow region).

In 1986, his award documents were found in the Podolsk archive - the same ones signed by Zhukov. The general designer who replaced S. Korolev, Academician V. Glushko, sent a letter on deputy letterhead to the then Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR A. Gromyko with a request to return to the consideration of the old award case. After some time, Gromyko called Glushko and said: “You can congratulate Kuznetsov. The proposal was supported. Although the Decree has not yet been signed.”

The academician was not slow to congratulate General N.F. Kuznetsov, but, it turned out, he did it too early: he never received the second “Gold Star” then.

The matter is again, as in the post-war years, stuck. There were appeals from astronauts to the President, appeals from scientists, war veterans - all in vain. But nevertheless, what they say is true: water does not flow under a lying stone. I had to knock on that door all the time. It’s not the general himself, of course, who should knock on the door, but his friends.

In the late 1990s, the newspaper "Family" published an article about 5 failed women cosmonauts. Nikolai Fedorovich Kuznetsov was one of the consultants for this article - after all, all the cosmonauts, successful and unsuccessful, passed through his hands. After this article, as well as after the essay about the death of Yuri Gagarin, petitions to award Nikolai Fedorovich the title of twice Hero were renewed. And again refusals. From a variety of officials. Both the newspaper “Semya” and the Moscow Press Club of the Central House of Arts joined these petitions. As a result, as they say in such cases, “it happened”: at the end of 1999, news came that Major General of Aviation N. F. Kuznetsov had finally been awarded this long-awaited title.

Oh, how Nikolai Fedorovich rejoiced at this! In December 1999, he was awarded the second “Gold Star” of the Hero, and he gladly pinned it to the lapel of his jacket. But, unfortunately, he did not receive the award for long - in January 2000 he became ill and was admitted to the hospital. And wounds, illnesses, and age took their toll... On March 5, as sad as it is to report this, twice Hero of the Soviet Union Nikolai Fedorovich Kuznetsov passed away. But justice still triumphed: in our memory, General N. F. Kuznetsov will forever remain a twice Hero...

The famous Soviet ace is buried at the Preobrazhenskoye cemetery in Moscow (section 4).

* * *

List of all known victories of the Guard of Major N. F. Kuznetsov:
(From the book by M. Yu. Bykov - “Victories of Stalin’s Falcons”. Publishing house “YAUZA - EKSMO”, 2008.)

№ p/p	D a t a	Downed aircraft	Air battle location (victory)	Their aircraft
1	08/27/1941	1 Ju-87	Tosno	I-16, "Hurricane" "Kittyhawk", "Airacobra".
2		1 Me-109 (in pairs - 1/2)	Art. Hats
3	08/29/1941	1 Ju-87	Mga - Pogorelushka
4	09/06/1941	1 Ju-88 (in pair - 1/2)	"set on fire"
5	09/11/1941	2 Ju-87	Nikolaevskoe
6	09/12/1941	1 Hs-126	aer. Siverskaya
7	09/16/1941	1 Me-109	north - app. Krasny Bor
8	09/21/1941	1 Ju-87	Gorelovo
9	09/22/1941	1 FW-200 (in pair - 1/2)	Kronstadt
10	09/24/1941	1 Ju-88 (in group - 1/3)	south env. Shlisselburg
11	09/27/1941	1 Me-109	Shlisselburg
12	06/27/1942	1 Me-110	Volokonovka
13		1 Me-109	Lentsovo
14	06/28/1942	1 Me-109	Bogdanovka
15	07/01/1942	1 Me-109	Volokonovka
16	12/06/1942	1 FW-189	Paula
17	12/30/1942	1 Me-109	south Sosnino
18	01/06/1943	1 Me-109 (in group - 1/6)	Olkhovets
19		1 Me-109 (shot down by ram) *	Kuzminskoye
20		1 Me-109 (in group - 1/6)	Olkhovets
21	09/12/1944	1 FW-190	Belolenka - Terchomin
22	10/15/1944	1 Me-109	south Dzebanice
23	03/27/1945	1 FW-190	zap. Hoen
24	04/19/1945	1 FW-190	Danenberg
Total aircraft shot down - 21 + 12 [19 + 6]; combat sorties - 252; air battles - 99.

[ * Information taken from the public press and not confirmed by archival documents. ]

KUZNETSOV Nikolai Anatolyevich - Hero of the Soviet Union. Born on June 29, 1962 in the village of Teterka, Morshansky district, Tambov region, into a peasant family. After the death of their parents, my four-year-old sister and I were left to be raised by our grandmother. Kolya has been accustomed to work since childhood. He cut wood, cleaned the yard, and when he grew up, he cut hay and worked in the garden. At the age of fifteen, Nikolai entered the Leningrad Suvorov Military School. Studying at an unusual military school fascinated him, he liked everything here. After graduating from the Suvorov Military School in 1979, he entered the Leningrad Higher Combined Arms Command School and graduated with a Gold Medal in 1983. After graduating from college, Lieutenant N. Kuznetsov was sent to the airborne division in the city of Pskov as commander of a special forces group. He repeatedly asked to be sent to a limited contingent of Soviet troops in Afghanistan. Finally, his request was granted. At home, I have not yet informed either my grandmother Daria or my sister Nina about leaving for Afghanistan. I didn't want to disturb them. In a letter to his sister, he reported: “I am now near Tashkent. It’s warm, there are a lot of flowers. I accepted a new platoon. There are still a lot of worries. I miss you, Nina, and my grandmother. Don’t be surprised if I find myself even further south, where my knowledge, fighting spirit..." This was Nikolai's last news to his sister. That gloomy April day now, apparently, will never leave the heart and memory of Daria Dmitrievna Kuznetsova. A seventy-year-old woman, not used to sitting idle, helped sort out seed potatoes on the state farm. By lunchtime, a military registration and enlistment office UAZ suddenly appeared. The military asked where the Kuznetsovs’ house was. Darya Dmitrievna shuddered and dropped the bucket from her hands. Since the war, since those long, cruel four years, when she was tormented in her soul over the fate of her husband Vasily, a simple infantryman who fought from Moscow to Berlin, the woman was afraid of such official meetings. I always picked up the soldier’s triangle with anxiety - in fear of impending disaster. Then, fortunately, she was lucky. Although wounded and without a leg, front-line soldier Vasily Kuznetsov returned home. And now the terrible premonition did not deceive her. She listened in silence, entering the hut: “Your grandson, Daria Dmitrievna, Lieutenant Nikolai Anatolyevich Kuznetsov, died a hero’s death on the soil of Afghanistan on April 21, 1985. He fully fulfilled his military and international duty...” She went up to the table and took a photo of her Kolya, in a brand new lieutenant's uniform, pressed it to her chest. She glanced sadly at the photographs of Red Army soldier Vasily Mikhailovich Kuznetsov, yellowed from time to time, hanging on the wall, and Nikolai’s parents who passed away early, whom she, his grandmother, replaced for him with all the spiritual generosity of a simple Russian woman. She seated the guests at the table and asked them to tell everything they knew about her grandson. The platoon, commanded by Nikolai Kuznetsov, received the task as part of a company to help Afghan units in reconnaissance of the location and destruction of a gang of dushmans entrenched in a high-mountain village in the province of Kunar - one of the main breadbaskets republic bordering Pakistan. Bandits had long been disrupting the peaceful life of the province, attacking convoys, burning schools and mosques, killing activists, and shelling Soviet military posts. Lieutenant N. Kuznetsov walked with his platoon in the vanguard of the company. That is why the main power of the dushmans’ fire from the ambush fell on this platoon. The enemy machine guns began firing unexpectedly and almost point blank. Large-caliber bullets struck sparks from the rocks and ricocheted off to the sides with a piercing screech. They shot more and more thickly and intensely. Soon Nikolai realized that the platoon was cut off from the company. It is necessary to take up a perimeter defense and hold back the fierce onslaught of the dushmans. Moreover, he learned on the radio that the small units of Lieutenant Kisten and Senior Lieutenant Taran found themselves in the same difficult situation. It is now largely dependent on him, Lieutenant N. Kuznetsov, on his competent, quick, bold decisions whether his comrades will come out from under fire. The brutal dushmans sought to break the resistance of the brave warriors at any cost. The wounded appeared. Near Kuznetsov, warrant officer Bakmutov dropped his machine gun from his hands; the lieutenant carried it to a shelter behind a rock. By this time, the main forces of the company managed to approach the battlefield. Nikolai Kuznetsov ordered the platoon to withdraw, while he and three soldiers remained to cover their retreat. And then a dull pain burned my leg, blood began to appear on my trousers. Wounded... Nikolai, gritting his teeth, continued to shoot from the machine gun. He soon realized that the bandits had decided to take his group prisoner. Then the lieutenant sent the soldiers to join the platoon, and he himself continued to defeat the enemy, feeling that due to his wound he would no longer be able to get through to his own. We've run out of ammunition. Empty magazines lay at the officer's feet. But there were also grenades. As many as six. “No, you bastards, I won’t let you through,” Kuznetsov whispered, bleeding, and with targeted throws he forced the dushmans to lie down. There is a sixth grenade in my hand. The last one. The lieutenant stood up and pulled the pin. Seeing the officer alone, without a machine gun, the bandits rushed to him in a crowd. Almost half-delirious, Nikolai distinguished their grinning faces and heard guttural screams. When the dushmans surrounded him in a tight ring, he hit the grenade on the stone at his feet. This happened at 7.15 on April 21, 1985. The dushmans paid dearly for the death of the Soviet officer. At the place last fight N. Kuznetsov, the soldiers who arrived in time found dozens of corpses of bandits. Daria Dmitrievna does not believe that her grandson Kolya died. She lives with the dream that he is still alive. Every day she goes out onto the road, to the place where she always met him when he came on vacation, expecting that he will come anyway. But there is no and no grandson... For courage and heroism in the performance of military duty, Lieutenant Nikolai Anatolyevich Kuznetsov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously) on November 21, 1985. He was buried in his homeland. The squad at the school where he studied was named after him, and a museum was created at the Sokolnicheskaya secondary school in the Morshansky district of the Tambov region. He was born in the village of Piterka, Morshansky district, Tambov region. At the age of five he was left an orphan. Together with his younger sister, he was raised by his grandmother Daria Dmitrievna Kuznetsova. Since childhood, he worked hard and conscientiously. And not at all driven by need (the collective farm and school provided him and his sister with everything), but because his father and mother, and grandmother, and all his fellow villagers were always hardworking people. And Nikolai grew up just like them. I decided to become a military man in the fifth grade. Major E. Klokov, officer-mentor of the Leningrad Suvorov Military School, says: - At first, Kuznetsov, like most children from rural schools, experienced difficulties in mastering our educational program. And in military subjects, he always did well. Here I didn’t know grief with him. Nikolai was persistent and hardworking. One day - it was winter - we returned from training center . Everyone was frozen. The Suvorov men ran into the sleeping quarters and the first thing they did was take off their boots and run to the batteries. I see that several newspapers fell out of Kuznetsov’s boots. I pick up: one “Humanité” and two “Moscow News” in French. This means that he studied the language at the training ground. For some reason it was more difficult for him than all other disciplines. But upon graduation, Nikolai received an A in French. The head of the Leningrad Suvorov Military School, Major General V. Shumaev, says: - Over the many years of service in this position, I sent thousands of students into the officer corps. No matter how hard I try, I can’t remember everyone. But Kuznetsov remained in the memory. A young man of average height, thin, fair-haired. And I remember him because very often I had to present him with certificates and prizes for his sporting successes. There was no such competition at the school that Kuznetsov remained below the line of winners. In 1979, Suvorov veteran Nikolai Anatolyevich Kuznetsov was enrolled as a cadet at the Leningrad Higher Combined Arms Command School named after S.M. Kirov. I will not describe his cadet years now, although I could do so - I spoke with commanders and teachers. I’ll tell you about the main thing - Kuznetsov graduated from college with a gold medal. And even people far from the army will understand that achieving this is not so easy. As an excellent student, Kuznetsov had the right to choose the place of future service at his own discretion. Nikolai came out with a request to be sent to a limited contingent of Soviet troops located on the territory of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. The former commander of the cadet company, Major S. Kazachenok, says: - All the cadets respected Kuznetsov very much. He was calm and reasonable. For several years, Komsomol members elected him as their leader. In the winter of 1982, we unanimously accepted him as a member of the CPSU. The battalion commander, Colonel Epishkin, wrote in a party recommendation that Kuznetsov was a real military man. ... A platoon under the command of Lieutenant N. Kuznetsov, as part of a company, assisted Afghan soldiers in eliminating the gang. The forces turned out to be unequal, and the bandits managed to separate the Soviet and Afghan units. Soon there was a threat of encirclement of the company. The commander decided to withdraw. Kuznetsov and his subordinates ensured this withdrawal. The dushmans attacked continuously. At the most critical moment of the battle, Kuznetsov gave the order for everyone to retreat. He himself, seriously wounded in the leg, fired back to the last bullet. For the courage and heroism shown in fulfilling his military duty to provide international assistance to the Afghan people, Lieutenant Nikolai Kuznetsov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously)

12 July 2012 10:48, Sobform

One of the most memorable commanders of the Ozyorsk military unit 3273 was Major General Nikolai Aleksandrovich Kuznetsov. Under his command, the division carried out its service to protect our closed city 13 years - from 1984 to 1997, she was repeatedly awarded for success in combat and political training with high awards, including the Order of the Red Star. For your attention - short story about his life, which is similar only to a heroic story.

Nikolai Alexandrovich was born in harsh wartime, on December 3, 1941, in the village of Kalistovo, Kalinin region, which, like many others, was occupied by the Germans.

Outside the window it is 1941, December. There are enemy soldiers and officers in the house. The time is not the most suitable for the birth of little Kolya, especially since his mother, Tatyana Vasilievna, was already raising two children. One night, the newborn cried a lot, one of the Germans came up to him to stab him with a gun bayonet - he didn’t like the noise in the house. The poor mother had to tearfully beg the German not to kill the innocent baby. In exchange for life, I had to immediately pack my things and go live in a cold bathhouse with my three children. No food, no firewood, no protection.

IN elementary school with the small, but even then heroic behavior of Kolya occurred next story. At recess, all the children left the classroom to rest and sat on the old school bench. But there were so many students, and the bench was so dilapidated that it broke. Yes, it was unfortunate - Kolya’s leg was severely crushed. It’s getting dark outside, it’s winter, all the students have long gone home, but Kolya is still not there. The parents were seized with panic, and they went to Kolya’s friends, who had been warming themselves at home for a long time. It turned out that little, carefree Kolya did not turn to his friends for help, but decided to get home himself. When they found him, he was crying and actually crawling, his leg was broken, but he did not call for help.

After school - agricultural technical school. There he met his love, Margarita Ivanovna, one for life. He took care of her every minute and even from a distance, because Nikolai Alexandrovich traveled around dozens of cities. They always supported each other in everything and lived in perfect harmony until February 13, 2005, the day of Nikolai Alexandrovich’s death.

Young cadet of the Saratov Military School Nikolai Kuznetsov.

The love of my life is Margarita.

At the technical school, he began to lead a squad helping the work of the police. And then I realized that I wanted to be useful for the country, so after college I went to work not as an agronomist, but in the police. After a year of service, he was sent to the Saratov Military School of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Later he graduated from the Military Academy. Frunze in Moscow.

With the rank of senior lieutenant.

Nikolai Kuznetsov’s son, Oleg, followed in his father’s footsteps and achieved great success in the service of the Fatherland.

Farewell to the Saratov Military School.

In total, his service to the country is no less than 36 years (from 1961 to 1997), and in fact he served his entire life, because he tried to keep abreast of events, even after resigning. For conscientious performance of military duty and special services to the Fatherland, Alexander Nikolaevich was awarded the title “Honorary Officer of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.” In addition, he was awarded the Order “For Service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces of the USSR”, 2nd and 3rd degree.

With grandson Alexey in his arms.

Honest, decent, responsive and very kind. He achieved everything through his own labor, because a simple village guy had no connections, he achieved everything himself. Demanding discipline and order, he treated the soldiers not condescendingly, but humanly, respecting everyone as a person. He was able to see in people and good qualities and bad. Setting priorities, I didn’t make friends just like that and with just anyone. He said that he did not receive shoulder straps in order to be afraid.

Evgenia Kuznetsova, photo from the family archive