Biography
The legendary Sniper of the Great Patriotic War Vasily Zarev due to low growth was first not appreciated on the advanced Stalingrad battle. But one day he, since childhood, a sensitive hunter, "removed" by several enemies by taught shots. Unfortunately and regret. After that, Vasily was given a rifle and ordered the score of the killed. A little more than a month, from November 10 to December 17, 1942, he eliminated 225 fascists, for which he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.Childhood and youth
Vasily Grigorievich Zaitsev was born on March 23, 1915 in the village of Elleninka Orenburg province, in the Russian Empire.
Mountain Taiga since childhood became Vasily Zaitsev with his native home thanks to grandfather Andrei Alekseevich - the hereditary hunter. The old man was jealously taught a pet favorite art of hunting for animals, and harmless, like rabbits and deer, and very dangerous, for example, bears.
In the memoirs "for the Volga Earth was not for us. Numeral notes "(1981) Vasily Zaitsev says that one day he spent 2 days in a snowy taiga, loudly in the footsteps of the wounded wolf. The company was a cousin Maxim, also a young man. Home they returned with two wolf skins, dozen hare carcasses and wolverines.
"And surprisingly: neither grandfather, nor father, nor mother nor grandmother, nor the oldest sister - none of the relatives gave this much importance, an ordinary episode from the life of two hunters. Opened in the forest in a cracked frost, two wolves killed and returned home - everything is fine and usual, "wrote Vasily Zaitsev.On the 12th birthday, the Hero of the Soviet Union received an "adult" gift - the Bardank of the 21st caliber with combat cartridges.
Read and write Vasily Zaitseva taught grandmother. In 1930, he mastered the profession of the reinforcement, parallel took the accountant courses.
Personal life
With his wife Vasily Zaitsev met already in peacetime. He headed the Machine-Building Plant in Kiev, where his chosen one, the party worker Zinaida Sergeevna, worked by the secretary.Once the fighter of Stalingrad invited the beloved in his office, and the unknown lady extended her paper. It turned out that she headed by the registry office. Time for meditation Vasily Zaitsev did not give and descendingably demanded to put a signature.
"So I became Zaitseva. No wedding, white dress and "bitter!" We did not have, "said Zinaida Sergeevna in an interview with" arguments and facts ".The party worker brought the Son from the last marriage to a new family. Zaitsev wanted other children, but not lucky enough.
In the film "Enemy at the gate" (2001), Vasily Zaitsev is attributed to a novel with a policeman Tanya Chernova. Did this love line had a place in the personal life of the Hero of the Soviet Union in fact, unknown. In the "Notes of Sniper" Tanya Chernova is not mentioned.
Feat
Vasily Zaitsev was the most eldest in the family, but grew slowly. Therefore, he was called Kolobom, Arshin in the header. The sniper has achieved low growth - 165 cm. It hosted, and helped on the fields of the Great Patriotic War.
In February 1937, Vasily Zaitseva was credited to the Pacific Fleet of the USSR with a writer of the artillery branch. Immediately the profession offended the Hero of the Soviet Union.
"I was deliberately sprouting the handwriting, in the classes allowed grammatical errors, for this I was imposed on me.Maybe that's why Vasily Zaitsev rushed to the forefront of the Great Patriotic War. Only in the summer of 1942, when the Stalingrad battle was broken, his requests were heard and among 20 sailors were enrolled in the 284th Rifle Division. By that time, Vasily was delivered to the chief senior.
The first month in the Zherle Stalingrad Battle of the Battle of Zaitsev again felt not in place. The command refused to be reckoned with talents hidden in a low-spirited guy. But one day he defts two enemies and earned the order of the regiment commander:
"Comrade Zaitsev, consider all the fascists who finish off. Two are already there. With them and start your account. "On October 21, 1942, Vasilia was given an optical rifle, and he finally became a sniper. Since then, the guy made feats daily - killed the fascists, cleaning the way for communication, messenger and ammunition pans. In just a great domestic, he killed 242 people.
Vasily Zaitsev was so disturbed by the fascist command that, according to his soul, Stalingrad was sent by Major König - Head of Sniper School in Berlin.
Some historians put the existence of Major Erwin König (or Heinz Torvald). At the same time, Vasily Zaitsev describes their 4-day duel quite detail.
The trick was helped by the Supersnaper Major König Vasilia Zaitsev. His comrade, Sergeant Nikolai Kulikov, slowly raised the helmet, as if this sniper was turned out of the shelter to check the situation. Major König nailed on the bait and fired. Nikolai Kulikov raised for a moment, cried and fell, picture of death. The fascist disassembled curiosity - whether he really won. And then Vasily Zaitsev made his truly victorious shot.
The duel was based on the film "Enemy at the Gate." The role of Vasily Zaitseva performed Jude Low, actor Hollywood. The reliability of the picture causes questions, since many facts are presented differently than the sniper itself in memoirs told.
After the Stalingrad battle of the Zaitsev took up the training of snipers - scored his own group (they called "Run") and wrote two textbooks.
After the war
May 1945 Vasily Zaitsev met in Kiev, where he spent the rest of his life. At first he headed the machine-building plant, then the sewing factory. He went to a well-deserved retirement in the posts of the Rector of Technical School of Light Industry.Death
The heroic biography of Vasily Zaitsev ended on December 15, 1991. The cause of death is quite natural - sniper lived 76 years. Contrary to his last will, the body buried on the Lukyansky military cemetery in Kiev, and not in the land of Stalingrad.
On January 31, 2006, the remains of Vasily Grigorievich reburied on Mamaev Kurgan - in the place, the protection of which he gave his best shots. Kenotaf remained in Kiev.
In 2011, Sniper Zinaida Sergeevna's wife died. Kenotaph turned into a tombstone with photos of spouses.
Memory
- On the Dnieper, Vasily Zaitsev steamer.
- In 2014, in his native village Sniper, his monument was established, and in 2015 in Yaroslavl - bust.
- In Petrozavodsk there is Street named after Vasily Zaitseva.
- The TV channel "Star" dedicated to the Episode of the Zaitsev episode of the army legend.
- Movies about Vasily Grigorievich removed not only in Hollywood, but also in Russia. Sniper served as a prototype for the heroes of two paintings by Yuri Lake - "Stalingrad" (1989) and "Death Angels" (1993).
Awards
- 1942 (October) - Medal "For Cook"
- 1942 (December) - the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, the "Golden Star" medal and the Order of Lenin
- 1942, 1944 - Order of the Red Banner
- 1980 - the title of "Honorary Citizen of the City Hero Volgograd"
- 1985 - Order of the Patriotic War I degree
- Medal "For Defense of Stalingrad"
- Medal "For victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945."
- Anniversary medal "For Valiant Labor. In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin "
- Jubilee medal "Twenty years of victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945"
- Jubilee medal "Thirty years of victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945"
- The jubilee medal "Forty years of victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945"
- Jubilee medal "30 years of the Soviet Army and Fleet"