

After the war Evdokia Zavaliyworked as a store director, raised children and grandchildren, led a normal life, but she could not forget the horrors she had to go through. At night, she screamed so that family and friends were even afraid to approach her. Nightmares did not let go for a long time, because Dusya went to war as a 15-year-old teenager, she went a long way from a nurse to the colonel's guard. She fearlessly threw herself into attacks, fought, posing as a man, was wounded four times, was twice dead, but survived and met the long-awaited Victory.

Evdokia decided to go to defend his homeland as soon as she found out that the war had begun. On the day of the first bombing, she was in the field and saw shells bursting and wounded falling. She was ready to work as a nurse, just to help the front, attributed to herself three years, so many young people did at that time. Running away from home, she wanted to hide her decision from loved ones, but her grandmother looked at her strictly and understood everything. Later, Evdokia recalled that her grandmother was a healer and had the gift to foresee the future. Saying goodbye, she tricked her granddaughter that she would return alive, but would bleed four times, and the white geese would bring her back. Then Evdokia missed her grandmother's words about geese, but a few years later the prophecy came true.

The military journey began as a nurse, although the part with which Evdokia left a month later came under fire during the crossing, and the girl was seriously wounded in the stomach. After treatment in the hospital, she still rushed to the front line, and achieved her goal, but ended up in a reserve regiment. She received the first order of the Red Star for drawing a wounded officer from under the shelling. During the service, Evdokia looked like a man: she wore the same soldier’s uniform as they did, and her long braids were cut off in the hospital, so that a short forelock remained. Outward resemblance to a man helped her at a time when she did not expect this at all: during the selection of fighters to the front line, she liked, the documents were checked, and it said: "Fill Evdok." So Evdokia became Evdokia and fell into the Marine Corps.

Evdokia decided to hide that she was a woman, because she was afraid to be demoted. She coped with tasks perfectly, never cowardly. History has preserved one of her heroic deeds. Being surrounded, the marines were left without food and ammunition, Evdokia was able to ford to go ashore, occupied by opponents, and transport everything necessary from there on a makeshift raft. Yes, and get out safe and sound from the shelling that began after her position was declassified.

In the male guise, Evdokia fought for about eight months. The deception was disclosed when in one of the heavy battles in the Kuban she was again wounded. Considering her military merits and fearlessness, with which she always called for fighters to attack, Evdokia Zavaliy was sent to lieutenant courses immediately after discharge from the hospital. After successfully completing training, Evdokia became a platoon commander.

Of course, many soldiers did not want to obey the woman. Contemptuously her platoon was called the "Dusky platoon", but all the jokes and ridicule ceased after Evdokia began to make bold attacks on the Germans. The enemy christened Eudokia "Frau Black Death", and in her personal standings there were many successful operations. In particular, during the offensive in the Budapest direction, Evdokia, together with his platoon, was given the task of taking the headquarters of the German command. They made their way to the right place through sewer pipes with sewage. The operation was carried out brilliantly, captured by the German general. When it was announced to him who commanded the platoon, he did not believe it, but, seeing Evdokia Zavaliy, who came to him, before he had time to change clothes and wash himself, silently handed her his weapon in respect and recognition of her strength.

It is interesting that the omens of the grandmother were justified: Eudokia suffered severe wounds four times and was shocked twice, and survived due to the fact that she received a blood transfusion on time. For the sake of this, a soldier with a speaking surname Huseynov sacrificed his life. Remembering the war, Evdokia often talked about how soldiers from her platoon saved her. She was twice included in the lists of the dead, her name is carved on two mass graves, where she is not buried.

After the war, Evdokia Zavaliy led an active life, she traveled a lot in the former Soviet republics, met with the young military. She died in 2010.

There were many such brave women fighters as Evdokia Zavaliy during the war years. So, were considered the best shooters.



That heroic time gave birth to heroes, or rather real heroines ... They were different, but the fleet united them all. From ship captains to marines and divers, women everywhere found their place. They proved their right to be there and that a woman in the Navy can do anything!

And also, looking at these photos, I remembered the words of the classic: "Yes, there were people in our time ..." There were !!!

"Valentina Yakovlevna Orlikova (11/19/1915 - 01/31/1986) - the first female captain of a large sea fishing trawler (BMRT), the only female captain of a whaling vessel (" Storm "), a World War II veteran, the first woman in the country's fishing industry, awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor.

.....................

In 1941 she graduated from the Navigation Department of the Leningrad Institute of Water Transport Engineers. When World War II began, she worked as a navigator on ships of the navy. Participated in the evacuation of the wounded from Tallinn in August 1941. From August 1942 to October 1944 - the 4th navigator, and then the third assistant captain on the ship "Dvina". Dvina transported Soviet raw materials to the USA in exchange for American products supplied under Lend-Lease.

.....................

During the first interview, she was asked this question:

How do you, a little woman, manage to command men?

She very sensibly explained what her duties consisted of. She gave an example of how she had to maneuver during the first attack of her fascist submarine in her life, how she looked at an approaching torpedo, how she took the ship away from her.

“I didn’t feel fear,” Valentine said, “there was tremendous tension. I screwed up my eyes. Counted to fifteen. Carried. And her subordinates listen to her because they understand: the fate of the ship and all the people on it depend on how clearly they fulfill the orders.

At the end of an hour and a half interview, during which Valentina brilliantly answered all the questions, one of the correspondents replied:

Now it dawned on me why the sailors are executing all your commands.

Orlikova’s husband sailed the second assistant captain on another ship. Fate brought them together very rarely. During the war, her steamer came to the United States three times, and each time the correspondents sought to talk with a brave woman. "

"The boatswain explained to me that this is our captain Valentina Yakovlevna Orlikova. There have already been rumors about a woman captain who recently appeared in the trawl fleet. In my view, this should have been, as Ilf and Petrov, a" broad-shouldered citizen, tall , manish, giving in a loud voice of the team, sprinkled with selective obscenities.

Valentina Yakovlevna was below average height, a fragile, graceful, pretty woman with small, very regular features, large expressive eyes, a short haircut. Intelligent, smart, ironic. In relations with the crew, she was attentive, simple, friendly, calm, never raised her voice and did not use strong expressions, but, if necessary, showed unusual strength of character in her actions and independent decisions.



Her miniature appearance was more suitable for the mistress of the aristocratic salon of the past era or, finally, an art critic in the quiet silence of museum halls, but not for controlling an ocean trawler in a stormy Atlantic with a crew of ninety people.

In the harsh years of the war, V.Ya. Orlikova traveled in convoys on vehicles, after the war she commanded whalers in the Far East, then she worked in Moscow, at the Ministry of Fisheries, and returned to the captain’s bridge from the new BMRT building in Murmansk. She mastered fishing work relatively quickly, flight tasks were overfulfilled every hour, hence the stability of earnings and the constancy of the crew.

Worked off the coast of Canada, in the Newfoundland area. A very unfavorable area, storms are replaced by fogs, the ice carried from the shores of Greenland complicates the work. Large crowding of ships, hence the danger of a collision, forcing the captain to stay on the bridge for days. Early in the morning a small Icelandic trawler "Iceberg" approached us. From his side they asked for help.

"What help do you need?" - in English asked Orlikova. “I need Mr. Captain,” came the reply. “I am listening to you,” answered Valentina Yakovlevna. The captain of the Iceberg and his entire team were amazed to see a small woman in a black coat and hat - the captain of a huge ocean trawler ... "

German Anufriev. "Captain of the voyage V. Ya. Orlikova"



In Murmansk



The crew of the minesweeper ТЩ-611

"Seven courageous", as the crew called ТЩ-611, Stalingraders. In the history of the navy, the only case is known when the entire crew of a warship - from sailor to commander - consisted of women. In 1942, a minesweeper No. 611 was successfully operating on the Volga, near Stalingrad. A large machine gun, droppers of deep bombs were installed on its deck, and a naval flag was hoisted on the mast. They appointed Antonina Kupriyanova as the commander of the ship, Dusya Parkhachev as the squad leader, Tamara Dekalin as the helmsman, Vera Frolov as the sailor, Anna Tarasova as the miner, Vera Chapava as the machine gunner, and Agniya Shabalin as the minder. "Seven brave" - \u200b\u200bso soon they called the girl crew of the minesweeper ТЩ-611. This minesweeper is now in an eternal parking lot in the city of Kamyshin.

O. Tonina.

Recalls Yu.A. Panteleev Commander of the Volga Flotilla in 1943:

“Soon after the death of the minesweeper, the Komsomol foreman of the 2nd article of Kupriyanov came to me and insistently asked me to allocate the minesweeper to her and allow him to equip his team only with girls.

“Aren't you afraid?”

The girl was even offended.

I said I would think it over, but honestly, I did not dare for a long time. They began to persuade me experts, they say, Kupriyanova picked up a good crew and the girls will cope with their task. Reluctantly, I agreed, highlighted the old boat. The girls repaired it on their own, installed trawls and reported on their readiness to carry out military service. Before the first exit, I myself meticulously examined the ship, checked the knowledge of the team. The impression remained the best, and I gave the go-ahead to the exit. Soon we received a report: the Kupriyanova’s crew blew up a mine. Then the second, third ... Towards the end of the campaign, the entire crew was awarded government awards and received large cash prizes. ”



The fleet also needs girls!



Sniper of the 255th Marine Brigade Elizabeth Mironova. Novorossiysk. 1943



"Evdokia Nikolaevna Zavaliy is the only woman in World War II who commanded a platoon of the Marine Corps. Here is just a small fragment from her memoirs:

Black pea jackets always inflicted mortal horror on them [Germans]. Suddenness, insolence and fearlessness. My guys had desperate heads. But when the Fritz learned that among them was a woman, at first they could not believe, and then they began to hunt for me. As for respect, I don’t know, but I will tell you another case. It was the most impudent and most difficult operation, which was entrusted to my special platoon.

In February 45th there were fierce battles for Budapest. Four days the marines made their way to the fortress, which housed the Nazi nest - the headquarters of the fascist executioner Horthy. All approaches to the castle were mined, equipped with many firing points. The command of the 83rd brigade set the task: to penetrate into the fortress at all costs. Examining all the nooks and crannies, the sailors drew attention to the sewer hatch, went down into it and discovered an underground passage. Scouts reported that it is possible to pass the dungeon, but it’s difficult to breathe there - there is a heavy stench that makes you dizzy. The company commander Kuzmichev recalled that among the captured trophies we had pillows with oxygen. They calculated that it was necessary to go to the fourth well, and decided to take a chance. My platoon was ahead of the company - one pillow for two, you take a saving breath and give it to a neighbor. The collector turned out to be narrower than expected, walking bent over, legs tied in a fetid liquid. At the second well they heard a roar and clang. They carefully pushed the lid open and immediately closed - at the top the whole street is laden with tanks and armored vehicles. Lord, I thought, what awaits us at the fourth well? After all, this stinking dungeon can become our mass grave, just throw a couple of grenades! At the fourth well, the platoon stopped. My heart was pounding wildly, but there, upstairs, it was quiet. So, correctly calculated.

Having left the well, the soldiers scattered along the gray wall of the castle in a rare chain, and the sentry was put in line. The sudden appearance of the "black commissars" plunged the enemy into confusion, these seconds were enough for us to burst into the building while the machine gun was speeded up. The company and other units arrived in time - they took floor after floor and soon completely cleared the castle and the surrounding neighborhoods from the Nazis. Among the prisoners was a German general. He looked at us like ghosts, unable to understand how miraculously we found ourselves in the rear of his troops.

When he was told that they had gone underground, he did not believe it until he saw scouts who did not have time to wash themselves off from dirt and sewage. When I heard that the commander of the platoon was a girl, again I did not believe and was offended: “You could not think of the worst bullying ?!”

They called me. Came to the headquarters dirty as hell, smacks of me per kilometer. Major Kruglov, clutching his nose with a handkerchief, turns to me: “Report how the German general was captured!” And suddenly the German gives me a pistol of the Walter system - it’s bad to see that the guys searched him. “Frau Rusisch the black commissar! Gut! Gut! ”I stared at the political department, they nod - take it. Then the guys made a name for me on this gun ... "



Evdokia Zavaliy



Platoon commander Evdokia Zavaliy. 83 brigade of the marine corps. Bulgaria. 1944



Evdokia Zavaliy. During the war years she was wounded four times and twice shell-shocked.



Komvzvoda Evdokia Zavaliy, sailor Pryadorukov (left), foreman of the 2nd article of Sedykh



With the Order of the Fighting Red Banner



Ekaterina Dyomina. The hero of the USSR.

"The medical instructor of the 369th Separate Marine Corps Battalion of the Danube Naval Flotilla, Chief Petty Officer EI Mikhailova, on August 22, 1944, when crossing the Dniester Estuary as part of the landing, was one of the first to reach the shore, provided first aid to seventeen seriously wounded sailors, suppressed the fire of a heavy machine gun, threw grenades bunker and destroyed over 10 Nazis "



Ekaterina Demina



She went to the front at the age of 15 ...



Gantimurova Albina Aleksandrovna. Glavstarshina, commander of the Marine Corps Intelligence Unit



Two sailors



On the way to Port Arthur. August 1945



Baltic Fleet



Sanitary engineer of the Kozlov Marine Corps. Brought 70 wounded fighters from the battlefield. October 1942



Little sister



Northern Fleet Nurses



On hospital courts (person)



On hospital courts (turnover)



Unknown. Perhaps the pre-war photo

The commander of a platoon of marines during the Second World War, Lieutenant Evdokia Zavaliy.

09/01/1943 - author Shevich





The long-standing belief that a woman in the navy is an abnormal phenomenon is perceived as a relic today.

And although some men are still skeptical of the ladies in jackets, the fair sex has long won its place under the sun in the naval crews of many countries. In Norway, even the holy of the Navy saints - submarines - could not resist the onslaught of the sea Amazons.

In Russia, the commandment of Peter I that “women should not be in the fleet” was first violated by the Greek woman Laskarina Bubulina, the only woman in history to be an admiral of the Russian Navy. In the United States, Grace Hopper, the rear admiral of the American Navy, became the first sailor.

There is a female legend in Ukraine. A man of amazing fate and with a unique biography in the history of the Navy. Guard Colonel Marine Corps Evdokia Zavaliy is the only representative of the weaker sex who led the platoon of marines operating on the front line during the Second World War.

I am trying in vain to find features of a short, thin woman who allowed her, at the age of seventeen, to command fifty strong men, terrifying the Nazis with impudent attacks, for which she received the nickname "Frau black commissar" or "Frau black death" from them. Literally from the door, Evdokia Nikolaevna commanded me: “Let's go to the table!” The navy’s ear is getting cold! ”It sounds like an order, and I understand that objections are pointless - the commander’s platoon in its element.

Fatal memory

- Evdokia Nikolaevna, discover the secret: how did you manage to lead a platoon of paratroopers, maybe what a spoken word they knew?

- The most common words: “Platoon! Listen to my team! ”I always had a loud voice, since childhood I sang songs to my accordion. At first, of course, it happened that the boys laughed in my direction, but I did not pay attention. Nothing, nothing, I think I'll show you Kuzkin’s mother again! Will in a fist, eyes are brutal and - go! The peasants wanted to wipe their nose, to show that I can fight no worse, if not better than them. And they got used to me, respect. If not accepted as a commander, she would have been killed a hundred times. After all, the Germans hunted for me after they learned that a woman commanded the "black commissars", but my guys helped out every time.

I raise them to the attack: “Follow me!” They catch up and go around me, covering up, fearless, desperate - Zhora Dorofeev, Petro Moroz, Sasha Kozhevnikov, three Dima - Waklersky, Sobinov and Sedykh ... Each of my fifty-five machine gunners is still stands before his eyes, although none of them are already alive. Dima Sedykh threw himself under the tank with the last grenade, Misha Panikakho burned alive, doused with a combustible mixture, but managed to jump on the enemy tank and set it on fire, Vanya Posevnykh ... When he appeared in the platoon, he looked with a contemptuous look: "Baba is reluctant to obey!" And in in the battles for Budapest, he covered me from a sniper shot, substituting his chest ... Only sixteen of my guys reached Victory, today I am left alone from our special platoon of the 83rd Marine Corps.

Evdokia Nikolaevna falls silent, trying to calm down the tears streaming down her cheeks, and I, not knowing how to console, transfer the conversation in a different direction - to where it should not hurt.

- You probably grew up as a kid - did you rule in the yard, were you the ringleader?

She seemed to not hear the question - a heart-breaking fatal memory of 65 years of endurance did not let her go.

- I’m not used to losing. She hid tears at the front under a cloak-tent so that, God forbid, would not see who and would not suspect of weakness. You see, I just had no right to be weak, to be afraid. But she was still afraid ... of rats. She could not help herself, rats were worse for me than Germans - they were hungry, they threw themselves in the face at night, chewed on their heels. Brr! Better not to remember ...

After all, I’ve got a girl into the war, I haven’t hit another sixteen. I ran to the military commissar three times, and he told me everything: “Erase the milk first!” - “What milk?” “Mom, haven't dried up yet!” But the front was approaching, and soon the war itself came for me. As I remember this day, July 25th. The steppe scorched by the sun in my native Nikolaev region, a collective farm field, where my friends and I were in a hurry to harvest, earning workdays. Suddenly we see - black spots appeared on the white sky above our village.

The brigadier already whistled: “Parachute landing!” There was an increasing rumble, and enemy planes began the bombing. We rushed home. Running into the courtyard, I heard someone moan and, looking under the old Antonovka, froze: the young border guard (in our village there was a border guard headquarters) lies in a pool of blood. I don’t remember how I ran into the hut, tore up a sheet for bandages, how I could bandage it, I looked - one more wounded, then another ...

When the last military unit left the New Bug, waging bloody battles, I persuaded the commander to take me with him. I wanted to run home for a blouse, but near the house I ran into my grandmother. When a woman saw me, she cried out: “Oh, why are you robish? Come back, my gold! ”

And then she suddenly hugged, whispered something and looked into her eyes:

- Little girl! You’ll be bleeding four times! But the white geese will bring you ... And baptized. My grandmother treated people with herbs and predicted fate. She lived in the world for 114 years.

Duskin platoon

- Grandma’s prediction came true?

- As she said, it happened. Four wounds and two concussions - with such trophies I returned from the war. It was first wounded on Khortytsya when during the retreat our 96th cavalry regiment, where I served as a nurse, took a heavy battle. We had to cross the Dnieper by swimming, on flimsy rafts from improvised material. There and overtaken an enemy shell. After a penetrating wound in the stomach, I got to the hospital near Krasnodar. The head doctor examined me: “Well, that’s all, girl, I won back. Get the letter and blow home. " She answered as she cut off: “I have nowhere to go! Send to the front! ”

After being wounded, they sent me to a reserve regiment. And it was there that the “buyers” from the command came to recruit guys to the front line. One of them, a sailor, calls me up: “Guard Senior Sergeant, show your documents!” My letter opens and reads: “Senior sergeant Zavaliy Evdok.” This is my name so reduced in the hospital. "Fill Evdokim?" And I told him, and without batting an eye: "That's right, comrade commander! Zavaliy Evdokim Nikolaevich! ”-“ I give fifteen minutes to the training camp! ”-“ Yes! ”

He did not suspect that in front of him was a girl. And I did not stand out among the guys: the same tunic and breeches, on the head after the hospital - a “hedgehog” with a forelock - I had to shave the braid so that the lice would not be bothered. They gave me ammunition, uniforms, and then sent me ... to the bathhouse.

“Is that where the fraud was revealed?” Exposed "Evdokim" ...

- What are you! If they knew then, they wouldn’t blow my head. The firing squad, with the command jokes are bad! I stand neither alive nor dead with my basin, and by the guys the mother gave birth to run past. She looked at the tent of the medical battalion and dared to dig her face in the blood, so as not to be in the bathhouse. In the medical battalion, the wounds were treated, and after two and a half hours at the village of Goryachy Klyuch, Senior Sergeant Evdokim Zavaliy accepted the battle as part of the sixth landing brigade.

- You want to say that you managed to quietly join the male society and remain there undeclared for some time? Sorry, but this seems incredible ...

- Nevertheless, I managed to hold out for about a year. Nobody guessed anything. I was immediately recognized as "my boyfriend", and after I captured a German officer near Mazdok, I was sent to the intelligence department, and soon I became his commander. Very heavy battles were fought in the Kuban, near the village of Krymskaya. There, our company was surrounded. In the midst of the battle, the commander died, and, noticing the confusion of the fighters, I - the foreman of the company - rose to my full "gigantic" growth and shouted: "Company! Listen to me! Go, follow me! ”The fighters went on the attack, and we managed to break the enemy’s resistance, to get out of the encirclement. In this battle, I received a second severe wound. That's when “Evdokim” was exposed.

- And what were the consequences? Passed nuts from the command?

- No one even squealed. Probably, they took into account military merits and gave direction to six-month courses for junior lieutenants. After them, in October, the 443rd was sent to the 83rd Marine Brigade of the Red Banner Danube Flotilla and entrusted to the platoon. So I turned from “Comrade Evdokim” into “Lieutenant Dusu”. Sailors came across to me like a selection - tall, strong, desperate lads. The guys from the neighboring platoons at first laughed at us: "Duskin platoon!" But time passed, and began to call respectfully: "Dusiny guardsmen." And my machine gunners called me like a man - a commander, and sometimes affectionately Evdokimushka ...

Three deaths will not happen

- That is, the fighters began to perceive you not only as a commander, but also as a woman. Tell me honestly, my heart has never skipped a beat? Loving eyes caught on themselves?

- What are you talking about! If at least some thoughts arose on this score, everything - there is no platoon and no commander. I was a man for them, and there was no time for us, the Marines, to twist love. You’ll ask about this in other branches of the armed forces, maybe they will tell you something. And I have nothing to tell, except that I returned home after the war, clear as the sky and stars ...

My tactless question excited Evdokia Nikolaevna, and command notes reappeared in her voice: “Take that newspaper over!” I am handing her a battered newspaper leaflet from a solid home archive laid out on a table. She returns it to me: “Read!”

“Fighters led by a female officer landed landing boats behind enemy lines. The task was set to block the road along which the fascist units defeated near Budapest retreated to Vienna. 6 days the guys fought back the fierce attacks of the enemy. And then bombs fell on them from the air. From the side of Budapest, “tigers” marched on the sailors. Everything seemed to be over. A handful of marines will not stand it, it will not stand. But while help arrived, seven fascist tanks burned in front of the trenches of daredevils. "Tigers" were set on fire by sailors from a platoon of Lieutenant Zavaliy ... "

Evdokia Nikolaevna interrupts me:

- Here is such a “love” we had, baby. And you say, looks ...

Sevastopol, Sapun-mountain, Balaklava, Novorossiysk, Kerch catacombs. 8-9 attacks in one day. Then after the war I went on the attack for a long time at night. She screamed so that the neighbors were scared. And the grandmother prayed and told her mother: “This unclean spirit comes out of her, don!” Probably, thanks to her prayers and conspiracies, I still live, although I was buried three times ...

I listen to her story and think: probably, when a person becomes a legend during his lifetime, he perceives mysticism and mythology as an objective reality. Forgetting where the truth is, where the fiction. But just in case, I’ll clarify:

- How many times?

She does not respond to the stupid question and continues, looking through me into her past:

- At the very beginning of the war, one of the villagers told my grandmother that he had seen me being buried. But she did not believe and went to the churches, set candles. Then, near Belgorod-Dniester, when the estuary was crossed at night, in order to overcome the minefield, capture the bridgehead and hold it until the arrival of the main forces. As soon as they reached the middle of the estuary, enemy guns and machine guns hit from the opposite bank. Several motobots went down, the rest reached the shore and captured it. When the Germans began to retreat, my platoon pursued them. I didn’t notice how I pulled away from my paratroopers, a shell exploded nearby and was blown away by a blast. She regained consciousness when it got dark, and heard German speech. The Germans walked across the battlefield and finished off our wounded.

She felt that they were approaching me, held her breath, and suddenly the pain in her leg slashed with fire. One of the Nazis pierced her with a bayonet to check if the "Russian Frau" was dead. Miraculously, she did not betray herself, but at dawn, when our battalions cleared the Nazis’s western shore of the Dniester estuary, the locals found me bleeding. At the brigade headquarters it was decided that I had died, and mine appeared among other names at the mass grave in Belgorod-Dniester.

Well, the third time I was buried in Bulgaria, my name was carved on the monument, and when 25 years later I arrived in Burgas as an honorary citizen of the city, one of the women recognized me and rushed to me with tears when meeting with the townspeople: “Daughter! You are alive!"

Ghosts in Black Pea Coats

- The Nazis called you "frau black death." So, recognized your strength and your doom, that is, respected?

- Black pea jackets always inflicted mortal horror on them. Suddenness, insolence and fearlessness. My guys had desperate heads. But when the Fritz learned that among them was a woman, at first they could not believe, and then they began to hunt for me. As for respect, I don’t know, but I will tell you another case. It was the most impudent and most difficult operation, which was entrusted to my special platoon.

In February 45th there were fierce battles for Budapest. Four days the marines made their way to the fortress, which housed the Nazi nest - the headquarters of the fascist executioner Horthy. All approaches to the castle were mined, equipped with many firing points. The command of the 83rd brigade set the task: to penetrate into the fortress at all costs. Examining all the nooks and crannies, the sailors drew attention to the sewer hatch, went down into it and discovered an underground passage. Scouts reported that it is possible to pass the dungeon, but it’s difficult to breathe there - there is a heavy stench that makes you dizzy. The company commander Kuzmichev recalled that among the captured trophies we had pillows with oxygen. They calculated that it was necessary to go to the fourth well, and decided to take a chance. My platoon was ahead of the company - one pillow for two, you take a saving breath and give it to a neighbor. The collector turned out to be narrower than expected, walking bent over, legs tied in a fetid liquid. At the second well they heard a roar and clang. They carefully pushed the lid open and immediately closed - at the top the whole street is laden with tanks and armored vehicles. Lord, I thought, what awaits us at the fourth well? After all, this stinking dungeon can become our mass grave, just throw a couple of grenades! At the fourth well, the platoon stopped. My heart was pounding wildly, but there, upstairs, it was quiet. So, correctly calculated.

Having left the well, the soldiers scattered along the gray wall of the castle in a rare chain, and the sentry was put in line. The sudden appearance of the "black commissars" plunged the enemy into confusion, these seconds were enough for us to burst into the building while the machine gun was speeded up. The company and other units arrived in time - they took floor after floor and soon completely cleared the castle and the surrounding neighborhoods from the Nazis. Among the prisoners was a German general. He looked at us like ghosts, unable to understand how miraculously we found ourselves in the rear of his troops.

When he was told that they had gone underground, he did not believe it until he saw scouts who did not have time to wash themselves off from dirt and sewage. When I heard that the commander of the platoon was a girl, again I did not believe and was offended: “You could not think of the worst bullying ?!”

They called me. Came to the headquarters dirty as hell, smacks of me per kilometer. Major Kruglov, clutching his nose with a handkerchief, turns to me: “Report how the German general was captured!” And suddenly the German gives me a pistol of the Walter system - it’s bad to see that the guys searched him. “Frau Rusisch the black commissar! Gut! Gut! ”I stared at the political department, they nod - take it. Then the guys made a nameplate for me on this gun ...

- Evdokia Nikolaevna, and after the war you did not want to continue your military career in the navy? You look, and they would have been promoted to Rear Admiral, like Grace Hopper.

- They gave me a referral to a military school, but my injuries affected, and I had to leave the service. But I do not regret, because I met my love, raised a son and daughter. My grandchildren and great-grandchildren are growing, although they predicted that there would be no husband or children. When the Nazis were preparing for a counterattack on our troops in the area of \u200b\u200bLake Balaton, my platoon stopped at the landowner's house. The landlady, who spoke a little Russian, saw me, staggered back: “Oh God, woman!” And then she began to convince me that weapons are a great sin and that heaven will punish me, not allowing my family to continue, and the earth will open under me. .. As you see, the old landowner was mistaken, I live. One for all my guys ...

After the war, traveled to many cities, military units, ships and submarines - everywhere talked about my landing platoon. She performed in schools so that the children knew the truth, and did not grow up as Ivanes, who do not remember kinship. And now I go if they call and do not fail. In August last year, she brought thirty sets of vests and pea jackets from Sevastopol for children from the 104th school in Pushcha-Voditsa, where May 9 went with joy every year. And on September 1, 2007, this school was solemnly named after the fascist thug Roman Shukhevych. Do I need my truth there now? ..

Over the past two and a half months, she buried at once four close people - three sisters and a nephew. “One cannot get used to human losses,” says Evdokia Nikolaevna, “but you can still survive. The main thing is not to lose memory and not to betray it. After all, the world rests on it, but how to explain this to people? ”

The staff of “2000” weekly wholeheartedly congratulates the Guards of the Colonel of the Marine Corps Evdokia Zavaliy,

and in her person all of our dear front-line soldiers, with the most important holiday - Victory Day. May your friends please you

and loved ones and fails health! Eternal memory to those who are not near us ...

At the Black Sea Fleet Maria Egorova shot the film "Evdokia and Evdokia"



"The Russian Black Sea Fleet television center won one of the nominations of the IV international screen festival of screen arts" Kinotur - 2007 "

Journalists of the television center of the Black Sea Fleet of Russia won one of the nominations at the IV international film festival Kinotur - 2007, which took place in Zhytomyr.

A special diploma of the organizing committee of the film festival "For poetic realism in revealing the theme of" Woman in War "received the documentary and journalistic painting" Evdokia and Evdokia "by Maria Egorova. The painting is dedicated to Evdokia Nikolaevna Zavaliy - the only woman in World War II who commanded a marine corps platoon on the front line. This is the second award of the film. The film received its first award in the nomination “The war has no woman’s face” at the film “Victory Together”, held on May 9 in Yalta .... "

A real Russian woman will enter a burning hut and stop her horse, and generally give odds to any woman from other countries. Where are such qualities applicable as not in war! In the photo: the President of Russia welcomes Major General Elena Knyazeva.

And although history holds many cases of the amazing heroism of Russian women, high military posts, as a rule, were not trusted. It is difficult to say that the higher the rank, the greater the benefit in the war. Take at least the famous Maria Bochkareva, lieutenant by rank and woman who created the first women's battalion in Russia, which not only heroically fought on the battlefield of the First World War, but also made an invaluable contribution to raising the morale of the army.







Women warlords

The female "death squad" distinguished itself in early July near the town of Krevo, where for three days it repelled the attacks of German troops. Mary was arrested on January 7, 1920 and was convicted of criminal activity against the republic. Her fate is unknown, but in 1992, Maria Bochkareva was completely rehabilitated.

In the book of Michael Lee Lanning, “100 Great Leaders,” a truly powerful company has gathered: Macedonian, Napoleon, Genghis Khan and others. Of the women, the author considered it necessary to include only the famous Joan of Arcwhich is considered national heroine of Franceand is counted among the saints.

Jeanne's military victories began in early May 1429 with the capture of the Saint Lou bastion. Then the British troops, after the cessation of prolonged feuds in the country, entered French territory and won victories one after another. When King Charles VI appointed Jeanne a military commander, the army under her command, like a hurricane, went through the occupied territories, driving the British from their already occupied places.

May 23, 1430 she is captured by the Burgundians as a result of betrayal, which then sell it to the British. An equally traitorous court convicted Jeanne d’Arc of heresy and communion with the devil, for which she was burned alive in Rouen on May 30, 1931.

In the photo: a shot from the film, in the role of Joan of Arc, actress Mila Jovovich.

Female generals nowadays

The first female general in Russia was cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova. Valentina Vladimirovna, not only the first of the women flew into space, but so far remains the only one who flew alone. The title of Major General of Aviation was awarded to her in 1995.

There are many female generals in the US Air Force, but only one of them bears the title of a “four-star” brigadier general (there are only 12 such titles in the USAF). Name of top female general Janet Votfenbarger.

By the way, the head of the US Air Force Academy is also a woman, Major General Michelle Johnson.

The wife of the Chinese leader Peng Liyuan is not only a pop and television star, but also a major general of the National Liberation Army of China.

In the Israeli army, Lieutenant General Orna Barbibay is the head of the personnel department.

Khatol Mohammad Zai - the first Afghan paratrooper, carries the rank of brigadier general.

In general, today many worthy women wear general uniforms on their shoulders. In the photo: Russian woman general, chief tax inspector of the Lipetsk region, Ekaterina Makarova.

Read: 2315

ABOUT Evdokia Nikolaevna Zavaliy - the only woman who during the years of World War II commanded a platoon of marines, information is contained in many reference publications devoted to famous Ukrainians. You can learn about it from special historical and journalistic literature, from the press, from the Internet.

Since the mid-1970s, millions of visitors to the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in World War II had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with her personal documentary photographs at various exhibition projects.

In 2007, the documentary film "Evdokia and Evdokia" was shot about the amazing military fate of this woman. But despite the claimed materials, unfortunately, I have to admit: some facts of her military biography remain insufficiently known.

Undoubtedly, it is a pity that the Podolsky District Military Commissariat of Kiev still has not survived. Fill up. " And it would be useful to researchers and a complete track record, and award sheets, and a detailed autobiography of a unique woman!

But, nevertheless, we will try to get closer to solving the insufficiently researched facts and events related to the fate of Evdokia Nikolaevna during 1941-45, comparing and analyzing her memories with other informative historical sources.

First of all, let us pay attention to the work “Lieutenant Dusya”, which was included in the collection of essays and short stories “The Operating Fleet” by the special war correspondent V. A. Ore (1944).

It is believed that since then the name of the fearless twenty-year-old platoon commander of the machine gunners of the 83rd Marine Brigade, “a Ukrainian from the New Bug, who before the army worked as the foreman of a sewing workshop on a collective farm”, became widely known not only in the Navy.

Soldiers of the 83rd Marine Brigade of the Danube Flotilla (the first on the left is Evdokia Zavaliy). metro Burgas (Bulgaria), 1944

This is confirmed by an interview with Evdokia Nikolaevna in the mid-1990s: “I’m originally from the village in Nikolayevshchina. She worked on the collective farm named after Kotsyubinsky Novobugsky district. Hoeing sugar beets, raising hay, raking wheat grain ... In the New Bug elevator burned. There were few wounded. She just helped them get into the car, when the driver shouted: "Lie down!" Rushed to the bottom of the body. Cod hit the face.

I looked out - around the Germans. Nevertheless, the driver managed to escape from the enemy ring. After that incident, she asked the fighters to show how to handle weapons. Learned to shoot from a carbine, pistol, machine gun. They gave me a riding horse. The horsemen were surprised: "Dusya keeps in the saddle, like a real Cossack." And I answered: “Not for the first time. I often went to my collective farm. ”

It was difficult at the crossing of the Dnieper in Zaporozhye. Tied the horses in one chain, so as not to lose during the crossing. And they made a mistake: one horse drowned and pulled the others along. Go to the bottom and packs with machine guns. How to get ashore - I do not remember.

I felt a sharp pain in my side, came to my senses in the hospital. He treated me already in the Kuban. She recovered - she became a medical instructor. "I learned how to make various injections and many other things that are entrusted to experienced nurses."

In the penultimate years of her life, Evdokia Nikolaevna shared her memories with Elena Vavilova, a correspondent for the information and analytical agency Nikolaevskoye Zemlyadstvo:

“I was just a girl in the war, and sixteen have not passed yet. I ran to the military commissar three times, and he told me everything: “Mop the milk first!”

But the front was approaching ... As I remember that day - July 25, 1941. The steppe scorched by the sun in my native Nikolaev region, a collective farm field where my friends and I were in a hurry to harvest ... Here we see in the sky, right above our village, black spots appeared. Foreman: "Parachute landing!".

We rushed home. I ran into the yard and heard someone moan. She looked in that direction and was astonished: the young border guard was lying in a pool of blood (in our village then was the headquarters of some border unit). I ran into the house, tore the sheet as she could bandage ... I looked - another wounded, then another ...

When the last part left New Bug, I persuaded the commander to take me with me. I ran home for a blouse and ran into my grandmother. When my grandmother saw me, she shouted: “Oh, what are you doing! My heart, come back! ” And then she suddenly hugged me, whispered something and looked into my eyes: “Granddaughter! You’ll be bleeding four times, but the white geese will bring you ... ” And baptized.

As she said, it happened. “White geese” - this is my recovery after four injuries and two shell shocks - with such “trophies” I returned home. It first wounded me in Khortitsa when our 96th cavalry regiment, where I served as a nurse, took part in a heavy battle. The Dnieper had to be forced to swim, on rafts from improvised means.

There the enemy shell arrived in time. Penetrating wound in the abdomen. I got to the hospital near Krasnodar (Kurgan village). The head doctor examined me: “Well, that’s all, girl, I’ve finished it. Cure and blow home. ” She answered as she cut off: “I have nowhere to go. Send to the front! ” They sent me to a reserve regiment. And there, just the “buyers” from the command came to recruit replenishment. One of them, a sailor, called me: "Guard Senior Sergeant, show your documents!". My letter reveals and reads: "Senior sergeant Zavaliy Evdok." This is so reduced my name in the hospital.

“Yes, comrade commander! Zavaliy Evdokim Nikolaevich! ”-“ I give fifteen minutes to the training camp! ” He did not suspect that he was facing a girl. And I really was no different among the young men: a “hedgehog” with bangs after the hospital (the braid had to be cut off so that lice would not bother). They gave me uniforms and sent me to the bathhouse.

I’m standing with my basin, and the guys “in what mother gave birth” run past me to wash. She looked at the tent of the medical battalion and dared to dig her face in the blood, so as not to be in the bathhouse. In the medical battalion, the wounds were treated, and two hours later, in the village of Goryachy Klyuch, "Senior Sergeant Evdokim" took the battle as part of the 6th Airborne Brigade. "

Lieutenant Evdokia Zavaliy - commander of a platoon of machine gunners of the 83rd Marine Brigade of the Danube Military Flotilla. metro Burgas (Bulgaria), 1944

Particular attention is required to the above facts about the "6th Airborne Brigade." Let us try to shed light on this question using the text of the award sheet for the Order of the Red Star of December 31, 1943, Guard of the Second Lieutenant E.N. Zavaliy, assistant commander of a rifle platoon of the 6th Guards Rifle Regiment of the 2nd Guards Red Banner Taman Rifle Division.

This division was formed in September 1941 in Kharkov. At the beginning of 1942 it was transferred to the Rostov-on-Don region. From July 1942 until the beginning of October 1943, the division as part of the 37th and 56th armies of the North Caucasus Front participated in the battle for the Caucasus, and in September-October 1943 as part of the 56th Army in the Novorossiysk-Taman offensive operation.

And in November 1943, as part of the 11th Guards Rifle Corps of the 56th Separate Primorsky Army - in the Kerch-Eltigen landing operation. For the courage and heroism shown during the capture of the bridgehead in the Kerch region, almost 1,400 of its soldiers were awarded orders and medals, 19 were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

An important note for us in the award sheet: “It has no awards.” Further in the document we read about the “perfect feat”: “Being on the fronts of World War II, from the first days, Comrade Zavaliy proved herself a brave and courageous defender of the homeland. March 27, 1943 in the battle for the Crimean village of the Krasnodar Territory, she, acting boldly and decisively, destroyed two fascists and captured three Hitler soldiers.

Being in the regiment from November 13, 1943, Comrade Zavaliy, taking part in the battles for height 71, 3 of the Kerch region of the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, skillfully led a platoon, led soldiers into a battle with a hated enemy by personal example. In this battle comrade The blockages destroyed 9 Nazis. ”

Evdokia Zavaliy (first from left) with fighting friends from the 83rd Marine Corps of the Danube Military Flotilla. metro Varna (Bulgaria), 1944

In the memoirs of E.N. We read about these important circumstances:

“I was immediately recognized as“ my boyfriend ”, and after I captured a German officer, I was sent to the intelligence department, and soon I became a commander. Very heavy battles were fought in the Kuban, near the village of Krymskaya. There, our company was surrounded. In the midst of the battle, the commander died, and I, noticing the confusion of the fighters, rose to the full "gigantic" growth, shouted: "Company, forward, follow me!" The soldiers went on the attack, and we managed to break out of the environment.

In this battle, I received my second wound. This is where Evdokim was exposed. They took my military merits into account and sent them to six-month courses for junior lieutenants in Frunze. Then sent to the 83rd Marine Brigade. Entrusted the platoon. "

Evdokia Zavaliy, Kiev, 1985

The second combat award E.N. The rubble was already awarded as part of the 83rd Red Banner Order of Suvorov, II degree, of the Novorossiysk Separate Naval Brigade - one of the most effective and illustrious among the units and formations of the marine corps of the USSR Navy during the Great Patriotic War.

The battle path of this division was long, difficult and difficult. Its battalions participated in fifteen military operations, including in the three largest landing operations, the Kerch-Feodosia, Novorossiysk and Kerch, as well as in the Crimean, Yasso-Kishinev, Bulgarian, Budapest, Vienna, Bratislava-Brnovskaya and Prague.

From the award sheet of the second lieutenant E.N. We’ll find out Zavaly, commander of a platoon of machine gunners, to the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree of May 15, 1944: “In the battle to destroy the enemy’s encircled group in the area south-east of the village of Karan comrade. The blockages showed patterns of courage and courage.

With a group of machine gunners of three fighters, she crept up to an enemy bunker under a hail of bullets and a throw of an anti-tank grenade blew him up along with a machine gun and a garrison. The first to break into the enemy’s trench, in a short brutal battle, she destroyed about 10 Fritz and threw grenades at an easel machine gun and 2 company mortars. ”

This document is signed by captain A.A. Kuzmichev, commander of a company of machine gunners. It was under his direct command that the Dusiny Guardsmen distinguished themselves in the battles for Balaklava near Sevastopol, successfully defeated the Dniester estuary as part of the units of the Danube military flotilla (Evdokia Nikolaevna was injured when her subordinates successfully carried out the landing in the Belgorod-Dniester region).

And then they landed in the Romanian Konstanz, Bulgarian Varna and Burgas, Yugoslav Belgrade, conquered street after street in Budapest, participated in getting the Hungarian Esztergom and Komarno, successfully advanced in Brno and ended the war near Prague.

A vivid evidence of this are military medals, numerous letters of appreciation of the Supreme High Command, as well as group photos with military twin cities.

By the end of the war, out of three dozen of his subordinates, “Lieutenant Dusya” had lost more than half. I remembered:

“Yes, and not used to losing. Each of the guys still faces my eyes. I raise them to the attack: “Platoon, follow me!” My voice was always loud. They catch up with me and go around to cover me ... At first, of course, they chuckled in my direction. And I will fist and go!

I wanted to show that I can fight no worse than men. And they got used to me, began to respect. If they had not mistaken me for the commander, they would have been killed a hundred times. After all, the Germans hunted for me, they called me "frau-black death." Each time, the guys saved me ... Sasha Kozhevnikov, Zhora Dorofeev, Peter Moroz, three Dmitry - Waklersky, Sobinov and Sedykh ...

When Ivan Posevnykh first appeared, he measured me with a contemptuous look and said: “I will not obey Baba!” And in the battles for Budapest he covered me from a sniper bullet. He was posthumously awarded the Order of the Red Star. "

Award sheet of Evdokia Zavaly for the award of the Order of the Red Star for battles in the Kuban and the Kerch Peninsula, December 31, 1943

E.N. The blockage for participating in the liberation of Budapest was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. Then, in February 1945, in order to capture the important strategic object of the enemy, a platoon under his command was able to successfully use the underground passages of the city sewer. But what it really cost!

From her memories:

“The detachment landed from the boats of the Danube Flotilla, broke through the enemy defenses and gained a foothold on the outskirts of Budapest. Further progress failed. Having carefully examined all the corners, drew attention to the sewer manhole. But what if to use it? At night the hatch is open. The smell of breath came from the well. Two daredevils went downstairs. An underground channel has opened, you can’t see the end of the region ... “You can’t try to get through,” the commander was informed, “but the spirit is heavy there. This is perhaps a channel for discharging sewage. There is no ventilation. ”

Undoubtedly, it was tempting: to penetrate the rear of the enemy by underground passage. But to break through with such a stink? We recalled that among the trophies there are eighteen pillows with oxygen. That's when they were needed! Thirty scouts descended into the dungeon. One pillow for two. The fighter will take one breath and pass it on to the neighbor.

It was very difficult to advance. The tunnel narrowed in places, then turned out to be so low that it was necessary to crawl. Hands and knees were covered with sticky mud. On the way came vertical wells. So I wanted to open the cast-iron manhole cover and take a breath of fresh air, but you can’t show yourself earlier ...

Here is another hatch. Carefully lifted the lid and saw: around the enemy tanks and vehicles. This hatch was behind one of the tanks. One by one, my scouts crawled out and lay flat on tanks and cars. But the guards did not notice anything. Go to and fro. They were silently removed.

The doors to the hopper are not closed. An underground room full of Nazis. Many of them were sleeping ... Some wrote letters. The radio operator knocked on some message or report ... Scouts from the threshold gave a short automatic burst ... Germans, taken aback, raised their hands up. Weapons made up in a corner.

The most valuable were operational cards. “Having mastered” the bunker, fired from it. A big panic began on the street. Not understanding why they were shooting from the bunker, the Germans started firing at each other with machine guns. Indiscriminate fire was also opened by their tankmen ...

Among the prisoners was the general. At first, he didn’t believe that he was captured by soldiers under the command of a woman, but then he was forced to put up with it and even personally gave me his Walter ... A very memorable trophy. "

Presentation for awarding Eudokia Zavaliy with the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree for the battles near the village of Karan, May 15, 1944

Award sheet of Evdokia Zavaly for the award of the Order of Lenin (instead of which she was awarded the Order of the Red Banner) for the fighting on the Danube, March 26, 1945 (beginning).

Award sheet of Evdokia Zavaly for the award of the Order of Lenin (instead of which she was awarded the Order of the Red Banner) for the fighting on the Danube, March 26, 1945 (end)

Evdokia Zavaliy (first on the right) among veterans of World War II, Moscow metro, 1983

After the end of the fighting in Budapest, the 83rd Marine Brigade returned to the operational command of the Danube Flotilla commander. March 10, 1945 as part of the 144th battalion of a company of machine gunners under the command of A.A. Kuzmicheva was transported across the Danube to the Demesh valley and began preparations for a new landing operation.

Previously, on the Danube, paratroopers landed on the opposite shore, which was partially recaptured - there usually was already concentrated artillery and command posts that assisted the ships during the passage to the landing site and helped to conduct the battle on the enemy shore.

Now both coasts with a length of 15 km were in the hands of the enemy. On the front line on both banks, the enemy equipped strong defensive fortifications, in particular, blew up a bridge near Esztergom.

The operation began late at night on March 19th. At the transition adhered to a thorough disguise. The passage between the undermined bridge structures was carried out with the help of scouts who were able to land here earlier on small boats. Focusing on the light of scout flashlights, all the paratrooper boats successfully passed the ruins of the bridge and moved on.

At two o'clock on March 20, breaking through minefields, the paratroopers finally reached the landing site. In the morning, the enemy pulled tanks, artillery and infantry units into the area. The main task of the battalion was to prevent the withdrawal of enemy troops along the Budapest-Vienna highway.

The fighting lasted four days. During this time, the Dusin Platoon, together with another platoon of machine gunners, withstood at an altitude of "203" 39 enemy infantry and 9 tank attacks!

From the memoirs of Evdokia Nikolaevna:

“And yet they rose to a height. Dug in. Fourteen attacks were repelled during the day. The cartridges were cherished, therefore they fired only on purpose, but the next day our ammunition was over, and there was no cracker or a sip of water. But on March 23, the operation ended, and we were reunited with other parts of the brigade. ”

After the war, E.N. The blockages were in the reserve of the Central group of Soviet troops. She was treated, but due to illness she could not continue to be in military service. Demobilized in December 1946 (in fact, at the age of twenty!).

When I came to visit my relatives in the New Bug, at night I heard her shouting: “Platoon, listen to my command!” And in the morning I woke up in tears. Then she moved to Kiev. She graduated from evening school number 16, courses for trade workers. And most importantly - I met my long-awaited love. Together with her husband they raised a son and daughter, waited for their grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

For almost a quarter of a century, Evdokia Nikolaevna worked in the system of Soviet state trade, in particular, she was the director of deli No. 720 on Podil. For labor achievements she was awarded the Order of the October Revolution (1976). Over the years, two of its military orders of war time (World War I Art., Red Banner) were supplemented by World War II degree (1985) and Bohdan Khmelnitsky III degree (2009).

It’s even impossible to calculate how many post-war years Evdokia Nikolaevna held meetings with young people in Ukraine and abroad! Usually, listeners to this brave, heroic woman had very piquant questions. Answered:

“My machine gunners called me masculine:“ Commander. ” Love to twist - and there is no platoon, and there is no commander. God forbid someone to see my tears. I had no right to be weak ... You can survive in a war, even a woman. It’s impossible to get used to human losses. The main thing is not to lose memory of the past, not to betray it. The world rests on this. ”