The truth about Panfilov is not what the movie describes

This article is reproduced from CDC. I

believe that many military fans born in the 1970s and 1980s are deeply impressed by the epic war movie "Battle of Moscow" shot by the former Soviet Union in 1985. This masterpiece panorama reflects the battle process in the early days of the Soviet-German war. , there are many characters and grand scenes, and there are many classic lines, such as Hitler's demagogic and arrogant declaration when he signed the "Barbarossa" action plan, Stalin's classic morale-boosting speech delivered on the eve of the October military parade, but the most widely circulated , The most influential is probably the heroic last words of a Soviet commander before the death of the German tanks: "Although Russia has nowhere to retreat, Moscow is behind it!" It fully demonstrates that the Soviet soldiers swear to the death to fight against fascism and defend against fascism. The heroism of the capital of the motherland.

This film segment has a historical prototype to follow, which is derived from the heroic deeds of the "28 Panfilov Warriors", well-known in the Soviet era. On November 16, 1941, in the fierce battle in the northwestern suburbs of Moscow, 28 commanders and fighters from the 1075th Infantry Regiment of the 316th Infantry Division faced the attack of the superior enemy, held their positions, and finally all died heroically. Hero of the Soviet Union" title. Since the 316th Division was later named after its commander, General Panfilov, this group of heroes was called "Panfilov's 28 Warriors", and their deeds were widely spread, becoming a model for inspiring fighting spirit in wartime. Later, it was written into textbooks as a model of patriotic education, and its influence continues to this day. In 2016, the Russians put it on the screen again. The new film "Panfilov 28 Warriors" will be released at the end of November and will be introduced to domestic theaters. Taking this as an opportunity, the author collects information and digs out the story behind this battlefield legend for friends who are preparing to watch the movie.


Aid the capital

At the end of September 1941, after the amazing victory of the siege of Kiev, the German army concentrated its main force on the central front, assembled 3 army groups, 3 armored groups, and launched a force of more than 1.9 million people, code-named "Typhoon" ( Operation Typhoon), with the goal of capturing the Soviet capital of Moscow before winter. After more than a month of fierce fighting, the German army completed a new double encirclement operation in the Vyazma-Bryansk region, eliminating a large number of Soviet troops and advancing to a distance of only 100 to 120 kilometers from Moscow. , and then temporarily turned to the defense to supplement the battle losses, accumulate strength, and prepare to launch a final assault on Moscow with a view to ending the 1941 campaign on Red Square.

In order to strengthen the defense force of the capital area, the Soviet High Command mobilized reinforcements to strengthen the defense of the proximity to Moscow. It was at this time that the 316th Infantry Division was transferred to the Moscow front. The 316th Infantry Division was not a standing division of the Soviet Army before the war, but a mobilization division that was urgently formed in the Central Asian Military Region after the outbreak of the war. The division was formed on July 12, 1941 in Alma Ata, the capital of Kazakh, under the jurisdiction of the 1073rd, 1075th, 1077th Infantry Regiment, the 857th Artillery Regiment and the 597th Engineer Battalion and other units. The two republics of the Kyrgyz Republic, the first division commander was Major General Ivan Vasilyevich Panfilov, the military commissar of the Kyrgyz Republic.

Panfilov was born on January 13, 1893 in Petrovsk, Saratov. He served in the Russian army, joined the Red Army during the revolution, and served in the famous general Chabayev during the civil war. Xia Boyang) served as platoon commander and company commander in the 25th Infantry Division. He joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1920, graduated from the Kiev United Military School in 1923, and later served as battalion commander and regiment commander. Military commissar, promoted to major general in 1940. Judging from his military experience, Panfilov was an experienced commander and a determined Bolshevik.

The 316th Infantry Division held a swearing-in ceremony on August 1. After a short training, it went to the front line in mid-August and arrived in the Borovichi area of ​​Novgorod at the end of August to join forces with the attacking Leningrad. The troops of the German Army Group North fought several encounters before being incorporated into the 52nd Army Reserve on September 8 and spent a month in the rear. On 11 October, the 316th Division was transferred to the 16th Army of the Western Front, commanded by General Konstantin Rokossovsky, and ordered to defend the Volokolamsk area for about 41 kilometer-long front. When the German onslaught was launched in mid-October, the 316th Division had endured a tough fight, retreating in the direction of Moscow under German pressure and establishing a new line of defense.


Legend of Heroes

On November 16, 1941, the 46th Panzer Army of the German Army launched a fierce attack on the defense line of the 316th Division. The position of the 1075th Regiment was the focus of the German assault, and the battle of "Panfilov 28 Warriors" took place here. one day. According to reports from Soviet propaganda agencies, 28 commanders and fighters of the 4th Company Anti-Tank Fighter Group of the 1075th Regiment, under the command of trainee political instructor Vasily Klochkov, stood firm in the village of Dubosekovo ( Dubosekovo), when they only had a 45mm anti-tank gun, several anti-tank rifles, anti-tank grenades and Molotov cocktails, they had to face a group charge of German tanks. It is reported that at that time the German army assembled 54 tanks and a large number of infantry in front of the company's position, and carried out a turn attack on the section defended by Klochkov, and 28 Soviet soldiers fought with the German army with a small amount of anti-tank weapons. .

The movie "Battle of Moscow" highlights this battle, Klochkov mobilized the soldiers with optimism as the German tanks approached: "Boys! 20 tanks are small, each of us. There’s still less than one!” The Soviet soldiers put the German tank at close range, attacked the weak part of the tank with anti-tank guns, stuffed grenades into the tracks, threw molotov cocktails on the hood of the tank, and used all available energy He used the means to paralyze the German tanks, and started close combat with the German tank soldiers who escaped the tanks. Many people died with the German tanks. Klochkov was also injured in the battle. Finally, he said the classic last words of "Moscow is behind", Armed with grenades, he threw himself at the German tanks that rushed into the position. This outnumbered battle lasted for nearly four hours. Klochkov and his men destroyed a total of 18 tanks, causing more than 800 casualties to the German army (the number of enemy annihilation was later changed to more than 70), and finally all Heroic Sacrifice (later changed to Most Sacrifice).

The earliest news reports of the fighting in the village of Dubosekovo on November 16 appeared in the Supreme Soviet organ Izvestia, which was published on November 19, with the newspaper's front-line correspondent Ivanov in a question The battle was mentioned in an article for "The 8th Guards Division in Battle" (the 316th Division was renamed the 8th Guards Infantry Division on 18 November), which mentioned a company defending the left flank of the 1075th Encircled by the German army, he fought bravely, destroyed 9 German tanks and set 3 tanks on fire, successfully repelling the German attack, but there was no heroic sacrifice of Klochkov and others.

On November 27, Krasnaya Zvezda, the organ of the People's Commissariat of Defense, published "Guardians at the Battle of Moscow" by war correspondent Vasily Koroteev, the first of which Mentioned that the 28 soldiers of Panfilov's division destroyed 18 tanks and finally all died. The report also claimed that these soldiers also killed a coward who tried to surrender to the Germans in front of the position. The next day, the Red Star published an editorial article "The Last Wishes of 28 Heroes" written by the famous writer and editor-in-chief Aleksander Krivitsky, which described the battle in detail and described the battle in detail. It is claimed that the remains of all the fallen soldiers are buried in a mass grave in the village of Dubosekovo. On January 22, 1942, an essay by Krivitsky titled "For 28 fallen heroes" was published in the Red Star newspaper and mentioned Klochkov's last words: "Russia is big, but there is nowhere to go. Behind it is Moscow." The article also claims that the last survivor of this group of heroes, Ivan Natarov, described their death in the field hospital before dying of injuries. The battle situation, the list of 28 warriors was also announced for the first time in this essay.

Through the continuous reports of "Red Star", the deeds of the "28 Panfilov Warriors" quickly spread in the front and rear, and many literary and art workers wrote articles and works to praise their heroic fighting and sacrifice spirit. ! On July 21, 1942, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet approved the posthumous award of the title of "Hero of the Soviet Union" to 28 officers and soldiers below Klochkov. Since then, the "28 Panfilov Warriors" have been established as a revered by all Soviet soldiers and Soviet citizens. heroic role model.


True and false.

Although the tenacious battle and heroic sacrifice of the "28 Panfilov Warriors" are amazing and moving, as long as people with a little military common sense study the force comparison of this battle, they will feel that the content of the news report is too much. Exaggerated. It is hard to imagine that 28 infantrymen relying only on field fortifications, with a small number of anti-tank weapons, can resist the attack of 54 German tanks and a large number of accompanying infantry, and can destroy one-third of the tanks!

There are four main doubts about the authenticity of "Panfilov 28 Warriors": First, according to the usual practice, the meritorious performance of front-line officers and soldiers should be reported and verified by the grass-roots commander, at least by the neighboring troops. In this incident, neither the battalion commander, the regiment commander, nor the division commander Panfilov, nor the army commander Rokossovsky of the troops of the 4th Company received relevant reports. This heroic deed was learned from the "Red Star"; secondly, Korodeev and Krivitsky were not witnesses to the battle, but they described the battle in great detail in the report, even Klow Chikov's last words were all clear, which was suspicious. Although Krivitsky claimed to have learned the details of the battle from the fighter Natarov, according to the records of the 1075th regiment, this Natarov was killed as early as November 14; again, according to the 1075th Colonel Ilya Kaprov, the head of the regiment, recalled that on November 16, the 4th Company of the regiment had about 140 fighters, not only 28; finally, Klochkov et al. Destroyed 18 tanks in a few hours, which is a very serious loss for the German army, but there is no relevant record on the German side to confirm it.

In fact, before the "28 Panfilov Warriors" was posthumously awarded the title of "Hero of the Soviet Union" in March 1942, the Soviet Army had already discovered the inaccuracy of the reports. At that time, the Soviet internal affairs department arrested Danil Kuzhebergenov, a soldier of the Western Front, on the charge of "attempting to defect to the enemy". During the interrogation, the soldier, who claimed to be one of the "28 Panfilov warriors", was knocked unconscious during the fighting on November 16 and was later buried as a body by the Germans, but he managed to escape from the tomb, And joined a cavalry unit. Investigators found that Kozhubegnov was indeed serving in the 4th Company of the 1075th Regiment, and other personnel who participated in the fighting in the village of Dubosekovo confirmed his identity.

However, in the circumstances at the time, no one dared to point out the mistakes of the central authoritative newspaper, and the internal affairs officers forced Kozhubegnov to sign a statement acknowledging that he pretended to be a sacrificed warrior in order to escape punishment, the commissar of the 1075th regiment also wrote The letter said he had mixed up his names on the registration form. After that, Daniel Kozhubegnov was changed to Askar Kuzhebegenov in the list. The 8th Guards Division did have a soldier by this name, but division records show that he enlisted in January 1942 and died shortly thereafter. Poor Daniel Kozhubegnov was sent to a labor camp on charges of "impostor and cowardice", and his death in 1976 did not clear the stigma of "traitor".

post-war investigation

During the war, Soviet officials temporarily concealed the inaccuracies of the "Red Star" through clumsy methods, but an accident shortly after the war brought the doubts of "Panfilov 28 Warriors" to the surface again. In November 1947, the Kharkov military prosecutor's office arrested Ivan Dobrobabin, who lived in the city of Kant, Kyrgyz Republic, for a wartime surrender. During the interrogation, Dobrobabin told investigators that he was one of the "28 Panfilov warriors" who had been captured by the Germans during the Nov. 16 battle and managed to escape, but he did not return to the troops, and It was back to his hometown, Perekop, Ukraine, which was under German occupation, and joined the auxiliary police force as a small leader. In 1944, when the German army was in retreat, Dobro Babin fled his homeland and rejoined the Soviet army, moving to Kanter after the war. Dobro Babin's confession was confirmed, and he was eventually charged with participating in anti-guerrilla operations and assisting the Germans in forced labor, and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

The Dobrobabin incident once again aroused doubts about the authenticity of the "Panfilov 28 Warriors", and Soviet officials subsequently launched a secret investigation. Military judge Lieutenant General Nikolai Afanasyev was ordered to preside over the incident. investigation, he managed to interrogate the surviving parties, including the then head of the regiment Kaprov, the authors of the news reports Korodeev and Krivitsky, and the editor-in-chief of the Red Star, David Otten Berg (David Ortenberg) et al. Kaprov admitted that despite the intense fighting in Dubosekovo, he had not heard of the fighting reported in the newspapers. Korodeev and Krivitsky finally admitted that the "28 Panfilov Warriors" were fabricated by them, and explained the entire process of generating the report materials.

On November 24, 1941, Korodeev traveled to the 16th Army Headquarters to interview Commander Rokosovsky, where he met Sergei Egorov, commissar of the 8th Guards Division. ), who told him that the division had a group of fighters who fought to the last man in the face of a German attack of 54 tanks and that they had executed two shaken surrenderers. The political commissar said that he was not at the scene at the time, but heard from other political cadres in the division, so he did not know how many people participated in the war or their names. Yegorov suggested that Korodeev write articles based on this material and publicize them in newspapers.

Due to the tight situation on the front line, Korodeev did not go to the grassroots troops to understand the details. On his return to Moscow, he referred to Ortenberg, the editor-in-chief, of the news material provided by Yegorov, who thought it worth reporting, and asked how many people had taken part in the fighting. Korodeev casually said that there were 30 people, including 2 who wanted to surrender. Ortenberg thought two traitors were too many, so Korodeev reduced it to one when he finally wrote it. The story of 28 warriors was born in the editor-in-chief of Red Star. On November 27, Korodeev's report on the combat situation of the 8th Guards Division was published, in which the "28 Panfilov Warriors" were mentioned for the first time. On November 28, editor Krivitsky wrote an editorial to report on the matter.

In January 1942, after the German forces in Dubosekovo were cleared, Krivitsky went on a field trip on the orders of Ortenberg to gather information to make their false reports appear more real, including at the time. Regiment commander Kaprov, regiment political commissar Akhmetzhan Muhamedyarov and 4th company commander Pavel Gundilovich accompanied them. The local villagers took in the remains of 6 Soviet officers and soldiers, including Klochkov, the trainee instructor of the 4th Company, so he naturally became the leader of the 28 warriors. Tsky pinpointed the location of a mass grave. According to Krivitsky's request, Mehmet Yarov and Gunidilovich selected 28 names from the list of the 4th Company killed and missing, so that the "28 Panfilov Warriors" have a name, Strictly speaking. The field visit provided new material for Krivitsky's Jan. 22 essay, and gave the false heroic saga final shape. As for Klochkov's last words, Krivitsky admitted during his postwar investigation that they were his personal creation. Both Korodeev and Ortenberg stressed to the military judges that their motives were to boost the morale of front-line troops.

With the deepening of the investigation, Lieutenant General Afanasyev also found that in the "28 Warriors", in addition to Kozhubegnov and Dobrobabin, there were 4 people who were not killed in action, and 2 of them were seriously injured and sent to the hospital. In the rear hospital, 2 were captured by the Germans and survived the war. On May 10, 1948, Afanasyev submitted an investigation report to the Prosecutor General of the Soviet Union. In his report, he concluded that the "28 Panfilov Warriors" were completely non-existent and purely fabricated. Afanasyev's report was also sent to Stalin, Zhdanov and other senior leaders of the party and government for review. Obviously this is an extremely embarrassing fact, that a widely publicized hero model was fabricated, which is undoubtedly a serious scandal. For very natural reasons, the report was shelved from the public, and all counterfeiters were not held accountable.

In the long years that followed, Soviet officials did not allow any doubts about the "Panfilov 28 Warriors". In February 1966, "New World" magazine (New World) published an article entitled "Legends and Facts", and for the first time openly questioned the "28 Panfilov Warriors", which was met by the Soviet Union's top leader Bo Ri. Brezhnev's personal scathing rebuke, which he sees as "a slander of the heroic history of our party and our people." The 28 warriors are still commemorated in various forms throughout the Soviet Union, including statues, paintings, poems, film and television works, etc., and their stories have been preserved in school textbooks. By the end of the 1980s, with the changing political environment and the declassification of various archival materials, the debate over the authenticity of "Panfilov's 28 Warriors" resurfaced. In July 2015, the State Archives of the Russian Federation published the Afanasyev report on its official website, which indicated that Russian officials had acknowledged that the "Panfilov 28 Warriors" were false.

Fight live

since "Panfilov 28 warriors," the true story does not happen, then the 16 November 1941, 316 teachers were exactly what kind of fight it? Later generations reproduced the battle situation of that day based on the wartime data. When the Germans launched a new offensive in the northwestern suburbs of Moscow in mid-November 1941, the 316th Infantry Division was ordered to defend the Dubosekovo area, 8 kilometers southwest of Volokolamsk, with a frontal width of 18 to 20 kilometers. Its left flank is the 126th Infantry Division, and the right flank is a mixed regiment of cadets of the Moscow Infantry School. The German unit that attacked the 316th Division on 16 November was the 11th Panzer Division of the 46th Panzer Corps, whose goal was to gain a favorable starting position for another offensive two days later, when the Germans planned to occupy Dubosekovo The junction of two villages 8 kilometers north. The 11th Panzer Division formed two battle groups to launch the first attack on the 1075th regiment's position. In front of the position of the 2nd Battalion on the left flank of the regiment, the Germans entered an armored battalion reinforced by artillery and infantry.

The 1075th had suffered heavy personnel and equipment losses in previous battles, but the regiment had been replenished before the new battle. According to the recollection of the head of the regiment Kaprov, on November 16, the 4th company of the regiment had 120 to 140 personnel, accounting for about 80% of the 162 personnel in the regiment, which can be regarded as having complete combat effectiveness. The artillery configuration of the 1075th regiment is not clear. According to the organization, the regiment has an artillery company equipped with 4 76mm regiment field guns and a war defense gun company equipped with 6 45mm anti-tank guns, but there is evidence that The regiment's artillery equipment on November 16 was very different from the standard establishment. On that day, the regiment was equipped with 2 76mm M1927 field guns, several M1909 76mm mountain guns and 1 French Mle 1897 75mm field gun . All these guns have poor anti-armor capabilities, the 76mm cannon can only penetrate 31mm armor at a distance of 500 meters, and the mountain guns and old French field guns have almost no anti-tank capabilities. The number of 45mm anti-tank guns of the 1075th Regiment is unknown. It is currently known that the entire division of the 316th Division had only 12 45mm anti-tank guns on that day.

Judging from the artillery configuration of the 1075th regiment, it was difficult for the regiment to obtain sufficient artillery support when resisting the impact of the German tank group, and the anti-tank weapons that the front-line infantry could use were also lacking in power. At that time, the regiment was only equipped with 11 14.5mm PTRD anti-tank rifles, of which the 2nd Battalion was equipped with 4, in addition to grenades, RPG-40 anti-tank grenades and homemade Molotov cocktails. The power of the PTRD anti-tank rifle is quite limited. It can only penetrate the side and rear armor of the tank at close range, and can do little to the front armor of the tank. As for melee weapons such as grenades, anti-tank grenades and incendiary bottles, they all need to be very close to the target to hit, and the killing effect is also weak, often paying a heavy price in life. The actual combat showed that the number of German tanks destroyed by anti-tank grenades and Molotov cocktails was very small. Based on the above situation, although the 1075th Regiment is still adequate in personnel, its anti-tank capability is quite weak, and it is difficult to resist the fierce attack of the German armored forces. The course of the battle also proved this.

In the early morning of November 16, German tank units carried out fire reconnaissance to the Soviet forward positions. According to Caprov's recollection, there were 10-12 tanks in front of the 2nd Battalion's position alone, but he did not know how many tanks were in front of the 4th Company's position. The result of the outpost battle was that the German army was in front of the 1075th regiment's position. Withdrew after losing 5-6 tanks. Soon, the German army entered the reserve and launched an all-out attack on the 1075th Regiment. After 40 to 50 minutes of fierce and brutal fighting, the Soviet defense line was broken through. Kaprov rushed to the front from the regiment headquarters, and personally gathered the surviving officers and soldiers and moved them to new positions. In this defensive battle, Captain Gunidilovich's 4th Company suffered the heaviest losses. Only 20 to 25 of the 140 people in the entire company survived. The other companies of the regiment suffered relatively light losses. The Soviets failed to hold the Dubosekovo area, which was occupied by the Germans and was not recaptured by the Soviets until December 20. According to the Soviet military report, the 1075th regiment destroyed a total of 9 German tanks on November 16, which was only half of the number of tanks destroyed by the "Panfilov 28 Warriors" in the report, and was still the result of the entire regiment.

From November 16th to 20th, the 316th Infantry Division and other Soviet units defending Volokolamsk were attacked by two German armored divisions and one infantry division, and gradually retreated to the outskirts of Moscow. Although the Germans eventually occupied Volokolamsk, the tenacious battle of the 316th Division caused great losses to the Germans, delayed the advance of the Germans, and consumed the German offensive. By the time they reached the spire, they were already dead. In the battle to defend Moscow, the 316th Division suffered huge sacrifices. The entire division suffered 9,920 casualties, of which 3,620 were killed and 6,300 were wounded. The tenacity of the 316th Division also impressed the Germans. General Erich Hoepner, commander of the 4th Panzer Group, gave a speech to Field Marshal Fedor von Bock, commander of Army Group Center. The telegram mentions the 316th Division: "This division is made up of barbarians, its soldiers fight without any rules, they are extremely fanatical, they never surrender, and they fear death."


The bloody battle of the 316th Division was highly praised by the Soviet leadership. On November 17, Stalin approved the report of the People's Commissariat of Defense on the designation of the 316th Division "Guardian", which subsequently changed its designation to the 8th Guards Infantry Division. On November 18, the division commander, Major General Panfilov, was killed in battle, and he was posthumously awarded the title "Hero of the Soviet Union". On November 23, the People's Commissariat of Defense decided to name the 8th Guards Division after General Panfilov, one of only two divisions in Soviet history named after a commander, the other being Panfilov served in the 25th Infantry Division "Cabayev Division". Although the story of "28 Panfilov Warriors" is fictitious, the sacrificial spirit and outstanding military exploits of the officers and soldiers of Panfilov's division are undeniable, and they deserve the permanent memory of the Russians.

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