On November 13, 1943, a cinema in the German-occupied town of Porkhov turned into a blazing hell. 64 kilograms of TNT smashed the load-bearing beams and walls of the building, the roof collapsed right into the flaring hell. More than 700 German soldiers, 40 officers and 2 Wehrmacht generals, who watched a comedy film a minute ago, went to the next world. Yes - just like in Inglourious Basterds, only without Hitler and Tarantino kitsch. And not thanks to a Jewish girl, but by the forces of the Soviet partisan Konstantin Chekhovich - an almost forgotten, terribly underestimated war hero who did not even receive a worthy reward for his feat. But this is one of the largest acts of sabotage of the Second World War!
An important note: as is often the case with stories of those years, it has already become overgrown with myths and has become semi-legendary, so many will want to cut in criticism (and this is also a good approach!). But I advise you to just go crazy for its breathtaking epicness. Moreover, it is based on an absolutely real fact: a cinema with seven hundred Germans was blown up, and someone had the courage to do it.
Cinema explosion: one of the coolest sabotage of WWII
Konstantin Aleksandrovich Chekhovich was born in 1919 in Odessa, where he graduated from the Industrial Institute. This is quite an important fact - it at least suggests that Chekhovich was a good techie. In 1939 he was drafted into the army, where he rose to the rank of commander of a sapper platoon in the Lithuanian SSR. A month and a half after the start of the war, Chekhovich and four more of his colleagues were sent across the front line towards Leningrad. They had to go to the rear of the Germans in order to conduct sabotage operations and establish contact with the partisans.
Konstantin Chekhovich.
But the soldiers were out of luck. On August 11, 1941, they either ran into a patrol, or were ambushed. Chekhovich's comrades were killed, he himself was taken prisoner with a serious concussion. Fortunately, after a couple of weeks he managed to escape, and after another week he contacted the partisans of the 7th Leningrad Brigade. Those, in turn, gave him the task: to penetrate the city of Porkhov, which is 88 kilometers from Pskov, and merge with the local population there. Simply put, become a “sleeping agent”.
He spent the next two years, rubbing into the credibility of the Germans, and proved himself as a master of conspiracy. Chekhovich got rid of his Odessa dialect and almost immediately married a girl named Evdokia Vasilyeva, from whom he rented an apartment. It is not clear whether she was originally somehow connected with the partisans (which is possible), but life with the partisan forced her to do so anyway - her mother's house in the village of Radilovo became a refuge, where Chekhovich met with the leadership of the operation.
Promotional video:
Porkhov during the war. The remains of a bridge blown up by the Red Army during the retreat are visible.
Konstantin got a job as a watchmaker, and then - at a local power plant. According to the idea of the leader of the local partisans, Mikhail Malakhov, Chekhovich was supposed to blow it up, but this idea had to be abandoned: instead of local collaborators, German troops began to guard it. Then Chekhovich tried to break into a local cinema - and he succeeded. Ironically, the Germans, who guarded infrastructure facilities with such zeal, grossly underestimated the importance of guarding their own officers' gatherings.
The building of the cinema was located in the former house of the merchant Zatsky. It was built conscientiously, and it was also the largest in the city. In addition to the cinema, the SS Security Service was located here, and right under the roof was the residence of the military intelligence - the Abwehr-Nord division. So for a partisan, just getting a job here is like hitting a jackpot. In the new place, Chekhovich was able to rise to the administrator of the cinema. However, it was impossible to act quickly. It was impossible to bring in 64 kilograms of TNT just like that: it took many weeks, if not months, of preparation.
TNT crystals.
Partisans supplied Chekhovich with TNT. A frighteningly risky scheme was developed: Konstantin and his wife allegedly went into the forest for cranberries, or to her relatives for apples; he returned with bales, where explosives were hidden under apples and berries. Even such a story has survived: the German patrolmen once decided to check the cart with these apples, tasted them and immediately lost interest - supposedly they were soaked in tar and became bitter.
The scheme for bringing explosives into the cinema building was even more dangerous and extravagant. Chekhovich carried a small amount almost every day when he came to work. In this he was assisted by a 15-year-old cleaner, Evgenia Mikhailova, who carried TNT around the building in a bucket of dirty water. Naturally, Konstantin's sapper skills came in handy. First, tol (aka TNT, aka TNT) melts in hot water, so with the proper skill it can be shaped. Secondly, Chekhovich managed to install charges on the supporting columns and walls so that the building collapsed like a house of cards. As a matter of fact, it happened so.
Stills from the film "Circus Artists", 1937:
In "Inglourious Basterds" the cinema burned down to the fictional film "Pride of the Nation" with the fictional "hero" of the Third Reich Frederick Zoller. In the history of Chekhovich, the background was the German film "Circus Artists". There was a full house that evening. The cinema is designed for 600 spectators, but 764 people were crowded into the hall. Two generals, more than forty officers, many Abwehr and SS soldiers, even the head of the local concentration camp "Zapolyane" Kholomek - every tenth soldier of the Porkhov garrison was under this roof.
At exactly 20 o'clock, on November 13, 1943, the cinema where Konstantin Chekhovich worked as an administrator turned into dust along with everyone who was inside. After the grandiose explosion, the building, as planned, was formed like a house of cards. Of the seven hundred Nazis, only a few survived. Even more striking is the fact that innocent people did not suffer: despite the risk of disruption of the operation, Chekhovich warned not only the cleaning lady Evgenia Mikhailova, but also the projectionist Sergei Shelkovnikov about the sabotage - both of them fled to the partisans. At the time of the explosion, Konstantin himself was already driving his bicycle into the woods, where his wife and son were waiting for him safely.
The ruins of the cinema.
The German leadership did not manage to hide the consequences of such a disaster. Naturally, Hitler found out about her, calling the person who arranged this explosion his personal enemy. The news quickly spread around the world: it was reported to the whole country by the Soviet Information Bureau. The Wehrmacht command tried to hide the scale of the consequences: hundreds of those killed in the cinema were buried in 192 graves - several people under each tombstone.
After the explosion
After this operation, Konstantin Chekhovich was appointed chief of staff of the 2nd detachment of the 7th Leningrad partisan brigade. Under his leadership, partisans derailed 49 echelons, blew up 4 railway and 9 highway bridges, destroyed 40 kilometers of enemy communications and about 3,500 Wehrmacht soldiers.
But even in spite of all this, Chekhovich was never properly awarded. He was supposed to be nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, but the ceremony never took place. Apparently, the management had doubts about his loyalty. At one time, versions appeared in the Soviet media that the explosion was just an accident, or even a way to shield the German informant. These versions are not only absurd, but were also refuted in the early 60s, when the KGB conducted its own investigation. Counterintelligence officer Yevgeny Golubev (who later rose to the rank of colonel) was able to prove that Chekhovich's version was true, and he really practically single-handedly pulled off one of the greatest sabotages of World War II.
After the war, Chekhovich himself lived a rather modest and calm life: he worked in party posts, and also, ironically, was engaged in the restoration of railways, which at one time he himself undermined. Subsequently, he moved back to his homeland, to Odessa, where he became the head of the workshop at the Odessa Mechanical Plant.