To break out of bondage, you needed ingenuity, determination and reliable comrades
How many of our soldiers and officers were taken prisoner during the Great Patriotic War has not yet been counted. On the German side, they talk about five million, Russian historians say the number is 500 thousand less. How the Nazis treated the prisoners is known from documents and eyewitness accounts. About 2.5 million people died of starvation and torture, 470 thousand were executed. Even more passed through the concentration camps - 18 million people from different countries, of which 11 million were killed. All kinds of things happened in the nightmare of the camps. Someone immediately submitted to fate, others, saving their own skin, were attached to serve the Nazis. But there were always those who, with minimal chances of success, nevertheless decided to escape.
Hijacked the plane
This was the 12th sortie of 19-year-old Nikolai Loshakov. The Yak-16 engine malfunctioned, the pilot turned towards Leningrad, which was defending their regiment in November 1942. In battle, he knocked out the Messerschmitt, but was caught in a vice by two enemy aircraft. Wounded in the arm and leg, Nikolai jumped out of the burning plane over our territory with a parachute, but a strong wind carried him towards the Fritzes.
The Germans began to persuade the captured pilot to go over to their side: they decided that the young man had been shot down in the first battle and out of fright would agree to serve in their aviation. On reflection, Loshakov agreed, but decided to himself - this is the best way to thwart the Nazis' plan to form a squadron of traitors. He was sent to an alternate airfield in the city of Ostrov. However, they were not allowed to approach the planes. But freedom of movement was not limited. Nikolai found an assistant - a captured infantryman Ivan Denisyuk, who worked as a tanker. He was able to get a German flight jacket and cap, and sketch the location of the instruments on the plane. On August 11, 1943, a cargo "storm" landed at the airfield, and the German pilot went to rest. Denisyuk quickly refueled the car, Loshakov discreetly changed into a German uniform, calmly approached the plane, started the engine and soared into the sky. When the Germans realized that they had been cheated,was late. The fugitives, having covered 300 kilometers, landed the plane in a potato field. This was the first escape from captivity in an aircraft captured from the enemy.
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Valuable cargo
Fighter pilot Mikhail Devyatayev was captured in July 1944. Interrogations, torture, and Devyatayev were sent to the Lodz prisoner of war camp, from where he and his comrades tried to escape a month later. They are caught, and now they - suicide bombers, in uniforms with appropriate stripes - are sent to the Sachsenhausen camp. Here, 27-year-old Mikhail is helped by a local hairdresser: he changes the suicide bomber's tag to the identification number of an ordinary prisoner who died a few days ago. Under the name of Grigory Nikitenko, Mikhail ends up in Peenemünde, a test site on the island of Usedom in the Baltic Sea, where V-missiles were tested. The prisoners were needed to perform unskilled work.
Mikhail DEVYATAEV stole the most important "Heinkel"
The thought of escaping constantly itched. Look how many planes around, and he is an ace pilot. But accomplices were needed - such that they would not surrender under any circumstances. Devyatayev slowly gathered the team and tried to get closer to the aircraft in order to examine the dashboards. They decided to flee in a Heinkel-111 bomber. On February 8, 1945, ten conspirators beat out their seats in the brigades that were supposed to clean the airfield. They killed the escort with a sharpener, pulled the covers off the plane, Devyatayev sat down at the wheel, and it turned out that the battery was … removed. But every minute counts. They rushed to search, found, brought, installed. The car started up. But she could not take off the first time: Mikhail did not fully understand the levers. I had to turn around for a new run. The Nazis were already racing along the strip. The pilot pointed the plane directly at them. Someone rushed to the anti-aircraft guns, others raised the fighter to intercept. But the fugitives managed to break away from the pursuit. Having risen above the clouds, we were guided by the sun. We flew to the front line, and then Soviet anti-aircraft guns began to fire at the fascist plane. I had to sit right in the field. Of course, they were not immediately believed that they were escapes from captivity, and not traitors who had gone over to the side of the enemy. But it soon became clear that of all the planes at the test site, the daredevils had hijacked the one on which the equipment was installed to launch the world's first V-2 ballistic missiles. So they not only saved themselves, but also delivered the most valuable cargo for our rocket scientists. Mikhail Devyatayev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union in 1957 for his contribution to Soviet rocketry. Unfortunately, of the ten who fled by the end of the war, only four survived.others were raising a fighter to intercept. But the fugitives managed to break away from the pursuit. Having risen above the clouds, we were guided by the sun. We flew to the front line, and then Soviet anti-aircraft guns began to fire at the fascist plane. I had to sit right in the field. Of course, they were not immediately believed that they were escapes from captivity, and not traitors who had gone over to the side of the enemy. But it soon became clear that of all the planes at the test site, the daredevils had hijacked the one on which the equipment was installed to launch the world's first V-2 ballistic missiles. So they not only saved themselves, but also delivered the most valuable cargo for our rocket scientists. Mikhail Devyatayev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union in 1957 for his contribution to Soviet rocketry. Unfortunately, of the ten who fled by the end of the war, only four survived.others were raising a fighter to intercept. But the fugitives managed to break away from the pursuit. Having risen above the clouds, we were guided by the sun. We flew to the front line, and then Soviet anti-aircraft guns began to fire at the fascist plane. I had to sit right in the field. Of course, they were not immediately believed that they were escapes from captivity, and not traitors who had gone over to the side of the enemy. But it soon became clear that of all the planes at the test site, the daredevils had hijacked the one on which the equipment was installed to launch the world's first V-2 ballistic missiles. So they not only saved themselves, but also delivered the most valuable cargo for our rocket scientists. Mikhail Devyatayev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union in 1957 for his contribution to Soviet rocketry. Unfortunately, of the ten who fled by the end of the war, only four survived. But the fugitives managed to break away from the pursuit. Having risen above the clouds, we were guided by the sun. We flew to the front line, and then Soviet anti-aircraft guns began to fire at the fascist plane. I had to sit right in the field. Of course, they were not immediately believed that they were escapes from captivity, and not traitors who had gone over to the side of the enemy. But it soon became clear that out of all the planes at the test site, the daredevils had hijacked the one on which the equipment was installed to launch the world's first V-2 ballistic missiles. So they not only saved themselves, but also delivered the most valuable cargo for our rocket scientists. Mikhail Devyatayev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union in 1957 for his contribution to Soviet rocketry. Unfortunately, of the ten who fled by the end of the war, only four survived. But the fugitives managed to break away from the pursuit. Having risen above the clouds, we were guided by the sun. We flew to the front line, and then Soviet anti-aircraft guns began to fire at the fascist plane. I had to sit right in the field. Of course, they were not immediately believed that they were escapes from captivity, and not traitors who had gone over to the side of the enemy. But it soon became clear that out of all the planes at the test site, the daredevils had hijacked the one on which the equipment was installed to launch the world's first V-2 ballistic missiles. So they not only saved themselves, but also delivered the most valuable cargo for our rocket scientists. Mikhail Devyatayev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union in 1957 for his contribution to Soviet rocketry. Unfortunately, of the ten who fled by the end of the war, only four survived.guided by the sun. We flew to the front line, and then Soviet anti-aircraft guns began to fire at the fascist plane. I had to sit right in the field. Of course, they were not immediately believed that they were escapes from captivity, and not traitors who had gone over to the side of the enemy. But it soon became clear that of all the planes at the test site, the daredevils had hijacked the one on which the equipment was installed to launch the world's first V-2 ballistic missiles. So they not only saved themselves, but also delivered the most valuable cargo for our rocket scientists. Mikhail Devyatayev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union in 1957 for his contribution to Soviet rocketry. Unfortunately, of the ten who fled by the end of the war, only four survived.guided by the sun. We flew to the front line, and then Soviet anti-aircraft guns began to fire at the fascist plane. I had to sit right in the field. Of course, they were not immediately believed that they were escapes from captivity, and not traitors who had gone over to the side of the enemy. But it soon became clear that of all the planes at the test site, the daredevils had hijacked the one on which the equipment was installed to launch the world's first V-2 ballistic missiles. So they not only saved themselves, but also delivered the most valuable cargo for our rocket scientists. Mikhail Devyatayev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union in 1957 for his contribution to Soviet rocketry. Unfortunately, of the ten who fled by the end of the war, only four survived.they were not immediately believed that they were escapes from captivity, and not traitors who had gone over to the side of the enemy. But it soon became clear that of all the planes at the test site, the daredevils had hijacked the one on which the equipment was installed to launch the world's first V-2 ballistic missiles. So they not only saved themselves, but also delivered the most valuable cargo for our rocket scientists. Mikhail Devyatayev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union in 1957 for his contribution to Soviet rocketry. Unfortunately, of the ten who fled by the end of the war, only four survived.they were not immediately believed that they were escapes from captivity, and not traitors who had gone over to the side of the enemy. But it soon became clear that of all the planes at the test site, the daredevils had hijacked the one on which the equipment was installed to launch the world's first V-2 ballistic missiles. So they not only saved themselves, but also delivered the most valuable cargo for our rocket scientists. Mikhail Devyatayev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union in 1957 for his contribution to Soviet rocketry. Unfortunately, of the ten who fled by the end of the war, only four survived.but also delivered the most valuable cargo for our rocket scientists. Mikhail Devyatayev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union in 1957 for his contribution to Soviet rocketry. Unfortunately, of the ten who fled by the end of the war, only four survived.but also delivered the most valuable cargo for our rocket scientists. Mikhail Devyatayev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union in 1957 for his contribution to Soviet rocketry. Unfortunately, of the ten who fled by the end of the war, only four survived.
Frenzied Tank
The Kummersdorf proving ground, 30 kilometers from Berlin, served as a test center for the Germans since the end of the 19th century. During the war, military equipment captured in battle was brought there for a thorough study. Captured tankers also ended up in Kummersdorf: to understand how a tank works in battle, a crew was needed.
The reverent attitude of Russians towards the children of enemies amazed the Germans (still from the film "Lark")
Another shooting at the end of 1943. Prisoners are promised freedom if they survived the trial. But our people know: there is no chance. In the tank, the commander orders to obey only him and directs the car to the observation tower, where the entire command of the fascists is located. An armored personnel carrier called a tank crushes its tracks at full speed and freely leaves the range. In a concentration camp that was located nearby, a tank demolishes the booth at the entrance and part of the fence - several prisoners escape. When the fuel runs out, the tankers will go to their own foot. Only the radio operator got alive, but he also died of exhaustion, having only managed to briefly tell his story to Lieutenant Colonel Pavlovtsev. He tried to find out the details from the Germans who lived near Kummersdorf. But no one wanted to speak, except the decrepit old man,confirmed the story of the "escaped" tank. The grandfather admitted that most of all they were struck by the episode with the children on the road. The tankers, who cared about every minute, stopped, drove the children away, and only then dashed on.
There are no witnesses to this incident, and its characters are nameless. But the story formed the basis for the 1964 film Lark.
The doomed riot
Polish Sobibor was an extermination camp. But the death factory also needed workers. Therefore, the strongest were kept alive - for the time being. In September 1943, another group of Soviet Jewish prisoners of war arrived. Among them, 34-year-old Alexander Pechersky, who was sent to the construction team. He organized an underground group and began planning an escape. At first, they wanted to dig an underground passage. But getting through the narrow hole for several dozen people would take a considerable time. It was decided to revolt.
The first victim was Untersturmführer Berg. He came to a local atelier to try on a suit, and ran into the rebel's ax. The head of the camp guard was next. They acted clearly: some liquidated the leadership of the camp, others cut the telephone wires, and still others collected captured weapons. The rioters tried to get to the arsenal, but they were stopped by machine-gun fire. It was decided to get out of the camp. Part died in the minefield that surrounded Sobibor. The rest disappeared into the forest, divided into groups and dispersed. Most of the fugitives, including Alexander Pechersky, went to the partisans. 53 prisoners managed to escape alive.
Each prisoner of war was given a metal token with the number and name of the camp. If the prisoner died, the token was broken in half, one part was handed over to the commandant's office, the second was buried in the grave
Hare hunting
The beginning of 1945. Austria, Mauthausen concentration camp. The Soviet pilot Nikolai Vlasov, Hero of the Soviet Union, who flew 220 sorties, was brought here. He was captured in 1943 when his plane was shot down and he was wounded. The Nazis even allowed him to wear the Gold Star. They wanted to get themselves an ace and called for the transfer to the army of the traitor - General Vlasov. And Nikolai tried to escape from all the camps where he happened to sit. And in Mauthausen he organized a resistance group.
Nikolay VLASOV
First, the headquarters, which consisted of several people, developed a plan. As weapons they will have cobblestones from the pavement, sticks, washstands broken into fragments. The guards on the towers are neutralized with jets of fire extinguishers. The current passed through the barbed wire will be short-circuited by wet blankets and clothes. We agreed with the rest. 75 people, exhausted to the point that they could not walk, promised to give their clothes: they no longer care, and the fugitives could freeze in the ten-degree frost. The date was set: on the night of January 29. But there was a traitor. Three days before the escape, the Nazis burned 25 people alive in the crematorium, among them all the organizers. But that didn't stop the others. On the night of February 3, the prisoners fulfilled their plan.
419 people escaped from the camp. 100 were killed by machine gun fire from the towers. The rest were hunted down. They raised everyone: the military, the gendarmerie, the people's militia, the Hitler Youth and local residents. They ordered not to take the bodies alive, to take the corpses to the backyard of the school in the village of Ried in der Riedmarkt. The dead were counted by crossing out sticks with chalk on the blackboard.
The operation was named "Hare Hunting in the Mühlviertel District."
- People were excited! They shot at everything that moved. The fugitives were found in houses, carts, stockyards, haystacks and cellars and killed on the spot. The snow was stained with blood, - then the local gendarme Johan Kohout wrote.
LANGTALERS (Maria and Yogan are sitting on the left), their children and saved Russians: in the second row, on the far left - Mikhail RYBCHINSKY, on the right - Nikolay TSEMKALO
However, nine sticks on the chalkboard were left uncrossed. Among the survivors were Mikhail Ryabchinsky and Nikolai Tsemkalo. They risked climbing into the hayloft of one of the houses: it was the only one that did not have a portrait of Hitler. Then Michael, who spoke German, went to the owners - Maria and Johann Langthaler. The devout peasants, whose four sons were at the front, decided to help the Russians. They thought to appease God so that their offspring would remain alive. They managed to shelter the fugitives from the SS search teams until the very surrender. The Langthaler sons did indeed return home. And Ryabchinsky and Tsemkalo kept in touch with their rescuers all their lives and even visited them in Austria in 1965.
Mysterious contagion
Vladimir Bespyatkin was 12. in 1941. His mother died four years before the start of the war, his father and older brothers were called to the front, and the boy stayed with his five-year-old sister Lida. They lived in Donbass, in a factory barrack, from hand to mouth. I had to beg bread from the invaders. Once Volodya was seized by policemen and taken to the building of the local orphanage. Begging to let him go, the boy let slip that his little sister was waiting at home. Then Lida was brought to the orphanage.
It didn't get any more satisfying in this institution. They were fed a brew of burnt grain from burnt fields. They were beaten for the slightest offense. They could, angry, throw out the window from the third floor or slash with a knife in the throat. And, as it turned out, they conducted medical experiments on children. The only one who tried to somehow help the prisoners was the head of Frau Betta, a German from the Volga region.
Detailed information about him was entered into the prisoner's card, up to the vaccinations
The worst thing for the children was getting into the isolation ward. They did not know what they were doing there, but no one returned from there. They just took away wooden boxes and burned them, and buried the ashes in the quarry. Once Volodya got into the isolation ward. There were two of them in the little room. The second boy was drained of blood, and he fell asleep, exhausted. And they scratched Volodya's body with a metal brush. After a few hours, he blistered and realized that he, too, would be taken to the quarry in a wooden box. We must run!
“As an adult, I recalled this situation many times and realized that Frau Betta saved me,” Vladimir Bespyatkin recalled. - At night, the nurse was already very deliberately snoring, and the office window was open. I wanted to call the boy whose blood was taken, but it turned out that he died. Then I quietly walked to the window and ran away. Crawling, dashing, hiding, I got to the Shchebenok station and knocked on the first house.
Irina Omelchenko, who sheltered the boy, became his second mother. After the liberation of Donbass, she took Lida as well. Periodic scabs bothered Vladimir all his life. The doctors could not understand how the Nazis infected him.
Sang and dug
The Stalag Luft III camp held officers - pilots from the Allies, mainly from the British and American armies. They lived in completely different conditions than the Soviet prisoners of war: they were well fed, allowed to play sports, and organize theatrical performances. This helped them to dig four deep tunnels: the sound of the works was drowned out by choral singing. There was even a trolley running in one of the passages and there were ventilation pipes made of milk cans. Digging tunnels 250 people. Each tunnel was given a name. "Harry" was the longest: 102 meters and passed at a depth of 8.5 meters. 76 people fled during the night. However, most were caught. 50 were shot, the rest were returned to the camp. Only three managed to survive and get to their own.