Even from school textbooks, we all know about the famous feat of 28 Panfilov's men, who at one time, under the command of Major General I. V. Panfilov, at the cost of his own life, stopped the Nazis on the outskirts of Moscow. The modern views of historians on the legendary battle at Dubosekovo present the situation in a completely different light. Some of them even question the official version of the battle.
On November 16, 41, the personnel of the 4th company held the defense on the territory of Dubosekovo. A detachment of 28 people, led by political instructor V. Klochkov, defeated the Nazis in a heavy battle, destroying about 18 enemy tanks.
After the war, all the "Panfilovs" included in the list of military instructors posthumously received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
The most interesting thing began in the post-war years. Some of the posthumously awarded soldiers were alive. In 1947, information surfaced that two participants in the battle passed the camps. To sort out all this, the prosecutor's office began checking all the circumstances of the battle. Indeed, not everyone died in the battle at Dubosekovo, as official reports stated.
The version that there was no battle as such was publicly voiced by many historians. Sergei Mironenko, who at that time was in charge of the state archive, officially stated that the whole story about the brave Panfilov's men is just a myth.
On the basis of declassified archives, some historians have concluded that the famous feat was a fiction of the journalist of "Krasnaya Zvezda" Alexander Krivitsky, who was the first to report the fight.
Once on the front line, he tried to write an essay about the events taking place. The whole story was recorded from the words of the current division commissar, who told about the battle in great detail. The battle was led by the 4th company, which consisted of soldiers in the number of over 120 people, and not 28 heroes, as was later stated in the print edition. Many facts are distorted. But there really was a fight.
A little later, during interrogation in the prosecutor's office, Krivitsky, who published the story of the feat, admitted that the information was written based on the stories of soldiers. Several years later, during the re-investigation, Krivitsky said that he was forced to recognize his article as fiction under the threat of arrest.
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Having studied all the materials, historians came to the conclusion that there was a battle after all. Based on archival documents, it was established that not only Russians were in the division that fought at Dubosekovo. The main part was represented by Uzbeks, Kazakhs and Kyrgyz. In this regard, by the way: It was the recorded words of V. Klochkov that aroused most doubts that the journalist was reliable in his story: “Russia is great, but there is nowhere to retreat - Moscow is behind!”. Questions began to arise both from fellow journalists and from the military prosecutor's office. Alexander Krivitsky admitted that there is also fiction in his essay: “As for the sensations and actions of 28 heroes, this is my literary speculation”.
In reality, the company was very poorly equipped. But the fighters tried with all their might to withstand. All the events of this legendary battle were subsequently described by the historian B. Sokolov, recreating the real picture of the battle.
Based on the explanations of the witnesses of the battle and hundreds of declassified archives, historians still managed to establish the truth - there really was a battle, and there was a feat. Only the fact of the existence of these very 28 Panfilovites remained a big question.