At the very beginning of the war, namely on December 15, 1941, one of the detachments of Colonel Chanchibadze, who was part of the 30th Army, liberated the village of Steblevo in a short fire battle. The Germans who occupied the settlement hastily retreated, abandoning their weapons and equipment. Having expelled the enemy from the territories, by the evening, the division of the Soviet army set off further. The villagers were left alone again, but now they knew that if the invaders returned, they would not spare anyone.
The decision came into the heads of two workers of the state farm, pupils of the Teryaevsky orphanage, Volodya Ovsyanikov and Sasha Kryltsov. They decided that a squad should be organized to protect the village. The members of the defense detachment, in addition to older brothers in arms, were teenagers aged 11 to 16 years. The leadership of the detachment, as well as its preparation to repel an enemy attack, was taken up by Ivan Volodin, who took part in the war with Finland. He taught his wards the guys how to shoot guns and aim fire.
The Germans returned on December 16.
The young partisans were ready to face the enemy. Early in the morning, Sasha Krylov, who was sitting in ambush, heard the crunch of branches, and a little later a German soldier on a motorcycle appeared on the road in front of him. Sasha fired several shots. The man in military uniform turned the car around and went back. In the afternoon, another group of fascists headed towards the village, however, they were met with fire. Absolutely everyone was shooting, and it seemed that the settlement was well guarded. The enemy began to move back.
However, the Germans did not surrender and attempts to capture the village, where the guns and equipment remained, continued throughout the day and the next morning. Only by noon did the sorties cease. Apparently the enemy decided that the soldiers of the Soviet Army were stationed in the village.
In the afternoon of December 17, a subdivision of the Soviet Army did arrive at Steblevo. The guys were worn out by the need to fight incessantly, but there was undisguised joy on their faces. The command expressed gratitude to the partisans for such decisive actions, thanks to which not a single fascist was able to penetrate the village. The trophies left by the Germans also became very useful.
This is how a group of children glorified their village near Moscow, which went down in history as the place of the heroic deeds of the “Volokolamsk boys”.
Anna Ponomareva
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