I couldn't imagine myself on a cart begging at a train station.

A. Maresyev

Alexei Maresyev was born in the Volga city of Kamyshin into a working-class family and, at the end of the seven-year period, began working as a turner at one of the local factories. But soon, together with other young people, he went to the Komsomol construction site to build in the Far East new town— Komsomolsk-on-Amur. There Maresyev began to study at the flying club. After that, almost his entire life became connected with aviation.

In 1937, following the Komsomol call, Alexei joined the Red Army and was sent to the Bataysk military aviation school, and in 1940, after completing his studies, he began to serve in a fighter regiment, where he went from pilot to navigator.

Of course, from the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War, Maresyev was at the front. He constantly made sorties and by the end of 1941 he already had four downed enemy aircraft on his personal account. In March 1942, during heavy fighting in the area of ​​​​the Demyansk bridgehead, located in the Novgorod region, Maresyev's plane was shot down, and he himself was wounded. At the cost of incredible efforts, he managed to land behind enemy lines, and then for 18 days, overcoming incredible difficulties, made his way to the front line. When the pilot reached the front line, the locals helped him take cover, and at the first opportunity reported him to the command.

Pilot friends took Maresyev out and got him sent to Moscow to the main military hospital. The brave pilot underwent several operations, but they could not save his legs, as he developed gas gangrene. Doctors naturally warned him that he would never be able to fly again. However, Maresyev did not accept the verdict and began training according to his own system. He managed not only to master prostheses, but also to prove that he could freely use them.

It is difficult to say when and under what circumstances Maresyev made a firm decision to return to duty. The book "The Tale of a Real Man" by Boris Polevoy and the film of the same name tells about a certain commissar who lay in the ward next to A. Maresyev and awakened in him a thirst for life and a desire to fly, citing the act of another wounded pilot during the First World War as an example - Karpovich. Was there really such a pilot?

None of the aviation historians heard about the pilot Karpovich, but Alexander Prokofiev-Seversky, an outstanding "ace" of the First World War, is well known. His foot was amputated, but he again began to fly by the personal permission of Nicholas II. The name of Prokofiev-Seversky was banned in Soviet Russia, since after October 1917 he emigrated to America. There he continued to fly, became an aircraft designer. At the factories of Seversky, fighters were created that were in service with the US Army. During World War II, Seversky advised White House on aviation strategy, for which he received the prestigious award from President Truman. But in 1946, when the story about Maresyev appeared, the emigrant could not become an example for the Soviet pilot for political reasons. Be that as it may, Alexey decided to return to aviation.

His first prostheses were made according to a project developed by N.I. Pirogov for disabled soldiers of the tsarist army. Over time, he mastered this simple leather construction very well. What efforts it cost and what pain it was necessary to go through, only Maresyev himself knew.

In order to give an objective assessment of the achievements of the pilot, the creators of the documentary about Maresyev turned to a modern expert - the chief physician of the Moscow Prosthetic and Orthopedic Center Yu.V. Kim. He said: “It is still a big secret for us today how a person without two limbs could fly and participate in hostilities. After all, being on a prosthesis, and even more so on Two, he seems to "float in the air", he needs to "walk with his head", you need to see where he steps. And to control the plane, to adjust the pedals, to put pressure on them with a certain effort ... For me personally, this is a big mystery. Maresyev found the strength to overcome pain and other obstacles. But many of the wounded with much less physical injuries refused to fight Maresyev himself said in an interview: “I could not imagine myself on a cart begging at the station”

In June 1943, the pilot obtained permission to return to duty, and he was again sent to the fighter regiment. According to the memoirs of Lieutenant Colonel S.F. Petrov, with whom A. Maresyev flew in a pair and whom he saved in one of the air battles, “his legs had not yet fully healed and were bleeding. We realized that they were very worried about him, but he didn’t show anyone.”

Colonel A.M. Chislov, who asked to enlist Maresyev in his squadron, the regiment commander said: “If you want to mess with a disabled person, write that you take responsibility for his life. If anything happens, I will send you to a penal battalion.” In the same year, Maresiev and Chislov received the title of Hero Soviet Union. The award sheet says that in one of the battles he saved the lives of two pilots and destroyed two German fighters. Continuing to fly, Maresyev shot down seven more enemy aircraft. In total, he made 86 sorties. For these merits in 1944 he was sent to the Office of Higher educational institutions Air Force, and after the war to the Higher Party School and graduate school of the Academy of Social Sciences under the Central Committee of the CPSU. Soon the pilot got married; his son Victor was born.

From the story of Viktor Maresyev

After the war, my father was offered to enter either the Academy of the General Staff or the Higher Party School. He replied: “I believe that legless generals are not needed in peacetime. In wartime, I am ready to be in the ranks again and defend the Motherland.

The first information about the feat of Maresyev appeared in 1943, when the war correspondent of Pravda, the writer B Polevoy, met with him. Having written down the story of the pilot, he published a short essay, where he called his hero Alexei Meresyev. In numerous responses, readers asked to tell in more detail about the life and exploits of this amazing person. This is how "The Tale of a Real Man" appeared. Then the writer created a screenplay based on this story, according to which a film was made, which was released in 1948. main role the actor P. Kadochnikov played in it. In 1954, Polevoy wrote a play under the same name, which was immediately staged at the Soviet Army Theater in Moscow, and then not only in theaters of the Soviet Union, but also in many countries of the world. The image of a patriot who overcame incredible obstacles and nevertheless returned to duty became one of the symbols of the heroism of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War.

The peaceful life of Alexei Maresyev is connected with the Soviet Committee of War Veterans, which he headed since 1983. In 2001, the legendary pilot died. A. Maresyev was not the only pilot who returned to service after amputation of his legs and fought on an equal footing with everyone. The creators of the documentary called the following names of the Heroes of the Soviet Union: Guards Captain G.P. Kuzmin, Major L.G. Belousov, Guard Lieutenant Colonel A.I. Grichenko, Guard Captain Z.A. Sorokin, Senior Lieutenant I.M. Kiselev, Guard Lieutenant Colonel I.S. Lyubimov, Senior Lieutenant I.A. Malikov and an English pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Douglas Bader.

Concluding the story about the heroes of World War II, one should name another pilot who became a Hero of Russia and returned to aviation after being seriously wounded in 1984 in Afghanistan. This is Colonel Sergei Alexandrovich Sokolov, who in 2005 received the highest category of "sniper pilot". Per last years Sokolov mastered six types of aviation equipment. According to his friends, for the last 20 years the pilot has been doing everything "through I can't."

He was awarded the Star of the Hero of Russia for his participation in 1995 in an international expedition to the North Pole. In the materials of the documentary film "Return to the Sky" (2005) from L. Krivtsova's project "Get up and go" there is a story about the reaction of relatives to the pilot's act. The wife says: “When you see how Sergey at the North Pole holds in the background Russian flag two certificates - a disabled person and an officer - you feel pride in the officers and your homeland "

Maresyev Alexey Petrovich was born on May 7, 1916 on the Verevkin farm, in the former Saratov province. This is not far from the town of Kamyshin, which is listed as the birthplace of Hero of the Soviet Union Maresyev according to the official version. Alexey was left without a father in early childhood. Ekaterina Nikitichna Maresyeva raised him and her two other sons herself. She worked as a cleaner. For obvious reasons, the family was quite poor.

After school and college, Alexey went to work at a timber processing plant. Even then, he passionately dreamed of becoming a pilot. But they did not want to take him to the flight school because of rheumatism (as a child, Maresyev suffered from malaria, which gave complications). In 1934, in the direction of the Komsomol, Alexei went to build the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur. There he enrolled in a local flying club. In 1937 he was called up for service in the Red Army.

When the dream began to come true

During the service, Maresyev got the opportunity to graduate from a flight school in Chita. Then he studied at the aviation school in Bataysk. Finally, he could become a pilot. At that moment, the war began. Maresyev was immediately sent to the front. He served in the southwest, in the area of ​​the city of Krivoy Rog. It was also where he made his first combat flight. Before being transferred to the North-Western Front in 1942, the young pilot had already managed to shoot down 4 Nazi aircraft.

On the new sector of the front, Maressier, during Operation Demyansk Cauldron to cover bombers in a battle with the Germans, his plane was shot down, and Alexei himself was seriously wounded. Maresyev had to get to his own for almost 18 days, until local peasants found him near the village of Plav.

The wound could put an end to the work of a lifetime

After being wounded on April 5, Alexei had to wait for help for almost a month. He was sent to Moscow only at the beginning of May. As a result, the wounded developed gangrene and severe blood poisoning. The pilot's life literally hung in the balance. Moscow professors had to amputate both legs, which saved Alexei's life. But after such an operation, he could safely put an end to his dream of aviation.

Alexei Maresyev wanted to fly too passionately to give up so easily. As soon as it passed strong pain after the amputation, he immediately began to train. This heroic man set himself the goal of learning how to use prostheses so well that he could again take to the air in a combat fighter. And he succeeded.

The feat of the pilot

Already in the first months of 1943, Maresyev got to his feet and was trained at an elementary flight school in the village of Ibresi (Chuvashia). There he learned to use prosthetic limbs while flying an airplane. The command did not want to give the pilot combat missions. However, the situation at the front was so difficult that there was simply no other way out. Already in July, Alexey returned to duty again.

In total, he accounted for almost 90 sorties and 11 destroyed Wehrmacht fighters. He shot down 7 of them while already on prostheses. In August, Maresyev was awarded the Gold Star and the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The fame of this strong-willed and courageous man began to thunder far beyond the borders of his native regiment. It was then, among other correspondents, that Polevoy B.N., the author of the future novel about the hero, The Tale of a Real Man, met him. [FROM

In the book, the name of the real pilot was only slightly changed (to Meresyev). Thanks to Polevoy, his image became a textbook. After the war, Alexei Maresyev was invited to meetings with young people. He flew for some time, then went in for sports and even set personal records. Was married. Married to Galina Viktorovna Maresyeva, they had 2 sons. Alexei Petrovich died in 2001 from a heart attack right on the eve of a concert dedicated to him.

One hundred years ago, on May 20, 1916, Alexey Petrovich Maresyev, one of the most outstanding fighter pilots in the history of aviation, was born. His merits do not lie in the account of downed enemy aircraft, but above all in high moral and strong-willed qualities and the desire to return to the air after a severe accident, no matter what.

Maresyev was born in the Volga city of Kamyshin. When the boy was barely three years old, his father died, and his mother was left alone with three children. After graduating from school, Alexei became a metal turner at a school at a woodworking plant. In 1934, the young man was sent to build distant Komsomolsk-on-Amur. Despite rheumatism (a consequence of a difficult childhood) and malaria, after work he goes to the flying club, is interested in parachuting - and wins diseases.

Alexey Maresiev. 3 row 4 right
http://voel.ru/

In 1937, Maresyev was drafted into the army. First, he serves in the air border detachment on Sakhalin, in the village of Kirovskoye, and then goes to the Anatoly Serov Bataysk Aviation School. Shortly before the war, Maresyev graduated from the school and received the rank of junior lieutenant.

War

According to award documents, Maresyev started the war on June 28 (according to other sources - August 7), 1941 - on the Southwestern Front, defending Krivoy Rog. The pilot completed the first sortie on August 23. Maresyev, fighting under the command of Captain Nikolai Ivanovich Baranov on the I-16, earned the first thanks in the reports. Then, from the end of March 1942, he fought on the North-Western Front, in the 580th Fighter Aviation Regiment, already on the Yak-1. In February 1942, the troops of the North-Western and Kalinin Fronts closed the Demyansk Cauldron. German aviation began to actively supply those surrounded by air, and Soviet pilots tried their best to prevent this. Three downed Ju 52 transport aircraft were recorded on the flight commander Alexei Maresyev - the first was destroyed on April 1, two more on April 5, 1942 (as in the documents - Maresyev was shot down on April 4, but on the lists of missing persons it appears on April 5).

Probably, this particular battle is described by Boris Polev in "The Tale of a Real Man":

“This is where Alexei made a mistake. Instead of strictly guarding the air over the attack area, he, as the pilots say, was tempted by easy game. Leaving the car in a dive, he rushed like a stone at the heavy and slow "cart carrier" that had just taken off the ground, with pleasure heated its quadrangular motley body made of corrugated duralumin with several long bursts. Confident in himself, he did not even watch the enemy poke into the ground. On the other side of the airfield, another Junkers took off into the air. Alexei ran after him. Attacked - and unsuccessfully. Its fire trails slid over the slowly climbing machine. He turned sharply, attacked again, missed again, again overtook his victim and dumped him somewhere off to the side above the forest, furiously driving several long bursts from all the onboard weapons into his wide cigar-shaped body. Having laid down the Junkers and given two victorious laps at the place where a black pillar rose above the green, disheveled sea of ​​an endless forest, Alexei turned the plane back to the German airfield.

Amazing accuracy for a fiction book! Boris Polevoy throughout the war strove for maximum accuracy in military reporting - and here, too, he did not betray himself. It is no less typical for Polevoy that a won air battle is described without the slightest pathos, and can even be assessed as a mistake (the pilot will be left without ammunition, and he will be shot down). What it cost with frostbitten legs, almost without food, for eighteen days to wander through the dense forest, hobble, crawl to your own - only Maresyev himself knows. Finally, he is picked up by the inhabitants of the burned village of Plav.

The book mentions the squadron commander, Hero of the Soviet Union Andrey Degtyarenko:

“Aleksey opened his eyes, but it seemed to him that he was continuing to sleep and in a dream he saw this wide, high-cheeked, rough, as if made by a carpenter in black, but not wiped with either sandpaper or glass, the good-natured angular face of a friend with a crimson scar on his forehead, with bright eyes , pubescent with the same light and colorless, pig - as Andrei's enemies said - eyelashes. Blue eyes peered in bewilderment into the smoky twilight.

Andrei Nikolaevich Dekhtyarenko served in the Red Army since 1931, in 1939 he fought at Khalkhin Gol, where he earned the Order of the Red Banner. In the spring of 1942, Dekhtyarenko commanded the 2nd squadron of the 580th air regiment, part of the 6th Attack Air Group of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command. For three sorties, nine Ju 52s were recorded at Dekhtyarenko's account - two of them on the ground. The first of these sorties took place on 1 April 1942. In the area of ​​the Istoshino airfield near Demyansk, Dekhtyarenko was the first to notice a group of 18 Ju 52s, attacked and destroyed three aircraft. For this fight, Dekhtyarenko received another Order of the Red Banner. On April 4, he destroyed two more aircraft on the ground.

Andrey Dekhtyarenko
http://soviet-aces-1936–53.ru/

On April 8, the Dekhtyarenko troika met about 30 Ju 52s at the same airfield. As a result of the battle, nine transport workers were declared shot down, four of them - by the group commander. The link completely used up the ammunition, in the tanks after landing there were literally 20 liters of fuel each. April 21 Dekhtyarenko was awarded the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union. On May 8, Dekhtyarenko destroyed a He 111 bomber and then a Bf 109 fighter with rockets and bursts of his Yak-1, and then a Bf 109 fighter. From March 31 to May 8, his squadron made 220 sorties, shot down 31 German aircraft in air battles and destroyed 10 more on the ground.

It was Dekhtyarenko who took Maresyev out of the wilderness on the U-2 - both in the book and in life. On July 11, 1942, Dekhtyarenko did not return from a combat mission ...

Pilot without legs

With indescribable efforts, after the amputation of both legs, Maresyev learned not only to walk on prostheses, but also to run and even dance. According to the memoirs of aircraft engineer Pivkin, Maresyev returned to the fighters to pay off the Germans.

After treatment and training, Alexei was sent to the 63rd Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment under the command of Hero of the Soviet Union Nikolai Pavlovich Ivanov: “The experienced ace himself, he understood from the sounds rushing in the ether that the battle was hot, that the enemy was strong and stubborn and did not want to give in to the sky.” For the battles to destroy the Demyansk group, Ivanov was awarded the "Red Banner", and in March 1943 he was presented to the Order of Alexander Nevsky. We can say that the regiment in absentia settled scores for Maresyev and other downed pilots.

The squadron, where Maresyev will have to fight, was commanded by Alexander Mikhailovich Chislov (in the book - Cheslov). He fought exceptionally competently, from the first days to the end of the war, made 342 sorties, personally shot down 21 aircraft and two in the group, while he was never wounded. He was awarded two Orders of Lenin, the Order of Alexander Nevsky and two Orders of the Red Banner. On February 23, 1945, Chislov's La-7 was shot down, and the pilot himself was wounded, but was able to fly to his airfield and land.

Chislov and Maresyev
http://soviet-aces-1936–53.ru/

Since July 10, 1943, Maresyev has been fighting again. He was taken care of for a long time, giving only to cover the airfield. Chislov was one of the first to go into battle together with Maresyev. According to Maresiev, “... perhaps, in this battle, I learned from Alexander how to fight ... On the ground, Alexander told me - you won’t get lost in a pair with you”. Chislov later recalled: “It was difficult ... But for me, for example, the main thing is that I trained a pilot who flew without legs”.

In the battles over the Kursk Bulge, in the Oryol direction, Maresyev made seven sorties on the La-5, personally shot down three German aircraft. So, on July 20, 1943, in an unequal air battle, Maresyev saved the lives of two pilots (one of whom was the commander of a neighboring air regiment) - and this is also reflected by Polev. In that battle, Maresyev destroyed two fighters:

“An unfamiliar hoarse bass rumbled at the ear:

- Well, thank you, senior lieutenant! Cool hit, appreciate it, saved me. Yes. I walked him to the very ground and saw how he poked ... Do you drink vodka? Come to my CP, follow me a liter. Thank you, I press five. Take action."

Three vehicles shot down by Maresyev were confirmed by the crews of other aircraft and ground units of the 63rd Army. The title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded to Maresyev and Chislov by one decree, on August 24, 1943. Having learned about the battles of the Guards Regiment, which shot down 47 aircraft in nine days, losing only five of his own and three pilots, Pravda's military commander Boris Polevoy flew to his location.

Alexey Maresyev at the plane
http://www.airaces.narod.ru/

“The chief of staff, completely hoarse, with eyes red like a rabbit’s from insomnia, at first snapped, and then, having examined my shoulder straps, he caught himself, uttered some crumpled apologies and declared:

- Alyosha Maresyev will return from the battle. He just shot down his second plane today. Step up to him. He is at nine. The “nine” will sit down, you dive right on it.

The "nine" sat down, taxied to its caponier at the edge of the forest, and I "dived" on a young stocky guy who, with some special bearish grace, got out of the plane. He could hardly stand on his feet. Still: six fights, two downed opponents.

Later, after dinner, Maresyev invited the correspondent to spend the night in his dugout - the fighter's neighbor did not return from a combat mission.

“The pilot went outside, and it was heard how he was noisily brushing his teeth, pouring himself cold water, quacking, snorting at the whole forest. He returned cheerful and fresh with drops of water on his eyebrows and hair, lowered the wick in the lamp and began to undress. Something hit the floor hard. I looked around and saw something that I didn't believe myself. He left his feet on the floor. Legless pilot! Fighter pilot! A pilot who just today made seven sorties and shot down two planes! It seemed absolutely incredible.

But his legs, more precisely, prosthetic legs, deftly shod in military-style boots, lay on the floor. Their lower ends protruded from under the bed and looked like the legs of a person hiding there. At that moment, my eyes must have been very puzzled, because the owner, looking at me, asked with a sly, contented smile:

Haven't you noticed before?

It didn't even cross my mind.

That's good! Well, thank you! I'm just surprised no one told you. We have as many aces in our regiment as there are ringers. How did they miss a new person, and even from Pravda, and not boast of such a curiosity? This is because everyone is so exhausted today ... "

In response to Polevoy's words that the history of aviation does not know a pilot who fought on a fighter without legs, Maresyev showed him a worn clipping from an old magazine about a pilot who fought on the Farman without a foot. The episode with Prokofiev-Seversky (a legless pilot, future aviation consultant to President Roosevelt) was also included in the book, and later in the film. Perhaps Maresyev read an article about Yuri Gilsher, who also lost his leg, continued to fly and died in battle in the summer of 1917. Apparently, Polevoy simply could not know about the British fighter pilot Douglas Bader, who lost his legs before the war and was in German captivity at that moment.

From the page of the magazine, the unfamiliar face of a young officer with a small mustache, twisted with an "awl", with a white cockade on a cap pulled down to his very ear, looked at Alexei.
http://airaces.narod.ru/

Polevoy was not allowed to publish an essay about a legless pilot immediately, so as not to feed enemy propaganda. To return to the history of Maresyev Polevoy could only after the war, when much had already been lost. Could not even find the interlocutor: “Unable to strictly adhere to the facts here, I slightly changed the hero’s surname and gave new names to those who accompanied him, who helped him on the difficult path of his feat. Let them not be offended by me if they recognize themselves in this story.. An example of the honesty of a military journalist and writer!

In total, during the war, Maresyev made 86 sorties, 11 aircraft were recorded on him as shot down (according to Polevoy, two in the Baltic states).

After the war

In 1946, Polevoy's book "The Tale of a Real Man" was published, and in 1948 - the film of the same name. The consultant was the famous fighter pilot, Air Marshal Yevgeny Yakovlevich Savitsky.

According to the diaries of Pavel Kadochnikov, who played Maresyev in the movie, the scene where Maresyev stands on a chair in front of the medical board and then jumps off it is not invented. Maresiev and Kadochnikov were very worried at the first meeting. Finally, Maresyev asked: “You are probably most interested in how I managed to overcome ...” - “Now he will say“ black forest area ”, thought Kadochnikov. “... overcome the medical commission and prove that I am physically healthy man», - finished Maresyev. And, “softly and freely,” standing on a chair, he told how he passed it.

In the episode with the bear, a real bear from the zoo, Maryam, was filmed:

“Kadochnikov is lying. He feels the close breath of the beast on his face. He, like Meresyev, madly wants to jump up, but by an enormous effort of will he restrains himself and lies motionless, as if dead. After sniffing the man's face, Maryam proceeds to examine his jacket, and everyone breathes a sigh of relief. Maryam sniffs the jacket, it smells of something very tasty; the she-bear knows perfectly well what to do in order to get a tasty morsel. After all, more than once Kadochnikov deliberately hid something tasty in his pocket and taught Maryam how to get it. With huge, strong claws, the she-bear tears the jacket, takes out a hidden piece and leaves. She leaves because Galina Grigorievna waves her hands and pours a whole bag of sugar on the ground. Maryam rushes to the sugar. Filming is over."

Director Stolper did not tolerate the slightest falsehood. For a long time he could not achieve the impression that the actor was walking with shattered legs. After long tests, Kadochnikov poured pine cones into high fur boots and put them on his bare feet. At the end of filming, even Maresyev could not stand it, saying: “I have been crawling for eighteen days and almost all the time in a semi-conscious state, and he has been crawling in full consciousness here in the forest for more than three months.”

Maresyev on the set of the film. RGAKFD

After the war, Maresyev got married, worked for decades in the Soviet Committee of War Veterans. He went in for gymnastics, rode a bicycle in the summer, skied and skated in the winter. Once he was part of the Soviet delegation to the United States. The press release said that among the participants will be the author and hero of the book "The Tale of a Real Man." Polevoi, with aggravated rheumatism, received after a concussion in Stalingrad, awkwardly sideways descended from the ladder, and Maresyev easily fled to the ground. As a result, for some time in the photo of Polevoy they signed as Maresyev, and Maresyev as Polevoy. It was only at the laying of flowers at Arlington Cemetery that the confusion cleared up.

Hero of the Soviet Union Alexei Petrovich Maresyev died on May 18, 2001, right during a gala evening dedicated to his 85th birthday ...

Sources and literature:

1. Site materials http://podvignaroda.mil.ru
2. Site materials https://pamyat-naroda.ru
3. Site materials http://www.airaces.narod.ru
4. Anokhin V. A., Bykov M. Yu. All Stalin's fighter regiments. The first complete encyclopedia. - Moscow: Yauza-press, 2014
5. Brickhill Paul. Legless ace. - M.: AST, 2003
6. Bykov M. Yu. Aces of the Great Patriotic War. The most productive pilots 1941-1945 / Ed. A. B. Vasil'eva. - M.: YAUZA, EKSMO, 2007.
7. Field Boris. These four years. From the notes of a war correspondent. Volume I - M., Young Guard, 1978

On April 4, 1942, the plane of Alexei Maresyev was shot down in an air battle. For eighteen days, the pilot fought for his life: through forests and swamps, he crawled his way to the Soviet troops and, despite all the difficulties, got to his own. After being seriously wounded, Alexei Petrovich lost both legs, but continued combat flights and hit enemy aircraft. About it amazing person and there will be talk.

On the edge of death. The feat of the pilot Maresyev

From childhood, Alexey dreamed of becoming a pilot, but for health reasons he was not accepted into the flight school. At the age of 21, he was drafted into the army and in 1938 a dream came true - Maresyev was sent to the 30th Chita School of Military Pilots. Later the war started.

Maresyev's first sortie took place on August 23, 1941 near the city of Krivoy Rog. And on April 5, a fatal incident occurred - during a military operation, his plane was shot down. Maresyev managed to reach the plane to his territory across the front line, and 4 km north of the village of Rabezh, while trying to make an emergency landing in the forest, he fell from a height of 30 meters. When Alexei tried to get up, he felt a wild pain, realized that both legs were broken. Then, gathering strength and will, he crawled towards his own.

Maresiev was well equipped: fur overalls, high boots and a helmet gave a chance to survive in the winter forest. But he had no idea how long his journey would be. The next day my legs were so swollen that it became impossible to walk. I had to crawl. Instead of water, he ate snow, ate bark, cones and moss. In total, the pilot spent 18 days in the snowy forest. Toward the end of the wanderings, thawed patches appeared, and Alexey caught a lizard. She left her tail to him, and the poor fellow tried to eat it, but the feeling of disgust turned out to be stronger than hunger ... Maresyev spent the night in ravines, the bottom of which he lined with spruce groves, and he took cover with it.

“I wet my palm, put it on a bunch of anthills, insects stick to it, I lick them off and eat them” A.P. Maresiev

For eighteen days, the pilot crawled through the forests and swamps to the people to the east, orienting himself by the sun. It was discovered by the inhabitants of the village of Plav in the Valdai region. Seryozha Malin and Sasha Vikhrov. Sasha's father drove Alexei to his house in a cart. There he spent another week, then the pilot was sent to a Moscow hospital.
Fractured limbs, frostbite. A cast cannot be applied because gangrene has set in, and frostbite cannot be treated because the bone is shattered. I had to amputate. He returned to the "service" a year later - in July 1943.

Alexey Maresyev after the hospital

While still in the hospital, Alexey Maresyev began to train, preparing to fly with prostheses. Training continued at the sanatorium, where he was sent in September 1942. At the beginning of 1943, he passed a medical examination and was sent to the Ibresinsky flight school (Chuvash ASSR).

In February 1943 he made the first test flight after being wounded. Got sent to the front. In June 1943 he arrived in the 63rd Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment. The regiment commander did not let Alexei go on combat missions, since the situation in the sky the day before Battle of Kursk was extremely stressful. Alexey was worried. The squadron commander A. M. Chislov sympathized with him and took him with him on a sortie. After several successful sorties paired with Numerical, Maresyev's confidence increased.

On July 20, 1943, during an air battle with superior enemy forces, Alexei Maresyev saved the lives of two Soviet pilots and shot down two enemy Fw.190 fighters at once, covering the Ju.87 bombers. The combat glory of Maresyev spread throughout the 15th Air Army and along the entire front. Correspondents frequented the regiment, among them was the future author of the book "The Tale of a Real Man" Boris Polevoy.

On August 24, 1943, for saving the lives of two pilots and shooting down two German fighters, Senior Lieutenant A.P. Maresyev, deputy squadron commander of the 63rd Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment of the 3rd Guards Fighter Aviation Division of the 1st Guards Fighter Aviation Corps of the 15th Air Force army, awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.

In 1944, A. Maresyev agreed to become a pilot inspector and move from a combat regiment to the management of the Air Force universities. In total, during the war he made 86 sorties, shot down 10 enemy aircraft: three (according to other sources - four) before being wounded and seven after.

“Life, of course, rubbed me. But, if you start all over again, I would become a pilot again. Until now, I can not remember the sky without special, noble feelings. I have the happiest moments of my life associated with airplanes. When after the hospital they wrote on my card: “Good for all types of aviation”, I felt at the pinnacle of happiness” A.P. Maresiev

After the war, Maresyev was not allowed to fly. And he took up his education. Graduated from the Higher School of Education, the Academy of Social Sciences. He defended his thesis in history. He was demobilized from the war as a captain, in peacetime he reached the rank of colonel

Rules of life from the hero Maresyev

"Five Qualities, necessary for a person in order to grow up real: willpower, courage, perseverance, courage, ability to overcome difficulties. All of them are interconnected, but not one can be singled out, not one can be removed” A.P. Maresyev

Photo by Alexei Petrovich Maresyev: military and post-war photos, photos with his family

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Documentary film of the channel "History" "Alexey Maresyev. The fate of a real person

Boris Polevoy's book "The Tale of a Real Man"

Boris Polevoy's book "The Tale of a Real Man" was allowed to be published only after the war. They say that our propagandists were afraid that the Germans would think that in Soviet army bad things. Here, they say, the disabled are already being sent to fight.
Alexei Petrovich himself learned about the appearance of the book by hearing excerpts on the radio. He called Pravda, asked for Polevoy's phone number, and was finally able to meet with the author.
Polevoi really didn't show me the book before it hit the stores. When the story was printed, they gave me a copy. But I never read it. Tried several times. But everything somehow ... In principle, Polevoy wrote everything correctly. True, he came up with an affair that I allegedly had with my girlfriend Olga. Although I like the image of a Soviet girl he created.

Interesting facts about the pilot Maresyev

• After the plane crashed, a bear approached the exhausted pilot. Curious about the forest guest, the beast hit Maresyev with his paw, ripping open his overalls. Having somehow found the pistol, Aleksey fired the entire clip into the clubfoot. Fortunately, the cartridge was enough: the bear roared and collapsed dead. To kill the clubfoot, the pilot had to use up all the cartridges, he shot almost point blank.
• In the hospital, barely looking at the patient with gangrene, the doctor on duty snapped: "Not a tenant." All night the dying pilot lay on a gurney near the morgue. Saved only by the fact that the chief physician was passing by. He examined the patient's legs and ordered: "Urgently to the operating room!"

Maresyev Alexey Petrovich - short biography for kids. Maresyev A.P. - legendary Soviet pilot, participant of the Great patriotic war, Hero of the USSR, winner of many Soviet and foreign awards.

Brief biography of Maresyev before the start of the war

Maresyev A.P. was born in 1916. He lost his father early. The mother raised three children alone. After graduating from school, Maresyev learned the profession of a turner and worked at a sawmill. A young man from childhood dreamed of becoming a pilot, which was a common desire among the youth of that time. However, due to malaria suffered in childhood and the rheumatism that followed it, Maresyev was refused admission to the flight school. The young man did not give up, went in for physical education and tried to take care of his health.
The transfer to the construction of Komsomolsk-on-Amur was received with hostility by Maresyev. It seemed that then it was possible to say goodbye to dreams of heaven forever. But I still had to go. On the Far East young man continuing regular physical exercises, much stronger and the first time he passed the medical commission at the local flying club. A childhood dream has begun to come true.
Maresyev was drafted into the ranks of the Soviet troops in 1937. He served first on Sakhalin, then in Bataysk, where he met the beginning of the war. At this time, Maresyev was an instructor at the Bataysk Aviation School.

Brief biography of Maresyev during the war

In August 1941, Maresyev's first sortie took place (on the Southwestern Front).
In 1942, already on the North-Western Front, Maresyev's plane was shot down, as a result of the fall, the pilot received dangerous injuries to both feet. Maresiev, experiencing incredible hunger and cold, crawled for eighteen days towards his troops. Gangrene set in. The pilot was saved by the villagers, who found him in the forest and helped him. But urgent medical intervention was required. In early May, a plane landed near the village, and Maresyev was sent to the hospital. The medical decision was categorical: amputation of both legs.
Such physical and mental trauma can break the will of even the most hard man. Maresyev had something to think about when he was chained to a hospital bed. At this time, he decides to devote his life to returning to heaven.
Alexey begins to master prostheses. This is accompanied by severe pain and incredible tension. But he does not give up, continuing to learn to walk again in the sanatorium. Gradually, Maresyev achieves that people do not immediately understand that he does not have both legs. In 1943, he passed a medical examination and began practice at an aviation school. In February, Maresyev makes his first test flight with prostheses. It is difficult to imagine the feelings of a person who has achieved his goal as a result of such efforts.
In 1943 he again returned to the active army. The command did not allow him to participate in hostilities for some time. Maresyev made training flights and made repeated requests to participate in the battles. The situation became tense, there were decisive battles on the Kursk Bulge. Under the circumstances, Maresyev was allowed a sortie. During the first two days of flying, the legless pilot destroyed five German aircraft. News of his success was widely circulated in Soviet troops. At this time, B. Polevoy was talking to Maresyev, who decided to describe the feat of the pilot.
Maresyev continued to fight successfully. In August 1943 he received the title of Hero of the USSR.

Brief biography of Maresyev after the war

After the war, Maresyev A.P. enjoyed international fame. "The Tale of a Real Man", dedicated to his feat, was published in many countries of the world. A feature film based on the story was released, and an opera was staged. People admired Maresyev's fortitude and incredible courage.
Maresyev continued to fly and trained young pilots. In the 1950s he became a candidate of historical sciences and published the book "On the Kursk Bulge".
Alexey Petrovich died in 2001, shortly before his 85th birthday.