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Dead ends of the capitalist economy. The Great Patriotic War and the post-war period

From the author: “Talking about women snipers who fought the fascists, I can’t help but bow to Nina Pavlovna Petrova. And it’s not even that during the Great Patriotic War she became one of the best snipers in our army, a full holder of the Order of Glory.”
And the fact is that every action of Nina Pavlovna is a feat in itself.
She went to the front adult woman respectable age - 48 years old. It’s how nature works that during these years a person’s strength is no longer what it used to be and fatigue has accumulated. Learning something new is doubly difficult. But then Nina Pavlovna, a native of the city of Lomonosov, decided Leningrad region(then Oranienbaum), fight the fascists. Nothing stopped her. And she fought in such a way that everyone was amazed at her endurance, endurance, courage, and patience. She did not lag behind the young people, but, on the contrary, gave them a head start. Perhaps the answer to this lies in the fact that early childhood Is Nina Pavlovna accustomed to tireless work? She grew up in large family, where all the brothers and sisters cared for each other sincerely and lovingly. Even when Nina Pavlovna was just a girl, Nina, the family moved to Leningrad, which became home to them for the rest of their lives. The father died early, five children were left orphans.
Or maybe it’s because Nina Pavlovna was never afraid to study? She has mastered many professions, and each one well. To help her mother, Nina went to Vladivostok, to visit relatives, there she entered college and at the same time worked as an accountant. I sent almost my entire salary home. She worked as a typist at a shipyard in Revel, as a librarian at Svistroy, and as an accountant in Gdov. And in 1927, already having a ten-year-old daughter, she returned to Leningrad.
Or is it a matter of serious passion for sports? May be so. Nina Pavlovna was an excellent swimmer, played basketball, rode a bicycle, went horseback riding and rowing. She completed the courses and began working as a physical education teacher. At 43 she became a captain women's team Leningrad in bandy (and was there for two years), and a year earlier she won the skiing competition. About ten years before the start of the war, the future sniper took up bullet shooting, first enrolling in a shooting club. True, it was not from the first days that Nina Pavlovna began to obey the rifle. The leader of the circle played a big role, helping with advice and action.
She graduated from sniper school and began working as a bullet shooting instructor. And in 1936 alone, she fired more than a hundred Voroshilov riflemen! Nina Pavlovna had a personalized award rifle. And there are more than seventy cups, medals and badges.

The Soviet-Finnish war began. Nina Pavlovna was 46 years old at that time; at the military registration and enlistment offices she heard only refusals. However, she had good experience in nursing - and Petrova ensured that she was accepted into a rehabilitation hospital. Here she was not just fulfilling her duties medical worker, and without any exaggeration she replaced the fighters’ mother (by the way, she was called that for the rest of her life). Nina Pavlovna was tirelessly at her post - it seemed that she never slept at all. I read books to the soldiers, washed their clothes, combed their hair and shaved them.
At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War Petrova was taken to the medical battalion. But already in November 1941 she transferred to the rifle battalion of the Tartu division. Together with this division, Nina Pavlovna defended her native Leningrad and subsequently walked half of Europe. And, as in peaceful life, in the battalion she performed not one, but several tasks at once: she trained soldiers, kept her personal account of killed fascists, went out on reconnaissance, and performed the duties of a nurse. And again, the mother replaced the soldiers: she washed, darned, and sewed collars for them.
It seemed that luck was on Nina Pavlovna’s side. One day a German sniper took aim at her and fired, but, in part, only shot through her hat and singed her hair.
“The sniper is apparently a young man,” Petrova said then. - His bullet spun in my hair.
Also, half jokingly, she told her daughter Ksenia about what had happened in a letter. In her news, she generally preferred a light tone. Looking ahead, I’ll quote a few lines from a letter written a few years later: “The senior artillery lieutenant and I were sitting on the porch, the German was firing his guns, the shells were landing far behind the house. He says: “I’ve been fighting for four years and haven’t even been wounded yet.” I answer him: “I’ve been at war for four years, and I’m also not wounded, despite the fact that I’ve been on the front line all the time.” The commander called him. A minute later an enemy shell exploded. Two people were killed and several were injured. The senior artillery lieutenant was wounded in the arms and legs, I was scratched, stunned, and had a general concussion, which is why my back hurts. So I boasted..."
Here's another letter from her. Its tone is different, but from each line it is very clear that luck for a long time took care of Nina Pavlovna: “I was sitting on the NP, watching, got cold, and went to warm up. A lieutenant and a sergeant took my place. But immediately after I left, they were wounded by fragments of an enemy shell. The next morning I sat on the NP again. She left for breakfast. I return to the settlement - and it was destroyed by a direct hit...”
During the war years, Nina Pavlovna trained 512 snipers! She turned out to be a very patient teacher. Often she simply amazed her students with her skill. So, one day during class I gave a task: to find and neutralize a disguised sniper (her). Search time - 20 minutes. If the fighters do not find Nina Pavlovna, they must put the hat on a stick and raise it above their heads. No one could notice the teacher, the stick had to be raised. And then Nina Pavlovna stood up literally a few steps from the soldiers - all wet and dirty:
- Eh, sons, what did you watch? So, I’m teaching you poorly...
Or such a case. The heroine’s best student, Georgy Daudov (by the way, at first he was also one of the laggards), perhaps most often went “hunting” with her. One day they tracked down two Germans who were dragging a log into a broken pillbox. Petrova asked:
- Georgy, who do you think should be removed first?
“First,” the fighter answered.
- No. Then the one coming from behind will immediately understand that a sniper is working and will jump into the trench. Let's take off the back one, then the first one will rashly decide that he tripped, and we'll get extra seconds. Remember: a good athlete reacts to danger 2 seconds earlier than an untrained person. And in 2 seconds you can do a lot: dive into cover, pull the trigger, hit with a bayonet...”
Among Nina Pavlovna’s students there was a soldier named Nurlumbekov. He spoke Russian very poorly. Petrova spent a lot of time and effort so that the fighter learned to speak. And even more - so that he, who does not believe in his own abilities at all, learns to shoot perfectly. Once she even resorted to a trick: during the exercise, standing slightly behind Nurlumbekov, she fired a shot herself. When they began to examine the targets, everyone praised the newcomer very much. And he himself, inspired by luck, believed in himself. And he really became a good sniper.
Never, even in the most dangerous moments, Nina Pavlovna never lost her cool. So, in the winter of 1944, the regiment in which the sniper served was stationed near the village of Zarudin, Leningrad Region. This village was occupied by the Germans, the enemy had to be driven out, but a real battle never broke out. And then Nina Pavlovna noticed a German signalman who was trying to fix the telephone line. Here it is: the Nazis are stalling for time to call for reinforcements... Petrova fired - the signalman fell. But almost immediately the second one arrived - and this one was killed by a sniper bullet. And then the third. The Nazis managed to detect the Soviet sniper, but Nina Pavlovna, taking advantage of the strong drifting snow, changed her position in time and again opened fire on the signalmen. The battle was started, and the village was liberated.

In the same year, 1944, Nina Pavlovna received two Orders of Glory - III and II degrees. Here are the memories of General Ivan Fedyuninsky, who signed award documents: “Once, after the battles near German Elbing, I signed submissions for government awards. My attention was drawn to the award sheet filled out for the sniper Sergeant Major Petrov, who was nominated for the Order of Glory, 1st degree. The award sheet indicated that Petrova was 52 years old. I didn’t want to believe my eyes: could she really be over fifty?
I ask the chief of staff: “Perhaps the typist made a typo?” No, there was no mistake... Petrova arrived in the evening. She turned out to be a thin, gray-haired, but still strong-looking woman, with a simple, wrinkled face. Soldier's tunic decorated with two Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of the Patriotic War and two Orders of Glory... It turned out that she herself was on the front line all the time, but was never wounded... Nina Pavlovna was given a sniper rifle with optical sight. A gilded plate with the inscription was attached to the butt with the inscription: “To Sergeant Major Petrova from the Army Commander.” In addition, I awarded the brave patriot a watch... And already in battles at the power plant in Danzig new rifle sniper Petrova silenced several enemy machine-gun crews..."
There was almost a mishap with the award watch: a week after the award, after the bombing, standing near the destroyed dugout, Nina Pavlovna discovered that there was no watch on her hand. I was very upset. Almost all of her students rushed to the search. We searched until dark - and found it!
There is one more fact in Nina Pavlovna’s combat biography that is difficult to even imagine. She single-handedly disarmed and literally dragged three fascists to headquarters! This is how she described it in a letter home: “... Yesterday I raised the soldiers to attack. They all respect me and stood up as one and went on the offensive. And the German could not stand it, he decided that it was obvious that the whole regiment was advancing on him. At this point we beat them hard. I fell behind a little, and I saw three Krauts, all intact. I shoot a rifle at them: “Hyunda hoch!” She searched them and took them to the battalion commander. Yes, two of them, either from fatigue or from fear, were almost unable to walk. The first one was taken on the shoulders of a captured fascist, and I carried the second one. Sometimes we changed. They didn’t even dare to make a word..."
In the spring of 1945, Nina Pavlovna, on personal account which already had a hundred fascists, was presented with the Order of Glory, 1st degree. The message flew home to my daughter and granddaughter: “My dear, dear daughter! I’m tired of fighting, baby, because I’ve been at the front for four years now. I would rather end this damned war and return home. How I want to hug you and kiss my dear granddaughter! Maybe we'll live to see it have a good day... Soon I will be awarded the Order of Glory, 1st degree, so my grandmother will be a complete gentleman if she carries her head to the end...”
She didn’t inform... Nina Pavlovna died, but not from a fascist bullet. On May 1, 1945, she was riding in a car with our mortar men near the city of Stettin. Night, bad weather and visibility. The car fell off a broken bridge...
Sofia Milyutinskaya

Children:

Biography

Nina Kukharchuk was born into a Ukrainian family in the village of Vasylev in the Kholm region, which at that time was part of Russian Empire. Her father, Pyotr Vasilyevich, was an ordinary peasant. Mother - Ekaterina Grigorievna Bondarchuk - also came from a simple background peasant family.

At the age of 9, Nina went to a rural school, and at the age of 12 she came with her family to Lublin and entered the local gymnasium. During the First World War she lived in Kholm, where her military father served. Later, as the war progressed, she entered the Kholmskoe Mariinsky Women's School at public expense, with which she later went into evacuation to Odessa and worked in its office.

Nikita and Nina worked together at the Petrovsky mine in the Yuzovsky district. In 1926, Nina again went to Moscow to study at the Communist Academy. Krupskaya at the department of political economy, after which she was sent as a teacher to the Kyiv Interdistrict Party School. In 1929, their daughter Rada was born in Kyiv.

After the death of Stalin, when Nikita Sergeevich actually headed the Soviet Union and the CPSU, she became the “first lady” of the state. She took part in Khrushchev’s foreign trips, met with top officials of other states and their wives, which was not accepted in the USSR before her.

Nina Petrovna survived Nikita Sergeevich (died in 1971) and daughter Elena. She lived at a state dacha in Zhukovka and had a pension of 200 rubles.

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An excerpt characterizing Khrushchev, Nina Petrovna

- Give him mine, he has a long way to go...
The letter brought by Balashev was last letter Napoleon to Alexander. All the details of the conversation were conveyed to the Russian emperor, and the war began.

After his meeting in Moscow with Pierre, Prince Andrey left for St. Petersburg on business, as he told his relatives, but, in essence, in order to meet there Prince Anatoly Kuragin, whom he considered necessary to meet. Kuragin, whom he inquired about when he arrived in St. Petersburg, was no longer there. Pierre let his brother-in-law know that Prince Andrei was coming to pick him up. Anatol Kuragin immediately received an appointment from the Minister of War and left for the Moldavian Army. At the same time, in St. Petersburg, Prince Andrei met Kutuzov, his former general, always disposed towards him, and Kutuzov invited him to go with him to the Moldavian Army, where the old general was appointed commander-in-chief. Prince Andrei, having received the appointment to be at the headquarters main apartment, went to Turkey.
Prince Andrei considered it inconvenient to write to Kuragin and summon him. Without giving a new reason for the duel, Prince Andrei considered the challenge on his part to be compromising Countess Rostov, and therefore he sought a personal meeting with Kuragin, in which he intended to find a new reason for the duel. But in the Turkish army he also failed to meet Kuragin, who, soon after Prince Andrei’s arrival in Turkish army returned to Russia. IN new country and in the new living conditions, life became easier for Prince Andrei. After the betrayal of his bride, which struck him the more diligently the more diligently he hid the effect it had on him from everyone, the living conditions in which he was happy were difficult for him, and even more difficult were the freedom and independence that he had so valued before. Not only did he not think those previous thoughts that first came to him while looking at the sky on the Field of Austerlitz, which he loved to develop with Pierre and which filled his solitude in Bogucharovo, and then in Switzerland and Rome; but he was even afraid to remember these thoughts, which revealed endless and bright horizons. He was now interested only in the most immediate, practical interests, unrelated to his previous ones, which he grabbed with the greater greed, the more closed from him the previous ones were. It was as if that endless receding vault of the sky that had previously stood above him suddenly turned into a low, definite, oppressive vault, in which everything was clear, but there was nothing eternal and mysterious.
Of the activities presented to him military service was the simplest and most familiar to him. Holding the position of general on duty at Kutuzov's headquarters, he persistently and diligently went about his business, surprising Kutuzov with his willingness to work and accuracy. Not finding Kuragin in Turkey, Prince Andrei did not consider it necessary to jump after him again to Russia; but for all that, he knew that, no matter how much time passed, he could not, having met Kuragin, despite all the contempt that he had for him, despite all the proofs that he made to himself that he should not humiliate himself to the point of confrontation with him, he knew that, having met him, he could not help but call him, just as a hungry man could not help but rush to food. And this consciousness that the insult had not yet been taken out, that the anger had not been poured out, but lay in the heart, poisoned the artificial calm that Prince Andrei had arranged for himself in Turkey in the form of preoccupied, busy and somewhat ambitious and vain activities.
In 12, when news of the war with Napoleon reached Bukarest (where Kutuzov lived for two months, spending days and nights with his Wallachian), Prince Andrei asked Kutuzov to transfer to the Western Army. Kutuzov, who was already tired of Bolkonsky with his activities, which served as a reproach for his idleness, Kutuzov very willingly let him go and gave him an assignment to Barclay de Tolly.
Before going to the army, which was in the Drissa camp in May, Prince Andrei stopped at Bald Mountains, which were on his very road, located three miles from the Smolensk highway. The last three years and the life of Prince Andrei there were so many upheavals, he changed his mind, experienced so much, re-saw (he traveled both west and east), that he was strangely and unexpectedly struck when entering Bald Mountains - everything was exactly the same, down to the smallest detail - exactly the same course of life. As if he were entering an enchanted, sleeping castle, he drove into the alley and into the stone gates of the Lysogorsk house. The same sedateness, the same cleanliness, the same silence were in this house, the same furniture, the same walls, the same sounds, the same smell and the same timid faces, only somewhat older. Princess Marya was still the same timid, ugly, aging girl, in fear and eternal moral suffering, living without benefit and joy best years own life. Bourienne was the same flirtatious girl, joyfully enjoying every minute of her life and filled with the most joyful hopes for herself, pleased with herself. She only became more confident, as it seemed to Prince Andrei. The teacher Desalles brought from Switzerland was dressed in a frock coat of Russian cut, distorting the language, spoke Russian with the servants, but he was still the same limitedly intelligent, educated, virtuous and pedantic teacher. The old prince changed physically only in that the lack of one tooth became noticeable on the side of his mouth; morally he was still the same as before, only with even greater embitterment and distrust of the reality of what was happening in the world. Only Nikolushka grew up, changed, became flushed, acquired curly dark hair and, without knowing it, laughing and having fun, raised the upper lip of his pretty mouth in the same way as the deceased little princess raised it. He alone did not obey the law of immutability in this enchanted, sleeping castle. But although in appearance everything remained the same, the internal relations of all these persons had changed since Prince Andrei had not seen them. The members of the family were divided into two camps, alien and hostile to each other, which now converged only in his presence, changing their usual way of life for him. To one belonged the old prince, m lle Bourienne and the architect, to the other - Princess Marya, Desalles, Nikolushka and all the nannies and mothers.

August 27, 2016, 10:26 pm

We all remember famous photograph Nina Khrushcheva, wife of Nikita Khrushchev, with Jacqueline Kennedy.

Looking at this photo, only the lazy one didn’t kick Khrushchev’s wife. Of course, external comparison was far from being in her favor. Especially in comparison with fashion trendsetter Jacqueline Kennedy, who had all the leading designers of that time at her service. But, by the way, Nina Khrushcheva is wearing the same dress or suit. And here it looks more solid. It is clear that the fabric is not cheap, but the colors are disappointing.

We all know sad fate and Jacqueline, and her husbands, and her children. But we know practically nothing about Nina Khrushcheva, who remained in the shadow of her husband all her life, quietly and calmly taking care of the house and raising her children. Having accidentally stumbled upon an article in Ogonyok about the fate of the children of the first leaders of the USSR, I decided to trace the life and fate of Nina Khrushcheva and her children with Nikita Khrushchev.

Khrushchev - a rarity among members of the Politburo - was father of many children, raised five children. As a very young man in Yuzovka (now Donetsk), he married Efrosinya Ivanovna Pisareva, a beautiful red-haired woman. She died in 1919 from typhus, leaving Nikita Sergeevich with two children - Yulia and Leonid. He married again to Nina Petrovna Kukharchuk, a calm woman with a strong character, who gave birth to three children - Rada, Sergei and Elena.

Elena was in poor health and died at the age of 35.

Leonid Khrushchev, a military pilot, died at the front.

Yulia Khrushcheva (1916-1981) - was married to the director of the Kyiv Opera, and was a chemist by profession.

Information about Rada and Sergei will be below.

A little about Nina Petrovna Khrushcheva, née Kukharchuk.

Nina Kukharchuk was born into a Ukrainian family in the village of Vasilev in the Kholm region, which at that time was part of the Russian Empire. Her father, Pyotr Vasilyevich, was an ordinary peasant. Mother - Ekaterina Grigorievna Bondarchuk - also came from a simple peasant family.

Nina Kukharchuk met Nikita Khrushchev in 1922 in Yuzovka. There she worked as a teacher at the district party school. There they began to live virtually as a family. And they would register their marriage only after Khrushchev retired, in 1965.

When Nina Khrushcheva became the “first lady” of the state, she participated in Khrushchev’s foreign trips, met with top officials of other states and their wives, which was not accepted in the USSR before her. Nina Khrushcheva was fluent in Russian, Ukrainian, Polish and French languages. Wikipedia says she also studied English language, but the degree of proficiency in it is not indicated. But I found a photo in which John Kennedy says something to Nina Khrushcheva, and she smiles knowingly. So, it is possible that she spoke English quite well after all.

Nikita Sergeevich and Nina Petrovna were good parents, and they had a happy family. Nina Petrovna survived Nikita Sergeevich (died in 1971) and daughter Elena. She lived at a state dacha in Zhukovka and had a pension of 200 rubles.

In the photo - Nina Khrushcheva with US President Dwight Eisenhower and his wife in the USA, 1959.

Photos from other events. In my opinion, she looks quite decent on them. No worse than others.

In the photo: The Khrushchev family in 1959, during a visit to the USA. From left to right - N. P. Khrushcheva, USSR Ambassador to the USA Mikhail Menshikov, Nelson Rockefeller, N. S. Khrushchev, Rada Khrushchev and Sergei Khrushchev.

Now a little about the two most famous children of the Khrushchevs: Rada and Sergei. They have achieved a lot in this life. There is no doubt that their parents gave them a good start. But, as we know, no parental status will help if the parents did not care for the child and if he does not have the abilities. And Nina Khrushcheva, that same woman in a simple cotton dress, was able to raise worthy and good children.

Rada Khrushcheva(pictured right).

I listened to interviews with her several times. She was an intelligent and educated woman. She lived a decent life. She died this year at the age of 87.

Rada graduated from school with a gold medal in Kyiv. After graduating from school, she entered the Faculty of Philology of Moscow State University, and subsequently transferred to the established Faculty of Journalism, which she graduated in 1952. While studying, she met Alexei Adzhubey, whom she married in 1949. In this marriage she gave birth to three sons (Nikita, Alexei and Ivan). She and her husband maintained an excellent relationship while they were together. Alexey Ivanovich treated his wife kindly and tenderly.

Khrushchev's Rada always behaved modestly. No one would have thought that she was the daughter of the owner of the country. All her life she worked at the journal Science and Life, headed the department of biology and medicine, then became deputy editor-in-chief. Deciding that a journalistic education was not enough, she graduated from the Faculty of Biology of Moscow University.

In 1956, she was appointed deputy editor-in-chief of the magazine. During her work, the magazine became one of the best popular science magazines in the Soviet Union. After Khrushchev was removed from his post, her husband fell into disgrace and began working as a department editor in the magazine " Soviet Union”, as well as publishing in various publications under a pseudonym, Rada Adzhubey continued to work in the editorial office of the magazine until 2004.

True, for more than twenty years her name was not mentioned in the list of the magazine's editorial board...

Sergei Khrushchev

Second child of Nina and Nikita Khrushchev A Soviet and Russian scientist, publicist, Doctor of Technical Sciences, professor, Hero of Socialist Labor.

In 1952 he graduated from Moscow school No. 110 with a gold medal, graduated from the Faculty of Electrical Vacuum Engineering and Special Instrumentation of the Moscow Power Engineering Institute with a degree in Automatic Control Systems. He worked at the Chelomey Design Bureau as deputy head of department, deputy director of the Institute of Electronic Control Machines (INEUM), deputy general director NPO "Electronmash"

When his father was fired, Sergei Nikitich Khrushchev also lost his favorite job. He did a great job - he persuaded his father to dictate his memoirs. Nikita Sergeevich's four-volume notes are an invaluable source on the history of the Fatherland.

In 1991, S. N. Khrushchev was invited to Brown University (USA) to lecture on history cold war, which he currently specializes in. Remained a permanent resident in the United States, currently lives in Providence, Rhode Island, and has Russian and American (since 1999) citizenship. He is a professor at the Thomas Watson Institute of International Studies at Brown University.

He published a number of his own books with memories of historical events, which he witnessed, and with his own balanced assessment of what was happening: “Pensioner of Union significance”, “Birth of a superpower”. In his works he adheres to a clear anti-Stalinist position. Currently working on books about “Khrushchev’s reforms.” Books translated to 12 foreign languages. One of the screenwriters of the film Gray wolves"(Mosfilm, 1993).

He is divorced from his first wife, Galina Shumova. The second wife, Valentina Nikolaevna Golenko, lives with Sergei Nikitich in the USA. The eldest son Nikita, a journalist and editor of Moscow News, died on February 22, 2007 in Moscow. Younger son Sergey lives in Moscow.

April 22nd, 2016

She went to the front as an adult woman of considerable age - at 48 years old. It’s how nature works that during these years a person’s strength is no longer what it used to be and fatigue has accumulated. Learning something new is doubly difficult. But then Nina Pavlovna, a native of the city of Lomonosov, Leningrad Region (then Oranienbaum), decided to fight the Nazis. Nothing stopped her. And she fought in such a way that everyone was amazed at her endurance, endurance, courage, and patience. She did not lag behind the young people, but, on the contrary, gave them a head start.

Perhaps the answer to this lies in the fact that from early childhood Nina Pavlovna was accustomed to tireless work? She grew up in a large family, where all the brothers and sisters sincerely and lovingly cared for each other. Even when Nina Pavlovna was just a girl, Nina, the family moved to Leningrad, which became home to them for the rest of their lives. The father died early, five children were left orphans.

Or maybe it’s because Nina Pavlovna was never afraid to study? She mastered many professions, and each one was good. To help her mother, Nina went to Vladivostok, to visit relatives, there she entered college and at the same time worked as an accountant. I sent almost my entire salary home. She worked as a typist at a shipyard in Revel, as a librarian at Svistroy, and as an accountant in Gdov. And in 1927, already having a ten-year-old daughter, she returned to Leningrad.

Or is it a matter of serious passion for sports? May be so. Nina Pavlovna was an excellent swimmer, played basketball, rode a bicycle, went horseback riding and rowing. She completed the courses and began working as a physical education teacher. At the age of 43, she became the captain of the Leningrad women's bandy team (and was for two years), and a year earlier she won the skiing competition. About ten years before the start of the war, the future sniper took up bullet shooting, first enrolling in a shooting club. True, it was not from the first days that Nina Pavlovna began to obey the rifle. The leader of the circle played a big role, helping with advice and action.

She graduated from sniper school and began working as a bullet shooting instructor. And in 1936 alone, she fired more than a hundred Voroshilov riflemen! Nina Pavlovna had a personalized award rifle. And there are more than seventy cups, medals and badges.

The Soviet-Finnish war began. Nina Pavlovna was 46 years old at that time; at the military registration and enlistment offices she heard only refusals. However, she had good experience in nursing - and Petrova ensured that she was accepted into a rehabilitation hospital. Here she not only fulfilled her duties as a medical worker, but without any exaggeration she replaced the fighters’ mother (by the way, she was called that for the rest of her life). Nina Pavlovna was tirelessly at her post - it seemed that she never slept at all. I read books to the soldiers, washed their clothes, combed their hair and shaved them.

At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, Petrova was taken to the medical battalion. But already in November 1941 she transferred to the rifle battalion of the Tartu division. Together with this division, Nina Pavlovna defended her native Leningrad and subsequently walked half of Europe. And, as in peaceful life, in the battalion she performed not one, but several tasks at once: she trained soldiers, kept her personal account of killed fascists, went out on reconnaissance, and performed the duties of a nurse. And again, the mother replaced the soldiers: she washed, darned, and sewed collars for them.

It seemed that luck was on Nina Pavlovna’s side. One day a German sniper took aim at her and fired, but, in part, only shot through her hat and singed her hair.
“The sniper is apparently a young man,” Petrova said then. - His bullet spun in my hair.

Also, half jokingly, she told her daughter Ksenia about what had happened in a letter. In her news, she generally preferred a light tone. Looking ahead, I’ll quote a few lines from a letter written a few years later: “The senior artillery lieutenant and I were sitting on the porch, the German was firing his guns, the shells were landing far behind the house. He says: “I’ve been fighting for four years and haven’t even been wounded yet.” I answer him: “I’ve been at war for four years, and I’m also not wounded, despite the fact that I’ve been on the front line all the time.” The commander called him. A minute later an enemy shell exploded. Two people were killed and several were injured. The senior artillery lieutenant was wounded in the arms and legs, I was scratched, stunned, and had a general concussion, which is why my back hurts. So I boasted..."

Here's another letter from her. Its tone is different, but from each line it is very clear that luck was taking care of Nina Pavlovna for a long time: “I was sitting on the street, watching, I was cold, I went to warm up. A lieutenant and a sergeant took my place. But immediately after I left, they were wounded by fragments of an enemy shell. The next morning I sat on the NP again. She left for breakfast. I return to the settlement and it was destroyed by a direct hit...”

During the war years, Nina Pavlovna trained 512 snipers! She turned out to be a very patient teacher. Often she simply amazed her students with her skill. So, one day during class I gave a task: to find and neutralize a disguised sniper (her). Search time: 20 minutes. If the fighters do not find Nina Pavlovna, they must put the hat on a stick and raise it above their heads.

No one could notice the teacher, the stick had to be raised. And then Nina Pavlovna stood up literally a few steps from the soldiers - all wet and dirty:
- Eh, sons, what did you watch? So, I'm teaching you poorly...

Or such a case. The heroine’s best student, Georgy Daudov (by the way, at first he was also one of the laggards), perhaps most often went “hunting” with her. One day they tracked down two Germans who were dragging a log into a broken pillbox. Petrova asked:
- Georgy, who do you think should be removed first?
“First,” the fighter answered.
- No. Then the one coming from behind will immediately understand that a sniper is working and will jump into the trench. Let's take off the back one, then the first one will rashly decide that he tripped, and we'll get extra seconds. Remember: a good athlete reacts to danger 2 seconds earlier than an untrained person. And in 2 seconds you can do a lot: dive into cover, pull the trigger, hit with a bayonet...”

Among Nina Pavlovna’s students there was a soldier named Nurlumbekov. He spoke Russian very poorly. Petrova spent a lot of time and effort so that the fighter learned to speak. And even more - so that he, who does not believe in his own abilities at all, learns to shoot perfectly. Once she even resorted to a trick: during the exercise, standing slightly behind Nurlumbekov, she fired a shot herself. When they began to examine the targets, everyone praised the newcomer very much. And he himself, inspired by luck, believed in himself. And he really became a good sniper.

Never, even in the most dangerous moments, Nina Pavlovna never lost her cool. So, in the winter of 1944, the regiment in which the sniper served was stationed near the village of Zarudin, Leningrad Region. This village was occupied by the Germans, the enemy had to be driven out, but a real battle never broke out. And then Nina Pavlovna noticed a German signalman who was trying to fix the telephone line. Here it is: the Nazis are stalling for time to call for reinforcements... Petrova fired - the signalman fell. But almost immediately the second one arrived - and this one was killed by a sniper bullet. And then the third. The Nazis managed to detect the Soviet sniper, but Nina Pavlovna, taking advantage of the strong drifting snow, changed her position in time and again opened fire on the signalmen. The battle was started, and the village was liberated.

In the same year, 1944, Nina Pavlovna received two Orders of Glory - III and II degrees. Here are the memories of General Ivan Fedyuninsky, who signed award documents: “Once, after the battles near German Elbing, I signed submissions for government awards. My attention was drawn to the award sheet filled out for the sniper Sergeant Major Petrov, who was nominated for the Order of Glory, 1st degree. The award sheet indicated that Petrova was 52 years old. I didn’t want to believe my eyes: could she really be over fifty?

I ask the chief of staff: “Perhaps the typist made a typo?” No, there was no mistake... Petrova arrived in the evening. She turned out to be a thin, gray-haired, but still strong-looking woman, with a simple, wrinkled face. The soldier's tunic was decorated with two Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of the Patriotic War and two Orders of Glory... It turned out that she herself was on the front line all the time, but was never wounded... Nina Pavlovna was given a sniper rifle with an optical sight. A gilded plate with the inscription was attached to the butt with the inscription: “To Sergeant Major Petrova from the Army Commander.” In addition, I awarded the brave patriot a watch... And already in the battles at the power plant in Danzig, sniper Petrova silenced several enemy machine-gun crews with her new rifle...”

There was almost a mishap with the award watch: a week after the award, after the bombing, standing near the destroyed dugout, Nina Pavlovna discovered that there was no watch on her hand. I was very upset. Almost all of her students rushed to the search. We searched until dark - and found it!

There is one more fact in Nina Pavlovna’s combat biography that is difficult to even imagine. She single-handedly disarmed and literally dragged three fascists to headquarters! This is how she described it in a letter home: “...Yesterday I raised the soldiers to attack. They all respect me and stood up as one and went on the offensive. And the German could not stand it, he decided that it was obvious that the whole regiment was advancing on him. At this point we beat them hard. I fell behind a little, and I saw three Krauts, all intact. I shoot a rifle at them: “Hyunda hoch!” She searched them and took them to the battalion commander. Yes, two of them, either from fatigue or from fear, were almost unable to walk. The first one was taken on the shoulders of a captured fascist, and I carried the second one. Sometimes we changed. They didn’t even dare to make a word..."

In the spring of 1945, Nina Pavlovna, who already had a hundred fascists on her personal account, was presented with the Order of Glory, 1st degree. The message flew home to my daughter and granddaughter: “My dear, dear daughter! I’m tired of fighting, baby, because I’ve been at the front for four years now. I would rather end this damned war and return home. How I want to hug you and kiss my dear granddaughter! Maybe we’ll live to see this happy day... Soon I will be awarded the Order of Glory, First Class, so that grandma will be a complete gentleman if she carries her head to the end...”

She didn’t inform... Nina Pavlovna died, but not from a fascist bullet. On May 1, 1945, she was riding in a car with our mortar men near the city of Stettin. Night, bad weather and visibility. The car fell off a broken bridge...