Alexey Eremenko was born on March 31, 1906 in the village of Tersyanka, Ekaterinoslav province. Due to the fact that there were many children in the family, Alexey had to go to work at the age of 14. At first he worked for railway, and later - at the factory. There he helped his parents. Alexey Eremenko was Ukrainian by nationality. At that time, the first collective farms were beginning to be created in the Zaporozhye region. According to some sources, the first collective farm was named “Avangard”; according to other sources, it was named after Krasin. At that moment, Alexey Eremenko was the head of the Komsomol cell. As he grew older, it was impossible not to notice that the young man had a natural gift for leading groups of people. Thanks to this fact, Alexey Eremenko was appointed foreman, later - party organizer, and at the end of his career - chairman of the collective farm. Absolutely everyone was satisfied with Eremenko’s work.

Junior political instructor

Alexey Eremenko was a worthy person. He had a reservation for conscription, which was connected with work on a collective farm. Despite this, he could not sit quietly at home while his brothers and friends fought. Therefore, the young man volunteered to join the Red Army as a commissar. In the army, the man received the rank of junior political instructor.

A political instructor in the USSR was a person who was a representative of the state or the ruling party. Junior political instructor Alexey Gordeevich Eremenko was supposed to monitor the command and personnel. His responsibilities also included political, educational and educational work with the team. Political instructor Alexey Eremenko fought for the 247th Infantry Division. Later he ended up in the 220th Infantry Regiment of the 4th Infantry Division.

Death of the legendary political instructor

In the summer of 1942, as a result of fierce battles with the enemy, political instructor Alexei Eremenko died. There are many versions of Alexei’s death. One of them says that he gathered all the remaining soldiers around him and led them on an offensive against the German occupiers. Another version says that he was killed at the moment when he was replacing the early company commander, Lieutenant Petrenko.

Alexey Eremenko was buried in Ukraine, in the village of Khoroshoe in July 1942.

Alexey Gordeevich Eremenko. Photo history

As you know, Alexey Gordeevich was captured in the famous photograph called “Combat”, although in fact he was not the battalion commander. The author of the photo was Max Alpert. He made it while in the trench, before the start of the very battle when Alexey Eremenko died. The photo became very famous, and Alexey became one of

Max Alper took the legendary photo at the moment when Alexey was raising the soldiers into battle, so he turned out to be very courageous and brave in the photo, and the image of a soldier standing upright and calling for an attack conveys to the viewer the spirit of war and fierce battles. Later, Max Alpert sat in the trench and dealt with his equipment. At that moment, the soldiers were running around and shouting that they had killed the battalion commander. Then the young photographer Max thought that we were talking about Alexei Eremenko. For this reason, he named the photo “Combat”. However, this is an erroneous name, but it was the way it was during the war, and it was decided that nothing should be changed. Alpert thought he had damaged the film and wanted to throw it away, but at the last moment he changed his mind. If the photographer had not changed his decision, then most likely there would not now be so many monuments, photographs and posters dedicated to Alexei Gordeevich.

Who is shown in the photo?

However, everything was not so simple. It was not immediately possible to determine who was depicted in the photo. Only in 2005, thanks to the employees of the newspaper “Komsomolskaya Pravda” with the support of the youth organization from Lugansk “Molodogvardeets”, it was possible to find the relatives of Alexei Gordeevich. In 1974, Alexei’s wife wrote letters asking to find the photographer, but there was no response to them. This is due to the fact that she was not the only one who wrote letters to management: many stated that it was their relative in the photo. Therefore, it was not possible to establish the soldier’s identity for a long time.

Letter to Alexei's wife

To youth movement activists and journalists " Komsomolskaya Pravda“We managed to find a letter that was delivered to his wife after the death of Alexei Gordeevich. It stated that her husband Alexey Gordeevich Eremenko was missing. Every second family received such letters during the war. One was attached to it unusual photo, which later became one of the main symbols of the Great Patriotic War. Thanks to this letter, written to the wife of Alexei Gordeevich, it was possible to establish the identity of the person depicted in the photograph.

Commemorative coins

One photo was not enough. Already today, Alexei Gordeevich has been depicted on some commemorative coins dedicated to the Great Patriotic War. These include a five-ruble coin “The Commander Raises Soldiers to Attack,” which is included in the “50 Years of Victory” set, issued in 1995, as well as 10 rubles called “55 Years of Victory,” issued in 2000.

Collectors are the only ones who call the coin “Politruk” and not “Combat”. A photograph of Alexei Gordeevich inspired the Ukrainian sculptor to create a monument to the hero of the Great Patriotic War. Work on the monument took more than ten years. Thus, thanks to the efforts of the residents, a monument 11 meters high was erected. Below it you can see a table with the inscription: “In honor of the heroic feat of political workers of the Soviet Army in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.”

Monument to the Battalion Commander. It was installed at the site of the feat of political instructor A. Eremenko, near the highway near the town of Slavyanoserbsk. Lugansk People's Republic.

Junior political instructor Alexey Eremenko rouses the fighters to attack. This is perhaps the most famous photo of the Great Patriotic War, second only to the photograph of the Victory Banner over the Reichstag. A. Eremenko died a few seconds after the picture was taken.

The history of the creation of the monument is interesting.

July 12, 1942. Near Lugansk, a division under the command of a hero Soviet Union I.P. Rosly fought stubborn bloody battles with superior enemy forces. Units of the right flank of the 4th Infantry Division, which held the defense from Lugansk along the Debaltsevo-Popasnaya line,
were pushed back. The positions were continuously fired from cannons and mortars, and enemy aircraft constantly bombed them. On the front line, front-line correspondents worked shoulder to shoulder with soldiers along the entire front. Risking their lives, they took pictures that reflected all the events that took place.

It was on this section of the front that the “Combat” photograph was taken, which went around the whole world. And it was made by Max Vladimirovich Alpert.

From his memoirs:
“I took this photo during the battle. I remember choosing a trench a little ahead of the defense line. Heavy bombing began, then artillery barrage. The Nazis rose to attack. An eerie, nerve-wracking silence reigned over our front line. Only later did I learn that our defense was preparing to repel the 14th enemy attack of the day. Not far from me, an officer stood up to his full height, followed by soldiers. I managed to press the camera shutter twice, and then an enemy shrapnel broke the lens of the device. I thought that the shot had been spoiled, so on the spot I did not specify the name of the commander who raised the soldiers to attack. In the editorial office I developed the film and was surprised:
the image on the negative turned out great.”

Why did the photojournalist call the photo “Combat”?

“Immediately after I took it off, a voice rang out among the attackers: “The battalion commander was killed!”
I thought - this is the same officer, because he fell literally before my eyes,” M. Alpert wrote about this.

Many years after the war, a former soldier of the medical platoon of the 220th regiment, retired major Alexander Matveevich Makarov, spoke about this battle:

“The Nazis frantically rushed into attack after attack. There were many killed and wounded. our greatly depleted regiment was already repelling the tenth or eleventh attack.

The Nazis rushed straight to Lugansk, which was about 30 kilometers away. And by the end of the day, the company commander, Senior Lieutenant Petrenko, was wounded. He was replaced by political instructor Eremenko.

After a fierce bombing, with the support of tanks and artillery, the Nazis launched another attack. And then, rising to his full height, with the words: “Follow me! For the Motherland! Forward!" Eremenko led the company with him towards the chains of the Nazis. The attack was repulsed, but the political instructor died.”

Photo by M.V. Alpert was exhibited at the first Moscow exhibition “The Great Patriotic War” and won the Big Gold Medal. It was published by many newspapers and magazines around the world. We can say that he entered the golden fund of the chronicles of the Great Patriotic War.

The photograph served as a source of inspiration for the Luhansk sculptor Ivan Mikhailovich Chumak, and he began to independently work on a monument to the hero of the photograph, which took him about ten years.

Subsequently, an eleven-meter high monument, cast in bronze, was installed near the supposed site of the battle where A. G. Eremenko died.

The name of junior political instructor Alexei Eremenko is known to few. However, almost everyone saw his photograph - Eremenko was captured half-turned with a TT pistol in his right hand. The tragic history of the photograph “Combat” makes it a truly unique photographic document of the Great Patriotic War.

The Fighter's Way

Born in Ukraine in a large family, Alexey Eremenko already got a job at the age of 14 to help his family.

His career developed along the party line - Eremenko went from a Komsomol leader to the chairman of a collective farm. The 35-year-old leader volunteered to go to war, although he had a reservation. In the summer of 1942 he served as junior political instructor of the 220th rifle regiment 4th Infantry Division of the 18th Army. This position was the last for Alexey Eremenko.

Photo history

By legendary photography“Combat” was the Soviet photo reporter Max Alpert, who sent his footage to TASS and the Sovinformburo. During heavy fighting in eastern Ukraine, the correspondent came to the village of Khoroshoe, Slavyanoserbsky district of the then Voroshilovgrad region. Here, as he was told at army headquarters, a battalion fought that had never been to the front lines before. The unit had to recapture a strategically important height from the Germans. On the day of the offensive, Alpert, remaining in the dugout with a Leika camera, observed the battlefield through the viewfinder, looking for successful shots. The click of the shutter sounded at the moment when the commander called the soldiers to attack behind him. He addressed the fighters for only a few seconds, but these moments were filled with drama.

“The officer rose from the trench and called the soldiers into battle. Under the loud cry of “Hurray!” the fighters rushed to the attack and a hot battle ensued. At this time, I photographed the commander who called the soldiers to attack,” the photographer said.

A moment later, a shell fragment hit the camera - the film was preserved only by a miracle. Some time later, having heard from the soldiers that “the battalion commander was killed,” Alpert decided that he had photographed that same battalion commander. Subsequently, he admitted the mistake of the name.

Death

It is noteworthy that Max Alpert at first did not know the first and last name of his hero. Vivid photography lived own life- she was perceived as one of the symbols of the war. Attempts to find the “battalion commander” were made several times, but initially without success. Only in 1974 did it become clear that the real company commander, Lieutenant Petrenko, who was wounded, was replaced in battle by political instructor Eremenko. Alpert's widow and son recognized him in a photo of Alpert published in the newspaper. They provided their own pre-war photographs of Eremenko, and the examination confirmed that this is the same person.

For the political instructor, the counteroffensive in the Khoroshie area was the last. According to one version, Eremenko actually died on the same day - July 12 - when Alpert captured him. According to another, he was killed in hand-to-hand combat later, when the photojournalist was not around. A colleague of the political instructor, Alexander Makarov, said that during the battle, Eremenko inspired the Red Army soldiers with the following shouts: “Follow me! For the Motherland! Forward!".

“They fought with rifle butts and bayonets. The Nazis trembled and ran. Soon I saw Eremenko in one of the trenches. He fell slowly. I ran to him and realized that the junior political instructor no longer needed help,” Lieutenant Colonel Vasily Berezubchak described the circumstances of the political instructor’s death.

Alexey Eremenko rested in a mass grave. It is noteworthy that in the “funeral” letter received by the Eremenko family, it was written that their husband and father had been listed as missing since January 1942, which was not true. 32 years later, a revised version was sent to the widow from the military registration and enlistment office.

The image of political instructor Eremenko was minted on Russian coins in 1995 and 2005. Several monuments are also based on Alpert's photograph, incl. a monument in the Slavyanoserbsk region by sculptor Ivan Chumak, erected at the site of the alleged death of Eremenko on the Bakhmutskaya road. It is dedicated to the feat of all army political instructors and commissars, who played a big role in motivating fighters for the Fatherland.

Junior political instructor Alexey Eremenko rouses the fighters to attack. This is perhaps the most famous photo of the Great Patriotic War, second only to the photograph of the Victory Banner over the Reichstag. A. Eremenko died a few seconds after the picture was taken.

The photo was named “Combat” (that is, “battalion commander”) by the author of the photo by mistake. Max Alpert managed to take a couple of photographs of the commander who raised the soldiers to attack, and then a shell fragment broke the camera. The photographer decided that the footage was ruined and did not write down the name of the person he photographed. Later, developing the film, he saw that the frame turned out excellent. M. Alpert remembered how he heard in that battle that the ranks were told “The battalion commander was killed” and decided that he had photographed the battalion commander. Only after the photo has been received world fame entitled “Combat”, the identity of the hero in the picture was established: Alexey Gordeevich Eremenko, born in 1906.

The photo was taken on July 12 near the village of Khoroshoe (now the village of Khoroshoe, Slavyanoserbsky district, Lugansk region) between the Lugan and Lozovaya rivers, in the area where the 220th Infantry Regiment of the 4th Infantry Division held the defense, waging persistent bloody defensive battles with superior enemy forces.

Eremenko Alexey Gordeevich
Born: March 18 (31), 1906
Died: July 12, 1942 (age 36)

Biography

Alexey Gordeevich Eremenko (March 18, 1906 - July 12, 1942) - junior political instructor of the 220th Infantry Regiment of the 4th Infantry Division of the 18th Army. He replaced the wounded company commander and died while raising the soldiers to counterattack. According to a more common version, a few moments before his death he was captured in a photo that later became known as “Combat”; according to another, he died a little later, but in a similar situation.

Born on March 18 (31), 1906 in the village of Tersyanka, Ekaterinoslav province, in a large family, which is why at the age of 14 he began working on the railway, then at a factory, helping his parents. By nationality - Ukrainian. At the time of the creation of the first collective farm in the Zaporozhye region (it was then called “Vanguard”, according to other sources - the collective farm named after Krasin), Alexey was the leader of the Komsomol cell. Because of his ability to lead people, he was first appointed as a foreman, then as a party organizer, and then as the chairman of the mentioned collective farm.

Despite being barred from conscription, at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War he voluntarily joined the Red Army as a commissar. He fought as part of the 247th Infantry Division, then as part of the 220th Infantry Regiment of the 4th Infantry Division[Note 1].

Death

According to one version, he died in the summer of 1942 near the village of Khoroshoe: while repelling an attack by German units, he gathered a group of retreating soldiers around him and led them into a counterattack on the enemy trenches, in which he died during hand-to-hand combat. However, the photograph could not be taken at this moment, since there were no press photographers nearby.

According to the second version, he was killed while replacing the wounded company commander, Senior Lieutenant Petrenko. The picture was taken at the time of the counterattack, but the camera was damaged, and Max Alpert was forced to lie down in a trench; While he was assessing the damage done to the camera (at that time he believed that the pictures were lost and the film was damaged or exposed), he heard a message transmitted through a chain of people: “The battalion commander was killed!” Believing that this was the same commander, he subsequently titled the photo “Combat”.

He was buried in a mass grave in the village of Khoroshoe, Slavyanoserbsky district, Lugansk region (Ukraine) in July 1942.

In history

For a long time, Max Alpert could not establish what kind of person was captured in the photograph - many recognized their relatives in it, one even said in 2005 that it was he who was depicted in it. To identify the commander, journalists from Komsomolskaya Pravda, together with activists from the Luhansk regional youth organization “Molodogvardiets” (Russian: “Molodogvardeets”), organized a search for the relatives of the man in the photo, and an appeal to readers was published from the pages of the newspaper. In 1974, Eremenko’s relatives (mother and son) wrote to the editor with a request to find M. Alpert, since, in their opinion, it was their husband and father who were captured in the photograph. At first, this message caused skepticism, given the many previous such statements, and because of the funeral document attached to the letter, received by Alexey Gordeevich’s wife Evdokia Eremenko in 1943: “We inform you that your husband is junior political instructor Alexey Gordeevich Eremenko, born in 1906, January 14 1942 went missing”[Note 4]. But, since photographs were also attached to the letter, this made it possible to carry out an examination, which high degree confirmed that Alpert’s photo and photographs provided by Eremenko’s wife show one person.

The photograph “Combat” became one of the symbols of the Great Patriotic War.

In numismatics

Max Alpert's photo served as the basis for several commemorative coins dedicated to the anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War. These include:

5 rubles “The commander raises the soldiers to attack” from the set “50 Years of Victory”, 1995, Russian Federation.

10 rubles “55 years of Victory”, 2000, Russian Federation. Interestingly, collectors call the coin “Politruk”, despite the fact that the photo is mistakenly called “Combat”.

Monument at the site of death

The photograph served as a source of inspiration for the Luhansk sculptor Ivan Mikhailovich Chumak [Note 5], and he began to independently work on a monument to the hero of the photograph, which took him about ten years. Subsequently, with the participation of the entire region, an eleven-meter monument, cast from bronze by craftsmen of the Ukrainian Specialized Scientific and Production Directorate for Restoration Work, was installed near the alleged site of the battle where A. G. Eremenko died, at an elevated location of the observation post. The mound where the monument is erected is decorated with twenty-nine granite slabs, which were specially produced for this purpose in quarries in the Zhitomir region. At the foot of the monument there is a marble slab with the inscription: “In honor of the heroic feat of political workers of the Soviet Army in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.” On July 12, 2012, 70 years after the death of Eremenko, a reconstruction of the battle was carried out on the mound at the foot of the monument.