Zina Portnova. The death of a young scout. Pioneer-heroes of the Great Patriotic War Zina tailor pioneer hero

This article will focus on the partisan Zinaida Portnova, Hero of the Soviet Union. During the Great Patriotic War, the young girl zealously fought the enemy, being a member of the local partisan underground. Her exploits, which we will talk about now, have forever entered the annals of Soviet and Russian history.

So, Zina Portnova was born in 1926 in Leningrad. Her father worked at the Kirov plant, the girl grew up in the most ordinary working-class family. Zina has always been strongly involved in the social life of the class and educational institution, and, as a result, this did not go unnoticed - in the 5th grade she became the headman.

The girl's father Martyn Portnov was from Belarus. There, in the Vitebsk region, in the village of Zui, Zina's grandmother lived, where she and her sister Galya visited every summer. And that tragic year of 1941 was no exception - the war found 15-year-old Zinaida with her grandmother in the village.

Minsk, shortly after the start of the war, fell under the onslaught of the Nazi invaders (June 28). The German occupying troops moved on - to Orsha and Smolensk, and for this reason the sisters simply did not have time to evacuate to the rear, to the mainland. Apparently it was fate...

Of course, no one liked the new order that the invaders, who actually used the local population as their slaves, introduced. In Belarus, there were tens of thousands of people who refused to endure and endure the atrocities of the invaders. They began to unite in detachments, thus forming a partisan underground. Soon, young Zinaida Portnova also got into their ranks.

The girl was very lucky that even before the war she was friends with Fruza Zenkova, later a Hero of the Soviet Union, a member of the Komsomol underground. Indeed, in those tragic years, often the search for like-minded people who were ready to fight the occupying German regime led directly into the clutches of the enemy (unfortunately, there were always informers). It was Zenkova who attracted her younger friend to the affairs of the organization, and during one of the meetings of the underground Zinaida was admitted to the Komsomol.

Zina started with small operations by the standards of the partisan movement. She was accepted into the Young Avengers youth partisan detachment, and the girl, along with her peers, put up anti-fascist leaflets. But further - more. Young fighters against the hated regime began to disable German equipment, burn warehouses with ammunition, weapons, and carry out other sabotage operations.

But Zina became famous not even for these very brave deeds for a 15-year-old girl. The young partisan managed to get a job as a dishwasher in the kitchen of the officer's canteen, where she immediately took advantage of access to common food. Portnova poured rat poison into the soup of enemy officers, as a result of which more than a hundred Germans received severe food poisoning, many died.

Young Zina automatically fell into the circle of suspects, but when the Germans offered her to taste the poisoned soup, she agreed, pretending not to suspect anything. Thus, the partisan averted suspicions from herself, but these few spoons of poisoned soup almost cost the girl her life. Fortunately, the young body survived the poisoning well, plus Zina's grandmother was well acquainted with traditional medicine - the partisan miraculously survived.

Soon after the health of the young "avenger" was restored, she continued to fight with a weapon in her hands. However, the usual sabotage was not enough for Zinaida, she wanted a big “case”, but the partisans took care of her very much - she did not receive single tasks for some time.

A little later something terrible happened. The Komsomol underground "Young Avengers" was uncovered, and about 30 of its members were arrested by the German occupation forces. In captivity, the "avengers", of course, were subjected to terrible tortures, several people died from these terrible tortures, the rest were later shot ...

Then Zina volunteered to enter the territory of the fascist garrison in order to find out who betrayed the underground. However, upon returning to her native village, the girl was immediately captured by the Germans, who at that time were well aware of the role of the partisan in the poisoning in the dining room, in a number of other sabotage, etc.

Portnova was brought for interrogation to the Gestapo captain Krause, who, oddly enough, was very affectionate with the girl. The German officer very politely communicated with the partisan, offering her to hand over her comrades in the underground, report on their numbers, on the presence of certain types of weapons and ammunition at their disposal, etc. However, to intimidate the captain, he put a loaded pistol on the table, which and became his fatal mistake. When he went to the window to open it and light a cigarette, Zina grabbed a weapon from the table and actually shot her interrogator at point-blank range.

The partisan ran away from the ill-fated office, and neither the guard nor the policeman, who rushed to catch up with the girl, could stop her - both were shot dead. But Zina, unfortunately, did not go far, the German machine gunners wounded the girl in the legs and only then managed to detain her.

There could be no more talk of any kind interrogations - the partisan was tortured, beaten and humiliated, demanding information from her. The underground worker was tortured for more than a month, but Zinaida did not tell them anything. In the end, the Gestapo sadists cut off the girl's ears and gouged out her eyes, and only after that they shot her.

Zinaida Portnova died at the hands of the fascist invaders at the age of 17. She was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. This girl, who did not even live to her adulthood, had a truly strong spirit and unbending will. This, unfortunately, is generally very rare in people, regardless of their age ... Eternal memory of her immortal feat!

PORTNOVA Zinaida Martynovna A young underground partisan, a pioneer who died at the age of 17 by the death of the brave. She was born on February 20, 1926 in the city of Leningrad in a working class family. Belarusian by nationality. Graduated from 7 classes. A native of Leningrad, Zina Portnova was born in 1926 and before the war led the ordinary life of a Soviet girl. For the summer school holidays, the parents sent Zina, along with her younger sister Galya, to her grandmother in the Vitebsk region, in the village of Zui, Shumilinsky district. After the sudden attack of fascist Germany on the USSR, the threat of occupation immediately hung over the Vitebsk region. The grandmother's attempt to send her granddaughters home, to Leningrad, failed - the Germans blocked all roads. So, the girl remained in the occupied territory. From the first days of the war, numerous underground and partisan formations began to organize in the Vitebsk region to resist the Nazis. Fifteen-year-old Zina Portnova becomes the youngest member of the underground organized in the Shumilinsky district, called "Young Avengers". True, the oldest member of the group, the organizer and ideological inspirer, Efrosinya Zenkova (Fruse) was only 17. Practically, the children, members of the underground, began their activities with trifles: they put up anti-fascist leaflets, engaged in petty sabotage against the Germans. Fruza herself found a way out to the local partisan detachment and adult underground workers and coordinated actions with them. Gradually, the sabotage by the Young Avengers becomes more and more serious. They managed to set fire to wagons with flax looted by the Nazis and sent to Germany, set fire to industrial enterprises that worked for the Nazis, and undermined them. The feat of the partisan Zina Portnova One of the largest operations was the poisoning of more than a hundred German officers. And here the merit of Zina Portnova. Working as a dishwasher in the dining room, where officers sent for retraining courses ate, Zina poisoned the food. She herself then miraculously managed to avoid death and responsibility. The Germans forced her to eat from a bowl of poisoned soup. She fearlessly took the spoon and ate some of the soup, thus averting suspicion from herself. Her grandmother saved her from poison with the help of folk remedies. A strong body coped, and the girl survived. After this sabotage, Zina Portnova went to the partisan detachment. Here she was accepted into the Komsomol. In August 1943, a traitor introduced into the underground of the Young Avengers surrenders all members of the organization. Only Fruza Zenkova and several young underground workers manage to escape. After numerous tortures and interrogations, in October 1943, thirty boys and girls were executed by the Nazis. Zina Portnova, fulfilling the instructions of the partisan detachment, tried to get in touch with the escaped underground workers. But the mission failed, she was identified and arrested in the village of Mostische. By that time, the Nazis already knew a lot about the role of Zina in the Young Avengers squad. Only her participation in the poisoning was not known. Therefore, they tried to negotiate with her so that she would hand over the surviving members of the underground. But the girl was relentless. One of the interrogations conducted in the village of Goryany ended with the fact that Zina managed to grab the investigator's pistol and shoot him and two other Germans who were present during the interrogation. The attempt to escape failed, Zina was shot in the leg. And when she tried to shoot herself with the last bullet, the gun misfired. Zina Portnova went through all the circles of hell before her execution. They tortured her brutally: they gouged out her eyes, crippled her, tried to inflict more torment by driving needles under her nails and burning her skin with a red-hot iron. Zina endured everything steadfastly and did not give any evidence. Expecting death as a deliverance, after one of the interrogations, she escaped from the hands of the guards and threw herself under the truck. But they dragged her out and threw her into the cell again. On January 10, 1944, a crippled, blind and completely gray-haired 17-year-old girl was taken to execution. She was shot in the square along with other convicts. Only after almost 15 years the world learned about the feat of young underground workers. The youngest of them, Zina Portnova, was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin in 1958. "Daw, the war has begun!" In June 1941, the Portnova sisters went from Leningrad to Belarus to visit relatives. Zina just finished the 7th grade, and Galya did not go to school yet. Parents, seeing off their daughters at the Vitebsk railway station, wished them a good rest. How could they then know that soon the fertile land will be occupied by the Nazis, and they will see their eldest for the last time? .. - We lived with my aunt and uncle in Volkovysk, - recalls Galina Martynovna. - I remember one day I woke up and heard that Aunt Ira and Zinochka were crying behind the wall. I ran to them, and they told me: “Daw, the war has begun!” We went out onto the balcony, and then a German plane flew right over us. He flew so low that I even saw the face of the pilot! You know, this indifferent, concentrated face with a heavy chin stuck in my memory for the rest of my life, I always remembered him when I heard the expression “SS muzzle” ... Then Uncle Kolya called us and shouted: “Drop everything and run to the station! Aunt Ira grabbed a velvet tablecloth from the table, wrapped linen and some small things in it, and we rushed off. The echelon at the station was already full of people. I remember that Aunt Ira put me on the train, asked me to take the baby, but there was no room at all, they pushed me out ... We didn’t get into this echelon. Fortunately. Then it became known that the Germans bombed it completely! By the second echelon we got to Vitebsk and a couple of days later we were supposed to take a train to Leningrad, but the Germans came. Vitebsk fell into the zone of occupation. As a result, it was decided to go on foot to my grandmother, who lived 60 kilometers from the city, in the village of Zuya, near the Obol station. I remember we were wandering along the road, and then a German plane appeared, which bombed the highway. Everyone rushed into the ditch by the road, and Aunt Ira's alarm clock rang in her bundle. How scared she was then that the pilot would hear! But we still safely reached the village. "Don't cry, we're going to the partisans!" In the village during the occupation, Zina joined the underground Komsomol organization Young Avengers. The guys secretly caught reports from the Soviet Information Bureau on the radio, scattered leaflets about the victories of the Red Army, passed information, weapons and medicines to the partisans and organized more than twenty acts of sabotage. Galina Martynovna shows us a document that lists the most high-profile exploits of the underground: they blew up a flax and brick factories, a power plant, a water pump, six cars with Nazis ... - Zina didn’t tell me anything, only sometimes she asked me to pick up something for her, - Galina continues Melnikov. - For example, she said: “Go to Mostische, bring me a basket from there. If the German stops, you cry, but don't let the basket inspect!" Once they really stopped me, the German even took a couple of eggs from the basket, but did not climb further. And under the eggs in the basket was a mine. Then, on the instructions of the organization, Zina got a job in a German canteen. Nearby, in factories, a retraining school for German officers was located, and my sister was peeling potatoes in their dining room. I used to visit her often. Of course, I remember this time as relatively calm, because Zinochka brought home potato peelings and we were not as hungry as before. Then she was given the task of poisoning the Germans. My sister sewed a rag doll for me - with her I walked around the village for some time. From Mostishche I brought a container of poison in a basket. The sister hid the container inside the doll. On the same days, the Germans decided to drive a large batch of our youth to Germany, so the guys in the village were knocked down, many were crying. Zina and I also had to be taken away. But my sister said to me: “Galya, don’t cry, tomorrow you and I are leaving for the partisans! I'll take your doll, while you get yourself together. And in the evening she took me to Mostische. I remember a lot of young people gathered there in some kind of attic. And at night the partisans came to take people to them. One illuminated us all with a flashlight, saw me and asked: “What kind of pigali is this? We do not take children into partisans! But the cousin, the son of Aunt Ira, showed some paper - they say, this is the sister of Zina Portnova, here is the permission, they will take her. Then we walked all night: crossed the Western Dvina and stopped in Kiseli. There I was assigned to a partisan hospital, where I stayed to help: I ​​served drinks to the wounded, twisted bandages ... Little Galya did not know that her sister, having sent her away from sin to the partisans, was herself preparing to commit an extremely risky sabotage. She seized the right moment and poured poison into the soup for the Germans. As a result of her actions, more than a hundred fascist invaders were destroyed! And in order to avert suspicion from herself, Zina herself took a sip of poisoned soup during the check. Fortunately, she got a portion that was scooped up not from the side of the boiler where she poured the poison, but from the opposite side. Only thanks to this happy accident the girl survived. With the last of her strength, staggering from weakness, she reached the partisans, but there she lay in the hospital for a long time. As Chamomile, the eldest of the sisters, Zina, was betrayed, the partisans enlisted in intelligence, and little Checkmark was left to help the wounded and sick. “Zina often went on assignments, and before that she always ran into the hospital to kiss me,” says Galina Martynovna Melnikova. - And one day, at the end of 1943, she did not return. Everyone told me that Zina was taken to Germany. And I believed them, wanted to believe, hoped that my sister was alive! Zina's last task was to pick up the necessary information in Obol. In general, they often went there, a lineman worked at the Obol station, who transmitted information to the partisans about how many German trains had passed. The railway Vitebsk - Polotsk was very important, trains from Riga to Stalingrad went through it. The partisans then sent this information to Headquarters. During her last assignment, Zina wanted to know about the fate of the underground. Indeed, a month before, many of the "Young Avengers" were arrested and shot. The elderly woman falls silent for a while, and then, with tears in her voice, continues: - To be honest, she was caught, of course, stupidly! Zina walked along with other guys - Manya and Ilyukha. She came to Mostishche to meet with a messenger, but on the way back she was detained by a policeman and taken to the commandant's office. It was necessary to go past the cemetery, to the Obol River. People who saw Zina then say that she walked with her hands folded behind her back, and looked around all the time. She knew that Ilyukha and Manya had machine guns, but the policeman was leading her alone, past the forest, through a deserted place. She apparently hoped that the guys would have time to save her. But they walked to the village all night, 26 kilometers, and ... fell asleep! Later, Ilyukha blamed that they "guarded" Zina. And in the commandant's office sat Grechukhin, one of those who sold the underground workers. In general, Zina was identified. At one of the interrogations, which was conducted by the head of the Gestapo, Captain Krause, Zina grabbed a pistol lying on the table and shot the Gestapo man. But she could not escape, she was wounded, and then sent to a concentration camp. According to eyewitnesses, Zina Portnova was tortured very cruelly in a concentration camp in Polotsk, but she continued to remain silent. On January 10, 1944, the Nazis shot a gray-haired 17-year-old girl. And the partisans transported little Galya by plane across the front line to the mainland, along with some of the wounded. - 16 partisan detachments were operating behind the Western Dvina, and the Germans were afraid to stick their nose in there! - says Galina Martynovna. - But then they got tired of this business, they withdrew their regular troops and decided to clean up all the partisans. Our detachments were encircled, I was transported by plane literally ten days before the rout. We can say, saved at the last moment! The detachments were destroyed, most of the partisans died. Lenya, my cousin, was blown up by a mine while trying to break through the cordon, and the Germans captured my second brother, Kolya. He then sat in the same Polotsk concentration camp as Zina. I found out about my sister's death only in 1944, when I returned to my parents in Leningrad ... Zina Portnova, the legendary Romashka (the Leningrad schoolgirl in the Young Avengers organization had such a call sign), still remembers and honors the generation of real people - those for whom the word "Motherland" is not an empty phrase.

Zina Portnova hero of the Second World War

During the Second World War, as well as the Great Patriotic War, many young people became heroes. They went to the partisans or to the front to defend their homeland from the Germans.

In Leningrad, during the years of blockade and occupation, a partisan underground operated, of which Zinaida Portnova was a member. She was caught and tortured by the Nazis for a long time, but the girl never gave out the secrets of the partisans.

Childhood

Zinaida Portnova was born in Leningrad (modern St. Petersburg) in 1926 on February 20, in a family of workers at the Kirov plant. Her father Martyn Portnov worked there, who came to Leningrad from the Belarusian village of Zui, Vitebsk region. Zina's grandmother lived here, where the girl came every year for summer holidays with her sister Galina.

Zinaida successfully studied at school, was accepted into a pioneer organization, and constantly took part in the social life of the school. Before the start of World War II, the girl successfully completed seven classes, and her parents again sent Zina and Galya to Belarus to their grandmother.

Joining the partisans

It was in Zooey that the girls were caught in the war. The village was located near the Obol railway station in the Shumilinsky district of the Vitebsk region. When the Germans captured Minsk, which was captured on June 28, 1941, Vitebsk and neighboring regions of Belarus were under threat of capture. This soon happened, as the Germans quickly advanced towards Orsha and Smolensk. The Vitebsk region, as well as the village of the grandmother of the Portnov sisters, were under occupation.

Historians believe that Galina and Zinaida did not have time to go to the rear. The orders that the Germans established were not liked by many citizens, so partisan organizations began to emerge. Most of them worked underground, although some went into the forest. Zina got into the partisans thanks to her acquaintance with Fruza Zenkova, who gradually began to involve Portnova in the activities of the partisan underground. Zina was accepted into the youth partisan organization, which was called the "Young Avengers" in 1942.

Main activities

• Distribution of leaflets of anti-fascist and anti-German content.
• Sabotage aimed at bringing German equipment out of action.
• Arson of warehouses with ammunition, weapons.
• Undermining the railway tracks.

I washed dishes in the kitchen of the German officer's canteen. The last direction of work allowed Zinaida Portnova to have constant access to food. In addition to eavesdropping and passing on important information to friends, the girl carried out a successful sabotage operation in the dining room.

Once she added rat poison to the food that was being prepared for the officers. More than a hundred people received very severe food poisoning, many Germans died in great agony. During the investigation conducted by the Germans, Zinaida Portnova became one of the main suspects in this crime.

The Germans ordered the girl to taste the soup, and she agreed to try the poisoned soup. Zina pretended not to suspect and ate a few spoonfuls of soup. This averted suspicion from the girl, although it caused the strongest departure of the body. Zina's grandmother treated her granddaughter with traditional medicine for a long time, who managed to cope with rat poison.

After the incident with the poisoning, the leadership of Otrad did not give the girl single tasks for some time. Although the young partisan was always eager to complete tasks, and constantly asked for weapons in order to continue the fight against the invaders. The situation changed the case. The underground "Young Avengers" was discovered by the Germans, almost 30 of its members were arrested by the Germans and imprisoned. Each of them was subjected to severe torture and torture, during which many partisans died. The rest were sentenced to death by the Germans, and members of the organization were shot.

Captured by the Germans

The disclosure of the underground worried the partisans, it was necessary to find the one who betrayed the Young Avengers organization to the Germans. Zinaida Portnova volunteered to infiltrate the territory of the German garrison in order to collect the necessary data. As soon as the girl returned to the village of Zui, she was immediately arrested by the Nazis, who were already well aware of her participation in sabotage, poisoning and other actions against the occupation authorities.

Zina was sent for interrogation to Captain Krause, who headed the local branch of the Gestapo. Attempts to persuade the girl to hand over her friends, to provide information about the number of partisans, the number of weapons at their disposal and location, did not bring any result. During the interrogation, the captain placed a loaded pistol on the table to scare the girl.

While Krause turned to the window to smoke, Zina grabbed a weapon and killed the German by shooting at point-blank range. Running away from the room where the interrogation took place, the partisan shot the guard and the policeman, who could not stop Zina. But she still couldn't run away. The Germans wounded the girl with machine guns in the legs, having managed to detain her.

The next interrogations took place without persuasion. The partisan was brutally tortured, humiliated, beaten, but no information was received from her. When the Nazis realized that they would not achieve anything from Zina, they shot the girl. It happened on January 10, 1944 in the city of Polotsk or in the village of Goryany (the exact place of execution has not been established). The girl was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Memory

Zinaida Martynovna Portnova was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. Streets of cities, schools, obelisks and busts were erected in her honor.

Portnova Zinaida Martynovna (Zina Portnova) is a member of the underground Komsomol organization Young Avengers, which operated at the Obol station in the Vitebsk region of the Byelorussian SSR.

She was born on February 20, 1926 in the city of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) in a working class family. Belarusian. Member of the Komsomol since 1943. Graduated from 7 classes.

During the Great Patriotic War, while during the summer school holidays in the village of Zuya near the Obol station (now within the boundaries of the urban-type settlement of Obol, Shumilinsky district) of the Vitebsk region of the Byelorussian SSR, Zina Portnova ended up in the territory temporarily occupied by the Germans.

In 1942, the young patriot joined the Obol underground Komsomol youth organization "Young Avengers" (headed by Hero of the Soviet Union E. S. Zenkova) and actively participated in the distribution of leaflets among the population and sabotage against the Nazi invaders.

Since August 1943, the Komsomol member Zina Portnova has been a scout of the partisan detachment named after K. E. Voroshilov. In December 1943, she was given the task of uncovering the reasons for the failure of the Young Avengers organization and establishing contact with the underground. Upon returning to the detachment, Zina was arrested. During the interrogation, the brave girl grabbed the pistol of the fascist investigator from the table, shot him and two more Nazis, tried to escape, but was captured and brutally tortured in January 1944 in the village of Goryany, now the Shumilinsky district of the Vitebsk region of Belarus.

By the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of July 1, 1958 for the courage and heroism shown in the fight against the fascist invaders during the Great Patriotic War, Portnova Zinaida Martynovna awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously).

Awarded the Order of Lenin (08/01/1958, posthumously).

In 1969, in the village of Zuya, on the house where Zina Portnova lived from 1941 to 1943, a memorial plaque was opened. On the highway Vitebsk - Polotsk, the Museum of Komsomol Glory and the school are named after her. Many pioneer squads and detachments in the schools of Belarus bore the name of the young Hero. A school in the urban-type settlement of Obol, a street in the hero city of Leningrad, and a motor ship are named after Zina Portnova. In the capital of Belarus - the hero city of Minsk, a bust of Zina Portnova was erected, and an obelisk near the village of Obol.

Sources

The feat of Zina Portnova, a summary of which will be described in this article, is not very widely covered on the Internet. Information is scarce and repetitive. There are no sources that would reveal a multifaceted picture of her heroic deed. Basically, only dry facts are given: she was born in Leningrad in 1926 in a working class family, was a member of the Young Avengers underground youth group, was captured by the Nazis during the execution of the next task and executed in January 1944.

To understand who this girl was and imagine what she was thinking during the ordeal, let's turn to the content of the story of the same name.

Character

In this story, the author very vividly describes the fate of Zina, a young Komsomol member and pioneer who fought against the fascist invaders and passed with dignity despite numerous difficulties. She never backed down and faced new challenges with defiance. Even in the most difficult times, the girl never took care of herself, but was more worried about others. Awareness of one's duty, perseverance, a sense of responsibility and a passionate love for the motherland - these are the qualities that determine the feat of Zina Portnova.

Joining the Young Avengers

In June 1941, the parents sent the girl to the village of Zui (Vitebsk region) for school holidays. Just at that time, the Nazis invaded the USSR, and Portnova ended up in the occupied territory. She was not going to put up with the current state of affairs and decided to fight the enemy. In 1942, Zina Portnova, whose feat will never be forgotten, joined the Young Avengers organization.

Difficult task

Smirnov's story filled with life the dry facts of the girl's biography and enabled the reader to mentally be close to the pioneer in moments of difficult trials. When Zina got a job in the canteen for Wehrmacht cadets, she received one of the most difficult tasks from the Young Avengers. Portnova was supposed to put poison in the food. After the girl did this, about 100 Nazis died. Among them were pilots who were supposed to fly to the bombing of Moscow and Leningrad that day. Thus, the feat of Zina Portnova saved thousands of lives of her compatriots.

Departure to the partisans

The Germans immediately began to search for the culprit and gathered together the entire staff of the dining room. Each was offered a bowl of poisoned soup. Portnova ate it without any talk. The girl was not afraid of being caught, but she was very worried about the fate of her younger sister Galya and her cousins, who remained dependent on her after the arrest of Aunt Ira. The fear that the Germans would take them turned out to be stronger than Slabey and, feeling severe pain in her stomach, the girl thought only about how to take Galya to a safe place - to the partisans in the forest.

Zina Portnova, whose feat is known all over the world, took her sister by the hand and went into the forest through the swampy area. The pain intensified, but she did not stop. Zina understood that she would die, and the bill went to the clock. The main thing for the future Komsomol member was to take her sister to the partisans. They found the girls only at dawn. Portnova lay unconscious on the ground, and Galya sat next to him. Doctors stated acute and pneumonia. The fact that the young pioneer survived was a real miracle. In 1943 she was accepted into the Komsomol.

New task

After the Nazis shot most of the Young Avengers group, Zina Portnova, whose feat motivated the fighters, along with her brother Ilya and Masha Dementieva, went on reconnaissance to the village of Mostishchi. There, the girl was supposed to meet with a liaison and find out how many Komsomol members were left alive, what kind of help they needed. Zina went to the meeting alone, and Ilya and Masha had to cover her and wait at the appointed place.

Arrest

Portnova learned the necessary information from the messenger and went back. Along the way, she met two women, one of whom knew Zina. And the one whom Portnova was unfamiliar with asked the name of the girl. The woman replied that it was Zina, Yablokova's granddaughter. The policemen passing by knew this name well and detained Portnova, deciding to take her to the village of Obol. Just on the way there, Masha and Ilya were supposed to be waiting for the girl. But when the Nazis saw off the pioneer next to the agreed place, the comrades did not come to her aid. Only a few years later, when the feat of the pioneer Zina Portnova became public, it turned out that the guys left the observation post for only a few minutes due to a booming sound in the forest. Just at that moment, the Nazis took the girl.

Escape attempt

Zina Portnova, whose feat is known to all the inhabitants of the USSR, was brought for interrogation to a Gestapo officer. He looked at the Komsomol member with glazed eyes. Then the Gestapo man pulled out his pistol and laid it on the table. Outside the window, the engine of the car roared, and the fascist turned away from the girl. Zina reacted instantly - she grabbed a pistol and shot the enemy in the chest. There was another Gestapo man in the room, frantically trying to get a pistol. He was also shot dead. Running out of the building, Portnova killed the sentry at close range. Shooting back from the chase, the girl went down to the river.

Torture and execution

Soon she was overtaken by automatic fire, the girl was badly wounded in the leg. But she did not stop and continued to shoot back. Zina kept the last bullet for herself. When the Germans almost overtook her, the Komsomol member pointed the muzzle of a pistol at her chest and pulled the trigger. But there was a misfire. The fascist who ran up knocked out a pistol and grabbed a brave Komsomol member.

After the incident, Portnova was taken to Polotsk. The torture continued for a month. The Nazis crushed Zina's joints, gouged out her eyes and twisted her arms. They also burned the girl with a red-hot iron and drove needles under her nails. The Komsomol member did not utter a word and was shot. The unshakable stamina of the girl has become another reason that the feat of Zina Portnova, interesting facts about which are given in this article, will always be an example for young people.

Conclusion

The Soviet people learned about the "Young Avengers" only 15 years after the end of the war. In 1958, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the country issued a decree on awarding orders of the USSR to all members of the underground group Young Avengers.

Time inexorably runs forward, but the feat of Zina Portnova, a summary of which is described above, will live forever in the hearts of people.

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