Sniper from God, Fedor Matveyevich Okhlopkov

(March 2, 1908, Krest-Khaldzhay village, Bayagantaisky ulus, Yakutsk region, Russian Empire - May 28, 1968, Krest-Khaldzhay village, Tomponsky district, YASSR), USSR) - sniper of the 234th rifle regiment, Hero of the Soviet Union.

Born March 3, 1908 in the village of Krest-Khaldzhai, now the Tomponsky district (Yakutia), in a peasant family. Primary education. He worked on a collective farm. Since September 1941 in the Red Army. Since December of the same year at the front. Member of the battles near Moscow, the liberation of the Kalinin, Smolensk, Vitebsk regions.

By June 1944, the sniper of the 234th Infantry Regiment (179th Infantry Division, 43rd Army, 1st Baltic Front), Sergeant F. M. Okhlopkov, destroyed 429 enemy soldiers and officers with a sniper rifle.

On May 6, 1965, for courage and military prowess shown in battles with enemies, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

After the war he was demobilized. Returned to his homeland, was an employee. In 1954 - 1968 he worked at the Tomponsky state farm. Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 2nd convocation. Died May 28, 1968.

Awarded with orders: Lenin, Red Banner, Patriotic War 2nd degree, Red Star (twice); medals. The name of the Hero was given to the state farm "Tomponsky", the streets in the city of Yakutsk, the village of Khandyga and the village of Cherkekh (Yakutia), as well as the ship of the Ministry of the Navy.

MAGIC SHOOTER

Passing by a club in the village of Krest-Khaldzhay, a frail, short, elderly worker of the Tomponsky state farm heard a fragment of a radio broadcast of the latest news. He heard: "... for the exemplary performance of the combat missions of command on the fronts of the struggle and the courage and heroism shown at the same time, to confer the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the award of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal to reserve sergeant Okhlopkov Fedor Matveevich ..."

The worker slowed down, stopped. His last name is Okhlopkov, his first name is Fyodor, his patronymic is Matveyevich, in the military ID in the column "Rank" it is written: reserve sergeant.

It was May 7, 1965 - 20 years since the end of the war, and although the worker knew that he had long been presented to a high rank, without delay, he walked past the club, through the village dear to his heart, in which almost all of his half-century life roared.

He fought and received his own: two orders of the Red Star, the Order of the Patriotic War and the Red Banner, several medals. Until now, 12 wounds ache for him, and people who understand a lot about such matters equate each wound with an order.

Okhlopkov Fyodor Matveyevich ... And there is such a coincidence: the surname, and the name, and the patronymic, and the rank - everything came together, - the worker smiled, going out to the threshold Aldan.

He sank down on the bank, covered with young spring grass, and, looking at the hills covered with green moss of the taiga, slowly went into the distant past ... He saw himself, as it were, from the outside, through the eyes of another person. Here he is, 7-year-old Fedya, crying over his mother’s grave, at the age of 12 he buries his father and, after graduating from grade 3, leaves school forever ... Here he is, Fedor Okhlopkov, diligently uprooting the forest for arable land, sawing and chopping wood for steamship fireboxes, enjoying his skill , mows hay, carpenters, catches perches in the lake holes, sets crossbows for hares and traps for foxes in the taiga.

The anxious, windy day of the beginning of the war is coming, when everything familiar and dear had to be said goodbye, and maybe forever.

Okhlopkov was drafted into the army at the beginning of winter. In the village of Cross-Khaldzhai, the soldiers were escorted with speeches and music. It was cold. For 50 degrees below zero. The salty tears of his wife froze on her cheeks and rolled like a shot...

It is not so far from Krest-Khaldzhay to the capital of the Autonomous Republic. A week later, traveling through the taiga on dogs, those drafted into the army were in Yakutsk.

Okhlopkov did not linger in the city, and together with his brother Vasily and fellow villagers went by truck through Aldan to the Bolshoy Never railway station. Together with his countrymen - hunters, farmers and fishermen - Fedor ended up in the Siberian division.

It was hard for the Yakuts, Evenks, Oduls and Chukchi to leave their republic, which is 10 times larger than Germany in area. It was a pity to part with their wealth: with collective-farm herds of deer, with 140 million hectares of Dahurian larch, sprinkled with sparkles of forest lakes, with billions of tons of coking coal. Everything was expensive: the blue artery of the Lena River, and the gold veins, and the mountains with loaches and stony placers. But what to do? We must hurry. German hordes were advancing on Moscow, Hitler raised a knife over the heart of the Soviet people.

With Vasily, who was also in the same division, they agreed to stick together and asked the commander to give them a machine gun. The commander promised and for two weeks, while getting to Moscow, he patiently explained to the brothers the device of the aiming device and its details. The commander, with his eyes closed in front of the enchanted soldiers, deftly dismantled and reassembled the car. Both Yakuts learned how to handle a machine gun on the way. Of course, they understood that there was still a lot to be mastered before they became real machine gunners: they had to work out shooting over their advancing soldiers, shooting at targets - suddenly appearing, quickly hiding and moving, learn how to hit planes and tanks. The commander assured that all this will come with time, in the experience of battles. Combat is the most important school for a soldier.

The commander was Russian, but before graduating from a military school, he lived in Yakutia, worked in gold and diamond mines and knew well that the keen eye of a Yakut sees far, does not lose animal traces either in the grass, or on moss, or on stones, and in terms of accuracy of hits, there are few shooters in the world equal to the Yakuts.

We arrived in Moscow on a frosty morning. The column, with rifles on their backs, passed through Red Square, past the Lenin Mausoleum and went to the front.

The 375th Rifle Division, formed in the Urals and merged into the 29th Army, advanced to the front. The 1243rd regiment of this division included Fedor and Vasily Okhlopkov. The commander with two cubes on the buttonholes of his overcoat kept his word: he gave them a light machine gun for two. Fedor became the first number, Vasily - the second.

While in the forests of the Moscow region, Fyodor Okhlopkov saw fresh divisions approaching the front line, tanks and artillery concentrating. It looked like a crushing blow was being prepared after heavy defensive battles. Forests and groves came to life.

The wind carefully bandaged the bloody, wounded earth with clean strips of snow, diligently swept up the exposed ulcers of war. Blizzards raged, covering the trenches and trenches of the frozen fascist warriors with a white shroud. Day and night the piercing wind sang to them a mournful funeral song...

In early December, the division commander, General N. A. Sokolov, visited the battalions of the regiment, and a day later, on a blizzard morning, the division, after artillery preparation, rushed to the offensive.

In the first chain of their battalion, the Yakut brothers ran across, often burrowing into the prickly snow, giving short oblique bursts at the green enemy overcoats. They managed to defeat several fascists, but then they did not yet keep an account of revenge. Forces were tried, the accuracy of hunting eyes was tested. For two days without a break, with varying success, a heated battle lasted with the participation of tanks and aircraft, and for two days no one closed their eyes for a minute. The division managed to cross the Volga along the ice broken by shells, drive the enemies for 20 miles.

Pursuing the retreating enemy, our fighters liberated the villages of Semyonovskoye and Dmitrovskoye, burned to the ground, and occupied the northern outskirts of the city of Kalinin, which was engulfed in fire. The "Yakut" frost was fierce; there was a lot of firewood around, but there was no time to kindle a fire, and the brothers warmed their hands on the heated barrel of a machine gun. After a long retreat, the Red Army advanced. The most pleasant sight for a soldier is a fleeing enemy. In two days of fighting, the regiment, in which the Okhlopkov brothers served, destroyed over 1000 Nazis, defeated the headquarters of two German infantry regiments, captured rich military trophies: cars, tanks, cannons, machine guns, hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition. And Fedor and Vasily, just in case, put the trophy "Parabellum" into the pockets of their overcoats.

The victory came at a high price. The division lost many soldiers and officers. The commander of the regiment, Captain Chernozersky, died a heroic death; an explosive bullet from a German sniper killed Vasily Okhlopkov on the spot. He fell to his knees, poked his face into the prickly, like nettles, snow. He died in his brother's arms, easily, without suffering.

Fedor cried. Standing without a hat over the cooling body of Vasily, he swore an oath to avenge his brother, he promised the dead to open his own account of the destroyed fascists.

At night, sitting in a hastily dug out dugout, the commissar of the division, Colonel S. Kh. Ainutdinov, wrote about this oath in a political report. This was the first mention of Fyodor Okhlopkov in war documents...

Reporting the death of his brother, Fedor wrote about his oath in the Cross - Khaldzhai. His letter was read in all three villages included in the village council. The villagers approved of the courageous determination of their countryman. The oath was approved by his wife Anna Nikolaevna and son Fedya.

Fyodor Matveyevich recalled all this on the banks of the Aldan, watching the spring wind, like flocks of sheep, drive white ice floes westward. He was interrupted from his thoughts by the rumble of a car, the secretary of the district committee of the party drove up.

Well, dear, congratulations. - Jumped out of the car, hugged, kissed.

The decree read over the radio concerned him. The government equated his name with the names of 13 Yakuts - Heroes of the Soviet Union: S. Asyamov, M. Zhadeikin, V. Kolbunov, M. Kosmachev, K. Krasnoyarov, A. Lebedev, M. Lorin, V. Pavlov, F. Popov, V Streltsov, N. Chusovsky, E. Shavkunov, I. Shamanov. He is the 14th Yakut, marked with the "Gold Star".

A month later, in the meeting room of the Council of Ministers, in which a poster hung: "To the people - to the hero - aikhal!" Okhlopkov was awarded the Motherland.

Thanking the audience, he briefly spoke about how the Yakuts fought ... Memories flooded into Fedor Matveyevich, and he seemed to see himself in the war from the outside, but not in the 29th army, but in the 30th, which subordinated his division. Okhlopkov heard the speech of the commander of the army, General Lelyushenko. The commander asked the commanders to find well-aimed shooters, to train snipers from them. So Fedor became a sniper. The work was slow, but by no means boring: the danger made it exciting, it required rare fearlessness, excellent orientation on the ground, sharp eyes, composure, iron restraint.

On March 2, April 3 and May 7, Okhlopkov was wounded, but each time he remained in the ranks. A resident of the taiga, he understood the rural pharmacopoeia, knew the healing properties of herbs, berries, leaves, knew how to heal diseases, possessed secrets that were passed down from generation to generation. Gritting his teeth in pain, he burned the wounds with the fire of a resinous pine torch and did not go to the medical battalion.

* * *
In early August 1942, the troops of the Western and Kalinin fronts broke through the enemy defenses and began to advance in the Rzhevsky and Gzhatsk-Vyazemsky directions. The 375th division, going to the spearhead of the offensive, took upon itself the main blow of the enemy. In the battles near Rzhev, the advance of our troops was delayed by the fascist armored train "Hermann Goering", which cruised along a high railway embankment. The division commander decided to block the armored train. A group of daredevils was created. Okhlopkov asked to include him. After waiting for the night, wearing camouflage robes, the fighters crawled to the target. The enemy illuminated all approaches to the railway with rockets. The Red Army soldiers had to lie on the ground for a long time. Below, against the background of the graying sky, like a mountain range, one could see the black silhouette of an armored train. Smoke curled over the locomotive, its bitter smell was blown to the ground by the wind. The soldiers crawled closer and closer. Here is the long-awaited mound.

Lieutenant Sitnikov, who commanded the group, gave a prearranged signal. The fighters jumped to their feet and threw grenades and fuel bottles at the steel boxes; sighing heavily, the armored train took off running towards Rzhev, but an explosion was heard in front of it. The train tried to leave for Vyazma, but even there the brave sappers blew up the canvas.

From the base car, the crew of the armored train lowered new rails, trying to restore the destroyed track, but under well-aimed machine gun bursts, having lost several people killed, they were forced to return under the protection of iron walls. Okhlopkov then killed half a dozen fascists.

For several hours, a group of daredevils held an armored train that resisted, deprived of maneuver, under fire. At noon, our bombers flew in, knocked out a locomotive, and threw an armored car down a slope. A group of daredevils saddled the railroad and held out until a battalion approached to help.

The battles near Rzhev took on a fierce character. Artillery destroyed all the bridges, plowed up the roads. The week was stormy. The rain poured down like a bucket, making it difficult for tanks and guns to advance. The entire burden of military suffering fell on the infantry.

The temperature of the battle is measured by the number of human casualties. A laconic document has been preserved in the archives of the Soviet Army:

"From August 10 to August 17, the 375th division lost 6140 people killed and wounded. The 1243rd regiment distinguished itself in the offensive impulse. Its commander, Lieutenant Colonel Ratnikov, died a heroic death in front of his troops. All the battalion commanders and company commanders were out of order. The sergeants began to command platoons, foremen - companies.

... Okhlopkov's squad was advancing in the forward line. In his opinion, this was the most suitable place for a sniper. By flashes of flame, he quickly found enemy machine guns and made them fall silent, unmistakably falling into narrow loopholes and crevices.

On the evening of August 18, during an attack on a small, half-burnt village, Fyodor Okhlopkov was seriously wounded for the 4th time. Covered in blood, the sniper fell and lost consciousness. There was an iron blizzard around the chalk, but two Russian soldiers, risking their own lives, dragged the wounded Yakut out of the fire to the edge of the grove, under the cover of bushes and trees. The orderlies took him to the medical battalion, and from there Okhlopkov was taken to the city of Ivanovo, to the hospital.

By order of the troops of the Kalinin Front No. 0308 dated August 27, 1942, signed by the front commander, Colonel General Konev, the commander of the submachine gunners department, Fedor Matveyevich Okhlopkov, was awarded the Order of the Red Star. The award sheet for this order says: "Okhlopkov, with his courage, more than once, in difficult moments of battle, stopped the alarmists, inspired the fighters, and led them back into battle."

Having recovered from the wound, Okhlopkov was sent to the 234th regiment of the 178th division.

The new division knew that Okhlopkov was a sniper. The battalion commander was delighted to see him. The enemy has a well-aimed shooter. During the day, with 7 shots, he "shot" 7 of our soldiers. Okhlopkov was ordered to destroy an invulnerable enemy sniper. At dawn, the magic shooter went hunting. German snipers chose high positions, Okhlopkov preferred the ground.

The winding line of German trenches turned yellow at the edge of a tall forest. The sun has risen. Lying in a trench that had been dug out and camouflaged at night with his own hands, Fyodor Matveyevich looked around the unfamiliar landscape with the naked eye, figured out where his enemy might be, and then, through an optical device, began to study separate, unremarkable sections of the terrain. An enemy sniper could take cover on a tree trunk.

But on which one exactly? Behind the German trenches, a high ship timber was blue - hundreds of trunks, and on each one there could be a dexterous, experienced enemy who had to be outwitted. The forest landscape is devoid of clear outlines, trees and shrubs merge into a solid green mass and it is difficult to focus on anything. Okhlopkov examined all the trees through binoculars from roots to crowns. The German shooter most likely chose a place on a pine tree with a forked trunk. The sniper glared at the suspicious tree, examining every branch on it. The mysterious silence grew ominous. He was looking for a sniper who was looking for him. The one who first finds his opponent and, ahead of him, pulls the trigger, wins.

As agreed, at 8:12, in a trench 100 meters from Okhlopkov, a soldier's helmet was raised on a bayonet. A shot rang out from the forest. But the flash could not be detected. Okhlopkov continued to watch the suspicious pine tree. For a moment I saw a solar gleam next to the trunk, as if someone had pointed a spot of a mirror beam onto the bark, which immediately disappeared, as if it had never existed.

"What could it be?" thought the sniper, but no matter how much he peered, he could not find anything. And suddenly, in the place where a bright spot flashed, a black triangle appeared, like the shadow of a leaf. The keen eye of a taiga hunter through binoculars discerned a sock, to the nickel shine of a polished boot ...

"Cuckoo" hid on a tree. It is necessary, without betraying oneself, to wait patiently and, as soon as the sniper opens up, strike him down with one bullet ... After an unsuccessful shot, the fascist will either disappear, or, having found him, will engage in single combat and return fire. In Okhlopkov's rich practice, he rarely succeeded in aiming twice at the same target. Every time after a miss, I had to seek out, track down, wait for days ...

Half an hour after the shot of the German sniper, at the place where the helmet was lifted, a glove appeared, one, then the second. From the side, one might have thought that the wounded man was trying to rise, grabbing his hand on the parapet of the trench. The enemy took the bait and took aim. Okhlopkov saw part of his face appear among the branches and the black dot of the muzzle of a rifle. Two shots fired at the same time. The Nazi sniper flew head first to the ground.

For a week in the new division, Fyodor Okhlopkov sent 11 fascists to the next world. This was reported from observation posts by witnesses of unusual duels.

The air was saturated with the smell of battle. The enemy counterattacked with tanks. Pressing into a shallow, hastily dug trench, Okhlopkov cold-bloodedly fired at the viewing slits of the formidable machines and hit. In any case, two tanks that were heading straight for him turned, and the third stopped about 30 meters away, and the shooters set fire to it with bottles of combustible mixture. The fighters, who saw Okhlopkov in battle, were surprised at his luckiness, spoke about him with love and a joke:

Fedya is like an insured... Two-wire...

They did not know that invulnerability was given to the Yakut by caution and labor, he preferred to dig 10 meters of trenches than 1 meter of grave.

He went hunting at night too: he fired at the flames of cigarettes, at voices, at the clang of weapons, bowlers and helmets.

In November 1942, the regiment commander, Major Kovalev, presented the sniper for an award, and the command of the 43rd Army awarded him the second Order of the Red Star. Then Fyodor Matveyevich became a communist. Taking a party card from the hands of the head of the political department, he said:

Joining the party is my second oath of allegiance to the Motherland.

His name increasingly began to appear on the pages of the military press. In mid-December 1942, the army newspaper "Defender of the Fatherland" wrote on the front page: "99 enemies were exterminated by a sniper - Yakut Okhlopkov." Front-line newspaper "Forward to the enemy!" set Okhlopkova as an example to all snipers of the front. The "Sniper's Memo" issued by the political department of the front summarized his experience, offered his advice ...

* * *
The division in which Okhlopkov served was transferred to the 1st Baltic Front. The situation has changed, the landscape has changed. Going hunting every day, from December 1942 to July 1943, Okhlopkov destroyed 159 Nazis, many of them snipers. In numerous duels with German snipers, Okhlopkov was never wounded. He received 12 wounds and 2 shell shocks in offensive and defensive battles, when everyone fought against everyone. Each wound undermined health, took away strength, but he knew: a candle shines on people, burning itself.

The enemy quickly made out the confident handwriting of the magic shooter, who put his vengeful signature on the forehead or chest of his soldiers and officers. Over the positions of the regiment, German pilots dropped leaflets, they contained a threat: "Okhlopkov, surrender. There is no salvation for you! We'll take it anyway, dead or alive!"

I had to lie still for hours. Such a state disposed to introspection and reflection. He lay and saw himself in Krest-Khaldzhai, on the rocky shore of Aldan, in a family, with his wife and son. He had an amazing ability to go into the past and wander in it along the paths of memory, as if in a familiar forest.

Okhlopkov is laconic and does not like to talk about himself. But what he is silent out of modesty is what the documents say. The award list for the Order of the Red Banner, which he was awarded for battles in the Smolensk region, says:

"Being in infantry combat formations at an altitude of 237.2, at the end of August 1943, a group of snipers led by Okhlopkov steadfastly and courageously repelled 3 counterattacks of numerically superior forces. Sergeant Okhlopkov was shell-shocked, but did not leave the battlefield, continued to remain on occupied lines and lead group of snipers.

In a bloody street battle, Fyodor Matveyevich carried his countrymen out of the fire - soldiers Kolodeznikov and Elizarov, seriously wounded by fragments of a mine. They sent letters home, describing everything as it was, and Yakutia learned about the feat of her faithful son.

The army newspaper "Defender of the Fatherland", which closely followed the success of the sniper, wrote:

"F. M. Okhlopkov was in the most cruel battles. He has a sharp eye of a hunter, a firm hand of a miner and a big warm heart ... The German he took at gunpoint is a dead German."

There is also another interesting document:

"Combat characteristics for sniper Sergeant Okhlopkov Fyodor Matveevich. Member of the CPSU (b). Being in the 1st battalion of the 259th rifle regiment from January 6 to January 23, 1944, Comrade Okhlopkov exterminated 11 Nazi invaders. With the advent of Okhlopkov in the area of our defense, the enemy does not show activity of sniper fire, ceased daytime work and walking. Commander of the 1st battalion, Captain I. Baranov. January 23, 1944. "

The command of the Soviet Army developed a sniper movement. Fronts, armies, divisions were proud of their well-aimed shooters. Fedor Okhlopkov conducted an interesting correspondence. Snipers from all fronts shared combat experience among themselves.

For example, Okhlopkov advised the young man Vasily Kurka: “Imitate less ... Look for your own methods of struggle ... Find new positions and new ways of disguise ... Don’t be afraid to go behind enemy lines ... You can’t chop with an ax where you need a needle ... In a pumpkin you need to be round, in a pipe long ... Until you see an exit, do not enter ... Get the enemy at any distance.

Okhlopkov gave such advice to his numerous students. He took them hunting with him. The student saw with his own eyes the subtleties and complexities of the fight against a cunning enemy.

In our business, everything is suitable: a wrecked tank, a hollow tree, a log cabin of a well, a stack of straw, a stove of a burned-out hut, a dead horse ...

Once he pretended to be killed and lay motionless all day on a no-man's land in a completely open field, among the silent bodies of the slain soldiers, touched by the smoldering fumes. From this unusual position, he brought down an enemy sniper who was buried under an embankment in a drainpipe. The enemy soldiers did not even notice where the unexpected shot came from. The sniper lay until evening and, under the cover of darkness, crawled back to his own.

Somehow Okhlopkova was brought a gift from the front commander - a narrow and long box. He impatiently opened the package and froze in delight when he saw a brand new sniper rifle with a telescopic sight.

There was a day. The sun was shining. But Okhlopkov was eager to upgrade his weapons. Since yesterday evening, he noticed a fascist observation post on the chimney of a brick factory. Crawling reached the trenches of military outposts. Having smoked with the soldiers, he rested and, merging with the color of the earth, crawled even further. The body was numb, but he lay motionless for 3 hours and, having chosen a convenient moment, removed the observer with one shot. The account of Okhlopkov's revenge for his brother kept growing. Here are excerpts from the divisional newspaper: on March 14, 1943 - 147 Nazis were destroyed; as of July 20 - 171; as of October 2 - 219; on January 13, 1944 - 309; as of March 23 - 329; on April 25 - 339; on June 7 - 420.

On June 7, 1944, the commander of the Guards regiment, Major Kovalev, introduced Sergeant Okhlopkov to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The award list then did not receive its completion. Some intermediate authority between the regiment and the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR did not approve it. All the soldiers in the regiment knew about this document, and although there was no Decree yet, Okhlopkov's appearance in the trenches was often greeted with a song: "The golden fire of the Hero burns on his chest ..."

In April 1944, the publishing house of the army newspaper "Defender of the Fatherland" released a poster. It depicts a portrait of a sniper, in large letters it says: "Okhlopkov." Below is a poem by the famous military poet Sergei Barents, dedicated to Yanaiper - Yakut.

In single combat, Okhlopkov shot 9 more snipers. The account of revenge has reached a record figure - 429 killed Nazis!

In the battles for the city of Vitebsk on June 23, 1944, a sniper, supporting an assault group, received a through wound in the chest, was sent to a rear hospital and never returned to the front.

In the hospital, Okhlopkov did not lose contact with his comrades, followed the progress of his division, which was confidently making its way to the west. The joys of victories and the sorrows of losses reached him. In September, his student Burukchiev was killed by an explosive bullet, and a month later his friend, the famous sniper Kutenev, with 5 shooters, knocked out 4 tanks and, wounded, unable to resist, was crushed by the 5th tank. He learned that the snipers of the front destroyed over 5,000 fascists.

By the spring of 1945, the magic shooter recovered and, as part of the consolidated battalion of the troops of the 1st Baltic Front, which was led by the front commander, General of the Army I. Kh. Bagramyan, took part in the Victory Parade in Moscow on Red Square.

From Moscow, Okhlopkov went home to his family, to Krest-Khaldzhai. For some time he worked as a miner, and then at the Tomponsky state farm, living among fur farmers, plowmen, tractor drivers and foresters.

The great epoch of building communism counted years equal to decades. Yakutia was transformed - the land of permafrost. More and more ships appeared on its mighty rivers. Only the old people, smoking their pipes, occasionally recalled the off-road region cut off from the whole world, the pre-revolutionary Yakutsk tract, the Yakut exile, the rich - the Toyons. Everything that interfered with life, forever sunk into eternity.

Two peaceful decades have passed. All these years, Fedor Okhlopkov worked selflessly, raised children. His wife, Anna Nikolaevna, gave birth to 10 sons and daughters and became a mother - a heroine, and Fedor Matveyevich knew: it is easier to string a bag of millet on a thread than to raise one child. He also knew that the reflection of the glory of parents falls on children.

The Soviet Committee of War Veterans invited the Hero of the Soviet Union Okhlopkov to Moscow. There were meetings and memories. He visited the site of the battles and seemed to have gone into his youth. Where fires blazed, where stone melted under fire and iron burned, a new collective-farm life blossomed wildly.

Among the great number of graves of heroes who fell in the battles for Moscow, Fyodor Matveyevich found a neat mound, looked after by schoolchildren, a place of eternal rest for his brother Vasily, whose body has long become a particle of the great Russian land. Taking off his hat, Fyodor stood for a long time over the place dear to his heart.

Okhlopkov visited Kalinin, bowed to the ashes of the commander of his division, General N. A. Sokolov, who taught him ruthlessness towards the enemies of the Motherland.

The famous sniper spoke in the Kalinin House of Officers in front of the soldiers of the garrison, recalled much that had become forgotten.

I tried to honestly fulfill my duty to the Motherland ... I hope that you, the heirs of all our glory, will worthily continue the work of your fathers - this is how Okhlopkov ended his speech.

As if the kryzhins were carried away to the Arctic Ocean, the time has passed when Yakutia was considered a region cut off from the whole world. Okhlopkov left for Moscow, and from there he went home on a jet plane and after 9 hours of flight he ended up in Yakutsk.

So life itself brought the distant, once roadless republic with its people, its heroes closer to the ardent heart of the Soviet Union.

* * *
Increasingly, the severe wounds received by Fyodor Matveyevich in the war made themselves felt. On May 28, 1968, the inhabitants of the village of Krest-Khaldzhai saw off the famous fellow countryman on his last journey.

To perpetuate the blessed memory of F. M. Okhlopkov, his name was given to his native state farm in the Tomponsky district of the Yakut ASSR and a street in the city of Yakutsk.

The beginning of the biography of the legendary shooter can be called tragic. He was born in Krest-Khaldzhai, a Yakut village, which is now part of the Tomponsky Ulus of the Republic of Sakha, on March 2, 1908. At the age of seven, Evdokia Okhlopkova, his mother, died, and five years later, the father of the family, Matvey Okhlopkov, also passed away, leaving sons Vasily and Fedor, and daughter Masha. Orphaned children were helped to get on their feet by their older half-brother. However, Fedor Okhlopkov managed to finish only three classes of the school. He was engaged in hunting and fishing, uprooting the forest and chopping firewood, then worked as a hauler at the Orochon mine. Having risen to his feet, Fedor returned to his native village, got married, began working as a machine operator, and hunted in the winter.

With the outbreak of war, Fedor Okhlopkov was drafted into the army. Together with his cousin Vasily, he was part of the Siberian division. They were enlisted as machine gunners, and while the military echelon traveled to Moscow for two weeks, the brothers carefully understood the construction of a new weapon for them - a machine gun. On a frosty November morning, the soldiers of the Siberian Division paraded past the Mausoleum and immediately went to the front.

The Okhlopkov brothers became part of the Z75 rifle division. The first number of the machine-gun crew was Fedor, the second - Vasily. Their 1243 regiment was continuously at the forefront, sometimes after a battle no more than a dozen fighters remained in its composition. In the offensive near Rzhev in February 1942, the regiment, where the Okhlopkovs served, destroyed more than 1000 Nazis, captured and disabled a lot of equipment. However, Vasily died in the same battle, and Fedor promised himself to avenge his death. Okhlopkov was transferred to a company of submachine gunners, where he soon became a squad leader.

Fedor's courage in battle and well-aimed shooting did not go unnoticed. When the order was issued to train snipers, the command submitted his candidacy, and Fedor was enlisted in the 243rd rifle regiment. In March 1942, in the battles near the village of Inchikovo, Okhlopkov from a simple rifle hit 29 soldiers and one officer, and, being wounded, remained in the ranks. The valiant shooter was awarded the Order of the Red Star, and it was also noted in the award documents that another 9 fighters trained in aimed shooting under his leadership. After training in sniper courses, Okhlopkov led a group of snipers. During his entire stay at the front, he received four minor wounds, but remained in the ranks. According to the old habit of hunters, Okhlopkov preferred not to go to the doctors. He treated himself with folk methods, in particular, he treated his wounds with a burning pine torch. In this case, it was possible to avoid sepsis, but the former taiga resident was not afraid of pain. In July 1942, in the battles near Smolensk, his group held the height for two weeks and repulsed several enemy counterattacks. In this battle, Fedor recorded 59 fascists on his personal account, while he was again wounded and received two shell shocks. For this feat, the Red Army soldier Okhlopkov was awarded another Order of the Red Star.

The personal account of the remarkable Yakut sniper increased every month, information about the number of Nazis he killed appeared regularly in the front-line press. He taught the intricacies of sniper shooting to many fighters. Among them were such subsequently well-known well-aimed shooters as L. Ganshin and S. Kutenev, the sniper score of each of which totaled more than 200 killed Germans. In addition, Fedor Matveyevich, if necessary, could fire an anti-tank rifle, neutralize mines, and more than once went with scouts behind the front line. On his account there were several "duels" with enemy snipers, from which he always emerged victorious.

In 1943, F. Okhlopkov was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War of the second degree. He continued his battle path, liberating Vitebsk, and his combat score exceeded 420 killed enemies. After that, award documents were submitted for the presentation of the legendary sniper to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. However, for a number of organizational reasons, including the fact that the rifle corps was formed only on the eve of the Vitebsk operation, and its command could not verify the authenticity of the documents submitted for the entire period of Okhlopkov's stay at the front, he was awarded the medal "For Courage and the Order of the Red Banner.

The combat path of Fedor Okhlopkov ended at the end of 1944, after the twelfth wound. A through chest wound required treatment in the rear hospital in Ivanov, and after recovery, the combat sniper was sent to a sergeant training school near Moscow. After graduation, he was appointed commander of the 174th regiment, and also passed on his skills as a shooting instructor.

In June 1945, F. M. Okhlopkov marched again on Red Square - already as a victorious warrior, after which he was demobilized. After returning to his native village, he was elected a deputy of the Supreme Council and sent to work in the district committee of the party. Six sons and four daughters grew up in his family, so the family of the front-line hero lived very modestly. Fedor Matveevich changed several managerial positions, but his health was steadily deteriorating. By 1954, he had completely lost his hearing and was forced to return to his usual agriculture and hunting.

Sergeant F. M. Okhlopkov destroyed 429 enemy soldiers and officers with a sniper rifle. On May 6, 1965, for courage and military prowess shown in battles with enemies, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Born on March 3, 1908 in the village of Krest-Khaldzhay, now the Tomponsky district (Yakutia), in a peasant family. Primary education. He worked on a collective farm. Since September 1941 in the Red Army. Since December of the same year at the front. Member of the battles near Moscow, the liberation of the Kalinin, Smolensk, Vitebsk regions.

By June 1944, a sniper of the 234th Infantry Regiment (179th Infantry Division, 43rd Army, 1st Baltic Front), Sergeant F. M. Okhlopkov, destroyed 429 enemy soldiers and officers with a sniper rifle. On May 6, 1965, for courage and military prowess shown in battles with enemies, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet

After the war he was demobilized. Returned to his homeland, was an employee. In 1954 - 1968 he worked at the Tomponsky state farm. He was awarded the Orders of Lenin, the Red Banner, the Patriotic War of the 2nd degree, the Red Star (twice), and medals. Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 2nd convocation. Died May 28, 1968. The name of the Hero was given to the state farm "Tomponsky", the streets in the city of Yakutsk, the village of Khandyga and the village of Cherkekh (Yakutia), as well as the ship of the Ministry of the Navy. The book of D. V. Kusturov "Sergeant without a miss" is devoted to the combat activity of F. M. Okhlopkov (it can be read on the website "http://militera.lib.ru" - "Military Literature").

On May 6, 1965, for courage and military prowess shown in battles with enemies, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

The combat activity of F. M. Okhlopkov is devoted to the book by D. V. Kusturov "Sergeant without a miss" (it can be read on the website - "http://militera.lib.ru" - "Military literature").

MAGIC SHOOTER

Passing by a club in the village of Krest-Khaldzhay, a frail, short, elderly worker of the Tomponsky state farm heard a fragment of a radio broadcast of the latest news. He heard: "... for the exemplary performance of the combat missions of the command on the fronts of the struggle and the courage and heroism shown at the same time, to confer the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the award of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal to reserve sergeant Okhlopkov Fedor Matveevich ..."

The worker slowed down, stopped. His last name is Okhlopkov, his first name is Fyodor, his patronymic is Matveyevich, in the military ID in the column "Rank" it is written: reserve sergeant.

He sank down on the shore covered with young spring grass, and, looking at the hills covered with green moss of the taiga, slowly went into the distant past... He saw himself as if from a distance, through the eyes of another person. Here he is, 7-year-old Fedya, crying over his mother’s grave, at the age of 12 he buries his father and, after graduating from grade 3, leaves school forever ... Here he is, Fedor Okhlopkov, diligently uprooting the forest for arable land, sawing and chopping firewood for steamship fireboxes, enjoying with his skill, he mows hay, carpenters, catches perches in the lake holes, sets crossbows for hares and traps for foxes in the taiga.

The anxious, windy day of the beginning of the war is coming, when everything familiar and dear had to be said goodbye, and maybe forever.

It is not so far from Krest-Khaldzhay to the capital of the Autonomous Republic. A week later, traveling through the taiga on dogs, those drafted into the army were in Yakutsk.

We arrived in Moscow on a frosty morning. The column, with rifles on their backs, passed through Red Square, past the Lenin Mausoleum and went to the front.

Fedor cried. Standing without a hat over the cooling body of Vasily, he swore an oath to avenge his brother, he promised the dead to open his own account of the destroyed fascists.

Well, dear, congratulations. - Jumped out of the car, hugged, kissed.

A month later, in the meeting room of the Council of Ministers, in which a poster hung: "To the people - to the hero - aikhal!" Okhlopkov was awarded the Motherland.

Thanking the audience, he briefly spoke about how the Yakuts fought ... Memories flooded into Fyodor Matveyevich, and he seemed to see himself in the war from the outside, but not in the 29th army, but in the 30th, to which he was subordinated division. Okhlopkov heard the speech of the commander of the army, General Lelyushenko. The commander asked the commanders to find well-aimed shooters, to train snipers from them. So Fedor became a sniper. The work was slow, but by no means boring: the danger made it exciting, it required rare fearlessness, excellent orientation on the ground, sharp eyes, composure, iron restraint.

In early August 1942, the troops of the Western and Kalinin fronts broke through the enemy defenses and began to advance in the Rzhevsky and Gzhatsk-Vyazemsky directions. The 375th division, going to the spearhead of the offensive, took upon itself the main blow of the enemy. In the battles near Rzhev, the advance of our troops was delayed by the fascist armored train "Hermann Goering", which cruised along a high railway embankment. The division commander decided to block the armored train. A group of daredevils was created. Okhlopkov asked to include him. After waiting for the night, wearing camouflage robes, the fighters crawled to the target. The enemy illuminated all approaches to the railway with rockets. The Red Army soldiers had to lie on the ground for a long time. Below, against the background of the graying sky, like a mountain range, one could see the black silhouette of an armored train. Smoke curled over the locomotive, its bitter smell was blown to the ground by the wind. The soldiers crawled closer and closer. Here is the long-awaited mound.

The temperature of the battle is measured by the number of human casualties. A laconic document has been preserved in the archives of the Soviet Army:

Okhlopkov's squad was advancing in the forward line. In his opinion, this was the most suitable place for a sniper. By flashes of flame, he quickly found enemy machine guns and made them fall silent, unmistakably falling into narrow loopholes and crevices.

Having recovered from the wound, Okhlopkov was sent to the 234th regiment of the 178th division.

"Cuckoo" hid on a tree. It is necessary, without betraying oneself, to wait patiently and, as soon as the sniper opens up, strike him down with one bullet ... After an unsuccessful shot, the fascist will either disappear, or, having discovered him, will engage in single combat and return fire. In Okhlopkov's rich practice, he rarely succeeded in aiming twice at the same target. Every time after a miss, I had to seek out, track down, wait for days ...

For a week in the new division, Fyodor Okhlopkov sent 11 fascists to the next world. This was reported from observation posts by witnesses of unusual duels.

Fedya is like an insured... Two-wire...

They did not know that invulnerability was given to the Yakut by caution and labor, he preferred to dig 10 meters of trenches than 1 meter of grave.

He went out hunting at night too: he shot at the lights of cigarettes, at voices, at the ringing, bowlers and helmets.

Joining the party is my second oath of allegiance to the Motherland.

The division in which Okhlopkov served was transferred to the 1st Baltic Front. The situation has changed, the landscape has changed. Going hunting every day, from December 1942 to July 1943, Okhlopkov destroyed 159 Nazis, many of them snipers. In numerous duels with German snipers, Okhlopkov was never wounded. He received 12 wounds and 2 shell shocks in offensive and defensive battles, when everyone fought against everyone. Each wound undermined health, took away strength, but he knew: a candle shines on people, burning itself.

The army newspaper "Defender of the Fatherland", which closely followed the success of the sniper, wrote:

"F. M. Okhlopkov was in the most cruel battles. He has a sharp eye of a hunter, a firm hand of a miner and a big warm heart ... The German he took at gunpoint is a dead German."

There is also another interesting document:

For example, Okhlopkov advised the young man Vasily Kurka: “Imitate less ... Look for your own methods of struggle ... Find new positions and new ways of disguise ... Do not be afraid to go behind enemy lines ... You can’t chop with an ax where you need a needle. .. In a pumpkin you need to be round, in a pipe long ... Until you see an exit, do not enter ... Get the enemy at any distance.

Okhlopkov gave such advice to his numerous students. He took them hunting with him. The student saw with his own eyes the subtleties and complexities of the fight against a cunning enemy.

In our business, everything is suitable: a wrecked tank, a hollow tree, a log cabin of a well, a stack of straw, a stove of a burned-out hut, a dead horse ...

In single combat, Okhlopkov shot 9 more snipers. The account of revenge has reached a record figure - 429 killed Nazis!

In the battles for the city of Vitebsk on June 23, 1944, a sniper, supporting an assault group, received a through wound in the chest, was sent to a rear hospital and never returned to the front.

Okhlopkov visited Kalinin, bowed to the ashes of the commander of his division, General N. A. Sokolov, who taught him ruthlessness towards the enemies of the Motherland.

The famous sniper spoke in the Kalinin House of Officers in front of the soldiers of the garrison, recalled much that had become forgotten.

I tried to honestly fulfill my duty to the Motherland ... I hope that you, the heirs of all our glory, will worthily continue the work of your fathers - this is how Okhlopkov ended his speech.

So life itself brought the distant, once roadless republic with its people, its heroes closer to the ardent heart of the Soviet Union.
* * *

Increasingly, the severe wounds received by Fyodor Matveyevich in the war made themselves felt. On May 28, 1968, the inhabitants of the village of Krest-Khaldzhai saw off the famous fellow countryman on his last journey.

To perpetuate the blessed memory of F. M. Okhlopkov, his name was given to his native state farm in the Tomponsky district of the Yakut ASSR and a street in the city of Yakutsk.
(The article by S. Borzenko was published in the collection - "In the name of the Motherland")

ABOUT Khloplov Fedor Matveyevich - sniper of the 234th Infantry Regiment of the 179th Infantry Division of the 43rd Army of the 1st Baltic Front, Sgt.
Born on March 3, 1908 in the village of Krest-Khaldzhay, now the Tomponsky ulus of Yakutia. Yakut. Primary education. He worked as a hauler of gold-bearing rocks at the Orochon mine in the Aldan region, and before the war as a hunter-fisherman, a machine operator in his native village.
In the Red Army since September 1941. Since December 12 of the same year at the front. He was a machine gunner, squad leader of a company of machine gunners of the 1243rd Infantry Regiment of the 375th Division of the 30th Army, and from October 1942 - a sniper of the 234th Infantry Regiment of the 179th Division. By June 23, 1944, Sergeant Okhlopkov destroyed 429 Nazi soldiers and officers from a sniper rifle. He was presented for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, but the commander of the 1st Rifle Corps lowered the status of the award to the Order of the Red Banner.
W The title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the award of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal (No. 10678) was awarded to Fedor Matveyevich Okhlopkov by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of May 6, 1965.
Demobilized after the war. He returned to his homeland. From 1945 to 1949 - head of the military department of the Tattinsky RK CPSU. On February 10, 1946, he was elected a deputy of the Council of Nationalities of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. From 1949 to 1951 he was the director of the Tattinskaya procurement office for the extraction and procurement of furs. From 1951 to 1954, he was the manager of the Tattinskaya regional office of the Yakut meat trust. In 1954-1960 he was a collective farmer, a state farm worker. Since 1960 - retired. Died May 28, 1968. He was buried in the cemetery of his native village.
He was awarded the Order of Lenin (05/06/1965), the Red Banner (06/28/1944), the Patriotic War 2nd degree (10/07/1943), 2 Orders of the Red Star (08/27/1942, 12/04/1942) , medals.
The name of the Hero was given to the streets in the city of Yakutsk, the urban-type settlement of Khandyga and the village of Cherkekh of Yakutia, as well as the ship of the Ministry of the Navy.

At the end of 1941 and in the first months of 1942, the 1243rd Infantry Regiment, in whose ranks F.M. Okhlopkov fought, was almost constantly on the front line. After fierce battles, sometimes only dozens of fighters remained in the regiment. As it is written in the combat report of those days, from August 10, 1942, units of the 375th division, which included the 1243rd joint venture, "constituting the strike force of the 30th army, took upon themselves the main blows of the enemy." In the summer of 1942, the enemy put up exceptionally stubborn resistance. Enemy aircraft in groups of 30-40 aircraft continuously bombed and fired at the battle formations of the division. In addition, in August there were incessant rains, all roads were washed out and the entire burden of the battle fell on the infantry. The division "lost 6,140 men killed and wounded between August 10 and 17," i.e., 80% of its personnel. In these battles, the 1243rd Rifle Regiment distinguished itself. The warrior of this regiment, the Yakutian F.M. Okhlopkov was the commander of a squad of submachine gunners. As stated in the award list, he "with his courage more than once in difficult moments of the battle stopped the alarmists", inspired the fighters and "led them back into battle" ...
It was near Rzhev. Until 08/28/42 - until a severe shell shock during hand-to-hand combat, for eight and a half months, the infantryman F.M. Okhlopkov was slightly wounded four times: on March 2, 1942 near the town of Staritsa, on April 3, 1942, on May 7, 42, and on August 18, 42.
In an offensive battle on February 12, 1942, near the village of Kokoshkino, Rzhev Region, machine gunner Fyodor Okhlopkov lost his cousin, the second number of his machine gun, Vasily Dmitrievich Okhlopkov.
From May 7 to August 10, 1942, Okhlopkov studied at sniper courses. Only being a sniper in two years he destroyed more than 400 soldiers, officers and snipers.
On December 18, 1942, the newspaper of the 43rd Army "Defender of the Fatherland" published information under the heading "99 enemies were exterminated by the Yakut sniper Okhlopkov." The combat score - the number of destroyed fascist snipers F. M. Okhlopkov increased every day and, according to front-line press reports, became -133 by 10.01.43, by 03.14.43 -147, by 07.20.43 - 171, by 2.10.43 - 219, by 23.01.44 - 329, by 25.04.44 - 339, and by 7.06.44 - 429 Fritz.
The last 12th wound was a heavy, through-hole bullet through the chest, and he dropped out from the front to the rear. At the beginning of 1945, Sergeant Okhlopkov became a shooting instructor at the sergeant training school of the 15th Moscow SD.
June 24, 1945 participated in the parade of the Soviet Armed Forces in honor of the victory over Nazi Germany.
In addition to award materials, valuable information about the combat skills and courage of the Yakutian Okhlopkov was preserved on the pages of the army newspaper "Defender of the Fatherland", the divisional newspaper "Krasnoarmeyskaya Pravda" for 1942-44. For example, in the Sniper's Memo, he was cited as an example as "a valiant and fearless fighter of the fascist invaders." There was a special poster about him. Major D. Popel and his comrades-in-arms called him "a sergeant without a miss" (the newspaper "Defender of the Fatherland" No. 161). In other army publications, F.M. Okhlopkov was called "master of fire", "terrible avenger", "master of the offensive", and at party meetings - "leader of snipers in attacks", "fearless communist".
The enemy command also knew about the "sergeant without a miss". They organized a "hunt" for him, dropped leaflets from the plane with a threat: "It's better to surrender, we'll take him alive or dead anyway."
In the description of the sniper, signed on January 23, 1944 by the battalion commander, Captain Baranov, we read: "Being in the first battalion of the 259th joint venture from January 6 to January 23, 1944, Comrade Okhlopkov exterminated 11 German invaders. With the advent of Okhlopkov in the area of our defense the enemy does not show the activity of sniper fire, he stopped daytime work and walking.
About his combat experience on April 23, 1944, sniper F. M. Okhlopkov wrote: “Being invisible, carefully disguising yourself on the battlefield is the sniper’s holy rule ...
Before an offensive, I always study the folds of the terrain, the hidden approaches to the enemy. I determine in advance with what aim to shoot at one line or another, how to camouflage myself there.
In defense, I usually choose a position in places where there are fewer people, from where I can get closer to the enemy. From one place I give only 2-3 shots, often I shoot once, after that I change position.
I pay special attention to masking the sound of a shot and flashes ... I try to make my shot coincide either with the shot of the shooters or with machine-gun bursts.
Camouflage on the battlefield is the main condition for the successful actions of a sniper in defense and on the offensive. To see the enemy, and go unnoticed yourself - every sniper should strive for this "(" Defender of the Fatherland ", No. 97).