Andreyev Andrey Ivanovich is the hero of our country. Interesting facts and photos

Every year, marking the Day of the Great Victory, in our country remember the names of those who gave their lives to ensure that the foot of the invader never set foot on her land. Among them Andrey Andreyev , Hero of the Soviet Union, posthumously awarded this title for his heroism, shown in the battle for the liberation of the seaside city of Nikolaev.

Pupil of the fishing cooperative

December 19, 1913 in the family of fisherman Ivan Andreev from the village of Bogoyavlensky, now known as Oktyabrsky and part of the city of Nikolaev, was born a son. They called him Andrei. His childhood was not happy - at an early age he lost his parents, who were the victims of the then erupted epidemic of the Spanish flu.

And the orphan would have disappeared, but there were good people - fishermen of the same artel, where his father worked before. The whole world was brought up by a guy, taught his craft, and when he grew up and grew stronger, they were taken to the artel on equal rights with them. So he began his working life hereditary fisherman Andrew Andreev .

Beginning of war and captivity

He worked peacefully, bringing to Nicholas and Odessa coast those "shawls full of mullets", while the June night of 1941 did not suffer a great misfortune, without knocking in the houses of all the inhabitants of a huge country. Immediately after the announcement of the mobilization, Andrei was drafted into the army, enlisted in the company of signalmen, and received his baptism of fire in battles for Odessa.

It so happened that one day a telephone line was damaged by the explosion of the projectile, which connected the division headquarters with the division in which Andreev served. Andrei Ivanovich (photo of his those years is presented in the article) received an order to find the place of the cable break and to restore communication with the enemy's fire. In carrying out this task, he was bruised, fainted. When he woke up, there were already Germans around, who had already managed to move forward by that time. So he was taken prisoner.

Escape from the camp and the death of comrades

Soon the fascists formed a group of prisoners of war, who were sent to a concentration camp, which had been created on the territory of Western Ukraine not long ago. Andrei Andreyev spent his first year of war there behind the barbed wire. But getting into captivity does not mean giving up. From month to month he and his companions in misfortune were looking for an opportunity to escape from the camp, and when she introduced herself, after killing the sentry, they disappeared into the nearest forest.

The fugitives sent their way to the front line, but soon they were caught by the pursuit sent from the camp. The battle was unequal, and out of all the cases that escaped by chance, only Andreev remained alive. Continue to move towards the front was pointless, since the first meeting with the enemy would inevitably cost him his life. There was only one thing - to try somehow to wait out the time, hiding in the occupied territory, and at the first opportunity again to join their own.

A joyless return to your native village

For a month, moving only at night, eating only casual chunks, which managed to get a risk for life from hungry locals, he made his way to his native village, in which he hoped to find shelter. He was lucky, at the end of a long journey barely alive from fatigue and hunger, he finally came home.

In the village of Bogoyavlensky, which was in the zone of German occupation, at that time only those residents remained who were not drafted into the army, that is, exclusively women, children and the elderly. Andreev Andrey Ivanovich, being the only strong and able-bodied man among them, tried to be useful to his fellow villagers.

Fisherman involuntarily

Knowing that the local people were fishing before the war, the Germans forced them to create a brigade, which was obliged to go out to sea and supply the fish that were in the village of the invaders. The senior in it was appointed Andreev, posing as a deserter, evading service in the army.

This turn of events was partly beneficial to him. Knowing perfectly well the fishing business, Andrei Ivanovich knew how to make the villagers have always been provided with fish since that time, and because of this they did not starve. The Germans, however, he gave only pathetic crumbs, explaining this his actual sabotage by low catches, for which he always found a convincing explanation.

Second Escape

But this did not last long. The French have the expression "They betray only their own", here and there was found "his", who reported to the commandant's office that Andreyev was not a deserter at all, but a Red Army soldier who had fled from the camp. The reaction was immediate - Andrei Ivanovich was seized and, after being imprisoned in the punishment cell, was sent under escort for excavation work in the vicinity of Odessa.

The Germans were going to send him to Germany along with the other prisoners of war, but not without reason he had behind his back the experience of escape. Taking advantage of the first opportunity presented, Andreev Andrey Ivanovich again fled, but this time the situation in which he turned out to be, was much more complicated. He did not have to think about switching alone, but he could not return to his village.

The year spent in the dugout

Having built himself a dugout on the shore of the estuary, disguising it from prying eyes, Andreev lived in it, remaining in an illegal position, until the spring of 1944. It is not known how he could have survived in such conditions, had it not been for the help of the surrounding inhabitants, some of whom, knowing about his stay among dense coastal thickets, kept it a secret, supplied the fugitive with food. It is difficult to overestimate the courage of these people, because in case of failure, inevitable death would wait not only for themselves, but also for family members. The situation changed when, one April day, a Soviet tank column was passing by its shelter, heading for the liberation of Nikolaev.

Again among his

Andreev Andrey Ivanovich, whose biography is inextricably linked with the city of Nikolaev, showed the platoon commander the most convenient way, and after the expulsion of the fascists from his native village, he began repairing the fishing boats that were supposed to be used for disembarking the landing in the city. When the work was completed, the command suggested that volunteers from among the local residents become conductors of the detachment. Among others, Andreev volunteered to help the soldiers.

Andrei Ivanovich is a hero whose name is known to few, but his merit in the liberation of Nikolaev from the fascists is enormous. Knowing perfectly the coast and the waters surrounding it, he personally controlled the boat, in which the commander of the Marines was Senior Lieutenant Konstantin Olshansky. Not wishing to endanger the remaining volunteers, Andrei Ivanovich advised them to land them on shore, which was done.

Port seizure

Before the detachment of sixty-eight men, including Andreev, the task was set: landing at night in the port territory, to seize it and hold it until the approach of the advancing troops. In addition, it was necessary to clear the port facilities prepared by the enemy for destruction.

The operation began on the night of 26 March. The landing conducted by Andreev landed near the pier and entered into battle with the enemy. Soon it was possible to occupy several buildings in which the fighters held out for more than two days, reflecting a total of eighteen German attacks, destroying about seven hundred fascists.

Their task was fulfilled by the soldiers, but only eleven people remained alive from the whole structure of the unit. Andreev Andrey Ivanovich was killed. Awards to the majority of participants in those events were awarded posthumously, as a token of eternal memory of their feat. This military operation was included in the history of the war called "Desant of Olshansky."

The award that found the hero

High rank of the Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded and Andreev. However, the corresponding decree was signed only in 1965, when the country celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Victory. The fact is that his name was not on the list of fighters of the detachment, landed in Nikolayev, and did not get in the award list.

Andreev Andrey Ivanovich, whose family after the death of his parents ceased to exist, was brought up as a fishing artel. After living in the world for three decades, he never managed to establish his personal life. After his death, his fellow villagers remembered him, one of the village streets was named after him, but only after two decades the workers of the Central Archive of the Soviet Army, having discovered the negligence committed in relation to him, gave the proper move and corrected the situation.

Today his name took a worthy place in the history of the war. About A. Andreev's feat is told in several historical works devoted to the liberation of Nikolayev.