SHOOTERS FLYER - MY UNCLE VANYA
Author - Rostislav Polchaninov, USA
SHOOTERS FLYER - MY UNCLE VANYA
My parents told me that my uncle Vanya was a Don Cossack and a famous pilot in Russia, but only recently I found out that he was a Major General (1), Knight of St. George, one of the founders of the Don Aviation. He was not a Don Cossack, as we all thought, he never told us this and my parents did not know about it. In his memoirs, General Pyotr Semyonovich Makhrov, Chief of Staff of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of South Russia - the Armed Forces of the South of Russia "In the White Army of General Denikin" (St. Petersburg 1994), speaking (on p. 160) about the commander of the Don Army, Lieutenant General V.I. Sidorin, said:
"A fearless and energetic person was Sidorin's constant companion on flights, pilot Strelnikov," but in the appendix to the book, in a rather extensive biographical reference, nothing was said about the pilot Ivan Stepanovich Strelnikov, but he should have been told.
Uncle Vanya received the St. George weapon during heavy battles near Lodz, where the Germans tried to encircle the 2nd Russian army: “for the fact that on November 8, 1914, when all types of communication of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the armies of the North-Western Front with the 2nd and the 5th armies were lost, having received an order to deliver at all costs to the commander of the 5th army an order of the utmost importance of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, took off in an airplane under extremely unfavorable atmospheric conditions and was repeatedly fired upon by the enemy, established an interrupted connection and delivered the order, and returning back, having passed about 300 versts, he guided in the state of affairs at the front of the 2nd and 5th armies, "and the Order of St. George of the 4th Art. “For being the head of the 6th corps aviation detachment, with the rank of staff captain, on the 3rd, 6th and 22nd January 1916, repeatedly exposing his life to undoubted danger, under enemy artillery fire, under extremely difficult atmospheric conditions produced in the highest degree valuable aerial photographic survey of enemy positions at the front of the entire army ”(2).
Fearless and modest pilot Strelnikov was for me - Uncle Vanya - the husband of my father's cousin Nadia (Nadezhda Dmitrievna, nee Asatiani, after Bodisko's first husband). The sister of my aunt's first husband was married to a well-known writer abroad, Sergei Rudolfovich Mintslov (1870-1933). Aunt Nadya was in correspondence with him and received from him his newly published novels as a gift. The son from his first marriage, Dima, during the Civil War, ended up in Poland, in the family of Karnitsky, a general in the Russian service, married to his father's second cousin (sister of Aunt Nadia), who after 1918 switched to the Polish service and was Pilsudski's representative under General Denikin ... He was a great Russophile, and, disagreeing with Pilsudski's policy towards the White movement, returning to Poland, resigned.
After the death of her first husband, Aunt Nadya married I. Strelnikov. From Constantinople we arrived together in the Kingdom of the CXS (Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, since 1929 Yugoslavia). In the transit camp, Uncle Vanya was asked: "Are you that Strelnikov?", And he replied that yes, the same one, and he was immediately assigned as an instructor to a military squadron in Railovac near Sarajevo. Our family was sent to the city of Hell to await employment, but having an address, we did not lose sight of each other. Later on in Sarajevo, we often went to visit Aunt Nadya and Uncle Vanya.
Uncle Vanya was from the peasants of the Tambov province, was born on 03/30/1886, graduated from the five-grade Novocherkassk real school, considered himself a Don Cossack and tried to make me, who was born in Novocherkassk, also a Cossack. He called me a villager, since he was from Novocherkassk, and I was born there. He showed me books with pictures from everyday life and the history of the Don Cossacks, so the stories of Ermak Timofeevich and Ataman Platov were my first lessons in Russian history. I was four or five years old then, and Aunt Nadya thought that it was too early to talk to me on historical topics, but Uncle Vanya answered her that the sooner the better, and that I would remember something. And he was right.
Uncle Vanya loved to talk about his combat flights, both in World War and in civil war, but from the childhood memories of Uncle Vanya, I remember one thing. In Novocherkassk, when bells had just appeared in houses connected to the entrance doors with a cord or wire with a pendant, which had to be pulled, Uncle Vanya and the boys tied pieces of meat on ropes to such pendants and amused themselves like dogs, wanting to feast on meat , pulled the bells, forcing the owners to open the doors unnecessarily. Aunt Nadya protested that he spoiled me with such stories, but Uncle Vanya laughed loudly, remembering his childhood, and did not pay attention to the aunt's protests.
I remember that the airfield was not far from the railway station and that there was a sentry at the entrance. Uncle Vanya warned the sentry about our arrival, and when we said that we were going to the Strelnikovs, the sentry saluted us and let us go to the airfield. A small meteorological station was located right at the entrance and Uncle Vanya explained to me how all sorts of thermometers, barometers and a sausage bag and rotating blades that measured the strength of the wind worked. Of course, everything was interesting to me and I liked to visit Uncle Vanya and Aunt Nadya.
Together with Uncle Vanya, we examined from near the two-seat biplanes of the First World War, which Yugoslavia, for its military aviation, received from France. A ditty was invented by someone about these planes, which the Russians called "whatnot":
It's easier to swim in a snuff box
Than to fly on a whatnot
Such ditties were sung in a military environment and were called "cranes" after their refrain:
Zhura, Zhura, Crane
The crane is young.
Aviation Day was held in Railovets every fall. A week before that day, leaflets were dropped from planes flying low over the city, inviting townspeople to come to Railovac and admire the art of piloting. The biplanes did not have booths and from the ground one could distinguish two people, the pilot, and the second, who was dropping leaflets. The guys in the streets ran to catch and collect these leaflets and I went with them too. The guys shouted: "Eroplane batsi papir" (airplane, throw the papers), although the pilots not only did not hear, but also could not always see the guys shouting at them.
Citizens who came on Aviation Day to admire the art of the pilots were not allowed to the airfield and they settled in the fields around the airfield.We, as guests of the chief instructor, watched the flights, sitting on benches, together with the authorities and the families of employees. Uncle Vanya was always very worried and vividly discussed each issue, telling how and with whom he prepared what.
Like all employees, the Strelnikovs had a one-story separate house. There Uncle Vanya had an office with a locker for books and magazines, including special French and German ones, on aeronautics. Uncle Vanya was a passionate hunter. He had a double-barreled hunting rifle and his hunting dog lived in the house. Uncle Vanya made the cartridges himself and showed me how to do it. I remember cardboard sleeves, and I remember how he poured shot into them. When we came to visit in the fall, we went hunting with him. He shot ducks, the dog looked for prey in the reeds, and Uncle Vanya then gave everything to us.
Uncle Vanya died around 1926 and Aunt Nadya had to vacate the state-owned apartment, and she had nothing to do in Railovets. For the first time she moved to our room, which was empty in our apartment. The military department helped her to get service in the Sarajevo state carpet factory, and when the place of the head of the Russian primary school, Russian orphanage, as it was officially called, then she was appointed to this position. She remained in this position until 1944, when due to the approach of the Red Army, she had to leave with the Germans to Germany. Aunt Nadia died in the USA, where she lived with her son, who came to her, back in Yugoslavia, from Poland.
NOTES:
1. Promoted to major general by order of the VVD Military Headquarters - the Great Don Army No. 102 of March 29, 1920.
2. Aviators - Knights of the Order of St. George and St. George's Weapons of the First World War 1914-1918. Biographical reference book. M., 2006, p. 273.
I am grateful to Marina Nikolaevna Tarasova and Viktor Ivanovich Kosik for sending the materials to which I refer in this article.
Info added by: Konstantin Pakhalyuk
Poet, prose writer, journalist.
Born on January 2, 1941 in the village. Plavitsa (Khlynovsky Bugor) of the Khvorostyansky district of the Voronezh region (now the Dobrinsky district). In 1957 he graduated from a seven-year school, in 1961-1964 he studied at a cooperative school, in 1966 he graduated from the Saratov school of vegetable growers with a degree in fruit and vegetable agronomist.
Changed several professions: worked in agriculture, in the service of everyday life, at a construction site, in culture. In his early youth he traveled a lot: he visited the Kuban and the Moscow region, near the banks of the Black and The Azov seas, lived for five years in the Saratov Volga region. But, wherever he was, he collaborated with local newspaper editors, wrote essays and sketches, articles and poetic sketches.
From 1970 he worked at the Lipetsk Tractor Plant. In 1973 he was enrolled as a correspondent in the staff of the newspaper "Kirovets".
He published his first poems in 1971. The creative flowering as a prose writer and poet fell on the eighties and nineties of the last century. Poems, stories, local history materials were published in local and central periodicals; in collective poetry collections "With faith, hope, love ...", "Illumination", "Native land names"; in the almanacs "Lipchane - the Great Victory", "Lipetsk in a soldier's greatcoat"; in three volumes “ Living memory... The Great Patriotic War: The Truth About War ”(M., 1995).
Author of books of poetry and prose: "Bird - destiny" (1999), "Bend" (2000), "Seraphim rookery" (2006), "Blue steppe plains" (2007), "The sky in the rowan dawns" (2011), " About native, beloved, dear "(2013).
Ivan Ivanovich Strelnikov (May 9, 1939 - March 2, 1969) - soviet border guard, Senior Lieutenant, Hero Soviet Union.
Killed during the border conflict with China on Damansky Island.
Biography
Born in 1939 in the village of Bolshoy Khomutets Ryazan region (now - in the Lipetsk region). In 1940, the family moved to the Omsk region.
After finishing eight classes of secondary school, Strelnikov worked on the collective farm "Banner Ilyich". In 1958 he was called up for service. He served in the border troops. He remained in the service, receiving the rank of junior lieutenant. He was first the deputy head of the outpost for political affairs, later he was appointed head of the outpost.
Killed on March 2, 1969 in the first battle with Chinese intruders on the ice of the Ussuri River near Damansky Island.
He was buried with military honors in the city of Iman (now the city of Dalnerechensk), Primorsky Territory.
Memory
- A village in the Okoneshnikovsky district of the Omsk region, streets in Vladivostok, Kramatorsk, Omsk and Khabarovsk, a pioneer camp in the Omsk region (now a recreation center named after Strelnikov) are named after Strelnikov. A street in the city of Bikin and the Bikin border guard detachment are named after him.
- There is also a museum of I.I.Strelnikov in the village of Strelnikovo, Okoneshnikovsky district, Omsk region.
- School No. 4 in Omsk and the Polytechnic Lyceum in Khabarovsk are named after Strelnikov.
- In the Pozharsky district of Primorsky Krai, a village, a mountain and a mountain range are named after Strelnikov.
- In Karelia, in the border village of Reboly, one of the streets is named after Strelnikov.
- In Omsk, an army tournament is held annually in December. hand-to-hand combat among children in memory of Ivan Strelnikov.
Awards
- By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of March 21, 1969, Senior Lieutenant Ivan Ivanovich Strelnikov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously.
- He was awarded the Order of Lenin (03/21/1969, posthumously).
FROMtrelnikov Ivan Ivanovich - head of the border post "Nizhne-Mikhailovskaya" of the Ussuriysk Order of the Red Banner of Labor of the border detachment of the Pacific border district, senior lieutenant.
Born on May 9, 1939 in a family of hereditary grain growers in the village of Bolshoy Khomutets, Dobrovolsky District, Lipetsk Region.
In the spring of 1940, when he was six months old, the family moved to his mother's homeland in Siberia. They settled in the village of Lyubchino, Okoneshnikovsky District, Omsk Region. After graduating from four classes in Lyubchino, Ivan continued his studies at Okoneshnikovskaya high school... He began his working life in the field-crop brigade of the collective farm "Znamya Ilyich" as an accountant and assistant to the foreman.
In 1958 he was called up for active service in border troops... He finished a ten-year externally excellently, advanced officer courses in Moscow and, with the rank of junior lieutenant, was appointed deputy chief of the outpost for political affairs. Soon Strelnikov was appointed head of the Nizhne-Mikhailovskaya outpost. Striving to become a high-class officer, he was preparing to enter the military academy.
On March 2, 1969, an armed Chinese detachment crossed the Soviet state border in the area of \u200b\u200bthe Nizhne-Mikhailovskaya outpost (Damansky Island) of the Ussuriysk Order of the Red Banner of Labor of the Pacific Frontier District. Senior Lieutenant I.I. Strelnikov boldly went out to meet the border violators with a peaceful proposal to leave the territory of the Soviet Union, but was brutally killed from an ambush set up by Chinese provocateurs.
Havekazom of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on March 21, 1969 I.I. Strelnikov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously. Together with Ivan Strelnikov, seven of his comrades died, but the surviving border guards held out to the last and held out.
He was buried with military honors in the city of Iman (now the city of Dalnerechensk), Primorsky Territory. The outpost, commanded by Hero of the Soviet Union I.I.Strelnikov, was named after him.
He was awarded the Order of Lenin (posthumously).
"CHIEF OF THE BRANDS"
Strelnikov sat on the foundation of his future outpost. I was sitting in one T-shirt - my cap and tunic were lying under a bush - I was smoking and thinking about the construction site, about the fact that by the fall the outpost must be brought under the roof.
At night, senior lieutenant Strelnikov checked the outfits, and in the morning, without going home, he again came to the construction site. He spent every free minute there. Together with the soldiers, he laid the foundation, dragged the stone. It seemed that the head of the outpost was two-core - he managed to do everything: organize a service, conduct a lesson, supervise construction work and work together with everyone on construction. The officers of the neighboring outposts called in to Strelnikov easily, as to the former chief - Bubenin and Shorokhov had recently worked as his deputies - they were curious about how he was doing.
Strelnikov joked with his friends, called himself a foreman, and then, as if recollecting himself, knocked with a lime-smeared finger on the dial of his watch - they say, it's time to start work - and said cheerfully:
Follow me, forward, to Gulyev!
The appeal, in general, was clear, but no one really knew why to Gulyev. No one dared to ask the senior lieutenant about this. But everyone knew: since the boss uttered this call, one must work properly, for Strelnikov himself worked for three. After spitting on his hands, the chief of the outpost took up the wheelbarrow and, straining, carried the stone. Looking at him, no one wanted to drag out a smoke break.
The most time consuming task is laying the foundation. When it was laid down, the outpost began to rise before our eyes. One morning, according to established custom, Strelnikov, returning from the border, turned to the outpost. She flaunted in the sun. It smelled of shavings and fresh paint. Strelnikov admired the work of his own hands. And then suddenly someone shouted from behind:
He turned around. Several soldiers were standing. And the secretary of the Komsomol organization Akulov held out a symbolic wooden key, lovingly carved out of discs and even painted with green paint. Jokes aside. The secretary switched to an official tone:
Comrade secretary of the party organization, allow me to hand you the key of the outpost from the Komsomol members ...
Strelnikov beamed.
My dear comrades! - Perhaps, for the first time in his entire service, the senior lieutenant addressed the soldiers in an unregulated manner. - This is our first common victory. In the new outpost, we will live better, cleaner, friendlier!
And then came the housewarming day. On this occasion, we drank an extra mug of kamlot. We thought we’ll rest now. And Strelnikov has a new idea in his head - a sentinel path. She does not give him rest, day or night. But how do you tell people about your idea who haven't seen the weekend for months?
Strelnikov acted as the secretary of the party organization. He consulted with the Communists in advance, asked to support his idea.
Strelnikov collected the assets of the outpost. Without too much diplomacy, he said:
I will speak to you both as the head of the outpost and as the secretary of the Party organization. I know from myself: it was hard to build an outpost. Calluses have not yet healed on the palms. And I am already calling you to equip the patrol path, dig into the swamp abyss, bite into the rocks. Otherwise, it is impossible, the service requires. So the communists decided.
Silence settled in the Lenin room for a moment. Then they spoke:
If it is necessary, then it is necessary.
So go ahead to Gulyev!
On Gulyev! - Strelnikov's guys supported in chorus.
Anyone who has been to the outpost knows what area it has - swamps and rocks. Strelnikov understood that he could not do without equipment. I asked the head of the detachment. But he just shrugged his shoulders: the construction is large, but the cars are few. Don't count on help. Do it yourself - thanks.
Where can I get the equipment? Strelnikov is a sociable person, almost the entire Pozharsky district knew him. I went to the area. The executive committee listened and advised me to contact the machine-reclamation station. I came there and straight out laid out: on the unequipped border, you can miss the enemy. Help with technique. And what - they allocated a tractor for the outpost for the summer. The work was in full swing. They chopped openings, dug gutters, hung a rope bridge.
Border equipment was coming to an end, and Strelnikov had a new goal: to make the outpost excellent. Some began to doubt: too early, we will not cope with the obligation. Better not to risk it.
Strelnikov stood his ground.
The sheer smallness prevented the outpost from getting an excellent mark.
Strelnikov was no longer alive, but they talked about him as if he were at the outpost.
Strong point. Two soldiers are burning the stove in the tent! You have to look behind the stove. The ooh will weaken, and the sleeping guys begin to toss and turn, the cold breaks through the fur coats. It is worth throwing a dry piece of wood, and the stove begins to hum, warm air floats through the tent again.
As they put wood in the stove, the soldiers talk quietly. About horses. During the artillery attack, the Zastaska horses broke and fled.
We wouldn't run across the ice. The Chinese will bridle ...
The hero will not be given to anyone. Only the senior lieutenant could sit on it.
I wanted to know about the Hero; why only Strelnikov could sit on it?
Yes, there is indeed a horse with such a nickname at the outpost. Hot, all spring loaded. There are sparks in the eyes. Young soldiers most often got from him. Not everyone developed courage right away. To temper the character, the outpost commander put some soldiers on the Hero and sent them to guard the flank. Rarely did anyone manage to return on horseback. The Hero walked calmly at first, and then suddenly a "candle", and the soldier flies to the ground, and the Hero without a rider safely, snorting, returns to the outpost and waits for a portion of oats from the mat Denisenko.
Remarkable courage was needed to tame the horse, in order to subjugate it to his will. Those who did not possess it ended up on the ground, returning to the outpost on foot. He walked, of course, thinking about his own failure, thinking about his weakness and how to overcome it. Such a soldier usually got to talk to Strelnikov.
The frontier guard needs courage, - said the head of the outpost, - otherwise you will drown in a puddle ...
What courage is needed, Strelnikov immediately showed the soldier. He sat on a horse and did something that made his heart sank. Lida's wife ran out of the house and waved her arms in fright:
What are you doing? Get off your horse now! You will roll your head ...
And Strelnikov, joyfully excited, let the horse gallop along the back road. At the helipad he made a circle and flew rapidly into the courtyard of the outpost. He jumped down, slapped the horse on the rump, and the Hero obediently walked to the stable.
Strelnikov's personal courage was the best educator. In difficult times he was always ahead, showing with all his appearance: there is no other way, you have to act only in this way.
In the first two months of this year, there were six clashes provoked by the Chinese side at the outpost section. And in all six Strelnikov came out the winner. The Chinese provocateurs knew the head of the outpost well. They knew by sight. He didn't give them a go. With his decisive actions, he made it clear every time: the Soviet borders are sacred and inviolable. The enraged Chinese provocateurs, shaking with quotation books and clubs, shouted: "Black Ivan, we will smash your head" ... They hunted for Strelnikov, looking for an opportunity for reprisals.
On January 23, 1969, a crowd of armed Chinese crossed the border and poured out onto the ice. Having learned about this from the report of the observers, Strelnikov immediately raised the alarm to the people and ordered:
Behind me!
I went out on the ice with my experienced soldiers, confidently pushing the raging Chinese from our territory.
The snow creaked underfoot. Strong commanders' shoulders flashed through the crowd of Chinese. The Chinese fought back with rifle butts, brandished rubber whips, but retreated under the pressure of the border guards. The Chinese line has already broken. Those who conducted the provocation understood that the idea was failing. And the reason for this is Strelnikov, who does not know hesitation. And the "conductors" decided on a bloody massacre. Several Chinese jumped up to Strelnikov. They have a clear intention of pushing him away from the border guards in order to end with one blow soviet officer... Private Anatoly Denisenko was the first to notice what danger the commander faces. Pushing the Chinese aside, he found himself next to the head of the outpost. Arrived in time: the Chinese stock was already brought over Strelnikov's head. A moment - and he will fall on the officer. Anatoly instantly throws out his machine gun, covering the head of the outpost commander. Weapon clanged on weapon. Denisenko felt a strong blow. The receiver flew out. Something sharp hit my chin. Blood gushed out. Denisenko instinctively brushed away warm streams from his chin, prepared to repel a new attack ...
Hearing a crack above his head, Strelnikov immediately jumped to the side. "If not for Denisenko, I would have been lying on the ice ..." He closed his eyes for a moment and, as if in a dream, saw the soldier's outstretched hand. Denisenko really stretched out his hand, asking: "Did it hurt?"
The border guards pressed the Chinese with great fury. Completed combat mission - "pushed" the provocateurs from our territory.
Strelnikova - to the phone. Colonel Leonov calls:
Did you manage?
It's all right, Comrade Colonel.
I heard rumors that you almost gave your soul to God.
No. I am victorious, Comrade Colonel.
How to understand "victorious"?
Strelnikov smiled:
May 9 was born, Comrade Colonel. And the son, too, on Victory Day. A victorious family ... Strelnikov has a good commanding instinct. He foresaw exactly where provocateurs might invade.
In the last entry made by Strelnikov in the book border service, in his decision, taken to guard the border for the next day, from March 1 to March 2, the situation is assessed in this way: "Perhaps a provocative violation of the border from the PRC to the USSR in the area of \u200b\u200bDamansky Island ..." The commander was not mistaken. The armed provocation was unleashed by the Chinese side on March 2 and it was near Damansky Island.
Having received a report about the violation of the border by the Chinese, Strelnikov raised an outpost ": in a gun." He himself ran home to dress like a march.
Lida, fur coat, gloves, - shouted to his wife. - Boots too ...
What is anxiety, Chinese?
Again on Damisce they violated ...
A lot of them?
A lot of. Hurry up.
In a minute Ivan got dressed, pulled Lida to him:
Don't worry Mommy, everything will be fine. First sweep them out ...
He kicked the door open and ran out of the apartment. From a steep hillock, on which an outpost stands, an armored personnel carrier with soldiers swiftly descended down onto the ice of Ussuri. He rushed the border guards to Damansky. Strelnikov half leaned out of the hatch, looked at the outpost: is the second car getting out?
Strelnikov is strict and smart. The white fur coat is tightly girded with belts, sits tightly on his elastic, trained body. Fit emphasizes the decisiveness of the commander.
Here is the island. The APC is approaching its southern end. Strelnikov jumps out first, followed by the rest. The boss gives the group a task. According to the plan, he, senior lieutenant Nikolai Buinevich and five more soldiers go to the Chinese to warn about the violation of the border and demand to leave for their territory. The rest are in reserve. The rest and those who were driving at some distance after Strelnikov - in a "gaz" and a technical "briefing".
Strelnikov in front, Buinevich behind him. They have a lot in common. Both are impetuous, irrepressible, crystal-clear. Both are avid hunters. Both are athletes. Strelnikov is a gymnast, Buinevich is a first-class boxer, champion of the regional organization "Dynamo". Both are madly in love with children. Strelnikov doted on Svetlanka and Igorka. Buinevich is single, but he often visited the orphanage where his sister Tamara worked, he made friends with little Vanyusha and thought to take him to him, to adopt him.
But most importantly, both loved the border. Buinevich went through the entire section of the detachment.
Nikolai has his birthday on January 4th. And we, his comrades, - recalls Lieutenant N. Schegolev, - gathered to congratulate him. But I had to congratulate ... on the phone. Buinevich rushed to the border. It turns out that he promised to read a report on ideological sabotage at the outpost and could not break his command word.
Strelnikov's group is steadily and confidently marching towards the Chinese who have violated our border. Strelnikov is still ahead. A tight strand of blond hair (for which his friends called him Light Ivan) came out from under the hat. Eyes slightly darkened. The gait is straight, strict. This severity is in turning the shoulders, in concentration, in stubborn steps.
And now, in front of Strelnikov, the angry Chinese. Some are shouting, others are hiding their faces from a photographic lens aimed at them by private Nikolai Petrov. Unnatural agitation, something is about to happen. Strelnikov felt it. Just in case, he looked around. Babansky's group has already entered the island. Will not give offense! ..
Pushing back the curtain, Lida looked at Ussuri, where Ivan had rushed away. She was already used to his sudden disappearances.
In Bikin, Lida met a brave border guard, the foreman of the border post. It was Ivan. We saw each other in fits and starts. Lida understood: service. But even during that happy minute while they were together, they managed to tell each other a lot. Then there was parting. Ivan went to the Moscow Border School, on courses for junior lieutenants. Came to Bikin as an officer. Lida is 17 years old. On January 12, 1963, they played a wedding, and on January 28, Ivan took Lida to the outpost. And there was separation again. Ivan passed exams at the school as an external student. Returned to the outpost as a lieutenant. Now you can go on a long-awaited vacation. We dreamed about the south, about a honeymoon trip. And I had to travel along the Ussuri. Instead of a vacation, Strelnikov boarded a barge loaded with building material and sailed to a new duty station. I couldn't refuse. He understood: who better than him to settle in the border! He sailed to Nizhne-Mikhailovka, began to build an outpost.
Lida and Svetlanka came to him and became an assistant. Together they built an outpost. Lida knocked down shields, replaced the cook, washed the border guards, and was their nurse.
You, Lydia Fyodorovna, need to be included in the combat crew, ”the guys told her.
While I'm at home, - Lida joked and helped the border guards even more actively.
Ivan left in the direction of Damansky Island, and her heart sank in pain. She knew that this island was a place of constant Chinese provocations. When Ivan went there, Lida was always worried that something might happen. But Ivan returned elated, cheerful, excited, victorious. And Lida calmed down, was internally proud of her husband, his courage, his self-control. Then her heart began to ache again when she heard from the soldier "about the senior lieutenant" how he bravely acted against the Chinese provocateurs as he walked in front. Then Lida began to reproach him at home:
You can't do that. You have two children. Yes, and would have thought about me, would not have climbed into the thick of it.
And Ivan drew Lida to him, in her ear, only to her, whispering:
I'm not used to it, Lidusha, I cringe in my soul. I hate makeup. Where people are, there I am ...
The chilly feeling of the unknown did not pass. Then Lida took up household chores. To some extent, they distract from heavy thoughts. Anya Fateeva, the wife of the foreman, dropped in to see her. They washed the dishes and mopped the floor. We decided to "evacuate" a heavy sofa from the hallway. And as soon as they took up it, they caught distant shots. Women to the window. I can not see anything. They ran out into the courtyard, startled to ask the sentry:
Akhmetik, my friend, what are those shots?
Akhmet Agireyev looked towards Damansky. You won't see the island itself, the hill has blocked it. I only had to determine by ear what was being done there.
Don't worry, ”Akhmet soothed,“ Probably another Chinese pampering. I think so, Lydia Fyodorovna.
The foreman ran out from the outpost. Women to him:
Valery Pavlovich, what's there?
Chinese provocation ...
And not a word more. And from the island more and more shooting, the hooting of mines came.
The women did not go home, they looked in the direction of Damansky, listened to the shootout. My instinct told me that there was a battle going on. "What are we standing there? Bandages, a first-aid kit are needed ..." Lida and Anya ran to the outpost.
The first wounded was brought in. Lida bandaged his face, Anya cut the sleeve of a tunic to put a bandage on his arm. Major of the medical service Kvitko appeared:
Lydia Fyodorovna, we need boiled water, get busy ...
The women went off to boil the water. And it never came out of my head: "What is there?" Lida walked around the kitchen, and she listened. The battle was thundering. I wanted to call the officer on duty, maybe he knows what about Ivan, but was afraid to pick up the phone: they would suddenly say ... But not that. Better not to call.
She boiled water, helped the wounded. Only in the evening, at six o'clock, did Lida find out everything about her husband.
In open combat, death can sweep past. She went to meet Strelnikov and his comrades. She was hidden in ambush.
No, Strelnikov did not flinch, did not cover himself with his hand from the Chinese machine gunners who were suddenly pointed at by the blowing, for the time being obscured by the first line. Like him, all seven brave sons proudly stood before the treacherous violators. They fell like heroes, fell next to their commander.
Marshal of the Soviet Union V.I. Chuikov correctly noted: twice a hero is the one who managed to defeat the enemy and stayed alive. But a fight is a fight. Every patriot must, if necessary, give his life for the Motherland. Ivan Strelnikov was always ready for this - a commander, a communist, a man of a big heart. "Not to be yourself is death" - this was the credo of the son of the hero of the Great Patriotic War, the son of the heroine mother, the son of the great Motherland.
It would seem, what kind of connection could there be between the Lebedyan Cossack, a merchant, the director of the local history museum, the designer of flying boats, the regimental priest, the Australian farmer, a major in the Red Army and the author of the song about Lebedyan? Only kindred!
Any person who is seriously engaged in the study of the history of his family, sooner or later comes across unusual facts from the life of his ancestors, as well as distant and sometimes unfamiliar relatives.
The Strelnikovs are a fairly common surname in Lebedyan, and throughout the entire Chernozem region. Archers in Russia were called gunsmiths who made bows and arrows. And later they began to call the fighters themselves, who stood with weapons at the archers (loopholes) of the fortress. The Strelnikovs came and settled in the local area at a time when the military garrison of the Lebedyan fortress was just being formed. These were the "sovereign" military men. Carefully studying the archives, rereading numerous pre-revolutionary sources, Valery Akimov linked the fates of the servicemen of the 17th century and the modern Lebedyansky Strelnikovs.
Archers, blacksmiths and spearmen
In those ancient times, the Strelnikovs carried out the sovereign's service as Cossacks, archers, spearmen, raiders, dragoons, blacksmiths ... In Lebedyan's household inventory, the second half of XVII centuries, the courtyards of the brothers the archer Fedor and the blacksmiths Ivan and Nazar Savelyevs, the sons of the Strelnikovs, are mentioned. A little later, the sons of the Cossack Ivan Strelnikov settled in Lebedyan: the spearman Grigory and Timofey.
And at the beginning of the 18th century, when Lebedyan lost her military purpose, the Strelnikovs became one-family palaces. They lived compactly in Kuznetskaya Sloboda and were engaged in blacksmithing. Some of them continued to regularly serve the tsar-father in the Russian army. They returned to Lebedyan as retired non-commissioned officers, sergeant major, soldiers and reserve bombardiers.
Merchant history
At the end of the 18th century, wealthy merchants appeared among the Strelnikovs. The business root was given life by the merchant of the 2nd guild, Semyon Kondratyevich Strelnikov (1784-1852). His numerous sons and grandsons preserved and carried the merchant spirit up to the revolutionary events of the beginning of the 20th century.
The merchant's grandson and the eldest son of Ivan Semyonovich, Pavel Ivanovich Strelnikov (1831-1899), was engaged in agricultural production, had 278 acres of land, and built a tannery on the Gorodyanka River. More than once he was elected mayor and was known for his charity. In 1884, Pavel Ivanovich donated 1151 rubles for the device of a silver vestment of the icon of the Holy Trinity in the church 
Nativity of Christ, where he was the church head. Perhaps the last circumstance was the fact that Pavel Ivanovich was buried on the territory of the Lebedyansk Holy Trinity Monastery. In gratitude and recognition of merit. The merchant's two-story house, which still stands at the corner of Sovetskaya and Pochtovaya streets, was inherited by his two sons, who also became famous Lebedyanskaya merchants. Now this building houses the regional department of internal affairs.
Life after the revolution
The post-revolutionary years badly battered the merchants, scattered a large family in different parts of Russia. But the Strelnikovs were not lost, they continued to serve the Motherland with faith and truth. A merchant's son, a school teacher and my father, Evgeny Vasilievich Strelnikov (1905-1978), joined the ranks of the defenders of the Fatherland in June 1941, commanded a rifle platoon near Moscow in December 1941, stormed Koenigsberg, and after the war he returned to Lipetsk and again worked as a school teacher. 
And at this time, another Strelnikov - the great-grandson of the second son of the merchant Semyon Kondratyevich - the philistine Philip Semyonovich (1818-1881) - lived in Lebedyan. The inventor and self-taught artist Mikhail Yakovlevich Strelnikov (1887-1966) was in charge of the Lebedyansky Museum of Local Lore, collected exhibits, organized and held art exhibitions. His sister, Klavdia Yakovlevna Strelnikova (1896-1982), was a well-known and respected teacher in the city.
Cossack, hieromonk and mother
The Lebedyan Cossack Pyotr Dmitrievich Strelnikov (1887-1937), who was awarded a gold imperial watch with a monogram for saving Emperor Nicholas II, also went down in history. In the suburbs of the Polish city of Skierniewitz, during the tsarist hunt, the troika with the emperor suddenly carried, and the Cossack from the guard rushed across the path and managed to stop the horses.
And what a difficult fate befell a native of the Kuznetsk settlement, an ascetic of Orthodoxy, Hieromonk Seraphim (Sergei) Strelnikov (1873-appr. 1931), who passed the difficult path from novice to hieromonk of the Nikolaev Berlyukovskaya Hermitage. He fought as a regimental priest in the 219th Kotelnichesky Infantry Regiment, was awarded the orders of St. Anna III degree with swords, St. Anna II degree with swords and St. Prince Vladimir, Equal to the Apostles. But for his beliefs and statements he was arrested in 1930, sat and died unknown in the Kolomna camp.
From the same Lebedyan family and hereditary Cossack woman Klavdia Georgievna Strelnikova (1888-1918), who became the wife of the future hieromartyr Bishop Uar of Lipetsk (Peter Alekseevich Shmarin) (1880-1938).
Strelnikovs from Australia
Wherever life did not throw the Strelnikovs! Vasily Ivanovich Strelnikov, a descendant of the blacksmith Nazar Savelyevich, ended up in Australia in 1913. It was very difficult for him to take root here, however, this did not prevent him from becoming a farmer in Brisbane. He married a Russian, brought up and educated two children. Now Vasily Ivanovich's grandson Erol lives in the USA, and his great-grandson Andrew lives in Brisbane, Australia.
Fate also brought the merchant's daughter Serafima Alekseevna Strelnikova to the USA. Her son, a military pilot Boris Vyacheslavovich Korvin-Krukovsky (1895-1988), emigrated to America in 1918, where he became a famous designer of flying boats, professor of Stevens institute of Technology... After the execution of her husband and two younger sons in 1918, Serafima Alekseevna moved through Poland to her son in the United States.
In the newspapers of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, there are the Strelnikovs - jurors, state peasants, retired non-commissioned officers, merchants ... All of them, once connected by family ties through their ancestors, over the years, moved away from each other, like numerous branches of a large tree common roots. We must assume that the descendants of these and other Strelnikovs live and flourish in today's Lebedyan, in Russia and abroad ... To know that they are all my blood relatives is both pleasant, joyful, and very responsible.