Alexey Eremenko - junior political instructor. History photo

Alexey Eremenko was born on March 31, 1906 in the village of Tersyanka, Ekaterinoslav province. Due to the fact that the family had many children, Alex had to go to work as early as 14 years. First he worked on the railway, and later - at the factory. There he helped his parents. By nationality, Alexei Eremenko was Ukrainian. At that time in the Zaporozhye region the first collective farms began to be created. According to some reports, the first collective farm was called "Vanguard", according to other sources it was named after Krasin. At that time, Alexei Eremenko was the head of the Komsomol cell. When he grew up, it was impossible not to notice that the young man has a born gift to lead groups of people. Thanks to this fact, Alexei Eremenko was appointed brigadier, later - a party organizer, and at the end of his career - chairman of the collective farm. Eremenko was happy with everything.

Junior political instructor

Alexei Eremenko was a worthy person. At the beginning of the war , he had a reservation for the call, which was due to work on the collective farm. Despite this, he could not sit still at home while his brothers and friends were at war. Therefore, a young man volunteered to join the ranks of the Red Army as a commissioner. In the army, the man was promoted to junior political instructor.

Politruk in the USSR was a man who was a representative of the state or the ruling party. Younger political instructor Aleksey Gordeevich Eremenko was supposed to oversee the command and personnel. His duties also included political, educational and educational work with the team. Politruk Alexei Eremenko fought for the 247 infantry division. Later, he was in the 220th Infantry Regiment of the 4th Rifle Division.

The death of the legendary political instructor

In the summer of 1942, as a result of fierce battles with the enemy, political instructor Alexei Eremenko was killed. There are many versions of Aleksey's death known. One of them says that he gathered around himself all the remaining soldiers and led them to attack the German invaders. Another version says that he was killed at the moment when he replaced the company's early commander, Lieutenant Petrenko.

Buried Alexei Eremenko was in Ukraine, in the Lugansk region, in the village of Khoroshee in July 1942.

Alexey Gordeevich Eremenko. History photo

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

Max Alper made a legendary photo at a time when Alex was raising soldiers into battle, so he turned out to be very courageous and brave in the photo, and the image of a full-fledged soldier calling for an attack gives the spectator a spirit of war and bitter fighting. Later Max Alpert sat in the trench and dealt with his equipment. At that moment, the soldiers ran around and shouted that they had killed the battalion commander. Then the young photographer Max thought that it was about Alexei Eremenko. For this reason, he called the photo "Combat". However, this is an erroneous title, but it was so in the time of the war, it was decided that nothing should be changed. Alpert thought he had damaged the film, and wanted to throw it away, but at the last moment he decided not to do it. If the photographer did not change his decision, then, most likely, now would not have so many monuments, photographs and posters dedicated to Alexei Gordeevich.

Who is pictured in the photo?

However, everything was not so simple. Determine who is depicted in the photo, it did not happen right away. Only in 2005, thanks to the workers of the newspaper "Komsomolskaya Pravda" with the support of the youth organization from Lugansk "Molodogvardeyets" managed to find the relatives of Alexei Gordeevich. In 1974, Aleksei's wife wrote letters asking him to find a photographer, but there was no reaction to them. This is due to the fact that she not only wrote letters to the leadership: many said that in the photo it was their relative. Therefore, to establish the identity of the soldier did not work for a long time.

Letter to Alexei's wife

Activists of the youth movement and journalists of Komsomolskaya Pravda managed to find a letter that was delivered to his wife after the death of Alexei Gordeevich. It stated that her husband Alexei Gordeyevich Eremenko was missing. Such letters were received by every second family during the war. One to it was attached an unusual photo, which later became one of the main symbols of the Great Patriotic War. Thanks to this letter, written by his wife Alexei Gordeevich, it turned out to establish the identity of the person depicted in the photograph.

Commemorative Coins

One photo was not spared. Already in our days Alexei Gordeevich was depicted on some commemorative coins dedicated to the Great Patriotic War. Among them, the five-ruble coin "The Commander Raises the Soldiers to Attack", which is included in the set of "50 Years of Victory", issued in 1995, and 10 rubles under the name "55 Years of Victory", issued in 2000.

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