The hero of two countries - Fedor Poletayev

An ordinary man from the village of the Ryazan region Fedor Poletayev is a hero of Italy and the Soviet Union. And in this article we will tell about his interesting fate, which made him famous.

Family life

The village of Katino is the small homeland of Fedor. He was born in an ordinary peasant family and, like many people at that time, received only elementary education. In 1923, Fedor worked in the suburbs, in the village of Power Transmission, located in Pavlovo-Posadsky district, on the extraction of peat. His first profession is a loader. Six years later I met Maria Nikanorovna Kalinina, who became his wife. With it, he returned to his homeland in 1931. The couple had a daughter Catherine and son Michael.

In the autumn of 1931, Fyodor Poletayev was drafted into the army. After serving, as it should have been, for two years in the Moscow Proletarian Rifle Division, he was demobilized. The citizen Fyodor Poletayev returned, already having the profession of a blacksmith.

The family moved to the village Staromyshastovskaya, which is in the Kuban. But in 1935 the Poletayevs returned to the village of Katino, where they lost their son because of illness. The daughter also had a serious illness. The disease gave complications, and for the rest of her life Catherine did not hear or speak. But the family Poletayev again replenished. From 1936 to 1940, they had three children - Mikhail, Valentine and Nikolai.

Military everyday life

The Patriotic War began, the head of the family was mobilized. Soldier Fyodor Poletayev was in the 28th Guards Artillery Regiment, which belongs to the 9th Guards Division. At the beginning of his service he took part in the battle for Moscow, and in military operations on the Don (spring-summer of 1942). In June 1942, when Soviet troops were coming out of the siege near Leninka, Fedor Poletayev was wounded. His biography was supplemented by several interesting facts. You can say that his old life was over, and a completely new one, not continuing his previous destiny, began.

In that battle, Fyodor Poletayev received a serious wound in the leg and was taken out by his comrades from the battlefield. Then he was treated for three months. For such a long time our troops went far from the village of Leninka, and Fedor decided to catch up with his own. But it was no longer easy to do it. Policemen darted about in the district, and although he managed to cross the front line, he was caught by them. Fedor did not despair and tried to escape, but he was again captured and sent to the camp. During his life he had to visit not in one concentration camp. Berdichev, Vyazma, Mielec became for a while his place of stay. People, being in captivity, aspired to freedom. Probably, those who did not lose courage managed to survive in terrible conditions. And Fedor Poletayev, whose photo is presented in this article, even managed to escape with a group of comrades from the camp, which was located near the town of Slavonski Brod in March 1944.

Happy Salvation

However, he did not manage to go far, and he was sent back to prison. This time to the Italian camp near Genoa. And yet in the summer of 1944, Fedor again tried to escape. This time the attempt was successful, and he joined a group of Italian guerrillas led by Nino Franca. The detachment, with whose participants he was fortunate in the future to fight against the fascists in the region of Genoa - Sarrawale - Skrivia, was called "Orestes" and belonged to the "Pinan Chiquero" division.

Death of the hero

Good luck left Fedor Poletayev in 1945. It happened near the small town of Cantalupo in Valle Scrivia. Here, the German invaders staged a punitive operation. They received reinforcements in the form of the Turkestan Legion. Although the partisans managed to reverse the course of the military operations and go over to the attack, the fascists did not intend to surrender. The first to rise was Fyodor Poletayev, watering the enemy with bullets from the machine, followed by the whole battalion. The fascists were forced to retreat. They were close to giving up, but some of them were still firing back. One bullet broke through Feodor's throat, and he died. Initially, he was buried in Roketta, but after the war they transferred the ashes to Genoa in the cemetery "Staleno". The memory of Fedor Poletayev is still revered in Italy. Although there is more known his nickname - Poet. So it was called partisans. Monuments to the Russian soldier who valiantly fought against the fascists are in Genoa and Cantalupo Ligure. Also named after his name is an Italian oil tanker. He was posthumously awarded a gold medal "For military valor" and a five-pointed bronze star in 1947. Not all Italians have such marks of distinction. And in the Soviet Union about his heroic life learned only a few decades after the war.

Restoration of justice

Initially, he was considered dead under the village of Leninka and buried in a mass grave. Then he was wanted as a traitor and defector. When in 1947 the Soviet consul of our country was handed over Poletayev's awards, there was a confusion with names. After all, the Italian order was written not Poletaev, but the Poet. December 26, 1962 was a significant date. It was on this day that Fyodor Poletayev was awarded the title (posthumously) of the Hero of the Soviet Union. It would have been impossible, had it not been for Smirnov's interest in historical photographs and documents. Sergei Sergeyevich was able to prove that Fedor Poletayev and Poetan are one and the same person.

The main thing is that the award found its hero. In our country monuments are erected in honor of him, streets are named. So, Fyodor Poletaeva - the hero of two countries - remember, know and, of course, honor his feat.