There are many heroic pages in the history of the Great Patriotic War, but this one stands apart. Even the Nazis themselves admitted that it would be difficult to believe in such a thing if they had not seen with my own eyes. Even if on the field maps of German officers, “Pavlov’s house” was marked as a fortress.
This house seemed to be no different from other houses in the area, only there was a direct road from it to the Volga, this point was very important. And a group of scouts under the command of Sergeant Pavlov, having captured him, received an important strategic initiative. Three days later, reinforcements with manpower and weapons arrived to help as a scout. Command passed to Senior Lieutenant I.F. Afanasyev. About two dozen fighters armed with small arms, anti-tank rifles and machine guns fought under his command.
German troops stormed “Pavlov’s house” several times during the day, but the most they were able to achieve was the capture of the first floors. However, Soviet soldiers launched a counterattack and returned to their previous positions.
Tanks and additional military units were brought to the area of Pavlov’s house, but the Red Army soldiers met them with heavy fire and did not allow them to enter the building. At the same time, in basement Civilians were hiding at home. It remained a mystery to the Germans how they supplied the scouts with ammunition and provisions in conditions of complete blockade of the building.
During the siege of Pavlov's house, German troops lost more manpower than during the entire campaign against Paris!
Thanks to the courage of the scouts, who diverted the attention of a large group of Wehrmacht troops, the Red Army units received a respite, reorganized and launched a counterattack.
We can say that the feat of Soviet soldiers in “Pavlov’s house” became the starting point and the key to a successful offensive on the entire front.
It is worth noting that among the soldiers who defended “Pavlov’s house” there were representatives of eleven nationalities. Their feat was not forgotten, and after the war, a memorial plaque dedicated to the feat of the scouts was installed at house number 39 on Sovetskaya Street.
Yakov Fedotovich
"Honorary Citizen of the Hero City of Volgograd"
Hero Soviet Union, participant in the Battle of Stalingrad.
Born 10/4/17/1917, Krestovaya village, now Valdai district, Novgorod region, In the Red Army since 1938. During the Great Patriotic War machine gun squad commander, gunner and squad leader. He walked the battle route from Stalingrad to the Elbe. Participated in battles on the South-Western, Stalingrad, 3rd Ukrainian and 2nd Belorussian fronts. Yakov Fedotovich received active participation in the historical Battle of Stalingrad, he fought as part of the legendary 13th Guards Order of Lenin Rifle Division of the 62nd Army. During the defense of Stalingrad, at the end of September 1942, a reconnaissance and assault group led by Sergeant Pavlov captured a 4-story building in the city center and entrenched itself in it. Then reinforcements arrived at the house, and the house became an important stronghold in the division's defense system. 24 soldiers of nine nationalities steadfastly defended themselves in a fortified house, repelling the fierce attacks of the Nazis and held the house until the start of the counter-offensive of Soviet troops in the Battle of Stalingrad. This house went down in the history of the Battle of Stalingrad as “Pavlov’s House”. Pavlov's house in the history of the Battle of Stalingrad became a symbol of courage, perseverance and heroism. For 58 days, Sergeant Yakov Fedotovich Pavlov and his comrades defended this house, repelling all fascist attacks. For his feat, Pavlov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
The house, held by the garrison of Sergeant Pavlov, was one of the first to be restored thanks to the inhabitants of the city in honor of the courageous defenders, whose names are immortalized in stone on its pediment. In August 1946, Pavlov was demobilized and graduated from the Higher Party School under the CPSU Central Committee. Worked in national economy. Awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order October Revolution, 2 orders of the Red Star and medals. In his personal life, Yakov Fedotovich Pavlov was an open and sociable person. The title “Honorary Citizen of the Hero City of Volgograd” was awarded to Yakov Fedotovich Pavlov by decision of the Volgograd City Council of People's Deputies on May 7, 1980 for special military merits shown in the defense of the city and the defeat of Nazi troops in Battle of Stalingrad.
Yakov Pavlov was born in the village of Malaya Krestovaya, now the Valdai district of the Novgorod region, graduated primary school, worked in agriculture. In 1938 he was drafted into the Red Army. He met the Great Patriotic War in combat units in the Kovel region, as part of the troops of the Southwestern Front.
In 1942, Pavlov was sent to the 42nd Guards Rifle Regiment of the 13th Guards Division under General A.I. Rodimtsev. He took part in defensive battles on the approaches to Stalingrad. In July-August 1942, Senior Sergeant Ya. F. Pavlov was reorganized in the city of Kamyshin, where he was appointed commander of the machine gun squad of the 7th company. In September 1942 - in the battles for Stalingrad, he carried out reconnaissance missions.
On the evening of September 27, 1942, Pavlov received a combat mission from the company commander, Lieutenant Naumov, to reconnoiter the situation in a 4-story building overlooking the central square of Stalingrad - January 9th Square. This building occupied an important tactical position. With three fighters (Chernogolov, Glushchenko and Aleksandrov) he knocked the Germans out of the building and completely captured it. Soon the group received reinforcements, ammunition and telephone communications. Together with the platoon of Lieutenant I. Afanasyev, the number of defenders increased to 24 people. It took a long time to dig a trench and evacuate civilians hiding in the basements of the house.
The Nazis constantly attacked the building with artillery and aerial bombs. But Afanasiev avoided big losses and for almost two months did not allow the enemy to break through to the Volga.
On November 19, 1942, the troops of the Stalingrad Front (see Operation Uranus) launched a counteroffensive. On November 25, during the attack, Pavlov was wounded in the leg, lay in the hospital, then was a gunner and commander of the reconnaissance section in the artillery units of the 3rd Ukrainian and 2nd Belorussian Fronts, in which he reached Stettin. He was awarded two Orders of the Red Star and many medals. On June 17, 1945, junior lieutenant Yakov Pavlov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (medal No. 6775). Pavlov was demobilized from the ranks Soviet Army in August 1946.
After demobilization, he worked in the city of Valdai, Novgorod Region, was the first secretary of the district committee, and graduated from the Higher Party School under the CPSU Central Committee. Elected as a deputy three times Supreme Council RSFSR from the Novgorod region. After the war, he was also awarded the Order of Lenin and the Order of the October Revolution. He repeatedly came to Stalingrad (now Volgograd), met with residents of the city who survived the war and restored it from ruins. In 1980, Y. F. Pavlov was awarded the title “Honorary Citizen of the Hero City of Volgograd.”
In Veliky Novgorod, in a boarding school named after him for orphans and children left without parental care, there is a Pavlov Museum (Derevyanitsy microdistrict, Beregovaya Street, building 44).
Pavlov was buried on the Alley of Heroes of the Western Cemetery of Veliky Novgorod. There is a version that Pavlov did not die in 1981, but became the confessor of the Holy Trinity-Sergius Lavra, Fr. Kirill. This information has no confirmation - this is his namesake, who was also the defender of Stalingrad.
Image in culture
- Battle of Stalingrad (1949) - Leonid Knyazev
- Stalingrad (1989) - Sergei Garmash.
- Yakov Pavlov is mentioned in the Call of Duty computer game in the "Pavlov" campaign.
“We will never forget the harsh and formidable year of 1942. A quarter of a century ago, the fate of our Fatherland was decided here... Our oath - there is no land beyond the Volga for us - expressed the determination to fight to the death, expressed the nationwide desire to defeat the enemy in Stalingrad...”
Ya.F. Pavlov
“Let our prayers merge into a single cry to the Lord, so that those for whom we pray will rejoice in spirit for our love for them...”
Archimandrite Kirill (Pavlov)
Once I had the opportunity to meet pilgrims from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra on Valaam. The elder, Archimandrite Kirill (Pavlov), was also mentioned in the conversation. Someone asked whether this is the legendary Sergeant Pavlov from Stalingrad, or whether all the talk about this is just an ordinary poetic invention, of which there are many wandering among the Orthodox.
“They say this and that way...” answered the monk Sergius. – And Elder Kirill himself, in his humility, does not answer this question. But, apparently, Sergeant Pavlov is who he is.
- He, of course! – the elderly monk supported him. - Who else is so against it? an entire army could you defend the house? Only a man of prayer like Kirill could do something like this...
My interlocutors were wrong.
Although Archimandrite Kirill (Pavlov) also fought in Stalingrad with the rank of sergeant, the commander of the machine gun squad of the 42nd Guards Rifle Regiment of the 13th Guards Division of General Rodimtsev, who defended the famous House of Specialists for 58 days, was another Stalingrad sergeant - Yakov Fedotovich Pavlov.
1
In the old days, every schoolchild knew about this House...
The 13th Guards Division of General Rodimtsev miraculously managed to stop the enemy rushing towards the Volga, just a few hundred meters from the shore, on the January 9 Square.
When there was a break, we noticed that the dark gray House of Specialists remained in the neutral zone. From time to time, automatic and machine gun fire could be heard from there.
It was decided to send reconnaissance. The choice fell on Sergeant Yakov Pavlov. Together with Corporal V.S. Glushchenko and privates A.P. Alexandrov and N.Ya. Black-headed, the fearless sergeant went to the house. There, in the basement where local residents were hiding, the scouts met with medical instructor Dmitry Kalinin and two wounded soldiers. There were also few Germans in the house yet. Moving from one apartment to another, from floor to floor, the scouts knocked out the Nazis.
The house of specialists was considered one of the most prestigious in Stalingrad. Leaders lived there industrial enterprises and party workers. From the house a direct road led to the Volga.
The German positions were clearly visible from the house. Having assessed the situation, Sergeant Pavlov decided that it was impossible to leave this house.
Early in the morning the scouts took the first enemy attack. For almost two months, fifty-eight days, the Germans stormed Pavlov’s House and were never able to take it.
This is, of course, a miracle...
The German army, which had easily traveled many thousands of kilometers and captured dozens of countries, was stuck in front of an ordinary four-story house on a Stalingrad street, but was never able to pass the last meters leading to the Volga.
2
In those very September days, when the Germans attacked Stalingrad with all the might of their armies, another sergeant, Ivan Dmitrievich Pavlov, also defended the city on the Volga. He was two years younger than his heroic namesake, but his military path turned out to be longer, because he began at Finnish war. And, like Yakov Fedotovich in the House on January 9 Square, Ivan Dmitrievich also found his fate in the ruins of a Stalingrad house.
Ivan Dmitrievich picked up a broken book from a pile of bricks, began to read it and felt, as he later recalled, “something so dear to the soul.” This was the Gospel.
Ivan Dmitrievich collected all his leaves together and never parted with the found Book. Thus began his journey to God.
“When I started reading the Gospel, my eyes just opened up to everything around me, to all the events,” he later said. – I walked with the Gospel and was not afraid. Never. It was such inspiration! The Lord was just next to me, and I was not afraid of anything...”
Ivan Dmitrievich reached Austria, took part in the battles on Lake Balaton, and in 1946, when he was demobilized from Hungary, he came to Moscow.
“In the Yelokhovsky Cathedral I ask if we have any spiritual institution. “There is,” they say, “a theological seminary has been opened in the Novodevichy Convent.” I went there straight in military uniform. I remember the vice-rector, Father Sergius Savinsky, greeted me cordially”...
So yesterday's sergeant became a seminarian.
After completing the seminary, he studied at the Moscow Theological Academy and in 1953 took monastic vows.
It was not Ivan Dmitrievich Pavlov who graduated from the Theological Academy in 1954, but Hieromonk Kirill.
The fate of Sergeant Yakov Fedotovich Pavlov is completely different, but - so strange! – all its key points coincide in time with the key events in the biography of the future archimandrite.
In 1944, Yakov Fedotovich joined the Communist Party. He met victory with the rank of foreman, and on June 27, 1945, by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for the feat accomplished back in Stalingrad.
After the war, Yakov Fedotovich graduated from the Higher Party School under the CPSU Central Committee and worked in the national economy, was elected three times to the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, and was awarded the Orders of Lenin and the October Revolution.
In 1980, he was awarded the title “Honorary Citizen of Volgograd.” Yakov Fedotovich Pavlov died in 1981 and was buried in Novgorod.
Well, the whole life of Archimandrite Kirill turned out to be connected with the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. Archimandrite Kirill became the confessor of the entire brethren of the main monastery of Russia.
It was Elder Kirill who confessed to the now deceased Patriarchs Alexy and Pimen. Now he is the confessor of Alexy II.
The elder almost never visits the Lavra - he lives in Peredelkino, in the residence of His Holiness Patriarch of All Rus' Alexy II.
The elder prefers not to talk about his military past.
“It remained in that life,” he answers his annoying interlocutors.
They say that one day Archimandrite Kirill was called to the military registration and enlistment office of Sergiev Posad and asked what to tell the Moscow authorities about the defender of Stalingrad Pavlov.
“Tell me that I died...” the elder answered.
3
I would not explain the confusion that occurred with Sergeants Pavlov in some Orthodox publications by enthusiasm alone Orthodox authors. Of course, the prevalence of the Pavlov surname played a role here.
Few people know that only three Pavlovs became Heroes of the Soviet Union in Stalingrad. This high rank was awarded to Captain Sergei Mikhailovich Pavlov and Guard Senior Sergeant Dmitry Ivanovich Pavlov.
And Sergeant Yakov Fedotovich Pavlov himself, as we have already noted, received the title of Hero for his unprecedented feat in Stalingrad only after the war, when he finally joined the Communist Party.
It is possible to find deeper roots of this combination of different Pavlov sergeants into one whole. The long silence of the role took its toll Orthodox Church and millions Orthodox people in victory over the occult Reich. After all, practically nothing is known about the fact that when Nazi Germany attacked the USSR, the Orthodox clergy, forgetting about previous persecutions, stood up in defense of the Fatherland.
In Stalingrad alone you can find many examples of this. The Dnieper priest from the Kazan Cathedral walked around the besieged city and blessed the residents and soldiers for military work. The clergyman Boris Vasilyev commanded a platoon of reconnaissance officers in the battle on the Volga, and Metropolitan Alexy of Kalinin and Kashinsky, then just private Alexey Konoplev, was a machine gunner...
In fact, there is also that mystical side in this story that is incomprehensible to the end, which does not allow us to talk about the connection in the Orthodox popular consciousness of the Hero of the Soviet Union, Sergeant Ya.F. Pavlov and the confessor of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, Archimandrite Kirill, simply as a mistake.
I first thought about this while listening to the sermon delivered by Archimandrite Kirill.
“Let us give one reliable example, described by the third-century holy martyr Perpetua,” he said. “Once,” writes the martyr, “in prison, during a common prayer, I accidentally pronounced the name of my deceased brother Dinocrates. Struck by the unexpectedness, I began to pray and sigh for him before God. The next night I had a vision. I see Dinocrates emerging from a dark place, very hot and thirsty, unclean in appearance and pale; on his face there is a wound with which he died. There was a great gulf between me and him, so that we could not get closer to each other. Near the place where Dinocrates stood there was a full reservoir, the edge of which was much higher than the height of my brother, and Dinocrates stretched out, trying to get water. I regretted that the height of the edge prevented my brother from getting drunk. Immediately after this I woke up and realized that my brother was in agony. Believing that prayer could help him in his suffering, I prayed days and nights in prison, with screams and tears, that he would be given to me. On that day, on which we remained tied in chains, a new phenomenon appeared to me: the place that I had previously seen as dark became light, and Dinocrates, clean in face and in beautiful clothes, was enjoying the coolness. Where he had a wound, I see only a trace of it, and the edge of the reservoir was now no more than the height of the boy’s waist, and he could easily get water from there. On the edge stood a golden bowl full of water; Dinocrates approached and began to drink from it, and the water did not decrease. That was the end of the vision. Then I realized that he was freed from punishment.”
Blessed Augustine, in explanation of this story, says that Dinocrates was enlightened by holy baptism, but was carried away by the example of his pagan father and was not firm in the faith, and died after some sins, common at his age. For such infidelity to the holy faith, he suffered suffering, but through the prayers of his holy sister he got rid of it.
Therefore, my dears, as long as the militant Church remains on earth, with its benefits the lot of dead sinners can still change for the better. How much consolation there is for a sorrowful heart, how much light there is for a perplexed mind in Christianity! Rays of light pour from it into the dark kingdom of the dead.”
You think about the words of this sermon by Archimandrite Kirill, and somehow you see the story of the Pavlov sergeants differently...
It is not confusion, but a high heavenly light that you discern in it.
Hero of the Soviet Union - hero of the Battle of Stalingrad, commander of a group of fighters who defended the so-called in the summer of 1942. Pavlov's house in the center of Stalingrad. This house and its defenders became a symbol of the heroic defense of the city on the Volga.
Born in the village of Krestovaya, now the Valdai district of the Novgorod region, he graduated from elementary school and worked in agriculture. From there he was drafted into the Red Army in 1938. He met the Great Patriotic War in combat units in the Kovel region, as part of the troops of the Southwestern Front, which fought heavy defensive battles on the territory of Ukraine.
In 1942, he was sent to the 42nd Guards Rifle Regiment of the 13th Guards Division under General A.I. Rodimtsev. He took part in defensive battles on the approaches to Stalingrad. In July-August 1942, Senior Sergeant Ya.F. Pavlov was reorganized in the city of Kamyshin, where he was appointed commander of the machine gun squad of the 7th company. In September 1942 - in the battles for Stalingrad, he carried out reconnaissance missions.
On the evening of September 27, 1942, Ya.F. Pavlov received a combat mission from company commander Lieutenant Naumov to reconnoiter the situation in a 4-story building overlooking January 9th Square (the central square of the city) and occupying an important tactical position. With three fighters (Chernogolov, Glushchenko and Aleksandrov) he managed to knock the Germans out of the building and completely capture it. Soon the group received reinforcements, ammunition, and a telephone line. Together with the platoon of Lieutenant I. Afanasyev, the number of defenders reached 24 people. It was not immediately possible to dig a trench and evacuate civilians hiding in the basements of the house.
The fascist invaders continuously attacked the building, trying to smash it with artillery and aerial bombs. Skillfully maneuvering the forces of a small “garrison”, Ya.F. Pavlov avoided heavy losses and for almost two months did not allow the enemy to break through to the Volga.
On November 19, 1942, the troops of the Stalingrad Front (see Operation Uranus) launched a counteroffensive. On November 25, during the attack, Ya.F. Pavlov was wounded in the leg. He was in the hospital, then he fought as a gunner and commander of the reconnaissance department in the artillery units of the 3rd Ukrainian and 2nd Belorussian fronts, and reached Stettin. He was awarded two Orders of the Red Star and medals. Soon after the end of the war (June 17, 1945), junior lieutenant Ya.F. Pavlov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (medal No. 6775). Demobilized from the Soviet Army in August 1946.
After demobilization, he worked in Novgorod and graduated from the Higher Party School under the CPSU Central Committee. Three times he was elected as a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR from the Novgorod region. After the war, he was also awarded the Order of Lenin and the Order of the October Revolution. He repeatedly came to Stalingrad (now Volgograd), met with residents of the city who survived the war and restored it from ruins. In 1980, Ya.F. Pavlov was awarded the title “Honorary Citizen of the Hero City of Volgograd.”
In Veliky Novgorod, in a boarding school named after him for orphans and children left without parental care, there is a Pavlov Museum (Derevyanitsy microdistrict, Beregovaya Street, building 44).
Ya.F. Pavlov was buried in the Alley of Heroes of the Western Cemetery of Veliky Novgorod. The version that Y.F. Pavlov did not die in 1981, but became the confessor of the Holy Trinity-Sergius Lavra, Fr. Kirill has no basis - this is his namesake, although in the past he was also a defender of Stalingrad.
Today Russia celebrates the day of military glory - the Day of the defeat of Nazi troops by Soviet troops in the Battle of Stalingrad (1943). About exploits heroic defenders A lot has been written about Stalingrad. And today I want to talk about the legendary Sergeant Yakov Pavlov, who became famous with his comrades in the fall of 1942. Moreover, on October 17, 2017, the country will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Yakov Pavlov.
So, in October 1917, in an ordinary peasant family in the village of Krestovaya, present-day Novgorod region, a boy was born who received the name Yakov. A few days later, a revolution occurred in Russia, which could not but affect his fate. He got the opportunity to study, but did not have time to test his knowledge in practice, since almost immediately after graduating from school he received a summons to the military registration and enlistment office.
This happened in 1938, when Yakov, three years before the start of the Great Patriotic War, became a fighter in the Red Army. In the summer of 1941, junior sergeant Pavlov took part in his first battle near the city of Kovel. He was the commander of a machine gun squad, then a gunner. Together with his units, he retreated deeper into the country until he ended up in Stalingrad. I ended up in a guards unit, which I was very proud of.
On the night of September 27, 1942, battalion commander Alexei Zhukov ordered the company commander, Senior Lieutenant I. Naumov, to conduct reconnaissance in force in the only four-story building of the regional consumer union that survived the bombing on Penzenskaya Street, 61. Komroty sent a group of four reconnaissance officers to the house, commanded by Guard Sergeant Yakov Pavlov , with the task of gaining a foothold in it and preventing German troops from breaking through to the Volga River in the area of 9 January Square (now Lenin Square).
When a legend was sculpted from Pavlov’s House a few years later, it was “added” that Pavlov recaptured the house from the Nazis. At the same time, the number of fascists themselves is modestly kept silent. Most likely, the Germans simply did not have time to get comfortable in this house and also sent scouts to find out the situation. And ours arrived a little later. In any case, Yakov Pavlovich’s memoirs directly indicate that the Germans were living in two apartments in the second entrance on the first floor. Our four burst into the apartments, threw three lemons each into the rooms, and after the smoke from the explosions cleared, they discharged another horn of machine guns into the apartments. And at the same time, only three Nazis were killed, and three more wounded were finished off after they tried to get out of the building.
Since the Nazis, located 200-300 meters from the house in the dark, could not determine the strength of the attackers, they bombed and shelled the house all night, but did not bring any harm to our scouts. And right before the shelling, Pavlov discovered medical instructor Kalinin, who had appeared out of nowhere, in one of the basements, and sent him to battalion headquarters so that he could convey the situation in the house. But he managed to get through to his own people only a day later.
But the commander of the guard regiment, Colonel Elin, having learned that the company commander had sent only four soldiers, gave Alexei Zhukov a formal dressing down, sighing sadly: “They were probably all already dead, they should have sent more.” And then they brought Kalinin into the basement, who gave the battalion commander a note from Pavlov. That same night, reinforcements were sent to the house on January 9 Square, and most importantly, contact was established with the company commander, and the cable was laid by signalmen.
The platoon that arrived at the house was commanded by Guard Lieutenant Ivan Afanasyev. He was entrusted with leading the defense. It was difficult to imagine that in a combat situation a sergeant commanded a lieutenant, especially since the defenders were not “cut off” from command; by and large, Zhukov and Naumov gave instructions. But for some reason it was not Ivan Afanasyev who went down in history (who remembers him?), but Yakov Pavlov. Why?
Everything here most likely lies in the area of ideology. Firstly, the first group was still commanded by Pavlov, and the title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded to the first group that crossed the river, broke into a height, captured fascist trenches, etc. And, secondly, it was more convenient to raise the patriotic spirit of Soviet soldiers - still a sergeant. So that other junior commanders show initiative and the ability to take responsibility in battle, so that they do not feel out of place when, for example, officers die. And a lieutenant is supposed to command anyway!
But this does not mean that Pavlov did not show courage. He fought on par with everyone else, and even a little better, if only because, unlike some fighters, he was an experienced warrior who had three years of service before the war and one year of participation in hostilities. And, naturally, it was he who set an example for the soldiers, for he was, as it were, on the same level with them.
One more myth can be debunked. All textbooks say that the house was defended by 24 guardsmen. In fact, the fighting strength of the defenders was constantly renewed, the wounded were sent to the rear (although what kind of rear is there if the Germans are just a stone's throw away). According to the most conservative estimates, there were about three dozen defenders.
The Nazis made dozens of attempts to drive the heroes out of the house, but in vain. How could they survive in this hell? Largely due to the fact that the guards had reserve positions. In front of the house there was a cemented gas storage facility, to which an underground passage was dug. Another convenient position was located behind the house, about thirty meters away, where there was a hatch for the water supply tunnel, into which an underground passage was also dug. As soon as the Nazis opened fire on the house, only those on duty remained at their posts, and everyone else went to shelters. The shelling stopped, and the entire small garrison was again in the house, again mowing down the Fritz who were trying to attack our positions.
The brave Soviet soldiers held out for 58 days and nights. They left the building on November 24, when the regiment launched a counteroffensive. As you might guess, Yakov Pavlov celebrated his 25th birthday within the walls of the house. But neither Pavlov nor his military friends focused attention on how he celebrated the anniversary.
It remains to add that Guard Sergeant Pavlov received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union after the May victory salute, on June 27, 1945. Along with the star, he was also given lieutenant's shoulder straps. The following year, Yakov Fedotovich retired from the army. Then he graduated from the Higher Party School under the CPSU Central Committee. He worked in the national economy. Awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the October Revolution, 2 Orders of the Red Star and medals. By the decision of the Volgograd City Council of People's Deputies of May 7, 1980, Yakov Fedotovich Pavlov was awarded the title “Honorary Citizen of the Hero City of Volgograd.”
Unfortunately, his health, undermined by injuries, significantly shortened the hero’s life. On September 29, 1981, Hero of the Soviet Union Ya. F. Pavlov died. He was buried in the city of Novgorod (now Veliky Novgorod) at the Western Cemetery...
And even though history has preserved only his last name for posterity, he still shared the glory with all his comrades. Each of the surviving defenders of the House has always been the most dear guest in Volgograd. In a city where they did not spare their lives. And it is not so important whose name this House would be named. Veterans generally propose to rename it the House of Soldiers' Glory. Maybe this is right...
Yuri Moskalenko
https://shkolazhizni.ru/culture/articles/9740/
