The feat of Alexei Maresyev, the legendary Soviet pilot who lost both legs during World War II, is known to everyone today. The hero's willpower and striving for life managed to defeat death first, and then disability. Contrary to the verdict, which seemed to be handed down by fate itself, Maresyev managed to survive when it seemed impossible, to return to the front at the helm of a fighter and at the same time to a full life. Maresyev's feat is a hope and an example for many people who have become victims of tragic circumstances not only in wartime, but also in peacetime. It reminds of what can be achieved by those who have not lost the strength to fight and faith in themselves.
Maresyev Alexey Petrovich: childhood and youth
May 20, 1916 in the family of Peter and Ekaterina Maresyev, who lived in the city of Kamyshin (now the Volgograd region), the third son was born. Alexei was three years old when his father died from wounds received at the front of the First World War. The mother, Ekaterina Nikitichna, who worked as a cleaning lady at the factory, had the difficult task of raising her children, Peter, Nikolai and Alexei, to their feet.
After finishing eight classes, AlexeyMaresyev entered the FZU school, where he received the profession of a locksmith. For three years he worked at a sawmill in his native Kamyshin as a metal turner and at the same time studied at the workers' faculty. Even then, he had a desire to become a pilot.
Two times he tried to enroll in a flight school, but his documents were returned to him: a severe form of malaria suffered in childhood seriously undermined his he alth, complicated by rheumatism. Few believed then that Alexey would become a pilot - neither his mother nor his neighbors were an exception - however, he stubbornly continued to strive for his goal.
In 1934, in the direction of the Kamyshin district committee of the Komsomol, Maresyev went to the Khabarovsk Territory to build Komsomolsk-on-Amur. While working as a diesel mechanic, he also attends the flying club, learning to fly.
Three years later, when Maresyev was drafted into the army, he was sent to serve in the 12th air border detachment on Sakhalin Island. From there, he received a referral to an aviation school in the city of Bataysk, which he graduated with the rank of second lieutenant. There he was appointed to the position of instructor. He served in Bataysk until the war.
The beginning of the war and the history of the feat
In August 1941, Alexei Maresyev was sent to the front. The first of his sorties took place near Krivoy Rog. When the following spring the pilot was transferred to the North-Western Front, he already had four downed enemy planes on his account.
April 4, 1942, during an air battle in the area of Staraya Russa (Novgorod region), a fighter was shot downMaresyev, and he himself was injured. The pilot was forced to land in the forest - on the territory of the enemy rear.
For eighteen days Alexei Maresyev fought desperately against death, making his way to the front line. When his wounded and then frostbitten legs were brought up, he continued to crawl, eating bark, berries, cones … Barely alive, he was found in the forest by two boys from the village of Plav (Plavni) in the Valdai region. The villagers hid the pilot at home and tried to get out, but the consequences of injury and frostbite of the legs were too severe. Maresyev needed an operation.
In early May, a plane landed near the village. It was piloted by Andrei Dekhtyarenko, the squadron commander in which Maresyev served. The wounded pilot was transported to Moscow to a military hospital.
The ruthless sentence of the doctors and… the return to duty
Everything that happens next is nothing but one long, unceasing feat of Maresyev. The pilot, hospitalized with gangrene and blood poisoning, miraculously saved his life, but they had to amputate his shins of both legs. While still in a hospital bed, Alexei begins grueling workouts. He is preparing not just to stand on prostheses and learn how to move on them. His plans are to master them so perfectly as to be able to return to aviation. He continued to train in 1942 in a sanatorium, making stunning progress, which was the result of his iron will and courage.
At the beginning of next year, Maresyev is sent for a medical examination, after which hereceived a referral to the Ibresinsky flight school in Chuvashia. In February 1943, he successfully flew his first test flight after being wounded. All this time, with remarkable persistence, he sought to be sent to the front.
Battle again
The pilot's request was granted in July 1943. But the commander of the 63rd Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment was at first afraid to let him go on missions. However, after the commander of his squadron, Alexander Chislov, who sympathized with Maresyev, began to take him with him on sorties, which turned out to be successful, confidence in the pilot's capabilities increased.
After Maresyev took to the air on artificial limbs, before the end of the war, he shot down seven more enemy planes. Soon the fame of Maresyev's feat spread all over the front.
At about this time, Alexei Petrovich first met with Boris Polev, a front-line correspondent for the Pravda newspaper. The feat of the pilot Maresyev inspired Polevoy to create his famous book "The Tale of a Real Man". In it, Maresyev acted as a prototype of the protagonist.
In 1943, Maresyev received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
The end of the war. Life after her is another feat of Maresyev
A year later, Alexei Maresyev was offered to leave the combat regiment and go to the Air Force Higher Education Directorate as an inspector-pilot. He agreed. By this time, he had eighty-seven sorties and elevendowned enemy planes.
In 1946, Maresyev Alexey Petrovich was dismissed from military aviation, but he constantly continued to maintain excellent physical shape. He skated, skied, swam and cycled. He set his personal record near Kuibyshev when he swam across the Volga (2200 meters) in fifty-five minutes.
Maresiev was very famous in the post-war years, was repeatedly invited to various festive events, participated in meetings with schoolchildren. In 1949, he traveled to Paris, participating in the First World Peace Congress.
In addition, he continued to study, graduating from the Higher Party School of the Central Committee of the CPSU in 1952, and four years later defended his Ph. D. thesis in the field of history.
In 1960, the book "On the Kursk Bulge" was published, authored by Alexei Maresyev (photo below).
Maresyev devoted a lot of time to social work. He was a member of the Committee of War Veterans, was elected a deputy to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, in addition, he headed the All-Russian Fund for the Disabled of the Great Patriotic War.
Family
Alexey Petrovich Maresyev was married. Galina Viktorovna Maresyeva (Tretyakova), his wife, was an employee of the General Staff of the Air Force. They had two sons. Senior, Victor (1946), currently in charge of the Maresiev Foundation. The younger, Alexei (1958), a former disabled child, died in 2001.
Death
Two days beforethe official birthday of the great pilot, on May 18, 2001, a concert was to be held at the Theater of the Russian Army on the occasion of the eighty-fifth anniversary of Maresyev. Some time before the start of the event, Alexei Petrovich had a heart attack, after which he died.
Alexey Maresyev was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.
Memory of a hero
Maresyev's military and labor merits were awarded many awards. In addition to the Gold Star of the Hero of the USSR and a number of state awards of his homeland, he became a holder of many foreign orders and medals. He also became an honorary soldier of one of the military units, an honorary citizen of his native Kamyshin, Orel, Komsomolsk-on-Amur and many other cities. A public foundation, a number of streets, schools, patriotic clubs and even a small planet bear his name.
The memory of Alexei Maresyev, his willpower, love of life and courage, which rightfully brought him the glory of a man-legend, will forever remain in people's hearts, serving as an example for the education of future generations.
