Elizaveta Ivanovna Chaikina - Hero of the Soviet Union. This title was awarded to her posthumously. During the Great Patriotic War, the girl actively fought against the invaders, being in a partisan detachment, and was tortured by the Nazis. But they could not break her with torture and never received from Lisa the information they were seeking. As a result, the girl was shot.
Lisa's life before the war
Lisa Chaikina was born on August 28, 1918. In the village of Runo, located in the Tver region. At the age of 15, the girl graduated from school - received a secondary education. After receiving the certificate, Lisa was appointed to the position of head of the village reading room, located in her native village. This is a kind of analogue of a regular library. Liza kept track of the condition of the books and gave out books to her fellow villagers.
For several years of work, the girl has shown herself to be a responsible and conscientious person. As a result, Liza was appointed a collective farm accountant. Thanks to the humanitarian mindset, the girl could easily write articles andessays. So she decided to try her hand at journalism. Lisa got a job at the Leninsky Urubrnik newspaper and published regularly there.
Party activities
After Lisa turned 21, she joined the party and received a membership card. As a result of vigorous activity, after a while the girl was appointed to the post of secretary of the Penovsky district committee. At the same time, she became a deputy of the district council. In 1941, Lisa Chaikina took courses for Komsomol and party workers held in the city of Kalinin, which was later renamed Tver.
Lisa is the organizer of the partisan detachment
When the war suddenly broke out, Lisa from the very first days began to take an active part in the construction of defense. The evacuation of many areas was started, and the regional committee of the Komsomol instructed the girl to organize a partisan detachment in her native village. Lisa was able to gather 70 fighters of the "invisible front". She herself also became part of the created partisan detachment. Subsequently, many recalled that Liza handled well not only with a rifle, but also with a machine gun. In addition, she demanded the same perfect weapon skills from all fighters and set a personal example.
Activities of Liza's partisan detachment
In October 1941, Soviet troops had to leave the defense of the village of Peno and retreat to Ostashkov. It was then that Lisa's detachment began active partisan activity. The fighters went on reconnaissance, participated in military operations duringmany districts of the Kalinin region. Often staged sabotage. Due to the fact that Liza Chaikina knew the area perfectly, she stole important documents right "from under the nose" of the Nazis and forwarded the papers to the Red Army.
But Lisa's main task was campaigning. She spoke at underground meetings, distributed leaflets and newspapers to many villages. In her speeches, Lisa reported the latest front-line news and "ignited" people with patriotism and unbending will. People loved her and waited for her in all the villages.
How Lisa Chaikin was betrayed
The heroes of the war were not only in the battles on the front lines. Partisan detachments became a real disaster for the Nazis. Indeed, thanks to the fighters of the “invisible front”, people learned the latest news. The Germans suffered huge losses as a result of clashes with partisans. A big problem for the Nazis was the leakage of information that got to the fighters of the "invisible front". The partisans delivered the latter to the Red Army, thereby frustrating many of the enemy's plans.
And Elizaveta Ivanovna Chaikina became so dangerous for the Nazis that a real personal “hunt” was arranged for the girl. But she always managed to slip away. And yet, despite the thousands of people who loved and protected her, there were traitors. They played a fatal role in the life of a partisan.
November 22, 1941, Liza was supposed to reconnoiter the strength of the enemy garrison. The girl decided to spend the night with her friend - Marusya Kuporova in the village of Krasnoye Pokatische. Local grooms and his son saw a girl they did not know and reported itfascists. The Germans broke into Marusya's hut at night, shot her, her brother and mother, and captured Lisa.
Heroes of war: the feat of Lisa Chaikina
The Germans decided to find out who it was - the stranger they had captured. But since they could not get answers from her, the Nazis gathered all the local residents, hoping that they would tell about her. But the villagers remained stubbornly silent. And only one girl said that this was the Komsomol leader and called her name.
The Nazis were delighted that they caught the always elusive partisan, who had been "hunted" for so long. Chaikina was sent to the village of Peno, where the Gestapo department was located. The Nazis used the most sophisticated torture to find out the information they needed: how many people were in the partisan detachment, its location, safe houses. But the girl never gave up the secret, despite the pain of hell.
The Nazis shot Lisa on November 23, 41st. A few minutes before her death, the girl said that she still believes in victory. These words proved to be prophetic.
Assigning Liza Chaikina the title of "Hero of the Soviet Union"
Despite the fact that after the war everyone who betrayed Liza was shot, this did not return the life to the girl who gave her for the happiness of other people. She was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin posthumously. After the liberation of the village of Peno from the Nazi occupation, the girl was buried in a mass grave, which is located on one of the main streets of the village. In 1944, a monument to Liza Chaikina was erected on this site.
Memory of Lisa Chaikina
In memory of the heroic act that Elizaveta Chaikina did, a Komsomol partisan detachment was named after her in 1942. Next year - a whole squadron of aircraft from the Fighter Aviation Regiment.
The memory of the girl's heroic act still lives on. Streets in many CIS countries and, of course, in Russian cities are named after her. In memory of Lisa, the ships were named. A poem and a novel have been written about the girl.
In Tver, the Museum of Komsomol Glory is named after Lisa. He has been in business for over sixty years. More than 70 compositions are shown in its halls. The museum hosts regional and national exhibitions. Particular attention is paid to youth creativity. It was for the sake of all this, so that people could live peacefully and create, Liza Chaikina gave her life. Now her name is immortalized, and every citizen of Tver knows about the heroic deed of the girl.
Not everyone could endure the inhuman torture of the Nazis and not give out secret information to enemies. And for a young and fragile girl, it was doubly difficult. But she heroically withstood the torment and did not betray her comrades. Liza is honored in our country, and the memory of her exploits will never fade away.
