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This woman is often compared to the “cavalry maiden” Nadezhda Andreevna Durova, who in 1806, under male name entered military service, and then fought with the French army that attacked the country. Only it was in 1942, there was a terrible war with the Nazis, and it was no longer horses that were in use, but tanks.
Indeed, whole for three years Alexandra Rashchupkina served as a mechanic-driver of the T-34 tank, having gone through the battle for Stalingrad and the liberation of Poland, and no one suspected that she was a woman...

And it was like this...
Shurochka was born on May 1, 1914 in Syr-Daryinsk (now Uzbekistan). She grew up in the Uzbek SSR, mastered a tractor and worked as a tractor driver. She got married, gave birth to two children, then the family moved to Tashkent. Here the Rashchupkins suffered a great misfortune: both children died in infancy. And soon the war began.

With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War Alexandra Rashchupkina's husband was drafted into the Red Army and sent to the front. 27-year-old Alexandra repeatedly appealed to the military registration and enlistment office with a request to also send her to the front. But representatives of the military registration and enlistment office were not convinced by her arguments: neither the fact that she had successfully mastered a tractor and could also master a combat vehicle without any problems, nor the fact that her husband was already at the front, and she did not want to sit out in the rear.
Then, in 1942, having cut her hair short, wearing men's clothing (her thin figure allowed it), she again came to the military registration and enlistment office and, taking advantage of the confusion with the documents, signed up as a recruit under the name of Alexander Rashchupkin.
She was sent to the Moscow region for a driver's course, then to a two-month tank driver course near Stalingrad. The doctor who conducted the medical examination of the recruits indignantly stated that he was obliged to report to the command, but Alexandra managed to convince him, saying that she was obliged to defend the Motherland and would still break through to the front. The doctor agreed not to give her away: “ Eh, what a girl... Just Joan of Arc!»
When there were already three days left before the end of school, the school territory suddenly found itself behind German lines: German troops rapidly advanced towards Stalingrad. The cadets made their way to their own in small groups.

A week later, Alexandra was sent to the front as a mechanic-driver of a T-34 tank. She fought as part of the 62nd Army (General V.I. Chuikov). In the unit they called her "Sasha the Tomboy".
She took part in the battles for Stalingrad and in the liberation of Poland. For almost three years Neither the crew of the tank driven by A. M. Rashchupkina, nor the rest of her fellow soldiers suspected that a woman was hiding under the name of Alexander Rashchupkin. According to the memoirs of a former driver-mechanic of the T-34 tank, “ I cut my hair like a man, my figure was always boyish - narrow hips, wide shoulders, almost no breasts. And at the front we rarely had to undress, except to wash ourselves. But I tried to solve hygiene issues separately from everyone else, citing shyness. The men laughed: “You, San, are just like a girl!” but they didn’t pay much attention to this whim of mine." Alexandra had studied men’s habits well even before the war, and all that remained was to lower her voice a little.

The secret was revealed only in February 1945, when tankers were advancing across Poland. Tankers broke into the city of Bunzlau (now Boleslawiec), where Alexandra Rashchupkina’s T-34 was ambushed by German Tigers, was hit and caught fire. The driver-mechanic A.M. Rashchupkina was seriously wounded in the thigh and shell-shocked. Driver mechanic Viktor Pozharsky rushed to the rescue from a nearby tank and began to bandage it. It was he who recognized the girl in “Sashka the Tomboy.”
She was sent to the hospital, where she was treated for two months. And at this time a big scandal broke out in the regiment. When it came to the command, General Vasily Chuikov stood up for the brave tanker. As a result, Alexandra Mitrofanovna Rashchupkina escaped punishment, was left in the regiment, and all documents were reissued to female name. For military services, Alexandra Rashchupkina was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, II degree, the Order of the Red Star, and medals.

After the war, Alexandra Rashchupkina was demobilized. I met my husband, who survived and also returned from the war crippled. The Rashchupkin family moved to Kuibyshev (now Samara), where they lived together for 28 years until their husband passed away. Alexandra Mitrofanovna worked as a driver and graduated from the Polytechnic Institute with an engineering degree. They no longer had children - front-line wounds made themselves known. Alexandra Mitrofanovna died in 2010, at the age of 96.
Shurochka Rashchupkina was not the only female tanker during the war. She was unique in that she hid her feminine essence for 3 years.

Let us remember the women tankers of the Great Patriotic War, who shared with men all the difficulties and horrors of the war.

Barkhatova Valentina Sergeevna Boyko (Morisheva) Alexandra Leontievna
(driver-mechanic of T-34, "Valentine") (commander of IS-2)

Kalinina Lyudmila Ivanovna Lagunova Maria Ivanovna
(commander of the repair and restoration regiment) (driver-mechanic T-34)

Levchenko Irina Nikolaevna Oktyabrskaya Maria Vasilievna
(T-60 group commander) (driver mechanic, Hero Soviet Union)

During the Great Patriotic War, the country's defenders were mainly associated with military medical institutions (61% of the average medical personnel), communications units (80%) and road troops (almost half of the personnel). Against this background, women tankers stand out, the number of whom in the tank forces did not exceed 20 people. There were even many more female pilots; many still heard of the famous regiment that flew Po-2 night bombers, which the Germans nicknamed “night witches.” All the more interesting is the fate of women who sat behind the levers of tanks or even took command of formidable combat vehicles. Today's story is dedicated to Alexandra Rashchupkina, who was able to repeat the “cavalry maiden” of Nadezhda Durova, and whom her colleagues affectionately nicknamed Sashka the Tomboy.

Alexandra Mitrofanovna Rashchupkina - participant in the Great Patriotic War, soviet tankman, the only girl tanker in Samara region. During the war, she was able to repeat the brave act of the famous “cavalry maiden” Nadezhda Durova, who back in 1806 entered military service under a man’s name, after which she fought against the invasion of Russia Great Army Napoleon. She took part in the Battle of Borodino. Alexandra Rashchupkina also had to identify herself as a young man in order to go to the front.

Alexandra Rashchupkina was born on May 1, 1914 in Syr-Daryinsk (today the territory of Uzbekistan). She spent her childhood and youth in the Uzbek SSR, here the girl mastered the tractor well and worked as a tractor driver. She got married and gave birth to two children. After the birth of the children, the family moved to Tashkent, where they suffered a great misfortune: both children died in infancy.

With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, Rashchupkina’s husband was drafted into the Red Army and sent to the front. After this, 27-year-old Alexandra several times turned to the military registration and enlistment office workers with a request to send her to the front. However, the girl’s arguments from the military registration and enlistment office workers are that she was one of the first in Uzbekistan to master a tractor perfectly and is able to master a real combat vehicle, nor that her husband is already fighting the Nazis, and she is not going to sit in the rear at this time, weren't convinced.

As a result, the front-line soldier’s wife decided to use a trick, since she was not going to give up and refuse to be sent to the front even a year after hitting the threshold of the military registration and enlistment office. The girl cut her hair short and put on men's clothing and went to the military registration and enlistment office. At the military registration and enlistment office, the girl identified herself as Alexander Rashchupkin. At that time, there was confusion with documents throughout the country, so the newly-made “volunteer” was not asked for a passport and was simply sent to the front as a man. The year was 1942.

Alexandra was sent to the Moscow region, where the girl completed driver courses. After completing the courses, they were sent to Stalingrad, where they studied for two months to become tank driver-mechanics. The doctor who examined the recruits, naturally, discovered that there was a girl in front of him and wanted to inform the command about this, but Alexandra was able to convince him that she was obliged to defend her Motherland and would still be able to break through to the front. After comparing her with Joan of Arc, the doctor gave up. So Alexandra Rashchupkina received a new specialty for herself. There were only 3 days left before graduation when the girl first came under bombing. The school where cadets studied the structure of a tank was bombed by German planes. Alexandra had to practice the skills of moving on her belly. At the same time, the woman remained a woman even in such a situation. Rashchupkina was most worried not because she could be killed, but because her new uniform had turned into rags, Alexandra Mitrofanovna later recalled.

For the first time seeing a real battle tank, Alexandra was scared. She studied the structure of the tank for two months and during that time she was not afraid of anything, but when she saw the iron colossus before her eyes, the girl was confused. At the same time, she managed to overcome her fear and began to fight on an equal basis with men. The girl fought with the Germans as part of the famous 62nd Army of Vasily Chuikov. At that time, no one even suspected that there was a woman behind the control levers of one of the T-34 tanks. In her unit, she received the nickname Sashka the Tomboy. At the same time, according to the recollections of Rashchupkina herself, she was eager to go to the front in such a difficult time for the country for the sake of her loved ones.

Rashchupkina took part in the battles for Stalingrad, and also took part in the battles for the liberation of Poland. For almost three years, neither the crew of the tank, in which Rashchupkina was a driver, nor the rest of her fellow soldiers even knew that Alexander Rashchupkin was actually a woman. According to the recollections of the tanker girl herself, she always had a boyish figure - wide shoulders, narrow hips, almost no breasts, she cut her hair like a man. It was not necessary to undress at the front very often, except perhaps to wash. At the same time, Rashchupkina tried to solve hygiene issues separately from everyone else, citing her shyness. The men even laughed: “You, San, are just like a girl!”, but no one paid much attention to her behavior. At the same time, Alexandra managed to study men’s habits very well even before the start of the war. After all, she worked as a tractor driver. So, being at the front, it was easier for her to pretend to be a man; the girl even deliberately changed the timbre of her voice.

Its secret was discovered only in February 1945, when tank unit, in which she served, fought offensive battles on the territory of Poland. When tankers burst into the city of Bunzlau (today Boleslawiec), the T-34 tank, behind the levers of which Alexandra Rashchupkina was sitting, was hit. The combat vehicle was ambushed by German Tigers. The T-34 caught fire from direct hits, and the driver-mechanic Alexandra Rashchupkina was shell-shocked and seriously wounded in the thigh.

Former tanker Pozharsky (whose name Alexandra Mitrofonova no longer remembers) saw that one of the vehicles of their platoon was on fire. Then he put his tank in cover and crawled to the damaged tank. He saw that the mechanic-driver of this car, Alexander Rashchupkin, was lying on the ground very pale, in some unnatural position. I shout to him: “Sashka, are you wounded!?”, and he looks at me and says nothing. Then Pozharsky began to bandage her thigh, began to pull down her trousers, and only then did he understand everything. He managed to see a lot at the front, but he could not imagine that the tank driver turned out to be a girl. He carefully bandaged his fellow soldier and handed her over to the orderlies, who took the wounded woman to the hospital.

Alexandra Rashchupkina was treated in the hospital for two months. At this time, a serious scandal broke out in her native regiment. When information about her reached the command, General Vasily Chuikov personally stood up for the brave woman tanker. As a result, Alexandra Rashchupkina avoided any punishment, she was retained in the regiment, and all her documents were re-registered in a woman’s name. She was demobilized after the end of the war.

After the war, she was able to meet her husband, who also survived the war, but returned home also with front-line wounds. After the war, the Rashchupkin family moved to Kuibyshev (today Samara), where they lived together for 28 years, after which Alexandra’s husband passed away. They no longer had children; the wounds received at the front took their toll. After the war, Alexandra graduated from the Polytechnic Institute, received an engineering degree, and worked as a driver.

Alexandra Mitrofanovna Rashchupkina lived a long, eventful life. She died in Samara at the age of 97 in June 2010. At the same time, she always took an active part in the activities of the Samara public organization women front-line soldiers. She also maintained fairly close relationships with teachers and students at school No. 29, which was located near her home. Alexandra Rashchupkina was a holder of the Order of the Red Banner, the Order of the Patriotic War, II degree, and was repeatedly awarded military medals. Alexandra never parted with her memories of the war and her tank headset until the end of her life.

T Ikhomirov Alexander Vasilievich - mechanic-driver of the T-34 tank of the 2nd tank battalion of the 1st Guards Tank Brigade of the 8th Guards Mechanized Corps of the 1st Guards Tank Army of the 1st Belorussian Front, guard senior sergeant.

Born in 1916 in the village of Kornevo, now Novoduginsky district, Smolensk region, into a peasant family. Russian. After graduating from seven-year school, he worked on a collective farm. In the early 1930s he came to the city of Arkhangelsk, and in 1935-1937 he worked as an instructor in a metalwork shop.

In 1937, he arrived for construction in the working village of Sudostroy (from 1938 - the city of Molotovsk, from 1957 - the city of Severodvinsk) in the Arkhangelsk region, where he worked as a driver for a dredging office and as a tractor driver in the motor transport department. Participant of the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940. In 1940 he returned to the city of Molotovsk and worked as a senior mechanic in a tractor column.

In September 1941 he was again drafted into the army. Participant of the Great Patriotic War since March 1944. Served as a mechanic-driver of the T-34 tank. As part of the 2nd Tank Battalion of the 1st Guards Tank Brigade of the 8th Guards Mechanized Corps of the 1st Guards Tank Army, he fought on the 1st Ukrainian and 1st Belorussian fronts.

Repeatedly demonstrated courage and bravery. Skillfully maneuvering on the battlefield, he fearlessly drove the tank, suppressing enemy manpower and equipment with its tracks, ensuring the execution of command orders. For courage and courage shown in battles, he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st and 2nd degrees.

In January 1945, as part of a tank crew, he reached the Pilica River and, having successfully crossed it, captured a bridgehead on the left bank near the city of Nowe Miasto (now the city of Nowe Miasto nad Pilica, Republic of Poland). Then he quickly burst into the city of Aleksandrow (now the city of Aleksandrow-Lodz, Republic of Poland), creating panic, capturing and destroying up to 100 vehicles, an artillery battery and up to 150 enemy soldiers and officers.

U Kaz of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated February 27, 1945 “for the exemplary performance of combat missions of the command on the front of the fight against the German invaders and the courage and heroism shown” to the guard senior sergeant Tikhomirov Alexander Vasilievich awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the presentation of the Order of Lenin and medal " Golden Star».

Killed in action on April 16, 1945 while breaking through enemy defenses on the Seelow Heights during the Berlin War offensive operation. He was buried in the city of Sułęcin (Republic of Poland).

Awarded the Order of Lenin (02/27/1945), the Red Banner (04/16/1944), the Order of the Patriotic War 1st (08/14/1944) and 2nd (04/7/1944) degrees, and medals.

Commemorative steles in his honor were installed on the Alley of Heroes (2011) and in the Square of Heroes of the Soviet Union (2015) in Severodvinsk. And in 2017, it was decided to name a street that will appear in the southern part of Severodvinsk after him.

Smirnov V.S. On the approaches to Berlin: for a long time the city did not know about its hero Alexander Tikhomirov / V.S. Smirnov // Evening Severodvinsk. – 2015. – March 18.

ON THE APPROACHES TO BERLIN

For a long time the city did not know about its hero Alexander Tikhomirov

February 27 marked 70 years since the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was issued on awarding the title of Hero of the Soviet Union to Alexander Tikhomirov, the first builder of Molotovsk; April 16 will mark 70 years since the day when Alexander Vasilyevich was mortally wounded. But few people know that the name of the first builder became known in the city only 40 years after his feat, and even more so that he could become a twice Hero of the Soviet Union.

Letter from a fellow soldier

On the eve of the 40th anniversary of the Victory, the party committee of the construction site received a letter from a resident of the Saratov region, K.V. Chentsov, a member of the council of veterans of the 1st Guards Tank Brigade.

Konstantin Vasilyevich reported that his fellow soldier, driver-mechanic of the T-34 tank Hero of the Soviet Union A.V. Tikhomirov, died in battle in April 1945 near Berlin. It was clear from the letter that Alexander Vasilyevich was the first builder of Severodvinsk. K.V. Chentsov's message made many people worry. The construction team was also preparing for the 50th anniversary of the start of construction of the city. The lists of the first builders were updated and correspondence was carried out with them. Particular attention was paid to the names of those who went to the front from Molotovsk... But Alexander Tikhomirov was not on the lists! How did it happen that for 40 years the city did not know that its first builder had been awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union during the war?

The years when construction began were turbulent and difficult. Many subcontracting organizations were subsequently transferred to other construction sites or ceased to exist altogether. On beach White Sea Thousands of people came, and among them could well have been 20-year-old Alexander Tikhomirov, born in 1916 in the village of Kornevo, Smolensk province. However, in some sources the place of his birth is listed as Lisiy Nos station (now a village within the Primorsky district of St. Petersburg). How did he get to the Arkhangelsk region? And is there any mistake at all in K.V. Chentsov’s letter? Construction veterans, employees of the city military registration and enlistment office, the museum, and the regional archive joined the search. Thanks to them, today the collections of the Severodvinsk City Museum of Local Lore contain archival information from 1986, which sheds light on the questions raised.

Everything written by Tikhomirov’s fellow soldier was confirmed. Indeed, Alexander Vasilyevich was born into a peasant family, graduated from a seven-year school, worked on a collective farm, and then, after studying and working briefly in Arkhangelsk, he came to the working-class village of Sudostroy for construction. In 1937-1939 and 1940-1941 he was a tractor driver and senior mechanic in the motor transport department of construction; in 1939-1940 he participated in the Soviet-Finnish war. While still in Arkhangelsk, he met his future wife, Nadezhda Pavlovna, who worked in a canteen at one of the lumber mills. The young people got married. Already in Sudostroy on November 5, 1937, their son Valery was born...

But in June 1941, the Great Patriotic War began. In September, Alexander Tikhomirov was again drafted into the army.

Fearless tanker

A.V. Tikhomirov took part in the battles of the Great Patriotic War from March 1944 as a mechanic-driver of the T-34 tank. As part of the 2nd Tank Battalion of the 1st Guards Tank Brigade of the 8th Guards Mechanized Corps of the 1st Guards Tank Army, he fought on the 1st Ukrainian and 1st Belorussian fronts.

On the territory of the Ternopil region on March 22, 1944, while in the crew of a tank, A.V. Tikhomirov was the first to break into the city of Terebovlya, destroy a convoy with cargo, capturing four guns, and continued to pursue the retreating enemy. He cut off the escape route for a column of one hundred vehicles, and destroyed ten enemy soldiers and officers with the tank's tracks. On March 23, his vehicle was among the first to burst into the city of Chortkiv, crossing the Seret River and destroying two tanks, three guns and up to 20 enemies. In these battles, his tank did not experience forced stops or accidents. For courage and bravery, A.V. Tikhomirov was nominated for the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, but on April 7, 1944, he was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 2nd degree.

On March 28, 1944, the tank crew reached the city of Kolomyia, Stanislav (now Ivano-Frankivsk) region. In the area of ​​the railway station, A.V. Tikhomirov cut off the escape route for trains with enemy equipment and, on the orders of the commander, knocked down three platforms with guns with a ram, destroying their crews and thereby securing the advance of other tanks.

The crew passed through the city and came to the crossing of the Prut River. Having captured it and successfully crossed the river, the tankers took up defensive positions, repelled enemy counterattacks, holding a bridgehead on the right bank. Thanks to this, a group of tanks captured the city and the stronghold, capturing trophies of equipment and military equipment. For heroism in the battles for the city of Kolomyia, A.V. Tikhomirov was presented with the highest degree of distinction in the USSR - the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Award list On April 9, 1944, it was signed by the battalion commander, future Hero of the Soviet Union Guard Captain V.A. Bochkovsky. But the commander of the 1st tank army Guard Colonel General of Tank Forces M.E. Katukov presented in his presentation for the title of Hero: “Worthy of a government award - the Order of the Red Banner.”

On July 15, 1944, in battles on the territory of the Volyn region, near the border with Poland, A.V. Tikhomirov, coming from the flank, crushed a cannon with the tracks of a tank and ensured the advancement of other tanks. In the same area, he knocked out a German Tiger tank, and then attacked an artillery battery and enemy tanks in ambush, captured the guns and destroyed their crews. At the same time, A.V. Tikhomirov was seriously wounded. On August 14, 1944, he was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.

"Golden Star" and the last battle

During the five-day battles from January 15, 1945, A.V. Tikhomirov led the tank in reconnaissance, ensuring the advancement of other units. Tikhomirov's crew was the first to break into cities and settlements, destroying enemy manpower and equipment. So, on January 16, the tank, driven by Alexander Vasilyevich, was among the first to reach the Pilica River and, having crossed it, captured a bridgehead on the left bank near the city of Nowe Miasto. On January 18, Tikhomirov's tank burst into the city of Aleksandrow, creating panic in the enemy ranks. Up to 100 vehicles, an artillery battery and up to 150 soldiers and officers were captured and destroyed. In five days, the tank fought more than 250 km, without having a single forced stop.

A.V. Tikhomirov was again nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The document contains, among others, the signatures of the same Bochkovsky and Katukov. And by the Decree of the Presidium of the USSR Council of February 27, 1945, “for the exemplary performance of combat missions of the command on the front of the fight against the German invaders and the courage and heroism shown,” Alexander Vasilyevich Tikhomirov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Later he was awarded the Order of Lenin, the Gold Star medal and a diploma from the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

Alas, on April 16, 1945, while breaking through the enemy’s defenses on the Seelow Heights on the approaches to Berlin, A.V. Tikhomirov was mortally wounded. The next day he was buried in the square in the center of the city of Zilenzig (now Sulencin, Polish territory)…

To restore justice

But how did it happen that for 40 years the city did not know that its first builder had been awarded the highest award of the Motherland? It turned out: from the army, Alexander Vasilyevich wrote to his wife so that she and her son would move to their parents in Saratov region. There they reported his death...

In the year of the 70th anniversary of the Victory, I think the time has come to correct historical injustice and perpetuate the name of A.V. Tikhomirov in our city, putting him on a par with the Heroes of the Soviet Union P.V. Konovalov, K.M. Trukhinov, N.F. Chesnokov and A.D. Yudin, whose names have already been assigned to streets in Severodvinsk.

It is gratifying that in 2011 a memorial obelisk in his honor was installed on the Alley of Heroes of Severodvinsk. And in mid-February of this year, the urban services commission of the Council of Deputies of Severodvinsk took the initiative to immortalize the name of A.V. Tikhomirov on the map of the city. A proposal on the possibility of naming one of the embankments, alleys, squares, streets, squares, overpasses, driveways, avenues, and alleys of the city after the Hero was sent for consideration to the public commission on toponymy under the Administration of Severodvinsk.

On the eve of March 8, Komsomolskaya Pravda remembered the lovely ladies who, in order to prove this, had to dress up as men.

Staff Captain Alexandrov

Pushkin blushed

Nadezhda Durova, the future headquarters captain Alexander Alexandrov, was born in 1783 into the family of the hussar captain Alexandrovich, who secretly kidnapped her mother and his wife. Durova’s mother wanted a son so much that she once threw her baby daughter out of the carriage while walking. And the shocked father gave Nadenka under the protection of the elderly hussar Astakhov.

At the age of eighteen, Nadya got married and gave birth to a son, whom, however, she does not mention at all in her legendary “Notes.” Her childhood in a regiment under the hussars completely confused her girlish guidelines. And in 1806 she ran away from the family, dressed in men's clothes and enlisted under a man's name in the Konnopol Uhlan Regiment.

Young Alexander fought bravely in Prussia, on the battlefield, almost like in the “Hussar Ballad”, he saved (that is, saved!) an officer. His comrades, admiring his courage, however, realized that the cavalryman was a girl. The management understood this too.

She was in Tilsit when the Peace of Tilsit with Napoleon was signed there, and fell in love with Alexander I. To celebrate, she wrote a letter to her father, who was amazed and betrayed her, demanding to return home. Durova was stripped of her weapons, placed under arrest and sent to St. Petersburg, where she was immediately received by Alexander I.

The emperor was in extreme amazement, but allowed her to continue to serve in the army, left the name Alexander and awarded her the St. George Cross for her exploits (for the first time in Russian history - a woman!).

However, Alexander I once said that he did not sympathize with this kind of courage in women.

Alexander-Nadezhda met the War of 1812 as a second lieutenant of the Lithuanian Uhlan Regiment, distinguished herself at Borodino and was even Kutuzov’s adjutant. Reached Germany.

She retired in 1816, having served for 10 years, until her death she wore a man's dress and bequeathed the funeral service for herself as Alexander Alexandrovich. But the priest did not do this and buried her as a maiden.

It is also interesting that when she brought the manuscript of her notes to Pushkin, the sun of our poetry was delighted, showered him with compliments and even kissed Durova’s hand. She flushed, recoiled and screamed: “Oh, my God! I’ve been out of the habit of this for so long!”

Pushkin blushed.

But Nadezhda Durova was not the only one and, most importantly, not the first cavalry girl in the Russian army.

Guardsman Tikhomirov

Fight for your brother

Very little is known about another heroine who fought in a man’s uniform.

In 1807, guards officer Alexander Tikhomirov was killed in battle. When the body was transferred from the battlefield and they began to prepare it for the funeral, Tikhomirov’s comrades in the regiment were amazed to see that the gallant company commander was a girl!

This is probably where the creators of the film “The Hussar Ballad” took one of the plot lines for their heroine Shurochka Azarova: in one of the dialogues she refers to the fact that she has a sister who is similar to her.

About the same story happened with Shurochka Tikhomirova. Her brother, an officer, died, and then Shurochka changed into his uniform and went to serve for her brother. And she served for 15 years!

Since Tikhomirova commanded a company, perhaps her rank was guard lieutenant.

So this is what they were like - the predecessors women's battalion Bochkareva, who defended in 1917 Winter Palace and later shot by the Bolsheviks, our brave pilots of the Great Patriotic War and all Soviet women who reached Berlin without yielding an iota to men in personal courage.

Musketeer Kurtochkin

"He dishonored me"

Tatyana Mironovna Markina, under the name Kurtochkina, rose to the rank of captain, moreover, under Elizaveta Petrovna and Catherine II.

She was born in the Utkinsky farm of the Nagaevskaya village on the Don. When her suitors tortured her with proposals, Tanya ran away from home, threw her clothes on the shore of either the Don or the lake (there are discrepancies), changed into men's clothes and went straight to enlist in the army. Relatives believed that she drowned.

But Tanya surfaced already in the form of an ordinary musketeer regiment of Kurtochkin in Novocherkassk. How no one guessed the girl in her is a mystery, because in those days punishing soldiers with rods and spitzrutens was commonplace.

In general, Kurtochkin famously fought in Seven Years' War, received the rank of corporal for personal boundless courage (with strong shyness), and then became a non-commissioned officer.

Under Catherine II, Kurtochkin rose to the rank of captain and... got into a magnificent scandal.

A girl fell in love with the handsome captain. Naturally, Kurtochkin responded with a decisive refusal. And then the girl told Kurtochkin’s superiors that he had... dishonored her. Physically. And he quit.

The captain was put on trial, deprived of his ranks and all rights, and sentenced to deportation to Siberia.

Tatyana was horrified and wrote to Catherine II that she was a woman and was ready for a medical examination. Catherine was delighted, overturned all court decisions and sent Markina into honorable retirement with the rank of captain and a pension.

Captain Kurtochkin lived out her life in the village of Nagaevskaya with almost no means of subsistence and under the complete contempt of the village residents, who were strict in their morals.

TO THE POINT

"Sasha the Tomboy" turned out to be a girl

Asya KANDAUROVA (KP - Samara)

Similar things happened during the Great Patriotic War.

When the war began, Alexandra Rashchupkina was 27 years old. By that time, already married, she was one of the first women in her native Uzbekistan to master a tractor. Two of her children died in infancy, her husband went to the front. Alexandra also began to ask to join the army. She spent a year knocking around military registration and enlistment offices and finally made up her mind. She cut her hair short, put on men's clothes and went to try her luck again. At that time, there was confusion with documents; the “volunteer” was not asked for a passport and was signed up for the front as a man.

"Alexander Rashchupkin" took a driver's course in the Moscow region, and then, already near Stalingrad, mastered a tank. Here Alexandra survived the first air raid: their driver’s school was bombed. The cadet crawled to the shelter. By the way, even then, under fire, I was not thinking about the mortal danger, but about the fact that the brand new uniform was torn...

In general, Alexandra was not a timid person. As part of the famous 62nd Army, Vasily Chuikova served as a T-34 driver-mechanic and was eager to go to the front line. “Sashka the Tomboy” is what her fellow soldiers called her. They did not suspect that under the soldier's uniform there was a girl. It was not often necessary to undress at the front; they did not care much about hygiene then. And Alexandra had studied men’s habits well even before the war; all that remained was to lower her voice a little.

The secret was revealed in February 1945 in Poland. The tank in which Alexandra was located was hit. She was wounded. A mechanic from a nearby tank ran up to help and began to bandage his thigh... It was he who recognized Sashka as a girl. Bandaged him and handed him over to the orderlies.

Alexandra Mitrofanovna spent the rest of the war in the hospital, and then met her husband, with whom they lived happily for 28 years. She died in Samara in June 2010 - a month after her 97th birthday.