They fought for their homeland: famous Soviet actors who went through the war

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

They went to the front as young people full of hopes and dreams. Many of them by that time were already professional actors and could get a reservation, but took up arms and went to defend their homeland. There are ten famous frontline actors in our review, but in fact there were infinitely more of them.

Anatoly Dmitrievich Papanov

Anatoly Papanov was at the front literally from the first days of the war. He was a senior sergeant and commander of an anti-aircraft artillery platoon. In 1942 he was seriously wounded in the leg near Kharkov and at the age of 21 he became a disabled person of the third group. Subsequently, Papanov recalled how the young recruits ended up in real hell. After a two-hour battle, out of 42 people, only 13 remained. It is to this time that one of the most significant and striking roles of Papanov is devoted - the role of General Serpilin in the film adaptation of Simonov's novel "The Living and the Dead".

Vladimir Abramovich Etush

Vladimir Etush graduated from the courses of military translators in Stavropol, but at the front he ended up in a rifle regiment. He fought in the mountains of Ossetia and Kabarda, took part in the liberation of Rostov-on-Don, Ukraine. Vladimir Abramovich was awarded the Order of the Red Star and medals. In 1944 he was seriously wounded and after the hospital was demobilized.

Leonid Iovich Gaidai

Leonid Gaidai was drafted into the army in 1942. He was sent to Mongolia, where he circled horses for the front, and he was eager to go to war. When the military commissar came to select the replenishment for the active army, Gaidai answered "I" to every question of the officer. "Who's in the artillery?" "I", "To the cavalry?" "I", "Into the Navy?" "I", "For reconnaissance?" "I" - what caused the boss's dissatisfaction. "Wait, Gaidai," said the military commissar, "Let me read out the entire list." From this incident, many years later, an episode of the film "Operation Y" was born. They sent him to the Kalinin front, to a foot reconnaissance platoon. The future director more than once went to the enemy's rear for languages. He was awarded medals.

In 1943, Gaidai, returning from a mission, was blown up by an anti-personnel mine. The injury was so severe that he had to undergo 5 operations to avoid amputation. “There are no one-legged actors,” Gaidai said to the surgeon. For many years he was haunted by the consequences of this injury - the wound opened, the bone became inflamed, and fragments came out. But he endured all this so steadfastly that many of his colleagues and acquaintances did not even know about his problem.

Yuri Vladimirovich Nikulin

Yuri Vladimirovich Nikulin fought in Finnish. And in the first days of the war, the battery, where he served, fired at the Nazi planes breaking through to Leningrad, throwing deep mines in the Gulf of Finland. In 1943 Nikulin was shell-shocked, ended up in a hospital, and after his recovery - in the 72nd separate anti-aircraft battalion near Kolpin.

Vladimir Pavlovich Basov

Vladimir Basov from a young age raved about cinema. As a schoolboy, he spent a lot of time in the theater studio at Moscow State University and behind the scenes of the Moscow Art Theater. But the graduation party fell on June 1941, and Basov did not hesitate to go to the military registration and enlistment office. At the front, the future famous film director, screenwriter and actor, People's Artist of the USSR, by precisely adjusting the fire, destroyed six firing points. But he could not forget about art and organized a group of amateur performances, which under his leadership a ball of 150 concerts, of which 130 - in companies and batteries, in dugouts directly on the front edge. For this, Basov was awarded the Medal "For Military Merit" and the Order of the Red Star. Vladimir Basov finished the war with the rank of captain and had every chance to make a brilliant military career. But he did not change his dream and in 1947 he entered the directing department of VGIK.

Mikhail Ivanovich Pugovkin

The war found Mikhail Pugovkin on the set of Grigory Roshal's film The Artamonovs Case. He attributed a year to himself, and two days later he volunteered for the front. He underwent his first baptism of fire before he could change into a uniform - he fell under the bombing when the militiamen were being taken to the front line. And then miraculously survived in the battles near Smolensk, where he was a scout of a rifle regiment.

Mikhail Pugovkin did not make it to Berlin due to injury. He was wounded in the leg. There was a threat of amputation, but the doctors managed to save the leg. By the way, it was in the hospital that his surname Pugonkina was transformed into Pugovkin. After the operation, he was discharged, he returned to Moscow and to the theater.

Innokenty Mikhailovich Smoktunovsky

Innokentiy Smoktunovsky faced difficult trials. In 1943, he received a referral to an infantry school, and in August he was already sent as a private in the 75th Infantry Division. Messenger Smoktunovsky took part in the battles at the Kursk Bulge, in the crossing of the Dnieper and the liberation of Kiev. In 1943 he was nominated for the medal "For Courage" for the fact that he "… under fire from the enemy ford across the Dnieper River, delivered combat reports to the division headquarters." But Innokenty Smoktunovsky will receive the award only 49 years later - in 1992 on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater.

And back in December 1943, he was captured. A month later, he managed to escape, and a Ukrainian woman, Vasilisa Shevchuk, hid the Soviet soldier. Until the end of his life, the actor was grateful to her and helped in everything. In the house of his savior, Smoktunovsky gets acquainted with the deputy commander of the partisan detachment of the Kamenets-Podolsk formation and went into the partisans.

Yuri Vasilievich Katin-Yartsev

Yuri Katin-Yartsev, known to millions for his role as Giuseppe in the film about Pinocchio, began his military career in 1939. He was a military railroad worker: with fellow soldiers, he restored the paths along which echelons with soldiers and technicians went. In October 1944, he received the Medal for Military Merit, and later - For the Victory over Germany. He was demobilized only in 1946.

Nikolay Nikolaevich Eremenko (senior)

Nikolai Eremenko in 1941, after graduating from a vocational school, worked in Novosibirsk as a turner. When the war broke out, a 16-year-old young man assigned himself 2 years to attend the courses for junior lieutenants. After the courses, Nikolai Yermenko went to the front, was wounded and was taken prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp. He tried to escape several times, miraculously survived and fought as part of an underground resistance group.

Zinovy Efimovich Gerdt

At the start of the war Zinovy Gerdt, like most of the actors, had a reservation. But in June 1941, he volunteered for the front. First, special gatherings at the Moscow Military Engineering School, where he received the specialty of a sapper, and then the Kalinin and Voronezh fronts. After a short time, Gerdt was already heading the engineering service of the 81st Guards Rifle Regiment of the 25th Rifle Division, which was entrusted with the most difficult demining missions. And it must be said that the future famous actor did not sit out on mine clearance, although, as a boss, he could not go to minefields, but went to operations with his fighters.

On February 12, 1943, Zinovy Gerdt was seriously wounded while clearing the passages for tanks. Already in the hospital, he underwent 11 operations. The leg was saved, but it became 8 cm shorter. But this did not prevent Zinovy Efimovich from becoming later a famous and beloved actor by millions.

It is worth noting that many of today's actors have served in the military. Confirmation of this 20 army photos of domestic media persons.