The heroic, selfless feat of an ordinary teacher who saved thousands of people during the war
In the 42nd year of the last century, at the peak of the war, Matryona Volskaya was only 23. She and her husband Mikhail were part of a partisan association and participated in military operations.
Matryona taught children from an elementary school near the Smolensk region, in the village of Basino. Smolensk region was captured by the enemy in the autumn of the 41st, and the fascists established their own rules on this territory. The locals were Germanized, the strongest were sent to Germany and used as labor, and those to resist were shot.
At the same time, a partisan association called “Batya” operated near Smolensk. It included about two dozen detachments. Its head Nikifor Kolyada learned about the upcoming punitive German operation “Yellow Elephant”, which involved the cleansing of the territory and the destruction of the partisans. Then he began to prepare an important event “Children”. It was necessary to save all teenagers and children from ten to seventeen, so that they would not be captured by the Germans.
Volskaya was assigned to lead this operation, and two other young girls were given to help her – nurse Katya Gromova and another teacher Varya Polyakova. According to some sources, about one and a half thousand children came from different districts of the Smolensk region. The operation began on the twenty-third of July.
They moved by dashes, at night, so as not to be noticed. The children were divided into groups: one for each adult. They also organized detachments of 40-50 people. The column stretched for kilometers and followed the route planned in advance. The fascists pursued the fugitives, fired at them from the air, but, fortunately, the children and their escorts managed to hide. Matryona went first and scouted the road, walking 10-15 kilometers ahead, and then returning back.
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The 200-km journey was incredibly difficult, passing through forest thickets and swamps. The food supplies quickly ran out. The children starved and ate everything that could be eaten: grass, berries, literally anything. There were problems with water, because the fascists overflowed the rivers, streams and wells with corpses. The liquid was poisoned, unsuitable for drinking. And some of the organized crossings through the swamps were destroyed by German soldiers, so that the trajectory of movement had to be changed on the move.
Along the way, boys and girls from other villages joined the Smolensk children. As a result, the total number has almost doubled and exceeded 3 thousand. The road lasted ten days. At the end of the journey, four trucks met the convoy, took away the most exhausted. The rest went to the Toropets terminal station for three more days. August 1 came.
The escapees agreed to be accepted in Gorky, and the train with heated cars set off on August 5. The Red Army allocated crackers and bread to hungry and exhausted children. On 14th, the train arrived in the city. The children (about 3225) were in poor condition, but they all survived, which was a real miracle!
Matryona Volskaya led the campaign while pregnant. After the operation, she gave birth to a son, and after the war she met her husband from the front. In total, the Volskys had four children. Matryona continued to work as a teacher in the Gorodetsky district. She never talked about her selfless act, did not receive an award for it due to insufficient data, but still became a hero. The authorities noted her other achievements – participation in battles and teaching children.
Only in December, 1978, a program was released in which it was told about the feat of the teacher. Volskaya herself died of emphysema in the same month, but managed to see that everyone now knows about her feat. In 1986, a book was published in which it was told about the operation “Children”. Matryona lived an incredible life and gave a chance to thousands of children.
