How it all began, or Meet the characters
In July 1942, a group of girls, including Ulyana Gromova, Valya Filatova and Sasha Bondareva (all of them recent graduates of a high school in the mining village of Pervomaiskoe), frolic on the river bank. But they are disturbed by the sounds of bombers flying overhead and the distant boom of artillery. Each of the girls claims that if evacuation begins, she will stay and fight the German invaders. Suddenly explosions shook the ground.
The girls come out of the forest and see a road clogged with military and civilian vehicles. Komsomol members rush to the village. Ulyana meets Lyuba Shevtsova, who reports that Soviet troops are retreating. A decision was made to blow up the plant and hastily evacuate documents and equipment. Some party workers, led by the leader of local partisans Ivan Protsenko, remain in the village, the rest of the residents are also evacuated.
Evacuation and meeting Sergei Tyulenin
This is how the work “The Young Guard” begins. A summary of the first chapters introduces the reader to the main participants in all subsequent events. Here such characters as Komsomol member Anatoly Popov, Viktor Petrov and Oleg Koshevoy appear. There is a description of the evacuation, during which German bombers attack a column of refugees.
Meanwhile, in Krasnodon, hospital staff are trying to place the wounded soldiers who were in the hospital in the homes of local residents. Returning home after building defenses and digging trenches, Sergei Tyulenin, a seventeen-year-old boy who witnessed the Nazi attack on Voroshilovgrad.
When he realized that the Red Army troops were doomed, he collected rifles, hand grenades, revolvers and ammunition, and then buried them in his backyard. The further summary of Fadeev’s novel “The Young Guard” will tell about the invasion of the village by German troops and the actions of the population remaining in Krasnodon.
History of creation
Wikipedia says that Fadeev began work on the novel in 1945 after reading the collection of stories “Hearts of the Brave . The author was amazed by the heroism of young Komsomol members carrying out subversive activities in the occupied territories. He decided to write a work about the feat of young people who made a huge contribution to the victory over fascism. The main plot of the work was created on the basis of the article “Immortality,” published in 1943. Fadeev also used it when writing the essay “Leningrad in the days of the siege.”
While working on the book, Alexander Alexandrovich studied documents stored in the archives of Krasnodon and talked with local residents. The author tried to write a novel in a short period of time, so a large number of factual errors were made in the final version of the work.
Fadeev’s novel “The Young Guard” was published in 1946. After a while, the newspaper “Pravda” published an article criticizing the work. Its author argued that Fadeev did not indicate in the novel the role of the Communist Party, coordinating the actions of the anti-fascist youth organization.
Alexander Alexandrovich made edits to the work and added new heroes - party members. The novel was republished in 1951 and received many positive reviews from readers.
The invasion of the German occupiers and the reaction of local residents
The Nazis arrive in Krasnodon. Sergei watches their approach. The German general Baron von Wenzel occupies the house of Oleg Koshevoy, where his mother and grandmother remained. Others cut down jasmine and sunflower bushes throughout the village, leaving no cover for a possible enemy. They settle in local dwellings, drink, eat and shout songs. About forty wounded Soviet soldiers who remained in the hospital were brutally shot.
Sergei Tyulenev and Valya Borsch hid in the attic of their school to spy on the enemy. They observed the German headquarters, which was located directly opposite the school building. That same night, Sergei unearths several Molotov cocktails in his yard and sets the headquarters on fire.
Thus, the book “The Young Guard,” a brief summary of which describes individual events of the Second World War, introduces the reader to heroic characters from the very first pages. Komsomol members who, despite their young age, were not afraid to resist the Nazi invaders.
Return of Oleg Koshevoy and further confrontation
What events will the following summary introduce? “Young Guard” is not only the title of the work. This is the Komsomol underground organization that was formed in Krasnodon. And it all begins with the return of Oleg Koshevoy to the village. He meets Sergei Tyulenin, and together the guys begin to look for contact with the underground in order to convince the partisans that they can be trusted, despite their young age.
The guys decide to collect all the weapons that may still remain in the steppe after the battle and hide them securely. Moreover, they are going to create their own youth organization. Philip Lyutikov, who was the secretary of the district committee, soon attracted many Komsomol members to underground work, among them Oleg Koshevoy and Sergei Tyulenev. This is how the Young Guard was formed. The novel, a brief summary of which tells the reader about the members of this organization, was named after it.
Novel and film "Hot on the heels"
Fadeev’s novel was destined to become a bestseller for several decades to come: “The Young Guard” went through more than 270 editions during the Soviet period with a total circulation of over 26 million copies.
The Young Guard was included in the school curriculum, and there was not a single Soviet student who had not heard of Oleg Koshev , Lyuba Shevtsova and Ulyana Gromova .
In 1948, Alexander Fadeev’s novel was filmed - a film of the same name “The Young Guard” was directed by Sergei Gerasimov , involving students from the acting department of VGIK. Nonna Mordyukova , Inna Makarova , Georgy Yumatov , Vyacheslav Tikhonov began with “Young Guard” ...
Both the book and the film had an amazing feature - they were created not just based on real events, but literally “hot on the heels”. The actors came to the places where everything happened and talked with the parents and friends of the dead heroes. Vladimir Ivanov , who played Oleg Koshevoy, was two years older than his hero. Nonna Mordyukova was only a year younger than Ulyana Gromova, Inna Makarova was a couple of years younger than Lyuba Shevtsova. All this gave the picture incredible realism.
Years later, during the collapse of the USSR, the efficiency of creating works of art will become an argument with which they will prove that the history of the underground organization “Young Guard” is a fiction of Soviet propaganda.
Why did the young underground fighters from Krasnodon suddenly get so much attention? There were, after all, much more successful groups that did not receive a little fame and recognition from the Young Guard?
Not everyone turned out to be brave Komsomol members
Further in the novel the battles of the partisan detachment led by Protsenko are described. At first everything goes well, but after a while the fighters find themselves surrounded. A special group is assigned to ensure the detachment's retreat. Stakhovich is in it. What will the summary now introduce the reader to?
“The Young Guard” is a novel in which, unfortunately, there are not only images of brave Komsomol members defending their homeland and loved ones from the German occupiers. There were also those who did not find enough courage to fight back. Among them was Komsomol member Stakhovich, who chickened out and fled to Krasnodon. And there he deceived him, saying that he was sent by the headquarters to organize the partisan movement. Chairman Fomin becomes the next traitor. Party members are being arrested in the area. The Nazis executed many of them by burying them alive.
Geum.ru
A. A. Fadeev Young Guard Under the scorching sun of July 1942, retreating units of the Red Army walked along the Donetsk steppe with their convoys, artillery, tanks, orphanages and kindergartens, herds of livestock, trucks, refugees... But they were no longer able to cross the Donets They made it in time: units of the German army reached the river. And all this mass of people poured back. Among them were Vanya Zemnukhov, Ulya Gromova, Oleg Koshevoy, Zhora Harutyunyants.
But not everyone left Krasnodon. The staff of the hospital, where more than a hundred non-ambulatory wounded remained, placed the fighters in the apartments of local residents. Philip Petrovich Lyutikov, left as secretary of the underground district committee, and his underground comrade Matvey Shulga quietly settled in safe houses. Komsomol member Seryozha Tyulenin returned home from digging trenches. It so happened that he took part in the battles, killed two Germans himself and intended to kill them in the future.
The Germans entered the city during the day, and at night the German headquarters burned down. Sergei Tyulenin set it on fire. Oleg Koshevoy was returning from the Donets together with the director of mine No. 1-bis Valko and on the way asked him to help contact the underground. Valko himself did not know who was left in the city, but he was sure that he would find these people. The Bolshevik and the Komsomol member agreed to keep in touch.
Koshevoy soon met Tyulenin. The guys quickly found a common language and developed an action plan: to look for ways to the underground and at the same time create an underground youth organization on their own.
Lyutikov, meanwhile, began to work for the Germans in electromechanical workshops as a diversion. He came to the Osmukhin family, whom he had known for a long time, to invite Volodya to work. Volodya was eager to fight and recommended his comrades Tolya Orlov, Zhora Arutyunyants and Ivan Zemnukhov to Lyutikova for underground work. But when the topic of armed resistance came up with Ivan Zemnukhov, he immediately began to ask permission to include Oleg Koshevoy in the group.
The decisive meeting took place in the “weeds under the barn” at Oleg’s place. A few more meetings - and finally all the links in the Krasnodon underground were closed. A youth organization called the “Young Guard” was formed.
Protsenko at this time was already in the partisan detachment, which was based on the other side of the Donets. At first the detachment acted, and acted well. Then he was surrounded. Protsenko, among others, sent Komsomol member Stakhovich to the group that was supposed to cover the retreat of the main part of the people. But Stakhovich chickened out, ran away across the Donets and went to Krasnodon. Having met with Osmukhin, his schoolmate, Stakhovich told him that he had fought in a partisan detachment and was officially sent by headquarters to organize the partisan movement in Krasnodon.
Shulga was immediately betrayed by the owner of the apartment, a former kulak and hidden enemy of Soviet power. The location where Valko was hiding failed by accident, but policeman Ignat Fomin, who conducted the search, immediately identified Valko. In addition, in the city and in the region, almost all members of the Bolshevik Party who did not have time to evacuate, Soviet workers, social activists, many teachers, engineers, noble miners and some of the military were arrested. The Germans executed many of these people, including Valko and Shulga, by burying them alive.
Lyubov Shevtsova was placed at the disposal of the partisan headquarters ahead of time for use behind enemy lines. She completed airborne courses and then radio operator courses. Having received a signal that she had to go to Voroshilovgrad and bound by the discipline of the Young Guard, she reported her departure to Koshevoy. No one except Osmukhin knew which of the adult underground fighters Oleg was connected with. But Lyutikov knew perfectly well for what purpose Lyubka was left in Krasnodon, and with whom she was connected in Voroshilovgrad. So the Young Guard approached the headquarters of the partisan movement.
Bright in appearance, cheerful and sociable, Lyubka was now in full swing making acquaintances with the Germans, introducing herself as the daughter of a mine owner repressed by the Soviet regime, and through the Germans she obtained various intelligence information.
The Young Guards got to work. They posted subversive leaflets and issued Sovinformburo reports. Policeman Ignat Fomin was hanged. They freed a group of Soviet prisoners of war who were working in logging. They collected weapons from the Donets battle area and stole them. Ulya Gromova was in charge of the work against the recruitment and deportation of young people to Germany. The labor exchange was set on fire, and along with it, the lists of people whom the Germans were going to deport to Germany were burned. Three permanent combat groups of the Young Guard operated on the roads of the region and beyond. One attacked mainly cars with German officers. This group was led by Viktor Petrov. The second group dealt with tank cars. This group was led by Soviet Army lieutenant Zhenya Moshkov, released from captivity. The third group - Tyulenin's group - operated everywhere.
At this time - November, December 1942 - the battle of Stalingrad was ending. On the evening of December 30, the guys discovered a German car loaded with New Year's gifts for Reich soldiers. The car was cleaned out, and they decided to immediately sell some of the gifts on the market: the organization needed money. Following this trail, the police, who had been looking for them for a long time, found the underground fighters. At first they took Moshkov, Zemnukhov and Stakhovich. Upon learning of the arrest, Lyutikov immediately gave the order to all members of the headquarters and those close to those arrested to leave the city. You should have hidden in the village or tried to cross the front line. But many, including Gromova, due to youthful carelessness, stayed or were unable to find reliable shelter and were forced to return home.
The order was given while Stakhovich began to testify under torture. Arrests began. Few were able to leave. Stakhovich did not know through whom Koshevoy communicated with the district committee, but he accidentally remembered the messenger, and as a result the Germans reached Lyutikov. A group of adult underground fighters led by Lyutikov and members of the Young Guard ended up in the hands of the executioners. No one admitted to belonging to the organization or pointed to their comrades. Oleg Koshevoy was one of the last to be captured - he ran into a gendarme post in the steppe. During the search, they found a Komsomol card on him. During interrogation by the Gestapo, Oleg said that he was the leader of the Young Guard, alone responsible for all its actions, and then remained silent even under torture. The enemies did not manage to find out that Lyutikov was the head of the underground Bolshevik organization, but they felt that he was the largest person they had captured.
All Young Guards were terribly beaten and tortured. Uli Gromova had a star carved on her back. Reclining on her side, she tapped into the next cell: “Be strong... Our guys are coming anyway...”
Lyutikov and Koshevoy were interrogated in Rovenki and also tortured, “but one can say that they no longer felt anything: their spirit soared infinitely high, as only the great creative spirit of man can soar.” All arrested underground workers were executed: they were thrown into a mine. Before their deaths, they sang revolutionary songs.
On February 15, Soviet tanks entered Krasnodon. The few surviving members of the Krasnodon underground took part in the funeral of the Young Guards.
Active activities of the organization
Lyubov Shevtsova, also a member of the Young Guard organization (the summary of the novel has already mentioned her name), shortly before these brutal arrests was sent by the underground organization to undergo special courses. A very bright and pretty girl now easily establishes the necessary contacts for underground workers with the Nazis, and also obtains important information. This is how the most important events of the novel “The Young Guard” begin to unfold.
The book, a brief summary of which only superficially depicts the vicissitudes of the life of young people during the Second World War, tells in great detail about each hero-Youth Guard and his tragic fate. Thanks to the active actions of Komsomol members, leaflets were posted and Ignat Fomin, who had betrayed his fellow villagers, was hanged. Then the prisoners of war of the Soviet Army were released.
The youth organization consisted of several groups. Each was responsible for the tasks assigned to it. Some attacked cars traveling with groups of Nazis, others attacked tank cars. And there was another detachment that operated absolutely everywhere. It was headed by Sergei Tyulenev. Want to know what happened next? We offer you a summary.
Fight against the Germans
The remaining guys vowed to fight the Nazis. They called their organization "Young Guard". Lyuba Shvetsova managed to easily gain confidence and find out information. Ulya Gromova was able to burn down the labor exchange, and there were kept lists of people who they wanted to take to work. Members of the organization printed leaflets and distributed them.
Fomin was later found and hanged on the street. Parents of underground workers did not know whether it was necessary to interfere with their children’s activities. The turning point came on December 30, 1942 . The underground decided to rob the car with New Year's gifts. The Nazis were able to recognize the instigators and arrested Moshkov, Stakhovich and Zemnukhov.
Under torture, Stakhovich surrendered and told the location of the headquarters. Arrests began. Many were caught and tortured, but the guys did not give up. Uli had stars cut into her back, but even that didn’t break her. All those arrested were taken to the mine. Along the way, the guys sang revolutionary songs. Later they were all thrown into the pit of the mine.
The guys didn’t live long enough to see the liberation of Krasnodon. After the arrival of Soviet troops, the bodies were taken out and buried in a mass grave.
The novel took place during the Great Patriotic War. Each chapter of the novel is filled with events, and the entire work shows how brave people were during this period. This book does not lose its relevance.
“Young Guard” (Fadeev A. A.), or Careless actions of Komsomol members
So the action of the novel comes to a tragic end. The work “Young Guard” by A. A. Fadeev tells in its final chapters about the careless act of members of the organization, which caused numerous arrests and deaths. Before the New Year, Komsomol members came across a car with gifts for German soldiers. The guys decided to sell them at the market; the underground needed money. So the police got on their trail.
Arrests began. Lyutikov immediately gave the order that all members of the Young Guard leave the city. But not everyone managed to leave. Stakhovich began to betray his comrades under torture by German soldiers. Not only young Komsomol members were arrested, but also adult underground members. Oleg Koshevoy took all the blame for the organization’s actions upon himself and until the very end remained silent about the main leaders, despite the torture to which he was subjected.
“Young Guard” - summary (retelling)
1942 In the city of Krasnodon, evacuation began as German troops were approaching the city. But not everyone wanted or had the opportunity to leave their hometown.
Sergei Tyulenin, before the Germans arrive, helps hospital staff place wounded soldiers in the homes of Krasnodon residents, thereby saving the wounded from execution.
The Germans occupied the city. They began to occupy all non-residential and residential buildings, oppressing all those who remained in the city and treating them like slaves. The Germans kill everyone involved in hostilities, all Bolsheviks and Komsomol members, and they use civilians as servants who are obliged to do whatever the Germans want.
Adult underground fighters remained in Krasnodon: Lyutikov Philip Petrovich, Shulga Matvey, Barakov Nikolai Petrovich and others. Their task was to carry out underground activities against the Germans without arousing their suspicion.
Among those who tried to evacuate there were those who wanted to leave, but they did not succeed, since the Germans had already reached the river. All those late evacuees who were able to survive went back to their homes in Krasnodon. Among others, Ulya Gromova, Vanya Zemnukhov, Oleg Koshevoy, and Zhora Arutyunyants returned to Krasnodon.
Alone, Sergei Tyulenin was one of the first to begin activities against the Germans. Immediately after the occupation, he set fire to the trust building and the bathhouse in which the Germans were located.
Returning home, Oleg Koshevoy asked the director of mine No. 1-bis Valko to find contact with the underground workers who remained in Krasnodon. Once in his house, Oleg Koshevoy learned that the German headquarters, led by General Baron von Wenzel, was staying with them.
Among the young people, with the arrival of the Germans in the city, many thought about underground activities. Young people who want to fight the Germans get to know each other and begin secret activities.
The secretary of the underground district committee, Philip Petrovich Lyutikov, specially got a job in the workshops to work for the Germans in order to slow down and destroy German production without suspicion. Having come to visit Volodya Osmukhin, Lyutikov called him to work and asked him to name those guys who could be trusted. It was important for Lyutikov that there was a youth organization in Krasnodon that would help adult underground fighters.
Among the youth leading activities against the Germans, Oleg Koshevoy, Ivan Turkenich, Ulya Gromova, Ivan Zemnukhov, Sergei Tyulenin, Valya Borts, Lyubka Shevtsova, Volodya Osmukhin, Sergei Levashov, Zhora Arutyunyants stood out.
Some time after the youth representatives began their activities against the Germans, the youth organization “Young Guard” appeared, which operated under the leadership of adult underground members. The “Young Guard” kept in touch with Philip Petrovich Lyutikov, who remained in Krasnodon, and through the intelligence officer-radio operator Lyubka the artist with Ivan Fedorovich Protsenko, who was in Voroshilovgrad.
Lyubov Shevtsova did a great job. Pretending to be an artist, she visited Voroshilovgrad, where she made new acquaintances with the Germans, learning new information from them, getting them drunk and taking food products and household items from them.
Even before the Germans arrived in Krasnodon, Sergei Tyulenin, having learned that someone was hiding in Ignat Fomin’s house, saw an underground fighter. It turned out to be Matvey Shulga. Ignat Fomin, who had a terrifying past, soon handed over Matvey Shulga to the Germans, who, along with Valko, the Germans executed some time later, burying them alive.
Ignat Fomin went over to the German side, becoming a policeman. Some residents of Krasnodon followed his example. Members of the Young Guard decided to execute the traitor Ignat Fomin, demonstrating to the residents of Krasnodon what would happen to those who went over to the side of the Germans and betrayed their Motherland.
Members of the Young Guard posted various leaflets and issued Sovinformburo reports, which gave residents of Krasnodon hope that the Germans would lose the war. The Young Guards freed Soviet prisoners of war who were working in logging. Representatives of the youth organization robbed German cars and killed Germans walking alone. Three combat groups were constantly operating: a group led by Viktor Petrov mainly attacked passenger cars, a group led by Zhenya Moshkov attacked tank cars, and a group led by Sergei Tyulenin “operated everywhere.” Ulya Gromova, whose best friend Valya Filatova was deported to Germany, worked against recruitment and deportation to Germany. In honor of the October anniversary, members of the Young Guard hung up self-made red banners.
In addition to the youth representatives listed above, Evgeniy Stakhovich was also close to the Young Guard. At first he joined the ranks of the Young Guard, but then the rest of the members of the youth organization, through Lyubka the artist, learned from Protsenko that Evgeny Stakhovich, when the partisan detachment in which he was located was surrounded, chickened out and went to Krasnodon. Members of the Young Guard decided to remove Stakhovich, who had lied, from the youth organization, but in the future they gave him the opportunity to participate in assignments from the Young Guard.
On December 30, members of the Young Guard saw a German car containing New Year's gifts. The guys took the gifts and decided to put their contents on sale. Through a boy who sold cigarettes, the Germans and police reached the youth organization. Zhenya Moshkov, Ivan Zemnukhov and Yevgeny Stakhovich were arrested.
While Moshkov and Zemnukhov denied involvement in the theft of New Year's gifts and involvement in any underground organization, the cowardly Stakhovich began to hand over his own to the Germans. Most of the Young Guard members were under arrest. Their relatives were also arrested along with them, thinking that they were also involved in underground activities, but they were soon released. Stakhovich said everything he could know. Soon Lyutikov was also arrested.
Oleg Koshevoy, Sergei Tyulenin, Valya Borts, Olya and Nina Ivantsov are those who have not yet been arrested. They decided to set off from Krasnodon. Ulya Gromova remained in the city, but she too was soon arrested.
After a while, those who left Krasnodon split up. Sergei Tyulenin, leaving Valya Borts, crossed the front and asked the Red Army division to come to the aid of the arrested Young Guards.
Soon the Germans arrested Oleg Koshevoy, Sergei Tyulenin, and Lyubka Shevtsova. Absolutely all arrested Young Guards were constantly beaten, wanting to find out all the information about the Krasnodon underground organization. Apart from Stakhovich, the Young Guards and adult underground fighters held out to the last, without giving out any information or pointing out their comrades.
Most of the Young Guard members were executed. Most of those arrested were thrown into the pit of mine No. 5. Oleg Koshevoy, who said that it was he who led the Young Guard and that he would be responsible for it alone, was shot in Rovenki, where he was taken for the last interrogation. Lyubka the artist was tortured for another week, wanting to learn from her about the secret code, but she did not say a word, and she was also killed.
After Soviet troops entered the city of Krasnodon on February 15, driving out German authorities, the bodies of Young Guards and adult underground fighters were dug up and buried in two mass graves. Only Ivan Turkenich, Valya Borts, Zhora Harutyunyants, Olya and Nina Ivantsov, Radik Yurkin and some others survived.
Brief contents of the works of Fadeev A.A.
- "Devastation"
The last pages of a wonderful work
How does the work written by A. A. Fadeev (“Young Guard”) end? A chapter-by-chapter summary told the reader about almost all the main events related to the Komsomol organization. And it only remains to add a few words that thanks to the courage and bravery of many Komsomol members, the Germans never found out that the head of the underground was Lyutikov.
The Young Guards were brutally beaten and tortured. Many no longer even felt the blows, but continued to remain silent. And then the half-dead prisoners, exhausted from endless torture, were killed and thrown into a mine. And already on February 15, Soviet tanks appeared on the territory of Krasnodon. Thus ended Fadeev’s famous novel about the courage and bravery of young Komsomol members of this city.
