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Anatoliy PopovMember of the underground organization 'Young Guard'.
Date of Birth: 16.01.1924
Country:  Ukraine |
Content:
Biography of Anatoly Popov
Anatoly Popov was born on January 16, 1924, in the village of Izvarino, Krasnodon district. In 1931, his family moved to the town of Pervomaisk. His grandmother, Matrena Panteleevna, who knew many fairy tales, had a special influence on Anatoly. She instilled in him a love for books. In 1932, Anatoly started attending the Pervomaiskaya school. He excelled academically and had a wide range of interests. He loved nature, was passionate about mineralogy, and was an excellent swimmer. However, his biggest passion was literature. His teacher, I.M. Znaenko, recalls: "I saw in him a well-read and developed boy, principled, honest, straightforward, and yet modest." Anatoly organized a literary circle and was elected its chairman, a position he held until he finished school.
In 1940, Anatoly Popov joined the Komsomol (Young Communist League). At the beginning of the war, he and his comrades engaged in military training, shooting practice, and clearing roads from snowdrifts. In September 1941, Anatoly Popov and other residents of Krasnodon went to work at the Stalingrad Tractor Plant. When the front was halted, in February 1942, the young people returned to Krasnodon. Anatoly continued his studies in the 10th grade. His reflections on the fate of the Motherland, the people, and his own found expression in his school essay titled "I Love My Motherland," written in 1942. "...The Soviet people know the value of freedom, bought with blood and enormous sacrifices in 1917, and they prefer to die standing than to live on their knees. That is the will of my people, and that is my will, and when it is necessary to sacrifice myself for the Motherland, I will give my life without hesitation."
Participant of the Underground Organization "Young Guard"
In August 1942, Anatoly Popov, together with Ulyana Gromova, formed an underground Komsomol group in the town of Pervomaisk. Later, it joined the organization "Young Guard." Brave and resourceful, Anatoly managed to unite the young people around him, organize them to carry out combat missions, and he himself took direct part in all the most important operations. He liberated Soviet prisoners of war from the Volchensky camp in the Rostov region and the Pervomaiskaya hospital. In honor of the 25th anniversary of the October Revolution, he led the raising of the flag on the chimney of mine No. 1-bis. He wrote leaflets and plastered them around the city, collected weapons, and obtained kerosene to burn the sacks of bread intended for export to Germany. He led a group of Young Guards who, on the way from Gundorovka to Gerasimovka, fired and threw grenades at a car, destroying three German officers. The last meeting of the "Young Guard" headquarters was held in January 1943 at Anatoly Popov's apartment. Due to the arrests that had begun, the headquarters gave instructions for small groups to leave Krasnodon to hide from the persecution of the Nazis and move towards the front line. However, Anatoly Popov was unable to leave the city and was one of the first to be arrested. After torture, on January 16, he was shot and thrown into the mine shaft No. 5.
"After being pulled out of the shaft, Anatoly had no gunshot wounds, his fingers on his left hand were cut off, and the sole of his right foot was severed." RGASPI F-1 Op.53 D.332 He was buried in a mass grave of heroes on the central square of Krasnodon. Anatoly Vladimirovich Popov was posthumously awarded the Order of the Red Banner and the Medal "Home Front Partisan" of the 1st degree.
