Nikolay Sumskoy Member of the underground organization 'Young Guard'. Date of Birth: 10.05.1924 Country: Ukraine

Biography of Nikolay Sumskoy

Nikolay Sumskoy was an active member of the underground organization "Young Guard". Born on May 10, 1924, in the village of Krasnoye, Novosvetlovskiy District, Voroshilovgrad Oblast, he moved to the town of Krasnodon with his family in 1930. He attended Secondary School No. 22 where he excelled academically and participated in sports competitions. He had a lively and active personality and was friends with Volodya Zhdanov, Alexander Shishchenko, and Lydia Androsova. In 1939, Nikolay became a member of the Leninist Young Communist League (Komsomol) and actively participated in its activities and events.

When the war broke out, Nikolay and his comrades served as volunteers in hospitals, studied weapons, and cleared roads from snowdrifts. When the city was occupied, Nikolay became the organizer of a youth underground group. In October 1942, the group joined the "Young Guard" organization and engaged in writing and distributing leaflets. Under Nikolay's leadership, they assembled and installed a radio receiver in his house, where they would gather to listen to news from Moscow and discuss military tasks. Nikolay actively participated in sabotaging enemy vehicles on the roads leading to the city of Krasnodon. On the night of November 7th, Nikolay Sumskoy, Antonina Eliseenko, and Alexander Shishchenko raised a flag on an old mine pipe.

To avoid being forcibly taken to Germany, Nikolay started working at Mine No. 17. Many Komsomol members from the town of Krasnodon also joined this mine. Nikolay's sister, L.S. Sumskaya, recalled that her brother often talked about their work at the mine: "As soon as the foreman approaches, everyone starts working, but as soon as he leaves, everyone stops again. When we go home, we knock down the supports. Everything we've done during the day collapses, and we start again in the morning. The Nazis swear, but they are afraid to enter the mine." As instructed by the "Young Guard" headquarters, Nikolay conducted extensive explanatory work among the workers of Mine No. 17 and, together with Georgiy Shcherbakov, carried out diversions to disrupt coal production. As the group's leader, Nikolay often met with the commander of the "Young Guard," Ivan Turkenich, and the commissar Oleg Koshev, and attended staff meetings where matters of the organization's combat activities were discussed.

On January 4, 1943, Nikolay was arrested at the mine. During the search of his apartment, glue and a stack of clean paper already cut for leaflets were found. Police officers discovered a radio receiver in the attic, hidden in the hay. On January 14, all the arrested Komsomol members, beaten and tortured, were sent to Krasnodon. On the night of January 16, 1943, Nikolay Sumskoy and his comrades were executed and thrown into the shaft of Mine No. 5. He was buried in a mass grave of the Young Guard members in the center of Krasnodon.

Nikolay Stepanovich Sumskoy was posthumously awarded the Order of the Red Banner and the Medal "Partisan of the Patriotic War" of the 1st degree.