Fyodor Okhlopkov

The Yakut taiga hunter and the thunderstorm of German snipers Fedor Matveyevich Okhlopkov was born on March 3, 1908 in the village of Krest-Khaldzhai, now the Tomponsky ulus of Yakutia. Endurance and composure, endurance and self-control, flavored and multiplied by the skill of a hunter, peasant ingenuity - these are the qualities that distinguished him as a warrior.

In the Red Army - since September 1941. Since December 12 of the same year - at the front. Initially, he was a machine gunner in the 375th division of the 30th army. Its distinguishing feature was the accuracy of shooting from all types of small arms. Okhlopkov's brother Vasily died in the war. And Fedor swore an oath: to avenge his brother. And he kept his oath, beat the German to the fullest.

In August 1942, he was seriously wounded, but two months later he returned to the front again, already taking up a sniper rifle.

The battalion commander was delighted with the appearance of Fedor Okhlopkov: the enemy had a well-aimed shooter, who “shot” 7 of our soldiers with seven shots in a day. Okhlopkov was ordered to destroy an invulnerable enemy sniper. At dawn, the magic shooter went hunting. German snipers chose high positions, Okhlopkov preferred the ground.

Okhlopkov examined all the trees through binoculars from roots to crowns. The German shooter most likely chose a place on a pine tree with a forked trunk. The sniper glared at the suspicious tree, examining every branch on it. The mysterious silence grew ominous. He was looking for a sniper who was looking for him. The one who first finds his opponent and, ahead of him, pulls the trigger, wins.

As agreed, at 8:12 a.m. in a trench 100 meters from Okhlopkov, a soldier’s helmet was raised on a bayonet. A shot rang out from the forest. But the flash could not be detected. Okhlopkov continued to watch the suspicious pine tree.

"Cuckoo" hid on a tree. It is necessary, without betraying oneself, to wait patiently and, as soon as the sniper opens up, to strike him down with one bullet ... After an unsuccessful shot, the fascist will either disappear, or, having discovered him, will engage in single combat and return fire. In Okhlopkov's rich practice, he rarely succeeded in aiming twice at the same target. Every time after a miss, I had to seek out, track down, wait for days ...

Half an hour after the shot of the German sniper, at the place where the helmet was lifted, a glove appeared - one, then the second. From the side, one might have thought that the wounded man was trying to rise, grabbing his hand on the parapet of the trench. The enemy took the bait and took aim. Okhlopkov saw part of his face appear among the branches and the black dot of the muzzle of a rifle. Two shots fired at the same time. The German sniper flew head first to the ground.

For a week in the new division, Fedor Okhlopkov sent 11 fascists to the next world. This was reported from observation posts by witnesses of unusual duels.

The fighters, who saw Okhlopkov in battle, were surprised at his luckiness, spoke about him with love and a joke:

- Fedya is like an insured ... Two-wire ...

They did not know that invulnerability was given to the Yakut by caution and labor, he preferred to dig 10 meters of trenches than 1 meter of grave.

Okhlopkov went hunting at night too: he fired at the lights of cigarettes, at voices, at the clang of weapons, bowlers and helmets.

Once he pretended to be killed and lay motionless all day in a no man's land in a completely open field, among the silent, smoldering bodies of the slain soldiers. From this unusual position, he brought down an enemy sniper who was buried under an embankment in a drainpipe. The enemy soldiers did not even notice where the unexpected shot came from. The sniper lay until evening and, under the cover of darkness, crawled back to his own.

In the spring of 1944, Fedor's account reached 429 liquidated Germans.

In the battles for the city of Vitebsk on June 23, 1944, a sniper, supporting an assault group, received a through wound in the chest, was sent to a rear hospital and never returned to the front.

After demobilization, Fedor Matveyevich returned to Yakutia in 1945. The countrymen greeted their illustrious sniper with joy. In peaceful labor, 20 years flew by unnoticed. He raised ten children whom he loved very much. Okhlopkov was often visited by journalists and writers, hoping to find out details about his front-line biography. But every time he fell silent, not wanting to remember it.

On May 6, 1965, a decree was issued conferring the title of Hero of the Soviet Union to Okhlopkov. A month later, in Yakutsk, the highest award was presented to the war hero.

Increasingly, the severe wounds received by Fyodor Matveyevich in the war made themselves felt. On May 28, 1968, the inhabitants of the village of Krest-Khaldzhai saw off the famous countryman on his last journey.

Near the grave of Okhlopkov F.M. in with. Cross - Khaldzhay of the Tomponsky district of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)