MOSCOW, February 10 - RIA Novosti. The legendary Soviet intelligence officer, Hero of Russia Alexey Botyan, during the Great Patriotic War Patriotic War who made a major contribution to the liquidation of the Nazis and the salvation of huge numbers of civilians in the Soviet Union and Poland, celebrates his 101st birthday on Saturday.
Botyan became the prototype for the main character of the book by Yulian Semenov and the film of the same name "Major Whirlwind", dedicated to the operation carried out in 1945 to save the Polish city of Krakow from destruction by the Nazis.
SVR Director Sergei Naryshkin sent congratulations to Botyan on his own behalf and on behalf of all employees of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service.
“For many Russians, you are a legendary intelligence officer, who has more than one military feat to his credit, including saving the beautiful city of Krakow from destruction by the Nazis. For us, your colleagues, you are an example of high professionalism and selfless service to the Fatherland,” the telegram says , the text of which is given in the message of the SVR press bureau.
“I am very glad that you are cheerful, energetic, surrounded by the care and love of your family and colleagues. And in chess you still have the first youth category!” Naryshkin noted. “And the main thing I want to wish you is: good health, good spirits, vital energy, longevity and, of course, happiness,” added the director of the SVR.
In the Polish army
Alexey Nikolaevich Botyan was born on February 10, 1917 into a peasant family in the village of Chertovichi on the primordially Belarusian lands, which the Poles considered theirs in the 20s of the last century.
After graduating from school, Botyan was drafted into the Polish army, in which, commanding the crew of an anti-aircraft gun, from the first days of September 1939 he participated in battles with the Nazi occupiers. Thus, Botyan is considered the first of the intelligence officers who entered into battle with fascism from the very beginning of World War II. In the battles near Warsaw in September 1939, Botyan shot down three German aircraft.
In 1939 he was drafted into the Polish army, served in anti-aircraft artillery units in Vilna, and rose to the rank of non-commissioned officer. He took part in battles against Nazi troops in September 1939. According to some reports, he shot down three German aircraft as the commander of an anti-aircraft gun crew. After the occupation of Poland by the Nazis military unit went out to meet the Red Army units and surrendered. He returned to his native village, completed teacher training courses and worked as a teacher in primary school, received Soviet citizenship.
More than a thousand people became Heroes Russian Federation from 1992 to 2017..Intelligence and sabotage
In May 1940, he was sent to serve in the NKVD of the USSR and enrolled in an intelligence school. In July 1941 he was enlisted in the Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade. special purpose, subordinate to the 4th Directorate of the NKVD of the USSR.
During the Battle of Moscow, Botyan participated in various special operations behind the Nazi lines, who by that time had come close to the capital. Together with other security officers, Botyan was repeatedly transferred behind the front line to conduct reconnaissance, destroy communications and communication lines of the enemy.
In November 1941, as the commander of a reconnaissance and sabotage group, he was transferred behind the front line. Participated in the defense of the capital. In January 1943, he was sent for the second time deep behind enemy lines in the western regions of Ukraine and Belarus. He acted there both independently and as part of large partisan detachments.
Under the direct leadership of Botyan, an operation was carried out to blow up the German Gebitskommissariat in the city of Ovruch, Zhitomir region of the Ukrainian SSR, when an inspection from Germany was there. As a result of this operation, on September 9, 1943, nearly a hundred Nazi officers were killed. Ripping off strategic operation By “cleaning up” several regions of Ukraine, Botyan saved tens of thousands of civilian lives.
Operations in Poland
In May 1944, on instructions from the Center, at the head of a group of almost 30 people, Botyan made the transition to Poland, with the task of organizing reconnaissance of the enemy’s location and movement in the area of the city of Krakow. Thanks to good knowledge Polish language and the culture of the local population, as well as his organizational skills, he was able to organize interaction and joint military operations with such different political forces as parts of the Home Army, the Ludovo Army and the peasant Khlopsky Battalions.
Chekist Day: celebrate and not get noticedDecember 20 in Russia is the Day of Security Agencies Workers - a professional holiday for employees of the FSB, FSO and SVR. A hundred years ago, the Cheka was established in Russia. Historian Alexander Bondarenko spoke about how the security officers celebrate the holiday on Sputnik radio.In particular, Botyan’s group carried out a daring operation to capture, together with units of the Ludovo Army, the city of Ilzha, during which arrested Polish patriots were released from prison and a large amount of weapons and equipment was seized. Later, a monument to the heroes of that battle was erected in Ilzha, on which, along with the names of the Poles, the names of the Soviet fighters of Botyan’s group were engraved.
Saved Krakow
Botyan's group managed to settle in the Krakow area and launch extensive reconnaissance and sabotage activities. At the end of 1944, the group’s fighters captured a Pole, engineer-cartographer Zygmund Ogarek, who was mobilized into the Nazi army and served in the rear units of the Wehrmacht. Ogarek gave valuable testimony about the warehouse of explosives in the Jagiellonian Castle, which was supposed to be used for the destruction historical center Krakow, Roznow Dam and bridges over the Dunajec River.
Botyan managed to introduce a Polish patriot into the castle under the guise of a loader, who planted a time bomb. At the height of the Red Army's offensive on the morning of January 18, 1945, the mine was detonated. A huge enemy warehouse flew into the air. The enemy was unable to mine and destroy the objects planned for explosion in Krakow. And on January 19, the advanced units of the 1st Ukrainian Front burst into Krakow under the command of Marshal Ivan Konev.
IN recent months During the war, Botyan's group operated behind enemy lines in the occupied territory of Czechoslovakia.
Star of the Hero of Russia
At the end of the war, Alexey Botyan was still long years successfully worked in intelligence, was repeatedly involved in complex and responsible assignments abroad. Consulted group employees special purpose foreign intelligence service of the KGB of the USSR "Vympel". He retired with the rank of colonel.
For the results achieved, Botyan was repeatedly awarded military and other state awards. He was awarded two Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, many medals, as well as the badge “Honorary State Security Officer.”
For the courage and heroism shown in the operation to liberate Krakow during the war, and for preventing its destruction by the Nazis, Botyan was awarded the title of Hero of Russia in May 2007.
A legendary intelligence officer, a real hero, the pride of Russia - this is how the President of our country, Vladimir Putin, appreciated the merits of Alexei Botyan, who is celebrating his centenary today. Many pages of his biography are still hidden under the heading “top secret”. But serial films have been made about those exploits that are known. His main successful operation is known not only in Russia. Colonel Botyan is the prototype of the legendary Major Whirlwind, who saved Polish Krakow from destruction.
Taking a gun in his hands, Alexey Botyan, even despite his advanced age, immediately transforms. The legend of domestic intelligence has always been distinguished by accurate shooting, and from any type of weapon.
“My favorite was “parabellum”. I shoot it very well. I always wore it, walked with it all the time. And I shot well, I shoot. Even to this day,” says the veteran.
But in intelligence work, says Alexey Nikolaevich, weapons are used as a last resort. This was the case during the operation to save Krakow, Poland, in January 1945. This story became the basis for Yulian Semenov’s famous novel “Major Whirlwind” and the film of the same name. Alexey Nikolaevich became the prototype of this famous movie character. But the events in the film are somewhat different from the real story.
In the film, the Nazis mined Krakow, and the major saves the city at the cost of his life. But in reality, Alexei Botyan not only developed and carried out a complex operation, which resulted in the explosion of a warehouse where ammunition was stored for the destruction of Krakow, but also remained alive.
“We, the partisans and I, together helped the Soviet army to disarm the Germans and thereby save Krakow. They didn't let the Germans blow it up. Everything was intact, all the bridges were intact, everything was intact,” says Alexey Botyan.
Some of this intelligence officer's operations are surprising in their audacity. For example, the release of arrested members of the Polish resistance in Ilzha in the spring of 1944. The city was occupied by the Nazis, who were simply taken by surprise by Botyan's reconnaissance squad.
“There was a school there, in this school there were policemen and some Germans. I had two light machine guns. As soon as we started leaving there, we immediately started shooting at the windows and doors. And no one came out,” the veteran recalls.
Of course, Alexey Nikolaevich admits, courage is needed by a scout. But much more important is endurance and the ability to understand people. This is what made ordinary Botyan a legendary intelligence officer. As well as phenomenal luck, comparable only to a miracle.
“I have been fighting since ’39, from the first of September. And he ended the war without even being wounded. And in battles I went with all the partisans,” says Alexey Botyan.
Alexey Nikolaevich remained in intelligence after the war. Now he no longer hides the fact that he worked abroad for many years. But he doesn’t say what he was doing. After all, this part of his biography is still classified as confidential. But even after retiring, I couldn’t sit quietly at home. And he visited the building of the Foreign Intelligence Service more than once. Was a consultant. I came here today. The head of the department, Sergei Naryshkin, congratulated the veteran on his anniversary. From myself, my colleagues and from the president.
“Dear Alexey Nikolaevich, I congratulate you on your significant centenary anniversary. A legendary intelligence officer and a real hero, you have dedicated your life to serving your homeland. I wish you health, good spirits and all the best. President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin,” the director of the Foreign Service read out the telegram intelligence service of the Russian Federation Sergei Naryshkin.
"Thanks for great attention, for appreciating my feat and work, because the task was to fulfill a soldier’s duty. And I think that I did everything I could,” said Alexey Botyan.
The hero of the day was given a book as a souvenir. It contains documentary evidence of the scout's exploits. True, if it were not for secrecy, there would be much more pages in this publication.
Intelligence does not like unnecessary noise. The intelligence officers whose names are widely known are revealed employees, many of whom died in the line of duty. Alexey Botyan is one of the few who survived and did not know the bitterness of failure. Let's take his personal file in our hands and carefully leaf through it, lingering on some pages.
NON-COUNTER OFFICER OF THE POLISH ARMY
He was born in 1917 in Western Belarus, which was transferred to 1921, so it is not surprising that Alexey spoke fluent Polish. His father was a carpenter, went to work in Germany and Argentina, taught his son German and managed to give him an education - in 1935, Alexey received the specialty of a primary school teacher.
In 1939, the young man was drafted into the army. The draft commission sensibly decided that it would be inappropriate to send a competent recruit as a private into the infantry, and assigned him to a sub-officer school, from where Alexey emerged as the commander of an anti-aircraft crew with the stripes of a corporal.
The war for Botyan began on September 1, 1939, when an anti-aircraft crew under his command entered the battle and shot down a Junker. Then three weeks of fighting, two more planes shot down, a retreat to Lvov. Then the anti-aircraft gunners saw soldiers with red stars on their caps, to whom, after a short verbal skirmish, they surrendered.
The prisoners were loaded into a carriage and driven away. At night, Alexei took his bearings by the stars: the train was heading east. “Uh-uh, no,” the guy thought, “I’m going in the other direction.” He and several of his comrades broke the board and began to jump out of the carriage. The very next day, the corporal was detained by a patrol on his way home. Alexey ran away again. So, with adventures and two escapes, he got home, arriving in his native village in full dress: in a uniform with unbroken non-commissioned officer stripes.
On newly acquired lands Soviet authority First of all, she began to organize schools. It took great amount teachers. Alexey offered his services, he was sent to a course for Soviet teachers and, upon completion, was appointed director of the school. And in May 1941 they “came” to him.
A former non-commissioned officer, his father was in and, speaks fluent Polish and German, escaped from Soviet captivity twice... The reader, accustomed to articles about the “crimes of the bloody Gebni”, is already waiting for a story about the arrest, speedy trial and imprisonment a young Belarusian in the Gulag... So no.
Someone read his profile completely differently: a junior officer, has military experience, speaks fluent Polish and German languages, brave and enterprising (ran away twice). We really need guys like this! Alexey was offered a job in the authorities, he said “yes” and in May he arrived in Moscow to study at the Higher School of the NKGB of the USSR.
The vast majority of cadets were from the “occupied” territories: from Western, Western Belarus, the Baltic States, Bessarabia - territorial authorities needed people who spoke languages and were familiar with local specifics. The young people studied, and meanwhile the teachers took a closer look at them, noting those who were capable of more.
SABOTEUR
Let's quickly turn the pages. War. A Special Sabotage and Reconnaissance Group is being formed under the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs - this will be an elite, people are selected for it one by one. Botyan is a private in the Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade for Special Purposes (OMSBON). In November 1941, the first deployments to the rear. The saboteurs blew up bridges, mined roads, and took languages.
1942 - the best of the best are again selected from the OMSBON fighters and trained again. 1942 was not the easiest year for the USSR, but they were trained for a whole year (no “accelerated courses”!) in order to get reconnaissance saboteurs, each of whom was worth a company.
At the beginning of 1943, graduates began to be formed into detachments and sent behind the front line. Some were to grow up partisan brigades, and some, remaining a small, inconspicuous group, carry out sabotage, the scale of which is comparable to large military operations. As part of one of these groups, Alexey Botyan went behind the front line.
Sabotage, military operations, the destruction of major military officials and heads of occupation administrations - there are many pages in the case, let’s dwell on one of them.
OPERATION IN OVRUCH
Saboteurs walk at night because they don’t need extra attention. And during the day they hole up in the forests or with reliable people. However, it happens that you have to look for shelter, relying on your instincts and luck. It was the same this time. It was already dawn, we had to look for shelter. After watching the house on the edge of the village for some time, Alexey gave the command: “Forward!”
The owner of the house turned out to be a former sergeant major of the Red Army. Word after word, and suddenly, as if by chance: “You know, I have a relative in Ovruch who works in the Gebietskommissariat.”
Having occupied Ukraine, the Nazis divided it into regions and districts, and this division did not always coincide with the Soviet one. For example, the capital of the Reich Commissariat “Ukraine” was not Kyiv, but Rivne. Zastatny Ovruch became administrative center district (gebi-ta), which included the entire Zhitomir region, part of the Kyiv region and even a piece of Belarus. The occupation administration and all services were located in a four-story building of the former barracks, and all the authorities also lived there. Along the perimeter around the Gebitskommissariat there is barbed wire, security, in the city itself there is a garrison of 10,000 people, at the entrance there are police checkpoints.
Alexey’s eyes lit up: “Will you organize a meeting with him?” - "Yeah right now. Get on the cart and let's go. Today there are some familiar policemen standing at the checkpoint, I will say that you are my relative. Go?" The owner looked inquisitively at Alexei: how would he react to the offer to go straight to hell? Botyan took the machine gun off his shoulder and put it on the table. He unbuttoned and took off his sword belt, took the parabellum out of the holster and put it under his shirt in his belt, and in his pockets - a grenade each: “Let’s go.”
On September 14, a group of “anti-partisan specialists” arrived in Ovruch from Berlin to help local authorities to establish a fight against the “bandits”.
The authorities from the districts and neighboring regions gathered. At 9 pm, when guests from Berlin were sharing their experiences at the Gebitskommissariat, the area around Ovruch was shaken by an explosion. The “anti-partisan specialists” returned to Berlin in coffins.
Pages, pages - how many similar transactions are there on this person’s account? Another page, “Krakow” printed in large letters catches your eye.
RESCUE KRAKOW
At the end of 1944, Botyan’s group, already operating on the territory of Poland, captured a German engineer-cartographer, from whom the saboteurs learned that the Nazis were bringing a huge amount of explosives to the city of Nowy Sacz, to the Jagiellonian Castle. Why - the prisoner did not know. On January 10, saboteurs attacked the headquarters vehicle. Among the captured documents was a secret order to mine Krakow and dams on the Carpathian rivers.
According to the plan, two weeks after the city was occupied by Soviet troops, the dams were undermined and a wave of water was to fall on Krakow, sweeping away the city and the headquarters of the front and two armies located in it, rear services, and military units. And then the German Wehrmacht was supposed to take action.
Both the city and the castle, turned into a warehouse, were guarded by the Nazis as closely as they could - there were tons of explosives in the basements. Entrance to the warehouse territory was strictly based on passes; anyone who aroused suspicion was searched, regardless of rank or rank. The city was under the control of the SD and the Gestapo.
And yet, on January 18, the warehouse blew up - the detonator was carried in the sole of a boot. Hundreds of Nazis died in the explosion, and how many Soviet soldiers survived due to the fact that the planned “tsunami” did not take place, who can count this?
Pages, pages... In 1947, Botyan became an illegal intelligence officer and, under a false name, went to Czechoslovakia for 8 long years. Then new foreign “business trips”. Don’t expect to hear a story about where and why - there are purple stamps on the pages “secret”, “top secret”...
In 1972, Alexey Botyan’s “business trips” ended, but only in 1989 did he finally part with the state security agencies.
In the mid-1990s, Alexey Botyan was finally declassified, and his own daughter found out that her father was a legend. In 2007, Vladimir Putin signed a decree awarding Botyan the title of Hero of the Russian Federation without the tragic clarification “posthumously.” At the time of this writing (November 2016), Alexey Nikolaevich Botyan is alive and well, playing volleyball and scoring 29 points out of a possible 30 at the pistol shooting range.
In January 1945, Alexey Nikolaevich Botyan and his sabotage group saved the Polish city of Krakow from destruction. In the three-part film "Major Whirlwind" (1967), this feat is accomplished by Red Army reconnaissance major Andrei Burlakov. But unlike the movie hero and character in Yulian Semenov’s story of the same name, the real intelligence officer Botyan did not break into Hitler’s bunker and did not blow up the cable “which contained the death of Krakow.” His story has a different plot. Which? Retired Colonel Alexey Botyan, who will celebrate his 90th birthday on February 10, told Izvestia about this. Georgy Stepanov talked to him.
- question: Did the filmmakers invite you as a consultant?
Answer: No. I was an employee of the 4th Directorate of the NKVD. It was created during the war to conduct partisan and sabotage and reconnaissance operations behind enemy lines. It was headed by the legendary security officer Pavel Sudoplatov. Yulian Semenov wrote his story based on materials from the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff, and not from ours. The film is undoubtedly wonderful. Major Whirlwind is a collective image; several groups took part in saving Krakow. Both mine and Evgeny Bereznyak’s (another prototype of the Whirlwind, now lives in Kyiv - Izvestia). We were faced with a single task - to ensure the rapid advance of Soviet troops towards Krakow. You could say that Major Whirl and I were doing a common cause.
“They called me “partisan Alyosha”
- Q: How did you end up in occupied Polish territory?
A: In the spring of 1944, the front moved west. It was decided to move several partisan units there. They crossed the border on April 4 with a detachment of the partisan “father”, chief of staff Viktor Karasev. I was his assistant. Due to continuous bombing we marched at night. Problems arose when someone was injured: they had to turn to the locals, mainly priests, for help. It was easier for me - I knew the language, literature, history, and the realities of the country. In Poland they called me “partisan Alyosha.” Sometimes I put on a railway worker's uniform - they didn't bother me. Karasev had 400 fighters. We split into three groups and, having dispersed, reached vast swampy forest areas at the end of April.
- Q: How did you get to the vicinity of Krakow?
A: On May 1, Karasev received a command from the Center to send me to this area with a small group. I selected 28 people, including two radio operators. One day we came across the Akovites (a detachment of the Home Army, which was subordinate to the London government of Stanislav Mikolajczyk - Izvestia). We were received very unfriendly. Their commander, lieutenant, having heard Polish speech from my lips, still did not believe that I was a Belarusian. “We don’t need you,” he repeated. “We will free ourselves from the Germans without you.” Then he softened. The Akovites even shared bread and cigarettes. But the partisans of the BH - the Khlopsky Peasant Battalions - were much more loyal to us. Not to mention the soldiers of the Communist-led Army of the People...
- Q: Did you help them?
A: It happened. There was a German garrison in the regional town of Ilzha. People from the Army of the People asked us to help free the underground members who were imprisoned in a local prison. At first I doubted: the group was faced with the task of reaching Krakow without losses. They carried out reconnaissance, cut off the Germans' telephone communications and entered the city at nightfall. My guys locked the Nazis in the barracks with machine-gun fire. And the Poles pulled their comrades out of prison, destroyed the post office, bank, and emptied warehouses. The whole night the city was in our hands. Then we moved further - to Czestochowa. On the 20th of May the group crossed the Vistula. By the way, there is an obelisk in Ilzha. On it is a bronze plaque mentioning the group of “Lieutenant Alyosha”.
- Q: You were preparing an operation to destroy the Gauleiter of Krakow, Hans Frank, the “executioner of Poland”...
A: We managed to recruit his valet - Jozef Puto. He was given a pistol with a silencer and an English chemical mine. But literally on the eve of the assassination attempt, units of the Red Army broke through the front, and Frank hastily fled to Czestochowa. The Gauleiter was lucky. My reconnaissance group relocated to Nowy Sacz, a city in the Polish Tatras. It was called "the key to Krakow."
"A historical monument, of course... But what else was left?"
- Q: How did the plan to save Krakow come about?
A: Initially, the task was different. It was necessary to ensure the unhindered advance of the Red Army. Every day the Germans were attacked, ambushed, trains were blown up wherever possible - south and east of Krakow. Polish partisans helped us. At the end of 1944, my group accidentally captured a cartographic engineer from the headquarters of the Wehrmacht rear units - the Pole Zygmunt Ogarek. With him are maps of the defensive structures of Nowy Sacz.
It turned out that in the local Jagiellonian Castle, the ancient residence of the Polish kings, the Germans had built a huge ammunition depot. They brought in wagonloads of explosives, shells, and cartridges. They were going to mine the bridges across the river Dunajec, Roznovska
yu dam and cultural monuments of Krakow. And when retreating - blow it up. As a result, everything would have been flooded, and the Red Army would not have passed through.
- Q: In a word, did you decide to destroy the castle itself?
A: A historical monument, of course... But what else was left? Ogarek, whom we had recruited, found a Polish communist who, under the guise of a loader, brought a mine into the castle and placed it in the stacks of shells. The explosion occurred on January 18, 1945 early in the morning. The Nazis died - hundreds. Across surviving bridges and unflooded areas, the Red Army entered Krakow without hindrance. Saving him is the most important thing I have done in my life.
“Party officials were embarrassed that in 1939 I was a non-commissioned officer in Pilsudski’s army.”
- in: But the title of Hero Soviet Union you never got it. Why?
A: The first time I was introduced to the Star was back in 1943. That summer, the Nazis decided to create a powerful anti-partisan center. A group of “specialists” arrived from Berlin to the town of Ovruch, Zhitomir region. The punitive forces stopped in the building of a well-guarded Gebitskommissariat (in German, “Gebit” means region. - Izvestia). We were helped by a man named Yakov Kapluk, who served as a stoker there. The Germans trusted him unconditionally. For weeks, he and his wife transported explosives to the Gebitskommissariat - a total of 150 kilograms. I laid it in three places. The explosion occurred on the night of September 9. More than 80 Nazis died under the ruins - entirely representatives of the command staff.
In Moscow they began to check all this. They delayed it for a long time and eventually gave it the Order of the Red Banner. The second time, in 1965, a group of former partisans and military leaders made a collective request to the KGB about me - only 200 signatures. And I again received the Order of the Red Banner. Our party workers were embarrassed that in 1939 I was a non-commissioned officer in Pilsudski’s army. By the way, in the winter of 1941, as part of the OMSBON (a separate special purpose motorized rifle brigade - Izvestia), I took part in the defense of Moscow. He took the tongue.
"The Poles would rather be friends with the Germans, but against Russia"
- in: The current Polish authorities do not favor Russia too much...
A: It has been like this since time immemorial. They would rather be friends with the Germans, but against Russia. They see us as the only culprits for the division of Poland under Catherine II.
- in: In Estonia they are going to demolish a monument to a Soviet soldier...
A: Barbarians. I would have dealt with them like a guerrilla. Like with bandits.
- Q: What are you doing now?
A: In 1983, I retired from the authorities, but until 1989 I helped and collaborated. I thought about going to someone as a referee. I decided: “Why? The pension is not bad, enough to live on.” Now I play volleyball twice a week. I'm afraid to fall - who knows? And so, when necessary, I will receive the ball, pass the ball... The hardening has been preserved. In 1978, former partisans invited me to Ukraine, to Cherkassy, to hunt ducks. He grabbed a gun, 25 rounds of ammunition. They settled on an island, and they put me in the reeds. I beat them all, these hunters. Shot down 25 ducks. And during the war I used a 9-mm parabellum, not a TT, which was too heavy. For me, the main thing is accuracy and targeted shooting.
Alexey Nikolaevich Botyan
Born on February 10, 1917 in the Belarusian village of Chertovichi, Vilna province (80 kilometers west of Minsk). In March 1921, this part of Western Belarus became part of Poland. After graduating from school, Botyan was drafted into the Polish army, where, commanding the crew of an anti-aircraft gun, he took part in battles with the Germans in September 1939. He shot down three Junkers near Warsaw. When the eastern regions of Poland were occupied Soviet troops, Botyan became a citizen of the USSR. He worked as a teacher in an elementary school. Then he was sent to study at the NKVD intelligence school. In November 1941 he was transferred behind the front line. On the territory of Belarus and Ukraine, his special group conducted reconnaissance and sabotage work behind enemy lines.
After the end of the war, Botyan worked in the central apparatus of foreign intelligence. He was repeatedly involved in carrying out assignments abroad, in particular in the Czech Republic. Consulted members of the Vympel special forces unit. He was awarded two Orders of the Red Banner and the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, medals, and the badge “Honorary State Security Officer.”
Speaks German, Polish and Czech. Alexey Nikolaevich has two great-grandsons - 12 and 4 years old.
MOSCOW, February 10 – RIA Novosti. The legendary Soviet intelligence officer, Hero of Russia Alexey Botyan, who during the war made a great contribution to the liquidation of the Nazis and the salvation of a huge number of civilians, celebrates his centenary on Friday.
The most famous operation carried out by Botyan is considered to be the rescue of Polish Krakow from destruction by the Nazis in 1945. Botyan became the prototype of the main character of the book by Yulian Semenov and the film of the same name "Major Whirlwind", dedicated to those events.
Alexey Nikolaevich Botyan was born on February 10, 1917 into a peasant family in the village of Chertovichi on the original Belarusian lands, which the Poles considered theirs in the 20s of the last century.
After graduating from school, Botyan was drafted into the Polish army, in which, commanding the crew of an anti-aircraft gun, from the first days of September 1939 he participated in battles with the Nazi occupiers. Thus, Botyan is considered the first of the intelligence officers who entered into battle with fascism from the very beginning of World War II. In the battles near Warsaw in September 1939, Botyan shot down three German aircraft.
Scout and saboteur
After the reunification of Belarus, he became a citizen of the USSR and worked as a teacher in an elementary school. But then - a new twist of fate: on a Komsomol voucher, Botyan was sent to study at the NKVD intelligence school, the end of which coincided with the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. In July 1941, he was enlisted in the Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade for Special Purposes of the NKVD - the legendary OMSBON, special forces of the USSR state security agencies, created to fight the Nazis.
On November 7, 1941, Botyan took part in the legendary military parade on Red Square in Moscow.
During the Battle of Moscow, Botyan participated in various special operations behind German lines, who by that time had come close to the capital. Together with other security officers, Botyan was repeatedly transferred behind the front line to conduct reconnaissance, destroy communications and communication lines of the enemy. Later as part of a large partisan detachment he took part in hostilities on the territory of Ukraine, Belarus, Poland and Czechoslovakia, going from an ordinary soldier to a deputy commander partisan unit on intelligence.
In November 1943, already as the commander of a reconnaissance and sabotage group, Botyan worked deep behind enemy lines in the western regions of Ukraine and Belarus. He is responsible for the explosion of the SS headquarters in the Zhytomyr region of Ukraine - in this case, almost a hundred officers, punishers, who, ironically, had gathered for a meeting to combat the partisan movement. Having disrupted a strategic operation to “clean up” several regions of Ukraine, Botyan saved tens of thousands of civilian lives.
Saving Krakow
Later, the group of “Lieutenant Alyosha” - that’s what the grateful people called him local residents, was sent to the area of the Polish city of Krakow. There, from operational sources, Botyan obtained top secret plans for the destruction of the city in the event of the approach of the Red Army and established the location of the explosives warehouse.
In 2012, in an interview with RIA Novosti, the legendary intelligence officer told how Krakow was saved.
“At the end of 1944, my group captured a cartographer engineer from the headquarters of the rear units of the Wehrmacht, the Pole Zygmunt Ogarek. He had maps of the defensive structures of Nowy Sacz, where there was a huge warehouse of explosives and weapons, including a dam intended to destroy the historical center of Krakow and bridges,” Botyan said.
Ogarek agreed to cooperate with Soviet intelligence officers. It turned out that he had a contact with a Pole who served in the Wehrmacht and had the rank of Hauptmann.
“So he brought an English delayed-action mine into the warehouse, placed it between stacks of Faust cartridges and explosives. The explosion occurred on January 18, 1945, early in the morning. It was so powerful that about 400 Germans who came there for ammunition died. we disarmed the Germans. Soviet army“, in fact, she was able to enter Krakow without unnecessary fighting, and he was saved,” Botyan said.
And the Soviet troops under the command of Marshal Konev unhindered continued the victorious Vistula-Oder operation, which went down in military history as the most rapid offensive.
During the entire war, Botyan was never wounded.
“God looked after me, there’s probably some kind of star above me. It helped a lot that I was very hardy - I could walk 40 kilometers a day through the mountains and I picked people like him for my team,” the scout said.
Title of Hero
After the end of the war, Alexey Botyan successfully worked in intelligence for many years, and was repeatedly recruited to carry out complex and responsible assignments abroad. He retired with the rank of colonel.
For the results achieved, Botyan was repeatedly awarded military and other state awards. He was awarded two Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, many medals, as well as the badge “Honorary State Security Officer.”
For the courage and heroism shown in the operation to liberate Krakow during the war, and for preventing its destruction by the Nazis, Botyan was awarded the title of Hero of Russia in May 2007.
“On the eve of a significant event, Alexey Nikolaevich is cheerful and cheerful. He is actively preparing to celebrate his 100th birthday with his family and friends, colleagues in the service,” the press bureau of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation told RIA Novosti.
