Elena Fedorovna
Kolesova
1920-1942
Elena Fedorovna Kolesova was a scout, commander of the sabotage group of the partisan special purpose detachment (military unit № 9903) of the reconnaissance department of the Western Front, Red Army soldier. She was born on June 8, 1920, in the village of Kolesovo, now it is the Yaroslavl district, the Yaroslavl region, in a peasant family. From the age of 8 she lived in Moscow in a family of relatives. In 1936 she finished the 7th grade of secondary school № 52 in Moscow. In 1939 she graduated from the 2nd Moscow Pedagogical College. She worked as a primary school teacher at school № 47 of the Frunzensky district of Moscow, then as a senior pioneer leader. Since the beginning of the Great Patriotic War she worked in the resettlement department of the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR. In October 1941 she worked on the construction of defensive structures. She was in the Red Army voluntarily since October 20, 1941, when, after two unsuccessful attempts, she was accepted into the group of Major A.S. Sprogis, the special authorized intelligence department of the headquarters of the Western Front (the official name is military unit № 9903). In its composition, by October 1941, it had completed 4 reconnaissance missions behind enemy lines. In January 1942, on the territory of the Kaluga region, the detachment in which Kolesova was, engaged in battle with an enemy detachment. The group completed the task and detained the enemy. Elena carried her wounded friend from the battlefield. All participants of the battle were awarded, Kolesova was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. On the night of May 1, 1942, a female sabotage and partisan group under the command of E.F. Kolesova (11 girls) was parachuted into the Borisovsky district of the Minsk region. During the landing, 3 girls were killed, the fourth was seriously injured. However, already in the first days of May, the group began fighting. The partisans blew up bridges, let military echelons with Hitlerites and military equipment under the slopes. One day, Elena Kolesova blew up the rails in broad daylight and derailed a military echelon with a very valuable cargo. Finally, the fascists found out the location of the camp of the sabotage and partisan group and blocked it. The activity of the partisans was greatly hampered, and Elena Kolesova took the group deep into the forest. On the combat account of Elena Kolesova’s group – 4 derailed echelons (and 7 more – together with other partisan groups and detachments), 3 destroyed cars with Germans, 6 destroyed police stations, up to 30 killed Germans and policemen. On September 11, 1942, an operation began to destroy the Fascist garrison of the heavily fortified village of Vydritsy in the Krupsky district of the Minsk region. A brave Komsomol member also took an active part in this operation. The operation was successful. The enemy garrison was defeated. But in this battle Elena was mortally wounded. She was originally buried in the village of Migovshchina, the Minsk region, the Byelorussian SSR. In 1954, she was reburied in a mass grave (in which her fighting friends were also buried) in the city of Krupki, the Minsk region. By the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of November 21, 1944 for exemplary performance of combat missions of the command at the front of the struggle Elena Fedorovna Kolesova was posthumously awarded the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union with the German invaders and the courage and heroism shown at the same time. She was awarded the Orders of Lenin (21.11.1944, posthumously), the Red Banner (20.01.1942), the Red Star (1.10.1942). A monument has been erected in the village of Mordvinovo, the Yaroslavl district, the Yaroslavl region. Memorial plaques have been installed on the buildings of the former Pedagogical College № 2 (now Moscow City Pedagogical University) and Secondary School № 47 in Moscow.
Address: Moscow, 2nd Agricultural ave., 4, building 1
