Memorial to the Panfilov Heroes
Record: 10 m
The Panfilov Division's Twenty-Eight Guardsmen (Russian: Двадцать восемь гвардейцев дивизии Панфилова), commonly referred to simply as Panfilov's Men (Russian: Панфиловцы, Panfilovtsy), were a group of soldiers from the Red Army's 316th Rifle Division who took part in the defense of Moscow during World War II. According to official Soviet history, they were all killed in action on 16 November 1941, after destroying 18 German tanks and stopping the enemy attack. The Twenty-Eight were collectively endowed with the title Hero of the Soviet Union.
An investigation by Soviet authorities was carried out in 1948 and since declassified, revealed that the story of the 28 was a fabrication. The claimed German casualties were not confirmed in German or Soviet operational documents and the Germans fulfilled their day's objectives well before the end of the day. Not all the twenty eight were killed — six of the soldiers were still alive. One of them was arrested in 1947 on charges of high treason and confessed to having "voluntarily" surrendered to German troops and to having later joined a German police force. The findings were kept secret and the Twenty-Eight Guardsmen remained national heroes.
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