According to the information that was widespread on the Web, the famous revolutionary and popularizer of science at the age of 87 stood up for the defense of the Fatherland and even destroyed about a dozen enemy soldiers. We checked whether it really was.

“Arguments and Facts” wrote about Morozov’s military exploits (article “Grandpa is a sniper. The oldest participant in the Great Patriotic War was 88 years old "), and "Moscow Komsomolets" ("87-year-old Academician-Sniper killed a dozen Germans"), And Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation. And in 2020, on the 75th anniversary of the Victory, a mini-series was published on the NTV channel "Santa Claus" With Aristarsh Livanov in the title role.

On the website of the Ural Law Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, this episode from the life of Morozov is described as follows:

“In 1939, at the age of 85, he graduated from Sniper courses of Oswaviham. Therefore, having arrived at the front, he showed excellent training. On the first day he killed a German officer. Then one more and more ... Academician became the real legend of the Volkhov Front. When the Nazis declared him a hunt, he was withdrawn by the personal order of Stalin to the rear. "Such people do not risk!" - said the leader. For the combat merits of Morozov, he was awarded the Order of Lenin and the medal "For the Defense of Leningrad". "

Other sources They saythat the honorary academician achieved impressive accuracy of shooting, "having studied the path of the pool flight, especially in humidity." It is also noted that after the forced return to the rear of Morozov, "he raged for several months, demanding that he fight again to the front line with a simple sniper, but then cooled down."

The life story of Nikolai Morozov is so colorful and diverse that it would have been enough for several seasons of the television series. Participation in the mugs of the Tchaikovites, “Earth and will” and “People’s will”, more than 28 years in prison (of which a quarter century in a row), numerous experiments in literature and several natural sciences, experimental flights on a balloon and airplane, work by the military commander. And this is only before the revolution, after which Morozov managed to visit the director of the institute, and the honorary academician, and twice the gentleman of the Order of Lenin. And also create a number of works on historical topics, which eventually became the basis for the appearance of a scandalously known new chronology. After all this bunch of events, the accuracy of which is not in doubt, the presence of another stroke in the 92-year life of Morozov does not look so amazing.

However, the very first results of the study of Morozov’s biography in Soviet publications are generated by doubts. Thus, the publication of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR of 1981 includes two reviews of the life of the scientist: chronological and more detailed. In chronological, we can read about Morozov’s presence at the front during the First World War and ... not a word about his service in the Great Patriotic War:

In the second review, only the letter of Morozov dated January 14, 1944 is reported, in which he complains that the war caused irreparable damage to his work. And he adds that in recent years he has been "immersed in geophysical considerations."

There is not a word about the war in the biographical book of Vladimir Ozerov “N. A. Morozov ”(1966). He is silent about the front -line feat of Morozov and V. Prachepenko in his article “Through the thorns to the stars”, published in 1978 at Moscow State University. Today, on the memorial website of the revolutionary, you can familiarize yourself with network version this article. And to find that in the article there was a paragraph of the following content:

“At the age of 88, in the spring of 1942, Morozov went to the Volkhov Front for several days. Eyewitnesses later said that he shook several fascist bandits like frantic dogs with his own hands. Nikolai Aleksandrovich shot from a long-range rifle with a telescopic sight, improved by himself, and from large-caliber revolvers, which to this day are stored in the rebellious safe of the N. A. Morozov house-museum. He owned his personal weapons excellently, for he learned to shoot from early childhood, and in his youth he "hunted" for Alexander II. In 1939 (!), Nikolai Alexandrovich graduated with honors ... Sniper courses of Oswavihaim. "

Why such a significant fact from Morozov was not disclosed in the Soviet years, when the veneration of the heroes of the Second World War was universal - it remains only to guess. It is also not known whether the authority to edit the article Prishcheepenko in a person who did this in the network version. Entertaining that on the same memorial site the next Chronicle of life Nikolai Morozov, and in it, contrary to the quote from the classic, again there was no place for a feat.

As for the post -Soviet period, one book and two publications in the periodical can be distinguished here. In 1996, Evgeny Vostokov’s book “Memorial Meetings” was published in Ryazan, which found a quote: “At the age of 88, he volunteered to the Volkhov Front and, according to eyewitnesses, took part in the fighting.” And here article Stanislav Sergeyev in Izvestia of June 2, 2007 can rightfully be considered the reference point in the military "Morozovian" of our time. This is one of the first, if not the first dated mention of the episode of interest to us in publications with a high circulation. Special attention deserves article Nikolai Sotnikov, entitled “Lomonosov of the years of very recent”, published in the journal “History of St. Petersburg” in 2012. It generally claims that Nikolai Morozov came to the Volkhov Front to give a lecture, but then asked to hold it to the front line, where "he grabbed some strange large gun with an optical sight from his bosom and laid on the spot of several Fritz." Moreover, it was "the same gun that he, the population, intended first for Alexander II, and then for Alexander III." Further, the author claims that Alexander was Morozov with a distant relative and fiercely hated Nicholas for the campaign “against his own”.

As you can see, the story of Morozov’s fighting feature appeared recently. But there are other contradictions. In particular, it is known that in the first half of the 1940s N. A. Morozov lived in the estate of Borok of the Yaroslavl Region (this is stated in a note dedicated to its 90th birthday in 1944). And here is the words of Morozov himself from the letter to the chairman of the Leningrad Executive Committee Peter Popkov:

“I myself have been on the resolution of the People’s Commissar of Education on a long scientific business trip in the research hospital of the Academy of Sciences Borok of the Yaroslavl Region, where I continue my scientific classes in astronomy and geophysics, with the exception of the winter of 1941-1942, conducted by non-health in the Kremlin hospital. The report on scientific work for 1943 was presented in a timely manner in November 1943. "

There is no reason to believe that an elderly frost that had a healthy health problem in addition to everything (in the winter of 1942 he had an operation), contrary to sources and his own words, went to fight to the front. Anatoly Shikman, modern biographer Morozov, did not find other information about this.

And finally, we will touch on the issue of awards. On the site "The Feat of the People", the base of the participants in the Second World War and their awards, there are no people born in 1854. And the reason is definitely not at non -conducive age, since in the same base you can find 14 people born in 1870, that is, by the beginning of the war it was already for 70. And the only one The holder of the medal "For the Defense of Leningrad" with such a name was born in 1909.

Thus, the story that Nikolai Morozov was the oldest participant in the Great Patriotic War was a high degree of probability a myth that appeared a few decades after its completion.