Biography

Memorial "Pobeda" callsign. Active from 05/02/21 to 05/09/21.

RP76MB - In memory of the hero Mikhail Balakirev

Mikhail Balakirev (1928 - December 14, 1941) - a young pioneer, a hero of a Great Patriotic War (WW2), he was brutally tortured and shot by the Nazi in Klin, in December, 1941. Born in 1928, in the city of Klin (now is the Moscow region). Before the invasion of Nazi troops into the territory of the Soviet Union, Balakirev managed to complete his studies up until the 5th grade of the railway school in the city of Klin. Three cold autumn-winter weeks while the occupation of the city of Klin has lasted, an underground organisation of Soviet pioneers has operated here. The boys did their best to harm the invaders, dragging grenades, cartridges, and even managed to take two MG-13 machine guns. The organisation was headed by a 13-year-old Misha Balakirev. On the night of December 14, 1941, when the Red Army was already nearby and liberating the nearest Moscow settlements, Mikhail, together with his peers, continued to sabotage work against the Nazis. When he was once again slipping TNT cartridges into the German tape, he was caught. He was brutally beaten and tortured, but there was no confessions received from him. In the morning, the Nazi took him outside to the shed and shot him. The city party committee, based on the eyewitness, drew up an act in which it reflected the following:
"... Misha Balakirev collected weapons, organised the pioneers to fight the invaders. During the retreat, the Nazi seized Misha took him for interrogation. They mocked the boy in every possible way. The next day, the Nazi took Misha out behind the shed and shot him. On Misha's body, we found two wounds on the chest and one on the left leg ... "
On December 15, 1941, at two o'clock in the afternoon, the troops of the Red Army, with the forces of units of the 371st Infantry Division of the 30th Army, liberated the city of Klin, pushing the Nazi positions to the West. That is when the dead Mikhail Balakirev was found behind the sheds. He was buried in the memorial on Pervomaisky Avenue in the city of Klin.