Ivan Vasilyevich Zuev (1907–1942) — Divisional Commissar
The infamous glory of General Vlasov, who betrayed the sacred — his military oath — could easily have overshadowed the quiet renown of the selfless hero Ivan Zuev, but it did not. Unlike his superior, whose "right hand" he was considered to be, Divisional Commissar Zuev conducted himself as a true warrior and patriot, doing everything in his power to save those under his command. As fate would have it, Ivan Zuev was born on the same Nizhny Novgorod soil as the commander of the 2nd Shock Army — in the selo of Blizhne-Pesochnoye in Ardatovsky District. His life, however, took a rather different course from his fellow countryman's. His ancestors, too, were not peasants; for generations they had been drawn to the Batashov ironworks in nearby Town of Vyksa. His grandfather had made his way there as a miner, and his father worked there as a pipe-roller. Naturally, young Ivan was being prepared to follow in their footsteps. But the revolution changed everything. Ivan joined the Komsomol and at the age of sixteen headed the Komsomol cell in his home village. In 1925 he became chairman of the Young Pioneers bureau of the Vyksunsky district Komsomol committee, and soon after was elected secretary of the Voznesensky volost VLKSM committee. Admitted into the Communist Party of Bolsheviks, he went on to lead the Ardatovsky district Komsomol committee. It seemed as though his destiny had already been set. Yet after his service in the Red Army he went to work as a laborer at the Vyksunsky metallurgical plant. Then came something he chose not to avoid: he was sent to study at the Smolensk Military-Political School. Upon completing his studies, no other path remained — only the army. In 1936 he volunteered to go to Spain, where he fought in the International Brigades against fascism, distinguishing himself with skill and courage. He was awarded the combat orders of the Red Star and the Red Banner. In 1937 Zuev was elected a deputy to the Supreme Soviet of Ukraine. He was only thirty years old, yet had already experienced a great deal — and ahead of him lay new roads, new battles, and then the greatest and most brutal trial of all: the Great Patriotic War. When in 1942 Andrei Vlasov treacherously abandoned his 2nd Shock Army, Divisional Commissar Zuev effectively assumed full responsibility for it. The encircled units continued to fight furiously, but the wounded — growing ever more numerous — had to be evacuated. In coordination with the headquarters of the Volkhov Front, a decision was made to break open a corridor — one that would later be called the "corridor of death," because it was won at tremendous cost in lives and blood. But it was broken through nonetheless, and the wounded began to be brought out of the encirclement. Zuev himself passed through that corridor three times — there and back — in order to report the situation directly to Front headquarters. The risk was great. He was urged not to return, and others insisted on it, but he resolved to be the last to leave the encirclement, having fulfilled his duty to the end. Having brought up reserves, the Hitlerite forces closed the ring of encirclement tight. The men had to break out in separate groups, fighting against superior enemy forces. One of those groups was led by the Divisional Commissar. This was at the very end of June. And the commissar's trail was lost in the forests. For more than twenty years Zuev was listed as missing in action. It was only thanks to trackers from a search unit in Novgorod Region that the site of the commissar's final battle and the place of his burial were established. After savage fighting and left alone, Zuev wandered for a long time through dense forest and swamps, keeping his course toward the east. At last he came upon a railway line where a track-maintenance crew was at work. They gave him food and drink, casting sidelong glances at his field shirt with its two rhombuses on the collar tabs. One of the workers — who later turned out to be the local village elder — offered to go and fetch a cart to bring the "commander" to a barn and hide him there until nightfall. A little while later he reappeared accompanied by German soldiers. The commissar pulled two pistols from his belt and opened fire. He saved the last bullet for himself. Zuev was buried right beside the embankment. And kind souls year after year tended the grave so that it would not be overgrown with grass, passing from mouth to mouth the simple first name and surname they had heard from a German interpreter. Twenty-three years later, word of the Divisional Commissar's heroic death reached his fellow countrymen in Ardatov and his widow, Yekaterina Ivanovna Zueva. Today in Ardatov a bust of the hero has been erected, one of the streets bears his name, and a museum has been opened at Secondary School No. 1.