Sergei Aleshkov

Sergei Andreyevich Aleshkov (also Alyoshkov; Russian: Сергей Андреевич Алёшков, sometime between 1934 and 1936 – 1 February 1990) was a Soviet child soldier, adopted "Son of the Regiment", and the youngest to serve in World War II at 6 years old.^[1]

Sergei "Seryozha" Aleshkov (Russian: Сергей "Серёжа" Алешков) was born in 1934 or 1936, in the rural village of Gryn (Russian: Грынь), back then in the Russian SFSR of the Soviet Union, to a Russian peasant family. He was believed to have been born either on 31 January or 15 February 1936, but it is unknown if these birth dates are correct. He was the fourth and youngest child of Andrei Aleshkov and his wife, Anastasia "Nastasya" Aleshkova. Seryozha's elder brothers were Ivan, Andrei, and Pyotr "Petya" Aleshkov.

Seryozha's father Andrei died at a early age, supposedly before Seryozha turned two years old, so Seryozha and his brothers were raised by their single mother, Nastasya, who was known to be a poor and fragile but hardworking peasant woman. Nastasya Aleshkova soon got a job as a collective farm worker, in order to be able to provide for her children. After Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, Seryozha's elder brothers, Ivan and Andrei Aleshkov, left their family and village and enlisted in the Soviet Red Army to become soldiers. The brothers were subsequently sent to the frontline, and it is unknown if they survived the war or not. As Nazi Germany rapidly advanced through the Soviet Union, the entire Ulyanovsk District (where the village of Gryn is located) fell under German occupation by October 1941.

Because the village of Gryn was located deep in the forest, Soviet partisans fighting against the German occupation, established a partisan base in the village, and the people from the village strongly collobrated with the partisans, including Seryozha's mother Nastasya and her eleven-year-old son Pyotr "Petya" Aleshkov, who himself became a partisan.

In July or August 1942, after German officers discovered the partisan base and the association of the villagers with the Soviet partisans, the Germans massacred the people from the village and burned down their homes. During the massacre, Seryozha's brother Petya was tortured and then hanged from a tree by German officers as a "spy", and Seryozha's mother Nastasya was shot by a German officer, while she attempted to rescue her son. When the six-year-old Seryozha Aleshkov ran to his mother who was shot and murdered before his eyes, one of the German officers kicked him aside. Seryozha managed to escape from the village and run deep into the forest while the Germans were there, but Seryozha got completely lost and wandered in the forer for days, with very little food or water.

Soviet regimental reconnaissance discovered Seryozha during fighting in the Kozelsk area in August 1942. He was extremely thin and emaciated and could not walk or speak or even remember how long he spent in the forest alone. Seryozha was wrapped in a sack made of horse skin and they carried him across the frontline and sent him to the headquarters of a Soviet military unit. Seryozha was suffering from starvation, muscle atrophy, and numerous insect bites, and Mikhail Danilovich Vorobych, the assistant commander of the 510th Guards Rifle Regiment, felt great pity for Seryozha and was furious by his condition. Seryozha was taken to the infirmary of the camp and he recovered there. After his recovery, the soldiers asked Seryozha about his name, but due to his young age, he mistakenly called himself as Sergei Aleshkin. When he was asked about where his mother was, Seryozha cried really hard and it took a long time for him to calm down. Assistant commander Mikhail Danilovich Vorobych refused to let Seryozha Aleshkov be taken away and sent to an orphanage and ordered that the child should remain in the military base, believing this was the best place for Seryozha.

Seryozha especially liked and respected the commander Mikhail Vorobych, and the commander felt that Seryozha needed a father and was infuriated of his situation, so commander Mikhail Vorobych, who was not married and did not have any children at the time, officially adopted Sergei "Seryozha" Aleshkov as his son on 8 September 1942, and Seryozha became the "Son of the Regiment". Despite his remarkably young age, the six year old Seryozha Aleshkov was recruited into the Soviet Red Army as a soldier by his adoptive father Commander Mikhail Vorobych, and Seryozha Aleshkov became the youngest known soldier, at just six years old. Because of his young age, Seryozha Aleshkov was forbidden from participating in combat operations and could not fight on the front, so Seryozha was instead given tasks such as assisting and giving supplies to soldiers fighting on the front, giving letters to soldiers, and helping wounded soldiers in the infirmary. Seryozha would sometimes sing and dance for the soldiers in the regiment for entertainment.

Seryozha Aleshkov was praised by every soldier and nurse in the regiment for his courage, great assistance, and willingness to serve his country as a true patriot. Later, Seryozha and the soldiers and commanders in the 47th Guards Rifle Division were transferred to Stalingrad to fight in the Battle of Stalingrad. In early November 1942, the 510th Guards Rifle Regiment (the regiment where Sergei Aleshkov was a soldier) was surrounded by German troops near Stalingrad, and during bombing and artillery shelling, Seryozha's adoptive father, assistant commander Mikhail Vorobych, was trapped in a dugout. Seryozha Aleshkov went to the dugout and attempted to dig him out, and tried digging him out so hard that his hands profusely bled, but Seryozha failed to do so, so Seryozha ran to soldiers of another regiment, amidst the artielly shelling and therefore risking his own life, and the commander and soldiers dug Milkhail Vorobych out of the pit, with Seryozha participating. This great courage saved his adoptive father's life, and for this, Seryozha Aleshkov was awarded the Medal for Military Merit on 26 April 1943. ^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]}

During the war, Seryozha Aleshkov found himself in life-threatening situations and nearly got murdered several times while on the front; in one situation, Seryozha Aleshkov insisted on being promoted to the rank of lieutenant in the regiment and was given a junior lieutenant uniform as a joke by a soldier, and Seryozha nearly got shot by a German Luftwaffe enemy airplane flying above; in another situation, Seryozha Aleshkov nearly drowned while attempting to cross the Siversky Donets River with his regiment, in May 1943, and a unidentified Soviet soldier jumped into the river and saved his life at the last second.

As the Soviet Red Army rapidly advanced through the Soviet Union and liberated large parts of the Soviet Union from German occupation, Seryozha Aleshkov traveled with his regiment to Poland. In 1944, at the order of military commander Vasily Chuikov, Seryozha Aleshkov, now eight years old, left Poland and was sent to study at the Tula Suvorov Military School in Tula, Russia. While Seryozha Aleshkov was interested in sports and martial arts (he even earned ranks and high scores in boxing and sambo), and had a very good physical performance, Seryozha struggled and did very poorly in his academic performance. After graduating from Tula Suvorov Military School, Seryozha Aleshkov entered a military academy.

Seryozha Aleshkov's future military career was unsuccessful due to his poor health as he had been smoking heavily from a young age, and he eventually died of a heart attack on 1 February 1990, aged 54.^[10]

The film Soldier Boy (2019) depicts Sergei's experiences during the war. Sergei is played by Andrey Andreev.^[11][12]

Rabbit, Soldier, Angel, Thief (2022) by Katrina Nannestad is loosely based on Sergei's experience.^[13]