Partisan childhood and heroism of Valery Pavlovsky
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Partisan childhood and heroism of Valery Pavlovsky
Valery Pavlovsky was born on August 25, 1928. Before the Second World War, the Pavlovsky family lived in Brest. In the early days of the war, Valery's father, as instructed by the underground fighters, started working in the forestry. Soon, his small forester's house became a place of rest and in case of injury even a hospital for partisan communications agents.
Reported by an informer, Valery's father was executed. The mother had to take her children to a farm near the village of Mura, because staying in the occupied city was not safe anymore.
Once, when Valery was grazing cows not far from the farm, two Nazi motorcycles rushed past the town. The boy's whole family, except for his little sister Tasya, were shot dead right before his eyes.
Valery joined a small partisan squad, consisting of several reconnaissance and sabotage groups.
One day, Valery, alongside other members of the group, went on a mission to blow up a bridge across the Mukhavets River. This bridge was heavily guarded. The partisans had to crawl the last 50 meters to the bridge. First the partisans took out the guards, then Valery quickly placed a mine. He needed to light the fuse, but the matches were wet. Time was short as the new set of guards were about to arrive. The brave boy took the fuse out of a hand grenade and placed it into the mine. He tied a rope to the guard-ring and quickly crawled away. The new guards sensed something was wrong and rushed to the bridge. The partisans couldn’t wait any longer, and even though the rope was very short, Valery pulled the cord. The bridge, together with the Nazis, was blown to pieces. The young partisan had shrapnel wounds all over his back, and the shockwave pushed him off the bridge. The partisans carried bleeding Valery to their encampment. For three months, the boy was recovering in the partisan dugout.
He was awarded with the Order of the Patriotic War (II class) as well as the medals “For Courage”, “Partisan of the Patriotic War” (I class) and many others.
