Fourth altitude

A person brought up in the tradition of honoring the memory of those who died defending our Motherland in the Great Patriotic War, the name of Guli Koroleva is associated, first of all, with the untimely disappeared generation of fragile nurses. But Marionella (her real name) was already such a strong personality in her 20s that she was often ceded to leadership positions by less determined men. Born into an acting family, who played several prominent childhood roles in films, she was supposed to become a star, but ... the war came and she volunteered to the front.

In Guli’s life there were several heights (as E. Ilyina writes in her famous book), but the main and last height for her was an unnamed hill of 56.8 meters in the steppes of Pridona. As a sanitary instructor, she fought fearlessly, carrying 50 men from the battlefield until her commander was killed. Then she took command, first broke into the enemy trench, killed 15 fascists, and then she was stitched through enemy bullets. Deadly wounded, bleeding, she found superhuman strength to keep fighting the enemy...and waited for reinforcements... She died in the arms of her comrades, who did not give the height to the enemy.

This journey is dedicated to her memory.

During the tour, we will go to Gorodishchensky district of the Volgograd region, where you will see:

• in the village of Sakarka the grave of Guli Koroleva together with the mass grave of her fallen comrades;
• The fourth height under the farm Panshino, thickly watered with blood, where Gulya performed her feat and where you can lay flowers.

Without false modesty, I can say that those of you who will visit the Fourth Height can be considered veterans of military memorial tourism of the Volgograd region, since this object is not included in the list of the most visited monuments of the Battle of Stalingrad. But there is no less memory and sorrow, and putting flowers or pine branches on the Fourth Height, thinking about blood and death, and at the same time looking at the peaceful beauty of the Don rainforest nearby is a strong impression.