Career
According to Soviet sources, on 22 February 1943, in the battle for the village of Chernushki, currently in Loknyansky District, Pskov Oblast, Matrosov threw himself onto a German pillbox, blocking the machine-gun with his own body, to allow his unit to advance. In post-Soviet times, a number of alternative versions were published, some of which suggested the event was inadvertent. M. J. Broekmeyer claims that Matrosov had been dragged in front of the post by the Germans when he tried to push down the barrel of the gun after having crawled up above the firing hole, and that his death was moved from February 27 to 22 to match the day of the creation of the Red Army.
According to Chinese propaganda, Matrosov"s tale also inspired Huang Jiguang, a famous Chinese revolutionary martyr, to perform a similar feat during the Korean War.
Matrosov is the main character of the 1947 war film, Private Alexander Matrosov (Рядовой Александр Матросов), directed by Leonid Lukov.
