In July of 1941, Divochkin was second in command of an artillery battery outside the city of Petrozavodsk, when a far superior German force attacked from the forest on the outskirts of the city. The Soviets under a massive bombardment from artillery and mortar suffered terrible losses ( a whole platoon was wiped out in twenty minutes ) including the battery commander. Without food for two days the situation was extremely desperate when Divochkin took charge.
He rallied the remaining troops and they had just begun to counter attack when an enemy shell exploded dangerously close to their ammunition setting the brushwood alight. Divochkin began dragging the high explosive shells out of the path of the fire while continuing to fire at the enemy when his gun was hit wounding him in the process. He quickly moved to another gun, still dragging the ammo out of the fire, when that too was hit wounding him again. He dragged two artillery pieces into position, and firing both guns alternately managed to push the Germans back to the tree line. He kept this barrage up for a further twelve hours until his unit was reinforced.
Divochkin went on to fight in the Battle of Kursk, and took part in the campaigns to liberate Ukraine, Hungary, Austria and Czechoslovakia from the Fascists. He was awarded the Order of Lenin 1st and 2nd class, declared a Hero of the Soviet Union and promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. He died suddenly in 1946 aged just 32. In his letter to Hapgood he said;
" Give my compliments to your club friends and tell them that our sportsmen are fighting
in the front lines with redoubled energy, and in each of us burns the desire to wipe the
Fascist rascals from the face of the Earth."
Shortly after the war, in November 1945, Moscow Dynamo came to England to play 3 games amid much hype and excitement. They beat Cardiff City 10-1, then drew with Chelsea 3-3 at a packed Stamford Bridge, before taking on Arsenal at White Hart Lane ( Highbury suffered severe bomb damage during the Blitz ).
The game kicked off in heavy fog amidst controversy over Arsenals strengthening of a much depleted squad, with several players from other teams ( including Stanley Matthews ) added at the last minute. The referee refused to abandon the match despite zero visibility, arguing that the opposition had come all the way from Russia, and the game went ahead quickly descending into farce when Arsenal had a player sent off for fighting who promptly sneaked back onto the pitch unnoticed.
Dynamo went on to win the game 4-3 despite Arsenal losing their keeper who had bizarrely knocked himself out when colliding with the upright, he was replaced by a member of the crowd.
Years later it was discovered that the star player for the Soviets, Vsevolod Bobrov, was not even a Dynamo player but instead belonged to bitter rivals Divochkin's Central Red Army House Team, Dynamo were the team of the Secret Police.
Now, when I look at our crest and I see the cannon, I think of Alexander Divochkin, defending a hopeless position against all odds. I think of Eddie Hapgood, and the connection those two men felt across war ravaged Europe. Comrades in battle. Forever entwined in War and Football. Last word then to Hapgood;
" There was a feeling, that, once you put on an Arsenal shirt, nothing could go wrong, that your team was better than all the others. 'Arsenal Atmosphere' it was called by those on the outside, but we knew it was team spirit, an indefinable something which carried us to the heights, kept us there, and which won us games, that by all laws and rights, we should have lost ".
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