The future fighter of the invisible front grew up in a simple Belarusian peasant family in the midst of wonderful nature on the Ubort River, which flows into Pripyat. In Kartynichi at that time there were more than five hundred inhabitants. Before the war, Ivan managed to get a decent education for that time, graduating from high school and pedagogical college. From the age of sixteen, he taught, at eighteen, after the Nazi attack on the USSR, he was enrolled in the Red Army. In August 1941, Kolos was sent to study at an infantry school in Volsk, Saratov region, and in May 1942, as chief of staff of a rifle battalion, he found himself at the front southwest near Kharkiv. Already in June, part of it was surrounded, most of the fighters died, and, miraculously surviving, Ivan was able to cross Ukrainian territory to his native Kartynichi.
The young teacher fought bravely – due to his detachment there were more than a hundred attacks on the invaders
In the same summer of 1942, 19-year-old Kolos organized a partisan detachment named after Kutuzov in his hometowns, from which the Lelchitsk partisan brigade later grew. The young teacher defended bravely and on a large scale – thanks to his wards there were not only more than a hundred attacks against the Nazi invaders, but also the creation of a safe zone where famous supporters of neighboring Ukraine could recover and prepare for long-range campaigns. It was from the Lelchitsy region that the famous 2000-kilometer raid into the Carpathians by Sidor Kovpak began.
In the spring of 1943, the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Red Army drew attention to Kolos, and in the fall, after a short training in Moscow, he was thrown into the Yelsky district of his native Polesie. Its fighters managed not only to recognize the German fortifications in these places, but also to find out the exact moment of the Nazi anti-partisan operation Winter. To do this, the Germans were surprised with exceptional audacity in November on the cold waters of Pripyat.
Kolos, who became a writer and author of more than twenty books after the war, described this operation colorfully: enhanced security, went on an inspection tour of their garrisons. On two boats, armed with twin machine guns, they sailed along the Pripyat. in the bushes?.. And indeed, not far from the village, we set up an ambush… Here the first boat approached us, followed by the second… A red flare went up, strong gunfire and machine gun fell on the Germans… We managed to fish a German officer out of the water, from whom we received a lot of valuable information about enemy troops, unit numbers and “Winter” operations .
In March 1944, the Kolos reconnaissance group landed at Nalibokskaya Pushcha near Ivenets. The most important data she received greatly helped the Red Army in the rapid summer operation “Bagratation”. The scouts provided accurate information about the German defense line between Baranovichi and Pinsk, which during the offensive helped to destroy the strong points of the Nazis. The most important and later famous operation of the young Belarusian intelligence officer was his landing in Warsaw, engulfed by the uprising. The commander of the 1st Belorussian Front, Konstantin Rokossovsky, sent Lieutenant Kolos to the occupied Polish capital to establish contact with the leadership of the rebels.
Twelve days, from September 21 to October 2, 1944, became the most difficult in Ivan’s life. When landing with a parachute, he broke his arm, the radio operator who landed with him was first seriously injured, then died from a mine explosion. Kolos managed to find a Soviet radio operator in Warsaw, who had been dumped there earlier, pro-Soviet army officers Ludova provided him with a room. The scout fully fulfilled the task of the command and established contact with the leadership of the rebels of the anti-Soviet Home Army (AK). AK Warsaw district commander Antony Khrushchel, who went by the pseudonym Monter, negotiated with him.
In his testimony, upon his return to his own, which was promptly sent to Stalin, Kolos reported in detail the situation in the last days of the Warsaw Uprising on the eve of the rebels’ surrender. He specifically noted the Home Army’s hostile attitude towards the Soviet Union: population. second miracle on the Vistula” was put forward, which should not above all, the militant underground organization of the AK, the so-called PKB, pursued a pronounced nationalist policy. All the Ukrainian population remained in the city ​​was massacred or shot. The PKB forces also destroyed the remains of the Jews, which the Germans did not have time to destroy. The PKB carried out special raids on the escaped Russian prisoners of war from German captivity, seeking to seize hostages for later exchange with the Red Army.
Adjutant de Monter told Kolos that “it is necessary to leave immediately, because an attempt is being prepared against me as a representative of the Red Army. The Vistula, crossed the river by swimming and reached the east bank near the Poniatowski bridge. It was not at all easy to cross a stormy river with a healthy hand, and even after a severe concussion suffered in Warsaw. The brave scout was awarded the title of hero of the Soviet Union, but the award took place only in 1994, already in the Russian Federation.And in 2003 the hero was awarded the Belarusian Order of Francysk Skaryna.
Colonel Kolos served in intelligence for many years and until his death in August 2007 he was actively engaged in literary work. The Lelchitsy district gymnasium is named after him.
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