The faces of WWII Heroes

Pavel Efimovich Bagraev, was born in the city of Dnepropetrovsk. His father, Efim Semyonovich Bagraev, was an economist in the Stalin Railway Management. He wrote many works on economics. From 1913 to 1920, Pavel Efimovich studied at the Railway School No. 2 in Dnepropetrovsk. From 1921 to 1922, he worked on the 8th section of the track service of the Ekaterinoslav railway as a repair worker. From 1925 to 1928, he studied at the workers’ faculty of the Ship Construction Technical School in Nikolaev. From 1928 to 1931, he studied at the 1st Moscow State Lomonosov University in the faculty of literature. At the university, he actively participated in social and political life, was a deputy chairman of the trade union, chairman of the students on the dean faculty, secretary of the party group of the course, participated in the examination of cinema production facilities of Moscow of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, on graduating university, he got offered to join the party to obtain a job in Yakutia, under the Yakut Regional Party Committee. The death of V.V.Mayakovsky in 1930 shocked Pavel Efimovich: he would often come to his performances. And coming to his funeral with his future wife, he saw a huge number of people who came to bid him goodbye. In 1931, he married Nina Zinovievna Kuimova. She was working at the university when they met. Then, she worked as a nursery teacher. After marriage, they had a son, Valentin, in 1932, and daughters, Alexandra, in 1927, Nelya, in 1937, and Ekaterina, in 1942. Pavel Efimovich named the last girl himself, in honor of our new weapon of the rocket artillery combat vehicle, "Katyusha". AS he was going away, to the frontline, he said to his wife: "Leave the child and call her Katyusha. It will be a sign that I will return. My talisman!" From 1931 to 1933, he worked as an editor of the newspaper "Autonomous Yakutia". In 1932, he became head of the party department "Social Yakutia". From 1933 to 1934, was employed by the People’s Commissariat of the Forest Industry and the Trade Union of the Forest Industry as a correspondent of Rostov-on-Don. From 1934 to 1935, he was employed in the book center of Rostov-on-Don. In 1935, he was the region head of the district in the village Razvilnoe, in the Rostov area. From 1935 to 1941, he worked as an editor in the political department of the food industry, in the political department of the newspaper at the plant "Smychka". From June 1941 to September 1941, he worked as the operational commissioner in the NKVD of the city of Rostov-on-Don. From September 1941 to March 1942, he was the operational commander of the OONKVD 10 sapper army. From March 1942 to October 1942, he was the operational commander of OONKVD 8 sapper army. From October 1942 to December 1942, he was the operational commissioner of the 9 rifle corps in the Northern group of the Transcaucasian front. From December 1942 to February 1944, he served in the 427 independent communications battalion in the “SMERSH” counterintelligence department of the 4th Ukrainian front in the rank of captain. In February 1944, he received a through bullet wound in the middle third of the right thigh with a shattered fracture of the femur. He was in the hospital from February 1944 to January 1945. He refused the disabled status and the free apartment, due to the difficult economic situation in the country. All his life, he lived with his wife and 4 children in a one-room apartment. From January 1945 to September 1945, he served in the 51149 division. From October 1945 to March 195, he worked in the Rostov Regional Radio Committee as the head of the editing department. From 1951 to 1953, he worked as a RCCPS train instructor in Rostov-on-Don. From March 1953 to September 1954, he served in the artel of November 29, 1941 as deputy head of the organization of mass work, as the secretary of the party organization. From September 1954, worked in the "Elektroinstrument" factory as a dispatcher, controller, head of the supply department. After being dismissed from the factory, until 1972, he took part in all economic and political activities of the party, went on trips on behalf of the party to other districts to explain the decisions of the party and the government, participated in the RK CPSU commissions to check the junior party organizations. For more than 20 years, he worked on the preparation and holding of elections to the Supreme Council of the USSR, the RFSR, and local authorities as the head of campaign offices at polling stations. For several years, he was the chairman of the campaign site of the microdistrict serviced by the party organization of the factory, in addition, he worked as an editor for the factory. He received the following government awards: order of the Patriotic War of the II degree, medals "For the Liberation of the Caucasus", "For Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945", "Twenty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945", "Thirty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945", "Forty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945" "50 Years Armed Forces of USSR", "60 Years of Armed Forces USSR", "For Valiant Labor in Commemoration of 100-anniversary of Birth of V. I. Lenin", award badges for 50 years of stay in the CPSU, for political and patriotic education of young people, the badge for 60 years with the name of Lenin, awarded by the Central Committee of the Komsomol. He was a personal pensioner of Union significance number 97669. Pavel Efimovich was always on the frontline, and his call: "Communists forward" was always heard. He served as an example for young soldiers who did not witness the horror of war. My grandfather loved life very much, loved to sing songs, especially Ukrainian ones, loved the country, was always the first to get involved anywhere, volunteered among 25 thousand people in Yakutia, strengthened the Soviet power, helped form collective farms in remote areas of the country. He raised a worthy generation of 4 children, 6 grandchildren, 4 great-grandchildren and 3 great-great-grandchildren: all his children and grandchildren have higher education!

My father Alexander Iolievich Berdyugin was born on September 5, 1921 in the Tyumen region, in the city of Yalutorovsk. After graduating from school in 1939, he was drafted into the Red Army and entered the Leningrad Military School of Instrumental Intelligence, from which he graduated on June 2, 1941, with the rank of lieutenant. My father participated in the battles for the defense of the Caucasus as a part of the anti-aircraft artillery regiment (as commander of the instrumental intelligence regiment) in the Transcaucasian front. Then he liberated Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, and Austria being part of the 4th and 3rd Ukrainian fronts (as commander of communications of the rifle battalion and the commander of the fire platoon of the machine-gun company). In the fall of 1945, my father was sent to a Panzer division as the secretary of the military tribunal. But he did not want to continue in the military path and retired to the reserve in 1947. In 1948, he was enrolled at the faculty of history in the department of art history in Moscow State University. He graduated from the university in 1953. During his years of study, he joined the ranks of the CPSU (b) in the year of 1951. After graduating from MSU, he worked as the head of editing department in the magazine "Art", and later the chief of organizational and creative department of the Art Fund of the USSR, He took the position of the executive secretary of the journal "Decorative Art"; since 1959, worked in the Moscow City Organization of the Art Fund of the RSFSR. Father was awarded 5 military and 9 peace medals: in November 1944, the medal "For Courage" (for advancing his platoon into attack) and the order "Red Star", in May 1944, a medal "For Defense of Caucasus", in May 1945, the medal "For Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945" and the medal "For the Capture of Budapest"; his peace awards: 1965 - medal "Twenty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945", 1967 - medal "50 years of the Armed Forces of the USSR", 1970 - the medal "For Valiant Labor in Commemoration of 100-anniversary of the Birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin", 1975 - the medal "Thirty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945", 1978 - medal "60 Years of the USSR Armed Forces", 1985 - medal "Forty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945" and the order "Patriotic War of the 2nd degree", 1988 - medal "70 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR", previously awarded the medal "Veteran of Labor". My father died on November 4, 1990 of heart failure and never learned about the collapse of the country he had defended.

Rank: Major General of technical troops. Type of troops: Technical troops (Railway, Air, Land, Vehicle, topographic Forces). Ivan Zakharovich Kolomiyets, was born on December 25, 1914 in Bogodukhov, Ukraine. Early on, he was left without a father, who died on the frontlines of the First World War. In 1933, he graduated from the Kharkiv Automobile and Mechanical Plant. And in 1934, according to the Komsomol recruitment list, he was drafted into the army and sent to the Far East to build roads as a military technician of the automobile company. The war got to him in his hometown, Bogodukhov. At first, by a turn of fate, he was a sapper: he commanded a sapper company. Afterwards, he served in his professional field, in the automobile troops until the end of the war and his military career. He held the position of deputy commander of the technical department of the automobile battalion, commander of an independent automobile repair battalion of the army of subordination, senior assistant to the chief of the army's department of automobile operations. He finished the war with the rank of major, as deputy commander of the automobile regiment of the reserve of the technical department of the Main Command, managing 6 battalions with 1200 cars. After the war, he commanded a district independent automobile battalion, graduated with honors from the Higher Automobile School in Leningrad, served in the automobile and tractor corps of the Main Inspection of the Ministry of Defense (as inspector, senior inspector, inspector general). In 1961, he was awarded the rank of major general of the technical forces. He was dismissed from the army due to injury during training. He was awarded two orders of the Red Star, 2 orders of the Patriotic War of the I degree, order of the Patriotic War of the II degree, order of the Red Banner, medals "For Military Merit", "For Defense of Caucasus", "For Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945", "For Capture of Berlin", "Veteran of the Armed Forces", commemorative medals of 20, 30, 40 years of victory in the Great Patriotic War, 30, 40, 50, 60,70 years of the Armed Forces of the USSR, the medal "For Military Valor to Commemorate 100 years of Lenin's Birth", Chinese medal of "Chinese-Soviet Friendship", the medal "For the Oder, Neisse, Baltic". He died in Moscow in 1990 and is buried at the Troyekurovskoye cemetery.

Mukhtar Adilevich Beden was born on 18.09.1921 in Kjart-Jurt. There were 11 people in his family. Education: he graduated from high school. In 1937, he was enrolled at a pedagogical school in the city of Mikoyan (Karachaevsk). At the beginning of his 3rd year there, he completed military training at the Beshtau military camp. On August 10, 1940, after graduating from the school, he received a diploma. In 1940, he started his 1st year of a pedagogical university in the faculty of history (remotely). At the same time, he was working at a school as a primary school teacher and military instructor. On November 21, 1940, at the age of 17, he volunteered for service in the Soviet Army in Western Ukraine, Lviv. He was selected along with his older brother into a training company for 1 year to train for the rank of commander. He served in the 3rd platoon. When the war began, on June 21, 1941, he was in the Augustovsky forest in a summer camp. He was shot in the left leg and concussed; the bullet hit his helmet. On a medical train, he was transported from the station Koziatyna to Zaporozhiye, to the Western State Institute, where the wounded were housed. Then, he was transferred to a hospital in Novocherkassk. After the hospital, he was sent to Krasnodar Krai, to the 2nd reserve division. 15 days later, he went to the frontlines for the second time, in the Cherkasy region, where he was captured by the Germans. After escaping from there, he was captured yet again in Melitopol, then transferred to 3rd captive camp in Kherson. He escaped from Kherson. Later he was captured and sent to the prison "Catherine Central on the Dnieper". Then he was sent to a camp in Germany. In the winter of 1943, he was sent to a prisoner war camp in Saloniki, Greece. Once again, he escaped and joined the Greek partisans. After the liberation of Greece in April 1945, he was sent to Bulgaria, where he became a prisoner of the KGB. Later, in 1946, he was disbanded in Kirsanov. He worked as an accountant and then as a clerk. After learning that his family was exiled to Kazakhstan, he was discharged and left for Kazakhstan. There, he worked as a teacher. In January 1948, he got married. In 1949, as a former prisoner, he was arrested by the KGB. About 9-10 months after his arrest, he was sent to Kolyma in Magadan and given a sentence of 25 years and 5 years of imprisonment in open prisons. After Stalin's death, after 6 years of imprisonment, he was released and returned to Kazakhstan. After that, with his family - sisters, wife and two sons - he returned to Karachay to his father's house in Kjart-Jurt. There, he worked as a high school teacher. In 1962, he moved with his family to Maly Karachay, Pervomayskoe village. In 1972, he got a job in the military enlistment office, as the head of the economic department. Later he retired, having received a disability of the 2nd degree as a result of military injuries. He died on 04.01.2013 surrounded by a large family. He was a very competent, tenacious, and strong-willed person. He was buried in the village of Pervomaisk.

Maria Ivanovna Bobkova was born on January 19, 1925 in the village of Moshenovo, Khotynetsky district, Oryol region. On the station Pogreby, there lives a very caring, modest woman, a home-front worker, Maria Ivanovna Bobkova. She was born in a large family, graduated from 6 years of school. She had to help her parents with everything, thus her career as a collective farmer at the local collective farm began. Working on a collective farm, Maria Ivanovna dreamed of going to the city and getting a degree. Before her family could get back on their feet, the Great Patriotic War began. The Germans occupied the Orel region in September 1941. The Germans took cattle, food, and warm clothes from the people. Old people were forced to work for them, and young people were transported to Germany. But not all Germans committed atrocities, some gave food and even candy. After the liberation of Bryansk, Maria Ivanovna left the collective farm and was enrolled at the railway station to study the profession of a conductor. After completing accelerated training courses for conductors, Maria Ivanovna started working as a conductor on October 11, 1943, and was immediately sent on a business trip to the frontline, to Brest-Litovsk. The trains which Maria Ivanovna worked on were repeatedly bombed by German planes. Being near the frontlines, Maria Ivanovna courageously endured all military hardships. Her carriage was always clean, warm, and comfortable, despite the harsh years and the lack of food, water, and fuel. As best as she could, she motivated the soldiers going to the front. Maria Ivanovna accompanied military convoys until the day of Victory. She never complained about difficulties, considered it her duty to help the Motherland, to work conscientiously, to help bring the Victory to life. Maria Ivanovna prefers not to recall the wartime: she was forced to see and experience too much grief. Nowadays, there are very few survivors of the war who could tell the younger generation the whole truth about the Great Patriotic War. Therefore, they need to be honored, surrounded with care and attention. We need to learn a lot from the years they have lived. The rest of Maria Ivanovna’s life was also connected with the railway. Until 1953, she served as a conductor, she married a bridge master, gave birth to four children, two of whom followed in their parents' footsteps, becoming railway workers. Her daughter Lyubov Nikolaevna became the conductor of international trains, daughter Tatyana Nikolaevna became the head of the station Pogreby. Maria Ivanovna Bobkova has six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Our grandmother Masha still stays busy.

Stepan Stepanovich Korolev was born on May 17, 1917 in a strong peasant family in the North of Russia, in the Arkhangelsk region near Plesetsk, where the cosmodrome stands today. Stepan had many brothers and sisters. They all went to school, helped their parents grow rye in the fields and potatoes and onions in the garden, mowed hay, and grazed cows and horses. Stepan was a member of the Komsomol. When the Great Patriotic War began, five brothers went to the frontlines. Stepan had already been serving in the army since 1938, where he joined the communist party and was a paratrooper. Since the beginning of the war, Stepan Korolev had been deputy political officer, then political officer of the company, secretary of the party bureau of the 214th paratrooper brigade of the Belarusian military district. Since December 1941, he took up the position of the executive secretary of the party bureau of the special purpose detachment. He fought on the Western front near Moscow. Later, the special purpose brigade was transferred to help the Bryansk partisans near Dyatkovo, where Stepan participated in combat operations to defeat the enemy garrison at the Rzhanitsa station, in the liberation of the city of Dyatkovo. He, along with his friends, parachuted into the rearward of the enemy lines. Trying to be unnoticed, paratroopers blew up fascist trains with weapons, destroyed fire batteries, fought battles with the enemy, causing panic in its ranks. In one of his battles, Stepan Korolev was wounded. When he, along with other wounded soldiers, was being sent to the "mainland", the Nazis bombed their signal fires, and their plane could not land. Stepan Korolev got to the hospital too late. His leg was amputated. The combat officer started living with a prosthetic leg and started walking with a walking stick. He was only 25 years old... Stepan Stepanovich Korolev was awarded the order of the Red Star and Red Banner, the order of the Patriotic War of the I degree, and 13 medals. Several books on the history of the Plesetsk district were written about him and his brothers. After being wounded, Stepan Stepanovich Korolev continued to serve in the army, in the rearward. When he returned home after the Victory, he worked in the district party committee, then as an editor of the district newspaper. He gave lectures and talked to students, young officers, and soldiers about the war. He considered Victory Day - May 9 -to be the main holiday of his life. He died on December 6, 1995, leaving four adult children and six grandchildren. Now, he has eight great-grandchildren

My grandfather, Ilya Bychkov, born in the Zaoksky district of the Tula region in the village of Shegostovo, was illiterate. In 1940, he was called up for military service. He returned from the war in 1947. Afterwards, he married Alexandra Andreyevna Dmitrieva, born in 1919. They had 2 daughters (born in 1952 and 1953), but since 1963 they had to be raised only by their father: their grandmother died. In the post-war years, he briefly worked as the chairman of the collective farm, later went to serve in the paramilitary guard on the railway, where he worked until retirement. He fought in a tractor factory in Stalingrad and did not like to talk about the war. He was a fair decent man, serving as an example for us, his grandchildren. He died in 1984 in Tula and is buried in the city cemetery. He was nominated for an award, but, alas, was not awarded it. Ilya Andreevich Bychkov, as of the summer-autumn of 1942 , was the commander of the 3rd rifle company of the 178th rifle regiment of the NKVD of the USSR for the protection of particularly important industrial enterprises of the 19th rifle division of the NKVD of the USSR, a sergeant. Born in 1920 in the village Migaetovo (Shegostovo) Zaoksky district of the Tula region. He was Russian, working-class, member of the Komsomol. He was single. His relatives, as of the fall of 1942, included only Bychkov's mother, Ksenia Varfolomeevna, who lived at the place of birth of her son. His primary education was limited; he was "illiterate". He was drafted into the army in 1940 by the Zaoksky Military Comissiriat of the Tula region and sent to the NKVD of the USSR. By July 1942, he was the commander of the department of the 3rd rifle company of the 178th rifle regiment of the NKVD troops of the USSR for the protection of particularly important industrial enterprises of the 19th rifle division of the NKVD troops of the USSR in the city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) in the military rank of a junior sergeant. By order 19 240 of the Commander of the Division of July 10, 1942, made public, in turn, by order of the regiment 178,209 of July 28, 1942, he was awarded the next military rank of "Sergeant" (Source RGVA: f. 38415, op. 1, d. 11, l. 29. ) He had been an active participant in the Great Patriotic war from August 23, 1942, in the epicenter of battles for the defense of the city of Stalingrad, at the same time, from September 17 to September 23, 1942, participated in street battles in the defense zone of the 13th guards rifle (later Poltava order of Lenin, twice red banner orders of Suvorov and Kutuzov) division of the 62nd army of the South-Eastern front as part of a consolidated company under the command of Lieutenant K. S. Tsvetkov and Junior Political Officer S. L. Kisilenko. On November 9, 1942, the commander of the 3rd rifle company, Lieutenant K. S. Tsvetkov, was presented to the regiment's command as a candidate for an award (Source RGVA: f. 38115, op. 1, d. 11, l. 5). On December 21, 1942, he was presented with the medal "for military merit" by Lieutenant Colonel A. I. Kuznetsov of the 178 regiment "for the period of participation of the company in street battles [in] the mountains. Stalingrad, comrade BYCHKOV, as the commander of the department, demonstrated perseverance, courage, and skillful management of the department during battles of 18.9.1942 [correction: 20 September 1942] in this [same] department comrade Bychkov was assigned the task of destroying a group of submachine gunners who were holed up in one of the destroyed houses. Bychkov skillfully surrounded the building where the German machine gunners were locate and with a rapid attack cleared the building, destroying 15 fascist machine gunners. This enabled the company to occupy new frontiers. For his steadfastness, courage, and bravery in the battles with the German invaders during the defense of Stalingrad, he is worthy of the government [correction: state] award, the medal "For Military Merit" (Source RGVA: f. 38415, op. 1, d. 11, l. 30). For some reason, this document was not implemented by the command of the NKVD troops for the protection of the South-Western front (II formation). Retired from the 178th rifle regiment of the NKVD troops of the USSR for the protection of particularly important industrial enterprises no later than January 1943. His further fate is unknown.

Rank: Red Army soldier. Branch of service: army, air force (except marine aviation), the coast guard, NKVD border troops. Division: 284th rifle division (1st formation). Vladlen Egorovich Kvashnin is a Hero of War. My great-grandfather id a veteran of the Great Patriotic War, infantryman, knight of the order of Glory of the III degree, of the order of the Red Star, of the order of the Patriotic War of II degree, order of Patriotic War of the I degree. Despite all the difficulties and hardships that had to be endured during the war of 1941-1945, great-grandfather considers himself a happy person. He had to fight four times as part of the 284-79 guards’ order-bearing Zaporozhye division, which being part of the 62-8 guards’ army of V. I. Chuikov, fought its way from Stalingrad to Berlin. The division was formed in Tomsk in 1941 from Komsomol members and the youth of Tomsk, Novosibirsk, Kemerovo regions, and the Altai territory. After its formation, it left for the Bryansk frontline. After intense combat at Kostornaya station, the division was withdrawn to Krasnoufimsk for reformation. Here, the sailors of the Pacific fleet joined the division. In September 1942, the division recaptured Mamayev Kurgan from the Nazis and defended this important mount until the end of the battle of Stalingrad. My great-grandfather recalls: "The view of the city on this night has been ingrained into my memory for a lifetime. The entire wide channel of the Volga river was engulfed in bright flames: oil, diesel fuel, and gasoline, which seeped from the oil storage as a result of bombing and shelling, was burning. The signalmen and part of the sapper battalion were the first to cross. The rest of the units followed, under heavy artillery and mortar fire. Immediately, we entered the battle for the Red October Factory, captured by the Germans. Then the division received Chuikov's order to storm Mamaev Kurgan, which in the operational maps was called height 102 and was important in the battles for Stalingrad. The enemy placed its air guidance stations, artillery and mortar observation posts on Mamayev Kurgan and, from this height, adjusted their fire. The slightest movement of our troops was immediately suppressed by fire. The enemy was attacking incessantly, but the Siberians were as immovable as a mountain. Stalin's order No. 227 - "Not a step back!" - was executed. The battle of Stalingrad ended. For another month, the division where my great-grandfather served stayed on its line. After the battle of Stalingrad, the division became known as the 79th guards’ Red Banner, after a short break and reinforcement, on June 19, 1943, it made an offensive. On September 13, 1943, the division liberated the city of Zaporozhye, for which it received the honorary name "Zaporozhye". Vladlen Yegorovich also participated in the battle of Kursk, liberated Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, and Bulgaria. After the war, he worked as a foreman of a field team, developing virgin lands. He does a lot of work on the military and patriotic education of young people, often visits schoolchildren. Author: Anton Tishchenko, 11 years old, MKOU Yarkovskaya SOSH, Novosibirsk region, Dovolensky district.

Division: 339th rifle Rostov-Taman Brandenburg Red Banner division of the Suvorov order. Gulsum served in the 339th rifle Taman Red Banner division. For several days without sleep and rest, she provided assistance to the wounded who were participating in the liberation of Kuban from the fascist "demons", for which she was awarded the medal "For Military Merit". "A disciplined, efficient surgeon, who was energetic and indefatigable while providing qualified assistance..." – this is how the twenty-seven-year-old Gulsum was described in the award list of September 24, 1943. In 1944, during the division's landing on the Kerch Peninsula, my great-grandmother was in the front group. Under enemy artillery and mortar fire, she provided surgical assistance. During the division's liberation of Crimea, Gulsum saved the lives of three thousand wounded soldiers. For this feat, she was awarded the order of the Red Star. More than once, Gulsum's life was at risk, but she had never abandoned her position of a military surgeon. So she remained during the crossing of the Oder river, when she provided surgical assistance under open fire. "Comrade Kostrova proved to be an experienced specialist and a calm, undaunted worker," and saved the lives of 190 Red Army soldiers. So it was on the night of January 13-14, 1945, when enemy artillery fire hit the location of the medical unit. The roof of the tent, where my great-grandmother was performing surgery, was riddled with shards. But Gulsum was not frightened and continued to help the wounded soldiers. "With her exemplary efficiency, comrade Kostrova inspired the team, contributing to high-quality treatment of the wounded." Gulsum Suleymanovna was awarded a valiant award - the order of the Patriotic War of the II degree for her fearlessness, courage, and maternal care for the wounded soldiers. And in the victorious May of 1945, she was awarded the medal "For the Defense of the Caucasus" by the Hero of the Soviet Union, Guards’ Commander of the 339th rifle division of Taman, Major General Gavriil Tarasovich Vasilenko.

Mikhail Bubnov, a Red Army soldier, was born on October 17, 1908, and was drafted into the Red Army by the Rostov Military Comissiriat of the Yaroslavl region on November 10, 1941. He took part in the Great Patriotic War since January 1, 1942 as a telephone operator of the platoon of the Control Commander of artillery 234 S.D. In the combat operations conducted by this division, the telephone operator Mikhail Sergeevich Bubnov proved himself to be a loyal, persistent, disciplined fighter, fairly and conscientiously performing all the tasks of the command office. During the offensive conducted by the division in August 1943, he showed courage, perseverance, and fearlessness, while ensuring telephone communications. Under heavy artillery and mortar fire, he quickly and skillfully restored the damaged telephone line, both during day and night, thereby ensuring continuous communication of the Commander of the Division of Artillery enabling the command over artillery fire. In September 1943, for the courage and bravery shown during the battles, the Red Army soldier Mikhail Sergeevich Bubnov was awarded the medal "For Bravery". In December 1943, Mikhail Bubnov, a telephone operator of the KAD-234 control platoon of the Lomonosov rifle division, served as the head of the communications center supervisor in the battles for the village of Dvorishche, Sirotinsky district, Vitebsk region, servicing the communications center of the Commander of the Division of Artillery with the APP group. Bravely, all by himself, he repaired the damage under continuous fire from enemy batteries, ensuring the flawless functioning of the communication center. In January 1944, the Red Army soldier Mikhail Sergeevich Bubnov was presented with the government award the order of the Red Star. He took part in combat operations on the Kalinin, Baltic, and 1st Belorussian fronts. In the battle for the capture of a fortified area of the enemy in Neu Stralenberg (Germany) during the period between February 7-9, 1945, Senior telephone operator Mikhail Sergeevich Bubnov, providing telephone communication of the Commander of the Division of Artillery with the APP 1350 group, repaired 25 communication line tears under enemy fire, while he was lightly contused. In February 1945, Junior Sergeant Mikhail Sergeevich Bubnov was presented with the order of the Red Star for his bravery in battle, the senior telephone operator of the platoon of the Artillery Commander of the 234th Lomonosov-Prague division. He died due to wounds on January 24, 1948, and was buried in the city of Rostov, Yaroslavl region in "Mass graves".

Rank: Second Lieutenant. Division: 104th guards’ rifle division of the order of Kutuzov. Alexander Kirillovich KUKUSHKIN, born on June 21, 1914 in the village of Konino Borisovo, Sudsky district of the Vologda region. From September 15, 1936 to December 30, 1940, he served as a junior commander in the 3rd border guard (Petrozavodsk) of the NKVD border troops and during the period from November 1939 to March 1940, as part of the 4th border regiment of the NKVD troops, he participated in combat operations in the war with the White Finns. On March 1, 1940, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the USSR "For military exploits in the defeat of the White Finns", he was awarded the medal "For Bravery". From June 22, 1941 to August 25, 1941, he served as a platoon commander of the 217th regiment of the Northern front. He participated in the defense of Murmansk and Kandalaksha. On August 25, 1941, Senior Sergeant A. K. Kukushkin was wounded, and with a diagnosis of "a through bullet wound of the upper 1/3 of the shoulder of the right hand with a broken bone" was treated in the evacuation hospital 3747 from September 29, 1941 to December 24, 1941. He was recognized as unfit for action by a medical council under article 53, III group list of diseases by the order of the NKO of the USSR No. 184 of 1940 with a mandatory re-examination in one year. On January 12, 1942, he was registered in the Borisovo-Sudsky Military Comissiriat. For military services on the frontlines of the Great Patriotic War he was awarded the order of the "Patriotic War" of the II degree, the medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45". From October 15, 1943 to June 22, 1947, he served in the state security agencies in the Ministry of State Security of the USSR in the Vologda region, and took part in military operations to eliminate nationalist gangs in the North Caucasus, Crimea, Belarus, and Lithuania. In 1947, he was dismissed from the Ministry of State Security. Since 1947, he had lived with his family in the village of Borisovo-Sudskoye, Babaevsky district, Vologda region. He worked in various managerial and economic positions and raised four daughters. Alexander Kirillovich Kukushkin died on July 11, 1969 at the age of 55. He is buried in the cemetery of the village of Borisovo-Sudskoe.

Rank: Petty officer of the 2 class. Military branch: aviation. Division: 5th mixed aviation division. Brothers Vyacheslav and Sergey graduated from high school in the late thirties of the last century. They were born in Moscow, but in their school years the family moved to Crimea. They fell in love with this amazing area and learnt all about it. At first, they went on trips on a cart drawn by a bityug horse with their teacher and other students. The teacher was not young but took every opportunity to show the children something novel and interesting. Later, as they grew older, they rode bicycles around the Peninsula along with their friends. They rode to Nikolaevka to swim in the sea, rode out for overnight trips near rivers and waterfalls, mountains and prairies. In 1937, Vyacheslav graduated school and entered the Kherson Agricultural Institute. The world was in a restless state: there was a war with Finland; despite the pacts, Germany was still a threat. After finishing the second year of the institute, Vyacheslav was drafted into the army. He studied at the Kirovobad aviation school. At the aviation school, together with other cadets, he studied the structure of aircrafts, learned to fly Yak fighter planes and Ilah attack planes. He met the Crimean, Ruslan there. He became friends with the Belarusian, Dmitry, and the Yakut, Vasily. Dad recalled that there the cadets saw for the first time the blooming, with a unique subtle aroma, and then fruit-bearing, tangerine gardens. Persimmons and pomegranates grew there as well. And never again in their lives did they eat so many and such delicious tangerines and other fruits. Once they even found a canister of alcohol on the railway tracks; they tried it, but not everyone liked it. In the aviation school, many cadets, including Vyacheslav, got small tattoos on their shoulders with outstretched wings, which demonstrated that they belonged to aviation. After graduating from aviation school, Vyacheslav served in the 61st independent engineering and airfield battalion of the 5th air army of the Transcaucasian front with the rank of sergeant and was a battalion commander. The terrible, merciless war began. From airfields that were built and restored by the battalion, combat fighters and attack aircrafts took off, pilots destroyed the invaders in Crimea as well as other regions, where parents, friends and girlfriends remained: the peninsula was already occupied by the Germans and Romanians. After the occupation of Crimea by the Nazis, my grandmother had to burn all the letters from her sons, as it was dangerous to leave frontline letters in the house. At the front in 1942, Vyacheslav joined the communist party. As part of the 1st Belorussian front, he liberated Belarus, Poland, and Germany. At the end of the war, the unit in which he served became part of the Polish Army. At that time, Vyacheslav was a party manager of the 483rd battalion of the air force squadron. He celebrated the victory in Berlin. He was wounded several times. At the frontlines, friends gave him a small trophy accordion, which he quickly learned to play, remembering his piano lessons. Later, they managed to find a violin, which was played by his comrade Boris from Odessa. In Poland, the unit was placed in Lodz at first, then was transferred to a small town of Novy Dvor. There, in one of the rooms, they found an out-of-tune piano. There, during times of rest, they were able to hold real concerts and invite other soldiers of the battalion to them. The piano was played by Taras from Kharkov. Vyacheslav's friend Tolik Koroteev from Gorky city sang. There were many other friends and acquaintances with whom my father and we maintained relations after the war. My father did not return home until the summer of 1947. His father and mother survived the German occupation, were alive and well. But his younger brother, whom Vyacheslav loved very much, was not anywhere to be seen. And their search for him was unsuccessful… A long, decent life lay ahead. It entailed participating in the restoration of a war-torn country, studying, working, loving, building a family, participating in the transformation of the Crimea into a land of orchards and vineyards, getting hobbies...

Dmitry Vasilievich Bekin was born on November 8, 1921 in the village of Lykoshino, Sorokinsky district, Tyumen region. He was the eleventh child in the family. From an early age, Dmitry Vasilyevich helped his parents maintain the farm: grazed geese, helped with mowing by carrying the piles of hay to the haystack on a horse. Like his fellow peers, he worked on a collective farm: harrowing, plowing, helping with the harvest, herding the calves. By 1935, he finished four years, leaving the rural school, and continued working on the collective farm. In 1940, he graduated from tractor driving courses at Sorokinskaya MTS. After graduation, he worked as a tractor driver. On June 22, 1941, he got news that the war broke out. On June twenty-fifth, 1941, almost all the men, including his brother Prokhor, were called up from the village where Dmitry Vasilyevich lived. On February 2, 1942, he received a summons calling him to the military enlistment office for conscription into the Red Army. He was enlisted in the construction troops. Dmitry Vasilyevich was sent to the city of Novosibirsk to build a military plant focused on shell and mine production. He served in the construction forces until January 1, 1944, when he was sent to study in a tank school. He received the military specialty "loader" and the rank of sergeant. He was enlisted in a tank regiment formed in the city of Sverdlovsk. After receiving the self-propelled guns, the regiment was sent to the city of Zagorsk, where, after being reformed, it received an ordinal number and was named the 1024th self-propelled artillery regiment. In June 1944, the regiment was sent to the 1st Ukrainian front. Upon arrival in the Kiev region, the 1024th self-propelled artillery regiment joined in the battles for the liberation of Western Ukraine from the Nazis (including the cities of Lviv, Drohobych, Ternopil) and fought their way to the Vistula river. Dmitry Vasilyevich Bekin was awarded the medal "For Bravery" for his courage and heroism during the liberation of Poland. This was his first battle award. In October 1944, the regiment was sent to the Carpathians, to liberate the land of Carpathian Ukraine. The offensive of the 1st Ukrainian front was scheduled to be on November 1, 1944. In this offensive, Dmitry Vasilyevich was wounded, contused, and sent to the hospital in the city of Sandomierz. On January 25, 1945, after finishing treatment, he was sent to the reserve regiment of the 1st Ukrainian front. In February 1945, Dmitry Vasilyevich participated, yet again, in the attack on the German city of Lauban (now the city of Luban in Poland), in April 1945, in the attack on Berlin. He was shot in the head. He was discharged in 1946. He was awarded the order of the Red Star, medals "For Bravery", "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945", "For the Capture of Berlin", "For the Liberation of Prague", and jubilee medals. In 1985, in honor of the 40th anniversary of the Victory, he was awarded the order of the Patriotic War of II degree. He died on October 20, 1922.

Rank: Lieutenant Branch of the army: Land forces, Air force (except naval aviation), coast service, the troops of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs, border guard, a MAN WITH A BIG HEART The name Kudaev comes from a slightly modified Avar word Kudiyav, which means "Big". This is how children, grandchildren, relatives, and friends remember Tagir Magomedovich Kudaev: a man with a big heart. Tagir Magomedovich was born in a family of rural workers. His childhood and youth were the same as those of most Dagestani children of that time: a little hungry, a little cold, but having great faith in the future. Since his school years, Tagir was distinguished by his hard work and accuracy: he graduated with honors from a boarding school in the village of Tlyarosh in 1941 and was immediately appointed editor of the district newspaper. The Great Patriotic War began, and Tagir Magomedovich, along with hundreds of thousands of his peers, went to the frontlines as a volunteer. It was the most difficult year for our country: the enemy was approaching Moscow; heavy fighting was going on in the Caucasus. As part of the internal troops of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs, in 1942, soldier T. M. Kudaev fought on the Crimean front, was a part of the communist party of the Soviet Union. When crossing the Kerch strait, he was seriously wounded and was taken to the hospital. After recovering, Tagir Magomedovich was sent to study at the border school in the city of Ordzhenikidze. Due to the difficult situation at the frontlines, the training course were accelerated, and young border guard lieutenants were sent to fight saboteurs and runaways in the Elbrus region. After the successful elimination of the enemy in the Caucasus, T. M. Kudaeva was sent to serve on the Western front. In Ukraine at this time there was a difficult situation due to the fact that there were many fascists and their henchmen leftover in the territories liberated from the enemy. Kudaev is sent to work in the People's Commissariat of State Security of the Voroshilovograd region. It was a difficult and dangerous job, but Tagir Magomedovich was among the best at it. During one of the operations to eliminate the enemy, T. M. Kudaev was wounded and again sent to the hospital in Makhachkala. This was the visible end of Tagir Magomedovich’s service in the war. The Soviet Government highly appreciated the selfless services of the Dagestani, awarding him two orders of "the Patriotic War", order "For Bravery", medal "For Military Merit", "For Defense of Caucasus", and many others. After recovery, the heads of the People's Commissariat of State Security transferred T. M. Kudaev to work in the Republic of Dagestan. At the age of 23, Senior Lieutenant Tagir Magomedovich Kudaev was appointed head of the Regional Department of the State Security Committee of one of the major districts of Dagestan, Gergebelsky. It was dear to the memory of the older generation of the Geherbelskavites and Gunibzi. Working in such a "scary" organization, Tagir Magomedovich remained a fair security officer with a "clear head and clean hands", and his colleagues treated him with deep respect until the last days of his life. Honored security officer of the USSR, member of the Union of Writers of the USSR. Buba Sfiev Sfi in his works "The Broken Shell", "Beyond the Shadow Line" transfers the heroic image of the young security officer T.M.Kydaev onto his characters. The frontline injuries had taken their toll, and in 1955 Tagir Magomedovich transferred from the establishments of the Committee of State Security to work in the Dagestan book publishing house as the chief editor of fiction. This job shown light Kudaev’s writing talent: he wrote seven books, was the first to translate the story of Leo Tolstoy "Hadji Murad", Chingiz Aitmatov’s "Jamil"," My Dear Poplar in a Red Kerchief", "Mola-Nasrutdin", and several theater plays into Avar, was elected a member of the Union of Writers and the Union of Journalists of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics. While working in a publishing house, Tagir Magomedovich also managed to graduate from the history department of the Dagestan State Pedagogical Institute, and then, in 1970, defend his PhD thesis on the labor feat of the workers of Dagestan during the Great Patriotic War. Since 1970, Kudaev Tagir Magomedovich was an assistant, and then a docent of the department of history of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and of political economy of the Dagestan State Medical Institute, the senior dean of work with foreign students. His teaching job brought Tagir Magomedovich true pleasure, and his students reciprocated it, repeatedly choosing him as the "Best Teacher" of the year. He shared his life experience in all its diversity with students, delved into their problems, and tirelessly helped them with everything. The government highly appreciated the achievements of T. M. Kudaev, twice awarding him the Certificate of Honor from the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Tagir Magomedovich, together with his wife Gindi Magomedovna, raised great children: their eldest daughter, Patimat Tagirovna, doctor of the highest degree, works in the medical unit of the Federal Security Service. Burliyat Tagirovna, leading specialist of the Republican National Library of R. G. Gamzatov, is an honored worker of culture of the Republic of Dagestan. Their Son, Magomed Tagirovich, an honored doctor of the Republic of Dagestan, professor, is the head of the department of therapy of FPC and PPS of the Dagestan State Medical Academy. Their grandsons are Kudaev Sadulla Magomedovich, candidate of economic Sciences, Kudaeva Fatima Magomedovna, candidate of medical sciences, Kudaev Tagir Magomedovich, head of the financial department, Kudaev Jamaluddin Magomedovich, assistant professor in the Department of Dentistry of the Dagmedakademy, deputy of the City Council.

Alexey Gerasimovich Borovskikh was born on February 18, 1918 in a family of village workers. They lived in the town of Stalinsk, Trinity district in the village Gornovoe. His father Gerasim Danilovich Borovskikh was born in 1889 and was engaged on his own farm, bekeeping. In 1917, he fought as a soldier during the October Revolution in St. Petersburg. After the establishment of Soviet Power, he was sent as a blacksmith to restore the village Horovoe. During World War II, he worked in a mine. He brought to life 14 children and raised them to be hard workers. He lived to be 95 years. His mother Agafya Matveevna Borovskikh (Kostyakova), born in 1893, was a Russian housewife. A simple hard-working woman who raised 14 children. Based on the Red Army book, as well as stories told by his children, we recount the following about the life of Alexey Gerasimovich Borovsky. In August 1940, a year before the war, Alexey Gerasimovich started pilot school as a cadet. At this school, they were taught to fly AIR-model airplanes. This knowledge would help him in the future, in the Second World War. In the first wave of volunteers, together with his friends, Alexey Gerasimovich went to the frontlines. However, for unknown reasons, he missed the train. Later it turned out that all his friends who left on that train had died. In July 1941, at the age of 23, Junior Sergeant Alexey left for the war as part of unit No. 187, as a squad commander. Alexey Gerasimovich’s main task was to conduct aerial reconnaissance of the locations of the fascists. Before the start of the battles, or even during them, he had to fly his aircraft very close to the fortifications of the Germans and note the location of soldiers, military fortifications, and military equipment. This was associated with a huge risk, since the plane had to be flown very close to the ground and close to the front. In May 1942, Alexey Gerasimovich was transferred to No. 803 separate reconnaissance artillery division and was promoted to the rank of sergeant. In this division, Alexey Gerasimovich served throughougt the entire war until May 1945. Alexey Gerasimovich Borovsky was awarded the order of the Patriotic War of the 2nd degree for bravery, fortitude and courage shown in the fight against the Nazi invaders. There were many other awards, which unfortunately have not reached our time. Immediately after the war with the German invaders, Alexey Gerasimovich continued to defend his homeland as part of unit No. 215 of the independent machine gun and artillery battalion in the rank of senior sergeant. This unit was urgently transferred to the Eastern front for the war with Japan. Troops of the 1st Far Eastern front under the command of Marshal MERETSKOV of the Soviet Union crossed the Ussuri river, broke through Gutowski, Michonski, Pogranichniki, and Daninsky fortified areas of the Japanese, went through remote mountain taiga terrain, advanced 500 miles, and captured cities like Mishan, Jilin, Yanji, Harbin. For exceeding combat, senior Sergeant Alexey Borovskikh Gerasimovich was awarded a COMMENDATION by order of the Supreme Commander of the Generalissimo of the Soviet Union, comrade Stalin (from comrade Stalin's order No. 372 of August 23, 1945). A month later, on September 30, 1945, Alexey Gerasimovich was awarded the medal for the victory over Japan. In November 1945, Alexey Gerasimovich was transferred to the 241 independent reconnaissance artillery division as a field commander, where he served until 1947. After returning from the war, Alexey Gerasimovich got a job as an electric in the city of Stalinsk. In 1948, he met his life partner Maria Matveevna Vasilyeva. The Second World War started on the day of Maria Matveevna’s 18th birthday, since her birthday was on June 22, 1922. Throughout the war, she worked for the good of her homeland for which she was awarded the medal "For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945". During their life together, they had three children: two sons and one daughter. Alexey Gerasimovich lived to be 74 years (05.01.1993) surrounded by loving children and grandchildren. I am proud of my grandfather, thanks to whom I was born and can tell about his heroism.