The faces of WWII Heroes

War is a scary subject. At all times, it never ceased to bring harsh memories to people. How many lives were taken away... _x000D_ My great-grandmother, Piragova Klavdia Ivanovna, was born in 1923, March 30, in the Rostov Region, Belokalitvinsky District, on the Dubovoy farm. She graduated from school in 1939 in the city of Derbent and entered the Pedagogical Institute in the city of Ordzhonikidze. But the youth and studentship of the great-grandmother coincided with hard years. In November 1941 all the students of the institute were sent to Mozdok. There they dug trenches, anti-explosives, and bunkers. By the beginning of spring 1942, the students were returned to classes at the institute, but soon they were recalled to a military training unit in Makhachkala. There they studied documents, regulations, radiation and telegraph communications, they were taught to learn about air communications. At the end of the courses, they were assigned to the Khunzakh fortress (in Dagestan), to the third company of the 23 Separate Battalion of VNOS (aerial surveillance of lighting and communications). Their mission was to observe objects on the ground and in the air. _x000D_ After liberation of the Caucasus, she was sent to Poltava, to the 42 Battalion of the Airfield Service, where they refueled aircraft and provided the crew with equipment. _x000D_ Here she celebrated Victory Day and received the rank of Sergeant. Subsequently, she was awarded the medal "For Defense of the Caucasus", the Order of War, 2nd degree._x000D_ After the war, she continued her studies at the institute in Ordzhonikidze, finished it and worked as a teacher of Literature and the Russian language all her life. She is currently alive and lives in the city of Kislovodsk. She has two children: daughter, Piragova Tatyana Dmitrievna (62 years old), she lives in Kislovodsk and works as a doctor, and son, Piragov Yuri Dmitrievich (65 years old), he lives in the city of Mikhailovsk, works as a programmer, has four grandchildren: Aleksey, Tatyana , Anna, Alexey. She also has two great-grandchildren.

Branch of troops: Artillery_x000D_ The memory of the war ... It cannot be erased over the years ... It is eternal. And while we remember those who have left us, they are near, they are with us. This means that the link between generations is alive. This means that Russia is alive. Perhaps there is not a single house in which the war would not ruthlessly rush. So in my family there are participants in the Great Patriotic War. This is my great-grandfather Petrenko Panteley Ivanovich. He is my mother's favorite grandfather, so she knows what he was like, how he lived, where he fought. Here is what my mother told about my great-grandfather: _x000D_ “Petrenko Panteley Ivanovich was born in 1914 in the village of Ilyinskaya, Grozny District of the Chechen Republic. He studied, finished school, became a carpenter. From November 1937 to 1939 he served in the army in 27th Separate Cavalry Squadron. He was transferred to the reserve in November 1939. He returned and began to work again. _x000D_ The was was announced like a bolt from the blue, out of a rural radio speaker. This misfortune burst into every home as an uninvited guest. So it came into Petrenko's house. _x000D_ Panteley Ivanovich was mobilized by the Grozny rural District military commissariat of the Grozny Region in June 1941. He was assigned to the 67th Separate Battalion as a scout from June 1941 to May 1942, and from May 1942 to May 1946 he served in the 571st Separate anti-aircraft Artillery Battalion as Deputy Gun Commander, with the rank of Junior Sergeant. He began to fight on the the Stavropol Territory, then participated in the Tikhoretsko - Stavropol and Armaviro - Maikop defensive operations. _x000D_ In 1943, he was transferred to Novorossiysk, the front command prepared a military action for paratroopers to attack the Germans and Romanians from Novorossiysk and Taman. In February, reinforcemen of 17 thousand soldiers were delivered to the Stanichka area, among them was Panteley Ivanovich. The German command prepared a counter attack "Neptune" to destroy the Red Army men from the Taman Peninsula. _x000D_ In April, the Germans struck a powerful blow to the foothold, but the defenders of Malaya Zemlya held out. Moreover, after fierce fighting that lasted 225 days, the Red Army drove the Germans out of Novorossiysk, and in October they finally expelled them from the North Caucasus. Grandpa cried when he talked about these terrible battles. _x000D_ The Germans drove the Russian soldiers into the sea, and they, standing waist-deep in water, fought in the open area to the last bullet, because they were protecting the paratroopers' advance. _x000D_ On April 18, 1945 Petrenko Panteley Ivanovich was awarded a medal “For Defense of the Caucasus”. He celebrated Victory Day in the Crimea. Everyone was ready to rebuild the destroyed country. _x000D_ But new trouble awaited the Soviet soldiers. By the decision of the Yalta Air Defense Conference, the reserve of the Headquarters of the Supreme Command was sent to Japan. The Soviet-Japanese war began, a part of the Second World War and the war in the Pacific. _x000D_ At dawn on August 9, 1945, Soviet troops began an intensive Artillery barrage from the sea and from land, followed by active ground hostilities in the Manchurian operation. My grandfather said that in these battles they took into account the experience of the war with the Germans. The fortified areas of the Japanese were bypassed by mobile units and blocked by infantry. In a number of areas in the depths of the defense, Soviet troops had to overcome fierce enemy resistance. The ground burned underfoot. The main hostilities on the continent lasted 12 days. But how terrible those days were! The war lasted until August 20. _x000D_ But there were isolated clashes until September 10, although the Act of Surrender of Japan was signed on September 2, 1945 aboard the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay. For courage, perseverance, heroism, my great-grandfather was awarded the medal "For Victory over Japan." _x000D_ On July 15, 1946, a peaceful life begins for Panteley Ivanovich. He was sent to work in the Grozny and became a forester. He worked on a single job until September 1974, retired, but couldnot sit idle. _x000D_ In 1975 he gladly accepted an offer to work as a gamekeeper in the Staro-Sunzhensky Nature Reserve. My grandfather loved his native land, protected every bush, every tree, took care of animals. He was more than 70 years old, and he easily climbed the mountains. His work experience is 56 years, he was a gamekeeper until 1993. _x000D_ But then the Chechen war began. He experienced this event very hard. His grandfather was married to a Chechen woman, we have the Chechen blood in our family. And suddenly the war ... Grandfather received a medal "For Defense of the Caucasus", and now he was witnessing Jihad soldiers. Once they came to his house. My grandfather was proud of two collectible guns. To keep the family alive, grandfather gave them everything they wanted,, but later went to the oldest man in the village, told him about the incident. And three days later, the collectible guns were returned. _x000D_ The events taking place on his native land seriously crippled the grandfather. It was dangerous to stay at home. The family moved to the village of Levokumskoye and began to live with us. In 1996, Petrenko Panteley Ivanovich passed away and buried as a Veteran of the Great Patriotic War. Written by Ekaterina Lyashova

Pyotr Ivanovich Petrushin was born on 06/28/1920 in the village of Matveevo, Temnikovsky District. When he was 20 years old, he received a summons calling him into the ranks of the Red Army (in October 1940). From his native village he was sent to the city of Vileika on the territory of Belarus, where the 226th Regiment of the NKVD convoy troops was located. Here his service began. _x000D_ In January - March 1942, Pyotr Ivanovich, as part of the division, takes part in the Demyansk operation. In March 1943, the division was transferred to the approaches to Staraya Russa in the Mednikovo, Lipovitsy area and until October 1943 is located there.In October 1943 the division was transferred to the Pustoshka area of the Pskov Region, where it fights until early July 1944. In the summer, she makes a 300-kilometer march to the Gdovskiy District, to a foothold on the western bank of the Velikaya River. _x000D_ It advanced towards the Belorussian front. Further, his military roads ran in the Central war direction. _x000D_ The offensive of our troops continued under the code name "Bagration". The troops were transferred to the area of the city of Orsha. Continuing the intensified offensive in the Minsk direction, they occupied the city of Borisov. The Lithuanian cities of Liepaja, Jelgava and the port city of Ventspils were next on the account of the brave connection. Thus, the path of the German troops was blocked. At that time they were in Lithuania and Estonia. According to Operation Bagration, the territory of Belarus was soon completely liberated. _x000D_ Another operation with the participation of Pyotr Ivanovich, carried out in the Shauliai direction, was successful. Ours went to the cities of Klaipeda and Konigsberg. Thus, an entrapment was formed between the port city of Lyubava and Ventspils, which was named Kurlyandsky. Here 23 divisions of German troops were surrounded, 3 of them were fighting until the very day of Victory.

Branch of troops: Armored and Mechanized troops_x000D_ Our uncle Fedor was supposed to return from the army in 1941. The family was already waiting for him at home, but the war broke out, and Fedor continued his service in the tank forces. He was the Tank Commander. His mother had a strange death notification: "Killed. Missing." The last words left some hope, and Agrafena Gerasimovna was waiting for her son or news about him all this time. And, as it turned out, not in vain. _x000D_ Several years after the war, his younger brother Peter, a military man, made a speech at the congress. After his speech, two strangers approached him: “Did you happen to have an older brother ?” They turned out to be his fellow soldiers. So he found out about the fate of his brother Fedya. _x000D_ When their tank was knocked out, they were captured. Fyodor was wounded, but he could not come to terms with his position, and they tried to escape. The Nazis set dogs on them. The wounded Fedor was left to the dogs to give time for others to flee. Fyodor was torn to pieces. This is the last thing they heard through the shots ... _x000D_ We had never found where he could have been buried, we remember him every time at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow.

Rank: Red Army Soldier_x000D_ Grandpa, grandpa, grandpa! What a pity we didn't meet you! How short your earthly journey was! You were drafted in the early days of the war. In the confusion your father cried: “You have built a house, but you won't have to live...” _x000D_ His wife stood in confusion with her one-year-old daughter Larisa in her arms. And then came uncertainty and long days of waiting. July, August, and September 1941 had passed. _x000D_ In September, letters began to arrive, and my grandmother found out that he was in the 899th Rifle Regiment, then was sent to the school for Junior Commanders. His letters were filled with love and longing, they are still kept in the family, just have turned yellow. His wife went to look for this Junior Commanding school. From the letters it was clear that it was located in the former Galitsino pioneer camp near Moscow. And she found it! The Commander allowed him to meet with his wife, they were sheltered by a kind woman in a neighboring village. _x000D_ On December 18, 1941, near Moscow, the Germans broke through the defenses in the Tuchkovo-Dorokhovo area. And the cadets were sent into combat. Olga accompanied him to the truck, she could not take away her hands to let him go ... Then everything calmed down, and she went back to the military unit. But her husband was not there. She began to ask the returning soldiers, and one of them said that the standard bearer was wounded in the combat, and Alexey Poroshkov picked up the banner and went into combat. The Germans were on a hillock, our troops were in the lowlands, in the field, they could be seen at a glance. Some of the soldiers saw him lying in the snow with his arms and legs torn off. _x000D_ My dear! It's scary to imagine what you were thinking in the last minutes of your life! And Olga went to look for you on the field. A lot of people were killed in that combat. The dead were lying on top of each other in several rows. But she kept looking for a long time, but could not find him. Then there was the hope that medical aid arrived in time and you were taken to the hospital. There were many requests, but in vain. The answer was missing in action. _x000D_ And then there was life, peaceful life. His daughter Larisa had grown up, your grandchildren Irina and Alexey, named after you, were born. Your great-grandchildren have already grown up, too. And May 9 is a day of great joy and great sorrow. It smells like flowers, herbs and Valerian. _x000D_ WE REMEMBER YOU, WE LOVE YOU, WE PRAY FOR YOU, and maybe after so many years, suddenly, a miracle will happen and news of your burial will come, or your medallion or some other thing will be found, warmed by your warmth, by your hands. We continue to wait and hope. Your granddaughter Irina Bylova.

Rank: General of the Army, Twice Hero of the Soviet Union_x000D_ Pliev Issa Aleksandrovich is a Soviet military leader, General of the army, Commander of the North Caucasian Military District, 1958-1968 Twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Hero of the Mongolian People's Republic,_x000D_ Issa Pliev was born on November 12 (25), 1903 in the village of Old Batako of the Tersk Region, now the Right-Bank Region of the Republic of North Ossetia, into a large family of a poor peasant Alexander Pliev. He had been to the army since March 1922. He served as a Red Army soldier in a special detachment under the special department of the Separate Caucasian Army. In June 1923 he was transferred to the reserve. In August he was again drafted into the army and sent to the Leningrad Cavalry School, from which he graduated in 1926. From October 1940 he studied at the Military Academy of the General Staff, which he graduated ahead of schedule in June 1941. _x000D_ At the beginning of World War II, the Commander of the 50th Separate Cavalry Division, which participated in the combat of Smolensk and the defense of Moscow as part of the Western Front, twice raided the rear of the German Army Group Center in the Smolensk Region and in the Moscow Region. _x000D_ In September 1941, Pliev was promoted to the rank of Major General, and the division was soon reorganized into the 3rd Guards Cavalry. _x000D_ Since December 1941 he had been a Commander of 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps, which, as part of the 16th and 20th armies of the Western Front, took part in the defeat of the Nazi troops near Moscow. Since April 1942, he was the Commander of 5th Cavalry Corps, which, as part of the troops of the Southern Front in May-June, fought heavy defensive battles south of the city of Izium in Ukraine. _x000D_ Since July 1942 he had been the Commander of the 3rd Guards Cavalry Corps, which fought in the Stalingrad, Don and Southwestern Fronts. Participated in the combat of Stalingrad. In February - May 1943 he was an Acting Deputy Commander of 5th Guards Tank Army on the Voronezh Front, since May 1943 - Acting Deputy Commander of the Steppe Military District (since July 1943 - Steppe Front). He participated in the combat of Kursk and the liberation of the Left-Bank Ukraine. _x000D_ In October 1943 he was awarded the rank of Lieutenant General. In November 1943—November 1944 he had been Commander of 4th Guards Cavalry Corps, part of the Mechanized Cavalry group of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, and Issa Pliev was appointed its Commander. _x000D_ He had been a participant of the Soviet-Japanese War of 1945. He commanded a Mechanized Cavalry group of the Trans-Baikal Front during the Khingano-Mukden offensive operation. For skilful leadership of units and personal courage and heroism shown in battles, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of September 8, 1945, he was awarded the second Gold Star medal. Soviet decorations: 6 Orders of Lenin, October Revolution, 3 Orders of the Red Banner, 2 Orders of Suvorov 1st class, Order of Kutuzov 1st class; _x000D_ Foreign decorations: Mongolian People's Republic—3 Orders of Sukhe-Bator, Red Banner, Polar Star; Poland—Renaissance of Poland 4th century, Virtuti Militari 5th century, USA—Legion of honor 2nd century, Czechoslovakia—Red Banner He had been a Candidate to the Central Committee of the Communist Party in 1961-1966. The monument and the bronze bust are installed in Vladikavkaz, the monument is in his native village. A square and a street in Vladikavkaz, streets in the cities of Nazran, Beslan and Novoshakhtinsk (Rostov Region), the village of Pashkovsky (within the boundaries of Krasnodar) and many settlements of Ingushetia and North Ossetia, a side street in Rostov-on-Don bear his name.

Branch of troops: Ground forces_x000D_ Petrov Prokopiy Eremeevich was drafted to war in 20th of June 1942. Four soldiers left their Yakut kolkhoz that day to the war, and only our grandfather returned. The rest also had a hard time during the wartime, people were starving. His father-in-law, wife and four children accompanied him to the war, and when he returned, he found his three orphans in a house of a stranger. _x000D_ He did not like to talk about the war. Our father remembered only a few cases told to him by his grandfather. Here is one of them: _x000D_ During the attack, Procopius was wounded and remained on the battlefield. Night was approaching, it was already dark. And in this darkness the Germans began wandering across the field and look for alive soldiers, finishing them off. Grandfather prepared the last bullet for himself. And then a whisper was heard at night: “Is somebody alive here?” The grandfather shouted: “I am here, comrade!” _x000D_ It was a big Russian orderly. He crawled to my grandfather, put him on his shoulders and ran zigzags across the field. The Germans fired after them, and they could see the bullets flying in the dark. But still, not a single bullet hit them, and the grandfather was saved. _x000D_ My grandfather fought in the army of Rokossovsky, in the infantry, reached Konigsberg, where he was seriously wounded. His military unit went further west, participated in the capture of Berlin. After the capture of Berlin, the front-line friends came for him to the hospital and took him to Berlin. This is how a Yakut from a small taiga settlement visited the capital of occupied Germany. _x000D_ My grandfather said that there were five front-line friends: a Tatar (he was the Senior in rank), a Russian, a Yakut, a Tajik and someone else. Unfortunately, many details have already been forgotten. When, after defeating Germany, they arrived in Moscow, they were told that their unit was being sent to the Japanese front. _x000D_ So my grandfather returned home only in the fall of 1945. My grandfather had several medals:“For Courage”, “For Military Merit”, “For Capture of Konigsberg”, “For Victory over Germany”, “For Victory over Japan”, but they were all lost. We have found some information about his awards on the Internet. My poor grandfather passed away in 1958 without seeing a single grandchild.

My great-grandfather Nikolai Filippovich Pogrebnoy fought. Everyone in our family remembers and loves him, his photograph stands in the most prominent place at his grandmother's house. Great-grandfather was a wonderful person, he worked in kolkhoz, his profession is very noble, he was a beekeeper. By the time the war began, my great-grandfather was 32 years old, and he already had two young sons. But, despite this, he was the first from the village to volunteer for the war. _x000D_ In the midst of the war, my grandfather got a bullet right in the heart, but he survived! And an ordinary tin spoon saved his life. There was a fierce firefight near Lublin and one of the bullets flew right into the great-grandfather's heart, but was rebuffed by a tin spoon, which always lay in his breast pocket. Only the dent remained on the spoon, and the great-grandfather miraculously survived. _x000D_ On the website of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, in the section "Feat of the People", I found records of the feat of my great-grandfather in the battles near Lublin. He, a private guard, during the offensive of the fascist battalion captured 12 German prisoners and was awarded Order of the Red Star. My great-grandfather reached Berlin and was personally present at presentation of the Soviet flag over the Reichstag. _x000D_ Great-grandfather was awarded high awards: "Order of the Red Star", Medal "For Courage", Medal "For Military Merit", Medal "For Capture of Konigsberg", Medal "For Capture of Berlin." _x000D_ After the end of the war, my great-grandfather returned to his village, to his family. He also worked as a beekeeper in kolkhoz, he had three more daughters, and they and my great-grandmother raised five worthy children, one of whom is my beloved grandmother. The war did not at all harden my great-grandfather’s heart. Grandmother says that he was a great soul, very kind and sympathetic. They always turned to him for help and he never refused anyone. He enjoyed great respect among his colleagues, they called him exclusively by name and patronymic. At home he was just a beloved and good husband "Nikolochka" and the best "dad" in the world. _x000D_ My great-grandfather passed away at the age of 72. When he was buried, his awards were carried on a red satin pillow in front of the procession, and the pioneers threw live tulips in front of him all the way from home to the cemetery. Together with my grandfather, they buried the very spoon that saved his life in the war, it was grandfather's “testament”. _x000D_ Now there is a Museum of Military Glory in the Yagotynsky District, where all the military awards of my great-grandfather are presented, which his children passed on as a heritage for generations, and the guide of this museum tells about my great-grandfather, a hero of the Great Patriotic War. The memory of my great-grandfather lives on in the hearts of our entire family, and the story about him is passed down from generation to generation.

Branch of Troops: Ground Forces_x000D_ Division: 15 Guards Rifle Company Kharkov-Prague Order of Lenin Twice Red Banner Order of Suvorov and Kutuzov Division _x000D_ He was a Department Commander; Assistant Commander of the platoon of machine gunners of the 10th Separate Motorized Reconnaissance Company of the Reconnaissance Department of the Headquarters of the 2nd Ukrainian front, Sergeant. He was born in a Ukrainian peasant family. He had been a Member of the all-Union Communist party (Bolsheviks) of the Soviet Union since 1945. _x000D_ At the age of five, he became an orphan. In 1937, he graduated from five classes of rural schools, then seven years in the city of Belebey. He received a Turner Qualification in the School of Agricultural Mechanization in the village of Davlekanovo. Since March 1942, he had worked as a specialist in the Belebeyevskaya machine-tractor station. He was drafted into the Red Army on September 5, 1942 by the Belebeyevsky District Military Commissariat of the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and sent to the Riga Infantry School (working in evacuation in the city of Sterlitamak). _x000D_ In December 1942, he joined the active army, where he became a member of the 44th Guards Rifle Regiment of the 15th Guards Rifle Division. On August 12, 1943, he was wounded in the battle for the city of Kharkov. _x000D_ At the hospital, he was presented with his first award-the medal “For Courage”. After healing, he becomes an Army Recon. The Commander of the platoon of sub machine 10 Separate Motorized Reconnaissance Company of the Reconnaissance Department of the Headquarters of the 2nd Ukrainian front, Sergeant Gregory Poddenezhny in the Reconnaissance Group November 11, 1943, entered the rear of the enemy near the village of Tarasivka Pology District of Zaporozhye Region of Ukraine, struck down three enemy soldiers, brought valuable reconnaissance data. _x000D_ On January 7, 1944, as part of a group of recons near the city of Kirovograd (Ukraine), Sergeant Poddenezhny G. M. collected and transmitted data on the progress of tanks and enemy manpower. Covering the retreat of recons, the fearless warrior personally destroyed several Hitlerite sub-machine guns. For the courage and bravery shown in the battles, on October 31, 1944, Sergeant Poddenezhny Grigory was awarded the Order of Glory of the 3rd degree (No. 130281). _x000D_ Assistant Commander of the platoon of sub machine gunners of the 10th Separate Motorized Reconnaissance Company of the Reconnaissance Department of the Headquarters of the 2nd Ukrainian front, Sergeant Poddenezhny G. M. on August 30, 1944, at the Head of the squad, penetrated into the enemy's rear in the area of the Romanian city of Targu-Frumos. recons destroyed up to ten Hitlerite infantrymen, took the “prisoner tongue” and delivered to Headquarters valuable reconnaissance data on the enemy's defense system. For his bravery displayed in combat, on November 28, 1944, Grigory Poddenezhny was awarded the Order of Glory of the 2nd degree (No. 6981). _x000D_ Sergeant Gregory Poddenezhny at the Head of a group of recons on the night of December 18, 1944, went to the rear of the enemy, crossed the Inpel river near the Hungarian settlement of Nadberensonyi. Once detected, the fighters engaged in a combat with superior enemy forces, and destroyed about ten enemy soldiers. _x000D_ By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of April 28, 1945 for exemplary performance of combat missions of command in the battles against the Nazi invaders Sergeant Poddenezhny Grigory was awarded the Order of Glory 1 degree (No. 131), becoming a full cavalier of the Order of Glory. _x000D_ Having fought from the Seversky Donets to Romania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Austria, Starshina Poddenezhny G. M., after completing the defeat of Hitler's Germany, participated in the battles in the far East against the Japanese militarists as an armored car Commander. After the war, G. M. Poddenezhny studied at the Leningrad Political School of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, then served in the bodies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Since 1952, he served in the Soviet Army as a Deputy Commander of a Company for Political Affairs. Since October 1966, Captain Poddenezhny G. M. in the reserve, and then retired. He lived in the capital of Bashkortostan, in the city of Ufa. He worked as the Head of the paramilitary Security Detachment (VOHR) in the Association "Himprom". He was buried in Ufa at the Northern (Timashevsky) cemetery. He was awarded orders of the Patriotic war of the 1st degree, Glory of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd degrees, medals. On May 4, 2005 a memorial plaque was installed in the Kalininsky District of Ufa, on the facade of the house where the full cavalier of the Order of Glory G. M. Poddenezhny lived.

Pankratov Alexander Grigorievich was born on February 16, 1914 in the village of Kurilovka, Novouzensky District, in the family of a pharmacist. He was the only child in the family. Alexander graduated from the Kurilovka 7-year Middle School, where he assembled the first radio receiver being in the 7th grade. Later he graduated from the Novouzensk Pedagogical College, which was located in the former building of a Boarding School. From 1933 to 1936 he served in the army, then worked at the Kurilov Machine-Tractor Station, and in 1938 he entered the Kuibyshev (Samara) Higher Political Aviation School. _x000D_ He went through the whole War, participated in the capture of Konigsberg, was wounded and contused. He was a brave man: more than once he had crossed the front line to get a “prisoner tongue”, flew to the partisan detachments, and was piloting an aircraft. _x000D_ After the war he served in Riga, then in Uralsk and in the Kazakh SSR. In Kazakhstan, he took part in the development and guarding of virgin lands, transportation and storage of grain and equipment. In 1959 he went into the reserve with the rank of Major of State Security. After retiring, in 1959, together with his family, he moved closer to his native place, to the city of Novouzensk, where he began working in Secondary School No. 8 as an auto business instructor and entered the Saratov Pedagogical Institute (by correspondence), which he graduated at 54. While working at School, he led some vocational circles: aircraft modeling, shooting, and rocketry. The members of the circles regularly became winners and prize-winners of various competitions, both at school and regional level. Often he used to have air gun shooting lessons at his place. He attached the targets to his felt boots, and the guys shot at the targets from an air gun, so the felt boots were covered in small holes. _x000D_ Alexander often met with young people and told them about the efforts of his friends at the front, about front-line life, brotherhood, and friendship. He talked about what a man should be as a defender of his Motherland, his family. He took his sons to the places of the battles in which he participated, and to Riga, to a meeting with his front-line friend, the Latvian Lujans Janis. _x000D_ Pankratov A.G. was a versatile person: he drew well, knew how to play various musical instruments, from balalaika to piano, was well versed in literature, politics and economics, was an excellent lecturer in international affairs and propagandist, knew how to arrange holidays for his children, was a good friend and a great father. But the consequences of combat wounds and contusions led to a serious illness. Alexander passed away on 02/05/1971 at the age of 57.

Rank: Chief_x000D_ Branch of troops: Artillery_x000D_ Division: 129th Infantry Division (1st Formation). _x000D_ My father began his military career in 1943 in the 381st Reserve Rifle Regiment as a cadet, then he fought in the 129 Mortar Regiment as the Sergeant Major of the 120 mm mortar battery. Throughout the war he went as a Mortarman, spoke very little about the hardships of the war and about wounds. I didn't like to discuss this war period of his life. But I know that he was shell-shocked, but continued to fight for the Motherland and my family. Our great-grandfather Poturaev Ignat Ivanovich fought in the First World War in the 41st Seleginsky Regiment. To defend this country from the enemies was in the blood of men of our kind. After the liberation of this country, he liberated Europe from the Nazis, but he had not reached the Berlin ... _x000D_ There were very strong battles in the Czech Republic and he ended the Second World War near Prague. After defeating Germany, he was transferred to fight in Japan. He recalled that after the Nazis, Japanese soldiers seemed like just children ... After the victory over Japan, he had served in the Armed Forces until 1947. Then he returned to a peaceful life and left to work at the manganese ore mines in the town of Ordzhonikidze, then worked as a driver of fierce dump trucks at the Mining and Processing Plant (MPP). He has many labor awards and is a Veteran of Labor. He did not watch films about the war, he did not like that. After 10 minutes, he usually said: "It is not true, it was not at all like that ..." and left. He was very fond of the songs "At Nameless Height" and "Cranes" performed by the Soviet singer Mark Bernes. Dad was very fond of mom and us, two daughters and our older brother. It was always very safe and warm with him. His disarming childish smile was with him until his last day! For us, he is the best dad in the world! Dad died on an early sunny morning on June 5, 1993 after a short illness ... Eternal glory and memory to dad and all the veterans, the winners in this terrible war! From the memoirs of Vasily Ignatievich Poturayev: "In the fall of 1944, there were fierce combats and terrible losses. A very young soldier from Moscow, just a boy, was sent to his battery ... He brought shells and was hit by a shrapnel. Dad dragged him into the trench, but he died. Dad remembered his hands, they were very beautiful and thin. He studied at the conservatory before the war. Dad talked about him so excitedly, very clearly remembered him. There were many lethalities to follow, but the death of this boy was left in his memory. _x000D_ My father’s hands were very strong and reliable! Dad fought with the husband of his sister Lena Mikhail Kravchenko, they went through the whole war together and both returned home. After the war he came to his brother-soldier Ivan Ivanovich Bout, where he met our mother Stadnik Maria Mironovna and they had a good marriage for 39 years!

Rank: Red Army Soldier. Branch of troops: Artillery. Popovetsky Ivan Nikitovich was born on November 19, 1919 in the Ukrainian village of Maidan-Golenishchevsky, Volkovinets District, Kamenets-Podolsk Region (now Letychivsky District, Khmelnitsky Region). Before the war, my great-grandfather worked as a blacksmith. He was drafted into the Red Army on October 15, 1939. His great-grandfather began his combat path in November 1939 in the 358th Mountain-Rifle Regiment of the 126th Rifle Division. On June 22, 1941, the Great Patriotic War started, which found Ivan Nikitovich in the army. From the first days of her, he participated in battles. The 60th Rifle Division, in which the great-grandfather served, was transferred from the Southern Front in July 1941 to help the 12th Army, which was encircled by fascist troops in the area of the city of Vinnitsa. There were fierce defensive battles with superior enemy forces. In one of these battles near the town of Brailov, Vinnitsa Region, on July 19, 1941, Vanya's great-grandfather was wounded by a shrapnel in the face and chest. He underwent treatment in an evacuation hospital in the Urals of the Chebarkul District of the Chelyabinsk Region. Upon recovery, in the fall of 1941 he was sent to the active army in his regiment. From autumn 1941 to summer 1944 Ivan Nikitovich served in the 4th corps howitzer Artillery Regiment as a gun and mortar master. The Rifle Division, in which the great-grandfather served, which was first part of the Western Front, liberated Smolensk, Vyazma, Vitebsk, Mogilev from the invaders, participated in the Polesie operation, which was part of the Dnieper-Carpathian strategic operation. As part of the 2nd Belorussian Front in June-August 1944, the great-grandfather's Regiment took part in one of the largest strategic offensive operations "Bagration", which helped defeat the Nazi army "Center" in the area of the city of Minsk. _x000D_ In one of these battles near the city of Minsk on July 6, 1944, Vanya's great-grandfather was very seriously wounded by several shrapnel in the stomach and chest. One of the wounds was through. The first operation took place in a front-line hospital, then there was a long evacuation with hospitals to the rear. He had blood poisoning, his stomach was swollen. His condition was so serious that the doctors did not hope that he would survive. In the photo that great-grandfather Vanya sent to his family then, there were the following words: "Look, relatives, at the dead print and remember about a living soul." Only on September 10, almost 2 months later, my great-grandfather was taken to one of the Moscow hospitals, where he was undergoing treatment until the end of September 1944. After being wounded, it was not possible to return to his former unit: the front was moving westward, driving the Nazis away from this country. Ivan Nikitovich was first sent to the 306th Reserve Regiment as part of the 2nd Belorussian Front, and then to the 229th Mobile Tractor Repair Base, in which he served until the end of the war. For participation in the Minsk operation, my great-grandfather was awarded the medal "For Courage" in February 1945. The 2nd Belorussian Front continued its combat path, liberating city after city. Ivan Nikitovich took part in battles in Western Belarus, East Prussia and Poland. _x000D_ The 1945 winter offensive began. The front troops reached the Vistula River, then moved to the Baltic Sea coast, liberated the northern regions of Poland. In April 1945, the troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front crossed the Oder River and reached the German port city of Stettin, the Stettin-Rostock operation began (April 20-May 5), part of the Berlin offensive, in which my great-grandfather Vanya also participated. In this German city (which, according to the Potsdam conference in 1945, became Polish Szczecin), the Victory of Ivan Nikitovich Popovetsky, my great-grandfather, was found. 229 Mobile Tractor Repair Base went with the troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front until Victory. And after the war, it was necessary to restore the cities for a peaceful life. Great-grandfather Vanya remained in Germany until the autumn of 1946 in his unit, helping the German people to improve their lives. In February 1946, the great-grandfather of the ball was awarded the medal "For Victory over Germany", and in March 1946 he was awarded the title of "Corporal". On August 15, 1946, Ivan Nikitovich was transferred to the reserve. _x000D_ Great-grandfather Vanya came from the war in the fall of 1946. After the war, Ivan Nikitovich worked in his native kolkhoz, for many years he was a foreman of construction brigades. For his work, great-grandfather Vanya was nominated for awards: medals "For Valiant Labor", "Veteran of Labor" and others. In 1985 my great-grandfather was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree. My great-grandfather, Popovetsky Ivan Nikitovich, died in 1994 at the age of 75.

Rank: Major. Branch of the service: Ground Forces. Subdivision: 138th Infantry Carpathian Red Banner Order of Suvorov Division. Born December 4, 1919 in st. Krasnogorsk, Ust-Dzhegutinsky District, Stavropol Territory in a peasant family. In August 1939 he was called up for active military service in the ranks of the Red Banner Baltic Navy in Leningrad. He had successfully passed the entrance exams in the same 1939 and was enrolled as a cadet at the Engels Naval Political School in Leningrad. In May 1940 he was admitted to the Communist Party. _x000D_ On the first day of the war, the Junior Political Instructor was released from the school ahead of schedule and sent to the active army on the island of Koivisto in the Gulf of Finland. He was appointed Political Instructor of the Machine-gun Company of the 51st Separate Marine Battalion of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet. In November 1941, the Battalion was transferred to the city of Oranienbaum, where it was included in the 527th Infantry Regiment of the 48th Kalinin Rifle Division in a Separate Primorsky Army. In this Division, he served as Commander of a Machine-gun Company, Military Commissar of a Battalion, Deputy Battalion Commander for combat units. _x000D_ So he ended up near sieged Leningrad at the Oranienbaum foot strong. He stayed in the blockade until May 1943. In October 1943 he was awarded the military rank "Major". In January 1944 he completed the shooting course with honors and was sent to the personnel department of the 2nd Ukrainian Front and was appointed Deputy Commander of the 344th Rifle Regiment for the combat unit of the 138th Rifle Division. When entering the Carpathians, the 138th Rifle Division was transferred to the 18th Army of the 4th Ukrainian Fleet. He was wounded twice during an offensive in the Carpathians. In March 1945, by order of the Commander of the 18th Army of the 4th Ukrainian Front, he was appointed Commander of the 768th Rifle Regiment of the 138th Rifle Division. In this position he served until the day the Division was disbanded. He participated in the liberation of Hungary, Romania, Czechoslovakia, and Poland.

DATE OF BIRTH: 10/17/1917 DATE OF DEATH: 09/28/1981 HISTORY: Title: Junior Lieutenant. Branch of troops: Ground Forces. Subdivision:13th Guards Rifle Poltava Order of Lenin Twice Red Banner Orders of Suvorov and Kutuzov Division Biography. Yakov Pavlov was born in the village of Malaya Krestovaya, now the Valdai District of the Novgorod Region, graduated from Elementary School, worked in agriculture. In 1938 he was drafted into the Red Army. He faced the war in combat units in the Kovel Region, as part of the troops of the South-Western Front. In 1942, Pavlov was sent to the 42nd Guards Rifle Regiment of the 13th Guards Division of General A.I. Rodimtsev. He took part in defensive combats on the outskirts of Stalingrad. In July-August 1942, Senior Sergeant Ya. F. Pavlov’s military unit was reorganized in Kamyshin, where he was appointed a machine-gun platoon commander of the 7th Company. In September 1942 he participated in the battles for Stalingrad on reconnaissance missions. _x000D_ In the evening of September 27, 1942, Pavlov received a combat mission from the Company Commander, Lieutenant Naumov, to reconnoiter the situation in a four-story building overlooking the central square of Stalingrad, “the 9th January Squre” This house occupied an important tactical position. He and three soldiers (Chernogolov, Glushchenko and Aleksandrov) knocked the Germans out of the house and completely captured it. Soon, the group received reinforcements, ammunition and telephone communications. Together with the platoon of Lieutenant I. Afanasyev, the number of defenders increased to 24 people. _x000D_ It was not immediately possible to evacuate civilians hiding in the basements of the house. The Nazis constantly attacked the building with artillery fire and aerial bombs. But Afanasyev avoided fierce losses and for almost two months did not allow the enemy to break through to the Volga. On November 19, 1942, the troops of the Stalingrad Front launched a counteroffensive “Operation Uranus”. On November 25, during the attack, Pavlov was wounded in the leg, lay in the hospital, then was the gunner and the Commander of the reconnaissance department in the Artillery units of the 3rd Ukrainian and 2nd Belorussian fronts, in which he reached Stettin. He was awarded two Orders of the Red Star and many medals. On June 17, 1945, Junior Lieutenant Yakov Pavlov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (medal No. 6775). Pavlov was demobilized from the ranks of the Soviet Army in August 1946. After demobilization, he worked in the city of Valdai, Novgorod Region, was the First Secretary of the District committee, graduated from the Higher Party School under the Central Committee of the Communist Party. Three times he was elected a Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR from the Novgorod Region. After the war, he was also awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the October Revolution. He repeatedly came to Stalingrad (now Volgograd), met with the inhabitants of the city who survived the war and restored it from the ruins. In 1980, Ya. F. Pavlov was awarded the title of "Honorary Citizen of the Hero City of Volgograd." In Great Novgorod, at his boarding School named after him for orphans and children left without parental care, there is a Pavlov Museum (Derevyanitsy microdistrict, Beregovaya street, house 44). Pavlov was buried in the Alley of Heroes of the Western Cemetery of Veliky Novgorod. Viktor Mavrinsky, a pupil of the Kolos radio club named after Hero of the Soviet Union Yakov Pavlov, wrote, “In September 1942 in Stalingrad street combats were especially fierce in the city center, on the sector of the 13th Guards Division of A. I. Rodimtsev. _x000D_ By the evening of September 25, the situation sharply deteriorated, most of the buildings adjacent to the January 9 square were in the hands of the enemy. But one house at number 61 was in doubt. The Guards Sergeant Yakov Pavlov and his comrades Aleksandrov, Chernogolov and Shapovalov were sent to reconnoiter this building. Julius Chepurin, a front line correspondent for the 62nd Army, described all subsequent events in the essay ”Pavlov's House". “If we manage to catch on to it and turn the house into a strong stronghold, then we can keep the area under control. As it turned out, there were civilians in the house: women, children, as well as wounded soldiers of the 13th Guards Division, led by Medical Orderly Kalinin. But a large group of German machine gunners were already approaching the building. The combat for the house had started. Pavlov sent Medical Orderly Kalinin to the Regiment Headquarters at the expense of help, and he came led by a Guards Lieutenant Ivan Afanasyev, a communist who was appointed Chief of the garrison. And at the Headquarters of the Regiment, Colonel Elin waited all night for reports from Pavlov's house, as he ”If we manage to catch on to it and turn the house into a strong stronghold, then we can keep the area under control. _x000D_ As it turned out, there were civilians in the house: women, children, as well as wounded soldiers of the 13th Guards Division, led by Medical Orderly Kalinin. But a large group of German machine gunners were already approaching the building. The combat for the house had started. Pavlov sent Medical Orderly Kalinin to the Regiment Headquarters at the expense of help, and he came led by a Guards Lieutenant Ivan Afanasyev, a communist who was appointed Chief of the garrison. And at the Headquarters of the Regiment, Colonel Elin waited all night for reports from Pavlov's house, as he named it, not suspecting that under this name he would go down in history and become known to the whole world. Lieutenant Afanasyev knew that a modest soldier Pavlov was the soul of the defense. The fact that Pavlov was the first to break into this house and was able to defend with his fighters on the first night surrounded the personality of Yakov Pavlov with such a bright aura of soldier's glory, which turned out to be stronger than the provisions of the Infantry Fighting Regulations. That is why, the communist Ivan Afanasyev, organizing the defense of the house, tactfully stepped into the shadows, assigning the first role in this combat operation to the Guards Sergeant Yakov Pavlov.” The enemy's attacks intensified and when hand grenades were used, a miracle happened: the Katyusha Regiment fired a volley at the congregations of fascists around Pavlov's house. The newspaper “Pravda” for November 19, 1942 told for the first time about the hero-fighters of the 13th Guards Division in “Pavlov's House”. A few days before the end of the defense of the famous fortress house, the wounded Lieutenant Afanasyev was transported to the hospital. Нe was distinguished later. The command was taken over by Sergeant Yakov Pavlov, who remained in history forever. Yakov Pavlov, being wounded, did not leave the house until the very end of his defense. The defense of the house continued for 58 days and nights. Yakov himself learned about the title of Hero of the Soviet Union in April 1945. Guards Lieutenant Ivan Filippovich Afanasyev was awarded the Order of Lenin, his memoirs formed the basis of the book "House of Soldiers' Glory". The daughter of the legendary General A. I. Rodimtsev, Natalya Matyukhina met with two defenders of the Pavlov's House, whose names are carved on the wall of the house: Ilya Voronov (machine gunner) and Kamaljan Turgunov. Yakov Fedotovich Pavlov himself repeatedly visited the hero-city of Volgograd. _x000D_ The Kolos radio club (headed by Valery Vasilyevich Poltavets) bears Pavlov’s name, it had brought up many athletes. It was Yakov Pavlov who in 1980 gave the idea of a search to Valery Poltavets: to find on the air radio operators and participants in the Battle of Stalingrad, which grew into an International Search Radio Expedition, called the Victory Memorial. The Pavlov's House, the House of Soldiers' Glory stands as an unbending monument to the courage of Soviet soldiers. The defeat of the main forces of the German armies at Stalingrad predetermined the defeat of Nazi Germany and became a turning point in the Second World War. Here, at the walls of Stalingrad, the fate of our Fatherland, the freedom and independence of our Motherland was determined. _x000D_ Around this common four-story Stalingrad building “Pavlov's House” are still circulating stories. _x000D_ For example, there is a legend that Pavlov did not pass away in 1981, but took monastic vows and became Archimandrite Kirill. In fact, the hero is buried in his native Novgorod. And the aforementioned elder Kirill, according to the panorama museum, had also the common Russian last name Pavlov in the world. And he was also a Hero of the Soviet Union. Only he was awarded this title not for Stalingrad, but for the battles on the Sandomierz foot strong. There were true grounds for confusion. Both were sergeants during the battle on the Volga, both ended the war as Junior Lieutenants. _x000D_ At the end of September, the first replenishment, almost a thousand fighters, had arrived in Rodimtsev's Division. It became easier for the guardsmen, and on the initiative of the Stalingrad city committee of the Komsomol, a volunteer detachment of about five hundred soldiers was formed, who were to replenish the ranks of the 13th Division. They were boys of seventeen-eighteen years old. _x000D_ Fierce battles unfolded for the mill, the State Bank building, the Railway Worker's House and other buildings. For battles in the city, the Division needed a strong point. The attention of General Rodimtsev was attracted by a small four-story house, facing the square of the Ninth of January. This square has long become the epicenter of the struggle between the two warring parties. The buildings surrounding it served as powerful strongholds, real pillboxes. And now, when the division had moved to active defense, the fight for the city center has turned into a fight for every house. Sergeant Pavlov received an order to conduct Reconnaissance of this house. Pavlov with three fighters managed to gain a foothold in this building and took up defense. _x000D_ Civilians were hiding in the basement of the building. Each of the recons received a combat position, but more than one, the defense had to be held from three sides. Pavlov's fighters fought off attack after attack for two days, and then a replenishment led by Lieutenant Afanasyev came. For defense, ammunition was needed, wounded appeared, a regular communication with the regiment was needed. The guardsmen began to dig the communication route to the mill, the residents of the house helped them. Five days later, the passage along which one could walk to the mill in full growth was ready. By this time, telephone communication was established from the Battalion Headquarters. In the basement, beds were installed for the rest of the soldiers and commanders, everything was provided for a long and successful defense. The house kept all the adjacent streets under fire from its machine guns, from where the Nazis tried to counterattack. Moreover, there was a mill nearby, where the division's observation post was located. _x000D_ One night General Rodimtsev came to Pavlov's house to support the guardsmen. Of course, they knew that the divisional Commander was not a timid dozen, he was not hiding in the dugouts, but to come straight to the front line was a very big risk. And they immediately added that the general is fair, and if someone lies, do not expect mercy. He won’t scream, he won’t stomp his feet and, he won’t frighten with a tribunal or execution. But if you are guilty, he will punish severely, without further ado. Rodimtsev believed in victory, his soldiers fought heroically near Kharkov, Kremenchug, on the Kursk Bulge. On the Sandomierz foot strong beyond the Vistula, the Nazis threw seven divisions against Rodimtsev's corps, including four tank divisions. The guardsmen drove the enemy to the Oder. Then there were bloody battles in Germany itself. On the Elbe, the guards linked-up with the Americans. Then Rodimtsev led his divisions to help those fighting in Prague. General Rodimtsev walked more than eight thousand kilometers along the roads of the war. _x000D_ A documentary was shot about Ya.F. Pavlov: Yakov Pavlov is a Sergeant of the Rodimtsev Division (biography and photo): For what they gave the Hero of the Soviet Union (Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal) to Ya.F. Pavlov.

Parkhomenko Porfirii Lavrentevich