Rank: Red Army Common Soldier. Branch of troops: armored and mechanized troops. Division: 32nd Red Banner rifle division. This year, Nikolai Gruzdev, a participant in the great Patriotic war, would have been 94 years old, of which 73 are listed as missing. The assistant platoon commander, Sergeant Nikolai Gruzdev was born in 1923 in the village of Grozdevo Elabuga district. According to the Central archive of the Ministry of Defense in Podolsk, Gruzdev was called up for military service by Elabuga RVC in May of 1942, but according to Elabuga military men it was on the 11th of June 11, 1942 when Gruzdev had joined the team of recruits available to the 18-th spare rifle brigade in Izhevsk. Twice wounded. Before his first injury in 1943, Nikolai Gruzdev was a tankman in the 242nd tank brigade. According to the Leningrad archive of military medical documents, "on July 8, 1943, he received a tangential shrapnel wound to the right cheek in the area of the zygomatic bone without damage to the bone; blind shrapnel wound to the right eyeball and because of that from July 10, 1943 Gruzdev was on treatment in APG 2734 which he left on July 27, 1943 for further treatment. Note on surgery (date not specified): removal of a fragment from the cornea of the right eye." On February 27, 1944, he joined the 17th rifle regiment of the 32nd rifle division. "In the book of records of private and non-commissioned officers of 17 company of the 32nd rifle division for 1944-1945, it appears that for the battle on June 23, 1944, Sergeant Nikolai Gruzdev received an award and was wounded on the same day. It is known that the regiment in which he fought was served by the fourth medical and sanitary battalion, but Nikolai Sergeyevich is not listed in the documents on the registration of the dead soldiers for 1944" (TSAMO, op. 307123s, d.2, page 63). It is obvious that he was not delivered to the medical unit of his army regiment. According to the same Central archive of the Ministry of Defense, Nikolai Gruzdev went missing in August 1944. It turns out that the injury was not serious, and he continued to fight? After all, a report on the loss of a soldier is made after he is not in the location of the military unit for 14 days. Or perhaps they didn't pick him up when he was wounded? Be that as it may, but he was in the unit until August, otherwise he would have been considered missing in early July. It’s a riddle... Nikolai Gruzdev was awarded twice: - the medal "for Military Merit" was awarded by order on May 1, 1944 "for excellent assimilation of combat and political training and transfer of experience and knowledge to the soldiers of his unit" to the commander of the 6th rifle company. - the medal " for bravery "(decreed on September 5th, 1944) was not awarded. By the way, it was awarded to the “Sergeant, assistant platoon commander of the 6th rifle company Nikolai Gruzdev for crossing the Pronya river near the village of Zastenki-Zalezhye, Mogilev region, in an offensive battle on June 23, 1944. He was the first to break into the enemy's trench, where he personally destroyed four German soldiers. The platoon destroyed up to 18 German soldiers and officers." It is known that the 32nd rifle division took part in the battles in Belarus until July 12, 1944, and then was transferred to Lithuania. According to reports, the division was fighting in Vilkaviskis and Marijampolė (modern name) areas of Lithuania. According to reports, you can determine the places of departure of soldiers: June-Mogilev region, July 7-8-the transition from Mogilev to Minsk region, from July 20-22 – Lithuania, from August 22-Latvia. The date of departure of Nikolai Gruzdev makes Yelabuga military enlistment office a post-war report from August 7, 1946, which means that the military unit did not report anything about his fate. As a result, the fighter went missing in the period from June 24, and since it is known that he was wounded on June 23, but the award was not given to him, he either died before September 1944, or you need to make a request to the medical institutions of other divisions that fought with the 32nd.