Full name: Popov Sergey Andreevich last NAME: Popov FIRST name: Sergey PATRONYMIC: Andreevich CITY: Lipetsk region, Stanovlyansky district, village of Trostnoye date of BIRTH: 14.11.1913 DATE of DEATH: 19.12.2008 _x000D_ _x000D_ HISTORY: Sergey Popov carefully keeps photos of the war years, recorded his memories of the hard times. Here are some of them. "In September of the 35th, the Bauman district military Commissariat called me to serve in the black sea fleet. As part of the border detachment of the NKVD (in Sevastopol), he kept watch on a boat, was a radio operator. At the end of my term of service, I was offered to stay for an extended period of time. I agreed. I went home on a three-week vacation, got married, and took my wife to Sevastopol. In July 1940, he was sent to study at the Leningrad naval frontier school. That's where the war caught me. For the first few days, we cadets hoped that the enemy would be stopped and defeated, as defense Minister Voroshilov stated in his speech. The enemy was defeated! But at what cost!.. School stopped. A landing party was created from the sailors of submarines and us, cadets. I was appointed commander of the boat. The fascists, seizing the coast of the Gulf of Finland, approached Leningrad. In the shortest possible time, the military, including the wounded, had to leave the city by ship. My boat, as a convoy, was the last to leave the Harbor under heavy enemy fire. How many people died in those days? Only the sea knows… In December of the 41st, he was wounded and was taken to the Leningrad hospital. There was a famine in the city, and on December 23, we, who were not cured, left Leningrad on foot along the frozen Ladoga river, which was later called the "Road of life". Sergey Andreevich was lucky. He moved to Ladoga and was sent to Sunny Baku for further treatment. And then study again. After graduating from the higher naval school, Lieutenant Popov was placed at the disposal of the Volga military flotilla. ... Taking the boat, participated in the battles of Stalingrad. And again the wound. And again the front. He is the commander of a mine boat with a Katyusha rocket launcher. Participated in the liberation of Tallinn, Leningrad, Riga, Klaipeda, Narva, and the Estonian Islands. "The capture of the capital of Karelia left a deep mark on my memory. In early may, the 44th ships and boats of the Onega flotilla took up positions near the Vytegra base. In terrible battles with heavy losses destroyed the enemy's fortifications. The Karelian front advanced to Petrozavodsk… We landed under heavy crossfire. The success was enormous. The enemy did not have time to open fire and was crushed. The Nazis, hastily leaving the city, destroyed it almost to the ground, sank their ships. What started on the pier when we docked, it is impossible to describe! We fell into the arms of the Soviet people who were yearning in captivity. We were kissed and hugged. The boats were covered with flowers that had come from nowhere. Every resident wanted to touch us to make sure it wasn't a dream. The next day there was a rally in the city, where a member of the Central Committee of the Communist party of the Republic Yu. Andropov and other party leaders… Not to forget the archipelago Moonsund. Here, after the liberation of the city, Kuressaar ended up in a death camp. We, the sailors who have seen death more than once, have passed the war, have not seen such a terrifying picture. The atrocities of the fascists cannot be described" a Group of boats, one of which was commanded by Popov, met in Germany on may 9, 1945. Everyone cheered. This terrible, long war has come to an end!.. Popov probably would have served in the Navy until retirement. But the hardships of the war, the injuries made themselves felt. For health reasons, the sea had to be left. He moved with his family to the village of Gazoprovod, worked for 28 years in the Yeletsky UMG. He retired when he was 76. Sergey Andreevich raised three children. And though fate had saved him from death, it had not been easy, then or now. In 2001, his son died and he left four children. In General, Popov has six grandchildren, four great-grandchildren. Two grandchildren, like my grandfather, served in the Navy. There are pages about the order-bearer Popov in the book "Onego Battle pennants". Sergey Andreevich wrote a book about the battle path himself. He hopes that it will be published so that his grandchildren and great-grandchildren know that the veteran Popov did not live his life in vain… Prepared By A. Mitusova