Saratov Region, village of Jeskova_x000D_ 01.01.1899 - 22.04.1945_x000D_ Rank: Red Army Soldier_x000D_ Unit: 74th Guards Rifle Regiment, 27th Guards Rifle Division._x000D_ Date and place of conscription: 1943, Dukhovnitsky District Military Commissariat,_x000D_ Saratov region, Dukhovnitsky district_x000D_ Last Duty Station: 8 Guards Army, 74th Guards Rifle Regiment_x000D_ From the story of the grandson Alexey Ponurtsev:_x000D_ "I've never seen my grandfather Alexey Ponurtsev, a participant of the Great Patriotic War. He died of his wounds on April 22, 1945 near Berlin and was buried in a mass grave at the Brandenburg Gate. Due to circumstances, his documents were lost. In the parish register of the Orthodox Church of the village of Telikovka in the Dukhovnitsky District of the Saratov Region (before the revolution, Nikolaevsky Uyezd of the Samara Region) for 1899, it appears: "...on this day, February 25, the servant of God Alexey was born, the son of the blacksmith Philip Ponurtsev, a Cossack of the Don Army, who arrived from near Voronezh..."_x000D_ In my family they said that my grandfather Alexey was left an orphan at the age of two. There were epidemics in the villages at that time - most often typhoid fever. He was brought up in the family of his uncle until the age of 17. The uncle’s family began to live in the good house of Alexey's deceased parents. The house had its own forge with two anvils. The village of Telikovka was a very large vone - more than 7,000 people lived there. And my grandfather helped my uncle in the forge from a young age, inquisitively comprehending the secrets of blacksmithing. It was said that by the age of thirty, he was so well off that he had a German Sauer 2 ring hunting rifle. And, being a noble hunter, he forged an exact copy of the original - so high was his skills._x000D_ The revolutionary turning point of the entire life of people in 1917 accelerated the socio-psychological maturation of the young man. He wanted to meet the turbulent, unpredictable times as a family man. And here fate brought him together with a girl who was also orphaned early and therefore was experienced in a household chores - Maria, my grandmother. They built their family nest in 1918 in the house of a young blacksmith. Very difficult, and often tragic, but in General, the creative years of Soviet-collective farm construction in the village of Telikovka, of course, were not without the active participation of the master of iron affairs. By virtue of his profession, my kind, hardworking grandfather Alexey was involved in any field of activity of a rural worker. Together with his beloved, energetic Maria, they raised seven children. The eldest of them, Alexander, managed to fight the Nazis and returned home alive._x000D_ My grandfather's blacksmithing skills were known far beyond the district. When in 1943 a cavalry division was being formed on the territory of Dukhovnitsky, Balakovsky and Pugachevsky Districts, it needed an experienced blacksmith. A good rumor about the skilled blacksmith reached the General of this division. So it turned out that the war linked his fate with his profession. The time was hard, there was no time to write letters from the front, especially during the fighting. But whenever there was a free moment, my grandfather always tried to write a few lines home. My grandmother showed me these "triangles" - frontline letters that she carefully kept all her life._x000D_ Grandfather Alexey did not have a chance to hear the victory salute that announced "the defeat of the enemy in his own lair", on April 22, 1945, my grandfather, Alexey Ponurtsev died of wounds on Berlin soil and was buried at the Brandenburg Gate._x000D_ I never saw my grandfather, but always with warmth remembered and knew my grandfather, Alexey Ponurtsev, was a heroic soldier. This is indicated by the main soldier's order - the Medal For Bravery. And I owe my happiness to live and work under a free, peaceful sky to him and his fellow guards privates of the Great Patriotic War."_x000D_ Eldest grandson, A. Anufriev, First Lieutenant of reserve, Veteran of Labor of the Russian Federation.