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