Title: Lieutenant_x000D_ Branch of troops: Armored and mechanized troops_x000D_ _x000D_ Anatoly Fedorovich Purikov was born in Nizhneudinsk, Irkutsk region in 1916 into a family of employees. Received a complete secondary education, in 1934 he graduated from the communications school in Irkutsk. He began independent work in December 1934 on the construction of a radio station in the village Kamenka, Chunayar village, Boguchansky district, Krasnoyarsk Territory. Until 1937 he worked as the head of the radio station in the village of Klimeno. In 1937 he was called up for military service at the call of the Kansk Regional Military Commissariat, Krasnoyarsk Territory. From 1937-1938 cadet of the Regimental school of Junior Commanders in the city of Kansk, Krasnoyarsk Territory. From 1938-1941 he was a cadet of the Stalingrad Military School of Communications at a full course "radio communications". _x000D_ In 1941, Commander of the command platoon of 20th mechanized corps of 38th Tank Division, 75th Tank Regiment, 4 Tank Divisions, the North-Western Front. In September 1941, attempting to crossthe Desna in the area of the Roslavl-Bryansk railway bridge, he was seriously wounded in the leg and was taken prisoner together with the Division Commander S.I. Kapustin. _x000D_ In the fall of 1941, he escaped from a war camp, hiding in the Chortovsky forest of the Smolensk region until May 1942. _x000D_ In June 1942, while trying to cross the front line, he was again captured by the Nazis and imprisoned in the Shumyachenskaya prison near the city of Roslavl, Smolensk region. After a month of torture, he was again transferred to the Krichevsky POW camp._x000D_ In 1942, for organizing a mass escape in the Krichevsky camp, as well as for refusing to go to various jobs, he was subjected to severe corporal punishment for a month, then he was transferred to war camp in Pukhovichi. After the POW camp in Pukhovichi, he was transferred to the POW camp in Czestochowa. _x000D_ On the way to Czestochowa, he escaped for the third time. After liberation in 1945-1946 he was passing a special security check in the town of Alkino, Ufa region in 32nd Reserve Rifle Division. Based on the results of the check and the testimony of comrades, he was reinstated in rank and presented for awards. He was married and had three children in the city of Nizhneudinsk.