Svistunov Vasiliy Yegorovich
Personal combat feat and merits: Svistunov V. E., serving as the commander of the repair of electrical and radio equipment subdivision showed courage and bravery, skillfully organized subdivision work during the fighti to defeat the East Prussian group in the suburbs of Heiligenbal and Koenigsberg. He provided fast and high-quality repair of electrical equipment for tanks and vehicles. For the period from March 13 to April 10, 1945 under his leadership and personal participation the electrical equipment wad repaired on 27 tanks. Svistunov V. E. took personal initiative and restored 35 captured batteries in the field, repaired and started up the captured power station. He achieved correct and smooth operation of the charging station. Vasily Yegorovich Svistunov (13.10. 1919 – 15.03.1996) was born in a peasant family. He started working early. Finishing school grades, Vasily grew up. He was interested in nature, painting, music and was actively engaged in sports. He was especially attracted to chess, in which in 1938 Vasily became the champion not only in the city, but also the region. Soon after graduation, he was appointed as an instructor for the region Committee for physical education and sports, and he brought his first salary to his mother that she was immensely happy about. It was 1939. A military conflict with Japan began at the reiver of Khalkhin-Gol. Vasily along with other young men from Novokuznetsk was sent for the military service to the Transbaikal Military District. On June 22, 1941,they learned that the war with Germany had begun. Soon Vasily Svistunov along with his comrades in the service went to the place in the military echelon, headed West, where the war was already ragingin. They knew they were going to the front. Vasily Yegorovich recalled: "I remember July 16, 1941 very well. It was a dark and still night with light and warm drizzle. There was a huge glow of fire. It was Smolensk that was burning. We had to cross the Dnieper. 25-30 enemy planes circled the river around the clock. The parachutes lights were hanging at night over Dnieper. Since there was little time to find a convenient place to cross, we went to the river with a certain risk. We went on foot to the bank of Dnieper. When we came close, we saw a stunning picture: an area of about 400-500 meters along the entire bank, where only the eye could see was covered with broken cars, carts, dead horses, a huge number of different things: medals, papers and even lots of money – thirty rubles bills. Surprisingly, none of us then bent down to take a single bill. Now it is difficult to explain why we did not take the money. Either we did not have time for that or we didn't see the point in the money anymore. Two days later, in the dead of night our unit safely crossed Dnieper to get to the left bank of the river and took up defensive positions. We were lucky. It was raining heavily that night and visibility was poor even when German missiles were burning in the sky. During the famous Yelninsky military operation, the 16th army was instructed to launch the offensive operation. I found myself in the thick of things, having received an important task - together with a dedicated communications officer to deliver orders and reports from the regiment's command post to the division headquarters in a timely manner. On the way, there was a strong shaking. It turned out that the explosion of a mine tore off part the vehicle. We ourselves were miraculously unharmed, although death was waiting for us every minute. When we reached the command post, the officer ran to report on the execution of the order. Soon he came out a bit happy. It turned out that the commander of the regiment expressed gratitude to him and to me for completing the combat mission." Vasily Yegorovich described the events that followed in detail in an unfinished book, where he tells about his entire life. For four years V. E. Svistunov fought with the Nazis, met and lost friends. All his life after that, the Victory Day was a special and seint day for him. Vasily Yegorovich Svistunov participated in the battles near Moscow. He met Victory Day in East Prussia and joined the Communist party at the front. For participation in the Great Patriotic war, exemplary performance of command tasks, he was awarded with the Red Star order.
