The Great Patriotic War

Title: Red Army soldier. _x000D_ My uncle Nikolai Ivanovich Plotnikov was born on April 17, 1916 in the village. Novye Burasy, Novoburasky district, Saratov region. Plotnikov Nikolai Ivanovich, Red Army soldier, non-partisan, had been in the Red Army since October 1937. He was called up by the Bazaar-Karabulak Military Comissariat, Saratov region. From June 22, 1941 to August 31, 1941, he was a part of 134th Separate Autobatalion of 21st Army in the area of Mogilev, Rogachev, Gomel, Minsk. Since August 31, 1941, he served in the protection of the rear of the Active Red Army, South-Western Front, now 3rd Ukrainian Front, as part of 91st Belgrade Red Banner Border Regiment of the NKVD troops. _x000D_ Nikolai Ivanovich was seriously wounded, a shrapnel wound to the limb of his left leg on August 31, 1941. Being the driver of an armored personnel carrier of 134 Separate Autobatalion of 21st Army, he repeatedly participated in combats against the Nazi troops in the region of Minsk, Mogilev, Rogachev, Gomel in June, July and August 1941. 12 times he drove machine gunners in an armored personnel carrier to reconnaissance behind enemy lines. He personally killed 7 German soldiers incombat. With a direct hit on the transporter, he was seriously wounded on August 31, 1941. When leaving the enemy's encirclement in the area of st. Krasny Kolodez, Oryol Oblast, he personally killed one traitor who betrayed communists and wounded Red Army soldiers to the Germans. _x000D_ From 6 to 18 October 1944, with the destruction of the German group in the area with. Salash (Yugoslavia) and the liberation of Belgrade under artillery and mortar fire, being a driver of a passenger car, he delivered reports to the command in a timely manner, thereby providing timely operational leadership. For the display of courage in combats against the German fascist invaders and impeccable service in the position held by Comrade Plotnikov Nikolay Ivanovich was awarded the state award the Order of the Red Star. _x000D_ He was also awarded the medal "For Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War in 1941-1945", medals "20 years of Victory in the 1941-1945 war", "30 years of Victory in the 1941-1945 war" _x000D_ After the war, Nikolai Ivanovich Plotnikov returned home alive. He worked as a driver in the Bazaar Karabulak. As a child, every summer I came to my uncle on vacation. He was kind, sympathetic, loved children very much, and often took me to work with him. Nikolai Ivanovich Plotnikov died on January 27, 1985. He was buried in the cemetery of Bazaar Karabulak.

Rank: Red Army Soldier_x000D_ Unit: 42nd Infantry Division (1st formation) _x000D_ _x000D_ My father, Grigory Dmitrievich Podurets, was born in the Kirovograd region, Novomirgorodsky district, in the village Kamenka on December 5, 1902. In June 1941, he went to the front. I was 5 years old then. Our family did not have time to evacuate, we lived under Nazi occupation. We had never received any news from our father, we did not know whether he was alive. _x000D_ We received a missing in action notice after the end of the war. _x000D_ It was only many years later that we learned from the military archives that my father was killed in the Rzhev-Sychevsk combat, in the Smolensk region, Karmanovsky district, near the village of Vorobino on August 11, 1942. _x000D_ Unfortunately, no details are known to this day. I am already 80 years old, I live in Moscow, a poet, I wrote 10 books, each of which contains many poems dedicated to the war and my father. These poems are set to music and performed by children in music schools.

Date of birth: 01.01.1898 _x000D_ DATE OF DEATH: _x000D_ Title: Senior Sergeant _x000D_ Division: 308th Red Banner Infantry Division _x000D_ Being an employee of the transport department of the OGPU in Abatsk, 308th Rifle Division, he participated in the combats at Stalingrad as Assistant Platoon Commander, Senior Sergeant, was wounded in the area of the Kotluban station (5 km south-west of the Samofalovka farm, Stalingrad region, Gorodishchensky district). _x000D_ At first there was information that Padyshev was missing, and he was taken to the hospital with a serious wound. He was commissioned and sent to Communist party work at the place of conscription. Then he moved with his family to Klaipeda. The Division was formed in March-June 1942 in the city of Omsk on the basis of an infantry school by Colonel Leonty Nikolayevich Gurtyev, mainly from the servicemen of the Omsk infantry military school, residents of the Omsk region, Altai Territory, Gorny Altai. _x000D_ The Commander of 351 Rifle Regiment of the newly formed 308 Rifle Division was appointed, in March 1942, Major Savkin Grigory Ivanovich. At the end of May 1942, 308th Infantry Division was redeployed to the Volga Military District in the region of the city of Saratov. _x000D_ On August 19, 1942, the Division under the command of Colonel Gurtyev went to the front. Her path was to Stalingrad, where fierce combats had been going on for two months. The first echelon of the Division reached the destination station of the Kumalcha crossing and by the end of September 6, 1942 reached the line of Kotluban-Samokhvalovka points in the Stalingrad region. _x000D_ Together with other units of the Division, the Regiment first entered into combat with the enemy as part of 24th army of the Stalingrad Front on September 10, 1942 in the area of the Kotluban state farm (north-west of Stalingrad). It was necessary to capture the Borodkin farm and the heights of 133.4; 143.8 and 154.2. The Division was supported by troops of 217 tank brigades, 136 mortar, 1936 heavy Artillery Regiment, four "PC" Divisions. The enemy unleashed powerful artillery, mortar, aviation, and tank fire on the troops of the Division. But the fascist troops could not do anything, did not break the fighting spirit and persistence of the Siberian soldiers. They fulfilled the combat mission with honor: they detained the Nazis in the offensive against Stalingrad. During the period from 10 to 24 September 1942, the Gurtievites destroyed 11 thousand Nazis, 12 mortars, 3 artillery batteries, burned 19 tanks, shot down 3 aircraft. _x000D_ The Commander of 351st Infantry Regiment, Major Savkin Grigory Ivanovich, missed in action on September 18, 1942; he was excluded from the lists of the Red Army by order of the Chief of the Main Directorate of Formation and Manning of the Red Army Troops No. 01048 / pr dated 11/08/1942, as missing. _x000D_ 308th Infantry Division was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for exemplary performance of the command's combat missions in thecombat on the Volga, and all participants were awarded the medal For Defense of Stalingrad. For the exemplary performance of combat missions of the command and the massive heroism of personnel in combats in the Oryol direction, the 351th Rifle Regiment was reorganized into 339th Guards (9/23/1943) by the order of the People's Commissar of Defense, and 308th Rifle Division was renamed into 120th Guards Rifle Division.

Branch of troops: Artillery _x000D_ I was born in Moscow into a working class family and studied in high school. In 1938 I joined the Komsomol, but in December 1939 I had to leave school (in 9th grade) due to the hard financial situation in the family. Since December 1939 I began working in the Sokolniki branch of the Mosgorbank, from where I voluntarily left for the active army. _x000D_ On 20th of March 1942, I arrived at the Field Army Artillery Depot No. 1404 of the Kalininsky, then North-Western, 1st Baltic fronts, where I was engaged in ammunition accounting, secret office work and acted as a typist. The Field Army Artillery Depot was part of 4th Shock Army. With this military unit I moved along the roads of war of the Kalinin, Smolensk regions, Belarus, the Baltic states (Latvia, Lithuania). Our army liberated many cities and towns: Toropets, Staraya Toropa, Peno, Ostashkov, Torzhok, Pochinok, Velizh, Nevel, Polotsk, participated in the destruction of the German group at Libava (Liepaja). _x000D_ Victory Day was celebrated in Darbenai of the Lithuanian SSR. In May 1944, I was accepted as a member of the Communist Party. The mission of our unit was to prevent the enemy from discovering our territory and timely deliver ammunition and weapons to the front line of 4 Shock Army. _x000D_ At the end of the war, we left the Baltic States only in September 1945 after trophies were collected and all property was shipped inland, and our warehouse was sent to the disposal of the TukVO headquarters. In June 1946, the warehouse was disbanded. _x000D_ From December 1950 to October 1952 I worked as an accountant, and then Chief Accountant for the Arys garrison. In December 1952, I left with my family for Moscow, as my husband was transferred to the disposal of a group of Soviet troops in Germany. In March 1954, I also went to GDR, where I was until September 1958, when my husband (Aleksei Aleksandrovich Polovodov) retired due to illness, and my family and I moved to Nyazepetrovsk. _x000D_ In Nyazepetrovsk I worked in the House of Pioneers, Secondary School No. 1 and for 13 years worked in the District committee of the Communist Party as an assistant to 1st secretary, then Head of the general department of the District committee of the Communist Party. _x000D_ I retired in November 1979. As a retired woman, I worked at the State Human Resources Department as a personnel inspector, and since December 1983 as the executive secretary of the organization of the Society “Znanie”. During this time, I carried out various party and public assignments, was elected Chairman of the women's council of a unit, city, secretary of a party organization, a member of the District committee of the Communist Party. For 13 years I had been elected Chairman of the District committee and a member of the regional committee of the Trade Union for cultural workers, for which I was awarded the honorary badge “For active work in trade unions.” _x000D_ Awards: “For Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945”, "Twenty years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945", sign “25 years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War ”, "For valiant labor in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin" "Thirty years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945", commemorative breastplate of the Veteran of 4th Shock Army, "60 years of the Armed Forces of the USSR", "Veteran of labour". _x000D_ The fact that I had been in the active army ( Field Army Artillery Depot No. 1404 of military unit 28777), 4 Shock Army made the corresponding entries in the labour record book and I was awarded a medal as a participant in the Great Patriotic War. Recorded by Nina Stepanovna Polovodova.

DATE OF BIRTH: 12/01/1924 _x000D_ DATE OF DEATH: 01/23/1944 _x000D_ Title: Red Army Soldier_x000D_ Subdivision: 3rd Guards Motorized Rifle Division. Nikolai Ivanovich Potapov was born into the family of Ivan Andreevich and Maria Ivanovna Potapovs. He was the eldest son. After graduating from a seven-year school, 17-year-old Nikolai was called up to serve in the Army on August 23, 1942. His uncle Pavel Andreevich Potapov was a Colonel, then on 06/03/1944 became a Major General, he wanted to transfer Nikolai to his Rifle Division. The plan did not come true due to the hard wartime. Major General P.A. Potapov passed away on August 24, 1944 near the city of Tartu, Estonian SSR. _x000D_ Nikolai had reached Hungary, where he was seriously wounded and passed away from a great loss of blood in the hands of his comrade. Nikolai's friend wrote about this in a letter to relatives in Moscow, where Nikolai's uncle, Pyotr Andreyevich Potapov, and his cousins, Zinaida and Valentina, lived. At home, they did not know that the son and brother had passed away and until the very end they hoped that he would return from the war. _x000D_ On a sunny July day in 1947, his mother Maria Ivanovna came home sad and announced to her 13-year-old daughter Vera: "Nicholai was killed." _x000D_ In her hands she was holding a death notification. Later, relatives who had received a letter from a friend of Nikolai admitted that they did not tell Maria Ivanovna about the death of her son on purpose. _x000D_ Until the end of their days, the mother and wife kept and cherished the memory of the son and husband who did not return from the war. Many years after the Victory over the Nazis, I received a letter from pioneer pathfinders, who reported that her son Nikolai Ivanovich Potapov was buried in a mass grave in Hungary in the city of Bicske and invited me to come to the grave. Maria Ivanovna refused to travel. I later explained her refusal by the fact that she was not ready to go through the loss of her son. _x000D_ The name of Nikolai Ivanovich Potapov is immortalized on a memorial, where rallies are held annually on the Victory Day, and where relatives and friends come to bow to the dead soldiers-fellow villagers.

Title: Sergeant _x000D_ Subdivision: 205th Infantry Division of the Gdynia Order of Suvorov _x000D_ Grigory Tarasovich Platonenkov was born on October 21, 1907 in the village of Shkoreki, Porechsky District, Smolensk province (now the Demidovsky District of the Smolensk Region) in the peasant family of Taras Efimovich and Stepanida Ilyinichna Platonenkovs. He was the second child of six children. He graduated from the 3rd grade of primary school and started working early as a shepherd. Upon reaching the age of 18, he was sent to serve in the Red Army. After finishing his service he moved to Smolensk and got a job in the militia. After the death of his parents in the mid-30s, together with his younger sister Maria, he moved to Siberia, where he continued to serve in the militia. _x000D_ From the very beginning of the war, he requested to be sent to the front, since he had an exemption from active duty as a good worker. He enters the Karelian Front in February 1942. He fought as Squad Commander of 1st platoon of 293rd Separate Reconnaissance Company of 205th Rifle Division. He was wounded four times in battles: on August 5, 1942, July 2, 1943, August 31, 1943, December 27, 1943. _x000D_ He went out on reconnaissance sorties behind enemy lines many times. By November 1943, he had made 25 night patrol sweeps. In February-April 1943, Platonenkov entered the German trenches several times and fought a grenade combat. On July 2, 1943 he joined combat with an enemy ambush and defeated it, but was wounded at the same time. On March 17, 1945, Platonenkov was one of the first in the company to rise to the attack and burst into the enemy's location, helping to eliminate the threat of a breakthrough of the Soviet defensive lines. _x000D_ He ended the war on Bornholm Island, Denmark, in May 1945. Upon returning to Smolensk, he continued to work in the Soviet Militia. He worked as a sentry, precinct, and also guarded important state facilities. _x000D_ After retirement, he was engaged in raising grandchildren (3 grandchildren and 1 granddaughter). He saw the birth of his great-grandson. He passed away on November 27, 2003 at the age of 96. He was buried at the New, or Novodevichy cemetery in the city of Smolensk, located at 7 km of the Roslavl shosse.

Rank: Corporal_x000D_ Branch of troops: Armored and Mechanized troops. _x000D_ My great-grandfather, Innokenty Khrisanfovich Pisarev, from 1941 to 1946 had served in the tank forces in the Far East and was a participant in the Manchurian operation. It is hard to say what time was more hard for the Far Eastern outskirts of Russia either a pre-war protracted conflict, four years of a formal truce or the final month of hostilities in World War II. _x000D_ He had never talked about what happened there on the Japanese front, at that time everyone was proud of the heroes who defeated Germany. The soldiers who defended the Soviet frontiers from saboteurs built defensive structures, lived in trenches for years without uniforms, weapons, food, medicine ... People rotted alive in humid climate and mud. After all, "everything for the front, everything For Victory" was sent to the Western Front ... _x000D_ My grandfather finished the war with the rank of corporal, a Studebaker truck driver. He was awarded the medal "For Victory over Japan". Since the war, his wife and two children ("pre-war", as the great-grandmother said) were waiting for him in the village of Tsagakshino, Chita Region. Grandmother, Buzina Evdokia Petrovna, during the war worked at a school, taught local and evacuated children, for which she was awarded the title of "Veteran of the Home Front". _x000D_ And the great-grandfather fell in love with the East for the rest of his life, and two "post-war" children (Tatyana and Anatoly) were born to them in the Amur Region (the settlements Mazanovo and Beloyarovo). _x000D_ In 1957, the family moved to the villageVerkh-Usugli, they built a house. My grandfather worked as a driver at the Studebaker, drove miners, my grandmother was a Head of a kindergarten. Our Innokenty Khrisanfovich passed away after a second heart attack at the age of 49. Great-grandmother outlived her husband by 34 years, (she passed away in 2001). She fulfilled her husband's desire, she went to live in the Amur Region (Svobodny town).

Title: Major General _x000D_ Division: 69th Rifle Sevskaya, twice Red Banner Orders of Suvorov and Kutuzov Division. _x000D_ Peter Prokofievich was born in the village of Trudy, Verkhovsky District, Oryol Region on August 20, 1918, into a family of peasants, Russian by nationality. In 1935 he graduated from 9 classes of the Verkhovskaya Secondary School in parallel, he studied in absentia at the Oryol Financial and Economic College. On October 10, 1939, he was drafted into the Red Army and sent to the city of Blagoveshchensk to serve in 12th Rifle Division of 214th Rifle Regiment with the rank of Private. In 1940 he was enlisted as a Cadet at the Khabarovsk Infantry School. He graduated from the school with the second grade and was immediately sent to the Volga Military District as Commander of a machine-gun company 1152 Rifle Regiment of 344 Rifle Division. In December 1941, he was appointed Commander of the 3rd Rifle Battalion 1152 Suvorov Regiment 344 Suvorov Division. The division joined the Western Front, where for the first time on 10/01/1942, Pyotr Prokofievich fought with a Battalion. He commanded the Battalion until May 1942, and during this time he was twice wounded and awarded the Order of the Red Banner for "excellent and skillful repulsing of massive attacks by enemy tanks and infantry", and was also appointed Commander of the Tarining Battalion 344 Suvorov Division. In October 1942, Pyotr Prokofievich was appointed Deputy Commander 1152 Suvorov Regiment. 344 Suvorov Division, and in the last days of December 1942 he was appointed Commander of 303 Suvorov Regiment 69 Suvorov Division. In September 1944, due to a severe injury, Pyotr Prokofievich left for the hospital for treatment in the city of Chkalov, where he lay until December 1944. After recovery, he was sent to 65th Army and until March 1945 he commanded 95th formation of 193 Suvorov Division. In March 1945 he was appointed Commander of 130th Guards Suvorov Regiment of 44th Guards Suvorov Division. _x000D_ Pyotr Prokofievich finished the war in the area of the city of Rostock. In December 1945 he was appointed Deputy Commander of 75 Guards Suvorov Regiment 26 Guards Suvorov Division. Subsequently, Pyotr continued to serve in the ranks of the Armed Forces. USSR, and in 1961 he was appointed to the post of Military Commissioner of the Crimea, which he had held until his retirement in 1977 with the rank of Major General.

Title: Senior Lieutenant_x000D_ Branch of troops: Armored and Mechanized troops_x000D_ Alexander Popov was a part of the heroic and terrible combat at the Kursk Bulge. He graduated from the Ulyanovsk Ordzhonikidze Military School. In 1942 he was sent as a Junior Lieutenant to the Kostenevsky tank camp near Moscow and was appointed Commander of a command platoon. Their 64th Tank Regiment was sent to the Leningrad Front, to the Staraya Russa Region, where the Regiment joined the 3rd Mechanized Corps, commanded by General Katukov at the time when the Nazis besieged Leningrad. _x000D_ According to my grandfather, the enemy covered them with artillery fire, bombed them from the air. It was hard for the tankers. Swamps and forests are everywhere. In January 1943 they broke through the siege of Leningrad. _x000D_ After the combat of Stalingrad, Popov A.A. was transferred to the 3rd Guards Stalingrad Mechanized Corps as Platoon Commander. They were stationed in the town of Oboyan, which is near Belgorod. Here the enemy inflicted a powerful tank strike with seven hundred tanks of selected tank divisions. On 5 June, a fierce tank combat broke out. The Nazis launched an offensive at dawn. Hundreds, hundreds of new heavy "tigers", "panthers", self-propelled guns "Ferdinand" were thrown against the Soviet troops. Our medium tanks against these colossus, dying in flames without hesitation, without a doubt in their hearts, rammed these colossus. In that combat, our artillery ground the enemy with “Katyusha”. But the Nazis concentrated huge forces there, the battlefield was covered with smoke of conflagrations. _x000D_ My grandfather was part of the most fierce combat near Prokhorovka of the same the 3rd Stalingrad Mechanized Corps. 1200 tanks fought on both sides. They knocked out and rammed each other, converged "armor on armor". Many kilometers were burning with the stench of burnt human flesh. The enemy did not pass, German wermacht had lost the combat on the Kursk Bulge. _x000D_ In that combat on the Kursk Bulge, the corps was left practically without tanks. In this combat, Alexander Afanasyevich earned the Order of the Patriotic War of 1st degree. The second Order was for capture of the city Belgorod, when his corps captured 22 German "tigers" and turned them against the Nazis. Having received reinforcements from the rear: the columns "Stalingrad kolkhoznik" and "Azerbaijani kolkhoznik", set off further, clearing Gadyach, Akhtyrka, Zolotonosha. Having reached the river Dnieper, Alexander Aanasyevich, in the first boat crossed the river and laid a connection to coordinate the fire. A mention of this military action is described in the book "From the Volga to the Baltic" by A.M. Samsonov. _x000D_ The boat was covered by the enemy’s fire at the very shore. Division Commander, watching the forcing through binoculars, saw human body parts flying after the explosion. Нe nominated Alexander Popov for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously. But suddenly the connection was restored, and, after all, the grandfather remained alive. Somehow in the fire of war his military action was forgotten, but my grandfather did not fight for the title after all. In the ranks of this Guards Mechanized Corps, Alexander Afanasyevich walked along many military roads and ended the war in China with three orders of the Patriotic War, the Order of the Red Star, numerous medals and posthumously not awarded title of the Hero of the Soviet Union.

Rank: Red Army Soldier_x000D_ My great-grandfather, Pyotr Alekseevich Potapov was born on June 19, 1918 in the village Konstantinovskoe. On May 25, 1941, he was called up for military service. The war came when he, together with others, was building an airfield near Kharkov in 553rd Construction Battalion. They had to retreat together with their Battalion. In July 1941, the Battalion was defeated. Pyotr Alekseevich, miraculously survived, joined 535th Sumy Construction Battalion and was building a fortification on the outskirts of Stalingrad. _x000D_ In August 1942 he was transferred to Kamyshin. Here he built bridges for crossing the Volga. In February 1943, he was restoring 51st Red Army Military Plant in Stalingrad. Moving to the west following the advancing troops, he took part in the restoration of the “Hammer and Sickle” plant in Kharkov, and restored the city from the ruins. _x000D_ Until the middle of the summer of 1947, he carried out the hard service of a soldier. As my great-grandfather later recalled, it was especially hard near Stalingrad, when I often had to put aside the tool, take up arms and fight off the furiously advancing enemy. For military and labor exploits, Pyotr received many state awards, including medals "For Defense of Stalingrad", "For Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945", "For the development of virgin and fallow lands". In 1957 he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor. Pyotr Alekseevich passed away in 1996.

CITY: Kirov Region Kotelnichsky District, village Petukhovy _x000D_ DATE OF BIRTH: 08/20/1919 _x000D_ DATE OF DEATH: 09/26/1987 _x000D_ Rank: Lieutenant _x000D_ Branch of troops: Armored and Mechanized troops_x000D_ Petukhov Pyotr Grigorievich was born in the Kirov Region (then Vyatka province) into a simple peasant family. He began to work early, helping his parents with the housework, graduated from a seven-year school and a worker’s school. He was drafted into the Red Army in the fall of 1939 by the Kotelnichsky District military enlistment office of the Kirov Region. In 1940-1941 he worked his way up from an ordinary Red Army soldier to the Commander of a Chemical department. Graduated from the Kuibyshev Military Infantry School in 1942. _x000D_ He had been a participant of the Great Patriotic War since August 1943. He fought in the 1st Mechanized Krasnograd Red Banner Corps, which was part of the 53rd and 37th Armies of the Steppe, since October 1943 of 2nd Ukrainian Front. He took an active part in the liberation of the Belgorod Region, the cities of Kharkov and Poltava, Kremenchug, the crossing of the Dnieper. _x000D_ In the late autumn of 1943, he was seriously wounded. He underwent treatment in the hospital, however, many years later we learned that from the hospital, my grandfather and his friend escaped without finishing treatment not to stay behind their military unit. Since June 1944, Lieutenant Petukhov, had been a Head of the Chemical service of a Company, then of the 3rd Motorized Rifle Battalion of 37th Mechanized Brigade of 1st Mechanized Corps. _x000D_ He took an active part in the operation "Bagration" for Liberation of Belarus. The cities of Slutsk, Slonim, Brest, hundreds of villages and villages, these are the milestones of the combat path of Peter Grigorievich across the Belarusian land. The corps, in which my grandfather fought, was part of the Mechanized Cavalry Group of General I.A. Pliev, then 28th Army of General A.A.Luchinsky, and since the fall of 1944, he had been part of 2nd Guards Tank Army of S.I. Bogdanov. _x000D_ For the distinction in the liberation of the city of Slutsk, 37th Mechanized Brigade was awarded the honorary title "Slutsk". Further, the corps went for Poland, the battles to cross the Vistula and the assault on the Warsaw suburb of Prague. In January 1945, Pyotr Grigorievich's combat path ran through the Polish capital Warsaw, the cities of Sochaczew, Skierniewice, Lowicz and Bydgoszcz. He took part in the liberation of these cities, for which he was distinguished with the Commendation of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. In February 1945, Pyotr Grigorievich was awarded the Order of the Red Star for his successful reconnaissance behind enemy lines.

Rank: KGB Captain_x000D_ Branch of troops: the USSR Navy and the Naval Forces of the NKVD border troops. _x000D_ Pavel Fedorovich had served in the army since 1932, he met the beginning of the war in Molotovsk. During the war, he served as an operative of the counterintelligence department of the Northern Fleet "SMERSH" on Novaya Zemlya. _x000D_ During the Great Patriotic War, Molotovsk and Arkhangelsk were among the country's seaports, which received lend-lease cargo from allied countries. To protect them, bases and airfields were built on Novaya Zemlya, Pavel Fedorovich Postoev took an active part in this in the polar winter, for which in 1943 he was awarded the medal "For Courage". When the territory of our country was liberated from the Nazis, the struggle did not end for Pavel, he continued to fight against armed nationalist formations in Western Ukraine (“Banderites”) and in Latvia (“forest brothers”). _x000D_ In addition, Pavel Fedorovich also had medals "For Military Merit", "For Defense of the Soviet Polar Region", "For Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945", the Order of the Red Star and the Red Banner. _x000D_ Pavel Fedorovich lived with his family in the city of Orel in the post-war years, where he passed away in 1986.

Title: Junior Lieutenant _x000D_ Branch of troops: Aviation_x000D_ Pakhomov Artem Evstigneevich was born in 1922 in the Petrushin farm in the Volgograd Region. Since 15 years old he had a dream to become a geologist. This romantic profession attracted him. But destiny had other plans for him. On the day when he was handed a school graduation certificate of maturity with excellent grades, the postman served a summons to the Pakhomovs' house. The summer of 1940 was peaceful. _x000D_ The years of study at the Stalingrad Aviation School were passing by painfully long. The cadets eagerly caught the reports of the Information Bureau on military actions and looked forward to the day of graduation. Everyone was eager to go to the war front. For three years he learned the art of piloting and air combat. And finally, he made farewell to the school, to friends, to pilot-instructors. _x000D_ He flew his first combat mission in 1944. In total, he made 632 flights during the war, flying more than 200 hours in the air. In less than two years, he participated in 78 air battles. He has three shot down German fighters on his account. The first Focke-Wulf -190 was shot down by my grandfather on February 22, 1945. _x000D_ The squadron consisting of Ponomarev, my grandfather Pakhomov, Supkhankulov and Budilin was preparing for the combat mission. The command was given to the pilots: "Readiness # 1". Each of them was in the cockpit of the fighter. Red rocket soared, the signal for takeoff. _x000D_ Artem Yevstigneevich buttoned up his headset and heard on the radio: "A large group of German air-crafts coming to the river crossing. The mission is to prevent them, meet them on enemy territory and frustrate the enemy's plans." _x000D_ The squadron Commander Semyon Ponomarev led the flight. His wing man was Artem Pakhomov. A few minutes later they crossed the front line. Ponomarev shouted: “Дook, I have counted 18 bombers.”_x000D_ Artem peered into the clouds. Flickering crosses, twin-e ngined aircrafts sailed, carrying heavy bombs. “Like striped perches in the depths of the river,” thought grandfather Artem and was surprised at this comparison. An unequal fight had started, led by an ace, Semyon Ponomarev, an experienced military pilot. The actions of four brave pilots violated the targets of the fascist bombers. They were forced to dump the deadly cargo on their territory. _x000D_ During the combat, Artyom Evstigneevich's aircraft was torn off from the others. And at that moment, when grandfather Artem looked around, turned the car on the course to his own, he noticed "Focke-Wulf". He went to it. He went to the frontal and, closing his eyes, pressed the trigger. When he opened his eyes, he noticed: a parachute was floating under the clouds. And below, with strong smoke, two aircrafts were rapidly falling. Already at the airfield, he learned that the aircraft of Sashka Sapkhankulov, a Tatar by nationality, had burned down. _x000D_ Friends silently lowered their heads: he could hardly go down alive, and if he were alive, then he landed on the territory of the enemy. And what was their surprise when on the second day this Sashka entered the barracks, safe and sound. _x000D_ Sashka looked at Artyom with gratitude. “Not only mine, but also the fascist aircraft that you knocked out burned down, Artyom. I could see how you collided. Otherwise, I would not make it.” _x000D_ The second aircraft was shot down by Artem Evstigneevich on the Oder, when he and Alexander Shigaev were defending the river crossing. The fight was short. Grandfather Artyom came in from the tail and hit it from the first turn. But he almost ran into the Messerschmitts himself. The third "Focke-Wulf"190 was shot down by his grandfather over Berlin. _x000D_ Artem Yevstigneevich returned from the front at the age of 23. For participation in the Great Patriotic War, he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner", the Order of the "Patriotic War of 2nd degree", medals: "For Capture of Berlin", "For Liberation of Warsaw", “For Victory over Germany.” He passed away in 1981.

Title: Sergeant _x000D_ Branch of troops: Artillery. _x000D_ Unit: 19th Vienna Artillery Order of Kutuzov Breakthrough Division. _x000D_ My uncle, Vasily Nikitovich Penkov, a participant in the Great Patriotic war, was born in the village of Sukmanovka, Zherdevsky District, Tambov region, on February 25, 1917, in a large peasant family with 9 brothers and one sister. All the brothers fought on the fronts of the Great Patriotic war. Four of them never returned from the war. My uncle was conscripted into the Red Army by the Radchinsky Comissariat of the Voronezh region in 1939. _x000D_ In June 1941, he went to the war front. He was enlisted in the 19th Guards Artillery Regiment, which was part of the Bryansk front, an artillery reserve of the Supreme Command for the quantitative and qualitative strengthening of artillery groups in the direction of the main blow. He was Sergeant, Deputy Political Commissar, a Commander of the Regiment's Department. He took part in the Voronezh-Voroshilovgrad strategic defensive operation as part of the Bryansk front, which was formed in August 1941. _x000D_ The fate of the 1st Bryansk front was generally tragic. The front could not stop the advancing forces of German Wehrmacht and was surrounded. In the end, having suffered a crushing defeat, the partially encircled 1st Bryansk front was liquidated in November 1941. The 2nd Bryansk front was formed a month after in December of the cold and terrible year for the Soviet people in 1941. The front participated in the defense of Moscow, in terrific and hard battles near Voronezh, in the offensive operation on Kharkov. _x000D_ My uncle did not like to think about the deadly battles near Voronezh. We didn't know anything about them. “It was the second Stalingrad,” we sometimes heard him saying. It turns out that the enemy's offensive on Voronezh was a surprise for our command. It was assumed that the enemy would again launch an offensive in the Moscow direction. But it was the other way around. The Germans struck at the junction of two fronts – the Bryansk and Southwestern. The bloody battle for Voronezh began. _x000D_ On July 6, 1942, the Germans captured part of the city, while destroying it from the air. The city did not give up, there were combats for every house and street. Not only the soldiers, but also the generals were killed in the battles. More than 20 thousand soldiers and officers were captured. Among them was my uncle Vasily Nikitovich Penkov. But a miracle happened! _x000D_ A few days later, our troops released a group of captured fighters during the battle, among them was Sergeant Penkov. This happened on July 15, 1942. What happened next, we can only guess. We know for sure that these days of captivity made his life difficult later. He never spoke about his life at the war front. He forbade us even to ask questions on military matters. _x000D_ Addressing our soldiers and commanders who fought for Voronezh, the poet A. Bezymensky wrote: _x000D_ Drown the enemy in the Don, burn it with fire, drive it to the grave! A fighter saving the whole country, You must defend Voronezh! _x000D_ Voronezh was defended in January 1943. My uncle is also responsible for this victory. The battle lasted 212 days and nights. The city was completely destroyed. Here is buried the entire 2nd Hungarian Royal army, 320 thousandth grouping of Romanian, Italian, and German units. The city became a city of Military glory. The memory of its defenders still lives in the hearts of all the people today. _x000D_ My uncle survived that terrible war. He married and lived all his life not in his Homeland in the Tambov region, but in the city of Chelyabinsk. There he passed away in 2008, having lived to his 90th birthday.

"HITLER - KAPUT, STALIN - GUT": _x000D_ HOW A SOVIET SOLDIER CAPTURED SEVEN GERMAN PRISONERS. _x000D_ My grandfather, Ivan Trofimovich Pavlov, was born in 1911 in the village of Sofievka, Ponomarevsky District, Orenburg Region. He worked as a driver at an oil base. At the very beginning of the war, he was mobilized to the front. He also fulfilled his military duty as a driver. He was wounded more than once. The car was wrecked, but he was alive and just injuried, had some treatment in a hospital and returned back to front-lines.So, he reached Berlin, stormed the Reichstag. After the war, he returned home only in 1946, he worked one year in Germany. _x000D_ Upon arrival in his native village, got a job, got married. He had two sons and a daughter. My grandfather told little about the war. He was laconic, and he did not like to remember those hard times. _x000D_ Once he told me this extraordinary incident that happened to him at the front: he rode early in the morning through the forest in a lorry one and a half on an military mission, and usually with a colleague. But the colleague was wounded on the eve of the trip and went to the hospital. The front line was far, and he was confident that the road would be safe. There was silence in the winter forest. The crunch of trees seemed to be heard from the severe frost. Suddenly he noticed a group of 7 people in camouflage coats with automatic weapons emerged from the forest. The Germans ... _x000D_ “Apparently, they lagged behind and made their way out … ” thought my grandfather. His heart sank with fear. A thought flashed: “That's it, the end!” He increased his speed, but the Germans stood in the middle of the road and directed their machine guns in his direction. I stopped the car involuntarily. The chilled Germans came closer and began to raise their hands up. At the same time, their Commander said loudly: "Hitler is kaput, Stalin is gut." My father was slowly coming to his senses. I expected a trick from them, but the Nazis behaved humbly. The Commander said in broken Russian that they were surrendering and gestured to the car and the road. Father realized that he needed to take them to our command. And he had no other way out. The soldiers got into the back, the German officer in the cockpit. They looked exhausted, and then it turned out that they were also hungry. When the father opened the glove compartment of the car, the German saw a loaf of bread and asked him to break it and give it to the soldiers. The road back seemed like an eternity to my father. At any moment, enemy soldiers could shoot at it through the rear window of the car. But it did not happen. He arrived safely at the unit and handed over voluntary prisoners. For a courageous act, the grandfather was presented for an award. There were many awards, it is a pity that we could not keep them. My grandfather passed away on May 7, 1964, a few days before the festivities in the country. He was 53 years old ... _x000D_ My grandmother Maria Zakharovna will soon be 91 years old. During the war, she worked on the the swamps for three years, extracted peat, cut it into pieces and dragged an overweight stretcher. She worked on a par with adults. During that harsh time, all Soviet people brought closer the long-awaited Victory Day as best they could. _x000D_ Low bow to you, front-line soldiers and home front workers for the feat of arms and selfless labor.