Branch of troops: Artillery_x000D_ Vasily Petrovich Skarga was a Commander of the Mortar Crew of the 24th Guards Cavalry Regiment (5th Guards Cavalry Division, 3rd Guards Cavalry Corps, 2nd Belorussian Front), Guard Senior Sergeant. Vasily Petrovich Skarga was born into a peasant family in the village of Alinovka [Rossoshanskiy district]], Voronezh Region. He graduated from the 6th grade of School, worked in kolkhoz. _x000D_ In July 1942, he was drafted into the ranks of the Red Army at the Mikhailovsky District Military Commissariat of the Voronezh Region. In the battles in the Grodno Region near the village of Yashchebna on July 20-25, 1944, the Guard Senior Sergeant Skarga with his crew destroyed 2 machine guns and a platoon of enemy soldiers, which ensured the Squadron's combat mission. By order of the 3rd Guards Cavalry Corps on August 6, 1944, he was awarded the Order of Glory, 3rd degree. _x000D_ On January 31, 1945, during the offensive battles in the area of the town of Orneta, Warmia and Mazury Voivodeship, the Guard Senior Sergeant Skarga and his crew destroyed 3 enemy machine-gun points and over 10 soldiers. In the offensive battles on February 16, 1945 in the area of the town of Konitz (Chojnice in the Pomeranian Voivodeship), he, in command of his crew, destroyed 2 machine guns and over 10 enemy soldiers.By order of the 2nd Belorussian Front on March 6, 1945, he was awarded the Order of Glory, 2nd degree. _x000D_ In a battle on the outskirts of the city of Hindenberg (Eastern Prignitz-Ruppin, Lindov (Mark)), Guard Senior Sergeant Skarga, personally finding out the location of the enemy's firepower, destroyed 3 firing points with his crew and a sub-machine gunners detachment, which made it possible to complete the combat mission for the Squadron. On the same day, his crew destroyed 2 firing points, scattered and struck many enemy soldiers in the area of the settlement of Tsekhov, 8 km west of Hindenberg, which allowed the vanguard of the Regiment to seize the airfield. By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of June 29, 1945, he was awarded the Order of Glory, 1st degree. _x000D_ Guard Starshina Skarga was demobilized in December 1947. He graduated from the mechanization School in the city of Grozny, after which he was sent to the city of Tikhoretsk, Krasnodar Territory. He worked as a minder in the Tikhoretsk road repair and construction Department. _x000D_ In 1985, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Victory, he was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.