Tsaplin Alexander Mikhailovich was born on May 22, 1919. The teacher, before being drafted into the army, worked as a teacher of mathematics and physics in the village of Voroshilovo, Penza region. He served in the army from February 1940 to October 1945, at the front from June 22, 1941 to May 9, 1945. As part of the 52 Riga-Berlin Guards Orders of Lenin, Suvorov, Kutuzov rifle division took part: 1. In the Battle of Stalingrad - from July 17, 1942 to February 2, 1943 2. In the Battle of Kursk - Defense on the southern face of the Kursk Bulge from March 18, 1943 until the end of September 1943. 3. In the battles in the Pskov region - in October 1943, the division was redeployed to the Nevel area and conducted an active defense from November 1943 to July 1944. 4. In the battles for the liberation of Estonia and Latvia. 5. In the liberation of Poland. 6. In the storming of Berlin. From personal notes: “In the Battle of Stalingrad he took part in the rank of deputy. political instructor as commander of the gun crew. On the Stalingrad, Southwestern and Don fronts, he participated in defensive battles in the area of ​​the city of Serafimovich, art. Kletskaya, Melokletskaya, etc. Since November 19, 1942, he participated in breaking through the Nazi defense in the area of ​​the Kletskaya stanitsa and encircling the enemy grouping in the Rastopinskaya stanitsa, where on November 23, 1942, our division under the command of General N.D. Kozin. captured more than 2,300 enemy soldiers and officers, a large number of military equipment and 5,000 horses. For this feat, by order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Comrade Stalin, on November 27, 1942, our 63rd Rifle Division was awarded the rank of Guards, and our 26th Artillery Regiment received the name of the 124th Guards Artillery Regiment of the 52nd Rifle Division. After the complete encirclement of the German grouping, our division waged heavy defensive-offensive battles south of the village of Marinovka. To avoid unnecessary bloodshed, by order of the regiment commissar, Major Zakharov, I, together with the deputy. the political instructor of the battery Tsvetkov carried out work on agitation of the surrounded fascists with the aim of surrendering them. We made our way to the enemy trenches and, through the mouthpiece, conveyed appeals from the command of the Don Front to German soldiers and officers with an appeal to end resistance. From 05.12.1942 to 05.01.1943 in the battle of Stalingrad he was twice wounded. On June 24, 1942, near the town of Serafimovich, and on January 26, 1943, he was seriously wounded and contused at the Mamayev Kurgan. He was awarded the medal "For the Defense of Stalingrad" by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated December 22, 1942, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Comrade Stalin, announced three thanks. "