Branch of Service: Artillery._x000D_ The military history of my father, Oleg Smirnov, begins in 1940. After completing the 10th grade of Irbit High School, he was called up to the Pacific Fleet for active military service. From the training unit on the island of Russian father was assigned to the submarine in the position of helmsman. At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, my father was eager to go to the front in the area of military actions. After repeatedly submitting reports, he was seconded as a volunteer to the marine brigade._x000D_ In the winter of 1941-42, as member of brigade, my father took part in the offensive near Moscow, on the Kalinin front. In 1942, my father was sent to the 2nd Guards Omsk Artillery and Mortar School, and graduated with the rank of Lieutenant in March 1943._x000D_ From the spring of 1943 to the beginning of 1945, he fought on the Leningrad Front in a rank of Lieutenant and First Lieutenant, commanded the installation of Guards mortars (the famous "Katyusha"), and later commanded a battery of such mortars. Soldiers and officers of the front gave half of their meager food rations to be sent along the "Road of life" to those residents of Leningrad who remained in the city. Until the end of his life, my father could not calmly watch if food was thrown away, and even more so bread._x000D_ After the siege of Leningrad was lifted, the 2nd Guards Mortar Brigade of the 5th Artillery Division of RSC, which included my father's battery, participated in the liberation of the Baltic States from the Nazis, in particular Estonia and Tallinn. With the 1st Belorussian Front, he took part in the liberation of Warsaw from the Nazis._x000D_ My father, Oleg Smirnov, Guards First Lieutenant, commander of the Katyush battery, took part in the battle of Berlin, and then the exit to the Oder-spree canal, where his unit was stationed until 1947._x000D_ My father was wounded in battle. He was discharged in March 1947._x000D_ Awarded Orders of the Red Star, Patriotic War, medals For the Defense of Moscow, For the Defense of Leningrad, and the Liberation of Warsaw, For Capture of Berlin, For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic war 1941-1945, various jubilee medals and awards._x000D_ After returning from the front, he graduated from the Moscow Plekhanov Institute of People’s Economy. Worked for GOSPLAN of USSR and GOSPLAN of RSFSR. After retiring in 1982, he took an active part in the work of the Council of veterans of the Great Patriotic War._x000D_ He died in July 1986. He was buried at the Vagankovo cemetery.