Born on November 13, 1923, in the village of Gushchino, Bobrovo-Dvorsky District, Kursk Region, in the family of a collective farmer. Before the war he studied at a secondary school in the Kursk region. Without finishing school, in October 1941 he was drafted into the Red Army and sent to the 224th artillery regiment in the Ulyanovsk region, the city of Melekess, where he became a scout. In March 1942, the regiment was transferred to the Western Front near the town of Sukhinichi and joined the 58th Infantry Division. The division fought offensive battles in the zone of the 50th Army in the direction of the Warsaw highway. Here he received the baptism of fire. In March 1943, he left for retraining in the 11th training tank regiment in Sverdlovsk, where he was trained as a tank gunner-radio operator. In March 1944, the regiment received new equipment from the factory - T-34 tanks and was sent to the 1st Ukrainian Front near Shepetovka, where it joined the 3rd tank brigade of the 4th Guards Tank Corps. At this time, battles of the 60th Army under the command of General Chernyakhovsky were going on here. The regiment began its combat path. Pyotr Vasilievich was a gunner-radio operator of a T-34 tank, firing from a cannon and a machine gun of a T-34 tank. Due to heavy losses in equipment and personnel, the regiment was withdrawn from the battle. After the replenishment, the regiment moved to Ternopil and took part in battles in this direction with units of the 1st Guards Army. In mid-April 1944, a heavy tank battle was fought at the Lozova station near Ternopil with units of the 4th German Tank Army. Pyotr Vasilievich was a tower gunner, firing from a cannon and a tank machine gun. For this tank battle, Pyotr Vasilyevich was awarded the medal "For Courage". Petr Vasilyevich was transferred to the 1728 Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment (1728 glanders), where he became the loader of the SAU-85. With this regiment, he attacked Warsaw, liberated the lands of Poland. His self-propelled gun accompanied infantry and tanks in battle on the 1st Belorussian Front. In January 1945, a tank regiment took part in the Vistula-Oder operation. In February 1945, 1728 glanders attacked as part of the 3rd Shock Army in the direction of Schneidemühl. The battles to eliminate the Nazi troops lasted until February 14. The regiment continued to move rapidly to the west together with units of the 3rd Shock Army and reached the Oder Bay north of Stetin. Here they were fired upon by German ships in the bay. 1728 glanders took part in the Berlin operation. They advanced in the north of Berlin and all the time supported our infantry with fire. The regiment launched its last attack and went to Alexanderplatz. Here the hostilities ended. Victory Day was celebrated in Berlin. Until the summer of 1945, the regiment was in Berlin. The regiment was renamed the 120th Guards Tank Regiment. The personnel of the regiment was sent to the Union in the city of Leninokan of the Armenian SSR. Pyotr Vasilievich, with the rank of guard petty officer, was assigned to the production manager of the regiment headquarters. He served in it until 1948. After demobilization from the ranks of the Red Army, he entered to work in the Kashira RVK. In 1949 he was transferred to work in the Department of the Ministry of StateSecurity, station Kashira Moscow District. In 1949 he got married. In 1958 he graduated from the Moscow Chemical and Pharmaceutical College. After graduating from technical school, he worked at the Moscow Plant of Medicines № 2. He died at the age of 86 and was buried in Moscow. Pyotr Vasilyevich has two daughters, a grandson and a granddaughter. Our grandfather went through the entire war, fought on the Western Front from April 1942 to March 1944, on the 1st Ukrainian Front from May 1944 to December 1944 and on the 1st Belorussian Front from January 1, 1945. He was awarded two medals "For Courage", in 1944 and 1945. Among the awards are the Order of the Red Star, the Order of the Patriotic War of the 2nd degree, the medal "For Military Merit", the medal "For the capture of Berlin", the medal "For the liberation of Warsaw", the medal "For the victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945". In this war, two of his siblings were killed. Senior - Kharitonov Roman Vasilievich (1911 - 01/07/1944). He served in the 36th separate guards fighter anti-tank artillery battalion of the 31st guards rifle division, was a senior lieutenant in the guards, in the position of commander of 2 batteries of 45 mm guns (artilleryman). In 1941 he was wounded, severely wounded by shrapnel in the chest. In 1943 he was awarded the Order of the Red Star. He died of his wounds on January 7, 1944. He was buried in the Vitebsk region, Gorodok district, Belyanka village, western outskirts (TsAMO data on the primary burial site). Medium - Egor Vasilievich Kharitonov (07.21.1921 - 08.22.1943). Gun commander, guard foreman of the 60th Guards Tank Regiment of the 5th Shock Army. Killed in action on August 22, 1943 in the Rostov region, Kuibyshevsky district, 196.0. Burned down in a tank. He was buried in a mass grave in the Lugansk region, Rovenki, Novo-Darievsky p / s, Kalinovka village (according to the website of the Memorial OBD). Parents died in 1942.