Saprunov Vasily Ivanovich
Rank: Lieutenant. Branch of service: army, air force (except marine aviation), the coast guard, the NKVD troops, the border troops. Division: 96th rifle division (2nd formation). Vasily Ivanovich Saprunov was born in 1906 in the city of Labinsk, Krasnodar region in a peasant family. After graduating from two military schools, Vasily like his four brothers became a career military man.During the Civil war, he served in the 25th Chapaev rifle division. A young Cossack commanded a hundred in a reconnaissance squadron. Being a native of a Cossack family, Saprunov masterfully owned a saber and controlled a horse. The great Patriotic War for Vasily Ivanovich began on the territory of Belarus in Bobruisk, where he and his colleagues held back the onslaught of the enemy. V.I. Saprunov served on the first Belorussian front as a commander of a machine-gun company. According to the memoirs of Vasily Ivanovich, the most terrible days of the war were the battle of Stalingrad: it was impossible to raise one's head because of the continuous shooting. The losses were huge, both soldiers and officers were killed. In fierce battles with the enemy he got the first wound. The injury was so serious that the name of Vasily Ivanovich was in the lists of the dead. The front-line soldier carried a bullet stuck in his lung for 13 more post-war years. After the hospital, he could be considered unfit for the service in combat units, but Saprunov had strong character. After the battle of Stalingrad, he walked many more front-line paths. The soldier's bravery is evidenced by his awards and archival documents. In 1942, as a squad leader, Vasily Ivanovich destroyed a German car and seven enemies. For this, he was awarded with the order of the Red Star. And here is an archive entry dated 1945: "in the battles during the breakthrough of the enemy's defenses in the direction of the village of Zaklichevo, Makuva County, Warsaw voivodeship, on January 14, 1945 V.I. Saprunov destroyed 20 enemy soldiers with his machine guns fire and suppressed the fire of three light machine guns, which ensured the success of our units ' going forward. In the battle for the village of Romanovo on January 16, 1945 the enemy launched a counterattack, while repelling it, Saprunov captured a German machine gun and destroyed 15 enemy soldiers with it. Awarded the government award "Order of the Red banner". In Belarus, in the memorial complex "Kurgan of Glory" is a portrait of Vasily Ivanovich Saprunov. His name is mentioned in the book of Fatykh Bulatov "Everyday life of the front years": "during the continuous fighting, the soldiers and division commanders grew up and became stronger. I would like to name those brave soldiers whose heroism and courage I personally or my deputies saw. Here they are - the heroes of the battle for Gomel: the battalion commander I.S. Zhukovsky, machine gun company commander V.I. Saprunov, the sapper platoon commander Lieutenant Khachaturian ... " Four wounds were received during this time by a brave soldier, and after healing each time he returned to the front line. Saprunov V.I. ended his military path on the territory of Poland. Sergeant Saprunov had already set foot on his native land as a senior Lieutenant in the guard. After the war, Vasily Ivanovich worked as a Commissar in the district military enlistment office in the village of Krotovka. He married Antonina Ivanovna, whom he met in Kuibyshev when he was being treated in a hospital. During the war, Antonina Ivanovna worked with her sisters at a military factory and sewed uniforms for the military. The Saprunovs had a son Yury, which became the meaning of their lives. Vasily Ivanovich died on May 4, 1988. For his personal heroism during the Great Patriotic War, Saprunov V. I. was awarded with two orders of Red star, order of the Red banner, two orders of Patriotic War I and II degrees, medals "For defense of Stalingrad" and "For a capture of Konigsberg".
