Pioneers

Vakhmenin Matvey Egorovich_x000D_ _x000D_ Matvey Vakhmenin, a participant of the battle of Stalingrad, was born in 1913 in the village of Solodniki in the Chernoyarsky district of the Astrakhan region. Guards corporal, commander of the sapper platoon, which was at that time part of the 57th and then 64th armies of the Don front. In September 1942, when the enemy began to advance on Stalingrad, he was called to the front by the Kirov district military Commissariat of Stalingrad. He joined the sapper company of the 50 guards rifle regiment of the 15th guards rifle division, the full name of which is the Kharkiv-Prague Order of Lenin, the Red Banner Order of Suvorov and Kutuzov division. The division was formed in September 1939 in Gorky as the 136 rifle division. On February 16, 1942, it was transformed into the 15 guards rifle division for military services. Sapper Wakhmenin participated in the demining of the Stalingrad earth. Under cover of darkness, knee-deep in snow, often under fire from Nazi snipers, together with sappers, he made passages in the barriers, removed minefields-prepared the way for advancing troops. On January 13, 1943, during the offensive of our troops near the village of Stary Rogachik in the Stalingrad region, under heavy machine-gun and rifle fire from the enemy in 40-degree frost, the fighter Vakhmenin provided passage for our infantry in a snow-covered area. The mines were frozen into the ground, covered with a thick layer of snow, but the hands did their job. On this day, sapper Vakhmenin personally removed 51 mines. For exemplary performance of a combat mission, he was awarded the medal "For military merit". In addition to mine clearance, his company built defensive lines, floating bridges, and put out fires. During the fierce fighting for the city of Stalingrad near the village of Dar-Gora, he was seriously wounded and taken to the hospital, where he lost his leg. In March 1943, he was dismissed from the Red Army due to a serious injury. At the age of 30, he became a disabled war veteran. He had combat awards: the Order of the Patriotic war, 1st rank, medals: "For the defence of Stalingrad", "For military merit" and 15 anniversary medals. He died in 2011 at the age of 98.

Pustynnikov Stepan Mikhailovich was born on June 26, 1923 in the village of Sof'ino, Mainsky District, Ulyanovsk Region. After graduating from Primary School, he could not continue his education, since it was necessary to help the family. In those hard years, he didn't have to think about education. After school he worked in a kolkhoz. _x000D_ “I performed various types of job in the kolkhoz. He grazed the cows, made hay, and learned to be a carpenter. . Then he mastered the profession of a tractor driver, got behind the wheel of a tractor. _x000D_ Stepan recalls: “Although it was a hard time, but interesting and fun, we were young. We worked hard, with enthusiasm, believed that we would build a just society. Our faith and our dreams were thwarted by the war, which interrupted the course of peaceful life.” In 1941, Stepan was not called up to the front, since he was only 17 years old, and he continued to work in the kolkhoz. In 1942 he was drafted to the front from his native village Sofyino. He fought on the 2nd Ukrainian Front under the command of Konev, military specialty was Sapper. In 1943 he took part in the battle for the Dnieper, was wounded. For 7 months he was treated in a hospital in the city of Bobrov, Voronezh Region. After treatment, he continued to fight the Nazis. _x000D_ He took part in the Budapest operation. On December 8, 1944, battles began for the liberation of the capital of Hungary, and only on February 13, 1945, the city was liberated as a result of bloody combats. He liberated Czechoslovakia, took part in the Prague operation, which was commanded by Malinovsky. _x000D_ Prague was liberated on May 9, 1945, on the same day in Berlin the Act of Unconditional Surrender of Germany was signed. It so happened that he celebrated Victory in the city of Prague. Remembering this day, Stepan Mikhailovich is worried: “It's no joke, because we were all waiting for victory, many of my comrades died for it. Hearing this good news, we both believed and did not believe, and wept and laughed. For 1418 long days and nights we forged Victory, sewed a shroud for fascism. On Victory Day, we dreamed of returning home to our loved ones. We remembered our fallen comrades. We asked ourselves the question: ”Why did my friend die, and not me?”

Multifunctional Demining Robotic Complex "Uran-6" in Lugansk. Soldier of the LPR People's Militia against the background of multifunctional robotic complex "Uran-6" within the city area. The main task of this complex is demining mountainous, wooded or urbanized territories.

Demining of the Azovmash plant in Mariupol. Russian Armed Forces sappers during demining operations in one of the workshops of the Azovmash machine-building plant

Sappers' work in the DPR. A BMR-3M armored demining vehicle during demining operations in the area of Mariupol airport

Memorial to the heroes of the Great Patriotic War - 11 bomb disposal specialists of the 316th riflemen division of major general Panfilov on the 114th kilometer of the Volokolamskoye highway

Eternal fire near the memorial to the heroes of the Great Patriotic War - 11 bomb disposal specialists of the 316th riflemen division of major general Panfilov on the 114th kilometer of the Volokolamskoye highway

Memorial to a Bolgarian komsomol (communist youth league) member O.G.Naidov-Zhelezov, guards sergeant, bomb disposal specialist of the Moscow Proletarian division, who perished in the vicinity of Moscow

Soviet bomb disposal specialists with mine detectors in the streets of Belgrade

Field engineers building a passage across the Vistula river

Bomb disposal squad clearing a mountain road from the mines

A bomb disposal spesialist, recepient of order of Glory, P.Belokon in one of battles

Soviet bomb defusal specialists with specially trained dogs clearing the territory of the "Weis Manfred" factory in Budapest from the mines

Soviet bomb defusal unit clearing one of the streets of Tilsit from the mines with the help of trained dogs