Rank: Corporal Branch of troops: Ground Forces, Air Force (except for naval Aviation), Coastal Service, troops of the NKVD, Border Troops I want to tell a little about my grandfather on my mother’s side, Sanaev Ivan Gerasimovich. He was born on 28.12.1913 in the village. Warmazeyka of the Bolsheignatovsky region of the Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in a peasant family, Mordvin by nationality. In that hard time of hunger, at the age of 11, having received a 2nd grade education, he began to work as a handyman on a local kolkhoz. Subsequently, he received a civilian profession as a concrete worker. On November 22, 1935, at the age of 22, he was drafted into the Armed Forces and enlisted in a Rifle Regiment as a rifleman, received the rank of Corporal and the position of gunner. He served for 2 years and on 11/10/1937 was transferred to the reserve. On December 22, 1941, at the age of 28, he was called up for mobilization for the Great Patriotic War by the Verkh-Chebulinsky District of the Novosibirsk Region and was assigned to 72 Separate naval Rifle Brigade in a Separate company of anti-tank rifles by a Corporal gunner (14th Army), later 72 Separate naval Rifle Brigade, submachine gunner Battalion, 3rd company, Corporal - shooter. And from 01/01/1945 to 11/16/1945 -he was in the western Rifle Regiment. He fought on the Karelian front in the Murmansk front. A bit of history about the 72nd Rifle Brigade: The brigade was formed in the city of Kargat, Novosibirsk region (Siberian military district) in the fall of 1941. At the end of the formation through Murmansk, she was sent to the Kola Peninsula, to the area between the Sredny Peninsula and Lake Onega, where she arrived in February 1942, took up positions along the Zapadnaya Litsa River at the 44th kilometer, held the defense there until 1944. In April-May 1942, she took part in an unsuccessful offensive against enemy defenses at the turn of the river. In 1943 it was redeployed a little, took up positions on the Baburinskaya hill. From 10/07/1944 he took part in the Petsamo-Kirkenes operation, took part in the liberation of Pechenga. Having made a bypass maneuver, 10/10/1944 cut the Petsamo-Salmijärvi road west of Luoyarvi, repulsed dozens of enemy attacks, then on 10/13/1944 cut the Petsamo-Tarnet road, closing the escape route from Petsamo to the west, then supported the attack on Nikel. On 10/27/1944 it cleared the city of Neiden from the enemy. In January 1945, the brigade was reorganized into a mountain Rifle Brigade. In February 1945, it was transferred to Czechoslovakia, where from 24.03.1945 it participated in the Moravian-Ostrava offensive operation, starting an offensive in the Zorau area, covered more than 40 kilometers with battles, crossed the Oder, seized a foot strong on the other side, and entered Ostrava on April 30, 1945 ... It ended the war by participating in the Prague operation. The last combat in the battles in the west took on 05/12/1945, with German units breaking through to the west. On 09/25/1945 my grandfather was demobilized from the army by age. During the war he was twice seriously wounded, in the left arm and chest. Awarded with: - the medal "For Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945." - the medal "For the Defense of the Soviet Arctic". He returned from the war to his native village. He worked as a fireman at the Nadezhdinsky distillery, later - the Nadezhdinsky starch drying plant. In 1947 he married my grandmother Anastasia. 6 children were born. After retirement and until the end of his life he was engaged in beekeeping. He died in January 1984 at the age of 70. Thanks to the efforts of our grandfathers, we are their descendants, happy and live in a free country. I am very proud of my Grandfather.