From the memoirs of Brilin Pavel Timofeevich about those distant and heroic exploits on the fronts of the Second World War: “The head patrol carefully moved along the Smolensk highway. Sergeant Brilin was in the lead, carrying a submachine gun and carrying grenades. The task of the scouts is to detect the Nazis and warn the marching column. Suddenly a rocket shot up, illuminating the area with a livid light and a long burst of machine-gun fire rang out. The soldiers lay down on the side of the road. Did they notice? - the sergeant thought but the machine gun was silent. The fascist, apparently, could not stand the suspense, and shot at random. Brilin had time to see a machine-gun point. We will try to bypass the machine gun and destroy the crew", - he whispered to the soldiers. “Two of you are with me, and the rest are here to cover with fire if anything happens. Follow me!”, - he whispered to the soldier lying next to him, and they crawled a little to the left listening to the darkness. A pre-dawn fog was rising from the ground. At this time it is painfully sleepy especially if you lie still. The fascist machine gunner probably dozed off. Brylin noticed a machine-gun trench and crawled on his belly, the soldier was moving around. They paused, preparing to throw, and at the same time jumped into the trench with knives in their hands. There were two machine guns. Two fritzs were squatting on their heels, dozing near the machine guns, their greatcoats turned up. They may have dreamed of victory marches through Europe, of distant fraus waiting for parcels of stolen goods - it is not known, but this was their last dream. Brilin hit the Hitlerite with a bowie knife and he grunted like a hog and fell on his side. The second German managed to look up and his death cry was heard by the scouts. It was all over. “Quickly inform the battalion commander!” - Brylin said to the fighter. "And three more men came here to dig in!" The soldier ran to obey orders, and sergeant Brilin dragged the corpses aside and checked the machine guns. He had a good command of German weapons. But three more soldiers only managed to reach the trench, as a column appeared on the highway from the direction of the fascists, followed by another, a third ... the Krauts, confident that they were being guarded in front, walked as if on parade typing a step. They are 100 meters away. “Well, now I'll spoil your mood”, - Brilin thought angrily and pressed the trigger of the machine gun. Like ants caught unawares by the rain, the enemies rushed about in panic. Deadly jets of lead mowed them down like mushrooms. The second machine gun fired at the rear of the column. Machine-gun fire rang out erratically and bullets whizzed over the intrepid machine-gunners. The tape ended and the machine gun fell silent. ”The tape quickly!” - Brilin shouted to his assistant, opening the lock of the machine gun. The Nazis thought that the crew were killed and rushed to the attack but again a shower of bullets falls on them. Several times the Nazis attacked and rolled back leaving the dead. I ran out of ammo. And the enemies are crawling, clinging to the ground. “Fire grenades!” Brylin shouts, and again the attack failed. There's nothing else to fight back with. Sergeant Brylin wiped his sweat on his sleeve and looked around – the two asisstants were killed. “I won't let you catch me alive, you bastards!’ – he thought and grabbed the machine gun which had a few rounds left in it. Suddenly, a loud "Hurrah!" came from behind. It was help. The enemy was repulsed. Seventy six bodies of fascists were lying in front of the machine gun of sergeant Pavel Timofeevich Brilin. Next day the regimental commander, Colonel Kalinin, personally presented the intrepid scout with the medal "For Bravery" before the formation. This was his first battle award. In a fierce battle for the Brilyovo station, near Rzhev, sergeant Brilin P. T. was slightly wounded in the chest. He was placed in a field hospital, a few kilometers from the front lines. The division headquarters was located next to the hospital. About forty German submachine gunners leaked through the front line. In a firefight they killed the sentries and moved to the hospital. Dozens of injured people were in grave danger. The division headquarters was also under threat. Hearing the shooting, sergeant Brilin rushed to the headquarters, armed with grenades and a machine gun, and met the fascists with accurate fire. He threw grenades. While he was holding back the fascist squad, all the wounded who were able to hold weapons armed themselves with the help of a staff Sergeant from the headquarters and attacked the Krauts. The entire squad of the Nazis were destroyed. For this fight Pavel Timofeevich Brilin received the order of Glory of the third degree. Retreating, the enemy resisted furiously. Every kilometer of the native land had to be taken with a fight, abundantly watered with soldiers' blood. Sergeant Brilin was wounded several times and again, having slightly healed his wounds, he returned to his native unit. Closer and closer is the lair of the fascist beast, more and more fiercely he snarls, he feels his death. Especially persistent battles broke out for the capture of the city of Konigsberg. The battalion in which sergeant Brilin was stationed was assigned the task of capturing the brickworks. Under the cover of darkness the soldiers went on the offensive. The Nazis concentrated here a lot of self-propelled guns, tanks, every meter was shot through with cannon and machine-gun fire. Here they hoped to delay the Soviet troops. The bypass canal became an insurmountable obstacle in the way of the soldiers. It was 35 meters wide, filled with water, and up to 8 meters deep. The Nazis discovered the attackers and opened heavy mortar and artillery fire, it seemed that no force would make the soldiers raise their heads. The commander of the assault group, junior lieutenant Malyshev, shouted: "Communists, follow me!" and he plunged into the foaming water of the canal followed by communist sergeant Brilin and several other soldiers. They swam across on wooden ladders that were found on the bank. At this time some of the German firing points were suppressed by artillery, the rest stopped firing. Only the enemy's machine guns barked viciously, fanned out water fountains, ricocheted, and sowed death. Junior lieutenant Malyshev was wounded and barely got out on the beach. Brilin was the first to cross. The proximity of the hated enemy, the death of his comrades filled his soul with an indelible hatred for the enemy. He threw off his greatcoat, slung the machine gun over his back and crawled to the machine gun with two grenades in his hand. The grenade was thrown and the machine gun stopped. Brilin took a few strides to reach the machine gun. Two Germans were sprawled out by the explosion of grenades, fighting in their death throes. The sergeant took the four grenades from them and made his way to another machine gun. Next to him crawled three fighters who crossed the channel after him. Again, he threw a grenade and the machine gun fell silent. When Brilin and the soldiers ran up to the machine gunner, they saw that his hands were... chained to the handles of the machine gun on chains. Whether it was a Volkssturm soldier or a penal guard, the chains did not save him and he could not escape.When the crew of the third machine gun were killed, the battalion rushed to cross the channel. Sergeant Brilin and his men, who were already seven in number, fired machine guns at the wall of the factory and did not allow the enemy to interfere with the crossing. The solid brick wall of the territory of the brick factory was one and a half meters high. When the soldiers crossed, they gathered about forty people, the officers were wounded. “Listen to my word of command!” - sergeant Brylin said through the chain. “Grenades, fire!” No sooner had the dust from the explosions dissipated than the command again: attack! In a rush the squad overcame the wall and a struggle ensued in the yard of the factory. Short bursts of automatic fire, blows with the butt, shouts and screams - all mixed up. The remaining Polacks, who turned out to be defenders of the plant, rushed to retreat. The combat task was completed – the plant was taken, but if the enemy is running you need to drive him further and could communist sergeant Brilin, who has already shed his blood five times, stop and let the fascists strengthen. No, he couldn't. He sent one soldier with a report to the commander of the regiment and he and his men rushed after the retreating Nazis on the field. There was a small height ahead. Small bushes hid the movement and the defenders of the height apparently took everyone for their own. And only when the trench was a few dozen meters away and the Russian “Hurrah!” swept through the ranks of the attackers, the Germans realized their mistake but it was too late. This fight was fierce. There was no time to shoot in the cramped trench. They stabbed each other with knives, hit with butts, strangled each other by the throat…Thirteen soldiers, along with Brilin, survived, some of them were wounded including the sergeant himself. 9 machine guns were at the height, a lot of grenades, machine guns of the killed fascists. Brilin positioned the men at the machine guns and ordered them to prepare for battle. He knew that the Germans would try to regain the height and destroy his group. Pavel Timofeyevich looked around at the soldiers crouched by the machine guns and said loudly so that everyone could hear. “Soon our people will come, I sent a messenger, and our task, brothers, is to hold the height at all costs – it is the key to the city”. In the faint rays of the sunset Konigsberg was clearly visible – a large enemy lair. Suddenly fountains of rips and dust enveloped the height. A frenzied artillery and mortar barrage began. “Everyone take cover in the trenches," - Brilin ordered and thought: - “Well, now the Hanses will attack”. A group of Germans separated from the outermost houses and scattered in a chain moved to the height. “Don't shoot without a command!” - Brilin said and leveled the machine gun at waist level at the Germans. When they were about a hundred meters away sergeant Brilin pulled the trigger of the machine gun. And immediately the height came to life, 5 machine guns that survived after the shelling brought down a leaden shower on the attackers. As if cut by a scythe, the fascists fell to the ground, never to rise again, and the survivors rushed back, lay down, lay low. And again the fiery whirlwind of explosions raged - enraged by the failure the Nazis sought to mix the defenders of the height with the ground. When a new chain of fascists rushed to the height, in the hope that there is no one alive, they were met by the fire of four machine guns. Sergeant Breelin lost track of time. Already six times the savage enemies rushed to the attack and retreated under machine-gun fire leaving dozens of corpses. There were three survivors – Sergeant Brilin and two soldiers. And six self-propelled guns went to the height, followed by infantry. Again, shell bursts tear the ground and fragments ricochet with a screech. The self-propelled guns stalled and the submachine gunners, having overtaken them, went firing on the move. The machine guns were silent. Sergeant Brylin looked around – were any of his battle friends dead or wounded? And there were no bullets in the tape. He crawled around and collected a few submachine guns and grenades and waited. “I won't give you my life cheap,” – he thought. For a moment he remembered his native faraway Zyryanovsk. Will their relatives and fellow countrymen know how they died on a foreign land defending their Homeland? The Nazis went without hiding or shooting, cheering themselves up with shouts. “Are they drunk?” - Brilin thought and raised the assault rifle. Again the leaden stream scattered the attackers but they retreated and crawled back. A mine exploded and Brylin felt a blow on his right leg. “Wounded”, he thought. His leg wouldn't obey. The sergeant raised his rifle and suddenly his right arm hung limp. A shell fragment hit it. Then Brilin grabbed a grenade with his left hand and threw it down into the crowd of fascists, then another, and a third.... About thirty Germans were lying at the height killed by machine gun fire and grenades. From the loss of blood he began to lose consciousness. Enemy self-propelled guns broke out of the quagmire and rushed to the height firing as they went. But then a firestorm caught up with them and they flared up like torches. The Russian Katyushas' barrage was well-aimed. A loud “Hurrah!" came from behind. “Our people,” Brilin thought and jumped up from the ground but the pain made him faint. Having gained a foothold at the height, the guards division with which Brilin was marching from Moscow broke into Konigsberg and street battles ensued. Sergeant Brillin was taken from the battlefield and sent to the hospital, seriously wounded. This was on the 7th of April, 1945. Pavel Timofeyevich Brilin did not hear the salute of the Victory - he did not regain consciousness for nineteen days. The doctors of the Leningrad hospital fought hard for his life. He was all cut up, shot through the legs and arms, and concussed to boot. And when he opened his eyes and asked for a drink, the doctors thought it was a miracle. Brilin was slowly recovering. His arms and legs were in a cast and he lay motionless. But the heroic body withstood, improved appetite, things were on the mend. In order to avoid a fatal outcome, the professor of the Leningrad hospital categorically forbade, forever, to remove the fragments of mines and shells stuck in the legs and head of Pavel Timofeevich Brilin. They stayed with him for life, until the end!!! One morning the deputy chief of the hospital for political Affairs, a lieutenant colonel, came in. He shows the newspaper: did you read, Sergeant, who is it?” “Pavel Timofeyevich Brilin," - Brilin reads aloud. “What is it?" “Because, dear Pavel Timofeyevich," the lieutenant colonel replied, "by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR you were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. And I am the first here to congratulate you from the bottom of my heart”. This news spread around the hospital and walking patients, hospital employees warmly congratulated Brilin on the high award. In October 1945 guard sergeant Brilin was discharged from the hospital and went to Moscow on a call. The highest awards of the Soviet government - the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star of Hero of the Soviet Union - were presented to him by Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin. And now the road to the native lands is open. The path to them was long and difficult. Pavel Timofeyevich Brilin shed his blood nine times during the war, healed his wounds and again smashed the enemy. His chest was decorated with medals "For the capture of Konigsberg" and "For the victory over Germany". Pavel Timofeyevich again worked in his native shop as a locksmith at the mine named after the XXII Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Hardworking, modest, he enjoyed authority in the team. He was awarded the title of a Communist labor striker.