My grandfather - Dmitry Baranov - was born on the 16th of May, 1921, in the village of Toropovskaya, the Ust-Kubensky district of the Vologda region. His father was Alexander Dmitrievich Baranov, mother was Claudia Alexandrovna Baranova. In July 1940 he graduated from the Cherepovets veterinary college. He was called up for service in the Red Army in May 1941. Service in the 8th guard paratrooper brigade began. Together with the 7th and the 214th brigades it became part of the 4th airborne corps. The brigade was formed from the personnel of the 231st rifle division. Manning of the brigades was completed by the 1st of June, 1941, but it was not possible to provide them with sufficient military equipment before the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. The war began. There were bloody battles in the Western direction. The brigade's paratroopers entered the battle in late June when German-fascist tank groups broke through to the east of Minsk and rushed to the Dnieper and Smolensk. The command of the Western front was making every effort to delay the enemy as long as possible at the last favorable line - the Berezina river and to deprive him of the opportunity to break through to the Dnieper on the move. For that purpose the 4th paratroop corps was ordered to move to the area to the south from Borisovo and to take up defense along the Berezina river. Here parts of the corps stopped the formations of the 24th German motorized corps moving in the direction of Berezino and Svisloch and did not allow the enemy to cross the river on the move and delayed the further advance of the enemy’s tanks. For six days the paratroopers repelled massive attacks of tanks of the 24th motorized corps of the Germans. At 3 a.m. on the 15th of July up to a hundred tanks with the enemy’s motorized infantry broke through the front at the junction of the 42nd and the 55th rifle divisions, captured the city of Propoisk and rushed along the highway to the city of Krichev. The commander of the Western front gave orders to detain the enemies and to prevent them from breaking through the Sozh river, thus assigning this task to the commander of the 4th paratroop corps. The front had no other forces here. On the 15th and the 16th of July the paratroopers leading heavy deterrent battles retreated to the Sozh river and by the end of the 16th of July they moved to the defense of the river crossings near the city of Krichev. During the 17th of July the corps successfully repelled the attacks of the enemy’s tanks but the enemy, pulling up reserves, on the night of the 18th of July captured Krichev as a result of regular attacks, crossed the Sozh and captured a bridgehead on the left bank of the river. The fighting for Krichev continued. The enemy sought to build on their success at any cost. The paratroopers holding their positions launched counterattacks. By this time the situation in the western direction was very difficult. The order of the Commander-in-chief in the western direction indicated that the enemy concentrated large forces on the Vitebsk and Mogilev directions and broke through the front in the area of Shklov and Bykhov and went out in mobile groups into the area of Velizh and Gorki thus trying to break through to Smolensk and to surround the Vitebsk-Orsha grouping of the Red Army troops.Later on the enemy’s groups continued to advance to the east in order to cut the main communications and to get into the deep rear of the Soviet troops in this direction. The loss of the water boundary between Sozh and Krichev further aggravated the situation by the beginning of the second half of July. The commander of the 4th paratroop corps, major general A. S. Zhadov, was called to the western command post, where the marshal of the Soviet Union S. K. Timoshenko set up a task for him to restore the situation on the Sozh river and to drive the Germans out of the city of Krichev. On the 18th of July lieutenant general V. F. Gerasimenko arrived in the Krichev area to coordinate the actions of the corps and other units to fulfill the combat mission set by S. K. Timoshenko, the commander of the 13th army. In the morning of the 19th of July the corps’s units moved to their starting positions for the attack onto Krichev. The paratroopers reached the left bank of the river with a decisive rush but they failed to develop success. Without air or artillery support the corps units could not overcome the defenses and cross the river and withdrew to the line of Krasny Bor, Mikheevichi and Velikan, where they began to put themselves in order and prepare for a new counterattack. A second attempt to return Krichev also failed. The 8th brigade was late in reaching the line of attack and was unable to take part in the battle. In the morning of the 21st of July the corps again attacked the enemy in the direction of Krichev. The 7th brigade went to Korenaya and to the forest to the west from it where they were stopped by the enemy’s fire from the side of Mikhevichi. The 8th brigade reached the forest to the east from Pondokhovo and was also stopped by the concentrated fire of artillery and mortars of the enemy. Heavy fighting for Krichev continued for other few days. On the 22nd of and 23th of July the 4th paratroop corps continued to aggressively attack the enemy defending the left bank of the Sozh river near Krichev. However, the attacks were not successful. In the evening of the 29th of July a combined detachment of paratroopers under the command of major V. S. Timchenko, head of the operational department of the corps headquarters, crossed the Sozh river and broke into the city despite the heavy fire of the enemy. All night there was a fierce battle with the Nazis in the area of the railway station near the military enlistment office as well as in the surrounding villages of Voronevo and Zadobrost. Two battalions of the enemy were almost completely destroyed, only some soldiers managed to escape from the city. However, at dawn the Nazis launched a counterattack with significant forces of infantry and tanks. The paratroopers were forced to leave the city. Major V. S. Timchenko was mortally wounded in this battle. Subsequently, the 8th paratroop brigade conducted combat operations as part of the 4th paratroop corps in the area of Unecha, Pogar and Starodub. My grandfather was captured on the 29th of July, 1941, in Krichev. Subsequently, he was held in the following camps for war prisoners: from the moment of capture until the 30th of April, 1942, Stalag IV-B in Muhlberg (Brandenburg, Germany). The prisoner's personal number is 144404. Information about Stalag IV-B camp: Stalag IV-B Muhlberg was one of the largest camps for war prisoners in Germany during the World War II. The camp was located in the forth military district of Germany, 8 km away to the north-east from the city of Mühlberg and about 50 km to the north from the city of Dresden. The camp with an area of about 30 hectares was opened in September 1939 and was international. The first prisoners of war in it were 17,000 Polish soldiers taken prisoners by the Germans during the attack on Poland in September 1939. In May 1940 the first French prisoners of war captured in the battle of France arrived at the camp. In 1941 British and Australian soldiers arrived at the camp after the fall of Greece. In total, soldiers of 33 nations passed through the camp. In 1941 - 1942 the camp was the central reception and distribution center for newly arriving Soviet prisoners of war. The camp was liberated by the Red Army on the 23th of April, 1945. Since the 30th of April, 1942, - Stalag IV- of Oszac (Saxony, Germany). Information about the Stalag IV-G camp: Stalag IV-G was not an ordinary camp, in the usual sense of the word, but a kind of concentration of labor camps scattered throughout the land of Saxony. The administrative management was carried out through the central headquarters located in the city of Oschatz, a small town located between the cities of Leipzig and Dresden. The area around Oschatz was one of the last to be liberated at the end of the war. Upon arrival at the camp Dmitry Baranov was assigned to the work team no. 256 Leipzig-West in Markranstadt (Germany), a small town located 15 km to the south-west of the city of Leipzig. Since the 5th of January, 1945, he was in a working team of Leipzig-OST in Leipzig (Germany). He was released from captivity by American troops (the 273rd regiment of the 69th infantry division of the United States) on the 24th of April, 1945, in Wurzen, Germany. From the memoirs of William Robertson, a US army soldier: "After capturing Leipzig in April 1945 the 69th division continued to move to the east and our 273rd regiment reached the Mulde river on the 20th of April. Every soldier knew that the Russians were advancing in our direction. Fascist Germany was bound to be defeated. I was an intelligence lieutenant and commanded a small platoon. Our regiment was stationed on the Muld directly opposite the town of Wurzen. On the 24th of April the mayor moved to our coast and announced the surrender of the city. We walked into Wurzen. All night long my platoon was engaged in setting up barriers for prisoners of war and surveying the area. By that time the only topic of conversation was a possible meeting with the Red Army. We all were looking forward to meet them. We were eager to see the Russians. What are they doing now? What are they? We knew that they had come here from Moscow and Stalingrad and that they were staunch soldiers. But still, what kind of people are they? How do they behave? Are they friendly? We only knew that they were near, somewhere a little ahead. We understood that it would be a great honor for our 69th division to be the first unit of the Western front to join the Eastern front. Soon after we entered Wurzen we found that there was a prisoner-of-war camp just four miles to the east of the city. There were four thousand of them there and now they were moving from there to the city. Weak and haggard, they were greeting us and their eyes shone with happiness. Now I saw firsthand that the war was really a world war. Some of these men were captured during the African campaign. There were many Russians, Polacks, French, English, Canadians, Indians, Australians and Americans. It's hard to describe their joy. They followed us with their eyes as if they couldn't get enough of us." After his release from captivity my grandfather was filtered on the 8th of May, 1945, at the SMERSH testing and filtration center. After passing the filter he was sent for further service into the 214th army reserve rifle regiment, where he was enlisted by order dated the 10th of May, 1945, as a rifleman, in the rank of a red army soldier. Information about the 214th army reserve rifle regiment: formed on the 12th of September, 1942. It was disbanded on the 20th of January, 1946, on the basis of the order of the commander of the 5th guard army dated the 22nd of November, 1945, no. 0217. The number of personnel on the day of disbandment, i.e. on the 5th of December, 1945, – 3,472 people. Liquidation act on the disbandment of the 214th army reserve rifle regiment was dated the 1st of Fabruary, 1946. The reason for the delay in disbanding the regiment was related to the relocation of the regiment to a new location – to Zoos (Austria) from the Zielona camp (Czechoslovakia). The day the regiment was disbanded was the 5th of December, 1945. Soldiers were sent to the regiment either to continue service after severe injuries or to train and to return to the active army (marching columns). In June 1945 the regiment was in the village of Noj–Grauppa. In July 1945 the regiment was stationed at camp Zelena (Czechoslovakia). According to order no. 115 dated the 15th of May, 1945, for the 214th army reserve rifle regiment the grandfather was sent as part of the marching group no. 483 in the number of 600 people to the 9th guard paratroop division. Here it is worth noting the following nuance: according to the list of names the sergeants and enlisted personnel left to replenish not the 9th guards paratroop division but the 9th guard rifle division. This is also confirmed by an act signed between representatives of the 214th army reserve rifle regiment and the 9th guard rifle division on the reception and inspection of a team of 600 people who arrived to join the 9th guard rifle division. Later on there were no other evidence of the grandfather's location found in the lists of the 9th guard rifle division. Information about the fighting of the 9th guard rifle division in March of 1945: The war diary of actions: the period from the 29th of March till the 8th of May, 1945: the parts were focused: the bend of the Vartaya river, to the east from Bruveri, to the south-west of Pudyki, to the north-west of Perkone. Journal of combat operations for May 1945. Goal: to defeat the German troops in Courland (present day Latvia). Division deployment: the forest to the south-east of Yaunselin, Yaunselin. From 3 p.m. on the 8th of May the German troops in Courland began to capitulate and disarm to our units. Police, "vlasovtsy" and other sabotage groups continued to hide in the woods. Combat order dated the 11th of May, 1945: to look through the forests and settlements and reach the border: by the 11th of May – Wetzlaza-Aiznute, by the 12th of May – Bunty – Stremy - Shibari, by the end of the 13th of May - to reach the Baltic Sea coast. By 6 p.m. on the 14th of May the units reached the Baltic Sea coast where from the14th of May till the 29th of May, 1945, they were engaged in combat training and patrolled at the turn of Pilsbergi. According to the order dated the 29th of May, 1945, the parts of the division concentrated by 11 a.m. on the 30th of May near Tortie, Aizpute, Padure, Kazdangas, Mezhaputny where they started to equip the camp. Information about the 9th guard paratroop division: the 9th guard paratroop division was formed in December 1941 in Lyubertsy, the Moscow region. The division included the 23rd, 26th, 28th guards airborne, and 7th guard artillery regiments. During the Great Patriotic War it conducted combat operations as a rifle unit. In February 1943 it was included in the 1st shock army of the north-western front and on the 12th of March it was the first to enter the battle at the line to the west of Vyazka (38 km to the south from Staraya Russa) to the south-east of Sosnovka. In April of 1943 it was kept in the reserve of the Supreme command, in May it was transferred to the area southwest of Stary Oskol and was included in the 5th guard army (which was fighting to the end of the war) of the Steppe Eastern district (since the 9th of June – the Steppe front). In July and August the division as part of the Voronezh front troops participated in the battle of Kursk. The soldiers of the division fought courageously when repelling the enemy’s strike in the Prokhorovka area. During the transition to the counteroffensive it fought in the Belgorod-Kharkiv operation and in the left-bank Ukraine. On the 22nd and 23th of September, 1943, the division was successfully fighting for Poltava. On the 23th of September, 1943, the division was awarded the honorary title of Poltava for its military distinctions during the liberation of Poltava. At the end of September 1943 in cooperation with other formations of the Steppe (from the 20th of October, 1943, the second Ukrainian) front, the division participated in the liberation of Kremenchug (the 29th of September). Since the second half of October the division was fighting in right-bank Ukraine. They participated in the liberation of the cities of Alexandria (the 6th of December, 1943), Kirovograd (the 8th of January, 1944), Ananyev (the 1st of April, 1944), Grigoriopol (the 12th of April, 1944). The division was particularly successful in the Pervomaisk region of the Mykolaiv region for which it was awarded the order of the Red Banner on the 1st of April, 1943. High resilience and courage were shown by the soldiers of the unit in the Lviv-Sandomierz operation when repelling the enemy's counterattack from the area of melets and in the battles on the Sandomierz bridgehead soldiers of the division acted bravely and skillfully in the final operations of the Great Patriotic War. In the Sandomierz-Silesian offensive o eration after breaking through the enemy's defenses in the area of Stopnica (60 km South-West of the city on the 14th of January, 1945, units of the division crossed the Nida river to the south of Pinchow (40 km south of Kielce), liberated Rosenberg (Olesno) on the 21st of January and crossed the Oder river near Eichenried and Southeast of Brig (Brzeg) on the 24th of January. On the 19th of January, 1945, at 6 p.m. the 9th guard paratroop division crossed the Muhl-Graben river and crossed the state border of Poland with Germany capturing the first German city of Rosenberg. On the 22nd of January, 1945, the division reached the eastern bank of the river Oder and forced it. On the 31st of January, 1945, the division crossed the river Oder in a new direction – village of Minden, bypassing the city of Brig from the west, and contributed to the complete encirclement of the German group in the city of Brig. In February and March 1945 parts of the division were fighting in Silesia. The division's soldiers fought bravely and selflessly during the liberation of Poland for which the division was awarded the order of Suvorov of the second degree on the 19th of February, 1945. In the course of participating in the Berlin offensive the division introduced into the battle from the second echelon of the army immediately crossed the Spree river and in cooperation with other formations stormed the city of Spremberg on the 20th of April. On the 22nd of April the division destroyed the encircled 5-thousandth German group to the west of the city of Spremberg in the Kausche area. On the 1st of May the division held off a counterattack by the German Panzer division "Hermann Goering" at the Schweppnitz - Schoenbach line. On the 8th of May the division's rapid actions in the flank of the Dresden group of Germans contributed to the capture of Dresden. On the 9th of May, the division helped units of the 33rd guard rifle corps and general Rybalko's tanks liberate Prague. At the end of May 1945 the division from Pirna (Germany) was relocated to Czechoslovakia in the area of Rakovnik and then to the area of Vroutek, in Reaper, having equipped the camp and started normal combat and political training. Between the 9th and the 30th of November, 1945, the division made 600 km. march route: Zatec-Bruno-Bratislava-Magyarovar and concentrated in Gyor (Hungary). From the 29th of May till the 3rd of June, 1946, the division was relocated from Hungary to Germany. The route was: Gyor-Bratislava-Malacky-Caslav-Dresden-Juterbog. The length of the march was 498 km. In July 1945 the 9th guard paratroop division was re-formed into the 116th Poltava guard rifle division of the Red Banner and of the orders of Suvorov and Kutuzov (order dated the 19th of June, 1945, in execution of the order of the commander-in-Chief of the central group of troops dated the 17th of June, 1945, about renaming of the 9th guards paratroop division into the 116th guard rifle division). In July 1945 the officers went to the city of Olomouc (Czechoslovakia). In October 1945 the division was located in C. Vroutek (Czechoslovakia) and began to reform into the 14th Poltava guards mechanized division of the Red Banner and the orders of Suvorov and Kutuzov. The re-formation began in the town of Zatec (Czechoslovakia) and ended in Gyor (Hungary). By the 1st of June, 1946, the division was transferred from the 5th guard mechanized army to the 3rd guard mechanized army. In November 1946 the 14th guard mechanized division was reorganized into the 14th guard cadre mechanized regiment. The regiment was manned by personnel born in 1925-27. The rearrangement occured in Juterbog (Germany). Indirect confirmation of the fact that the grandfather was sent to the 9th guard paratroop division was the order of the 10th of July, 1945, for the 9th guard paratroop division on the arrival of soldiers to be demobilized at the location of the 214th army reserve rifle regiment located in the village of Zelena located 35 km to the north-east from Prague. After demobilization on the 22nd of June, 1946, my grandfather returned home and started to work as an assistant veterinarian. In 1950 he entered the Moscow Veterinary Academy for distance learning. He graduated in 1956 with a degree in veterinary medicine. After graduation he continued working in the Ust-Kubensky district of the Vologda region. He got married and had three sons. He died on the 15th of June, 1966. N. B. During my work in the Central Archives of the Ministry of Defence in Podolsk (from the 9th till the 27th of June, 2016) I reviewed 38 cases totaling to 9791 sheets.