Rank: Corporal Subdivision: 185th Infantry Pankratov-Prague Order of Suvorov Division My uncle Alexander Nikolaevich Gonchenko began to fight against the enemy long before he put on his soldier's uniform. The Germans entered his native village in November 1941. In Artemovsk, after its occupation by German troops, the presence of partisans became noticeable, who not only attacked individual German soldiers, but even a few days after the division of the city set fire to the theater and the library. Uncle Sasha was 16. He was not a partisan, but he was strong and nimble, and the Germans liked it. In their opinion, he was an excellent candidate for the hard work in Germany. During the twenty-two months of the occupation, the Germans drove 200 thousand residents of the Donetsk region to forced labor in Germany. New trains regularly came, where physically strong young men and women were immersed and, under heavy guard, were taken to Germany. They took Sasha twice, twice he managed to escape. For the third time, with the next recruitment, he decided to hide. Then the senior policeman suggested that his father put on a police bandage too: in return, the son would be left alone. The mother forbade her husband to become a traitor even for the sake of her son. Nothing, she said, ran away twice, and the third time will run away. And so it happened. Uncle Sasha fled, so as not to risk any more, he made his way to Stalingrad itself, where he was found already exhausted and barely alive. In the hospital, he got stronger and was sent to a month's training. It was 1943. Together with the army, Uncle Sasha reached Berlin. He had only two minor wounds, despite his dangerous service as a reconnaissance engineer. For his courage, dexterity and bravery corporal Alexander Gonchenko was awarded the Order of the Red Star, the Orders of Glory of the Third and Second Degrees. By the command, he was also presented to the Order of Glory, First Class, but, unfortunately, there was a well-wisher who presented the flight from the Germans by voluntary recruitment to Germany. Uncle Sasha considered it beneath his dignity to prove that this was slander. He rarely talked about the war and never talked about his exploits. The family and parents learned about their hero from letters from the command. Regional newspapers wrote about him and the pioneers were invited to visit, although he did not like it. We remember Uncle Sasha as honest and hardworking; we remember his beautiful garden and vineyard, amazing in terms of variety of species and taste.