Rank: Senior sergeant Type of troops: Artillery. Gusev Nikolai Andreevich - commander of the reconnaissance department of the headquarters battery of the 853rd artillery regiment (263rd Sivash rifle division, 2nd Guards Army, 1st Baltic Front), senior sergeant - at the time of presentation to rewarding with the Order of Glory, 1st degree. Born May 9, 1920 in the village of Vonyavino, now the Puchezhsky district of the Ivanovo region, in a peasant family. After graduating from the Segotsky incomplete secondary school, he came to the village of Bolshie Dvory, Pavlovo-Posad district, Moscow region. He graduated from the school of factory apprenticeship at the flax mill, worked as an assistant to the foreman of weaving at the mill. The Pavlov Posad city military registration and enlistment office was drafted into the Red Army in September 1940. He graduated from the school for junior commanders. He met the beginning of the Great Patriotic War at the northern borders of his homeland, in Karelia. For two years he fought in the Arctic, defended the Murmansk railway. Sergeant Gusev became the commander of the artillery reconnaissance department, obtained a lot of information about the location of Mannerheim's units, their firing positions. In 1943, the unit in which Sergeant Gusev fought was transferred to Ukraine. In November 1943, Sergeant Gusev took part in the crossing of two guns of the heavy battery and the property of the headquarters battery through the Sivash. He crossed the cold water of the Sivash three times - a total of more than six hours. Quickly occupying the observation post, Gusev spotted a number of targets, ensuring their destruction. For this he was presented to the first military award - the Order of the Red Star. In the spring of 1944, in the battles for the liberation of the Crimea, the artillery reconnaissance officer Gusev followed in the front lines of the infantry. In April 1944, during the fighting on the outskirts of the city of Sevastopol, he discovered firing positions of 3 artillery and 4 mortar batteries, 12 machine guns and 7 dugouts. All of them were suppressed or destroyed during fire training. By order of the troops of the 263rd Infantry Division of April 28, 1944, Sergeant Gusev Nikolai Andreevich was awarded the Order of Glory, 3rd degree. (N36118). On one of the streets of liberated Sevastopol, the regiment commander, Major Kozyrenko, in front of the regiment's formation at the deployed banner of the unit, attached two orders to the tunic of a brave scout at once - the Red Star and Glory of the 3rd degree. After the completion of the Crimean operation, the 263rd Infantry Division was transferred to Belarus. Senior Sergeant Gusev took part in the battles for the liberation of the Belarusian cities of Orsha, Vitebsk, Polotsk, fought in the Baltics. In the battles for the liberation of Lithuania and during the pursuit of the enemy in East Prussia from October 5 to 11, 1944, Gusev was constantly at an observation post in the forward infantry units and corrected the battery fire. The regimental commander, presenting senior sergeant Gusev for the award, wrote: "Under enemy fire, he found and spotted: 4 enemy artillery batteries, 3 separate guns, 3 mortar batteries, 5 machine guns. By precise targeting, senior sergeant Gusev assisted in breaking through the enemy's defenses and capturing the fortified line by infantry with small losses ... By the order on the troops of the 2nd Guards Army dated November 19, 1944, Sergeant Gusev Nikolai Andreevich was awarded the Order of Glory, 2nd degree (N10961). In the first half of February 1945, on the outskirts of the city of Granz (East Prussia ) Senior Sergeant Gusev, on his personal initiative, moved ahead of the infantry battle formations.During continuous six-hour observation, he discovered enemy fire weapons and adjusted the fire of our batteries to destroy a six-barreled mortar, a mortar battery, several machine guns and until the enemy infantry platoon together with the infantry repelled the enemy counterattack, destroying from l personal weapons up to ten Nazis. During the second counterattack, he remained at his observation post and when the Nazis broke through to it, he caused battery fire on himself, which helped to repel the enemy's counterattack and restore the situation. By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of April 19, 1945, for exceptional courage,valor and fearlessness shown in battles with the Nazi invaders, senior sergeant Gusev Nikolai Andreevich was awarded the Order of Glory, 1st degree (N1886). Became a full Knight of the Order of Glory. He celebrated Victory Day in Konigsberg (now Kaliningrad). After the war he continued to serve in the army. He was demobilized in 1946. He returned to the city of Pavlovsky Posad. In 1954, on the job, he graduated from the All-Union Correspondence College of Textile and Light Industry in Moscow. Until 1980 he worked as an assistant foreman at a flax mill. He lived in the village of Bolshie Dvory, Pavlovo-Posad region. Died August 28, 1990. He was buried in the cemetery of the village of Bolshie Dvory. He was awarded the Orders of the Patriotic War of the 1st and 2nd degree, the Red Star (11/12/1943), Glory of the 3rd degree, medals.