Rank: Lieutenant-colonel. Type of the Army: Coastal defense and Air defense Artillery, Coastal Units, Aviation of the Red Army, Marine Forces of the NKVD border troops. My grandfather, commander of the 26th Order of the Red Star of the Separate Anti-aircraft Searchlight battalion of the 5th Air Defense Corps of the Northern front of the 1st Belorussian front, Lieutenant Colonel Pyotr Grishchenko, was born in July 1905 in the city of Pervomaisk (until May 1, 1919 it was Petrovka village), Odessa region. He served in the Red Army since 1927 and was the ember of the CPSU (b) since 1931. On the eve of the great Patriotic war, on the personal recommendation of the Hero of the Soviet Union, Colonel-General Mikhail Petrovich Kirponos, captain Grishchenko was sent from Moscow to serve in the Kiev Special military district. War met at dawn on June 22, 1941 as part of the 3rd Air Defense Division (division commander major General of artillery V. G. Pozdnyakov, chief of staff Colonel D. F. Garkusha) Kiev divisional area of the KOVO Air Defense (from June 20, 1941, the South-Western front). ""The Kiev air defense system received a timely ""warning"" Directive from Tymoshenko and Zhukov. Sent in the first half hour of the night on 22 June, it warnined about a possible German attack, contained a number of requirements, including the embattled defense, darkening cities, etc. To 3.00 a.m. the guns and machine guns occupied the parts of the 3rd Division of Air Defense, with the exception of soldiers of several units sent for training shooting. In contrast to the border areas, where many Red Army commanders, demoralized by conflicting pre-war orders, were afraid of strict reprisals and did not immediately take retaliatory actions against the aggressor, in Kiev all the guns immediately began firing to kill.""(""The battle over Kiev"" D. Khazanov, A. kotlobovsky, ""aviation and Time"" magazine No. 6 (53) 2001). In 1941-1942, as part of the air defense units, he participated in the battles for the defense of Kiev (South-Western front) and Moscow (Central front; Moscow air defense front). On September 17, 1941, he was wounded in a battle near Lubny, Poltava region. In February 1943, the Deputy commander of the 14th Searchlight Regiment, P. S. Grishchenko, was awarded the military rank of ""major"". In the early autumn of 1944, he became the Commander of the 26th Separate Anti-aircraft Searchlight battalion of the 5th Air Defense Corps of the Northern Air Defense Front. These are the words from the award list: ""Major Grishchenko is an energetic, growing commander. As the Deputy commander of the 14th Searchlight Regiment of the Moscow front, he skillfully performed the combat task of lighting and reflecting enemy aircraft with his courage and perseverance. The battalion has been a part of the 5th Corps since September 1944. During this short time, thanks to the exactingness and skill of major Grishchenko, the battalion was brought to the forefront of the Corps. Currently, the battalion is fully operational and can perform any task.For conscientious, painstaking work, for boundless devotion to the Socialist Motherland, for skilful education of personnel, for high combat training, he is worthy of the Government award – the Order of the ""Patriotic war of the 1st class"".Commander of the 5th Air Defense Corps, Major General of Artillery / Atonenko / December 3, 1944"". (Mikhail Vasilyevich Antonenko, without any exaggeration , is a legendary person. At the age of 27, under the pseudonym ""Lieutenant Antonio"", he participated in the national revolutionary war in Spain, was the commander of the 4th"" Spanish "" anti-aircraft battery of the naval base Malaga. Under his command, the battery shot down 7 Nazi planes). The Grishchenko's battalion took part in the liberation of the cities of Yelets, Bryansk, Mozyr, Baranovichi, Brest, Lodz, Kyustrin and in the storming of Berlin. From the memoirs of the commander of the searchlight platoon Abram Matveyevich Galich (born September 15, 1922 in Omsk in the family of an employee, a participant in the First World War and the Civil War): ""After being awarded the rank of second Lieutenant, I was sent to the newly liberated Orel at the disposal of the commander of the 26th Separate Anti-aircraft Searchlight battalion, Major Grishchenko, as a platoon commander. The platoon consisted of four searchlight stations. The purpose of the two search stations, as we called them, was to use searchlights and a sound detector to find the enemy aircraft with a beam. Two other ""escort"" stations picked up the plane at the intersection of the beams, highlighted it. ""Firemen"" had only to finish off the ""caught butterfly"". The battalion had three companies, with three platoons in each company. Our 2nd company (commander Lieutenant Sych) and 3rd (commander Lieutenant Kirchetov) defended Orel and its railway station, the 1st company (commander Lieutenant Konovalov) was stationed in Bryansk. All attacks by German bombers (mainly u-88 and Heinkel-111), with the aim of disabling railway stations, were unsuccessful. Our companies and anti-aircraft artillery divisions that interacted with us completed their task. Despite the fact that we were forbidden to work on ground targets, sometimes we did it ""on the sly"". A group of German paratroopers was found near farms near Baranovichi. Senior Sergeant Dolgopolov's position, where I was, received a phone call with a warning that the Germans might appear in this square. Saboteurs, as we later learned, had the task to destroy the station. After receiving the message, I gave the command to"" search "" the nearby forest with the beam. Paratroopers at this time went out to the edge of the forest-and then our beam met them. While the second number of the units regulated the supply of coals of the lamp, and the first number further searched the forest, I. Dolgopolov, the electrician and the telephone operator fired in short bursts at the saboteurs. We put four people down, and the rest left. We did not pursue them, as we were few and could not risk our units. Since everything went well, I did not report to the company commander, because I knew that the authorities react nervously to this. It called the work on the ground enemy ""hooliganism"". I still reported to major Grishchenko, but he grumbled a little, and then said: ""Why did you want them to cut you up like chickens?"" I would have done the same. The defense of Baranovichi was ahead, as well as Brest, Lodz. And, finally, the Berlin operation, where, violating the previous rules, we worked on the ground enemy, blinding him and not allowing him to conduct targeted fire. I want to tell you more about this operation. The night of April 15-16 was warm and starry. Rockets of various colors shot up into the sky from all sides, flashing.The time dragged on very wearily. And at last the earth shuddered from the volleys of thousands of guns. The sky was streaked with fire trails - the ""Katyusha"" hit. In response, the Germans began to beat with guns and mortars. As I expected, the connection between the points of my platoon was broken in the first few minutes. But I didn't dare and send soldiers to restore it. It would be quickly broken again, and the risk of losing people was high. The task was clear enough. Now they were just waiting for one General signal for everyone: ""Beam to Zenith"". ""Luch"" - I barked in the ear of the second number, and at the same moment the entire front of the beams lit up in the direction of the enemy. Probably, from the height it looked like a fantastic sight.We were so engrossed in our work that we did not immediately notice that tanks and infantry were moving past us towards the enemy. The artillery stopped. The Marines clearly liked our lighting. They were shouting: ""Thank you, lads! Like at a ball! It's more fun to go into battle."" Then we learned how the Germans reacted: "" It was an incomprehensible powerful light from the Russian side. We didn't see anything, this is some new type of weapon, maybe-chemistry!» This was confirmed later by captured German soldiers."" There were great losses where I was seconded with a platoon during this operation, Lieutenant Denisov, second Lieutenant Nikolsky, senior Sergeant Khodeev, Kopylov, red army soldiers Savchuk, Perevertailenko, signalman Naberezhnye Chelny were killed. We remember them and will never forget them. General M. I. Safonov, then Chief of staff of the 301st Division, wrote well about the participation of searchlights in the defense breakthrough in his book. We were then operating in the band of General Berzarin's 5th Shock Army, which included the 301st Division.Many of my fellow soldiers are no longer with us. It became difficult to communicate with the survivors in person, but the fighting years spent together will never be forgotten,as well as the comrades themselves.(""The living of the living ... and the fallen.""). In preparation for the Berlin operation in early April 1945, commander Grishchenko submits a report with a proposal to use anti-aircraft searchlights to blind enemy troops. From the award list: ""Major Grisghchenko perfectly prepared his battalion for the task of blinding the enemy on the front line in the 69th Army's combat operation on April 16,1945. He personally made a reconnaissance for all of your projector settings and supervised engineering works on preparation of positions for combat operations. During the operation, he was appointed Chief of the searchlight group of the Army and in battle led all searchlight facilities of the Army. Major Grishenko ensured that the searchlight units successfully completed their tasks with minimal losses in personnel and equipment. For his leadership fighting operation searchlight units of the Army and displaying courage Major Grishchenko got the governmental award – the Order of the ""Red Banner"".Before the start of the Berlin offensive of April 15, 1945 on the personal instructions of the commander of the troops of the 1st Belorussian front Marshal of the Soviet Union G. K. Zhukov, all the searchlight part of the 5th Air Defense Corps took the battle formations on Kostrinsky base for illumination of ground targets and blinding the enemy in the areas of breakthrough. 143 anti-aircraft searchlights, placed at intervals of 150-200 meters, were connected by wire and radio communication. On April 16, at a signal from the command post, they simultaneously illuminated the enemy's defenses, blinded and demoralized the enemy, ensuring a successful offensive by the front's troops. German night vision systems detected targets at a distance of up to one kilometer and posed a serious threat when storming the Seelow heights, and searchlights disabled them with powerful illumination. The light of the searchlights illuminated the terrain ahead, which made it possible to move forward and relatively quickly master the three enemy trenches. Tankers and self-propelled gunners who, using light, moved with their tanks and self-propelled guns in the conditions of night battle not blindly speak especially well of the actions of searchlights. ""More than 100 billion candles lit up the battlefield, blinding the enemy and snatching objects of attack from the darkness for our tanks and infantry. It was a picture of great, impressive power, and I don't think I remember feeling anything like it in my entire life."" (Zhukov ""Memories and reflections"", Moscow 1970). Sergey Kiselyov, a participant in the Seelow-Berlin operation, recalls the combat path of the searchlight soldiers: ""I got into the regiment, the 43rd Searchlight Regiment. I was appointed to the position of platoon commander. The searchlight had 700 million candles, there was a voltaic arc, special coals, a special lamp, in focus this light was reflected on the reflector and from the reflector went into the air. We went to Germany on our own. We stopped in the town of Konigswald. Then there was the 26th Separate Searchlight battalion, the searchlight battalion from the gunners (the searchlight battalion of the 1875th Anti-aircraft Artillery Regiment. This was on the 16th of April, and at about four o'clock or about four o'clock the artillery training began. It was so loud that we couldn't hear each other. They were shooting through us, and Katyushas were standing behind me. They turned on the switches and started driving along the Seelow heights. The soldiers said: ""Just look out of the trench — and then you can't see for an hour, you are blinded"". One of the German generals reported that they intercepted it somewhere in Berlin, that the Russians used some kind of light, either chemistry, or something else, because it is very bright."" Thus, it was the searchlights of the 5th Air Defense Corps that launched the Berlin offensive. The merits of the corps ' searchlights were highly appreciated. The 43rd Anti-aircraft Searchlight Regiment, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel N. G. Pavlov, was awarded the Order of Alexander Nevsky, and the 26th Separate Snti-aircraft Searchlight battalion, commanded by major P. S. Grishchenko gor the Order of the ""Red Star"" (Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated may 28, 1945). Many soldiers and commanders of these units were also awarded Government awards. Having broken the stubborn resistance of the enemy, the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front broke into the suburbs of Berlin on April 21 and began destroying the garrison troops. Together with them, units of the 5th Air Defense Corps moved forward, which not only continued to cover the Oder river crossings, front-line rear lines and communications, but also provided direct fire support on the battlefield against the ground enemy. On May 2, the corps management arrived in the Berlin suburb of Landsberg. From that day , enemy aircraft did not appear in the area of responsibility of the 5th Air Defense Corps. The corps ' anti-aircraft artillery did not open fire. This is how the Great Patriotic war ended for the soldiers of the 5th Air Defense Corps.On may 9, 1945, Lieutenant Colonel P. S. Grishchenko was in Berlin and among the soldiers and officers of the 1st Belorussian front signed on the ruins of the defeated Reichstag. For participation in the great Patriotic war Peter S. Grishchenko was awarded the Order of Lenin, two Orders ""Red Banner"", Order of ""Patriotic war of 2nd class"", the Order ""Red Star"" and medals, including ""For defense of Moscow"" ""For defence of Kiev"", ""For victory over Germany in the great Patriotic war 1941-1945"", ""For capture of Berlin""."