"...I (Victor Kazakov) was born on 05.01.1924 in the village of Bayki, Karaidelsky District, Bashkir ASSR. 20.06.1941 - graduated with Honors from secondary school in the village of Bayki, Karaidel District, Bashkir ASSR The war prevented further education. After graduation from secondary school, in connection with the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, from 25.06.1941, by order of the District Executive Committee, I was sent to work in the Karaidel District office "Zagotskot" in the village of Bayki as a handyman. Drove cattle to the railway station Yanaul Kaz, and to the meat processing plant in Sverdlovsk. Then in the village the Baiki harvested crops of the collective farm "Pervorodnoe" until October 1941 I worked in the procurement Department of the Karaidel District consumer Union as a raw material supplier of agricultural products in the Aydosovsky Selpo from 30.10.1941, in the Baikal Selpo from 06.01.1942. During the period of work in the Baikinsky Selpo from June 10, 1942, on mobilization, I was sent to the 2nd Moscow Tushinsky School of Special Communications evacuated to the station Abdulino of Kuibyshev railway. But a few days later I was recalled and continued to work in the Baikal Selpo until 30.07.1942. I voluntarily through the Karaidel District Military Commissariat entered the Riga Military Infantry School, evacuated to the city of Sterlitamak BASSR on 17.08.1942, and enrolled as a cadet in the 4th Mortar Company of the Mortar Battalion. As an excellent student in November 1942, I was sent to the courses organized by the battalion, where they planned to train Junior commanders for the upcoming recruitment of cadets born in 1925, but after two months it was disbanded and I was sent back to the 4th Company. After passing the preliminary exams, at the end of February, I was sent to the front along with all the cadets. When moving by rail in March 1943, during a raid by enemy aircraft, we were bombed near Yelets, where I were lightly wounded in the right leg with a dislocation in the knee joint. I was cured in the echelon. At the beginning of April, due to a lull at the front, I was sent to Novy Oskol after a month of training for Second Lieutenants of the Voronezh Front and enlisted in the 9th Mortar Company as cadet, where I continued to heal after being wounded. At the end of the course 10.09.1943 By order of the Voronezh front #0592, I was promoted to the rank of Second Lieutenant at the end of the course on 10.09.1943 by the order of the Voronezh Front #0592 and sent to the 32nd Reserve Regiment of the officer reserve of the 1st Ukrainian Front. Then in early October to the 15th Rifle Regiment, 147th Rifle Division, 120 mm Mortars Battery of the 2nd Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front. The regiment at this time was fighting to hold, and then expand the bridgehead on the right Bank of the Dnieper River 15 km South of Pereyaslav. I was appointed a platoon leader in the 15th Rifle Regiment, 147th Rifle Division, 120 mm. mortar battalion (order on 147 RD #086 of 25.10.1943). A few days later I was taken by the chief of artillery as an assistant. During my twenty-day stay in the battery, I served as the leader of the control platoon. The battery of the unit was transferred to other regiments, and even participated in artillery preparation for breakthroughs in other divisions. As part of the regiment, serving as an assistant chief of artillery, I participated in heavy battles with the Rommelev army near Zhytomyr in the fall of 1943 /November/ under Chernyakhov, Korosten, Korostyshev, then as part of one, then as part of another army and corps. Participated in the destruction of encircled enemy near Novograd Volynsk (end of December-beginning of January 1944). The regiment was badly battered in heavy fighting on November 23 near Brusilov. I returned to the battery in January 1944 in Berdichev. The regiment at that time went to the formation. I was appointed senior of the battery. The battery participates in the breakthrough of the enemy’s defense in the village of Velikaya Medveditsa near Shepetivka in late February 1944 /or early March/. At this time, the battery commander and one platoon leader failed. I took command of the battery. The battery participates at this time in the battles near Gritsev in the conditions of spring thaw, with a lack of traction, lack of ammunition. We used captured mines and fired at the resisting Germans. The battery was short of men. Horses, carts, and ammunition were missing. Replenished by trophies and from the population, by the end of the offensive, the battery had a sufficient amount of transport and optics /at the expense of trophies/ and communication equipment. The regiment was fighting hard at this time. Therefore, having replenished the reserves with captured mines, the battery arrived at night in the village of Zalesye near Gritsev. Half an hour later, from the rear of the forest, more than 2 battalions of the enemy, retreating earlier in the day along a parallel road, attacked two of our battalions. About one and a half hundred Germans were moving to the battery's hastily occupied firing positions. The battery's personnel repelled the attack with machine guns and mines at the lowest sights, successfully using the lighting of the burning village. On the battlefield, the enemy left dozens of corpses, machine guns, and many other weapons. For a successful operation, the regimental commander awarded me a horse with a saddle (which was then a luxury). Together with the regiment, I participated in the battles at Proskurov with a numerically superior enemy, where the regiment lost 40 % of its artillery, at Kamianets-Podilsk, Skala. Participated in battles with the enemy, who sought to break through to the surrounded group of Germans under the Rock. In the battles near Pshevlovka enemy tanks with transporters and self-propelled guns came out between the firing position and my observation post and broke my cable connection. The battalion commander, whom I supported, was ordered to withdraw the battalion, for it stood very far ahead, having no neighbors. It was ordered to withdraw with the battery. Having made my way back to the battery and seeing that the fire of the tanks could not hit the battery, because it stood in a deep but narrow ditch and was separated from the tanks by a river, and the slopes of the hill were steep, I ordered to open fire. An armored personnel carrier was set on fire. The tanks, after firing, unsuccessfully withdrew and allowed the battalion and battery to withdraw safely. For successful operations during the offensive, I was awarded the Order of the Red Star by order #012-N of 147 of May 1, 1944. A mortar company of the enemy was destroyed by a battery near Skala in the area of Belyavintsy on April 20, 1944. The scouts of the regiment pointed out to me the area of the company's stronghold. It was visible from the steep Bank of the river that was ahead of the trenches, from no-man's-land. The enemy company was located in the forest, which at an angle of 45 degrees approached the river. At night, I moved to the shore and stretched the connection from the company commander to myself, and in the morning, I destroyed the enemy's mortar company partially. Going back not having reached our trenches with my OP about a hundred meters /had to climb the mountain/ was forced to lie down in a hole for about six hours, got sick with malaria and left for treatment. A Lieutenant was sent to take command of the battery. I returned to the battery on May 2 and took command of the 1st Platoon as the battery's senior. In this position, I stayed until the crossing of the Beaver River in Germany. Together with the regiment participated in the summer offensive of 1944, crossed the Dniester River near the city of Galich. During the crossing, the battery was bombed twice and was badly battered. We transported the material part and carts on boats, horses by swimming, using only our own means. Having crossed and replenished horses, the battery with the regiment, advancing, went with heavy fighting to the rear of the enemy to the city of Kalush and went to meet our troops fighting for the city of Stanislav. The enemy, retreating from the city of Stanislav, taking advantage of their numerical superiority, broke through and at night his columns moved through Podgorki. The battery was at this time in the kitchen gardens, pressed against the rivers on two sides, and on the other two by the Germans, not covered and separated from its regiment. The Germans were 200 meters away and were firing at the enemy. In the morning, taking advantage of the fog, we retreated into the bushes, crossed the river, and in the afternoon joined the regiment and the units that were coming from the city of Stanislav to meet us. Then, together with the regiment, we participated in the crossing of the stormy Carpathian, full-flowing after the rain, the Stroti River and the liberation of Stryi. Then we went to rest in the village of Butsuv, 18 km away from the town of Przemysl. The regiment was on the Sandomierz bridgehead, under Evanescene, under Borovym in August 1944. 06.11.1944. By order of the 13th Army #0474 I received the next military rank of Lieutenant Participated in the breakthrough of the German defense near Kurozvenki on January 12, 1945 as part of one artillery group. The battery crossed the river Oder in early February 1945. At night we took up a firing position near a brick factory, and in the morning enemy tanks, four armored personnel carriers with infantry and vehicles broke through from Steinau, and, moving along the highway to the South, found themselves 500 meters behind the battery. Communication with the battery commander was interrupted. I ordered the battery to be deployed and open fire with direct-fire mortars. It was done. The Germans abandoned their vehicles, transporters, and scattered across the field, ran to the forest, and were destroyed by our fire and machine guns of the 2nd battalion of our regiment that had retreated to the factory. Transporters and trucks were captured. The next day the same story was repeated. Enemy tanks broke through, moving South along the highway with the infantry. Self-propelled and anti-tank guns opened fire on the Germans. The infantry abandoned their vehicles and ran, trying to hide in the nearest forest, but were destroyed by fire of the battery, they turned back to the rear. For this two-day battle, I was awarded the Order of the Red Star (Order #0-10-N on 147 RD from 27 03.1945). As part of the regiment, I participated in the battles for the city of Sprtau. Participated in the battles for the expansion of the bridgehead on the Bober River. There I took command of the battery, in connection with the departure of the battery commander to the post of chief of artillery of the regiment /Order #015 to 147 RD from 02.05.1945/ Participated in the battles to break through to the encircled group of our troops near the Bober River in the area of Benau, Pferten and for clearing the right-Bank half of thetown of Forst Then we rested and were formed near the town of Alta Colt Furth near Losnitza. I took command of the battery during the breakout of the defense on the Neiss River on April 16, 1945, as part of the artillery group, on section of the 60th Rifle Regiment of 147 Rifle Division and commanded the battery until the end of the war /formally, I was the battery commander from 17.04.1945 but I did not command it, but performed the duty of the artillery commander of regiment/.”