Alexander Nikolaevich Kotov was born in 1913. He was a participant in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. Letters of Lieutenant Alexander Nikolaevich Kotov from the front: "Good afternoon! Hello, my dear father, mother, Nadenka, Victor with warm greetings, your son Sasha. Here I am still alive and well and I want to inform you. Well, it all goes by some miracle I think and this miracle will come to an end. Right now we are sitting a few hundred meters away from the Germans and waiting for the signal to attack and under the cannonade of shooting and explosions I decided to write you a letter. Maybe I won’t have time to do it because it is a very compound operation. Well, do not be sad that I will die for the Motherland, for the Fatherland. So here is my life in this time the last year recall, too, in August 29 1941. I was wounded and lay in hospital and today I write August 26 and how will fate play............ if everything goes well, then we will write off. Well, goodbye, your son Sasha 26 - 08 – 42. Keep healthy. (Stamp: Viewed by military censors); “Greetings from the trenches. Good day, my dear, father and mother, Victor and Nadenka. We often remember our peaceful life here before the war, and I especially often remember our family when we lived in silence, in the woods. Oh, how cozy and warm it was! And now the cursed enemy has broken all peace and happiness. For how many ones from our family won’t return and it has been sprayed in some places. Well then, don’t lose courage, Victory is near by! Yes, now I would give dearly to be with you for five minutes, to look at you. At other times my heart breaks with longing, and at times it is so boring that I have never experienced such a tormenting boredom in my life. Well, it’s good to have fine fighters around; we share everything with each otheer - boredom and joy. It’s o’key now. There is a forest around, nature. Svyaznoy feeds me with mushrooms, and I loved them and still love them... August 1 and 2 we were in a heavy battle. Yes, it was hell, where a person endured all the trials. From the explosions of mines and shells and shooting, everything was shrouded in smoke, and it was even hard to breathe at times... I was stunned twice. I didn't hear anything for a long time. Convey my regards to Yefim Vasilyevich, Ivan Nilych, Stepan Agafonovich and Basiliy....".