Vasily Dmitrievich Konnov, Guard Captain, Deputy battalion commander of 136th Guards Rifle Regiment of the 42nd Duards Rifle division. He was born in March 1913 in the village of Kologrivovka the Tatishchevsky district of Saratov region, Russian. He graduated the 8th grade of a nine-year school in Gomel. In the pre-war years, he worked as an employee of the Tatishev district newspaper and Deputy Editor of the newspaper "Socialist construction" in Dergachevo. In May 1941, he was drafted into the Red Army. From the beginning of the Great Patriotic war to the day of his death on March 2, 1945, he fought at the Western, Voronezh, 1st and 2nd Ukrainian fronts. He took part in the defensive operations of the first period of the war, the Voronezh-Kastorn offensive, the Kursk Bulge, the liberation of Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. He was wounded on March 11, 1943. For battle honours, he was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War 1st degree (1944) and the Red Star Order (1943). Vasily Dmitrievich Konnov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star Medal on September 13, 1944, for his courage and bravery in crossing the Gorny Tikich river. On March 5, 1944, the troops of 2nd Ukrainian front launched an offensive in the Uman-Botoshansk direction. The next day, near the village of Antonovka, Buk district, Kiev region, the regiment in which Konnov served came to the Mountain Tikich – a small but deep river, on the right bank of which the Nazis had pre-prepared positions. The enemy shelled the left bank with heavy artillery and mortar fire. The weather was inclement, it was raining lightly, the ground was muddy, and the wind was strong and bone-chilling. There were no transport facilities. Companies lay down in front of the river and suffered losses. Suddenly the clear voice of Guards Captain Konnov rang out over the battalion's chains: “Communists, command forward!” With that cry, Konnov was the first to plunge into the icy waters of the mountain Tikich. Two or three men from each platoon followed his lead and then the entire battalion followed lead. Having swum to the right bank of the river, Konnov led the soldiers to storm the enemy's fortifications. The attack of the guards was supported in time by our artillery from the left bank. The gunners destroyed several machine-gun bunkers with direct fire, and suppressed the enemy's mortar battery with fire from closed positions. With hand grenades and automatic fire, the battalion knocked the fascists out of the trenches and liberated Antonovka. As the fighters marched towards the southern edge of the village, the enemy launched a counterattack. More than five infantry companies pushed onto the battalion’s right flank. Konnov moved a machine gun company there and led the repulsion of the enemy counterattack by himself. The Guards' fire was well-coordinated and precise. Having left dozens of corpses and two armoured infantry vehicls, the fascists withdrew to the initial positions. The regimental commander gave the order: to entrench in Antonovka and hold the captured bridgehead until the main forces approached. Vasiliy Connov bypassed the companies, gave advices to the commanders of the defence units, and indicated which areas should be particularly heavily covered by machine gun fire. The measures taken were well-timed. On the side of the village of Hizhnya, the fascists abandoned a battalion of infantry with four tanks. The enemy artillery fired on Antonovka. Having formed a chain, the Hitler’s forces went after the tanks. At this time, our howitzer batteries successfully set up a barrage fire, disrupted enemy combat procedures. And when the Nazis came out of the beam to the side of the hill, the machine guns came into play. The infantry were pressed to the ground, but the tanks broke into the battalion’s position at high speed. The Guard Capitan Konnov crawled of underground gardens to one of the tanks and exploded a caterpillar by anti-tank grenade Three other tanks were destroyed by the guards inside the village. The main force of the regiment arrived at this time. The attack of the Guards was irresistible. The enemy fled in the direction of Uman... In the fight for the liberation of the Czechoslovak city of Zvolen on 2 March 1945, V.D. Kononov died in a blaze of glory. He is buried in this city in the brotherly cemetery of Soviet soldiers.