Rank: Major Branch of military: Air Forces (except marine aviation), Coast Guards, the troops of the NKVD, Border Guards Devision: the 250th rifle Bobruisk Red Banner order of Suvorov Rank: Major Branch of military: Air Forces (except marine aviation), Coast Guards, the troops of the NKVD, Border Guards Devision: the 250th rifle Bobruisk Red Banner order of Suvorov In the heat of battle at Smolensk in July, 1941 the commander of the 922nd rifle regiment 250th rifle division 20th Army of the Western front major D. I. Kuznetsov died heroically , a former officer of the Main Directorate of Border guards of the NKVD of the USSR. Dmitry Ignatievich Kuznetsov was born in February 1903 in the village of Varnavino, Demidovsky district, Demidovo-Prigorodnaya volost, Smolensk province, to a peasant family. He first put on a red army uniform when he was twenty-two years old, when in October 1925 he was drafted to the cavalry units of the Red Army. At the beginning of the War major Kuznetsov was in the Moldavian border district. Returning to Moscow, D. Kuznetsov filed a report with a request to send him to the active army. His request was granted, and within a few days he began to form a rifle regiment, the basis of which was the border guards. In the first days of July, the 922nd rifle regiment, commanded by D. I. Kuznetsov, took up the defense on the far approaches to Moscow, in the Smolensk region, very close to the commander's native places. The regiment received a combat mission- "to Delay the German offensive! Stop the enemy, do not miss the enemy tanks!". Being in the direction of the main attack, the border guards withstood several tank attacks of the enemy, selflessly repelled numerous attempts of the fascists to break through to Moscow and did not retreat a step. In many areas of defense, the regimental commander inspired the soldiers by personal example, drawing them into counterattacks, pushing the enemy back to their original lines. Here is how veterans describe one of the last fights of Kuznetsov D. I.: Kuznetsov with eyes burning with anger, black from sunburn and dust, spoke to the fighters: "Anyone who does not maintain order and discipline in the red Army is an enemy and a traitor to our Motherland," the soldiers and commanders listened with bowed heads to the speech of the regiment commander, and he continued: "look at me, my left hand does not work, but I still have my right. I will fight with my right hand, and if they beat off my right hand, then my legs are intact. I will fight with my feet, if they beat off my legs, I will bite the enemy with my teeth. As long as the heart of a Russian person is beating in my chest, I will not give up and will not give in to the enemy of our Fatherland. Before us is the enemy and the suffering of the Motherland. The ashes of burned villages, the cries of fathers, mothers, wives and children. So let us be worthy sons of our people and write down our glorious deeds in the history of Russia. Either they will remember us with glory, or they will curse us as cowards!" In one of the new counterattacks, German submachine gunners appeared at close range to the right of the command post. Major Kuznetsov rolled a machine gun out of the shelter with one hand and started shooting the occupants at point-blank range. The fascists could not stand it and turn back. Kuznetsov, dragging the soldiers with him, rushed forward: "Aha! Run away, you sons of bitches! After all, Russia is not France for you!" - And so with shouts of " Hurrah!", " For the Motherland!" the unit occupied the second village and crossed the river Black Creek. At this time, an enemy shell fragment wounded the regimental commander in the stomach. This wound turned out to be fatal for him. "(G. T. Shpykhov, a veteran of the division) on July 28, 1941, he died of his wounds in a field hospital. On the recommendation of the front command, the brave officer was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. The feat of major Dmitry Kuznetsov is revered by border guards, a street in the city of Demidov in the Smolensk region is named after him. REFERENCES 1. From the Moscow region and the Volga to Berlin and the Elbe: Memoirs of veterans of the 250th rifle division. - Saint Petersburg, "Tolerance" 2, 2003. - 52 p. 2. Vorobyov M. V., Titov V. E., Khrapchenkov A. K. Smolyan-Heroes of the Soviet Union. - M., 1982. 3. Rybkin V. A. "Star hour" of major Kuznetsov. - M., 1974. Council of veterans of the 250th Bobruisk red banner order of Suvorov II rifle division