CITY: city of Batumi DATE OF BIRTH: 02/17/1925 DATE OF DEATH: - HISTORY: Title: Red Army soldier Type of troops: Ground forces, Air Force (except naval aviation), coastal service, NKVD troops, border troops My great-grandfather was born on February 17, 1925. The family consisted of 6 people. Great-grandfather was the eldest son. His family name was Mikhail. Mikhail, while at school, helped his father in the bakery in his free time. He mastered almost all professions there and could already work independently. Before finishing the seven-year school, he had already replaced his ailing father in the bakery. When the Germans came to our city, Mikhail was on a business trip in Arzgir to extract salt. As soon as he returned, he went to the military registration and enlistment office to report the end of the trip and his arrival in the city, hoping that he would be called up to the front. He was handed a summons indicating the date of arrival at the military enlistment office, but by this time the military enlistment office, like all state institutions, had been hastily evacuated and he went to work at his former place in the bakery. As soon as the military enlistment office began to work, Mikhail was immediately called to the front in the "Border Troops" in the Moldavian city of Edinet. According to the stories of the great-grandfather, on the night of June 22nd, five divisions of 325,000 soldiers and officers were alerted and took up positions along the border. Near Edinets, near the village of Stoyanovka and near Cahul, border guards thwarted the aggressor's attempts to seize the bridges across the Prut, the bridgeheads were destroyed and the German regiment was blocked. An attempt by the Germans to break through was thwarted and after 2 days the surrounded German divisions were captured, and the 3rd Romanian army surrendered. Great-grandfather said that in the newspaper it was written that during the Yassy-Kishinev operation, 40 enemy divisions were defeated. Once, my great-grandfather said, intelligence reported that there was an enemy outpost in one of the villages, there were 30 tanks, a mortar battery and the main forces of the enemy infantry regiment, which was about to blow up an important railway junction. The balance of forces was uneven, not in favor of the border guards. But the group leader decided to attack. On the night of December 3, a detachment of border guards attacked the Nazis. Acting with determination and courage, they destroyed the enemy's firing points. 8 tanks and 4 vehicles with ammunition, 8 mortars and 7 anti-tank guns were destroyed. A German officer taken prisoner said: "From the first days of the war we heard about your border guards and we know that they are brave soldiers." 42 participants and my great-grandfather were awarded orders and medals: - "For the Victory over Germany in WWII 1941-1945"; In Peacetime, the merits of my great-grandfather were not forgotten. He was awarded with jubilee medals: - "XXX - Years of the Soviet Army of the Fleet"; - "XX years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945"; - "50 years of the Armed Forces of the USSR"; - "XXX Years of the Great Patriotic War Victory 1941-1945"; - "60 years of the Armed Forces of the USSR".