The 111th Rifle Division was surrounded near Novgorod in September 1941, and stopped twenty kilometers from the Volkhov River. The leader of the reconnaissance company, Oplesnin, was instructed to contact the Red Army units on the other side of the Volkhov River. Moreover, it was necessary to go through twenty kilometers of enemy positions. Then the hero swam across the cold waters of the Volkhov River under heavy enemy fire. Together with the command on the Eastern Bank, they developed a plan for the division's exit from the encirclement; because of it, the division broke out of the enemy ring, crossed the Volkhov River and joined the army troops. To make the plan work, Nikolay swam across the river twice more, on September 25 and 29.