Heroes and feats

My great-grandfather Vasily Bedyukh was originally from Ukraine, from a large family of a blacksmith. Before the Great Patriotic War, he graduated from the military aviation school with a degree in aircraft engineering. Vasily was preparing the planes for flights and repaired them. Military Technician of the 2nd rank. My great-grandfather went through the entire war, liberated Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Germany, and was wounded twice. Great-grandfather was awarded the Order of the Red Star, he had three such orders, had many medals. The front-line newspaper wrote about him. I'll tell you how he got the first order. It was in the Caucasus. The Germans were advancing, and the planes could not be left to the Germans! Either blow them up or fly away. One plane could not be started, and then great-grandfather decided to warm the engine to start. It was winter and the grease froze, the fuel did not enter the engine. It was absolutely impossible to do this – the plane could explode. But great-grandfather took a chance and the engine started. He saved the machine! The plane flew away, and great-grandfather and other soldiers remained to protect the airfield, so that the rest could have time to move as far as possible to our troops. And here were German tanks! Great-grandfather crawled up to the German tank and threw a grenade. The tank caught fire, and the other tanks turned back. Then my great-grandfather and other soldiers fought for a long time with the infantrymen for the airfield. So his air regiment managed to relocate far away. While he was getting to his regiment, he was shot in the leg. Vasily was in the hospital for a long time. Still, he returned to his regiment, where he was expected. Great-grandfather's hands are made of gold! After aerial combats our planes came back riddled with bullets, barely able to get to the airfield. And great-grandfather "patched" them for days, that is, all the holes were closed, the engines were restored. He finished his military service in Czechoslovakia. After the d war, my great-grandfather worked for the Gorky Aviation Plant (Nizhny Novgorod). He loved airplanes. Already in peacetime, he flew to Ukraine many times to meet with his fellow soldiers. He died in 1989 and was buried in Nizhny Novgorod. He was 74 years old. All his orders and medals are kept in our family.

Grigory Bazhutin was my own grandfather - a native of the village of Sukhoi Log Kishertsky District of the the Molotov (Perm) Region. When the war began, he was 40 years old. He was called up by the Kishertsky District Military Commissariate on August 30, 1941. He was sent to the 379th Rifle Division (according to the District Military Commissariat). It was found out that the division was formed in the fall of 1941. There were many of our countrymen in this division. The division was relocated to the Western Front by early December 1941, where it became a part of the 30th Army. The division participated in the Red Army counteroffensive near Moscow. It protected the approaches to the capital from the Northwest. As a result of the offensive, the enemy was defeated and the threat of bypassing Moscow from the North was eliminated, favorable conditions were created for a further offensive to the West. He fought on the Kalinin Front, after being wounded and hospitalized, he caught up with his regiment, but was enlisted in another rifle division (253rd Rifle Division, 523rd Rifle Regiment). He liberated the city of Kalinin. Persistent fighting with the enemy was now going on in the Rzhev area. Grigory Mikhailovich was seriously wounded by a shrapnel in the left knee joint with bone damage on April 2, 1942. It happened during the attack on the village of Pogoreloe in the Gorodishchensky District of the Kalinin Region. The consequence of such a severe injury was the amputation of the left leg above the knee joint. He was treated for a long time in the hospital - there was also a hand, and a contusion, and pneumonia. He returned home in the summer of 1942 on one leg with crutches. Instead of the other leg, there was now a prosthetic leg. It was difficult for him to walk, as his left leg did not bend at all. But this did not prevent him from working for the collective farm and doing all the work he could. He treated his work conscientiously. In addition, he was assigned to take care of a collective farm apiary, which was a few kilometers from the village, in the forest. It was necessary to get there on foot, sometimes by cart and horse. He kept bees at his home after the war also for the rest of his life. He was engaged in beekeeping with knowledge of business. He was awarded the Order f the Red Star for injury in 1946,. He died in 1977.

The story was told Vera Beganova: I was born on May 22, 1921 in the Kursk Region, Skorodnyansky District, Yuryevsky Village Council in the village of second Ivanovka. During the war years, I lived in my village. The Nazis drove young people to Germany in the autumn of 1942. I was on the list. In Germany, I was sent to a military factory where they made shells. I only worked at the factory for two weeks. I stuffed the shells with paper to help bring the Victory over the enemy closer, although I knew what it would mean for me. Two weeks later, I and three girls ran away from there. But the police was already waiting for us in the woods. We were moved from prison to prison. So I went through five prisons. In every one, they tried to break us, beat us, and made us say what they wanted us to say. We were silent. There was a trial. I was sentenced to be hanged. After the trial, we were forced to move a huge pile of coal in thirty minutes from one place to another. In the morning of the next day we were driven to the railway. But they didn't hang us. They put us in cars and took us somewhere. To the Auschwitz-Brzezinka concentration camp. We had numbers pinned on our hands on the morning of February 22, 1943. I was listed as #36215. They made us take off our clothes, cut our hair, and took us to the "bathhouse". And the "bath" was like this: first we were driven into the steam room and kept under hot steam for a very, very long time. I couldn't breathe. I was suffocating, and many people fainted. After the steam room, we were sent to another room under an ice shower, where we were also kept for a very long time. After the "bath" we were put on a draft. So, in the draft, we stood until late in the evening. Only later I learned that this "bath" was for disinfection (the strongest ones remained alive). Not many survived this "bath". In the evening we were given clothes: a striped dress and a thin striped jacket without lining. On the head - a gauze handkerchief, and on the feet - shoes (shugi on a wooden sole). I had a red triangle sewn on my clothes (the triangles were green and blue, and the political prisoners had red ones), and a cross was painted on my back in red paint. Only those who were to be destroyed had crosses. Even now, many years later, I am horrified when I remember this terrible cross. We were quarantined for two weeks. We were barely fed. Many could not survive these tests. The survivors were driven to work. We were driven to work to the beat of drums, which were beaten by Jews. I was on the 101st team. I remember a police fanatic. I don't remember his name. We called him the seven-headed Serpent. I remember him for the rest of my life: tall, thin, always carrying a bone stick, and a dog next to him. There was a Yugoslav teacher in our team. She didn't have time to check in with everyone else. So this monster dragged her out of the barracks and beat her on the head with a stick until her eyes popped out of their sockets. But he didn't rest until her body was a bloody wound. Only then did he made the prisoners carry the corpse to the pile of the dead. And at work, for fun, the seven-headed Serpent killed the prisoner, painted her with paints, sat her on a stretcher in some position and forced the prisoners to carry the corpse to the camp. Jews were burned in families. I remember one elderly woman. On this day, Jews were burned. They were hiding, shouting. The police put them in cars and took them to the crematorium. There was a yell from everywhere. This woman was lying at the feet of a policeman, begging to keep her daughter alive, so that she could work, because she was still very young. They suffered a lot. But these beasts enjoyed the torment. We continued to work. We were fed once a day with salty soup from a rutabaga. At two or three o'clock, half a liter of balanda was brought to work. We drank and worked again. We were bullied in every possible way and knelt on small stones for a long time. There were huge rats in the barracks. Many died at night, and the rats immediately gnawed the corpses. We worked mainly in quarries, cutting stones. One day I collapsed from exhaustion. I was sent to the barracks for the sick. I thought that I would be treated, gain strength. And there it turned out that people were starving to death. I was there for a week. We were only fed Balanda twice. I begged to be sent back to work, said that I was healthy. And I was sent to work. Early one morning, I made my way to the kitchen where the rutabaga truck was being unloaded. I only took one rutabaga from the car, but a policewoman noticed me. She beat me with a stick until I lost consciousness. I was thrown into a pile of corpses near the crematorium. During the day, this pile of corpses was not burned, and at night I regained consciousness from the cold and reached my barracks. For the mean time, I was spared death. I just really wanted to live! At the end of December 1944, about 300 of us were taken to another camp, a small one. It was also surrounded by electric barbed wire. In this camp, we only worked at night at the factory. And in April 1945, we were loaded into wagons and taken out of this camp. For a long time we moved and were brought to Prague. The people from the Red Cross approached the train, and many prisoners were taken away. And the rest of us were taken on. Brought to a dead end. Here men were selected and shot in a small wood, not far from the train. Here planes arrived, and the bombing began, but the train was not touched. After the bombing, we were driven for another day. But on May 8, in the evening, the train suddenly stopped. Someone opened doors. How much joy and tears there were when we saw our liberators! We were given frozen potatoes. After that, we were taken to be fed. I got in line. They poured half a pot into a plate. It was impossible to do more, because our bodies were very exhausted. We were like skeletons. I really wanted to eat, so I joined the queue for the second time. The Polish woman noticed me, but poured another half Cup. And I got in line for the third time. Seeing me, the woman escorted me out, explaining that I can't eat too much at once, I can die. How I cried... I was so hurt and so hungry. Years go by, and the horrors are not forgotten. And now, in peacetime, I wake up from nightmares. I want to shout to the whole world: People! Be vigilant! Take care of the world! Save the clear sky for your children! Let their childhood be cloudless and happy!!!.... Died on February 20, 1999.

Rank: Corporal My father Dmitry Baranov was born in 1910 in the city of Saratov. In 1938, he moved to Rtishchevo. As soon as the Great Patriotic War began, he was drafted into the Red Army. He was an ordinary soldier, a driver; he went through the entire war from 1941 and reached Berlin with a Victory in 1945. He began his military service on the Volkhov Front, as part of the 83rd Separate Road Maintenance Battalion. The 83rd SRMB passed a glorious path on the Volkhov, Leningrad, and 2nd Belorussian Fronts. It performed the tasks of ensuring the smooth movement of vehicles and military equipment on the front-line roads. Its fighters, following on the heels of the advancing troops, repaired and built bridges, cleared the roadbed of obstacles created by the Nazis and resulting from destruction, including in urban areas. During the Great Patriotic War, the 83rd Battalion defended Leningrad. The only transport route through Ladoga Lake was the Road of Life. During periods of navigation - on the water, in winter - on the ice. This road from September 12, 1941 to March 1943 connected the besieged Leningrad with the country. The first column of 60 GAZ-AA vehicles (better known as "polutorka") on November 22 went to Kobona for food. Dmitry Baranov was among the drivers. He told me:"There are two streams of cars, at a certain distance there are traffic controllers, mostly women. There is a constant cannonade: the road of life was only fifteen kilometers away from the front line. The situation is completely calm, without the slightest fuss. First of all, children who were exhausted by hunger were taken out of Leningrad. The doors of the cabins were open wide so that I could jump out when the car fell through the ice." The 2nd Shock Army of the Volkhov Front broke the siege of Leningrad in January 1943, and in January 44, as part of the Leningrad Front, it was the first to launch an offensive from the Oranienbaum bridgehead for the complete liberation of the city on the Neva and the region from the Nazi invaders. The battalion was constantly shelled by long-range artillery and aircraft. At one of them Dmitry was wounded. The battalion commander then gave an order: do not send corporal Baranov to the hospital-otherwise they would not see him again. Cure in our infirmary! There were many cases when death came very close, but it was Dmitry Baranov's fate to stay alive. In the early spring of 1945, Soviet troops approached the Oder River. On April 16, the Berlin operation began. The troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front, including the 83rd Separate Battalion, crossed the Oder River North of Berlin under the cover of artillery fire and a smoke screen from the boats of the Baltic Fleet, and defeated the strong Stettin group of the Nazis. Advanced formations of the 2nd Belorussian Front, including the 2nd Sshock Aarmy, which included the 83rd Battalion, reached the Elbe River and met with the allies. The war left deep wounds in the lives of millions of people, including those who were taken to Germany for slave labor. After the Victory, they were immediately deported to their homeland. And the 83rd Battalion received a new task - to organize feeding points throughout Germany at intervals of 30-40 km. After the war, Dmitry Baranov returned to his Homeland in September 1945. He continued to work peacefully as a driver and raised his daughters. He has 8 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

Mark Burykin was born in 1923, in the town of Buturlinovka. His father was a shoemaker. The family had 12 children. Only four managed to survive. The rest died in early childhood. When the Great Patriotic War began, my grandfather studied at the Leningrad Federal District to become a tractor driver. The group in which he studied was evacuated from Leningrad to Sverdlovsk. He graduated from vocational school #3 on May 23, 1942. Then he went to the military enlistment office and was sent to the front. He fought in the secret Guards regiment on the famous “Katyusha” mortars. My grandfather was first a private, and then the commander of the installation. After the war, he took part in the restoration of destroyed cities. He worked as a bulldozer operator on the construction of the Kuibyshev Electric Plant on the Volga River since 1950. These were difficult post-war years for the whole country. Everyone enthusiastically built a bright future for their homeland. My grandfather's work was awarded with the Medal of Honor. After the construction of the Kuibyshev Electric Plant was completed, he returned to Kalach. He worked as an operator of a harvester, tractor driver, and boiler equipment foreman. He worked as a caretaker at a boarding school for about 20 years. My grandfather was awarded the Veteran of Labor Medal for his labor achievements. Grandpa didn't really like to talk about the war. He believed that it was a difficult time for the country and everyone was doing his duty. All the people stood up for the defense of the Motherland, so as not to let the enemy on their land. My grandfather passed away in 2005. He lived a long and difficult life. This was a great loss for our family. But the bright memory of him lives in our hearts. I love him and am proud of the best grandfather in the world.

Rank: Sergeant Branch of Service: Land Forces, Air Force (except for Naval Aviation), Coast Guard, NKVD troops, Border Guard Vasily Bobkov volunteered for the front at the age of less than 17 in 1942. He was enlisted in the unit #33538 as mortar man. He was in a field hospital in Teykovo, Ivanovo Region, with a bruised left hip and a closed femur fracture from November 1942 to February 1943. According to the stories of Vasily himself, during training skydiving, he landed with one foot in a hole and damaged it. V. Bobkov was assigned to the 1081st Order of the Red Banner and Kutuzov 3rd class Rifle Regiment of the 312th Smolensk Red Banner Order of Suvorov and Kutuzov Rifle Division of the 69th Army of the 1st Belorussian Front on March 8, 1943. It was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Mikhail Shevchenko. The regiment participated in the liberation of Smolensk and parts of the Mogilev Regions (1943), the crossing of the Western Bug and the liberation of the city of Chelm (Poland), crossing the Vistula River (1944), the breakthrough in the Puławy bridgehead, the liberation of the cities of Radom and Poznań (Poland), crossing the Oder River and the Spree River, in the battle of Berlin (1945). Sergeant Vasily Bobkov was the commander of regimental reconnaissance. Before the operation to capture the Pulavsky bridgehead, he received an order to take the prisoner. He was taken, and for this operation V. Bobkov was awarded the Order of Glory 3rd degree. Vasily Bobkov received a concussion when crossing the Vistula River in 1944 and was hospitalized (in Poland). He was given a disability and sent to his place of residence. He was in the hospital in the village of Iskra in 1944. There he met his future wife Elena (Gugadaeva), born in 1927. She worked as a nurse in the hospital. After the hospital, Vasily was discharged from the army because of injury and went home. But he couldn't forget that nurse. And two years later, he wrote to her, explained who he was, what room he was in, even the place where he was lying. She didn't remember and didn't answer. A year later, he arrived with half a bag of flour and other products. Lena thought for a long time and decided to marry him, although she did not love him. But years passed and after the death of Vasily, she admitted to her children that over time there was a huge love. And everything was in the character of Vasily. V. Bobkov was a Deputy of the Village Council for more than 30 years, a member of the party since 1952. Local residents still remember if someone in the family had a scandal, problems, grief, they knew where to go to. Not to the Director of the MIS, not to the Village Council, not to the Secretary of the party organization, but to Vasily. He raised two sons - Vladimir and Victor. V. Bobkov died on December 10, 1991, but even now his memory is preserved and will live in the hearts of the villagers of the village of Kamyshi.

Rank: Specialist I fought ...behind the wheel We don't often remember front-line drivers. A truck after all is not a plane or a tank. The usual hard worker 1.5 tons truck was not so adapted to front-line conditions. And how it helped! How many important things were done with its help! They took out the wounded, brought food, medicine and ammunition! Yes, it would be good on the roads, but it is off-road, on ice and impassable mud! And it got hurt both from artillery, and from aviation, and just from machine-gun bursts. So a driver was just as dangerous a military profession as any other. Well, what if a 19-year-old girl was driving? She was sent out on the driving course at a Khoperskoe Driving School in November 1941. There were no men left and a replacement was needed. She studied for 6 months, and in April 1942, the cadets were called to the military enlistment office. And they asked: who wants to go to the front? Matryona was the first to raise her hand. There were about 20 of them altogether. The train was already waiting at the station. Girls were girls - then they cried, then they consoled themselves: If it was necessary, then it was necessary. The baptism of fire was not easy - crossing of the Donets River. There were no bridges - pontoons. Shouting, noise, crying, a crowd of refugees, the wounded. And the opposite bank seemed to be close, but it was not easy to get there. She was responsible not only for herself. Was she afraid? Of course, she was afraid. But more often than not for herself - for the truck: God forbid, it would refuse. Something was forgotten over the years, something was not possible to forget. Matryona Lazareva did not forget the roads of retreat filled with guns and field kitchens, wheelbarrows with belongings and carts, women, old people, children… She had a chance to participate in the defense of Stalingrad. Along the Volga River it was even at night light from fires, and the snow was bloody and hot. Hundreds of tanks rammed across the steppe, seemingly unaware of obstacles. But people stood in their way, unshakeable in their determination not to let the enemy cross the river. Yesterday's boys were young lieutenants. They stood up to cover Russia. It was the commander of the 2nd Guards Army who addressed them: "I order you and ask you to stand in a battle to the death. We are talking about the fate of Stalingrad." Matryona had front-line work near Kalach - the extreme point of the Don bend, where the Soviet armies eventually closed in, bagging about 300,000 fascist soldiers. Our countrywoman also worked on this task. Then she was sent to Moscow to training courses for aerostats, after which Matryona served in Arkhangelsk. And she had a chance to meet the Victory in Riga, and Matryona also contributed to the fact that the Victory came, just as welcome. She was a person of bright and kind soul. Unfortunately, she will not meet victorious spring again. But the memory is alive. And may this memory of the woman who conquered the front roads and roads of life be long.

Rank: Red Army Soldier Branch of Service: Armored and Mechanized Troops The Great Patriotic War left its mark on the history of our family. Egor Baranov came to Berlin. He was drafted into the army in 1939, and war broke out on June 22, 1941. The Nazis attacked the Soviet Union. The war went on for four years, and he returned home six years later. He participated in the battles for the liberation of the city of Konigsberg, was wounded, and was in the hospital. After his recovery, he was awarded the Medal for the Liberation of Konigsberg. The Red Army was advancing on Berlin. This offensive began on 16 April 1945 on the Oder River. Yegor and other soldiers were ferrying equipment across the river. A lot of soldiers died in those battles. According to Yegor, the capture of Berlin was very difficult. Many of his fellow soldiers died during the assault, because the fascists fiercely resisted, not wanting to admit their defeat. But thanks to the fortitude and heroic courage of the Soviet soldiers, Berlin was encircled on April 24, 1945. And after hard fighting on May 2, the Victory Banner was hoisted on the Reichstag Bulding. Yegor participated in the fighting for Berlin, received a Medal for the Capture of Berlin. He like many soldiers, officers, and generals, went a long and a difficult military path. Many died, many went missing, many soldiers were left lying in a foreign land, many returned home crippled for life. Our grandfather, great-grandfather returned from the front alive, but very often was ill. The wounds were making themselves felt. He was cared for by his wife Efrosinya Baranova who during the war worked in the trenches near Leningrad and still had to take care of wounded soldiers. Despite the fact that these events took place before we were born, our families remember them. On Victory Day, we always visit the grave of our grandparents. Our house keeps the memory of them, their awards… We are very proud of our grandfather.

Rank: Military Doctor of the 3rd Rank. Branch of Sevice: Military Medical Staff. My grandmother, Antonina Botkina, graduated with honors from the 1st Sechenov Moscow Medical Institute in 1941, the best medical Institute of the USSR. She passed her last state exam before receiving her diploma on June 23, 1941, on the second day of the war. As a loyal Komsomol member and excellent student, they sent her to work as a doctor in one of the NKVD correctional camps immediately after graduation. She worked there for 1.5 months, constantly sending applications with requests to send her to the front. Finally, she received a referral to a military evacuation hospital in the Vologda Region, Sokol Station. There she worked as a surgeon throughout the war. It was very hard to work. Often, when there was a large influx of wounded from the Leningrad Front, she had to stay awake for 2-3 days. Doctors then literally did not leave the operating table for days. Evacuated residents of besieged Leningrad were also brought there. It was a terrible sight. Half-dead, dystrophic people who often could not even stand on their feet. The entire hospital staff nursed them as best they could. In the same hospital, my grandmother met her future husband, my grandfather Pyotr Alekseev. He was a musician, before the war, played the guitar. He fought on the Leningrad Front, and was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War for his courage and heroism. He returned from the war without a leg, it had to be amputated after the battle wound. After the war, they moved to the Crimea, to Yevpatoria. My grandmother worked for 21 years in the children's city hospital. She was a head of infectious diseases Department, and 18 years - in a children's sanatorium. She died in 2006 at the age of 91.

Rank: Lieutenant. Branch of Service: Land Forces, Air Force (except for Naval Aviation), Coast Guard, NKVD troops, Border Guards. Unit: 53rd Friedrich Engels Novoukrainskaya Red Banner Order of Suvorov Rifle Division. On a quiet family evening, my grandmother takes out all that was left of her father and, wiping away her tears, begins her story: "When the war started, I was only four years old. I do not remember how people felt, but I can clearly remember seeing my father off to war. At that time, we lived in a Chapaev Collective Farm, and the military enlistment office was located in the village of Arkhangelskoe, which was fourteen kilometers away. We went there on foot, and my father carried me all the way in his arms, hugging me tightly. I also remember waving goodbye, and tears flowed from his eyes..." Great-grandfather went to army in the first days of war. I received letters, but did not saved them. At first, he trained at the courses, after which he received the rank of Second Lieutenant and went to the front. He commanded a rifle platoon of the 740th Rifle Regiment of the 53rd Rifle Division. He was surrounded together with his comrades-in-arms near the town of Yukhnov in the Smolensk Region at the beginning of 1942. As he later recalled, it was hard to get out of the encirclement: the cold, swampy terrain, feet constantly stuck in the swamp slush… They went without rest, despite the deadly fatigue… It was hard to walk, but they walked, step by step, kilometer by kilometer!.. He led his platoon out of the encirclement! His sister's husband, Ivan Khaustov, walked next to him. According to my grandmother, great-grandfather, only once, with a tremor in his voice, told about it: «Go… I keep looking around – he's there, and then I look back, and he's not there. Gone… I tried to look for him, but I couldn't find him..." Ivan Khaustov is still on the list of missing persons… And my great-grandfather grieved for the rest of his life that he could not save Ivan… My great-grandfather was seriously wounded on February 8, 1942, during the attack on the town of Yukhnov in the Smolensk Region. It was a penetrating wound with damage to the left lung. He spent several months in a hospital in Omsk. He was discharged from the 740th Rifle Regiment with the rank of Second Lieutenant due to a combat wound. He carried the "memory" of this injury in his lung for nineteen years. Surgeons removed the fragment only in 1961. For his exploits, Semyon Borzakov was awarded the Order of the Red Star and the Medal for the Victory over Germany. He was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War 2nd degree in 1985. Great-grandfather did not like to brag about his military exploits, did not like to talk about the war, the memories were too heavy for him. And only a battered military ID can tell sparingly about the hero's feat… But he loved Victory Day so much, attending the festivities to the last. We, his relatives, came to visit him every year on May 9. My great-grandfather died on March 15, 2004. The tradition of visiting him remained after he passed away. Now on Victory Day, the whole family comes to his grave, tie a St. George ribbon on the cross, and pour for him a hundred front-line grams of vodka. For the Victory!

Rank: Red Army Soldier. Branch of Service: Ground Forces, Air Force (except for Naval Aviation), Coast Guard, NKVD troops, Border Guard. Division: 167th Sumy-Kiev Double Red Banner Rifle Division. Nikolai Beloshapko, at the age of less than 18, was called up to the front in the autumn of 1941. He fought in the 167th Sumy-Kiev Double Red Banner Rifle Division, on the Voronezh and Ukrainian Fronts. Participated in the Battle of Kursk and the tank battle of Prokhorovka, liberated Ukraine, Czechoslovakia. Rank and position: private, scout. Awarded: Medal For Military Merit for the liberation of Sumy and Romna; Medal For Courage - for the crossing of the Dnieper River and the liberation of Kiev; Order of the Patriotic War, 2nd degree" - for the battles in the Carpathians and the liberation of Kosice, Nowy Targ, Presov; Order of Glory, 3rd degree - for fighting in the foothills of the Carpathians and the liberation of Lvov. He met the victory in Czechoslovakia. For a while after the war, he served in the army and was discharged in 1947. Then he worked for a collective farm of the villadge of Perepravnoe. He got married in 1950. His wife, a teacher, after completing her studies was sent to work the village of Benokovo, Mostovsky District, Krasnodar Region. So, they moved there. My mother Anna Osyko, a biology teacher, devoted to children almost 40 years of her life. For her hard work, she was awarded the title of Excellent Worker of Public Education and received the medal Veteran of Labor. During the war, my mother, as a teenager, together with her peers "forged Victory", working for a collective farm. For this, she later received the title of Home Front Veteran. My parents, war-hardened, knew the value of life. They were strong in spirit. They have always been an example for their children and grandchildren with their thirst for life and their desire to work conscientiously in any field. Unfortunately, for eight years, there is no father and for three years there is no mother with us. In our hearts we keep a bright and kind memory of them. Daughter: Tatyana Lukina.

Title: Red Army Soldier Branch of Service: Land Forces, Air Force (except for Naval Aviation), Coast Guard, NKVD troops, Border Guard Unit: 37th Rifle Division (2nd formation) What can I say about my grandfather, who I have never seen? What could my father, who is no longer alive, tell me about him? What my aunt who was born shortly before his death can tell me about him? She never saw him. About her he wrote from the front "someone was born at home"?.. He was born in a family of kulaks, who were not favored by the Soviet authorities... the house was burned, relatives were scattered around the country, but that is not the point… After all, they loved, in fact, not the regime or government, and not the country, but the Motherland. The Motherland that everyone remembers – family friends, birches, etc. everyone has their own, different and the same at the same time... When the war came (Civil, Finnish, Halkin-Gol), he did not hesitate to go to the front, for the sake of the people whom he wanted to protect. He was among the first to be called up to the front from the villadge of Magansk of the Krasnoyarsk Region, and did not return. His last letter came in 1941 from the city of Petrozavodsk. After a heavy, bloody fighting, presumably near the city of Medvezhegorsk in the period from December 5 to 14, he went missing... Grandfather, we remember you and are proud of you! You will always look at me from the photo with your young eyes!.. And here is an excerpt from my father's poem, about wartime, addressed to the mother:... The storms were thundering at that time By country of origin, And there were gangs In a ferocious rage. And your youth was Spent in the war, Leaving the song of the heart unfinished. Civil war, Finnish war, Yes Halkin-Gol. A little bit of a hang-up And again the fight, Furious again Deadly battle… Otechestvennaya - you are a soldier for life… Don't cry! And yet weeping, - from tears, to you, women Always a little easier. Or did you suddenly remember, As a service. Is your female battalion stronger in the rear ?....

Rank: Petty Officer. Branch of Service: Artillery. Unit: 73rd Guards Stalingrad-Danube Red Banner Rifle division. 28.08.1912 - 15.12.1992 Place of birth: Kemerovo Region, Yurginsky District, Pyatkovo village. Commander of the Signal Squad of the 4th Battery, 153th Guards Urazovsky Artillery Regiment, 73rd Guards Stalingrad Red Banner Rifle Division. Member of the CPSU (b) since March 1943. He was drafted into the Red Army in October 1941, by the Yashkin District Military Commissariate, Novosibirsk Region. He served in the rear units from October 1941 to July 1942. Participated in the Patriotic War: South Front - July 1942-August 1942, Stalingrad Front - August 1942-December 1942, Don Front - December 1942-April 1943, Voronezh Front - April 1943-July 1943, Steppe Front - July 1943-October 1943, 2nd Ukrainian Front - October 1943-February 1944, 3rd Ukrainian Front - from February 1944. Awarded: Medal For Military Merit - order of the 153rd Guards Urazovsky Artillery Regiment #9/n of 04.06.1943, Medal For Bravery - order of the 153 153rd Guards Urazovsky Artillery Regiment #1 /n of 14.03.1944, Medal For the Defense of Stalingrad - 22.12.1942, Order of the Patriotic War 2nd degree - order of the 64th Rifle Corps of the 3rd Ukrainian front #47/n of 25.12.1944, Order of the Patriotic War 2nd degree #189 of 23.12.1985, etc. Medal For Military Merit - In the battles from January 10 to 31, 1943 to eliminate the German troops at Stalingrad, thanks to his initiative and courage, he ensured uninterrupted communication in the battery, which made it possible to defeat the Nazis as soon as possible. Medal For Bravery – During the battles of 29.02.1944 in the area of the village of Kotovka in the Dolinsky District of the Kirovograd Region, he provided continuous communication between the firing position and the observation point. Within an hour, he eliminated 8 communication line gusts under enemy fire. Order of the Patriotic War, 2nd degree - On the right Bank of the Danube river near the village of Batin on 18.11.1944, the enemy repeatedly counterattacked our units trying to dislodge the last ones from the bridgehead. In these battles, under heavy artillery and machine-gun fire, comrade Berezovsky connected up to 30 telephone line gusts during the day, providing the ability to control battery fire. During one of the enemy's counterattacks on November 19, 1944, he destroyed 6 enemy soldiers with sub-machine gun fire.

Rank: Red Army Soldier. Branch of Service: Armored and Mechanized Troops. Unit: 20th Tank Division My father's family was exiled in 1931 from Bashkiria to a special settlement of Prokopyevsk, Kemerovo Region. He was taken to the army at the age of 18 in December 1943. They sent him to the 289th Reserve Rifle Regiment (this regiment was a part of the 43rd Reserve Rifle Brigade) deployed in Bogotol. He was trained as a sniper. He went to the front in July 1944 to the area of the town of Tulchin, Vinnitsa Regiont, Ukrainian SSR. He was a sub-machine gunnerof the 8th Guards Tank Brigade (part of 20th Tank Corps). My father was a clerk at the headquarters from November 1944 to December 1946 (he had a surprisingly beautiful handwriting). The 20th Tank Corps, which was in the reserve of the Suprime Command (Stavka VGK), relocated and concentrated in the Raudten-Dornbrush area (Germany) in March 1945. The corps' troops carried out a combat mission in April-May 1945 to destroy enemy troops in the area of the city of Glogau (Germany, now Glogow, Poland) and eliminate the breakthrough of German troops to the city of Breslau (Germany, now - Wroclaw, Poland). The troops of the 20th Tank Corps became a part of the garrison of the city of Breslau in June 1945. My father served there in the same unit for another five years (as a storekeeper and a supervisor of the warehouse). He returned home to Prokopyevsk in 1950. He graduated from the mining technical school in 1954, and worked for the M. Kalinin Mine for about 40 years. He met my mother Galina Kungurtseva. Together they raised five children. For excellent work and long service, he was awarded the Miner's Glory badge of three degrees. He died at the age of 83.

Rank: Red Army Soldier. Branch of Service: Land Forces, Air Force (except for Naval Aviation), Coast Guard, NKVD troops, Border Guard. Unit: 1st F. Dzerzhinsky Order of Lenin Red Banner Separate Motorized Special Task Rifle Division. Victor Bessonov – a resident of Volgograd. He lived in the village of Verkhnyaya Sudoverf. Its fate was closely connected with the Great Patriotic War. He spent about 40 years teaching. Viktor was drafted into the army in 1939. He served in the 143rd Cavalry Regiment, and participated in the battles on Khalkhin-Gol. The Japanese attacked the Mongolian People's Republic in the area of the Khalkhin-Gol River in May 1939, although they knew that a mutual assistance agreement had been concluded between the USSR and the MPR. Japanese hoped to capture Mongolia and create a springboard there for an attack on the Soviet Tans-Baikal territory. Fulfilling its obligations to Mongolia, the Soviet government ordered the Red Army units to defeat the invaders. Intense fighting took place in the Mongolian steppes from May to September 1939. Victor Bezbozhnov participated in those battles. Some of them were fighting Japanese suicide-fighters in the reeds. It was very difficult to get to them: as soon as they heard that someone appeared in the reeds, immediately the suicide-fighters opened a furious fire. Viktor and a group of soldiers developed a plan to get to him: they took out a rope, tied a heavy object to one end and began to throw it deep into the reeds; the second end was kept in a shelter. A Japanese fighter, hearing the noise of a falling object, started shooting at that direction. At the same time, our soldiers approached him from the other side and destroy him with a grenade. When they approached him they saw the following picture: the suicide-fighterhterwas lying, killed by a grenade, near him, 20-30 meters away, everything was littered with weapons. It looked like an Armory: there were grenades, machine guns, Soviet and Japanese weapons. Within a few months, private Bessonov together with other soldiers completed the operation to destroy the suicide-fighter. Commander Georgy Zhukov led the battles on Khalkhin Gol. A squadron of cavalry accompanied his commander from Khalkhin Gol to Bitumen. Bezbozhnov always remembered Zhukov with great respect. He remembered how Zhukov, along with the soldiers, sat by the fire and ate baked potatoes, listening with interest to the soldiers who told about their inventions during an important "operation". Bezbozhnov and his comrades received a commendation from comrade Zhukov. Soviet and Mongolian troops defeated the Japanese and expelled them from the Mongolian land. His unit was sent to summer camps in the Tambov Region in May 1941. Here they announced to the soldiers that the war with Germany had begun. Private Bezbozhnov became a soldier of fighting army. The mechanized corps (340 Rifle Regiment), where now served the signalman Bezbozhnov, was sent to the Smolensk Region. Our troops were retreating along the entire front. German were equipped with planes and tanks, while ours had just carbines. He remembered well the first battle at Smolensk: in the air, the planes did not allow our troops to rise. Most of the soldiers were left on the battlefield. Then retreat. Dug trenches, dugouts, made and strengthened firing positions. Viktor remembered hearing the signal: "Alert!" The soldiers were given the task: to take our airfield from the Germans, which they captured. They placed their planes on it, and immediately felt like masters. The battle was heavy and bloody. But with available weapons, the task was not completed. Many young, energetic, but inexperienced soldiers died. Once again, the troops retreated to their previous positions. They had a task to help the troops encircled at Yelnya to break through the encirclement ring. At this time, Viktor saw chaos on the battlefield, incomprehensible orders from commanders, confusion in the troops. Bezbozhnov remembered a deadly battle for the bridge over which the Germans moved their troops and weapons. He was seriously wounded in this battle. Only a small group of soldiers remained alive. Victor lost consciousness. The fragment hit the right side and stayed there for a long time. He woke up in the woods, in a dugout. A refugee woman took care of him. Later he found out that he was in the Bryansk forest, and the refugees picked him up and saved him from death. He was in a hospital in Ufa for three months. Then he went to the reserve regiment. This regiment was located near Moscow. Here he was a clerk, a signalman, went to scout missions more than once, and participated in the battles for the city of Minsk as a mamber of the artillery battery. Crossed the Bug and Vistula Rivers. Participated in the liberation of Poland (city of Lodz, Warsaw). Ended the war on the outskirts of Berlin. Military awards always reminded Victor of his heroic youth: Order of the Patriotic War, medals For Bravery, For Military Merit, For the Victory over Germany and 20 anniversary medals. Having passed through the hell of the war years, through fear, loss of loved ones, Victor retained for many years the love of life.