Heroes and feats

Mikhail Balabanov (14.01.1923-29.05.2007) was born in the village of Gerasimovka in the family of a rural blacksmith. He had a sister Anastasia. There he graduated from primary school. Then in Penza he graduated from eight classes of secondary school in 1939. He accidentally got to Buzuluk, read an ad for admission to a hydro-reclamation technical school, passed the exams and started studying. He completed two years of technical school in 1941. The war began. Having learned that in Samara they are recruiting cadets in radio operator’s school, together with his classmates, he applied in the military enlistment office. After completing the course of radio operators, Mikhail was sent to Gorky in the reserve of the Main Signal Department and at the end of May 1942 was assigned to a mortar battery of the 59th Cavalry Artillery Detachment of the 55th Cavalry Division. Rank: Junior Military Technician. In June 1942 the entire division, on alert, plunged into the echelon and was transferred to the area of Yelets, and in November they were transferred to the Don River, where on November 19, 1942, the German front was broken through and the cavalry Artillery detachment moved West with fighting. They liberated villages of Chernyshevskaya, Oblivskaya, and Morozovsk. The Germans stubbornly resisted in the Rostov Region, and in January 1943, while moving to a new observation post, Mikhail was wounded and sent to the hospital. After recovery, he was sent to the 137th Separate Army Signal Regiment. From Dnepropetrovsk they reached the border, liberated Moldova, and fought their way through Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Hungary, and Austria. Mikhail and his regiment met the victory in Czechoslovakia. Mikhail Balabanov served as a private soldier from May 1942 to March 1947. He was discharged only on March 24, 1947 and continued his studies at the technical school. Awarded the Order of the Patriotic War 2nd degree, medals For Bravery, For the Victory over Germany, Veteran of Labor and commemorative medals.

Vasily Buntovskikh (1921 - February 12, 1945) - Platoon Commander of the 33rd Separate Sapper Battalion of the 180th Rifle Division of the 38th Army of the Voronezh Front, First Lieutenant, Hero of the Soviet Union (1944). Unit: 1st Moscow Rifle Division. Vasily Buntovskikh was born in 1921 in the village of Darstvennoye (now Kurshimsky District of East Kazakhstan Region) in a peasant family. Russian. He joined the CPSU(b) in 1943. He graduated from the Semipalatinsk Pedagogical College in 1940. He worked as a school Director in the village of Krasny Partizan in the East Kazakhstan Region. In the Red Army since 1940. He graduated from the Second Lieutenant course in November 1942. In the active army since August 1941. Platoon Commander of the 33rd Separate Sapper Battalion (180th Rifle Division, 38th Army, Voronezh Front) candidate member of the CPSU (b) Lieutenant Vasily Buntovskikh in the period from September 28 to October 5, 1943 continuously worked at the crossing of the Dnieper River in the village of Svaromye, Vyshgorod District, Kiev Region of Ukraine. Under the hurricane fire of the enemy on a ferry of boats and improvised means entrusted to Lieutenant V. Buntovsky the sapper platoon transported two rifle battalions and two artillery detachments. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of January 10, 1944, Lieutenant Vasily Buntovsky was awarded the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star Medal (#1200) for exemplary performance of battle tasks of the command at the front of the fight against the German-fascist invaders. Less than three months before the capitulation of Nazi Germany on February 12, 1945, First Lieutenant Vasily Buntovsky died a brave death in the battle for the capital of Hungary, the city of Budapest. Buried in Budapest at the Central Officers' Cemetery.

Title: Red Army Soldier Branch of Service: Artillery Alexander Bretman was born in 1918 in the village of Moor (Kluchi) Krasnoarmeysky District of the Saratov Region, five kilometers from Baltser in the family of a craftsman. After graduating from the nine-year Balzer School in 1935, he continued his studies at the German Pedagogical Institute in Engels. Immediately after graduation, in 1939, A. Bretman was drafted into the army. He served first in Livni (Oryol Military District), then was sent to the Finnish war. As a soldier of the 113th Rifle Division of the 10th Rifle Corps of the 7th Army, from January to March 1940, he took part in the breakthrough of the "Mannerheim Line". In particular, in the fighting in the district of Karhula for the station of Somme. His unit was transferred to the Odessa Military District in 1941, where he met the beginning of the war with Germany. At that time, he was the commander of the crew of a large-caliber anti-aircraft machine gun. In the battle on the Prut River, he was wounded and sent to a hospital in the city of Nikolaev. After treatment in September 1941, he did not return to the active army. He was briefly held in one of the rear units, and then sent for deportation. First, he got into one of the collective farms of the Chimkent region (this is in southern Kazakhstan), where he had to perform various purely peasant work. In early 1942, like all Soviet German men between the ages of 17 and 50, he was conscripted into the"labor army". He was in Chelyabinsk, for the construction of a metallurgical plant. It was being built by the organization, then bearing the name of Belstroi of the NKVD (later Chelyabmetallurgstroy). About 30 thousand German labor soldiers were gathered there. A. Bretman was sent to a brick factory. He worked as a digger, brick Kilner, foreman, shift supervisor. In 1946, he was "demobilized" and sent to the village of Ruzaevka, the district center of the Kokchetav Region, where his parents lived in exile. There he became a math teacher in school. He worked for this school for 43 years, eventually becoming its Director, and received the titles of Honored Teacher of the Kazakh SSR and Excellent Worker of Education in Kazakhstan. Here he created a family and had four children: Ella, Viktor, Vladimir, and Elvira. He retired in 1985, at the age of 67. During the war, all his documents were lost, including those about his service in the army, participation in the Finnish campaign, in the battles of 1941, and about his injury. Only in 1975, the Ruzaevsky District Military Commissar at a solemn meeting at the school handed its Director a certificate of war veteran and six medals at once. Alexander Bretman was a poet. He began writing in the pre-war period, published in various German-language papers since 1961: the "Lenins Weg", "Junger Sturmer", "Rote Jugend", "Nachrichten". He also wrote memoirs about his life, a short excerpt of which was published in 1985 in the almanac "Native expanses". In 1990, he went to Germany, and there he managed to publish many of his works, including his memoirs.

Unit: 6th Oryol-Khingan Double Red Banner Order of Suvorov Rifle Division A young slender 18-year-old guy in the uniform of a border guard served in the Brest Fortress from the first days of the war. He was immediately sent into the second company upon arrival. The company commander asked the guy: "What's your name?" - "Dzhagafar Bagov of Zeyko aul, the Khabezsky District. I am a Circassian, I know Russian well," he said. During the defense of the Brest Fortress, Dzhagafar Bagov fought bravely, killed many of the fascist barbarians. "I served with Bagov in the same platoon at the same time," recalls Grigory, a survivor who lived in the city of Alma-Ata. "He was a fearless man with a big heart! He never lost heart, his cheerful mood raised the spirits of soldiers-warriors. Sometimes the bombardment of the fortress did not stop for days, and when Bagov sang the soldiers' mood lifted." The Nazis, taking a convenient position, continuously fired at the fortress. Border guards repeatedly tried to get close to enemy tanks, but failed. In this day Dzhagafar showed great courage and heroism. After putting down several fascist soldiers and officers, he crawled close to the tank and threw two grenades, but then another tank crawls at him. He pulled out the last grenade and, wiping away the blood, gathered his strength and threw the grenade under the German tank. There was a terrible explosion, and Dzhagafar fell unconscious to the ground. For his heroism, courage and bravery, he received two Orders of the Red Banner and many medals.

Pavel Baschenko was born on August 17, 1926, in the village of Gubnik, Gaisinsky District, Vinnytsia Region, Ukraine, in the family of a railway worker. There were six children in the family – three boys and tree girls. The village was occupied by German troops In 1941-1942. In June of 1942 the Germans were preparing to send young people to work in Germany. From the Pavel's family, his older sister Tatiana was recorded, she was 20 years old. She fled to the neighboring village of Lad-Khutor on the night before the shipment. When Germans foun that she was missing, they came to their house and questioned them: "Where is your daughter?" When they got no answer, the Germans lined up the whole family against the wall of the house, pointed their weapons at them and said: "If you don't tell us where your daughter is, we'll shoot themyou all." Pavel stepped forward and asked: "Can I go instead?» The German went up to him, pulled up his shirt, touched his muscles, looked at his teeth, and said: «Good». That was how he began his journey through various camps and concentration camps of the Nazis. He was not immediately sent to Germany. At first, he got to Belarus, where he sawed wood. Run away from the camp in sawdust two times. Both times, they caught him, beat, and returned to the camp. After Belarus, they transferred him to Auschwitz in Poland. He tried to escape from there twice. They caught him again, beat him, and brought him back. After Auschwitz, he was sent to Buchenwald in Germany. In Buchenwald, he built crematoria-furnaces for burning people. Weak prisoners were burned in stoves, and strong prisoners were left to work. In the concentration camp, he was a member of an underground cell run by a foreman. On his orders my grandfather broke the concrete mixer to slow down the construction of the furnaces. The next day the concentration camp commandant lined everyone up and asked: "Who broke the concrete mixer?" All the prisoners were silent. Then the commandant called the foreman and ordered to sent him to the treatment room. German soldiers hit him on the head with a machine gun, the foreman lost consciousness. The soldiers grabbed him by the legs and dragged him to the treatment room where the prisoners were being tortured. My grandfather could not stand it, went to the commandant and said that it was he who broke the concrete mixer, but did not say that it was done on the orders of the foreman. When the commandant found out that it was Pavel who broke the concrete mixer, he said: "What an honest little Russian pig", and also ordered to sent him to the treatment room. He was also hit on the head with a machine gun, lost consciousness and was dragged by the legs to the torture room. The next morning, he woke up, opened his eyes and saw that he was lying on a pile of corpses of prisoners tortured to death by the Nazis. The gray hairs of a foreman killed by the Germans were nearby. He lost consciousness again. In the evening, the prisoners were walking home from work and heard a groan. They asked security permission to pick up the boy. In the barracks, the prisoners cured him. He continued to participate in an underground cell - engaged in sabotage. The Great Patriotic War was coming to an end, and Buchenwald was located in such a way that the cannonade could be heard from opposite sides. There were advancing Soviet troops on one side, and the American on the other. The Germans realized that the concentration camp would soon be captured by the enemy, and changed their tactics. They began to force prisoners to run. Ten percent of the strongest of the hundred were taken away and burned in crematoriums, leaving the weakest prisoners. The underground cell realized the trick of the Germans and suggested that Pavel, in order to survive, pierce his leg with an iron rod. He agreed, he had a fever and was sent to the infirmary. The concentration camp was liberated by American troops. Grandfather Pavel was able to return to his Homeland only in 1947. It was on the territory of Germany occupied by the Americans. When he returned home, he was 22 years old. After returning, he started to work as a construction worker for a railway. Before the war, he was a very gifted child and had onli highest grades. His supervisors noticed his abilities and sent him to study. He graduated with honors from college, then technical school. Then he graduated with honors from two institutes, construction and railway. His last position was a Director of a construction company, which built the railway from Guryev to Astrakhan, to the Mangyshlak Peninsula. His life ended when he was driving a car during a storm. He lost consciousness and drove into a pole. Beatings on the head in concentration camps had an impact. His entire head was scarred. For his labor he was awarded the Order of Lenin and the Order of the Labor Red Banner.

Rank: Sergeant Branch of Service: Armored and Mechanized Troops Yakov Bezusov was born in 1905 in the village of Sandata, Salsky District, Rostov Region, in a peasant family. He was called up to the front of the Great Patriotic War by the Zimovnikovskiy District Military Commissariat on February 5, 1944. He became a Guards private, anti-tank rifleman, ani-tank company, of the 1st Rifle Battalion, 3rd Guards Order of Lenin Mechanized Brigade, 1st Guards Order of Lenin Mechanized Corps. In October 1941, All the livestock of horses and the cattle of the Zimovnikovsky stud farm #163 and 12 other farms of the Don Region and North Caucasus was evacuated beyond the Volga River. Herds of horses and cattle march to Stalingrad. A difficult test for people and animals was the crossing of the Volga River. In the first day, up to 5,000 horses were transported. Then the storm and icing started, and 4,000 heads remained on the right Bank of the Volga, with no grazing closer than 50 km away. They had to wait two weeks for appropriate conditions for further crossing. The horse herds suffered heavy losses due to lack of premises, lack of food, and they died during the crossing. However, most of the animals were saved. It would be no exaggeration to say that the people who overcame the hardships of the evacuation were real heroes. These were Yakov Bezusov, Serafim Gorbachev, Josef Ryabko and others. Very soon, Yakov Bezusov showed himself in a battle - on the front of the Great Patriotic War. From the Award List of February 8, 1945: Guards Red Army soldier Ya. Bezusov in an offensive battle with his anti-tank gun destroyed two machine-gun points, and he fired on the move, keeping the rifle on the shoulder of his assistant, so his crew advanced to the outskirts of the city. In the city Yakov Bezusov, with his well-aimed fire, destroyed the Hitlerites who were hiding in houses, opening intense fire on the attic, where the enemy's submachine gunners were located and hindered the platoon's progress. Because of these actions, some of the Nazis were killed, and some fled. Conclusion: deserved a government award the Order of the Red Star. Signed: Commander of the 1st Motorized Rifle Battalion, Guards Major Kozubenko. From the Award List of March 28, 1945: Guards Sergeant Yakov Bezusov in the battle during the capture of the village on March 21, 1945, showed courage and bravery and under enemy fire, being on the left flank of hill 196. The enemy's armored personnel carrier, standing in ambush, hindered the advance of our infantry. Guards Sergeant Yakov Bezusov acting boldly, crawled close to the enemy armored personnel carrier and with accurate fire from his anti-tank rifle knocked out 1 German personnel carrier and 4 German soldiers. During the attack on the village of Yanshlan, the enemy sitting on the Church opned a devastating fire at our soldiers from a machine gun, and did not allow the infantry to advance. Comrade Yakov Bezusov received the task-to remove the enemy from the bell tower and comrade Bezusov accurately silenced the enemy machine gun. That made it possible for the infantry to advance. Conclusion: Yakov Bezusov was awarded with the Order of the Red Star by the Government. Signed: Commander of the 1st Motorized Rifle Battalion, Guards Major Kozubenko. During the war Yakov Bezusovgetting was injured, had a well-deserved medal For Couradge (February 1945), Orders of the Red Star, the Patriotic War 2nd degree and many other medals. He continued his career in Zimovnikovskiy Budennyi Stud farm #163, where for a long time worked as a foreman of the herdsmen and at other positions. Yakov Bezusov until the end of his life lived at Zimovnikovsky stud farm #163 - Kamyshev farm. Together with his wife Maria, they raisedand gave a start in life to their four children, two of whom live in the Kamyshev farm -Ivan Bezusov and Alexandra Shcherbakova. The youngest son Yuri Bezusov lives in Salsk, the youngest daughter Raisa Daurova lives in Rostov-on-Don. Yakov Bezusov died in 1989, at the age of 84. He outlived his wife Maria Bezusova by 10 years. The couple was buried in the village cemetery of the Kamyshev farm.

Rank: Lieutenant Branch of Service: Armored and Mechanized Troops Vasily Bytkov was born in 1911 (in some documents 1913). My grandfather (my dad’s dad) before the war lived in the village of Shestopalovo, Kursk Region, Svobodinsky District with his family - wife and one-year-old son. He worked for the Svobodinsky District Military Commissariat . It was Sunday on June 22, 1941. The family was going for a walk in the grove in the morning, but a neighbor knocked on the wall and said that the war had begun. Grandfather hugged his wife, kissed his son, said "Well, Klava, I'm off." He took the duffel bag and left . I don't know where or in wich position he started the war. Kursk Region was occupied by the Germans very quickly. For 19 months relatives did not communicate. Letters to Shestopalovo began to arrive only in 1943, after the liberation from the Germans . The first letters that have been preserved our family were sent from Tatishchev, Saratov Region (20.04.43). Tatishchevo station was a military rear, where military units were formed to be sent to the front. There was a testing ground nearby, a lot of farms, warehouses and military bases, I don't know what my grandfather did there. He graduated from a tank school, but which one and when? In June 1943, he was a Lieutenant, Commander of the 1 mrc (I think a motorized rifle company), 2nd MRB (something mechanized rifle battalion, or brigade) under the command of Major Bushmakin (one of the letters was written on a notebook sheet on the back of which was crossed out the part of the report from 28.06.43.) Letters written in July came from field post office #06790, the 50th Mechanised Brigade. Then a letter dated August 4, 1943 came from Kubinka, near Moscow (where the 8th Mechanized Corps of Major General Khasin was being formed at that time, the 66th (former 50th) Mechanized Brigade was part of the corps. 120 T-34 tanks of the “Soviet Uzbekistan” column were used to complete the corps, and Lieutenant Bytkov continued to serve as a company commander on one of them. Letters began to arrive with the return address of the field post office #43748. The postcard dated 8.11.1943 from the Poltava region said: "... I'm going to perform a combat mission." The last letter he wrote shortly before his death: "...where I was before I left and now I am in the South... it rains all the time... Please write more letters, because I now live in a different environment. Hello to all your family and friends. I kiss you and Valeriy. Vasiliy 14.11.1943.” Grandfather died on November 28 in the village of Zakharovka in Ukraine, we did not know for a long time where the grave of my grandfather was. Then the pathfinders of the Zakharovskaya School, somewhere in the 1980's, sent a letter telling us about his death and the place of burial. My grandmother and father went to Zakharovka and talked to eyewitnesses of those events. Here is what they learned about them: During the offensive, our tank did not notice the German one hiding in the corn, it slipped through and was shot in the back, the crew of the already burning tank turned the turret and shot at the enemy, the German tank caught fire. According to the stories of others, our tank went to the field during the offensive and ran into a German ambush in a cornfield, the crew of the already burning tank shot at the German and it caught fire also. I don't know what is more correct, I only know that for a long time (somewhere before 1948) two burnt-out tanks were facing each other on the field. The grandfather, he was badly burned, was taken to a field hospital. A local girl helped to take care of the wounded. She said that the tankman constantly asked for a drink, but he was not allowed to drink (or he could not), and she moistened his lips with a cotton swab. Talking to him, I found out that he was from the Kursk Region, at home he left his wife Klava and son Valeriy. When my grandfather died, he was buried alone near the hospital under a pear tree. Then reburied in a mass grave. Mass grave is located in Ukraine, Kirovograd Region, Svetlovodsky District, village of Zakharovka, village center. Previously, very good people lived in Zakharovka. My grandmother corresponded with many people for a long time. I want to believe that even now, in our strange time, someone is taking care of the grave and at least occasionally brings flowers.

Rank: Lieutenant Branch of Service: Artillery Unit: 5th Guards Stalingrad Red Banner Order of Suvorov Breakthrough Heavy Artillery Division My father, Boris Boretsky, at the age of 19, was sent to Ferghana, where the Kharkov Artillery School was evacuated then. It was located in the old Skobelev Barracks. After graduation, the young Lieutenant was sent to a horse-drawn artillery regiment. The Battle of Stalingrad ended and the front was disbanded. They were transferred to the North. It was a very difficult time. They broke away from the rear and there was no food for either horses or people, and the soldiers, having received the order to relocate, loaded their howitzers on sleds and tried to move. The starved horses (the usual team of three pairs of horses) were unable to move the heavy howitzers! We had to harness the baggage horses and harness ourselves to help the exhausted horses. White snow was replaced by red clay, sleds were replaced by carts, but felt boots and fur coats were their only clothing for a long time. Hundreds of kilometers passed from Stalingrad to Yelets before they changed their uniforms. This journey cost my father his legs: as soon as the earth bloomed, his feet "bloomed" with boils. And what it was like to ride after the cure, all his legs were scarred. In the old age, this led to problems with his legs. My father fought all over Europe, reached Berlin, and served in Germany after the war. Then he was sent Home. He wanted to return to technical institute, but they sent him to the Kharkov Academy and he became a rocket engineer. He was sent to serve in the city of Kalinin, in the research Institute, where he rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, retired. He never lost his sense of humor and told us, my older brothers, and me about the war, not much and always with humor, but when he finished another story, he would stop talking and go to his room. Later he tottaly stopped sharing his memories with us. I was small, but I knew it was hard for him. Today I am a grandmother myself, I tell my granddaughter stories I heard from my father, I take her to veterans (they arrange concerts with their classmates), we go to memorials, and on May 9 we definitely go to our great-grandfather to honor his memory.

Rank: Captain, 2nd Rank. Branch: Soviet Navy and Naval forces of the NKVD border troops. Years of life: October 12, 1911 (13) - January 14, 1970. Born in Rostov-on-Don, where in 1922 he graduated from the secondary school, then worked as a master for the Taganrog Machine-building Plant "Krasnyi Gidropress". He was called up for service in the Soviet Navy on November 1, 1933. Served on submarines of the Pacific Fleet. As member of the crew of the submarine Shch-117 made the legendary ultra-long (40 days) autonomous trip, from January 11 to February 20, 1936. Commander of the submarine N. Egipko, the Hero of the Soviet Union. For this campaign, the entire crew, including my father, Peter Bozhek was awarded the Order Badge of Honor #3472, i.e. this was the first fully decorated crew in history (Resolution of the CEC of the USSR of April 3, 1936). The submarine commander Nikolay Egipko and the Military Commissar were awarded Orders of the Red Star. The orders were presented to everyone personally by M. Kalinin in the Kremlin. At the beginning of the war, P. Bozhek was appointed a Commander of the Combat detachment on the submarine Shch-422. Peter Bozhek in 1944 as a member of the SMERSH detachment was in the city of Leningrad, liberated from the blockade. From 01.04. 1944 to 15.04.1945 – Higher School of Counterintelligence in Leningrad. After completing counterintelligence courses in 1945, he was sent to the Far East to the Pacific Fleet in connection with the beginning of the Japanese events. He served on submarines in the Far East until 1948 with home ports in Sovgavan and Vladivostok. In Vladivostok, my father met my mother, Raisa Bozhek, who worked in a military Atelier. The marriage was registered on May 13, 1945. She, like other home front workers, unloaded at night steamers with food supplies from America during the war. In 1947, my sister Tatyana was born in Sovgavan, and in 1948, in Vladivostok, I was born. Peter Bozhek served in Vladivostok at the Naval School of the Admiral Makarov since 1948. Then, in 1953-1954, he was sent to study in Moscow at Higher Political Courses. At the end of the course, he was assigned to the scuba diving training unit #25151, where he served until his retirement. Awarded the Order of Badge of Honor #3472 (1936). During the years of military operations, P. Bozhek was awarded the following orders: Red Banner #393582, Red Star #2950971; medals For Military Merit #1970084, For the Victory over Germany #0255671 (awarded on April 2, 1946), For the Victory over Japan #043177 (awarded on September 1945), 30 Years of the Soviet Army and Navy (awarded on August 4, 1948), 40 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR (awarded on November 5, 1958), 20 Years of Victory #9106775 (awarded on September 19, 1967), "50 years of the Armed Forces of the USSR (awarded on February 14, 1968). Order of dismissal to the reserve of the Captan, 2nd Rank P. Bozhek #02991 of 26.12.1958. Died 14.01.1970. He was buried at the Marine" Cemetery in Vladivostok. Personal record #8382100 handed over to the Political Department of the military detachment #8298. Now two children, four grandchildren, six great-grandchildren.

Rank: Sergeant Major Branch of Service: Armored and Mechanized Troops Unit: 12th Tank Division Alexey Buyatov was born in the village of Verkhniye Yushady in the Menzelinsky District in 1918. Drafted into the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army by the Menzelinsky District Military Commissariat in 1938. Participated in the Finnish war (1939-1940), in the Great Patriotic War from 1941. Rank: Guards Sergeant Major. Position: Tank Driver, 182nd Tank Division, 12th Tank Regiment, participated in the defense of Odessa. Last duty station: chauffeur, rifle regiment of the 303rd Rifle Division of the Central Group of Troops Party membership: Member of the Komsomol. Was a prisoner of war. Place of capture - the village of Mykhailivka (Odessa) 20.09.1941. He was in the Romanian camp for Soviet POWs, camp #7 Baltsy (Buzesti). Injuries (where, when): - Severe injury (burns), Odessa, 1941; - During the liberation of Czechoslovakia, the city of Shah (as part of the Second Ukrainian Front), 1944. Rewards: - Order of the Red Star; - Order of Glory, 3rd degree; - Order of the Patriotic War 1st degree; - Medal For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945; - Commemorative medals - Badge 25 Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War; - Medals For Labor Valor, Veteran of Labor, anniversary medal For Valiant Labor. He was demobilized in June 1946. Continued to work as a driver for the plant Molotovugol Kiselevsk Department of Glavvtorchermet transportation depot #2. He worked as a tractor driver for the Baymagambetov State Farm "Salokoski" since 1964. He was retired since 1978.

Rank: Red Army Soldier Branch of Sevice: Land Forces, Air Force (except for Naval Aviation), Coast Guard, NKVD troops, Border Guard Unit: 276th Temryuk Double Red Banner Rifle division Peter Batyaikin was born in 1921 in the village of Kabaevo, Dubensky District, Mordovian ASSR. He graduated from seven classes of the Kabaevo School, after graduation he worked for a collective farm. He left for Baku in 1938. There he worked as a paramilitary guard at an oil factory. He was called up to the front in 1941 and sent to join the newly formed the 2nd Airborne brigade of the 2nd Airborne Corps. It was defeated earlier and lost up to one-third of its personnel. It was stationed at that time in Ordzhonekidze. The 2nd Airborne Corps was renamed the 32nd Guards Rifle Division in May 1942, and the 2nd Airborne Brigade was renamed the 80th Guards Rifle Regiment. The division defended the Taman Peninsula from May 1942 to August 1942. He participated in the defense of Tuapse from August 1942 to October 1942. Rear intelligence of the front as a scout - from October 1942 to October 1944. Bogun Partisan Detachment, Chapaev Compound under the command of I. Balyuta (Czechoslovakia) - from October 1944 to the end of November 1944. After breaking out of the encirclement on November 28, 1944, he was sent to the 276th Rifle Division in the 876th Rifle Regiment, presumably in the 4th Battalion. Participated in the liberation of Czechoslovakia, Poland. Was seriously wounded by a shrapnel in the head in the town of Kuruv, near Lublin (Poland) on January 31, 1945. Was demobilized in November 1945. He returned to his native village of Kabaevo. He moved to Kurdyukovskaya station, Shelkovsky District, Chechen-Ingush ASSR in 1954. Worked as a carpenter for a state farm. He died and was buried in the villadge of Kurdyukovskaya. My grandfather did not tell me anything about the war - he kept silent, apparently, the memories were too heavy. All information received from relatives, archives and remnants of documents, as well as the site "Memory of the People" and the Internet, thank you all very much.

Rank: Sergeant Branch of Service: Artillery Unit: 1st Guards Proletarian Moscow-Minsk Order of Lenin Red Banner Order of Suvorov and Kutuzov Rifle Division My uncle Georgy Boloban was born in Borisovka in 1918. Since his childhood, he helped his father, a cabinetmaker, to make beautiful, solid furniture, and when he grew up, he went with him to work in the city of Kharkov. There he was trained as a locksmith and worked in the workshops of one of the research institutes. Georgy was drafted into the Red Army in November 1940. He served in Moscow, in the fighter-anti-tank regiment of the famous 1st Moscow Proletarian Division. A smart, competent guy was assigned to the position of artillery craftsman in the armament warehouse. Just a few days after the start of the war, the 1st Moscow Proletarian Division, equipped with personnel and weapons, advanced to meet the enemy and blocked the path of Guderian's tanks on the land of Belarus. The fighting was terrible. The division had just over a thousand soldiers and officers left by the fall of 1941, out of original fifteen thousands. Private Georgy Boloban was also listed as missing in the casualty reports. This was reported to the family in 1943 when the village of Borisovka was liberated from the Nazi occupation. George's mother, my grandmother Evdokia, could not believe that her son was missing until her death (died in 1979). Through requests to the military enlistment office, archives, she tried to find out his fate, the place where he was buried, if an enemy bullet overtook him. However, it was in vain. It was only 65 years after the war, thanks to the memorial website, that I found a personal list of officers and enlisted men who died of wounds in the medical facilities of the 33rd Army from December 1941 to June 1, 1942. It contained new data. As it turned out, Georgy Boloban did not go missing in September 1941 near the city of Smolensk. He was among the few who survived the heavy fighting and continued to serve in the division, which received the Guards rank and was renamed the 1st Guards Moscow Rifle Division. Two letters in his surname were mistakenly changed by a clerk. Instead of Boloban it turned into Balaban in official documents. Probably, without even knowing it, George participated in the battle with the German-fascist invaders near Moscow. The artillery craftsman, Sergeant of the 1st Guards Moscow Rifle Division G. Balaban (Boloban) was wounded on January 5, 1942. They sent him to the hospital. It was located in the Moscow Region in the recreation center of "Arkhangelsk". Here, he died of his wounds on January 12, 1942 and was buried in a mass grave in the village of Krasnoe, Krasnopakhorsky Settlement of Moscow. The exact place of burial was established thanks to the Moscow search volunteer Larisa Shashkova and employees of the military enlistment office. Thank you for this, good people! We the relatives of George Boloban will always be grateful to you! Alexander Winkholtz, Belgorod Region, village of Borisovka.

Rank: Sergeant Major Branch of Service: Land Forces, Air Force (except for Naval Aviation), Coast Guard, NKVD troops, Border Guard Sergey Barkov was born on September 23, 1924 in the village of Baranchik (now Dolzhansky District, Oryol Region) in a peasant family. He graduated from incomplete secondary school. He was called up to serve in the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army in 1942 by the Dolzhansky District Military Commissariat. On the fronts of the Great Patriotic War - since July 1942. Participated in the battles on the Bryansk, Central, 1st, 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts. He was wounded in battles three times. Distinguished himself during the liberation of Ukraine. By February 1944 - Sergeant Major Barkov commanded a section of the 11th Separate Reconnaissance Company of the 74th Rifle Division of the 40th Army of the 2nd Ukrainian Front. Barkov made 12 raids to the enemy's rear together with his intelligence detachment during February-March 1944. During raids they destroyed about 100 and captured more than 70 enemy soldiers and officers. Barkov, who led a reconnaissance group of four people, crossed the Prut River into Romania on April 2, 1944 and penetrated the location of enemy units near the village of Trestiana near the city of Dorohoi. The group managed to gather information about the enemy and capture a German staff officer, which allowed the division to successfully cross the Prut River. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of September 13, 1944, for" courage and heroism shown in the Uman-Botoshan operation", Sergeant Major Sergey Barkov was awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star Medal #5440. He was also awarded the Orders of the Red Banner, the Patriotic War 1st degree, the Red Star, as well as a number of medals, including one For Bravery. He demobilized in 1947. Lived and worked in Oryol. He worked in the locomotive depot as an electrical fitter, a foreman of motorists. He was awarded the badge Honorary Railway Worker of the Ministry of Railways of the USSR. He died on April 20, 2007. He was buried in the military section of the Troitsky Cemetery in Oryol.

Rank: Senior Paramedic Branch of Service: Military Medical Staff My grandfather, Georgy Brodovoy, went through three wars - the Finnish war, the Great Patriotic War, and the Japanese war. He was a senior paramedic, Lieutenant of the Medical Service, provided medical care to the wounded on the battlefields and in field hospitals. The beginning of the Great Patriotic War found him close to the Western border of the USSR. He with a train of wounded fell into the German encirclement on June 25, 1941. He remembered that the Germans left them in an open field, hastily surrounded by a fence; there were no medicines and bandages. Three days later, he escaped from captivity and came to his own. He got into a Special Department, was demoted for "treason" and sent to a penal battalion, where he fought as a private for six months. He was wounded, and after treatment continued the war as a military paramedic. He participated in the liberation of Leningrad in February 1944, in the assault on Konigsberg in 1945 as a member of the 43rd Separate Battalion of Knapsack Flamethrowers of the 9th Assault Engineering and Sapper Brigade of the Top Command Reserve of the 3rd Belarusian Front. For providing timely medical care to 92 soldiers and officers during the breakthrough of the long-term enemy defense in the Pilkallen area (now Dobrovolsk, Kaliningrad Region) in January 1945, Georgy Brodovoy was awarded the Order of the Red Star (order #1/n of 16.01.1945 9). After the Great Patriotic War he with the 9th Assault Engineering and Sapper Brigade was transferred to the Far East, where he participated in the storming of the fortified regions of the Japanese Kwantung army (9th AESB was assigned to the 39th Army). He was demobilized in 1948, having spent about nine years in the active army. He finished the war with the rank of First Lieutenant of Medical Service.

Rank: Colonel. Branch of Service: Army, Air Force (except for Naval Aviation), Coast Guard, NKVD troops, Border Guard. Unit: 89th Guards Belgorod-Kharkov Red Banner Order of Suvorov Rifle Division. Born in 1914 at the Golyshmanovo station of the Omsk Railway. In the 1930s. He was a teacher at a school in the village of Lyagushi in the Kupinsky District of the Novosibirsk Region and studied in absentia at the History Department of the Tomsk State Pedagogical Institute. A. Belsky became a Director of this school in the late 1930th. He was drafted into the army in 1940 and sent to the Minsk Military Political School. With the beginning of the great Patriotic War in August 1941, Political Instructor A. Belsky was appointed to the 160th Rifle Division as a Commissar of a separate anti-aircraft battery, and then as a Commissar of a rifle battalion. Under his command, a battalion of the 89th Guards Belgorod-Kharkov Division liberated Kishinev, the capital of Moldova, on August 23, 1944. For the heroism in the Vistula-Oder operation on the territory of Poland by a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of 27 February 1945, the Commander of the 2nd Rifle Battalion of the 273rd Guards Rifle Kishinev Regiment of the 89th Guards Belgorod Kharkov Red Banner Rifle Division A. Belsky was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Captain A. Belsky took part in the storming of Berlin and was appointed a Commandant of the German town of Warnemunde. After the end of the Great Patriotic War, he continued to serve as a Military Commissar in the Western Ukraine. In 1962, with the rank of Guards Colonel, A. Belsky was dismissed to reserve, and in 1964 he was awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of the city of Kishinev. Hero of the Soviet Union A. Belsky died in 1970 in Kishinev. One of the streets of the city was named after him. Awards: the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star Medal (1945); the Order of the Battle Red Banner (1943), the order of the Patriotic War 1st degree (1944).