Heroes and feats

Barabash (Protchenko) Nina Ivanovna was born on the 25th of March, 1923, in Belarus in the Gomel region, Dobrushsky district, the village of Vylevo. She grew up and was brought up in a large Belarusian peasant family where they loved work and respected their elders. She completed a full course of a high school. While studying at school, she graduated from nursing courses. After school she entered the Gomel river technical school. In 1941 she graduated from the first year of technical school and was sent to summer practice on the self-propelled barge "Marxist". The first day of the war was met by the trainee Ninochka off the coast of the city of Rogachev. Then there were: returning home, repeated visits to the military enlistment office with a request to be called up to the army. In July 1941 she was called up into the army as a soldier of medical service, the place of service – the mobile field hospital no. 1162 formed in the Bryansk region. In 1942 she was assigned as a nurse to the 11th paratroop brigade. In the battle of Stalingrad during the next landing in the rear of the enemy Nina Ivanovna was seriously wounded - from the received concussion she lost her hearing, vision and speech. At the end of 1942 she was discharged from the army for health reasons and sent to work in the village council in the village of Kazinka near Ufa. In 1944 after the liberation of her native Belarusian land from the Nazi invaders she returned home. Nina Ivanovna's father was in the partisans during the war and her mother cooked food for the partisans and wounded Soviet soldiers who were held captive by the Germans. The Germans took her mother out to be shot twice. In her parents' house she met her future husband, a young sergeant Vladimir Barabash, who was staying with his soldiers in a partisan house. In September 1945 second lieutenant Barabash Vladimir Venediktovich (Ukrainian by nationality) and Protchenko Nina Ivanovna got married. Then began the nomadic life of an officer. Wherever the military service threw their family – to the Caucasus, Ukraine, Belarus, East Germany. Nina Ivanovna was constantly plagued by severe headaches from a military concussion and for this reason she was not accepted for work. She found her happiness in taking care of the house, in the children who were born and there were three of them – two sons and a daughter, as well as in the social work of the women's council of military units. In 1960 the family moved to the new place of service of the spouse in the city of Kuibyshev (Samara). In 1972 they left the army. Vladimir Venediktovich was a deputy chairman of the public organization of veterans for a long time in the Industrial district of the city of Samara. He died in 2007. Nina Ivanovna is a member of the Council of veterans of the Second World War in the Industrial district, the Regional Council of women veterans, an Honorary member of the Samara regional public organization of Belarusians "Russian-Belarusian Brotherhood 2000". In the local council "Volgar" of the Industrial district she is the senior in the multi-storey building in which she lives. All these and other duties were imposed on her not by chance – for her persistent, punchy character. She does a lot of work on military-patriotic education of children in secondary schools №2, №49, №155, №139 etc. Nina Ivanovna Barabash (Protchenko) was awarded the order of the Patriotic War and medals.

They quickly made their way to the ravine, seven Soviet scouts and a captured Nazi officer with a package. The Germans raised the alarm. One by one the rockets hovered overhead, casting a deathly white light over everything. It became visible as in the daytime and the scouts froze in place without a team. A shootout broke out at the site. There was no need to think about crossing the front line with the prisoner. The ravine led them to a house. In it, as it turned out later, was placed the economic platoon of the Germans. At the back of the house a half-buried entrance led to the basement. There leaked the group of junior lieutenant Bykovsky. Extremely excited, the scouts listened with bated breath to the vague sounds coming to the basement. Fascist patrols, calling to each other, combed the area up and down, but it did not occur to anyone of the Nazis that the Soviet soldiers took refuge in a house occupied by the enemy. The scouts whispered to the prisoner that any attempt of his to send a signal... Oh, of course, he understood, understood well. This was near Vilnius in 1944. The fascists on the eastern front learnt to understand a lot by then… Germans pass by the entrance to the basement every now and then. One of them, talking to a friend, pours garbage out of a bucket on the steps. Five submachine guns are pointed at him in the dark. Two scouts with bowie knives crouched in the doorway. The Germans are leaving... Minutes and hours stretch endlessly. Bykovsky decided to make their way to their friends at night. The prisoner was told that when the group went to the front line, he would “command” it. And a little something -immediately "kaput". Full dark. Gradually everything in the house quieted down. With a caution available to scouts only the group leaves the basement and moves in single file to the front line. Dressed, as always, in German disguises, they walked to their full height. On the chest - captured machine guns. Shoes, knives - also German. The group was “led” by a real fascist. He did not try his luck - and the scouts passed through the enemy's positions without complications. Here is our minefield... And two days later Bykovsky, not believing his luck, went to Moscow in a warm car. He was given a vacation for the prisoner. As the wheels rattled, Nikolay Ivanovich thought about how happy his relatives would be at his arrival at home. He joined the army in the first month of the war when posters appeared with the extremely concise call “Motherland calls!” He graduated from school, commanded a penal battalion and then - a platoon of intelligence. After the defeat of the Germans at Stalingrad his 60th guard rifle division liberated Morozovskaya, Millerovo, and Shakhty... In February 1943 in the area of Voroshilovgrad he was called up to the division headquarters and was ordered to conduct a reconnaissance battle. Bykovsky's platoon, reinforced by machine-gunners, sappers and a grenade launcher platoon moved to the fascist positions. A rapid rush, the first enemy trenches, hand-to-hand combat... Not knowing the scale of the operation the Germans open fire from cannons and machine guns. Our artillery hit the firing points that found themselves. Rifle battalions moved from the flanks. Their neighbors supported them. Voroshilovgrad was taken. Bykovsky was awarded the order of the Red Star for scouting the battle. The first time Nikolay was wounded in Zaporozhye, the second time - after crossing the Dnieper. With a broken foot he was sent to far-off Ashgabat. From the hospital came in 3rd Beloruski. Burned cities, blackened chimneys instead of villages, gallows... Grief and death emanate from the ruins. Rage rises in his throat like a heavy lump. Go ahead! The scouts went first. They were the first to be embraced by the liberated Belarusians, the first to tell about the nightmares of the occupation, about their city. On the 6th of April, 1945, after an hour and a half of artillery preparation, our armies moved to Konigsberg. Explosions, the roar of engines, a powerful “Hurrah!” Everything is bubbling and raging. The earth trembles. The city is covered with clouds of dust and smoke. The sky itself seemed to fall on Konigsberg. Lieutenant Bykovsky led a machine-gun troop to the assault, and two days later only a platoon remained... More and more reserves are brought into the battle. It is impossible to stop our troops. The city's commandant, general Otto Lash, accepts the ultimatum. Now all thoughts are about Berlin. Go ahead! Through the torrents of blood, through the torment and suffering, through the filth and horror of war the Soviet people went to Berlin. For the rest of his life lieutenant Bykovsky remembered the last assault, the defeated enemies and the Brandenburg gate, which was shredded by shells. A hardworking worker, he faithfully fulfilled his heavy military duty. Now he was drawn home ... ... Since 1983 Nikolai Ivanovich worked in Zelenograd at the Elion plant as an equipment controller. He worked hard as he fought, on his conscience. In the last years of his life Bykovsky worked in the warranty workshop "Elion" for the repair of tape recorders. Sociable, hardworking, never discouraged, he died unexpectedly for others. "How is it?" asked his friends as if they had forgotten the hell of war that Nikolai Ivanovich had gone through in his youth.

Grade title: lieutenant. Branch of service: aviation. Unit: the 1st fighter division. He is a Ukrainian, born in the village of Seredovka, the Dikansky district, the Poltava region; blood type is II (A); Father - Kuzma Trofimovich Bondarenko, mother -Bondarenko (Khmara nee) Efrosinia Yakovlevna, brother - Valentin, died at the age of 11; siste - Svetlana (married Schultz), lives in Dnepropetrovsk. The Bondarenko family moved to the city of Dnepropetrovsk, settled in house no. 69 in Filosofskaya street. He graduated from Kachinskaya (near Sevastopol) Red Banner military aviation school (in a parallel group with Vasily Dzhugashvili), a certified pilot. In 1938 he made 5 parachute jumps as a skydiver athlete of the OAH (Osoaviakhim - society for the promotion of defense, aviation and chemical construction 1927-1948). In 1939 he joined the air force as a pilot. He received the rank of an officer on the 7th of October, 1940. He passed through the Great Patriotic War as a fighter pilot. On the 19th of December, 1944, he fought near Vienna. Vienna was taken on the 13th of April, 1945. He was awarded the order of the Red Star no. 941186 for military actions. On the 1st of November, 1944, he got married to Nina Pastukhova Silovna. During the war he served as a communications sergeant. On the 17th of February, 1945, a daughter Ira was born in the family. After the war he served as a senior lieutenant as commander of the liaison in the city of Brody of the Lvov region. On the 16th of October, 1946, his service record in the rank of an officer was 6 years, 9 days. He was dismissed to the reserve on the 12th of May, 1948, in the city of Busk, the full length of service in the rank of an officer was eight years, six months, nine days (Paybook of the officer series MA 911407 officer from the 7th of October, 1940, to the 25th of April, 1948). On the 21st of May, 1948, the family had a son, Alexander. From the 6th of January, 1949, till the 7th of December, 1951, he was a pilot of the civil aviation of the 3rd class on local air lines, sanitary, off-highway and air works in the Ukrainian air squadron no. 214 (certificate no. 2187). In 1950 the family moved to Dnepropetrovsk to Filosofskaya street, house no. 69. On the 19th of February, 1952, he was awarded the badge of the civil aviation for a flying raid of 300,000 km. On the 2nd of April, 1952, he died suddenly from a stroke caused by an old head injury. He was buried in the cemetery located on the Kryvyi Rog highway in Dnepropetrovsk, section 32, no.4.

Kuzma Lukyanovich Gaponov was born to a peasant family on the 23rd of October, 1892, in the village of Petrushevka in Krinichny volost, Sudzhansky uyezd, Kursk province. In 1895 he moved with his parents from the island of Malo-Peschanskaya volost of the Mariinsky district of the Tomsk province. In 1914 K. L. Gaponov was conscripted into the army. He served in the 8th engineering battalion of the 7th Siberian corps which was located in Galati, Romania. He took part in the First World War. He served in the tsarist army until 1918. From 1918 to 1919 he served as a red army soldier in a separate pontoon battalion of the workers' and peasants' Red Army. The battalion was located in the city of Kiev. After returning from the army in 1919 K. L. Gaponov got married. In the family of Kuzma Lukyanovich Gaponov and Matrena Kasyanovna were born five children. They were peasants on their farms. From 1928 to 1930 Kuzma Lukyanovich was the chairman of the Ostrovsky village council of the Izhmorsk district of the Novosibirsk region. In 1934 he joined the collective farm named “The 1st of August”. K. L. Gaponov was elected chairman of the “The 1st of August” collective farm at the village meeting. From 1939 until leaving for the front K. L. Gaponov was the chairman of the collective farm "Kuznetsstroy". On the 20th of June, 1940, Kuzma Lukyanovich Gaponov joined the ranks of the the All-Union Communist Party. With the beginning of the war K. L. Gaponov had a reservation but he refused the reservation and on the 3rd of September, 1941, he was called up into the army and served as a soldier in the 20th reserve aviation regiment in the village of Tolmachevo in Novosibirsk. From 1943 till 1945 he fought on the 3rd Ukrainian front and was a private in the 112th separate engineer battalion. Kuzma Lukyanovich met the Victory over Nazi Germany in Yugoslavia. In July and August 1945 the battalion in which K. L. Gaponov served was transferred to the Far East. At the station of Izhmorska the troop train did not stop. Kuzma Lukyanovich tied the letter prepared for the family to a stone and threw it at the station. That's how the family found out where their husband, their father was. After the end of the war with Japan private K. L. Gaponov was mobilized by age. He returned to the village of Ostrovka. Gaponov Kuzma Lukyanovich was awarded: the medal "For liberation of Belgrade"; a medal "For Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945"; a medal "For Victory over Japan". K. L. Gaponov died on the 25th of April, 1977, he was buried in the cemetery of the village of Tisul of the Mariinsky district of the Kemerovo region.

I want to tell you about my great-grandfather, Guselnikov Vasily Mitrofanovich. He was born on the 2nd of March, 1921, in the village of Kochetovka, the Khobotovsky district, the Tambov region. In October 1939 he entered the Volsky aviation technical school. At the end of 1940 he was assigned to the 211st assault aviation regiment. From the first day of the war, from the 22nd of June, 1941, till 1942 he was on the South-Western front. Later, as a technical lieutenant, he fought in the 431st assault aviation regiment on the Stalingrad front, then in the 622nd assault aviation regiment on the North Caucasus front. In 1943 their regiment participated in supporting the landing on Malaya Zemlya, near the city of Novorossiysk. At one time he happened to serve with Stalin's son, Vasily, in the 622nd assault aviation regiment of the 214th assault aviation division. In 1944 he was in the 4th Ukrainian front. During one of the battles he was wounded, burned in the plane and burned his lungs. He was treated in the hospital for a long time. In early 1945 as part of the 15th air army he was transferred to the 2nd Baltic front under the command of major general Bagramyan. Then he was seconded to the management of the 14th fighter aviation corps on the Leningrad front - as head of the aircraft and engine accounting department. During the period of combat operations, while working as a mechanic technician, the staff of his unit served 868 sorties and restored 65 combat aircrafts without failures and accidents. My great-grandfather was a member of the Communist party of the Soviet Union since 1943. He was awarded the order of the Red Star, a medal "For Military Merits", medal "For defense of Stalingrad", medal "For defense of Caucasus", medal "For Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945". Order no. 0182 of the Baltic military district dated the 26th of September, 1945, senior technician-lieutenant Guselnikov, Vasily Mitrofanovich, who served as the chief of the department of the account of aircraft and engines from the 14th fighter air corps of the 15th air army, retired for health reasons (disabled veteran). He was only 24 years old. And in 1948 after treatment he moved with his family to the hero city of Stalingrad and helped to rebuild the city after the war. Vasily Mitrofanovich Guselnikov died in May 1983.

Born on February 22, 1917 at the Kochkar goldfields of the Orenburg province (now Plast, Chelyabinsk region). After graduating from four classes, he worked in the workshop for the repair of mining equipment for six years, and then a year - at the mine. Frunze. After graduating from the workers' faculty, in 1936, on a Komsomol ticket, Mikhail was sent to the Voroshilovgrad flight school. A career soldier. Participant in the "winter" war against Finland and the Great Patriotic War. He participated in the battles of the Great Patriotic War since July 1941 on the Southern, South-Western and Volkhov fronts. Rank: Captain. Position: Flight Commander of the 4th Squadron of the 4th Fighter Regiment of the 20th Mixed Air Division. From his youth, Mikhail Galkin dreamed of becoming a fighter pilot. After graduating from the Voroshilovgrad flight school, already in 1939, M. Galkin took part in the war against Finland. Skillful conduct of the battle (he made 82 sorties) and their effectiveness bring him the award - the Order of the Red Star. The Great Patriotic War began for M. Galkin on the Southern Front as part of the 4th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the 20th Mixed Air Division under the command of Hero of the Soviet Union A.S. Osipenko. Already on the fortieth day of the war, M.P. Galkin was nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. From the award list: "Since the beginning of the hostilities of the Red Army against the German fascists, M. Galkin made 58 sorties. ... During the hostilities he participated in 18 air battles, of which more than half of the battles he fought with a superior number of enemy fighters. In battles, he shot down two Junkers-88 bombers, two Messerschmidt Me-109 fighters and one PZL-43 reconnaissance aircraft. In air battles for our Motherland, he proved himself to be a courageous and brave warrior. July 27, 1941 Lieutenant Galkin While carrying out a combat mission, he met an enemy reconnaissance aircraft, which was scouting the concentration of our units, Lieutenant Galkin decided to destroy the reconnaissance officer. When the aircraft approached, the enemy turned away, trying to escape to his territory. Lieutenant Galkin began to pursue, overtook the enemy aircraft and set it on fire. the plane and the pilot burned down, the fascist failed to deliver the collected information to his headquarters. " The title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on March 27, 1942. After being seriously wounded in September 1941, the medical commission gave a conclusion about his unsuitability for flying, suggesting staff or training work. However, Galkin was not going to leave the plane for a long time. He achieved that, as part of the 283rd Fighter Aviation Regiment, he was sent to the Volkhov Front - Gremyachevo airfield in the Leningrad region. At this time, German aircraft dominated the Leningrad sky. The situation changed with the arrival of the 283rd Aviation Regiment, which in just two days of fighting shot down nine enemy aircraft. July 21, 1942, according to the recollections of the aviation technician of the regiment N. Chechel, was tense. Six of our patrolling fighters with half-empty tanks were returning to their airfield. They met 26 German aircraft - 20 bombers and 6 fighters. An unequal battle ensued. Five German aircraft were destroyed. The rest, having dropped the load, turned back. In this battle, M.P. Galkin shot down one bomber, but he himself did not return from the battle. He landed his downed plane in no-man's land; when landing on pines, both legs were broken. He died of blood loss. Only 64 flying days participated in the hostilities of M.P. Galkin, for which he destroyed 23 enemy aircraft, a lot of ground equipment and enemy manpower. Buried M.P. Galkin at the memorial cemetery in the village of Budogoshch, Kirishsky District, Leningrad Region. Materials about the military valor of M.P. Galkin are kept in the Victory Museum in St. Petersburg and in the Museum of the Armed Forces in Moscow, in the Aviation Museum in Monino (Central Museum of the Russian Air Force in the Moscow Region). One of the streets of Plast is named in honor of the Hero, and secondary school №10 bears his name; his bust is installed in the central square of the city. He was awarded the Order of Lenin, the Red Banner.

Anna Grigoryevna Gerasimova (born in 1937). In the post-war metric there is an entry: born on the 8th of March, 1937. This date of birth was assigned to Anna Grigoryevna in the distributor when they, Belarusian children, were brought from Germany after the end of the Great Patriotic War. The small, emaciated Anya was mistaken for a six-year-old, even though she already knew that she was eight. Her brother Vanya, who came with her, was also given a new date of birth – the 1st of May, 1937. In the post-war turmoil no one really checked children returned home from Germany specifying the date of birth – the main task was to feed, clothe, find a suitable orphanage. With difficulty holding back tears Anna Grigoryevna recalls her military childhood. She was born in Belarus, in the Krichevsky district, the village of Novoe Selo. The family had four children. The older brother at the beginning of the war already had his own family and a little daughter. When the Germans came repression began. All the neighboring villages were on fire, and little Ani's family barely managed to escape from the village. Everyone fled, mother, father, older brother with his wife and 11-month-old daughter, younger brother Vanya and sister Olga. Unfortunately, they were bombed. Her mother and sister-in-law died before Anya's eyes and the little girl was lost. She was never seen again. Children were taken to Germany in freight cars with holes in the floor. Without food or clothing, they were brought to the camp. The older sister was immediately assigned to the staff. Early in the morning those who could work were picked up and taken to the yards, to the new "owners", and in the evening they were brought back. Little Anya remembers well how her sister, returning from work in the evening, hurriedly took out a piece of bread or pie hidden in her clothes from the guards. Sometimes the hostess would give some food with her. The barracks were not heated in winter, so their little inhabitants wrapped themselves in all the rags they could find: mattresses, blankets, and rags with holes in them. Anya also remembers how our soldiers who liberated the camp hugged their children and cried with joy that they had saved someone. After the distributor Anya and her younger brother and sister were sent to an orphanage in Lyuban. After finishing seven forms of a school the girl went to Riga alone to study as a turner. The choice of profession did not stand for a long time – she wanted to bring real benefits to the country. After graduation they gave the girl two directions to work - to the Republic of Karelia and to the virgin lands. Anya and her friend decided to go to Karelia, where, they were told, they could catch fish with their bare hands in rivers. They got to the village of Kubovo of the Pudozhsky district. There, in the tool shop, Anna Grigoryevna began her career. There in the village she met her fate – Nikolai Matveevich. They married in 1957 and then had two daughters. One –Irina - worked at school for 42 years, now she is on a well-deserved vacation. The second – Svetlana – moved to the town of Pskov on the distribution. Daughters, grandchildren and great-grandchildren give happy moments of joy supporting Anna Grigorievna who recently lost her husband. And she doesn't feel alone with her family. Today Anna Grigoryevna is a recipient of social services at home from the department of the state budgetary institution of the Pudozhsky district. We wish Anna Grigoryevna good health, longevity, comfort, warmth and well-being!

Panteley Savelyevich Grishko was born in 1907. He was called up for service in 1941. According to information from an award sheet dated the 29th of June, 1944 : “Sergeant major Grishko P. S., participating in the battles of the breakout of the enemy’s defence in depth on the Drut river and in further pursuiting him to Bobruisk and along the western bank of the Berezina river, showed examples of courage, valor and bravery, constantly being in combat formations of the battery, in a timely manner and often risking his lives and despite heavy artillery and mortar fire - he assisted the wounded and evacuated them to the nearest field hospitals. During the period of combat operations he evacuated more than 25 wounded soldiers and three officers from the battlefield, to whom he provided timely first aid. On the 29th of June, 1944, sergeant major Grishko P. S. was wounded but after providing himself with medical assistance he continued to remain at his combat post. Throughout the entire period of fighting with the German-fascist invaders, sergeant major Grishko showed exceptional courage and resourcefulness in providing medical care to wounded soldiers and officers, thereby gaining great authority among the entire staff of the regiment, who love him knowing his exceptional care for the wounded on the battlefield” – he was awarded the order of Glory of the third degree. On the 2nd of March, 1945, Grishko P. S. was awarded the order of the Red Star for exemplary performance of combat tasks of the command on the front of the fight against the German invaders and for his valor and courage. Senior medical officer Grishko Pantelei Savelievich, participating in the battles to destroy a strong enemy group to the south-east of Berlin from the 24th till the 30th of April, 1945, showed examples of courage, perseverance and skill in providing first aid to the wounded. During this period, he took out of the burning installations 3 officers and 9 sergeants, who were given first aid, and saved their lives. In addition he took out 5 officers and 3 sergeants from the battlefield, whom he also provided first aid, saved their lives, for which he was awarded the order of Glory of the second degree on the 27th of May 1945. According to information of the award list dated the 26th of March, 1945: “Grishko P. S. - for showing in the battles during the breakthrough of the German defense in the Rauschbach area on the 13th of March, 1945, the defense and final defeat at the Frisch-Gaf Bay on the 26th of March, 1945, courage, bravery and skill in providing timely first aid to wounded soldiers, sergeants and officers and evacuating them to hospitals. During this period he gave medical assistance to 12 wounded with their evacuation from the battlefield under heavy artillery and mortar fire of the enemy” – he was awarded the medal “For Bravery”. In addition, Grishko P.S. was awarded the order of the Patriotic War of the first degree, the medal “For the capture of Konigsberg”, the medal “For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945” and the medal “For Bravery”.

Matvey Semyonovich Grankin was born in 1920 in the village of Svyatoslavka, of the Izhmorsky district, the Kemerovo region. In 1940 (in other documents - in 1939) on the 15th of August the Izhmor regional military commissariat of the Kemerovo region called up Matvey Semyonovich for military service in the Fed Army. He served in the border troops in the Far East. By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War my grandfather was a cadet of the Novo-Peterhof military-political border school of the NKVD named after K. E. Voroshilov, formed on the 7th of October, 1937, after the establishment of the Institute of military commissars in the armed forces, on the basis of the military school of border and internal security of the NKVD of the USSR named after K. E. Voroshilov. (The school trained political workers for the border and internal troops of the NKVD. The training period was 2 years. The school accepted enlisted men and sergeants of the border and internal troops of the NKVD who had completed military service and received excellent recommendations from unit commanders.) He did not complete his studies at the school because of the war. From 1941 to 1945 he took part in the Great Patriotic War. In the first days of the war - as part of one of the two battalions of cadets of the MPS (military and political school). “In connection with the complication of the situation on the approaches to Leningrad on the 7th of August, 1941, and according to the order of the commander of the Northern front, the battalions of cadets of the Novo-Peterhof military and political school of the NKVD named after K. E. Voroshilov were assigned the task of setting up a barrier at the turn: the 1st battalion under the command of major Shorin N. A. - collective farm Chukh. Antashi, Ozhogino, Volhovo, the 2nd battalion of captain A. A. Zolotarev - Hulgisi, Pulevo, Smolkovo, Delity. The Red Army units (the 1st and the 2nd guards divisions) were operating in front under the cover of which the battalions were to take up and prepare the defense... the 2nd battalion was reinforced by the sapper troop of the Leningrad district border guards and was to be supported by one 76-mm battery, but the battery did not arrive at its destination and did not support the battle of the battalion. The 1st battalion was assigned an anti-aircraft battery. The both battalions operated independently and were operationally subordinate to the commander of the 42nd army, major general Belyaev.” (“All my brothers” by V. Felisova. Lenizdat. 1977) From the award list for the medal “For Bravery”: “Comrade Grankin has been at the front from the 12th of August, 1941, as a cadet of the Voroshilov military Academy of the NKVD, who from the 17th of August, 1941, till the 10th of September, 1941, led continuous battles, repeatedly, personally took part in attacks. In one of them on the 10th of September, 1941, he was injured. Holding the position of adjutant of the senior battalion he led cadets in attacks three times. In the attack on the village Poroshino of the Leningrad region, being a contact of the company commander, personally destroyed 3 Germans. During the reconnaissance of the battle in the area of the village of Zhabino of the Leningrad region, he threw grenades into a house where there was a group of German machine gunners of the enemy and killed 10 people.” From the memoirs of Vera Felisova (Tsareva) who was a medical instructor of the training school and who wrote in 1977 books "All my brothers" and thereafter "Fought to the death" on the basis of documents and the memories of survivors, students of the school collected by her, - I knew that my father was wounded in the battle near the village of Porozhki. “Under the famous Porozhki the cadets without artillery, air and tank support went to attack the enemy armed to the teeth and won.” By delaying the enemy's advance on the Kingisepp highway, the cadets allowed the retreating Red Army units to regroup their forces and prepare for defense in new more favorable positions. Since 1941 my father was a member of the the All-Union Communist Party. After mentioning his wounds the front-line documents indicate that my father’s place of service was the 311th rifle division, the 1067th rifle regiment, the 54th army, the Volkhov front. Grade title - senior lieutenant. (Front-line order no. 77. n dated the 12th of August, 1943), in the award list for the order of the Red Star of the 18th of August, 1944, -senior lieutenant of the SMERSH of the 1069th rifle regiment, 311th rifle devision, in the paybook of a red army officer issued during demobilization in 1946 – he was stated as a guard captain of the 32nd Brest guard rifle regiment. In the award list for the order of the Red Star, the military leadership of the regiment (acting commander of the 1069th rifle regiment, major Lyapushkov, acting chief of staff captain Mirzoev, head of “SMERSH” of the 311st rifle devision Kudryakov) characterized the merits of my grandfather as follows: “As a result of proper organization of work, proper study of personnel, identification and timely removal of a hostile element that made its way into the ranks of the Red Army, proper contact with the command and timely information about his work, he managed to ensure that the command completed the combat task of mastering the city of Dvinsk; the battalion he served was the first to break into the city and fortress of Dvinsk. In the battles for the capture of the city comdrade Grankin, being directly in the battle formations of rifle companies, inspired the soldiers to fearlessness, courage and bravery by his personal example.” According to an entry in the paybook of a Red Army officer, Matvey Semyonovich “spent” 3 years, 11 months, and 23 days in the war. During the war he was awarded the medals "For Bravery" on the 12th of August, 1943, “For the defense of Leningrad” on the 3rd of October, 1943, orders of the Patriotic War of the second degree on the 30th of September, 1944, the order of Red Star on the 11th of April, 1945. In 1946 he was demobilized from the army and with his wife, Sofia Zhukova, whom he met during collaborative service in the 311st rifle devision (a medical assistant of a medical company of the 1069th rifle regiment of the 311th rifle devision) - got back home to the village of Izhmorka of the Kemerovo region, where he worked as a Secretary of the komsomol district committee, then of the Communist party. In 1952 he graduated from the party school in Kemerovo and was sent to the Industrial Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Kemerovo region), where he worked as the 2nd Secretary until 1959. From 1959 to 1963 he worked as the Chairman of the collective farm "Giant" of the Promyshlennovsky district. In 1963 Matvey Semyonovich moved his family (wife and three children) to Kemerovo where he worked in various positions in construction organizations, the Kuzbass Polytechnic Institute.

Viktor Viktorovich Gavrilov was born in 1925 in Serdobsk, the Penza region. In 1926 the Gavrilov family moved to Saratov. In 1932 Victor entered the 5th secondary school. In 1941 after finishing 9 classes he began working as a locksmith in the garage of the Saratov city council. In June 1942 17-year-old Viktor Gavrilov submited an application to the regional military enlistment office with a request to send him to the front. However, he was sent to the 2nd Saratov tank school, after which in August 1943 he was assigned to the 1st Don twice Red Banner tank corps. As a member of the 19th battalion of the 16th guard tank brigade of this corps, he fought on the 1st Belorussian front as a heavy tank commander. In November 1943 as part of a small group of tanks he carried out “combat reconnaissance” in the enemy's rear near the Rechitsa river of the Gomel region. During the raid the tankers came across a camouflaged German anti-aircraft battery. The enemy quickly lowered their anti-aircraft guns and fired at the scouts. When V. V. Gavrilov got out of the hit car, he was shell-shocked and also seriously wounded with a shrapnel in the thigh. He was treated in hospitals in Vyazniki, the Ivanovo region, and Saratov. After four months of treatment he was recognized as a limited fit of the second degree and in February 1944 he was sent to a separate training regiment of officers of the armored and mechanized troops of the Red Army. Due to the impossibility of further use in the tank forces in May 1944, V. V.Gavrilov was dismissed from the regiment at the disposal of the Main military Prosecutor's office of the sea and river fleet of the USSR. Until August 1944 he studied at a 3-month military law course in Gorky, after which, from September of the same year, he served as a military investigator of the military Prosecutor's office of the Saratov section of the Middle Volga basin. In October 1945 he was again sent to the training regiment of officers of the main directorate of the armored troops of the Soviet army stationed in Moscow, and in November 1945 second lieutenant Viktor Gavrilov was discharged from the armed Forces due to injury. He had awards — the order of the Patriotic War of the second degree, the medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945"; later he was awarded commemorative medals. In the same year, 1945, Viktor married Elena Mikhailovna Vinokurova, a student of a medical institute. They raised their sons Mikhail and Viktor. Since February 1946 V. V. Gavrilov was a statistician-codifier of the Prosecutor's office of the Saratov region. In the same year he entered the correspondence department of the Saratov law school, from which he graduated in 1948. From 1948 till 1954 he successively held the positions of assistant Prosecutor of the Saratov region, Prosecutor of the civil-judicial department of the regional Prosecutor's office, Prosecutor of the general supervision department of the Saratov Prosecutor's office. From 1949 to 1956 he studied at the correspondence department of the Saratov law Institute. From the last position in September 1954 he was dismissed due to redundancy and worked as a legal adviser until July 1956. In July 1956 at the proposal of the public Prosecutor of the Saratov region he went back to work in the Prosecutor's office and was appointed assistant Prosecutor of the Frunzenski district of Saratov, a year later he was transferred to the post of Prosecutor of the Volga area of Saratov. From June 1959 to August 1968 he worked in the office of the Prosecutor's office of the Saratov region in the positions of Prosecutor of the general supervision department and senior assistant of the Prosecutor of the region for supervision of the investigation in the state security agencies. He had a class rank of adviser to justice. He was repeatedly encouraged by the Prosecutor General of the USSR, prosecutors of the RSFSR and the Saratov region. In the fall of 1968 Gavrilov joined the Saratov Kursky law Institute, where he worked as a teacher and researcher. In December 1999 Viktor Viktorovich retired for health reasons. He is the author of 20 scientific works, including the monograph “the Essence of Prosecutor's supervision in the USSR” (1984). In April 1997 due to the deterioration of his health he applied to the rector's office with a request to release him from the post of head of the department and by order of the rector was transferred to the position of Professor of the department of justice and Prosecutor's supervision of the Saratov state Academy of law, and in December 1999 he was dismissed from the Academy due to retirement for health reasons. On the 21st of July, 2004, Viktor Viktorovich Gavrilov died after a serious long illness. The sons did not follow in their father's footsteps. The eldest –Mikhail - became a mathematician, then head of the Department of Informatics of the Saratov State Academy of Law (now Saratov State Law Academy), the youngest – Viktor - a doctor. The grandfather's case was continued by his grandson who decided to link his life with the Prosecutor's office after graduating from the Institute of the Prosecutor's office of the Russian Federation. Today senior justice adviser Nikita Mikhailovich Gavrilov is the deputy head of the legal statistics department of the Saratov region Prosecutor's office.

Pavel Yakovlevich Grishchenko (1921-1997) – a senior sergeant of the Soviet Army, participant of the Great Patriotic War, Hero of the Soviet Union (1945). Grishchenko Pavel Yakovlevich was born on the 9th of June, 1921, in the village of Novo-Bratka (now –the Mikhailovsky district of the Amur region) in a peasant family. He graduated from junior high school and worked as an accountant-cashier. In November 1941 Grishchenko was called up to serve in the Workers' and peasants' Red Army. Since January 1942 he was on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War. He took part in the battles of Stalingrad and Kursk. By January 1945 senior sergeant Pavel Grishchenko commanded the gun crew of the 493rd fighter-anti-tank artillery regiment of the 13th army of the 1st Ukrainian front. He distinguished himself during the crossing of the Oder. On the 29th of January, 1945, Grishchenko's team crossed the Oder near the locality of Tarksdorf to the south of the Polish city of Siecinawa and during its assault destroyed 3 German tanks. When the gun was destroyed, Grishchenko organized a circular defense and personally blew up 2 enemy tanks and 1 armored personnel carrier with bundles of grenades. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated the 10th of April, 1945, for “exemplary performance of command assignments at the front against the German invaders and displaying courage and heroism” senior sergeant Pavel Grishchenko was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and the order of Lenin and medal ‘Gold Star” no. 8858. In total, during the war Grishchenko's team destroyed 13 tanks, 4 self-propelled artillery pieces, 13 armored personnel carriers, 26 machine guns, 2 tractors and 420 enemy soldiers and officers. After the end of the war he took part in the liquidation of gangs in the Lvov region and the Carpathians. In 1946 he was demobilized. He graduated from the Khabarovsk law school. Since 1948 he worked in the Prosecutor's office of the Khabarovsk territory, was a Prosecutor of the Railway, then Industrial districts of Khabarovsk and later became the Khabarovsk city Prosecutor. In 1953 he graduated from the all-Union law Institute. Since 1968 Grishchenko worked in the Ministry of internal Affairs of the USSR. In 1988 he retired as a police colonel. He lived in Khabarovsk, died on the 3rd of March, 1997, and was buried in the Central cemetery of Khabarovsk. He was also awarded the order of the Patriotic War of the first and second degrees, a number of medals. He is a honored lawyer of the RSFSR, a honored worker of the Ministry of internal affairs of the USSR, a honorary citizen of Khabarovsk (1985).

He was born on the 10th (the 23rd) of November, 1917, in the village of Borinskoe of the Stebaevsky parish of the Zadonsk uyezd, the Voronezh province (now the Lipetsk district, the Lipetsk region). He is Russian. In 1933 he graduated from the 7th grade school in his native village. In 1933 -1936 he worked as a contractor for the fleet of vehicles of the Borinsk machine and tractor station, and in February-may 1936 as an inspector of the political department of the Borinsky district department of public education. In 1936 – 1938 he worked as propagandist, head of the department of political science and Secretary of the Borinsky district committee of the Komsomol. In 1937 he graduated from the Voronezh department of the Institute of distance learning of the party asset. He was in the army since October 1938. In 1938 - 1941 he did active military service in the troops of the Chita garrison. In 1939 – 1940 he was an assistant for Komsomol work to the head of the political department of the special units of the Chita garrison, in March - August 1940 –he was an instructor for Komsomol work of the political department of the headquarters of the Transbaikalian military district. Then he served as executive secretary of the party bureau of a separate battalion of the air observation, warning, and communications (in the Transbaikalian military district). He was a participant of the Great Patriotic War: in January - May 1942 – the executive secretary of the party bureau of the 6th guard rifle regiment, in May - July 1942 – a senior propaganda instructor of the political department of the 6th guard rifle division. He fought on the Bryansk front. He participated in the battles on the Bolkhovsky and Maloarkhangelsky directions. In March 1942 near the city of Bolkhov (the Oryol region) he was wounded. In July 1942 - October 1943 – a military commissar and deputy commander of the 1033rd rifle regiment for political affairs. He fought on the Bryansk (October 1942 – March 1943), Central (March -October 1943) and Voronezh (October 1943) fronts. He participated in the Kharkiv operation, the battle of Kursk, Oryol and Chernihiv-Pripyat operations and in the battle of the Dnieper. In February and July 1943 he was wounded. He particularly distinguished himself during the Dnieper crossing: on the 25th and 26th of September, 1943, while crossing a river near the village of Okunevo (the Kozelets district, the Chernihiv region, Ukraine) he was constantly in combat formations of the battalions and companies of the regiment, summoning up warriors for the task. The soldiers of the forward battalion led by him broke into the enemy trench and in a brief battle captured the bridgehead, which immediately began to be crossed by the companies and battalions of the regiment. With a rapid attack they captured the second line of defense of the Nazis from which the attack on Korosten and then on Kiev unfolded. On the 10th of October, 1943, in the battles on the Teterev river he was seriously wounded (for the fourth time during the war) and was in the hospital until January 1944. For the courage and heroism shown in the battles with the Nazi invaders, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on the 17th of October, 1943, lieutenant colonel Gorchakov Pyotr Andreevich was awarded the title the Hero of the Soviet Union with the order of Lenin and the “Gold Star” medal.

He was born on the 27th of October, 1918, in the village of Zorgol, now in the Priargunsky district of the Transbaikalian territory in a peasant family. His family had many children, and Nazar was able to finish only 5 classes in the new Tsurukhaitui a seven-year-school. In the future he worked on a collective farm helping the family around the house. In 1937 he entered the factory apprenticeship school in Chita. He graduated as a machinist, worked in the Chita locomotive depot. Then he moved to the Chernovsky coal mines, worked as a fuse-bomber at the V. I. Lenin mine. In October 1939 he was called up into the Red Army by the Chita city military commissariat. At first he served as a red army soldier in the infantry, then he graduated from the school of junior aviation specialists. He served as a weapons master in a bomber regiment in the city of Mogilev (Byelorussian SSR). On the fronts of the Great Patriotic War he did his service since October 1941. At first he remained a gunsmith, preparing aircraft weapons - loading machine guns, hanging bombs. He carried out his responsible work in good faith but he wanted to personally beat the Nazis, so every day he asked the commander to appoint him to the crew as a gunner-radio operator. The sergeant had long since mastered this specialty: with the help of his comrades he had studied the radio station well and he knew the weapon perfectly and he shot accurately from a machine gun. In the report to the commander Gubin wrote: “I assure you that I have the strength and will to repel the enemy's attacks at any moment. I will fight as long as my Komsomol heart beats, and if necessary, I will give my life for the Motherland.” At the end of November sergeant Gubin, who was allowed to fly as an air gunner-radio operator, replaced the wounded gunner-radio operator Fedotov in the crew of Ivan Chernykh. In the first flight he proved to be a skilled and persistent warrior, matching the other crew members. He completed 5 combat missions. On the 16th of December, 1941, the crew of Chernykh I. S. (gunner-bombardier Kosinov S. K., air gunner-radio operator Gubin N. P.) was assigned the task of attacking a column of enemy equipment near the city of Chudov. When entering the target, the plane was hit by anti-aircraft artillery. Despite the damage the crew dropped bombs on the target. The gunman continued to fire his machine gun. The flames could not be brought down and then the crew decided to go to a ram attack. The burning plane crashed into the thick of enemy vehicles. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 16th of January, 1942, sergeant Nazar Petrovich Gubin was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union for exemplary performance of combat tasks of the command on the front of the fight against the Nazi invaders and for his courage and heroism.

He was born on the 14th December, 1919, in the village (now the city) of Shilka in the Transbaikalian territory in the family of a railway worker. He is Russian. He was a member of the All-Union Communist Party since 1942. He finished secondary school. He worked as an electrician. At the same time he studied at an aero club. He started to do his service in the Red Army since 1938. In 1940 he graduated with honors from the Batay military aviation school of pilots named after A. K. Serov. He served in the 11th fighter aviation regiment based at one of the Moscow region airfields. He is a participant of the Great Patriotic War from its first day. Soon Glazov became a flight commander of the same regiment (the 6th fighter aviation corps, the Moscow air defense zone). He led a link to cover his troops, attack enemy troops, and repel enemy air raids on Moscow. In the sky of the Moscow region he conducted 40 battles, shot down 8 enemy aircraft. In August 1942 as part of the regiment Glazov was sent to Stalingrad. In November 1942 he was transferred to the 273rd fighter aviation regiment (the 268th fighter aviation division, the 8th air army, the South-Western front). Nikolay Glazov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the order of Lenin and the “Gold Star” medal on the 1st of May, 1943, for 475 successful sorties, 62 air battles, 13 personally and 5 as part of a group of downed enemy aircraft. In the summer of 1943 the troops of the Southern front were preparing to break through the enemy's defenses on the Mius river. Air battles were becoming more and more fierce. In the evening of the 30th of July, 1943, the commander of the guard squadron, senior lieutenant Glazov, was returning from a combat mission near the city of Krasny Luch. The radio reported from the ground that an enemy FW-189 spotter had appeared over the leading edge. Finding the “frame”, he went to the approach. Using the advantage in altitude (3000 meters) Glazov decided to shoot down the enemy from the first approach. Catching it in the scope he pressed the trigger but the queue did not follow - the cartridges were used up in the battle. Then Glazov decided to go to a ram attack. He wanted to hit with the propeller but at dusk he did not calculate and crashed into one of the fuselages of the Focke-Wulf. The enemy plane fell apart but also the Yak-1 caught fire and fell to the ground. At the same time Glazov was killed… In total guard lieutenant N.E. Glazov made 537 sorties (more than 100 of them for reconnaissance), in 80 air battles he personally shot down 21 and in a group of 7 enemy aircraft. The Hero was buried in the urban-type settlement of Shterovka of the Krasnoluchsky city council of the Voroshilovgrad (Luhansk) region.

He was a native of the Kalinin region but moved with his family to Pryazha in 1940. Voldemar Martynovich Gailin was first called up into the Red Army and was appointed a commissar in a fighter battalion. Our red army soldiers were poorly armed, sometimes one unit of weapons accounted for several people. This is how Voldemar Martynovich himself recalls this in a letter: “We went to eliminate the landing of saboteurs for more than a hundred kilometers from Pryazh, entered the battle, and ran into a large column of enemy tanks. We - with only rifles, and even civilians, could not do anything, although we twice engaged in battle... " Retreating with the fight, they secretly reached Pryazh, eating forest berries. After 22 days they came to Pryazh with their weapons. Then Voldemar Martynovich, having appeared at the military enlistment office, received a new combat mission - to organize the evacuation of reisdents of Pryazh before the occupation and to lead the train with the evacuees to the Molotov (now Perm) region. Evacuation of the population became inevitable, it was necessary to organize it urgently and decisively. Most of the civilian population of Pryazh were evacuated to the Ivanovo, Vologda, Arkhangelsk and Molotov regions. Not all residents of Pryazh wanted to leave their home, leave their loved ones, and leave their property. He had to go to every house, to explain, to persuade, sometimes to order and then to organize transport. This difficult work was entrusted to Voldemar Martynovich Gailin. In the fall of 1941 he learnt about the death of his son Valentine. In correspondence with a classmate of his son there are piercing lines: "Here, Vladimir, if you still have to fight with the fascist beast, you also take revenge for the death of your comrade.” Valentin - the middle child in the family of Voldemar Martynovich - was born in the Kalinin region in 1923. A few years later the family moved to Karelia. Until 1940 the family lived in Pudozha and in the summer moved to Pryazh where Valentin graduated from the 9th grade. In 1941 he graduated from high school in the village of Korza (there was no 10th form in Pryazh). In the first days of the war he was called up into the Soviet Army as a scout. He was killed at the end of September – beginning of October 1941 near Petrozavodsk. In Voldemar Martynovich's letters there are many messages about the fate of other classmates of his son – about how they fought, who died, who met whom on the front roads. There is so much of paternal care in these lines and as well as of pain for young children who have grown up overnight! In 1943 Voldemar Martynovich was again called up into the Red Army. In 1946 he was discharged and the Gailin family returned to their native Pryazh.