Heroes and feats

Military rank is Red Army man. Branch of troops is Ground Forces, Air Forcers (except Naval aviation) and Frontier troops. He has been assigned to subdivision of the 110th Rifle division (2nd formation). Vasiliy Vasilievich Kiryakov was born in the village of Novo-Krasnoe, Ryazan region, in 1909. He got married to Kiryakova Maria Ilinichna (ne’e Debrovina). After the first child birth, a daughter Zinaida in 1934 and later two sons, Nikolay and Iliya in 1936 and 1938, the family moved to live in Moscow region, Orekhovo-Zuyevsky district, village Korotkovo. In 1940 the third son Boris was born, but he died in 1942 of smallpox. Vasiliy Kiryakov worked at the Dulev Porcelain Factory and had an exemption from military service. The factory has produced TF-2 isolators for military signalmen. At the very outbreak of the war, a detachment of volunteers left the Dulev factory and V. V. Kiryakov volunteered with this detachment. Their detachment was included in the 4th Moscow Rifle People’s Volunteer Division of Kuibyshev district. This Division was transformed on September 26 1941 into the 110th Rifle Division of 2nd formation. Vasiliy Kiryakov was assigned to this Division as a scout of the 1287th Rifle Regiment. Below there is information about the last days in the life of Vasily Kiryakov: Fighting in the offensive zone of the 33rd Army did not stop for a minute. Soldiers and commanders understood that stopping meant letting the enemy breathe. Short breaks in combat action were used to replenish ammunition and eat. And again forward on the enemy! There were severe frosts: the thermometer stem fell below 20 degrees, but even more interfered with blows and snowfalls, without which it could not do for more than one day. December 29, 1941 Having resumed the offensive in the morning, the army formations again met strong enemy fire resistance on the entire front. Units of the 110th RD rested during the first half of the day and were preparing to continue the offensive in the direction of Shchekutino and Bashkino. Under the cover of twilight the 1287-th RR attacked a village Skotino, however, the enemy was able to repel this attack. The 1291-st Rifle Regiment (RR), advancing on Bashkino by passing Shchekutino from the north, was also stopped by German infantry fire. December 30, 1941: German troops continued to offer stubborn resistance. Especially fierce fighting took place in the center of the army's offensive line. Stubbornly defending the line Novinskoe, Alekseyevka, 75 km detour, Kotovo, Shchekutino, Rozhdestveno, Bashkino and Nefedovo, the enemy managed to restrain the advance of the 222nd Rifle Division, the 1st Motorized Rifle Division, and the 110th and 338th Rifle Divisions. The 1287th Rifle Regiment of the 110th Rifle Division at 03:30 am again launched an offensive on the locality of Shchekutino. Encountering extremely persistent resistance from the 183rd Infantry Division, the regiment lost 120 men killed and wounded and was forced to retreat to the junction of roads at the height of the hill 196.7, where arranged itself during the day. At the same time, the 1291th Rifle Regiment was stopped by crossfire and enemy engineering barriers in the form of forest debris at the Shchekutino and Bashkino line. Being under enemy fire, the regiment began to look for other ways bypassing to continue the offensive on village Tatarka. 31 December, 1941: It was the last day of 1941 year that marked the beginning of incredible suffering, trials and losses for every Soviet family. The end of the year gave the people some confidence that the enemy will still be defeated and expelled from the country. The 1287th Rifle regiment of the 110th Rifle Division was fighting from 4 o’clock in the morning to take possession of Schekutino, but could not take possession of the settlement. The 1291st Rifle Regiment assigned by the order of the division Commander Lieutenant Colonel Bezzubov in the area of collective farm "New life", brought itself into order. By evening, light snow came; the air temperature froze at twenty degrees Celsius. 1st January, 1942: Despite the obvious successes of the left-flank divisions, which fought their way to the approaches to Borovsk, the situation in the 33rd Army's combat zone continued to be difficult. Units of the 222nd Rifle Division and the 1st Guard Motor-Rifle Division fought hard battles in the immediate vicinity of Naro-Fominsk town. The 110th, 338th and 201st Rifle Divisions fought the enemy without success just a few kilometers west of the town, on the approaches to the settlements of Shchekutino, Nefedovo, Kolodkino and Inyutino. The units of 1287th Rifle Regiment of the 110th Rifle Division during the night and the first half of the day unsuccessfully fought to capture the village of Shchekutino. Having lost 22 men killed and 128 injured, the regiment was forced to retreat to the edge of the forest east of the village. The 1291st Rifle Regiment without much success led the battle south of village Skotino, stepping in the direction of station Baccino near village Tatarka. Seeing the fruitlessness of the attacks, tired of the continuous fighting of Red Army men and commanders, the Division Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Bezzubov gave the order at 14 o'clock to stop the offensive. Leaving a reinforced guard at the reached borders, the personnel of the units were taken to rest and bring in order themselves in the area of village Erokhino and the collective farm "New life". After some rest and heating, the division’s units continue their offensive in 24 hours, slightly changing its direction. It was decided to bypass the strong points of resistance in the settlements of Rozhdestveno and Bakshino, acting a little bit southerly. January 2, 1942: Night attack of the 110-th Rifle Division units in the direction to Kaurtsevo-Tatarka had no success. Having opened heavy machine gun and mortar fire, units of the 330th Infantry Regiment immediately forced the advancing units of the enemy to lie down. Fighting with enemy infantry all night long, the 1287th Rifle Regiment’s squads were unable to advance a single step in the indicated direction. The 1291st Rifle Regiment attacking Bashkino from the south was also stopped by heavy enemy fire. In the morning the regiments suffered heavy losses were forced to retreat again to the collective farm «New life» and the village of Yeryukhino, where during the day they kept themselves in order, preparing for another night attack of village Shchekutino. On January 3, 1942, the units of the 110th Rifle Division did not conduct any combat actions on this day, rehabilitating itself after another unsuccessful night attack on Shchekutino. This time the losses were enormous: the 1291th RR lost 83 people who were killed, 108 were injured, and 31 were missing in actions; in the 1287-th RR 8 people were killed, 117 were injured and 155 were missing in actions. Totally, the division, which numbered about a thousand men in the combat units of two Rifle Regiments, lost 502 men that night. January 4, 1942: The 110th Division was allocated in the area Erokhino and the collective farm "New life" rehabilitating itself. Towards evening replenishment arrived which was immediately assigned to the units. January 5, 1942: The 110th RD continued to rehabilitate itself and was preparing to attack at Skotino. January 6, 1942: The units offencive of the 110th RD was stopped by heavy enemy artillery and mortar fire at the edge of the forest east of Shchekutin and 1 km north-east of Rozhdestveno. The mobile detachment of the division in the number of 102 men, operating from the area of Kolodkino, bypassing Tatarka did not advance either. January 7, 1942: To the left of it, the 1289th RR took up the defense, which replaced the units of the 175th MRR in this area. The regiment was returned and joined to the 110th Rifle Division, thus taking a place on the division’s right flank. The three-month rotation of the 1289th Rifle RR initially in the 1st Guards Moto RR and then in 222nd RD was ended. The 1287th and 1291st Rifle Regiments of the 110th Rifle Division continued actions throughout the day to capture the localities of Shchekutino and Rozhdestveno. The enemy fire and counterattacks of small infantry units provided stubborn resistance and as a result these localities could not be captured again. The ten-day "trampling" on the spot near the small village of Shchekutino, where the division lost more than 700 of its soldiers and commanders killed and wounded, caused obvious irritation not only to the army commander, but also to the command of the Western front. The front Commander, the Army General Zhukov, ordered General Efremov to take urgent measures to eliminate this node of the enemy resistance. General Efremov, having summoned the commander of the 110th RD, ordered to knock out the enemy from Shchekutino in the next day or two. Towards evening, Lieutenant-Colonel N. A. Bezzubov issued an order that assigned combat tasks to the regiments for the offensive which was assigned to them at 9 o’clock morning on January 8. January 8, 1942. All day long the formations and units of the army fought heavy and bloody battles. The enemy continued to resist stubbornly and turning in some places to counterattacks by infantry with small groups of tanks, sought to prevent our units from developing an offensive, showing special activity to the south of Vereya. All attempts of the left-flank divisions to reach the Vereya-Medyn road were unsuccessful. The position of the army units did not change significantly during the day. The 110th RD fought a fire battle with the enemy on the line from the brick factory to the village of Christmas. The mobile detachment of the 1287th RR under the command of Lieutenant Leonenko in the afternoon was able secretly to go deep into the enemy's defense, bypassing village Shchekutino from the south, and joining with the battalion of the 1138th RR of the 338th RD by the end of the day tied the battle for the village Tartarka. To strength it 25 men of the 1287th RR were sent by order of the division Commander, as well as an officer of the 971st AR to adjust the artillery fire. However, it was not possible to capture the locality of Tatarka by the end of the day. The competent actions of the German garrisons of Kotovo, Shchekutino, Rozhdestveno and others were primarily due to the skillful preparation of settlements for defense and the well-thought-out organization of the fire system. January 9, 1942: At this time, events were rapidly unfolding in the 110th RD lane. While the 1291st RR was engaged in a fierce battle for Shchekutino, a combined detachment under the command of Lieutenant Leonenko was able to capture the village Kaurtsewo most of the time. Then Lieutenant-Colonel Bezzubov ordered to attack Kaurtsevo with the main forces of the 1287th RR under the command of Major Iniuk. Having driven the enemy out of the village, the regiment, developing success, defeated the small German garrison defending the Bashkino crossing and began to move rapidly in the direction of the village Tartarka. In this battle, Kiryakov Vasiliy Vasilievich, Red Army soldier of the 110th Rifle division, scout of the 1287th Rifle Regiment, born in 1909 in the Ryazan region, the village of Novo-Krasnoe was killed. Vasily Kiryakov was buried in Moscow region, Naro-Fominsky district, in village Schekutino. January 10, 1941. On the night of January 10, the 1291-th RR of the 110th RD again attacked the village of Shchekutino. The battle for the locality went on, without stopping, all night and the first half of the day. The enemy was driven out of the village by the heroic actions of the regiment's soldiers. This was largely facilitated by the fact that the 1289th Rifle Regiment which was operating to the right, bypassed enemy strong points in the area of Kotovo village, had gone to the rear of the enemy, who, to avoid encirclement, had to retreat, leaving the occupied line. A heroic feat during the battle for Shchekutino was performed by a platoon under the command of Sergeant Okhapkin, who, having captured the dominant height the day before, located north of the settlement, repelled several attacks by enemy infantry. After dark, the Nazis tried several more times to knock out our soldiers from the height, but each time they were forced to retreat. Political Commissar Pashukhin, who made his way to the height, found Sergeant Okhapkin, Sergeant Samoshkin, Red Army soldiers Petrov, Sumkin, and several other men whose names, unfortunately, the history has not preserved. The rest of the Red Army platoon were killed and wounded. At dawn, the German infantry, supported by heavy mortar and artillery fire, made several more attacks, but the small garrison of the hill, despite heavy losses, held out and won.

She was born on March 14, 1921 in Smolensk. On September 1, 1928, she entered the class of the Saltykov school (Balashikha district), where she studied until 1935. She finished the 10th grade in city of Reutovo (1935-1938). In 1938 she entered the Moscow Medical Institute. In April 1942 she was mobilized from the Moscow Medical Institute to the Soviet Army as a doctor, where she was named Head of the Department in the evacuation hospital No. 4845. In December 1942, she was transferred to the Evacuation hospital in Noginsk. On February 23, 1943, she was transferred to Orekhovo-Zuyevo in the Evacuation hospital No. 2929 as the Head of the Surgical Department in the rank of Captain of the medical service. The entire hospital was sent to the front on the freight train. They were stationed in the Smolensk direction, treated the wounded (the hospital was designed for 2 thousand people) who came from the front, prepared them for sending to the rear. The hospital worked in the forest without any facilities on the basis of the former German headquarters in the barracks. In April 1944, the hospital No. 2929 was divided, half of it was sent to Kenensburg and the other half to the war against Japan. Since 1945, after the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, N. H. Shuvalova worked for several months in the Saltykov orphanage as a doctor. From June 1945, she worked as a Manager and doctor in the nursery of factory No. 5 in Balashikha and as a doctor in the outpatient clinic of the factory No. 5. Served patients at home. In 1952, she was appointed Chief Physician of the Balashikha regional hospital. N. H. Shuvalova has the highest certification category for health authorities. Since 1954 she worked the Head of the Balashikha district Health Department. In 1954-1956 she worked Deputy Head of the Moscow regional Health Department for the medical part. Since 1956 she named Chief Physician of the Balashikha regional hospital. In 1982-1992 named Chief Physician of the sanatorium-preventorium “Druzhba” of the Balashikha Casting and Mechanical Plant. In 2003, she retired due to her age. Awards and honours: WWII participant, the Deputy of City Council in the Balashikha district (stand 14 convocations from 1953 to 1982); Excellence in Health (Order of the USSR Ministry of Health MOH, 1958); Honoured doctor of the RSFSR (1969); - the Order of Lenin 2nd and 3rd degree (1976) + 17 Medals; Member of the Scientific Council of MONIKI (1963 – 1984); Member of the Board of Mosoblstroytsnil (1967 – 1984); Member of the Executive Committee of Balashikha Regional City Council (1969 – 1982); Honorary citizen of the Balashikha district since May 23, 2000 (listed on the Honor Board in 2001 on the city Day, then again in 2003); Participant of the Victory Parade on Red Square in Moscow (May 3-9, 2000); Nina Kharitonovna Shuvalova has a certificate No. 1253000 for the invention of " Method for treating eye burns" by performing hyperbaric oxygenation in a pressure chamber in the Balashikha Central district hospital.

Alexander Nikolaevich Kotov was born in 1913. He was a participant in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. Letters of Lieutenant Alexander Nikolaevich Kotov from the front: "Good afternoon! Hello, my dear father, mother, Nadenka, Victor with warm greetings, your son Sasha. Here I am still alive and well and I want to inform you. Well, it all goes by some miracle I think and this miracle will come to an end. Right now we are sitting a few hundred meters away from the Germans and waiting for the signal to attack and under the cannonade of shooting and explosions I decided to write you a letter. Maybe I won’t have time to do it because it is a very compound operation. Well, do not be sad that I will die for the Motherland, for the Fatherland. So here is my life in this time the last year recall, too, in August 29 1941. I was wounded and lay in hospital and today I write August 26 and how will fate play............ if everything goes well, then we will write off. Well, goodbye, your son Sasha 26 - 08 – 42. Keep healthy. (Stamp: Viewed by military censors); “Greetings from the trenches. Good day, my dear, father and mother, Victor and Nadenka. We often remember our peaceful life here before the war, and I especially often remember our family when we lived in silence, in the woods. Oh, how cozy and warm it was! And now the cursed enemy has broken all peace and happiness. For how many ones from our family won’t return and it has been sprayed in some places. Well then, don’t lose courage, Victory is near by! Yes, now I would give dearly to be with you for five minutes, to look at you. At other times my heart breaks with longing, and at times it is so boring that I have never experienced such a tormenting boredom in my life. Well, it’s good to have fine fighters around; we share everything with each otheer - boredom and joy. It’s o’key now. There is a forest around, nature. Svyaznoy feeds me with mushrooms, and I loved them and still love them... August 1 and 2 we were in a heavy battle. Yes, it was hell, where a person endured all the trials. From the explosions of mines and shells and shooting, everything was shrouded in smoke, and it was even hard to breathe at times... I was stunned twice. I didn't hear anything for a long time. Convey my regards to Yefim Vasilyevich, Ivan Nilych, Stepan Agafonovich and Basiliy....".

The military rank is Red Army soldier. Branch of troops is Ground troops, Air Force (except Marine aviation), shore service, NKVD Frontier troops. The history of the 86th Separate Rifle Brigade in which my grandfather served is described below. Unfortunately, I have very few documents and memories of the relatives… The 86th Separate Infantry Brigade (Special Operations Brigade - SOBR): The Brigade Commander was Colonel Laskin; the Head of the Brigade Staff was Major Bogaichuk. The Commissar of the Brigade - Seniour Brigade Commissar was Kuzmin. It was formed in December 1941 in Kirov from reservists. On February 25, the 86th SOBR received a material unit and on February 26 it became part of the 34th Army. In the winter of 1941-42, the troops of the southern group of the 34th Army advanced on the German-occupied district center of the Leningrad region of Molvotitsy. The enemy's defense in this area consisted of a system of very well formed fortified strong points. On February 24, the enemy's defenses were breached in the area of Velikusha, Novaya Russa, Pavlovo, and Bykovo by units of the 130th RD and 27th SORB. The most fortified settlement Velikusha three times passed from hand to hand. On February 28, the 86th SOBR had the task of capturing the village of Spasovo, and by the end of the day to capture Molvotitsy. The neighbor on the left was the 130th RD, and on the right it was the 225th RR of the 23rd RD at village Georgievckoy and Chernye Luki. At 9 o’clock evening on February 28, the Group Command received an order to stop the battle at Spassovo and in the morning of March 2nd go to the operational subordination of the 130th Rifle Division with access to the area of Staroe Guchevo, Glybochitsa area. The task of mastering Spasovo was not completed by the Brigade. March 2nd by order of the Commander of the 130th RD the 86th SOBR had the task to seize the strongholds Antonovo, Lyubno and Novyi Novosel, and to the end of the day to go to the front of Chernay Rechka, Kornevo, facilitating thereby the acquisition of area Velikusha, Ostrovnya, Diaghilevo by units of 130th RD. The Brigade entered the battle after marching up to 100 km and having very tired, exhausted people, but the 86th SOBR units fought with great tenacity, without unauthorized waste from positions. The task of mastering Antonovo the 86th SOBR had failed due to the limited time to prepare for an offensive on the heavily fortified points Antonovo and Lyuben, weak training of personal staff and headquaters, poor training artillery brigade, the lack of support of heavy artillery and the lack of intelligence. But this action secured the capture of village Velikusha by 130th RD. With the loss of this line, the enemy was threatened with a complete encirclement of the Molvotitsky group. On the night of March 8th to 9th 1942, the enemy set fire to Molvotitsy and began to retreat. March 9th 1942 Molvotitsy was completely liberated by units of the 23rd RD and the front line of the Southern Group 34A began to pass in the district of localities Votolino-Boshoy and Malyi Vragovo – Kulotino – Belle – Chernaya – Lunevo – Kornevo - Ozhedy – Dyagilevo – Butjkovo – Lyuben – Antonovo – Andreevskoe – Porogi – Narezka – Rysnevo – Glykhoe Demidovo. The 86th SOBR had occupied a section of defense from the village Pechysche – Dyagilevo – Narezka – Rysnevo –Glykhoe Demidovo. At the end of 1942, part of the defense line was transferred to the 166th RD and the brigade itself was moved north to the Demyansky district. When the Demyansk entrapment was eliminated, the 63rd RD was formed from units of the 86th SOBR and 45th SOBR. Its full name was the 63rd Vitebsk Red Banner Rifle Division.

The military rank is Senior Lieutenant. Mikhail Konovalov is the participant in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945. When the war started, he was 16 years old, so until the summer of 1943, he worked on a collective farm. It was difficult, the working day started very early, and one had to work 14 -16 hours a day, regardless of the weather. When he was 18 years old, a summons came from the military enlistment office, and he went to the Infantry school, which he graduated in July 1944, and was sent to the front. He began fighting in August 1944 in Moldova, in an Infantry regiment, with the rank of second Lieutenant, as a platoon commander. It was not easy, because he was only 19 years old, and under his command there were already thirty people. He took his first fight in Romania, when his platoon was ordered to take a small village. In that action, they managed not only to obey order, but also to avoid casualties. This fight, the very first, was for my great-grandfather the hardest he remembered for a lifetime! Then there were Yugoslavia and Hungary, a continuous offensive, battles, awards, losses of military friends. From fatigue, his soldiers fell asleep right on the move, passing 20-30 kilometers a day with fights! Once he himself almost died, falling asleep on the move, when the platoon was walking along the steep Bank of the Danube River. He was saved by a tall bush that blocked the way to the cliff! The fighting on the outskirts of Budapest in February 1945 was particularly difficult. In one of these battles, my great-grandfather was wounded and a bullet hit his arm. He met the Victory on May 9, 1945 in the hospital, with the rank of Senior Lieutenant. He always remembered this day with great warmth, especially the joyful soldier's salute from all the barrels into the May night sky and the tears of joy that they had defeated the hated enemy and survived in spite of everything! After the end of the war, Mikhail Fyodorovich received the profession of a tractor driver, worked hard on the collective farm, growing bread, restoring everything that the war had destroyed and as a reward he recived the medals and orders,but only now for labor success. He died in 2004 at the age of 79, having lived a decent life and left a good memory of himself.

The military rank is Sergeant. The Branch of troopse is Artillery. At the age of 18, Klavdia Vasilyevna was assigned to the Regional Commettee Komsomol and sent to fight in the war as an Anti-Aircraft gunner guarding the territory in the forests between Moscow and Gorky (Nizhny Novgorod). As Klavdia Vasilyevna told that "Only in films the people went to war on their own, but in real life everything was different, we were sent without even asking whether we like it or not." "It was scary, at night, you go alone in the forest, a girl of 18 years old, at any moment an air alert can start, and then bombing as well, and traitors could be roaming the woods, so you could be killed at any time, and so not one night, but for 4 years!", firing at enemy planes, which had no end, they all flew and flew. "There was once such a case, a girl served with us, also 18 years old, so she went around at night, and apparently she was so scared that she shot herself, and you can't call her a coward, because everyone and everybody who served and who had something to lose experienced fear at these moments". And there were quite a few young girls of the 15th battery adjacent to 784th Anti-Aircraft Artillery regiment. Well, the war was finally over, and Klavdia Vasilyevna and the rest of the soldiers were loaded into the train. They rode with joy in their hearts and fatigue in their bodies, well, thank God the war is over, and soon it will be Gorky, and there it is not far from home, the train went for several days, probably went around all the cities delivering other soldiers, and now Gorky is very close...the train stopped and everyone was ordered to leave the cars. Klavdia Vasilyevna, a combat anti-aircraft gunner, along with others, went to peron, but not Gorky, but Vladivostok. And instead of giving them a rest and starting to enjoy life, they were all transferred to another front, to another war, and sent back to fight, only this time in the Russian-Japanese war, during which Klavdia Vasilyevna was wounded and received a shrapnel in her arm.

Vasily Dmitrievich Konnov, Guard Captain, Deputy battalion commander of 136th Guards Rifle Regiment of the 42nd Duards Rifle division. He was born in March 1913 in the village of Kologrivovka the Tatishchevsky district of Saratov region, Russian. He graduated the 8th grade of a nine-year school in Gomel. In the pre-war years, he worked as an employee of the Tatishev district newspaper and Deputy Editor of the newspaper "Socialist construction" in Dergachevo. In May 1941, he was drafted into the Red Army. From the beginning of the Great Patriotic war to the day of his death on March 2, 1945, he fought at the Western, Voronezh, 1st and 2nd Ukrainian fronts. He took part in the defensive operations of the first period of the war, the Voronezh-Kastorn offensive, the Kursk Bulge, the liberation of Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. He was wounded on March 11, 1943. For battle honours, he was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War 1st degree (1944) and the Red Star Order (1943). Vasily Dmitrievich Konnov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star Medal on September 13, 1944, for his courage and bravery in crossing the Gorny Tikich river. On March 5, 1944, the troops of 2nd Ukrainian front launched an offensive in the Uman-Botoshansk direction. The next day, near the village of Antonovka, Buk district, Kiev region, the regiment in which Konnov served came to the Mountain Tikich – a small but deep river, on the right bank of which the Nazis had pre-prepared positions. The enemy shelled the left bank with heavy artillery and mortar fire. The weather was inclement, it was raining lightly, the ground was muddy, and the wind was strong and bone-chilling. There were no transport facilities. Companies lay down in front of the river and suffered losses. Suddenly the clear voice of Guards Captain Konnov rang out over the battalion's chains: “Communists, command forward!” With that cry, Konnov was the first to plunge into the icy waters of the mountain Tikich. Two or three men from each platoon followed his lead and then the entire battalion followed lead. Having swum to the right bank of the river, Konnov led the soldiers to storm the enemy's fortifications. The attack of the guards was supported in time by our artillery from the left bank. The gunners destroyed several machine-gun bunkers with direct fire, and suppressed the enemy's mortar battery with fire from closed positions. With hand grenades and automatic fire, the battalion knocked the fascists out of the trenches and liberated Antonovka. As the fighters marched towards the southern edge of the village, the enemy launched a counterattack. More than five infantry companies pushed onto the battalion’s right flank. Konnov moved a machine gun company there and led the repulsion of the enemy counterattack by himself. The Guards' fire was well-coordinated and precise. Having left dozens of corpses and two armoured infantry vehicls, the fascists withdrew to the initial positions. The regimental commander gave the order: to entrench in Antonovka and hold the captured bridgehead until the main forces approached. Vasiliy Connov bypassed the companies, gave advices to the commanders of the defence units, and indicated which areas should be particularly heavily covered by machine gun fire. The measures taken were well-timed. On the side of the village of Hizhnya, the fascists abandoned a battalion of infantry with four tanks. The enemy artillery fired on Antonovka. Having formed a chain, the Hitler’s forces went after the tanks. At this time, our howitzer batteries successfully set up a barrage fire, disrupted enemy combat procedures. And when the Nazis came out of the beam to the side of the hill, the machine guns came into play. The infantry were pressed to the ground, but the tanks broke into the battalion’s position at high speed. The Guard Capitan Konnov crawled of underground gardens to one of the tanks and exploded a caterpillar by anti-tank grenade Three other tanks were destroyed by the guards inside the village. The main force of the regiment arrived at this time. The attack of the Guards was irresistible. The enemy fled in the direction of Uman... In the fight for the liberation of the Czechoslovak city of Zvolen on 2 March 1945, V.D. Kononov died in a blaze of glory. He is buried in this city in the brotherly cemetery of Soviet soldiers.

The military rank is Political Officer. Branch of troops is Military-Political category. Anatoly Leonidovich Krasnov (1906-1941) was Political Commissar, TASS war correspondent of the Western front. He worked as a journalist for the TASS News Agency (The USSR Telegraph News Agency), and in the first days of the war he volunteered for the active army as a military correspondent. On June 26, 1941, he left for the front line of the Western front. Official data: Missing in actions during the fighting near Kiev, the last message was received from him on September 19, 1941 from the encircled Kiev. This is how one of his fellow journalists wrote about it: "Group of our comrades was issued for departure to the active army. They appeared in the reporter's office in a brand-new commander's uniform. They were looked at with admiration and envy. It never occurred to me then that we would never see any of them again. A. Krasnov, I. Fungi (Kozlak), N. Shahin, then I. Denisov and others left one after the other in the army and Navy. Our reporter's room was getting emptier and emptier... Sometimes the lines transmitted by TASS military commanders to Moscow from the scene of bloody battles, from the occupied areas, were stingy and concise. But these were priceless lines of historical truth about the selfless heroism of people defending their native land, their people, and their home. Sometimes these lines cost the life of their author. The first military loss of the TASS team was Anatoly Leonidovich Krasnov, the "king" of TASS reporters, well-known in the circles of art and literature workers, left for the front on June 26 and the last news about him came from Kiev on September 19, forty-first..” According to the verbal testimony of another miltary correspondent Malibashev A.M. it became later known that Krasnov A. L. had died during the battle of Kiev as a result of air raid.

The Senior Sergeant Ivan Kurilo was born on November 17, 1924 in Ukraine in the Chernigov region, in the village of Talalayevka. He attended a local high school and finished 8th grades. He was called up for military service by the Nizhyn Military enlistment office on October 17, 1943. He started the war as a private and was discharged as Senior Sergeant. He was wounded in the thigh of his right leg, and was disabled in the second group. Awards: Medal "For Military Merit", Medal "For Courage", Order of the Patriotic War, Medal “For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945”, Zhukov’s medal. He met Victory near Prague in the city of Olomouc. After Nazis surrender, he served until 1947. He died on May 19, 2015, and was buried in the city of Novozybkov, Bryansk region. He fought at the First Ukrainian front in the 60th army. He was a member of the fighting at the fronts of World War II at Dneprovsk bridgehead in Zhitomir direction, where he was wounded in the right hip, later he became the invalid of 2nd group. Upon recovery, he was sent to the 39th Separate Security company, where he served as a guard for the military Council of the Army. Participated in the liberation of cities in Ukraine: Kiev, Zhytomyr, breakthrough of the defense line Proskurov-Tarnopol and city of Tarnopol, Livov; in Poland: cities of Krakow and Katowice; in Germany: the cities of Rybnik and Ratibor; in Czechoslovakia: the city of Opava and on May 8th 1945 he participated in the liberation of city Olomouc. Ivan Kurilo was dismissed from the Soviet Army on 27.03.1947, with the rank of Senior Sergeant.

Branch of Service: Ground Troops, Air Force (excluding naval aviation), Coast Guard Services, NKVD Troops, Border Troops. My grandfather Kagramanov (Kagramanyan) Arutyun Melkumovich was born on June 20, 1917, in the town of Karadagh (country Iran). In 1924, my grandfather and his family became citizens of the Soviet Union. In 1941, my grandfather Arutyun and his two brothers went to the front. Only my grandfather returned; his brothers have gone missing without trace, and even today we do not know the location of their graves. According to my grandfather's stories, he served in the 56th Cavalry Regiment, the 3rd Western Cavalry Regiment, the 273rd Cavalry Regiment, the 4th Guards Kuban Cossack Cavalry Corps, and the 138th Cavalry Regiment, rising from cavalry trooper to platoon commander. He did not enjoy talking about the war, saying that nobody should ever witness such horror and would never describe what he saw. When I was little, I didn't know why the medals adorned his chest. Every year on May 9th, he wore them proudly. I learned about his awards and medals, and the battles associated with them, only after sorting through documents and belongings following his death in 1996. I know about my grandfather's combat path from an 18-point certificate listing over 20 liberated cities, including Taganrog, Odessa, Minsk, Brest, Bratislava, and others. Among his decorations, I discovered: Order of the Great Patriotic War (2nd Class), Medal "For Bravery," Medal "For Victory over Germany," and Medal "Defense of the Caucasus." These awards and documents I cherish carefully, considering them the most valuable treasure in memory of my grandfather and for future generations. I am deeply grateful to my grandfather and everyone else who fought for our Motherland.

Military rank is Petty Officer (Starshina). Branch of troops is Ground troops. Subdivision: 102nd Rifle Far East Novgorod-Severskaya Order of Lenin Red Banner Order of Suvorov Division. Nikolay Klemenov was born in 1921, in the village Staroklenskoy of Pervomaisky district of the Tambov region. His childhood was difficult, because in the first years after the October Revolution and the Civil war, his father, like many others, was dispossessed and took away things and wheat. Since he was considered to be well-off at that time, because he had a stone house, earned it all by his work, serving in the military Navy in tsarist times. My great-grandfather's father served in the Navy on the gunboat “Koreets”, and was a participant in the battle of Port-Arthur in the Russian-Japanese war of 1904-1905. In this area the cruiser "Varyag" together with the gunboat" Koreets" took their last battle against the Japanese squadron. In this battle the sailors showed a great heroism, knowing that everyone would die. On the appeal to them of the Japanese about the surrender of ships and captivity, they decided to leave the port and take the fight. The cruiser "Varyag", which has got many shell-holes, has died. After numerous holes and destructions received in the battle with the Japanese squadron, the crew of the gunboat "Korean" decided to blow it up to prevent the ship from falling to the enemy. After the loss of the boat, foreign ships that were watching the battle picked up the remaining crew at sea, so that was a way how my great grandpa remained alive. Upon the Russian-Japanese war ending, the surviving crews of the ships “Varyag” and “Koreets” were invited to the Winter Palace for their bravery in the battle of Port-Arthur, and all the lower ranks were presented with awards and gifts, a kitchen kit, on behalf of the Tsar. The fate of the father was difficult, after the war, he again continued to serve in the military Navy, participated in the Revolution of 1917, and was an anarchist, like many sailors of that time. Great-grandfather's father did not take part in the Civil war. After dispossetion of kulaks, he was arrested, as he was well-off for that time. He was brought to Michurinsk after arresting, where he met a sailor friend who worked in the Cheka (full name was the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution, Speculation, and Sabotage). After interrogation, he has released him. He remembered when he was a little boy there was a severe famine, he and his father took a horse from the collective farm and went to city of Chaplygin. His father kept 10 British pounds and when they arrived at the Bank and handed them over, they were given some document. Afterwards they went to the warehouse, where they were given food that was enough for the family to live all year. Drafted into the army in 1939, he got to serve in the Far East. According to his stories, the soldiers were poorly fed and were plump from hunger. Since he had seven classes of education, he was appointed a company Sergeant. When the Great Patriotic War began, the Germans reached Moscow, and his division was moved under Moscow. According to his memories, the fighting under Moscow was very heavy, there were heavy losses; sometimes it reached the point that our trenches and the German ones were close each other, the machine guns were clogged with sand and only grenades were repulsed. He received the first Order of the Red Banner for destroying the German headquarters during reconnaissance. My great-grandfather was first slightly wounded in the leg in winter of 1942. After treatment with the health support battalion, he returned to the front again. According to his story, during the winter offensive, they had to pass through a field where General Belov's Cavalry corps passed through the German rear. He came out on a German tank column, the field looked terrible, and it was all littered with dead soldiers and horses, such a number of dead he noticed for the first time. The first city they liberated was Spas-Demensk in the Kaluga region. For the liberation of the city, he was awarded the Medal "For Courage". There was such a case in his life. In the summer of 1942, being on the defensive, where a stream flowed near the trenches below in the thickets, he went to the stream to collect drinking water in a thermos. Suddenly, a German soldier appeared not far from him, who also came for water taking. He froze with surprise, but after a while, recovering, he sat down near him and began to collect water. Having collected water, they parted in different directions. When he was asked why he didn’t shoot, he replied that we had come for water. This is what happened to him. During the German offensive, he was seriously wounded in the arm, heading to the rear with other wounded soldiers. A car was stuck near them. He and other soldiers began to push it, the car drove, and then he opened the door of the car and got into it. The officer sitting in front grabbed a gun and began to shout: "I'll shoot you, get out of the car." Suddenly another voice sounded: "Belay that, there is a place, let him stay." He looked at the officer, who was nearby, it was a General wounded in the head. So this case saved his life. Being already in the medical battalion, he learned that the German offensive was heavy, just few survived. After this incident, his mother received a notification from the unit that he was missing in actions. In 1943 after this severe wound and hospital treatment, he arrived home. In such a way the war ended for him.

Kubalov Isuf Lukmanovich was born in the village of Zalukokoazh in the Zola district of the KBASSR (Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic) in 1922 on July 1. He finished 7 grades of secondary school in 1938. After seven years of study at school, he has trained to be a tractor driver. He worked as a tractor driver from 1939 to 1942 in the collective farm "Krasnyi" in Zalukokoazhe. He was drafted into the army in 1942 on June 13. Memories of Isuf Kubalov: They sent drivers to the front after finishing school. At the front the 28th Tank Training Regiment was formed, where they trained us from July to September in 1943. The regiment was located in Maykop. From October 1943, the officers arrived and formed tankers, radio operators, and tower operators. And in early November, we were taken to the front. We engaged the fascists on the Taman Peninsula, where there was fierce fighting. In these battles, I was injured and sent to the hospital. The wound was severe; the whole face was covered in blood from shrapnel. I’ve been treated in a field hospital located in the village "Krymskaya" of the Krasnodar area. After recovery I fought on the Kerch Peninsula in an Infantry unit until 1944. The second wounds I received at the end of 1944, the wound was again in the chest, again in fierce battles. I was delivered to the field hospital in Feodosia and treated there for two weeks. Then I was sent to the city of Yalta for treatment. The wound was dangerous, deep, and could not be treated. The Head of the hospital called me to find out if my parents were still alive and to send me for treatment. Then I was sent to my parents for treatment and received the econd disability group. From Yalta, I was sent to Simferopol, and from there I reached home by train in December 1944. For military services, Isuf Kubalov was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War I degree and eleven medals for services to the Fatherland during the Great Patriotic War.

My grandfather, Peter Kuznetsov, was born on December 16, 1919 in the village of Yakshino, Teikovsky district in Ivanovo region. He graduated seven classes of a secondary school. In November 1939, he was called up to the 48th Western Artillery Regiment as a telephone operator. From February 1940 to November 1941, he served in the 397th Artillery Regiment of the 95th Artillery division, as a Radiotelegraph operator. On December 28, 1941, he was seriously wounded in the left arm, and afterwords he was taken to the 2452nd Evaco hospital and was treated from December 1941 to July 1942. Since then, my grandfather could only raise his hand to eye level. On July 20, 1942, my grandfather was dismissed from the service due to a serious injury. On August 10, 1944, he was called up for mobilization in the 25th Radio Training Regiment. From April 1945 to May 1946, he served in the 480th Radio Division of pecial purpose, served as a Senior Radio Operator. My grandfather served both near Moscow and Sevastopol and went as far as Berlin. The war for my grandfather ended only a year later, in May 1946. My grandfather has an award: the Medal "For the Victory over Germany". After the Great Patriotic War, my grandfather had a long, hard-working, decent life. And after the war, my grandfather did not change his profession, worked as a radio electronics engineer in one of the research institutes in Moscow. He got married, had a wonderful son and his first granddaughter (this is me) who was born in 1978. Peter Vasilyevich simply adored his granddaughter, loved to walk with her in the park, took her fishing. My grandfather was an avid fisherman, mushroom picker, fond of chasing metal. In General, I must say that my grandfather was a very strong-willed, interesting person, very fond of telling about his war years, about how he was wounded, about how a fellow soldier was killed right in front of his eyes, about how very hard and difficult it was in the war. But there was one cherished and most important goal and dream- to win! And they have won! My grandfather died in July 2006 at the age of 87. He was buried at the Shcherbinsky cemetery in Moscow.

The military rank is Sergeant. My great-grandfather, Dmitry Kharitonovich Karpenko, was born on October 10, 1919 in the village of Kaira, Gornostaevsky district, Nikolaevskiy region(at the present is known as Kherson region). In 1929, Dmitry's father and his family went to the southern Urals to build the famous Magnitka (Magnitogorsk metallurgical Plant). In Magnitogorsk, Dmitry not only learned to fly an airplane, but having an exceptional ear for music, he became the leader of a brass band. In Magnitogorsk he met my great-grandmother, Tamara Vladimirovna, who worked with him in the railway car shop, and on May 3 1940, my grandmother, Galina Dmitrievna, was born in Magnitogorsk. On October 6, 1940, Dmitry Kharitonovich was drafted by Magnitogorsk Regional Military Commissariat (RMC) into the army and entered the Burma Military Aviation school, located in the city of Leninsk-Kuznetsk, Kemerovo region. Upon school graduation he received the military rank of "Sergeant" according to the order of USSR People’s Defense Committee from 22.12.1940 No. 0362. Since 1942 he was at the front. Last place of his service was 183rd Fighter Aviation Regiment (FAR), 294th Fighter Aviation Division (FAD), 4th Fighter Aviation Corp (FAC), 2nd Aviation Army (Commander: Lieutenant General, from February 4, 1944 Colonel-General of aviation Krasovsky Stepan Akimovich) of Voronezh front (commander-the Army General Nikolay Fedorovich Vatutin). Starting from July 13, 1943 20 aircrafts of the regiment were based at Krasnaya Polyana airfield in the Belgorod region to the south-east of the famous Prokhorovka). The flight area was Pavaroti - Shakhovo - Nepkhaevo south of Prokhorovka direction. It was from this area on July 16, 1943 Dmitry Kharitonovich having flown YAK-76 fighter did not return back from a combat mission. On the same day Junior Lieutenant of the same Regiment Lepekhin Nikolay Andreevich, born in 1922 and two fighter pilots of 515 FAR Junior Lieutenants Larkin Nikolay Andreevich, born in 1921 and Yulin Nikolay Fedorovich, born in 1922 went missing in action. Mikheev Nikolay Fedorovich born in 1921 who was considered to be missed in action on the same day fortunately was alive. In the combat report of the Voronezh front to the Chief of General Staff headquarters No. 01398 about military losses from July 4 to July 22, 1943, the following figures were given: 20.577 were killed, 25.898 were missing in actions, 29 were captured. Total irretrievable human losses were 46,504, 54,427 were wounded. Total human losses were 100.931. By order No. 0178 of USSR People’s Defense Commissariat dated July 2, 1944, the 183rd FAR was reorganized into the 150th Guards FAR. The 294th FA Division that included this regiment was reorganized into the 13th Guards FAD with the same order of the USSR PDC and the 4th FA Corp, which included the division, was reorganized into the 3rd Guards FA Corp with the same Order of the USSR People’s Defense Commissariat. From July 18, 1943, Aviation Corps was included in the 5th Air force Army (Commander Lieutenant General and from March 25, 1944, Colonel-General of Aviation Goryunov Sergey Kondratyevich), which on October 20, 1943 became part of the 2nd Ukrainian front (Commanders Marshals Konev Ivan Stepanovich and Malinovsky Rodion Yakovlevich). The Army has ended the war in Prague.

Military rank was Senior Sergeant. Branch of troopswas aviation. Subdivision was the 1st Fighter Division. From the first days of the war, my mother and her friends tried to volunteer to the front, but they were not taken. In early September 1941, my mother was drafted into Red Army and sent to the Radio operators’ school located in Nalchik city. In November 1941, they were sent to the front. With the beginning of our troop’s offencive under Moscow her combat path has started in the cities of Donskoy and Uzlovaya in Tula region, and continued in the direction Teploye and Mtsensk... My mother has reached Germany with her regiment ... She was demobilized in March 1945, when her unit was already in Germany. In 1943 he joined the Communist party during her service. She had been wounded twice: the first time a bomb exploded a few meters from her and a Sergeant, who replacing her was killed, and my mother was practically buried with the rest of dug-out schelter and her comrades-in-arms had to dug her up. And for the second time it happened just outside Minsk, when they were walking through a swamp, a German shell hit her and she fell into the icy water... Due to the rapid advance of our troops, their Fighter Regiment was moved to the German rear, to an airfield prepared by guerilla fighters. And my mother had to parachute to the guerrilla airfield, with a heavy radio station behind her shoulders. She opened both parachutes and it started to tear her down the fleeing Germans who were shooting at her. But the partisans drove off the Germans, and after landing my mother saw that the radio station was punctured by a German bullet. Together with the rushing commander, they repaired the radio station and my mother was able to transmit a message that she had successfully landed, but the radio station was damaged, and after that its radio station did not work. As a result they were sent a new radio station with the next plane. After the war, my mother graduated from the Pre-school Technical School, the Teachers' Institute, and the Pedagogical Institute, worked as a teacher of history and geography and the Head teacher of special school named after Y. Gagarinand located in Kirovsky region of Chimkent area. In 1977, she retired and moved to me, in the Tula region. In 1999 she moved to Krasnoyarsk.