Heroes and feats

Branch of troops is Artillery. Korshikov Yakov Pavlovich was born in 1921 in the village of Verkhnee Chufichevo in the Starooskolsky district in a peasant family. Childhood was hard. He had grown up an orphan. Just before the war, he was drafted into the army. On the eve of the war, the unit where he served was transferred to Belarus, near Brest. Thus, the 20-year-old mechanic-driver found himself at the front from the first minutes of the war. Tankman Yakov Korshikov had participated in the defense of Moscow and Stalingrad. In March 1942, he got into “Rzhevsky cauldron”. He liberated the Donbass, Zaporozhye and Crimea. Later Yakov Korshikov participated in the capture of Perekop and stormed the legendary Sapun mountain. Yakov Pavlovich recalls with pain that "The white limestone stones were red from spilled blood." And then it was the battle for Sevastopol and later again was Belarus. Yakov Pavlovich had crossed the Dnieper River, liberated Gomel, Mogilev and Minsk. Finally they entered Poland, and in the spring of 1945 the offensive was in full swing in Germany. On May 2, 1945, they were in Berlin. The square at the Brandenburg gate was overcrowed with soldiers, everyone wanted to write a word on the Reichstag building. And Yakov wrote on the wall: "from Brest to Berlin!" and put down his name on it. Yakov Pavlovich went through the entire war – from the first day to the last. He was wounded six times, concussed twice, 63 small and large fragments were removed from his body and he burned in a tank, but proudly says that he did not stay in hospitals for a long time. He was awarded the Order of the Red Star for the liberation of Melitopol, Medals "For the Capture of Warsaw" and" For the Capture of Berlin", "For the liberation of Sevastopol", the battle of Stalingrad and the Victory over Germany, Orders of the Patriotic War I and II degrees, two Medals "For Courage". One of the Medals "For Courage" that he received for the Defense of Moscow saved him from the death: the medal was hit by a fragment of shell. He returned home in the fall of 1945. On April 21, 2011 Korshikov Yakov Pavlovich turned 90 years old. The Council of Veterans of Stariy Oskol, the Dolgopolyansky Council of Veterans and students of the Monakov school congratulated him with jubilee. There were many wishes for good health and longevity, so that he was always surrounded by the care of close people. He died in 2012

Military Rank: Petty Officer (Starshina). On January 11, 1943, the plan was approved. By order of the Suprime Headquarters, its implementation was supposed to begin immediately, so the implementation of the plan “Mountain” began the very next day. The offensive was difficult, but in this part it was ended with success: by January 23rd, the German defense was broken south of Krasnodar, and the path of withdrawal of German troops from the North Caucasus was cut off. During the battles, which lasted until the beginning of February, Soviet troops reached the Sea of Azov and took Maykop. The time has come to begin the maritime phase of the operation. The main landing group under the command of Colonel Gordeev included the 83rd and 255th Marine Brigades, the 165th Infantry Brigade, a separate front-line Airborne regiment, a separate Machine-gun Battalion, the 563rd Tank Battalion, and the 29th anti-tank Artillery Regiment. The auxiliary landing under the command of Major Kunnikov included 275th Marine soldiers without heavy weapons. The plan was provided for the landing immediately after the breakthrough of the front near Novorossiysk by the forces of the 47th Army of the Black Sea Group. The landing was supposed to arrange under the cover of the fire of support ships and aviation bombardment, suppress enemy resistance on the shore, connect with the landed airborne paratroopers, then break through to Novorossiysk, connect with the main forces, provide blocking and subsequent capture of the city. The main forces of the naval landing reached the landing point only when the fire training, under the cover of which they were supposed to land, came to an end. The Paratroopers met with dense fire from all types of weapons. Gunboats, which were considered to support the landing with fire, could not approach the shore. Only the first echelon of the landing stepped down, about 1,500 people with 16 tanks, ships with the remaining paratroopers were forced to withdraw. For three days, the landing troops fought without receiving reinforcements and ammunition. A small detachment made its way to Stanichka, where an auxiliary landing was fighting, 25 people joined the parachute landing and were later removed by ships, and a few people went to the mountains. The actions of the auxiliary detachment of Major Kunnikov were much more successful: approaching the shore in the estimated time, the ships opened fire at enemy firing points, put a smoke screen along the coast, under the cover of which the advance detachment of the landing quickly and organized landed and entrenched on the shore after an hour. Then, after the landing of the main forces, the bridgehead was expanded, the paratroopers captured several quarters in the southern part of Stanichka. When the situation was reported to the Front Commander, Tyulenev personally ordered Oktyabrsky to land the remains of the landing on the captured bridgehead and hold it by any means. But the moment of surprise was finally missed. Despite the fact that the attempt to capture Novorossiysk failed, but the efforts of the troops did not disappear in vain: the captured bridgehead created a real and constant threat to the right wing of the enemy's So a new large unit was formed in the 18th Army - a landing group of troops under the command of General Grechkin. The bridgehead Myskhako went down in the history of Great Patriotic War under the name "Malaya Zemlya." At first, it was only a narrow strip of the coast 4 km long, the depth of which was brought to 5-6 km only as a result of stubborn multi-day battles. The total area of the bridgehead was barely 28 square km The only way that connected the paratroopers with the main forces of the Soviet troops was the sea. However, it was not a free path. The enemy not only mined water in front of the bridgehead, but also installed magneto-acoustic mines in the Gelendzhik and Tsemesskaya bays, from where transports with replenishment and food were sent to Malaya Zemlya. The enemy kept all sea communications under intense artillery fire. The banks of the Malaya Zemlya were steep and inconvenient for unloading, and they were so well targeted by the enemy that large vessels could not approach them. Transports sent to Myshako under the protection of fleet ships had to be stopped at sea 1.5-2.0 km from the coast and unloaded into motorboats that delivered cargo to the shore, and the wounded were taken from the shore to deliver them to the ships. It was clear that in such conditions, the supply of paratroopers was extremely difficult. It was necessary to bear significant losses both in watercraft and in the delivered cargo. Quite often it happened that during the night it was not possible to unload and the ships returned with cargo to their ports without taking on board a single wounded person.The defenders were in extremely unfavorable conditions, in an open, well-shot area, while the enemy owned all the surrounding heights. Therefore, defense was possible only by conducting huge-scale sapper work: the entire occupied territory was dug with trenches, including in the rocky ground, 230 hidden observation points and more than 500 firing points were equipped, underground warehouses were created, and the command post was located in a rock shelter at a depth of six meters. The delivery of supplies and resupply was obviously difficult, so the defenders of Malaya Zemlya were constantly experiencing difficulties with supplies, including ammunition and food. On April 17, the enemy attempted to eliminate the bridgehead. The offensive was conducted with the support of aviation and heavy artillery, the bombardment was conducted almost continuously, the enemy's aircraft had an overwhelming numerical superiority. At the sea, a specially created group "Box", which included torpedo boats and submarines, was assigned the task of cutting communications and destroying the retreating Soviet troops. Three days passed in continuous attacks and bombardment, however, the bridgehead held. Wanting to preserve Malaya Zemlya at all costs, the command allocated three Aviation Corps from the Stavka reserve, which provided air superiority and bomb attacks on German positions. Aviation managed to destroy two German airfields, after which the intensity of bombing of Malaya Zemlya immediately decreased. The fighting on Malaya Zemlya continued for another three and a half months. On September 9, the operation to capture Novorossiysk began, in which the bridgehead in the Stanichka area played a role — one of the three groups of troops that ensured the blocking and capture of the city was advancing from it. By September 16, Novorossiysk was liberated. This date is also considered the end date of the defense of Malaya Zemlya, which lasted 225 days.

Military rank is Sergeant. Branch of troops: Signal troops. My mother, Kutkova (Korneeva) Maria Andreyevna was born in 1922 in the village of Zyablukha, Mezhevsky district, Kostroma region. She was called up by the Mezhevsky Regional Miilitary Commissariate (RVC) of the Gorky region (now Kostroma region) and sent to the school of military radiotelegraphists in the city of Gorky. She spent the entire war in radio intelligence. Rather, a certain area of it that controls the enemy's bomber aircraft. Her task was to intercept radio communications of long-range aircrafts. Basically, they were twin-engine "Heinkel-111". That's how she spent the entire war with headphones and a pencil. The General Staff highly appreciated Special Assigment Radio units (OSNAZ) and tried to protect them from German air strikes as much as possible. These were elite, but not advanced units, and there was nothing outwardly heroic about my mother's service. March 8, 1943, my mom was awarded a silver medal "For Military Merit" for exemplary performance of tasks of the Сhief Directorate of Red Army Command at the front struggle with German invaders, reflected in the fact that in a timely manner, she helped and provided the enemy aviation localization on the Central front. And she was only 20 years old. Then there were the Medals "For the Liberation of Warsaw", "For the Capture of Berlin" and, of course, "For the victory over Germany". But the most adorable one for her was always that first medal. My mother was the first at her Belarusian front to catch operation priority message about the Germans surrender while searching for the enemy's radio networks. But this information was no longer strategic and medals were not provided for it, but it brought a joy that was not comparable to the award of 1943. We, her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren revere our mother’s memory and on May 9 we thank her for the Great Victory that her generation has got with so much effort.

Branch of Troops: Ground forces, Air Forces (except Naval aviation), shore service, Frontier NKVD troops. This article is about my countryman, Veteran of the Great Patriotic War, honored doctor of the RSFSR, surgeon Alexey Alekseevich Kashcheev. Kashcheyev. The Komsomol member Kascheev started the war as an ordinary scout of Rifle Regiment on the Northern Front. My heart was heavy and sad in those days. A bitter lump stuck in my throat when I looked at women and children shot by Nazi aces from “Messerschmitts”. The northern fall of the first year of the war just began. The commander of the Intelligence Department Alexey Kashcheev was seriously wounded in an unequal battle with the Nazis by explosive bullets in the stomach and shoulder, the cheek was cut. The range of hospitals, operations, loss and clearing of consciousness is lasted for almost a year. After hospital he has been demobilized. The return to life was a miracle, based on the sensitivity and talent of a wonderful man and surgeon, Professor Vikulov. It was a return to life and activity. I don't think we need to explain why Alexey Kashcheev became a surgeon. Alexey Alekseyevich Kashcheev was appointed Chief Physician of the Durasovskaya district hospital (Ozernoye village, Atkarskiy district, Saratov region) in 1949. The service area of his hospital included 18 localities. But even from the surrounding areas, people tried to get here. He created a multi-specialty hospital with clinical and biochemical laboratories, x-ray and physiotherapy rooms, and patients were provided with therapeutic, surgical, obstetric and gynecological care. He himself performed about six thousand operations of varying complexity here. The fact that the word "Doctor" in relation to Alexei Alekseevich Kashcheev should be written with a capital letter was considered and considered by everyone who had ever encountered this wonderful person in his life, who devoted himself to rural health care. Aleksey Alekseevich Kashcheev worked for 46 years as the Chief Doctor of the small hospital in Ozerki district, but he left a great memory of himself. In 1998, he passed away, but he is remembered and people revered his memory of the Man and the Doctor.

Military rank was Red Army soldier. Branch of troops is Ground troops, Air Force (except Marine aviation), shore service, Frontier and NKVD troops. Subdivision: 330th Rifle Mogilev Red Banner Order of Suvorov division. Gavriil Ksenofontovich Krygin was born in 1906 in the city of Uzlovaya, Tula region. Called up to the front in September 1941 by Uzlovsky Regional Military Commissariate, Tula region, city of Uzlovaya. He was appointed a Rifleman in the 1113th Rifle Regiment of the 330th Rifle Division, which was formed in September 1941 on the territory of Tula region. Most soldiers of the division were from the city of Tula. On December 2, 1941, the division became a part of the newly formed 10th Army of the Western front. Within the frames of Tula offensive operation, Red Army soldier Krygin Gavriil Ksenofontovich took part in the liberation of the cities of Stalinogorsk (now is Novomoskovsk) and Mikhailov. The 330th Rifle Division, having made a 30-kilometer march on the night of December 7th after a short artillery raid entered the city of Mikhailov in the morning and, with the forces of the 1111th and 1113th Rifle Regiments liberated the city from the German 41st and 63rd Motorized Infantry and 422nd Artillery Regiments that had occupied it. The 328th Rifle Division (Colonel P. A. Eremin) with the exit to the starting position was late, so it did not take part in the attack, but eliminated enemy units that were moving away from Mikhailov to the south-west. 135 trucks and 20 cars, 100 motorcycles, 25 armored cars, 5 tractors, 30 guns, 23 machine guns, 4 walkie-talkies, 3 ammunition wagons and a train with aerial bombs were captured. On this night, from December 6 to December 7, Red Army soldier Krygin Gavriil Ksenofontovich, being in a machine-gun squad, was seriously wounded by a mine fragment in the leg during the liberation of the city of Mikhailov. As a result of a severe wound to the knee joint, he was recognized as a disabled person of the 2nd group of the Patriotic War.

Millitary rank is Colonel. Branch of troops: Ground troops, Air Forces (except Naval aviation), shore service, Frontier troops. Subdivion was 127th Rifle Chistyakovskaya Red Banner Order of Kutuzov division. Krymov Margazian Galliuyevich was born in the village of Mukmin-Karatay, Bugulminsky district of Samara province (now Leninogorsk district of Tatarstan) in the family of Mullah. He graduated from the Kazan Tatar teachers' Seminary (1911) and worked at schools in the Ufa province. During World War I, he was drafted into the army. As a person with a sufficient educational level, he was sent in 1916 to the 2nd Tiflis school of Warrant Officers. When he received Warrant Officer rank he became company Commander of the 109th Reserve Infantry Regiment in Chelyabinsk. In 1917, he became close to the SRs (socialists-revolutioners), and was one of the first SR in the Chelyabinsk garrison to be elected a member of the Regimental Committee. He had a considerable fame and political influence: he took an active part in the creation of the soldiers’ section of the Chelyabinsk Council of workers and soldiers deputies, and was elected to the Executive Committee of the Council. He led the formation of the volunteer Tatar-Bashkir Ural Separate Muslim revolutionary battalion (800 people), which played a significant role in the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks in Chelyabinsk. He was member of the left SRs Party. The contradictory personality of Krymov M. G. is evidenced by his passion not only for revolutionary ideas, but also the desire to create a pan-Islamic Republic. In February-March 1918, he was in Ufa, where he led the operation to eliminate the Bashkir National Assembly and the military shuro (Military Council). The Red Army troops under his command defeated the 2nd Musleum Regiment. In May 1918, he returned to Chelyabinsk, where he headed the district military Commissariat. When the city was threatened with capture by the White troops, Krymov was a member of the Military Revolutionary Committee, which organized the defense. He was captured, but was able to escape from the camp and being a Head of the Red Guard detachment to make his way to Yekaterinburg. He became a member of the RCP (b) since 1919, participated in the fighting at the Eastern front as an Assistant division Chief and Commander of a separate Tatar Rifle Brigade. After the war he took combat positions in the Red Army. He graduated from the main operational (1931) and eastern (1936) faculties of the Military Academy named after M. Frunze. Since 1930th he worked in Foreign intelligence service and in Turkey. In 1935 he received a Colonel rank. His wife was Krymova Evgenia Andreevna, who lived in Moscow on Chistye Prudy. When the Great Patriotic War started, he saw service as Commander in 387th Perekop RD from 30.06.1943 to 30.08.1943, in 27th Chistyakovskaya Red Banner Order of Kutuzov RD from 09.08.1943 to 01.12.1943, in 38th Rifle Division from January 18 upto March 22, 1944, from August 1944 saw service Deputy Commander of the Combat unit in 232nd RD of the 2nd Ukranian Front and in 206th RD (1945). Margazian Galliuyevich Krymov, Guards Colonel was Commander of the 127th Red Banner Order of Kutuzov Rifle Division, which fought its way to the south-eastern outskirts of Chistyakovo and liberated the city of Chistyakovo (now is city of Torez in Donetsk People’s Republic, Ukraine) in the morning of September 2, 1943. The 127th Rifle Division was given the name "Chistyakovskaya". Krymov Margazian Galliluevich killed in battle on April 15, 1945. He was buried in Sombor city (Serbia, Vojvodina) near the church. One of the streets of the city of Torez DPR is named after M. G. Krymov. His awards are Medal of the 20 years of Red Army, Order of Lenin, two Orders of Red Banner awarded in September 18 1943 and October 9, 1944 and Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsk

The military rank is Major. Branch of troops is Ground troops, Air Forces (except Naval aviation), shore service, Frontier troops. Subdivision: the 11th Guards Rifle Order of Lenin the Red Banner Order of Suvorov Gorodokskaya Division. My father, Guards Major Vasily Konstantinovich Klyuev, Commander of the Military Battalion of the 12th Guards Rifle Regiment, 5th Guards Rifle Division, went to the front, being a cadet of the RSSR Suprime Council Military school. At the moment the school is called Moscow Higher Combined Arms Command School "Supreme Soviet of Russia" MVKOU. People call these soldiers "Kremlin cadets". On October 6, 1941, by the decision of the headquarters of the Supreme High Command, a separate Kremlin regiment was formed from among the cadets. In ten cadet companies there were 1330 cadets, 130 Red Army soldiers and 112 school officers. Colonel Mladentsev S.I., Hero of the Soviet Union and Head o the school, was appointed Commander of the Regiment. On October 12, 1941, a separate cadet regiment of the school (SCR), having made in a day 85-km march along the route Lake Senezhskoe — Klin — Novopetrovskoe —Volokolamsk, took part in the 16th Army of Rokossovsky the first battle in the Volokolamsk direction on the eastern bank of the Lama river. The cadets took the fight 2 km south-west of Yaropolets, near the village of Gusevo. For two months, despite irreparable losses and repeated attacks by the Nazis, the regiment heroically held defenses at all borders and retreated to new positions only by order. The "Kremlin junkers," as the Nazis called the cadets, promised all kinds of benefits and ranks. And they called to surrender. A flurry of fire and decisive counterattacks that was the response of Kremlin cadets. The losses of regiment in the battles near Moscow amounted, according to official data, to 811 people. However, not all cadets died, so my father was listed as dead 19.11.1941, which I learned only today, and he did not know about this during his lifetime, but he and his comrades managed to get out of the encirclement.Divisions in which my father has seen service are 11th Guards Army, 26th Guards Rifle East Siberian City Order of Suvorov Red Banner division, 5th Guards Rifle City Order of Lenin Order of Suvorov 2 degree Red Banner division, 75th Guards Rifle Regiment of the 26th Guards Rifle Division and 8th Guards Neman Red Banner Corps. My father served all the war at the front line and was a battalion Commander. He took part in the defense of Moscow; he was a participant in the battle of the Kursk Bulge, took Koenigsberg and participated in other battles. After the Second World War, he fought as a full-time officer with the "forest brothers" in Lithuania. He was seriously wounded in the legs. The car in which he was driving and 4 more of his colleagues were attacked and shot everyone. They removed boots from all, but my father lost consciousness and he was considered to be dead. He was the only survivor of this massacre who was saved by ours passed by. My father had 9 operations and his leg was preserved, however, he became disabled and was demobilized from the army. After the war, my father worked all his life in a managerial position. He dreamed to celebrate 70 years anniversary since the Victory over Nazi, but, unfortunately, did not live very long. He died on November 15, 2014 at the age of 91. My father was a real combat soldier, he lived a long and decent life, helped many people selflessly.

Military rank is Petty Officer (Starshina), branch of troops is Artillery. The letters turned yellow and references of the post-war years, faded photographs, and tarnished medals and orders, all this is not just history, and this is the Feat of my grandfather, Koltsov Efim Efimovich. Everything that is connected with that difficult and hostile time is kept in our family with special care. My maternal grandfather, Yefim Efimovich Koltsov, at the age of 14 was expelled together with his family by the NKVD Belorussian SSR Decree of 1935 as a labour settlement in the Komi ASSR, and subsequently dispersed. In 1941- 43, my grandfather was appointed Senior Mechanic of the Graddor Timber Station. Grandfather could talk a lot about the eviction to the dence forest lands of the North from Belarus, about the "forties-fatal", about the postwar time, but told about it very stingily. It was a very cruel time, and there are characteristic examples of this - the archival records that have faded from time to time. In 1943, grandfather Efim was called up for active military service as a tank Commander in a special Tank Regiment. In the first battles, the tank crew dies, and my grandfather miraculously remains alive and goes to the hospital. From the hospital with a shrapnel wound in his arm (which he never dared to operate on during his entire life), he goes to the front with the artillery as a gun Commander. My grandfather, as a member of the 38th Division of the Tank Regiment and being a driver of T-34, took part in the military actions under Balta, where enemy tank was distroyed. In the battle near the Reut River grandfather's tank was damaged by the enemy, but despite the fighting, my grandfather Efim began to repair his tank under enemy fire and as a result he was wounded. He was hospitalized, and then returned to the front. In the area of the Kartsag city my grandfather shot down one tank and two armored personnel carriers. For two weeks, the enemy launched counterattacks, but my grandfather did not give up and with a direct-fire weapon, his well-aimed fire knocked out one tank, two armored personnel carriers and destroyed more than 30 enemy soldiers. In September 1945, he participated in the battles against Japan. My grandfather was awarded the Medal "For Courage", for the fact that on October 4, 1944, in the battles of the Shandra area, my grandfather destroyed two machine guns, an enemy observation point, and on October 11, 1944, in the area of Kartsag, his gun suppressed one machine-gun point and destroyed 8 enemy soldiers. Grandfather Efim has many awards: the Guards badge, the Order of the Patriotic War I Degree, the Medal "For Courage", the Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945", Medal "For the Capture of Budapest", Medal "For the liberation of Prague", Medal "For the Victory over Japan". People pass away, many things are forgotten, and this is invaluable evidence of our history. Each of us has a past, present, and future. My grandfather, Yefim Yefimovich Koltsov, gave me a peaceful and happy life.

Branch od troops id Artillery. Kuandykov Prali Zharylkasynov was born in the village of Angar-ATA, Kemekalgan rural area of Tolebi rural district. His military rank was rivate-gunner. He was drafted into Red Army by the Chimkent city military Commissariat in 1942. Was sent to the front within the reserve of Commander-in-Chief of the 87th heavy howitzer Destruction Artillery Brigade, 6th Guards Artillery Penetration Division, 5th Artillery Penetration Corps as a gun number included in the gun unit and performing the duties of preparing and conducting artillery firing. At the fronts of World War II, he participated in the Oryol offensive operation, the Bryansk offensive operation, launched an offensive in the Vitebsk-Polotsk direction, took part in the Riga operation, fought to destroy the Kurland enemy group, and also took part in the Manchuria operation in the Khingan-Mukden direction, having liberated the territory of Manchuria and North Korea. He was wounded in the left leg, but the bullet was never taken out. After the war, he returned to his Homeland. In the years of virgin lands development he lived in his native village of Angar-Ata and was a postman of this village until retirement. His wife, Kuldan Kuandykova, was born March 8, 1925 and passed away July1, 2015 was a kindergarten teacher until retirement. She had many awards for her work and she was a mother-heroine with 10 sons and daughters In its turn she became the grandmother of about a hundred grandchildren. Kuandykov P. Zh. was awarded orders and medals for military services, including "For Courage", "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945", "For the Victory over Japan" and Order of the Patriotic war II degree as well as jubilee ones.

Military rank is Senior Sergeant; branch of troops is Armored and Mechanized troops. Subdivision is 5th Ttank division. Vasily Alekseyevich Krotov was born on January 1, 1916 in a family of peasants. He received a good education for that time, although he wrote with errors, and worked in the Finance Regional Department (RAIFO) and it was considered to be a high position in the village. He was serious, modest and kind. His fellow villagers respected him despite his youth. Soon after his marriage in 1939, Vasily was drafted into the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army. Before the war he served in the Far East. In 1941, he was supposed to be demobilized, but at the very beginning of the year, on his 25th birthday, he was again mobilized without a break. He was suggested to extend his service due to the tense situation, and six months later the Great Patriotic War began. He was able to see his only son, Yuri, born in 1940, once in the winter of 1943 after being hospitalized with a second wound. For a few days, his wife and three-year-old son visited him in Elan, Sverdlovsk region, where the unit was formed before being sent to the front (30 years later, his son, a career officer Yuri Vasilyevich Krotov, served in Elan in the tank forces). My father regretted that he did not remember the only meeting with his father: the children's memory held the vague images of the soldiers and, the most vividly, the soldier's spoon, which he was taught to wear in a military way behind the shingles. A few months after that meeting my grandmother had received a death notification from the front: “Your husband, Vasily Alekseyevich Krotov, who was loyal to the military oath...". The widow had a hope that it might be a mistake. But a little bit later, she received a letter from Сaptain Zaitsev a comrade-in-arms of her husband and kept it for many decades until the old paper being fallen apart. In the letter Captain Zaitsev wrote how their offensive began on November 20th at 16.00 pm and how Commander Vasily Krotov died having raised his squad to attack. The letter described a mass grave place in the Belarusian village of Smolari where my grandfather was buried. Before the war, he left a suitcase at home, but the key to the suitcase he had hid. Upon getting the letter from Captain Zaitsev, there was no hope of waiting for her husband, and my grandmother opened the mysterious suitcase, expecting to find money or securities there. After all, my grandfather worked in the Financial department! But inside there was an unfinished manuscript. No one knew that my grandfather was trying to write stories. He was 27. In the report on irretrievable losses No. 54722, Krotov Vasily Alekseevich was one of the oldest. Many of those killed with him were born in 1925; the every one guys were 18 and the death notification was sent to their mothers, not their wives... All of them fought in the 5th Motorized Rifle Brigade, which was part of the 5th Tank Corps (since 1944 this Corps received the honorary name Dvinsky). Using archival records available on the Internet, we learned what a terrible massacre was in severe weater conditions on November 20, 1943 near the village of Smolyaki. The Germans have been pappering our soldiers with fire and with all kinds of weapons all day long, the roads were broken, there was no supply of ammunition and food. But the village was not surrendered, and towads evening soviet soldiers being hungry and exhausted went on the offensive... It is even difficult to imagine such endurance and heroism of ordinary people. In his letter, Capitan Zaitsev sent a photo which my grandfather carrying with him. On it, a young woman (my grandmother Anna Pavlovna) sits with a young boy (my future father) holding an apple from papier-mâché. This photo, which returned from the front, became our family shrine, the last thread connecting with a lost native person..

Branch of troops: Technical troops, including Chemical troops, Railroad troops, Mototransport troops, Radio-radar troops, Road repair and trafic control troops and Topographic). My grandmother has gone off war very young, at the age of 16. Since the beginning of 1944, she was on the front line of the Karelo-Finnish front (Mannerheim line) with the military reconstruction team. My grandmother was the youngest employee there. At home in Ivanovo her disabled mother and a younger sister remained. It was a difficult war time: people lived in cold freight cars with a small stove, receiving 500 g of bread a day on ration cards. But it was youth and they wanted to laugh, rejoice and dance... And once, on the platform of a junction station not far from the city of Petrozavodsk dances were arranged. But they were interrupted by a scream from a passing train: "Air!" Everyone ran to hide in the nearest forest, where many shell craters were left after the bombing. My grandmother and her friend stood by a young birch tree. A lagging soldier ran past, who escorting this train and shouting "Go and hide in the shell craters!" Together with the girls, they barely managed to jump into the nearest one. And right above them flashed the very green birch tree, which the shell hit. "Your death has flown now!" - said the military. My grandmother and her friend met so long-awaited victory in the military recostruction train. But this train operation to restore the destroyed railway had continued after the victory. My grandmother returned home only in 1946. Now my grandmother is almost 89 years old and has two great-grandchildren, and she tells them about her military youth, which can never be forgotten.

Rank: Major military. Branch: Artillery. Division: 33rd Anti-Aircraft Artillery Vitebsk Divisional Command Alexander Nevsky. My grandfather, Nikolay Pavlovich Kostikov, was born on 19 December 1925 in the village of Mallorca, Fatezhsky district, Kursk region. He spent his entire childhood in the village, where he completed 10 classes. On 22 June 1941 we were taken on an excursion to an agricultural exhibition. As we left the Caucasian pavilion, we heard Livitan's words from the loudspeaker: "Attention, attention, listen to an important government message." Today at 4am German planes bombed Sevastopol, Minsk and Kiev. In many areas German troops crossed the border and entered our territory. On March 24, 1943 I received a summons to report to the Military Commissariat of the Fatezhsky District. From Fatezh we arrived in Kursk on foot, where we stayed for two days, boarded a train which took us to the town of Dmitrov near Moscow. We were assigned to the 26th Reserve Air Defense Artillery Regiment. In mid-July 1943 we were sent to Krasnogorsk to form the 33rd Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division, with which I would associate my fate until 1952. The command near Vitebsk suffered the main blow. It should be noted that the German defense on the border between Belarus and Russia was very strong, deeply staggered. The build-up took a long time. This is an army group center. The Germans attached great importance to it, because they understood that this direction is the shortest way to Germany. We stayed at Vitebsk until spring 1944, which was 1944, and the fighting at Vitebsk was fierce. The liberation of Belarus began in June 1944, and I remember the fighting near the district center of the village Khashniki in the Vitebsk region. There, before Minsk, up to ten German divisions were surrounded. The fighting was fierce. After some time we moved to the city of Kaunas to guard the railway bridge over the river Neman. Eventually the war reached the Germans' house. In Prussia at 30-50 km the Germans stopped our attack. We began to prepare for a new attack. Everyone felt that the end of the war was near. Everyone wanted to end it alive. The attack started in January 1945. For this fight the whole crew received medals and decorations, I was awarded the Order of Glory of the III degree. The Germans defended themselves stubbornly, pushed to the sea. The fortress Koenigsberg was strongly fortified. But also this fortress fell on 10th April 1945. The war still lasted, but for us it was in E. Prussia. We stood in firing position and waited for the end of the war. And so we learned on May 8 that Germany had capitulated. On June 17, 1945 we boarded the train and went from the Atlantic to the Pacific. On August 6 and 7, 1945 our battery was placed at FP (firing range) directly in the clearing (border) between USSR and Manchuria. The Japanese were quickly defeated, and their multi-million Kwantung Army surrendered without resistance. The main thing that forced Japan's rapid surrender was the nuclear weapons used by the Americans. On August 6 and 8, 1945, they dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Japanese people were shocked. On September 3, Japan surrendered. The World War II ended.

Rank: Foreman. Military branch: Artillery. Division: 79th Guard Rifle Zaporozhye Order of Lenin Red Banner Order of the Suvorov Division and Bogdan Khmelnitsky. In 1941, when he was 18 years old, he was called up for the Red Army and after the call he was sent to a training center in Tomsk. He served in the regiment of the 172nd Guard Artillery Berlin with red banner, which was part of the rifle division of the 79th Guard. He spent the whole war in this regiment. Therefore, in order to report on the chronology of his grandfather's life during the Great Patriotic War, I will refer to the actions of the division in which he served. It was formed in Tomsk in December 1941 as the 443rd Rifle Division. In January 1942 it was renamed the 284th Rifle Division. Until the middle of April 1942 it was active in combat training and coordination units and units in Siberia IN. 1st July 1942 near the Castorina station near Voronezh the division received its baptism of fire. For five days the division fought hard and delayed the advance of German troops. In the second half of September 1942 (17 September, by order of the NKO of USSR) the division was taken under the command of N. F. Batyuk, the division was transferred to Stalingrad and joined the 62nd Army of the Front South-Eastern. Since September 21, the units of the division fought fierce battles with selected Nazi units trying to capture Stalingrad and reach the Volga. In the fights for the factories "Red October" and "barricades", Mamayev Kurgan and other areas the Siberian soldiers showed courage, heroism and endurance. On February 8, 1943, the division received the Order of the Red Banner and was incorporated into the Rifle Division of the 79th Army. After the Battle of Stalingrad, the division participated in the 8th Guard Army (of which it was a part until the end of the war) of the front South-Western during the offensive Izyum-Barvenkov (July 17-27, 1943) at the bridgehead of Izyum in the Battle of the Dnieper. In November 1943-April 1944 he took part in the fights for the liberation of the right- Bank Ukraine On April 10, 1944 he took part in the liberation of Odessa. Participated in the liberation of the New Bug by Soviet troops and in the breakthrough of the enemy defenses on the Ingulets river. In June 1944 he was transferred to Belarus to the Kovel region together with other army units. During the offensive Lublin-Brest units of the division successfully crossed the western Bug River, invaded Polish territory and liberated in cooperation with other formations of the 8th Guard and the 2nd Guard. After 6 months of fighting on the Magnuszewsk bridgehead, from mid-January 1945 he took part in the operation Warsaw-Poznań, in which he crossed the Oder River and captured a bridgehead on the left bank of the river south of Kustrin. During the offensive in Berlin, he overcame the enemy resistance on the Seelow Heights and approached Berlin on April 23 and took part in its attack until May 2. In 1946 Ivan Ivanovich from Germany sent a photo to his parents and on the back the inscription: "to my parents from son Ivan. See how I have changed in 5 years of world travel". After the end of the war Ivan Ivanovich still served in Germany and returned home in 1947. After returning from military service he married and got a job. He was appointed head of the "Zolotorudnaya". Now he does not run weapons, in his subordination were shops, bakeries, canteens, warehouses. He was always a communist. My favorite holiday is May 9, and my favorite song is "Victory Day". He brought a trophy accordion from Germany and played this song very often on it. He died of chronic pyelonephritis on April 19, 1990. This disease was a consequence of the time he spent in the cold trenches.

Military Branch: Land Forces, Air Force (except Naval Aviation), Coastal Service, NKVD Troops, Border Guard Unit: 305th Rifle Division (1st Formation) Egor Kravtsov. A. (1903 - 1971) was born in the village Kolokoltsova Atkarsky district, in the 1930-ies transferred to the village Neverkino Lysogorskiy district. On August 17, 1941, by Shiroko-Karamyshsky the RVC of Saratov region was drafted into the Red Army. He worked as a medic in the rifle company of the 1st Rifle Battalion of the 1002nd Rifle Lviv Regiment, the 305th Rifle Belgorod Red Banner Division and the 1st Ukrainian Front. He helped the wounded on the fronts: West (28.08.1941-10.12.1941); Voronezh (07.05.1943-01.08.1943); Steppe (01.08.1943-1.11.1943); 1 Ukrainian (from 1.11.1943). As medicine-trainer of the company during the fights during the breakthrough of the German defense from 08.09.1944 to 11.09.1944 - for the settlements Baydy (Bajdy) - Tarnowiec - Tarnowiec) - Ur (Umieszcs) (Poland), he gave first aid and carried 28 wounded, corporals, NCOs and 2 officers with weapons from the battlefield. He was awarded the Order of Glory of the degree III. In the Battle of the Village Nizna Pisana (Nizna Pisana) Czechoslovakia-Carpathians took 12 seriously wounded men with their weapons from the battlefield. In the battle for the village Kapishova (Kapisowa) 25. 10. 1944 he took 13 seriously wounded soldiers and officers with their weapons from the battlefield. A total of 30 severely wounded soldiers and officers with their weapons were taken from the battlefield during the fighting under difficult conditions in Transcarpathia. He was awarded the Order of the Red Star. In the fights for the villages of Kudobintsy (Zborovsky district, Ternopil region, Ukraine) - Vitsin took 10 severely wounded soldiers and commanders with their weapons from the battlefield from July 17, 1944 to July 22, 1944. He was awarded with the medal "for military merits". In September-October 1944 he stormed the Dukelsky Pass (Duklinsky) during the operation Carpathian-Duklinsky (part of the operation Eastern Carpathian ). Has a light wound on 23.12.1943 on the Western Front, a light wound on 10.08.1943 on the Steppe Front, a light wound on 18.03.1944 on the 1st Ukrainian Front. Egor Kravtsov is the father of 14 children. He died on 11 August 1971 and was buried in the village cemetery.

Military branch: Artillery. Nadezhda Mikhailovna Kulchitskaya (née Rodionova) was born on 10 August 1924 in Moscow. In the first days of the Great Patriotic War she asked the district military commissariat to send her to the front. The military recruiting office refused because she was not yet 18 years old, but offered to enroll her in short typewriting courses. In June 1941 she joined the I. A. Likhachev Automobile factory as a machine operator, and in January she was transferred as a drill driver. At the same time she took courses in the management of the military recruiting office. In June 1942, on the set of the Komsomol, a civilian section of the medical staff was designed by 12 guard rifle corps, which served 11 members of the army (North-West Front) as stenographers and typists. The scope of work was very large: reports, orders, lists. She slept 2-3 hours a day and typed again. In August 1943 the Corps Headquarters came under heavy mortar fire. A fragment of an exploding mine smashed the back of the chair on which Nadezhda Mikhailovna was sitting and carried out an important task, but she continued her work and finished it on time. When I came out of the shelter, I saw a horrible picture: The bodies of the dead people were everywhere, they were even lying on the trees. For her courage, bravery and valor Nadezhda Mikhailovna was awarded the medal "for military merits". From May 1944 Nadezhda Mikhailovna was employed as a typist in the 11th Guard Cannon Artillery Regiment, which was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Ignatiy Kulchitsky. In June 1944, Colonel I. V. Kultschitsky was transferred to the position of a typist in the political department of the brigade headquarters with the appointment of Colonel I. V. Kultschitsky as commander of the 36th Cannon Artillery Brigade of the Guard (2nd Baltic Sea Front) Nadezhda Mikhailovna Soon afterwards Nadeshda Michajlowna and Ignatius Vikentievich married, and during the war and throughout her life Nadezhda Mikhailovna followed her husband. As part of the brigade, she took part in the fighting for Staraya Russa, near Riga, and in the liberation of Romania. On May 9, 1945, in the capital of Romania, Bucharest, the 36th cannon artillery of the Novosokolniki Guard with red banner command of the Suvorov Brigade (this name was given to her for successful combat operations on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War) met. On November 1, 1946 Nadezhda Mikhailovna left the service. In 1947 the Brigade was moved to Manglisi in Georgia, where a daughter, Jeannette, was born in 1948. One month after the birth of their daughter, the family moved with the infant to the new place of service of I. V. Kulchitsky on Sakhalin Island. Nadezhda Mikhailovna took an active part in the social life of the garrison: she took part in amateur performances, was a soloist of the choir of the wives of the officers. In 1953 a daughter, Irina, was born. After the demobilization of I. V. Kulchitski in November 1956 the family moved to Gorky. Here Nadeshda Mikhailovna studied for three years, from 1958 to 1961, in the courses of cutting and sewing in the house of the officers, which she completed with distinction. From 1964 to 1979 she worked as a fashion designer in the studio of the Model House in Gorki. Nadezhda Mikhailovna was highly appreciated by customers, employees and the management of the studio. For her successful work she repeatedly received certificates of honor. After her retirement in 1979 she dedicated the rest of her life to her family and grandchildren. She passed away on April 18, 2012, in eternal memory of our beloved mother, grandmother, mother-in-law.