FROM PRIVATE INFANTRY TO STAFF OFFICER I, Boris Nikolaevich Cherginets, was born on January 17, 1915 in the village of Korenetskoye, Dmitrovsky district, Chernigov region, into a large family of a middle peasant. Besides me, there were three more brothers in the family - Alexander, Evgeniy, Nikolai and sister Varvara. In order to feed such a large family, parents had to work from early dawn until sunset in the field, grow grain crops, vegetables and maintain a household plot, which was quite large at that time. The main breadwinner of the family was Nikolai Ivanovich Cherginets, born in 1894, my father. The male line of the Cherginets clan goes to the registered Cossacks of the Chernigov regiment. The parents of my mother, Maria Yakovlevna, also provided considerable assistance to the young family: Semeshko Yakov Fedorovich and Neonila Vasilievna. They had a farm, where there was a house, a garden, a lake, their own land, and they lived prosperously. Our parents and grandparents lived at a time when it was highly desirable to have a proletarian background. This was to some extent a guarantee of safety and career advancement for their children. In the Semeshko family, besides my mother, there were two more daughters: - Anna and Olga, and two sons: - Seraphim and Vladimir. Their fates turned out differently: The eldest daughter Maria married Nikolai Ivanovich - my parents. During the period of the struggle against the kulaks, Anna Yakovlevna’s family was exiled to the Urals, and Olga Yakovlevna worked as a housekeeper for wealthy people. Vladimir Yakovlevich managed to leave his place of settlement in Donbass, where he worked as a miner. Seraphim Yakovlevich graduated from a gymnasium in Chernigov, and then, after graduating from the Agricultural Institute, he was sent to the village. Vorontsovka, Voronezh region. There he worked as an agronomist and taught agriculture at school, there was such a subject then. Yakov Fedorovich and Neonila Vasilievna themselves, my maternal grandparents, after the October Revolution of 1917, were kicked out of their own home by the new government and they huddled in a hut in the garden. His son, Seraphim Yakovlevich, managed to take them to his village. Vorontsovka. They lived out their lives in their family. Grandmother died in 1939, and grandfather lived for three more years and died in 1942. The young Cherginets family has been involved in agriculture since pre-revolutionary times. My father was a real hard worker - a plowman, what else can you look for. After the Great October Revolution of 1917 and the Civil War, opportunities opened up for the head of the family to enjoy hard peasant labor for the benefit of his family. Working tirelessly, but already on his own land, together with his wife Maria Yakovlevna, the family’s well-being slowly, gradually improved. Two cows, a poultry appeared on the farm, and the main thing for cultivating the land for the peasant was a horse. There were two of them on the farm. So they worked day after day to feed, clothe and put their children on their feet: the men in the fields, and the mother and daughter on the plot. Gradually, the family emerged from poverty, money appeared, albeit small, but earned through their own labor, so necessary for the home and household, and they began to live more prosperously. And everything would have been fine, but collectivization began in agriculture. Moving the whole Cherginets family to the village. Bogolyubovka of the Pyatikhatsky district of the Dnepropetrovsk region and joining the collective farm did not save my father from dispossession. Together with the kulak farms, the farms of the middle peasants also fell under the millstone of the process of forming collective farms that had begun. The father was convicted and exiled to the Kola Peninsula, where he fell ill and died in 1936. It was a terrible blow for the family. After the family lost its main breadwinner, the entire burden of peasant labor fell on the shoulders of my mother Maria Yakovlevna and my older brother Alexander, born in 1913. He worked as a road foreman of the Pyatikhatsky district road department of the Dnepropetrovsk region. After graduating from high school, in order to somehow ease the financial situation in the family and “get back on my feet” faster, I left to look for work in Belarus. He began his career in April 1932 in the Bobruisk region as an accountant at the Doynichevo state farm. He quickly mastered his specialty and successfully coped with his work. A year later, the board of the state farm appointed me to the position of assistant accountant at the Doinichesky alcohol plant, where I worked until April 1935. Over time, I was promoted to the position of accountant of the Kavchersky alcohol plant in the Starodorozhsky district - now the Minsk region, and then to the position of deputy chief accountant of the Chashniksky alcohol plant in the same area. Having worked there until August 1938, I went to enter a higher educational institution in Moscow - the Moscow Economic Planning Institute named after G.V. Plekhanov for the evening department. At the same time, he got a job as a senior accountant of installation areas at plant No. 1 of the People's Commissariat of the Aviation Industry and the Izolit plant of the Soyuz Industrial Mechanization trust, Moscow. Exact sciences were easy for me from school, so I studied without much difficulty and with pleasure. I lived with my uncle, which was also quite important from a financial point of view for the capital. I didn’t forget to send some of the money I earned home to my mother. Here, at my uncle’s, I met my future wife, Zinaida Yakovlevna Maksimovich. My brother Evgeniy, born in 1919, was forced to quit school at the age of 15 and look for work so as not to be a burden to the family. The work of minor children, and especially those whose parents were repressed, was not welcomed everywhere. And only after a long search in October 1936, he got a job as a mechanic at the Pyatikhatki railway depot of the Pyatikhatki railway station, where he actually worked until being drafted into the ranks of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army in October 1939. Serving Red Army soldier E.N. Cherginets ended up in the 656th Infantry Regiment of the 116th Infantry Division, stationed at that time in the city of Nikolaev. After the first year of study at the institute, Zinaida and I got married, and in 1939, after finishing the second year of the institute, we had to leave our studies. Some time later, in our family, in 1940, a son was born, whom we named Vasily. In March 1941, I got a higher-paying job at a numbered plant of the People's Commissariat of Armaments as the chief accountant of the construction and installation department at plant No. 367. In this pre-war year, the plant produced new types of automatic weapons for rifle units, and production workers were subject to the Order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR on the procedure for providing citizens with armor and deferments from conscription into the Red Army. I worked at the plant until January 1, 1942. My sister Varvara, born in 1923, after graduating from high school, entered teacher training courses in Dnepropetrovsk. At the end of the course, in the spring of 1941, I got a job at a junior high school in the village. Bogolyubovka, Pyatikhatsky district, where she worked before the start of the war. On June 22, 1941, the war unleashed by German fascism interrupted the peaceful life of the Soviet country. On the same day, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, by its decree, announced the mobilization of those liable for military service from 1905 to 1918, inclusive, on the territory of the Leningrad, Baltic Special, Western Special, Kiev Special, Odessa, Kharkov, Oryol, Moscow, Arkhangelsk, Ural, Siberian Volga, North Caucasian and Transcaucasian military districts. The first day of mobilization was set for June 23. With the beginning of the war, the military registration and enlistment offices called in accounting workers in an organized and timely manner to issue and distribute notices to those liable for military service first. In the first days of the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, my older brother, Alexander Nikolaevich Cherginets, was also mobilized into the Red Army. Alexander did not have a chance to fight for long - soon after mobilization in 1941, he died at the front. A significant number of conscripts were eliminated for moral and political reasons and nationality, and children of kulaks, deprived prisoners, administrative exiles or those repressed by the NKVD were not conscripted. The mass conscription of 1941 almost immediately exhausted the country's mobilization resources. At the beginning of July 1941, my brother, Evgeniy, was already fighting in the machine gun company of the 3rd battalion of the 656 SP 116 SD as part of the 26th Army of the Southwestern Front, which was conducting active offensive operations against mobile formations of enemy infantry and tanks stretched out on a wide front from the south and with her successful counterattacks played a big role in the defense of Kyiv. Then the 116th Infantry Division, in which my brother fought, was transferred to the 38th Army. At the end of August, the main content of the battles of the 38th Army was the fight in small detachments against German detachments trying to infiltrate and settle on the numerous islands on the Dnieper. In the battles for Krolevets Island, my brother Zhenya, a senior anti-aircraft machine gun crew, was seriously wounded - a blind shrapnel wound in the area of ​​his left shoulder blade - was evacuated and until January 1942 was being treated in an evacuation hospital in the city of Essentuki. After the hospital he lived with Uncle Semeshko S.Ya. for about two years, he could not go to his mother in Ukraine, she was captured by the Germans. Zhenya was wounded in the arm and leg by an exploding mine; a sapper blade attached to his side saved his life. But the fragments were near the heart, it was impossible to operate on them, it was dangerous. When Zhenya got stronger, he got tired of sitting at home, and he asked his uncle to take him to school as a military instructor. My mother, my youngest brother Nikolai, sister Varvara, wife and daughters Alexandra were unable to evacuate and lived in temporarily enemy-occupied territory in the village. Bogolyubovka, Dnepropetrovsk region. They survived due to their gardening and minor part-time work from their mother, sewing summer clothes for the women of the village. The catastrophic losses suffered by the Red Army in the summer-autumn campaign of 1941, the colossal loss of trained personnel who disappeared in Belarus, Vyazemsky and Kiev "sacks", the breakthrough of the German army to Moscow forced the Supreme High Command Headquarters to find new ways to replenish the army infantry carrying the heaviest human losses. In the conditions of a huge shortage of private, junior and mid-level command personnel in the active army at the beginning of the war, the State Defense Committee decided to launch a wide volunteer movement throughout the country to join the Red Army on October 14, 1941. GKO decree No. 796ss “On the formation of rifle brigades” was issued, which ordered the formation of 50 cadet rifle brigades (No. 11-60) in the internal military districts by October 28, 1941. Emphasizing the special importance of the appointment of these units, the NCO recommended taking decisive measures to fully ensure the quantitative and qualitative composition of the brigades. The resolution was adopted in those days when, after the Vyazma disaster, the Western Front of the active army practically ceased to exist, and the path to Moscow was open to motorized formations of the Wehrmacht. The commanders and employees of the military registration and enlistment offices responsible for the formation faced one question: from whom should the new units be formed? It was ordered to conscript everyone from 1898 to 1923. birth inclusive. That is, they “raked out” the last ones fit for military service, from 18-year-old green conscripts to 45-year-old “elderly guys.” On January 1, 1942, I was drafted into the Red Army by the Oktyabrsky District Military Commissariat of Moscow. Having a secondary education behind me and two years of study at the institute, which was rare then, I was immediately sent as a cadet to the regimental school for junior commanders of the 108th reserve rifle regiment. At the end of the accelerated training course, I was sent to the 106 Separate Rifle Brigade, which was being formed by the Moscow Military District in the city of Pavlovo on the Oka River, which was commanded at that time by Colonel Yudkevich Ya.Yu., to the position of machine gunner - senior clerk of the headquarters of the 106 Special Rifle Brigade of the 2nd Separate Rifle Battalion - battalion commander Bardin. At that time, news from the front was encouraging: the Germans were defeated near Moscow, the Red Army was driving them west, Kaluga, Volokolamsk, Mozhaisk, Kalinin were liberated. The consciousness of the brigade fighters was great, their fighting spirit was high. We studied according to an extended program, from early morning until late evening, and also included night hours. Particular attention was paid to the interaction of units, shooting, and fighting tanks. In the spring, the brigade was ready to be sent to the front and had already been waiting for an order for a month, being in the reserve of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command. On May 3, 1942, the brigade commander received an order in which the brigade was instructed to “immediately board the trains and leave for the Bryansk Front. The location is 25-30 kilometers southeast of the city of Belev.” Already in the process of redeployment, the brigade showed high organization. The first echelon left the station literally four hours after the order was given, and by evening the entire brigade was already on its way. Even on the road, the brigade command knew that the troops of the Southwestern Front had launched an offensive, launching converging attacks on Kharkov from the Barvenkovsky ledge - Volchansk area with the goal of capturing the city and encircling the Nazi troops in the area. Having unloaded in Belevo, the brigade advanced on foot to the deployment area. It was placed at the disposal of the commander of the 61st Army. This army was part of the Bryansk Front and occupied defense in a strip of about 80 kilometers, facing the southwest. It was opposed by the German 2nd Tank Army, which was located on the right flank of Group Center and held the city of Bolkhov. For some time the brigade was in the army reserve. Army Commander Lieutenant General M.M. Popov advanced the brigade to the Zubkovo-Budogovishchi line, setting the task to “take up defensive positions and prevent the enemy from breaking through on the Bolkhov-Belev highway.” It was on this line of defense that the personnel of the 106th Special Brigade, and along with me, received a baptism of fire. For several days, German troops tried to break and break through the defenses in the brigade’s sector; up to 4-7 enemy attacks per day had to be repelled by the brigade’s battalions in different sectors of the defense, but all to no avail. Contrary to the assumptions of the brigade command, the Germans, after unsuccessful attempts to break through the defenses and the losses incurred, did not weaken, but increased the force of their attacks. According to intelligence data, a fresh tank division was being deployed against the brigade. The brigade lost half of its guns, half, if not more, of its personnel and two-thirds of its assigned tanks in the battles. The brigade suffered considerable losses and still stood rooted to the spot! In July 1942, according to the order of the Army Commander, the hero of the Soviet Union, Lieutenant Colonel I.N. Moshlyak, took command of the brigade. On July 31, 1942, the Commander of the Bryansk Front, in accordance with the order of the headquarters of the Supreme High Command “On the withdrawal of rifle divisions to the reserve of the Bryansk Front,” was withdrawn to the Ranenburg area by 08/12/1942 to restore and replenish the 106th Specialized Brigade. The brigade was replenished with equipment, weapons, and people. Mostly these were young guys born in 1924-1925, who had undergone short training in reserve regiments and had not smelled gunpowder. They still had to be trained and trained, and there were not enough experienced junior commanders. By this time, I had made changes in my career - I was appointed to the position of head of records management - treasurer of the Separate Rifle Battalion of the 106th Specialized Brigade. Literally at the end of the month, 08/30/1942, the Supreme Command Headquarters by order signed by the Deputy Supreme Commander G. K. Zhukov, the commander of the Bryansk Front and the Commander of the Voronezh Front, determined the composition of the transferred units of the 38th Army to the Voronezh Front until 09/02/1942, established the boundaries between the Bryansk and Voronezh fronts and obliged the Commander of the Bryansk Front in the Dolgorukovo area to have 106 special brigade brigade to ensure the junction of the front. The brigade held its positions until the beginning of November. In November, the command brought her to the reserve of the Voronezh Front for rest and replenishment. According to the General Staff directive of November 9, 1942 to the commander of the Voronezh Front on strengthening the front, the 106th Infantry Brigade: “... Withdrawn from the Bryansk Front for additional personnel. It has 3,514 personnel, 471 horses, 64 vehicles, 184 carts, and 44 carts are on the road. Armed. Combat training under a 2-month program began on September 22, 1942; conducts battalion exercises. In order for the brigade to be ready for combat, additional time is needed to put together.” According to the same directive, the brigade was supposed to arrive at the Voronezh Front within the following dates: loading - 11/14, Art. Yelets, 6 trains in total, speed - 9, unloading - st. Buturlinovka-(head-11/17, tail-11/19). At the end of November 1942, it became known that the advancing troops of the Don and Stalingrad fronts met in the Kalach area and closed the encirclement ring, which included 22 German divisions led by Field Marshal Paulus. Meanwhile, during the preparation of Operation Saturn, to defeat the encircled group of German troops, it turned out that Hitler’s command had concentrated large forces southwest of Stalingrad with the goal of breaking through the encirclement front to Paulus’s army. It was assumed that part of these tank troops would march to the Don, towards Stalingrad, through the village. Vorontsovka, Voronezh region and therefore the entire population of the village was evacuated to the neighboring Buturlinovsky district in the village. Klepovka. At that time, near the town of Buturlinovka there was also a command post of the Voronezh Front, at whose disposal the 106th Specialized Brigade arrived on November 19, 1942. My brother Evgeniy found out that the regiment in which I fought was somewhere nearby. Zhenya came to me and helped me do some (I don’t remember) work assigned by the headquarters. He and I worked all night, and the commander let me go for a day to visit my uncle in a neighboring village, where the Semeshko family, and with them Zhenya, were evacuated. Such pleasant events as meeting with family and relatives sometimes happened during the war! With the onset of 1943, the 106th Specialized Brigade as part of the 6th Army was transferred to the Southwestern Front, to the Kantemirovka area. In mid-January, the Voronezh and northern wing of the Southwestern Front, consisting of the 6th and 1st Guards armies, went on the offensive. At the time of the offensive, I had already been appointed to the position of commander of the submachine gunner squad of the 2nd separate battalion of the 106th Special Brigade and I was awarded the military rank of senior sergeant. During the 10 days of the offensive, our troops advanced 125 kilometers and took up defense north of Svatov. We didn't sit too long on defense. Before the rear had time to pull up, on the morning of January 29, the 6th Army again struck the enemy and broke through his front. The goal of the offensive is the liberation of Donbass. I, the commander of the submachine gunner squad of 2 OSB 106 OSBr, also distinguished myself in offensive battles. In a battle on 02/04/1943 near the village of Gorokhovatka, Borovsky district, while combing the outskirts of the village, a group of machine gunners led by me was unexpectedly attacked by German soldiers of up to 25 people. We were not at a loss and quickly adopted a battle formation and accepted an unequal battle. With skillful maneuver and courage, a handful of fighters and I put the Germans to flight, destroying 11 fascists in the process. For this I was nominated for the medal “FOR COURAGE.” During the retreat, the enemy regrouped troops and prepared the way for a counterattack on the right flank of the 6th Army. The Red Army troops, weakened in previous battles, continued their offensive to the South and South-West. Due to the destruction of roads, the rear lag reached 300 km, the troops had 0.3-0.35 ammunition and 0.5-0.75 fuel and lubricant refueling. On the night of February 20, the enemy attacked the right flank of the 6th Army. The rifle divisions put up fierce resistance, as a result of which the Germans were unable to cut the front of the 4th Rifle Corps, which maintained its battle formation. Under enemy attacks, the rifle corps retreated to the area north of Pavlograd. It took the enemy 2 days to cover 60 km to Pavlograd. On February 25, enemy tank corps united in Pavlograd. The 25th Tank Corps, separated from the main forces of the 6th Army by 100 km, and the 106th Separate Brigade were cut off 25 km north of Zaporozhye and on the North-Eastern outskirts of Dnepropetrovsk, respectively. On February 27, the 3rd Tank Army of the Voronezh Front launched a counter-attack on the flank of a group of enemy forces pursuing the retreating units of the 6th Army, which prevented the Germans from creating a second cauldron. The Russian units retreating across the flat terrain suffered heavy losses. The 25th Tank Corps was unable to break out of the encirclement and was destroyed. The 106th OSBr, which did not come under direct attack, advanced after the German tank divisions, passed Pereshchepino, Sakhnovshchina, Krasnopolskoye, Kochichevka, Alekseevskoye and in March broke through the front line south of Chuguev with 5627 people (127 wounded), almost completely preserving the material part, equipment and weapons. When leaving the battles at the end of February and beginning of March 1943, the 106th OSBr was in difficult conditions; it was even necessary to destroy the personal lists of personnel. Having emerged from encirclement in March 1943, the 106th Special Brigade was disbanded and the 228th Infantry Division of the 3rd formation was formed on its base. I, as the most prepared, having proven myself in battle and having been slightly wounded in the right leg, having combat experience and appropriate education, was appointed in June 1943 to the position of clerk of the 4th department of the headquarters of the emerging 228 SD. The commander of the 228 SD of the 3rd formation was Guard Colonel P.G. Kulikov. The division chief of staff, Lieutenant Colonel Okhlabystin, seeing that I have successfully mastered the new position and am coping with my functional responsibilities for manning, and that there are not enough junior officers, is preparing documents appointing me to temporarily fill the vacant officer position of assistant chief of the 4th division of the division headquarters. Since June 25, 1943, the 228th Infantry Division was included in the active army and sent to the 6th Army of the Southwestern Front. On July 8, 1943, by order of the commander of the 6th Army No. 0389 to me, art. Sergeant B.N. Cherginets is awarded the military rank of junior lieutenant of administrative service. On September 1, 1943, the 228th SD was transferred to the 1st Guards Army and, as part of the 34th Rifle Corps, it took part in the liberation of left-bank Ukraine. By the end of October 1943, Soviet troops completely liberated the Dnepropetrovsk region from the Nazi invaders. Over time, the post office resumed work in the liberated settlements of the region and I had the opportunity to send previously written letters home, to my homeland - to find my relatives and friends: my mother, sister and brother. By the end of 1943, the long-awaited answer to the letters sent came. But after reading the letter, the initial joy disappeared from my face. Sad news was reported in a letter - brother Alexander died at the front, was drafted into the Red Army and in November 1943 his youngest brother, Nikolai, born in 1926, was sent to the front, and Evgeniy, after recovery, was sent by the military registration and enlistment office to study at a military school in the city. Morshansk, Tambov region. On October 20, 1943, by order of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command dated October 16, 1943, the 2nd Ukrainian Front was created by renaming the Steppe Front. The 228th SD, consisting of the 57th Rifle Corps of the 37th Army, continued its combat path to the west already on this front. In October - December 1943, front troops fought to expand the bridgehead on the Dnieper from Kremenchug to Dnepropetrovsk, reaching Kirovograd and Krivoy Rog. In March 1944, the 228th SD took part in the liberation of the Voznesensky region and the city of Voznesensk. In Hitler's defense, Voznesensk was declared a “fortress” that must be held even in the event of encirclement. For successful battles in the Voznesensky region, the 228th SD of the 37th Army received the honorary name “Voznesenskaya”. On February 1, 1944, the 37th Army, and along with it our 228th SD as part of the 57SK, came under the command of the commander of the 3rd Ukrainian Front. At the division headquarters, I was in charge of the staffing of sergeants and privates, accounting and reporting on it. By this time, he had studied the work assigned to me, knew it perfectly, and was conscientious in carrying out the instructions given to me. He also knew well the work of the 4th section of the division headquarters. By directly visiting units and regiments of the 228th Voznesensk Rifle Division, he systematically helped local workers in charge of accounting and reporting. From a letter from my mother, I learned about the death of my youngest brother Nikolai, who was killed on January 18, 1944 in the battles near Korsun Shevchenkovsky. From July 1, 1944, the 228 SD as part of the 57SK became front-line subordinate to the 2nd Ukrainian Front, where it remained until September, and from September 1944 it became part of the 53rd Army of the same front, which it was part of until the end of the Great Patriotic War. By order of the commander of the 2nd Ukrainian Front No. 0520 dated September 19. 1944 to me, ml. Lieutenant Cherginets B.N. is awarded the next military rank - lieutenant of the administrative service of the headquarters of the 228th SD. By the end of September 1944, units of the 53rd Army reached the Romanian-Hungarian border northwest and west of the city of Arad. In October, during the Debrecen operation (October 6-28), the army acted in the direction of the main attack of the front forces. In cooperation with the 1st Guards Cavalry Mechanized Group, its troops broke through the enemy’s main defense line, advanced almost 100 km, reached the Tisza River in the area of ​​Polgar and southwest of the city. During the Budapest strategic operation (October 29, 1944) - February 13, 1945) the army crossed the Tisa River north of Abadsalok on November 7-10, 1944 and, developing the offensive, captured the city with the forces of the 110th Guards Rifle Division in cooperation with the 3rd Guards Airborne Division of the 27th Army. Eger (November 30). Then her troops attacked Szechen and Lucenec. By the end of February 1945, they reached the Hron River in the Zvolen-Tekov sector, where they went on the defensive. During the offensive operations, I and a group of headquarters officers went to the battle formations of the advancing units in the areas of the village of Opochka, the city of Mako, the Lord's Court, Rakosi, Magyarchanad, battalions of the 799th Infantry Regiment on the Tisa River, battalions of the 795th Infantry Regiment, the village of Egersalat, Shirok, battalions of the 767th Infantry Regiment Szeged Regiment in the area of ​​Pertovkina-stali and Tsarevo and directly on the spot provided practical assistance to the officers in accounting for personnel, cavalry and weapons. By order of the troops of the 53rd Army No. 0110/n dated March 4, 1945, the commander of the 53rd Army, Lieutenant General Managarov I.O. on behalf of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR - for the exemplary performance of the Command’s combat missions on the front of the fight against the German invaders and the valor and courage displayed in this case, he awarded me, the assistant of the 4th department of the headquarters of the 228th Ascension Infantry Division, the Order of the Red Star. During the Bratislava-Brnov operation (March 25 - May 5), the 53rd Army advanced as part of the front's strike group. On the first day of the operation, its formations and units crossed the Hron River and then liberated the cities of Vrable (March 28), Nitra (March 30), Glogowiec (April 1), Hodonin (April 13). On March 30, 1945, the troops who took part in the battles to break through the enemy’s defenses on the Horn and Nitra rivers, in the battles for the liberation of the cities of Vrable, Nitra, Galanta and other cities, and our 228th SD was part of the troops, were thanked by order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief and given in Moscow salute with 20 artillery salvoes from 224 guns. Our 228th SD, and therefore I, completed the combat path in the Great Patriotic War by participating in the Prague operation on May 6-11, 1945. My brother, Evgeniy Nikolaevich Cherginets, fought as far as Berlin, stormed Berlin, and made a mark on the wall of the Reichstag. He ended the war as part of the 33rd Kholm Infantry Red Banner Order of Suvorov Berlin Division and served in Germany until August 1946 with the military rank of lieutenant and was transferred to the reserve. On May 11, 1945, according to the Directive of the headquarters of the 2nd Ukrainian Front, the 228th Voznesensk Rifle Division was to be disbanded. After the disbandment of the division, the officers and I, Lieutenant B.N. Cherginets. , were at the disposal of the command while awaiting assignments to other military formations and units. At the end of August, I left for a new duty station for the position of assistant chief of the 3rd department of the organizational, accounting and staffing department of the 7th Guards Army headquarters, and on 09/07/1945, by order of the 7th Guards Army No. 0414, I was appointed to the position. I served in this position until I was discharged from the Red Army into the reserve. By order of the Commander of the Transcaucasian Military District No. 0594 dated August 27. In 1946, with the rank of guard senior lieutenant, I was discharged from the reserve personnel for health reasons and was registered for military service at the Oktyabrsky RVC in Moscow. This was the end of my military service.

Award sheets

The division was formed in Biysk in December 1941. The division included: 498th, 605th and 712th rifle regiments and 425th artillery regiments. On July 1, 1943, the units were renamed the 764th, 794th, 797th Rifle and 676th Artillery Regiments, respectively. The 232nd Rifle Division took an active part in the liberation of Ukraine, for which on September 2, 1943 it was given the honorary name Sumy, and on November 6 - Kiev.

Participation of the 232nd Division in the defense of Voronezh

A group of soldiers and commanders of the 232nd Infantry Division. Voronezh Front, summer 1942

The division received full weapons only on 06/30/1942 in Voronezh and took up combat positions along the left, eastern bank of the Don on the 45-kilometer front Novopodkletnoye - Podgornoye - Podkletnoye - Workers' village - collective farm "1 May" - state farm "Udarnik" - Malyshevo to the mouth of the Voronezh River . At this time, the Altai division was practically the only full-blooded formation of Soviet troops on the approaches to Voronezh.

From July 3, 1942, the division fought bloody battles with superior German forces in the defense of Voronezh and the Semilukskaya crossing of the Don. Only on July 5, 1942, the enemy managed to create a bridgehead near the village of Podkletnoye. Having suffered heavy losses, the 232nd Rifle Division was forced to retreat north along the Don.

Since August 1942, the formation fought defensive battles 20 kilometers north of Voronezh, on the Don line Novozhivotinnoye - Yamnoye, where its units captured and held an important bridgehead near the village of Gubarevo. Here our fellow countrymen fought until January 1943.

232nd Rifle Division in the battles for the liberation of Ukraine and the Battle of Kursk

Commander of the 764th Infantry Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel F.P. Zhelonkin. Photo from 1945

On January 10, 1943, the division withdrew from its positions and received orders to make a march of about 50 kilometers along the Don to the south. On January 23, 1943, it was introduced into the breakthrough during the Voronezh-Kastornensky operation, got involved in battles in the large settlement of Kochetovka southwest of Voronezh, where two regiments of the division were almost completely destroyed, then through the village of Ostanino it advanced to the west, pursuing the retreating without battle enemy troops. Battles resumed only in mid-February 1943. In them, cut off from its rear and without ammunition, the division suffered huge losses.

On February 26, 1943, the 232nd Division entered the territory of Ukraine, getting involved in heavy battles for Miropol. Then the formation took part in the offensive until mid-March 1943. From April to August 1943, the division, having managed to hold its positions northeast of Sumy, transferred to the reserve of the Supreme High Command.

In the Battle of Kursk, which began in July, the formations did not take an active part in the hostilities. Only on August 8, its regiments went on the offensive as part of the Voronezh Front, taking part in the Belgorod-Kharkov operation. However, in the very first hours the units encountered strong enemy resistance in the area of ​​the village of Samotoevki. The artillery preparation failed to suppress the well-organized German defense system, resulting in heavy casualties for the 794th Infantry Regiment. On August 20, the 232nd Division, like the rest of the troops of the right wing of the Voronezh Front, was forced to go on the defensive, occupying lines on the Psel River.

On September 2, 1943, the 232nd Rifle Division took part in the liberation of the Ukrainian city of Sumy. For the courage and heroism of its soldiers, the division received the honorary name “Sumskaya”.

During the Kyiv offensive operation, the division advanced from the Lyutezh bridgehead, in the direction of Svyatoshino, and, among other formations, broke into Kyiv and entered into street fighting. Once again, its soldiers were named in the thank-you order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, and on the same day the division received another honorary name - “Kyiv”.

Group of commanders of the 232nd Infantry Division. 2nd Ukrainian Front, 1944

But there were difficult trials ahead. The Germans, having come to their senses after the defeat near Kiev, launched a counter-offensive, and a number of Soviet formations of the 1st Ukrainian Front were surrounded. Since the communications of the Soviet troops were stretched and supplies deteriorated, our units had to go on the defensive. In mid-November, the 232nd Rifle Division became bogged down in heavy defensive battles in the area of ​​the city of Fastov.

In December 1943, she took part in the Zhitomir-Berdichev offensive operation, on January 4, 1944 she entered the city of Bila Tserkva and reached the approaches to Uman. But here the enemy was thrown back 30-40 kilometers by a counterattack.

In mid-January 1944, the division was stationed in Fastov, stood on the defensive in these positions for almost a month, and then, having completed a march, went on the offensive during the Uman-Botosha operation. March 5, 1944 breaks through enemy defenses east of the village of Rusalovka, Cherkasy region. On March 22, 1944, the advanced units of the Altai division reached the Dniester River, crossed the river near the village of Serebria, Vinnitsa region, and captured it on a bridgehead. In April, after heavy fighting to expand the bridgehead, the 232nd Rifle Division went on the defensive, where it remained until mid-August 1944.

Participation of the 232nd Rifle Division in the battles of the final stage of the war

In the second half of September 1944, the division broke through the well-fortified stronghold area of ​​Dedy in the Carpathian region. From October 15 to 25, 1944, she took part in the liberation of the Romanian city of Satu Mare, but then again entered heavy fighting for the city of Nyiregyhaza. Crossed the Tisza, its units led offensive battles in the direction of the city of Miskolc and took part in its liberation.

A group of soldiers and officers of the control platoon of the 6th battery of the 232nd Infantry Division. Photo from 1945

In December 1944, the 232nd Infantry Division, as part of the troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front, crossed the Hungarian border with Czechoslovakia and began an offensive in the general direction of Lucenets. Immediately after crossing the border, heavy fighting began; for more than a month, the division covered only about 100 kilometers, crossing the Sukha, Ipel and Krivan rivers. At the end of January 1945, it stormed the outskirts of the city of Lucenets, where it participated in street battles for several days.

During March-April 1945, she participated in the liberation of the cities of Novo Mesto and Trnava, fought at the crossing of the Dutvat River, advanced deep into Czechoslovakia to a distance of 200 kilometers, and took part in the liberation of Bratislava. Continuing the offensive, the division reached the approaches to Brno, where it fought until its complete liberation on April 26, 1945. After the liberation of Brno, during the Prague operation it proceeded to Prague, and ended the war only on May 18, 1945, west of Prague.

Abstract on the topic:

106th Rifle Division (1st formation)

Plan:

Introduction

• 1 History of formation and combat path
• 2 Submission
• 3 Division composition
• 4 Division commanders
  • 4.1 Staff and others
Literature
.1 Notes

Introduction

In total, the 106th Infantry Division was formed 2 times. See list of other formations

106th Rifle Division (1st formation)- military unit of the USSR in the Great Patriotic War.

(not to be confused with the 106th separate motorized (motorized rifle) division of Major K.S. Monakhov, which operated in July - October 1941 as part of the 24th Army of the Reserve Front, which, after the loss of its equipment in the battles near Yelnya, was transformed into the 106th 1st rifle division (2nd formation?)).

1. History of formation and combat path

The division was formed on the basis of troops of the North Caucasus Military District on July 16, 1940, and in May 1941 it was redeployed to the Odessa Military District. By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, it was located in the vicinity of Yevpatoria and consisted of up to 12,000 people. On June 24, 1941, in accordance with the Directive of the Supreme Command Headquarters No. 20466, the division was included in the 9th Special Rifle Corps of the Southern Front. The formation was tasked with defending the southwestern part of Crimea from sea and airborne assaults. The total length of the defense line was about 200 km - from the settlement of Ak-Mechet to the village of Alma-Tomak. On August 14, the division was included in the 51st Separate Army and two days later received an order to withdraw to new positions. One of the rifle regiments and an artillery division were left for the defense of the Evpatoria coast.

In the second half of August, the division took up positions on a 70-kilometer section of the front stretching along the southern bank of the Sivash, and stopped repeated attempts by the advanced units of the 46th Wehrmacht Infantry Division to seize the exit to the Crimea from Karpovaya Balka. The enemy was never able to achieve success on this sector of the front. By September 28, the division was withdrawn to the Ishun positions. At the beginning of November, it carried out the task of preventing German troops from breaking through to the Armyansk-Dzhankoy railway, and then covered the withdrawal of units of the 51st Army to Kerch. During the battles, the division's units suffered heavy losses; the number of fighters in rifle companies did not exceed twenty people. In mid-November she was evacuated to the Taman Peninsula. Upon arrival, the division, which consisted of 5,481 people, was transferred to the 56th Army. In the winter of 1941/42 it was based in the vicinity of Rostov-on-Don, and then was transferred to the disposal of the 57th Army of the Southern Front.

By the beginning of May 1942, the division was reassigned to the 9th Army of the Southwestern Front, which took up defensive positions along the southern front of the Barvenkovsky bridgehead. During the offensive of the 16th German Panzer Division, which began in mid-May, the 106th Division was forced on May 18 to retreat to the left bank of the Seversky Donets River, in the Izyum area, and gain a foothold in new positions. In the summer of 1942, the division took part in the Donbass defensive operation, which ended with the encirclement of a large group of Soviet troops in the Millerovo area (Voronezh region) in mid-July by the 40th and 3rd Wehrmacht tank corps. Having suffered heavy losses, the division fought out of encirclement.

2. Submission

3. Division composition

Rifle regiments:

553rd (until 07/03/1942)

Separate howitzer regiment (? until November 1941)

Separate tank battalion (until 08/20/1941)

201st separate anti-tank fighter division

430th separate anti-aircraft battery (449th separate anti-aircraft artillery division)

156th Engineer Battalion

500th Separate Signal Battalion

143rd medical battalion

Logistics support units

4. Division commanders

4.1. Headquarters and others

Literature

• Batov P.I. On campaigns and battles. M.: Military Publishing House. 1974.

• Eremenko A.I. At the beginning of the war. M. Science. 1964

• Lensky A.G. Ground forces of the Red Army in the pre-war years. Directory.

• Pervushin A. N. Roads that we did not choose. M.: DOSAAF. 1971

Notes

1. MILITARY LITERATURE -[ Biographies ] - Isaev A.V. Georgy Zhukov - militera.lib.ru/bio/isaev_av_zhukov/07.html
2. http://smol1941.narod.ru/glava1.htm - smol1941.narod.ru/glava1.htm)
3. Sevastopol Strada - 2 - TVS Forum - www.forum-tvs.ru/index.php?showtopic=60926
4. Publishing system Litsovet: “Chapters 6-15 Description of objects 1”, Odissey - www.litsovet.ru/index.php/material.read?material_id=168081
5. 106th Rifle Division - page of the Memory Club of Voronezh State University - samsv.narod.ru/Div/Sd/sd106/main1.html
6. 1 2 Great Patriotic War 1941-1945 - Memoirs - Batov P.I. In campaigns and battles - victory.mil.ru/lib/books/memo/batov/01.html
7. Saltykov N.D. I report to the General Staff. - M.: 1983; http://militera.lib.ru/memo/russian/saltykov_hd/01.html - militera.lib.ru/memo/russian/saltykov_hd/01.html
8. 12th Tank Brigade - page of the Memory Club of Voronezh State University - samsv.narod.ru/Br/Tbr/tbr012/h2.html
9. http://www.rkka.ru/handbook/reg/106sd40.htm - www.rkka.ru/handbook/reg/106sd40.htm
10. Sevastopol.ws:: History:: Recent history:: Armored vehicles in the battles for Crimea (1941-1942) - www.sevastopol.ws/Pages/?aid=82
11. Forum RKKA.RU - vif2ne.ru/rkka/forum/0/archive/11/11858.htm
12. http://docs.vif2.ru/misc/Spravochnik%20Lenskogo.rtf - docs.vif2.ru/misc/Spravochnik Lenskogo.rtf

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This abstract is based on an article from Russian Wikipedia. Synchronization completed 07/13/11 07:07:14
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106th Separate Rifle Brigade (106 OSBr)

Periods of entry into the Active Army[ | ]

02.05.1942 - 15.08.1942

15.10.1942 - 25.06.1943

Compound [ | ]

Personnel [ | ]

Four battalions, corresponding in number of personnel to a Red Army division. Number of people: 3421 people.

• 1 separate rifle battalion (1 OSB, 106 OSBr)
• 2 separate rifle battalion (2 OSB, 106 OSBr)
• 3rd separate rifle battalion (3 OSB, 106 OSBr)
• 4th separate rifle battalion (4 OSB, 106 OSBr)

Command [ | ]

Chiefs of Staff[ | ]

• Moshlyak Ivan Nikonovich (~12.1941), major, Hero of the Soviet Union (for Khasan, 1938)
• Bisyarin Vasily Zinovievich (from 07.1942), major

Armament and equipment[ | ]

According to the General Staff directive of November 9, 1942 to the commander of the Voronezh Front on strengthening the front, the 106th Rifle Brigade:

“Brought out for replenishment from the Bryansk Front. It has 3,514 personnel, of which 6,019 were participants in the Patriotic War, 471 horses, 64 vehicles, 184 carts, and 44 carts are on the way. Armed. Combat training under a 2-month program began on September 22, 1942; conducts battalion exercises. In order for the brigade to be ready for combat, additional time is needed to put together.”

Story [ | ]

On May 3, 1942, the brigade command received an order to board trains and leave for the Bryansk Front. The location is 25-30 kilometers southeast of the city of Belyov. Having unloaded at Belevyo, the brigade advanced on foot to the deployment area. It was placed at the disposal of the commander of the 61st Army. This army was part of the Bryansk Front and occupied defense in a strip of about 80 kilometers, facing the southwest. It was opposed by the German 2nd Tank Army, which was located on the right flank of Group Center and held the city of Bolkhov. For some time the brigade was in the army reserve. Army commander Lieutenant General M. M. Popov advanced the brigade to the Zubkovo-Budogovishchi line, setting the task of taking up defensive positions and preventing the enemy from breaking through on the Bolkhov-Belev highway. According to the same directive, the brigade was supposed to arrive at the Voronezh Front within the following dates: loading - 11/14, Art. Yelets, 6 trains in total, speed - 9, unloading - st. Buturlinovka (head - 11/17, tail - 11/19).

Missing[ | ]

When leaving the battles at the end of February and beginning of March 1943, the 106th OSBr was in difficult conditions; it was even necessary to destroy the personal lists of personnel.

There are 40,600 Kazakhs). In Kazakhstan, 12 rifle, 4 cavalry divisions and 7 rifle brigades, 50 separate regiments, including 2 artillery divisions, 4 mortar divisions, 3 aviation regiments, 14 separate battalions were formed. Of these, two rifle brigades were formed entirely at the expense of the republic (100th - in Alma-Ata, 101st - in Aktyubinsk) and three cavalry divisions (96th - in Ust-Kamenogorsk, 105th - in Dzhambul, 106th -I am in Akmolinsk). Both brigades fought in the most important areas. The 96th Division was reorganized during its formation in Ust-Kamenogorsk, and in March 1942 the 13th Cavalry Regiment was created on its basis. The 105th and 106th divisions, upon arrival in the active army, were disbanded with the transfer of personnel to previously created units.

In addition, over 700 thousand people were mobilized to work in industry and construction sites.

Defending Moscow

Among the defenders of Moscow were the 316th, 238th, 312th, 387th and 391st Kazakh divisions.

– One of the first to be seen off from the Alma-Aty-2 station was the 316th Infantry Division under the command of Ivan Panfilov. Music was playing on the platform; the leaders of the republic, headed by Skvortsov and Shayakhmetov, were standing. She was the first in every sense,– explains Doctor of Historical Sciences Laila AKHMETOVA. – The tragedy of our units near Moscow is that they found themselves at the front during the most difficult time of the war. The Red Army was retreating, many were captured. Near Bryansk and Smolensk, 20 divisions found themselves in a cauldron and could not get out. Miraculously breaking out of this ring, Rokossovsky received in the army one 316th division, the corps of General Dovator, the cadet regiment of Mladentsev plus militias. It was necessary to defend 66 kilometers of the road on the Volokolamsk Highway, 44 of which went to the 316th Division. And against Rokossovsky’s army stood General Gepner’s tank corps, three rifle divisions and a bunch of other formations. The units defending Moscow accomplished a feat, making unrealistic efforts and maneuvers in conditions of such unequal forces.

Before Brest, fascist soldiers covered 100–120 km a day, then – 80–50 km a day, near Smolensk – 30–16 km, and when they encountered the Panfilov division, they slowed down to 2–5 km a day.

- Two divisions near Moscow defended the city of Tula - the 238th and 387th (Perekopskaya), formed in Akmolinsk,– the historian continues. – Tula residents are proud that they did not surrender the city where the famous arms factory was located, mined in case of capture by the enemy. Our 387th division fought just two kilometers from the weapons factory. After Tula, her battle path included Moscow, Stalingrad, Simferopol, Sevastopol, the Crimean operation of 1944 and Romania. And the 391st Rezhitsa Red Banner Division, formed in August - November 1941, after participating in the defense of Moscow, fought on the North-Western Front and was among the first to enter Latvia in 1944.

Defense of Leningrad and the Battle of Stalingrad

– In Akmolinsk, the 310th and 314th rifle divisions were formed, which distinguished themselves during the defense of Leningrad on the Sinyavinsky Heights and the Road of Life. There is a village, there is a mass grave in it, where 3,000 Akmola residents are buried, says Laila Akhmetova.

One of the turning point battles of the Great Patriotic War was the Battle of Stalingrad. Kazakh rifle divisions fought there - the 29th, 38th, 387th and 27th, as well as the 152nd rifle brigade and the 81st cavalry division.

– In the Battle of Stalingrad, Heroes of the Soviet Union pilot Abdirov, mortarman Spataev, lieutenant Rabaev,– notes Laila Akhmetova. – Pavlov’s house became a symbol of courage; the fighting lasted 58 days; Tolebai Myrzaev was among the defenders of the house. The Height of 11 Heroes of the East is known; it was defended by fighters from Kazakhstan and Central Asia. They all died the death of the brave, but did not let the enemy pass. One of the streets of Volgograd was named Kazakh in tribute to the heroism of the Kazakhs during the defense of Stalingrad.

– The 30th Guards Riga Red Banner Division was formed by March 1942 in Semipalatinsk, Ust-Kamenogorsk, Alma-Ata,- says the historian. – The 88th Vitebsk Red Banner Division was born in Alma-Ata as the 39th Infantry Brigade from cadets of the machine gun school, schools for non-commissioned officers and sniper courses, as well as from military personnel from Southern Kazakhstan and Semirechye. And the 991st night bomber air regiment was formed in September 1942 in Alma-Ata on the basis of an initial training pilot aviation school. From 1943 to 1944 he took part in the Baltic offensive operation.

Restored history

Public association “Birlik” of the Ukrainian city of Kharkov as part of a scientific research group Makki KARAZANOVA, Tatiana KRUPA, Leonid KARTSEV, Lucia OKSAK for more than five years he has been establishing the participation of Kazakh soldiers in the liberation of Kharkov and the Kharkov region.

– The main achievement was clarifying the fate of the 106th Cavalry Division from Kazakhstan. It was possible to find rare archival documents with the help of which the names of the fighters were established,– says Makka Karazhanova. – The publication of their names provided powerful feedback from the families of these warriors. They send us stories about their fathers, grandfathers, great-grandfathers, and send photographs. The history of the heroic division is written there. Today we are proud to say that Kharkov and the Kharkov region during the Great Patriotic War became a symbol of fortitude and courage for Kazakh soldiers. Front-line soldiers always tell me about the amazing cohesion of Kazakh soldiers - they never abandoned a wounded man and, realizing that they could die, still tried to save him... And over the past year, we managed to clarify a lot about the 38th Infantry Division, formed in Alma-Ata.

According to Makka Karazhanova, the search engines had the opportunity to work in the Central Archives of the Ministry of Defense in Podolsk and collect information about the 38th division with a description of the battles and maps of the area. Eyewitnesses of those events are still alive. At the school in the village of Ternovoy there is a small museum where letters and photographs of Kazakh soldiers are preserved. From the documents it became known that from a division of about 9 thousand people after the Battle of Kharkov, only 150 soldiers would come to Stalingrad. In the battle for this city, the restored 38th Division was renamed the 73rd Stalingrad Guards Rifle Division for courage and heroism!

In May 1943, a division was formed in Akmolinsk, then called the 72nd Guards Rifle Krasnograd Red Banner Division.

At the enemy with bare hands

– I hear from some historians of Kazakhstan that the 106th Cavalry Division was known before our search,– notes Makka Karazhanova. – But what about the formation formed in Kazakhstan, and that’s all - no lists of names, no acts of transfer, no witness statements, no battle maps. Our group restored these documents. Searches for the 106th constantly brought us questions about the 105th division: what was its combat path, the numerical strength and personnel of the command staff? We asked friends from Kazakhstan to find out in libraries - the result was negative. The most important document is the act of acceptance and transfer of the division if it was disbanded. We found three acceptance certificates from the 106th Division, but in each of them the number of fighters was different. In the first act - 4,091 soldiers, in the second - 4,175, in the third - 4,416. The 105th division has only one acceptance certificate, but, as they say, we haven’t gone far here yet...

The 106th Division included three cavalry regiments, a horse artillery battalion and a half communications squadron. The formation of units began on December 10, 1941. Major Boris Pankov was appointed division commander, and political instructor Nurkan Seytov was appointed commissar. The division was 90 percent staffed by military personnel of Kazakh nationality from Akmola, Kustanai, Karaganda, East Kazakhstan, North Kazakhstan and Pavlodar regions. Horses also came from these regions. At the end of March - beginning of April 1942, the division was sent in several echelons to the 6th Cavalry Corps of the Southwestern Front in the Kharkov direction. According to Makka Karazhanova, it was also disbanded upon arrival:

– We managed to find out that the 106th division was disbanded along with three others from the 6th corps. Our soldiers fought in the 26th, 49th and 28th divisions. There is a document that for 4,091 people in the 106th division there were only... 102 rifles. And three and a half thousand sabers.

As part of the 6th Corps, units of the 106th Division advanced 50 kilometers. These were bloody battles for Krasnograd. Strength, food and ammunition were dwindling. But it was as if they had been forgotten. There was no help. And after May 26, the Kharkov cauldron slammed shut.

Under the command of Kalashnikov

The 105th Cavalry Division was formed in Dzhambul by decree of the USSR State Defense Committee No. 894 of November 13, 1941. Until September 1943, the 81st and 105th divisions were formed, as well as separate rifle and engineering battalions, three work battalions, five railway companies and a decontamination detachment.

– Colonel Vladimir Kalashnikov, an experienced military man, a graduate of the Frunze Academy, a participant in the Civil War, was appointed commander of the 105th Cavalry Division. explained Makka Karazhanova. – In June 1942, the division was sent to the Moscow district. We found an order dated August 13, 1942 on the disbandment and retraining of the division: “Junior commanders and rank and file - 4,165 people - are to be recruited to staff the artillery centers of the district. Horses, saddles, vehicles, carts, kitchens, weapons and other equipment of all types of supplies should be used according to the plan of the command of the troops of the Moscow Military District to supply rifle divisions and brigades withdrawn for replenishment from the front.” But was the entire division, without taking part in hostilities, transferred or in parts? There is a document dated August 15, 1942 stating that it is being transferred in full force to complete the 1st Guards Cavalry Corps of the Western Front. But this still needs to be sorted out, as well as with the number - 4,165 people or still 3,432? But one thing is undeniable - the soldiers of the 105th, like our other rifle divisions - the 100th and 101st - fought about 200 kilometers from Moscow.

From Kustanay to Königsberg

On December 21, 1941, the formation of the 151st separate rifle brigade began in Kustanai. According to local historian Natalya Zdorovets, Major Leonid Yakovlev, who managed to fight in the Leningrad direction of the front, was appointed commander.

The brigade included four rifle battalions, an artillery division, an anti-tank artillery division, a mortar battalion, a communications battalion and separate companies - reconnaissance, sapper, medical, automobile and a machine gun company. On April 26, 1942, a rally dedicated to going to the front took place on the city square of Kustanay.

On the Northwestern Front

The 151st Rifle went to the disposal of the Northwestern Front in six echelons to Valdai station. And on May 14, four and a half months after the order to form, she made a 180-kilometer march to the front line. The brigade's baptism of fire took place on June 8. For a whole month, the Kazakhs, showing courage and bravery, fought on the front near Lake Sugan. Machine gunner Dunsky from the Ubagansky district destroyed 32 enemy soldiers and officers in one battle. Political instructor Bondarenko inspired the fighters by personal example. During the battle, an enemy grenade flew into the dugout, he grabbed it and threw it towards the advancing fascists, where it exploded. For this fight Bondarenko was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. Medical instructor Valentina Velednitskaya carried 37 seriously wounded soldiers from the battlefield in just one day. “Together with their weapons,” as specifically noted in documents of that time.

In February 1943, the 151st Rifle Regiment, reinforced by a light artillery brigade and one artillery regiment, was transferred to the reserve of the North-Western Front and, having wedged itself into the enemy’s battle formations, gained a foothold on the achieved line. It would seem a small success, but it was precisely this that did not give the enemy the opportunity to withdraw his divisions from the front in order to throw them at the Leningrad front, where the situation was extremely difficult. The Kazakhs took up defensive positions north of Staraya Russa for a long time.

For the Motherland!

In September 1943, the 151st Brigade was reorganized into the 150th Infantry Division. In May 1944, Colonel Shatilov took command of it, and Colonel Yakovlev went to study in Moscow. By that time, the troops of the 2nd Baltic Front went on the offensive and expanded the breakthrough to 150 kilometers. On July 12, 1944, units of the division liberated the city of Idriza. By order of Supreme Commander-in-Chief Stalin dated July 23, 1944, the division was given the name Idritskaya. By the end of November, she had liberated hundreds of settlements, showing mass heroism. The gunner, junior sergeant Povod, a native of the village of Livanovka, Kamyshinsky district, destroyed 3 enemy machine gun crews, a mortar battery and 50 enemy soldiers. Red Army wagon soldier Sadertin Baimukhamedov uninterruptedly delivered ammunition to positions under enemy fire and, showing initiative, picked up 100 captured German shells for our 150-mm guns. The gun commander, senior sergeant Kurmash Baysarin from the Ordzhonikidze district, knocked out two enemy trucks. All three were awarded the medal “For Courage”.

We walked to Berlin

On New Year's Eve 1945, the division joined the 1st Belorussian Front and in February participated in the defeat of the Schneidemuhl group. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, she was awarded the Order of Kutuzov, II degree, for the night battle at Lake Woschwansee. On March 17, having completed a 160-kilometer march, she arrived in the Königsberg area. On April 16, the city of Kunersdorf was taken. This victory was achieved at the cost of losing most of the division. But, as reported, already on April 22, during the Berlin offensive operation, she accepted one of the nine special banners intended to be hoisted over the Reichstag. During its assault, the reconnaissance platoon commander of the 674th Regiment of the 150th Infantry Division, Rakhimzhan Koshkarbaev, and Private Grigory Bulatov planted a flag over the main building of the Reichstag. By order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of May 11, 1945, the division was given the name Berlin.

Guardsmen from the East

Formed in the first days of the war in Ust-Kamenogorsk, the 238th Rifle Division showed heroic resilience in the battles near Moscow and in 1942 was renamed the 30th Guards Division.

In 1985, on the 40th anniversary of the Victory, a street in the center of Ust-Kamenogorsk was named after the 30th Guards Division. Documentary memory of her is kept in the regional history museum. As follows from the archives, in the spring of 1941, a group of officers arrived in the city from Uzbekistan with the task of forming the 238th Infantry Division. With the outbreak of the war, it was quickly staffed with conscripts from Leninogorsk, Shemonaikha, Bystrukha, Sekisovka, Uvarovo, Donskoy and other villages. And already in September they threw me to the front line. Tank and motorized units of the Nazis tried to cut the road from Tula to Moscow. For three months the division fought off fierce attacks from the armed enemy, and on December 6, as part of the Western Front, it went on the offensive.

– In January 1942, the 238th Division was thrown into a difficult sector with the task of pushing the enemy back from the railway to Kaluga,- stated in memoirs company commander Dmitry KOLNOBRUTSKY. – There were stubborn battles for five days, the village of Myzga changed hands five times, and finally, on January 10, two companies finally knocked out the enemy.

In May 1942, the division was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for its heroism and was transformed into the 30th Guards Division. Two months later, with 11 thousand fighters, it again found itself in the bloodiest areas near Yelnya and Rzhev. On October 15, 1944, the division liberated the capital of Latvia, receiving the honorary name Riga.

“The 30th Guards Division liberated 1,200 settlements from the Nazis, including 8 large cities,” is listed in the museum certificate. – More than 13 thousand of its soldiers were awarded orders and medals for military merits.

According to local historians, about 200 thousand people went to the front from Eastern Kazakhstan. 60 soldiers received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, 30 thousand were awarded orders and medals. In total, four rifle divisions and the 375th anti-tank artillery division, which took part in the assault on Berlin, were formed in Ust-Kamenogorsk in 1941.

In the heat of Rzhev

According to archival documents, the 101st separate rifle brigade was created in the city of Aktyubinsk in the period from December 5, 1941 to May 1, 1942.

Its formation began with the decree of the State Defense Committee of the USSR dated November 13, 1941 and the directive of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR dated November 20, 1941 “On the formation of national rifle formations.” Based on these documents, on November 27, an order was issued by the commander of the Central Asian Military District “On the formation of the 100th and 101st rifle brigades.”

The 101st Brigade included 3,804 soldiers and commanders, more than 50 percent of them were of Kazakh nationality. The military unit was formed from residents of the Aktobe, Guryev, West Kazakhstan, and Kzyl-Orda regions of Kazakhstan. The commander of the brigade at the initial stage was Lieutenant Colonel Sevastyan Yakovlenko, and the commissar was senior political instructor Nuri Aleev.

Here are some interesting data on the brigade’s logistical equipment. She was given 16 trucks and 6 cars, more than 460 horses, 52 double and single-horse carts, 89 saddles, 1,089 sheepskin coats, 1,428 ear flaps and other property.

From October 19 to October 23, 1942, Kazakhstanis went to the Kalinin Front as part of the 39th Army. Their baptism of fire took place on November 28 near the city of Olenino, Kalinin (now Tver) region... Here, in the bloody battles in the Rzhev direction, the front-line history of the 101st brigade was born. Then it took part in the liberation of the Vitebsk and Smolensk regions, Belarus and Lithuania, and in the summer of 1944, in connection with the reorganization, the personnel were transferred to the 47th and 90th Guards Rifle Divisions.