Senior Lieutenant Alexander Dmitrievich Putin received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union in the summer of 1945. The officer was an example of valor and courage for fellow soldiers. Once the pilot said that the title "is given for life," so Putin measured his further actions with this award and tried to correspond to the proper level.
early years
The future hero was born in 1918 in the Saratov region. The Russian peasant family of the Putin lived in the village of Razboyshchina, today this settlement is called the village of Sokolovy. Since childhood, Sasha is used to relying on his own strength. Fate decreed that at the age of five the boy lost his mother, and five years later his father died. After graduating from the FZU school in 1936, the young man began work at the Saratov combine harvester plant. In this half-starved time, the formation of the guy's character took place. The seventeen-year-old toolmaker worked in the factory during the day and worked in the aviation club in the evening. The famous pilots of the young country of Soviets, Chkalov and Baidukov, became his idols. Alexander dreamed of the sky, of a flight to the North Pole, but his wishes were not destined to come true so soon.
In 1940, the young man joined the ranks of the Red Army. He joined the ranks of recruits voluntarily, after Voroshilov's cry "Komsomol members, on skis!" The romantic dream had to be temporarily exchanged for the real events of the Soviet-Finnish war. He served as a machine gunner in the 109th ski battalion.
First flights
Only a year later, Putin was sent to the flight school in the city of Elgels, from which he graduated at the beginning of the war. In 1942, the pilot continued his training at the Krasnodar Flight School.
Putin came to the front in January 1943. As part of the 624th Molodechno Air Attack Regiment, he participated in the battle at the Kursk Bulge, liberated Bryansk and Pskov. His further path ran to Belarus, Latvia and Lithuania, Poland. The news of the victory found the pilot in the capital of Czechoslovakia.
Thanks to his flying skills and initiative, very soon Alexander became the best pilot of the unit. From the first months of hostilities, he was entrusted with leading a group of attack aircraft. His courage could be envied, so the command entrusted the pilot with the most important operations.
In the summer of 43
On August 31, 1943, the leadership instructed a group of six aircraft, commanded by Putin, to bombard enemy trains at the Navlya railway junction. The Ilys took off from the airfield and moved westward. On the eve, a major offensive of the Soviet troops was completed. The Battle of the Kursk Bulge lasted forty-nine days. The large-scale operation was attended by about two million people, thousands of tanks and aircraft. The battle became a key one during the Great Patriotic War. The Nazis hardly held back the lines of defense, they had to go beyond the Dnieper in order to take out the looted property. The front line was clearly marked by fires and gunfire.
When a group of planes approached the station, the Nazis opened fire, the firing of anti-aircraft guns was increasing every minute. The ground sparkled from the shots, one of the shots threw Putin's plane in the air. But even after that, the commander did not turn off the intended course. After all, below "in pairs" were echelons ready to go to the Mikhailovskoye farm. The commander dropped a bomb on a locomotive, and his comrades dropped a bomb on the carriages. After the "silts" turned back, an explosion thundered at the station. On that day, the group blew up two steam locomotives, dozens of carriages, an ammunition depot and completely destroyed the station buildings.
The last days of the war
The appearance of stormtroopers terrified the Nazis and put them to flight. It often turned out that the planes themselves became the target of enemy anti-aircraft guns. To remain unscathed in this meat grinder, one had to have instant reaction and excellent technique. Putin's plane received number "10", and he always hit the targets of the Nazis "in the top ten." The pilot went through many dangerous situations. He especially remembered the case when the plane was shot down and with difficulty balancing on the wings, he safely got out of the car.
Alexander remembered the combat sortie on February 14, 1945, which coincided with the Red Army's combat operation to encircle the German group near Breslavl. A group of eight aircraft under the leadership of Putin carried out an attack on the enemy's reserve units. Attack aircraft made five approaches to the target, as a result of which they destroyed twenty vehicles, tanks and a company of fascists. For this successful operation, the entire group received commendations from the army command.
During the war years, Putin led groups of attack aircraft ninety-two times, each containing from six to twenty-four vehicles. All operations were successful and efficient, with minimal losses. The squadron commander flew 130 sorties in an IL-2 aircraft in three years. His personal courage and contribution to the cause of victory were marked with the highest award of the USSR - the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. On June 27, 1945, the hero was awarded the Gold Star medal and the Order of Lenin.
Further biography
After the victory, Putin continued his military career. In 1954, he decided to consolidate the acquired military experience with theoretical knowledge and graduated from the Moscow Region Air Force Academy. Alexander Dmitrievich retired to the reserve in 1962 with the rank of colonel. He spent most of his post-war biography in Ryazan. He remained faithful to his first specialty and worked in an electronic device factory for twenty-seven years. Diligence and perseverance made him a leader in production, and awards for valiant labor were added to military orders and medals.
In parallel with his labor activity, Alexander Dmitrievich carried out public work, paid attention to the patriotic education of the younger generation, shared the pages of his fate with the youth. Putin lived a long life and died in 2003. He was remembered by those around him as a man of great modesty who bore the title of Hero with dignity.
