For the entire existence of the USSR, only about 13 thousand people were awarded the highest state award - the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. One of them is Alexander Stepanovich Konev, a legendary man, a participant in the Soviet-Finnish and the Great Patriotic War, a foreman of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army.
Biography
Alexander Stepanovich was born in a small village of the Altai Territory with the touching name of Barashki in the summer of 1916, in the family of the Russian peasant Konev. Received the usual school education for that time - 6 classes and went to work in his own collective farm. A little later, in 1934, he moved to the city of Stalinsk (now Novokuznetsk).
In 1937, when Alexander Konev was 21 years old, he went to the army. He had a chance to take part in battles with the Japanese in 1939 and in the short Soviet-Finnish war of 39-40. And soon the Great Patriotic War began.
War years
Alexander fought on the Belorussian, Bryansk and other fronts, was wounded twice, but constantly found himself in the very center of heavy battles with the Nazis, destroying the enemy from his machine gun.
In August 42, he distinguished himself in the destruction of a German tank column near Orel. The unit of machine gunner Konev destroyed 8 of 14 tanks, which made it possible to achieve the retreat of the enemy troops. A few weeks later, in a fierce battle near Berezovka, Alexander's machine-gun crew covered the retreat. The warrior's companions were killed, and he held back the German offensive for more than three hours alone, until the Soviet troops approached. At that time, the hero was miraculously saved from death. In the summer of 1943, Alexander distinguished himself in the famous Battle of Oryol, and then, in another battle at Renki station, he was able to suppress 7 German counterattacks with machine-gun fire.
In October of the bloody 1943, the Soviet troops needed to quickly cross the Dnieper, and Konev, together with the soldiers of his crew, was at the forefront of this crossing. They crossed the river on a raft and came under heavy barrage fire. And again, Alexander's comrades were killed, but he himself was able to cross, capture two bunkers and hold them under the enemy's hurricane fire all day. At the end of the war, Konev deservedly received the title of Hero of the USSR, but in addition to this, the hero has many orders and medals, which are now lovingly kept by the heirs of Alexander.
Peaceful life
In the fall of 1945, Alexander was demobilized into the reserve and returned to his native land, to the village of Altayskoye, to become a peaceful worker. He never liked the war that made him a hero. Since 1947, he worked as the chairman of a collective farm, then went to study at a combine operator school, slowly arranged his personal life - he got a wife, soon his first child, a child, daughter Galina was born, and then, in 1952, he moved to Novokuznetsk with his family and continued his working career at the aluminum plant.
Alexander Konev retired in 1968 and took up social activities, taking an active part in educating the younger generation. The foreman died in July 1992, surrounded by loved ones. In Novokuznetsk today there is a street named after the hero, and his name is immortalized on the Barnaul Memorial of Glory.
