Pyotr Bograd

In 1985 I toured the places in Hungary where I fought at the end of the war.

Here, near the village of Belsobarand, south-west of Budapest, I arranged an observation post for the division commandment. My comrades perished here. I am laying flowers.

I took part in the Great Patriotic War from its very beginning. At first I fought on the Western border. I was at the southern border of Austria and Yugoslavia in the direction of Zagreb at the time, when the war ended.

I finished the war in the rank of lieutenant colonel, I was promoted to this rank at the age of 23, in early 1944. I graduated from the MV Frunze Military Academy in 1948. Due to my Jewish identity I was not promoted from my rank of lieutenant colonel for 11 years.

Only in 1955, when I was commander of a mechanized regiment I was promoted to the rank of colonel. I was promoted to my current rank of general major with a long delay. It's extremely hard for a Jew to be promoted to the rank of general in our country.

In the course of my long-term service in the army I received the following awards: an Order of the Red Banner, two Orders of the Patriotic War, 1st Class, an order of the Patriotic War, 2nd Class, three Orders of the Red Star, Order for Service to the Motherland, 3rd Class, a Bulgarian order ‘For courage’ and 25 medals.

In 1948 upon graduation from the MV Frunze Military Academy I was appointed deputy chief of the corps operative headquarters in Saratov. In the 1950s I had a mechanized regiment under my command.

I moved around a lot: Tobolsk, Shihany, Tozkiy, Chernorechiye. I went to Tozk after nuclear testing. The radiation was exceeding and I developed intestine cancer. I had a surgery in 1986, and recovered.

My work was hard, but interesting, particularly when we received nuclear weapons. I was trained in the use of nuclear weapons and reactive agents.

In 1955 my regiment was fully formed and equipped and we had training on the training field in Saratov. Later I was chief of the division headquarters, then another division, and another. I think we trained people well.

In 1965 I was appointed deputy commander of the Privolzhskiy regiment for educational institutions and off-army training.

In 1977 I relocated to Moscow and by an order of the Minister of Defense I was appointed chief of educational department for military educational institutions of Russia. Since then I've lived in Moscow.