Pyotr Bograd and his squad

Pyotr Bograd and his squad

This photo was taken in summer 1943.

I was chief of the regiment headquarters. I was also responsible for a reconnaissance squad, being chief of the regiment headquarters. I am with a group of reconnaissance men.

The best of them was sergeant Seryozha Chembarov, the first from the left in the second row.

I am beside him, the 2nd from the left. Lance corporal, reconnoiter Levenok (I do not remember his first name) is to the right. He was born in Vladivostok into the family of a sailor in 1923. In 1944 he was severely wounded in the leg and hospitalized. I do not know about his further fate.

That reconnoiter was my most favorite in the entire intelligence division. He was the bravest and had the most gumption. He could penetrate in the enemy's trenches and get a captive in broad daylight.

I took part in the Great Patriotic War from its very beginning. On 16th October 1941, when panic started in Moscow, Stalin ordered the formation of an officer battalion and sent it to Klin. There were minor collisions.

Later I was ordered to move to Tihvin where I took part in combat action. Then I moved to Lodeynoye Field. I was a battalion commanding officer there. We took our defense, and then I fought south of Lake Ladoga. When the 'Road of Life' was constructed, we patrolled it on skis.

Then we relocated to the Transpolar area. We fought near Kandalaksha, took part in the defeat of a German grouping in this area. Then we were assigned to the second Ukrainian Front near Bucharest. Then we relocated to the vicinity of Budapest to the third Ukrainian Front.

Then we were near Pecs, when Germans struck a blow there. At the end of the war I was on the border of Austria and Yugoslavia in the direction of Zagreb.

I finished the war in the rank of lieutenant colonel, I was promoted to this rank at the age of 23, in early 1944.

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