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Vladimir Podgorbunsky: as an ex-convict was "genius intelligence"

Vladimir Podgorbunsky: how did the former criminal become «intelligence genius»

Vladimir Ivanovich Podgorbunsky - one of the most successful and courageous scouts of the Great Patriotic War. At the front, he was considered a living legend, however, before becoming a hero, Vladimir was an ordinary bandit.

Letter to Kalinin

Vladimir Podgorbunsky was born in 1916 year in the Irkutsk region. Two years later, his father, who fought against the White Guards died, and the child lived with his mother for several years in the red partisan detachment. After the Civil War he lived in Irkutsk, Barnaul, Moscow, and when Vladimir's mother 1932 she died, he ended up in Chita, where did you get to the local orphanage.

Brave and cocky Vladimir became the leader of the Chita orphanages and was engaged in theft. In a conversation with Lieutenant General Nikolai Popel, Podgorbunsky recalled: “It was easier to learn to steal in an orphanage, than writing and reading… By the age of nineteen I had thirty-six years in prison. The number of drives cannot be counted ". Having received the first term, Vladimir escaped from the children's colony and committed a number of new crimes.

Was caught and sent to adult camp again. In conclusion, the guy met a colonel-tanker convicted under a political article, who influenced Vladimir and took the floor from him, that he will end the crime and become a normal person. Podgorbunsky wrote a letter to the All-Union headman Kalinin with a request to influence his fate. Mikhail Ivanovich responded and the guy from the camp ended up in the army, and after demobilization to the factory.

Real devil

The former criminal received his first award - the Medal For Courage 1942 of the year. The soldier knocked out a German tank and, being wounded, suppressed a platoon of enemy infantry by firing a machine gun. For the feat, Vladimir was awarded the officer rank and accepted into the party. Ironically, the former mayor was appointed deputy commander of the clan for political affairs. A year later, Podgorbunsky was appointed commander of a platoon of machine gunners of the reconnaissance company of the 1st mechanized brigade.

Despite the prohibitions, Vladimir Nikolayevich went into reconnaissance with shoulder straps and with awards on his tunic. In one of the battles, he personally shot three Germans. Hero commander, Colonel Fyodor Lipatenkov, in a conversation with military journalist Yuri Zhukov recalled: "Yes, original person. He does amazing things… He may not always be disciplined, so sometimes has trouble with the command. But then in battle – real devil. This will sometimes do, I just can't believe it ".

Hero Scout

Senior Lieutenant Podgorbunsky became a legend. His scouts were always on combat missions, and the command turned a blind eye to his cheeky behavior. Himself a member of the Front Military Council and Secretary of the Central Committee Nikita Khrushchev, after a personal conversation with the intelligence officer, noticed: “The scum will gradually disappear, trivia… And the man, apparently, extraordinary…».

At the end of winter 1943 Podgorbunsky's detachment from 20 scouts on the armor of two tanks and with the support of sappers captured the city of Kazatin, Vinnytsia region. At this important railway junction, the soldiers destroyed 8 guns and several platoons of German infantry. It turned, what was in the city before 3,5 thousand Germans, but the shock of the sudden blow played a role.

10 January 1944 Vladimir Podgorbunsky received the title of Hero of the USSR. 23 February of the same year he was awarded the Order of Lenin and the "Gold Star". By this time, the scout had already had three heavy and three light wounds..

In his memoirs, General Katukov described the episode, when he asked, and did not order the scout to destroy the German pontoon park on the Desna. Podgorbunsky with his fighters attacked the village, occupied by the German garrison. Knocked out the enemy and towed pontoon bridges to the location of Katukov's units. With their help, it was possible to ferry Soviet tanks across the Dniester..

18 July, in the area of ​​the town of Sokal, the soldiers of Podgorbunsky crossed the Western Bug on armored personnel carriers and 40 kilometers went into the German rear. During the raid, an enemy convoy of 100 machines. The scouts had no losses, and their commander received the Order of Alexander Nevsky and the Patriotic War, 1st degree.

Sandomierz bridgehead

Podgorbunsky was one of the first to enter Poland as the commander of a tank company of the 8th motorcycle battalion. His unit crossed the Vistula, fixed and held a small area, further known as the Sandomierz Bridgehead. In these battles, Vladimir receives a severe concussion., partially loses his hearing and starts to stutter. While undergoing treatment, 28-year-old scout married nurse Anna Belyaeva.

Vladimir was planned to be commissioned for injury, but due to the critical situation they were sent to the front again. 19 August, a few hours before the end of the Lvov-Sandomierz operation, former mobster and war hero is ambushed. Late at night, scouts found a burnt armored personnel carrier with the commander inside and carried his body. The hero was buried in the mass grave of Soviet soldiers in the city of Sandomierz.

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