The country and the people living in it must always remember their heroes. One of them, Dmitry Fedorovich Lavrinenko, the Soviet tank ace, the guard senior lieutenant, who earned the highest military rank of the Hero of the USSR in bloody battles, will be discussed in this article.
Origin
According to one version, on October 1 (14), and on the other, on September 10, 1914, in the village of Besstrashnoy (Krasnodar Territory), a son, Lavrinenko Dmitry Fedorovich, was born in the family of Fedor Prokofievich and his wife Matryona. The biography of this man is extremely eventful, despite the fact that he died when he was only 27 years old.
His father was a Kuban Cossack and fought in World War I. After the October Revolution he became a Red Guard. In one of the fights, he died heroically, fighting with the Cossacks. Dmitry’s mother - Matrena Prokofievna - was an active woman and, after the advent of Soviet power, joined the ranks of the CPSU (b). She served as the chairman of the student council in one of the farms of Armavir district. After the death of her husband, she raised her son alone.
Peaceful time
Dmitry Lavrinenko studied at the school of peasant youth in art. Voznesenskaya and graduated in 1931. After that, he continued his education at teacher courses in Armavir. For two years, he taught children on a farm where his mother presided. It was with his light hand that a drama circle appeared in a rural school, and then a string orchestra. In addition, he was also the organizer of several sports sections. According to people who knew him well, the children simply adored their teacher, who usually taught in two classes at the same time.
Since 1933, he worked as a statistician in the office of the Khutorok farm, and a little later as a cashier in the savings bank of the village of Novokubanskoye, which was located 12 km north of Armavir.
Cadet
In 1934, Dmitry decided to voluntarily join the army, where he was initially sent to the cavalry. Four years later, under an abbreviated program, he was trained at the Ulyanovsk Armored School. As his classmates later recalled, the future tank ace Dmitry Lavrinenko was a modest, executive, hardworking and smart commander. He passed all the exams easily, and in this, apparently, his previous specialty helped him.
All around noticed his unusual love for technology. All the time he tried to learn as much as possible about her and quickly master. In addition, in fire training classes, he always shot perfectly with virtually any type of weapon. That is why his friends nicknamed Sniper Eye.
Combat experience
The first military campaign of Dmitry Lavrinenko took place in 1939, and it was Western Ukraine, and a year later - Bessarabia. In the same place, in Stanislav (now Ivano-Frankivsk), he met the girl Nina, his future wife. In the summer of 1941, they got married.
Lavrinenko met the Great Patriotic War with the rank of lieutenant. He was the commander of a tank platoon of the 15th division, which was part of the 16th mechanized corps. I must say that for a long time this military unit did not enter the battle, but only retreated into the interior of the country, losing on the way its material part, which constantly failed. Tankers who did not have their own vehicles and were used in frequent skirmishes with the enemy were used as ordinary infantrymen. The command quickly realized its mistake and issued an order to recall the most qualified tank personnel, including Dmitry Lavrinenko.
A tanker from God, he entered the service of the 4th Panzer Brigade under the command of Colonel M.E. Katukov. At this time, the army began to receive new models of T-34 and KV tanks. They began to produce the Stalingrad Tractor Plant. Art. Lieutenant Lavrinenko was appointed commander of a tank platoon, which got the T-34. In October, the brigade took part in the fighting near Mtsensk against one of the mechanized groups of the German Colonel General G. Guderian. It was here that the crew of Lavrinenko opened the account of the enemy tanks that he had destroyed. In the first battle, held on October 6, four enemy combat vehicles were destroyed.
Unfortunately, there is no exact data on the number of tanks destroyed by the crew of Dmitry Lavrinenko in the battles of Mtsensk. According to various sources, this figure ranges from 7 to 19 cars. This inaccuracy is explained by the fact that at that time no one was particularly involved in counting the wrecked German equipment.
Last Stand
December 18, 1941, the 1st tank brigade, in which Dmitry Lavrinenko served, went to Volokolamsk. Fights began near the villages of Pokrovskoye, Sychevo, Chismena and Ridges. Lavrinenko’s tank company, along with sappers, was sent forward to clear mine routes along which the main forces of the brigade were to move. Suddenly, the group stumbled upon the Germans. The commander decided not to wait for the approach of the main forces, but to attack the enemy in the village of Pokrovskoye.
According to memoirs of fellow soldiers, the Soviet tank company burst into the village and destroyed the fascist garrison with their fire. After that, Lavrinenko launched an attack on the neighboring Goryuns, where German armored vehicles were based. The enemy units could not withstand such a powerful onslaught: the main forces of the brigade arrived to help the tank company. The Nazis were utterly defeated, and Dmitry Lavrinenko destroyed his 52nd German armored vehicle in that battle. Thus, he became the most productive tank ace of the Red Army.
Immediately after the end of the battle, a powerful enemy artillery and mortar shelling fell on the village of Goryuny. Leaving the tank, Art. Lieutenant Lavrinenko was on his way to the brigade commander Colonel Chernoyarov to report on the situation. But he did not manage to do this: he was killed by a fragment from a mortar shell.
Burial place
Hero of the Soviet Union Dmitry Fedorovich Lavrinenko was buried right at the site of his last battle: near the highway, between the two villages - Goryuny and Pokrovskoye. In 1967, a search squad of students in secondary school No. 296 in Moscow, led by N.V. Khabarova, discovered the tanker's grave. It was decided to rebury the remains of the hero on the territory of a small fraternal memorial complex in the village of Denkovo, which is located in the Istra district of the Moscow region. It took place in the presence of the mother of Dmitry Fedorovich - Matrena Prokofievna, his commander - Colonel Y. Ya. Komlov, and students of two schools - No. 296 of Moscow and No. 1 of Armavir.
Awards
It should be noted that the valiant merits of D.F. Lavrinenko to the Fatherland were not immediately recognized. Shortly before the death of the tankman, namely on December 5, 1941, he was presented to the rank of Hero of the Soviet Union, Major General of the 1st Guards Tank Brigade M.E. Katukov, but for some reason was never awarded. Only on December 22 he was posthumously awarded the Order of Lenin.
In the post-war years, Dmitry Lavrinenko, a recognized WWII tank ace, also did not receive a well-deserved award, although such well-known military leaders as Army General Lelyushenko and Marshal Katukov sought it. And only on May 5, 1990, this brave man nevertheless received the title of Hero of the USSR posthumously. In addition, his relatives were awarded the Golden Star medal and another Order of Lenin.
Lavrinenko Dmitry Fedorovich, whose feat should forever remain in the memory of his descendants, was a real hero. Streets in Armavir, Krasnodar, Volokolamsk, and also in his homeland, in the village of Fearless, were named after him.