KOSTIN ANATOLIY PETROVICH

KOSTIN ANATOLIY PETROVICH

a private a participant in World War II, Full cavalier of the Order of Glory (March 24, 1945)

Born in 1923 in the village of Kyshtym plant in the Yekaterinburg district of the Yekaterinburg province (currently the city of Kyshtym in the Chelyabinsk region). From a working family. Russian. He graduated from incomplete school. In March 1942, the Kyshtym district military registration and enlistment office of the Chelyabinsk region was drafted into the Red Army.
Since May 1942 – a participant in the Great Patriotic War. In battle on March 22, 1943 he was wounded. After the hospital, in May 1943 he fought in a foot reconnaissance platoon of the 15th Infantry Regiment of the 49th Infantry Division of the 50th Army. In the battle on June 10, 1943 he was again wounded and shell-shocked. After the hospital he was sent to the 413rd Infantry Division. He fought in the West, from August 1943 – at Bryansk, from October 1943 – at the Belorussian, from February 1944 – at the 1st Belorussian and from November 1944 – at the 2nd Belorussian fronts.
On the night of May 18, as part of a reconnaissance group, broke into the enemy’s position, destroyed 8 Germans in a battle, detonated a machine-gun point with a grenade, and threw dugouts with grenades. After the opening of enemy fire, he spotted several firing points and reported their location to the command. He was presented for the award of the Order of the Red Star, but the division commander replaced the award with the medal «For Courage». So received his first award. Scout of the 207th separate reconnaissance company (413rd Infantry Division, 50th Army, Belorussian Front) Red Army soldier Anatoly Petrovich Kostin showed exceptional valor during the frontal offensive operation on the Vitebsk-Orsha direction in the winter of 1943-1944. When attacking the heights in the Gomel region of the Belarusian SSR on December 8, 1943, he was the first to burst into the German trench, where he destroyed 2 enemy firing points with automatic fire and grenades, and also captured 2 light machine guns. Also in this battle, a German soldier was wounded and captured by him, whom he delivered to headquarters (although the wounded died there). From December 18 to 24, as part of the reconnaissance group, he was in the German rear, identifying emergency defense lines.
The capture group, which included Kostin, when capturing a control prisoner, destroyed one German soldier and captured the second. Silently did this did not work, the German unit immediately arrived at the sounds of shooting began the pursuit of scouts. Kostin volunteered to cover up the withdrawal of the group, in an unequal battle he destroyed 3 German soldiers and for a long time detained the others with automatic fire. The group with the prisoner successfully crossed the front line, and then A.P. Kostin himself safely reached his own.
For exemplary performance of the combat missions of the Command at the front of the fight against the German invaders and the valor and courage shown by order of the units of the 413rd Infantry Division of January 6, 1944, the Red Army soldier Anatoly Petrovich Kostin was awarded the Order of Glory of the 3rd degree.
He acted extremely bravely in the Bobruisk offensive operation – an integral part of the Belarusian strategic offensive operation. During the next reconnaissance mission in the German rear, the soldiers found a moving group of 12 German soldiers led by an officer. Secretly overtaking her. Kostin point-blank fired from a machine gun. The soldiers on the spot killed all the Germans except the officer. Having successfully escaped the persecution, the scouts crossed the front line and delivered the wounded officer to the division headquarters. The next day, at the next reconnaissance, Kostin paired up a group of 28 soldiers in the German rear, ambushed the Germans along the trail, and destroyed the whole group with automatic fire at close range.
On June 30, when a German counterattack was repelled against the just captured ferry across the Svisloch River (in the vicinity of the village of Svisloch in the Pukhovichi District of the Minsk Region of the Belorussian SSR) they repelled their onslaught with automatic fire. In this battle, they destroyed up to 20 enemy soldiers.
For exemplary performance of the combat missions of the Command at the front of the struggle against the German invaders and the valor and courage shown by order of the troops of the 3rd Army dated July 10, 1944, the Red Army soldier Anatoly Petrovich Kostin was awarded the Order of Glory of the 2nd degree.
He distinguished himself at the final stage of the Belarusian strategic operation. On August 29, 1944, a Soviet reconnaissance group took advantage of the oversight of the enemy, who had poorly organized guard duty, secretly entered the village and killed the crew of a German tank (3 people) in the area of the Dybow village near Radzymin (now in the Mazowieckie Voivodeship, Poland). The tank itself was captured in good condition. In the subsequent battle, the Red Army soldier Kostin destroyed another 7 German soldiers. The scouts successfully held a circular defense and thereby diverted the attention of the enemy from to suitable main forces, who soon completely abandoned the Germans from the village.
By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated March 23, 1945 “For exemplary fulfillment of command assignments in battles against Nazi invaders”, Red Army soldier Anatoly Petrovich Kostin was awarded the Order of Glory of the 1st degree.
In 1945 he was demobilized due to disability. He returned to his homeland. Since May 1945, he again worked at the Kyshtym Mechanical Plant as a turner.
In September 1948, he quit the factory and soon moved to the city of Tashkent of the Uzbek SSR.