BULATOV MIKHAIL ALEKSEYEVICH

BULATOV MIKHAIL ALEKSEYEVICH

Senior Sergeant, Participant of World War II, The Hero of the Soviet Union (February 22, 1944)

He was born on October 25, 1924 in the village of Verkhnya Sanarka of Chelyabinsk Oblast.
From 1940 to 1942, Bulatov worked as a telephone operator in Chimbay of Karakalpak ASSR. In 1942, Mikhail Bulatov was drafted into the army and evacuated to Chardzhou, Turkmenistan, where he was sent to study at the Orlov Infantry School. There he became a military sapper.
In late March 1943, Bulatov joined the front in the sappers of the 235^th Artillery Division and served in that unit until the end of the war.
During the storming of the northwestern part of Konigsberg, the 235^th Infantry Division attacked hard. As an engineer, Bulatov’s unit was tasked with inspecting the only route for tanks on the Kyonigsberg-Rauschen highway. During the reconnaissance, a group of four fighters, including Bulatov, was spotted and shot by the Germans.
Despite the fog and poor visibility in the morning, one soldier was killed and two were seriously injured. After giving first aid to his colleagues, Bulatov hid in a ditch on the side of the road. Bulatov crawled out onto the road, saw air bombs hidden under cracked asphalt, and began defusing the explosives. Despite being under heavy enemy fire, Bulatov continued to move along the highway, defusing a total of 24 airstrikes. As Mikhail Bulatov said, the total mass of defused bombs was 2.5 tons.
By the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of April 19, 1945, “For his heroism in the battles of East Prussia”, Senior Sergeant Mikhail Alekseyevich Bulatov was awarded the title of “The Hero of the Soviet Union”. Bulatov received the award from Marshal Vasilevskiy.
After the war, Mikhail Bulatov continued his military service and in 1948 graduated from the Lvov Military-Political Academy.
After graduating from the Evening Workers’ Youth School in 1957, Bulatov completed his secondary education and entered the military academy, where he studied part-time for five years.
In 1963, Bulatov graduated from V.I.Lenin’s Military-Political Academy.
He left the army in 1973 as a colonel.