KELCHIN MIKHAIL NIKIFOROVICH
Junior Lieutenant, Participant of World War II, The Hero of the Soviet Union (January 10, 1944)
He was born in 1921 in the village of Motorino (now the northern district of the Orenburg region). After graduating from high school, he worked first in an elevator in Abdulino and then on a railway. Later, he moved to the Uzbekistan USSR.
In September 1940 he was drafted into the Red Army. From the first days of World War II, he fought as commander of the 1st anti-tank platoon of the 22nd Motorized Guards Battalion of the 6th Tank Guard Corps of the 3rd Guards Army of the Voronezh Front. He fought valiantly for the Dnieper.
Kelchin’s platoon was the first to cross the Dnieper and cross the Bukrinsky bridgehead on the west coast. In the first German counterattack, the platoon’s artillery destroyed two tanks, and Kelchin destroyed the enemy’s self-propelled artillery himself. During the next German counterattack, the platoon destroyed 2 anti-tank and 1 assault cannon, 2 machine guns and several dozens of German soldiers and officers. In battle, Kelchin killed one machine gunner and captured another, then brought him to headquarters with his latest machine gun. On November 4, 1943, Kelchin was killed in battle for the village of Pusha-Voditsa (now Kiev). He was buried where he died.
By the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of January 10, 1944, “For exemplary performance of combat duties, courage and heroism in the fight against Nazi invaders on the front”, he was awarded the title of “The Hero of the Soviet Union”.
HERO OF THE SOVIET UNION
ORDER OF LENIN
THE MEDAL "FOR COURAGE"
