Alexey Nikolaevich Potemkin (1921-2003) – Hero of the Soviet Union, Soviet military leader, lieutenant general.
Born in the village of Veselo-Voznesenka in the family of a fisherman. After graduating from the Taganrog Pedagogical College (1939), he entered the Rostov Pedagogical Institute, but did not have the opportunity to study, as he was drafted into the Red Army by the Fedorov RVK of the Rostov region.
He began his service in the 301st Infantry Regiment of the 48th Infantry ision. He took part in the entry of Soviet troops into the Baltic states. From June 1940, the 48th ision was stationed in Riga. Before the start of the Great Patriotic War, the 301st Infantry Regiment as part of the ision was transferred to the area of the Lithuanian border town of Taurage to the territory of a fortified area under construction on the Soviet-German border.
Alexey met the beginning of the war as the commander of a rifle platoon squad, and in July he was appointed commander of a demolition platoon. On the first day of the war, Alexey was wounded by shrapnel in his left hand. But, fortunately, the wound was light, and he remained in combat formation. He took part in the Baltic defensive operation of the North-Western Front in the Siauliai direction.
In November 1941, Alexei Potemkin, as a promising commander, was sent to the courses for command personnel of the North-Western Front in Rybinsk (Yaroslavl region). Upon graduation, with the rank of lieutenant, he was appointed company commander of the 71st Marine Rifle Brigade (1st Shock Army), which occupied the defense near Staraya Russa. In January 1942, the 71st Brigade was reorganized into the 2nd Rifle Brigade, and in April 1942 into the 25th Guards Rifle ision. Thus, the main part of the combat path is connected with the 25th Guards Rifle ision.
In March 1942, in hand-to-hand combat with the attacking Germans, he was wounded and carried by soldiers from the battlefield. He was treated in a hospital in Yaroslavl for a month, and after recovery he returned to his ision. In 1943, heading the headquarters of the 73rd, then the 78th Guards Rifle Regiments (25th Guards Rifle ision, 6th Army, Southwestern Front), he participated in the liberation of the Voronezh, Belgorod, Kharkov regions, in the crossing of the Don, Dnieper, Southern Bug, Dniester.
On September 26, 1943, the 78th Guards Rifle Regiment under the command of Chief of Staff A.N. Potemkin (the regiment commander had become seriously ill the day before) was the first to cross the Dnieper between Zaporozhye and Dnepropetrovsk, crossing a river more than 2 kilometers wide. The regiment held the bridgehead and made it possible for two isions of the 6th Army and a combined detachment of the neighboring army to cross to the right bank of the Dnieper. In stubborn battles with the enemy, the 78th Infantry Regiment defeated up to a battalion of infantry with tanks and self-propelled artillery, capturing 28 soldiers and officers, three cannons, four mortars and six machine guns.
By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated March 19, 1944, the chief of staff of the 78th Guards Rifle Regiment of the 25th Guards Red Banner Sinelnikovskaya Rifle ision of the Guard, Major Alexei Nikolaevich Potemkin, was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the award Order of Sloth and Gold Star medal.
Since December 1943, Major Alexei Potemkin has been the commander of the 78th Guards Rifle Regiment. And again he distinguished himself – during the encirclement and destruction by Soviet troops of a large group of Germans in the Korsun-Shevchenkovsky area. When the enemy gathered a tank fist and tried to free the encircled, he launched his main attack on A. Potemkin’s regiment in the Kapitonovka area (Kirovograd region). German tanks made their way through the front line five times, but Soviet soldiers cut off enemy infantry from the tanks and destroyed them. The enemy’s plan was thwarted.
On April 16, 1944, in a battle near the village of Ustye in Moldova, Alexei Potemkin was again seriously wounded and sent for treatment to Dubossary. He did not return to the front.
Graduated from the M. V. Frunze Military Academy (1947), the Military Academy of the General Staff (1952). Served as ision commander in the Transbaikal and Northern military districts.
A. Potemkin’s further service was associated with major command and staff positions in formations and central structures of the Armed Forces: first deputy commander of the 8th Guards Army in the GSVG (1960-1966), deputy commander of the Moscow Military District for combat training (1968-1970), First Deputy Head of Civil Defense of the USSR (1970-1973).
General A.N. Potemkin served in the Allied Forces of the Warsaw Pact in responsible positions: a Soviet military specialist under the commander of the military district of the GDR army, and then the chief inspector general under the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces of the VD.
In December 1978, A.N. Potemkin, with the rank of lieutenant general, was transferred to the reserve. He was a member of the board of the association of Heroes of the Soviet Union and Russia and full holders of the Order of Glory, chairman of the board of the Heroes club, a member of the board of the central House of War Veterans and Armed Forces, a member of the coordinating council of veteran organizations of the CIS.
Chairman of the Moscow and Moscow Region Club of Heroes of the USSR, Russian Federation and Full Cavaliers of the Order of Glory, 3 degrees (1994-2003). Hero of the Soviet Union Alexey Nikolaevich Potemkin was awarded the Orders of Lenin (03/19/1944), the Red Banner (02/14/1944), the Red Star (02/04/1943, 10/26/1955), Alexander Nevsky (09/29/1943), the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree ( 03/11/1985), Red Banner of Labor (02/22/1968), “For service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces of the USSR” 3rd degree (04/30/1975), a number of foreign orders, medals. Honorary citizen of the cities of Dnepropetrovsk, Kotovsk, Balta, as well as honorary citizen of the Neklinovsky district (2000).
We are proud and remember our heroes!
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