Ershov, Vasily Alexandrovich

Vasily Aleksandrovich Ershov was born in the village of Sandovo, now Sandovsky district, Tver region in a peasant family. Russian

He studied at home in a rural school. He worked on a collective farm .

In 1942 he was drafted into the Red Army . On the fronts of World War II since 1942.

On April 12, 1944, during the offensive of the Red Army in Crimea, an reconnaissance group of scouts from the 3rd Guards Separate Motor-Engineering Battalion and the 91st Separate Motorcycle Battalion, under the command of Sergeant Nikolai Poddubny, conducted reconnaissance of the enemy forces on the tank. Near the village of Ashaga-Jamin, the group came under artillery fire, the tank was damaged, and the unit took up defense around the tank. For two hours, scouts fought against the enemy battalion. When the ammunition had already run out, the scouts rushed into hand-to-hand combat and destroyed 13 more enemy soldiers with bayonets and engineer blades. The forces were unequal, and they were all captured. Scouts were taken to the village and subjected to severe torture. None of them betrayed military secrets. At dawn, all the scouts were dragged to the ravine and driven out by the local population. Despite severe wounds, the scouts were able to stand on their feet and accept death as heroes. Of the nine scouts, only one survived - V. A. Ershov.

Locals at the burial of the scouts who were shot found that one of them was alive, and sheltered him in one of the houses. Before the arrival of the Red Army units, they provided him with possible medical assistance, and with the arrival of the Red Army they transferred him to the hospital for treatment.

By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of May 16, 1944, Vasily Ershov and all scouts were awarded the title Heroes of the Soviet Union.

After the cure, Vasily Ershov settled in the village of Sudilovo (now the Sandovsky district of the Tver region). He worked at a local collective farm ^[1] .

He was buried in the village of Lukino, Sandovsky district ^{[2] [3]} .

• Gold Star Medal
• Order of Lenin .
• Medal "For the victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945."
• Medal "Twenty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945." ^[2]

• In commemoration of the exploit of the Heroes of the scouts, the village of Ashaga-Jamin was renamed Hero.
• To commemorate the feat on the mass grave of the heroes, a granite obelisk was erected with the inscription: "Eternal glory to the Heroes of the Soviet Union." The following names are carved: “Guard Sergeants N. I. Poddubny , M. M. Abdulmanapov ; ordinary guards: P. V. Veligin , I. T. Timoshenko , M. A. Zadorozhny , G. N. Zakharchenko , P. A. Ivanov , A. F. Symonenko . "
• In the city of Saki, in honor of the feat, Nine Heroes Street was named.
• In commemoration of the feat in Simferopol, a monument was erected.
• A street in the village of Sandovo, Tver Region is named after the Hero.

Ershov, Vasily Alexandrovich (Russian) . Site " Heroes of the country ".

• 19th Red Banner Perekop Tank Corps .
• Bortakovsky T. Lost! Unknown pages of the Great Patriotic War. - Veche, 2015. - ISBN 978-5-4444-3590-8
• Ershov Vasily Alexandrovich (neopr.) . The administration of the Lukinsky rural settlement of the Sandovsky district of the Tver region. Date of treatment October 11, 2016.