Kaliberda, Ivan Afanasevich

Born in with. Velikiy Burluk , Velikoburluksky district of Kharkov region in a large family, Ukrainian .

Member of the CPSU (b) since 1943 . In 1939 he graduated from high school, in 1941 - the Leningrad Military Engineering School . After graduating from the school, he commanded a training platoon and sapper company of the 20th sapper brigade of the 7th sapper army of the Volga Military District , then was in the reserve of officers at the 28th army of the South-Western Front .

Member of World War II from July 1942 ; participated in the Battle of Stalingrad , the battle of Kursk , crossing the Dnieper , the liberation of Ukraine , Poland , Hungary , Romania and Czechoslovakia .

In 1943, the lieutenant , commander of the pontoon platoon of the 6th separate motorized pontoon-bridge battalion of the 7th Guards Army of the 2nd Ukrainian Front, led the first landing across the Dnieper in the area of ​​the villages of Perevolochna and Soloshino south of Kremenchug (now Kobelyaksky district of the Poltava region ). Under strong enemy fire, the unit successfully crossed the river. By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of October 26, 1943, “For the heroic deed shown during the crossing of the Dnieper River, the solid consolidation and expansion of the bridgehead on the western bank of the Dnieper River,” he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union . In this battle, Lieutenant Kaliberda received a severe through bullet wound to the chest .

The Red Army newspaper of the 2nd Ukrainian Front “Suvorov Onslaught” No. 257 for 1943 wrote in a note by the front-line correspondent “Under the rain of fire”:

“The commander summoned Lieutenant Ivan Kaliberd and said:“ You are the commander of the first landing. You need to be the first to cross to the right bank. " The lieutenant replied briefly: “Yes, it will be done!” A shower of fire fell on the first ferry, but he walked along the planned course. And he reached the shore. Just did not happen to step on the right bank of the landing commander. His fighting friends, having entered the right bank, buried the body of their commander on the treasured bank. The hero is not alive [...]. ”

In serious condition, the commander was transferred to the left bank to the hospital, but he survived.

Returning to duty, he commanded a platoon , and later a company in engineering units . After the war in 1954 he graduated from the Military Law Academy of the Soviet Army with a degree in military law . Since 1955 he served in the Carpathian Military District as an assistant to the military prosecutor of the district for special affairs. Dismissed to the reserve from the Soviet Army in 1969 .

After leaving the Soviet Army, he worked as the head of the Museum of the History of the Forces of the Carpathian Military District, as a teacher of primary military training at Lvov Secondary School No. 34, and as head of the personnel department of the Scientific Library named after V. Stefanika of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine . Total military and labor experience of more than 55 years. For active work on military-patriotic and international education of youth in 1984 he was awarded the Certificate of Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Ukrainian SSR .

Senior citizen, conducts active educational and patriotic work, lives in Lviv. By the decree of the President of Ukraine dated May 5, 2008, he was awarded the title of Major General of the Armed Forces of Ukraine ^[1] .

In May 2010, he was one of two Heroes of the Soviet Union as part of the Ukrainian delegation of World War II veterans, who attended a parade on May 9 on Red Square ( Moscow ), dedicated to the 65th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War ^[2] . In May 2015, he attended the Victory Parade and special events in Moscow on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Victory.

USSR awards

• Title Hero of the Soviet Union . Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of October 26, 1943:
  • Order of Lenin
  • Gold Star medal No. 1330.
• Order of the Patriotic War I degree. Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of March 11, 1985.
• Order of the Red Star . Order of the Military Council of the 7th Guards Army No. 249 / n dated August 30, 1943.
• Order of the Red Star . Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 1954.
• Medal "For Military Merit" .
• Medal "For the Defense of Stalingrad . " Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of December 22, 1942.
• Medal "For the victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945." Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of May 9, 1945.
• Medal "For the development of virgin lands . " Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of October 20, 1956.
• Medal "For Impeccable Service" I degree.
• Other medals of the USSR.

Awards of Ukraine

• Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky II degree.
• Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky III degree. Decree of the President of Ukraine No. 1329/99 of October 14, 1999.
• Medal "Defender of the Fatherland" . Decree of the President of Ukraine No. 1329/99 of October 14, 1999.

Honorary titles

• Honorary citizen of the village of Velikiy Burluk.
• Honorary soldier of the 703rd engineering regiment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine ( Sambir ).
• Honorary Worker of the Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine.
• Outstanding lawyer of Ukraine. Honorary title of the Union of Lawyers of Ukraine.

Family

• Wife - Kaliberda (Mozharovskaya) Olga Alexandrovna (1921-2012).
• Sons: Kaliberda Anatoly Ivanovich (born 1947) and Kaliberda Sergey Ivanovich (born 1953) ^[3] .
• Has a granddaughter, three grandchildren and a great-grandson.

• Heroes of the Soviet Union - warriors of engineering troops: Prince. first / Comp. A.A.Semenov and T.I. Dmitrieva. - Leningrad: Military Historical Order of the Red Star Museum of Artillery, Engineering and Signal Corps, 1984. - p. 233.
• Heroes of the Soviet Union: A Brief Biographical Dictionary in 2 volumes. T.1. / Abaev-Lyubichev / Prev. ed. Collegiums I.I. Shkadov. - M .: Military Publishing House, 1987 .-- p. 611.
• V. Pertsov. Teacher of courage // Homeland golden stars: Essays on the Heroes of the Soviet Union and Heroes of Socialist Labor in the city of Lviv / Comp.: K. O. Petrovsky, I. S. Korotkov, N. D. Kolomiets. - Lviv: Kamenyar , 1977 .-- S. 94–97.
• A sketch of the history of the Kaliningrad Higher Military Engineering Command Order of Lenin of the Red Banner College named after A.A. Zhdanova / Ch. ed. Anishchenko I.P. - M.: Military Publishing House of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR, 1968. - p. 210-212.
• Feats in the Name of the Fatherland: Documentary Essays on the Heroes of the Soviet Union - Natives of Kharkov and Kharkov Region / Under. ed. S. I. Isaev - 20th ed. reslave. and add. - Kharkov: Prapor, 1985. - p. 268-271.
• School of Military Engineers: Kaliningrad Higher Military Engineering Command Order of Lenin Red Banner College named after A.A. Zhdanova / Ed. V.V. Zhigailo. - M .: Military Publishing House, 1980 .-- p. 135-136.
• Kuznetsov V.S. (Vlad Krasnoyarsky) Traces of time: Book of essays, interviews, articles. - M.: Union of Writers of Russia, 2007. - p. 30-33.
• Dmitriev R. On a pontoon near a light machine gun ... // "Red Star". - 2018 .-- November 23. - C.8.
• In war as in war. From the notes of the front-line pontooner I. A. Kaliberda. // "Red Star". - 2019. - August 21. - S. 10.

• Kaliberda, Ivan Afanasevich (Russian) . Site " Heroes of the country ".
• "Ukraine. Lviv Presentation of the book of the Hero ” (Russian) . “International Council of Russian Compatriots” (April 26, 2011).