Kukunin, Sergey Alexandrovich

Early years

Born in 1898 ^[1] in the village of Vysokovo of the Vesyegonsk district of the Tver province ^[2] in a peasant family. Russian ^[3] . Father died early. He graduated from elementary school, worked as a backup ^[4] .

During the Civil War, 19-year-old Sergei volunteered to join the Red Army ^[3] , was wounded. Then he worked on a collective farm ^[4] .

In the family of Sergei Alexandrovich Kukunin, three children were born: Antonina, Anna and Alexander ^[3] . In 1935, his wife died, and Sergei Kukunin realized that he alone could not raise children in the village. He moved to one of the largest ^{[5] [6]} construction projects in the USSR in the city of Stalinogorsk to create the Stalinogorsk chemical plant , related industries and infrastructure. He got a job as a storekeeper at a chemical plant, where his cousin already worked. During the year, the children lived with the sister of the deceased spouse, who also had three children. They lived from hand to mouth: Antonina, from the age of 11, worked on a collective farm, fiddled with flax and worked with a pitchfork on haymaking ; the youngest Anna worked on weeding. In 1936, his father settled in Stalinogorsk, got a room in a barracks in the collective farm village in the industrial district of the city (northern construction site) and the next year he moved the children to his place ^{[7] [3]} and got married a second time.

The beginning of World War II

In the summer of 1941, with the outbreak of World War II , S. A. Kukunin began to engage in the distillation of horses to the front line near Yelnya ( Smolensk region ). After the liberation of Stalinogorsk in 1942, he was called the Stalinogorsk RVK in the Red Army ^[8] . At the military registration and enlistment office he was escorted by the 16-year-old eldest daughter Antonina, crackers were collected on the road with the whole hut, since everyone respected the neighbor very much ^[7] .

In the battles of World War II from June 1942 ^[8] . Almost immediately, in the suburbs , he was seriously injured ^[7] . After the guard was cured in a hospital in the Urals ^[7] , the Red Army soldier S. A. Kukunin was sent as a machine gunner to the 3rd Rifle Battalion of the 40th Guards Rifle Regiment of the 11th Guards Rifle Division of the 11th Guards Army on the Western Front on the Kursk Bulge . Party organizer of the company ^[9] , member of the CPSU (b) ^[8] .

The fighters highly appreciated the party organizer S. A. Kukunin, called themselves proudly: “We are Kukuninites!” ^[4] .

In Kursk

On July 12, 1943, as part of the Orel strategic offensive operation “Kutuzov” , the 11th Guards Rifle Division had the task of breaking through the enemy’s defenses in a narrow section of the front, taking control of the village of Staritsa, Ulyanovsk District, Kaluga Region, and ensuring the further advance of Soviet units in the direction of the city of Oryol ^[10] . In the battle in the vicinity of the villages of Seraya , Pochinok and Otvershek (nowadays do not exist), which the Germans turned into a major stronghold of defense, the machine gunner S. A. Kukunin cleared the path of the advancing Soviet infantry in the morning. The first attempt to take the village of Seraya failed, the German troops launched a counterattack. He participated in repelling two counterattacks, destroying over 100 enemy soldiers and officers ^[10] .

During the next attack of the stronghold on the Soviet infantry, the machine-gun point of the enemy opened fire, causing the battalion to lie down. The situation became critical, threatened to disrupt the attack and the death of many fighters. At this moment, S. A. Kukunin, with a grenade in his hand, crawled toward the enemy machine-gun bunker . After throwing a grenade, the German machine gun still continued to fire. Then Sergey Alexandrovich closed the bunker embrasure with his body ^[10] .

After the German machine gun was silent, the chain rose, and the Soviet infantry took the German fortified point, starting the pursuit of the retreating enemy ^[10] .

Thus, at the cost of his life, S. A. Kukunin ensured the success of the entire operation of the battalion. By 8-9 a.m., soldiers of the 11th Guards Rifle Division took possession of the Pochinik stronghold, dropping the German units of the 293rd Infantry Division , the 13th Mortar Regiment and the 5th Artillery Regiment defending in this area. From this frontier, the tanks of the 10th Guards , 29th Guards , 43rd Guards and 213th Tank Brigades, as well as the 1st Guards Motorized Rifle Division, were introduced into the breach. Soviet units moved forward, despite strong enemy resistance ^[11] .

By order of the 16th Guards Rifle Corps No. 6 / n of August 11, 1943, S. Kukunin awarded the Order of World War 1 degree. ^[eight]

By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of June 4, 1944 "for heroism and dedication, for showing a high example of military prowess" of the guard, the Red Army soldier S. A. Kukunin was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the awarding of the Order of Lenin and the Golden Star medal . ^[12]

Initially, S. A. Kukunin was buried 0.8 km north of Otvershek, and later was reburied in a mass grave on the southern outskirts of the village of Efimtsevo, Ulyanovsk District, Kaluga Region ^{[9] [13]} . His children were notified of the death, but only 25 years later, in 1968, they found out exactly where their father died: students of the Novomoskovsk branch of the Moscow Art Theater helped find his grave, who, on the 25th anniversary of the battle on the Oryol-Kursk Bulge, went to battle places the glories of Novomoskovtsev ^[7] .

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  Soviet machine gunner with " Maxim ", Battle of Kursk , 1943

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  German machine gun calculation MG 42 , 1943

Soviet state awards and titles:

• Hero of the Soviet Union (June 4, 1944, posthumously);
• Order of Lenin (June 4, 1944, posthumously);
• Order of the Patriotic War I degree (August 11, 1943, posthumously).

The first wife died in 1935. The family had three children: Antonina, Anna, and Alexander, ^[3] whom, after the death of his wife, S. A. Kukunin was transferred to Stalinogorsk ^[7] . With his second wife, Zoya Anatolevna Dubenkova ^[15] , they lived together from 1937 to 1941. After S.A. Kukunin left for the front, she threw the children, and their elder daughter Antonina Sergeyevna was engaged in their further education.

According to the recollections of the daughters, Antonina and Anna Kukunin, Sergei Alexandrovich was not strict, but fair; wanted children to get an education. Both sisters, after being left orphans, received education, both have children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren ^[7] . Antonina, Anna and Alexander worked at the Novomoskovsk chemical plant ^[4] . As of 2015, Antonina and Anna Kukunin live in the city of Novomoskovsk ^[7] .

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  Family of A. A. Kukunin in 1968: third from left - daughter Anna; on the right - son Alexander and his daughter Margarita; then the daughter of Antoninus; Alexander's wife - Tamara

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  From left to right: great-granddaughter of Natasha, daughters Antonina and Anna, son Alexander, 1969

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  Daughter Antonina Sergeyevna Kukunina speaks at a rally on the Barrow of Glory, Istra district of the Moscow region, where the regiment of S. A. Kukunin fought

In the village of Vysokovo (the Molokovo rural settlement ) there is a memorial place where the house where S. A. Kukunin was born and lived in the 1920s and 30s was located ^[16] . School No. 5 of the city of Novomoskovsk and the brigade of the Azot chemical plant are named after S. A. Kukunin. His name is carved on the monument to the Tulaks - Heroes of the Soviet Union , on the memorial to those who fell in the Great Patriotic War in Novomoskovsk, on the Heroes Avenue ( Moskovskaya St. ) and on the monument to the soldiers who fell in battles for the Motherland, installed on the territory of the Azot company ^[10] .

In January 1964 ^[3] in Novomoskovsk , Kukunin Street , stretching from Kalinin Street to the forest park, was named after him. On the house number 2, where he lived, a memorial plaque ^[17] . Traditional in the city were athletics competitions for the prize of Sergei Kukunin ^[18] . In NAC "Nitrogen" established a prize to them. S. A. Kukunin ^[19] , and in the museum of the chemical plant a special stand is dedicated to him ^[4] .

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  “Dad and grandfather from children and grandchildren” - relatives and veterans of Eurochem’s labor at the mass grave in the village of Efimtsevo , 2013

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  A plaque (bottom left) on a mass grave

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  The memorial complex in memory of the heroes who died in the battles for Stalinogorsk, and about all the New Muscovites who did not return from the front (Novomoskovsk)

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  Heroes Alley with a stand dedicated to S. A. Kukunin (Novomoskovsk)

Encyclopedias and biographical directories

• Battle of Kursk. Chronicle, facts, people. - M .: OLMA-PRESS, 2003. - Prince. 1. - S. 109-415 pp. - (Archive). - ISBN 5-224-04435-9
• Kukunin Sergey Alexandrovich // Tula Biographical Dictionary: in 2 volumes - Tula, 1996. - T. I: (A-L). - S. 297.

Essays and Memoirs

• A. Atlasov. Breast on the embrasure (Sergey A. Kukunin) // Heroes of Novomoskovtsy, 1941-1945 /ed. advice . - 2nd ed., Rev. and add. - Novomoskovsk: Recom, 2010. - S. 37-39. - 114 p. - 1000 copies.
• Kukunin Sergey Alexandrovich // Isaev S. Your heroes, Kursk Bulge: document. Essays on the Heroes of the Soviet Union awarded this title for feats committed during the Battle of Kursk (July 5 - August 23, 1943) / S. Isaev, G. Koltunov. - Voronezh: Central Black Earth Book Publishing House, 1990. - 480 p.
• Immortal feat their high / Prev. ed. collegiums A.A. Yelkin . - 2nd ed. - Tula: Prioksky Book Publishing House, 1983. - S. 307-309. - 646 p. - 10,000 copies.
• Kukunin Sergey Aleksandrovich // Dolgov I.A. Golden Stars of Kalininians / lit. Record A.F. Rostapov. - 3rd ed., Revised. - M .: Moscow Worker ( Kalinin Branch), 1983. - T. 1. - S. 261-264. - 399 p. - 20,000 copies.
• Koltunov G.A., Solovyov B.G. Kursk battle. - M .: Military Publishing, 1970 .-- S. 291. - 400 p. - 50,000 copies.
• Kukunin Sergey Alexandrovich // Tulyaki - Heroes of the Soviet Union / [Otv. ed. A.A. Yelkin]. - Tula: Prioksky Book Publishing House , 1967. - 446 p.

Articles

• The names of the heroes are immortal // Tula News . - 2000. - June 10. - S. 2.
• Bondarenko A. Street of Sergei Kukunin // Kommunar. - 1985. - May 17.
• Kukunina A. Street of my father // Novomoskovskaya Pravda . - 1965. - May 9.
• Ozersky N. People Remember // Novomoskovskaya Pravda. - 1965. - Sep 12.
• Pozdnyakov A. Burning heart // Kommunar. - 1966. - June 29.

• Ufarkin N.V., Primachenko V.V. Kukunin, Sergey Alexandrovich (Russian) . Site " Heroes of the country ".
• Andrey Lifke. The star and death of Sergei Kukunin (neopr.) . Novomoskovskaya Pravda (February 8, 2015). Date of treatment June 21, 2015.
• Heroes - Novomoskovtsy (neopr.) . The official website of the municipality is Novomoskovsk (May 7, 2010). Date of treatment February 17, 2015. Archived March 28, 2012.