Zolnikov, Stepan Mikhailovich

Stepan Mikhailovich Zolnikov was born on November 10, 1919 in the village of Goryasha (now in the Krasnoslobodsky district of the Republic of Mordovia ). He is one of the few well-known knights of five medals "For Courage" .

Family

• Father - Zolnikov Mikhail Nikiforovich (1870-1948).
• Mother - Zolnikova Alexandra Ivanovna (1870-1950).
• Spouse - Zolnikova Natalia Illarionovna (born in 1924), Doctor of Medical Sciences .
• Daughter - Zolnikova Galina Stepanovna (born in 1950), candidate of economic sciences .
• Daughter - Paltseva Irina Stepanovna (born in 1956), candidate of medical sciences .
• Three of his siblings, who returned home alive, also fought on various fronts.

Military Service

In 1939 he was called up for active service in the Red Army. He happened to go through two wars. In 1939-1940, he took part in the hostilities on the Karelian Isthmus.

Participated in the assault on the Mannerheim Line. Then part of it was transferred to the Hanko Peninsula (Gangut) in the Gulf of Finland. It was here that the start of the Great Patriotic War was discovered by a mortar man, private Stepan Zolnikov. He was among those who from June 22 to December 3, 1941 defended the naval base on the Gangut, defending the besieged Leningrad.

In September 1942, in a fierce battle at Sinyavinsky Heights, mortar crew commander S. M. Zolnikov was seriously wounded.

Until 07/15/1943, Senior Sergeant Zolnikov served in the 269th Regiment. ^[one]

According to the documents presented on the site “Memory of the People”, he was awarded the Order of Glory of the 3rd degree (order no: 25 / n dated: 02.29.1944 to 63 guards regiment of the Leningrad Front) for the destruction of an enemy machine gun with a servant from a mortar; repulsing enemy attacks, destroying up to 10 enemy soldiers from a rifle, and capturing a German car ^[2] .

Also awarded 5 medals "For Courage":

- Order 31/N 09/23/1943 to 188 guards. cn 63 guards SD Leningrad Front - for the fact that in the battle of September 17, 1943, replacing the wounded gunner’s gunner, he exterminated up to a dozen Nazis. ^[3]

According to the site “Feat of the People”, Stepan Mikhailovich Zolnikov was awarded the 2nd Medal “For Courage” on January 19, 1944 (order No. 03 / n), but he was presented to her as Stepan Vasilievich Zolnikov, born in 1919, called up by the Krasnoslobodsky RVK, the Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (apparently, in view of the mistake made at the headquarters of the 188th Guards Corps 63 guards units LenF) [1].

Order 40 / n 07/04/1944 to 188 guards. cn 63 guards SD Leningrad Front - because the foreman of the company, the guard sergeant Zolnikov saved 25 boxes of mines during the crossing and provided the company with ammunition and food on time. ^[four]

- order 34 / n 07/14/1944 to 188 guards. cn 63 guards KSD of the Leningrad Front - for replacing the wounded calculation commander in a battle on June 11, 1944, and when attacking the enemy with fire from a mortar, destroyed up to 20 Finnish soldiers, while suppressing the fire of 3 machine guns. ^[five]

Order 82 / n 09/30/1944 to 63 Guards. SD of the Leningrad Front - for the fact that on September 18, 1944, the foreman Zolnikov, along with two carriers of shells, destroyed three Germans from personal weapons, and captured the survivors. ^[6]

Also, by a decree of the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces of December 22, 1942, he was awarded the medal "For the Defense of Leningrad" [1] .

Awarded the medal "For the victory over Germany"

• Member of the Soviet-Finnish War (1939-1940)
• participant of the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945)

Medicine

After demobilization, he entered the 2nd Moscow Medical Institute , which he graduated with honors in 1952. So the front-line dream of Stepan Mikhailovich came true to become an anesthetist.

Since 1957, he worked at the Institute of Thoracic Surgery at the Academy of Medical Sciences.

During the Caribbean Crisis of 1962, he was sent to Cuba to organize an anesthesiology service. Once the hospital, where the operation was going on at that moment, and S. M. Zolnikov anesthetized, was attacked by a sabotage group (saboteurs were actively supported by the Americans). Then Stepan Mikhailovich was wounded in the arm. Returning to the Union, he continued practical and scientific activities.

From 1973 until his retirement, he worked as deputy director of the Central Research Institute of Reflexotherapy of the Ministry of Health. S. M. Zolnikov is the creator of a unique device designed to cool the patient’s brain during heart surgery.

In 1985 he was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree. ^[7]

He is the author of more than 200 scientific works, the winner of two prestigious international awards.

S. M. Zolnikov lived in Moscow , being a scientific consultant at the Research Institute of Traditional Treatment Methods of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation.

• Order of Glory III degree (02.22.1944) ^[8]
• Order of the Patriotic War I degree (1985) ^{[9] [10]}
• five medals “For Courage” (according to sources - for the battle on September 3, 1942 (?) ^[11] , September 23, 1943 ^[12] , July 4, 1944 ^[13] , July ¹⁴ , 1944 ^[14] , September 28, 1944 ^[15] 05/05/1945 ^[11] )
• Medal "For the Defense of Leningrad"
• Medal "For the victory over Germany"
• The name of S. M. Zolnikov was included in the encyclopedia “The Best People of Russia” according to the presentation of the Moscow House of War Veterans and Armed Forces ^[11]

• Gribkov, Pavel Fedorovich , was awarded five medals “For Courage”.
• Ippolitova, Vera Sergeevna , was awarded five medals “For Courage”.

• Zolnikov Stepan Mikhailovich / The best people of Russia. IX edition. 2010.

• ZOLNIKOV Stepan Mikhailovich on the site "Soldiers of the XX century"
• Medal "For Courage" on the website of the Order and Medals of the USSR
• Medal "For courage" on the site "Combat awards of the Second World War"