Osadchy, Alexander Petrovich

Alexander Osadchiy was born on May 29, 1907 in the city of Znamenka (now the Kirovohrad region of Ukraine ). After finishing seven classes of the school, he worked as an electrician at the Kiev station.

In June 1928, Alexander Osadchy was called up for service in the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army . In 1930 he graduated from the Military Theoretical School of the Red Army Air Force in Leningrad , in 1931 - he graduated from the 2nd military school of pilots named after Osoaviahim in Borisoglebsk . Since November 1931, he served in the 74th separate air squad of the Air Force of the Ukrainian Military District ( Kiev ): junior pilot, senior pilot, flight commander , weapons instructor. Since November 1934 - the commander of the detachment in the 36th aviation brigade of this district, since October 1936 - the commander of the 65th fighter squadron .

From December 1936 to August 1937 he participated in the Civil War in Spain , under the name "Cossacks" he commanded a squadron of I-15 fighters, replacing the former squadron commander Pavel Rychagov as commander of the squadron. For a short time he was deputy adviser to the commander of the fighter aircraft of republican Spain, brigade commander E.S. Ptukhin , but he was soon again appointed commander of one of the squadrons to replace the killed commander. In Spain, personally shot down 5 enemy aircraft ^[1] .

After returning to the USSR, Senior Lieutenant A. Osadchy was immediately awarded the military rank of Major and in the fall of 1937 he was appointed commander of the 72nd Fighter Aviation Squadron in the Kiev Special Military District . Since April 1938 - the commander of the 28th fighter aviation regiment of the 69th fighter air brigade of this district, at the head of the regiment participated in the Red Army Campaign in Western Ukraine in September 1939 and in the deployment of Soviet troops in Bessarabia in June-July 1940. November 12, 1939 he was awarded the military rank of colonel . In 1940 he joined the CPSU (b) . Since March 1941 - commander of the 69th Fighter Aviation Division , but already in May he was transferred to the post of commander of the 64th Fighter Aviation Division (division headquarters in the city of Stanislav ). After the surrender of affairs in the 69th Air Division, he departed to a new duty station on the eve of the war.

Since June 1941 - on the fronts of World War II ^[2] .

He met the Great Patriotic War as the commander of the 64th Aviation Division, over which he took command on June 23, 1941 ^[3] . He fought with her as part of the Air Force of the South-Western and Southern Fronts, participated in the Border Battle in Western Ukraine , in Tiraspol-Melitopol and in Kiev defensive operations. Since December 1941 - Air Force Commander of the 24th Army , which was formed as part of the Moscow defense zone .

Since May 1942 - commander of the 266th Fighter Aviation Division . As part of the 2nd Air Army, the division fought on the Bryansk and Voronezh fronts, participated in the Voronezh-Voroshilovgrad defensive operation .

From August 1942 until the Victory - the commander of the 207th Fighter Aviation Division . By order of the People’s Commissar of Defense of the USSR of August 24, 1943 for the exemplary performance of command assignments and the courage and heroism of the division shown at the same time, the guard rank was awarded and it was renamed the 11th Guards Fighter Aviation Division ^[4] . The division fought on the South-Western , 3rd Ukrainian and 1st Ukrainian fronts, was considered one of the best in the Air Force, during the war years it also received the honorary name "Dnepropetrovsk", was awarded the Order of the Red Banner , Bohdan Khmelnitsky 2nd degree. At the head of the division, he participated in the Battle of Stalingrad , in the Middle Don and Voroshilovgrad offensive operations, in the Battle of Kursk , in Izyum-Barvenkovskaya , Belgorod-Kharkov , Donbass , Zaporizhzhya , Dnepropetrovsk , Lviv-Sandomir , Vistula-Oder , Lower Silesian , Berlin offensive operations.

By May 1945, the commander of the 11th Guards Fighter Air Division of the 2nd Guards Assault Air Corps of the 2nd Air Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front of the Guard, Major General of Aviation Alexander Petrovich Osadchiy made 39 sorties for attack and reconnaissance of enemy troops, causing heavy losses , shot down a German plane in group 1 ^[2] . During the period from December 12, 1942 to May 5, 1945, division pilots under his command made 23,382 sorties, 896 German planes were shot down in 872 air battles, and 95 were burned during attacks by enemy airfields ^[5] .

By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of June 27, 1945 for "courage and military valor shown in air battles with the German invaders" of the guard, Air Force Major General Alexander Osadchiy was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union with the award of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal number 6598 ^[2] .

After the war, A. P. Osadchy continued to command the 11th Guards Fighter Air Division ^[3] . In June 1947 he was appointed commander of the 10th Fighter Aviation Corps as part of the 14th Air Army of the Carpathian Military District ^[3] . In June 1949, he was sacked due to illness ^[3] .

He lived in Kiev . He died on May 2, 1981, was buried at the Lukyanovsky military cemetery in Kiev ^[2] .

• Gold Star medal of the Hero of the Soviet Union (06/27/1945);
• Two Orders of Lenin (12/14/1936, 06/27/1945);
• Four Orders of the Red Banner (06/27/1937, 03/27/1942, 10/16/1944, ...);
• Order of Suvorov 2nd degree (04/06/1945);
• Order of Kutuzov 2nd degree (02/23/1945);
• Order of the Patriotic War , 2nd degree (06/17/1943);
• Order of the Red Star (11/3/1944);
• Medal "For Courage" (11/14/1938);
• Medal "For the capture of Berlin" ;
• Medal "For the Liberation of Prague" ;
• Other medals ^[2]
• Foreign awards:
  • Military Cross of 1939 ( Czechoslovakia );
  • Medal "Honored in the Field of Glory" ( Poland )
  • Medal "For Odra, Nisa and the Baltic" (Poland)
  • Medal of Victory and Freedom (Poland)

• Friends and associates. // In the collection: Together with the patriots of Spain. 3rd ed., Ext. and reslave. - Kiev, 1986. - S.166-180.

• Heroes of the Soviet Union: A Brief Biographical Dictionary / Prev. ed. collegium I. N. Shkadov . - M .: Military Publishing , 1988. - T. 2 / Love - Yashchuk /. - 863 s. - 100,000 copies. - ISBN 5-203-00536-2 .
• Team of authors . World War II: Divisional Commanders. Military Biographical Dictionary / V.P. Goremykin. - M .: Kuchkovo field, 2014 .-- T. 2 .-- S. 720-721. - 1000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-9950-0341-0 .
• Abrosov S.V. Air war in Spain. Chronicle of air battles 1936-1939 - M .: Yauza, Eksmo, 2008 .-- S. 88, 140, 508. - 608 p. - 5,000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-699-25288-6 .

• Osadchy, Alexander Petrovich (Russian) . Site " Heroes of the country ".
• A. P. Osadchy on the site "Red Falcons"