Kovalenko, Nikolai Mitrofanovich

Born December 30, 1922 in the village of Lenki, Blagoveshchensk district of Altai Krai . In 1939 he graduated from 7 classes of a rural school. He worked as an assistant foreman at a motor repair plant in the city of Jalal-Abad, Osh Oblast, Kyrgyzstan .

In July 1941, he was drafted into the Red Army by the Jalalabad district military enlistment office and enrolled in the 83rd Turkestan mountain rifle division. He didn’t get to the front right away, in August 1941 the division participated in the deployment of Soviet troops to Iran. Only in the autumn of 1942 was the division transferred to the Caucasus. As part of this division, N. M. Kovalenko participated in the defense of the Caucasus, in the battles of Tuapse, and the liberation of the Crimea. He fought on the North Caucasian and 4th Ukrainian fronts. Member of the CPSU / CPSU since 1944. By the beginning of 1944, the guard sergeant Kovalenko was a reconnaissance platoon of division intelligence.

On January 22-23, 1944, in battles on the Kerch Peninsula of the Guard, Sergeant Kovalenko, while on a combat mission, scouted the enemy’s defenses and his firing points. With three fighters, he held the occupied line for several hours, destroying the enemy infantry before the platoon.

By order of parts of the 128th Guards Rifle Division dated February 15, 1944, the Guard, Sergeant Kovalenko Nikolai Mitrofanovich was awarded the Order of Glory of the 3rd degree.

After the battle for the Crimea ended, in May 1944 the division underwent reformation for about four months and in August 1944 the 4th Ukrainian Front was relocated, where as part of the 3rd Mountain Rifle Corps, it participated in the battles for the liberation of Czechoslovakia .

On September 21-22, 1944, in a battle in the vicinity of the Borov Guards settlement, Sergeant Kovalenko, when repelling an enemy attack and leaving the encirclement, exterminated over 20 opponents from the machine gun.

By order of the troops of the 1st Guards Army dated November 3, 1944, the Guard Sergeant Kovalenko Nikolai Mitrofanovich was awarded the Order of Glory of the 2nd degree.

On May 1, 1945, near the city of the Moravsk-Ostrava Guard, senior sergeant Kovalenko scouted the enemy’s fire weapons and promptly transmitted target designations to the regiment CP. When counterattacking, 11 soldiers were defeated, 2 captured.

Participant of the Victory Parade on Red Square in June 1945.

By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of May 15, 1946, for the exemplary fulfillment of command assignments at the front of the fight against the German invaders of the guard, senior sergeant Nikolay Mitrofanovich Kovalenko was awarded the Order of Glory of the 1st degree. He became the full holder of the Order of Glory.

In September 1946, the foreman Kovalenko was demobilized.

He returned to his homeland. He worked as a locomotive driver of the Locomotive Depot Barnaul . He lived in the city of Barnaul . He died on February 28, 2000. He was buried at the Mikhailovsky cemetery in Barnaul .

He was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree, two orders of the Red Star , medals, orders of Glory of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd degrees, medals.

• Cavaliers of the Order of Glory of three degrees: A Brief Biographical Dictionary / Prev. ed. collegium D. S. Sukhorukov . - M .: Military Publishing House , 2000 .-- 703 p. - 10,000 copies. - ISBN 5-203-01883-9 .
• Kochetov A.V. Soldier Glory. 4th ed. Barnaul, 1985.
• Full Knights of the Order of Glory. Biographical Dictionary. T. 1. M.: Military Publishing, 2010

Nikolai Mitrofanovich Kovalenko (Russian) . Site " Heroes of the country ". Date of treatment September 6, 2014.