Kashkin, Yuri Petrovich

Before conscription

Yuri Petrovich Kashkin was born on February 12, 1914 ^[1] in the village of Kopachevo ^{[1] [2] of the} Mikhailovsky volost of the Vyshnevolotsky district of the Tver province of the Russian Empire (now the Udomelsky district of the Tver region of the Russian Federation ) in the family of a railway worker ^[3] . Russian ^[1] .

In 1917, the Kashkins moved to Petrograd ^[1] . Here in 1930, Yuri Petrovich graduated from seven classes of the school. Then he studied at the school of factory apprenticeship , after which, having received the working profession of a wood designer, by distribution he was sent to Chelyabinsk , to a tractor factory ^[3] . However, Kashkin did not work long in the Urals . Soon, for health reasons, he returned to Leningrad . Before the war, he worked in the specialty at the Leningrad Aviation Plant No. 381 ^[3] . In August 1941, when German troops reached the near approaches to the city, Yuri Petrovich, along with the factory, was evacuated to Nizhny Tagil ^[4] . Before conscription, he worked at the Smychka station of the Sverdlovsk railway ^[5] .

On the fronts of World War II

Yu. P. Kashkin was drafted into the ranks of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army in the Nizhny Tagil City Military Commissariat of the Sverdlovsk Region ^[6] in August 1942 ^[3] . First, Yuri Petrovich was sent to Verkhny Ufaley , where he graduated from a three-month training course for radio gunners at a tank school, and from there, in the rank of sergeant, to Chelyabinsk, where tank crews were equipped for sending to the army ^[5] . At the end of November 1942, Yu. P. Kashkin arrived on the Western Front with replenishment. Tankers unloaded from the railway platform somewhere near Tula and soon as part of the 31st Tank Brigade entered into battle with the enemy. The first battle for the crew, in which sergeant Kashkin served as a radio telegraph, was unsuccessful: an inexperienced driver did not manage and drowned the car in a swamp ^[5] . However, failures haunted the entire 31st tank brigade: on November 30, 1942, in the battle for the village of Bolshoy Kropotovo of the Kashirsky region, she lost the last tanks and was transferred to the reserve headquarters of the Supreme High Command ^[7] .

In February 1943, at the Moscow Training Center near Naro-Fominsk , the formation of the 29th Panzer Corps began , which included the 31st Panzer Brigade. Until the summer of 1943, corps units conducted intense military training in the Ostrogozhsk region, and on the eve of the Battle of Kursk, as part of the 5th Guards Tank Army, they were subordinated to the Voronezh Front . On July 12, 1943, the reunification of Colonel I. F. Kirichenko was baptized in a tank battle near Prokhorovka , taking the blow of the 3rd SS Panzer Division “Dead Head” and the main forces of the 1st SS Panzer Division “Adolf Hitler” . During the battle, Kashkin’s crew destroyed the German Tiger tank , and also rammed the enemy’s train with infantry and military equipment ^[5] .

Later, Yuri Petrovich took part in the defeat of the enemy during the Belgorod-Kharkov operation , then, fighting on the Steppe Front (from October 20, 1943 - the 2nd Ukrainian Front ), participated in battles on the right bank of the Dnieper near Krivoy Rog , Alexandria and Znamenka . During the Kirovograd offensive operation in the battle for the village of Pokrovskoye on January 6, 1944, the senior radio telegraph operator of the T-34 tank of the 277th tank battalion, senior sergeant Yu. P. Kashkin, demonstrated courage, bravery and high military skill. He helped the tank commander effectively control the combat vehicle, promptly gave the target designation crew, fired intensively at the enemy from a machine gun. As a result, the thirty-four crew destroyed 3 artillery guns, 2 firing points with the fire of guns, machine guns and caterpillars even before the German infantry platoon ^[8] . For this battle, Yuri Petrovich received his first award - the medal "For Military Merit" .

During the liberation of the Right-Bank Ukraine and Moldova in the winter and spring of 1944, senior sergeant Yu. P. Kashkin, as a crew member, took part in street battles in Kirovograd , defeated German troops surrounded by Korsun-Shevchenkovsky , forced the rivers Southern Bug and Dniester to liberate the cities of Uman and Magpies . On May 9, 1944, the 29th Corps was withdrawn to the area of ​​the Romanian city of Botosani , where, after rest and replenishment, it began preparations for breaking through the defense of the Romanian and German troops northwest of Iasi , but it was to advance in Belarus and the Baltic ^[9] .

In Belarus and the Baltic

By June 18, 1944, the 29th Panzer Corps concentrated west of Smolensk and was subordinated to the 3rd Belorussian Front as part of the 5th Guards Tank Army, and on June 26th, as part of Operation Bagration, it was thrown into a breakthrough. T-34 tank recharging senior sergeant Yu. P. Kashkin, acting as part of the crew of a junior lieutenantN.F. Kostikova (gun commander sergeant A. A. Chereukhin , driver-sergeant-driver S. F. Naumenko ) in 12 days covered 320 kilometers with battles, participated in battles for the cities of Borisov , Zaslavl and Molodechno , liberated the capital of the Lithuanian SSR, the city ​​of Vilnius . Kashkin always accurately and quickly carried out the orders of the commander, uninterruptedly fired shells, which contributed to the successful actions of the crew on the battlefield. On July 27, 1944, acting in intelligence north-east of the city of Jonava ahead of the main forces of his brigade, Kostikov’s crew entered into battle with superior enemy forces near the village of Gudantsy, Kaunas Region ^[10] . Tankers destroyed the German heavy tank Tiger, 2 cannons and up to 80 enemy soldiers and officers, but the Germans managed to damage the chassis of the thirty-four. Enemy submachine gunners immediately surrounded the wrecked car, but Kashkin and his comrades, having organized a defensive defense , fought a battle with them one and a half days before the reinforcements arrived, repelling all the enemy’s attempts to capture the tank ^{[1] [3] [4] [11]} . For the valor and courage shown in the battle, the entire crew was awarded with government awards: the tank commander junior lieutenant Kostikov was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War of the 2nd degree, and senior sergeants Kashkin, Naumenko and sergeant Chereukhin - orders of Glory of the 3rd degree.

Meanwhile, the 29th Panzer Corps, reflecting the enemy’s counterattacks, continued the offensive as part of the Kaunas operation . On August 9, 1944, the 31st Tank Brigade, together with motorized rifles of the 53rd Motorized Rifle Brigade, in collaboration with units of the 158th Infantry Division captured the city of Raseiniai . However, the further advancement of Soviet troops in the Baltic states was stopped by powerful tank counter-attacks by the enemy. On August 17, for tactical reasons, the 5th Guards Tank Army was transferred to the 1st Baltic Front and participated in defensive battles near Siauliai , and during the Riga offensive operation it covered the front flank north and west of Dobele . The stubborn resistance of the German troops near Riga forced the Supreme Command to shift the direction of the main attack from Riga to the Memel direction, which came as a complete surprise to the Germans. By the end of the day on October 5, the strike group of the 1st Baltic Front, as part of the Memel operation, broke through the enemy’s defenses northwest of Siauliai and the 29th Panzer Corps was thrown into the gap on October 6, which had the task of reaching the Baltic Sea coast and thereby cutting off the group Army "North" in Courland from East Prussia . The 31st Panzer Brigade was advancing at the forefront of the corps in the general direction of Kretinga . Among the first three crews that reached the Baltic Sea on October 10, 1944, west of the settlement of Shaypen-Toms ^[12] , there was also a crew consisting of senior sergeant Yu. P. Kashkin who fought as a machine gunner and radio operator. During the offensive on the memel direction, Yuri Petrovich, together with his comrades-in-arms, exterminated up to 20 Wehrmacht soldiers and officers, destroyed 10 vehicles, 2 tractors, 2 cannons with calculations and an armored personnel carrier ^{[1] [3] [4] [13]} . For exemplary performance of combat missions of command by order of October 22, 1944, the tankman was re-awarded the Order of Glory of the 3rd degree. By way of re-award, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of October 24, 1966, he was awarded the Order of Glory of the 1st degree ^[1] .

During the Memel operation, the 29th Panzer Corps reached the Baltic Sea on a 15-kilometer stretch. In October-November 1944, corps brigades fought to expand this corridor, acting against the Army Group North. The radio operator and machine gunner of the T-34 tank of the 1st tank battalion, senior sergeant Yu.P. Kashkin again distinguished himself in battles from October 27 to November 5. Participating in attacks on the strongholds of the German defense of Embut, Brinty, height 132.7, Pusni and Lieldseld ^[14] , he skillfully exterminated the enemy’s manpower with fire from a machine gun. As a result of the coordinated work of the crew, 3 anti-tank guns, 2 mortars with calculations, 4 vehicles with various military cargoes and up to 20 enemy soldiers were destroyed ^[15] .

On November 5, 1944, the 5th Guards Tank Army was withdrawn to the reserve of the Supreme High Command and, concentrating in the Belsk area, on December 17 became part of the 2nd Belorussian Front . During the Mlava-Elbing operation, she had to break through again to the Baltic Sea in the Elbing region and cut off the East Prussian enemy group from the main forces of the Wehrmacht .

In East Prussia

On January 14, 1945, troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front from the bridgeheads on the Narev River went on the offensive with the task of defeating the enemy’s Mlaw group, and on January 17, the main forces of the 29th Panzer Corps were brought into battle in the offensive zone of the 48th Army . At the forefront of the compound, the 31st Panzer Brigade advanced. The senior radio operator of the T-34 tank, senior sergeant Yu.P. Kashkin, acting as a member of the crew of junior lieutenant G.I. Pegov , participated in the assault on the city of Soldau , the release of prisoners of war from the concentration camp of the same name and in the capture of the city of Saalfeld . As part of the crew, Yuri Petrovich was the first to break into Preysises-Holland and the first to go to the outskirts of Elbing, and in early February he participated in tank attacks on Frauenburg . During the offensive, Senior Sergeant Kashkin maintained uninterrupted communication with the battalion commander, clearly reporting on the radio about the combat situation. During the period from January 15 to February 4, 1945, the crew destroyed 12 cars and 22 carts with military equipment, 1 armored personnel carrier, 1 artillery gun, 2 firing points and more than 100 enemy soldiers and officers ^{[1] [3] [4] [ 16]} . For the difference in fights on the Mlava-Elbing direction, by order of March 31, 1945, the tankman was awarded the Order of Glory of the 2nd degree.

On February 9, 1945, the 5th Guards Army was transferred to the 3rd Belorussian Front . Until the end of the month, Yuri Petrovich participated in the battles against the enemy's Heysberg group. On February 28, the army returned to the 2nd Belorussian Front. Having made a rapid transition, the 29th Panzer Corps reached the Danzig Bay . For an incomplete year of the war, this was the third exit of the corps to the Baltic Sea ^[5] . Until May 6, tankers served as coast guard, and then relocated to a new concentration area - in the forest northwest of Freienwalde . Here Senior Sergeant Yu. P. Kashkin completed his military career ^[17] .

After the war

After the hostilities ended, the 29th Panzer Corps was transferred to Belarus and in July 1945 it was reorganized into the 29th Panzer Division, and its brigades into tank regiments. In the same 1945, the foreman Yu. P. Kashkin was demobilized ^[1] . Yuri Petrovich returned to the Urals . Since 1946 he lived in the city of Kamensk-Uralsky, Sverdlovsk region ^[5] . He worked as a fashion designer at a foundry ^[3] . After retiring, he was engaged in military-patriotic work ^[5] . Yuri Petrovich died on November 18 ^{[1] [3]} (according to other sources - November 19 ^[18] ) 1990. He was buried in the Ivanovo cemetery of the city of Kamensk-Uralsky ^[18] .

• Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree (04/06/1985) ^[19] ;
• Order of Glory of the 1st degree (10.24.1966) ^[1] ;
• Order of Glory of the 2nd degree (03/31/1945) ^[16] ;
• Order of Glory 3rd degree (12.09.1944) ^[11] ;
• medals , including:
• medal "For Courage" (11/22/1944) ^[15] ;
• medal "For Military Merit" (01/19/1944) ^[8] ;
• medal "For the victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945."

• A plaque in honor of Yu. P. Kashkin was installed in Kamensk-Uralsky on the house where he lived in recent years (28 Dobrolyubova St.) ^[20] .
• The name of Yu. P. Kashkin is immortalized on a stele erected in honor of the Tagil residents - Heroes of the Soviet Union and full knights of the Order of Glory in the city of Nizhny Tagil on Victory Street ^[21] .

• Public electronic document bank “The Feat of the People in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945” (neopr.) .

Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree (neopr.) .

Order of Glory 2nd degree (neopr.) .

Order of Glory 3rd degree (12.09.1944) (neopr.) .

Order of Glory 3rd degree (10/22/1944). By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of October 24, 1944, he was re-awarded the Order of Glory of the 1st degree (neopr.) .

Medal "For Courage" (presented to the Order of the Red Star) (neopr.) .

Medal "For Military Merit" (presented to the medal "For Courage") (neopr.) .

Registration card of Yu. P. Kashkin (neopr.) .

• Kashkin, Yuri Petrovich // Knights 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 .
• Constellations of Glory: essays on the exploits of the Sverdlovsk citizens - full knights of the Order of Glory / comp .: P. M. Kondratenko, L. M. Ladeishchikov, P. V. Yablonsky. - Sverdlovsk: Middle Ural book. Publishing House, 1975 .-- S. 260. - 279 p.

• Sergey Kargapoltsev. Kashkin, Yuri Petrovich (Russian) . Site " Heroes of the country ". Date of treatment December 9, 2015.