Potapiev, Valentin Fedorovich

Valentin Fedorovich Potapiev was born into a working-class family in the city of Tsaritsyn (now Volgograd ). He graduated from the 8 classes of school and school factory training. In 1940, he was sent to work in the city of Miass at a car factory .

In August 1942, Miasssky District Military Commissariat of the Chelyabinsk Region, he was drafted into the Red Army and sent to the regimental school in Tyumen . After graduating from the regimental school from October 1943 on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War .

On October 14, 1944, in the battle for the village of Velka Poliana (west of Uzhgorod in Slovakia ), the commander of the calculation, junior sergeant Potapiev and his fighters with a mortar fire destroyed the enemy's machine-gun point. By order of the 659th rifle regiment ( 4th Ukrainian Front ) of November 7, 1944, he was awarded the medal "For Courage" .

October 14, 1944 in the battle for the nameless height near the village of Ruska in the Carpathians, junior sergeant Potapiev in difficult conditions of mountainous wooded areas, supporting the action of rifle subunits with his mortar fire, suppressed 2 enemy firing points, than hesitated to take altitude. In the reflection of the enemy's counterattack, 15 enemy soldiers and officers were struck with fire from their mortar. By order of the 155th Infantry Division of November 28, 1944, he was awarded the Order of Glory of the 3rd degree.

In the battle for the nameless height to the south of the settlement of Chomad on December 8, 1944, Sergeant Potapiev with his calculation (as part of the 7th Guards Army, 2nd Ukrainian Front ) smashed 2 enemy firing points, contributing to success in attacking rifle subunits.
In the battle for the town of Fot, north-east of Budapest, on December 15, 1944, his mortar crew destroyed the enemy soldiers before the detachment, put down 2 machine-gun points. Order on the troops of the 7th Guards Army of January 29, 1945, he was awarded the Order of Glory of the 2nd degree.

In street battles on January 8, 1945 for the Rakos railway station in Budapest, Sergeant Potapiev, with his calculation, anticipating danger, from an open position with a mortar fire destroyed 2 machine-gun points and an observation post of the enemy.
In the battle for the parliament building in Budapest on January 17, 1945, Sergeant Potapiev fired up an armored personnel carrier with a mortar fire and put down 2 enemy firing points, which contributed to the successful actions of the advancing units. Order for the troops of the 26th Army on February 23, 1945, he was re-awarded the Order of Glory of the 2nd degree. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of December 20, 1951, he was re-awarded with the Order of Glory of the 1st degree.

In March 1945, Sergeant Potapiev was demobilized. He lived in the village Alekseevskaya of the Volgograd region, worked as an instructor of the district party committee, then as a builder.

In 1985, in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the Victory, he was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree .

Valentin Fedorovich Potapiev died on December 23, 1998.

• Holders of the Order of Glory of three degrees. Biografy. Glossary. M .: Voenizdat, 2000
• Holders of the Order of Glory. Biographical dictionary. (in 2 volumes) M .: Voenizdat, 2010

• Documents on the website "the feat of the people"
• In the biographical dictionary