Melder, Joseph Ilyich

Born on October 29, 1899 in the village of Pavlovskoe, now in the Malinov parish of the Daugavpils region , Latvia . Latgalian ^[2] .

During the First World War he worked on the construction of the Palace Bridge on the Neva River in Petrograd , from November 1916 - bridges on the Western Dvina River near the cities of Dvinsk , Polotsk and Vitebsk ^[2] .

Civil War

From February 1918 he served in the Red Guard detachment at the Moscow railway junction , from April to July 1918, he simultaneously studied in the training machine-gun team of this detachment. Then he was appointed commander of a machine-gun platoon in the 21st Moscow Rifle Regiment and departed with him to the Southern Front , upon arrival the regiment joined the 14th Rifle Division named after A.K. Stepina . Its members fought against the troops of General P.N. Krasnov on the Khoper River , near Novokhopyorsk , and the villages of Mikhailovskaya and Uryupinskaya. From June 1919, in the same division, he served as an assistant to the chief of the machine gun team of the 123rd Infantry Regiment. During the breakthrough of the regiment ’s defense by Denikin’s troops in the area of ​​the Bycek settlement of the Don region, he was captured on October 1, but fled on October 2. In 1920 he joined the CPSU (b) . Since May 1921, he served as head of the machine gun team of the 122nd Infantry Regiment and participated in the fight against banditry in Dagestan ^[2] .

Interwar years

Since November 1921 he served in the 2nd Caucasian Rifle Division. A.K. Stepin KKA chief of the machine gun command of the 11th, and from July 1922 - the 6th Caucasian Rifle Regiments. From December 1923 to October 1924 he trained at the Military Pedagogical School in Leningrad and at the school of physical education of the command staff of the Red Army named after V.I. Lenin, after returning to the regiment, was appointed commander of the rifle company. In June - August 1925, he was in repeated courses at the military-political school of the KKA in the city of Tiflis . Since January 1926 he served as head. physical preparation of the division. In October 1927 he was sent to the Shot courses , on his return to the division in August 1928 he was appointed commander of the battalion of the 5th Caucasian Rifle Regiment. Since September 1929 he again acted as the head. physical training division. By a resolution of the Central Executive Committee of the Azerbaijan SSR of December 29, 1931, he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor of the Azerbaijan SSR ^[2] .

In May 1931 he was transferred to the Baku Infantry School , where he served as company commander of cadets and the head of tactics. In May 1934 he was sent to the Military Academy of the Red Army. MV Frunze , after graduating in October 1937, was appointed chief of the 1st (operational) unit and assistant chief of staff of the 23rd rifle division of the KhVO ^[2] .

By order of the NCO dated June 3, 1938, he was transferred to the reserve under Art. 43, p. "A" of the "Regulations on the service of the command and command staff of the Red Army." In March 1939, he was again appointed to the cadre of the Red Army and was appointed senior teacher of tactics at the Ordzhonikidze Red Banner Military School . Since December, he served as commander of a cadet battalion, assistant commander for combat training units and deputy chief of the Grozny infantry school ^[2] .

World War II

With the outbreak of the war, by order of the NGO on July 11, 1941, Colonel Melder was appointed head of the Vinnitsa Infantry School, who had been evacuated to the city of Krasnodar by this time. From August 15, 1942 to January 5, 1943 he commanded a combined cadet rifle regiment that was part of the 64th army on the Stalingrad Front ^[2] .

On January 12, 1943 he was admitted to the post of deputy commander of the 157th Infantry Division . From January 27, it was withdrawn to the reserve of the Supreme High Command Headquarters , and from March 10, it was replenished in the city of Kozelsk . Then its units in the 61st Army of the Western , Bryansk , Central (from 20.10.1943 - Belorussian ) fronts participated in the Battle of Kursk , the Orel offensive , the battle of the Dnieper , the Chernigov-Pripyat , Gomel-Rechitsa and Kalinkovich-Mozyr offensives operations. For the difference in the battles during the liberation of the city of Chernihiv, she was given the honorary name "Chernihiv" (09.21.1943) ^[2] .

On March 5, 1944, Melder served as chief of front-line courses for officers of the 2nd Belorussian , and on May 11, the 3rd Baltic fronts ^[2] .

From September 1, 1944, he was placed at the disposal of the Polish Army and from September 8 he took command of the 7th Polish Infantry Division . On October 13, 1944, "for desertion in the 31st Infantry Regiment and failure to take measures," he was removed from his post ^[2] .

At the beginning of January 1945 it was placed at the disposal of the GUK NPO . Then in the same month he was sent to the 2nd Belorussian Front and from February 17 he was admitted to command the 200th Rifle Division . At that time, its units in the 96th Rifle Corps of the 70th Army conducted offensive battles for the city of Tuchel . During the offensive, the division cut the main highway between the cities of Tuchel and Konnitz, fought for the city of Byutov and by March 14 left the Gladau region. Since March 15, she entered the 49th army and fought for the cities of Oliva , Legstriss and Danzig (Gdansk) . Then, on March 8, the division was concentrated in the Glyn area and from April 27 participated in the Berlin offensive operation , in battles for the cities of Greifenberg, Templin, Furstenberg, Vitshtok, Grabov. In the area of ​​the last of May 3, 1945, its units were united with the allied American forces. By the decree of the USSR PVS dated 04/04/1945, the division was awarded the Order of the Red Banner ^[2] for the exemplary execution of command assignments in these battles.

During the war, Commander Melder was personally mentioned eight times in letters of thanks in the orders of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief ^[3] .

After the war

In July 1945, the division was disbanded, and Colonel Melder was placed at the disposal of the GUK NPO, then sent for treatment to a military sanatorium in the city of Pyatigorsk ^[2] .

On October 23, 1945, the Guard Colonel Melder was dismissed. ^[2]

• Order of Lenin (11/06/1945) ^{[4] [5]}
• four orders of the Red Banner (10/17/1943 ^[6] , 11/03/1944 ^[5] , 04/24/1945 ^[7] , 06/02/1945 ^[8] )
• Order of the Patriotic War I degree (08/12/1943) ^[9]
• Order of the Red Banner of Labor of the Azerbaijan SSR (12/29/1931)
• medals, including:
  • "XX years of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army" (1938);
  • "For the defense of Stalingrad" (1944)
  • “For the victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945” (1945)
  • “For the capture of Konigsberg” (1945)

Orders (thanks) of the Supreme Commander in which I. I. Melder is noted ^[3] .

• For the capture of the cities of Schlachau, Stegers, Hammerstein, Baldenberg, Bublid - important communication centers and strong strongholds of the German defense. February 27, 1945. Number 285.
• For the capture of the cities Bytuv (Byutov) and Kosycezhina (Berent) - important nodes of railways and highways and strong strongholds of the German defense on the roads to Danzig. March 8, 1945. Number 296
• For the capture of the city and the fortress of Gdansk ( Danzig ) - the most important port and a first-class German naval base on the Baltic Sea. March 30, 1945. No. 319
• For the capture of the cities of Eggesin, Torgelov, Pasewalk, Strasbourg, Templin - important strongholds of the German defense in Western Pomerania. April 28, 1945. Number 350.
• For the mastery of cities and important road junctions Anklam, Friedland, Neubrandenburg, Lichen and entry into the province of Mecklenburg. April 29, 1945. Number 351
• For the mastery of the cities of Greifswald, Treptow, Neustrelitz, Fürstenberg, Gransee - important road junctions in the northwestern part of Pomerania and Mecklenburg. April 30, 1945. No. 352.
• For the capture of the cities of Stralsund , Grimmen , Demmin , Malkhin , Varen , Wesenberg - important road junctions and strong strongholds of the German defense. May 1, 1945. No. 354.
• For the capture of the cities of Bart, Bad Doberan, Neubukov, Varin, Wittenberg and for connecting on the lines of Wismar, Wittenberg with the British troops allied to us. May 3, 1945. Number 360.

• Public electronic document bank “Feat of the People in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945”

• Team of authors . World War II: Divisional Commanders. Military Biographical Dictionary. - M .: Kuchkovo field, 2015 .-- V. 4. - S. 778-780. - 330 copies. - ISBN 978-5-9950-0602-2 .