Smolovik, Valentin Ivanovich

Born on May 6, 1903 ^[2] in the city of Konotop , now a city in Sumy Oblast , Ukraine . Ukrainian ^[3] .

Prior to serving in the army, he worked as a repair worker at the 9th station of the railway service on the railway station. Art. Konotop ^[3] .

In November 1922, he departed to Kiev for admission to an aviation school and on December 17 was enrolled as a cadet at a preparatory aviation school, then reformed into the Kiev school of motorists of the Red Air Fleet. With its transfer to Leningrad and the unification with the Egorievsk School, the Leningrad Military Theoretical School of the Red Army Air Force was formed , which Smolovik graduated in December 1924 ^[3] .

In March 1925 he was seconded to the 2nd military school of pilots. Osoaviahima . July 16, 1926 took a flight course and was sent to the Serpukhov military school of air combat ^[3] .

Upon completion of training in November, he was assigned to the 24th air squadron of the Kharkov Airborne Forces Air Command of the Ukrainian Army , where he served as a junior and senior pilot . From October 1931, he was also the commander of the ship and detachment in the 8th CCF squadron ^[3] .

In November 1933, he was sent to courses at the Air Force Academy of the Red Army , but in January 1934 he was transferred to the Lipetsk High Tactical School of the Red Army Air Force . In December he graduated from the latter and was appointed commander of the 6th corps air squadron of the Ukrainian Air Forces in Odessa . In 1937 he joined the VKP (b) . ^[3] .

In February 1938, he was appointed commander of the 30th high-speed light bombing squadron of the Air Force QUO, but did not take office and in May, by order of the district air force, he was seconded to Konotop as assistant commander of the 11th light-bomber air regiment of the 62nd airborne squadron. With this regiment from January 11 to March 13, 1940 took part in the Soviet-Finnish war ^[3] .

At the end of the fighting, Major Smolovik was seconded to the city of Kirovograd for retraining on the SB aircraft. In June, he was appointed commander of the 41st ZakVO air force bomber regiment. On March 6, 1941, Lieutenant Colonel Smolovik was appointed inspector of the piloting technique of the HVO Air Force Directorate ^[3] .

Great Patriotic War

Since the beginning of the war, he served as the head of the combat training department of the HVO Air Force Directorate. On the disbandment of the district in October 1941, he was appointed commander of the 21st reserve air regiment of the Air Force PrivR ^[3] .

In January 1942, Smolovik was sent to the KUKS at the Military Academy of Command and Navigator of the Red Army Air Force in the city of Chkalov . In June, he graduated from them and was appointed deputy commander of the 233rd Assault Aviation Division , which, as part of the 1st Air Army of the Western Front, supported the advance of troops in the Yukhnovsky , Gzhatsky and Rzhevsky areas. From February to May 1943, Smolovik simultaneously worked as the head of the training center at the division for retraining of flight personnel on the Il-2 ^[3] .

On August 5, 1943, Lieutenant Colonel Smolovik assumed command of the 233rd Assault Air Division . As part of the 1st Air Army, the division participated in the Smolensk-Roslavl offensive operation, during which the cities of Yartsevo and Pochinok were liberated. For successful hostilities for the release of Yartsevo she was given the name "Yartsevskaya." In the winter of 1943-1944 she supported the actions of the front forces in the Vitebsk and Orsha directions. In May 1944 the division was transferred to the 4th Air Army and fought with it until the end of the war on the 2nd Belorussian front . In the summer, its units participated in the Byelorussian , Mogilev , Bialystok and Osovetskoy offensive operations, in the liberation of the cities of Shklov , Volkovysk and Bialystok . In January-April 1945, she successfully acted in East Prussia , Mlavsko-Elbing , East Pomeranian offensive operations, where she supported the front forces in the battles for the cities of Ciechanów, Grudziзdz, Preusis, Stargard and Danzig . For successful actions, the division was awarded the Order of the Red Banner and Suvorov 2 nd century. ^[3] .

During the war, the division commander Smolovik was personally mentioned 25 times in thanksgiving in the orders of the Supreme Commander ^[4] .

Post-war time

After the war, Colonel Smolovik continued to command the same division in the GBS . At the end of April 1946 he relocated it to the airfield of Brig (Poland) as part of the 4th Assault Air Corps ^[3] .

In August 1946, enlisted in the order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force ^[3] .

On February 19, 1947, Colonel Smolovik was dismissed due to illness ^[3] .

He worked in the Civil Air Fleet in the city of Kharkov as a commander of a squad of special applications and an inspector of the air service of the airport ^[3] .

• two orders of the Red Banner (07/22/1944 ^[5] , 11/03/1944 ^[6] )
• Order of Suvorov, II degree (04/10/1945) ^[7]
• Order of Kutuzov II degree (05/29/1945) ^[8]
• Order of the Patriotic War, I degree (12.12.1943) ^[9]

medals including:

• • "For the victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945."
  • "For the capture of Konigsberg"

Orders (thanks) of the Supreme Commander in which V.I. Smolovik is noted ^[4] .

• For the capture of the most important stronghold of the German defense on the way to Smolensk, the city of Dukhovshchina . September 19, 1943. No. 17.
• For forcing the river Pronya west of the city of Mstislavl, breaking through the strongly fortified German defenses, seizing the Chauusy regional center of the Mogilev region and liberating more than 200 other settlements, including Chernevka, Zhdanovichi, Khonkovichi, Budino, Vaskovichi, Temrivichi and Borddinichi. June 25, 1944 No. 117.
• For the capture of the city and a major railway junction Volkovysk - an important stronghold of the German defense, covering the way to Bialystok. July 14, 1944 No. 138.
• For the capture of the city by storm and the large industrial center of Bialystok - an important railway junction and a powerful fortified German defense area, covering the road to Warsaw. July 27, 1944 No. 151.
• For the capture of the city by storm and the fortress of Ostroleka - an important stronghold of the German defense on the Narev River. September 6, 1944 № 184.
• For the liberation of the city and the fortress of Lomza - an important stronghold of German defense on the Narev River. September 13, 1944 No. 186.
• For the assault on the city of Przasnysh (Prasnysh), the city and the Modlin fortress (Novogeorgievsk) - important communications hubs and strongholds of the German defense. January 18, 1945. No. 226.
• For taking the cities of Mlawa and Dzialdovo (Zoldau) by assault - important communications centers and strongholds of German defense on the approaches to the southern border of East Prussia and the city of Plonsk - a major communications hub and stronghold of German defense on the right bank of the Vistula. January 19, 1945. No. 232.
• For the capture of the cities of East Prussia Osterode and Deutsch-Eylau - important communications hubs and strong strongholds of the German defense. January 22, 1945. No. 244.
• For seizing the storming of the city of Elbing - a major communications hub and a powerful German defense stronghold on the right bank of the Vistula, covering the approaches to the bay of Danzig. February 10, 1945. No. 271.
• For the capture of the cities of Rummelsburg and Pollnov - important communications hubs and strong strongholds of the German defense in Pomerania. March 3, 1945. No. 287.
• For access to the Baltic Sea coast and the capture of the city of Közlin - an important communications hub and a powerful German defense base on the roads from Danzig to Stettin. March 4, 1945. No. 289.
• For the capture of the city and the fortress of Grudziндdz (Graudenz) - a powerful knot of German defense on the lower reaches of the Vistula River. March 6, 1945. No. 291.
• For the capture of the cities of Anger (Meve) and Starogard (Preussis Stargard) - important strongholds of the German defense on the approaches to Danzig. March 7, 1945. No. 294.
• For capturing the cities of Bytow (Byutov) and Koscierzina (Berent) - important junctions of railways and highways and strong strongholds of the German defense on the roads to Danzig. March 8, 1945. No. 296.
• For mastering the important strongholds of the German defense on the approaches to Danzig and Gdynia - the cities of Tczew (Dirschau), Wejherowo (Neustadt) and the access to the coast of Danzig Bay north of Gdynia, with the occupation of the city of Puck (Putzig). March 12, 1945. No. 299.
• For the capture of the city and the fortress of Gdansk ( Danzig ) - the most important port and first-class German naval base on the Baltic Sea. March 30, 1945. No. 319.
• For forcing the eastern and western Oder south of Stettin, breaking through the heavily fortified German defenses on the western bank of the Oder and capturing the main city of Pomerania and the large seaport Stettin, as well as the occupation of the cities of Gartz, Penkun, Kazekov, Schwedt. April 26, 1945. No. 344.
• For the capture of the cities of Prenzlau, Angermünde - important strongholds of the German defense in Western Pomerania. April 27, 1945. No. 348.
• For the capture of cities and important junctions of the roads Anklam, Friedland, Neubrandenburg, Lihen and entered the territory of the province of Mecklenburg. April 29, 1945. No. 351.
• For mastering the cities of Greifswald, Treptow, Neustrelitz, Fürstenberg, Gransee - important road junctions in the northwestern part of Pomerania and in Mecklenburg. April 30, 1945. No. 352.
• For the capture of the cities of Stralsund , Grimmen , Demmin , Malchin , Waren , Wesenberg - important junctions of roads and strong strongholds of the German defense. May 1, 1945. No. 354.
• For the capture of the cities of Barth, Bad Doberan, Neubukov, Varin, Wittenberg and for the connection on the line of Wismar, Wittenberg with allied British troops. May 3, 1945. No. 360.
• For the capture of the city Swinemünde - a large port and a German naval base on the Baltic Sea. May 5, 1945. No. 362.
• For forcing the Stralzunderfarwasser strait, seizing the cities of Bergen, Harz, Putbus, Sassnitz on the island of Rügen and the complete seizure of the island of Rügen. May 6, 1945. No. 363.

• The publicly available electronic bank of documents "The Feat of the People in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945."

• The team of authors . Great Patriotic: Komdivy. Military Biographical Dictionary / V.P. Goremykin. - M .: Kuchkovo Pole, 2014. - T. 2. - p. 826-827. - 1000 copies - ISBN 978-5-9950-0341-0 .