Heroes of the Soviet Union

The Great Patriotic War has become a thing of the past. But the heroic feats accomplished in the harsh years of the struggle against fascism are forever inscribed in golden letters in the glorious chronicle of the historical achievements of the Soviet people. We carefully preserve in memory the names of those who fought and died, fought and survived, who stood to the death for life and peace on earth.

On April 16, 1934, by a Resolution of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, the title was established – Hero of the Soviet Union. According to the Regulation, Hero of the Soviet Union is an honorary title, the highest degree of distinction for personal or collective services to the state associated with the accomplishment of a heroic feat.

Most Hero Stars were awarded for feats in the Great Patriotic War. It was they who went to the enemy in the front ranks, inspiring thousands and thousands of other soldiers by their example, were there where the outcome of the battle was decided, fought to their last breath and won.

More than 500 Belarusians were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, among them natives of Vileyshchina.

Azonchik Aleksandr Semyonovich – was the first among representatives of Vileyshchina to become a Hero of the Soviet Union. The corresponding Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was signed on January 1, 1944.

Aleksandr Semyonovich was born on August 10, 1908, on the farmstead Yatskovichi of Knyaginin Volost of Vileyka Uyezd. His childhood fell during the First World War, his youth – when Western Belarus became part of the Polish state. In 1929 – 1931 he served in the Polish army with the rank of corporal, was a squad commander.

For underground activity and collecting operational intelligence for transmission to the Soviet Union, he was arrested and placed in the Vileyka prison. In 1939 – 1941 he worked in the NKVD bodies.

When the Great Patriotic War began, Aleksandr Semyonovich, possessing good organizational abilities, already in July 1941 organized from former military men who had been encircled a partisan group of 16 people. But two weeks later the group fell apart, and then Azonchik relied on local residents, whom he knew well and trusted. At first there were eight of them, including his own brother Nikolai, who died on December 20, 1941.

From January 1942, Azonchik’s partisan sabotage group operated as part of the Budyonny detachment. From December 1943, Azonchik was commander of the “Patriot” detachment of the Budyonny partisan brigade.

In 1946, Aleksandr Semyonovich settled in the village of Kurenets, where he lived for almost 50 years. He died in 1995. A memorial plaque is installed on the house where the hero lived.

Andrei Ivanovich Volynets – Hero of the Soviet Union, legendary brigade commander. He was born on January 19, 1904, in the village of Zheltki in a peasant family. He served in the Polish army, and in 1926 even graduated from an artillery school in Novo-Vileyka. After demobilization, he returned to his native lands and married a local girl. In 1934 he joined the Communist Party of Western Belarus, was a member of the underground district committee of the KPZB, for which he was repeatedly arrested by the Polish authorities.

After Western Belarus became part of the BSSR in 1939, Volynets A.I. was appointed director of a new enterprise – the Zheltki peat factory.

The outbreak of war disrupted all constructive plans. Volynets remained in the occupied territory. Cautiously, seeking like-minded people, he began to unite patriots around himself and organize them to fight the invaders.

In the spring of 1942 he created and headed a partisan group that operated in the territory of Kurenets District. From October 1943 he was commander of a partisan detachment, from July 1944 – of the partisan brigade “For Soviet Belarus”. By the time the brigade joined the Red Army, it had 421 partisans and hundreds of combat operations to its credit. Next to the legendary commander in the brigade were his wife Anna Varfolomeevna and young son Nikolai. By Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of August 15, 1944, Volynets A.I. was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

After the war, the former brigade commander was entrusted with restoring the national economy in his native places – he was chairman of the Vileyka city executive committee, deputy chairman of the Vileyka and Molodechno district executive committees, and head of a department of the Molodechno oblast executive committee.

Volynets A.I. died on March 30, 1965. In Vileyka and Molodechno streets are named in his honor. A monument has also been installed in Molodechno, and the Hero’s daughter, Maiya Andreevna Vlasenko, lives there. During the “Wave of Victory” motor rally Moscow – Minsk – Moscow, held on July 1 – 6, 2004, a meeting took place with his son Viktor, who lives in Moscow.

In 2004, for the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Belarus, on the building of the Vileyka electrical networks, on the initiative of former chief Rogach Anatoly Valentinovich, residents of Vileyka solemnly unveiled a memorial plaque in honor of their fellow countryman, the legendary brigade commander, on the street that was named in his honor in 1966.

Many Heroes did not know and will never know that they were awarded such a high and proud title, because this title was conferred on them posthumously. Among them are our fellow countrymen – natives of Vileyka District: Lavrinovich Vladimir Stepanovich and Zubovich Konstantin Mikhailovich.

Lavrinovich Vladimir Stepanovich – born in 1913 in the village of Porsa. From August 1944 he served on the 2nd and 1st Belorussian Fronts. Vladimir Stepanovich participated in many battles. The commander assigned him where a particularly reliable person was needed, and the soldier always coped with the task. He especially distinguished himself during the battles in East Prussia. By that time Lavrinovich had already become a sergeant, an experienced machine gunner.

On the night of January 26 to 27, 1945, a large group of fascists, supported by tanks and self-propelled guns, broke out of the encirclement ring. The stubborn battle continued all night. The enemy pressed from all sides. A particularly fierce battle flared up on January 31 in the area of the Shportinen station. Vladimir Stepanovich, taking an advantageous position, opened fire and destroyed more than 50 Hitlerites. When the cartridges ran out, he rushed under a tank with anti-tank grenades and blew it up.

On April 19, 1945, Lavrinovich V.S. was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously). He was reburied in the mass grave of Soviet soldiers in the city of Brenyova, Poland.

The Hero is forever entered in the list of the military unit where he served. A street in Vileyka is named after him. In the village of Porsa, a memorial plaque is installed on the house where he lived.

The Hero’s daughter, Lavrinovich Elena Vladimirovna, lives in Vileyka. And in St. Petersburg there are two sons of Elena Vladimirovna. One of them was named after his grandfather – Vladimir. Vladimir is a colonel of the medical service, doctor of medical sciences, professor, teacher at the Military Medical Academy.

Zubovich Konstantin Mikhailovich was born in 1904 in the village of Popovtsy. Before being drafted into the army, he worked in agriculture. From November 1944 he was at the front. He especially distinguished himself in battles on the territory of Hungary. On December 5, 1944, while crossing the Danube, he was one of the first to swim across the river, destroyed an enemy machine-gun crew with grenades, seized the machine gun and covered Soviet soldiers with fire from it. On December 28 he participated in battles in the streets of Budapest, liberating the capital of Hungary from fascist invaders. There he died and was buried. On December 28, 1944, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously).

Streets in Vileyka and in the village of Naroch are named after Zubovich K.M. In the village of Popovtsy, on the house where he lived – a memorial plaque. The memory of their father is sacredly preserved by two daughters of the Hero – Galina Konstantinovna, who lives in Molodechno, and Maria Konstantinovna, who lives in the village of Kulikha of Vileyka District.

The names of many Heroes of the Soviet Union are connected by fate and heroic feats with the events of the Great Patriotic War in Vileyshchina:

Timchuk Ivan Matveevich, from February 1942 commissar of the partisan detachment “Avenger” of Minsk Oblast, on the basis of which the partisan brigade “People’s Avengers” named after V.T. Voronyansky was created – a brigade that, together with the Aslanov men, liberated Vileyka. From May 1944, Timchuk I.M. was commander of the 1st Anti-Fascist Brigade. On October 31 – November 1, 1943, partisans of this brigade under the command of V.V. Gil-Radionov defeated the fascist garrison in Vileyka.

Timchuk I.M. was appointed first director of the 1st Belorussian fur farm in the village of Lyudvinovo, Vileyka District. In 2007, a memorial sign was installed in his honor near the administrative building of RUE “First Belorussian”.

Masherov Pyotr Mironovich – Hero of the Soviet Union, Hero of Socialist Labor, party and state figure of Belarus. From September 1943 – first secretary of the Vileyka underground oblast committee of the Komsomol. In 1944 – 1945 Pyotr Mironovich lived and worked in Vileyka. On February 15, 2008, on the day of the 90th anniversary of Masherov’s birth, a memorial plaque was installed in Vileyka on the building of the district Council of Deputies (it was precisely at this place that after the war the oblast committee of the Komsomol was located, where Masherov worked as first secretary).

Markov Fyodor Grigorievich. Before the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, deputy chairman of the Vileyka oblast executive committee. One of the first organizers and leaders of the partisan movement in the territory of Vileyka Oblast.

Obukhov Viktor Timofeevich – commander of the 3rd Guards Stalingrad Mechanized Corps, Guards Lieutenant General of Tank Troops. It was the units of this corps, including the 35th Guards Tank Brigade under the command of Guards Major General of Tank Troops, twice Hero of the Soviet Union Aslanov Azi Akhadovich, that liberated Vileyka on July 2, 1944. On July 3, 2009, on the day of the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Belarus from fascist invaders, a monument to Azi Aslanov was installed in Vileyka on Sovetskaya Street.

Dear veterans of the Great Patriotic War, thank you for the Victory and a low bow. Health, joy and peace for many years.

Mironovich Evgeny Fyodorovich – Hero of Socialist Labor. Born on November 7, 1917, in the urban settlement of Smilovichi, Cherven District. In 1936 he graduated from the Belarusian Agricultural Academy, a participant in the Soviet-Finnish War (1939-1940). During the Great Patriotic War he was commander of the partisan detachment named after Voroshilov, and of the brigade named after Frunze. And then he remained head of the Lyuban state farm.