Peter Kagykin
Photo: 400 famous Novokuznetsk residents
November 12, 1936
On this day, Boris Efimovich (Ikhilievich) Rak, Honorary Citizen of the Jewish Autonomous Region, Honorary Resident of the Birobidzhan District, was born.
Boris Efimovich was born into a family of the first collective farmers-settlers in the village. Valdgeim, Birobidzhan district of the Jewish Autonomous Okrug.
In 1952, after graduating from school, Boris Efimovich began his career as a tractor driver at the Birobidzhan machine and tractor station.
After serving in the army, he returned to his native village to work at the Birobidzhan machine and tractor station, after the reorganization of which he worked on the collective farm “Zavety Ilyich” as a tractor driver, driver, and mechanic for labor-intensive processes.
In 1968, Boris Efimovich graduated from the Birobidzhan Agricultural College and from 1969 to 1985 he worked as chief engineer, and then as deputy chairman of the collective farm “Zavety Ilyich”. In 1980, he graduated from the department for training management personnel of collective and state farms at the Irkutsk Agricultural Institute.
Boris Efimovich enjoyed enormous authority and respect among the villagers and in 1985 was elected chairman of the executive committee of the Valdgeim Village Council of People's Deputies. B. E. Rak worked in this position until 1989. In the period from 1989 to 1992, he headed the collective farm “Zavety Ilyich”. In 1992, Boris Efimovich was one of the first in the region to organize a peasant farm.
B.E. Rak always took an active part in the public life of the region and district, and was repeatedly elected as a deputy of the regional and district Councils.
B.E. Rak was awarded medals “For the development of virgin and fallow lands” and a Certificate of Honor from the governor of the Jewish Autonomous Region. He was awarded the titles “Honored Worker of Agriculture of the Russian Federation”, “Honorary Resident of the Birobidzhan Region”, “Winner of Socialist Competition” – more than once.
In July 2004, the life of Boris Efimovich Rak was cut short. A memorial plaque was installed on the building of the regional library in the village. Valdgeym Birobidzhan municipal district.
Since 2016, Valdheim has hosted a basketball tournament in the Birobidzhan municipal district of the Jewish Autonomous Region, dedicated to the memory of Boris Efimovich Rak.
November 12, 1912
On this day, the future Hero of the Soviet Union Pyotr Kagykin was born (according to the entry on his military ID in the village of Volchikha, Novosibirsk Region), into a peasant family. According to other sources, in the village of Volchno-Burlinsky, Krutikhinsky district, Altai Territory.
Lost my father early. Received only primary education. According to the entry in the military ID, this was an elementary school in the Novosibirsk region, Kamensky district, in the village of Volchikha, in 1923.
He worked as a carpenter's assistant in the village, then as a carpenter at the construction of the Kuznetsk Metallurgical Plant (Novokuznetsk). When the plant was built, Kagykin began working there as a metal pourer.
Drafted into the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army by the Stalinist GVK of the Novosibirsk region on September 15, 1933. Enlisted in the 71st Artillery Regiment. Scout from September 1933 to May 1934. From May 1934 to October 1936 – rifleman of the NKVD regiment. After demobilization, he returned to the city of Novokuznetsk and got a job at the Kuznetsk Metallurgical Plant.
In 1939, Pyotr Kagykin with his mother and sister moved to the village. Leninskoye, Jewish Autonomous Region, where he worked as an auxiliary worker on a collective farm.
In 1941, he was again drafted into the Red Army and sent to the Border Troops of the NKVD of the USSR. Served as a squad commander in the 63rd border detachment of the Far Eastern border district. In 1942, the formation of the 102nd Far Eastern Rifle Division began from the border guard soldiers of the Far East. Pyotr Kagykin volunteered to join it and was enlisted in the 40th Khasansky Rifle Regiment. At first he was a shooter, then – the first number of anti-tank weapons.
In 1943, after being wounded, he was enlisted in the 1955th anti-tank fighter regiment of the 40th separate anti-tank fighter brigade, 3rd shock army of the 1st Belorussian Front, with which he reached Berlin. Participated in the Battle of Kursk, the Battle of the Dnieper, the Oryol offensive operation, the liberation of Belarus, Poland, and battles in Germany.
On April 28, 1945, Sergeant P.P. Kagykin was among the first in the assault group of the 79th Rifle Corps to cross the river. Spree (Spree).
On April 30, 1945, with a group of fighters, he participated in the hoisting of the red flag over the Reichstag. In street battles in Berlin he destroyed more than a dozen Nazis. After being seriously wounded, he was in the hospital until December 1945.
By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated May 15, 1946, for the exemplary performance of combat missions of the command and the courage and heroism shown in battles with the Nazi invaders, Sergeant Pyotr Petrovich Kagykin was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal (No. 8966). He was also awarded the Order of the Red Star, Glory III degree, and medals. He received his last Order of Glory for a shot down German Tiger.
After the war he lived in the village. Leninsky Jewish Autonomous Region. At the end of the 1940s. he became seriously ill and moved to Moscow. After a difficult operation, he died on December 25, 1951 in a Moscow clinic. He was buried at the Vagankovskoye cemetery.
In memory of the Hero in the village. Leninsky Jewish Autonomous Region Lesnaya Street and the adjacent lane were renamed Kagykina Street. The house in which he lived has been preserved, and a memorial plaque has been unveiled. In 2016, the Alley of Border Guard Heroes was opened on Kagykin Street. In Birobidzhan on the Alley of Heroes there is a pylon with his name. The border outpost in the village of Leninskoye was named after Peter Kagykin, and a bust of the Hero was installed at the entrance. In one of the barracks, the bed of Sergeant P. Kagykin has been preserved, and there is also a corner in his memory at the outpost. Every day his name is heard.
In May 2019, the grand opening of a memorial plaque to P. P. Kagykin took place at the border outpost of the village. Voskresenovka, Leninsky district, where he served.
The memory of Pyotr Kagykin is preserved not only in the Jewish Autonomous Region. On the memorial on Glory Square in Khabarovsk, among the four Far Eastern border guards – Heroes of the Soviet Union – there is the name of P. P. Kagykin. A memorial plaque was installed on the monument to fellow countrymen in the village. Volchno-Burlinskoye, Krutikhinsky district. In honor of the memory of the legendary border guard, the administration of the Krutikhinsky district and the village of Volchno-Burlinskoye, with the support of local residents, annually organize and hold an interdistrict football tournament, which takes place on the days when Pyotr Kagykin accomplished his heroic feat. He is also included in the lists of Heroes of the Altai Territory, as well as the city of Novokuznetsk, Kemerovo Region.
November 12, 1920
Styazhkin M.M.. Photo: Photo: Regional Library
On November 12, 1920, Mikhail Mikhailovich Styazhkin, Hero of the Soviet Union, was born.
Born in the town of Ulala (Gorno-Altaisk) in a peasant family. Graduated from 5th grade.
In 1937, the Styazhkin family moved to Birobidzhan. He worked at a meat processing plant and in the Zagotzerno office.
In 1940, Styazhkin was drafted into the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. Member of the CPSU since 1942.
At the front in the Great Patriotic War since March 1942.
In 1943, for courage shown in one of the front-line operations, he was awarded the medal “For Military Merit”. Mikhail Mikhailovich especially distinguished himself on June 28, 1944 near the Belarusian village of Knyazhnitsy. A difficult situation has arisen here for our advancing troops. The Nazis unexpectedly went forward. Then Styazhkin rolled out his gun for direct fire and began shooting at point-blank range the enemy’s manpower and equipment. Despite strong oncoming mortar, artillery and machine gun fire, successfully maneuvering and changing position after each shot, he conducted targeted, deadly fire at the counterattacking enemy. In an unequal battle, thanks to his courage and bravery, the brave artillery sergeant emerged victorious. He destroyed thirteen vehicles, three 105-mm and two self-propelled guns, and up to 150 soldiers and officers. Among the dead was a German general, and in the panic-stricken battle formations of the Nazis, they managed to capture the battle flag of the enemy division. The enemy counterattack was repulsed, our infantry, having received timely fire support, achieved tactical success and cut the strategically important Mogilev-Minsk highway.
By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated August 22, 1944, Mikhail Mikhailovich Styazhkin was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Unfortunately, he never managed to return home to Birobidzhan with a star on his chest. In one of the battles in November 1944, he was seriously wounded and died of his wounds on December 24, 1944. He was buried in the city of Brest in the city cemetery.
One of the microdistricts of Birobidzhan, which grew up exactly on the spot where his family lived, now bears the glorious name of a countryman hero.
On August 19, 1992, in the area of the meat processing plant where the future “Honorary Citizen of the City of Birobidzhan” worked, a memorial plaque to Hero of the Soviet Union M. M. Styazhkin was unveiled.
A street in Gorno-Altaisk also bears the name of the hero.
