Vladimir Mikhailovich
Chkhaidze
1922-1943
Vladimir Mikhailovich Chkhaidze was a tank commander of the 586th tank Battalion of the 219th Tank Brigade of the 1st Mechanized Corps of the Steppe Front, second lieutenant. He was born on March 14, 1922 in Kursk in the family of an employee. He graduated from school No. 54 in Moscow. In August 1941 he was drafted into the Red Army. In 1943 he graduated from the Saratov Tank School and was sent to the active army. He fought on the Steppe Front. On the night of October 2, 1943, the 586th Tank Battalion under the command of D.V. Tyurkin, in which Junior Lieutenant V.M. Chkhaidze fought, crossed the Dnieper River near the village of Mishurin Rog, Verkhnedneprovsky district, Dnipropetrovsk region. In three days, the tank battalion repulsed nineteen enemy counterattacks, destroyed eighteen tanks, up to twenty guns and many other military equipment. V.M. Chkhaidze personally knocked out three tanks, destroyed a mortar battery, several machine-gun points. On October 4, 1943 in the morning, the Nazis, pulling up new forces, again counterattacked the positions of the tankers. With a well-aimed shot, almost at point-blank range, V.M. Chkhaidze knocked out a tank with a swastika. Another tiger was unfolding nearby. There was no time to bring the guns to him and the tank V.M. Chkhaidze went to ram. On October 7, 1943 five enemy tanks counterattacked the area where V.M. Chkhaidze’s combat vehicle was located. A difficult situation was created. But the tankers decided to hold the bridgehead at all costs. The car took off. A shell was sent to the nearest tank of the Nazis. Flames shot up. One more shot — and the second tank burst into flames. But at that moment an enemy shell hit the “thirty-four”. The combat vehicle was engulfed in flames. The crew members were injured. The commander’s clothes caught fire. Fighting the flames, the tankers somewhat weakened the fire on the enemy. The Nazis were already triumphant. But now the Soviet tank came to life, its cannon spoke. One by one, the remaining enemy tanks burst into flames. But immediately there was an explosion — an enemy shell landed in a burning Soviet tank. The brave tankman, Junior Lieutenant Vladimir Mikhailovich Chkhaidze, was killed. Initially, he was buried in a mass grave near the village of Annovka, Verkhnedneprovsky district, Dnipropetrovsk region of the Ukrainian SSR. He was reburied in a mass grave in the village of Mosty, Verkhnedneprovsky district. By the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated December 20, 1943, for the successful crossing of the Dnieper River, the solid consolidation and expansion of the bridgehead on the west bank of the Dnieper River and the courage and heroism shown at the same time, Junior Lieutenant Vladimir Mikhailovich Chkhaidze was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. He was awarded the Order of Lenin. A monument to the Hero was erected in the village of Mosty, his name was assigned to school No. 54 in Moscow, a memorial plaque was installed on the school building.
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