Ivan Potapovich
Appletov
1921-1979
Ivan Potapovich Apletov was the commander of the machine gun platoon of the 164th Rifle Regiment (33rd Rifle Division, 1st Shock Army, 3rd Baltic Front), a Senior Lieutenant, the Hero of the Soviet Union. He was born on April 24, 1921 in the village of Sukhoi Donets, now the Bogucharsky district, he graduated from a pedagogical college in the Rostov region. He worked as a teacher. In 1940 he was drafted into the Red Army. He was a participant of the Great Patriotic War since January 1942. He took the first battle as a part of the cadet brigade on the Volkhov Front. After the second injury, he was sent from the hospital to officer courses. He returned to the front as a lieutenant, commander of a machine-gun platoon. In the spring of 1943, he joined the CPSU. He especially distinguished himself in the battles for the liberation of the Baltic States in July 1944. In the July 1944 battles, a machine-gun platoon under the command of Senior Lieutenant Apletov captured a part of an important height west to the village of Misso (Vyru district of Estonia). After the failure of the company commander, Apletov assumed command of the unit, raised the fighters to attack and knocked out the enemy from a height. Appletov and his fighters managed to exterminate more than 100 Nazis, capture six 76 mm cannons with shells, 7 machine guns, more than 20 submachine guns and rifles. The strike of the unit ensured the success of the entire compound. On July 26-27, 1944, with a group of 15 people, he went behind enemy lines, straddled the highway and repelled 8 enemy counterattacks. Being surrounded, he held the occupied line during the day and provided the actions of the battalion with machine gun fire. In this battle, he killed more than 130 fascists and captured two Germans during hand-to-hand combat. The combat mission was successfully completed. In one of the following battles, the brave officer was seriously wounded. In the hospital he learned about the assignment of a high rank. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated March 24, 1945, Senior Lieutenant Ivan Potapovich Appletov was awarded the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union with the award of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal for exemplary performance of combat missions of the command at the front of the fight against the German invaders and his bravery and heroism. After the hospital, he did not return to the front. Victory Day was celebrated in the rear, by the party department of a large defence enterprise. In 1946 he graduated from Vologda Regional Party School. Since 1947 Major Appletov was in reserve.
Address: Moscow, 5th Kozhukhovskaya str., 20
