Monument to frontline drivers
The monument is a ZIS-5 truck mounted on a pedestal. The pedestal is made of white granite interspersed with bands of black granite. Memorial plaques made of red granite with dedicatory inscriptions and heraldic symbols (five-pointed star, sickle and hammer) made in slotted letters are mounted on the pedestal from the end sides: “To drivers-warriors, drivers-workers.” Military drivers made an invaluable contribution to the Victory, many of them were awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. The first of them was awarded to Vladimir Kuzmich Artyukh, the driver of the 7th separate pontoon-bridge battalion of the 7th Army of the North-Western Front. He was in the Red Army in 1939-40 and since June 1941. He was a participant of the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940. In 1942 Vladimir Kuzmich Artyukh finished Leningrad Military Engineering College, fought on the Leningrad and Central Fronts. Having received an order to deliver a half-pontoon for crossing the Taipalen-Yok River (Stormy), he led a column of cars. Despite artillery and machine-gun fire, the brave driver delivered a half-ton to the shore along a broken road. Other cars with half-pontoons followed him. Thus, the equipment for crossing the river was accelerated. By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated January 15, 1940 “for exemplary performance of combat missions of the command at the front of the struggle against the Finnish White Guard and the courage and heroism shown at the same time”, the Red Army soldier Artyuk Vladimir Kuzmich was awarded the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union with the award of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal (No. 198). In 1945, the hero driver finished Higher Officer Automobile School. He left the military service with the rank of lieutenant. Alexander Tvardovsky’s poem “The Chauffeur Artyukh” was dedicated to the exploits of Vladimir Kuzmich Artyukh.
Address: Moscow, Bolshaya Cheremushkinskaya str., 1
