Igor Pavlovich Akcharov
He was born on January 5, 1926, in the town of Peremyshl, Kaluga region. As the front approached, all the local youth set out to dig anti-tank ditches on the far approaches to Moscow. When the front approached our city finally, he volunteered for an anti-tank battalion of the militia.
Under onslaught of the enemy’s superior forces our paper battalion existed short. On 3 January 1942, at the age 16, he volunteered for the regular Red Army: the 1st Guards Cavalry division of the 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps. At the time he fought in the Bryansk direction (south-west Moscow) Joseph Stalin’s order No. 227 was issued on July 28, 1942. It is famous for its line "Not one step back!", which became a slogan of Soviet resistance against the German invasion. By that time the enemy was at the gate, at the gate of Stalingrad. In January-February 1943 our Cavalry division has been fighting at Stalingrad.
In the autumn of 1943, his 16th Guards Rifle Corps of the 11th Army of the 1st Baltic Front liberated Vitebsk (Belarus). Since March 1944 he has been transferred to the Moscow air defense headquarter where he served until September 1950.
He has been awarded Order of the Patriotic War and Medal "For Courage" and Medal "For the Defence of Moscow ".