Lieutenant Grigory Matveyevich Volnyansky (February 15, 1921 – October 30, 1941), commander of the fire platoon of the 6th protective battery of the 732nd antiaircraft artillery regiment of air defense.
On October 30, 1941 at 6:30 a screen of two anti-aircraft 85-mm guns, commanded by Grigory Volnyansky, took up a battle with the tanks of Heinz Guderian’s army, attacking Tula from the Orel highway, in the number of up to 50 tanks. In two attacks, 14 German tanks were destroyed, the rest retreated – the Germans could not break into Tula, the key southern frontier of Moscow’s defense.
Many anti-aircraft gunners were killed or wounded – some tanks approached 50-70 meters, shelling the anti-aircraft guns. Grigory Volnyansky himself was killed during the second attack of tanks at 8:50 on October 30. For this fight he was posthumously awarded the Order of Lenin, in 1977 he was enrolled forever in the lists of the first battery of the first division of military unit 51025.
Place of photo: Tula, USSR
Date of the photo: 1941