Hero of the Soviet Union, battery commander of the 153rd Guards Urazovsky Artillery Regiment of the 73rd Guards Stalingrad Red Banner Rifle Division, Guards Captain Nikolai Pukha (20 May 1915 – 01 July 1989).
Nikolai Pukha has been in the army since August 1941. He graduated from the courses for junior lieutenants. He fought in the South-West, Stalingrad, Donskoy, Voronezh, Steppe (from October 20, 1943 – the 2nd Ukrainian) and the 3rd Ukrainian fronts as gun commander, fire platoon commander, deputy battery commander and battery commander.
He took part in the defensive battles of 1941, the defense of Kharkov, the Stalingrad and Kursk battles, the Bereznegovato-Snigirevskaya, Odessa, Yassko-Kishinevskaya offensive operations, battles on the territory of Romania, the Belgrade operation. Particularly distinguished himself when crossing the Danube River in the area of the village of Batina in Yugoslavia. In the period from 14 to 27 November 1944, in the battles to expand the bridgehead, the battery of Nikolai Pukha repeatedly repelled counterattacks by enemy tanks and infantry, ensuring the advancement of rifle subunits. During the battles on the beachhead, battery fire destroyed 2 self-propelled guns, 8 heavy and light machine guns, up to 180 enemy soldiers and officers. For this courage and heroism of the guard, Senior Lieutenant Nikolai Timofeevich Puha was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal (No. 8685).
Source: slavhistory.ru.
Source of information about Nikolay Pukha photo: www.warheroes.ru
Location: Germany
Photo time: 1945