Written by Maxim Oblitsov
The historian at the front
This officer’s belt belonged to Lev Grigorievich Dyachkov. He was a historian in Voronezh State Pedagogical Institute. During the Great Patriotic War Dyachkov went through a lot of things. He was born in 1921 on the 12 July in the family of the military man. His father came from the village Uspenskoe in Korotoyaksriy uyezd (county) in Voronezh Province and he was a peasant. In 1928 Lev came to study in Voronezh and in 1941 he graduated from Voronezh Pedagogical University with the historian degree. [1].
A special gift
At the end of 1942 when the battle in Stalingrad was still going, but the outcome was almost clear. At that period the Soviet government permitted to sent parcels to the people in the front. As Lev Grigorievich remembered, despite the fact that the soldiers were fully provided with food and clothes, the parcels were send to the front and there were a lot of them. Mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, children wanted to make happy their relatives who were at the front. So, they send them everything they could. At this period of time Lev Grigorievich’s mother send him a parcel. There was a semi-smoked sausage, metal sealed box with pure alcohol and commanding officer’s belt. This was leather belt with brass star buckle. The star was shining with the Soviet Union symbols. This belt very beautiful and many other commanders wanted to have such belt, especially young ones. (in 1942 he was 21). About 2 years later the belt played an important role in his life.
In the summer 1944 during the Vistula–Oder Offensive the Red Army was preparing for an operation. The basic tasks were to come to the river Vistula, to occupy staging ground in the western bank, to make the German soldiers run to the Oder, where the German borders were. During this period of time our hero was on duty in the 3rd guard armoured corps, which was formed in 1943 14 May by the order of Joseph Stalin [2]. The commander of this division was an outstanding Soviet Lieutenant-General [3].
The belt saved his life
In August 1944 the 3rd guard armourded corps came to Vistula, forced it and occupied the staging ground in the region of Sandomierz. They were preparing to cross the river. At the twilight the soldiers were attacked at the temporary bridge by 67 German bombers. The transport was blocked and people could not leave or go back. They were attacked and there was fuel in the cars. Lev Grigorievich’s official car “Dodge” was on fire. There were important documents. Everything was on fire. When Dyachkov understood that there was nothing left in his car and everything burnt down he ran from it and was trying to protect himself from the attack. As Lev Grigorievich remembered he felt pain in the right hand and stomach after the one of the bombs exploded. But there was no blood and the arm was dry. After that he touched the belt presented by his mother, but he could not open it. It was seized up. It turned out that the service shirt was torn above the belt. The thick buckle was damaged and the belt was blocked. The star and the corners were a little bit crushed. A piece of the exploded bomb got into the buckle but did not break through it. It only damaged it and torn the service shirt. At the break of dawn Lev Dyachkov approached to the road. There was a horrible view. All the cars were burnt. After the German attack they decided to go to Tarnobrzeg in 12 km from the temporary bridge.
Lev Grigorievich noticed that everyone was surprised. They looked at his belt and couldn’t believe it. “This belt saved me from the death: And I told that it was my mother who send me this belt. Then I continued wearing this belt till the end of the war. I took it home after the demobilization and my brother Vladimir wore it with the uniform and my great-coat. That was because we could not buy any clothes after the war. It was a hard period of time”.
The time after WWII
During the Great Patriotic War Lev Grigorievich constantly was in South-West, Voronezh, Bryansk, Central, 1st Ukrainian and 1st Belarussian fronts. He was awarded with the Order Red Star and medals “For Battle Merit”, Medal “For the Victory Over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945”, The Medal “For the Liberation of Warsaw”, The Medal “For the Capture of Berlin” for the brilliant accomplishment of commander’s tasks at the front during the battle with the german-fascist invaders. After the Great Patriotic War he contunued to serve in the Military Attorney Department of the 1st Guard armoured corps until the demobilization in 1946. The commanding unit wanted him to stay in the army. They wanted to send him to study in the Academy of Military Law, but he was eager to work as a historian. In Autumn 1946 “historian-soldier” came to Tambov where his parents lived. They were evacuated from Voronezh and he faced the problem which was typical for people in the after war period. He could not find a job. [1]. We would not even get to know about him, if his grandson did not ask to help him with the hometask. Besides, his son and historian Vladimir Lvovich Dyachkov kept the fragments of the war memories and published them in 2010 in the collection of documents about the Great Patriotic War [4]. On the 9 May 2020 a memorial complex was build in honour of lecturers and students who participated in the Great Patriotic War. And the name of Lev Grigorievich Dyachkov who was a lecturer of TSPU is also placed there. (working period 1948-1989) [5].
[1] Dyachkov V.L. The Dyachkovy Teacher’s Dynasty. // Youth and Society / Publ: Derzhavin Tambov State University. Tambov. 2010. p. 71
[2] 3rd Guard Armoured Corps URL: http://tankfront.ru/ussr/ta/gvta3.html (reference date 30.07.2020)
[3] Rybalko Pavel Semenovich URL: https://pamyat-naroda.ru/commander/1058/?static_hash=008f6b5159e9c2ba6b93b9e516c79029 (reference date 30.07.2020)
[4] Tambov citizens at the fronts of the World War 2 1939-1945. Collection of Documents – Tambov, 2010. 1490 p.
[5] Tambov Life URL: https://tamlife.ru/informaciya/obshhestvo/2020051414144958193.html/v-tambove-vozveli-derzhavinskij-memorialnyj-kompleks/ (reference date 01.07.2020)
OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
Guido Lessing (July 28, 2020). Saving belt. Intersections of Luxembourgish-Russian History. Retrieved April 29, 2025 from https://doi.org/10.58079/ula2