ALEKSANDR ANDREEVICH FILIMONOV
1918 – 2007
Hero of the Soviet Union
He was born on 9 May 1918 in the village of Kuchin (now Kormiansky district of Gomel region). In the Red Army - from 1941. After graduating from the Orlov Tank School from March 1943 to March 1946, he served in the 55th Guards Tank Regiment of the 12th Mechanized Brigade of the 5th Guards Mechanized Corps. Tank platoon commander, company. Took part in the Battle of Kursk Arc, the battles for the liberation of Ukraine, Poland.
For his courage and heroism in the battles of the capture of Berlin and the liberation of Prague, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. From the award sheet: «In battles with German invaders on the 1st Ukrainian Front as part of the 55th Guards Regiment for the period from 16.04.1945 to 11.05.1945 has proved to be a good organizer, a brave and courageous officer. The entire company, without losses, quickly crossed the Neise and Spree Rivers, advancing successfully, destroying enemy pockets of resistance in the area of Berlin. Repelling counter-attacks from the south to the encircled group in the Berlin area, the company repulsed more than 10 counterattacks and destroyed 12 tanks and self-propelled guns, 11 field guns, 35 machine gun points, 45 cartridges of military equipment, 20 trucks and up to 500 soldiers and officers...» He retired in 1946. After graduating from the journalism department of the Belarusian State University in 1949, he became an assistant professor, then a professoroftheuniversity. He was head of the Department of Marxism-Leninism, and then vice-rector of the Gomel Pedagogical Institute. From 1969 he worked as a sector manager of the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR, and from 1975 to 1985 – deputy director of the Institute of Party History of the Central Committee of the BSSR. Doctor of Historical Sciences. Academician of the International Slavic Academy of Sciences, Education, Arts and Culture. Author of a number of monographs on the history of Belarus. Awarded the Orders of Lenin, the Patriotic War 1st and 2nd degrees, the Labour Red Banner, the Red Star, the Order of Belarus "For the service of the Motherland" 3rd degree, medals. Honorary Citizen of Korma Township (Gomel Oblast, Republic of Belarus)