VLADIMIR VASILYEVICH GAMZIN
1919 – 2001
Hero of the Soviet Union
Vladimir Vasilyevich Gamzin, captain of the Guards, assistant commander of the 74th Guards Assault Aviation Regiment of the Stalingrad Red Banner for air rifle service, was born in 1919 in the village of Akatnaya Maza of Khvalynsk district of Saratov region in the family of a peasant. He was Russian by nationality. After finishing primary school, due to the difficult financial situation of his parents, he lived with his uncle in Baku. He graduated from the technical school, worked as a locksmith and studied at an evening high school and an aeroclub at the same time. In the autumn of 1939, he was recruited to the Red Army. As a motorist of the aviation unit, he participated in the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940. From June 1942 until the victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War, he fought as part of the 8th and 1st Air Armies on the Stalingrad, Southern, 4th Ukrainian and 3rd Belorussian fronts. He took part in the Battle of Stalingrad, the liberation of Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, and the defeat of the enemy on the territory of East Prussia. For military distinctions and impeccable service in the Soviet Army, he was awarded two Orders of the Red Banner (1942, 1944), the Orders of Alexander Nevsky (1945), the Patriotic War of the 1st degree (1943), two Orders of the Red Star (1943, 1954), the medals "For Military Merit" (1949) "For the Defense of Stalingrad", "For the Capture of Konigsberg" and three other medals.
Vladimir Vasilyevich Gamzin was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the award of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal on February 23, 1945 for 447 combat sorties, causing great damage to the enemy and showing valor and courage.
In the autumn of 1942, fierce battles were fought near Stalingrad. The soldiers of the 62nd Army repelled the onslaught of superior enemy forces from morning to evening. At night, there was a lull, and the fighters could rest in shifts. But this was prevented by enemy artillery. At one of the sites, a specially allocated battery of the Nazis conducted methodical fire on the battle formations of our troops every night. This exhausted the fighters, and the army commander ordered the aviators to destroy the enemy's battery.
The night bombers were assigned to perform this task. Several times they flew out on a combat mission, dropped bombs, the battery fell silent, but as soon as the planes left, it resumed even more furious shelling. Then the destruction of the battery was entrusted to the best pilot of the unit, Vladimir Gamzin.
On November 6, Gamzin approached the target at a high altitude, and then turned off the engine and silently descended to the gun flashes - the battery was firing. The bombs dropped by Gamzin hit an ammunition depot. A huge explosion shook the air: the enemy's battery was destroyed.
In the autumn of 1943, Soviet troops pushed the Nazis back across the Dnieper River all the way from Gomel to Kherson. Only in the area of Nikopol, the enemy managed to hold a bridgehead on the left bank of the river. The battles to eliminate this bridgehead were of a stubborn nature and required great efforts of the troops of the 3rd and 4th Ukrainian fronts, including parts of assault aviation. The pilots of the Guards regiment sometimes made 3-4 combat sorties a day.
On November 13, the six IL aircraft led by Gamzin were tasked with destroying the enemy's pontoon bridge across the Dnieper near the village of Bolshaya Lepetikha. When approaching the target, our attack aircraft were fired at by heavy anti-aircraft artillery fire. Skillfully maneuvering in the gap zone, Gamzin attacked the crossing and destroyed half of the bridge with a direct hit of bombs.
It took the fascists two days to restore the crossing, near which a large number of tanks and cars had accumulated during this time.
During the period from June 1942 to August 20, 1944, Vladimir Gamzin destroyed 53 tanks, 23 field artillery guns, a ferry, 98 cars, 3 gasoline tankers, a steam locomotive, 55 wagons with cargo and up to 500 enemy soldiers and officers.
After the war, V. V. Gamzin - lieutenant colonel of the reserve, lived in Ukraine, in Gomel, worked at the Gomselmash plant.
He was awarded two Orders of the Red Banner, the Orders of Lenin, Alexander Nevsky, the Patriotic War of the 1st degree (1943), two Orders of the Red Star, the Gold Star medal, the medals "For Military Merit", "For the Defense of Stalingrad", "For the Capture of Konigsberg" and three other medals.