Aleksander Aleksandrovich
Prokhorov

1918-1998


Aleksander Prokhorov was an intelligence officer of the 694th Rifle Regiment, captain, the Hero of the Soviet Union. In 1935 he finished the 7th grade of the school in Moscow, in 1938 he graduated from the printing college of the Goznak factory. He was in the army since October 1938. In 1939 he finished the regimental school. He served as a deputy political officer of a separate communications battalion (in the Odessa Military District). He was a participant of the Great Patriotic War: in June-July 1941 he was the deputy political officer of the 150th separate communications battalion of the 82nd Tiraspol fortified area (the Southern Front). He participated in defensive battles in Moldova. He provided communication with the encircled part, together with which he later went out to his own. In July 1941 – February 1942 he was the Deputy political officer of the 10th separate battalion of the Field Administration of the 9th Army, in February-August 1942 – the deputy political officer of the 3rd (from May 1942 – 9th) separate battalion of anti–tank rifles of the 9th Army. He fought on the Southern, Southwestern and North Caucasian fronts. He participated in defensive battles in the south of Ukraine and the Donbass, in the Rostov defensive and offensive, Barvenkovo-Lozovskaya operations and the Battle for the Caucasus. Then he was the commissar and deputy commander of the political unit of the fighter-sabotage detachments of the 12th (August-September 1942), 18th (October-December 1942) and 56th (December 1942 – April 1943) armies. He fought on the North Caucasian and Transcaucasian fronts. He participated in the Tuapse, North Caucasus and Krasnodar operations. As a part of special groups, he made 18 raids into the enemy’s rear to carry out reconnaissance and sabotage. On April 24, 1943, during the capture of an enemy “tongue” near the village of Krymskaya (now it is Krymsk, the Krasnodar Territory), he was seriously wounded in the lower back and until July 1943 he was in hospital in the city of Makhachkala (Dagestan). After recovering, he served as the platoon commander of a scout training company in the 189th (July-December 1943) and 180th (December 1943 – August 1944) army reserve rifle regiments (the North Caucasus Front and Separate Primorsky Army). He was engaged in the training of military scouts. In October 1944 – May 1945 he was an intelligence officer of the 694th Infantry Regiment (the 1st Belorussian Front). He participated in the Warsaw-Poznan and Berlin operations. He especially distinguished himself during the Warsaw-Poznan operation. On the night of January 31, 1945, at the head of a group of 70 people, he secretly crossed the front line. After passing 12 km, the group captured and for three days held the enemy’s stronghold in the village of Zawisze (gmina Skompe, the Svebodzinsky Powiat, the Lubusz Voivodeship, Poland). On the night of February 3, 1945, the group made a 4-kilometer dash behind enemy lines and captured the village of Mitwalde (now it is Mendzylesie, gmina Skompe), which allowed the regiment to reach the Oder. On February 5, 1945 the platoon under his command crawled over thin ice across the Oder River north of the city of Furstenberg (now it is within Eisenhuttenstadt, Brandenburg, Germany) and captured a line on the left bank of the river, which it held until the main forces of the regiment approached. On February 6, 1945 in the battle on the bridgehead, he was seriously wounded in the chest, but did not leave the battlefield. Only two days later he was sent to hospital in the city of Siedlce (now it is Siedlce, Poland), where he stayed until the end of March 1945. For the courage and heroism shown in the battles, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated April 6, 1945, Captain Aleksander Prokhorov was awarded the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union with the award of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal. After the war, he continued to serve in the army (in the Group of Soviet Troops in Germany). In August 1945, he was involved in a car accident and was in a Moscow hospital until June 1946. In 1946-1952 he was the head of the 2nd part of the Timiryazevsky Military Commissariat of Moscow, in 1952-1953 he served as an officer in the Main Directorate of Personnel of the Soviet Army. In 1956 he graduated from M.V. Frunze Military Academy. In 1956-1958 he was the Head of the department of the Stalingrad regional military Enlistment Office (now it is Volgograd), in 1958-1960 he was a senior officer of the personnel Department of the Moscow Military District, in 1960-1965 – the head of the department of the Moscow regional military Enlistment Office. Since December 1965, he served as the head of the group, deputy head and head of the department in the organizational and mobilization Department of the Civil Defence Headquarters of the USSR. Since December 1972, Colonel A.A. Prokhorov was in reserve.

Address: Moscow, Sudostroitelnaya str., 1, bldg. 2