Vadim Alexandrovich
Matrosov

1917-1999


Vadim Alexandrovich Matrosov was the Head of the Main Directorate of the Border Troops – the Head of the Border Troops of the USSR State Security Committee, an Army General. He was born on September 30 (October 13), 1917 in the village of Bokhot now in the Monastyrshchinsky district of the Smolensk region in a family of rural teachers. He was Russian. His father was drafted into the Russian Imperial Army in World War I and rose to the rank of officer, but died shortly before the birth of his son. During the famine in 1920, his mother took the family to Samarkand (now Uzbekistan), where they lived until 1925. Then Vadim Matrosov lived in the Smolensk and Moscow regions, in 1933 he finished a seven-year school in the village of Bolshevo in the Mytishchi district of the Moscow region and in 1936 he finished high school in Moscow. He studied at Moscow Construction Institute. He was in the border troops of the NKVD of the USSR since 1938, he was a shooter of the 4th border outpost of the 44th Lenkoran border detachment (the Azerbaijan SSR). During the Great Patriotic War in June 1941, Matrosov was sent to junior lieutenant courses at Higher Border School in Moscow; in September-October 1941, as a part of a consolidated battalion of cadets, he participated in the defence of Moscow. After the courses from March 1942 to October 1944, he was the deputy commander of a company for reconnaissance and deputy commander of a battalion for reconnaissance of the 73rd Border Regiment of the NKVD troops for the protection of the rear of the Karelian Front, defended the Northern Railway, fought with sabotage groups of Finns and himself conducted more than ten raids on enemy rear. Since the end of 1944 he was in the intelligence department of the Karelo-Finnish border district. He was a member of the CPSU (b)/CPSU since 1944. After the war, V.A. Matrosov continued his service in the border troops. In 1947, he studied at the operational officer training courses. Since 1948, he served in the intelligence department of the Azerbaijani Border District, was its chief. In 1955 he graduated from Military Law Academy, in 1959 – Higher academic courses at the Military Academy of the General Staff. In 1959-1961 he was the Chief of Staff of the troops of the Northern Border District of the KGB under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, in 1961-1963 – the Head of the 2nd (intelligence) department of the headquarters of the Border Troops of the KGB under the Council of Ministers of the USSR. In 1963-1967 – the Head of the troops of the Transcaucasian Border District of the KGB under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, in 1967-1972 – the Chief of Staff of the Border Troops – First Deputy Head of the Main Directorate of the Border Troops (GUPV) KGB under the Council of Ministers of the USSR. From December 15, 1972 to December 28, 1989 he was the Head of the Main Directorate of the Border Troops (GUPV) – Head of the Border Troops of the KGB under the Council of Ministers of the USSR – KGB of the USSR. Under his leadership, units and units of the border troops of the KGB of the USSR performed tasks on the territory of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, ensuring the inviolability of the southern borders of the USSR. By the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (“closed”) dated February 26, 1982, for great services in strengthening the State Border of the USSR, Army General Vadim Alexandrovich Matrosov was awarded the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union with the award of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal.

Address: Moscow, Skakovaya str., 20 p. 1