Birth of a participant of the Great Patriotic War, Hero of the Soviet Union, attack pilot 1st class, Colonel Alexei Arsentyevich Rogozhin

Alexei Arsentyevich Rogozhin was born on February 23, 1922 in a working class family in the city of Tobolsk. In 1927 he moved with his parents to Tyumen and then to Tula. After graduating from the 9th grade of the school, he studied at the FZO school, after which he worked as a mechanic at an arms factory in Tula. After passing the standards and tests, he joined Osoaviakhim. Simultaneously with work at the plant, he studied at the Tula Aviation Club guided by V. S. Grizodubova, who received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for the famous flight to the Far East.

In 1940 Rogozhin was drafted by the Tula city military commissariat into the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. In 1941, after graduating from the Taganrog Aviation School of Pilots, he was sent to study at the Krasnodar Aviation School of Pilots, from which he graduated in 1942.

From January 22, 1943 Rogozhin took part in the Great Patriotic War. He fought on the Il-2 attack aircraft on the North-Western, Kalinin, Voronezh, Stepnoy, 1st and 2nd Ukrainian fronts. The entire combat path passed as part of the 673rd Assault Aviation Regiment of the 266th Assault Aviation Division of the 1st Assault Aviation Corps, later renamed the 142nd Guards Sandomierz Assault Aviation Regiment of the 8th Guards Assault Aviation Poltava Order of Bohdan Khmelnitsky Division 1- 1st Guards Assault Aviation Kirovograd Red Banner Corps.

In 1942 Rogozhin participated on the Kalinin Front in the Rzhev-Vyazemsky offensive operation, from July 5, 1943, as part of the 2nd Air Army on the Voronezh Front, he fought on the Kursk Bulge, delivering assault strikes, supporting ground troops in defensive battles and during the offensive. In August 1943 Rogozhin took part in the Belgorod-Kharkov strategic offensive operation on the Steppe Front, participated in the liberation of Belgorod and Kharkov, and then in the liberation of the Left-Bank Ukraine (Krasnograd, Poltava, Kremenchug) and in the battle for the Dnieper. In the Belgorod region in the summer of 1943 he was wounded in the arm, but quickly recovered and returned to duty. For 41 successful sorties for the destruction of enemy manpower and equipment and the valor, courage and bravery shown at the same time, he was presented to the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, which he received on August 30, 1943.

The assault corps by Rogozhin participated in the liberation of the Right-Bank Ukraine, Moldova, in delivering assault strikes on objects in Romania. In 1944 Rogozhin took part in the Lvov-Sandomierz strategic offensive operation, in the liberation of the western regions of Ukraine and the eastern regions of Poland, in support of the troops on the Sandomierz bridgehead on the western bank of the Vistula, as well as bridgeheads in the areas of the settlements of Baranow and Magnushev.

For excellent combat work in disrupting the German summer offensive of 1943, for the liberation of Belgorod, Kharkov, Krasnograd, Poltava, Lvov, Sandomierz and other cities Alexei Rogozhin received 8 thanks from the People's Commissar of Defence of the USSR. For the successful completion of command tasks - 3 thanks from the front commander, he has received 11 thanks from the corps and division commanders. By the time of submission for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, as of January 14, 1945, the deputy commander of the aviation squadron of the 142nd Guards Assault Aviation Regiment of the Guard, Lieutenant Rogozhin, made 129 successful sorties to destroy enemy manpower and equipment on an Il-2 aircraft. At the same time, he destroyed and disabled 38 tanks, 116 vehicles, suppressed the fire of 5 artillery batteries at firing positions, 3 anti-aircraft artillery batteries, 2 mortar points, blew up 8 warehouses with fuel and lubricants and ammunition as part of a group, personally blew up 1 railway echelon with ammunition and one echelon of fuel tanks, shot down 1 Xe-126 aircraft in an air battle, destroyed 5 enemy aircraft on the ground.

For courage and heroism shown during assault strikes on enemy manpower and equipment, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of April 10, 1945 Alexei Rogozhin was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal.

From April 16 to May 8, 1945 he participated in the Berlin strategic operation. The battle path ended with participation in the liberation of Prague on May 11, 1945. At the war Rogozhin was wounded several times, was shot down 6 times, and sank along with the plane in the middle of the Dnieper.

After the war, he continued to serve in the Air Force in command positions. In 1959 he graduated from the Air Force Academy with the rank of major. In 1968, with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel of the Guards, he was transferred to the reserve. After his dismissal, he worked at the Tula Arms Plant as chairman of the DOSAAF committee, was engaged in social activities: he acted as executive secretary of the Tula section of the Soviet Committee of War Veterans.

Alexei Rogozhin died on March 1, 1992. He was buried in a cemetery in Tula.

Lit.: Геральдический альбом Тюменской области / Геральдический совет при Президенте Российской Федерации, Правительство Тюменской области; [ответственный за выпуск С. М. Лескин; редактор Н. В. Васькова]. Тюмень, 2014; Герои Тюменского края / [автор-составитель А. И. Бажин]. Ишим, 2015; Тереб Н. Герои, родившиеся на территории Тюменской области // Тюменские известия. 2017. 25 января. С. 3; Тобольский биографический словарь / [авторы-составители: В. Ю. Софронов, Ю. П. Прибыльский]. Тобольск, 2003; Тюменцы – Герои Советского Союза: 60-летию Победы советского народа в Великой Отечественной войне 1941–1945 гг. посвящается... / сост. Л.Л. Поливцев, М.М. Никифорова, А.А. Троицких. Тюмень, 2004.

Based on the Presidential Library’s materials:

Память о Великой Победе: [цифровая коллекция];

Герои Советского Союза: краткий биографический словарь: [в 2 т.]. [Т.] 2: Любов–Ящук. М., 1988.

The article is based on the Tyumen branch of the Presidential Library