Birth of Vasily Nikolaevich Lyovushkin, Hero of the Great Patriotic War, Hero of the Soviet Union

Vasily Nikolaevich Lyovushkin was born on June 14, 1922 in Yasnaya Polyana village of Moskalensky District of Omsk Region, in the family of a peasant. He graduated from the elementary school in Yasnaya Polyana, and then studied in the nearby village Moskalenka. After seven years of school, he worked as a tractor driver in the Serp i Molot Kolkhoz (Hammer and Sickle collective farm).

In September 1941, Vasily Nikolaevich Lyovushkin was called for duty to the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army. From January 1942, he fought on the Bryansk Front, and got injured on April 12 of the same year. After recovery, from July 1942, he fought on the Voronezh Front that was established on July 7, 1942 and consisted of the Bryansk Front’s troops that defended Voronezh. On August 14, he got second injury. After he recovered in September, he returned to the Voronezh Front. On October 19, 1942 he got injured for the third time. In January 1943, he got back in action and continued to fight on the same front. He participated in the Proskurov-Chernovtsy and Lvov-Sandomierz offensive operations.

In September 1944, Guards Senior Sergeant Vasily Nikolaevich Lyovushkin commanded the motorized rifle brigade of the 13th Guards Tank Army of the 4th Guards Tank Corps of the 38th Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front. On September 17, 1944 the rifle brigade of motorized battalion under his command got an order to capture the only bridge over the Wislok River near the Seneva settlement, to determine the enemy’s numbers and to locate their firearms. The soldiers occupied several houses and held out there for three hours, thereby giving way to their battalion. About 30 enemy soldiers were destroyed in the battle. On the same day, the brigade of Vasily Nikolaevich Lyovushkin broke through to the Wislok River in the Pastviska settlement, captured the bridge and guarded it until the reinforcements arrived. Soviet soldiers fought several counterattacks. To keep the hold of the bridge, Vasily Nikolaevich Lyovushkin and two more soldiers crawled over to the enemy’s artillery emplacements and blew up five machinegun spots, three Hitlerites with faustpatrones, 37 enemy soldiers and officers, using grenades.

For the exemplary performance of tasks of the command and the demonstrated courage and heroism, by the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of April 10, 1945, Guards Senior Sergeant Vasily Nikolaevich Lyovushkin was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union and the Gold Star medal. Simultaneously, he was also awarded the Order of Lenin.

Vasily Nikolaevich Lyovushkin fought on the front until the end of the Great Patriotic War. He participated in the Vistula-Oder, Lower Silesian and Berlin offensive operations. By the decree of May 8, 1945, he was awarded the Order of Glory of the 3rd class.

After the war ended, Vasily Nikolaevich Lyovushkin has been demobilized. At first, he resided in Yasnaya Polyana, where he worked as a tractor driver. In 1950, he moved to Zinovo village of Yalutorovsky District of Tyumen Region. From 1969, he lived in Tyumen.

On November 13, 1984 Vasily Nikolaevich Lyovushkin died, and was buried on Chervishevsky cemetery in Tyumen. Memorial plates were installed in honour of the veteran on the building of the Shevchenko Middle School in Omsk Region and on the house, where he lived, in Tyumen. In 2002, a street in Kazarovo microdistrict in Tyumen has been named after Vasily Nikolayevich Lyovushkin.

Lit: Адреса Победы: 65-летию Великой Победы посвящается. Тюмень, 2010. С. 211; Василий Николаевич Лёвушкин // Тюменцы – герои Советского Союза. Тюмень, 2004. С. 85; Василий Николаевич Лёвушкин // PeopleLife.ru : [электронный ресурс]. Режим доступа: http://famous-birthdays.ru/data/14_iyunya/levushkin_vasilij_nikolaevich.html; Герои Тюменского края / сост. А. И. Бажин. Ишим, 2015. С. 107–108; Историю делают люди // Ялуторовск: след в истории / составитель, главный редактор П. К. Белоглазов. Тюмень, 2003. С. 169;  Кузьмин Ф. Звезда Героя // Тюменская правда. 1978. 29 апреля. С. 4; Кузьмин Ф. Один из пятерых // Тюменская правда. 1971. 14 сентября. С. 5; Левадная А. Пятнадцать часов мужества // Тюменская правда. 1975. 19 апреля. С. 4; Лёвушкин Василий Николаевич // Герои страны: [электронный ресурс]. Режим доступа: http://www.warheroes.ru/hero/hero.asp?Hero_id=21926.

Based on the Presidential Library’s materials: 

Memory of the Great Victory: [digital collection].

Based on the article of the Tyumen Region Branch of the Presidential Library