Ilya Baldynov

Ilya Vasilievich Baldynov (; 2 July 1903 – 22 September 1980) was a major general in the Soviet Army who received the title Hero of the Soviet Union in World War II.

Early life Of Buryat ethnicity, Baldynov was born on 1903. He was left an orphan at a young age and was brought up by relatives.

From 1920 he worked as a secretary of the Matveevsky village council in Irkutsk District.

From January 1921 he served in the Special Purpose Units in Irkutsk and participated in numerous operations against banditry, which was widespread at that time.

In October 1922 he was appointed as Deputy Chairman of the Barda volost executive committee in Irkutsk District.

In the 1920s Baldynov graduated from an adult school in Irkutsk and joined the Komsomol.

From October 1923 he worked in the Ekhirit-Bulagatsky District department of the State Political Directorate and from December 1924 he worked as a senior policeman in the village of Olzony. During these years, he also participated in the liquidation of numerous criminal gangs.

In April 1925 he was appointed as instructor of the Verkhneudinsky District committee of the Komsomol in the Buryat-Mongolian ASSR.

In 1925 he joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

In the first days of his arrest, the interrogators demanded that he write in detail that he was part of a spy group. When he refused, he was starved, sleep deprived and kept in a cold punishment cell where he could only stand or squat, by his interrogators. He was subjected to daily torture, which resulted him in sometimes losing consciousness.

In July 1942, the 40th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade was formed in the Kuban on the remnants of the 72nd Cavalry Division and Baldynov was appointed chief of staff of the brigade. When the German High Command had begun an offensive in the Caucasus on 3 August 1942, the brigade fought in the battles near the village of Kavkazskaya. From August 10 to September 15, the brigade fought against the complete encirclement by German troops, but retained combat readiness and broke through the encirclement, and went along the mountain paths through the Main Caucasian Range to Krasnaya Polyana. There, the brigade was included in the 18th Army, and it staunchly defended itself during the Tuapse Defensive Operation.

The division under his command distinguished itself during the liberation of Beryslav. For the liberation of Nikolaev, the division was awarded the Order of the Red Banner in April 1944. In the spring of 1944, after the liberation of Odessa, Baldynov was appointed the first Soviet military commandant of the city, and the division itself was awarded the Order of Suvorov, second class. He also distinguished himself at the completion of the encirclement of the enemy groupings in Budapest in November 1944 and the complete destruction of German troop formations in Buda.

Post war From May 1946, he continued to command the same division in the East Siberian Military District. In May 1946, the division was reorganized into the 6th Separate Rifle Brigade and was transferred to the West Siberian Military District in Tyumen. In March 1947, he left for Moscow to study higher academic courses at the Higher Military Academy named after K. E. Voroshilov. After completing his studies, he commanded the 23rd Separate Rifle Brigade in the Ural Military District from April 1948.

Baldynov was appointed senior lecturer in the department of tactics of higher formations at the Frunze Military Academy in November 1950. From February 1955, he was in the reserves. From 1946 to 1950, He served as people's deputy at the 2nd convocation session of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. After his retirement from the army, he carried out a lot of social, military and political work.

Dates of rank Senior lieutenant, Red Army: 30 December 1935 Captain, Red Army: 31 March 1937 Major, Red Army: 4 August 1941 Lieutenant colonel, Red Army: April 1942 Colonel, Red Army: 18 June 1943 Major general, Red Army: 8 September 1945

Awards and honors

Foreign decorations from Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania and Mongolia In September 2021, Baldynov's ancestral home in Ulan-Ude was restored and opened to the public as a museum.