Ivan Kabitsin

Ivan Ivanovich Kabitsin (; 14 September 1902 – 10 June 1968) was a Soviet Army colonel and Hero of the Soviet Union.

Kabitsin fought in the Russian Civil War on the Eastern Front. He commanded a machine-gun platoon. By Operation Barbarossa, Kabitsin was a political officer of a rifle battalion in Kirov. He became a battalion commissar in a battalion of the 135th Rifle Division when that division was formed in fall 1941. He fought in the Battles of Rzhev and was sent to the Frunze Military Academy for a course for rifle regiment commanders. In September 1943, he became deputy commander of a rifle regiment in the 47th Guards Rifle Division. Kabitsin fought in the Donbass Strategic Offensive (August 1943), the Battle of the Dnieper, Nikopol–Krivoi Rog Offensive, Dnieper–Carpathian Offensive, and Operation Bagration. During the fall of 1944, he fought in the defense of the Magnuszew bridgehead and the Vistula–Oder Offensive from January 1945. For his actions in the Battle of Berlin, Kabitsin was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.

After the war, Kabitsin continued to serve in the Soviet Army and retired as a colonel in 1953.

Early life and Russian Civil War Kabitsin was born in the village of Vyrytovo in the Kasimovsky Uyezd of Vladimir Governorate to a peasant family. After graduation from primary school, he worked as a carpenter. He was drafted into the Red Army in 1920. Kabitsin was sent to the Eastern Front and fought against the White Army near Irkutsk and the Transbaikal during 1920. He was a machine-gunner and then commander of a machine-gun platoon.

Interwar Between 1922 and 1929 Kabitsin was commander of a machine-gun platoon in Udmurtia. In 1925, he joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He graduated from political courses in Leningrad in 1929. Kabitsin was sent to the Ural Military District and served in the commissar's office in Glazov. In 1936 he completed the Vystrel courses. During February and March the regiment fought to hold the bridgehead. Kabitsin received a second Order of the Red Banner on 21 February. On 12 March the division helped capture Kustrin and on 23 March the 140th Regiment overcame German resistance at Gorgast.

The Berlin Offensive was launched on 16 April. The regiment was unable to capture the Seelow Heights. On the night of 18 April, the 140th attacked with Kabitsin reportedly leading and after four hours broke through the defense. The regiment repulsed twelve counterattacks during the following day and at the end of the day launched a tank-supported counterattack, dislodging German troops from two lines of trenches. In this battle, Kabitsin was wounded but reportedly continued to lead. In the subsequent days the 140th reached Karlshorst and on 22 April advanced into Berlin itself. Kabitsin reportedly personally crossed the Spree with the 1st Battalion, capturing nearby houses and assisting in the crossing of the division. The regiment reached the Tiergarten in the last days of April. Between 16 April and 8 May, the regiment reportedly destroyed eleven tanks and self-propelled guns, 4 half-tracks, 5 batteries and 115 heavy machine-guns. They also reportedly killed more than 900 German soldiers and captured 206. On 6 November 1945, he was awarded the Order of Lenin. For his actions, Kabitsin was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin on 15 May 1946.

Postwar Until 1949, Kabitsin continued to serve with the division at Hillersleben and then with the 27th Separate Reserve Officer Regiment. In 1949 he returned to the Soviet Union and graduated from the Vystrel courses, after which he served in staff positions at Tula and Kharkov. On 15 November 1950 he received a third Order of the Red Banner. Kabitsin retired in 1953 as a colonel and lived in Kharkov. He died on 10 June 1968