Ivan Sidorovich Lazarenko

Ivan Sidorovich Lazarenko (; 8 October 1895 – 26 June 1944) was a Red Army major general and a posthumous Hero of the Soviet Union.

From 1940 to 1941 he was the commander of the 42nd Rifle Division. After his division was destroyed near Brest, Belarus, during the German invasion of the Soviet Union (see also Defense of Brest Fortress), in 1941 he was court-martialed and condemned to death, but the sentence was canceled. In 1943 he became the commander of the 369th Rifle Division; he was killed in action in 1944. Lazarenko was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union for his leadership of the division in the Mogilev Offensive.

Early life and World War I Lazarenko was born on 8 October 1895 in the stanitsa of Staromikhailovka in the Labinsky Otdel of Kuban Oblast (now Mikhailovka, Kurganinsky District, Krasnodar Krai) to a peasant family. After graduating from seven grades at a gymnasium, he worked as a miner. During World War I, Lazarenko was mobilized into the Imperial Russian Army's 5th Amur Border Regiment on 15 May 1915. In September, he was sent to the 107th Severotroitsk Cavalry Regiment, fighting on the Western Front. There, Lazarenko graduated from the regiment's training unit. He was awarded four Crosses of St. George for his actions on the Southwestern Front, making him a Full Cavalier of St. George. During the Povolzhye famine of 1921, Lazarenko donated his crosses for famine relief. For his actions, he was promoted to senior unteroffizier and later wachtmeister, and given command of a platoon for 1.5 years, in addition to carrying the regimental flag for five months.

Russian Civil War On 27 September 1917, due to illness, Lazarenko was evacuated from the front to Moscow, and from there was sent to the 3rd Machine Gun Regiment in Saratov, where he joined a Red Guard detachment on 12 October. For participating in a demonstration, he was arrested on 20 October, but after the Bolsheviks seized power in Saratov on 27 October Lazarenko was released and appointed a platoon commander in the detachment. With the detachment, he fought in battles with the Ural Cossacks, who attempted to recapture the city.

In December, Lazarenko was transferred to the 2nd Atamanovsky Regiment, which was disarmed by White Cossack commander Krasnov's troops in Rostov-on-Don at the end of the month. He then joined the Rostov Red Guard detachment and was made a battery commander, fighting in battles against Krasnov's troops. Lazarenko transferred to become a squadron commander in a detachment led by Rudolf Sivers during battles with White troops at Novorossiysk and Tsaritsyn. At the end of June 1918, the detachment was converted into the Stenka Razin Cavalry Detachment, which his squadron also joined.

During the summer, he fought in battles near Penza, and became detachment commander after the death of its commander at the end of July, joining the Red Army in September. Lazarenko fought in battles near Syzran and Ufa, and was concussed while fighting on the Belaya River. He was treated in military hospitals and went back into combat in January 1919 as a platoon commander in the 63rd Cavalry Regiment, fighting against Anton Denikin's troops on the Southern Front. In May, he became a machine gun squadron commander in the 1st Kuban Zlobin Regiment of Dmitry Zhloba's 1st Partisan Cavalry Brigade. Lazarenko was treated in the hospital from November to December, then was sent to the 1st Exemplary Regiment in the 1st Special Purpose Brigade, where he became a machine gun squadron commander and assistant regimental commander for line units. During his time on the Southern Front in 1919 and 1920, Lazarenko fought in battles at Lugansk, Debaltseve, Novocherkassk, Rostov-on-Don, Manych, Krasnodar, and Novorossiysk.

He was wounded on 26 March 1920, and upon his recovery became a platoon commander in the 15th Don Rifle Regiment. With the unit, Lazarenko fought against Pyotr Wrangel's White army, and participated in the destruction of Colonel Fyodor Nazarov's diversionary landing force in the area of the Konstantinovskoye and Razdorskaya stanitsas. In July and August, he fought in the repulse of Sergei Ulagay's landing operation, particularly distinguishing himself in battle at the stanitsa of Stepnoy, where he captured troops of General Babiev. For his actions, Lazarenko was personally awarded the Order of the Red Banner by Lenin. In September, the regiment was merged into the 10th Rifle Regiment of the 2nd Cavalry Division's 1st Brigade, and he became a machine gun section commander, fighting in battles with Wrangel's troops in the areas of Mariupol, Bolshoy Tokmak, Melitopol, Aleksandrovskoye, and in Crimea. After the defeat of the White forces Lazarenko fought against Nestor Makhno's Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine in Taurida Governorate during late 1920. He joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1921,