Neon Antonov

Neon Vasilyevich Antonov (; – 24 October 1948) was a Soviet Navy rear admiral and recipient of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union during World War II.

Early life Antonov was born on 19 January 1907 in the village of Kraskovo in Moscow Governorate to railway worker Vasily Nikiforovich and Tatyana Timofeevna. He graduated from a nine-year school in 1925 in Kolomna and began his career in the same year. He joined the Komsomol and was an activist of the local committee of the Komsomol. He worked at the Kolomna station as a clerk in a commodity office and then as an electrical inspector.

Military career On a Komsomol ticket, he was sent to serve in the Soviet Navy in October 1926. In 1930, he graduated from the M.V. Frunze Naval School and was sent to the Far East, where he served in the Marine Border Guard of the Joint State Political Directorate. He served as a watchman in a PS-10 border ship and later was transferred as a navigator onboard border patrol ship Vorovsky from February 1932. In September 1933, he was appointed as assistant commander of the ship and from December 1933, he served as the assistant chief of staff of the border flotilla of the NKVD in the Soviet Far East.

From April 1936, he served as commander of Vorovsky, which took part in the guarding of Soviet maritime border and combatting intruders in the Okhotsk, Bering and Chukchi Seas. During the Battle of Lake Khasan, Vorovsky escorted transports delivering military cargo and reinforcements from Vladivostok to the battle zone.

In January 1940, Antonov was sent to study at the RK Navy K.E. Voroshilov Naval Academy.

World War II Eastern Front Following the outbreak of Operation Barbarossa in June 1941, Antonov was released ahead of schedule from his second year at the command faculty of the Naval Academy by the order of Admiral Nikolai Kuznetsov. On the same year, he became a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 21 July 1944, for the skillful and courageous leadership of the fighting near Petrozavodsk, Antonov was awarded the Order of Ushakov, 2nd class.

Far Eastern Front

After the defeat of Nazi Germany in May 1945, Antonov was assigned to the Far East in June 1945, where he was appointed as commander of the Amur Military Flotilla. The flotilla consisted of 126 warships including 8 monitors, 11 gunboats, more than 50 armored boats, minesweepers, minelayers, floating anti-aircraft batteries and others, as well as its own Air Force which consisted of 68 aircraft.

During Soviet–Japanese War of 1945, the Amur Military Flotilla operationally became a subordinate to the 2nd Far Eastern Front. In the first days of the Soviet invasion of Manchuria, the flotilla ensured the crossing of Red Army troops across the Amur River and the mass transfer of front troops with heavy weapons to the southern bank of the Amur. Later, the main forces of the flotilla set off on an unprecedented naval campaign up the Sungari River, where they supported the advance of Soviet troops along the river. Along the Sungari, the ships of the flotilla penetrated into the central part of Manchukuo to the city of Harbin, where they conducted numerous tactical landings in the rear of the Japanese positions and destroyed the coastal fortified Japanese positions with naval gunfire. As a result of the operation, the sailors of the Amur flotilla captured all the ships of Manchukuo River Defence Fleet in Harbin, which consisted of 30 warships and numerous tugboats, passenger/freight ships, barges, and small auxiliary and civil ships.

By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 14 September 1945, "for the exemplary performance of the combat missions of the command on the front against the Japanese imperialists and the courage and heroism shown at the same time", Antonov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal. In Khabarovsk, a memorial plaque honoring is placed on the building of the naval garrison in the city. A border patrol ship of the 10th Separate Brigade of Border Guard Ships was named in honor of him. The ship was in service from 1976 to 2000 and was based in Vladivostok. The Museum of Military Glory named after N.V. Antonov is at the gymnasium No. 56 in Kraskovo.