RP79IF
Geroy Rossii Ivan Andreevich Flerov

24 April 1905 - 07 October 1941

Hero of the Russian Federation, commander of the first separate experimental rocket artillery battery in the USSR Armed Forces, captain

From the first days of the Great Patriotic War he took part in battles.

On the Western Front he commanded a separate experimental rocket artillery battery using BM-13 (Katyusha) rocket launchers. For the first time, BM-13 installations were tested in combat conditions when shelling enemy trains at the railway junction of the city of Orsha on July 14, 1941, where they showed high efficiency. The very next day, a battery under the command of Flerov fired at a column of enemy troops near the city of Rudnya, supporting the defending units of the Red Army.

On October 7, 1941, Captain Flerov, being surrounded, died heroically.

AWARDS

• Order of the Red Star

• Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree (posthumously)

• Medal "Golden Star" of the Hero of the Russian Federation (posthumously)

MEMORY

On June 21, 1995, by decree of the President of the Russian Federation (No. 619), for the courage and heroism shown in the fight against the Nazi invaders in the Great Patriotic War, Captain Ivan Andreevich Flerov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation.

On March 5, 1998, by order of the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation No. 111, Hero of the Russian Federation Captain Ivan Andreevich Flerov was forever included in the lists of the command faculty of the Military Academy of the Strategic Missile Forces (Strategic Missile Forces) named after Peter the Great.

In the fall of 1995, a group of Vyazma search engines found artillerymen killed along with the Katyushas 250 meters west of the village of Bogatyr (village). The remains of 7 rocket men were found. Among them, the remains of Captain Flerov were identified. On October 6, 1995, all the remains were reburied next to the obelisk near the village of Bogatyr, erected in memory of the feat of the rocket scientists.