Ivan Ivanovich Butsykov

Ivan Ivanovich Butsykov was born on 27 May 1907 (14 May Old Style) in the village of Volchanka in Nikolayevsk uyezd of Samara governorate, now in Krasnoarmeysky district of Samara region, into a peasant family. He finished seven classes of school and worked on a collective farm. He was called up into the Red Army in 1929 and joined the Communist Party in 1931. In 1933 he graduated from the Leningrad Artillery School, and in 1940 from artillery refresher courses for officers. He was at the front from the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. By September 1943 Guards Lieutenant Colonel Butsykov commanded the 34th Guards Artillery Regiment of the 6th Guards Rifle Division, 13th Army, Central Front. On 21 September 1943, near the village of Teremtsy in Chernobyl district of Kyiv region, he organised the crossing of the regiment's batteries to the right bank of the Dnieper on rafts and brought them into action straight from the crossing, which secured the capture and holding of a bridgehead by the division's units. On 25 September, south-east of Chernobyl, the regiment crossed the Pripyat on improvised means and with massed fire supported the rifle units holding the bridgehead there. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of 16 October 1943 he was made a Hero of the Soviet Union, with the Order of Lenin and Gold Star medal no. 1798. The decree uses the general formula of exemplary performance of combat tasks and courage and heroism shown in doing so. After the war he continued to serve. In 1953 he graduated from the Higher Artillery School, and in 1954 he left the army as a colonel. He lived in Fastiv in Kyiv region and died on 29 November 1988. He also held three Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of Suvorov 3rd class, the Order of the Patriotic War 1st class and the Order of the Red Star. His biography is given in the reference work Heroes of the Soviet Union (1987) and in the Kuibyshev collection Podvig vo imya Rodiny (1965), which places him among the natives of the Samara region.