Ivan Dmitrievich Kovalchuk

Major Ivan Kovalchuk served with the 3rd Guards Rifle Division from the defence of Moscow in 1941 through to the conquest of East Prussia in 1945. Born in Kiev, he was a university student when the war began. He was conscripted in July 1941 and quickly rose through the ranks due to his leadership abilities. He fought in the desperate defence of Moscow in December 1941, where his company held a key position against repeated German assaults. He later participated in the assault on Königsberg in April 1945. After the war, he completed his engineering degree and worked in the Soviet space programme before emigrating to Britain in 1979, settling in Nottingham.