Full Cavalier of the Order of Glory Dmitry Andreevich Temlyakov
Dmitry Andreyevich Temlyakov
Born on February 21, 1924, in the village of Molochnaya Gora, Sasovsky district, Ryazan province (now the village no longer exists, territory of Kadomsky district) in a peasant family. He graduated from 9 grades. In 1937, the family moved to the "Santash" state farm in the Tyup district of the Issyk-Kul region (Kyrgyzstan), where Dmitry worked as a toolmaker until he was drafted into the army.
On October 16, 1942, Temlyakov was drafted into military service by the Przhevalsky Military Commissariat and enrolled in the Frunze Infantry School. After a short training period, he was sent to the 83rd Rifle Regiment. He began his combat path in April 1943 on the Seversky Donets River, fighting on the Southwestern, 3rd Ukrainian, and 1st Belorussian fronts. He participated in the Battle of Donbass, in the battles in Right-Bank Ukraine, and the liberation of Poland. For his participation in the crossing of the Seversky Donets and Southern Bug rivers, he was awarded two medals "For Courage".
During fierce, bloody battles on the Oryol-Kursk Bulge, our troops, having worn down the enemy in defensive battles, went on the counteroffensive. The troops of the Voronezh Front rushed westward towards Akhtyrka, the Steppe Front towards Kharkov, while the soldiers of the Southwestern Front were to cross the Seversky Donets. Here, the 18-year-old gunner of the 45-mm gun, Guards Private Dmitry Temlyakov, received his first baptism of fire.
Dawn was approaching. The night was starry and quiet. The artillery crew settled near the gun. The soldiers whispered to each other for a long time and then dozed off. Dmitry Temlyakov settled nearby in a trench, spread his overcoat, and also tried to sleep. But he found it difficult. He kept thinking about what the battles would be like tomorrow. He really wanted to properly treat the fascists. He remembered the order he received the evening before to be ready to carry out the command to destroy the enemy pillbox, regardless of whether it came at night or during the day.
In the school, Temlyakov was one of the diligent cadets. He made quick and accurate calculations and had a keen eye.
"If only I could manage it, if only I could successfully complete the combat task," thought the young soldier. In this first battle, he wanted, to be honest, not to fail, and perhaps even to distinguish himself.
Early in the morning, the platoon commander, Lieutenant Podpiyny, raised everyone to alert. The command sounded: "Prepare!" The lock of the 45-mm gun clicked. Dmitry Temlyakov cautiously pushed aside the branches that concealed the gun and looked again through the sight at the enemy pillbox's embrasure. It had been spotted since the evening before. And then came the long-awaited: "Fire!"
Pressing against the sight and seeing the black slit once more, Temlyakov pulled the trigger. The target was hit.
The artillery preparation seemed to have left no stone unturned from the enemy's fortifications. But as soon as the infantrymen rose to advance, the enemy opened fire from surviving guns and machine guns.
Smoke covered the ground, and only thanks to the fact that the targets had been identified in advance and calculations made, the artillerymen managed to successfully complete the combat task: to ensure the further advance of the infantry.
The battle soon moved deeper into the enemy's defenses. One of the units was blocked by a three-embrasure pillbox located on the slope of a height, from where the area was well covered. It was impossible to destroy it with grenades. However, the attempt by the artillerymen to destroy it from a distance succeeded.
Dmitry Temlyakov's crew rolled the gun closer to the pillbox and suddenly opened fire. The fortified enemy position was eliminated, and then the artillerymen rolled the gun back to its previous position, when a large group of fascists attacked them. The crew found itself in a difficult position. Our machine gunners noticed this and opened fire on the Germans. But due to the great distance, they caused no harm.
"Turn the gun around! Grapeshot, fire!" - ordered Temlyakov.
The battle continued. As a result of the coordinated actions of the infantry and artillery throughout the day, it was possible to drive the enemy from the occupied bridgehead and cross the Sonor Donets River.
The Germans retreated in disarray to the west.
For the successful completion of this operation, many of its participants were recommended for awards.
Dmitry Temlyakov also received his first award - the medal "For Courage". There were many large and small battles afterward.
But this first one remained forever in his memory.
The gunner of the 45-mm gun of the 83rd Guards Rifle Regiment (27th Guards Rifle Division, 8th Guards Army, 3rd Ukrainian Front) Guards Sergeant Temlyakov, as part of the crew, on January 31, 1944, during the breakthrough of the enemy's defenses in the area of the village of Bazaluk (9 km west of the settlement of Loshkarevka, Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine), rolled the gun into an open position and destroyed an enemy gun, 4 firing points, thereby assisting the successful advance of the infantry. On March 6, 1944, he was awarded the Order of Glory 3rd class.
Temlyakov also remembered the battle in February 1944. Perhaps also because for his participation in it, he was awarded the high military award - the Order of Glory III class, which was ceremoniously presented to him in front of the formation.
“It started raining in the evening, and then snow fell in a solid white curtain. And it continued until midnight,” recalls Dmitry Andreyevich Temlyakov today. “We moved the gun forward and set up a firing position. We camouflaged well, checked the shells. It would have been nice to rest, but I didn’t want to sleep. We knew that at dawn we would go on the offensive, and we passed the time talking. My fellow gunner, my compatriot Usen Beysheev, approached:
— Well, how are we going to greet the Germans tomorrow?
— How do you greet uninvited guests? I said, remember how Alexander Nevsky said: “Whoever comes to us with a sword will perish by the sword.” He said it well, in our way, soldier's way.
Usen laughed.
Before morning, fog descended. The silence seemed fragile. And so it was. At six in the morning, the salvo of the guards' mortars sounded. The 45-mm guns opened fire on the enemy trenches and previously identified enemy firing points. After completing the artillery preparation, the soldiers rolled the gun along with the advancing infantry. It had already moved about a hundred meters ahead. But suddenly, from the right, a stream of tracer bullets pierced our infantry line. The Germans tried to halt its advance with machine-gun fire.
— Come on, guys, let’s push harder!
The gun sent two shells one after another. Fragments of iron and torn pieces of what remained of the enemy machine guns soared into the air.
But as soon as the infantry began to move again, they were hit by a heavy machine gun. Then the enemy artillery began to speak. Clods of earth and snow flew up. It was impossible to see where this camouflaged machine gun was firing from. Suddenly, a figure emerged from the fog. A soldier with a medical armband approached the crew. He looked at everyone and lingered on Temlyakov.
— Son, do you see that house? They are firing from there, the dog.
Indeed, from behind a small hill, a thatched roof was visible.
“To the wheels!” - the command sounded. The crew manually rolled the gun through the sticky mud onto the hill. Dmitry pushed the gunner aside and bent over the sight himself: “Fire! Damn it, overshot! Fire again!” The shell hit the roof. “Right, the sight is off,” flashed a thought. “I’ll adjust through the barrel.” The machine gun fell silent. A loud "Hooray!" spread across the field. Our infantry was storming into the village. Soon it was cleared of invaders. This "short" battle lasted eleven hours. For it, on March 6, 1944, the brave artilleryman received his first Order of Glory 3rd class.
The commander of the crew of the 45-mm gun, Temlyakov, and his soldiers (the same combat unit, 1st Belorussian Front) on July 18, 1944, in a skirmish near the town of Matseyev (now the town of Lukov, Volyn region, Ukraine) destroyed a machine gun with its crew by direct fire, set fire to a vehicle with ammunition, created passages in the enemy's wire obstacles, and killed 8 soldiers. On October 6, 1944, he was awarded the Order of Glory 2nd class.
On January 14, 1945, during the breakthrough of the enemy's defenses in the area of the settlement of Glovachuv (Golovochuv, 16 km southwest of the city of Magnuszew, Poland), Temlyakov and his subordinates, while in the combat formations of the rifle units, knocked out 3 machine guns, a pillbox, a cart with ammunition, and a lot of enemy personnel with fire from the gun. On May 31, 1945, he was awarded the Order of Glory 1st class.
From the award sheet: “During the breakthrough of the long-term and deeply echeloned enemy defenses in the area of Golovachuv on January 14, 1945, Comrade Temlyakov, commanding the gun, demonstrated exemplary accurate fire, calculation, and decisive actions. Supporting the advancing infantry, his gun, despite the complexity of the combat situation, followed in the combat formations of the infantry, crushing the Germans' fortifications with fire, destroying and scattering the enemy's manpower, clearing the path for our advancing infantry. His gun destroyed: 1 pillbox, 3 machine guns, 1 cart with ammunition. For successful combat actions, courage, and bravery, he is worthy of a government award - the Order of Glory 1st class.”
On April 16, 1945, the battle for Berlin began. During the offensive of the 83rd Rifle Regiment south of the Seelow Heights, Temlyakov was wounded.
After treatment in the hospital, he was sent to continue his service in the Far East. As part of the 83rd Rifle Regiment of the 84th Rifle Division, he fought against the Kwantung Army. He was awarded the medal "For Victory over Japan".
The victorious salutes thundered. Many front-line soldiers returned home. But Senior Sergeant Temlyakov continued to serve for another two years, training young soldiers in combat skills.
Before demobilization, he took a photo for memory by the regimental banner.
He was demobilized in 1947. Upon returning to his native Przhevalsk, he immediately began working at the electrical engineering plant. He was a locksmith, then a shop manager, and later an economist-engineer. Here, in 1950, he was accepted into the ranks of the CPSU. He was repeatedly elected a member of the factory party bureau and secretary of the party organization. Together with his wife Vera Ignatievna, also a worker at the electrical engineering plant, he raised three children. Four grandchildren are growing up.
“My main dream,” says Dmitry Andreyevich, “is that there will never be a war, that our children and grandchildren will not have to experience and see what we learned and experienced.”
He was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War 1st class and medals.
In August 2003, an alley of Glory of Heroes of the Soviet Union was opened in Kadom, where Temlyakov's portrait is located.
Kyrgyzstanis - Full Knights of the Order of Glory
