Dudko Fyodor Ivanovich
- commander of the artillery crew of the anti-tank artillery battery of the 20th Tank Brigade of the 11th Tank Corps of the 1st Guards Tank Army of the 1st Belorussian Front, sergeant major - at the time of being nominated for the Order of Glory of the 1st class.Born on September 25, 1903, in the village of Grebenikovka, now in the Trostyanets district of the Sumy region (Ukraine), into a peasant family. Ukrainian. Completed 4 grades of school. He was a foreman of a field brigade in a collective farm in the Chuy region of the Kirghiz SSR.
In the Red Army since 1941. Participant in the Great Patriotic War since November 1941. Distinguished himself during the liberation of Kharkov, Novoukrainka, Pervomaisk, Dubossary, the crossing of the Dnieper (near Dneprokamensk), the Southern Bug, during the Korsun-Shevchenkovskaya and Yassy-Kishinev operations. Fought in Poland and Germany. Member of the VKP(b)/CPSU since 1944.
In the history of the Great Patriotic War, the Korsun-Shevchenkovskaya operation occupies a special place. For the fascist army, it became the "second Stalingrad." It is also significant that its completion coincided with the same time of year - February; only on the Volga in 1943 the Germans were freezing, while here, on the Dnieper, in 1944, they first got stuck in the mud and then were caught in a snowstorm.
But the early thaw, the sharply changeable weather - sometimes rain, sometimes snow - made it more difficult for our troops to act than it hindered the enemy from holding the defense.
On January 24, the troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front began to break through the enemy's defenses, and on the 25th they went on the offensive, but "...seeking to eliminate the breakthrough, the enemy launched a counterattack on January 27 with three tank divisions..." (History of the Great Patriotic War, vol. 4, p. 65).
Fyodor Ivanovich Dudko participated in these battles as the commander of an anti-tank gun. He had already been in many battles, in which his gun destroyed dozens of tanks, self-propelled guns, firing points, artillery pieces, and enemy soldiers. Brave, with great life and soldiering experience, he viewed the war as hard work that needed to be done to return home and continue peaceful labor.
In his crew were "old-timers" like himself - there was no one younger than thirty, but during the preparation for the offensive, two were transferred to other crews, and he was given "young reinforcements" - eighteen-year-old boys who had spent all the war years under occupation. They were from the Dnieper region and all looked back where their homes were left.
— You can hear how we are fighting there, — said one of them, Kolya Ostapchuk. The second, agreeing, added:
— And at night, you can see the flashes...
Fyodor Ivanovich and his old comrades smiled, the gunner Zagorulko patted Kolya on the shoulder:
— Don’t worry, boys, war is a temporary affair... You will return victorious, the girls will come running after you — heroes!..
The crew set up their position, preparing for battle. The battalion and the battery of anti-tank guns were ordered to deploy facing south and not allow the enemy to strike the flank of the advancing division.
The position of the gun turned out to be next to a bald, stony height numbered 206.1. It was on the right, while on the left, separating the gun from the battery, there was a steep ravine overgrown with wild rose and blackberry. Now a muddy stream rushed through it, flowing down from the soaked field where our infantry was hastily digging in.
It was early morning, the sun was rising. Sparrows chirped in the bare wild rose, crows flew over the field, mistaking the infantry for plowmen and gathering to feed on worms from the first furrow, while an observation post was being set up on the bald height. From there, the clanking of shovels and the cursing of soldiers digging a shelter in the rocky ground could be heard.
Fyodor Ivanovich, looking around, shook his head disapprovingly, straightened his thick black mustache, and expressed the opinion that when the battle began, the crew would have the hardest work.
— Why? — asked Zagorulko.
— The fascists will first take the hill. — Fyodor Ivanovich nodded at the height, — and we cannot give it up. That’s where all the trouble will be in our sector.
— Sounds about right, — agreed the deputy commander Ostap Nikolayevich Tyrtyshny. He also smoothed his Zaporozhye mustache, cleared his throat, and advised his commander:
— You, Hvedir, should ask the commander for more shells, or else the guys will have to crawl through the ravine.
Fyodor Ivanovich agreed, ordered the guys to harness the oxen into the cart and go around the ravine to the battery, while he went directly.
In recent days, in the gun crew, besides horses, there were two pairs of oxen. Due to the mud that the troops had churned up on the roads and in the fields, the oxen became the only draft animals capable of helping to move and transport loads.
Driving the oxen, the guys left, and only Zagorulko and Tyrtyshny remained by the gun. They lit up (Zagorulko a self-rolled cigarette, Tyrtyshny a smoked pipe). Soon Fyodor Ivanovich returned. Wiping his hands on a bunch of last year's grass, he silently sat down with the soldiers, lit a cigarette from his pouch, and only then reported the result of his conversation with the battery commander.
— The shells will be delivered.
— And where are the fascists?
— They are coming from Novomirgorod. They are coming with tanks.
— Not heard yet... — Tyrtyshny turned his left ear towards the south, listening.
— I’ve been there. The roads — God forbid, — Zagorulko looked down and suddenly smiled: — So, Fyodor Ivanovich, will you return to Kyrgyzstan after the war or to your homeland in Sumy region?
— We’ll see...
— It’s too early to make plans, — agreed Tyrtyshny. The sun rose higher, but due to the cloudiness, the day was gloomy, and a cold wind carried damp patches of fog over the field. At two o'clock in the afternoon, the rumble of engines came from the south. About twenty minutes later, tanks appeared on the field and, noticing the ravine and the height, turned into the gap between them. The tanks moved heavily, their tracks sinking into the swollen plowing, the engines roared strainedly, and the speed was low. Paratroopers densely sat on their armor, and further back, lagging behind, infantry and horse-drawn artillery followed. The faces of the guys from Fyodor Ivanovich's crew noticeably changed, they turned pale, their eyes widened, unable to tear themselves away from the tanks. They moved in two columns of four each.
— To your positions! — ordered the commander. Zagorulko had already aimed the gun at the front tank in the right column and reported this calmly, as if carts drawn by oxen were approaching them.
The roar of engines grew louder, individual figures of paratroopers became distinguishable, muddy tracks flashed, and the barrels of the guns swayed smoothly.
And suddenly, amidst the roar of the tanks, the crackle of automatic and machine-gun fire burst forth — our infantry opened fire on the paratroopers, and they were blown away like leaves behind the tanks, while the tanks, roaring even louder, rushed forward, reformed into a line.
— Fire! — shouted Dudko.
A shot rang out, the shell flared under the turret of the nearest tank. Red flame and smoke burst from its open hatch. It stopped. Behind the ravine, the guns of the battery thundered. Another tank flared up. The others opened fire and began to retreat behind the height. But there they saw a second ravine and turned again into the gap where Dudko's gun stood. The crew knocked out another tank, which had already broken onto the dry slope of the height and was trying to flank the gun.
The fourth tank, having rushed past our infantry's trench, was set on fire by grenades. And behind the ravine, our battery rumbled, not allowing the enemy's paratroopers and artillery, which were trying to support the tanks, to get closer. The tanks were already turning back, and their infantry was retreating.
Two guns remained on the field, whose horse teams had been knocked out. One wounded horse, with a heart-rending neigh, galloped across the field but was caught in a machine-gun burst and fell, raising a cloud of mud like an unexploded bomb.
— Now we need to wait for guests, — said Fyodor Ivanovich when the battle quieted down, and at the edge of the field, the fascists were regrouping their forces. The remaining artillery was moving to the firing line, preparing to strike at our positions.
— Let’s go, boys, to cover. For a smoke break, — added Fyodor Ivanovich.
The shelling began with such density that if it weren't for the IL attack planes, called in advance, our positions would not have been able to repel the second attack. After making several passes, the group of ILs completely "unloaded" on the fascist battery, and it fell silent. But the enemies did not give up on a new attempt to crush our defense. Using the ready-made tracks, the remaining tanks rushed into the attack again, but this time they moved at a higher speed, hoping that this would save them from the shells of our guns. Moreover, they also opened fire from a distance, and their shells exploded on our positions.
— They shoot well, — said Zagorulko when one of the shells exploded in front of the shield, and the splattered mud clogged the sight.
— Need to clean it...
The guns of the battery were firing continuously. The front tank spun on its damaged track and helplessly stopped. Suddenly, a machine gun opened fire from behind it. Bullets rattled against the shield of the gun. Ostap Tyrtyshny gasped and clutched his wounded arm, Kolya Ostapchuk fell. Zagorulko slowly sank down at the gun mount, throwing his head back. Dudko rushed to the panorama, and at that moment a blast wave threw him aside, knocking him to the ground. But he got up.
— Load, Ostap, load.
Tyrtyshny, grimacing in pain, sent a shell into the barrel and shouted to the stunned loader:
— Ivan, shells!
He flinched, grabbed the shells, and handed the casing forward.
— And what about Kolya!.. — he shouted with a sob.
The gun fired, drowning out his words.
— Another "Tiger," — noted Dudko to himself.
The tank stopped right in front of the trench. Grenades flew into it. It caught fire, and smoke concealed the second tank, which was already turning back. They were fired upon from the battery. It stopped at the turn, its ammunition exploded, and the turret plopped into the mud. The last two hurriedly retreated, abandoning their infantry.
And again the ILs appeared in the sky. They dove one after another, spraying the retreating infantry with machine-gun fire. The roar of their engines, as they came out of the dive, instilled terror, and the fascists, abandoning the wounded, fled from the battlefield in a crowd.
— We’ve learned to hit them well, — said Fyodor Ivanovich. He helped Tyrtyshny bandage his arm and began to light a cigarette.
Vanya was shivering, he was shaking with chills. A captain came from the battery.
— How are we doing here?
— Look... — replied Fyodor Ivanovich.
— We have the same situation... I’ll send a replacement... — the captain put on his hat, which he had taken off when he stopped in front of Zagorulko and Kolya, and left.
Soon, three soldiers came from the battery. Their gun had been destroyed. They found themselves without work.
— Take them in, Fyodor Ivanovich, or they’ll become unnecessary... They brought a thermos with noodles and a loaf of bread.
— It’s ordered to feed you, or else this won’t end well. Our guys picked up the wounded Germans. They say it was an advanced guard, behind it comes the main force. A lot of self-propelled guns — "Ferdinands."
— Let them be Ferdinands, — replied Tyrtyshny.
— And you, boy, eat, — said Fyodor Ivanovich, noticing that Vanya had put down his spoon, — eat. With a full stomach, there’s less fear.
— That’s true, kid, — confirmed the talkative sergeant. — Fear always arises in the stomach, and if it’s full, there’s no room for it to spread. Your buddies at the battery have already eaten and are laughing at each other.
— Is everyone alive? — asked Vanya.
— You’re strange, kid. Don’t you believe you’re at war? Just listen to what I’m going to tell you...
The sergeant began to tell how he himself got into his first battle and was already about to confess what he experienced when the "Ferdinands" appeared on the field, followed by thick lines of infantry.
The battle with them lasted until evening. All their attempts to break through our defense were repelled. At night, the battery, which had two guns and a little more than a company of soldiers left, withdrew to a new line. Another battery of anti-tank guns arrived in its place, and infantrymen were digging in there.
"...Simultaneously from the north... units of one tank and two infantry divisions of the enemy struck. Fierce battles ensued, during which the enemy managed to close the gap that had formed in his defense and cut off our 20th and 29th tank corps from the main forces of the front.
Despite the difficult situation, the personnel of the corps continued to persistently fulfill the main task!"
In the area of Korsun-Shevchenkovsky, ten divisions and several separate regiments and units of the enemy were surrounded and then defeated.
The commander of the artillery crew of the 672nd artillery regiment (213th rifle division, 53rd army, 2nd Ukrainian front) senior sergeant Fyodor Dudko in the battle near the village of Shpakovo, 30 kilometers northwest of the city of Kirovograd, Ukraine, on January 27, 1944, knocked out a tank with direct fire, participated in repelling 4 counterattacks of the enemy, and inflicted significant damage on the enemy in manpower.
By the order of February 8, 1944, for exemplary performance of command assignments in battles with the German fascist invaders, senior sergeant Dudko Fyodor Ivanovich was awarded the Order of Glory of the 3rd class (No. 68325). This was the third award for the artilleryman. For participation in the battles of 1944 in the right-bank Ukraine, he was awarded two Orders of the Patriotic War II and I classes.
The commander of the artillery crew of the anti-tank artillery battery (20th Tank Brigade, 11th Tank Corps, 1st Guards Tank Army, 1st Belorussian Front) sergeant major Fyodor Dudko on the night of February 3, 1945, near the city of Skampe (11 kilometers southwest of the settlement of Shvibus, Germany, now Świebodzin, Poland) destroyed with his subordinates more than a platoon of infantry with direct fire. When the enemy broke into the position of the battery, he mowed down more than 10 Germans with his submachine gun.
By the order of April 15, 1945, for exemplary performance of command assignments in battles with the German fascist invaders, sergeant major Dudko Fyodor Ivanovich was awarded the Order of Glory of the 2nd class (No. 15834).
On April 22-23, 1945, Dudko's crew, in street battles in the Lichtenberg area (Berlin), with accurate fire destroyed 2 machine guns, an all-terrain vehicle, a car, 4 carts, and over 20 enemy infantrymen. With his personal weapon, Fyodor Dudko killed 7 Germans.
By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated May 15, 1946, for exemplary performance of command assignments in battles with the German fascist invaders, sergeant major Dudko Fyodor Ivanovich was awarded the Order of Glory of the 1st class (No. 3111), becoming a full cavalier of the Order of Glory.
In July 1945, F.I. Dudko was demobilized. He worked as the head of the sugar beet point at the Gryaznensky sugar factory in the Krasnopole district of the Sumy region. He lived in the village of Chernetschina in the Krasnopole district. Since 1965, F.I. Dudko has been retired. He was elected a deputy of the village council. He died on October 14, 1981. He is buried in the village of Chernetschina.
Awarded the Orders of the Patriotic War 1st and 2nd classes, Glory 1st (15.05.1946), 2nd (15.04.1945), and 3rd (08.02.1944) classes, and medals.
In the village of Chernetschina, a street is named after him. In the urban-type settlement of Krasnopole, a memorial plaque for F.I. Dudko is installed on the Alley of Heroes.
Kyrgyzstanis – Full Cavaliers of the Order of Glory