The Ignatiev brothers

The Ignatiev brothers Бельская Екатерина. Тюмеревская школа, Тюмерево, Янтиковский район, Чувашская Республика, Россия During the years of the Great Patriotic War Chuvashia sent 208,000 people to the front, half of them did not return home. 5429 people from Yantikovskiy district also went to the front, unfortunately, 3156 soldiers did not come back. Some families lost 2 or even more sons in the war. And the Ignatievs from the village of Latyshevo was not an exception. They lost 2 sons. Latyshevo is situated in Yantikovskiy district of Chuvash Republic. It is famous for the Ignatievs who sent 5 sons to the Great Patriotic War. And it happened so that all the brothers defended Leningrad. Mikhailov

Ignatiy Mikhailovich and his wife Pelageya Kononovna had 7 children: 2 daughters and 5 sons. Ignatiy Mikhailovich took part in the Imperialist War in 1915-1917. He was a gunner and a military clerk. His wife was a housekeeper. Ivan, the eldest son in the family, was born in 1907. The year of 1921 in Chuvashia was marked by terrible famine. That’s why many Chuvash children were taken to different regions. Ivan was also among them. He was sent to Tver region. In a year the boy came home. He studied at school in Yantikovo. After finishing school, Ivan worked on the collective-farm and in the system of consumers’ co-operatives. When the war began, Ivan went to the front. He became a signaller. But one day he was wounded in the right arm in Pushkin, the town near Leningrad.

Besides, he caught cold because the soldiers had to hide themselves in a bog and to breathe through cane tubes. Ivan fell ill and he was sent to the hospital of Nizhniy Tagil. In 1943 Ivan came back to the village. He couldn’t find a work because of his invalidity. Ivan and his wife Ekatherina had 6 children. They were all very young. There was nothing to eat and that’s why the children had to pick leaf-buds in the forest. Ivan Ignatievich’s health went from bad to worse. He died on February 15, 1945. Vanuk - the second son of the Ignatievs-was born in 1909. He was the first man to get a higher education among his relatives. He became a teacher. For 18 years Ivan (2) Ignatievich worked as a head of studies and then as a headmaster. On the 31st of December, 1941, Vanuk went

to the front. His wife Khrestina and 4 children were left at home. In March, 1942, he finished a school of political instructors in the town of Shuya of Ivanovskaya region. He was sent to the Red Army in the Field as a senior political instructor of the First battalion of the 1247th Rifle regiment. In lessthan six months he fell in battle: he was bullet- wounded in his side. Vanuk was buried in the forest of Chudovskiy district. The Common grave is situated to the address: Leningrad region, Oktyabrskaya railway, passing-track of Pomerany between the stations “Luban”-“Chudovo”-“Lyady” (in longitude 31° 24` East and in latitude 59° 21` North). Pavel, the third son, was born on August 8, 1913. He studied at Yantikovskaya school. After finishing school in December,

1931, Pavel entered Alatyrskiy Pedagogical technical secondary school. He was a bright student and an excellent sportsman. In 1935 he began to work as a teacher of Physical Education and Science in Kanash. In October of the same year he was called up for military service. Pavel became a diver. His first diving took place in Vladivostok. For the first time he dived 110 metres deep. In 1937 he was demobilized and began working as a Geography and History teacher. In 1942 he went to the front. Pavel defended Leningrad. In January, 1944, during the raise of the blockade Pavel commanded a group of aerosleighs. They were to help soldiers to cross the Gulf of Finland near Kronstadt by means of smoke-screen. It was frosty, the temperature was -25°. Aircraft bombs of fascists were