Anatoly Lebed

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Anatoly Lebed
Russian
ProfessionParatrooper
Awards
South Ossetia war
President Medvedev decorating Lt Col Lebed with the Order of St George 4th class on October 1, 2008
Medal "From the Grateful Afghan People"

Anatoly Vyacheslavovich Lebed (

45th Guards Spetsnaz Regiment
.

Biography

Soviet military service

Lebed was born in the city of

Airborne Troops. He first trained in the 44th Airborne Division in Gaižiūnai in the Lithuanian SSR and later served in the 57th Independent Air Assault Brigade in Taldykorgan in the Kazakh SSR.[2]

Opting for a career change, he entered the Lomonosov Military Aviation Technical School graduating as a

Hero of Russia and Hero of the Soviet Union titles, then-captain Nikolai Maidanov,[3] often engaging in the ground action himself.[4]

After his return from Afghanistan, he served successively in the

337th Independent Helicopter Regiment.[2]

His service had earned him the

Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces" 3rd class and three Orders of the Red Star
.

Russian Federation military service

He retired to the reserves in 1994 and worked for the Afghan Veterans benevolent fund.[2]

He joined a group of Russian

Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation and immediately returned to Chechnya to participate in counter-terrorism operations. From 1999 to 2007, he made over 10 trips to Chechnya and participated in special operations in the areas of the cities of Gudermes and Argun, as well as in the suburbs of Grozny and the Vedeno region.[2]

In 2003, while engaged in combat in the Ulus-Kert mountains, he stepped on a mine and lost a foot. He refused to resign from the armed forces, his superior physical fitness allowing him to remain in service, to carry on parachuting (over 840 jumps) and still to do martial arts with the prosthesis.[2]

On January 9, 2005, his patrol was ambushed; refusing to let his injured men be captured by the enemy, he single-handedly engaged and overcame an enemy superior in numbers.[2]

In a subsequent battle on January 24, 2005, he was injured by multiple fragment wounds in the back while shielding his men from the blast of a rocket-propelled grenade. Even wounded, he personally neutralised the enemy rocket and machine gun post, before continuing leading the patrol, resulting in the capture and destruction of a terrorist base.[2]

He was awarded the title of

presidential decree citing "courage and heroism in the performance of military duties in the North Caucasus".[6]
He then held the rank of captain.

His actions during the

2008 South Ossetia war earned him the honour of becoming only the second Knight of the Order of St. George 4th class.[7] During the October 1, 2008 award ceremony, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said of Lebed: "Among us there is a Special Forces officer, a Hero of the Russian Federation, Anatoly Vyacheslavovich Lebed. He always led from the front during combat operations, always displaying the epitome of personal courage itself".[8]

An avid biker, on April 27, 2012, in Moscow, Lebed was killed in a motorcycle accident.

Awards

  • Hero of the Russian Federation (6 April 2005)
  • Order of St George
    4th Class (18 August 2008)
  • Order of Courage (3 times; 28 April 2000, 2 February 2004 and 26 January 2007)
  • Order of the Red Star (3 times)
  • Order for Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR
    3rd Class
  • Medal for Distinguished Military Service 1st Class (MoD RF)
  • Medal for Distinguished Military Service 2nd Class (MoD RF)
  • Medal "For Impeccable Service" 3rd Class (USSR) 1991
  • Jubilee Medal "70 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR" 1988
  • Decoration "For Service in the Caucasus" Gold
  • Badge "Warrior-Internationalist" (USSR) 1989
  • Parachutist Badge (USSR and RF)
  • Medal "15 years since the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan" (CIS) 2004
  • Order of Friendship (Democratic Republic of Afghanistan)
  • Medal "From the Grateful Afghan People" (DRA) 1988

See also

References

  1. ^ "Russia's Hero Anatoly Lebed dies: Voice of Russia". Archived from the original on 2012-07-02. Retrieved 2012-08-06.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h "Biography of Anatoly Lebed" (in Russian). War Heroes. 2010. Retrieved 2012-02-24.
  3. ^ "Kairgeldy Maidanov — last Hero of the Soviet Union and first Hero of Russia" (in Russian). Express K. 2018.
  4. ^ "War and Peace of Anatoly Lebed" (in Russian). RIA Novosti. 2018.
  5. ^ "'Russia's Rambo' Killed in Motorbike Accident". The Moscow Times. 2 May 2012.
  6. ^ "Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of May 5, 2005" (in Russian). Site of the President of the Russian Federation – Kremlin News. 2005-05-05. Archived from the original on May 24, 2014. Retrieved 2012-02-24.
  7. ^ "Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of October 1, 2008" (in Russian). Site of the President of the Russian Federation – Kremlin News. 2008-10-01. Archived from the original on March 6, 2012. Retrieved 2012-02-24.
  8. ^ "President Medvedev's speech during October 1, 2008 award ceremony" (in Russian). Site of the President of the Russian Federation – Kremlin News. 2008-10-01. Archived from the original on March 6, 2014. Retrieved 2012-02-24.

External links

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