Alexei Nazarovich Arapov (14 March 1906 – 14 September 1943) was a Soviet officer, chief of staff of the 3rd Guards Airborne Division, and a

Hero of the Soviet Union The title Hero of the Soviet Union () was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society. The title was awarded both ...

. Arapov was awarded the title posthumously for his leadership during the

Battle of the Dnieper The Battle of the Dnieper was a military campaign that took place in 1943 on the Eastern Front of World War II. Being one of the largest operations of the war, it involved almost four million troops at one point and stretched over a front. Ov ...

. Drafted into the Red Army in 1928, Arapov became an officer and graduated from the

Frunze Military Academy The M. V. Frunze Military Academy (), or in full the Military Order of Lenin and the October Revolution, Red Banner, Order of Suvorov Academy in the name of M. V. Frunze (), was a military academy of the Soviet and later the Russian Armed Forces ...

soon after the beginning of the

German invasion of the Soviet Union Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along a ...

on 22 June 1941. Serving as a staff officer in the 50th Army during the

Battle of Moscow The Battle of Moscow was a military campaign that consisted of two periods of strategically significant fighting on a sector of the Eastern Front during World War II, between October 1941 and January 1942. The Soviet defensive effort frustrated H ...

, Arapov distinguished himself and when the

8th Airborne Corps Eighth is ordinal form of the number eight. Eighth may refer to: * One eighth, , a fraction, one of eight equal parts of a whole * Eighth note (quaver), a musical note played for half the value of a quarter note (crotchet) * Octave, an interval b ...

was formed in the fall of 1942, he became its chief of staff. The corps was soon converted into the 3rd Guards Airborne Division, and Arapov stayed on as chief of staff for the new division. Killed in a German air raid during the Battle of the Dnieper, he was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union for his actions.

Early life

Alexei Arapov was born on 14 March 1906 in

Verkh-Neyvinsky Verkh-Neyvinsky () is an urban locality (a work settlement) in Nevyansky District of Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia. Population: History Work settlement status was granted to it in 1928.Исполнительный комитет Свердловс� ...

in the

Yekaterinburgsky Uyezd Yekaterinburgsky Uyezd (''Екатеринбургский уезд'') was one of the subdivisions of the Perm Governorate of the Russian Empire. It was situated in the southeastern part of the governorate. Its administrative centre was Yekaterinbur ...

of the

Perm Governorate Perm Governorate (), also known as the Governorate of Perm, was an administrative-territorial unit ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire and the Russian SFSR from 1781 to 1923. It was located on both slopes of the Ural Mountains, and its admi ...

of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

in the family of a miner and graduated from eighth grade. In 1922 he began working as a peat miner, and then became an apprentice turner at the Verkh-Neyvinsky ironworks. In 1924 he became a turner at the emerald mines of the trust "Russkiye samotsvety" (Russian Gems) near the station of Bazhenovo. In October Arapov moved to Sverdlovsk (now

Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg (, ; ), alternatively Romanization of Russian, romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( ; 1924–1991), is a city and the administrative centre of Sverdlovsk Oblast and the Ural Federal District, Russia. The ci ...

), where he successively worked as a laborer, a stonecutter, and a clerk in the trust "Uralkhleboprodukt" (Ural Bakeries). In February 1927, he moved to the

Donbas The Donbas (, ; ) or Donbass ( ) is a historical, cultural, and economic region in eastern Ukraine. The majority of the Donbas is occupied by Russia as a result of the Russo-Ukrainian War. The word ''Donbas'' is a portmanteau formed fr ...

, where he worked in a coal mine of the trust "Donugol" as a technical secretary, messenger, and coal cutter operator.

Interwar military service

Arapov was drafted into the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

in November 1928. Initially serving with the 13th Corps Sapper Battalion at

Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...

, he entered the Vladikavkaz (Ordzhonikidze from 1931) Infantry School in November 1929. While at the school, Arapov participated in the crushing of a Chechen uprising against

collectivization Collective farming and communal farming are various types of "agricultural production in which multiple farmers run their holdings as a joint enterprise". There are two broad types of communal farms: agricultural cooperatives, in which member- ...

in 1930 and in the same year became a member of the Communist Party. Arapov graduated from the Ordzhonikidze Infantry School in 1931 and became a machine gun platoon commander in the 9th Don Rifle Division's 25th Rifle Regiment at

Novocherkassk Novocherkassk () is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, located near the confluence of the Tuzlov and Aksay Rivers, the latter a distributary of the Don (river), Don River. Novocherkassk is best known as the ...

. In 1932, he married Nadezhda Ignateyevna Lukovoy. In 1932 he was transferred to the Far East to become an assistant machine gun company commander in the 99th Separate Machine Gun Battalion of the Blagoveshchensk Fortified Area, part of the

Special Red Banner Far Eastern Army The Special Far Eastern Army, later the Special Red Banner Far Eastern Army () was a military formation of the Red Army, active from 1929 to 1938 and under command of Vasily Blyukher. It was activated on 6 August 1929, originally with the 18th a ...

. In 1934, Arapov became assistant chief of staff of the 77th Separate Machine Gun Battalion of the Grodekovo Fortified Area. He subsequently served as battalion chief of staff and then as commander of its training company. In October 1938, Arapov was transferred west to the

Orel Military District The Orel Military District () was a military district of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and the Soviet Union. Established in 1918 during the Russian Civil War, the district was disbanded after the end of the war in 1922. It was re ...

, where he became a company commander in

Belgorod Belgorod (, ) is a city that serves as the administrative center of Belgorod Oblast, Russia, located on the Seversky Donets River, approximately north of the border with Ukraine. It has a population of It was founded in 1596 as a defensiv ...

and Alexeyevka. During the

Great Purge The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...

, he was nearly repressed. According to his autobiography, during a political lecture, he stated that he had heard that

Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...

was a "world orator." For this, Arapov was expelled from the party, but his appeal for reinstatement succeeded. In June 1940, he entered the

World War II

Arapov graduated from the academy in October 1941, after the

, and became assistant chief of the 1st section of the Operations Department of the 50th Army, part of the

Bryansk Front The Bryansk Front () was a Front (military formation), major formation of the Red Army during the World War II, Second World War. First Formation (August - November 1941) General Andrei Yeremenko was designated commander of the Front when it fi ...

and from November part of the Western Front. He participated in the

and the defense of Tula and

Plavsk Plavsk () is a town and the administrative center of Plavsky District in Tula Oblast, Russia, located on the Plava River. Population: Administrative and municipal status Within the framework of administrative divisions, Plavsk serves as the ...

. In the defenses of the two cities, Arapov was reported by his superiors to have "skillfully coordinated the operations of the combat units." During the battle for Tula, as the representative of the army staff, Arapov "skillfully combined his personal courage with the ability to manage the troops, ensuing the fulfillment of orders." During the

Vyazma airborne operation The Vyazma Airborne Operation was a Red Army airborne landing in the rear of German lines during the Battles of Rzhev. It took place from 18 January to 28 February 1942. The objective of the airborne landing was to help troops of the Kalinin ...

in January and February 1942, Arapov made dozens of flights to troops of the 4th Airborne Corps, dropped in the rear of German

Army Group Centre Army Group Centre () was the name of two distinct strategic German Army Groups that fought on the Eastern Front in World War II. The first Army Group Centre was created during the planning of Operation Barbarossa, Germany's invasion of the So ...

, to coordinate their operations with those of the 50th Army. For his actions, Arapov was promoted to

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

on 22 January and awarded the

Order of the Red Banner The Order of the Red Banner () was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. It was the highest award of S ...

on 31 January. During the summer of 1942, when the German advance approached his family's home in Alexeyevka, Nadezhda and the couple's two children became refugees and eventually made their way to

Buy, Kostroma Oblast Buy () is a town in Kostroma Oblast, Russia, which stands on the Kostroma River. Population: History Buy was originally a trading post and protected by a hill fortress of Finno-Ugrian Meri people c. 400–500 CE. Its original M ...

, where her parents lived. In the fall of 1942, the formation of new airborne corps was begun in

Moscow Oblast Moscow Oblast (, , informally known as , ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). With a population of 8,524,665 (Russian Census (2021), 2021 Census) living in an area of , it is one of the most densely populate ...

. Arapov became the chief of staff of the

, but on 8 December the corps was converted into the 3rd Guards Airborne Division, and he became chief of staff of the division. On 25 December Arapov was promoted to lieutenant colonel. In February 1943, after completing its training, the division was transferred to the

Northwestern Front The Northwestern Front (Russian: ''Северо-Западный фронт'') was a military formation of the Red Army during the Winter War and World War II. It was operational with the 7th and 13th Armies during the Winter War. It was re-c ...

to fight in the Battle of Demyansk, an attempt to destroy a German salient. From 25 February to 12 March the division attacked heavily fortified German positions, but was unsuccessful due to weak artillery support. After losing two-thirds of its personnel, the division was withdrawn to the rear for reinforcement. However, the situation in the Kursk Bulge necessitated the speedy dispatch of the division there, and while still rebuilding it was transferred to the

53rd Army The 53rd Army was a field army of the Soviet Union's Red Army which was formed in August 1941, disbanded in December 1941, and reformed in May 1942. It fought throughout World War II before again being disbanded after the war in October 1945. Th ...

of the

Steppe Front The Steppe Front () was a front of the Red Army during the Second World War which existed from July to October 1943. History On 9 July 1943, Stavka designated a new Reserve Front in the Voronezh region, that had been effective since 30 April.G ...

in April and May. As the chief of staff of the 3rd Guards Airborne Division, Arapov fought in the

Battle of Kursk The Battle of Kursk, also called the Battle of the Kursk Salient, was a major World War II Eastern Front battle between the forces of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union near Kursk in southwestern Russia during the summer of 1943, resulting in ...

and the subsequent pursuit from Maloarkhangelsk to the

Desna River The Desna ( Russian and ) is a river in Russia and Ukraine, a major left-tributary of the Dnieper. Its name in means "right hand". It has a length of , and its drainage basin covers .Oleg Kokushkin were killed during a German air raid when a bomb scored a direct hit on the regiment's command post near

Haivoron Haivoron (, ) is a city in Holovanivsk Raion, Kirovohrad Oblast, Ukraine. It hosts the administration of the Haivoron urban hromada, Haivoron Urban Hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Haivoron is situated along the Southern Bug.Гайвор ...

. He was posthumously awarded the

on 27 October 1943 and promoted to colonel. A school in

is named after Arapov.

Footnotes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arapov, Alexei 1906 births 1943 deaths People from Sverdlovsk Oblast People from Yekaterinburgsky Uyezd Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Soviet Army officers Soviet military personnel killed in World War II Heroes of the Soviet Union Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner Deaths by German airstrikes during World War II Frunze Military Academy alumni