Stepan Andreevich Neustroev (; 12 August 1922 – 26 February 1998) was a Soviet officer, commander of the 1st Battalion in the 756th Regiment of the 150th Rifle Division. His unit was the first to storm the Reichstag. At a young age, Neustroev worked in the local mine as a mechanic. At June 1941, shortly before the war with Germany, he was conscripted and sent to the

Cherkasy Cherkasy (, ) is a city in central Ukraine. Cherkasy serves as the administrative centre of Cherkasy Oblast as well as Cherkasy Raion within the oblast. The city has a population of Cherkasy is the cultural, educational and industrial centre ...

Infantry School. Lieutenant Neustroev was dispatched to the front on November, joining the 166th Infantry Division. He was severely wounded in a battle near

Gzhatsk Gagarin (), known until 1968 as Gzhatsk (), is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town and the administrative centre of Gagarinsky District, Smolensk Oblast, Gagarinsky District of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Gzhat River, n ...

. He was wounded again in August 1942 and spent several months in hospital. At April 1943, Captain Neustroev was appointed commander of the 1st Battalion in the 756th Regiment, a post he held to the end of the war. The Battalion took part in the fighting for Belarus,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and the

Baltics The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term encompassing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern co ...

. On 22 April 1945, the Battalion reached Berlin. On 30 April, at noon, Neustroev's men stormed the Reichstag, breaking through the main entrance and clearing the building. The following day, roughly at 03:00, his deputy for political affairs, Lieutenant

Alexei Berest Alexei Prokopievich Berest (; ; 9 March 1921 – 4 November 1970) was a Soviet Political commissar, political officer and one of the three Red Army soldiers credited with having Raising a flag over the Reichstag, hoisted the Victory Banner o ...

, together with two scouts— Mikhail Yegorov and Meliton Kantaria—raised the Victory Banner atop the Reichstag, next to

Wilhelm I Wilhelm I (Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig; 22 March 1797 – 9 March 1888) was King of Prussia from 1861 and German Emperor from 1871 until his death in 1888. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he was the first head of state of a united Germany. ...

's statue.Neustroev war memoirs,
Path To the Reichstag
', chapter 12. On 8 May 1946, Neustroev was awarded the title

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 ...

(Medal no. 6971). He retired from the army at 1953, holding the rank of lieutenant colonel. From 1957 to 1962, he served in the Internal troops, holding his old rank. He was stationed at

Novouralsk Novouralsk (, lit. ''new town in the Ural Mountains, Urals'') is a closed city, closed types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, located on the eastern side of the Ural Mountains, about north of Yekaterinburg, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neustroev, Stepan 1922 births 1998 deaths People from Sverdlovsk Oblast Soviet military personnel of World War II Heroes of the Soviet Union Soviet colonels Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of Alexander Nevsky Recipients of the Medal "For Courage" (Russia)