Stepan Andreevich Neustroev (russian: Степан Андреевич Неустроев; 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 stormed 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 ( uk, Черка́си, ) is a city in central Ukraine. Cherkasy is the capital of Cherkasy Oblast (province), as well as the administrative center of Cherkasky Raion (district) within the oblast. The city has a population of Che ...

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 (russian: Гага́рин), known until 1968 as Gzhatsk (), is a town and the administrative centre of Gagarinsky District of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Gzhat River, northeast of Smolensk, the administrative centre of the ...

. He was wounded again on 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. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

and the

Baltics The Baltic states, et, Balti riigid or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term, which currently is used to group three countries: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozo ...

. 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, together with two scouts— Mikhail Yegorov and Meliton Kantaria—raised the

Victory Banner The Soviet Banner of Victory (russian: Знамя Победы, translit=Znamya Pobedy) was the banner raised by the Red Army soldiers on the Reichstag building in Berlin on 1 May 1945, the day after Adolf Hitler committed suicide. It was raise ...

atop the Reichstag, next to

Wilhelm I William I or Wilhelm I (german: Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig; 22 March 1797 – 9 March 1888) was King of Prussia from 2 January 1861 and German Emperor from 18 January 1871 until his death in 1888. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he was the f ...

'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 (russian: Герой Советского Союза, translit=Geroy Sovietskogo Soyuza) was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for ...

(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 The Internal Troops, full name Internal Troops of the Ministry for Internal Affairs (MVD) (russian: Внутренние войска Министерства внутренних дел, Vnutrenniye Voiska Ministerstva Vnutrennikh Del; abbreviat ...

, holding his old rank. He was stationed at

Novouralsk Novouralsk (russian: Новоура́льск, lit. ''new town in the Urals'') is a closed town in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, located on the eastern side of the Ural Mountains, about north of Yekaterinburg, the administrative center of the obl ...

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)