On May 1, 1945, the Red Flag flies over the Reichstag. This was reached after a day earlier, Mikhail Minin, during the storming of the Reichstag, managed to climb the roof first.
At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, he enlisted in the militia. He fought on the Leningrad Front and took part in breaking the blockade of Leningrad. After being wounded and successfully treated, he is a front-line artillery scout. Served in the 136th Artillery Brigade of the 79th Rifle Corps of the 3rd Shock Army. Military rank of sergeant.
He was included in the composition of one of the assault groups tasked with raising the Banner of Victory over the Reichstag. On April 30, 1945, together with Senior Sergeant Gazi Zagitov and Alexander Lisimenko, Sergeant Alexei Bobrov and Captain Vladimir Makov managed to penetrate the Reichstag and were the first to raise the Victory Banner on the dome from the western part of the building at 9:30 p.m.
The battle for the Reichstag was bloody. The area was guarded by elite SS units with a total number of about 6,000 people. They were supported by tanks, assault guns and a large number of artillery pieces.
The group crept as close as they could to the “Kings Square” and under cover of the artillery, with a mighty charge rushed forward. Fierce fighting began. German snipers were shooting from the windows everywhere. Out of 51 people, only 14 soldiers managed to approach the building. The fight became increasingly fierce, but the 14 managed to capture two offices on the first floor of the central building. There they unfurled the flag through the windows as agreed. But it was too low and the Soviet units did not notice them. New skirmishes followed. The fighters managed to take control of two offices on the second floor as well. Raised the flag again. Now they were noticed. Artillery increased fire. The battalions of captains Neustroev and Davidov came to the rescue.
Captain Samsonov's battalion managed to sneak in from the right side of the building. The paint was getting bloodier. Floor by floor the fighters advanced towards the roof. And lo, they climbed up to the roof and what to see: mines, shells and bullets rain down there like hail. In this situation it was impossible to put the flag on the dome. So they tied it to the outstretched arm of the Bronze Horseman. A German anti-aircraft battery, which by chance had survived the fire of the Soviet artillery, began shelling the flag. Egorov and Kantaria lying under the Bronze Horseman.
The first projectile was armor-piercing. It hit the horseman who passed through it without exploding. But one of the next projectiles managed to hit the horseman's arm and brought down the flag. The two fighters, hidden next to the horseman, waited until dark, climbed the dome, tied the red flag tightly and let it fly.
After the war, he continued to serve in the Red Army. He graduated from the Military Engineering Academy “Valerian Kuibyshev” (Moscow). Serves in the strategic missile forces. He retired with the military rank of lieutenant colonel (1969). He returns to the city of Pskov. He was awarded the "Red Star" Order, the "Patriotic War" Order; II century, etc. Honorary citizen of the city of Pskov.