Iakov Pavlov

Born Oct. 4 (17), 1917, in the village of Krestovaia, now in Valdai Raion, Novgorod Oblast. Hero of the Soviet Union (June 27, 1945). Member of the CPSU since 1944.

Pavlov joined the Red Army in 1938. He fought in the Great Patriotic War (1941–45) on the Southwestern, Stalingrad, Third Ukrainian, and Second Byelorussian fronts as commander of a machine gun squad, a gunner, and a commander of a reconnaissance section with the rank of senior sergeant. On the night of Sept. 26, 1942, in the battle of Stalingrad of 1942–43, an assault group under Pavlov’s command dislodged the enemy from a four-story apartment house in the center of the city and held the building until the grouping of the fascist German troops in the Stalingrad region was suppressed. The house entered the history of the battle of Stalingrad as the Pavlov house. The fascist German troops furiously attacked the building many times but could not dislodge the Soviet soldiers.

Pavlov was demobilized in August 1946 and graduated from the Higher Party School of the Central Committee of the CPSU. He now works in the national economy. He has been awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the October Revolution, two Orders of the Red Star, and various medals.