Oleg Kokushkin

Oleg Ioilevich Kokushkin (Russian: Олег Иоильевич Кокушкин; 8 May 1910 – 14 September 1943) was a Red Army lieutenant colonel and posthumous Hero of the Soviet Union.

In 1934 he graduated from the Volsk Military Aviation Technical School and was the secretary of the party organization and then an instructor of the political department.

During the fighting near Zhuliany, he reportedly organized the party political staff and repeatedly led the battalion in the attack.

On 31 January 1943, he was recommended for the Order of the Red Star after leading the battalion's counterattacks on 22 September which reportedly destroyed 12 tanks, but Vasily Chuikov instead awarded a Medal "For Courage" on 11 April 1943.

[5] From November 1942, Kokushkin attended the "Vystrel" course and afterward was assigned to the 3rd Guards Airborne Division.

[6] In the ensuing Central Front offensive, the 8th Guards Airborne Regiment helped capture areas of Kursk, Sumy and Chernihiv oblasts.

Kokushkin reportedly changed plan and moved to the regiment to the west of Bakhmach, cutting the Bakhmach-Nizhyn Railroad, leading to the retreat of the German forces to avoid being encircled.

[7] On 14 September 1943, a German bomb scored a direct hit on the regimental command post near the village of Haivoron, killing the divisional chief of staff, Alexei Arapov, and Kokushkin.