Yevgeny Beletsky
In February 1943, he was part of a group of mountaineers who raised the Soviet flag and removed the banners with Nazi symbols from the highest point in Europe — the western peak of Mount Elbrus.
After the outbreak of World War I, Andrian Georgievich was transferred with his gymnasium to Vladimir, and Maria Vasilievna with four children (Tatiana was not yet born) moved to Romny, and after a while — to Hadiach.
In 1929 Beletsky became a member of the All-Union Communist Party of the Bolsheviks (VKP(b)), and in 1930 he was appointed editor of the factory newspaper "Krasny Putilovets", whose circulation at that time reached 23,000 copies.
Since 1932, he was involved in the mountain section of the Society for Proletarian Tourism and Excursion [ru] under the leadership of Boris Delaunay, travelling to the Central and Western Caucasus.
In addition to Beletsky, the group included P. N. Alhambrov, Nikolai Gusak, Danil Gushchin, Alexander (Alyosha) Dzhaparidze, and Ivan Fedorov.
The leader of the group was Lev Barkhash, and its members, besides Beletsky, were Stanislav Ganetsky, V. Martynov, Grigory Rozentsveig, Ariy Polyakov [ru], B. Iskin, and P.
The group was led by Oleg Aristov and included Nikolai Gusak, Viktor Kirkorov, and Ivan Fedorkov in addition to Beletsky.
[21][22] At an altitude of about 7450 m, Oleg Aristov slipped and fell off the ridge and died after flying about 700 m. The rest of the group, unable to descend to his body, reached the summit.
Despite the fact that the group completed this record crossing independently, its leader Beletsky was reprimanded by the mountaineering authorities, disqualified, and stripped of the title of Master of Sports of the USSR.
[23][24] In 1939, Eugene Beletsky was arrested in connection with the "N. V. Krylenko case" and spent three months in pretrial detention in the NKVD isolation center.
When Evgeny Beletsky returned to Leningrad, he learned that his older brother Yuri, who was also involved in mountaineering, had died in Dombay while climbing Mount Belalakaya.
The reason for this was the order of the General Staff of the Red Army to teach the basics of mountaineering to a group of young officers, for which a one-and-a-half month course was organized, which began on June 15.
However, a week later, on June 22, the Great Patriotic War began, and the head of the course, Major General Alexei Tarasov (to whom is attributed the phrase "We will not fight on Elbrus!")
The chauffeur presented a stamped piece of paper, which stated that "Turner Beletsky has been booked to fulfill a special task of the command of the Leningrad Military District", which meant that he had to return to the factory.
[28] In 1942, when the Nazi troops reached the Caucasus passes, the Supreme Command Headquarters outlined a number of measures for the defense of the line of the Main Caucasian Range, which included, in particular, the involvement of experienced mountaineering instructors.
[1][29] In February 1943, Evgeny Beletsky was part of a group of mountaineers led by Nikolai Gusak who removed Nazi standards from the highest point in Europe, the western peak of Mount Elbrus, and planted the Soviet flag there.
On the summit, the climbers found the remains of Nazi standards, which they removed and replaced with a Soviet flag, leaving a note about the successful ascent and the fulfillment of the task.
[Note 2][7][30] Based on the results of this operation, the political commissar of the group, Evgeny Beletsky (along with other climbers) was awarded the Order of the Red Star.
In Bălți, where the front headquarters was located, Beletsky met his old mountaineering friends Yakov Arkin, Alexander Sidorenko, Yuri Gubanov and Yevgeny Kolokolnikov.
After that, as part of the 235th Guards Rifle Regiment, Beletsky fought in Romania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Austria, participated in the liberation of Budapest, Vienna and Prague.
Besides Beletsky and Abalakov, five other members of the expedition: Anatoly Bagrov, Evgeny Ivanov, P. Semyonov, Alexander Sidorenko and Alexey Ugarov reached the summit of Karl Marx Peak.
Soon after his return from the expedition to the Southwest Pamir, Evgeny Beletsky married Elena Gusenok, who worked as a technician in the measuring laboratory of the Kirov factory.
Believing that mountaineering expeditions should make their contribution to science, Beletsky presented reports at the Society's meetings and published them in its proceedings.
However, due to illness he was unable to take part in the final phase of the ascent— at an altitude of about six thousand meters he developed pneumonia and had to be transported to the lower camp.
During the rescue operation, a team led by Kirill Kuzmin found the bodies of two climbers frozen to the eastern ridge of Pobeda Peak and traces of others who had fallen.
[47] In March 1956, at the invitation of the English Mountaineering Club, Beletsky visited Great Britain, where he gave lectures and was received by the Queen.
In late 1958, Yevgeny Beletsky, Lev Filimonov, and Anatoly Kovyrkov, together with Chinese mountaineers, took part in the reconnaissance and planning of the route of the future expedition, exploring the upper reaches of the Rongbuk Glacier and ways of ascent to the Changla Pass (7007 m).
