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Story by Vsevolod Koshel This is a story about my grandfather, a hero of World War II. Ivan Koshel was born in the village of Podgornoye in the Dnepropetrovsk region in 1923. On July 7, 1941, he was drafted into the Soviet Army. After training at a machine-gun school in Leninakan, he was sent to the 776th Mountain Regiment. On December 31, 1941, grandfather was sent to the village of Kamysh-Burun near Kerch where he killed 20 Nazis. Later he was wounded in the arm and evacuated to Tuapse.
After that, he served in the 7th Regiment of the 24th Iron Red Banner Samara-Ulyanovsk division. In 1943, he became a scout. Once he captured two Nazis near Krivoi Rog and was decorated with the Order of Glory, 3rd class. In 1943, First Sergeant Koshel and his fellow officers ran into a Nazi trench. Koshel ordered the others to hide, took a box with cartridges and headed to the trench. They took him for a German and let him jump into the trench. Grandfather killed three Nazis in close combat and seized their machine-gun. During the next battle he commanded a platoon. The platoon ambushed and eliminated 60 Germans and two tanks. He was then decorated with the Order of Glory, 2nd class.
In 1944, the division fought in the Carpathians. For two weeks they failed to seize Klyuchevaya Hill, which opened way to the Veretsovsky passage. A decision was made to use small assault teams to capture the hill. Koshel’s platoon was among those teams. The hill was reinforced with a multistage defense system with bunkers and concrete emplacements. During the assault, Soviet troops broke through the first stage and seized machine-guns and a mortar. Some soldiers remained there and others kept moving to the hill. They blocked trenches trying to reduce the defense area. Germans were desperately attacking the top of the hill in an attempt to throw off Soviet soldiers.
When the company commander was killed, my grandfather took command. The remaining soldiers managed to rebuff twelve Nazi attacks and hold the hill until the arrival of the division’s main forces. Seven people including First Sergeant Koshel survived. All of them were nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
My grandfather already had two Orders of Glory. Therefore, the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Council conferred the Order of Glory of the 1st class on him. Later the presidium’s chairman Mikhail Kalinin decorated grandfather in the Kremlin. Before that, Ivan Koshel accomplished another feat in the Tatra Mountains where he commanded a scout platoon. Once his platoon ran into a Romanian artillery unit and launched a surprise attack. They captured 20 Romanian soldiers without losses. Grandfather was again nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. However, the front staff decided that it would be too good for the 22-year old sergeant to have the Gold Star in addition to three Orders of Glory. As a result, grandfather received the Order of the Patriotic War and was sent to officer courses. Then the war was over. During the war, he received three Orders of Glory, the Order of the Patriotic War, 2nd class, a Medal of Courage, a Medal for Defending the Caucasus and two Medals for Combat Services.
He lost some medals. Grandfather did not count those because he valued only the Orders of Glory. Ivan Koshel had six brothers, but only Vasily came home. The others were killed in action. Grandfather died in 2002. He was buried in his uniform. A military orchestra and guards of honor attended the funeral.
In 1999, the Ukrainian defense minister enlisted him in the separate medical battalion of the 93rd Mechanized Division, which is quartered near his native town of Novomoskovsk. I visited this place and saw grandfather’s bed and bedside-table and his portrait in the barracks. Eternal glory to everyone who fought for their homeland in World War II, Afghanistan and Chechnya!
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