Nikolay Korolyov (sergeant)

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Nikolay Stepanovich Korolyov (Russian: Николай Степанович Королёв) was a Soviet sergeant and a Hero of the Soviet Union.

Born on May 22, 1921, in Katyshevo village, Vladimir Oblast, Korolyov finished eighth grade, worked on a collective farm, studied at Muromsky Teacher Training College, and later taught in the Aktobe Region of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. He was drafted into the Red Army in 1939, fought on multiple fronts, and was wounded twice. He joined the Communist Party in 1942.

By October 1943 he was a Starshina (sergeant major) in the 3rd Guards Airborne Division’s 8th Guards Airborne Regiment. During the Battle of the Dnieper, on October 2, 1943, he crossed the Dnieper River near Suholuchya with his regiment and helped establish a bridgehead on the far bank. On October 5 he repelled three German counterattacks with his machine gun, and on October 6 he repelled another attack, inflicting heavy losses on the enemy. Korolyov was killed on November 27, 1943, during the capture of a village in Radomyshl Raion, Ukrainian SSR, at age 22.

He was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin on January 10, 1944.