Nikolai Vychuzhanin

Vychuzhanin was born on 23 February 1919 to a peasant family in Ashkeldino, Kostroma Governorate (now Nizhny Novgorod Oblast's Tonkinsky District). He graduated from fifth grade and became a brigadier of tractor drivers, leading a collective farm brigade. In 1939, he was drafted into the Red Army.[1]

Vychuzhanin fought in combat during World War II from 1942. He joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1943. Vychuzhanin fought in the Battle of Stalingrad, becoming commander of a machine gun platoon in the 37th Guards Rifle Division's 118th Guards Rifle Regiment. In September and October 1943, he fought in the crossing of the Desna River and the Sozh River. On 17 October 1943 he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for his actions in the crossing of the rivers.[2]

On 21 October, Vychuzhanin crossed the Dnieper with his platoon near Starodubka in Loyew District. His platoon covered the regiment's crossing with machine gun fire. In the battles for the bridgehead, he fought in the German trenches, capturing two light machine guns and reportedly using them to kill a German anti-tank gun crew and a mortar crew. His platoon was reported to have repulsed twenty counterattacks, killing up to 400 German soldiers. On 15 January 1944, Vychuzhanin was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin for his actions.[1][3][4]

Vychuzhanin was discharged from the Red Army after the war. He lived and worked in the village of Adayevka in the Kamyshninsky District of Kostanay Region in northwestern Kazakhstan. Vychuzhanin participated in the Virgin Lands Campaign, a Soviet agricultural campaign to improve agricultural productivity in north Kazakhstan. Vychuzhanin died on 26 June 1964[1] and was buried in Adayevka.[5]

A street in Tonkino was named for Vychuzhanin. There is a memorial plaque on the building of the former regional agricultural machinery department.[1]