Commemorative Event for Hero of the Soviet Union Ivan Stepanovich Mirenkov

On 11 September 2023, from 10:00 to 11:00, the “Memory of Afghanistan” Charitable Foundation for Assistance to Internationalist Veterans, together with the Stalin Line Historical and Cultural Complex and the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Belarus, will hold an event at the grave of tank crewman and Hero of the Soviet Union Ivan Stepanovich Mirenkov in Minsk’s Eastern Cemetery. The event will commemorate the heroic deeds of the tank crews of Ivan Stepanovich Mirenkov’s platoon and mark Tankers’ Day. 
Representatives of the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Belarus, personnel of the Minsk Military Commandant’s Office, the leadership of the “Memory of Afghanistan” Foundation and the Stalin Line Historical and Cultural Complex, the Soldiers of Victory Club, Gymnasium No. 18, Loshany School and a Czech delegation from the village of Starovičky, where Mirenkov performed his heroic feat, are expected to attend the commemorative gathering. On 16 April 1945, a tank platoon under his command liberated the village from the enemy, destroying five tanks, one self-propelled gun, two guns and up to 50 enemy soldiers and officers. A memorial featuring a T-34-85 tank bearing the number 200 stands at the site of the feat.
 

The guest of honour representing the Czech Republic will be Radek Harasta, head of the Starovičky Military History Club. Despite the difficult political climate, in which monuments to liberating soldiers are being destroyed across Europe, he continues to raise awareness in the Czech Republic of the heroic deeds of the Soviet soldier who saved the world from Nazi Germany. Radek restores Soviet military vehicles and takes an active role in maintaining and improving the burial sites of Soviet soldiers.

Radek Harasta will take to Moscow a capsule containing the ashes of an unidentified gunner-radio operator from a T-34-85 tank. He was killed when the tank was destroyed near a Czech village on the border between Czechoslovakia and Austria in 1945. The capsule will be interred at Poklonnaya Hill. 

How It Happened:

Installation of a Plaque at the Grave of Hero of the Soviet Union Ivan Stepanovich Mirenkov

In Memory of Hero of the Soviet Union Ivan Mirenkov