The black-and-white photograph taken during the Great Patriotic War depicts Alexey Ivanovich Tkachyov, a native of the village of Uspenskoye, Krasnodar Krai, wearing a winter military uniform. He joined the Red Army in 1938. During the war he served as captain in the 285th Infantry Regiment.
There is practically no documentary data concerning the liberation of the small railway station of Prokhorovka and the village of Alexandrovsky in February 1943, except for the testimony of soldiers and local residents. As the participants of the event themselves explained, the fighters were equipped with non-working walkie-talkies, so they had no way to contact the headquarters. For several days, no one knew about the feat of the detachment.
By that time, Prokhorovka had been under occupation for almost 15 months. After fierce fighting near Voronezh, units of the 183rd Rifle Division came close to the station. The order to begin its liberation was given to the detachment of Captain Alexey Tkachyov.
Advancing more than 30 kilometers forward, capturing a strong point in the enemy’s rear and holding it until the main forces approached — these were barely feasible tasks in the harsh winter. The strategic object was defended by half a thousand Hungarian and German soldiers.
In the early morning of February 6, 1943, accompanied by local residents, the vanguard began storming the village. In a few hours the soldiers managed to destroy an entire garrison. By noon, the village was liberated from the invaders. In an unequal battle, seven Red Army soldiers were killed, and eight were wounded.
One of the guides of Tkachyov’s detachment was a local resident Sergey Nemykin. He recalled this battle as follows,
