Ivan Sidorenko

Infobox Military Person
name=Ivan Sidorenko
born=September 12, 1919
placeofbirth=Smolensk, Russia
placeofdeath=


caption=Sidorenko with his Hero of the Soviet Union Golden Star medal
allegiance=Soviet Union
serviceyears=1939–1945
rank=Major
unit=1st Baltic Front, 1122nd Rifle Regiment
battles=World War II
• Eastern Front
awards=flagicon|Soviet Union|1923 Hero of the Soviet Union

Ivan Mikhaylovich Sidorenko ( _ru. Иван Михайлович Сидоренко) (born September 12, 1919, in Smolensk, Russia) is a former Red Army officer, who served during World War II.cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=Y3UbdijeLssC&printsec=frontcover&client=firefox-a#PPA18,M1|title=Heroes of the Soviet Union: 1941-1945|last=Sakaida|first=Henry|publisher=Osprey Publishing|year=2004|isbn=1841767697|page=p. 18] He was one of the top Soviet snipers in the war, with over five hundred confirmed kills. [cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=QnmyjViuPrUC&printsec=frontcover&client=firefox-a#PPA74,M1|title=The Sniper at War: From the American Revolutionary War to the Present Day|last=Haskew|first=Michael E.|publisher=Macmillan Publishers|year=2005|isbn=0312336519|page=p. 74]

Early years

Born a peasant, Sidorenko attended ten grades of school, and later studied at the Penza Art College at Penza, south-east of Moscow. In 1939, he dropped out of college, and was conscripted into the Red Army, for training at the Simferopol Military Infantry School, in the Crimea.

World War II service

In 1941, he participated at the Battle of Moscow, as a Junior Lieutenant of a mortar company. During the battle, he spent a lot of time teaching himself to snipe. His hunts for enemy soldiers were successful, prompting Sidorenko's commanders to order him to train others—who were chosen for their eyesight, weapons knowledge, and endurance. He first taught them theory, and then slowly started taking them out on combat missions with him. The Germans soon began fielding snipers of their own in Sidorenko's area of operation, to counter the new threat posed by him and his men.

Sidorenko became assistant commander of the Headquarters of the 1122nd Rifle Regiment, fighting as part of the 1st Baltic Front. Though he mainly instructed, he occasionally fought in battles, taking one of his trainees with him. In one of these excursions, he destroyed a tank and three tractors using incendiary bullets. However, he was wounded several times, most seriously in Estonia, in 1944; he would remain hospitalized until the end of the war. While recuperating from this wound, Sidorenko was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, on June 4, 1944. Sidorenko was prohibited from seeing combat again, by his superiors, as he was a valuable sniper trainer.

By the end of the war, Sidorenko was credited with about five hundred confirmed kills, [cite web|url=http://www.wio.ru/galgrnd/sniper/sniper.htm|title=WW2 Snipers|accessdate=2008-04-09] cite web|url=http://www.snipercentral.com/snipers.htm#WWII|title=Snipers|accessdate=2008-04-09] and had trained over two hundred and fifty snipers. Ranked a Major, he was the most successful Soviet sniper of the Second World War, [cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=vgsYNtvg8ngC&printsec=frontcover&client=firefox-a#PPA352,M1|title=Countdown to Freedom|last=Ridder|first=Willem|year=2007|publisher=AuthorHouse|isbn=1434312291|page=p. 352] and used the Russian Mosin-Nagant rifle, equipped with a telescopic sight.cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=hLBTkNZ8U44C&printsec=frontcover#PPA212,M1|title=Rifles: An Illustrated History of Their Impact|page=p. 212|last=Westwood|first=David|year=2005|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=1851094016] Sidorenko's feat was not unique, however: several other Soviet snipers scored nearly as many kills, [cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=vgsYNtvg8ngC&printsec=frontcover#PPA352,M1|title=Countdown to Freedom|last=Ridder|first=Williem|page=p. 352|year=2007|publisher=AuthorHouse|isbn=1434312291] and Simo Häyhä of Finland is credited with having killed 542 men.

Post-war life

After the war ended, Sidorenko retired from the Red Army, and settled down in Chelyabinsk Oblast, in the Ural Mountains, where he worked as the foreman of a coal mine. In 1974, he moved to the Republic of Dagestan, in the Caucasus.

Notes