Background
Aleksandr Safonov was born on June 1, 1923 in the village of Khrenovoye (now Novousmansky District, Voronezh Region), Russian Federation.
Aleksandr Safonov was born on June 1, 1923 in the village of Khrenovoye (now Novousmansky District, Voronezh Region), Russian Federation.
In 1941 Aleksandr Safonov graduated from 9 classes. In July 1941 he was drafted into the Red Army and sent to the Voronezh Military School of Communications.
Since December 1941, as part of the brigade, Aleksandr Safonov participated in battles near Moscow. At the beginning of 1942, on the Kalinin Front, as part of a ski battalion, telephone operator Aleksandr Safonov took part in raids on enemy rear lines. In one of the raids, he frostbite his hands and was evacuated to the hospital, where two fingers were amputated. He became disabled and had to be relieved of service. After numerous requests, he obtained permission to return to duty.
As part of the 35th isolation battalion, the battalion's communications battalion went the battle path until the end of the war. Aleksandr Safonov fought on the Stalingrad, 3rd Ukrainian and 1st Belorussian fronts. On January 28, 1945, in street battles for the city of Poznan Guard, Corporal Aleksandr Safonov participated in repelling the enemy’s counterattack, trying to capture the observation post of the division. On February 21, 1945, during the battle for the city of Poznan, during the assault on the Citadel fortress, Guards Corporal Safonov provided communications for the division commander with units and subunits, and personally participated in the battles along with the assault units.
Aleksandr Safonov returned to his homeland, worked on a collective farm in his native village. From April 1947 to June 1950 he worked as a loader in SMU-511 at the construction site of the city of Voronezh. Since September 1951 he worked at the plant named after M.I. Kalinin as a wood designer.