Andrey Emelyanovich Dudarenko was born in 1912 in Karaganda. From the age of 22 he began to serve in the Red Army and forever bound his fate with it. He was a Ukrainian. He has been in the Red Army since 1934. In 1937 he graduated from the Odessa Artillery School, and in 1941 – from the Military Academy named after V.I. Lenin. In 1941 he graduated from the Dzerzhinsky Military Academy. He, as a staff officer, went through almost all the difficult path of the war: from the first days to the fatal line of January 1945.
His first combat order – the Red Banner – Senior Lieutenant Andrey Dudarenko received in the difficult time for the country – the autumn of 1941. Then he, a young artilleryman, commanded the battery on the Western Front, held back the onslaught of superior enemy forces. Soon the division received a new formidable weapon – rocket mortars, the legendary “Katyusha”. Warriors quickly mastered them, successfully defeated the Nazis near Voronezh. The division became a Guards Division.
…. Troops of the 1st Ukrainian front crushed the German defense in southern Poland, rushed to the border of Germany. Under the fierce shelling the enemy of the Guard Major Dudarenko from the front edge corrected the fire of mortar shells. The Nazis suffered huge losses in manpower and equipment, and our units entered the breakthrough and successfully continued the offensive. A. E. Dudarenko was awarded the second Order of the Red Banner for special distinctions, and the brigade received the honorary name “Vistula”.
The fascist command considered the defensive lines on Oder to be its last hope, and therefore all reserve battalions and rear units were thrown here to fortify.
In January 1945, at the bridgehead on the western bank of the Oder, he skillfully controlled the fire of the brigade units. As a personal example, he often risked his life to inspire his subordinates. He repulsed the division several times and held the bridgehead. Particularly fierce battles were fought near the town of Opelna. In this difficult situation on the very battlefield one could see Deputy Brigade Commander Dudarenko. He himself raised the fighters, contacted the neighboring units, coordinated the actions of the advancing units.
On January 26th, Major Dudarenko last toured the location of the brigade on the left side of the river on the “villa”.
On January 27th the car rushed to the crossing, but suddenly jumped on fascist scouts who wanted to capture it. Major Dudarenko threw himself out…
the cars in the ditch and started shooting back, and he sent the resident with the documents to the rear. But the forces were unequal, the major was mortally wounded.
For courage and heroism shown in the battles on Oder, the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on April 6, 1945 Dudarenko Andrei Emelyanovich was awarded the high title Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously.
In addition to two Orders of the Red Banner, he was awarded the Order of Lenin, two Orders of Patriotic War of the 1st degree, medals.
Hero is buried near Tarnowska Guba, Poland. In the town of Dimitrov there are memorial plaques on the buildings of school 19 and the association “Krasnoarmeyskugol”.
The material is published on the basis of the book published in RIO Bolashak Baspa and on materials of the Internet.
Heroes of Karaganda [Text]: a collection of biographical information / ed. Zh. S. Akylbaev, A. A. Abdakimov, N. O. Dulatbekov, R. K. Omarbekova. – Karaganda: Bolashak-Baspa, 2000. – 146 p.
