V. M. Pogorelov. The Feat of Alexander Matrosov

Vasily Pogorelov made this bronze composition in 1945. A soldier in a fur cap with a star, his arm flung high, lunges forward. The museum's staff see in it the idea of an offensive surge and a striving for victory, and suggest that the design may have been prompted by a Soviet postage stamp issued in July 1944.

Alexander Matveyevich Matrosov (1924–1943) fought in the 91st Separate Siberian Volunteer Brigade. In February 1943, in a battle near the village of Chernushki (now in the Pskov region), he covered the embrasure of a German pillbox with his body. On 19 June 1943 Matrosov was posthumously made a Hero of the Soviet Union.

Vasily Mikhailovich Pogorelov (1895–1980) studied at the Kazan Art School under Nicolai Fechin and then at VKhUTEMAS–VKhUTEIN under Vera Mukhina. In 1942–1944 he himself fought as a machine-gunner and was discharged as an invalid. The composition is cast in bronze and patinated; it measures 40 × 39 × 21 cm.