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Dmitry Nikolaevich Medvedev
About museum
Dmitry Nikolaevich Medvedev – commander of a partisan detachment, a career NKVD officer of the USSR, colonel, and writer. Hero of the Soviet Union (1944). He was born into the family of a steelworker in Bezhitsa (Oryol Governorate). In 1914 he began revolutionary activities – he helped his brother distribute leaflets and store weapons, and later became an active member of the Bryansk Committee of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) and secretary of the uyezd council.
In 1918 Medvedev voluntarily joined the Red Army, taking part in battles on the Eastern and Petrograd fronts. In 1920 he became an employee of the Cheka (the Soviet secret police) and took part in the struggle against anti-Soviet bands in Ukraine. During the Great Patriotic War, at his own request, Medvedev was sent behind enemy lines to work in the partisan movement. In August 1941 he organized a partisan detachment in the Bryansk forests. During combat operations he was wounded and suffered concussions twice.
From June 1942 to February 1944 Medvedev commanded the special-purpose partisan detachment 'Pobediteli' in Ukraine. In 1944 a large partisan formation (7,000 men) joined the advancing units of the regular army. On 5 November 1944 Medvedev was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. After the war he took part in the fight against the 'Forest Brothers' in Lithuania, and in 1946 he retired with the rank of colonel. After retirement Medvedev wrote and published a number of well-known books: 'Strong in Spirit', 'It Happened near Rovno', 'On the Banks of the Southern Bug' and 'The Detachment Goes West'. Dmitry Nikolaevich Medvedev died on 14 December 1954 and was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.
Date of birth
22 August 1898
Date of death
14 December 1954
Occupation
Military