Sergey Gritsevets

Infobox Military Person
name= Sergey Ivanovich Gritsevets
lived= 19 July 1909 – 16 September 1939
placeofbirth= Baranovichi, Russian Empire
placeofdeath= Vitebsk, Soviet Union


caption= Sergey Gritsevets
nickname=
allegiance=flagicon|Soviet Union Soviet Union
serviceyears= 1931 – 1939
rank=Major
branch=
commands=
unit=
battles= Spanish Civil War, World War II
awards= Hero of the Soviet Union, Order of Lenin, Order of the Red Banner
laterwork=

Sergey Ivanovich Gritsevets ( _ru. Сергей Иванович Грицевец) (19 July 1909, Baranovichi – 16 September 1939, Vitebsk) was a Soviet major, pilot and twice recipient of the honorary title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

In 1931, Gritsevets joined the army, where he completed pilot training at a Orenburg military school in 1932 and further air combat training in 1936 at a pilot school in Odessa. In spring of 1938 Gritsevets volunteered to go to China, where he was involved in combat against Japanese forces attacking Wuhan and credited with two or three kills in a fierce 30 minutes air battle in which a total of 21 Japanese airplanes were downed. Gritsevets flew a Polikarpov I-15 biplane or I-16 monoplane.

Later the same year, Gritsevets volunteered to serve in the Spanish Civil War; he stayed there until the end of 1938, when all Soviet pilots were recalled. Flying an I-16, he claimed 30 victories in Spain, for which he received his first "Hero of Soviet Union" together with a Gold Star on 22 February 1939.

On 29 May 1939 a group of 48 experienced pilots, including Gritsevets, were sent to Mongolia to function as the backbone of a newly established air force to replace the former, which earlier had suffered a crippling defeat at the hands of Japanese forces and been decimated by NKVD arrests. Here Gritsevets was involved in several counts of actions with Japanese planes. On 26 June, during the Battle of Khalkhin Gol, Gritsevets landed his I-16 alongside his commanding officer, Major V. Zabaluyev, whom an engine failure had forced down deep in hostile territory, 60 kilometers behind enemy Japanese lines. Zabaluyev climbed into Gritsevets airplane and together they escaped. For this, and other heroic action during the conflict, he was awarded a second "Gold Star" of the "Hero of the Soviet Union" 29 August 1939. All in all Gritsevets claimed 11 downed Japanese airplanes during this time.

On 12 September 1939 Gritsevets and 20 other pilots were sent back to Ukraine in preparation of the invasion of Poland on 17 September 1939. Gritsevets was killed on the 16 September 1939 in an accident in Bolbasovo near Vitebsk, wherein his airplane was rammed by another while taxiing in preparation for take off [ [http://www.historynet.com/wars_conflicts/world_war_2/3027006.html?page=6&c=y Interview with World War II Russian Pilot Evgeny Stepanov] ] .

Gritsevets is credited with downing 42 enemy planes before he died in an aviation accident in 1939, two of them while flying biplanes. He was awarded the "Hero of Soviet Union" (twice), the Order of Lenin (twice), the Order of the Red Banner (twice) as well as a Mongolian order he received in Ulan Bator before returning.

A monument in his honour was later erected in his birth town of Baranovichi.

References

External links

* [http://www.warheroes.ru/hero/hero.asp?Hero_id=1080 Sergey Gritsevets] - at the website dedicated to Heroes of the Soviet Union and Russia
* [http://www.peoples.ru/military/hero/sergey_gritsevez/ Biography]

Persondata
NAME=Gritsevets, Sergey
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Gritsevets, Sergey Ivanovich; Грицевец, Сергей Иванович
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Soviet pilot
DATE OF BIRTH=July 19 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH=Baranovichi, Russian Empire
DATE OF DEATH=September 16 1939
PLACE OF DEATH=Vitebsk, Soviet Union