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Portrait of Soviet Guards Sgt. Alexey G. Frolchenko, late of the 325th “Dvina” Rifle Division, carrying his PPSh-41 submachine gun. I say late because the 325th, formed in August 1941, had been largely bled white by the Spring of 1943 and, merging with two similarly decimated brigades, was fleshed out to become the newly reformed 90th Guards Rifle Division just before Kursk (and survived until disbanded in 2001 as the 90th Guards Vitebsko-Novgorodskaya twice Red Banner Tank Division).
As for Frolchenko, he was awarded the Order of the Red Star for bravery at the Battle of Kursk while leading a scout detachment. Receiving a battlefield promotion to Lieutenant, Alexey finished the war as a Captain leading a company in East Prussia and died in his sleep at age 62 in 1967.
(Image taken by Anatoly Arkhipov near Belgorod, Belgorod Oblast, Russia, Soviet Union. August 1943.)
