Dmitriy Lavrinenko

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Dmitriy Lavrinenko Dmitro Lavrinenko
1914—1941

Place of birth	Besstrashnaya stanitsa, Kuban
Allegiance	Red Army
Rank	Senior Guards Lieutenant
Unit	1st guards tank brigade
Commands held	Platoon commander of 15th armoured division
Awards	Order of Lenin Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union
Other work	Teacher, statistician, cashier

Dmitriy Fyodorovich Lavrinenko (Ukrainian: Дмитро Лавриненко, Russian: Дмитрий Фёдорович Лавриненко, September 10, 1914—December 18, 1941) was a successful Soviet tankman and a Hero of the Soviet Union.

Lavrinenko finished the education at Ulyanovsk Tank Academy in May, 1938. He took part in Soviet campaigns in in Poland 1939 and Bessarabia 1940.

In 1941, he commanded the new T-34/76 tank, which was superior to all German types of the time. With 52 or 57 tanks and self-propelled guns, eliminated in 1941 during Operation Barbarossa on the Eastern Front of World War II, he is considered to be the top Soviet tank ace despite early death in 1941. Unlike many other Soviet tank commanders in that year, he managed to take advantage of the abilities of the T-34 and the inferiority of contemporary German tanks and anti-tank guns, while surviving for half a year against the otherwise superior German tactics or Stuka fighters.

On May 5, 1990 Lavrinenko was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously.