Putin awarded the title of Hero of Russia posthumously to WWII pilot Nikolai Terekhin

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree awarding the title of Hero of the Russian Federation posthumously to Soviet pilot Nikolai Terekhin, a participant in the Great Patriotic War. The relevant document was published on March 30 on the official Internet portal of legal acts.

"For the courage and heroism shown in the fight against the Nazi invaders during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, to award the title of Hero of the Russian Federation to Nikolai Vasilyevich Terekhin, Major (posthumously)," the decree says.

Nikolai Terekhin was born in 1916 in the village of Chardym, Saratov province. In 1934, he joined the Red Army. In 1939, he participated in the Soviet-Japanese conflict on the Khalkhin Gol River, as well as in the campaign of Red Army units in Western Belarus.

Since 1941, Terekhin was on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War. He is one of two Soviet pilots who have carried out aerial ramming three times. In June 1941, Terekhin, having used up all the ammunition of his aircraft, shot down two German Junkers 88s, the second on an already damaged aircraft.

The pilot was killed in an air battle on December 30, 1942 near the Pola station in the Novgorod region. At the time of his death, he had completed about 250 combat missions, during which he shot down 17 aircraft. Terekhin was awarded the Order of Lenin (1941) and the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st Class (1942).

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