Hotline of power engineering specialists:
Power engineers of IDGC of Centre congratulated Anatoly Leonov on his 90th anniversary, a veteran of the Great Patriotic War, a man who stood at the sources of energy development of the Belgorod region and gave a quarter of a century to the Belgorod branch of the company. The veteran was awarded a commemorative medal to the 70th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War and a letter from the Minister of Energy Alexander Novak.
On the same day the veteran received a congratulatory telegram with wishes of good health and good spirits from Russian President Vladimir Putin. "We are really proud of the Great Patriotic generation, who had both serious tests and great triumphs. You were never afraid of difficulties, believed in the best. With your selfless labour you created the wealth and power of the country," stated the document.
Anatoly was born in the village of Streletskoye Farms in Usman district of the Voronezh region (now the Lipetsk region). Later the Leonovs moved to the settlement of Bobrovy Yards. When Leonov was not yet 17, he was in Saransk Infantry School, which he did not finish - one day all cadets were taken from classes and sent to the front line, at Voronezh. "But Voronezh had already been freed, and the recruits were transferred to the area of Prokhorovka. We with comrades became a part of the 6th Guards Znamenskaya Red Banner Order of Suvorov II degree Airborne Division. I was a signalman and had to provide a link of the regiment headquarters with the battalion headquarters," remembers the veteran.
A. Leonov participated in the liberation of Bessonovka, Bolkhovets. There he received the first wound, when by order of the commander of the battalion went to the front to provide a link with the front wing. In the battle under New Merniki in the Kharkov region Anatoly received his second wound, this time in his spine, and he was sent to a hospital in Dergachi. He was treated for seven months, and then again to the division. Now already in a reconnaissance group. He took part in heavy fighting for Romania. September 2, 1944 he was again wounded. After treatment, he returned to the front, but not for long: February 10, 1945 was severely wounded in the head. Having left the hospital, in April 1945 for health reasons he was sent to the commandant's headquarters of the province of Gyor in Hungary. He ended the war with the rank of senior sergeant guard.
For his bravery in the battles on the Belgorod direction Anatoly Leonov was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War I dgree, three medals "For Courage" and a medal "For Valorous Labour".
After the war Anatoly Leonov graduated from college and received the profession of an electrician. He worked in Moscow as a planner, designer, commissioning engineer and continued to study by correspondence. Then he moved to the Kursk region, where he participated in ensuring the power supply of agriculture. After the formation of the Belgorod region, Anatoly A. was sent to Mekhkolonna № 26. He participated in the construction of the 35 kV power lines "Gubkin - Bobrovy Yards - Skorodnoye", "Yakovlevo - Zavidovka - Rakitnoye", substations in the settlements of Rakitnoye and Zavidovka, Morkvinskaya HPP. In 1962 he came to work at the dispatching service of "Belgorodenergo", where he worked until his retirement in 1988.