“Before the lifting of the siege of Leningrad took place, the Germans set up ice mountains in the places where the passage of the Soviet troops was expected. The mountains were impassable. Our rock climbers equipped with special calked boots worked their way through those mountains to throw down woven threads for our troops to get over the mountains. Next, the Germans realized that they went kaput and started surrendering”.

Leonid’s communications platoon was responsible for gathering and verifying intelligence, usually through prisoner capture missions:

“I was a group leader. The task was getting a prisoner who talks by all means sparing no effort. And we did it.”

Leonid’s unit contributed to The Battle of Riga in 1944 and The Battle Of Konigsberg in 1945. He considers the fighting near Tikhvin, in the winter of 1941 his most difficult combat experience:

“I can’t think of any battle harder than the one we stood near Tikhvin.

The town was in ruins with loads of dead bodies thrown around – both Soviet and German bodies. The Germans were taught a good lesson there. They were better prepared than we though. My most important medal is Medal for Combat Merits. That was the reason I survived. I received the medal after the Tikhvin battle when my comrade pushed me into a shell hole and covered me with his body”.

Throughout his service Leonid was awarded 5 different combat medals. He moved to Canada in 1993.