Pikalov Vladimir Karpovich Biography

He bravely fought in the year near Kharkov, was wounded and captured. From the concentration camp, Buchenwald managed to flee to the territory of Czechoslovakia. In the area of ​​the city of Turnov, he created a partisan detachment who successfully waged the fight against the Nazi invaders. Recognizing his merits, local residents after the end of the war elected him an honorary citizen of the city.

Mother - Maria Maksimovna -, a housewife, brought up children. Wife - Pikalova Zoya Petrovna. Daughter - Tatyana Vladimirovna. Children and youth years of Vladimir Pikalov took place in the village of Zheleznodorozhny station a minute near Kislovodsk.

Here he studied at school, having graduated from the 9th grades by the beginning of the war. Following the example of his father and older brother, he was eager for the front. The military enlistment office sent him to the Rostov Military Artillery School. Combat baptism passed there, when in November the Nazi invaders invaded Rostov, participated in street battles. In December, after completing an accelerated course of training, he became a lieutenant.

Starting the service with the post of commander of the fire platoon, Lieutenant Pikalov, a few months later, became deputy battery commander, held senior positions in the artillery headquarters. During the fighting, the young officer had a chance to fight near Moscow, Voronezh, Stalingrad, on the Kursk arc, and finally he participated in the assault on Berlin.

Repeatedly wounded. The most serious was the wound received in the last days of battles on the streets of the German capital. Victory Day had to be met on a hospital bed. This moment could be a turning point in his life. Everything depended on the doctors: whether they would be able to keep the captain Pikalov a very wounded leg and thereby help him continue the military service, which he managed to love.

Fortunately, they were able to do it. And Vladimir Pikalov made the final decision: to serve further. In September, he entered the preparatory course at the Military Academy of Chemical Protection, and replenished the incomplete class program for the CTO during the year. Then he studied at the Faculty of Team for five years. For about a year he served as the head of the chemical service of the motorized rifle division, was appointed to the post of senior military training officer at the headquarters of the Baltic Military District.

In this capacity, he worked for seven years, became a colonel. At the center of his daily attention was the issues of teaching troops to modern methods of conducting combat operations with the possible use of mass destruction. The next step of his service ladder is the head of the chemical troops of the district, the general position. Responsibility has increased, the scale of thinking has changed.

After graduating from the Military Academy of the General Staff, already being recognized as an authority in organizing the radiation protection of the country's population, Vladimir Karpovich Pikalov became the head of the chemical forces of the Soviet Armed Forces. The responsible post was 20 years old. V. Pikalov gave a lot of effort to strengthen the country's defense power, training in the protection of troops and civilians from radioactive, chemical, biological defeat.

The most serious test was the elimination of the consequences of the Chernobyl tragedy. For V. Pikalov, it looked like this. That day from Moscow they reported that “something happened” at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The Minister of Defense ordered Pikalov to go there immediately and to figure it out on the spot in everything. Soon after noon, Vladimir Karpovich flew to Kyiv and immediately went to the nuclear power plant.

Even after a cursory inspection of the territory of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, it became clear that there was a disaster, the consequences of which were difficult to predict. As a result of the explosion, its fourth block turned out to be almost completely destroyed. Radioactive radiation freely entered the atmosphere. Urgent measures were needed to curb the raging nuclear reactor as soon as possible.

Colonel General Pikalov raised the units and units in the distress area among the first. Even before the first parts arrived, Vladimir Karpovich, without wasting time, personally, on an armored personnel carrier with a driver, a volunteer produced a circular radiation intelligence of the area around the nuclear power plant, found out the direction of distribution of radiation and movement of the radioactive cloud.

So, by the time the military scheme arrived, the most dangerous sections of the terrain were already ready, which allowed me to immediately begin to perform combat missions. Under the direct leadership of V. Pikalov, the chemical warriors helped the authorities evacuate the population, conducted radiation intelligence, the most difficult engineering work and large-scale deactivation of the terrain.

Pikalov was in the thick of the events. He managed to visit all facilities and at the same time developed an action plan to eliminate the consequences of the disaster. And when in early May, members of the government, headed by N. Ryzhkov, presented it clearly and consistently in Chernobyl. The plan was approved without any changes. Ultimately, the danger hanging over a huge number of people was localized.Military, civil feat of Colonel General Pikalov in December was marked by the title Hero of the Soviet Union.

The intense work in the Chernobyl nuclear power plant adversely affected his health. At the beginning of the year, Vladimir Karpovich was forced to resign. He continued to actively participate in the life of chemical troops, patriotic and veteran work. Since the year, he was a member of the editorial board of the magazine "Military Historical Archive". His asset has evidence for copyright inventions.

Based on the materials of the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, he wrote the monograph “Decontivation”, which is in great demand in military educational institutions. He successfully defended his thesis and became a doctor of technical sciences, is a full member of the Technology Academy of the Russian Federation. Honorary citizen of the city of Turbnov Czechoslovakia. In the year, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation established the badge “Colonel General of Pikalov” for awarding of military personnel of chemical troops.

In the year in Moscow, a memorial plaque was installed on the building of the Ground Forces of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation in honor of Vladimir Pikalov.