Aleksei Leontievich Kovalev ( uk, Олексій Леонтійович Ковальов, translit=Oleksii Leontiiovych Kovalov; russian: Алексей Леонтьевич Ковалёв; born 10 May 1925 – died 7 September 1997) was the Red Army soldier who assisted in the taking of the photograph ''
Raising a Flag over the Reichstag''.
Biography
Aleksei Kovalev was born in the village of Burlin, Kazakh SSR,
son of the farmer of Russian nationality. After high school, he worked in the kolkhoz. He was drafted into the Red Army in 1944.
Reichstag photograph
When
Yevgeny Khaldei
Yevgeny Ananyevich Khaldei ( rus, Евгений Анатольевич Халдей, ukr, Євген Анатольєвич Халдей) ( – 6 October 1997) was a Soviet Red Army naval officer and photographer. He is best known f ...
reached the
Reichstag after its pacification, Khaldei found that a number of Soviet flags had already been planted there. Allegedly, when he asked who had first raised the Soviet flag over the building, the soldiers present singled out Kovalev,
Abdulkhakim Ismailov
Abdulkhakim Isakovich Ismailov (russian: Абдулхаким Исакович Исмаилов, kum, Абдулгьаким Исакъны уланы Исмайиланы; 1 July 1916 – 17 February 2010) was a soldier in Red Army during Worl ...
, and
Leonid Gorychev
Leonid (russian: Леонид ; uk, Леонід ; be, Леанід, Ljeaníd ) is a Slavic version of the given name Leonidas. The French version is Leonide.
People with the name include:
* Leonid Andreyev (1871–1919), Russian playwright a ...
. Khaldei produced a flag of his own and asked the men to help him to the roof. Kovalev attached the flag used in ''
Raising a Flag over the Reichstag''.
Kovalev was demobilized in 1950 and joined the Kiev Fire Department the next year. In 1958, he joined the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
"Hymn of the Bolshevik Party"
, headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow
, general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first) Mikhail Gorbachev (last)
, founded =
, banned =
, founder = Vladimir Lenin
, newspaper ...
. Kovalev retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1988 and died on 7 September 1997 in Kyiv. He is buried in the city at the
Baikove Cemetery.
[
]
Awards and decorations
On 15 May 1946, Kovalev was awarded the Order of Glory, 1st Degree. He was member #1204 of the order.[
]
See also
* Ira Hayes, one of the US Marines in the photograph '' Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima''
Citations
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kovalev, Aleksei
1925 births
1997 deaths
Military personnel from Kyiv
Soviet people of World War II
Recipients of the Order of Glory
People notable for being the subject of a specific photograph
Battle of Berlin
Burials at Baikove Cemetery