Viktor Leonov

Early life

Leonov was born in Zaraysk about 135 kilometers southeast of Moscow. His father was a gardener and member of the Communist Party. In 1931, encouraged by his father, he traveled to Moscow and became an apprentice at a factory that specialized in metal fabrication. He went on to be an outstanding worker, a team leader, and a part of the Young Communist League.

Military career

Leonov joined the Red Navy in 1937. He was assigned to a submarine training detachment and then transferred to a repair station in the Northern Fleet at Polyarnyy. He was working there when the war began in 1941. Leonov had trained as a scuba diver. At the beginning of the war he volunteered for the 4th Special Volunteer Sailor detachment where he would become a Naval Scout. There he proved to be daring and skillful and he rose to be an effective commander. The 4th Special Volunteer Detachment was a unit of 70 veterans. Initially they were confined to performing small scale reconnaissance missions, platoon sized insertions by sea and on occasion on land into Finland and later Norway. Later they were renamed the 181st Special Reconnaissance Detachment. They began conducting sabotage missions and raids to snatch prisoners for interrogation. They would also destroy German ammunition and supply depots, communication centers, and harass enemy troop concentrations along the Finnish and Russian coasts.

On July 28, 1941, Viktor Leonov and his men raided the German strongpoint at Cape Pikshuyev. When a German company came to the rescue, they were ambushed by the 181st Special Reconnaissance Detachment and fled from the battlefield, leaving over 40 dead.

In November 1941, Leonov's detachment raided the motor transport depot in the settlement of Titovka. In destroying 25 trucks, two fuel storage depots and a storehouse, the detachment also killed over 100 enemy soldiers while suffering no losses of their own.

On March 7, 1942 in another raid, the 181st Special Reconnaissance Detachment destroyed another enemy depot in the region of Zapadnaya Litsa, killing over 70 German soldiers in the process.

In April, another series of successful operations followed. Landing his men from fast torpedo boats, Leonov secured the landing of the 12th Marine Brigade on enemy territory, during which his detachment killed over 60 Germans. The 181st Special Reconnaissance Detachment spent the month destroying enemy anti aircraft sites, mapping the coastline, and capturing the prisoners for interrogation.

In October 1944 Leonov led an operation to neutralize a heavily defended German coastal artillery emplacement at Cape Krestovy, whose 15 cm guns defended the entrance to strategically vital Petsamo Bay on the Kola Peninsula. Leonov led a company in a secret landing further along the coast before undertaking a two-day cross country march to Cape Krestovy. There they captured a battery of 8.8 cm dual purpose guns and used them both to repel a counterattack and to shell the main gun position. This forced the Germans into destroying the coastal guns for the fear of them falling into Soviet hands. Leonov was awarded Hero of the Soviet Union after this raid.

When the European conflict ended, Sr. Lt. Leonov was sent to fight the Japanese. He landed with 140 men, under the command of Capt. Kulebyakin, on a Japanese airfield at Port Vonsan, not realizing they were opposed by over 3,500 enemy soldiers. Knowing that they were in a very unfavorable situation, Kulebyakin asked to meet with the Japanese colonel in charge. and demanded his surrender. When the colonel called their bluff and decided to take the ten Soviets hostage. Leonov broke into the conversation and forcefully said, "We've been fighting in the West throughout the war and understand our situation. We will not allow ourselves to be taken hostage! You will all die like rats when we break out of here!" The colonel backed down and surrendered. Another source claims Leonov pulled out a grenade and threatened to kill everybody present, including himself and his own men, if they were to be taken hostage. Supposedly Leonov stated that he did not fear death. This action intimidated the colonel into surrendering to Leonov and his men.

Sr. Lt. Viktor Leonov received his second Hero of the Soviet Union on September 14, 1945. According to his citation, "he took part in the seizure of the ports of Yuka and Raisin where he proven himself as a courageous and firm officer who masterfully guided the battle operations."

As a testament to his leadership, Leonov lost only nine men under his direct command. Mostly from the assault at Cape Krestovyi(seven killed) until the end of the war against Japan.

Leonov entered the Naval Reserve in 1956 and later retired as a Captain 2nd rank.

His World War II experiences as a Soviet Naval Scout were recounted in his popular memoir "Blood on the Shores". The Soviet Naval Scouts have been compared to the U.S. Navy SEALs and were a forerunner to the Soviet Special Ops forces "Spetsnaz" and more specifically the unit known as "Delfin."

Leonov died on October 7, 2003 in Moscow.

Legacy

A Vishnya-class intelligence ship, the Viktor Leonov SSV-175, was named in his honor in 1988. The Viktor Leonov made international news in February 2014 when it was spotted in Havana Harbor, highlighting a renewed Russian presence in Cuba and the Western Hemisphere. It was again spotted off the coast of Long Island, NY on February 15, 2017, sitting 30 miles off the coast of The United States.

Works