Valentina Vlasenko (Subbocheva)

Valentina Ivanovna Vlasenko (Subbocheva) (19 August 1919 - 4 January 2005) (Ukrainian: Валентина Іванівна Власенко (Суббочева), Russian: Валентина Ивановна Власенко (Суббочева)) was a military surgeon in the Red Army during World War II. She made several thousand surgical operations on the battlefield.

Subbocheva was born on August 19, 1919 in a family of railwaymen, her father worked as a locomotive driver. She studied at the First Moscow Medical Institute and at the same time at the Moscow Aeroclub. She became a pilot and instructor earlier than a doctor, but she chose medicine as a profession.

When the war with Germany began, Subbocheva was completing the course in medical institute, then she passed a course of operating surgery under the guidance of professor A.Vishnevsky and in early 1942 she voluntarily joined the Red Army. She received a baptism of fire in Stalingrad, in the 95th Rifle Division. She was a surgeon of the 161st Rifle Regiment, which was fighting at Mamayev Kurgan, where the regiment was almost completely killed. During these fights, Subbocheva rendered a surgical aid for 272 combatants and pulled out two wounded soldiers from the burning house.

For the purpose of replenishment, the regiment was moved to the opposite bank of the Volga, while Subbocheva remained in Stalingrad. She was appointed the commander of the medical unit of the 103rd medsanbat of the 95th Rifle Division, which defended factories "Barricades", "Red October" and Tractorny. The Division suffered heavy losses, including among doctors, so the surgeons worked twenty hours a day. Surgical operations were done in a dugout that was dug into a steep bank near the Volga water, with the light of an oil lamp made of cannon shell sleeve. For excellent combat achievements, the Division became the 75th Guards Rifle Division and Subbocheva was awarded the Medal "For the Defence of Stalingrad".

After Stalingrad, the Division was replenished and was moved to the combat positions on the northern front of the Kursk salient near the Ponyri village, where it took an active part in the Battle of Kursk. Senior Lieutenant Subbocheva provided operative surgical care for 1500 wounded fighters and commanders and was awarded the Order of the Red Star.

The Division liberated Khutir-Mikhailovsky, Yampil, Baturin, Bakhmach, for which the Division was given the honorific "Bakhmach". Together with comrades in combat, Subbocheva forces the Desna and Dnipro rivers, fought on the bridgehead near Yasnogorodka-Glibovka, north of Kyiv. During the battles on the Dnipro line, Subbocheva for several days did not leave the operation table, selflessly providing assistance to the wounded. From August 22 to October 5, she did the surgeries for 516 seriously wounded and on October 28, 1943, was awarded the Orders of the Patriotic War, 2nd class.

Then there were battles in Ukraine, Belarus and the Baltic states, the liberation of Riga. Together with the soldiers of the 274th Rifle Division of the 61st Rifle Corps, Subbocheva participated in the battles in Poland, in forced the Vistula and Oder and in the last fight with the German troops near Berlin. At any time of the day or night, without thinking about the rest, she provided skilled medical assistance to wounded men and officers. June 7, 1945, the captain of the medical service Subbocheva was awarded the Medal for Battle Merit.

The number of surgical operations that Subbocheva made during the war is estimated as thousands – this is in fact the number of lives saved by her. After demobilization, she worked as a surgeon in different cities where her husband, Ilya Arkhipovich Vlasenko, carried his service. The couple tied their fate during the battles in Stalingrad.

In recent years Valentina Ivanovna Vlasenko (Subbocheva) lived in Kyiv. She died in 2005, buried in Kyiv Lukyanovka military cemetery next to her husband.

• Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky (Ukraine), 3rd class № 40880
• Defender of the Motherland Medal
• Order of the Patriotic War, 2nd class № 34128 (1943)
• Order of the Patriotic War, 2nd class № 3504341
• Order of the Red Star № 265792 (1943)
• Medal for Battle Merit № 2335160 (1945)
• Medal "For the Defence of Stalingrad"
• Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"
• Medal "For the Capture of Berlin"
• Medal "For the Liberation of Warsaw"
• Twelve Jubilee Medals