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Private Dimitri Antonovich Petrenko (1 August 1923 - 29 October 1945) was a Soviet soldier regarded as the Hero of Stalingrad for his assassination of Lieutenant General Heinrich Amsel. He is also one of three contested soldiers to have planted the flag on the Reichstag, alongside Meliton Kantaria and Mikhail Yegorov. Petrenko was seen as a hero by many of his comrades, including Private Kiril Chernov.

Petrenko and Captain Viktor Reznov fought in Operation Olympus, the last battle of World War II. After the battle concluded and scientist Friedrich Steiner was taken into Soviet custody, Petrenko was killed by Major General Nikita Dragovich by testing Nova 6 on him.

Biography

Early life

Dimitri Antonovich Petrenko was born on 1 August 1923 in Mikhaylovka, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union. He learned how to shoot from his father, who served in the Imperial Russian Army in World War I and then the Red Army during the Russian Civil War. When Operation Barbarossa began, his father was killed fighting the advancing Wehrmacht in 1942. As a result, Petrenko made his way to Moscow to join the Red Army in August 1942.

Red Army career

Stalingrad

Petrenko was quickly trained and sent to Stalingrad, where he crossed the Volga with the 62nd Rifle Division on 17 September 1942 and was caught at the massacre in the square, hiding in the fountain. He feigned death as the Heer shot anything that moved in the fountain, meeting Sergeant Viktor Reznov here. As his finger was blown off during the massacre, he was forced to hand his Mosin-Nagant to Petrenko. Reznov explained to him that he had been hunting Lieutenant General Heinrich Amsel for three days, and needed Petrenko's help.

Petrenko, with Reznov spotting, shot the German patrols outside the fountain as bombers flew overhead to mask the sound. They then stalked Amsel throughout Stalingrad, though were harried by several obstacles. They were ambushed by a sniper which Petrenko took out, nearly incinerated by German flamethrowers when a grandfather clock chime attracted a patrol to their position, and assisted Sergeant Nikolai Daletski and his men with taking out a communications outpost. Despite Reznov telling him not to help Daletski lest they give their position away, Petrenko selflessly saved Daletski from an MG42 operator, allowing him to get to proper cover with his squad.

As Amsel ran out due to the sounds of battle, Petrenko fired a shot that grazed him. He then tracked Amsel until he fired a killing shot, to Reznov's praise. The two were then fired upon by artillery and a Panzer tank, necessitating that they jump into the Volga to lose the pursuing Germans.

Seelow Heights

Berlin

Reichstag

Recovery

Operation Olympus

Dimitri Petrenko

Dossier file on Petrenko.

On 29 October 1945, Petrenko and Reznov were sent with the rest of Unit 45 to Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada to capture Friedrich Steiner and recover the Nova 6 inside the destroyed German cargo ship. Petrenko helped to eliminate the Waffen-SS guarding Steiner and Nova 6. He further accompanied Reznov, Dragovich, and Steiner into the bowels of the cargo ship, seeing the damaged V-2 Nova 6 rockets that are unable to launch.

Death

As soon as they reached the chamber containing the Nova 6 canisters, Petrenko and Privates Mikhail Belov and Pyotr Yared were thrown into an airtight container, while Reznov and Private Igor Nevski were thrown into another. Nova 6 was pumped into Petrenko's chamber, causing the three of them to bleed from the eyes and their skin to turn necrotic, vomiting profusely. After twenty seconds, his organs were liquified from the gas, to the horror of Reznov and Nevski.

Legacy

18 years later, Viktor Reznov told the story of Dimitri Petrenko to captured CIA SAD agent Alex Mason in Vorkuta, from Stalingrad to the Arctic Circle. He used his story to explain that Dragovich, Lev Kravchenko, and Steiner must die for their crimes.

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