Leonid Sheinker

Born: March 6th 1920 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Passed Away: November 2, 2012 Toronto, Ontario.
Interviewed In: Toronto, Ontario
Medals Awarded: Order of the Patriotic War (1st and 2nd Class), Medal For Capture of Berlin and Victory over Germany In The Great Patriotic War

“Every soldier used to see the war from his own trench. All the battles were planned by big shots”

Air Force Engineer and Gunner. Fought in Defense of Moscow and Capture of Berlin

In 1941, Leonid initially stationed at an aerodrome near Donkov. He was wounded in one of the first Nazi raids: “Suddenly 3 German planes appeared overhead, the anti-aircraft artillery guys must have

missed them. They appeared from nowhere. It lasted minutes. They bombarded the airdrome landing field, firing at the caponiers where the planes were, and disappeared. It didn’t last long. Several men were killed, and several men got wounded. I was among those who got wounded. I wasn’t severely wounded. The surgeon told me that had the shrapnel hit 1 mm wider he wouldn’t know how I would have ended up. I just had a small scratch that gradually healed.”

Leonid was trained as a sniper but transferred to the air force where he served as a engineer, but also went on combat missions as a gunner:

“I went on missions as a gunner. As an armament engineer I used to have in store incendiary bullets. I used them to fire at German planes. I wasn’t a sniper in the war. I went on missions to replace those gunners killed in action. When we were short of personnel, everyone went on missions, subject to the command permission.”

He analyzed intelligence photos leading up to the strategic bombing campaigns around Berlin and was on the ground during The Defense Of Moscow in the winter of 1941-42.

After the war, Leonid immigrated to Israel before eventually settling in Toronto. He did extensive research into Jewish involvement in The Red Army, which he published in a book called “Jewish Heroism At War”.

View Other Veterans Interviews

Yevgeniy Vesyoly

Born April 15th 1926 Rechista, Belarus.
Interviewed In: Toronto, Ontario
Medals Awarded: Order of the Patriotic War (1st and 2nd Class) and Victory over Germany In The Great Patriotic War

Grigori Genin

Born March 8th 1924 in Astrakhan, Soviet Union.
Interviewed In: Toronto, Ontario
Medals Awarded: Order of the Patriotic War (1st and 2nd Class), Medal For Defense of Stalingrad, Medal For Victory over Vienna, Medal For Capture of Budapest, Order of the Red Star, Order of Glory, Order of the Red Banner and Victory over Germany In The Great Patriotic War