Aleksey Kovalev

Aleksei Leontievich Kovalev (Russian: Алексей Леонтьевич Ковалёв; born 10 May 1925 – died 7 September 1997) was a Red Army soldier who allegedly assisted in the taking of the photograph Raising a Flag over the Reichstag.

Aleksei Kovalev
Birth name	Aleksei Leontievich Kovalev
Born	10 May 1926 Burlin, Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Union
Died	7 September 1997(1997-09-07) (aged 72) Kyiv, Ukraine
Allegiance	Soviet Union
Service / branch	Red Army
Awards	Order of Glory

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 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, and Leonid Gorychev. 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. 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