The Lysenko Brothers smiling for a photo in 1982. All 10 of them fought in World War II.

 The Lysenko Brothers smiling for a photo in 1982. All 10 of them fought in World War II.

Born in Ukraine, the things they went through fighting against fascism, holy shit:

    Nikolai was the first one to come back, having miraculously survived an explosion that had killed seven of his comrades. In 1944, he was discharged from the hospital and sent home to his mother.

    His brother Ivan braved all of Ukraine, ending up at the Treblinka concentration camp and managing to escape. He continued to fight and ended his service in Romania.

    Two other brothers had an accidental meeting there, as well. In August 1944, on the outskirts of the city of Iasi, Mikhail saw Feodosiy: “I jumped into the trench where he was and hugged him,” he remembers. 

It turned out that I was being sent off on a reconnaissance mission, while he had just returned from one. I had to go and we couldn’t get enough of talking with each other. We both cried…”

    After the fighting in Hungary, the brothers came back with disabilities. Mikhail was heavily wounded in the chest, while Feodosiy was left without a leg.

    Andrey and Pavel were sent to labor camps in Germany, but managed to survive and joined up with attacking Red Army battalions. 

Senior Lieutenant Vasiliy was wounded three times, receiving the order of the Red Star - a medal of valor. In 1946, Peter, a communications officer, also returned home.

    The Lysenko brothers managed to journey from Berlin to the Far East in the course of the war. Aleksandr - who served as a signalman, reached the capital of the Third Reich. 

While tank driver Stepan, having been wounded in Eastern Prussia, was sent to Manchuria to fight the Japanese. The war was over by the time he got there, however. He was the last of the brothers to come home, in 1947.

… and the mother:

    Waiting for years in vain for any news from the frontline - having lost her husband in 1933, Evdokia Danilovna single-handedly raised five daughters. She also managed to survive German occupation. Fate rewarded her for her hardships when all of her sons came home in the end.

    Her fascinating story soon spread beyond the village. In 1946, she was awarded the order of the Hero Mother in Kiev.