Bakalov was born on 18 April 1929 in the village of Semeyka, in Central Black Earth Oblast, then part of the RSFSR, in the Soviet Union. His father moved the family to a city in the 1930s seeking work, and the young Bakalov joined , a voluntary organization promoting water safety and work. With the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, Bakalov and other OSVOD members were called up to support the war effort by crewing vessels to transport military personnel, civilians and weapons. During the war he studied at the special school of the 4th military recovery unit, graduating in August 1945 and going on to serve with the marine salvage department as a machinist, working aboard the tugboats "Stalingrad" and "Chapaev" to salvage vessels sunk during the war.