At the start of the war he was a pilot with the rank of sergeant, but having rose through the ranks he was a senior lieutenant and squadron commander at the end of the war. He participated in the operations for Kursk, Kharkov, Kirovograd, the Dnieper, Lviv, Silesia, Prague, and Berlin; in total scored three solo shootdowns, three shared shootdowns, flew 187 sorties, and engaged in 26 dogfights while flying the Il-2. Less than one month after the victory he was promoted to the rank of captain.