Grigory Yakovlevich Baklanov was born in 1923 in Voronezh. After graduating from a decade in 1941, he did not volunteer for the front. He was a soldier - artilleryman, platoon commander, division intelligence chief. He participated in the Iasi-Chisinau operation, in the capture of Budapest, in the liberation of Vienna. He was wounded, shell-shocked, awarded the Order of the Red Star and four medals.