A certified engineer, a participant in several wars Russia waged in the early 20th century, Dmitry Karbyshev was not the type of person to stay on the home front for too long and always stood up to the enemy. 

Right before the war, in June 1941, Lieutenant General with the Army Engineers, Dmitry Karbyshev went on a business trip to the western border to inspect fortifications and determine the extent to which they could be used in wartime. He was in Grodno, Byelorussia, when the war broke out. In the morning on June 23rd the command insisted that Karbyshev should come back immediately. He arrived at the headquarters the next day saying that the route for an organized retreat of Russian troops had been cut off by the enemy. Karbyshev and a small group of officers had to break out of the encirclement. A month later he was taken prisoner as he was crossing the Berezina River and was taken to a camp in Ostruv-Mazowezky. In the 7 months that followed he suffered a number of diseases such as dysentery and typhus, was emaciated, lost teeth but his spirit was not crushed.

General Karbyshev was then transferred to the Hammelburg camp where the majority of prisoners were Soviet generals. The Nazis wanted to form Ost-Battalions that would demoralize the Red Army both on the battlefront and on the home front. But most of the prisoners resisted the recruitment.

The Germans spared no effort to force Dmitry Karbyshev to cooperate. For the Nazis Karbyshev was a Godsend - a gifted engineer who knew the secrets of Soviet strongholds. Karbyshev was offered freedom, prosperity and the opportunity to do scientific research, naturally, for the good of Germany. They spent a lot of time trying to win him over, but in vain. His refusal was point-blank. “My convictions do not fall out with my teeth,” he would say. For a person like Dmitry Karbyshev treason was worse than death. His determination and courage served an example to other prisoners strengthening their morale. Karbyshev’s motto – “not to lose honor even in the sorriest of plights” became the rule for many people.

An uncompromising patriot of his country, General Karbyshev boosted the spirits of his fellow prisoners informing them about the situation on the fronts, helping them to understand the developments and inspiring in them belief in the victory of the Red Army.

Seeing the unyielding determination of the general, the Nazis dropped their courteous attitude, deprived him of the status of a prisoner of war and sent him to the Flossenburg hard labor camp. He was subsequently transferred to Maidanek, Auschwitz, Sachsenhausen and finally Mauthausen where he died.

According to witnesses’ reports, on February 17th, 1945 at about midday a group of 400 men was picked out. Karbyshev was among them. The 400 people were stripped naked and left outside… About three hours later they were sent to the bathhouse and were made stand under a cold shower. Everyone who tried to avoid the cold water was clubbed on the head. During the next torture after midnight General Karbyshev could not stand it any longer and bent aside. The blows followed immediately and he was killed on the spot. He was 64.

For his heroism and the torturous death he faced as a true patriot of his country General Karbyshev was posthumously made Hero of the Soviet Union.