Nikolai Vlasov

Nikolai Ivanovich Vlasov was a flying ace, lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Air Forces, and a Hero of the Soviet Union. On 29 July 1943 his Yak-1 fighter was shot down over Leningrad by anti-aircraft fire from the ground. After being taken captive he led underground resistance efforts in the various concentration camps he was held in and managed to make multiple escape attempts. After one escape attempt he was sent to Mauthausen where he made preparations for a prisoner uprising. However, he did not live to participate in the prison revolt as he had been betrayed by another prisoner and held under close watch of the SS. After being tortured by the SS he was thrown alive into a crematorium furnace on 26 January 1945 as Allied troops were approaching the area. Several of his fellow prisoners went on with the uprising after his death, and on 3 February 1945 roughly 500 prisoners from his block broke through a fence and escaped.