A descendant of Kuban Cossacks, Lavrinenko finished his training at Ulyanovsk Tank Academy in May 1938. He took part in Soviet campaigns in Poland in 1939 and Bessarabia in 1940. In 1941, he commanded the new T-34/76 tank. With 58 tanks and self-propelled guns eliminated in 1941 during Operation Barbarossa on the Eastern Front of World War II, he is considered to be one of the top Soviet tank aces of the war, despite his early death in 1941. He achieved such impressive results by taking advantage of the abilities of the T-34. The tank's armor and great mobility were clearly taken into consideration by Lavrinenko. On December 18, 1941, Lavrinenko was killed just after freeing the village of Goryuny and knocking out his 52nd tank. Immediately after the action the Germans began shelling the village intensively. Lavrinenko got out of his T-34 near the village and tried to reach the commander of the 17thArmoured Brigade, Lt Col N. Chernoyarov, in order to report his victory but he was killed by a German mortar shell fragment. Lavrinenko participated in 28 engagements in 2.5 months and has 52 confirmed kills. For his heroism, he was given Order of Lenin on December 22, 1941. Lavrinenko is buried in the area where he heroically fell after successfully defeating yet another attack on Moscow. After the war Marshal Mikhail Katukov along with other hight generals partitioned to give Lavrinenko Hero of the Soviet Union, yet he would not receive the highest award for another half a decade. On May 5, 1990, Lavrinenko was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The total number of tanks damaged and destroyed by Lavrinenko is comparatively small next to aces like Michael Wittmann, Otto Carius, Kurt Knispel, and several others. However, almost all the German tank aces of the war fought from start to finish, so their overall results were more significant. Lavrinenko destroyed 52 tanks in just 2.5 months of fierce fighting in 1941. This was an outstanding result in the Soviet Army, and no single Allied tank officer surpassed him during the whole war.
