World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseIsrael Ilyich Fisanovich was born to a Jewish bookkeeper in Elizavetograd (alternatively Yelisavetgrad), Russia (as of 2016 Kirovohrad, Ukraine but it might be renamed due to Sergei Kirov's Soviet association) in 1914. In 1922, he moved to Kharkov (Ukrainian: Kharkiv), Ukraine with his family. Upon the completion of a 7-year school, he was enrolled at a technical school attached to the Hammer and Sickle tractor factory. Upon graduation, he attended the Frunze Higher Naval School in Leningrad, Russia, where he would be awarded a silver watch by People's Commissar for Defense of the Soviet Union Kliment Voroshilov for his excellent academic performance. In 1936, at the rank of lieutenant, he was assigned to the Soviet Baltic Fleet, and shortly after became the commanding officer of submarine M-84. In 1938, he was transferred to the Northern Fleet. In 1941, he was made the commanding officer of submarine M-172. In that role during WW2, he participated in 17 engagements, sinking 2 warships, 10 transports, and 1 tanker; he had also commanded M-172 in several missions landing and recovering operatives on enemy beaches. His most successful patrol was perhaps one taken place in Aug 1941 during which M-172 became the first M-class submarine to have broken into an enemy port to sink an enemy transport; he would return to port from that patrol with two sinkings to his credit. In 1941 and 1942, he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner and was made a Hero of the Soviet Union, respectively. He had also earned M-172 the honor of being able to display an Order of the Red Banner on its ensign. In Jul 1943, he became the commanding officer of a submarine brigade in the Northern Fleet. During the war, he was also known as a member of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee. In 1944, he traveled to Britain to take command of the submarine HMS Sunfish which was being transferred on loan to the Soviet Navy. Renamed V-1, while en route from Scotland, United Kingdom to the Soviet Union via the Norwegian Sea, the submarine encountered a Liberator aircraft of No. 86 Squadron of the British Royal Air Force Coastal Command. The British bomber, out of its intended patrol area by mistake, misidentified the submarine as a German boat and sank it, killing all Soviet and British personnel (50 and 1, respectively, for the total of 51 officers and men) aboard, including Captain 2nd Rank Fisanovich.

Photographs

Israel Fisanovich Timeline