Dimitri Petrenko

"Dimitri Petrenko was one of the bravest men I had ever known. He fought by my side from the siege of Stalingrad to the fall of Berlin. The wounds he sustained ensuring our victory should have earned him a hero's welcome to Russia. But Stalin had little need for heroes. Dimitri Petrenko was a hero, he deserved a hero's death. Instead of giving his life for the glory of the Motherland, he died for nothing. Like an animal... He should have died in Berlin."

- Viktor Reznov recalling the events of "Project Nova" to Alex Mason

Private Dimitri Petrenko (Russian: Дмитрий Петренко) was a Russian soldier, who was assigned to the 150th Rifle Division of the 3rd Shock Army during World War II. He is one of the main playable characters of Call of Duty: World at War, and makes an appearance in Call of Duty: Black Ops in a flashback mission with Reznov, called "Project Nova."

Petrenko is voiced by Boris Kievsky.

Call of Duty: World at War
Dimitri is first seen in the level "Vendetta" among the many wounded and dead Red Army soldiers and is saved from German soldiers executing his remaining comrades by playing dead. Momentarily, he comes across Sergeant Reznov who also survived the massacre. Petrenko seems to be a marksman of some degree, because he then takes Reznov's Scoped Mosin-Nagant (as Reznov has injured his hand in World at War) and snipes German sentries under the cover of a bombing raid. After eliminating a German sniper, he and Reznov then meet with elements of the Red Army and provide sniper support for the attacking Russians and then assassinate Heinrich Amsel, a German general responsible for the massacre of Red Army soldiers. Reznov congratulates Dimitri on his marksmanship, only to be attacked by a squad of German soldiers who storm the building they are in. Dimitri then jumps into the river after Reznov to escape the Wehrmacht soldiers. He and Reznov would not meet again for three years.

Three years later in the German countryside, Dimitri is captured and taken into a house by 3 German soldiers. While the Germans were conversing and searching Dimitri's dead comrades, Dimitri tries to reach for a fallen comrade's Mosin-Nagant only to be kicked and punched in the face by a German soldier when he gets caught. Before they can execute him, however, a T-34 Tank blows a hole in a wall, injuring 2 of the 3 German soldiers. Reznov guns down the last German soldier and orders Chernov, a new recruit, to execute the remaining German soldiers. When Chernov refuses since they were already bleeding to death, Petrenko has the option of executing his dying captors himself as he and Reznov have no pity for Wehrmacht soldiers after the atrocities they witnessed in Stalingrad.

After executing or leaving the wounded Germans to die Petrenko joins Reznov for the first time in three years in the final push to Berlin. Upon their reunion, Reznov speaks highly of Dimitri and often tells the other soldiers to follow him as an example, especially to Chernov, who seems to be shocked by the vengeful violence of his comrades against Wehrmacht soldiers. After blowing up German Panzer Tanks, King Tigers and German forces guarding the last defensive line protecting Berlin in a T-34, Petrenko and Reznov join numerous Russian forces in clearing Berlin. During a skirmish in a Berlin subway, however, the tunnel Petrenko, Reznov and Chernov are in is flooded by water, although the three miraculously survive.

After recovering, Dimitri participates in storming the Reichstag, the seat of the German Parliament and final Nazi stronghold. However at the entrance of the Reichstag, Chernov is incinerated by a flamethrower and falls to the ground coughing and writhing in pain, forcing another soldier to carry the flag, although he is killed as well during the final stages of the battle, forcing Dimitri to plant the Soviet flag. However, when trying to raise the Soviet flag, a lone remaining Wehrmacht Soldier severely wounds Petrenko by shooting a near-fatal shot at him with a P-38. As the lone German ran out of ammo, Reznov charges forward with a machete and repeatedly stabs and slashes the German as he dies. Dimitri then raises the Soviet flag over the Reichstag. When remembering back to the day of Dimitri's death, Reznov states that the SS trooper should have killed him, for then at least he would have died a hero's death.

Call of Duty: Black Ops
In Reznov's flashback level Project Nova, it is seen that Dimitri survived the wounds he sustained at the Reichstag and continues to fight for the Red Army. Under Dragovich and Kravtchenko's orders, Dimitri and Reznov were dispatched to capture the Nazi scientist Steiner and secure a shipment of Nova-6, an extremely toxic nerve gas. While they were successful to this end, Dimitri was betrayed by Dragovich and Kravchenko, who used him and his men as test subjects for the gas. Dimitri died a quick but painful death before Reznov's eyes on October 29th 1945. Upon seeing this, Reznov vowed to kill Dragovich, Kravchenko and Steiner in order to avenge Dimitri's death.

Trivia

 * Petrenko is one of the few major playable characters that you see his/her face and hear his voice, of which has of course been confirmed. These can include Soap MacTavish and Mason.
 * If Dimitri's birth date is actually August 1, 1923 that makes him the youngest playable character in the series at age 18 in &quot;Vendetta&quot;
 * He looks older than 22, but its possible that stress during the war could have aged him.
 * Though he only appears in one flashback mission in Black Ops, Petrenko's death proves a crucial moment as it motivates Reznov to swear revenge on the three men responsible, and brainwash Alex Mason into carrying this out to avenge his closest friend.
 * Rather like the betrayal of Roach and Ghost in MW2, Petrenko's death has angered a few players, seeing he survived brutal World War II, only to be easily betrayed and killed in (visual) agony. He is also a well-known playable character.
 * It is possible that Treyarch did this to get the player more into the game. Since this angered many players, their natural desire for vengeance would cause them to want to kill those responsible for Petrenko's death. (Steiner, Krevchenko, and Dragovich) This would make the players sympathize with Reznov for brainwashing Mason instead of telling him the truth.
 * In the levels &quot;Heart of the Reich&quot; and &quot;Downfall" Dimitri is in the 150th Rifle Division specifically. Even though the division is in the 3rd Shock Army, it is only displayed in these two levels. He might have been stuck together with another Shock Army and then the 150th Division was built.
 * Both Dimitri Petrenko and John "Soap" MacTavish are somewhat similar: both are revealed playable characters, worked with their commanding officers, cheated death, were betrayed by their affiliations' generals (Soap with TF141's Shepherd and Petrenko with the Red Army's Dragovich), and played an important role in their respective games. They also do something significant in the game: Petrenko raises the flag and Soap kills the main antagonists in MW1 and MW2. They are both the snipers (or marksmen.) They both killed a general opposing their faction. They are the playable character in the last two levels of their games. They are both injured at the end of their respectable games. The both failed to save the other major character in their squad that wasn't their commander. The only major differences were the wars fought in and that Soap survived the second game he appeared in while Dimitri was killed. Soap was also playable in his second game while Dimitri was not.
 * Throughout the Soviet campaign missions, it is seen that the Call of Duty statistic info on the bottom-left hand side of the screen does not display his full name, as it usually is shortened to "Pvt. Petrenko", but on the final Soviet mission, his full name is seen as well as his rank
 * When the player helps the Russians in Call of Duty 4, there is sometimes a soldier named Pvt.Dmitri Petrenko, but he can be killed anytime during the missions.
 * Oddly, the Soviet government never promoted Dimitri even though he has a body count of over 200 Nazis, at least 7 tanks, a general, over 4 Flak 88s, and a tour of duty of over 4 years, and still appears to be in full physical health even after all he's been through. It is possible that he turned down advancement offers for an unknown reason, possibly so he can still be with Reznov (and maybe Chernov). However Reznov did order Petrenko to command some of the Red Army in "Project Nova" for a short while at the entrance to the cave.
 * There are multiple soldiers in the Call of Duty series that have the same surname as Dimitri - Yuri Petrenko of Call of Duty: United Offensive, Mikhail Petrenko of Call of Duty and several Russian loyalists in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare levels &quot;Blackout&quot;, &quot;Safehouse", &quot;The Sins of the Father&quot;, and &quot;Game Over" (Even having almost having the same first name, although the name is Dmitri). It is likely a coincidence but may be a reference on Treyarch's (and, in most cases, Infinity Ward's) part, or because Petrenko is a very common surname in Ukraine, and many Ukrainians moved to Russia over the years.
 * In the level "Downfall", in the cutscene for "Eviction", they show the surrendering German from the beginning being shot with a Tokarev TT-33. It is impossible for him to be shot by a pistol unless he is killed by the player. Thus meaning that the person is most likely Dimitri. It is also possible, however, that the cutscene depicts a scene from Ring of Steel, where a Wehrmacht soldier is finished off by a Russian with a TT-33.
 * It appears that Dimitri used to be in Daletski's squad, as when Reznov and him meet up with him he says,"Dimitri, we thought you were among the dead at the massacre of the square'".
 * Dimitri is harmed physically at least 11 times; he almost drowned twice, he is injured at the beginning of Vendetta, he is shot in Downfall, a flaming column hits him in Vendetta, he burns himself, he is hit by an explosion after shooting Amsel, Reznov drags him up a flight of stairs, the falling column in Heart of the Reich knocks him over (if the player is close enough), and he also gets kicked in the face by the German soldier in the beginning of "Their Land, Their Blood", and attacked by friendly teammates at the end of Project Nova. Ironically, he survived World War II, and died betrayed after killed many Nazi soldiers.
 * In the Russian version of the game, Reznov sometimes referrers to him as 'Dima' (Russian: Дима) and 'Dimka' (Russian: Димка), short ways of saying Dimitri. This also proves that Dimitri is a close friend to Reznov.
 * At the beginning of Their Land, Their Blood Dimitri does have a pistol, it is unknown why he didn't use it to shoot the Germans.
 * Like stated above, It is possible that the pistol was next to him, on the other side of his body, as the player does not see it, and he just picks it up when the Germans get killed, as the pistol would be a lot less deadly than a Mosin-Nagant, as he'd be shot before he could even pull off the round, and even if he did, he'd of course, get killed by one of the other Germans in the house.
 * Reznov comments to Mason that "The wounds Petrenko sustained in battle should have earned him a hero's welcome". It is never stated if Dimitri even received a promotion, and cannot be investigated as his name is just "Petrenko" when looking at him. Unlike other Soviet NPCs in Project Nova Who appear with names such at Pvt. Mozorov. It is however confirmed that Reznov received a promotion to an officer rank, as he is referred to as "Captain Reznov" at least once.
 * He is voiced by the same voice actor as Major Petrov, commanding officer of the Russian air-force base located in Kazakhstan & announcer for the Spetsnaz in MW2
 * Much like Private First Class Joseph Allen from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Dimitri Petrenko died at the age of 22. Coincidentally, both died from a betrayal of their superior.
 * It is possible he grew his beard during Project Nova, much like Dragovich.
 * He is the seventh playable character that has died in Call of Duty series.
 * Dimitri is only one year younger than Kravchenko during Project Nova, despite Kravchenko looking older then 23 and a much higher rank than Dimitri.
 * Considering the betrayal was what caused Reznov to vow revenge against Steiner, Dragovich, and Kravchenko, it can be argued that Dimitri's death is what truly caused the plot of Call of Duty: Black Ops to start rolling.