Soviet Guards Colonel Gavriil Kupriyanovich Sharikalov

[Ed_Haynes]

Guards Colonel Gavriil Kupriyanovich Sharikalov, Commander of the Artillery of the 130 Rifle Lithuanian Corps

This one has been mentioned in other threads here and presented at http://www.forvalor.com/s98.htm but I think this award and the surrounding record deserves full and focused treatment. It may take some time to get it all up, though.

First his OPW 1, #80328.

Edited November 18, 2007 by Ed_Haynes

[Ed_Haynes]

To begin at the end of the story, the recommendation for this OPW 1.

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Part 2.

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Up the chain of command.

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And, finally.

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Translation from http://www.forvalor.com/s98.htm

AWARD CITATION

1. Last Name, First Name, Middle Name: Sharikalov, Gavriil Kupriyanovich.

2. Military Rank: Guards Colonel.

3. Place of Service: Commander of the Artillery of the 130 Rifle Lithuanian Corps.

Recommended for: The order of Great Patriotic War 1st Class.

4. Year of Birth: 1900.

5. Nationality: Belarussian.

6. Party Membership: Member of the VKP/b/.

7. Service in the Civil War, in later Battles in Service of the USSR and in the GPW (when and where): In the Civil War from 1918 to 1921, in the Great Patriotic War from 22 June 1941 on the Western OZ and the 2nd Baltic Fronts.

8. Have any Wounds or Contusions in the Great Patriotic War: Wounded and shell-shocked in 1942 at the North-Western Front.

9. From Which Time with the Red Army: From 1918, as a volunteer.

10. Which Call-Up Station:

11. Received Which Awards (from which order): The order of Red Banner (Decree No. 43/? [??] from 12 March 1944) in 1944; the order of the Great Patriotic War of the 1st Class in 1943; Red Star in 1942 and the medal Twenty Years to the Red Army, in 1938.

12. Home Address: Omskaya Oblast, town of Ishim, Ordzhenikidzenskaya Street, 4. Wife is Sharikalova, Maria Ivanovna.

Short Concrete Description of Excellent Military Action or Service.

Guards Colonel Comrade Sharikalov has been working as the Artillery Commander of the 130th Rifle Lithuanian Corps since 6 June 1944. He is working exceptionally hard to provide military training for his staff as well as ensure order and discipline across units.

From 3 July to 1 August 1944, Comrade Sharikalov supervised military planning for the artillery offensive of the 6th Guards Artillery Division and the entire artillery reinforcement as part of six artillery and mortar regiments and one cannon brigade.

Comrade Sharikalov was present personally at watch points, and he personally directed the artillery fire in the right directions. He massed the artillery fire and directed it on the cross-points of enemy resistance, thus providing the advance of Russian troops with minimal losses. After enemy defense line was penetrated on 2 August 1944 and the infantry crossed over the defense line, the 6th Guards Artillery Division left from under the command of the Artillery Corps Commander and Army reinforcement artillery was the only one left. Under Comrade Sharikalov?s immediate leadership, strong artillery fire and by direct pointing of guns, the army destroyed firing spots and personnel at resistance points, which allowed the infantry to approach the Ayvekste river.

Despite fuel shortage, Comrade Sharikalov was able to move the cannons forward on time and mobilized all horse-drawn carriages from the inhabitants of two closest areas. He used the carriages to move ammunition, which served as a main success factor for our units on 4 and 5 August 1944.

Owing to Comrade Sharikalov?s skillful leadership, a breakthrough into enemy defense to a distance of 65 kilometers and access to the bank of the Ayvekste river were gained. In the course of action, units from the 23rd and 165th German infantry divisions had been destroyed.

In these combats Comrade Sharikalov showed himself as a brave and courageous soldier in the struggle against German occupants.

For able leadership of the artillery, personal courage and bravery in combat, Comrade Sharikalov deserves to be awarded the Order of the Great Patriotic War of the 1st Class. (posthumously).

Artillery Commander of the 23rd Army

Guards Colonel Pontus

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The marvelous bundle of paperwork insludes his temporary award certificate, both the one given with his award and the one filed away in the archives, only to be xeroxed much later by our trusty researchers.

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And the reverses, with slightly different details.

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Now, back to the beginning . . .

The personnel file includes, as do many of this era, several long autobiographies. For example this from 1939:

Edited November 18, 2007 by Ed_Haynes

[Ed_Haynes]

Unlike so many of these fascinating documents, however, this one has been translated and is well worth a read:

I was born on 20 January 1900 in the family of a peasant in Minskaya Gubernia (Province) of the Novogrudsky Uezd (District) of the Shersevskaya Volost? (Region) in the village of Pristoino. Until 1915, the entire family and I lived on our own household which consisted of a horse, a cow and about 3 [????] of land. We were a family of six so there wasn?t enough bread for us all to eat and sometimes we had to work as hired hands for local landowners. In 1915, we left as refugees, we lost our household and the entire family started working as hired hands in the Donskaya Region where we were brought by train to the station of Kalach (South-Western railway) and appointed to rich landowners? household as free workforce. From the fall of 1915 and until the Great October Revolution the entire family worked at the village of Peskovatka for a rich landowner. We didn?t just work for bread and salt, as people say it; we got no bread or salt. We received no pay so my mother (step-mother) and grandmother went to church on holidays and asked for alms. After the Great October Revolution the entire family (except for me) was still working as hired hands at the village, and when the Whites advanced the entire family fled to the village of Vertyachi where they stayed until 1920.

In 1920, my father died and my mother (step-mother) with two small children and my grandmother went back to their ?homeland? in Poland when all refugees were being sent home. From that time, I have no information about them, I didn?t have contact with them, I don?t have it now. I didn?t write to them, I don?t write to them now, and I don?t even know if they had left at all.

This way, since 1920, I only have a sister left from my relations. Presently, she is working as a farm worker at the Budenny collective farm in the Stalingrad region of the Gorodischensky area, the Novo-Alexeevsky village council.

From 1916 until the fall of 1918, I lived in Leningrad where I worked as a hired hand as a janitor, stove coal-heaver and storage director. This way, I don?t have a particular profession. I joined the Red Army as a volunteer in 1918. I joined the Artillery Division Squadron of the 1st Morozovskaya Division of the 10th Army. I served in the Morozovskaya Division and the 38th Rifle Division (1st Morozovskaya Division changed its name to the 38th Rifle Division) until December 1919. From December 1919 to March 1920 I was in captivity of the White army. I was taken captive in a battle near the village of Arakantsev in the area of the Katloban railway station of the south-eastern railway. While I was in captivity (for about three months) I didn?t take part in combat against my own troops, and together with my other captive friends was evacuated somewhere behind the frontlines where I worked different jobs under the supervision of the Caucasian Army. In the beginning, I worked in the village of Velikoknyazheskaya (now it is called Proletarskaya) and then for a little while I was in the town of Krasnodar. When the Red Army advanced to Krasnodar, I and two of my comrades hid in the apartment of one the workers and when our troops came I joined by division once again. As a division member, I fought with it until the front was completely liquidated.

After the White army was destroyed, in the fall of 1920, I was commissioned to the 1st Baku commanders? courses, and fought against the White army in Georgia as a member of it. I graduated from the courses in November 1921 in Tbilisi. I have been a commander since 1921. From November 1921 to March 1922 I served as a Commander of the Courses Platoon. From March 1922 to March 1923 I served as the Artillery Platoon Commander in the Batumsky defense area. From March 1923 to November 1926 I served in the Artillery Regiment of the 3rd Caucasian Rifle Division as a Platoon Commander, Aide to the Battery Commander, Battery Commander. From November 1926 to April 1928, I was a student at the Sumskaya artillery school. From April 1928 to December 1933, I served in the 10th Rifle Division as a Battery Commander, Aide to the Squadron Commander, Squadron Commander, Head of Artillery Regiment Headquaters. From December 1933 to February 1936, I was a student at the Artillery Academy but because I didn?t do well in Physics and Mathematics, I volunteered to be transferred to a one-year course at the AKTUS Academy from where I graduated in December 1936. From there, I was commissioned to the 50th Artillery regiment as a General Service Regiment Commander Aide. From April 1938 I commanded the 50th GAUBICHNY artillery regiment. From 19 August 1938 to 18 March 1939, I was in the reserve as I was dismissed from the Red Army by the order of the VO Military District from 20 July 1938 No. 00379 according to Article 43 point ?a?.

From 18 March 1939 and until now, I am the Headquarters Chief of the Artillery of the 33rd Rifle Division (NKO order No. 0342 from 27 January 1939.) As a reservist I lived in Stalingrad and worked in the Osoaviakhim city council as the head of the combat training department. My general education is three years in a village school. While I was in the Red Army I have passed exams for 8 years at school. In some classes, I passed the level of ten years at school. Military education: 1921 ? artillery courses; 1928 ? artillery school; 1930 ? AKUKS, 1936 ? AKTUS. VKP/b/ member since February 1925.

I was accepted as a party member by the party organization of the artillery regiment of the 3rd Caucasian Rifle Division. In 1927, during the DPK 45 party documents exchange, I was assigned to the [social] group of poor peasants. In 1926, I was the secretary of a party unit. From 1929 to 1933 I was a member of the regiment?s party bureau. In 1931, for 8 months I was a member of the area executive committee and the area committee of the VKP/b/. From 1937 to August 1938, I was a member of the regiment?s party bureau. I didn?t and don?t have any complains from the party. I have never been a member of any other party and never did I deviate from the general line of our party, I have always firmly stood, am standing now and will stand in the future for the general line of our party. I have fought against, still fighting now and will fight against all rouges who dare to get in the way of our party, our motherland. I was brought up by the party and the Soviet leadership, and I am prepared to give all that I can to the cause of Lenin and Stalin, to make my party stronger.

Family status: I am married with two children. My wife is the daughter of a worker. Before and after the Great October Revolution he worked at a timber factory in Ufa, and in 1933, when he retired, he got a job as a guard at a bridge over the Belaya river. My wife?s brother served as a volunteer in the Red Army. He died in 1925. My wife?s mother is currently living with us. I have never been convicted or under investigation.

See: http://www.forvalor.com/s98.htm

Edited November 18, 2007 by Ed_Haynes

[Ed_Haynes]

An early photo.

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Based on almost illegible light pencil scribblings on the reverse (than the Gods for scanners!), this seems to be from 1928.

[Ed_Haynes]

There are multiple incarnations of service records in the files, but why not go with the most legible (though the longest, sorry).

Hold on tight . . . .

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Part 2.

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Part 3.

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Part 4.

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Part 5

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Part 6

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Part 7

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Part 8

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Part 9 (question 30 blank)

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Part 10

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Part 11

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Part 12

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Part 13