Ferdinand

I saw that Always nice when your recipient is mentioned somewhere on the Internet...

And the order itself:

A T-34/85 medium tank, the standard tank of the 162nd Tank Brigade in early 1944.

Award sheet All fields to be filled out fully 1. Last name, first name and patronymic: Logachov, Vasily Vasilyevich 2. Rank: Guards Major 3. Position and unit: Deputy commander for political affairs of the 162nd Novograd-Volynsky Tank Brigade Nominated for: Order of the Red Banner 4. Year of birth: 1907 5. Nationality: Russian 6. Party affiliation: Member of the Communist Party 7. Participation in the Civil War and the subsequent combat actions to defend the USSR (where and when): In the Patriotic War since 1941 8. Wounds and contusions received during the Patriotic War: No 9. Since when in the Red Army: 1932 10. Drafted by which military commissariat: Military Commissariat of the Poshekhono-Volodarsk Raion 11. Awards received previously: None 12. Permanent home address (of the prospective awardee or his family): ______________ Short, concrete description of his combat feat or merits: During the period in which the brigade was formed, Guards Major Logachov made every effort in selecting cadre members and unify the battalions and the brigade as a whole. During the brigade's combat operations between December 18, 1943 and January 3, 1944 he was continuously present among the combat formations, commanding the units and simultaneously properly instructing the Party and Komsomol members. This contributed to the assigned mission as a whole being accomplished. As a result of his capable and untiring leadership during combat operations, the brigade killed 1060 soldiers and officers, killed 266 horses and captured 80, destroyed 21 mounted machine guns, 32 mortars, 32 cannons, 4 mortar batteries, 1 six-barrel mortar, 2 aircraft, 2 armored personnel carriers, 27 tanks, 10 armored cars, 89 trucks, 2 Ferdinand self-propelled guns, and 5 handheld radio transceivers. 1500 civilians that had been driven away to Germany were liberated. For the bravery and courage he displayed and for skillfully commanding his units in battle, he deserves the Order of the Red Banner. Commander of the 162nd Novograd-Volynsky Tank Brigade Lieutenant Colonel [signed] /Shalygin/ January 9, 1944 He deserves to be awarded the Order of the Red Star. Commander of the 25th Tank Corps Major General of the Tank Forces [signed] /Anikushkin/ January 31, 1944 He deserves to be awarded the Order of the Red Star. Commander of the Armored and Mechanized Forces of the 13th Army Major General [signed] /Korolyov/ February ..., 1944 He deserves to be awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 2nd Class. Chief of the Political Section of the 13th Army Colonel [signed] /Voronov/ February ..., 1944 He deserves to be awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 2nd Class. Commander of the 13th Army Lieutenant General [signed] /Pukhov/ Member of the Military Council Major General [signed] /Kozlov/ February 3, 1944 Decorated by Army Order nr. 44/N of February 21, 1944.

Record card Order booklet nr. A-490164 1. Last name: Logachov 2. First name and patronymic: Vasily Vasilyevich 3. Military rank: Guards Lieutenant Colonel 4. Sex: Male 5. Year of birth: 1908 6. Place of birth: City of Shuya, Ivanovo Oblast 7. Party membership (since which year): Member of the Communist Party since 1928 8. Education: Higher 9. Nationality: Russian 10. Since which year in the Red Army: Since April 1941 11. Place of service (name of the unit) and position occupied at the time of the award: Deputy commander for political affairs of the 162nd Tank Brigade, 25th Tank Corps 12. Current place of service and position: Deputy commander for political affairs of the 162nd Tank Battalion, 25th Independent Tank Regiment 13. Home address of the awardee: City of Shuya, Ivanovo Oblast 14. Record of all awards received: - Order of the Patriotic War, 2nd Class nr. 98320, temporary certificate nr. B-162854, awarded by Order of the 13th Army nr. 44/N of February 21, 1944 - Order of the Red Banner nr. 137496, temporary certificate nr. G-146604, awarded by Order of the 1st Ukrainian Front nr. 0132/N of September 22, 1944 - Order of the Patriotic War, 1st Class nr. 168680, temporary certificate nr. Ye-118018, awarded by Order of the commander of the Armored and Mechanized Forces of the 1st Ukrainian Front nr. 023/N of April 12, 1945 - Medal for Combat Merit, unnumbered, order booklet nr. A-490164, awarded by Decree of November 15, 1950 - Order of the Red Star, nr. 3393921, order booklet nr. A-490164, awarded by Decree of October 26, 1955 Signature of the awardee: [signed] I confirm the correctness of the data and the signature of the awardee (position and signature): Commander of the 162nd Tank Battalion Lieutenant Colonel [signed] /Batalov/ March 18, 1947

I thought I'd post one of my latest research results. This OPW 2nd Class (nr. 98320) was awarded to Guards Lieutenant Colonel Vasily Vasilyevich Logachov, the deputy commander for political affairs (and chief of the Political Section) of the 162nd Guards Tank Brigade. Effectively he was the brigade's second in command and chief commissar. There are several interesting things about his career. Logachov was conscripted into the army in 1929, he attended a short officer course, he commanded a tank, and after just over a year he was discharged. In July 1940, even though he was a civilian at the time, he was promoted to Senior Political Officer [equivalent to Army Captain]. He was drafted again in March 1941 and immediately sent off to Moscow to attend an accelerated course at the renowned Lenin Military Political Academy. He graduated in July 1942, but already in June he had been promoted to Battalion Commissar (Major). Upon graduation he was assigned as deputy commander for political affairs of the newly formed 239th Tank Brigade. Amazingly, at this point his only frontline experience was his year of service 12 years earlier. In July 1943 he was appointed deputy commander for political affairs of the 162nd Tank Brigade, a position he would hold for exactly two years. The brigade fought briefly during the summer, and by late August it was back in reserve, probably to reinforce each brigade with an extra tank battalion, now equipped with nothing but T-34 tanks (probably mostly T-34/85 models). The brigade then took part in the massive crossing of the Dnieper River, passed Kiev, took part in the Lvov-Sandomierz Operation in July 1944, the Vistula-Oder Operation at the end of 1944, and advanced toward the Order River. In May 1945 it ended the war near Berlin. After the war the brigade was reorganized as a tank regiment, stationed in Germany, with Logachov still as its chief commissar. Starting in 1950 he occupied several rather modest political positions. In March 1958 he was discharged. This is a TOE (Table of Organization and Equipment) I made, showing the 162nd Tank Brigade's strength in January 1944 after its latest refitting.

Terrific group. It would have been great if the Soviets kept detailed records on enlisted personnel...

Sorry, what do you mean by connections?

Eric, it seems that the photos are stretched out, and blurry because of their low quality and low file size... Could you please post sharper images (obviously as large as possible)?

Gentlemen, these pictures are much too small. Please post large, clear photos of the obverse and reverse at a straight angle (no need to show the suspension). I think it's a good one though. P.S. Why have people come up with words like "Transarctic" and "Transpolar" to translate the name of this medal? It's just "Arctic" or "Polar Region". I know the "Za" particle can be confusing, but this medal has nothing to do with extending across or crossing the North Pole. Transarctic isn't even a real noun.

Does it mention an order booklet or temporary certificate in the third column? If that's the case, then the two orders were in fact awarded but then lost by the recipient. I would research the Medal for Courage via its number, just to make sure it belongs on the bar.

Nope, both Red Stars are real awards P.S. Your medal is listed in Echoes of War

I've bugged my contacts for years about this, but they kept seeing that the archive department with personnel files was inaccessible. First the department was being moved, then it was reorganized, then it was moved again, and then I gave up...

No good. Looks like one of those pieces that are passed off as "Umalatova" medals.

The Netherlands? Ha, Patton would never have let the Russkies get that far There's a Groß-Franzdorf in East Prussia, so there may be a Warten in that area as well.

Well, it's a post-long service Red Star, possibly a WW2 catch-up award, or an award to a veteran of the October Revolution. Echoes of War has a few in this range that were awarded to generals and marshals for their birthdays. Red Stars in these last two categories often come back negative though.

I agree; in 1942 Soviet commanders had better things to do than handing out awards. Late 1942 / early 1943 was the turning point in the war, and that is when the number of decorations awarded skyrocketed. As a result, there was a certain devaluation: less and less special deeds warranted awards (the feat required for a 1945 Medal for Courage would have gotten you a Red Star in 1942) and their status somewhat decreased.

Hi Paul, The funny thing about faces is that you never forget them. I checked my archive and I researched and translated this very service record almost one and a half years years ago. Apparently the award has since switched hands and the translation got lost somewhere in the process. If you PM me your email address I'll send it to you. Auke

Actually, each year the awardings for each award increased. If you look at the Order of Glory: about a handful were awarded in 1943, some 250,000 in 1944, and the remainder, about 550,000 pieces, was awarded in 1945. The Red Star shows the same pattern: about 300,000 awardings in 1943, about 700,000 in 1944, and about 1,6 million in 1945. The same goes for the Red Banner, OPW, etc. So a spike of posthumous awards in 1943 seems surprising, but as you say, it may be explained (I have not yet examined these numbers) by a spike in losses in 1943, many of which may have been worthy of an award.

And one more, a rather surprising overview showing the posthumous awards broken down per year. Sorry for polluting your topic, Paul...

Works for me. I'll see if I can get a pdf version. As Paul already stated, during World War Two the only award that, if awarded posthumously, could be presented to the next of kin, was the Order of the Patriotic War. Therefore it's not surprising that almost 94 percent of all wartime posthumous awards I have encountered are OPWs (disregarding the Gold Star Medal, which was often awarded posthumously but only on rare occasions given to the next of kin). It seems that, because the majority of posthumous decorations weren’t physically issued, senior officers often intentionally downgraded or upgraded recommendations to an Order of the Patriotic War in order to have something to deliver to the family of those killed in action. This also seems to be confirmed by the fact that the majority of the Order of Lenin, Order of the Red Banner and Order of the Red Star awards took place before May 1942 (when the Order of the Patriotic War was instituted). After this date, the number of posthumous Lenins, Red Banners and Red Stars steadily declined: as far as I have observed, after October 1943 only OPWs were awarded posthumously. Below are a few overviews that may be interesting (I have yet to process a bunch of citations; this is all based on a database of just over 1200 citations). (Where there's a comma, think a full stop... Mathematics works a little different on the old continent... ) First of all, the WW2 awards and the corresponding percentages of posthumous awards in my database: The posthumous awards broken down by rank category: And broken down by rank: And an overview of how often posthumous nominations were adjusted. Sometimes the upgrade or downgrade was significant: I have seen cases where a HSU title was reduced to an OPW2 (eight steps lower), and on another occasion a Medal for Courage nomination resulted in an OPW1 (four steps higher): And finally a rank comparison of posthumous OPW1s and OPW2s:

I have three posthumous OPWs: - OPW1 #49137, awarded posthumously to 26-year-old Lt. Col. Starov, CO of the 1467th Army Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment, killed while reconnoitering firing positions near the front line (posted here: http://soviet-awards.com/forum/soviet-military-awards/researchers-corner/researched-orders/52640-patriotic-war-i-0049137-posthumous-award-rgt-co.html) - OPW1 #49964, awarded posthumously to 25- or 26-year-old Guards Sr. Lt. Vinogradov, reconnaissance officer of the 45th Guards Rifle Regiment, killed while defending a bridge across the Western Dvina River with a group of fellow scouts - OPW2 #592385, awarded posthumously to 27- or 28-year-old State Security Captain Mikhailov, NKVD special agent, killed while combating insurgency in the rear of the 13th Army I wrote an article on posthumous awards, which was published in the most recent JOMSA issue. Over the last few years I have been working on a database of Soviet posthumous awards issued during WW2. Right now I have identified about 1400 separate awardings (I did not yet have yours, though). It's an interesting overview of which decorations were mostly given posthumously, which ranks received them, and how often their were upgrades and downgrades when the citation went up the chain of command.

Fantastic award! I have a few posthumous OPWs myself (it's one of my collecting niches) and they are highly interesting awards.

A great book, but for all those westerners who don't speak Russian, The Comprehensive Guide will have to do (for now)...

And it's back... http://www.ebay.com/itm/200927088262