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    Egorka

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    Everything posted by Egorka

    1. And the final chapter on PLOTNIKOV. After a brief hospitalisation he finished shortened officer courses , and after that shortened commissar courses. Finished the war in the rank of Lieutenant, demobilised in 1946. After the war he worked as a technical school director until 1952. These were specialised boarding schools attached to manufacturing facilities (existed 1940-1963) which admitted youth of 16-18 y.o. Education lasted 6 months. Here is PLOTNIKOV's photos as the school director. If you look closely you can see his gold star on his left breast. Veteran retired in 1969. Fedor Vasilievich PLOTNIKOV died 11 July 1972 of acute nephritis. And the sad note... From PLOTNIKOV daughter's interview given in 1999: "He died unexpectedly. Practically burnt away in 6 days of nephritis of the kidneys. It is hard to think about it... When the pope was being buried, another trouble happened - his gold HSU star was stolen. The thief was never found." The end.
    2. And finally to the action for which PLOTNIKOV was awarded HSU. Lets try finding the details. Where and when did it take place? And here we are actually having a bit of trouble. You see, neither the date nor the location is provided properly in the citation. So let's endeavour together and find out. The place is only denoted by "hill 172.0". It just tells us, that the hight above the sea level was 172 meters, and there should be a hill marking on the map with appropriate scale (1:100.000). The hill marks on the maps with higher scale were denoted without decimals (and some of them were also completely omitted). Can we use this hill 172.0 to locate the position on the map? Well not really... We could if we knew the precise date. But the date of the action is not mentioned in the citation - a direct violation of the rules. I have seen numerous rejection for other citations, which lacked such details. But it was not a problem in this case. OK, we don't know the date directly. Can we estimate it? Yes, we can establish, that the action happened earlier, than 12 September 1943 (the day the citation was signed by PLOTNIKOV's regiment commander). The earliest day may be approximately established from information, that PLOTNIKOV was in field forces from "August 1943". Also the assault operation by 57 Army, 64 Gu. rifle corps, 58 Gu. RD started on 08 August 1943. And we can generally expect, that the action was closer to 12 September, rather than 08 August. Interestingly, the post war material on PLOTNIKOV mentiones directly wrong location place of his action: "near town Verkhnedneprovsk". This can't be right, because 58 Gu. Rifle Division reached town Verkhnedneprovsk only by 22 of October 1943. And the date on the citation (12 September 1943) is a hard evidence, which cannot be interpreted any differently. OK, what have we got? Period: 08/08-12/09 of 1943. Location: hill 172.0. The problem is that until 12 September, 58 GuRD covered covered app. 100 kmduring the assault operation, which started 08 August. The 57 Army sector was passing just South of town Kharkov. So we need to find a hill 172.0 in the sector of 58 GuRD along the 100km covered in the period 08/08- 12/09. It is not easy! I can tell you I tried. And I failed. I could not find hill 172.0 in the respective sector. I found a couple of hills 172.x - i.e. with different decimal number. What does it mean? If one looks carefully at the handwriting on the citation, one can sense that the hill was corrected from 172.1 to 172.0. But I could not find hill 172.1 either. But this at least can indicate that the decimal in the hill demotion is not to be taken as a hard fact. OK, so we should look at the hill 172.x markers. There is one - 172.4 - just East of Kharkov where 58 GuRD was engaged on 18 August. Good candidate. But! This position in fact does NOT dominate the terrain (the fact that was mentioned in the citation and interview). So we need to look further. Then there is 172.3 just South-West of small town Merefa and just next to village Lelyuky. This is also one of the reference points with triangulation pillar installed. And importantly, this hill does dominate the landscape: the river Mzha cuts through a small valley and the two banks form two hills on each side. So from 172.3 one can observe far away to the next Eastern bank, which would make this a good position for Germans to defend from approaching Soviet forces. And the map of 64 GuRC shows that this position was previously occupied by Germans, which fits well to the information we have so far. So far so good, but we don't have yet anything more to know this was the exact hill. I was lucky to find a document which provided more support: a map produced by 57 army HQ depicting the actions of German forces. An unusual document. This map infact shows that there was a German attack near hill 172.3 by 3 tanks and 1 infantry battalion. So this yet another piece of puzzle fitting together! So here you go! We found the specific location where the action took place. The date of action is determined approximately as 09 September. The view toward the hill 172.3 from the Merefa: The memorial in the village Lelyuky to the fallen in 1943.
    3. I have made a good catch lately - found and got 2 field letters written by HSU. I would like to share their stories with you and present how much history can be relayed through such small sheet of paper. Here is one of them. This letter was written by HSU Feodor Vasilievich PLOTNIKOV (1904 - 1972). He was an artillery man (a loader) awarded HSU title in December 1943 for the action in September 1943. On 29/Feb/1944, the veteran writes home to his wife who lives in town Gorky near the automobile plant. The letter text: 29II-44 Hello dear Liza. Greetings to you, to the mother, and to the little ones. I wish you all well. I receive your letters. In them, you frequently reproach me for not writing often enough. I have written 3 letters this month. Why you receive them seldom or not at all - I don't know. Today I got letter from my sister Panya, who is also now serving on the front line, and also your letter, where you again ask: "What happened, that you don't write?" I write very-very often. Panya informs, that she gets your letters, and that you write her regularly, which she is very happy with. I also wrote to my brother Maksim and to Marusya, in one word - to everyone. Please, let me know if you received the money I sent you 13 January. Have you solved the accommodation issue? If you can get one in the American settlement, that would be great. Please, write me how is Velik's and Valya's school going. I asked you about this numerous times, but you don't shed light on this in your letters. Well, good bye for now. Write me all the news from the neighbours. Who is writing what and so on. Fedya. Before we look closer at the veteran and his HSU decoration, lets look in the letter content. There are three points to highlight. Firstly, the letter mentions sister Panya, who was in service at the time. In fact, PLOTNIKOV sister's full name was Jr. Sergeant Proskovyia Vasilievna Plotnikova, born 1923. She served since 1942 and was a radio operator in the 266 detached signals company under 3 ground-assault aviation corps, 3 Belorussian front. She was awarded CSM medal in August 1944. Secondly, the home address - Automobile plant in town Gorky. The town housed GAZ - a large plant, which produced trucks and vehicles. The plant was built from 1932 with technical expertise delivered by Ford Motors: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GAZ During the war GAZ has been fully repurposed for military equipment production: Light tanks T-60, T-70; SPG SU-76; armoured recon carriers BA-64; engines ; mortars ; rockets for "Katysha" launchers. In trucks it produced both it's own models as well as the American Chevrolet with the spare parts delivered by Lend-Lease program. Having such importance, the plant the target to frequent German air raids. See the German air photo with targets marked. And finally, about the "American settlement". What is that? This was one of the town districts. It was formed during the plant construction for the American specialist consultants. On this page you can see many photos with the view of the American settlement or American village: https://vk.com/club60371957?z=album-60371957_242918928 Now let's take look at the veteran and his action for which he was awarded HSU title. He was born 4 October 1904 in the village Kevdo-Mel'sitovo. Worked briefly at steel plant. Became Communist party member. In 1926-1928 he served in the RKKA in artillery. After his demobilization, he moved to town Gorky (old name: Nizhnij Novgorod) and worked in the internal affairs (GPU). Later studied in an agricultural school. Since 1939 he worked at the Gorky Automobile Plant as a mechanic. In October 1942, Plotnikov was again drafted into the army. In the field forces from August 1943. He served as a gun loader in 130 Guards artillery regiment, 58 Guards rifle division, 64 Guards rifle corps, 57 Guards army, Steppes front. Now, lets read his HSU citation. It is written in special style - both political propaganda and dramatical notes. "Thunder and flames of explosions flashed around. Smoke and dust impeded breathing. The first battery supporting the rifle company repelled the 6th enemy counterattack. The hill 172.0 was dominating the surrounding landscape and the Germans were intended to recapture it at any cost. The artillery men, the Guards men of the 1st battery, stood their line no mater what. Dashingly fought the loader PLOTNIKOV. Direct hit at the artillery position took the crew out of action. PLOTNIKOV was lightly wounded, but continued alone to bash the Germans, working both as loader and gunner. Soon after two other battery guns were also knocked out of action. Remained only wounded PLOTNIKOV and one gun. The opponent feeling luck launched the 7th counter attack. Three tanks lead the assault followed by 200 drunken Fascist thugs. "If I have to die - I die like a hero!" - decided PLOTNIKOV for himself and braced for uneven fight. "This one is for town Gomel" - shouted PLOTNIKOV and knocked the turret off the leading tank with a heavy shell. The joy of victory took over PLOTNIKOV. Two more shots and another tank gave smoke. The third tank tried to escape. "You will not get away, skunk!" - exclaimed PLOTNIKOV. Four more shots and the last steel beast begun to spin around on one spot. But remained the run amok drunken submachine gunners. They pressed forward approaching PLOTNIKOV's gun position. He gave two shots and then had to take over a machine gun. A long MG salvo forced Germans to sober up. Many of them fell right there, the others ran away. That was exactly what PLOTNIKOV needed. He collected automatic weapons from the fallen comrades and took position in the trench awaiting new enemy attack. He prepared 6 hand grenades. The Fritz were quick to return. Again shouting and whistling German line appeared. PLOTNIKOV was waiting. 80 meters distance remained. Then he employed his submachine gun. The German line was getting thiner and thiner, but they kept on pressing. 30 meters left and a bullet pierced hero's left shoulder. With his right arm he threw 4 bundled grenades and killed an officer. Fritz retreated. Our infantry caught up and helped the hero to hold the hill. Germans pushed no more. PLOTNIKOV held an important hill, killed 90 Germans and destroyed 3 tanks. He fully deserves the title "Hero of Soviet Union". 12 September 1943 Commander of 130 GuAP Guards Captain DEMIDOVICH" The citation went through the approval chain and PLOTNIKOV was awarded HSU by decree of 20 December 1943. He was awarded order of Lenin and the gold star medal #3172. The citation is written not fully according to the rules. F.ex. you may notice the date of the action is missing. This made it difficult to locate the hill where the events took place. All the other sources I could find, which described PLOTNIKOV's actions rely solely on this citation and shed no extra light on the events. Except maybe one! In 1961 a collection of stories about HSU cavaliers who lived in town Gorky was printed. There is also an essay about PLOTNIKOV written by writer KRUTOV I.A. (Russian text). I will not translate it all. It is a heavy mix of autor's interpretations, official propaganda version, and PLOTNIKOV's own words. It is obviously heavily based on the official citation version, and also rewritten to make story more fluid and readable. But it was also based on an interview with PLOTNIKOV himself! And this gives some extra details which otherwise would be lost. Here are some excerpts from the essay with what I think are PLOTNIKOV's quotes: "On that day near the hill 172.0 our battery was quickly deployed on a closed position. We saw that the hill was covered by abandoned and destroyed German trenches and other fortifications. Abandoned equipment. Looks like the position was left in a hurry. ... At noon the Germanstwice launched attack but were repelled with high casualties. Two of our crew were wounded, one killed. I was lightly wounded and remain wit the gun. There were no reinforcements, and frankly speaking no time for it. We were two people to operate the gun - GUS'KOV and me. I was the gun layer, GUS'KOV was the loader. ... The enemy barrage intensified. Soon two other guns went silent. Their crews killed. My mate GUS'KOV got whole arm ripped off. ... The Germans sustained losses, but broke through the rifle company line. This happened in the afternoon. What could I do? I was thinking to my self: "Well, just one gun, but let it work. At least some help to the infantry." Later I was not thinking of anything any more. Get the charge, load, aim, fire. As soon as I brought a few shell to the gun and loaded it with an HE shell, the leading tank came out of the bushes and fired in my direction. It missed. I fired point blank. The tank was embraced in smoke and abruptly stopped. The sun was already setting down but it was still light. Then I see another tank right of me. And this one stopped after my shot - I cannot believe it. The third tank was left of me and was moving fast firing in motion. It got quite close, but suddenly changed the course and started retreating. I got him with 4 shells, and was attacked by German submachine gunners. I fired 2 shrapnel charges and a long MG burst. ... I knew they will come back. I collected the weapons from the dead. Again they attacked and approached me. I prepared the grenades, but suddenly felt burning feeling in my left shoulder. I remember I was thinking: "How good it is the left one, else it is all over." I threw the grenades with my right arm as far as a could and hit them. At this point I heard "HURRA" and our infantry assaulted." As you may notice the veteran tells his story much more "calm" compare to the citation. It also gives one interesting clew - the hill 172 and their position was previously occupied by Germans. P.S: GUS'KOV mentioned in PLOTNIKOV's story died later... RIP. to be continued...
    4. I recently found this letter and when I read it I could not resist! It was written by Vsevolod RASPOPOV to his brother Youry, who lived in Moscow at the time. Vsevolod Aleksandrovich RASPOPOV was a pilot - senior aerial observer. at the time the letter was written he was assigned to 100 detached aerial observer regiment (100 ОКРАП). Before that he served at 68 detached aerial observer squadron (68 ОКРАЭ) where he earned ORB in December 1943 for 21 combat missions. His tasks were observing, photography, and ground assault. His ORB citation will come later. The letter: "13 May 1943 Hello Youriy! Here I am again alive and well! Matter that, I was shot down and my plane crushed into the sea on 24 March while I was on a combat mission. When I got out of water I was captured by Germans. I spend there 15 days. I escaped to partisans and spent with them almost a month. On the 9th I returned to my regiment, where I was already considered to be KIA - so I had to greet and kiss everyone. I don't believe myself I got out of that hell! I am a now resting on the Black sea coast. I will write more later." Continuing RASPOPOV's story, here is extract from his service record, which shows his service in 68 detached aerial observer squadron and then later at 100 detached aerial observer regiment. The line in between marked with yellow arrow reads: "Has been in enemy captivity on the territory of Crimea from March 1944 till May 1944." The veteran also was promoted after his return. His position changed from "Pilot observer" to "Sr. pilot observer". RASPOPOV finished his military career (he became aviation navigator in training regiment) in the rank of Major in 1960. Lived in town Omsk and was awarded OPWII in 1985. RASPOPOV was awarded ORB at the end of 1943. Here is the citation: "He serves on the front against German invaders since 19.12.1942. In this period he conducted 21 successful artillery fire-directing and enemy positions photographing combat missions. As the result of his fire directions he destroyed 2 enemy artillery batteries, which systematically barraged our forces and observation posts. Despite high concentration of enemy AA systems, and without regard to his own life making 3-5 runs, he fulfilled the objectives and photographed 420 km on the front line from river Molochnaya- Perekop isthmus. This provided the artillery Command with very valuable intelligence information. After achieving primary objective, he conducted ground assault, which resulted in suppression of 2 artillery batteries, 2 tanks and up to 170 enemy troops destroyed, 10 horse carriages, 1 train set on fire. For excellent execution of the Command's orders and exhibited bravery and courage he received gratitude from People's Commissar of Defence, from the Head of Artillery Intelligence HQ of 4 Ukrainian front, from the deputy Artillery Commander of 51 army. All the information is supported by the ground forces and photo materials."
    5. This letter is from Lt. MOZGIN Pavel Iosifovich, 1907, to his mother living in Kharkov, written on 24.02.1944. The veteran served as a platoon commander in 336 detached sapper battalion, 161 rifle division. His Red Star citation describes mine laying and mine clearing missions. Among other things he writes in the letter about the ceremony awarding him with Red Star order on the day before, i.e. on 23.02.44. He writes: "The order was handed to me by the Major General himself, who then congratulated with such high honor and wished me all the best." The "Major General himself" was HSU Major General TERTYSCHY (1899 - 1997) , the commander of 161 rifle division: Unfortunately, Lt. MOZGIN was killed in action on 22.11.1944 and buried on Slovak country town Krivošťany cemetery. ================================== This letter is from Lt. MUSATOV Sergey Ivanovich, 1918, written on 30.01.44. He served in army service and administrative branch at 170 tank brigade HQ. In the letter he informs his wife (?) Nina in Krasnoyarsk, that his field post address has just changed the same morning. He writes: "I just sent you a postcard this very morning, but am writing to you today again. Matter that my address has changed to field post 43110." And in fact we read in his Red Star citation, that he did a great job organizing the brigade HQ office after he took over in chaotic state in March 1944. So it seems the veteran wrote this letter on the day he was reassigned.
    6. Hey Dan, send them any way more convenient for you. In the mean while I will high-jack the thread to show a couple of my Soviet field posts and the research I have done on them.
    7. Hello! It has only been 7 year... The letters are written in March-April 1945 by Vitaly Nikolaevich SMIRNOV to his parent living in Novosibirsk. He write from Kurland. He served in artillery unit. I think it was 11 corps artillery brigade. If you want translation of the letter , you need to make sharper scans. There are some part which are too blurry to read.
    8. It think the price is OK considering you get 2 miniatures.
    9. Not often one can have ward in his collection where the veteran has a book chapter dedicated to him. I have added to my collection 2 books, which have chapters dedicated to the veteran. 1. "Soldiers Glory", 1963. 2. "Order of Glory cavaliers", 1973. The first book has short one page account for 238 Full cavaliers of Order of Glory. It appears the primary source is the citation. The second book covers 30 cavaliers who were born in Stavropol region. The accounts are 2-3 pages long. The strong part of this book is that it is also based on the interviews. Therefore despite the literary editing and politically charged language it has some interesting material. The one pager from "Soldiers Glory", 1963. "Order of Glory cavaliers", 1973. And this is scan from a later book, which has account about all (?) Full Cavaliers. It uses two previous books as sources.
    10. Hey Francois!

      Regarding the thread "Federal Agency for Safe Storage and Destruction of Chemical Weapons", I guess you already have seen these two links: http://www.sammler.ru/index.php?showtopic=73669

      and here pages 100-103 : https://issuu.com/voinbrat/docs/vb5_45__2008_web

      Tell me if you need help with translation.

      BR / Igor

      1. TacHel

        TacHel

        I go on SAMMLER.RU almost daily.  But had missed the 2nd link.  Thanks!   

      2. Egorka

        Egorka

        Francois, check it out: I asked the guy in the thread and he confirmed the symbolism of the white-blue-red gems.

    11. White-blue-red... But of course, Francois! The Russian flag is white-blue-red.
    12. Looking into the POW document for ASAULENKO, I see there is a mistake. He was prior to captivity assigned to 656 rifle regiment, not 656 artillery regiment. 656 RR was part of 116 RD and was defending in Cherkasy area in August-September 1941. It was dispersed/captured trying to break out of Kiev pocket app. 22-25 September 1941. He was liberated by forces of 5 Shock Army, 3 Ukrainian front, and was sent to 237 army reserve rifle regiment. From the reserve regiment he was shortly reassigned to 1042 RR, 295 RD, 32 RC, 5 Shock Army. He served there until his wound on 02.02.1945. The map of Kiev pocket 1941 - the largest encirclement operation in history (app. 650.000 people captured; 4 armies completely captured, 2 armies partially defeated).
    13. Sure, Nick. I just quoted directly from the text. Very interesting topic. Interesting to see these rare awards.
    14. Hello! Little more on the OGIII, which I acquired in London this Christmas. Please meet machine gunner Jr. Sergeant Andrey Gerasimovich ASAULENKO, 1913. From Spring 1944 he served at MG company of 1042 rifle regiment, 295 rifle division, 32 rifle corps. Awarded Bravery Medal in September 1944 and OGIII in March 1945. Wounded twice in 1945: lightly in January, and severely in February. OGIII was awarded for the actions on 29 Jan 1945 and 02 Feb 1945. The later action was assault on the village Warnick, which was located just East to town-fortress Küstrin (today Polish town Kostrzyn nad Odrą). The OGIII citation reads: "29.01.45 during enemy defence breakthrough on the German-Polish border near village Weitze, comrade ASAULENKO provided fire support to the rifle platoon in breaking through the enemy barbed wire obstacles. Being wounded in the leg, he didn't leave the battle ground until the village was captured. 02.02.45 in the battle for the village Warnick, comrade ASAULENKO was severely wounded and evacuated to the hospital. He is worthy of order of Glory III class. Commander of 1042 rifle regiment, Guards Lt-Colonel CHAIKA. 13 March 1945." The map showing actions of 295 rifle division in battle for Küstrin. Warnick is marked on the Eastern outskirts of Küstrin. The village Warnick (Warniki in Polish) doesn't exist today, but became a part of expanded town Kostrzyn. Location: https://goo.gl/maps/63WrsT1pvYA2 An interesting detail is that it appears ASAULENKO was a POW before his service in 1042 rifle regiment. We was liberated on 19 April 1945. His original service is indicated as a Private of 656 artillery regiment, 116 rifle division, 26 army. I think, he was captured in summer 1941 (but needs checking).
    15. Thank you, Nick, for the topic!!! I allow myself to quote my grand-dad's memoirs here. He lived in occupied Odessa from 1941 to April 1944. Here is the quote about New Years eve 1944: "In the meantime the front line approached closer and closer to Odessa. I celebrated the New Year [1944] with the Golen family [the family of my grandfather’s girlfriend]. There was a modest dinner. The old ones went to sleep in the small room. Me and Olga sat on the big couch chatting and imagining what the New Year might bring, recalling the past. From behind the wall, in the neighbour’s apartment, we could hear voices. They were of older lads working in the city. Apart from their voices we could distinctly hear voices of Czechoslovaks from the Czech division in the German’s service. They had recently arrived in Odessa and there was a rumour that many of their soldiers and officers had deserted to the Red Army. The Germans did not trust them anymore and kept them away from the front line. It was apparent that the young company had gathered to celebrate New Year 1944. A gramophone played and there was more and more noise coming from behind the wall after the first wine glasses had been raised. At midnight there were rifle shots and the sky was light by signal flares. We could hear in the neighbouring apartment a toast being raised for victory and for peace. Then they sang the song about the cruiser “Varyag”: “All on deck, comrades, all on deck, This is our last decisive battle…” And I understood that those Czechs and our guys are all good lads, our people." More og my GD's memoirs are translated here: http://www.armchairgeneral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=62666
    16. Thank you for sharing, Auke! Could not help digging a little in after reading. Have you seen that STEPACHEV's officer's service record is actually available, which is unusual: Events of 05 Dec 1944. The 233 GuRR advanced 400m during the assault on the 05.12.44. Losses: 5 KIA, 11 WIA. The map of the area. The height 241 is between Ecséd and Lőrinci. You can see the 400m advance on 05.12.44 (the distance between the purple and black lines). STEPACHEV's burial place is not to be found... I think, he ended being reburied as unknown soldier. Shame... His death record states his burial place as "2km West of Ecséd". I think, he was buried somewhere on that 400m stretch taken on that day. There are basically just fields and forest patches.
    17. The other ship where CHEKMENEV briefly served was minesweeper "Vekha". Built in 1938. One of the 10 ship of its project (#53). Displacement - 410-503 tons ; length - 62m ; width - 7,2m ; draft - 2,3m ; speed - 17,8 knots ; engine - 2 diesel 2500hps ; fuel tank - 60 tons ; crew - 70 men. Armament: 1 - 100mm cannon ; 1 - 45mm cannon ; 1 - 20mm AA gun ; one 4 barrels 12,7mm MG ; 20 depth charges ; 28 floating mines. Scrapped in 1950s.
    18. The ships at which the veteran served: River monitor "Sverdlov". Taifun "Typhoon" class (7 in class, but 3 armed 4x130mm, 3 armed 8x120mm, and 1 armed 4x152mm). Displacement: 965-977 tons. Speed: 10-15 knots. Armament: 4 x 152 mm, 2 x 37 mm, 6 x 20 mm, 4 x 12.7 mm and 5 x 7.62 mm machine guns. Armor: belt, 76 - 38mm; bulkheads, 9mm; turrets, 76mm; deck, 19mm; CT, 51mm. Launched 1909, Tsarist Commision Sept 1910, Soviet Commission 24 April 1922. Repairs and upgrades in 1934 - 1935. In August 1945, participated fighting along the Songhua River and in the capture of Fuyuan and Jiamusi in Heilongjiang (Manchuria). 30 August 1945 awarded Guards title. Scrapped, the 13 March 1958. In 1929, the monitor participated in the last and (possibly) the largest ever monitors and riverine gunboats battle in the modern history. Soviet navy had a total and decisive river's victory using monitors during conflict against Nationalist China. There were a number of Chinese boats and monitors sunk and no Soviet losses. And here is the cherry: the photograph of the "Sverdlov" monitor engine mechanics crew. CHEKMENEV must be one of them! The year the photo is taken is not clear, but it must be before 1939, I think. The petty officer in the middle must me CHEKMENEV himself!
    19. This is the service record covering years 1925 - 1944. The Red Star citation: "Senior Lt. Engineer CHEKMENEV is hard working, persistent, and decisive officer. Since the beginning of the war against Japan, he skilfully organised and personally supervised the repairs of two minesweepers UMS #523 and AM #148, which were under repairs at the workshop. As the result, both minesweepers entered the service ahead of the schedule, 6 days and 9 days respectively, and departed to the mission for meeting in the ocean and convoying to the Petropavlovsk Navy base the ships arriving from USA. He excellently organised the equipment preparation of the 1st marine squad (MO-1) of the 6th patrol boat squadron for the passage from Patropavlovsk Navy base to the island Shumshu, for the mission supporting the amphibious landing of our troops. The material equipment of the 1st marine squad had no malfunctions during the whole mission. He is worthy of medal For Combat Merits. Signed: Head of Staff of Petropavlovsk Navy base, Pacific fleet, Lt.-Captain PANKRATOV. 10 September 1945"
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