Soviet Research Bravery Medal - Need help in translating

[Ferdinand]

Hello Gentlemen,

I need some with translating parts of the research (my first research! ) of one of my Bravery Medals, # 3086881.

From what I can understand it was awarded to Guards Private Nikolai Yakovlevich Golovach, who repaired two cut telephone lines near Fogelsang on 6 Februari 1945. He was in the 131st Guard Mortar Regiment of the 222nd Rifle Division.

Can someone translate the details on the award card for me? And is this a 'mass citation' for the entire regiment for actions near Fogelsang on 6 Februari 1945?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Auke

Page 1:

Page 2:

Page 3:

Award card:

Awards:

The unit research:

A short summary:

Edited January 17, 2007 by Ferdinand

[Mondvor]

Hello Ferdinand,

Here is a translation for the award card

AWARD CARD

Last name: Golovach

First name and patronymic: Nikolay Yakovlevich

Military rank: Private

Sex: Male

Year of birth: 1925

Place of birth: Golovachi village, Belopolsk subregion, Sumi region

Party membership: non-member

Education: Elementary school

Nationality: Ukrainian

In Red Army: from September 1943 till March 15, 1946

Position and unit at the time of award event: 131st Guards Mortar Regiment of the 35th Guards Independent Mortar Brigade, operator

Position and occupation at the present time: Belopolye Railway station, conductor

Home address: Sumi Region, Belopolsk Subregion, Gorobivsk Rural District, village Golovachi

About the citation - you are almost right. But this is not a citation, this is a Decree (final approved decision). Firstly platoon commander signed a citation, then it was approved by battery commander and finally approved by regimental commander. No other higher commanders should sign for Bravery and Military merit medals. Regimental commander was able to award with those two medals by himself. So this is his Decree of the Regimental Commander to award the soldiers who displayed bravery and courage during the battle near the town of Fogelzang.

It is also might be interesting that he got both his awards (physically received them) at the same time in April 1948. Before that he was awarded, but Red Star and Bravery were not bestowed upon him.

[Ferdinand]

Thank you Mondvor!

It is also might be interesting that he got both his awards (physically received them) at the same time in April 1948. Before that he was awarded, but Red Star and Bravery were not bestowed upon him.

So he earned his Bravery Medal for actions on 6 February 1945, this was approved by a Prikaz of 31 March 1945 and he finally got his medal in April 1948. But how do you know he received both his awards in April 1948?

[Paul R]

Great document grouping there! Please show us the medal too!

Paul

[Ferdinand]

Here he is:

[Paul R]

Beautiful!!

[Mondvor]

Thank you Mondvor!

So he earned his Bravery Medal for actions on 6 February 1945, this was approved by a Prikaz of 31 March 1945 and he finally got his medal in April 1948. But how do you know he received both his awards in April 1948?

If he received any of his two awards prior to April 1948, then the numbers of the documents should be indicated in the award card. The medal could not be bestowed without a document. It should be either "temporary certificate" or "order book". They both have serial numbers and those numbers should be reflected in the award card. Here is an example. You can see that temporary certificate's numbers are indicated in award card.

[Mondvor]

In case if the person already exchanged his temporary certificates for the permanent order book it would be the same orderbook number for all of his awards listed in the award card. Here is an example.

[Mondvor]

But in your case there were no numbers of documents indicated in the award card. It only said that "confirmed by the human resources office of the COBГ" at September 13, 1947. CОВГ means Soviet Occupational Troops in Germany. So they found in arcives his citations and numbers of decrees, but awards were not given to him. So they sent both Red Stare and Bravery to his homeplace and awards were given to him the same day in the Local Military Office. At the same day award card was filled out and sent back to the Central Military Archive in Podolsk. Both Red Star and Bravery have high numbers that correspond to the 1947-48.

[Ferdinand]

Thank you Mondvor! Your help is really appreciated.