Soviet Pure Adrenaline - A serious action citation for a Lenin!

[NavyFCO]

This research belonged to a screwback order of Lenin that I bought out of Russia about three years ago. I bought it for $700, and when I bought it it was complete with a piece of uniform cloth in between the screwback plate and medal (to keep from scratching the medal!) the order book, and later, research. I sold the award for $900, and about two months ago I saw it again on a dealer's website - missing research, order book and uniform cloth for a whopping $2600! Sad... very sad... (I must point out here that the dealer wasn't to blame - he was selling it as he had bought it. It had changed hands two or three times in between me and the dealer and somewhere it lost all the paper...)

Anyway, when I got the research, my researcher told me that it was "the best citation he had ever read." Pretty flattering... but I had just sold the piece! Win some... lose some...

Here's the citation:

AWARD CITATION

1. Last Name, First Name, Middle Name: Zhikunov, Ivan Ivanovich.

2. Military Rank : Lieutenant.

3. Place of Service: Commander of the Heavy Tank Company of the 259th Tank Battalion of the 143rd Tank Brigade.

Recommended for: Order of Lenin.

4. Year of Birth: 1921.

5. Nationality: Russian.

6. From Which Time with the Red Army: From 1938.

7. Party Membership: Member of the VLKSM from 1938.

8. Service in the Civil War, in later Battles in Service of the USSR and in the GPW (when and where): Great Patriotic War: Western Front from 28 June to 28 July, from 15 November to 15 January 1942. 14th Tank Brigade.

9. Have any Wounds or Contusions in the Great Patriotic War: None.

10. Received Which Awards (from which order): None.

11. Which Call-Up Station: 1938.

12. Home Address: Penzenskaya Oblast, Metchinsky Area, Generalovo Village.

Short Concrete Description of Excellent Military Action or Service.

On March 23, 1942 in the area of the village of Usovo, the tank under the command of Hero of the Soviet Union Lieutenant Lazarev encountered and bravely engaged a superior enemy force of six tanks. Two of the tanks were destroyed, while the others were sent into retreat. The crew of Lieutenant Zhikunov, fighting in another part of Usovo village, saw Lazarev's fight against the enemy tanks and came to his aid. Zhikunov's tank engaged the four retreating enemy tanks. The tank's gunner, Senior Sergeant Fadeyev destroyed three of the tanks, but one managed to escape.

Zhikunov's tank then destroyed an antitank cannon, which was firing at it from a log bunker. Other enemy artillery opened fire at the tank. The tank's turret jammed, and gunner Senior Sergeant Fadeyev was wounded. The tank caught on fire. Zhikunov ordered the driver to crush the enemy infantry with the tracks of the tank. The tank driver, Sergeant Major Lekomtsev, burst into the enemy entrenchment, crushed a cannon, which had been firing at his tank with incendiary rounds, and destroyed up to thirty infantrymen, after which he also demolished several burned out houses that had been hiding enemy submachine gunners. Radio operator Yesakov was able to extinguish the fire in the tank, and opened fire at the fascists with the machine gun.

A counter attack, which had been planned by the enemy at the point of resistance near Usovo village, was thwarted. The enemy suffered considerable losses after the fight led by tanks under the command of Hero of the Soviet Union Lazarev and Lieutenant Zhikunov. Together, they destroyed five enemy tanks, one self propelled gun, two log bunkers, four enemy cannons and up to three platoons of infantry. After the fight both tanks arrived at the assembly point.

Tank Commander Lieutenant Zhikunov showed bravery and courage, and he deserves to be awarded the Order of Lenin.

Commander, 259th Tank Battalion Commissar, 259th Tank Battalion

Captain Lysenko Senior Political Instructor Didenko

Chief of Staff, 259th Tank Battalion

Captain Kotkin

[NavyFCO]

The award:

[NavyFCO]

Here's the backside...

[NavyFCO]

A photo of the handsome lad. You can see that he was wearing a "faux hanger" over his Lenin without ever converting it!

[NavyFCO]

His service history:

[NavyFCO]

Front part of his service history. He retired as a Colonel.

[NavyFCO]

Order book part one...

[NavyFCO]

Order book part two. Sadly, this is the only place where the order book exists as the real one is probably now in a landfill somewhere...

[NavyFCO]

Interesting... For the first time, I looked up HSU Lieutenant Lazarev. Turns out that he had been awarded his title of HSU in 1939 for fighting at Khalkhin-Gol! Also interesting to note was that he was KIA on 12 April 1942 - not three weeks after this tank battle.

Dave

[Guest Rick Research]

Jesus wept! What kind of IMBECILE ... (mental imagery of a male Valley Girl: "Like, fershur, I like lost like all that boring old like stuff like I can't read anyway and so like what WAS with that like rag thing anyway?")

What a STRANGE career! Top honors in 1942... and then nothing else for the entire rest of the war! A "Sturmgesch?tz" Self Propelled Artillery officer, in all kinds of Operations Staff positions, a Major at 24, a Colonel at 37, higher courses... dumped out apparently in Khruschev's "Budget Purge" (he seems to have gone into Local Military Commissariat doldrums 1961-68, of the type we see stamping and autographing jubilee medal documents for local veterans).

And some (gentlemanly decorum intrudes, insert own thoughts here) LOSES/THROWS AWAY all the documentation and original uniform padding?

The ONLY worse thing I have EVER heard of is a local moron on eBay who threw away a lock of a Confederate POW Colonel's hair, enclosed with a gold piece and his photo taken in Yankee POW camp to a Northern family which had "adopted" him for care: threw away the hair ("That is SO gross," and I quote), and sold coin, photo, letter (mentioning the lock of hair, coin, and photo, and which was the ONLY identification of WHO the nameless photograph Colonel WAS ), and envelope in four lots-- not to jack up prices but because the seller was a MORON. And all four pieces went to four different buyers.

I absofreakinlutely hate it when this sort of thing happens.

WE try SO hard to keep memory alive, and to obtain and retain these pieces of real people's real lives...

and then alone comes some JERK and discards things "of no interest" (the original ORDERS BOOK? @#%*& $^&*&$ %$@&9* @#&*^%$# @#$#%#@% !!!!!!!!!)

Well, at least the Human Baboon didn't have the Order BRONZED!!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[Ed_Haynes]

"Criminal behavior" is too small a word.

[Bryan]

Also interesting to note was that he was KIA on 12 April 1942 - not three weeks after this tank battle.

Maybe the guy was just to crazy and was not afraid of anything.

The citation look like a rambo movie.

That's pretty amazing. To bad to what happened to the group. The history will be lost.

[byf]

So sad that these morons can not figure that a group is a group. Boy, that is a sad tale. What a hero.

byf