Soviet Order of the Red Banner researched

[Dolf]

Another researched piece, Order of the Red Banner, screwback, T2V2, S/N 38417.

Junior Lieutenant Feodor Grigoryevich Sazonov was born in the Prusinskaya Buda village, Byelorussia, in 1918. He joined the Red Army in 1940, as a Private on the 92nd Howitzer Artillery Regiment, 33rd Rifle Division, but then was a Cadet of political school in 41. He was dismissed in 194? as a Senior Lieutenant.

Not sure what that means, but in other Docs it seems he was still in the Army in 1959, still as a Senior Lieutenant, and also in 1975 as a Captain!

He fought in the North-Western Front, as Gun Commander of the 429th Howitzer Artillery Regiment, RGK of North-Western Front, then as Platoon Commander, and Second in Command of Battery of the 122nd Mortar detachment, 77th Howitzer Artillery Brigade (41-43), then he was a Student in the 69th Western Artillery Regiment, a Cadet, a Commander of March Battery in the 63rd Western Artillery Regiment, 2nd Western Rifle Division of Ural MD, where he later became Battery Commander, then as Reserve (?) on the 43rd training reserve regiment of Officers, Ural MD, and as a Battery Commander again, and in the 1st Ukrainian Front, 122mm Howitzer, 292nd Artillery Regiment, 128th Rifle Division of the 1st Ukrainian Front (45).

He received his Red Banner on October 26, 1942.

He was also awarded with a Medal for Victory over Germany and a Medal for Courage.

Brief description of personal feats or merit:

"... February 23, 1942, the enemy aviation made a large raid on in the area of the fire position. When bombs were exploding very close, his gun kept firing at the enemy.

During the period of command over the guncrew between September 12, 1941, and June, 1942, using his gun Comrade Sazonov destroyed 2 artillery batteries, a mortar battery, 4 machine-guns points, 3 pillboxes, over 10 automobiles, many wagons and a lot of personnel resources of the enemy. Since June, 1942, he is in command of a firing platoon.

June 17-19, 1942, when breaking through the enemy's defense at Vasilyevshchina-Tuganovo /II Army/, Comrade Sazonov's platoon destroyed up to 200 Hitlerites, an artillery battery of 3 guns, knocked out 4 tanks, several anti-tank guns, and other works.

In fights against the German invaders Comrade Sazonov proved a responsible and steadfast defender of the Fatherland and patriot..."

Dolf

[Dolf]

The reverse with a copy of a pic of Junior Lieutenant Feodor Grigoryevich Sazonov.

Dolf

[Stogieman]

Nice ORB with a significant story behind it. I really enjoy these early awards of the ORB, one really had to perform significant feats to earn one!!

[Gerd Becker]

Well deserved Order of the Red Banner

Very nice citation, Dolf.

This is, what Charles Sharp writes in his OOB-books about the 77th Howitzer Brigade:

formed in December 1942 in the 26th Artillery Division with the 229th, 305th and 429th Howitzer Regiments. The 77th was a "mixed howitzer" brigade, since the 229th and the 305th were equipped with 20 122mm Howitzer each, while the 429th had 20 152mm heavy howitzers. Early in 1943 the 429th was redesignated as the 78th Guards Howitzer Regiment. The brigade was assigned to the 26th Artillery Division for the entire war.

Gerd

PS: Still waiting for the answer on you know, what

[Ed_Haynes]

Nice one! Thanks for sharing.

[Dolf]

Thank you guys!

I love it too, and love the story behind it!

Gerd, thanks a lot for the additional info on the 77th Howitzer Brigade!

Have you seen the researched Nevsky too?

Dolf

Edited February 17, 2006 by Dolf

[Guest Rick Research]

His personnel file photo shows him without shoulder boards, suggesting a demobilized ex-officer when it was taken. If you can post nice sharp scans of his personnel records, we can clear up some of the confusion about his service.

The 1975 promotion sounds like one typically given to old retired officers as a "brevet" in recognition of war service. My Captain Kolesnikov was "dismissed to the reserve"-- that is, demobilized from army service, on 15 August 1946 and never served again, but was given the rank of a Major in the Reserves (that is, retired, but under age 60) on 13 January 1965-- I assume because he had commanded a battalion during the war without ever receiving this rank at the time. It sounds like your Senior Lieutenant got the same type of "pension promotion" because he had been a battery commander.

Presumably these retirement promotions gave the former officers some little extra privilege or money every month-- a more "useful" reward than all those jubilee medals!

Did you get his Awards Record Card? What other awards did Comrade (?) Sazonov receive?

[Dolf]

His personnel file photo shows him without shoulder boards, suggesting a demobilized ex-officer when it was taken. If you can post nice sharp scans of his personnel records, we can clear up some of the confusion about his service.

The 1975 promotion sounds like one typically given to old retired officers as a "brevet" in recognition of war service. My Captain Kolesnikov was "dismissed to the reserve"-- that is, demobilized from army service, on 15 August 1946 and never served again, but was given the rank of a Major in the Reserves (that is, retired, but under age 60) on 13 January 1965-- I assume because he had commanded a battalion during the war without ever receiving this rank at the time. It sounds like your Senior Lieutenant got the same type of "pension promotion" because he had been a battery commander.

Presumably these retirement promotions gave the former officers some little extra privilege or money every month-- a more "useful" reward than all those jubilee medals!

Rick,

Thanks a lot for your offer, I'll do the best possible scans of everything I got (the ones in Russian, not the translations) and will post them later.

Thanks,

Dolf

[Dolf]

PS: Still waiting for the answer on you know, what

Gerd,

Will email you later about this,

Dolf

[Dolf]

Ok, here we go, the right scans for Junior Lieutenant Feodor Grigoryevich Sazonov,

Scan 1

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Scan 2

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Scan 3

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Scan 4

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Scan 5

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Scan 6

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Scan 7

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Scan 8

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Rick,

And the translation. As for the Nevsky, please let me know if you detect any errors.

Thanks a lot,

Dolf

Page 1

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Page 2

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Page 3

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Page 4

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And finally Page 5.

Dolf

[Guest Rick Research]

VERY interesting for a number of reasons:

a very early Red Banner for a noncommissioned officer!

And there is some part of his service record that is INDEED MISSING--

his Award Record Card from 17 January 1947 refers to him as JUNIOR Lieutenant of Reserve, service November 1940 to June 1946:

but he was promoted to LIEUTENANT on 19 May 1943!!!!

WHY was he promoted to SENIOR Lieutenant on 7 August 1953? He was then 35 years old... or to Captain on 25 April 1975 at the ripe OLD age of 55???????

Mysterious!!!!!!

[Dolf]

Rick,

Why iyo would part of his Service Record be missing? Any particular reason?

Right, that is a contradition! Promoted to Lieutenant on May 19, 1943, but still listed as a Junior Lieutenant on his Record Card dated January 17, 1947! Weird! I just noticed that!

Is this common? I can only read the translation, not the papers in Russian, so could it be an error made by the translator or does this info matches the original one in Russian?

Apparently he was dismissed, still as a Lieutenant, on July 9, 194? Not sure why an interrogation here! Is it because it's impossible to read from the original papers in Russian? Or is it not listed on the original papers?!

Yes, I wonder why was he promoted to Senior Lieutenant (August 7, 1959) and to the rank of Captain (April 25, 1975) apparently after he was dismissed, and also because it seems that after he was dismissed he was in a kolkhoz, as a kolkhoz chairman, so indeed a civilian!

I don't know about the other long service Medals you mentioned earlier (before probably editing your post I guess) but if he was indeed dismissed in 194?, there was no official reason for being awarded those long service Medals, right?

On the other hand, apart from this ORB (1942) he also got a Medal for Victory over Germany (1945) and a Medal for Bravery (no date about this one!).

Oh, btw, what is a noncommissioned officer?!...

Interesting indeed! What do you think?

Thanks a lot once again,

Dolf

Edited February 19, 2006 by Dolf

[Guest Rick Research]

"Why iyo would part of his Service Record be missing? Any particular reason?"

I am reading his promotion year to Senior Lieutenant as 7.8.53 not 59 so I wonder if he went back into the army, or was on "active reserve?" Normally "reserve" in the Soviet meaning actually = "retired." 195-any year seems too soon to be a Pension Advancement!

"Right, that is a contradition! Promoted to Lieutenant on May 19, 1943, but still listed as a Junior Lieutenant on his Record Card dated January 17, 1947! Weird! I just noticed that!

Is this common? I can only read the translation, not the papers in Russian, so could it be an error made by the translator or does this info matches the original one in Russian?"

Yes, they made a big mistake-- this happens ALL the time with paperwork!!!!!

"Apparently he was dismissed, still as a Lieutenant, on July 9, 194? Not sure why an interrogation here! Is it because it's impossible to read from the original papers in Russian? Or is it not listed on the original papers?!"

Yes, I cannot read the final number. His award record card says he left the army in June 1946-- but then THAT also has his rank WRONG.

"Yes, I wonder why was he promoted to Senior Lieutenant (August 7, 1959) and to the rank of Captain (April 25, 1975) apparently after he was dismissed, and also because it seems that after he was dismissed he was in a kolkhoz, as a kolkhoz chairman, so indeed a civilian!"

I'm reading that as 1953, not 1959. ?

"I don't know about the other long service Medals you mentioned earlier (before probably editing your post I guess) but if he was indeed dismissed in 194?, there was no official reason for being awarded those long service Medals, right?"

Yes, my I thought that "ZA" for "For Victory Over Germany" was a "30."

"On the other hand, apart from this ORB (1942) he also got a Medal for Victory over Germany (1945) and a Medal for Bravery (no date about this one!)."

That is a mistake from your research translator. Line 10 there shows ONLY his Red Banner and Victory Over Germany. He did NOT show a Bravery Medal. It looks like we all make mistakes when we hurry through messy handwriting!

"Oh, btw, what is a noncommissioned officer?!..."

Corporals and Sergeants. We usually just use the abbreviation "NCO." He was called up (drafted?) as a PRIVATE, and then must have impressed his officers enough that he was sent on training courses to be an NCO (June 1941) and then a junior officer. He won his Red Banner as a Senior Sergeant, but there is no rank date shown for that grade in his records.

"Interesting indeed! What do you think?"

I forgot to mention--

this was submitted as a proposal for the Order of the Patriotic War 1st Class--

and instead he got the Red Banner!

So that is TWO awards you have where the recipient got a HIGHER grade award than what he was proposed for! Usually we see people with awards bumped DOWN!!!!