Researched Order of the Red Banner

[TacHel]

Egorka (Igor) just sent me the research for my Order of the Red Banner.  Excellent and incredibly fast work!  I highly recommend the gentleman's services!  I was half expecting an award for long service, imagine my surprise at reading this.... 

AWARD CITATION

GUSCHA VASILY ANISIMOVICH, Guards rifleman, Machine gunner, 1st MG company, 151th Guards Rifle Regiment, 52nd Guards Rifle "Order of Lenin" and "Order of Suvorov" Rigskaya Division.

Recommended for "HERO OF THE SOVIET UNION"

Brief and specific description of the personal feat or merit

"As a member of an assault team he exhibited bravery during the crossing of the Oder river on 26 March 1945.  After reaching the dam, comrade GUSCHA, using his machine gun, took out the German machine gunner who was preventing our landing crafts from disembarking at the dam.  The engagement turned into close combat and comrade GUSCHA exhibiting audacity and bravery annihilated eight enemy soldiers with grenades and machine gun fire.   This bridgehead on the left bank of the river was held by a small assault group of 7-8 people until the arrival of reinforcements.  The successful capture of the bridgehead ensured the achievement of all the unit's objectives.  For his exemplary execution of orders of the command and for exhibiting heroism in a fight with a superior enemy comrade GUSCHA is worthy of the title "HERO OF THE SOVIET UNION".

I. YDICH, Guards Colonel, Commander 151th Guards Rifle Regiment, 29 March 1945.

Conclusion of the superiors

Worthy of "HERO OF THE SOVIET UNION"

KOZIN, Guards Major-General, Commander 52nd Guards Rifle "Order of Lenin" and "Order of Suvorov" Rigskaya Division, 29 March 1945.

Worthy of "HERO OF THE SOVIET UNION"

KAZANKIN, Guards Lieutenant-General, Commander 12th Guards Rifle Corps, 29 March 1945.

Conclusion of the Army Council

Worthy of "HERO OF THE SOVIET UNION"

KUZNETSOV, Colonel-General, Commander 3rd Shock Army

LITVINOV, Major-General, Member of 3rd Shock Army military council

Awarded Order "RED BANNER" 

Decree of 3rd Shock Army # 051-H dated 11 April 1945

 

 

Other awards:

Medal for Bravery 16.12.1944

Order of the Red Star 15.08.1944

Order of the Red Star 27.10.1944

Medal for the capture of Berlin

Medal for Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War

[Egorka]

Oh, thanks, TacHel. The pleasure was mine researching this! As you see it is not quite like some other ORBs. The award decree contains 15 recomendations for the HSU! The whole assault team. They all went up approved for HSU all the way from regiment to army council level. But then at the end they all got ORB instead. 

The regiment itself was one the destinguished ones and also participated in battle of Berlin. The awardee survived the war. 

Edited February 18, 2017 by Egorka

[TacHel]

Original documents.

[Paul R]

Frank, I am only now seeing this thread.  What an AWESOME award.  You have basically would've been a citation for a Hero order.  And the medal itself is a duplicate issue.  Double win.  Igor, as usual, thank you for posting all of this research. You brought this medal to life.  I thoroughly love reading your threads.  It's a bummer to see this award dropped suddenly all the way from Hero to ORB... they could've at least given him an Lenin or one of the higher screwback awards. 

[TacHel]

6 minutes ago, Paul R said:

Frank, I am only now seeing this thread.  What an AWESOME award.  You have basically would've been a citation for a Hero order.  And the medal itself is a duplicate issue.  Double win.  Igor, as usual, thank you for posting all of this research. You brought this medal to life.  I thoroughly love reading your threads.  It's a bummer to see this award dropped suddenly all the way from Hero to ORB... they could've at least given him an Lenin or one of the higher screwback awards. 

Thanks, I was quite surprised myself! 

[Ferdinand]

On 26/11/2018 at 22:59, Paul R said:

Frank, I am only now seeing this thread.  What an AWESOME award.  You have basically would've been a citation for a Hero order.  And the medal itself is a duplicate issue.  Double win.  Igor, as usual, thank you for posting all of this research. You brought this medal to life.  I thoroughly love reading your threads.  It's a bummer to see this award dropped suddenly all the way from Hero to ORB... they could've at least given him an Lenin or one of the higher screwback awards. 

Well, technically the Red Banner is a higher award than the Orders of Kutuzov, Suvorov, Khmelnitsky, etc., even though those are much rarer.