OAN order for Lt. Col. BALASHOV, the THREE times OAN cavalier.

[Egorka]

A bit special OAN # 27795, bestowed to Lt. Col. BALASHOV, the commander of 144 mortar regiment of the Supreme Command reserve, for the action in MArch 1945 near Ostrava (Moravia).

The special about this OAN is that the cavalier was bestowed in total with THREE orders of Aleksander Nevsky. There were only 5 men like him ever.

Citation:

"He provided fire support to 315 Guards rifle regiment, 128 Guards rifle division in the operation for enemy defence breakthrough north-west of Ostrava (Moravia) and commanded the infantry artillery support group.

He arranged for efficient operation of the artillery support group and the coordination with the supported rifle units. As the result of this effort, the fire delivered by the support group on 14 April 1945 completely disabled the enemy firing positions on the first line and in to the close depth of the enemy defence: destroyed 10 machine-guns, 2 mortar batteries, 2 guns on open sight positions, suppressed 105mm artillery battery, annihilated 50m of trenches. Our rifle units took control of the settlement Gorzyce practically without any losses, and later on crossed the river Olza.

He acted bravely and courageously during the engagement. He was severely wounded while being present at his commander post in immediate vicinity of our rifle combat formations. He deserves a state award - order “RED BANNER”."

The initial recommendation for ORB was changed to OAN. He was bestowed by the decree on 04 June 1945 by 4 Ukrainian front.