High Orders to Enlisted Personnel

[PaulR]

We all know that orders like the Order of Glory were meant primarily for Junior Officers and enlisted.

Have you all seen or heard of enlisted members receiving items such as the Order of the Red Banner, Order of Lenin, and etc? Does anyone have some of these in their collections?

[CtahhR]

It certainly happened. An NCO could get the Red Banner and Lenin for long service just like the generals.
There are so many examples of Red Banners to "other" ranks I couldn't pinpoint one individual example.

You can put "rank" into podvignaroda and search for a specific award and be blown away!

No privates dancing about with the Order Of Victory though... not even ones that served in the RNZN too.

[desantnik]

Lower enlisted were awarded the high orders that you mentioned.

In Echoes I included a specifically officer (polkovodcheskaya) award, Bogdan Khmelnitsky III Class, awarded to an enlisted man (p.83-84). It apparently happened again, b/c I also included a citation to an incident in which an enlisted recipient was detained by the authorities for being a spy for wearing an award to which he wasn't entitled according to the regulations, but the wronged party somehow cleared his name.

My methods are more benign, the $500 offer still stands...

[slava1stclass]

Originally Posted by desantnik

Lower enlisted were awarded the high orders that you mentioned.

In Echoes I included a specifically officer (polkovodcheskaya) award, Bogdan Khmelnitsky III Class, awarded to an enlisted man (p.83-84). It apparently happened again, b/c I also included a citation to an incident in which an enlisted recipient was detained by the authorities for being a spy for wearing an award to which he wasn't entitled according to the regulations, but the wronged party somehow cleared his name.

Gents,

As desantnik notes, while exceedingly uncommon I, too, have seen period images of enlisted personnel who were awarded the Bogdan Khmelnitskiy III. I have one such hard copy photo in my collection - a Bogdan III to Guards Sergeant V. I. Shubin who was also an ORS, Glory III and double For Valor awardee.

Regards,

slava1stclass

[PaulR]

Nice!! Anyone have any pictuuuuurrreesss?

[Al-muell]

I have seen many photographs of Soviet enlisted personel with ORBs.
However, there is likely to be some hard story behind those awards. I currently remember two cases.

One I have found while going through podvignaroda site in search for material for an article. I have found a somewhat ordinary-looking citation about comrade Makarov, who was a liason and coming back from the frontline he noticed that a HMG nearby was out of ammo, so he supplied the ammo under enemy fire and that HMG was crucial for that day's victory. Ordinary, huh? There was one short additional sentence under that description: "Having supplied the HMG with ammo, comrade Makarov was killed."

Another, a bit happier, I have come across in the history book of the 2nd Infantry regiment of the Polish Army (in the East). During the Berlin siege, in one of the battalions of that regiment, there was only one officer left (others were killed or wounded) who decided to devide the battallion in two groups - he led the first one, and he left the command of the other to private Skamarkiewicz, whom everybody called "Volodia", of whom he knew that used to be a Red Army officer (captain if I remember correctly), but for some crimes he was downgraded to private and since he was Polish (or partly Polish) by nationality, he was sent to the Polish Army in 1943 or 1944. Anyway, in Berlin (and if I remember correctly also in some previous episode) he proved himself a skillful commander, so that even tough he was awarded only one Polish combat award ("Meritous on the field of glory" bronze medal), he is listed in the end of the book as awarded 3 Soviet combat awards, including an ORB.
His story given in the book seemed somewhat intriguing to me, so I tried to find him on the podvignaroda site, but so far with no success. It seems to have potential for an article, if not for a movie. I would gladly do some reasearch on thae guy. Well, maybe someday I will have money for that.
It also proves that it was not impossible for a private to lead a group of soldiers larger than a squad.

[desantnik]

Award Sheet
1. Last name, name, and patrionymic: Tsapenko, Vladimir Dmitrievich
2. Rank: Guards Master Sergeant
3. Duty position: Mechanic/Driver - 119 Independent Guards Kelets Engineer-Tank Regiment

Recommendation for the Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky III Class
4. Born: 1922
5. Nationality: Ukrainian
6. Party membership: Comsomol member
7. Previous combat: Participant of the Patriotic War since 22.6.1941
8. Wounds or shell-shock: none
9. Time in Red Army: since 10.6.1941
10. Inducted by: Gulyaipolskii Regional Military Commissariat, Zaporozhe Oblast
11. Previous awards: Glory III on 29.1.45
12. Home of record: Zaporozhe Oblast, Novo-Zlatopolskii Region, Priyutnaya Colony

Short description of personal combat feat or accomplishment

In fighting for Waltersdorf and Lukenwald, he displayed exemplary bravery, courage, and valor.
His tank destroyed two enemy machineguns, four vehicles, and as many as 20 German soldiers and officers.
His crew captured more than 250 Hitlerite prisoners.
He is deserving of the Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky III Class.

Signed Commander, 119 Independent Guards Kalets Engineer Tank Regiment, Guards Lieutenant Colonel Savchenko on 13 May 1945

Endorsed Chief of Engineer Troops, 4 Guards Tank Army, Guards Colonel Polu(?) on 13 May 1945

Endorsed Commander, 4 Guards Tank Army, Twice Hero of the Soviet Union Guards General-Colonel Lelyushenko and Army Member of the Military Council Guards General-Major of Tank Troops Gulyaev on 15 May 1945

Endorsed 1 Ukrainian Front Armored and Mechanized Forces Commander, General-Colonel of Tank Forces Novikov on 17 May 1945

Awarded the Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky III Class by Order 079/N dated [trans: missing] of the 1 Ukrainian Front as attested by Front Chief of Personnel Lieutenant Colonel Sazhnenko on 11 July 1945.

[Al-muell]

His crew captured more than 250 Hitlerite prisoners.

Wow, I know that it was the time when WH morale was low and that the prisoners were mainly Volkssturm probably, but still, that is a lot.

[Auke]

I thought I'd post this citation. Not only did the recipient - a Senior Sergeant - receive the Order of Lenin, the recipient was also a woman and she was decorated posthumously (one of few posthumous wartime awards that wasn't an OPW). She was 21 or 22 at the time.

During the fighting for the village of Voskresensk comrade Podoplelova displayed bravery and courage, permanently located directly among the company's combat formations. In the course of this day she evacuated no fewer than 45 soldiers and officers and their weapons from the battlefield.

During the fighting for the village of Suvorovo she was mortally wounded in the abdomen and died.

In the course of three days of combat comrade Podoplelova evacuated over
80 soldiers and officers and their weapons from the battlefield.

Comrade Podoplelova deserves the Order of Lenin posthumously.

[slava1stclass]

Originally Posted by PaulR

Nice!! Anyone have any pictuuuuurrreesss?

Gents,

As mentioned previously, Bogdan Khmelnitskiy III awards to enlisted personnel were exceedingly uncommon - period images of them in wear even more so. That said, here is a superlative example from my collection.

Truly a stunning combination - enjoy!

Regards,

slava1stclass