Red Star,0179982,Gun Layer,Anti-Aircraft Machine-Gun Company,107th Tank Brigade

[Bill Garvy]

Record card of an awardee

Last name: Kikinadze
First name: Nikolai
Patronymic: Vladimirovich
Rank: Guards Private First Class
Position and unit: Gun Layer in the 107th Tank Brigade, 16th Tank Corps

Awarded:

Awarded which order of medal/Date of the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR/Awarded for what

Order of the Red Star/Order nr. 11/N of July 9, 1943/For the fighting with the German invaders

[Blue stamp: Award issued]


Home address: 107th Tank Brigade, Ukrainian Front

Biographical particulars

1. Year of birth: 1922
2. Place of birth:
3. Party membership and period: Member of the Komsomol
4. Nationality: Georgian
5. Period of service in the Red Army:
6. Award documents are located in file nr.:

Awards issued:

Order or medal/Date of issue/Place of issue/Number of the order or medal /Number of the award document/Remarks

179982/July 10, 1943/ Temporary certificate nr. 572461

Other remarks:

[Bill Garvy]

Order

Secret
Copy nr. 2

[Stamp: Ukrainian Front; September 2, 1943]

Order

Of the 107th Tank Brigade, 16th Tank Corps

July 9, 1943 – Nr. 11/N – Active Army

On behalf of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, for the exemplary accomplishment of combat missions in the struggle with the German invaders and the valor and bravery displayed in the process, I award:

[…]

The Order of the Red Star to:

1. Guards Private First Class Nikolai Vladimirovich Kikinadze, Layer of a DShK machine gun in the Brigade’s Anti-Aircraft Company

[…]

Commander of the 107th Tank Brigade
Colonel [signed] /Telyakov/

[Bill Garvy]

Award sheet

1. Last name, first name and patronymic: Kikinadze, Nikolai Vladimirovich
2. Rank: Guards Private First Class
3. Position and unit: Layer of a DShK machine gun in the Anti-Aircraft Machine-Gun Company of the 107th Tank Brigade
Nominated for: Order of the Red Star
4. Year of birth: 1922
5. Nationality: Georgian
6. Party affiliation: Member of the Komsomol
7. Participation in the Civil War, the subsequent combat actions to defend the USSR, and the Patriotic War (where and when): In the Patriotic War on the Stalingrad Front from August 15, 1942 through October 23, 1942; on the Don Front from October 25, 1942 through December 23, 1942; and on the Central Front since February 21, 1943
8. Wounds and contusions received during the Patriotic War: No
9. Since when in the Red Army: Since October 1941
10. Drafted by which military commissariat: Military Commissariat of the Khashuri Raion, Georgian SSR
11. Awards received previously (for which merits): None
12. Permanent home address of the prospective awardee and the address of his family: ______________

Short, concrete description of his combat feat or merits:

Guards Private First Class N.V. Kikinadze took part in the fighting with the German occupiers in the area two kilometers east of the village of Vtoriye Ponyri on the Central Front, covering the brigade staff and the command post. He took part in repelling fierce German air raids with his DShK machine gun, the commander of which, Sergeant Lavrov, shot down one Focke-Wulf 190 fighter. He deserves the Order of the Red Star.

Commander of the Anti-Aircraft Machine-Gun Company
Junior Lieutenant [signed] /Kuts/
April 8, 1943


He deserves the Order of the Red Star.

Commander of the 107th Tank Brigade
Colonel [signed] /Telyakov/
July 9, 1943

[Bill Garvy]

Guards Private First Class Nikolai Vladimirovich Kikinadze's Order of the Red Star, #179982.

[CtahhR]

Rather unusual that the citation mentions someone else getting a "kill". It also seems a little unusual that this was his only award. I wonder if the aforementioned Sergeant usually got the kills and awards?

I think the Ukrainians had a good idea in renaming the "Ефрейтор" rank to "Senior Soldier". The modern Estonian army now calls the rank Corporal although it would only be a Lance Corporal in Commonwealth forces.
The rank is between "Soldier" and "Sergeant" ranks but it uses its own (borrowed from German) term rather than being a "junior" or "senior" anything.