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Old 07-28-2003, 03:39 PM   #1
Dave
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Patriotic War I,0148227,Loader,182nd Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment,Posthumous

You rarely see KIA awards, so this one I felt was worth sharing... I got choked up reading it, and I thought the forum members would appreciate it as well...

--Dave


AWARD CITATION

1. Last Name, First Name, Middle Name: Puzan, Petr Trifonovich.

2. Military Rank: Red Army Soldier.

3. Place of Service: Loader, 182nd Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment, RGK.

Recommended for: Order of the Patriotic War 1st Class.

4. Year of Birth: 1917.

5. Nationality: Ukrainian.

6. Party Membership: Not a Party Member.

7. Service in the Civil War, in later Battles in Service of the USSR and in the GPW (when and where): In the Patriotic War from October 1943 to March 1944, Mpril 1944 to August 1944.

8. Have any Wounds or Contusions in the Great Patriotic War: KILLED on 19 August 1944 on the 1st Belorussian Front.

9. From Which Time with the Red Army: Since 1943.

10. Received Which Awards (from which order): Order of the Great Patriotic War 2nd Class, order 01/N on 21 January 1944 7th M.K.K.; Medal “For Valor” order 090/N on 15 December 1943.

12. Home Address: Kiev Oblast, Stavistchensk Region, Popruyanskii. Mother: Kharitia Artmievna Puzan.

Short Concrete Description of Excellent Military Action or Service.

A loader in an SU-85, Private Puzan served in battles from 12 to 18 August 1944, acted bravely and continued uninterrupted fire. As a result of this, 2 enemy tanks, 2 guns, 2 machine guns and 20 Germans were destroyed.

In the battle of Dachi Ostrievek, Private Puzan, under strong enemy mortar fire, transferred ammunition into the carriage and helped provide uninterrupted fire for the self-propelled gun.

On 19 August 1944, in a damaged self-propelled gun, Private Puzan replaced the gunner and fired into the enemy to his last drop of blood. In this battle, loader Puzan died as a hero.

For displaying valor and heroism, Private Puzan deserves the State Award, the Order of the Great Patriotic War 1st Class to be awarded posthumously.

Commander of 182nd Self-propelled Artillery Regiment, RGK,
/s/ Lt. Col. Gromov
____ 1944

I posthumously award the Order of the Great Patriotic War 1st Class.

Commander of BT and MV, 47th Army.
/s/ General-Major of Tank Forces _______
22 August 1944

By orders of the Commander of BT and MV – 47th Army, N. 027/N on 23 August 1944, he is posthumously awarded the Order of the Great Patriotic War 1st Class.
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Old 08-05-2003, 10:28 AM   #2
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For the benefit of those less knowledgeable, could you elaborate on why KIA citations are rare. Is it because the awards, by definition had to remain with the state since the recipient was already dead or can the answer be found in the underlying guidelines for awarding medals and orders in the Soviet system - for example. would the State rather reward the living as proof of the ultimate superiority of the political system?
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Old 08-07-2003, 01:34 PM   #3
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Here's my thought as to why I consider a KIA citation rare:

-Ever see one before?

:) Just kidding (as that's not a very good indicator of rarity!) :) A better qualification for my statement would be to consider:

-There were 6,329,600 Soviet military personnel killed in action (or died of wounds) during the course of the War. This number does not include the 3,396,400 missing in action/POW's (that figure does not include 2,775,700 POW's that were returned to the USSR), the 1,162,600 who were 'unrecorded' casualties, or the 555,500 who died from disease, accidents, etc. The total figure comes out to 10,888,600 total military in-action losses (not including the disease/accident number). (Note that I say 'military', as this does not include partisans, or civilian losses.)

With that established, here are some more numbers:

-There were 324,903 Orders of the Patriotic War 1st Class awarded for actions during the War, and a further 951,652 Patriotic War 2nd Classes awarded for wartime actions.

If every one of those awards were given to personnel that were killed in action, that would mean that 9,612,045 (or roughly 88%) DID NOT receive posthumous awards, or about 12% did.

Since we know that not every one of the awards of the Patriotic War were to personnel that were killed in action, we must also consider that 39,378,500 total personnel were attached to the Soviet armed forces during the War.

With that considered, we can see that the award of the Patriotic War was quite rare, with only about 2.5% of all those called up ever receiving one (and that would not consider that many of these awards were awarded twice, even sometimes three times, to individual servicemen, which would actually bring the percentage down below 2% overall).

Unfortunately, we don't have the exact numbers of posthumous/non-posthumous awards of the Patriotic War, but I would take an educated guess that it probably was on a ratio of 1 to 50 (considering the number of researched ones I've owned and seen to live people, and the number of researched ones I've seen to KIA's). On a 1 to 50 ratio, that would mean that around 25,000 Patriotic War awards were awarded posthumously. Without going into further calculations, 25,000 awards to 39 million total personnel was a drop in the bucket!

Now, you say that 'that's nice', but there were only 8000 Khemelnitsky's awarded during the War. Of course, 8000 is less than 25,000... Let me add some further considerations...

Once again, I don't know the exact breakdown, but there were probably about 60% fewer Patriotic War 1st class awards given posthumously than 2nd class awards (based off the total awarded numbers.) That would make about 8000 1st class awards given out. Of those awards, the majority were undoubtedly to officers (given that officers were more likely to earn awards overall anyway, and that their feats and loss were more likely to be noticed at the command level which granted the awards). Thus, more awards were given to KIA officers, then NCO's, and finally, the fewest 1st class awards were to the Other Ranks. Normally (one can assume) the Patriotic War 2nd class would be awarded vice the 1st class to the lower ranking officers and enlisted, simply due to their rank and combat experience. In that way, this award of a 1st class to a Private is all the more unusual.

My final point for consideration is this: junior officers and junior enlisted were more likely than not younger personnel (there were exceptions, but normally that was the case). This means that they would have had less time to start a family, have children, etc. Thus, the award would be given to the next-of-kin, which would often be a father or mother. Once the father or mother passed away, who was to say that there were other children to care for the award? Or if there were, who is to say that the brothers and sisters wanted to keep the award? Certainly the veteran wasn't around to wear it! Thus, numerous KIA awards are lost simply due to the loss of interest in the award as the memory of the solider faded away (or died off).

We could also investigate the fact that many of the posthumous awards were to soldiers who no longer had families or next-of-kin. After all, the German Army wreaked havoc on the occupied lands, and the waves of war ravaged the civilian population from Moscow to Berlin, from Leningrad to Kiev, the area that was the population center for the USSR. Thus, many posthumous awards were never even delivered to the next of kin, and were subsequently stored away.

The fact that this award still has the original award document is also something to consider, but I won't elaborate on that topic as the survival of a small piece of fragile paper to whom the owner was no longer in existence should be a relatively easy probably to establish.

I would type more, but I think the point has been made. I would rate the rarity of this award to that of a 1st class Kutuzov or Khmelnitsky... Though I have seen many more of those for sale than I have seen KIA orders in my 11 years of collecting Soviet awards!

Hope this all made sense!

--Dave

References: Krivosheev, G. F. (ed.) Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses in the Twentieth Century, Greenhill Books, London, 1997
McDaniel, P. and Schmitt P.J. The Comprehensive Guide to Soviet Orders and Medals, Historical Research, Arlington, 1997
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Old 08-07-2003, 10:18 PM   #4
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LOL. Holy crap Dave. Ease up with the statistical sledge hammer. :D

Thats one of the best answers that I have ever seen given about Soviet awards and medals and why something is rare or not, and I wish others would take this approach when the place a value and rarity on items as it would cut down on misunderstandings.

From a more touchy-feely point of view, the Soviets didn't care about soldiers that were killed in action, They were the "little cogs" in Stalin's words. When considering why there were no (or very few) KIA awards given by the Soviets, one must remember that the awards were considered "Property of the State" until 1976, and are in some ways still considered so today. Since families had to turn in all awards other the OGPWs when the owner died until the 1970s, its makes perfect sense that few KIA awards were actually given out. I do not know how many citations were issued for events that led to the soldier's death, but there are very, very few actual awards that were actually presented.

When you combine the military regulations of awarding ODMs and combine it with the official government position towards the value of the regular soldier or citizen's life, it is easily understood why these awards are so rare.

More power to you Dave.

Take care,
Ed M.
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Old 08-08-2003, 12:32 PM   #5
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Good posts - good stuff!
Over the past 5 years, I think I have only seen 3 (including Dave's listed above) postumous awards for Order of Great PW.
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Old 08-09-2003, 10:20 PM   #6
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Dave and Ed,
To carry it one step further; would you say that the primary reason (from the point of view of the State) a medal or order was awarded to a living individual was as a reward to that person or was it to certify to others, both foreign and domestic, that the Soviet system and ideology worked - that it was capable of producing living, breathing examples of the new "Soviet man".

I would be interested in your opinions.
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Old 08-09-2003, 10:34 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally posted by Stephende
Dave and Ed,
To carry it one step further; would you say that the primary reason (from the point of view of the State) a medal or order was awarded to a living individual was as a reward to that person or was it to certify to others, both foreign and domestic, that the Soviet system and ideology worked - that it was capable of producing living, breathing examples of the new "Soviet man".

I would be interested in your opinions.
I think that's going a little far, honestly.

It was easier to award a living guy a medal because he was alive. Medals are intended to be motivational tools. It's hard to motivate a dead guy...

Additionally, the Soviets lost MILLIONS of soldiers during the war (see my above post). I'm certain that many of those men died gallantly, but were never recognized. Why? When you start losing 1000+ men per day in a campaign (15,325 men per day on AVERAGE during the Berlin Campaign alone!) you have a LOT more to worry about then tacking on medals to dead guys.

What it boils down to is this: when you died as a Soviet soldier, the "care light" may have momentarily flickered, if you were LUCKY. With such vast losses, losing people became far less "personal" to the higher chain of command than it did with the more western nations. Thus, when you died, you were doing well if your family was even notified that you had died (often that was one of the major "perks" in joining the Communist Party- they would guarantee that your family was notified if you were KIA!) Even the notifications of the death of a soldier- a mere piece of paper- was often more than a unit could produce in an intense combat environment. Many families waited for years to hear about the the death of their son/husband/father/daughter, and many never heard at all, but finally gave up hoping for their return many years after the War was over.

Thus, in answer to your question: No.

--Dave
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Old 08-11-2003, 02:32 AM   #8
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Dave,

Excellent posts. The fact that Krivosheev's work is based on official statistics and his figures are, if anything, too low (depeding on the historian the figures should probably be raised by up to 20-30%!!) changes nothing in your argument - rare is still rare.

I especially agree with your last comment.

Look at things from a purely administrative viewpoint for a second. Who awarded things like the OPW? In the case of your example final approval came from the Army. I think approval was often authorized at an even lower level in some cases. But anyway, stick with the Army level for argument's sake. A Soviet Army was a very small organization in the big scheme of things. It was literally totally unconcerned with things outside its own borders - which were usually confined to a square less than 20km on a side. It relied on links with its Front, the Stavka and the Arm and Branch HQs for everthing outside its own small world.

Award a living person and all you have to do is summon them up from their sub-unit, hand over the awards, shake a hand, make an entry into their personnel book, and off they go back to the killing fields.

Award a dead person and you have a huge headache. You can't just pin it to the body. Which might not exist anymore, might be unrecoverable and will be buried in an unmarked grave anyway - not sent home for burial. So you have to try to send the award home. Who is going to do that and how?? No one from your Army will go. Your world ends at the back of the Army's rear area.

Give it to the military field post system? The Soviets had five levels of priority for logistical transport - ammunition being priority #1. Awards to dead people do not even rate on this scale. All you have anyway is the family/next of kin address in the soldiers book - remember there were NO central records of enlisted people during the war period! The address was there from the time of their conscription - likely unchanged. Yet, tens of millions of Soviet civilians moved during the war, or died, or were in occupied territories.

The death notices - single sheets of paper which fold to create an envelope were hard enough to deliver as Dave says. The ones I have or have seen are all delivered at least 6 months after the deaths in question!! Heck, many people who returned home after the war did not find their family for months or even years.

As a commander with awards to give why would you award a dead person?? It would either have to be really, really deserved or perhaps you would have to know for some reason that it would be easy to deliver home.

Shawn
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Old 12-26-2009, 10:50 AM   #9
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Patriotic War I,0148227,1st Belorussian Front,Posthumous

AWARD CITATION

1. Last Name, First Name, Middle Name: Puzan, Petr Trifonovich.
2. Military Rank: Red Army Soldier.
3. Place of Service: Loader, 182nd Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment, RGK.

Recommended for: Order of the Patriotic War 1st Class.

4. Year of Birth: 1917.
5. Nationality: Ukrainian.
6. Party Membership: Not a Party Member.
7. Service in the Civil War, in later Battles in Service of the USSR and in the GPW (when and where): In the Patriotic War from October 1943 to March 1944, Mpril 1944 to August 1944.
8. Have any Wounds or Contusions in the Great Patriotic War: KILLED on 19 August 1944 on the 1st Belorussian Front.
9. From Which Time with the Red Army: Since 1943.
10. Received Which Awards (from which order): Order of the Great Patriotic War 2nd Class, order 01/N on 21 January 1944 7th M.K.K.; Medal “For Valor” order 090/N on 15 December 1943.
12. Home Address: Kiev Oblast, Stavistchensk Region, Popruyanskii. Mother: Kharitia Artmievna Puzan.

Short Concrete Description of Excellent Military Action or Service.

A loader in an SU-85, Private Puzan served in battles from 12 to 18 August 1944, acted bravely and continued uninterrupted fire. As a result of this, 2 enemy tanks, 2 guns, 2 machine guns and 20 Germans were destroyed.

In the battle of Dachi Ostrievek, Private Puzan, under strong enemy mortar fire, transferred ammunition into the carriage and helped provide uninterrupted fire for the self-propelled gun.

On 19 August 1944, in a damaged self-propelled gun, Private Puzan replaced the gunner and fired into the enemy to his last drop of blood. In this battle, loader Puzan died as a hero.

For displaying valor and heroism, Private Puzan deserves the State Award, the Order of the Great Patriotic War 1st Class to be awarded posthumously.

Commander of 182nd Self-propelled Artillery Regiment, RGK,
/s/ Lt. Col. Gromov
____ 1944

I posthumously award the Order of the Great Patriotic War 1st Class.

Commander of BT and MV, 47th Army.
/s/ General-Major of Tank Forces _______
22 August 1944

By orders of the Commander of BT and MV – 47th Army, N. 027/N on 23 August 1944, he is posthumously awarded the Order of the Great Patriotic War 1st Class.
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Old 12-27-2009, 04:01 PM   #10
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Re: Patriotic War I,1st Belorussian Front posthumous,148227

I would love to see picture of the award and the Order Booklet, if possible.

Alexei
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