For Bravery,0721116,120mm Mortar Battery Adjuster,956th Rifle Regiment,Har'kov

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#721116 with a very worn set of suspension rings and a rather jauntily angled serial.

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Awarded to Corporal Kuz'ma Andreevich Ivaneev an Adjuster of the 956th Rifle Regiment, 299th Rifle Division, born in 1892. Awarded his Medal on 10th October 1943 but only issued it on 9th January 1944.

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Adjuster, Battery of 120mm Mortars - Corporal Ivaneev, Kuz'ma Andreevich -
For that, whilst in battle from 11th August to 13th September 1943 the crew of Comrade Ivaneev, annihilated 6 machine-gun points, knocked out one gun, suppressed the fire of two heavy machine-guns, three hand-held machine-guns and a six barrelled mortar (Nebelwerfer) of the enemy, knocked out a vehicle with ammunition, as well as annihilating more than a platoon of enemy infantry.

1892 born, Non-Partisan, Russian, Called to the Workers' And Peasants' Red Army by Dzherzhinskij Regional Military Commissariat.

I joked that this time I didn't want research back to reveal another Stalingrad award (3/4 of those I've researched for myself were Stalingrad). This one isn't for action at Stalingrad but on the advance to Har'kov although the recipient was not only from Stalingrad but more likely than not served at Stalingrad in the 956th.

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Here is where the 53th Army was situation just prior to Kursk. After Kursk the 53rd Army participated in the Belgorod-Har'kov Offensive Operation from 12th to 23rd August 1943 (with the 229th Rife Division being named "Har'kov" for their participation in the liberation) and then in the Poltava-Kremenchug Operation from 26th August to 30th September 1943. A series of offensives taking the 956th Rifle Regiment from east of Kursk to the Dniepr. An 82mm Mortarman of the 956th (Vladimir Filippovich Sablin) would be posthumously awarded the Title "Hero Of The Soviet Union" for action at the very end of the second operation.