Glory III,032409,Mortar Commander,103th Rifle Red Banner Regiment,Koshivka

[Pobeda45]

Hi guys, here's another interesting citation (I got two back from TSAMO this week). Translation courtesy of yours truly. What I find interesting is that the second highest approver in the chain of command upgraded the award to Patriotic War II, but the top approver just said "Deserving of State Award Order." In the end, Ivan Glotov got the original recommended award, his Glory III Class. I wonder if it were just a bureaucratic mistake that prevented him from getting his GPWII. :confused:

George

Here's my "combat stud." Never wounded.

Award Card

Order Book No 344089
Family Name: Glotov
First Name and Patronymic: Ivan Yakovlevich
Rank: Sr. Sergeant
Sex: Male
Year of Birth: 1907
Place of Birth: Kulishovka Village, Borskij District, Kujbyishevskaya Oblast
Party (from what year): member of CPSU since 1943
Education: Elementary
Nationality: Russian
Enlistment in Red Army since: December 1941 to November 1945
Place of service and rank at the moment of awarding: 303 sp 69 sd Commander of Mortar Detachment
Current place of service and position: Tashkent Voentorg Military Supply Store. House Painter
Home address of the awarded: Tashkent Kujbyishevskij District Ordzhonikidze 13.
List of all received awards:
Name of Orders, Medals Number Basis of Awarding
Medal “For Bravery” 513527 Act 303 SP # 20/N 14.10.43
Medal “For Bravery” 520910 Act 303 SP # 22/N 24.10.43
Glory III Class 32409 Act 18 SK # 25/N 8.3.44
Red Star 1077486 Act 69 SD # 141/N 18.10.44


Signature of Awarded --Glotov--

Correctness of Info and Signature of Awarded Verified: --Senior Leutenant --

22 January 1946

-------------------------------------------------------------

Award Citation
Family Name, Name and Patronymic: Glotov Ivan Yakovlevich
Rank: Sergeant
Position, Place of Service: Commander 120mm Mortar 103 Rifle Red Banner Regiment 69 Rifle Northern Red Banner Order of Suvorov Division

Recommended for: State Award Order of Glory III Class
Year of Birth: 1907
Nationality: Russian
Party: Candidate for CPSU
Participation in civil war, subsequent military activities for defense of USSR and partiotic war (where, when): At the front of Patriotic War since 1.4.1942
Wounds or shell shock in Patriotic War: None
Enlistment in Red Army since: 1942
Enlisted by: Kujbyishevskij RVK, Tashkent
Previously awarded (for what distinction): Awarded Medal “For Bravery” act 20/N 14.10.43 303OP
Permanent home address of recommended for award and address of his family: Tahskent, Ordhzonikidze Street House 13. Wife Glotova Maria Aleksandrovna
Place of birth: Kujbyishevskaya Oblast, Borisovskij District
Current location: in unit


I. Short, concrete description of personal combat feat or accomplishment:

During fighting for village of Koshivka, Kryukovicheskij District, Polesskaya Oblast 28.1.44 under Artillery-Mortar fire of the enemy quickly set up his mortar and held precise fire at the enemy. Owing to the precise fire his detachment supressed 3 machine gun nests of the enemy, destroyed their detachments and scattered up to a platoon of german infantry. By which provided for the forward advancement of our troops.

Regiment Commander
Major --Krot--
12 February 1944

Deserving of State Award Order “Glory III Class”
Artillery Commander of 6 Rifle Division
Lieutenant Coronel --Mihailov--
23 February 1944

Deserving of Order of Patriotic War II Class
Commander of S9 SSKOSD
Major General --xx--
24 February 1944

Deserving of State Award Order
Commander of 18 Rifle Corps
Hero of Soviet Union
Major General --Afonin--
March 7 1944

[Sergey57]

Hi George,

Can you show the scan of the 2nd page of Citation to prove or disprove my hypothesis

Sergey

[Pobeda45]

Sure Sergey, what is your hypothesis? :thumbsup

George

[Sergey57]

I belive it happened the following 2 things. 1st one was that corps commander signed this citation but did not read it before. So the place for words "Glory 3rd class" or "PW 2nd class" is still empty. 2nd one was that officer who prepared Order for awarding decided by himself that Glory 3rd class is more proper award for enlisted person (seargeant) than PW 2nd class which typically junior officers were awarded with. By the way what Order (Prikaz) mentioned in his RC?

[Pobeda45]

Sergey,
I agree with your analysis.. It's also too bad that the awarding officer overruled a more senior decision about the award! At least this mortar commander won himself a Red Star later. :thumbsup I am attaching page 2 of his record..

George

[Sergey57]

George,
RC has one more confirmation. He was awarded by the Glory 3rd class by the Order of 18 Infantry corps, i.e. this Order was signed by the Corps Commander who signed the Citation. In this case they both confirmed (the officer and the commander) that the decision was right. And Red Star Order he won according to the Order issued in the infantry Division level.

[Eryk]

What I find interesting is that the second highest approver in the chain of command upgraded the award to Patriotic War II, but the top approver just said "Deserving of State Award Order." In the end, Ivan Glotov got the original recommended award, his Glory III Class. I wonder if it were just a bureaucratic mistake that prevented him from getting his GPWII.

I've run into downgrades and upgrades more often than I would have thought before starting collecting and getting research. And contradictions/typos/mistakes/changes in the paperwork as well. Did whoever was filling it out really mean what they wrote, or was it an error, or both? (Ignorance being part of the human condition. :D)

At any rate they seem to fall into a few distinct categories:

Missing signature.
Contradictory upgrade/downgrade.
Contradictory spellings, especially names.
Contradictory unit identification.
Contradictory dates.
Contradictory locations.

The first three are beyond my ability to analyze by any more than simple logic. Missing sig and upgrade/downgrade could have a myriad reasons that anyone who's dealt with a bureaucracy could relate to. Sometimes the rules (such as they were) are not followed but things move on anyway, as Sergey's hypothesis illustrates. Contradictory spellings hits on a favorite topic of mine – the multi-ethnicity of the USSR. It can't be said too often, the USSR was one of the most diverse nations in modern history, and that extended to language. Names being mangled by non-speakers is an obvious source of the different spellings.

The last three are actually a source of fun research. While I'm reading, at best, secondary information (direct translation of primary documents), and usually further removed than that, there are numerous sources of military info in English on the GPW. With those describing who was where, when, contradictions in the award/service documentation can often be sorted out. One thing that stands out when talking about these contradictions is the time frame of the document being written. The further in time the documentation is from the source, the more prone it would seem to be to have inconsistencies. Only makes sense.

Oh by the way – nice early OG III!

[Bill Garvy]

I'd be curious to see the citation for his Red Star. . .