Red Star,0076347,Mortar Commander,7th Rifle Regiment,Operation Uranus

[Auke]

Record card

Order booklet nr. A-407066

1. Last name: Biryukov
2. First name and patronymic: Yuri Dmitriyevich
3. Military rank: Major
4. Sex: Male
5. Year of birth: 1922
6. Place of birth: Smolensk Oblast, Jartsevo Raion, village of Volkovo
7. Party membership (since which year): Since 1944 member of the VKP(b)
8. Education: 10 classes
9. Nationality: Russian
10. Since which year in the Red Army: Since 1941
11. Place of service (name of unit) and duty position at the time of the awarding: [?] [?] [?] [?]
12. Current Place of service and duty position: [?] [?] [?] [?]
13. Home address of the awardee: City of Lvov, Kleparovskaya Street, house 22
14. Record of all awards presented:

• Order of the Red Star #76347, Order of the 24th Rifle Division of the Don Front nr. 05/N of 26 December 1942
  
• Order of the Red Star #560632, Order of the 350th Rifle Division nr. 08/N of 25 January 1944
  
• Order of the Red Banner #132126, Order of the commander of the artillery of the 1st Ukrainian Front nr. 1081/N of 29 August 1944
  
• Order of Aleksandr Nevsky, #40151, Order of the commander of the artillery of the 13th Army nr. 32/N of 1 June 1945
  
• Medal for Combat Merit, Unnumbered, Decree of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 19 November 1951
  
• Order of the Red Star #3542501, Decree of 30 December 1956
  
• Medal for the Capture of Berlin, Decree of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 9 June 1945
  
• Medal for the Victory over Germany, Decree of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 9 May 1945
  
• Medal for 30 Years Soviet Army and Fleet, Decree of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 22 February 1948
  

Award sheet

1. Last name, first name and patronymic: Biryukov, Yuri Dmitriyevich
2. Military rank: Senior Lieutenant
3. Duty position, unit: Commander of a 120mm mortar battery in the 7th Rifle Regiment, 24th Rifle Division
Recommended for: Order of the Red Star
4. Year of birth: 1922
5. Nationality: Russian
6. Party membership: Candidate-member of the VKP(b)
7. Participation in the Civil War, the following combat actions for the defense of the USSR, and the Patriotic War (where, when): From 10 March 1942 with the Kalinin, Stalingrad and Don Front
8. Suffered wounds or contusions in the Patriotic War: No
9. Since when in the Red Army: Since 1941
10. Drafted by which RVK: City of Leningrad
11. Which earlier awards (for which merits): Not awarded
12. Permanent home address of the recommendee and the address of his family: City of Leningrad, [?] 44, Flyugov Street, house nr. 5. Mother: Nina Georgiyevna

Short, concrete description of personal combat feat or merits:

While at the command post during the fighting on 26 December [should be November, AdV] for height 204.0, Southeast of Kiyelekovo, under enemy fire, he skillfully and personally corrected the fire of his battery, destroying two enemy artillery batteries, two heavy machine guns, and up to 50 Hitlerites, interfering with our troops' advance to the height.

The personnel and materiel are prepared excellently for fulfilling the most difficult tasks in combat situations.

He deserves the state award "Order of the Red Star".

Commander of the 7th Rifle Regiment
Senior Battalion Commissar /Kuyarov/ [signature]

Chief of staff
Captain /Nikitin/ [signature]
16 December 1942



Deserves the state award "Order of the Red Star".


Commander of the 24th Rifle Division
Colonel [signature] /Prokhorov/



Awarded the Order of the Red Star by Order of the 24th Rifle Division nr. 05/N of 23 December 1942.


Chief of the 4th section
Captain [signature] /[?]/

[Auke]

I found height 204.0 in the upper left corner of the following map, exactly where the 24th Rifle Division / 65th Army indeed was at that time:

[Eryk]

Very nice - wonderful award and research!

A map from the Soviet side shows exactly where the fighting was. Is "Kiyelekovo" shown on it (in Cyrilic of course)?

[deValcourt]

Really neat stuff. He was drafted into the army at 17, joined the Party at 22 and was no older than 34 by the time he made rank of major (if I'm deducing things from what I see correctly). With that kind of combat awarding record I'd say he was probably leading troops at a very young age. He's also one of the most educated I've seen recently.

That leads me to another question - what the record card refers to as "10 classes" is the equivalent of an American high school grad or were those strictly individual military course completions that each counted as a "class?" This would explain how he became a senior lieutenant within one year (and was up for his first ORS) - officer training before hitting the field? I wish numbers 11 and 12 could have been made out. I know this much information was probably not easy to come by, but is there any chance of finding out when he retired and at what rank? (I am a complete novice regarding research, so please forgive silly or inane questions/statements.):)

Phillip

[Lapa]

Phillip,

I can probably answer some of your many questions.

1. Classes refer to regular civilian schooling; the usual exit points were after 7, 9, 10 and 11 classes (we would rather talk in years in the West)
2. Party membership was one of the "automatic benefits" of being awarded an order
3. To find out an individual's career details, you need to order his Service Record (if/when available)

Marc

[Auke]

Thanks guys.

A map from the Soviet side shows exactly where the fighting was. Is "Kiyelekovo" shown on it (in Cyrilic of course)?

Thanks for the map! The village isn't shown on it, or on any of the other maps I have.

Classes refer to regular civilian schooling; the usual exit points were after 7, 9, 10 and 11 classes (we would rather talk in years in the West)

The education is usually indicated as nizsheye, sredneye and vyssheye (I guess you can translate these as elementary, secondary and high). How many classes would each of these be? For example, would 10 classes be sredneye?

My researcher is still looking for his service record card. This will probably contain more education details, exact date of birth, promotion dates, assignments, etc. It often also mentions the date of retirement.

[Auke]

This is from Google Maps, showing the height area nowadays.

[deValcourt]

Phillip,

I can probably answer some of your many questions.

1. Classes refer to regular civilian schooling; the usual exit points were after 7, 9, 10 and 11 classes (we would rather talk in years in the West)
2. Party membership was one of the "automatic benefits" of being awarded an order
3. To find out an individual's career details, you need to order his Service Record (if/when available)

Marc

Thanks Marc,

1. That makes some sense. My first job in Russia was at a school where I taught every level of English class from what we would call elementary to high school (thanks Auke). As far as I could tell, all of the schools in that district at least were the same. But I should have asked more questions in my 4 months there to figure out how the advancement worked. Grades were not like they are here and if I gave anyone less than high marks, I was "strongly urged" to reconsider.:rolleyes:
2. That also makes perfect sense because in this case, the young officer became a "candidate" for the Party as soon as he was recommended for his first ORS.
3. Service records: the if available part is something discussed recently in another thread. I think I am one of the guilty parties who has possession of someone's service record.:o (One of the many things I did not know when I bought or accepted most of the things in my collection.) That whole thick folder is so intimidating with all those pages full of handwritten entries and other notes that I am hesitant to start that project.

I guess I assumed that a complete awards booklet would include everything including the gold watch he got when he retired :chuckle (that was definitely a joke).


Phillip

[Lapa]

...The education is usually indicated as nizsheye, sredneye and vyssheye (I guess you can translate these as elementary, secondary and high). How many classes would each of these be? For example, would 10 classes be sredneye?...

Auke,

7 and 9 would be "Lower", 10 and 11 would be "Middle", and completion of university or institute would be "Higher". In some cases, you may encounter "Incomplete Higher", which means that the person went to university for a few years, but did not graduate.

Marc

...I guess I assumed that a complete awards booklet would include everything including the gold watch he got when he retired :chuckle (that was definitely a joke)....

Phillip,

Actually, it would :cool:

I browsed through a complete file a couple of weeks ago that had such documentation (one was for "a valuable gift", whatever that was, the other one was for ... a watch, so there you go :D)

Marc

[deValcourt]

Auke,

7 and 9 would be "Lower", 10 and 11 would be "Middle", and completion of university or institute would be "Higher". In some cases, you may encounter "Incomplete Higher", which means that the person went to university for a few years, but did not graduate.

Marc

That makes even more sense with the way the classes were set up where I taught. It seemed more like educational or ability level was more a factor than the age of the student because some of my classes were very mixed by age and at the same time rather level with their competency relative to each other.

Phillip,

Actually, it would :cool:

I browsed through a complete file a couple of weeks ago that had such documentation (one was for "a valuable gift", whatever that was, the other one was for ... a watch, so there you go :D)

Marc

:laff