[SIZE="3"]Award Card
Order Booklet B 290572
1. Last name: Shekhovtsov
2. Name and patrionymic: Fedor Vasilevich
3. Rank: Private [trans: “Senior Lieutenant” added]
4. Gender: Male
5. Birthyear: 1926
6. Birthplace: Zaporozhe Oblast, Veseloe Region, village of Veseloe
7. Party membership: Comsomol since 1944
8. Education: mid-level
9. Nationality: Russian
10. Time in Red Army: since 7.06.1944
11. Place of service at awarding: 185th Rifle Division – Private
12. Place of work at present: 9th Tank Division, 498th Howitzer Artillery Battalion – Rifleman
13. Home address: Zaporozhe Oblast, Veseloe Region, village of Veseloe
14. Awards:
Designation Serial Number Awarding Organization
Red Star 2.682.395 185th Rifle Division dated 31.03.45
Victory over Germany Medal Edict dated 9.05.45
30th Anniversary of Soviet Army and Navy
Combat Service Medal n/a Supreme Soviet Edict dated 26.10.55
Verified by 9th Tank Division, 498th Howitzer Artillery Battalion Commander Major Eremin on 8th April, 1948
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1. Last name, name, and patrionymic: Shikhovtsov, Fedor Vasilevich
2. Rank: Private
3. Duty position: Rifleman – 8th Rifle Company, 280th Sokhachevskii Rifle Regiment, 185th Pankratovo-Prague Rifle Division
Recommendation for the Order of the Red Star
4. Born: 1926
5. Nationality: Russian
6. Party membership: n/a
7. Previous combat: since 7.8.1944 on the 1st Belorussian Front
8. Wounds or shell-shock: lightly wounded 27.10.44, seriously wounded 15.12.44
9. Time in Red Army: since 7.7.1944
10. Inducted by: Veseloe Regional Military Commissariat, Zaporozhe Oblast
11. Previous awards: n/a
12. Home of record: Zaporozhe Oblast, Veseloe Region, village of Veseloe. Mother – Shikovtsova, Anastasiya Kondratevna
Short description of personal combat feat or accomplishment
On 20.3.1945 in fighting for the highway on the approach to the Oder river, Comrade Shikhovtsov snuck up on an enemy firing position and put it out of action with grenades. The crew was destroyed.
Having occupied an advantageous position, Comrade Shikhovtsov put down heavy automatic weapons fire upon the enemy, thus permitting several more soldiers to occupy the advantageous line. While repelling an enemy counterattack, he killed eight Germans with his fire and captured two.
Maintaining the occupied line until the arrival of his unit, he thus supported the advance and subsequent breakout to the Oder river. Comrade Shikhovtsov is deserving of the Order of the Red Star.
Signed 280 Sokhachevskii Rifle Regiment Commander Lieutenant Colonel Balaevskii and Chief of Staff Major Nemchenko on 22nd March, 1945
Awarded the Order of the Red Star by 185th Rifle Division Order 053/N dated 31st March, 1945. Signed Division Chief of Personnel Guards Captain Shchertak
I'm glad he got an award but, unless the citation was exaggerated, I would think that level of heroism should have gotten something a bit higher in the order chain
I would hypothesize that a number of factors entered into the equation, not the least of which were his age at the time, 19, and his rank, private. I agree though, Jeff, and thought an Order of Glory, 3rd Class would be appropriate.
The citation doesn't go into the position of the enemy when he "scored" them or in which way they were killed. A grenade taking out 8 soldiers at once is a lucky throw. Also killing men with their hands up isn't necessarily as "Glorious" as being first to the trigger when they are charging at you bayonet fixed.
The write ups shine some light on the events but they don't make the situation completely transparent. There is also the lack of information on this person's conduct in the period before and during the event. He may have been the darling or the chap no-one could stand.
