For Bravery,1275837,Squad Leader,1072nd Rifle Regiment

[ade stevenson]

Hi Guys, a little story to this one. A mate of mine bid on a number of British items, as that is what he collects. However, there was some kind of mistake made and the auction house insisted he bid on a number of Soviet items. They were insistant he made the mistake. So he very kindly passed them to me as a gift. The medal was lacking a ribbon bar, which I was also kindly given by forum member Richie.

Auke has discovered the following info for me. At present a Record Card has not been found. Thanks as ever.


Award issue record


[…]
Grokhov, Mikhail Nikolayevich; Senior Sergeant; June 24, 1944 1275837 A-922668 Regimental Order Nr. 025 of June 24, 1944
[…]



Order

[Pencil note: Karelian Front; September 18, 1944]

Secret
Copy nr. 1

Order nr. 025

Of the 1072nd Rifle Regiment, 313th Red Banner Rifle Division, 32nd Army, Karelian Front

June 24, 1944 – Active Red Army

On behalf of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, I award:

The Medal for Courage to:

1. Senior Sergeant Mikhail Nikolayevich Grokhov, squad leader in the 1st Rifle Company, for the fact that he, during the fighting for the city of Medvezhegorsk on June 23, 1944, crawled towards a bunker under enemy fire and threw several grenades at it.

Born in 1910; not a Party member, Russian, inducted into the Red Army in June 1941 by the Military Commissariat of the Grakhovo Raion, Udmurt Autonomous SSR. Home address: _______________.

[…]

Commander of the 1072nd Rifle Regiment
Lieutenant Colonel [signed] /Babenko/

Chief of staff
Major [signed] /Yevstafyev/

[ade stevenson]

Scans of the original order documents

[ade stevenson]

Scan of the original

[ade stevenson]

Auke said he his researcher in Russia would check again for the Record Card. As one could not be found, the archive wrote one up today. How novel!

I rather like this. :)

Cheers, Ade.


Record card

Duplicate of a temporary certificate stub

Form nr. 1

(To be filled out using a typewriter, without any corrections)

Date and place of issue of the award (raion, city, oblast, krai, republic):

Record card of an awardee

1. Last name: Grokhov
2. First name and patronymic: Mikhail Nikolayevich
3. Nationality:
4. Sex:
5. Year of birth: 1910
6. Place of birth:
7. Education: higher, unfinished higher, special secondary, secondary, elementary (underline what’s relevant):
8. Party affiliation:
9. Position, profession, military rank (for servicemen), and place of work or service at the time of the award (ministry, department, institution, enterprise, organization): Senior Sergeant; squad leader in a rifle company of the 1072nd Rifle Regiment, 313th Rifle Division
10. Home address of the awardee: 63 Sovetskaya Street, village of Grakhovo, Grakhovo Raion, Udmurt Autonomous SSR

11. Awards issued:

Type of award (order, medal, highest title of distinction, honorary title) Serial number of the order, medal or badge Number of the order booklet, Hero or Mother Heroine booklet, medal or badge certificate or travel document Date and number of the award Decree
Medal for Courage 1275837 Temporary certificate nr. A-922668 Order of the 1072nd Rifle Regiment, 313th Rifle Division nr. 025 of June 24, 1944


Signature of the awardee:

I confirm the correctness of the data and the signature of the awardee (position and signature):

[signed]

12. Remarks:

October 21, 2013

[Tommy]

That's really cool!

[Auke]

I imagine one of those archive babushkas with too much time on her hands thinking that 100 million documents isn't enough and that this guy should have a record card too.

[CtahhR]

Made to order.... on the 21st October 2013 too....

I'm surprised he didn't get a Defence Of The Soviet Trans-Arctic too.

This rarer "northern" combat award is very tangible and although the feat seems rather small in comparison to many others it must be remembered in the almost constant daylight it would be exceptionally difficult to sneak up on a Finnish bunker without feeling the full wrath of an artillery spotter.

An exceptional tale of research.

[Bill Garvy]

Only in Russia. . . Well, better late than never, but I think it sets a compelling precedent. . .

[ade stevenson]

As ever, thanks for all the likes and comments.

Cheers, Ade.