For Bravery,0151772,Cook,376th Rifle Division,Volkhov Front

[Tommy]

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: Galkin
2. First name and patronymic: Andrei Dmitriyevich
3. Nationality:
4. Sex:
5. Year of birth: 1919
6. Place of birth:
7. Education: higher, unfinished higher, special secondary, secondary, elementary (underline what is 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): Rifle company first sergeant in the 1248th Rifle Regiment
10. Home address of the awardee: 44 Gogol Street, city of Balakleya, Kharkov Oblast

11. Awards issued:

Type of award (order, medal, highest title of distinction, or 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 151772 Temporary certificate nr. 315231 Order of the 1248th Rifle Regiment nr. 05/N of January 24, 1945 [sic]


Signature of the awardee:

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



12. Remarks:

1.jpg

2.jpg

[Tommy]

Order

[Pencil note: Volkhov Front; March 8, 1943]

Order nr. 05/N

Of the 1248th Kemerovo Rifle Regiment, 376th Rifle Division, Volkhov Front

January 24, 1943

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

The Medal for Courage to:

Comrade Andrei Dmitriyevich Galkin, first sergeant of the 6th Rifle Company, for the fact that he, during the fighting near the village of Gaitolovo in the Leningrad Oblast between January 12, 1943 and January 24, 1943, skillfully provided the men of the battalion with food. On January 13 and 14, when the battalion was located 150 meters from the German bunkers, comrade Galkin, in spite of withering enemy fire and even though the terrain was open and subjected to enemy fire, personally delivered hot food to the men of the battalion two times a day and on time.

Born in 1919, member of the Komsomol, drafted into the Red Army by the Military Commissariat of the Balakleya Raion, Kharkov Oblast. Home address: 44 Gogol Street, city of Balakleya, Kharkov Oblast.

[…]

Commander of the 1248th Rifle Regiment
Major [signed] /Klevtsov/

Chief of staff
Major [signed] /Mishura/

filterimage.jpg

[Tommy]

20140114_220601.jpg

20140114_220611.jpg

Heres she is

[matteti]

Seems to me that he provided very important support to the fighting troops of Operation Iskra (Operation Iskra - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).

[Eryk]

Yes indeed, as part of 2nd Shock Army. His unit attacked for weeks, breaking into the defenses but "were halted by enemy fire from the 1st Infantry Division. Repeated attempts to resume the offensive in this sector utterly failed in the face of repeated German counterattacks." Overall Operation Iskra ("Spark") was a great success - it was the first breakthrough in the siege of Leningrad - at a very high cost. According to Glantz the Soviets attacked with 302,800 troops, and suffered 115,082 casualties. Being awarded a Bravery Medal in a campaign where one in three became casualties certainly points to some very important support.

(The 376th is on the lower right of the attached map.)