Due to interest in a few Russian medals and awards I own, I have revamped some old posts and replaced missing information and images.
Front View of Order Of Red Star - 1918627
Record card
Order booklet nr. A-709691
1. Last name: Kotinov
2. First name and patronymic: Ilya Tikhonovich
3. Military rank: Senior Lieutenant
4. Sex: Male
5. Year of birth: 1913
6. Place of birth: Village of Anomino[?], Dmitrovsk Raion, Kursk Oblast
7. Party membership (since which year): Member of the Communist Party since 1942
8. Education: Elementary
9. Nationality: Russian
10. Since which year in the Red Army: From October 1935 through February 1947
11. Place of service (name of the unit) and position occupied at the time of the award: Assistant company commander in the 108th Road Operation Battalion, 5th Army
12. Current place of service and position: Shipping agent at Talmenka Special Communications, Altai Krai
13. Home address of the awardee: 17 Vokzalnaya [Station] Street, village of Talmenka, Talmenka Raion, Altai Krai
14. List of all awards received:
Name of the order or medal Serial number Number of the document Ground of award
Order of the Red Star 1918627 Temporary certificate nr. Z-295271 Order of the 5th Army nr. 040/N of April 21, 1945
Signature of the awardee: [signed]
I confirm the correctness of the data and the signature of the awardee (position and signature):
Military commissar of the Talmenka Raion
Guards Captain [signed]
April 9, 1947
Rear View of Order of The Red Star 1918627
Record card
Last name: Kotinov
First name: Ilya
Patronymic: Tikhonovich
Year of birth: 1913
Nationality: Russian
Party affiliation: Member of the Communist Party
In the Red Army since: October 15, 1935
Awarded:
Name of the order or medal,
length of service Award Decree date When and by whom was he nominated for an award and which position did he occupy
Medal for Combat Merit
Service: 10 years, 1 month November 5, 1946
Rank: Senior Lieutenant
Position: Platoon leader in the 108th Road Operation Battalion
Nominated by: Coastal Military District
Reference nr. 014099; September 8, 1946
Order of the Red Star
Service: years, months Rank:
Position:
Nominated by:
Reference nr. ;
Order of the Red Banner
Service: years, months Rank:
Position:
Nominated by:
Reference nr. ;
Order of Lenin
Service: years, months Rank:
Position:
Nominated by:
Reference nr. ;
Order of the Red Banner
Service: years, months Rank:
Position:
Nominated by:
Reference nr. ;
Date of issue Serial number of the order or medal Number of the award document Remarks
Medal for Combat Merit
Order of the Red Star
Order of the Red Banner
Order of Lenin
Order of the Red Banner
Remarks:
Order
Secret
Copy nr.
Order
Of the 5th Army
April 21, 1944 Nr. 040/N Active Army
On behalf of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, for the exemplary accomplishment of combat missions in the struggle with the German invaders and the valor and bravery displayed in the process, I award:
[ ]
The Order of the Red Star to:
[ ]
26. Lieutenant Ilya Tikhonovich Kotinov, traffic control platoon leader in the 108th Independent Road Operation Battalion
[ ]
Award sheet
1. Last name, first name, and patronymic: Kotinov, Ilya Tikhonovich
2. Rank: Lieutenant
3. Position and unit: Traffic control platoon leader in the 108th Independent Road Operation Battalion
Nominated for: Order of the Red Star
4. Year of birth: 1913
5. Nationality: Russian
6. Party affiliation: Member of the Communist Party
7. Participation in the Civil War, the subsequent combat actions to defend the USSR, and the Patriotic War (where and when): In the Patriotic War since 1941
8. Wounds and contusions received during the Patriotic War: Severely wounded in 1941 near the city of Novgorod
9. Since when in the Red Army: From October 1936 up to the present time
10. Drafted by which military commissariat: Military Commissariat of the Dmitrovsk Raion, Kursk Oblast
11. Awards received previously (for which accomplishments): Medal for the Defense of Moscow
12. Permanent home address of the prospective awardee and the address of his family: _______________
Short, concrete description of his feat of arms or accomplishments:
Comrade Kotinov has been serving in the battalion since its formation in December 1941, commanding a traffic control platoon. He shows vigor in his duties and carries out all traffic control-related orders in a timely manner. The stretch of road he services is always in order. During the offensive operations comrade Kotinov, following right behind the forward units, personally put up traffic control posts, thus enabling the advance of transport vehicles along their designated routes. During the entire period of the offensive, no traffic jams or delays in motor transport movements occurred in comrade Kotinovs sector.
During the fighting for the socialist motherland in August 1941 comrade Kotinov sustained a severe wound.
Comrade Kotinov deserves the Order of the Red Star.
Commander of the 108th Independent Road Operation Battalion
Major [signed] /Korolyov/
March 3, 1945
He deserves to be awarded the Order of the Red Star.
Chief of the Road Section of the 5th Army
Lieutenant Colonel [signed] /Podlessky/
March 16, 1945
He deserves to be awarded the Order of the Red Star.
Commander of the Rear of the 5th Army
Colonel [signed] /A. Mosyagin/
March 26, 1945
By Order of the 5th Army nr. 040/N of April 21, 1945 awarded the Order of the Red Star.
Chief of the 2nd Subsection of the Personnel Section
Major of the Administrative Service [signed] /Kobylyakov/
Look Here -> |
I got curious and did some Wiki peaking and if I read it correctly, this fellow was wounded during Operation Barbarossa, the push by Hitler to Invade what was then the USSR.
According to the records, the City of Novgorod fell to the Germans on August 15th, 1941 and remained occupied until 1944.
As there's no mention of his being taken as a POW, I would guess after being wounded he was either able to seek treatment himself or was medically evacuated until he was able to return to full duty.
The maps show the Germans were unable to progress much further than Novgorod and it became either the East or West Front depending whose Army you were with.
The Commendation says he was 'Near Novgorod' behind the Front lines so he was right in the thick of the battle.
The more you read, the more you realise this Medal and Commendation barely scratches the surface of this Man's War.
I stand unequivicably behind everything I say , I just dont ever remember saying it !!
JasonC (14-01-14)
Thanks for the reply Gordon, my "specialised" areas of collecting dont always get many
Yes, he would have been wounded in the big push of Barbarossa. It doesnt state much about his award other than it was severe. As the citation states he was following right behind the forward units, he would have been lucky enough to have been picked up and evacuated to a field hospital.
The research I received showed that he also received the following awards :
Medal for Combat Merit (10 years service)
Order of the Red Star (the one that we are discussing here)
Two
Now that I have his name it is possible to find his citations online, but I would still need to have them translated, probably around $15 each.
I have another 2 Red Stars I was going to get researched, but my researcher has told me they are both likely awarded for long service so the citations are generally a bit long winded and boring.
To me the actual medals are just that, medals but when you read the how and the why and are aware as we are in this case from many sources what a living Hell both sides went through along that Front give Life to it.
The award date was quite some time after the event which I think could be put down to both he and the Army had far important things to do than award medals, staying alive in the conditions prevailing would be number one.
Even the citations as you have posted are as dry as dust and are typical of the Military and often the translations how ever accurate, loose the vibrancy of the words as they would be spoken in Russian.
I must admit too until I looked at this, I always thought Operation Barbarossa was a much narrower concentrated 'Push' into the USSR aiming for Moscow, not the dozens of miles it actually was.
I stand unequivicably behind everything I say , I just dont ever remember saying it !!
cobra679 (28-12-13)
Im just having a bit of a chuckle finding this thread.
My father use to speak of Red Stars being pinned on Commo arse lickers as he use to call them in the former Yugoslavia, a few stories of rebel Croats wanting to permanently pin the star to the awarded persons forehead .
Never had seen what these Russian (or other) stars had genuinely looked like.
I think the medal admin has was genuinely awarded for this mans actions during his service on the Russian Front in WW2.
The records are a bit vague or I didnt read it properly but I thought he served there the whole time from the beginning to the end of the invasion into Russia during Operation Barbarrosa.
And I did think on reading the citation, this medal was little recompense for serving his country in that area during that time.
Possibly in later years this medal was awarded perhaps too frequently to all and sundry rather than as one for military service, which if that is the case, definitely degrades its original meaning.
Even the former USSR with their plethora of medals couldnt possibly emulate those we have recently seen on the fronts of the Military hierarchy of North Korea.
See also African,South American and the Middle East Dictatorships medal displays.
Are they worn as a form of armour or does the sheer volume hanging from Neck to knee indicate a scale to judge if one dictatorship is greater than another?
Last edited by gordon_s1942; 13-01-14 at 11:28 AM.
I stand unequivicably behind everything I say , I just dont ever remember saying it !!
The provenance of such things is half the value of owning such, I feel. It's always great to know the story behind anything of importance to someone.
Godzilla (14-01-14)
Ironically, it was made by the russians who made a lot of orders for fellow communist countries. This star came in 3 different classes, this is the most common
Yes they did call it the partisan red star.
I would be very surprised to see any medals issued by any of the Soviet Satellite countries while the USSR existed weren't first approved by some bureau located in Moscow for the sake of uniformity if nothing else.
I stand unequivicably behind everything I say , I just dont ever remember saying it !!
I dont think it was so much that the USSR had to approve them back then, it was more the point that not too many places had sufficient mints to make them and the USSR did and they were a fellow communist country. The Soviet ORS was made at multiple mints at the same time over the years.
The Soviet Red Star was awarded something like 4 million times since 1933 (not sure when they stopped, after 1988). Here is a date graph :
Credit :
A very old post, but interesting.
I might see if I can just double check with the current guy doing translations for me on the other group that the other 2 Red Stars I have are definitely long service medals.
Since this original thread, the majority of citations and records are now available online free but of course don't mean much without translation. I might see if I can just get him to take a quick peak at the other 2 Red Stars simply to see if they are long service or not.
Long service still has citations, but they are boring as hell, ie, "Comrade Shitshispantsalot has completed all the paperwork given to him for the last 20 years regarding rotation of jeep tail lights. For his dedicated work to the mother land, Comrade Shitshispantsalot has been awarded the Red Star".
And just because they were issued between 1940 - 1945 does not mean they are combat. Realistically, a Bravery Medal is a better and cheaper option. No one got them for bravely tackling paper work....that I know of.
For those reading in on 2022, it's interesting in that this guy is a career army man. He has suffered injuries 1941 and I would say the fact that he is a Communist Party Member means they found him an easier job.
It is of interest that he was severely wounded in 1941 near Novgorod and also has the Medal for the Defence of Moscow.
While the Russians repelled the Germans in the Battle of Moscow, take a look at the casualty list. It's absolutely gruesome and our man was lucky to survive at all.
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