Auction: 21002 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 497
A 1941 Battle of Uman Tank Commander's Order of the Red Star awarded to Sergeant F. I. Kovalchuk, 132nd Tank Brigade who was recommended for the Order of the Red Banner for the destruction of numerous Mortars, Anti-Tank Guns and Tanks
Russia, U.S.S.R., Order of the Red Star, Type 6, reverse officially numbered '2071652', good very fine
Fyodor Iosifovich Kovalchuk, a commander of a medium tank of the Tank Regiment of the 132nd Tank Brigade was a Ukrainian born in the village of Korzhova, Biban Raion, Kiev Oblast in 1916, having attended higher education, he had failed to finish by the time he joined the Red Army in 1940. Fighting from the beginning of the war he was recommended for an award of the Order of the Red Banner for the heavy fighting in the Uman region in the Ukraine, during which a large number of Red Army troops were encircled and destroyed, the citation for the award which was subsequently downgraded to an Order of the Red Star was as follows:
'Since the start of the Patriotic War his formidable tank, in its crew's able hands, has been invulnerable to enemy attacks whenever it unleashed its power on the enemy and inflicted crushing blows. Dozens of times, the tank commander, comrade Kovalchuk drove into battle in the Khrestinovka area near Uman, where he destroyed 4 anti-tank guns, 3 mortars and 4 fuel trucks. In the Bessarabian sector of the front line, near Nikoren, he destroyed 2 fascist tanks. Near Prigorovka and Kobelyaki comrade Kovalchuk destroyed 5 anti-tank guns and 3 mortars. At the height of the heated battle on the approaches to Poltava comrade Kovalchuk, our heroic patriot, was wounded, but did not abandon his tank in combat; instead he drove it off the battlefield. At the moment comrade Kovalchuk is recuperating in a hospital. Comrade Kovalchuk deserves a decoration.'
Signed by the Commander of the Tank Regiment of the 132nd Tank Brigade, and subsequently the Military Commissar of the Tank Regiment of the 132nd Tank Brigade, Captain Okhlopkov, the Commander of the Northern Fleet, Colonel Kuzmin and the Military Commissar of the 132nd Tank Brigade Bahktin.
Although the original recommendation was made on 8 October 1941, it would appear with an Order with such a high award it was not awarded him until some years later. Quite possibly if he was in hospital as a result of the authorities losing track of him. His wound also clearly allowed Kovalchuk to escape the German encirclement at Uman as he went on to be awarded the Medal for the Defence of the Caucasus in May 1944, as well as a second Order of the Red Star (No.1127404) on 11 March 1945 by Order of the 70th Mechanised Brigade, 3rd Guards Tank Army, 1st Ukrainian Front with whom he was serving as a Motor Transport Company 1st Sergeant.
Going on to be awarded the Medal for Victory over Germany it is likely he took part in the Red Army's Offensive between the Oder and the Elbe as part of the 1st Ukrainian Front, perhaps playing a role in the advance on Berlin. After the war he left the Red Army in November 1945 and on 22nd January 1946 was noted as temporarily unemployed and living at 15 Piontkovsky Street in the city of Uman.
Although issued later, any awards for the fighting in 1941 are quite hard to find, the Red Army being loathed to hand out too many awards at a time where they were being pushed back and heavily punished on all fronts. Awards for later in the war were much more plentiful; sold together with citations and research, including english translation.
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Sold for
£150
Starting price
£50
