Description
Soviet Order of the Patriotic War 1st class #136126
Awarded to T-34 tank platoon leader and Guards Lieutenant Lev Mikhailovich Smirnov (Лев Михайлович Смирнов)
Scarce variation with its original award document!
Smirnov was credited with 3 enemy tanks (one Tiger Tank!), up to 10 artillery pieces, 3 machine guns destroyed and up to 40 enemy soldiers and officers killed.
Made of solid gold, silver and enamels. Measures 45.73 mm in height and 43.98 mm in width. It weighs 31.9 gram. The serial number is located at the 6 o’clock position and the mint mark Monetni Dvor is located at the 12 o’clock position of its reverse. This is a scarce variation with the lower spoke of the reverse not pointing downwards in a straight line but in the 7 o’clock direction.
This original order of the Patriotic War 1st class is in near perfect condition. The details are crisp and both the white and red enamels problem free. Not even the higher laying parts like the hammer and sickle show any wear. Its reverse is in excellent condition as well and both sides show an attractive dark patine. Its screwpate is time period to the order and the screw maintained its full length.
The order comes with its original award booklet in excellent condition mentioning only this award
Hard to find in this condition with its booklet. Especially with such interesting research!
Brief description of his feat of arms or achievements:
“Serving as a tank platoon leader in the 4th Stalingrad Guards Mechanized Corps’s 38th Guards Tank Regiment, Guards Lieutenant L.M. Smirnov knocked out an enemy Tiger tank with his T-34 tank during the capture of the town of Kalinovka in Voroshilovgrad Province on July 25, 1943. With his machine gun he killed up to 20 enemy soldiers and officers. As a result of massed enemy artillery shelling of the front line on July 27, 1943, he suffered a severe shrapnel wound to the front of his head and bone damage in his right arm, which resulted in his being evacuated to a hospital for treatment.
During his frontline service during the Patriotic War, Guards Lieutenant Smirnov was credited with 3 enemy tanks, up to 10 artillery pieces, and 3 machine guns destroyed and up to 40 enemy soldiers and officers killed.
Guards Lieutenant Smirnov acts audaciously, courageously, and decisively in battle.
During his time in the training unit he proved to be disciplined, demanding of both himself and his subordinates, decisive, well-versed in technology, capable of passing on his knowledge and frontline experience to his students, and a cultured officer.
He is dedicated to the cause of the Party of Lenin and Stalin and the socialist motherland.
He deserves the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st Class.”
The full translation of the research:
