Description
Soviet Order of the Patriotic War 1st class #160908
Awarded to Major General Aleksei Ivanovich Semchenko (Алексей Иванович Семченко)
Military Prosecutor of the Soviet Pacific and Baltic Fleet
Made of solid gold, silver and enamels. Measures 45.77 mm in height and 43.68 mm in width. It weighs 30.1 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 ‘Mercedes’ variation with the spokes on its reverse located at the 12, 5 and 7 o’clock position.
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 its obverse shows a very appealing rainbow like patina. Its silver screwpate is time period to the order and the screw maintained its full length.
Excellent example with interesting and rare research!
Brief description of his feat of arms or achievements:
“Before July 1944, Major General of the Legal Service Aleksei Ivanovich Semchenko served as Military Prosecutor of the Pacific Fleet for five years. Using his 22 years of experience of working in the military legal system, he saw to it that the Fleet’s subordinate military prosecutor’s offices were properly supervised, ensuring the execution of assignments from the Prosecutor of the USSR, the People’s Commissar of the Navy, and the Military Council of the Pacific Fleet when it comes to dealing with those who breached military discipline or embezzled military equipment.
Skillfully organizing criminal investigations, he managed to reveal a considerable number of shortcomings in the way military service was organized in independent units, ships, and formations, thus providing significant assistance to Fleet Command in imposing order and structure within the Fleet.
He realized oversight of criminal investigations in the Smersh Counterintelligence Department in strict compliance with the demands set forth in the Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of November 17, 1938.
During the first half of 1944 the Military Prosecutor’s Office of the Pacific Fleet put a great deal of effort into general supervision. As a result, during this time more than 200 proposals were submitted to Fleet Command on matters concerning excessive drinking, embezzlement of military equipment, violations of the housing code, etc.
Upon being appointed Military Prosecutor of the Black Sea Fleet in August 1944, he established proper professional relationships with the Fleet’s Military Council and Political Department, the Military Tribunal, and the Smersh Counterintelligence Department. He takes measures to restructure the duties of the Fleet’s Military Prosecutor’s Office, in compliance with instructions issued by me, and thus ensured Fleet Command’s assignments were carried out.
He put a great deal of effort into improving the specialist knowledge of the officers of the Fleet’s Military Prosecutor’s Office, setting an example in this area for other military prosecutor’s offices of fleets and flotillas.
He devotes considerable attention to improving his theoretical knowledge. In 1944 he graduated from law school as an external student and he is currently successfully enrolled in the first year of the Union-Wide Legal Correspondence Institute.
He is disciplined, tactful, and commands authority among his subordinates.
He deserves to be awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st Class.”
The full translation of the research:
