Tuesday 21 January 2020

Drive Me Closer

"Award Order
  1. Name: Aleksey Georgievich Lebedev
  2. Rank: Guards Sergeant
  3. Position, unit: Mechanic-driver, 1st tank battalion, 5th Guards Tank Brigade
    is nominated for the Order of the Red Star.

  4. Year of birth: 1921
  5. Nationality: Russian
  6. In the Red Army since: April 1941
  7. Party affiliation: VLKSM
  8. Participation in combat (where, when): Krymskaya-Leninskiy, August 7th, 1943
  9. Wounds and contusions: wounded on August 3rd, 1941, South-Western Front, wounded on July 14th, 1942, South-Western Front
  10. Prior awards: None
  11. Recruited by: Staro-Borovitskiy recruitment office, Altai Krai
Comrade Lebedev showed himself a brave and courageous mechanic-driver in battle against German fascism.

In battle on August 7th at Leninskoye Lebedev's tank was knocked out at the enemy's trenches. The commander and loader were killed. In mortal danger, comrade Lebedev leapt out of his tank and charged at the enemy with grenades in his hands. In a brief struggle he killed 7 fascists and took one prisoner. 

Encouraged by his heroism, riflemen rushed forward and took the trenches, beginning to move forward. At this moment comrade Lebedev evacuated the tank under powerful artillery and machine gun fire, saving the life of the commander from the neighbouring tank.

In this battle comrade Lebedev destroyed 1 mortar, 2 machine guns, and up to 20 soldiers and officers. For his courage, heroism, and bravery, he is worthy of the Order of the Red Star."


The document does not specify which tank Lebedev was fighting in, but the brigade at that time was armed only with three kinds of tanks: T-34s, Shermans, and Valentines. A tank with a crew of only three is most likely a Valentine.

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