Russia – Soviet: A 76mm Gun Battery Platoon Commander’s Western Ukraine Order of the Red Star to Guards Junior Lieutenant Pavel Danilovich Zinchenko, 383rd Rifle Regiment, 121st ‘Rylsk-Kiev’ ‘Red Banner’ Rifle Division, a Stalingrad Veteran who knocked out a German Mk IV tank and destroyed a platoon of infantry leading to the repulsing of a counterattack, and forcing the four remaining tanks to retreat from the nearby settlement of Trebukhovka. He had previously been wounded three times including to the leadup to the Battle of Stalingrad on 9th September 1942 and during the Battle of Kursk on 8th July 1943.
Order of the Red Star, the reverse numbered 634644
Condition: the enamel completely missing from the right upper arm of the star, Fine
Pavel Danilovich Zinchenko was born in the village of Iosifovka, Rakitynansky District, Kiev Oblast in 1923. A Ukrainian national he attained a middle school education, he became a member of the Komsomol in 1939 and saw frontline service from 1st August 1942 initially on the Voronezh Front, then on the Stalingrad, Central and 1st Ukrainian Fronts. He would be wounded three times, on 9th September 1942, 8th July 1943 and on 10th October 1943, before receiving this Order of the Red Star, his first decoration of the conflict, by decree of the 121st Rifle Division on 25th June 1944.
At the time of the award he was serving as a Guards Junior Lieutenant Pavel Danilovich Zinchenko, Platoon Commander, 76mm Gun Battery, 383rd Rifle Regiment, 121st ‘Rylsk-Kiev’ Red Banner, Rifle Division, the citation reads:
‘Comrade Zinchenko reported to the regiment in January 1944. Over this time, he has proven himself a bold and brave commander of the Red Army, he is disciplined and skilfully passes along his knowledge and experience to the personnel of the 76mm gun battery. In battles outside the city of Medzhibozh, the guns of Comrade Zinchenko’s platoon, firing over open sights on the advancing enemy, he knocked out the lead tank, type No IV, and destroyed and dispersed up to a platoon of infantry, repulsing the enemy counterattack, and forcing the four remaining tanks that were counterattacking the battles lines of the 705th Rifle Regiment to retreat from the settlement of Trebukhovka.’
Zinchenko would later be awarded an Order of the Patriotic War 2nd Class by decree of the 67th Rifle Corps on 13th September 1944. He would be discharged from the Red Army in 1946, and by May 1947 would be working as an accountant with Rakitno Grain Procurement whilst living in the village of Iosifovka, Rakitnyansky District, Kiev Oblast.
