Russia – Soviet: A Baltic Offensive ‘for wounds’ Order of the Patriotic War 2nd Class to Red Army Soldier Pyotr Mikhailovich Kopaev, 556th Rifle Regiment, 191st Rifle Division, 3rd Baltic Front he would be severely wounded by shell fragments on 8th October 1944 whilst fighting outside the city of Riga, resulting in the amputation of his right leg above the knee.
Order of the Patriotic War 2nd Class, flatback reverse, the reverse numbered 813111
Condition: Good Very Fine
Pyotr Mikhailovich Kopaev was born in the village of Vorobyovka, Khlevensky District, Voronezh Oblast in 1908. A Russian national, he attained an elementary education and joined the Red Army in July 1943 serving in the Patriotic War until 8th October 1844. He would be awarded the Order of the Patriotic War 2nd Class by decree of the Supreme Soviet on 6th August 1946.
Given for actions whilst serving as a Sapper, 559th Rifle Regiment, 191st Rifle Division, 3rd Baltic Front the recommendation reads:
‘Acting as a Sapper in the 556th Rifle Regiment, 191st Rifle Division, 3rd Baltic Front, in battles on 8th October 1944 outside the city of Riga, he was severely wounded in the right leg by shell fragments and left for recuperation in an evacuation hospital.
As a result of his wound, he lost his right leg above the knee. Upon recuperation he was designated entirely unfit for military service per Article 65, Decree of the People’s Commissariat of Defence No.336 of 1942 as an invalid of the 2nd group. At present, he is not working.
He deserves the government award the Order of the Patriotic War 1st Class.’
The fighting in October 1944 was part of the Baltic Offensive which followed on from Operation Bagration a few months prior. Bagration had led to the total destruction of the German Army Group Centre, the strongest force left on the Eastern Front, and the Baltic Offensive led to the isolation of the German Army Group North in the Kurland Peninsula in Latvia. The closure of the Kurland ‘pocket’, as it became known, led to 250,000 German troops no longer being available for the main theatres of action. Although the tide had arguably turned on the Eastern Front at Stalingrad in January 1943 and Kursk in July 1943, the summer of 1944 once and for all removed all chance of a German revival in the theatre, and were a decisive factor in their eventual defeat.
After the war, he would be noted as ‘not working’ and an invalid of the 2nd group. He would live in the village of Vorobyovka, Khlevensky District, Voronezh Oblast.
