Russia- Soviet: A good Vistula-Oder offensive Capture of Pilitsa Medal for Bravery awarded to Guards Private Beniamin Shmolevich Divinsky, a Breechblock Operator, 241st Red Banner Rifle Regiment, 75th Guards Rifle Division, for his courage in the face of strong enemy mortar and artillery fire during the capture of Pilitsa on the 1st Belorussian Front, where he pushed forward into the trenches, and with his crew destroyed one medium machine gun and killed 20 German soldiers.
Medal for Bravery, type 2, reverse numbered 2970464
Condition: the central red enamel lettering no longer present, Very Fine
Beniamin Shmolevich Divinsky, of Jewish nationality, was born in 1915 in the city of Belaya Tserkov, Ukrainian SSR. He received an elementary education and joined the Red Army in 1941 after being conscripted by the Kiev District Military Commissariat, however he was not a member of the Soviet communist party.
During his service he was wounded three times, the first being lightly wounded on the 7th December 1942, the second again being lightly wounded on the 12th June 1943 and finally being severely wounded on the 18th December 1943. Having recovered and rejoined his unit, he would later be awarded a Medal for Bravery by decree of the Commander of Artillery of the 75th Guards Rifle Division on the 24th March 1945.
This, his second Medal for Bravery was awarded to Divinsky on the 14th October 1945, by decree of the 241st Red-Banner Rifle Regiment, as a Guards Private serving as a Breechblock operator for the 241st Guards Rifle Regiment of the 75th Guards Rifle Division. He received the award as a result of the following recommendation:
“Breechblock operator, 76mm gun battery, Guards Private Divinsky, Vinyomin Shmolevich. In Battles on the 1st Belorussian Front for the capture of the settlement of Pilitsa on 15.01.1945, in spite of the strong enemy mortar and artillery fire, he burst into the trenches together with the advancing infantry, setting up the gun over open sights, as part of its crew, destroyed one medium machine gun and 20 German soldiers.”
At this time the 1st Belarussian Front was taking part in the Vistula-Oder offensive which took the Red Army from the gates of Warsaw to the gates of Berlin and following on from the devastating Operation Bagration in the summer of 1944, basically ensured the final defeat of the main German forces on the eastern front. Ending on the river Oder in late January 1945, the offensive secured bridgeheads on the western bank of the River Oder which allowed them to launch an assault on Berlin in mid-April 1945.
After the war it was noted that Divinsky was stationed in the reserves, on file with the Kaganovich District Military Commissariat in the city of Kiev, where he lived at Krasnoarmeiskaya Street, No.106, apartment 11
