Russia – Soviet: A Self Propelled Gun Squadon’s Deputy Chief of Staff Order of the Patriotic War 1st Class to Alexander Fedorovich Letko, 7th Separate Self Propelled Gun Squadron for fighting off an enemy attack and eliminating 3 soldiers with his personal firearm while successfully resupplying SU-57s on the battlefield leading to the capture of the village of Gruntal, approximately 20km northeast of Berlin during the offensive to capture that city.
Order of the Patriotic War 1st Class, reverse numbered 203141
Condition: Nearly Extremely Fine
Aleksandr Federovich Letko was born in the village of Starij Marienfeld, Beshenkovichi district, Vitebsk Region during 1911. A Belarussian national he gained a secondary education before joining the Red Army on 15th January 1934, and seeing service from the outbreak of the war. He served on the Western Front between 21st June 1941 and 13th February 1942. He later served on the South Western and Southern Fronts from August 1942 onwards, being wounded in the shoulder on 10th December 1942 on the River Tim, and again on the Stalingrad Front on 20th January 1943, both of these dates being during the counterattacks around Stalingrad. He later served on the 1st Belarussian Front from 15th August 1944.
By the time of the Berlin offensive, Letko was serving as the Deputy Chief of Staff of the 7th Separate SPG Su-57 Squadron, and it was during this operation that he was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War 1st Class by Order of the 1st Belarussian Front as a result of the following recommendation:
‘Captain Letko A.F. has been in the squadron since its first days in the capacity of the deputy chief of staff. He is disciplined and is always very precise and thorough in executing all of these tasks. He is respected among the ranks.
In the engagement for the village of Gruntal on 21st April 1945, there appeared a need to resupply the SPGs with ammunition and fuel in the heat of battle. The combat situation did not allow for withdrawal of the SPGs from the battlefield. Captain Letko was assigned the task to bring out the ammunition and the field directly to the combat vehicle or in the field. Despite the enemy machine-gun and artillery fire, the resupply trucks arrived on the firing positions directly to the SPGs. During an enemy attack, Captain Letko eliminated with his personal firearms 3 enemy soldiers. The combat objective was fulfilled and the village Gruntal was cleared off of the enemy.
For exhibited courage bravery, Captain Letko is recommended for order Patriotic War 1st Class.’
After the war Letko worked as a mechanical engineer in the forestry industry in to the town of Slutsk, Bobruisk region. He was a resident of No.48 14 Partisans Street, Slutsk
