Russia - Soviet: A Siege of Leningrad Order of the Red Star awarded to Lieutenant of the Administrative Service Aleksandr Loginovich Tarasov, 118th Field Fuel Depot, 23rd Army for his wartime role in the caretaking of state property and deployment of squads for frontline fuel provision. Post-war he would work as the Chief of the Fire Department of the Museum of the Defence of Leningrad.
Order of the Red Star, type 2, reverse numbered 1853253
Condition: Nearly Extremely Fine
Aleksandr Loginovich Tarasov was born in the village of M. Fominsk, Pestovsky District, Kalinin Oblast in 1904. Completing four grades of education he joined the Red Army in 1941 and served on the Leningrad Front between 1941 and 1944. Having earlier received a Medal for the Defence of Leningrad, this Order of the Red Star issued by decree of the 23rd Army on 19th June 1945 was Tarasov’s sole numbered bravery award and was issued as a result of the following recommendation:
‘Comrade Tarasov was conscripted in to the Army on 24th June 1941. He served in the 27th Labour Battalion until 1942. Since 1942 he has served at Army Fuel Field Depot 1183 in the position of Chief of the Fire Department. During his period of work, he managed to set firefighting operations to the proper quality level for caretaking of state property. During the period of actions by forces of the 23rd Army, Comrade Tarasov made arrangements for the deployment of squads for provisioning forces with fuel. In some places simultaneously and more than once, he received assignments to transport fuel to combat units on the front line.’
After the war Tarasov would work as the Chief of the Fire Department of the Museum of the Defence of Leningrad, whilst living in Kuibyshev in the city.
The siege of Leningrad lasted for 872 days and cost the lives of a million civilians and Red Army servicemen, one of the initial targets of the German invasion in June 1941 it was reached in September 1941 and remained under German fire until the end of January 1944.
Tarasov would also receive a Medal for the Victory over Germany for his part in the Great Patriotic War.