Russia – Soviet: A superb and numismatically rare pair of consecutively numbered Orders of the Red Banner awarded to Guards Captain, later Lieutenant Colonel and ‘Hero of the Soviet Union’ Batyr Davranovich Babaev, Battery Commander, 118th Guards ‘Pomeranian’ Artillery Regiment, 35th Guards ‘Lozov’ Red Banner, Order of Suvorov, Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky Division who having called fire down on his own position near the village of Mariampol to defeat an enemy counterattack, would later be awarded the title ‘Hero of the Soviet Union’ for a number of feats including defeating ten German counterattacks on the Oder bridgehead, destroying several tanks and self-propelled guns and a company of troops, and finally took part in destroying 4 machine guns and 50 enemy soldiers in the suburb of Treptow, Berlin, being wounded in the process, and seeing out the final days of the war in hospital recovering from his wounds.
Order of the Red Banner, reverse numbered 286469
Order of the Red Banner, reverse numbered 286470
Award Booklet, which appears to be his only book, includes the noted award of the Gold Star and Order of Lenin, as well as all of his other awards.
Batyr Davranovich Babaev was born on 15th May 1915 in the village of Kuylyuk, Syrdarya region of the Russian Empire (now within the city of Tashkent, Uzbekistan) in the family of an employee, and an Uzbek national.
After graduating from high school, he worked in the financial bodies of the Karakalpakstan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and studied in absentia in the Rostov Economic Institute. Drafted into the ranks of the Red Army in August 1941. He took part in hostilities on the North-West, South-West, 3rd Ukrainian and 1st Belarussian fronts. In the battles he was wounded and contused several times. In 1942 he graduated from the Kharkov Artillery School. He was awarded an Order of the Red Star on 1st January 1943, having been wounded on 26th December 1942 most likely in the action for which he received tis award. He would be wounded again on 15th January 1943, both of these dates would coincide with fighting to reduce the Stalingrad pocket.
He would go on to be wounded on 14th September 1943 and again on 14th August 1944.
His first was awarded as a Battery Commander, 118th Guards Artillery Regiment, 35th Guards ‘Lozovskaya’ Red Banner Order of Suvorov and Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky Division as a result of the following recommendation:
‘During the forcing of the river Vistula, Comrade Babaev was among the first to get his battery across and while so doing displayed courage and bravery. The entire time, Comrade Babaev was himself situated along the ranks of the infantry. During the battles on the bridgehead, his battery knocked out 4 tanks, destroyed 2 mortar batteries and up to a company of infantry.
From 8-12.08.1944, his battery occupied battles lines in the village of the Mariampol, where the enemy launched 4-5 counterattacks per day. Reinforcing the counterattacks, the enemy managed – at great cost in men and equipment – to cut off Comrade Babaev’s battery from the infantry.
Comrade Babaev, not having received orders to retreat to a new line, continued to do battle with the pressing enemy.
The enemy, seeing the stubborn resistance of Comrade Babaev’s battery, went on the counterattack directly at the battery. Seeing the inextricable situation, he called the fire of his battery upon himself, and thus saved the hardware and the crews, destroying in the process 2 large-calibre machine guns and up to 50 enemy soldiers. When our reinforcements approached, Comrade Babaev, together with the infantry, went on the counterattack, as a result of which the enemy counterattack was repulsed.
On 28.08, during the forcing of the Radomka river, Comrade Babaev, together with the infantry, went on the attack and, correcting the fire of his artillery, during a day of battles shattered a mortar battery, destroyed up to a company of infantry, and personally killed 1 officer and 4 soldiers. During the battle, Comrade Babaev was wounded but in spite of the wound did not leave the field of battle.’.
Babaev would later distinguish himself in the fighting in the Polish border area, being decorated with the title ‘Hero of the Soviet Union’ as a result of the following recommendation:
‘In battles for the city of Oborniki, Comrade Babaev, under intense machine gun and artillery fire, wheeled out his battery by hand and over open sights, at point blank range fired upon enemy infantry and artillery. In this battle, he destroyed up to a battalion of infantry, 5 tanks, and 2 self-propelled guns. He was concussed in the battle but did not leave the battlefield. With fire from his battery, Comrade Babaev repulsed all enemy counterattacks and ensured the breach of enemy defences and the crossing of the river Warta.
On the Polish-German border in the area of Goraj, Comrade Babaev destroyed one gun, two tanks, three self-propelled guns, and up to a company of enemy infantry over open sights.
Pursuing the enemy, Comrade Babaev was situated among the ranks of the infantry the entire time, supporting the infantry with fire and wheels (transport), and was the first to force the river Oder with his battery.
On the bridgehead on the western bank of the Oder river, Comrade Babaev repulsed 10 enemy counterattacks, smashed 2 dugouts, three observation posts and one lug bunker; knocked out 1 tank and two self-propelled guns; and destroyed up to a battalion of enemy infantry.’
Subsequently going on to take part in the Berlin offensive, he would receive a second, and unusually sequentially numbered Order of the Red Banner, an indication perhaps that the first one was not issued to him in the field, but much later. By the time of this award he had been promoted to Guards Captain, while still Battery Commander, and he was decorated as a result of the following recommendation:
‘During the forcing of the River Oder and the breach of enemy defences on the approaches to Berlin, Comrade Babaev, situated among the ranks of the infantry, destroyed 4 enemy mortar batteries, 2 artillery batteries, 13 machine gun positions, and pulverised homes turned into strongpoints. In the area of the suburb of Treptow firing at point blank range he destroyed 4 machine guns and up to 60 enemy soldiers, thereby facilitating our infantry’s advance. Being wounded in battle, he directed the battle until the end of the assigned mission.
Comrade Babaev and the personnel of the battery are steadfast in battle and disciplined.’
This was award was initially a recommendation for the Order of Lenin, but later downgraded to this Red Banner.
After the war Babaev served at the headquarters of his Division. Then he was appointed military commissar of the Oktyabrsky district of the city of Tashkent (Uzbekistan), Since 1972, Colonel Babaev B.D. – retired. He headed the Tashkent section of the Soviet Committee of War Veterans.
He died on November 4, 1944. He was buried in Tashkent on the Walk of Fame of the military cemetery
