Russia – Soviet: A superb Order of the Red Banner and Medal for Bravery group of 5 awards to Lieutenant of the Medical Service I.G. Grigorian for his bravery in the immediate post Kursk operations during which he provided medical assistance to 150 people on the battlefield under fire, including on dog carts and swimming across the Oka River, later during the advance on Smolensk in September and October 1943 he and his unit treated 433 wounded on the battlefield, he himself being noted as pulling 53 wounded men and their weapons off of the battlefield.
Group of 5: Order of the Red Banner, type 4, reverse numbered 95307; Medal for Bravery, type 2, reverse numbered 582527; Medal for the Victory over Germany; Jubilee Medal for 20 years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War; Jubilee Medal for 50 years of the Armed Forces of the USSR. Mounted for wear.
Condition: The Order of the Red Banner with privately added screw to the reverse for wear, some minor chipping and flaking to the enamel, the enamelling of the lettering of the Medal for Bravery now missing, overall Generally very fine
Lieutenant of the Medical Services Ishkhan Grigorievich Grigorian was born in Ashgabat in the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic during 1920, and having joined the Red Army in 1941, would go on to win three awards for gallantry during the Great Patriotic War, the first of which a Medal for Bravery was awarded to him on 3rd August 1943 for gallantry during the post-Kursk Operation Kutuzov counterattack on the Orel salient, and was as a result of the following recommendation:
‘In the battle from July 11 to July 27, 1943, for the villages of Maloe Palchikovo, Altukhovo Bushnevo and the city of Bolkhov, comrade Grigoryan showed himself to be an exceptionally courageous fearless defender of his homeland, he led the removal and evacuation of the wounded from the battlefield; personally, under fierce shelling of the enemy, he brought the liaison commander of the 1st infantry battalion, Red Army soldier Zakharov, out of a bomb shelter; in addition, comrade Grigoryan directly provided medical assistance to 150 people on the battlefield under the enemy’s brutal fire.
Despite the enemy’s hurricane fire, Comrade Grigoryan personally transported the wounded from the battlefield on dog carts and by swimming across the Oka River, he directly saved the lives of 5 wounded Red Army men and commanders.’
The second, an Order of the Red Banner was awarded on 24th December 1943 on the back of the following recommendation:
‘In the battles from September 15, 1943 to October 16, 1943 for the cities of Dukhovshin, Rudnya and Lyozna, Comrade Grigoryan showed himself to be an exceptionally courageous fearless defender of the Motherland. Under strong enemy artillery, mortar, rifle and machine-gun fire, under the guidance of Grigoryan, 433 wounded soldiers and commanders with their weapons were withdrawn from the battlefield, not sparing their blood and life. Personally, comrade Grigoryan brought 53 seriously wounded soldiers and commanders with weapons from the battlefield.’
Originally recommended for an Order of Lenin the award was downgraded to this Order of the Red Banner.
Grigoryan’s third and final award of the Great Patriotic War was an Order of the Red Star awarded to on 11th April 1945, he would go on to receive the Medal for the Victory over Germany, the Jubilee Medal for 20 Years of the Victory over Germany, and the Jubilee Medal for 50 Years of the Red Army and Navy.
