Russia – Soviet: A telephone operators double Medal for Bravery and Defence of Stalingrad group awarded to Private Emelyan Nikiforovich Gerasimenko, 1251 Breakthrough Division of the 7th Guards Tank Corps, who having fought at Stalingrad in the winter of 1942-3 would be twice decorated in the summer and autumn of 1944 for laying telephone cables under fire.
Medal for Bravery, type 2, reverse numbered 1914438
Medal for Bravery, type 2, reverse numbered 2931445
Medal for the Defence of Stalingrad.
Condition: red enamel missing from lettering of obverse of both Medal for Bravery, Very Fine
Along with award booklet with the two entries corresponding to the two medals.
Emelyan Nikiforovich Gerasimenko was born in the Chernihiv region of Ukraine and having joined the Military on 21st June 1941 saw service as a Private in the 1251 Breakthrough Division of the 7th Guards Tank Corps. He would receive two Medals for Bravery, the first on 16th August 1944:
‘He was a telephone operator. When there was heavy enemy fire, he stayed in his post and the telephone cables on both sides were exploded. Gerasimenko found the cables that were broken and he fixed them himself during the enemy fire.
Gerasimenko’s second Medal for Bravery was awarded on 29th October 1944:
‘During the enemy fire, Gerasimenko fixed the telephone cables that were broken in 9 different places on his own.’
As he didn’t receive an Order of the Patriotic War in 1985, it is likely he had passed away before that date.