Russia – Soviet: An excellent capture of enemy spies Order of Glory 3rd Class awarded to Guards Private Pyotr Ivanovich Tertychny, a squad leader in the 1st Platoon, 2nd Machine-Gun Company, 2nd Rifle Battalion, 283rd Guards Rifle Regiment, 94th Zvenigorod Order of Suvorov 2nd Class Guards Rifle Division for apprehending 4 enemy spies who had attempted to cross the lines in Bessarabia in an attempt to capture a Red Army Prisoner.
Order of Glory 3rd Class, type 2, variation 1, numbered 83411
Condition: Good very fine
Pyotr Ivanovich Tertychny was born in the village of Ilyinskaya, Ilyinskaya Raion, Krasnodar Krai in 1903. Joining the Red Army in September 1941, he saw service on the Western Front before Moscow from 5th September 1941 until 15th November 1941, at which point he transferred to the Southern Front, with whom he served during the winter attacks of 1941-42 between 15th November 1941 and 1st February 1942. Something happened at this point which led to a break in service, either a wound, capture, or the front line overtaking him and leaving him in the rear of the German Army.
He is noted as serving with the 2nd Ukrainian Front from 1st April 1944 onwards, and whilst serving as a Squad Leader in the 1st Platoon, 2nd Machine-Gun Gompany, 2nd Rifle Battalion, 283rd Rifle Regiment, 94th Zvenigorod Order of Suvorov 2nd Class Guards Rifle Division as a Private was awarded this Order of Glory 3rd Class with the following citation:
‘At midnight on the night of July 13, 1944, comrade Tertychny and comrade Negin were hiding themselves south of the village of Jevreni (Mascauti District, Bessarabia). At a distance of 1500 yards, on the left bank of the Raut River, they noticed 4 men wearing Red Army uniforms (2 men wearing the rank insignia of junior officers and 2 privates) walking in their direction from the enemy lines. When the unknown men were getting close, comrade Negin said ‘Stop! Who’s there? What’s the password?’ When the strangers replied ‘we don’t know the password’, comrade Negin instantly ordered them to ‘Lie down’. Having made sure beforehand that they were unable to cause harm in the position they were lying in, he approached them and started disarming them, while comrade Tertychny took up position behind a machine gun and followed their every move.
Having disarmed the unknown men, comrade Tertychny and Negin brought them to the battalion staff, and later to the regimental staff, where they discovered that the strangers were enemy spies who had underwent special training and had been sent to us on a special diversionary assignment and were tasked with taking a prisoner of interrogation purposes.’
The recommendation signed by the Commander of the 283rd Guards Rifle Regiment, Guards Lieutenant Colonel Ignatyev.
Tertchyny went on to be awarded the Medal for Victory over Germany in 1945, but this was his only award for gallantry during the conflict. After the war he served as a farmer at the ‘Za vlast sovetov (Power to the Sovies) Kolkhoz, Ilyinskaya Raion, Krasnodar Krai, and was living at the same location in 1947.
