Russia – Soviet: An excellent January 1944 Medal for Courage awarded to Private Ivan Tikhonivich Tibezh, as a submachine gunner in the 895th Rifle Regiment, 193rd Rifle Division for storming the enemy positions near the village of Dvorishche to the southeast of Bobruisk in Belarus.
Medal for Courage, type 2, variation 1, numbered 644854.
Condition: Some loss of the red enamel of the lettering on the obverse, otherwise Good very fine
Private Ivan Tikhonivich Tibezh was born in the village of Sheboltasovka, Ponornitsa Raion, Chernigov Oblast in 1924, he had been drafted by the Military Commissariat of the Ponornitsa Raion, as the son of Tikhon Trofimovich Tibezh, and had seen front line service from 1943 onwards. His sole known award is this Medal for Courage awarded to him on 29th January 1944, whilst serving as a Submachine gunner in 895th Rifle Regiment, 193rd Rifle Division.
‘For the fact that he, during the fighting for the Dvorishche Farm from January 22nd to 23rd 1944 exemplarily carried out the commander’s orders. Overcoming the barrage of heavy enemy fire he courageously and decisively stormed into the enemy positions and the fortified dirt road, which was of high value to the enemy.’
Ivan Tibezh was likely a replacement for one of the many casualties the Regiment and Division suffered whilst fighting in Stalingrad, where it had been a key part of the defence of the Barrikady Factory.
After fighting at Kursk, the Division drove westwards, and it is likely that he was swept up by the Red Army during it’s advance to join the ranks, as many young men who had escaped the clutch of the Germans were. The 193rd Division was moved north for refitting after the crossing of the Dnieper, and it was most likely involved in small unit actions around the area of Dvorishche, a village in Belarus to the south-east of the city of Bobruisk at the time of his action. If he survived he would have gone on to fight in Operation Bagration, the Red Army’s destruction of Army Group Centre in the summer of 1944, then the Vistula-Oder Offensive which began in January 1945, before being involved in the capture of Danzig in March 1945 and finally crossing the Oder south of Stettin as part of the northern flank of the final offensive into Germany
