Russia – Soviet: An interesting Order of Glory 2nd Class to Guards Junior Sergeant Aleksandr Alekseyevich Kulikov, Sapper Squad Leader in the 86th Independent Sapper Battalion, 80th Lyuban Rifle Division, 59th Army for his role in capturing 7 enemy prisoners as part of a reconnaissance party.
Order of Glory 2nd Class numbered, type 2, variation 1, 10119
Condition: Obverse polished, central gilding partially lost thus, Generally very fine
Aleksandr Alekseyevich Kulikov was a Komi tribesman born in the village of Lozym, Syktyvdin Raion, Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Joining the Red Army on 13th August 1942, he was wounded on 16th January 1943, most likely during Operation Iskra, the attempt to relieve Leningrad that led to a small corridor of land which allowed a railway line to be built into the city and supplies to ferried in, thus ending the reliance on the so called ‘ice road’ over Lake Ladoga. Kulikov was wounded twice more, firstly on 14th August 1943 and again on 9th October 1943, still as part of the Leningrad Front.
The recipient of the Medal for the Defence of Leningrad on 22nd December 1942 he had clearly been involved in the fighting for the defence of the city since the early stages.
Kulikov’s first bravery award however, was the Order of Glory 3rd Class awarded to him by Order of the 80th Rifle Division on the Leningrad Front on 25th January 1944
It was just over a year later by Order of the 59th Army, Leningrad Front that he was to receive his second award, this Order of Glory 2nd Class on 2nd February 1945, the citation for which was as follows:
‘He is a brave scout/miner. On the night of January 17 to 18, 1945 he was part of Sergeant Nemoi’s reconnaissance party. Which penetrated into the enemy’s rear near the village of Za___e.
In the village of Za__e Kulikov and a few fellow scouts quietly overpowered a sentry, rushed into one of the houses and took 7 enemy soldiers prisoner.
He then secured a way out for the scouts and their prisoners and covered their withdrawal.'
For the bravery, resourcefulness and boldness he displayed, Junior Sergeant Kulikov deserves to be awarded the Order of Glory 2nd Class.
Kulikov’s service between this point and the end of the war however is unknown, we do know for certain however that he survived the conflict, and in 1947 he was noted as being a Farmer at the ‘Urozhai’ (Harvest) Kolkhoz, village of Lozym, Syktyvdin Raion, Komi Autonomous SSR and was living in the village of Loyzm.
Interestingly Kulikov’s medals were confiscated by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on 28th August 1951, so he had clearly fallen foul of the authorities after the war