Russia – Soviet: An interesting Vistula River Crossing Order of the Red Star to Junior Lieutenant Grigory Yakovlevich Nemaltsev, a Rifle Platoon Leader in the Independent Training Company of the 132nd Rifle Division, 47th Army, 1st Belarussian Front, who would have later seen fierce fighting in the Battle for the Seelow Heights, at the start of the Berlin Operation, during which he almost certainly would have performed an act that led to him being awarded the Order of the Patriotic War 2nd Class.
Order of the Red Star, numbered 2169495
Condition: Good very fine
Junior Lieutenant Grigory Yakovlevich Nemaltsev was born in the village of Bolshoi Tolkai, Podbelsk Raion, Kuibyshev Oblast in 1918, and had served in the Red Army since the beginning of the Patriotic War in 1941 when he had been drafted by the Military Commissariat of Novosibirsk. Nothing is known of his early war service, this Order of the Red Star being his first award issued on 31st January 1945 by Order of the 132nd Rifle Division. The citation below:
‘When our troops crossed the Vistula River, comrade Junior Lieutenant Nemaltsev served as assistant chief of the crossing site on the right bank of the river. In this capacity comrade Nemaltsev showed selflessness as he helped transport vehicles and cargo get across the ice to the opposite river bank. Once he had set up river-crossing posts he stayed at his post until all transport vehicles were able to cross the Vistula.’
Signed by the Commander of the Independent Training Company Major Tselio on 24th January 1945 as a recommendation for an Order of the Patriotic War 2nd Class but this was downgraded to an Order of the Red Star by the Commander of the 132nd Bakhmach Twice Red Banner Order of Suvorov Rifle Division, Colonel Solovyov
Nemaltsev went on to be awarded an Order of the Patriotic War 2nd Class by Order of the 129th Rifle Corps on 15th May 1945, this almost certainly for an act during the Battle of Berlin. He was then awarded a Medal for the Capture of Berlin on 9th June 1945.
132nd Rifle Division was deployed in the Kustrin Bridgehead at the beginning of the Berlin Operation and along with the rest of 47th Army played a significant role in the initial assaults to defeat the German defenders on the Seelow Heights, as such Nemaltsev would almost certainly have seen desperate fighting here, his unit suffering many losses and only playing a peripheral role in the rest of the operation.
