Russia – Soviet: An Order of Glory 3rd Class awarded to Junior Sergeant Ivan Ivanovich Vagin, 1971th Anti-Tank Artillery Regiment, who as a driver in the 2nd Battery of his unit which was serving in the 6th Guards Army, 1st Baltic Front saved a truck from a burning building, and risking his life under an artillery barrage drove it to a safe position. He also saved another truck and a towed gun after it had been hit by a Ferdinand Self Propelled Gun.
Order of Glory 3rd Class, type 2, numbered 234134
Condition: Nearly extremely fine
Ivan Ivanovich Vagin was born in the town of Kotelnich in the Kirov region in 1925, having attained an elementary education, he joined the Red Army in 1943, also becoming a member of the communist party in the same year.
Serving as a Junior Sergeant in the 1971 Anti-Tank Artillery Regiment and working as a Driver in the 2nd Battery, this was Vagin’s sole award, issued to him by Order of the 6th Guards Army, 1st Baltic Front as a result of the following citation:
‘He has been serving as a driver in the combat operations during the period since 22 June 1944. Many times in this period, he had to drive the gun into the open sights firing positions, while manoeuvring his truck between the enemy shell explosions and machine-gun fire.
In the engagement near the village of Koyukrogs, when the enemy went into an assault, a direct artillery hit set ablaze the building where Vagin’s vehicle was parked. Risking his life and under enemy artillery barrage, comrade Vagin rescued his truck from the flames and drove it into a safe position. In the same engagement, a direct hit of a Ferdinand SPG damaged driver Tikhonov’s vehicle, Tikhonov was killed. Utilising the terrain to his advantage and masterfully manoeuvring, comrade Vagin drove Tikhonov’s truck and the towed gun to a safe location.’
In March 1947 he was still working as a Driver in 1971th anti-tank artillery regiment, while living at 58 Sovetskaya Street, Kotelnich, Kirov
