Russia – Soviet: An unusual Defence of Moscow Order of the Red Banner awarded belatedly for wounds to Lieutenant Aleksandr Nikolaevich Zotov, Company Commander, 103rd Independent Sapper Battalion, 53rd Rifle Division, 43rd Army who suffered the loss of both eyes and the amputation of his left hand having been severely wounded by the city of Podolsk on 20th November 1941 during the final desperate and successful defence of Moscow. The wound led to his permanent disablement and he would see no further service during the Patriotic War.
Order of the Red Banner, type 4, (rounded) the reverse numbered 185446
Condition: some minor wear to the central white enamel, otherwise Nearly Extremely Fine
Aleksandr Nikolaevich Zotov was born in the city of Taishet in 1914. A Russian national he attained a higher education before he joined the Red Army in July 1941.
Seeing frontline service with 559th Independent Rifle Battalion, 312th Rifle Division, 54th Army on the Northwestern Front from 28th August 1941 until 3rd October 1941 and then as a Company Commander with the 103rd Independent Sapper Battalion, 53rd Rifle Division, 43rd Army on the Western Front before he was severely wounded on 20th November 1941.
This Order of the Red Banner issued by decree of the Supreme Soviet on 6th August 1946 was for those wounds and notes him as Lieutenant, the citation reads:
‘Lieutenant Zotov A.N. was a combatant of the Patriotic War on the Southwestern Front in the 54th Army, 312th Rifle Division, as part of the 599th Independent Sapper Battalion in the position of Platoon Commander from 28th August 1941 to 3rd October 1941 and on the Western Front in the 43rd Army, 53rd Rifle Division as part of the 103rd Independent Sapper Battalion in the position of Company Commander from 3.10.1941 until 20.11.1941.
He suffered a severe fragmentation wound in the head and his left hand on the Maloyaroslavets axis at the ‘Morat’ Sovkhoz 10-12km outside the city of Podolsk on 20th November 1941. The consequences of the wound includes loss of both eyes and amputation of the left hand.
At present in spite of the handicap, 1st Group, and right not to work, he nevertheless works as an architectural consultant at UzPlanProekt and has received an Honorary Certificate from the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Uzbek SSR for his work.
Deserves recommendation for the government award of the Order of the Red Banner.’
By March 1947 Zotov had been discharged and is noted as invalid of the 1st group, and living at Arkhitektorov 30, Kirov District, Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
The period and location of the fighting at the time of Zotov’s wound involved the final defence of Moscow:
On 15 November 1941, German tank armies began their offensive towards Klin, where no Soviet reserves were available because of Stalin's wish to attempt a counteroffensive at Volokolamsk, which had forced the relocation of all available reserve forces further south. Initial German attacks split the front in two, separating the 16th Army from the 30th. Several days of intense combat followed. Zhukov recalled in his memoirs that "The enemy, ignoring the casualties, was making frontal assaults, willing to get to Moscow by any means necessary". Despite the Wehrmacht's efforts, the multi-layered defense reduced Soviet casualties as the Soviet 16th Army slowly retreated and constantly harassed the German divisions which were trying to make their way through the fortifications.
The Third Panzer Army captured Klin after heavy fighting on 23 November, Solnechnogorsk as well by 24 November and Istra, by 24/25 November. Soviet resistance was still strong, and the outcome of the battle was by no means certain. Reportedly, Stalin asked Zhukov whether Moscow could be successfully defended and ordered him to "speak honestly, like a communist". Zhukov replied that it was possible, but reserves were urgently needed. By 27 November, the German 7th Panzer Division had seized a bridgehead across the Moscow-Volga Canal—the last major obstacle before Moscow—and stood less than 35 km (22 mi) from the Kremlin; but a powerful counterattack by the 1st Shock Army drove them back. Just northwest of Moscow, the Wehrmacht reached Krasnaya Polyana, little more than 29 km (18 mi) from the Kremlin in central Moscow;[ German officers were able to make out some of the major buildings of the Soviet capital through their field glasses. Both Soviet and German forces were severely depleted, sometimes having only 150–200 riflemen—a company's full strength—left in a regiment.
In the south, near Tula, combat resumed on 18 November 1941, with the Second Panzer Army trying to encircle the city. The German forces involved were extremely battered from previous fighting and still had no winter clothing. As a result, initial German progress was only 5–10 km (3.1–6.2 mi) per day. Moreover, it exposed the German tank armies to flanking attacks from the Soviet 49th and 50th Armies, located near Tula, further slowing the advance. Guderian nevertheless was able to pursue the offensive, spreading his forces in a star-like attack, taking Stalinogorsk on 22 November 1941 and surrounding a Soviet rifle division stationed there.
On 26 November 1941, the German 2nd Panzer Army under Guderian began advancing towards Kashira, which was a strategic stronghold that lay 120 kilometres southwest of Moscow and 80 kilometres northeast of Tula. Kashira was of paramount importance, considering that it was the headquarters of the Soviet Western Front, one of the three main groups of resistance against the Nazi storm. The Germans were capable of seizing Venev and pushing towards storming formidably towards Kashira. Should Kashira fall, the road to Moscow would be open for the 2nd Panzer Group. In an attempt to halt the onslaught of the 2nd Panzer Group, the STAVKA High Command hurled Major General Pavel Belov's 1st Guards Cavalry Corps, General Andrei Getman's 112th Tank Division, an armoured brigade and a battalion of BM-13 Katyusha rocket launchers along with support from the air force against the Wehrmacht. The cavalrymen of the 1st Guards Cavalry Corps, which was primarily armed with the SVT-40 semi-automatic battle rifle and Cossack shashkas, as well as the mechanized troops possessing T-34 and KV-1 tanks, battled relentlessly against Heinz Guderian's 2nd Panzer Group. After much vicious fighting, the 1st Guards Cavalry Corps was able to repel the armoured forces of Guderian and subsequently drove them back by 40 kilometres to the town of Mordves.
The Germans were driven back in early December, securing the southern approach to the city. Tula itself held, protected by fortifications and determined defenders mostly from the 50th Army, made of both soldiers and civilians. In the south, the Wehrmacht never got close to the capital. The first stroke of the Western-Front's counter-offensive on the outskirts of Moscow fell upon Guderian's 2nd Panzer Army.
Comparatively few awards were made for the early part of the war, and thus awards, even belated ones for the Defence of Moscow are not often seen.
