Russia – Soviet: Liberation of Kaunas Order of Glory 3rd Class awarded to Private and Telephonist-Signalman Yury Fyodorovich Rumyantsev, 346th Rifle Regiment, 63rd ‘Vitebsk’ Red Banner Rifle Division who repaired 20 breaks in the telephone line under enemy fire, and despite being wounded did not leave the battlefield during the battle for the city of Kaunas on 31st July 1944.
Order of Glory 3rd Class, reverse numbered 182433.
Condition: Good Very Fine
Yury Fyodorovich Rumyantsev was born in the hamlet of Shylkovo, Vokovsky selsovet, Rybinsk District, Yaroslavl Oblast in 1926.
He served in the Red Army from November 1943, and was first awarded a Medal for Bravery by decree of the 346th Rifle Regiment on 28th July 1944 before subsequently being awarded this Order of Glory 3rd Class by decree of the 63rd Rifle Division on 26th December 1944.
At the time of the award he was serving as a Private and Telephonist-Signalman, 346th Rifle Regiment, 63rd ‘Vitebsk’ Red Banner Rifle Division, the citation reading:
‘On 31st July 1944, in battle for the city of Kaunas, under enemy fire, he repaired up to 20 breaks in the line, and being wounded, did not leave the battlefield, but instead continued to carry out his combat mission.’ Deserves awarding of the Order of Glory 3rd Class.
The city of Kaunas is situated in Lithuania and would have seen fighting in the summer of 1944 during the later stages of Operation Bagration, the Red Army’s summer offensive which destroyed German Army Group Centre.
Rumyantsev would go on to be awarded an Order of Glory 2nd Class by decree of the 5th Army on 16th February 1945, and later take part in the Capture of Konigsberg in April 1945 receiving the medal for this. He would also receive the Medal for the 30th Anniversary of the Soviet Army and Navy.
He would later work as an unskilled labourer with the 198th Road Section, whilst living in the hamlet of Shlykovo, Vokovsky Selsovet, Rybinsk District, Yaroslavl oblast
