Russia – Soviet: Medal for Bravery awarded to Red Army Soldier Nikolai Dmitrievich Firstov, Senior Lineman, 1014th Independent Signals Battalion, 132nd Rifle Corps who was decorated for his service as a lineman during offensive operations.
Medal for Bravery, type 2, reverse numbered 2128005. Mounted on the incorrect ribbon.
Condition: Good Very Fine
Nikolai Dmitrievich Firstov was born in the village of Kulemesovo, Edkovsky selsovet, Kubeno-Ozersky District, Vologda Oblast in 1910.
A Russian national he finished less than 2 grades of education before joining the Red army in August 1938, he served until September 1940. He would then be recalled at the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War and would serve on the Karelian Front and would receive the Medal for the Defence of the Soviet Polar Regions.
This award of the Medal for Bravery was issued by decree of the 132nd Rifle Crops on 18th March 1945 and was issued to him whilst serving as a Red Army Soldier and Senior Lineman in the 1014th Independent Signals Battalion, 132nd Rifle Corps as a result of the following recommendation:
‘During his service in the position of lineman, and also during offensive operations, Red Army Soldier Firstov, N.D. has proven himself a highly disciplined and enterprising soldier. He knows signals operations well and executes them skilfully in actual practice.
While laying a cable line, he facilitated rapid communications with his energetic work, and in maintaining his sector, he quickly and skilfully repaired damage in spite of difficulties.’
Firstov would later receive an Order of the Red Star by decree of the 132nd Rifle Corps on 20th May 1945.
Surviving the war, by September 1946 he would be working as a rank and file collective farmer at the ’Peredovoi’ Kolkhoz in Edkovsky Selsovet. Whilst living in the nearby village of Kulemesovo
