Kharkov 1943, gun commander: Order of the Red Star

[RustyRelics]

This is Red Army Sargent Major, Vitaly Shchetinin. He was a part of the army since 1939. August 18th, 1943, in the fighting for the village of Dergachovka (Kharkov region), He rolled out his gun (unsure of what kind since Russian is not a language I can translate) and with direct fire, destroyed at least three machine gun nests, a mortar, and 20 German soldiers.


What's super cool about this star, is that it comes with an original photograph of its wearer. The photo is dated April 14th, 1950.




Below, are some of the Russian award documents provided by the seller.

[Auke]

Unfortunately the photograph shows somebody else: Lieutenant Colonel M.V. Sukharsky, as attested on the reverse.

[Marcel Banziger]

I agree, photo is someone else. Unfortunately it's a common practice on Ebay that random pics are added to awards to spice them up a bit.

[RustyRelics]

Well that's highly unfortunate.

The medal should still be good though I hope. :/

[Marcel Banziger]

The award (Red Star is an order and not a medal) is good.