Order of the Red Star #1379963
Hi all. I recently received this Star in a job Lot of other items and consequently it was a good price despite the damage. I have another and it seems to compare favourably but as always other opinions are always appreciated. Do people tend tend to get the Enamel replaced on damaged ones? Any comments are appreciated. Cheers.
An original star...and I would leave the enamel as is. I wouldn't try to fix it. It has character as is.
Thanks Marcel. That was my reaction as to be honest the damage doesn't bother me and it doesn't look like it was done yesterday. I have seen some threads where they have been repaired but I imagine it's a nightmare trying to get the shade of red spot on.
To be fair, one can never get the enamel repaired in such a way that it will be invisible. It will always leave traces. I have quite some Red Stars, Red banners and OPW's with enamel damage. These awards were worn in actual combat, in the trenches, in the dug-outs...they have been there. So some damage is almost unavoidable.
Here's a nice example of such a heavily damaged Red Star from my own collection. The awardee was always the first into the enemy trenches for close combat. For this he was awarded to OGP 1st class. And this Red Star shows exactly that, the heavy close combat fighting in trenches:
Now that is a thing of beauty. I just found the thread about it and can see why it's so damaged.
Just to update this thread I have had the research on this star back now. It was awarded to:
Senior Sergeant Timofej Ivanovich Ostrenko, a Ukrainian born in 1915 at Dneperopetrovsk region, Tsaritsin, Village Motlev No.1.
He was not a party member and served in the Red Army from July 1941 until October 1946 and appears to have spent the War with the 267th Mortar Regiment, part of 1st Guards Mechanised Corps.
His Order of the Red Star was awarded by authority of the 1st Guards Mechanised Corps on 10th February 1945. During this time the 1st Guards Mechanised Corps had been fighting in the Battle of Budapest, where it arrived from 13 months refitting in Stavka reserve in December 1944. I think it can therefore safely be said that this Star solidly relates to the Battle of Budapest.
On to the award itself. At the time of the award Ostrenko was serving as Senior Mortar Repair Master (interim head of the artillery workshop), 267th Mortar Regiment (1st Guards Mechanised Corps, III Ukrainian Front). His citation is as follows:
Comrade OSTRENKO has been working as an artillery repair master on the the 267th mortar regiment and is one of the best specialists and is an example to the others. He distinguished himself not just in the area of artillery pieces repair, but also in the field of optical instruments and the handheld fire weapons. During the engagements, comrade OSTRENKO personally fixed and returned to full operation 10 mortars. All the repairs were done on the battle field and on the firing positions. He also repaired 6 mortars, 6 anti-tank rifles, 5 binoculars, plus other firearms at the workshop location. After the head of the workshop was dismissed due to illness, he has been successfully fulfilling his duties for the past 3 months. CONCLUSION: For impeccable service, for rapid repairs of the damaged weapons, comrade OSTRENKO deserves a state award - order “RED STAR”.
Head of the artillery supplies of the regiment Guard Lt. Colonel signature /ZAKHAROV/
In the regimental context I assume the mortars being referred to would be 120-PM-38.
I hope this is of interest. Many thanks.
Very nice. That's a keeper! Senior Sergeant Timofej Ivanovich Ostrenko sounds familiar to me, I guess I have also an award or some documents from him. Have to check this when time allows.
Well Marcel I would obviously be very interested to know the results of your search. That would be quite a coincidence!
Will post here when I found out
Edit: happens actually more often. Some documents were posted on this forum several years ago and much later I found the remaining documents from that same soldier. Unfortunately sellers split up groupings, resulting in the seperate items spreading worldwide, making it harder for collectors to re-unite these again.
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