Order of the Red Star # 2665347 + Biography

[Richtofen]

Hi all, I particularly love collecting Order of the Red Stars, the one I'm sharing today is a particular favorite of mine. It came attached to a post War NKVD Kittel and with a pair of roughly pre war blue cotton officer pants. The seller claimed all of the uniform items and the Red star itself belonged to the same officer who was once an NKVD Colonel and that he had bought the items from the family themselves in the 90's from St. Petersburg, he also claimed there were other medals but the family had sold them for profit before he bought the rest, he had also forgotten the veterans name.

Upon research this Order of the Red Star belonged to a Guards Major Vasiliy Markovich Ponomarev born in 1906 unknown death date. Major Ponomarev entered the Sevastopol Military School in i believe 1928, he graduated in 1932 after finishing Anti Aircraft Courses. He continued his officer training throughout the 30s until he completed an advanced officer course in 1937 and promoted to Senior lt. in 1938. His service record is not always clear but on a few citations it states that he participated in the Khalkin Gol engagement, his service record has him transferring to the 21st cavalry division on may 16th 1939 but its crossed out so I dont know what that means, either way a few of his records state he received a Bravery medal in either 1939 or 1940. He then was bounced around to different AA units throughout the war. in 1943 he was attached to the 6th anti aircraft artillery division where he remained for the rest of the war, the 6th AAAD was at the battle of Kursk where they provided anti aircraft protection for the 5th Guards Tank Army. Ponomarev received an Order of the Patriotic War in September 1943 (downgraded from the recommended Order of Nevsky in the citation chain) and in November 1943 he was promoted to Major. Ponomarev was recommended for the Order of the Red Star for actions during the Debrecen offensive, while he was in the 225 Anti Aircraft Artillery regiment, during Debrecen they were providing AA support for the 9th and 4th Guards Cossack Cavalry Division. here is the citation for the order of the red star

He proved himself as an exceptionally gallant and initiative Red Army
warrior during the struggle agains the German invaders.
Participating in battles against the Germano-Hungarian troops during the
period from 06 June 1944 till 15 October 1944, comrade PONOMAREV was
constantly present among the combat troops, directed the fire of his artillery
squadrons and organised defences and engaged the enemy land troops.
Thanks to comrade PONOMAREV’s decisiveness and under his direct
leadership, two enemy aircrafts were shot down near the settlement Mezőpeterd
and Szeghalom. In the area West of Mezőpeterd, comrade PONOMAREV organised
the regiment forces for defence against the enemy land troops, who’s attack was
repelled by our light machine anti-aircraft battery and anti-aircraft machine-gun
company.
While being present on the firing position of the 1 battery on 14 October
1944 near the settlement Mezőpeterd, comrade PONOMAREV was wounded into
his chest. He is devoted to the cause of Party Lenin-Stalin and the Socialist
Motherland.

Ponomarev received the order of the red star in 1945 (and condition wise, part of the guy on the red star is ground down a bit, it appears from polishing) and was discharged from the Red Army in 1946 and put down temporarily unemployed while filling out his register card in May 1946. one can theorize if he did join the NKVD that was when it occurred but unfortunately no documents exist stating that happened. Unfortunately his date of death or anything at all about him post 1946 is unknown. anyway sorry if i got a bit windy, thanks for bearing with me

[Woolgar]

Lovely example with fascinating history particularly that he was shooting down German aircraft at the battle of Kursk!

Nick

[Richtofen]

interestingly enough there is more info with this officer and Kursk, I had to gloss over some of the history or else the post would have been ridiculously long, but the unit he was in during Kursk, the 146th Anti Aircraft Artillery Regiment, was at Kursk and their first confirmed combat of the war was July 12th 1943, providing AA for the 5th Guards Tank Army during the Battle of Prokhorovka (I will include a map marked up July 9th 1943 showing where the 6th AAAD was in comparison with the 5th Guards Tank Army) and while I mentioned he received an Order of the Patriotic War 2nd class, i didnt include the citation, basically it was for kursk and the subsequent battles, the OPWII citation states as follows:

Leading by example, he commanded the regiment units in the battles on the
Belgorod-Kharkov sector. Disregarding personal safety, he persistently fulfilled the
given combat objectives in any combat circumstances, while being multiple times
subjected to heavy enemy artillery, mortar, and machine-gun fire and air strikes.
Thanks to his skilful leadership, all the enemy air strikes were successfully
repelled.
The regiment downed thirteen enemy aircrafts during the period from 11
July 1943 to 28 August 1943.

interestingly he was originally nominated for the Order of the Patriotic war 1st Class, then the next up officer changed it to a recommendation for an Order of Nevsky and then the citation chain is lost from there but somewhere it was downgraded to an OPWII

[Woolgar]

Wow, this is amazing history, particularly to anyone studying the battles of Kursk and Prokhoroka!

The sort I medal and citation I search for...I am very envious

Congrats on your find

Nick