Red Star- 416th Rifle Division- Scout- Battle of Berlin
Article about: This is one of my favorite Red Stars for the amount of research that came out of it. Record Card: 1. Family, Garkavenko 2. Name And Patronym, Grigorij Radionovich 3. Military Rank, Senior Se
Red Star- 416th Rifle Division- Scout- Battle of Berlin
This is one of my favorite Red Stars for the amount of research that came out of it.
Record Card:
1. Family, Garkavenko
2. Name And Patronym, Grigorij Radionovich
3. Military Rank, Senior Sergeant
4. Sex, Male
5. Year Of Birth, 1925
6. Place Of Birth, Kiev Oblast, Kerkassy
7. Party Membership, Member VLKSM from 1943.
8. Education, None.
9. Nationality, Ukrainian
10. From Which Year In Red Army, 09-1943.
11. Which Service And Position At Time Of Award, 416th Rifle Division, 222nd Separate Scout Company - Driver
12. Place Of Service And Position At Current Time, 120th Motorcycle Battalion, 18th Mechanised Division, Senior Brigader of the Repair Brigade.
13. Home address of awarded, Kiev Oblast, Cherkassy, Komintern Street, House 43
"Red Star" #2024873 Document I#181650 Order of units of 416th Rifle Division #66/N of 06-11-1945
"For Victory Over Germany In The Great Patriotic War 1941-1945" Document SH#200999 Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 09-05-1945.
Commander of the 120th Motorcycle Battalion Guards Major Bondarenko
25th October 1946
Award Citation
1. Family, name and patronym, Garkavenko, Grigorij Radionovich
2. Rank, Senior Sergeant
3. Position, Unit, Scout, 222nd Separate Moto-Scout Company, 416th Rifle Taganrog Red Banner Order Of Suvurov Division.
Presented for award of the Order "Red Star"
4. Year, Place Of Birth, 1925, Kiev Oblast
5. Nationality, Ukrainian
6. Party membership, Member VLKSM
7. Participation in Civil War and subsequent military activities in defence of the USSR and Patriotic War (Where, When) Third Ukrainian Front from 01-01-1944 to 1944, 25th May and First Belorussian Front from 01-10-1944 to 08-05-1945.
8. Has had wounds or contusions during the Patriotic War (Date, month, year of wound, condition at current time), Heavily wounded 08-03-1944 222nd Separate Moto-Scout Company.
9. From which time in the Red Army (Month, Year), From 13th September 1943.
10. To which Regional Military Commissariat called, Kujbyshev Oblast Military Commissariat.
11. Has which awards (For which distinction), Not not been awarded.
Comrade Garkavenko for the time of the Great Patriotic War participated in many battles for the defence of the fatherland. In heavy battle going through Ukraine to Berlin. Participated in battles while breaking long-term German defences on the Vistula, Küstrin and during the capture of Berlin. In battle for the homeland showed courage and heroism and a considerable share in the common cause of victory - Victory over Hitler's Germany.
In one of the street battles in Berlin his commander of the section was killed. Comrade Garkavenko himself took charge of the command of the section with his personal example inspiring fighters and personally destroying an enemy machinegun disrupting the advance of the section.
In this scramble he was contused and directed to recover in hospital. After recovery went back to his unit.
Worthy of award of the Order "Red Star".
Commander of the 222nd Separate Moto-Scout Company Senior-Lieutenant Shal'gin
5th November 1945.
Awarded the Order "Red Star" by Order #66/N of 6th November 1945 of Units of the 416th Rifle Taganrog Red Banner Order Of Suvurov Division.
Head Of The Section Of Cadre 416th Rifle Taganrog Red Banner Order Of Suvurov Division Major Kalinskij
The 416th Rifle Division part of the 32nd Rifle Corps has quite an impressive battle record, to much for me to post here so I will post a little about the operations in Kustrin and Berlin.
I've pulled the following information from Russian web sites using Google translate:
On March 7, the 416th division launched an assault on Kustrin and by March 8 captured the central part of Neustadt, surrounding its garrison. On March 9, units of the division destroy the encircled enemy group in the city center. March 9 and 10 forces the river and continues to storm the enemy fortifications. By the evening of March 12, 1945, the 416th division took possession of one of the largest parts of Küstrin - Neustadt. 3,500 soldiers and officers of the enemy were captured.
On March 23, 1945, the 416th division took Alt-Bleyan and reached the line of Kyustrin (northern) and on March 28, together with the 35th Guards Division, completed the encirclement of a large enemy group. On March 29-30, the 416th division was temporarily handed over to the 8th Guards Army and participated in the operation to destroy the enemy group in the Neu-Bleien region, an island east of the suburb of Kitz and the Kyustrin fortress. During the operation, 3,170 enemy soldiers and officers were captured
On the morning of April 21, 1945, the 416th division was one of the first to break into the outskirts of Berlin. On the same day, the 416th division was storming the city of Straussberg.
April 27, the 416th division entered the western outskirts of the German capital, crossed the Spree River and captured the bridge on the western bank of the river in a stubborn battle.
April 30, assault troops of the 416th division broke through to Schlossplatz, the square in front of the Kaiser Wilhelm’s palace.
On May 1, units of the 1373th and 1374th regiments of the 416th division stormed the enemy stronghold - the Kaiser Wilhelm palace. At 3 pm on May 1, the Red Flag was hoisted over the Kaiser Wilhelm’s palace. At night from May 1 to May 2, fighters of the 416th division captured the building of the comic opera and, continuing the advance towards the Brandenburg Gate, stormed the Reichsbank from the rear and, after several hours of battle, completely took control of the imperial bank. The soldiers of the 1373th regiment, advancing towards the Brandenburg Gate, occupy the former building of the Soviet embassy in Berlin. The head of the political department of the 416th division, Colonel Rashid Majidov, hoisted the Red Banner over the building. Together with other units, the 416th division occupies the University of Berlin and the building of the Ministry of the Interior. In the early morning of May 2, soldiers of the 1373rd regiment marched on Marisenplatz and hoisted the banner of victory over the Brandenburg Gate. Soon after, a rally was held at the Brandenburg Gate. A member of the Military Council of the 5th shock army, Lieutenant General F. E. Bokov wrote in his memoirs:
The first was General V.P. Zyuvanov. He spoke with great enthusiasm about the exploits of our soldiers during the assault on Berlin and the great significance of victory:
“The last shot in the historic battle for Berlin,” the general said, “sounded here, at the Brandenburg Gate, and this shot was fired by the sons of the Azerbaijani people. The memory of the heroes of the assault on the capital of Nazi Germany will live for centuries. We are happy people, participants in the battle and living witnesses of how the war ended victoriously ... [29]
The 416th division traveled from the Caucasus to Berlin, destroying 24,000 and capturing 5,474 Wehrmacht soldiers.
I've drawn some red arrows in the pictures above that are faint to see of the direction the 32nd Rifle Corps took in the Battle of Berlin.
From what I can tell it looks like the 32nd Rifle Corps was the unit that Willi Rogmann was fighting against at the Jannowitz Bridge and Schlesischer Bahnhof (today Berlin Ostbahnhof) from the book 'With our Backs to Berlin' by Tony Le Tissier (pg. 155+)
I'm unsure where the awardee Garkavenko was injuried and taken out of action, could have been in the outskirts or in the heart of Berlin, but it has led to some fascinating research.
Interesting read and a great follow up to the research. This brave man most likely made it all the way to the Reichstag which makes this Red Star a great addition to the collection. Congrats
Red Star- 416th Rifle Division- Scout- Battle of Berlin
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