Order of Kutuzov II for actions at Kursk

[Marcel Banziger]

As some of you may know I've been selling a big chunck of my German, British and US collection, with only one reason; a beautiful Order of Kutuzov 2nd class awarded to Guards Colonel Ivan Ivanovich Antsiferov (Иван Иванович Анциферов). What makes this Kutuzov so interesting is the citation which is for bold actions near Prokhorovka, Kursk area where heavy battles were fought against the German elite; SS Das Reich, SS Totenkopf, SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler and Großdeutschland.

First I wanna show the award itself, an Order of Kutuzov 2nd class serial # 601. Even though the 3rd variant is one of the least attractive Soviet awards the 2nd variant looks beautiful with the milky white enamel in contrast with the silver.

[Marcel Banziger]

Now the citation, which is as said for the battle of Kursk. This battle is very well described in the book "Kursk 1943 - The southern front" by Robert Forczyk in the Osprey 'Campaign' series.

The citation reads as follows:

During the combat campaign on the Belgorod sector since 12 July 1943 'till now, the division under the direct command of Guards Col. ANTSIFEROV exhibited examples of courage and bravery. In the dark of the night of 16-17 July 1943 near the village Kochetovka/ Kursk region/, the division overpowered the enemy guarding units, broke through the strong enemy fortificationline, and routed the enemy forces. The division advanced much forward and took advantageous positions. This achievement enabled the neighbour units to advance forward confidently.
On the night of 07-08 August 1943, the division initiated a surprise attack at the enemy forces near Borisovka /Kursk region/ and captured the settlements: Borisovka, Novo-Borisovka, Hotmyzhsk and others. This operation was realised thanks to the brave and decisive thrust delivered by the Rifle Regiments personnel as well as tight and efficient operational control executed by the division commander. In this operation, the division liberated a number of settlements and inflicted severe casualties and materiel losses upon the enemy, with limited own losses. Only in Borisovka the following enemy materiel was captured: 25 tanks - of which 22 were “Tiger” type, 10 vehicles, 5 depots/ammunition, food, engineering equipment, tank spare parts.
For efficient command of his unit and defeat of the enemy force, for exhibited courage and bravery, he deserves state award order “KUTUZOV II CLASS”.

[Marcel Banziger]

For the first part of the Citation there's a wartime battlemap where Igor/Egorka added some info to make the map more understandable. It shows the location of the 97th Guards Rifle Division as part of the 5th Guards Army on July 16 1943. Direct opponents were the German 11th Panzer Division and the SS Totenkopf.



The second map shows the second part of the Citation and the battles near Borisovka, Novo-Borisvka and Hotmyzhsk:



The 97 Guards Rifle Division is located in the centre of the map south east of Borisovka.

[Marcel Banziger]

As a commanding officer of the 97th Guards Rifle Divisions there's obviously a lot of info and lots of pictures to be found online.
Hereby I wanna introduce the man who earned this beautiful award, a brave commander Guards Colonel Ivan Ivanovich Antsiferov.

[Marcel Banziger]

Some more pics of Ivan which I think are worth showing;



Newspaper report about Ivan who fought in three wars.



Ivan is on the top right picture seen in the middle.



Ivan is standing here in the middle, on the right side of the flag (click on the pic for enlargement).

[Marcel Banziger]

Next up Ivan's Record Card. Now this showed quite some confusing info and it took me and some others (thanks a lot to Matthijs, Auke and Igor) some time to figure this all out. The Record shows that Ivan received the Order of Kutuzov 2nd class # 693 and the Order of Suvorov 2nd class # 601. All the awards were bough together from the family (and unfortunately split up amongst different collectors) and thus it being certain that Kutuzov II # 601 was from Ivan still it was confusing to read he is supposed to have received # 693 according to the Record Card. Most likely this was a clerical error, which happened a lot actually. Still, it is important to have all the facts correct so more research was needed.



The logical thing to do was to look at the Award booklet, which was sold together with the Order of Suvorov 2nd class. This award booklet being an early version, and thus all awards and serial numbers are mentioned close to randomness, didn't provide the much needed confirmation.




Finally a document was found by Igor in the archives that definitively proved Ivan was awarded the Order of Kutuzov 2nd class # 601 and Order of Suvorov 2nd class # 693.

[Marcel Banziger]

Finally, the decree of 10 January 1944, which again confirms the Kutuzov award as mentioned on the Record Card. Ivan is mentioned as no. 1 of Kutuzov 2nd class awardees (middle page).

[Marcel Banziger]

Two more interesting links regarding Ivan Ivanovich Antsiferov for those who are interested. The first is a Youtube video about Ivan:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ce9oTqFlx20

Second up is a biography of Ivan where more of his documents and pics are shown including another video about Ivan:

Их именами названы улицы в Йошкар-Оле. Анциферов Иван Иванович

Thanks for watching! I am very proud to now own an award of such a brave officer. It is humbling to have his award in my hands. I am furthermore amazed by the quality of this award. It is superb craftmanship!! Unfortunately due to the value I am not able to display such an award at home among my regular awards. These are too valuable so it's stored elsewhere in a vault and I will only take a visit there now and then. That's the downside of collecting such awards haha

[Asjemenou]

A nice addition with an interesting story. Be careful with it.

It is a pity that Antsiferov's group of awards is no longer together.
Maybe a nice project to track down and possibly purchase Antsiferov's missing awards?

[Leaftree]

Outstanding addition Marcel. I've been meaning to stream line my collection as you have done and put it into some higher end Soviet awards.