Note an extremely early date of issue: most capture and liberation medal documents were issued much later, in 1946 and the following years. The document is hand-signed by Guards Col. Borisov, Chief of Signals, 3rd Guards Tank Army. Interestingly, the unit stamp is omitted, probably an oversight by the clerk who filled out the document. Another unusual feature is that the entries are typed rather than hand- written.

In outstanding, excellent condition. The document is perfectly crisp and clean, and shows only the mild age toning - completely free of significant wear or soi

Note an extremely early date of issue: most capture and liberation medal documents were issued much later, in 1946 and the following years. The document is hand-signed by Guards Col. Borisov, Chief of Signals, 3rd Guards Tank Army. Interestingly, the unit stamp is omitted, probably an oversight by the clerk who filled out the document. Another unusual feature is that the entries are typed rather than hand- written.

In outstanding, excellent condition. The document is perfectly crisp and clean, and shows only the mild age toning - completely free of significant wear or soiling.

Based on the documents found on the Russian archival website Pamyat-naroda.ru, Nikolay Chernenko (Николай Максимович Черненко) was born in 1906 in Leningrad (then St. Petersburg). In 1928, he joined the military, most likely by enrolling in an aviation school. In 1939-40, Chernenko took part in the Soviet-Finnish War having the rank of captain and serving with the 8th Army. During this conflict, he earned his first decoration, an Order of the Red Banner which was bestowed in May 1940. Starting from November 1941, Chernenko took part in the Patriotic War and was apparently stationed in Leningrad at least during the early part of the siege.

On 1 July 1943, just before the Battle of Kursk, Chernenko was appointed commander of the 372nd Separate Dispatch Aviation Regiment of the 3rd Guards Tank Army, a position he would hold through the end of the war. During the Battle of Kursk and the Soviet offensives of August - October 1943, he flew 18 combat missions and ensured completion of 387 flawless missions by his regiment. For his excellent command of the unit, Chernenko was awarded an Order of the Patriotic War, 2nd cl. on 20 October 1943.

Chernenko earned several other decorations by the end of the war including an Order of the Red Star and Red Banner for length of service. His last decoration was an Order of Alexander Nevsky awarded on 15 May 1945 for the Battle of Berlin. The award commendation for the latter specifically stated that Chernenko's air regiment was instrumental in coordinating actions of the 3rd Guards Tank Army. Throughout the Berlin operation, his regiment changed its base of operations 10 times and completed 105 combat missions.

After the end of the war, Chernenko remained on active duty with the Soviet occupation forces in Austria and was probably looking forward to further successful military career and promotions. However, in July 1946, he died at the age of 40 apparently due to some sort of accident (at least in theory, it may be possible eventually to find out the cause of death by finding his personnel file in the Russian military archives.) He was buried at the Soviet military cemetery in Vienna.

Research Materials: photocopy of Chernenko's award commendations for the Order of the Patriotic War, 2nd c. and Order of Alexander Nevsky.
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