Order of the Patriotic War, 2nd Class nr. 98320 was awarded by Order of the 13th Army of February 21, 1944 to 36-year-old Major Vasily Vasilyevich Logachov, deputy commander for political affairs of the 162nd Tank Brigade, 25th Tank Corps, 13th Army, 1st Ukrainian Front.

Vasily Vasilyevich Logachov was born on December 30, 1907 in the village of Maryanovka, close to the city of Shuya in the Ivanovo Oblast, Russia. Upon finishing high school he enrolled in a factory apprenticeship school in the city of Shuya, where he graduated in 1927. He then started working as a senior instructor at the Central Labor Institute in Moscow. In 1928 he became a member of the Communist Party, and in September 1929 Logachov was conscripted into the Army, being assigned to the 3rd Tank Regiment, which was stationed in the Moscow Military District. After attending a short officer course he was given command of a tank, and in April 1930 he was designated Secretary of the Komsomol organization. In December 1930, after 15 months of service, he was discharged.

During the 1930s Logachov married one Lidia Nikolayevna, with whom he had two daughters and a son. On March 14, 1941 Logachov was drafted again, and he was sent to Moscow to attend an accelerated course at the renowned Lenin Military Political Academy. He graduated in July 1942, was promoted to Battalion Commissar (Major of the political corps) and was assigned as deputy commander for political affairs (and chief of the Political Section) of the newly formed 239th Tank Brigade, serving on the Central Front. Amazingly, never throughout his career would he occupy a higher position. In March 1943, now a real Major, he was appointed as an inspector with the Political Section of the 4th Guards Tank Army, and in July 1943 he was given the post of deputy commander for political affairs of the 162nd Tank Brigade, a position he would hold for exactly two years.

Throughout the war the 162nd Tank Brigade was attached to the 25th Tank Corps. When Logachov joined the 162nd Tank Brigade in July 1943, the 25th Tank Corps was being rebuilt and refitted. In July the corps went back into action on the Bryansk Front. All of its tank brigades were equipped with T-34 and T-70 tanks. The corps fought briefly during the summer, and by late August it was back in reserve, probably to reinforce each brigade with an extra tank battalion, now equipped with nothing but T-34 tanks (probably mostly T-34/85 models). In October the corps was sent to the 1st Ukrainian Front, with which it remained until the end of the war. The corps took part in the massive crossing of the Dnieper River, passed Kiev, took part in the Lvov-Sandomierz Operation in July 1944, the Vistula-Oder Operation at the end of 1944, and advanced toward the Order River. In May 1945 it ended the war near Berlin.

By the end of the war Logachov, now a Lieutenant Colonel, had won three orders. Many units were reduced in size after the war, as well as the 162nd Tank Brigade, which was reorganized as a tank regiment, stationed in Germany. Logachov remained its chief commissar. In 1949 he was transferred to the 86th Tank Regiment, serving near Leningrad, and starting in 1950 he occupied several rather modest political positions. On March 18, 1958 Logachov was discharged because of his age, having served in the Army for 18 years. He had been awarded four orders and at least one medal. He retired to Sestroretsk, a city on the Gulf of Finland, just north of Saint Petersburg.

Record card

Order booklet nr. A-490164

1. Last name: Logachov
2. First name and patronymic: Vasily Vasilyevich
3. Military rank: Guards Lieutenant Colonel
4. Sex: Male
5. Year of birth: 1908
6. Place of birth: City of Shuya, Ivanovo Oblast
7. Party membership (since which year): Member of the Communist Party since 1928
8. Education: Higher
9. Nationality: Russian
10. Since which year in the Red Army: Since April 1941
11. Place of service (name of the unit) and position occupied at the time of the award: Deputy commander for political affairs of the 162nd Tank Brigade, 25th Tank Corps
12. Current place of service and position: Deputy commander for political affairs of the 162nd Tank Battalion, 25th Independent Tank Regiment
13. Home address of the awardee: City of Shuya, Ivanovo Oblast

14. Record of all awards received:

Signature of the awardee: [signed]

I confirm the correctness of the data and the signature of the awardee (position and signature):

Commander of the 162nd Tank Battalion
Lieutenant Colonel [signed] /Batalov/
March 18, 1947

All fields to be filled out fully

1. Last name, first name and patronymic: Logachov, Vasily Vasilyevich
2. Rank: Guards Major
3. Position and unit: Deputy commander for political affairs of the 162nd Novograd-Volynsky Tank Brigade
Nominated for: Order of the Red Banner
4. Year of birth: 1907
5. Nationality: Russian
6. Party affiliation: Member of the Communist Party
7. Participation in the Civil War and the subsequent combat actions to defend the USSR (where and when): In the Patriotic War since 1941
8. Wounds and contusions received during the Patriotic War: No
9. Since when in the Red Army: 1932
10. Drafted by which military commissariat: Military Commissariat of the Poshekhono-Volodarsk Raion
11. Awards received previously: None
12. Permanent home address (of the prospective awardee or his family): ______________

Short, concrete description of his combat feat or merits:

The Table of Organization and Equipment shown below provides an overview of the various subunits of the 162nd Tank Brigade, its main types of weaponry, and its principal cadre, as it was on paper on January 1, 1944. On This date the 162nd Tank Brigade was reorganized to conform to the latest Table of Organization and Equipment (Russian: shtat), nr. 010/500 - 010/506, which was established in November 1943. The overview below is based on this TOE; it does not take into account any combat losses or unit-specific irregularities.

Order of the Patriotic War, 2nd Class nr. 98320, obverse and reverse

A T-34/85 medium tank, the standard tank of the 162nd Tank Brigade in early 1944
Order of the Patriotic War, 2nd Class nr. 98320, obverse	Order of the Patriotic War, 2nd Class nr. 98320, reverse