Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Starshiy Serzhant (1st Sergeant)

Unit:

3rd Battalion, 514th Rifle Regiment, 162nd Rifle Division, Separate Coastal Army, North Caucasian Front

Awarded on:

June 20th, 1942

"On June 7 1942, the Germans launched another assault on Sevastopol. The company of scouts, in which Maria Baida fought, held positions on the Mekenzievy mountains. Despite the superiority in numbers, the Nazis could not break the desperate resistance of the Soviet soldiers.

Maria was in the very epicenter of the "battle of hell", but showed that she was a brave, sometimes even super-desperate fighter - when ammunition ended in the machine gun, the girl fearlessly ranthrough the parapet, returning with captured automatic weapons. During one of these sorties, a German grenade exploded nearby, hitting the contused and wounded girl in the head and fainted.

Baida came to herself in the evening and it was getting dark. As it later turned out, the Germans broke through the defenses to the right of the scouts' positions and moved into the rear. Of the whole company, only one officer and a dozen fighters remained alive - they were captured by the Germans.

Quickly assessing the situation (in the trenches of the scouts there were no more than 20 Nazis and they were all in one place and not far from the prisoners), Maria decided to attack. Due to the suddenness and quick reaction of the captured scouts, who in turn attacked the Germans as soon as Maria opened fire on the enemy. In this skirmish, 15 soldiers and one officer were killed, four soldiers killed with a butt, while the German commander and eight soldiers were forced to run. Our soldiers captured a machine gun and assault rifles.

Knowing well the scheme of the minefields, Maria Baida led the wounded soldiers to their own safety under the cover of darkness."

No. 6183

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Starshiy Serzhant (1st Sergeant)

Unit:

3rd Battalion, 514th Rifle Regiment, 162nd Rifle Division, Separate Coastal Army, North Caucasian Front

Awarded on:

June 20th, 1942

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Awarded on:

April 6th, 1985

1985 anniversary version

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Awarded on:

1995

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)