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    U.S. Army Decorations Awarded to Red Army Personnel in World War II


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    GHB,

    Thank you for your recent excellent contributions to this thread.

    At the annual Gunzenhausen, Germany militaria show in October 1994, one dealer from the former Soyuz had a stack of original Legion of Merit award certificates as awarded to Red Army personnel. All told, there must have been 15-25 - each with its associated citation on White House letterhead stationery with President Truman's autopen signature. In reviewing the stack, I noted most were awarded to Red Army field grade officers as either Legionnaire or Officer degrees. As I worked my way through the stack, to my surprise, I came upon four to five Silver Star certificates and one Distinguished Service Cross certificate all of which were also awarded to Red Army personnel.

    Judging from their sheer number and generally excellent condition, it would appear all the certificates were purloined from an archive where they had been held - never having been presented to the original/intended recipients. In practice, the certificates and citations often lagged behind the medals which were presented in the field.

    The thing that makes these certificates so interesting and collectible is that they were not awarded to U.S. Army personnel. According to the late U.S. military awards historian, Colonel (Retired) Albert F. Gleim, during WWII the only award certificates routinely presented to U.S. Army personnel were those for the Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Medal and the Purple Heart.

    Regards,

    slava1stclass

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    I found more documents!

    I can confirm with a copy of the citation Legion of Merit Chief Commander to Zhukov (like you were surprised) General of the Army Antonov (not listed in Post No.1 by Slava but he only listed 5 names of 7 recipients). Bagramian and Admiral Kutsnetsov, (who is also not listed).

    Interestingly Kutnetsov does not show a LOM Chief Commander in his picture in the Marshals and Admirals book.

    I also found confirmation of an award of the Commander level of LOM to Rokossovsky (which contradicts the picture of him in the Marshals book!) I will have to look further into him to see if I can find a second award or upgrade from the recommendation. (Often on Soviet award research - like a Suvarov CL2 that I saw - you find down graded awards, but an upgraded award is rare.)

    And finally I was certain that it was true but did not want to say until I found the document but General Belyaev of the Purchasing Committee was also awarded a Commander LOM by Truman! The citation said "Second Award"

    I will try to post document tomorrow (scanning required) but not too many,

    GHB

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    Belyaev Second award of LOM Commander. I have attached as a second document a memo noting that the regulations Prohibit a second award at the same or lower class. Apparently they ignored that proscription because the citation is marked signed by the President

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    LOM Chief Commander for Kuznetsov. The citation only says suggested and is not signed but the recommending memo (Attachment 1 to this post) is marked certificates signed, so it would seem he might be a missing LOM Chief Commander.

    The Navy forwarded under different rules so for their awards I tended to get "suggested" citations rather than a copy stamped signed by the President.

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    LOM Chief Commander to Bagramyan. Note for this award I found two citations both marked as signed by the President on two different date. On the May date there were a lot of signatures of awards so I cannot tell which one was actually issued to Bagramyan.

    Edited by GHB
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    • 2 weeks later...

    Judging from their sheer number and generally excellent condition, it would appear all the certificates were purloined from an archive where they had been held - never having been presented to the original/intended recipients. In practice, the certificates and citations often lagged behind the medals which were presented in the field.

    Gents,

    As I noted in post #251 above, the lag time between field presentation of the actual decoration and production of the associated award documents was often very extended. In this example, the officer's LM documents were not produced until April 9th, 1946 although his cited actions occurred in May 1945.

    While U.S. Army field commanders were delegated authority to award the LM to foreign allies on behalf of the President, the associated formal LM documentation (award certificate and citation) originated in Washington, D.C..

    The only award citations prepared on White House stationery for Red Army personnel I've ever encountered have been those for various degrees of the Legion of Merit.

    Regards,

    slava1stclass

    Edited by slava1stclass
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    Gents,

    The Silver Star certificate seen in Wild Card's post (post #37 this thread) finally has a friend - the Silver Star certificate awarded to Lt Col V. R. Orekhov.

    Although not noted on his certificate, Orekhov was a Guards officer. He commanded the 89th Guards Rifle Regiment, 28th Guards Kharkov Rifle Division. He was a double ORB and OAN winner.

    Again, note the outstanding calligraphy found on early WWII award certificates to Red Army personnel.

    P.S. After looking at Orekhov's Silver Star certificate more closely, something seemed odd about the wording. Sure enough. Compare his WWII-vintage certificate's wording with that of a Vietnam war-era certificate - "A Silver Star" versus "The Silver Star."

    Regards,

    slava1stclass

    Edited by slava1stclass
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    I just ran across a list from August 1944 of 25 recipients of the DFC. These were all presented by Harriman to Molotov in Moscow on 22 August 1944. There's probably 300 names in the list...

    Here's one list, this one dates from June 22, 1943...

    Next list...this is one from August 1944.

    Part 2 of the same list...

    Gents,

    I finally got around to analyzing NavyFCO's earlier excellent primary research contributions. Here are the breakouts by award dates:

    June 22nd, 1943 U.S. Military Awards Presentation at AMEMBASSY Moscow:

    Distinguished Service Cross - 20 presented

    Distinguished Service Medal (U.S. Army) - 20 presented

    Navy Cross - 10 presented

    Distinguished Service Medal (U.S. Navy) - 10 presented

    August 22nd, 1944 U.S. Military Awards Presentation at AMEMBASSY Moscow:

    Distinguished Service Cross - 25 presented

    Distinguished Flying Cross - 25 presented

    Silver Star - 50 presented

    Legion of Merit (Commander) - 25

    Legion of Merit (Officer) - 30

    Legion of Merit (Legionnaire) - 40

    A few observations. These two presentation ceremonies accounted for 45 of the 53 known DSC awards to Red Army personnel; all of the known U.S. Army DSM awards (20); roughly half (10) of the 22 known U.S. Navy DSM awards; and slightly under half (50) of the 119 known Silver Star awards.

    Regards,

    slava1stclass

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    Gents,

    Thanks to the research contributions of fellow forum members Gunner 1 (DFC and AM data) and GHB (LM Chief Commander data), I can offer an update to the chart seen in post #1 this thread. I offer it here as I'm unable to edit the original post.

    The following U.S. Army decorations were awarded to Red Army personnel for heroism or meritorious service in World War II:

    Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) - 53

    Distinguished Service Medal (DSM) - 20

    Silver Star (SS) - 119

    Legion of Merit (LM) - 323

    By degree:

    - Chief Commander - 9*

    - Commander - 35

    - Officer - 85

    - Legionnaire - 194

    Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) - 46

    Bronze Star Medal (BSM) - 40**

    Air Medal (AM) – 8

    Notes:

    *Awards of the LM in the degree of Chief Commander to MSUs Vasilevskiy and Zhukov; Chief Marshal of Aviation Novikov and Army Generals Antonov and Bagramyan have been confirmed via documentary evidence. LM Chief Commander awards to MSUs Govorov, Meretskov and Rokossovskiy, as well as Army General Eremenko, are based on photographic evidence. Additionally, documentary evidence confirms award of the LM Chief Commander degree to Admiral of the Fleet Kuznetsov. As it wasn't awarded via the U.S. Army, Kuznetsov's LM Chief Commander degree is not included in the above sub-total. His award, however, represents the 10th total LM Chief Commander degree known to have been awarded to a Soviet general/flag officer during WWII.

    **Information available in an OMSA publication suggests the number of BSMs awarded to Red Army personnel was higher. This is likely true since many BSMs were awarded at the U.S. Army corps level and below. The number above reflects only those BSMs to Red Army personnel authorized by War Department General Orders. It is also very probable the number of LMs awarded to Red Army personnel may be higher for the same reason.

    The same OMSA publication suggested one Soldier's Medal was awarded to a Red Army servicemember. To date, no evidence - documentary or photographic - has arisen to confirm this.

    Regards,

    slava1stclass

    Edited by slava1stclass
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    Gents,

    This Legion of Merit citation alone (the accompanying LM award certificate was not included) to Captain N. V. Nikitin sold at auction for $1,740.00 in October 2007. I can only assume President Roosevelt's signature was the principal reason it sold for that price.

    Regards,

    slava1stclass

    Edited by slava1stclass
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    Gents,

    This LM certificate/citation set to Guards Airborne Major General V. Selianinin was offered at auction this June. Opening bid was $300.00. Although seven bids were placed, it went unsold.

    Regards,

    slava1stclass

    Edited by slava1stclass
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