slava1stclass

Gents, A month on and the group is still available. There have been no subsequent price reductions although the seller will entertain best offers. None has been made to date. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, HSU Guards Colonel Vasiliy F. Orlov seen wearing the Legion of Merit in the degree of Officer which he was awarded in 1944. He commanded 6th Guards Mechanized Corps, 4th Guards Tank Army, 1st Ukrainian Front. Severely wounded in action on March, 17, 1945, he died the next day. He was posthumously awarded the HSU title on April 6, 1945. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, A partial Full Cavalier set (the OGII went missing) with Full Cavalier booklet that was available in the former Soyuz over the past few months. The asking price that was being kicked around was $10,000.00. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, He's lowered the price once again by $500.00. The current BIN price is set at $1,999.00. You have to give him credit for recognizing the realties of today's market. Considering these two OGs were to a Full Cavalier who was an Il-2 Shturmovik aerial gunner-radio operator, it's starting to look tempting. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, Just six days later, the price has dropped another $500.00. The current BIN price is set at $2,499.00. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, With no takers thus far, he dropped his BIN price to $2,999.00. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, Although I had my reservations, a knowledgeable fellow collector has confirmed the OGIII's authenticity. One correction. Osipov's OGIII recommendation credited him with damaging and not shooting down a Me-109 fighter. After three long bursts from his machine gun, the German fighter began trailing smoke and returned to its lines. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, A Bravery Medal and another nice ribbon rack attributed to Full Cavalier V. I. Finogenov that recently sold for $130.00 at auction in the former Soyuz. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, A beautiful ribbon rack to Full Cavalier G. D. Kokozashvili that sold for $120.00 at auction in the former Soyuz two years ago. It was accompanied by several documents including those for his Caucasus, Warsaw, Berlin and VoG medals. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, Currently available on the well-known auction site for a buy-it-now price of $3,500.00. The orders booklet and OGII only first surfaced at auction in Ukraine a couple of years back. Since then, the "OGIII" has now suddenly appeared. While I'm confident in the OGII's and orders booklet's authenticity, I can't say the same for the OGIII based on the images below. While the OGIII's "serial number" matches that awarded to the Full Cavalier in question, the likelihood of the original OGIII being found and then reunited with the OGII and orders booklet seems remote at best. The seller is in Latvia and has a solid eBay reputation. In any event, this an interesting offering as the Full Cavalier in question initially served in an airborne unit and later transitioned to duties as an aerial gunner/radio operator in an IL-2 Shturmovik ground attack aircraft. His OGIII recommendation included credit for shooting down a German aircraft. His IL-2 pilot would go on to earn the HSU title. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, A group of Full Cavalier-related documents to a Guards airborne sapper. It is currently available at auction in the former Soyuz with an opening bid of slightly under $1,000.00. Among the items included are his Full Cavalier booklet, his orders booklet and his 1985 jubilee award OPWI booklet. Regards, slava1stclass

Mihai Z., In the future, please do not post such requests in this thread. This thread is reserved for discussions relating to Orders of Glory associated with Full Cavaliers. Please feel free to start a separate thread/topic when you seek opinions on a given order/medal. Thank you. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, This loose OGII to a Full Cavalier sold in April 2016 somewhere in the $700.00 to $800.00 range. Sale was in the former Soyuz. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, Almost 69 years after receiving his Silver Star, HSU A. P. Voloshin still proudly wears it next to his HSU gold star medal. The fact that he wears just these two decorations is a statement in itself. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, On June 15th, 1945, in the vicinity of the Oder River, U.S. Army Brigadier General J. H. Collier, Commanding General, Combat Command A, 2nd Armored Division decorated several Red Army personnel. Among them were Senior Lieutenant I. A. Savelyev a tank company commander in the 4th Tank Regiment, 35th Mechanized Brigade, 2nd Guards Tank Army and Guards Senior Lieutenant R. Kurbangaliyev a T-34 tank platoon leader in the 64th Guards Independent Tank Brigade, 1st Guards Tank Army who each received the Bronze Star Medal. As noted earlier in this thread, an exact count of Bronze Star Medals awarded to Red Army personnel is difficult to ascertain as many were issued at the field level in the immediate post-war weeks and months. This award ceremony is one such example. Sr. Lt. Savelyev's award orders follow immediately below his photograph. His orders are a good example of how the paperwork for these field-issued U.S. Army awards was executed. Note the short citation which justifies his award. It is highly unlikely that BSM award certificates were issued either during the field presentations or after the fact. The authorizing award orders would have been the sole official paperwork accompanying the award in the case of BSMs. Regards, slava1stclass

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, Govorov, Zhukov, Meretskov and Rokossovskiy; Chief Marshal of Aviation Novikov and Army Generals Antonov, Bagramyan and Yeremenko have been confirmed via documentary evidence all of which is posted in this thread. Additionally, photographic 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 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

Gents, Lieutenant Colonel F. I. Vinokurov was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on February 27th, 1945. Colonel General (Engineer Troops) Leontiy Zakharovich Kotlyar was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on April 28th, 1945. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, His award certificate, albeit not as nice a copy, was previously listed at post # 289 this thread. Thanks to Jeff for the better image. Regards, slava1stclass

Jeff, A great addition. This excellent citation to Guards Major General Georgi Matveyevich Solovyov is certainly one of the most descriptive ones posted to date. If only they were all this good. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, Five years ago, this HSU gold star medal was in the collection of a respected and currently active forum member. Uncertain if it has since changed hands. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, The President Roosevelt-signed Legion of Merit (Degree of Officer) citation to Lieutenant Colonel N. P. Murzin. Regards, slava1stclass

Christian, The two-week auction's opening bid was set at 400,000 Hryvnia (the Ukrainian currency) and ended at that amount with two total bids placed. I can only assume the set sold. This particular Ukrainian online auction site assesses a 1% commission on all sales greater than 8,000 Hryvnia. In this instance, that would have amounted to a $160.00 commission. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, While not the best image, this very crusty Category 7 Full Cavalier set to Ya. L. Gladkiy was up for auction this past April in Ukraine. The opening bid was set at just over $16,000.00. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, The President Roosevelt-signed Legion of Merit (Degree of Commander) award certificate to the aforementioned Guards HSU Lieutenant General I. I. Lyudnikov. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, A President Truman-signed Legion of Merit (Degree of Legionnaire) citation on White House stationery to Guards Lieutenant Colonel S. S. Sergeyev. Regards, slava1stclass