Mondvor

Some more about Russian Rambos I used to have a picture of private Vataman, who killed 8 German soldiers in a close face-to-face combat using previously captured German bazooka as a club. I'll try to find it in my archive.

Artmaster means artillery master. So he was a person who fixed and restored damaged artillery pieces.

Gentlemen, there is no cooking stuff in that citation. Maybe it is small misunderstanding. I'll try to explain. Velichko was delivering mortar ammunition (mortar shells) from ordnance depot (artillery shells storage place) to the front lines. In citation was Russian word "БОЕПИТАНИЯ", which probably was confusing because in Russian "ПИТАНИЕ" means "FOOD". But "БОЕПИТАНИЕ" is a special word means "FOOD FOR GUNS" or in other words "SHELLS". So he was a regular crewmember of mortar unit, not a cook

Right! When I came to New York in 2002 the price for a subway or bus ride was $ 1.50. But in 2003 it jumped up to $ 2.00.

Good time to buy a bicycle, gentlemen! It's also good for our health!

Gerd, I just checked my data. Most likely your 1st class GPW was awarded between July and October 1944.

Hi Rick, I beleive that GPW entry in your book is real. The ink in the digits of the number looks pretty old, slightly discolored. Of course some smart fake-makers dilute the ink to make it look older, but this one looks OK. Also the letters in the stamp "отечественной войны..." look very natural. If you own this book for at least 5 years, than this entry might be real. Only recently (one or two years ago) they started to copy original stamps with a high probability level. Of course only research and award record card will give you 100% answer wether or not it is real. About GPW 821XXX, I think they are not related to 31 Army. Zinenko was awarded by decree of this Army, but award was issued later. I think in November 1946 31 Army was already disbanded. The order was issued by Kiev City Military Regisration Office. So we can assume that your Lt. Colonel Bukarev was served in Kiev Military District in late 1946. GPW was given to him some time after his orderbook was filled.

In US we pay about $ 3.00 per gallon. After Catherina hurricane last summer the prices went up to 3.50 and even more, so all drivers were in shock! Yes, American drivers are spoiled

Well, if you live in Europe it's a good option to buy German-made car. But in US they are way too expensive because of the taxes. But the quality and safety rates are comparable with top three japs cars (Toyota, Honda and Nissan). Also the gas is much cheaper in US, so you can buy something with a powerful engine. BTW from were does the Europe buy oil? Is it from Middle East or from Russia? As far as know there is no significant oil resources in Europe except for Romania, but they are depleted already...

Nice order Gerd! I would say it is from late 1944, but also could be early 1945. Depends on what Front it was issued. I'll check my database in the evening to find some close range numbers and let you know. Car problems, huh? That is always piss me off. When I was a student I used to have an old Russian-made LADA 1978 model. I've spent lots of time fixing it But it was fun. Now I have 2003 Toyota and so far it works OK, so switch from BMW to some Japanese brand Just a joke...

And this is more interesting paper. This is a notification that was sent on March 25, 1945 to Zinenko Evgeniya Ivanovna (Major Zinenko's wife). It was sent by Kaganovich Regional Military Registration Office (city of Kiev) and signed by Kaganovich Regional Military Commissar Major Moiseev. Notification says that Major Zinenko got sick and died on February 15, 1945 and later was buried in the cemetery of Korshen village in Eastern Prussia. Of course it is not a posthumous award, because poor guy died almost two month after the decree. However, he did not actually receive the order before his death. So both award and certificate were sent to his widow. Note that the date of the decree is the same for Zinenko and Sheblykin and they both died in Eastern Prussia. Of course it is nothing but coincidence...

I found some more information about posthumous GPW awards. Here are some pictures. Temporary certificate K # 342300 issued to Major Zinenko Vasiliy Vasilievich (Зиненко Василий Васильевич), who was awarded with GPW 2nd class # 821824 by the decree of 31st Army # 0221 from November 28, 1944. Certificate itself was signed on November 23, 1946 by Kiev City Military Commissar Colonel Dubovenko.

Great citation for posthumous GPW and really cool story behind this order. My congratulations!!! Very nice addition to any collection

Another example made with a scanner. Good thing - you don't have to worry about shadows

Maybe it's a good idea to use Excel table?

I'm not a professional, but I guess that the main issue is to eliminate the shadow. So it should be three-points source of light. Like a triangle with the order in the middle.

Bingo! Both cameras and scanners have their "pluses" and "minuses". The truth is somewhere in between BTW, for high-quality book illustrations digital pictures (even those with high resolution) are not good enough. Paul used professional photographer with film camera to get the pictures for his book.

And this is a fragment of GPW obverse. However, it is not the highest possible resolution. This is 1200, but you can make it 2400 with new Epson scanner. Wery useful for "watermark" researching of expensive orders like Suvorov or Kutuzov. I dont think digital cameras can provide this level of quality.

As I said before - it's all about the scanner. You can get excellent sharp images of screwback's reverses if you choose right model of the scanner. Take a look at the picture attached to this post. Pretty good, huh? Made with a scanner I even reduced the quality to fit attachments requirements.

Just found that conversation about cameras. Cameras are OK, but scanner is much better. You would never get that degree of magnification and small details with a camera, that you can provide with a scanner. Cameras necessary if you want to take pictures of orders on military shows, exibitions and other places were you can not use scanner. But for your own collection there is no better source of images than high-resolution scanner (not less than 1200 dpi). I would like to post the images made by a scanner to compare, but they are too big. I can post fragments instead if anybody interested. Still, it is just my own opinion. Maybe I'm wrong...

Excellent group! Even though Red Star and Red Banner are long-service awards, he still got two GPW and early MM for military actions. Might be interesting for research....

Very nice group! Five years ago it belonged to fellow collector in Germany. He probably sold it out recently.

Hello gentlemen, Just want to tell my opinion on that group. I beleive that only two first awards listed in the orderbook are real. All other entries are fake, so GPW, Otvaga and BZ do not belong to the group.

Yes, in Soviet Army they used to have pretty tough abbreviations. For example ИПТАП - it is just special Anti-Tank Artillery Regiment

Probably you are right. It is just my bad knowledge of English Military Terminology For solid concrete structure there is another abbreviation in Russian - it is DOT (DOLGOVREMENNAYA OGNEVAYA TOCHKA) or if we translate in English it would be Long-Term Fire Position. So Nedashkovskij's unit destroyed bunkers, not pilldoxes. Thanks for correction