Ferdinand

Excellent topic, thanks for sharing!

I agree, it's perfectly original.

Looks good to me.

There's a considerable chance that it's him (he doesn't have a very common name), but unfortunately there's no way to be sure.

The medal booklet doesn't specify his rank. The Medal for Courage entry on Podvig Naroda, which may well be his, lists him as a Private. Had he been an officer, there would have been options to get his photo, but there are no photos of enlisted personnel in the archives. The division that started out as the 10th NKVD Rifle Division is the division you're looking for (this was actually the third 181st Rifle Division to be formed during the war). It was awarded the Orders of Lenin, Red Banner, Suvorov, and Kutuzov. In the time frame we're looking at (early July 1943) the division was deployed in the northwest section of the Kursk salient (under the 65th Army), although the 181st didn't see any combat in the first stage of the battle of Kursk. On July 13 the division was placed under the neighboring 70th Army and it joined in the offensive on July 15. The action Gunner 1 described took place that day. https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/181-я_стрелковая_дивизия_(3-го_формирования)

Yes. The Victory over Germany was awarded to all NKVD personnel (the NKVD was renamed to MVD in March 1946) who "through their duties contributed to the victory", as per the medal's statutes.

The document is signed by a general - Major General of the Medical Service Itskin, head of the Medical Directorate of Lvov Military District. https://www.jewmil.com/biografii/item/357-itskin-maks-semenovich

Her rank is 'Police Junior Lieutenant' and the document is signed by the deputy head of the MVD bureau in Izmail Province, Colonel Zavgorodny. The police was traditionally placed under the MVD (the successor of the NKVD), the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Her police affiliation is likely why there's no trace of her on Podvig Naroda. Izmail Province, in the far southwest of Ukraine, was dissolved in 1954 and incorporated in Odessa Province.

Nice collection. You can have these researched actually. Contact me or one of the other researchers on this forum.

Welcome to the forum Marcel! Great that you joined.

I'd say ORB first, since it's a relatively early award, the highest award of the bunch, and these Red Banners could be awarded for practically anything. Then Nevsky - ORS - BM - CSM - OG2 - OG3. Early BMs and CSMs can yield surprisingly good research. Some people would put the Glories higher on the list, but I've never been a fan of these - there's much less diversity in their citations.

I agree. It's not in the best condition, but it's original.

This piece is back on auction on the same dealer's website, with a starting bid of $1,475. No bids yet, with a week to go.

Here's the text: 5. Санинструктора 6-ой стрелковой роты сержант медицинской службы Савельеву Надежду Васильевну. В бою 4.09.1943 года на поле боя оказывала помощь раненым и вынесла с поля боя 21 раненых с их оружием. 1924 года рождения, член ВЛКСМ, русская.

Hi Bob, Excellent groups. Rather late, but here are the links to Smolin's first and second MCM citations. The one whose translation you included is his second MCM: https://pamyat-naroda.ru/heroes/podvig-chelovek_nagrazhdenie19946001/ https://pamyat-naroda.ru/heroes/podvig-chelovek_nagrazhdenie36008060/