Ferdinand

The officer below joined the Air Force in the early 30s. As a Major, he fought in China and at the Khalkhin Gol river. He commanded a squadron and later a regiment and shot down several enemy planes. Already before the start of World War 2 he had an impressive set of awards. The first person to answer the following three questions correctly, wins. 1. Who is the officer below? 2. What is special about his 2nd HSU star? 3. What happened to him in February 1943?

That's Timofei Timofeyevich Khryukin. He received the Legion of Honor in 1945, but for what, I don't know...

I can really recommend getting a suitable bank and PayPal account or something else to be able to buy on eBay. October Revolutions are really affordable on eBay lately! Reliable dealers are very scarce and you will always pay more than you will on eBay.

Record card, reverse: Translation: Order booklet nr. 061515 1. Last name: Smyshnikov 2. First name and patronymic: Vasily Fyodorovich 3. Military rank: Guards Colonel 4. Sex: Male 5. Year of birth: 1905 6. Place of birth: Village of Blochnikovo, Byelorussian SSR 7. Party membership (since which year): Member of the VKP(b) since 1925 8. Education: Incomplete secondary 9. Nationality: Russian 10. Since which year in the Red Army: From 1922 to 1923 and since 1930 11. Place of service (name of unit) and duty position at the time of the awarding: Chief of the Smersh counterintelligence department, 4th Shock Army 12. Current Place of service and duty position: Deputy chief of the Smersh counterintelligence department of the Steppe Military District 13. Home address of the awardee: City of Almaty, Kalinin 118, apartment 15 14. Record of all awards presented: - Order of the Badge of Honor #12892, order booklet nr. 061515 of 12 July 1940, Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, 1940 - Order of the Red Star #126634, , temporary certificate nr. 659608 of 19 February 1943, Order of the Kalinin Front [?] nr. 0336 of 31 March 1943 - Order of the Red Star #250478, temporary certificate nr. 1042508 of 11 September 1943, Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 7 August 1943 - Order of the Patriotic War 1st Class #40803, temporary certificate nr. B-805482 of 1 August 1944, Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 22 July 1944 - Order of the Red Star #920182, temporary certificate nr. 040420 of 1 December 1944, Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 3 November 1944 for long service - Order of the Red Banner #201168, temporary certificate nr. D-612908 of 1 May 1945, Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 21 April 1945 - Medal for the Defense of Moscow, certificate nr. T-020942, Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 1 May 1944 - Medal for the Victory over Germany, certificate nr. E-0061975, Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 9 May 1945 Signature of the awardee: 136 last name I confirm the correctness of the data and the signature of the awardee: Chief of the 3rd section of the personnel department of the Steppe Military District Lieutenant Colonel [signature] /Tyushlyayev/ 1 November 1945

Record card, obverse:

This Red Banner (#201168) was awarded to Colonel Vasily Fyodorovich Smyshnikov, chief of the Smersh of the 4th Shock Army. Unfortunately the archive didn't have his award sheet or service record. I'm sure this is an interesting guy...

Pinback nr. 1916 is now auctioned on eBay with a starting bid of 1,500 euro. 140357670215 http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140357670215

And a close-up of Misyura...

And the last one...

And...

And... Note that he has four kids was married three times (two of his wives are listed here and another one on the award sheet)...

Service record... Note that he was already a Colonel in August 1941 and that he speaks "French poorly"...

And... For 21 years and 7 months of service in the Red Army 1. Last name, patronymic and first name: Misyura, Ivan Konstantinovich 2. Military rank: Colonel 3. Duty position, unit: Chief of staff of the 52nd Lvov Rifle Corps Recommended for: Order of the Red Banner 4. Year of birth: 1905 5. Nationality: Ukrainian 6. Party membership: Member of the VKP(b) 7. Place of birth: City of Poltava 8. Participation in the Civil War, the following combat actions for the defense of the USSR and the Patriotic War (where, when): In the Finnish campaign from December 1939 to March 1940, in the Patriotic War since 22 June 1941 with the Northwestern, Voronezh, 1st Ukrainian, and 4th Ukrainian Front 9. Suffered wounds or contusions: No 10. In the Red Army since: Since October 1923 11. Which orders and medals awarded and when: Order of the Patriotic War 2nd Class by Order of the Voronezh Front nr. 074/N of 23 April 1943, Order of the Red Star by Order of the Voronezh Front nr. 0147/N of 5 September 1943, Order of the Red Banner by Order of the 1st Ukrainian Front nr. 0119/N of 20 September 1944, Order of the Red Star for long service in the Red Army by Decree of the Presidium of 3 November 1944 12. Home address: Moscow Oblast, City of Babushkin, Menzhinsky Signals School of the NKVD. Wife: Yevdokia Stepanovna Misyura Attestation In the Red Army since 1923. In the Patriotic War since June 1941. He does his work accurately, diligently, and courageously, and takes initiatives. He can organize the staff to fulfill the assigned tasks. He is persistent in his activities. He is exigent with himself and his subordinates. He utilizes his authority. He is competent. He is dedicated to the Party of Lenin and Stalin and the socialist motherland. For long service in the Red Army he deserves the state award "Order of the Red Banner". Commander of the 52nd Lvov Rifle Corps Guards Major General [signature] /Bushev/ 24 February 1945 Conclusion of the military counsil of the army For long and irreproachable service in the Red Army he deserves the state award "Order of the Red Banner". Assistent-commander of the 38th Army and chief of staff Lieutenant General [signature] /Vorobyov/ Member of the military counsil Major General [signature] /[?]ev/ [?] March 1945 (...) Conclusion of the military counsil of the front Deserves to be awarded the Order of the Red Banner. Commander of the 4th Ukrainian Front Army General [signature] /Iv. Petrov/ Member of the military counsil of the 4th Ukrainian Front Colonel General [signature] /L. Mekhlis/ 18 March 1945

And

And... Note that the corps commander that signed the attestation still stinks he is a guards officer (from his previous assignment), even though he is now in a regular unit...

Award sheet:

Reverse: Order booklet nr. 372454 1. Last name: Misyura 2. First name and patronymic: Ivan Konstantinovich 3. Military rank: Colonel 4. Sex: Male 5. Year of birth: 1905 6. Place of birth: City of Poltava 7. Party membership: Member of the VKP(b) since 1930 8. Education: Secondary 9. Nationality: Ukrainian 10. In the Red Army since: Since 1923 11. Place of service (name of unit) and duty position at the time of the awarding: Chief of staff of the 52nd Corps 12. Current Place of service and duty position: Chief of the operational department of the 43rd Army 13. Home address of awardee: City of Babushkin, Moscow Oblast, [?] [?], [?] 3, apartment 3 14. Record of all awards presented: - Order of the Patriotic War 2nd Class, 6958, Temporary certificate nr. 561580, Order of the Voronezh Front nr. 074/N of 23 April 1943 - Order of the Red Star, 240341, Temporary certificate nr. 1090047, Order of the Voronezh Front nr. 0147/N of 5 September 1943 - Order of the Red Banner, 160349, Temporary certificate nr. V-788924, Order of the 1st Ukrainian Front nr. 0119/N of 20 September 1944 - Order of the Red Star, 851331, Temporary certificate nr. 065517, Decree of 3 November 1944 - Order of the Red Banner, 194465, Temporary certificate nr. D-581983, Order of the 4th Ukrainian Front nr. 059/N of 22 February 1945 - Order of the Red Banner, 208930, Temporary certificate nr. 145500, Decree of 30 April 1945 - Order of Kutuzov 2nd Class, 2827, Temporary certificate nr. Zh-640996, Decree of 29 June 1945 - Medal for the Victory over Germany, Certificate nr. G-0136231, Decree of 9 May 1945 - Order of Lenin, 119641, Decree of 20 June 1949 - Order of the Red Banner, 2467, Decree of 5 November 1954 Signature of the awardee [signature] Chief of the personnel department of the Northern Group of Forces Colonel [signature] /Sergeyenko/ 25 December 1945

Record card:

This is 'only' a long service Red Banner, but to an interesting officer. First the award itself:

I consider myself a semi-serious collector of Mongolian awards; it's a side step from my main collecting field, Soviet awards. I think I have a couple dozen Mongolian awards. They are really nice, but when you are purchasing your tenth Polar Star, Polar Stars aren't really new and interesting anymore. They aren't researchable and the lack of really in depth reference works in an accessible language also doesn't help to sparkle interest. And despite the global economic situation they aren't widely available for sale either. Take Soviet Red Stars for example: entire books have been written about this particular order and they can be researched (because of these two factors I have boxes full of them but they won't bore me), and furthermore there are numerous variations, they are widely available for sale, and they are still affordable. All these factors aren't applicable to Mongolian awards and only an improvement of one of these will lead to breathing more life into this subforum.

And since the Red Star was awarded at front level (probably because the regiment was an independent one, subordinated more or less directly to the front), the prikaz has the signature of Marshal Rokossovsky:

Thanks for your input Rick. Your comments are always really appreciated. I also had to think about Mekh when translating Zhivotchenko's documents. Mekh's citation was horrible, but also unique in its own way. Also, I think Zhivotchenko's Red Banner is actually a 'real' award, while his Lenin is for long service, since he joined the Red Army in 1919. Interestingly, according to Echoes of War, Order of Lenin #36605 (two (!) numbers lower) was awarded for long service to Marshal Rokossovsky on 21 February 1945. :catjava:

You were close - ГАВТУ КА (GAVTU KA) stands for Главное автомобильное управление Красной Армии or "Main Automobile Administration of the Red Army". I even found a reference to this very factory on the internet - it was the Авторемонтный завод ("Automobile Repair Factory") № 11 in Saratov, which was moved to Kiev in 1944.

And the last one, a close-up of our Major. He look like he is 80 years old, but I guess this picture was taken in the late 40s or early 50s, so he is actually in his early fifties.

And: