Ferdinand

The Capture of Berlin and Victory over Germany certificates. If anybody wants to see the others, let me know. Both are signed by the commander of the artillery of the 32nd Guards Rifle Corps.

The order booklet, filled in on 13 August 1946:

The vet engraved his name in the Capture of Berlin and Victory over Germany Medals. I don't know what the number 8967338 means, perhaps some service number?

This neat group was awarded to Guards Private Aleksandr Mikhailovich Chursin. A Prague Medal is missing, as well as maybe one of two jubilee medals, but otherwise it's complete.

That one was already posted: http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=33498&view=findpost&p=314896

It says "Order of Lenin Higher Party School with the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union". It is a diploma for passing a full course at the forementioned school between 1959 and 1962. I guess the "s otlichiyem" can be translated as "cum laude"?

I'd say 364,922, but as said it's a really poor picture...

The highest observed serial number on Mondvor.narod.ru is 565,757. They also mention that by 1991, over 581,300 Red Banners were awarded, but I take it that includes 2nd award, 3rd award, etc. Red Banners too.

The Soviets didn't have shoulder boards at that time, so it must be Czarist (pre-1917).

Interesting! GVF is the Civil Air Fleet (Aeroflot).

You could research the MMM... It could be dead-end too, but if it yields results, you will at least have confirmation that the medal bar is made up (but then you'll have some expensive research on a low medal)...

The first ribbon is weird but probably for an OPW 1st.

Great story! I think these long service awards are usually underrated. Al these 40s and 50s long service awards were awarded to officers that had served the entire war and often have really interesting biographies and 'cool' other awards. Quite often these long service awards are just as interesting as a Bravery Medal with a combat citation that had been awarded to a lowly private down in the dirt, but who didn't have any other awards or a service record.

Do you also have the award sheet (citation) describing his feat?

His beloved / dear brother.

By 1995, there were 1,224,590 RBLs awarded, againt 1,580,850 Badges of Honor. The highest numbered RBL, however, was 1,292,559 (produced, but not awarded).

Here are a couple of booklets with high S/N ORBLs:

The Zhukov Medal is actually an official Russian Federation medal. There is also an Umalatova (unofficial) Zhukov Medal, but of course with different design and ribbon. The small OPW-like badge on his right breast is the Frontovik Badge from 2000.

It was manufactured in 1974 by the Leningrad Mint.

Echoes of War lists many "real" awards right in between the 3 November 1944 Red Banners. Since Red Banner 176,206 and 177,848 were both combat awards, awarded by the 1st Ukrainian Front, I would say that yours is too. The same goes for the MMM, which falls right into a messy range of combat awards and 1944, 1945, 1946 and 1947 long service awards. Yours could easily be a real award. We'll see. :cheers:

Well done gentlemen! And an excellent, interesting question! :cheers:

He was probably born around the turn of the century, joined the Red Army in 1918, fought near Moscow, Leningrad and Stalingrad, fought both against the Germans and the Japanese, rose to high rank, wasn't in the navy, and died between 1968 and 1975... Not big enough, right? Well... I say he was an army officer who got an Order of Kutuzov.

Tim, your order is perfectly original in every aspect. The lacquer is uncommon, but could be a veteran's touch to accentuate the sabre and rifle.

This is a really nice group! Since you have the recipient's name (that seems to be Mikhail Petrovich Medyushko), I would submit the name for research and check with the award record card if the group is legit.

The more I look at it, the weirder the disalignment looks. Normally, the red star falls right in the indentations of the gold rayed star, but since the rayed star partially covers the sabre hilt, that can't be the case. A nice clear 90 degrees side shot should confirm this. Also, the six-sided nut is not original. It's strange, but not really to worry about, I guess...