Ferdinand

Christophe, may I ask where you found this information about the medals of these Marshals?

Why? Sukhanov got an order in the GPW, what made him eligible for a 1985 1st Class.

Are fakes observed of this order or is this a genuine piece with a slightly rotated center disk?

Thanks Rick. I always wondered what the A, O, P, G, etc. meant. According to our researcher he can also research by name. So I will submit the name + the Red Star S/N for research. As I wrote in post # 1 the Red Star serial number is 668889, so probably a spring 1944 award. Here are detail pictures of the obverse and reverse. Auke

1969 - Badge "50 Years Member of the CPSU": 3 November 1975 - 30 Years Victory: 21 April 1978 - Veteran of Labor: 12 February 1979 - 60 Years Armed Forces: 1985 - 40 Years Victory:

Here are all the docs in chronological order: 12 August 1944 - Defense of Moscow: Close-up lower part, signed by the chairman and the secretary of the Executive Committee of the Moscow City Counsil: 28 September 1946 - Valiant Labor in the GPW: 24 December 1965 - 20 Years Victory: 1 October 1968 - 50 Years Armed Forces:

Today I bought this group, belonging to Grigory Anufriyevich Stepanovich. I was a little suspicious about it being a real 'group', because the order books are missing, the Virgin Lands doc is missing, a badge is missing and there are two 1985 issue OPW's (odd?). Still, it had a fair price so I bought it. What I found most interesting was the document for the Badge "50 years member of the CPSU", which I haven't seen before: I will submit it for research, as I'm curious what kind of man comrade Stepanovich could have been. There are no ranks on the docs. The Red Star has S/N 668889. He was an early CPSU-member, so probably not some enlisted soldier in the GPW. And was this combination of military and civilian medals common? Auke

Sergeant-Major Stepan Vasilyevich Ivanenko? Signed by Colonel Dobrenovsky?, chief of staff of the 72nd Red Banner Rifle Corps? Sergeant Vladimir Grigoryevich Stenovenko? Signed by ...? Engineer-Captain Vasily Mikhailovich Purkulets? Signed by Colonel Novikov, commander of?

Guards Senior Lieutenant ? Rari? Ivanovich Lyakhov? Signed by Guards Colonel Lekhov, commander of the 95th Guards Rifle Division.

The first one is a Caucasus document. Private Grigory Grigoryevich Umanets? Signed by Major ...?

Hello Gentlemen, I need your assistance with translating the names and other information on these documents. Please let me know if you need larger scans. Thanks, Auke

That's odd, the formation 'Stalingrad Front' was disbanded on 1 January 1943 and the battle was over on 2 February 1943.

Stalingrad Front? I think the number is a little bit too high for that... My earliest Red Star, SN 103683...

Junior Lieutenant, Lieutenant, Senior Lieutenant, Captain, Major, Lieutenant-Colonel, Colonel:

Hi Gerd, Here are the emblems on the collars for the different ranks (pre-1943): Enlisted men - none Junior Sergeant - 1 triangle Sergeant - 2 triangles Senior Sergeant - 3 triangles Sergeant-Major - 4 triangles Junior Lieutenant - 1 square Lieutenant - 2 squares Senior Lieutenant - 3 squares Captain - 1 rectangle Major - 2 rectangles Lieutenant-Colonel - 3 rectangles Colonel - 4 rectangles Or in pictures: Private, Junior Sergeant, Sergeant, Senior Sergeant, Sergeant-Major:

I've had that problem as well several times You should always copy your post (Ctrl+C) before hitting the 'Add Reply' button, it might save a lot of work when things go wrong.

Antonov was an Army-General when he received his Order of Victory. Alle other Soviet recipients were Marshals of the Soviet Union.

Ah, Christophe, you found my biography Of course you've found the correct answer. I knew it was an easy one if you knew the right search words. Unbelievable that Rogachev never made it beyond Rear-Admiral after fulfilling his very difficult task in the Battle of Stalingrad. The biography was based on his Russian biography in the book Admiraly i generaly Vojenno-Morskogo flota SSSR by V.M. Lurye. Your turn again!

Thanks! Again a naval question... "As a Rear-Admiral, I took part in the defense of Kiev. When our troops started to retreat from the city, I ordered to destroy the ships and together with my men I fought alongside the army. I was heavily wounded there. Later I played a very important role during the Battle of Stalingrad. I was never promoted beyond Rear-Admiral. Who am I?"

Marshal of Aviation Vladimir Aleksandrovich Sudets? Awesome picture by the way

The doc in post # 30 is Dwight Eisenhower's. Well, actually Duait Eisenkhauer's. The doc in post # 36 is Vasilevsky's. Auke

Oh no, this is terrible news... I bought about 90% of my Soviet awards via Alexei. His awards were affordable, his service was fast and he was a real gentleman...

What a fantastic story! Can you please post the serial numbers?

His name is Aleksei Dmitriyevich Zharlamov. Very nice award and story!

Hi Christian, It is indeed Mikhail Yefimovich Katukov. Amongst his other awards are four Orders of Lenin, three Red Banners, a Red Star, a Homeland 3rd Class and a Mongolian Sukhbaatar. Katukov was promoted to Marshal of Armored Forces in May 1959. He imigrated to the USA in 1981 and died there in 1989. Your turn again! Auke