Ferdinand

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/

Technically it's possible, although the Labor Valor Medal should come before the 40th Anniversary of the Armed Forces Medal. If the veteran had that medal you'd also expect to see the 30th Anniversary of the Armed Forces Medal and of course the Victory over Germany Medal, so I don't think this is a very plausible set.

That set is completely doctored. The Glories are fake altogether, or at the very least they are doctored third class pieces with bogus serial numbers. The Red Star is a real wartime piece, but has a fake postwar serial number. The entries in the booklet are also fake.

Several things are wrong here. Just look at the doctored serial number, which doesn't even remotely look like the MZPP style. It also seems that the enamel was replaced on at least several of the arms, but I would need to see better images to confirm.

What people collect depends on what catches their fancy; everybody has different interests and therefore a different collecting focus. Some people focus on different types and variations, others only collect decorations in the best possible condition (or the exact opposite: ground-dug awards in extremely poor condition), and others are only interested in awards with interesting stories behind them. You can focus on a certain country, a certain period, a certain conflict, a certain unit, or a certain branch or field. There is no right and wrong way to collect. Collect in a way that feels right for you; it's a hobby and you should ignore everybody who tells you you should do it differently.

That being said, most collectors do decide on a collecting focus at some point. I don't know many collectors who simply collect everything.

Also, an experienced collector advised me many years ago to always buy the rarest (which would usually be the most expensive) award you can afford. Chances are that a similar piece will not be available anytime soon. You can also spend your money on cheap medals that are a dime a dozen, but those will always be available. Plus, it can be extremely satisfying to find something you have been looking for for a long time.

Looks good to me.

Could it be a 1st Class piece? Some of those have so much patina that you can barely see the gilt.

He seems to be no longer active in the field of Soviet awards, but he is on social media if you're looking for him.

Russia seems to have manufactured a number of Soviet awards to be issued to veterans who were awarded a decoration during the Soviet era (generally during WW2), but never received it for some reason or another. I have seen images of recent award ceremonies during which Red Stars were issued. I presume they also had some former Soviet stock lying around which they could have issued in the 1990s.

The other former Soviet republics seem to have presented the veteran only with the paperwork, not the award itself. I actually researched a Red Star this week which was awarded by a rifle division in August 1945, but according to the record card (which was filled out in Ukraine in 1999) the veteran, who was almost 90 years old at the time, was only presented with the award documents at his local commissariat in 1999.

Looks good to me.

It's perfectly original.

It's perfectly original.

Smersh citations are often not on Podvig Naroda, but most of them are stored in the Central Archives and therefore they are not that difficult to locate. The NKVD archives, as you say, are a whole other story...

Заградслужба is an abbreviation of заградительная служба, but the more commonly used term is заградотряд / заградительный отряд. It's also frequently translated as 'blocking unit'.

Much research can be done online these days (GPW-era citations, war diaries, maps, KIA lists, etc.), but you still need a researcher to link a serial number to a specific recipient and to obtain documents other than GPW-era citations (pre-GPW and post-GPW citations, service records, personnel files, etc.). I don't do translations anymore, but you can contact me for the research.