Ferdinand

The Umalatova Medal for 50 Years of Victory of the Soviet People in the Great Patriotic War:

The Umalatova Medal for 80 Years of Armed Forces:

I've got 2 Umalatova orders (one of which is the Order of I.V. Stalin) and four Umalatova medals. I will post some pictures. First the Order of the Patriotic War:

The division commander at that time was Colonel Iosif Ivanovich Matusevich.

As of Nov 1941 the 12th Rifle Brigade was part of the 51st Army (Lt.Gen. Batov, as of Dec Lt.Gen. Lvov) of the Trans-Caucasian Front (Lt.Gen. Kozlov). On 30 Dec the Front was renamed to Caucasian Front. On 28 Jan the Front was split in two, and the largest part became the Krim Front (Lt.Gen. Kozlov). The brigade remained being part of the 51st Army until Apr 1942.

Hope this helps.

Auke

According to some orbat's I found on the internet the 347th Rifle Division was part of the 55th Rifle Corps, 51st Army, 4th Ukrainian Front as of December 1943. Somewhere in February 1944 the 55th Rifle Corps (consisting of the 87th, 347th and 387th Rifle Divisions) was transferred to the 2nd Guards Army of the 4th Ukrainian Front. Somewhere in May 1944 the 347th Rifle Division became part of the 1st Guards Rifle Corps of the 51st Army and the army was transferred to the Stavka Reserve. Somewhere in June the 51st Army became active again when it joined the 1st Baltic Front. Somewhere in August 1944 the 347th Rifle Division was transferred to the 10th Rifle Corps of the 51st Army, where it stayed until the end of the war.

Thanks!

Alfred, may I ask where you found this information?

The only thing that I could find for the 347th Rifle Division is that it was given the honorific "Melitopol" on the day of the liberation of this city (23 Oct 1943) and was commanded by Major-General (as of 15 Sep 1943) Aleksandr Kharitonovich Yukhimchuk. The division also took part in the liberation of the Latvian town of Yelgava on 1 Aug 1944. At that moment the division was part of the 1st Guards Rifle Corps of the 51st Army of the 1st Baltic Front.

The commanders of the 2nd Guards Army:

Lieutenant-General (as of 16 May 1944 Colonel-General) Georgy Fedorovich Zakharov (Jul 1943 - Jun 1944)

Lieutenant-General (as of 2 Jul 1945 Colonel-General) Porfiry Georgiyevich Chanchibadze (Jun 1944 - end of war)

The commander of the 1st Guards Rifle Corps:

Lieutenant-General Ivan Ilyich Missan (1942 - 1944)

The commander of the 51st Army:

Lieutenant-General Jakov Grigoryevich Kreizer (Aug 1943 - end of war)

The commander of the 4th Ukrainian Front:

Army General Fedor Ivanovich Tolbukhin (20 Oct 1943 - 15 May 1944)

The commander of the 1st Baltic Front:

Army General Ivan Khristoforovich Bagramyan (20 Nov 1943 - 24 Feb 1945)

The last document is a confirmation from the Central Archives of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation in Podolsk that Artem Semenovich Ivanenko [sic] is registered to have received Order of Glory 2nd Class # 27979. It is written and signed on 28 Dec 2000 by the Chief of the Archives Department, Colonel Porokhnya.

Sazhi Zaindinovna Umalatova was born in Kazakhstan in 1953. In 1996 she became the leader of the Party of Peace and Unity, which continued to award USSR orders and medals in the name of the disbanded Soviet parliament. She also reproduced several orders and medals (like the OPWII) and issued 15 new medals and 2 new orders. According to one Russian site this had been forbidden in 2002, but there are several Umalatova's known from after this date, her latest being from 2006.

Christophe, Christian, how about this?

Nice ones! I think Gorbatovsky's booklet was filled in in December 1945, not October 1945.

The North-Western Front was located in the Leningrad - Baltic area (formed on 22 June 1941 out of the Baltic Special Military District). In 1942 it was commanded by Lieutenant-General Kurochkin and after him MSU Timoshenko.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North-Western_Front

Now you only have to arrange to live long enough to get your research results back.

I just heard that research was ready for two of my awards (RS 103683 & OPWII 44030). The results are on my way (it took exactly three months). If they are interesting I will post them here...

Congratulations Frank, that's the man I was looking for.

For those of you who can read Russian, have a look at this nice site:

http://www.admhmao.ru/VK/Index/mo2-200.htm

Over to Frank!

Auke

Frank, Christian, you're right, which means that there are five War Ministers who weren't MSU. I'm looking for the first one.

My apologies

Auke

Almost correct! Stalin was a Generalissimus, and Frunze and Trotsky were civilians (or lower officers, I don't know). Shaposhnikov however was a Marshal of the Soviet Union, and not a War Minister. So I need one more name...

What's the serial number? 223152?

I think you also read Durov's Russian and Soviet Military Awards

A new question:

The post of Minister of War of the USSR (actually first Peoples Commissar of Military Affairs, later Peoples Commissar of Defense of the USSR, later Minister of the Armed Forces of the USSR, later Minister of War of the USSR) was occupied by by 15 men in total between November 1917 and August 1991. Eleven of them held the (final) rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union. What were the names of the other four?

Good luck,

Auke

1) Who designed the "Order of Glory" and the two prototypes?

2) What was the name of the medal (quasi-prototype) and how did the award look like?

3) What was the name of the prototype of the "Order of Glory" and how did he look like?

4) Who invented the name "Order of Glory"?

1) N.I. Moskalyov.

2) Medal for the Defeat of the Germans near Moscow. It was star-shaped and showed the Spassky tower with a wreath around it and rays on the five star tips. It had a grey ribbon with two red stripes in the center.

3) Order of Bagration. It looked exactly like the Order of Glory but had Bagration depicted in the center with the words "Pyotr Bagration" around it.

4) Stalin.

Auke

The Northern Group of Forces was located in Poland after the war:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Group_of_Forces

Also see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_of_Soviet_Forces

Are you sure about the serial number? 461XXX falls in the type 2 range (February 1945, concave reverse)...

...What will be a hard task... As far as I can see only CollectRussia sells it...

Oh well, I will keep looking, let's get back on-topic.