Ferdinand

Sorry, but I don't agree with you there.

But let's keep in mind that all translations are approximations, and that there is not one definitive answer... Give this line to ten fine translators and you will get ten different, but fine translations.

I don't think "high achiever" or "exemplary" are suitable here... Excellence (excellent) or distinguished (distinction) are better translations if you ask me.

NKVD border guards, NKVD border guards...

I'm pretty sure they are 9s. I have emailed you pics of a few of mine in the same s/n range for comparison purposes.

Seems to be 1649996. Nice addition! Glad there were some nice goodies at the show! Militaria shows over here are almost never worth visiting...

A case in point. I just translated this Red Star citation:

During the fighting with the German invaders he proved himself to be exceptionally bold and fearless. Neither a hellish bombardment, nor a heavy enemy artillery and mortar fire could frighten this true Soviet mortarman. During the battle for height 248.1 in the Fatezh Raion comrade X fought the enemy for two. His crew killed no less than 100 Hitlerites, 1 enemy cannon, and 1 mounted machine gun. He deserves the Order of the Red Star.

Commander of the 226^th Artillery and Mortar Regiment

Guards Major [signed] /Goncharov/

No mention of Kursk, nor a date. However, when the nomination went up the chain of command, it was signed by the artillery commander of the 16th Tank Corps on July 13, 1943, and this date falls right into the Kursk period.

Second, if you consult an order of battle you will see that the 16th Tank Corps was part of the 2nd Tank Army, Central Front. Wikipedia will tell you that the 2nd Tank Army took part in the battle of Kursk, fighting just to the northwest of the city.

Third, the Fatezh Raion is one of the 28 raions of the Kursk Oblast, being located - surprise, surprise - just to the northwest of Kursk.

And the following map confirms everything. Kursk is the large city in the center, in between the two blue arrows. If we follow the railroad line in a northwestern direction, the first city we see on the map is Fatezh. And the army located just to the east of Fatezh is the 2nd Tank Army.

Paul's "Supreme Soviet" notification simply means that the order or medal was awarded by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, i.e. by Decree (ukaz). In 1941 and 1942 decorations were generally awarded by formations higher up in the hierarchy, with at the top the Presidium. Most of these are on Podvig.

Record cards form the cornerstone of the research process. I believe that in the case of late postwar awards, many record cards (which in peacetime were filled out at the recipient's local commissariat) were never forwarded to the Central Archive, especially when the commissariat suddenly found itself 'abroad' after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. A second important thing is that the archive section where the record cards are stored seems to be a mess - many cards are misfiled. It is unbelievable how often one of my researchers found a card that another guy couldn't find. Once he sent me a card that obviously only covered a portion of the recipient's career. He later went back and found a second card. And no record card, no award sheet or service record.

Supreme Soviet (sounds like a Russian pizza)

It's the red onions that do it

This photo shows Colonel General Vershinin, commander of the 4th Air Army, attaching the Order of the Red Banner to the banner of the 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment (the Night Witch regiment). The regiment received the award for distinction during the liberation of Feodosia. The award itself is not visible unfortunately...

They were indeed pinned to the unit banner, but I believe the banner was only brought out for ceremonies.

I think that every advanced collector will tell you that you cannot plan purchases. If you only collect low-end stuff, there is always stuff available and it is easier to spread your purchases and stick to a budget, but if you collect scarcer awards or focus on a specific niche, you have to jump on those awards immediately when they appear on the market. The trick is to have the discipline not to squander your money on average awards at times when there are no exceptional awards on the market. Sometimes that means not buying things for months on end and then purchasing several expensive things in one week's time. I have not set a monthly budget; I have a virtual piggy bank instead that I add to and take from when I see fit (and the money on the bottom is reserved for when that night witch award comes along ).

I don't think Reichstag awards are classified. For instance, Kantaria's and Yegorov's HSU citations - the gents who hoisted a Soviet flag on the Reichstag - are online. Awards for combat near the Reichstag may be scarce, but I doubt they are classified.

From my own experience, I believe that the following awards are classified or stored in sealed archives:

- NKVD, NKGB and their successor organizations

- Some Smersh awards

- Some partisan awards

- Some of the wartime and postwar "special ops" citations. Some time ago I researched a 1942 Red Banner to an Air Force pilot. After looking in different archives, the citation was found in the KGB archive; my researcher believed he was involved in sensitive long-range missions, and therefore all of his citations had been moved to the KGB archive.

I would go Red Banner - Nevsky - RS - OG2 - BM - CSM - OG3 (indeed probably a 1947 wound award).

If you like real combat awards, bump the OG2 one place.

I have Red Banner nr. 49942 on file, which was awarded in December 1942 to a unit, namely Oryol Armor School.

Were they the night bombers Auke? Id like to read to read your article if you have a copy?

Yes, they were the night bomber aviators. How is your Dutch?

I would love to own an award that can be linked to an event we read about in history books, even if it's only on small scale. A few years ago Markov sold the Red Banner that was awarded to the officer who took Field Marshal Paulus in custody in Stalingrad; that would be a fabulous award to own. It doesn't have to be a high-profile event or a recipient like this one, but an award to an officer who played a significant role in an event that made it into the history books would be terrific.

Second on the list is an award to one of the Night Witches. I wrote an article about them a few years ago and have always been fascinated by them.

Hmmm, are you sure about that? I believe they were defending the area southwest of Kaluga from mid 1942 through early 1943.

Hi Paul,

Roughly 15,000 - 75,000.

In my opinion, the biggest bang for your buck is anything from the first two years of the war. Even BMs and MCMs from that period can be really good.

If I would have to pick a specific award, it would be the Red Banner - just evade the long-service ranges and you can be sure the citation is good.

Navy citations are in the Navy archive in Gatchina (near St. Petersburg), as well as on Podvig, while Navy record cards are in the Central Archive. Step one of the research process, linking a serial number to a name and unit, is also done in Gatchina. It's this complexity that makes Navy research more expensive than regular research (at least, back when it was possible to research them - I don't have a single channel at the moment).

(Of course, if you have the award document or happen to know the name of the recipient via another way, researching a Navy award is easy; just look up the citation online and order the record card the regular way.)

She reminds me of the most famous civilian who provided the Red Army with intelligence, Sasha Filippov: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sasha_Filippov

I believe quite a few civilians were employed as scouts / spies behind enemy lines.

Until 1977, awards had to be returned to the state upon the recipient's death, so I can't imagine that soldiers were often intentionally buried with their medals.

I believe that most of those non-researchables are NKVD / NKGB / partisan / Navy / et cetera awards. When our researcher looks up a serial number, he digs through serial number ranges. If an entire serial number range is missing, this most likely means that the entire range was awarded by one of the aforementioned organizations. Awards weren't issued perfectly chronologically, so if citations and award issue records were lost in battle, this would result in single, isolated cases of non-researchable awards. Our researcher makes that distinction; he will say that an award wasn't awarded by the Army or Air Force, or something else when he tells us the result of his search.

There's no way to answer this question, but I have to say I'm surprised at how much we are able to find in the database. It rarely happens that I cannot find a citation, and when that happens it often turns out that they used an unfathomable spelling variation. So I'd say that the percentage of lost citations is definitely far less than 25. However, we could ask ourselves if the medals in our collection constitute a representative portion of all awards issued during the war. If records on recently issued medals were lost in battle, so may the medals.

PM sent.

Your overview is quite correct. Several translations of these documents are in use, depending on how literal one wants to translate the names. Basic research consists of the record card (which has the full name of the recipient, his rank, position, year of birth, et cetera, and a list of all of his awards) and the award sheet (which repeats some of the biographical information and contains the citation). If the recipient turns out to have been an officer, many people order the service record, which lists, as you say, all promotions, education, family situation, et cetera, and a list of all positions held. Plus, the service record often has a photo of the recipient. The personnel file is highly interesting, but extremely expensive for some reason.

Be sure to have a look at the researched awards posted on this forum, there are many examples of each of these documents posted here.

It should be noted that for every 5 research conducted, Ferdinand will provide a CD of him singing Katyusha while playing the banjo. I'm not sure if this was a limited time offer or not. Perhaps he can confirm?

I stopped doing that, it scared away clients instead of attracting them

In either case, I heard some rumours of Russians paying just $20 or something like that. I find that hard to believe though, seeing as how much time it costs to find the documents for just one award. No Russian would be willing to work for such a price. But I would love to hear what some of the natives can say on this subject.

Oh, I never thought it was fake, it's just an unusual-looking bird is all...