Alfred

Great Dan,

Hello Dolf, yes it seems to be a large mint mark. regards Andreas

Hello Soviet, couldn?t find a Gosnak Star in my cellar, but between my bric and brac I found this one. Are there any names to the serial number 3.659 available? regrads Andreas

speechless, a very very ... nice group hope that the rest of the citations will be good too regards Andreas

Hello Darell, I am not convinced about this peace. Look at the "dash" above the "i" it should be almost flat, not curved. regards Andreas

Hello Rboomsma, in my oppinion a fake. They simply erased the inscription on the top of the reverse from a military or labour medal. But they done a good job. regards Andreas

Darell, to my serial number database it seems to be awarded around summer 1981. regards Andreas By the way, nice piece

Thanks Rick, for the information !

As I bought the group I thought his Military merit medal, his Red Star and his Red Banner are long service awards. For 10, 15 and 20 years of service, so I olny researched the first Red Star and the OGPW 2nd class. But the dates of the three awards (Military merit, Red Star, Red Banner) do not apply/match totally. He joined the army on September 1939 so for 10 years service he should get the military merit medal in 1949 (June 1949) In 1954 and 1959 he should get the Red Star and the Red Banner for long service but he got them in 1953 and 1956. Any comments to that ? Was it usual to get these awards as long service medals earlier ? or is there a chance that they are not long service medals? regards Andreas

and here is the citation for the OGPW s/n: 447.963

I only researched the Red Star and the OGPW 2nd class. Here are the citations: For the Red Star s/n: 613.098

Here is his award card, a first surprise to me was that he got a Medal for the defence of Moscow. Unfortunately, the document was not in the group as I bought it.

So, here is a picture of Major Golovchenko: He joined Army on 1st September 1939 and was dismissed on 31 August 1961. His last rank was major in the 57th Air Army. He served as a Chief Commander of Landing troops. During the war he was a Motor transport platoon commander and a Motor company commander in the 15th Air Army. in June 1941 he was military technican 2nd rank in March 1942 he was Lieutenant-technican in June 1945 he was Senior Lieutenant in July 1949 he was Captain in December 1952 he was Major

Erik, yes they did !! They started to fake campaign medals short after the wall broke down. At first the rarer campaign medals (Belgrad, Sewastopal...) and the WW II excellent awards (best submariner, torpedo specialist...) I bought the first fakes around 1992/93. The Prague medal looks okay to me, the ring of the Vienna looks a bit strange but it seems to be okay. A better picture of the details of the branch/twig would help. regards Andreas

Hello, here is another "faked" chemically bleached order book. The new ink entries are a little bit frayed and melt, due to the use of chemicals. regards Andreas

Andreas, thank you very much for the specification. Why I was asking this question is because I can only count 8 rocket-ramps, so I tought they could fired 16 rocket at a time. However, when I look at period documentary they seem to fire much more than I can count the possibility on this truck. I wounder how did they loaded so many rockets on this Katjuscha? Bryan, thats a good question never thought about it. Here are a few period time pictures of a ZIS 6. It seems to be that there are 8 rockets above and 8 rockets under the launching pad. So there seems to be a total of 16 rockets on one ZIS 6 truck. regards Andreas

Hello Bryan, the first appearance of the Katjuscha-Rocket-Launcher was in second half of 1941. There were three different systems of rocket launcher developed. 1. based on a truck ZIS 6 with 36 rockets 2. based on a tank T 40 or T 60 with 24 rockets 3. based on a truck GAS AA with 48 rockets Later also planes shoot these non controllable rockets. The range maximum range was about 5.500 meters and minimum range I think about 3.000 meters, the caliber 82 mm and the weight 8 kg with 0,6 kg explosives in the warhead Normaly the launcher could fire sixteen rockets in a time frame of ten seconds. So the rockets were fired with a very little time lag one after one. regards Andreas

Hello stogieman, looks very nice the copy. Are the any major differences to an original. To me, it seems to be that the enamle is looking flat and cheap like paint? regards Andreas

Nice Gerd

Order of Glory 3rd class S/N: 633.159 On 13.01.1945 during the assault on the city of Busko-Zdrui, Comrade Zagorodsky supported the offensive of the 3rd Rifle Bataillon, repeatedly moving his gun forward the infantry, as a result his gun supressed two enemy maschinegun positions thus, supporting the successful advance of the infantry. In this battle he scattered the unit and destroyed as many as 10 Hitlerites. On 20.01.1945 during the capture of the city Rosenberg (polnisch Olesno), in position inconvenient for moving the gun and under heavy enemy maschinegun fire, he and his crew pushed the gun forward of the infantry and from an open firing position, supressed the fire of an enemy maschinegun position and killed as many as 10 Hitlerites. On 23.01.1945 during the forced river crossing of the Oder, Zagorodsky and his crew were the first to overcome the water and other obstacles, set up their gun, and covered the infantry crossing the river with plunging fire. During this fighting Comrade Zagorodsky was seriously wounded.

So got research today, for the group of Senior Sargent Zagorodsky: He was member of the 28th Guards Airborne Rifle Regiment which belongs to the 9th Guards Airborne Division; 5th Guards Army. He took part in crossing the river Vistula (weichsel) and the river Oder. He earned both awards in Poland.

I love this artillery school badges !! regards Andreas

This seems to be the badge

Here is my Order of Friendship s/n 12.937. The scans are not very good, tomorrow I will take better pictures with the digi cam. But you can see the two little noses at the corn ear on the left and right side. regards Andreas

Hello, I noticed an interesting detail. I always thought, that original orders have these little noses at the corn ear. Are there two versions? regards Andreas