Andwwils

I am a novice when it comes to Soviet awards, but it seems to me that there are still some good values out there. Documents are an example. You can buy an order book without a picture in it for the Order of Lenin for 15 or 20 USD (maybe less). I mean, if you're in Soviet collecting for the history and history alone, having the Order Book should be as good as having the physical decoration, right?

1 year only ever applied to the army, as far as I know from my family's assortment.

Don't have the full regulations to hand, but I believe somebody in naval transport would have qualified by entering these areas but would not have had battle stars for LAND operations.

It is also entirely possible, looking at this bar, that somebody--possibly much later-- stuck stars in the WRONG ribbon. Might have been a plain Good Conduct with a star apiece supposed to be on the EAME and AP.

Nobody in my family who ever actually applied for their medals (and there are still some who haven't) got stars with them. Those were up to the wearer to get himself.

The stars could be on the wrong ribbon, that's a distinct possibility. Finding the Navy Good Conduct regulation from WWII would clear the whole thing up. Might be available online.

My thoughts as well...

I dont know about the 1 year good conduct rule though. If this is the case, I can tell you from experience that they do not do this anymore.

It has to be 1 year of continuous service during a time of declared war. The last officially declared war being WWII. Nowadays, all the services award the Good Conduct for every three years continuous active duty service - I believe. There may be some loop-holes.

During wartime, Good Conduct Medals are given for one-year of continuous service. I may be wrong, but if it's true that would make this bar out to be for someone who enlisted in 1942 and got out of the service sometime in 1945/1946. Very odd that this bar doesn't show any campaign stars on any of the campaign medals.

I like to tell people, in defense of Stalin, the following:

"Before Stalin, Russia had the plow. After Stalin, they had nuclear bombs and Sputnik."

Who knows what the Soviets of Workers, Soldiers and Peasants could have been able to achieve had a more "balanced" leader taken over after the death of Lenin and the insuing power struggle. Bukharin and his ideas have always been near and dear to my heart, but, of course, revisionist history is something I try to refrain from. But it should be noted that ALL of the prominant leaders associated with the rise of Communism in Russia were firm believers in violence and suppression. Even Kerensky and his ilk advocated violence and suppression. So it may be unfair to paint Stalin as a singular boogey-man.

It's a very muddy thing to look at. The reasoning and ideology of Stalin and "Stalinism." It's hard to determine whether Stalin was acting out of megalomanical motives, ideological motives or a combination of both. It is safe to say that life now and into the future will go on in Russia like it always has. Great literary works documenting the suffering will continue to be written and thousands upon thousands if not millions of ordinary prols and peasants will play through the motions of living through whatever government is presently in power and the common-people will ride-out whatever crisis, internal or external that they are dealt.

All-in-all, there may be a return to totalitarianism in Russia, but there is as of yet no reason to believe that any events similar to the ones that lead to the October Revolution, War Communism and a genuine attempt at acheiveing socialism on Earth through debate and revolutionary activities will happen any time soon in the "Old Union." Stalinism mayy come back, but the true spirit of the 1917 Revolution is still very much dead.

I love Russian literature! I plan on reading the book prescribed in this threat "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich." I recently finished reading "The White Guard" by Mikhail Bulgakov and plan on reading "The Brothers Karamazov" as soon as I finish reading the copy of "Yong Stalin" that I received for Christmas. I gave my significant other a copy of "The Master and Margarita" for Christmas in exchange. Crime and Punishment changed my life!

"He killed himself by massive and constant abuse of alcohol ."

One of the occupational hazards of politburo membership during Stalin's time .

83, for a man, especially someone who held a "high-stress" job for the better part of his life, is not a bad age. Sure, people live to be 100 or more, but most don't. Soviet leaders are no exception. L. Kaganovich lived to be 97, Zhandov: 52. Age obviously depends upon a variety of factors.

When the Oldenburg FA II Kl and Lubeck Hanseatic Cross are found together on a bar, does that normally suggest a Naval veteran? I've always been curious about this. Sorry for the unrelated question. The civil servant bar piqued my interest.

Greeting, fellow Gentlemen!

I am in search of a contemporary (i.e.: 1904) map of the small town of Okahandja in German-Soutwestafrica. It should be a detailed map as I need to locate houses of Diekmann, Denker, Samuel and Barnabas, the railway station and of course the fortress. I've already located a very basic map in the Belrin archives, but it is only a beginning.

As always any help is much appreciated

Regards

Patrick

You may have to write an archive in present-day Namibia to get something that detailed. I can' t think of any books in English that I've come across that show maps of any great detail. You may be able to find something with a descriptive written narrative of the city that may help you somewhere. Don't limit yourself to strictly a visual map.

Veterinary items are out there. You should be able to turn up some NCO and junior officer insignia/documents through the various dealers online. The higher-grade officer material will be a real challenge locating.

I've heard that Lutze's remains were exhumed at one point and what was left of his uniform, decorations and dagger made their way onto the collector's market. Anyone else hear about this?

He could be a career veterinairy or judicial officer. Promotions in those two branches would have been especially slow during the inter-war years and both would have had the obligatory shoulder board devices as well. Early war is my gut-feeling too.

The chaplain in this photo isn't wearing a LW cockade on his visor. The officer seated next to him was a pilot in WWI so...It's a nice photo, I'd probably even shell out 20 or 25 dollars for it, but not 201 Euros. Hopefully the person who bought it either has a relative in the photo or something along such lines to justify the expense.

Could this man be a TSD officer? I'm not sure how the cornflower blue arm-color would transfer in black-and-white, but the device on his boards could be the winged-scepter. The 40 years device and the rank would make sense then (a late-war career Oberfeldintendant).

I agree that a Cold War Service Commemorative Medal, an officially recognized government issue medal, should be awarded. The real challenge will be informing the hundreds of thousands of people who qualify for the it, since the vast majority haven't been in the service for 20+ years.

All three could have been killed from shrapnel wounds at varrying distances by the same shell during a general bombardment.

Which scan shows the award dates for the EKII and Hessian Tapferkeit Med.? In box 9 I can make out the EK entry, but no date. My eyes are burning just a tad from all the squinting. This man did well promotions-wise, making Vizewebel as a 1914 volunteer (?).

The odd thing with these is that coins with "chop" marks are degraded because of such markings. It's really hard to find some dates in this series of coins.

If you look at the production runs on all of the state quarters. Collect them for pleasure but forget about the ones you find in circulation doubling in value anytime soon unless they have some-sort of mint-produced defect. SPEND THEM otherwise.

The Indiana quarter was a joke. A race-car? You'd think they would have had something about "Indians" on the "Indiana" state quarter...

There is a difference between the designs for the "walking" liberty quarter and half-dollar. Walking liberty quarters are more commonly referred to as "standing liberty" quarters.

Looks like a "personalized" Army Presidential Unit Citation pin.

Oakleaves were awarded to Hauptmanns only?

In my experience, court-mounted 15 year NSDAP long-service medals usually have some-sort of enamel damage to them after 62+ years of being on a bar.

Soiling (looks like motor oil) on the back, and clean ribbons on the front?

Yes, Moser only made Oberstlt and was a staff-type officer throughout the war. I'll commend you for combing through that website. It's quite a labyrinth of knowledge. Moser doesn't show up within it. I'd be willing to bet that just about every Luftwaffe flak officer over the rank of Hauptmann had some-sort of Imperial service to their name. I've yet to see a book for someone ranking Major or higher that didn't belong to a man born in the 1890's or earlier. I feel that your list is a very noble pursuit. I'll keep an eye out for more flak officer names and units and post them as I come across them.

Here's a picture of Heinrich Moser, in uniform, within his Wehrpass: