TacHel

OUTSTANDING!! I can't believe you didn't enter him in the photo competition!?! :o

Colin, it's been 2 months! Come on man! get with it! A small flag, a planet on a badge and a medal ribbon!

Or did your cat push it off the table? :speechless1:

Is there any way to make the writing in blue (purple) more visible? Or can you read it and type in in? You answer might be there.

TacHel, that disk does not belong on that medal. I am pretty sure! Only bars were authorized on the Second Class Merit Medal

That's what I figured based on your previous explanations. Many thanks! :cheers:

So... The one I recently purchased with the swan disc would be wrong then? (Still a bit confused...)

Odd... You'd think that anybody with thousands to spend on a single item would've known better...

I think I wasn't clear in my question...

The awards in posts 7 & 13, are they also for blood donours and merely older models of the ones in post 8 & 11? Or are they for Red Cross workers?

Sorry but I'm confused here...

Post #8 are for blood givers.

Post #7... Merit awards?

I've never seen a modern restrike with the multicoloured patina your's has. Modern strikes are bronze or gilt bronze as shown below.

Sweet! I'm a bit surprised, but by the same token quite thrilled to find out some of these badges we manufactured in higher quality than previously thought. Many thanks for sharing this with us!

It's where Elvis is hiding?

Honestly... How on Earth can anybody get the correct answer unless they've actually been there?

It's where they keep the colonel's secret recipe?

The one at left is from the Russian "White Army", the one at right is cossack.

The wreath & sword award at left is for the 1920 Great Siberian Expedition. There are at least 10+ different variations from different makers. They were commissionned by Major-General Sergei Nikolaevich Wojciechowski. Looks like a period item, but these days, who knows for sure...

The badge at right is Cossack. These badges were made in Shangai China in 1925 to mark the formation and denote membership in the Union of Cossacks, they are not awards.

They came in 3 colours:

Red background for Siberian Cossacks

Yellow background for Amur, Ussuri and Trans-Baikal cossacks.

Blue background for Orenburg cossacks.

My gut feeling for this particular badge is that it's a modern repro. Cossack awards, even modern ones are usually of pretty low quality (see pic below). Unless made later by a fine jeweler, which is unlikely, I'd treat it as a repro/copy.

How the H are we supposed to get this???? Use Google Street View for the entire planet?

I am from Mongolia but not hero of my quiz. Hint#5: He is not Mongolian...

I interpreted that as the person we're looking for is in fact from Mongolia but the one I mentioned (Lieutenant-General Damdin Tserenjav) is not the one we're looking for... :speechless:

I've Googled in English, French and Russian for a Mongolian Lt.Gen executed in 41 and couldn't find anybody... Only politicians.

Was he a cavalry officer?

Lieutenant-General Damdin Tserenjav ?

LtGen Nikolai Iakovlevich Kirichenko ?

Damdin Sükhbaatar ?

Khorloogiin Choibalsan ?

Pikalov Vladimir Karpovich

More information can be found here: http://gmic.co.uk/in...neral-pickalov/

CORRECT!!

Colonel-General Vladimir Karpovich Pikalov

CLUE #2

The high decorations I received near the end of my career "for courage and heroism" were the Order of Lenin and the Title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Hi Frank, Mikhail Kalashnikov ? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Kalashnikov Cheers. Ch.

INCORRECT, sorry...

So many posts... Am reposting the question down here...

Here's a question #58 for you

-I emerged from WW2 as a highly decorated and severely wounded artillery officer.

-Post war I was given the command of the development and deployment of the most despicable of weapons.

-Oddly enough, I received my highest decorations near the end of my career... For saving lives!

WHO AM I?