RedMaestro

Hero of Sumy https://rama.com.ua/zahisniki-sum-otrimali-nagorodi/ Google translated: Award of the executive committee of the Sumy City Council "Defender of Ukraine. The Hero of the City of Sumy", which was founded in early November 2022, was awarded to eight residents of the Sumy urban territorial community, who from February 24 held back the enemy at the borders of the city with weapons in their hands Among the awarded are Kostyantyn SYPCHENKO, Mykhailo SVISTUN, Pavlo SIRYK, Andriy TARAN, Yevhen SKOROBAGATSKY, Andriy TIMOFIEV. Oleksandr Masyuk and Andrii Gonchar were awarded posthumously. "Defender of Ukraine. The hero of the city of Sumy" will be awarded "for personal courage and selfless actions, for labor achievements, demonstrated in the protection of state sovereignty, territorial integrity, in strengthening the defense capability and security of Ukraine." The award is awarded based on the decision of the executive committee. It is made of gilded brass in the form of an equilateral cross with extended legs filled with green enamel. A round medallion is placed in the center of the cross, where the coat of arms of the city of Sumy is located on a background of white enamel. The coat of arms is encircled by a ribbon of green enamel with the inscription: "Defender of Ukraine. Hero of the city of Sumy". A dress insignia, which is a scaled-down copy of the award, will also be awarded, allowing a miniature copy to be worn. At least one of the recipients is featured in this film (СУМИ. Ми дали їм під дих, starting at 1:01):

Nick, That is a caveat that should go up front, lest our colleague venture a substantial amount of money in vain based on your words. ?

"Awarded" based on what information? ?

"Slava," thank you for the update. Since this is an aged thread overall, it bears noting here (as mentioned elsewhere) that Dave Schwind's outstanding book Blue Seas, Red Stars has documented awards to American naval personnel in detail. Another of our fellow members is currently working on an extensive article about awards to Army personnel that will surely provide us with an even more accurate count (higher total than the above). In one exchange, for example, 60 Legions of Merit / Bronze Stars to the Soviet Army were reciprocated with 60 awards to the American Army ranging from Combat Service Medals to the Order of Suvorov 1st Class. Some awarding decrees are not available through the archive portals. Reliable contacts in the archives have indicated that some physical copies also could not be located. Cheers,

Gentlemen, (Marse and mayerse in particular) While I would defer to true experts, it seems to me the lettering of the obverse isn't quite right. Corrections welcome. *Edited to add the caveat, and to reduce specificity

Following up with some hi-res scans. What do these reveal? Thanks,

Thank you, Owain! I anticipate having the medal in hand in a couple of weeks and will post proper scans at that time.

Colleagues, can anyone identify and provide some information about this Syrian medal? This is the only image available, obviously photoshopped. The side with the artillery is the obverse, and the blue/white side is the reverse. Thanks in advance!

Nick, thanks for posting. This looks like an award to a foreigner. Could you please post the 1st and 2nd pages of the document in full, without any obstruction?

Very nice ? In short, Sprogis evacuated 43 wounded soldiers from the battlefield over two days. He served in an ambulance unit, so that figures. What's interesting is that the last pages of his citation (317-319 on Podvig) show that the Red Banner was approved all the way up to the commander of the 33rd Army, Lieutenant-General Efremov (as well as the relevant commissar). There is no notice of a downgrade. The original recommendation looks highly inflated by 1942 standards. A Bravery Medal or Red Star was more fitting even by 1945 standards. Here's the Podvig link for anyone following: http://podvignaroda.mil.ru/?#id=10374574&tab=navDetailManAward *edited to clarify misstatement on award inflation

Thanks for sharing. Could you please post close-ups of the obverse and reverse and the second page of the document? Always good to have images for reference ?

The Nevsky is no good. For the OPW – get a straight-on picture of the reverse and a detailed photo of the serial number to be sure that it has not been altered. It should be fine but it's hard to be too careful, especially when other elements of the set are dubious. Speaking of which, the document shows signs of tampering.

Sal, some iffy news and some better news. The iffy – something seems off about that group to me. Most glaring: in the order booklet, the 2 x Order of the Patriotic War 2nd Class are in reverse serial number order and therefore in reverse chronological order. That doesn't make much sense. I also think the ink of the last three entries is suspect. In my experience, a hallmark of a concocted group is the presence of multiple, odd-looking entries after a perfectly legitimate one (the Order of the Red Banner). I hope someone with fresher expertise will comment further. In the meantime, you could have the Order of the Red Banner researched in the archives. I searched the recipient's name on Podvig Naroda and did not get any hits... The better – I found his name online as commissar of a partisan detachment. To me, that correlates with both the lack of a Podvig entry and the style of award booklet. https://a-dyukov.livejournal.com/85810.html Could be extremely interesting!

Have to interject with some skepticism here on the grounds of the serial number. The earliest observed Red Stars for Afghanistan were in the 3,6xx,xxx range, and the last observed issues from the 3,5xx,xxx range were made in 1968-9. The possibilities that come to mind are that the order booklet was faked (not an uncommon occurrence), or the award was a total anomaly. Please do post photos – of the Red Star and doc plus the rest of the group – when you're able, hopefully before you've actually made the purchase.

I would guess that many items McDaniel authenticated passed through a reliable dealer or fellow collector at some point. So it should be possible to trace them, albeit with some difficulty. Perhaps Paul himself would be able to assist if you could find a way to get in touch with him.

Bob, thanks for posting this (and for all your other recent posts)! I have a document for a Friendship Medal in the 600s from the same decree, also to a Russian. Nice to know what it's for finally, altho haven't found info on the recipient specifically. Also have another doc to a Russian for a medal in the 6000s from decree of 1976.1.9 No. 4. Any chance you've run into this date before? Unfortunately doesn't seem worthwhile researching individually with the medal itself absent. Cheers, Alex

Thanks, Paul. I just checked today and the catalog is indeed available. Would be interesting to hear commentary from those following the auction. My impression: it seems that half the lots, including the most substantial ones, are re-runs from last year with a note that a buyer from Kiev failed to pay. Extremely strange. The rest of the material seems unimpressive compared to previous years. Thoughts?

Greetings, Gents! Does anyone know if the New York Sale will be taking place this year? Typically there would be information – even the whole catalog – out by now... Thanks in advance.

Thanks, All, for your contributions - Nick for starting the thread and the informative graphics, Paul for the lovely uniform, and Auke for the outstanding Red Stars! Nick or Auke, do you have statistics for posthumous Afghanistan awards and/or awards (all) by rank? I remember reading somewhere about award distributions in these terms. In particular, I recall a claim that half of all Red Stars were awarded posthumously, of which most were to privates; the other half went primarily to (living) officers. Any response to that? For the record, there are a few Afghan awards posted here from way back...

Thanks for clarifying, Auke. Neat finds! I can't think of a more efficient way to go about the research on Podvig. You could theoretically search prikazi by date and go day by day, but that might take even longer than the war. Rick, how many serials numbers per award do you have on this list? Since the 90s...!

It's an error in the translation. The record card clearly reads female. Not to worry, it happens sometimes Nice award!

Auke, how did you go about gathering these citations? 1400 is a really nice sample size!

Gents, I'd much appreciate some help deciphering this signature please. Two images are attached, one showing the original orientation of the signature on the page, the other with a horizontal adjustment. There's not much context for the signature, and admittedly it's not even medal-related (but where else to seek help with such Russian scribbles?). The signature is on the title page of a Shostakovich music score previously belonging to the Higher School of Military Conductors of the Red Army (высшее училище военных капельмейстеров КА). Thanks!

Awesome story, Nick! Thanks for sharing.