Eric B

Tents make sense. In the city itself many "hospitals" were caves in the river bank face. Or in basements of (inevitably ruined) buildings. I've no idea what a Soviet MASH unit circa 1942 was made up of. Anyway, in the winter of 42-43 anywhere wounded were taken heat would be a priority. Frost injuries, and outright freezing to death, was a not uncommon fate on both sides of the line in that horrendous battle.

Given the time of his work (the winter of 42-43), and his lack of education, perhaps "stoker" is logical. The job of keeping a hospital warm in Stalingrad during the fighting, if well carried out, would indeed be worth a medal from all I've read. :beer:

What Darrell said. An "internal security" role, but without being an explicit member of the security apparatus. The research coming back at all indicates that he was "just" a Red Army officer. Right? Nothing else in the documentation indicates another position in the political or security services?

Thanks Rick and Marc, word is always appreciated. It just struck me the number of steps involved in this pursuit. From the initial looking and purchase, identifying and cataloging the pieces and paper, getting research, translation, looking up unit histories and geography, displaying... and at each step potentially bouncing ideas off others. The time and energy spent on one little group can be more than one would think. Fun stuff.

It'll be interesting to see how long it takes to sell.

Ouch.

Were they being sold as authentic, or as copies?

It?s not the hilt that tipped me off, it is the suspension ring. It?s part of the medal shaped into a circle, not soldered on, and from the Mondvor site (and the Red Bible, iirc) it?s a post war version. Could be wrong, of course. In fact, being wrong would make perfect sense in this case!

Interesting things about the research. First and foremost it appears the 1964 booklet is valid. For some reason it took about 20 years for Lezhava to get his awards squared away. (?) In the detail Lezhava was Georgian (which jibes with the story of its purchase, in Georgia from a Georgian family), apparently drafted immediately when he came of age at 18. He became a Comsomol while in the army. He was assigned to a ?Breakthrough? artillery division, the big guns and typically in Army, Front or even STAVKA reserve, they were used to pulverize the defenses before major attacks. (Artillery divisions were an innovation of the Soviets.) Welau (aka ?Wehlau,? present day ?Znamensk??) is about 50km east of K?nigsberg on the Pregel River and Masurian Canal. It was fortified, part of a defense line in East Prussia on the approach to K?nigsberg. So it makes sense the 10th was brought into play. There?s an obvious mistake ? his ?time in the army? is given as from 1941, ie, when he was 16, while his Award Card references 1943. The Award Card must the truth. Another, perhaps, mistake: he is referenced as a ?Guards Private? in the OG citation, though the 10th wasn?t a Guards unit from what I?ve read. Still, I like to think that he was given the honorific (and have a guards badge to display with the group!) And though he won the OG he wasn?t a stormer-of-trenches, instead he was ?just? a telephone operator / lineman. Anyway, even with the research I still have two questions. 1) These aren?t ?catch up? awards. The citations are from the 40s. Yet no paperwork was done till the 60s. Or was there (probably) some prior paperwork superceded by the 1964 work? 2) The MMM is a late issue, yet with a stamped s/n. Since it seems that the Order Book is legitimate, backed up by the archives (which one would assume a forger wouldn?t have access to when creating an Order Book entry), does this indicate that the MMM was legitimately stamped with the s/n? But the s/n is in the range of Nov, 1944, before this version of the MMM was produced. Was there (probably) an original issued, and is this a replacement?

Award Citation for Order of Glory III Class Award Sheet 1. Last name, name, and patrionymic: Lezhava, David Samuilovich 2. Rank: Guards Private 3. Duty position: Senior Telephone Operator, 157 Mortar Regiment, 44 Mortar Brigade, 10 Artillery Divison, RGK Application for the Order of Glory III Class 4. Birthyear: 1925 5. Nationality: Georgian 6. Time in the Red Army: since 23 September 1941 7. Party membership: Comsomol in 1944 8. Participation in combat: since 10 October 1944 on the 3 Belorussian Front 9. Wounds or contusions: wounded 18.2.45 10. Earlier Awards: Combat Service Medal 11. Inducted by: Stalin Regional Military Commissariat, Tbilisi 12. Home of record: Georgian SSR, Tbilisi, Plekhanov #175. Mother ? Ketavale Yakovlevna Short description of personal combat feat or service During fighting in East Prussian he has proven himself a bold and valorous communicator. On 18 February of this year near Welau while under heavy artillery, mortar and small-arms fire, in the course of one day he repaired 30 telephone line breaks and during this, was wounded by shrapnel. Comrade Lezhava bandaged himself and did not leave the battlefield, continuing to accomplish his combat mission. He is deserving of the Order of Glory III Class. Signed Commander, 157 Mortar Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Asatiani on 11 March 1945 Endorsed Brigade Commander, Colonel Petrushko on 15 March 1945 Endorsed Commander, 10 Breakthrough Artillery Division, RGK Guards Colonel (?) on 27 March 1945

The OG III citation

2. Award Citation for Combat Service Medal 5. Senior Telephone Operator 5 Battery, Private David Samushovich(sic) Lezhava who under enemy artillery fire repaired eight breaks in a telephone line. B. 1925, Georgian, non-party member, inducted in 1943 by Stalin Regional Military Commissariat ? Tbilisi, home of record: Tbilisi, Plekhanov St. #175 Signed Commander, 157 Mortar Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Asatiani and Chief of Staff, Major Kostenko

The MMM citation

1. Award card Order booklet D 731968 1. Last name: Lezhava 2. Name and Patrionymic: David Samuilovich 3. Rank: Private 4. Sex: Male 5. Birthyear: 1925 6. Birthplace: Tbilisi 7. Party Membership: n/a 8. Education: mid-level technical school 9. Nationality: Georgian 10. Service in the Red Army: 8.1943-4.1946 11. Place of service and duty position at time of awarding: Senior Telephone Operator ? 157 Mortar Regiment, 44 Mortar Brigade 12. Place of service and duty position at the current time: city of Tskhaltubo, Mezhkolkhozstroi ? collective farm worker 13. Home of Record: Tbilisi, Borzhomi St. #2 14. Awards Award / Serial Number / Awarder Combat Service Mdl / 1.786.433 / 153(sic?) Mortar Regiment dated 30.10.44 Glory III / 718.903 / 10 Artillery Division dated 4.4.45 Verified 5 May 1964

The Award Card

The Order Book

The K?nigsberg Medal & Doc

The OG III

The Com? er, Military Merit Medal

The group

This is a group that was almost not researched. Well, not really; I?d bought it with research in mind, even with the questions it raised. Still, when it came to it I didn?t know whether it would be worth it. The first issue is the order book. Dated 1964, with very faint stamps (barely visible in the photo; they are clearer when seen in person), it?s not your standard wartime award book. I?d never seen a ?catch up? award, so couldn?t evaluate if this was such. Second was the MMM; it ?shouldn?t? have an s/n according to Mondvor. It?s a late issue medal, which would make sense for the booklet, but there?s that odd looking s/n. Third was the K?nigsberg document. It was dated 1947. The veteran had it, but not his earlier awards and booklet? Still, except for the MMM s/n the awards themselves looked fine. As well the gentleman I bought it from is a paragon; if there was any problem with it I knew I could return it. He had purchased it from a trustworthy source, and had no reason to think it faked or ?enhanced?. So I picked it up, and submitted it for research. Here?s the result.

Yes, being expelled kind of jumps out! Complete speculation, but I tend towards his flaws being mundane. Hence his length of time in service without simply being taken out and shot. Rather than a 'real' anti-social, or "wrecker", or or coward or criminal, something along the lines of just being drunk too much.

This group bears a striking resemblance to this group. Another over awarded political soldier.

Storage, portability and presentation are all important, and I?ve settled on this method to display my researched awards. Being that almost no one who is shown these reads Russian it?s important to present information in English. As well, the historian in me likes the narrative aspect of research. But without carrying around a separate book detailing the people and actions I was at a loss as to how to present (hell, remember!), the details of the story behind the awards. So I put together a blurb about the person and his awards, taken from the research and displayed along side the awards. The frame is a Riker case, with a piece of red felt placed in the batting, and the awards placed on top of the felt (with any appropriate holes punched). The glass top is then pinned in place and holds everything in place. A title is put on the top ?spine? of the case, so they can be stored, stacked horizontally, in the safe yet be identifiable without digging through the entire collection. The net effect is something easy to store, easy to transport, relatively secure (short of someone walking off with the whole thing of course), yet attractive and (hopefully) fun to look at and read.

And its translation. Apparently it's a good thing to be in Comrade Grishaev's good graces: Award Sheet 1. Last name, name, and patrionymic: Avramenko, Ivan Markovich 2. Rank: Major 3. Duty position: Political Section Inspector, 107 Drogobych Rifle Corps Application for the Order of the Red Star 4. Birthyear: 1904 5. Nationality: Ukrainian 6. Time in the Red Army: since 1941 7. Party membership: since 1928 8. Participation in combat: since 1941 9. Wounds or contusions: Shell-shocked/light 10. Earlier Awards: Order of the Patriotic War II Class in 1944 11. Inducted by: Kiev Municipal Military Commissariat 12. Home of record: Verkhne-Dneprovsk, Dnepropetrovsk Oblast, Lenin Prospekt Short description of personal combat feat or service Comrade I.M. Avramenko has worked as the Corps Political Section Inspector, simultaneously fulfilling the duties of the Corps Party Commission Secretary. In the fierce fighting in the Carpathians and for Moravska-Ostrava he capably focused the Party political workers and communist to the accomplishment of their combat missions. He has made great strides in strengthening discipline among the communists of the Corps? section. He is a principled Bolshevik. He is deserving of the Order of the Red Star. Signed Chief of the Political Section, 107 Drogobych Rifle Corps, Colonel Kozlov on 14.5.45 Endorsed Commander, 107 Rifle Corps, General-Lieutenant Gordeev on 11 May 1945 Recommended upgrade to Order of Patriotic War I Class by Chief of the Political Section, 60 Army, General-Major Grishaev on 20 May 1945