Eric B

Citation for the OPWI - note that it didn't start out that way :

And its translation: Award Sheet 1. Last name, name, and patrionymic: Avramenko, Ivan Markovich 2. Rank: Major 3. Duty position: Senior Instructor of the Political Section, 107 Drogobych Rifle Corps Application for the Order of the Patriotic War II Class 4. Birthyear: 1904 5. Nationality: Russian 6. Time in the Red Army: since 1941 7. Party membership: since 1928 8. Participation in combat: since June 1941 9. Wounds or contusions: Shell-shocked twice in 1941 and 1942 10. Earlier Awards: n/a 11. Inducted by: Stanislav Regional Military Commissariat, Ukrainian SSR 12. Home of record: Verkhne-Dneprovsk, Dnepropetrovsk Oblast, New Plans, Short Street #3 ? Evdokia Alekseevna Perevyazko Short description of personal combat feat or service Comrade Avramenko has been in the active Red Army since the first day of the Patriotic War. He has been in the 107 Rifle Corps Political Section since October 1943. He is a bold, courageous, and modest political worker. He has corrected earlier-identified personal shortcomings, i.e. lack of initiative, cases of selfishness, etc., however since January 1944 he has worked honestly, extending the work in instilling order in the political section?s administration and its subordinate organizations. He loves his assigned work and feels a great responsibility for it. He has repetitively accomplished important missions during the Corps? defensive and offensive fighting. He has significantly helped the Party organizers and political workers of the 328 and 127 Rifle divisions in the organization of their political work in the fighting for Zhitomir, Proskurov, and other areas. Repeatedly under fire and risking his life, he has helped instill order and discipline among the enlisted personnel, leading discussions with communists and helping distribute Party documents. He is fully deserving of the Order of the Patriotic War II class for courage displayed in combat and good mission accomplishment as Corps Senior Political Instructor. Signed Chief of the Political Section, 107 Rifle Corps, Colonel Kozlov on 25 May 1944 Endorsed Commander, 107 Rifle Corps, General-Major Gord(?) on 31 May 1944 Endorsed Guards General-Colonel Grechko and Guards General-(?) in June 1944 Endorsed Commander, Chief of the Political Section, 1 Guards Army, Guards Colonel Sorokin on 25 June 1944 Endorsed Commander, 1 Guards Army, Guards General-Colonel Grechko and Member of the Military Council Guards General-Major Vasileev on 18 July 1944 Awarded Order of the Patriotic War II Class by Order of the 1 Guards Army dated 5.7.44

Citation for the OPWII:

And its translation: 1. Last name, name, and patrionymic: Avramenko, Ivan Markovich 2. Born: 7 February 1904, V. Dneprovsk, Dnepropetrovsk Oblast 3. Nationality: Ukrainian 4. Knowledge of foreign languages: n/a 5. Social position: office worker 6. Party membership: non-party member, expelled from party in 9.1947 7. Education: 1 Course, Teacher Seminary in 1921 in V. Dneprovsk, Deputy Political Leaders Courses at the Lenin Political Academy in Shadrinsk 2.43-7.43 8. Combat experience: SW Front JUL-DEC 1941, Voronezh Front DEC 41-FEB 43, 4 Ukrainian Front NOV 43-MAY 45 9. Wounds and shell-shock: shell-shocked twice in August and October 1942 10. Decorations: OPW I in 1945, OPW II in 6.44, and VoG Medal in 1945 11. POW or encircled information: n/a 12. Prip: 13. On record: V. Dneprovsk Regional Military Comissariat, Dnepropetrovsk Oblast 14. Promotions: Captain, Major by 1 Ukrainian Front on 22.3.44 15. Specialty: Quartermaster, 3d Category 16. Branch: #247 17. Health: reduced profile II class 18. Continued diagnosis: 19. Present employment: Chief of Textbook Process, city of V. Dneprovsk 20. Family status: married ? wife ? Evdokiya Aleseevna Perevyazko, b. 1902, son Oleg, b. 1929, son Vladislav b. 1933, son Yurii b. 1937, daughter Olga b. 1941 ? V. Dneprovsk, Bazaar Alley #4 21. Special Remarks: Military ID Ya 00209 22. Military Service Deputy Platoon Leader, 1 Zaporozhe Cavalry Division, 1 Red Cossack Corps, 11.1926-11.1928 Released on long-term leave 23.11.1928 Assistant Regimental Commissar, 59 Reserve Rifle Regiment, 113 Rifle Brigade, 7.41-12.41 Regimental Party Bureau Inspector, 661 Artillery Regiment, 206 Rifle Division, 12.1941-2.1943 Student, Lenin Academy, 7.1943 Political Cadre Reserve, 7.1943-9.1943 Corps Political Section Inspector, 107 Rifle Corps, 4 Ukrainian Front, 9.43-10.45 Secretary of the Party Commission, 501 Artillery Brigade, 318 Guards Rifle Division (city of Mukachevo), 10.45-1.46 23. Released into the Reserves, 3 Category

Biographical information, p2: :

Biographical information, p1:

Order booklet A 408030 1. Last name: Avramenko 2. Name and Patrionymic: Ivan Markovich 3. Rank: Major 4. Sex: Male 5. Birthyear: 1904 6. Birthplace: Dnepropetrovsk Oblast, city of V. Dneprovosk 7. Party Membership: since 1928 8. Education: mid-level 9. Nationality: Ukrainian 10. Service in the Red Army: 1926-1929 and 6.1941-2.1946 11. Place of service and duty position at time of awarding: 107 Rifle Corps, 60 Army, 4 Ukrainian Front ? Corps Political Section Inspector 12. Place of service and duty position at the current time: V. Dneprovsk Executive Committee, Regional Soviet of Workers Deputies - Chairman 13. Home of Record: Dnepropetrovsk Oblast, city of V. Dneprovsk, Luxemburg St. 14. Awards Award - Serial Number - Awarder Patriotic War II - 179.739 - 1 Guards Army dated 5.7.44 Patriotic War I - 210.569 - 60 Army dated 27.5.45 VoG Medal - none - Edict dated 9.5.45 Verified 11 September 1946

The award card:

His awards:

Here, finally, is the fruit of the labors of many regarding Comrade Avramenko, the political worker. Thanks to everyone who helped! First, his order book:

From what I've read, except in the Pacific (the Japanese against the Chinese), lethal gas was not actually used in battle in WII. The line is basically that the Axis were afraid of direct retaliation by the Allies, who themselves didn't use it first because of international law banning it and ethical concerns. Even giving a more cynical interpretation the thougt is that both sides didn't use it simply because they feared retaliation. My thought is somewhat different. Retaliation was an issue, but effectiveness concerns were also a big reason. WWI and inter-war era gas was just not that great a weapon in battle. A prepared opponent in WWI could deploy effective countermeasures. The effects are invisible, so using it then analysing the results is much more difficult than analyzing the results of a straight bombardment. It's uncontrolable once deployed, so if your troops aren't as or better prepared than the enemy they could suffer as much as the foe if the weather and other conditions don't act as planned. It also condemns many civilians in the area to horrible death or injury, they by definition being the most unprepared. Morality aside it's just bad war business to exterminate the people you're liberating (for the Allies). In short it wasn't only direct retaliation that was feared, it was drawbacks in the weapons' effectiveness that kept them off the battlefield. Also, I believe that besides chemical defenses, the "chemical sections" of some militaries also handled non-lethal "chemical" weapons. Smoke shells and such. Don't know if that was true in the Red Army.

Stunning, as is a lot of your stuff.

He was apparently involved in Uranis/Little Saturn; Kalach and Tatsinskaya were significant places in the Don Bend. Does he have a Medal for the Defense of Stalingrad? Interesting passage as well: ?They initially conducted major efforts in destroying and evacuating communications.? Not sure how to interpret ?communications? in this context (as well as their unit title), but it seems to refer to the initial policy of the Soviets leaving nothing to the invader, destroying that which could not be evacuated. Thanks for sharing this!

Already having a long service set with order book I?m not in the market. Looking forward to finally getting it researched? some day. But don?t think there?ll be any thrilling war stories to it. It?ll probably be as close to mirroring my career as any research gets: ?This comrade was a steady and stoic tender of his desk, always pushing paper in the proper direction, his trips to the WC always followed by a prompt return, and he was always the first to keep the ash trays emptied and cleaned. But again, without being able to closely examine the order book it?s impossible to tell if this is really a group. At any rate I personally don?t spend that much money sight unseen without knowing the seller at least by long term reputation.

Without seeing better pics of the order book there's no way to judge. The sniper story is probably just that, a story. These awards were all given as long service awards; it's quite a coincidence that the "sniper" just happened to get all (and only) the awards one would get for simply being in the military for a couple of decades.

During the rebuilding of the Red Army?s tank forces after the debacle of 1941 it was standard practice for crewmen to be trained on a single type of AFV, in a single role. In other words one would learn to be a driver in a T-34/76, knowing no other position in the vehicle, or even how to drive any other model tank. The armored service consumed men at a prodigious rate; one estimate I?ve read is that over 75% of all tankists trained were killed in the war. At any rate the demand was so great and life expectancy so short that it only made sense to train men to the minimum level needed to do the job. Though the USSR was a model of standardization they did field a good number of different models of AFV. Could these multiple badges represent a survivor that ended up mastering multiple roles in multiple AFVs?

That's my non-Russian speaking pretty-new-collector opinion. Perhaps someone with more experience with medal books will chime in.

The stamp looks like it's for a combat service/military merit medal. Медаль "За боевые заслуги" Any award given in the 30s will also have a serial number; none is shown here. As well, all of the booklets I've seen spell out the month, rather than use a number. Don?t know if those are indictments, but I?d question the authenticity of the booklet. Is there a printing location and date on the last page of the medal book?

The original dies are irrelevant; dies for these awards could easily be manufactured. They?re not complex. And with the software, measurement and cutting technology available today they could be made identical to the originals, down to the ?unique? flaws documented in some. It?s no more a worry than any art fraud. There?s a huge amount of fraud in the art, antique, coin, you name it, world. Medals are no different. Though even with today?s ?insane? prices there are far more lucrative markets to counterfeit than awards of the Soviet Union. With less chance of being detected. In a way the Soviet penchant for record keeping has inoculated the current market from fraud, at least at the highest levels. Take a 1st class Ushakov; as a matter of record there were fewer than 50 made and awarded. They are serial numbered. They have associated official records. Now lets say that 50% of them have been destroyed in the past half century, and someone is enterprising enough to identify those that no longer exist. He calls up his tool & die maker, gives him the specs. The dies are made ? the orders fabricated. He calls up his contacts in the various places records are kept to get the real documentation. He marries the two. What does he have? Not 25 x $700,000; for the same reason only a few ?Van Gogh?s? are ?discovered? each decade anyone with the sense to do this knows that you don?t flood the market. You let them go a couple at a time. But in the end he?s STILL stuck with that hard ceiling. He can?t ?discover? more than were issued. And woe to him who screwed up on his research, and ends up ?discovering? one that isn?t really out of circulation. Con games may be romantic, but defrauding someone who spends $700,000 on a piece of specialty art seems like a recipe for a short career, perhaps even a short life. But lets say he does it perfectly. And 20 years from now every single Ushakov 1st is owned by someone. You know what those ?frauds? will do to the market? Nothing. There are still only 50 or so in existence, and if 25 of them are frauds ? but *undetectable* frauds ? then the market will not care. As for ?unissued,? well, what collector would want one? Who would pay more than the cost of the metal and fabrication for something without history? Those who would are welcome to them, but the aficionados will not, and as a such they wouldn?t affect the market for the real deal. Are today?s prices insane? Maybe; art prices fluctuate. Maybe these prices are a high point. But much as we common folk may wish the market would crash so we could collect what we want it won?t happen because of fraud. Or an infusion of newly minted medals.

You all are top drawer! With that I'm equipped to put it all together, not withstanding any other translation errors. But the rest, award card, personal data and citations, seem very straight forward translation wise. I'll post the results when I get it done. It's an interesting history. Thanks again!

More Translation First, translation in the real world is expensive, so it?s with great gratitude that I get any response at all to this. IMO the greatest strength of this particular board is the willingness of a few knowledgeable folks to do, for free, what they could be charging for. My translation is done by a friend of the family, a long term US resident who doesn?t speak Russian regularly anymore. He does it for free ? says it?s good to practice and as a favor. So the quality isn?t perfect; he?s the first to admit he knows nothing about the military, and that the use of language from the 40s to today seems to have changed (he?s young). That said, for me his work is invaluable. He brings to life the research I buy. So what?s this post about? Well, this group is turning more and more interesting the more that?s revealed. (This is the man who was recommended for a Red Star and at a relatively high level the award was bumped up to an OPW 1cl.) And while I can get the broad story of the man?s career there seem to be details that are just too cool to not know for sure. So here it is: the posting detail of his service record. The English part is what my friend has translated for me (where there are blanks he doesn?t know); the picture is the document itself. 22. Service in the Soviet ArmyPosition and Date Given Unit 11-1926 11-1926 Senior Sergeant 1st Zaporozh Cavalry Division Dismissed for long term vacation 07-1941 Assistant 59th Western Infantry Guard 12-1941 Guard Commissioner 113th SB 12-1941 Secret Politburo 661st Artillery Guard 02-1943 Colonel 206th Infantry Division 02-1943 Assistant Commander of departments at Kursk 07-1943 Listener Military Political Academy of Lenin, Moscow Military Circle 07-1943 In reserve of the Soviet political head of the central political department of the Red Army 09-1943 09-1943 Corps Inspector 107th Infantry Corps, 4th Ukrainian Division 10-1945 10-1945 Secret Operations 501st Artillery Brigade 01-1946 Party Commissar 318th Guard, city of Mukachevo Any insight (or correction) into the tantalizing references to ?Secret Politburo,? ?Listener? or ?Secret Operations?? What is the first 1926 reference? He was a Sergeant in 1926, dismissed on a ?long term vacation? (??) then came back when the war broke out as an officer? In Feb 1943 was he really listed as a Colonel (all other references show him as a Major ? was he busted a rank)? Was he somehow incognito during the war as a military man then ?revealed? as a Commissar in 1946? (Doesn?t make sense to me, as Commissars were integral to the structure at least until early 1943.) Both his citations are for ?political" work with the 107th Rifle Corps; ?rallying? and ?organizing? troops while under fire, and maintaining ?order and discipline.? Knowing a bit about Soviet ?motivational? methods it strikes me that he may not have been the I?m OK, You?re OK kind of ?motivator.? Anyway, I imagine you can see how fascinating this appears - assuming the translation so far is reasonably accurate. Is my guy way off in his translations? Thanks!

Woohoo! Thank you so much, Ferdinand. You have answered my mystery - he was only recommended for the Red Star in this citation and my translator couldn't tell what the handwriting said, so no confirmation on exactly when it was upgraded to the OPW 1cl. Thank you again! You've made my day!