Christophe

So, it is interesting to see what will outcome from this story... In 2 month time... Ch.

Part 2. Ch.

And here is his bio : Ch.

Hi Jim, This is absolutely correct. 10.10.44 is the date of his death, not of the awarding, as I uncorrectly stated it. I will correct my initial post. Cheers. Ch.

Hi IVB, Any more details on this "unique" collar ? What is the source of these pics ? Many thanks in advance. Cheers. Ch.

My pleasure. And, now, when will we see why you ask ?... Ch.

Hi Ed, Hero Star #4107 is Никулин Дмитрий Егорович (Nikulin Dimitriy Igorovich) . Ukaz of 19.08.44. Death date : 10.10.44. Cheers. Ch.

Only 55 surviving Companions of the Liberation. As of today, here is the list of these 55 Companions : Jos? ABOULKER Marcel ALBERT Ren? BAUDEN Henri BEAUGE-BERURE Robert BINEAU Henri de BORDAS Guy CHARMOT Daniel CORDIER Louis CORTOT Yves de DARUVAR Bernard DEMOLINS Pierre DESHAYES Victor DESMET Jean-Pierre DULAU Rudolf EGGS Constant ENGELS Robert GALLEY Ren? GATISSOU Alain GAYET Hubert GERMAIN Charles GONARD Jacques HEBERT Paul IBOS Fran?ois JACOB Henry LAFONT Pierre LANGLOIS Claude LEPEU Roger LESCURE Ren? LESECQ Pierre LOUIS-DREYFUS Louis MAGNAT Jacques MAILLET Roger MALFETTES Jean-Pierre MALLET Robert MASSON Fred MOORE Jean MUFRAGGI Jean NETTER Roland de la POYPE Andr? QUELEN Claude RAOUL-DUVAL Serge RAVANEL Charles RUDRAUF Andr? SALVAT Robert SAUNAL Etienne SCHLUMBERGER Pierre SIMONET Jacques de STADIEU G?rard THEODORE Elie TOUCHALEAUME Jean TRANAPE Edgard TUP?T-THOME Andr? VERRIER Aloizo WALEINA Nicolas WYROUBOFF This complete list, with all bios, can be found here : http://www.ordredelaliberation.fr/fr_doc/4_1_2_2.php Ch.

Only 55 surviving Companions of the Liberation. On 4 July 2008, a judgement has been made in Paris by the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris. It has officially and legally declared "absent" two Companions of the Liberation : * F?licien Gargu? or N'Gargu?, who did not give any news since June 1941, and whose date and place of birth are unknown, with spelling of names uncertain. * Ange Pois, who did not give any news since June 1941, and whose date and place of birth are unknown. Here are their bios (in French) : http://www.ordredelaliberation.fr/fr_compagnon/379.html http://www.ordredelaliberation.fr/fr_compagnon/792.html You will find attached the official and legal notice published in the French press on 23 September 2008. There are now only 55 surviving Companions of the Liberation. Ch.

Hi Simon and Eddie, Looks like people are a little bit bored with Quiz nowadays... I experiment a similar situation with my Soviet and Eastern Block Quiz in the Soviet sub-forum... Maybe we all have less and less time... I nevertheless try to "reactivate" it from time to time. Cheers. Ch.

Hi to all, It's very calm, here . Marc, can you provide more hints or reply to RedMaestro ? Cheers. Ch.

I can't read it well. Seems like Russian... Ch.

Another update about Museums, dated 15.09.2008. From pravda.ru. : "Iconic Soviet plane destroyed in the heart of Moscow Tu-154, a passenger jetliner exhibited at Moscow?s All-Russian Exhibition Center (known for its Russian initials as VVC and formerly known as VDNKh) 30 years ago, was demolished Saturday. Other exhibits ? the Yak-42 aircraft and the Vostok rocket ? will apparently have to suffer the same fate. The people visiting the exhibition complex were indignant about the way the Tu-154 was destroyed. Many of those visiting the Russian Exhibition Center on September 13 could see an excavator destroying the Tu-154 jetliner, a renowned exhibit at the complex. The plane was cordoned by police officers, whereas several trucks were prepared to take the debris of the plane out of the exhibition center. Many Muscovites view this plane as a symbol of the VVC ? something they remember from early childhood. The people do not understand why the authorities decided to demolish the iconic aircraft in broad daylight on Saturday. Many said that they had an impression that the VVC directors deliberately intended to hurt the feelings of many Muscovites with their decision. The Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper wrote that the liner was destroyed due to its severe wear. The real-size models of Tu-154 and Yak-42 aircraft appeared at the VDNKh in the middle of the 1960s. The directors of the exhibition center decided to ruin the plane because it would be too expensive to take it out of the center undamaged. Eyewitnesses of the event said that they could see elderly people in tears as they watched the passenger liner being destroyed. The press secretary of the VVC, Oleg Gladyshev, stated in May of this year that the models of Soviet passenger planes would not be removed from the exhibition center. The Tupolev Tu-154 is a Soviet medium-range trijet airliner, similar to the Boeing 727 and of particularly rugged design. It remains the standard airliner for domestic routes in Russia and other states of the former Soviet Union and to a lesser extent in Eastern Europe and Iran. The mainstay of Russian airlines for several decades, the Tu-154 has carried about half of all passengers flown by Aeroflot and its subsidiaries, or approximately 137 million passengers per year, and has been exported and operated by at least 17 foreign airlines. Designed to cope with unpaved and gravel airfields, the plane often operates in extreme Arctic conditions and although production has ceased, there have been requests for resumption of assembly. The Tu-154 often approaches Mach 1 speed making it one of the fastest commercial jets in operation. There have been 62 serious flight incidents with TU-154s, including 36 crashes with human fatalities. Six of those incidents have resulted from terrorist or military action and several from poor runway conditions, including one which struck snow ploughs left on the runway. Others incidents have resulted from mechanical problems, piloting errors, and faulty air traffic control. " Ch.

Thanks Chris for the pic of the back. I have to say : ????? Ch.

Hi Chris, Home made ? Paper or plastic ? And how is the back ? Could it be a US version ? Cheers. Ch.

"The Caucasus. 5 days in August": New exhibition at the Central Armed Forces Museum -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From the Moscow Times, dated 12 September 2008 : "Museum Boasts Tskhinvali 'War Trophies' 12 September 2008 By Anna Malpas / Staff Writer Vladimir Semchenko unloaded his latest booty on a table Thursday at the Central Armed Forces Museum: a soldier's helmet, canteen and flashlight, as well as a notebook with a Georgian flag on the cover. On the metal helmet someone had scratched "Georgia 10.08.08." in Russian. "This is fresh, they've just brought it in," Semchenko said. As a curator at the museum, Semchenko has the Defense Ministry to thank for the influx of riches ? war trophies from Tskhinvali, South Ossetia ? which have been donated for an exhibit that opened there Wednesday. The central focus of the exhibit, "The Caucasus. Five Days in August," is on evidence of foreign support received by the Georgian war before the conflict, both in the form of training and equipment. A prime example is a display case containing the contents of a Georgian officer's rucksack: a photograph of a soldier hugging a black man in a flak jacket, an English-language instruction booklet for a machine gun, and three American English text books. One is dated 1991 and bears the name of an air base in Texas. The soldier's identity card is also on display, but the exhibit has been put together so quickly that there was not time to translate it into Russian. Other exhibits include Israeli-made machine guns, radio equipment from New York and NATO-issue rations produced in Turkey. Just to make sure the point isn't missed, there is a list of countries that supplied Georgia, compiled by Red Star, the Defense Ministry's newspaper. The list includes the United States, Serbia, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania and France. "This is another step of Russian propaganda, depicting Georgians as totally under Western influence," said Zura Kachkachishvili, spokesman for Georgia's National Security Council, adding that the training for the soldiers had nothing to do with South Ossetia. "Some of the troops were trained by American experts, for totally different purposes, to participate in Iraq," Kachkachishvili said. "There's no reason to be surprised. They were all taught English." Semchenko was enjoying the haul nonetheless. "We only have aluminum, but they have stainless steel," he said, pointing to a NATO-issue mess kit. "It didn't help them." The items would remain in the special exhibit for a month, Semchenko said, before joining the museum's permanent collection. He posed for a moment with an infantry anti-tank weapon before adding it to a case titled "Thank You, Soldier!" "The aim of the exhibition is to tell the story to a simple person, who doesn't watch television or listen to the radio, so that he understands what happened in five days in August," Semchenko said. "There aren't any explanatory notes. Look for yourself and draw your own conclusions," he said. The items on display fill a small room in the Soviet-style museum, whose entrance is dominated by a bust of Lenin. Larger trophies, including tanks, are now on display at another military museum in Kubinka, in the Moscow region, Semchenko said. One section of the exhibit focuses in Russian soldiers and is entitled "Their Deeds Are Immortal." It includes a shirt and equipment that belonged to Major Denis Vetchinov, who died in an ambush while rescuing troops and journalists. He was posthumously awarded the Hero of Russia medal. Photographs show Russian soldiers with shrapnel wounds on their chests and arms. "I keep getting teary-eyed," said a gray-haired museum attendant. "They were just boys." An Ossetian visitor to the exhibition, Skif Bekoyev, said he had traveled to South Ossetia on Aug. 12 and many of his friends had fought as volunteers. "It's not a bad exhibition, but all the same it's a bit one-sided," he said. "It says a lot about the heroism of Russian soldiers, but not enough about the heroism of South Ossetians." Two cases display regimental banners that Semchenko said were abandoned by the Georgian forces. "Clearly, they have the kind of soldiers who didn't bother to protect their regalia." Documents displayed include pictures of Mikheil Saakashvili ducking in fright and witness accounts of Georgian soldiers committing murder and rape. Semchenko pointed to a photograph of piles of helmets and uniforms. "They abandoned everything they were given," he said. "It's not Russian propaganda, it's real." The Moscow Times. Ch. Pic : Oksana Onipko / MT Vladimir Semchenko, curator of "The Caucasus. Five Days in August," demonstrating on Thursday an anti-tank weapon left behind by the Georgian military.

A recent update, as published in the Moscow Times, dated 5 September 2008 : "A statue of the creator of the world's first spaceship, Sergei Korolyov, will be opened near the memorial Museum of Cosmonautics on City Day. Korolyov was the chief rocket engineer and designer during the space race between the Soviet Union and the United States. The bronze statue is the work of sculptor Salavat Shcherbakov. The museum itself has been under reconstruction for the last two years and is scheduled to reopen before the end of the year. The museum is located at 111 Prospekt Mira. Metro VDNKh. Tel. 682-7914. Photograph by Vladimir Filonov." Ch. Pic : Vladimir Filonov - The Moscow Times

I have no precise idea... Could it be linked to Napoleon ? Ch.

Seen from the West. Cheers. Ch. Pic : ? Christophe ? ChR Collection

While we are (all ?) searching for the answer to Marc's challenge, here is an update in photos to what is happening to the Moskva Hotel in Moscow. I have taken these pics yesterday in Moscow. Cheers. Ch. Pic : ? Christophe ? ChR Collection

Hi Marc, I have no idea... I first thought it might be the horse Fran?ois Mitterrand received as a gift for his daughter, Mazarine Pingeot. But this was a akhal-teke horse offered in 1993 by the President of Turkmenistan... So, I have no idea... The Others ? Ch.

Hi Paul, Several East Germans have received the HSU : * Walter Ulbricht, Germany (GDR), Chancellor, 29/6/1963, SN #11184. * Fritz Schmenkel, Germany (GDR), Soviet partisan, 6/10/1964, SN #? * Sigmund J?hn, Germany (GDR), Maj.Gen, Cosmonaut, 10/9/1978, SN #11303. * Erich Honecker, Germany (GDR), Chancellor, 25/8/1982, SN #11480? * Erich Mielke, Germany (DDR), Stasi-General, 25/12/1987, SN #11565. Cheers. Ch.

Does it have something to see with the Moscow Olympics of 1980 ? Cheers. Ch.

Marc, You're in StP, not in Moscow... But, , back to your challenge!!!! Cheers. Ch.

Good, this seems to be a nice one!!!!! Let's seek for it... Cheers. Ch.