Christophe

This medal is issued by the Committee about Public Awards (Комитет по общественным наградам), an unofficial organisation. This is the Medal for Participation to Local Conflicts. There are several bars : Vietnam - Afghanistan - Afghanistan - Tajikistan - Bangladdesh - Ethiopia - Syria - Algeria - Egypt... I'm suprised to see "conflictds" in some of these countries... Ch.

Question #105 Originally from India, my present residence is in Moscow. I made and still make the pride of the Imperial, Soviet and Russian Federation regimes. Very secret, I became public for the fist time on the occasion of the 50 year anniversary of the October Revolution. But, I was therefore well known; Napoleon loved me a lot. Hopefully, a ghost protected me from him... Who (or what) am I ? Where is my actual residence ? Good hunt and good luck... Ch.

Scoreboard update! 24 points - JimZ 17 points - Harvey 17 points - UB6365 17 points - Christophe 15 points - Hauptmann 8 points - Gunner 1 3 points - Valter 2 points - kapten_windu 1 point - Tachel 1 point - K2009 A fierce competition for the 2nd rank... Question 105 to follow, as soon as I have an idea... Ch.

I am Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev. Dmitry Mikhailovich Karbyshev was a Hero of the USSR, Lieutenant General of Engineer Troops, a professor of the General Staff Military Academy and a Doctor of Military Science. Karbyshev was born in Omsk in Southwest Siberia, into the family of a military official. His father died when he was twelve. In spite of grave financial problems, Karbyshev did brilliantly in the Siberian cadet corps and in 1898 was accepted into the St. Petersburg Nikolaevskoe School of Military Engineering, from which he graduated at the top of his class in 1890. After that he was assigned to military service in the Russian Far East. With a rank of second lieutenant, he was appointed company commander of the East Siberian Sapper Battalion, which was stationed in Manchuria (a vast region in Northeast Asia, now divided between China and Russia). Karbyshev took part in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. With his battalion, he fortified Russian positions, deployed communication facilities, established bridges and led exploratory attacks. He was awarded five orders and three medals. He finished the war with the rank of lieutenant. After the war Karbyshev was transferred to the reserve for propaganda among soldiers. He then lived and worked in Vladivostok. In 1907 the creation of the Vladivostok Adscript Sapper Battalion began. Experienced officers were required and Karbyshev was summoned to military service again. In 1911, he graduated from the Nikolaevskaya Military Engineering Academy with honors. He was to be allocated to command the Sevastopol Fortress (located on modern Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula) mine company, but instead was sent to Brest-Litovsk (located on the Polish-Belorussian border), where he took part in the construction of the Brest Fortress, which later changed hands several times and earned the title of Hero Fortress in the World War II. Karbyshev took part in World War I from its first day. He fought in the Carpathian Mountains in General Brusilov’s Eighth Army (the South-Western Front). He was the division engineer in the 78th and 69th infantry divisions and in the 22nd Finnish rifle corps. At the beginning of 1915 he took part in the assault on the Przemysl Fortress in South-Eastern Poland and was wounded in the leg. For his courage, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and awarded the Order of St. Anna with swords (specifically awarded for bravery in battle). In 1916 he took part in the famous Brusilov Offensive, which is considered the Russian Empire’s greatest success of World War I and one of the most lethal battles in world history, with around two million casualties. In December 1917 Karbyshev joined the Red Army. During the Russian Civil War of 1917-1923 he took part in the construction of several fortified regions across Russia and participated in the engineering support of the Kakhovsky foothold on the eastern bank of the Dnepr River in modern Southern Ukraine. He held positions of high responsibility in the North Caucasus military district. In 1920 Karbyshev was appointed Chief Engineer of the Fifth Eastern Front Army. He commanded the fortification of Zabaikalskiy to the East of Lake Baikal. In autumn 1920 he became the assistant of the Southern Front Chief Engineer. He led the engineering support of the assaults of the 1920 Perekop-Chongar operation (which led to the Red Army’s breakthrough in Crimea), and for that he was awarded a gold watch with his name inscribed on it. From 1921 Karbyshev was the Chairman of the Engineering Committee of the Red Army’s Main Military Engineering Department. In November 1926 he started teaching at the Mikhail Frunze Military Academy. In February 1934 he was appointed Head of the Military Engineering Sub Department of the General Staff Military Academy, and two year later became Head of the Higher Formation Tactics Sub Department, and only in 1938 Karbyshev graduated from the General Staff Military Academy himself. The same year he was given the title of academic professor. In 1940 he was promoted to the rank of engineering troops lieutenant general. Karbyshev was the first Soviet scientist to fully research and develop the military use of destruction and man-made obstacles. He also contributed significantly to the research on across-water operations. He published over 100 works on military engineering and war history. His articles and textbooks on the theory of engineering support and engineering troops tactics were the main materials in the preparation of Red Army commanders in the pre-World War II period. In 1941 Karbyshev received the title of Doctor of Military Science (military Grand Ph.D.). He also took part in the commissions that developed and published military engineering instructions for the Red Army. Karbyshev participated in the Winter War between the Soviet Union and Finland in 1939-1940. As part of the group headed by the Deputy Chief of the Main Military Engineering Department, he handed out recommendations to the troops on the engineering support of the breakthrough of the key Finnish Mannerheim line of defense. At the beginning of June 1941 Karbyshev was transferred to the Western Special Military District. The German Invasion found him in the Third Army headquarters in Grodno (in modern Belarus). Two days later he moved to the Tenth Army headquarters. On June 27 the headquarters was surrounded, and in August, during an attempt to escape the encirclement, Karbyshev received a heavy concussion in a fight near the Dnepr River and was taken prisoner. The Germans tried to persuade him into betrayal numerous times, but failed. In the German concentration camps Sajmiste, Hammelburg, Flossenburg, Majdanek, Auschwitz and Sachsenhausen, Karbyshev was one of the resistance chiefs. On the night of 18 February 1945 in the Mauthausen concentration camp, Austria, he was killed together with around 500 other prisoners. The Nazis had them soaked with water in freezing cold. Dmitry Karbyshev was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on 16 August 1946, as well as the Order of Lenin, the Red Banner and the Red Star. A white marble monument to Karbyshev was erected at the entrance to the memorial at the former Mauthausen concentration camp. He was a consultant for the restoration of the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius outside of Moscow. Ch. Pic : rkka.ru

Scoreboard update! 24 points - JimZ 17 points - Harvey 17 points - UB6365 16 points - Christophe 15 points - Hauptmann 8 points - Gunner 1 3 points - Valter 2 points - kapten_windu 1 point - Tachel 1 point - K2009 Question 104 to follow. UB6365, when you want... Ch.

Well done UB !! :jumping: The 9K38 Igla (Russia: Игла́, needle) is a Russian / Soviet man-portable infra-red homing surface-to-air missile (SAM). "9K38" is the Russian GRAU designation of the system. Its US DoD designation is SA-18 and its NATO reporting name is Grouse; a simplified, earlier version is known as the 9K310 Igla-1, or SA-16 Gimlet. The latest variant is the 9K338 Igla-S NATO reporting name SA-24 Grinch. It is fielded by the Russian Army since 2004. The development of the Igla short-range man-portable air defense system (MANPADS) began in the Kolomna OKB in 1972. Technical difficulties in the development quickly made it obvious that the development would take far longer than anticipated however, and in 1978 the program split in two: while the development of the full-capability Igla would continue, a simplified version (Igla-1) with a simpler IR seeker based on that of the earlier Strela-3/SA-14 would be developed to enter service earlier than the full-capability version could be finished. The 9K310 Igla-1 system and its 9M313 missile were accepted into service in the Soviet army on 11 March 1981. The main differences from the Strela-3 included an optional Identification Friend or Foe system to prevent firing on friendly aircraft, an automatic lead and super elevation to simplify shooting and reduce minimum firing range, a slightly larger rocket, reduced drag and better guidance system extend maximum range and improve performance against fast and maneuverable targets, an improved lethality on target achieved by a combination of delayed impact fuzing, terminal maneuver to hit the fuselage rather than jet nozzle, an additional charge to set off the remaining rocket fuel (if any) on impact, an improved resistance to infrared countermeasures (both decoy flares and ALQ-144 series jamming emitters), and slightly improved seeker sensitivity. Use in plot against Air Force One : On August 12, 2003, as a result of a sting operation arranged as a result of cooperation between the American, British and Russian intelligence agencies, Hemant Laklhani, a British national, was intercepted attempting to bring what he had thought was an older-generation Igla into the USA. He is said to have intended the missile to be used in an attack on Air Force One, the American presidential plane, or on a commercial US airliner, and is understood to have planned to buy 50 more of these weapons. After the FSB detected the dealer in Russia, he was approached by US undercover agents posing as terrorists wanting to shoot down a commercial plane. He was then provided with an inert Igla by undercover Russian agents, and arrested in Newark, New Jersey, when making the delivery to the undercover US agent. Igla and Igla-1 SAMs have been exported from the the former Soviet Union to over 30 countries. Bravo !! Your turn, now... Ch.

No candidate ? So, let's go for a new Question #103 : I'm not a galliforme. Nearly 10 years have been necessary for me to be ready. I know who are my friends and my enemies. And... I have friends in more than 30 countries. Air Force One does not like me so much. Who (ore more exactly What) am I ? Should be easy... Good hunt and good luck... Ch.

Thanks Jim... Anyone volunteer for the next question ? Cheers. Ch.

Hi Christer, What are saying the awarding documents in your possession ? Cheers. Ch.

Hi Elmar, All I can say is it is from Qatar. Cheers. Ch.

Back to the Quiz !! Dan, next question is yours !! :jumping: Ch.

Hi Harvey, I'm sorry you did not like the way the question is asked. But, when looking to the previous questions, this kind of writing has often been used... Indeed, it may add complexity or perplexity, but isn't it also part of the challenge and the game ? OK, I'll try to be more explicite next time And, most important, stay tuned... We have now, thanks to all participants, a good level of challenges. Some are easier than others, some not, but that's part of competition... ) Please, stay and continue to have fun with us... Cheers. Ch.

Excellent Dan !! You are the winner !! It is the Karlshorst building. I am born in 1938. The Karlshorst building was erected between 1936 and 1938. I am binational, but this has not always been the case. This building today hosts the German-Russian Museum, a bilateral institution sponsored by the Federal Republic of Germany and the Russian Federation. My life has been spent under several different flags and under the command of many different uniforms The building was first an officers’ mess for the German Armed Forces’ Pioneer School 1 (German flag). In the Battle of Berlin at the end of April 1945, the 5th Soviet Shock Army under Colonel General Nikolai Bersarin set up its headquarters there (Soviet flag). After the surrender was first signed on 7 May in Rheims, it was ratified in Karlshorst in the evening of 8 to 9 May (US, UK, Soviet and French flags). From 1945 to 1949 the building was the main office of the Soviet Military Administration (Soviet flag). On 10 October 1949 General Vasily Chuikov granted legal state authority to the first government of the German Democratic Republic (GDR flag until the institution of the German-Russian Museum Berlin-Karlshorst in 1995, with now the German and Russian flags). I had a famous big brother, living in Moscow. Between 1967 and 1994 a museum of the Soviet Armed Forces (“Museum of the Unconditional Surrender of Fascist Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945”) was established there in remembrance of the Battle of Berlin and the German surrender. It was a branch of the Central Armed Forces Museum of Moscow. I live in a quiet residential area, but this has not always been the case. Karlshorst, South-East of Berlin, was less quiet during the fights in April / May 1945... I have a new job since 1995. The German-Russian Museum Berlin-Karlshorst (Deutsch-Russische Museum Berlin-Karlshorst) is dedicated to German-Soviet and German-Russian relations with a focus on the German-Soviet war 1941-1945. It opened in 1995 for the 50 year anniversary of the en dof WW2. Bravo to Dan !! :jumping: Dan, your turn, now... Ch.

Hint #5 : I'm a building... Ch.

Hi Dan, You progress well in the right direction. Hint #4 : I'm not a person... Ch.

Bersarin and Zhukov should drive you to ONE city... )) Ch.

Hint #2 : Marshal Georgy Zhukov has also been my boss... Ch.

No one inspired ? Hint #1 : Nikolai Bersarin has been my boss... Ch.

Question #102 I am born in 1938. I am binational, but this has not always been the case. My life has been spent under several different flags and under the command of many different uniforms I had a famous big brother, living in Moscow. I live in a quiet residential area, but this has not always been the case. I have a new job since 1995. Who am I ? Good hunt and good luck Ch.

Thanks UB Did not know that and was wondering what could be these two figures... Cheers. Ch.

I am the Chinese Eastern Railway or (CER; Chinese: 东清铁路) (also known as the Chinese Far East Railway) . I was a railway in northeastern China (Manchuria). It connected Chita and the Russian Far East The southern branch of the CER, known in the West as the South Manchuria Railway, became the locus and partial casus belli for the Russo-Japanese War and the Second Sino-Japanese War (including incidents leading up to the latter from 1927). The administration of the CER and the Chinese Eastern Railway Zone was based in Harbin. The Chinese Eastern Railway, a single-tracked line, provided a shortcut for the world's longest railroad, the Trans-Siberian Railway from near the Siberian city of Chita via Harbin across northern inner Manchuria to the Russian port of Vladivostok. This route drastically reduced the travel distance required along the originally proposed main northern route to Vladivostok (this originally proposed route lies completely on Russian soil, but was completed a decade later than the Manchurian "shortcut"). In 1896 China granted a construction concession through northern Inner Manchuria, running from near Chita via Harbin to Vladivostok, and construction was drastically accelerated after Russia concluded a twenty-five year lease of Liaodong from China. Construction of the CER started in July 1897 along the line Tarskaya (east of Chita) – Hailar – Harbin – Nikolsk-Ussuriski. Officially, traffic on the line started in November 1901, but regular passenger traffic from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok across the Trans-Siberian railway started in July 1903. In 1898, a 550-mile (880-km) spur-line, most of which later formed the South Manchuria Railway, was started from Harbin down through eastern Manchuria, along the Liaodong Peninsula, to the ice-free deep-water port at Lüshun, a town almost at the tip of the peninsula, which Russia was fortifying and overhauling into a first-class strategic naval-base and marine coaling- station for its Far Seas Fleet and Merchant Marine. This town was known in the west as Port Arthur, and the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) was essentially fought over who would possess this region and its excellent harbor, as well as whether it would remain open to traders of all nations (Open Door Policy). The Chinese Eastern Railway was essentially completed in 1902, beating the stretch around Lake Baikal by a few years. Until the Circumbaikal portion was completed (1904–1905; double-tracked, 1914), cargo on the Trans-Siberian Railway had to be trans-shipped by ferry almost a hundred kilometers across the lake (from Port Baikal to Mysovaya). The Chinese Eastern Railway became important in international relations. After the first Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, Russia gained the right to build the Chinese Eastern Railway in Manchuria. They had a large army and occupied Northern Manchuria, which concerned the Japanese. Russia pressed China for a "monopoly of rights" in Manchuria, but China reacted to this by an alliance with Japan and the United States against Russia. During the Russo-Japanese War, Russia lost both Liaodong Peninsula and much of the South Manchurian branch to Japan. The rail line from Changchun to Lüshun - transferred to the Japanese control - became the South Manchuria Railway. During 1917-1924 (Russian Civil War) the Russian part of the CER came under the administration of the White Army. After 1924, the USSR and China administered the Northern CER jointly, while Japan maintained control of the southern spur-line. The Sino-Soviet conflict of 1929 was fought over the administration of the Northern CER. In 1935 the USSR had to sell all its rights in the CER to the Manchukuo government. From August 1945, the CER again came under the joint control of the USSR and China. Somewhat reversing Russia's stinging losses in 1904-1905, after World War II, the Soviet Government insisted on occupying the Liaodong Peninsula but allowed joint control over the Southern branch with China; all this together received the name of the "Chinese Changchun Railway" (Russian: Кита́йская Чанчу́ньская желе́зная доро́га). In 1952, the Soviet Union transferred (free of charge) all of its rights to the Chinese Changchun Railway to the People's Republic of China. Ch.

In fact, the list of awards previously posted is not complete, as we can see on the picture an Order of the October Revolution... Ch.

And the Scharnhorst Order... Ch.

UB, congratulations !! :jumping: You get the point... and the right to ask for Question #100 !! Heinz Hoffmann (November 2, 1910, - December 2, 1985) was Minister of National Defense in the Council of Ministers of the German Democratic Republic, and since October 2, 1973 Member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party (SED). Hoffmann came from a working class family. After attending school in Mannheim, he spent the 1925 - 1930 period learning to be an engine fitter at MWM (Motoren Werke Mannheim AG). From 1926 to 1930 he was a member of the Young Communist League of Germany, followed by membership in the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). During this time Hoffman served several short prison sentences for participating in demonstrations and fights. After the rise of the Nazi party in 1933, he was faced with a warrant for his arrest. Hoffmann fled Germany and immigrated to the Soviet Union by the way of Switzerland and Czechoslovakia. Until 1945 he used the alias “Heinz Roth,” which is the reason why he used Heinz as his first name rather than his given name Karl-Heinz. In the Soviet Union he attended the International Lenin School in Moscow. For a few months in 1936 and 1937 he attended military school in Ryazan conducted by the Frunze Military Academy in preparation for service with the Republican forces in Spain. Upon graduation he was given the rank of Lieutenant. From 1937-1938 he served in the 11th International Brigade in the Spanish Civil War. He was a Battery Commissar in the Hans Beimler Battalion. He took command of the Battalion after his commander was wounded. He himself was severely wounded in the legs and abdomen by infantry gunfire south of Quijorna. Hoffmann was hospitalized in Madrid for a few months then later moved to a clinic in Eaubone, France where he recovered from 1938 to 1939. From April 1939 to November 1940, he was on rest and convalescence in Soviet Union. Starting in March 1941, he attended a special course of the Comintern in Pushkino, northwest of Moscow. In addition to an extensive social science training he was also taught military subjects. This included training in rear area sabotage with other German exiles. He was medically disqualified from training after parachute jumps aggravated his earlier leg wounds. Hoffman was then selected to work in German prisoner of war camps after assisting the Soviet NKVD in interrogating prisoners. From 1942 to 1944, Hoffmann was a teacher at the Antifascist School, first in the territory of Gorky, and later in Krasnogorsk. By 1945, Hoffman headed the Party School No. 12 in Moscow. In January 1946, he returned to Berlin and was initially on the personal staff of Wilhelm Pieck, and later the staff of Walter Ulbricht. From 1950 until his death, Heinz Hoffmann was a member of parliament and was a candidate or a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party. In 1952 he joined the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party. Hoffmann belonged to the Politburo of the Socialist Unity Party from 1973 until his death in 1985. Starting in 1949, Hoffmann was involved in the establishment of the East German armed forces. He was first Vice President of the German Administration of the Interior and Head of the Department of Political Culture with the rank of Inspector General. In 1950, Hoffmann was appointed Head of the Main Administration for Training (HVA), the immediate predecessor of the Barracked People's Police. During the establishment of Kasernierte Volkspolizei (KVP), he was on July 1, 1952 made their chief being promoted Lieutenant-General on October 1952. Hoffmann held that position until 1955. From 1955 to 1957 Hoffmann studied at the Voroshilov General Staff Academy of the Soviet Union. Due to this training he was not in East Germany when the new National People's Army was founded. After his return from the Soviet Union, he served from 1957 to 1960 as the first Deputy Minister of National Defense, and from 1958 to 1960 also serving as the Chief of Staff. In 1959 he was promoted to Colonel-General and in 1961 to Army General. In 1960, Hoffmann was promoted as the successor of Willi Stoph as Minister of National Defense of the GDR serving in that position until his death. With the elevation to the office of the Minister, he also became a member of the National Defense Council. After his death, the 9th Armored Division of the East German Army was named after Heinz Hoffmann, as well as the Grottkauer Straße in Berlin district of Hellersdorf was renamed Heinz-Hoffmann-Straße. Awards and honors : 1954: Vaterländischer Verdienstorden 1965: Order of the Red Banner 1970: Order of Karl Marx 1974: Order of Lenin 1974: Scharnhorst Order 1975: Hero of the German Democratic Republic 1975: Honorary doctorate degree (Dr. h.c.) in philosophy from the Party University “Karl Marx” 1980: Hero of the German Democratic Republic 1980: Order of Karl Marx 1980: Order of Lenin 1985: Order of Karl Marx Ch.

Let's go with Question #99 Question #99 : I have been Minister of Defense. When I was very young, I joined the Communist Party, and have gone to jail for short periods. I have served in several wars, and ended my military career as Army General. I have been awarded several orders, including 2 Orders of Lenin. I have been the 1st recipient of a new Order. Question : 1. Who am I ? 2. What was this new Order ? Good hunt and good luck !! The winner will have the upmost privilege to ask for Question #100 !!!! Ch.