Dudeman

I will repeat that fake Cavalier books exist. The paper is either done with a color copier or high-quality scanner/printer combination. The paper is slightly lower quality, a slight off- blue from the real one, and the biggest tip off - there is no watermark pattern. The fake document cover is also of lesser quality, but could be improved as are many of the fake NKVD documents appearing on the market. If you have seen a real document you will know fair quickly. The good news is it is fairly easy to determine they are not real (watermark), however many of the readers of this board have never seen a real cavalier document so I would like to again issue my warning.

Have you tried researching Glory I with the s/n 1965? I'm not saying your Glory I or the booklet are a fake, but in the early 90's when you bought your set, Glory I's were much more prevalent (and cheaper). Some dealers had 5-6 AT ONE TIME. Also, some of the unissued ones you mentioned made their way to the market during that time too. I don't want to disappoint you, but someone may have added a "spare" Glory I to your set. Yes, the archives and people make mistakes, but a high level award like this would have warranted special attention. Also, for the record, there ARE fake cavalier booklets - again, I'm not saying yours is, but they do exist.

Welcome and very nice set!

I believe #2 to be Victory over Japan and #3 to be Valiant Labor with a black aberration on the side caused by the scan or ribbon sliding(?)

I think I need glasses. It is Soviet - the third from the left top row is for Valiant Labor and the next two grey ribbons are 30th and 40th anniversary of Armed forces. I think the only foreign one is the bottom.

My guess would be Heinehen or Heinechen.

Pretty spastic serial number.

Voenizdat Military Publishers in 1995. It is a really neat book showing pictures and a short bio on each KIA, identical in format to the Hero of the Soviet Union two red books. Seems the Soviet "Purple Heart" came to be a Red Star through the course of the war. Early-war KIAs didn't get anything or maybe a Combat Service Medal, but if the guy died from anything other than illness, he was almost guaranteed a Red Star. SOOOO, if you have a late issue RS with a booklet and nothing else listed, you have a good chance he could be in this book.

I have a book listing all the KIAs from Afghanistan with last names from A-L. I've never been able to find the second volume.

The civil defense regiments, and your "spetsnaz" engineer, were probably building bunkers and bomb shelters, stocking them, etc. Even during the cold war, the US always identified the USSR's civil defense capabilities as much more robust than that of the US, as described in your reminiscences. The USSR overclassified everything, but I don't think the Civil Defense was doing much more secret than building hidden bomb shelters.

Yes, the Soviet Union did have drills like you mention. I am raising the point that unless I've misinterpreted the humor, he's tying a benign Civil Defense organization to spetsnaz, secret photo imagery interpretation centers, and other activities (i.e. Civil Defense, yeah riiiiight, and "how many Civil Defense battalions and what were they really doing?", etc.) as opposed to a vanilla organization similar to the his experience here in the US.

I can't tell if you're being tongue in cheek, but I don't think Civil Defense was as nefarious as you're painting it. If the good general Petukhov received a Civil Defense badge while at the Kharkov photo interpretation academy, it may have been one of those favors Soviet generals granted to each other, similar to the foreign awards like the Mongolian/Warsaw Pact medals. This badge was probably like a Voroshilov Strelok, sports badges, or DOSAAF awards - commonly handed out, especially to generals for any justification like donating blood or paying dues to the Civil Defense fund.

In the higher ranges, there are Ch, Kh, Ts, Sh, Shch, Yu, and Ya. Highest Ya of which I know is Ya 1149413 awarded 30.7.58. They probably exist for for every letter except "y" and the hard and soft signs.

If you are talking about badges currently in use, you would have to add Belarus (which you have) and Cuba (which you have) to the Russian Federation.

No, the badges are probably all his. If by awards, you mean medals, he 99% probably didn't have any since he probably wasn't in Afghanistan or any conflict. Whoever sold the uniform added them to spice it up or make it more visually appealling.

Nice, original dembel uniform with all the "stuff". The suspension medals however were added and were never actually worn by the individual in question. They would have been issued only to war veterans. Your dembel was a one-term soldier probably serving in the 80s and despite the other frill, would NEVER have worn those medals.

Yes, this is fairly common. The medal's body was just was slightly rotated when the number puncher struck.

Nice presentation and quite a complete set!

I'll add that the condition of the paint is pretty good with only minor chipping. Most of these are more beat up.

You are correct - "bronetankovykh voisk", especially since Kuzmin served in an heavy armor unit based on his campaign medal document. The title was also used through the war and I'm guessing post-war in this case to distinguish a general serving in a troop command position as opposed to sitting on a staff somewhere.

It's "V/Ch" short for "voiskovaya chast'" or Troop Unit. It was used as a unit identification number meant to ensure operational security adopted in the late 40's and used through the present.

There is nothing shedding light on the issue in the excerpts you posted. They tell of the establishment of the Guards title, distinguishing title for individuals, and the description of the distinguishing insignia for Ground Forces and Naval personnel.

Your analogy is wrong. There is not an automatic association with Guards units and the originally imperial St. George Ribbon. True, the Navy used this ribbon in its Guard unit badge as has been shown in this forum and also to decorate the Donald Duck cap tassels for Guard ships, but this was to differentiate them from the regular black tassels. The St. George Ribbon was also used for the Order of Glory, thus the St. George ribbon does not automatically mean Guards unit. The existence of the St. George Ribbon on Guards veteran badges is also incidental and not automatic. The ribbon came to represent the Great Patriotic War in general (since all participants received one) and not solely Guards status. Similarly, the Order of the Patriotic War also came to represent the GPW on veterans badges too. I have over 300 veterans badges and there are plenty of non-Guards units both displaying the St. George ribbon and/or the Order of the Patriotic War. The St. George ribbon came to be more a symbol of GPW participation than a Guards unit association. If a Guard veteran chose to use the ribbon, it was a personal choice and not an adopted practice.

That is very cool. I've never seen a Soviet award like that.

This is Belorussian. Hungarians don't use cyrillic.