Bob

To be correct, it's the first time the order has been awarded to an INDIVIDUAL in 50 years. A few years ago a Polish unit was awarded the order (but this was a very, very belated awarding for WW2 efforts). I read elsewhere that there's also 1 US recipient still alive and 2 British. Any body with details?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_William_Order Currently (2009) only eight Knights of the Military William Order are still alive and all of them are over 75 years of age. Well, we have a youngster added soon! And here's the official site: http://www.lintjes.nl/_en/militaire_willemsorde/index.html

http://www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/3220411...nd__.html?p=3,2 Sorry - in Dutch! A Dutch commando fighting in Afghanistan.

Hello Elmar, Could you show a scan of your award in the relevant thread please? It's the highest numbered one I've heard of so am curious. I will leave it to the captain to give us hope for research :cheers:

Thanks Artan - excellent piece of info "from the source" which confirms that truly awarded orders/medals are very very few and therefore the documents are quite rare (and a lot of the awards on the market are actually left over stock). For Albania orders/medals enthusiasts, this'll be the next area of focus I suspect - getting the award documents which (hopefully) allow for research in the (military) archives at some point.

sorry - that group is stored away safely without easy access

Don't have my battushig handy, do you mean the interior of the top document in the last set of 3?

Anybody with additional data points? :rolleyes:

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=748&...unit+9999\ The power of search And... the signature is from a bit of a "operate in the dark" kind of guy so it seems... Rubin Iosif Grigorevich, Lieutenant-General (1895 ? 1954) 1938 - 1939Commanding Officer 3rd Rifle Division 1940 - 19432nd First Deputy Head of Main Intelligence Directorate GRU 1953 Head of Main Intelligence Directorate GRU

Thanks! Not much, but still nice to know:)

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=5226...20&start=20 See the documented group (that is, group of documents:)) of Zhukov medal, a mongolian award and a victory medal to one and the same person (mongolian?) - am curious who signed it, any clue? thanks :cheers:

And, as you can guess... I'll be keeping my eye open for SB nr 500!

interior

Another interesting document!

Here's a 3 country group! Of interest is the victory medal as I hope maybe somebody can translate the (Russian) text at the bottom?

Just in - nice brown udarnik doc with pic!

Sorry Doc, already gone Hauptman... this badge came to me from Berlin, and will now head to North Dakota!

Servus Uwe And thanks for pointing me in the right direction. I guess they didn't ask it back because nobody bid on it:) I'll put it in the lounge as a "freeby" for whoever wants it (maybe you?)

I'm heading eastwards in a few weeks and have flexibility to drive around. I've seen a type 1 in Tirana (nice to hold it in my hands ) Besides that one (in a collectors hands) there apparently is also one in the State Library if I'm not mistaken. So, the other ones: - Hungarian War Museum - a www link? - wasn't there also one in Vienna? - others?

Hello Artan - could you show a scan of the real deal (front + reverse) please? I understand you may want to save it for the book. We will appreciate it either way :cheers:

Won an auction in Germany but they sent me the wrong item. They're going to send me the right item... and have allowed me to keep the wrong one (which probably means it ain't worth much ). Now, what is it? Educated guess would hint at Deutsche Jagd Verein perhaps? Reverse reads: "Ges. Gesch. ST.&L." Any idea if it's worth something? Thanks!

Looking at the center medaillon in greater detail, theres traces of white (enamel?) stuck in various places. What on earth could this be?

Back to the "good looking" Tamara Just got this in - surprised at how shiny it is.