Christian Zulus

Dear Marc, many thanks . Best regards Christian

There IS a (small) line under s/n. 2213.

Better scans of my two Motherlands 2cl Dear Marc, many thanks for your information . Igor & Andrew might be the most experienced experts in the field of Soviet awards. I made some scans of my two Motherlands 2cl av. & rv. and with different light and backgrounds. The mint might have used also differnt dies - not only differnt gold plating - for the two (might be ) series of 2cl: Have a look at the tips on the bundle of rays or at the ring with the inscription. Best regards Christian

Better scans of my RBL type 2 Dear Marc, I tried to shoot better pics ... As I told you, in spring 1994 I had several screwbacks to choose and I took the most beautiful one . Best regards Christian

Dear Andreas, ... and Alexei posted in the "other" Soviet forum, that he regards your Motherland 2cl s/n. 718 to be authentic . So I guess, that there are some possibilities to check the originality of a Motherland 2cl - otherwise the collector wouldn't have paid about USD 2.500,- for that order at the Helsinki-auction last year. As you already pointed out, Motherlands 3cl up to s/n. 3300 are extremly rare. I would say, that the market value of such a low numbered, early and in most cases awarded & researchable Motherland 3cl might equal the price of an unawarded Motherland 2cl. So it wouldn't make any economic sense to mutilate such a rare Motherland 3cl and invest a decent gold plating, if there isn't a surplus in business . My theory is, that the kind of gold plating might indicate, if the item is autentic or a fake . There might have been 2 series in manufacturing the Motherland 2cl and attaching the gold plating: - a first series (maybe up to s/n. 2000 ?) with that rather pale goldplating + longer screw, as we can see with your item or on Andrew's website - a second series (maybe from s/n. 2001 up to s/n. 3300 ?) with the more bright gold plating + shorter screw. If you compare a genuine Motherland 2cl with on of the two kinds of gold plating to a (rather well made!) copy of the former Russian company CAPRAL you will see the difference immedeatly: CAPRAL's gold plating is much more going to a red colour tone, than a late Motherland 2cl. I guess, that it is hardly possible to attach a 100 % matching gold plating to an "improved" Motherland 3cl. Specially not to fake an early Motherland 2cl with that pale & dull gold plating and with these stains of patina on the gold plating. It would be interesting to hear the opinion of Andrew and Alexei about the possibilities of authentication in the case of Motherland 2cl . Best regards Christian

Dear Kristof, sorry .... my mistake . I should have posted: "Do we have any more TRANSLATED details of Major Litemin's career?" My knowledge of the Russian language is extremly poor, specially concerning handwriting. Best regards Christian BTW: You are lucky to have still the Order of Lenin in your group . In my rather similar mini-group of Major Baranovsky http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=24254 the Lenin (+ Red Star and medals) are missing .

Dear Kristof, I had been exactly right, with my guessing of the award dates : Do we have any more details of Major Litmin's career ? Best regards Christian

Dear Jim, no doubt about that fact . But on the other hand, the Scottish Highlanders (and I guess a few other nations) wore skirts in the battles of WW II . Royal Regiment of Scotland (SCOTS): I think, that female soldiers in the Red Army of the GPW had skirts only during the hot summer season and in functions as medics, doctors, communications etc. I never saw a female sniper, tank driver or pilot with a skirt . In the Austrian Armed Forces female soldiers are rarely wearing skirts - on duty in the field they are wearing trousers: Best regards Christian

Dear Jim, PMD stopped his authenticating services at all . Maybe there had been no further demand of the (experienced) Russian collectors for PMD-certificates, who now dominate the market for almost 100 %. So, these certificates didn't add some extra value to the item in the view of the Russians. The fact is, that there hadn't been any faked Motherland 2cl on the market during the period of the early 1990s to the mid 1990s - as PMD notes in the "Red Bible". The reason: There had been enough items from the stocks of higher military commands and the mint, which entered the market after the end of the CCCP. I am lucky: Mine are from that "unfaked" era . But it is not sooo difficult to check a Motherland 2cl: - s/n. - any manipulations, traces of sandblasting etc. - gold plating - way of fixing the parts of the order - strucked quality of the single parts - sharp edges of the enameld ring with the letters - quality of the enamel - weight - patina If you already have some orginal & authentic items in your collection, the judgement is even easier . Best regards Christian

Dear Andreas, many thanks for the confirmation . Best regards Christian

Gentlemen, at another thread http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?s=&showtop...ost&p=98633 Alan shows a very, very early (2-digit-s/n.!) Motherland 2cl with a PMD-certificate: Also with a rather pale & dull gold plating ... Best regards Christian

Dear Andreas, what's the length of the screw of your Motherland 2cl s/n. 718 ? According to my theory, it should be the longer version ? In my small & humble collection of Soviet awards I have 4 Motherlands with 2 different length of screws - as you noticed it: Motherland 3cl 24327 (a real awarded one ) and Motherland 2cl 1604 have longer screws. Motherland 3cl 128584 and Motherland 2cl 2213 (a pair fresh from the headquarter's stock) have shorter screws. Andreas, what do you think of the difference in gold plating concerning earlier & later Motherland 2cl ? Do you have such a later (higher numbered & unissued) Motherland 2cl in your collection ? My Motherland 2cl 1604 looks almost ident to your Motherland 2cl 718 - like twins .

Dear Marc, at least I contributed some useful work to question #177 . Best regards Christian BTW: I already included Riga at the failures-section .

Dear Marc, nearly all important towns in the northern part of the former USSR have rivers running through ... Due to the fact, that I am too uneducated to answer your question, I will collect all your hints and our failures. Maybe this will help the prospective winner of question #177 . Your question: Your hints: 1. The place (town/village) is located somewhere in the northern part of the Eastern Front of the GPW. 2. The place (town/village) was not fortified or was a fortress. 3. The place was 100 % destroyed during GPW and never rebuilt. The place - as it was before GPW - dosen't exist anymore. 4. The place has a river running through. 5. The place "has been most certainly the utmost "meat-grinder" of the whole eastern front in term of casualties per square km (or m, or cm), and from the incredible amount of iron/lead/steel/whatever other metal that has been thrown there." 6. It might be located within the Volkhov Front . 7. It should be located (rather far) west from Tikhvin. 8. It should be located north of Staraya Russa. 9. There might be now a monument at the location of the former town/village . Our failures: It is not: - Leningrad - Stalingrad - Sevastopol - Rzhev - Smolensk - Kursk - Oranienbaum - Peterhof - Staraya Russa - Tikhvin - Riga Maybe my summing up helps ... Best regards Christian

Dear Marc, so - like in playing tennis - I have to give a w.o. . My abilities of using GOOGLE in Russian cyrillic language are very, very limited . Best regards Christian

Dear Sebastien, I guess, that this - rather strange looking - fashion designer has a better hand (maybe much more experience) with female designs, than with male designs. The uniforms & coats for the female section have indeed a rather cute design: classic & stylish . But I actually prefer female soldiers in Red Army uniforms of 1944/45 (with skirt!) - snipers, field medics etc. Best regards Christian

Dear Ed, these are some good points . I guess, that the substance of the material the makers used for the gold plating of the Motherlands 2cl was different - as they used longer screws initially for all Motherlands. My theory is, that the mint - or some high ranking person in military or politics - wasn't happy with the gold plating and the long screw. So, with a new series in production of Motherlands the composition of the substance for the gold plating was improved and the screw shortened. The mint also improved the fixing of the hammer & sickle at the Order of the October Revolution in the 1970s. If you look at Paul McDaniel's and Andrew Kuznetsov's example (or the scanned item above) of a Motherland 2cl, you will see the difference. The early Motherland 2cl shown in the scan above belongs to Andreas "Alfred" http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showuser=235 . Here two more views of his beauty from his website: Best regards Christian

Dear Kristof, that's a beautiful group with well preserved orders and medals - congratulations . Due to the s/n. of the RB#2 in the 25.XXX range (awarded in the year 1954), it seems to be a long service group: - RB: 20 years of service - 1944 - Lenin: 25 years of service - 1949 - RB#2: 30 years of service - 1954 What about the documents of research our experts and/or native speakers should translate ? Is it possible for you, to post a better scan of the entries in the orders booklet ? Best regards Christian

Dear Ed, you are right: The uniforms are a disgrace to Soviet history and Putin didn't really look amused . At least the uniforms for the female soldiers (except the strange caps & hats ) are not as worse, as the silly dresses for the male soldiers. Best regards Christian

Tikhvin 1941 Dear Marc, Demyansk http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demyansk_Pocket is even more far away ... My last try: The battle of Tikhvin in 1941. The German Heeresgruppe Nord initially succeeded in occupying Tikhvin on November 8. However the newly-appointed commander of the Soviet 4th Army, Kirill Meretskov, bogged down the Germans by applying active defense and constant counterattacks. He then went on the offensive and on December 10 recaptured Tikhvin. In the midst of the battle Stavka ordered Meretskov to organize a new Volkhov Front. By December 30 Meretzkov had forced von Leeb's troops back to positions from which they began their Tikhvin offense. According to one of the leading historians of the Eastern Front, David Glantz: "the concept of blitzkrieg failed for the first time in the Second World War... anticipating [the Soviet victory at Moscow]". But Tikhvin has been rebuilt after the GPW ... O.K., if my guessing is wrong again, I will give w.o. Best regards Christian

Dear Marc, a late Motherland 2cl - more bright & shiny - with s/n. 2684 you can find on page 173 in Paul McDaniels "Red Bible" - av. & rv. An earlier Motherland 2cl - more pale & dull - with s/n. 871 you can find at Andrew's website. I also recognized, that later Motherlands (2cl & 3cl) have shorter - more comfortable - screws, than earlier ones. Sorry, I can't deliver better scans of my own Motherlands, because I don't have a camera . It's the question, if there is a noticeable variation, due to the gold plating, or not ? Best regards Christian

Early Motherland 2cl - pale & dull gold plating

MOTHERLAND 2cl - two sub-variations ? Gentlemen, I have to Motherland 2cl in my small & humble collection: (sorry for that terrible scan .) The left one on the scan has the s/n. 2213 is unissued (fresh from the stock) and arrived in Vienna around 1992/93 with a Motherland 3cl and the (usual) authentic order booklet with 100 % faked entries. Have a look at the document : http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?s=&showtop...st&p=114479 . O.K., at least it's an authentic & genuine Motherland 2cl . The right one on the scan has the s/n. 1604 and arrived in Vienna also in the 1990s, but without any documents. What's the big difference? The gold plating ! Motherland 2cl s/n. 1604: Has the ident gold plating as shown on Andrew Kuznetsov's brilliant (English) website: http://mondvor.topcities.com/OZaSlRod.html We can see a rather pale and dull gold plating, which is actually also rather thin. The gold plating is neither glossy, nor shiny and stains may come with the patina. Motherland 2cl s/n. 2213: Has the ident gold plating as shown in PMD's "Red Bible" on page 173 and in many official Soviet publications. We can see a very intensive and high-quality gold plating, which is glossy & shiny and has no stains. Looks like the gold of a HSU, HSL or Lenin! My questions: 1) Has there been an improvement in the quality of gold plating during manufacturing the Motherland 2cl? There had been difficulties in gold plating starting with the Order of the October Revolution. When - s/n. ? - did that change in gold plating took place. 2) Can we speak of a kind of sub-variation in the sense of Andrew's classification? 3) Does anyone have similar examples in his collection? Best regards Christian BTW: I love the design of the "Crab", because it symbolizes the Soviet Forces of the past-GPW-period very well. I think, that the designer, retired Colonel L.D. Pilipenko, an engineer of the Dzerzhinsky Military Academy, has done an excellent job . The "Crab" is a beauty with an impressive weight & size. On the other side, the Motherland 2cl is still a super-bargain, if you take the produced items - around 3.300 only! - into account. The market price (auction in Helsinki) is about USD 2.500,- only for a Motherland 2cl. If you compare that price with the price tags of early Lenin-screwbacks ....

Staraya Russa Dear Marc, then I would opt for one of the numerous battles for Staraya Russa (Ста́рая Ру́сса) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staraya_Russa , 100 km south of Novgorod and part of the Soviet North-Western Front. The fortified town was occupied by the Germans between August 9, 1941 and February 18, 1944. Totally destroyed by them .... . Best regards Christian