Christian Zulus

Dear Slava1stclass, another fact is, that - in relation - many more mortar crews survived the war, than machine gun squads, rifle men or snipers. Why? Mortar crews did their job - specially teams with larger calibre mortars, as in in the case with the set Markov offers - quite behind the FEBA - forward edge of battle aera. Machine gun squads, rifle men or snipers ARE the forward edge of battle aera. Due to the fact, that the OG is NOT a posthumous award, as the HSU can be, this led to the inflation of mortar-crew-cavaliers of OG. And: In the statutes of the OG mortar crews are specially mentioned! Well, it might be too overly subtle, to regard the OG as an award for mortar crews and real heros ;-) Another point: As with the HSU at the crossing of Dnepr, there had been a huge inflation of OGs in the case of the capture of Berlin. Dnepr & Berlin: Stalin needed a very special motivation for his Red Army soldiers! So, most full cavalier sets resulted from the capture of Berlin. In Markov's offer only the fact of Kroll Oper adds value and not Berlin generally! Generally: The quality of the 3 heroic actions in spring/summer 1944 for becoming a full cavalier are rather different, than most the herosim documented for the "Berlin-Inflation". As OGs, which resulted from bell-ringer battles or operations, are more common for 1944, than 1945. Anyhow, a full cavalier set of the OG has to rank ABOVE a HSU, due to 2 facts: It is an authentic FEBA-award (besides of mortar crews ...) and you have to show (and survive) 3 heroic deeds for becoming a full cavalier! In comparison to all the numerous Berlin-mortar-OGI the citations of a rather typical spring/summer-1944-cavalier-set of sgt. Gnitienko, which I keep in my collection. Kind regards Christian

Gentlemen, I guess, there had been far too many OGI for mortar crew commanders. If the recipient would have been a machine gun squad leader or a sniper, it might boost the market value. A mortar is an INDIRECT weapon. The 120mm Soviet mortar model 1943 had a minimal range of 460m and a maximal range of 5.700m. You see, a mortar man is much more seperated from the enemy, than a machine gunner, rifle man or a sniper. The history of market prices for full cavalier sets showed, that mortar men had been usually located in the lower half. Also the actions for the OGIII & OGII are of importance. The ideal case for a full cavalier set is always, when the recipient got his 3 OG at decisive battles during main operations, i.e.: Crimea - Bagration - Berlin. Kind regards Christian

Fantastic group - congratulations :-) It is interesting, to find out, why he never got the "Medal for Combat Service" for 10 years in service.

Rather moderate price! A bit "overpolished" ;-) , but looks authentic! 3rd classes are usually not faked.

Many thanks for the information, dear slava1stclass!

Dear slava1stclass, do you have any informations about the hammer-price (incl. fees), if it was sold? Kind regards Christian

Yes, dear Chris, the one in the middle! First the style of the engraved numbers is totally unusal in Russia. Second the engraving is not done in a professional and fluent way. Third the number "1" is done in a typical anglo-saxon style. Question to slava1stclass: The price of 4.4 k USD is not a current sales price? If you deduct the actual price for one ounce of pure gold, it seems a bit too cheap.

Well, the s/n. of the OGII is a rather crude fake ;-)

Gentlemen, it seems, that there was really something wrong with this HSU Many thanks GHB for your valid weight information Kind regards Christian

Many thanks for this useful link, dear Dave :-) Kind regards Christian

Great news, dear Dave :-) I have absolutly no experience with eBooks or Kindle :-( Is it possible to read the illustrated version of your fantastic book on a normal laptop? Kind regards Christian

Dear Paul ®, first of all happy birthday to you :-) and many thanks for your welcome! Well, taking the information above by Paul Wood into account, the starting price of the HSU in Vienna doesn't look extremly fair ;-) To bid for the HSU in London might be a more save business. Kind regards Christian

Dear GHB, many thanks for the identification! So it is a part of the "HSU-Dnjepr-Inflation" ;-) DOROTHEUM auction house indicated, that the hanging device might be a fake. Dear Paul, many thanks for your proposal! Might it be possible to find stamped serial numbers of the range, GHB listed? Kind regards Christian

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Gentlemen, I guess, we are facing a rather weird - geographical - price situation for full cavalier sets today: In the USA a category 1 set was sold for mere USD 7.000,- (!!!). In the UK a category 4 set was sold for USD 18.500,- and a set without documents, but with quite a few extra medals, was sold for more than USD 54.000,- (!!!). What's wrong at the market for high end Soviet awards ??? Well, due to obvious reasons, the Russian collectors vanished. But - at least in Europe, on the continent - the Chinese buyers are getting stronger and stronger. It seems, that London & Germany is closer to the Chinese collectors, than the USA? Many thanks for your expertise :-) Kind regards Christian

Dear Slava1stclass, Sgt. Gnitienko's Glory-Trio is still the crown juwel in my Soviet awards collection. I have made an album on Facebook in commemoration of Gnitienko's deeds: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1262581717749.40030.1025906913&l=4f0e9af72d Do you have any idea, if the HSU might be genuine? According to the rather low SN/no.: 1174 it might be NOT one of the several thousends HSUs for Dnjepr-crossing. Kind regards Christian

Gentlemen, on 21st of November this year the auction house DOROTHEUM (the largest one on the continent) in Vienna will sell a Gold Star Medal of a Hero of the Soviet Union (no research, no documents). It is a medal with a rather low SN/no,: 1174. Starting bid is USD 3.800,- / EUR 3.000,- Have a look, here are 2 pics: http://www.dorotheum.com/auktion-detail/auktion-10884-orden-und-auszeichnungen/lot-1789426-medaille-goldener-stern-held-der-sowjetunion.html?img=1 Fake or original? Many thanks for your expertise! Kind regards Christian

Dear Linasi, you bought a "Goldenes Ehrenzeichen des Landes Steiermark" - "Golden Sign of Honour by the Province of Styria". It is the lowest class of this Austrian provincial order, but the orders from Styria have an nice design and are very well manufactured :-) On the official governmental site of the province of Styria you will find all informations about this order: http://www.verwaltung.steiermark.at/cms/ziel/74836111/DE/ All the best from Vienna Christian

Thanks :-) It was quite a job ... Best regards Christian

Paul, the quality is really fine and the flag was manufactured in Australia (!). The material is white, artificial silk, as used for parachutes, with red color printed on. Best regards Christian

Paul, I sent to you the link on your facebook-account as a private message additionally. The Victory Flag in my living room in high res. An extra pic, which is not included in the facebook-research-album. The pic is on vk.com, a kind of "Russian facebook": http://vk.com/photo113441340_268399392 Best regards Christian

Received my membership pin yesterday. Very fine design and excellent quality !!! Question to the Chairman: Which company has manufactured the pin?

Komandir RKKA, so we end up at the same opinion: You are telling us now, that "sea district guard units", as the 111th OWR of the Baltic Fleet, did exist. Fine Best regards Christian

Paul, thanks for your welcome KGB naval units of the Border Guard wore regular navy uniforms with only small distinctions (such as green piping on shoulderboards). The flags of the ships and boats of the KGB Border Guard Force had green flags. Have a look (scoll down a bit): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_USSR_navy_flags The coast guard units of the Soviet Navy had just regular uniforms and flags. Best regards Christian

Komandir RKKA, it seems, you haven't had a look into the documents, I presented in my Kandybin-thread. You want to tell me, that brigade commander Kandybin had been in service of KGB - right? And that that the Russian naval archives store KGB-files? Best regards Christian