Christian Zulus

Dear William, these are real and great beauties - many thanks for sharing . Bryan (Soviet) showed us one from e-bay this january: http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?s=&showtop...st&p=141705 . Are the rubies natural or synthetic stones ? The Yugoslavs seemed to have liked rubies - the "Order of Freedom" consists of several carats of these stones . Best regards Christian

Dear Ilja, it looks like one of these high-end awards of the 18th or 19th century made of cloth & strass for stitching on the uniform ? I have never seen such version of an order of communist Yugoslavia. Best regards Christian

Dear Drugo, does this guy has any presence in the www: e-bay, own website, contributions to military forums, etc. ? Best regards Christian

Dear Matthijs, at least at my PC the link doesen't work . Thanks for your help . Best regards Christian

Dear Darjan, as William "New World" already pointed out, the awards have been always produced in advance and for stock. That reality is specially true for Yugoslavian Orders & Medals, where big quantities of mint-fresh awards are coming on the market. Yugoslavian authorities stored at local depots all sorts of awards for military conflicts in the future: Partisan Stars, etc., etc. These stocks are coming to the market. As with Soviet Awards, the number of produced orders is always (much) larger, than the number of issued orders. Best regards Christian

Dear Frank, many thanks for the information . Just found that rifle in a book about SU-Infantryweapons (Motorbuchverlag) described as a "Tokarev Mod. 1940 with PU telescopic sight". Do you have any links in the www to that rifle? Best regards Christian

Translation needed Gentlemen, my Russian hardly exists and I do not have the Russian language dictionary with me . I checked the ID-card again and it is not a factory, but an metallurgical institut, what makes the case even more interesting. Our comrade at the photograph looks bright & clever . Valentin & Markin are not typical Russian names - which nationality? Maybe one of our language experts or native speakers could translate the ID-card Best regards Christian

Dear Belaruski, that's not the ordinary sniper-rifle . What's that for a model ? Best regards Christian

Partisan Star 2cl for EUR 250,- on sale Gentlemen, Darjan posted that link http://www.bolha.com/oglas2268817 to us, where a "Partisan Star" 2cl - fresh from the stock & in mint condition (looks almost like a 1cl ) - is on sale. Picture of that order: Best regards Christian BTW: Darjan got his Partisan 1cl - congratulations .

Dear Darjan, many thanks for your valid informations & links and congratulations to your Partisan 1cl . So, it should make sense, to order YU-Awards directly from ex-YU-countries. I will post the picture of the "Partisan Star" 2cl for sale at our special thread for this order. We had been too stupid to find the order-section at the Belgrade dealer's website . Thanks for the special link. He offers some interesting minis for good prices - also his orders don't seem to be overpaid. It is interesting, that the website of the Laibach's fair in the next days shows a Soviet "Order of Glory" 3cl . Best regards Christian

Dear Carol, no, I disappointed you with my rather naive & stupid answer . Many thanks for the bomb-info . The term "destroyed" is always very relative in times of war . Gefreiter Schickelgruber told the world in autumn 1942 that the Axis-forces already had captured Stalingrad. Best regards Christian

Dear Frank, congratulations to another victory . Sorry, I typed too slowly, so Carol had been faster with the confirmation of your victory . My question to you and/or Carol: What had been the weight of the attached bombs - 250kg or 500kg ? I like the term "parasitic aircraft" very much So, we are waiting for another of your difficult questions. Best regards Christian

Dear Frank, your answer sounds very plausible - the Soviets were famous for that technique - and I think, that H.R.H. Carol I was looking for something more "fancy", than a mere attack with unguided rockets . I had been biased by the pictures of attacked bridges from the last YU-war in 1999 . But the fact is, that a (guided) US-rocket of 1999 had a much more destructive power, than some Soviet rockets from 1941. I looked again at the damaged steel structure of the bridge: Such damage might have been not possible with a mere unguided rocket in 1941. So, a bomb damage might be more approbriate. Hope you found the right answer . Best regards Christian

Dear Belaruski, many thanks for that great link . I seems to work - I have to download the FLV-software and to study the conversion programe. I just bought a 1-GB-storage-chip for my mobile phone some days ago, so I will try put the orginal "Victory Parade" on it. The screen of the phone is not soooo large, so the rather moderate picture quality does not disturb at all. Best regards Christian

Gentlemen, as Dan "Hauptmann" pointed it out, that might be (I am rather sure about that) the state official "jewel-case" . But on the other side, the price for the box of minis is "heavy" and you have to add: Shipping, insurance, customs + VAT-tax . I paid for my minis less than USD 2,- (two Dollars) each at my dealer in Vienna. Sorry, but for years he dosen't have any in offer . I assume, that this box is not soooo rare and there might be the chance to find some others in Belgrade, Zagreb, Sarajevo, Skopje or Laibach - hopefully for a fraction of the asked price . Best regards Christian BTW: If I would be a really rich man, who dosen't know, how to spend his money, I might invest the USD 3k into this box.

Dear Vic, yes, that's Zlatan from Zemun http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zemun (part of Belgrade, old Austrian-Hungarian border city to Serbia) . He offers great military stuff - two complete General's uniforms (with ribbon bars!) for a really very fair price! -, but hardly medals. Maybe he might get "our man" for collecting orders & medals in Serbia and ship them abroad ? Photograph of Zlatan: Best regards Christian

Many thanks for your kind support Christian

Dear Carol, as the photograph of the damaged bridge look like, I would assume, that the Red Army Airforce launched a rocket attack to that highly important bridge ? They flew into Romania at very low altitude and fired their (unguided!) rockets - that's tricky and difficult. So, the effect had been almost "zero" . My first idea ... Best regards Christian A recent photograph of that bridge:

Questions about our 'Kavaler naibolshego kolichestva ordenov SSSR' Gentlemen, to be serious, our guy didn't make THAT brilliant career as an officer - besides the fact, that he looks rather dull at the photograph. Very late in the GPW (1944) he promoted to a CO of an unit (fighter divison - which one?). He never promoted beyond the rank of a Col.-General (careful, Gentlemen, our guy had not been a manager in industry or designer, he had been a "real" officer!). What shocks me most, is the fact, that our comrade Baidukov got A L L his 3 Motherlands as a retired officer - adviser to bla, bla, ... - and that's somehow a real scandal. Everyone knows the statutes and regulations for the Motherland (if not, please look after in the PMD-Bible ). It has been fair & o.k., that some (really) meritorious COs of the GPW got their Motherland 3cl. It might have been o.k. (still against the statutes of the order!), if some old GPW-Generals, who served afterwards in top postions in the Soviet Army or Navy got a Motherland 2cl at their 80th birthday or so. But it is definetly not o.k., that the Supreme Soviet promoted Col.-Gen. (ret.) Baidukov to a "Full Cavalier of the Motherland" and gave him a Motherland 1cl. So, for my taste the Motherlands 1cl & 2cl for comrade Baidukov have the same legitimacy as the 4x HSUs + Order of Victory + Marshal of the Soviet Union to comrade Brezhnev. BTW: After Brezhnev's death the Supreme Soviet took the Order of Victory from him away. I think, that at least his 2 Motherlands are a little bit suspicious and if you deduct them from his (impressive) list, then Marshal Moskalenko seems to be the real & true 'Kavaler naibolshego kolichestva ordenov SSSR' . Gentlemen, please compare the biographies: Moskalenko vs. Baidukov . O.k., that's been theory, we can not rewrite Soviet history. Coming back to the "Friendship-Question". The Friendship is also a typical award for explorers, pilots, etc. Maybe Baidukov got his Friendship for the Vancuver-flight ? He didn't get another HSU for that deed. It might have been somehow a "catch-up"-award. Gentlemen, sorry for boring you with my phaleristic explorations . Best regards Christian

Hard job for Carol - there is no Wiki-entry about our hero . Best regards Christian

Dear Carol, well, our Hero died in a plane crash 1938 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valery_Chkalov . So, he had no chance to get 21 Soviet Orders . But there had been another one of these famous long-distance pilots, as far as I rember . Best regards Christian

400 postings at GMIC-Yugoslavia Gentlemen, we already yield 400 postings at our new GMIC-section. Best regards Christian

"Juwel-Case" with YU-Minis at e-bay Gentlemen, Dan "Hauptmann" told me, that the starting bid had been USD 1.500,- and the bidding is now well above USD 2.000,- . A lot of bucks for minis, which are no "real" orders . Best regards Christian

Dear Ed, that's what I realized . But there is a dealer in Laibach . Best regards Christian BTW: If there is no dealer in Belgrade, then we have to install one . The fact is, that there are some phaleristic clubs in Belgrade, but they trade more with the royal stuff of the the pre-Tito times.

Dear Christophe, so not one of the pilots of the Chelyuskin-rescue (1934) - we had a "Otto Schmidt"-question already in our quiz -, but a pilot from the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War. Some of them made a brilliant career in the GPW and in the Soviet Union . As far, as I can remember, at another quiz-question some month ago, I listed all the high decorated (HSU) Soviet pilots of the Spanish Civil War. So, one of these HSUs should be our comrade with 21 Soviet Orders . Best regards Christian