Soviet Russian inscription

[JBFloyd]

Can someone read/translate the Russian inscription on this photo? It reportedly relates to a Russian officer (Viktor Tikhonravov) who served in the French Foreign Legion in North Africa, including at Bir Hakeim.

Edited March 23, 2008 by JBFloyd

[JBFloyd]

This is the photo, with Russian annotation at the bottom. The photo was printed in 1964.

[Guest Rick Research]

Maybe TO him, but not FROM him.

On the front of the photo=

Foreign Legion

of the French Army Lieutenant

Ye(liskov?) 1943-1947

On the back under the French bit

In the last Cadre

of officer (word I can't read, probably course/class) of 1913.

Colonel of Kuban

Cossacks

Fought in April

month 1919. Com-

mander of Kornilovsky

Cavalry Regiment in Kuban

battles February 1919

F. Ye(liskov?)

1967 New York

I'm FAIRLY sure it says "Yeliskov." Backward "3" Cyrillic E is the same as in good old Boris Yeltsin. How that would have been transliterated into French/English by a person of that generation... ? Jeliskoff ? Eliskov ? For a German, Jeliskow ?

[JBFloyd]

Thanks, Rick. It was too much to hope that the inscription would clear up all mysteries.

[NavyFCO]

Quite a few former White officers and soldiers served in the FFL during the 1920s/30s and in WW2 in an effort to capitalise upon skills they already knew (e.g. soldiering) and in an effort to prevent deportation/assassination in the period immediately following the collapse of the Whites in the Civil War. This photo is quite fascinating in that regard - the first photo of a soldier that I've seen like this.

Dave

[SKY MARSHAL]

Maybe TO him, but not FROM him.

On the front of the photo=

Foreign Legion

of the French Army Lieutenant

Ye(liskov?) 1943-1947

On the back under the French bit

In the last Cadre

of officer (word I can't read, probably course/class) of 1913.

Colonel of Kuban

Cossacks

Fought in April

month 1919. Com-

mander of Kornilovsky

Cavalry Regiment in Kuban

battles February 1919

F. Ye(liskov?)

1967 New York

I'm FAIRLY sure it says "Yeliskov." Backward "3" Cyrillic E is the same as in good old Boris Yeltsin. How that would have been transliterated into French/English by a person of that generation... ? Jeliskoff ? Eliskov ? For a German, Jeliskow ?

I think a?name?and surname of the French lieutenant of Russian origin?Fiodor Eliseev.

Many Russians have emigrated to France after revolution of 1917.

Edited March 26, 2008 by SKY MARSHAL