Soviet Ivan Ivanovich Gannenko

[Bob]

Just acquired a nice group to Ivan Ivanovich Gannenko. Will be posting pics once back behind my scanner and then send details off for research. Here's what Ivan has:

- Medal of Bravery - 395994

- Order of Red Star - 774925 (missing from the group)

- Order of Glory 3 - 640120

- Order of Glory 2 - 30789

Above 4 are indicated in award booklet (with a rather unassuming photograph of Ivan). Added are some additional award docs etc. for typical jubilee medals. I guess (using gmic, no echoes of war in hand) that he was relatively late into the war and may have fought in Berlin.

So... am looking at Alexei's site:

Award Record Card - $25.00

Service Record Card - $25.00

Citation for Each Award - $35.00

I'm not so familiar with research - what should i be getting here?

If/when I get research, thread can hopefully move to the researched thread.

[Guest Rick Research]

From those awards, I am assuming he was an NCO, so there will be no Service Record. What rank is he in the photo?

You need-- always--both the Awards Record Card: which is the ONLY place where the actual SERIAL NUMBERS will be confirmed, showing that ALL awards DID go to that person and....

the citation for each award that you want done.

If I were you-- and assuming that anything at all comes back (which seems unlikely, with Podolsk being taken away to God-knows-where) I'd ask for citations on ALL of his awards--even the MISSING Red Star. That was part of his war, too, and information often varies from one citation to another.

[Bob]

Thanks Rick - the whole package it will be then. I'll post a pic of Ivan tomorrow. Right now, looking at the photograph I don't have the impression a rank can be determined. He appears to not be wearing anything remotely similar to a "fancy" uniform although he does appear to have a bar with ribbons on his left chest.

Just a brave young Ivan with a nice group of battered awards.

[Guest Rick Research]

Wellll... Jr Lts got Glories too, right? Possible he was a pilot... MIGHT be a unit clue from the stamp on his photo. I don't think I've ever seen enlisted ranks WEARING ribbon bars, which gets me to wondering if he was actually a Ml. Lt.

[Bob]

Wellll... Jr Lts got Glories too, right? Possible he was a pilot... MIGHT be a unit clue from the stamp on his photo. I don't think I've ever seen enlisted ranks WEARING ribbon bars, which gets me to wondering if he was actually a Ml. Lt.

Hopefully I can provide clarity tomorrow. One of the stamps of his other medals specifically mentions Vilnius and I believe may also indicate something related to the unit he was in.

Mail is off to Alexei - keeping fingers crossed!

[tepo911]

Hopefully I can provide clarity tomorrow. One of the stamps of his other medals specifically mentions Vilnius and I believe may also indicate something related to the unit he was in.

Mail is off to Alexei - keeping fingers crossed!

Bob,

Please be patient with Alexei, he is on vacation with his family until May 10. You will get no better, more accurate or quicker service from anyone else.

Steve

[Bob]

Well, I've learnt to be patient with research requests. I have an order of red star out for about 2 years and still waiting... which is probably not a good sign Too bad as it's in the range of red stars awarded to Mongolians.

The one red I have managed to get researched took well over a year.

[tepo911]

Well, I've learnt to be patient with research requests. I have an order of red star out for about 2 years and still waiting... which is probably not a good sign Too bad as it's in the range of red stars awarded to Mongolians.

The one red I have managed to get researched took well over a year.

Bob,

Two years??? If you submitted the order booklet information giving Alexei something to go on, your turn around time would be a small fraction of that. If you submitted only a serial number, I am not surprised.

I have had many groups researched over the last year and none took more than a month. More likely a few weeks at most. In addition, his researcher no longer scans documents. He uses a high quality digital camera. I have never received an unreadable document "caught in the fold" as used to happen. The photos of the subject are also superb these days, unlike the old blotchy scans.

I hope the Podolsk moving situation does not negatively affect that turn around time. I think I have become spoiled by the wonderful service that Alexei has provided.

Steve

[Bob]

Thanks for the insight Steve. I guess it's about time I give Alexei a try then. I've always been extremely satisfied with the level of service when he was selling awards on a more frequent basis so good idea to also go with Alexei on research now.

[RedMaestro]

When I last contacted Alexei he said that there weren't any problems with the archives moving. The other researcher I used for some undocumented awards said nothing about that either. I am still waiting for both research requests I sent. I only ordered from Alexei two weeks ago, so that still needs some time. For the other, however, nothing since December. I emailed three days ago asking for a situation update, but no response yet.

Patience ...and prayer might help too

-Alex

[Ed_Haynes]

Personally:

One researcher (the normal one) has been quite silent and distracted (though I do owe him an e-mail . . . oops).

One researcher can only function from documented military singles or groups, which cuts out most of what I have left hanging unresearched.

One researcher has just given up on the whole research business out of painful frustration with the Russian end of things.

Not exactly happy days. And I guess the general forum silence shows that?

Comrades Lenin and Stalin do not answer prayers . . . well, ONE of them might . . . but . . . .

[Bob]

Here we go...

[Bob]

inside

[Bob]

[Bob]

[Bob]

[Bob]

[Bob]

[Bob]

[Bob]

That's all - I hope somebody knowledgable can decypher anything useful from these doc's while I await research.

I also just submitted a seperate research request. My Russian boss came with a bag of orders/medals to work today. After long nagging by me she got her mother to look them up in St Petersburg. Her grandmother fought in the Finish war and later defended Leningrad. Subsequently he did chemical research related to rockets in a "secret" facility. Unfortunately most of the awards had vanished over the years however 1 red star still survived (along with some assorted other stuff) and that will provide best chance of finding something in the archives as I also have the name.

Nothing beats the excitement of awaiting research on a person that you have a direct relation to! Plus, his surname was... Zhukov!

[Guest Rick Research]

I cannot imagine HOW those Glories would have been POSSIBLE.

He is wearing a pre-1943 shirt with altered buttons-- as if he was then discharged. Can't read Orders Book stamp-- my eye is strained to the max from squinting at horrifically microscopic German Gothic type today.

Victory is as CAPTAIN in 764th ...... Antitank Artillery............

1948 is as CAPTAIN in 224th Howitzer Artillery Rgt.

And I had FOUR sets of research submitted New Years weekend January 2007-- and have abandoned ALL hope (as well as surrendered any sense of moral obligation) May 2008.

I will no longer attempt Soviet research. I'm on to OTHER things, now.

[Bob]

I cannot imagine HOW those Glories would have been POSSIBLE.

Well - I hope for the best. I acquired it from the source of other sources (i.e. in Berlin) whom I'd put quite some faith in.

Let's see what comes out of research (i hope).

[Bob]

And what came out of research is not so good unfortunately. The order booklet was issued to somebody else. The group is a fake.

Hats off to Nota Bene to refund me for research request.

Group will now have to find its way back to Berlin.

And I'm done for good with Soviet awards which appear to require a PhD in order to be somewhat safe from crap like this

[Guest Rick Research]

The Orders Book number is another name? It certainly does not look scrubbed the way we usually see such frauds.

Do not spare us the DETAILS of what you got back as research-- this is a valuable learning experience.

# of the Book? Name that turned up? Match to neither of the first two awards?

Research on the pieces (what exactly did you get?) NOT worth the individual (anyway) items each researched... forgetting entirely abvout the Book?

Glories are always (from what we have always seen so far) "worth" their research, no matter what.

[Bob]

I received no research just the confirmation that the order book was for anothe person than name in the booklet.

While the awards seperately would still be researchable, I'd not have paid what I did had I know these were loose awards of course so first step is to return them to Berlin "dealer of dealers".