Soviet NIS veteran badges

[Ferdinand]

I primarily used Poirier & Conner and the excellent website RKKA.ru.

Regarding the abbreviations: often you can just Google them in Cyrillic. There's a lot of trash on the internet, but often you can find the designations of the abbreviations pretty fast. For instance, just Google on ВВАУЛ, ХгвВТКУ and ПУрВО. There are lots of books and websites with lists of abbreviations, but none that I have seen are comprehensive. A quite good online attempt is the following:

http://rkkaww2.armchairgeneral.com/abbrevi...in_military.doc

The left badge is for a veteran of the 1st Guards Cavalry Mechanized Group (according to the ribbons awarded a Red Banner, Suvorov 1st Class and Kutuzov 2nd Class).

The right badge is for a veteran of 8th People's Militia Division. 'Krasnaya Presnya' is the location where the division was formed on 2 July 1941. The division was renamed 8th Rifle Division on 26 September 1941 and was disbanded on 30 November 1941, so there probably weren't a lot of these badges!

[seb16trs]

hello Ed, do you have many badges?

to all: are we a few to collect those?

thanks! sebastien

[Ed_Haynes]

hello Ed, do you have many badges?

to all: are we a few to collect those?

thanks! sebastien

Most of what I have are things that have come as a part of groups, though a few single ones have "happened to" me, almost by accident.

Without a good reference book (thank you Paul), these are impossible to collect. But, given prices, they may be all we can afford. And they are about the only place where a beginning collector could start. But so few dealers bother with them, realizing that a six-figure group means more profit that a single-figure badge. Yet the badges are (so far) legal to export from Russia.

[seb16trs]

Most of what I have are things that have come as a part of groups, though a few single ones have "happened to" me, almost by accident.

Without a good reference book (thank you Paul), these are impossible to collect. But, given prices, they may be all we can afford. And they are about the only place where a beginning collector could start. But so few dealers bother with them, realizing that a six-figure group means more profit that a single-figure badge. Yet the badges are (so far) legal to export from Russia.

thanks Ed, I share your analysis.

I'd be happy to know how many we are (I reached the point where I've got stuff to trade and a serious collector cannot progress without sharing infos with others).

[Christian Zulus]

NIS 01 -- Kiev Artillery??

Dear Ed,

strange coincident:

I got this veteran badge as a small present in 1996 from the deputy-military attache of the Ukraine in Vienna, Lt Col Vladimir Popov, who started his military career at the Soviet Artillery.

Best regards

Christian

[Ed_Haynes]

To try to bring some life back into this (rather moribund) sub-forum, here is one I seem to have forgotten to post:

[seb16trs]

thanks for being vigilant Ed

still playin' !

welcome back in the endless world of soviet badges...

184 and 157the divisions badges are known in the Schmitt, are are nearly twins... but here's a nice red background variation for the 157the division...

[seb16trs]

and the 21st army badge, not referenced.

[seb16trs]

still fighting...

[seb16trs]

this curious piece... 53rd infantry division, "upgraded" by the veteran. The suspension disapeared, and the medaillon has been placed in a custom aluminium "crown".

[seb16trs]

the set medaillon-crown is fastened by a classic screwplate.

[IrishGunner]

Well, a perfect thread for my discovery today at the flea market. One of the dealers that I am getting to know said he had something "new" to show me today. He handed me two cardboard boards with about 25 of these veteran badges attached. As I know nothing about them, I didn't buy any; although I found a few very interesting.

I came home and Googled and found out about this... Soviet Second World War Veteran Badges by Paul Schmitt. Then I searched GMIC and found this thread. So... Seems these are very desirable badges. He's only asking about $10 per badge. I found some online for about twice that much.

So, anyone have an idea about which units might be most desired. I recall mostly a few numbered Armies, other unusual units, a submarine related one.