Soviet Guards Major Maister Platon Maximovitch

[Paul L Murphy]

In a recent auction there was a little group of Soviet awards comprising an Order of the Red Banner, two Red Stars, Bravery Medal on 1st type ribbon (but obviously re-ribboned) and a Military Service Medal. They cam with the award book but no research. I decided to take a punt since it looked like a group with two WWII era combat awards (the Bravery Medal and the 1st of the Red Stars) and then three awards for long service. Thanks to a fellow forum member the research has come back in record time and the group belonged to Guards Major Platon Maximovitch Maister. Admittedly he only reached the rank of Major in 1950 and his highest rank in WWII was Senior Lieutenant.

First up some photos of the award book.

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[Paul L Murphy]

Next up, the medals themselves ......

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[Paul L Murphy]

And the reverses .......

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[Paul L Murphy]

We always like a photo of the man behind the medals so here is Comrade Maister, before he got his Red Banner in 1951...

And the reverse of his award card verifying his medals .....

[Paul L Murphy]

I have a reasonable amount of information on him since there were some service papers. However it is all handwritten so going through it slowly, dictionary in hand !

He was born in 1906 and joined the Red Army in October 1928. He did not become a party member until 1939, I wonder was that in order to avoid purges etc ? He seems to have been commissioned from the ranks since from what I can make out he only made it to Junior Lieutenant in February 1943. Ended the war as a Senior Lieutenant, made it to captain in 1946 and then to major in 1950. He saw active service at the front from Feb 1943.

[Paul L Murphy]

Here is the list of his various postings but I have not yet got around to translating it (I hate cyrillic characters in handwriting !). If anyone would like to assist it will be appreciated.

[Paul L Murphy]

Next we have the citation for his Medal for Bravery. Since it is handwritten I have not yet worked it out so HELP !

[Paul L Murphy]

And finally, his citation for his first Red Star. Not the most exciting citation since unless I am mistaken it is basically an award for good service over a period of time ?

His other three awards are for long service so there are no citations with them.

All in all, a nice group and one that I think was a bargain since even with the cost of the research it has worked out costing me about $700.

[Guest Rick Research]

He was a technical and administrative officer for a tank brigade-- the FRONT of his Awards Record Card will be more clear so please post that.

His MMM 1945, Red Star 1946, and Red Banner 1951 are for long service.

The Bravery Medal and 1944 Red Star are for "real" action.

BAD handwriting and ambient contrast are more than my one eye can cope with in night lighting at present.

[Paul L Murphy]

Oos, didn't realise I had only posted the reverse of the award card. Here is the front.

[Guest Rick Research]

ARC frpnt side shows him "decorated as" Captain/Deputy Commander of staff for isntruction of command personnel of 41st "Red Banner" Tank Brigade and now (26.03.46) Commander of department for supplies and cadre of 5th "Dvinsk" Tank Division in the city of Vinnitsa.

Back to his service record (may be easier to read cropped one page at a "slice" as big as will show on screen, but the handwriting is horrible)

though he was placed on the reserves 1 October 1937 (uhhhhhh ohhhhhhhhhh ) he is shown as joining the party in 1939, and returned to the military 17 January 1940. That threw his seniority off and cannot read what he was doing in the interim.

He retired 1 September 1953 with permission to wear his uniform with insignia (probably by age--47 and still a Major) and was demobilized to the city of Leningrad, having served in Leningrad Military District since 1947.