Mongolia Hero and labour Hero of the Mongolian People's republic

[Bob]

On 04/05/2021 at 20:06, Bob said:

Alright, some free time on my hands.

 

So obviously this is a rare brass ribbon for the Hero of Mongolian People’s Republic. The brass ribbons were issues from 1944-1961. The Hero brass ribbon (35x12mm) is slightly longer than the regular brass ribbons (29x12mm) which in itself are also not so regular as increasingly difficult to find.

 

Based on the known nr of Hero stars awarded pre conversion to cloth ribbons, perhaps max. 10 people received a brass ribbon. There were no cloth ribbons for the Hero Star in fact as the expectation was that the Hero Star itself would be worn. 

 

Supposedly the brass ribbon shown above belonged to Gongor Shagdar - the first Hero of MPR (29th January, 1936), awarded for fighting back against the Japanese during an armed clash in 1936. My guess is that he was originally awarded a Badge of the Hero and later (1941) this was converted to a Hero Star.

 

More info on this: Who is the first recipient of the Hero of Mongolia medal? – Mongolia FAQ

"The first recipient was sergeant Gongor from the Border Guards. On January 28th, 1936 Sergeant Gongor was stationed at the border of Mongolia. He saw 10 Japanese soldiers on horses galloping in his direction. He told one of his soldiers to ride to HQ and inform his superiors, the second soldier to take the horses and hide. As a crack shot he was able to shoot and kill nine of the intruders.

 

On February of the same year, 500 soldiers from the Japanese Kwantung Army in 20 trucks, with forty light machine guns tried to enter the border again. Around hundred Mongolian border guards were able to repel the attacks. This was fully three years before a full scale Khalkhyn Gol War of 1939. For his bravery, Gongor was given the first Hero of MPRP medal. Among the people he was affectionately called Gongor baatar (hero)."

 

From that site also attached a cartoon about Gongor.

 

 In Urnukh's blue bible there are some photographs of people wearing a brass Hero ribbon (e.g. Gongor himself on page 22, again on page 26 Gongor but then with the Hero Star and on page 255 Choibalsan is visibly wearing his 2 brass Hero Star ribbons).

 

Here is another pic of Gongor but no brass ribbon: ·        Photo Gallery of Khalkin Gol Badge Cavaliers - Page 4 - People's Republic Mongolia - Gentleman's Military Interest Club (gmic.co.uk)

 

I will also attach a photograph of Gongor wearing his brass Hero Star ribbon while seated among several 1921 partisans. The photograph seems to indicate a lot of respect by Gongor as he's listening to the Partisans. Gongor is the second person from the left. To HIS left is somebody with a Hero of Labour + several brass ribbons. In front of Gongor is somebody with a Partisan badge, a Khalkhin Gol badge and several brass ribbons. More veterans with Partisan badges on the right side of the picture.

 

I did write "supposedly" the ribbon belonged to Gongor. There is no documentation of this, however there is some hope in verifying this through some other means which I may be able to share at a later stage.

 

Interesting development. 

 

Attached link to a thread on General Suurin Baldan confirms that Gongor (to whom above brass Hero ribbon apparently belonged) was also awarded a Soviet Order of October revolution. The list shown in the link provides the names of Mongolians who received awards at the celebration of 50 years of Mongolian People's Army anniversary. It seems like the OoO were numbered 294-309 (based on various sources) and based on some triangulation of different data pints, Colonel Gongor Shagdar was awarded nr 304. Now, it just so happens that OoO nr 304 was in the hands of the same person who had acquired above brass ribbon many, many years ago and he insisted that the ribbon and the OoR had both belonged to Gongor. While not direct evidence, the research confirms this to be extremely likely. Now, just to get my hands on the OoR...

 

General Suurin Baldan - Page 3 - People's Republic Mongolia - Gentleman's Military Interest Club (gmic.co.uk)

 

 

[Bob]

Posting some additional pics:

 

1. A photograph of Gongor Shagdar where he is wearing his Hero Star + Khalkhin Gol badge + 20 years anniversary badge + brass ribbons. The photograph is probably taken 1959 or 1960. He is wearing his 1940s uniform with the Brigade Commander insignia.

 

2.  Memoirs of Gongor “In remote Tamsagbulag”. The paperback book was published in 1984. It describes his story starting his military service in eastern Mongolia in 1934. And finishes 1936 after he becomes the hero. The book has nice b&w photos of him. 

 

3. Small MPR hero series booklet on Gongor. Describes his feats and also has some interesting information. For example Gongor was awarded a rank of Brigade Commander in 1941 after his unit was selected as the best unit during the 20th anniversary of People’s revolution army wide inspections. Also he was the Best National Archer title holder and renowned hunter. 

Researched Order of October Revolution #304 - awarded to first Hero of Mongolia - Russia: Soviet Orders, Medals & Decorations - Gentleman's Military Interest Club (gmic.co.uk)

 

On the Soviet forum, I've posted pics of the Order of October Revolution which now arrived in my hands.

[Bob]

‘Khalkhyn Gol Battle lasted 4 years, not 4 months’ (theubposts.com)

 

Interesting discussion on the starting date / length of the Khalkhin Gol Battle with a reference to Gongor.

 

"In my case, I agree with historians and researchers who claim that the battle began in 1989. I think this is more accurate because the Japanese and Manchurian aggressions at Mongolian borders between 1935 and 1939 weren’t just small-scale armed conflicts or border attacks. Considering that relatively large military forces attacked the border repeatedly, the battle had already begun by January 1935.

 

During this period, more than 1,000 Japanese and Manchurian soldiers fought at the border with similar number of tanks and aircrafts. We can’t forget that national heroes such as Sh.Gongor and D.Demberel were recognized amid the numerous battles of bloodshed. This is proof that an undeclared war had set off in Khalkhgol soum."

[Bob]

Soyombo nr 152

[Lingqi]

Very nice one Bob.

 

After reading all threads, I am not very convinced that No.99 is a fake. 

 

As you can see, there is a mode/tool Mark at 9'oclock. 

 

Is the fake one also made from the original mode/tooling? 

 

 

 

[Bob]

Interesting observation - had not noticed that before

[Bob]

Coming back on Lingqi's interesting observation, I just got Soyombo nr 147 in my hands an it has the exact same mark on the exact same spot. 

[Graf]

On 18/07/2020 at 21:50, Bob said:

With the current economic environment there is lot of items appearing as trees get shaken.

Here is what just came into my hands - hero star with serial nr 20

assuming it is not an unawarded bank escapee (condition plus the high cost of such item for the mongolian government to reorder probably means it is not), my hunch is it was awarded to either of these two soviet cosmonauts:

• Nikolaev, Andrian Grigorevitsh, Gen-Major Aviation, 31.5.1965
• Beljaev, Pavel Ivanovitsh, Col, 1967

will require patience to confirm

Very nice

[Bob]

DAVAADORJ, the Hero of the Republic of Moldova, Lkhunrev /1926-1948/ (bpo-gov-mn.translate.goog)

 

interesting mongolian hero bios

[Bob]

And here is Hero of Labor nr 80 (it came with a box, not shown here). It has some wear and tear and includes (difficult to see) same tool mark as identified earlier in this trid.

Edited October 22, 2023 by Bob

[Bob]

Awards | Erdenet Mining Corporation (erdenetmc.mn)

 

Interesting to see this mining corporation was the recipient of multiple awards incl. a modern Hero of Mongolia

 

Been doing some googling and also found this interesting piece of info on Twitter - Tsedenbals Hero of Mongolia and Hero of Labour of Mongolia with booklets, both apparently in the inventory of the Mongolian National Bank

 

Edited February 27 by Bob

[Bob]

 

 

Viktor Vasilievich Gorbatko, twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Hero of the Mongolian People's Republic, chairman of the central board of the Soviet-Mongolian friendship society at the "Round Table", dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet-Mongolian armed forces over the Japanese near the Khalkhin-Gol river.

 

Cosmonaut Gorbatko was guesstimated to have been awarded Mongolian Hero star with serial nr 30.

[Bob]

Unplanned but still ended up in my collection: nr 30

[Bob]

This brings my Hero of Mongolia collection to the following:

- Hero Star with serial nr 13 (confirmed to be awarded to Dandar Baatar)

- Hero Star with serial nr 14 (likely awarded to Cosmonaut German Titov)

- Hero Star with serial nr 20 (likely awarded to either of Nikolaev, Andrian Grigorevitsh, Gen-Major Aviation, 31.5.1965
OR Beljaev, Pavel Ivanovitsh, Col, 1967)

- Hero Star with serial nr 30 (likely awarded to Cosmonaut Gorbatko)

- The enamel ribbon awarded to Gongor Shagdar (who was likely awarded the Hero Star with serial nr 3)

- Documents apparently belonging to General Dorj (who was - unsure - perhaps awarded the Hero Star with serial nr 7) 

 

If anybody happens to have documents related to the first four above, please contact me as I'd love to work out a 'reconnection'. Similarly, if anbody has anything related to the fifth and sixth items listed above (dare I dream: their Hero Star!) please reach out as well to discuss options.