Socialist Yugoslavia Documented Groups

[BalkanCollector]

Let's see your documented groups of the Socialist Yugoslavia.

Here's a group of my grandpa's awards with miniatures and documents. I've already posted his awards but I've never posted his documents. Funny story is that there's a Commemorative Medal for 20 Years of Yugoslav People's Army on his miniature bar but he never received that medal since he was at the academy at the time the medal was awarded in 1961. He also got a Tito plaque when he retired but unfortunately the document is lost.

List of awards by the year:

1967 - Order of Military Merit with Silver Swords

1971 - Commemorative Medal for 30 years of Yugoslav People's Army

1974 - Order of People's Army with Silver Star

1975 - Commemorative Medal for 30 years of Victory over Fascism

1979 - Order of Military Merit with Golden Swords

1981 - Commemorative Medal for 40 years of Yugoslav People's Army

1985 - Order of People's Army with Golden Star

All of the awards were awarded on December 22nd. It was the day of the Yugoslav People's Army.

Additional award is Distinguished Marksman Medal.

There are stamps that confirm the purchase of miniature medals at the back of every document. 

Another group which I have is a civil one and it was awarded to doctor Knežević. 

List of awards by year:

1966 - Order of Labour with Golden Wreath

1972 - Order of People's Merit with Silver Rays

[paja]

Very nice, thanks for sharing! We can follow your grandfather's progress order-wise as he rose up through the ranks.
Lieutenant - Military Merits 3rd Class
Captain 1st cl. - People's Army 3rd Class
Major - Military Merits 2nd Class
Lieutenant Colonel - People's Army 2nd Class
I had no idea they were stamping back sides of the certificates when someone purchased miniatures.

Unfortunately, I don't have many documented groups, just this one.

[BalkanCollector]

Thanks for pointing out the rank progression. I also have a piece of newspaper about a fire in a neighbourhood of Zagreb where the soldiers of Yugoslav People's Army helped in firefighting. My grandpa was an officer on duty (captain at the time) that day so he gave the shortest interview I've ever seen in a newspaper. "Dobri su to momci!/Those are good chaps!" he said.  Unfotunately I don't know the year when this happend so there's a gap between Lieutenant and Captain 1st class, year-wise.

I had also never seen stamps on the back sides of the documents except for my grandpa's.

Very nice group Paja! Can you show the documents also?

[paja]

Bravery Order awarded to lieutenant, 18 February 1946

[paja]

Order of Merits for the People 2nd Class with relatively low number., also awarded on 18 February 1946.

[paja]

Order of Brotherhood and Unity 2nd Class, 23 October 1975

[paja]

Medal of Merits for the People, actually not the same recipient, it belonged to his wife.
28 February 1962

Edited September 7, 2017 by paja

[BalkanCollector]

Very nice Paja! I really like the Order of Merit's for the People because of it's low number.

[paja]

Thank you, it's interesting that he received both Merits for the People 2nd class and Bravery Order at the same time.

[paja]

On 9/7/2017 at 11:55, BalkanCollector said:

He also got a Tito plaque when he retired but unfortunately the document is lost.

I'm not sure but I think that document looked like this:

[BalkanCollector]

It actually looks different and is one piece of paper. It was given for discontinuation of an active military service.

Photo taken from the internet. The left one was signed by Branko Mamula and the right one by Veljko Kadijević, although I don't know if it is their signature or an autopen.

[paja]

Thanks for clarification, perhaps that document accompanied the YPA plaques...
Anyway it was signed by Nikola Ljubičić but I think it's a facsimile signature.

[BalkanCollector]

No problem! Unfortunately I don't know if your document has any relation with the one's for retirement. I noticed that the recipient of your document is a sergeant. Maybe the lower ranked personel got that type of document for retirement while the higher ranked got plaque with a different one. 

I'm not very knowledgeable about signatures but I know that autopen usually doesn't have that natural look and looks like it's printed on the paper. If it looks hand written it could even be a secretary who had made the signature. I could only imagine how many stuff did the high ranking officers and generals had to sign. I guess they had mostly signed top secret stuff and more important documents.

[paja]

Apologies for not being more clear, I meant perhaps documents such as the one I posted were given together with YPA (JNA) plaques. If I remember well there were several different plaques, small, medium and large. This really isn't my field so don't take my words for granted.
Here's one example from ebay with a crazy price.
LINK

[BalkanCollector]

Ah, now I see. No need to apologize, I should have read more cautiously.

You might be right. I've seen similar plaques on a local flea market and I've noticed they weigh much. They were made out of metal and marble with a JNA sign like the one you've linked. Although I think it is a rare piece because of that depiction of armament, it is definately overpriced. 

Also the plaques I've seen at the flea market similar to the linked one didn't have any documentation.

[paja]

Plaque and somewhat similar document from sammler's base. It was issued to a general by commander-in-chief, so perhaps NCOs got the first one, and this one was for generals (and officers?).

[BalkanCollector]

I'm not sure, I should definitely try to dig up some more information about those plaques. I suggest we should open a topic dedicated to JNA plaques because I see a lot of potential and material. 

[paja]

I second that motion! Unfortunately I don't collect plaques, I have just a few of them in my collection, and I don't know much about them.

[BalkanCollector]

An interesting account of a New Zealand Corporal who became an honorary Major of the Yugoslav People's Army for his service in the Partisan forces. It's not exactly a documented group of awards but it's an interesting one for sure.

https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/5d17/denvir-john

Sorry for the bad pics, I couldn't find better ones.

[paja]

Very interesting, with those four decorations he must be one of the most decorated foreigners.
Thanks for sharing!

[BalkanCollector]

No problem! 

I've found out about this gentleman in one of Military encyclopedias (Vojna enciklopedija) so I had to search for more info online and share it here.  

Here's another bad photo from a museum in New Zealand with his decorations, Yugoslav officer's parade belt and what appears to be a visor hat badge.

Edited October 24, 2017 by BalkanCollector

[new world]

On 10/24/2017 at 02:56, BalkanCollector said:

No problem! 

I've found out about this gentleman in one of Military encyclopedias (Vojna enciklopedija) so I had to search for more info online and share it here.  

Here's another bad photo from a museum in New Zealand with his decorations, Yugoslav officer's parade belt and what appears to be a visor hat badge.

This is truly amazing story! Thanks for sharing!

[BalkanCollector]

On 29. 10. 2017. at 13:17, new world said:

This is truly amazing story! Thanks for sharing!

No problem!

[BalkanCollector]

I've acquired a new group. I had a Partisan Commemorative Medal of 1941 but I've managed to get the rest of the gentlemen's awards. Here's the photo of the group and I will post more detailed photos as soon as possible.

Order for Bravery awarded on February 20, 1963.

[BalkanCollector]

Partisan Commemorative Medal of 1941 awarded on January 1st, 1962 which I've already posted in another topic.

Order of Brotherhood and Unity awarded on December 31st, 1973.