M1943 Shoulder Boards for Marshal of the Soviet Union

[slava1stclass]

To all:

Between 4 February 1943 (the date of its institution) and 9 April 1954 (the date the new parade uniform for marshals and generals was instituted), the M1943 pattern Marshal of the Soviet Union shoulder board was worn by the following 16 MSUs:

MSU Voroshilov
MSU Budenny
MSU Timoshenko
MSU Shaposhnikov
MSU Zhukov
MSU Stalin
MSU Konev
MSU Govorov
MSU Vasilevskiy
MSU Malinovskiy
MSU Meretskov
MSU Rokossovskiy
MSU Tolbukhin
MSU Beria
MSU Sokolovskiy
MSU Bulganin

Four additional MSUs who were appointed to that grade prior to 9 April 1954 would have also qualified to wear the M1943 pattern shoulder board had they not been executed (Blucher, Egorov and Tukhachevski) or demoted to General Major (Kulik) prior to its institution.

Clearly, for someone interested in collecting Red Army World War II insignia of rank, the M1943 pattern shoulder board for a MSU is very desirable. The fact that at least 10 of these 16 MSUs played major roles in commanding/directing Front-level combat formations during various stages of the war only adds to their historical significance. While M1943 pattern Chief Marshal and Marshal shoulder boards may be far less common, a genuine M1943 pattern MSU shoulder board remains the most beautiful (if not desirable) in my view.

Regards,

slava1stclass