Two Orders for the same event

[PaulR]

I watched the movie, "9th Company" and wanted to know the real story that the movie was based upon(Battle for Hill 3234). Anyway, in my reading, I noticed that all of the participants(outside of the two who were giving Hero Status) were awarded both the Order of the Red Banner and the Order of the Red Star.

How common was this? Why would they have received two orders for the same action?

[CtahhR]

The film leaves me with a rather ambivalent feeling but I do advise all the army folks I know to watch the film BEFORE going to Afghanistan.

There is also a computer game based on the "actual events" and although I have a copy of it I have not yet run it so I wouldn't know if it is any good or not.

I'm sure someone will be able to post a pair of citations for the double orders.

[PaulR]

The movie sorta felt like the Russian version of "Full Metal Jacket". I did enjoy the training and combat scenes, but the drawn out party with the prostitute as a bit much for me.

I was reading about the true story and felt it odd that they listed all of the participants. Other than the two privates that were posthumously awarded the Hero/Order of Lenin, the others were awarded the Order of the Red Banner and the Order of the Red Star for the same action.

[Al-muell]

Some time ago I posted an award group to col. Zbytkovkiy, who was awarded both BM and OPW2 for the same heavy wound. This happened because his commander recommanded him for one award from that, then shortly after, he was moved to a different unit, where his new commander recommended him for another award for the same event (if I remember correctly, he was in both cases recommended for OPW2 but in the end one of them was downgraded to BM).

Here, the case may be that the commander that was responsible for the post on that hill was dismissed (or moved elsewere), but before that he recommended them to be awarded, and then the new guy who took his post recommanded them again, but for a different award? That's just a guess.

[RedMaestro2]

Originally Posted by Al-muell

Some time ago I posted an award group to col. Zbytkovkiy, who was awarded both BM and OPW2 for the same heavy wound. This happened because his commander recommanded him for one award from that, then shortly after, he was moved to a different unit, where his new commander recommended him for another award for the same event (if I remember correctly, he was in both cases recommended for OPW2 but in the end one of them was downgraded to BM).

Here, the case may be that the commander that was responsible for the post on that hill was dismissed (or moved elsewere), but before that he recommended them to be awarded, and then the new guy who took his post recommanded them again, but for a different award? That's just a guess.

Neat story about Zbytkovkiy.

I have a feeling that this was too high-profile an event for the double awarding simply to have an administrative explanation. I haven't found anything official yet though.

[CtahhR]

Thinking about awards for the same event, wouldn't the space trips result in the most awards for a single "action"? Some of the single trip cosmonauts can be really weighed down.

[medals73]

But how would this film compare to "The Beast"?

[PaulR]

I have not seen the Beast. Was it good movie?

[desantnik]

Yes, very entertaining.

[CtahhR]

I have recently acquired a group with a pair of Red Stars awarded only 5 days apart. Not for the exact same actions but I'm sure they could be chalked up to "same operation". Strangely enough he was awarded his first Red Star just hours after the events in the citation for his second. No doubt with the recipient not knowing of the actions written up in his citation he could have thought "wow, that was a quick award!".

Although they were awarded only days apart the serial numbers certainly have a large gap in between.