Maevskij, Mihail Semenovich, Welder-Machinist, Factory #201, Black Sea Fleet

[RedMaestro2]

This is one of my favorite groups in my collection. The awards are beautiful, but more importantly, the history behind them is fascinating. I’ve tried my best to fill in the parts of the story not told by the archival documents through online research. There is extensive information available on the web in Russian. Though I am sure there is plenty I have missed, especially because of the language barrier (I’ve only just started to learn Russian and so depend on Google translator), what I have discovered has been rewarding. This group has been in my possession for a few years and it is only in the last month that I've had a breakthrough.

Reserve Seaman Mikhail Semenovich Maevskii worked as a mechanic in Workshop #3, Black Sea Fleet Factory #201 - the Sevastopol Shipyard - since 1921. A brief English wikipedia article and a more expansive history in Russian are linked below. I think I am not accurately translating the technical terms “слесаря цеха 3,” “слесарь монтажник,” and others later on. Help would be greatly appreciated!

Sevastopol Shipyard - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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During the 1941-1942 siege, the works were relocated to Tuapse, further down the Black Sea Coast. Maevskii moved with the factory, and was awarded the medal For the Defense of Sevastopol. He later received the medal For the Defense of the Caucasus, an Order of the Patriotic War 2nd Class (April, 1945), and a medal For Victory Over Germany.. A provisional translation of the OPW2 citation is below (I’ll also post the actual archival documents). Sadly, the campaign medals and documents have been lost.


Comrade Mikhail Semenovich Maevskiil has worked in Factory 201 since 1921 as a mechanic. During the Patriotic War, Comrade Maevskii personally repaired the turbo-dynamo [engines?] of all destroyers and the patrol boats "Squall" and "Storm". He always received an excellent evaluation of command and l / of the ships. His attitude to work is always good. He deserves the government award "The Order of the Patriotic War"

Manager of Factory #201 - Tokarev

Central Committee Party Organizer to Factory #201 - Torodnin


An excellent history of the “Squall” and “Storm” can be found here:

Черноморский флот

These two ships evacuated the (extremely lucky) workers of Factory #201 and their families from Sevastopol during the siege. I sense that the specific repairs mentioned in the citation can be found in the histories, but I haven’t been able to put that together with my limited language command. As soon as Sevastopol was recaptured, rebuilding began at Factory #201’s original site.

After the war Maevskii worked at a shipbuilding factory (#445) in Nikolaev, Ukraine (web link below; there is also a page on Russian wikipedia that won't link). He probably received his 1951 Medal for Valiant Labor and 1954 Order of the Red Banner for his service there.

State Enterprise "Shipyard named after 61 Communards"

So, in short, not only does this group reflect a dramatic episode in the history of WWII, but it is also an example of how labor awards can be indirectly researched.

Another note: the documents for both labor awards are used as examples on the Mondvor website.

Орденская книжка Тип 5
УДОСТОВЕРЕНИЕ К МЕДАЛИ - 2


I hope you’ve enjoyed reading. Documents will follow in subsequent posts. Commentary would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! :thumbsup

Alex

[RedMaestro2]

OPWII Document

[RedMaestro2]

Valiant Labor Medal document

http://mondvor.narod.ru/SUdMed2.htm

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ORBL document

Орденская книжка Тип 5

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Award Record Card

1. Last name: Maevskii
2. First name and patronymic: Mikhail Semenovich
3. Rank: Reserve seaman
4. Sex: Male
5. Birth year: 1907
6. Birthplace: Nikolaev, Ukraine
7. Party membership: Non-member
8. Education: Elementary
9. Nationality: Russian
10. Since what date in the Red Army: Did not serve
11. Place of service and duty position at time of awarding: Factory #201, Black Sea Fleet, assembly-worker
12. Place of service and duty position at current time: Factory #445, Nikolaev, Ukraine, assembly-worker
13. Home address of the awarded: ...

For those interested, I'll be posting another Navy production-related group when archival documents arrive next week. It looks like it will be VERY interesting. A preliminary report from my researcher says it has to do with "new machines" ... 1978 ... and I have reason to believe these are underwater machines ... nuclear ones :cool: