Colonel Hristo Petkov Hristov.

[RedMaestro2]

I was very luck to find this beautiful and intriguing group to Colonel Hristo Petkov Hristov. I've attempted to precisely pin down Colonel Hristov's identity and nature of service (hence, all my questions on the "Misc. Bulgaria questions" thread); the result is a few theories that seem plausible to me. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will be able to help with this question. I'll present the group first and then my ideas.

The following awards are in my possession:

Bulgarian:
Order of the Red Banner #8,911 (w/matching doc and case)
Order of People’s Liberty 2nd Class (w/doc and case)
Order of the 9th of September 1944 3rd Class (w/doc and case)
Medal for the 20th Anniversary of the Bulgarian People’s Army (w/doc)
Medal for the 30th Anniversary of the Bulgarian People’s Army (w/doc)
Medal for the 40th Anniversary of Victory Over Fascist Germany (w/doc)

Soviet:
Order of the Badge of Honor (w/doc and case)
Medal for Combat Service (w/doc and numbered case)
Medal for the 20th Anniversary of Victory (w/doc)
Medal for the 40th Anniversary of Victory
Medal for the 50th Anniversary of Victory
University Graduation Badge (w/case)

Though the Soviet/Russian 40th and 50th anniversary medals and university badge are undocumented, I strongly believe they are original to the set. Bulgarians are known to have received these awards, and overall they fit the portrait of an officer with strong ties to the USSR. The seller I purchased this group from originally acquired the following awards in the same lot. It's possible some of them might also be connected to Colonel Hristov.

Order of the People’s Republic of Bulgaria 2nd (?) Class
Order of the People’s Republic of Bulgaria 3rd (?) Class
Order of People’s Liberty 2nd Class
Order of People’s Liberty 2nd Class
National Order of Labor Bronze Class
Order for the 100th Anniversary of Sofia as the Capital of Bulgaria


To start, here's a picture of the group and the man.

[RedMaestro2]

The cases for Colonel Hristov's awards. The unlabeled Bulgarian case is for the Order of the Red Banner. The Soviet cases are very high quality, with a lovely felt lining. The coloration is difficult to distinguish in the scans, but the lining of the Combat Merit Medal case is a lighter shade of red than the lining of the BoH case.

[RedMaestro2]

More details of the Soviet cases. The Badge of Honor case thoughtfully includes an extra length of ribbon under the removable floor. The Combat Merit Medal case lacks that feature, unless the floor got stock under the misplaced-looking white ridge at the top of the case somehow.

[RedMaestro2]

The first document, Colonel Hristov's Bulgarian order booklet. "ВТА" is the "Military-Technical Academy". Not sure what the "F-2" means. As noted before, the Red Banner's serial number matches what is recorded in the document. All the ukaz numbers and dates are listed.

[RedMaestro2]

Documents for the Bulgarian anniversary medals. "Поделение 50100" is the 2nd Army. "Поделение 35350" is the command of "БТМВ," which I think is "Armored and Mechanized Forces."

[RedMaestro2]

A final Bulgarian document - Colonel Hristov's pass to the officer's club?

Now for the Soviet documents, beginning with the Combat Merit Medal. This was awarded by the 8 September 1969 ukaz for WW2/post-war cooperation on the 25th anniversary of the Communist Bulgarian revolution (for another Merit Medal by the same decree, see http://soviet-awards.com/forum/soviet-bl...kirov.html).

Next in chronological order, the document for the 20th anniversary of Victory medal signed by Colonel-General Parshikov and stamped by unit 11607, like all of these were.

Now the document for the Order of the Badge of Honor, awarded by the decree of 2 September 1974 for WW2/post-war cooperation on the 30th anniversary of the Communist Bulgarian revolution. Not sure how many recipients were awarded by both the 25th and 30th anniversary ukazi.

[RedMaestro2]

The decree of 8 September 1969 awarding Colonel Hristov's Combat Merit Medal.

The decree of 2 September 1974 confirming Colonel Hristov's Badge of Honor, and most interestingly, Colonel Hristov's award record card from the Soviet archives, recording both the CMM and BoH. It also gives his rank and "address," specifically, Bulgaria. His "citation" document was totally blank.

I think this is a research first.

The irony of all this is that despite all the documentation, Colonel Hristov really remains a mystery. So now my theories:


To me, the most likely is that Colonel Hristov is the man written up in the attached image, a segment of a 2011 resolution from a Bulgarian committee of disclosure "announcing affiliation of Bulgarian citizens to the State security and intelligence services of the Bulgarian People's Army". Specifically, the information about Hristov is released under a paragraph concerning "ambassadors, consuls-general and deputy heads of diplomatic missions of Bulgaria." According to this document, Hristov was born in 1932 and served in the Intelligence Service of the General Staff of the Bulgarian People's Army (РУ-ГЩ). He was made an "operative worker" by a mysterious decree in 1964 and was several times reappointed to that rank. He was also made the assistant commander of a department. In 1984 he was made a "spy" 2nd class.

So from this we have the following profile: Colonel Hristov was a military intelligence officer with Soviet training and significant Soviet ties. He served in diplomatic missions (perhaps a military attache in the USSR?) and also in the command of Bulgarian mechanized forces.


Another Colonel Hristo Hristov (here and here) found online was related to missile forces. He was head of a veteran's organization and made some remarks at a 2011 party for the first commander of missile forces. He was also present at the unveiling of a monument for missile forces.


A third (or maybe the same) Colonel Hristo Hristov (��� ���� 2000 :: ������� �� ���� - ���) was the first commander of missile defense unit formed in 1961. What interests me about this Hristov is that his rank is given as "о. р. полковник", which is expanded on other sites as "оперативен работник" or "operative worker". This would seem to fit the first profile and possibly link it to the second, though I'm not sure of the relationship between armoured and missile forces. The Military-Technical Academy affiliation supports either branch.


That's all my thoughts. Any sign of a verifiable breakthrough?

Comments and help much appreciated as always :thumbsup

Cheers,
Alex

[ssln]

I have an order of badge of Honour,0849425 with a high rank case as yours.

I think the my order of badge of Honour is also awarded to a Bulgarian.

best regards

leon