MONDVOR Wrote:Dave, here is another protocol. As you can see, close numbers were bestowed by the Prikazes of different Fronts (North-Western and Kalinin Fronts) and even for the same Front there are two different datas of Prikaz (for February and March). I highlighted the dates and the names of the Fronts.
Andrew:
I think that this Protocol you show is more an exception than what was normal. All of us know that Glory 3rd Class awards are difficult to pin down as far as when they were awarded and by whom. Even the first work that attempted to pin down dates and number patterns (Orders of the USSR by Kutsenko) refused to list Glory 3rds with award dates, simply because there are too many exceptions.
With that said, people like Desantnik have compiled sufficient databases of awards that you CAN see patterns for many of these awards (Glory and others) Yes, there are exceptions to the rule, catch up awards (like these in this Protocol) and so on, but for probably a vast majority, there were patterns of issuing that allow one to make generalizations (and like I said above, never perfect, until absolutely proven through research) about what award was issued where.
I have spoken to numerous recipients of Soviet awards, and they all tell me about the "cases of awards" that their individual awards came from. Granted, these were mostly issued from the Army level, with a few exceptions from the Front level, but every unit had a case (or two or more) that they took the orders from. These cases of orders were from the mint, and held consecutive serial numbered awards. Every unit - from Division on up - recieved these cases of awards. Some units went through more cases of awards than others, and some went through fewer cases of awards, thus resulting in some very strangely skewed serial number patterns by the end of the war by a handful of units.
Like I said in a previous post, we don't know the exact number of awards per case. However, one can assume though that numbers within close proximity of others may well have come from the same case of awards. What one cannot know for certain before research is what level the case was awarded at. I would assume that cases for higher units were sometimes split for catch-up awards, as well as cases of awards that might have been sent to large hospitals or convelescent centers. There, you might see wide ranges of awarding times with similar awards numbers - much like the last Protocol that you posted.
However, with the few Protocols that I have seen, the award numbers were issued by the same unit and were consecutive based on the same Prikaz. This is how I believe the vast majority of lower awards were issued on the front. Higher (and other) awards that could be presented in the Kremlin likewise followed the same theory - it's just that those cases of awards given to the Kremlin were awarded at different rates than those at the front, and thus more anomolies exist.
One thing about Kremlin awards is nice though - the awards issued by the Kremlin during the Cold War years followed a reasonably exacting serial number pattern. One can identify several major awardings based on serial number for long service, post-war wounds and the like. All of this has been based on the Ukaz date and the serial number of the award.
So here's my thought... If we can go and make a rough guideline for maybe 70% of awards, why not do it? It would be silly for us to not make lists of award numbers and dates while attempting to find Protocols for each and every award. Not only would it be expensive, but I have tried lesser requests for research from the Archives and have quickly gotten rebuffed for them! No list of awards will ever be perfect, but I like to think that we can make one as good as humanly possible and reasonably accurate, which is what desantnik has done in his fine book, and many of us continue to do with our own lists.
Just my thoughts on the subject...
Dave
