02-26-2002, 09:33 AM (This post was last modified: 02-20-2014, 05:08 PM by CtahhR.)
Amazing book on the marshals and fleet admirals of the USSR.
Include pictures of the marshals $ fleet admirals in dress uniforms, pictures of the document awardeeng them the marshal star, all the orders and medals of each marshal, including serial numbers and dates recieved, and much more. SUPERB! (Book by A. Kutsenko, Moscow, 2001, 375 pages, Hard Cover).
The book describes every award of the Marshals, I can't tell if the pictures are of the ACTUAL marshal's awards, or representative, but the list of awards is accurate and include the Serial numbers and dates. Here is the gramota awarding Zhukov the Marshal's Star:
I was able to get mine from Anatoli Kutzenko himself, but I've also seen copies for sale on eBay. I also know you can buy it from Dmitry Markov on his website for $95., which is the best deal I've seen over here. I HIGHLY recommend the book- it's not one that you would really use for reference (unless you have one of their groups) but the pictures are AWESOME! I'd definately buy one if I didn't already have one.
06-29-2002, 10:32 AM (This post was last modified: 06-29-2002, 11:14 AM by Tal Inbar.)
Now that I have the book (Thanks, Eugene:) ), All I can say is WOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Excellent book. There is a list of all foreign awards to each marshal as well (but only few pictures of them...).
Great information source on marshals....did you know that marshal CCCP Krylov, which was in charge of Soviet strategic rocket forces, didn't went to a military school and academy?
...as I reviewed the copy of "Marshalls and Fleet Admirals of the Soviet Union" that I recently purchased.
-It appears that many of the formal portrait photos of various Marshalls were taken at a time when the Cold War was underway. Yet they all seemed to be wearing their decorations from the western democracies of World War II, including the Commander and Chief Commander grades of the Legion of Merit from the United States. I was also fascinated by the practice of wearing all "Commander" grade neck orders on a ribbon, pinned to the front of the tunic, with the only neck decoration worn being the Marshall's Star.
-In that same vein, I was fascinated to see that one Marshall had been awarded the United States Distinguished Service Cross, second only to the Congressional Medal of Honor as an award for valor. I could not help but wonder what the citation for that decoration was. The DSC was not given out lightly in World War II.
-There is a full color photo of one of Stalin's uniforms, a long "frock coat" style jacket, with massive oak leaf embroidery on the sleeves, and huge epaulettes that bear the crest of the Soviet Union. All I could think of when I saw that jacket was that it seemed far more ornate than anything I had ever seen worn by the Czar.
-I also noticed that, as would be expected, most all of the Marshalls had won multiple Orders of the Red Banner. In their formal portraits it seems that 99% of them are wearing appropriately NUMBERED examples of the Red Banner. I could not help but think that when they received their Red Banners originally they probably were not so fortunate as to be given numbered pieces every time they were awarded a subsequent decoration. I have to think that many, if not most of them, probably received at least a few Red Banners without the appropriate number plaque on the obverse. Yet in the photos, they almost all had the numbered examples, and I wondered how these might have been engraved on the reverse. "Duplicate", even if they still owned their original Red Banners?
-Within the book it is stated that until 1972, all orders except for the Order of the Patriotic War were to be turned in upon the death of the recipient. This is why, it is stated, there is no complete collection of all of the orders and medals of Marshall Zhukov, for example. They were turned in upon his death and perhaps dispersed, or even re-awarded? It states specifically in the book that one Marshall had requested, and apparently was given, Zhukov's Marshall Star. I must confess that I had never heard of a requirement that Orders were to be returned prior to 1972. If true, it would seem to me that it should result in a premium attaching to any complete Orders and medals group for World War II service, since such groups would not exist for any of the veterans who died before 1972. Can anyone confirm the accuracy of this statement within the book?
About the groups: Although the information on returning awards in the book is correct, I believe M A N Y families kept the awards, and after 1972 it was OK to keep. My theory is that if a veteran has HSU, Ushakov 1st etc., his family got a letter demanding the awards back. But for lower awards this was not done. Just a thought.
Tal
Under the banner of Marxism-Leninism, under the leadership of the Communist Party--forward to new victories in the construction of communism!
