04-23-2004, 07:05 PM
This evening I got into a conversation on this topic with my most knowledgeable historian friend here. He is of the opinion that the only gallantry award of the times was the Red Banner. We talked about Blucher, ORB #1, and then about Nestor Makhno (now there's an interesting and now obscure character), ORB #4. Although some revisionists have written that Nestor's was a "phantom", there really isn't much doubt that he got it.
Quite by chance, I found and bought an OKA (or, just possibly, a very early Red Banner Caucasus Army) aviation unit badge this evening. Third Aviation Squadron, OKA (or RBCA), definitely not later than 1926. I have been coveting it for a while. It's really unusual -- large, silver and quite spectacular, in the shape of an early pilot's leather flying helmet. I'll share images when I get home in August. It is definitely a locally commissioned piece, probably right here in Tbilisi in the 1922-1926 period. Eduard, and some other Tsar-period court jewelers, had affiliate studos in Tbilisi, Baku and Yerevan, and likely elsewhere. Jewelry-making was a major art form in the Caucasus. Still is.
This particular badge belonged to an interesting but ill-fated guy named Fomichov. I bought this badge from his granddaughter. He was an aviation cadet at the end of WW I and eventually became a pilot in the OKA, from whence this badge. He was a "Red Commander" until he left the military in 1928. He came back in 1932 as a captain in command of a fighter squadron. He was arrested by the NKVD in 1937 as a "People's Enemy" because of an allegation that he said something in support of Marshall Tukachevsky. He was executed three days later but his family wasn't told of it until they wrote to the MVD after the war. He was "rehabilitated" during Kruschev's period.
Not only military badges were commissioned locally. I have some very early Communist badges, including a gold-and-silver party official's badge and a very early Osoaviakhim badge in silver, that I am sure were locally made. Since I have a modest Oso collection, that one fits in nicely. I guess the point is that unit badges and insignia seem to have been locally commissioned but I have not seen or heard anything that would lead me to believe that the same holds true for gallantry awards.
He also filled me in a little more about the OKA. It seems that the 11th Red Army became the OKA and was nominally separate for about 18 months, 1921-1922. They had their hands full putting down the remnants of the White Army as well as anti-communist Georgians. Then it became the RBCA until 1937 when it merged with the Red Army. So much to learn, so little time.
Well, I seem to have rambled.
Good hunting,
Chuck In Oregon
Currently, Chuck In Tbilisi, Georgia
Quite by chance, I found and bought an OKA (or, just possibly, a very early Red Banner Caucasus Army) aviation unit badge this evening. Third Aviation Squadron, OKA (or RBCA), definitely not later than 1926. I have been coveting it for a while. It's really unusual -- large, silver and quite spectacular, in the shape of an early pilot's leather flying helmet. I'll share images when I get home in August. It is definitely a locally commissioned piece, probably right here in Tbilisi in the 1922-1926 period. Eduard, and some other Tsar-period court jewelers, had affiliate studos in Tbilisi, Baku and Yerevan, and likely elsewhere. Jewelry-making was a major art form in the Caucasus. Still is.
This particular badge belonged to an interesting but ill-fated guy named Fomichov. I bought this badge from his granddaughter. He was an aviation cadet at the end of WW I and eventually became a pilot in the OKA, from whence this badge. He was a "Red Commander" until he left the military in 1928. He came back in 1932 as a captain in command of a fighter squadron. He was arrested by the NKVD in 1937 as a "People's Enemy" because of an allegation that he said something in support of Marshall Tukachevsky. He was executed three days later but his family wasn't told of it until they wrote to the MVD after the war. He was "rehabilitated" during Kruschev's period.
Not only military badges were commissioned locally. I have some very early Communist badges, including a gold-and-silver party official's badge and a very early Osoaviakhim badge in silver, that I am sure were locally made. Since I have a modest Oso collection, that one fits in nicely. I guess the point is that unit badges and insignia seem to have been locally commissioned but I have not seen or heard anything that would lead me to believe that the same holds true for gallantry awards.
He also filled me in a little more about the OKA. It seems that the 11th Red Army became the OKA and was nominally separate for about 18 months, 1921-1922. They had their hands full putting down the remnants of the White Army as well as anti-communist Georgians. Then it became the RBCA until 1937 when it merged with the Red Army. So much to learn, so little time.
Well, I seem to have rambled.
Good hunting,
Chuck In Oregon
Currently, Chuck In Tbilisi, Georgia
