During the “PERESTROYKA”, the newspaper, “Arguments and Facts” (Argumenti I Facti), published an article about Nestor Makhno. In that article, it was stated that Makhno was the number four recipient of the order of Red Banner. Since then, this story resurfaces now and then. The only evidence provided in the article was that Makhno’s wife, Maria Kuzmenko, told the story during the sixties to some historian, who was long dead by the time of publication. Allegedly, she said the order was given to Makhno by Voroshilov after Makhno’s troops captured Mariupol in April, 1919. She also said that Makhno never wore the order and it was somehow lost during one of the retreats.
Neither in me***rs written by Makhno himself nor in me***rs of his henchman, Bilash , the order was ever mentioned.
Voroshilov met Makhno only once during his visit to Guliy-Pole (capitol of Makhno’s rebel’s army) on May 7, 1919. However, no orders were issued and Makhno never appeared on any lists of recipients. While it is conceivable that the order was given to him without the paperwork, as this has happened frequently, but when Makhno turned against the Red Army during the summer of 1919, there was no question about any awards being given to him or paperwork for any previous awards being completed.
As far as being the second or fourth recipient of the award, by the time Voroshilov met Makhno, there were more then one hundred cavaliers of the Red Banner.
Only in Revolutionary Military Council’s order number 12 on March 10, 1919, fifty three recipients were listed for the order of Red Banner.
It was a big mess during that period, but first three cavaliers were Blukher, Panushkin and Kuzmitch. Panushkin never received his award and Kuzmitch never even existed. It was an error in the paperwork and actually the recipient was supposed to be Mironov Philipp Kuzmitch, but this was discovered only in the thirties. In fact the order of Red Banner with number 2 on the back were given to Fedko and Yakir. A self made order with number two on the back was given to Yakir and it was later replaced with an official order with a different number. A second Revolutionary Military Council’s order for the Order of Red Banner was issued on March 2, 1919 to recipients Dumenko, Budenniy, Bulatin and Maslakov. While order with number 3 on the back was eventualy given to Stalin and with number 4 to Fabrizius.
Vadim
Neither in me***rs written by Makhno himself nor in me***rs of his henchman, Bilash , the order was ever mentioned.
Voroshilov met Makhno only once during his visit to Guliy-Pole (capitol of Makhno’s rebel’s army) on May 7, 1919. However, no orders were issued and Makhno never appeared on any lists of recipients. While it is conceivable that the order was given to him without the paperwork, as this has happened frequently, but when Makhno turned against the Red Army during the summer of 1919, there was no question about any awards being given to him or paperwork for any previous awards being completed.
As far as being the second or fourth recipient of the award, by the time Voroshilov met Makhno, there were more then one hundred cavaliers of the Red Banner.
Only in Revolutionary Military Council’s order number 12 on March 10, 1919, fifty three recipients were listed for the order of Red Banner.
It was a big mess during that period, but first three cavaliers were Blukher, Panushkin and Kuzmitch. Panushkin never received his award and Kuzmitch never even existed. It was an error in the paperwork and actually the recipient was supposed to be Mironov Philipp Kuzmitch, but this was discovered only in the thirties. In fact the order of Red Banner with number 2 on the back were given to Fedko and Yakir. A self made order with number two on the back was given to Yakir and it was later replaced with an official order with a different number. A second Revolutionary Military Council’s order for the Order of Red Banner was issued on March 2, 1919 to recipients Dumenko, Budenniy, Bulatin and Maslakov. While order with number 3 on the back was eventualy given to Stalin and with number 4 to Fabrizius.
Vadim
