08-13-2011, 03:35 PM
Amazing items!
Thanks for posting these, Doug !
I recently read an account by a former member of Stalin's inner circle.
He wrote that during the war an officer came in with the Generalissimo uniform that had been created.
Apparently Stalin looked at all of the braid and bullion and simply asked "Who is that for?"
When the officer replied "You, Comrade Stalin", he was simply dismissed in a manner that clearly indicated that Stalin wanted nothing to do with the uniform.
I have wondered whether, after the no doubt rattled officer reported back, the uniform was destroyed since it had clearly not met with Stalin's approval? That might explain why, in the Russian-language volume on Marshals and Fleet Admirals of the Soviet Union, there are some great photographs of the Generalissimo-rank overcoat, but no uniform.
Thanks for posting these, Doug !
I recently read an account by a former member of Stalin's inner circle.
He wrote that during the war an officer came in with the Generalissimo uniform that had been created.
Apparently Stalin looked at all of the braid and bullion and simply asked "Who is that for?"
When the officer replied "You, Comrade Stalin", he was simply dismissed in a manner that clearly indicated that Stalin wanted nothing to do with the uniform.
I have wondered whether, after the no doubt rattled officer reported back, the uniform was destroyed since it had clearly not met with Stalin's approval? That might explain why, in the Russian-language volume on Marshals and Fleet Admirals of the Soviet Union, there are some great photographs of the Generalissimo-rank overcoat, but no uniform.
