U.S. Army Decorations Awarded to Red Army Personnel in World War II

[Tommy]

I seem to remember reading somewhere it was a 50's thing. I may be wrong through.

Tom

[Al-muell]

Neither 1952 navy nor 1955 Army and Navy regulations confirm that. 1958 and 1969 also required standard wearing. Since the man is definately wearing an open collar jacket, the only regulations that could allow that would be 1949 and I doubt it.
I don't think it was ever "correct", but I wouldn't besurprised if many people did that.

[Lapa]

Al-muell,

I am not sure what you mean here. Here are pics from the official M55, M58 and M69 prikazy.
The picture fragment shown above does correspond to regulations of this time. The M74 regulation provided for wearing OMDs horizontally.

Marc

[Al-muell]

I know when the medals were worn diagonally, the thing here is that on this photo the higher-end award's ribbon is covered with the lower's. So lower medal is "above" the higher.

[Lapa]

As far as I can tell, the awards in the picture are worn in the way prescribed by regulations, namely highest ones closest to the button line :confused:

Marc

[slava1stclass]

Originally Posted by Al-muell

I know when the medals were worn diagonally, the thing here is that on this photo the higher-end award's ribbon is covered with the lower's. So lower medal is "above" the higher.

Al-muell,

Now that I understand the issue you're raising, it can be simply explained as a very poor job of mounting the ribbons to the bar. I agree - the ribbon overlap is improper.

A nice artist's rendering of U.S. Army Silver Star winner HSU Sergeant Major N. I. Zhuzhoma.

Originally Posted by slava1stclass

Gents,

This is the first time I've ever encountered an immediate post-war image of a Red Army soldier wearing U.S. Army Airborne wings.

We know U.S. Army personnel were awarded Red Army Guards badges at war's end. We now have evidence of a Red Army officer wearing U.S. Army jump wings.

Regards,

slava1stclass

Originally Posted by medals73

Knowing a bit more about the context and provenance of this image might be instructive (and might just immunize us against snark).

Originally Posted by slava1stclass

Gents,

A second image (albeit blurrier) of the same officer/jump wings from a different angle.

Regards,

slava1stclass

Gents,

I've come across additional information concerning these images. The images were taken on May 12th, 1945 in Linz, Austria. GEN Patton hosted Soviet Red Army Guards Lt Gen N. D. Zakhvatayev that day. Zakhvatayev commanded 4th Guards Army.

Regards,

slava1stclass

[CtahhR]

Here are three unidentified Soviet recipients of the Legion Of Merit. The third heavily wounded recipient also has a Bronze Star Medal (so is only a Victoria Cross citation away from being a New Zealander).

[CtahhR]

Here is Major-General Of Communications Grigorij Fateevich Mishin with his Legion Of Merit.

[Pobeda45]

Here's Artillery Major General Nikolai Karpovich Rogozin (1905-1964) with his Legion of Merit, Officer. His full list of awards included:

Order of Lenin (1945 for military merit)
Order of Lenin (1952 Long Service)
Order of Red Banner (1943 for military merit)
Order of Red Banner (1944 for military merit)
Order of Red Banner (1945 for military merit)
Order of Red Banner (1947 Long Service)
Order of Suvorov 2 Class (1944)
Order of Suvorov 3 Class (1943)
Order of Red Star (1944 Long Service)

Medal for Defense of Leningrad
Medal Victory over Germany
Medal for Capture of Koenigsberg

US Legion of Merit, Officer
Poland Order of the Cross of Grunwald, 3 Class
Poland Medal For Odra, Nysa and Baltic
Poland Medal For Victory and Freedom

[CtahhR]

Marshal Of The Soviet Union Aleksandr Mihajlovich Vasilevskij received his Chief Commander Legion Of Merit on 5th June 1945.