Order of Red Banner #2.

[ericlida]

Gentlemen,

Yesterday I watched a new Russian movie about WWII “Penalty Battalion” (Shtrafnoi Batalion). It is very interesting movie, and I would recommend people who speak Russian to see it.

There was an interesting fact from this movie. (I am not sure if it’s correct). The Order of Red Banner #2 was awarded to Nestor Ivanovich Makhno .

For people who are not sure who was Makhno: The Makhnovist movement was named after Nestor Makhno, a Ukrainian anarchist who played a key role in the movement from the start. Indeed, Makhnoshchina literally means "Makhno movement" and his name is forever linked with the revolution in the South-East of the Ukraine.

Eric

[HuliganRS]

Damn you man!

Now I have to take my butt to a Russian Video store and ask for this movie.
Where the clerk behind the counter will give me a dirty look and say "are you sure this movie is what you want? I have some Euro MTV DVD's!"

Rusty.

[new world]

Originally Posted by ericlida

...

There was an interesting fact from this movie. (I am not sure if it’s correct). The Order of Red Banner #2 was awarded to Nestor Ivanovich Makhno .
...

Eric

Eric,

I've heard this story before.

Intially Nestor Makhno was fighting pretty much against everyone (including Red Army). Later on he decided to fight alongside Reds and his troops played important part in the battles against white armies in Southern Ukraine.

The rumor is that he was awarded Red Banner #2 for storming Krimea Peninsula.

There are no known documents in support of such hypothesis, so it remains a speculation whether makhno was indeed awarded Red Banner order.

Regards,
William

[ericlida]

Originally Posted by HuliganRS

Damn you man!

Now I have to take my butt to a Russian Video store and ask for this movie.
Where the clerk behind the counter will give me a dirty look and say "are you sure this movie is what you want? I have some Euro MTV DVD's!"

Rusty.

Rusty,

Trust me, you will enjoy the movie. It's little bit long (5 DVDs ), but very-very interesting.

Eric.

[vvadim]

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