Marshal of the Soviet Union Kirill Moskalenko, typed
document signed on 30 June 1944 when Colonel General and
commander of the famed 38th Army. Also signed on the same
day by his Chief of Staff, Maj. Gen. Aleksei Yepishev -
future General of the Army and Commander of the all-powerful
Armed Forces Political Department (while holding this
position he wielded an enormous power in the military, was
not answerable to the Minister of Defense and took orders
only from the Politburo of the Communist Party). The
document is a recommendation for promotion of a heroic
antitank artillery major.
Single page, front and verso, 7 ¾ " x 11 ½ ". Moskalenko
signature in brown pencil on the verso is quite bold while
Yepishev 's red pencil signature is precise and controlled.
Recommendation for promotion of Guards Major Stepan
Polupailo, deputy commander of the 249th Guards Antitank
Exterminating Artillery Regt., 11th Guards Antitank
Exterminating Artillery Brigade of the Supreme Command
Reserve. The document cites Polupailo's excellent combat
record and especially his performance in a battle against
the enemy infantry and tanks on 22 April 1944. On that day
he personally commanded a battery that was on the axis of
the German attack and stood firm, destroying up to 250 enemy
soldiers. Interestingly, despite his frontline service and
several combat wounds, Polupailo had no awards as of the
time of the evaluation.
The recommendation to promote to Lieutenant Colonel was
endorsed and signed by Commander of the 38th Army Col.
General Moskalenko and Member of the Military Council of the
Army Maj. Gen. Yepishev on 30 June 1944 (their signatures
are in brown pencil and red pencil accordingly, on the
verso).
Promoted to Marshal in March of 1955, Moskalenko was twice
declared a Hero of the Soviet Union during the Second World
War. Prominent for his participation in the battles for
Moscow, Stalingrad, and Kursk. He received seven Orders of
Lenin, an Order of the October Revolution, five Orders of
the Red Banner, two Orders of Suvorov 1st Class, and an
Order of Kutuzov 1st Class, and an Order of Bogdan
Khmelnitsky 1st Class. Commander in Chief of the Strategic
Rocket Forces in 1960. Eventually known in the west for the
prominent role he played in the arrest and downfall of KGB
chief Beria.
Aleksei Yepishev, on the other hand, would rise to General
of the Army after the war although he was more a political
operative than a military man. He eventually became
Commander of the Soviet Armed Forces Political Department -
a position of enormous power executing the Communist Party
control over the military (he was not answerable to the
Minister of Defense and was subordinate only to the Party
Politburo). A man obsessed with the absolute necessity
for extreme censorship to protect the armed forces from
exposure to possible heresy, he was virtually a character
straight out of Orwell's 1984!
Very good to excellent condition. A small fraction of the
page's paper (no more than 1/8" in the area of the
signatures) has folded back on one side and now covers a
tiny portion of the last letter in Yepishev's name. Rather
than straighten out the paper just for a photograph and
possibly risk damaging the document, we left it folded when
we scanned the page; rest assured, the signature is complete
and undamaged.
$70.00 
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