Single page 8" x 11 ¾", front and back. The document is a standard form for service evaluation and promotional recommendation of Col. Yakov Verbov for the post of a corps commander. Shaposhnikov's signature is on Page Two, in green pencil to the right of the ink stamp of the academy and under his handwritten conclusion that Col. Verbov can be appointed to the post of commander of a rifle division or deputy commander of a rifle corps, and should be promoted to the rank of general major. Shaposhnikov dated his conclusion 5 April 1944.

In very good condition. The paper is

Single page 8" x 11 ¾", front and back. The document is a standard form for service evaluation and promotional recommendation of Col. Yakov Verbov for the post of a corps commander. Shaposhnikov's signature is on Page Two, in green pencil to the right of the ink stamp of the academy and under his handwritten conclusion that Col. Verbov can be appointed to the post of commander of a rifle division or deputy commander of a rifle corps, and should be promoted to the rank of general major. Shaposhnikov dated his conclusion 5 April 1944.

In very good condition. The paper is mildly and evenly age-toned, rather brittle, which is evident in the wear to the edges. Page 1 is slightly discolored along the top and right edges; page 2 is also slightly discolored along the top and left edges and has a water stain to the top of the left edge. However, the wear does not reach the text on either side of the document; the typewritten text is clear and perfectly legible, the ink stamp and all the handwritten entries on page 2 are crisp and perfectly legible.

Boris Shaposhnikov (Борис Михайлович Шапошников) was born in 1882 to a Russian middle-class family in the city of Zlatoust in Siberia, about 200 miles south of the ill-famed Yekaterinburg where the Bolsheviks murdered the family of Nikolai II in July 1918. Shaposhnikov graduated from his first military school, the Moscow Aleksey Military School, in 1903 with excellent grades and was promoted to the rank of podporuchik, equal to the modern-day junior lieutenant. That was the start of a brilliant military career - first in the Russian Imperial Army, including participation in WW1. By the time of the 1917 Bolshevik revolution, Shaposhnikov had the rank of colonel and commanded the 16th Grenadier Regiment.

In 1918, Shaposhnikov volunteered into the Red Army. His talent as a military leader was recognized immediately, and his career as a staff officer was quick and spectacular. Suffice it to say that during the Russian Civil War Shaposhnikov developed most of the main directives, decrees and orders to the fronts and armies. In 1921, he was awarded with the Order of the Red Banner. During the 1930s, he survived Stalin's purges despite attempts of NKVD to accuse him of a fascist conspiracy. In May 1940, Shaposhnikov was promoted to Marshal of the Soviet Union. In August, he was relieved of the post of Chief of General Staff due to poor health (tuberculosis), but as long as he physically could, he remained at the top of Soviet military leadership as Deputy Narkom of Defense. In June 1943, due to his worsening health status, he was appointed Chief of the Voroshilov Military Academy.

Shaposhnikov died on 26 March 1945, 44 days before the Victory.
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