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Item# 33314   $15.00  Add to cart   Show All Images   Download PDF
Honorary Jubilee Badge of a Veteran of the 157th Neman Rifle Division Veteran, 1988 issue in Commemoration of the 35th Anniversary of the unit.

Aluminum, paint, lacquer. The pendant is two-piece construction, measures 49 mm tall (incl. eyelet) x 44 mm wide, unusually large for a veteran's badge. On the front of the medallion is inscription, "157th Neman Rifle Division Veteran". The suspension shows ribbons for Medals for Victory over Germany and Victory over Japan - that latter indicating that the unit took part in the Soviet "Blitz" campaign against Japan in August 1945. The reverse of the medallion has raised inscription "Honorary Jubilee Badge of a War Veteran, 157 SNOEKD." It is interesting that the Ru

Aluminum, paint, lacquer. The pendant is two-piece construction, measures 49 mm tall (incl. eyelet) x 44 mm wide, unusually large for a veteran's badge. On the front of the medallion is inscription, "157th Neman Rifle Division Veteran". The suspension shows ribbons for Medals for Victory over Germany and Victory over Japan - that latter indicating that the unit took part in the Soviet "Blitz" campaign against Japan in August 1945. The reverse of the medallion has raised inscription "Honorary Jubilee Badge of a War Veteran, 157 SNOEKD." It is interesting that the Russian acronym was misspelled by the manufacturer of the badge: it should have been СНОСКД or "SNOSKD" which would stand for "Neman Orders of Suvorov and Kutuzov Rifle Division." The reverse of the suspension shows a trademark of a Moscow factory. In Excellent condition.

Soon after it was formed in May 1943, the division was assigned to the 33rd Army of the Western Front. It then shifted back and forth among several armies of the same Front eventually going back to the 33rd Army in April 1944, in time for the Operation Bagration. During the two months of non-stop offensive under the 2nd and later, 3rd Belorussian Fronts, the division had covered hundreds of miles of territory and earned the honorific title of Nemanskay or "Neman" to its name for the forced crossing of the Neman River. It however suffered terrible attrition with only an average of 40 men remaining in its rifle companies. It had to go back to reserves to be refit, and then was assigned to the 5th Army with which it remained through the end of the war in Europe. In January - March 1945, the division stormed German fortifications in East Prussia and again lost a large part of its personnel. After being pulled back in April, it was sent to the Far East. In August 1954, it took part in the war against Japan and once again was deployed as a battering ram to break through a belt of Japanese fortifications in Manchuria.
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