Letter to Stalin from the entire Personnel of the 18th Army, signed by 37,658 EM, NCO, officers & generals with Leonid Brezhnev's signature among them, dated February 23, 1944.
This is a folder measuring approx. 12 ½ x 9 x 2", with additional hard cardboard leatherette-bound covers. Weighs nearly 5 lbs. The letter was composed to congratulate Stalin with the 26th anniversary of the Red Army (February 23 was established as the Red Army Day in 1922). Multiple copies of the letter were sent out to every unit comprising the 18th Army, where the letter was read aloud, discussed, and signatures of every person in every unit collected, from private to general, 37,658 signatures total. All of them, together with all the copies of the letter and additional sign
This is a folder measuring approx. 12 ½ x 9 x 2", with additional hard cardboard leatherette-bound covers. Weighs nearly 5 lbs. The letter was composed to congratulate Stalin with the 26th anniversary of the Red Army (February 23 was established as the Red Army Day in 1922). Multiple copies of the letter were sent out to every unit comprising the 18th Army, where the letter was read aloud, discussed, and signatures of every person in every unit collected, from private to general, 37,658 signatures total. All of them, together with all the copies of the letter and additional signature pages, have been organized in the folder we are offering.
The cover of the folder reads "To the Supreme Commander Marshal of the Soviet Union I.V. Stalin". The title page is preceded by a cardboard insert page featuring а b/w print of the 1943 oil on canvas painting by P. Vasilyev. The artist's handwritten signature and date are in the lower right-hand corner of the image. The portrait is protected by a sheet of rice paper.
The internal pages are held together by a purple silk ribbon. Shortage of paper at that time and under the circumstances accounts for a wide variety of different quality paper used to type the letter, and an even wider variety of paper used for additional signature pages: from regular letter-size typing paper to rice paper, to pages from notepads, to large ledger sheets, to graph paper, to lined elementary school notebook pages, to German military topographical tactical maps.
One of the signatures (we left a bookmark on that page) belongs to the then chief political officer of the 18th Аrmy and, later, General Secretary of the CPSU Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev (in one of our photos).
The first signature, in red pencil, belongs to the Commander of the 18th Army, Lt. Gen.Yevgeniy Zhuravlyov (Евгений Петрович Журавлев, 1896 - 1983). His military career began in 1916 in the Russian Imperial Army. His last post, to which he was appointed in 1955, was Chief of the Personnel Department of the land Armed Forces of the Soviet Union. He retired in 1960 and lived in a Moscow suburb until his death in 1983.
The 18th Army, formed in 1941, became part of the Southern Front. It participated in multiple major operations, defensive at the beginning of the war, mostly offensive since the Rostov offensive in the late fall of 1941. It played a major role in the Battle of the Caucasus, re- capturing the Crimean Peninsula, and many others including the Malaya Zemlya (Russian for "small land") operation made famous by Leonid Brezhnev who described it in his book of the same title where he exaggerated his role in it as much as the ghost writers who actually wrote the book saw fit.
In good overall condition. The folder is in fair condition: the hard front cover wrapped in leatherette is separated from the spine. The top, bottom, and side flaps of the folder show moderate wear and partial separations due to tears to the leatherette. The hard cover in the back is mostly intact, showing just minor tears to the leatherette at the top and bottom, and mild staining.
The documents inside the folder are in good to very good condition. There is mild to moderate age toning to the paper, small corner bumps and minor fraying at the edges but, most importantly, the paper is still quite supple and allows to turn the pages, carefully but with ease.
We cannot overemphasize the uniqueness and raw authenticity of this one-of-a-kind document. Addressed and sent personally to Stalin, containing original signatures of almost 38 thousand personnel of an entire army, one of the signatures belonging to the future General Secretary of the Communist Party. Not only will it be the crown jewel of any collection of WW2 Soviet militaria and a fantastic conversation piece. It is just an awesome historical artifact!
Please note that the pen in our last photo is for size reference.
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