1. Award Document for a Badge of Veteran of the 62nd / 8th Guards Army", 1960s - early 80s.

The document is hand-signed by Marshal of the Soviet Union Vasiliy Chuikov in his capacity as Chairman Emeritus of the Council of the Veterans of the 62nd Army. This is highly unusual: typically, documents of this nature would have a facsimile signature. Apparently, Chuikov valued this soldier highly or possibly even knew him personally.

In good condition. The paper is moderately scuffed and frayed, as well as moderately soiled and stained. However, the fold line is

1. Award Document for a Badge of Veteran of the 62nd / 8th Guards Army", 1960s - early 80s.

The document is hand-signed by Marshal of the Soviet Union Vasiliy Chuikov in his capacity as Chairman Emeritus of the Council of the Veterans of the 62nd Army. This is highly unusual: typically, documents of this nature would have a facsimile signature. Apparently, Chuikov valued this soldier highly or possibly even knew him personally.

In good condition. The paper is moderately scuffed and frayed, as well as moderately soiled and stained. However, the fold line is strong, showing no separations, the printed and handwritten text, as well as Marshal Chuikov's hand signature are clear and perfectly legible.

2. Award Document for the Order of the Patriotic War 1st cl., issued in 1985.

In good overall condition, with wear mostly to the gold lettering on the cover and lightly frayed corners. The lettering however is still quite legible. Inside, there is light foxing to the paper on the side with the image of the order, and areas of faint light yellowish stains on the award page, not affecting the printed or handwritten text, signature of the Secretary of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the USSR, or the Council's seal.

3. Free Transportation Coupon Booklet #000685, Supplementary for the Hero's ID, 1987.

The booklet contains coupons for free long-distance travel by bus, train, or airplane. Issued for the period from 1987 to 1991, with coupons for one round trip per year. The booklet is of a special type, specifying that this privilege was granted exclusively to Heroes of the Soviet Union, Heroes of Socialist Labor, and cavaliers of all three classes of the Order for Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR, the Order of Glory, and the Order of Labor Glory.

Never used, in near-mint condition, showing only minimal storage wear to the cover.

4. Letter of Greetings on Occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Soviet Armed Forces, 1968.

In beveled leatherette-wrapped hardcover folio, with embossed image of the obverse of the jubilee medal "50th Anniversary of the Soviet Armed Forces" on the front cover. Inside, the artwork on the left-hand page shows flags of the Soviet Army, Air Force, and Navy, a red band with the years of the anniversary, and a graphic of attacking Soviet Army troops. The right-hand page is decorated with images of the Order of the Red Banner, Order of Victory, Order of the Patriotic War, and Order of Glory. The greeting celebrates the heroic actions of Nikolai Obukhov during the Patriotic War, and finishes with best wishes of health, success, and happiness. Hand-signed by the Military Commissar of UdmASSR G. Trubin, Chairman of the DOSAAF Committee A. Ankudinov, and Chairman of the Military Science Society A. Raketskiy.

In good condition. Both the cover and the inside pages show scuffs, stains and soiling. The surface layer of the paper at the bottom right-hand corner of the greeting is ripped off. The spine of the folio is strong and tight, permitting only minimal wiggle.

Nikolai Obukhov (Николай Феоктистович Обухов, 1921 - 1990) was born to the family of a worker. Since 1937, he lived in the city of Izhevsk (Udmurt ASSR), working as a mechanic at the machine building plant. Conscripted to the Red Army in 1940 by the Izhevsk City Military Commissariat, he entered active combat duty in 1941 as a rifleman with the 212nd Airborne Reconnaissance Brigade, the 40th Army, South-Western Front.

Obukhov received the Title of Hero of the Soviet Union very early in the war, in November 1941, for actions during the Battle of Kiev which was catastrophic for the Red Army. He was awarded well before the vast majority of WW2 recipients of the Hero Title. As described in the award commendation for the Hero of the Soviet Union, Obukhov was on a recon mission on 8 September 1941, during which he was surrounded by the Germans who attempted to capture him. Obukhov raised his hands as if surrendering, approached the enemy, and from a 15-meter distance lobbed a hand grenade wounding five enemy troops. Then Obukhov killed two more with his pistol, returned to his observation post and continued reconnaissance observations after reporting the event to his battalion commander.

Later that night, Obukhov led a group of soldiers to the location he had been staking out earlier, tasked with destroying enemy tanks. They were able to approach the tanks close enough to kill the tank drivers, and used Molotov cocktails to destroy two tanks.

This heroic combat performance earned Obukhov one of the very first Hero of the Soviet Union awards, made even more unusual because it shines against the background of the disaster of the Battle of Kiev, any mention of which the Soviets tried to sweep under the rug as much as they could.

Subsequently, Obukhov was wounded. Probably while convalescing, in 1943, Obukhov completed a course in the Lenin Military Political Academy, and in 1944 graduated from the Higher Military-Political Courses and returned to the frontlines. During that time, Obukhov served in the 8th Guards Army under the command of Marshal of the Soviet Union Vasily Chuikov, was wounded again but returned to the front by the end of the war. In 1953, Sr. Lt. Obukhov was discharged from active duty and lived in the Ukrainian city of Chernovtsy until his death in 1990. He was an active participant in the veteran movement.

Research Materials: photocopy of the award commendation for the Title of Hero of the Soviet Union, and the article about Obukhov in the official catalog Heroes of the Soviet Union (contains his photo).

Please note that the photo of Nikolai Obukhov we added for illustrative purposes was copied from warheroes.ru and is not included with this group of documents.
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