General of the Army Ivan Pavlovskiy, Supreme Commander of Soviet Army Ground Troops, typed document signed, 1976.
Six pages, front and verso. The document is a standard form for service evaluation and promotional recommendation of Lt. Col. Yuriy Batulin for a posting to an army group. Pavlovskiy's signature is at the bottom of the additional signature page, in black ink. The evaluation does not specify which army group Batulin is going to be posted to. Taking into the account that all the approving signatures belong to commanding officers of the Belorussian Military District, it could be Germany. However, looking at the date, it is possible that Batulin was groomed for Afghanistan 3 years later.
In very good condition. The paper is mostly clean, the filing margin has no staple holes, and the fold line in the middle has just a tiny separation at the edge. The additional signature page insert is a bit frayed at the bottom, and shows barely noticeable soiling at the upper left-hand corner. None of the wear, either on the form or on the signature page insert affects the text or any of the signatures, 6 of which belonging to general officers of the Belorussian Military District in addition to Pavlovskiy's signature.
General of the Army (rank equivalent to Marshal of the Soviet Union) Ivan Pavlovskiy (Иван Григорьевич Павловский, 1909 - 1999) had a long illustrious military career in the Soviet Army before, during and after WW2. However, he must have been a better military commander than a politician.
In 1979, Pavlovskiy was sent to Afghanistan as part of the Soviet mission charged with the tasks of reorganization of the Afghan army, which mostly meant evaluating the "lay of the land" in preparation for entry of the Soviet troops. Pavlovskiy returned a strong opponent to the Soviet army's entry. Worse yet, he defended his opinion in his reports, and that cost him his post and triggered pushing his career to the back burner of inspectorship for the Ministry of Defense.
Item# 41363
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