Soviet WW2 Defense of Stalingrad Medal Var. 1 +1944 Document to Red Army Private

Description

Soviet WW2 Medal for the Defense of Stalingrad with a 1944 Award Certificate to Red Army Private Taliev.
Both the medal and document are GUARANTEED 100% ORIGINAL Soviet issue from 1940s, not a reproduction.
The medal is made in brass and measures 32.1 mm wide.  The front has Russian inscription “For the Defense of Stalingrad” and the line of Red Army soldiers on the forefront, with unfurled Soviet banner, airplanes and tanks on the background. On the reverse is motto “For Our Soviet Motherland!”
The medal is in GOOD condition, especially for an Original WW2 era soldier's award (many Russian soldiers wore their awards even in battle!) The medallion is completely free of bumps, nicks or edge knocks.  It shows moderate wear to the high points, minor amount of pitting, some tiny scratches and dings, and small blemishes throughout. The details of the artwork however are still well-defined. This piece shows a lot of character! The medal comes on a BRASS suspension device of late 1940s vintage. The ribbon is almost new, doesn’t show any soiling or wear (Soviet war veterans often wore their medals with pride, and the ribbons as well as suspension were frequently replaced.)
The Award Certificate is one of the early style "large" certificates for the defensive campaign medals (these were replaced by booklet style certificates when other campaign medals were instituted later in the war.) It measures 5 5/8" x 8 1/4 ". It was issued to Red Army Private Taliev on 14 March 1944. The document shows ink stamp of the
274
th
Howitzer Artillery Regiment
and is hand-signed by the Regiment Commander, a Lieutenant Colonel.
The document is in fair condition. Like many Soviet large single-page certificates of its kind, it has been folded for storage or to carry inside an ID book and developed separations along the fold lines.  There are also some small clips and tears to the margins that do not affect the text or artwork. To keep it from falling apart, a piece of thick backing paper was glued to the verso, probably by the recipient himself. There are some faint water stains but most of the text including the last name and rank of the recipient is still legible (we could not read his first name however). The unit stamp is also clearly legible.
As a historical sidenote, according to the published Russian order of battle information, the 274th Howitzer Artillery Regiment took part in the Battle of Stalingrad as a part of the famous 5
th
Shock Army, Southwestern Front. Later, it was used as a strategic reserve and moved as needed between the 44
th
, 28
th
and 5
th
Shock Armies of the South / 4
th
Ukrainian Front. The regiment ended the war in Austria as part of the 3
rd
Ukrainian Front.
This document and medal were issued to a participant of what was probably the bloodiest single battle in all history and certainly the most important turning point in WW2. Hitler was singularly obsessed with capturing the "City of Stalin", and Stalin was equally determined not to let that happen. The titanic struggle went on from mid-summer of 1942 through early February 1943 ending in a catastrophe for the German war machine – the biggest defeat it had ever suffered up to that point. The Wehrmacht lost an entire army in the hellish cauldron of the frozen and completely destroyed city on the Volga River, and had a Field Marshal ignominiously surrender - the first in modern German history. The Soviet casualties, well over a million in most estimates, were even more appalling, but unlike Germany, the Soviet Union could afford them. With the defeat at Stalingrad, any chances of German victory in the East were finally and irrevocably put to rest.
This document and medal make a great set and will look spectacular when displayed together, especially if properly framed.
FREE SHIPPING
(USPS 1st cl. Mail) WITHIN USA ONLY!
We WILL NOT ship our eBay items outside USA.