49. Day, March 30, 2020
Our hero is getting a little more colorful today - I have turned to his awards!
"Petro" has two awards, one from the Tsarist period and one from the Russian Civil War. And I start with the Civil War Order!
It's this one ...:
The order has two names or meanings:
It is first called the "Ice March Order" - and commemorates the suffering of the "white" volunteer army between February and April 1918.
During this time, the "whites" had to withdraw from the area of the Don Cossacks before a huge superiority of the "Red Workers and Peasants Army" - partly over the frozen Azov sea to the Kuban area.
The force and the thousands of civilians it accompanied had to march hundreds of kilometers through icy steppe areas and camp outside without any quarters...:
The misery was constantly attacked by "red" partisans and angry farmers, whom - to survive - they stole the food.
Remembering this "ice march" is the first meaning of the order.
His second name is "Order of the First Cuban Campaign".
Because when the volunteer army reached the Cuban area after months of ice marching, they could not catch a breath there, but were forced to go straight from the march into heavy fighting!
Although the group, which had melted down to a few thousand men, new anti-Bolshevik forces poured in from the Cuban area and brought them back to a headcount of approximately 25,000 men - but quarters and headquarters had to be fought for!
But the attempt to conquer the capital of the Cuban area, Yekatarinodar (today: Krasnodar), failed bloodily!
In addition, the commanding officer of the "whites", General Lawr Kornilow, died...
... through a shell hit on his headquarters.
His successor, General Anton Denikin ...
... retreated - and led the troops back north ...
To recall this - ultimately failed - campaign is the second meaning of the order.
The "Ice March Order" was in three classes:
In the lowest 3rd class ar the order was silver and showed a sword surrounded by the Christian crown of thorns ...:
The crown of thorns was an important symbol of the "whites", who understood their struggle against the Bolsheviks as crusades and sacrifice.
In the 2nd class the sword was golden ...
... and in the - highest - 1st class the award was given entirely in gold; the execution was also worked much finer than in the two lower classes...:
(One automatically asks oneself when and how the "whites" found time to think about such things at all, let alone to realize them!)
The medal ribbon was the same for all three classes - it is the typical Russian "Georg ribbon" made of black and orange stripes. Not easy to paint, by the way!
Our "Petro" is just a small Sotnik (leader of the hundreds, for example a lieutenant) - so he only got the lowest - silver - 3rd class.
I used these colors to paint ...:
And here is the result ...:
Cheers
