Article about: Hello Guys, I want to present to you the archives of Lieutenant Colonel Polien Georgievich BEKHTEREV born August 7, 1896 in Chelyabinsk and died in a hospital of the MVD in 1983. I have many
Hello Guys,
I want to present to you the archives of Lieutenant Colonel Polien Georgievich BEKHTEREV born August 7, 1896 in Chelyabinsk and died in a hospital of the MVD in 1983.
I have many photos, letters, various certificates, booklets, pension book, hunting licenses (!), career records and above all about twenty identity cards from the OGPU, the NKVB and then the MVD.
The entire lot of the archives:
His carreer starts during the civil war in cavalry régiments (look the uncommon cap insignia)
his military career is also recorded in 3 booklets called "Трудовой список" .in the USSR in 1926-1938, a document in which information about the passage of service in state institutions, cooperatives and public organizations was entered. "Трудовой список" can serve as proof that the employee has a certain seniority and has served in the red army. I have 3 different booklets concerning this officer.
He joined the RKKA march 5th 1918 , he fought in the Caucasus, "Turkestan" and on various fronts as evidenced by a certificate dated 1967. He left the army for the first time in December 1927. He re-enlisted July 19, 1929 in the border troops.
His career in OGPU started in 1929
On this picture you can see some traces of burns on his face. A certificate of injury indicates that he was burned during the civil war.
He is the holder of the badge "excellent soldier of the RKKA".
He was decorated with the Order of Lenin and the Red Flag (confirmed by research in the army archives).
In 1938 he received the RKKA 20th anniversary medal.
Portrait in 1941
For his participation in the Patriotic War he received the Medal for Victory over Germany and various medals commemorating the anniversaries of the Red Army and the Nazi surrender.
During the 2WW he served in internal troops ( convoi, security of railways, the hunt for deserters). I will detail later its precise functions.
I first started by checking Russian archives to be sure that the medal for the 20 years of the Red Army as well as the orders of Lenin, and the Red Flag had indeed been awarded to this officer.
Then I had a lot of research work because the service records are precise with regard to the civil war and the period in the regular army. As soon as this officer enters the OGPU the information is more difficult to gather.
I studied and translated all the identity cards which indicate units, the examination of the administrative stamps was decisive. I have ID cards from 1933 and 1934, 1938 until 1945, then 3 MVD cards from 1949 to 1954.
I compared the career with all the secondary documents: hunting licenses, the Dynamo supporter card ... It's a complex job because the organization of the NKVD is complex, confused and very evolving. For example, I hesitated for a long time on the unit in which this officer served in 1939. The mention on the card specified "К Пв". I knew that the officer was in the border guard a that time (Пограничные войска) but I did not know how to translate the "K". On the forums several people told me about the escorts of the convoys ("K" for "KONVOÏ"). But on the stamp it says "Красноз" ???? On a forum specializing in border troops, a collector explained to me that the "K" came from Краснознамённый Дальневосточный пограничный округ because the troops protecting the borders of the Far Eastern Border District (the Chinese border near the Amun) received in 1938 the order of the red banner and are designated by the acronym "КПВ": Краснознаменные Пограничные и Внутренние Войска НКВД (guards of the red banner borders and internal troops of NKVD).
In short, this is not easy to trace the career of an officer who started in the economic department of the OGPU, who went through the border guards, then the internal troops, then the recruitment service of the border guards headquarters …
Here is his career with some of my lot of ID cards (I will add the full collection later)
1933: inspector of the OGPU in the North Caucasus.
1934, inspector in the logistics department of OGPU, North Caucasus district
1938 and 1939, Captain of the NKVD stationed at the Directorate of Border Guards of the District of Far East
1940, captain of the NKVD in the 1st brigade of convoy escort troops. In the year he is promoted to Major
1941, Major of the NKVD in the staff service of the headquarters of the border guards in the North Caucasus
Hunting permit and Dynamo supporter card dated 1941
1942, Major of the NKVD of the 43rd brigade of convoy troops
1943, admitted to the School of the Lenin Order of Border Guards (Ордена Ленина Высшая школа войск НКВД) .The Moscow-based school was moved to Saratov.
Head of the 4th Department of the 22nd Border Guard Division of the NKVD
1944-1945, promoted Lieutenant-Colonel of the NKVD on July 19, 1944, assigned to the 25th North Caucasus Railroad Protection Division (former 4th division reformed in 1942 in Saratov.
1949 to 1954 Lieutenant colonel of the MVD chief of echelon of the convoy escort troops.
Thank you! it's rare to find such a large group of documents. to tell the truth, at the beginning I was very hesitant and I asked to look at all the supporting documents because they are very useful in an evaluation: personal photos, certificates, union booklet for the short period when he worked after having left the army and before joining the OGPU ... the hunting licenses are very nice, I did not know that there was a "military" hunting license. the ID cards also allow me to make comparisons with other copies. unfortunately there are a multitude of NKVD service ID card designs each year. but I have already been able to make some interesting comparisons.
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