Hello there, all, I come from Moscow (although I was born in Siberia, Novosibirsk to be exact), Russia, and I'm an absolute WWII fanatic. I've read quite a lot of books and watched many films, been at countless memorials and battlefields and am eager to discuss the war with likeminded people! I've also got quite a bit of memorabilia, e.g. medals, stamps, helmets, flags, things of that nature. I'm always looking to expand my collection, and if there's anything interesting on offer, I'm all ears. I'm here to discuss the Eastern and Western fronts, find out new information and points of view I'm always open to new ideas and opinions so knowing what you guys think about the war, the Eastern Front in particular, would be awesome. By the way, I also don't know absolutely anything about the war in the Pacific, or North Africa, or Italy, or Greece, which I'm really ashamed of, but It would be great if someone could enlighten me on the subject
Hello Towarish, nice to have you here, there is plenty to learn about all the war theaters you mention ,so go ahead jump in and enjoy!
Welcome Tovarisch, good to have you here. Your written English is good, do you speak it as well as you write it? Jump on in the discussions and show us pics of the memorabilia you have.
Welcome, Tovarisch. You've come to a good place. There is plenty of information on the areas you are unfamiliar with, and I hope you will share some of your knowledge on the East Front.
Welcome to the forum. I'd like to see some photos of the battlefields as they are today & the memorials there.
hello Welcome to the forum Tovarisch you have come to the right place, Hopefully you'll enjoy it here Suzie
Thank you for that very warm welcome, I'll try and apply myself here as best as I can . This forum looks like an amazing place to exchange rare knowledge about WWII, and I guess we'll waste no time doing just that. Urgh, thank you for your rather positive comment, I am actually quite surprised to find such a place where Russia and her history are well-respected and discussed very positively, due to the amount of negative stuff that developed between the West and the USSR during the Cold War. It's a new day now, and 'forgive and forget' would be a useful thing, especially on the internet Slipdigit, thank you for that rather flattering compliment, I actually tend to consider my written English quite a bit worse than my spoken English, or so my teachers say anyway . I've done a few Cambridge Language exams, such as the FCE (First Certificate of English) which I passed with an A grade, an I've only recently done the CAE (Certificate of Advanced English), and I'm waiting on the results now, so, it's like that basically I go to a British school here in Moscow, the British International school to be precise, and I've been studying the language for about 8 or 9 years. Thank you again. Wessex Wyvern, here are some of the battlefield memorials you wanted to see, Borodino field (originally famous for the Napoleonic War of 1812, but it was a battlefield in WWII as well) and th memorial to 33rd army General Efremov. Borodino field One of many memorials at Borodino (there are actually dozens of 'Bratskiye Mogily' as we call them, erm... Brotherly Graves, I guess would be an appropriate translation, they're burial grounds, pits even, into which tens and hundreds of corpses were thrown and then buried, as to save time with the ceremonial aspect of burial.) Close-up of that Memorial. Monument to General Efremov (Mikhail Grigoryevich Yefremov - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) Close-up. Overall, thanks for that warm welcome, guys!
Your photographic skills are impressive. These are great shots, as are the ones of the monuments in your other thread. Thanks again for sharing them.
I'm pretty flattered to say the least. Thank you for those warm words. Oh, and in the other thread you said you were a retired teacher? I suspect you taught History, am I right? Did you teach anything else besides that? And by the way, what brought you to WW2F? I apologise for all the personal questions lol. Erm, by the way, can anyone tell me how you get the little medals to acompany your profile? I've already got a Purple Heart, God knows how I got that lol. Do they show your rating or something?
You are correct. I taught History and Geography for 34 years. I am interested in history generally, but my interest in WW2 comes form my father having fought in North Africa and Italy for 3 years. He rarely talked about it, and I have taken it on myself to find out what I can about his service. This site has been very helpful, as have the members here. You are awarded the medals next to your name based on the number of posts you make. Off hand, I don't have the exact numbers required for each medal. I believe they come at 20 100 250 500 1000 1200(?) 2000 Then one for each 100 after that. Your reputation is shown by the little blue medals on the right side under you other stats. Reputation is earned through salutes or the giving of rep when members click on the little scales in the top bar of your posts.
