Speak up for clues.
I promise to be generous. 
I have no idea so Iāll do some guessing/fishing for hintsā¦
The non-Soviet fellasā¦are they German of maybe Spanish?
Would the Red Army officer happen to be a Polkovnik (Colonel)?
The no-Soviet fellas are neither German nor Spanishā¦ but they are from one of the Axis powers.
Yes, a colonel - three big stars on the shoulder straps. He will attain an icon like status for what he would do after the war.
In 1945 he received the following USA awards āBronze Star Medalā and āLegion of Meritā.
I see some mustaches. Mustaches usually mean Hungarian.
:mrgreen: Yes, these guys are Hungarians.
Ok. Seems I have to reveal the answers or else the thread is bound to dieā¦
These fellows are Hungarians. In 1945 a group of about 60 surrendered to 144 RD batallion of the 49th Guard Rifle Division.
The picularity of the situation was that the Hungarians came with an offer: If instead of RKKA they retake the local village held by a German unit, they should be released from the captivity and be allowed to go home.
The offer was so unusual that the divisions commander had to ask his superiours. Shortly after the commander of the 46th army General Petrushevsky gave his permission for this action.
The 49th Division commander, seen on the second photograph, was colonel Vasily F. Margelov, who after WW2 worked on establishing the Soviet paratrooper forces and considered to be the ādadyā of the Soviet/Russian paratroopers.
Margelov was wounded 9 times during the course of the war.
Here V.F.Margelov at the Victory parade in Moscow:
The turn passes to Wingsofwrath.
Sorry to say, but the USSR had already a long para experiance for that time!
So he was not the one to establish it!
"The Soviet Union formed the first parachute units in the early 1930s. As with many aspects of modern military technology, the Soviets took the lead and the rest of the world followed. But the Soviets lacked the ability to make airborne forces work effectively, something Germany and the Western Allies were only marginally better at. Moreover, although in the 1930s new military technologies (tanks, aircraft carriers, dive-bombers) abounded, no one knew who would, or could, make what work.
By 1932, after several years of planning, the Soviets had a thousand paratroopers and were enthusiastically working out the technical details of airborne operations. After that, the strength of Russian paratroop forces took off.
By 1934 the Soviets had standardized their paratrooper organization. The basic unit was a brigade, which contained 3,000 to 3,500 men (four 450- to 550-man infantry battalions, a recon company, artillery battalion; and support units). The Soviets pioneered the use of gliders, and the airborne brigades had combinations of parachute and glider battalions (usually two of each). Gliders allowed the landing of light tanks and artillery. Such a ātwo and twoā brigade would have eleven light tanks, seventeen pieces of artillery (four 75mm guns, the rest being combinations of mortars and antiaircraft and antitank guns). The brigade would have sixty to seventy trucks.
Year Number of Paratroopers
1932 1,000
1933 8,000
1934 10,000
1935 10,000
1936 10,000
1937 12,000
1938 18,000
1939 30,000
1940 50,000
1941 55,000
The closest the paratroopers came to an airborne combat operation was in 1940, when three brigades were dropped ahead of ground troops during the Russian reoccupation of the Romanian province of Bessarabia. There was no opposition during this operation, so it was basically another training exercise. "
sincerely,
TGR
That is right that M.F.Margelov was not the first superior officer leading Soviet paratrooper forces.
The thing is that he was the one who made into what it is today - elite of Russian army.
Margelov essentially chaged the previously existi g approach where paratroopers were just ordinary infantry with parashoots on their backs. He implemented new strategy and tactics to be user by VDV. He is indeed concidered to be the founderof VDV.
The closest the paratroopers came to an airborne combat operation was in 1940, when three brigades were dropped ahead of ground troops during the Russian reoccupation of the Romanian province of Bessarabia. There was no opposition during this operation, so it was basically another training exercise. "
This is wrong.
There were 2 airborn operations. In january 1942 and in september 1943. Both of them ended up disasterously though.
Hi,
I never argue - he made very important steps and I agree, he was an excellent comamnder.
This is also āhimselfā.
Do you know where it is?
TGR
This is the monument in town of his birth - Dnepropetrovsk.
Since mister Egorka opted so graciously to pass his turn to me, I can only accept and try to prove my little enigma worthy of the excellence practised on this thread:
As usual, where and when are a must, but as a bonus question, please identify the second individual on the left.
No idea where or when, but the second person from left could be a young, possibly pre-war, Hitler.
And the bloke to his left (right on picture) could even be a young Hess.
Nope, it aināt Hitler. Or Hess.
Itās Nicolae CeauÅescu in Targu Jiu concentration camp in Romania in 1943
Well, that was amazingly fast. You are, of course, right, and thus itās your turn to post. Congratulations on a job well done!
Hitler was too easy and obvious, although I thought I was pretty clever to start with.
But youāre from Romania, so another dictator came to mind. 
Hereās the next quiz.
Oh boy. Unfortunately, thereās absolutely nothing distinctive enough to tie this photograph to a certain place and time, so Iām afraid we shall require some more clues on the matterā¦
No clueā¦
So let it be Sudet-German women cheering the incoming German army in October 1938ā¦
I was rather hoping that the limited detail and range of dresses in the photo would have people offering suggestions from Los Alamos to the Ukraine to Shanghai to Manila to Hawaii to Sydney.
Well, I aināt gonna narrow it down at this stage.
Hereās the same group a bit later and a few thousand miles away from the first photo.
Hope this helps.
Ah!
Exactly the sort of confusion I hoped to create.
(I was typing my last post while yours appeared.)
But youāre not even in the right theatre of war.
P.S. Theyāre from a nation that wasnāt involved in the war until after Germany invaded Poland, which is almost a year after October 1938.