Aluminum, paint; the pendant measures about 40 mm in height (including the eyelet), 37 mm across; overall height of the entire badge with suspension is approx. 59 mm. The medallion has inscription "Veteran of the 39th Army." The reverse has raised inscription "30th Anniversary. Kalinin. Smolensk. Vitebsk. Vilnius. Kaunas. Koenigsberg. Port Arthur" - the sites of important battles in which the 39th Army was involved during WW2. The two campaign ribbon designs on the suspension represent Germany and Japan, while the one at the bottom of the pendant is for Koenigsberg. T

Aluminum, paint; the pendant measures about 40 mm in height (including the eyelet), 37 mm across; overall height of the entire badge with suspension is approx. 59 mm. The medallion has inscription "Veteran of the 39th Army." The reverse has raised inscription "30th Anniversary. Kalinin. Smolensk. Vitebsk. Vilnius. Kaunas. Koenigsberg. Port Arthur" - the sites of important battles in which the 39th Army was involved during WW2. The two campaign ribbon designs on the suspension represent Germany and Japan, while the one at the bottom of the pendant is for Koenigsberg. The reverse of the suspension has the raised maker mark of the Pobeda factory in Moscow. The badge is in excellent condition.

The badge was awarded in 1975 in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the WW2 victory over Germany. /See Paul Schmitt, Soviet Second World War Veteran Badges, Page 22; the maker mark is #128 in Annex A of the same book./

The 39th Army was formed in 1941 in the Arkhangelsk Military District. In December, the Army was involved in the Soviet counteroffensive at Moscow (the part known as Kalinin Offensive Operation) and was able to break through the enemy defenses advancing to the area of Rzhev. In the second phase of the offensive, it tore up the German defenses near Sychyovka allowing the 11th Cavalry Corps to penetrate into the breach. In late January 1942 however, the army was cut off by superior German forces northwest of Vyazma and practically annihilated.

The second formation of the 39th Army was raised under the Kalinin Front in August 1942 using the personnel of the former 58th Army, also badly depleted. It was again involved in exceptionally bloody and protracted fighting near Rzhev that became known as the Rzhev Meat Grinder. In the fall of 1943, the army was still under the same front (renamed 1st Baltic Front), in early 1944 it was reassigned to the Western and later in the year was shifted between the 1st Baltic and 3rd Belorussian Front.

The Army acquitted itself well in the Vitebesk - Orsha Offensive in June 1944 (part of the Operation Bagration), successfully broke through the German front at Kovno (Kaunas) in August, and cleared the eastern bank of the Neman River in October. During 1945, it fought in East Prussia and took part in storming Koenigsberg (the German city Hitler had claimed would house a museum for every treasure the Germans "found in Russia".) After the destruction of the German troops in Koenigsberg area, the 39th Army was relocated to Mongolia. It was involved in the Soviet invasion of Manchuria under the Trans-Baikal Front, which formed the western half of the Soviet pincer movement in the August 1945 Blitz against Japan ending the war in Port Arthur (China).
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