Measures 9" x13". The document quotes Stalin's decree #319 of 30 March 1945. Very interesting and detailed artwork includes a portrait of Stalin and depiction of Soviet Il-2 airplanes raining bombs on what is clearly a Western European city. Note that besides the bombers the picture shows a US-built DC-3 transport plane (supplied to Soviet Union through Lend-Lease agreement) known to the Russians as Li-2 or "Duglas". The document shows the stamp of the unit which is referred to only by its code number. Signed by the unit commander Col. Smirnov.

The document is in good over

Measures 9" x13". The document quotes Stalin's decree #319 of 30 March 1945. Very interesting and detailed artwork includes a portrait of Stalin and depiction of Soviet Il-2 airplanes raining bombs on what is clearly a Western European city. Note that besides the bombers the picture shows a US-built DC-3 transport plane (supplied to Soviet Union through Lend-Lease agreement) known to the Russians as Li-2 or "Duglas". The document shows the stamp of the unit which is referred to only by its code number. Signed by the unit commander Col. Smirnov.

The document is in good overall condition. It has been rolled (although we will ship it flat) and has some minor tears along the edge but no folds or any significant damage. Very clean, and the colors are still nice and vibrant.

Dating back to medieval times, Danzig still remained an important Baltic seaport following Germany's defeat in WW1. Although populated mostly by the Germans and, according to the Treaty of Versailles, enjoying a "free city" status, it was surrounded by Polish territories and was under the overall Polish control. It was complaints about the treatment of the Germans in Danzig that had served Hitler as one of the main justifications for the invasion of Poland in September 1939 in what was then referred to by the Nazi press as the "Defensive War". The Soviet Union of course had colluded with the Nazis and invaded Poland from the east within just a couple of weeks. By the spring of 1945, these early events of WW2 had been conveniently forgotten, and the Soviet Union was now positioning itself as the great liberator of the Poles. Not surprisingly, the Soviet citation refers to Danzig first by its Polish name of Gdansk in capital letters, followed by the German name in lower case in parenthesis.
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