Marshal of the USSR Georgi Zhukov Signs Documents During His Odessa Exile, 1947

1947 was an interesting period in the life of Soviet Marshal Georgi Zhukov. After having victoriously commanding  Soviet forces battling the Germans in WWII, Zhukov was a national hero and received mutiple honors from nations around the world, including having been selected by Stalin to ride a white horse during the 1945 Victory Parade. But Stalin became jealous of the influence the Marshal exerted over the army. Stalin sent him away from Moscow to the Ukraine to be in charge of the relatively unimportant Odessa Military District. Sources say that this "demotion" was the punishment for taking too many personal trophies for defeated Germany. Zhukov signed these two documents when he was in this position.  These were attestations for heroic officers of the Red Army. Interestingly, he wrote his decisions on the documents and added his rank, an unusual step perhaps to remind people of his powerful rank. He wrote, "Meets the requirements. Marshal of the USSR, Zhukov.""