Sword of Stalingrad

[Tal Inbar]

In Russian:

[Tal Inbar]

The Sword was designed in 1943 by R M Y Gleadowe, former Slade Professor of Fine Art at Oxford. The design was approved by H M King George the Sixth after choosing from a number of designs. A committee of nine people, functioning from Goldsmiths Hall, supervised the work, which was carried out by various craftsmen. The blade was forged by Wilkinson Sword; the two swordsmiths involved were Tom Beasley and his assistant Sid Rouse. Tom was in his eighties at the time. The special sword steel was supplied by Sanderson Brothers and Newbould of Sheffield, and was acid-etched with the words ‘TO THE STEEL-HEARTED CITIZENS OF STALINGRAD, THE GIFT OF KING GEORGE THE SIXTH, IN TOKEN OF HOMAGE OF THE BRITISH PEOPLE.’

This inscription was repeated on the reverse of the blade in Russian. The double-edged blade was 36” long. The cross-piece of the hilt was 10” wide and of silver. The two-handed grip was bound with gold wire and a rock-crystal pommel. The scabbard was covered with crimson Morocco, and fitted with silver mounts bearing the Royal Arms, Crown and Cipher, and three gold-mounted red enamel stars. The gold and silver work on the sword and scabbard was all done by Corporal L G Durbin, RAF. He was granted special leave from his normal duties after the Air Ministry was approached by Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths. He worked in Meadow Road, Kennington, at the forge of Frank Adam, his tutor at the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts. While the Sword was being made, Wilkinson made another three swords, Correct in every detail except the precious metals were not used.

[Tal Inbar]

I don't know if this is the actual Sword of Stalingrad or the replica, but someone messed with it, as you can see:

[Tal Inbar]

Well, I believe that this is one of the 3 replicas.

Tal

[Nota Bene]

Tal,

You say "one of the 3 replicas", could you elaborate on this please.

Alexei

[Tal Inbar]

Alexei,

According to the source of pictures, the person who actually built the sword made 3 more, but didn't used gold etc.

See: http://www.russianswords.com/ (commercial site, but one which DON'T deal with Soviet awards.

[Nota Bene]

Tal,

Thanks for the information. I find this story hard to believe. Besides the scabbard of the copy looks quite different from the original one. Could this be just another story to push up the price for a copy?

Alexei

[ade stevenson]

A few weeks ago I got to see one of the three additional swords made at the time. It is huge! It here in the UK and is in a museum ran by the Ministry of Defence. I won't add more than that. Reason being it was described as being "on loan from Wilkinson Sword Company". Now they no longer exist, I would not like to create any possible problems for the museum. But I hope to have access to it in the future and I will try and take some pics to share.

Cheers, Ade.

[nestormakhno]

I have done quite a bit of research into this sword and should soon be publishing something about it.

The sword on display at the RAF's Medmenham collection at Chicksands is there legitimately with the permission of a member of the Wilkinson family.

The one being sold on russianswords.com probably is one of the 3 copies made at the time - an American embassy official by the name of Cardiner WAS given one - but you never know, caveat emptor.

The third copy, bizarrely, is above the bar of the Isle of Purbeck Golf Club. If I remember correctly, one of the people involved in its manufacture went on to be the manager of the club after the war and it has remained there ever since.

The one on display in the Panorama museum is far superior to the copies, having, as it does, silver fittings and being embellished with 18-ct gold wire and a rock crystal pommel. The jewellry was the work of a man called Leslie Durbin who was on loan from the RAF reconnaissance model-making team (hence the RAF connection). After the war he became known as THE man to go to for decorative precious items.

The sword was forged in the Wilkinson Sword factory in Acton, from steel provided by Sanderson Brothers & Newbolt of Sheffield, it was designed by RMY Gleadowe - a Slade Professor of art at Oxford - and the lettering was done by a man called M.C.Oliver whilst the engraver was called G.T.Friend. The translation of the English text was provided, after much debate, by Prof. Armine Minns of Cambridge.

The man responsible for the construction was indeed Tom Beasley who was in his 80's (and often pulling double shifts) when he undertook this task.

The originator of the idea of presenting a sword was, of course, not King George VI - the first record I have of its mention was by a Foreign Office official called E.W.Light who may have arrived at the idea himself or simply stolen an underling's idea.

Before they hit upon the idea of a sword, there was talk of presenting a George Cross - as had happened with Malta but it appears that King George was definitely opposed to that (possibly because he was a relative of Tsar Nicholas II - who knows?). There was also discussion of presenting the Military Cross but then followed a lot of debate about the value of an MC compared to the George Cross.

The sword was a very neat solution to the problems of relative prestige of awards and precedents, being an unprecedented award. (Well almost unprecedented, but I demur)

You can see some information I have on the subject at my website at Sword of Honour

The photograph at the top is the actual sword in the Panorama museum.

[Stepanovich]

Tom Beasley at his forge, creating the sword.