To the outstanding military commander of the Civil War, one of the organizers of the brilliant victories of the Red Army on the Southern and Southwestern fronts, the first chief of the General Staff of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, I send Bolshevik greetings on the occasion of his fiftieth birthday.

I wish you, dear Alexander Ilyich, health and strength for the benefit of our beloved Red Army and to the terror of its enemies.

Recalling the days of battle spent together at the fronts, I am confident that your military knowledge and organizational abilities will continue to serve successfully for the good of our Motherland.

I firmly shake your hand.

I. STALIN

Pravda. November 11, 1935.