The Order of Victory is the highest military merit medal in the Soviet Union, and it is one of the least awarded medals in the world, with only 17 people receiving a total of 20 medals.
In 1943, the situation on the Soviet-German battlefield had changed radically, and the Soviet army had begun a strategic **. Stalin considered the creation of a special military medal to be awarded to outstanding commanders who had distinguished themselves in battle.
At first, the medal was intended to be named the "Order of Loyalty to the Fatherland", but later the draft designed by Alexander Ivanovich Kuznetsov, who was responsible for the design of the Order of the Great Patriotic War, was chosen by Stalin with the inscription "Victory", so the medal was finally named "Order of Victory".
The ** part of the Order of Victory is the five-pointed star, the symbol of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, and the ** round shield of the five-pointed star is the Kremlin, Lenin's Tomb and the Sbask Tower surrounded by oak trees. At the top of the design is the inscription "cccp", and below is the Russian inscription "Victory.
At 46 mm wide and 8 mm high, the Victory Medal is the most expensive medal in the world, costing millions of dollars each. Oak leaves, the Kremlin, Lenin's Tomb and the Sbasque Tower are reliefs made of **, the blue sky in the background is a sapphire, the red ground is a ruby pentagram, the inner corner is also a ruby, and the outer and outer ring lights are made of diamond-encrusted white gold.
The Order of Victory is made up of six other Soviet medals in the colors, from the outside to the inside, including the orange and black of the Order of Glory, the blue of the Order of Bohdan Khmelnitsky, the crimson of the Order of Alexander Nevsky, the dark blue of the Order of Kutuzov, the green of the Order of Suvorov, and the red of the Order of Lenin.
On November 8, 1943, the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union officially issued an order establishing the "Order of Victory" to recognize "senior commanders and fighters of the Red Army who successfully commanded one or more fronts in a campaign and fundamentally changed the situation of the Red Army's war." And it was stipulated that the Order of Victory could only be awarded by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.
As required, the Victory Medal is worn on the left chest 12-14 cm above the waist.
On April 10, 1944, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR awarded the Order of Victory for the first time. Marshal Zhukov was awarded the Order of Victory No. 1, and the recipient of the Order of Victory No. 2 was Marshal Vasilevsky. The Order of Victory No. 3 was awarded to Supreme Commander Stalin.
Marshal Zhukov (four-time Hero of the Soviet Union) wearing two Orders of Victory
On March 30, 1945, Marshal Zhukov was awarded the Order of Victory No. 4, and he also became the first recipient of two Victory Medals. At the same time, Marshal Konev was awarded the Order of Victory No. 5, and Marshal Rokossovsky was awarded the Order of Victory No. 6.
On April 19, 1945, Vasilevsky was also awarded his second Order of Victory, No. 7. On the 26th, Marshal Malinovsky was awarded the Order of Victory No. 8, and Marshal Tolbukhin was awarded the Order of Victory No. 9.
On May 31, 1945, the Order of Victory No. 10 was awarded to Marshal Govorov.
On June 4, 1945, the Order of Victory was awarded to Marshal Timoshenko and General Antonov, respectively.
On June 5, 1945, the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union awarded Eisenhower the Order of Victory No. 13 to the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, and Eisenhower became the first foreign commander to receive the Medal of Victory. On the same day, British Field Marshal Montgomery was awarded the Order of Victory No. 14.
On June 26, 1945, Supreme Commander Joseph Stalin received the Order of Victory No. 15, becoming one of only three people to receive the Order of Victory twice.
On July 6, 1945, King Mihai I of Romania was awarded the Order of Victory No. 16.
On August 9, 1945, the Commander-in-Chief of the Polish People's Army, Field Marshal Zhimelski, was awarded the Order of Victory No. 17.
On September 8, 1945, Marshal Meretskov, who ended the war against Japan, was awarded the Order of Victory No. 18.
On September 9, 1945, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR awarded Tito, Supreme Commander of the Yugoslav Armed Forces, the Order of Victory No. 19.
On February 20, 1978, Brezhnev, a lover of medals and the most decorated person in the world, finally received the coveted Order of Victory No. 20. On September 21, 1989, Gorbachev signed a decree stripping him of the Order of Victory.
A total of 22 Victory Medals were produced, 2 of which were not awarded. One of the unawarded medals is kept in the Gokhran Museum of Russia, and the other in the Hermitage Museum of Russia.