Military orders and medals of the Soviet Union. The order of Lenin
Originally planned to enter the name "Order of Ilyich." The award, in fact, was supposed to be exclusively combat, but at that time the civil war was over, and the draft of the new combat award was postponed. At the same time, the presence in the country of the highest universal award was evident to the members of the CPC (Council of People’s Commissars). By the beginning of the 30-s of the XX century, talk about creating a new award became relevant again. As a result, the Gosznak factory, located in Moscow, was tasked to develop a sketch that would depict V. I. Lenin. Artist I. I. Dubasov became the author of the sketch, which was taken as the basis for the development of a new award. As a base for his drawing, the artist used a portrait of the Soviet leader, who was made in 1920 during the 2 congress of the Comintern, which was held in the Russian capital. In the spring of 1930, a sketch was developed for refining to sculptors Taiga and Shadr, who prepared the layout. In the same year, the first samples of the award, called the Order of Lenin, were produced.
Officially, the new order was approved on 6 on April 1930 of the year (the Order of the Red Star was approved on the same day), and the statute of the order was approved on May 1930 of the year. The latest edition of the statute of the order was carried out in 1980 year. According to the approved statute, the Order of Lenin was the highest state award of the USSR. The order could be awarded not only by citizens of the country, but also by various institutions, enterprises, organizations, warships and military units, and even territorial entities (cities, districts, regions, allied and autonomous republics, etc.). In this case, the order could be awarded and foreign citizens, as well as institutions, organizations, enterprises and settlements of other countries. The military received an order for particularly important achievements in the defense of the Soviet Union and the strengthening of its defense capability, for outstanding achievements in revolutionary and labor activities.
During the years of Soviet power, the Order of Lenin changed many times, at least four types of this award existed. The fourth type of order was made in 1943 year and was awarded until the collapse of the USSR. Below is a description of this particular medal, which was contained in the latest edition of the 1980 statute.
The Order of Lenin is a prize badge, which depicts a portrait-medallion of Lenin, made of platinum. This medallion is placed in a circle that is framed by a golden wreath of wheat ears. The enamel background around the medallion portrait is smooth and has a dark gray color, it is bounded by two concentric gold rims, between which a ruby-red enamel is applied. On the left side of the wreath there is a five-pointed star, in the lower part there is a sickle and a hammer, on the right side at the top of the wreath there is a unfolded panel of the red flag. The banner, the star, the sickle and the hammer are covered with enamel having a ruby-red color; along the contour they are bordered with gold rims. The red banner has the inscription “Lenin” in gold letters. The order itself was made of gold. The award contained 2,75 g of platinum (1975 year) and 28,604 ± 1,1 g of pure gold. The total weight of the government award was 33,6 ± 1,75.
With the help of a ring and an ear, the order was connected to a pentagonal block, which was covered with moire silk ribbon, having a width of 24 mm. In the middle of the ribbon was a longitudinal red stripe having a width of 16 mm, along the edges of this strip were 2-e golden stripes having a width of 1,5 mm, then there were another 2-e strips, this time red and completed all 2-e again golden strips 1 thickness mm. The height of the Order of Lenin was 43-45 mm, width - 38 mm, and the diameter of the medallion with a portrait of the leader of the world proletariat - 25 mm.
Order of Lenin 4 type 1943-1956 years
The first award of the new order was 23 on May 1930 of the year. According to the decree of the Presidium of the CEC of the USSR, the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, which is the print organ of the VLKSM Central Committee, was presented for active assistance in improving the Soviet state apparatus, strengthening the pace of socialist construction and developing competition for a high government award. Thus, the newspaper became the owner of the order for the number 1. Evsikov N.I., Evsikov N.I., Kalugin K.S., Kiprov V.A. and Kopylov V.A. were among the first military men who were awarded the Order of Lenin, they were awarded in 1931 year. All of these have distinguished themselves during the fire fighting in the Maikop oil fields. Also, the Order of Lenin was awarded to veterans of the revolution and famous Soviet generals. Among them: Blucher, Budyonny, Voroshilov, Tukhachevsky and many others.
16 on April 1934, after the new title of Hero of the Soviet Union (GSS) was established in the USSR, the Order of Lenin began to be awarded to all persons who received this title. Since the Gold Star medal was established only in 1939, the Order of Lenin at that time was the only distinction for all GSS. At the same time, after the approval of the Golden Star of the Hero, the Order of Lenin continued to be issued automatically along with the assignment of the title of Hero.
Already 10 September 1934, the first Soviet citizens were awarded the highest Soviet award. US citizens of flight mechanics Levary Williams and Clyde Armistet, who took part in the search and subsequent rescue of Chelyuskinites, were introduced to the Order of Lenin.
On October 25, 1938, after the battles with the Japanese near Lake Hassan ended, the highest Soviet awards were awarded to 95 distinguished ones. In 1939, after the defeat of Japanese units on the Khalkhin-Gol River, the order awarded a number of Soviet military units from division to company. Among the recipients were the 36th Motor Rifle Division of Brigade Petrov, the 24th Motor Rifle Regiment of Colonel Fedyuninsky, the 7th Motorized Armored Brigade of Major Lesovoy, 11th tank brigade brigade commander Yakovlev, 175th artillery regiment of Colonel Polyansky, 100th high-speed bomber aviation Colonel Shevchenko’s brigade, separate anti-tank division of the 36th motorized infantry division, as well as a separate special-purpose tank company. In total, about 22 thousand people were represented before the Order of Lenin on June 1941, 6,5 (the Heroes of the Soviet Union and Socialist Labor were also included here).
The first to take the brunt of the fascist aggressors early in the morning of 22 June 1941, were the Soviet border guards. They also received the first awards of the Order of Lenin in the Great Patriotic War. Fighters of the 98 frontier detachment were presented to the Orders of Lenin: Lieutenant F. I. Gusev (commander of the 9 th outpost) and political instructor F. F. Babenko. (8-I outpost), who were among the first to accomplish the feat in this terrible war.
In total, during the years of the Great Patriotic War, approximately 41 thousand people were awarded the Order of Lenin (of which about 36 thousand people received the order for military service), also 207 military units were awarded the Order, which was attached to their banners. From 4 June 1944 of the year to 14 of September 1957, the Order of Lenin began to be presented to all officers, who by that moment had crossed the line in 25 years of impeccable service. Also, from the beginning of the 1950s, civilians were awarded the Order of Lenin for constructive and long-term work. As a result, almost all top Soviet leaders were awarded with this award. For example, Brezhnev received this order 8 times. This state of affairs led to the fact that in the last 40 years of the Order’s existence, it was handed over more than 360 thousands of times. Two Soviet statesmen managed to get this award 11 once. We are talking about N. S. Patolichev, Minister of Foreign Trade of the USSR, and D. F. Marshal Ustinov. In total, up to December 21, 1991 of the year (when the last award ceremony took place), the Order of Lenin was issued 431418 times.
Information sources:
http://ordenrf.ru/su/orden-krasnoe-znamya-rsfsr.php
http://milday.ru/ussr/ussr-uniform-award/66-orden-boevogo-krasnogo-znameni.html
http://medalww.ru/nagrady-sssr/ordena-sssr/orden-krasnogo-znameni
http://www.rusorden.ru/?nr=su&nt=o4
- Yuferev Sergey
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