Edge Rewrite
everything Source code View original
// HTMLRewriter · presentation

This page was redesigned at the edge.

Cloudflare fetched the original article and streamed it through HTMLRewriter to apply an entirely new visual system without rebuilding the source page.

// request.cf · coarse context

A page that knows where it met you.

Only coarse request metadata is shown. This demo does not display or persist visitor IP addresses.

Country
US
Cloudflare location
CMH
Connection
HTTP/2
Language
Not provided

Ray ID: a2287607eb1d24ce

Jump to content

// Workers AI · dad joke modeIs the Order of Victory a success? It's a winning order.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Order of Victory
The Order of Victory
TypeSingle-grade order
Awarded forConducting combat operations involving one or more army groups and resulting in a "successful operation within the framework of one or several fronts resulting in a radical change of the situation in favor of the Red Army"
Presented by Soviet Union
EligibilityMilitary Generals and Marshals only
StatusNo longer awarded
EstablishedNovember 8, 1943
First awardApril 10, 1944
Final awardFebruary 20, 1978 (was revoked)
Total20
Ribbon of the Order of Victory

The Order of Victory (Russian: Орден «Победа», romanized: Orden "Pobeda") was the highest military decoration awarded for World War II service in the Soviet Union, and one of the rarest orders in the world. The order was awarded only to Generals and Marshals for successfully conducting combat operations involving one or more army groups and resulting in a "successful operation within the framework of one or several fronts resulting in a radical change of the situation in favor of the Red Army."[1] The Order of Victory is a standalone decoration awarded specially for service in World War II; unlike other awards such as the Hero of the Soviet Union, it does not belong to any order of ranking. In the history of the Soviet Union, the award had been awarded twenty times to twelve Soviet leaders and five foreign leaders, with one revocation. The last living recipient was King Michael I of Romania, who died on 5 December 2017.

History

[edit]

The order was proposed by Colonel N. S. Neyelov, who was serving at the Soviet Army Rear headquarters around June 1943. The original name that Colonel Neyelov suggested was Order for Faithfulness to the Homeland; however, it was given its present name around October of that year.[2]

On October 25, 1943, artist A. I. Kuznetsov, who was already the designer of many Soviet orders, presented his first sketch to Stalin. The sketch of a round medallion with portraits of Lenin and Stalin was not approved by the Supreme Commander. Instead, Stalin wanted a design with the Spasskaya Tower in the centre. Kuznetsov returned four days later with several new sketches, of which Stalin chose one entitled "Victory". He asked Kuznetsov to slightly alter the design, and on the 5th of November a prototype was finally approved. The order was officially adopted on November 8, 1943, and was first awarded to Georgy Zhukov, Aleksandr Vasilevsky, and Joseph Stalin. All three were awarded a second order a year or more later.[citation needed]

The order was also bestowed to top commanders of the Allied forces. Every order was presented during or immediately after World War II, except for the controversial 1978 award to Leonid Brezhnev, who was not given a personal award, but an older one, originally awarded to Leonid Govorov, Marshal of the Soviet Union. (Govorov was already deceased, with his award returned to the state)[3] Brezhnev's award was revoked posthumously in 1989 for not meeting the requirements for the award.[citation needed]

Like other orders awarded by Communist nations, the Order of Victory could be awarded more than once to the same individual. In total, the order was presented twenty times to seventeen people (including Brezhnev).[citation needed]

Unlike all other Soviet orders, the Order of Victory had no serial number on it, the number was only mentioned in the award certificate. After a holder of the Order of Victory died, the award was to be given back to the state. Most of awards are now preserved by the Diamond Fund in the Moscow Kremlin. Notable exceptions are King Michael I of Romania's Order of Victory, which is held in the collection of the Romanian Royal Family, Dwight D. Eisenhower's Order of Victory, which is on display at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum in Abilene, Kansas, Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery's Order of Victory, which is on display at the Imperial War Museum in London, and Josip Broz Tito's Order of Victory, which is kept in the Museum of Yugoslav History in Belgrade.[4]

Construction details

[edit]
The Soviet Order of Victory

Against the sky, the letters "СССР" (USSR) appear in white enamel centered on the top of the medallion, while the word "Победа" (Victory) in white, is displayed on the red banner at the bottom, also made with enamel. The total mass of the order is 78g, which consists of 47g of platinum, 2g of gold, 19g of silver, and 16 carats of diamond. The rubies in the Order are artificial, as natural rubies would differ too much in color.[5] The medal is estimated to be worth $10 million.

Instead of being made at a mint, each Order was made in a jeweler's workshop.[citation needed]

Dwight D. Eisenhower had his star valued by an American jeweler; according to Bernhard, Prince Consort of the Netherlands (who, having been Commander of the Dutch Armed Forces during the war, was interested in receiving such a prestigious award himself but never got it), Eisenhower told him that his stones were "fakes".[6]

Ribbon

[edit]
The Order Ribbon.

The ribbons of various Soviet orders have been combined to create the Order Ribbon. The total length of the ribbon is 44 mm and it is mostly worn on the field uniform.[7] The following featured orders are depicted on the ribbon (read from outside towards the center):

  • Order of Glory (Орден Славы/Orden Slavy). Orange with black center stripe
  • Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky (Орден Богдана Хмельницкого/Orden Bogdana Khmelnitskogo). Light blue stripe
  • Order of Alexander Nevsky (Орден Александра Невского/Orden Aleksandra Nevskogo). Dark red stripe
  • Order of Kutuzov (Орден Кутузова/Orden Kutuzova). Dark blue stripe
  • Order of Suvorov (Орден Суворова/Orden Suvorova). Green stripe
  • Order of Lenin (Орден Ленина/Orden Lenina). Large Red stripe (center section)

List of recipients

[edit]
#DateNameImageDiedNote
1 April 10, 1944 Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov June 18, 1974
2 April 10, 1944 Soviet Union Aleksandr Vasilevsky December 5, 1977
3 April 10, 1944 Soviet Union Joseph Stalin March 5, 1953
4 March 30, 1945 Soviet Union Poland Konstantin Rokossovsky August 3, 1968
5 March 30, 1945 Soviet Union Ivan Konev May 21, 1973
6 April 19, 1945 Soviet Union Aleksandr Vasilevsky December 5, 1977 (2nd time)
7 April 26, 1945 Soviet Union Rodion Malinovsky March 31, 1967
8 April 26, 1945 Soviet Union Fyodor Tolbukhin October 17, 1949
9 May 31, 1945 Soviet Union Leonid Govorov March 19, 1955
10 May 31, 1945 Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov June 18, 1974 (2nd time)
11 June 4, 1945 Soviet Union Semyon Timoshenko March 31, 1970
12 June 4, 1945 Soviet Union Aleksei Antonov June 18, 1962
13 June 5, 1945 United Kingdom Bernard Montgomery March 24, 1976
14 June 10, 1945 United States Dwight D. Eisenhower March 28, 1969
15 June 26, 1945 Soviet Union Joseph Stalin March 5, 1953 (2nd time)
16 July 6, 1945 Kingdom of Romania Michael I of Romania
December 5, 2017
17 August 9, 1945 Poland Michał Rola-Żymierski October 15, 1989
18 September 8, 1945 Soviet Union Kirill Meretskov December 30, 1968
19 September 9, 1945 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito May 4, 1980
20 February 20, 1978 Soviet Union Leonid Brezhnev November 10, 1982 Revoked posthumously in 1989[a]
  1. ↑ Brezhnev's receipt of the Order of Victory was controversial. Brezhnev was a young political commissar during the war who did reach the rank of lieutenant general (two-star rank), but did not command responsibility close to the other recipients of the Order. He only received the decoration after he was General Secretary of the Communist Party and thus able to essentially award the medal to himself. As a result of general hostility to Brezhnev after his death and belief that this award had been done out of vanity rather than earned from merit, the Order of Victory was posthumously revoked in 1989.[8]

Fate of the Orders

[edit]
Plaque (2000) at the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow, listing the recipients of the Order of Victory. Brezhnev's name is not on the plaque, as his award was revoked in 1989.

After the death of the recipient of the Order of Victory, it was to be given back to the state.

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ↑ "Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of November 8, 1943" (in Russian). Legal Library of the USSR. 1943-11-08. Retrieved 2012-02-25.
  2. ↑ Dmitry Markov, Order of Victory - 1943 (Russian-medals.net)
  3. ↑ "Орден для генсека: как Брежнева наградили за победу, которой не было". BBC News Русская Служба.
  4. ↑ ""POBEDA" ZA DAN SLOBODE: Muzej Jugoslavije, povodom osam decenija od pada nacizma, izlaže iz trezora najviše vojno odlikovanje SSSR". NOVOSTI (in Serbian). Archived from the original on 2025-05-10. Retrieved 2026-05-16.
  5. ↑ "Орден "ПОБЕДА"". mondvor.narod.ru. Retrieved 2024-10-12.
  6. ↑ Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands in an interview with H.G. Meijer, published in "Het Vliegerkruis", Amsterdam 1997, ISBN 90-6707-347-4 . page 92
  7. ↑ (in Russian) Awards and medals of the Soviet Union Орден "Победа"
  8. ↑ Dobbs, Michael (September 30, 1989). "Presidium Takes Back Brezhnev's Medal". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
  9. ↑ 96 de fapte în 96 de ani (romaniaregala.ro, December 5, 2019, (in Romanian))
  10. ↑ "Featured Museum Artifact". Archived from the original on 2019-02-15. Retrieved 2017-11-13.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Order_of_Victory&oldid=1364622030"