Stalingrad (now Volgograd) was an important milestone in World War II. Victory here meant an almost automatic advantage in the fight. Hitler very well understood the importance of the city and fought fiercely for it. However, the Soviet troops did not surrender this locality, and, despite the exhausting months of fighting, still retained their positions and threw back the enemy. The heroic defense of the city was immortalized in the state award, which is called the medal “For the Defense of Stalingrad”.
Award institution
The battle of Stalingrad is rightly called by historians one of the most important battles in the Great Patriotic War. These were fierce battles for every inch of the earth, not only for every street, but also for every house. The result of the stoic endurance of the Soviet troops in this struggle was the liberation of the city from enemy invaders and the capture of the sixth army of General Friedrich Paulus, which was a real blow to Hitler.
The Supreme Leadership of the USSR back in December 1942 decided to award the heroic deed of the city’s defenders with a state award and instituted the medal “For the Defense of Stalingrad”.
Today, the awards of the Great Patriotic War are especially popular with collectors. There are a lot of black markets where medals are sold with real certificates confirming the award. And although one of the most significant in a series of other awards is the medal “For the Defense of Stalingrad”, its price varies from 20 to 100 dollars.
Description
The Medal "For the Defense of Stalingrad", the photo of which is presented in the article, has the standard shape and size for such awards. The diameter of the insignia smelted from brass is 3.2 centimeters. The obverse depicts a group of Red Army fighters with extended rifles in their hands. To the right of them is a waving battle banner. On the left, in the background are tanks and flying planes. In the upper part of the medal above the fighters in the center is a five-pointed star that shares the inscription "For the defense of Stalingrad" engraved in a semicircle. On the reverse in the center is the inscription "For our Soviet Motherland." A sickle and a hammer are depicted above these words. All inscriptions and images on the medal are embossed.
The pentagonal block to which the medal “For the Defense of Stalingrad” is fastened with the help of a ring and an eyelet. It is covered with moire ribbon of olive color with a red line located in the middle longitudinally. A medal is worn on the left. If there is an award "For the Defense of Sevastopol", it is located after it.
Award author
The insignia was established at the initiative of the People's Commissariat of Defense of the USSR, as well as for the defense of Sevastopol, Odessa, Leningrad. On November 24, Stalin issued a decree on the development of a draft medal. The creation of the sketches was entrusted to the artist Nikolai Moskalev, who began to design award marks in the 1930s.
Among others, he authored the medals "For the Defense of Moscow", "For the Defense of Leningrad", "For the Defense of Sevastopol", "For the Defense of Odessa", "For the Defense of the Caucasus" and others.
It is worth noting that Volgograd residents have great respect for the memory of those heroic events. They immortalized the medal “For the Defense of Stalingrad” in a modern way, a photo of which was installed on the building of one of the military units on the entire wall.
Chevaliers of the badge
In total, the medal "For the Defense of Stalingrad" at the beginning of 1995 amounted to about seven hundred sixty thousand people. During the war and after its end, this insignia awarded all participants of the defense of the city, which lasted from July to November 1942. These were military personnel of all types of troops of the Red Army, as well as serving in the Navy and the NKVD. In addition to them, awards were awarded to all civilians who actively participated in the defense of the most important object.
However, it should be noted that in those years there were many missing, dead and buried in haste. In modern history, many search teams find fallen heroes, and other attempts are made to find as many of those who fought. The Medal "For the Defense of Stalingrad", like many other awards, continues to find its heroes.