The traditions of the Russian army, undeservedly forgotten after 1917, were in demand during the Great Patriotic War. The “Fire and Smoke” of the St. George Ribbon evoked associations of the battles of that time with the glorious victories of past centuries and inspired the idea of the inevitability of defeating the enemy. The appearance of the revived order was affected by new symbolism (the five-pointed star took the place of the cross ), but the essence of the award did not change - it was given to those who performed an unprecedented feat on the battlefield. The insignia had three degrees, and over time, desperate brave men full of gentlemen appeared. They simply did not give the Order of Glory, and the whole set was even more so.
St. George traditions
The introduction of the Order of Glory became part of the general heraldic-aesthetic line, adopted with the approval of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief I.V. Stalin in the second half of 1943. Shoulder straps, stripes, cockades and other attributes of the Russian army replaced the surreal symbols of the Red Army. Patriotism became dominant, supplanting the idea of an international world revolution. Thinking over the concept of the new symbol, we first remembered Bagration (he was also a Georgian), but later abandoned this idea. The sketch was entrusted to N.I. Moskalev, who had rich experience. He proposed creating an almost complete analogue to the Order of St. George, introducing four degrees, but the final decision was made in favor of the full cavaliers of the Order of Glory wearing three stars on their chests. The St. George ribbon reinforced historical associations.
First awarded
In 1943, few fighters of the Red Army were awarded high honors. Which of them turned out to be the first, today it is impossible to say for sure. Sergeants Malyshev and Israelyan were presented to the order in the late autumn of 1943 almost simultaneously. Actually, the priority does not matter much, since the time from submission to issuing an order was sometimes measured in months, and the rewarding itself took place in front-line conditions even later. In total, despite the very strict criteria for selecting the most worthy, two and a half million front-line soldiers who fought at the front received the order in question. The list of full holders of the Order of Glory is much shorter - in total there were a little more than three thousand seven hundred.
Pitenin and Shevchenko
The award was conceived as an encouragement of outstanding feats that could become an example to follow. The first to break into the enemy’s location, to blow up the warehouse, capture the officer, save the battle flag, personally destroy at least a dozen enemies, establish the weaknesses of the fascist defense, save the comrades — that was what was required in order to be worthy of this order. This was not easy, but the mass of heroism during the war years reached such heights that shortly after the establishment of the insignia appeared twice and thrice awarded awards. The first full holder of the Order of Glory is Corporal Pitenin, who shared this honor with Senior Sergeant Shevchenko, who went through the entire war. Unlike his comrade, the latter died, and therefore did not manage to get the third highest soldier's star.
Promotion
In addition to general honor and respect, the full cavaliers of the Order of Glory had another advantage over ordinary warriors - they were promoted to the military rank. Sergeants, corporals and privates became foremen, and so on until the second lieutenant, who received a second "star" on uniform. Further, the hero for his exploits already awaited other awards. The statute of the Order of Glory provided for the possibility of awarding them only the junior command staff.
Form of Orders of Glory
In their form, the orders, regardless of degree, are almost identical and have a moire ribbon of the same St. George colors. Their overall dimensions (46 mm between the beams), weight (approximately 30 g with an accuracy of 5%), the method of attachment (on the ear to the pentagonal block) and the image of the Spasskaya Tower of the Moscow Kremlin inscribed in a circle with a diameter of 23 mm. There are also other attributes of the Soviet state, such as the inscription of the USSR (on the reverse) and a ruby star, and the word "Glory" is located on a scarlet strip depicting a ribbon. The difference between earlier and later rewards is that the endings of the rays become sharper. In general, the order is very beautiful, it is large and clearly visible, as befits such an insignia. Full knights of the Order of Glory wore three stars on their chests, different in color. The difference was in what metal the awards were made.
Materials of manufacture
The order of rewarding clearly indicated that it was done in order of increasing degree, so how many full cavaliers of the Order of Glory have received their high rank can be judged by the largest number on the upper ray of the star's reverse of the 1st degree. It is known that this figure is 3776.
The Soviet government did not save on rewards for real heroes. The Order of Glory of the first degree was made of high-grade (950 °) gold, decorated with red-ruby enamel. It is this background that gives the translucent coating the shade of blood shed in battles. There is no doubt that this sign represents a true work of art in the compositional-color aspect.
The order of the second degree was made of almost pure silver (925 °) with gilding of the central part of the composition (which shows the Spasskaya Tower) and enamel of the same color, but the shade seems less saturated due to the light metal background. More than 50 thousand of these awards were produced.
The third degree of the Order of Glory is an almost complete replica of the second, but without gilding, and silver of the same 925th sample is tinted with a reddish copper additive.
Women and their fame
War is a man’s business, dangerous, difficult and requiring stress of all spiritual and physical forces. But it so happened that the Motherland was in trouble, and an excessive burden fell on the fragile shoulders of wives, mothers and brides. And they stood it. The list of full holders of the Order of Glory includes female names. There are few of them, only four, but this is quite enough to forever forget the concept of “weaker sex”, at least in our country. Here they are: the medical instructor Nozdracheva, who was carrying out seriously wounded fighters from under a leaden hail, the sniper Petrova (Mama Nina), whose well-aimed shots had left 122 invaders forever in our land, and the machine gunner Markauskene, who was distinguished by amazed and experienced soldiers, who trained from overwhelming even experienced soldiers composure, and pilot-reconnaissance Zhurkina (comments are superfluous). These women, full holders of the Order of Glory, became living symbols of the unbending spirit of the Soviet people.
From one metal ...
There was such a good tradition in the USSR - to honor not only military feats, but also labor. Three decades after the Victory, the Supreme Council decided to establish a new award, in addition to the already existing orders of the Red Banner of Labor and Glory. This peaceful sign should have crowned special efforts and achievements in peaceful work for the benefit of society. Like the military counterpart, it had three degrees, the highest of which was the first. The full holder of the Order of Labor Glory, according to its statute, enjoyed the same respect and the same social benefits as the hero of the three highest soldier's awards. The difference was that they could be awarded groups and groups. In total, more than 650 thousand people were awarded these orders of various degrees, of which the third — more than 611 thousand, the second — 41 thousand, and the first (full gentlemen) 952 employees. Despite the more modest means allocated for the manufacture of each insignia (only gilding was used from precious metals), these figures are significantly inferior to similar military statistics. Well, other times ...