Order of Glory: the history of the soldier's award

The Order of Glory was established in November 1943, in one of the most glorious periods of the Great Patriotic War, when it became clear that the offensive initiative was finally entrenched in the Red Army. Behind there were hundreds of fights and fighting clashes, which resulted in Soviet people being able to contain the German blitzkrieg and force yesterday's invaders to retreat to the western borders of the country. Of course, the Order of Glory was not the only significant state award related to combat merit. However, the idea of this particular regalia was that it should be awarded to ordinary and junior officers for heroic deeds accomplished directly on the battlefields. Initially, it was supposed to be called the Order of Bagration, but in the end the award received the name existing today.

Positions of the insignia

In fact, the Order of Glory was the reward of the lowest links in the army, those who directly went on the attack and risked their lives, repulsing the enemy's attacks. He was, as he was later called in the people, a soldier's order. The Order of Glory was awarded to the soldiers for the following merits:

• Destruction of several enemy tanks.
• Destruction or causing serious damage to enemy technology and manpower.
• Capturing of enemy trenches and fortifications among the first fighters, with the destruction or capture of enemy soldiers.
• Capture of an enemy officer in captivity.
• Implementation of a successful reconnaissance operation, during which valuable information was received on the activities and location of enemy units and units.
• Salvation of the banner of its own military unit in a moment of danger.

The above services are only part of the heroic exploits for which the fighters were awarded this distinction. Knights of the Order of Glory received the right to an extraordinary increase in rank - from the foreman to the lieutenant.

Appearance of the award

Regalia is a slightly convex five-pointed star. On its obverse side there is a round medallion with a picture of the Spassky Tower and the Kremlin, framed by a laurel wreath along the circumference. At the bottom of the medallion, there is, again, the inscription "Glory" on the circumference. There are three degrees of the Order. The differences between these products are in the material of manufacture. So, the Order of Glory 3 degrees is made of silver. In the Order of the 2nd degree the central medallion is gilded, and The product of the 1st degree is cast from pure gold.

Award History

The first heroes, attached to the regalia, appeared already in November 1943. I would like to note that today it is not known exactly who became the first holder of the order in question, since different documents of wartime are somewhat contradictory to each other on this issue. For all of its existence, more than one million people have been assigned to the distinction. Of these, full cavaliers - more than 2,500 heroes. It is interesting that, unlike many other orders and medals, which could be awarded collectively to military units and units, the Order of Glory the soldiers were awarded only for personally manifested courage and merit to the Fatherland.