The highest Soviet military order was awarded to the most worthy military leaders, the creators of the Victory. In total, the order of the same name was awarded 20 times, and three of them twice. Among his gentlemen were foreigners. ZR decided to find out who and for what received this award from foreign figures.
At the turning point of the Great Patriotic War in 1943, the USSR authorities were faced with the issue of creating a new highest military order, which could be awarded to a number of distinguished commanders. So on November 8 of that year, a decree was issued on the establishment of the Order of Victory.
They were awarded to representatives of the senior command staff of the Red Army for the successful conduct of such military operations, as a result of which the situation radically changed in favor of Soviet Union.
Initially, the award was planned to be called "For Loyalty to the Motherland".
Several medalists began to work on the creation of a sketch of a new order at once. Leader Joseph Stalin liked the version of the artist Alexei Kuznetsov the most. The first sample of the insignia was presented on October 25, 1943.
After that, the original sketch of the order was changed about 15 more times before it acquired its final form.
"Victory" became the only one of all domestic orders not made at the Mint. At the same time, this order was also the most expensive, since its creation required gold and platinum, as well as diamonds and rubies.
The "debut" awarding took place in 1944. Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov, Commander of the 1st Ukrainian Front, became the first owner of the Order of Victory. This award was awarded to him for the liberation of the Right-Bank Ukraine. Following this order was received by the Chief of the General Staff Marshal of the USSR Alexander Vasilevsky.
In addition, it was decided to award the Order of Victory to the military leaders of the allied countries. On June 5, 1945, General of the US Army Dwight Eisenhower and British Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery became his first cavaliers: for outstanding success in conducting large-scale military operations, as a result of which victory over Nazi Germany was achieved.
Dwight Eisenhower. Photo: Wikipedia
A month later, the award, in his incomplete 24 years, was also received by the King of Romania, Mihai I of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, for the arrest of members of the Romanian government who collaborated with Germany.
The next to be given an honorary Soviet award was Marshal of Poland Michal Rola-Zhymerski. On August 9, 1945, he was awarded the Order of Victory "for outstanding services in organizing the armed forces of Poland and for the successful conduct of military operations of the Polish Army in decisive battles against the common enemy - Nazi Germany."
The last time the Order of Victory was awarded to a foreigner was on September 9, 1945. Marshal of Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito became his chevalier: "for outstanding success in large-scale military operations, which contributed to the victory over Nazi Germany."
During the visit of French President Charles de Gaulle in 1966 to the USSR, an award was also to be held. However, for unknown reasons, this never happened.
The location of almost all issued Orders of Victory is precisely known. So, these high awards presented to Soviet military leaders, as well as to the Marshal of Poland, are in Russia. Only the fate of the Order of Victory, which belongs to the Romanian king, the only living owner of the award, is unclear for certain. Rumor has it that Mihai I sold the award over 30 years ago for $4 million. However, surrounded by the monarch, they say that the Order is kept on the king's estate in the Swiss town of Versoix.
When you study history the highest Soviet military order "Victory" , be sure to ask yourself: and why was "Victory" established and started to be awarded long before the Victory itself?
Marshal Zhukov , the first holder of the order, received the award on April 10, 1944. Until May 9, 1945, 9 awards were made, and 7 people managed to become holders of the order: twice - Vasilevsky, Stalin (he received the second Order of Victory after the end of the Great Patriotic War - June 26, 1945), again - Zhukov, and also Rokossovsky, Konev, Malinovsky and Tolbukhin.
Why did the award appear so early?
The order was established after a decisive turning point in the war, namely November 8, 1943 . The statute said that the basis for the award could be successful conduct of military operations, as a result of which the situation at the front changes radically in favor of the Red Army. That is, the award was presented not for a global victory in the war, but for very great successes in its course.
True, later the order was awarded to several foreign commanders and statesmen. It is this fact that has slightly confused those who read the history of the order today.
By the way, the original name of the order was not "Victory" at all, but "For Loyalty to the Motherland".
In total, knights of the order became 17 people (more precisely, now it's already 16, but more on that later).
Most of the owners of this high award are our compatriots. In addition to the above, marshals Govorov, Timoshenko, Meretskov and General Antonov were awarded "Victory" (he became the only Soviet cavalier of the order who did not have the rank of marshal, but Army General Antonov planned virtually everything combat operations Red Army, especially in the last two years of the war).
Here are all the Soviet holders of the Order of Victory, indicating the reason for the award and its date:
No. 1. Marshal of the Soviet Union G. K. Zhukov:
March 30, 1945 - "for the skillful fulfillment of the tasks of the Supreme High Command."
No. 2. Marshal of the Soviet Union A. M. Vasilevsky:
April 19, 1945 - "for planning military operations and coordinating the actions of the fronts, the capture of Koenigsberg and the liberation of East Prussia."
No. 3. Marshal of the Soviet Union, Generalissimo of the Soviet Union (since June 27, 1945) I. V. Stalin:
July 29, 1944 - "for the liberation of the right-bank Ukraine";
June 26, 1945 - "for the Victory over Germany."
No. 4. Marshal of the Soviet Union I. S. Konev:
March 30, 1945 - "for the liberation of Poland and the crossing of the Oder".
No. 5. Marshal of the Soviet Union K. K. Rokossovsky:
March 30, 1945 - "for the liberation of Poland."
No. 6. Marshal of the Soviet Union R. Ya. Malinovsky:
No. 7. Marshal of the Soviet Union F. I. Tolbukhin:
April 26, 1945 - "for the liberation of Austria and Hungary."
No. 8. Marshal of the Soviet Union L. A. Govorov:
May 31, 1945 - "for the defeat of German troops near Leningrad and in the Baltic states."
No. 9. Marshal of the Soviet Union S. K. Timoshenko:
No. 10. Army General A. I. Antonov:
No. 11. Marshal of the Soviet Union K. A. Meretskov:
September 8, 1945 - "for the successful leadership of troops in the war against Japan."
More five holders of the Order "Victory" - foreigners : British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery and US Army General Dwight Eisenhower, as well as Yugoslav Marshal Josip Broz Tito and Polish Minister of National Defense Michal Rola-Zymerski.
No. 12. Field Marshal of Great Britain Bernard Law Montgomery:
July 5, 1945 - "for outstanding success in conducting military operations on a large scale, as a result of which the victory of the United Nations over Nazi Germany was achieved."
No. 13. US Army general Dwight David Eisenhower:
No. 14. Marshal of Poland Michal Rola-Zymerski:
August 9, 1945 - "for outstanding services in organizing the armed forces of Poland and for the successful conduct of military operations of the Polish Army in decisive battles against a common enemy - Nazi Germany."
No. 15. Marshal of Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito:
September 9, 1945 - "for outstanding success in large-scale combat operations ..." (in general, for the same as Montgomery and Eisenhower).
The fifth foreigner deserves special attention - Romanian King Mihai I
. By the way, he is the only living holder of the Order of Victory.
It should be noted that the young king of Romania did not have any special military merits. He did not conduct or plan military operations, and for most of the Second World War he was completely in the position of a prisoner on the throne, since the real power in the country did not belong to the king, but to Prime Minister Ion Antonescu. Officially, however, he was called not the prime minister, but the conductor - this is the Romanian analogue of the Italian "Duce" and the German "Fuhrer". Mihai had to endure and put up with it. "I learned to smile at those whom I should have hated," he said and waited in the wings.
This hour struck in August 1944. The Red Army at that time was approaching the Romanian border. Mihai, having united in the anti-fascist opposition, arrested Antonescu and the generals loyal to him, sided with the Allies and declared war on Germany. Mihai's act was considered in the USSR to be quite pulling for the title of "radical change in favor of the Red Army." However, this really seriously facilitated its advance to the west, and we must not forget that it was the Romanian oil-bearing region of Ploiesti that by 1944 remained for Germany the only source of fuel for tanks and aircraft, without which it was no longer possible to count on any success in the war. .
No. 16. King of Romania Michael I of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen:
July 6, 1945 - "for the courageous act of a decisive turn in the policy of Romania towards a break with Nazi Germany and an alliance with the United Nations at a time when the defeat of Germany was not yet clearly defined."
As mentioned above, at first there were gentlemen 16
, Then - 17
and finally again 16
.
Who is this mysterious 17th?
Everything is simple. This Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev:
During the war, he was a colonel (since November 1944 - a major general). Of course, he had military merits, but not those that would correspond to the status of the Order of Victory. Nevertheless, the Secretary General emphasized in every possible way that he played a noticeable, even outstanding role in the war.
Marshal Zhukov was even forced to mention Brezhnev in his "Memoirs and Reflections" (published for the first time precisely in Brezhnev's time), indicating that he allegedly consulted with the head of the political department of the 18th Army, Colonel Brezhnev on Malaya Zemlya in 1943.
"Colonel Brezhnev on Malaya Zemlya"
(picture by D. Nalbandyan):
February 20, 1978 L. I. Brezhnev (by this time already a marshal and three times Hero of the Soviet Union) was solemnly awarded the Order of Victory with the wording: "For a great contribution to the Victory Soviet people and its Armed Forces in the Great Patriotic War..." .
So Brezhnev became 17th holder of the order.
IN 1989 year, this award was canceled, and the late Secretary General was excluded from the list of holders of the order. It is worth noting that formally the procedure for canceling the award was not prescribed anywhere. Gorbachev in his decree of September 21, 1989 simply stated that the award itself is contrary to the statute of the order (which, however, is fair).
However, even in the context of the beginning " cold war It never occurred to Stalin to deprive Montgomery, Eisenhower, or Tito of the Order of Victory.
Even the eccentric Khrushchev did not go for it, who, by the way, ended the war as a lieutenant general, and during it, being a member of the Military Councils of various fronts (though very unsuccessful!), did not even think about awarding himself the Order of Victory.
However, to compare the contribution to the victory of Brezhnev and the above figures (of course, I'm not talking about Khrushchev!), It's rather ridiculous.
He was supposed to become another holder of the Order of Victory, but he never did Charles de Gaulle
- Leader of the French Resistance. Its head, of course, had reason at least to claim "Victory". However, the Soviet leadership was in no hurry with the award.
Everything could change in 1966, when the general, who at that time was the president of the Fifth French Republic, which he actually founded, was going on an official visit to Moscow. It was then that the idea arose in the Soviet Foreign Ministry to still award de Gaulle with "Victory".
An appropriate appeal was written to the Central Committee of the CPSU. In the end, they gave the go-ahead. An order was even made for the manufacture of an order for de Gaulle. What happened next is unknown, but de Gaulle returned to Paris without an order.
Some historians believe that the Soviet leaders were embarrassed by the rank of general of the French president. In France, they are still arguing about whether this rank was assigned to de Gaulle in accordance with all the rules, or whether he took it himself. So, when the president resigned, the new leadership of France gave him a pension of a colonel, not a general. The colonel for Pobeda, even despite all his merits, apparently seemed small, unless, of course, his last name was Brezhnev.
With the abolition of the Brezhnev award in 1989, the history of the order ends. Nevertheless, the signs of the order themselves continue to exist. The location of most of them is known. The orders of all Soviet cavaliers and Rol-Zhymersky are in Russia, the Order of Montgomery is in London, the Order of Tito is in Belgrade, the Order of Eisenhower is in the town of Abelin, in Kansas, where the American general and president was born.
And here is what concerns Order of the Romanian King Mihai I , very similar to the mysterious detective story .
Some people claim that Mihai, who has not been the king of Romania for a long time (since December 1947), sold his order in difficult times and allegedly got 4 million dollars for it. However, in 2010, Mihai was seen with the Order of Victory at a parade in Moscow.
Then we were together, but not so much time has passed ...
This story is intricate and mysterious. There is a version that somewhere a duplicate was made for Mihai, exactly like the original. In response, there is an argument that making a copy would have to spend an amount comparable to the 4 million that Mihai allegedly received for the sale (which is generally true: only the rubies and diamonds that adorn the order, not counting platinum, gold and silver, from which it is made cost a lot, and the work of making an exact copy would be very expensive, given the need to keep it secret).
The former king of Romania will celebrate his 95th birthday this year:
Not so long ago, a certain Order of Victory actually appeared on the black market, which was not a fake and went into someone's private collection. That's just what it could be for the order, if the location of the 19th is known, and the 20th is kept by the last of the living gentlemen. And what's the point of a collector buying a real Order of Victory, if it can't be shown to anyone anyway, or put up for auction?
This post is based on the article Alexey Durnovo "Order" Victory " in the magazine "Amateur" (No. 006, June 2016), errors and inaccuracies in which I have corrected.
Sergei Vorobyov.
Thank you for attention.
Established by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of November 8, 1943. The Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of August 18, 1944 approved the sample and description of the ribbon of the Order of Victory, as well as the procedure for wearing the bar with the ribbon of the Order.
Order status.
Order "Victory" is the highest military order. It is awarded to senior officers of the Red Army for the successful conduct of such combat operations on the scale of one or more fronts, as a result of which the situation is radically changing in favor of the Red Army.
For those awarded with the Order "Victory", a memorial plaque is established, as a sign of special distinction, to include the names of holders of the Order "Victory" on it. The memorial plaque is installed in the Grand Kremlin Palace. The awarding of this order is made only by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.
The Order "Victory" is worn on the left side of the chest 12-14 cm above the waist.
Description of the order.
The Badge of the Order "Victory" is a convex five-pointed ruby star bordered with diamonds. In the gaps between the ends of the star, diverging rays studded with diamonds. The middle of the star is a circle covered with blue enamel, bordered by a laurel-oak wreath. In the center of the circle is a golden image of the Kremlin wall with Lenin's mausoleum and the Spasskaya Tower in the center. Above the image is the inscription in white enamel letters "USSR". At the bottom of the circle on a red enamel ribbon is the inscription in white enamel letters "VICTORY".
The badge of the order is made of platinum. Platinum, gold, silver, enamel, five artificial rubies in the rays of a star and 174 small diamonds are used in the decoration of the order.
The size of the star between opposite peaks is 72 mm. The diameter of the circle with the image of the Spasskaya Tower is 31 mm. The total weight of the order is 78 g. The content of platinum in the order is 47 g, gold - 2 g, silver - 19 g. The weight of each of the five rubies is 5 carats. The total weight of the diamonds on the sign is 16 carats.
On the reverse side, the badge has a threaded pin with a nut for attaching the order to clothing.
Ribbon for the order "Victory" silk moire. In the middle of the tape there is a red stripe 15 mm wide. On the sides, closer to the edges, stripes of green, blue, burgundy and light blue. The ribbon is bordered with orange and black stripes. The total width of the tape is 46 mm. Height - 8 mm. The ribbon of the Order "Victory" is worn on the left side of the chest, on a separate bar, 1 cm higher than other order ribbons.
History of the Order.
The Order "Victory" is the highest military order of the USSR. This military order was established simultaneously with the soldier's Order of Glory.
One of the first, in July 1943, the project of the order called "For Loyalty to the Motherland" was submitted for consideration by the officer of the rear headquarters of the Soviet Army, Colonel Neelov N.S. However, Stalin did not approve of this project and work on the creation of a sketch of this award was continued. Among the many variants of the Order "Victory" submitted for the competition, preference was given to the sketch of the artist AI Kuznetsov, who was also the author of the Order of the Patriotic War. Initially, in the center of the sign, Kuznetsov planned to mark the bust profile bas-reliefs of Lenin and Stalin (as was the case in Neelov's previous project), then the option of placing the Order of the State Emblem of the USSR in the center was considered. In the final version, it was decided to replace the image of the coat of arms in the center of the sign with the image of the Spasskaya Tower of the Kremlin.
Order No. 1 was awarded to the commander of the 1st Ukrainian Front, Marshal of the Soviet Union Zhukov G.K. April 10, 1944 for the liberation of right-bank Ukraine. The second order "Victory" Zhukov received, being the commander of the 1st Belorussian Front, on March 30, 1945 (for the capture of Berlin).
In addition to him, this award was awarded (in the order of awarding) marshals:
- Chief of the General Staff (later commander of the 3rd Belorussian Front) Vasilevsky A.M. (April 10, 1944 and April 19, 1945) - for the liberation of the right-bank Ukraine and for the capture of Koenigsberg and the liberation of East Prussia.
- Supreme Commander-in-Chief Stalin I.V. (July 29, 1944 and June 26, 1945) - for the liberation of the right-bank Ukraine and the victory over Germany.
- Commander of the 2nd Belorussian Front Rokossovsky K.K. (March 30, 1945) - for the liberation of Poland.
- Commander of the 1st Ukrainian Front Konev I.S. (March 30, 1945) - for the liberation of Poland and the crossing of the Oder.
- Commander of the 2nd Ukrainian Front Malinovsky R.Ya. (April 26, 1945) - for the liberation of the territories of Hungary and Austria.
- Commander of the 3rd Ukrainian Front Tolbukhin F.I. (April 26, 1945) - for the liberation of the territories of Hungary and Austria.
- Commander of the Leningrad Front Govorov L.A. (May 31, 1945) - for the liberation of the Baltic states.
- Representative of the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander Timoshenko S.K. (June 4, 1945) - for planning combat operations and coordinating fronts throughout the war.
- Chief of the General Staff Antonov A.I. (General of the Army) (June 4, 1945) - for planning combat operations and coordinating the actions of the fronts throughout the war.
- Commander of the Far Eastern Front Meretskov K.A. (September 8, 1945) - following the results of the war with Japan.
Among foreign citizens this order was awarded to:
- Army General D. Eisenhower (June 5, 1945).
- Field Marshal B. L. Montgomery, Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Armed Forces in Western Europe (June 5, 1945).
- King of Romania Mihai I (July 6, 1945).
- Supreme Commander of the Polish Army (on the territory of the USSR), General M. Rola-Zhymersky (August 9, 1945).
- Supreme Commander of the Yugoslav People's Liberation Army Marshal Iosif-Broz Tito (September 9, 1945).
On February 20, 1978, the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Marshal of the Soviet Union was awarded the Order of Victory - Brezhnev L.I. After Brezhnev's death, the award was cancelled.
Thus, it is clear that only 12 Soviet military leaders (Zhukov, Vasilevsky and Stalin - twice) and 5 foreign citizens became holders of the Order of Victory.
All badges of the order awarded to Soviet military leaders, as well as the badge of the order awarded to Marshal Rola-Zhymersky, are in the Diamond Fund of Russia. Eisenhower's award is in his memorial museum in Abilene, Kansas. The Marshal Tito award is on display at the May 25 Museum in Belgrade. Field Marshal Montgomery's award is on display at the Imperial War Museum in London. Only one Order of Victory, previously owned by King Michael I, is in a private collection. According to some reports, it was auctioned by one of the relatives of the dictator Ceausescu.
In total, the Order of Victory made 20 awards (one of which was subsequently canceled).
You can find out about the features and varieties of medals on the website of the USSR Medals
Estimated value of the medal.
How much is the Order "Victory"? Below we will give an approximate price for some rooms:The estimated value of the order in 1945 was 3,750 pounds, at the moment it can be more than $ 100,000.
According to current legislation Russian Federation The purchase and / or sale of medals, orders, documents of the USSR and Russia is prohibited, this is all described in Article 324. Acquisition or sale of official documents and state awards. You can read about this in more detail in which the law is disclosed in more detail, as well as those medals, orders and documents that do not apply to this ban are described.
... According to Sergei Shishkov, after some time the Rockefellers put up the Victory order at Sotheby's auction: the order was sold for $ 2 million to an unknown buyer ...
Cavaliers of the Order of Victory: who was awarded, for what the award was presented
Order "Victory" - the highest military award of the USSR, the diamond symbol of Victory.
in the photo: order “Victory”: gold, platinum, silver, 148 diamonds with a total weight of 16 carats
In total, 20 orders were made, the best generals were awarded for victory in military operations that led to the victory of the Red Army in World War II. 17 people became holders of the Order of Victory:
14 Orders of Victory were awarded to 11 Soviet military leaders (Marshals Joseph Stalin, Georgy Zhukov and Alexander Vasilevsky - twice cavaliers);
Photo: Twice Commander of the Order of Victory Marshal Georgy Zhukov
5 orders were awarded to foreign military leaders (the exception is the King of Romania, Mihai I, who did not lead the military operations that led to the Victory; he received the Order of Victory for the withdrawal of Romania from the countries of the Nazi bloc and entering into an alliance with the United Nations in August 1944);
The last, seventeenth holder of the Order of Victory in 1978 was Leonid Brezhnev. The cavalier had no rights to the award, he was awarded 33 years after the award of the sixteenth cavalier - Josip Broz Tito in 1945.
Leonid Brezhnev - Commander of the Order of Victory
The awarding of Leonid Brezhnev was preceded by a no less unexpected assignment to him of the rank of marshal in 1976. After the award of the Order of Victory, fantastic rumors spread among the people that a reason was being sought to confer on Brezhnev the title of Generalissimo.
The award of Brezhnev with the Order of Victory was subsequently canceled - in 1989, the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev signed a Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on the abolition of the award of Brezhnev "as contrary to the statute of the order." On May 9, 2000, Vladimir Putin opened a memorial plaque in the Kremlin, on which the names of holders of the Order of Victory are inscribed. Leonid Brezhnev is not among them.
memorial plaque with the names of holders of the order "Victory"
The history of the creation of the order "Victory"
The idea of creating an order for the best commanders arose in 1943. Joseph Stalin actively participated in the creation of the order, the artist Alexei Kuznetsov presented about 15 variants of the order for his consideration. In the first version, the order was called “For Loyalty to the Motherland”, in the center of the medallion there were bas-reliefs of Stalin and Lenin in profile.
one of the variants of the order "Victory"
After the sketch of the order was presented to Stalin, Iosif Vissarionovich proposed placing an image of the Spassky Tower of the Kremlin in the center of the medallion, the word “Victory” in the name of the award and increasing the number of diamonds, which was done.
Orders of "Victory" were made by the Moscow Jewelry and Watch Factory, and not at the Mint, like all other Soviet orders. In this regard, on the reverse of the order "Victory" there is no hallmark of the Mint; copyists are not always aware of this, so some copies of the Order of Victory have the Mint stamp.
Initially, it was supposed to make the Order of Victory from gold, platinum, rubies and diamonds. However, in the process of making the first order, master I.F. Kazyonnov discovered that rubies have excellent shades of red, and therefore it is almost impossible to properly maintain the red color in one order, after which it was decided to use artificial rubies to create the order.
The story of the sale of the Order of Victory to Rockefeller. Estimated value of the order today
At present, the exact location of 19 of the 20 Orders of Victory is known: they are in the Central Museum armed forces and other government organizations. The location of the Order of Victory of King Mihai I remains unknown. According to Sergei Shishkov, a well-known researcher of Russian awards, the Order of King Mihai I “walks” around the world. Michael I allegedly sold the order to John Rockefeller Jr. for 800 thousand dollars, since in 1947-1948 he was in dire need of funds for emigration. In addition, due to his young age, the king did not understand the cultural and historical value and honor of such an award.
young King Mihai I
According to Sergei Shishkov, after some time the Rockefellers put up the Order of Victory at Sotheby's auction: it was sold for $ 2 million to an unknown buyer. Today, according to Shishkov, the estimated cost of the Order of Victory may be about $ 20 million .
There is also an opinion that the stories about the sale of the order by King Michael I are unreliable and are the fiction of unscrupulous journalists, that the order is still with the cavalier.
King Mihai I is the only living [as of May 2015] cavalier of the Order of Victory, and he has been the only living cavalier since October 15, 1989, when the penultimate cavalier, Marshal of Poland Mikhail Rola-Zhymersky, died.
In 2005, King Mihai visited Moscow during the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Victory. Vladimir Putin presented him with the jubilee medal “60 Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945”. The order "Victory" during a visit to Moscow was not on the cavalier.