Order of the Red Star
The Order of the Red Star was a military decoration of the Soviet Union. It was established by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 6 April 1930 but its statute was only defined in decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 5 May 1930; that statute was amended by decrees of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 7 May 1936, of 19 June 1943, of 26 February 1946, of 15 October 1947, of 16 December 1947 and by decree No 1803-X of 28 March 1980. The Order of the Red Star was awarded to soldiers of the Soviet Army, Navy and internal security forces, employees of the State Security Committee of the USSR, as well as NCOs and officers of the bodies of internal affairs; the Order of the Red Star is worn on the right side of the chest and when in the presence of other orders of the USSR, placed after the Order of the Patriotic War 2nd class. If worn in the presence of Orders or medals of the Russian Federation, the latter have precedence; the Order of the Red Star was used as a long service award from 1944 to 1958 to mark fifteen years of service in the military, state security, or police.
Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 14 September 1957 emphasised the devaluation of certain Soviet high military Orders used as long service awards instead of their intended criteria. This led to the joint 25 January 1958 decree of the Ministers of Defence, of Internal Affairs and of the Chairman of the Committee on State Security of the USSR establishing the Medal "For Impeccable Service" putting an end to the practice; the Order of the Red Star is a red enamelled 47mm to 50mm wide silver five pointed star. In the center of the obverse, an oxydised silver shield bearing the image of an erect soldier wearing an overcoat and carrying a rifle, along the shield's entire circumference, a narrow band bearing the Communist motto in relief, "Workers of the world, unite!", the band below the soldier bore the relief inscription "USSR". Below the shield, the hammer and sickle of oxydised silver; the otherwise plain reverse bore the award serial number. The Order was attached to clothing by a threaded screw attachment.
When the order wasn't worn, a ribbon could be worn in its stead on the ribbon bar on the left side of the chest. The ribbon of the Order of the red Star was a 24mm wide silk moiré dark red with a 5mm wide central silver stripe; the Order of the Red Star was awarded 6 times to 5 people, 5 times to more than 15 people, four times to more than 150 people, three times to more than 1,000 people. Below is a short partial list of such multiple recipients: Colonel Philip Petrovich Onoprienko Colonel Peter Petrovich Panchenko Lieutenant Colonel Vasily Vasilevich Silantyev Colonel Konstantin Ivanovich Malkhasyan Major General Ivan Nikiforovich Stepanenko Colonel Alexey Petrovich Yakimov Lieutenant General Galaktion Alpaidze Colonel General Georgy Baydukov Colonel General Alexander Ivanovich Babaev Colonel Valentin Gavrilov Lieutenant Colonel Naum Shusterman Lieutenant Colonel Anatoly Lebed Army General Alexei Yepishev Army General Gennady Ivanovich Obaturov Captain Asaf Abdrakhmanov Lieutenant General Alexander Vasilyevich Belyakov Rear Admiral Aksel Berg Admiral Nikolai Sergeyev Aviator Olga Yamshchikova Major Marina Chechneva Marshal of the Soviet Union Sergey Akhromeyev Marshal of the Soviet Union Nikolai Bulganin Major General Georgy Beregovoy Colonel General Igor Rodionov Sergey Ilyushin Semyon Nomokonov Colonel Ivan Kozhedub Colonel Dmitry Loza Marshal of Aviation Alexander Pokryshkin Marshal of the Soviet Union Boris Shaposhnikov Senior Sergeant Yakov Pavlov Admiral Arseniy Golovko Rear Admiral Vladimir Konovalov Admiral Gordey Levchenko Admiral Ivan Stepanovich Yumashev Army General Ivan Yefimovich Petrov Alexandrov Ensemble 89th Rifle Division 9th Infantry Division 80th Airmobile Regiment 8th Army Corps 7th Guards Airborne Division 10th Guards Motor Rifle DivisionIn 2015 the Order of the Red Star award awarded to Ukrainian army units were removed as part of a removal of Soviet awards and decorations from Ukrainian military units.
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Orders, decorations, and medals of the Soviet Union
Awards and decorations of the Soviet Union are decorations from the former Soviet Union that recognised achievements and personal accomplishments, both military and civilian. Some of the awards and orders were discontinued after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, while others are still issued by the Russian Federation as of 2012. Many of the awards were reworked in the Russian Federation, such as the transition of Hero of the Soviet Union to Hero of the Russian Federation, Hero of Socialist Labour to Hero of Labour of the Russian Federation. A wide range of Soviet awards and decorations cover the extensive and diverse period of history from 1917 to 1991. Note: Several Soviet decorations were worn in full, so a ribbon bar was not created. However, since the fall of the USSR, some medals have had ribbon bars created for them. An asterisk, *, denotes these medals. Awards not showing a ribbon are worn in full at all times. Orders and Medals of Soviet Republics Badges and Decorations of the Soviet Union Orders and medals of the Russian Federation Awards and Emblems of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation Awards of the Ministry for Emergency Situations of Russia Awards of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia Awards of the Federal Border Service of the Russian Federation Honorary titles of the Russian Federation Orders and medals of Belarus List of awards of independent services of the Russian Federation List of "Umalatova" awards Paul D. McDaniel, Paul J. Schmitt.
The Comprehensive Guide to Soviet Orders and Medals. ISBN 0-9656289-0-6. V. D. Krivchov. AVERS No. 6 Definitive Catalog of Soviet Orders and Medals. Moscow. V. D. Krivchov. AVERS No. 8 Definitive Catalog of Soviet Badges and Jetons 1917–1980. Moscow. Mondvor Narod—A detailed site on the topic of Soviet Orders and Medals The Soviet Military Awards Page—Collector-oriented site with information and images of Soviet awards along with discussion forum www.soviet-medals-orders.com—A personal website by a collector from Switzerland, Oldrich Andrysek, presenting extensive collection of Soviet and some Mongolian awards with descriptions, news, reference materials of interest to phalerists and collections of soviet memorabilia. Well-illustrated, with exchange section and info on fraud
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. Nominally a union of multiple national Soviet republics, its government and economy were centralized; the country was a one-party state, governed by the Communist Party with Moscow as its capital in its largest republic, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. Other major urban centres were Leningrad, Minsk, Alma-Ata, Novosibirsk, it spanned over 10,000 kilometres east to west across 11 time zones, over 7,200 kilometres north to south. It had five climate zones: tundra, steppes and mountains; the Soviet Union had its roots in the 1917 October Revolution, when the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, overthrew the Russian Provisional Government which had replaced Tsar Nicholas II during World War I. In 1922, the Soviet Union was formed by a treaty which legalized the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian and Byelorussian republics that had occurred from 1918. Following Lenin's death in 1924 and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s.
Stalin committed the state's ideology to Marxism–Leninism and constructed a command economy which led to a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization. During his rule, political paranoia fermented and the Great Purge removed Stalin's opponents within and outside of the party via arbitrary arrests and persecutions of many people, resulting in at least 600,000 deaths. In 1933, a major famine struck the country. Before the start of World War II in 1939, the Soviets signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, agreeing to non-aggression with Nazi Germany, after which the USSR invaded Poland on 17 September 1939. In June 1941, Germany broke the pact and invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theatre of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the effort of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at intense battles such as Stalingrad and Kursk; the territories overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Soviet Union.
The post-war division of Europe into capitalist and communist halves would lead to increased tensions with the United States-led Western Bloc, known as the Cold War. Stalin died in 1953 and was succeeded by Nikita Khrushchev, who in 1956 denounced Stalin and began the de-Stalinization; the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred during Khrushchev's rule, among the many factors that led to his downfall in 1964. In the early 1970s, there was a brief détente of relations with the United States, but tensions resumed with the Soviet–Afghan War in 1979. In 1985, the last Soviet premier, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost and perestroika, which caused political instability. In 1989, Soviet satellite states in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist governments; as part of an attempt to prevent the country's dissolution due to rising nationalist and separatist movements, a referendum was held in March 1991, boycotted by some republics, that resulted in a majority of participating citizens voting in favor of preserving the union as a renewed federation.
Gorbachev's power was diminished after Russian President Boris Yeltsin's high-profile role in facing down a coup d'état attempted by Communist Party hardliners. In late 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union met and formally dissolved the Soviet Union; the remaining 12 constituent republics emerged as independent post-Soviet states, with the Russian Federation—formerly the Russian SFSR—assuming the Soviet Union's rights and obligations and being recognized as the successor state. The Soviet Union was a powerhouse of many significant technological achievements and innovations of the 20th century, including the world's first human-made satellite, the first humans in space and the first probe to land on another planet, Venus; the country had the largest standing military in the world. The Soviet Union was recognized as one of the five nuclear weapons states and possessed the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, it was a founding permanent member of the United Nations Security Council as well as a member of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the World Federation of Trade Unions and the leading member of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and the Warsaw Pact.
The word "Soviet" is derived from a Russian word сове́т meaning council, advice, harmony and all deriving from the proto-Slavic verbal stem of vět-iti, related to Slavic věst, English "wise", the root in "ad-vis-or", or the Dutch weten. The word sovietnik means "councillor". A number of organizations in Russian history were called "council". For example, in the Russian Empire the State Council, which functioned from 1810 to 1917, was referred to as a Council of Ministers after the revolt of 1905. During the Georgian Affair, Vladimir Lenin envisioned an expression of Great Russian ethnic chauvinism by Joseph Stalin and his supporters, calling for these nation-states to join Russia as semi-independent parts of a greater union, which he named as the Union of Soviet Republics of Europe and Asia. Stalin resisted the proposal, but accepted it, although with Lenin's agreement changed the name of the newly proposed sta
Merited Pilot of the USSR
The Honorary Title "Merited Pilot of the USSR" was a state civilian award of the Soviet Union established on September 30, 1965 by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR № 3993-VI to recognise excellence in civilian aviation. It was abolished on August 22, 1988 by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet № 9441-XI; the honorary title "Merited Pilot of the USSR" was awarded to qualified civilian pilots 1st class for special merit in the development of modern aircraft, in the use of the most advanced piloting techniques, for the highest standards in education and training of flight personnel, for long-term trouble-free flying and for outstanding achievements in the use of aviation in the national economy. The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was the main conferring authority of the award based on recommendations of the Ministry for Civil Aviation of the USSR; the chest badge "Merited Pilot of the USSR" was worn on the right side of the chest and in the presence of other orders, placed over them.
If worn with honorary titles of the Russian Federation, the latter have precedence. The "Merited Pilot of the USSR" chest badge was a 27mm wide by 23mm high silver and nickel polygon with raised edges. At the top of the obverse, the relief inscription in two lines covered to the left "MERITED PILOT", in the center, the gilt tombac image of a jet transport aircraft climbing diagonally towards the right, at the bottom, the relief inscription "USSR" superimposed over a laurel branch; the badge was secured to a standard Soviet square mount by a silver-plated ring through the suspension loop. The mount was covered by a silk moiré blue ribbon, it was secured with a threaded screw and nut. Abdraimov I. Aliev, N. M. Anopov B. A. Antokhin F. V. Bannyi M. A. Barilov, D. I. Blokhin, I. P. Borisov, N. V. Briouzguine V. V. Zholudev L. V. Kaloshin A. S. Kartamyshev P. V. Kovtiukh N. G. Kornev, M. M. Kokhanovski, S. N. Kupalo V. M. LeÏbenko A. M. Mikhaïlov, P. M. Michenko, I. I. Moskalenko, P. P. Osipov B. S. Paramonov, G. M. Porfirov, N. G. Semenkov A.
I. Tarasov, I. M. Frolov, I. I. Tskhovrebov H. N. Shiryaev, L. A. Aeroflot Transport in the Soviet Union Orders and medals of the Soviet Union Badges and Decorations of the Soviet Union Legal Library of the USSR
People's Artist of the USSR
People's Artist of the USSR sometimes translated as National Artist of the USSR, was an honorary title granted to artists of the Soviet Union. The term is confusingly used to translate two Russian language titles: Народный артист СССР, awarded in performing arts and Народный художник СССР, granted in some visual arts; each Soviet Republic, as well as the Autonomous Republics, had a similar award held by every receiver of the higher title of People's Artist of the USSR. As this title was granted by the government, honorees were afforded certain privileges and would receive commissions from the Minister of Culture of the Soviet Union. Accordingly and authors who expressed criticism of the Communist Party were granted such recognition, if not outright censored; the title was bestowed for exceptional achievements in the performing arts in the Soviet Union. Its recipients included many of the most-acclaimed composers, singers and theatre directors and actors of every Soviet republic. In all, there were 1010 recipients of the award.
The title was introduced in 1936, replacing the earlier title of "People's Artist of the Republic". The first recipients of the title were Konstantin Stanislavski, Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, Ivan Moskvin, Antonina Nezhdanova, Boris Shchukin, Kulyash Baiseitova and some other actors; the last persons to be honoured with the title were Oleg Yankovsky. The title was bestowed on theatre actors, ballet dancers, opera singers only, it came to be bestowed upon film actors, violinist, pop singers and circus performers such as Natalya Durova and Oleg Popov. A person was named the People's Artist of the USSR after 40 years of age. Exceptions were made for dancers, e.g. Nadezhda Pavlova, a ballet artist, received the title at the age of 28, Malika Kalantarova, a famous Bukharian Jewish folk dancer from Tajikistan, received the title at the age of 34; the youngest female persons to receive this title were Kazakh opera singers Kulyash Baiseitova and Halima Nasyrova. The youngest male person was pop singer Muslim Magomayev.
Among the actors, the youngest recipient was Sergey Bondarchuk. The youngest actress to receive the title was Yuri Andropov's daughter-in-law, Lyudmila Chursina, at age 40. Sofia Rotaru, for example, was named Merited Artist of the Ukrainian SSR in 1973, People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR in 1976, People's Artist of the Moldavian SSR in 1983, an attained cumulation of People's Artist titles, People's Artist of the Soviet Union in 1988, the first female pop-singer to be honored with this award and the only one with three People's Artists; as of 2018, the earliest living recipient is Ukrainian opera singer Bela Rudenko. The title of People's Painter of the Soviet Union was awarded for exceptional achievements in certain visual arts: painting, sculpture and photography; the lesser title of Meritorious Painter of the Soviet Union was awarded for achievement in these fields. People's Architect of the Soviet Union: Народный архитектор СССР People's Teacher of the Soviet Union: Народный учитель СССР People's Doctor of the Soviet Union: Народный врач СССР Category:People's Artists of the USSR - list of recipients Category:People's Artists of the USSR - list of recipients Hero of Socialist Labour - the highest civilian decoration in the Soviet Union List of People's Artists of Azerbaijan Meritorious Artist People's Artist People's Artist of Russia Russian Academy of Art
Order of Lenin
The Order of Lenin, named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet Union; the order was awarded to: Civilians for outstanding services rendered to the State Members of the armed forces for exemplary service Those who promoted friendship and cooperation between peoples and in strengthening peace Those with meritorious services to the Soviet state and societyFrom 1944 to 1957, before the institution of specific length of service medals, the Order of Lenin was used to reward 25 years of conspicuous military service. Those who were awarded the titles "Hero of the Soviet Union" and "Hero of Socialist Labour" were given the order as part of the award, it was bestowed on cities, factories, military units and ships. Corporate entities, various educational institutions and military units who received the said Order applied the full name of the order into their official titles.
The first design of the Order of Lenin was sculpted by Pyotr Tayozhny and Ivan Shadr based on sketches by Ivan Dubasov. It was made by Goznak of silver with some gold-plated features, it was a round badge with a central disc featuring Vladimir Lenin's profile surrounded by smokestacks, a tractor and a building a power plant. A thin red-enamelled border and a circle of wheat panicles surrounded the disc. At the top was a gold-plated "hammer and sickle" emblem, at the bottom were the Russian initials for "USSR" in red enamel. Only about 800 of this design were minted, it was awarded between 1930–1932. The second design was awarded from 1934 until 1936; this was a solid gold badge. The disc is surrounded by two golden panicles of wheat, a red flag with "LENIN" in Cyrillic script. A red star is placed on the left and the "hammer and sickle" emblem at the bottom, both in red enamel; the third design was awarded from 1936 until 1943. Design was same as previous, but the central disc was gray enamelled and Lenin's portrait was separate piece made of platinum fixed by rivets.
The fourth design was awarded from 1943 until 1991. Design was worn as a medal suspended from a ribbon; the badge was worn by screwback on the left chest without ribbon. It was worn as a medal suspended from a red ribbon with pairs of yellow stripes at the edges; the ribbon bar is of the same design. The portrait of Lenin was a riveted silver piece. For a time it was incorporated into a one-piece gold badge, but returned as a separate platinum piece until the dissolution of the USSR in 1991; the first Order of Lenin was awarded to the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda on 23 May 1930. Among the first ten recipients were five industrial companies, three pilots, the Secretary to the Central Executive Committee Avel Enukidze; the first person to be awarded a second Order of Lenin was the pilot Valery Chkalov in 1936. Another pilot, Vladimir Kokkinaki, became the first to receive a third Order in 1939; the first five foreign recipients, a German and four Americans, received the award for helping in the reconstruction of Soviet industry and agriculture in 1931–1934.431,418 orders were awarded in total, with the last on 21 December 1991.
11 times: Nikolay Patolichev, longtime Minister for Foreign Trade of the USSR Dmitriy Ustinov, Defence Minister in 1976–1984 10 times: Efim Slavsky, Head of Sredmash, the ministry responsible for nuclear industry, in 1957–1986 Alexander Sergeyevich Yakovlev, aircraft designer 9 times: Petr Dementiev, Minister of Aviation Industry in 1953–1977 Vasily Ryabikov, defence industry official, co-head of the first Sputnik project Nikolay Semyonov, winner of 1956 Nobel Prize in chemistry Anatoly Petrovich Alexandrov. Ramón Mercader Sergey Afanasyev Aziz Aliyev Clyde G. Armistead and William Latimer Lavery George Avakian American record producer who promoted international musical exchange between Russian and American musicians. Valeriy Borzov Emilian Bukov Bill Booth Fidel Castro Konstantin Chelpan Luis Corvalán Álvaro Cunhal Sripat Amrit Dange Joseph Davies (American diplomat
Mosin–Nagant
The 3-line rifle M1891, colloquially known in the West as Mosin–Nagant is a five-shot, bolt-action, internal magazine–fed, military rifle developed from 1882 to 1891, used by the armed forces of the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union and various other nations. It is one of the most mass-produced military bolt-action rifles in history with over 37 million units having been made since its inception in 1891, and, in spite of its age, it has been used in various conflicts around the world up to the modern day. During the Russo-Ottoman War of 1877–1878, Russian troops armed with Berdan single-shot rifles suffered heavy casualties against Turkish troops equipped with Winchester repeating rifles at the bloody Siege of Pleven; this showed Russian commanders the need to modernize the general infantry weapon of the army. Various weapons were acquired and tested by GAU of the Ministry of Defence of Russian Empire, in 1889 the Lebel M1886 was obtained through semi-official channels from France, it was supplied together with a model of the cartridge and bullet but without the primer and the smokeless powder.
Those problems were solved by Russian engineers. In 1889, three rifles were submitted for evaluation: Captain Sergei Ivanovich Mosin of the imperial army submitted his "3-line" caliber rifle; when trials concluded in 1891, the evaluators were split in their assessment. The main disadvantages of Nagant's rifle were a more complicated mechanism and a long and tiresome procedure of disassembling. Mosin's rifle was criticized for its lower quality of manufacture and materials, due to "artisan pre-production" of his 300 rifles; the commission voted 14 to 10 to approve Nagant's rifle. At this point the decision was made to rename the existing commission and call it Commission for creation of the small-bore rifle, to put on paper the final requirements for such a rifle; the inventors obliged by delivering their final designs. Head of the commission, General Chagin, ordered subsequent tests held under the commission's supervision, after which the bolt-action of Mosin's design was ordered into production under the name of 3-line rifle M1891.
Like the Gewehr 98, the 1891 Mosin uses two front-locking lugs to lock up the action. However, the Mosin's lugs lock in the horizontal position; the Mosin bolt body is multi-piece. The Mosin uses interchangeable bolt heads like the Lee–Enfield. Unlike the Mauser, which uses a "controlled feed" bolt head in which the cartridge base snaps up under the fixed extractor as the cartridge is fed from the magazine, the Mosin has a "push feed" recessed bolt head in which the spring-loaded extractor snaps over the cartridge base as the bolt is closed similar to the Gewehr 1888 and M91 Carcano or modern sporting rifles like the Remington 700. Like the Mauser, the Mosin uses a blade ejector mounted in the receiver; the Mosin bolt is removed by pulling it to the rear of the receiver and squeezing the trigger, while the Mauser has a bolt stop lever separate from the trigger. Like the Mauser, the bolt lift arc on the Mosin–Nagant is 90 degrees, versus 60 degrees on the Lee–Enfield; the Mauser bolt handle is at the rear of the bolt body and locks behind the solid rear receiver ring.
The Mosin bolt handle is similar to the Mannlicher: it is attached to a protrusion on the middle of the bolt body, which serves as a bolt guide, it locks protruding out of the ejection/loading port in front of a split rear receiver ring serving a similar function to Mauser's "third" or "safety" lug. The rifling of the Mosin barrel is right turning 4-groove with a twist of 1:9.5" or 1:10". The 5-round fixed metallic magazine can either be loaded by inserting the cartridges singly, or more in military service, by the use of 5-round stripper clips; the 3-line rifle, Model 1891, its original official designation, was adopted by the Russian military in 1891. There have been several variations from the original rifle, the most common being the M1891/30, a modernized design introduced in 1930; some details were borrowed from Nagant's design. One such detail is the attachment of the magazine spring to the magazine base plate. In Mosin's original design the spring was not attached to the base plate and, according to the Commission, could be lost during cleaning.
Another detail is the form of the clip that could hold five cartridges to be loaded into the magazine. Another detail is the form of the "interrupter", a specially designed part within the receiver, which helps prevent double feeding; the initial rifle proposed by Mosin lacked an interrupter. This detail was introduced in the rifle borrowing from Nagant's rifle. Although the form of the interrupter was changed, this alteration was subsequently borrowed back by the Commission for the Model 1891 Mosin–Nagant. During the modernization of 1930, the form of the interrupter was further changed, from a single piece to a two-piece design, as the part had turned out to be one of the least reliable parts of the action. Only the clip loading
Soviet Union
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