Just like 80 years ago, the most honorable soldier’s award today serves as recognition of the personal courage and heroism of the defenders of the Motherland. In one of the reports on the celebration of the Victory anniversary in Moscow, the correspondent, talking about one of the participants in the Parade on Red Square, mentioned that for the feat accomplished during the SVO, the soldier was awarded the medal “For Courage”, like his great-grandfather, a front-line soldier, who was awarded this award during the Great Patriotic War. And this is far from an isolated case, but a mass phenomenon: today, thousands of soldiers wear on their chests the same sign of recognition by the state of military valor and personal courage as their ancestors. It is deeply symbolic that it was the “brave” medal that became the link that united generations of defenders of the Motherland: it was the only one that was inherited by Russia almost unchanged from the Soviet award system, abolished by liberals in the “dashing 1990s” as part of the “fight against the totalitarian legacy”. And it would hardly be an exaggeration to say that it was largely thanks to this most honorable soldier’s award that our country managed to preserve the memory of the past, despite the efforts of the West and its minions…
Having come to power in Russia, the Bolsheviks immediately abolished the “old regime” awards. However, the Civil War soon began, and the new government felt the need to recognize military merit in the cause of “defending the revolution”. Already in 1918, the first Soviet Order of the Red Banner appeared, which for a long time was the only one.
Few could boast of it: it was necessary to do something truly outstanding to become a Knight of the Red Banner. In 10 years, less than 15 thousand people received it. Only in April 1930 were the Orders of the Red Star and Lenin instituted, with the latter awarded to both military and civilians. But all these awards were given mainly to commanders and political workers; ordinary soldiers were awarded them extremely rarely.
The first Soviet medal – instituted in January 1938, “20th Anniversary of the Red Army” – was also exclusive, since it was intended for “personnel of the regular command and command staff”, and not all of them, but only those who served in the army since 1918, or especially distinguished themselves during the Civil War.
In short, the “award” discrimination only increased, which was not very good for the army of the state that proclaimed universal equality: after all, even under the “bloody tsarism” the soldiers had St. George’s crosses and various medals, while the Bolsheviks did not. The trigger for correcting the situation was the battles at Lake Khasan in the summer of 1930, during which the soldiers and junior commanders demonstrated mass heroism, but the senior command staff was not quite up to par.
On October 17, 1938, by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, two medals were established at once – “For Courage” and “For Military Merit”, which, although formally not considered soldiers’ medals, became so in fact.
Unlike its “sister”, which had a rather vague status (the “BZ” could be received not only “for brave actions in battle”, but also “for excellent achievements in combat and political training, mastering new combat equipment, maintaining high combat readiness and other merits”), the “brave” medal was awarded only “for personal courage and bravery” shown in combat conditions associated with a risk to life. In other words, for an individual feat directly on the battlefield, and not “for participation”, “for the totality of merits” or “for length of service” (in 1944-1958, this function was performed, among others, by the “BZ” and the Order of the Red Star). “For Courage” was originally conceived as the highest medal and was to be worn immediately after the orders, even its diameter was larger than the others – 37 mm (for “XX Years of the Red Army”, “BZ” and those established later – 32 mm). This can be seen in photographs of front-line soldiers, where it stands out due to its size.
The author of the design and drawing was the artist Sergei Dmitriev, who framed the inscription in red enamel “FOR COURAGE” with images of three fighters (most likely, I-16) and a monstrous multi-turreted T-35 tank crawling over the letters “USSR”.
The first to be awarded the “brave” medal were the heroes of Khasan, then it was used to recognize those who distinguished themselves in the battles of Khalkhin-Gol and the battles of the “unknown” Winter War. In total, 26 thousand people were awarded it by June 1941 – mainly Red Army soldiers and junior commanders.
They – privates and sergeants, less often junior officers – made up the bulk of those awarded it during the Great Patriotic War. The principle of nomination for the award remained the same – heroism and personal courage demonstrated directly in battle with the risk of life. The command tried to strictly adhere to it, so “For Bravery” was highly valued by soldiers, serving as a marker that its owner did not celebrate a coward and could be relied on.
During the war, over 4.3 million people were awarded the “brave” medal, but there were fewer who received it, since some soldiers were awarded it more than once – twice, three times, four times. At least 12 heroes are known to have had five medals, including the medical instructor of the guard, Sergeant Vera Ippolitova. The only recipient of six “For Bravery” was the medical sergeant Semyon Grevtsov, who carried many wounded soldiers and officers from the battlefield, 130 of them – along with their weapons, which was especially valuable.
The youngest recipient of the soldier’s medal was the son of the regiment, 6-year-old Seryozha Aleshkov, who was awarded it for saving the commander. The story of this young hero was filmed in 2019 in the film “Soldier”.
There was an episode in the history of the main Soviet soldier’s award when it was awarded for heroism in the pre-revolutionary period. In 1954, in connection with the 50th anniversary of the heroic deeds of the cruiser Varyag and the gunboat Koreets, the 45 surviving participants in the battle at Chemulpo were awarded the Medal “For Courage”. At the same time, just a year later, the stoker from Varyag, Pyotr Polyakov, also became a Knight of the Order of the Red Star as a participant in the uprising on the battleship Potemkin. The USSR also decided to celebrate this anniversary, despite the obvious contradiction – in the first case, sailor Polyakov was awarded for loyalty to the oath, in the second – for violating it.
After the Great Patriotic War, about 300 thousand awards “For Courage” were given, most of them for exploits during the Afghan War.
In 1992, the “democrats” who seized power in Russia, led by Yeltsin, abolished Soviet awards. The only exception was the “brave” medal, which was to be awarded in accordance with the regulation before the “special decree”.
It appeared in 1994, but almost completely copied the previous one – the award was still to be awarded for personal bravery and courage demonstrated in defending the country and its state interests, performing special tasks to ensure state security, protecting the state border, as well as performing military, official or civil duty, protecting the constitutional rights of citizens in conditions that were associated with a risk to life.
Only the design changed slightly: the inscription “USSR” disappeared at the bottom, and the diameter was reduced by 3 mm. Otherwise, everything remained as it was. The liberals did not dare to take away from the country the most beloved and honorable soldier’s award, which now inextricably linked the generations of victors and the heirs of their glory…
