Designer: artist A.I.Kuznetsov The Order of the Patriotic
War was institued by the Edict of May 20, 1942 at the initiative of I.V.Stalin.
This is the very first decoration that appeared in the years of the Great Patriotic
War. The order became the first Soviet award which was divided into classes
and in the course of 35 years it remained the only Soviet order passed to the
family after holder's death (only in 1977 the regulations concerning leaving
decorations to the family were extended to other orders and medals). It had
the most inclusive Statute of all other orders. According to its Statute, the
order was awarded almost always for bravery on the field of battle which made
it similar to such Tsarist awards as the Order of St. George or the St. George
Cross and made it a highly valued decoration. Besides that, it was very popular
among junior officers - those platoon and company commanders who together with
the soldiers bore all of the war's hardships. This is because the decoration
of such a commander with the Order of the Red Banner was a rarity, and the Order
of Lenin or any other senior commanders' order - an extraordinary event, so
only the Orders of the Red Star and the Patriotic War were left to them. A set
of the former order and both classes of the latter was called an "officers'
set" among the commanders, which was considered to be a high honor to possess.
Overall, in the years of the war 324 thousand decorations of the order of class
I and 951 thousand of class II occurred. For more details: ÔÂÎ ÌÃÒÓ (Ðóññêèé)