On November 8, 1943, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, the highest military award of the Soviet Union - the Order of Victory - was established. At the same time, the famous Order of Fame appeared.
The Order of Victory was awarded to representatives of the Soviet military command for successfully conducting key military operations on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War. The decision to establish the legendary order was made after the victory of the Soviet forces in the Battle of Kursk, which strengthened a radical change in favor of our country.
From the regulations of the order:
As the highest military order, the Order of Victory is awarded to senior commanders in the Red Army for the successful management of military operations of this type in the scope of several fronts or one front, and as a result the situation changes radically in favor of the Red Army.
The author of the sketch of the Order of Victory was the Soviet artist Alexander Kuznetsov, an employee of the Technical Committee of the Directorate of the Main Headquarters of the Red Army, who previously took part in the development of projects for other high state awards.
Made of platinum, the award is a convex five-pointed ruby star surrounded by 174 diamonds totaling 16 carats. 5,400 diamonds and 9 kg of pure platinum were used to make 30 orders.
In the middle of the star there is an image of the Kremlin wall with Lenin's mausoleum and the Spasskaya tower on a background of a circle covered with blue enamel.
The order was awarded to 17 military leaders of the Red Army - outstanding commanders, under whose leadership our nation created the victory over Nazism. Among them are Ivan Konev, Konstantin Rokosovsky, Rodion Malinovsky, Fyodor Tolbukhin, Leonid Goborov, Alexei Antonov, Semyon Tymoshenko, Kirill Mertskov.
The Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union, Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars Joseph Stalin, Marshals Georgy Zhukov and Alexander Vasilevsky were twice awarded the Order of Victory.