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Order of the Red Banner
Order of the red Banner OBVERSE
The Order of the Red Banner
Awarded by the Flag of the Soviet Union Soviet Union
Type Single-grade order
Eligibility Soviet Citizens
Awarded for Heroism in combat or long service in the armed forces
Status No longer awarded
Statistics
Established August 1, 1924
Last awarded 1991
Total awarded 581,300
Precedence
Next (higher) Order of the October Revolution
Equivalent Order of the Red Banner of Labour
Next (lower) Order of Suvorov
Order of Red Banner ribbon bar
Ribbon of the Order of the Red Banner
Orden Krasnogo Znameni RSFSR 1918

First variant Russian Order of the Red Banner on red cloth backing 1918-1924

Василий Блюхер

Marshal of the Soviet Union Vasily Blyukher wearing four first variant Orders of the Red Banner

Order of Red Banner

Early variant Soviet Order of the Red Banner

File:Vasily.Zaitsev.jpg

Sniper Vasily Zaytsev wearing an early variant of the Order of the Red Banner

File:Semyon Konstantinovich Timoshenko (1895-1970), Soviet military commander.jpg

Marshal Timoshenko wearing four Orders of the Red Banner

USSR, Naval 1935 redban

Naval ensign of a Military Order of the Red Banner vessel

The Order of the Red Banner (Russian: Орден Крaсного Знамени) was the first Soviet military decoration. The order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. It was the highest award of Soviet Russia, subsequently the Soviet Union, until the Order of Lenin was established in 1930. Recipients were recognised for extraordinary heroism, dedication, and courage demonstrated on the battlefield. The order was awarded to individuals as well as to military units, cities, ships, political and social organizations, and state enterprises. In later years it was also awarded on the twentieth and again on the thirtieth anniversary of military service without requiring participation in combat.

Award history[]

The Russian Order of the Red Banner was established during the Russian Civil War by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of September 16, 1918.[1] The first recipient was Vasily Blyukher[2] on September 28, 1918.[3] The second recipient was Iona Yakir.[citation needed]

During the Civil War there existed similarly named orders and decorations established by the Soviet communist governments of several other constituent and nonconstituent republics. The August 1, 1924 decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee[4] established the all-Soviet Order of the Red Banner for deserving personnel of the Red Army.

Other nonmilitary awards also used the phrase "Order of the Red Banner" in their title; for example, the Order of the Red Banner of Labour was presented for acts of great scientific, military (technical or logistic), manufacturing, or agricultural achievement.

Award statute[]

As a military decoration, The Order of the Red Banner recognised heroism in combat or otherwise extraordinary accomplishments of military valour during combat operations.[1] Before the establishment of the Order of Lenin on April 5, 1930,[5] the Order of the Red Banner functioned as the highest (and practically the only) military order of the USSR. During World War II, under various titles (including the Order of the Red Banner of Military Valour and Order of the Red Banner for Maritime Valour), it was presented both to individuals and to units for acts of extreme military heroism. In some ways, the Order of the Red Banner was more prestigious, as it could only be awarded for bravery during combat operations whereas the Order of Lenin was sometimes awarded to non-military personnel and political leaders. Nearly all well-known Soviet commanders became recipients of the Order of the Red Banner. The order was awarded to individuals as well as whole formations, which then added the prefix "Red Banner" to their official designations. Naval vessels also flew a special ensign.[4]

Long service award[]

The Order of the Red Banner was also used as a long service award between 1944 and 1958 to mark twenty and thirty years of service in the military, state security, or police.[4] Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of September 14, 1957[6] emphasised the devaluation of certain Soviet high military Orders used as long service awards instead of their originally intended criteria. This led to the joint January 25, 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.

Award description[]

The order consisted of a white-enamelled badge, which had a golden Hammer and Sickle badge surrounded by two golden panicles of wheat on a Red Star, backed by crossed hammer, plough, torch and a red flag bearing the motto Proletarians (Workers) of the World, Unite!. This was surrounded by two golden panicles of wheat; at the bottom were the letters "SSSR" (Russian: СССР).[4] Additional awards of the Order bore a white enamelled shield with a silver sequence number at the bottom of the obverse. A recipient of three Orders of the Red Banner would wear a basic badge of the order followed by his second award bearing a number "2" and his third award bearing a number "3".

The early variants of the Order were screw back badges to allow wear on clothing. Later variants (1943) hung from a standard Soviet pentagonal mount with a ring through the suspension loop. The mount was covered with an overlapping 24mm wide red silk moiré ribbon with 1.5mm wide white edge stripes and a 7mm wide white central stripe.[4]

The Order of the Red Banner was worn on the left side of the chest and when in the presence of other Orders and medals of the USSR, was placed immediately after the Order of the October Revolution.[4] If worn in the presence of Orders or medals of the Russian Federation, the latter have precedence.[7]

Recipients (partial list)[]

Individuals[]

Formations[]

Individual feats[]

Feats of valour worthy of the award of the Order of the Red Banner were as much against internal as against external enemies of the USSR as detailed below:

  • Private Mikhail Minin was awarded the Order of the red Banner for being the first to enter the Reichstag building building on April 30, 1945 during the Battle of Berlin, and the first soldier to mount the red flag on its roof at 10:40 pm.
  • Pavel Dybenko won 3 Orders of the Red Banner, his first in the 1921 bloody suppression of the naval rebellion in Kronstadt, his 2 others in 1922 in the suppression of peasants uprisings.
  • Sasha Fillipov received his posthumous award in 1944 for spying on, and being executed by the Germans during the Battle of Stalingrad.
  • Official Executioner Vasili Mikhailovich Blokhin was awarded his in 1941 for leading a company of executioners that performed and supervised numerous mass executions during Stalin's reign.
  • Major General Mikhail Vasilyevich Vodopianov was awarded 2 of his 4 Orders of the Red Banner for his leadership of long range bomber groups during World War II often personally leading the missions.

Trivia[]

  • In George Orwell's Animal Farm (1945), a satire on the Soviet Union, an order called the Order of the Green Banner is created.

See also[]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 "Decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of September 16, 1918" (in Russian). Legal Library of the USSR. 1918-09-16. http://www.libussr.ru/doc_ussr/ussr_362.htm. Retrieved 2012-03-25. 
  2. Great Russian Encyclopedia (2005) vol. 3, p. 618.
  3. Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd edition, entry on "Блюхер", available online [1]
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 "Decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of August 1, 1924" (in Russian). Legal Library of the USSR. 1924-08-01. http://www.libussr.ru/doc_ussr/ussr_2110.htm. Retrieved 2012-03-25. 
  5. "Decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of April 5, 1930" (in Russian). Legal Library of the USSR. 1930-05-05. http://www.libussr.ru/doc_ussr/ussr_3645.htm. Retrieved 2012-04-05. 
  6. "Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of September 14, 1957" (in Russian). Legal Library of the USSR. 1957-09-14. http://www.libussr.ru/doc_ussr/ussr_5225.htm. Retrieved 2012-04-05. 
  7. "Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of September 7, 2010 No 1099" (in Russian). Russian Gazette. 2010-09-07. http://www.rg.ru/2010/09/15/nagrady-dok.html. Retrieved 2012-03-25. 
  8. Якир Иона Эммануилович
  9. http://www.stel.ru/stalin/Soviet_power_1919.htm - "November 27 The Presidium of the A.R.C.E.C. confers on J. V. Stalin the Order of the Red Banner for his services in the defense of Petrograd and selfless efforts on the Southern Front."
  10. Prominent Russians: Nestor Makhno Russiapedia.rt.com

External links[]


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