Exactly 80 years ago, on October 17, 1938, the medal "For Courage" was instituted. This state award of the USSR was used to reward for personal courage and courage shown in the defense of the Fatherland and the performance of military duty. Almost immediately from the moment of its appearance, this award became especially respected and valuable among the front-line soldiers, as it was awarded the medal "For Courage" solely for personal courage, which was shown in battle. This was the main difference between this award and other medals and orders, which were often awarded “for participation”. Mostly the medal "For Courage" was awarded to the rank and file, but it was also awarded to officers (mostly junior rank).
The Medal For Courage was established by the Decree of the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces on October 17, 1938. The regulation on the new medal said the following: “The Medal For Courage” was established to reward for personal courage and courage, which were shown in the defense of the socialist Fatherland and the performance of military duty. The medal is awarded to servicemen of the Red Army, the Navy, internal and border troops, as well as other citizens of the USSR. In the award system of the Soviet Union, the Medal For Courage was the highest medal. This award could be compared in its significance and importance with the soldier's St. George Cross.
Medal "For Courage" October 17 - June 19, 1943
Among the first to be awarded the new medal were Soviet border guards N. Gulyaev and F. Grigoriev, who managed to detain a group of Japanese saboteurs at Lake Khasan. Already on October 25, 1938, 1,322 people were immediately awarded the medal "For Courage" for courage and valor displayed in the defense of the Lake Khasan region. In 1939, another 9,234 soldiers and commanders of the Red Army received this military award. Quite massively, the award was presented to the participants in the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940. In total, before the start of the Great Patriotic War, about 26 thousand people were awarded the medal "For Courage" in the ranks of the armed forces of the Soviet Union.
And during the Great Patriotic War, from 1941 to 1945, more than 4 million people were awarded this medal. All in all, for the entire existence of the medal "For Courage" it has been awarded about 4.6 million people. At the same time, during the Great Patriotic War, it was quite common practice when some Red Army men and junior commanders were awarded the medal "For Courage" four, five or even six times (a record).
Medal "For Courage" after June 19, 1943
The only recipient of six medals "For Courage" was Semyon Vasilyevich Gretsov, a veteran of the Great Patriotic War, a sanitary instructor, a sergeant of the medical service. Born in 1902, Semyon Vasilyevich was drafted to war in July 1941, no longer a young man, at the age of 39. He began his combat path as a private of the 115th artillery regiment. After receiving a concussion and frostbite of his legs, they wanted to dismiss him from the army, but at his own insistence, he was transferred to the post of medical instructor, where he served until the very end of the Great Patriotic War.
Medical instructor Semyon Gretsov, who served in the 1214th rifle regiment of the 364th rifle division, received his first medal "For Courage" on August 5, 1943. In July 1943, at the height of the Soviet offensive in the Mginsky village near the village of Voronovo, in the Mginsky district of the Leningrad region, in six days of bloody battles, the medical instructor risked his life and carried 28 soldiers and commanders from the battlefield with their personal weapons. And the brave warrior received the last sixth medal at the very end of the war on April 29, 1945. In the order of the 1214th Infantry Regiment of the 364th Infantry Division of the 3rd Shock Army of the 1st Belorussian Front, it was said that the medical instructor of the platoon of the 1st Infantry Battalion, Junior Sergeant Gretsov, on April 23, 1945, in battles for the settlement of Lichtenberg under heavy enemy machine-gun fire carried out from the battlefield 18 wounded soldiers and officers with their personal weapons.
Semyon Vasilievich Gretsov
In total, according to official data, only with weapons, Semyon Vasilyevich carried out about 130 people from the battlefield and many more without weapons, and also provided assistance directly in a combat situation. At present, all six medals "For Courage" by Semyon Vasilyevich Gretsov are kept in the Starooskolsk Museum of Local Lore. In 1978, three years after the death of the famous warrior, they were brought to the museum by a local ethnographer. Also, these medals can sometimes be seen at thematic exhibitions.
There were also funny cases among the awards. For example, the medal "For Courage" was awarded to Hitler, Semyon Konstantinovich. He was presented for the award on September 9, 1941. Semyon Konstantinovich Hitler, who was born in 1922 into a Jewish family in the city of Orinin in Ukraine, was a participant in the defense of Odessa and Sevastopol. It was for his participation in the battles near Odessa in the second half of August 1941 that the Red Army soldier Hitler, the gunner of the machine gun of the 73rd separate machine gun battalion of the Tiraspol UR, was awarded the medal "For Courage". Semyon Konstantinovich died on July 3, 1942 in Sevastopol.
It is known that in the Soviet Union the medal "For Courage" in some cases was also awarded to foreign citizens. For example, on the basis of the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of May 15, 1964, the citizens of Denmark Viggo Lindum and Lilian Lindum were awarded medals "For Courage". They were awarded for the courage shown in saving the life of a Soviet officer during the Great Patriotic War.
The Medal For Courage was made of 925 sterling silver, silver color. It had the shape of a circle with a diameter of 37 mm with a convex rim on both sides of the award. On the obverse of the medal "For Courage", three airplanes were depicted in the upper part. Under the planes was an inscription in two lines "For courage", red enamel was applied to the letters of this inscription. An image of a stylized T-35 tank was placed under the inscription. At the bottom of the medal was the inscription "USSR", which was also covered with red enamel. On the reverse (reverse side) was the medal number. With the help of a ring, the award was attached to a pentagonal block, which was covered with a silk moire ribbon. Gray ribbon with two longitudinal blue stripes along the edges, ribbon width 24 mm, stripe width 2 mm. Initially, the medal "For Courage" from October 17, 1938 to June 19, 1943 was attached to a rectangular block measuring 15x25 mm, covered with a red moire ribbon.
After the collapse of the USSR, the medal "For Courage" was not forgotten, the award did not become an obsolete historical relic, as happened with many orders and medals of the Soviet period. The Medal For Courage was re-established in the system of Russian state awards on the basis of Decree No. 442 of the President of the Russian Federation of March 2, 1994. At the same time, the appearance of the medal practically did not undergo any changes, only the inscription "USSR" was removed from the award and its diameter was somewhat reduced - to 34 mm.
In Russia, the medal "For Courage" is awarded to military personnel, as well as employees of the internal affairs bodies of the Russian Federation, the fire service, as well as citizens for personal courage and bravery shown: in battles in the defense of the Fatherland and the state interests of the Russian Federation; when performing special tasks to ensure the state security of the Russian Federation; when protecting the state border of the Russian Federation; in the performance of military, service or civil duty, protection of the constitutional rights of citizens and in other circumstances that involve a risk to life. Like many other contemporary Russian awards, the Medal For Courage can be awarded today and posthumously.
The first awards with the already updated Russian medal "For Courage" were made in December 1994, then 8 people were awarded. Among them were six specialists who took part in underwater technical work on the sunken nuclear submarine Komsomolets, as well as two employees of the Security Service of the President of Russia, who were awarded for their courage and heroism in performing a special assignment.
