Among the huge number of military awards that existed in different periods of Russian history, the St. George Cross has always occupied a special place. The Soldier's Cross of St. George can be called the most massive award of the Russian Empire, because it was awarded to the lower ranks of the army and navy of Russia.
In 1769, Empress Catherine II, paying tribute to the military glory of the Russian army, instituted an award given exclusively for military service. “As the glory of the Russian empire,” said its statute, “at all has spread and elevated the faith, courage and prudent behavior of a military rank: either from our special imperial favor to those serving in our troops, in rewarding them for and from them in many cases jealousy and service to our ancestors, also to encourage them in the art of war, we wanted to establish a new military order … This order will be named: the military order of St. Bicolor and Victorious George "[1].
However, there was one problem: at that time the order was not just a decoration on the chest, but also a symbol of social status. He emphasized the noble position of its owner, so it was impossible to award them to the lower ranks.
In 1807, the Russian Emperor Alexander I was presented with a note with a proposal to establish some kind of award for the lower ranks who distinguished themselves on the battlefield. The emperor considered such a proposal quite reasonable, and such an award was established on February 13 (25), 1807 by the highest manifesto [2]. It got its name - the insignia of the Military Order of the Holy Great Martyr and the Victorious George.
This award was a silver cross without enamel, which was worn on a black and yellow St. George ribbon on the chest. Already in the first rules concerning the insignia, it was stated: “This insignia is acquired only in the battlefield, during the defense of fortresses and in sea battles. They are awarded only to those of the lower military ranks who, serving in the land and sea Russian troops, really show their excellent courage in the fight against the enemy”[3].
It was possible to deserve a badge of distinction - the soldier's St. George Cross could only be accomplished by a military feat, for example, by capturing an enemy banner or standard, capturing an enemy officer or general, entering an enemy fortress first during an assault or boarding an enemy ship. The lower rank, who saved the life of his commander in combat conditions, could also receive this award.
Rewarding the soldier George gave privileges to those who distinguished themselves: an increase in one third of the salary, which was preserved even upon retirement (after the death of the cavalier, his widow enjoyed the right to receive it for a year); prohibiting the use of corporal punishment against persons bearing the insignia of the order; when transferring the knights of the St. George cross of the non-commissioned officer rank from army regiments to the guard, preserving their previous rank, although the guard non-commissioned officer was considered two ranks higher than the army.
From the very moment of its establishment, the insignia of the Military Order, in addition to the official one, received several more names: St. George's Cross of the 5th degree, the soldier's St. George ("Egoriy"), etc.
St. George's cross for No. 1 was received by a non-commissioned officer of the Cavalry regiment Yegor Ivanovich Mityukhin (Mitrokhin), who distinguished himself in a battle with the French near Friedland on June 2 (14), 1807. Together with him, 3 more people received awards, who were, like him, orderlies at head of the equestrian detachment, Adjutant General F. P. Uvarova. These are Vasily Mikhailovich Mikhailov, non-commissioned officer of the Pskov dragoon regiment (badge for No. 2), Karp Savelyevich Ovcharenko, non-commissioned officer of the Cavalier regiment (badge for No. 3) and Nikifor Klimentyevich Ovcharenko, private of the Pskov dragoon regiment (badge for No. 4). The cross for No. 5 was awarded to private of the Yekaterinoslav Dragoon Regiment Prokhor Frolovich Trehalov "For beating off Russian and Prussian prisoners from the French at the town of Villindorf." Awarded with the insignia Mikhailov, Ovcharenko and Trehalov were transferred to the cavalry guards after the battle.
When it was established, the soldier's cross did not have any degrees and was minted from silver of the 95th test. There were also no restrictions on the number of awards for one person. At the same time, a new cross was not issued, but with each award, the salary increased by a third, up to a double salary. By a decree of July 15 (27), 1808, the holders of the Military Order insignia were exempted from corporal punishment [4]. The insignia could be withdrawn from the awarded only by court and with the obligatory notification of the emperor about it.
In total, during the military campaigns of 1807-1811. 12,871 awards have been made. Among the awardees is the famous "cavalry girl" Nadezhda Durova (badge No. 5723), who began her service as a simple lancer and was awarded an award for saving her superior from the death in the battle of Gutshtadt in May 1807.
It is a known fact when a French soldier received the insignia of the Military Order. This happened at the conclusion of the Tilsit Peace Treaty between Russia and France in 1807. During the meeting between Alexander I and Napoleon, the emperors exchanged awards for the best soldiers, who for a short time became friendly to the Russian and French armies. The French soldier received the soldier's "Yegori", and the Russian soldier of the Preobrazhensky regiment, Alexei Lazarev, was awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor.
During this period, there were also facts of awarding the Military Order to civilians of the lower classes, but without the right to be called a knight of the insignia. One of the first was awarded the Kola Pomor Matvey Gerasimov. In 1810, when the Russian-English war of 1807-1812 was going on. the ship on which he was carrying a cargo of flour was captured by an English warship. A team of eight British soldiers, led by an officer, landed on a Russian ship with a crew of 9 people. 11 days after the capture, taking advantage of the inclement weather on the way to England, Gerasimov and his comrades took the British prisoners, forcing the officer in command to surrender, after which he brought the ship to the Norwegian port of Vardø, where the prisoners were interned [5].
The number of lower ranks who received the Military Order insignia without a number is nine thousand. In January 1809, the numbering of crosses and lists of names were introduced.
The most difficult years for Russia, when the people, driven by a sense of patriotism, stood up to defend the Fatherland, were also marked with the largest number of St. George's soldier awards. Especially many awards were given with the soldier "Yegor" during the Patriotic War of 1812 and the Russian army's campaigns abroad in 1813–1814.
The statistics of awards by years is indicative:
1812 - 6783 awards;
1813 - 8611 awards;
1814 - 9,345 awards;
1815 - 3983 awards [6].
For Borodino, 39 lower ranks of the Rostov Grenadier Regiment received the insignia of the Military Order. Among them - non-commissioned officer Yakov Protopopov, sergeant major Konstantin Bobrov; privates - Sergei Mikhailov and Petr Ushakov. Among those marked with the insignia of the Military Order for Borodino was a non-commissioned officer of the Preobrazhensky Life Guards Regiment Fyodor Chernyaev. By this time, he was in the army for almost 35 years: he participated in the capture of Ochakov and Izmail during the Russian-Turkish war of 1787-1791, in 1805 he was awarded the Anninsky sign, after Borodin he participated in the Battle of Kulm in 1813, and the campaign ended in 1814 in Paris. During the assault on Vereya in October 1812, private of the Wilmanstrand regiment Ilya Starostenko captured the banner of the Westphalian infantry regiment. At the suggestion of Kutuzov, he was promoted to non-commissioned officer and awarded the St. George Cross.
Distinguished in the battle of Borodino and corporal of the Life Guards of the Finnish regiment Leonty Korennoy, who showed himself by the fact that "during the battle with the enemy, being in the arrows and repeatedly refuting his strengthening chains, striking strongly … than, having overturned the enemy, betrayed him to flight." For his feat, the Life Guardsman received in front of the formation the fellow soldiers of the soldier George for number 16 970. Another feat worthy of the St. George Cross, Grenadier Korennoy performed on the field of the "Battle of the Nations" near Leipzig in the October days of 1813, saving his colleagues.
For the battle with the French in the soldiers' ranks during the "Battle of the Nations" near Leipzig, Emperor Alexander I awarded the favorite of the guards, Count M. A. Miloradovich.
Among the participants in the Patriotic War, two future Decembrists were awarded the soldier's St. George's crosses: M. I. Muravyov-Apostol and I. D. Yakushkin, who fought at Borodino with the rank of ensign.
Later, for participation in the wars with Napoleon in 1813-1815. soldiers of the armies allied with Russia in the fight against Napoleonic France were also awarded the insignia: the Prussians - 1921 awards, the Swedes - 200, the Austrians - 170, representatives of different German states - 70, the British - 15.
In total, during the reign of Alexander I, 46,527 awards were made with the St. George Cross.
In December 1833, the provision on the insignia of the Military Order was spelled out in the new statute of the Order of St. George [7].
In 1839, in honor of the 25th anniversary of the conclusion of the Paris Peace Treaty, a jubilee version of the badge was established. It differed from the previous one by the presence of the monogram of Alexander I on the upper beam of the reverse. This award was presented to veterans of the Prussian army who participated in the wars with Napoleon. A total of 4,264 such badges were awarded.
In August 1844, Emperor Nicholas I signed a decree establishing a special St. George's Cross for rewarding persons of non-Christian faith [8]. On such a cross, instead of a Christian plot with St. George killing a snake, a black two-headed eagle was depicted. At the same time, the Muslim awardees often insisted on issuing an ordinary cross with St. George, considering it as a reward “with a horseman like themselves”, and not “with a bird”.
In total, during the reign of Nicholas I, 57,706 lower ranks of the Russian army were marked with the badge of the order. Including were awarded: for the Persian and Turkish wars - 11 993 people, for the Polish campaign - 5888, for the Hungarian campaign - 3222.
The largest known number of gradeless insignia is 113248. Peter Tomasov received it for his bravery during the defense of Petropavlovsk-on-Kamchatka in 1854.
By a decree of March 19 (31), 1856, the insignia of the Military Order was divided into 4 degrees: 1st highest degree - a gold cross on a St. George ribbon with a ribbon bow of the same colors; 2nd degree - the same gold cross on a ribbon, but without a bow; 3rd degree - a silver cross on a ribbon with a bow; 4th degree - the same silver cross, but on a ribbon without a bow. On the reverse side of the cross, the degree of the sign was indicated and, as before, the number under which the recipient was entered into the "eternal list" of St. George's Knights was knocked out [9].
According to the new regulation of 1856 on the St. George soldier's cross, the awarding began with the lowest, 4th degree and then, as with the awarding of the officer's order of St. George, the 3rd, 2nd, and, finally, the 1st degree were issued sequentially. The numbering of the crosses was new, and separately for each degree. They wore awards of all degrees on the chest in one row. Already in 1856, 151 people were marked by the soldier George 1st degree, that is, they became full knights of St. George. Many of them deserved this award earlier, but only with the division of the order into degrees were they able to receive a visible distinction for their uniform.
Over the entire 57-year history of the four-degree insignia of the Military Order, about 2 thousand people became its full cavaliers, about 7 thousand were awarded the 2nd, 3rd and 4th degrees. Most of the awards fell on the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. (87,000), the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. (46,000), the Caucasian campaign (25,372) and campaigns in Central Asia (23,000).
During this period, several cases are known of the awarding of insignia of the Military Order to entire units: in 1829 the crew of the legendary 18-gun brig of the Russian fleet "Mercury", which took and won an unequal battle with two Turkish battleships; and in December 1864 - the Cossacks of the 4th hundred of the 2nd Ural Cossack regiment, who stood under the command of the captain V. R. Serov in an unequal battle with the many times superior forces of the Kokands near the village of Ikan.
In 1856-1913. there was also a kind of insignia of the Military Order for awarding the lower ranks of non-Christian denominations. On it, the image of St. George and his monogram has been replaced by a two-headed eagle. 19 people became full holders of this award.
In 1913, a new statute of the insignia of the Military Order was approved [10]. It began to be officially called the St. George Cross, and the numbering of the signs issued from that time began anew.
In connection with the outbreak of the World War in 1914, the number of awards with the St. George's Crosses increased sharply. By the beginning of 1917 (already with a new numbering), the 1st degree had been issued about 30 thousand times, and the 4th - more than 1 million. The first rewarding of the St. George Cross of the 4th degree took place on August 1 (14), 1914, when the cross No. 5501 was presented to the order of the 3rd Don Cossack Regiment Kozma Firsovich Kryuchkov for a brilliant victory over 27 German cavalrymen in an unequal battle on July 30 (August 12) 1914 Subsequently, Kryuchkov also earned three other degrees of St. George's Cross in battles. Soldier Georgy of the 1st degree No. 1 was received at the very beginning of the First World War by ensign Nikifor Klimovich Udalykh, who saved the banner of the 1st Nevsky Infantry Regiment.
During the First World War, several St. George Knights appeared, who had five crosses each. One of them, Ilya Vasilyevich Volkov, repeatedly distinguished himself in battles back in the war with Japan, and then in the First World War. He had a cross of the 4th degree, two crosses of the 3rd degree and crosses of the 2nd and 1st degrees.
For bravery in battles, women have been repeatedly awarded the St. George Cross. Sister of mercy Nadezhda Plaksina and Cossack Maria Smirnova deserved three such awards, and sister of mercy Antonina Palshina and junior non-commissioned officer of the 3rd Kurzeme Latvian Rifle Regiment Lina Canka-Freudenfelde - two.
Foreigners who served in the Russian army were also awarded with St. George's Crosses. The Frenchman Marcel Plya, who fought in the Ilya Muromets bomber, received 2 crosses, the French pilot Lieutenant Alphonse Poiret - 4, and the Czech Karel Vashatka was the owner of 4 degrees of the George Cross, the George Cross with a laurel branch, the St. George medals of 3 degrees, the Order of St. George 4th degree and St. George's weapons.
By order of the military department No. 532 of August 19, 1917, a drawing of a slightly modified sample of the St. George award was approved - a metal laurel branch was placed on the ribbon of the cross. Those who distinguished themselves in hostilities were awarded such crosses by the order of the soldiers, and the officer could be marked with a soldier's cross "with a twig", and a private, in the case of fulfilling his duties as a chief (order of July 28, 1917), by officer George, also with a branch attached to the ribbon. After the October Revolution on December 16 (29), 1917, by the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars, signed by V. I. Lenin, "On the equalization of all servicemen in the rights" St. George's Cross was abolished simultaneously with all other awards of the Russian Republic.
During the Civil War, the awarding of soldiers' St. George's crosses to ordinary soldiers and Cossacks, volunteers, non-commissioned officers, cadets, volunteers and sisters of mercy took place in all territories occupied by the white armies. The first such award took place on March 30, 1918.
From May 11, 1918on the territory of the Great Don Army, more than 20 thousand of such crosses of the 4th degree were awarded, 9080 - 3rd and 470 - 2nd. In February 1919, the awarding of the St. George Cross was restored on the Eastern Front by A. V. Kolchak. In the Northern Army of General E. K. Miller in 1918-1919. 2270 crosses of the 4th degree were awarded, 422 - 3rd, 106 - 2nd and 17 - 1st.
In the Volunteer Army, the awarding of St. George's crosses was allowed on August 12, 1918 and took place on the same grounds as before the revolution: “Soldiers and volunteers are presented [to] the St. George's crosses and medals for deeds indicated [in] the St. George Statute, in the same manner, as during the war [on] the external front, they are awarded with crosses by the power of the corps commander, and medals by the power of the commander in chief”. The first presentation of awards took place on October 4, 1918. In the Russian army of P. N. Wrangel, this practice has been preserved.
The last Knight of St. George during the Civil War, awarded in Russia, was the sergeant-major Pavel Zhadan, who was awarded in June 1920 for his participation in battles against the cavalry corps D. P. Goons.
Many Soviet commanders, who started a difficult military school in the flames of the First World War, were Knights of St. George. Among them, a full bow, that is, all four soldier's crosses, had the heroes of the Civil War S. M. Budyonny and I. V. Tyulenev, the legendary division commander V. I. Chapaev in the battles of the First World War earned three St. George's crosses: in November 1915, the 4th degree cross No. 46 347, in December of the same year - the 3rd degree cross No. 49 128, and in February 1917 - the 2nd degree of award No. 68 047.
In the harsh years of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. many soldiers who took part in the First World War proudly wore the St. George insignia, received many years ago, next to Soviet awards. Full Cavaliers of St. George Major General M. E. Trump and the Don Cossack K. I. Nedorubov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for differences in battles with the Nazis. Continuing the glorious heroic traditions, in November 1943 the Order of Glory of three degrees was instituted to award the ranks and sergeants of the Red Army who displayed glorious feats of bravery, courage and fearlessness in the battles for the Motherland. The insignia of the order was worn on the ribbon of St. George's flowers, and the statute of the order was in many ways reminiscent of the statute of the insignia of the Military Order.
In the Russian Federation, in order to restore heroic traditions in the Armed Forces, it was also decided to restore the most revered order of the Russian Empire for military merit. In paragraph 2 of the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation dated March 2, 1992 No. 2424-I "On state awards of the Russian Federation" it was proposed: "… to restore the Russian military order of St. George and the sign" St. George's cross "" [11].
However, for a number of reasons, they were able to return to this only after eight years. By Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated August 8, 2000 No. 1463, the Regulation and Description of the St. George Cross were approved. Later they were clarified in the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of August 12, 2008 No. 1205. In accordance with the Regulation: "The insignia - the St. George Cross - is awarded to servicemen from among soldiers, sailors, sergeants and foremen, warrant officers and warrant officers for exploits and distinctions in battles to defend the Fatherland against an attack by an external enemy, as well as for feats and distinctions in hostilities on the territory of other states while maintaining or restoring international peace and security, serving as examples of courage, dedication and military skill”[12].
The first awarding of the St. George Cross took place in August 2008. Then, 11 soldiers and sergeants were awarded with the 4th degree St. George crosses for courage and heroism displayed in the performance of military duty in the North Caucasus region.
