"20 years of the Red Army" - a medal and its varieties

2024 Author: Sierra Becker | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-26 03:46

In January 1938, when the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union turned twenty years old, a special government decree marked this significant event by establishing a special medal. The right to confer the honorary award was given to a special committee under the government of the country, and in terms of its rank it followed the medal, which noted special merits in the development of natural resources and the development of the gas and oil industry.

The newly established medal is an award for military personnel

In accordance with the established regulations, the anniversary medal "20 years of the Red Army" was awarded to military personnel who held commanding and senior positions in the army and navy, who had at least twenty years of service, that is, who had been in the ranks of the Soviet Armed Forces from the day they were creation. This also included years of service in the Red Guard squads, as well as in partisan detachments that fought against the enemies of the state.

From thiscategory of persons, the award was given to those who showed heroism during the years of the Civil War, as well as in other battles with the enemies of our Fatherland. "20 Years of the Red Army" - a medal that was also awarded to all veterans awarded the Order of the Red Banner during the Civil War. All this was noted in the government decree. Based on this, the frequently asked question about whether ordinary soldiers received the medal "20 Years of the Red Army" is inevitably answered in the negative. This is due to the list of categories of persons to be awarded, which indicates only commanders and those who held leadership positions.

Appearance of the award badge

The medal "20 years of the Red Army" (photo at the beginning of the article) is a round disc with a matte surface, the diameter of which is 32 mm. A rim runs along its edge, and on the front side there is a red five-pointed star made of enamel and having a thin silver edging. In the lower part of the circle, symmetrically between the ends of the star and resting on the upper edge of the edging, is the Roman numeral "XX". It is gilded, has the following dimensions: 8 mm high, 7 mm wide.

On the other side of the badge there is an image of a Red Army soldier in a Budyonovka and overcoat, firing a rifle. In the lower right part of the disk there is an inscription "1918-1938", indicating the twenty-year stage of the existence of the Armed Forces. For the manufacture of the medal, high-grade silver and gilding were used for the inscription "XX" (20 years of the Red Army). The medal contained 15.592 grams of pure silver and 0.10 grams of gold. It was one of the firstmedals in the country.

Medal "20 years of the Red Army": varieties of pads and fasteners

There are two types of hanging block for attaching the badge to clothes. The early one, used from the day the medal was established (1938) until a special government decree in 1943, was rectangular in shape with a narrow oblong frame at the bottom. A red ribbon passed through it, covering the entire surface of the block.

For its fixation, a copper plate with teeth along the edges and a hole in the middle, placed on the reverse side of the block, was used. It was attached to clothes with a threaded pin and a flat clamping nut with a diameter of 18 mm, on which the brand of the manufacturer "Mondvor" was located, as well as the serial number of this award badge.

Change the appearance of the block

When the Decree of 1943 came into force, all the previously awarded blocks used the old model, and the newly awarded ones received it in accordance with the government decree. In the new version, a ring threaded through a special eyelet connected the medal to a block, which had a pentagonal shape and was covered with a moire ribbon on top. A gray silk ribbon 24 mm wide was edged along the edges with two longitudinal red stripes. There was no threaded pin with a nut, and the block itself was attached to the clothes with a pin.

Two samples of award certificates

All those awarded with the medal "20 years of the Red Army" received the appropriate certificates, which also haddifferent design options. The earliest of them, the sample of 1938, is characterized by the fact that on its cover was depicted the coat of arms of the Soviet Union with eleven ribbons - according to the number of republics that were part of it at that time.

The next feature that distinguished this certificate from the subsequent sample was the presence of a serial number. It was affixed on the first spread, immediately after the inscription "Certificate", and was located in its upper part, on the right. Certificates of this type were signed by the Secretary of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the country A. Gorkin.

In 1959, by the appropriate government decree, adjustments were made to the design of certificates for the award signs "20 years of the Red Army". The medal has not undergone any changes since 1943, but the accompanying document could not but reflect the realities of the new time.

By this year, the number of union republics reached fifteen, respectively, the number of ribbons on the image of the state emblem has also changed. The post of secretary of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR by that time was occupied by MP Georgadze, and the documents of the new type had his signature. In addition, they did not indicate the serial number of the medal.

It should also be noted that all those awarded before 1959 had the old certificates, that is, the old ones, but they had the right to receive new ones in case of loss of the old ones, or as persons who were unreasonably repressed in previous years, and subsequently rehabilitated and reinstated.

A rare medal

Even thoughthat “20 Years of the Red Army” - a medal previously established in the Soviet Union before other similar award signs - was awarded to more than thirty-seven thousand red commanders of various levels, by the end of the war it could be seen infrequently. The reason is that a significant part of the awarded fell under the wheel of mass repressions in 1938, as well as subsequent years, and was shot; many died during clashes with the Japanese aggressors at Khalkhin Gol and in the Finnish campaign, while others were killed in battles with Nazi Germany or were taken prisoner. In the post-war, fifties, this award was already extremely rare on officer, general and marshal uniforms.

One of the few pre-war officer awards

It is interesting to note that by the beginning of the forties the picture was completely different. On the uniforms of career officers, other awards were extremely rare, except for the one discussed in our article. The reason for this is as follows. The fact is that in the early forties only five orders were established in our country, three of which were awarded for military merit. In addition, there were four medals, two of which, according to the regulations, were also intended for those who distinguished themselves on the battlefield.

Based on this, for the awarding of military personnel, in addition to "20 years of the Red Army", only five more award signs were intended - three orders and two medals. All of them were given for heroism shown during military conflicts, and by that time there were only three of them: two of them inareas of lakes Khasan and Khalkhin Gol, as well as the Finnish campaign.

Thus, in order to receive combat awards, it was necessary to excel in at least one of them. The exception was a group of officers awarded for heroism shown in Spain. It is for this reason that by the beginning of the war among the cadre officers, holders of other awards were extremely rare, except for the medal "20 Years of the Red Army".

Army of thousands of awardees

At the end of the article, it would be appropriate to give the statistics of awarding this medal for the entire period during which it was awarded to veterans of the Soviet Army. It is known that in 1938, immediately following the publication of the government decree, 27,575 people received this award. A year later, another 2,515 regular officers of the Soviet Army received it. When award certificates of a new type were introduced in 1959, there were 37,504 officers, generals and marshals among the holders of the medal. Photos of two of them are presented in the article. This award has become a monument to the defenders of the country, and holders of the medal "20 Years of the Red Army" - its heroes.