Why Stalin refused the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Letter to Stalin from the hero of the USSR When Stalin was awarded the title of hero

Frankly, this is a very stupid and inappropriate myth. The fact is that Stalin did not suffer from a craving for awards. And this was well known to everyone. Why on earth did our snotty intelligentsia come up with such nonsense - and the hell knows! After all, Stalin is not Brezhnev, who maniacally suffered from an irresistible craving for various awards.

It seems that this happened due to one circumstance. Our intelligentsia really loves to “slap” all their vile traits on the one in respect of whom the authorities give the command “face”. Here they were ordered to throw mud at Stalin in every way - well, the intellectuals are trying in the sweat of their “muzzles of the face” ... They invent all sorts of dirty stuff, if only to please the authorities and snatch a fatter piece from it. Under Stalin, they could not do this. To curry favor with Stalin, famous poet Osip Mandelstam, for example, wrote more than fifty laudatory poems about him. I even wrote an ode. Did not help. Especially when the ode appeared. With this, Mandelstam finally brought Stalin out of patience and an order was given to send him away from the capital, to Vladivostok (by the way, mind you, not for logging, but for the capital of the Soviet Far East). Stalin did not tolerate sycophants, more precisely, he hated them with a fierce hatred. Because I thought that "a helpful bastard is worse than an enemy". The same was true with awards, especially military ones.

In his famous book "The matter of the whole life" Marshal Soviet Union Alexander Mikhailovich Vasilevsky wrote: “Stalin firmly entered the military history. His undoubted merit is that under his direct leadership as the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, the Soviet Armed Forces withstood defensive campaigns and brilliantly carried out all offensive operations. But he, as far as I could observe him, never talked about his merits. And he had fewer awards than the commanders of the fronts and armies.

What awards did Stalin have, who had been at the helm of power in the USSR for more than 30 years? After all, the great ones are not without human weaknesses - they are also living people. In the paintings and photographs of many famous historical figures, both state, political and military, all are depicted with a huge number of various awards. Our marshals and generals, especially during the military period, are literally hung from head to toe with all sorts of awards. Their ceremonial tunics weigh almost one and a half pounds. But on Stalin's tunic, only one modest star of the Hero of Socialist Labor always gleamed. He received it in 1939 along with the first Order of Lenin. It is interesting to note the following in this connection. Unlike Hitler, who basically wore only one of his two Iron Crosses on his tunic, that is, a purely militaristic order, Stalin preferred to wear only the star of the Hero of Socialist Labor, thus clearly emphasizing the peaceful orientation of his activity at the head of state and party.

As for the awards, Stalin had 14 of them in all. His first award was the Order of the Red Banner, which he received on the initiative of Lenin and on the basis of the decision of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of November 27, 1919 “for merits on the fronts civil war". The second Order of the Red Banner (at that time there was no division into military and labor) Stalin received in February 1930 - the Central Executive Committee of the USSR took into account numerous petitions from a number of organizations, general meetings of workers, peasants and Red Army soldiers and awarded Stalin "for merits on the fronts of the socialist construction". By the way, the wording is very remarkable - it turns out that both among the people and at the top everyone perfectly understood that the large-scale socialist transformations carried out under the leadership of Stalin were, in essence, a war for the construction of socialism. It is unlikely that all of them were wrong, for it was really a war. Resistance to these changes was fierce. In total, Stalin had three Orders of the Red Banner.

The Order of Suvorov, 1st class, was awarded by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR to Stalin on November 6, 1943 “for the correct management of the operations of the Red Army in Patriotic war against the Nazi invaders and progress made". Pay attention to the date. By that time, it was already clear even to the blind that a radical turning point in the war had already occurred a long time ago - the great victories in the Battle of Stalingrad and in the Battle of Kursk were the clearest proof of this. By that time, marshals and generals had already washed their well-deserved (and some undeserved) military and other orders and medals more than once, and Stalin received the military order only on November 6, 1943.

On June 20, 1944, the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Moscow City Council of Working People's Deputies, on behalf of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, presented Stalin in the Kremlin with the first medal - "For the Defense of Moscow". The wording of the decree was as follows - "for the leadership of the heroic defense of Moscow and the organization of the defeat German troops under Moscow". Again, pay attention to the date of awarding this medal - by that time, the military leaders awarded with such a medal, who took part in the defense of Moscow and in the defeat of the Nazi troops near Moscow, had already sobered up more than once after numerous libations about such an award. And Stalin had just received it on June 20, 1944.

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By the way, there is one notable incident associated with this medal, which took place at a lesser-known banquet for the high command, which took place before the famous Victory banquet. According to the book “Fathers-commanders. Stars on shoulder straps - stars on graves ”to the description of Yu. I. Mukhin, the situation was as follows:

Marshal Zhukov was at the same table with Supreme Commander, but not a word was said in his personal honor. It seemed strange to everyone present. Senior commanders began to give signs to him (that is, Zhukov. - A.M.) signal for a smoke break. Zhukov asked Stalin to take a break. The leader gave permission. He himself smoked a pipe at the table, and everyone went into the smoking room. Here, the commanders of the fronts asked Marshal Zhukov to start a short speech so that they could continue the toast in honor of the First Marshal of Victory.

Zhukov began his speech-toast like this: “If I were asked when during the whole war it was the hardest for me, I would answer that in the fall and winter during the defense of Moscow, when the fate of the Soviet Union was practically decided.”

Having listened silently to this tirade of Zhukov, Stalin suddenly interrupted him with the words: “Here you are, Comrade Zhukov, remembering the defense of Moscow. It is true that it was a very difficult time. This was the first victorious battle of our army in the defense of the capital. Do you know that many of its defenders, even generals who were wounded and distinguished themselves in battle, turned out to be not awarded and cannot receive them, as they became disabled!

To this reproach, Zhukov replied as follows: “Comrade Stalin, like you, I am also not awarded for this battle, although almost all employees of the General Staff were awarded the Order of Lenin (Shaposhnikov, Antonov, Vatutin, Shtemenko and others). I fully admit that I made a miscalculation in this matter, and we will correct it.

Here Stalin hit the table with his fist so hard that the crystal leg of the tall wine glass broke off, and red wine spilled onto the tablecloth. The leader, interrupting Zhukov, said: "But at the same time, you did not forget to reward your bl ... s." There was a deathly silence, during which Stalin got up, left the table and never returned.

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Stalin's third medal was "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945", and the first was the medal "20 Years of R.K.K.A.".

On July 29, 1944, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR awarded Stalin the highest Soviet military order of Victory with the wording "for exceptional services in organizing and conducting offensive operations Red Army, which led to the largest defeat of the German army and a radical change in the situation on the front of the struggle against the Nazi invaders in favor of the Red Army. The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR awarded Stalin with the second Order of Victory on June 26, 1945 with the wording "for exceptional services in organizing all Armed Forces of the Soviet Union and their skillful leadership in the Great Patriotic War, which ended in a complete victory over Nazi Germany". In the Soviet Union, only three people were twice awarded the Order of Victory - Marshals of the Soviet Union I. V. Stalin, A. M. Vasilevsky and G. K. Zhukov.

The day after the award of the second Order of Victory, on June 27, 1945, Marshal of the Soviet Union Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin (second) and the medal " Golden Star” as “leading the Red Army in the difficult days of defending our Motherland and its capital Moscow, with exceptional courage and determination leading the fight against Nazi Germany.” On the bust by the sculptor Yatsyno, Stalin is depicted in an open overcoat, and on the tunic two stars of the Hero of Socialist Labor and the Soviet Union are visible, which in reality never happened. Stalin never wore the Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union, not considering himself worthy of this title, since he believed that since he personally did not take part in the hostilities at the front and did not perform any feats at the front, he did not have the right to such a title. By the way, having learned about this award, he expressed extremely sharp dissatisfaction with this and uttered a harsh word to the overly agile people who arranged the issuance of such a decree - "sycophants".

Simultaneously with the awarding of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, on the written submission of the front commanders, Stalin was awarded the highest military rank- Generalissimo of the Soviet Union. By the way, along the way, they also wanted to establish the Order of Stalin, but Iosif Vissarionovich was outraged to the core by such flattery and categorically rejected such a proposal.

In 1949, in connection with the anniversary - the 70th anniversary - Stalin was awarded the third Order of Lenin. This was the last award in his life.

Total 9 orders and 5 medals - 14 awards, among which not a single foreign one. Frankly, in comparison with the many-pood "iconostases" of the same marshals and generals of the Victory - it is extremely not dense. Well, and if we compare it with the unforgettable Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev, who had 120 awards, Comrade Stalin was completely deprived, as he himself ordered himself to be called in response to attempts to address him as "Comrade Generalissimo of the Soviet Union."

That's how Stalin "loved to reward himself." And of the available awards, he most of all valued the title of Hero of Socialist Labor. And he wore only this award. Because there was a creator!

Brilliant interpretation by Yuri Mukhin of a well-known historical fact.

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STRISHOK TO THE PORTRAIT OF STALIN

I want to write not even about a historical moment, but just a hint at one moment in our history, which still remains unnoticed.

Starting from the Civil War in the USSR, awards "for battle and for work" were established. Stalin could not refuse to award them, since this would be a disregard for state awards, although Stalin himself never wore orders, making an exception only for the star of the Hero of Socialist Labor, which, from the moment he was awarded this title in 1939, appears on his chest from time to time. In total, before the war, he had three orders - the Order of Lenin and two Red Banners.

During the war, he began to command all front-line operations and received five more awards - one Order of Lenin, two Orders of Victory, one of the Red Banner and the Order of Suvorov 1st degree (as for another Order of Lenin, I will talk about it separately). That is, Stalin, like all marshals of the USSR, accepted the awards due to him, since he was obliged to accept them, and, most likely, agreed that he deserved them.

Marshal Timoshenko, who for a year and a half on the eve of the war was People's Commissar (Minister) of Defense, fought well during the war and was awarded six orders - one Order of Lenin, one Order of Victory, three Orders of Suvorov 1st degree and one Red Banner. That is, he was even awarded large quantity orders than Stalin.

Marshal Voroshilov, from 1925 to the beginning of 1940 was the people's commissar of defense. During the war he was awarded three orders - one Order of Lenin, one Order of Suvorov 1st degree and one Red Banner.

The title of Hero of the Soviet Union began to be awarded to military leaders from the moment this award was established, Zhukov, for example, had this title for Khalkhin Gol, marshals Kulik and Timoshenko - for Finnish war, and General Stern for the leadership of troops in Spain - for the fulfillment of international duty. That is, conferring the title of Hero of the Soviet Union to the highest command staff The Red Army was already an established practice. Accordingly, during the Great Patriotic War, the assignment of this rank to senior military leaders was continued, but already in a sharply increased number. Some were awarded this title twice (Marshals Rokossovsky, Zhukov), and at the end of the war and following its results, the title of Hero of the Soviet Union was generally awarded with a chokh, and those who, in conscience, were supposed to be shot were included in the lists of awarded generals.

However, Marshals Timoshenko and Voroshilov were not awarded this title either during the war or following its results. It turns out that Stalin, approving the lists of those submitted for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, simply crossed out these generals, although throughout the war he agreed with awarding them with military orders. For example, Stalin three times presented Timoshenko to be awarded the highest commander's order of Suvorov, 1st degree (Zhukov has only two of them, Stalin has one), introduced Timoshenko to the unique Order of Victory, that is, he believed that Timoshenko deserved these orders. But I didn't consider him a hero. Why??

Another moment. Not a single commissar (later "member of the military council") became a Hero of the Soviet Union. Although such political workers as Khrushchev, Brezhnev and, especially, Mekhlis, cannot be accused of cowardice. Commissar Poppel, who fought out the remnants of his corps 800 km along the rear of the Germans, wrote that such an instruction regarding the commissars had been received since the beginning of the war.

So why, in Stalin's understanding, pre-war people's commissars and, in general, all commissars are not heroes?

I think that's the point.

By June 22, 1941, the Red Army had everything from the Soviet people to defeat the Germans - excellent human material (even Zhukov considered the young Soviet soldier to be the main factor in the victory), completely modern weapons and equipment, and, most importantly, all this in quantities that exceeded weapons and equipment Germans. The Red Army had enough ammunition, fuel and equipment. But she suffered shameful defeats in 1941, gave the Germans huge territories USSR and almost 40% of the population. Was Stalin tormented by the question why? I think that I tormented from the beginning of the war and the rest of my life. And I think that he saw the reason for these defeats in the abomination that the cadre command staff of the Red Army showed in the war - he saw massive meanness, betrayal, cowardice, inability to fight and contempt for the life of soldiers. The cadre command staff of the Red Army preserved and preserved all this infamy inviolable from the tsarist officers, and at the beginning of the war this tsarist officer abomination in the Red Army remained uneradicated.

And the ministers of defense and commissars were responsible for the quality of the personnel command staff of the army.

But why did Stalin never mention this in a single word? Because nothing like this could be spoken aloud during the war and immediately after it. Start talking about this general-officer villainy or even shoot for it during the war, and confidence in the command staff will collapse, respectively, the army will not, but even with the victory over the Germans and the Japanese, the military threat to the USSR constantly remained, in view of the superiority of the United States in the atomic weapons.

But what about Stalin himself? He is the leader, is it not his fault in such a composition of the command of the Red Army? Yes, he was a leader, yes, he was responsible for everything. And, if I understand correctly, Stalin understood and accepted this guilt.

When, immediately after the end of the war with the Germans, all front commanders signed a collective petition to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet to award their commander-in-chief the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR granted this request - awarded this title to Stalin with the award of the Golden Star and the Order of Lenin. But Stalin categorically refused to accept the signs of these awards, and for the first time they appeared only on pillows near his coffin. (Later, the artists began to paint on his portraits both a star and another Order of Lenin, but during his lifetime, Stalin not only did not wear them, but did not receive them either). Stalin did not consider himself a Hero of the Soviet Union.

Here is such a touch to the portrait of Stalin.

I already wrote that I was on a program in the Liberal Democratic Party, and the organizers fussed, so I took part not only in the discussion about the Malaysian Boeing 777, but also about Stalin. I give this record, perhaps it will be of interest to someone.

Joseph Vissarionovich

Battles and victories

Uniting during the Great Patriotic War the state and military leadership in one person, Stalin is equally responsible for defeats and losses - and can be considered the creator of the Great Victory.

From June 30, 1941 - Chairman of the State Defense Committee; from June 23 he became part of the Headquarters of the High Command, from July 10 he headed the Headquarters of the High Command. From July 19, 1941 - People's Commissar of Defense (until March 1947); from August 8, 1941 - Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the USSR Union (until September 1945). Generalissimo of the Soviet Union (1945). Hero of the Soviet Union (1945).

Activities to prepare the country for war: industry, army, international affairs

In the interwar period, Stalin's activities as leader Soviet state was largely determined by the tasks of strengthening the foreign policy positions of the USSR and creating economic, industrial and technical foundations for the defense of the country in case of involvement in a new world war.

Key decision Soviet government, adopted on the initiative and with the direct participation of Stalin, was the course for the implementation of a program of accelerated modernization. After the upheavals of the Revolution, the First World War and the Civil War, Russia found itself in incredible backwardness and ruin. The scale and severity of the problems facing the country were well understood not only by all representatives of the Soviet ruling elite, but also by Western politicians and analysts. Stalin formulated the task facing the country as follows: “We are 100 years behind the advanced capitalist countries. Either we will run this distance in 10 years, or we will be crushed.”

The painting, popularly called "Two leaders after the rain."
I.V. Stalin and K.E. Voroshilov in the Kremlin. Artist A. Gerasimov

In the 1930s in the USSR, an industrialization program was launched, during which, in fact, some of the most important industries for the country's defense capability were re-created: machine-tool building, instrument-making, automotive, and aviation. Gross industrial output by 1941 increased compared to 1913 by 7.7 times, the production of means of production - by 13.4 times, machine building and metalworking - by 30 times, and the power-to-weight ratio of labor - by 5 times. In terms of the gross output of mechanical engineering, oil production and the production of tractors, the USSR ranked first in Europe and third in the world; in coal mining, cement production - the third in Europe. In 1940, the Soviet Union produced 14.9 million tons of pig iron (3.5 times more than in 1913), 18.3 million tons of steel (4.3 times more), 166 million tons of coal (5.7 times more), oil 31.1 million tons (3 times more), electricity was produced 48.6 billion kWh. To increase the viability of the economy in case of war, special importance was attached to the accelerated development of industry in the eastern regions of the country. In 1940, the share eastern regions in the production of the most important types of products amounted to 25-30% of all-Union production.

Despite the enormous employment of Stalin as the de facto leader of the party and state, he personally thoroughly delved into the main issues of creating new types of weapons and technical equipment for the Red Army. In the 1930s design bureaus and experimental workshops were set up at the leading defense enterprises. Among other things, this made it possible to accelerate the development of new models of military equipment, primarily tanks (T-34 and KV) and aircraft (Yak-1, MiG-3, LaGG-3, Il-2, Pe-2), as well as anti-aircraft guns and other weapons.

On the eve of the Great Patriotic War, Stalin hatched extensive plans for a radical transformation and increase in the combat power of the Red Army and Navy for several years ahead. “When all this is done by us,” he said, “Hitler will not dare to attack the Soviet Union.” Unfortunately, the war found our country and its armed forces in the stage of reorganization, rearmament, retraining of the army and navy, creation of state reserves and mobilization stocks. At the same time, many potential opportunities were not rationally used.

In general, in the prewar period, the Soviet Union made a huge leap in industrial development and strengthening of the defense potential. It was founded in the 1930s. under Stalin's leadership, the economic base made military resistance possible Hitler's aggression in 1941-1945 As the war showed, the created system had enormous survivability and potential, the mobilization of which in the first period of the war, after severe defeats, the occupation of a significant part of the territory and the loss of material and human resources, allowed the country in 1942-1943. reverse the unfortunate course of events, survive and win.

As head of state, Stalin was also directly involved in issues foreign policy. Before the war, it was necessary to create favorable foreign policy conditions for the defense of the country. At the initiative of Stalin in the early 1930s. in the international policy of the USSR, a turn began, implying the rejection of confrontational confrontation with the entire "Western world" and cooperation with "non-aggressive" capitalist countries in order to delay the outbreak of a new world war. Milestones on this path were the entry of the USSR into the League of Nations, the restoration of relations with the United States, the conclusion of mutual assistance treaties with France and Czechoslovakia. This policy met with opposition from those circles in the West who counted on a clash between the USSR and Germany, first encouraging Hitler's revanchist aspirations, and then pushing him to expand to the East. In addition, the strengthening of the military alliance between Germany and Japan, which threatened the prospect of their joint military action against our country, posed a great danger to the USSR.

Nazi cartoon.
Stalin: "Our people are our most valuable capital."
Munich, 1935

Prior to the conclusion of the Munich Agreement in 1938, the Soviet leadership hoped that the security of the Soviet Union could be ensured through parity cooperation with the "Western democracies". After the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia, the defeat of the Republicans in the war against fascism in Spain, as well as in the conditions of an undeclared war with Japan (military conflicts near Lake Khasan and the Khalkhin Gol River), the expediency of this foreign policy was called into question. However, in 1939-1941. Stalin and Molotov managed, by concluding non-aggression pacts with Germany and neutrality with Japan, to split the united front of potential opponents and stay away from the Second World War that began in Europe. As a result, Great Britain, France and the USA found themselves in the camp of the allies of the Soviet Union in the war with Nazi Germany, and then with Japan. Creation anti-Hitler coalition during World War II was Stalin's greatest diplomatic victory, largely predetermining the course and outcome of World War II.

G.K. Zhukov:“It was impossible to report to Headquarters, to Stalin, say, with maps on which there were at least some “white spots”, to give him indicative, and even more so exaggerated data. I.V. Stalin did not tolerate answers at random, he demanded exhaustive completeness and clarity. He had some special flair for weaknesses in reports and documents, he immediately discovered them and strictly exacted from the guilty.

G.K. Zhukov:“Stalin understood strategic issues from the very beginning of the war. The strategy was close to his usual sphere of politics; and the more direct interaction with political questions entered into questions of strategy, the more confident he felt in them ... his mind and talent allowed him to master operational art during the war so much that, calling the commanders of the fronts to him and talking with them on topics related to with the conduct of operations, he proved himself to be a person who understands this no worse, and sometimes even better than his subordinates. At the same time, in a number of cases, he found and suggested interesting operational solutions.

G.K. Zhukov:“I.V. Stalin mastered the issues of front-line operations and led them with complete

Quite frankly, it's an extremely ridiculous myth. The fact is that Stalin did not suffer from a craving for awards. And everyone knew it well. It seems that this happened due to one circumstance. Our scribblers are very fond of attributing all their vile traits to the one in respect of whom the authorities give the command “face”. Here they were ordered to comprehensively throw mud at Stalin - and they are trying. They invent all kinds of dirt, if only to please the authorities and snatch a fatter piece from it. Under Stalin, they could not do this. To curry favor with Stalin, the famous poet Osip Mandelstam, for example, scribbled more than fifty laudatory poems about him. I even wrote an ode. Did not help. Especially when the ode appeared. With this, Mandelstam finally brought Stalin out of patience and an order was given to send him away from the capital, to Vladivostok (note, not to the logging, but to the capital of the Soviet Far East). Stalin did not tolerate sycophants, more precisely, he hated them with a fierce hatred. Because he believed that "a helpful bastard is worse than an enemy." The same was true with awards, especially military ones.

Marshal of the Soviet Union Alexander Mikhailovich Vasilevsky wrote in his famous book “The Work of All Life”: “Stalin has firmly entered military history. His undoubted merit is that under his direct leadership as the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, the Soviet Armed Forces withstood defensive campaigns and brilliantly carried out all offensive operations. But he, as far as I could observe him, never talked about his merits. And he had fewer awards than the commanders of the fronts and armies.

What awards did Stalin have, who had been at the helm of power in the USSR for more than 30 years? After all, the great ones are not without human weaknesses - they are also living people. In the paintings and photographs of many famous historical figures - both state, political and military - all are depicted with a huge number of various awards. Our marshals and generals, especially during the military period, are literally hung from head to toe with all sorts of awards. Their ceremonial tunics weigh almost one and a half pounds. But on Stalin's tunic, only one modest star of the Hero of Socialist Labor always gleamed. He received it in 1939 along with the first Order of Lenin. It is interesting to note the following in this connection. Unlike Hitler, who fundamentally wore only one of his two Iron Crosses, that is, a purely militaristic order, on his tunic, Stalin preferred to wear only the star of the Hero of Socialist Labor, thus clearly emphasizing the peaceful orientation of his activity at the head of state and party.

As for the awards, Stalin had 14 of them in all. His first award was the Order of the Red Banner, which he received on the initiative of Lenin and on the basis of the decision of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of November 27, 1919 "for merits on the fronts of the civil war." Stalin received the second Order of the Red Banner (then it was not yet divided into combat and labor) in February 1930 - the Central Executive Committee of the USSR took into account numerous petitions from a number of organizations, general meetings of workers, peasants and Red Army soldiers and awarded Stalin "for merits on the fronts of socialist construction ". By the way, the wording is very remarkable - it turns out that both among the people and at the top everyone perfectly understood that the large-scale socialist transformations carried out under the leadership of Stalin were, in essence, a war for the construction of socialism. It is unlikely that all of them were wrong, for it was really a war. Resistance to these changes was fierce. In total, Stalin had three Orders of the Red Banner.

On November 6, 1943, Stalin was awarded the Order of Suvorov, 1st class, by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR "for the correct leadership of the operations of the Red Army in the Patriotic War against the Nazi invaders and the successes achieved." Pay attention to the date. By that time, it was already clear to the blind that a radical turning point in the war had already occurred a long time ago - the great victories in the Battle of Stalingrad and in the Battle of Kursk were the clearest proof of this. By that time, marshals and generals had washed their well-deserved (and some undeserved) military and other orders and medals more than once, and Stalin received the military order only on November 6, 1943.

On June 20, 1944, the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Moscow City Council of Working People's Deputies, on behalf of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, presented the first medal to Stalin in the Kremlin - "For the Defense of Moscow". The wording of the decree was as follows - "for the leadership of the heroic defense of Moscow and the organization of the defeat of German troops near Moscow." Again, pay attention to the date of awarding this medal - by that time, the military leaders awarded with such a medal, who took part in the defense of Moscow and in the defeat of the Nazi troops near Moscow, had already sobered up more than once after numerous libations about such an award. And Stalin had just received it on June 20, 1944.

By the way, there is one notable incident associated with this medal, which took place at a lesser-known banquet for the high command, which took place before the famous Victory Banquet. According to the book “Fathers-commanders. Stars on shoulder straps - stars on graves "to the description of Yu. I. Mukhin, the situation was as follows:" Marshal Zhukov was at the same table with the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, but not a word was said in his personal honor. It seemed strange to everyone present. Senior commanders began to give signs to him (that is, Zhukov. - A.M.) break signal. Zhukov asked Stalin to take a break. The leader gave permission. He himself smoked a pipe at the table, and everyone went into the smoking room. Here, the commanders of the fronts asked Marshal Zhukov to start a short speech so that they could continue the toast in honor of the First Marshal of Victory.

Zhukov began his speech-toast like this: “If I were asked when during the whole war it was the hardest for me, I would answer that in the autumn and winter during the defense of Moscow, when the fate of the Soviet Union was practically decided.”

Having listened silently to this tirade of Zhukov, Stalin suddenly interrupted him with the words: “Here you are, Comrade Zhukov, remembering the defense of Moscow. It is true that it was a very difficult time. This was the first victorious battle of our army in the defense of the capital. Do you know that many of its defenders, even generals who were wounded and distinguished themselves in battle, were not awarded and cannot receive them, as they became disabled!“

To this reproach, Zhukov replied: “Comrade Stalin, I, like you, also did not receive awards for this battle, although almost all employees of the General Staff were awarded the Orders of Lenin (Shaposhnikov, Antonov, Vatutin, Shtemenko and others). I fully admit that I made a miscalculation in this matter, and we will correct it.

Here Stalin slammed his fist on the table so hard that the crystal leg of the tall wine glass broke off and red wine spilled onto the tablecloth. The leader, interrupting Zhukov, said: "But at the same time, you did not forget to reward your bl ... she." There was a deathly silence, during which Stalin got up, left the table and never returned.

Stalin's third medal was "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945", and the first was the medal "20 Years of R.K.K.A.".

On July 29, 1944, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR awarded Stalin the highest Soviet military order "Victory" with the wording "for exceptional services in organizing and conducting offensive operations of the Red Army, which led to the largest defeat of the German army and a radical change in the situation on the front of the fight against the Nazi invaders in favor of the Red Army. The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR awarded Stalin the second Order of Victory on June 26, 1945 with the wording "for exceptional services in organizing all the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union and their skillful leadership in the Great Patriotic War, which ended in complete victory over Nazi Germany." In the Soviet Union, only three people were twice awarded the Order of Victory - Marshals of the Soviet Union I. V. Stalin, A. M. Vasilevsky and G. K. Zhukov.

Stalin never wore the Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union, not considering himself worthy of this title, since he believed that since he personally did not take part in the hostilities at the front and did not perform any feats at the front, he did not have the right to such a title. By the way, having learned about this award, he expressed extremely sharp dissatisfaction with this and uttered a harsh word - "sycophants" - to the excessively quick who arranged the publication of such a decree.

Simultaneously with the assignment of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, on the written submission of the front commanders, Stalin was awarded the highest military rank - Generalissimo of the Soviet Union. By the way, along the way, they also wanted to establish the Order of Stalin, but Iosif Vissarionovich was outraged to the core by such flattery and categorically rejected such a proposal.

In 1949, in connection with the anniversary - the 70th anniversary - Stalin was awarded the third Order of Lenin. This was the last award in his life.

A total of 9 orders and 5 medals - 14 awards, including not a single foreign one. Frankly, in comparison with the many-pood "iconostases" of the same marshals and generals of the Victory - it is extremely not dense. Well, and if we compare it with the unforgettable Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev, who had 120 awards, Comrade Stalin was completely deprived, as he himself ordered himself to be called in response to attempts to address him as "Comrade Generalissimo of the Soviet Union."

That's how Stalin "loved to reward himself." And of the available awards, he most of all valued the title of Hero of Socialist Labor. Because there was a creator!