Aleksandr Vasilevsky - Awards

Awards

In his memoirs, Vasilevsky recalls Stalin's astonishment when, at a ceremony taking place in the Kremlin on December 4, 1941, the Soviet leader saw just a single Order of the Red Star and a medal on Vasilevsky's uniform. However, Vasilevsky eventually became one of the most decorated commanders in Soviet history.

Vasilevsky was awarded the Gold Star of Hero of the Soviet Union twice for operations on the German and Japanese fronts. He was awarded two Orders of Victory (an achievement matched only by Zhukov and Stalin) for his successes in Crimea and Prussia. During his career, he was awarded eight Orders of Lenin (several of them after the war), the Order of the October Revolution when it was created in 1967, two Orders of the Red Banner, a first class Order of Suvorov for his operations in Ukraine and Crimea, and his first decoration, an Order of the Red Star, earned in 1940 for his brilliant staff work during the Winter War. Finally, he was awarded a third class Order for Service to the Homeland as recognition for his entire military career when this order was created in 1974, just three years before Vasilevsky's death.

Vasilevsky was also awarded fourteen medals. For his participation in various campaigns, he was awarded the Defense of Leningrad, Defense of Moscow, Defense of Stalingrad and Capture of Königsberg medals. As with all Soviet soldiers who took part in the war with Germany and Japan, he was awarded the Medal For the Victory Over Germany and the Medal "For the Victory over Japan". He also received several commemorative medals, such as Twenty, Thirty, Forty, and Fifty Years Since the Creation of the Soviet Armed Forces medals, Twenty and Thirty Years Since the Victory in the Great Patriotic War medals, the Eight Hundredth Anniversary of Moscow medal (awarded in 1947 for his participation in the battle of Moscow) and the Hundredth Birthday of Lenin medal. In addition to Soviet orders and medals, Vasilevsky was awarded several foreign decorations such as the Polish Virtuti Militari Order from the Polish communist government.

Soviet Union

• "Gold Star" Hero of the Soviet Union, twice (29 July 1944, 8 September 1945)
• Eight Orders of Lenin (21 May 1942, 29 July 1944, 21 February 1945, 29 September 1945, 29 September 1955, 29 September 1965, 29 September 1970, 29 September 1975)
• Order of the October Revolution (22 February 1968)
• Order of Victory, twice (№ 2 and № 7, 10 April 1944, 19 April 1945)
• Order of Red Banner, twice (3 November 1944, 20 June 1949)
• Order of Suvorov, 1st class (28 January 1943)
• Order of the Red Star (1939)
• Order for Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR, 3rd class (30 April 1975)
• "For military valour. To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin"
• Jubilee Medal "XX Years of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army"(1938)
• Medal "For the Defence of Moscow"
• Medal "For the Defence of Stalingrad"
• Medal "For the Capture of Königsberg"
• Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"
• Medal "For the Victory over Japan"
• Jubilee Medal "Twenty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945"
• Jubilee Medal "Thirty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945"
• Medal "In Commemoration of the 800th Anniversary of Moscow"
• Jubilee Medal "30 Years of the Soviet Army and Navy"
• Jubilee Medal "40 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR"
• Jubilee Medal "50 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR"
• Honorary weapon with gold National Emblem of the USSR (1968)

Foreign awards

• Order of Sukhbaatar, twice (Mongolia, 1966, 1971)
• Order of the Red Banner (Mongolia, 1945)
• Order "The People's Republic of Bulgaria", 1st class (1974)
• Order of Karl Marx (East Germany, 1975)
• Order of the White Lion, 1st class (Czechoslovakia, 1955)
• Military Order of the White Lion "For Victory", 1st class (Czechoslovakia, 1945)
• Virtuti Militari, 1st class (Poland, 1946)
• Order of Polonia Restituta, 2nd and 3rd classes (Poland; 1968, 1973)
• Cross of Grunwald, 1st class (Poland, 1946)
• Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour (France, 1944)
• Croix de guerre 1939–1945 (France, 1944)
• Legion of Merit, Chief Commander (USA, 1944)
• Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (UK, 1943)
• Order "Partisan Star", 1st class (Yugoslavia, 1946)
• Order of National Liberation (Yugoslavia, 1946)
• Order of the National Flag, 1st class (North Korea, 1948)
• Order of the Precious bowl, 1st class (China, 1946)
• Czechoslovak War Cross 1939-1945 (Czechoslovakia, 1943)