Medal "For the Capture of Vienna"

Medal "For the Capture of Vienna"
Medal "For the Capture of Vienna" (obverse)
Awarded by  USSR
Type	Campaign medal
Eligibility	Citizens of the Soviet Union
Awarded for	Participation in the capture of Vienna"
Status	No longer awarded
Statistics
Established	June 9, 1945
Total awarded	277,380
Ribbon of the Medal "For the Capture of Vienna"

The Medal "For the Capture of Vienna" (Russian: Медаль «За взятие Вены») was a World War II campaign medal of the Soviet Union established on June 9, 1945 by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR to satisfy the petition of the People's Commissariat for Defense of the Soviet Union to reward the participants of the battles for the capture of the city of Vienna from the armed forces of Nazi Germany. The medal's statute was amended on July 18, 1980 by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR № 2523-X.

The Medal "For the Capture of Vienna" was awarded to soldiers of the Red Army, Navy, and troops of the NKVD, direct participants of the heroic assault and capture of Vienna as well as to the organizers and leaders of combat operations in the capture of this city.

Award of the medal was made on behalf of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on the basis of documents attesting to actual participation in the capture of Vienna. Serving military personnel received the medal from their unit commander, retirees from military service received the medal from a regional, municipal or district military commissioner in the recipient's community.

The Medal "For the Capture of Vienna" was worn on the left side of the chest and in the presence of other awards of the USSR, was located immediately after the Medal "For the Capture of Königsberg". If worn in the presence of Orders or medals of the Russian Federation, the latter have precedence.

The Medal "For the Capture of Vienna" was a 32mm in diameter circular brass medal with a raised rim on the obverse. On its pebbled obverse at the top, a relief five pointed star. Below the star, the relief inscription in bold letters on three rows "FOR THE CAPTURE OF VIENNA" (Russian: «ЗА ВЗЯТИЕ ВЕНЫ»). At the bottom, the relief image of a laurel branch going up the left circumference of the medal up to the second row of the inscription. On the reverse at the top, a relief plain five pointed star, below the star, the relief date in three rows "13 APRIL 1945" (Russian: «13 АПРЕЛЯ 1945»).