Order of the Great Patriotic War

Order of the Patriotic War
The Order of the Patriotic War (obverse left, reverse right)
Awarded by the  Soviet Union
Type	Two-grade order
Eligibility	Soldiers in the Soviet armed forces, security troops, partisans, and allied personnel.
Awarded for	Heroic deeds during the Great Patriotic War, later awarded to all surviving veterans of the war.
Status	No longer awarded
Statistics
Established	20 May 1942
Last awarded	1985 to surviving veterans of the war
Total awarded	1,370,000 during the war 9,175,595 following 1985 awards
Precedence
Next (higher)	Order of the Red Star
Next (lower)	Order of Alexander Nevsky

The Order of the Patriotic War (Russian: Орден Отечественной войны) is a Soviet military decoration that was awarded to all soldiers in the Soviet armed forces, security troops, and to partisans for heroic deeds during the German-Soviet War, known by the former-Soviet Union as the Great Patriotic War.

The Order was established on 20 May 1942 and came in first class and second class depending upon the merit of the deed. It was the first Soviet order established during the war, and the first Soviet order divided into classes. Its statute precisely defined, which deeds are awarded with the order, e.g. shooting down three aircraft as a fighter pilot, or destroying two heavy or three medium or four light tanks, or capturing a warship, or repairing an aircraft under fire after landing on a hostile territory, and so on, were awarded with the first class. It was also given to some allied troops and commanders, including western allies. Altogether, over 324,903 of the 1st class and 951,652 of the 2nd class were issued during the war. Until 1985, the total number reached about 1,370,000.

In 1985, during the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War, it was decided that all surviving veterans of the war would be awarded either 2nd or 1st class of the Order, and about 2,054,000 first class and 5,408,000 second class were issued then.

As of January 1992, the total number of all awarded Orders was 2,487,098 first class and 6,688,497 second class variants.

It featured a red enamel five-pointed star, made of silver, with straight rays in the background, and crossed sabre and rifle. The rays in the background were golden for 1st Class and silver for 2nd Class. The central disc had a golden hammer and sickle on a red enamel background, surrounded by a white enamel ring with the words ОТЕЧЕСТВЕННАЯ ВОЙНА ("Patriotic War"). Originally the Order was attached to a plain red ribbon much like the Gold Star award, but from June 1943 the Order was to be worn on the right chest without ribbon; on less formal occasions a ribbon bar, dark red with a bright red central stripe for the 1st Class, or dark red with bright red edge stripes for the 2nd Class, may be worn instead.