Award production in the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945)

Introduction. The article analyzes the experience of improving the system of award production in the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War. The author states that the award production at the time of the beginning of the war was unable to ensure mass awarding of soldiers. Methods and materials. Archival materials, published official statistics and scientific literature were used in the implementation of the research tasks. The study was conducted on the basis of the principles of historism, objectivity and systemacity. The need to process quantitative data led to the use of the statistical method. Results. In order to ensure the need of the active army to award, the leadership of the country in the Armed Forces introduced a single command and delegated the right to award to the military command, which awarded on the ground and submitted award documents through the people’s commissariat for approval to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. It is noted that in order to optimize the award production in units, formations, personal accounts were introduced, on which award marks and documents, as well as reporting on them were issued. Awarding bodies provided preparation of awarding documentation giving it to the commanding officer (commander) for approving, made rewarding of distinguished ones. Conclusions. It is noted that the measures taken to improve the award production brought it closer to the participants of fights, about 90% of all awards were made by the military command. It is shown that the awarding of military personnel led to the growth of their professional skills through personal interest in the results of combat activities, which was one of the factors of victory in the war.