Curiosity on policy for awarding orders

[salyan]

Forum...
I was cleaning off some bookshelves last night and stumbled across Sudoplatov's book, with some pages ear-marked. One page referenced the scrutiny Zhukov fell under by Stalin after the war; I quote from the book:
"Zhukov and Kuznetsov maintained their dignity, admitting mistakes openly; Zhukov repented that he had awarded an Order of the Red star to the famous singer Ruslanova. Although in wartime he had the right to do so, in peacetime only the Supreme Soviet could award such a medal."

My question - someone know the actual policy, per rank, of "who could award what" during the wartime period? I wonder what the highest level of award Zhukov could actually bestow on an individual. A Red Star to a wartime entertainer does not seem like an infraction to me !!!
Dan

[Ed Maier]

Dan,

This is a very interesting question that I hope someone can answer with concrete authority. I can only take a guess at the regulations envolving authority to issue an award from the citations that I have read over the years.

Each award was approved by a different level during the war depending on the rank of the award within the Soviet system. Red Star seem to be awarded at the Division level during the war, while Medals "For Valor" were issued at Regimental level and HSUs at Presidium level.

Zhukov would have had the authority to issue a large number of awards as a Front Commander and Marshal of the Soviet Union, and a Red Star would certainly be within his power to award with a wave of his little finger. My guess is that the ability to bestow and award depended on the "rank" of the award.

I hope this makes sense,
Ed M.

[otlichnik]

The right to grant awards was clearly fixed in Soviet law before, and after, the war. I would guess that what happened is that during the war it was changed like so many other things - not thorugh a new law but through an extraordinary (or temporary) decree.

I am not sure who would issue such a decree. The GKO (State Committee on Defence) perhaps? I would think that before the NKO (State Commssariat of Defence) could issue any detailed instructions, a higher body (like the GKO) would have to issue the decree in effect changing the law. I would love to find them.

Whatever form the change too I am sure it would spell out the "levels" that Ed refered to.

Shawn

[Dave]

I think what the portion of the book that salyan is referring to would indicate that, while Zhukov could award just about anything (short of the HSU) himself, those awards were only allowed for military personnel. Since the singer was a civilian, Zhukov technically wasn't the awarding authority on the order, technically making it an invalid award.

For example, let's say that one of the reporters imbedded with the troops in Iraqi Freedom demonstrated significant heroism during a firefight the military unit was in. The sort of heroism that would warrant a military member for consideration for a Army Commendation medal with V, etc... (a lower level award, but because of the fact that it can be awarded by unit commander, I'm using it as an example!) The unit commander CANNOT award this fellow the medal, because of the fact that the guy was a civilian. If they truly believed the civilian deserved a military award, the recommendation would have to go up all the way through God and Country to get approval. Kind of a crappy example, I know, but there were civilian contractors that were awarded military awards during Vietnam (mostly Purple Hearts) and those had to be approved all the way up (as I remember) at the Sec. Def level.

Zhukov was probably in the same situation, and awards to civilians had to be recommended to, and approved by, whomever the approving authority was for labor awards. I had a group like this, with a Red Banner and a Red Star, to a civilian film producer. Unfortunately, I was never able to get the citations for the awards, so I was never able to see who the awarding authority was. What I bet is that the authority was the same for all labor orders, and they kept the copy of the recommendation for the award, thus the reason it isn't available in the archives.

Just my thought...

--Dave

[Stephende]

Dave,

In your example, would it make a difference if the reporter was:

retired, reserves, discharged?

[Dave]

Originally posted by Stephende
Dave,

In your example, would it make a difference if the reporter was:

retired, reserves, discharged?

Hmmm.... Good question. For example... What if it had been retired Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North who worked for FOX? I honestly haven't a clue. I could be wrong, but my best (semi-educated) guess is that all of them would fall under the terms of being a civilian.

--Dave