Soviet Ambiguity

During the Soviet period (1917-1991), military orders from the Imperial era were formally disbanded and frowned upon as aristocratic and anachronistic for the newly proletarian Red Army. In principle, the Order of St. George, especially with its religious connotations, fell into the same disrepute, but the existence of a ‘rank-and-file’ medal and ribbon, introduced in 1913, allowed some officers to continue to demonstrate their membership in the defunct order into the Soviet years. The Soviet marshals Semyon Budyonnyi and Georgi Zhukov, for example, were famous recipients of the order and medal of St. George and were both at times depicted in dress uniform wearing the medal.

While the USSR replaced the Order of St. George and its orange and black ribbon with the ‘Hero of the USSR’ award – a gold five-pointed star on a red ribbon – during WWII it also introduced an orange and black ‘Guards Ribbon’. Created during the push to expel Nazi German armies from Soviet territory in 1943, this ribbon was also attached to a medal awarded to members of the ‘Order of Glory’, or those who demonstrated exceptional bravery in the defence against the Nazi invaders. While St. George had been removed from the medals, the colors of orange and black remained – colors that as a result became the symbol of the USSR’s victory in 1945.