Medal "For Impeccable Service"
The medal “For impeccable service” ( Russian Медаль “За безупречную службу” ) was a military award of the former Soviet Union , which was donated on September 14, 1957 by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, initially in two and later three classes. The first class was to be regarded as the highest. The award of the medal was made to the members of three armed organs of the USSR. So to the troops of the interior , the troops and organs of the state security of the USSR and from January 25, 1958 also to the members of the armed forces of the USSR.
prehistory
From 1944 to the foundation of the medal in 1957, generals, officers and long-term non-commissioned officers were mostly awarded the Order of Lenin , the Order of the Red Banner, for proper service . honored with the Order of the Red Star and the medal “For Merit in Combat” . With the foundation of the medal “For impeccable service” this grievance was eliminated and regulated with the foundation of a medal.
Award terms
The medal created in this way "For impeccable service" is to be regarded as a loyalty medal or service award and could be awarded to all members of the Red Army if they had completed a certain period of service. In detail, the
- First class for more than 20 years of perfect service
- II. Class for over 15 years of perfect service as well as the
- III. Class for 10 years of perfect service
be awarded. Skipping a lower class was possible if the entrusted person already met the award requirements for a higher class at the time of the award.
Appearance and wearing style
The medals of all classes have a diameter of 32 mm and are made of non-ferrous metal (early 1st class pieces made of silver). The first class is made of silver or silver-plated, the second class is silver-plated and gold-plated and the III. Class gold-plated. The designer of the medals was NI Moskalev. The obverse of the first class medal shows a dominant red star with a hammer and sickle in the middle in front of a ray formation, which was found in the II. And III. Class is golden. The symbolism is surrounded by two open laurel branches that are crossed at the bottom and bent upwards. The reverse of all medals shows the four-line inscription in the middle: За 10/15/20 Лет безупречной службы (For 10, 15 or 20 years of impeccable service) as well as a legend, which differs depending on the awarded area. For example, in the armed forces of the USSR it is Вооруженные силы СССР (Armed Forces of the USSR). There are also a large number of other transcriptions, even the names of individual republics. Still other medals have no transcription at all or have been subject to constant changes in the text throughout their history.
The medal was worn on the upper left chest of the borrower on a pentagonal red clasp with a 2 mm wide green hem. A 2 mm yellow vertical central stripe is woven into the middle of the first class ribbon, which is made up of two in the II. Class and two in the III. Class consists of three yellow stripes, each 2 mm apart. The interim clasp is of the same quality.
literature
- Dietrich Herfurth: Military Awards of the USSR. Recordings by Jean Molitor. Military publishing house of the GDR, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-327-00294-0 , p. 143/144.