Awarding Military Personnel of NKVD Troops During the Great Patriotic War (1941–1945)

Abstract

The article analyses the practice of awarding People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD) troops during the Great Patriotic War. It is pointed out that in 1941–1942 NKVD troops took an active part in the battles alongside Red Army units. After 1943 the commissariat’s main service and combat activity was protecting the army’s rear. The problem-chronological, typological historical, and comparative methods, as well as statistical analysis of the award data were used in this paper. Having studied archival materials, published data and personal documents, the author argues that during the initial phase of the war, awarding failed to meet the needs of the troops. It is noted that in 1942–1944 the award system was decentralized by delegating award rights to commanders (chiefs) of NKVD troops; their award arsenal was expanded with new orders and medals. The award practice indicates that there were no specialized awards to distinguish accomplishments in protecting the rear, important facilities and railways or in fighting against the nationalist underground. NKVD troops were presented with uniform state awards on the same basis as representatives of other agencies that were part of the Soviet Armed Forces (Red Army and Navy). The author comes to the conclusion that, due to the specific nature of the tasks performed (in the army’s rear), state awards were rarely given to employees (groups of employees) of NKVD troops. The majority of distinctions were departmental and included material (valuable gifts and money) or moral (certificates of merit and acknowledgement) rewards.