Virtuti Militari - People's Republic of Poland

People's Republic of Poland

The Soviet-backed Polish Armies fighting on the Eastern Front were also awarding the Virtuti Militari. On November 11, 1943, General Zygmunt Berling awarded Silver Crosses to sixteen veterans of the Battle of Lenino. On December 22, 1944, the Soviet-backed Polish Committee of National Liberation passed a "Virtuti Militari Award Act", which accepted the medal as the highest military decoration of both the 1st Polish Army of the Red Army and the Armia Ludowa resistance organization.

Although the decree of the Polish Committee of National Liberation was loosely based on the act of the Polish Sejm of 1933, the exclusive right to award the decoration to soldiers was granted to the Home National Council. In 1947 the right passed to the President of Poland, then to the Polish Council of State after that body replaced the presidency. Between 1943 and 1989, the Communist authorities of the People's Republic of Poland awarded the medal to 5,167 people and organisations. Some of the crosses were given to the officers and leaders of the Red Army and of other armies allied with the Soviet Union during and after World War II.

Among the recipients of the Golden Cross (Class IV) was the ORP Błyskawica, probably the only warship in the world to be awarded the highest-ranking national medal. Recipients of Class V of the Virtuti Militari included military units, including two infantry divisions, six infantry regiments, three artillery regiments, four tank regiments, three air force regiments, as well as smaller units.