Awards of
World War IIThe award was established on November 8, 1943, by decree of the High Command of the People's Guard and approved on February 20, 1944, by a resolution of the Home Council of the People. On December 22, 1944, the Order of the Cross of Grunwald was approved by decree of the Polish Committee of National Liberation as an official award of Poland.
The creation of the award is associated with the development of the communist resistance movement in Poland in 1943, which was not subordinate to the Polish government-in-exile. In May 1943, the Chief of the General Staff of the People's Guard, Franciszek Józwiak, took the initiative to create his own military order. The idea was supported by the leadership of the Polish Workers' Party and resulted in the creation of the Order of the Cross of Grunwald in three classes, as an award for heroic deeds in the armed struggle against the German occupiers for the freedom and independence of Poland. The award's name was chosen in memory of the Battle of Grunwald, when troops under the command of King Władysław II Jagiello defeated the German Teutonic Order in 1410.
Problems with producing the awards in occupied Poland arose, so the first recipients of the order were awarded a diploma describing their merits and a red ribbon with white stripes: 1st class ribbon width 30 mm, two white stripes 4 mm each; 2nd class ribbon width 20 mm, two white stripes 4 mm each; 3 classes, 15 mm, one white stripe, 2 mm wide.
According to the order's regulations, a private awarded the Cross of Grunwald received an out-of-turn promotion to corporal, and a sergeant received the rank of second lieutenant.
On February 20, 1944, the insignia and temporary regulations for the award were officially approved by a resolution of the National Council of the People's Republic. According to the resolution, the Order of the Cross of Grunwald is awarded:
1st degree – for the successful conduct of major military operations, as well as for outstanding merits in organizing military actions of the underground;
2nd degree – for outstanding command of a unit on the battlefield, as well as to individual partisan detachments for outstanding successes in the underground struggle;
3rd degree – for personal courage and heroism displayed on the battlefield or in the underground struggle.
The statute also stipulates that the first degree is awarded by the Presidium of the National Council of the People upon the recommendation of the People's Guard command, and the second and third degrees, directly by the People's Guard command.
On December 22, 1944, by decree of the Polish Committee of National Liberation, the order and its statute were recognized as an official award of Poland. Minor changes were made to the regulations, so that now everyone awarded the Cross of Grunwald received an out-of-turn military rank.
By the end of 1945, the Cross of Grunwald 1st Class had been awarded 27 times, 61 times the 2nd Class, and 2,593 times the 3rd Class.
The award continued to be presented from 1946 to 1983, during which time the 1st Class was awarded 44 times, 285 times the 2nd Class, and 2,728 times the 3rd Class.
On December 23, 1992, the awarding of the Cross of Grunwald was officially discontinued, and the order was excluded from the current awards system in Poland.
The original design of the order was developed by Major Stanislav Nowicki, editor-in-chief of the underground publication "Gvardeets," and later refined by artist Mieczyslaw Berman.
The insignia is in the form of an isosceles cross, with a border around the edges (except for the reverse on the 3rd class cross). A triangular shield with two swords pointing downwards (symbolic of the victory over the Teutonic Order at the Battle of Grunwald) is superimposed on the center of the cross. On the reverse, in the center of the shield, is the three-line inscription "1410/KG/1944."
The first class award was made of gold, the second class of silver, with a gilded border, shield rim, swords, and inscriptions. The third class is made entirely of silver. The dimensions of the first class cross are 55 x 55 mm, and the second and third classes are 45 x 45 mm.
The ribbon of the order is a silk moiré ribbon, 35 mm wide for all classes. The ribbon is red, with a 7 mm white stripe down the center and 2 mm green stripes at the edges.
The Order of the Cross of Grunwald, first class, is worn on a ribbon around the neck, while the second and third classes are worn on a ribbon on the left chest.