History

The Order of Alexander Nevsky was established by a decree of presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on July 29, 1942. This Order was named after Alexander Nevsky, who was the great military leader that drove the Teutonic Knights from Russia. It was instituted as a military award during the Second World War.

This Order was conferred upon brigade, regimental, divisional, company, and platoon commanders for outstanding leadership and gallantry. The statutes state the order could be awarded for: displaying initiative in choosing a decisive moment for a bold, suprise attack on the enemy and inflicting heavy casualties; completing a well-executed, combined arms attack, resulting in complete or a large destruction; an artillery units commander's suppression of a superior enemy artillery unit, destruction of an artillery position or bunker complex; an aviation unit commander's successful completion of a series of sorties that result in heavy enemy losses and no unit losses; a tank unit commander's successful mission accomplishment, with heavy enemy losses but retaining the unit's capability; initiative in disrupting or destroying an enemy's engineer obstacles and supporting a successful passage of friendly troops; for managing uninterrupted multi-faceted communications and the timely restoration of damaged communications; a bold and decisive airborne or naval landing or an operation involving mounted troops on armoured vehicles that dismount and assault with minimum casualties, but major enemy destruction and overall mission success. The Order of Alexander Nevsky was awarded to 42,165 officers and 1,473 Soviet Army units/formations.

The Order of Alexander Nevsky presents a five point star with numerous military and political symbols on the obverse. The center presents a left facing Alexander Nevsky dressed in a helmet and chain mail armour. Battle axes are present behind the star and below Nevsky's portrait is a hammer and sickle on a shield.

Type II was instituted on June 19, 1943, when the Order of Alexander Nevsky was converted from an early suspension to a screwback. Type II is made of four pieces. The Monetny Dvor mint mark is in two lines just below the screwpost. Three rivet construction was continued. The lowest serial number rant falls into the Type I, Variation III range, being 6,143 to 12,642. It is possible that all Type II decorations were actually converted Type I pieces done at the mint.

The obverse Russian inscription translates to: "Alexander Nevsky".