History

This Order was established on July 29, 1942 by a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. It was named after the military leader Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov (1730-1800), who never lost a battle. The name was used to rally Russian soldiers during the Second World War, when it was going badly for the Russian forces.

The I Class medal was conferred upon army commanders, and their associated deputies, chiefs of staff, operational managers, and different branch chiefs. It was conferred in recognition of excellently coordinated front or army level operations that destroyed a superior force, an encirclement that resulted in the destruction of an enemy force, for displaying decisiveness and initiative in planning to strike against an enemy, and for executing a successful deception operation. All Order of Suvorov decorations have hand-engraved serial numbers at the 5 o'clock position on the reverse.

The Type I, I Class decoration was awarded to 390 individuals and 3 units or organizations. It is constructed of platinum, gold, silver and red and gray enamel. It is made of five pieces which create shape of a five-pointed star. The reverse presents a hole in the center of the platinum star. An additional rivet is used to secure the top of Suvorov's head to the background piece.
Serial numbers on this particular medal range from 1-108. Type I decorations are very rare because the majority were exchanged for the Type II, screwback, I Class.

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

While the Order of Suvorov may be commonly faked, there have been no Type I, I Class decoration fakes witnessed by the collecting community, likely do the the highly detailed enamel work.