16mm ASL at 30 - Order of the Patriotic War/Iron Cross (4)

During the Second World War, some 325,000 Soviet combatants were awarded the Order of the Great Patriotic War First Class. The Order is loosely analogous to the Iron Cross First Class, which, coincidentally, was awarded to almost the same number of Germans. There was simply too much detail in these medals, more than could be conveyed on such a small canvas, so some liberties had to be taken. Nevertheless, it was important to retain the Cyrillic text on the soviet die that translates as "Patriotic War." The Soviet design pairs well with German one, in part because the decorations are roughly equivalent in terms of award criteria.