The award of the highest military award continued during the reign of Nicholas I. During this period, two commanders, I. F. Paskevich and I. I. Dibich, were awarded the Order of St. George, 1st class. Ivan Fyodorovich Paskevich was born on May 19, 1782, at the age of 12 he was assigned to the Page Corps, and in October 1800, among the first graduates, he was sent as a lieutenant to the Preobrazhensky Regiment of the Life Guards. He made his first campaign in 1805, but received real combat training during the Russo-Turkish war of 1806-1812 under the leadership of General I. I. Mikhelson. Staff Captain Paskevich participated in the occupation of Iasi, the capture of Bucharest and in the battle of Izmail, and in 1810, at the walls of the Varna Fortress, he earned his first St. George's Cross. This happened during the battles at Cape Galotoburg during the capture of a Turkish battery. 18 days later, in the same place, the Vitebsk regiment, commanded by Colonel Paskevich, repelled the attacks of the Turks throughout the day. The fierce battle ended in a complete victory for the Russians, who not only fought in defense against a numerically superior enemy, but also counterattacked themselves. This feat became widely known in the active army, and the young commander of the Vitebsk regiment put the cross of the Order of St. George of the 3rd degree on his neck. During the Patriotic War of 1812, Paskevich commanded a division and participated in the battles of Saltanovka, Smolensk, Borodino and Maloyaroslavets. No less bravely he fought during the foreign campaigns of the Russian army in 1813-1814. Commanding the corps at Donau, he defeated the troops of Marshal L. Saint-Cyr, and during the battle of Dresden was at the head of the column and, breaking into the city suburb, captured about 4 thousand people and repulsed 30 guns. Then, already with the rank of Lieutenant General, he led the troops during the siege of the fortresses of Magdeburg and Hamburg. In 1814, Paskevi ... Читать далее