List of highest military decorations by country

Country	Image	Name	Date first awarded	Number awarded	Notes
Argentina		Cross to the Heroic Valour in Combat		18	Last awarded in 1982
Australia	File:Victoria Cross Medal Ribbon & Bar.jpg	The Victoria Cross for Australia	16 January 2009^[1]	4	Replaced The Victoria Cross
Austria		The Military Merit Decoration
Bangladesh		Bir Sreshtho	15 December 1973	7
Burma	File:Mm-medal-ast.jpg	Aung San Thiriya	1948	6
Brazil		Order of Military Merit (Brazil)	1934	820
Canada		The Victoria Cross of Canada	2 February 1993	0	Date established. Replaced The Victoria Cross
China	File:Heroes Medal 1.jpgFile:Heroes Medal 2.jpg	The Hero's Medal	April 1951
Denmark		The Valour Cross	18 November 2011^[2]	1
Estonia		The Cross of Liberty	24 February 1919	3,156	None has been awarded since 1925
France		The Legion of Honour	15 July 1804		Conferred in five classes for military or civilian merit.
Germany		The Cross of Honour for Valour	6 July 2009	28	Replaced the Iron Cross due to its association with the Nazi regime.
Greece		Medal for Gallantry Cross of Valour	1974 1913		The Medal for Gallantry formally replaced the Cross of Valour as the top military award in 1974, but it has never been conferred.
India		Param Vir Chakra	3 November 1947	21
Israel		The Medal of Valor	19 January 1948	40^[3]	Replacement for the Hero of Israel. None has been awarded since 1975.^[3]
Italy		Gold Medal of Military Valour	21 May 1793
Luxembourg		Military Medal	3 August 1945^[4]
Netherlands		Military William Order	30 April 1815	5,875
New Zealand	File:Victoria Cross Medal Ribbon & Bar.jpg	The Victoria Cross for New Zealand	26 July 2007^[5]	1	Replaced The Victoria Cross.
Norway		The War Cross with Sword	28 November 1941	285	A new sword is awarded each time a person, who already has the War Cross, distinguishes him- or herself in battle.^[6]
Pakistan		Nishan-e-Haider (Left) Hilal-e-Kashmir (Right)	16 March 1957	11	On 30 November 1995, the Government of Pakistan initiated the gazette notification to declare its Hilal-e-Kashmir equivalent to Nishan-e-Haider. All awards have been made posthumously.
Poland		Order of Virtuti Militari	22 June 1792		Conferred in five classes. A wartime-only award.
Russia		Hero of the Russian Federation			Honorific title for service to the Russian state and nation, usually connected with a heroic feat of valor; precedes all other Russian military and civil orders and medals.
Russia		Cross of St. George 1st Class			Awarded to junior officers and below, for distinction in combat only; sequentially in four classes, from the third to the first for subsequent acts of courage.
Spain		Laureate Cross of Saint Ferdinand	1 January 1812	336
Thailand		Order of Rama	22 July 1918		Date established. Conferred in six classes for military merit.
United Kingdom	File:Victoria Cross Medal Ribbon & Bar.png	The Victoria Cross	26 June 1857^[7]	1357^{[nb 1]} 1354^{[nb 2]}
United States		The Medal of Honor	26 March 1863	3468^{[nb 1]}^[8] 3449^{[nb 2]}	Different types from each of the branches of the US military. In the image, from left to right: The Army, the Coast Guard/Navy/Marine Corps, and the Air Force.
Zimbabwe		The Gold Cross of Zimbabwe		3	Replaced the Grand Cross of Valour

Notes

^ ^a ^b Total medals awarded.
^ ^a ^b Total recipients of the medal.

References

^ "Australian SAS soldier Mark Donaldson awarded Victoria Cross". The Australian. News Limited. 16 January 2009. Archived from the original on 5 March 2009. Retrieved 7 August 2009. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ "Dronningen overrækker nyt Tapperhedskors til hjemvendt soldat". Forsvaret.dk. Retrieved 2013-07-15.
^ ^a ^b Shoval, Lilach. "'Heroes' from Independence War mostly gone, but not forgotten". israelhayom.com. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
^ "Actualités - Lëtzebuerger Arméi" (in French). Army.lu. Retrieved 2011-12-31.
^ "Willie Apiata receives his VC". The New Zealand Herald. 26 July 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-03.
^ "Direktiv for bruk og bæring av dekorasjoner, ordener og medaljer i Forsvaret Archived 2013-09-25 at the Wayback Machine". Forsvaret.no. Retrieved 2013-08-16
^ Herold, Stephen. "The First Presentation of the Victoria Cross". www.antiquesatoz.com. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
^ "Medal of Honor Statistics". Retrieved 15 July 2013.

[awarded-8] Total medals awarded.

[recipients-9] Total recipients of the medal.

[TheAustralian20090116-1] "Australian SAS soldier Mark Donaldson awarded Victoria Cross". The Australian. News Limited. 16 January 2009. Archived from the original on 5 March 2009. Retrieved 7 August 2009. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

[2] "Dronningen overrækker nyt Tapperhedskors til hjemvendt soldat". Forsvaret.dk. Retrieved 2013-07-15.

[israelhayom-3] Shoval, Lilach. "'Heroes' from Independence War mostly gone, but not forgotten". israelhayom.com. Retrieved 15 July 2013.

[army.lu-4] "Actualités - Lëtzebuerger Arméi" (in French). Army.lu. Retrieved 2011-12-31.

[VCreceived-5] "Willie Apiata receives his VC". The New Zealand Herald. 26 July 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-03.

[6] "Direktiv for bruk og bæring av dekorasjoner, ordener og medaljer i Forsvaret Archived 2013-09-25 at the Wayback Machine". Forsvaret.no. Retrieved 2013-08-16

[7] Herold, Stephen. "The First Presentation of the Victoria Cross". www.antiquesatoz.com. Retrieved 15 July 2013.

[10] "Medal of Honor Statistics". Retrieved 15 July 2013.

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v t e Highest military awards for gallantry
List of highest military decorations
Current	Argentine Nation to the Heroic Valour in Combat Cross (Argentina) National Hero of Armenia (Armenia) National Hero of Azerbaijan title (Azerbaijan) Bir Sreshtho (Bangladesh) Hero of Belarus title (Belarus) Order of Bravery (Bulgaria) Order of August First (China) Order of Duke Domagoj (Croatia) Valour Cross (Denmark) Cross of Liberty (Estonia) Mannerheim Cross (Finland) Légion d'honneur (France) Cross of Honour for Valour (Germany) Cross of Valour (Greece) Param Vir Chakra (wartime) / Ashoka Chakra (peacetime) (India) Order of Fat'h (Iran) Military Medal for Gallantry (Ireland) Medal of Valor (Israel) Gold Medal of Military Valor (Italy) Seri Pahlawan Gagah Perkasa (Malaysia) Military Order of William (Netherlands) War Cross (Norway) Nishan-e-Haider (Pakistan) Medal of Valor (Philippines) War Order Virtuti Militari (wartime) / Order Krzyża Wojskowego (peacetime) (Poland) Order of the Tower and Sword (Portugal) Order of Michael the Brave (Romania) Hero of the Russian Federation title (Russian Federation) Order of the White Eagle with swords (Serbia) Order of the Somali Star (Somalia) Nkwe ya Gauta (South Africa) Laureate Cross of St. Ferdinand (Spain) Parama Weera Vibhushanaya (Sri Lanka) Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Sword (Sweden) Order of Rama (Thailand) Medal of Honor (Turkey) Order of Katonga (Uganda) Order of the Gold Star (Ukraine) Victoria Cross (United Kingdom Australia Canada New Zealand) Medal of Honor (United States)
Obsolete	Order of Saint Louis (Kingdom of France) Military Order of Maria Theresa (Austria-Hungary) Medal of Bravery (Kingdom of Hungary) Pour le Mérite (Kingdom of Prussia) Military Order of Max Joseph (Kingdom of Bavaria) Military Order of St. Henry (Kingdom of Saxony) Military Merit Order (Kingdom of Württemberg) Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (Nazi Germany) Order of the Golden Kite (Empire of Japan) Order of Lāčplēsis (Latvia) Grand Cross of Valour (Rhodesia) Laureate Plate of Madrid (Second Spanish Republic) Castle of Good Hope Decoration (South Africa) Vietnam Military Merit Medal (South Vietnam) Hero of the Soviet Union (Soviet Union) Hero of Artsakh title (Artsakh) Order of the Karađorđe's Star with Swords (Kingdom of Yugoslavia) Order of Freedom (SFR Yugoslavia) Grass Crown (Ancient Rome) Hero of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (Afghanistan)