Obverse. Photo © Bank of Russia
  • 25 Rubles 2019, Russia, Federation, Weapons Designers of the of Great Patriotic War Victory (1941-1945), Vladimir Petlyakov - Dive Bomber Pe-2
  • 25 Rubles 2019, Russia, Federation, Weapons Designers of the of Great Patriotic War Victory (1941-1945), Vladimir Petlyakov - Dive Bomber Pe-2
Description

The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of conflict between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland and other Allies, which encompassed Northern, Southern and Central and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945. It has been known as the Great Patriotic War in the former Soviet Union and in modern Russia.

The battles on the Eastern Front constituted the largest military confrontation in history. They were characterized by unprecedented ferocity, wholesale destruction, mass deportations, and immense loss of life due to combat, starvation, exposure, disease, and massacres. Of the estimated 70 million deaths attributed to World War II, over 30 million, many of them civilian, occurred on the Eastern Front. The Eastern Front was decisive in determining the outcome of the European portion of World War II, eventually serving as the main reason for the defeat of Nazi Germany. It resulted in the destruction of the Third Reich, the partition of Germany for nearly half a century and the rise of the Soviet Union as a military and industrial superpower.

Date of issue: 2 December 2019

Obverse

In the centre the relief image of the National Coat of Arms of the Russian Federation, above the semicircular inscription along the rim THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION framed on both sides by ornamental elements of doubled rhombuses, in the lower part of the disc, at the edge the horizontal inscription BANK OF RUSSIA, 25 RUBLES and the date 2019 under it, over it to the right the mint trade mark.

The two main elements of Russian state symbols (the two-headed eagle and the mounted figure slaying the dragon) predate Peter the Great. Today, however, the official description does not refer to the rider on the central shield as representing Saint George, mainly in order to maintain the secular character of the modern Russian state. The imperial crowns on each head stand for the unity and sovereignty of Russia, both as a whole and in its constituent republics and regions. The orb and scepter grasped in the eagle's talons are traditional heraldic symbols of sovereign power and authority. They have been retained in the modern Russian arms despite the fact that the Russian Federation is not a monarchy.

Designer: E. V. Kramskaya
Sculptor: A. A. Dolgopolova

РОССИЙСКАЯ ФЕДЕРАЦИЯ
ММД
БАНК РОССИИ
25 РУБЛЕЙ
2019 г.

Reverse

Depicts a relief image of the Pe-2 dive bomber and the inscription PE-2 underneath on the right; along the rim there are the inscriptions WEAPONS OF THE GREAT VICTORY at the top and V.M. PETLYAKOV at the bottom.

Vladimir Mikhailovich Petlyakov (1891–1942) was a Soviet aeronautical engineer. From 1921 to 1936 Petlyakov worked at the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI) under the guidance of Andrei Tupolev. In 1936 he became a chief aircraft-designer at an aviation plant. Petlyakov assisted in designing the first Soviet heavy bombers TB-1, TB-3 (1930–1935), and a long-range high-altitude four-engine bomber, the Pe-8 (1935–1937).

On 21 October 1937, Petlyakov was arrested together with Tupolev and the entire directorate of the TsAGI on trumped-up charges of sabotage, espionage and of aiding the Russian Fascist Party. In 1939 he was moved from a prison to an NKVD sharashka for aircraft designers near Moscow. Petlyakov was tasked with designing a high-altitude fighter, which he successfully accomplished. However, operational experience in the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939-1940 showed that this was not what the Soviet Air Force needed, and Lavrentiy Beria, head of the NKVD and of the sharashka system, ordered the redesign of the fighter as a dive bomber, with the promise that Petlyakov and his colleagues would be released on its successful completion.

The resulting aircraft, the Pe-2, which went into serial production at the Kazan Aviation Plant, proved to be one of the most successful designs of World War II. Petlyakov, released in 1940, won a Stalin Prize in 1941. He was on his way to Moscow in January 1942 (flying in a Pe-2), when he died in an air crash near Arzamas.

The Petlyakov Pe-2 was a Soviet twin-engined dive bomber used during World War II. One of the outstanding tactical attack aircraft of the war, it also proved successful as a heavy fighter, as a night fighter (Pe-3 variant) and as a reconnaissance aircraft. The Soviets manufactured Pe-2s in greater numbers (11,430 built) during the war than any other twin-engined combat aircraft except for the German Junkers Ju 88 and the British Vickers Wellington.

Designer: A. V. Gnidin

ОРУЖИЕ ВЕЛИКОЙ ПОБЕДЫ
ПЕ-2
В.М. ПЕТЛЯКОВ

Edge

180 corrugations

Characteristics
Type Commemorative Issue (Non-circulating)
Material Cupronickel
Weight 10 g
Diameter 27 mm
Thickness 2.3 mm
Shape round
Alignment Medal
Mint
Moscow Mint (MMD)

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