The Soviet-backed Polish Armies fighting on the Eastern Front were also awarding the Virtuti Militari. On 11 November 1943 General Zygmunt Berling awarded Silver Crosses to sixteen veterans of the Battle of Lenino. On 22 December 1944 the Soviet-backed Polish Committee of National Liberation passed a "Virtuti Militari Award Act", which accepted the medal as the highest military decoration of both the 1st Polish Army of the Red Army and the Armia Ludowa resistance organization.