Hero of the Soviet Union (USSR) is the highest award that was awarded for personal or collective services to the Soviet state and society associated with the accomplishment of a heroic deed. The title of Hero of the Soviet Union could be given both for military exploits during the war and in peacetime. This section contains information about the heroes of the Soviet Union - the USSR and describes some of the feats. It is worth noting that during the existence of the Soviet Union, 12,777 people were awarded the title.
On April 16, 1934, by a resolution of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, it was decided: to establish the highest degree distinctions - the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and determine the sign of special distinction - the Gold Star medal. Below, in chronological order, we give the names, surnames and short description exploits of the heroes of the Soviet Union (USSR)Heroes of the Soviet Union in the pre-war period (1934-1941) - 626 people
The first heroes of the USSR - polar pilots
The first heroes were polar pilots: A. Lyapidevsky, S. Levanevsky, I. Doronin, V. Molokov, N. Kamanin, M. Slepnev and M. Vodopyanov. For the rescue of distressed passengers and crew members of the legendary steamship Chelyuskin that sank in the Bering Strait. Further, participants in the Spanish Civil War were awarded for heroic deeds in battles in the area of the Khalkhin-Gol River, in the area of Lake Khasan, and participants in the Soviet-Finnish War.
Pilot Valery Chkalov and his crew
In 1936, the crew of Valery Chkalov made a non-stop flight from Moscow to Udd Island (now Chkalov Island). It was the longest flight in an airplane. The total length of the record route was 9374 kilometers. Heroes of the Soviet Union in the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945)
The Great Patriotic War brought a lot of grief to our country, but it also opened the heights of courage and firmness of character, it would seem, to millions of ordinary people. The whole nation, young and old, rose up to fight Nazi Germany. The attack of the Nazis caused an unprecedented rise in patriotism. During the war years, 11,657 people were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, 3,051 of them posthumously. There were also women - 95 people, 40 of them posthumouslyThe youngest Hero of the Soviet Union - partisan Valentin Kotik
From the first days of the war, Valya began to fight the fascist invaders. In 1941, when Valya was 11 years old, together with his comrades, he managed to ambush and blow up the head of the field gendarmerie with a grenade. Then he becomes a partisan and takes active action in combat operations. Contributed to the undermining of six railway echelons. I was able to find an underground telephone cable and blow it up. It is worth noting that this was a line of communication with Hitler's headquarters in Warsaw. In October 1943 young hero saved his team. He noticed the approaching enemies in time, raised the alarm and was the first to enter the battle, killing several Nazis, including a German officer. Three times Hero of the Soviet Union - Ivan Kozhedub
Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub was never shot down during the Great Patriotic War, and although he was knocked out, he always landed his plane. Kozhedub also has the world's first jet fighter, the German Me-262, on his account. In total, during the war, he made 330 sorties. In these sorties, 64 enemy aircraft were destroyed. Read more in the article Women Heroes of the Soviet Union - Air Regiment "Night Witches"
During the war in 1941, an unusual aviation regiment was formed to fight the Nazi invader. All his warriors - from pilots and navigators to technicians - were women. "Night witches" - this is how the enemies called this regiment. During the fighting, the pilots of the air regiment made 23,672 sorties. The breaks between flights were 5-8 minutes, sometimes the crew made 6-8 sorties per night in summer and 10-12 in winter. After the night flights, the stiff girls could hardly get to the barracks. They were carried away directly from the cab by a friend who had already warmed up, because her hands and feet, bound by the cold, did not obey. Read more in the article The oldest Hero of the Soviet Union - Matvey Kuzmin
In 1941, the village of Kurakino (Pskov region), where our hero lived, was occupied by the Germans. The commandant settled in his house, putting the owners in a barn. So a year passed, and in February 1942, the Red Army, after successful military operations, began to oust the Nazis from this area. The Germans were faced with the task of breaking out of this place and connecting with the main units. Then the commandant summoned Matvey Kuzmin, knowing that he was an excellent hunter and tracker, ordered him to help the Nazis - to lead a German detachment to the rear of the forward battalion of the Red Army. To which Matvey Kuzmin agreed. But an hour later, the peasant sent his grandson with a note to ours: “The Germans ordered a detachment to be brought to your rear, in the morning I will lure them to a fork near the village of Malkino, meet me.” And on the same day, the fascist detachment set off with its guide. And this is a very difficult path for the Germans, Kuzmin led the Nazis in circles and deliberately exhausted them. And in the morning, tired and frozen, the Nazis found themselves at the fork in Malkino. The Germans looked around - they walked all night, but moved away from Kurakino only a couple of kilometers and now stood on the road in an open field, and twenty meters in front of them was a forest, where, now they understood it for sure, there was a Soviet ambush. The German officer pulled out a pistol and emptied the entire clip into the old man. But at the same second, a rifle salvo burst from the forest, then another, Soviet machine guns chirped. None of the Nazis left alive. The hero died and took 250 Nazi invaders with him. Matvey Kuzmin became the oldest Hero of the Soviet Union, he was 83 years old. Thus, the peasant Matvey Kuzmin repeated the feat of Ivan Susanin International wars
In the fighting in Hungary, North Korea, Egypt, 15 people were awarded for heroic deeds. AT Afghan war The Soviet Union took part from 12/25/1979 to 02/15/1989. About 600 thousand passed through the war Soviet citizens, more than 15 thousand of them died. According to some reports, 86 internationalist soldiers received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, 28 of them posthumously. Vyacheslav Alexandrov and Andrey Melnikov were posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Scientific sphere and pioneers
In addition to military exploits, exploits were performed in the name of knowledge and research. Heroes were awarded test pilots military equipment, polar explorers, participants in the exploration of the depths of the World Ocean - a total of 250 people.
Astronauts are heroes
Since 1961, the title of Hero of the Soviet Union has been awarded to cosmonauts; over 30 years, 84 people have been awarded it. Including . Six people were awarded for the liquidation of the consequences of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant
The total number of heroes of the USSR
In total, during the existence of the USSR, 12,777 people received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Of these, 154 people were awarded it twice, 3 people three times and 2 people four times. Military pilots S. Gritsevich and G. Kravchenko became the first twice Heroes. Thrice Heroes: Air Marshals A. Pokryshkin and I. Kozhedub, as well as Marshal of the USSR S. Budyonny. There are only two Heroes on the list four times - these are Marshals of the USSR G. Zhukov and L. Brezhnev.
Deprivation of the title
In history, there are cases of deprivation of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union - 72, plus 13 canceled Decrees on conferring this title, as unfounded.
After the collapse of the USSR
The title "Hero of the Soviet Union" ceased to exist. Instead, on March 20, 1992, the title "Hero of Russian Federation”, also awarded for outstanding feats. Legally, the Heroes of the Soviet Union have the same rights as the Heroes of the Russian Federation.
What dry statistics can tell about the number of those awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and full cavaliers Order of Glory
How many heroes of the Great Patriotic War were in the Soviet Union? It seemed like a strange question. In a country that survived the terrible tragedy of the 20th century, everyone who defended it with arms at the front or at the bench and in the field in the rear was a hero. That is, each of its 170 million multinational people, who bore the brunt of the war on their shoulders.
But if we ignore the pathos and return to the specifics, then the question can be formulated differently. How was it noted in the USSR that a person is a hero? That's right, the title of "Hero of the Soviet Union." And 31 years after the war, another sign of heroism appeared: full holders of the Order of Glory, that is, awarded all three degrees of this award, were equalized with the Heroes of the Soviet Union. It turns out that the question "How many heroes of the Great Patriotic War were in the Soviet Union?" more precisely formulated as follows: "How many people in the USSR were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and became full holders of the Order of Glory for the exploits committed during the Great Patriotic War?".
You can get a very specific answer to such a question: a total of 14,411 people, of which 11,739 are Heroes of the Soviet Union and 2,672 are full holders of the Order of Glory.
The first Heroes of the Soviet Union during the war
The number of Heroes of the Soviet Union who received this title for exploits during the Great Patriotic War is 11,739. This title was awarded posthumously to 3,051 of them; 82 people were stripped of their titles in the future by a court decision. 107 heroes were awarded this title twice (seven posthumously), three - three times: Marshal Semyon Budyonny (all awards occurred after the war), Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Pokryshkin and Major Ivan Kozhedub. And only one - Marshal Georgy Zhukov - became four times Hero of the Soviet Union, and he earned one award even before the Great Patriotic War, and received it for the fourth time in 1956.
Among those awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War were representatives of all branches and types of troops in ranks from private to marshal. And each branch of the military - whether it be infantrymen, pilots or sailors - is proud of the first colleagues who received the highest honorary title.
Pilots
The first titles of Hero of the Soviet Union were awarded to pilots on July 8, 1941. And here, too, the pilots maintained the tradition: six pilots were the first Heroes of the Soviet Union in this award - and three pilots were the first to be awarded this title during the Great Patriotic War! On July 8, 1941, it was assigned to fighter pilots of the 158th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the 41st Mixed Air Division of the Air Force of the 23rd Army of the Northern Front. Junior lieutenants Mikhail Zhukov, Stepan Zdorovtsev and Pyotr Kharitonov received awards for rams made in the first days of the war. Stepan Zdorovtsev died the day after the award, Mikhail Zhukov died in January 1943 in a fight with nine German fighters, and Pyotr Kharitonov, seriously wounded in 1941 and returned to duty only in 1944, ended the war with 14 destroyed enemy aircraft.
A fighter pilot with his P-39 Airacobra. Photo: waralbum.ru
Foot soldiers
The first Hero of the Soviet Union among infantrymen on July 22, 1941 was the commander of the 1st Moscow Moto rifle division 20th Army Western Front Colonel Yakov Kreizer. He was awarded for the successful containment of the Germans on the Berezina River and in the battles for Orsha. It is noteworthy that Colonel Kreizer was also the first among the Jewish soldiers who received the highest award during the war years.
Tankers
On July 22, 1941, three tankmen received the highest awards of the country at once - tank commander of the 1st tank regiment of the 1st tank division of the 14th army of the Northern Front, senior sergeant Alexander Borisov, squad leader of the 163rd reconnaissance battalion of the 104th rifle division of the 14th Army of the Northern Front, Junior Sergeant Alexander Gryaznov (he was awarded the title posthumously) and deputy commander of the tank battalion of the 115th Tank Regiment of the 57th Tank Division of the 20th Army of the Western Front, Captain Iosif Kaduchenko. Senior Sergeant Borisov, a week and a half after the award, died in the hospital from severe wounds. Captain Kaduchenko managed to be on the list of the dead, in October 1941 he was captured, unsuccessfully tried to escape three times and was released only in March 1945, after which he fought until the Victory.
sappers
Among the fighters and commanders of sapper units, on November 20, 1941, the assistant platoon commander of the 184th separate sapper battalion of the 7th Army of the Northern Front, Private Viktor Karandakov, became the first Hero of the Soviet Union. In the battle near Sortavala against Finnish units he repulsed three enemy attacks with fire from his machine gun, which actually saved the regiment from encirclement, the next day he led the counterattack of the squad instead of the wounded commander, and two days later he carried the wounded company commander out of the fire. In April 1942, a sapper who lost his arm in battle was demobilized.
Sappers neutralize German anti-tank mines. Photo: militariorgucoz.ru
Artillerymen
On August 2, 1941, the gunner of the "magpie" of the 680th Infantry Regiment of the 169th Infantry Division of the 18th Army became the first artilleryman - Hero of the Soviet Union Southern Front Red Army soldier Yakov Kolchak. On July 13, 1941, in an hour of battle, he managed to hit four enemy tanks from his cannon! But Jacob did not learn about the assignment of a high rank: on July 23 he was wounded and taken prisoner. He was released in August 1944 in Moldova, and Kolchak reached victory as part of a penal company, where he fought first as a shooter, and then as a squad leader. And the former penalty box, on whose chest was already adorned with the Order of the Red Star and the medal "For Military Merit", received a high award only on March 25, 1947.
partisans
The first Heroes of the Soviet Union from among the partisans were the leaders of the Red October partisan detachment operating on the territory of Belarus: the commissar of the detachment Tikhon Bumazhkov and commander Fyodor Pavlovsky. The decree on their award was signed on August 6, 1941. Of the two heroes, only one survived to the Victory - Fedor Pavlovsky, and the commissar of the Red October detachment Tikhon Bumazhkov, who managed to receive his award in Moscow, died in December of the same year, leaving the German encirclement.
Marines
On August 13, 1941, the title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded to the commander of the branch of the naval volunteer detachment of the Northern Fleet, senior sergeant Vasily Kislyakov. He received a high award for his actions in mid-July 1941, when he led a platoon instead of the killed commander and, first, together with his comrades, and then alone held an important height. By the end of the war, Captain Kislyakov had several landings on the Northern Front, participation in the Petsamo-Kirkenes, Budapest and Vienna offensive operations.
Politruks
The first decree on awarding the title of Hero of the Soviet Union to political workers of the Red Army was issued on August 15, 1941. This document awarded the highest award to the deputy political officer of the radio company of the 415th separate communications battalion of the 22nd Estonian Territorial Rifle Corps Northwestern Front Arnold Meri and Secretary of the Party Bureau of the 245th Howitzer Artillery Regiment of the 37th Infantry Division of the 19th Army of the Western Front Senior Political Officer Kirill Osipov. Meri was awarded for the fact that, twice wounded, he managed to stop the retreat of the battalion and led the defense of the corps headquarters. Osipov in July-August 1941 actually worked as a liaison command of the division that fought in encirclement, and several times crossed the front line, delivering important information.
Medics
Among the army doctors who received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, the first was the sanitary instructor of the 14th motorized rifle regiment 21st motorized rifle division of the NKVD troops of the Northern Front, Private Anatoly Kokorin. The high award was awarded to him on August 26, 1941 - posthumously. During the battle with the Finns, he remained the last in the ranks and blew himself up with a grenade so as not to be captured.
border guards
Although the Soviet border guards were the first to take the enemy strike on June 22, 1941, the Heroes of the Soviet Union appeared among them only two months later. But six people at once: junior sergeant Ivan Buzytskov, lieutenant Kuzma Vetchinkin, senior lieutenant Nikita Kaimanov, senior lieutenant Alexander Konstantinov, junior sergeant Vasily Mikhalkov and lieutenant Anatoly Ryzhikov. Five of them served in Moldova, senior lieutenant Kaimanov - in Karelia. All six received awards for their heroic actions in the early days of the war - which, in general, is not surprising. And all six reached the end of the war and continued to serve after the Victory - in the same border troops.
Signalers
The first Hero of the Soviet Union among signalmen appeared on November 9, 1941 - he was the commander of the radio department of the 289th anti-tank regiment of the Western Front, junior sergeant Pyotr Stemasov. He was awarded for his feat on October 25 near Moscow - during the battle he replaced a wounded gunner and, together with the crew, knocked out nine enemy tanks, after which he led the soldiers out of the encirclement. And then he fought until the Victory, which he met as an officer.
Field connection. Photo: pobeda1945.su
cavalrymen
On the same day as the first signalman hero, the first cavalry hero appeared. On November 9, 1941, the title of Hero of the Soviet Union was posthumously awarded to Major Boris Krotov, Commander of the 134th Cavalry Regiment of the 28th Cavalry Division of the Reserve Army of the Southern Front. He was awarded the highest award for his exploits during the defense of Dnepropetrovsk. How difficult those battles were can be imagined from one episode: the last feat of the regimental commander was to undermine an enemy tank that had broken through into the depths of defense.
Paratroopers
The Winged Infantry received its first Heroes of the Soviet Union on November 20, 1941. They were the commander of the reconnaissance company of the 212th airborne brigade of the 37th army of the Southwestern Front, Sergeant Yakov Vatomov and the shooter of the same brigade Nikolai Obukhov. Both received awards for heroic deeds in August-September 1941, when the paratroopers fought hard battles in eastern Ukraine.
Sailors
Later than all - only on January 17, 1942 - the first Hero of the Soviet Union appeared in the Soviet Navy. Posthumously, the highest award was awarded to the shooter of the 2nd volunteer detachment of sailors of the Northern Fleet, Red Navy sailor Ivan Sivko. Ivan accomplished his feat, which was so highly appreciated by the country, as part of the infamous landing in the bay of Bolshaya Zapadnaya Litsa. Covering the retreat of his colleagues, he, already fighting alone, destroyed 26 enemies, and then blew himself up with a grenade along with the Nazis who surrounded him.
Soviet sailors, heroes of the storming of Berlin. Photo: radionetplus.ru
Generals
On July 22, 1941, the commander of the 19th Panzer Division of the 22nd Mechanized Corps of the 5th Army of the Southwestern Front, Major General Kuzma Semenchenko, became the first general of the Red Army to be awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. His division took an active part in the largest tank battle World War II - the battle of Dubno - and after heavy fighting was surrounded, but the general was able to withdraw his subordinates across the front line. By mid-August 1941, only one tank remained in the division, and in early September it was disbanded. And General Semenchenko fought until the end of the war and in 1947 he retired in the same rank in which he began to fight.
"The fight is not for glory..."
During the Great Patriotic War, there was the most honorable soldier's award - the Order of Glory. Both her ribbon and her statute were very reminiscent of another soldier's award - the insignia of the Order of St. George, "soldier Yegoriy", which was especially revered in the army Russian Empire. In total, over a year and a half of the war - from the moment of its establishment on November 8, 1943 until the Victory - and in the post-war period, more than a million people were awarded the Order of Glory. Of these, almost a million - the order of the third degree, over 46 thousand - the second, and 2672 people - the first degree, they became full holders of the order.
Of the 2672 full cavaliers of the Order of Glory, 16 people were subsequently deprived of their awards for various reasons by a court decision. Among the deprived was the only holder of five Orders of Glory - 3rd, three 2nd and 1st degrees. In addition, 72 people were presented to the four Orders of Glory, but, as a rule, did not receive an "excessive" award.
Order of Glory 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree. Photo: Central Museum of the Armed Forces
The first full knights of the Order of Glory were the sapper of the 1134th rifle regiment of the 338th rifle division, Corporal Mitrofan Pitenin and the commander of the 110th separate reconnaissance company of the 158th rifle division, senior sergeant Shevchenko. Corporal Pitenin was presented to the first order in November 1943 for battles in Belarus, to the second - in April 1944, and the third - in July of the same year. But he did not manage to receive the last award: on August 3 he died in battle. And senior sergeant Shevchenko received all three orders in 1944: in February, April and July. He ended the war in 1945 with the rank of foreman and was soon demobilized, returning home not only with three Orders of Glory on his chest, but also with the Orders of the Red Star and the Order of the Patriotic War of both degrees.
And there were four people who received both signs of the highest recognition of military heroism - both the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and the title of full cavalier of the Order of Glory. The first is senior pilot of the 140th Guards Assault Aviation Regiment of the 8th Guards Assault Aviation Division of the 1st Assault Aviation Corps of the 5th Air Army of the Guards Senior Lieutenant Ivan Drachenko. He received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union in 1944, and became a full holder of the Order of Glory after being re-awarded (double awarding the Order of the 2nd degree) in 1968.
The second is the gun commander of the 369th separate anti-tank artillery battalion of the 263rd rifle division of the 43rd army of the 3rd Belorussian Front, foreman Nikolai Kuznetsov. In April 1945, he received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, and after being re-awarded in 1980 (double awarding the Order of the 2nd degree), he became a full holder of the Order of Glory.
The third was the commander of the gun crew of the 175th Guards Artillery and Mortar Regiment of the 4th Guards Cavalry Division of the 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps of the 1st Belorussian Front, Senior Sergeant Andrei Aleshin. He became a Hero of the Soviet Union at the end of May 1945, and a full holder of the Order of Glory - after being re-awarded (double awarding the Order of the 3rd degree) in 1955.
Finally, the fourth is foreman of the company of the 293rd Guards Rifle Regiment of the 96th Guards Rifle Division of the 28th Army of the 3rd Belorussian Front of the Guards, Petty Officer Pavel Dubinda. He has, perhaps, the most unusual fate of all four heroes. A sailor, he served on the cruiser "Chervona Ukraine" on the Black Sea, after the death of the ship - in marines, defended Sevastopol. Here he was taken prisoner, from which he escaped and in March 1944 was again enrolled in the army, but already in the infantry. He became a full holder of the Order of Glory by March 1945, and in June of the same year he received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. By the way, among his awards was a rare Order of Bohdan Khmelnitsky 3rd degree - a kind of "soldier" military order.
Multinational heroism
The Soviet Union was indeed a multinational country: in the data of the last pre-war census of 1939, 95 nationalities appear, not counting the column "others" (other peoples of the North, other peoples of Dagestan). Naturally, among the Heroes of the Soviet Union and the full holders of the Order of Glory were representatives of almost all Soviet nationalities. Among the first - 67 nationalities, among the second (according to obviously incomplete data) - 39 nationalities.
The number of heroes marked with the highest ranks among one or another nationality generally corresponds to the ratio of the number of fellow tribesmen to the total number of the pre-war USSR. So, the leaders in all lists were and remain Russians, followed by Ukrainians and Belarusians. But then the situation is different. For example, in the top ten awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians are followed (in order) by Tatars, Jews, Kazakhs, Armenians, Georgians, Uzbeks and Mordovians. And in the top ten full cavaliers of the Order of Glory, after Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians, there are (also in order) Tatars, Kazakhs, Armenians, Mordovians, Uzbeks, Chuvashs and Jews.
The key to victory over fascism was the unity and solidarity of the peoples of the USSR. Photo: all-retro.ru
But judging by these statistics which people were more heroic and which were less, is meaningless. Firstly, many nationalities of the heroes were accidentally or even deliberately indicated incorrectly or were absent (for example, the nationality was often hidden by the Germans and Jews, and the options " Crimean Tatar” was simply not in the 1939 census documents). And secondly, even today far from all the documents relating to the awarding of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War have been brought together and taken into account. This colossal topic is still waiting for its researcher, who will surely confirm that heroism is a property of each individual person, and not of this or that people.
The national composition of the Heroes of the Soviet Union who received this title for their exploits during the Great Patriotic War *
Russians - 7998 (including 70 - twice, 2 - three times and 1 - four times)
Ukrainians - 2019 (including 28 - twice),
Belarusians - 274 (including 4 - twice),
Tatars - 161
Jews - 128 (including 1 - twice)
Kazakhs - 98 (including 1 - twice)
Armenians - 91 (including 2 - twice)
Georgians - 90
Uzbeks - 67
Mordva - 66
Chuvash - 47
Azerbaijanis - 41 (including 1 - twice)
Bashkirs - 40 (including 1 - twice)
Ossetians - 34 (including 1 - twice)
Mari - 18
Turkmen - 16
Lithuanians - 15
Tajiks - 15
Latvians - 12
Kyrgyz - 12
Karely - 11 (including 1 - twice)
Udmurts - 11
Estonians - 11
Avars - 9
Poles - 9
Buryats and Mongols - 8
Kalmyks - 8
Kabardians - 8
Crimean Tatars - 6 (including 1 - twice)
Chechens - 6
Moldovans - 5
Abkhazians - 4
Lezgins - 4
French - 4
Karachays - 3
Tuvans - 3
Circassians - 3
Balkars -2
Bulgarians - 2
Dargins - 2
Kumyks - 2
Khakas - 2
Abaza - 1
Adzharians - 1
Altai - 1
Assyrian - 1
Spaniard - 1
Chinese (Dungan) - 1
Korean - 1
Slovak - 1
Tuvan - 1
* The list is incomplete, compiled using data from the Heroes of the Country project (http://www.warheroes.ru/main.asp) and data from the writer Gennady Ovrutsky (http://www.proza.ru/2009/08/16/ 901).
The national composition of the full cavaliers of the Order of Glory, who received this title for their exploits during the Great Patriotic War**
Russians - 1276
Ukrainians - 285
Belarusians - 62
Tatars - 48
Kazakhs - 30
Armenians - 19
Mordva - 16
Uzbeks - 12
Chuvash - 11
Azerbaijanis - 8
Bashkirs - 7
Kyrgyz - 7
Udmurts - 6
Turkmen - 5
Buryats - 4
Georgians - 4
Mari - 3
Poles - 3
Karely - 2
Latvians - 2
Moldovans - 2
Ossetians - 2
Tajiks - 2
Khakas - 2
Abaza - 1
Kabardian - 1
Kalmyk - 1
Chinese - 1
Crimean Tatar - 1
Lithuanian -1
Meskhetian Turk - 1
Chechen - 1
** The list is incomplete, compiled using data from the Heroes of the Country project (http://www.warheroes.ru/main.asp).
The first Heroes of the Soviet Union in the Great Patriotic War were:
Air Force:
Fighter pilots junior lieutenants Zhukov Mikhail Petrovich, Zdorovtsev Stepan Ivanovich and Kharitonov Petr Timofeevich, who distinguished themselves in air battles with enemy bombers.
On June 28 (Zhukov 29), these pilots on their I-16 fighters used ramming strikes against enemy Ju-88 bombers (in general, the first ramming was made already 15 minutes after the start of the war by D. Kokorev).
Navy:
The title of Hero of the Soviet Union in the Navy was first awarded to a sailor of the Northern Fleet, the squad leader, senior sergeant Vasily Pavlovich Kislyakov, who distinguished himself during the landing in Motovsky Bay in the Arctic in July 1941 (replaced the killed commander, and then for 7 hours one held the height) .
The first Hero of the Soviet Union in ground forces became the commander of the 1st Moscow Motorized Rifle Division of the 20th Army, Colonel Kreizer Yakov Grigorievich, for organizing the fighting of the division, which, having inflicted a counterattack on the enemy, delayed his offensive for two days at the turn of the Berezina River.
Armored troops:
The first (I did not find any other data) Heroes of the Soviet Union were the tank commander of the 1st Tank Regiment of the 1st Tank Division of the 14th Army of the Northern Front, Senior Sergeant Alexander Ivanovich Borisov and Captain Iosif Andriyanovich Kaduchenko, Deputy Tank Battalion Commander of the 115th Tank Regiment 57 -th Panzer Division of the 20th Army of the Western Front.
Artillery:
The first of the gunners to be Hero of the Soviet Union was the gunner of the anti-tank battery of the 680th Infantry Regiment of the 169th Infantry Division of the 18th Army of the Southern Front, Red Army soldier Yakov Kharitonovich Kolchak.
People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs:
The first Heroes of the Soviet Union were the border guards of outpost No. 5 of the 25th Cahul border detachment Moldavian border district, who entered the battle on the Prut River on June 22, 1941: senior lieutenant Konstantinov Alexander Konstantinovich, junior lieutenant Ivan Dmitrievich Buzytskov, junior sergeant Vasily Fedorovich Mikhalkov.
For 11 days, the outpost was kept in complete encirclement.
Also, the title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded to the head of the 12th outpost of the 25th Cahul border detachment of the Moldavian border district, Lieutenant Vetchinkin Kuzma Fedorovich.
Partisans:
The first Heroes of the Soviet Union were the Belarusian secretary of the district committee of the party Bumazhkov Tikhon Pimenovich, the commissar of the partisan detachment "Red October" and the commander of the same detachment Pavlovsky Fyodor Illarionovich
Total Heroes of the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War:
In total, during the Great Patriotic War, 11,635 people were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Among all the Heroes of the Soviet Union, 35% were privates and sergeants (soldiers, sailors, sergeants and foremen), 61% were officers and 3.3% (380 people) were generals, admirals and marshals.
By national composition Heroes of the Soviet Union were:
The title of Hero of the Soviet Union is worn by four full holders of the Order of Glory:
Heroes of the Great Patriotic War
Alexander Matrosov
Submachine gunner of the 2nd Separate Battalion of the 91st Separate Siberian Volunteer Brigade named after Stalin.
Sasha Matrosov did not know his parents. He was brought up in an orphanage and a labor colony. When the war began, he was not even 20. Matrosov was drafted into the army in September 1942 and sent to an infantry school, and then to the front.
In February 1943, his battalion attacked the Nazi stronghold, but fell into a trap, falling under heavy fire, cutting off the path to the trenches. They fired from three bunkers. Two soon fell silent, but the third continued to shoot the Red Army soldiers who lay in the snow.
Seeing that the only chance to get out of the fire was to suppress the enemy's fire, Matrosov crawled to the bunker with a fellow soldier and threw two grenades in his direction. The gun was silent. The Red Army went on the attack, but the deadly weapon chirped again. Alexander's partner was killed, and Matrosov was left alone in front of the bunker. Something had to be done.
He didn't even have a few seconds to make a decision. Not wanting to let his comrades down, Alexander closed the embrasure of the bunker with his body. The attack was successful. And Matrosov posthumously received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Military pilot, commander of the 2nd squadron of the 207th long-range bomber aviation regiment, captain.
He worked as a mechanic, then in 1932 he was called up for service in the Red Army. He got into the air regiment, where he became a pilot. Nicholas Gastello participated in three wars. A year before the Great Patriotic War, he received the rank of captain.
On June 26, 1941, the crew under the command of Captain Gastello took off to attack a German mechanized column. It was on the road between the Belarusian cities of Molodechno and Radoshkovichi. But the column was well guarded by enemy artillery. A fight ensued. Aircraft Gastello was hit by anti-aircraft guns. The shell damaged the fuel tank, the car caught fire. The pilot could eject, but he decided to fulfill his military duty to the end. Nikolai Gastello sent a burning car directly to the enemy column. It was the first fire ram in the Great Patriotic War.
The name of the brave pilot has become a household name. Until the end of the war, all the aces who decided to go for a ram were called Gastellites. According to official statistics, almost six hundred enemy rams were made during the entire war.
Brigadier scout of the 67th detachment of the 4th Leningrad partisan brigade.
Lena was 15 years old when the war began. He already worked at the factory, having finished the seven-year plan. When the Nazis captured his native Novgorod region, Lenya joined the partisans.
He was brave and determined, the command appreciated him. For several years spent in the partisan detachment, he participated in 27 operations. On his account, several destroyed bridges behind enemy lines, 78 destroyed Germans, 10 trains with ammunition.
It was he who, in the summer of 1942, near the village of Varnitsa, blew up a car in which there was a German major general. engineering troops Richard von Wirtz. Golikov managed to obtain important documents about the German offensive. The enemy attack was thwarted, and the young hero for this feat was presented to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
In the winter of 1943, a significantly superior enemy detachment unexpectedly attacked partisans near the village of Ostraya Luka. Lenya Golikov died like a real hero - in battle.
Pioneer. Scout of the partisan detachment named after Voroshilov in the territory occupied by the Nazis.
Zina was born and went to school in Leningrad. However, the war found her on the territory of Belarus, where she came for the holidays.
In 1942, 16-year-old Zina joined the underground organization Young Avengers. It distributed anti-fascist leaflets in the occupied territories. Then, under cover, she got a job working in a canteen for German officers, where she committed several acts of sabotage and only miraculously was not captured by the enemy. Her courage surprised many experienced soldiers.
In 1943, Zina Portnova joined the partisans and continued to engage in sabotage behind enemy lines. Due to the efforts of defectors who surrendered Zina to the Nazis, she was captured. In the dungeons, she was interrogated and tortured. But Zina was silent, not betraying her. At one of these interrogations, she grabbed a pistol from the table and shot three Nazis. After that, she was shot in prison.
Underground anti-fascist organization operating in the area of modern Luhansk region. There were over a hundred people. The youngest participant was 14 years old.
This youth underground organization was formed immediately after the occupation of the Lugansk region. It included both regular military personnel, who were cut off from the main units, and local youth. Among the most famous participants: Oleg Koshevoy, Ulyana Gromova, Lyubov Shevtsova, Vasily Levashov, Sergey Tyulenin and many other young people.
The "Young Guard" issued leaflets and committed sabotage against the Nazis. Once they managed to disable an entire tank repair shop, burn down the stock exchange, from where the Nazis drove people to forced labor in Germany. The members of the organization planned to stage an uprising, but were exposed because of the traitors. The Nazis caught, tortured and shot more than seventy people. Their feat is immortalized in one of the most famous military books by Alexander Fadeev and the film adaptation of the same name.
28 people from personnel 4th company of the 2nd battalion of the 1075th rifle regiment.
In November 1941, a counteroffensive against Moscow began. The enemy did not stop at nothing, making a decisive forced march before the onset of a harsh winter.
At this time, the fighters under the command of Ivan Panfilov took up a position on the highway seven kilometers from Volokolamsk, a small town near Moscow. There they gave battle to the advancing tank units. The battle lasted four hours. During this time, they destroyed 18 armored vehicles, delaying the enemy's attack and frustrating his plans. All 28 people (or almost all, here the opinions of historians differ) died.
According to legend, the company's political instructor Vasily Klochkov, before the decisive stage of the battle, turned to the fighters with a phrase that became known throughout the country: "Russia is great, but there is nowhere to retreat - Moscow is behind!"
The Nazi counteroffensive ultimately failed. The battle for Moscow, which was assigned the most important role during the war, was lost by the occupiers.
As a child, the future hero suffered from rheumatism, and the doctors doubted that Maresyev would be able to fly. However, he stubbornly applied to the flight school until he was finally enrolled. Maresyev was drafted into the army in 1937.
He met the Great Patriotic War at the flight school, but soon got to the front. During a sortie, his plane was shot down, and Maresyev himself was able to eject. Eighteen days, seriously wounded in both legs, he got out of the encirclement. However, he still managed to overcome the front line and ended up in the hospital. But gangrene had already begun, and the doctors amputated both of his legs.
For many, this would mean the end of the service, but the pilot did not give up and returned to aviation. Until the end of the war, he flew with prostheses. Over the years, he made 86 sorties and shot down 11 enemy aircraft. And 7 - already after amputation. In 1944, Alexei Maresyev went to work as an inspector and lived to be 84 years old.
His fate inspired the writer Boris Polevoy to write The Tale of a Real Man.
Deputy squadron commander of the 177th Air Defense Fighter Aviation Regiment.
Victor Talalikhin began to fight already in the Soviet-Finnish war. He shot down 4 enemy planes on a biplane. Then he served in the aviation school.
In August 1941, one of the first Soviet pilots made a ram, shooting down a German bomber in a night air battle. Moreover, the wounded pilot was able to get out of the cockpit and descend by parachute to the rear of his own.
Talalikhin then shot down five more German planes. Killed during another air battle near Podolsk in October 1941.
After 73 years, in 2014, search engines found Talalikhin's plane, which remained in the swamps near Moscow.
Artilleryman of the 3rd counter-battery artillery corps Leningrad front.
Soldier Andrei Korzun was drafted into the army at the very beginning of World War II. He served on the Leningrad front, where there were fierce and bloody battles.
November 5, 1943, during the next battle, his battery came under fierce enemy fire. Korzun was seriously wounded. Despite the terrible pain, he saw that the powder charges were set on fire and the ammunition depot could fly into the air. Gathering the last of his strength, Andrey crawled to the blazing fire. But he could no longer take off his overcoat to cover the fire. Losing consciousness, he made a last effort and covered the fire with his body. The explosion was avoided at the cost of the life of a brave gunner.
Commander of the 3rd Leningrad Partisan Brigade.
A native of Petrograd, Alexander German, according to some sources, was a native of Germany. He served in the army from 1933. When the war began, he became a scout. He worked behind enemy lines, commanded a partisan detachment, which terrified the enemy soldiers. His brigade destroyed several thousand fascist soldiers and officers, derailed hundreds of trains and blew up hundreds of vehicles.
The Nazis staged a real hunt for Herman. In 1943, his partisan detachment was surrounded in the Pskov region. Making his way to his own, the brave commander died from an enemy bullet.
Commander of the 30th Separate Guards Tank Brigade of the Leningrad Front
Vladislav Khrustitsky was drafted into the Red Army back in the 1920s. In the late 30s he graduated from armored courses. Since the autumn of 1942, he commanded the 61st separate light tank brigade.
He distinguished himself during Operation Iskra, which marked the beginning of the defeat of the Germans on the Leningrad Front.
He died in the battle near Volosovo. In 1944, the enemy retreated from Leningrad, but from time to time made attempts to counterattack. During one of these counterattacks, Khrustitsky's tank brigade fell into a trap.
Despite heavy fire, the commander ordered to continue the offensive. He turned on the radio to his crews with the words: "Stand to the death!" - and went forward first. Unfortunately, the brave tanker died in this battle. And yet the village of Volosovo was liberated from the enemy.
Commander of a partisan detachment and brigade.
Before the war he worked for railway. In October 1941, when the Germans were already standing near Moscow, he himself volunteered for a difficult operation, in which his railway experience was needed. Was thrown behind enemy lines. There he came up with the so-called "coal mines" (in fact, these are just mines disguised as coal). With the help of this simple but effective weapon, a hundred enemy trains were blown up in three months.
Zaslonov actively agitated the local population to go over to the side of the partisans. The Nazis, having learned this, dressed their soldiers in Soviet uniforms. Zaslonov mistook them for defectors and ordered them to be allowed into the partisan detachment. The path to the insidious enemy was open. A battle ensued, during which Zaslonov died. A reward was announced for living or dead Zaslonov, but the peasants hid his body, and the Germans did not get it.
The commander of a small partisan detachment.
Efim Osipenko fought back in civil war. Therefore, when the enemy seized his land, without thinking twice, he joined the partisans. Together with five other comrades, he organized a small partisan detachment that committed sabotage against the Nazis.
During one of the operations, it was decided to undermine the enemy composition. But there was little ammunition in the detachment. The bomb was made from an ordinary grenade. The explosives were to be installed by Osipenko himself. He crawled to the railway bridge and, seeing the approach of the train, threw it in front of the train. There was no explosion. Then the partisan himself hit the grenade with a pole from the railway sign. It worked! A long train with food and tanks went downhill. The squad leader survived, but lost his sight completely.
For this feat, he was the first in the country to be awarded the medal "Partisan of the Patriotic War."
The peasant Matvey Kuzmin was born three years before the abolition of serfdom. And he died, becoming the oldest holder of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
His story contains many references to the history of another famous peasant - Ivan Susanin. Matvey also had to lead the invaders through the forest and swamps. And, like the legendary hero, he decided to stop the enemy at the cost of his life. He sent his grandson ahead to warn a detachment of partisans who had stopped nearby. The Nazis were ambushed. A fight ensued. Matvey Kuzmin died at the hands of a German officer. But he did his job. He was in his 84th year.
A partisan who was part of the sabotage and reconnaissance group of the headquarters of the Western Front.
While studying at school, Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya wanted to enter a literary institute. But these plans were not destined to come true - the war prevented. In October 1941, Zoya, as a volunteer, came to the recruiting station and, after a short training at a school for saboteurs, was transferred to Volokolamsk. There, an 18-year-old partisan fighter, along with adult men, performed dangerous tasks: she mined roads and destroyed communication centers.
During one of the sabotage operations, Kosmodemyanskaya was caught by the Germans. She was tortured, forcing her to betray her own. Zoya heroically endured all the trials without saying a word to the enemies. Seeing that it was impossible to get anything from the young partisan, they decided to hang her.
Kosmodemyanskaya steadfastly accepted the test. A moment before her death, she shouted to the assembled local residents: “Comrades, victory will be ours. German soldiers, before it's too late, surrender!" The courage of the girl so shocked the peasants that they later retold this story to front-line correspondents. And after the publication in the Pravda newspaper, the whole country learned about the feat of Kosmodemyanskaya. She became the first woman to be awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War.
No matter how bitter it is to admit, but collaborators were among the Heroes of the Soviet Union. Even the “Panfilov hero” turned out to be an accomplice of the enemy. It is known that the soldiers of the 316th Rifle Division (later the 8th Guards) under the command of Major General Ivan Vasilievich Panfilov, who participated in 1941, were called Panfilovites.
In the defense of Moscow. Among the soldiers of the division, the most famous were 28 people ("Panfilov's heroes" or "28 Panfilov's heroes") from the personnel of the 4th company of the 2nd battalion of the 1075th rifle regiment. According to the widespread version of events, on November 16, when a new enemy offensive against Moscow began, the soldiers of the 4th company, led by political instructor V.G. Klochkov in the area of the Dubosekovo junction, 7 kilometers southeast of Volokolamsk, accomplished a feat by destroying 18 enemy tanks during a 4-hour battle. All 28 heroes died (later they began to write "almost all"). Official version feat was studied by the Chief Military Prosecutor's Office of the USSR and recognized as a literary fiction. According to the director State Archive Russia, Professor Sergei Mironenko, "there were no 28 Panfilov heroes - this is one of the myths planted by the state." At the same time, the very fact of heavy defensive battles of the 316th Infantry Division against the 2nd and 11th German tank divisions on the Volokolamsk direction on November 16, 1941, no doubt. The conclusion of the investigation of the Chief Military Prosecutor’s Office: “Thus, the materials of the investigation established that the feat of 28 Panfilov guardsmen, covered in the press, is a fiction of the correspondent Koroteev, the editor of Krasnaya Zvezda Ortenberg, and in particular the literary secretary of the newspaper Krivitsky” (47).
The fate of the “Panfilov hero” Dobrobabin (Dobrobaba) Ivan Evstafievich turned out to be unusual. On November 16, 1941, Dobrobabin, being part of the military guard at the Dubosekovo junction, was covered with earth in a trench during the battle and was considered dead. Once behind enemy lines, he was captured by the Germans and placed in the Mozhaisk POW camp, from which he escaped or was released as a Ukrainian. In early March 1942, he arrived at his homeland in the village of Perekop, Valkovsky district, Kharkov region, occupied by the Germans by that time.
In June, Dobrobabin voluntarily joined the police and until November of the same year served as a policeman at the Kovyagi station, where he guarded the railway line, ensuring the movement of fascist echelons. Then he was transferred to the police in the village of Perekop, where until March 1943 he served as a policeman and head of the guard shift. In early March, when the village was liberated by Soviet troops, Dobrobabin and other police officers were arrested by a special department, but due to the retreat of our army, they were released. After the second occupation of the village by the Nazis, he continued to serve in the police, was appointed deputy chief, and in June 1943 - chief of the rural police. He was armed with a carbine and a revolver.
While serving in the police, Dobrobabin participated in sending Soviet citizens to forced labor in Germany, conducted searches, confiscated livestock from peasants, detained persons who violated the occupation regime, and participated in interrogations of detainees, demanding to extradite communists and Komsomol members of the village. In July 1943, the former Soviet soldier Semyonov was detained and sent to a concentration camp by policemen subordinate to him. During the retreat of the Nazis in August 1943, Dobrobabin fled to the Odessa region and, when the Soviet troops liberated the occupied territory, hiding his service in the police, he was drafted into the army. In 1948, he was sentenced to 15 years for cooperation with the Nazi invaders, and the decree on conferring the title of Hero of the Soviet Union was canceled in relation to him. In 1955, the term of imprisonment was reduced to 7 years, and Dobrobabin was released. He sought rehabilitation, but he was denied rehabilitation. He was rehabilitated by the decision of the Supreme Court of Ukraine dated March 26, 1993. He died in 1996 in the city of Tsimlyansk.
How difficult the fate of the "fascist accomplices" during the war years can be seen on the example of Pyotr Konstantinovich Mesnyankin (1919-1993) - Lieutenant Soviet army, participant of the Great Patriotic War, Hero of the Soviet Union (1943), deprived of the title and awards in connection with the conviction. Mesnyankin was born in the village of Komyakino (now - the territory of the Ivaninsky district of the Kursk region) in the family of a wealthy peasant. In the 1930s Mesnyankin's family was dispossessed and deported to the Arkhangelsk region. A few years after the expulsion, she managed to move to Kharkov, where Mesnyankin graduated in 1939 high school and went to college. In the autumn of 1939, he was drafted into the army and served in the 275th artillery regiment. From June 1941 - at the front, took part in the battle of Smolensk, the Elninsk operation. In November 1941, Mesnyankin's unit was surrounded and he was taken prisoner. He was kept in the Oryol prison, from where he escaped in early 1942 and returned to his native village. In February 1942, having no means of subsistence, he joined the police. He held the positions of assistant chief of police, investigator of the world court at the district government, and from December 1942 - chief of police. During his service in the police, he earned the respect of the local population by the fact that "he did not commit atrocities, but, on the contrary, arrested only police officers and elders who committed atrocities against the inhabitants." After the area was liberated by units of the Red Army, he did not run away from the village, was arrested and interrogated in a special department of one of the formations. At the request local residents escaped the death penalty, and by order of the Military Council of the 60th Army was sent to a penal company for a period of three months. He served his sentence in the 9th separate army penal company. During his stay in the penal company, he was wounded three times and released from punishment ahead of schedule. Upon returning to the unit, at the request of SMERSH employees, he was re-sent to a penal unit - the 263rd separate army penal company. After being released from the penal company, Mesnyankin fought in the 1285th Infantry Regiment of the 60th Infantry Division of the 65th Army, and was the commander of a 45-millimeter gun crew. Distinguished himself during the battle for the Dnieper. On October 17, 1943, in the area of the village of Radul, Repkinsky district, Chernihiv region, Mesnyankin, using improvised means, along with his gun crew, crossed the Dnieper and, entrenched on the right bank, destroyed several enemy firing points with artillery fire, "which contributed to the crossing of other units to the bridgehead" ( 48).
On October 30, 1943, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, for "exemplary performance of the combat missions of the command on the front of the fight against the Nazi invaders and the courage and heroism shown at the same time," Red Army soldier Pyotr Mesnyankin was awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and a medal " Gold Star "number 1541, becoming the first hero in the regiment. After the end of the war, he remained to serve in the Soviet Army. He graduated from the artillery school, received the rank of lieutenant, commanded a training platoon of the 690th artillery regiment of the 29th separate guards rifle Latvian brigade. April 5, 1948 Hero of the Soviet Union lieutenant
Mesnyankin was arrested and urgently transferred to Moscow. In the Main Directorate of Counterintelligence of the USSR Ministry of State Security, he was charged with treason, expressed in the fact that he “... as coming from a kulak family, surrendered to the Germans and collaborated with them on the territory of the temporarily occupied Kursk region ... Living in the village of Komyakino Ivaninsky district, Mesnyankin took up the restoration of his former kulak economy, moved into a house previously confiscated from them, summoned relatives, and in February 1942 voluntarily entered the service of the German punitive authorities ... conducted searches, took away food and things from local residents , arrested Soviet citizens, subjected them to interrogations and carried out pro-fascist agitation; he handed over the property taken from the collective farmers through the "world" court to the kulaks who returned to the region; handed over to the German punitive authorities 10 communists and Komsomol members, in respect of whom he conducted an investigation; took part in the execution of the former chairman of the collective farm, communist Rassolov ... ".
On August 21, 1948, Mesnyankin was sentenced to 10 years in labor camps by a resolution of the Special Meeting under the Ministry of State Security of the USSR. He served his sentence in the Vorkuta camps, worked in the medical unit. In 1954 he was released from the camp ahead of schedule. By the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of July 7, 1955, the conviction was expunged. He lived in Kharkov, worked at a state farm as a foreman of a vegetable growing brigade. Repeatedly sent petitions for reinstatement in the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, but they were all rejected. Pyotr Mesnyankin died on July 14, 1993. He was buried at the 3rd city cemetery of Kharkov (49).
The fate of the Stalinist and Vlasov "falcon" Semyon Trofimovich Bychkov (1918-1946) - a Soviet military pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union (1943), who was deprived of titles and awards in 1947 for participating in the "Vdasov" movement during the Great Patriotic war. He was born on May 15, 1918 in the village of Petrovka, Nizhnedevitsky District, Voronezh Region. Graduated from the flying club (1938), Borisoglebsk aviation school named after V.P. Chkalov (1939). From 1939 he served in the 12th reserve aviation regiment. From January 30, 1940 - junior lieutenant, from March 25, 1942 - lieutenant, then senior lieutenant, from July 20, 1942 - deputy squadron commander. In 1942, for committing an accident, he was sentenced by a military tribunal to 5 years in labor camps to serve his sentence after the war. In the same year, the conviction was dropped. From May 28, 1943 - captain. In 1943 - navigator of the 937th Fighter Aviation Regiment, deputy commander of the 482nd Fighter Aviation Regiment of the 322nd Fighter Division. For distinction in battles he was awarded two Orders of the Red Banner. On September 2, 1943, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal for personally shooting down 15 enemy aircraft (in addition, he shot down one aircraft in a group).
In the presentation for the award, it was noted that Bychkov “proved to be an excellent fighter pilot, whose courage is combined with great skill. He enters the battle boldly and decisively, conducts it at a high pace, imposes his will on the enemy, using his weaknesses. He proved to be an excellent commander-organizer of group air battles. December 10, 1943 Bychkov was shot down by enemy anti-aircraft artillery and taken prisoner by the wounded. Kept in prisoner of war camps. In early 1944, Colonel Viktor Maltsev, who had been collaborating with the German authorities since 1941, persuaded him to join the Ostland Aviation Group.
During the investigation in 1946, Bychkov claimed that he took this step under strong pressure, since another Hero of the Soviet Union, Bronislav Antilevsky, who had already collaborated with the Germans by that time, allegedly beat him. According to other sources, Bychkov voluntarily decided to go over to the side of the enemy, and they were friends with Antilevsky. Participated in the transfer of aircraft from aircraft factories to field airfields Eastern Front, as well as in anti-partisan combat operations in the Dvinsk region. Together with Antilevsky, he appealed in writing and orally to the captured pilots with calls to cooperate with the Germans. After the disbandment of the Ostland group in September 1944, Bychkov, under the command of Maltsev, took an active part in the formation of the 1st aviation regiment of the ROA Air Force, became the commander of the 5th fighter squadron, which was armed with 16 aircraft. February 5, 1945 was promoted to major. At the end of April 1945, he surrendered to American troops, along with other "Vlasov" pilots, was interned in the French city of Cherbourg and in September 1945 was transferred to the Soviet authorities. On August 24, 1946, he was sentenced to death by a military tribunal of the Moscow Military District. The sentence was carried out in Moscow on November 4 of the same year (50:22-30).
Bronislav Romanovich Antilevsky (1916-1946) was also a Stalinist and Vlasov "falcon" - a Soviet military pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union (1940), deprived of titles and awards in 1950. Born in 1916 in the village of Markovtsy, Uzdensky district, Minsk area in a peasant family. Pole. He graduated from a technical school (1937), a special-purpose aviation school in Monino (1938), and the Kachinsky Red Banner Military Aviation School (1942). From October 1937 he served in the Red Army. During the Soviet-Finnish war, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal. From April 1942 - junior lieutenant, participated in the Great Patriotic War as part of the 20th Fighter Regiment of the 303rd Fighter Division of the 1st Air Army.
On August 28, 1943, the deputy squadron commander, senior lieutenant Antilevsky, was shot down in an air battle and captured. Kept in prisoner camps. At the end of 1943 he joined the Ostland aviation group. Like Semyon Bychkov, he participated in aircraft transfers and in anti-partisan hostilities, urging captured pilots to cooperate with the Germans. After the disbandment of the Ostland group, he took an active part in the formation of the 1st Aviation Regiment of the ROA Air Force. Since December 19, 1944 he was the commander of the 2nd assault squadron of night attack aircraft. February 5, 1945 promoted to captain. He was awarded two German medals and a nominal watch. In April 1945, Antilevsky's squadron took part in the fighting on the Oder against the Red Army.
There is information that at the end of April 1945, Antilevsky was supposed to pilot a plane on which General Andrei Vlasov was supposed to fly to Spain, but Vlasov refused to flee.
He was interned from the American sector of Germany in September 1945. On July 25, 1946, he was sentenced to death by a military tribunal of the Moscow Military District under Article 58-1 "b" of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR. The sentence was carried out on the same day (51:17-22).
It is believed that the third Hero of the Soviet Union in the ROA may have been Ivan Ivanovich Tennikov, a career pilot, a Tatar by nationality. Performing a combat mission to cover Stalingrad on September 15, 1942 over Zaikovsky Island, he fought with enemy fighters, rammed the German Messerschmitt-110, shot him down and survived. There is a version that he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for this feat, but his name is not on the list of persons who were deprived of this title. Tennikov served in Soviet aviation until the autumn of 1943, when he was shot down and considered missing.
While in a prisoner of war camp, he entered the service of German intelligence and then was transferred to the Vlasov army. For health reasons, he could not fly and served as a propaganda officer. Nothing is known about the further fate of this man after April 1945. According to the documents of the Main Directorate of Personnel of the Ministry of Defense, he is still listed as missing (104).
The fate of the Heroes of the Soviet Union, father and son Sokolov, turned out to be difficult. Emelyan Lukich Sokol was born in 1904 on the Pomerki farm in the Lebedinsky district of the Sumy region of Ukraine. Finished six classes. In 1941-1943. Sokol lived with his family in the territory temporarily occupied by German troops. After his release, he was drafted into the army and became a machine gunner in the 1144th Infantry Regiment of the 340th Infantry Division of the 38th Army of the Voronezh Front. Together with him, his son Grigory, born in 1924, served in the same machine-gun crew. Both were awarded medals "For Courage". Father and son distinguished themselves during the battle for the Dnieper, October 3, 1943, when repulsing the attack of enemy units, they cut off the infantry from the tanks with machine-gun fire, and then destroyed the tank and armored personnel carrier. After that, Grigory Sokol broke the caterpillar of the second German tank with a grenade.
After the end of the battle, it was reported to the headquarters that Emelyan and Grigory Sokolov had died, and on January 10, 1944, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR "for courage and heroism shown in the fight against the Nazi invaders" they were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously. After the war, it turned out that the father and son of the Falcons remained alive, it turned out that they had replaced the “mortal medallions” of the dead soldiers and surrendered. According to some reports, Yemelyan Sokol, while in captivity, served as the headman of the barracks of prisoners of war, and then joined the police and became the head of the department. On May 5, 1945, he was released from captivity by Czechoslovak partisans. After passing the test, he was awarded the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal. In 1945, Emelyan Sokol was transferred to the reserve, returned to his native village, and worked on a collective farm (52).
According to some reports, in captivity, Sokol Jr. served as the head of the investigative department in the police. On May 5, 1945, he, like his father, was released from captivity by Czechoslovak partisans. After passing the test, he was also awarded the Gold Star medal and the Order of Lenin. He continued his military service as a foreman in a military bakery. In April 1947, Grigory Sokol was transferred to the reserve, returned to his native village and also began to work on the collective farm (53). In 1947, the father and son Sokoly were arrested by employees of the USSR Ministry of State Security on charges of voluntary surrender. The court sentenced the father to 10 and the son to 8 years in labor camps. On November 14, 1947, the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of January 10, 1944 on awarding them the titles of Heroes of the Soviet Union was canceled. After serving their sentences, they both returned to their native village. The father died in 1985 and the son in 1999.
Heroes of the Soviet Union Ivan Kilyushek, Pyotr Kutsy, Nikolai Litvinenko and Georgy Vershinin also turned out to be accomplices of the enemy. Kilyushek Ivan Sergeevich was born on December 19, 1923 in the village of Ostrov, Rivne region of Ukraine. At the beginning of the war, he ended up in the occupied territory. After his release in March 1944, Kilyushek was drafted into the army and three months later he distinguished himself during the crossing of the Western Dvina River. On July 22, 1944, Kilyushek was awarded the title of Hero, the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal for "courage and courage shown during the capture and holding of a bridgehead on the banks of the Western Dvina River" for "courage and courage." On July 23, 1944, Kilyushek received a month's home leave, and on August 10, militants of the Ukrainian Army broke into his house. rebel army and kidnapped him. It is not known for certain whether Kilyushek voluntarily agreed to an armed struggle against the "Muscovites", or was forcibly held by militants, but on March 14, 1945, he was arrested in the attic of his house with a machine gun in his hands. He was accused of counter-revolutionary activities, participating in the execution of a partisan's family of five, including two children, recruiting young people into the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.
During the investigation, Kilyushek pleaded guilty, but justified himself by saying that he was involved in the formation of the UPA by force and remained there only under the threat of reprisals against his family. On September 29, 1945, the military tribunal of the 13th Army sentenced Kilyushek to 10 years in prison with disqualification for a period of 5 years and confiscation of property. In 1958 he was released and lived in the Irkutsk region. In 2009, during the opening of a bunker in the Volyn region, in which the formation of the UPA was based during the war, Kilyushek's Gold Star medal (54) was discovered.
Kutsy Petr Antonovich at the beginning of the war also ended up in the occupied territory. In the spring of 1942, Kutsy joined the police commandant's office in the neighboring village of Veliky Krupol, Zgurovsky district, Kyiv region, which was headed by his father, and his uncle was the secretary. He took part in the deportation of Soviet citizens to Germany and raids on partisans, during which he was wounded twice. After the area was liberated, he was called up for service in the Red Army, where he held the post of squad leader of the 1318th Infantry Regiment. On the night of October 1-2, 1943, Kutsyy with his squad crossed to Zhukovka Island near the southern outskirts of Kyiv, recaptured it from German units, which ensured the crossing of other units of his regiment. October 29, 1943 by decree
The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR for "exemplary performance of combat missions of command on the front of the fight against the Nazi invaders and the courage and heroism shown at the same time" Red Army soldier Pyotr Kutsy was awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal.
At the beginning of 1953, together with two comrades, Kutsy arrived in his native village and started a fight there in a club, during which he beat the chairman of the village council. In February 1953 he was arrested. Berezansky district court Kyiv region Petr Kutsiy was sentenced to 5 years in prison. A few days later, he was released under the "Beria amnesty", but during the investigation, his fellow villagers who fought during the war in partisan detachments. On their basis, a petition was written, and by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of January 30, 1954, Pyotr Kutsy was deprived of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for "misconduct discrediting the title of an order bearer" (55).
Litvinenko Nikolai Vladimirovich at the beginning of the war also ended up in the territory occupied by the Germans. In December 1941, he began to cooperate with the occupation authorities. At first he worked as an extra in the agricultural community in his native village, then as a secretary of the village council. Since March 1942, Litvinenko has been in the service of the German police. As a police officer, he took part in punitive operations against the partisans of the Sumy, Chernihiv and Poltava regions, and also guarded against partisans settlements. In August 1943, during the offensive of the Red Army, he was evacuated to the Vinnitsa region, to the rear of the German troops, where he was until the arrival Soviet troops, and in January 1944 he was mobilized into the army. On September 23, 1944, Junior Sergeant Nikolai Litvinenko was awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union for "exemplary performance of command assignments and courage and heroism in battles against the Nazi invaders." In January 1945, Sergeant Major Litvinenko was sent to study at an infantry school in Riga, and in June 1946 the facts of his betrayal were revealed. In August 1946, Litvinenko was arrested, and on October 11 of the same year, by the military tribunal of the South Ural Military District, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison with a loss of rights for 3 years. On October 14, 1947, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Litvinenko was stripped of all titles and awards. Nothing is known about his further fate (56).
Vershinin Georgy Pavlovich served as a squad leader in the sapper and demolition company of the 23rd airborne brigade of the 10th airborne corps. He distinguished himself during operations in the German rear, when May 29 - June 3, 1942 on the territory of the Dorogobuzh region Smolensk region The 23rd Airborne Brigade was parachuted with 4,000 men. The brigade was tasked with securing a way out of the encirclement of Major General Belov's 1st Guards Cavalry Corps and Major General Kazankin's 4th Airborne Corps.
On the night of June 3, 1942, the battalion of the landing brigade, in which Vershinin served, secretly approached the village of Volochek, destroyed German patrols, broke into the village, destroyed more than 50 German soldiers and officers and captured 2 armored personnel carriers and 4 mortars. Near the village passed the German tank column, whose tankers made a halt next to the ambush of paratroopers. The tankers who got out of the vehicles were destroyed and 22 tanks were captured. Repelling the attack, Vershinin's squad destroyed the bridge across the river along with the three who were on it. German tanks. Holding back the enemy until nightfall, the paratroopers withdrew, having completed the main task - to pull back part of the enemy forces in order to enable the encircled corps to break out of the encirclement. Junior Sergeant Vershinin was considered dead in the explosion of the bridge, and on March 31, 1943, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, he was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for "courage and heroism in the fight against the Nazi invaders". In fact, Vershinin survived and was taken prisoner by the Germans. Under interrogation, he gave out all the information he knew about the landing, expressed a desire to serve in the German armed forces, and already in June 1942 he was enlisted in the auxiliary security battalion. He served as a guard on the railway bridge in the rear of the German troops. For sleeping while on duty, he was arrested and sent to a prisoner of war camp, where he fell ill with typhus. After recovering in May 1943, he again entered the service of the Germans in a working engineer battalion. He collaborated with the Germans until June 1944, and when the German troops in Belarus were defeated, he went over to the partisans. When partisans joined forces with the Red Army, he was handed over to SMERSH authorities, he was tested in a filtration camp in the Murmansk region, where he worked as a driller at the Severonikel plant. February 28, 1945 Vershinin was arrested. On July 6, 1945, the military tribunal of the NKVD troops of the Murmansk region sentenced him to 10 years in labor camps with disqualification for 5 years with confiscation of property and deprivation of awards. Died January 1, 1966 (57).
a traitor to whom high rank The Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded during the war, and Antonov Georgy Semenovich, born in 1916, was drafted into the army in 1937. He graduated from artillery military school and from 1941 was at the front. On July 1, 1944, during the crossing of the Berezina River and the liberation of the Belarusian city of Borisov, the head of artillery of the 1106th Infantry Regiment of the 331st Infantry Division, Captain Antonov, provided artillery support for the offensive units of the regiment. By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of March 24, 1945, Captain Antonov Georgy Semenovich was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union for the exemplary performance of combat missions of the command on the front of the struggle against the Nazi invaders and the courage and heroism shown at the same time.
After the end of the war, G.S. Antonov was appointed commander of a division of the 233rd Cannon-Artillery Regiment and served in the Soviet occupation forces near Austrian city Appensteig. February 9, 1949 by senior court of honor officers Major Antonov of the 95th Guards Rifle Division was found guilty of organizing a collective booze and the death of his colleague in a car accident. In connection with the "moral decay", the command decided to send Antonov to serve in the Transcaucasian Military District. On May 26, 1949, together with an Austrian citizen, Antonov fled from the deployment area of his unit to the American sector of Vienna, and on September 7, 1949, he was convicted in absentia for treason and sentenced to 25 years in labor camps with deprivation of awards and military rank (58:474-479).
Of the 86 people deprived of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, most were stripped of this title for serious criminal offenses such as murder, desertion and rape.
