Hero of the Soviet Union

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Hero of the Soviet Union (Russian: Герой Советского Союза, Geroy Sovyetskovo Soyuza) was the highest honorary title and the superior degree of distinction of the Soviet Union.

Contents

[edit] Overview

It included the Order of Lenin (the highest Soviet award) and, as the sign of excellence, the Gold Star medal with the certificate of the heroic deed (gramota) from the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. If a person was a recipient of several Hero awards, the Lenin Order was given only once with some exceptions in later times.

[edit] History

The award was established on April 16, 1934.

The total number of persons who were awarded this title is 12,745 (twenty people have been stripped of this title due to various circumstances). The great majority of them received it during World War II (11,635 Heroes of the Soviet Union, 101 twice Heroes, 3 thrice Heroes, and 2 four-time Heroes). One famous war hero was Alexander Matrosov who received the distinction posthumously after he died blocking an enemy machine-gun with his own body. Sixty-five people were awarded the title for actions related to the Soviet-Afghan War, which lasted from 1979 until 1989. [1]

The first recipients of the award were the pilots Anatoly Liapidevsky (certificate number one), Sigizmund Levanevsky, Vasili Molokov, Mavrikiy Slepnev, Nikolai Kamanin, Ivan Doronin and Mikhail Vodopianov, who participated in the successful aerial search and rescue of the crew of the steamship Cheliuskin, which sank in Arctic waters, crushed by ice fields, on February 13, 1934.

Valentina Grizodubova, a female pilot, was the first woman to become a Hero of the Soviet Union (November 2, 1938)[1] for her international women's record for a straight-line distance flight. Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, a Soviet partisan, was the first woman to become a Hero of the Soviet Union during World War II (February 16, 1942). Lydia Litvyak, the world’s leading female fighter ace, was posthumously awarded the honour.

101 people were to receive the award twice. A second award entitled the recipient to have a bronze bust of his/her likeness with a commemorative inscription erected in his home town.

The famous Russian sniper Vasily Zaitsev is one of the better known recipients of the award, his achievements are featured in the film Enemy at the Gates.

Two famous Soviet fighter pilots, Aleksandr Pokryshkin and Ivan Kozhedub were thrice Heroes of the Soviet Union. A third award entitled the recipient to have his/her bronze bust erected on a columnar pedestal in Moscow, near the Palace of Soviets, but the Palace was never built.

The only individuals to receive the title four times were Marshal Georgy Zhukov and Leonid Brezhnev. However it must be mentioned that the original statute of the Hero of the Soviet Union written by Stalin himself did not provide for a fourth title. The title of the Hero of the Soviet Union could be awarded maximum three times regardless of later deeds. Both Zhukov and Brezhnev received their fourth titles in controversial circumstances contrary to its original statute, which remained unchanged until the award was abolished in 1991. In fact all four Brezhnev's awards were birthday gifts, he received them on the occasions of his 60th, 70th, 72nd and 75th birthdays which was degrading this very highly rated award.

By the 1970s, the award had been somewhat devalued. Important political and military persons had been awarded on the occasions of their anniversaries, without immediate heroic activity in its direct sense. However, the first breach of the tradition (and the statute of the award) was made by Zhukov, when he was awarded for the fourth time "for his large accomplishments" on the occasion of his 60th anniversary as early as on December 1, 1956. There is some speculation that Zhukov's fourth Hero medal was for his participation in the arrest of Beria in 1953, however, this was not entered in the records.

All Soviet cosmonauts, starting from Yuri Gagarin, as well as foreign citizens who participated in Soviet cosmic program as cosmonauts, received Hero award for each flight (but no more than twice).

In 1988, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR abolished the practice of granting this award more than once to any individual.

Apart from individuals, the title was also awarded to twelve cities (Hero City) as well as the fortress of Brest (Hero-Fortress) for collective heroism during the War.

The last recipient of the title Hero of the Soviet Union was a Soviet diver, Captain of the 3rd rank Leonid Mikhailovich Solodkov on December 24 1991 for fulfillment of a special diving task. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, this title was succeeded in Russia by the title Hero of the Russian Federation, in Ukraine by Hero of Ukraine and in Belarus by Hero of Belarus.

[edit] Heraldry

The medal appears as a charge in the arms of The Hero City of Sevastopol.

[edit] Notable recipients

[edit] Once

[edit] Twice

  • Semyon Timoshenko – military commander and senior professional officer of the Red Army
  • Ivan Konev – Marshal of the Soviet Union, commander of the First Ukranian Front.
  • Azi Aslanov – Major-General of armoured troops during WWII; participated in the 1944 Soviet offensives in Ukraine, Belarus and the Baltic countries
  • Hovhannes (Ivan) Baghramian – military commander; took part in the great 1944 Soviet offensive in Belarus and Lithuania (Operation Bagration)
  • Konstantin Rokossovsky – Marshal of the Soviet Union, Marshal of Poland. Commander of the First Belorussian front until November 1944, later Polish Minister of Defense.
  • Joseph Stalin - General Secretary of the Communist Party (1922-1953) and Head of Government (1941-1953)
  • Nelson Stepanyan – WWII dive bomber pilot*
  • Vladimir Kokkinaki - Famous test pilot and record breaker
  • Sydir Kovpak – partisan leader in Ukraine
  • Amet-Han Sultan – WWII-era fighter and test pilot.
  • Alexei Fyodorov – organized underground resistance in Nazi-occupied Ukraine
  • Issa Pliyev – military commander
  • Vasily Chuikov – General responsible for the victory at Stalingrad and attacking Berlin
  • Sergey Gritsevets – fighter pilot with 40 credited kills
  • Mikhail Katukov – Marshal of the Soviet Union, 1st Guards Tank Army Commander
  • Vasilyi S. Petrov Guards Major of Artillery during the second World War, for Dnepr crossing 1943 (No. 3504) where he lost both hands, and defense of an Oder bridgehead 1945 (No. 6091)
  • Viktor Leonov – Soviet Naval Scout (Commando), fought in both European and Pacific Theatres in World War II
  • Aleksandr Vasilevsky - Marshal of the Soviet Union and the Soviet Chief of the General Staff and Deputy Minister of Defense during World War II.

[edit] Three Times

[edit] Four times

  • Georgy Zhukov — military commander and politician credited with many of the most significant Soviet victories of WWII
  • Leonid Brezhnev — Premier of Soviet Union from 1964–1982; this feat was the subject of numerous Russian jokes.

[edit] Foreign recipients (all once)

[edit] See also

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ (Russian) Гризодубова Валентина Степановна

[edit] External links

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Highest awards for gallantry
Other countries
Obsolete

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