Be a hero
“When you read biographies of people who have committed heroic deeds, you always want to see in their behavior, appearance, and character some unusual features that distinguish them from the rest. And very often you are convinced that there is nothing special about them. No pretense, romantic elation, exaltation, only conscientiousness, composure and a heightened sense of responsibility, duty. ”
P. I. Kirichenko.
P. I. Kirichenko.
The title of Hero of the Soviet Union is the highest degree of distinction of the Soviet period, the most honorary title in the Soviet award system. It was established by the Decree of the CEC of the USSR of 16 on April 1934, and was conferred for personal as well as collective merits to the state related to the accomplishment of an outstanding feat. At that time, there were no such awards in the world. Although in some countries the concept of a “national hero” existed, it was not official. But after the end of the Second World War in many socialist countries, local higher degrees of distinction were established by analogy, for example: “Hero of Syria”, “Hero of the People’s Republic of Bulgaria”, “Hero of the Mongolian People's Republic” and so on.
Initially, it was decided to issue only a special certificate to the Heroes. However, 29 July 1936, the new Provision was established, in addition to the letters of the CEC, to hand over the Order of Lenin to the Heroes of the Soviet Union, which was the highest award of the USSR. In retrospect, it was received by those eleven people who had already been awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Three years later, the number of Heroes was already one hundred twenty-two people, and it became clear that it was necessary to introduce a completely new, special distinction sign for them. Therefore, 1 August 1939 of the year issued a special decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council, which contained information about the establishment of a new Gold Star medal of the Hero of the Soviet Union, which now began to be awarded along with a diploma and the Order of Lenin. Each Gold Star medal had a serial number corresponding to the order in which the title of Hero was conferred, including the persons to whom it was awarded before the establishment of the medal.
The Gold Star Medal of the Hero of the Soviet Union is fastened over all medals and orders of the USSR on the left side of the chest. It is made in the form of a five-pointed star with dihedral smooth rays on the obverse side. The back side is smooth and limited in contour with a thin protruding rim. In the center of the protruding letters written "Hero of the USSR", and in the uppermost ray there is a number. With the aid of the ear and the ring, the medal is connected to a gilded pad, which is covered in red silk moire ribbon. On the shoe there is a threaded pin and a nut for attaching to clothes. The Gold Star medal was made of gold of the 950 test, and the block was made of silver.
The first Heroes of the Soviet Union: I.V. Doronin, M.T. Slepnev, N.P. Kamanin, V.S. Molokov, ..., MM Gromov, S.A. Levanevsky, A.V. Lyapidevsky (sitting), M.V. Vodop'yanov.
For the first time, the title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded to seven gallant Soviet pilots - Doronin I.V., Vodopyanov M.V., Levanevsky S.A., Kamanin N.P., Lyapidevsky A.V., Slepnev M.T. and Molokov, V.S. - April 20 1934 for saving people from the Chelyuskin icebreaker. The first of them was Anatoly Lyapidevsky, and with the introduction of a new badge of distinction he was awarded the Golden Star under the number 1. The eighth title of Hero of the Soviet Union in 1934 was received by the outstanding pilot Mikhail Gromov, who made a record non-stop flight for seventy-five hours over a distance of more than twelve thousand kilometers. The next Heroes of the Soviet Union in 1936 were aviators Chkalov V.P., Belyakov A.V. and GF Baidukov, who got from Moscow to the Far East without landings. And on December 31, 1936 was awarded the honorary title for the first time by eleven commanders of the Red Army for their military exploits. All of them were pilots, participants of the Spanish Civil War. It is interesting that three of them were foreigners by birth: the German Ernst Schacht, the Bulgarian Zachary Zahariyev and the Italian Primo Gibelli. Three of the “Spanish” Heroes for the first time were given posthumously.
In the summer of 1937, after the successful organization and delivery to the North Pole by plane of members of the world's first drifting polar weather station, Heroes became Academician Shmidt O.Yu., Head of the Polar aviation Shevelev M.M., head of the station Papanin I.D. and five more pilots. The same summer, for the participation in the bloody battles in the Spanish Republic, the title of Hero of the Soviet Union was first awarded to tankmen under the command of brigade commander Dmitry Pavlov. In general, for the entire time of the war in this country from 1936 to 1939, fifty-nine people were awarded this title.
In March 1938, the 274's daily ice drift of the North Pole Station was successfully completed. For the research conducted by Fedorov E.K., Shirshov P.P. and Krenkelu E.T. also awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. Soon there were Heroes, awarded this title for the fight against the Japanese invaders in China. The first of them was the pilot again - the commander of the air group Fedor Polynin. And in October, 1938 of the year, a unique, previously unseen, mass rewarding of twenty-six Red Army soldiers who distinguished themselves in battles with the Japanese who invaded our territory near Lake Hassan passed. Four of them were for the first time ordinary Red Army men. Until now, only commanding officers have received the title of Hero. 2 November 1938 was honored with the honorary title of the beautiful half of humanity. Pilots Osipenko PD, Raskova MM and Grizodubova VS on the Rodina plane they carried out a nonstop flight from Moscow to the Far East.
The next year, 1939, was marked by another massive assignment of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for the exploits shown in the battles on the Khalkhin Gol. The title of Hero, together with the entered insignia - the Gold Star medals received seventy people, twenty of them - posthumously. Only one was a simple Red Army soldier, the rest belonged to the commanding staff. In addition, in the battles with the Japanese three warriors (Major Sergei Gritsevets, Colonel Grigory Kravchenko and Commander Corps Commander Yakov Smushkevich) for the first time became two Heroes of the Soviet Union. All of them were pilots and, unfortunately, none of them survived until the end of the Great Patriotic War.
The first twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Major Sergei Ivanovich Gritsevets - the most productive Soviet air al of the late thirties, according to official data shot down an enemy aircraft 42.
At the end of the 1939-1940 winter Soviet-Finnish war, the title Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded four hundred and twelve people. And in 1940, a rare massive assignment of the rank to all fifteen crew members of the icebreaker “George Sedov”, which was wiped up in the ice of the Arctic Ocean already in 1937, took place! This has never happened again, except for three cases of awarding joint units in the years of the Great Patriotic War. Already at the end of 1940, the Spaniard Ramon Mercader became another Hero of the Soviet Union, the last in the pre-war period. He was honored with this high honor for the murder in distant Mexico of the "enemy of communism" Leo Trotsky. Mercader was arrested and held in a local prison for twenty years. He received the title of a secret decree under a different name, and he saw his medal only after leaving the prison many years later. Just before the beginning of the Great War, the title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded to six hundred and twenty-six people, including three women.
Junior lieutenants fighter pilots Zhukov MP, Kharitonov PT and Zdorovtsev S.I. The first became the owners of the highest distinction of our country in the Great Patriotic War. On June 27, they carried out ram attacks on their I-16s against the German Ju-88 bombers, rushing to Leningrad. In the ground forces, the first Hero was the commander of the Moscow motorized rifle division, Colonel Yakov Kreizer, who managed to organize defense on the Berezina River. The Navy was the first to receive this title. fleet Vasily Kislyakov, distinguished himself during the landing in the Arctic, and among the border guards - fighters Konstantinov A.K., Buzytskov I.D. and Mikhalkov V.F., who rebuffed the fascists on the Prut River on June 22. The first Hero-Partisan is considered the commander of the Red October group Tikhon Bumazhkov. In total, only a few dozen people received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union in 1941, all from June to October. Then the Nazis approached Moscow, and the questions of rewarding the soldiers of the Red Army were temporarily forgotten.
The Hero of the Soviet Union, the commander of the 1 Volunteer Detachment of the Northern Fleet Seamen, Senior Sergeant Vasily Pavlovich Kislyakov.
The presentation of orders and awards was resumed in the winter of 1942, after the expulsion of the fascists outside the Moscow region. 16 February 1942 was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union to eighteen-year-old partisan Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, becoming the first woman-hero of the war years. In the summer of the same year, they began to reward soldiers who distinguished themselves in battles near Moscow. In total, about a hundred people became heroes, including twenty-eight "Panfilovs". However, in general, in the 1942 year, the title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded almost as sparingly as in 1941.
1943 year revealed new Heroes - participants of the Battle of Stalingrad. For the first time this title was awarded to a person who was not a citizen of the Soviet Union or a soldier of the Red Army. He was Otakar Jarosz, a second lieutenant of the first Czechoslovak infantry battalion (posthumously). In 1944, the first three times Hero of the Soviet Union appeared - the commander of the fighter aviation division Colonel Alexander Pokryshkin. And on April 2 it was announced that the youngest Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded. They became a seventeen-year scout partisan Lenya Golikov, who died a few months before the decree was released. In total in 1944, the title of Hero was received by more than three thousand people, mainly infantrymen. It should be noted that in the same year it was decided to award the third “Golden Star” to Major Nikolai Gulayev, who was the third of the Soviet aces by the number of enemy aircraft shot down. However, he and a number of pilots did not receive their awards because of the fight they had eve in a Moscow restaurant. Decrees after that were annulled.
The first Hero of the Soviet Union foreigner Otakar Yarosh
In 1945, the title of Hero was conferred both during the hostilities and after the Victory Day following the results of the war. In total, for the accomplishments of the Great Patriotic War during the Great Patriotic War, the Gold Star medal was awarded to 11635 people (ninety-two percent of the total). Of these, one hundred and one people became twice Heroes of the Soviet Union, and three (Pokryshkin A.I., Kozhedub I.N. and Zhukov G.K.) three times. The largest number was made up of ground troops (more than eight thousand people). Significantly fewer Heroes were in the Air Force (about two and a half thousand), in the Navy five hundred and thirteen fighters (including sea pilots and marines) became heroes. Among the employees of the internal troops, border guards, and security forces, about one hundred and fifty Heroes, two hundred thirty-four partisans received the Golden Star (and Kovpak and Fedorov even twice). Among the Heroes of the Soviet Union since the Great Patriotic War there are over ninety women, representatives of almost all branches of the military. One person — the Don Cossack Konstantin Nedorubov — by the time he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union was a full George Knight (that is, holder of four soldiers' crosses) for feats during the First World War. And during the years of the Great Patriotic War, about twenty citizens of foreign countries were awarded the title Hero.
From 1945 to 1953, the Golden Star was extremely rarely awarded. Among those who received were test pilots of jet aircraft (Fedotov and Stefanovsky), the head of the North Pole-2 deeply classified polar expedition Samov M.M. and the 64 fighter pilots who fought in North Korea’s airspace with American and South Korean aces.
After the beginning of the Khrushchev thaw feats, accomplishments in the war years, the title of Hero of the Soviet Union received by people who have been in captivity and then branded as "traitors of the motherland" and "accomplices of the Nazis." In particular, justice triumphed over the hero of the French resistance Vasily Porik, Peter Gavrilov - defender of the Brest Fortress, pilot Mikhail Devyatayev, who hijacked a German bomber after escaping from a concentration camp and many, many others. In 1956, the Minister of Defense of the USSR, Marshal of the Soviet Union, Georgy Zhukov, was awarded the fourth "Golden Star". On this occasion, it is worth noting a number of interesting moments. Firstly, he was formally awarded on his sixtieth birthday, which was not provided for in the Regulations on the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Secondly, returning to the Regulations, the maximum number of Golden Stars handed to one person should not exceed three. Thirdly, Zhukov was awarded a month after the successful suppression of the Hungarian insurgency.
Four times Hero of the Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov
The operations of the Soviet troops in this country were organized by the Marshal personally, which allows to make a conclusion about the true reason for the presentation of the high award.
Soon, Khrushchev honored the title of Hero of the Soviet Union to Cuban leader Fidel Castro, Egyptian President Gamal Nasser, GDR Communist leader Walter Ulbricht and Algerian Prime Minister (later deposed by his own people) Ahmed Ben Bell.
Since 1961, a tradition has arisen to confer the title of Hero of the Soviet Union to Soviet cosmonauts. The first was the cosmonaut №1 - Yuri Gagarin. Curious fact that many of the astronauts - came from the socialist countries, became Heroes of the Soviet Union, but all the citizens of capitalist countries, flown on Soviet technology, were awarded only to the Order of Friendship of Peoples. In 1964, on the seventieth anniversary of Khrushchev, the Golden Star was added to his three Hammer and Sickle medals. Leonid Brezhnev, who took his place in 1966, received the first "Golden Star" on his sixtieth birthday. However, unlike Nikita Sergeyevich, he did not stop there, and 1976-m 1978om and 1981-m, as in the days of their birth, indulged himself with this award, becoming the only one in stories four times the Hero of the Soviet Union and the Hero of Socialist Labor.
According to the first Statute, the title of Hero of the Soviet Union could be given only once. However, the Hero, who accomplished the heroic feat a second time, was awarded another Gold Star medal, besides that he was given a bronze bust at home. The second order of Lenin was not envisaged. 14 of May 1973 of the year and 18 of July of 1980 of the Year Some changes were made to the Statute of the Hero of the Soviet Union In particular, it was stated that during the repeated, as well as all subsequent awards with the Gold Star medal, the Hero must each time be awarded the new Order of Lenin. In addition, the old restriction on the number of Golden Star awards to one person (equal to three) was lifted. Due to this, Leonid Ilyich was able to become the four characters (Zhukov, who became a hero in four 1956m year, was awarded to bypass existing Decree of August 1 1939 years). In 1988, the situation was again changed, and again the Order of Lenin was given to the Heroes only at the first award of the Golden Star. There is also evidence that, after the war, the Heroes of the Soviet Union were given copies of the Gold Star medal made of non-precious metals for everyday wear.
The heroes of the Soviet Union are combat pilots and cosmonauts of the USSR.
In the first row: Air Marshal I.N. Kozhedub, Air Marshal A.N. Efimov, pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR, Colonel V.V. Tereshkova, Chief Air Marshal PS Kutahov; in the second row: USSR pilot-cosmonaut, Major General G.T. Coast, Colonel General of Aviation N.M. Skomorokhov, USSR Pilot-Cosmonaut, Major General VA Aviation Shatalov. (1975-1981)
In the first row: Air Marshal I.N. Kozhedub, Air Marshal A.N. Efimov, pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR, Colonel V.V. Tereshkova, Chief Air Marshal PS Kutahov; in the second row: USSR pilot-cosmonaut, Major General G.T. Coast, Colonel General of Aviation N.M. Skomorokhov, USSR Pilot-Cosmonaut, Major General VA Aviation Shatalov. (1975-1981)
The successors of Brezhnev continued to award the title of Hero of Cosmonauts, as well as participants in the armed conflict in Afghanistan (among them were AV Rutskoi and PI Grachev). May 5 1990 Mikhail Gorbachev posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union to thirty Great Patriotic War participants, including: Senior Lieutenant Ekaterina Zelenko, September 12 th 1941 threw a German submarine Me-2 fighter on the bomber Su-109, a famous submarine Me-1991 fighter, and a submarine submarine on a bomber Su-XNUMX, September, a famous submarine Me-XNUMX fighter, a submarine submarine submarine on the bomber Su-XNUMX. of the best women aces in the history of our country Lydia Litvyak. After the end of the “putsch” of XNUMX, for unknown reasons, three participants in the events (Vladimir Usov, Dmitry Komar and Ilya Krichevsky) were posthumously awarded the attackers who attacked an armored personnel carrier departing from the White House. The paradox is that they received the highest degree of difference between the state for attacking the forces of the same state that were carrying out government orders. In addition, the attack on the retreating units is difficult to attribute to "heroic deeds", for which the title Hero must be conferred.
The last person to receive the honorary title of the Heroes of the Soviet Union 24 December 1991 was the diver, the third rank captain Leonid Solodkov, who showed extraordinary endurance and courage in performing a special task on testing the latest diving equipment. Over the entire existence of the Soviet Union, the title Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded to 12857 people, of whom 154 received it twice. Three Golden Stars were awarded to Marshal USSR Budyonny S.M., Colonel-General Kozhedub I.N. and Marshal Aviation Pokryshkina AI Four people were awarded with four medals: Brezhnev L.I. and Zhukov G.K. For various reasons (mainly for crimes) seventy-four people are denied the title. The identities of some of the Heroes of the Soviet Union are carefully classified, and the names and biographies have not been fully disclosed yet. They were either awarded under other names, or they destroyed all the data about the fact of the award itself.
After the collapse of the USSR, the title “Hero of the Soviet Union” was abolished in 1991. In connection with the birth of a new state - Russia - it became necessary to form an award system. Its peculiarity was the fact that all state awards are realized based on Russian centuries-old traditions. The names of some reflect historical events in the life of our Fatherland, others remind of the legendary sons of the Motherland, and others have a specific purpose. The Hero of the Russian Federation has come to replace the Hero of the Soviet Union. Legally, the Heroes of the Soviet Union and the Heroes of the Russian Federation have the same rights.
Who is awarded with this honorary title by the President of the Russian Federation today? First of all, of course, the defenders of the Fatherland - the military, located in the hot spots of our country and abroad. However, ordinary workers of industry and agriculture, teachers, doctors, cultural workers and scientists, athletes, and in general every citizen of great Russia (as well as stateless persons and foreign citizens), regardless of religion, can also receive the title of Hero of the Russian Federation for outstanding services to our state. party affiliation and nationality.
The first title of the Hero of the Russian Federation in April 11 1992 has received the head of the central deployment and retraining flight crews in Lipetsk Air Force Major General Sulambek Oskanov. This title was awarded to him posthumously. During the performance of the 7 February February 1992 flight mission on the MiG-29 fighter, the vehicle refused, and the general managed to prevent him from falling to the settlement at the cost of his life. However, one of the government officials of Russia decided that the first Hero of Russia must be alive, so Oskanov’s widow was awarded the Golden Star with the number 2. And the “Golden Star” under the first number went to the pilot-cosmonaut Sergey Krikalev for the successful implementation of a long-term space flight at the Mir station.
Information sources:
-http: //ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/
-http: //www.calend.ru/event/6036/
-http: //mondvor.narod.ru/HUssr.html
-http: //ria.ru/society/20090416/168280711.html
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