TAMBOV OBLAST STATE BUDGETARY EDUCATIONAL ESTABLISHMENT

CADET BOARDING SCHOOL

MULTI-PROFILE CADET CORPS

Hero Cities
of Russia

TAMBOV, 2015

Hero City
Hero City is a Soviet honorary title awarded for outstanding heroism
during the German-Soviet War (World War II) of 1941 to 1945. It was
awarded to twelve cities of the Soviet Union. In addition the Brest
Fortress was awarded an equivalent title of Hero-Fortress. This symbolic
distinction for a city corresponds to the individual distinction Hero of the
Soviet Union.
According to the statute, the hero city is issued the Order of Lenin,
the Gold Star medal, and the certificate of the heroic deed (gramota) from
the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Also, the corresponding
obelisk is installed in the city.
The usage of the term "hero-city" is dated to articles in Pravda as
early as in 1942. The first official usage of the title is dated by May 1, 1945,
when Joseph Stalin issued his Supreme Commander Order 20
commanding to fire salutes in "hero cities Leningrad, Stalingrad,
Sevastopol, and Odessa."
On June 22, 1961 (20th anniversary of the beginning of the GermanSoviet War) the term "Hero City" was applied to Kiev in the ukases that
awarded Kiev the Order of Lenin and introduced the Medal "For the
Defence of Kiev".
The statute of the title was officially introduced on May 8, 1965 by
the ukase of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of USSR, on the occasion
of the 20th anniversary of the victory in the German-Soviet War. The
same day ukases were issued about awarding the cities mentioned above:
Leningrad, Volgograd (former Stalingrad), Kiev, Sevastopol, and Odessa.
However traditionally for these cities the anniversaries of being Hero
City correspond to the dates mentioned earlier. Additionally, Moscow was
declared Hero City and Brest declared Hero-Fortress.
Subsequent awards were issued as follows:
- September 14, 1973: Kerch and Novorossiysk.
- June 26, 1974: Minsk
- December 7, 1976: Tula
- May 6, 1985: Murmansk, Smolensk
In 1988 the issuance of the award was officially discontinued.
Nowadays there are seven Hero Cities in Russia.

St Petersburg (Leningrad)
The city of Leningrad, now known as St
Petersburg, saw what is regarded as one of the
greatest human tragedies of the entire War.
Leningrad, one of the cities with a large amount of
classical and baroque architecture on the Baltic Sea,
was a city with a pre-war population of three
million inhabitants. By August 1941, the Germans
had reached the city's southern outskirts. Finish
forces had meanwhile recaptured the Karelian
Isthmus North-West of the city, which they had lost
after the Winter War in 1940.
The city was completely cut off from all land
access on September 8, 1941. As the Gulf of Finland was blocked as well,
Leningrad's only contact with the outer world was a vulnerable waterway
across Lake Ladoga, as Finnish command didn't agree to German requests to
advance beyond the River Svir and to conquer the rest of the Lake's
coastline. Since taking the city seemed too costly to the Germans, in the light
of bitter Soviet resistance, they instead began the Siege of Leningrad in
order to starve the city to death. Soon, electricity, water and heating for
civilian housing had to be shut down. All public transportation stopped in
1941-1942 winter, but in 1942 city tramcars were relaunched (trolleys and
buses were inoperable until end of the war).
Thousands of Leningrad citizens froze or starved to death in the first
winter of the siege alone, dying at home in their beds or collapsing from
exhaustion in the streets. Meanwhile, German artillery continued to bombard
the city. Although the siege lasted for 900 days, the city did not surrender.
When Lake Ladoga froze in winter, the Road of Life was opened to the Sovietheld southern shore of the Lake, with a long trail of trucks bringing food and
supplies to the besieged city and evacuating citizens on their way back. Both
the food and the civilian transports were constantly attacked by the Germans
with artillery shelling and air raids.
When Soviet forces eventually lifted the siege in January 1944, over
one million inhabitants of Leningrad had died from starvation, exposure
and German shelling. 300,000 soldiers had perished in the defense and
relief of Leningrad. Leningrad was awarded the title Hero City in 1945,
being the first city to receive that distinction.

Moscow
During World War II (the period
from June 22, 1941, to May 9, 1945
known in Russia as the Great Patriotic
War), after the German invasion of the
USSR,
the Soviet
State Defense
Committee and the General Staff of the
Red Army was located in Moscow.
In 1941, sixteen divisions of the
national volunteers (more than 160,000
people), twenty-five battalions (18,500
people) and four engineering regiments
were formed among the Muscovites.
That November, the German Army
Group Center was stopped at the
outskirts of the city and then driven off
in the Battle of Moscow. Many factories were evacuated, together with
much of the government, and from 20 October the city was declared to be
under siege. Its remaining inhabitants built and manned antitank
defenses, while the city was bombarded from the air. Joseph Stalin refused
to leave the city, meaning the general staff and the council of people's
commissars remained in the city as well. Despite the siege and the
bombings, the construction of Moscow's metro system continued through
the war, and by the end of the war several new metro lines were opened.
Both German and Soviet casualties during the battle of Moscow
have been a subject of debate, as various sources provide somewhat
different estimates. Therefore, total casualties between 30 September
1941, and 7 January 1942, are estimated to be between 248,000 and
400,000 for the Wehrmacht and between 650,000 and 1,280,000 for
the Red Army.
On May 1, 1944, a medal for the defense of Moscow and in 1947
another medal In memory of the 800th anniversary of Moscow were
instituted. In commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the victory
over Nazi Germany, on May 8, 1965, Moscow became one of twelve
Soviet cities awarded the title of Hero City.

Murmansk
During
World
War
II,
Murmansk was a link with the
Western world for Russia, with large
quantities of goods important to the
respective military efforts traded
with
the
Allies:
primarily
manufactured
goods
and
raw
materials into the Soviet Union. The
supplies were brought to the city in
the Arctic convoys.
German
forces
in
Finnish
territory
launched
an
offensive
against the city in 1941 as part of
Operation Silver Fox, and Murmansk
suffered extensive destruction, the
magnitude of which was rivaled only by the destruction of
Leningrad and Stalingrad. However, fierce Soviet resistance and
harsh geography prevented the Germans from capturing the city
and cutting off the vital Karelian railway line and the ice-free
harbor. For the rest of the war, it served as transit point for
weapons and other supplies entering the Soviet Union from other
Allied nations. This unyielding resistance was commemorated at
the 40th anniversary of the victory over the Germans in the
formal designation of Murmansk as a Hero City on May 6, 1985.
During the Cold War Murmansk was a center of Soviet submarine
and icebreaker activity and, after the dissolution of the Soviet
Union, the nearby city and naval base of Severomorsk remains
the headquarters of the Russian Northern Fleet.

Novorossiysk
The city of Novorossiysk on
the Eastern coast of the Black Sea
provided a stronghold against the
German summer offensive of 1942.
Intense fighting in and around the
city lasted from August until it
was captured by the Germans in
mid-September 1942. The Soviets
however retained possession of the
eastern part of the bay, which
prevented the Germans from using the port for supply shipments.
Novorossiysk was awarded the title Hero City in 1973.
The town was occupied by the Wehrmacht on September 10,
1942, but a small unit of Soviet sailors defended one part of the town,
known as Malaya Zemlya, for 225 days beginning on February 4,
1943, and the town was liberated by the Red Army on September 16,
1943. The heroic defense of the port by the sailors allowed the Soviets
to retain possession of the city's bay, which prevented the Germans
from using the port for supply shipments. Novorossiysk was awarded
the title Hero City in 1973.

Smolensk
During World War II, Smolensk
once again saw wide-scale fighting
during the first Battle of Smolensk
when the city was captured by the
Germans on July 16, 1941.
The first Soviet counteroffensive
against

the

German

army

was

launched in August 1941 but failed.

However, the limited Soviet victories outside the city halted the
German advance for a crucial two months, granting time to
Moscow's defenders to prepare in earnest. Camp 126 was situated
close to Smolensk and at this time Boris Menshagin was mayor of
Smolensk, with his deputy Boris Bazilevsky. Both of them would be
key witnesses in the Nuremberg Trials over the Katyn massacre.
Over 93% of the city was destroyed during the fighting; the ancient
icon of Our Lady of Smolensk was lost. The city was liberated on
September 25, 1943.
The rare title of Hero City was bestowed on Smolensk after the
war.

Tula
During the Great Patriotic War
(World War II) of 1941-1945, the city
was important in the production of
armaments. Tula became the target of
a German offensive to break Soviet
resistance

in

the

Moscow

area

between October 24 and December 5,

1941.
The heavily fortified city held
out, however, and Guderian's Second
Panzer Army was stopped near Tula.
The city secured the southern flank
during the Battle of Moscow and the
subsequent counter-offensive.
Tula was awarded the title Hero City in 1976.

Volgograd (Stalingrad)
Under Stalin, the city became a
center
of
heavy
industry
and
transshipment by rail and river, and as a
result was attacked by Axis forces during
World War II. In 1942, the city became
the site of one of the pivotal battles of the
war. The Battle of Stalingrad saw
perhaps the greatest casualty figures of
any battle in warfare (estimates are
between 1,250,000 and 1,798,619). The
battle began on August 23, 1942, and on
the same day, the city suffered heavy aerial bombardment that reduced
most of it to rubble. By September, the fighting reached the city center.
The fighting was of unprecedented intensity; the central railway station
of the city changed hands thirteen times, and the famous Mamayev
Kurgan (one of the heights of the city) was captured and recaptured eight
times. By early-November, the German forces controlled 90% of the city,
and had cornered the Soviets into two narrow pockets but they were
unable to eliminate the last pockets of Soviet resistance in time. On
November 19, Soviet forces launched a massive counterattack. This led to
the encirclement of the German Sixth Army and other Axis units. On
January 31, 1943 the Sixth Army's commander, Field Marshal Friedrich
Paulus surrendered, and on February 2, with the elimination of straggling
German troops, the Battle of Stalingrad was over.
Stalingrad was awarded the title Hero City for its heroism in 1945,
and Great Britain's King George VI awarded the citizens of Stalingrad the
jeweled "Sword of Stalingrad" in admiration of their bravery. Stalingrad
was destroyed during the war, and in 1946, the construction of a modern
city started. It included the memorial complex on the Mamayev Kurgan.
A number of cities around the world (especially those which had suffered
similar wartime devastation) established sister/friendship/twinning links
(see list below) in the spirit of solidarity or reconciliation. One of the first
"sister city" projects was that established between Stalingrad and
England's Coventry during World War II (as both suffered extensive
devastation from aerial bombardment).