Hero of the Soviet Union

Heroe’s Portraits: Sydir Kovpak

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 Sydir Kovpak was a Ukrainian partisan in World War II who fought the Germans behind the lines in the Ukraine and a two-time winner of the Hero of the Soviet Union. Kovpak began his military service in World War I and after that war he joined the Bolsheviks and fought in the Russian Civil War that established the Soviet Union. In World War II he was in command of partisan units in the Ukraine throughout World War II. He led a large band of partisans in the Carpathians in 1943 in an attempt to destroy the oil infrastructure there and deny the oil fields to the Germans. The attempt was … More after the Jump…

Heroe€™s Portraits: Lyudmila Pavlichenko

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Lyudmila Pavlichenko was a female Soviet sniper during World War II.   She is credited with 309 confirmed kills and was awarded the Soviet Union’s highest medal for bravery, the Hero of the Soviet Union in 1943.   After being wounded by a mortar in 1942 she was pulled from combat because of her growing fame and was commissioned.   She spent the rest of the war as an instructor at a sniper school.   After the war she completed a degree and spent the rest of her life working as a historian, mostly with the Russian Navy.   Hero of the Soviet Union Citations are very difficult to find, … More after the Jump…