At the very beginning of May, all the thoughts and thoughts of millions of people in the territory of the former USSR turn to the great date, May 9th. We will never forget this day, since it marked the end of the most bloody war of our time. She claimed the lives of many of our fellow citizens, separated millions of families and brought so much grief that the living participants in those events cannot remember this time without tears.
Many heroes have been forgotten. We probably won’t know where their last fight was. There are those whose names will forever remain on the monuments and in the hearts. Among the heroes are not only people, but also the great cities of the
Great Patriotic War, which in those terrible years survived under the brutal onslaught of the Nazis, or for many months resisted their pressure.
What it is?
This is the high rank that the twelve cities of the USSR received, famous for their history of defense. Monuments and steles are installed on their territory, which are designed to always remind the townspeople of the unparalleled heroic feat of their people.
It must be remembered that the hero cities of the Great Patriotic War, the photos and names of which are in the article, paid for their high rank with great blood, since they received it for the unparalleled courage of the defenders during the defense in the most difficult years.
Saint Petersburg (Leningrad)
The title was awarded on May 8, 1965
At the very beginning of autumn, the Germans were able to completely block the supply of the city from land. The blockade of Leningrad began, which lasted for nearly 872 long, hungry days. Almost all the inhabitants of the city are heroes of the Great Patriotic War. The photo “Leningrad in the blockade” still terrifies and mortally longs even the seasoned war veterans of local wars, let alone the direct participants in those events.
The courage of its inhabitants was unprecedented: in completely inhumane conditions, they not only fought against the invaders, but even managed to arrange the release of weapons, which were immediately used at the front line, literally behind the buildings of factories. Today it is believed that about one and a half million people have died from hunger and disease.
Only 3% fell with weapons in their hands. Everything else was done by hunger. Today, every schoolchild knows that the only way to salvation was the "Road of Life", which passed along the ice of Lake Ladoga, which freezes for the winter. However, in the summer, water transportations were carried out, but their volumes were not so great. It really was the way of Life, since 1.5 million people managed to leave the city along this route, among them mainly children, women and the elderly. It was finally possible to lift the blockade of the city only in 1944.
What do you represent when pronouncing the phrase “hero cities of the Great Patriotic War”? Photos, monuments on the battlefield and much more. That's just the blockade from these words can even cry, because they have before their eyes come up other, terrible pictures of those years.
In memory of those terrible days, seven monuments were erected, as well as exactly 112 memorial pillars throughout the Life Road. The central monument of the composition is the monument “Broken Ring”, which symbolizes the final breakthrough of the blockade and the liberation of Leningrad. Of course, all the great cities of World War II are worthy of respect, but the sacrifice of Leningraders should always be remembered.
Odessa
The title was also awarded in May 1965.
Odessa became one of the first cities that appeared on the path of fascist invaders. By August 1941, despite the unparalleled courage of her defenders, she was completely blocked. Only the sea remained, protected by many ships of the Black Sea Fleet. From the sea came not only a huge amount of food, but also weapons, which made it possible to fight off the advancing enemy troops.
In order to more effectively defend against the ever-increasing attacks of the Germans, a whole fortified area was created. Residents of the city managed to produce in difficult conditions the simplest armored vehicles and flamethrowers, which immediately fell at the disposal of the fighters. The defenders of Odessa had to leave the city, but they left, not broken and not subjugated: subsequently many detachments were formed from them, which were equally stubbornly and with the same courage defending the Crimea from the Nazis.
Currently, the monument, which is dedicated to the events of those days, is installed in the park named after Taras Shevchenko. More precisely, this is the whole memorial complex “Walk of Fame”, which forever captured the feat of their great ancestors for posterity. In general, all the great cities of the Great Patriotic War have such memorable places.
Sevastopol
The title was awarded in the same period as the above cities.
Crimea has always been of crucial strategic importance for the country, since it was through its territory that the shortest route to the oil fields of the Caucasus ran. It is not surprising that from the first days of the war, the command of the Wehrmacht gave its legions a simple order: at all costs, to capture and clear Sevastopol as soon as possible. The command of the USSR also had no illusions on this score: in Crimea there was a significant part of the aircraft that could not be left to be torn to pieces by the enemy. It was necessary to protect the city for as long as possible.
The best detachments were immediately thrown to the defense, which at one time opposed the enemy in Odessa. They formed the core of the partisan movement, whose members were active throughout the Crimean peninsula. Unfortunately, in July of the following year the city still had to be abandoned.
However, the Germans did not feel too confident in the captured city, since their forces were constantly battered by partisans. Sevastopol was completely liberated in May 1944. The medal "For the Defense of Sevastopol" has always been considered elite in the ranks of the Red Army, since the deeds of those who defended this long-standing monument of military glory of Russia and the USSR were great.
To forever capture these days in the memory of descendants, a monument was erected on Sapun Mountain. This place was the key to the city, the most important defensive position in which a huge number of Soviet and German soldiers died. However, all the other hero cities of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 can be characterized in the same way.
Volgograd (Stalingrad)
The title was also awarded on May 8, 1965. When the terrible battle of Stalingrad took place, during which the Soviet army was able to break the ridge of the Nazi troops, this city was the battlefield. For an entire 200 days there was an ongoing, bloody battle for every meter of urban space, each house was turned into an impregnable fortress.
For the month that the Nazis needed to capture Poland at the time, the Germans were able to capture a couple of streets in Stalingrad, while suffering terrible losses. The intensity of the fighting was terrible, both sides successfully and everywhere used snipers.
On the famous Mamaev Kurgan there is a monumental complex “To the Heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad”, at the very top of which stands a gigantic monument to Mother Motherland, which will always be a symbol of love and devotion of our people to their Motherland. In our article, there are not only the hero cities of the Great Patriotic War themselves: pictures and photos of monuments will help you feel the monumentality of those places.
Kiev
The title order was also signed on May 8, 1965. It should be noted that at present the new Ukrainian authorities have “canceled” it. However, they did not defend Kiev, they did not liberate. So the “orders to abolish the status of a hero city” are also not to be issued to them.
The defensive operation lasted exactly 70 days. The German occupation of the city dragged on for 2.5 years. During this time, the Germans and their nationalistic supporters managed to “work” a lot: Jews were shot massively, a concentration camp for Soviet prisoners of war was organized, in which thousands of our soldiers died.
Many monuments of history and architecture were destroyed, many priceless exhibits from museums disappeared without a trace. Of course, many residents of Kiev participated in the partisan movement, tried with all their might to protect their hometown from the arbitrariness of the Nazis. But only after the hardest winter battles of 1943 he was completely freed from the forces of German troops. We note that both hero cities of Ukraine (World War II 1941-1945) were almost completely destroyed, and they had to be restored for a very long time.
As in Volgograd, there is a monument "Motherland".
Fortress in Brest
A legendary monument to the courage and valor of Soviet soldiers. The title was also awarded only in May 1965. We have already mentioned many hero cities of the Great Patriotic War: a list of them can be obtained simply by glancing at the headings of the article. But Brest is a very special place, which can be talked about for a very long time.
Many know about the defense of this fortress from the piercing and terrible book of Boris Vasiliev. But from the book we do not understand what they felt and what they expected people who knew perfectly well about the impossibility of salvation, who hourly lost their comrades and relatives. With all this, they did not even think about surrendering to the enemy. The battle in Brest is the first in the history of that war, and one of the most significant.
This is completely unsurprising. The German troops planned to take the city on the fly, and then, with a "victorious march", continue to move east. They miscalculated miserably. For several days, a group of Soviet soldiers fiercely defended even the approaches to the fortress, preventing the Germans from reaching its borders. Cruel skirmishes did not fall silent even at night.
Soldiers, terribly tired, dying of thirst and hunger, resisted the enemy until the last second. “I am dying, but I don’t give up” - this famous inscription on one of the walls of the Fortress fully shows the real mood of our soldiers in that terrible, last battle. The Germans eventually captured the fortress when its defenders were left alive, only they did not feel victorious: while European countries submitted to the German army for a couple of weeks, some kind of miserable fortress, only on the incredible courage and heroism of its defenders , could hold out a couple of months.
The entire fortress was recognized as an eternal memorial in 1971. On its territory, the Eternal Flame always burns , always giving a debt of memory to the fallen fighters of the Soviet Army.
Moscow
As in all previous cases, the title was awarded in May 1965. Virtually everyone, to one degree or another, knows the hero cities of the Great Patriotic War. Photo "Moscow, the parade of 1941" is also familiar to many. It was from here that fresh troops went to a counterattack, it was here that the command headquarters of the Red Army was.
It is not surprising that from the very beginning of the war the capture of the capital of the USSR was the prerogative of the German command, and therefore the best troops were used for this purpose. The Barbaros plan called for the conquest of the city in the first three months of the war. That's just Kiev, Leningrad and Smolensk put on a bold cross on such ambitious plans, delaying the start of the operation to take the city for six months. At the approaches to Moscow, the Germans appeared only in the middle of autumn, when the first serious colds had already begun.
Our command imposed a war of attrition on them. Until December of that year, the defense of Moscow continued, in which numerous detachments of volunteers participated.
Several times the situation became critical. It seemed that the Germans were about to achieve their goal, and Hitler was preparing to throw a luxurious feast in the Kremlin. But on December 5, our troops launched the first successful counterattack, as a result of which the Germans were thrown back from the city limits by 200 kilometers.
In memory of those events, a memorial to the Unknown Soldier was erected in front of the walls of the Moscow Kremlin. I must say that such a monument can be safely installed by all the hero cities of the Great Patriotic War, photos of which are in our article.
Kerch
The title was awarded only on September 14, 1973. The city is known for the fact that right along it the front line passed four (!) Times. At least 15 thousand inhabitants were killed, and half of them were brutally shot in the Bagerovsky ditch. Another 15 thousand Germans stole forced labor in Germany. Less than 15% of the city is left. Almost all of the more or less significant buildings were destroyed, and there were no entire buildings left. Only at the beginning of April 1944 Kerch was finally freed from the Nazi invaders.
On the mountain with the beautiful name Mithridates, the Eternal Flame burns in honor of those events.
Novorossiysk
The title was also awarded in mid-September 1973. During the war, almost the entire city was captured by German troops. The goal of the Nazis was Georgia, a direct path to which opened immediately after the capture of Novorossiysk.
Everyone understood that such an outcome would enable Hitler to gain a firm foothold in the Caucasus. A powerful Novorossiysk fortified area was created specifically to counter this, but by August 1942, little was left of it (no more than 20%). In February 1943, after 225 days of occupation, Soviet fighters managed to return the city.
It is not surprising that the main monument was a memorial called "Frontier of Defense." A stela 40 meters long symbolizes that there will not be a single villain entering the gates of the city. The hero of the Great Patriotic War, sniper Rubakho Philip Yakovlevich was also a native of the glorious Novorossiysk.
Minsk
Awarded the title on June 26, 1974.
Just three days after the outbreak of war, the city fell under German occupation. On its territory, the "hardworking" Germans created three ghettos at once, in which about 80 thousand Jews were killed. In Minsk itself and the environs, the Nazis killed at least 400 thousand people. Only in June 1944 did a large-scale liberation operation finally begin. By the time the city was completely cleaned up, only 80 buildings remained intact.
The most significant monument is the Pit memorial, which was dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust. By the way, this was the first monument in the entire USSR, on the surface of which there are inscriptions in Yiddish.
Tula
The title was awarded only on December 7, 1976.
The Soviet “weapons forge” was a tidbit for the German command, and therefore it was impossible to allow the capture of the city. In addition, Tula covered the southern borders of Moscow, which made it even more important. Already in the fall of 1941, the local militia repulsed the most powerful German attacks, the Germans were reliably blocked.
When the Great Patriotic War broke out, the city of Gorky (Nizhny Novgorod) was in about the same position. Today, activists are trying to achieve the award of this honorary title to him. However, back to Tula.
The city and its surroundings were hit hard. Almost all villages were burned, at least 360 thousand civilians were killed. Even in the midst of a siege, the Tula industry continued to produce machine guns, submachine guns and sniper rifles. By the way, it was at the local defensive lines that PPK, the Korovin submachine gun, whose author was undeservedly forgotten by the Soviet government for many years, proved to be excellent.
However, the old-timers of the city perfectly remember him. The hero of World War II was not completely forgotten.
In honor of those events, numerous monuments of military glory were erected throughout the city, and a monument in the form of a soldier and a worker, which are based on a rifle bayonet, was erected on Victory Square . All the hero cities of the Great Patriotic War are famous for their exploits, but the Tula people even stand out against this background with their unbroken will to win.
Murmansk
Only on May 6, 1985 the city was awarded such a high and important rank.
Hitler’s directive to his troops was simple and short: Murmansk was ordered to be destroyed immediately with the outbreak of war, since many tons of cargo from the Allies passed through its ports. More than 800 massive air raids were carried out, about 186 thousand powerful bombs were dropped on the city, but its defenders survived this hell with honor. Many cities of the Great Patriotic War went through the bombing, but there were no such strong anywhere.
Almost all buildings were burned or badly damaged. The wooden building played a bad role, along which fire spread with incredible speed. Only in the fall of 1944 was the threat to the city completely eliminated. A monument was erected. But this was done only 30 years after the end of the Second World War, when the main hero cities of the Great Patriotic War were on the “lists of honor” a long time ago.
Smolensk
The title was also assigned on May 6, 1985, which is extremely strange, since the defenders of the city during the war showed courage incommensurably greater than the same Kievans.
In July 1941, the Nazis thought that the path to the heart of the country was completely open. The main goal was Moscow, and all those lying on the route of the German troops of the city were considered merely an "annoying hindrance." Already on June 15 the southern part of the city was occupied, and soon the rest of its areas fell under massive blows. But this was only the beginning, as the defenders of the city did not think to give up.
From mid-July, heavy fighting began, lasting more than two months. The Soviet troops suffered heavy losses, but the Nazis had no better. In addition, civilians massively died: only punitive killed more than 300 villages along with all their inhabitants.
It is estimated that approximately 600 thousand people died, but this figure is clearly greatly underestimated, as search engines continue to find more and more massive graves annually. There is a museum in the city, which contains all the documents and testimonies that tell about the life of the city in those terrible years.
So we have listed all the great cities of the Great Patriotic War.