Andrey Ivanovich Savin,
Candidate of Historical Sciences, Institute of History of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Heroism, Heroes and Awards: “Heroic Side” of the Great Patriotic War in the Memoirs of Contemporaries
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2021-3-13
The article analyzes the phenomenon of military heroism basing on interviews with front-line tankmen as representatives of one of the most heroic military specialties. As a result, the author comes to the conclusion about the high efficiency of the heroic concept and state policy aimed at glorifying the Soviet society, first of all, the soldiers and commanders of the Red Army. Military orders and medals were a powerful moral incentive to perform complex combat missions, played an important role in the adaptation of young recruits to military conditions as they all gained confidence in their strengths, promoted the recognition of young people as combat comrades, and raised the authority of those awarded as commanders. The transformation of the order bearers into an elite group dictated the most careful attitude towards them on the part of the unit command, which increased their chances of surviving until Victory, at the same time making it possible to share their combat experience. While giving such a high assessment to the heroic concept, it is worth mentioning that the mechanisms of the functioning of the award system did not always adequately reward the sacrificial heroism of the Soviet people, especially average soldiers, female military personnel and junior command personnel who were far from the high command and related privileges.
Publishing: 28/06/2021
The article has been received by the editor on 12.05.2021
How to cite: Savin A.I. Heroism, Heroes and Awards: “Heroic Side” of the Great Patriotic War in the Memoirs of Contemporaries // Historical Courier, 2021, No. 3 (17), pp. 117–126. [Available online:] http://istkurier.ru/data/2021/ISTKURIER-2021-3-13.pdf
Links: Issue 3 2021
Keywords: Great Patriotic War; heroes; heroism; orders; incentive; memories; veterans; tankmen