Soviet Hero Soviet Union

[Chris S]

This is a Hero of the Soviet Union.

Chris

[Chris S]

The back..number 8282.

[Chris S]

The side...

[Chris S]

HSU History of P A CHERNYEV

He was born 16 Feb 1924 and his family are Russian Christian?s who are minority. He only finished 7 class?s (normally it is ten).

In the 1938 worked in kolhoz (street worker for food only, not paid).

In 1943 joined the Soviet Army.

In January 1943 he became a coy cdrs batman.

Btn No 229: No 8 Rifle Division: 13 Army.

In the central front in Chernobyl during a battle he is made Sgt.

25 September 1943 the Coy Cdr is killed and he takes command of the Company.

30 September 1943 with this company he crossed the River Dnepr and took a German Position killing many Germans

On 16 October 1943 He is awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union

After demobilisation he goes into the reserve as a sgt and lives and works in the Town of Kielsel in Pirm

This man has Order of Lenin and the Patriotic War 1st Class and other medals

(As taken from a HSU book which gives a brief history of the awardee's)

Chris

[Guest Darrell]

Awesome medal Chris ... like an RK .. one for the Dream List

[Biro]

Nice example Chris!!

Our Russian friends certainly had 'distribution issues' to overcome - your star is numbered nearly 4000 digits higher than mine and yet your recipient predates my awardee by a full YEAR!

Extremely common - but I've never seen SUCH a discrepancy.

Do you have any of the other awards?

Marshall

[Guest Rick Research]

There is a fairly recent book out that lists Gold Stars by serial numbers, with names. I haven't seen that (not expecting to ever encounter a Hero Star myself it hasn't been a reference library priority) so I don't know if it also lists the award dates.

Maybe a late bestowal because the chain of command officers weren't there at the time? I've seen Red Stars and Glories into the 1960s for WW2, when a man was crippled and discharged, or that sort of thing. Chernyaev seems to have been spared that, anyway.

[Chris S]

Well, he did his deed on the 30.9.43 and was awarded the title on the 16.10.43.

Info from Paul mcDaniels

Chris

[Alfred]

There is a fairly recent book out that lists Gold Stars by serial numbers, with names. I haven't seen that (not expecting to ever encounter a Hero Star myself it hasn't been a reference library priority) so I don't know if it also lists the award dates.

Maybe a late bestowal because the chain of command officers weren't there at the time? I've seen Red Stars and Glories into the 1960s for WW2, when a man was crippled and discharged, or that sort of thing. Chernyaev seems to have been spared that, anyway.

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Rick I own this litte red book. I bought it cheap on ebay.

It lists the serial number, the name, the award date and the death date of the person. But there are some blanks in the dates and names.

[Alfred]

There is also another little red book on the market. It was published 2005. I saw it only once on ebay and was outbid.

It lists all the serial numbers from 3rd class order of glory?s and the belonging 2nd class and 1st class order of glory?s.

I would love to get a copy.

[Guest Rick Research]

Alarming number of MISSING earliest Heroes there-- victims of the Great Purge, obviously.

How about the page showing number 8282? What are the other dates of awards around that one?

[Alfred]

Hero Star 8282

Only his name: Chernyaev, Pjetr, Andrewitsch and the date 16.10.1943

Maybe he is still alive ?

regards

Andreas

[kimj]

The serial numbers of the golden stars are not 100% cronological. Why this is I can only speculate. Purges could explain some, like the issued number 34 and 35 in 22 feb. 1944! Those are probably "recycled" numbers. But I doubt that would explain stars numbered after each other issued in 1943, -44 and 1945... I think there is some logic behind the numbers. It seems like some numbers were "saved" and not issued after the last star issued.

But I would say most of the numbers follow logic. Early numbered stars were issued early, 1939-41. If I remember correclty only 626 were issued before WW2.

/Kim

[Wild Card]

Hi Chris -

I would like to offer s little information with regard to your Hero Star.

Something that struck me immediately, and has been alluded to elsewhere, is the high number for a 1943 award. For instance, I have a Hero Star #903 which was decreed on 14 February 1943 and another, #3706, which was decreed on 17 November 1943. Date wise your star falls between the two; closer to #3706; but note that the operative term here is ?decreed?.

Now, going to the above mentioned Little Red Book, when we get to your star, #8282, we see that star #8281 was awarded to a recipient decreed (declared) Hero of the Soviet Union on 15 May 1946 and star #8283 was awarded to a recipient decreed Hero of the Soviet Union on 24 March 1945. Looking at the numbers, my guess is that your star was likely awarded in the second half of 1946. Why the delay is anybody?s guess; but such delays are not uncommon. I would note that late awards of the Order of Glory seem to be especially common.

One last observation - it appears that Comrade Chernyaev was still alive in 2001.

I hope that some of this information is helpful.

Best wishes,

Wild Card

Edited August 24, 2005 by Wild Card

[Guest Rick Research]

That's why I wondered when the surrounding numbers were handed out-- great information.

If the Star had come with an Orders Book and been entered with other awards we might also have had clues about which were actually received when-- if they weren't ALL entered at the same post-war time (most common situation).

[Chris S]

Thanks Wild Card...

He was declared HSU 16.10.43...the decrees must be back dated to some sort of system of when they were received, but not processed.

The dates of the decrees are important as they equal privileges...

Chris

[Chris S]

Oh....one other thing if I may be so bold...do any of you guys have HSU's...if so, how about banging them up....

Chris

[Wild Card]

Oh....one other thing if I may be so bold...do any of you guys have HSU's...if so, how about banging them up....

Chris

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Hi Chris -

Yes, as I indicated above, I do; and if I ever figure out how to post pictures, I will be happy to oblige.

Best wishes,

Wild Card.

[Chris S]

Wild card

I am a computer biff, so any one can crack it... if I can...

Go to Add reply

Click on browse...this will show your computer ...and choose the site where your images are held then...open...

Add attachment from the forum...when uploaded...click reply..

Chris

[Guest Rick Research]

As a full member, you can post scans DIRECTLY here, no need for third hand once removed offsite downloading, which take forever and do not last. Up to 100+ KB(someplace in that range, I rarely need that much, even when posting 2 or three small scans in one reply)--

every time you reply, down at the bottom of the box you are typing, ABOVE the "Add Reply" button is

File Attachments, with "Attachments Global Space" which shows you how much is available in each posting, after you get one in by hitting "Browse," going to where your scan is (floppy disk, your hard drive, whatever), then click on "Add this Attachment" for whatever it is after clicking on it to upload.

That will then come up as done, and you can insert however many as will fit in one post into the text by positioning an empty line in the reply text and then clicking the far right box after uploading a scan.

If I can do it, anybody can!

[Biro]

Oh....one other thing if I may be so bold...do any of you guys have HSU's...if so, how about banging them up...Chris

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Never been one to resist an invitation...!!!

[Biro]

Star

[Chris S]

Biro

Good effort....great to see one complete with docs and his Lenin...what's the story behind this one then!

Chris

[Biro]

Biro

Good effort....great to see one complete with docs and his Lenin...what's the story behind this one then!

Chris

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Thanks Chris - here goes.....

Zaynetdin Nizamutdinovich Akhmetzyanov was born 21st September 1897 to a peasant family in the village of Yangiskain of what is now Gafuriyskiy District, Bashkirskaya. A member of the CPSU since 1944, he received elementary school education, worked on a collective farm and joined the Red Army in August 1942.

He was sent to the front lines in February 1943 serving as a combat engineer in 134th Guards Independent Engineer Battalion, 11th Guards Tank Corps, 1st Guard Tank Army, 1st Ukrainian Front.

On the 23 of July 1944, during the construction of a bridge across the San River near the village of Vysotsko, Corporal Akhmetzyanov bravely crossed the river and reached its west bank which was occupied by the enemy. Here he conducted reconnaissance searching for timber and the following day, whilst under heavy enemy artillery and mortar fire and intense air bombardment, installed ? together with other combat engineers of his squad ? four supports for the bridge within two hours.

On the 30th of July 1944, he was made helmsman of a crudely constructed barge made from two boats lashed together and decked with scraps of board and planks and was among the first to start carrying artillery, ammunition and troops across the Vistula.

During the three days that followed, Akhmetzyanov worked continuously without sleep to ferry twelve 76mm artillery guns, seventy boxes of ammunition and an entire company of machine gunners across the river ? again whilst under constant enemy fire.

At one point in the crossings, the bow of the make-shift craft was holed by enemy artillery fire but Akhmetzyanov was able to patch the hole with his own shirt, saving the lives of the landing party aboard and the artillery gun he was carrying.

For these acts of selfless bravery, Guards Corporal Zaynetdin Akhmetzyanov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and received his Gold Star (#4573) together with the award of the Order of Lenin (#20638) on the 23rd September 1944.

Corporal Akhmetzyanov survived the war and returned to work on the family farm in his native village of Yangiskain, where the local school now have a museum in his honour.

He died in his hometown on the 30th January 1990 aged 93.

regards

Marshall

[Wild Card]

Chris S & Rick,

Thank you for the helpful information. I am really in over my head with this but am noodling along with it and may find success yet.

I expect to have a local guru in to help me with this and other problems next week. Stay posted and, again, thank you -

Wild Card