Soviet THE SOVIET QUIZ - 2011 - QUIZ CLOSED

[JimZ]

Good luck with the exam Windu

...and thanks for the Batov question. Once we knew who he was it was indeed informative. His group as descrived by Harvey is indeed an impressive one!!!

However, be careful when providing info...such as the number of Lenins.

Also, could you explain why you said he was a friend of Rokossovsky as i though that was an important hint. I fail to see the link.

Valter deserves the honour of asking the next one as he only missed the answer by a few minutes......

We're ready for your question when you are Valter!

Jim

[kapten_windu]

JimZ,,

I see in a web that he's a close friend of Rokossovsky, in some other web i found Rukossovsky quote about Batov, and i found their photo too (but i forgot the websites, one of the website is RIA Novosti if i'm not fail to remember)

And about the number of Lenin that he got: i'm sorry, i'm not search it well so i got false information..

I have search on some web before posting that question, just to make that it reachable and check his background (i think we can see that he has a good career isn't it??)

[JimZ]

A good career indeed Windu! As will be yours if you focus on your last minute studies before your exam

Valtur...we're in your hands for the next one.

Jim :cheers:

[Hauptmann]

Well, just tried to answer what the page was showing as the latest reply (from Jim) and then suddenly a bunch of other posts show up (which I've gotten NO notifications for at all in my email) and I see it's been answered.

No idea what's going on but figuring it has something to do with the overhaul of the site.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!! :banger: :banger:

Dan :cheers:

Edited July 26, 2011 by Hauptmann

[JimZ]

Thanks Jim. Can't be him then. I'm baffled! Everyone who seems to fit the dates or make even a little bit of sense is wrong.

This one is NOT easy!

Dan

Hi Dan,

I think all questions have been answered..... just in case you missed some posts!! :-)

When you passed on the challenge to WIndu, he really gave us a good run for our money!!

Now we're awaiting Valtur to post the next one.... he missed giving the answer to Windu's question by mere minutes with Harvey just beating him.

Windu got the next question which he passed on to Valtur.

So hopefully, there will be a fresh new challenge coming up shortly.

Jim :cheers:

[Hauptmann]

Actually I didn't get notifications from post 61 on... the entire fourth page of the quiz... plus they did not show up whenever I pulled up the quiz section. No idea why... but I don't think I'm getting notifications from other areas I'm watching or have posted in either. Guess I'll have to post it in the technical problems section.

Great question Windu... kept us on all our toes! :jumping: Good luck on exams!

Dan :cheers:

[Valter]

Windu, thank you for passing me honor for next question. In fact, it got me a bit unprepaired, but let's see:

You probably heard of Douglas Bader, british fighter ace, who was famous for flying without legs.

This is a Soviet ace, who also got his legs amputated, but despite that he returned to flight with prothesis and finally got a Hero star. There's a book and a movie about him, and the picture is from a movie poster.

[JimZ]

Hi Valter....what's the question though?

Can you edit in your post :-)

Jim :cheers:

[Valter]

Argh, some technical problems, I cannot upload a picture... so, here it is:

http://www.shrani.si/?13/uC/keQ4JFb/dsc07854.jpg

The question is: who is a legless flying ace?

And another, more difficult ;-) Which soviet Sturmovik ace, also Hero of Soviet union, fought with this legless ace and described him in his memoirs?

[JimZ]

Windu, thank you for passing me honor for next question. In fact, it got me a bit unprepaired, but let's see:

You probably heard of Douglas Bader, british fighter ace, who was famous for flying without legs.

This is a Soviet ace, who also got his legs amputated, but despite that he returned to flight with prothesis and finally got a Hero star. There's a book and a movie about him, and the picture is from a movie poster.

So to answer the main question, this would be Alexey Petrovich Maresyev.

Info from wiki follows:

Alexey Petrovich Maresyev (Russian: Алексе́й Петро́вич Маре́сьев; May 20, 1916 – May 19, 2001) was a Soviet fighter ace during World War II.

He was born in Kamyshin. Before joining the army in 1937, Maresyev worked as a turner and then participated in the construction of Komsomolsk-on-Amur. In 1940, he graduated from Bataysk Military School of Aviation. He began his flights as a fighter pilot in August 1941. He had shot down four German aircraft by March 1942, but on 4 April 1942 his Polikarpov I-16 was shot down near Staraya Russa, then occupied by Nazi Germany.

Despite being badly injured, Alexey managed to return to the Soviet-controlled territory on his own. During his 18-day long journey, his injuries deteriorated so badly that both of his legs had to be amputated below the knee. Desperate to return to his fighter pilot career, he subjected himself to near a year of exercise to master the control of his prosthetic devices, and succeeded at that, returning to flying in June 1943.

During a dog fight in August 1943, he shot down three German FW-190 fighters. In total, he completed 86 combat flights and shot down 11 German warplanes. He was awarded the Golden Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union (August 24, 1943), the highest military decoration of the USSR. In 1944, Maresyev joined the Communist Party and two years later retired from the army.

In 1952, Maresyev graduated from the Higher Party School. In 1956, he obtained a Ph.D. in History, and started working in the Soviet War Veterans Committee. Eventually he became a member of Supreme Soviet. Maresyev was awarded the Order of Lenin, Order of the October Revolution, Order of the Red Banner of Labor, Order of the Red Star, and numerous medals.

He died of a heart attack May 19, 2001, just an hour ahead of his official 85th birthday celebration.

His story became the basis for a novel by Boris Polevoy, Story of a Real Man, and subsequent film, where his name is changed to Meresyev. The novel was the basis of Sergei Prokofiev's last opera, The Story of a Real Man

[Valter]

Lightning-fast reply, Jim! And correct to the first part of the question.

The second part (in second post): Which soviet Sturmovik ace, also Hero of Soviet union, fought with this legless ace and described him in his memoirs?

Boris Polevoy was not a pilot, nor HSU, so I meant another boook...

[JimZ]

Argh, some technical problems, I cannot upload a picture... so, here it is:

http://www.shrani.si...Fb/dsc07854.jpg

The question is: who is a legless flying ace?

And another, more difficult ;-) Which soviet Sturmovik ace, also Hero of Soviet union, fought with this legless ace and described him in his memoirs?

To try to answer part two.... and I guess there are several Sturmovik aces who were awarded an HSU...but not as many who wrote their memoirs, I'd suggest Anna Timofeyeva-Yegorova, author of "Red Sky, Black Death". I am not sure this is the person you are looking for and if not, I'll have to search a bit more

Lt. Anna Alexandrovna Timofeyeva-Yegorova (September 23, 1916 – October 29, 2009) was a pilot in the Red Army Air Force (VVS) during the Second World War (or the Great Patriotic War, as it is known in Russia). She learned to fly and became a flight instructor before the war, then volunteered for the front when Germany invaded. In 1941-2, she flew reconnaissance and delivery missions for the 130th Air Liaison Squadron in a wooden biplane, the Polikarpov Po-2. After being shot down, she transferred in 1943 to the 805th Attack Aviation Regiment and flew more than 270 missions in the Ilyushin Il-2 Shturmovik, including battles above the Taman Peninsula, Crimea and Poland.

During an August 1944 mission to destroy German forces at the Magnuszew bridgehead near Warsaw, Yegorova's plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire. Her tail gunner was killed, and the plane was heavily damaged and crashed. Rolling inverted, Yegorova was burned as she left the plane at a low altitude; her parachute only partially opened and she suffered broken bones and other internal injuries on hitting the ground. She was given first aid by the German captors, then taken to a prisoner of war camp where her wounds were tended by Dr. Georgy Sinyakov Back at her air base, Yegorova was presumed dead and 'posthumously' granted the status of Hero of the Soviet Union.

On January 31, 1945, Yegorova was liberated after Soviet forces overran the Kustrin prisoner camp where she was being held. Arrested by the NKVD, Yegorova was suspected as a potential traitor and interrogated continuously for eleven days. (Stalin and Soviet law viewed any Soviet who was captured alive as a traitor, subject even to the death penalty or to a term in a penal battalion). After other POW inmates vouched for her injuries and her conduct, she was released, but still suffered persecution and suspicion for many years. She was invalided out of the VVS for medical reasons in 1945.

Yegorova was the subject of a feature article in the Literaturnaya Gazeta in 1961, and in 1965, she was finally awarded her Hero of the Soviet Union medal.

Jim :cheers:

Edited July 26, 2011 by JimZ

[Valter]

Honestly, I didn't read the book of Yegorova, so I don't know if maybe she writes about Maresyev too, but I didn't mean that book/author. I meant a male Sturmovik hero who wrote his memoirs.

But thank you for posting very interesting information about Yegorova! I didn't know all these details about her story and ordeal with Stalin's paranoya...

[JimZ]

Thanks Valter... searching again......

Unfortunately her story is the story of most Soviet POW's. Not only did they fight and endure capture for the Soviet union, but when they returned back home, they were, more often than not, treated as traitors and even executed or sent to Gulags. That's Stalins paranoid version of gratitude!!

Jim :cheers:

[JimZ]

Ok,,,I'll shoot again after searching...

Is it Alexei Mikhailovich Batievsky, also HSU, also Sturmovik pilot - apparantly he also published his memoirs, but at this stage I did not dig up anything much about him.....

Jim :cheers:

[Valter]

Not Batievsky... I'll give another clue: in this book, Maresyev is not named with his real name, but as Viktor Shahov.

[Gunner 1]

The reference to Shahov may be misleading to those using the Library of Congress transliteration rules as I am quite sure it would be 'Shakhov' rather than 'Shahov' (more commonly used in German transliteration of Russian).

Edited July 27, 2011 by Gunner 1

[JimZ]

Here's another try

Is it by any changce Georgy Afanasevich Litvina who wrote the book "Я был воздушным стрелком" which I would translate as "I was the (air) gunner"

I did not manage to match Viktor Shakhov links to this book so again, I am unsure if it the right one.

I did however find a couple of references on a site to Viktor Shakhov wondering why he was not included in lists of pilot amputees. Seems that the book which renamed Maresyev as Shakhov caused some confusion!!!

Jim :cheers:

[Valter]

Sorry, neither Litvina... And yes, English transliteration should be Shakhov... I apologize, English is not my native language. And this Šahov / Shakhov was probably not a useful tip at all, if you didn't read the book.

Here's another one: the HSU who wrote his memoirs about his war years and about Maresyev, served in 7th guard's air assault regiment. (7-й гвардейский штурмовой авиационный полк) This should narrow down

[JimZ]

Ok Valter... this is my last attempt:

Is it Vasily Emelianenko, HSU, pilot with the 7th Guards and author of the book "Red Star Against The Swastika"?

Beyond this I leave the secondary question to someone else.

Jim :cheers:

[Valter]

Jim, finally you got it! Yemelyanenko (or whatever transliteration) is the right guy!

http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%95%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%8F%D0%BD%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BA%D0%BE,_%D0%92%D0%B0%D1%81%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D0%91%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%81%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87

For those who don't read Russian, a brief summary:

Vasily Borisovich Yemelyanenko (Василий Борисович Емельяненко) Born 16.1.1912, died 24.2.2008.

In 1932, he studied composition on Moscow conservatory (music academy), but never finished it. Hence he bore a painting of music notes on his airplane. The same year he joined flying school of Osoaviahim in Saratov, and next year he finished central school for flying instructors in Moscow. He worked as instructor in civilian air-club and in 1941 he volunteered to air force, in may 1942 he was sent on Southern front, in 7th guards air assault regiment. Another HSU, Nikolay Antonovich Zub (1911-1943) was his teacher and mentor. From summer 1942-august 1943 he fled 88 missions (some other sources say 98) and destroyed 23 airplanes on the ground, "tens" of tanks and other vehicles, shot down 2 airplanes in air duels and was shot down himself three times.

At the end of 1943 he became piloting instructor in 230th air assault division, on 13.4.1944 he got the golden star of HSU. In 1944, he went to study on Frunze academy, where he worked after the war as a teacher of aerial tactic. He got academic degree (kandidat) in military sciences, wrote several books (was member of Soviet writer's union).

The book I was talking about is "In the cruel air of war", but I'm not sure what's the translation in English.

An interesting fact from the book about Maresyev: Yemelyanenko states that Maresyev/Shakhov applied to return to military service shortly after his amputations, but was at first refused several times with explanation like: "Are you nuts?! If the Germans capture you, what they will say?! That we don't have pilots anymore and we have to send cripples to battle?" Eventually they allowed Maresyev/Shakhov to fly, as we know.

There's also an interesting chapter about unnamed picky major who came from some rear staff duty and was very strict about discipline, cleaning etc., saying: "There's only one tiny step from unbuttoned collar to flying accident!" But when time came to fly a battle mission, the major frightened, dropped his bombs into some empty marshland and deliberately overheated his engine, so he could return to the airport without a contact with Germans. The commander (Zub, if I remember correctly) got mad and ordered to shot the coward on the spot, what was according to the order No. 270. However, the major was not shot (Yemelyanenko doesn't state who changed the sentence and why), but rather sent to (penal) infantry unit as a private. Yemelyanenko notes that that major distinguished himself in infantry, got wounded and decorated and eventually returned to flying in transport aviation.

That's from me - now we're waiting for Jim's question!

Valter

[JimZ]

Hi Valter....

I was on the verge of giving up! Each of the people was an HSU and a Sturmovik pilot or gunner and each wrote some form of memoir!!! Actually I stumbled ona page with so many pilot memoirs that I though it impossible to list each one of them!!!

Its also interesting that he used the name Shakov instead of Maresyev.... Sounds to me that Maresyev was not quite too happy about his "superstar" status and preferred to be just an ordinary person. Perhaps this is why the name was changed!?!

Jim :cheers:

[JimZ]

The score is presently as follows with JimZ asking the next question i.e. question 9.

2 points - Hauptmann (Dan)

2 points - Harvey

2 points - JimZ

1 point - Valter

1 point - kapten_windu

Regards,

Jim :cheers:

[JimZ]

Question 9:

I am one of a group of 41.

Some of us had grand careers, though others were executed!

4 of us are still alive today.

I died in Moscow by my own hand.

Question: Who am I? What is my rank/position/title?

Other background:

Please tell my story - recounting 1) a WW2 incident as well as 2) the incident/reason that led to my death.

Good luck. If I see that we're getting stuck I'll start dropping hints.

Jim :cheers:

[Hauptmann]

Okay Jim, I'm going to take a shot at this one:

Question 9:

I am one of a group of 41.

This group being Marshals of the Soviet Union.

Some of us had grand careers, though others were executed!

As stated in the question, some went on to glory and fame and others ended in the purges, etc. Of these, Blyukher, Tukhachevski and Yegorov were executed during Stalin's Great Purge of 1937–38. On May 7, 1940, three new Marshals were appointed: the new People's Commissar of Defence, Semyon Timoshenko, Boris Shaposhnikov, and Grigory Kulik.

During World War II, Timoshenko and Budyonny were dismissed, and Kulik was demoted for incompetence, and the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union was given to a number of military commanders who earned it on merit. These included Georgy Zhukov, Ivan Konev and Konstantin Rokossovsky to name a few. In 1943, Stalin himself was made a Marshal of the Soviet Union, and in 1945, he was joined by his intelligence and police chief Lavrenti Beria. These non-military Marshals were joined in 1947 by politician Nikolai Bulganin.

Two Marshals were executed in postwar purges: Kulik in 1950 and Beria in 1953, following Stalin's death. Thereafter the rank was awarded only to professional soldiers, with the exception of Leonid Brezhnev, who made himself a Marshal in 1976, and Ustinov, who was prominent in the arms industry and was appointed Defence Minister in July 1976. The last Marshal of the Soviet Union was Dmitry Yazov, appointed in 1990, who was imprisoned after the failed coup against Mikhail Gorbachev in 1991. Marshal Sergei Akhromeevcommitted suicide in 1991 on the fall of the Soviet Union.

4 of us are still alive today.

Only four Marshals of the Soviet Union are alive today. The rank was abolished after the fall of the USSR and replaced by that of Marshal of the Russian Federation and only one individual has so far held that rank, Igor Sergeyev who was Russian Defense Minister from 1997 to 2001.

I died in Moscow by my own hand.

Committed suicide^[2] in his Kremlin office, hanging himself with a length of curtain cord. In addition to personal messages to his family, he left a note explaining that he could not continue living when the institutions to which he had devoted his life were disintegrating.

Question: Who am I? What is my rank/position/title?

Sergey Fyodorovich Akhromeyev (Russian: Серге́й Фёдорович Ахроме́ев; May 5, 1923 – August 24, 1991) was a soviet military figure,Hero of the Soviet Union (1982), Marshal of the Soviet Union (1983).

Other background:

Please tell my story - recounting 1) a WW2 incident as well as 2) the incident/reason that led to my death.

Akhromeyev was a Red Army junior officer during the German-Soviet War, serving with distinction on the Leningrad front. At one point he was ordered to guard and hold a road on which the German Army would be trying to advance. Despite a bloody battle, he was able to accomplish the task. Relating the story during a meal with Secretary of State George Shultz and Ambassador Ken Adelman in Reykjavik during the first Reagan Administration, Akhromeyev told Shultz that his accomplishment was not only a great sign of his patriotism, as Shultz suggested, but also was because had he abandoned the road, Stalin would have had him shot.^[1

During the August Coup of 1991, Akhromeyev returned from a vacation in Sochi to offer his assistance to the coup leaders. Although he was never implicated in the coup, after its failure Akhromeyev committed suicide^[2] in his Kremlin office, hanging himself with a length of curtain cord. In addition to personal messages to his family, he left a note explaining that he could not continue living when the institutions to which he had devoted his life were disintegrating.

^{Shortly after his death, his grave was vandalized and his corpse stripped of the uniform in which it had been buried. The culprits were never found, and it is uncertain whether it was an act of pure desecration or if the grave-robbers hoped to sell the stolen uniform or its adornments for profit.}

^{Here is the link to the Wiki article which gives a bit more detail but I believe the above, quoted from same, answers all parts of this question.}

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Akhromeyev

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshal_of_the_Soviet_Union

^Dan

Edited July 27, 2011 by Hauptmann