| This was the highest award for soldiers and
officers in Soviet Army. The star of a hero. Stalin didn't give
them away for a song. One had to do something really outstanding
to deserve this. Something like throwing himself under tank with
grenade..
I don't have this award in my museum. No way to dig them.
Only 11.270 of such medals have been issued during all years of
war.
2.616 of them have been given for battle of liberation of
Kiev. This is more then for Stalingrad and even more then for
Moskov.
Stalin was generous with the medals because he put million
lives at this battle, but mostly because he wanted Kiev to be
liberated to the revolution day of November 7.
The Soviets have been crossing all along the Dnepr river in
22 different places. The battle-ground spread on a few hundred
kms. They have been climbing up and Germans held defence on the
hills. Russian Katyusha rockets poured everyone with iron from
the left bank.
German machine gunners had two directives 1) to be able to
reload cartridges 2) not to go insane of all amount of people
they were killing.
No one was going on battle fields in first ten years after
war. Mines have been removed from surface only in 1954, but not
everywhere. In areas which hard to access, they are still there
and locals not a very enthusiastic about visiting this hills.
Soldiers there too, under leaves, bones, skulls, jaw-bones...
teeth mostly good of young people. In Soviet army of those who
were born in 1922 only 3 out of 100 came home from war, the rest
97 on those hills.
I believe, for German army statistic must be similar as young
people the same everywhere, do not know the value of life, have
no fear and for their regimes it was easier to fool young.
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