Heroes without Gold Stars. Cursed and forgotten. – Konev V.N. – M.: Yauza, Eksmo, 2008. – 352 p. (Series "War and Us"). Circulation 5100 copies. Add. circulation 3100 copies.
ANTILEVSKY Bronislav Romanovich
(07.1916–29.11.1946)
Senior Lieutenant
Born in the village of Markovtsy, Ozersky district, now Dzerzhinsky district (Minsk region - Author) of the Republic of Belarus. Belarusian. He graduated from the Minsk Technical School of National Economic Accounting with a degree in economics - an economist in 1937. In the Red Army from October 3, 1937. From November 1937 to July 1938 - a cadet of the Monino Special Purpose Aviation School. Since July 1938 - junior commander, gunner-radio operator of the 1st squadron of the 21st dbap (long-range bomber aviation regiment. - Auth.).
Member of the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940. Hero of the Soviet Union (04/07/1940).
Graduated from the Kachinsky Red Banner Military Aviation School in 1942. On the fronts of the Great Patriotic War since April 1942. Fighter pilot, flight commander, deputy squadron commander of the 20th IAP 303rd IAD (fighter air division. - Auth.) 1st VA (air army. - Auth.), Then in the 203rd Iap. Lieutenant (09/17/1942). Senior lieutenant (07/25/1943). He was awarded the Order of the Red Banner (08/3/1943).
In August 1943, he was shot down over enemy territory and was captured. He tarnished his name by collaborating with the enemy.
In 1946, he was sentenced to capital punishment by the military tribunal of the Moscow District. The title of Hero of the Soviet Union and orders was deprived by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of July 12, 1950.
This is the first of 27 brief “introductory” biographies of military pilots, which opens the book by Vladimir Konev “Heroes without Golden Stars. Cursed and forgotten." Each such reference is followed by a more or less detailed essay deciphering a laconic biography. So, about the same Antilevsky it is known that, as a gunner-radio operator of a long-range DB-3 bomber, he was the only one from the 21st dbap who was presented with the highest distinction. The Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union No. 304 was awarded to him in the Kremlin on April 28, 1940.
In the same year, Antilevsky began to retrain as a fighter, and from April 1942, having received his first officer rank, he fought on the Western Front. In the summer of 1943 he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. Soon after, the Hero again acted bravely in an air battle against 12 Nazi Fokkers (FV-190) while escorting Pe-2 bombers. Of the two downed enemy planes, one was "stuck" into the ground by Antilevsky, the Pe-2 group did not lose a single car. “In total, in the August battles, Antilevsky shot down three enemy planes personally and in a group in three days,” Konev notes.
August 28 Antilevsky is shot down. In the regiment he is considered missing, but in fact he is a prisoner and gives in detail the information known to him. “The motives that pushed the hero-pilot onto the path of betrayal are still not clear,” the author writes. - One can only assume that one of his relatives was repressed. On this, as well as on the fact that he will inevitably be shot in the Soviet Union for surrendering, apparently, the former Colonel of the Red Army V.I. Maltsev, who recruited him, played.
Hero of the Soviet Union Bronislav Antilevsky took the oath of the Vlasov ROA - the Russian Liberation Army and, with the rank of lieutenant, took part in military operations against partisans in the Dvinsk region. He also ferried planes from German aircraft factories to the Eastern Front and led a Yu-87 squadron on bombing raids. In 1944, General Vlasov awarded him an order and promoted him to captain.
Surprisingly, in June 1945, Antilevsky, with the documents of a member of the anti-fascist movement B. Berezovsky (a symbolic coincidence!) Is trying to get into the territory of the USSR. Detained by the NKVD, he easily passed the first check. But at the second time, they found a Gold Star in his heel. By the number immediately found out whose it is. The fate of the traitor hero was sealed.
In 2001, the Antilevsky case was reviewed by the Main Military Prosecutor's Office in order to implement the Law of the Russian Federation of October 18, 1991 "On the rehabilitation of victims of political repression." “In the conclusion, it was noted that Antilevsky was convicted legally and was not subject to rehabilitation,” this is how this first biography in the book ends.
Konev delicately, without focusing on the "dirty" or "mean" sides of the fate of one or another "former Hero", fully showed the drama of each of them. He did this on the basis of fragmentary and little known information, as well as with the involvement of archival sources. Narrating, he does not condemn or justify the characters in his book.
It presents both little-known surnames (yes, at least the same Antilevsky), and quite well-known ones. For example, aviation lieutenant generals arrested in the first week of the war and shot on October 28, 1941 as enemies of the people: Ivan Proskurov, a professional pilot who in 1939-1940 headed the GRU of the Red Army; Pavel Rychagov - he, at a meeting of the Politburo on April 9, 1941, when discussing the issue of numerous crashes of military aircraft, told Stalin: "The accident rate will be high, because you make us fly on coffins." On the same October day of the 41st, a pilot from God, a hero of Spain and Khalkhin Gol (he was very highly valued by Marshal G.K. Zhukov), twice Hero of the Soviet Union (1937, 1939), Lieutenant General of Aviation Yakov Smushkevich, arrested a week and a half before the start of the war ... However, these three were later rehabilitated. The first air marshal Alexander Novikov was also rehabilitated, whom, fortunately, Stalin's executioners could not put up against the wall, he, under torture, slandering himself and others, including Marshal G.K. Zhukov, survived.
In general, according to the statistics available on the Heroes of the Country Internet resource, out of 12,874 Heroes of the Soviet Union (the title was awarded in 1934-1991), 86 people were deprived of it (all front-line soldiers). Why did the author select only aviators for his book? As he explains, the pilots became the first Heroes in 1934 (Chelyuskin rescuers), and the first to lose their Gold Stars (in 1941 - the generals mentioned above). “From that time on, the practice of depriving this high rank began,” Konev notes.
Each of the 27 stories of those who, for one reason or another, was deprived of the heroic title is amazing in its own way. A participant in the legendary Victory Parade, Senior Lieutenant Mikhail Kossa (he received the title of Hero in 1946), on September 22, 1950, having quarreled once again with his wife, having drunk heavily, put on a new uniform, went to the airfield and stole a combat La-9t to Romania. Arrested, sentenced, shot, rehabilitated in 1966. Lieutenant Colonel Pyotr Poloz (awarded the Gold Star in 1942) in 1963, in his Kyiv apartment, shot the head of the personal guard of the head of state N.S. Khrushchev, General Fomichev, and his wife, whom he himself invited to visit (bloody everyday life). Captain Nikolai Rykhlin (became a hero in 1943) in 1950 in Grozny "thanks" to his Chechen wife was sentenced to 15 years "for embezzlement of socialist property", in 1977 he sat down again - for 12 years.
Squadron commander Hero of the Soviet Union (1944), Senior Lieutenant Anatoly Sinkov in Korea (his regiment was stationed there after the defeat of imperialist Japan), being in a state of intoxication, threatening with a weapon, raped a 19-year-old Korean girl in front of her parents, after which he robbed the apartment of a Korean citizen. (“From the point of view of a normal person, his actions were simply inexplicable,” the author of the book “Heroes without Golden Stars” commented on Sinkov’s act in one sentence.) By the way, does this example remind you of anything? And the modern Colonel Yuri Budanov, demoted to the rank and file (a holder of two Orders of Courage, deprived of them), who, according to the investigation, while drunk, raped (this was initially charged to him, but then the court did not recognize), and then strangled 18-year-old Chechen Elsa Kungaeva ?..
The main benefit of this book is that it unwittingly forces one to ask a number of the most serious questions. If with people like Antilevsky, as they say, “everything is clear”, then with the wounded aces-Heroes who were captured (there are several essays in the book about such people), far from everything is “clear”. They refused to cooperate with the Nazis, went through concentration camps, but did not become traitors. So, Konev notes, “hero-pilots behaved with dignity in captivity: V.D. Lavrinenkov, A.N. Karasev and others. Heroes of the Soviet Union pilot ADD (long-range aviation. - Auth.) V.E. Sitnov and attack pilot N.V. Pysin, even in the most severe conditions of captivity, managed to keep the Golden Stars.
So, Nikolai Pysin, whose plane crashed in the Liepaja region in February 1945, before being captured, he managed to tear the Golden Star from his tunic and put it in his mouth, and then hid it so that the Gestapo did not find it; being in concentration camps for two months, according to the Heroes of the Country website, he kept his award in his mouth almost all the time. With her, he made a successful escape from captivity. Sitnov, who was shot down by an anti-aircraft shell in June 1943, went through several concentration camps, including such an ominous one as Buchenwald (here the Soviet pilot was one of the organizers of the armed uprising), hid the Star of the Hero from the enemy for a year and a half. He died in December 1945 at the hands of a Polish nationalist; buried in Brest. The Gold Star of Lieutenant Colonel Nikolai Vlasov also returned to his homeland from captivity, which he handed over to General M.F. Lukin, who was in captivity there, before the next escape from the concentration camp. The fighter pilot himself, betrayed by a traitor as one of the organizers of the impending uprising, after severe torture was burned alive by the Nazis in the Mauthausen concentration camp, in Austria.
Other captured Heroes later, in the second half of the 1940s, already released and continuing to serve in aviation or working in civilian industries, were arrested and convicted, deprived of their Stars. Some of them were even shot. The author of the book himself reasonably asks: “How justified was the practice of depriving the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, which was always an additional measure of punishment?”
In history, it is often not the names of heroes that remain, but the names of traitors and defectors. These people cause great harm to one side, and benefit to the other. But still, they are despised by both. Naturally, one cannot do without confusing cases when a person's guilt is difficult to prove. However, history has preserved some of the most obvious and classic cases that are not in doubt. We will tell below about the most famous traitors in history.
Judas Iscariot. The name of this man has been a symbol of betrayal for about two thousand years. It does not play a role and nationalities of people. Everyone knows the biblical story when Judas Iscariot betrayed his teacher Christ for thirty pieces of silver, dooming him to torment. But then 1 slave cost twice as much! The kiss of Judas has become a classic image of duplicity, meanness and betrayal. This man was one of the twelve apostles who were present with Jesus at his last supper. There were thirteen people, and after that this number was considered unlucky. There was even a phobia, fear of this number. The story says that Judas was born on April 1, also on a rather unusual day. But the history of the traitor is rather obscure and full of pitfalls. The fact is that Judas was the custodian of the fund of the community of Jesus and his disciples. There was much more money than 30 pieces of silver. Thus, in need of money, Judas could simply steal it without committing a betrayal of his teacher. Not so long ago, the world learned about the existence of the "Gospel of Judas", where Iscariot is depicted as the only and faithful disciple of Christ. And the betrayal was committed precisely on the orders of Jesus, and Judas took responsibility for his action. According to legend, Iscariot committed suicide immediately after his act. The image of this traitor is repeatedly described in books, films, legends. Different versions of his betrayal and motivation are considered. Today, the name of this person is given to those who are suspected of treason. For example, Lenin called Trotsky Judas back in 1911. The same found in Iscariot his "plus" - the fight against Christianity. Trotsky even wanted to erect monuments to Judas in several cities of the country.
Mark Junius Brutus. Everyone knows the legendary phrase of Julius Caesar: "And you, Brutus?". This traitor is not as widely known as Judas, but is also legendary. Moreover, he committed his betrayal 77 years before the history of Iscariot. These two traitors are related by the fact that they both committed suicide. Mark Brutus was the best friend of Julius Caesar, according to some data it could even be his illegitimate son. However, it was he who led the conspiracy against the popular politician, taking a direct part in his murder. But Caesar showered his favorite with honors and titles, endowing him with power. But the entourage of Brutus forced him to participate in a conspiracy against the dictator. Mark was among several conspiring senators who pierced Caesar with swords. Seeing Brutus in their ranks, he bitterly exclaimed his famous phrase, which became his last. Wishing happiness for the people and power, Brutus made a mistake in his plans - Rome did not support him. After a series of civil wars and defeats, Mark realized that he was left without everything - without family, power, friend. The betrayal and murder took place in 44 BC, and after only two years Brutus threw himself on his sword.
Wang Jingwei. This traitor is not so well known in our country, but he has a bad reputation in China. It is often not clear how ordinary and normal people suddenly become traitors. Wang Jingwei was born in 1883, when he was 21, he entered a Japanese university. There he met Sun Yat Sen, a famous revolutionary from China. He influenced the young man so much that he became a real revolutionary fanatic. Together with Sen, Jingwei became a regular participant in anti-government revolutionary uprisings. Not surprisingly, he soon ended up in prison. Wang served several years there, releasing us in 1911. All this time, Sen kept in touch with him, morally supporting and patronizing. As a result of the revolutionary struggle, Sen and his associates won and came to power in 1920. But in 1925, Sun Yat died, and it was Jingwei who replaced him as leader of China. But soon the Japanese invaded the country. It was here that Jingway committed the real betrayal. In fact, he did not fight for the independence of China, giving it to the invaders. National interests were trampled in favor of the Japanese. As a result, when the crisis broke out in China, and the country most of all needed an experienced manager, Jingwei simply left it. Wang clearly joined the conquerors. However, he did not have time to feel the bitterness of defeat, since he died before the fall of Japan. But the name of Wang Jingwei got into all Chinese textbooks as a synonym for betrayal of his country.
Hetman Mazepa. This man in modern Russian history is considered the most important traitor, even the church anathematized him. But in recent Ukrainian history, the hetman, on the contrary, acts as a national hero. So what was his betrayal, or was it still a feat? The Hetman of the Zaporizhian Army for a long time acted as one of the most faithful allies of Peter I, helping him in the Azov campaigns. However, everything changed when the Swedish king Charles XII came out against the Russian Tsar. He, wanting to find an ally, promised Mazepa Ukrainian independence in case of victory in the Northern War. The hetman could not resist such a tasty piece of the pie. In 1708, he went over to the side of the Swedes, but just a year later their combined army was defeated near Poltava. For his betrayal (Mazepa swore allegiance to Peter), the Russian Empire deprived him of all awards and titles and subjected him to civil execution. Mazepa fled to Bender, which then belonged to the Ottoman Empire, and soon died there in 1709. According to legend, his death was terrible - he was eaten by lice.
Aldrich Ames. This high-ranking CIA officer had a brilliant career. Everyone predicted him a long and successful job, and then a well-paid pension. But his life turned upside down, thanks to love. Ames married a Russian beauty, it turned out that she was a KGB agent. The woman immediately began to demand from her husband to provide her with a beautiful life in order to fully comply with the American dream. Although the officers in the CIA make good money, this is not enough for the constantly required new decorations and cars. As a result, the unfortunate Ames began to drink too much. Under the influence of alcohol, he had no choice but to start selling secrets from his work. They quickly showed up a buyer - the USSR. As a result, during his betrayal, Ames gave the enemy of his country information about all the secret agents working in the Soviet Union. The USSR also learned about a hundred covert military operations conducted by the Americans. For this, the officer received about 4.6 million US dollars. However, all the secret someday becomes clear. Ames was exposed and sentenced to life in prison. The special services experienced a real shock and scandal, the traitor became their biggest failure in their entire existence. The CIA has long moved away from the harm that one single person did to it. But he just needed funds for an insatiable wife. That one, by the way, when everything turned out, was simply deported to South America.
Vidkun Quisling. The family of this man was one of the most ancient in Norway, his father served as a Lutheran priest. Vidkun himself studied very well and chose a military career. Having risen to the rank of major, Quisling was able to enter the government of his country, holding the post of Minister of Defense there from 1931 to 1933. In 1933, Vidkun founded his own political party "National Accord", where he received a membership card for the first number. He began to call himself Föhrer, which was very reminiscent of the Fuhrer. In 1936, the party collected quite a lot of votes in the elections, becoming very influential in the country. When the Nazis came to Norway in 1940, Quisling suggested that the locals submit to them and not resist. Although the politician himself was from an ancient respected family, he was immediately dubbed a traitor in the country. The Norwegians themselves began to wage a fierce struggle against the invaders. Then Quisling came up with a plan in response to the removal of Jews from Norway, sending them directly to the deadly Auschwitz. However, history has rewarded the politician who betrayed his people as he deserved. On May 9, 1945, Quisling was arrested. While in prison, he still managed to declare that he was a martyr and sought to create a great country. But justice decided otherwise, and on October 24, 1945, Quisling was shot for high treason.
Prince Andrei Mikhailovich Kurbsky. This boyar was one of the most faithful associates of Ivan the Terrible. It was Kurbsky who commanded the Russian army in the Livonian War. But with the beginning of the oprichnina of the eccentric tsar, many hitherto loyal boyars fell under disgrace. Among them was Kurbsky. Fearing for his fate, he abandoned his family and in 1563 defected to the service of the Polish king Sigismund. And already in September of the following year, he marched with the conquerors against Moscow. Kurbsky knew perfectly well how the Russian defense and army were organized. Thanks to the traitor, the Poles were able to win many important battles. They set up ambushes, drove people into captivity, bypassing the outposts. Kurbsky began to be considered the first Russian dissident. The Poles consider the boyar a great man, but in Russia he is a traitor. However, we should not talk about betraying the country, but about personally betraying Tsar Ivan the Terrible.
Pavlik Morozov. This boy had a heroic image for a long time in Soviet history and culture. At the same time, he passed under the first number, among children-heroes. Pavlik Morozov even got into the book of honor of the All-Union Pioneer Organization. But this story is not entirely unambiguous. The boy's father, Trofim, was a partisan and fought on the side of the Bolsheviks. However, after returning from the war, the serviceman abandoned his family with four small children and began to live with another woman. Trofim was elected chairman of the village council, while he led a stormy everyday life - he drank and rowdy. It is quite possible that in the history of heroism and betrayal there are more domestic than political reasons. According to legend, Trofim's wife accused him of hiding bread, however, they say that the abandoned and humiliated woman demanded to stop issuing fictitious certificates to fellow villagers. During the investigation, 13-year-old Pavel simply confirmed everything that his mother had said. As a result, the unbelted Trofim ended up in prison, and in retaliation, the young pioneer was killed in 1932 by his drunken uncle and godfather. But Soviet propaganda created a colorful propaganda story out of everyday drama. Yes, and somehow the hero who betrayed his father did not inspire.
Heinrich Lushkov. In 1937, the NKVD was fierce, including in the Far East. It was Genrikh Lyushkov who headed this punitive body at that time. However, a year later, a purge began already in the "organs" themselves, many executioners themselves ended up in the place of their victims. Lyushkov was suddenly summoned to Moscow, allegedly to be appointed head of all the camps in the country. But Heinrich suspected that Stalin wanted to remove him. Frightened by reprisals, Lyushkov fled to Japan. In an interview with the local newspaper Yomiuri, the former executioner said that he really recognizes himself as a traitor. But only in relation to Stalin. But Lyushkov's subsequent behavior suggests just the opposite. The general told the Japanese about the entire structure of the NKVD and the residents of the USSR, about exactly where the Soviet troops were located, where and how defensive structures and fortresses were being built. Lyushkov gave the enemies military radio codes, actively urging the Japanese to oppose the USSR. Arrested on the territory of Japan, Soviet intelligence officers, the traitor tortured himself, resorting to cruel atrocities. The pinnacle of Lyushkov's activity was his development of a plan to assassinate Stalin. The general personally took up the implementation of his project. Today, historians believe that this was the only serious attempt to eliminate the Soviet leader. However, she was not successful. After the defeat of Japan in 1945, Lyushkov was killed by the Japanese themselves, who did not want their secrets to fall into the hands of the USSR.
Andrey Vlasov. This Soviet lieutenant general was known as the most important Soviet traitor during the Great Patriotic War. Back in the winter of 41-42, Vlasov commanded the 20th Army, making a significant contribution to the defeat of the Nazis near Moscow. Among the people, it was this general who was called the main savior of the capital. In the summer of 1942, Vlasov took over as deputy commander of the Volkhov Front. However, soon his troops were captured, and the general himself was captured by the Germans. Vlasov was sent to the Vinnitsa military camp for captured senior military officials. There, the general agreed to serve the Nazis and headed the "Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia" created by them. On the basis of KONR, even an entire "Russian Liberation Army" (ROA) was created. It included captured Soviet soldiers. The general showed cowardice, according to rumors, since then he began to drink a lot. On May 12, Vlasov was captured by Soviet troops in an attempt to escape. His trial was closed, as he could inspire people dissatisfied with the authorities with his own words. In August 1946, General Vlasov was stripped of his titles and awards, his property was confiscated, and he himself was hanged. At the trial, the accused admitted that he pleaded guilty, as he was cowardly in captivity. Already in our time, an attempt was made to justify Vlasov. But only a small part of the charges were dropped from him, the main ones remained in force.
Friedrich Paulus. There was a traitor on the part of the Nazis in that war. In the winter of 1943, the 6th German Army under the command of Field Marshal Paulus capitulated near Stalingrad. His subsequent history can be considered a mirror in relation to Vlasov. The captivity of the German officer was quite comfortable, because he joined the anti-fascist national committee "Free Germany". He ate meat, drank beer, received food and parcels. Paulus signed the appeal "To the prisoners of war of German soldiers and officers and to the entire German people." There, the field marshal announced that he was calling on all of Germany to eliminate Adolf Hitler. He believes that the country should have a new state leadership. It must stop the war and ensure the restoration of friendship with the current adversaries for the people. Paulus even made a revealing speech at the Nuremberg trials, which surprised his former associates a lot. In 1953, the Soviet authorities, grateful for their cooperation, released the traitor, especially since he was beginning to fall into depression. Paulus went to live in the GDR, where he died in 1957. Not all Germans accepted with understanding the act of the field marshal, even his son did not accept his father's choice, eventually shooting himself due to mental anguish.
Viktor Suvorov. This defector also made a name for himself as a writer. Once intelligence officer Vladimir Rezun was a GRU resident in Geneva. But in 1978 he fled to England, where he began to write very scandalous books. In them, the officer, who took the pseudonym Suvorov, quite convincingly argued that it was the USSR that was preparing to strike at Germany in the summer of 1941. The Germans simply preempted their enemy by a few weeks by delivering a preemptive strike. Rezun himself says that he was forced to cooperate with British intelligence. They allegedly wanted to make him last for the failure in the work of the Geneva department. Suvorov himself claims that in his homeland he was sentenced to death in absentia for his treason. However, the Russian side prefers not to comment on this fact. The former scout lives in Bristol and continues to write books on historical topics. Each of them causes a storm of discussion and personal condemnation of Suvorov.
Viktor Belenko. Few lieutenants manage to go down in history. But this military pilot was able to do it. True, at the cost of his betrayal. We can say that he acted as a kind of bad boy who just wants to steal something and sell it to his enemies at a higher price. On September 6, 1976, Belenko flew a top-secret MiG-25 interceptor. Suddenly, the senior lieutenant abruptly changed course and landed in Japan. There, the aircraft was dismantled in detail and subjected to a thorough study. Naturally, not without American specialists. The plane was, after careful study, returned to the USSR. And for his feat "for the glory of democracy" Belenko himself received political asylum in the United States. However, there is another version, according to which the traitor was not such. He just had to land in Japan. Eyewitnesses say that the lieutenant shot into the air with a pistol, not letting anyone near the car and demanding to cover it. However, the conducted investigation took into account both the behavior of the pilot in everyday life and the manner of his flight. The conclusion was unequivocal - landing on the territory of an enemy state was deliberate. Belenko himself turned out to be crazy about life in America, even canned cat food seemed to him tastier than those that were sold in his homeland. From official statements it is difficult to assess the consequences of that escape, the moral and political damage can be ignored, but the material damage was estimated at 2 billion rubles. Indeed, in the USSR it was necessary to hastily change the entire equipment of the "friend or foe" recognition system.
Otto Kuusinen. And again, a situation where a traitor for some is a hero for others. Otto was born in 1881 and in 1904 joined the Finnish Social Democratic Party. Soon and leading it. When it became clear that the communists in the new independent Finland did not shine, Kuusinen fled to the USSR. There he worked for a long time in the Comintern. When the USSR attacked Finland in 1939, it was Kuusinen who became the head of the puppet new government of the country. Only now his power extended to the few lands occupied by Soviet troops. It soon became clear that it would not be possible to capture all of Finland and the need for the Kuusinen regime was no longer needed. In the future, he continued to hold prominent government posts in the USSR, having died in 1964. His ashes are buried near the Kremlin wall.
Kim Philby. This scout lived a long and eventful life. He was born in 1912 in India, in the family of a British official. In 1929, Kim entered Cambridge, where he joined a socialist society. In 1934, Philby was recruited by Soviet intelligence, which, given his views, was not difficult to implement. In 1940, Kim joined the British secret service SIS, soon becoming the head of one of its departments. In the 50s, it was Philby who coordinated the actions of England and the United States in the fight against the communists. Naturally, the USSR received all the information about the work of its agent. Since 1956, Philby has been serving in MI6, until in 1963 he was illegally transferred to the USSR. Here, the traitor intelligence officer lived for the next 25 years on a personal pension, sometimes giving advice.
During the Great Patriotic War, more than 11 thousand soldiers of the Red Army were awarded the honorary title of Hero of the Soviet Union. These were pilots, sappers, tankers, gunners. But gaining an honorary title is a reversible process. 72 Heroes of the Soviet Union lost their status for serious misconduct, and with it their freedom, respect, and some of their lives. What crimes were unforgivable in the USSR, even for heroes?
Theft of socialist property
The events in which Lieutenant Nikolai Arseniev showed himself as a hero are worthy of creating an action film. He participated in the crossing of the Dnieper River in the Zaporozhye region. The Nazis defended this area especially fiercely, since behind the defensive line there were approaches to the most important economic regions.
At the end of October 43, the soldiers of the Soviet landing, among whom was Arsenyev, captured and held the island of Khortitsa on boats. During the first day, while the Soviet soldiers defended the occupied bridgehead, intensively fired from German machine guns, many died or were injured.
Further, Arseniev, who became the commander of a rifle battalion due to the wound of his predecessor, received a new task - to expand the bridgehead. After several difficult battles, in which not only firearms were used, but also sapper shovels and stones, the task was achieved. The bridgehead was expanded to 250 meters along the front. The Nazis desperately tried to retake the territory, making 16 counterattacks over the next few days. Heavy losses among the Soviet soldiers were the reason for the order to leave the island. The Nazis destroyed the ferry and sought to kill all the retreating Red Army soldiers who left the island by swimming, among them was the surviving battalion commander Arseniev.
Fierce battles for the island of Khortytsya on the Dnieper, and with it the approaches to important economic regions
After these events, when the ability to lead the battle in the most difficult circumstances was demonstrated, Nikolai received the title of Hero of the USSR. Subsequently, he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner and the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.
General Arseniev in 1962 lost the title of Hero and all awards, and was also sentenced to 8 years in a corrective labor colony with confiscation. Such a strict sentence was due to the theft of state property for a large amount - 4,700 rubles. In addition, the severity was explained by the desire to prevent subsequent economic crimes, which were among the most serious in the Soviet Union.
betrayal of the motherland
Collaboration with the invaders was considered a very serious crime that could not be atoned for by heroic deeds. The story of the hero of the USSR is known, who, after the end of the war, ceased to be a respected citizen, at the moment turning into a traitor.
Such a person was Ivan Dobrobabin, one of the 28 Panfilov soldiers who, without proper anti-tank weapons, opposed a powerful tank group at the Dubosekovo junction (7 km from Volokolamsk). After this battle in 1941, Dobrobabin was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
But the fighter survived - he received a shell shock and was captured, from where he successfully fled to his native village, which at that moment was under the control of the Germans. Here he worked in the police - it was this fact of the biography of the guardsman that was regarded as an indelible shame. Although after this episode, Dobrobabin again fled to the territory controlled by the Soviet Union, he honestly served in the Red Army, participating in battles and risking his life until the end of the war.
The guardsman of the Panfilov division was arrested in 1947, for cooperation with the Germans he was imprisoned for 15 years, as well as all well-deserved awards.
Murder
Murder was considered a less serious crime in comparison with the betrayal of the Motherland or theft of socialist property. The title of Hero of the USSR in such cases served as a mitigating circumstance. Only one case is known of a WWII hero being sentenced to capital punishment for murder "in civilian life". This fate befell the pilot Peter Poloz.
He was a participant in many battles, including during the defense of Odessa, during the Izyum-Barvenkovskaya operation (it was carried out at the same time as the Battle of Kursk and largely determined its favorable outcome). Poloz also participated in the Battle of Khalkin-Gol.
Poloz took part in a spectacular action on May 1, 1945, when a group of Soviet aircraft dropped scarlet banners instead of bombs on the defeated Reichstag as a sign of the triumph of the USSR. These canvases contained inscriptions glorifying the Soviet soldiers who set the red banner over Berlin.
In 1962, Pyotr Poloz committed a premeditated double murder, the motives of which have never been clarified. The victims were Fomichev (Khrushchev's head of security) and his wife. There is an opinion that it was the high status of the dead that caused the sentence to capital punishment. The posthumously brave pilot was stripped of all awards.
According to the lawyer Semyon Ostrovsky, Peter was forced to commit a bloody crime by his wife. In an interview for Telegraph, he made it clear that this was not the first time the accused's wife had incited her husband to kill, abusing his mental instability and love for her.
The defense of Odessa, in which the pilot of the Red Army Peter Poloz took part
Dashing disposition is inappropriate in a peaceful life
The problem of self-realization in a peaceful life was also relevant for the participants in the Second World War. Many Red Guards, who with dignity went through all the hardships of the war, proved to be brave heroes, could not get used to it when the sounds of sirens and the noise of tank tracks ceased.
This happened to the sergeant of the Red Army Vladimir Pasyukov, who by 1943 received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star. Pasyukov accomplished his main feat during the crossing of the Kerch Strait (1943). Being in the forefront among the Red Army soldiers who landed on the shore, he destroyed the German cannon firing at the boats.
During the same events, Pasyukov took an active part in repelling several enemy counterattacks, numerically superior to the forces of the USSR. And again, the soldier showed extraordinary dexterity and courage, destroying a German machine gun, even engaging in hand-to-hand combat.
After the war, he continued to serve in the military, but discipline weighed on him. Cases of desertion became more frequent and prolonged, Pasyukov often ignored the orders of the leadership, and regularly drank. Hooligan antics - fights and insults - performed by Pasyukov have become commonplace. In 1947, the military man was sentenced to serving his sentence in labor camps for 7 years, for actions "incompatible with the status of an order bearer" he was deprived of the titles and awards received in the war.
In the spring of 2016, the Cheboksary court made a historic decision. Awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation, he was deprived of it by a court verdict.
Evgeny Borisov, who received the title of Hero of Russia during the Second Chechen campaign, was deprived of it and punished with a fine of 10 million rubles and imprisonment for a term of 6.5 years for organizing an underground casino and trying to bribe an official. This case is the first reliably known deprivation of the title of Hero of Russia.
Although the Heroes of Russia have previously been brought to court as defendants in criminal cases (and there are about a thousand Heroes of Russia in total), in previous cases the courts did not deprive them of this title - only cases of deprivation of the Order of Courage are known. In the Soviet Union, there were much more such cases. We studied why and how heroes were punished in those days.
In the entire history of the USSR, 12.8 thousand people received the title of Hero (12,776, with the exception of those who were deprived of the title or who were canceled for other reasons). In total, more than 70 cases of deprivation of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for inconsistency of the actions of the awarded high rank are known. Another 61 people were stripped of the title, but it was later restored. As a rule, this happened if their cases were connected with political repressions, and all the awards were returned to the person after his rehabilitation (often posthumously).
For convenience, we will divide all cases of deprivation of awards - and therefore, a whole package of benefits and additional payments - into separate categories and give the most interesting stories.
Defectors
Even heroes could not always withstand the hardships of captivity. Some of them went to cooperate with the Germans. Two Soviet hero pilots Bronislav Antilevsky and Semyon Bychkov were shot down in 1943 during combat missions and taken prisoner. Both later joined the Vlasov ROA, which fought against the USSR. The pilots were real masters, and before switching to the side of the enemy, Bychkov had 15 downed aircraft and a whole "iconostasis" on his chest: two Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of Courage, the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star.
If for other defendants the presence of awards, and even more so the title of Hero, was, as a rule, a mitigating factor, then in the case of defectors and traitors, this was clearly considered as an aggravating factor. Both pilots were shot, although they did not really take part in the hostilities on the side of the enemy.
One of the Panfilov heroes, Ivan Dobrobabin, who participated in the battle at the Dubosekovo junction, was awarded the title of Hero posthumously for this battle. Later it turned out that the journalists significantly embellished the events of that day - and even buried him ahead of time. In fact, he survived, having received a shell shock, and was taken prisoner. He escaped from captivity and returned to his native village, which was then occupied by the Germans. At home, Dobrobabin became a headman and served in the police. After the liberation of the village, he fled to relatives in another village, where he was again drafted into the Soviet army, after which he fought in good faith until the end of the war.
In 1947 he was arrested on suspicion of collaborating with the Germans. As a result, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison and the deprivation of all awards. Later, the term was reduced to 7 years. Until the end of his life, Dobrobabin tried to challenge the deprivation of awards, arguing that he did not commit any crimes in the service of the Germans, and was forced to serve under duress, but the awards were never returned to him.
But Ivan Kilyushek lost his awards because of his own perseverance. He distinguished himself in battle two months after being drafted into the army. In honor of the feat, Kilyushek, who was awarded the Star of the Hero, received a month's leave and ended up at home in the ranks of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, which also fought for the Reich. At the very end of the war, Kilyushek was arrested in the attic of his own house with weapons in his hands. He himself tried to prove that he was kidnapped and forced to serve in the UPA under the threat of reprisals against his family. The court sentenced him to 10 years in prison, but did not deprive him of the awards. Having been released, Kilyushin tried for several years to protest the verdict, but this only worsened the situation. In 1972, he was stripped of the title of Hero of the Union.
Artilleryman Aleksey Kulak was awarded the Gold Star of a Hero after the war. After serving in the army, he went into science, and then went to work in the KGB, where he worked for almost 20 years. He was in good standing in the intelligence service, worked in the United States, had many awards. In 1984 he died of cancer and was buried with all due honors. And only after his death it turned out that Kulak had been cooperating with American intelligence for at least 10 years, passing secret information and data to Soviet intelligence officers in the United States. In 1990, the Fist was posthumously stripped of all awards and titles. This is the only case of posthumous deprivation of the title of Hero in Soviet history. Nevertheless, the tombstone still indicates that he is a Hero of the Soviet Union.
A slightly more romantic story happened to Major Georgy Antonov, Hero of the USSR. After the war, he remained to serve in the Soviet garrison in Austria, where he met a local resident. Since relations between them were impossible for political reasons, Antonov, who was going to be transferred from Austria to the USSR, fled with his beloved in 1949 to the American sector of Vienna. For this, he was sentenced in absentia to 25 years in the camps and deprived of awards. In the future, he, apparently, changed his surname and his traces were lost.
Indulged in all serious
Not all heroes were able to adapt to peaceful life. Often, soldiers who got to the front at the age of 18 after the war could not find application for their abilities and with great difficulty got along “in civilian life”.
Nikolai Artamonov was drafted in 1941 at the age of 18 and went through the entire war to the end. But he didn’t fit into peaceful life, in the three post-war years he received three convictions, and the last crime overwhelmed the patience of the Soviet court, and Artamonov was sentenced to 18 years for participating in gang rape. He was also stripped of all his awards and titles.
Vasily Vanin also went through the entire war and could not return to normal life. After demobilization, Vanin, who had many awards, tried to work in a Stalingrad bakery, but soon quit his job, began to lead an asocial lifestyle, committed several thefts and robberies, as well as rape, for which he was deprived of all awards and sent to prison for 10 years.
The gallant one-eyed tanker of the guard, senior lieutenant Anatoly Motsny, who had many awards and the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, did not find himself after his dismissal from the army for health reasons. After the war, he married, but soon drove his pregnant wife out of the house and remarried. He was able to avoid punishment for bigamy thanks to numerous awards. He drank heavily, wandered around the country, hid from paying alimony, and eventually brutally killed his own five-year-old son for an unknown reason. He received 10 years in prison, but was deprived of awards after his release, after numerous complaints from neighbors, whom he "terrorized every day." He died shortly after being stripped of all awards and titles.
Senior Sergeant Alexander Postolyuk, after demobilization, worked on a collective farm, from where he began his journey along the criminal road. Postolyuk was imprisoned four times for petty theft, each time getting off with a term of about a year. But he lost all awards after the first crime.
Junior Lieutenant Anatoly Stanev returned to his native state farm, where he began to abuse alcohol, ended up in prison and lost all his awards. After his release, he worked as a tractor driver, continued to abuse alcohol and died in a drunken brawl in 1953.
Yegen Pilosyan went through the whole war and had no problems with discipline. Shortly before the victory he received the title of hero, after the war he had the title of captain. Then the long criminal path of Pilosyan began. First, he stole a car in the allied occupation zone. Then another, then another. For theft, he received 4 years in prison and was deprived of all awards. After that, he was tried 4 more times for theft and arson, having spent almost 20 years in prison. In the 70s, he unsuccessfully petitioned for the return of awards, after which his traces are lost.
A kind of record was set by Vasily Grigin. He also went through the entire war and lost an eye at the front. After demobilization, he was tried 10 times: for hooliganism, fights and petty theft. At the same time, he managed to maintain his title of Hero for a long time, which he was deprived of only after the sixth conviction.
Nikolai Kulba stands apart, who even before the war led a criminal lifestyle and was convicted twice. Actually, from the camps, he begged to let him go to the front, where he fought very bravely. He was one of the best snipers in the division, distinguished himself many times in battle, and after another wound was awarded the title of Hero. But due to an error in the documents, it was not immediately possible to find him, and Kulba did not even know about his award. Found it only in the late 50's. Then it turned out that after the war he returned to his former craft and was convicted twice more for committing serious crimes. As a result, by decree of the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces, he was deprived of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Crimes in the service
A significant part of the military personnel of the Soviet army after the end of the war was demobilized and returned home. However, some soldiers continued to serve in Soviet garrisons in Europe and the USSR, where they committed acts unworthy of their high title of Hero.
By the end of the war, Senior Lieutenant Nikolai Kukushkin had one and a half hundred sorties on an Il-2 attack aircraft, was shot down over enemy territory and was able to get to his own. After the war he continued to serve in Hungary. In 1948, a division officer noticed him drunk in the company of a local girl. The conflict ended with the fact that Kukushkin took out a pistol and shot the lieutenant colonel, after which he shot himself in the head, but only wounded himself. By the verdict of the tribunal, he was deprived of awards and titles and sentenced to 25 years, later the term was reduced to 10, Kukushkin was released ahead of schedule in 1956.
In Germany, several of our military created a whole gang that robbed the local population. It included two heroes of the Soviet Union at once - Lieutenant Antonov and Sergeant Loktionov. If Antonov simply encouraged the actions of his subordinates, then Loktionov directly took part in them, and also became involved in rape. Later, both were deprived of all awards and titles, but in the 60s Antonov managed to achieve the return of all awards.
Ivan Mironenko was awarded the title of Hero of the USSR at the age of 19. After the war, the young soldier continued to serve in Hungary, but this did not last long. In 1947, together with several colleagues, he went AWOL, they hired a taxi, after which they killed the driver, and they tried to sell the car in Budapest. Mironenko, as a hero, escaped with 10 years in the camps, but lost his awards.
The title of Hero was also taken away for notorious hooliganism. Vladimir Pasyukov, the same age as Mironenko, after the war continued to serve in the Soviet garrisons, but began to skip work, often went AWOL, drank, fought with officials, and finally, due to the combination of hooligan actions, was sentenced to 7 years in camps and deprivation of awards.
Sins of war
Sometimes the basis for the deprivation of a high rank was unflattering facts from the past, compromising the Hero.
Boris Lunin commanded a partisan brigade in Belarus. In 1941, he was captured, but managed to escape and join the partisans. Despite his alcoholism and craving for arbitrariness, he was in good standing with his superiors due to the successful sabotage activities of the partisan group. He got away with several episodes of arbitrariness, according to one of which, on the basis of a personal conflict, he ordered to shoot eight Soviet intelligence officers who had joined the partisan brigade after leaving Minsk. In 1944 he was awarded the Gold Star. The echo of the war overtook the hero of the Union Lunin already in 1957, when he was arrested for numerous past episodes of lynching of Soviet citizens, including children. Given the military merit, he received not the most severe punishment - 7 years in prison plus the deprivation of all awards.
Pyotr Mesnyankin became a Hero after he managed to serve the Germans. At the beginning of the war, his unit was surrounded and captured. Mesnyankin fled and returned to his native village, occupied by the Germans, where he got a job in the police. After the liberation of the village, he was again mobilized into the Soviet army, as a punishment for collaborating with the Germans, he was sent to a penal battalion, where he was wounded several times. Mesnyankin distinguished himself while crossing the Dnieper, for which he was awarded the title of Hero. However, a few years after the war, he was arrested, sentenced to 10 years in camps and deprived of awards for cooperation with the Germans. Later, he repeatedly tried to get the awards returned, pointing out that he had already been punished for working for the Germans by being sent to a penal battalion, but he failed to return the awards.
A similar fate awaited Yegor Sidorenko. At the beginning of the war, the unit was surrounded, he was wounded, was able to escape captivity and returned to his village, where he became a policeman. After the liberation of the village, he was again drafted into the army, in 1944 he became a Hero of the Union. After the war, he was expelled from the party and deprived of awards for the loss of his party card and service with the Germans, but was not prosecuted.
Here it is appropriate to tell why in the occupied villages people went to the police: the Germans paid a fixed salary and this was one of the few opportunities to survive, since the economy of the villages actually did not work under the conditions of occupation. Even if there was a garden, the harvest could be taken away. After the war, Russian policemen were punished for "cooperating with the occupiers": indeed, sometimes they were involved in the search for partisans in the forests. After the war, they were given 7-10 years in the camps for serving in the police, but if fellow villagers testified that the policeman helped the partisans and worked poorly for the Germans, then there was a chance to avoid prison.
Economic crimes
A separate category of heroes who have fallen on trial are business executives. If hooligan youth, as a rule, got into unpleasant stories immediately after the war, not getting used to civilian life, then in this case, crimes were often committed many years after the Second World War. Nikolai Arseniev, a war hero who rose to the rank of general, received 8 years in 1962 for repeated theft of state property, embezzlement and abuse of power.
Ivan Medvedev was demobilized after the war and worked as a department head in the Petrovsky Passage (the store was opened in Moscow on Petrovka Street back in 1906). Soon Medvedev was arrested for embezzlement and sentenced to 15 years in prison and deprivation of the title of Hero of the USSR.
Some did "combos". Squadron commander Anatoly Sinkov served in Korea after the war, where he raped and robbed a local resident, for which he received 7 years in the camps and was deprived of awards, and later in the USSR he arbitrarily appropriated 3 thousand rubles (for today's money this is about 100 thousand rubles) belonging to the organization for which he worked. True, the second time he did not have to sit for a long time, in the same year he was amnestied.
Curiously, in Stalin's times, economic crimes were often punished much more seriously than crimes against a person - embezzlement or theft was sometimes given a longer sentence than murder or violence.
As a rule, the presence of awards greatly facilitated the fate of the defendants. Even for grave crimes, in most cases they received not the maximum sentences, if these were not property crimes, sometimes punished more severely than murders.
Treason was considered the most serious crime in those days, and most of the heroes lost their lives precisely because of it. Only in one case, the Hero of the Soviet Union was shot for murder in civilian life. We are talking about the pilot Pyotr Poloz, who in 1962 committed a double murder. His fate was determined by the fact that Fomichev, an employee of the personal guard of Khrushchev himself, and his wife, whom Lieutenant Colonel Poloz invited to visit, turned out to be killed. The circumstances of the crime and its motives remain unknown. The court sentenced him to death, thus Poloz became the only Hero of the Union shot who was not executed for going over to the side of the enemy.
The Star of the Hero of the USSR is a special symbol of distinction, which was awarded for collective or personal services to the Fatherland, as well as for accomplishing a feat. In total, 12,776 people received the title of holder of the Golden Star, including those who had two, three and even four sets of awards. But there were also those who, for various reasons, could not preserve the honor and dignity of the hero - the star was taken away from 72 people. Another 61 cavaliers were stripped of their titles, but were later reinstated in it.
For betrayal
Having shown courage in battle, some heroes could not endure the hardships of captivity and entered into cooperation with the Germans. Soviet pilots Bronislav Antilevsky and Semyon Bychkov are masters of their craft, who showed extraordinary courage and fortitude during the Great Patriotic War. One is a gunner-radio operator who had 56 successful sorties, the other is the owner of two Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of Courage, the Order of Lenin and the Golden Star for 15 downed enemy aircraft.
In 1943, while on a mission, both pilots were shot down in action and taken prisoner. It is still not known for certain whether their transition to the Germans was forced or voluntary. At the trial, Bychkov explained that the commander of the ROA aviation, Viktor Maltsev, was recruiting Soviet pilots who were in the Moritzfeld camp. For refusing to join the ranks of the Vlasovites, Semyon was beaten half to death, after which he spent two weeks in the hospital. But even there, psychological pressure was exerted on Bychkov. Maltsev assured that when he returned to the USSR, he would be shot as a traitor, threatened him with an even worse life in concentration camps. In the end, the pilot lost his nerve, and he agreed to join the ranks of the ROA.
Bychkov's words were not believed at the trial. He, like Antilevsky, enjoyed great confidence among the Germans. Recordings with their calls to go over to the side of the enemy were broadcast on the lines of the Eastern Front. The pilots received German ranks, good positions, they were trusted with combat vehicles and personnel.
If for some defendants the presence of medals "For Courage" and the title of Hero of the USSR was a mitigating circumstance, in the case of defectors and traitors this factor played a fatal role. Both "Vlasov falcons" were stripped of all ranks and sentenced to death.
“There were only 28 of them, and Moscow was behind us”
Everyone who is interested in the history of the Second World War knows about the feat of the Panfilov soldiers who stopped the Nazis on the outskirts of Moscow. The biography of one of them - Ivan Dobrobabin (Dobrobaby according to the metrics) - could become the basis for an action-packed film. In November 1941, Ivan, at the head of the legendary 4th company of the 2nd battalion of the 1075th rifle regiment of the 8th division, took an unequal battle with the enemy. For the feat before the Fatherland in July 1942 he was awarded posthumously.
Meanwhile, Dobrobabin remained alive. Heavily shell-shocked, he was taken prisoner, where he began to cooperate with the Germans, joining the police. In 1943 he crossed the front line and fled to Odessa. He was again enrolled in the ranks of the Soviet soldiers. Only in 1947 did someone recognize him as a former Nazi policeman.
In court, it turned out that Ivan Dobrobabin was one of the Panfilovites, a Hero of the Soviet Union. He was stripped of all titles and awards and found guilty of collaborating with the invaders, given 15 years in prison.
This story could have ended if in 1955 new circumstances had not been discovered confirming the fact that the Red Army soldier went to the police on the orders of the commander of the partisan detachment. In the same year, Dobrobabin was amnestied, and only in 1993, by decision of the Supreme Court of Ukraine, was he completely released from all charges.
The title of Hero of the USSR was never returned to him. Dobrobabin died three years later, fully rehabilitated in the eyes of society, but never managed to restore historical justice.
Pay for love
The life of Georgy Antonov is a story of great success and rapid decline. The officer met the beginning of the Great Patriotic War as part of the 660th artillery regiment of the 220th rifle division. An experienced commander by that time had already proved himself in the liberation battles in Western Ukraine and the Karelian Isthmus.
During the clash near Orsha, Antonov replaced the killed chief of artillery, taking command of the regiment, and ensured the fulfillment of the assigned combat missions, for which he was awarded the highest award for the rank of captain - the Order of the Red Banner.
Then there were battles on the banks of the Berezina River, where, under the command of Antonov, the artillery of the rifle regiment covered the advancing infantry. For heroism and courage shown in battles, the commander was presented with the Gold Star.
By the end of the war, Hero of the Soviet Union Georgy Antonov had already served as commander of an artillery battalion at the Allensteig training ground in Austria. After the capitulation of Germany, this large facility was taken over by the Soviet occupying forces.
The military command in every possible way prevented the contacts of the servicemen with the local population, especially with women. Violation of the order threatened with immediate expulsion to the USSR under escort. At home, regardless of rank and position, an officer was expelled from the party and dismissed from the army.
Georgy Antonov, despite his military bearing, turned out to be a very down to earth person. Outside of the service, he could “take on his chest”, relax and go in search of adventure, for which he was repeatedly subjected to disciplinary sanctions. However, the title of Hero of the USSR kept the authorities from taking serious measures.
The last straw was the intimate relationship of the major, who was waiting for his wife in Moscow, with the Austrian Francisca Nesterval. Due to the “moral corruption of the personality”, it was decided to send Antonov to the Transcaucasian Military District. The fact of friendship with the former doctor of the regiment Lazarev, convicted of treason in 1947, public laudatory reviews of the major about American military equipment and attachment to alcohol were also “attached” to the case.
Upon learning of the impending departure, the soldier began to plan an escape. As follows from the materials of the criminal case, “On May 26, 1949, Antonov, having packed his personal belongings into three suitcases, took them by truck to the city of Allensteig and handed them over to a storage room, sold his personal car to a taxi driver, an Austrian citizen, for 5,000 shillings, and I also agreed with him that he would take him to Vienna for 450 shillings, along with his cohabitant.
The lovers even managed to move to that part of Vienna, which was under the control of the Americans. Antonov, by order of the chief of artillery of the Soviet army, was recognized as a "traitor to the Motherland and a deserter" and expelled from the Armed Forces. Due to the inaccessibility of the accused, he was sentenced in absentia to 25 years in labor camps with complete confiscation of personal property. The titles and numerous medals that he deservedly received for his heroism during the Great Patriotic War were taken away from him. Antonov was also stripped of all military regalia.
Fake hero
On May 22, 1940, the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper published an essay on the "exploits" of Hero of the Soviet Union Valentin Purgin. Their list is so long that it would be enough for several lifetimes. This is the performance of a special task in the Far East in 1939, and a wound received in battles with Japanese militarists, and heroic battles with the White Finns in 1940. As a result of the war with Finland, Valentin Purgin, holder of the Order of the Red Banner and two Orders of Lenin, received the title of Hero of the USSR.
However, according to the photograph published in the newspaper, the employees of the competent authorities recognized Valentina Golubenko as a criminal who is wanted after escaping from prison. During the investigation, it turned out that the fraudster, who already had several prison terms behind him, with the help of his mother, who worked as a cleaner in the building of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, stole orders and award books, stamped his own letters of recommendation and orders.
Golubenko-Purgin, who skillfully gained confidence in people and used his personal connections, traveled all over the country on forged documents as a journalist for Pravda and Komsomolskaya Pravda. And during the Finnish campaign, he sat out with a friend in Moscow, spending business trips for his own pleasure. And even his stay in the Irkutsk hospital with a serious wound was skillfully fabricated.
The innate charm and fame of the "living Ostap Bender" did not help the criminal. In August 1940, the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR stripped him of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and all the awards he had illegally received. In November 1940, by decision of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR, at the age of 26, Valentin Purgin was shot.
