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Russia's Heroes, 1941-45: An Epic Account of Struggle and Survival on the Eastern Front
A tribute to the extraordinary Russian heroes of World War II who defended their country with bravery, valor, and blood features detailed accounts of the men, women, and children who defended their homeland including a nineteen-year-old private who flung himself on the gun port of a German pillbox so that his comrades could advance.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published June 9, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 18, 2016
Very inspiring real life stories of the valour and sacrifice of the Russian people during the Great Patriotic War against the Nazi monstrosity that invaded their motherland in 1941.
Recalling the heroism and great losses in such battles as Smolensk, Stalingrad, Leningrad Moscow, and the narratives of many heroes and heroines who helped save the world for the Nazi evil.
As much as I despise the Marxist-Leninist system and the tyranny of Joseph Stalin, I greatly admire the resolve and courage of the Russian people in defeating the ultimate evil of Nazi terror. This was a war of the Russian people for the defence of their motherland, not a Communist war. Patriotism and love for Rodina (the Russian birth land)-when in extremity mean readiness to die when the Motherland-are verifiable features of the Russian character.
As was seen in the valiant defence of Russia by it's people in 1812 when an earlier tyrant, Napoleon. had tried to invade and ravage their homeland.
Three days after the Nazi invasion of Russia The London Times of the 25 June 1941 published a letter from Prince Vsevolode, nephew of the last Tsar Nicholas II who was executed by the Bolsheviks, Vsevolode wrote " WE are fighting a common foe and whatever our differences in the past have been I feel that all Slav races should unite to rid the world of Nazism".
The great sacrifices and achievements helped reduce the casualties of the Western democracies- a great debt owed by the West to the Russian people.
This inspiring and exciting book celebrates the heroism of such brave people as the great aeroplane engineer Alexander Yakoklev , father of the famous Yak-1 and Yak-3 fighter planes. The wonderful 'night witches' the young Russian women who put their lives in such peril to fly sorties against Nazi forces, bombing so close to the ground that they had to ensure the force of the blast form the ground did not hit their own planes. These women, such as the legendary Nadya Popova, craved the right to 'fight' and 'die' for their motherland.
Another heroic and special female fighter was the partisan girl, Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya wo embarked on raids and sabotage against the Nazis, After her capture, torture and execution by the SS, she was an inspiration to the heroism of the Russian people, and declared a hero of the Soviet Union.
The author describes the horrors and sacrifices suffered by the people during the siege of Leningrad, and the role played by soldiers of officers of the different nationalities such as the Cossack, Siberian and Jewish fighters.
An interesting chapter on the Russian soldiers stationed in Britain and their dalliances with local British girls. One naval officer Konstantin Lyumbimov enjoyed waltz with a stately lady later finding out it was none other than the Queen Elizabeth (wife of George VI, later the Queen mother) anyone interested in World War II or military history and the spirit of heroism and human sacrifice needs to read this enthralling real life narrative.
Recalling the heroism and great losses in such battles as Smolensk, Stalingrad, Leningrad Moscow, and the narratives of many heroes and heroines who helped save the world for the Nazi evil.
As much as I despise the Marxist-Leninist system and the tyranny of Joseph Stalin, I greatly admire the resolve and courage of the Russian people in defeating the ultimate evil of Nazi terror. This was a war of the Russian people for the defence of their motherland, not a Communist war. Patriotism and love for Rodina (the Russian birth land)-when in extremity mean readiness to die when the Motherland-are verifiable features of the Russian character.
As was seen in the valiant defence of Russia by it's people in 1812 when an earlier tyrant, Napoleon. had tried to invade and ravage their homeland.
Three days after the Nazi invasion of Russia The London Times of the 25 June 1941 published a letter from Prince Vsevolode, nephew of the last Tsar Nicholas II who was executed by the Bolsheviks, Vsevolode wrote " WE are fighting a common foe and whatever our differences in the past have been I feel that all Slav races should unite to rid the world of Nazism".
The great sacrifices and achievements helped reduce the casualties of the Western democracies- a great debt owed by the West to the Russian people.
This inspiring and exciting book celebrates the heroism of such brave people as the great aeroplane engineer Alexander Yakoklev , father of the famous Yak-1 and Yak-3 fighter planes. The wonderful 'night witches' the young Russian women who put their lives in such peril to fly sorties against Nazi forces, bombing so close to the ground that they had to ensure the force of the blast form the ground did not hit their own planes. These women, such as the legendary Nadya Popova, craved the right to 'fight' and 'die' for their motherland.
Another heroic and special female fighter was the partisan girl, Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya wo embarked on raids and sabotage against the Nazis, After her capture, torture and execution by the SS, she was an inspiration to the heroism of the Russian people, and declared a hero of the Soviet Union.
The author describes the horrors and sacrifices suffered by the people during the siege of Leningrad, and the role played by soldiers of officers of the different nationalities such as the Cossack, Siberian and Jewish fighters.
An interesting chapter on the Russian soldiers stationed in Britain and their dalliances with local British girls. One naval officer Konstantin Lyumbimov enjoyed waltz with a stately lady later finding out it was none other than the Queen Elizabeth (wife of George VI, later the Queen mother) anyone interested in World War II or military history and the spirit of heroism and human sacrifice needs to read this enthralling real life narrative.
May 30, 2025
This is a great counter to the glut of Nazi propaganda expounded by such creeps as Franz Kurowski that, for some reason remain in print to this day.
Axell has assembled a fine collection of derring-do as plucky men and women fight to liberate Europe from the Hun.
Axell has assembled a fine collection of derring-do as plucky men and women fight to liberate Europe from the Hun.
June 24, 2013
Consider this. The Soviet Union suffered over 23 million casualties among all branches of services in WWII compared with the 1 million plus among the US, and one gets a scale of just how extensive the fighting was going on between the USSR and Germany along the Eastern Front during that conflict. Axell's book is a tremendous testament to the bravery and sacrifice made by various Soviets during their fight for the survival of their country, and is a book well worth reading to all interested in studying the human character in times of severe conflict.
January 3, 2024
Refreshing to see the personal stories from the Soviet heroes of the Great Patriotic War. Whilst heroes from the US, UK and Germany are discussed at length, this is the first book I’ve seen that dedicated itself to retelling the Soviet legends from the war. Even if (as there will be in a book of this nature) there are some factual errors and starry eyed descriptions of heroes, I think it can be ignored to appreciate the enjoyable, lesser known mythos of the Soviet War Heroes, all told in the nostalgic style of the classical war documentaries / books.
February 17, 2022
A surprisingly good book with lots of interesting personal stories of sacrifice.
February 20, 2019
I picked up this book solely to read about women fighters, some having joined our forces lately made me quite interested in women on the front line. But my perspective changed as I started reading. Turned out, during the Second World War, the brunt of Nazi attack suffered by Russia was two third of the entire Nazi assault globally.
That piece of information was enough to turn this book for me a into a full-fledged Second World War page turner. And so it was. Though put together anecdotally the book tries to highlight certain heroes while mentioning almost all of them. When Hitler advanced his armies towards USSR under operation Barbossa, the Russian people united all over the world to protect their motherland. Though now under a communist reign, the country saw the Tzar’s nephew himself calling his countrymen to reconcile with the Bolsheviks to fight the Nazis. Priests and religion came to terms with communism. Everyone from Cossacks, Siberians and Jews took up one identity.
Russia was churning heroes every second be it soldiers, officers, partisans, peasants, or even Stalin’s son. The many battles saw women soldiers and volunteers as more than mere medics and nurses. Women were running behind enemy lines, getting captured, tortured, and turning martyrs. Women pilots were flying planes made out of cardboard into enemy fire, dropping bombs and sometimes supplies for their own troops, risking not only their lives but their planes too. And doing it not just once but over and over again.
A chunk of Russian effort in the war was by way of the snipers. Men and women hiding in plain sight for days sometimes even weeks without moving and dropping enemy soldiers dead by just a squeeze of the trigger. One of the highlights for me were the sniper duels, where in snipers would sniff out enemy snipers and eliminate them, a fight of not just of patience but tact, bluff and skill.
The other was the art of ramming. Up in the skies pilots who ran out of ammo would use their planes to ram into Nazi planes. A technique first used by a Russian pilot in the First World War. Some after ramming and destroying enemy planes, would go for emergency landing only to fix their planes and go up again for some more ramming. Nazis found such activities plain nasty. Do I say more about how well it must have worked?
Russian heroes is a book remembering all those Generals, Lieutenants, Sergeants, privates who declined to surrender and were found to be resisting capture for months holding their posts with nothing but a grenade and a pistol. Getting captured was not even an option for these martyrs. As the author puts it, Russia did pay quite a big price fighting the Nazis, for every five people dying in the Second World War three were Russians. They did it to stop the war as soon as possible, they did it for their country, they did it for the world. Only after the Battle of Moscow did the world realise what Russia had done. They had managed to give the enemy the first blow. Nazis were invincible no more.
www.fizzyrant.com
That piece of information was enough to turn this book for me a into a full-fledged Second World War page turner. And so it was. Though put together anecdotally the book tries to highlight certain heroes while mentioning almost all of them. When Hitler advanced his armies towards USSR under operation Barbossa, the Russian people united all over the world to protect their motherland. Though now under a communist reign, the country saw the Tzar’s nephew himself calling his countrymen to reconcile with the Bolsheviks to fight the Nazis. Priests and religion came to terms with communism. Everyone from Cossacks, Siberians and Jews took up one identity.
Russia was churning heroes every second be it soldiers, officers, partisans, peasants, or even Stalin’s son. The many battles saw women soldiers and volunteers as more than mere medics and nurses. Women were running behind enemy lines, getting captured, tortured, and turning martyrs. Women pilots were flying planes made out of cardboard into enemy fire, dropping bombs and sometimes supplies for their own troops, risking not only their lives but their planes too. And doing it not just once but over and over again.
A chunk of Russian effort in the war was by way of the snipers. Men and women hiding in plain sight for days sometimes even weeks without moving and dropping enemy soldiers dead by just a squeeze of the trigger. One of the highlights for me were the sniper duels, where in snipers would sniff out enemy snipers and eliminate them, a fight of not just of patience but tact, bluff and skill.
The other was the art of ramming. Up in the skies pilots who ran out of ammo would use their planes to ram into Nazi planes. A technique first used by a Russian pilot in the First World War. Some after ramming and destroying enemy planes, would go for emergency landing only to fix their planes and go up again for some more ramming. Nazis found such activities plain nasty. Do I say more about how well it must have worked?
Russian heroes is a book remembering all those Generals, Lieutenants, Sergeants, privates who declined to surrender and were found to be resisting capture for months holding their posts with nothing but a grenade and a pistol. Getting captured was not even an option for these martyrs. As the author puts it, Russia did pay quite a big price fighting the Nazis, for every five people dying in the Second World War three were Russians. They did it to stop the war as soon as possible, they did it for their country, they did it for the world. Only after the Battle of Moscow did the world realise what Russia had done. They had managed to give the enemy the first blow. Nazis were invincible no more.
www.fizzyrant.com
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 5, 2015
a bit pointless.written in a boys own style. Won't remember it by next week.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews