5 Soviet heroes of the Spanish Civil War (PHOTOS)
The USSR helped the Second Spanish Republic (1931-1939) with both weapons and military specialists. Many of them also took part in the battles. And some became ‘Heroes of the Soviet Union’ thanks to their involvement on the Iberian peninsula. We’ve highlighted the best of them below.
1. Tanker Paul Arman
Paul Arman (real name – Pēteris Tiltiņš) became the first tanker in the Red Army to be awarded the title ‘Hero of the Soviet Union’.
On October 29, 1936, Captain Arman commanded a Republican tank company in a battle near the village of Seseña, not far from Madrid. The Nationalists suffered a heavy defeat and the commander himself, in a T-26 tank, managed to destroy three tanks and kill many enemy soldiers. And he remained in service despite receiving a concussion.
Colonel Arman died on August 7, 1943, from a bullet from a German sniper near Leningrad (now St. Petersburg).
2. Tanker Semyon Osadchiy
In the same battle near Seseña, tank platoon commander Semyon Osadchiy carried out the world's first tank ramming. At full speed, he drove a T-26 into an Italian ‘Ansaldo’ tankette and pushed it into a ravine.
Three days later, both of his legs were torn off in the battle and, on November 13, he died in a Madrid hospital from gangrene.
3. Pilot Viktor Kholzunov
Colonel Viktor Kholzunov formed and led a squadron of SB bombers in Spain. It was considered to be the best in the republic's Air Force.
One of the squadron's most notable achievements was the destruction of the Talavera railway station in 1937, a strategically important Nationalist transport hub.
Kholzunov died two years later in the south of the USSR during tests of the DB-3 bomber.
4. Tanker Kuzma Bilibin
Tank platoon commander Kuzma Bilibin became famous for repairing his damaged tank near the city of Teruel, just 200 meters from the enemy's front line. Despite intense fire from the Nationalists, he calmly managed to fix the damaged track and re-enter the battle.
He died in another battle on the Jarama River on March 6, 1937.
5. Tanker Sergei Laputin
During the battle at Fuentes de Ebro in July 1937, the crew of Sergei Laputin's T-26 was hit and became stuck in an enemy trench. For 24 hours, the crew fought back against the Nationalists, who had surrounded the combat vehicle. When they ran out of ammunition, the tankers miraculously managed to break through to their own.
Laputin safely lived to the end of the Spanish Civil War, fought through World War II and peacefully passed away in Moscow in 1985.
