HERO CITIES

In the Russian language we’ve got a term that foreigners can’t understand – “Hero City”. It means that practically all the citizens of this city did something heroic during the Second World War.

There are 13 cities in the former Soviet Union that have got this title. They are: Moscow, Leningrad, Stalingrad, Kiev, Minsk, Odessa, Sevastopol, Novorossiysk, Kerch, Tula, Smolensk, Murmansk, the city- fortress Brest. All the citizens defended their cities bravely and didn’t let the enemy pass through.

The garrison of the Brest fortress heroically fought for a month. Kiev courageously repulsed the enemy and detained the promotion of the German army for more than two months. The defense of Odessa lasted 73 days and the battle for Sevastopol lasted 250 days. Novorossiysk didn’t let the enemy get to the Caucasus. Kerch and Minsk also heavily damaged the armies of fascist Germany. The fight at the approaches to Tula lasted 45 days and Moscow with the help of Siberian troops didn’t let the enemy get into the city.

The fight at Stalingrad proceeded more than six months. The brilliant victory of the Russian army near Stalingrad made a huge contribution to the achievement of fundamental change during the Second World War.

Stalingrad

But I think that the greatest Hero city is Leningrad. Its blockade lasted for 900 and began on the 8th of September in 1941.

Leningrad

Since that time, Leningrad had been besieged, and the movement of ships on Lake Ladoga and on the Neva River was paralyzed.  The city was short of food supplies and citizens had to eat rats, dogs and even dead people. Houses were neither heated nor lit; there was no water in the taps and people had to go to the river to fetch it. Thousands of people died every week.  But the defense was high and even children helped Soviet soldiers – they brought ammunition for the mortars and cannons, transported the wounded to hospitals, worked at factories and plants. The siege continued until in the morning of January 12, 1943 "Volkhov" and "Leningrad" fronts simultaneously begun the offensive.  At night, before the offensive, the Soviet air forces and artillery bombed German fire positions.  As soon as the bombing had terminated, infantry and light tanks of the Soviet army started their attack.  The German resistance was broken.

 Two years later the Second World War ended and these 13 great cities were granted the title “Hero City”.

                                                                        Novorossiysk                                                                   Kerch

Fyodor Fedorenko

Form 10 M, Lyceum 130

Novosibirsk, Russia