The 44 Non-Soviet Heroes Of The Soviet Union.

[Taz]

Lieutenant Colonel Aleksandr Panayatov Aleksandrov, Bulgaria,Cosmonaut, 17/6/1988, #11578
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Aleksandr Panayatov Aleksandrov was Born 1st December 1951 in Omurtag Bulgaria
Graduated from Airforce Academy; doctorate degree; Deputy Director, Institute of Space Research; Academy of Science, Bulgaria; was selected as backup for Soyuz 33; currently he works as a research scientist.
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Soyuz TM-5 - 07 June 1988 Assignment: Prime Crew. Flight Time: 9.84 days.

Flight details: Soyuz TM-5.

Transported to the Mir orbital station a Soviet/Bulgarian crew comprising cosmonauts A Y Solovyev, V P Savinykh and A P Aleksandrov (Bulgaria) to conduct joint research and experiments with cosmonauts V G Titov and M K Manarov. Interim orbit 343 x 282 km. Maneuvered to Mir's 355 x 349 km orbit. Docked 15:57 GMT 9 June to Mir's aft port. Moved to forward port 18 June. Undocked 22:55 GMT 5 September. Jettisoned Orbital Module 23:35 GMT 5 September. Planned landing 02:15 September 6 1988 failed due to confusion of infrared horizon sensors. Repeat retrofire attempt one orbit later resulted in a partial burn only. The crew had to spend a tense 24 hours in the cramped Descent Module (the Orbital Module having already been jettisoned before the retrofire burn) before making last chance deorbit. Finally Lyakhov and Afghani cosmonaut Mohmand (Soyuz TM-6) returned safely to Earth and landed September 7, 1988 00:50 GMT, 160 km SE Dzhezkazgan.

[Taz]

Colonel Abdul Ahad Mohmand, Afghanistan, Cosmonaut, 7/9/1988, #11584
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Abdul Ahad Mohmand was born on January 1, 1959 in Sardah, Afghanistan, Mohmand graduated from Polytechnical High school in Kabul and then the Air Force Academy. He served in the Afghan Air Force and later trained in the USSR as a pilot.
He was the first Afghan cosmonaut and spent nine days in space aboard the Mir space station in 1988.
He currently lives in Stuttgart, Germany as an Afgan refugee.

Along with Commander Vladimir Lyakhov and Dr. Valery Polyakov, Mohmand was part of the Soyuz TM-6 three-man crew, which launched at 04:23 GMT August 29, 1988. Mohmand's inclusion in the mission was a significant symbol during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

During his brief time on the Mir, Mohmand took photographs of Afghanistan, participated in astrophysical, medical and biological experiments, spoke to Afghan president Najibullah and brewed Afghan tea for the crew.

The September 6 landing of Soyuz TM-6 was delayed because of mechanical complications on the Mir. Radio Moscow reassured listeners that Lyakhov and Mohmand were fine and in touch with Mission Control. A recording was played of them laughing. The British media jumped on the story and incorporated words like "marooned" and "lost in space" into their headlines. They even suggested (erroneously) that the cosmonauts had run out of food. With each passing orbit, the danger for the crew became more and more serious. Fortunately, a day later the retro-fire was successful, and at 00:50 GMT Soyuz TM 5 landed near Dzhezkazgan. During touchdown there was no live radio coverage, only live television pictures of Mission Control.

Abdul Ahad Mohmand received the Order of Lenin and a gold star, and Lyakhov was given the Order of the October Revolution.

[Nota Bene]

Guys,

Here's a Mielke photo.

Alexei

[d-riemer]

26. Vladimir Stoyanov Zaimov.

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General Vladimir Stoyanov Zaimov, Bulgaria, 30/5/1972, #?
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ZAIMOV, Vladimir Stoyanov (1888-1942) Bulgarian general

Reserve General Vladimir Zaimov, born 1988, had participated in military revolts of 1934 and 1935 as one of the leaders. This caused his dismissal as Inspector of the Army and his retirement. He started working with the Communist Party and the Soviet Embassy. Early in 1942, he was arrested with 40 persons for hostile propaganda and contacts with the Soviet Embassy in Sofia. (Amazingly, Bulgaria maintained diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union throughout WWII, while the German army was stationed in Bulgaria. The Soviet Embassy in Sofia became a window for the USSR behind the German lines.) Zaimov was put on trial and executed on June 1, 1942. He became Hero of the Soviet Union in 1972. - Communist Bulgaria promoted him colonel general posthumously and named a military electromechanical factory in Bozhurishte (Sofia region) in his honor.

[Al-muell]

Any idea how is Goranov written in bulgarian? Or at least in russian?
This may help with the search

[Nota Bene]

Guys,

I have searched for Zahkariev Zakhary Semionovitch (Goranov's real name) and here he is:

[Nota Bene]

... and here's another one:

[d-riemer]

Eddie,
I have compared your index of 44 Foreign HSUs with the list in Vol. 2 (page 846) of "Heroes of the Soviet Union" published by the USSR Defense Ministry in 1988. This list contains only 40 names of Foreign Heroes. Two names (17. Lopez, and 42. Mielke) are probably omitted because these men were related to a security agency.

The other two missing names are
6. Julius Hiobner: The USSR apparently withdrew the award when they found out he had survived.

9. Josef Buršík: The return of his HSU award to the Soviet Embassy in London seems to have been accepted and officially recognized.

[Al-muell]

Originally Posted by Taz

This Vajda guy is starting to bug me I can't find anything about him!
Or Goronov for that matter. :(

Eddie.

I have somewhere on the net found an information (from on-line catalogue of one of the Czech municipial libraries) about a book entitled sth like "It happened on 'predmosti'" that has something to do with Vajda (this would mean that it's the same podporuchik i was talking about) but the book is nowhere to find here in Poland. :(
I'll be in CzR on holliday, but I hope some information is found before that...

Btw. - Vajda was promoted to captain (post mortem of course).

[Taz]

Guys,
Here is the article on a Czech Forum site that Al posted a bit from earlier, it mentions Vajda.
Are there please any Czech speakers out there.

I,ve tried Online translation and got somthing like " the scoundrel was shot in the head when he peered out of a manhole" :D

Needless to say that doesn't sound right!



Dňa 11.5.1945 boli totiž v Ostrave, v Komenského sadech, uložené ostatky (tzv. druhý pohreb) kpt. Stepana Vajdu - povýšeného na kpt. a vyznamenaného Zlatou hviezdou hrdinu ZSSR in memoriam. Tank
T 34/85 ŽIŽKA išiel v smútočnom sprievode a za vežou bola na tanku vezená rakva s ostatkami.

Až po tomto dátume dostal tank na zadný štít veže dva nápisy :
OSTRAVA 1945 a pod tým PRAHA 1945.

(ppor. Stepan Vajda padol 6.4.1945 pred 19-tou hodinou pri obrane predmostia pri mestečku Tworków. Odstrelovač ho trafil do hlavy, keď ju vysunul nad poklop veže z dôvodu prieskumu pred ústupom)

Analogicky sa dá predpokladať, že pri oprave prevodovky po zásahu bolo nutné opraviť alebo vymeniť aj pojazdové kolesá tanku. Tak sa stalo, že na ľavej strane boli štyri typy pojazdových kolies. Prvé je lisované, plné, s hladkou pryžovou obručou. Druhé koleso bolo liate, "paprskové" s vrúbkovanou pryžovou obručou. Tretie a piate koleso bolo liate, "paprskové" s hladkou pryžovou bandážou. Štvrté koleso bolo tak isto liate, "paprskové" s bandážou po obvode perforovanou kruhovými otvormi. Ich význam som doteraz nepochopil.

Prameň z ktorého som čerpal :
1. československá samostatná tanková brigáda v SSSR, autor Milan Kopecký, vydavateľstvp MBI, 1. vydanie Praha 2001


Eddie.