The 44 Non-Soviet Heroes Of The Soviet Union.

[d-riemer]

Here is an official photograph of Colonel Antonin Sochor published 1951 in Czechoslovakia as postcard.

[Taz]

I found this Jan Nalepka Commemerative badge while searching the web the other day and it makes me wonder.
If they find him important enough to make a badge in his name why is there such little info on him?

Eddie.

[Taz]

Captain Ruben Ibarryri - Was awarded on August 22nd, 1956
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Commander, machine-gun company, educational batallion, 35th Guards Rifle Division

Eddie.

[Taz]

Guys,

This is the second bit of good news I've had today this is part of a Mail I have just recived from Vojtěch.

..........In the book there is a lot of photos. If you will wish to translate some captions, simply write me the page number.

page 1 - photo of Bursik & Tesarik & Sochor with their HSU Gold Medal, Order of Lenin and Czechoslovak War Cross 1939. This photo and other photos of Bursik were during Communist regime not published. Instead of it were published only photos of Sochor and Tesarik, Bursik's name was not mentioned in books in the list of Czechoslovak HSU.

page 21 - photo of Tesarik with his T-70M light tank

page 56 - on this photo the third man from right is Stepan Vajda (with Czechoslovak War Cross 1939)

page 66 - in the middle is Bursik in front of his T-34 called "Zizka" (name of medieval Hussiten war leader)

page 90 - photo of Tesarik (HSU Gold Star, Czechoslovak War Cross 1939, Order of Lenin and Order of Red Star)

page 157 - Bursik is overlooking the destroyed Panther

page 159 - 4th man from right (with oculars) is Bursik with a group of German POWs

page 169 - Vajda sitting on the gun barrel of his T-34

page 170 - Bursik with a map, right to him Vajda

page 171 - Vajda's temporary grave

page 179 - Bursik sitting on the gun barrel of destroyed Panther

page 208 - second funeral of Vajda in Ostrava 11 May 1945. Behind the tank hull is coffin.

page 214 - Sochor, Tesarik and Bursik in Jeep in Prague (Old Town Square)

page 244 - Tesarik and his wife

With the book I have send you post-war photo of Bursik with all of his orders and medals. Some of them I don't recognize, because I know only Soviet orders. On the photo you can see the HSU Gold Star, 4 times Czechoslovak War Cross 1939 (4 linden sprigs on ribbon of order), Order of Lenin, Order of the Red Star, Order of Suvorov. Amid the orders should be also Romanian order Corona Romanieli, Yugoslav Order of Brotherhood and some others.

Now it makes sense, Stepan Vajda had a Temporary burial and was then reburied. I bet the tank mentioned on page 208 is called "ZISKA". This was actually Bursik's T-34 and not Vajda's.

We'll soon have the last missing photo, and at last some results from countless sent E-Mails ;)

Eddie.

[Taz]

Guys,
Here are the first of the pics I now have of our Czech HSU's

Here is Stepan Vajda (Sitting on the Gun Barrel) With his crew.

Stepan Vajda ( in the middle) and his Tank Commander friends.

Here is Stepan Vajda's temporary grave.

And here is the picture that is refered to in the previous posts it shows the second funeral of Stephan Vajda in Ostrava on 11th May 1945. Behind the tank turret is his coffin.

[Taz]

Here is a photo of Tesarik with his T-70M light tank.

[Taz]

Here is a post-war photo of Bursik with all of his orders and medals

And a close up of Bursik's awards.
On the photo you can see the HSU Gold Star, 4 times Czechoslovak War Cross 1939 (4 linden sprigs on ribbon of order), Order of Lenin, Order of the Red Star, Order of Suvorov. Amid the orders should be also Romanian order Corona Romanieli, Yugoslav Order of Brotherhood and some others.
Note that his 4 times Czechoslovakian War Cross is ranked before his Order of Lenin.

Bursik, Vajda and other officers planning the next move.

Here is a view of the T-34/85 "Ziska" from Bursik showing the battle honours on the rear of the turret.
Apart from the post-war photo of Bursik these photos are from the Czech Book written by Milan Kopecky called 1. Československé samostatné tankové brigády. If you are interested I can post some more scans of the Czech hero's

Eddie.

[Nota Bene]

Guys,

About Bursik's awards, I was wondering is it normall to wear a combination of the actual medals and "fruit salad" bars.

Eddie, great pictures!

Alexei

[Esteban_cool]

Taz,
It´s my idea when I saw the pic on top or that medal located at the far right of the last row(at the right of that medal that looks like a SAS badge) is the Victory over Germany?

Esteban

[Taz]

Originally Posted by Nota Bene

Guys,

About Bursik's awards, I was wondering is it normall to wear a combination of the actual medals and "fruit salad" bars.

Eddie, great pictures!

Alexei

Alexei,
It seems unusual to wear both the Medals and the ribbons, it makes it all look a bit untidy in my opinion. Looking at the "fruit salad" they are by the looks of it just the Czech awards I can't make out the Soviet awards, Red Star, Suvorow, Lenin etc.

Thanks,
I'll post some further pics when I find the time, It's a pity that the pics of Vajda are not that clear but at least we now know roughly what he looked like.

Originally Posted by Esteban_cool

It´s my idea when I saw the pic on top or that medal located at the far right of the last row(at the right of that medal that looks like a SAS badge) is the Victory over Germany?

Esteban

It could well be Esteban, although if that is the same medal ribbon at the bottom right of his Medal bar it is most likely a Czech award.
I've been looking around the web for pictures of Czech Orders and Medals and there is not a lot of info available on them at the moment.

Eddie.