Hero of the Soviet Union - children

[Soviet]

I have found a book for sale on eBay about children-heroes of the GPW. I was wondering how many children have been awarded an HSU and I also wanted to know if there were a lot of children awarded high end awards.

Everybody know probably the propaganda scene, where Hitler gave Eisernes Kreuz to some children in the Reichskanzlei Garden in march 1945. I was wondering if it also happened on the Soviet side as well.

[Simon]

In the Soviet Union, there was a category of heroes known as pioneer-heroes. They were children/adolescents who belonged to young pioneer's organization (Soviet equivalent of boy/girlscouts) and committed heroic deeds. For example, partisan Marat Kazei, age 14, blew a grenade killing himself and German soldiers who surrounded him.

A few months ago, I watched a documentary about and talked to the graduate of a Solovetski naval military school that existed during WW2. In that school there were 2 boys who previously were partisans. One of them was awarded Red Banner, another one Red Star.

During the war, many boys ran to the front and tried to join army units. Some of them were accepted and were called sons of regiments. I believe they were mostly engaged in house-keeping tasks: cooking, cleaning, etc. However, at times sons of regiments distinguished themselves in combat and were awarded decorations.

In Ukraine, a resistance organization known as Young Guards consisted of high school students. Members of Young Guards were posthumously awarded HSU titles.

[tinmoldova]

The Soviets even went so far as to produce postcard sets to the Pioneer and Komsomol Heroes of the USSR.