page_title: Hero City
section_title: Moscow
hierarchical_section_title: Hero City / Hero Cities list / Moscow
caption_attribution_description: Hero City (Russian: город-герой, gorod-geroy, Ukrainian: місто-герой, misto-heroy) is a Soviet honorary title awarded for outstanding heroism during World War II (Eastern Front was known in the former Soviet Union as The Great Patriotic War). It was awarded to twelve cities of the Soviet Union. In addition the Brest Fortress was awarded an equivalent title of Hero Fortress. This symbolic distinction for a city corresponds to the individual distinction Hero of the Soviet Union. According to the statute, the hero city is issued the Order of Lenin, the Gold Star medal, and the certificate of the heroic deed (gramota) from the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Also, the corresponding obelisk is installed in the city [Wikipedia.org]
context_page_description: Hero City is a Soviet honorary title awarded for outstanding heroism during World War II. It was awarded to twelve cities of the Soviet Union. In addition, the Brest Fortress was awarded an equivalent title of Hero Fortress. This symbolic distinction for a city corresponds to the individual distinction Hero of the Soviet Union.
  According to the statute, the hero city was issued the Order of Lenin, the Gold Star medal, and the certificate of the heroic deed from the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Also, the corresponding obelisk was installed in the city.
context_section_description: At the gates of the Soviet capital, the German invaders suffered their first defeat in 1941. The advance of the German Army Group Centre came to a halt in late November 1941, at the outskirts of Moscow itself. The Soviet Government had by then been evacuated, yet Joseph Stalin remained in the city. Struggling between determination and despair, the city's population helped build defensive positions in the streets. The underground metro stations provided shelter during German air raids. 
  General Georgy Zhukov, who assumed command of the city's defence, largely left close combat tactics to the local commanders on the city's approaches, and focused on concentrating fresh troops from Siberia for an eventual counter-attack. The Soviet counter-offensive was launched on 5 and 6 December 1941. In the freezing cold of an unusually harsh winter, Soviet forces, including well-equipped ski battalions, drove the exhausted Germans back out of reach of Moscow and consolidated their positions on 7 January 1942. The victory in the battle provided an important boost in morale for the Soviet population. Moscow was awarded the title Hero City in 1965.
caption: Hero Cities Memorial in Moscow
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