Grigory Tkhor (; , in Podlipnoe January 1943, in

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

) was a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

aviator,

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

and

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part ...

volunteer, and major general of the

Soviet Air Force The Soviet Air Forces (, VVS SSSR; literally "Military Air Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics"; initialism VVS, sometimes referred to as the "Red Air Force") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Sovie ...

. He was captured during the course of the

Battle of Kiev (1941) The First Battle of Kiev was the German name for the major battle that resulted in an encirclement of Red Army, Soviet troops in the vicinity of Kiev during World War II, the capital and most populous city of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Re ...

. He was imprisoned in a number of concentration camps, and repeatedly tortured, until his execution by firing squad in January 1943. He was posthumously decorated with the title

Hero of the Soviet Union The title Hero of the Soviet Union () was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society. The title was awarded both ...

Biography

Grigory Illarionovic Tkhor was born on 28 September 1903, in the village of Podlipnoe,

Konotop Raion Konotop Raion (, ) is a raion in Sumy Oblast in Central Ukraine. The administrative center of the raion is the town of Konotop. Population: On 18 July 2020, as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, the number of raions of Sumy Oblast wa ...

. He belonged to a family of ethnic Ukrainian farmers. After graduating from a five grade school, he went on to work at his father's farm. In 1923 he enlisted into the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

. In 1924 he graduated from an infantry academy, subsequently commanding various infantry formations. In 1931, he graduated from a school for navigator pilots, in 1935 he became a pilot. He commanded a number of squadrons until 1937 when he was promoted to a command a brigade belonging to the 64th Heavy Bomber Division. Tkhor fought in the

, flying 102 combat missions in support of the Republican forces. He then served as deputy commander of the

Transbaikal Military District The Transbaikal Military District () was a military district of first the Soviet Armed Forces and then the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, formed on 17 May 1935 and included the Buryat Republic, Chita Oblast, and Yakutia. Chita was ...

's air force. In late April 1938, Tkhor's heavy bomber squadron left

Irkutsk Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and , ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 587,891 Irkutsk is the List of cities and towns in Russ ...

, to join the

Soviet Volunteer Group The Soviet Volunteer Group was the volunteer part of the Soviet Air Forces sent to support the Republic of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War between 1937 and 1941. After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, the Sino-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact ...

fighting on the Chinese side in the

. The unit made stops in

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

Suzhou Suzhou is a major prefecture-level city in southern Jiangsu province, China. As part of the Yangtze Delta megalopolis, it is a major economic center and focal point of trade and commerce. Founded in 514 BC, Suzhou rapidly grew in size by the ...

and

Lanzhou Lanzhou is the capital and largest city of Gansu province in northwestern China. Located on the banks of the Yellow River, it is a key regional transportation hub, connecting areas further west by rail to the eastern half of the country. His ...

, before reaching its final destination

Hankou Hankou, alternately romanized as Hankow (), was one of the three towns (the other two were Wuchang and Hanyang) merged to become modern-day Wuhan city, the capital of the Hubei province, China. It stands north of the Han and Yangtze Rivers w ...

. In China, Tkhor distinguished himself as an able pilot who was able to fly on a variety of aircraft, that Chinese pilots had previously discarded as unserviceable. He simultaneously acted as a senior advisor in the

Republic of China Air Force The Republic of China Air Force ( Chinese, 中華民國空軍), or the ROCAF; known colloquially as the Taiwanese Air Force ( Chinese, 臺灣空軍) by Western or mainland Chinese media, or commonly referred as the National Military Air Force ...

. On 4 August 1939, he was granted the rank of

Kombrig () is an abbreviation of Commanding officer of the brigade (), and was a military rank in the Soviet Armed Forces of the USSR from 1935 to 1940. It was also the designation to military personnel appointed to command a brigade sized formation (X ...

. Upon his return from China, Tkhor was transferred to the

Kiev Military District The Kiev Military District (; , abbreviated ) was a military district of the Imperial Russian Army and subsequently of the Red Army and Soviet Armed Forces. It was first formed in 1862, and was headquartered in Kiev (Kyiv) for most of its exist ...

where he held the position of deputy commander of the 62nd Heavy Bomber Division under the rank of major general. In May 1941, he graduated from the

Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia The Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation () is the senior staff college of the Russian Armed Forces. The academy is located in Moscow, on 14 Kholzunova Lane. It was founded in 1936 as a Soviet inst ...

. At the outbreak of

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...

he took part in the defense of the Ukrainian border. His plane was shot down in a dogfight at the closing stage of the

, he landed behind enemy lines and was found unconscious by a German patrol. He was initially taken to the

Moabit Moabit () is an inner city locality in the boroughs of Berlin, borough of Mitte, Berlin, Germany. As of 2022, about 84,000 people lived in Moabit. First inhabited in 1685 and incorporated into Berlin in 1861, the former industrial sector, industr ...

detention center where he refused to become a turncoat despite being subjected to torture. He was subsequently detained in , a prison in

and the

Flossenbürg concentration camp Flossenbürg was a Nazi concentration camp built in May 1938 by the SS Main Economic and Administrative Office. Unlike other concentration camps, it was located in a remote area, in the Fichtel Mountains of Bavaria, adjacent to the town of Flos ...

. During this time frame he was questioned regularly, often returning on blood soaked stretchers. He was executed by a firing squad in January 1943. Details about his captivity and death were declassified 15 years after the end of the war.

Awards

Tkhor was awarded with the

Order of the Badge of Honour The Order of the Badge of Honour () was a civilian award of the Soviet Union. It was established on 25 November 1935, and was conferred on citizens of the USSR for outstanding achievements in sports, production, scientific research and socia ...

in 1936. He had been decorated with the

Order of the Red Banner The Order of the Red Banner () was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. It was the highest award of S ...

on three occasions (1937, 1937, 1938), he received the

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...

in 1939. On 26 June 1991,

Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...

posthumously awarded him with the title

, citing his bravery during the course of World War II.

Footnotes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tkhor, Grigory 1903 births 1943 deaths Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union alumni Soviet Air Force generals Soviet major generals Soviet World War II pilots Soviet military personnel of World War II from Ukraine Shot-down aviators Soviet military personnel killed in World War II Soviet people of the Second Sino-Japanese War Soviet people of the Spanish Civil War Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner Recipients of the Order of Lenin Heroes of the Soviet Union Military personnel who died in Nazi concentration camps Ukrainian people executed by Nazi Germany People executed by Nazi Germany by firing squad