Malaya Zemlya

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Malaya Zemlya

Malaya Zemlya (lit. "Minor Land") was a Soviet uphill outpost that was recaptured after fierce, bloody battles with the Germans. Recapture of the outpost paved way to Soviet attack on German forces in Novorossiysk.

Leonid Brezhnev, the late Soviet leader, served as a political comissar of the 18th Guards Army. This army participated in liberation of Crimean Peninsula. Based on the book, Malaya Zemlya, written by Leonid Brezhnev (though most likely by a ghost writer who allegedly was editor-in-chief of the "Literaturnaya Gazeta" , Alexander Chakovsky), a movie was made by the same name during 1970's.

That place is famous for  one of the heroic battle by Morskoi Desant (Seabased Soviet Special Forces). The special forces were dropped during winter high storms by the Soviet Black Sea Navy. Upon landing to secure the beachhead they came under furious German counter-offensive, that utilizied both the ground and airforces. Against overwhelming forces, the Desant held their ground, and the leader of the group Major Cesar Kunikov (Tsesar Kunikov, Цезарь Кунников)  was mortally wounded, and was  posthumously awarded the highest Soviet WWII title of The Hero of The Soviet Union.  He is one of the few publicly aknowledged Soviet-Jewish WWII Heros.