On the Making of Heroes, Heroines and Saints

It is the [heroes] who died in combat or became martyrs for the good cause, and not the high-ranking army officers and generals, around whom myth, legend and hero cults evolved, which became deeply ingrained into popular consciousness and served as a strong bong of national identification... the apparent overabundance of heroes.... is astonishing. Were the Soviet people more heroic than others? What made them fight so fiercely and bravely? Was it the confrontation with an extremely vile enemy, or was heroism a "natural" quality of theirs, as Soviet propaganda had always asserted? [Author]