I've been researching (and documenting) ex-USSR #WW2 war heritage for years now and it's safe to say that there's a good percentage of it that's partly (in some cases even fully) fabricated. So in short: made up stories to serve a revisionist (and most glamorous) version of WW2.

Most of the time, these stories are related to a fallen soldier (pre-1942) who was posthumously bestowed a hero title or lesser-type of award for merits with not much ground to stand on. Types of heroes:
1) The hero that may have done something based on rumors, local testimonies

2) The hero that may have done something according to version A, B, C
3) The hero that may have done something according to post-war documentation, but with war-documentation partly (or even fully) missing.
4) The super-hero that may have done something: Soldier X destroyed (...)

(..) at least 20 vehicles (incl. tanks) and *insert infinite number* of enemies. Most of the time according to post-war documentation. See 3.
5) The hero that may have done something, but it's clear that even post-war institutions were wary of going too far on the "hero"-road >

> because there isn't much left to stand on. Relatives are left in limbo. But there might be some obscure #WW2 memorial standing somewhere. Most of the time small, insignificant and far-from-the-road type of memorials. [END] #history #USSR

Part 2:
6) The hero that may have done something, but post-war investigations concluded that story X was an "invention/fabrication", and the results of the probe were kept secret.

A fine example of 6) is the Soviet myth of "Panfilov's 28 Men", which is disputed by historians.

A 2016 #WW2 movie based on the myth was financially supported by #Russia and Kazakhstan and used as flagship in a state-campaign to counter "falsification of history". However, State Archive director Sergei Mironenko cited historical documents to dispute the story. He was fired.