Baurzhan Momyshuly
Encyclopedia
Baurzhan Momyshuly was a Kazakh-Soviet military officer, writer and a posthumous Hero of the Soviet Union
.
in southern Kazakhstan. After graduating from school at 1929, he worked as a secretary of the district's executive committee and later as an assistant-prosecuter. He was later employed as a department chief in the Kazakh ASSR
's Central Agency for Economic Planning
.
On November 1932, Momyshuly was drafted for two-year service in the Red Army
, and served in the 14th Mountain Infantry Division, Holding the rank of a platoon commander. After his discharge, he studied in the Leningrad
Institute of Finance and worked in the Kazakh branch of the Commercial-Industrial Soviet State Bank.
.
On January the following year, Lieutenant Momyshuly returend to Kazakhstan, serving in Alma Ata's military commissariat
. When Germany invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June
, he was appointed a battalion commander - Kombat
- in the 1073th Regiment of the hastily-formed 316th Rifle Division
, headed by the military commisar of the Kyrgyz SSR, Major-General Ivan Panfilov
.
, at the vicinity of Leningrad
. During October, as the Wehrmacht
advanced on Moscow
, the 316th - now a part of General Konstantin Rokossovsky
's 16th Army
- was transferred to the theater and tasked with defending the highway passing through the city of Volokolamsk
and the surrounding area. Momyshuly's battalion was assigned an eight kilometer long sector along the Ruza River
; Lieutenant Momyshuly took part in 27 engagements during the defense of the Soviet capital. From the 16th to the 18th of November, he and his unit were cut off from the rest of the division in the village of Matronina, yet managed to hold off the German forces and eventually broke out back to their lines. For its performances, the 316th was awarded the status of a Guards formation on 23 November, and named the Panfilov 8th Guards Rifle Division in honor of its fallen commander, who was killed in action on 18 November. Afterwards, Momyshuly was promoted to the rank of captain and posted as the 1073th Regiment's commander.
Momyshuly participated in the Soviet counter-offensive and was severely wounded on the 5 December, though he declined to be evacuated to receive treatment. At 1942, he was recommended to be awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union
, but didn't receive the honor. The poet Mikhail Isinaliev, a friend of Momyshuly, wrote that a former political officer from the 8th Guards told him that this was due to his Kazakh patriotism, which was regarded as dangerous nationalism by the unit's commissars. Momyshuly joined the Communist Party
at the same year. On October, he was promoted to the rank of major.
During 1943, due to the effects of his old injury, he was forced to rest in a hospital for several months. At that time and later, he helped the war correspondent Alexander Bek to write the book Volokolamsk Highway, which described the fighting of the 316th Division in Moscow from Momyshuly's point of view. After being released from the hospital in March 1944, he underwent an advanced officers' course in the Voroshilov Academy. On 28 January 1945, Colonel Baurzhan Momyshuly was appointed as the commander of the 9th Guards Rifle Division, a unit of the 2nd Rifle Corps in the 1st Baltic Front
's 6th Army. The 9th participated in the Baltic Offensive and in the East Prussian Offensive
, taking fifteen towns near the city of Priekule. After the war ended, Momyshuly was awarded the Order of Lenin
.
's Council of Ministers appointed him as chief of the republic's Voluntary Society for Cooperation with the Armed Forces
, while he still served in the military. After graduating from the Academy, he commanded the 49th Independent Infantry Brigade in the East Siberian Military District. From 1950, he served as a senior lecturer in the Red Army's Military Academy of Logistics and Transport. According to the director of the Momyshuly Research Center in Almaty, Mekemtas Myrzakhmetov, he was the only one of the 500 officers who graduated with him to never receive the rank of a General; Myrzakhmetov claimed that this was due to a political decision to deny Turkic people a high status in the Soviet Armed Forces.
On 1955, Colonel Momyshuly retired from the army due an illness. He turned to a literary career, writing several novels as well as books about his wartime experiences. He was also a lecturer in the Kazakhstan Academy of Sciences
.
Momyshuly was mainly known due his appearance in Bek's Volokolamsk Highway. The author wrote two sequels, Several Days and General Panfilov's Reserve. The series gained international, as well as Soviet, recognition: Volokolamsk Highway became a mandatory read for the members of the Palmach
, and later for the officers of the Israeli Defense Forces; On 17 May 2005, Ehud Barak
told "we, as young officers, were raised with Momyshuly." It was also popular among the Cuban revolutionaries; Fernando Heredia wrote that "most Cubans begun their Marxist-Leninist
reading with Panfilov's Men". Fidel Castro
told Norberto Fuentes
that "the idea to use the Motherland to convince people to support me, came to me after reading the novel". Momyshuly traveled to the island at 1963, where he met Raul Castro
and was made an honorary commander of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces' 51st Regiment.
Momyshuly's book about the 1941 battles in Volokolamsk, Moscow is Behind Us, was adapted to cinema during 1967. In 1976, he won the Kazakh SSR's Abay Qunanbayuli State Prize for his autobiography, Our Family.
Throughout the years, Mikhail Isinaliev had on several occasions approached Kazakhstan's chief of the Communist Party, Dinmukhamed Konayev, and requested him to arrange for Momyshuly to be made a Hero of the Soviet Union. The first secretary had replied that as long as General Alexei Yepishev
was the head of the Red Army's Main Political Directorate, the decoration would never be bestowed. Shortly before the collapse of the USSR, the chief of the Kazakh Supreme Soviet, Nursultan Nazarbayev
, had managed to convince the authorities in Moscow to posthumously grant Momyshuly the title, and he was declared a Hero of the Soviet Union at 11 December 1990. After the republic became independent, he was also made a People's Hero of Kazakhstan
. The capital of his native Zhualy District
is named after him.
Hero of the Soviet Union
The title Hero of the Soviet Union was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society.-Overview:...
.
Early life
Momyshuly was born to a peasant family in Kolbastau, an AulAul
An aul is a type of fortified village found throughout the Caucasus mountains, especially in Dagestan.The word itself is of Turkic origine and means simply village in many Turkic languages....
in southern Kazakhstan. After graduating from school at 1929, he worked as a secretary of the district's executive committee and later as an assistant-prosecuter. He was later employed as a department chief in the Kazakh ASSR
Kazakh ASSR
The Kazak Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was an autonomous republic of the Soviet Union within the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic existing from 1925 until 1936....
's Central Agency for Economic Planning
Gosplan
Gosplan or State Planning Committee was the committee responsible for economic planning in the Soviet Union. The word "Gosplan" is an abbreviation for Gosudarstvenniy Komitet po Planirovaniyu...
.
On November 1932, Momyshuly was drafted for two-year service in the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
, and served in the 14th Mountain Infantry Division, Holding the rank of a platoon commander. After his discharge, he studied in the Leningrad
Leningrad
Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...
Institute of Finance and worked in the Kazakh branch of the Commercial-Industrial Soviet State Bank.
Military career
On 15 March 1936, he was again called for military service, and assigned as a platoon commander in the Central Asian Military District's 315th Regiment. Momyshuly chose to remain in the military. On March 1937, the regiment was transferred to the Far Eastern Front in Siberia. At 1939, Momyshuly was assigned to command the 105th Division's artillery. From February 1940, he headed the 202nd Independent Anti-Tank Battalion, based in ZhytomyrZhytomyr
Zhytomyr is a city in the North of the western half of Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Zhytomyr Oblast , as well as the administrative center of the surrounding Zhytomyr Raion...
.
On January the following year, Lieutenant Momyshuly returend to Kazakhstan, serving in Alma Ata's military commissariat
Military commissariat
Military commissariat is a military institution in some European counties.-Russia and former USSR:Military commissariat , abbreviated as voyenkomat is а local military administrative agency in the former Soviet Union as well as in present-day Russia and some other CIS countries that prepares and...
. When Germany invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
, he was appointed a battalion commander - Kombat
Combat (military rank)
Combat or Kombat , abbreviated from Командир батальона was a military rank in the Red Army until the end of the 1930s. At that time it was roughly equivalent to the rank of Captain....
- in the 1073th Regiment of the hastily-formed 316th Rifle Division
8th Guards Rifle Division
The 8th Guards Panfilov Division originally the 316th Rifle Division, is a motorized infantry division of the Military of Kyrgyzstan,...
, headed by the military commisar of the Kyrgyz SSR, Major-General Ivan Panfilov
Ivan Panfilov
Not to be confused with Major General Alexei Pavlovich Panfilov, who is known for negotiating the creation of the Anders Army.In Allen Paul's book Katyn: Stalin's Massacre and the Triumph of Truth , page 172, it is written that the name of the assistant chief of the General Staff of the Red Army...
.
World War II
On September 1941, the division was sent to the front in Malaya VisheraMalaya Vishera
Malaya Vishera is a town and the administrative center of Malovishersky District of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. Population: The town's name originates from the river of the same name which flows into the Vishera River. It was founded in 1843, as the construction of the Moscow-Saint Petersburg Railway...
, at the vicinity of Leningrad
Siege of Leningrad
The Siege of Leningrad, also known as the Leningrad Blockade was a prolonged military operation resulting from the failure of the German Army Group North to capture Leningrad, now known as Saint Petersburg, in the Eastern Front theatre of World War II. It started on 8 September 1941, when the last...
. During October, as the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
advanced on Moscow
Battle of Moscow
The Battle of Moscow is the name given by Soviet historians to two periods of strategically significant fighting on a sector of the Eastern Front during World War II. It took place between October 1941 and January 1942. The Soviet defensive effort frustrated Hitler's attack on Moscow, capital of...
, the 316th - now a part of General Konstantin Rokossovsky
Konstantin Rokossovsky
Konstantin Rokossovskiy was a Polish-origin Soviet career officer who was a Marshal of the Soviet Union, as well as Marshal of Poland and Polish Defence Minister, who was famously known for his service in the Eastern Front, where he received high esteem for his outstanding military skill...
's 16th Army
16th Army (Soviet Union)
The 16th Army was a Soviet field army active from 1940 to 1945.-First Formation, 16th Army:Before Operation Barbarossa, HQ 16th Army was formed in July 1940 in the Transbaikal Military District . General Lieutenant М. F. Лукин took command...
- was transferred to the theater and tasked with defending the highway passing through the city of Volokolamsk
Volokolamsk
Volokolamsk is a town and the administrative center of Volokolamsky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia, located on the Gorodenka River, not far from its confluence with the Lama River, northwest of Moscow. Population: -History:...
and the surrounding area. Momyshuly's battalion was assigned an eight kilometer long sector along the Ruza River
Ruza River
Ruza River is a river in the Moscow Oblast in Russia, left tributary of the Moscow River. The length of the river is 145 km. The area of its basin is 1,990 km². It usually freezes in November and stays under the ice until April....
; Lieutenant Momyshuly took part in 27 engagements during the defense of the Soviet capital. From the 16th to the 18th of November, he and his unit were cut off from the rest of the division in the village of Matronina, yet managed to hold off the German forces and eventually broke out back to their lines. For its performances, the 316th was awarded the status of a Guards formation on 23 November, and named the Panfilov 8th Guards Rifle Division in honor of its fallen commander, who was killed in action on 18 November. Afterwards, Momyshuly was promoted to the rank of captain and posted as the 1073th Regiment's commander.
Momyshuly participated in the Soviet counter-offensive and was severely wounded on the 5 December, though he declined to be evacuated to receive treatment. At 1942, he was recommended to be awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union
Hero of the Soviet Union
The title Hero of the Soviet Union was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society.-Overview:...
, but didn't receive the honor. The poet Mikhail Isinaliev, a friend of Momyshuly, wrote that a former political officer from the 8th Guards told him that this was due to his Kazakh patriotism, which was regarded as dangerous nationalism by the unit's commissars. Momyshuly joined the Communist Party
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
at the same year. On October, he was promoted to the rank of major.
During 1943, due to the effects of his old injury, he was forced to rest in a hospital for several months. At that time and later, he helped the war correspondent Alexander Bek to write the book Volokolamsk Highway, which described the fighting of the 316th Division in Moscow from Momyshuly's point of view. After being released from the hospital in March 1944, he underwent an advanced officers' course in the Voroshilov Academy. On 28 January 1945, Colonel Baurzhan Momyshuly was appointed as the commander of the 9th Guards Rifle Division, a unit of the 2nd Rifle Corps in the 1st Baltic Front
1st Baltic Front
The First Baltic Front was a Front of the Soviet Army during the Second World War. The commanders of it were Army General Andrey Yeryomenko and succeeded by Army General Bagramyan. It was formed by re-naming the Kalinin Front in October 12, 1943 and took part in several important military...
's 6th Army. The 9th participated in the Baltic Offensive and in the East Prussian Offensive
East Prussian Offensive
The East Prussian Offensive was a strategic offensive by the Red Army against the German Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front . It lasted from 13 January to 25 April 1945, though some German units did not surrender until 9 May...
, taking fifteen towns near the city of Priekule. After the war ended, Momyshuly was awarded the Order of Lenin
Order of Lenin
The Order of Lenin , named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was the highest decoration bestowed by the Soviet Union...
.
Post-war years
At 1946, Momyshuly entered the Voroshilov Academy again. On 16 June 1948, the Kazakh SSRKazakh SSR
The Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Kazakh SSR for short, was one of republics that made up the Soviet Union.At in area, it was the second largest constituent republic in the USSR, after the Russian SFSR. Its capital was Alma-Ata . Today it is the independent state of...
's Council of Ministers appointed him as chief of the republic's Voluntary Society for Cooperation with the Armed Forces
DOSAAF
DOSAAF was a paramilitary society in the Soviet Union, Voluntary Society for Cooperation with the Army, Aviation, and Fleet . The society was preserved in a number of post-Soviet Republics, e.g., in Russia and Belarus...
, while he still served in the military. After graduating from the Academy, he commanded the 49th Independent Infantry Brigade in the East Siberian Military District. From 1950, he served as a senior lecturer in the Red Army's Military Academy of Logistics and Transport. According to the director of the Momyshuly Research Center in Almaty, Mekemtas Myrzakhmetov, he was the only one of the 500 officers who graduated with him to never receive the rank of a General; Myrzakhmetov claimed that this was due to a political decision to deny Turkic people a high status in the Soviet Armed Forces.
On 1955, Colonel Momyshuly retired from the army due an illness. He turned to a literary career, writing several novels as well as books about his wartime experiences. He was also a lecturer in the Kazakhstan Academy of Sciences
Kazakhstan Academy of Sciences
Kazakhstan Academy of Sciences was founded in 1946 as a state institution that joins active members , corresponding members, and leading scientists of Kazakhstan...
.
Momyshuly was mainly known due his appearance in Bek's Volokolamsk Highway. The author wrote two sequels, Several Days and General Panfilov's Reserve. The series gained international, as well as Soviet, recognition: Volokolamsk Highway became a mandatory read for the members of the Palmach
Palmach
The Palmach was the elite fighting force of the Haganah, the underground army of the Yishuv during the period of the British Mandate of Palestine. The Palmach was established on May 15, 1941...
, and later for the officers of the Israeli Defense Forces; On 17 May 2005, Ehud Barak
Ehud Barak
Ehud Barak is an Israeli politician who served as Prime Minister from 1999 until 2001. He was leader of the Labor Party until January 2011 and holds the posts of Minister of Defense and Deputy Prime Minister in Binyamin Netanyahu's government....
told "we, as young officers, were raised with Momyshuly." It was also popular among the Cuban revolutionaries; Fernando Heredia wrote that "most Cubans begun their Marxist-Leninist
Marxism-Leninism
Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology, officially based upon the theories of Marxism and Vladimir Lenin, that promotes the development and creation of a international communist society through the leadership of a vanguard party over a revolutionary socialist state that represents a dictatorship...
reading with Panfilov's Men". Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
told Norberto Fuentes
Norberto Fuentes
Norberto Fuentes is a writer and journalist.He has published Hemingway in Cuba and Ernest Hemingway: Rediscovered, both available in English, as well as Dulces guerreros cubanos, Condenados de Condado , Posición Uno, and El último Santuario...
that "the idea to use the Motherland to convince people to support me, came to me after reading the novel". Momyshuly traveled to the island at 1963, where he met Raul Castro
Raúl Castro
Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz is a Cuban politician and revolutionary who has been President of the Council of State of Cuba and the President of the Council of Ministers of Cuba since 2008; he previously exercised presidential powers in an acting capacity from 2006 to 2008...
and was made an honorary commander of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces' 51st Regiment.
Momyshuly's book about the 1941 battles in Volokolamsk, Moscow is Behind Us, was adapted to cinema during 1967. In 1976, he won the Kazakh SSR's Abay Qunanbayuli State Prize for his autobiography, Our Family.
Throughout the years, Mikhail Isinaliev had on several occasions approached Kazakhstan's chief of the Communist Party, Dinmukhamed Konayev, and requested him to arrange for Momyshuly to be made a Hero of the Soviet Union. The first secretary had replied that as long as General Alexei Yepishev
Alexei Yepishev
General of the Army Alexei Alexeyevich Yepishev was a Soviet party and military figureand chief of the Main Political Directorate of the Soviet Army and Navy from 1962 to 1985...
was the head of the Red Army's Main Political Directorate, the decoration would never be bestowed. Shortly before the collapse of the USSR, the chief of the Kazakh Supreme Soviet, Nursultan Nazarbayev
Nursultan Nazarbayev
Nursultan Abishuly Nazarbayev has served as the President of Kazakhstan since the nation received its independence in 1991, after the fall of the Soviet Union...
, had managed to convince the authorities in Moscow to posthumously grant Momyshuly the title, and he was declared a Hero of the Soviet Union at 11 December 1990. After the republic became independent, he was also made a People's Hero of Kazakhstan
People's Hero of Kazakhstan
People's Hero of Kazakhstan is the highest distinction conferred by the Republic of Kazakhstan, along with the Order of Golden Eagle.-Overview:...
. The capital of his native Zhualy District
Zhualy District
Jualy is a district of Jambyl Province in southeastern Kazakhstan. The administrative center of the district is Bauyrjan Momyshuly town....
is named after him.
Honours and awards
- Hero of the Soviet UnionHero of the Soviet UnionThe title Hero of the Soviet Union was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society.-Overview:...
(1990, posthumously) - People's Hero of KazakhstanPeople's Hero of KazakhstanPeople's Hero of Kazakhstan is the highest distinction conferred by the Republic of Kazakhstan, along with the Order of Golden Eagle.-Overview:...
(posthumously) - Order of LeninOrder of LeninThe Order of Lenin , named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was the highest decoration bestowed by the Soviet Union...
- Order of the Red BannerOrder of the Red BannerThe Soviet government of Russia established the Order of the Red Banner , a military decoration, on September 16, 1918 during the Russian Civil War...
, twice - Order of the Patriotic WarOrder of the Patriotic WarThe Order of the Patriotic War is a Soviet military decoration that was awarded to all soldiers in the Soviet armed forces, security troops, and to partisans for heroic deeds during the German-Soviet War, known by the former-Soviet Union as the Great Patriotic War.- History :The Order was...
, 1st class - Order of the Red Banner of LabourOrder of the Red Banner of LabourThe Order of the Red Banner of Labour was an order of the Soviet Union for accomplishments in labour and civil service. It is the labour counterpart of the military Order of the Red Banner. A few institutions and factories, being the pride of Soviet Union, also received the order.-History:The Red...
- Order of the Friendship of Peoples (23 December 1980)
- Order of the Red StarOrder of the Red StarEstablished on 6 April 1930, the Order of the Red Star was an order of the Soviet Union, given to Red Army and Soviet Navy personnel for "exceptional service in the cause of the defense of the Soviet Union in both war and peace". It was established by Resolution of the Presidium of the CEC of the...
- Order of the Badge of Honour
Books
- Moscow Behind Us
- Our General, Ivan Panfilov
- One Night's Tale
- Our Family
- The Officer's Diary
- Psychology of War
Portrayal in the media
Baurzhan Momyshuly has been depicted by the following actors in film and television productions:- Asanbek Umuraliyev in the 1968 film Moscow is Behind Us.
- Boris Scherbakov in the 1984 TV mini-series Volokolamsk Highway.