Bauyrzhan Momyshuly | |
|---|---|
 Senior Lieutenant Baurzhan Momyshuly, 1941. | |
| Born | (1910-12-24)24 December 1910 Orak Balga (in the contemporaryJualy District),Syr-Darya Region,Turkestan Province,Russian Empire |
| Died | 10 June 1982(1982-06-10) (aged 71) Alma-Ata,Kazakh SSR,Soviet Union |
| Buried | Kensai Cemetery,Almaty |
| Allegiance |  Soviet Union |
| Years of service | 1932–1934 1936–1955 |
| Rank | Colonel |
| Unit | Mounted troops |
| Commands | 9th Guards Rifle Division |
| Battles / wars | |
| Awards | Military: Hero of the Soviet Union Civilian: People's Hero of KazakhstanOrder of the Red Banner of Labour Order of Friendship of Peoples Order of the Badge of Honour |
Bauyrzhan Momyshuly, also spelledBaurjan Momish-Uli[a 1] (Kazakh:Бауыржан Момышұлы,Bawırjan Momışulı;Russified:Бауыржан Момышулы; 24 December [O.S. 11 December] 1910 – 10 June 1982) was aKazakh-Soviet military officer and author, posthumously awarded with the titlesHero of the Soviet Union andPeople's Hero of Kazakhstan.
Bauyrzhan was born in Orak Balga, a now abandonedAul in the modernJualy District in southernKazakhstan,[1] to a family of nomadic herders from theDulat tribe. He lived with his relatives until the age of thirteen, but spent his teenage years in Soviet boarding schools.[2] After completing his secondary education in 1929, he worked as a teacher, a secretary of a district committee and as an assistant-prosecutor. He was later employed as a department chief in theKazakh ASSR'sCentral Agency for Economic Planning.[3]
In November 1932, Bauyrzhan was conscripted for a two-year service in theRed Army,[4] and posted as a cadet in the 14th Mountain Infantry Regiment. After his discharge, he studied a course in economics in theLeningrad Institute of Finance and worked in the Kazakh branch of the Commercial-Industrial Soviet State Bank.[5]
On 25 March 1936, Bauyrzhan was again called for military service, becoming a platoon commander in theCentral Asian Military District's 315th Regiment. He remained in the military for the next two decades. In March 1937, the regiment was transferred to theFar Eastern Front inSiberia. While not subject to repression during theGreat Purge, the remark "unreliable, with extreme nationalist views" was inscribed in his personal dossier in 1937. His biographer, Mekemtas Myrzakhmetov, believed this happened because Bauyrzhan was known to read the poetry ofMagzhan Zhumabayev and works of other authors associated with theAlash Orda.[6]
In 1939, Bauyrzhan was assigned to command the 105th Infantry Division's artillery. From February 1940, he headed the 202nd Independent Anti-Tank Battalion, based inZhytomyr.[7]
In January the following year, Lieutenant Bauyrzhan returned to Kazakhstan, serving inAlma-Ata'smilitary commissariat. WhenGermany invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June, he was appointed a battalion commander –Kombat – in the 1073rd Regiment of the newly formed316th Rifle Division, headed by the military commissar of theKirghiz SSR, Major GeneralIvan Panfilov.[8]
In September 1941, the division was sent to the front inMalaya Vishera, at thevicinity of Leningrad.[9] During October, as theWehrmachtadvanced on Moscow, the 316th – now part of GeneralKonstantin Rokossovsky's16th Army – was transferred to the theater and tasked with defending the highway passing through the city ofVolokolamsk and the surrounding area. Bauyrzhan's battalion was assigned an eight-kilometer-long sector along theRuza River; Senior Lieutenant Bauyrzhan took part in 27 engagements during the defense of the Soviet capital. From 16 to 18 November, he and his unit were cut off from the rest of the division in the village of Matryonino, 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 aGuards 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. In late November, Bauyrzhan was promoted to the rank of captain.[10]
Bauyrzhan participated in theSoviet counter-offensive and was severely wounded on 5 December, though he declined to be evacuated to receive treatment.[11]
In March 1942, war correspondentAlexander Bek arrived in the 8th Guards Division. During the spring of that year, Bek convinced Bauyrzhan, who was reluctant at first, to cooperate with him in writing a novel about the fighting inVolokolamsk, which would eventually be published in 1944 under the titleVolokolamsk Highway. Bauyrzhan strongly disapproved of Bek's book, which he claimed to be an unrealistic depiction of events, and criticized the author relentlessly for the remainder of his life.[12]
In April 1942, his commanding officer approved his promotion to the rank of major. In August 1942, his superiors had submitted a highly positive report on his conduct, and he was recommended to be awarded the titleHero of the Soviet Union. The proposal was rejected.[13] The poet Mikhail Isinaliev, a friend of Bauyrzhan, 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. Bauyrzhan joined theCommunist Party during the same year. In October, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel. After eight months, he became a colonel.[14]
During 1943, due to the effects of his old injury, he was forced to rest in a hospital for a prolonged period.[15] After being released from the hospital in March 1944, he underwent an advanced officers' course in theVoroshilov Academy. On 21 January 1945, Colonel Baurzhan Bauyrzhan was appointed as the commander of the9th Guards Rifle Division, a unit of the2nd Guards Rifle Corps in the1st Baltic Front's6th Guards Army. The 9th participated in theEast Prussian offensive, taking fifteen towns near the city ofPriekule. After the war ended, Bauyrzhan was awarded theOrder of Lenin.[16]
In 1946, Bauyrzhan entered the Voroshilov Academy again. On 16 June 1948, theKazakh SSR's Council of Ministers appointed him as chief of the republic'sVoluntary Society for Cooperation with the Armed Forces, while he still served in the military. In late 1948, he became deputy commander of 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 Myrzakhmetov, he was the only one of the 500 officers who graduated with him to never receive the rank of a General; the author claimed this was due to a political decision to denyTurkic people a high status in the Soviet Armed Forces.[17]
In 1955, Colonel Bauyrzhan retired from the army due an illness. He turned to a literary career,[7] writing several novels as well as books about his wartime experiences. He was also a lecturer in theKazakhstan Academy of Sciences.[18]
In 1963, at the invitation ofRaúl Castro, Colonel Bauyrzhan travelled to Cuba, where he lectured members of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces on tactics.
Bauyrzhan is mainly known due his appearance in Bek'sVolokolamsk Highway.[19] The author wrote two sequels,Several Days andGeneral Panfilov's Reserve.[20] The series gained international, as well as Soviet, recognition.
Bauyrzhan's book about the 1941 battles in Volokolamsk,Moscow is Behind Us, was adapted to cinema during 1967.[21] In 1976, he won the Kazakh SSR'sAbai Qunanbaiuly State Prize for his autobiography,Our Family.[5]
Bauyrzhan opposed theBrezhnevite establishment's exaltation of the battle ofMalaya Zemlya; according to his son and biographer, Bahytzhan, his position made him powerful enemies in the state apparatus, and nullified his chances to receive the title Hero of the Soviet Union while alive.[22] When Isinaliev approachedDinmukhamed Kunaev and requested him to arrange for Bauyrzhan to become one such, the First Secretary replied that as long as GeneralAlexei Yepishev was the head of the Red Army's Main Political Directorate, the decoration would never be bestowed.[14] Bahytzhan also recalled that in his later years, his father – who was a "loosely practicing Muslim" all his life[23] – turned toSufism.[24] Bauyrzhan died in 1982 and was buried in Alma-Ata.
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 Bauyrzhan the country's highest military honor, and he was declared a Hero of the Soviet Union on 11 December 1990. After the republic became independent, he was also made aHero of Kazakhstan. The capital of his nativeJualy District,Bauyrzhan Momyshuly, is named after him.[25] TheAlmaty Zhas Ulan Republican School is also named in his honor.
Today, the Center for Bauyrzhan Studies is located at the Taraz State Pedagogical Institute inTaraz, Kazakhstan. The Center is home to a wide variety of Russian and Kazakh sources on the life and times of Bauyrzhan Momyshuly.
On 26 November 2022, the Military Unit 5571 of theNational Guard of Kazakhstan in the center ofAlmaty was named after Bauyrzhan.[26]
Bauyrzhan Bauyrzhan has been depicted by the following actors in film and television productions:
In 2010, Kazakhfilm Studio released the documentaryLegendary Bauyrzhan («Қазақтың Бауыржаны»), directed byKalila Umarov.[citation needed]
In 2013, released TV mini-series named "Bauyrzhan Momyshuly" by famous director of KazakhstanAkan Satayev.[29]
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