Heroes 25/03/20 How many Chechens defended the Brest fortress in 1941
the Heroic defense of the Brest fortress by Soviet troops in the first months of the great Patriotic never reported from the point of view of the national composition of its garrison. However, recently, it was reported about a large number of Chechens among the defenders.
the surprise announcement
Not so long ago the President of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov has shared information with readers of the newspaper “Izvestia” that Vladimir Putin in 2004, during a meeting with participants of the forum “Russia at the turn of the century: hopes and reality” stated the following: “Not many people know that about one third of the defenders of the Brest fortress consisted of Chechens.”
confirmed that the defense of the Brest fortress was attended by about 7000 Soviet soldiers and officers. It turns out that, at least 2,300 of them were Chechens? Where are the numbers?
it is Known that in Soviet times, the fact of participation of Chechens in military actions persistently suppressed, accordingly, he did not been reflected in official documents. After the war, Chechen writer Khalid oshaev was engaged in coverage of this topic. So, in the book “Brest — hard fire” based on memories of survivors of the defenders of the fortress, he found the number of Chechens who took part in the heroic defense of 275 people.
the Journalist of “Novaya Izvestiya” said bitsoev in the article “Killed and forgotten”, wrote that the Brest fortress defended by hundreds of natives of Chechnya, whose names are forgotten, as most of the archives and personal papers of the red army had burned during the fire, which raged over the ruins more than a month.
Among the remaining half-rotted and faded papers, according to the journalist, managed to find the names of the 188 natives of Chechnya. One of the oldest employees of the memorial complex “Brest fortress” was told that “in the most difficult moments, left bez food, ammunition and hope of salvation, the Chechens staged in remote underground dungeons incendiary dance lezginka, raising the spirit of the rest of the fighters.”
academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Chechen Republic Yavus Akhmadov, based on its sources, writes that the first blow of the German army among the other soldiers took 230 Chechens who were in the Brest fortress.
the head of the press service of the President of the Czech Republic Sayd-Magomed Isayev told the national news Agency an even higher figure: “In the heroic defense of the Brest fortress, which became a symbol of fortitude and courage, was attended by more than 300 Chechens and Ingush”.
the Journalist Timur Aliyev in the article “hero of the Soviet Chechen war,” writes that “almost 400 Chechens and Ingush participated in the heroic defense of the Brest fortress”. That is the figure of the Chechen defenders of the Brest fortress according to the analytical study of the Ministry of the Czech Republic for national policy, press and information has called more than 61% of respondents – residents of Chechnya.
Confirmed figures
As we can see, even the statement of the Chechen authors, the number who participated in the defense of the Brest fortress Chechens could not hold out to 1/3. As for the numbers 275 people, presented the most authoritative researcher of this topic by Osheim, it captures all natives of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Except the Chechens and Ingush were part of 37 the Russian, Adygei, 2, 2 Jews, 2 Tatar, Austrian, Armenian and Kumyk (only 46 people).
in addition, many of these by Achievem military were deployed in the area of Brest in the 6th and 42nd rifle divisions, as well as in the number of parts and to directly participate in the defense of the Brest fortress was not accepted.
As was stated by the Director of the memorial complex “Brest fortress-hero” Gregory Bysyuk, soldiers and officers of more than thirty nationalities, including natives of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet socialist Republic, took part in the defense of the fortress in 1941. In this case he noted that according to different military registration and enlistment offices of the Chechen-Ingush ASSR was called 16 soldiers were in consequence among the defenders. Of them, according to Bisuke, five people are dead in the Brest fortress – three Chechen, Ingush and Tatar.
the identity of the person who participated in the defense of the Brest fortress is a rather complicated procedure. Scientific-methodical Council of the memorial complex “Brest fortress-hero” recognizes and approves soldiers took part in the defence and the fighting in the area of Brest only when certain documents: information, the military or the red army books, the serviceman or two testimonies of the participants of the fortress defense, and other such sources. At the moment the Museum has material on only 20 of the Chechens.
In the centre of the Brest fortress is a stele, under which lie the remains of 850 soldiers defending the citadel. Today, famous names of 222 people, whose initials are carved in gold on the memorial, among them, only three natives of Chechnya – AA Lal, M. J. Uzuev, and S. I. Abdrakhmanov.
the Exact number of Chechens to establish extremely difficult, but it is certainly higher than the official data. To recognize and other representatives of the Chechen people as the defenders of the Brest fortress, the necessary supporting documents or living witnesses, however, almost all the archives irretrievably lost, and veterans almost does not remain. So hundreds of Chechens killed during the defense of the fortress and buried in mass graves remain in the list of “missing”.
eyewitness
if not known, the number of Chechens who defended the Brest fortress remained, however, evidence of their immortal exploits. So, the SS officer, the son of the landowner of Lithuania Antanas Stankus wrote about the last days of the defense of Brest fortress: “the German army has suffered losses from well-aimed shots from the ruins. Wounded defenders of the Brest fortress went to the bayonet with the cries in an incomprehensible guttural language. MOST of them were typically Caucasian faces. And although each of them was wounded several times, they fought like crazy”.
One of the few survivors of the siege of Sayd-Hassan Baytemirov recalled that among the Chechens there were mostly recruits from Malgobek, Nadterechny, Gudermes, Itumkalinsky, Shatoi, Urus-Martan districts. Also, according to Baytemirov, there were many Russians, Jews, Georgians and Ukrainians who lived in Chechnya.
According to the testimony of veterans, almost all parts of the Brest garrison was Grozny. Especially a lot of 125 and 333-m shelves, and some platoons half consisted of recruits Chechens and Ingush. Saturday night, remember the veterans, Caucasians were organized Amateur concerts with the game on the accordion and desig-Pondar (national instrument Vainakh).
At first, the highlanders felt uncomfortable in the fortress, say the veterans. Those who regularly joked and laughed at them. However, when Caucasians had the chance to Excel at the shooting range, the attitude towards them has changed dramatically.
a Native of Grozny, Nikolai Tikhomirov was one of the commanders of the units. It got hot in obedience “the sons of the mountains”. They say that the Lieutenant treated them loyal, forgiving minor faults, and patiently trained in military Affairs. Largely due to his endurance and attention of the Chechens and Ingush were able to quickly adapt to a different army weekdays.
History has preserved the names of two Chechen brothers – Magomed and the Visayas Usheva, natives of the village of Itum-Kale, who was in the beginning of the war in Brest. The elder brother Mahomed, Deputy platoon leader, was among those who in the night from 21 to 22 June 1941, was the first to receive the blow of the German group.
Davis learned that his brother had fought on the walls of the fortress, decided to break through to him. Unfortunately, on the fate of the Visayas is not known. He is still among the missing. Mohammed repeatedly raised the defenkov fortress in the attack, but fell in one of them, struck by a German bullet. His name is carved on the memorial to the defenders of the Brest fortress. 9 February 1996 Magomed Uzuev was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Russian Federation.
Back to the memories of Antanas Stankus. When the German officer was awarded the SS after the capture of the citadel of the underground casemates came tight high red Army officer, says Stankus. “And his right hand was on the holster of a pistol, he was in ragged shape, but walked with her head held high, moving along the ground. The division stood frozen. All of a sudden a German General was clearly to salute a Soviet officer, the last defender of the Brest fortress behind him saluted all officers of the German division. When he reached the funnel from the projectile, the soldier turned his face westward, took out a gun and shot himself in the head. He fell face to Germany.”
When checked the documents, I learned that he is a native of the Chechen-Ingush ASSR, the senior Lieutenant of border troops, said the Lithuanian. “His name I remember was Barkhanoev. We had him buried with due military honors.”
Taras Repin
Source:
© Russian Seven
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