The 69th anniversary of the Great Victory of the Soviet people over Nazi Germany is marked today. All nations of the USSR were fighting together in the war, everyone demonstrated courage and honour. Belarus turned into an arena of dreadful confrontation between the German forces and the Red Army in the first days of the Great Patriotic War.
See Part 1 Azerbaijanis fighting for Belarus - 1
The fact that the first officially buried soldiers in the Brest Fortress were Azerbaijanis signifies that the Azerbaijanis played a great role in the defense of the fortress.
Tanker Nidzhad Abdullayev served in the 22nd tank division, which was deployed near Brest. Since the beginning of the war, his family had lived in the fortress. One day the Germans took a step of clemency and set free the women and children from the fortress. Abduallayev’s wife with a baby was among them. He found his family 8 years later.
Sergeant Imran Mekhtiyev from the Azerbaijani town of Yevlakh served in the 3rd squadron of the 84th rifle regiment. He participated in counterattacks and intelligence support to find out weak positions of the enemy, and so on. Imran Mekhtiyev died on June 27th 1941, and his last words were: “Remember Kastryulin, I am from Yevlakh.” Mekhtiyev was buried in the yard of the fortress by another soldier from Azerbaijan – Andrei Kastryulin. It was the second official burial in the fortress. The first burial took place on June 22nd when Khalil Akhverdiyev was buried.
When Hitler and Mussolini found out about the unprecedented heroism of the Soviet soldiers, they visited the ruins of the Brest Fortress on August 26th 1941. In 1965 the Brest Fortress was awarded the title of “Hero-Fortress.” It became the Memorial Museum Complex in 1971.
Thousands of Azerbaijani soldiers fought for Belarus along with other representatives of the multinational country. It is impossible to list all of them, but let’s remember the names and deeds of several people who were awarded the Order of Glory.
Mirza Jabiyev, a 16-year-old guy from the Astarinsky Region of Azerbaijan, joined the army as a volunteer. The war brought him to Belarus, where he arrived in April 1944 as commander of a troop of the 806th regiment of the 235th rifle division of the 43rd army of the 3rd Belarus Front. Jabiyev saved a heavily-injured commander of a squadron in a bloody fight for the Belarusian village of Bondar.
On June 23rd 1944, the Soviet Army conducted one of the greatest operations for Belarus in the Second World War. Azerbaijanis fought in all the units and sub-units of the four fronts which provided the Bagration Operation. Major-General Azi Aslanov, commander of the 35th armored brigade of the 3rd Belarus Front, contributed a lot to the success of the operation. His brigade cut off communications of the enemy between Orsha and Vitebsk and blocked a retreat route, destroying the enemy’s vehicles and living force.
The Berezina River was the first natural obstacle to the progress of the Soviet army in Belarus. Units of the 3rd mechanized corps overcame the water obstacle and became involved in heavy fighting in Borisov. General Aslanov’s units proved themselves in the fight. His tank brigade cut across the Oboyavka, Ozha, and Berezina Rivers and liberated residential areas of Galki, Mkherino, Treliovka, Yasnaya Gorka, Mostishche and Mozheevshchina in a blitzkrieg attack.
Azi Aslanov showed his talent as a commander in the fighting for the town of Smorgon. Aslanov and his best unit crossed the Vilia River and made progress, bypassing the town and demoralizing the enemy. Aslanov’s brigade advanced to the home-front of the enemy and liberated the strategically important town of Molodechno, a railway junction on the route to Polotsk, Minsk and Vilnius.
The victory guaranteed the liberation of Minsk. The Supreme Commander ordered to issue a commendation to tankers of the 35th brigade on July 3rd 1944. Major-General Azi Aslanov was awarded the Second Degree Order of Suvorov. Aslanov was awarded the second medal of Hero of the Soviet Union for the forced crossing of the Berezina River and the liberation of Vileyka and Pleshchenitsy.
A commendation list which was found in the 1980s says that on June 23-30, 1944, the 35th tank brigade of Aslanov liberated more than 580 residential areas in Belarus, destroyed 18 tanks, 118 vehicles, took 580 prisoners, forced the crossing of the Berezina River, and liberated Vileyka, a regional center. The legendary commander was killed at the end of the war on the Baltic Sea coast.
Gabibulla Guseinov took part in fighting for Belarus twice. Colonel Guseinov was the commander of the 67th guard air defense artillery division of the 39th army of the 3rd Belarus Front. One of the tasks of the Bagration Operation was to liberate Vitebsk. In first six days of the attack troops of the 3rd Belarus Front advanced for 150 km, destroying 11 divisions of the enemy, which guaranteed success in the Vitebsk-Orsha Operation. Vitebsk was liberated 25 days before the victory; but on April 16th 1945 Gabibulla Guseinov was killed on the battlefield and was awarded a Hero of the Soviet Union postmortem.
