It is well known that the Chechens also took a direct part in the bloodiest battle of mankind, making a worthy contribution to the treasury of the general victory of the Soviet people over the brown plague.
To our regret, the then leadership of the state did not deign to give a truthful assessment of the exploits committed by the Chechens in that war. Here we must pay tribute to V. Putin, who, when he was president, told the truth about the Chechens who fought in the Brest Fortress, at a meeting with the participants of the forum “Russia at the turn of the century” in Novo-Ogarevo (2004): “… There was a lot of injustice in the Soviet time. There are many violations of human rights in the most direct and tragic sense of the word, including in the Caucasus, including with the Chechen people. You probably know many of those present about the heroic defense of the Brest Fortress during the Second World War.
In 1941, the front had already gone far to the east, and the Brest Fortress, which was located on the western border of the country, had no chance of surviving and winning. The defenders of the Brest Fortress fought to the last bullet and to the last drop of blood. This is an amazing example of heroism. But not many people know that about one third of the defenders of this fortress consisted of Chechens. And in general, if you count the per capita population of Chechnya, there were probably the most Heroes of the Soviet Union there. And at the same time, Stalin made a tough decision to resettle Chechens to Siberia, to Kazakhstan, where thousands of people (210 thousand - author's note) died from terrible conditions, from injustice …”.
Today, I think, it is necessary to remember our courageous fathers and grandfathers, who carried the name of their people high on the battlefield. It does not matter that our soldiers are not appreciated and did not receive proper awards, the main thing here is that the people know their heroes.
Military circles are well aware of the undeniable contribution that the Chechen people made both to the overall victory over fascism (in all theaters of military operations - from Western Europe to Manchuria) and to the strengthening of the country's defensive power. Speaking about the latter, it should be noted that the military equipment of the Red Army was refueled by 80% of the fuel and lubricants of the Grozny factories, and Grozny supplied aviation oils as much as 92% (!) Of the need. ("Patriotism of the workers of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic", V. Filkin; "Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in the War of 1941-1945", M. Abazatov).
We know that the Chechens drafted in 1939-1941 were sent to the Western Special District in the 4th Special Army, where General L. Sandalov was the chief of staff, who in his book "Experienced" repeatedly speaks about Chechen conscripts, including those who served in nine rifle battalions of the Brest Fortress. In addition, they were part of the 9th outpost of the 17th border post, so I believe that one third of them (in the fortress) were Chechens. We also know that the Chechens who served in the Brest Fortress did not retreat on June 22 at the command of the corps commander General Popov and remained to fight the enemy, merging with their fellow countrymen of the 9th outpost, who, having not received an order to retreat, remained in the fortification.
Only many do not know that at the end of the 1950s, on the instructions of N. Khrushchev, “a truthful book was written about the Chechens who fought in the Brest Fortress, which, however, never saw the light of day and lay in the basements of Gorkoviedat (in the amount of 150 thousand copies) until 1964. And when N. Khrushchev was removed, she was put under pressure. " (E Dolmatovsky "LG", 1988, article "Isn't it time to return the truthful book about the Brest Fortress to the readers").
It was a difficult time when some retreated, others fled, others surrendered, and the fourth, considering it a shame to retreat, fought as their genetic code allowed. To the question “how do your horsemen fight?” General Kirichenko, the commander of the 4th cavalry corps, answered literally the following: “These are extremely amazing lads, Chechens. They only ask what needs to be done, but they decide for themselves how to complete the task. I have almost two regiments of them in the building. I am calm for them. Extraordinarily savvy guys. They are well oriented on the terrain. There would be more such fighters. They will not let you down under any circumstances."
The Chief of Staff of the 37th Army, General V. Razuvaev, asked the other commanders the same question, to which the Divisional Commander of the 63rd Army, General Miloshnichenko, said that thanks to them he defended the Baksan Gorge. And the commander of the 295th rifle division, Colonel Petukhov, added: "They are brave warriors by nature." It seems that this says it all …
During a friendly conversation with the historian Akim Arutyunov, General V. Razuvaev asked: “Have you ever heard that with the approach of German troops to the North Caucasus, patriotic detachments were created on the territory of the Chechen-Ingush ASSR? The main thing, my dear, is that it all started from the bottom. The secretaries of regional committees, city committees and district committees only picked up and supported the people's initiative. And party leaders like Ivanov, Isaev and others had no choice but to register these units, and then consider this their merit."
Finally, the general said: “I am sure that the time will come and millions of people will learn about this monstrous crime (meaning the deportation of 1944 - author's note) committed against the Chechens. They also learn about the exploits in the struggle against the enemy of our Motherland. Truth must triumph..”During the war, 28 partisan detachments were created on the territory of the Chechen-Ingush ASSR. There were 1,087 people in them. The partisans had 357 rifles in service, of which 18 were sniper rifles, 313 assault rifles, 20 machine guns, 10 mortars (from the party archives of the ChI Regional Committee of the CPSU, fund 267, inventory 3, file 17, sheet 7).
Also in the Stalingrad direction, the 255th cavalry regiment of Chechen volunteers fought, and in the south, a separate Chechen cavalry division of 1,800 volunteers. It was commanded by a career officer of the Red Army Sakka Visaitov, who in 1941 demonstrated his leadership talent on the Berezina River, near Yelnya and in the Moscow region near Yasnaya Polyana, where his special detachment fought with the enemy as part of General Susaikov's 10th Tank Army.
In these bloody battles near Moscow, Visaitov was seriously wounded, but three months later he returned to duty. After the defeat of the Germans near the capital of the Visaits in 1942, he went to the Caucasus, where he received a cavalry division of 1,800 Chechen volunteers. The command set the following task for the division: to destroy the advanced units and reconnaissance groups of the enemy, thereby creating conditions for the crossing of the river lines by the retreating troops, and to deliver languages to the headquarters of the divisions. All this had to be done along a front 250 km wide - from the Caspian to the foothills of the Caucasus.
The division performed the task perfectly, and the awards of the fighters also speak of this: over 100 Orders of the Red Banner, not to mention others (according to an unspoken statement, the title of Hero of the USSR was not awarded to a Chechen). The command sent Visaitov himself to one-year courses at the Frunze Academy.
As you know, these feats of the Chechen people in the defense of the Caucasus, the Beria people, without hesitation, "formalized" as opposition to the Red Army. Unfortunately, Soviet historical science interpreted the facts of the past of the Chechen people in such a way that they were in flagrant contradiction with the historical truth.
Therefore, we should be grateful to all those journalists, writers, scientists and military leaders who, under the conditions of the communist dictatorship and secrecy, made attempts (sometimes in a veiled form) to assert the historical truth, to reveal white spots in the past of the Chechens. It is to such people that the following military correspondents and military leaders belong: Penezhko, Grossman, Dolmatovsky, Bagramyan, Grechko, Mamsurov, Milashnichenko, Koshurko, Kozlov, Korobkov, Koroteev, Kirichenko, Prikel, Sandalov, Susaykov, Oslikovsky, Rotmistrov, Raeuvaev, Pli Petukhov and many others.
These are people with a clear conscience, who personally saw the Chechens in combat conditions and witnessed their military exploits in their memoirs. Many of them came to Grozny, to the homeland of their comrades in arms, whom they have repeatedly nominated for the title of Hero of the USSR, and there were more than 300 Chechens nominated for this title and rejected (164 people from the Brest Fortress (United Gazette, 2004) and 156 people from other fronts (interview with I. Rybkin on TV, 1997) Let us name the names of those Chechens who were nominated for the title of hero twice for different exploits: M Amaev, A Akhtaev, A. V. Akhtaev, D. Akaev, Z Akhmatkhanov, Y. Alisultanov, A. Guchigov, H. Magomed-Mirzoev, I Bibulatov, SMidaev, U. Kasumov, I. Shaipov, A. Kh. Ismailov; three times: A. Idrisov, M. Visaitov, N. Utsiev, M. Mazaev; four times (!): H. Nuradilov, who destroyed 920 fascists and captured 12 people, captured 7 machine guns.
Let's listen to the corps commander I. Pliev: “The whole combat life of this guard (K. Nuradilov) was a heroic deed. He was one of the first to be awarded the title of Hero of the USSR. On his blacks, Khanpasha rushed with the wind in attacks, despising death. In the battle for the village of Shchigry, he was wounded in the arm. In front of his comrades, he continued to mercilessly mow down the attacking enemies … When attacking the village of Bayrak, Khanpasha destroyed several enemy firing points with grenades and captured five Germans. And when the enemy launched a counterattack, he let a thick chain reach 100-150 meters, and after repelling the attack, the squadron commander personally counted hundreds of mowed Nazis in the field … And on the Bukanovsky bridgehead in the September battles, Khanpasha immortalized his name … at a critical moment, the young communist gave up bandaging his wounded leg, sat down more comfortably at the machine gun and continued to mercilessly mow down the enemy horde. His dying words: “You got scared, but hold on! - so they say in our Caucasus. - "Otherwise, what a man you are!.."
The Izvestia newspaper of October 31, 1942 wrote: “Years will pass. Our life will shine with new bright colors. And the happy youth of Chechnya, the girls of the Don, the guys of Ukraine will sing songs about Kh Nuradilov. Unfortunately for us, no songs are sung about him, and the youth of Chechnya cannot be called happy. Only the obelisk on the Mamayev Kurgan in Volgograd reminds of a warrior-knight, but grateful villagers of Bukanovskaya visit his grave …
Another example: “Khavazhi Magomed-Mirzoev was one of the first to cross the Dnieper and created a bridgehead on the right bank of the river. For this feat he was awarded the "Golden Star" of the Hero, and later in only one battle he personally exterminated 262 fascists. Apparently, up there, rewarding him for the Dnieper operation, they overlooked the "fifth column", but this time they corrected themselves. Sniper M Amaev exterminated 197 Fritzes, but the notorious "fifth count" worked again. But sniper Morozov was awarded two Hero Stars for 180 Fritzes, and meanwhile the Chechen sniper Abukhazhi Idrisov was given one Hero Star for 349 killed fascists (Izvestia magazine, Issue “History”, Grozny, 1960, p. 69 -77).
Dasha Akayev, the commander of the air assault regiment, paid for the destruction of the largest German airbase of heavy bombers "Heinkel-111" at the cost of his and his comrades' lives. This base was stationed near the Estonian city of Rakvere and its planes constantly tormented the troops of four fronts - Leningrad, Volkhov, Kalinin and Western. Major Akaev warned the pilots before the flight, saying: "Those who doubt can stay, the battle will be fierce." Five "ILs" led by their commander on February 26, 1944. headed for the airbase and defeated it. Thus, the glorious son of the Chechen people "opened a window" to the West for besieged Leningrad. ("The Fate of a Hero", Colonel S. Koshurko).
Our warriors died the death of heroes not for awards, but defending honor and the Motherland! How many more, brave soldiers and officers resting on the entire European continent and silently calling out to the memory of their descendants …
