The hero of our story today would fall into the category of "guest workers", "ravshans and dzhamshuts", to whom the Russian youth treats with disgust and irritation.
Abdykasym Karymshakov. © / Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
For more than two decades that have passed since the collapse of the USSR, its former citizens have forgotten the concept of "internationalism".
In the conditions of the crisis, economic and ideological problems, many began to seek salvation, straying in flocks along ethnic lines. The more primitive a community, the more willingly it appeals to the “voice of blood”.
The hero of our story today would fall into the category of "guest workers", "ravshans and dzhamshuts", to whom the Russian youth treats with disgust and irritation.
And it is unlikely that he himself would have objected to anything in response, for he was a man of few words. For him they would say medals and orders on the chest. However, today many people do not know the price of front-line medals, measured not in dollars and euros, but in human courage …
Silent Master
According to ancient Kyrgyz legends, the end of the earth is located on the eastern coast of Lake Issyk-Kul.
It was at the “end of the earth”, in the village of Kurmenty, in May 1909 that a boy was born into a peasant family, who was named Abdykasym.
He had an ordinary childhood, the same as his friends-buddies. Like them, Abdykas was fond of falconry - an exotic activity for the inhabitants of central Russia, but common for those living on the coast of Issyk-Kul.
In addition, the boy was drawn to technology. He loved to tinker with various mechanisms, spent a lot of time in the collective farm garage, helped mechanics, mastering science not in theory, but in practice. After seven classes of school, Abdykasym went to Samarkand, to the school of mechanics. He returned to his native village with the specialty of a driver-mechanic and very quickly became a respected person among his fellow villagers. They said about him that Abdykasym could fix anything, and if necessary, he would assemble a car from a primus and a sewing machine.
Before the war, Abdykasym moved to the city of Przhevalsk, where he began to work as an instructor at the Osoaviakhim car club.
When the Great Patriotic War began, the laconic Abdykasym went to the military registration and enlistment office. There they explained to him - how the specialist Abdykasym is entitled to a reservation, and he is not subject to a call.
But the “golden hands” mechanic, who by this time was already over 30, just shook his head and explained that he was a volunteer and did not need a reservation.
Will you fly on Ila backwards …
In August 1941, Abdykasym Karymshakov was sent to the aviation regiment as a gunsmith. The army really needed the technicians, but Abdykasym insisted that he wanted not only to prepare planes for others, but also to fight himself. And soon he was sent to the Leningrad Air Technical School to train as an air gunner.
"You will be a radio operator, and a pilot in your soul, Will you fly on Ila backwards …"
During the war years, this simple song was very popular. The Il-2 attack aircraft was produced in single and double versions.
Combat experience has shown that the Il-2 is an excellent vehicle, but unprotected from the rear, too vulnerable for German fighters.
The car was urgently produced in a two-seater version, with a cockpit for the shooter. The training of air gunners began, who were to take places in the Ilov crews.
The IL-2's survival rate depended largely on the skill of the shooter. At the same time, due to the design features, his cockpit was less protected than the pilot's cabin. And the losses among the riflemen were much greater than among the pilots.
All this Abdykasym knew perfectly well, but he continued to strive for battle, in the very heat.
Crew
Since January 1943, junior sergeant Karymshakov, a graduate of the air rifle school, underwent an internship in a reserve aviation regiment, and in May 1943 he was sent to the active army.
In the 75th Guards Attack Aviation Regiment, Abdykasim was assigned to the crew of a smiling junior lieutenant.
- Shreds, - he introduced himself.
- Abdykasym, - answered the Kirghiz.
For a second, confusion flashed across the lieutenant's face, but he was immediately found:
- Can I call you Andrey?
- You can, - Abdykasym replied calmly.
A native of Dnepropetrovsk, Ukrainian Anatoly Brandys was ten years younger than his shooter, but in the carriage they understood each other perfectly. In battle, this mutual understanding saved their lives more than once.
The crew with the call sign "Altai" was baptized by fire in the sky of Donbass. Already in the first battles, Tolya and "Andrey" showed that they know how to fight perfectly. The shooter managed not only to reflect enemy attacks, but also to fire at ground targets.
Departure after departure, battle after battle … At the end of September 1943, at the Il-2 Brandys and Karymshakov, when returning from a combat mission, the engine began to flutter. The attack aircraft lagged behind the group, and was immediately attacked by the Messer, who decided that he could easily deal with the silt. It was not so - the shooter three times repelled the attacks of the German ace and allowed the commander to get away from pursuit.
An aerial gunner at the front is a scarce profession. When his comrades were wounded, Abdykasym flew out as part of other crews, making three sorties a day.
In the regiment he was called "sniper", and there was no exaggeration in this. On his account were destroyed enemy vehicles, anti-aircraft guns. In November 1943, Abdykasym Karymshakov officially chalked up the first downed enemy aircraft, destroying the German Me-109.
More reliable than armor
Anatoly and Abdykasim were repeatedly shot down - for an attack aircraft, this is more the norm than an extraordinary event. But getting out of the heat is an extremely difficult task.
Near Nikopol, they had to land on the no-man's land, and then, under enemy fire, running from crater to crater, get to their front edge.
In the spring of 1944, during the battles for the Crimea, they got into trouble more than once. On April 7, during the attack of the enemy airfield Kurman-Kemelchi, the plane of the squadron commander, who landed on an emergency landing in enemy territory, was shot down. The Altai, whose plane was also damaged, fought over the landing site, allowing another Ilu to sit down and pick up the crew in trouble.
On April 16, a new sortie and a new fierce battle - the Il-2 group ran into anti-aircraft fire, after which German fighters took to the air. Of the six Soviet attack aircraft, only one remained in service. Four Hitler's "Focke-Wulfs" tried to take the Il-2 in "pincers" in order to put them on their airfield and capture the pilots. But Abdykasym fought off one attack after another. The fervor of the Germans dried up when one of the fighters collapsed, shot down by an Il-2 gunner.
One of the hits drove Il into a dive, from which Anatoly took the car out only over the very smooth surface of the Black Sea. When we returned to the airfield, the plane counted 72 holes.
On May 6, 1944, during the assault on the German airfield, the Il-2 group collided with enemy fighters. Shooters were killed in two Soviet vehicles. Then the planes rebuilt, and Abdykasym began to "protect the back" with three "silts" at once. He repulsed seven attacks and allowed all attack aircraft to return to the airfield.
Pilot Anatoly Brandys said about his partner: “I don’t need to look back. Behind me is Abdykasym. It's tougher than any armor."
One chance in a thousand
In early February 1945, their Il-2 was shot down again. They sat down on the enemy's territory, Anatoly was wounded in the leg. He could not walk himself, so he said:
- I won't make it, Andrey, get out alone!
- Uh-huh, - the shooter grunted, grabbed the commander and dragged him to the front line.
- Sergeant Major Karymshakov, this is an order! - shouted the pilot.
"Andrey" silently nodded and continued on his way, carrying the wounded commander on him.
They managed to get across the front line to their own. Mystic, but they arrived at their home airfield just at the moment when the regiment commander in the formation reported about the heroic death of the Altai crew.
After this incident, Abdykasym put a captured German MP 40 assault rifle in the cockpit, hoping to fire back from it in case of an emergency landing on enemy territory.
And a couple of weeks later, the most incredible case in the combat biography of the shooter Karymshakov happened.
A new sortie, a new attack, and again an attack by German fighters, whose pilots became more and more desperate at the end of the war. Abdykasym repels attack after attack, but the Germans continue to press. And then after the next shot there is silence. The onboard machine gun "Ila" ran out of cartridges.
The German, who noticed this, began to follow the tail, intending to finish off the “Russian” for sure.
Adbykasym looked at the approaching enemy, clenching his fists with impotent hatred. And then the gaze fell on the trophy machine. Pushing the barrel into the opening for the machine gun, he fired a long burst in the direction of the Messer.
What was he counting on? No matter what. So the soldiers shoot with a pistol at an approaching tank, not wanting to surrender before inevitable death.
The German machine gun MP 40, of course, is not intended for air combat, and in 999 cases out of 1000 it was not capable of harming the Messerschmit.
But it was with Abdykasym Karymshakov that the only incident out of 1000 happened. A bullet from a machine gun hit the only weakly protected place of the fighter in the nose - in the slot of the oil cooler, after which the "Messer" began to smoke and abruptly went down.
IL-2 returned safely to the airfield.
Commander of the Order of Glory
During the Great Patriotic War, Guard Sergeant Major Abdykasym Karymshakov flew 227 sorties, during which he participated in 52 air battles and shot down seven enemy aircraft (3 individually and 4 in a group).
The Order of the Red Banner, the Order of the Red Star, the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree, numerous medals … And most importantly, Abdykasym Karymshakov became a full Knight of the Order of Glory, one of the 2672 heroes awarded such an honor for heroic deeds during the Great Patriotic War.
Its commander, Anatoly Brandys, became twice Hero of the Soviet Union. Probably, Abdykasm was also worthy of this award. But maybe they thought that two Heroes for one crew was too much, or maybe the idea for the highest award was lost somewhere.
It was not so important for Anatoly and Abdykasim. They did not fight for awards. They just fought for their homeland.
After the war, Abdykasym returned to his native village, worked as a tractor driver. It was not easy for a man of few words when he was invited to schools to talk about the war. But he walked, realizing that it is very important to instill in the new generation the feelings that drove him, his commander and friend Anatoly, millions of other Soviet people in that terrible war against fascism.
He has lived all his life on the “end of the earth” near Lake Issyk-Kul. I lived honestly and with dignity.
And schoolchildren, who may have listened to the stories of Abdykasim Karymshakov in childhood, now work in Moscow for meager salaries under the squeamish glances of those who call them "migrant workers."
It seems that in the pursuit of "European values" we have lost something much more important.
But this is not the fault of Abdykasim Karymshakov, a real hero of the Soviet Union.
