Sabyr Rakhimov (12.01.1902-26.03.1945) – was commander of the 37th guardian division of the 65th army of the 2nd Belorussian front, guard major General, Hero of the Soviet Union.
Biography
Sabyr Rakhimov was born in Kokbel village of Kazygurt district of South Kazakhstan region on January 12, 1902, and he lived there until he was eight years old. The father of the future Batyr Marcul carries a family in a place Takhtapul located on the edge of Tashkent. The mother of the Sabyr –Naharaim, was the daughter of the Uzbek farmer, who lived in the area of the massif, near the city of Tashkent. When her husband died, she and her children moved to her brother, Rahim. Sabyr’s great-grandfather was a region ruler. And in order that this relationship would not affect the boy’s future, her brother Rahim declared him a son and gave him a surname in his own name. [1, p. 3]
During the years of repression in 1937, this name helped him when he was arrested and nineteen months was under investigation in connection with his involvement in the family of enemies of the people, but he was later released.
When Sabyr was a little older, he went to school with the children of his uncle Rahim, where he learned to read and write from a local Mullah. At that time, his mother was exhausted, took any job in old Tashkent to feed her son and daughter. In 1915 his little sister was died and thirteen-year a boy went graze someone else’s cattle, earning on livelihood itself and mothers. Soon from disease his mother dies. Sabyr was then in his sixteenth year, when Soviet power was established in Uzbekistan. Everywhere in the city began to organize orphanages, he was taken, despite the age in one Russian orphanage. [2, p. 126]
The Director of the orphanage was an experienced teacher and educator Sh. Hasanov, who was Tatar by nationality. Here Sabir met his daughter Amina, his future wife. In person, Rakhimov called her Magra.
In 1920, he took a job in a weaving factory, where he mastered the profession of a weaver and was ready to devote his whole life to it. But in 1918 – 1920, tens of thousands of Kazakhs, Uzbeks and other peoples of Central Asia joined the red Army to protect the gains of the October revolution and the power of the Soviets. At that time across Central Asia scoured “Basmachy” rebel Sabyr Rakhimov, rushed at the forefront of the fight against the enemy.
In August 1922, S. Rakhimov applied to the Baku cavalry military school. Twenty-year-old Rakhimov became one of the best cavalrymen of the Baku military school: he skillfully owned a horse and a blade. Since this year, the fate of S. Rakhimov is inextricably linked with the Soviet Army.
In 1923, S. Rakhimov joined the ranks of the “Komsomol”. He takes an active part in the public life of the school, was elected a delegate to the Baku city and district Komsomol conference. On February 10, 1925, the General meeting of the collective of Communists of the Azerbaijan military school accepted him as a candidate for membership of the Communist party.
After graduating from the Baku cavalry school on August 7, 1925, he was assigned to Samarkand in the mountain cavalry regiment of the 19th mountain cavalry division, where he served until the beginning of the war.
Sibiryakov was married twice, first wife was a Tatar, he had two sons: Roman and Idris. Another his wife, was a nurse in the division which he commanded, participated in the battles and was wounded. After the war, she lived in Tashkent, near the Opera house named after A. Navoi in Shymkent lane, in house No. 9, apartment 37. [3]
Kuralai was a legendary personality, a front-line soldier, her chest was full of battle orders. CSS officers of Uzbekistan were engaged in it, demanded from it not to give out secret of an origin of the General, but it was impossible to intimidate the widow of the hero moreover and passed through fascist concentration camps. She did not betray the memory of her husband and the Kazakh people. [4]
According to General Kuralai’s wife and son Roman Rakhimov, the General’s maternal uncle Tulegen and Aziz Matakarimov, who live in Tashkent with General Lutfi Ospankulova’s cousin, Sabyr Rakhimov was an ethnic Kazakh, while he was recorded as an Uzbek by mistake.
During the war, General Rakhimov remembered one case. It was at the station Dabaltsevo, where he met 12-year-old Gennady Suvorov, not taking his eyes off the gallows, on which swung the corpse of his father-a partisan, hanged by the Nazis. He went up to him and gave the boy a fatherly hug and questioned him about everything, and then put him on his horse. Gennady became the permanent adjutant of the General. At it in connection many such teenagers gathered: U. Kurkin, E. Timchenko and others, from them subsequently there were scouts, snipers, the cavalrymen who received exemplary training. General Rakhimov personally remembered and cared about each of them. [2, p. 129] these teenage fighters highly appreciated the General for his sincerity, kindness and decency, loved and remembered him.
A fearless hero, a famous General, with a difficult orphan childhood, a pupil of an orphanage, a Komsomol member, a Communist, he never forgot his origin.
And it shows during his meeting with the Hero of the Soviet Union, Tuganbayev. Learning that he was a Kazakh, Sibiryakov confessed to him, what is written in Uzbek and a Kazakh: “You’re my brother, don’t tell anyone about this, I am Elder Zhuz”. [5]
Everyone has long known that General Rakhimov was a Kazakh. From the memoirs of doctor of historical Sciences Marat Amukanov: “My father Sabit went to visit his old friend-poet Gafurugulyam in Tashkent. At the table, word for word, jokingly he said, it turns out General Sabyr Rakhimov Kazakh, and you do not have such a famous hero?” The guests in the house of the poet were quiet. Then Gafur replied: “Sabit, I have heard such talk for a long time, you also reproach me with it. When you praise the Uzbeks “Ozbek – oz Agam” – calling us “our brother”, do you feel sorry to sacrifice us-one hero. With his answer, Mr. Gulyam defused the tense situation among the guests. And Thabit, to get out of this awkward situation, laughed out loud and shook hands with Gafurova. [6]
From the memories of the cousin of General Rakhimov – Lutpi Ospankulkyzy about how her brother came to his native land and received a blessing from his elders before leaving for the front. He loved Kazakh folk songs: “Karatorgay-lark” and ” Akkum-white Sands”, he sang them selflessly. And in the evenings he put on a gramophone and danced to the tune of several Kazakh kuys, while he loved to compose poems. [15]
General Rakhimov was not only a gifted commander, but also a very creative person.
Merits
The platoon commander S. Rakhimov received the first baptism of fire in battle with gangs curbside. Then he takes part in a combat operation to defeat the gangs of Junaid Khan, Umar Effendi, Mashan Farab. During the defeat of Basmachy movement there is a great event in the life of S. Rakhimov – October 10, 1928, he was accepted as a member of the Communist party.
In 1931, S. Rakhimov was awarded the order of the red Star, for his heroism in the defeat of the Ibragimbek gang in Tajikistan.
Fighting so many years with Basmachi, he saw in them a ruthless attitude to others, but at the same time noticed the red army, who also crossed the line of cruelty. Rakhimov did not lose his dignity, was able to forgive and show mercy. For example, in the middle of 1920 in the vicinity of Tashkent rampaged – Basmach Omar, who hated the Soviet government, activists of the artel beat and mocked them, and stole cattle. Once he was captured by Rakhimov. He had heard his deeds, according to eyewitnesses, he released Basmach Omar to freedom with the words: “If you want to stay alive, you must leave Tashkent and leave Uzbekistan forever. If you get caught again, I’ll shoot you!”[7, c195]. After this incident, no one saw or heard from Omar again.
In October 1940, he was the commander of a motorized rifle regiment in the city of Bayram Ali (Turkmenistan). Captain S. Rakhimov was awarded the order of the red Star in 1936 for his military and political training, personal courage shown in the battles with the Basmachs.
In 1934, Rakhimov was appointed head of the school of Junior commanders, and in 1939 he headed the combat training Department of the Uzbek Council of Osoviakhim. It was at this post that S. Rakhimov’s organizational abilities were revealed. Thanks to him, the Republic has improved defense work among the population before the war.
During the great Patriotic war, S. Rakhimov, as an experienced officer of the Soviet Army, was appointed Deputy motor regiment of the tank division-near Yelnya. The battle took place on June 27, 1941. In the heavy fighting of the first months of the war he was severely wounded. He was treated in a military hospital in Zheleznovodsk in the North Caucasus. For fighting at Yelnya he was awarded the rank of Colonel. [8]
In early September 1941, S. Rakhimov became a commander in the 1149th regiment of the 353rd infantry division on the southern front. There were heavy battles near Rostov-on-Don. Rakhimov with his regiment defeated the enemy, first broke into the city of Rostov [2, c128]. For this operation Rakhimov was awarded the order of the red banner.
Soon, S. Rakhimov, becoming the commander of the 37th infantry division takes part in the defeat of the enemy on the don, Kuban, in the Caucasus. In the course this operations regiments Rakhimov was destroyed 8,000 soldiers and officer’s enemy. February 10, 1942 he was awarded the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, and 6 months later, the Deputy people’s Commissar of defense of the USSR S. M. Budyonnyi signed an order awarding Rakhimov the rank of Colonel. In the liberation of Kuban in 1943, the talented commander Rakhimov, on March 18 of this year, he was awarded the rank of major General. March 20, 1943, he received from the hands of an officer of the General staff arrived package with a personal letter M. M. Kalinin: “Not being able to personally hand You the order of Suvorov 2nd degree, which you were awarded by the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on February 8, 1943, I send You this letter. I congratulate You on the well-deserved award and send wishes for further success in Your combat activities and personal life. Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR M. Kalinin”. [9]
In May 1943, a delegation from Uzbekistan arrived in the division of S. Rakhimov, where he was presented with a gold watch from the company “Moser” with the inscription from the Uzbek people. The delegation included people’s artist of the USSR, singer of the Tashkent Philharmonic Roza Baglanova. According to the singer, she was standing on the tank performed several songs in front of the soldiers, especially they liked the song: “Oh, Samara-town”, which was met with an encore. When I wanted to get down from the tank, General Rakhimov himself came up to me and gave his right hand, seeing the height of the tank, he took me by the waist with both hands and gently lowered me to the ground.
In the summer of 1943, the Main command sends S. Rakhimov to study in Moscow at the Military Academy for advanced training. About how persistently S. Rakhimov Studied military theory and military art, he wrote a letter to his wife on October 1, 1943: “to be Honest, I did not have time, because of the week of tests, to write you a letter. I was very worried that I would not pass the tests, so I prepared for days and nights, slept only for 2 hours a day. And now you can congratulate me, I passed all the exams on “good””.
Comprehend the theory of military art S. Rakhimov was not easy, because behind him there were only a few classes, and the school of Junior commanders. At the release of the next course, the name of S. Rakhimov was named among the best students of the Academy. [9]
Marshals of the Soviet Union and many generals knew S. Rakhimov and highly appreciated his service. Twice Hero of the Soviet Union, General of the Army Batov wrote: “General Rakhimov at acquaintance made on me impression of the clever, strong-willed and modest person. He was able to clearly and clearly report the situation in the division.” [10, p. 43]
From the memoirs of Army General I. I. Fedyuninsky: “Rakhimov came to my command post to say goodbye. I invited him to sit down. He took off his greatcoat, remaining in his tunic, which was the order of Suvorov, four orders of the red star and the order of the red banner of Battle”” [11]
In May 1944, before the beginning of the Bobruisk operation due to impassable swamps S. Rakhimov “planted” on skis commanders, soldiers and guns. Forces of fighters, skis were made of the cut down wood of trees, by means of saws and an axe. This decided the outcome of the battle, as the Germans did not expect such a blow from the wetlands. This Bobruisk operation was successful, thanks to the talented strategy of General Rakhimov. [12]
Once Marshal Rokossovsky needed an energetic, experienced man to be appointed to the post of commander of the connection, which could play an important role in a complex operation of the front scale. Among the many candidates was recommended to the General Rakhimov, according to the General of Army P. Batov: “He will not let You down,” then in response Rokossovsky admiringly said: “a Good General.”
January morning 1945 began the long-awaited battles. It was the famous battle of Narev, where the enemy fiercely resisted and shot back for every inch of land. The division of General Rakhimov skillfully increased the blow and won a victory over the superior forces of the enemy. Another battle was fought in the village of Vinnitsa, where the Germans decided to give revenge on a heavily fortified area. But Rakhimov pursued the Germans without sleep and rest, rushed to the enemy, defeated the garrison of Vinnitsa.
On January 26, 1945, the division under General Rakhimov fought for Graudenz for forty days. For the German command, this city was a supplying garrison, which produced all the necessary weapons for Hitler’s army, so they fiercely resisted on the outskirts of the city. Hitler’s orders were: “to defend Gradenz to the last soldier, to defend the city stubbornly even in conditions of complete encirclement” [11], in order to slow down our progress along the Vistula.
The battle for Graudenz began on 16 February. For two days managed to overcome the entire system of field fortifications around the city. General Rakhimov’s division made significant progress and captured a number of settlements. On the night of February 18, Rakhimov’s guards broke into the city several times, but, meeting strong enemy resistance, retreated to the outskirts. So the battles took place at the gates and on the walls of the fortress. And on March 7, the enemy could not withstand the onslaught of Rakhimov’s guards and the fortress was conquered.
Further, according to the order of the Marshal it was necessary to encircle and destroy Danzig grouping.
In March 1945, there were battles for Danzig – a major port city, where the destruction of a million army of Germans, expelled from East Prussia, the Baltic States and Pomerania. On approaches to the city battles of huge scale, with participation of land, air and sea forces were conducted. The German command clung to Danzig to the last, trying to delay its death.
At the end of the war, General S. Rakhimov died. It happened on March 26, 1945. His division participated in the battles for the liberation of the cities of Grabbing and Danzig. The terrain in which the fighting took place was open and treeless. At the moment when the regiment was preparing to attack, a mine flew over the heads of the soldiers with a squeal. Was mortally wounded the Colonel of S. Rakhimov, two more officers died on the spot. General of the army Batov wrote about what he saw: “He was wounded in the head by a shrapnel, his coat and shirt were covered with blood, he lay with his head on Danzig, his whole body directed forward.” [8]
S. Rakhimov and his comrades-in-arms were buried in the small Belarusian town of Grodno, the village of Firrek near the highway leading to Danzig on March 30, 1945. After the war, in may 1945, the body of the General was transported to the Central square of Tashkent And in 2010 reburied in a mass grave. In battles with the Nazi invaders Sabyr Rakhimov was wounded three times and shell-shocked.
On May 6, 1965 he was awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
General Sabyr Rakhimov was a unique personality, had an outstanding generalship talent. His whole life path speaks of his nobility. He had a high opinion of the concept of honor and dignity, proved his devotion to the Motherland and died on the battlefield, protecting her.
Joseph Stalin called Sabyr Rakhimov “Iron General”, he was awarded during his lifetime for military services:
– order of Lenin;
– four orders of the red banner;
– order of Suvorov 2nd degree;
– order of Kutuzov 2nd degree;
– order of the red Star;
– medals of different dignity.
Memory
In Soviet times, General Rakhimov was revered as a national hero in Uzbekistan. A monument was erected on the General’s grave in Tashkent. Three monuments were erected to him in Tashkent and Samarkand. In 1949, the people’s writer, academician Kamalasan made the play a drama “General Rakhimov”. Polish shipbuilders of the city of Gdansk in the autumn of 1966 by order of the USSR and with the filing of Tashkent launched the trawler “General Rakhimov”. In 1967, the feature film “General Rakhimov” was shot at the Uzbekfilm Studio.
S. Rakhimov was the pride of the Uzbek people, poems are dedicated to him. People’s poet of Uzbekistan Hamid Ghulam writes in his poems:
“Your deed is immortal – he is eternal.
In the hearts of the people he lives…”. [13]
But when it became known for certain that Rakhimov was a Kazakh, in November 2010, the metro station of the Tashkent metro “Sabyr Rakhimov ” was renamed “Almazar”, and since December of this year, the Sabir Rakhimov district in Tashkent was also renamed the Almazar district. And the monument in the winter of 2010 was moved from the center in Chilanzar district to Gafuragulyama Park.
Streets in Astana, Almaty, Shymkent, Karaganda and Taraz are named after the Rakhimov.
1. T. Dastanbek. General Sabyr Rakhimov. // Banner of labor. 2010-3 April
2. M. Melenevskaya. Sabyr Rakhimov is the first Uzbek General. // Star Of The East. 1946. No. 1-2.
3.A. Ospanuly. Kazgurt eagle-Falcon from Kazgurt. // southern Kazakhstan. 1972-9 may.
4. A. Aimbetov. Lost Kazakhs General Rakhimov. // The Kazakh truth. 2004. – June
5. T. Karimbaev. General Sabyr Rakhimov said, ” take up.” // southern Kazakhstan. 2008. – August 21
6. A. Toktabay. Commander (new data about General Rakhimov). //Kazakh literature. 2011. – No. 18.
7. A. Toktabay. History of the Kazakh people. Astana. 2010. -597 PP.
8. A. Ismailov. Battle path of General S. Rakhimov. // southern Kazakhstan. 2008-8th
9. Central Museum of Uzbekistan. inv. No. 1552, cipher 13/2 p. 62
10. P. P. Batov. A worthy son of the Uzbek people. // Star Of The East. 1946. No. 6
11.I. I. Fedyuninsky. Glorious son of the Uzbek people. // Truth Of The East. 1961. – July 187
12. V. Bulatov. Four meetings. // Truth Of The East. 1960. – May 8
13. H. Gulyam. In Memory Of Sabyr Rakhimov. // Star Of The East. 1946. No. 10-11.
15. B. Ospan. General Sabyr Rakhimov / / Kazak uni. 2011. – June 6.