Kazakhstan's contribution to victory in the Great Patriotic War
Kazakhstan during the Great Patriotic War
The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union in 1941-1945 went down in history as part of the Second World War of 1939-1945.
Kazakhstan during the years of World War II was part of the USSR in the status of a union republic (Kazakh SSR), therefore it entered the war from the moment of the invasion of the Nazi Germany army on the territory of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941.
1 million 200 thousand Kazakhstanis were called up to the Red Army in addition to 178 thousand who served in the USSR army. Warriors of Kazakhstan took part in all battles, more than 600 thousand of them died on the fronts and more than one hundred thousand were awarded military orders and medals of the USSR. More than 500 soldiers were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Among them are Kazakh girls - machine gunner M. Mametova and sniper A. Moldagulova.
Four Kazakhstani military pilots - Talgat Bigeldinov, Leonid Beda, Ivan Pavlov, Sergey Lugansky were twice awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
In the Moscow battle, which began at the end of September 1941, the 316th Infantry Division under the command of General I.V. Panfilov, formed in Kazakhstan, was especially distinguished. On November 16, a platoon of the Panfilov’s division took the battle which was destined to become a legend of World War II. In this battle 28 Panfilov’s soldiers near Dubosekovo’s junction stood in the way of the German tank battalion and stopped it by destroying 18 tanks and a lot of infantry thus making an indispensable contribution to stopping the enemy on the entire front. The feat of twenty-eight heroes became one of the brightest symbols of the battle for Moscow, a turning point in the history of the entire Second World War.
Thousands of Kazakhs took an active part in the partisan movement in the territories occupied by German Nazis.
On April 30, 1945, Kazakhstani lieutenant Rakhimzhan Koshkarbaev and Russian soldier Grigory Bulatov were among the first to attach the red Victory flag to the Reichstag building in Berlin.
Kazakhstan has become a powerful arsenal of the front. The economy of the republic was focused on military needs. More than 700 thousand Kazakhstanis were drafted into the ranks of the labor army and recruited to work at defense enterprises. Kazakhstan has taken a leading place in the production of copper, lead, bismuth, molybdenum, polymetals, necessary for the military industry. Kazakhstan's defense plants have mastered the production of new types of weapons, shells, mines and other types of military products. Agriculture of Kazakhstan provided the front and rear with food, industry – with the necessary raw materials.
As President of Kazakhstan K. Tokayev noted, “It can be said that Kazakhstan played a key role in supplying the army. 9 out of 10 bullets were cast from Kazakhstan lead. We sent 1,500 wagons of clothing and foodstuffs to the front. In other words, our contribution to achieving Victory was obvious. ”
In August-September 1945 Kazakhstani soldiers in the Far East took an active part in the defeat of the Kwantung army of Japan - an ally of the Nazi Germany.
The people of Kazakhstan honor the memory of those killed in the Great Patriotic War and will always stand for peace and friendship between peoples.