The "Wild" Lieutenant: the chief idol of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara
In 1963, in Spanish-language newspapers was published an interview with the leader of the Cuban revolution, and for one of the most famous people of our time, Fidel Castro. Among the many rather traditional and familiar questions, one emerged: "Which of the heroes of the Second World War could you call your idol?" Apparently the journalists wanted to hear the name of someone famous, but the commander was not so simple.
Being an educated man, he, like legendary Che Guevara, had a huge passion for books. Once in his hands got the story of Alexander Beck "Volokolamskoye Highway" about the feat of the 8th Guard Panfilovskaya Division. One of the main characters of the book is now the little-known Soviet officer from Kazakhstan, Bauzhan Momish-ulla, he called his hero. But how did this hero of heroes become famous?
A noble and beautiful young officer went to serve in the RKKA a few years before the Great Patriotic. During this time he had time to learn to be an artillery officer, took part in battles in the Far East with the Japanese army, participated in the campaign to Bessarabia. Then he went to serve in Alma-Ata, where he was struck by the war.
In the autumn of 1941 he asked to the front as a volunteer, just at this time in the city was formed 316-shooter division. Already at the stage of creation, it was assumed that this unit would be one of the most combat capable - it was sent to adult men who had an idea of war, all of them were volunteers. In the part of Momoch-ul was appointed commander of the battalion.
The first appointment of the division threatened to be the last - the military part was sent to protect the approaches to Moscow. The command understood that the offensive units of the Wehrmacht would simply turn 316th, but it was necessary to hold the capital before the approach of the Far Eastern armies. The case was complicated by the fact that the Soviet command literally prohibited the study of defensive concepts in the army, it was assumed that the Red Army should be defeated by offensive operations on foreign land. You could have lost your position for a different point of view.
But Ivan Vasilyevich Panfilov, who had to command the 316th division, went to the trick. He developed a tactic of conducting spiral combat. In his opinion, under the condition of a numerically superior enemy, acting by the usual methods was suicide. Thus, his divisions had to keep a front length of more than 40 kilometers, although according to all norms of war time they could only defend 12 kilometers. In such a situation, any concentrated attack by the enemy would break through the defense. And then Panfilov suggested to act as follows.
The unit did not need to arrange an entire defensive front. Instead, it was necessary to strike a moving enemy column, and, after a short fight, move away from the attacking enemy. On the way behind the retreating division, small settlements and resistance foci were organized, which seduced the enemy to the side of the retreating, while delaying. After the enemy stretched out, the division sharply changed direction and returned again to strike the main forces. Such disturbing strikes greatly stretched the enemy's forces, which greatly slowed its advance. As a result, the division not only survived, contrary to all predictions, but also did this heroically, for which it was renamed the 8th Guard Panfilovskaya.
It is noteworthy that Panfilov developed only the theory, but the best to implement it was the Combat Momoch-Ula. Having entered the battle in mid-October 1941 as a commander of the battalion, in November he already headed the regiment, although he remained a "starley". The significance of his merits can be judged by the fact that Panfilov’s defensive theory was called the “spiral of the Momişula.”
Colonel-General Erich Goepner commanded the 4th tank group, and it was he who had to face the tactics of the young Kazakh. During the offensive, he would write in his reports to Hitler: "A wild division, fighting in violation of all statutes and rules of battle, whose soldiers do not surrender to captivity, are extremely fanatical and do not fear death."
The only wildness of the International Volunteer Division was that they were not familiar with the German plans. Instead of heroically dying under the hooks of German tank armies, the regiment of Momoch-Ula chose life and victory.
The tactics of the "wild" Kazakh can be judged by several episodes. On his first day on the front, the lieutenant proposed to the commander of the regiment to create a squadron of 100 volunteers and make a night trip with them. With him he took only the most experienced and at night went to one of the villages occupied by the enemy. In less than an hour, three hundred enemies were destroyed.
Under the Demian regiment, the senior lieutenant had to meet with the SS division "Dead Head". Here he had to fight again with a numerically superior enemy. He selected six settlements occupied by the enemy. Twenty units, into which the regiment was divided, under the cover of the night alternately attacked all targets at once. As soon as the enemy organized the defense, the squadron retreated, and a few minutes later another division attacked the village from the other side. And such a hell was created in all six directions for several hours. The renowned division with a loud name held as it could, but was confident that it would deter the main offensive of the Soviet army. They did not know that they were fighting with a troubled regiment. During the night, the losses of the fighters of Momoş-Ula amounted to 157 fighters, the SS division was underestimated 1200 soldiers.
As we can see, the starley adhered to the tactics of Alexander Suvorov – always hold the initiative in the offensive. However, modern realities have also been taken into account. The Panfilovs could not give one general battle. After they crushed one German part, several others fell on them. Momish-ul was repeatedly surrounded, but each time he broke, while keeping his battalion, regiment and division in full combat readiness.
The 30-year-old Lieutenant began his legendary journey in October 1941 with a combat, a month later he commanded the regiment, in February he headed his native division, while remaining a senior lieutenant. Only a few months later he was awarded one after another extraordinary titles up to Colonel. He was nominated for the title of Hero of the USSR, but was rejected.
The delays with the awards were influenced by his peculiar character. His colleagues described him as a cheerful, cheerful man who always told the truth. This has caused a lot of friction with the boss.
This is a rather comic situation in the future. According to the stories of Momish-Ula, her adoptive father rarely used his connections and influence, but he loved to read about himself in newspapers. He learned how highly his feats were appreciated by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara and immediately sent them an invitation to visit. Cuban guests, during a visit to the USSR immediately stated that they would like to meet with the legendary "wild" Kazakh.
The authorities began to organize the meeting. But there was one problem - the apartment house, where the legendary panfilovec lived, was in a terrible condition. The local authorities immediately offered the family to move to a new apartment, but Momish-ul rejected. He stated that he is not ashamed to receive guests in such a house, and if anyone is ashamed of his housing, let him live with it.
After long negotiations, all sides came to a compromise - the hero's house was repaired, and he settled with his family at the hotel during the repair. A whole delegation came to visit the commander, it turned out that Castro virtually did not break up with the books of Momish-ulla, but it was impossible to discuss all the topics in one short visit, so the hero of the war was invited with a return visit to Cuba. In 1963, this invitation was fulfilled.
The meeting of the Kazakh legend could only be compared to celebrations in honor of Yuri Gagarin. The Cubans expected that their idol would hold lectures on warfare over the course of a month, but Momish-ul refused, saying that he would do it in 10 days, but he could not be delayed – he was awaited by students. He taught courses in the military school "exit from the surrounding without losses" and "guiding night battles in the offensive".
Baburzhan Momish-ulla died in 1982 at the age of 71. He was awarded the title of Hero only in 1990.