Героини Великой Отечественной войны: как женщины Казахстана сражались за Победу

During the Great Patriotic War, about 1.2 million people left Kazakhstan for the front, of which more than 9.5 thousand fighters were women. Many Kazakh women became snipers, nurses, pilots, radio operators and even commanders. They went to the front as volunteers, often young, leaving behind their families, studies and peaceful life. Among the strong and courageous heroines there are not only the names of Aliya, Manshuk and Khiuaz, but also many other equally brave women who gave no less work, strength and patience for the great victory. Today, on the 80th anniversary of Victory Day, the editorial board of Juzmedia . kz remembers them. 

Aliya Moldagulova – a sniper with the heart of a lion

Position: sniper

Place of service: 54th Separate Rifle Brigade, 22nd Army, 2nd Baltic Front

Awards: Title of Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously)

Alia was born in the Aktobe region. Orphaned at an early age, she was raised by her uncle in Leningrad. When the war began, despite her young age (17), she insisted on being sent to the front. She became a sniper and was trained in the Moscow region. She killed 78 enemy soldiers and officers. She died in battle near Pskov in January 1944, leading an attack after the commander was wounded. Her death was tragic but heroic: Alia fought hand-to-hand until her last breath.

Manshuk Mametova – the machine gun did not waver in her hands

Position: machine gunner

Место службы: 100-я отдельная стрелковая бригада, 3-я ударная армия, Калининский фронт

Награды: Звание Героя Советского Союза (посмертно)

Маншук родилась в 1922 году в Уральске. Единственная женщина-пулеметчица в бригаде. До войны работала машинисткой в наркомате здравоохранения Казахской ССР. На фронт ушла добровольцем, отказавшись от тыла. На передовой сражалась рядом с мужчинами, не уступая в силе духа и выносливости. Погибла в бою за деревню Невель в 1943 году, отстреливаясь до последнего патрона из двух пулеметов. Уничтожила более 70 врагов, погибла с оружием в руках от тяжелого ранения осколком в голову, защищая своих товарищей.

«Старший сержант Маметова Маншук, собрав последние силы, несколько раз заставляла огнем своего пулемета отходить фашистов, яростно контратаковавших наши наступающие части. Обеспечила успешное продвижение наших подразделений», - указано в наградном листе.

Несмотря на травму, герой ВОВ уничтожила свыше 70 солдат противника и погибла смертью храбрых. Девушке было всего 20 лет. Похоронена в Невеле.

Хиуаз Доспанова – лётчица-легенда «Ночных ведьм»

Должность: штурман 588-го ночного бомбардировочного авиаполка

Награды: Орден Красной Звезды, Орден Отечественной войны I степени, звание «Халық қаһарманы» (Народный герой Казахстана)

Уроженка Гурьевской области (ныне Атырау), первая казахстанская летчица на фронтах Великой Отечественной. Была штурманом знаменитого полка «Ночные ведьмы», летала на бипланах По-2, сбрасывая бомбы ночью на позиции врага. Вместе со своим полком Доспанова долетела до Германии. «Ночные ведьмы» участвовали в освобождении Кубани, Тамани, Новороссийска, Крыма, Белоруссии, Польши. Только на территории Германии девушки совершили 2000 вылетов. Всего за годы войны летчицы сбросили 2 902 980 килограммов бомб, 26 000 зажигательных снарядов.

Всего тогда еще совсем юная участница ВОВ совершила более 300 боевых вылетов. Получила тяжелое ранение 1 апреля 1943 года после выполнения операции на Кавказе. Самолет, на борту которого Хиуаз Доспанова находилась вместе со своими однополчанами, при посадке столкнулся с другим самолетом. Казахская летчица осталась единственной выжившей, но ей раздробило ноги. Полеты пришлось заменить на должность начальника штаба связи. В тех боях погибло 32 девушки. 

После войны Хиуаз Доспанова стала общественным и партийным деятелем, активно занималась вопросами женского равноправия. За храбрость и отвагу в Великой Отечественной войне летчица награждена орденами Красной Звезды, Отечественной войны II степени, Красного Знамени, медалями «За оборону Кавказа», «За освобождение Варшавы», «За победу над Германией» и другими боевыми наградами. В 2004 году она получила звание «Халық Қаһарманы» (Народный Герой). 

Ветерана Великой Отечественной войны не стало 20 мая 2008 года.  

Халида Маманова – открытое письмо Сталину

Position: Military doctor, candidate of medical sciences, participant of the Great Patriotic War

Awards: Order of the Red Star, Medal "For the Defense of Stalingrad"

The only Kazakh woman to fight in a penal battalion, Khalida Mamanova was born in 1918 and faced hardships from a young age when her father was repressed as an “enemy of the people.” Despite this, the girl entered the Kazakh State Medical Institute, from which she graduated in 1941. With the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, she voluntarily went to the front. Because of her background, she was sent to a penal battalion, where she showed incredible courage, saving the lives of wounded soldiers under fire.

The WWII veteran was awarded the Order of the Red Star and the Medal "For the Defense of Stalingrad". A fragment of Mamanova's open letter to Stalin, in which she asks to be sent to a penal company and gives an ultimatum that if she survives, the charges against her and her family will be dropped, is still kept in the capital's museum. After the war, she continued her medical career, defended her PhD thesis and became a professor. Her personal file notes the saving of more than 18 thousand patients and medical assistance to 350 pregnant women. However, in peacetime, she had to face injustice: during the years of the "Doctors' Plot", she was fired and deprived of the opportunity to engage in science.

Khalida Mamanova died in 1977 under mysterious circumstances while on holiday in Bulgaria. Her life is a story of struggle for justice, professionalism and dedication to her work. 

Workers of the rear Layla Sapieva and Slusia Kalmurzina

No less important are the merits of the home front workers who accomplished a colossal feat for the front. Without closing their eyes, they performed exhausting work for half a loaf of bread.

During the Great Patriotic War, Kalmurzina Slusia knitted and sewed mittens and socks for the front. In cold and heat, she carried diesel fuel on foot from the Saratov region to the village of Furmanovo, which was more than 300 kilometers away.

She was awarded the medal "For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945", the badge "Veteran of the War of 1941-1945", as well as jubilee medals in honor of the Victory.

Sapieva Lyailya Sapiyevna, at the age of 13, as soon as the war began, began working in the sewing shop in the industrial cooperative. Together with other home front workers, she sewed uniforms and quilted jackets for soldiers. In addition, when the shift ended, the workers hurried to the elevator and sowed wheat by hand. For this work, they were given half a loaf of bread.

She became famous for her touching letters to front-line soldiers, which the girl carefully put into the pockets of the jackets made by the workshop and sent to the front. Then each worker wrote a short note saying that the soldiers were expected in the Motherland with victory.

Thus, the workers became famous throughout the republic, not only for their actions, but also for their work, because they always delivered products to the country above the plan.

Sapieva Lyailya was awarded a medal as a home front worker. All her life, Lyailya Sapieva worked as a teacher in an orphanage in the village of Volodarovka (now the village of Saumalkol).

Kazakh women veterans were not just part of the front – they became its heart. Their heroism, bravery and self-sacrifice are the foundation of the Victory. Today, schools, streets and monuments bear their names. But memory is not only bronze and marble. This is a story that we must tell and pass on from generation to generation.

Photo: ru.wikipedia.org/State Catalogue of the Museum Fund of the Russian Federation, YouTube/AIVAR, novoetv.kz, from the Mamanov family archive