View source for Bauyrzhan Momyshuly

{{Infobox military person
|name=Bauyrzhan Momyshuly
|image= Momyshuly.jpg
|caption= Senior Lieutenant Baurzhan Momyshuly, 1941. 
|birth_date={{Birth date|1910|12|24|df=yes}}
|death_date={{Death date and age|1982|06|10|1910|12|24|df=yes}}
|placeofburial_label=
|placeofburial=Kensai Cemetery, [[Almaty]]
|birth_place=Orak Balga (in the contemporary [[Zhualy District]]), [[Syr-Darya Oblast|Syr-Darya Region]], [[Turkestan Krai|Turkestan Province]], [[Russian Empire]]
|death_place=[[Alma-Ata]], [[Kazakh SSR]], [[Soviet Union]]
|placeofburial_coordinates= <!-- {{Coord|LAT|LONG|display=inline,title}} -->
|nickname      = [[Aqsaqal]]
|birth_name    =
|allegiance    ={{USSR}}
|branch        =
|serviceyears  = 1932-1934<br>1936–1955
|rank          = Colonel
|servicenumber =
|unit          =
|commands      = {{nobr|[[9th Guards Rifle Division]]}}
|battles       = [[German-Soviet War]]
|battles_label =
|awards        = '''Military:''' <br>
{{Hero of the Soviet Union}} {{Order of Lenin}}<br/>
{{nobr|[[Order of the Red Banner]] (2)}}<br/>
[[Order of the Red Star]]<br/>
[[Order of the Patriotic War]]<br/>
[[Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"]]<br/>
{{nobr|[[Medal "For the Defence of Moscow"]]}}<br/>
[[Medal for Battle Merit]]

'''Civilian:'''
[[People's Hero of Kazakhstan]]<br/>{{nobr|[[Order of the Red Banner of Labour]]}}<br/>[[Order of Friendship of Peoples]]<br/>[[Order of the Badge of Honour]]
|relations=
|laterwork=
}}
'''Bauyrzhan Momyshuly''', also spelled '''Baurjan Momish-Uli'''<ref group="a">While publications of the Kazakh government use the first version, all the English translations of [[Alexander Bek]]'s books use the second.</ref> ({{audio| |listen}} [[Kazakh language|Kazakh]]: ''Бауыржан Момышұлы'', [[Russian language|Russified]]: ''Бауыржан Момышулы''; {{OldStyleDate|24 December|1910|11 December}} - 10 June 1982) was a [[Kazakh people|Kazakh]]-[[Soviet Union|Soviet]] military officer and author, posthumously awarded with the titles [[Hero of the Soviet Union]] and [[People's Hero of Kazakhstan]].

== Biography ==

=== Early life ===
Momyshuly was born in Orak Balga, a now abandoned [[Aul]] in the modern [[Zhualy District]] in southern Kazakhstan,<ref>''[http://visitkazakhstan.nur.kz/ru/guide/news/view/1488/ 100th Anniversary of Bauyrzhan Momyshuly]{{dead link|date=October 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}.'' nur.kz.</ref> to a family of nomadic herders from the [[Uysyn|Dulat]] tribe. He lived with his relatives until the age of thirteen, but spent his teenage years in Soviet boarding schools.<ref>Bauyrzhan Momyshuly. ''Za Nami Moskva''. Ȯner (2009). ISBN 978-601-209-087-1. p. 1.</ref> After completing his secondary education in 1929, he worked as a teacher, a secretary of a district committee and as an assistant-prosecutor. He was later employed as a department chief in the [[Kazakh ASSR]]'s [[Gosplan|Central Agency for Economic Planning]].<ref>[http://www.warheroes.ru/hero/hero.asp?Hero_id=1543 ''Hero of the Soviet Union Baurzhan Momyshuly.''] Catalogue of the Heroes of the USSR.</ref>

In November 1932, Momyshuly was conscripted for a two-year service in the [[Red Army]],<ref>Bauyrzhan Momyshuly, [http://militera.lib.ru/prose/russian/momysh-uly_b/02.html ''Tales from the War''. Chapter 1.]</ref> and posted as a cadet in the 14th Mountain Infantry Regiment. After his discharge, he studied a course in economics in the [[Leningrad]] Institute of Finance and worked in the Kazakh branch of the Commercial-Industrial Soviet State Bank.<ref name = "A">Kadyrzhan Smagulov. [http://www.inform.kz/rus/article/230084 ''Legendary Son of the Kazakh People, Bauyrzhan Momyshuly.''] Kazinform, 4 March 2009.</ref>

=== Military career ===
On 25 March 1936, Momyshuly was again called for military service, becoming a platoon commander in the [[Turkestan Military District|Central Asian Military District]]'s 315th Regiment. He remained in the military for the next two decades. In March 1937, the regiment was transferred to the [[Far Eastern Front (Soviet Union)|Far Eastern Front]] in [[Siberia]]. While not subject to repression during the [[Great Purge]], the remark "unreliable, with extreme nationalist views" was inscribed in his personal dossier in 1937. His biographer, Mekemtas Myrzakhmetov, believed this happened because Momyshuly was known to read the poetry of [[Magjan Jumabayev]] and works of other authors associated with the [[Alash Orda]].<ref>Zhanar Kanafina. ''[http://www.caravan.kz/article/5547/print Unsolved Mysteries of the Life of a Hero.] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213055506/http://www.caravan.kz/article/5547/print |date=December 13, 2013 }}'' '''Karavan'''. 25 June 2010.</ref>

In 1939, Momyshuly was assigned to command the 105th Infantry Division's artillery. From February 1940, he headed the 202nd Independent Anti-Tank Battalion, based in [[Zhytomyr]].<ref name = "lit"/>

In January the following year, Lieutenant Momyshuly returned to Kazakhstan, serving in [[Alma-Ata]]'s [[military commissariat]]. When [[Operation Barbarossa|Germany invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June]], he was appointed a battalion commander - [[Combat (military rank)|Kombat]] - in the 1073th Regiment of the newly formed [[8th Guards Rifle Division|316th Rifle Division]], headed by the military commissar of the [[Kyrgyz SSR]], Major General [[Ivan Panfilov]].<ref>[http://www.elim.kz/article/311/ ''Baurzhan Momyshuly (1910-1982)''.] elim.kz</ref>

=== World War II ===
In September 1941, the division was sent to the front in [[Malaya Vishera]], at the [[Siege of Leningrad|vicinity of Leningrad]].<ref>[http://samsv.narod.ru/Div/Sd/sd316/main1.html ''History of the 316th Division.''] sams.ru.</ref> During October, as the [[Wehrmacht]] [[Battle of Moscow|advanced on Moscow]], the 316th - now part of General [[Konstantin Rokossovsky]]'s [[16th Army (Soviet Union)|16th Army]] - was transferred to the theater and tasked with defending the highway passing through the city of [[Volokolamsk]] and the surrounding area. Momyshuly's battalion was assigned an eight-kilometer-long sector along the [[Ruza River]]; Senior Lieutenant Momyshuly took part in 27 engagements during the defense of the Soviet capital. From the 16th to the 18th of November, he and his unit were cut off from the rest of the division in the village of Matryonino, yet managed to hold off the German forces and eventually broke out back to their lines. For its performances, the 316th was awarded the status of a [[Russian Guards|Guards formation]] on 23 November, and named the Panfilov 8th Guards Rifle Division in honor of its fallen commander, who was killed in action on 18 November. In late November, Momyshuly was promoted to the rank of captain.<ref>[http://www.zhambyl.kz/index.php?action=news&type=1&lan=rus&news_id=113 ''The Celebration Day of Baurzhan became that of the People''.] zhambyl.kz, 16 September 2010.</ref>

Momyshuly participated in the [[Battle of Moscow#Soviet counteroffensive|Soviet counter-offensive]] and was severely wounded on 5 December, though he declined to be evacuated to receive treatment.<ref>Galia Galkina. [http://www.np.kz/index.php?newsid=5196 ''Baurzhan''.] np.kz/</ref>

In March 1942, war correspondent [[Alexander Bek]] arrived in the 8th Guards Division. During the spring of that year, Bek convinced Momyshuly, who was reluctant at first, to cooperate with him in writing a novel about the fighting in Volokolamsk, which would eventually be published in 1944 under the title ''[[Volokolamsk Highway]]''. Momyshuly strongly disapproved of Bek's book, which he claimed to be an unrealistic depiction of events, and criticized the author relentlessly for the remainder of his life.<ref>Brandon Schechter. ''[http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/0mg0q54r The Language of the Sword: Alexksandr Bek, The Writers Union and Baurdzhan Momysh-uly in Battle for the Memory of Volokolamskoe Shosse]''. Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, [[University of California, Berkeley]] (August 1, 2009). pp. 4-5, 27, etc..</ref>
    
In April 1942, his commanding officer approved his promotion to the rank of major. In August 1942, his superiors had submitted a highly positive report on his conduct, and he was recommended to be awarded the title [[Hero of the Soviet Union]]. The proposal was rejected.<ref>K. Abenov. ''[http://lib.kaznu.kz/Vestnik/TEXT/MOMICH.TXT The Military and Spiritual Heritage of Baurzhan Momyshuly.]'' '''Kaznu'''. February 1999.</ref> The poet Mikhail Isinaliev, a friend of Momyshuly, wrote that a former political officer from the 8th Guards told him that this was due to his Kazakh patriotism, which was regarded as dangerous nationalism by the unit's commissars. Momyshuly joined the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Communist Party]] during the same year. In October, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel. After eight months, he became a colonel.<ref name ="B">Mikhail Isinaliev. [http://www.isinaliev.ig.kz/ru/hisfeatures/momyshuly/ Baurzhan Momyshuly.] isinaliev.kz/</ref>

During 1943, due to the effects of his old injury, he was forced to rest in a hospital for a prolonged period.<ref>[http://news.nur.kz/tag/550.html ''Baurzhan Momyshuly]{{dead link|date=October 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. nur.kz.</ref> After being released from the hospital in March 1944, he underwent an advanced officers' course in the [[Voroshilov Academy]]. On 21 January 1945, Colonel Baurzhan Momyshuly was appointed as the commander of the 9th Guards Rifle Division, a unit of the 2nd Rifle Corps in the [[1st Baltic Front]]'s 6th Army. The 9th participated in the [[East Prussian Offensive]], taking fifteen towns near the city of [[Priekule, Latvia|Priekule]]. After the war ended, Momyshuly was awarded the [[Order of Lenin]].<ref>[http://samsv.narod.ru/Div/Sd/sd078/main1.html A History of the 9th Guards Division.] sams.ru.</ref>

=== Post-war years ===
In 1946, Momyshuly entered the Voroshilov Academy again. On 16 June 1948, the [[Kazakh SSR]]'s Council of Ministers appointed him as chief of the republic's [[DOSAAF|Voluntary Society for Cooperation with the Armed Forces]], while he still served in the military. In late 1948, he became deputy commander of the 49th Independent Infantry Brigade in the East Siberian Military District. From 1950, he served as a senior lecturer in the Red Army's Military Academy of Logistics and Transport. According to Myrzakhmetov, he was the only one of the 500 officers who graduated with him to never receive the rank of a General; the author claimed this was due to a political decision to deny [[Turkic people]] a high status in the Soviet Armed Forces.<ref>Maklap Mukankze. [http://rus.azattyq.org/content/momyshuly_mekemtas_sbornik/2041646.html ''The Forty Volumes of Mumyshuly's Memoirs are Published on his 100th Birthday''.] azattyq.org, 17 May 2010.</ref>

In 1955, Colonel Momyshuly retired from the army due an illness. He turned to a literary career,<ref name = "lit">[http://lit.kz/authors/kazakhstan/momyshuly-bauyrzhan ''Authors of Kazakhstan: Baurzhan Momyshuly'']. lit.kz</ref> writing several novels as well as books about his wartime experiences. He was also a lecturer in the [[Kazakhstan Academy of Sciences]].<ref>[http://www.kazakhstan-osce.org/content/issue-98-12-october-2010#5 Issue 98 of the OSCE's Kazakh mission.]</ref>

Momyshuly was mainly known due his appearance in Bek's ''[[Volokolamsk Highway]]''.<ref>Edward N. Luttwak. [http://www.commentarymagazine.com/article/moscow-1941-by-rodric-braithwaite/ ''Review: Moscow 1941 by Rodric Braithwaite'']. [[Commentary (magazine)|Commentary]], January 2007.</ref> The author wrote two sequels, ''Several Days'' and ''General Panfilov's Reserve''.<ref>[http://www.sovlit.net/bios/bek.html ''Alexander Bek'']. sovlit.com.</ref> The series gained international, as well as Soviet, recognition.

[[File:Rus Stamp GSS-Momyshuli.jpg|thumb|right|A Kazakh stamp with Momyshuly's picture, issued in 2010.|200px]]
Momyshuly's book about the 1941 battles in Volokolamsk, ''Moscow is Behind Us'', was adapted to cinema during 1967.<ref>[http://www.kino-teatr.ru/kino/movie/sov/2299/annot/ ''Moscow Behind Us'' on kino-teatr.ru.]</ref> In 1976, he won the Kazakh SSR's [[Abay Qunanbayuli]] State Prize for his autobiography, ''Our Family''.<ref name = "A"/>

Momyshuly opposed the [[Leonid Brezhnev|Brezhnevite]] establishment's exaltation of the battle of [[Malaya Zemlya]]; according to his son and biographer, Bahytzhan, his position made him powerful enemies in the state apparatus, and nullified his chances to receive the title Hero of the Soviet Union while alive.<ref>Schechter. p. 38.</ref> 
When Isinaliev approached [[Dinmukhamed Konayev]] and requested him to arrange for Momyshuly to become one such, the First Secretary replied that as long as General [[Alexei Yepishev]] was the head of the Red Army's Main Political Directorate, the decoration would never be bestowed.<ref name ="B"/> Bahytzhan also recalled that in his later years, his father - who was a "loosely practicing Muslim" all his life<ref>Schechter. p. 42.</ref> - turned to [[Sufism]].<ref>Schechter. p. 40.</ref> Momyshuly died in 1982 and was buried in Alma Ata.

Shortly before the collapse of the USSR, the chief of the Kazakh Supreme Soviet, [[Nursultan Nazarbayev]], had managed to convince the authorities in Moscow to posthumously grant Momyshuly the country's highest military honor, and he was declared a Hero of the Soviet Union on 11 December 1990. After the republic became independent, he was also made a [[People's Hero of Kazakhstan]]. The capital of his native [[Zhualy District]] is named after him.<ref>[http://www.biografia.kz/famous/716 ''Baurzhan Momyshuly: Hero, Author, Soldier.''] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101215100052/http://www.biografia.kz/famous/716 |date=December 15, 2010 }} biography.kz.</ref>

== Books ==
{{colbegin}}
*''Moscow Behind Us'' ( «За нами Москва»)
*''Our General, Ivan Panfilov'' («Наш генерал»)
*''One Night's Tale'' («История одной ночи»)
*''Our Family'' ({{lang-kk|«Ұшқан ұя»}}, {{lang-ru|«Наша семья»}})
*''The Officer's Diary'' («Дневник офицера»)
*''Psychology of War: Part 1'' («Психология войны: 1 часть»)
*''Psychology of War: Part 2'' («Психология войны: 2 часть»)
*''Meetings in Cuba'' («Кубинские встречи»)
{{colend}}

==Media==
Bauyrzhan Momyshuly has been depicted by the following actors in film and television productions:
* Asanbek Umuraliyev in the 1968 picture ''Moscow is Behind Us.''<ref>''[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0348483/ Moscow Is Behind Us]''. IMDb.com</ref>
* Boris Scherbakov in the 1984 TV mini-series ''Volokolamsk Highway''.<ref>''[http://kino-teatr.ru/teatr/movie/16550/annot/ Volokolamsk Highway]''. kino-teatr.ru.</ref>

In 2010, Kazakhfilm Studio released the documentary ''Legendary Bauyrzhan'' («Қазақтың Бауыржаны»), directed by [[Kalila Umarov]].

== References ==
{{reflist|2}}

==Annotations==
{{Reflist|group=a}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Baurzhan Momyshuly}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110722142256/http://www.dknews.kz/article.php?id=6977&archid=182 An article about Momyshuly's 100th anniversary celebrations.]
*[http://www.kazakhfilmstudios.kz/en/press/news/2010/09-14-presentation An article on the 2010 Kazakh documentary film ''Bauyrzhan Momyshuly''.]
*{{YouTube|kld85NudaOM|Trailer of ''Legendary Bauyrzhan''}}, on director [[Kalila Umarov]]'s YouTube channel.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Momyshuly, Bauyrzhan}}
[[Category:Dughlats]]
[[Category:1910 births]]
[[Category:1982 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Jambyl Region]]
[[Category:Kazakhstani military personnel]]
[[Category:Soviet military personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Communist Party of the Soviet Union members]]
[[Category:Kazakh-language writers]]
[[Category:Kazakhstani writers]]
[[Category:Soviet writers]]
[[Category:Russian-language writers]]
[[Category:General Staff Academy (Soviet Union) alumni]]
[[Category:Heroes of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Lenin]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st class]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Red Star]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Badge of Honour]]
[[Category:Heroes of Kazakhstan]]