Uzbekistanis’ courage at the front

When the war began, national military units were formed in Uzbekistan: in summer 1941 the 221st Motorised Division was formed in Samarkand from the 19th Mountain Cavalry Division, and on 13 November the State Defence Committee decided to form 5 cavalry divisions and 9 rifle brigades. According to the textbook, some units lacked weapons in the first months. Uzbekistanis fought in the defence of the Brest fortress, Kyiv, Odessa, Sevastopol, Leningrad and Moscow, in the battles of Stalingrad, Kursk and the Dnieper, in the liberation of Belarus, Ukraine and European countries, and in the war against Japan in August 1945. The sniper Zebo G‘aniyeva received the Order of the Red Banner; the first Uzbek Hero of the Soviet Union was Qo‘chqor Turdiyev of Andijan (decree of 27 March 1942); Major General Sobir Rahimov was killed storming Gdansk on 26 March 1945 and was given the Hero title in 1965; the poet Sulton Jo‘ra was killed in November 1943. According to the textbook 1.5 million Uzbekistanis took part in the war and about 500,000 were killed or went missing; 280 Uzbekistanis became Heroes (75 of them Uzbeks) and 120,000 received orders and medals. The Second World War ended on 2 September 1945 with Japan’s surrender. The fate of prisoners of war was harsh: many died in captivity and those who returned were examined under suspicion; the history of formations such as the “Turkestan Legion” (1942), set up abroad from among prisoners, is assessed in different ways by historians. After independence the book “Xotira” (Memory) was published in 1995, in May 1999 the Remembrance and Honouring Square with the “Mourning Mother” statue was built in Tashkent, and 9 May is observed as Remembrance and Honouring Day.