World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseBauyrzhan Momyshuly was born into a nomadic Dulat family in the village of Orak Balga, Syr-Darya, Turkestan, Russian Empire in 1910. Between 1923 and 1929, he was educated in boarding schools. Between 1929 and when he was conscripted for military service in Nov 1932, he worked as a teacher, a government secretary, an assistant prosecutor, and an employee of Central Agency for Economic Planning of Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. He served with the 14th Mountain Infantry Regiment of the Red Army between Nov 1932 and 1934. After studying one economics course in the Leningrad Institute of Finance, he worked in the Kazakh branch of the Commercial-Industrial Soviet State Bank. In Mar 1936, he was conscripted for military service for a second time. In Mar 1937, his unit, 315th Regiment of the Central Asian Military District, was transferred to the Far Eastern Front. In 1939, he was made the commanding officer of the artillery units of the 105th Infantry Division. In Feb 1940, he was made the commanding officer of 202nd Independent Anti-Tank Battalion, based in Zhytomyr, Ukraine. In Jan 1941, he was attached to the military commissariat of Almaty, Kazakh SSR.

ww2dbaseWhen the Russo-German War began in Jun 1941, Momyshuly was made a battalion commander in the 1073th Regiment of the 316th Rifle Division. In Sep 1941, he saw action near Ruza River near Volokolamsk in Moscow Oblast, Russia. Between 16 and 18 Nov, in the village of Matryonino, his battalion successfully fended off a German attack despite being cut off from the rest of the division; this accomplishment, plus the overall success achieved by the 316th Rifle Division overall, the division was given Guards status, thus renamed Panfilov 8th Guards Rifle Division, on 23 Nov. In late Nov 1941, he was promoted from the rank of senior lieutenant to the rank of captain. On 5 Dec, he was seriously wounded in combat, but opted to recover on the front lines in order to be with his comrades. In Apr 1942, he was promoted to the rank of major. In Aug 1942, his superiors recommended him for the award of Hero of the Soviet Union, but this was ultimately rejected. Later in the same year, he joined the Communist Party. In Oct, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel. In Jun 1943, he was promoted to the rank of colonel. He spent late 1943 and early 1944 in a hospital due to the wounds received in Dec 1941. After being released from the hospital in Mar 1944, he studied at the Higher Military Academy named after Marshal K. E. Voroshilov in Moscow, Russia. In Jan 1945, he was made the commanding officer of 9th Guards Rifle Division in the 1st Baltic Front; he led this unit into the Ostpreußen (East Prussia) region of Germany in the final months of the war. He was awarded the Order of Lenin after the end of the war.

ww2dbaseIn 1946, Momyshuly studied at the Voroshilov academy once again. In 1948, he was appointed by the Council of Minister of Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic as the chief of the Voluntary Society for Cooperation with the Armed Forces. In late 1948, he was made the deputy commanding officer of 49th Independent Infantry Brigade in the East Siberian Military District. Between 1950 and 1955, he was an instructor at the Military Academy of Logistics and Transport. He retired from military service in 1955 at the rank of colonel. He wrote several highly acclaimed books in his retirement, and also lectured at the Kazakh Academy of Sciences. He passed away in Almaty in 1982 and was buried at the Kensai Cemetery. He was posthumously made a Hero of the Soviet Union in Dec 1990. After the establishment of the Republic of Kazakhstan, he was made a People's Hero of Kazakhstan.

Bauyrzhan Momyshuly Timeline