Bakhtyuras Shampekuly Besikbayev ( kk, Бақтыораз Шәмпекұлы Бесікбаев; 1920 – 26 June 1941) was a gunner and radio operator in the 207th Long-Range Bomber Aviation Regiment during the Second World War. He was posthumously declared both a

Hero of the Russian Federation Hero of the Russian Federation (russian: Герой Российской Федерации, Geroy Rossiyskoy Federatsii), also unofficially Hero of Russia (russian: link=no, Герой России, Geroy Rossii), is the highest honorary title ...

and a

Hero of Kazakhstan The title of People's Hero of Kazakhstan ( kk, Халық қаһарманы, Halyq qaharmany) is the highest distinction conferred by the Republic of Kazakhstan, along with the Order of the Golden Eagle. Overview According to the Law on State Aw ...

after the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

Prewar life

Besikbayev was born in 1920 to a Kazakh family the village of Ilinskoe in the Turkestan ASSR, in the area that is now

Almaty Almaty (; kk, Алматы; ), formerly known as Alma-Ata ( kk, Алма-Ата), is the List of most populous cities in Kazakhstan, largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of about 2 million. It was the capital of Kazakhstan from 1929 to ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

. Upon reaching military age he was drafted into the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

and assigned to the Air Force, where he reached the rank of Junior Sergeant as a

radio operator A radio operator (also, formerly, wireless operator in British and Commonwealth English) is a person who is responsible for the operations of a radio system. The profession of radio operator has become largely obsolete with the automation of ra ...

and gunner.

World War II and feat

Soon after the

German invasion of the Soviet Union Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named after ...

, which began on 22 June 1941, Besikbayev was assigned to the 1st Squadron of the 207th Long-Range Bomber Aviation Regiment, part of the 42nd Long-Range Bomber Aviation Division of the 3rd Long-Range Bomber Aviation Corps on the Western Front, where he flew as rear gunner for pilot Aleksandr Maslov. On 26 June he was killed in action with the rest of the crew after Maslov attacked a German convoy on the

Molodechno Maladzyechna ( be, Маладзе́чна, Maladziečna, ; russian: Молоде́чно, Molodechno; pl, Mołodeczno) is a city in the Minsk Region of Belarus, an administrative centre of the Maladzyechna District (and formerly of the Maladzyech ...

- Radoshkovichi highway in an

Ilyushin Il-4 The Ilyushin Il-4 (DB-3F) (russian: Ильюшин Ил-4 (ДБ-3Ф)) was a Soviet twin-engined long-range bomber and torpedo bomber, widely used by the Soviet Air Force and Soviet Naval Aviation during World War II. Design and development In 19 ...

long-range bomber, possibly from a fire taran attack (the act of ramming a burning aircraft into the ground) initially attributed to

Nikolai Gastello Captain Nikolai Frantsevich Gastello (russian: Николай Францевич Гастелло, April 23, 1907 – June 26, 1941) was a Russian aviator and a Hero of the Soviet Union. He is one of the best known Soviet war heroes, being the bes ...

. The crew was initially declared missing in action by the Soviet Air Forces and were resultingly considered potential traitors. In 1951 the remains of the crew were identified not as those of the crew of Gastello, who had been declared a

Hero of the Soviet Union The title Hero of the Soviet Union (russian: Герой Советского Союза, translit=Geroy Sovietskogo Soyuza) was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for ...

after being credited with ramming a German tank column after his plane caught fire, but as those of the Maslov crew based on the findings of several military medals and an apartment key. However, the findings were not immediately made public due to Gastello's status as being credited as the first to lead a fire taran attack. In the late 1980s and 1990s many publications concluded that the first ground ramming was conducted by the Maslov crew, leading to all four crew members being posthumously awarded the

Order of the Patriotic War The Order of the Patriotic War (russian: Орден Отечественной войны, Orden Otechestvennoy voiny) is a Soviet military decoration that was awarded to all soldiers in the Soviet armed forces, security troops, and to partisan ...

, 1st class, in 1992 and the title

in 1996. In 1998 Besikbayev was declared a

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Besikbaev, Bakhtyuras 1920 births 1941 deaths Heroes of the Russian Federation Heroes of Kazakhstan Ethnic Kazakh people Soviet military personnel killed in World War II People from Semirechye Oblast People from Almaty Region

Prewar life

World War II and feat

See also

References