Noah Petrovich Adamia ( ka, ნოე ადამია, Noe Adamia, russian: Ной Петрович Адамия; 21 December 1917 – 3 July 1942) was a

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

Soviet sniper Snipers of the Soviet Union played an important role mainly on the Eastern Front of World War II, apart from other preceding and subsequent conflicts. In World War II, Soviet snipers used the 7.62×54mmR rifle cartridge with light, heavy, armour- ...

of the Soviet Maritime Forces during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and

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 ...

. Указ Президиума Верховного Совета СССР «О присвоении звания Героя Советского Союза начальствующему и рядовому составу Военно-Морского флота» от 24 июля 1942 года
// Ведомости Верховного Совета Союза Советских Социалистических Республик : газета. — 1942. — 14 августа (№ 32 (191)). — С. 1. He participated in the Sevastopol sniper movement and personally trained about 80 snipers. Adamia is credited with having killed over 200 German soldiers during the

Battle of Sevastopol A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

, before he was killed in action a day before the siege lifted.

Pre-war period

Born on 21 December 1917 into a peasant family in the Georgian village of Mathondzhi, he attended a high school in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...

. Afterwards Adamia joined the Soviet Navy in 1938 and served in coastal defenses as anti-aircraft gunner. In 1940 he graduated from the Odessa Military Naval School and became platoon commander.

World War II, Battle of Sevastopol

Serving at the front lines since 1941, he decided to become active as sharpshooter by own will and in 1942 due to his impressive efficiency with the rifle was given instructor status and ordered to train more than 70 marines of the Soviet 7th Marine Brigade stationed in

Sevastopol Sevastopol (; uk, Севасто́поль, Sevastópolʹ, ; gkm, Σεβαστούπολις, Sevastoúpolis, ; crh, Акъя́р, Aqyár, ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea, and a major port on the Black Sea ...

in sniper warfare. He had mastered sharpshooting by himself and was engaged in the most dangerous areas of the district. Within two months he had all candidates prepared for combat. Up until becoming platoon commander, Adamia was credited with having killed more than 200 enemy soldiers and knocking out two enemy tanks. On 21 June 1942, facing encirclement by German troops, the petty officer led a small 11 man strong sniper detachment to break the ring in which they succeeded, killing more than 100 enemy soldiers. The fierce battle went on even out of the encirclement.

Sniper tactics

From December 1941 Adamiya became pioneer of the Sevastopol sniper movement. In the beginning his primary targets were enplaced positions but he soon moved on for active hunts using both the Simonov PTRS-41 anti-materiel rifle and the

Mosin–Nagant The Mosin–Nagant is a five-shot, bolt-action, internal magazine–fed military rifle. Known officially as the 3-line rifle M1891 and informally in Russia and former Soviet Union as Mosin's rifle ( ru , винтовка Мосина, ISO 9: ) ...

sniper rifle to take out soft and lightly armored targets. To one of the Soviet army news papers he said: Adamiya went on describing how he started to learn calculation of range, observing and slowly mastering the effects of humidity and other aspects of shooting from long distance. One day he took point on a tree covered high ground and observed German troops moving around their entrenched positions to keep themselves warm. He was able to take out six targets over a range of 600 m with his Mosin–Nagant and improved his rate each day after, going out for several days with only a loaf of bread and little water. Adamiya tried to determine when enemy forces would concentrate on a specific position for example by observing if improvised latrines or similar points were built. Yevgeniy Ivanovich Zhidilov wrote in his book "We defended Sevastopol":

Death

Adamia met his fate a day before Sevastopol fell to Axis forces on 4 July 1942. He was one of the 60,000 Soviet defenders who were not evacuated. On 3 July Adamia was killed in the area of Gasfort, Kamysheva Bay. He was buried in Sevastopol along with 86 soldiers of the 7th Marine Brigade.

Awards

For his outstanding performance and courage in the fight against Nazism and the actions on June 1942, the

Presidium of the Supreme Soviet The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (russian: Президиум Верховного Совета, Prezidium Verkhovnogo Soveta) was a body of state power in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).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 ...

, the

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (russian: Орден Ленина, Orden Lenina, ), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration b ...

and the Medal of Valour on 24 July 1942. Due to restrictions on awards for marine servicemen, he was not awarded with higher honors. A street in the city of

Sukhumi Sukhumi (russian: Суху́м(и), ) or Sokhumi ( ka, სოხუმი, ), also known by its Abkhaz name Aqwa ( ab, Аҟәа, ''Aqwa''), is a city in a wide bay on the Black Sea's eastern coast. It is both the capital and largest city of ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

is named after him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adamia, Noe 1917 births 1942 deaths People from Imereti Mingrelians Military personnel from Georgia (country) Soviet military snipers Heroes of the Soviet Union People of World War II from Georgia (country) Soviet military personnel killed in World War II Soviet Navy personnel Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Medal "For Courage" (Russia)