Seytnafe Seytveliyev ( crh, Seyitnafe Seyitveliyev, russian: Сейтнафе Сейтвелиев; 29 May 1919 – 13 March 1983) was a gunner in the Red Army during the Second World War 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 ...

. Despite taking out numerous enemy tanks and being a decorated veteran of the war, he was deported to Central Asia in 1946 because of his Crimean Tatar ethnicity.

Early life

Seytveliyev was born on 29 May 1919 in the Tav-Kipchak village to a Crimean Tatar peasant family. After completing secondary school he worked at a collectivized grape farm until he was drafted into the Red Army in 1939 and assigned to the Odessa military district.

World War II

After being drafted into the Red Army, he graduated from the junior commander's school and entered combat immediately upon 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 ...

. Throughout the beginning of the war he participated in the Kerch landing, as well as in the battles for Sevastopol, Odessa, Stalingrad, Kursk, Bryansk, Gomel, Poland, Prussia, and the Baltics. He was wounded in December 1942 during the

Battle of Stalingrad The Battle of Stalingrad (23 August 19422 February 1943) was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II where Nazi Germany and its allies unsuccessfully fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad (later re ...

and hospitalized for two months. Seytveliyev began to distinguish himself on 25 June 1944 in the fighting for the Gomel region of occupied Belarus. In the process of breaking through enemy defenses and repulsing counterattacks, he suppressed multiple enemy firing point as well as two tanks, all under heavy enemy fire. When his regiment was deployed to the Minsk region to attack a column of containing 40 enemy tanks, he managed to hit a total of 15 enemy tanks during the week-long battle. For his actions in Belarus he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner and nominated for the title Hero of the Soviet Union. On 25 September 1944 he was declared a

by decree of the Supreme Soviet, which he learned of while fighting for the town of Ostroleka in Poland. He continued to fight across Eastern Europe, reaching

East Prussia East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label=Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 187 ...

in the winter of 1945, after which he reached the coast of the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

and was demobilized in 1946.

Postwar life and exile

After being demobilized in 1946, and despite his status as a war hero, he was deported to Central Asia due to his Crimean Tatar ethnicity. His mother Momine, who was subject to deportation from Crimea in 1944, died of starvation and was buried in a mass grave shortly thereafter and he never had the chance to see her again. Residing in exile in Tajikistan, he worked in agriculture, at a glass factory, and as a teacher before he died in Leninabad on 13 March 1983, before the Crimean Tatar people received the full right to return in 1989. While in exile he participated in the Crimean Tatar civil rights movement.

Awards and honors

(25 September 1944) *

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 ...

(25 September 1944) *

Order of the Red Banner The Order of the Red Banner (russian: Орден Красного Знамени, Orden Krasnogo Znameni) was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of th ...

(28 August 1944) *

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 (23 July 1945) * Medal "For Courage" (26 December 1943) *

Medal "For Battle Merit" The Medal "For Battle Merit" (russian: Медаль «За боевые заслуги») was a Soviet military medal awarded for " combat action resulting in a military success", "courageous defense of the state borders", or "successful military ...

(27 August 1943) * Honorary citizen of Minsk Award documents on pamyat-naroda.ru
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seytveliyev, Seytnafe 1919 births 1983 deaths Heroes of the Soviet Union Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner People from Bilohirsk Raion Crimean Tatar people