Graduate Of Chechen-Ingush Pedagogical Institute - O.G. Zhimarinskii - Participant Of The War

Abstract

The Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 takes a special place in the history of our country. During the most difficult and dramatic period, physical and spiritual strength, the unity of the multinational population of the country were tested. The trials of war fell to the share of all Soviet peoples. The Victory in the war was won by multimillion lives of people of different nationalities. In the course of the Great Patriotic War, the fate of not only the Soviet people, but all progressive humanity was decided. The Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 was the greatest achievement in national and world history of the 20^th century. The teaching and student staff of Chechen-Ingush State Pedagogical/Teaching Institute (ChISPI) made a modest contribution to the victory over fascism. University assistance to the front was manifested in various forms: the participation of students and teachers in military defense constructions, work in hospitals and on battlefields, as well as on various fronts of the war. Graduates of ChISPI, including Oleg Grigorevich Zhimarinskii, took an active part in the Great Patriotic War. For his courage and heroism, he was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 2^nd degree, the Red Banner, the Red Star. The participation of ChISPI representatives in the Great Patriotic War is one of the insufficiently studied issue.  An attempt to collect information about the participation of ChISPI graduate O.G. Zimarinskii in the war can be considered the contribution to the solution of the task.

Keywords: Chechen-Ingush Pedagogical InstituteWorld War IIOleg Grigorevich Zhimarinskii

Introduction

The participation of ChISPI representatives in the Great Patriotic War is one of the insufficiently studied topics. To date, a number of scientific works have been published, which allow recreating a more or less objective picture of the participation of ChISPI representatives in the Great Patriotic War. The problems of the studied issue are most actively investigated in recent decades. However, it should be noted that despite the conducted research, there is still no specific research work on Chechen State University during the war years. This remark also applies to the state of the source base of the studied issue, since today no collection of documents on the history of Chechen State University of 1941-1945 has been published. It seems that the result of research work on the topic, conducted by representatives of the teaching staff of Chechen State University with assistance of the rector Zaurbek Aslanbekovich Saidov, will soon be a special research work and a collection of documents on the university history during the war years. Today, a certain amount of literature on the issue of the participation of Chechen-Ingushetia representatives in the Great Patriotic War has been accumulated (Tsutsulaeva, 2001a, 2001b, 2009).

Over the past decades, a significant number of papers have been published, which analyze the activities of the entire system of higher education and individual universities during the Great Patriotic War - Ulianov (2008), Kuzmin, Sorokov, and Shandala (2015), Garkin and Shirokov (2008), Bolotov (2008). However, the contribution of ChSPI representatives to the victory in the Great Patriotic War became the subject of a special study only in the work of Krikunov (1985) “With a sense of duty”. Some aspects of the issue were considered in the monograph by Aliroev and Pavlov (1985) “Chechen-Ingush State University named after L.N. Tolstoi”, in a dissertation research and a number of articles by Matagova (2017, 2018) in the book-album prepared on the eve of the 70^th anniversary of Chechen State University (CSU), in the jubilee monograph devoted to the 85^th anniversary of the university (Saidov, Magamadov, & Matagova, 2018). Currently there is no generalizing research work devoted to the problem study of the participation of teachers, staff, students and graduates of ChISPI in the Great Patriotic War. The research works by Aliroev and Pavlov (1985), Matagova (2017, 2018), Krikunov  (1985), Saidov et al., (2018) and archive materials are the basis of this article.

Problem Statement

The problem of the participation of ChISPI representatives in the Great Patriotic War is one of the insufficiently studied in a national historiography. Despite the fact that over the past decades, researchers have published a number of works on the history of ChISPI during the Great Patriotic War, unfortunately, the exact number of university envoys on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War has not been established yet, biographical information on most of them has not been collected.

Of course, over the past decades various aspects of this issue have been studied. In particular, the names of the Great Patriotic War participants, many facts from the history of the contribution of ChISPI to the overall victory as a result of the work carried out by the participants and the leader of “Poisk” group of Chechen-Ingush State University, V.P. Krikunov in the mid-1980s were revealed. According to the information of this group, the number of students and teachers of the institute who did not return from the war was 24 (Aliroev & Pavlov, 1985), including: A.I. Vlasov, A.N. Bedin, V.V. Zhivotov, V.I. Gamorkin, G.P. Gladkov, K.A. Zhuravskii, V.M. Kondratev, K.M. Mezhidov, L.Ia. Mikhlin, I.A. Nakhichevanskii, P.I. Pokhomov, E.K. Popondopulo, V.K. Radchenko, A.I. Rudnev, G.I. Rybenko , Ia.A. Smirnov, A.A. Smolin, A.I.Trinko, S.S. Troian, A.P. Filatov, A.G. Cherkunov, P.A. Shevchenko, I.O. Shirman, D.F. Iurov.

Today, researchers are faced with the task of collecting biographical information about all the teachers, staff, students and graduates of ChISPI who participated in the Great Patriotic War. The participation issues of teachers, staff, students and graduates of ChISPI in the Great Patriotic War, in our opinion, should be investigated more deeply. It is important to study the preserved historical evidence of that period thoroughly in order to have an objective idea of the feats of ChISPI representatives during the war years. The re-creation of a true picture of a manifested heroism is a tribute to the memory of millions of war victims.

Research Questions

The subject of the research is the contribution of representatives of Chechen-Ingush State Pedagogical/Teaching Institute to the victory in the Great Patriotic War.

Purpose of the Study

 The aim of the article is to study a graduate participation of Chechen-Ingush State Pedagogical/ Teaching Institute, Oleg Grigorevich Zhimarinskii in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, collecting biographical information about him.

Research Methods

Principles of objectivity, science and historicism are the methodological basis. They assume study of facts and phenomena in all their diversity, in specific historical conditions of their origin and development and allow defining both positive and negative aspects of the analyzed events and phenomena. The authors used the methods of source study analysis.

Findings

The Great Patriotic War was a trial for higher education institutions of the country. Graduates of ChISPI, including Oleg Grigorevich Zhimarinskii, took an active part in the Great Patriotic War. It should be noted that ChISPI was opened only in 1938 and had only a few graduating classes of both teaching and pedagogical institute.

Written testimonies of some representatives of ChISPI who fought on various fronts of the Great Patriotic War, including our hero are cited in the above monograph by Aliroev and Pavlov (1985). ChISPI graduate, Oleg Zhimarinskii, as noted in the materials of the book, called his letters “Notes of a War Veteran”. Military way of O.G. Zhimarinskii is reported as “a brave artilleryman, he walked with his battery along the roads of the war from December 1941 to May 1945, participated in the battles for the liberation of Don, Crimea, took Orel , forced the Dnieper, was wounded. For exemplary performance of the command tasks O.G. Zhimarinskii was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, World War of 2nd degree, Red Star, and the medal "For the Defense of Stalingrad” (Aliroev & Pavlov, 1985, p. 68).

 O.G. Zhimarinskii talks about the battle for the city on the Volga in one of the letters: “... When the order came to cross over to the right bank, the fighters of the battery, I commanded, began to drag the instruments on themselves. The ice seemed to be strong, but in fact the situation was different. The first gun was pulled safely, and the second fell and went under the ice. I had not had time to give the order, as my fighters, taking off their overcoats, rushed into the icy water.

... The front was everywhere. There were no trenches and dugouts. We lived in stairwells, in basements, in attics. We were always where the enemy was to destroy him” (Aliroev & Pavlov, 1985, p. 79).

Also, his notes about the Dnieper epic in 1943 were preserved. “Our command forced the Dnieper immediately, the soldiers transported guns on boats tying them together and, covered by advanced units, moved forward. A small group of our officers and soldiers arranged a halt. At this time, two German infantry regiments marched on us. The forces were unequal, but we took the fight. Quickly deploying the artillery, we opened such a fire that the enemy could not resist and rushed off. Having driven away the enemy, we advanced and entrenched at N-height.

Here we had to endure a more cruel battle. There were more than two and a half thousand Germans against us. Again we opened fierce fire from the guns, and again the enemy could not resist. Hundreds of German corpses remained on the battlefield” (Aliroev & Pavlov, 1985, p. 93).

As a result of the search work carried out by us, we managed to obtain some biographical data and supplement information on the combat participation of Oleg Grigorevich Zhimarinskii. He was born in 1920 in Prokhladnyi town of Kabardino-Balkarian ASSR. In 1941 he was drafted to the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army (WPRA) by Grozny Military Commissariat (GMC), he began service in the 17th Guards Rifle Corps. He was a member of AULYCL since 1942 №13932165. He participated in fighting on Crimean, Southeastern front since 1941, Stalingrad front since 1942, Central front since 1943 (Saidov et al., 2018).

Order No. 2/н from February 23, 1943 to artillery units of the 62nd army, Senior Lieutenant, Commander of the Regimental Battery of 344 Rifle Regiment of 70 Guards Red Banner Rifle Division O.G. Zhimarinskii was awarded the Order of the Red Star for the exemplary execution of combat missions of the Command. However he was singled out for a high government award, to the Order of the Red Banner in January of 1943 by the commander of 344 Rifle Regiment Konovalenko. The hero's feat which is very accurately and vividly described in O.G. Zhimarinskii award list by his commander testifies to the heroism and courage of not only our graduate, but also all the defenders of Stalingrad: “The battery commanded by senior lieutenant Zhimarinskii showed itself as brave and courageous in the defense of Stalingrad and struck a crushing blow to the German fascist troops. During the period from December 13, 1942 to January 30, 1943, the battery of Comrade Zhimarinskii fired direct fire at the destruction of the resistance centers of fascist troops in defense, and in the offensive also did not lag behind their infantry and destroyed the enemy firing points. This ensured the success of his command in the attack. As a result, 10 brick buildings were destroyed, which were turned into strong resistance units and suppressed all enemy fire weapons. 13 bunkers with their garrisons, 4–37 m/m guns with their servants, 18 light machine and rifle guns and up to 450 soldiers and officers of the enemy were destructed. Comrade Zhimarinskii, by his personal example, carried away the entire personnel of the battery, he was always at the front of the weapon and personally led the artillery fire for the destruction of pillboxes, bunkers and resistance nodes, which ensured the successful advancement of the regiment during the cleaning of Stalingrad from German invaders.

Zhimarinskii is worthy of the government award of the Order of the Red Banner for his courage and heroism (CAMD RF. F. 33. L. 686044. Stor. unit 3775. Record number 21819100).

Few months later, on July 13, 1943, O.G. Zhimarinskii was singled out for the next government award, the Order of the Red Banner. The commander of 203 Guards Rifle Regiment of the Red Army Major Konovalenko describes the feat of ChISPI graduate O. Zhimarinskii in the award list in the following way: “The battery of Zhimarinskii ruthlessly destroyed the advancing fascists in the battle against the German invaders in July 1943.

14 tanks were destroyed, the artillery battery of the enemy was hit with well-aimed cannon fire.

When the enemy leaked inside the defense, the battery gunners exterminated enemy gunners in the amount of more than a troop.

Personally, Comrade Zhimarinskii, without deviating from the gun, fearlessly smashed the fascist invaders, skillfully led the battle of his battery.

Zhimarinskii is worthy of the government award of the Order of the Red Banner for his fearlessness, fortitude and courage (CAMD RF. F. 33. L. 682526. Stor. unit 676. Record number 16434890).

However, Senior Lieutenant O.G. Zhimarinskii, the commander of 76 m/m battery guns of 203 Red Banner Rifle Regiment was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 2nd degree by the order of the command of Guards Rifle Corps No. 23/н on behalf of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of SSR for the exemplary implementation of combat tasks of the Command on the struggle front against German invaders and the valor and courage (CAMD RF. F. 33. L. 682526. Stor. unit 676. Record number 16434890).

On October 14, 1943 Guards Senior Lieutenant, the Chief of Artillery of 203 Guards Red Banner Rifle Regiment O.G. Zhimarinskii was a nominee for a new government award - the Order of the Red Banner for the feat, which was described in the award presentation by the commander of 203 Guards Red Banner Rifle Regiment of the Guard Major Konovalenko: Comrade Zhimarinskii provided effective support to rifle subdivisions fighting the enemy by competent organization of artillery fire weapons during offensive battles. 8 tanks, 23 bunkers, 18 machine-gun points, 19 mortars, and up to 700 hitlerites were destroyed with well-aimed artillery fire during the period of offensive battles.

 Owing to the skillful work of artillery, led by Comrade Zhimarinskii, rifle subdivisions always received artillery support in time to fight the hitlerites. In the fight for water frontiers of Desna, Dnieper, Pripyat, tank artillery, supporting the infantry, directly fired at the counterattacking columns of Germans and their equipment, knocking over 4 tanks for the battle at crossing. Comrade Zhimarinskii is worthy of the government award of the Order of the Red Banner or courage, fortitude and skillful leadership of the artillery in battle (CAMD RF. F. 33. L. 686044. Stor. unit 3775. Record number 21819100). On January 31, 1944 O. Zhimarinskii was a nominee for the Order of the Red Banner by order of troops of 60^th Army for personnel No.02 /н on behalf of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of SSR for the exemplary implementation of combat tasks of the Command on the struggle front against German invaders and the valor and courage.

Conclusion

Thus, the study shows active participation in the Great Patriotic War of ChISPI graduate, Oleg Grigorevich Zhimarinskii. The analysis of published documents, the identification and study of archival sources expanded possibilities for studying the researched issue, made it possible to supplement biographical information about him, reproduce the feat of the hero. A comprehensive study of archival materials is required to fully reflect the issues of the participation of other teachers, staff, students and graduates of ChISPI in the Great Patriotic War. Meanwhile, it should be noted that the documents of local archives were destroyed in consequence of recent events, therefore, work in the funds of central archives is necessary.

References

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