The last Hero

Joseph Azimov, son of the Azerbaijani family twice exiled to Kazakhstan in 1937 and 1948 from the Astrakhan-Bazar region, is one of the few veterans who survived to the 70 th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany.

Despite his 92-years-old, Azimov celebrates  the victory day in the Kazakh village of Kunaev, and he is strong physically, and with a clear mind talks about the vicissitudes of war.

He went to the front in June 1942, and completed his combat path as a tank driver in Berlin.

Awarding Jozeph Azimov, the  commander "ThirtyFour"  for his ventures  seem unreal, and remind  scenes of war films in the fantasy genre.

At the turn of July and August 1944 the largest tank battle on Polish soil under the city of Warsaw. The Soviet 2nd Tank Army quickly moving  to the Polish capital was stopped by a strong counterattack the German tanks. From 93 tanks attacking tanks only three survived, one of them was  commanded by Asimov.

From the presenting the Order of the Red Banner: In the fighting from July 25 to August 5, 1944 Asimov  destroyed from a tank a cannon  a machine guns, two tanks "Panther", five tanks T.IV, four guns, mortar battery, two armored personnel carriers and infantry, nine-wheeled vehicles ,  two teams of soldiers and officers, and others.

In January 1945, the Supreme Command Headquarters  held the Vistula-Oder operation that led to the liberation of Poland.

From the submissions to the Order of Glory the First and Second levels: In the fighting near the station Ignasyuvk on January 18 Azimov made a heroic feat on the highway Warsaw-Sochaczew. He knocked out eight locomotives and blocked the waste of military goods. In total, during the fighting destroyed two tanks "Tiger" one tank "Panther", five tanks T.IV, 12 guns, three aircrafts at the airport, seven armored personnel carriers, 65-wheeled vehicles, two companies of soldiers and officers.

From the archives of the Russian Defense Ministry: In February 1945, Joseph Asimov was to be awarded the rank of the Hero of the Soviet Union by the  of the commander of a tank battalion 65th armored brigade. However, the commander of the artillery of the 2nd Guards Tank Army changed the awards to the Order of Glory of the Second Degree.

Joseph Azimov also awarded the Order of the Red Star and medals. In April 2010, he was awarded the Order of the Republic of Kazakhstan "Kurmet".

Maydanek

On July 23, 1944 Asimov's tank hit the gates of the women  section concentration camp Maydanek. "We went there only by two tanks, no one else was with us. Local Poles reported that behind the forest there was  strictly protected object, but did not tell what kind of object. The Germans fled by that time, and women prisoners met us. It was a terrible picture: trolleys with the corpses, a crematorium with glowing human bones, huge stacks of women's hair in the barn. There were women of different nationalities, including Germans. One French woman gave me a handkerchief embroidered with the Eiffel Tower and the inscription "Paris 1943".

Archives of General Vlasov

In March 1945, Azimov captured Archives of General Vlasov, commander of the Russian Liberation Army. "Our tank unit rapidly came to a small Polish town, surrounded by moats filled with water. The pass was impossible, and we went on the tanks along the tracks of the railway track. There was not resistance. All fled. On the hill was a network of buildings. We were told that it was occupied by Vlasov. We entered one of them. In the office were the portraits of General Vlasov and portraits of Hitler,  and a large safe. We broke it. It was empty. We found only some documents. Then we moved to another building. It seemed like a headquarters. In one of the rooms there was a safe. We opened it. There were  private affairs of Vlasov's people.  From tank we  transmitted the headquarters about those documents. An hour later,  he arrived by the American "Dodge"  and began to ask for forgiveness. When he saw the documents, he fell at his feet: "You do not know what you have found."

Curiosities War

International. One of the curious things Asimov described occurred under the veil of the war, when their tank units came to Potsdam. "We inspected the building on the central square in Potsdam. I opened the door to the basement. It was packed with elderly people, women, children. They stiffened with fear when I walked in the door. The room door was a young woman with a child. I took out a chocolate bar and handed it to the child. The woman began to scream "Nein, Nein." I realized that she thinks that chocolate poisoning. I took a bite, then handed it to the child. She no longer resisted. A woman approached me and took me to the third floor of the building. It turned out that she was well-known German actress. She showed me an album of photographs of American, French, Russian artists, and then gave me the album. After she took me to the top on the floor. When I opened the door of the hall thundered, "The Internationale." He played an orchestra of elderly Germans. We began to give them chocolate bars. In their eyes, it was confusion and joy. They expected the worst.

The soldiers with horns. "On three tanks we went on reconnaissance in the Polish city of Lublin. On the outskirts of one of our tanks knocked out. We took the crew of the downed tank and two tanks pulled back. We stopped on the outskirts of the village. We asked the owner of the house a bucket to get water from a well, but he did not give. I do not want to spoil your well-stained buckets of diesel fuel. Found dishes and still got water. Section to the waist and began to wash, shave - just overgrown after a few days march throws. Villagers gathered around us and stood 20 meters away, watching us. We were approached an elderly man and spoke in Russian. It turns out that in the first world, he was taken prisoner, and worked at the Ural factory. He explained why the Poles are so incredulous and with interest looking at us: "The Nazis tried to convince everyone that the Soviet soldiers have horns and feed on blood."

A bullet in the forehead. In Poland, one of the buildings examined in the liberated city. In front of me a closed door. Vystrelnul the keyhole. I pushed open the door. Opposite lay a soldier with a rifle with a hole in his forehead. If I walked in the door without firing a shot, he would have killed me.

Tank Asimov one of the first came to Berlin and 28 April was fighting on the Alexanderplatz. Here he shot out of a cannon put the last point in the history of their frontline. But its history is not an exile.

Return

In 1947, Joseph Asimov returned to Kazakhstan. For his services in battle the whole family was given a passport and allowed to go anywhere. They went to Azerbaijan in Astarhan-Bazarsky district Jalilabad now. But in 1948, the family was exiled from Azerbaijan as "undesirable elements." They returned to their relatives, the same as they are sent back to the 30s in Kazakhstan.

In the Second World War he fought every fifth citizen of Azerbaijan. With a population of 3.4 million. People (1941) went to the front 681 thousand. (Of which more than 10 thousand. - Women). These were the representatives of different nationalities, 250 thousand. Of them died.

More than 400 thousand. Soldiers and officers were awarded orders and medals, 14 people became full gentlemen of the Order of Glory, 123 - Heroes of the Soviet Union, 44 hero - ethnic Azerbaijanis.

Heroes with a similar track record Azimov no longer exists. He's the last.

P.S.Telekompaniya ANS withdrew the author's film about Joseph Asimov, which will be broadcast May 10 at 18.30. program «Alın yazısı» (Print fate).

http://www.anstv.ws/site/video/11019-alin-yazisi-10-05-2015