Victory Day in Azerbaijan

Today  at the  68th anniversary of the victory over fascism, President Ilham Aliyev laid a   wreath at the monument to the twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Major-General, Hazi Aslanov, in the Park near the Alley of Martyrs.

He congratulated the attendees at the ceremony, veterans of the Second World War.

By the 68th anniversary of the victory over fascism, the head of state  signed  on April 23an order for the payment to the  veterans of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, one-time financial assistance in the amount of 700 manat.

Allowance of AZN 300  was  paid  to  the : widows in World War II and soldiers who died  later, persons awarded orders and medals for their selfless work in the rear, employees of special forces fighting  in the interests of the army and navy; persons awarded the appropriate medal and badge for Defense of Leningrad, and the participants of the blockade of Leningrad.

For these purposes the president allocated from the Reserve Fund  9,000,000 manat.

According to the national council of veterans, for  1 January, 2013 in Azerbaijan  there are 1960 live war veterans, about 5,000 widows of war veterans, and about 20,000 veterans  of the home front.

Despite  May 9 is not a working day , there holiday atmosphere of the  Victory Day is not felt. All the resources of the state are used to celebrate the May 10, the  90-th anniversary of Heydar Aliyev and  with the flower festival timed to this day.

Each fifth Azerbaijani resident fought in the Second World War from 1941 to 1945. 681,000 people with over 100,000 of them women went to the front. In 1941 the population of Azerbaijan was 3.4 million people. 250,000 people of various nationalities from Azerbaijan were killed on the front.

More than 400,000 soldiers and officers have been decorated with medals and orders, 14 people were awarded with the Glory Order and 123 became the Soviet Union's Heroes. Forty-four of those heroes are Azerbaijanis.

During the war Azerbaijan was the main supplier of oil and oil products (over 70% of the total volume produced in the USSR then). Baku produced more than 130 types of arms and ammunitions. Women constituted about 70% of the workers at the enterprises and on the farms.

Overall 87 battalions, 1,123 self-defense detachments and national infantry divisions No 77, 223, 396, 402 and 416 were created in Azerbaijan. They fought in the Caucasian mountains, the Baltic, Eastern Europe and Berlin.

Sergeant Israfil Mammadov, assistant commander of Infantry Detachment No 42, was the first Azerbaijani, who was conferred the rank of Hero. Major-General Hazi Aslanov, commander of Tank Brigade No 35, was conferred the Hero rank twice.

People contributed to the Defense Fund 15 kg of gold, 952 kg of silver and 320 million rubles of their personal savings. Over 1.6 million units of the required goods and 125 cars with warm clothes were sent to the front. Till summer 1942 Baku's enterprises gathered and sent 2 carriages of black caviar, 40 tons of dried fruits, 12 cars of tomato puree and juice, liver extract, hematogen (a kind of sweet chocolate-like blood-forming medicine), gelatin and other food products as well as medicines and bandaging materials only to Leningrad.

Overall 440,000 people wounded on the front were treated in Azerbaijan's hospitals.

The Azerbaijani WW II veterans are united in the Azerbaijan Republic's Council of WW II Veterans.

Azerbaijanis also fought on the German side for the sake of creation of an independent state. During the war political emigrants established the Azerbaijan National Committee, which was supposed to lead the country after the seizure of the Caucasus by the Germans. The Caucasian-Muslim legion was created in 1941 and was renamed into Azerbaijani in 1942.

Five battalions with about 4,500 Azerbaijani soldiers fought on the Caucasian front. For instance, many soldiers of Brave Battalion No 804 were awarded with medals for various services. The Bergman and Donmek battalions were also distinguished.

The Turkic infantry division was created within the Azerbaijani regiment in summer 1943. In 1944 the Azerbaijani legion was reformed into the united headquarters of the Azerbaijan Liberation Army.

Overall 38,000 Azerbaijani soldiers and officers fought on the German side.-0--