Hazi Aslanov

Hazi Ahad oghlu Aslanov (; ; commonly described as Azi Aslanov or A. A. Aslanov, 1910 – 25 January 1945) was an Azerbaijani major-general of the Soviet armoured troops during World War II. He was awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union title twice. The second Hero title was posthumously awarded in 1991, by Mikhail Gorbachev, at the constant recommendations by Heydar Aliyev.

Early life and prewar service

Listed in military records as an Azerbaijani, Hazi Aslanov was born on 1910, in Lankaran, in a Talysh family,Russian Empire (now Azerbaijan). The son of a brick factory worker, Aslanov received incomplete secondary education. After his father died in 1923, Aslanov took his place at the Lankaran Brick Factory, while completing Likbez educational courses.

Aslanov chose a military career and entered the Transcaucasian Military Preparatory School in Baku as a cadet in October 1924. After graduating from the school, he was transferred to the Borosoglebsk-Leningrad Cavalry School in August 1929 to receive command training. Upon his graduation in June 1931, Aslanov was posted to the Ukrainian Military District, where he began active service as a platoon commander in the 15th Cavalry Regiment of the 3rd Cavalry Division, stationed at Berdichev. Aslanov's cavalry service proved brief, and in August he was transferred to command a platoon of the 2nd Cavalry Corps's 12th Armored Car Battalion, beginning his career in the Red Army's emerging armored forces. Aslanov was transferred for the second time that year on 12 December to command a platoon in the Vehicle Repair Workshops at Kharkov. Promoted to captain in February 1939, his next assignment was as an assistant battalion commander for training and combat units with the 3rd Training Motor Transport Regiment at Kiev. In this role, he took part in the Soviet invasion of Poland with the forces advancing into western Ukraine and the breakthrough of the Mannerheim Line during the fighting on the Karelian Isthmus in the Winter War. In August 1940, he was transferred to command the Motor Transport Battalion of the 10th Motor Rifle Regiment of the Kiev Special Military District's newly formed 10th Tank Division. Aslanov was promoted to major in November 1940.

Eastern Front After Germany invaded the Soviet Union, Aslanov commanded the regimental Motor Transport Battalion in the border battles and the Battle of Kiev. In August 1941, he replaced the injured commander of a tank battalion. In the fierce battles near Shostka, Bakhmach and Pyriatyn, his tank commanders fought to the last tank, while Aslanov personally led his battalion in the attack. In one of these battles, Aslanov received two bullet wounds in his right leg and a severe shrapnel wound to the head, but despite these injuries, he continued to fight. When the battalion lost all of its tanks, he was appointed assistant commander of the 10th Motor Rifle Regiment for equipment on 25 August. In this role, he fought in the region of Pyriatyn, Okhtyrka, Bohodukhiv and Kharkiv. With the surviving officers, Aslanov was placed in Southwestern Front reserve of command personnel in late 1941, and in January 1942 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel, placed at the disposal of the Commander of the Armored and Mechanized Forces in Moscow. Aslanov led the regiment, in the Soviet counteroffensive at Stalingrad, and was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on 22 December. For its performance, his regiment became the 41st Guards Tank Regiment on 26 December, while the corps became the 3rd Guards Mechanized Corps. The regiment was reorganized as the 35th Guards Tank Brigade on 20 April 1943, and Aslanov continued in command.

Aslanov led the brigade in the Rostov offensive, the Mius offensive, and the Battle of the Dnieper during 1943. For his performance, Aslanov, by then a colonel, was awarded the Order of Alexander Nevsky on 15 April and the Order of the Red Banner on 14 November. In December, he was sent to the Academic Courses for the Improvement of Officers at the Military Academy of the Armored and Mechanized Forces for further training.

After completing the courses, Aslanov returned to command the 35th Guards Tank Brigade in April 1944, having promoted to major general on 13 March. Aslanov's brigade was pulled out of action that day, having lost fifty tanks in two days of fighting. On 27 January, Aslanov was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree, for his leadership of the brigade.

Awards and honors Aslanov received his first star in 1943 for his performance at Stalingrad. The second was supposed to be given for the crossing of the Berezina river, under the recommendation of General of the Army Ivan Chernyakhovsky, but he received it posthumously, 46 years later, on 21 June 1991, after a special appeal by Azerbaijani intelligentsia to Mikhail Gorbachev. He received the following decorations: 21 June 1991 posthumously)

Twice Order of Lenin (22 December 1942, 21 June 1991 posthumously)

Thrice Order of the Red Banner (14 November 1943, 31 July 1944, 7 January 1945)

Order of Suvorov, 2nd class (22 July 1944)

Order of Alexander Nevsky (15 April 1943)

Medal "For Courage" (12 May 1942)

Order of the Patriotic War, 1st class (27 January 1945 posthumously)

Twice Order of the Red Star (29 June 1942, 3 November 1944)

Medal "For the Defence of Stalingrad" (1942)

Medal "For the Defence of the Caucasus" (1944)

Aslanov is commemorated by monuments in Dağüstü Park in Baku, Lankaran, and Vileyka. A memorial tablet with his name is on Mamayev Kurgan and a stele in the settlement of Oktyabrsky, Volgograd Oblast. The new Hazi Aslanov station of the Baku Metro was named after him in 2002. A street in Volgograd is named for him, as well as a tanker and schools in Baku and Volgograd.

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