Qasym Qaĭsenov

Qasim Qaysenov (, ; 23 April 1918 — 30 December 2006) was a Kazakh partisan detachment commander in the Ukrainian SSR during World War II. After the war he wrote many books, and in 1995 he was awarded the title Hero of Kazakhstan.

Before the war Qaysenov was born on 23 April 1918 to a Kazakh family in Asubulak village. His parents were workers, and only eight of their thirteen children lived to adulthood. After finishing school in 1934 he entered the political education college in Oskemen. He then attended technical school in Ust-Kamenogorsk. After being drafted into the Red Army he was sent to the school of military intelligence.

World War II In November 1941 after completing military intelligence school he deployed deep into enemy controlled territory by parachute. His partisan activities got off to a rough start after his parachute got stuck on the cross of a local church, but local residents rescued him before he could be captured or killed by enemy soldiers. As a partisan leader, Qaysenov was put in charge of a demolition detachment. They participated in the capture of Bukrinsky bridgehead and the crossing of the Dnieper. They also liberated over 700 prisoners from the Belaya Tanya concentration camp.

Literature Qaysenov wrote many military themed books after the war, the first being "The Young Partisan" that was published in 1954. This followed by "Ilko Vitryak", "Partisans of Pereyaslavl", "In the jaws of death", "A boy behind enemy lines", "On the Dnieper", "Behind enemy lines", "Partisan paths", and many others.