Italian anti-fascist guerrillas
True heroes, no matter where they are, can create an immortal deed. During World War II, there was a Soviet Red Army scout who escaped from a prisoner-of-war camp after being captured, but joined the Italian guerrillas and became a guerrilla leader, and after the war he received seven Italian medals and medals.
This hero was Lieutenant Tahir Isayev of the Soviet Red Army, a Kazakh. Isayev was born in 1922 in the village of Sahari in the Kazakh region of the Azerbaijani Republic of the Soviet Union. After the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, he was drafted into the army and fought in the North Caucasus.
Tahir Isayev
Although Izaev was born in the countryside, he received a good education from the state and was fluent in German. As a result, he became a Scout officer, specializing in special combat missions.
During the Battle of Mozdok in September 1942, Lieutenant Tahir Isayev was tasked with blowing up the bridge to cut off the way back from German armored trains. Isayev planted mines under the railway sleepers, but the timing was too hasty and was accidentally spotted by a German armored train, which did not press the mine and opened fire. While trying to escape from the bridge, Isayev was stunned by the air waves of the shell explosion and was unfortunately captured by the Germans.
Captured Soviet soldiers
After becoming a prisoner of the Germans, Isayev was imprisoned in a prisoner-of-war camp in Austria. In March 1943, Isayev and a small group of prisoners of war were sent to the city of Bergamo, near Milan, Italy, to clear the rubble caused by Allied bombing. This transfer linked the fates of the small town of Bergamo and Isayev.
After spending about half a year in Bergamo, Lieutenants Tahir Isayev and Lieutenant Yakov Vinogradov seized an opportunity to kill the soldiers who were guarding them at night and escaped from prison. The two men scattered and fled, and Isayev escaped into the carriage of a freight train. The train traveled for three days, and while unloading at Milano Ost Station, Isayev took the opportunity to sneak out of the carriage and burrow into a small forest.
Italian guerrillas
On the way, Isayev encounters an Italian girl, Adele Maurizio, who is also fleeing the Germans. Through gestures, Isayev told her that he was a Soviet prisoner of war who had escaped from German captivity. So the Italian girl took him up the hill and joined the Italian partisans.
It was October 1943, and Italy had surrendered, but the Germans marched into northern Italy to prop up Mussolini and establish a puppet regime. Under the leadership of the Italian Communist Party, the resistance movement in northern Italy was surging and many guerrilla groups were formed everywhere to continuously attack the German occupation forces. Lieutenant Isayev joined the guerrilla group called the "Green Flame" guerrilla brigade, and the leader of the guerrilla group was None other than Antonio Mileci, the brother of Adele Morizio.
As a former Lieutenant of the Red Army Scout, Isayev quickly overcame the language barrier with his rich combat skills and experience to become a detachment leader in the six detachments of this guerrilla brigade. The "Green Flame" guerrilla brigade insisted on maneuvering with the Germans in the Alpen Mountains and continued to grow and develop. In Isayev's detachment, fighters from many different countries and nationalities were recruited, such as Russians, Ukrainians, Azerbaijanis, Armenians, Czechs, etc., some of whom escaped from prisoner-of-war camps.
During a battle in the summer of 1944, Isayev was wounded in the left leg and taken prisoner again. The Germans learned that Isayev was fluent in both German and Italian, and if they were rewarded, they tried to recruit him as a translator, but Isayev firmly refused. He was sent to the prison in the city of Bergamo and held him until November 1944. Subsequently, Isayev successfully escaped from prison again and returned to his comrades.
After rejoining the guerrillas, Lieutenant Tahir Isayev joined the Tarzan Brigade, which belonged to the same guerrilla division as the "Green Flame" Brigade, and served as the commander of the detachment, which he commanded was also nicknamed "Russian Lieutenant Detachment" by Italian comrades. Isayev's detachment operated mainly in the Serina region of the Bergamo province, daring several times to attack the Nazi army. He organized ambushes, blew up arsenals, attacked German trains and headquarters, and massively destroyed enemy forces and equipment.
On one occasion, the brigade commander of the Tarzan brigade received news that the Germans had put a group of Italians on a train and were going to escort them to Germany for hard labor. Because of Isaev's extensive experience in blasting work, he was given the task of rescuing these Italian laborers.
That evening, Isayev and his detachment arrived at the village of Ortrey Il Kohler, through which the train was scheduled. After laying mines on the rails, the Isayev detachment successfully blew up the steam locomotive and the first carriage on which the Germans were riding. The surviving Germans got out of the car and engaged in a fierce firefight with the guerrillas. In the end, Isayev and the partisans annihilated the German army and rescued all the Italian laborers.
At the end of April 1945, the German-Italian fascist army was completely defeated. On 24 April, Isayev took part in an offensive against the city of Bergamo, liberating the northern Italian town. On the 25th, he took part in the battle to liberate Milan, which eventually ushered in the victory of the Anti-Fascist War in Europe. During this period, Isayev also joined the Italian Communist Party and was awarded the title of "Honorary Citizen" by the city of Milan.
The Italian partisans who liberated Milan
After the war, Isayev returned to the Soviet Union and returned to his hometown in Azerbaijan. But because of the experience of being captured twice, Isayev was treated unfairly. He was forced to leave his hometown and come to Rustavi, Georgia, where he became a blacksmith and welder.
But the Italian people have not forgotten him. In the spring of 1967, Isayev visited Italy at the invitation of the Italian National Association of Guerrillas, revisiting Bergamo and Milan, where he had fought. In Bergamo, Mayor Salva Paric specifically invited Isayev to the celebration of Victory Day against Fascism.
In Italy, Isayev met with his Italian comrades-in-arms, especially Adele Morisio, who already had three children, and with Luigi Longo, president of the Italian Communist Party.
Tahir Isayev in his later years
After returning to the Soviet Union that same year, Tahir Isayev was finally awarded the Medal of Courage by the Soviet government. In 1985, he was awarded the Great Patriotic War Medal. During his lifetime, Isayev received a total of 36 medals and medals, 7 of which were awarded by the Italian side.
In 1973, the Soviet North Caucasus newsreel studio produced the documentary Captain Russia in honor of Captain Hassan Kamalov, another Soviet officer who fought in Italy. Tahir Isayev also starred in the documentary to tell the story of his experience fighting with Kamalov in Bergamo.
Tahir Isayev eventually returned to his hometown of Sahari, where he died in 2001 and was buried in a cemetery in his hometown. (Author: Tao Mujian)