Ahmed Dibirovich Abdulmeidov

Ahmed Dibirovich Abdulmeidov(Ахмед Дибирович Абдулмеджидов)

1923-March 27, 1944

On April 20, 1945, he was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union

Submachine gunner of the Submachine Gun Company of the 384th Independent Battalion of the Odessa Naval Base of the Black Sea Fleet of the Red Navy

He was born in 1923 to a peasant family in the village of Mossobu, Tajikistan. He was a shepherd.

He joined the Red Navy in 1942. As part of the Black Sea Fleet, he took part in the defense of Tuvaz in the Caucasus Campaign, where he was wounded.

In April 1943, Abdul Megidov was sent to the newly formed 384th Independent Marine Battalion.

In the autumn of 1943 he took part in the landing operation in the Oscipenko area. He then liberated the villages of Alexandrovka, Bogovlensky and Slovaya Barka in the Kherson region. In the battle against Alexandrovka, Abdul Megidov and his comrade-in-arms, red Navy sailor Demjanenko, destroyed 2 enemy fire points.

In late March 1944, the 28th Army began fighting to liberate the city of Nikolayev. To assist in the frontal attack, the Soviets decided to land Marines at The Port of Nikolayev. The landing force was part of the 384th Independent Marine Battalion, commanded by Lieutenant Konstantin Olzansky. It consisted of 55 sailors, 2 signal soldiers from army headquarters and 10 sappers. The local fisherman Andreyev became the guide. Abdelmegidov was one of the sailors. The detachment fought 2 days of bloody fighting, repelling 18 fierce enemy attacks while eliminating 700 enemy soldiers and officers. In the last offensive, the Nazis used flamethrowers. But nothing could stop the resistance of the sailors and make them lay down their arms. They completed the combat mission.

On March 28, 1944, Soviet troops liberated Nikolayev. When the Soviets entered the harbor, they saw buildings destroyed by flames, and the bodies of more than 700 fascist soldiers and officers lying nearby. They rescued 6 surviving sailors from the rubble of the port office building, 2 of whom were taken to the hospital. In the ruins, they also found 4 other sailors who died of their wounds on the same day.

Abdelmeguidov fought in the port office building, operating machine guns. He was injured twice, but was not bandaged. He died on March 27, 1944. He was buried in the city of Nikolaev along with 68 other sailors.

The news of their feat spread throughout the army and throughout the country. The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet decreed that everyone be awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. According to a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of April 20, 1945, Ahmed Dibirovich Abdulmeidov, a sailor of the Red Navy, was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union in order to show excellent command and combat ability and courage at the same time in the struggle against the German aggressors. He was also posthumously awarded the Order of Lenin. His monument was built in the village of Tsrib. In his hometown, the streets of the city were named after him, and the Museum of sailors and soldiers for the military people was opened. In Nikolaev, a monument was also built in a park named after 68 paratroopers. In the village of Okatea Busskoye on the banks of the Bug River, sailors set out on a mission from there, installing commemorative granite blocks with commemorative inscriptions.

On the evening of 26 March 1944, in the area of the village of PogoyaVlenski (now the village of Okatejabuskoye), the detachment travelled 15 kilometres upstream along the Bug River in seven boats, with enemy control on both sides. At dawn, he landed at the port of the city of Nikolaev. The task of the detachment was to secretly land in the rear on 26 March, disrupt communications, cause panic, attack German troops from the rear, and assist advancing Soviet forces in liberating the city.

The sailors quietly eliminated 3 enemy sentries and defended themselves in a 2-storey office building (44 sailors), a wooden house (10 sailors) to the east of the office building, and a stone cement shed (9 sailors). There was also a sailor in a cabin. On the railway embankment, 30 metres southeast of the office building, four sailors were also operating an anti-tank rifle and a machine gun. The office building became the main stronghold. On the walls, sailors chiseled firing holes, and doors and windows were paved with bricks and sandbags. The second machine gun group, naval sailor Abdelmeijidov, together with his comrade-in-arms, Machine Gunner Demjanenko, defended near the window on the 1st floor of the office building. At dawn, the Nazis spotted the sailors and launched two attacks in succession, but they were all repelled by sailors in neighboring buildings. Sailors in the office building have not yet taken part in the fighting.

On the 3rd offensive, the Nazis sent a battalion. This time all the sailors took part in the battle.

The Nazis pulled an infantry regiment armed with tanks, mortars and artillery into the port area in an attempt to wipe out the unit. The Nazis began methodically firing artillery and mortars at the buildings defended by sailors. The sailors were wounded, but they continued to fire on the advancing enemy. The Nazis advanced in 3 directions under the cover of artillery. As the Nazis approached, Soviet machine gunners hit them. The Nazis fell one after another. The living hid behind the corpse and crawled backwards. The attack failed again.

On the 5th offensive, the Nazis erected 6 mortars and used aluminothermal bombs. They set fire to a wooden house where 10 sailors were fighting. Until the end of the first day of defense, 2 sailors were killed in the cement shed. There are also losses on other defensive points. The burning wooden house collapsed after several tank fires, burying 4 sailors and 5 sappers under the rubble. No one was killed in the office building, but many people were injured, including Abdelmejidov.

On the morning of March 27, 1944, another German battalion approached the port with several tanks, artillery and 6 mortars. At close range, the Germans hit the place defended by the sailors, burning the walls with flamethrowers. Due to direct shell hits and shell fragments, the radio was destroyed and 2 radio operators were killed. Communication with the office building was cut off. The squad commander sent a soldier to pass on the message, and although the soldier's foot was broken by a mine, he insisted on climbing to the office building.

Office buildings were also damaged. Sailor Hodiliev died with a grenade and a Nazi tank. In the 11th offensive, the machine gunner Ferdeyev was hit by fragments of enemy mines. Machine gunners Skovozov and Tishchenko were killed. The Nazis repeatedly tried to storm the office building, but they were unable to cross the defensive strip located 30 to 50 meters around the office building. Two sailors were killed on the railway embankment, and another 2 wounded retreated to the office building. The Germans followed them toward the office building. Abdelmegidov eliminated these fascists.

The Nazis increased the firepower of artillery and mortars. They spray flames at the windows. Some of the sailors suffocated to death in the smoke. Other sailors not only had to repel the enemy, but also had to extinguish the fire that occurred in one room or another. Sailors died from bullets, shells, debris from mines and stones bouncing off walls. But no matter how hard it is, no one will succumb to the enemy. The sailors fought to the death.

By the afternoon of March 27, almost all survivors had been injured. Before the 16th offensive began, the Nazis carried out a powerful shelling of the office building. The staircase between the 1st and 2nd floors of the office was destroyed. Machine guns were also destroyed. Demjanenko was mortally wounded but is still alive. Abdelmegidov suffered a head injury, he took his comrades to the basement, and an hour later Demjanenko died of blood loss. Abdul Megidov returned to the first floor with a bandage tied around his head, picked up someone's submachine gun and began shooting.

The 16th attack was the most violent. They managed to break into the office building and throw grenades at the windows on the first floor. 2 sailors were killed. Several Germans entered the office building through the gap, but were wiped out by sailors. At the same time, the instructor of the detachment, Captain Golovlev, was killed. Abdul Megidov later tried to eliminate the Germans under the window, but he was killed by a machine gun.