Maharram Akbar oglu Dadashev (; 15 February 1912 17 September 1944) was an Azerbaijani

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

senior sergeant A Senior sergeant is often a rank of non-commissioned officer used in the armed forces of many nations. It is usually placed above sergeant. Police in Australia and New Zealand use the rank Senior Sergeant as a rank above sergeant, but below an I ...

and a posthumous

Hero of the Soviet Union The title Hero of the Soviet Union () was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society. The title was awarded both ...

. Dadashev was posthumously awarded the title on 24 March 1945 for his actions during the

Second Jassy–Kishinev Offensive The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...

. Dadashev, a tank driver, reportedly killed eight German soldiers with his tank's machine gun. He was seriously wounded in a subsequent battle and died of his wounds in mid-September 1944.

Early life

Dadashev was born on 15 February 1912 in Beştalı to a peasant family. He received lower secondary education and worked as a

kolkhoz A kolkhoz ( rus, колхо́з, a=ru-kolkhoz.ogg, p=kɐlˈxos) was a form of collective farm in the Soviet Union. Kolkhozes existed along with state farms or sovkhoz. These were the two components of the socialized farm sector that began to eme ...

tractor driver.

World War II

Dadashev was drafted into the Red Army in 1941. He fought in combat from 1942 and became a tank driver. He fought in the

Battle of the Caucasus The Battle of the Caucasus was a series of Axis and Soviet operations in the Caucasus as part of the Eastern Front of World War II. On 25 July 1942, German troops captured Rostov-on-Don, opening the Caucasus region of the southern Soviet ...

. Serving in the 233rd Tank Brigade of the 5th Mechanised Corps, he fought in the Korsun-Shevchenkovsky Offensive and

Uman–Botoșani Offensive The Uman–Botoșani offensiveTsouras, p. 244 or Uman–Botoshany offensive () was a part of the Dnieper–Carpathian offensive, carried out by the Red Army in the western Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic against the German 8th Army (Wehrma ...

. Dadashev's unit was equipped with the American M4A2 Sherman tank. He joined the

Communist Party of the Soviet Union The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...

in 1944. In August and September, Dadashev fought in the

. On 20 August, near

Vaslui Vaslui (), a city in eastern Romania, is the seat of Vaslui County, in the historical region of Western Moldavia. The city administers five villages: Bahnari, Brodoc, Moara Grecilor, Rediu, and Viișoara. History Archaeological surveys indicate t ...

, Dadashev's tank attacked German positions. The tank's fire reportedly destroyed 6 anti-tank guns and 16 machine gun and mortar emplacements, killing their crews. Dadashev was wounded, but continued to drive. After running out of shells, the tank crew reportedly took shelter around the tank. Dadashev used the machine gun to reportedly kill eight German soldiers. These actions were reported to have caused a German retreat. Dadashev was seriously wounded in his left shoulder on 14 September and died of gas gangrene at the 576th Field Surgical Hospital on 17 September 1944. He was buried in

Stremț Stremț (; ; ) is a Commune in Romania, commune of Alba County, in the Apuseni Mountains of Western Transylvania, Romania. It is composed of four villages: Fața Pietrii, Geomal, Geoagiu de Sus, and Stremț. Geography The commune is situated at ...

. On 24 March 1945, he was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union and the

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...

Legacy

A bust of Dadashev was built in Salyan. A secondary school in Kür Qaraqaşlı was named for Dadashev.

References

1912 births 1944 deaths Soviet military personnel killed in World War II Heroes of the Soviet Union Recipients of the Order of Lenin Soviet military personnel of World War II from Azerbaijan Communist Party of the Soviet Union members People from Salyan District (Azerbaijan) Deaths from gangrene {{DEFAULTSORT:Dadashev, Maharram