Zadir Rza oglu Rzayev (), known as Zaur Rzayev (10 October 1937 – 29 January 2010), was an Azerbaijani military officer, Major General of the

Azerbaijani Armed Forces The Azerbaijani Armed Forces () is the military of the Azerbaijan, Republic of Azerbaijan. It was re-established according to the country's Law of the Armed Forces on 9 October 1991. The original Azerbaijan Democratic Republic's armed forces were ...

. He had served as the commander of the first Azerbaijani military unit created on the basis of Military Unit 18110 of the former

Soviet Army The Soviet Ground Forces () was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. It was preceded by the Red Army. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under th ...

, deputy commander of the 2nd Army Corps, front commander and the first deputy

minister of defence A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

during the

First Nagorno-Karabakh War The First Nagorno-Karabakh War was an ethnic conflict, ethnic and territorial conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan, between the majority ethnic Armenians of Nag ...

Life and service

Early years

Zadir Rza oglu Rzayev was born on 10 October 1937 in

Şürük Şürük is a village and municipality in the Lankaran Rayon of Azerbaijan. It has a population of 1,302. Shuruk village is one of the central villages of Lankaran district. Participants of the World War II from Shuruk village. Kurbanov (Gurban ...

Lankaran District Lankaran District () is one of the 66 Administrative divisions of Azerbaijan, districts of Azerbaijan. It is located in the south-east of the country, in the Lankaran-Astara Economic Region. The district borders the districts of Astara District, A ...

of the

Azerbaijani SSR The Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, also referred to as the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic, Azerbaijan SSR, Azerbaijani SSR, AzSSR, Soviet Azerbaijan or simply Azerbaijan, was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union be ...

, then

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. In 1955, he entered the faculty of physics and mathematics of the Azerbaijan Pedagogical University, but dropped out of the university due to his family's economic difficulties. He studied at the

Baku Higher Combined Arms Command School The Baku Higher Combined Arms Command School (BVOKU) was one of the military academies of the USSR. It trained military personnel in a number of specializations. It was located in Baku in the Azerbaijan SSR. History On November 29, 1939, the ...

from 1958 to 1962, and graduated from there with honors.

Red Army

In 1962, he was promoted to lieutenant and sent to serve in the

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 ...

stationed in

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

. Rzayev then entered the

Frunze Military Academy The M. V. Frunze Military Academy (), or in full the Military Order of Lenin and the October Revolution, Red Banner, Order of Suvorov Academy in the name of M. V. Frunze (), was a military academy of the Soviet and later the Russian Armed Forces ...

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

in 1971 and graduated in 1975. From there he was sent to the

Transcaucasian Military District The Transcaucasian Military District, a military district of the Soviet Armed Forces, traces its history to May 1921 and the incorporation of First Republic of Armenia, Armenia, Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, Azerbaijan, and Democratic Republic ...

as a deputy regiment commander, and later to

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

as a deputy head of the military department of

Baku State University Baku State University (BSU) (BDU; ) is a public university located in Baku, Azerbaijan. Established on 1 September 1919 by the Parliament of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the university started with faculties of history and philology, physics ...

to train Azerbaijani officers. Rzayev, who rose to the rank of colonel, was appointed head of the department.

First Nagorno-Karabakh War

On 9 October 1991, Rzayev went to the frontline of the

as the commander of the first military brigade of the

, known as the "

First Battalion ''Panzer Elite Action: Fields of Glory'' is a video game developed by ZootFly and published by JoWooD Entertainment, JoWooD Productions exclusively in Europe in 2006. Gameplay ''Panzer Elite Action: Fields of Glory'' is a World War II tank acti ...

", which he created on his own initiative. In 1992, he led the liberation of 12 villages in

Aghdara Martakert (, , also , ) or Aghdara ( ) is a town in the Aghdara District of Azerbaijan, in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Until 2023 it was controlled by the breakaway Republic of Artsakh, as the centre of its Martakert Province. The village h ...

and 40 in

Lachin Lachin (, , ; ) is a town in Azerbaijan and the administrative centre of the Lachin District. It was located within the strategic Lachin corridor, which used to link the Nagorno-Karabakh region with Armenia. The town was under control of Armen ...

, as well as a successful counter-offensive in Beylagan and Fuzuli as a corps commander. Rzayev was awarded the rank of major general by the decree of the

Azerbaijani President The president of the Republic of Azerbaijan is the head of state of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The Constitution states that the president is the embodiment of executive power, commander-in-chief, "representative of Azerbaijan in home and for ...

Abulfaz Elchibey Abulfaz Gadirgulu oghlu Aliyev (24 June 1938 – 22 August 2000), commonly known as Abulfaz Elchibey, was a Pan-Turkist Azerbaijani nationalist, politician and Soviet dissident who was the first and only democratically elected President in pos ...

on 19 October 1992. He was called to

in November of that year and was appointed deputy commander of the 2nd Army Corps. Rzayev was later appointed the front commander and first deputy

Minister of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

on 16 June 1993. Rzayev was seriously injured in a car accident in Beylagan on 29 August 1993 and was treated in a military hospital for 3 months. Zaur Rzayev died on 29 January 2010 at the age of 72.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rzayev, Zaur 1937 births 2010 deaths People from Lankaran District Azerbaijani generals Azerbaijani military personnel of the Nagorno-Karabakh War