Seyitnafe Seyitveliyev

Seyitnafe Seyitveliyev (29 May 1919 – 13 March 1983) was a gunner in the Red Army during the Second World War and Hero of the Soviet Union. Despite taking out numerous enemy tanks and being a decorated veteran of the war, he was deported to Central Asia in 1946 because of his Crimean Tatar ethnicity.[1]

Seyitnafe Seyitveliyev
Born29 May 1919
Tav-Kipchak village, Crimea
Died13 March 1983
Leninabad, Tajik SSR
Allegiance Soviet Union
Service/branch Red Army
Years of service1939 – 1946
RankSergeant-Major
Unit350th Rifle Regiment
Battles/warsWorld War II
AwardsHero of the Soviet Union

Early life

Seyitveliyev was born on 29 May 1919 in the village of Tav-Kipchak (located within Belogorsky district, Crimea) to a Crimean Tatar family. After completing secondary school he worked at a collectivized grape farm until he was drafted into the Red Army in 1939 and assigned to the Odessa military district.[1]

World War II

After being drafted into the Red Army Seyitveliyev graduated from the junior commander's school and entered combat immediately upon the German invasion of the Soviet Union. Throughout the beginning of the war he participated in the Kerch landing, as well as in the battles for Sevastapol, Odessa, Stalingrad, Kursk, Bryansk, Gomel, Poland, Prussia, and the Baltics.[2]

He was wounded in December 1942 during the Battle of Stalingrad and hospitalized for two months. Seyitveliyev began to distinguish himself 25 June 1944 in the fighting for the Gomel region of occupied Belarus. In the process of breaking through enemy defenses and repulsing counterattacks, he suppressed multiple enemy firing point as well as two tanks, all under heavy enemy fire. When his regiment was deployed to the Minsk region to attack a column of containing 40 enemy tanks, Seyitveliyev managed to hit a total of 15 enemy tanks during the week-long battle. For his actions in Belarus he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner and nominated for the title Hero of the Soviet Union. As was common at the time, his nomination sheet, which had been submitted just shortly after the deportation of the Crimean Tatars in May 1944, listed his nationality as Tatar instead of Crimean Tatar. On 25 September 1944 he was declared a Hero of the Soviet Union by decree of the Supreme Soviet, which Seyitveliyev learned of while fighting for the town of Ostroleka in Poland. He continued to fight across Eastern Europe, reaching East Prussia in the winter of 1945, after which he reached the coast of the Baltic Sea and was demobilized in 1946.[2]

Postwar life and exile

After being demobilized in 1946 he was deported to Central Asia despite his reputation as a war hero solely on the grounds that he was a Crimean Tatar. He worked in agriculture, at a glass factory, and as a teacher before he passed away in the Tajik city of Leninabad on 13 March 1983 before the Crimean Tatar people received the full right to return in 1989.[3][4] While in exile he participated in the Crimean Tatar civil rights movement.[5]

Awards and honors

References
  1. Shadov, Ivan (1988). Герои Советского Союза: краткий биографический словарь II, Любовь - Яшчук [Heroes of the Soviet Union: A Brief Biographical Dictionary]. Moscow: Voenizdat. ISBN 5203005362. OCLC 312615596.
  2. Vorobyev, Valery. "Сейтвелиев Сейтнафе". www.warheroes.ru. Retrieved 2018-08-13.
  3. "Сейтнафе Сейтвелиев — Худжандский городской портал". khujand-city.tj (in Russian). Retrieved 2018-08-15.
  4. "Сейтвелиев Сейтнафе". xotira.uz (in Russian). Retrieved 2018-08-15.
  5. Ablyazov, Emir. "Герой Сейтнафе Сейтвелиев". Газета "Голос Крыма". Retrieved 2019-07-17.
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