Baurzhan Momyshuly Baurzhan Momyshuly , also spelled Baurjan Momish - Uli ( Kazakh : " Бауыржан Момышұлы " , Russified : " Бауыржан Момышулы " ; - 10 June 1982 ) was a Kazakh - Soviet military officer and author , posthumously awarded with the titles Hero of the Soviet Union and People ' s Hero of Kazakhstan . Biography . Early life . Momyshuly was born in Orak Balga , a now abandoned Aul in the modern Zhualy District in southern Kazakhstan , to a family of nomadic herders from the Dulat tribe . He lived with his relatives until the age of thirteen , but spent his teenage years in Soviet boarding schools . After completing his secondary education in 1929 , he worked as a teacher , a secretary of a district committee and as an assistant - prosecutor . He was later employed as a department chief in the Kazakh ASSR ' s Central Agency for Economic Planning . In November 1932 , Momyshuly was conscripted for a two - year service in the Red Army , and posted as a cadet in the 14th Mountain Infantry Regiment . After his discharge , he studied a course in economics in the Leningrad Institute of Finance and worked in the Kazakh branch of the Commercial - Industrial Soviet State Bank . Military career . On 25 March 1936 , Momyshuly was again called for military service , becoming a platoon commander in the Central Asian Military District ' s 315th Regiment . He remained in the military for the next two decades . In March 1937 , the regiment was transferred to the Far Eastern Front in Siberia . While not subject to repression during the Great Purge , the remark " unreliable , with extreme nationalist views " was inscribed in his personal dossier in 1937 . His biographer , Mekemtas Myrzakhmetov , believed this happened because Momyshuly was known to read the poetry of Mağjan Jumabayev and works of other authors associated with the Alash Orda . In 1939 , Momyshuly was assigned to command the 105th Infantry Division ' s artillery . From February 1940 , he headed the 202nd Independent Anti - Tank Battalion , based in Zhytomyr . In January the following year , Lieutenant Momyshuly returned to Kazakhstan , serving in Alma Ata ' s military commissariat . When Germany invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June , he was appointed a battalion commander - Kombat - in the 1073th Regiment of the newly formed 316th Rifle Division , headed by the military commissar of the Kyrgyz SSR , Major General Ivan Panfilov . World War II . In September 1941 , the division was sent to the front in Malaya Vishera , at the vicinity of Leningrad . During October , as the Wehrmacht advanced on Moscow , the 316th - now part of General Konstantin Rokossovsky ' s 16th Army - was transferred to the theater and tasked with defending the highway passing through the city of Volokolamsk and the surrounding area . Momyshuly ' s battalion was assigned an eight - kilometer - long sector along the Ruza River ; Senior Lieutenant Momyshuly took part in 27 engagements during the defense of the Soviet capital . From the 16th to the 18th of November , he and his unit were cut off from the rest of the division in the village of Matryonino , yet managed to hold off the German forces and eventually broke out back to their lines . For its performances , the 316th was awarded the status of a Guards formation on 23 November , and named the Panfilov 8th Guards Rifle Division in honor of its fallen commander , who was killed in action on 18 November . In late November , Momyshuly was promoted to the rank of captain . Momyshuly participated in the Soviet counter - offensive and was severely wounded on 5 December , though he declined to be evacuated to receive treatment . In March 1942 , war correspondent Alexander Bek arrived in the 8th Guards Division . During the spring of that year , Bek convinced Momyshuly , who was reluctant at first , to cooperate with him in writing a novel about the fighting in Volokolamsk , which would eventually be published in 1944 under the title " Volokolamsk Highway " . Momyshuly strongly disapproved of Bek ' s book , which he claimed to be an unrealistic depiction of events , and criticized the author relentlessly for the remainder of his life . In April 1942 , his commanding officer approved his promotion to the rank of major . In August 1942 , his superiors had submitted a highly positive report on his conduct , and he was recommended to be awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union . The proposal was rejected . The poet Mikhail Isinaliev , a friend of Momyshuly , wrote that a former political officer from the 8th Guards told him that this was due to his Kazakh patriotism , which was regarded as dangerous nationalism by the unit ' s commissars . Momyshuly joined the Communist Party during the same year . In October , he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel . After eight months , he became a colonel . During 1943 , due to the effects of his old injury , he was forced to rest in a hospital for a prolonged period . After being released from the hospital in March 1944 , he underwent an advanced officers ' course in the Voroshilov Academy . On 21 January 1945 , Colonel Baurzhan Momyshuly was appointed as the commander of the 9th Guards Rifle Division , a unit of the 2nd Rifle Corps in the 1st Baltic Front ' s 6th Army . The 9th participated in the East Prussian Offensive , taking fifteen towns near the city of Priekule . After the war ended , Momyshuly was awarded the Order of Lenin . Post - war years . In 1946 , Momyshuly entered the Voroshilov Academy again . On 16 June 1948 , the Kazakh SSR ' s Council of Ministers appointed him as chief of the republic ' s Voluntary Society for Cooperation with the Armed Forces , while he still served in the military . In late 1948 , he became deputy commander of the 49th Independent Infantry Brigade in the East Siberian Military District . From 1950 , he served as a senior lecturer in the Red Army ' s Military Academy of Logistics and Transport . According to Myrzakhmetov , he was the only one of the 500 officers who graduated with him to never receive the rank of a General ; the author claimed this was due to a political decision to deny Turkic people a high status in the Soviet Armed Forces . In 1955 , Colonel Momyshuly retired from the army due an illness . He turned to a literary career , writing several novels as well as books about his wartime experiences . He was also a lecturer in the Kazakhstan Academy of Sciences . Momyshuly was mainly known due his appearance in Bek ' s " Volokolamsk Highway " . The author wrote two sequels , " Several Days " and " General Panfilov ' s Reserve " . The series gained international , as well as Soviet , recognition : Published in Hebrew in 1946 , " Volokolamsk Highway " " held an almost cult status in the Palmach and later in the Israeli Army " according to media researcher Yuval Shachal , and became a standard tactical handbook in the Israeli Defense Forces . Inspired by the novel , future Israeli Chief of the General Staff Motta Gur once held a " Panfilov Roll Call " for two soldiers who deserted from his company when he was a young officer , shaming them in front of the other troops ; he wrote that it was a common practice in the IDF at the time . During 2005 , Ehud Barak told " we , as young officers , were raised on Momyshuly . " " Volokolamsk Highway " was popular in Cuba , as well . Fidel Castro told Norberto Fuentes that " the idea to use the love of the Motherland for convincing people to support me , came to me after reading the novel . " The novel was well known among members of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces ; In 1961 , Raul Castro told a journalist that every regimental commander was " compelled to have a copy " . In ' s acclaimed 1987 novel " Las iniciales de la tierra " , the protagonist cites Bek ' s book as a major influence on his life . The novel was also included in the list of " compulsory reading " for members of the Chinese Communist Party and People ' s Liberation Army personnel . On 27 June 1963 , the East German Ministry of National Defense issued its Order no . 50 / 63 - drafted on the initiative of Walter Ulbricht - which introduced " Volokolamsk Highway " as part of the political education program for the soldiers of the National People ' s Army . In the official history of the NVA , historian Major General had cited it as having a major influence of the soldiers . Momyshuly ' s book about the 1941 battles in Volokolamsk , " Moscow is Behind Us " , was adapted to cinema during 1967 . In 1976 , he won the Kazakh SSR ' s Abay Qunanbayuli State Prize for his autobiography , " Our Family " . Momyshuly opposed the Brezhnevite establishment ' s exaltation of the battle of Malaya Zemlya ; according to his son and biographer , Bahytzhan , his position made him powerful enemies in the state apparatus , and nullified his chances to receive the title Hero of the Soviet Union while alive . When Isinaliev approached Dinmukhamed Konayev and requested him to arrange for Momyshuly to become one such , the First Secretary replied that as long as General Alexei Yepishev was the head of the Red Army ' s Main Political Directorate , the decoration would never be bestowed . Bahytzhan also recalled that in his later years , his father - who was a " loosely practicing Muslim " all his life - turned to Sufism . Momyshuly died in 1982 and was buried in Alma Ata . Shortly before the collapse of the USSR , the chief of the Kazakh Supreme Soviet , Nursultan Nazarbayev , had managed to convince the authorities in Moscow to posthumously grant Momyshuly the country ' s highest military honor , and he was declared a Hero of the Soviet Union on 11 December 1990 . After the republic became independent , he was also made a People ' s Hero of Kazakhstan . The capital of his native Zhualy District is named after him . Media . Baurzhan Momyshuly has been depicted by the following actors in film and television productions : In 2010 , Kazakhfilm Studio released the documentary " Legendary Baurzhan " ( « Қазақтың Бауыржаны » ) , directed by Kalila Umarov .