It is known that the Soldiers-Kazakhstanis demonstrated true heroism during the Great Fatherland War and made a huge contribution to the victory of 530 Kazakhstanis, and they became the Heroes of the Soviet Union. 124 Kazakhstanis became the full chevaliers of the Order of Glory. Many participants received their well-deserved awards, but there were also those heroes who were presented with this high award, but for some reason, they did not receive it. So, on the auspicious occasion of the holiday, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, correcting this unjust omission, decided posthumously to assign the highest degree of distinction to three veterans of the Great Fatherland War for the title “Folk hero”.

The sniper of the 2nd Rifle Company of the 302nd Guards Rifle Regiment of the 8th Guards Rifle Red Banner Division, Abdybekov Tuleugali Nasyrkhanovich, the commander of the 1st Rifle Battalion of the 690th Rifle Regiment of the 126th Rifle Gorlovskaya Red Banner Division, Alexander Alexandrovich Nesmiyanov, and a sniper—to the observer of the 2nd division of the rifle battalion of the 100th separate rifle brigade Suleimenov Ibraim received the high rank posthumously.

Then the legends were made about the distinguished snipers. Ibraim Suleimenov was one of them. A great poet Zhambyl Zhabaev dedicated his poems to him, and the front-line soldier, people's writer Azilkhan Nurshaikhov wrote the following words about him: “A soldier from Kazakhstan Ibragim Suleimenov, who destroyed 239 fascists, is worthy of the title “The Hero of the Soviet Union”. However, as it became known to me, he was never awarded by this high distinction.

In this operation, one of the best snipers of the Great Fatherland War, a native of the Zhambyl region, Ibraim Suleimenov, distinguished and devoted himself under Rzhev. He destroyed the 39 enemy officers and soldiers. His fame thundered throughout the army as a shooter who destroyed the 289th division. The fascists were terrified from the “Steppe shooter”. There are several cases when German soldiers refused to go into position for fear of falling on the fly of the famous sniper. The best snipers of the enemy tried to destroy him, but their combat duels ended in the victory of Ibragim Suleimenov.

Ibragim Suleimenov came from the Baikadam village of Sarysu District. Before the war, he had worked as a tractor driver on his native collective farm. In his spare time, he was fond of hunting. Ibraim Suleimenov was drafted into the army in the autumn of 1941, and he received a sniper rifle and mercilessly beat the fascists with it. As part of the 100th Kazakh rifle brigade, he participated at the battles near Moscow, Rzhev, and took part in the liberation of Velikie Luki and Nevelsk. By the beginning of the Nevelsk operation, there were already more than 200 exterminated fascist invaders on their combat account. In the battles for the motherland, the noble sniper was wounded three times. But every time he returned to the front, having healed and released. At the battles for the Nevelsk region, Suleimenov greatly increased his combat score.

According to the archival materials, it is known that a fierce battle broke out at an altitude of 173.3 on November 16, 1943. Two enemy attacks were repulsed at the Isoga station, that is located on west part of the Nevel city. Ibrahim destroyed the 12 fascists. Our infantrymen ran out from the ammunition at this time. The soldiers began to retreat, and Ibrahim covered them. When he ran out from the ammunition, the brave foreman rushed hand to hand. Here, he was overtaken by the enemy bullet. Later, Manshuk Mametova and Ibraim Suleimenov were presented with the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, but they decided to stay differently in Moscow. Manshuk Mametova was awarded the title of “Hero of the Soviet Union” (posthumously), and Ibraim Suleimenov was awarded (posthumously) the “Order of Lenin” as well. 

Abdybekov Tuleugali Nasyrkhanovich was a sniper for the 2nd Rifle Company of the 302nd Guards Rifle Regiment under the 8th Guards Red Banner Rifle Division. He achieved an immortal feat, destroying up to a battalion of the enemy soldiers and officers.

There were the legends about Tuleugali Abdybekov on all fronts. His enemies were afraid of him and called him “The Black Death”. For his military exploits and efforts, he was supposed to become the “Hero of the Soviet Union” three times, but he never received the award.

Abdybekov was born in 1916 into the family of Abdybek Nasyrkhan at the Zharma district of the Semipalatinsk region. He was involved in hunting. His hunting trophies amazed the experienced hunters and the elder generation.

In 1932, by the invitation of his relatives, Tuleugali moved to the South Kazakhstan, to the Pakhta-Aral state farm, where he worked as a cotton grower. He was drafted into the ranks of the Red Army, and he served in the Khabarovsk Territory. After the end of his service, Tleugali returned to his native state farm and headed the cotton-growing brigade.

In May 1942, Tuleugali arrived at the Kalinin Front with a group of recruits from the Chimkent region and became the sniper. In a brief report of the military operations of the 8th Guards Rifle Division for 1942, it was noted that the 219 fascists had already been exterminated by the senior sergeant Abdybekov and by the second rally of snipers of the division in December 1942. 

On May 14, 1942, he was awarded the TV 2916 sniper rifle. Someday soon, the name of Tleugali Abdybekov became known to the entire Kalinin Front. In early March of 1943, after the heavy offensive battles, the regiments of the division entrenched themselves at the front line. In the early days, a brave sniper from a well-camouflaged ambush with well-aimed fire destroyed the several dozens of the fascists. During this operation, the brave warrior was wounded as well. After four months of treatment, he returned to his native division.

On February 22, 1944, Abdybekov's last duel with a German sniper took place immediately. At this point, Abdybekov was unwell as he had a cold, and the German sniper got ahead of him and fired first at some point. Abdybekov was seriously wounded in the neck, but he killed a German sniper on the spot with a return shot. This was the last enemy he destroyed. In total, the 397 enemy invaders died at his hand.

On February 23, Abdybekov died from the wound in the 6th medical battalion and was buried next to his friend Grigory Pastolnikov, who died exactly a month ago, on the northeast of the Nasva station in the Novosokolnichesky district of the Kalinin region. After the war, he was reburied at the fraternal military cemetery in the Monakovo village of the Pskov region.

Being mobilized by the Zyryansk Military Commissariat of the East Kazakhstan region, the Major Alexander Alexandrovich Nesmiyanov was presented to the highest rank in the USSR three times.

On November 3, 1943, in the battles for the Crimea, the Major Nesmiyanov raised his battalion to attack and captured a section of the Turkish Wall under the enemy fire. The result of this sortie was the destruction of two automatic guns, the five 82-mm mortars, and more than 150 enemy soldiers and officers. Having burst into the shaft first, the Major Nesmiyanov destroyed 13 Germans with a machine gun and put the rest to flight.

On April 8, 1944, when breaking through the heavily fortified enemy defenses in the Armyansk area near the three barrows, Nesmiyanov's battalion bypassed the enemy, attacked him from the rear, diverted the main blow, and enabled the neighboring battalion to break through the fortification line. Replacing the company commanders who failed, the Major Nesmiyanov led the assault on the dominant height of 14.9, broke into it first and was seriously wounded as well. But he did not leave the battlefield and organized a defense against the counterattack of 12 enemy tanks. Having destroyed by 3 tanks, Nesmiyanov's battalion broke into Armyansk and cleared it from the invaders.

On October 9, 1944, Nesmiyanov led the fighters in an attack on the bank of the Yura River and he drove the enemy out of the fortified area by the dawn. The battalion was the first to cross the border of East Prussia and recaptured the station of Shamay Kemen. At the same time, two echelons of more than 300 vehicles with equipment were captured too. Nesmiyanov personally captured the 32 prisoners and 7 vehicles. On October 11, 1944, the Nasmiyanov`s battalion destroyed the 28 enemy firing positions in the Ogeln area.