In early December 1944, exactly 78 years ago, four young Kazakh girls – Zhamal Baitasova, Kulken Tokbergenova, Kulzhamilya Talkanbayeva and Zhamilya Beisenbayeva – were killed. Their story is not only a tale of courage and self-sacrifice, but also of how Soviet and later Russian propaganda deliberately erased the memory of heroes whose names did not fit into official ideology.
The only female tank crew in history
On 22 August 1944, the newspaper Sovetskaya Karaganda published an article by military journalist Topatai Zhunisov about a unique female tank crew. This story could have become a legend, as there were only 17 female tank crew members in the Soviet army during the entire Second World War, most of whom were assistants to their husbands. However, the crew of four Kazakh girls who drove the tank together was one of a kind.
Zhamal, Kulzhamilya, Kulken and Zhamilya are orphans who grew up in the mining city of Karaganda. In 1942, when the Soviet Union was losing millions of soldiers and experiencing an acute shortage of personnel, Zhamal Baitasova, a tractor brigade leader, persistently sought to join the tank forces. She was refused, being offered positions as a radio operator or nurse, as women were not accepted into tank units. Her persistence and the People’s Commissar of Defence’s Order No. 0459 of June 1942, which allowed women to be recruited for certain military positions, paved the way for her and her three friends.
Four young tractor drivers completed accelerated tanker training courses, becoming the only girls among men. They mastered their technical skills, tactics and firearms training and went to the front. For two years, the crew of twenty-year-old girls took part in battles, including the largest tank battle at the Kursk Bulge, for which they were nominated for the award “For Courage”.
Tragic end and oblivion
In early December 1944, after another battle, a female tank crew went missing. In the language of war, this meant one thing: the young girls were dead. They were only 20 years old. They did not have time to start families, have children, or experience the joy of a peaceful life. They gave their lives for a country that soon forgot about them.
Soviet propaganda glorified fictional heroes with “correct” Slavic surnames – Yegorovs, Gagarins, Brovkins. There are 13 names on the official lists of women tankers of the Second World War: Valentina Barkhatova, Alexandra Boyko, Valentina Gribaleva, Lyudmila Kalinina, Evgenia Kostrikova, Maria Lagunova, Irina Levchenko, Maria Oktyabrskaya, Ekaterina Petlyuk, Alexandra Rashchupkina, Alexandra Samusenko, Olga Sotnikova, and Nina Shiryaeva. Eight Russian, four Ukrainian, and one Polish surname. But there is not a single Turkic name among them. The four Kazakh girls who made up the only female tank crew have disappeared from official history.
Why were they forgotten?
This story is not just about war, but about the systematic erasure of memory. Zhamal, Kulzhamilya, Kulken and Zhamilya were orphans whose families were destroyed by Stalin’s genocide of the Kazakh people. After their deaths, no one searched for their relatives, because there was no one to search for them. The Soviet government, which they defended, not only failed to immortalise their feat, but also did everything to ensure that their names disappeared from historical archives.
Today, Russian sources and Wikipedia continue this tradition. Try to add information about Kazakh tankers and you will not be allowed. Likewise, you will not find any mention of Kazakh Aitkali Alibekov in an article about the ‘Meeting on the Elbe’ or of Kenzhebai Madenov, who took part in the installation of the flag over the Red City Hall. History is written not by heroes, but by those who make films and edit articles.
A small memory of great heroines
In 2021, Zhamal, Kulzhamyla, Kulken and Zhamyla were mentioned in a post and video that was viewed 393 thousand times. But this is not enough. Their names should be mentioned alongside other heroes of the Second World War. They deserve to be remembered not only in Kazakhstan, but also in Ukraine, Israel and around the world – wherever the truth about those who gave their lives for freedom is valued.
Today, on the anniversary of their deaths, we remember Zhamal Baitasova, Kulken Tokbergenova, Kulzhamyla Talkanbayeva and Zhamyla Beisenbayeva. Their feat is not only a story of courage, but also a reminder of how important it is to preserve the memory of those who were attempted to be erased from history. We remember. And we will not let them forget.
This article is a tribute to the four Kazakh heroines and a call for justice in historical memory.
Author: Marianna Nyzhnia
