Ismail Tkhagush (, ; 17 March 1920 – 15 November 1943) was a Soviet Circassian soldier and a Hero of the Soviet Union. Tkhagush was the first Soviet soldier to cross the Dnieper.Shkadov, Ivan (1988). Герои Советского Союза: Краткий биографический словарь [Heroes of the Soviet Union: A Brief Biographical Dictionary] (in Russian). Vol. 2. Moscow: Voenizdat. ISBN 5-203-00536-2.Sidzhakh, Khazretbiy (2005). Твои Герои Адыгея [Your Heroes of Adygea] (in Russian). Maykop: Adyghe Republican Book Publishing House. pp. 332–338. ISBN 5-7608-0459-6.https://pamyat-naroda.ru/heroes/podvig-chelovek_nagrazhdenie12058000/Russian Ministry of Defence Database «Подвиг Народа в Великой Отечественной войне 1941—1945 гг.» [Feat of the People in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945] (in Russian).
Biography Ismail Tkhagush was born on 17 March 1920, in the aul of Maloye Pseushko in the Kuban Oblast (now in the Tuapsinsky District of Krasnodar Krai) to a peasant family. He was of Circassian ethnicity. He completed eight years of schooling, followed by bookkeeping courses, and graduated from a pedagogical technical school in 1939. He subsequently worked as a bookkeeper on a kolkhoz. Tkhagush joined the Red Army in October 1940 and served on the front lines of World War II from 3 January 1942. In July 1942, he completed junior lieutenant courses in the North Caucasus Military District. Throughout the war, he served as a soldier, a mortar platoon commander, and a rifle company commander across the Southwestern, Southern, North Caucasian, Voronezh, and 1st Ukrainian Fronts.
On 25 September 1943, Lieutenant Tkhagush was the first in his regiment to cross the Dnieper near the village of Studenets in the Kaniv Raion of the Cherkasy Oblast. His company seized a strategic height and held it, ensuring the successful crossing of other units of the regiment. On 2 October 1943, the company repelled several fierce enemy counterattacks, inflicting significant losses on enemy manpower and equipment. For his actions, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on 25 October 1943:
Tkhagush was killed in action on 15 November 1943, near Zhytomyr. He is buried in the village of Leshchyn in the Zhytomyr Raion of Ukraine.
Awards Hero of the Soviet Union (awarded 25 October 1943) Order of Lenin Order of the Red Star
Memorials His name is engraved in gold in the Hall of Fame at the Central Museum of the Great Patriotic War in Victory Park, Moscow. A memorial monument stands at his grave in Leshchyn. A memorial plaque was installed in his native village of Maloye Pseushko, where a street is also named in his honor. School No. 12 in the village of Georgiyevskoye is named after him and features a commemorative plaque on its building.
See also List of Heroes of the Soviet Union
References