Manshuk "Mansiya" Zhiengalieva Mametova or Mänşük Jïenğaliqizi Mämetova was a Soviet

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 Kazakh

Kazakhs

The Kazakhs are a Turkic people of the northern parts of Central Asia ....

 machine gunner of the 21st Rifle Division of the 3rd Guard Shock Army and the first Soviet Asian woman to receive the Hero of the Soviet Union

Hero of the Soviet Union

The title Hero of the Soviet Union was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society.-Overview:...

 medal for acts of bravery.

Orphaned at very young age, Manshuk Mametova spent her childhood in Almaty

Almaty

Almaty , also known by its former names Verny and Alma-Ata , is the former capital of Kazakhstan and the nation's largest city, with a population of 1,348,500...

, under care of A. Mametova. At the time the Second World War began, she was studying at Almaty Medical Institute.

She had been taken to war as a volunteer in 1942. As a machine gunner, she showed bravery and courage. She was killed in a battle for Nevel

Nevel

Nevel is a town and the administrative center of Nevelsky District of Pskov Oblast, Russia, located on Lake Nevel southeast of Pskov. Population:...

.

Many streets and schools in Almaty, Nevel, Oral

Oral, Kazakhstan

Oral , Uralsk in Russian, formerly known as Yaitsk , is a city in northwestern Kazakhstan, at the confluence of the Ural and Chogan Rivers close to the Russian border. As it is located on the western side of the Ural river, it is considered geographically in Europe. It has a population of 350,000...

and other cities were named after her, and monuments in her honour may be found in many parts of former Soviet Union.

Literature

• (In Russian) Чечеткина О. Героини. Вып. I. (Очерки о женщинах — Героях Советского Союза) // Батыр Маншук М., Политиздат, 1969.