Major Baltabek Zhetpysbayev: A Kazakh Officer’s Heroic Stand in Lithuania

June 29, 2025 - Reading time: 4 minutes

Kazakh officer Major Baltabek Zhetpysbayev and Russian gunner Sgt. Trofim Shalayev man a 122mm M-30 howitzer under fire during the battle for Lithuania.

Lithuania, July 1944.
The Red Army's strength was never just in numbers — it was in unity. On the burning front lines near the hamlet of Vrublevshchina, a testament to that unity was carved into the soil by a Kazakh officer and a Russian gunner.

During a fierce clash with German forces, the crew of a 122mm M-30 howitzer was killed in action. Alone beside the weapon stood Guards Sergeant Trofim Danilovich Shalayev — the last man of the original team. But help came from an unexpected place: Major Baltabek Zhetpysbayev, the deputy political officer of the 213th Guards Howitzer Artillery Regiment, didn’t hesitate. He dropped to the gunner’s position and took control of the weapon, side by side with Shalayev.

Zhetpysbayev, a Kazakh by nationality, wasn't trained as a gunner, but in that moment, duty came first. Shoulder to shoulder, the Russian sergeant and the Kazakh major reopened fire — keeping their sector from collapse and holding back the Nazi assault. The act became symbolic: a perfect image of the interethnic brotherhood that powered the Soviet war machine.

The event was later immortalized in a reconstructed wartime photo, published in Frontline Illustration No. 17 (August 1944). Historians believe the scene reflects the battle of July 16, 1944, during the liberation of Lithuania — near the village of Vrublevshchina, northwest of Žiežmariai.

This moment wasn’t just about a single act of heroism. It was about a nation of nations standing together — Russians, Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Ukrainians, Georgians — all fighting side by side against a brutal and cunning enemy.

📷 Technical photo data:
📸 Photographer: Anatoliy Morozov
🌐 Sources: 1. Frontline Illustration No. 17 (1944),

2. pamyat-naroda.ru,

3. altyn73.livejournal.com
📅 Date: July–August 1944
📍 Location: Vrublevshchina, Lithuania, USSR