Sagadat Kozhakhmetovich Nurmagambetov (Kazakh: Сағадат Қожахметұлы Нұрмағамбетов, Sağadat Qojahmetūly Nūrmağambetov, ساعادات قوجاحمەتۇلى نۇرماعامبەتوۆ; Russian: Сагадат Кожахметович Нурмагамбе́тов, Sagadat Kozhakhmetovich Nurmagambetov; 25 May 1924 – 24 September 2013) was a Soviet and Kazakh general who served as Chairman of Kazakhstan's State Defense Committee in 1991-1992 and Kazakhstan's first Minister of Defense following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, holding the office of Defense Minister from May 1992 to November 1995. He was an adviser to Nursultan Nazarbayev in 1995-1996.
Nurmagambetov began his military career as a machine gun platoon commander in the Red Army in World War II. He was promoted to machine gun company and infantry battalion commander, earning the honorary title of Hero of the Soviet Union in February 1945. His battalion went on to storm the Reich Chancellery at the Battle of Berlin in April 1945. Nurmagambetov graduated from the Frunze Military Academy after World War II and rose to become one of the highest-ranked Kazakh officers in the peacetime Soviet Army, attaining the rank of colonel general. He retired from the military of Kazakhstan as an army general in 1995. Nurmagambetov was named a Hero of Kazakhstan in 1994, becoming the first Kazakh to receive this honour.
Nurmagambetov was born on 25 May 1924 in the settlement of Kosym in the Kazakh Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic of the Russian SFSR (later Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic), now in Aqmola Region in Kazakhstan.[1] He joined the Red Army in 1942. He received accelerated machine gun officer's training at the 1st Turkestan Machine Gun School in Kushka, Turkmen SSR (now Serhetabat in Turkmenistan) and was sent to the front lines of the Eastern Front of World War II in April 1943. He led a machine gun platoon, a machine gun company, and infantry battalion and was awarded the honorary title of Hero of the Soviet Union (medal no. 5214) and the Order of Lenin by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on 27 February 1945. He fought in the Battle of Berlin and led his battalion's troops in the storming of Berlin's Reich Chancellery in April 1945.[1]
Nurmagambetov attended the Frunze Military Academy from June 1946 until his graduation from the Academy in November 1949, continuing his military career as a senior operations section officer for the Turkestan Military District staff, a motorized rifle division's commanding officer and chief of staff, Civil Defense Forces of the Kazakh SSR chief of staff, a deputy commanding officer of the Central Asian Military District, and first deputy commander of the Soviet Union's Southern Group of Forces in Hungary.[1] He was elected to serve as a deputy of Kazakhstan's Supreme Soviet from 1971 until 1994, and chosen to lead its committee on the disabled and military veterans' affairs in 1989.[1]
He was appointed to head Kazakhstan's State Defense Committee by Nursultan Nazarbayev in October 1991. He was named Kazakhstan's first Defence Minister following the State Defense Committee's reorganization as the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Kazakhstan in May 1992 and remained as Defense Minister in Nazarbayev's cabinet until retiring from the armed forces as an army general in November 1995.[1] Nazarbayev later recalled that "After gaining independence, I was looking for a general to lead the troops, and I found one - Nurmagambetov".[2]
He was awarded Kazakhstan's highest official award, the newly established honorary title of Hero of Kazakhstan, in 1994 – the first Kazakh to attain the honor.[3] He was an adviser to Nazarbayev from 1995 to 1996.[1] He died on 24 September 2013.[4]
He had two children. His son Talgat (1952–2020) was a major general in the reserve.[1] He was born in Tashkent while his father served as an officer for the Turkestan Military District. His military career saw him take part in the recovery efforts after the Chernobyl disaster and the Spitak Earthquake, and from 2000-2001, serve as Inspector General of the Ministry of Defense.[citation needed]
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