The beginning

The Path

From a brick factory in Lankaran to the commander's cupola of a tank.

The beginning

A son of Lankaran

Hazi Aslanov was born in 1910 in Lankaran, on the southern Caspian shore, into a poor family; his father worked at a brick factory and died young. As a teenager the future general worked at the factory himself while attending literacy courses.

In 1924 he entered the Transcaucasian military preparatory school in Baku, and then a cavalry school, which he finished in 1931. So began his long military road — first in the cavalry, then in the emerging tank forces.

Chronology

Before the great war

1910

Birth

Born in Lankaran into a worker's family. After his father's death in 1923 he worked at a brick factory.

1924

Military school

Entered the Transcaucasian military preparatory school in Baku — the first step to an officer's career.

1929–1931

Cavalry school

Studied at a cavalry school (Borisoglebsk — Leningrad); on graduating he served in a cavalry regiment.

1930s

Turning to tanks

He moved to the tank forces and commanded tank units — here his talent as a tankman emerged.

1939–1940

First campaigns

Took part in the campaign in Western Ukraine and in the Soviet–Finnish War, in the battles on the Mannerheim Line.

1941

The war begins

In the border battles and near Kiev he was badly wounded — two bullet wounds and shrapnel to the head — but returned to the ranks.

Character

A commander from the front line

Aslanov was marked by personal courage and a gift for tank warfare. He did not command from the rear: he was seen at the front line, at the command post, beside the crews. That habit shared the danger with his men — and in the end it cost him his life.

By the time of the war's decisive battles he was already an experienced tank officer who had been through wounds and several wars — and ready for the hardest fighting.