Noah Adamia

Noah Petrovich Adamiya Ной Петрович Адамия ნოე ადამია
File:Адамия Ной Петрович.jpg
Born	(1917-12-21)December 21, 1917 Mathondhzi, Georgia
Died	Sevastopol, Soviet Union
Allegiance	Soviet Union
Service/branch	Soviet Naval Infantry
Years of service	1938 - 1942
Rank	Starshina
Commands held	Sniper instructor, 7th Marine Brigade, North-Caucasian Front Platoon commander
Battles/wars	World War II Battle of Sevastopol
Awards

Noah Petrovich Adamiya (Georgian: ნოე ადამია, Noe Adamia; Russian: Ной Петрович Адамия) (December 21, 1917 – June 21, 1942), was a Soviet sniper of the Soviet Maritime Forces and Hero of the Soviet Union during World War II. He participated in the Sevastopol sniper movement and personally trained about 80 snipers. Adamiya is credited to have killed around 300 German soldiers during the Battle of Sevastopol.

Pre War period

Born on 21 December 1917 in a peasant family in the village of Mathondzhi former Georgian SSR, he attended a High School in Tbilisi. Afterwards Adamiya joined the Soviet Navy in 1938 and served in coastal defenses as anti-aircraft gunner. In 1940 he graduated from the Odessa Military Naval School and became platoon commander.

WW II, Battle of Sevastopol

Serving at the front lines of since 1941, he decided to become active as sharpshooter by own will and in 1942 due to his impressive efficiency with the rifle was given instructor status and ordered to train more than 70 marines of the Soviet 7th Marine Brigade stationed in Sevastopol in sniper warfare. He had mastered sharpshooting by himself and was engaged in the most dangerous areas of the district. Within two months he had all candidates prepared for combat. Up until becoming platoon commander Adamiya is credited to have already killed more than 200 enemy soldiers and knocked out two enemy tanks. On June 21, 1942 facing encirclement by German troops the petty officer lead a small 11 men strong sniper detachment to break the ring in which they succeeded killing more than 100 enemy soldiers. The fierce battle went on even out of the encirclement.

Sniper tactics

From December 1941 Adamiya became pioneer of the Sevastopol sniper movement. In the beginning his primary targets were enplaced positions but he soon moved on for active hunts using both the Simonow PTRS-41 anti material rifle and the Mosin–Nagant sniper rifle to take out soft and lightly armored targets. To one of the Soviet army news papers he said:

"German sharpshooters were very good. So I asked myself. Why shouldn't I be able to become a good sharpshooter too ?"

Adamiya went on describing how he started to learn calculation of range, observing and slowly mastering the effects of humidity and other aspects of shooting from long distance. One day he took point on a tree covered high ground and observed German troops moving around their entrenched positions to keep themselves warm. He was able to take out six targets over a range of 600 m with his Mosin–Nagant and improved his rate each day after, going out for several days with only a loaf of bread and little water. Adamiya tried to determine when enemy forces would concentrate on a specific position for example by observing if improvised latrines or similar points were built. Yevgeniy Ivanovich Zhidilov wrote in his book "We defended Sevastopol":

"Noah Adamiya - a passionate hunter - had a sharp eye and keen ear. He was able to quietly sneak through forests, mountains and bushes in seemeingly most inaccessible places. Donning camouflage cloaks, capturing some rounds of bread and a flask of water, Noah went in the morning on one of the heights at the forefront of defense. Every day the sniper chose a new position. Like a hunter stalking the beast, so Adamia crept to close quarters and beat the Nazis from his sniper rifle without a miss."

Death

Adamiya met his fate a day before Sevastopol fell to Axis forces on July 4, 1942. He was one of the 60,000 Soviet defenders who were not evacuated. On July 3 Adamiya was killed in the area of Gasfort, Kamysheva Bay. He was buried in Sevastopol along with 86 soldiers of the 7th Marine Brigade.

Awards

For his outstanding performance and courage in the fight against Nazism and the actions on June 1942, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet posthumously awarded Noah Petrovich Adamiya the title Hero of the Soviet Union, the Order of Lenin and the Medal of Valour on July 24, 1942. Due to restrictions on awards for marine servicemen, he was not awarded with higher honors. A street in the city of Sukhumi, Abkhazia is named after him.

See also

• List of books, articles and documentaries about snipers