Noah Adamia

Pre-war period

Born on 21 December 1917 into a peasant family in the Georgian village of Mathondzhi, 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.

World War II, Battle of Sevastopol

Serving at the front lines 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 was credited with killing more than 200 enemy soldiers and knocking out two enemy tanks. On June 21, 1942, facing encirclement by German troops, the petty officer led a small 11 man 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 Simonov 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 seemingly 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.