"The April battles were the first harbinger of a true struggle and a great victory, where the Azerbaijani army demonstrated its strength. The battles, which began on the night of April 1-2, lasted only four days.
There are two scenes of war. One is the front scene - fiery, smelling of war. A scene where many heroes shed blood, where friends and brothers looked into each other's eyes, perhaps making their last wills, and breathed their last, where the final seconds were counted. War is horror".
Modern.az reports that these words were shared by Ofelya Salmanova, the wife of National Hero Polad Hashimov, on her personal "Facebook" page.
The post also stated:
"Then there is the back scene of war - hopes left hanging, eyes left on the roads, hearts aching with the hope of news… I have lived through all of this. I am even writing this text with tears in my eyes, my hand trembling. It's as if I am reliving the feelings I had in these days of 2016, hoping for news from Polad. The difference is that back then there was hope he would return, but today there is none.
It was the last days of March. Polad Hashimov came home several times during the day, staying for five to ten minutes. Sometimes he spoke, sometimes he said nothing. He joked with the children, left quickly, and then returned again. Of course, they knew that war would begin. He was worried about us. After all, a person's homeland begins from their home. He could neither speak about the battles nor could he leave.
On the night of April 1-2, he was not home. I woke up to the violent shaking of the doors and windows. At first, I thought it was an earthquake. I looked at the children. But the strong tremors continued.
From the very first day, I lived in the frontline zone with Polad Hashimov. The ceasefire regime was violated almost every day. But I had not heard the sound of war until that day. I would see the true face of war four years later in the Tovuz battles…
We lived in Barda district. Polad Hashimov served as Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff of the 1st Army Corps. This meant the front was very close to us. Not to mention the sound of ambulance vehicles carrying wounded soldiers and officers to the hospital. Every time a vehicle passed, it felt as if a string in our hearts snapped. Those vehicles carried someone's loved one, and a hero of the Homeland.
For four days, we didn't know what we were experiencing. Until Polad Hashimov called after 12 PM on April 4:
-Hello, how are you? I am fine, don't worry.
These three or four words were enough for me. He was alive, and that was all.
But he came home approximately twenty days after the battles. We knew he was coming. We stood at the beginning of the road, waiting. When a car stopped in the distance, the children ran towards it with shouts of joy.
It was the first time I had seen him so tired. Behind his always upright posture, a silent sorrow was visible. He sat down in the yard. Head bowed, eyes fixed on a single point, he didn't speak for minutes. We gathered around him, waiting for him to speak.
He remained silent for a long time. Then he raised his head and said:
-What a pity… We could have liberated the lands from occupation in two months.
I was horrified. What patriotism, what love for the land, what sacrifice, what determination this was! It turned out that his silence and fatigue were not due to having come out of heavy battles. His spirit was still in the homeland's territories remaining under enemy control. And in the last glances of the soldier sons and officer brothers he had lost.
At that very moment, I understood once again that neither Polad Hashimov, nor the officers and soldiers he trained, nor indeed the valiant sons of Azerbaijan, would stop - until the last inch of the Homeland's land was liberated.
During the April battles, Polad Hashimov, serving as Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff of the 1st Army Corps, oversaw the battles in the direction of Tartar. In these battles, advantageous positions and strategic points located in the Talish direction of Tartar district were liberated. The Talish height was liberated from occupation. Villages and their populations, who had been unable to live normal lives for years due to fire from Armenian posts, found peace. They said: “For many years we lived underground; after the April battles, we came out into the open”.
For his services during the April battles, Polad Hashimov was awarded the “For Service to the Fatherland” order by President Ilham Aliyev. One of the posts on the Talish heights was named “Polad Post”.
