Honorific Prefix: | The martyr commander |
Hossein Qajeyi | |
Birth Date: | 5 September 1958 |
Birth Place: | Zarrin Shahr, Lenjan County, Isfahan, Imperial State of Iran |
Death Place: | Khorramshahr, Khuzestan Province, Iran |
Branch: | Imperial Iranian Army (1974–1977) Revolutionary Guards (1979–1982) |
Serviceyears: | 1974–1982 |
Rank: | None Major General (posthumously) |
Unit: | 27th Mohammad Rasulullah Division |
Commands: |
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Battles: | |
Awards: | Order of Fath |
Hossein Qajeyi (born September 5, 1958 – May 5, 1982) was an Iranian military commander in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and prominent military figure in the Iran-Iraq War. He was the founder of the IRGC's 27th Mohammad Rasulullah Division and served as the division's first commander during the war.[1]
Hossein Qajeyi was born in Zarrinshahr, Isfahan Province. He continued his elementary education and received a diploma in his hometown and then he went to military service.[2] His political activity began at the age of sixteen in the year 1974.[3] in 1977, he emigrated to Qom after he was wanted by the authorities for his dissident activities against the Shah. While he was in Qom, he was arrested by SAVAK agents.[2] Following his release, he joined the Iranian Revolution and participated in revolutionary activities in several cities across Iran like Shiraz and in his hometown, Zarrin Shahr.
Following the success of the Iranian Revolution, Qajeyi joined the Islamic Revolution Committee, a law enforcement agency and religious police force that was formed to safeguard the nascent revolutionary government in Iran and counter anti-governmental elements within the country. Qajeyi later joined the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) during the 1979 Kurdish rebellion and becoming a commander, commanding several IRGC units and brigades in the Kurdistan Province. During the Iran-Iraq War, he founded the 27th Mohammad Rasulullah Division and became the commander of the Salman Battalion within the division. He had participated in several battles and operations during the first phase of the war.
During the Second Battle of Khorramshahr, Qajeyi's battalion succeeded in repelling a heavy counterattack from two armored and mechanized brigades of the Iraqi Army on the Ahvaz-Khorramshahr road. After the three days of fierce fighting, most of the soldiers in the Salman Battalion and Qajeyi were killed. The battle took place on May 5, 1982.[4] His body was buried in his hometown of Zarrin Shahr in the Golestan-e Shohada cemetery.
Iranian historians believe that the three-day resistance by the Salman Battalion under the command of Hossein Qajeyi, against the Iraqi counterattack, during the Second Battle of Khorramshahr, was key to liberating Khorramshahr.[4] [5]
Qajeyi was also a freestyle wrestler, serving in the lightweight categories. Some of his achievements was winning the Youth Wrestling Championship in Iran for three years and winning in his home province of Isfahan for four years.