 In 1945 Qoshqarbaev distinguished himself while leading a platoon on an assault on enemy defenses, located on the Western bank of the Oder River; on April 17, one day after breaking through the enemy bridgehead, he led his unit towards a river channel to establish a new bridgehead and continued the advance despite heavy resistance from Axis forces.After Soviet forces opened fire on approaching enemy forces Qoshqarbaev entered the water, led his unit in the perilous crossing, and proceeded to storm a German trench after reaching the western bank of the canal.During the heavy fighting of that engagement over 40 German soldiers were killed after the platoon seized three machine guns in hand-to-hand combat and opened fire on the remaining German soldiers in the trench.