 In July 1941 Bendeliani became lieutenant and was acting commander of his regiment, then part of the Soviet 21st Army deployed to the South Western Front.Part of a quartet of fighters he got engaged in a dogfight with German Messerschmitts escorting bombers that were trying to bomb a crossing.Bendeliani spent up all his ammunition and then decided to ram one of the Bf 109 which plummeted to the ground when one of its wings got cut off by the collision.