March 25, 1949 Marshal Alexander Vasilevsky became Minister of the Armed Forces of the USSR In Russia, as the philosopher Vladimir Solovyov wrote back in the 19th century, everything is repeated many times. So the story that will be discussed, involuntarily makes us draw a parallel with our day. During the Great Patriotic War Joseph Stalin was the supreme commander and people's commissar of defense. But when the war ended, he left this “site of work”, and appointed a man, one might say, a civilian, although he had fought - Marshal Nikolai Bulganin (he received the title after the war) as the Minister of the Armed Forces. Bolshevik since 1917, Chekist during the Civil War, party and state functionary in prewar period, a member of the Military Council of a number of fronts during the Great Patriotic War, and since 1944 - Deputy People's Commissar of Defense. Some historians are sure that Stalin appointed Bulganin, seeking to avoid the political strengthening of popular generals. I think it's something else. After the war, Stalin hoped for a peaceful respite. Former allies on anti-Hitler coalition he did not believe, but he understood that the world was tired of war. So I put a civilian to decide the mass economic problems Armed Forces. But as soon as "it smelled of fried", Iosif Vissarionovich immediately appointed the minister of the real marshal - Vasilevsky. 1949 was a very busy year. The civil war in China entered the final stage, the victory in which was clearly won by the communists of Mao Zedong. In 1948-1949, the Berlin Crisis broke out, culminating in the formation of the GDR. In the same year, NATO was created. Finally, in January 1949, the inauguration of Harry Truman, elected for a second term, took place - it was he who, two years earlier, put forward a foreign policy program to contain the USSR. The world was teetering on a dangerous line. It was then that Alexander Vasilevsky became a minister. By birth and first education - popovich (already this, probably, interested the graduate of Stalin's theological seminary). A kind of epic Russian hero. Graduated (albeit fast track) present imperial military school. Member of the First World and Civil Wars. Vasilevsky joined the party only in 1930 as a candidate (he became a member of the party only in 1938), i.e. was not a political careerist. Since 1937 he served in the apparatus of the General Staff. During the war years, as Chief of the General Staff, he participated in the development and implementation of almost all major operations. And from February 1945, he took command of the 3rd Belorussian Front, led the assault on Koenigsberg. In the summer of 1945, it was Vasilevsky who was appointed commander-in-chief of the Soviet troops in the Far East in the war with Japan. Marshal of the USSR since 1943, twice Hero of the Soviet Union and one of the three (besides him - Stalin and Zhukov) holders of the Order of Victory Vasilevsky was more tolerant with his subordinates than the same Zhukov. For almost three years, Vasilevsky led the Soviet armed forces. At this time, the Korean War began, which almost led to a new world war. And only the fear of getting a powerful response nuclear strike kept the US and NATO from escalating the conflict. In 1953, Stalin died, and at the beginning of that year, Truman was replaced as President of the United States by World War II commander Eisenhower. Some warming began, and the triumvirate of Khrushchev, Malenkov and Bulganin who came to power immediately tried to get rid of Vasilevsky. He did not resist. Having survived until 1977, the marshal managed not to sully his name with any political intrigues. When President Vladimir Putin replaced civilian Anatoly Serdyukov with Hero of Russia Sergei Shoigu in 2012, it became clear that history was repeating itself: gunpowder smelled again in international affairs.

It is known that Stalin called Marshal Shaposhnikov by name and patronymic. And it was a sign of special attitude and special respect. But there was another person whom Iosif Vissarionovich called that. This is Air Marshal Alexander Evgenyevich Golovanov. His memoir Long Range Bomber is perhaps the most interesting I have ever read. In his book "Stalin. Let's remember together" I gave several quotes from Golovanov's book. But the amount of information, interesting and unusual, in it is such that it is necessary ... to quote the entire book.

Excellent article from Russian newspaper tells us about the fate of Marshal Golovanov, his career.

And Comrade Stalin's special attitude towards him.

Which, for example, when this person came to his house, met and tried to help him undress. And when leaving, he ALWAYS helped Golovanov to get dressed, throwing an overcoat over his shoulders.

Embarrassing the marshal and ignoring his resistance...

Chief Marshal Aviation Alexander Evgenievich Golovanov

"Sinusoid of Marshal Golovanov

The rise and fall of Stalin's favorite

Text: Semyon Ekshtut (Doctor of Philosophy)

In the life of this man, a sharp rise in his career is significant - having received the position of commander in February 1941 aviation regiment and the rank of lieutenant colonel, on August 19, 1944 he became Air Chief Marshal, the youngest marshal in the history of the Red Army.

Stalin knew him personally and had paternal feelings for him. Stalin always, when this person came to his house, met him and tried to help him undress, and when he left, he saw him off and helped him get dressed. Marshal was embarrassed. “For some reason, I always felt terribly embarrassed at the same time, and always, entering the house, took off my overcoat or cap on the go. Leaving, I also tried to leave the room as quickly as possible and get dressed before Stalin came up” 1. “You are my guest,” the Boss said instructively to the embarrassed marshal, giving him an overcoat and helping him put it on. Is it possible to imagine Stalin giving an overcoat to Zhukov or Beria, Khrushchev or Bulganin?! Not! And again no! For the unsentimental Boss, this was something out of the ordinary. Sometimes from the outside it might seem that Stalin was frankly admiring his own nominee - this tall, heroic growth, a beautiful light brown-haired man with large gray-blue eyes, who made a huge impression on everyone with his bearing, smartness, elegance. "An open face, a kind look, free movements complemented his appearance" 2 . In the summer of 1942, the military orders of Suvorov, Kutuzov and Alexander Nevsky were established. After the victory at Stalingrad, their test samples were brought to the Supreme Commander for approval. In his office were prominent military leaders who had just returned from Stalingrad. Stalin, having applied the Order of Suvorov, 1st class, made of platinum and gold, to the heroic chest of the commander of the Long-Range Aviation, Lieutenant General Golovanov, remarked: “That’s who he will go to!” The corresponding Decree was soon published, and in January 1943, Golovanov became one of the first recipients of this high military award, receiving Order No. 9.

Marshal of the Soviet Union - Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov

Even years after the first meeting with the commander, the senior adjutant of the marshal could not hide his involuntary admiration for Alexander Evgenievich Golovanov. "An immaculately fitted marshal's uniform on a slender figure. It was, without exaggeration, a classic example of male beauty. ... Golovanov's whole appearance is courage, will and dignity. there is something eagle in him, irresistibly powerful. Rays of light fell from the windows at that moment. An unforgettable picture ... "3 The spectators of another unforgettable picture were faces from Stalin's inner circle. When, in the deep autumn of the turning point of the 43rd, the marshal's daughter Veronika was born, and he came to his wife at the maternity hospital from the front, Stalin, who learned about this, strictly ordered Golovanov's adjutant not to tell him anything about an urgent summons to Headquarters, until the marshal himself won't ask. For disobedience, the adjutant was threatened with removal from office and sent to the front. When the worried Golovanov arrived at Headquarters, he was greeted with congratulations by the Supreme Commander himself. The stern leader behaved like a hospitable host and carefully accepted his cap from the hands of the marshal. Stalin was not alone, and the “rabble of thin-necked leaders” witnessed this unique manifestation of paternal feelings: the birth of one’s own grandchildren never pleased the leader as much as the birth of Veronica delighted him. And although Golovanov had just arrived from the front, the conversation began not with a report on the state of affairs in the troops, but with congratulations.

“Well, who do I congratulate you on?” Stalin asked cheerfully.
— With my daughter, Comrade Stalin.
"She's not your first, is she?" Well, nothing, we need people now. What was it called?
— Veronica.
- What is that name?
— It's a Greek name, Comrade Stalin. Translated into Russian - bringing victory, - I answered.
— It's quite good. Congratulations 4.

Political denunciations and everyday slander were constantly written against the famous generals. Stalin's favorite did not escape this either.

In the party milieu, ostentatious asceticism dominated. The leader did not allow anyone to address himself by his first name and patronymic, and he always addressed his interlocutors by their last name with the addition of the party word "comrade". And only two marshals could boast that Comrade Stalin addressed them by name and patronymic. One of them was a former colonel of the General Staff of the tsarist army, Marshal of the Soviet Union Boris Mikhailovich Shaposhnikov, the other was my hero. Stalin, who was fatherly to the marshal, not only called him by name, but even wanted to meet him at home, which he persistently hinted at several times. However, Golovanov each time avoided answering his proposals. Marshal reasonably believed that the inner circle of the leader leaves much to be desired. Yes, and the wife of Marshal Tamara Vasilyevna in those years "was in the prime of beauty, and, of course, he was afraid of losing her" 5. By personal order of the leader, the marshal in 1943 was given a huge, by Soviet standards of that time, five-room apartment with an area of ​​​​163 square meters. meters in famous house on the embankment. The Kremlin was visible from the windows of the office and the bedroom. Children rode bicycles along the corridors. Previously, this apartment belonged to Stalin's secretary Poskrebyshev. Poskrebyshev's wife was imprisoned, and he hurried to move. Marshal's wife, Tamara Vasilievna, already very frightened Soviet power(her father was a merchant of the 1st guild, and the daughter of a dispossessed long time had neither a passport nor food cards), took into account the sad experience of the previous hostess and all her long life until her death, which followed in 1996, she was afraid to speak on the phone. Tamara Vasilievna's fears were generated by the terrible time in which she had to live. Political denunciations and everyday slander were constantly written against the famous generals. Stalin's favorite did not escape this either.

Valentina Grizodubova

Having received a slander against the marshal, Stalin did not lash out, but found the time and desire to understand the essence of unreasonable slanders against his favorite. He even joked: “Finally, we also received a complaint against you. What do you think we should do with it?” 6 . The complaint came from the famous pilot and idol prewar years, Hero of the Soviet Union and Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Colonel Valentina Stepanovna Grizodubova, who wanted to aviation regiment, which she commanded, received honorary title guards, and she herself - the rank of general. And then, using her personal acquaintance with Comrade Stalin and other members of the Politburo, Grizodubova decided to play for broke. Violating all the rules of military subordination and service ethics, acting over the head of the division commander, the corps commander, not to mention the commander of the Long-Range Aviation, Marshal Golovanov, she turned to the Supreme Commander, and her complaint was transferred personally to Stalin. The triumphant Grizodubova arrived in Moscow in advance - "she already saw herself as the first woman in the country in the uniform of a general ... "7 The newspapers wrote a lot about women selflessly fulfilling their military duty. The chairman of the Anti-Fascist Committee of Soviet Women, with a striking beauty and well-known throughout the country, Valentina Grizodubova, who during the war personally made about 200 sorties to bombard enemy targets and to maintain contact with partisan detachments, was ideally suited to become an iconic propaganda figure - the personification patriotism of Soviet women. Grizodubova, no doubt, was charismatic personality and media figure of the Stalin era. Often, ordinary people sent their appeals to the authorities at the following address: “Moscow. Kremlin. Stalin, Grizodubova. She willingly extended a helping hand to those who were in trouble, and during the years of the Great Terror, they turned to her as the last hope for salvation - and Grizodubova willingly helped. It was she who saved Sergei Pavlovich Korolev from death. However, this time it was not Grizodubova who complained, but she herself complained. Stalin could not dismiss the complaint signed by the famous pilot. Marshall was charged with preconceived notions to a pilot who enjoys all-Union fame: allegedly she gets around with awards and wipes out in the service. There was a certain reason in her words. Colonel Grizodubova fought for two years and made 132 night flights behind enemy lines (she always flew without a parachute), but did not receive a single award. Her gymnast was decorated with the Gold Star medal of the Hero of the Soviet Union and the orders of Lenin, Labor Red Banner and Red Star She received all these awards before the war. At the same time, the chest of any commander of an aviation regiment could be compared to an iconostasis: they were so often and generously awarded. So, Grizodubova's complaint was groundless.

It was the spring of 1944. The war continued. The Supreme had a lot of work to do, but he considered it necessary to personally orient himself in the essence of this difficult collision. Stalin's inner circle was shown that even in the time of military disasters, a wise leader does not forget about people who conscientiously fulfill their duty at the front. Marshal Golovanov was summoned for personal explanations to Stalin, in whose office almost all members of the Politburo, at that time an organ of the highest political leadership, were already sitting. The marshal realized that the Supreme Commander, based on higher political considerations, had in fact already made a positive decision both on conferring the rank of guards on the aviation regiment and on conferring the rank of general on Grizodubova. But neither one nor the other was possible without an official submission signed by the commander of the Long-Range Aviation, who had only to draw up the necessary documents. The marshal refused to do this, believing that Colonel Grizodubova did not deserve such an honor: she left the regiment without permission twice and went to Moscow, and the regiment had low discipline and a high accident rate. Indeed, no regimental commander would ever dare to leave his unit without the permission of his immediate superiors. However, Grizodubova was always in a special position: everyone knew that she owed her appointment to Stalin, "which she spoke about unequivocally" 8 . That's why her direct superiors- both the division commander and the corps commander preferred not to mess with the famous pilot. Not risking removing her from office, they deliberately bypassed the regiment commander with awards to which Grizodubova had an undoubted right based on the results of her combat work. Not afraid of Stalin's wrath and risking losing his post, Marshal Golovanov did not succumb to either persistent persuasion or overt pressure. If Stalin's favorite succumbed to this pressure, then he would actually recognize the special status of Grizodubova. Signing the submission meant signing that not only the immediate superiors, but also he, the commander of the Long-Range Aviation, was not a decree for her. The marshal, who was proud of the fact that he was personally subordinate to Comrade Stalin and only to him alone, could not agree to this. Golovanov took a big risk, but his act had its own logic: he endlessly believed in the wisdom and justice of the leader, and he understood very well that the suspicious Boss was intolerant of those who tried to deceive him. The marshal, relying on facts, managed to substantiate the absurdity of the claims of Grizodubova, spoiled by the attention of the highest circles, proving the slanderous nature of her complaint, and this only strengthened Stalin's confidence in himself. “However, I also knew how the Supreme Commander reacts to fiction and slander…”9 As a result, a decision was made according to which Colonel Grizodubova “for slandering her direct commanders for selfish purposes” was removed from command of the regiment.

The marshal, on the other hand, became stronger in the idea that only the wise and just Stalin would always decide his fate. Belief in this predetermined all his further actions and, ultimately, contributed to the decline of his brilliant career. The end of this story, which was favorable for the marshal, prevented him from looking soberly into the eyes of the truth: his incident was almost the only one. How often during the years of the Great Terror, innocently slandered people appealed not to the law, but to the justice of the leader, and they did not wait for it. At the same time, the marshal did not bother to correlate the successful outcome of his case with another story, actor which he happened to be two years earlier. In 1942, he was not afraid to ask Stalin why the aircraft designer Tupolev, who was declared an "enemy of the people," was sitting.

Aircraft designer Andrei Tupolev and ANT-25 crew members: Alexander Belyakov, Valery Chkalov, Georgy Baidukov (left to right) on the eve of the flight Moscow - Udd Island. 1936 Photo: TASS newsreel

"Comrade Stalin, what is Tupolev sitting for? ..
The question was unexpected.
There was a rather long silence. Stalin, apparently, was thinking.
“They say that either an English or an American spy…” The tone of the answer was unusual, there was neither firmness nor confidence in it.
“Do you really believe this, Comrade Stalin?! — burst out from me.
- And do you believe?! - switching to "you" and approaching me closely, he asked.
"No, I don't," I answered decisively.
"And I don't believe it!" Stalin suddenly replied.
I did not expect such an answer and stood in the deepest amazement.

Tupolev was soon released. This short dialogue between the leader and his favorite radically changed the fate of the aircraft designer. For those who did not live in that era, the situation seems absolutely monstrous and immoral, beyond good and evil. Arbitrariness reigned in the country, but the one who was inside this system, for rare exception, preferred not to think so and was wary of making generalizations. Marshal several times sought the release of the specialists he needed. Stalin never refused his favorite, although sometimes he grumbled: “You are talking about yours again. Someone imprisons, but Stalin should let him out.”

The marshal was satisfied that he decided the issue of the release specific person that in those conditions there was a colossal amount, but drove away thoughts about the depravity of the system itself.

Deputy Chief of the Red Army Air Force Ya.V. Smushkevich with officers at the Douglas DC-3 aircraft at the Ulaanbaatar airfield

However, the time has come to tell how his ascent began. During a noisy meeting of the new 1941 in the House of Pilots in Moscow, later the Sovetskaya Hotel was located in this building, Aeroflot chief pilot Alexander Evgenyevich Golovanov, found himself at the same table with twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Aviation Lieutenant General Yakov Vladimirovich Smushkevich. Before the war, only five people were honored to receive the high title of twice Hero, and by the year 41, only four remained alive. General Smushkevich, the hero of Spain and Khalkhin Gol, was one of them. However, the fate of this major aviation commander hung in the balance. The general himself, who aroused Stalin's wrath with his negative attitude to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939, he was well aware that his days were numbered. When conferring the first general ranks, the head of the Red Army Air Force Smushkevich, who had the personal rank of commander of the 2nd rank and wore four rhombuses in his buttonholes, became only a lieutenant general, although he could claim a higher military rank due to his position and exceptional military merit. (In June 1940, 12 army commanders of the 2nd rank became lieutenant generals, 7 people received the rank of colonel general, and 2 military commanders received the rank of army general.) Without any motivation, General Smushkevich was removed from his post as head of the Red Army Air Force and in On August 40, he was first transferred to the secondary position of Inspector General of the Air Force, and in December to the position of Assistant Chief of the General Staff for Aviation, even further from combat aviation. In this critical situation, Yakov Vladimirovich thought not about his own fate, but about the future. Soviet aviation, about its role in the inevitable impending war. Smushkevich did not doubt for a minute that Hitler would have to fight. AT new year's eve In 1941, it was he who persuaded Golovanov to write a letter to Stalin on the role of strategic aviation in the coming war, and suggested the main idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthis letter: "... Questions of blind flights and the use of radio navigation aids are not given due importance ... Next, write that you can take up this business and put it on the proper height. That's all "12 . To Golovanov's bewildered question why Smushkevich himself would not write such a letter, Yakov Vladimirovich, after a little silence, replied that they would hardly pay serious attention to his memorandum. The pilot Golovanov wrote such a letter, and Smushkevich, who retained his connections in Stalin's secretariat, managed to pass the note on to its destination. Aeroflot chief pilot Golovanov was summoned to the leader, after which a decision was made to form a separate 212th long-range bomber regiment subordinate to the center, to appoint Golovanov as its commander and to award him the rank of lieutenant colonel. The salary of the commander of an aviation regiment was 1,600 rubles a month. (A lot of money at that time. It was the salary of the director of an academic institute. An academician received 1,000 rubles a month for this title. In 1940, the average monthly wage workers and employees as a whole in the national economy amounted to only 339 rubles.) Having learned that Golovanov, as the chief pilot of Aeroflot, receives 4,000 rubles, and in fact earns even more with bonuses, the Boss ordered that the names of this amount be assigned to the newly created regiment commander as personal salary. It was an unprecedented decision. The People's Commissar of Defense, Marshal of the Soviet Union Semyon Konstantinovich Timoshenko, who was present at the same time, noted that in the Red Army, even the People's Commissar does not receive such a large salary. "I left Stalin like in a dream. Everything was decided so quickly and so simply" 13 . It was this speed that stunned Golovanov and determined his attitude towards Stalin for the rest of his life. Repressions did not bypass his family: his sister's husband, one of the leaders of the Intelligence Directorate of the Red Army, was arrested and shot. (His widow, until her death, could not forgive her brother marshal that he went into the service of a tyrant.) Alexander Evgenievich himself miraculously escaped arrest during the era of the Great Terror. In Irkutsk, where he served, a warrant for his arrest had already been issued, and the NKVD officers were waiting for him at the airport, and Golovanov, warned of his arrest in advance, left by train for Moscow the night before, where only a few months later he managed to prove his innocence. During the years of the Great Terror, a striking confusion reigned. In the Central Control Commission of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, having compared the materials of the “case” on the expulsion of Golovanov from the party, which was to be followed by an imminent arrest, and the introduction of the pilot to the Order of Lenin for outstanding success in work, they made a Solomonic decision: the order was denied, and life , freedom and membership in the party - preserved. Alexander Evgenievich belonged to that breed of people for whom state interests, even if misunderstood, were always higher than their personal experiences. “They cut down the forest - the chips fly,” - even very worthy people reasoned in those years.

A.E. Golovanov - commander of the 212th separate long-range bomber aviation regiment (far right). Smolensk, spring 1941 Photo: Unknown/commons.wikimedia.org

From the very first days of formation, the Separate 212th Long-Range Bomber Regiment, the backbone of which was made up of experienced pilots of the Civil Air Fleet, who were well versed in the elements of blind flight, was in special conditions. The regiment was not subordinate to either the commander of the district or the head of the Air Force. Golovanov retained the same special status both as commander of an aviation division and as commander of long-range aviation. In the 41st began skyrocketing lieutenant colonel Golovanov. The fate of General Smushkevich ended tragically: on June 8, 1941, two weeks before the start of the war, he was arrested, and on October 28, in the most hopeless days of the war, when the Red Army lacked experienced military leaders, after inhuman torture, without trial, he was shot at the training ground NKVD near Kuibyshev.

Golovanov brilliantly coped with the task set before him by the leader. Already on the second day of the war, the regiment, led by its commander, bombed the concentration of German troops in the Warsaw region. The pilots of the aviation division he commanded bombed Berlin during the most severe period of the war, when Goebbels' propaganda screamed about the death of Soviet aviation. The airships of the Long-Range Aviation, even at the moment when the Germans approached Stalingrad, bombarded the enemy’s military facilities in Budapest, Koenigsberg, Stettin, Danzig, Bucharest, Ploiesti ... The goals for the pilots were set by Stalin himself, who did not leave to rest until the last plane landed and the results of a raid on distant targets will not be known. Moreover, the commander of the ship that bombed Berlin received the right to send a radiogram addressed to the leader with a report on the accomplishment of the assigned combat mission. "Moscow. Stalin. I am located in the Berlin area. Mission completed. Youthful." Moscow replied to the famous ace: "Your radiogram has been received. We wish you a safe return"14.

Twice Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Ignatievich Molodchiy. 1944 Photo: RIA Novosti ria.ru

"The Supreme Commander, ordering to strike at this or that distant object, weighed many circumstances, sometimes unknown to us. The ADD bombing strikes deep behind enemy lines reminded not only the Nazis, but the troops of their allies, pulled up to the banks of the Volga, that Nazi Germany and its satellites were still vulnerable and under the influence of Soviet aviation "15. Stalin was pleased with the actions of the ADD pilots, with pride Golovanov himself constantly rose in military ranks: in August 41 he became a colonel, on October 25 - major general of aviation, on May 5, 1942 - lieutenant general, on March 26, 1943 - colonel general, on August 3 1943 - Marshal of Aviation, August 19, 1944 - Chief Marshal of Aviation. It was an absolute record: none of the famous commanders of the Great Patriotic War could boast such a rapid rise. By the end of 1944, a real armada was concentrated in the hands of Golovanov. In addition to more 1800 long-range bombers and escort fighters in his direct subordination were 16 repair aircraft radiation factories, several aviation schools and schools, where already flown crews were trained for the needs of the ADD; Civil air fleet and all the airborne troops transferred to the marshal in the fall of the 44th at the initiative of the Supreme. The airborne troops in October of the 44th were transformed into the Separate Guards Airborne Army, which consisted of three guards airborne corps and included an aviation corps. About what exactly this army will have to decide critical tasks at the final stage of the Great Patriotic War, the indisputable fact spoke that already at the time of the formation of the army, it was given the status of a Separate (the army was not part of the front) and was awarded the title of guards: the Stavka never abused either one or the other. This shock fist, created at the initiative of Stalin, was intended for the quick final defeat of the enemy. The army was to operate in an independent operational direction, in isolation from the troops of all available fronts.

The creation of such a powerful 100,000-strong association within the framework of the ADD could not but cause a certain jealousy on the part of other military leaders who were well aware of the special status of both the Long-Range Aviation and its commander. "... I had no other leaders or bosses to whom I would report, except for Stalin. Neither the General Staff, nor the leadership of the People's Commissariat of Defense, nor the deputies of the Supreme Commander had anything to do with the combat activities and development of the ADD. All management of military operations and development ADD went only through Stalin and only on his personal instructions. No one except him had long-range aviation. The case, apparently, is unique, because I don’t know of other similar examples "16. Golovanov did not report on the results of his activities either to Marshal Zhukov, or to the commander of the Air Force, or to the General Staff. Alexander Evgenievich appreciated his special status and jealously guarded it. “It happened more than once,” recalled the chief of staff of the ADD, Lieutenant General Mark Ivanovich Shevelev, “when Golovanov scolded me for calls and trips to the Air Force headquarters to resolve operational issues: “Why do you go to them? We don't obey them."

Marshal Zhukov, who held the post of Deputy Supreme Commander-in-Chief, was transparently hinted by well-wishers that Marshal Golovanov was aiming for his place. Considering Golovanov's closeness to the leader, this assumption seemed very plausible. The question arose, who would be appointed commander of the airborne army? It was obvious that since the army was to play a decisive role in ending the war, victorious laurels and glory, titles and awards awaited its commander. Relying, probably, on the recommendation of his deputy, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief considered Army General Vasily Danilovich Sokolovsky the most desirable figure for this responsible post. The general served for a long time together with Zhukov as chief of staff of the front and was a creature of Georgy Konstantinovich. Calling Golovanov to Headquarters, Stalin suggested that he approve Sokolovsky's appointment. However, Golovanov, who jealously defends the special status of the ADD and has always selected command personnel himself, this time insisted on his candidate. Sokolovsky was an experienced staff worker, but his command of the Western Front ended in dismissal. Marshal Golovanov, who continued to fly as a commander, and when he was a regiment commander and a division commander, piloted an airship to bombard Berlin, Koenigsberg, Danzig and Ploiesti, could hardly imagine General Sokolovsky parachuting and crawling in a plastunski behind enemy lines. General Ivan Ivanovich Zatevakhin was put at the head of the Separate Guards Airborne Army, whose entire service was spent in airborne troops. Back in 1938, he had the title of parachute training instructor, he met the war as commander airborne brigade. When the corps, which included this brigade, was surrounded in September 41st, it was Zatevakhin who did not lose his head, took command and, five days later, withdrew the corps from the encirclement. Commander of the Airborne Forces gave him a brilliant description: "A tactically competent, strong-willed, calm commander. With extensive experience in combat work. During the battles he was always on the most dangerous places and firmly manages the battle "18. It was just such a person that Golovanov needed. On September 27, 1944, Chief Marshal Golovanov and Major General Zatevakhin were received by the Supreme Commander, stayed in his office for a quarter of an hour, from 23.00 to 23.15, and the issue of the commander was resolved: 4 October Zatevakhin was appointed commander, and a month later received the rank of lieutenant general.The army began to prepare for landing beyond the Vistula.

During the war, Golovanov worked with the utmost exertion of all his strength, literally without sleep and rest: sometimes he did not sleep for several days in a row. Even his heroic body could not withstand such an incredible load, and in June 1944, when intensive training to the Belarusian operation, Alexander Evgenievich ended up in a hospital bed. Medical luminaries could not figure out the causes of the disease caused by severe overwork. With great difficulty, the marshal was put on his feet, but while the war was going on, there could be no question of any reduction in the length of the irregular working day of the commander of the ADD. Intensely dealing with the preparation and future use of the airborne army, Golovanov again forgot about sleep and rest - and in November 44 he again became dangerously ill and was hospitalized. The chief marshal submitted a report to the Supreme with a request to relieve him of his post. At the end of November, Stalin decided to transform the ADD into the 18th air army subordinated to the command of the Air Force. Golovanov was appointed commander of this army. Stalin told him over the phone: “You will be lost without work, but you will cope with the army and get sick. I think that you will get sick less.”19 Aeroflot was transferred to the direct subordination of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, and the Separate Airborne Army was disbanded: its corps were returned to the ground forces. Golovanov lost his special status and began to obey the commander of the Air Force: in the victorious 45th, he was never at the reception of Stalin. However, Golovanov was not forgiven for his former proximity to the Supreme. Marshal Zhukov personally deleted his name from the list of military leaders nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for participating in the Berlin operation.

The day of November 23, 1944 became an important milestone in the history of the Red Army. The war was still going on, but the Supreme Commander-in-Chief had already begun to think about the post-war structure of the Armed Forces and gradually began to build a rigid vertical of power. On this day, Stalin signed order No. 0379 for the People's Commissariat of Defense on a preliminary report to the Deputy People's Commissar of Defense, General of the Army Bulganin, of all questions prepared for submission to the Headquarters Supreme High Command. From now on, all the heads of the main and central departments of the NPO and the commanders of the military branches were forbidden to contact Commissar of Defense Comrade Stalin, bypassing Bulganin. The only exceptions were three people: the chief of the General Staff, the head of the Main Political Directorate and the head of the SMERSH Main Directorate of Counterintelligence. And four days later, on November 27, a decision was made to merge the ADD with the Air Force, but neither Golovanov nor Air Force Commander Air Chief Marshal Novikov had the right to report directly to the People's Commissar of Defense. The post-war decline of Golovanov's career fits perfectly into the logic of Stalin's actions in relation to the creators of the Victory. Few of them managed to escape Stalin's wrath and post-war persecution.

Marshal of the Soviet Union Zhukov fell into disgrace.
Marshal of the Soviet Union Rokossovsky was forced to remove the Soviet military uniform and went to serve in Poland.
Fleet Admiral Kuznetsov was removed from his post as Commander-in-Chief of the Navy and demoted to Rear Admiral.
Air Chief Marshal Novikov was convicted and imprisoned.
Air Marshal Khudyakov was arrested and shot.
Marshal of the Armored Forces Rybalko, who dared publicly at a meeting of the Supreme Military Council to doubt the expediency and legality of both Novikov’s arrest and Zhukov’s disgrace, mysterious circumstances died in the Kremlin hospital. (Marshal called his hospital room a prison and dreamed of getting out into the wild.)
Chief Marshal of Artillery Voronov was removed from his post as Commander of Artillery of the Armed Forces and only miraculously escaped arrest.
Marshal of Artillery Yakovlev and Marshal of Air Vorozheykin were arrested and released from prison only after Stalin's death.
And so on and so forth…

Against this background, the fate of Chief Marshal of Aviation Golovanov, although removed in May 48 from the post of commander of Long-Range Aviation and miraculously escaped arrest (he hid in the country for several months and never again held high command posts corresponding to his military rank), this fate seems to be relatively good. After the great Victory, the Master again surrounded himself with the same "rabble of thin-necked leaders" as before the war. Moreover, if before the war Stalin "played with the services of half-humans", then by the end of his life the inner circle had mastered this difficult art and began to manipulate the behavior of a suspicious leader. As soon as Stalin began to work directly with one of the military leaders, ministers or aircraft designers, the inner circle began to intrigue, trying to denigrate such a person in the eyes of the Boss. As a result, the next caliph for an hour disappeared forever from the Stalinist horizon.

The victims of insidious intrigues were Marshal Zhukov, Fleet Admiral Kuznetsov, Chief Air Marshal Golovanov, Minister of State Security General Abakumov, Chief of the General Staff General Shtemenko, aircraft designer Yakovlev. These various people united by one important circumstance: on the eve or during the war years, they were all promoted to their high posts on the initiative of Comrade Stalin himself, he closely followed their activities and did not allow anyone to interfere in their life and fate, he decided everything himself. For a certain time, these Stalinist nominees enjoyed the trust of a suspicious leader, often visited him in the Kremlin or at his "near dacha" in Kuntsevo and had the opportunity to report to Stalin himself, bypassing the jealous control of his inner circle. From them, the leader often learned what the "loyal Stalinists" considered it necessary to hide from him. There was no place among them for the former Stalinist favorite who came to the fore during the war years. (In 1941, the pilot, and then the regiment commander and division commander Golovanov met with Stalin four times, in the 42nd Supreme Commander-in-Chief received the commander of the ADD 44 times, in the 43rd - 18 times, in the 44th - five times, in 45 -m - never, in the 46th - once and in the 47th - twice. next year Golovanov was removed from the post of commander of the Long-Range Aviation, and the leader did not receive him anymore 20.)

Only in August 1952, Golovanov, who by that time had managed to finish the Academy of the General Staff and the Shot courses, after numerous requests and very strong humiliations, received under his command the 15th Guards Airborne Corps, stationed in Pskov. This was an unprecedented demotion: in the entire history of the Armed Forces, a marshal had never commanded a corps. Golovanov quickly gained prestige among his subordinates. "If only everyone were like him. Yes, we follow him into fire and water, after all, he crawled on his belly with us" 21 . These words of an admiring paratrooper, spoken in front of witnesses, will cost Golovanov dearly. Envious people will decide that it was not by chance that the popular marshal so stubbornly solicited a command position in the troops and constantly refused all high posts that were not related to commanding people and real power. Soon after Stalin's death, Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria, who led the Atomic Project, would call the corps commander to Moscow, and Alexander Evgenievich would take part in a secret meeting at which the use of nuclear weapons and sabotage operations in Western Europe. However, the enemies of the Chief Marshal decided that Beria had deliberately brought Golovanov, who had once served in the GPU, closer to him in order to use his corps in the upcoming struggle for power. (In his youth, Alexander Evgenievich took part in the arrest of Boris Savinkov and was friends with Naum Eitingon, the organizer of the assassination of Trotsky; during the war, ADD aircraft were used to throw reconnaissance and sabotage groups behind enemy lines.) After the arrest of Lavrenty Pavlovich, ill-wishers will remind Golovanov of his closeness to Beria: he will be called "Beria's general" behind his back and in the same 53rd year he will be hastily dismissed.

He never served again. He was given a small pension - only 1,800 rubles, Marshal Zhukov received 4,000 rubles after his resignation, and Vice Admiral Kuznetsov, reduced in military rank, received 3,000 rubles on a scale of prices up to monetary reform 1961 (respectively 180, 400 and 300 post-reform or, as they were often called, "new" rubles). Half of the pension went to pay for an apartment in the House on the Embankment: the disgraced marshal was deprived of all housing benefits, he sent 500 rubles a month to his old mother, as a result, a family with five children was forced to live on 400 rubles a month. Even in those meager times, this was well below the living wage. rescued subsidiary farm in the country, a hectare of land on Iksha. Half a hectare was sown with potatoes, all the savings were spent on a cow and a horse. His wife Tamara Vasilievna ran the household herself, milked the cow, looked after her, made cottage cheese, and cooked cheese. The marshal himself worked a lot on the ground, went behind the plow, which was dragged by his horse Kopchik, the favorite of the whole family. Alexander Evgenievich even learned how to make wine from berries. When money was needed to buy school uniforms for children, the Golovanovs with the whole family picked berries and handed them over to a thrift store. He did not hide his contempt for the successors of Comrade Stalin and refused to sign a letter condemning Stalin's personality cult, which was sent to him from Khrushchev. He refused to mention Brezhnev's name in his memoirs (allegedly he met with the head of the political department of the 18th Army, Colonel Brezhnev during the war years and wanted to "consult" with him about the combat use of the ADD), as a result, the book "Long Bomber ..." was published only after the death of Alexander Evgenievich, which followed in 1975. The book was published only in 2004. Before last days Throughout his life, he remained a convinced Stalinist: in his memoirs, Stalin appears as a wise and charming ruler, who has the right to count on the acquittal of History. Very sympathetically, Alexander Evgenievich described such an episode. On December 5 or 6, 1943, a few days after the successful completion of the Tehran Conference, Stalin told Air Marshal Golovanov: “I know ... that when I am gone, not one bucket of dirt will be poured on my head. ... But I am sure that the wind of history will dispel all this ... "22 Talking about meetings with military leaders who became victims of the Great Terror, he never mentioned in his memoirs the tragic fate of Generals Pavlov, Rychagov, Proskurov, Smushkevich and Air Marshal Khudyakov. The aesthetic completeness of his relationship with Stalin is striking. There is a pre-established harmony in the fact that the leader brought him closer to himself in the midst of great trials, and moved him away when they were behind, and Victory was not far off. Stalinism became for Golovanov the very screw on which everything rested, if you remove this screw, then everything will fall apart.

Joseph Stalin

“I saw Stalin and talked with him for more than one day and more than one year, and I must say that everything in his behavior was natural. Sometimes I argued with him, proving my own, and after some time, even after a year or two, : yes, he was right then, not I. Stalin gave me the opportunity to see for myself the fallacy of my conclusions, and I would say that this method of pedagogy was very effective.

Somehow, in a rage, I said to him:

... Quite often he also asked about health and family: “Do you have everything, do you need anything, do you need to help the family with anything?” Strict demand for work and at the same time concern for a person were inseparable for him, they combined in him as naturally as two parts of one whole, and were very much appreciated by all people who came into close contact with him. After such conversations, hardships and hardships were somehow forgotten. You felt that not only the arbiter of fate was speaking to you, but also just a person…” 23(Italics mine. - S.E.) The disgraced marshal even convinced himself that Stalin, by alienating him from himself, actually saved him from big troubles: the authorities would certainly have concocted a new “case” against him - and Golovanov would not have gotten off so easily. This is probably how it really was: the leader knew well the laws of the functioning of the system that he himself created. Remember the logic of Stalin's reasoning in Fazil Iskander's Feasts of Belshazzar.

“They think power is honey,” Stalin reflected. No, power is the inability to love anyone, that's what power is. A man can live his life without loving anyone, but he becomes unhappy if he knows that he cannot love anyone.
...Power is when you can't love anyone. Because before you fall in love with a person, you immediately begin to trust him, but once you start trusting, sooner or later you will get a knife in the back.
Yes, yes, I know it. And I was loved and received for it sooner or later. Cursed life, cursed human nature! If only I could love and distrust at the same time. But this is impossible.
But if you have to kill those you love, justice itself requires you to deal with those you don't love, enemies of the cause.
Yes, Dela, he thought. Of course Dela. Everything is done for the sake of the Cause, he thought, listening in surprise to the hollow, empty sound this thought." 24

Perhaps Golovanov would agree with these arguments. Anyway, the text artwork resonates with his memoirs and finds its continuation and confirmation in them. “Stalin, communicating with a huge number of people, was essentially lonely. His personal life was gray, colorless, and, apparently, this is because he did not have the personal life that exists in our concept. Always with people, always at work "25 . In Golovanov's memoirs there is not a word of lies - there is simply not the whole truth. At the same time, Alexander Evgenievich was not a dogmatist: in 1968 he condemned the entry of troops into Czechoslovakia, constantly listened to the BBC and "talked about the fact that it is impossible to suppress democratic changes in socialist countries." 26

The system rejected an outstanding person. Stalin was the architect of this system. But only once Golovanov, the memoirist, told the readers about his doubts about the justification of the Great Terror: pain and annoyance: the examples were well known... But, in my opinion, the threads of such misfortunes stretched to Stalin. How, I thought, did he allow such a thing? "27 However, it would be futile to look for an answer to this rhetorical question in the book.

I had a chance to see Alexander Evgenyevich Golovanov twice. Once he spoke with us at the military department at Moscow State University, another time I quite by chance ran into him in a half-empty subway car at Novoslobodskaya station: Golovanov was in a marshal's uniform with all the regalia. I remember well that I drew attention to the three military orders of Suvorov of the 1st degree and the marshal's faded gray-blue eyes.

Shortly before his death, he said to his friend, showing a sharp sinusoid with his hand: “All life is like this. I don’t know if I’ll scratch it out now ...“ 28 His last words were: “Mother, what a terrible life ...“ repeated three times. Tamara Vasilievna began to ask : "What are you? What are you? Why do you say that? Why is life terrible?!"

Notes

1. Golovanov A.E. Long-range bomber ... M .: Delta NB, 2004. S. 107.
2. Usachev E.A. My commander // Chief Marshal of Aviation Golovanov: Moscow in the life and fate of the commander: Collection of documents and materials. M.: Mosgorarkhiv, 2001. S. 24
3. Kostyukov I.G. Notes of the senior adjutant // Ibid. S. 247.
4. Golovanov A.E. Long-range bomber ... S. 349.
5. Golovanova O.A. If it were possible to turn back time... // Chief Marshal of Aviation Golovanov: Moscow in the Life and Fate of the Commander: Collection of Documents and Materials. S. 334.
6. Golovanov A.E. Long-range bomber ... S. 428.
7. Ibid. S. 435.
8. Ibid. S. 431.
9. Ibid. S. 434.
10. Ibid. S. 109.
11. Fedorov S.Ya. They were waiting for him in the regiments / / Chief Marshal of Aviation Golovanov: Moscow in the life and fate of the commander: Collection of documents and materials. S. 230.
12. Golovanov A.E. Long-range bomber ... S. 25, 26.
13. Ibid. S. 36.
14. Ibid. S. 85.
15. Skripko N.S. For near and far targets // Chief Marshal of Aviation Golovanov: Moscow in the life and fate of the commander: Collection of documents and materials. S. 212.
16. Golovanov A.E. Long-range bomber ... S. 15-16.
17. Reshetnikov V.V. A. Golovanov. Laurels and thorns. M.: Tserera, 1998. S. 39.
18. Great Patriotic. Commanders. Military biographical dictionary. M.; Zhukovsky: Kuchkovo Pole, 2005, p. 79.
19. Golovanov A.E. Long-range bomber ... S. 505.
20. See according to the sign: At a reception at Stalin's. Notebooks (journals) of persons accepted by I.V. Stalin (1924-1953): Reference book / Scientific editor A.A. Chernobaev. M.: New Chronograph, 2008. 784 p.
21. Golovanova O.A. If it were possible to turn back time... // Chief Marshal of Aviation Golovanov: Moscow in the Life and Fate of the Commander: Collection of Documents and Materials. S. 310
22. Golovanov A.E. Long-range bomber ... S. 366.
23. Ibid. pp. 103, 111.
24. Iskander F.A. Sandro from Chegem. M.: All Moscow, 1990. S. 138.
25 Golovanov A.E. Long-range bomber ... S. 113.
26. Mezokh V.Ch. “I’ll tell you the following…” // Chief Marshal of Aviation Golovanov: Moscow in the Life and Fate of the Commander: Collection of Documents and Materials. P.349.
27. Air Chief Marshal Golovanov: Moscow in the life and fate of the commander: Collection of documents and materials. S. 28; Golovanov A.E. Long-range bomber ... S. 37, 38.
28. Mezokh V.Ch. “I’ll tell you the following…” // Chief Marshal of Aviation Golovanov: Moscow in the Life and Fate of the Commander: Collection of Documents and Materials. S. 355.
29. Golovanova T.V. Mother of God, save his life // Ibid. S. 286.”

On August 8, 1941, in the morning report of the Sovinformburo, the All-Union Radio announcer Yuri Levitan, who had a rare voice in terms of timbre and expressiveness, promulgated the decision of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Central Committee VKP(b) and Council People's Commissars THE USSR. It said: "To appoint the Chairman of the State Defense Committee and the People's Commissar of Defense Comrade I.V. Supreme Commander of all the troops of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army and the Navy."

A clear vertical of power was created, unconditionally subordinate to the will of the Kremlin and penetrating all the structures of Soviet society from top to bottom. This made it possible to purposefully and persistently implement any decisions of the top party leadership, excluding their criticism and, moreover, failure to implement them. This position made him a dictator of a huge multi-million country, which he ruled with the help of a small deliberative body (the closest party entourage) and a huge repressive apparatus. In fact, by the beginning of the 1940s, power and the means of its implementation were concentrated in the hands, the equal of which Russia has not known in its history. The voevodas and guardsmen, the governor-generals and the police of subsequent emperors never enjoyed the support of the people. In the USSR, it so happened that the leadership of the country and the bodies protecting its power relied on grassroots party, Komsomol and even pioneer organizations, which were not only conductors of their will and means of monitoring the quality of the implementation of government instructions, but often also punishing bodies. For the citizens of the country of the Stalin period, there was nothing worse than expulsion from the party, Komsomol or pioneers, carried out by the decision of their comrades, often without the participation of higher party bodies, which only approved this measure of punishment. Criticism of the top party leadership or negligence in the execution of his instructions were most often the reason for such punishments.

Unparalleled in history, the possibility of mobilizing the people to implement the decisions of the party allowed the Stalinist leadership to short time to industrialize and collectivize Agriculture countries. On this base was created military industry capable on their own to provide the country's two-million-strong Armed Forces with everything necessary. The issues of equipping the Red Army and the Red Navy were resolved personnel on the basis of a universal military service and training commanders in the system of military educational institutions.

At the same time, repression among the commanding staff became a negative factor in the military policy of the country's leadership in the 1930s. According to incomplete data compiled former boss General A.I. Todorsky, only in 1937-1938 three of the five Marshals of the Soviet Union were repressed (M.N. Tukhachevsky, V.K. Blucher, A.I. Egorov), two commanders of the 1st rank of four, both army commissars of the 1st rank, both fleet flagships of the 1st rank, all 12 army commanders of the 2nd rank, all 15 army commissars of the 2nd rank, 60 corps commanders out of 67, 25 corps commissars out of 28 mi, 136 commanders out of 199, 221 brigade commanders out of 397, 34 brigade commissars out of 36. The "punishing sword" of the state security agencies also mercilessly went over the heads of the commanders of regiments, battalions, companies, and batteries.

Numerous appointments were made to make up for the loss. By the beginning of the war in the border military districts, up to half of the commanders had experience in their positions from 6 months to one year, and 30-40 percent of middle-level commanders (platoon-battalion) were reserve officers with extremely weak military training. In addition, there was a significant shortage commanding staff, as a result of which often junior officer positions were occupied by sergeants military service. The weakness of the Red Army manifested itself during the war with Finland in 1939-1940. She was unable in the course of one operation to defeat the enemy, which was significantly inferior in strength. The conflict had to be inflated to the scale of a war, the decisive phase of which fell on 1940. And although the Mannerheim line was taken, the victory turned out to be a feast. According to incomplete data, the losses of Soviet troops in this war amounted to more than 50 thousand killed, about 16 thousand missing, more than 170 thousand wounded and 11 thousand frostbitten. The reasons are the underestimation of the enemy, a simplified assessment of the situation, which gave rise to miscalculations in the planning of military operations, poor theater equipment, unsatisfactory combat training of commanders, staffs and troops.

The shortcomings of military construction, identified during the war with Finland, for the most part were not eliminated by the beginning due to subjective and objective reasons. The first demanded a reassessment of the activities of the highest echelon of power, including the very one that was excluded. The second was due to lack of time. In such conditions, the natural reaction of the authorities to their failures in any business is the personnel transfer of their subordinate performers. In the spring of 1940, instead of the "first red marshal" K.E. Voroshilov, S.K. Timoshenko was appointed People's Commissar of Defense, who was awarded the highest military rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union. Semyon Konstantinovich had combat experience of commanding a cavalry division during the Civil War, commander of the Ukrainian Front during " liberation campaign"to Western Ukraine and Bessarabia in 1939 and North Western Front during the Soviet-Finnish war.

He knew much better than K.E. Voroshilov the state of affairs in the army, applied to the Politburo and personally to the specific proposals. In particular, in June 1940, he submitted a report with a request to reconsider about 300 cases of commanders and senior officers who were repressed in 1937-1938. Despite opposition from Voroshilov, the new People's Commissar was able to convince Iosif Vissarionovich to positively resolve this issue. More than 250 military leaders were returned to duty. Among them are K.K. Rokossovsky, A.V. Gorbatov, A.I. Todorsky and others. The arrest of L.A. Govorov was averted.

But Timoshenko, being a pupil of the First cavalry army, remembering well the difficulties of the war with the Finns, remained a supporter of the offensive doctrine throughout the state. This was expressed in the views of the People's Commissar on future war, ways and means of its maintenance. The organizational restructuring of the troops began, a course was taken to create powerful tank formations to develop success in the depths of enemy territory - 29 mechanized corps of 1031 tanks each, airborne corps and strong artillery units of the High Command reserve. The concentration of tanks and artillery in the highest district (front) instances was due to the weakening of divisions and regiments, which laid the brunt of the defense at the beginning, and this was one of S.K. Timoshenko's miscalculations, for which he had to pay a heavy price.

The change of People's Commissar of Defense also entailed other movements among the top military leadership, which, if not initiated, then, of course, sanctioned. In August 1940, General of the Army K.A. Meretskov, a participant in the war with Finland, also became Chief of the General Staff. Seeing the weakness of the location of Soviet troops near the western border, according to the existing at that time offensive plans war, General Meretskov planned and conducted a staff game, during which General G.K. Zhukov, who played for the "blue", defeated the "red" troops of General D.G. Pavlov in the Bialystok ledge. This was not liked very much, and Meretskov was removed from the management of the General Staff.

In January 1941, the hero of Khalkhin Gol, General of the Army G.K. Zhukov, was appointed the new Chief of the General Staff. The start is less than five months away. The General Staff is in a fever. Such a frequent change of heads of the supreme planning body of the Armed Forces, of course, did not benefit the country's defense capability, and it is possible that it became one of the reasons for Germany to achieve surprise during the attack on the USSR in June 1941. Neither People's Commissar S.K. Timoshenko, nor the Chief of the General Staff G.K. Zhukov dared to send a directive to the districts and armies to put the troops on combat readiness in view of the threat of a German attack, which was obvious to them. Under those conditions, they did not dare to take such responsible decisions without a sanction.

On June 22, at 3:15 a.m., German armed forces invaded the territory of the USSR. Italy also declared war on the Soviet Union. Frontier battles of the troops of three fronts unfolded: the North-Western, Western and South-Western. On the second day fascist aggression The Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks decided "to form the Headquarters of the High Command of the Armed Forces USSR as part of the People's Commissar of Defense Marshal S.K. Timoshenko (chairman), Chief of the General Staff, General of the Army G.K. Zhukov, I.V. , V.M. Molotov, marshals K.E. Voroshilov and S.M. , People's Commissar of the Navy Admiral N.G. Kuznetsov ". A week later, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of the Soviet Union (6) and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR "in view of the state of emergency and in order to quickly mobilize all the forces of the peoples of the USSR to repel the enemy who treacherously attacked to our Motherland, recognized the need to create State Committee Defense under the chairmanship of comrade I.V. "On July 10, by the decision of the State Defense Committee, the Headquarters of the High Command was transformed into the Headquarters of the Supreme Command (from August 8, 1941 - the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command). It included the Chairman of the State Defense Committee I.V., Deputy Chairman of the State Defense Committee V. M. Molotov, Marshals S. K. Timoshenko, S. M., K. E. Voroshilov, B. M. Shaposhnikov, General of the Army G. K. Zhukov. this position S.K. Timoshenko.

The events of the beginning of the war developed rapidly and not in favor of the Soviet Union. Already on June 23, the troops of the Western Front left Grodno, the next day - Vilnius, June 28 - Minsk. On June 26-27, Finland and Hungary declared war on the USSR. On July 2, military operations of the troops of the Southern Front began against the enemy, who went on the offensive from the territory of Romania. By July 9, border battles in the Baltic states, Belarus, and Western Ukraine ended. The front of the armed struggle has moved from western borders USSR 350-600 kilometers to the northeast and east. He began to pass along the line of Pyarnu, Vitebsk, Zhitomir, Berdichev, Mogilev-Podolsky. The enemy occupied Lithuania, Latvia, Belarus, a significant part of Estonia, Ukraine and Moldova. There was a threat of a breakthrough of his troops to Leningrad and Kyiv. On July 11, the troops of the Western Front left Vitebsk, on July 16 -. On July 22, the first enemy air raid was carried out on.

On August 3, the troops of the Southwestern Front left Pervomaisk, the next day - Kirovograd, on August 7 - Voznesensk. At this time, the siege of Odessa began on the southern wing of the Soviet-German front. On the night of August 8, a special aviation group of the Baltic Fleet under the command of Colonel E.N. Preobrazhensky carried out the first bombardment of the capital of Germany - Berlin.

So, forty-seven days of the war passed. What was the activity of the person who took the office of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief in those days characterized in this difficult time for the country? Let us remember the last day of peace, June 21, 1941. “In the evening,” said G.K. , which will begin on the morning of June 22. I immediately reported to the people's commissar of defense and I.V. what M.A. Purkaev had conveyed.

Taking with us a draft directive to the troops, together with the People's Commissar and Lieutenant General N.F. Vatutin (Deputy Chief of the General Staff), we went to the Kremlin. On the way, we agreed at all costs to achieve a decision to put the troops on combat readiness. met us alone. He was clearly concerned.

Didn't the German generals plant this defector to provoke a conflict? - he asked.
- No, - answered S.K. Timoshenko. - We believe that the defector is telling the truth. "The silence became painfully painful. At this time, members of the Politburo began to enter the office - M.I. Kalinin, V.M. Molotov, K.E. or because everyone today had already met with Stalin or called back on the phone, did not shake hands, but, nodding, went to a long table that occupied a large part of the office along the wall on the right, and silently sat down on chairs. Anxious, tense silence. He broke two cigarettes with his fingers and refilled his pipe with tobacco. He sucked the black mouthpiece several times, then, looking at the pipe with irritation, put it in the ashtray. Straightening up in his chair, he looked around the audience for a long time and, addressing the members of the Politburo, somehow very casually and calmly retold Last messages from the border.

What do we do? - after a short pause he asked dully. Everyone was silent. It was clear that a critical hour had come in the life of the state. And this infinitely difficult question demanded not just an answer, but an answer-solution. Glancing again at the concentrated and as if darkened faces of the members of the Politburo, he turned to Timoshenko and repeated the question:
- What do we do?
- We must immediately give a directive to bring all the troops of the border districts to full combat readiness! - answered, holding back the excitement, the people's commissar of defense.
- Read! - said, expressively looking at the red folder. She was kept ready by Zhukov, who sat between Timoshenko and Vatutin. The Chief of the General Staff opened the folder, stood up and, chanting every phrase, loudly and distinctly, as if giving an order to the commanders of the districts, began to read the draft directive. With his whole appearance - a strong-willed, slightly protruding chin, a bold expansion of eyebrows over his eyes, a firm intonation of a voice used to ordering - he seemed to personify inflexible power. It was felt that while reading the document, Zhukov almost personally sees how rifle formations are deployed in battle formations, how artillery takes up firing positions and aviation regiments are prepared for combat operations.

When Zhukov finished reading, he lowered his head, drummed his fingers on the table, and after a short thought said:
- It is premature to give such a directive now, perhaps the issue will be settled peacefully. He looked towards the members of the Politburo sitting at the table. - It is necessary to give a short directive, - he developed the idea, noticing how Voroshilov nodded in the affirmative, - in which to indicate that the attack could begin with provocative actions of the German units. The troops of the border districts should not succumb to any provocations, so as not to cause complications.

Zhukov looked impatiently and inquiringly and anxiously at Marshal Timoshenko. He seemed to understand him and turned to:
- Comrade, time does not endure ... Let me cook here new project directives.
“Of course,” he agreed, and after waiting until Zhukov and Vatutin left the office to sit down in the next room for urgent work, he asked Molotov: “When will the German ambassador arrive?”
- At twenty-one thirty, comrade, - answered Vyacheslav Mikhailovich.

A little time passed, and Zhukov and Vatutin returned to the office of the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars. They approached the table. With his permission, Zhukov opened the folder and read out the directive. Its main part read:
a) during the night of June 22, 1941, covertly occupy the firing points of fortified areas on the State Border;
b) before dawn on June 22, 1941, disperse all aviation, including military aviation, over field airfields, carefully disguise it;
c) put all units on alert, keep troops dispersed and disguised;
d) put the air defense on alert without additional lifting of assigned personnel, prepare all measures to darken cities and objects;
e) no other activities are to be carried out without special instructions.
June 21st, 1941.

Very often, throwing a stone at Stalin, anti-Soviet people do not forget to throw a pile of gravel at the son of Joseph Vissarionovich - Vasily: they say, he was too young a general - at the age of 29, Vasily Stalin became a lieutenant general - an unprecedented case for the Soviet Army. Subordinates slavished before the leader, groveled - they undeservedly rewarded their son.

So, Vasily Stalin at the age of twenty went to the front with the rank of captain. During the war, Vasily Stalin personally shot down two enemy planes and three in a group, was awarded three Orders of the Red Banner, Orders of Suvorov II degree and Alexander Nevsky. In 1942 he was promoted to the rank of colonel, in 1946 - major general, in 1950 - lieutenant general.

Were there any other young generals in the Red Army, did anyone else move up the ranks so quickly?

Grigory Panteleevich Kravchenko (10/12/1912 - 02/28/1943)
On November 14, 1938, Senior Lieutenant Kravchenko was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. At the end of December 1938, he was awarded the extraordinary military rank of Major. 02/22/39 for exemplary performance special assignments Government to strengthen the defense power of the Soviet Union and for the heroism shown, Major Kravchenko Grigory Panteleevich was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.
08/29/39, for the exemplary performance of combat missions and outstanding heroism shown in the performance of combat missions, giving the right to receive the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, Major Kravchenko Grigory Panteleevich was awarded the title twice Hero of the Soviet Union. The government of the MPR awarded him the Order "For Military Valor" (10.08.39).

From the history:
Stalin congratulated Kravchenko on the awards and, looking at the Hero's broad chest, said:
- There is a place for the next star!
Grigory Panteleevich was embarrassed:
- Comrade Stalin, you bear a huge burden and responsibility for the country on your shoulders, but there are no orders on your chest. It’s somehow even uncomfortable for me to stand next to you and shine with stars. Let me screw one of these onto your tunic. It will be fair.
Stalin screwed up his eyes, smiled through his mustache and said:
- Comrade Kravchenko, be proud of your stars, they are given to you for courage and exploits. Our government awards outstanding people with such awards so that the working masses know them widely, imitate them, strive to repeat the military or labor feat. We have a different job and position. We are known even without orders.

In November 1939, Kravchenko was nominated as a candidate for the Moscow Regional Council of Working People's Deputies (he was elected in December).
In December 1939, Kravchenko was awarded the military rank of colonel.
On January 19, 1940, he was awarded the second Order of the Red Banner.
On February 19, 1940, he was awarded the military rank of brigade commander.
In April 1940, Kravchenko was awarded the military rank of division commander.
On June 5, 1940, in connection with the introduction of general ranks for the higher command staff of the Red Army, he was awarded the military rank of Lieutenant General of Aviation.

Rychagov Pavel Vasilyevich (1911-1941)

On December 31, 1936, Senior Lieutenant Rychagov Pavel Vasilievich was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.
In 1937 he was awarded the extraordinary military rank of major. In December 1937 he was elected a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 1st convocation.
04/14/38. - Promoted to the rank of brigade commander.
On June 4, 1940, Rychagov was awarded the military rank of Lieutenant General of Aviation.
In August 1940, he was appointed head of the Main Directorate of the Red Army Air Force, in December 1940 - a member of the Main Military Council of the Red Army, and in February 1941 - Deputy People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR for Aviation.

Sergei Prokofievich Denisov (02/25/1909 - 06/16/1971)

In 1937 Senior Lieutenant Denisov Sergei Prokofievich was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.
In four months he went from the commander of the detachment to the commander of the brigade. At the same time, he was a captain for two and a half months, and a major for only a month.
He was elected a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 1st convocation.
On February 22, 1938, Denisov was awarded the military rank of brigade commander.
In August 1937 - Colonel
On March 21, 1940, Divisional Commander Denisov was awarded the title twice Hero of the Soviet Union. He was awarded the second Gold Star medal No. 4.
In April 1940 he was appointed commander of the Air Force of the Transcaucasian Military District.
On June 4, 1940, Commander Denisov was awarded the military rank of Lieutenant General of Aviation.

So we can all count.
Vasily Stalin became a lieutenant general at the age of 29, Grigory Kravchenko at 27, Pavel Rychagov at 29, Sergey Denisov at 31
No one can call Vasily Stalin too early a general.

Vasily Stalin advanced from captain to lieutenant general for 9 years. Kravchenko from senior lieutenant to lieutenant general - 2 years, Rychagov from senior lieutenant to lieutenant general 4 years, Denisov from senior lieutenant to lieutenant general 3 years.
It turns out that Vasily Stalin, moreover, is not such a rapid take-off. It is worth recalling that he was presented to the rank of major general three times, but he was not approved twice.
He had demotions and promotions, but even among the anti-Soviet, I did not meet exclamations that he was a stupid commander. Maybe Vaily Stalin was somewhat easier in life, but he earned his shoulder straps.

I want to remind you that Yakov Stalin was taken prisoner by a senior lieutenant
Svetlana Alliluyeva Ordinary Candidate of Philological Sciences
Artem Sergeev- in 1938, after graduating from the 10th grade of the 2nd Moscow Special Artillery School, he began serving in the Red Army. He was a soldier, junior commander (sergeant), foreman. He ended the war on May 12, 1945 as commander of an artillery brigade, lieutenant colonel and holder of seven orders and six medals. In August 1945 he was sent to Moscow to the Artillery Academy, where he experienced a distrustful attitude. As it turned out later, Stalin himself asked the teachers of the academy to be stricter. After completing his studies in 1951, he commanded the 34th Cannon Artillery Brigade of the Carpathian Military District for a year. Then he entered the Military Academy named after K. E. Voroshilov, from which he graduated in 1954.
After graduating from the academy, he served in command positions. Chief of Staff and Deputy Commander of the 10th and 178th Special Purpose Corps (1956-1960), Commander of the 9th Air Defense Division (1960-1965), Deputy Commander of the 1st Air Defense Army, Deputy Inspector General for Air Defense of the Warsaw Pact Organization .
He retired in 1981 with the rank of Major General of Artillery.

Marshals of the Great Patriotic War

Zhukov Georgy Konstantinovich

19.11 (1.12). 1896-18.06.1974
great commander,
Marshal of the Soviet Union,
Minister of Defense of the USSR

Born in the village of Strelkovka near Kaluga in a peasant family. Furrier. In the army since 1915. Participated in the First World War, junior non-commissioned officer in the cavalry. In battles he was seriously shell-shocked and was awarded 2 St. George's crosses.

From August 1918 in the Red Army. AT civil war fought against the Ural Cossacks near Tsaritsyn, fought with the troops of Denikin and Wrangel, took part in the suppression of the Antonov uprising in the Tambov region, was wounded, awarded the Order of the Red Banner. After the Civil War, he commanded a regiment, brigade, division, and corps. In the summer of 1939, he conducted a successful encirclement operation and defeated the grouping of Japanese troops by Gen. Kamatsubara on the Khalkhin Gol River. G.K. Zhukov received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of the Red Banner of the MPR.

During the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) he was a member of the Headquarters, Deputy Supreme Commander, commanded the fronts (pseudonyms: Konstantinov, Yuryev, Zharov). He was the first during the war to be awarded the title of Marshal of the Soviet Union (01/18/1943). Under the command of G.K. Zhukov, the troops of the Leningrad Front, together with Baltic Fleet stopped the offensive of the Army Group "North" of Field Marshal F. W. von Leeb on Leningrad in September 1941. Under his command, the troops of the Western Front defeated the troops of Field Marshal F. von Bock's Army Group Center near Moscow and dispelled the myth of the invincibility of the Nazi army. Then Zhukov coordinated the actions of the fronts near Stalingrad (Operation Uranus - 1942), in Operation Iskra during the breakthrough of the Leningrad blockade (1943), in the Battle of Kursk (summer 1943), where Hitler's plan"Citadel" and the troops of Field Marshals Kluge and Manstein were defeated. The name of Marshal Zhukov is also associated with victories near Korsun-Shevchenkovsky, the liberation of the Right-Bank Ukraine; operation "Bagration" (in Belarus), where the "Faterland Line" was broken through and the Army Group "Center" of Field Marshals E. von Busch and V. von Model was defeated. On the final stage war 1st Belorussian Front, led by Marshal Zhukov, took Warsaw (01/17/1945), with a cutting blow defeated Army Group A of General von Harpe and Field Marshal F. Scherner in the Vistula-Oder operation and victoriously ended the war with the grandiose Berlin operation. Together with the soldiers, the marshal signed on the scorched wall of the Reichstag, over the broken dome of which the banner of Victory fluttered. On May 8, 1945, in Karlshorst (Berlin), the commander received from Hitler's Field Marshal W. von Keitel unconditional surrender fascist Germany. General D. Eisenhower presented G.K. Zhukov with the highest military order of the United States "Legion of Honor" of the degree of commander in chief (06/05/1945). Later, in Berlin, at the Brandenburg Gate, British Field Marshal Montgomery laid on him a large Cross of the Knights of the Order of the Bath, 1st class with a star and a crimson ribbon. On June 24, 1945, Marshal Zhukov hosted the triumphal Victory Parade in Moscow.

In 1955-1957. "Marshal of Victory" was the Minister of Defense of the USSR.

American military historian Martin Cayden says: “Zhukov was the commander of commanders in the conduct of the war. massive armies twentieth century. He inflicted more casualties on the Germans than any other military leader. He was a "miracle marshal". Before us is a military genius.

He wrote memoirs "Memories and Reflections".

Marshal G.K. Zhukov had:

• 4 Gold Stars of the Hero of the Soviet Union (08/29/1939, 07/29/1944, 06/1/1945, 12/1/1956),
• 6 orders of Lenin,
• 2 orders of "Victory" (including No. 1 - 04/11/1944, 03/30/1945),
• order of the October Revolution,
• 3 Orders of the Red Banner,
• 2 orders of Suvorov 1st degree (including No. 1), a total of 14 orders and 16 medals;
• honorary weapon - a personalized sword with the golden Emblem of the USSR (1968);
• Hero of the Mongolian People's Republic (1969); order Tuvan Republic;
• 17 foreign orders and 10 medals, etc.

A bronze bust and monuments were erected to Zhukov. He was buried in Red Square near the Kremlin wall.
In 1995, a monument was erected to Zhukov on Manezhnaya Square in Moscow.

Vasilevsky Alexander Mikhailovich

18(30).09.1895-5.12.1977
Marshal of the Soviet Union,
Minister of the Armed Forces of the USSR

Born in the village of Novaya Golchikha near Kineshma on the Volga. The son of a priest. He studied at the Kostroma Theological Seminary. In 1915 he completed courses at the Alexander Military School and, with the rank of ensign, was sent to the front of the First World War (1914-1918). Head-captain of the tsarist army. Having joined the Red Army during the Civil War of 1918-1920, he commanded a company, battalion, regiment. In 1937 he graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff. Since 1940, he served in the General Staff, where he was caught by the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945). In June 1942, he became chief of the General Staff, replacing Marshal B. M. Shaposhnikov in this post due to illness. Of the 34 months of his tenure as Chief of the General Staff, AM Vasilevsky spent 22 directly at the front (pseudonyms: Mikhailov, Alexandrov, Vladimirov). He was wounded and shell-shocked. In a year and a half of the war, he rose from Major General to Marshal of the Soviet Union (02/19/1943) and, together with Mr. K. Zhukov, became the first holder of the Order of Victory. Under his leadership, the largest operations of the Soviet Armed Forces were developed. A. M. Vasilevsky coordinated the actions of the fronts: in the Battle of Stalingrad (Operations Uranus, Little Saturn), near Kursk (Operation Commander Rumyantsev), during the liberation of Donbass (Operation Don ”), in the Crimea and during the capture of Sevastopol, in battles in the Right-Bank Ukraine; in the Belarusian operation "Bagration".

After the death of General I. D. Chernyakhovsky, he commanded the 3rd Belorussian Front in the East Prussian operation, which ended in the famous "star" assault on Koenigsberg.

On the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet commander A. M. Vasilevsky smashed Hitler's field marshals and generals F. von Bock, G. Guderian, F. Paulus, E. Manstein, E. Kleist, Eneke, E. von Busch, V. von Model, F. Scherner, von Weichs and others.

In June 1945, the marshal was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Forces in the Far East (pseudonym Vasiliev). For the quick defeat of the Kwantung Army of the Japanese, General O. Yamada in Manchuria, the commander received a second Gold Star. After the war, from 1946 - Chief of the General Staff; in 1949-1953 - Minister of the Armed Forces of the USSR.
A. M. Vasilevsky is the author of the memoirs “The Work of All Life”.

Marshal A. M. Vasilevsky had:

• 2 Gold Stars of the Hero of the Soviet Union (07/29/1944, 09/08/1945),
• 8 orders of Lenin,
• 2 orders of "Victory" (including No. 2 - 01/10/1944, 04/19/1945),
• order of the October Revolution,
• 2 orders of the Red Banner,
• Order of Suvorov 1st degree,
• order of the Red Star,
• Order "For Service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" 3rd degree,
• a total of 16 orders and 14 medals;
• honorary nominal weapon - a checker with the golden Emblem of the USSR (1968),
• 28 foreign awards(including 18 foreign orders).

The urn with the ashes of A. M. Vasilevsky was buried on Red Square in Moscow near the Kremlin wall next to the ashes of G. K. Zhukov. bronze bust marshal installed in Kineshma.

Konev Ivan Stepanovich

December 16(28), 1897—June 27, 1973
Marshal of the Soviet Union

Was born in Vologda region in the village of Lodeino in a peasant family. In 1916 he was drafted into the army. At the end of the training team, junior non-commissioned officer art. division sent to the South-Western Front. Having joined the Red Army in 1918, he participated in battles against the troops of Admiral Kolchak, Ataman Semenov, and the Japanese. Commissioner of the armored train "Grozny", then brigades, divisions. In 1921 he participated in the storming of Kronstadt. Graduated from the Academy. Frunze (1934), commanded a regiment, division, corps, 2nd Separate Red Banner Far Eastern Army(1938-1940).

During the Great Patriotic War, he commanded the army, fronts (pseudonyms: Stepin, Kyiv). Participated in the battles near Smolensk and Kalinin (1941), in the battle near Moscow (1941-1942). During the Battle of Kursk, together with the troops of General N.F. Vatutin, he defeated the enemy at the Belgorod-Kharkov bridgehead - the bastion of Germany in Ukraine. On August 5, 1943, Konev's troops took the city of Belgorod, in honor of which Moscow gave its first salute, and on August 24, Kharkov was taken. Next came the breakthrough Eastern shaft» on the Dnieper.

In 1944, near Korsun-Shevchenkovsky, the Germans arranged a “New (small) Stalingrad” - 10 divisions and 1 brigade of General V. Stemmeran, who fell on the battlefield, were surrounded and destroyed. I. S. Konev was awarded the title of Marshal of the Soviet Union (02/20/1944), and on March 26, 1944, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front were the first to reach the state border. In July-August, they defeated Field Marshal E. von Manstein's Northern Ukraine Army Group in the Lvov-Sandomierz operation. The name of Marshal Konev, nicknamed the "general forward", is associated with brilliant victories at the final stage of the war - in the Vistula-Oder, Berlin and Prague operations. During the Berlin operation, his troops reached the river. Elbe at Torgau and met with US troops General O. Bradley (04/25/1945). On May 9, the defeat of Field Marshal Scherner near Prague was completed. The highest orders of the "White Lion" of the 1st class and the "Czechoslovak Military Cross of 1939" were an award to the marshal for the liberation of the Czech capital. Moscow saluted the troops of I. S. Konev 57 times.

AT post-war period the marshal was Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces (1946-1950; 1955-1956), the first Commander-in-Chief of the Joint Armed Forces of the States Parties to the Warsaw Pact (1956-1960).

Marshal I. S. Konev - twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Hero of Czechoslovakia socialist republic(1970), Hero of the Mongolian People's Republic (1971). The bronze bust was installed at home in the village of Lodeyno.

He wrote memoirs: "Forty-fifth" and "Notes of the front commander."

Marshal I.S. Konev had:

• two Gold Stars of the Hero of the Soviet Union (07/29/1944, 06/1/1945),
• 7 orders of Lenin,
• order of the October Revolution,
• 3 Orders of the Red Banner,
• 2 orders of Kutuzov 1st degree,
• order of the Red Star,
• a total of 17 orders and 10 medals;
• honorary nominal weapon - a sword with the Golden Emblem of the USSR (1968),
• 24 foreign awards (including 13 foreign orders).

Govorov Leonid Alexandrovich

10(22).02.1897-19.03.1955
Marshal of the Soviet Union

Born in the village of Butyrki near Vyatka in the family of a peasant who later became an employee in the city of Yelabuga. Student of Petrogradsky polytechnic institute L. Govorov in 1916 became a cadet of the Konstantinovsky Artillery School. Combat activity began in 1918 as an officer of the White Army of Admiral Kolchak.

In 1919, he volunteered for the Red Army, participated in battles on the Eastern and Southern fronts, commanded an artillery division, was wounded twice - near Kakhovka and Perekop.
In 1933 he graduated from the Military Academy. Frunze, and then the Academy of the General Staff (1938). Participated in the war with Finland in 1939-1940.

In the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945), artillery general L. A. Govorov became commander of the 5th Army, which defended the approaches to Moscow in the central direction. In the spring of 1942, on the instructions of I.V. Stalin, he went to the besieged Leningrad, where he soon led the front (pseudonyms: Leonidov, Leonov, Gavrilov). On January 18, 1943, the troops of Generals Govorov and Meretskov broke through the blockade of Leningrad (Operation Iskra), delivering a counterattack near Shlisselburg. A year later, they struck a new blow, crushing the "Northern Wall" of the Germans, completely lifting the blockade of Leningrad. The German troops of Field Marshal von Küchler suffered huge losses. In June 1944, the troops of the Leningrad Front carried out the Vyborg operation, broke through the "Mannerheim Line" and took the city of Vyborg. L. A. Govorov became Marshal of the Soviet Union (06/18/1944). In the autumn of 1944, Govorov’s troops liberated Estonia by breaking into enemy defense"Panther".

While remaining commander of the Leningrad Front, the marshal was at the same time the representative of the Stavka in the Baltic states. He was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In May 1945, the German Army Group "Kurland" surrendered to the troops of the front.

Moscow saluted 14 times to the troops of commander L. A. Govorov. In the post-war period, the marshal became the first Commander-in-Chief of the country's air defense.

Marshal L. A. Govorov had:

• Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union (27.01.1945), 5 Orders of Lenin,
• Order "Victory" (05/31/1945),
• 3 Orders of the Red Banner,
• 2 orders of Suvorov 1st degree,
• Order of Kutuzov 1st degree,
• Order of the Red Star - a total of 13 orders and 7 medals,
• Tuvan "Order of the Republic",
• 3 foreign orders.

He died in 1955 at the age of 59. He was buried on Red Square in Moscow near the Kremlin wall.

Rokossovsky Konstantin Konstantinovich

December 9(21), 1896—August 3, 1968
Marshal of the Soviet Union,
Marshal of Poland

Born in Velikie Luki in the family of a railway engineer, Pole Xavier Jozef Rokossovsky, who soon moved to live in Warsaw. Service began in 1914 in the Russian army. Participated in the First World War. Fought in dragoon regiment, was a non-commissioned officer, twice wounded in battle, awarded the St. George Cross and 2 medals. Red Guard (1917). During the Civil War, he was again wounded 2 times, fought on the Eastern Front against the troops of Admiral Kolchak and in Transbaikalia against Baron Ungern; commanded a squadron, division, cavalry regiment; awarded 2 orders of the Red Banner. In 1929 he fought against the Chinese at Jalaynor (conflict on the CER). In 1937-1940. was imprisoned, being the victim of slander.

During the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) he commanded a mechanized corps, army, fronts (Pseudonyms: Kostin, Dontsov, Rumyantsev). He distinguished himself in the battle of Smolensk (1941). Hero of the Battle of Moscow (09/30/1941-01/08/1942). He was seriously wounded near Sukhinichi. During the Battle of Stalingrad (1942-1943), the Don Front of Rokossovsky, together with other fronts, surrounded 22 enemy divisions total strength 330 thousand people (Operation Uranus). At the beginning of 1943, the Don Front liquidated the encircled group of Germans (Operation "Ring"). Field Marshal F. Paulus was taken prisoner (3-day mourning was declared in Germany). AT Battle of Kursk(1943) Rokossovsky's Central Front defeated German troops General Model (Operation Kutuzov) near Orel, in honor of which Moscow gave its first salute (08/05/1943). In the grandiose Belorussian operation (1944), Rokossovsky’s 1st Belorussian Front defeated Field Marshal von Bush’s Army Group Center and, together with the troops of General I. D. Chernyakhovsky, surrounded up to 30 dredge divisions in the Minsk Cauldron (Operation Bagration) . June 29, 1944 Rokossovsky was awarded the title of Marshal of the Soviet Union. The highest military orders "Virtuti Military" and the cross of "Grunwald" 1st class became the award to the marshal for the liberation of Poland.

At the final stage of the war, the 2nd Belorussian Front of Rokossovsky participated in the East Prussian, Pomeranian and Berlin operations. Moscow saluted the troops of commander Rokossovsky 63 times. On June 24, 1945, twice Hero of the Soviet Union, holder of the Order of Victory, Marshal K.K. Rokossovsky commanded the Victory Parade on Red Square in Moscow. In 1949-1956, K.K. Rokossovsky was the Minister of National Defense of the Polish People's Republic. He was awarded the title Marshal of Poland (1949). Returning to the Soviet Union, he became the chief inspector of the USSR Ministry of Defense.

Wrote memoirs "Soldier's Duty".

Marshal K.K. Rokossovsky had:

• 2 Gold Stars of the Hero of the Soviet Union (07/29/1944, 06/1/1945),
• 7 orders of Lenin,
• Order "Victory" (03/30/1945),
• order of the October Revolution,
• 6 Orders of the Red Banner,
• Order of Suvorov 1st degree,
• Order of Kutuzov 1st degree,
• a total of 17 orders and 11 medals;
• honorary weapon - a checker with the golden Emblem of the USSR (1968),
• 13 foreign awards (including 9 foreign orders)

He was buried on Red Square in Moscow near the Kremlin wall. A bronze bust of Rokossovsky was installed in his homeland (Velikiye Luki).

Malinovsky Rodion Yakovlevich

11(23).11.1898-31.03.1967
Marshal of the Soviet Union,
Minister of Defense of the USSR

Born in Odessa, grew up without a father. In 1914, he volunteered for the front of the 1st World War, where he was seriously wounded and awarded the St. George Cross of the 4th degree (1915). In February 1916 he was sent to France as part of the Russian Expeditionary Force. There he was again wounded and received a French military cross. Returning to his homeland, he voluntarily joined the Red Army (1919), fought against the Whites in Siberia. In 1930 he graduated from the Military Academy. M. V. Frunze. In 1937-1938, he volunteered to fight in Spain (under the pseudonym "Malino") on the side of the republican government, for which he received the Order of the Red Banner.

In the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) he commanded a corps, an army, a front (pseudonyms: Yakovlev, Rodionov, Morozov). Distinguished himself in the Battle of Stalingrad. Malinovsky's army, in cooperation with other armies, stopped and then defeated Field Marshal E. von Manstein's Army Group Don, which was trying to release the Paulus group surrounded by Stalingrad. The troops of General Malinovsky liberated Rostov and Donbass (1943), participated in the cleansing of the Right-Bank Ukraine from the enemy; having defeated the troops of E. von Kleist, they took Odessa on April 10, 1944; together with the troops of General Tolbukhin, they defeated the southern wing of the enemy front, surrounding 22 German divisions and 3rd Romanian army in the Iasi-Kishinev operation (20-29.08.1944). During the fighting, Malinovsky was slightly wounded; On September 10, 1944, he was awarded the title of Marshal of the Soviet Union. The troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front of Marshal R. Ya. Malinovsky liberated Romania, Hungary, Austria, and Czechoslovakia. On August 13, 1944, they entered Bucharest, took Budapest by storm (02/13/1945), liberated Prague (05/09/1945). Marshal was awarded the Order of Victory.

Since July 1945, Malinovsky commanded the Trans-Baikal Front (pseudonym Zakharov), which dealt the main blow to the Japanese Kwantung Army in Manchuria (08.1945). The troops of the front reached Port Arthur. Marshal received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

49 times Moscow saluted the troops of the commander Malinovsky.

On October 15, 1957, Marshal R. Ya. Malinovsky was appointed Minister of Defense of the USSR. He remained in this position until the end of his life.

Marshal's Peru owns the books "Soldiers of Russia", "Angry whirlwinds of Spain"; under his leadership, "Iasi-Chisinau "Cannes"", "Budapest - Vienna - Prague", "Final" and other works were written.

Marshal R. Ya. Malinovsky had:

• 2 Gold Stars of the Hero of the Soviet Union (09/08/1945, 11/22/1958),
• 5 orders of Lenin,
• 3 Orders of the Red Banner,
• 2 orders of Suvorov 1st degree,
• Order of Kutuzov 1st degree,
• a total of 12 orders and 9 medals;
• as well as 24 foreign awards (including 15 orders of foreign states). In 1964 he was awarded the title Folk Hero Yugoslavia.

The bronze bust of the marshal is installed in Odessa. He was buried in Red Square near the Kremlin wall.

Tolbukhin Fedor Ivanovich

4(16).6.1894-10.17.1949
Marshal of the Soviet Union

Born in the village of Androniki near Yaroslavl in a peasant family. Worked as an accountant in Petrograd. In 1914 he was an ordinary motorcyclist. Becoming an officer, he participated in battles with the Austro-German troops, was awarded with crosses Anna and Stanislav.

In the Red Army since 1918; fought on the fronts of the Civil War against the troops of General N. N. Yudenich, Poles and Finns. He was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

In the post-war period, Tolbukhin worked in staff positions. In 1934 he graduated from the Military Academy. M. V. Frunze. In 1940 he became a general.

During the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) he was chief of staff of the front, commanded the army, the front. He distinguished himself in the Battle of Stalingrad, commanding the 57th Army. In the spring of 1943, Tolbukhin became the commander of the Southern, and from October - the 4th Ukrainian Front, from May 1944 until the end of the war - the 3rd Ukrainian Front. The troops of General Tolbukhin defeated the enemy on Miussa and Molochnaya, liberated Taganrog and Donbass. In the spring of 1944 they invaded the Crimea and on May 9 they took Sevastopol by storm. In August 1944, together with the troops of R. Ya. Malinovsky, they defeated the army group "Southern Ukraine" of the city of Frizner in the Iasi-Kishinev operation. On September 12, 1944, F.I. Tolbukhin was awarded the title of Marshal of the Soviet Union.

Tolbukhin's troops liberated Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Hungary and Austria. Moscow saluted Tolbukhin's troops 34 times. At the Victory Parade on June 24, 1945, the marshal led the column of the 3rd Ukrainian Front.

The health of the marshal, undermined by wars, began to fail, and in 1949 F.I. Tolbukhin died at the age of 56. Three days of mourning was declared in Bulgaria; the city of Dobrich was renamed to the city of Tolbukhin.

In 1965, Marshal F.I. Tolbukhin was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

People's Hero of Yugoslavia (1944) and "Hero of the People's Republic of Bulgaria" (1979).

Marshal F.I. Tolbukhin had:

• 2 orders of Lenin,
• Order "Victory" (04/26/1945),
• 3 Orders of the Red Banner,
• 2 orders of Suvorov 1st degree,
• Order of Kutuzov 1st degree,
• order of the Red Star,
• a total of 10 orders and 9 medals;
• as well as 10 foreign awards (including 5 foreign orders).

He was buried on Red Square in Moscow near the Kremlin wall.

Meretskov Kirill Afanasyevich

May 26 (June 7), 1897—December 30, 1968
Marshal of the Soviet Union

Born in the village of Nazaryevo near Zaraysk, Moscow Region, in a peasant family. Prior to serving in the army, he worked as a mechanic. In the Red Army since 1918. During the Civil War he fought on the Eastern and Southern fronts. Participated in battles in the ranks of the 1st Cavalry against the Poles of Pilsudski. He was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

In 1921 he graduated from the Military Academy of the Red Army. In 1936-1937, under the pseudonym "Petrovich" fought in Spain ( awarded with orders Lenin and the Red Banner). During the Soviet-Finnish war (December 1939 - March 1940) he commanded the army that broke through the "Manerheim Line" and took Vyborg, for which he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (1940).
During the Great Patriotic War, he commanded the troops of the northern directions (pseudonyms: Afanasiev, Kirillov); was the representative of the Headquarters on the North-Western Front. He commanded the army, the front. In 1941, Meretskov inflicted the first serious defeat in the war on the troops of Field Marshal Leeb near Tikhvin. On January 18, 1943, the troops of Generals Govorov and Meretskov, inflicting a counterattack near Shlisselburg (Operation Iskra), broke through the blockade of Leningrad. On January 20, Novgorod was taken. In February 1944 he became commander of the Karelian Front. In June 1944, Meretskov and Govorov defeated Marshal K. Mannerheim in Karelia. In October 1944, Meretskov's troops defeated the enemy in the Arctic near Pechenga (Petsamo). On October 26, 1944, K. A. Meretskov received the title of Marshal of the Soviet Union, and from the Norwegian King Haakon VII, the Grand Cross of St. Olaf.

In the spring of 1945, the “cunning Yaroslavets” (as Stalin called him) under the name of “General Maksimov” was sent to the Far East. In August-September 1945, his troops participated in the defeat of the Kwantung Army, breaking into Manchuria from Primorye and liberating areas of China and Korea.

Moscow saluted the troops of the commander Meretskov 10 times.

Marshal K. A. Meretskov had:

• Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union (03/21/1940), 7 Orders of Lenin,
• Order "Victory" (09/08/1945),
• order of the October Revolution,
• 4 orders of the Red Banner,
• 2 orders of Suvorov 1st degree,
• Order of Kutuzov 1st degree,
• 10 medals;
• honorary weapons - a sword with the Golden Emblem of the USSR, as well as 4 higher foreign orders and 3 medals.

Wrote memoirs "In the service of the people." He was buried on Red Square in Moscow near the Kremlin wall.