Govorov Leonid Alexandrovich was born on February 22, 1897 in the village of Butyrki, Yaransky district, Vyatka province (now - the territory of the Soviet district of the Kirov region). His father, Alexander Grigoryevich Govorov, in order to feed his family, first had to be a peasant, and then work as a sailor on the ships of a private shipping company. Later, having mastered the letter and by nature possessing excellent handwriting, Alexander Grigorievich got a job as a clerk at a real school in the city of Yelabuga. This gave him the right to educate his children in this educational institution free of charge.

In the family, Leonid was the eldest of four sons. After finishing 4th grade vocational school in the city of Yaransk, Leonid Govorov entered the Yelabuga real school. All seven years of study at the school, Leonid was the first student in the class (his brother Nikolai was second in academic performance). He studied purposefully and systematically, read a lot. He was fond of mathematics and physics.

In December 1916, he was mobilized into the army and was sent to study at the Konstantinovsky Artillery School, after which, in June 1917, Leonid Aleksandrovich Govorov was promoted to second lieutenant and was appointed junior officer of a mortar battery as part of one of the units of the Tomsk garrison.

In March 1918, Leonid and his brother returned to their native Yelabuga, where they went to work as clerks in the local Consumer Cooperative, helping their parents with a small salary and younger brothers. Service in the army as a profession, Leonid did not even consider then. But life decreed otherwise.

In 1918, the Civil War broke out in Russia. In October of the same year, the city of Yelabuga was captured by the White Guards - the troops of the army of Admiral A.V. Kolchak. Leonid Govorov and his brother Nikolai, as former tsarist officers, were forcibly mobilized into the artillery battery of the 8th division of the 2nd Ufa Corps, which from March 1919 was part of the Western Army. Lieutenant Govorovs take part in the spring offensive of the Kolchak troops, in the Chelyabinsk and Ufa operations, in battles against the Red Army near Zlatoust and on Tobol.

In November 1919, Govorov, together with several soldiers from his battery, left the unit and headed for Tomsk, where, as part of a combat squad, he took part in an uprising against the white authorities.

On December 22, 1919, Tomsk came under the control of the Red Army, and in January 1920, Govorov joined the 51st Rifle Division under the command of V.K. Blucher as a volunteer, where he took the post of commander of an artillery battalion.

As part of the Perekop strike group of the 6th Army under the command of A.I. Kork, the division took part in battles against the army of General Wrangel. In 1920, Govorov was wounded twice: in August, near the village of Serogozy, during defensive battles in the Kakhovka region, he received a shrapnel wound in the leg, and also in September, in a battle near Antonovka, he received a bullet wound in the arm.

For great courage and courage shown in the battles against the "Russian Army" during the Perekop-Chongar operation in 1921, Leonid Aleksandrovich Govorov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

In October 1923, L. A. Govorov was appointed chief of artillery of the 51st (since September 14, 1921) Perekop Rifle Division. By the beginning of 1925, he occupied the post of commander of an artillery regiment. Subsequently, in the period until 1936, he held the posts of chief of artillery of the fortified area, chief of artillery of the 14th and 15th rifle corps, head of the department in the artillery department of the Kyiv military district.

Leonid Govorov is actively engaged in his education, and in 1926 he graduated from the Artillery advanced training courses for command personnel. In 1930, the Higher academic courses at the Military Academy. Frunze, and in 1933 he completed the full course of this academy in absentia, was studying at its operational faculty. Having independently studied German, passes the exam for a military translator. February 5, 1936 L. A. Govorov was awarded the military rank of "brigade commander". In the same 1936, he was included in the first set of students of the Academy General Staff. In 1938, six months before graduation, he was appointed teacher of tactics at the Artillery Academy. Dzerzhinsky [source not specified 546 days]. In 1939 he completed his first treatise on the topic "Attack and breakthrough of the fortified area."

In 1940, he was appointed chief of staff of the artillery of the 7th Army, which participated in the war with Finland on the territory of the Karelian Isthmus. For work on the preparation and artillery support of the breakthrough of the section of the Mannerheim Line, L. A. Govorov was awarded the Order of the Red Star, he was ahead of schedule awarded the title of "commander". In the summer of the same year, during recertification, he was awarded the rank of major general of artillery (06/04/1940), he was appointed to the post of deputy inspector general of artillery of the GAU RKKA.

The Great Patriotic War.

In May 1941 Govorov L.A. becomes head of the Artillery Academy of the Red Army named after F.E. Dzerzhinsky. But Govorov did not have to command the academy for a long time.

The Great Patriotic War began, and already at the end of July 1941 he was appointed to the post of chief of artillery in the Western direction, commanded by General of the Army G.K. Zhukov. Soon the Reserve Front was also created under the command of G.K. Zhukov, and L.A. Govorov was appointed chief of artillery there.

Leonid Alexandrovich immediately got down to business. Under his leadership, a system of artillery anti-tank defense is being quickly created. This soon led to a significant increase in the losses of the Nazis, rushing to Moscow. This episode is known. Once G.K. Zhukov interrogated a prisoner from the Deutschland regiment of the SS division. He said: "The Germans are afraid of artillery fire." Georgy Konstantinovich turned to the chief of artillery: “Have you heard, Comrade Govorov? The Germans are afraid of our artillery. So work out your plans in every detail."

L. A. Govorov thought out in every detail the artillery support of our troops, which made it possible to achieve success in one of the first offensive operations of the Red Army - the Yelnin operation of 1941. On his initiative, a strong artillery group was created, in terms of the number of guns more than one and a half times superior to the German one. Artillery reconnaissance was established. The offensive of our troops began on August 30 at 8.00 am after a crushing artillery preparation. More than 800 guns, mortars and rocket launchers rained down fire on the positions of the German troops. For the first time in the Great Patriotic War, Soviet artillery proved to be a powerful offensive force. As a result of fierce fighting, on September 6, 1941, our troops liberated Yelnya, and by the end of September 8, the Yelny ledge was liquidated.

On April 21, due to the failure of the Luban operation, the Volkhov Front was disbanded. On its basis, the Volkhov Group of Forces was drawn up. Leningrad front. From April 25, L. A. Govorov takes command of the Leningrad group of troops of this front (23rd, 42nd and 55th armies, Primorskaya and Neva operational groups). From the moment he took office, he has been actively engaged in increasing the effectiveness of counter-battery combat: he creates the Leningrad Counter-Battery Artillery Corps (which included, among other things, the artillery of the Baltic Fleet), achieves VGK rates decisions to allocate two aviation corrective squadrons to Leningrad. He is actively working on the task of strengthening the outer defensive perimeter: creating five field fortified areas on the near approaches to the city and placing separate artillery and machine-gun battalions in them, introducing a system of continuous trenches. Creates a front reserve.

In May, without passing the candidate's experience, he was accepted as a member of the CPSU (b). On June 8, after the infamous defeat of the 2nd Shock Army, the Volkhov Front was recreated, M. S. Khozin was removed from the post of commander of the Leningrad Front, the leadership of which passed to L. A. Govorov. In June-August, he trains the forces of the front (Neva Operational Group, 55th Army) for participation in the Sinyavino offensive operation. The purpose of the operation was to de-siege Leningrad from land and disrupt the Northern Lights (Nordlicht) operation, which was being prepared by the Army Group North. By the end of September, it became obvious that the forces of the fronts were unable to cope with the task of breaking the blockade. On October 1, the command of the Leningrad Front received an order from the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command - to withdraw to their original positions (the Neva Operational Group retained the Nevsky Piglet).

At the end of October, Govorov begins to develop a new operation. On November 25, the preparation of front units for the upcoming hostilities begins. On December 2, the plan for the operation, called Iskra, was approved by the headquarters of the Supreme High Command. The purpose of the operation is to cut through the enemy grouping in the area of ​​​​the Sinyavino ledge with counter strikes from the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts, connect south of Lake Ladoga and break the blockade of Leningrad.

On January 12, 1943, the offensive operation of the troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts began, and on January 18, the Soviet units went to the connection, the blockade was broken. On January 15, L. A. Govorov was awarded the rank of Colonel General. On February 27, the offensive was stopped, and the command of the fronts began to draw up plans for a new offensive operation. For the operation to break the blockade of Leningrad on January 28, Govorov was awarded the Order of Suvorov, I degree. In July-August, the 67th Army of the Leningrad Front takes part in the Mga operation. The purpose of this operation was to disrupt the plans of the command of Army Group North to restore the blockade ring. In September, a plan was submitted to the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command active participation L. A. Govorova Leningrad-Novgorod strategic operation. According to the plan of this operation, the troops of the Leningrad Front were supposed to carry out the complete removal of the blockade and liberate the territory of the Leningrad Region from enemy units. On November 17, in the midst of the preparations for the operation, Govorov was awarded the title of "general of the army."

On January 14, 1944, the troops of the Leningrad Front began the implementation of the Leningrad-Novgorod operation. During the offensive, the front broke through the enemy's defenses in depth, defeating the Peterhof-Strelna grouping. By January 27, enemy troops were pushed back 65-100 km from the city. On January 27, fireworks took place in Leningrad to commemorate the final lifting of the blockade, and Leonid Alexandrovich Govorov gave the order to hold the fireworks on behalf of Stalin.

Developing the offensive, the troops of the Leningrad Front under the command of Army General Govorov traveled about 100-120 km, reaching the Narva River and seizing a bridgehead on the western bank of the river. For success in carrying out the operation to lift the blockade of Leningrad, on February 21, Govorov was awarded the second Order of Suvorov, 1st degree.

By March 1, the troops of the Leningrad Front in the course of the offensive went westward about 220-280 km. During the offensive, three enemy divisions were destroyed and 23 were defeated and almost completely freed. Leningrad region and part of the Kalinin region.

On June 10, the Leningrad Front, along with the Karelian Front, the Baltic Fleet, the Ladoga and Onega Flotillas, began the Vyborg-Petrozavodsk operation with the aim of withdrawing Finland from the war.

The operation was started by the troops of the Leningrad Front (21st and 23rd armies - over 150,000 people), then (in July 1944) the Karelian front (32nd and 7th armies) went on the offensive. In advance, Govorov carried out a major distraction maneuver with a demonstration of the impending attack on Narva. In the meantime, the Red Banner Baltic Fleet carried out a covert transfer of units of the 21st Army from the Oranienbaum region to the Karelian Isthmus. This created the effect of surprise for the enemy. The offensive was immediately preceded by air strikes and 10 hours of artillery preparation. 500 guns were used on 1 km of the front. The Finns were taken by surprise. For ten days of fighting, the troops of the Leningrad Front broke through 3 defense lines (on June 11, 17 and 19, respectively) "restored" by the Finns in 1941-1944. "Mannerheim lines". The rate of advance was very high and amounted to 10-12 km per day. In a directive dated June 11, 1944, the Supreme Command Headquarters noted the successful course of the offensive and ordered the troops of the Leningrad Front to capture Vyborg on June 18-20. Behind progress made On June 18, L. A. Govorov was awarded title "Marshal of the Soviet Union", and on June 20, the 21st Army of the Leningrad Front, in the course of stubborn battles, captures the southern suburbs and center of Viipuri (Vyborg).

On September 4, the Finnish government reached an agreement with the Soviet government on the cessation of hostilities. In turn, from 8.00, on September 5, the Leningrad and Karelian fronts, by order of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command, ceased hostilities against the Finnish troops.

From July 24 to November 24, units of the Leningrad Front, carrying out the Narva, Tallinn offensive and Moonsund landing operations developed under the leadership of Govorov, defeated the German operational group Narva and drove the enemy out of Estonian territory. Starting from October 1, on the orders of the Headquarters of the Supreme Command, simultaneously with the command of his front, he performs the task of coordinating the actions of the 2nd and 3rd Baltic fronts in the Riga operation. After the liberation of Riga on October 16, the 3rd Baltic Front was disbanded, and the 1st and 2nd Baltic Fronts began a blockade of the grouping of German troops in Courland.

post-war period

By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of May 31, 1945, Leonid Aleksandrovich Govorov was awarded the Order of Victory for the defeat of German troops near Leningrad and in the Baltic states.

On July 9, he was appointed commander of the troops of the Leningrad Military District, formed on the basis of the Leningrad Front. From April 1946 - Chief Inspector ground forces. Since January 1947, he has been the chief inspector armed forces USSR, and from July 7, 1948 combines this position with the post of commander of the country's air defense. Under his leadership, a structural reorganization of the command and control of the air defense forces is being carried out in the USSR, and anti-aircraft missile systems, jet fighters, and the latest radar stations are being adopted in the air defense units.

In January 1948, he headed the "court of honor", which convicted four admirals - N. G. Kuznetsov, L. M. Galler, V. A. Alafuzov, G. A. Stepanov - all rehabilitated in 1953.

Since April 1953 he was appointed to the post of chief inspector of the USSR Ministry of Defense. In May 1954 he became the first Commander-in-Chief of the Air Defense Forces of the USSR, and was appointed Deputy Minister of Defense of the country.

By that time, Govorov was seriously ill with hypertension, which was aggravated by frequent stress. In the summer, he had his first stroke. He died on the night of March 19, 1955 in the Barvikha sanatorium near Moscow. After his death, he was cremated, the urn with the ashes was buried in Kremlin wall on Red Square in Moscow.

Memory of Govorov

In honor of Leonid Aleksandrovich Govorov, streets and lanes are named in many cities of Russia and Ukraine, including Moscow (Govorov Street), Kyiv, St. Petersburg, Odessa, Kirov, Yelabuga, Donetsk, Kremenchug, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Tomsk and many others. Also, the name of Govorov was awarded the Military Orders October revolution and Patriotic War engineering radio engineering academy air defense(formerly - Artillery Radio Engineering Order of the Patriotic War Academy of the Soviet Army) - Kharkov.

Released in 1977 Postage Stamp. USSR stamp from the issue "Soviet military figures" (1977, Fig., TsFA No. 4679)

In St. Petersburg installed:

• Monument on Stachek Square (installed in 1999);
• Two memorial plaques (Kronverkskaya street, house number 29; Marshal Govorov street, house number 2);

Also, the name of Govorov in St. Petersburg is the square at the intersection of Moskovsky Prospekt and the embankment of the Fontanka River). A memorial sign "Square of Marshal L. A. Govorov" was installed near the square.

In Elabuga, a monument-bust was erected on the Memory Square (it was opened in 2000) and a memorial plaque on the building of the former real school (Naberezhnaya street, house No. 19).

Govorov Leonid Alexandrovich was born on February 22, 1897 in the village of Butyrki, Vyatka province. His father, like many other poor people, left his native land for a long time in search of work. He had to burble, and sailed as a sailor on the ships of the company of merchants Stakheevs, and in mature years, having mastered the letter, work as a clerk of a real school in the city of Yelabuga (now - district center Republic of Tatarstan). In the family, Leonid was the eldest of four sons. The father tried to educate his children. After completing the initial rural school Leonid Govorov entered the Yelabuga real school. But tuition had to be paid, and a 14-year-old teenager became a tutor for those who did not study well. In 1916, Leonid brilliantly graduated from a real school and entered the shipbuilding department of the Petrograd polytechnic institute.
He did not have long to study at the institute, already in December 1916, Govorov was mobilized into the army and sent to the Konstantinovsky Artillery School. There was the First World War, to replenish the army in June 1917, an early graduation from the school was carried out. Junker Govorov L.A. the military rank of second lieutenant is assigned, and he is sent as a platoon commander of a mortar battery to one of the parts of the Tomsk garrison. Soviet authority abolished the tsarist army, second lieutenant Govorov L.A. was demobilized and returned to his native Yelabuga, where he went to work in the cooperative, helping his parents. The country was in a civil war. In October 1918, Yelabuga was captured by the White Guards - the troops of the army of Admiral Kolchak A.V. Govorov was mobilized into the battery of the 8th division of the 2nd Ufa Corps, which since March 1919 was part of the Western Army. Participated in the Chelyabinsk and Ufa operations of the Whites against the Soviet regime.
In October 1919, Govorov fled from the White Army, along with part of the soldiers of his battery. Hiding, he reached Tomsk, and in December he already participated in an uprising against the whites, being part of a working combat squad. In January 1920, Govorov volunteered for the 51st rifle division of Blucher VK, where he took the post of commander of an artillery battalion. Service with the White Guards in Soviet times could be a big obstacle to successful career in the Red Army, as well as the fact that Govorov was not a member of the Bolshevik Party until 1942. But the future marshal chose the service in the Red Army consciously and devoted his whole life to it.
After staffing, the artillery battalion, where Govorov served, is transferred to southern front, to the Crimea to fight with the troops of Baron Wrangel. There Govorov L.A. was wounded twice. In the battles near Kakhovka and Perekop, Leonid Alexandrovich showed himself as a thoughtful, energetic, strong-willed commander, he was awarded the first military award - the Order of the Red Banner.
After civil war Leonid Alexandrovich continues to serve in the 51st Infantry Division. In October 1923 Govorova L.A. appointed chief of artillery, at the end of 1924 - commander of an artillery regiment. Exceptional personal honesty and selfless work, a brightly manifested military talent helped Govorov, who was under constant suspicion, to carry out military service and rise to its heights. And in those years, the regimental party organization refused to admit Leonid Govorov to the CPSU (b). “Comrade Govorov still doesn’t understand well,” one of the speeches is recorded in the minutes, “why the Party exists. We must refrain from receiving for the time being. Only in the rank of front commander, in besieged Leningrad, did he apply to the headquarters party organization with a request to be accepted into the party ranks. Accepted, as prescribed by the charter, a candidate. And two days later, by decision of the Central Committee, the commander was transferred to the membership of the party without undergoing candidate experience.
From the post of regiment commander Govorov L.A. was appointed head of the artillery of the fortified area, then head of the artillery of the 14th and 15th rifle corps, then head of the department in the artillery department of the Kyiv military district. Govorov all his life strove for knowledge, education, constantly engaged in self-education. In 1933, he completed the full course of the Academy named after M.V. Frunze, then studied at the operational faculty of the academy. Govorov independently studied German and passed the exam for a military translator! In 1936 brigade commander Govorov L.A. became a student of the Academy of the General Staff. But he failed to complete the course of study at the academy. In 1938, Leonid Aleksandrovich was appointed a teacher of tactics at the Dzerzhinsky Artillery Academy.
In 1939, he wrote his first scientific work on the topic "Attack and breakthrough of a fortified area." Since the beginning Soviet-Finnish war Govorov was sent to the artillery headquarters of the 7th Army, where he participated in the development of a plan to break through the reinforced concrete belt of the Mannerheim Line. To clear the way for an attack, the reinforced concrete pillboxes of the Mannerheim Line were destroyed by the fire of guns of the largest calibers - direct fire from the closest possible distances. Considerable merit in preparing the breakthrough of the Mannerheim Line belongs to Leonid Alexandrovich. For successful actions in the winter war Govorov L.A. was ahead of schedule awarded the military rank of division commander, and he was awarded the Order of the Red Star. In 1940, Govorov was appointed Deputy Inspector General of the Main Artillery Directorate of the Red Army. In May 1941, Major General of Artillery Govorov L.A. becomes the head of the Artillery Academy named after F.E. Dzerzhinsky.
At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, Govorova L.A. appointed to the post of chief of artillery of the Western direction. Soon the Reserve Front was created under the command of General of the Army Zhukov G.K., and Govorov L.A. assigned there as chief of artillery. For the first time, Soviet artillery in the Great Patriotic War showed itself as a powerful offensive force during the Elninsk operation in 1941, when superiority over the enemy was achieved by more than one and a half times on a narrow sector of the front. Govorov did a lot for the success of one of the first offensive operations of the Red Army - the Yelnin operation.
Since October 1941, Govorov has been in command of the 5th Combined Arms Army, which, along with other armies Western front, had to bear the brunt of the defensive battles on the outskirts of Moscow in the Mozhaisk direction. He was assigned to head a large operational combined arms formation in an extremely difficult and difficult situation. On his initiative, anti-tank regions and reserves were created for the first time, which played a huge role in repelling massive tank attacks German troops. Govorov widely used mobile detachments to fight enemy tanks, which, given the lack of forces, was of particular importance. In this position, he proved to be a resolute, firm and principled leader, managed to ensure clear management troops. It was here, in the most important direction to Moscow, that he gained experience in organizing defense and conducting offensive operations. The merits of Govorov L.A. in disrupting the enemy's offensive on Moscow, they were awarded a high award - the Order of Lenin, as well as conferring on him the military rank of lieutenant general of artillery.
On December 1, 1941, when the German units made their last serious attempt to break through to Moscow, it was Govorov's units that stopped them and turned them towards Golitsino. There they were finally defeated. On December 4, the breakthrough was completely eliminated. In mid-December, the troops of the 5th Army under the command of Lieutenant General Govorov L.A. in cooperation with the 33rd Army, they broke through the defenses of the Nazis in the Mozhaisk direction and by mid-January 1942 they reached the Mozhaisk region. By his order, mobile units were formed and specially prepared. assault squads for action at night. Using the darkness, on the night of January 20, 1942, without artillery preparation, these detachments suddenly attacked the enemy in Mozhaisk, and by morning the entire German garrison of the city was completely defeated. Developing success, the next day, the troops of the 5th Army liberated Borodino and the Borodino field from the enemy in a night battle. Continuing the offensive, units of the 5th Army. Under the command of Lieutenant General Govorov L.A., they reached the approaches to the city of Gzhatsk. Here, by order of the front commander, they went on the defensive. Zhukov G.K. in certification for the commander of the 5th army Govorov L.A. wrote: "He successfully carried out the Mozhaisk and Zvenigorod operations. He conducts well offensive operations to defeat the Mozhaisk-Gzhatskaya enemy grouping." And his famous words: "rest like Govorov" sounded both as the highest assessment of the decisions made by the army commander, and as a recommendation to learn from him.
In April 1942, General Govorov L.A. first appointed commander of the Leningrad Group of Forces, and in June 1942 - commander of the Leningrad Front. The situation in Leningrad was extremely difficult. The dilapidated city was in the ring of blockade, in dire need of food, daily suffered from artillery shelling and air raids. "I am responsible for Leningrad, and I will not hand it over to the enemy," he wrote to his wife in July 1942. 670 out of 900 blockade days he led the heroic defense of Leningrad, built a long-term and sustainable system defense, insurmountable for the enemy, prepared and carried out a number of offensive operations. Govorov sought not just to keep Leningrad, but to actively defend, undertaking reconnaissance, private offensive actions, inflicting powerful fire strikes on enemy groupings. As Govorov later recalled, the idea of ​​a strike from a besieged city gave rise to a powerful offensive impulse, gave the Soviet troops a powerful factor - operational surprise.
For more than two years, in the conditions of the besieged city, the artillerymen of the front waged a counter-battery fight and destroyed hundreds of artillery batteries of the Nazi troops. The damage inflicted on Leningrad decreased, not only due to a decrease in the intensity of shelling, but also because the enemy had to spend most of the shells on fighting Soviet artillery. Many thousands of human lives, huge material and cultural values, including outstanding monuments of history and architecture.
The troops of the Leningrad Front had no experience of breaking through heavily fortified defensive lines. They should have been taught this in a very short time. The units began to actively prepare for the operation to break the blockade. Govorova L.A. could be seen in those days at all staff exercises with division commanders, at the training of infantrymen, sappers, tankers, at firing. January 15, 1943 Leonid Aleksandrovich was awarded the rank of Colonel General. On January 18, 1943, the troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts, advancing towards each other, broke through the German defenses and met. The 16-month blockade of long-suffering Leningrad was broken. Behind high art in the leadership of the troops during the operation to break the blockade of Leningrad and the combat successes achieved, Colonel General Govorov L A. was awarded the order Suvorov 1st degree. “If this outstanding commander of the Red Army had no other glorious military deeds, except for the heroic defense of Leningrad, then his name would forever be preserved by grateful descendants,” L.A. wrote in his memoirs about Govorov. Marshal Bagramyan I.Kh. In besieged Leningrad, General Govorov L.A. I also managed to write articles. The following works belong to him: “Fights for Leningrad”, “On the defense of the city of Lenin”, “One and a half years of fighting for Leningrad”, “The Great Leningrad Battle”, etc.
Throughout the winter and summer of 1943, the troops of the Leningrad Front, together with the Volkhov Front, pinned down the opposing Army Group North, and did not allow the German command to transfer these divisions to Kursk. Distinctive features of Govorov L.A. as a commander, there were also his great self-control, calmness and composure in the most difficult and tense situation. He introduced planning, systematic and high organization into the command and control of the troops of the front. November 17, 1943 Govorov L.A. conferred the rank of General of the Army. Army General Shtemenko S.M. described Govorov L.A. in his memoirs in the following words: But everyone who served under the command of Leonid Alexandrovich knew very well that under this external severity a broad and kind Russian soul was hidden.
The offensive of the Leningrad Front as part of the Leningrad-Novgorod operation, for which the troops had also been preparing for several months, began on January 14, 1944. Formations of the 2nd shock army, operating from the Oranienbaum bridgehead, and the 42nd army, advancing from the Pulkovo heights, inflicted strikes in converging directions. In the course of tense battles, Soviet formations successfully broke through the strong, deeply echeloned defenses of the enemy and defeated his Peterhof-Strelna grouping. By January 27 Hitler's troops, who had been besieging Leningrad for almost 900 days, were thrown back 65-100 km from the city, the blockade of which was completely eliminated. Then, developing the offensive, they advanced another 100-120 km and reached the Narva River, seizing a bridgehead on its western bank. By March 1, the troops of the Leningrad Front advanced westward to 220-280 km.
In June 1944, the troops of the Leningrad Front under the command of General of the Army Govorov L.A. participated in the Vyborg operation and defeated the main forces of the Finnish troops on the Karelian Isthmus, having previously broken through the strong fortifications of the enemy. As a result successful offensive On June 20, 1944, troops of the Leningrad Front captured Vyborg. For the skilful conduct of this complex operation Govorov L.A. was awarded the title of Marshal of the Soviet Union.
Then the troops of the Leningrad Front participated in the Svir-Petrozavodsk operation, the Moonsund landing operation, carried out the Tallinn operation to defeat the Nazi troops in Estonia in September 1944. In the Riga operation, Marshal L.A. Govorov, being commander of the Leningrad Front, on behalf of the Stavka coordinated the actions of the 2nd and 3rd Baltic fronts to liberate the capital of Latvia - Riga. Until the end of the war, he continued to command the Leningrad Front, and from February to March 1945, also the 2nd Baltic Front. At the end of the war, the troops of the Leningrad Front broke into the enemy’s defenses in depth, squeezing the encirclement of the Courland group of Nazi troops, which capitulated on May 8, 1945. On January 27, 1945, Marshal Govorov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, and in May 1945 he was He was also awarded the highest military order "Victory". During the war, Govorov went from Major General of Artillery to Marshal of the Soviet Union.
In the postwar years, Marshal Govorov L.A. held a number of high posts in the Armed Forces of the USSR. From July 1945 he commanded the troops of the Leningrad Military District, from April 1946 he was the chief inspector of the Ground Forces, and then the Armed Forces. In 1948, he was appointed commander of the Air Defense Forces of the country, leaving at the same time the chief inspector of the Armed Forces. In 1952 Govorova L.A. was appointed Deputy Minister of Defense for Combat Training. Since May 1954, he has been Commander-in-Chief of the USSR Air Defense Forces and Deputy Minister of Defense. Under his leadership, a structural reorganization of the command and control of the air defense forces is being carried out, anti-aircraft missile systems, jet fighters, and the latest radar stations are being adopted in the air defense units. However, health problems, in particular hypertension, increasingly made themselves felt. After the Great Patriotic War, he lived only 10 years. Marshal of the Soviet Union Leonid Aleksandrovich Govorov died on March 19, 1955. He was buried in Moscow on Red Square, near the Kremlin wall.

Under the tsar, he graduated from the Konstantinovsky Artillery School in Petrograd, and after the revolution he ended up in Kolchak's army, fought against the Reds. An incredible fact: in 1919, with the rank of second lieutenant of the White Army, he took part in the battles against the 5th Army of the Red Army, and in October 1941, near Moscow, he became the commander-in-chief of the newly formed Soviet 5th Army ...

However, during numerous and merciless purges, he was not injured, was not shot, but, on the contrary, was repeatedly awarded, became one of the most famous military leaders of the USSR, the legendary organizer of the breakthrough and lifting of the blockade of Leningrad. We are talking about the Hero of the Soviet Union Leonid Alexandrovich Govorov, whom military historians consider the most mysterious Stalinist marshal.

The future military leader was born in peasant family in the village of Butyrki, Yaransky district, Vyatka province. His father worked as a barge hauler, served as a sailor on river ships, as a clerk in Yelabuga. However, Leonid himself, after graduating from a rural school, managed to brilliantly graduate from the Elabuga Real School, and then enter the Petrograd Polytechnic Institute. Which, by the way, debunks the myth that spread in Soviet times that higher education in Russia was inaccessible to peasant children.

Thanks to his outstanding abilities, Govorov could have become an excellent engineer, as he dreamed of, but the First World War soon broke out. He did not have time to finish his higher education - in 1916 he was mobilized and sent to the Konstantinovsky Artillery School in Petrograd, became an officer. Demobilized after the war, he returned to his parents in Yelabuga. But with the outbreak of the Civil War, he was mobilized into Kolchak's army.

The officer comes from a peasant family with whites was not on the way. Govorov left Kolchak's troops and, together with a group of soldiers from his battery, went over to the side of the Reds. His brother Nikolai, also an officer, fled with him. So Leonid Govorov ended up in the Blucher division, where he was offered to form an artillery battalion and become its commander. He fought against the troops of Wrangel, was wounded twice: in the Kakhovka region - with a shrapnel in the leg, and in the battle near Antonovskaya received a bullet wound in the arm.

He fought bravely and was awarded for this by the chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic, Lev Trotsky, with red revolutionary trousers. This attribute of military equipment was then a special form of award (remember the movie "Officers").

As Govorov's son Sergei Leonidovich recalled, his future mother and father met in 1923 at the Odessa Opera House. “In addition to the open, strong-willed face and the tall, stately figure of the young red commander, the so-called red revolutionary trousers, in which her father flaunted, made a very strong impression on her,” he gives the details of that meeting.

In the Red Army, Govorov served exemplarily and quickly climbed the stairs. military career. In 1926, he completed the Artillery Improvement Courses, then the Higher Artillery Courses, studied at the Military Academy and the Academy of the General Staff. By the beginning of the war with Germany, Govorov was already head of the Dzerzhinsky Artillery Academy. By the way, shortly before that, he independently studied German and even passed the exam for a military translator. I was sure that it was with Germany that we would soon have to fight again.

There were not too many military leaders with higher education in the Red Army like Govorov. Especially after the merciless purges on the eve of the war. It is not clear how Govorov survived them - with such a biography as his, it was very difficult. After all, he was not even a party member. Or maybe, on the contrary, this is what helped him? Govorov was aloof from intrigues, and, in addition, he distinguished himself in breaking through the Mannerheim Line, for which he was awarded the Order of the Red Star. He showed in practice how to break through the impregnable defenses of reinforced concrete pillboxes: with the fire of the largest caliber guns, direct fire from the closest possible distances in order to clear the way for an attack. During this period, a discussion about the role of artillery in modern warfare unfolded in the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper. Divisional Commander Govorov delivered a report on this topic at a military scientific conference, who looked far ahead, determining the place of artillery in future battles and new principles for its use in offensive and defensive battles. It is no coincidence that later they began to call him the "god of artillery."

With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the military talents of the future marshal manifested themselves especially brightly. In the midst of the battles for Moscow, in October 1941, Major General of Artillery Govorov was appointed commander of the 5th Army, which fought the most difficult defensive battles on the outskirts of Moscow in the Mozhaisk direction. For the first time in military history the command of the combined arms formation was entrusted not just to a general, but to an artillery general.

Govorov received his baptism of fire as a commander on the Borodino field. On his initiative, anti-tank regions and reserves were created for the first time, which played a huge role in repelling the massive tank attacks of the German troops. Govorov made extensive use of mobile detachments and ambushes to fight enemy tanks. For almost six days the enemy was stopped near Borodino, having suffered heavy losses. But the forces were unequal, and Govorov convinced the commander of the Western Front, Georgy Zhukov, of the need to retreat to a defensive line in the Zvenigorod region. Georgy Konstantinovich gave the go-ahead, although he set a condition: in case of failure, Govorov would answer to the fullest extent of wartime. But there was no need to answer, Govorov turned out to be right: they managed to withdraw troops in an organized manner, to stabilize the front. In the midst of defensive battles, in November 1941, Govorov's merits in disrupting the enemy's offensive on Moscow were awarded the Order of Lenin.

In the characteristic for the award, signed by G. Zhukov, it was said: “Comrade. A speaker of firm will, demanding, energetic, brave and organized commander of the troops.

And on January 18, 1942, the battles for Mozhaisk began. Soon the whole city was in the hands of our troops, the Nazis were thrown back for tens of kilometers. The next day, the troops of the 5th Army liberated Borodino and the Borodino field from the enemy in a night battle. The Nazis failed to carry out their plan: to destroy the monuments of Russian glory in the war of 1812 ...

In June 1942, after the tragic defeat of the 2nd shock army, I.V. Stalin removed General Mikhail Khozin from his post as commander of the Leningrad Front and appointed Govorov in his place. He was hungry besieged city. The tasks of the new front commander were clearly set: to prevent the destruction of Leningrad by enemy fire, to break through and lift the blockade. Govorov was settled in the quietest and safest - relatively, of course - area, on the Petrograd side.

By the way, it was then that Govorov was issued a party card without passing the experience. Otherwise, he would have turned out to be the only non-communist commander of this rank, which at that time was simply impossible.

As a memory of the events of those days, the Govorov family still keeps a miniature model of the T-34 ink tank made of brass with the inscription "To Marshal of the Soviet Union Stalin from the guards of the 5th tank army." How did she get there? In the midst of the preparations for the operation to break the blockade of Leningrad, Stalin called Govorov and asked if he had any requests to the Stavka. Seeing the leader's good disposition, he said that on the eve of the offensive, he would like to have more tanks.

Govorov took this as a joke, thanked him and left. And then I was surprised to see a bundle on the seat of my car. There was a tank from Stalin's table. But real combat vehicles nevertheless came at the disposal of the Leningrad Front by the beginning of the offensive.

... Govorov was directly involved in the first performance of the famous 7th Symphony by Dmitry Shostakovich in besieged Leningrad August 9, 1942. On this day, according to the plans of the German command, the city was to fall. And as a challenge to the enemy, it was on this day that a concert was to take place in the Great Hall of the Leningrad Philharmonic. Govorov set a task for the troops: to make sure that not a single enemy shell, not a single bomb fell on the city during the concert. Directly from the front line, Govorov came to the Philharmonic. All the while the legendary symphony was being performed, enemy shells and bombs did not explode in the city, because, by order of Govorov, our gunners fired continuously at the enemy. The operation was called "Squall".

Conductor Carl Eliasberg later recalled: “The symphony ended. Applause resounded in the hall ... I went into the dressing room ... Suddenly everyone parted. Govorov entered quickly. He spoke very seriously, cordially about the symphony, and as he left, he said somehow mysteriously: "Our gunners can also be considered participants in the performance." Then, to be honest, I did not understand this phrase. And only many years later I found out that Govorov had given an order for the time of the performance of the symphony by D.D. Shostakovich to our gunners to conduct intense fire on enemy batteries and force them to silence. I think that in the history of music such a fact is the only one.

... The operation to break the blockade called "Iskra", which Stalin instructed Govorov, was carefully prepared. For the offensive, shock groups of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts were formed.

In the rear, training fields and special camps were created, the troops practiced crossing the ice and building crossings for heavy artillery and tanks.

As the son of Marshal Sergei recalled, the commander "began to withdraw battalions from the front line of defense in order to fatten them up in Leningrad and train them." Exhausted fighters had to run across the ice of the Neva under heavy enemy fire 800 meters in twenty degrees of frost. He even forbade the soldiers to shout "Hurrah!" so as not to waste their strength. A brass band played "Internationale" on a hillock, to the sounds of the anthem, they had to force a six-meter, almost sheer shore, which the Nazis poured water on. Ladders, hooks and cats were dragged with them. All other details of the operation were worked out with the same care.

Thanks to the efforts of intelligence, the Soviet command had a fairly detailed picture of the enemy defenses, while they managed to hide the direction of the main attack from the enemy. In total, the groupings of the two fronts near Leningrad numbered 302,800 soldiers and officers, about 4,900 guns and mortars, more than 600 tanks and 809 aircraft. In total, Soviet troops had more than five times superiority over the enemy.

The city, suffering from hunger and cold, also gave its last to the front.

Exhausted knitwear sewed warm uniforms for the fighters. Subsequently, many soldiers found notes in their pockets with a message of several words: “Dear soldier of the Red Army! Beat the fascist bastards! Bay while alive! Save us."

Notes, as a rule, were signed only with names: "Masha", "Lena", "Lyuba".

On the night of January 12, Soviet bombers launched a massive attack on enemy positions in the breakthrough zone, on airfields and railway junctions in the rear. In the morning, artillery began a powerful artillery preparation. “I still cannot forget the impressions of the destructive fire of Russian cannons,” a captured soldier of the 401st regiment of the 170th infantry division later said. “When I remember this infernal roar, shell explosions, it makes me shudder again and again.” He was echoed by other prisoners: "Such a nightmarish fire has never been seen anywhere." Then, under the cover of the "fiery shaft", the troops began crossing the Neva. After several days of fierce fighting, the Soviet troops managed to break the resistance of the Nazis, and on January 18, 1943, the blockade of Leningrad was broken. For the exhausted population, it was a holiday - people took to the streets, cried, kissed. The city was decorated with flags, and on February 8, a train with food from the interior of the country arrived in Leningrad. For the successful conduct of the operation, Govorov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Leading the fighting against the Courland grouping of German troops during the final phase of the war, Govorov convinced Stalin to abandon the frontal assault on the fortifications in order to avoid the inevitable huge losses, and suggested that the Nazis be tightly locked up on the Courland Peninsula and forced to surrender. And Stalin agreed. As a result, Govorov set up a real blockade: the encircled Germans had to switch to starvation rations, they ate all the combat horses. Govorov presented an ultimatum to the surrounded, demanded to surrender within 24 hours.

The Germans knew that he commanded troops near Leningrad and were afraid to surrender to the Leningrad units, fearing revenge for their atrocities against the besieged city.

Therefore, the ultimatum, in order to mislead the Nazis, was transmitted from the radio station of the 2nd Baltic Front. The Germans were sure that they were not surrendering to the Leningraders, but to the Baltic soldiers, and on May 8, 1945, the Kurland Army Group capitulated. Govorov, knowing the German language perfectly, himself interrogated the fascist generals who had surrendered. Some senior officers when the deception was revealed, they committed suicide out of fear. In May 1945, Leonid Aleksandrovich was awarded the Order of Victory, the highest in the USSR.

Alas, after the war, Govorov had to endure many difficult moments when some prominent military leaders, including Marshal Zhukov himself, fell into disgrace. And many of his close friends from among the top leaders of the city were destroyed as part of the so-called "Leningrad case". And again it was not clear how he himself could survive. What he had to endure can be judged from the episode that his wife recalled: “On the eve of breaking the blockade in January 1943, I asked him if everything was ready and what would happen in case of failure. He replied that everything had been calculated, the troops were ready. “Well, in case of failure,” he said with a slight smile, “remains head in the hole.”

In 1948, Govorov had to head the so-called “Court of Honor” created by Stalin, which convicted four war hero admirals: Kuznetsov, Galler, Alafuzov and Stepanov. All of them were rehabilitated in 1953.

Govorov's last military post was Commander-in-Chief of the USSR Air Defense Forces. But he was already seriously ill. Why he himself survived, we will never know, Leonid Aleksandrovich did not leave memoirs. His son Sergei recalled: “On one of the warm days in the spring of 1954, my father returned earlier than usual. Coming out of the official "ZIS", he, after a pause, said to his mother: "The appointment took place. I had no right to refuse. But this is the end…” He had in mind his appointment as Commander-in-Chief of the USSR Air Defense.

The fact is that by this time my father was seriously ill with a severe form of hypertension - both the blockade of Leningrad and the so-called "Leningrad case", in which in 1948-1950. because of false accusations, people who worked with him and led the defense of Leningrad were shot.

But then effective means against hypertension has not yet been. Last year father's life remained in my memory as an expectation of something terrible. The first blow came in the summer of 1954. Already being mortally ill, my father worked, fulfilled his job responsibilities- in those years, cannon artillery was replaced by anti-aircraft missile systems, aviation switched to jet technology equipped with new means of detecting and hitting targets, radar and communication systems were intensively developed. Flaw physical strength The iron will of his father compensated for this, which was noted by his colleagues who came to him regularly, and the officer for special assignments, who daily brought documents. So it was at the dacha in Arkhangelsk, when my father could still get out of bed. So it was in the last months of his life, when he was chained to hospital bed. On the night of March 19, 1955, my father passed away. Mom said that, feeling how life was leaving him, his father escorted everyone out of the hospital room, except for his eldest son. He dictated a note to his son Soviet government, which he ended with the words: "I should have done more, but I did what I had, what I could."

So, in the sanatorium "Barvikha" near Moscow, at the age of only 58, an outstanding military leader who liberated Leningrad died. An urn with the ashes of a former tsarist officer and Soviet marshal buried in the Kremlin wall...

Born February 22, 1897 in the village of Butyrki, Vyatka province (now Kirov region). Father - Govorov Alexander Grigoryevich, a peasant, was engaged in side earnings: he mumbled, went as a sailor on steamships. Mother - Govorova Maria Alexandrovna. Wife - Lydia Ivanovna. Sons: Vladimir Leonidovich - Hero of the Soviet Union, army general, chairman of the Russian Committee of War Veterans and military service; Sergei Leonidovich is a retired colonel.

After graduating from a real school in Yelabuga, Leonid becomes a student at the shipbuilding department of the Petrograd Polytechnic Institute.

In December 1916, upon mobilization, he was sent to the Konstantinovsky Artillery School in the capital. Here Govorov studied for only six months, in June 1917, together with other graduates of Konstantinovka, he was promoted to second lieutenant and sent to the mortar battery of one of the units of the Tomsk garrison. In the autumn of 1917, Leonid went to his native Yelabuga, where he was mobilized and sent to Kolchak's army. From there, with a part of the soldiers of his separate mortar battery, he moved to Tomsk and voluntarily joined the Red Army.

In the 51st division (commander - V.K. Blyukher), L.A. Govorov is instructed to urgently form an artillery battalion. After staffing, the unit is transferred to the Crimea to defeat the troops of Baron Wrangel. There Govorov was wounded twice. The Perekop period became milestone in the formation of Leonid Alexandrovich as a commander and gunner. Under the farm Terni for the first time there was a meeting with English tanks. It seemed that the tanks were about to crush everyone. The Govorovsky division did not flinch. The gunners did a great job. Four British tanks froze forever on the Black Sea land, the rest retreated from the battlefield. In the battles near Kakhovka and Perekop, Leonid Alexandrovich showed himself as a thoughtful, energetic, strong-willed commander, he was awarded the first military award - the Order of the Red Banner.

In October 1923, L. A. Govorov was appointed chief of artillery of the 51st Infantry Division, and at the end of 1924, commander of an artillery regiment. He goes headlong into work: camp training, training trips, artillery training of personnel, live firing, improving the life of Red Army soldiers and commanders. “He showed himself in all respects as a very capable commander. Possesses strong will and energy, initiative. As an artilleryman, he was impeccably prepared, ”- noted in the description of the regiment commander - the future marshal.

History has conveyed to us such a review of creativity L. A. Govorova. “Once,” recalled G. N. Degtyarev, also a regiment commander, “something happened that surprised us all. The commander of the artillery regiment of the Perekop division, equal in position to all of us, was appointed to lead the collection. Some participants of the gathering did not hesitate to express their skepticism towards the new leader aloud. A few days later, the perverse attitude towards Govorov changed dramatically. "Perekopets" turned out to be with an enviable filling. The commanders of the artillery regiments, as if spellbound, listened to Govorov's informative lectures, which were distinguished by the depth and clarity of thought, the novelty of statements on the theory and practice of artillery."

Throughout the 1920s, Leonid Alexandrovich combined hard work with study. From day to day I was engaged in self-education. As soon as I learned about the organization of the correspondence department at the Military Academy named after M.V. Frunze, I entered there. By 1932, he completed a three-year correspondence course. Then another one-year course of the operational faculty of the same academy passes. At the same time, he takes an exam in German in the amount of knowledge of a military translator.

In the spring of 1936, the Military Academy of the General Staff was established. The brigade commander Govorov also falls into the first set of her listeners. At that time, he was already the head of the artillery department of the Kyiv military district. In 1938, studies were interrupted. Leonid Alexandrovich is appointed as a teacher of tactics at the Artillery Academy named after F. E. Dzerzhinsky.

The Soviet-Finnish war begins. L. A. Govorov was sent to the front as the chief of staff of artillery of the 7th Army. A difficult mission fell to his share: the preparation and implementation of artillery support for the breakthrough of the Mannerheim Line. He successfully copes with this task, is awarded the Order of the Red Star, and he is ahead of schedule awarded the rank of division commander. In 1940, he was appointed Deputy Inspector General of the Main Artillery Directorate of the Red Army.

At the end of December 1940, a meeting of the highest command and political composition Armed Forces. At the meeting there was a detailed discussion of the tasks arising from the results of the Soviet-Finnish war. Major General of Artillery L. A. Govorov spoke among others. He not only presented his own experience overcoming the long-term structures of the Mannerheim Line, but also shared very deep reflections on the prospects for the use of artillery in modern warfare.

A new appointment followed in May 1941. L. A. Govorov becomes the head of the Artillery Academy named after F. E. Dzerzhinsky.

With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, L. A. Govorov takes the post of chief of artillery in the Western direction. Here there was a meeting of two future marshals - G.K. Zhukov and L.A. Govorov. Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov commanded the Western direction.

The situation dictated the need for urgent measures. Leonid Alexandrovich immediately got down to business. He quickly developed a plan for a radical restructuring of the artillery support system for defensive battles and counterattacks. Achieved that directive instructions on this important issue were immediately sent to the troops. He himself went to the formations and units of the troops of the Western direction. Under his leadership, a system of artillery anti-tank defense to a depth of at least 5–6 km is being quickly created. This soon led to a significant increase in the losses of the Nazis, rushing to Moscow. This episode is known. Once G.K. Zhukov interrogated a prisoner from the Deutschland regiment of the SS division. He said: "The Germans are afraid of artillery fire." Georgy Konstantinovich turned to the chief of artillery: “Have you heard, Comrade Govorov? The Germans are afraid of our artillery. So work out your plans in every detail."

L. A. Govorov did a lot for the success of the famous Yelnin operation. So, he thought out artillery support for the offensive near Yelnya. Thanks to this, the 24th Army, the main combat force in this operation, gained 1.6 times superiority over the enemy in artillery. On August 30, 1941, together with other formations, she went on the offensive, and by the morning of September 6, she liberated Yelnya. It was one of the first offensive operations of the Red Army in the Great Patriotic War.

Govorov, an artilleryman with a brilliant reputation, had yet to show a talent of a different kind - the talent of a commander. The beginning of this was laid in the battle near Moscow. In October 1941, the commander of the 5th Army, Major General D. D. Lelyushenko, was wounded and was taken out of the battlefield. He was replaced by Major General L. A. Govorov. Later, Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov explained this decision by saying that "... Govorov, being the head of the artillery of the Reserve Front, has established himself not only as a specialist who knows his business perfectly, but also as a strong-willed, energetic commander ...".

The 5th Army was at the cutting edge of the main events - in the center of the Western Front. It was here that the Nazis tormented our defenses with particular fury, preparing to unleash a blow on the capital. great strength. For Govorov-commander came sleepless nights, countless calculations, colossal stress. Based on an assessment of the situation, enemy forces and the capabilities of the 5th Army, decisive measures were taken to organize a stable defense and create powerful artillery barriers.

In those October days, the army commander pinned special hopes for success on the Far East of the 32nd Infantry Division, Colonel V.I. Having taken a position on the historical Borodino field, they fought steadfastly and courageously, like the heroes of 1812. Later, L. A. Govorov promptly launched the 82nd Infantry Division, which had arrived from Siberia in the Dorokhov region, into battle on the move. The army commander took all measures to increase opposition to the Nazi tank formations. A powerful anti-tank unit was created. It included four artillery regiments, five Katyusha divisions, and the 20th tank brigade. Field Marshal Kluge persistently tried to break through the defenses of Govorov's 5th Army in a straight line to Moscow through Dorokhovo and Kubinka. But all in vain. The defense was impenetrable. Huge loss the Nazis also carried in the band of the 16th Army, Lieutenant General K.K. Rokossovsky, with whom the 5th Army interacted.

On December 1, the Nazis made another serious attempt to break through to Moscow. Govorov urgently left for the village of Akulovo, where parts of the division of V. I. Polosukhin and the artillery and anti-tank reserve were transferred. Having met strong resistance, the German tank units turned to Golitsino. There they were finally defeated. On December 4, the breakthrough was completely eliminated.

The deep meaning of the actions of Commander-5 in these defensive battles was very clearly expressed by Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov. His words “stand down like Govorov” sounded both as the highest assessment of his decisions and as a recommendation to learn from him.

In April 1942, Lieutenant General of Artillery L. A. Govorov was appointed commander of the Leningrad Group of Forces responsible for the defense of the city on the Neva, and in June 1942 - commander of the Leningrad Front. The situation in Leningrad was extremely difficult. The dilapidated city was still under blockade, in dire need of food. Almost daily, Leningraders experienced hardships and losses from artillery shelling and air raids. In April 1942, Hitler confirmed the task of Army Group North, led by Colonel General von Küchler, "... to take Leningrad and establish contact on land with the Finns ...".

An enormous responsibility fell on the shoulders of L. A. Govorov. For 670 of the 900 blockade days, he led the heroic defense of Leningrad, created an insurmountable defense for the enemy. His fate fell on the preparation and conduct of a number of offensive operations. One of them is Operation Iskra. In preparation for it, literally everything was taken into account: the possibilities for regrouping enemy troops and equipment, fire systems and various obstacles, organizing engineering equipment for enemy positions and lines.

And again, as more than once in the past, Govorov's knowledge of artillery manifested itself. Leonid Alexandrovich was directly involved in the development of principles and methods for the use of artillery in Operation Iskra. By his decision, a group of long-range artillery and a group special purpose, as well as a counter-mortar group. Guards mortar units were reduced to a separate group.

The direct preparation of troops for a breakthrough was actively going on. Joint exercises of infantry and artillery took place at the Toksovsky training ground. On them, the shooters learned to move behind the fire shaft from line to line. But this was not the end of the matter. Additional training was carried out in all formations and units. So it was in the division of General N.P. Simonyak. At his signal "Attack!" chains of shooters jumped onto the ice, rushed at full speed along the river, climbed onto a steep bank, specially doused with water, where the division commander stood. Thus, the readiness for options actions. All this ultimately predetermined the success of Operation Iskra. The blockade of the great city on the Neva in January 1943 was finally broken. A turning point has come in the historical battle for Leningrad.

And there were still many offensive operations ahead: the Mginskaya and Krasnoselsko-Ropsha, Novgorod-Luga and Vyborg, Tallinn and Moonsund landing operations. And in each of them he put his will, his knowledge, his heart. In each, he showed himself to be a mature commander. official recognition L. A. Govorov’s high military leadership followed long before the end of the war - on June 18, 1944. On this day he was awarded the title of Marshal of the Soviet Union. In 1945 he was awarded the gold star of the Hero of the Soviet Union and the highest commander's order "Victory".

L. A. Govorov found time to write articles in besieged Leningrad. In June 1942, he gives an in-depth analysis of the military operations of the troops in the articles "Fights for Leningrad" and "On the defense of the city of Lenin." In February 1943, his work "One and a half years of fighting for Leningrad" was published, and then - "The Great Battle of Leningrad". In January 1945, he wrote the preface to the book "The Great Victory of the Soviet Troops near Leningrad". The article is small, but in a short, polished form, it not only told about the victory achieved, but also set tasks for the troops of the front for the future. The article was called: "To new victories over the enemy."

In the postwar years, L. A. Govorov commanded the troops of the Leningrad Military District, was the chief inspector of the Ground Forces, and then the Armed Forces. In 1948, he was appointed commander of the Air Defense Forces of the country, leaving at the same time the chief inspector of the Armed Forces. In 1952, Leonid Alexandrovich was appointed Deputy Minister of Defense for combat training.

During that period, significant changes were taking place in the Air Defense Forces. In essence, they are becoming a new branch of the country's Armed Forces. Marshal Govorov is appointed to the post of Commander-in-Chief of the country's air defense - Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR. At this time, the technical re-equipment of the Air Defense Forces began. Leonid Alexandrovich traveled a lot around the country, tried to speed up this important process. However, hypertension increasingly exacerbated. He was no longer able to overcome this disease. March 19, 1955 he died. The urn with the ashes was buried in the Kremlin wall.

The country paid tribute to its great son. Hero of the Soviet Union Marshal of the Soviet Union L. A. Govorov was also awarded the Order of Victory, five Orders of Lenin, three Orders of the Red Banner, two Orders of Suvorov I degree, Order of Kutuzov I degree, Order of the Red Star, many medals. His name is immortalized in the name of the ship and streets in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Odessa, Kirov and Yelabuga. Two schools in St. Petersburg and one in Moscow bear the name of an outstanding commander. A monument to Marshal of the Soviet Union L. A. Govorov was unveiled in St. Petersburg.

Govorov's life is a feat. That's what a lot of people say about him. He himself was much more modest about himself. “I,” he wrote on the last day of his life, “should have done more, but I did what I could, what I could.” In these words of an outstanding commander and patriot of the country, all his essence, his greatness and his inherent modesty and simplicity.

"I should have done more, but I only did what I had time to do."
L. A. Govorov

120 years ago, on February 22, 1897, the future Soviet military leader, Marshal and Hero of the Soviet Union Leonid Govorov was born. Leonid Alexandrovich Govorov was born into a peasant family, and his fate fits perfectly into the critical era that Russia was then going through. Govorov began his service in the tsarist army, became an artilleryman, then, with the rank of second lieutenant, joined the White Army under the command of Admiral Kolchak, fought with the Reds. He went over to the side of the Red Army, went from division commander to division artillery commander. After the Civil War, he actively studied and entered the military elite Soviet Union, one of the outstanding commanders of the Great Patriotic War, became Marshal and Hero of the Soviet Union.

Youth. Civil War

Leonid Alexandrovich Govorov was born on February 10 (22), 1897 in the village of Butyrki, Yaransky district, Vyatka province, into a peasant family. Father, Govorov Alexander Grigorievich, worked as a barge hauler, a sailor in a steamship company, independently studied the letter and became a clerk of a real school in the city of Yelabuga. Mother, Govorova (nee Panfilova) Maria Alexandrovna, is a housewife. Leonid was the eldest of four sons.

With the end of the rural school, Leonid Govorov entered the Yelabuga real school. He studied and at the same time worked, tutored, so as not to be a burden to his parents. In 1916 he brilliantly graduated from college and entered the shipbuilding department of the Petrograd Polytechnic Institute. However, World War I ruined all plans for peaceful life. In December 1916, Leonid Govorov was drafted into the army and sent to study at the Konstantinovsky Artillery School. So he became a cadet. He met the February Revolution in Petrograd, and October 1917 - in Siberia, in the city of Tomsk, where he served in a mortar battery with the rank of second lieutenant.

After the abolition old army Govorov was demobilized and returned to Yelabuga, to his parents. After the capture of the city by the troops of Admiral Kolchak, he was again drafted into the army - now into the white one. He was enlisted in the battery of the 8th Kama Rifle Division. As part of the Kolchak troops, Leonid Alexandrovich was until October 1919 (due to service in the White Army, Govorov remained non-partisan for a long time, until 1942). Then Govorov with part of the soldiers of his battery left the ranks of the White Army. Hiding from the White Guards, he managed to get to Tomsk. Soon the city was liberated by the Red Army, and Govorov voluntarily joins its ranks. He became a fighter of the 51st Infantry Division under the command of V.K. Blucher. Govorov formed an artillery battalion, which he headed.

For almost ten years, the fate of Leonid Alexandrovich was closely connected with this part. He fought against the white army of Wrangel, stormed Kakhovka and Perekop, was wounded twice. Govorov went from division commander to division artillery chief. For great courage and courage shown in the battles against the Russian army of Wrangel during the Perekop-Chongar operation, in 1921 Leonid Aleksandrovich Govorov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. During the years of the Civil War, Govorov proved to be an excellent combat officer, an excellent specialist in artillery matters, an honest and modest person.

L. A. Govorov with his wife. 1923

Before the Great War

After the end of the Civil War, having practical skills in the use of artillery, as well as deep knowledge common tactics, being a demanding and attentive commander, Govorov holds the positions of chief of artillery of the 51st Perekop Rifle Division, commander of an artillery regiment, chief of artillery of a fortified area, and then chief of artillery of the 14th and 15th rifle corps.

Leonid Aleksandrovich presented high requirements to vocational training not only to subordinates, but first of all to yourself. Despite the heavy workload, he is actively engaged in his education. In 1926 he graduated from the Artillery advanced training courses for officers. In 1933 he graduated in absentia military academy them. M. V. Frunze. In addition, he independently studies German and takes exams for a military translator. In 1936, Govorov became a student of the Academy of the General Staff, in the same year he was awarded the rank of brigade commander. In 1938, before graduating from the academy, he was appointed as a teacher of tactics at the F. E. Dzerzhinsky Artillery Academy. Govorov managed to prove himself in a new capacity, and in the next year, 1939, he received the academic title of associate professor. His scientific work was devoted to a very topical topic and was called "Attack and breakthrough of the fortified area." It is worth noting that Govorov seemed dry and restrained, did not like everyday conversations, but he changed as soon as the conversation touched on military topics. On the podium, in front of the audience, he completely became a different person, a real speaker. It was not for nothing that many teachers of the academy came to listen to the lectures of Associate Professor Govorov!

In 1940, he was appointed to the post of chief of staff of artillery of the 7th Army. Northwestern Front and took part in the war with Finland. Here he managed to apply his theoretical developments in organizing and breaking through a fortified area in practice - on the "Mannerheim Line". For the successful actions of the army and personal military merit, Govorov received the extraordinary rank of division commander and was awarded the Order of the Red Star. In the same year, during recertification, he was awarded the rank of major general of artillery, and he was appointed to the post of inspector general of artillery of the Main Artillery Directorate of the Red Army (GAU RKKA). In May 1941, a month before the start of the war, he headed the Artillery Academy. Dzerzhinsky.

The Great Patriotic War

With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, Leonid Alexandrovich Govorov was appointed chief of artillery of the western strategic direction, and later of the Reserve Front. In this position, he is actively involved in the creation of an anti-tank defense system, the preparation of the Yelninskaya offensive operation. In the battles near Yelnya, he established himself not only as a talented artilleryman, but also as a commander, brilliantly versed in the preparation of combined arms operations.

Since October 1941, Govorov has been deputy commander of the Mozhaisk line of defense. In the same month, on the recommendation of the Military Council of the Western Front, Govorov was appointed commander of the 5th Army, replacing the seriously wounded General D. D. Lelyushenko. The situation was critical, German mobile formations were rushing towards Moscow. German command hoped that the fall of the Soviet capital would lead to the defeat of the USSR in the war. The main burden of the fight against German tanks fell on the artillery. In this regard, the knowledge and experience of Leonid Aleksandrovich acquired special value in the eyes of the High Command. From the first days of his new appointment, Govorov deeply and competently delves into all the details of operational formation, gives specific advice on the use of anti-tank artillery and coordination of its actions with tanks and infantry, confirming that he can not only control artillery, but also be a good combined arms commander .

On October 16, 1941, Leonid Govorov signed his first order to the troops as commander of the 5th Army. Govorov's army closed the path to the enemy in the Mozhaisk direction. Govorov's troops entered the battle with the Germans on the famous Borodino field. For five days, the German troops were detained by the 5th Army on the field of Russian glory in 1812. All persistent attempts by the enemy to reach the Mozhaisk area were repulsed with significant damage to the Germans. Only five days later the city was abandoned. Big role skillfully organized anti-tank defensive fortifications and strongholds located in the most probable directions of action of enemy armored groups played in this battle. Along with regimental and divisional artillery, they also contained tanks that operated from ambushes. Tank destroyer teams of 12-15 people were formed in the units, armed with anti-tank grenades and bottles of combustible mixture. Artillery was also widely involved in the fight against tanks, which fired from closed firing positions. Along with the great attention was given to the construction of various barriers - minefields, anti-tank ditches, scarps and counterscarps, mined forest blockages, etc.

In the most difficult situation, Govorov proved to be a resolute and enterprising commander, who firmly and clearly controlled the troops both on the defensive and on the offensive. After the capture of Mozhaisk by the Germans, another division was placed at the disposal of the army commander. He was given the task of counterattacking the enemy and returning the captured Mozhaisk. However, soberly assessing the situation, Govorov understood that these forces were clearly not enough to fight for the return of the city. The army will be exhausted by fruitless attacks and will not be able to hold back the onslaught of the enemy in the future. He was able to convince High Command and was able to withdraw his units in an organized manner to new fortified lines, preventing the enemy from surrounding them and destroying them individually. In the first half of November, the troops of the 5th Army organized a defense in depth on the outskirts of Moscow, supported by a powerful artillery barrier and maneuverable anti-tank detachments, and prepared forces and means for a subsequent counteroffensive. On November 9, L. A. Govorov was awarded the rank of lieutenant general of artillery, and on November 10 he was awarded the Order of Lenin.

In early December 1941, German troops struck at the joint between the 5th and neighboring 33rd armies, trying to reach the Minsk-Moscow highway. General Govorov immediately left for the village of Akulovo, where the situation was most critical. Then he quickly transferred there parts of the infantry, sappers, anti-tank artillery. The Germans desperately rushed forward - it seemed to them that victory was close. The bitterness reached such an intensity that even the staff officers who accompanied General Govorov took part in the battles. It was then that G.K. Zhukov appreciated the steadfastness of the commander of the 5th Army. “Sit down like Govorov,” he told the commanders, demanding to stubbornly defend the occupied lines. For two days a fierce battle raged near Akulovo. Having achieved nothing, the Germans decided on December 4 to try their luck near the village of Golitsyno. The result was the same, and the next day the counteroffensive of the Soviet troops near Moscow began.

At the beginning of the Soviet counter-offensive near Moscow, Govorov's 5th Army was given the task of pinning down the enemy forces in its area and preventing the transfer of additional divisions to the direction of the strike groups of Soviet troops north and south of Moscow. In accordance with this, the troops of the 5th Army, with their center and left flank, were to advance around Mozhaisk from the south, closely interacting with the neighboring 33rd Army. When the Germans managed to stop her offensive, Govorov, having taken the initiative, skillfully regrouped his forces and means to his right flank. Later, having entered into interaction with the 16th army of K.K. Rokossovsky, he managed to achieve significant success and, regrouping the shock forces again, developed an offensive on the left flank, which led to the liberation of the city of Ruza.

On January 2, L. A. Govorov was awarded the second Order of Lenin for his contribution to the December counteroffensive near Moscow. In the combat characteristics of the commander of the 5th Army, L. A. Govorov, signed by the commander of the troops of the Western Front, General of the Army G. K. Zhukov and a member of the Military Council of the Front, I. S. Khokhlov, dated January 28, 1942, it was noted: “Lieutenant General Comrade . Govorov has been in command of the Fifth Army since October 18, 1941. Mozhaiskaya and Zvenigorodskaya defensive operations carried out successfully. It conducts well offensive operations to defeat the Mozhaisk-Gzhatsk enemy grouping. Well-prepared operationally and tactically. The main disadvantage of Comrade. Govorov is a certain dispersion along the entire front and a lack of skill in gathering a fist for a strike action ... Comrade. Govorov firm will, demanding, energetic, brave and organized commander of the troops."

Govorov had one very interesting feature- He liked to work with maps of the situation and had the gift of foresight. As he recalled in the book “Operation Iskra” former member Military Council of the 5th Army P.F. Ivanov: “Govorov’s ability to read a map of the situation was unique. Using it, he unraveled the plans of the enemy, before his eyes, she seemed to come to life with her rivers and the forces and means of the enemy. He will cast a spell over the map and say: "Tomorrow the Nazis will climb out of here." He was rarely wrong in his predictions. To reflect, to conjure over the map became Govorov's inalienable need. He loved in the late hours, dropping day cares, to bend over the map of hostilities. Govorov these qualities were called "pharmacist", referring to his mathematical scrupulousness even in small things and corrosiveness when studying the situation, when he needed to understand the enemy's plan.

Lieutenant General of Artillery Leonid Alexandrovich Govorov at his desk. Leningrad Front

Leningrad

In the spring of 1942, Leonid Alexandrovich was appointed commander of a group of troops of the Leningrad Front, and in June - commander of the troops of this front. During the heroic defense of the city, which lasted 900 days, the city was defended for 670 days under the direct leadership of Govorov.

The task of strengthening the outer defensive lines of the front was solved by creating five field fortified areas on the near approaches to Leningrad and placing separate artillery and machine-gun battalions in them. At the same time, Leonid Alexandrovich achieved the improvement of the previously built defensive lines, the construction of new cut-off positions and communications. In Leningrad, the commander of the LF for the first time on the scale of the front used a system of continuous trenches, linking the defensive fortifications into a single whole. He also overhauled the mortar system. This gave stability to the defense, ensured covert maneuver of forces and means along the front and from the depths, and made it possible to quickly concentrate troops on various directions when there is a threat of attack. All this dramatically reduced the loss of troops from enemy artillery and mortar fire. In addition, such a defense made it possible to switch part of the enemy’s fire from the city to the outer fortification line, which, in turn, saved the lives of many Leningraders and saved a large number of monuments of architecture of the second capital of the USSR.

Leningrad itself was divided into seven parts - seven combat sectors of defense. A commander was appointed in each sector, who was responsible for preparing city blocks for defense against enemy troops. At the same time, the front commander did everything to ensure that the internal defense forces, if necessary, were able to independently repel the offensive of the German troops. In this regard, all sectors were equipped with weapons and military equipment. Thousands of defensive structures were built in the city, united into dozens of defense units. Thus, Leningrad turned into a gigantic fortified area. The commander supervised the course of work personally. Clever girl, - they talked about Govorov in the troops. - The hand is heavy, and the head is light.

Leonid Alexandrovich, being a professional artilleryman, was a master of fire destruction of the enemy, organization combat use large masses of artillery to solve a wide variety of tasks. It was the Soviet artillery, having disrupted the assault on the city, that forced the enemy to switch to positional defense. Then she successfully resisted long-range enemy batteries that kept the city at gunpoint. The actions of artillery were of paramount importance even when the Soviet troops who went on the offensive had to break into reinforced concrete fortifications, deeply echeloned defensive lines that the Germans equipped around Leningrad. The Komfronta took all possible measures to neutralize the enemy's long-range artillery. For counter-battery combat, the Front Commander allocated two aviation corrective squadrons to the artillery headquarters, which made it possible to significantly increase the accuracy of firing at German batteries. The combined strikes of the bomber and attack aviation. At the same time, Govorov managed to implement a plan to push the positions of heavy artillery far ahead. Some of the guns were thrown over The Gulf of Finland to the Oranienbaum bridgehead. The firing range was increased, which made it possible to fire on the flank and rear of the German group.

Govorov creatively solved the issue of centralizing the control of air defense systems, which significantly increased the effectiveness of the fight against enemy aircraft. The efforts of front-line, army and naval aviation were united through the creation of operational air groups, which contributed to the massive use of aviation in decisive areas. The front commander also paid much attention to organizing the interaction of troops with the Baltic Fleet and the Ladoga military flotilla.

Later, having solved the problem of defending the city and turning it into a huge fortified area, the commander's work was aimed at breaking the blockade. At the end of October, Govorov began to develop a new operation. On November 25, the preparation of front units for the upcoming hostilities begins. On December 2, the plan for the operation, called the Iskra, was approved by the Headquarters. The purpose of the operation is to cut through the enemy grouping in the area of ​​​​the Sinyavino ledge with counter strikes from the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts, connect south of Lake Ladoga and break through the blockade of Leningrad.

On January 12, 1943, with massive artillery preparation, the assault on the bank of the Neva occupied by the enemy began. Enemy coastal emplacements were destroyed by direct fire. Then four divisions entered the ice of the Neva at the same time. In the center was the 136th division of General N.P. Simonyak, carefully prepared in the exercises. She was entrusted with the most responsible task, and the result of the entire battle depended on the success of her actions. Not everything went smoothly, the Germans threw more and more new reserves into battle. Govorov contrasted this with a continuous increase in the strength of air and artillery strikes. In order not to disturb the ice cover on the Neva during its crossing, the suppression of the German defense, the destruction of enemy strongholds and structures on cutting edge carried out exclusively by the fire of guns allocated for direct fire. Such an original method of artillery preparation for the attack made it possible not only to preserve the ice, but also gave excellent results in the destruction of fire weapons, enemy manpower and the destruction of his fortifications on the front line and in close proximity to it.

The offensive of the Soviet divisions lasted seven days, the battles were fought day and night. The troops managed to advance only 1-2 kilometers during the day. The German defense was literally gnawed through. Very slowly, the troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts moved towards each other. On January 18, 1943, they joined in the area of ​​workers' settlements No. 1 and 5. The blockade of Leningrad was broken. Thus, for the first time in the course of the Great Patriotic War, our troops managed to break through the heavily fortified enemy defenses. As early as January 15, L. A. Govorov was awarded the rank of Colonel General. On January 28, Govorov was awarded the Order of Suvorov, I degree.

However, the German troops were still standing under the walls of Leningrad, the battle continued. Immediately after the successful completion of the operation, preparations began for decisive battles on the complete defeat of the German troops near Leningrad. Govorov prepared for the offensive operation of the troops of the Leningrad Front in January 1944 as carefully as he did for breaking the blockade. In September, a plan was presented to the Stavka for the Leningrad-Novgorod strategic operation, developed with the active participation of L. A. Govorov. According to the plan of this operation, the LF troops were supposed to carry out the complete removal of the blockade and liberate the territory of the Leningrad Region from enemy units. Komfront decided to abandon traditional principle breaking through the enemy defenses in the most weak point and chose the most powerful section of the German defense for the main attack. He explained his decision by the conditions of the terrain and further prospects for the development of the offensive. Defending the future plan of the operation, Leonid Aleksandrovich noted that it would be easier to break through the defenses in the weakest sector, but then it would become difficult for the troops to move in marshy terrain and it would not be possible to develop a quick offensive. In the meantime, the Germans will be able to organize a new powerful line of defense, which will have to be broken through again. It will be more difficult to break through a stronger line of defense (Krasnoye Selo), but the capture of this area will make it possible to develop an offensive against Gatchina and will allow two German armies to strike at the rear at once. In November 1943, in the midst of preparations for the operation, Govorov was promoted to the rank of army general.

On January 14, the troops of the Leningrad Front launched the Leningrad-Novgorod operation. During the offensive, the LF broke through the enemy's defenses in depth, defeating the Peterhof-Strelna grouping. By January 27, enemy troops were pushed back 65-100 km from the city. On January 27, fireworks took place in Leningrad to commemorate the final lifting of the blockade, and Leonid Alexandrovich Govorov gave the order to hold the fireworks on behalf of Stalin. Developing the offensive, the troops of the Leningrad Front under the command of Army General Govorov traveled about 100-120 km, reaching the Narva River and seizing a bridgehead on the western bank of the river. During this operation, the German 18th Army of Army Group North was almost completely defeated. For success in carrying out the operation to lift the blockade of Leningrad, on February 21, Govorov was awarded the second Order of Suvorov, 1st degree. By March 1, the troops of the Leningrad Front during the offensive went west about 220-280 km. In the course, the Leningrad region and part of the Kalinin region were almost completely liberated.

End of the war

On June 10, the Leningrad Front, along with the Karelian Front, the Baltic Fleet, the Ladoga and Onega Flotillas, began the Vyborg-Petrozavodsk operation with the aim of withdrawing fascist Finland from the war. The enemy defense system on the Karelian Isthmus here had a depth of up to 100 kilometers and was equipped with all modern views fortifications, had a number of nodes of resistance, a large number of pillboxes and other fortifications. However, in the first day, Soviet troops broke through the enemy defenses on a 20-kilometer front. When planning the operation, Govorov abandoned the traditional two-echelon formation of troops, since the conditions of the terrain did not allow complex maneuvers and deep strikes by large mobile formations. Instead of the second echelon, a strong front-line reserve of ten rifle divisions, several tank and artillery units was created. All this made it possible to concentrate the main forces on the first powerful blow and, when approaching a new enemy defensive line, maintain an advantage in people and equipment.

On June 14, the second line of defense of the Finnish army - the new "Mannerheim Line" - was also broken through as a result of a second attack with the support of all artillery and bomber aviation. Soviet troops reached the state border with Finland and took Vyborg. For the successes achieved on June 18, L. A. Govorov was awarded the title of Marshal of the Soviet Union. During subsequent hostilities Finnish army was finally defeated, and the Finnish government began to seek peace with the USSR.

From July 24 to November 24, units of the Leningrad Front, carrying out the Narva, Tallinn offensive and Moonsund landing operations developed under the leadership of Govorov, defeated the German operational group Narva and drove the enemy out of Estonian territory. Until the end of the Great Patriotic War, Govorov remained commander of the Leningrad Front. Since October 1944, he simultaneously coordinated the actions of his own, as well as the 2nd and 3rd Baltic fronts, being a representative of the Stavka Supreme High Command. The 2nd and 3rd Baltic fronts carried out a blockade of the grouping of German troops in Courland. In January 1945, Leonid Alexandrovich Govorov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for his military merits during the war years.

May 8 command German band armies "Courland" accepted the terms of the Soviet ultimatum and capitulated. Govorov accepted the surrender of the enemy. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of May 31, 1945, Leonid Aleksandrovich Govorov was awarded the Order of Victory for the defeat of German troops near Leningrad and in the Baltic states. On June 24, 1945, Marshal of the Soviet Union L. A. Govorov solemnly led the combined regiment of the Leningrad Front along the cobblestones of Red Square.

Marshals L. A. Govorov and N. N. Voronov with a group of generals in Leningrad

After the war

In the post-war period, Leonid Aleksandrovich continued to work hard for the good of the Motherland, strengthening its defenses. On July 9, he was appointed commander of the troops of the Leningrad Military District, formed on the basis of the Leningrad Front. From April 1946 - Chief Inspector of the Ground Forces. From January 1947, he held the post of chief inspector of the Armed Forces of the USSR, and from July 7, 1948, he combined this position with the position of commander of the country's air defense.

Air Defense Forces organizationally took shape as independent view armed forces of the country postwar period namely, since 1948. And Govorov became the first commander of the air defense forces. In addition to this new appointment, from May 1950 he simultaneously served as Deputy Minister of War of the USSR. In May 1954, Govorov became commander-in-chief of the country's air defense forces - deputy minister of defense. Leonid Aleksandrovich worked in this position until the end of his life, and in the air defense forces he was called commander-in-chief No. 1. Under his leadership, a structural reorganization of the control of the air defense forces is being carried out in the Soviet Union, anti-aircraft missile systems, jet fighters, the latest radar stations.

During this period, Leonid Govorov was already seriously ill with hypertension, the harsh everyday life of his life affected. The first blow came in the summer of 1954. Already being mortally ill, the marshal worked and performed his official duties. On March 19, 1955, after a severe long illness, Leonid Aleksandrovich Govorov died. The urn with his ashes is buried in the Kremlin wall.

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