Alexander Vasilevsky Russian Commander-in-Chief, Marshal of the Soviet Union, military leader. Among Vasilevsky's numerous awards is the double title of Hero of the Soviet Union, he was also a holder of two Orders of Victory.
Childhood[]
Vasilevsky was born in the fall of 1985 in the village of Novaya Golchikha in the Kostroma province. Interestingly, the father of the future Soviet military leader was a psalmist and church regent. Alexandra's mother also belonged to a family of churchmen - her father was a psalmist. Alexander was the fourth of eight children of a large Vasilevsky family. In 1897, the family decided to move to the village of Novopokrovskoye, where the father began to happen at the local church. In the future, Alexander began to study at the parochial school at this church. In 1909, the young man graduated from the theological school and began to study at the seminary. After graduating from the seminary, Alexander had the opportunity to receive a secular education.
Military career[]
Alexander did not at all plan to become a military man, much closer to him were the professions of a land surveyor or an agronomist. However, the outbreak of the First World War radically changed his future plans for life. Before graduating from the seminary, the young man passed his exams as an external student and soon began to study at a military school. In the spring of 1915, the future military leader underwent an accelerated course of military training and went to the front with the rank of ensign. At the front, he was entrusted with the position of half-company company commander. A year later, he received a promotion and became a company commander, which was soon recognized as one of the best in the regiment. In this position, the young soldier received the Order of St. Anne, and after some time he was awarded the Order of St. Stanislaus.
Vasilevsky took part in the Brusilovsky breakthrough, when, as a result of a large number of casualties among the officers, Alexander was appointed commander of the battalion. The man received the rank of staff captain.
In one of the orders of that time, a description of the feat of Vasilevsky was preserved, for which he was awarded the soldier's St. George's Cross. In July 1917, a young military man, under heavy fire from the enemy, showed courage, commanding first a company, and then a battalion. The man did not get lost, he only went forward, encouraging other soldiers and officers. So in a few years, Vasilevsky was able to turn from a former seminarian into one of the most promising military personnel in tsarist Russia.
The news of the beginning of the October Revolution caught Alexander when he was in Romania. The man decided to leave the military service and soon goes on vacation. While at home, Vasilevsky learned that the soldiers of the 409th regiment had elected him as their commander. In those years, this regiment was part of the Romanian Front, which was led by General Shcherbachev. The general was an ally of the Central Rada, which stood up for the independence of Ukraine from the Soviet Union. Vasilevsky received a recommendation not to return to the regiment, so he spent the year 1918 in his parents' house, doing agriculture.
For several months, Vasilevsky worked as a hundred instructor of general education, in the fall he began working as a teacher in elementary schools. A year later, he was drafted into the Red Army, where he was sent to the 4th reserve battalion. Here Alexander was appointed to the position of assistant platoon commander. A month later, he was equipped to command a detachment of 100 people. The detachment was engaged in the fight against gangs, and also carried out surplus appropriation.
In 1919, the battalion was transferred to Tula, where it joined the ranks of the 1st Tula Rifle Division. Vasilevsky was first appointed company commander, and then battalion commander. In the autumn of this year, the man was appointed commander of the 5th Infantry Regiment, who was never destined to take part in hostilities with Denikin's troops. In December of this year, the division was "transferred" to the Western Front, where it was engaged in the fight against the invaders.
At his personal request, Vasilevsky was transferred to the post of assistant regiment commander. Soon, as part of the 15th Army, the man fought in the war with Poland. In 1920, Alexander was transferred to the 48th Infantry Division, where he had served before. Until mid-August, he was in Vilna, where he served in the garrison as part of the division. After that, Vasilevsky again participated in the hostilities against the Polish troops in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. Here, a conflict occurred between Alexander and brigade commander Kalnin. Kalnin ordered Alexander to take command of the 427th Regiment, which retreated in a panic. No one knew the exact location of the regiment, and the deadlines that Kalnin set for Vasilevsky seemed insufficient to the latter. Alexander reported that he would not be able to fulfill the order on time. First, the brigade commander sent Vasilevsky to the tribunal, and then returned him, but disbanded him to the platoon commander. Subsequently, as investigations showed, the order of the brigade commander was canceled, and Vasilevsky was temporarily appointed to the post of assistant commander of a separate battalion.
After the war, Vasilevsky participated in the fight against the Bulak-Balakhovich detachment, then he actively worked to eliminate the bandits in the Smolensk province. For the next ten years, the man commanded three regiments of the 48th Infantry Division, and was even the head of a divisional school for junior commanders.
In 1927, Vasilevsky graduated from the shooting and tactical courses for the command staff. In the summer of the following year, his regiment was singled out during the exercises by a special inspector group. In 1930, thanks to the efforts of Vasilevsky, the regiment, which was considered one of the least trained, received first place and excellent marks during maneuvers. The excellent service of the military allowed him to receive a transfer to the staff service. Soon Vasilevsky joined the party bureau at the regiment, his application was granted, and the man became a candidate member of the party.
Since a purge of the party was carried out in subsequent years, Vasilevsky spent several years as a candidate for the party. Only in 1938 did the man receive a party card, when he was already working in the General Staff. In his autobiography for that year, Vasilevsky wrote about himself that his connection with his parents was lost as early as 1924. Two years later, at the personal suggestion of Stalin, the man was able to restore relations with his parents.
Since the spring of 1931, Vasilevsky served in the Combat Training Directorate of the Red Army, where he edited the Combat Training Bulletin. He also helped the editors of a magazine called "Military Bulletin". In addition, the man took part in the creation of a series of instructions for the conduct of hostilities for various types of troops.
In the period from 1934 to 1936, he was listed as the head of the combat training department at the Volga Military District. In 1936, Vasilevsky received the rank of colonel, he was soon enrolled in Military Academy of the General Staff. After graduating from the academy, the man was appointed head of the logistics department, then he received a new appointment and was appointed head of the 1st department of the General Staff. A few years later, Vasilevsky received the rank of brigade commander. Around this time, he worked in the commission for analyzing the actions of the Red Army during the fighting on the territory near Lake Khasan. In the 39th year, the man took the place of deputy head of the Operations Directorate at the General Staff.
Vasilevsky took part in the development of a plan for war with Finland, which was later rejected by Stalin. During the war with Finland, the man took over the duties of the first deputy chief of the General Staff Smorodinov. In 1940, the man became the head of the government commission to determine the new border between the USSR and Finland, and also took part in negotiations with the Finnish side on the signing of a peace treaty. In the spring of 1940, Vasilevsky became the first deputy head of the Operations Directorate, receiving the rank of division commander.
Around the same time, Vasilevsky took part in the development of the operational plan of action of the Red Army in the western, northwestern and northern directions, if Germany began hostilities. In November 1940, Alexander was part of a delegation led by Molotov in Berlin to negotiate with Germany.
During the Great Patriotic War, Vasilevsky was appointed Deputy Chief of the General Staff and was concurrently the Chief of the Operations Directorate. He was also a member of the group of representatives of the GKO during the Battle of Moscow and was among those who ensured the dispatch of troops that emerged from the encirclement and retreated to the Mozhaisk defensive line. Vasilevsky made a huge contribution to the organization of the defense of Moscow and the further counteroffensive. At a critical moment, when the General Staff was evacuated, he became the head of the operational group to serve the Headquarters. The responsibilities of this group included the need for a correct assessment of events at the front, informing the Headquarters of all changes on the front line.
In October, the professional activities of Vasilevsky and his colleagues were well appreciated by Stalin and Alexander was awarded the rank of lieutenant general. In 1941, in connection with the illness of Boris Shaposhnikov, Vasilevsky was appointed to the post of Chief of the General Staff. The man had to take on all the stages of preparing the counteroffensive near Moscow, which began on December 5, 1941.
The counteroffensive was carried out by the troops of the Kalinin Front. In the spring of 1942, Vasilevsky was a representative of the Headquarters on the North-Western Front, where he helped in the liquidation of the Demyansk bridgehead. Soon, due to Shaposhnikov's illness, the man was again appointed chief of the General Staff. In April, he received a new rank - Colonel General.
Due to the breakthrough of the Crimean Front by the German troops, Vasilevsky was recalled to Moscow. Soon, due to being surrounded by Vlasov's army, Vasilevsky was sent to Malaya Vishera. Alexander's responsibilities included the withdrawal of troops from the encirclement. In the summer of 1942, Vasilevsky was again appointed Chief of the General Staff, while at the same time he was Deputy People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR. After some time, he became the representative of the Stavka on the Stalingrad front.
It is interesting that Vasilevsky made a great contribution to the development of military art. Thanks to the military, a plan for the counteroffensive near Stalingrad was developed and prepared. Vasilevsky was supposed to coordinate the offensive, at which time Zhukov received a referral to the Western Front. The counteroffensive was successfully carried out, after which Vasilevsky took up the elimination of opponents in the Stalingrad cauldron. However, he did not have time to complete the task and was urgently transferred to the southwest to repel the actions of the Manstein group.
In the winter of 1943, Vasilevsky coordinated the offensive of the Soviet troops on the Upper Don. Already in February of this year, he received the rank of Marshal, which was unusual, because about a month ago Vasilevsky had already been awarded the rank of General of the Army.
On the personal instructions of the Headquarters, Vasilevsky began to coordinate the actions of the Steppe and Voronezh fronts during the Battle of Kursk. He was in charge of planning and operations to liberate Donbass, conducted operations to liberate Crimea and right-bank Ukraine. In April 1944, he was awarded the Order of Victory, which became the second in a row since the establishment of the award - the first order was awarded to Zhukov.
After the liberation of Sevastopol, Vasilevsky decided to explore the surroundings of the city. As a result, his car, while crossing the German trench, ran into a mine and an explosion occurred. Vasilevsky bruised his head and received minor cuts from fragments of the windshield of the car. His driver injured his leg. Alexander was advised to stay in bed.
In the future, Vasilevsky took up coordinating the actions of the 3rd Belorussian and 1st Baltic fronts. On June 10, he also took control of the operations of the 2nd Baltic Front. Alexander was engaged in coordinating the actions of the fronts until the liberation of the Baltic states. Soon he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, he also received the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal.
Stalin personally directed and planned the East Prussian operation. At this time, Vasilevsky worked in the Baltics. However, in connection with the departure of Stalin to the Yalta Conference, Vasilevsky returned to the duties of Chief of the General Staff. In addition, he took the post of Deputy People's Commissar of Defense and led the East Prussian operation. On February 18, a conversation took place between Vasilevsky and Stalin. Vasilevsky asked Stalin to release him from work in the General Staff, since Alexander was busy at the front most of the time.
On the same day, news came to Moscow of the death of Chernyakhovsky, who led the 3rd Belorussian Front. In connection with this news, Stalin decided to appoint Vasilevsky to command the front, in addition, Alexander became a member of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command. While in this position, Vasilevsky carried out the assault on Koenigsberg. On April 19, Vasilevsky received the second Order of Victory. After that, he conducted the Zemland operation, as a result of which the German military group in East Prussia was defeated. On April 26, Soviet troops took the fortress city of Pillau.
Vasilevsky took part in the war with Japan. In the summer of 1944, Stalin told the marshal about his plans to appoint Alexander commander-in-chief of the Soviet troops in the Far East. Stalin's plan was to be realized after the end of the war with Nazi Germany. Vasilevsky began to develop a plan for a war with Japan. Soon, on June 27, a plan for the Manchurian offensive operation was prepared, which received the approval of the State Committee for Defense and Headquarters. In the summer of 1945, under the name of Vasiliev and in the uniform of a colonel general, Vasilevsky arrived in Chita. Soon he was appointed commander in chief in the Far East. During the preparatory operation, the marshal inspected the positions of the Soviet troops and got acquainted with their command. Soon, the deadlines for completing the assigned tasks were taken into account and reduced, including the withdrawal of troops to the Manchurian Plain. In the early morning of August 9, 1945, Vasilevsky led the troops of the Soviet Union.
It took Vasilevsky only 24 days to defeat the millionth army of the enemy. In the same year, Alexander received the second Gold Star medal. After the end of hostilities, Vasilevsky took the post of chief of the General Staff, and then deputy minister of the Armed Forces, then he took the post of minister.
The biography of Alexander Vasilevsky changed dramatically after Stalin's death. Since March 1953, the man was appointed First Deputy Minister of Defense, but already on March 15, the man decided of his own free will to leave his post.
In the 56th year, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Defense of the country, already in December of the following year, he received his resignation due to illness. The man retained the right to wear a military uniform and all insignia. However, in the winter of 1959, Vasilevsky became the general inspector of the Group of General Inspectors of the Moscow Region. He was repeatedly elected a deputy of the Supreme Council, served as the first chairman of the committee of war veterans.
Death[]
Vasilevsky died in December 1977 and was cremated.
The urn with the ashes of the marshal was immured in the Kremlin wall.