Great War Rating. Who are the best army commanders of the Red Army? Great commanders of the Great Patriotic War Soviet infantry commanders of the Second World War

The creator of victory in the Great Patriotic War was the Soviet people. But to implement his efforts, to protect the Fatherland on the battlefields, a high level of military art of the Armed Forces was required, which was supported by the military leadership talent of the military leaders.

The operations carried out by our military leaders in the last war are now being studied in all military academies around the world. And if we talk about assessing their courage and talent, here is one of them, short but expressive: “As a soldier who observed the campaign of the Red Army, I was filled with the deepest admiration for the skill of its leaders.” This was said by Dwight Eisenhower, a man who understood the art of war.

The harsh school of war selected and assigned the most outstanding commanders to the positions of front commanders by the end of the war.

The main features of military leadership talent Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov(1896-1974) - creativity, innovation, ability to make decisions unexpected for the enemy. He was also distinguished by his deep intelligence and insight. According to Machiavelli, “nothing makes a great commander like the ability to penetrate the enemy’s plans.” This ability of Zhukov played especially important role during the defense of Leningrad and Moscow, when, with extremely limited forces, only through good reconnaissance and anticipation of possible directions of enemy attacks, he was able to collect almost all available means and repel enemy attacks.

Another outstanding military leader of the strategic plan was Alexander Mikhailovich Vasilevsky(1895-1977). Being the chief of the General Staff for 34 months during the war, A. M. Vasilevsky was in Moscow for only 12 months, at the General Staff, and was at the fronts for 22 months. G.K. Zhukov and A.M. Vasilevsky had developed strategic thinking and a deep understanding of the situation. It was this circumstance that led to the same assessment of the situation and the development of far-sighted and informed decisions on the counter-offensive operation at Stalingrad, to the transition to strategic defense on the Kursk Bulge and in a number of other cases .

An invaluable quality of Soviet commanders was their ability to take reasonable risks. This trait of military leadership was noted, for example, among Marshal Konstantin Konstantinovich Rokossovsky(1896-1968). One of the remarkable pages of the military leadership of K. K. Rokossovsky is the Belarusian operation, in which he commanded the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front.

An important feature of military leadership is intuition, which makes it possible to achieve surprise in a strike. Possessed this rare quality Konev Ivan Stepanovich(1897-1973). His talent as a commander was most convincingly and clearly demonstrated in offensive operations, during which many brilliant victories were won. At the same time, he always tried not to get involved in protracted battles in big cities and forced the enemy to leave the city with roundabout maneuvers. This allowed him to reduce the losses of his troops and prevent great destruction and casualties among the civilian population.

If I. S. Konev showed his best leadership qualities in offensive operations, then Andrey Ivanovich Eremenko(1892-1970) - in defensive.

A characteristic feature of a real commander is the originality of his plans and actions, his departure from the template, and military cunning, in which the great commander A.V. Suvorov succeeded. distinguished by these qualities Malinovsky Rodion Yakovlevich(1898-1967). Throughout almost the entire war, a remarkable feature of his talent as a commander was that in the plan of each operation he included some unexpected method of action for the enemy, and was able to mislead the enemy with a whole system of well-thought-out measures.

Having experienced the full wrath of Stalin in the first days of the terrible failures at the fronts, Timoshenko Semyon Konstantinovich asked to be directed to the most dangerous area. Subsequently, the marshal commanded strategic directions and fronts. Under his command, heavy defensive battles took place on the territory of Belarus in July - August 1941. His name is associated with the heroic defense of Mogilev and Gomel, counterattacks near Vitebsk and Bobruisk. Under the leadership of Tymoshenko, the largest and most stubborn battle of the first months of the war unfolded - Smolensk. In July 1941, Western troops under the command of Marshal Timoshenko stopped the advance of Army Group Center.

Troops under the command of a marshal Ivan Khristoforovich Bagramyan actively participated in the defeat of the Germans - fascist troops on the Kursk Bulge, in the Belarusian, Baltic, East Prussian and other operations and in the capture of the Konigsberg fortress.

During the Great Patriotic War Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov commanded the 62nd (8th Guards) Army, which is forever inscribed in the chronicle of the heroic defense of the city of Stalingrad. Army commander Chuikov introduced a new tactics - tactics close combat. In Berlin, V.I. Chuikov was called: “General - Sturm.” After the victory in Stalingrad, the following operations were successfully carried out: Zaporozhye, crossing the Dnieper, Nikopol, Odessa, Lublin, crossing the Vistula, Poznan Citadel, Küstrin Fortress, Berlin, etc.

The youngest commander of the fronts of the Great Patriotic War was an army general Ivan Danilovich Chernyakhovsky. Chernyakhovsky’s troops took part in the liberation of Voronezh, Kursk, Zhitomir, Vitebsk, Orsha, Vilnius, Kaunas, and other cities, distinguished themselves in the battles for Kyiv, Minsk, were among the first to reach the border with Nazi Germany, and then defeated the Nazis in East Prussia.

During the Great Patriotic War Kirill Afanasyevich Meretskov commanded the troops of the northern directions. In 1941, Meretskov inflicted the first serious defeat of the war on the troops of Field Marshal Leeb near Tikhvin. On January 18, 1943, the troops of generals Govorov and Meretskov, delivering a counter strike near Shlisselburg (Operation Iskra), broke the blockade of Leningrad. In June 1944, under their command, Marshal K. Mannerheim was defeated in Karelia. In October 1944, Meretskov's troops defeated the enemy in the Arctic near Pechenga (Petsamo). In the spring of 1945, the “cunning Yaroslavets” (as Stalin called him) under the name of “General Maksimov” was sent to the Far East. In August-September 1945, his troops took part in the defeat of the Kwantung Army, breaking into Manchuria from Primorye and liberating areas of China and Korea.

Thus, during the Great Patriotic War, many remarkable leadership qualities were revealed among our military leaders, which made it possible to ensure the superiority of their military art over the military art of the Nazis.

In the books and magazine articles suggested below, you can learn more about these and other outstanding commanders of the Great Patriotic War, the creators of its Victory.

Bibliography

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Biography of Army General Ivan Danilovich Chernyakhovsky.

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What literature interested Ivan Khristoforovich Bagramyan, what was his reading range, his personal library - another touch in the portrait of the famous hero.

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The article talks about the outstanding Russian commander Marshal of the USSR G.K. Zhukov.

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The essay, dedicated to a prominent and talented military leader, contains fragments of the memories of those who fought side by side with I. A. Pliev during the Great Patriotic War.

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Berlin operation of Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov.

12. Kolpakov, A. V. In memory of the marshal-military leader and quartermaster [Text]/ A.V. Kolpakov // Military History Journal. - 2006. - N 6. - P. 64

About Karpov V.V. and Bagramyan I.Kh.

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14. Kormiltsev N.V. The collapse of the Wehrmacht offensive strategy [Text]: on the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Kursk / N.V. Kormiltsev // Military Historical Journal. - 2003. - N 8. - P. 2-5

Vasilevsky, A. M., Zhukov, G. K.

15. Korobushin, V.V. Marshal of the Soviet Union G.K. Zhukov: “General Govorov... has established himself... as a strong-willed, energetic commander” [Text] / V.V. Korobushin // Military Historical Journal. - 2005. - N 4. - P. 18-23

16. Kulakov, A. N. The duty and glory of Marshal G.K. Zhukov [Text] / A.N. Kulakov // Military History Journal. - 2007. - N 9. - P. 78-79.

17. Lebedev I. Order of Victory in the Eisenhower Museum // Echo of the Planet. - 2005. - N 13. - P. 33

On the mutual awarding of the highest state awards during the Second World War to major military leaders of the victorious countries.

18. Lubchenkov, Yuri Nikolaevich. The most famous commanders of Russia [Text] / Yuri Nikolaevich Lubchenkov - M.: Veche, 2000. - 638 p.

Yuri Lubchenkov's book "The Most Famous Commanders of Russia" ends with the names of the marshals of the Great Patriotic War Zhukov, Rokossovsky, Konev.

19. Maganov V. N.“This was one of our most capable chiefs of staff” [Text] / V.N. Maganov, V.T. Iminov // Military Historical Journal. - 2002. - N12 .- pp. 2-8

The activities of the chief of staff of the association, his role in the organization of military operations and command and control of the troops of Colonel General Leonid Mikhailovich Sandalov are considered.

20. Makar I. P.“By going over to a general offensive, we will finally finish off the main enemy group” [Text]: to the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Kursk / I. P. Makar // Military Historical Journal. - 2003. - N 7. - pp. 10-15

Vatutin N. F., Vasilevsky A. M., Zhukov G. K.

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About Marshal of the Soviet Union Ivan Stepanovich Konev - a man of difficult but amazing fate, one of the outstanding commanders of the 20th century.

22. Malashenko E. I. Warrior of the Vyatka Land [Text] / E. I. Malashenko // Military history magazine. - 2001. - N8 .- P.77

About Marshal I. S. Konev.

23. Malashenko, E. I. Commanders of the Great Patriotic War [Text] / E. I. Malashenko // Military History Journal. - 2005. - N 1. - P. 13-17

A study about the commanders of the Great Patriotic War, who played an important role in leading the troops.

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28. Malashenko, E. I. Commanders of the Great Patriotic War [Text] / E. I. Malashenko // Military History Journal. - 2005. - N 5. - P. 15-25

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Biography of Marshal of the Soviet Union Ivan Khristoforovich Bagramyan.

30. Artillery Strike Master[Text] / prepared material. R.I. Parfenov // Military History Journal. - 2007. - N 4. - S. 2nd from the region.

To the 110th anniversary of the birth of Marshal of Artillery V.I. Kazakov. short biography

31. Mertsalov A. Stalinism and war [Text] / A. Mertsalov // Motherland. - 2003. - N2 .- P.15-17

Stalin's leadership during the Great Patriotic War. Place of Zhukov G.K. in the leadership system.

32. "We are in vain now We’re fighting” [Text] // Motherland. - 2005. - N 4. - P. 88-97

Recording of a conversation between military leaders and political workers that took place on January 17, 1945 with General A. A. Epishev. The question of the possibility of ending the Great Patriotic War earlier was discussed. (Bagramyan, I. K., Zakharov, M. V., Konev, I. S., Moskalenko, K. S., Rokossovsky, K. K., Chuikov, V. I., Rotmistrov, P. A., Batitsky, P. F., Efimov, P. I., Egorov, N. V., etc.)

33. Nikolaev, I. General [Text] / I. Nikolaev // Star. - 2006. - N 2. - P. 105-147

About General Alexander Vasilyevich Gorbatov, whose life was inextricably linked with the army.

34. Order "Victory"[Text] // Motherland. - 2005. - N 4. - P. 129

On the establishment of the Order of "Victory" and the military leaders awarded to it (Zhukov, G.K., Vasilevsky A.M., Stalin I.V., Rokossovsky K.K., Konev, I.S., Malinovsky R.Ya., Tolbukhin F.I., Govorov L.A., Timoshenko S.K., Antonov A.I., Meretskov, K.A.)

35. Ostrovsky, A. V. Lvov-Sandomierz operation [Text] / A. V. Ostrovsky // Military History Journal. - 2003. - N 7. - P. 63

About the Lviv-Sandomierz operation of 1944 on the 1st Ukrainian Front, Marshal I. S. Konev.

36. Petrenko, V. M. Marshal of the Soviet Union K.K. Rokossovsky: “The front commander and the ordinary soldier at times have the same influence on success...” [Text] / V.M. Petrenko // Military Historical Journal. - 2005. - N 7. - P. 19-23

About one of the most prominent Soviet commanders - Konstantin Konstantinovich Rokossovsky.

37. Petrenko, V. M. Marshal of the Soviet Union K.K. Rokossovsky: “The front commander and the ordinary soldier at times have the same influence on success...” [Text] / V.M. Petrenko // Military Historical Journal. - 2005. - N 5. - P. 10-14

38. Pechenkin A. A. Front commanders of 1943 [Text] / Pechenkin A. A. // Military history magazine. - 2003. - N 10 . - pp. 9 -16

Military leaders of the Great Patriotic War: Bagramyan I. Kh., Vatutin N. F., Govorov L. A., Eremenko A. I., Konev I. S., Malinovsky R. Ya., Meretskov K. A., Rokossovsky K. K., Timoshenko S.K., Tolbukhin F.I.

39. Pechenkin A. A. Commanders of the fronts of 1941 [Text] / A. A. Pechenkin // Military History Journal. - 2001. - N6 .- P.3-13

The article talks about the generals and marshals who commanded the fronts from June 22 to December 31, 1941. These are Marshals of the Soviet Union S. M. Budyonny, K. E. Voroshilov, S. K. Timoshenko, Army Generals I. R. Apanasenko, G. K. Zhukov, K. A. Meretskov, D. G. Pavlov, I. V. Tyulenev, Colonel General A. I. Eremenko, M. P. Kirponos, I. S. Konev, F. I. Kuznetsov, Ya. T. Cherevichenko, Lieutenant General P. A. Artemyev, I. A. Bogdanov, M. G. Efremov, M. P. Kovalev, D. T. Kozlov, F. Ya. Kostenko, P. A. Kurochkin, R. Ya. Malinovsky, M. M. Popov, D. I. Ryabyshev, V. A. Frolov, M. S. Khozin, Major Generals G. F. Zakharov, P. P. Sobennikov and I. I. Fedyuninsky.

40. Pechenkin A. A. Front commanders of 1942 [Text] / A. A. Pechenkin // Military History Journal. - 2002. - N11 .- pp. 66-75

The article is dedicated to the commanders of the fronts of the Red Army in 1942. The author cites full list military leaders of 1942 (Vatutin, Govorov, Golikov Gordov, Rokossovsky, Chibisov).

41. Pechenkin, A. A. They gave their lives for the Motherland [Text] / A. A. Pechenkin // Military History Journal. - 2005. - N 5. - P. 39-43

About the losses of Soviet generals and admirals during the Great Patriotic War.

42. Pechenkin, A. A. Creators of the Great Victory [Text] / A. A. Pechenkin // Military History Journal. - 2007. - N 1. - P. 76

43. Pechenkin, A. A. Front commanders of 1944 [Text] / A. A. Pechenkin // Military History Journal. - 2005. - N 10. - P. 9-14

About the actions of the military leaders of the Red Army in offensive operations against the German invaders in 1944.

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About the fate of the commander of the Great Patriotic War Vasily Afanasyevich Khomenko.

46. Popova S. S. Military awards of Marshal of the Soviet Union R. Ya. Malinovsky [Text] / S. S. Popov // Military History Journal. - 2004. - N 5.- P. 31

47. Rokossovsky, Konstantin Konstantinovich Soldier's duty [Text] / K. K. Rokossovsky. - M.: Voenizdat, 1988. - 366 p.

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Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov served as commander-in-chief of the ground forces for a relatively short time. It must be assumed that his irreconcilable character did not suit the court in the highest spheres.

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New information about the generals who died during the Great Patriotic War.

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Konev, Ivan Stepanovich (Marshal of the Soviet Union)

57. Suvorov, Victor. Suicide: Why Hitler attacked the Soviet Union [Text] / V. Suvorov. - M.: AST, 2003. - 379 p.

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Zhukov G. K., Govorov L. A., Meretskov K. A., Dukhanov M. P., Romanovsky V. Z.

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Zhukov Georgy Konstantinovich.

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About little-known pages of the life of Marshal of the Soviet Union K.K. Rokossovsky.

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Rokossovsky K. K., Zhukov G. K., Konev I. S.

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The military career of one of the most outstanding commanders of the Great Patriotic War, Marshal K. A. Meretsky.

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About Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Nikolai Gerasimovich Kuznetsov.

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The history of the Battle of the Khalkhin Gol River in 1939, the biography of commander Georgy Zhukov.

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About the fate of Marshal Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov.

War is always a cruel test; it spares no one, even generals and marshals. Every military leader has ups and downs during military operations, each has his own destiny. As one American president rightly noted, war is a dangerous place. The statistics of deaths of high-ranking officers during the fighting of the Second World War is clear proof of this.

If about the military destinies and losses of the Red Army generals during the Great Patriotic War in last years Quite a lot has been written, but much less is known about their German “counterparts” who died on the Eastern Front. At least, the authors do not know of a book or article published in Russian on the topic in the title. Therefore, we hope that our work will be useful for readers interested in the history of the Great Patriotic War.

Before going directly to the story, it is necessary to make a small note. The practice of posthumously assigning general ranks was widespread in the German army. We do not consider such cases and we will talk exclusively about persons who had the rank of general at the time of their death. So let's get started.

1941

The first German general killed on the Eastern Front was the commander of the 121st East Prussian Infantry Division, Major General Otto LANCELLE, who died on July 3, 1941 east of Kraslava.

Soviet military historical literature provided various information about the circumstances of the death of this general, including a version about the involvement of Soviet partisans in this episode. In fact, Lanzelle became the victim of a rather typical incident for an offensive operation. Here is an excerpt from the history of the 121st Infantry Division: “ When the main body of the 407th Infantry Regiment reached the forested area, General Lanzelle left his command post. Together with the division headquarters officer, Lieutenant Steller, he went to the command post of the 407th regiment. Having reached the advanced units of the battalion advancing to the left of the road, the general did not notice that the right battalion had fallen behind... the Red Army soldiers retreating in front of this battalion suddenly appeared from the rear. In the ensuing close battle, the general was killed...».

On July 20, 1941, the acting commander of the 17th Panzer Division, Major General Karl Ritter von WEBER, died in a field hospital in the city of Krasny. He had been wounded the day before during artillery shelling from Soviet shell fragments in the Smolensk area.

On August 10, 1941, the first SS general, SS Gruppenführer and Police Lieutenant General, commander of the SS Polizei division, Arthur MULVERSTEDT, died on the Soviet-German front.

The division commander was at the forefront when units of his division broke through the Luga defensive line. This is how the death of the general is described on the pages of the division chronicle: “ Enemy fire paralyzed the attack, it was losing strength, and was in danger of stopping completely. The general instantly assessed the situation. He rose to resume promotion by example. "Go ahead, guys!" In such a situation, it doesn’t matter who sets the example. The main thing is that one carries away the other, almost like a law of nature. A lieutenant can raise a rifleman to attack, or a whole battalion can be a general. Attack, forward! The general looked around and gave the order to the nearest machine-gun crew: “Cover us from the side of that spruce forest over there!” The machine gunner fired a long burst in the indicated direction, and General Mülverstedt again moved forward into a small ravine overgrown with alder bushes. There he knelt down to get a better look around. His adjutant, Lieutenant Reimer, was lying on the ground, changing the magazine of his submachine gun. A mortar crew was changing positions nearby. The general jumped up, and his command “Forward!” was heard again. At that moment, a shell explosion threw the general to the ground, fragments pierced his chest...

A non-commissioned officer and three soldiers were taken toIljishe Proroge. A dressing station for the 2nd medical company was organized there under the leadership of senior physician Dr. Ott. When the soldiers delivered their cargo, the only thing the doctors could do was to confirm the death of the division commander».

According to some reports, the general’s presence directly in the infantry combat formations was caused by the dissatisfaction of the higher command with the not very successful actions of the division.

A few days after Mülverstedt, on August 13, the explosion of a Soviet anti-tank mine put an end to the career of the commander of the 31st Infantry Division, Major General Kurt KALMUKOFF. He, along with his adjutant, was blown up in a car during a trip to the front line.

Colonel General Eugen Ritter von SCHOBERT, commander of the 11th German Field Army, became the highest-ranking Wehrmacht officer to die on the Soviet-German front in 1941. He also had the fate of becoming the first German army commander to die in World War II.

On September 12, Schobert flew on a connected Fisiler-Storch Fi156 from the 7th courier detachment (Kurierst. 7), led by pilot Captain Suvelak, to one of the divisional command posts. For an unknown reason, the plane landed before reaching its destination. It is possible that the car received combat damage along the way. The landing site for the “physicaler” (with serial number 5287) turned out to be a Soviet minefield near Dmitrievka, in the area of the Kakhovka-Antonovka road. The pilot and his high-ranking passenger were killed.

It is curious that in Soviet times, a heroic story was written by T.S. "based on" this event. According to its plot, a German general watched as his subordinates forced Soviet prisoners to clear a minefield. At the same time, it was announced to the prisoners that the general had lost his watch on this very field. One of the captured sailors who participated in demining, with a freshly removed mine in his hands, approached the surprised Germans with a message that the watch had allegedly been found. And, approaching, he blew himself up and his enemies. However, it may be that the source of inspiration for the author of this work was completely different.

On September 29, 1941, Lieutenant General Rudolf KRANTZ, commander of the 454th Security Division, was wounded. On October 22 of the same year, he died in a hospital in Dresden.

On October 28, 1941, on the Valki-Kovyagi road (Kharkov region), the car of Lieutenant General Erich BERNECKER, commander of the 124th Artillery Command, was blown up by an anti-tank mine. During the explosion, the artillery general was mortally wounded and died on the same day.

In the early morning of November 14, 1941, Lieutenant General Georg BRAUN, commander of the 68th Infantry Division, took off from a mansion on 17 Dzerzhinsky Street in Kharkov. This was triggered by a radio-controlled landmine planted by miners from the operational engineering group of Colonel I.G. Starinova in preparation for the evacuation of the city. Although by this time the enemy had already more or less successfully learned to fight Soviet special equipment, in this case the German sappers made a mistake. Together with the general, two headquarters officers of the 68th division and “almost all the clerks” (more precisely, 4 non-commissioned officers and 6 privates) died under the rubble, as the entry in German documents says. In total, 13 people were killed in the explosion, and, in addition, the head of the division's intelligence department, an interpreter and a sergeant major were seriously injured.

In retaliation, the Germans, without any investigation, hanged the first seven townspeople who came to hand in front of the explosion site, and by the evening of November 14, stunned by the explosions of radio-controlled land mines that thundered throughout Kharkov, they took hostages from among the local population. Of these, 50 people were shot on the same day, and another 1000 had to pay with their lives if sabotage was repeated.

The death of General of Infantry Kurt von BRIESEN, commander of the 52nd Army Corps, opened the account of the losses of senior Wehrmacht officers from the actions of Soviet aviation. On November 20, 1941, around noon, the general left for Malaya Kamyshevakha to assign the task to his subordinate units to capture the city of Izyum. At that moment, a pair of Soviet planes appeared over the road. The pilots attacked very competently, gliding with the engines running at low gas. Fire was opened on the target from a height of no more than 50 meters. The Germans sitting in the general's car discovered the danger only by the roar of those who had once again earned full power engines and the whistle of flying bullets. Two officers accompanying the general managed to jump out of the car, one of them was wounded. The driver remained completely unharmed. But von Briesen received as many as twelve bullet wounds in the chest, from which he died on the spot.

It is unknown who was the author of this queue mark. Let us note that, according to the operational report of the Air Force headquarters of the Southwestern Front, on November 20, our aviation operated limitedly due to bad weather. However, units of the 6th Army Air Force, operating just above the area where von Briesen was killed, reported the destruction of five vehicles during the attack on enemy troops moving along the roads.

Interestingly, the father of the deceased von Briesen, Alfred, was also a general and also met his death on the Eastern Front in 1914.

On December 8, 1941, near Artemovsk, the commander of the 295th Infantry Division, Lieutenant General Herbert GEITNER, was wounded. The general was evacuated from the front line, but the wound turned out to be fatal, and he died on January 22, 1942 in a hospital in Germany.

Very unusual for the Wehrmacht of the “1941 model” was the death of Lieutenant General Conrad von COCHENHAUSEN, commander of the 134th Infantry Division. The general's division, together with the 45th Infantry Division, was surrounded by units of the Southwestern Front in the Yelets area. In winter conditions, the Germans had to fight their way out of the resulting “cauldron” to join the rest of their army. Kochenhausen could not stand the nervous tension and on December 13, considering the situation hopeless, he shot himself.

Most likely, such a tragic outcome was predetermined by the general’s character traits. Here is what he wrote about this: “ Already when I met Lieutenant General von Kochenhausen on September 30, 1941, he spoke very pessimistically about the general military situation on the Eastern Front" Of course, being surrounded is not a pleasant thing and the German losses were great. We do not know exactly the losses of the 134th Division, but its “neighbor”, the 45th Infantry Division, lost over a thousand people from December 5 to 17, including 233 killed and 232 missing. The losses in material terms were also great. Only 22 light field howitzers were left by the 45th Division during the retreat. But, in the end, the Germans still managed to break through.

The remaining Wehrmacht divisions in the central sector of the Soviet-German front found themselves in similar situations more than once or twice. The losses were also quite significant. But their division commanders, nevertheless, did not lose their cool. How can one not remember the popular wisdom - “all diseases come from nerves.”

The penultimate Wehrmacht general to die on the Eastern Front in 1941 was the commander of the 137th Infantry Division, Lieutenant General Friedrich BERGMANN. The division lost its commander on December 21 during the Kaluga operation of the Western Front. Trying to prevent the exit of the 50th mobile group Soviet army on Kaluga, units of the 137th division launched a series of counterattacks. General Bergman arrived at the command post of the 2nd battalion of the 449th Infantry Regiment, located in the forest north of the village of Syavki (25 kilometers southeast of Kaluga). Trying to personally assess the situation on the battlefield, Bergman moved with the battalion reserve to the edge of the forest. Soviet tanks, supporting their infantry, immediately opened fire on the Germans. One of the machine gun bursts mortally wounded the general.

The last to die in battle in 1941 (December 27) was the commander of the 1st SS Motorized Brigade, SS Brigadeführer and Major General of the SS troops Richard HERMANN. This is how this episode is reflected in the combat log of the 2nd Field Army: “ 12/27/1941. From the very early morning, the enemy, with a force of up to two reinforced rifle regiments, with artillery and 3-4 cavalry squadrons, began an attack south through Aleksandrovskoye and Trudy. By noon he managed to advance to Vysokoye and break into the village. SS Major General Hermann was killed there».

Two more episodes should be mentioned that are directly related to the topic raised in this article. A number of publications provide information about the death of the veterinarian general of the 38th Army Corps, Erich BARTSCH, on October 9, 1941, on the Soviet-German front. However, Dr. Bartsch, who died from a mine explosion, at the time of his death had the title of oberst veterinarian, i.e. has nothing to do with purely general losses.

In some sources, the commander of the 2nd SS Police Regiment, Hans Christian SCHULZE, is also considered an SS Brigadeführer and Police Major General. In fact, Schulze was a colonel both at the time of his injury near Gatchina on September 9, 1941, and at the time of his death on September 13.

So, let's summarize. In total, twelve Wehrmacht and SS generals were killed on the Soviet-German front in 1941 (including the commander of the 295th Infantry Division who died in 1942), and another general committed suicide.

German generals who died on the Soviet-German front in 1941

Name, rank	Job title	Cause of death
Major General Otto Lanzelle	Commander of the 121st Infantry Division	Killed in close combat
Major General Karl von Weber	etc. commander	Artillery fire
Police Lieutenant General Arthur Mühlverstedt	Commander of the SS MD "Polizei"	Artillery fire
Major General Kurt Kalmukov	Commander of the 31st Infantry Division	Mine explosion
Colonel General Eugen von Schobert	Commander of the 11th Army	Mine explosion
Lieutenant General Rudolf Krantz	Commander of the 454th Security Division	Not installed
Lieutenant General Erich Bernecker	Commander of the 124th Art. command	Mine explosion
Lieutenant General Georg Braun	Commander of the 68th Infantry Division	Sabotage (detonation of a radio high explosive)
General of Infantry Kurt von Briesen	Commander of the 52nd Army Corps	Air raid
Lieutenant General Herbert Geithner	Commander of the 295th Infantry Division	Not installed
Lieutenant General Konrad von Kochenhausen	Commander of the 134th Infantry Division	Suicide
Lieutenant General Friedrich Bergmann	Commander of the 137th Infantry Division	Machine gun fire from a tank
SS Major General Richard Hermann	Commander of the 1st SS Mechanized Brigade	Killed in close combat

1942

In the new year of 1942, the bloody battles that eventually engulfed the entire Eastern Front could not help but result in a steady increase in irretrievable losses among senior Wehrmacht officers.

True, the Wehrmacht generals suffered their first loss in the second year of the war on the Soviet-German front for a non-combat reason. On January 18, 1942, Lieutenant General Georg HEWELKE, commander of the 339th Infantry Division, died of a heart attack in Bryansk.

Let us now fast forward to the southernmost section of the Soviet-German front, to Crimea. Stubborn fighting is taking place on the isthmus connecting the Kerch Peninsula with the rest of Crimea. Warships of the Black Sea Fleet provide all possible assistance to the ground forces of the Red Army.

On the night of March 21, 1942, the battleship Paris Commune and the leader Tashkent, maneuvering in the Gulf of Feodosia, fired at concentrations of enemy troops in the area of Vladislavovka and Novo-Mikhailovka. The battleship fired 131 main-caliber shells, the leader - 120. According to the chronicle of the 46th Infantry Division, units located in Vladislavovka suffered serious losses. Among the seriously wounded was the division commander, Lieutenant General Kurt HIMER. In the hospital, his leg was amputated, but German doctors were unable to save the general’s life. On April 4, 1942, he died in the military hospital 2/610 in Simferopol.

On March 22, Soviet pilots achieved new success. During an air raid on a command post in the village of Mikhailovka, the commander of the 294th Infantry Division, Lieutenant General Otto GABCKE, was killed. This is what Stefan Heinzel, the author of a book about the 294th Division, said about this episode: “ The division command post was located in the school in the village of Mikhailovka. At 13.55 two so-called “rats”on a low-level flight they dropped four bombs on the school. Along with General Gabke, Major Jarosz von Schwedler, two sergeant majors, one senior corporal and one corporal were killed" Interestingly, Major Jarosz von Schwedler, who died in the bombing, was the chief of staff of the neighboring 79th Infantry Division, temporarily assigned to the headquarters of the 294th.

On March 23, 1942, the head of Einsatzgruppe A, the head of the order police and security service of the Reichskommissariat Ostland, Walter STAHLECKER, completed his bloody journey. While the biography of the SS Brigadeführer and Police Major General is known quite well, the circumstances of his death are quite contradictory. The most plausible version is that the Brigadefuhrer was seriously wounded in a battle with Soviet partisans, leading a detachment of Latvian policemen, and died while being transported to a rear hospital. But at the same time, the area indicated in all sources without exception in which the military clash with the partisans took place - Krasnogvardeysk - looks very doubtful.

Krasnogvardeysk in March 1942 is the front-line zone of the 18th Army, which was besieging Leningrad, occasionally falling under Soviet railway artillery shells. It is unlikely that in those conditions the partisans could wage open battle with the Germans. The chances of them surviving in such a battle were close to zero. Most likely, Krasnogvardeysk is a more or less conditional point (like “Ryazan, which is near Moscow”), to which events are “attached”, but in reality everything happened much further from the front line. There is also no clarity on the date of the battle in which Stahlecker was wounded. There is an assumption that it happened a little earlier on March 23.

In the introductory part of the article, the principle was declared - not to include in the list of losses officers who received the rank of general posthumously. However, based on common sense, we decided to make several deviations from this principle. We will justify ourselves by the fact that the officers mentioned in these retreats were not only posthumously promoted to the rank of general, but, and this is most important, at the time of their death they held general positions as division commanders.

The first exception will be Colonel Bruno HIPPLER, commander of the 329th Infantry Division.

So, the 329th Infantry Division, transferred to the Eastern Front from Germany in late February 1942, took part in Operation Brückenschlag, the result of which was supposed to be the release of the six divisions of the 16th Wehrmacht Army encircled in the Demyansk area.

At dusk on March 23, 1942, the division commander, Colonel Hippler, accompanied by an adjutant, rode out in a tank to conduct reconnaissance. After some time, the crew of the car radioed: “ The tank hit a mine. The Russians are already nearby. Get help soon b". After this the connection was interrupted. Since the exact location was not indicated, the searches carried out the next day remained unsuccessful. Only on March 25, a reinforced reconnaissance group found a blown up tank, the bodies of the division commander and his companions on one of the forest roads. Colonel Hippler, his adjutant and the tank crew apparently died in close combat.

The Wehrmacht lost another “fake” general, but the division commander, on March 31, 1942. True, this time Colonel Karl Fischer, commander of the 267th Infantry Division, did not die from a Soviet bullet, but died from typhus.

On April 7, 1942, west of the village of Glushitsa, a well-aimed shot from a Soviet sniper put an end to the career of Colonel Franz SCHEIDIES, commander of the 61st Infantry Division. Shaidis took command of the division only on March 27, leading a “team” of various units and subunits that repelled the attacks of the Red Army north of Chudov.

On April 14, 1942, near the village of Korolevka, the commander of the 31st Infantry Division, Major General Gerhard Berthold, died. Apparently, the general personally led the attack of the 3rd Battalion of the 17th Infantry Regiment on Soviet positions at Zaitsevaya Mountain on the Yukhnov-Roslavl highway.

On April 28, 1942, the commander of the 127th Artillery Command, Major General Friedrich KAMMEL, shot himself in the village of Parkkina. This is the only German general who died in Northern Finland during the Great Patriotic War. The reason for his suicide is unknown to us.

The beginning of the summer campaign of 1942 was marked, as the Germans like to write, by the “spectacular” success of Soviet anti-aircraft gunners. As a result, the first Luftwaffe general died on the Soviet-German front.

So, in order. On May 12, 1942, Soviet anti-aircraft artillery shot down a German Junkers-52 transport plane from the 300th Transport Group in the Kharkov area. Sergeant Major Leopold Stefan, who survived and was captured, said during interrogation that there were four crew members, ten passengers and mail on board the plane. The car lost its orientation and was hit. However, the captured sergeant major during interrogation did not mention a very significant detail - there was a whole German general among the passengers. This was the commander of the 6th Luftwaffe construction brigade, Major General Walter HELING. It should be noted that since Sergeant Major Stefan was able to escape, Heling could well have become the first Wehrmacht general to be captured.

On July 12, 1942, the habit of using the advantages of flying on a communications plane ended tragically for another Wehrmacht general. On this day, the Chief of Staff of the 4th Panzer Army, Major General Julius von BERNUTH, flew to the headquarters of the 40th Panzer Corps in a Fisiler-Storch plane. It was assumed that the flight would pass over territory that was not controlled by Soviet troops. However, the “Stork” never arrived at its destination. Only on July 14, a search group of the 79th Infantry Division found a wrecked car, as well as the bodies of a general and a pilot, in the area of the village of Sokhrannaya. Apparently, the plane was hit by fire from the ground and made an emergency landing. The passenger and pilot were killed in the shootout.

During the summer campaign of 1942, heavy fighting took place not only on the southern flank of the huge Soviet-German front. The troops of the Western and Kalinin fronts tried to knock out of the hands of the Wehrmacht “the pistol pointed to the heart of Russia” - the Rzhev-Vyazemsky ledge. The combat operations on it quickly took on the character of bloody battles within the line of defense, and therefore these operations were not distinguished by quick and deep breakthroughs, leading to disruption of the enemy’s control system and, as a consequence, to losses among the senior command personnel. Therefore, among the losses of German generals in 1942, there was only one who died in the central sector of the front. This is the commander of the 129th Infantry Division, Lieutenant General Stephan RITTAU.

This is how the death of the division commander on August 22, 1942 is described in the division chronicle: “ At 10.00, the commander of the 129th Infantry Regiment, accompanied by an adjutant on an all-terrain vehicle, went to the command post of the 427th Infantry Regiment, located in the forest between Tabakovo and Markovo. From there, the division commander intended to personally reconnoiter the battlefield. However, after 15 minutes, a liaison motorcyclist arrived at the division command post, who reported that the division commander, Lieutenant General Rittau, his adjutant, Dr. Marschner and the driver were killed. Their all-terrain vehicle received a direct hit from an artillery shell at the southern exit from Martynovo».

On August 26, 1942, another Wehrmacht general added to the list of losses, this time again on the southern flank of the Soviet-German front. On this day, the commander of the 23rd Armored Division, Major General Erwin MACK, with a small task force, went to the advanced units of the division, which were repelling fierce attacks by Soviet troops. Further events are reflected in the dry lines of the “Journal of Combat Operations” of the 23rd TD: “ At 08.30, the division commander arrived at the command post of the 2nd battalion of the 128th motorized infantry regiment, located on a collective farm south of Urvan. He wanted to personally find out the situation at the Urvan bridgehead. Shortly after the discussion began, a mortar shell exploded in the middle of the participants. The division commander, commander of the 2nd battalion, Major von Unger, the adjutant of the 128th regiment, Captain Count von Hagen, and Oberleutnant von Puttkamer, who accompanied the division commander, were mortally wounded. They died on the spot or on the way to the hospital. Miraculously, the commander of the 128th regiment, Colonel Bachmann, survived, receiving only a slight wound.» .

On August 27, 1942, General of the Medical Service Dr. Walter HANSPACH, corps doctor (chief of medical service) of the 14th Panzer Corps, was included in the list of irretrievable losses. True, we have not yet found information about how and under what circumstances this German general died.

The authors, who grew up on Soviet military-patriotic literature and cinema, have repeatedly read and watched how Soviet military intelligence officers penetrated behind enemy lines, set up an ambush, and then successfully destroyed a German general riding in a car. It would seem that such stories are just the fruit of the activity of a sophisticated writer’s mind, but in the reality of the war there really were such episodes, although of course there were not many of them. During the Battle of the Caucasus, it was in such an ambush that our soldiers managed to destroy the commander and chief of staff of the 198th Wehrmacht Infantry Division.

On September 6, 1942, around noon, an Opel passenger car with a commander’s flag on the hood was driving along the road leading northeast from the village of Klyuchevaya to Saratovskaya. In the car were the commander of the 198th Infantry Division, Lieutenant General Albert BUCK, the chief of staff of the division, Major Buhl, and the driver. As the car approached the bridge, it slowed down. At that moment, explosions of two anti-tank grenades were heard. The general was killed on the spot, the major was thrown out of the car, and the seriously wounded driver turned the Opel into a ditch. The soldiers of the construction company working on the bridge heard explosions and shots, were able to quickly organize the pursuit of Soviet intelligence officers and were able to capture several of them. It became known from the prisoners that the reconnaissance and sabotage group consisted of military personnel from the reconnaissance and mortar companies of the 723rd Infantry Regiment. The scouts set up an ambush, taking advantage of the fact that the thick bushes in this place approached the road itself.

On September 8, 1942, the list of Wehrmacht losses was supplemented by the general of the medical service from the 40th Panzer Corps, Dr. SCHOLL. On September 23, 1942, Major General Ulrich SCHUTZE, commander of the 144th Artillery Command, was on the same lists. As in the case of Medical General Hanspach, we have not yet been able to find information under what circumstances these two generals died.

On October 5, 1942, the Wehrmacht command issued an official message that stated: “ On October 3, 1942, on the front line on the Don River, the commander of the tank corps, General of the Tank Forces, Baron Langermann und Erlenkamp, holder of the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, died. Colonel Nagy, commander of one of the Hungarian divisions, died shoulder to shoulder with him. They fell in battles for the freedom of Europe" The message was about the commander of the 24th Panzer Corps, General Willibald Freiherr von LANGERMANN UND ERLENCAMP. The general came under Soviet artillery fire while traveling to the front line near the Storozhevsky bridgehead on the Don.

At the beginning of October 1942, the German command decided to withdraw the 96th Infantry Division to the reserve of Army Group North. The division commander, Lieutenant General Baron Joachim von SCHLEINITZ, went to the corps command post to receive the appropriate orders. On the night of October 5, 1942, on the way back to the division, an accident occurred. The division commander and Oberleutnant Koch, who accompanied him, died in a car accident.

On November 19, 1942, hurricane fire from Soviet artillery heralded the beginning of the winter offensive of the Red Army and the imminent turning point in the course of the war. In relation to the topic of our article, it should be said that it was then that the first German generals appeared and went missing. The first of them was Major General Rudolf MORAWETZ, head of the prisoner of war transit camp No. 151. He went missing on November 23, 1942 in the area of Chir station and opened a list of losses of German generals during the winter campaign of 1942-1943.

On December 22, 1942, near the village of Bokovskaya, the commander of the 62nd Infantry Division, Major General Richard-Heinrich von REUSS, died. The general tried to rush through the columns of Soviet troops rushing behind enemy lines after breaking through German positions during Operation Little Saturn.

It is noteworthy that 1942, which began with a heart attack in General Gewelke, ended with a heart attack in another German division commander. On December 22, 1942, Major General Viktor KOCH, commander of the 323rd Infantry Division, occupying the defense in the Voronezh region, died. A number of sources claim that Koch was killed in action.

On December 29, 1942, General Medical Officer Dr. Josef EBBERT, corps physician of the 29th Army Corps, committed suicide.

Thus, in 1942, losses among German generals amounted to 23 people. Of these, 16 people died in battle (counting two colonels - division commanders, who were awarded the rank of general posthumously: Hippler and Schaidies). Interestingly, the number of German generals killed in battle in 1942 was only slightly higher than in 1941, although the duration of hostilities doubled.

The remaining irretrievable losses of the generals occurred for non-combat reasons: one person died in an accident, two committed suicide, three died as a result of illness, one went missing.

German generals who died on the Soviet-German front in 1942

Name, rank	Job title	Cause of death
Lieutenant General Georg Gewelke	Commander of the 339th Infantry Division	Died of illness
Lieutenant General Kurt Giemer	Commander of the 46th Infantry Division	Artillery fire
Lieutenant General Otto Gabke	Commander of the 294th Infantry Division	Air raid
Police Major General Walter Stahlecker	Chief of the Order Police and Security Service of the Reichskommissariat Ostland	Close combat with partisans
Colonel (posthumously Major General) Bruno Hippler	Commander of the 329th Infantry Division	Melee
Colonel (posthumously Major General) Karl Fischer	Commander of the 267th Infantry Division	Died of illness
Colonel (posthumously Major General) Franz Schaidies	Commander of the 61st Infantry Division	Killed by a sniper
Major General Gerhard Berthold	Commander of the 31st Infantry Division	Not installed
Major General Friedrich Kammel	Commander of the 127th Art. command	Suicide
Major General Walter Helling	Commander of the 6th Luftwaffe Construction Brigade	Died in a downed plane
Major General Julius von Bernuth	Chief of Staff of the 4th Tank Army	Killed in close combat
Lieutenant General Stefan Rittau	Commander of the 129th Infantry Division	Artillery fire
Major General Erwin Mack	Commander of the 23rd TD	Mortar fire
General of Medical Services Dr. Walter Hanspach	Corps doctor of the 14th Tank Corps	Not installed
Lieutenant General Albert Book	Commander of the 198th Infantry Division	Killed in close combat
General of Medical Services Dr. Scholl	Corps doctor of the 40th Tank Corps	Not installed
Major General Ulrich Schütze	Commander of the 144th Art. command	Not installed
General Willibald Langermann und Erlenkamp	Commander of the 24th Tank Corps	Artillery fire
Lieutenant General Baron Joachim von Schleinitz	Commander of the 96th Infantry Division	Died in a car accident
Major General Rudolf Moravec	Head of the transit camp for prisoners of war No. 151	Missing
Major General Richard-Heinrich von Reuss	Commander of the 62nd Infantry Division	Not installed
Major General Viktor Koch	Commander of the 323rd Infantry Division	Died of illness
General Medical Officer Dr. Josef Ebbert	Corps doctor of the 29th Army Corps	Suicide

As we see, in 1942, there were no prisoners among the German generals. But everything would change dramatically just a month later, at the end of January 1943, in Stalingrad.

1943

Of course, the most important event of the third year of the war was the surrender of the German 6th Field Army in Stalingrad and the surrender of its command led by Field Marshal Paulus. But, besides them, in 1943, quite a lot of other senior German officers who were little known to fans of military history fell under the “Russian steam roller”.

Although the Wehrmacht generals began to suffer losses in 1943 even before the end of the Battle of Stalingrad, we will start with it, or rather with the long list of captured senior officers of the 6th Army. For convenience, this list is presented in chronological order in table form.

German generals captured at Stalingrad in January-February 1943

Date of capture	Rank, name	Job title
	Lieutenant General Hans-Heinrich Sixt von Armin	Commander, 113th Infantry Division
	Major General Moritz von Drebber	Commander of the 297th Infantry Division
	Lieutenant General Heinrich-Anton Deboi	Commander of the 44th Infantry Division
	Major General Prof. Dr. Otto Renoldi	Chief of Medical Service of the 6th Field Army
	Lieutenant General Helmuth Schlomer	Commander of the 14th Tank Corps
	Lieutenant General Alexander Baron von Daniels (Alexander Edler von Daniels)	Commander, 376th Infantry Division
	Major General Hans Wulz	Commander, 144th Artillery Command
	Lieutenant General Werner Sanne	Commander of the 100th Jaeger (Light Infantry) Division
	Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus	Commander of the 6th Field Army
	Lieutenant General Arthur Schmidt	Chief of Staff of the 6th Field Army
	General of Artillery Max Pfeffer	Commander of the 4th Army Corps
	General of Artillery Walther von Seydlitz-Kurzbach	Commander of the 51st Army Corps
	Major General Ulrich Vassoll	Commander, 153rd Artillery Command
	Major General Hans-Georg Leyser	Commander of the 29th Motorized Division
	Major General Dr. Otto Korfes	Commander of the 295th Infantry Division
	Lieutenant General Carl Rodenburg	Commander of the 76th Infantry Division
	Major General Fritz Roske	Commander of the 71st Infantry Division
	Colonel General Walter Heitz	Commander of the 8th Army Corps
	Major General Martin Lattmann	Commander of the 14th Panzer Division
	Major General Erich Magnus	Commander, 389th Infantry Division
	Colonel General Karl Strecker	Commander of the 11th Army Corps
	Lieutenant General Arno von Lenski	Commander of the 24th Panzer Division

One note needs to be made about this table. The German bureaucracy seemed intent on doing everything to make life as difficult as possible for future researchers and military historians. There are countless examples of this. Stalingrad was no exception in this regard. According to some reports, the commander of the 60th Motorized Division, Major General Hans-Adolf von Arenstorff, became a general in October 1943, i.e. after he spent six months in Soviet captivity. But that's not all. He was awarded the rank of general on January 1, 1943 (the practice of assigning ranks “retroactively” was not so rare among the Germans). So it turns out that in February 1943 we captured 22 German generals, and six months later there was one more!

The German group surrounded in Stalingrad lost its generals not only as prisoners. Several more senior officers died in the “cauldron” under various circumstances.

On January 26, the commander of the 71st Infantry Division, Lieutenant General Alexander von HARTMANN, died south of the Tsaritsa River. According to some reports, the general deliberately sought his death - he climbed onto the railway embankment and began firing a rifle towards the positions occupied by Soviet troops.

On the same day, Lieutenant General Richard STEMPEL, commander of the 371st Infantry Division, died. On February 2, the commander of the 16th Panzer Division, Lieutenant General Gunter ANGERN, added to the list of irretrievable losses. Both generals committed suicide, not wanting to surrender.

Now, from the grandiose battle on the Volga, let us return to a chronological presentation of the events of the winter campaign of the third war year.

A full-fledged pestilence attacked the commanders of the 24th Tank Corps in January 1943, when parts of the corps came under attack from advancing Soviet formations during the Ostrogozh-Rossoshansky operation of the Voronezh Front troops.

On January 14, corps commander Lieutenant General Martin WANDEL died at his command post in the Sotnitskaya area. The commander of the 387th Infantry Division, Lieutenant General Arno JAHR, took command of the corps. But on January 20, he too suffered the fate of Vandel. According to some reports, General Yaar committed suicide, not wanting to be captured by the Soviets.

For only one day, January 21, the 24th Panzer Corps was commanded by Lieutenant General Karl EIBL, commander of the 385th Infantry Division. In the confusion of the retreat, the column in which his car was located stumbled upon the Italians. They mistook the allies for Russians and opened fire. In the quick battle it came down to hand grenades. The general was seriously wounded by shrapnel from one of them and died a few hours later from heavy loss of blood. Thus, within one week, the 24th Tank Corps lost its regular commander and the commanders of both infantry divisions that were part of the formation.

The Voronezh-Kastornensk operation carried out by troops of the Voronezh and Bryansk fronts, which completed the defeat of the southern flank of the Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front, was a “harvest” in terms of general losses.

The German 82nd Infantry Division came under the first blow of the advancing Soviet troops. Its commander, Lieutenant General Alfred Bentsch (Alfred BAENTSCH), is listed as having died of wounds on January 27, 1943. The confusion that reigned in the German headquarters was such that on February 14 the general was still considered missing along with his chief of staff, Major Allmer. The division itself was categorized as defeated by the command of the 2nd Field Army of the Wehrmacht.

Due to the rapid advance of Soviet units to the Kastornoye railway junction, the headquarters of the 13th Army Corps was cut off from the rest of the troops of the German 2nd Army, and its two divisions, in turn, were cut off from the corps headquarters. The corps headquarters decided to fight their way to the west. The commander of the 377th Infantry Division, Lieutenant General Adolf LECHNER, chose a different solution. On January 29, while trying to break through in a south-eastern direction, to parts of his formation, he and most of the division headquarters went missing. Only the chief of staff of the division, Oberst-Lieutenant Schmidt, came out to his own by mid-February, but he soon died of pneumonia in a hospital in the city of Oboyan.

The German divisions that found themselves surrounded began to attempt a breakthrough. On February 1, the 88th Infantry Division broke through to the outskirts of Stary Oskol. Units of the 323rd Infantry Division moved behind it. The road was under constant fire from the Soviet troops, and on February 2, the division headquarters following the lead battalion was ambushed. The commander of the 323rd PD, General Andreas NEBAUER, and his chief of staff, Lieutenant Colonel Naude, were killed.

Despite the fact that in the North Caucasus, Soviet troops failed to inflict the same crushing defeat on the German Army Group A as on the Volga and Don, the battles there were no less fierce. On the so-called “Hubertus Line”, on February 11, 1943, the commander of the 46th Infantry Division, Major General Ernst HACCIUS, died. It was chalked up by Soviet pilots, most likely attack aircraft (the division chronicle says “low-level attack”). Posthumously, the general was awarded the following rank and given the Knight's Cross. Hazzius became the second commander of the 46th Infantry Division to be killed on the Eastern Front.

On February 18, 1943, the commander of the 12th Army Corps, Infantry General Walter GRAESSNER, was wounded in the central sector of the front. The general was sent to the rear, was treated for a long time, but finally died on July 16, 1943 in a hospital in the city of Troppau.

On February 26, 1943, not far from Novomoskovsk, a “Fisiler-Storch” disappeared, on board of which was the commander of the SS Panzer-Grenadier Division “Totenkopf”, SS-Obergruppenführer Theodor EICKE. One of the reconnaissance groups sent to search for Eicke discovered a downed plane and the corpse of the Obergruppenführer.

On April 2, plane SH104 (factory 0026) from Flugbereitschaft Luftflotte1 crashed in the Pillau area. The crash killed two crew members and two passengers on board. Among the latter was General Engineer Hans FISCHER from the headquarters of the 1st Air Fleet.

On May 14, 1943, the commander of the 39th Infantry Division, Lieutenant General Ludwig LOEWENECK, died north of Pecheneg. According to some sources, the general became the victim of an ordinary traffic accident, according to others, he ended up in a minefield.

On May 30, 1943, Soviet aviation dealt a powerful blow to the German defenses on the Kuban bridgehead. But according to our data, from 16.23 to 16.41, enemy positions were stormed and bombed by 18 groups of Il-2 attack aircraft and five groups of Petlyakovs. During the raid, one of the groups “caught” the command post of the 97th Jaeger Division. The division commander, Lieutenant General Ernst RUPP, was killed.

On June 26, 1943, the Germans suffered another loss at the Kuban bridgehead. In the first half of this day, the commander of the 50th Infantry Division, Lieutenant General Friedrich SCHMIDT, went to the position of one of the battalions of the 121st Infantry Regiment. On the way, his car near the village of Kurchanskaya hit a mine. The general and his driver were killed.

In the Battle of Kursk, which began on July 5, 1943, the German generals did not suffer major losses. Although there were cases of division commanders being wounded, only one division commander died. On July 14, 1943, during a trip to the front line north of Belgorod, the commander of the 6th Panzer Division, Major General Walter von HUEHNERSDORF, was mortally wounded. He was seriously wounded in the head by a well-aimed shot from a Soviet sniper. Despite the many-hour operation in Kharkov, where the general was taken, he died on July 17.

The offensive of the troops of the Soviet fronts in the Oryol direction, which began on July 12, 1943, was not replete with deep breakthroughs, in which enemy headquarters came under attack. But there were nevertheless losses in the generals. On July 16, the commander of the 211th Infantry Division, Lieutenant General Richard MUELLER, died.

On July 20, 1943, near Izyum, the commander of the 17th Panzer Division, Lieutenant General Walter SCHILLING, died. We were unable to establish the details of the death of both generals.

On August 2, the commander of the 46th Panzer Corps, Infantry General Hans ZORN, died. South-west of Krom, his car came under a bomb attack by Soviet planes.

On August 7, in the midst of our counteroffensive near Kharkov, the commander of the 19th Tank Division, Lieutenant General Gustav SCHMIDT, familiar to everyone who watched the film “Arc of Fire” from the famous Soviet film epic “Liberation,” died. True, in life everything was not as spectacular as in the movies. General Schmidt did not shoot himself in front of Army Group South commander Erich von Manstein and his staff officers. He died during the defeat of the 19th Division column by tankmen of the Soviet 1st Tank Army. The general was buried in the village of Berezovka by the crew members of the command tank who survived and were captured by the Soviets.

On August 11, 1943, at about six o'clock in the morning Berlin time, Soviet snipers again distinguished themselves. A well-aimed bullet overtook the commander of the 4th Mountain Infantry Division, Lieutenant General Hermann KRESS. The general at that moment was in the trenches of the Romanian units blockading Myskhako, the legendary “Little Land” near Novorossiysk.

On August 13, 1943, Major General Karl Schuchardt, commander of the 10th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Brigade, died. Details of the death of the anti-aircraft gunner general could not be found, but he definitely died in the zone of the 2nd field army of the Wehrmacht. According to the documents of this association, on August 12, Shuchard reported to army headquarters about the transfer of the brigade to operational subordination.

On August 15, 1943, Lieutenant General Heinrich RECKE, commander of the 161st Infantry Division, went missing. The general personally raised his soldiers in a counterattack in the area south of Krasnaya Polyana. The division's chronicle provides information from eyewitnesses who allegedly saw how Soviet infantrymen surrounded the general. At this point his traces were lost. However, in the Soviet sources available to us there is no mention of the capture of General Recke.

On August 26, near the Polish city of Ozarow, the commander of the 174th reserve division, Lieutenant General Kurt RENNER, was killed. Renner was ambushed by Polish partisans. Along with the general, two officers and five privates were killed.

The 161st Division mentioned above was received by Major General Karl-Albrecht von GRODDECK. But the division did not fight with the new commander for even two weeks. On August 28, von Groddeck was wounded by shrapnel from an aerial bomb. The wounded man was evacuated to Poltava, then to the Reich. Despite the efforts of doctors, the general died on January 10, 1944 in Breslau.

On October 15, 1943, the offensive of the 65th Army of the Central Front began in the Loyev direction. Powerful Soviet artillery fire disrupted the communication lines of the German troops defending in this area. Lieutenant General Hans KAMECKE, commander of the 137th Infantry Division, went to the command post of the 447th Infantry Regiment to personally navigate the situation that was emerging during the large-scale Russian offensive that had begun. On the way back south of the village of Kolpen, the general’s car was attacked by Soviet attack aircraft. Kameke and the liaison officer Oberleutnant Mayer accompanying him were seriously injured. The next morning the general died in a field hospital. Interestingly, Lieutenant General Kameke was the second and last full-time commander of the 137th Division in the Second World War. Let us recall that the first commander, Lieutenant General Friedrich Bergmann, was killed in December 1941 near Kaluga. And all the other officers who commanded the divisions wore the prefix “acting” until the formation was finally disbanded on December 9, 1943.

On October 29, 1943, German troops fought stubborn battles in the Krivoy Rog area. During one of the counterattacks, the commander of the 14th Panzer Division, Lieutenant General Friedrich SIEBERG, and his chief of staff, Oberst-Lieutenant von der Planitz, were wounded by shrapnel from an exploding shell. If Planitz's wound turned out to be minor, then the general was unlucky. Although he was urgently taken by Fisiler-Storch plane to hospital No. 3/610, despite all the efforts of the doctors, Siberg died on November 2.

On November 6, 1943, the commander of the 88th Infantry Division, Lieutenant General Heinrich ROTH, died from a wound received the day before. His division at that time was fighting heavy battles with Soviet troops storming the capital of Soviet Ukraine - Kyiv.

Major General Max ILGEN, commander of the 740th formation of the “eastern” troops, was listed as missing on November 15, 1943 in the Rivne region. As a result of a daring operation, the general was kidnapped from his own mansion in Rovno by the legendary Soviet intelligence officer Nikolai Ivanovich Kuznetsov, acting under the name of Lieutenant Paul Siebert. Due to the impossibility of transporting the captive Ilgen to Soviet territory, after interrogation he was killed in one of the surrounding farms.

On November 19, 1943, aviation from the Black Sea Fleet and the 4th Air Army launched the most powerful strike on an enemy naval base since the beginning of the war. This base was the port of Kamysh-Burun on the Crimean shore of the Kerch Strait. From 10.10 to 16.50, six “petlyakov” and 95 attack aircraft worked at the base, whose operations were supported by 105 fighters. Several fast landing barges were damaged as a result of the raid. But the enemy’s losses from our strike were not limited to this. It was on this day that the commander of the German Navy on the Black Sea (“Admiral of the Black Sea”), Vice Admiral Gustav KIESERITZKY, decided to visit Kamysh-Burun and reward the crews of the BDB who successfully blocked the Soviet bridgehead in the Eltigen area. At the entrance to the base, a car, in which, in addition to the admiral, his adjutant and the driver, there were two more naval officers, was attacked by four “silts”. Three, including Kieseritzki, died on the spot, two were seriously injured. According to A.Ya. Kuznetsov, author of the book “The Big Landing,” the enemy fleet on the Black Sea was beheaded by one of the four fours of the 7th Guards Assault Regiment of the 230th ShAD of the 4th Air Army. We also note that Kieseritzky became the first Kriegsmarine admiral to die on the Eastern Front.

On November 27, 1943, the acting commander of the 9th Panzer Division, Colonel Johannes SCHULZ, died north of Krivoy Rog. He was posthumously awarded the rank of major general.

On December 9, 1943, the combat career of Lieutenant General Arnold ZELINSKI, commander of the 376th Infantry Division, ended. We have not established the details of his death.

The third war year brought both quantitative and qualitative changes in the structure of losses of German generals on the Soviet-German front. In 1943, these losses amounted to 33 people killed and 22 people captured (all captured in Stalingrad).

Of the irretrievable losses, 24 people died in battle (including Colonel Schultz, the division commander, who was awarded the rank of general posthumously). It is noteworthy that if in 1941 and 1942 only one German general was killed by air strikes, then in 1943 there were already as many as six!

In the remaining nine cases, the causes were: accidents - two people, suicides - three people, "friendly fire" - one person, two were missing, and another was killed after being captured behind German lines by partisans.

Note that among the losses due to non-combat reasons there were no deaths due to illness, and the reason for all three suicides was the reluctance to be captured by the Soviets.

German generals who died on the Soviet-German front in 1943

Name, rank	Job title	Cause of death
Lieutenant General Martin Wandel	Commander of the 24th Tank Corps	Possibly killed in close combat
Lieutenant General Arno Jaar	And about. commander of the 24th Tank Corps, commander of the 387th Infantry Division	Possible suicide
Lieutenant General Karl Able	And about. commander of the 24th Tank Corps, commander of the 385th Infantry Division	Close combat with allied Italian units
Lieutenant General Alexander von Hatmann	Commander of the 71st Infantry Division	Melee
Lieutenant General Richard Stempel	Commander of the 371st Infantry Division	Suicide
Lieutenant General Alfred Bench	Commander of the 82nd Infantry Division	Not installed. Died from wounds
Lieutenant General Adolf Lechner	Commander of the 377th Infantry Division	Missing
Lieutenant General Günter Angern	Commander of the 16th TD	Suicide
General Andreas Nebauer	Commander of the 323rd Infantry Division	Melee
Major General Ernst Hazzius	Commander of the 46th Infantry Division	Air raid
General of Infantry Walter Greissner	Commander of the 12th Army Corps	Not installed. Died from wounds
SS-Obergruppenführer Theodor Eicke	Commander of the SS Panzergrenadier Division "Totenkopf"	Died in a downed plane
General Engineer Hans Fischer	headquarters of the 1st Air Fleet	Plane crash
Lieutenant General Ludwig Leveneck	Commander of the 39th Infantry Division	Died in a car accident
Lieutenant General Ernst Rupp	Commander of the 97th Jaeger Division	Air raid
Lieutenant General Friedrich Schmidt	Commander of the 50th Infantry Division	Mine explosion
Major General Walter von Hünersdorff	Commander of the 6th TD	Wounded by a sniper. Died from his wound
Lieutenant General Richard Müller	Commander of the 211th Infantry Division	Not installed
Lieutenant General Walter Schilling	Commander of the 17th TD	Not installed
General of Infantry Hans Zorn	Commander of the 46th Tank Corps	Air raid
Lieutenant General Gustav Schmidt	commander of the 19th TD	Melee
Lieutenant General Hermann Kress	Commander of the 4th Civil Regiment	Killed by a sniper
Major General Karl Schuchard	Commander of the 10th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Brigade	Not installed
Lieutenant General Heinrich Recke	Commander of the 161st Infantry Division	Missing
Lieutenant General Kurt Renner	Commander of the 174th Reserve Division	Close combat with partisans
Major General Karl-Albrecht von Groddeck	Commander of the 161st Infantry Division	Wounded during an air raid. Died from wounds
Lieutenant General Hans Kamecke	Commander of the 137th Infantry Division	Air raid
Lieutenant General Friedrich Seeberg	Commander of the 14th TD	Wounded during an artillery attack. Died from his wounds.
Lieutenant General Heinrich Rott	Commander of the 88th Infantry Division	Not installed
Major General Max Ilgen	Commander of the 740th formation of the “eastern” troops	Killed after being captured by partisans
Vice Admiral Gustav Kieseritzky	Commander of the German Navy on the Black Sea	Air raid
Colonel (posthumously Major General) Johannes Schulz	and about. commander of the 9th TD	Not installed
Lieutenant General Arnold Zielinski	Commander of the 376th Infantry Division	Not installed

– Geschichte der 121. ostpreussischen Infanterie-Division 1940-1945/Tradizionverband der Division – Muenster/Frankfurt/Berlin, 1970 – S. 24-25

We were unable to make an adequate reverse translation of the name of the mentioned settlement from German into Russian.

Husemann F. Die guten Glaubens waren – Osnabrueck – S. 53-54

US National Archives T-314 roll 1368 frame 1062

US National Archives T-314 roll 1368 frame 1096

Vokhmyanin V.K., Podoprigora A.I. Kharkov, 1941. Part 2: City on fire. – Kharkov, 2009 – P.115

TsAMO F. 229 Op. 161 storage units 160 “Air Force Headquarters of the Southwestern Front. Operational report by 04.00 11/21/1941.”

Hartmann Ch. Wehrmacht im Ostkrieg – Oldenburg, 2010 – S. 371

Ibid.

Meyer – Detring W. Die 137. Infanterie – Division im Mittelabschnitt der Ostfront – Eggolsheim, o.J. – S.105-106

US National Archives T-312 roll 1654 frame 00579

For some reason, the wrong hull number is indicated - 37th Ak.

US National Archives T-311 roll 106 “Name losses of officers Gr. And “North” from October 1, 1941 to March 15, 1942.”

This is exactly how Schulze’s rank is indicated in the document, in army style, and not as the rank of the SS troops.

US National Archives T-311 roll 108 “Losses of the 18th Army and 4th Tank Group from June 22 to October 31, 1941.”

Chronicle of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union at the Black Sea Theater - Vol. 2 – M., 1946 – P.125

Scherzer V. 46. Infanterie-Division – Jena 2009 – S.367

It should be noted that the Germans could call any Soviet aircraft a “army”, not just the I-16

Saenger H. Die 79. Infanterie– Division, 1939 – 1945 – o.O, o.J. – S. 58

Einsatzgruppen der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD - special purpose task force of the SD security service. On the territory of the USSR, the tasks of operational and special groups included: identifying and liquidating party and Komsomol activists, conducting search activities and arrests, exterminating Soviet party workers, NKVD employees, army political workers and officers, combating manifestations of anti-German activities, seizing institutions with file cabinets and archives, etc.

Colonel Hippler was promoted to the rank of major general on April 8, 1942

Pape K. 329. Infanterie-Division – Jena 2007 – S.28

Colonel Fischer was promoted to the rank of major general on April 8, 1942

Hinze R.: Bug – Moskwa – Beresina – Preußisch Oldendorf,1992 – S.306

Spektakular – sensational, attention-grabbing

Ju-52 (serial number 5752, tail number NJ+CU) from KGrzbV300, pilot non-commissioned officer Gerhard Otto.

Zablotsky A.N., Larintsev R.I. “Air Bridges” of the Third Reich – M., 2013 – P.71

In German documents on this day, Fi156 from the 62nd Signal Detachment (serial number 5196), pilot Oberfeldwebel Erhard Zemke - VA-MA RL 2 III/1182 S. 197, is listed as lost from enemy action. However, in some sources the surname The pilot is given differently - Linke.

Boucsein H. Halten oder Sterben. Die hessische 129. ID in Russland und Ostpreussen 1941-1945 – Potsdam, 1999 – S.259

US National Archives T-315 roll791 frame00720

Graser G. Zwischen Kattegat und Kaukasus. Weg und Kaempfe der 198. Infanterie-Divivsion – Tubingen, 1961 – S. 184-185

Pohlman H. Die Geschichte der 96. Infanterie-Division 1939-1945 – Bad Nacheim, 1959 – S.171

Durchgangslager (Dulag) 151

Schafer R.-A. Die Mondschein – Division – Morsbach, 2005 – S. 133

US National Archives T-314 Roll357 Frame0269

Die 71.Infanterie-Division 1939 – 1945 – Eggolsheim, o.J. – S.296

US National Archives NARA T-314 roll 518 fram 0448

Scherzer V. 46.Infanterie – Division – Jena, 2009 – S.453

Zablotsky A., Larintsev R. Losses of German generals on the Soviet-German front in 1942. “Arsenal-Collection”. 2014, No. 5 – P.2

Military archive of Germany BA-MA RL 2 III/1188 S. 421-422

Time indicated is Moscow

US National Archives NARA T-312 roll 723

US National Archives NARA T-314 roll 1219 fram 0532

Zamulin V.N. The forgotten battle on the Kursk Bulge - M., 2009 - P.584-585

Ibid – pp.585-586

Braun J. Enzian und Edelweiss – Bad Nauheim, 1955 – S.44

Kippar G. Die Kampfgescheen der 161. (ostpr.) Infanterie – Division von der Aufstellund 1939 bis zum Ende – o.O., 1994 – S. 521, 523

Kippar G. Op.cit., S. 578

Zablotsky A., Larintsev R. “The Devil’s Dozen” Losses of Wehrmacht generals on the Soviet-German front in 1941. “Arsenal-Collection”. 2014, No. 3 – P.18

Meyer– Detring W. Die 137. Infanterie – Division im Mittelabschnitt dr Ostfront – Eggolsheim, o.J. – S. 186-187

Grams R. Die 14. Panzer-Division 1940 – 1945 –Bad Nauheim, 1957 -S. 131

Time indicated is Moscow

Kuznetsov A.Ya. Big landing - M., 2011 - pp. 257-258

11/19 (12/1). 1896—06/18/1974
Great commander
Marshal of the Soviet Union,
Minister of Defense of the USSR

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

Since August 1918 in the Red Army. During the Civil War he fought against the Ural Cossacks near Tsaritsyn, fought with the troops of Denikin and Wrangel, took part in the suppression of the Antonov uprising in the Tambov region, was wounded, and was awarded the Order Red Banner. After the Civil War, he commanded a regiment, brigade, division, and corps. In the summer of 1939, he carried out a successful encirclement operation and defeated a group of Japanese troops under General. Kamatsubara on the Khalkhin Gol River. G. K. Zhukov received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of the Red Banner of the Mongolian People's Republic.

During the Great Patriotic War (1941 - 1945) he was a member of the Headquarters, Deputy Supreme Commander-in-Chief, and commanded the fronts (pseudonyms: Konstantinov, Yuryev, Zharov). He was the first to be awarded the title of Marshal of the Soviet Union during the war (01/18/1943). Under the command of G.K. Zhukov, troops of the Leningrad Front, together with the Baltic Fleet, stopped the advance of Army Group North of Field Marshal F.W. von Leeb on Leningrad in September 1941. Under his command, the troops of the Western Front defeated the troops of Army Group Center under Field Marshal F. von Bock near Moscow and dispelled the myth of the invincibility of the Nazi army. Then Zhukov coordinated the actions of the fronts near Stalingrad (Operation Uranus - 1942), in Operation Iskra during the breakthrough of the Leningrad blockade (1943), in the Battle of Kursk (summer 1943), where Hitler’s plan was thwarted. Citadel" and the troops of Field Marshals Kluge and Manstein were defeated. The name of Marshal Zhukov is also associated with victories near Korsun-Shevchenkovsky and the liberation of Right Bank Ukraine; Operation Bagration (in Belarus), where the Vaterland Line was broken and Army Group Center of Field Marshals E. von Busch and W. von Model was defeated. At the final stage of the war, the 1st Belorussian Front, led by Marshal Zhukov, took Warsaw (01/17/1945), defeated Army Group “A” of General von Harpe and Field Marshal F. Scherner with a dissecting blow in the Vistula-Oder operation and victoriously ended the war with a grandiose Berlin operation. Together with the soldiers, the marshal signed the scorched wall of the Reichstag, over the broken dome of which the Victory banner fluttered. On May 8, 1945, in Karlshorst (Berlin), the commander accepted the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany from Hitler’s Field Marshal W. von Keitel. General D. Eisenhower presented G. K. Zhukov with the highest military order of the United States “Legion of Honor”, the degree of Commander-in-Chief (06/5/1945). Later in Berlin at the Brandenburg Gate, the British Field Marshal Montgomery placed on him the Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath, 1st Class, with star and crimson ribbon. On June 24, 1945, Marshal Zhukov hosted the triumphal Victory Parade in Moscow.

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

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

He wrote the memoirs “Memories and Reflections.”

Marshal G.K. Zhukov had:

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

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

Vasilevsky Alexander Mikhailovich

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

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

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

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

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

Marshal A. M. Vasilevsky had:

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

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

Konev Ivan Stepanovich

16(28).12.1897—27.06.1973
Marshal of the Soviet Union

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

During the Great Patriotic War he commanded the army and fronts (pseudonyms: Stepin, Kyiv). Participated in the battles of Smolensk and Kalinin (1941), in the battle of Moscow (1941-1942). During the Battle of Kursk, together with the troops of General N.F. Vatutin, he defeated the enemy on the Belgorod-Kharkov bridgehead - a German bastion in Ukraine. On August 5, 1943, Konev’s troops took the city of Belgorod, in honor of which Moscow gave its first fireworks, and on August 24, Kharkov was taken. This was followed by the breakthrough of the “Eastern Wall” on the Dnieper.

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

In the post-war period, the marshal was the Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces (1946-1950; 1955-1956), the first Commander-in-Chief of the United Armed Forces of the Warsaw Pact member states (1956-1960).

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

He wrote memoirs: “Forty-fifth” and “Notes of the Front Commander.”

Marshal I. S. Konev had:

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

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

Govorov Leonid Alexandrovich

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

Born in the village of Butyrki near Vyatka in the family of a peasant, who later became an employee in the city of Elabuga. A student at the Petrograd Polytechnic Institute, L. Govorov, became a cadet at the Konstantinovsky Artillery School in 1916. He began his combat activities in 1918 as an officer in the White Army of Admiral Kolchak.

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

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

Remaining in command Leningrad Front, the marshal was also the representative of Headquarters in the Baltic States. He was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In May 1945, the German army group Kurland surrendered to the front forces.

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

Marshal L.A. Govorov had:

Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union (01/27/1945), 5 Orders of Lenin,
Order of Victory (05/31/1945),
3 Orders of the Red Banner,
2 Orders of Suvorov 1st degree,
Order of Kutuzov 1st degree,
Order of the Red Star - a total of 13 orders and 7 medals,
Tuvan "Order of the Republic",
3 foreign orders.

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

Rokossovsky Konstantin Konstantinovich

9(21).12.1896—3.08.1968
Marshal of the Soviet Union,
Marshal of Poland

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

During the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) he commanded a mechanized corps, army, and fronts (Pseudonyms: Kostin, Dontsov, Rumyantsev). He distinguished himself in the Battle of Smolensk (1941). Hero of the Battle of Moscow (September 30, 1941—January 8, 1942). He was seriously wounded near Sukhinichi. During the Battle of Stalingrad (1942-1943), Rokossovsky’s Don Front, together with other fronts, was surrounded by 22 enemy divisions with a total number of 330 thousand people (Operation Uranus). At the beginning of 1943, the Don Front eliminated the encircled group of Germans (Operation “Ring”). Field Marshal F. Paulus was captured (3 days of mourning were declared in Germany). In the Battle of Kursk (1943), Rokossovsky's Central Front defeated the German troops of General Model (Operation Kutuzov) near Orel, in honor of which Moscow gave its first fireworks (08/05/1943). In the grandiose Belorussian operation (1944), Rokossovsky’s 1st Belorussian Front defeated Field Marshal von Busch’s Army Group Center and, together with the troops of General I. D. Chernyakhovsky, surrounded up to 30 drag divisions in the “Minsk Cauldron” (Operation Bagration). . On June 29, 1944, Rokossovsky was awarded the title of Marshal of the Soviet Union. The highest military orders "Virtuti Militari" and the "Grunwald" cross, 1st class, were awarded to the marshal for the liberation of Poland.

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

Wrote a memoir, A Soldier's Duty.

Marshal K.K. Rokossovsky had:

2 Gold Stars of the Hero of the Soviet Union (07/29/1944, 06/1/1945),
7 Orders of Lenin,
Order of Victory (30.03.1945),
order of the October Revolution,
6 Orders of the Red Banner,
Order of Suvorov 1st degree,
Order of Kutuzov 1st degree,
a total of 17 orders and 11 medals;
honorary weapon - saber with the golden coat of arms of the USSR (1968),
13 foreign awards (including 9 foreign orders)

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

Malinovsky Rodion Yakovlevich

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

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

In the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) he commanded a corps, an army, and a front (pseudonyms: Yakovlev, Rodionov, Morozov). He distinguished himself in the Battle of Stalingrad. Malinovsky’s army, in cooperation with other armies, stopped and then defeated Army Group Don of Field Marshal E. von Manstein, which was trying to relieve Paulus’s group encircled at Stalingrad. The troops of General Malinovsky liberated Rostov and Donbass (1943), participated in the cleansing of Right Bank Ukraine from the enemy; Having defeated the troops of E. von Kleist, they took Odessa on April 10, 1944; together with the troops of General Tolbukhin, they defeated the southern wing of the enemy front, encircling 22 German divisions and the 3rd Romanian Army in the Iasi-Kishinev operation (08.20-29.1944). During the fighting, Malinovsky was slightly wounded; On September 10, 1944, he was awarded the title of Marshal of the Soviet Union. The troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front, Marshal R. Ya. Malinovsky, liberated Romania, Hungary, Austria, and Czechoslovakia. On August 13, 1944, they entered Bucharest, took Budapest by storm (02/13/1945), and liberated Prague (05/9/1945). The marshal was awarded the Order of Victory.

From July 1945, Malinovsky commanded the Transbaikal Front (pseudonym Zakharov), which dealt the main blow to the Japanese Kwantung Army in Manchuria (08/1945). Front troops reached Port Arthur. The marshal received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Moscow saluted the troops of commander Malinovsky 49 times.

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

The Marshal is the author of the books “Soldiers of Russia”, “The Angry Whirlwinds of Spain”; under his leadership, “Iasi-Chisinau Cannes”, “Budapest - Vienna - Prague”, “Final” and other works were written.

Marshal R. Ya. Malinovsky had:

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

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

Tolbukhin Fedor Ivanovich

4(16).6.1894—17.10.1949
Marshal of the Soviet Union

Born in the village of Androniki near Yaroslavl in a peasant family. He worked as an accountant in Petrograd. In 1914 he was a private motorcyclist. Having become an officer, he took part in battles with Austro-German troops and was awarded the Anna and Stanislav crosses.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Marshal F.I. Tolbukhin had:

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

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

Meretskov Kirill Afanasyevich

26.05 (7.06).1897—30.12.1968
Marshal of the Soviet Union

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

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

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

Moscow saluted the troops of commander Meretskov 10 times.

Marshal K. A. Meretskov had:

Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union (03/21/1940), 7 Orders of Lenin,
Order of Victory (8.09.1945),
order of the October Revolution,
4 Orders of the Red Banner,
2 Orders of Suvorov 1st degree,
Order of Kutuzov 1st degree,
10 medals;
an honorary weapon - a saber with the Golden Coat of Arms of the USSR, as well as 4 highest foreign orders and 3 medals.

He wrote a memoir, “In the Service of the People.” He was buried on Red Square in Moscow near the Kremlin wall.

The Second World War is considered one of the most fierce and bloody armed conflicts of the 20th century. Of course, victory in the war was the merit of the Soviet people, who, at the cost of countless sacrifices, gave the future generation a peaceful life. However, this became possible thanks to unsurpassed talent - the participants of the Second World War forged victory together with ordinary citizens of the USSR, demonstrating heroism and courage.

Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov

Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov is considered one of the most key figures of the Great Patriotic War. The beginning of Zhukov's military career dates back to 1916, when he took direct part in the First World War. In one of the battles, Zhukov was seriously wounded and shell-shocked, but despite this, he did not leave his post. For courage and valor he was awarded the Cross of St. George, 3rd and 4th degree.

The WWII generals are not just military commanders, they are real innovators in their field. Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov is a striking example of this. It was he, the first of all representatives of the Red Army, who was awarded the insignia - the Marshal's Star, and was also awarded the highest service - Marshal of the Soviet Union.

Alexey Mikhailovich Vasilevsky

The list of “Generals of the Second World War” is impossible to imagine without this outstanding person. During the entire war, Vasilevsky was at the fronts for 22 months with his soldiers, and only 12 months in Moscow. The great commander personally commanded the battles in heroic Stalingrad, during the days of the defense of Moscow, and repeatedly visited the most dangerous territories from the point of view of attack by the enemy German army.

Alexey Mikhailovich Vasilevsky, Major General of the Second World War, had an amazingly courageous character. Thanks to his strategic thinking and lightning-fast understanding of the situation, he was repeatedly able to repel enemy attacks and avoid many casualties.

Konstantin Konstantinovich Rokossovsky

The rating “Outstanding Generals of the Second World War” will not be complete without mentioning an amazing person, the talented commander K.K. Rokossovsky. Rokossovsky's military career began at the age of 18, when he asked to join the Red Army, whose regiments passed through Warsaw.

The biography of the great commander has a negative imprint. So, in 1937, he was slandered and accused of having connections with foreign intelligence, which served as the basis for his arrest. However, Rokossovsky’s persistence played a significant role. He did not admit to the charges against him. The acquittal and release of Konstantin Konstantinovich took place in 1940.

For successful fighting near Moscow, as well as for the defense of Stalingrad, the name of Rokossovsky is listed at the top of the list of “great generals of the Second World War.” For the role that the general played in the attack on Minsk and Baranovichi, Konstantin Konstantinovich was awarded the title “Marshal of the Soviet Union.” He was awarded many orders and medals.

Ivan Stepanovich Konev

Do not forget that the list of “Generals and Marshals of the Second World War” includes the name of I. S. Konev. One of the key operations, which is indicative of the fate of Ivan Stepanovich, is considered to be the Korsun-Shevchenko offensive. This operation made it possible to encircle a large group of enemy troops, which also played a positive role in turning the tide of the war.

Alexander Werth, a popular English journalist, wrote about this tactical offensive and Konev’s unique victory: “Konev carried out a lightning-fast attack on enemy forces through slush, dirt, impassability and muddy roads.” For his innovative ideas, perseverance, valor and colossal courage, Ivan Stepanovich joined the list that included generals and marshals of the Second World War. Commander Konev received the title of “Marshal of the Soviet Union” third, after Zhukov and Vasilevsky.

Andrey Ivanovich Eremenko

One of the most famous personalities of the Great Patriotic War is Andrei Ivanovich Eremenko, born in the settlement of Markovka in 1872. The military career of an outstanding commander began in 1913, when he was drafted into the Russian Imperial Army.

This person is interesting because he received the title of Marshal of the Soviet Union for merits other than Rokossovsky, Zhukov, Vasilevsky and Konev. If the listed generals of the armies of the Second World War were awarded orders for offensive operations, then Andrei Ivanovich received an honorary military rank for defense. Eremenko took an active part in the operations near Stalingrad, in particular, he was one of the initiators of the counteroffensive, which resulted in the capture of a group of German soldiers in the amount of 330 thousand people.

Rodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky

Rodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky is considered one of the most prominent commanders of the Great Patriotic War. He enlisted in the Red Army at the age of 16. During the First World War he received multiple severe wounds. Two fragments from shells stuck in my back, the third pierced my leg. Despite this, after recovery he was not discharged, but continued to serve his homeland.

His military successes during the Second World War deserve special words. In December 1941, with the rank of lieutenant general, Malinovsky was appointed commander of the Southern Front. However, the most striking episode in the biography of Rodion Yakovlevich is considered to be the defense of Stalingrad. The 66th Army, under the strict leadership of Malinovsky, launched a counteroffensive near Stalingrad. Thanks to this, it was possible to defeat the 6th German Army, which reduced the enemy’s pressure on the city. After the end of the war, Rodion Yakovlevich was awarded the honorary title “Hero of the Soviet Union.”

Semyon Konstantinovich Timoshenko

The victory, of course, was forged by the entire people, but the WWII generals played a special role in the defeat of the German troops. The list of outstanding commanders is supplemented by the name of Semyon Konstantinovich Timoshenko. The commander repeatedly received anger due to failed operations in the first days of the war. Semyon Konstantinovich, showing courage and bravery, asked the commander-in-chief to send him to the most dangerous area of the battles.

During his military activities, Marshal Timoshenko commanded the most important fronts and directions that were of a strategic nature. The most striking facts in the biography of the commander are considered to be the battles on the territory of Belarus, in particular the defense of Gomel and Mogilev.

Ivan Khristoforovich Chuikov

Ivan Khristoforovich was born into a peasant family in 1900. He decided to devote his life to serving his homeland and to connect it with military activities. Was directly involved in Civil War, for which he was awarded two Orders of the Red Banner.

During World War II he was the commander of the 64th and then the 62nd Army. Under his leadership, the most important defensive battles took place, which made it possible to defend Stalingrad. Ivan Khristoforovich Chuikov for the liberation of Ukraine from fascist occupation was awarded the title "Hero of the Soviet Union".

The Great Patriotic War is the most important battle of the 20th century. Thanks to the valor, bravery and courage of Soviet soldiers, as well as the innovation and ability of commanders to make decisions in difficult situations, it was possible to achieve a crushing victory of the Red Army over Nazi Germany.

The names of some are still honored, the names of others are consigned to oblivion. But they are all united by their leadership talent.

USSR

Zhukov Georgy Konstantinovich (1896–1974)

Marshal of the Soviet Union.

Zhukov had the opportunity to take part in serious hostilities shortly before the start of World War II. In the summer of 1939, Soviet-Mongolian troops under his command defeated the Japanese group on the Khalkhin Gol River.

By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, Zhukov headed the General Staff, but was soon sent to the active army. In 1941, he was assigned to the most critical sectors of the front. Restoring order in the retreating army with the most stringent measures, he managed to prevent the Germans from capturing Leningrad, and to stop the Nazis in the Mozhaisk direction on the outskirts of Moscow. And already at the end of 1941 - beginning of 1942, Zhukov led a counter-offensive near Moscow, pushing the Germans back from the capital.

In 1942-43, Zhukov did not command individual fronts, but coordinated their actions as a representative of the Supreme High Command at Stalingrad, on the Kursk Bulge, and during the breaking of the siege of Leningrad.

At the beginning of 1944, Zhukov took command of the 1st Ukrainian Front instead of the seriously wounded General Vatutin and led the Proskurov-Chernovtsy offensive operation he planned. As a result, Soviet troops liberated most of Right Bank Ukraine and reached the state border.

At the end of 1944, Zhukov led the 1st Belorussian Front and led an attack on Berlin. In May 1945, Zhukov accepted the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany, and then two Victory Parades, in Moscow and Berlin.

After the war, Zhukov found himself in a supporting role, commanding various military districts. After Khrushchev came to power, he became deputy minister and then headed the Ministry of Defense. But in 1957 he finally fell into disgrace and was removed from all posts.

Rokossovsky Konstantin Konstantinovich (1896–1968)

Marshal of the Soviet Union.

Shortly before the start of the war, in 1937, Rokossovsky was repressed, but in 1940, at the request of Marshal Timoshenko, he was released and reinstated in his former position as corps commander. In the first days of the Great Patriotic War, units under the command of Rokossovsky were one of the few that were able to provide worthy resistance to the advancing German troops. In the battle of Moscow, Rokossovsky’s army defended one of the most difficult directions, Volokolamsk.

Returning to duty after being seriously wounded in 1942, Rokossovsky took command of the Don Front, which completed the defeat of the Germans at Stalingrad.

On the eve of the Battle of Kursk, Rokossovsky, contrary to the position of most military leaders, managed to convince Stalin that it was better not to launch an offensive ourselves, but to provoke the enemy into active action. Having precisely determined the direction of the main attack of the Germans, Rokossovsky, just before their offensive, undertook a massive artillery barrage that bled the enemy’s strike forces dry.

His most famous achievement as a commander, included in the annals of military art, was the operation to liberate Belarus, codenamed “Bagration,” which virtually destroyed the German Army Group Center.

Shortly before the decisive offensive on Berlin, command of the 1st Belorussian Front, to Rokossovsky's disappointment, was transferred to Zhukov. He was also entrusted with commanding the troops of the 2nd Belorussian Front in East Prussia.

Rokossovsky had outstanding personal qualities and, of all Soviet military leaders, was the most popular in the army. After the war, Rokossovsky, a Pole by birth, headed the Polish Ministry of Defense for a long time, and then served as Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR and Chief Military Inspector. The day before his death, he finished writing his memoirs, entitled A Soldier's Duty.

Konev Ivan Stepanovich (1897–1973)

Marshal of the Soviet Union.

In the fall of 1941, Konev was appointed commander Western Front. In this position he suffered one of the biggest failures of the beginning of the war. Konev failed to obtain permission to withdraw troops in time, and, as a result, about 600,000 Soviet soldiers and officers were surrounded near Bryansk and Yelnya. Zhukov saved the commander from the tribunal.

In 1943, troops of the Steppe (later 2nd Ukrainian) Front under the command of Konev liberated Belgorod, Kharkov, Poltava, Kremenchug and crossed the Dnieper. But most of all, Konev was glorified by the Korsun-Shevchen operation, as a result of which a large group of German troops was surrounded.

In 1944, already as commander of the 1st Ukrainian Front, Konev led the Lviv-Sandomierz operation in western Ukraine and southeastern Poland, which opened the way for a further offensive against Germany. The troops under the command of Konev distinguished themselves in the Vistula-Oder operation and in the battle for Berlin. During the latter, rivalry between Konev and Zhukov emerged - each wanted to occupy the German capital first. Tensions between the marshals remained until the end of their lives. In May 1945, Konev led the liquidation of the last major center of fascist resistance in Prague.

After the war, Konev was the commander-in-chief of the ground forces and the first commander of the combined forces of the Warsaw Pact countries, and commanded troops in Hungary during the events of 1956.

Vasilevsky Alexander Mikhailovich (1895–1977)

Marshal of the Soviet Union, Chief of the General Staff.

As Chief of the General Staff, which he held since 1942, Vasilevsky coordinated the actions of the Red Army fronts and participated in the development of all major operations of the Great Patriotic War. In particular, he played a key role in planning the operation to encircle German troops at Stalingrad.

At the end of the war, after the death of General Chernyakhovsky, Vasilevsky asked to be relieved of his post as Chief of the General Staff, took the place of the deceased and led the assault on Koenigsberg. In the summer of 1945, Vasilevsky was transferred to the Far East and commanded the defeat of the Kwatuna Army of Japan.

After the war, Vasilevsky headed the General Staff and then was the Minister of Defense of the USSR, but after Stalin’s death he went into the shadows and held lower positions.

Tolbukhin Fedor Ivanovich (1894–1949)

Marshal of the Soviet Union.

Before the start of the Great Patriotic War, Tolbukhin served as chief of staff of the Transcaucasian District, and with its beginning - of the Transcaucasian Front. Under his leadership, a surprise operation was developed to introduce Soviet troops into the northern part of Iran. Tolbukhin also developed the Kerch landing operation, which would result in the liberation of Crimea. However, after its successful start, our troops were unable to build on their success, suffered heavy losses, and Tolbukhin was removed from office.

Having distinguished himself as commander of the 57th Army in the Battle of Stalingrad, Tolbukhin was appointed commander of the Southern (later 4th Ukrainian) Front. Under his command, a significant part of Ukraine and the Crimean Peninsula were liberated. In 1944-45, when Tolbukhin already commanded the 3rd Ukrainian Front, he led troops during the liberation of Moldova, Romania, Yugoslavia, Hungary, and ended the war in Austria. The Iasi-Kishinev operation, planned by Tolbukhin and leading to the encirclement of a two-hundred-thousand-strong group of German-Romanian troops, entered the annals of military art (sometimes it is called “Iasi-Kishinev Cannes”).

After the war, Tolbukhin commanded the Southern Group of Forces in Romania and Bulgaria, and then the Transcaucasian Military District.

Vatutin Nikolai Fedorovich (1901–1944)

Soviet army general.

In pre-war times, Vatutin served as Deputy Chief of the General Staff, and with the beginning of the Great Patriotic War he was sent to the North-Western Front. In the Novgorod area, under his leadership, several counterattacks were carried out, slowing down the advance of Manstein's tank corps.

In 1942, Vatutin, who then headed the Southwestern Front, commanded Operation Little Saturn, the purpose of which was to prevent German-Italian-Romanian troops from helping Paulus’ army encircled at Stalingrad.

In 1943, Vatutin headed the Voronezh (later 1st Ukrainian) Front. He played a very important role in the Battle of Kursk and the liberation of Kharkov and Belgorod. But Vatutin’s most famous military operation was the crossing of the Dnieper and the liberation of Kyiv and Zhitomir, and then Rivne. Together with Konev’s 2nd Ukrainian Front, Vatutin’s 1st Ukrainian Front also carried out the Korsun-Shevchenko operation.

At the end of February 1944, Vatutin’s car came under fire from Ukrainian nationalists, and a month and a half later the commander died from his wounds.

Great Britain

Montgomery Bernard Law (1887–1976)

British Field Marshal.

Before the outbreak of World War II, Montgomery was considered one of the bravest and most talented British military leaders, but his career advancement was hampered by his harsh, difficult character. Montgomery, himself distinguished by physical endurance, paid great attention to the daily hard training of the troops entrusted to him.

At the beginning of World War II, when the Germans defeated France, Montgomery's units covered the evacuation of Allied forces. In 1942, Montgomery became the commander of British troops in North Africa, and achieved a turning point in this part of the war, defeating the German-Italian group of troops in Egypt at the Battle of El Alamein. Its significance was summed up by Winston Churchill: “Before the Battle of Alamein we knew no victories. After it we didn’t know defeat.” For this battle, Montgomery received the title Viscount of Alamein. True, Montgomery’s opponent, German Field Marshal Rommel, said that, having such resources as the British military leader, he would have conquered the entire Middle East in a month.

After this, Montgomery was transferred to Europe, where he had to operate in close contact with the Americans. This was where his quarrelsome character took its toll: he came into conflict with the American commander Eisenhower, which had a bad effect on the interaction of troops and led to a number of relative military failures. Towards the end of the war, Montgomery successfully resisted the German counter-offensive in the Ardennes, and then carried out several military operations in Northern Europe.

After the war, Montgomery served as chief of the British General Staff, and subsequently - First Deputy Commander-in-Chief of NATO Allied Forces Europe.

Alexander Harold Rupert Leofric George (1891–1969)

British Field Marshal.

At the beginning of the Second World War, Alexander led the evacuation of British troops after the Germans captured France. Most of the personnel were taken out, but almost all the military equipment went to the enemy.

At the end of 1940, Alexander was assigned to Southeast Asia. He failed to defend Burma, but he managed to block the Japanese from entering India.

In 1943, Alexander was appointed Commander-in-Chief of Allied ground forces in North Africa. Under his leadership, a large German-Italian group in Tunisia was defeated, and this, by and large, ended the campaign in North Africa and opened the way to Italy. Alexander commanded the landing of Allied troops on Sicily, and then on the mainland. At the end of the war, he served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in the Mediterranean.

After the war, Alexander received the title of Count of Tunis, for some time he was Governor General of Canada, and then British Minister of Defense.

USA

Eisenhower Dwight David (1890–1969)

US Army General.

His childhood was spent in a family whose members were pacifists for religious reasons, but Eisenhower chose a military career.

Eisenhower met the beginning of World War II with the rather modest rank of colonel. But his abilities were noticed by the Chief of the American General Staff, George Marshall, and soon Eisenhower became head of the Operational Planning Department.

In 1942, Eisenhower led Operation Torch, the Allied landings in North Africa. In early 1943, he was defeated by Rommel in the Battle of Kasserine Pass, but subsequently superior Anglo-American forces brought a turning point in the North African campaign.

In 1944, Eisenhower oversaw the Allied landings in Normandy and the subsequent offensive against Germany. At the end of the war, Eisenhower became the creator of the notorious camps for “disarming enemy forces”, which were not subject to the Geneva Convention on the Rights of Prisoners of War, which effectively became death camps for the German soldiers who ended up there.

After the war, Eisenhower was commander of NATO forces and then twice elected president of the United States.

MacArthur Douglas (1880–1964)

US Army General.

In his youth, MacArthur was not accepted into the West Point military academy for health reasons, but he achieved his goal and, upon graduating from the academy, was recognized as its best graduate in history. He received the rank of general back in the First World War.

In 1941-42, MacArthur led the defense of the Philippines against Japanese forces. The enemy managed to take American units by surprise and gain a great advantage at the very beginning of the campaign. After the loss of the Philippines, he uttered the now famous phrase: “I did what I could, but I will come back.”

After being appointed commander of the troops in the southwestern zone Pacific Ocean, MacArthur resisted Japanese plans to invade Australia and then led successful offensive operations in New Guinea and the Philippines.

On September 2, 1945, MacArthur, already in command of all U.S. forces in the Pacific, accepted the Japanese surrender aboard the battleship Missouri, ending World War II.

After World War II, MacArthur commanded occupation forces in Japan and later led American forces in the Korean War. The American landing at Inchon, which he developed, became a classic of military art. He called for the nuclear bombing of China and the invasion of that country, after which he was dismissed.

Nimitz Chester William (1885–1966)

US Navy Admiral.

Before World War II, Nimitz was involved in the design and combat training of the American submarine fleet and headed the Bureau of Navigation. At the beginning of the war, after the disaster at Pearl Harbor, Nimitz was appointed commander of the US Pacific Fleet. His task was to confront the Japanese in close contact with General MacArthur.

In 1942, the American fleet under the command of Nimitz managed to inflict the first serious defeat on the Japanese at Midway Atoll. And then, in 1943, to win the fight for the strategically important island of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands archipelago. In 1944-45, the fleet led by Nimitz played a decisive role in the liberation of other Pacific archipelagos, and at the end of the war carried out a landing in Japan. During the fighting, Nimitz used a tactic of sudden rapid movement from island to island, called the “frog jump”.

Nimitz's homecoming was celebrated as a national holiday and was called "Nimitz Day." After the war, he oversaw the demobilization of troops and then oversaw the creation of a nuclear submarine fleet. At the Nuremberg trials, he defended his German colleague, Admiral Dennitz, saying that he himself used the same methods of submarine warfare, thanks to which Dennitz avoided a death sentence.

Germany

Von Bock Theodor (1880–1945)

German Field Marshal General.

Even before the outbreak of World War II, von Bock led the troops that carried out the Anschluss of Austria and invaded the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia. At the outbreak of war, he commanded Army Group North during the war with Poland. In 1940, von Bock led the conquest of Belgium and the Netherlands and the defeat of French troops at Dunkirk. It was he who hosted the parade of German troops in occupied Paris.

Von Bock objected to an attack on the USSR, but when the decision was made, he led Army Group Center, which carried out an attack on the main direction. After the failure of the attack on Moscow, he was considered one of the main people responsible for this failure of the German army. In 1942, he led Army Group South and for a long time successfully held back the advance of Soviet troops on Kharkov.

Von Bock had an extremely independent character, repeatedly clashed with Hitler and pointedly stayed away from politics. After in the summer of 1942, von Bock opposed the Fuhrer’s decision to divide Army Group South into two directions, the Caucasus and Stalingrad, during the planned offensive, he was removed from command and sent to reserve. A few days before the end of the war, von Bock was killed during an air raid.

Von Rundstedt Karl Rudolf Gerd (1875–1953)

German Field Marshal General.

By the beginning of the Second World War, von Rundstedt, who held important command positions back in the First World War, had already retired. But in 1939, Hitler returned him to the army. Von Rundstedt became the main planner of the attack on Poland, code-named Weiss, and commanded Army Group South during its implementation. He then led Army Group A, which played a key role in the capture of France, and also developed the unrealized Sea Lion attack plan on England.

Von Rundstedt objected to the Barbarossa plan, but after the decision was made to attack the USSR, he led Army Group South, which captured Kyiv and other major cities in the south of the country. After von Rundstedt, in order to avoid encirclement, violated the Fuhrer's order and withdrew troops from Rostov-on-Don, he was dismissed.

However, the following year he was again drafted into the army to become commander-in-chief of the German armed forces in the West. His main task was to counter a possible Allied landing. Having familiarized himself with the situation, von Rundstedt warned Hitler that a long-term defense with the existing forces would be impossible. At the decisive moment of the Normandy landings, June 6, 1944, Hitler canceled von Rundstedt's order to transfer troops, thereby wasting time and giving the enemy the opportunity to develop an offensive. Already at the end of the war, von Rundstedt successfully resisted the Allied landings in Holland.

After the war, von Rundstedt, thanks to the intercession of the British, managed to avoid the Nuremberg Tribunal, and participated in it only as a witness.

Von Manstein Erich (1887–1973)

German Field Marshal General.

Manstein was considered one of the strongest strategists of the Wehrmacht. In 1939, as Chief of Staff of Army Group A, he played a key role in developing the successful plan for the invasion of France.

In 1941, Manstein was part of Army Group North, which captured the Baltic states, and was preparing to attack Leningrad, but was soon transferred to the south. In 1941-42, the 11th Army under his command captured the Crimean Peninsula, and for the capture of Sevastopol, Manstein received the rank of Field Marshal.

Manstein then commanded Army Group Don and tried unsuccessfully to rescue Paulus's army from the Stalingrad pocket. Since 1943, he led Army Group South and inflicted a sensitive defeat on Soviet troops near Kharkov, and then tried to prevent the crossing of the Dnieper. When retreating, Manstein's troops used scorched earth tactics.

Having been defeated in the Battle of Korsun-Shevchen, Manstein retreated, violating Hitler's orders. Thus, he saved part of the army from encirclement, but after that he was forced to resign.

After the war, he was sentenced to 18 years by a British tribunal for war crimes, but was released in 1953, worked as a military adviser to the German government and wrote a memoir, “Lost Victories.”

Guderian Heinz Wilhelm (1888–1954)

German Colonel General, commander of armored forces.

Guderian is one of the main theorists and practitioners of “blitzkrieg” - lightning war. He played a key role in it tank units, which were supposed to break through behind enemy lines and disable command posts and communications. Such tactics were considered effective, but risky, creating the danger of being cut off from the main forces.

In 1939-40, in the military campaigns against Poland and France, the blitzkrieg tactics fully justified themselves. Guderian was at the height of his glory: he received the rank of Colonel General and high awards. However, in 1941, in the war against the Soviet Union, this tactic failed. The reason for this was both the vast Russian spaces and the cold climate, in which equipment often refused to work, and the readiness of the Red Army units to resist this method of warfare. Guderian's tank troops suffered heavy losses near Moscow and were forced to retreat. After this, he was sent to the reserve, and subsequently served as inspector general of tank forces.

After the war, Guderian, who was not charged with war crimes, was quickly released and lived out his life writing his memoirs.

Rommel Erwin Johann Eugen (1891–1944)

German field marshal general, nicknamed "Desert Fox". He was distinguished by great independence and a penchant for risky attacking actions, even without the sanction of the command.

At the beginning of World War II, Rommel took part in the Polish and French campaigns, but his main successes were associated with military operations in North Africa. Rommel headed the Afrika Korps, which was initially assigned to help Italian troops who were defeated by the British. Instead of strengthening the defenses, as the order prescribed, Rommel went on the offensive with small forces and won important victories. He acted in a similar manner in the future. Like Manstein, Rommel assigned the main role to rapid breakthroughs and maneuvering of tank forces. And only towards the end of 1942, when the British and Americans in North Africa had a great advantage in manpower and equipment, Rommel’s troops began to suffer defeats. Subsequently, he fought in Italy and tried, together with von Rundstedt, with whom he had serious disagreements affecting the combat effectiveness of the troops, to stop the Allied landing in Normandy.

In the pre-war period, Yamamoto paid great attention to the construction of aircraft carriers and the creation of naval aviation, thanks to which the Japanese fleet became one of the strongest in the world. For a long time, Yamamoto lived in the USA and had the opportunity to thoroughly study the army of the future enemy. On the eve of the start of the war, he warned the country's leadership: “In the first six to twelve months of the war, I will demonstrate an unbroken chain of victories. But if the confrontation lasts two or three years, I have no confidence in the final victory.”

Yamamoto planned and personally led the Pearl Harbor operation. On December 7, 1941, Japanese planes taking off from aircraft carriers destroyed the American naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and caused enormous damage to the US fleet and air force. After this, Yamamoto won a number of victories in the central and southern parts of the Pacific Ocean. But on June 4, 1942, he suffered a serious defeat from the Allies at Midway Atoll. This happened largely due to the fact that the Americans managed to decipher the codes of the Japanese Navy and obtain all the information about the upcoming operation. After this, the war, as Yamamoto feared, became protracted.

Unlike many other Japanese generals, Yamashita did not commit suicide after the surrender of Japan, but surrendered. In 1946 he was executed on charges of war crimes. His case became a legal precedent, called the “Yamashita Rule”: according to it, the commander is responsible for not stopping the war crimes of his subordinates.

Other countries

Von Mannerheim Carl Gustav Emil (1867–1951)

Finnish marshal.

Before the revolution of 1917, when Finland was part of the Russian Empire, Mannerheim was an officer in the Russian army and rose to the rank of lieutenant general. On the eve of the Second World War, he, as chairman of the Finnish Defense Council, was engaged in strengthening the Finnish army. According to his plan, in particular, powerful defensive fortifications were erected on the Karelian Isthmus, which went down in history as the “Mannerheim Line”.

When the Soviet-Finnish war began at the end of 1939, 72-year-old Mannerheim led the country's army. Under his command, Finnish troops for a long time held back the advance of Soviet units significantly superior in number. As a result, Finland retained its independence, although the peace conditions were very difficult for it.

During the Second World War, when Finland was an ally of Hitler's Germany, Mannerheim showed the art of political maneuver, avoiding active hostilities with all his might. And in 1944, Finland broke the pact with Germany, and at the end of the war it was already fighting against the Germans, coordinating actions with the Red Army.

At the end of the war, Mannerheim was elected president of Finland, but already in 1946 he left this post for health reasons.

Tito Josip Broz (1892–1980)

Marshal of Yugoslavia.

Before the outbreak of World War II, Tito was a figure in the Yugoslav communist movement. After the German attack on Yugoslavia, he began organizing partisan detachments. At first, the Titoites acted together with the remnants of the tsarist army and the monarchists, who were called “Chetniks.” However, differences with the latter eventually became so strong that it came to military clashes.

Tito managed to organize scattered partisan detachments into a powerful partisan army of a quarter of a million fighters under the leadership of the General Headquarters of the People's Liberation Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia. She used not only traditional partisan methods of war, but also entered into open battles with fascist divisions. At the end of 1943, Tito was officially recognized by the Allies as the leader of Yugoslavia. During the liberation of the country, Tito's army acted together with Soviet troops.

Shortly after the war, Tito led Yugoslavia and remained in power until his death. Despite his socialist orientation, he pursued a fairly independent policy.

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