Vasilevsky military. Marshals of Victory

21.09.2019 -

Great Patriotic War I found Major General Vasilevsky at the General Staff, in the position of Deputy Chief of Operations. Less than two months later he was appointed chief of the operational department and deputy chief of the General Staff. The Chief of the General Staff was, as you know, Shaposhnikov.

Together with Shaposhnikov, Vasilevsky participates in Headquarters meetings in the Kremlin. And in December 1941, during Shaposhnikov’s illness, Vasilevsky served as chief of the General Staff.

A. M. Vasilevsky played a key role in organizing the defense of Moscow and the counter-offensive, which began at the end of 1941. During these tragic days, when the fate of Moscow was being decided, from October 16 to the end of November, he headed the operational group to serve Headquarters. The group’s responsibilities included recognizing and correctly assessing events at the front, constantly informing Headquarters about them, reporting their proposals to the Supreme High Command in connection with changes in the front-line situation, and quickly and accurately developing plans and directives. The task force, as can be seen from this list of responsibilities, was the brain and heart of the grandiose military operation which became known as the Battle of Moscow.

In April 1942, Vasilevsky was awarded the rank of Colonel General, and in June of the same year he took the post of Chief of the General Staff.

Throughout the Battle of Stalingrad, Vasilevsky, as a representative of the Headquarters, was in Stalingrad, coordinating the interaction of the fronts. He played a decisive role in repelling the Manstein group. In January 1943, Vasilevsky was awarded the rank of Army General and was awarded the Order of Suvorov, 1st degree. And less than a month later, which is extremely unusual, he became Marshal Soviet Union.

It was Vasilevsky who came up with the idea of conducting a defensive operation, followed by a counteroffensive during the Battle of Kursk. It was he who convinced Stalin and other representatives of the General Staff to do just that. At the height of the Battle of Kursk, he coordinated the actions of the Voronezh and Steppe fronts. Vasilevsky personally observed the tank battle near Prokhorovka from the position of his command post.

Vasilevsky planned and led operations to liberate Donbass, Crimea and southern Ukraine. On the day of the capture of Odessa in April 1944, Vasilevsky was awarded the Order of Victory. He became the second holder of this order. The first was Zhukov.

When Sevastopol was liberated, in early May 1944, Vasilevsky personally drove around the city, and his car came across a mine. The marshal was wounded. The wound was minor, but he had to undergo treatment in Moscow for some time.

However, already at the end of May, Marshal Vasilevsky was leaving for the front to command the actions of the 1st Baltic and 3rd Belorussian fronts during Operation Bagration. For the liberation of the Baltic states and Belarus, on July 29, 1944, Vasilevsky was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal.

In February 1945, the commander of the 3rd Belorussian Front, Chernyakhovsky, died. Vasilevsky was appointed in his place. In this position, he led the assault on Konigsberg - an operation included in all military textbooks.

Participation in wars: First World War. Civil War in Russia. The Second World War
Participation in battles:

(Aleksandr Mikhaylovich Vasilevsky) Soviet military leader and statesman, one of the most prominent commanders of World War II

Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army Vasilevsky Alexander Mikhailovich went down in history Second World War as one of the main authors of the main strategic operations.

Vasilevsky was born on September 17, 1895 in the village of Novaya Golchikha near Kineshma in the family of a poor priest.

In 1909, he graduated from theological school in Kineshma and entered the Kostroma Theological Seminary. In the summer of 1914, the First World War began, and Vasilevsky, who had entered the last class of the seminary, decided to take his final exams as an external student in order to join the army.

In the winter of 1915, Vasilevsky was sent to the Alekseevsky Infantry School, located in Lefortovo.

Having completed an accelerated course of study, Vasilevsky sent to the reserve battalion stationed in Rostov (Veliky), and in the fall, as a company commander, he volunteered for the Southwestern Front.

In the spring of 1916, the regiment in which Vasilevsky served, as part of the troops of the 9th Army, took part in the famous Brusilovsky breakthrough. After Romania entered the war, the regiment went to the new Romanian front.

After the outbreak of revolutionary unrest and the collapse of the army, Vasilevsky goes on vacation and goes home. Here he begins to work as a teacher at a local school.

In 1919 Vasilevsky was drafted into the Red Army and sent to the reserve battalion stationed in the city of Efremov. The march on Moscow by the army of A.I. Denikin forced the Bolsheviks to temporarily appoint former officers to responsible command positions. So Vasilevsky became the commander of a regiment of the Tula Rifle Division. But Vasilevsky’s regiment did not have to participate in the battles with Denikin, since the enemy did not reach Tula.

In December, the Tula Division was sent to the Western Front, where an offensive by Polish troops was expected. Under the command of Tukhachevsky, Vasilevsky took part in several offensive operations: on the Berezina, near Smorgon, Vilno.

In 1926, Vasilevsky, already a regiment commander, completed a year-long training at the Shot course.

Then, after almost twelve years in the 48th Division, by order of the People's Commissar he was sent to the newly formed Combat Training Directorate of the Red Army, which tested the combat readiness of troops and practiced new forms of combined arms combat.

In 1936, Vasilevsky was awarded the rank of colonel, and in the fall of the same year, by order of the People's Commissar, he was enrolled in the first intake of students at the Academy of the General Staff.

Arrests among senior military leaders of the Red Army in 1937-1938. accelerated the promotion of young specialists to their positions. At the end of August, Vasilevsky was appointed head of the department of operational art (army operations) of the academy, and a month later - head of the department of the General Staff. And from now on, Vasilevsky’s military activities will be connected with the General Staff.

Branch operational training he headed until June 1939. In connection with the impending war, work on the General Staff was strained to the limit. Vasilevsky had to personally participate in the development of the military campaigns of 1939-1940. (battles at Khalkhin Gol, the campaign in Western Ukraine and Western Belarus in the fall of 1939, the Soviet-Finnish War), and in the rearmament of the Red Army. A significant role A prominent military scientist, who worked for many years as Chief of the General Staff, played a role in raising Vasilevsky as a first-class General Staff officer, B.M. Shaposhnikov. During these same years, personal relationships between Vasilevsky and Stalin.

In November 1940, Vasilevsky, as a military expert, took part in a trip to Berlin as part of a delegation led by the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, V.M. Molotov.

Already in February 1941, Germany began to gradually concentrate troops near Soviet borders. The General Staff had to, taking into account the alarming information received daily, make adjustments to the existing plan to repel the impending attack.

In the spring, measures began to mobilize reservists, transfer troops from the interior of the country to the borders, and build new defensive structures. However, these activities could not be completed completely.

On June 22 the war began. A few days later, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command was created, first headed by People's Commissar of Defense S.K. Timoshenko, and then headed by I.V. Stalin. Vasilevsky also becomes a member of the Headquarters.

B.M. Shaposhnikov was again appointed Chief of the General Staff, and Vasilevsky was appointed his deputy and head of the operational department. From then on, his meetings with Stalin became almost daily. One of the main topics of the reports to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief was the formation of strategic reserves.

The main direction was the central one, where the bulk of Hitler’s troops were concentrated, aimed at capturing Moscow. But the General Staff was unable to timely predict the enemy’s plan, which planned to encircle significant masses of troops of the Western, Reserve and Bryansk Fronts near Vyazma and Bryansk, and then attack Moscow with infantry formations from the west, and tank groups to cover the capital from the north and south. On September 30, Operation Typhoon began; The enemy managed to break through the front and encircle four Soviet armies in the Vyazma area.

To hold with the most stringent defense measures in the area of Gzhatsk and Mozhaisk, representatives arrived there State Committee defense V.M.Molotov and K.E.Voroshilov, and as a representative of the Headquarters - Vasilevsky. Budyonny, who had lost contact with his troops, was removed from command of the Reserve Front, and the commander of the Western Front, General Konev, was threatened with a tribunal. Saved the situation G.K.Zhukov, who took command of the Western Front and took Konev as his deputy.

As a result of the threat looming over Moscow, most of the General Staff was evacuated to Kuibyshev. In Moscow, only an operational group of ten people remained to serve Headquarters, the leadership of which was entrusted to Vasilevsky.

At the height of the battle for Moscow, on the personal instructions of Stalin, Vasilevsky was awarded the rank of lieutenant general.

At the end of November, Shaposhnikov fell ill, and the duties of the Chief of the General Staff were temporarily assigned to Vasilevsky. His name is associated with the leadership of the offensive of the Kalinin Front (commander I.S. Konev), which was the first to launch a counteroffensive on the night of December 5, as well as the coordination of the actions of the Southwestern Front to liberate Rostov-on-Don.

Despite careful reconnaissance, Soviet command It was not possible to accurately determine the enemy’s plans. The General Staff still believed that significant German reserves were concentrated in the central direction, while the Wehrmacht was preparing the main offensive in the Caucasus with the aim of seizing oil sources.

It was decided to carry out several separate operations near Leningrad, Smolensk, Kharkov and in the Crimea.

In May 1942, due to serious illness Shaposhnikov was relieved of his duties as Chief of the General Staff. The latter were assigned to Vasilevsky. He was awarded the rank of Colonel General.

In May, a streak of setbacks began again for the Red Army. At the very beginning of the month, German troops broke into Crimea. The last stage has begun defense of Sevastopol, running until July 4th. On the same days, operations began in the Kharkov area. At first they were successful, but soon the German troops themselves went on the offensive and by mid-May they reached the rear of the troops of the Southwestern Front and launched an offensive south towards the Caucasus and Stalingrad.

By the end of August, Vasilevsky arrived in the Stalingrad area on the South-Eastern Front, commanded by A.I. Eremenko. The headquarters ordered to accept everything necessary measures to mobilize the population, but not to surrender Stalingrad. After a conversation with Stalin, Vasilevsky decided to concentrate two or three armies from the Headquarters reserve north and north-west of Stalingrad and use their forces to liquidate units of the enemy who had broken through. Soon Zhukov arrived there, and Vasilevsky flew to Moscow.

At the end of September, Vasilevsky returned to the South-Eastern Front, where he carefully studied the situation during the preparation of an offensive with the aim of encircling the entire German group in Stalingrad. The operation was prepared in the strictest secrecy; only a few of the top command leadership knew about it.

Vasilevsky still controlled the South-Eastern Front, which became known as the Stalingrad Front. The plan of the operation provided for a strike on the Romanian troops standing on the flanks of the German group, breaking through their defenses with tank and mechanized corps of the Stalingrad and Southwestern fronts, with their further connection in the Kalach area.

Already in the first days of the offensive, which began on November 19, Vasilevsky understood that the German command would try to help its encircled group and release it. Therefore, he insisted in advance to Stalin on the creation of a sufficiently strong outer ring of encirclement, and behind them reserves from mobile troops.

At the final stage Battle of Stalingrad Vasilevsky led the military operations to repel attempts to release the encircled group and its final liquidation. On his initiative, one of the best armies, the 2nd Guards, was thrown against Army Group Don, which was trying to relieve the encircled 6th Army Paulus.

For his participation in the defeat of the German group in the Stalingrad area, Vasilevsky was awarded the Order of Suvorov, 1st degree (No. 2).

After the Battle of Stalingrad, the German command decided to prepare an offensive from the Kursk ledge, which emerged as a result of the battles in the winter and spring of 1943. This time, the intelligence of the General Staff promptly revealed the enemy’s plan. It was decided not to go on the offensive first, but to take a tough defense, knock out German tanks, wear out the enemy in defensive battles, and only then go on the offensive by introducing accumulated reserves.

The troops of the Central Front under the command of K.K. Rokossovsky and Voronezh - under the command of I.F. Vatutin, as well as troops of the Bryansk and left wing of the Western Fronts.

July 5th started German offensive on the Kursk Bulge, reflected by the connection of the Central and Voronezh fronts. The culmination of the defensive battles was the famous tank battle near Prokhorovka on July 12, in which up to 1,200 tanks and self-propelled guns took part. On the same day, the Bryansk and Western Fronts went on the offensive, and on July 15, the troops of the Central Front went on the offensive.

In August, the battle for Donbass began, in which Vasilevsky was entrusted with coordinating the actions of the Southwestern and Southern fronts. Vasilevsky’s activities were connected with these fronts during the battle for the Dnieper, as well as during the liberation of Melitopol, Krivoy Rog, Zaporozhye and the beginning of the liberation of Crimea.

The following year, the troops of the fronts, whose actions were coordinated by Vasilevsky, liberated Nikopol, Nikolaev, Odessa during the spring thaw and reached the Dniester. On the day of the liberation of Odessa, April 10, Vasilevsky was awarded the Order of Victory (No. 2).

In the summer, the main military operations were transferred to Belarus, where troops from four fronts launched Operation Bagration.

At the suggestion of Vasilevsky, the two armies that liberated Crimea were transferred to Belarus, and the former administration of the 4th Ukrainian Front also went there. Vasilevsky was ordered to coordinate the actions of the 1st Baltic and 3rd Belorussian fronts, commanded by the young generals I.Kh. Bagramyan and I.D. Chernyakhovsky.

On June 22, the offensive of the fronts began. In the first days of the fighting, Vitebsk was liberated, to the west of which there were about 5 German divisions in the cauldron. On June 27, Orsha was liberated. Soviet troops crossed the Berezina. On July 3, troops of the 3rd and 1st Belorussian Fronts met in Minsk. The liberation of the Baltic states began, which Vasilevsky did not leave until the new city.

From the Baltic states the fighting spread to East Prussia, which was replete with fortified areas. At first, Vasilevsky continued to coordinate the actions of the 1st Baltic and 3rd Belorussian fronts. But after the death of Chernyakhovsky, Vasilevsky personally led his troops. He asked Stalin to relieve him from the post of Chief of the General Staff and appoint in his place the former Chief of the Operations Directorate of the General Staff A.I. Antonov.

Decisive battles took place on the Zenland Peninsula and near Koenigsberg. On April 6, the assault on the fortress city, covered by a chain of forts, began. Four armies stormed Koenigsberg, and by the end of the fourth day of the assault, the fortress garrison capitulated.

Even before the end of the Great Patriotic War, in the summer of 1944, Vasilevsky the upcoming appointment to the post of commander of Soviet troops in the Far East in the war with Japan was announced. Immediately after the end of the East Prussian operation, Vasilevsky was recalled to Moscow, where he began preparing a war plan.

Vasilevsky’s plan was to simultaneously launch attacks from the Transbaikalia, Primorye and Amur regions to the center of Northeast China. Fighting it was necessary to develop an area of about 1.5 million square meters. km and to a depth of 200–800 km. Soviet troops had to be cut into pieces Kwantung Army the Japanese and then defeat it. The operation was to take part in the troops of the Trans-Baikal Front (commander Marshal of the Soviet Union R.A. Malinovsky), the 1st and 2nd Far Eastern (commanders Marshal of the Soviet Union K.A. Meretskov and General M.A. Purkaev) and ships of the Pacific fleet and the Amur flotilla.

A huge mass of troops and equipment was secretly transferred to Far East and to Mongolia.

The offensive began on August 9 and ended on August 17. 600,000 people surrendered to Soviet troops Japanese army. This was the last act of World War II.

In March 1946 Vasilevsky was reappointed Chief of the General Staff, almost simultaneously he became Deputy Minister, and then First Minister of Defense. In 1949-1953. He was the Minister of the Armed Forces of the USSR in 1953-1957. - First Deputy Minister of Defense.

Then, due to illness, he resigned and since 1959 he was in the group of inspectors general of the USSR Ministry of Defense.

The Great Patriotic War found Major General Vasilevsky at the General Staff, in the position of Deputy Chief of Operations. Less than two months later he was appointed chief of the operational department and deputy chief of the General Staff. The Chief of the General Staff was, as you know, Shaposhnikov.

Together with Shaposhnikov, Vasilevsky participates in Headquarters meetings in the Kremlin. And in December 1941, during Shaposhnikov’s illness, Vasilevsky served as chief of the General Staff.

A. M. Vasilevsky played a key role in organizing the defense of Moscow and the counter-offensive, which began at the end of 1941. During these tragic days, when the fate of Moscow was being decided, from October 16 to the end of November, he headed the operational group to serve Headquarters. The group’s responsibilities included knowing and correctly assessing events at the front, constantly informing Headquarters about them, reporting their proposals to the Supreme High Command in connection with changes in the front-line situation, and quickly and accurately developing plans and directives. The task force, as can be seen from this list of responsibilities, was the brain and heart of the grandiose military operation that became known as the Battle of Moscow.

In April 1942, Vasilevsky was awarded the rank of Colonel General, and in June of the same year he took the post of Chief of the General Staff.

Born into a priest's family, he graduated from a theological seminary and was preparing to become a rural teacher. But the First World War radically changed both the plans and the entire future fate of the future Marshal of the Soviet Union Alexander Vasilevsky.

“Father always moved quickly in his career.”

Returning from the front in 1918, Vasilevsky still managed to work for several months as a rural teacher. primary classes in the Tula province.

And in 1919 he was drafted into the Red Army, to which the future commander remained devoted until the end of his life.

“My father always somehow quickly moved up the ranks and achieved success,” says Marshal’s son Igor. “Even before the start of the Great Patriotic War, he was already a prominent military leader and worked as Deputy Chief of the General Staff. In ’41, I was six years old. But I remember well that when the war began, I didn’t see my father at home very much for a long time. The General Staff then worked around the clock. They even put beds there."

Whenever possible, Vasilevsky took his wife and son to the front

During the days of the defense of Moscow, at the most critical moment - from October to November 1941 - Vasilevsky headed the General Staff operational group to serve the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command.

“Then he had to inform Headquarters and the Supreme Commander-in-Chief about changes in the situation at the front. Develop plans, monitor the implementation of Headquarters decisions,” says Igor Vasilevsky. “During the war, Stalin demanded a daily report on the operational situation. Once my father moved from one front headquarters to another He did not have the opportunity to contact the Supreme Commander, and he did not make such a report, Stalin told him that if this happened again, it would be the last mistake in his life.”

In June 1942, Vasilevsky was appointed chief of the General Staff. In the same year, he returned to Moscow his wife and son, who had previously been evacuated.

“During the war, my father tried not to be separated from us. In total, he spent two of the four years while the war was going on at the front,” says Igor Vasilevsky. “If there was such an opportunity, he always took my mother and me to the front. There are even chronicle footage , in which I am little with my father."

In the first days of the war, Vasilevsky took a portrait of his wife Ekaterina Vasilievna Saburova from home to the General Staff. The portrait moved with him from one front to another. Now it is kept by the son of Marshal Igor.

"Mom's love helped father in everything"

Before meeting Ekaterina Saburova, Vasilevsky was already married. From his first marriage to Serafima Nikolaevna Voronova, his son Yuri was born in 24. The family then lived in Tver.

“In 1931, my father was transferred to Moscow. Neither he nor my mother ever told me about their first meeting. Maybe because my father was still married at the time he met my mother. But somewhere, fate brought them together. By that time, my mother had completed courses for military stenographers. In 1934, they got married, and a year later I was born,” said the marshal’s youngest son, Igor Vasilevsky.

The family has always been a tangible support for the commander.

During the war, Vasilevsky experienced colossal overloads - sleepless nights took their toll. It is known that Stalin worked at night and demanded the same from those around him.

“Of course, my mother’s love helped my father in everything,” says the marshal’s son, “we must remember that in addition to the responsibility for the official duties assigned to him, his father constantly lived in stress from the unknown. He did not know what would happen to him tomorrow.”

In 1944, Vasilevsky said goodbye to his sons

Igor Aleksandrovich remembered how one day in 1944 his father called him for a conversation, from which it was clear that he was saying goodbye.

The family then lived at a state dacha in Volynskoye, and Igor Alexandrovich was nine years old. A little earlier, Marshal Vasilevsky spoke with his eldest twenty-year-old son Yuri. He was told quite clearly that he remained in charge and was responsible for all the Vasilevskys.

“Why my father said goodbye to us then, he did not explain to me or my older brother,” says Igor Vasilevsky. “The time was like this: if necessary, the reasons were quickly found. And in general, my father’s official affairs were never discussed in our house. It was banned."

At the Vasilevskys’ state dacha in Volynskoe, the hostess sister, the nanny, the cook, and other servants were people from the NKVD.

“Our personal belongings were always looked through, even my children’s toys,” recalls Igor Vasilevsky, “our conversations and movements, our social circle were recorded. It was life under strict control, and we understood this well.”

Vasilevsky could even convince the Supreme Commander-in-Chief

At the beginning of the war, Stalin rarely listened to military leaders. He believed that the Supreme Commander had the right to make decisions independently.

“According to my father, Stalin radically changed his mind and began to use the collective experience of the General Staff only in 1942. That is, when the situation was threatening for us. He realized that it was necessary to use the experience of military people and military science. My father said that “, despite the Supreme’s temper, his certain emotional imbalance, he always spoke directly, concisely and accurately,” said the marshal’s son.

Reporting the situation on the fronts, Vasilevsky spoke with Stalin on the phone every day. During the war, he communicated with the Supreme Commander-in-Chief more often than other military leaders and, if necessary, knew how to convince him.

Vasilevsky restored relations with his father at the suggestion of Stalin

In his autobiography, Vasilevsky wrote in 1938 that “personal and written communication with parents has been lost since 1924.”

Alexander Mikhailovich was born into the family of a priest in the village of Novaya Golchikha, near the ancient Russian city of Kineshma. His father was a church regent, and his mother was the daughter of a psalm-reader. When the future marshal was two years old, Mikhail Vasilevsky was appointed to serve in the Ascension Church in the village of Novopokrovskoye. It was at this church that Vasilevsky received his primary education at a parochial school. Then he graduated from theological school and seminary.

Having become a fighter in the Red Army, and later a Red commander, Vasilevsky had to break off relations with his family. Later he restored them at the suggestion of Stalin.

"It was, of course, political game. It is known that Stalin showed loyalty to the Russian Orthodox Church and the clergy during the war. He understood that for Victory it was necessary to use all reserves, including spiritual ones,” says Igor Vasilevsky.

One day Stalin called Vasilevsky and told him: “Why don’t you go to your father. You haven’t seen him for so long.”

"My father went to see my grandfather Mikhail, after which they maintained normal family relationships. And in 1946, my older half-brother Yuri brought my grandfather to the state dacha in Volynskoye. I remember he stayed with us for a long time,” said the marshal’s son.

Order of "Victory" number two

The contribution of Marshal Vasilevsky to the cause of Victory is enormous. He developed all the major battles of the Great Patriotic War.

Alexander Mikhailovich planned a counteroffensive near Stalingrad. Coordinated the actions of the fronts in the Battle of Kursk. Planned and led operations to liberate Right Bank Ukraine and Crimea. On April 10, 1944, the day of the liberation of Odessa from the Nazis, Vasilevsky was awarded the Order of Victory.

This order was the second since the establishment of this military insignia. The owner of the first Order of Victory was Marshal Zhukov, the third - Stalin.

Order "Victory" - main military award THE USSR. She was awarded for successful implementation combat operations on the scale of one or several fronts.

In total, 17 commanders were awarded this order. And only three of them twice: Stalin, Zhukov, Vasilevsky.

The second Order of Victory was awarded to Alexander Mikhailovich for developing and leading the operation to capture Koenigsberg in 1945.

Igor Vasilevsky was with his father at the front during the storming of Koenigsberg. The marshal then commanded the 3rd Belorussian Front. Now Igor Aleksandrovich is 76 years old, and in the days of the capture of Koenigsberg he was 10. According to the marshal’s son, the burning ruins of Koenigsberg still stand before his eyes.

Khrushchev demanded confirmation that Stalin directed military operations on the globe

After the war, Vasilevsky still headed the General Staff until the age of 48, then held key positions in the Ministry of the Armed Forces of the USSR.

The death of Stalin and the subsequent exposure of the leader's cult of personality affected the fate of the marshal.

In 1953, Nikita Khrushchev was elected first secretary of the CPSU Central Committee.

“Khrushchev, when preparing for the 20th Party Congress, demanded that his father confirm his words that allegedly the Supreme Commander-in-Chief did not know how to use operational maps, but directed military operations using a globe,” said the marshal’s son.

Vasilevsky, who personally provided operational maps at Stalin’s request, refused to do so. Soon Khrushchev, through Zhukov, conveyed to Vasilevsky that it was time for him to submit his resignation. Then Alexander Mikhailovich was the first deputy minister of defense of the USSR.

Vasilevsky suffered a heart attack, and then sat down to write his memoirs. And, according to his son, in his memories he lived through the war one more time. Alexander Mikhailovich died in 1977, having not recovered from another heart attack.

After the war, Vasilevsky donated his belongings to museums

The eldest son of the marshal and his first wife Serafima Nikolaevna Voronova, Yuri, continued the Vasilevsky military dynasty. From a young age he was fascinated by airplanes. Yuri devoted his entire life to aviation, and ended his military career in the General Staff. He is a retired lieutenant general.

In 1948, Yuri married the eldest daughter of Marshal Zhukov, Era. Era Georgievna gave birth to two daughters. But the family soon broke up.

Alexander Mikhailovich Vasilevsky was never particularly happy about this union of marshal families. Stalin did not encourage friendship between military leaders, much less family ties between them.

The marshal's youngest son chose a peaceful profession. He is an Honored Architect of the Russian Federation, a professor at the International Academy of Architecture. For more than 30 years, Igor Aleksandrovich was the chief architect of Kurortproekt. His works were included in the Anthology of European Architecture. Igor Vasilevsky's wife Rosa is also an architect. Her maiden name is Tevosyan.

Her father, Ivan Fedorovich Tevosyan, was the People's Commissar of Ferrous Metallurgy during the Great Patriotic War, and he did no less for the Victory than the military leaders.

Already in 1943, largely thanks to People's Commissar Tevosyan, the military industry of the USSR surpassed Germany in both the quantity and quality of military equipment.

It so happened that after the war, Marshal Vasilevsky donated to museums, mostly provincial ones by the way, almost all the personal belongings that he had with him at the front.

Today, in the house of his youngest son, only a portrait of his wife, from whom Vasilevsky was never separated, and a measuring compass are kept.

Holding this compass in his hands, Marshal Vasilevsky developed more than one significant operation of the Great Patriotic War.

Marshal A. M. Vasilevsky was born in 1895 on September 30 (new style). He was the Chief of the General Staff during the Second World War and took an active part in the development and implementation of almost all major military operations. In February 1945, he was appointed commander of the 3rd Belorussian Front and led the Königsberg offensive.

Biography of Vasilevsky Alexander (briefly)

The birthplace of the future Soviet military leader was the village. New Golchikha. Vasilevsky himself believed that he was born on September 17 (old style) - on the same day as his mother. He was the fourth of eight children. In 1897 the family moved to the village. Novopokrovskoe. Here Vasilevsky's father began serving as a priest in the Ascension Church. After a while, Alexander entered a parish school. In 1909, after graduating from the Kineshma Theological School, he entered the Kostroma Seminary. The diploma allowed him to continue his studies in secular educational institution. In the same year, Vasilevsky took part in a strike of seminarians who opposed the authorities’ ban on entering institutes and universities. For this he was expelled from Kostroma. However, a few months later he returned to the seminary, after the demands of the rebels were partially satisfied.

First World War

The future Marshal Vasilevsky dreamed of becoming a land surveyor or agronomist. However, the war radically changed his plans. Before the start of his last year at the seminary, he and several of his classmates took external exams. In February he entered Alekseevskoe military school. After completing an accelerated four-month course, Vasilevsky went to the front as an ensign. Between June and September he was stationed in several reserve units. As a result, he was transferred to the Southwestern Front, where he served as a half-company commander at the 409th Novokhopersky Regiment. In the spring of 1916 he was awarded the rank of commander. After a while, his company was recognized as the best in the regiment. Vasilevsky took part in this rank in May 1916. He subsequently received the position of staff captain. During his stay in Romania, in Adjud-Nou, Vasilevsky learns about the beginning of the October Revolution. In 1917, having decided to leave the service, he resigned.

Civil War

At the end of December 1917, while at home, Alexander learned that he had been elected commander by the soldiers of the 409th regiment. At that time, the unit belonged to the Romanian Front, commanded by General. Shcherbachev. The latter supported the Central Rada, which declared the independence of Ukraine from the Soviets that had recently come to power. The military department recommended that Alexander not go to the regiment. Following this advice, he stayed with his parents until June 1918 and studied agriculture. From September 1918, Vasilevsky taught at primary schools villages of Podyakovlevo and Verkhovye in the Tula province. in spring next year he was drafted into the Red Army in the 4th reserve battalion. In May, he was sent to the Stupino volost as commander of a detachment of 100 people. His tasks included implementing surplus appropriation and fighting gangs. In the summer of 1919, the battalion was transferred to Tula. Here the 1st Infantry Division is formed in anticipation of the approach of the troops of General. Denikin and the Southern Front. Vasilevsky is appointed commander of first a company and then a battalion. From the beginning of October, he was given leadership of the 5th Infantry Division, which is located in the sector of the fortified area on the southwestern side of Tula. However, it was not possible to take part in hostilities, since the Southern Front stopped at Kromy and Orel at the end of October. In December, the division was sent to fight the invaders. At Vasilevsky's request, he is appointed assistant commander. As part of the 15th Army, he takes part in battles with Poland.

WWII

From the first day, Vasilevsky, with the rank of major general, participated in In 1941, on August 1, he was appointed head of the Operations Directorate. From October 5 to October 10, during the Battle of Moscow, he was a member of a group of GKO representatives who ensured the expedited dispatch of the encircled and retreating troops to the Mozhaisk line. In organizing the defense of the capital and the subsequent counter-offensive, Marshal Vasilevsky played one of the main roles. headed the task force in Moscow at the height of the battles - from October 16 to the end of November. He led the first echelon of the General Staff, serving Headquarters. The main responsibilities of the group of 10 people were:

Marshal Alexander Mikhailovich Vasilevsky: activities before the end of the war

On February 16, 1943 he received another rank. The High Command elevates Vasilevsky to marshal. This was quite unusual, since 29 days earlier he received the title of Marshal Vasilevsky coordinated the actions of the Steppe and Voronezh fronts during the Battle of Kursk. Under his leadership, the planning and conduct of operations to liberate Crimea, Right Bank Ukraine and Donbass took place. On the day of the expulsion of the Germans from Odessa, Marshal Vasilevsky was awarded. Before him, only Zhukov received this award since its inception. It was during Operation Bagration that he coordinated the actions of the 3rd Belorussian and 1st Baltic fronts. Under his leadership were Soviet forces during the liberation of the Baltic states. Here, from July 29, he participated in the direct conduct of the offensive.

East Prussian operation

Its planning and direction initial stage Stalin did. Marshal Vasilevsky was in the Baltic states at that moment. But Stalin and Antonov had to go to Russia. In this regard, Vasilevsky was recalled from the Baltic states. During a conversation with Stalin, which took place on the night of February 18, he asked to be relieved of his duties as chief of the General Staff, since he spent most of his time at the front. In the afternoon, news arrived about the death of Chernyakhovsky, commander of the 3rd Belorussian Front. Stalin appoints Vasilevsky commander. In this position he led

last years of life

After Stalin's death, Marshal Vasilevsky was the first deputy minister of defense, but in 1956 he was relieved of his post at his personal request. In mid-August of the same year, he took over as Minister of Military Affairs. In December 1957, Marshal Vasilevsky was dismissed due to illness. From 1956 to 1958 he served as the first chairman of the Great Patriotic War Veterans Committee. In subsequent years, he took a fairly active part in the work of similar organizations. The military leader died in 1977, on December 5. Like other marshals of Victory, Vasilevsky was cremated. The urn with his ashes is located in the Kremlin wall.