Colonel General Fedor Isidorovich Kuznetsov. Colonel General V.I.

Vasily Ivanovich Kuznetsov - Hero of the Soviet Union, Colonel General. Born on January 3, 1894 in the village of Ust-Usolka. By nationality - Russian. From 1912 to 1915 worked as an accountant in the Solikamsk office. He was a member of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), having joined the party in 1928.

Education

Kuznetsov Vasily completed two classes in elementary school. Then four more at the Solikamsk city school. A little later he entered the Kazan school of ensigns, from which he graduated in 1916. In 1920, he studied at the Shot command courses. Then he entered the Frunze Military Academy. After the Great Patriotic War, Vasily Ivanovich completed special courses at the Higher Military Academy named after. Voroshilov.

Military service

Vasily Kuznetsov was drafted into the army in the spring of 1915. At first he was a private in a reserve regiment. Then I went to the front. After completing the ensign courses, he received the rank of junior officer and returned to the active army.

Civil War

Kuznetsov V.I. joined the Red Army in 1918. During the Civil War, he was first a company commander, then a battalion and a rifle regiment. After the end of hostilities, he headed a regiment, division, corps and the Vitebsk army group. In the fall of 1938, Vasily Kuznetsov received membership in the Military Council under the People's Commissar of Defense of the Soviet Union. He received the rank of corps commander, and in 1940 became lieutenant general.

During the Great Patriotic War

In 1939, he commanded the 3rd Army, which took part in the Polish Campaign. At the beginning of the Second World War, Kuznetsov’s army was surrounded near Grodno. The army left the “ring” in July 1941 in the Rogachev area thanks to the skillful command of Kuznetsov, despite fierce fighting. In August, Vasily Ivanovich led the Twenty-First Army, first of the Central and then of the Southwestern Fronts.

Then Vasily Ivanovich Kuznetsov led the Fifty-eighth Army. But at the same time, according to the recollections of his son (who followed in the footsteps of his father and later became a colonel), he ended up in the hospital. The situation near Moscow at that time was very tense. The formation of an additional First Shock Army began urgently. Kuznetsova was not on the list of candidates for her army commander; the leadership did not consider his candidacy at all. But Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin thought differently and summoned Vasily Ivanovich to him directly from the hospital. He announced the transfer of the First Shock Army under his leadership.

She took part in battles on the Western Moscow Front. She took part in offensive operations and counter-offensives. Under the leadership of Kuznetsov, the First Shock Army distinguished itself in the Demyansk operation, when it was able to close the encirclement ring around the enemy group.

Since 1942, Vasily Kuznetsov led the Sixty-third Army on the Don and Stalingrad fronts. For a long time he held back the enemy at Stalingrad. From the end of the autumn of 1942, Kuznetsov was appointed deputy commander of the Southwestern Front, and from December the First Guards Army was transferred under his leadership, which was later renamed the Third Ukrainian Army. In the spring of 1943, Vasily Ivanovich Kuznetsov received the rank of Colonel General. From December of the same year he replaced the commander of the First Baltic Front. Participant of the offensive Nevelsko-Gorodok operation. After successfully completing the task assigned to Kuznetsov, he received the Third Shock Army under his command.

Post-war time

In the post-war period, Kuznetsov V.I., Colonel General, remained the commander of the Third Shock Army in the occupation forces. Since 1948, he chaired the Central Committee of DOSARM (later DOSAAF). In the fifty-third year he was appointed commander of the army of the Volga district. From 1957 he worked in the main apparatus of the Ministry of Defense. In 1960 he resigned. Kuznetsov Vasily Ivanovich, general, was a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union of the second and fourth convocations. He died on June 20, 1964. He was buried in Moscow, at the Novodevichy cemetery.

Awards and memory

For competent leadership of troops, courage and bravery, Colonel General V.I. Kuznetsov received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, approved by the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Soviet Union of Socialist Republics on May twenty-ninth, 1945.

Vasily Ivanovich Kuznetsov rose to the rank of Colonel General. He was awarded the Orders of Lenin (two), Suvorov (first and second degrees) and the Red Banner (five). Received several domestic and foreign medals. He was awarded foreign orders. Two Polish: “Virtuti Militari” of the third degree and the Grunwald Cross of the third degree; one French: Legion of Honor in the rank of commander.

Busts of Vasily Ivanovich Kuznetsov were installed in Moscow and Sergiev Posad. A square in the Dmitrovsky district, in the city of Yakhroma, a boulevard in Sergiev Posad, streets in Solikamsk, Moscow and a school in the city of Dmitrov are named after the general.

Commanders of the Great Patriotic War. The history of the war in faces. Special project of Andrey Svetenko on the radio.

Fedor Isidorovich Kuznetsov. Colonel General, rank awarded in February 1941.

Fyodor Isidorovich is one of those military leaders who met and ended the war in the same military rank, which indicates a not very successful military career. Meanwhile, the colonel generals in the Red Army in the summer of 1941 could be counted on one hand. Kuznetsov had behind him the Soviet-Finnish war, command of military districts, and experience in leading a higher military educational institution - the General Staff Academy. By the way, the general’s penchant for military-theoretical, staff and tactical training of commanders did not evoke understanding among everyone. Thus, one of Kuznetsov’s subordinates, General Khlebnikov, later recalled: “Under Kuznetsov, we spent some time in classrooms and tactical offices. Fyodor Kuznetsov knew and loved combined arms tactics, but he rarely took troops out for practical training.”

In the first days of the war, Kuznetsov commanded the troops of the Northwestern Front, which were forced to retreat from the border through the Baltic states to Leningrad with heavy fighting. Soon he was transferred to an even more alarming sector - the Central Front, and commanded troops during the defensive battle of Smolensk. No action plan was prepared for our troops - simply due to the rapid and unexpected advance of the enemy in Belarus. However, judging by the attempts at counterattacks, primarily in the Lepel direction, Kuznetsov, despite the catastrophic lack of time and opportunity to quickly implement his plans, managed to organize the work of headquarters and combat units.

In August 1941, Kuznetsov was transferred to another difficult sector of the front - to the Crimea, where the enemy was threatening to break through. Fyodor Isidorovich led a separate Primorsky army. It was not possible to stop the troops of the 11th Wehrmacht Army under the command of Manstein. And in this case, many have already noted the responsibility of the army commander for the poor preparation of the Crimean isthmuses for defense. Kuznetsov was moved to the army level of command and headed the 61st Army.

In March 1942 - his theoretical experience and fundamental knowledge of military history were again in demand - Fyodor Kuznetsov again headed the General Staff Academy to train new personnel. In 1944, after a short return to the active army as deputy commander of the Karelian Front, Kuznetsov was appointed to command the rear Ural Military District; in 1948, he was replaced in this post by Marshal Zhukov, who had fallen into disgrace at that time.

During the first two years of the war, General Kuznetsov was twice involved in serious car accidents, and also received a shell shock. This affected his health - in 1948 he retired. Fyodor Isidorovich died in March 1961.

Kuznetsov Vasily Ivanovich(January 3 (15), 1894, Ust-Usolka village, Solikamsk district, Perm province (now Cherdynsky district, Perm region) - June 20, 1964, Moscow) - Soviet military leader, Colonel General (1943), Hero of the Soviet Union (May 29, 1945).

Biography

He worked as an accountant in the Solikamsk zemstvo. In 1915 he was drafted into the Russian army, a participant in the First World War. In 1916 he graduated from the school for warrant officers and became a second lieutenant.

In the Red Army since 1918. During the Civil War he commanded a company, battalion, and rifle regiment. After the war, he commanded a regiment, division, corps, and Vitebsk army group. On October 7, 1938, he was confirmed as a member of the Military Council under the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR.

He graduated from the command staff course “Vystrel” (1920), a special faculty of the Military Academy named after. M. V. Frunze (1936). In 1928 he joined the CPSU(b). The last rank before the introduction of general ranks was corps commander, and from 1940 - lieutenant general.

From September 1, 1939 (to August 25, 1941) - commander of the 3rd Army, which took part in the Polish Campaign in September-October 1939. At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, his 3rd Army was surrounded near Grodno. At the end of July 1941, he emerged from encirclement in the Rogachev area, and the headquarters of the 3rd Army united troops under its command in the Mozyr area.

In August 1941 he led the 21st Army of the Central, later the Southwestern Front. At its head he participated in the Roslavl-Novozybkov operation.

After the defeat of the Southwestern Front in the Battle of Kiev, he led the new 58th Army (November 1941). It is unknown whether he managed to directly command this army, since, according to the recollections of his son, Colonel Kuznetsov, General Kuznetsov was in the hospital at that time.

At this moment, a tense situation was created near Moscow - there was a real threat of enveloping Moscow from the north, where fascist German troops reached the Moscow-Volga canal line. It was decided to throw into battle another new 1st Shock Army, urgently formed on November 25, 1941 (order of the Supreme High Command Headquarters dated November 15, 1941) by transforming the 19th Army of the second formation into the reserve of the SVGK, units of which were at the stage of formation and were located in the direction of the enemy’s breakthrough.

In accordance with the provisions of the theory of Soviet military art of the 1930s, the shock army (UDA) should be a military formation of the Red Army, which, compared to a conventional combined arms army, should have more tanks, guns and mortars. Since such shock armies were intended to defeat enemy groups in the most important (main) directions, they were reinforced combined arms armies. They included tank, mechanized, and cavalry corps.

However, contrary to theory, in practice on November 29, the 1st Shock Army included 7 separate rifle brigades (including the 29th, 44th, 47th, 50th, 55th, 56th I and 71st), 11 separate ski battalions, an artillery regiment and 2 light bomber regiments.

When the candidacy for commander of the 1st Shock Army was being discussed, Vasily Ivanovich “was not on the list of applicants for the post of Army Commander of the 1st Shock Army.” But Stalin summoned Kuznetsov to Headquarters straight from the hospital and announced his appointment as army commander. “Well, are you happy with the appointment?” asked Stalin. “I’m happy, but the army is already very scanty - just ski battalions, only one division... And what a fool canceled the corps!” [unauthorized source? 1593 days]

In November 1941 - May 1942, V.I. Kuznetsov commanded the 1st Shock Army of the Western, then the Northwestern Front, participated in the Battle of Moscow and the general offensive of Soviet troops in the winter and spring of 1942.

In July 1942 he led the new 63rd Army of the Stalingrad Front and took part in the Battle of Stalingrad.

In December 1942 - December 1943 he commanded the 1st Guards Army, and from May 1943 - Colonel General.

Since March 1945 - commander of the 3rd Shock Army of the 1st Belorussian Front. Under the leadership of V.I. Kuznetsov, the army took part in the Berlin operation. On May 1, 1945, soldiers of the 3rd Shock Army hoisted the Victory Banner over the Reichstag.

KUZNETSOV Vasily Ivanovich, (01/15/1894, Ust-Usolka village, now Usolka village, Cherdynsky district, Perm region - 6/20/1964, Moscow). Russian. Colonel General (1943). Hero of the Soviet Union (29.5.1945).

Served in the Russian army from April 1915 to December 1917, second lieutenant. During the First World War, from April 1915, he served as a private and non-commissioned officer of the 236th reserve regiment in Saransk, then from October - cadet of the Kazan warrant officer school, from March

1916 - ensign of the 120th reserve regiment in Yekaterinburg. In June 1916 he was sent to the active army, as part of the 305th Infantry Regiment he fought on the South-Western Front, the head of a team of foot reconnaissance officers.

In the Red Army since August 1918. Graduated from the ensign school (1916), rifle and tactical advanced training courses for the command staff of the Red Army "Vystrel" named after. Comintern (1926), KUKS (1929), special faculty of the Military Academy. M. V. Frunze (1936).

During the Civil War, V.I. Kuznetsov, commander of a company, battalion and rifle regiment, participated in battles on the Eastern and Southern fronts against the troops of Admiral A.V. Kolchak and General P.N. Wrangel.

During the interwar period, V.I. Kuznetsov served in the UVO from October 1923, commanded the 89th Chongar Rifle Regiment, from January 1931, assistant commander of the 51st Perekop Rifle Division, from December 1930 to March 1931 .i.d. commander of this division. Since March 1931, assistant commander of the 25th Infantry Division. In November 1931, he was appointed commander of the 2nd Turkestan Rifle Division, from October 1936, commander and military commissar of the 99th Rifle Division, from August 1937, commander of the 16th Rifle Corps, then commander of the Vitebsk Army Group of Forces. Since September 1939, V.I. Kuznetsov has been the commander of the 3rd Army of the Zapovo Military District.

With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the 3rd Army of the Western Front under the command of V.I. Kuznetsov fought heavy battles with superior enemy forces in a border defensive battle. Since August 1941, V.I. Kuznetsov was the commander of the 21st Army of the Bryansk Front (since September 1, the Southwestern Front), whose troops fought defensive battles in the area. Konotop, Chernigov and Kyiv. In October-November 1941, commander of the HVO troops. Since November 2, simultaneously commander of the 58th Reserve Army of the Supreme High Command Headquarters. Since November 23, V.I. Kuznetsov was the commander of the 1st Shock Army, which was concentrated in the area of ​​​​Dmitrov, Ignatovo, Zagorsk. Its advanced units, advanced to the Yakhroma area, defeated the advanced detachment of the enemy's 7th Tank Division, which crossed to the eastern bank of the Moscow-Volga canal. In early December, the army under the command of V.I. Kuznetsov as part of the Western Front, in cooperation with the 20th Army, launched a series of counterattacks from the line of Dmitrov, Lobnya to Solnechnogorsk, which made it possible to stop the advance of fascist German troops towards Moscow from the north and northwest. With the transition of Soviet troops to a counteroffensive near Moscow, the army under the command of V.I. Kuznetsov took part in the Klin-Solnechnogorsk and Rzhev-Vyazemsk offensive operations. In mid-January 1942, it was transferred to the reserve of the Supreme High Command Headquarters, regrouped in the area southeast of Staraya Russa, on February 2 it was transferred to the North-Western Front and participated in the Demyansk offensive operation. Since June 1942, V.I. Kuznetsov has been the commander of the 63rd Army of the Stalingrad (from September 1942 - Don) Front, whose troops distinguished themselves in fierce defensive battles on the distant and near approaches to Stalingrad. Since November 1942, V.I. Kuznetsov has been deputy commander of the troops of the Southwestern Front, since December 1942, commander of the 1st Guards Army of the same front (from October 1943 - 3rd Ukrainian), whose units liberated Donbass . From December 1943, deputy commander of the 1st Baltic Front, and from March 16, 1945, commander of the 3rd Shock Army, which in March was withdrawn to the reserve of the 1st Belorussian Front, regrouped to the river. Oder (Odra) to the area north of Tsedsn (Tsedynya), where it took over the defense line of the 47th Army. At the beginning of April, after the transfer of the defense zone to the 61st Army, it was regrouped in the Berlin direction. In the Berlin offensive operation, the army advanced as part of the main strike group of the front. During 5 days of intense fighting, its troops broke the enemy's resistance and on April 21, they were among the first to break into the northwestern outskirts of Berlin. On April 28, army units stormed the resistance center in the Maobit prison area and freed about 7 thousand prisoners languishing there. On April 29, soldiers of the 79th Army Rifle Corps crossed the river. Spree and, repelling the enemy's fierce counterattacks, captured the Reichstag and hoisted the Victory Banner over it. For his personal courage and bravery in the operations of the Great Patriotic War, V. I. Kuznetsov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

After the war, V.I. Kuznetsov was commander of the 3rd Shock Army. Since 1948, Chairman of the Society of the Central Committee of DOSAAF. Since 1953, commander of the PriVO troops. Since June 1957, he conducted scientific work at the General Staff. Retired since September 1960.

Awarded 2 Orders of Lenin, 5 Orders of the Red Banner, 2 Orders of Suvorov 1st class, medals, as well as foreign orders.

Kuznetsov Vasily Ivanovich, Soviet military leader, Colonel General (1943). Hero of the Soviet Union (05/29/1945).

Born into a working-class family. After graduating from school, he worked as an accountant in the Solikamsk zemstvo. Called up for military service in April 1915, a private in the 236th reserve regiment. After graduating from the 1st Kazan School of Ensigns in March 1916, he was promoted to ensign and appointed as a junior officer in the 120th reserve regiment in Yekaterinburg. Member of the First World War. In the active army since June 1916, head of the foot reconnaissance team of the 305th Lanishevsky Infantry Regiment. He fought on the Southwestern Front. In December 1917 he was demobilized, second lieutenant.

In the Red Army since August 1918. Participant in the Civil War: commander of a company and battalion as part of the 4th Perm and 1st Ufa Rifle Regiments, since February 1919, assistant commander for the combat unit of the 263rd Verkhneuralsk Rifle Regiment. He fought on the Eastern Front against the troops of Admiral A.V. Kolchak. From February 1920, he commanded the 89th Chongar Infantry Regiment as part of the 30th Infantry Division, and took part in battles on the Southern Front against the troops of General P.N. Wrangel. After graduating in September 1926 from the rifle-tactical advanced training courses for the command staff of the Red Army "Vystrel" named after. Comintern continued to command the 89th Infantry Regiment in the Ukrainian Military District. After graduating from advanced training courses for senior commanders of the Red Army in Moscow in January 1930, he was appointed assistant commander of the 51st Perekop Rifle Division named after the Mossovet, and from March 1931 - in the same position in the 25th Chapaev Rifle Division. From November 1931 - commander of the 2nd Turkestan Rifle Division. After graduating in October 1936 from the Military Academy of the Red Army named after. M.V. Frunze was appointed commander and military commissar of the 99th Infantry Division. From August 1937 he was commander of the 16th Rifle Corps, and from July 1938 he commanded the Vitebsk Army Group of Forces (later reorganized into the 3rd Army). In February 1939, he was awarded the rank of corps commander. In September 1939, commanding the Vitebsk and Polotsk groups of troops of the Belarusian Front, he took part in a campaign in Western Belarus. In June 1940, he was awarded the rank of lieutenant general.

At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the 3rd Army under the command of Lieutenant General V.I. Kuznetsova, as part of the Western Front, fought heavy battles with superior enemy forces in a border defensive battle in Belarus. Units of the army suffered huge losses, but continuing to lead the battles in the most difficult conditions, a month later Army Commander Kuznetsov brought several thousand Red Army soldiers out of encirclement and fighting to his troops. Since August 1941 - commander of the 21st Army on the Bryansk and Southwestern fronts. The army troops steadfastly held the defense in the area of ​​Sumy, but after the Kyiv disaster the army commander had to withdraw his units from the “cauldron” again. From October 1941, he commanded the troops of the Kharkov Military District and at the same time the emerging 58th Reserve Army of the Supreme High Command Headquarters. Since November, Lieutenant General V.I. Kuznetsov commanded the 1st Shock Army, which participated in the Battle of Moscow as part of the Western Front. During the counter-offensive, the army took part in the Klin-Solnechnogorsk and Rzhev-Vyazemsk offensive operations. In February 1942, the army was transferred to the Northwestern Front, where it distinguished itself in the first Demyansk operation, closing the encirclement ring around the Demyansk enemy group. From July to November 1942, he commanded the 63rd Army on the Stalingrad and Don fronts, holding back the enemy offensive for a long time in the defensive phase.

From November 1942 - Deputy Commander of the South-Western Front, from December - Commander of the 1st Guards Army on the South-Western (from October 1943 - 3rd Ukrainian) Front. Units of the 1st Guards Army under his leadership liberated Donbass, fought in the Izyum-Barvenkovsky operation and in the battle for the Dnieper. In May 1943 V.I. Kuznetsov was awarded the rank of Colonel General. Since December 1943, he has been deputy commander of the 1st Baltic Front. In this position, he participated in the Nevelsko-Gorodok offensive operation, in the winter offensive of 1944 near Vitebsk, in the Belarusian strategic offensive, Baltic strategic and East Prussian operations. After the front completed its tasks and was liquidated, in March 1945 he was appointed to the post of commander of the 3rd Shock Army of the 1st Belorussian Front. In April-May 1945, units of the 3rd Shock Army took an active part in the Berlin operation in the direction of the main attack of the front, the capture of the capital of Hitler's Reich, the storming of the Reichstag building and the hoisting of the Victory Banner over it. May 29, 1945 for personal courage and bravery in the operations of the Great Patriotic War, personal courage and courage to Colonel General V.I. Kuznetsov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

After the war, Colonel General V.I. Kuznetsov continued to command the 3rd Shock Army in the Group of Soviet Occupation Forces in Germany. In 1948 he graduated from the Higher Academic Courses at the Higher Military Academy named after K.E. Voroshilova Since May 1948 - Chairman of the Central Committee of DOSARM (since April 1952 - DOSAAF). In October 1953, he was appointed commander of the Volga Military District. Since June 1957, he worked in the central office of the Ministry of Defense. Retired since September 1960. Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 2nd and 4th convocations. He was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.

Awarded: 2 Orders of Lenin, 5 Orders of the Red Banner, Orders of Suvorov 1st and 2nd class, medals, foreign orders.