Vasilevsky Alexander Mikhailovich biography briefly. Marshal Vasilevsky - biography, information, personal life

September 16th (September 30th according to the new style) 1895 in the village The new Golchikha of Kineshma district, in the family of the clergyman Mikhail Vasilevsky, a boy was born, named Alexander. The mother of the future marshal, Nadezhda Ivanovna, also came from the family of a clergyman.

In 1897 The Vasilevsky family moves to Novopokrovskoye, where the father of the family is sent as a priest to the Church of the Ascension. The boy Sasha will also come to study at the parish school at the church.

Subsequently in Kineshma he graduates religious school(1909) and became a student at the theological seminary in Kostroma.

Vasilevsky’s dream was to become an agronomist or land surveyor. But 1914 made adjustments to Alexander’s life plans. In May 1915 he graduates from the warrant officer course and goes to the front. At first, Vasilevsky serves as a company commander, and a year later receives the shoulder straps of a staff captain. He is appointed battalion commander.

The news of the revolution that took place in Russia finds a young officer in Romania. In November 1917 he leaves the service.

In April 1919 joins the Red Army. Here he rose to the rank of battalion commander.

In December 1919 will end up on the Western Front, where there were battles with the White Poles.

For 10 post-war years in Tver, he held the position of commander of the 48th Infantry Division, which consisted of 3 regiments. Shelves A.M. Vasilevsky become one of the best. The commander's talent is noticed and transferred to work at headquarters.

In 1936 The Red Army introduces personal military ranks, and Alexander Mikhailovich receives the shoulder straps of a colonel. In November 1936 The doors of the Military Academy of the General Staff open for him. Finishes his studies with honors.

Career A.M. Vasilevsky is developing quite rapidly. In four years (from August 1938 to April 1942) he goes from brigade commander to the rank of colonel general.

In May 1940 with the rank of division commander, he receives the appointment of deputy chief of the Operations Directorate of the General Staff.

Vasilevsky meets the Great Patriotic War as a major general.

During the days of the defense of Moscow, he becomes a key figure. For the successful actions of the task force he led, he was promoted to lieutenant general.

Summer 1942 A.M. Vasilevsky in the position of Chief of the General Staff, and since October has also combined the position of Deputy People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR.

January 1943 brings him the rank of army general, and less than a month later he becomes marshal of the Soviet Union.

A.M. Vasilevsky is sent to the most important and dangerous sectors of the front, and everywhere he proves himself to be a talented commander.

His presence ensures the victorious actions of the Soviet army on many fronts: the North-Western, Stalingrad, Voronezh, Bryansk, 1st and 2nd Baltic Fronts, 3rd Belorussian Front. This is the front-line biography and geography of Marshal A.M. Vasilevsky.

In 1944 Alexander Mikhailovich Vasilevsky is awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

He receives the 2nd Hero star after the defeat of the Kwantung Army in Manchuria.

After the war, he held a number of senior military positions: he served as chief of the General Staff, deputy minister of the USSR Armed Forces, and minister of the USSR Armed Forces. In 1957 due to health reasons A.M. Vasilevsky resigns.

The marshal died on December 5, 1977. The urn with his ashes rests in the Kremlin wall on Red Square.

He has many awards for his services in World War II. He was also awarded orders and medals for services to the Motherland. He was also awarded by foreign countries. Vasilevsky's memory has been immortalized: monuments, busts and memorial plaques have been erected in his honor. Squares, streets, and military educational institutions bear his name. Marshal A.M. Vasilevsky is the greatest commander who has written his name in gold in the history of military art.

Interesting Facts and dates from life

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 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 of the 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. In the midst of the battle Kursk Bulge, 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 was personally driving 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.

In the year of the 70th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War and World War II, I was going to start a biographical column called “Marshals of Victory.” But there were so many events in the past year that, having fidgeted with the calendar, I simply did not have time to start it. For this reason, I am fulfilling this promise already in the current year, 2016. This idea came to me for a reason: many marshals and military leaders of the USSR and the Red Army celebrated their birthdays last year, albeit posthumously. But even this year there are also “heroes of the occasion”. Nevertheless, they made a significant contribution to the defeat of the enemy in that world massacre. The first person we will talk about is Alexander Mikhailovich Vasilevsky. September 18 last year marked the 120th anniversary of his birth.

Alexander Vasilevsky among students of the Kostroma Theological Seminary in 1914 (in the first row, second from left)
On September 30 (September 18, old style), 1895, in the small village of Novaya Golchikha, Kineshma district, Kostroma Province (today part of the city of Vichuga, Ivanovo region), Alexander Mikhailovich Vasilevsky was born. The future Marshal of the Soviet Union was born into a family Orthodox priest. A talented General Staff officer, Marshal Vasilevsky was a real conductor of the fronts of the Great Patriotic War. His daily work and enormous amount of grunt work lay at the basis of many brilliant victories of the Red Army. One of the best senior strategic officers, Alexander Vasilevsky did not gain such great fame as a victorious marshal like Georgy Zhukov, but his role in the victory over Nazi Germany was hardly less significant.

Bust to Marshal in Vichuga
Alexander Mikhailovich was born into a large family. His father Mikhail Aleksandrovich Vasilevsky was the church regent and psalm-reader of the St. Nicholas Edinoverie (direction in the Old Believers) church. Mother Nadezhda Ivanovna Vasilevskaya was raising 8 children. The future marshal was the fourth oldest among his brothers and sisters. Initially, the famous future Soviet military leader chose the spiritual path, following the example of his father. In 1909, he graduated from the Kineshma Theological School, after which he entered the Kostroma Theological Seminary. A diploma from this seminary allowed him to continue his education in any secular educational institution. Vasilevsky graduated from the seminary at the height of the First World War in January 1915, and his life path changed dramatically. Vasilevsky did not discover a serious desire to become a priest, but decided to go and defend the country.


Memorial plaque on the building of Kostroma State University named after N. A. Nekrasov
Since February 1915, Alexander Vasilevsky has been part of the Russian imperial army. In June 1915, he completed accelerated courses (4 months) at the famous Moscow Alekseevsky Military School and was awarded the rank of ensign. Vasilevsky spent almost two years at the front. Without normal rest, vacations, the future great commander matured in battles and his character as a warrior was forged. Vasilevsky managed to take part in the famous Brusilov breakthrough in May 1916. In 1917, Alexander Vasilevsky, already with the rank of staff captain, served as battalion commander on the Southwestern and Romanian fronts. In the conditions of the total collapse of the army after the October Revolution, Vasilevsky quits service and returns to his home.

Returning home, he worked for some time in the education sector. In June 1918, he was appointed instructor of general education in the Ugletsky volost (Kineshma district, Kostroma province). And from September 1918 he worked as a primary school teacher in the villages of Verkhovye and Podyakovlevo, Tula province (today the territory of the Oryol region).

A.M. Vasilevsky. 08/01/1928
Back on military service he was drafted in April 1919, now into the Red Army. The staff captain of the tsarist army, in fact, begins a new military career from a sergeant position, becoming an assistant platoon commander. However, the knowledge and experience gained make themselves felt, and soon enough he rises to the rank of assistant regiment commander. Vasilevsky has been a participant in the Civil War since January 1920; as assistant commander of the 429th Infantry Regiment in the 11th and 96th Infantry Divisions, he fought on the Western Front. He fought against gangs operating in the Samara and Tula provinces, Bulak-Balakhovich’s detachments. Participated in Soviet-Polish war as assistant commander of the 96th Infantry Division from the 15th Army. But Vasilevsky could not rise above the position of regiment commander for 10 long years; most likely, his past affected him.


Asset of Osoaviakhim of the city of Tver. In the third row, third from left, A. M. Vasilevsky, 1926.
The long-awaited leap in the fate of the future marshal occurred in 1930. Following the results of the autumn maneuvers, Vladimir Triandafillov, who was one of the largest theorists of the operational art of the Red Army (he was the author of the so-called “deep operation” - the main operational doctrine of the Soviet armed forces until the Great Patriotic War), drew attention to a capable commander. Unfortunately, Triandafillov himself, who at that time held the post of deputy chief of staff of the Red Army, died in a plane crash on July 12, 1931. However, before this, he managed to notice the talented regiment commander Alexander Vasilevsky and promoted him along the staff line. Thanks to him, Vasilevsky got into the combat training system of the Red Army, where he was able to focus on generalizing and analyzing the experience of using troops.
Beginning in March 1931, the future marshal served in the Combat Training Directorate of the Red Army - assistant to the head of the sector and 2nd department. From December 1934 he was the head of the combat training department of the Volga Military District. In April 1936, he was sent to study at the Academy of the General Staff of the Red Army, which had just been created in the country, but after completing the first year of the academy, he was unexpectedly appointed head of the logistics department at the same academy. It is noteworthy that the former head of the department, I. I. Trutko, was repressed at that time.

In October 1937, a new appointment awaited him - head of the operational training department of the Operations Directorate of the General Staff. In 1938, by order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR, Alexander Mikhailovich Vasilevsky was awarded the rights of a graduate of the Academy of the General Staff. From May 21, 1940, Vasilevsky served as deputy chief of the Operations Directorate of the General Staff. If, in the words of another Soviet Marshal Boris Shaposhnikov, the General Staff was the brain of the army, then its operational management was the brain of the General Staff itself. Operations control was the place where all options for conducting combat operations were planned and calculated.

In the spring of 1940, Vasilevsky headed the government commission to demarcate the Soviet-Finnish border, and was also involved in developing action plans in the event of war with Germany. After the start of the Great Patriotic War, already on June 29, 1941, Boris Mikhailovich Shaposhnikov again became the chief of the General Staff of the Red Army, who took the place of Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov, who left this position with considerable scandal, who was not at ease within the headquarters walls and always wanted to break out to the front line closer to the troops. On August 1, 1941, Alexander Vasilevsky was appointed deputy chief of the General Staff, as well as head of the Operations Directorate. Thus, one of the most fruitful officer tandems in the military command of the Soviet Union during the war was launched. Already in 1941, Vasilevsky played one of the leading roles in organizing the defense of Moscow, as well as the subsequent counter-offensive of Soviet troops.

It is worth noting that the former colonel of the tsarist army Boris Shaposhnikov was the only military man whom Stalin himself always addressed exclusively by his first name and patronymic and who, regardless of his position, was a personal consultant to the Soviet leader on military issues, enjoying Stalin’s boundless trust . However, at that time Shaposhnikov was already 60 years old, he was ill, and the unbearable load of the first months of the Great Patriotic War seriously affected his health. Therefore, more and more often, Vasilevsky turned out to be in charge “on the farm”. Finally, in May 1942, after the most severe catastrophes that befell the Red Army in the south - the cauldron near Kharkov and the collapse of the Crimean Front, Shaposhnikov resigned. His place at the head of the General Staff is taken by Alexander Vasilevsky, who officially assumed his new position only on June 26, 1942, before which he wandered along the fronts from north to south.

With S.M. Budyonny in Donbass. 1943
By that time he was already a colonel general. In his new position, he received what is called the full set: the disaster near Kharkov, the breakthrough of German troops to Stalingrad, the fall of Sevastopol, the disaster of Vlasov’s 2nd Shock Army near the town of Myasnoy Bor. However, Vasilevsky pulled it out. He was one of the creators of the plan for the counteroffensive of the Red Army in the Battle of Stalingrad, and took part in the development and coordination of several other strategic operations. Already in February 1943, after the victory at Stalingrad, Vasilevsky became Marshal of the Soviet Union, setting a kind of record - Alexander Vasilevsky remained in the rank of army general for less than one month.
The modest Chief of the General Staff did an excellent job with the poorly visible from the outside, but very large-scale work of the conductor of the huge orchestra that was the active army. He made a great contribution to the development of Soviet military art, personally taking part in the planning of many operations. On behalf of the Supreme Command Headquarters, he coordinated the actions of the Steppe and Voronezh fronts during the Battle of Kursk. He led the planning and conduct of strategic operations for the liberation of Donbass, Northern Tavria, Crimea, and the Belarusian offensive operation. On July 29, 1944, for the exemplary performance of the Supreme Commander's tasks on the front of the fight against the Nazi invaders, Marshal Alexander Vasilevsky was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.


Vasilevsky accepts surrender from Alfon Hitter. Vitebsk, 1943
But you shouldn’t think that Vasilevsky spent all his time at headquarters. In May 1944, after the capture of Sevastopol, he was even slightly wounded when a staff car hit a mine. And in February 1945, for the first time during the war, he personally led one of the fronts. He asked several times to be relieved of his position in order to personally work in the troops. Stalin hesitated, because he did not want to let go of his usual Chief of the General Staff, but in February the tragic news came about the death of the commander of the 3rd Belorussian Front, Ivan Chernyakhovsky, after which Stalin gave his consent. Leaving another talented officer at the helm of the General Staff - Alexei Antonov - Vasilevsky heads the 3rd Belorussian Front, directly exercising operational and strategic leadership of a large formation of troops. It was he who led the assault on Koenigsberg.

Back in the fall of 1944, Vasilevsky was given the task of calculating the necessary forces and means for a possible war with Japan. It was under his leadership that already in 1945 a detailed plan for the Manchurian strategic offensive operation was drawn up. On July 30 of the same year, Alexander Mikhailovich was appointed commander-in-chief of the Soviet troops located in the Far East. On the eve of the large-scale offensive, Vasilevsky personally visited the starting positions of his troops, got acquainted with the units entrusted to him, and discussed the situation with the commanders of the corps and armies. During these meetings, the deadlines for completing the main tasks, in particular reaching the Manchurian Plain, were clarified and reduced. It took Soviet and Mongolian units only 24 days to defeat the million-strong Kwantung Army of Japan.

Postage stamp with the image of the Marshal. 1980
The campaign of the Soviet troops “through the Gobi and Khingan,” which Western historians called the “August Storm,” is still being studied in military academies around the world as an excellent example of precisely structured and executed logistics. Soviet troops (more than 400 thousand people, 2,100 tanks and 7,000 guns) were transferred from the west to a rather poor theater of operations in terms of communications and deployed on the spot, carrying out long marches under their own power, covering 80-90 kilometers on peak days without major delays due to a perfectly thought-out and practically implemented supply and repair system.
For the skillful leadership of Soviet troops in the Far East of the country during the fleeting campaign against Japan, on September 8, 1945, Marshal Alexander Vasilevsky was awarded the second Gold Star medal, he became twice Hero of the Soviet Union. After the end of the war, Vasilevsky returned to the leadership of the General Staff, and then headed the country’s military leadership. Before him, the post of Minister of Defense was held by Nikolai Bulganin, who, although he carried the marshal's weather on his shoulders, was a party functionary, not a military leader. Before them, the People's Commissariat of Defense was headed personally by Joseph Stalin. The Soviet leader was suspicious of the “Marshals of Victory” and the fact that it was Alexander Vasilevsky who eventually received the War Ministry spoke volumes.

Joseph Stalin clearly saw in the marshal a replacement for Shaposhnikov, who died in 1945, in the post of conditional “consultant to the leader No. 1.” At the same time, all Stalin’s motives, according to the traditions of that era, remained behind the scenes. On the one hand, Alexander Vasilevsky, like Stalin, was once a seminarian. On the other hand, this was the first student of the respected Boris Shaposhnikov, who during the war proved his ability to work independently at the highest level.

Ship "Marshal Vasilevsky"
One way or another, under Joseph Stalin, Marshal Vasilevsky’s career was going uphill, and after his death it began to collapse. A step back occurred literally in the very first days after the death of the leader, when Bulganin again became the Minister of Defense of the USSR. At the same time, Vasilevsky did not have a good relationship with Nikita Khrushchev, who demanded that all military personnel disown Stalin, but Vasilevsky, like some Soviet military leaders, did not do this. Alexander Vasilevsky, who of the military leaders who lived in those years most likely personally communicated with Stalin more and more often than others during the Great Patriotic War, simply could not afford to buffoonery, saying that the leader was planning military operations almost at a time from Belomor cigarettes. And this despite the fact that Alexander Vasilevsky’s assessment of the role of Joseph Stalin himself in the history of the Soviet Union was far from ambiguous. In particular, he criticized the repressions against senior command personnel that had been going on since 1937, calling these repressions one of possible reasons weaknesses of the Red Army in the initial period of the war.

The result of this behavior of Marshal Vasilevsky was that he first became Deputy Minister of Defense “for military science”, and already in December 1957 he retired. A little later, he will become part of the “paradise group” of inspectors general of the USSR Ministry of Defense. In 1973, Alexander Mikhailovich published a book of memoirs, quite rich in descriptions, entitled “The Work of a Whole Life,” in which he outlined in detail, but rather dryly, the work he did during the war. At the same time, until the end of his days, the marshal refused to film a film about himself or write additional biographies, citing the fact that he had already written everything in his book. Vasilevsky passed away on December 5, 1977 at the age of 82. The urn with his ashes was walled up in the Kremlin wall on Red Square.

/from the series “Idols of Youth”/
It was a fortunate coincidence that at the same time as collecting material about Marshal A.M. Vasilevsky, I read K. Simonov’s book “The Living and the Dead.” This true book shows a lot wonderful people, including an employee of the General Staff - Ivan Alekseevich Polynin, who runs through the entire trilogy. This is a man of remarkable intelligence, exceptional honesty, the same age as Vasilevsky, a man with a similar biography. His name appeared only in the first book of the trilogy. It seems that Simonov does not want the reader to remember this surname. This may mean any general of the General Staff who selflessly served the Motherland. The trilogy contains the following thoughts of Polynin: “It’s difficult to talk to Stalin... We are fighting as best we can with him in advance ready-made solutions, with preconceived opinions, we console ourselves that he listens, but we know within ourselves that, after all, he does not listen enough to advice.” He also thinks that people are afraid to give advice to Stalin. It’s good, “so that people don’t - no matter how high they stand! - were not afraid to give advice, had no need to guess his opinion, so that this need would not gradually become a need that turns even the best people into crappy ones... Of course, this also depends on those who give advice, but much more - on to whom they give. First of all, it depends on him whether they are afraid or not afraid to give him advice...” And before that, it is shown what a depressing impression the conversation with Stalin made on the fearless General Serpilin, who was not broken by either torture or the camp. There is a lot of evidence in the trilogy that proximity to Stalin was the most dangerous. Thus, the entire danger, complexity and importance of the mission carried out by the employees of the General Staff is obvious.

Soviet military leaders such as Alexander Mikhailovich Vasilevsky made an undoubted contribution to the cause of victory. It was their foresight and coherence of action that allowed the Soviet people to win this war, the purpose of which was not only to eliminate the danger looming over our country, but also to help all the peoples of Europe groaning under the yoke of German fascism. All the innumerable hardships and suffering experienced by our people during the war, and their hard work in the rear and at the front, were not in vain and were crowned with complete victory over the enemy. And we, the young, should be grateful to our grandparents, sacredly remember our glorious history, in order to prevent the revival of fascism and new troubles.

Childhood, study at theological seminary

Alexander Mikhailovich Vasilevsky was born in 1895 in the village of Novaya Golchikha, Kineshma district (now Vichugsky district, Ivanovo region). Two years later, his father was transferred as a priest to Novopokrovskoye. The father's meager salary was not enough even for the most urgent needs of a large family, so all the children in the family worked in the garden and in the fields. In winter, their father worked part-time as a carpenter, making school desks, tables, window frames, doors and beehives for apiaries. The childhood of Alexander Mikhailovich Vasilevsky was spent in constant need, in labor for a piece of bread.

The father of Alexander Mikhailovich Vasilevsky, Mikhail Alexandrovich, having lost his father at the age of 17, got a job in the choir of the Kostroma Cathedral, as he had a good voice. From Kostroma he returned to his native place and became a church regent (choir conductor) and psalm-reader in the village of Novaya Golchikha. Soon he married Nadezhda Ivanovna Sokolova, the daughter of a psalm-reader in the village of Uglets, in the same district. By 1912, their family already had eight children. Their firstborn died. Their next child, Dmitry, grew up to become a doctor and then an officer in the Red Army. Daughter Ekaterina worked as a rural teacher for several decades and lost her husband and son during the Great Patriotic War. Alexander Mikhailovich, the future Marshal Vasilevsky, was the fourth child in the family. His other brother, Evgeniy, became the chairman of a collective farm and an agronomist in the Vladimir region; Victor - navigator of combat aviation; sisters Elena and Vera - workers in rural schools; Margarita is a laboratory assistant at a research institute.

In the summer of 1909, Alexander Mikhailovich Vasilevsky graduated from the Kineshma Theological School, and in the fall he began studying at the Kostroma Theological Seminary, although it was not easy for the family, since in the spring of 1909 their house and all their property burned to the ground, and the fee for living in the hostel was 75 rubles per month. year. The theological seminary enjoyed considerable popularity among the people. Kostroma residents loved the annual art evenings and concerts organized by the seminarians. In addition, the theological seminary stood out for the rather progressive views of its students, who carried out revolutionary work among the workers of the city and were even arrested for this.

Most seminary students sought to use it as a springboard to enter a secular institution of higher education. The district newspaper “Kineshemets” wrote in July 1914 that out of 16 graduates of the Irkutsk Theological Seminary, only 2 people expressed a desire to remain in the clergy, and the rest intended to move to higher educational institutions; and of the 15 graduates of the Krasnoyarsk Theological Seminary, none took holy orders. Almost all seminarians dreamed of following in the footsteps of such seminarians as Chernyshevsky and Dobrolyubov. They knew that the seminarians were such prominent scientists as academicians I.P. Pavlov, F.I. Uspensky, V.G. Vasilievsky, V.O. Klyuchevsky, and the then rector of Moscow University M.K. Lyubavsky. At one time, professor of medicine V.S. Gruzdev and professor of physics G.A. Lyuboslavsky studied at the Kostroma Theological Seminary.

A new, unexpected stage in life

In July - August 1914, before the last class of the seminary, Vasilevsky spent his holidays, as before, at home, working with other members of his family in the field and vegetable garden. There, on July 20 (old style), they learned about the world war that had begun the day before. Here is how A.M. Vasilevsky himself writes about this in his book “The Work of a Whole Life”:

“Although this war was prepared by the imperialist states long time, this was done in deep secrecy from the people. In any case, the declaration of war came as a complete surprise to the people. No one expected that it would drag on for long. As it became known later, even the Russian General Staff, when developing an operational-strategic plan, expected to end the war in 4-5 months, and therefore all reserves of equipment and military equipment for the army were prepared precisely for this period. This partly explained the country’s complete unpreparedness to produce everything necessary in the quantities required for war. Meanwhile, the complex interweaving of the interests of the imperialist powers and the contradictions between them, the involvement of more and more new participants in the struggle for the redivision of the world, gave the war not only a global, but also a long-lasting character.

The war upset all my previous plans and directed my life along a completely different path than previously planned. I dreamed, after graduating from the seminary, to work for three years as a teacher in some rural school and, having saved a small amount of money, then enter either an agronomic educational institution or the Moscow Land Surveying Institute. But now, after the declaration of war, I was overwhelmed with patriotic feelings. Slogans about defending the fatherland captivated me. Therefore, unexpectedly for myself and my family, I became a military man. Returning to Kostroma, several classmates and I asked permission to keep final exams externally, and then go into the army.

Our request was granted, and in January 1915 we were sent to the disposal of the Kostroma military commander, and in February we were already in Moscow, at the Alekseevsky Military School.

I did not make the decision to become an officer in order to make a career in the military. I still cherished the dream of being an agronomist and working after the war in some corner of the endless Russian expanses. I didn’t even imagine then that everything would turn out differently: Russia would no longer be the same, and I would become completely different...

There were more than ten military schools in Russia. Pavlovskoe was considered the first "in rank", the second - Aleksandrovskoe, the third - Alekseevskoe. Created in 1864, the Alekseevsky School was previously called the Moscow Infantry Junker School, and since 1906, at the behest of Nicholas II, it was given the name Alekseevsky in honor of the heir to the throne who was born. It was noticeably different from the first two, which were staffed by people from the nobility or at least children from wealthy families. The Alekseevsky School recruited mainly children of commoners. The fate of its graduates was different. Usually a “military burden” awaited them in a provincial outback. But this did not stop the Alekseevites from being proud of their military educational institution. Graduates had their own special badge.

The head of the school was General N.A. Khamin, who had the rights of a regimental commander. His assistant in the combat unit was Colonel A.M. Popov, a man of tough character. He was convinced that strict order could only be achieved through disciplinary action. When meeting graduates who froze in front of him “to the front,” he always asked if they were standing under arms. And if he heard the answer “no,” he immediately sent the cadets under arms in full gear, saying: “How will you punish others without experiencing it yourself?”

Vasilevsky, having a height of 178 centimeters, did not get into the first company and was enrolled in the 5th company with a mixed rank, the commander of which was Captain G.R. Tkachuk. By that time he had already been to war, was wounded and wore the Cross of St. George, 3rd degree.

They were trained, almost without taking into account the requirements of the ongoing war, according to outdated programs. They weren’t even introduced to military operations in the conditions of field barriers, to new types of heavy artillery, to various foreign systems of hand grenades (except for the Russian tin “bottle”), and to the elementary basics of using cars and aircraft in war. There was almost no introduction to the principles of interaction between military branches. Not only classroom, but also field classes were more theoretical than practical nature. But a lot of attention was paid to drill drills. They received extremely scant information about the enemy.

After the Russo-Japanese War, foreigners said that “Russians know how to die, but only... stupidly.” On whom did it depend that in the world war the Russian army gained a reputation not only for being brave and resilient, but also for being able to conduct combat operations well? Much depended on the command personnel. The reluctance of the school authorities to take into account the demands of the time was reflected primarily in the training of graduates, who had to learn a lot at the front, in a combat situation, paying with their lives for the frivolity and inertia of their teachers. In the company where Vasilevsky studied, field training, thanks to Captain Tkachuk, was much better than in others. The manuals used by the cadets were outdated. Upon entering the school, they were enrolled as cadets of private rank. Two months later, some were promoted to non-commissioned officers (belt cadets), and four months later, at the end of May 1915, they graduated from an accelerated wartime training course. The tsarist army suffered heavy losses. There was an acute shortage of command personnel, and the military educational department was in a hurry. At the end of the school, Vasilevsky was awarded the rank of ensign with the prospect of promotion to second lieutenant after eight months of service, and for military distinction - at any time... They were issued ... a revolver, a saber, field binoculars, a compass and valid military regulations. “And so,” recalls Vasilevsky, “I am a 20-year-old warrant officer with one star on the shoulder strap. I was supposed to be able to train, educate and lead soldiers, many of whom had already been in battle and were much older than me. What did I take away from the walls of the school? What was my knowledge base? We received the most general knowledge and skills necessary for an officer only at the first level... I then considered the indispensable quality of a good commander to be the ability to lead subordinates, educate and train them, and ensure high discipline and diligence. It cannot be said that the four-month military training was in vain for me. ...I greedily absorbed everything I saw and heard, tried to comprehend military wisdom, I was overcome by doubt: would I make an officer? I had to break myself, developing commander skills. The oral instructions of my teachers gave me something. I gained a lot as a result of reading the works of prominent Russian military leaders and organizers of military affairs and getting to know their biographies.”

Vasilevsky seriously studied the works of A.V. Suvorov, M.I. Kutuzov, D.A. Milyutin, M.D. Skobelev. From these books he firmly grasped the following truths: “Not a story, but a show, complemented by a story”; “Tell me only one thought first, ask for it to be repeated and help you understand, then tell me the next one”; “At first, teach only the essentials”; “Don’t so much order as instruct.” Vasilevsky decided to make some theses a firm rule for the entire duration of military service: “communicate closely with subordinates; put service above personal affairs; do not be afraid of independence; act with purpose." Vasilevsky really wanted to become a good commander, and he took any advice on this matter as a revelation. He had no experience, but life itself gave him. Vasilevsky considered his universities to be: the First World War, the Revolution, the Civil War and service in the Soviet Armed Forces.

FIRST BATTLES

In June 1915, Vasilevsky was sent to a reserve battalion stationed in Rostov, a district city in the Yaroslavl province. The battalion consisted of one marching company of soldiers and numbered about a hundred officers intended to be sent to the front. These were mostly young warrant officers and second lieutenants who had recently graduated from military schools and warrant officer schools. There were several older people, called up from the reserves or returning from hospitals. Ten days later the order came to send this company to the front.

Vasilevsky ended up on the Southwestern Front in the 9th Army, commanded by General P.A. Lechinsky, the only army commander at that time who was not an officer of the General Staff, that is, who did not receive higher education. But he was a military general: in Russian-Japanese war he commanded a regiment and was known among the troops as an energetic military leader. The bulk of the infantry were peasants - extremely poorly and hastily trained recruits. The officers here were mainly from reserve warrant officers or the same as Vasilevsky, who graduated from accelerated officer schools and warrant officer schools, as well as from ensigns, sergeant majors and non-commissioned officers. Soldiers who distinguished themselves in battle became non-commissioned officers. The desire to protect the country united all these people, and they quickly gained experience.

The conditions in which we had to live and fight were pitiful. Trenches are ordinary ditches. Instead of parapets, there is earth chaotically scattered on both sides without basic camouflage along it, almost without loopholes or canopies. For housing in the trenches, dugouts were dug with a hole for crawling into, which were covered with a tent panel. There was no shelter from artillery and mortar fire. Artificial obstacles were primitive. Only an overcoat saved her from rain and frost. There were not enough howitzers, heavy guns and artillery shells of all systems.

Vasilevsky almost never had any misunderstandings with his subordinates, which was rare at that time. In the spring of 1916, he was appointed commander of the first company. After some time, his company was recognized as one of the best in the regiment in terms of training, military discipline and combat effectiveness. The success was due to the trust that the soldiers placed in Vasilevsky.

After bloody battles, Vasilevsky found himself at the head of an infantry battalion. One day this battalion was called by General Keller to guard his headquarters. The chief of staff, seeing Vasilevsky, looked at him in surprise for a long time, then asked how old he was (Vasilevsky was then 22 years old), and retired to another room. General Keller came out from there, looked at Vasilevsky with a smile and said that two more years of war, and all yesterday’s warrant officers will become our generals.

The situation in the army deteriorated sharply. Supplies have become poor. Among the Romanians, who were our allies and on whose territory the fighting took place, Germanophile propaganda grew. Therefore, they began to treat Russian troops not very friendly. A number of high-ranking Romanian military personnel defected to the enemy. With the receipt in March 1917 of the news that there was a revolution in Petrograd, that the Tsar had abdicated the throne, a new phase began in the life of the entire army, the Romanian Front and all of Russia. Disunity began among the leadership. Some called for the continuation of the war, others for an end. Then Vasilevsky will write about this in his book: “The army split... I gradually began to condemn the war... We knew that the government of workers and peasants was negotiating peace. Spontaneous demobilization began... There was a time when I led soldiers into battle and believed that I was fulfilling the duty of a Russian patriot. Now it has become clear that the people were deceived, that they need peace.”

HOW A STAFF CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL ARMY BECOME A RED COMMANDER

At the end of November 1917, staff captain Alexander Mikhailovich Vasilevsky was returning from the front and thought that his military career had come to an end. With a clear conscience he prepared to work on the earth. In December he was already home. At the end of December 1917, the Kineshma district military department sent him a message that the general meeting of the 409th regiment, in accordance with the elective principle then in force in the army, elected A.M. Vasilevsky as regiment commander. Therefore, the soldiers' committee suggested that he immediately return to his military unit and take command. However, the military department recommended that he stay here and appointed him as a general education instructor in the Ugletsky volost of the Kineshma district. On January 15, 1918, a decree was issued on the creation of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. All military specialists and career officers were registered. In March, a decision was made to universally train the population in military affairs, so that every worker, worker, peasant and peasant woman could shoot a rifle, revolver or machine gun. The work of an instructor did not bring complete satisfaction to Alexander Mikhailovich. He believed that he could be more useful since he had some combat experience. However, the military department did not involve him in more active work to protect the Motherland. “Apparently, it was reflected ... in distrust of me as a person from a family of clergy, an officer in the tsarist army,” writes A.M. Vasilevsky in his book “The Work of a Whole Life.” He decided that in this case he could be more useful as a primary school teacher; a diploma from a theological seminary gave him this right. As a seminarian, he conducted practical classes in the elementary school that existed at the seminary, and his lessons were considered successful. With the permission of the District Military Commissariat, in September 1918 he began working at the rural elementary school of Novosilsky district. And it seemed to Alexander Mikhailovich that he had found the worldly pier that he had been striving for. But in April 1919, the Novosilsky district military registration and enlistment office called him to serve in the Red Army. In May, Vasilevsky became commander of the Red Army. Soon he had the opportunity to take part in hostilities against the interventionists, then against banditry. When the bands were exterminated or dispersed, the Volga region was gripped by famine. The regiment was involved in the harvest. Due to the illness of the chief of staff of the 142nd brigade, Vasilevsky took over his duties. In 1922, the brigades were transformed into regiments, and Vasilevsky was appointed assistant to the regiment commander, and when the commander left for study, Vasilevsky took temporary command of the regiment.

Subsequently, A.M. Vasilevsky had to alternately command all the regiments of the 48th Infantry Division, and he “gained a fair amount of regimental experience.”

In 1924, A.M. Vasilevsky headed the divisional school for junior command personnel. At this time, he was summoned to the Military Academy of the Red Army to take entrance exams. However, Vasilevsky felt ill-prepared, and he managed to refuse to enter the academy, despite all the persuasion of the deputy chairman of the commission, M.L. Tkachev.

From December 1924, after the liquidation of the divisional school, A.M. Vasilevsky commanded the 143rd Regiment for several years (with a one-year break for study). In 1926, he completed a year of training at the department of commanders of the regimental tactical courses “Vystrel”, where experienced military leaders taught. In August 1926, Vasilevsky returned to his 143rd regiment.

At that time, Boris Mikhailovich Shaposhnikov became the commander of the troops of the Moscow district, with whom Alexander Mikhailovich Vasilevsky would have to work together a lot for long years. A.M. Vasilevsky noted: “Few people had such a strong influence on me and gave me as much as he did.” Shaposhnikov's life is typical for most servicemen of the old army. As a 19-year-old young man, Shaposhnikov entered the Moscow military school and successfully completed it. After several years of service in Central Asia, he studied at the Academy of the General Staff. Before the revolution, he became a colonel and commanded a cavalry regiment; in December 17th he was elected head of the grenadier division. In May 1918 he joined the Red Army.

THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR

“We entered the fight against Germany,” writes A.M. Vasilevsky in his book of memoirs “The Work of a Whole Life,” having behind us the experience of the civil war and the development of military affairs during the years of peaceful construction. It was a solid school of command and control." But the first days of the war showed that this was not enough to defeat the enemy. We need to resolutely rebuild ourselves, learn to defend ourselves, and then conduct powerful offensive actions. The period of defensive battles was the most difficult. The troops were controlled under the strong influence of the enemy. Naturally, not everything worked out the way we would like, and mistakes were made. The focus on conducting not just defensive actions, but active defense, increased the demands on commanders of fronts and armies.

The Great Patriotic War found A.M. Vasilevsky in the service of the General Staff, in the position of deputy head of the operational department, with the rank of major general. On August 1, 1941, Vasilevsky was appointed head of the operational department and deputy chief of the General Staff. From June 1942 to February 1945, Vasilevsky headed the General Staff, being at the same time deputy people's commissar of defense. Subsequently, Vasilevsky was entrusted with the duties of front commander and member of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command, and then commander-in-chief of the Far East troops. Thus, throughout the Great Patriotic War, A.M. Vasilevsky had a direct, immediate relationship with the leadership of the Armed Forces.

The General Staff, which was rightly called the working body of Headquarters, provided significant assistance to the commanders of the fronts and armies. Headquarters determined the priority of tasks and the plan of the operation. The practical development of operations, all calculations related to this, were carried out at the General Staff, which continuously collected information about the developing situation on all fronts of the war. Employees of the General Staff kept in touch with the fronts day after day, processing information received from them, as well as all intelligence messages. The most important information and general conclusions were reported to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, and only after that decisions were made. Importance similar work The General Staff is obvious, since in a war without knowledge of the situation on all fronts on a daily basis, it is impossible to successfully lead military operations.

The General Staff assisted front and army commanders in planning operations and monitored implementation. Vasilevsky, as the head of the General Staff, did a lot of work to staff the troops of the fronts and armies and prepare them for operations. The General Staff was constantly in the field of view of strategic reserves, as well as the balance of forces on each front and directions, in their preparation for combat operations. The employees of the General Staff had the responsibility to monitor the accuracy of the execution of operational decisions and directives of Headquarters by the command of the fronts and armies. They were aware of the successes and failures of the fronts and armies and knew their needs. Vasilevsky writes in his book: “The most difficult problem for us, the General Staff, was the material support of the fronts.” The General Staff sent requests to the government for the supply of military products to the troops, and National economy gave the front the maximum of what it could give. G.K. Zhukov spoke positively about A.M. Vasilevsky and the work of the General Staff, which was led by A.M. Vasilevsky. G.K. Zhukov wrote that the General Staff “was at a great height in the art of planning large strategic and offensive operations and companies.”

A.M.Vasilevsky and his immediate assistants S.M.Shtemenko, A.A.Gryzlov, N.A.Lomov, A.I.Antonov, appointed in December 1941 at Vasilevsky’s request as his 1st deputy and head of the Operations Directorate , showed themselves to be true masters and excellent organizers of staff work.

It was about the work of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command and the General Staff that Marshal A.M. Vasilevsky at the end of his life wrote a large book of memoirs, “The Work of a Whole Life.”

This is how A.M. Vasilevsky motivated the writing of this book: “Every new truthful work about this sacred war for the Soviet people is another evidence of the great feat accomplished by our people in the name of freedom and independence of their Motherland, peace, and progress. In the fire of fierce battles...the multinational state and its Armed Forces passed the test of their strength. The maturity of military art, the quality of our military leadership personnel, who stood face to face with the fascist generals, who were previously considered the most experienced among ... the armies, were tested.”

In his book, Vasilevsky spoke truthfully about the people who taught him and raised him as a warrior and commander. Almost all of them were unjustly convicted and shot in 1937, including: Mikhail Nikolaevich Tukhachevsky (1893-1937, a descendant of Kutuzov), Ieronim Petrovich Uborevich (1896-1937), who commanded armies during the Civil War.

By defending his opinion, any employee of the General Staff and Headquarters risked his freedom and life. Vasilevsky almost always managed to smooth out brewing conflicts. So, A.I. Antonov began “to ask to be returned to the front. The need to weigh every word on the scales of life and death was beyond all strength... I feel: expect trouble.” Vasilevsky persuaded “Stalin to allow Antonov to work directly related to serving the Headquarters in an operational sense.” And Antonov ended up as Vasilevsky’s deputy on the Voronezh front.

Reading Vasilevsky’s book, you understand how difficult it was to serve in the General Staff, and then in the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command. The General Staff and Headquarters must constantly be aware of everything that is happening at the fronts and participate in the development of further activities. Shaposhnikov and Vasilevsky, knowing difficult character Stalin and realizing the seriousness possible consequences disagreeing with him, nevertheless, day after day they entered into fundamental disputes with him about methods of warfare and convinced him of the need to take care of the army, thereby restraining his irrepressible desire to win at any cost.

For example, Vasilevsky writes in his book that at the beginning of the war, a difficult situation developed on all fronts. The enemy was rapidly advancing, pushing our troops back. Fierce defensive battles took place throughout the Southwestern and Southern fronts. The headquarters of the Supreme High Command was forced almost hourly to deal with the course of hostilities and events on the fronts. It soon became clear that an immediate retreat was necessary in order to preserve the army, and then, grouping, at the first opportunity to repulse the enemy. But Stalin stubbornly did not give the order to retreat. Often the conversation at Headquarters became especially difficult and serious. Vasilevsky and Shaposhnikov tried to convince Stalin of the need for an immediate retreat in order to avoid a monstrous catastrophe. But Stalin reproached Vasilevsky and Shaposhnikov for following the line of least resistance, instead of beating the enemy, trying to get away from him... And even when the situation became most catastrophic, Stalin made only a half-hearted decision. “At the mere mention of the cruel need to leave Kyiv,” writes A.M. Vasilevsky in his book, “Stalin lost his temper and momentarily lost his composure. “We,” Alexander Mikhailovich reproaches himself, “... lacked the necessary firmness to withstand these outbursts of uncontrollable anger, and a proper understanding of the full extent of our responsibility for the inevitable catastrophe in the South-Western direction.” Often Stalin not only refused to accept, but even seriously consider proposals that came to him from the Commander-in-Chief, from Headquarters member G.K. Zhukov, the Military Council of the Southwestern Front and from the leadership of the General Staff.

A.M. Vasilevsky did not agree with I.V. Stalin when, when commanders were called to Headquarters, members of the military councils, who, along with the commanders, were responsible for implementing the decisions of Headquarters, were not invited along with them. Stalin usually said in such cases that they should not be separated from the leadership of daily party political work. During his long work at the fronts, Vasilevsky was directly convinced of the enormous assistance the members of the military councils provided to the commander when making operational decisions, when developing plans and carrying them out. He believed that the participation of members of military councils, along with front commanders, in the development of a particular operation by Headquarters would be very beneficial.

In the end, Vasilevsky and Shaposhnikov were able to prove their professionalism and foresight to Stalin. He began to trust their experience more and take into account their opinions. The work of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command and the General Staff has become more visible and successful.

Headquarters, when organizing and conducting large offensive operations by forces of several fronts, sent its representatives, including Vasilevsky, to coordinate their actions, and subsequently to lead them, to assist the fronts. While going to the front, he was repeatedly wounded. For example, in May 1944, a car hit a mine. The driver was wounded in the leg, and Vasilevsky received a head injury, small fragments injured his face. At the insistence of doctors, he was urgently sent by plane to Moscow. But in the summer of this year, Vasilevsky is already back where he is most needed - on the Belarusian front.

Things at the front were finally going well. When Vasilevsky one day arrived from the front at Headquarters, Stalin, satisfied with his work, said: “Comrade Vasilevsky, you lead such a mass of troops, and you do it well, and you yourself probably never hurt a fly.” “It was a joke,” writes Vasilevsky, “but, I’ll tell you frankly, it wasn’t always easy to remain calm and not allow yourself to raise your voice. But... you used to clench your fists until it hurt and remain silent, refraining from swearing and shouting. The ability to behave with dignity towards subordinates is an indispensable quality of a military leader.” Approaching each military leader with knowledge of his individual qualities, Vasilevsky carried out leadership over the command of the fronts not in a formulaic manner, but using the most appropriate forms and methods in each individual case.

Vasilevsky writes that it was gratifying for him to prepare and conduct offensive operations. Front and army commanders now have more ingenuity and initiative. Each of the operations they carried out was distinguished not only by the originality of the plan, but also by the methods of its implementation. Our commanders have learned to determine the direction of the main attack and carry out well the massing of forces and means in decisive directions, organize the interaction of troops, and carry out preparations for operations secretly, in secret from the enemy. They learned to skillfully assign tasks to troops and carry out the necessary operational formation. Our troops have also mastered the most decisive form of offensive – encirclement with the aim of destroying large enemy groups. Such operations as Stalingrad, Kursk, Belorussian, Korsun-Shevchenkovsk, Yassy-Kishinev, Budapest, Berlin, Prague entered the annals of Soviet military art like a golden page.

A.M. Vasilevsky writes that the category of commanders should include those military leaders who most clearly demonstrated their military art and talent, courage and will to win on the battlefields. These are, first of all, commanders of fronts and armies. The greatest responsibility for the successes of the troops fell on their shoulders. Alexander Mikhailovich notes the positive qualities of many of his colleagues. For example, he writes that G.K. Zhukov is one of the most prominent figures among the commanders of the Great Patriotic War. “I.S. Konev had an equally strong character. K.K. Rokosovsky was generously gifted with military leadership talent. He was also distinguished by his special ability to rely on the headquarters when solving operational issues and commanding troops, with whose chief, General M.S. Malinin, he had the warmest relations, businesslike and good friendship. L.A. Govorov was demanding and persistent. Outwardly he seemed dry and even gloomy, but in reality he was the kindest person. One could envy Govorov’s narrow-mindedness. No one sat idle with him. There were many positive things in Sokolovsky’s work, especially with regard to the development of operation plans. Undoubtedly, I.Kh. Bagramyan is also a gifted commander, who had command and staff experience, which helped him successfully find the shortest paths to victory...” Alexander Mikhailovich Vasilevsky pays tribute to everyone with whom he had the opportunity to serve the Motherland.

But A.M. Vasilevsky often criticizes himself and his activities. But this only confirms the opinion of all the people who knew him that A.M. Vasilevsky himself was always a man of exceptional honesty, modesty and decency, and in fact his merits in the successful end of the war are so great that all grateful descendants should know his name.

Http://www.litkonkurs.com/?dr=45&tid=53508&pid=63
Volume: 33956 [characters]

Literature:

Vasilevsky A. M., “The Work of a Whole Life” - 6th ed. - M.: Politizdat, 1989, 320 with ISBN 5-250-00657-4
Simonov K.M. "The Living and the Dead." Trilogy.

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Material from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia

Alexander Mikhailovich Vasilevsky (September 16 (30), 1895 (18950930) - December 5, 1977) - Soviet military leader, Marshal of the Soviet Union (1943), Chief of the General Staff, member of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command. During the Great Patriotic War, A. M. Vasilevsky, as Chief of the General Staff (1942-1945), took an active part in the development and implementation of almost all major operations on the Soviet-German front. From February 1945, he commanded the 3rd Belorussian Front and led the assault on Königsberg. In 1945, commander-in-chief of Soviet troops in the Far East in the war with Japan. One of the greatest commanders of the Second World War.

In 1949-1953, Minister of the Armed Forces and Minister of War of the USSR. Twice Hero of the Soviet Union (1944, 1945), holder of two Orders of Victory (1944, 1945).

Childhood and youth

Born, according to the metric book (art. style), on September 16, 1895. A. M. Vasilevsky himself believed that he was born on September 17, on the same day as his mother on the Christian holiday of Faith, Hope, Love, which according to the new style is celebrated on 30 September (this date of birth is “fixed” in Vasilevsky’s memoirs “The Work of a Whole Life”, as well as in the dates of awarding anniversary post-war awards preceding his birthday). Alexander Vasilevsky was born in the village of Novaya Golchikha, Kineshma district (now part of the city of Vichuga, Ivanovo region) in the family of the church regent and psalm-reader (Psalm-reader is the lowest rank of church ministers) of the St. Nicholas Edinoverie Church, Mikhail Alexandrovich Vasilevsky (1866-1953). Mother - Nadezhda Ivanovna Vasilevskaya (30.09.1872 - 7.08.1939), nee Sokolova, daughter of a psalm-reader in the village of Uglets, Kineshma district. Both mother and father were “of the Orthodox religion according to common faith” (as recorded in the registry book of St. Nicholas Church in the village of Novaya Golchikha). Alexander was the fourth oldest of eight siblings.
In 1897, he and his family moved to the village of Novopokrovskoye, where Vasilevsky’s father began to serve as a priest in the newly built (under the tutelage of the Novogolchikha manufacturer D.F. Morokin) stone Ascension Edinoverie Church. Later, Alexander Vasilevsky began studying at the parish school at this temple. In 1909, he graduated from the Kineshma Theological School and entered the Kostroma Theological Seminary, a diploma from which allowed him to continue his education in a secular educational institution. As a result of participating in the same year in the all-Russian strike of seminarians, which was a protest against the ban on entering universities and institutes, Vasilevsky was expelled from Kostroma by the authorities and returned to the seminary only a few months later, after partial satisfaction of the demands of the seminarians.

World War and Civil War

Alexander dreamed of becoming an agronomist or land surveyor, but the outbreak of the First World War changed his plans. Before the last class of the seminary, Vasilevsky and several classmates took external exams, and in February began studying at the Alekseevsky Military School. In May 1915, he completed an accelerated course of training (4 months) and was sent to the front with the rank of ensign. From June to September, he visited a number of reserve units and finally ended up on the Southwestern Front, where he took up the post of half-company commander of the 409th Novokhopyorsky Regiment of the 103rd Infantry Division of the 9th Army. In the spring of 1916, he was appointed commander of a company, which after some time was recognized as one of the best in the regiment. In this position he participated in the famous Brusilov breakthrough in May 1916. As a result of heavy losses among the officers, he ended up as a battalion commander of the same 409th regiment. Received the rank of staff captain. The news of the October Revolution found Vasilevsky near Adjud-Nou, in Romania, where he decided to leave military service and went on leave in November 1917.

While at home, at the end of December 1917, Vasilevsky received news that the soldiers of the 409th regiment had elected him as commander in accordance with the then-current principle of election of commanders. At that time, the 409th Regiment was part of the Romanian Front under the command of General Shcherbachev, who, in turn, was an ally of the Central Rada, which declared the independence of Ukraine from the Soviets. The Kineshma military department recommended that Vasilevsky not go to the regiment. Following the advice, “he remained dependent on his parents until June 1918, engaged in agriculture.” From June to August 1918 he worked as a hundredth instructor of general education at the Ugletsky volost of the Kineshma district of the Kostroma province.

Since September 1918, he worked as a teacher in primary schools in the villages of Verkhovye and Podyakovlevo, Golun volost, Novosilsky district, Tula province.

In April 1919, he was drafted into the Red Army and sent to the 4th reserve battalion, to the position of platoon instructor (assistant platoon commander). A month later, he was sent as the commander of a detachment of 100 people to the Stupino volost of the Efremov district of the Tula province to assist in the implementation of food appropriation and the fight against gangs.

In the summer of 1919, the battalion was transferred to Tula to form the Tula Rifle Division in anticipation of the approach of the Southern Front and the troops of General Denikin. Vasilevsky is appointed first as a company commander, then as a commander of a newly formed battalion. At the beginning of October, he takes command of the 5th Infantry Regiment of the Tula Infantry Division, which occupies a sector of the fortified area southwest of Tula. The regiment did not have the chance to participate in hostilities against Denikin’s troops, since the Southern Front stopped at Orel and Kromy at the end of October.

In December 1919, the Tula Division was intended to be sent to the Western Front to fight the invaders. Vasilevsky, at his own request, was transferred to the position of assistant regiment commander. At the front, as a result of reorganization, Vasilevsky was appointed assistant commander of the 96th regiment of the 32nd brigade of the 11th division. As part of the 15th Army, Vasilevsky fights in the war with Poland.

At the end of July, Vasilevsky was transferred to the 427th Regiment of the 48th (former Tula) Division, where he had previously served. Until mid-August it is in Vilna, where the division carries out garrison service, then conducts military operations against the Poles in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha region. Here Vasilevsky has a conflict with brigade commander O.I. Kalnin. Kalnin orders to take command of the 427th Regiment, which retreated in disarray. No one knows the exact location of the regiment, and the deadlines set by Kalnin seem insufficient to Vasilevsky. Vasilevsky reports that he cannot carry out the order. Kalnin first sends Vasilevsky to court, then halfway returns him and removes him from the post of assistant regiment commander to the post of platoon commander. Subsequently, as a result of the investigation, the head of the 48th division cancels the order of the brigade commander, and Vasilevsky is temporarily appointed commander of a separate battalion in the division.

The period between the wars After the war, Vasilevsky took part in the fight against the Bulak-Balakhovich detachment on the territory of Belarus, and until August 1921 he fought with bandits in the Smolensk province. Over the next 10 years, he commanded all three regiments of the 48th Tver Rifle Division and headed the division school for junior commanders. In 1927 he graduated from rifle and tactical advanced training courses for the command staff of the Red Army named after. III Comintern "Shot". In June 1928, the 143rd Regiment was singled out as an inspection team for exercises. In the fall of 1930, the 144th Regiment, which was considered the most poorly trained in the division before Vasilevsky took command, took first place and received an excellent rating in circumferential maneuvers.

Probably, Vasilevsky’s successes led to his transfer to staff work, which V.K. Triandafillov informed him about immediately after the end of the maneuvers. In order not to put off Once again joining the party due to a change in duty station, Vasilevsky submits an application to the regiment party bureau. The application was granted, and Vasilevsky was accepted as a candidate member of the party. Due to the party purge that took place in 1933-1936, the stay as a candidate was somewhat delayed, and Vasilevsky would be accepted into the party only in 1938, already while serving on the General Staff.

Vasilevsky, in his 1938 autobiography, stated that “personal and written communication with parents has been lost since 1924.” Relations were restored in 1940 at the suggestion of Stalin.

Since the spring of 1931, Vasilevsky worked in the Combat Training Directorate of the Red Army, edited the Combat Training Bulletin published by the department and assisted the editors of the Military Herald magazine. Participated in the creation of the “Instructions for conducting deep combined arms combat”, “Instructions for the interaction of infantry, artillery, tanks and aviation in modern combined arms combat”, as well as the “Manual for the service of military headquarters”.

In 1934-1936 he was the head of the combat training department of the Volga Military District. In 1936, after the introduction of personal military ranks in the Red Army, he was awarded the rank of “Colonel”. In 1937 he graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff and was unexpectedly appointed head of the academy's logistics department. In October 1937, a new appointment followed - head of the operational training department for command personnel at the General Staff. Since 1939, he has concurrently held the position of Deputy Chief of the Operations Directorate of the General Staff. In this position, he participated in the development of the initial version of the plan for war with Finland, which was later rejected by Stalin. With the beginning of the Winter War, he served as First Deputy Chief of the General Staff Ivan Smorodinov, sent to the front. He participated as one of the representatives of the Soviet Union in the negotiations and signing of a peace treaty with Finland, and took part in the demarcation of the new Soviet-Finnish border.

In the spring of 1940, as a result of reshuffles in the apparatus of the People's Commissariat of Defense and the General Staff, he was appointed first deputy head of the Operations Directorate with the rank of division commander. Since April 1940, he took part in the development of a plan for war with Germany.

On November 9, as part of the Soviet delegation led by Vyacheslav Molotov, he traveled to Berlin for negotiations with Germany.

The Great Patriotic War
The Great Patriotic War found me in the service of the General Staff, as deputy chief of the operational department, with the rank of major general. On August 1, 1941, by decision of the Party Central Committee, I was appointed head of the operational department and deputy chief of the General Staff
http://militera.lib.ru/memo/russian/vasilevsky/pre.html

Participant of the Great Patriotic War from the first day. On August 1, 1941, Major General Vasilevsky was appointed Deputy Chief of the General Staff - Head of the Operations Directorate. During the battle for Moscow from October 5 to 10, he was part of a group of GKO representatives who ensured the speedy dispatch of retreating troops that had escaped encirclement to the Mozhaisk defensive line.

Vasilevsky played one of the key roles in organizing the defense of Moscow and the subsequent counter-offensive. During the most critical days near Moscow, from October 16 to the end of November 1941, when the General Staff was evacuated, he headed an operational group in Moscow (the first echelon of the General Staff) to serve Headquarters. The main responsibilities of the task force, consisting of 10 people, included: “to comprehensively know and correctly assess events at the front; constantly and accurately, but without excessive pettiness, inform Headquarters about them; in connection with changes in the front-line situation, promptly and correctly develop and report to the Supreme High Command your proposals; in accordance with the operational and strategic decisions made by Headquarters, quickly and accurately develop plans and directives; conduct strict and continuous control over the implementation of all decisions of the Headquarters, as well as over the combat readiness and combat effectiveness of the troops, the formation and training of reserves, and the material and combat support of the troops.” On October 28, 1941, the activities of the task force were highly appreciated by Stalin - four were awarded another title: Vasilevsky was given the rank of lieutenant general, and the other three were given the rank of major general. From November 29 to December 10, 1941, due to Shaposhnikov’s illness, Vasilevsky served as chief of the General Staff. The entire burden of preparing a counteroffensive near Moscow fell on the shoulders of A. Vasilevsky. The counteroffensive began by the troops of the Kalinin Front on December 5, 1941. Since “the Headquarters was very concerned about ensuring the exact execution of the order” on the counteroffensive from Konev, Vasilevsky arrived at the headquarters of the Kalinin Front on the night of December 5 to “personally convey to the front commander a directive to move to counter-offensive and explain to him all the requirements for it.”

From mid-April to May 8, 1942, as a representative of Headquarters, he was on Northwestern Front, where he assisted in the attempt to liquidate the Demyansk bridgehead. From April 24, due to the illness of B. M. Shaposhnikov, he acted as chief of the General Staff; on April 26, Vasilevsky was awarded the rank of “Colonel General”. On May 9, due to the German breakthrough of the Crimean Front, he was recalled by Headquarters to Moscow. After the 2nd was surrounded near Leningrad in June 1942 shock army General Vlasov was sent together with the commander of the Volkhov Front Meretskov to Malaya Vishera to organize the withdrawal of troops from the encirclement.

On June 26, 1942, he was appointed chief of the General Staff, and from October he was simultaneously deputy people's commissar of defense of the USSR. From July 23 to August 26 - representative of the Headquarters on the Stalingrad Front, directed the joint actions of the fronts during the defensive period of the Battle of Stalingrad. He made a great contribution to the development of Soviet military art, planned and prepared the counter-offensive at Stalingrad. A.M. Vasilevsky was entrusted with the coordination of the counteroffensive (Zhukov was sent to the Western Front). As a result of the successful completion of the operation, Vasilevsky until mid-December carried out the liquidation of the enemy group in the Stalingrad pocket, which he did not complete, as he was transferred to the southwest to assist in repelling Manstein’s relief group operating in the Kotelnikov direction. From January 2 on the Voronezh, then on the Bryansk front, he coordinates the offensive of Soviet troops on the Upper Don.

On February 16, A. M. Vasilevsky was awarded military rank"Marshal of the Soviet Union", which was extremely unusual, since only 29 days earlier he had been awarded the rank of army general.

On behalf of the Supreme Command Headquarters, Vasilevsky coordinated the actions of the Voronezh and Steppe fronts in Battle of Kursk. He led the planning and conduct of operations for the liberation of Donbass, the operation for the liberation of right-bank Ukraine and Crimea. On April 10, the day of the liberation of Odessa, he was awarded the Order of Victory. This order was the second in a row since its establishment (the first was with Zhukov). After the capture of Sevastopol, Vasilevsky decided to inspect the liberated city as soon as possible. As a result, his car hit a mine while crossing a German trench. For Vasilevsky, the incident resulted in a head bruise and a face cut by fragments of the windshield. His driver's leg was injured in the explosion. After this, Vasilevsky remained on bed rest for some time at the insistence of doctors.

During the Belarusian operation, Vasilevsky worked on the 1st Baltic and 3rd Belorussian fronts, coordinating their actions. From July 10, the 2nd Baltic Front was added to them. Vasilevsky coordinated the actions of these and other fronts during the liberation of the Baltic states.

From July 29, he carried out not only coordination, but also direct leadership of the offensive in the Baltic states. The title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal was awarded to Alexander Mikhailovich Vasilevsky on July 29, 1944 for exemplary performance of the tasks of the Supreme Command.

The planning and management of the start of the East Prussian operation was carried out personally by Stalin; Vasilevsky was busy in the Baltic states at that time. However, in connection with the departure of Stalin, as well as Deputy Chief of the General Staff A.I. Antonov, to the Yalta Conference, Vasilevsky returned to fulfill the duties of Chief of the General Staff and Deputy People's Commissar of Defense, leading the East Prussian operation. On the night of February 18, during a conversation with Stalin, who had returned from Yalta, in response to Stalin’s offer to go to East Prussia to help the front commanders, Vasilevsky asked to be relieved of his post as Chief of the General Staff due to the fact that he spends most of his time at the front . And on the afternoon of February 18, news arrived about the death of the commander of the 3rd Belorussian Front, Chernyakhovsky. In this regard, Stalin quickly decided to appoint Vasilevsky as commander of the 3rd Belorussian Front, and in addition, to introduce Vasilevsky to the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command. As a front commander, Vasilevsky led the assault on Königsberg - an operation that became a textbook one.

After the war, the commandant of Königsberg, General Lyash, in his book “So Königsberg Fell” accused Vasilevsky of not complying with the guarantees he gave during the surrender of the fortress.

Back in the summer of 1944, at the end of the Belarusian operation, Stalin informed Vasilevsky about plans to appoint him commander-in-chief of the Soviet troops in the Far East after the end of the war with Germany. Vasilevsky became involved in the development of a plan for war with Japan on April 27, 1945, at the end of the East Prussian operation, although rough sketches of the plan were made in the fall of 1944. Under his leadership, by June 27, a plan for the Manchurian strategic offensive operation was prepared, which was approved by Headquarters and the State Defense Committee. On July 5, 1945, dressed in the uniform of a colonel general, with documents addressed to Vasiliev, Vasilevsky arrived in Chita. On July 30, by directive of the State Defense Committee, he was appointed commander-in-chief of Soviet troops in the Far East.

During the preparation for the offensive, Vasilevsky visited the initial positions of the troops, met the troops of the Transbaikal, 1st and 2nd Far Eastern Fronts, and discussed the situation with the commanders of the armies and corps. At the same time, the deadlines for completing the main tasks, in particular reaching the Machzhur Plain, were clarified and shortened. At dawn on August 9, 1945, with the transition to the offensive, he led the actions of the Soviet troops. It took only 24 days for Soviet and Mongolian troops under the command of A. M. Vasilevsky to defeat the million-strong Kwantung Army of Japan in Manchuria.

Alexander Mikhailovich Vasilevsky was awarded the second Gold Star medal on September 8, 1945 for his skillful leadership of Soviet troops in the Far East during the war with Japan.

Post-war period of life After the end of the war, from March 22, 1946 to November 1948, he was Chief of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces and Deputy Minister of the USSR Armed Forces. Since 1948 - First Deputy Minister of the Armed Forces. From March 24, 1949 to February 26, 1950 - Minister of the Armed Forces of the USSR, then - Minister of War of the USSR (until March 16, 1953).

After Stalin's death military career A. M. Vasilevsky has changed dramatically. For three years (from March 16, 1953 to March 15, 1956) he was the first deputy minister of defense of the USSR, but on March 15, 1956 he was relieved of his post at his personal request, but after 5 months (August 14, 1956) re-appointed Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR for military science. In December 1957, he was “dismissed due to illness with the right to wear a military uniform,” and in January 1959 he was again returned to the ranks Armed Forces and appointed inspector general of the Group of Inspectors General of the USSR Ministry of Defense (until December 5, 1977).

At the 19th and 20th congresses he was elected a member of the CPSU Central Committee (1952 - 1961). He was elected as a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 2nd-4th convocations (1946 - 1958).

Died December 5, 1977. The urn with the ashes of Alexander Mikhailovich Vasilevsky was walled up in the Kremlin wall on Red Square in Moscow.

Military ranks

Brigade commander - assigned on August 16, 1938,
Divisional Commander - April 5, 1940,
Major General - June 4, 1940,
Lieutenant General - October 28, 1941,
Colonel General - May 21, 1942,
Army General - January 18, 1943,
Marshal of the Soviet Union - February 16, 1943.

Awards

8 Orders of Lenin (May 21, 1942, July 29, 1944, February 21, 1945, September 29, 1945, September 29, 1955, September 29, 1965, September 29, 1970, September 29, 1975),
Order of the October Revolution (February 22, 1968),
2 Orders of Victory (No. 2 and No. 7) (April 10, 1944, April 19, 1945),
2 Orders of the Red Banner (November 3, 1944, June 20, 1949),
Order of Suvorov, 1st class (January 28, 1943),
Order of the Red Star (1939),
Order "For Service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" III degree (April 30, 1975).

“For military valor. In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin"
“XX years of the Red Army” (1938)
"For the defense of Moscow"
"For the defense of Stalingrad"
"For the capture of Koenigsberg"
“For the victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.”
"For victory over Japan"
“Twenty years of victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.”
“Thirty years of victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.”
"In memory of the 800th anniversary of Moscow"
"30 years Soviet army and Fleet"
"40 years of the USSR Armed Forces"
"50 years of the USSR Armed Forces"

Weapon of honor

Honorary weapon with a golden image of the State Emblem of the USSR (1968)

Foreign awards

2 Orders of Sukhbaatar (MPR, 1966, 1971)
Order of the Red Banner of Battle (MPR, 1945)
Order " People's Republic Bulgaria" I degree (NRB, 1974)
Order of Karl Marx (GDR, 1975)
Order of the White Lion, 1st class (Czechoslovakia, 1955)
Order of the White Lion "For Victory" 1st class (Czechoslovakia, 1945)
Order "Virtuti Miltari" 1st class (Poland, 1946)
Order of the Renaissance of Poland, II and III class (Poland, 1968, 1973)
Order of the Grunwald Cross, 1st class (Poland, 1946)
Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor (France, 1944)
Order of the Legion of Honor, Commander-in-Chief degree (USA, 1944)
honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (Great Britain, 1943)
Order of the Partisan Star, 1st class (SFRY, 1946)
Order of National Liberation (SFRY, 1946)
Order of the State Banner, 1st class (DPRK, 1948)
Order of the Precious Chalice, 1st class (China, 1946)
Military Cross 1939 (Czechoslovakia, 1943)
Military Cross (France, 1944)
6 medals of the MPR, one medal each of the People's Republic of Belarus, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, North Korea, China
In total, he was awarded 31 foreign state awards.

Monuments and plaques

Bronze bust of twice Hero of the Soviet Union (square named after A. M. Vasilevsky) in the city of Kineshma, Ivanovo region. (1949, sc. Vuchetich);
Monument to Marshal A. M. Vasilevsky in Kaliningrad on the square named after him (2000);
Bust of Marshal A. M. Vasilevsky in his homeland, in the city of Vichuga, Ivanovo region. (Walk of Glory, opened on May 8, 2006, sk. A. A. Smirnov and S. Yu. Bychkov, architect I. A. Vasilevsky).
Memorial plaque at the marshal's birthplace (Vasilevsky St., 13) in Vichuga, Ivanovo region.
Memorial plaque on the former building. Kostroma Theological Seminary (now the building of Kostroma State University named after N. A. Nekrasov at the address: Kostroma, 1 May St., 14)
Memorial plaque (Vasilevsky St., 4) in Ivanovo (2005).
Memorial plaque (Vasilevsky St., 2) in Volgograd (2007 - within the framework of the year of memory of Marshal of Victory A.M. Vasilevsky).
Memorial plaque (Vasilevsky St., 25) in the Sakharovo microdistrict, Tver.

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Participation in wars: World War I. 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 A.I. Denikin’s army 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 of 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.

He headed the operational training department 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, 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 prominent military scientist, who worked for many years as Chief of the General Staff, played a significant role in Vasilevsky’s upbringing 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 the 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 hanging 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 carefully conducted reconnaissance, the Soviet command was unable 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 a 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 failures began again for the Red Army. At the very beginning of the month, German troops broke into Crimea. Has begun final stage 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. Headquarters ordered to take all 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.

On July 5, the German offensive began on the Kursk Bulge, repelled 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 former management 4th Ukrainian Front. 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 cut the Japanese Kwantung Army into pieces 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 the Far East and Mongolia.

The offensive began on August 9 and ended on August 17. The 600,000-strong Japanese army surrendered to Soviet troops. 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.