Vasily Gordov

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Vasily Gordov
Russian Imperial Army
Soviet Army
Years of service1915-1946
RankColonel general
Commands held67th Rifle Division

21st Army
1st Reserve Army
Stalingrad Front
33rd Army
3rd Guards Army

Volga Military District
Battles/warsWorld War I
Russian Civil War
Winter War
World War II
AwardsHero of the Soviet Union

Vasily Nikolaevich Gordov (Russian: Василий Николаевич Гордов; 12 December 1896 – 24 August 1950) was a Soviet Army colonel general and Hero of the Soviet Union. Gordov commanded the Stalingrad Front between July and September 1942.[1][2]

Early life

Gordov was born on 30 December 1896 in the village of

18th Rifle Division from May 1935 to 1937. In July 1937, Gordov became the commander of the 67th Rifle Division. In July 1939, he became the Chief of Staff of the Kalinin Military District.[1]

Winter War and World War II

Gordov fought in the

major general in June 1940, he was the Chief of Staff of the 21st Army after Operation Barbarossa and was then its commander from October 1941, fighting in the Battle of Smolensk and the Battle of Kiev.[4][circular reference] In May 1942, the 21st Army took part in Timoshenko's disastrous Kharkov counteroffensive, but escaped the subsequent encirclement by the German 6th Army. In late June, the 21st Army took part in the Voronezh battle, with a portion of the army encircled by General Hermann Hoth's 4th Panzer Army.[5] During the regrouping of surviving Red Army forces, the remnants of the old Southwest Front, including the battered 21st Army, were grouped in the Stalingrad Front. Timoshenko was recalled to Moscow, and General Gordov installed as the commander of the Stalingrad Front on 23 July 1942.[6]

Battle for Stalingrad

General Gordov directed the withdrawal of the battered survivors of the Kharkov battle behind the line of the Chir River to regroup and receive reinforcements. On 5 August 1942, the Stalingrad Front was split to defend a shortened Pavlovsk-Volga River line-ironically not covering Stalingrad proper despite the name of the Front.[7] The German 6th Army attacked Red Army forces west of the Don River before Gordov could fully organize the defenses, and by 15 August the Stalingrad Front units were largely pushed across the Don River, with the loss of some 43,000 dead, wounded and prisoners, 270 tanks and 600 artillery pieces in the Battle of Kalach. As the disaster was unfolding, General Andrey Yeryomenko (sometimes spelled Eremenko) arrived to take command over a reconstituted South-East Front, with Gordov relegated as Yeryomenko's deputy commander.[8]

Later life

In 1947, Gordov had a conversation with his former Chief of Staff, Filipp Rybalchenko, in which they made remarks somewhat critical of Stalin's policies. This conversation was sent to Stalin and Gordov was arrested,[9][10] along with Grigory Kulik and Rybalchenko on charges of attempting to commit terrorist acts against the Soviet government. He was sentenced to death under Article 58 on 24 August 1950 and executed that day in Lefortovo Prison.[1] He was posthumously rehabilitated on 11 April 1956 and his name appears on a memorial.[1]

Awards and decorations

Soviet Union
Hero of the Soviet Union (6 April 1945)
Order of Lenin, twice (21 February 1945, 6 April 1945)
Order of the Red Banner, thrice (1921, 27 March 1942, 3 November 1944)
Order of Suvorov, 1st class, thrice (9 April 1943, 25 August 1944, 29 May 1945)
Order of Kutuzov, 1st class (28 September 1943)
Order of the Red Star (22 February 1941)
Medal "For the Defence of Stalingrad" (1942)
Medal "For the Defence of Moscow" (1944)
Medal "For the Liberation of Prague" (1945)
Medal "For the Capture of Berlin" (1945)
Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" (1945)
Jubilee Medal "XX Years of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army" (1938)
Czechoslovakia
Military Order of the White Lion "For Victory", 3rd class
War Cross 1939–1945

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Ufarkin, Nikolai. "Гордов Василий Николаевич". warheroes.ru. Retrieved 2015-08-04.
  2. ISBN 9780307363787
    .
  3. ^ The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (3rd ed.). 1979.
  4. ^ "21st Army". Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  5. ^ Seaton, Albert (1971). The Russo-German War 1941-1945. New York. p. 274.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  6. ^ Seaton, Albert (1971). The Russo-German War 1941-1945. New York: Praeger. p. 280.
  7. ^ Seaton, Albert (1941). The Russo-German War 1941-1945. New York: Praeger. pp. 289–290.
  8. ^ Seaton, Albert (1971). The Russo-German War 1941-1945. New York: Praeger. pp. 291–292.
  9. ISBN 9781429964098
    .
  10. Den
    . Retrieved 2015-08-04.

Bibliography
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