Vasily Ivanovich Kuznetsov - the hero of the Soviet Union, colonel general. He was born on January 3, 1894.in the Perm province, in the village of Ust-Usolka. By nationality - Russian. From 1912 to 1915 years. worked as an accountant in the office of the Solikamsk Zemstvo Administration. He was a member of the CPSU (B.), Joining the party in the twenty-eighth year.
Vasily Kuznetsov graduated from two classes in the elementaryschool. Then another four in the city school of Solikamsk. A little later he entered the Kazan school of ensigns, which he graduated in 1916. In 1920 he studied at the courses of the commanding officer "Vystrel". Then he entered the Frunze Military Academy. After the Great Patriotic War Vasily Ivanovich graduated from special courses at the Higher Military Academy. Voroshilov.
In the army Kuznetsov Vasily left on call in the spring1915. First he was a private in the reserve regiment. Then I got to the front. After completing the course, ensigns received the rank of junior officer and again returned to the active army.
In the Red Army Kuznetsov VI entered in 1918.During the Civil War, he was first commander of a company, then a battalion and a rifle regiment. After the end of hostilities, he headed the regiment, division, corps and Vitebsk army group. In the autumn of 1938, Vasily Kuznetsov received membership in the Military Council of the People's Commissar of Defense of the Soviet Union. Received the title of corps, and in 1940 became Lieutenant-General.
In 1939commanded the 3rd Army, which participated in the Polish campaign. At the beginning of the Second World War Kuznetsov's army was surrounded by Grodno. The army withdrew from the "ring" in July 1941 in the Rogachev area thanks to the skilful command of Kuznetsov despite the fierce battles. In August, Vasily Ivanovich directed the Twenty-First Army at first the Central and then the South-Western fronts.
Затем Кузнецов Василий Иванович возглавил The Fifty-eighth Army. But at the same time, according to the memoirs of his son (who followed in the footsteps of his father and later became a colonel), he was in the hospital. Near Moscow, at that time, there was a very tense situation. The formation of an additional First Shock Army was urgently started. Kuznetsova was not on the list of candidates for her commander, the leadership did not consider his candidacy at all. But Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin considered differently and summoned Vasily Ivanovich to his right from the hospital. He announced the delivery under his leadership of the First Shock Army.
She participated in the battles in the Western Moscowfront. Participated in offensive operations and counteroffensive. Under the direction of Kuznetsov, the First Shock Army distinguished itself in the Demyan operation, when it was able to close the ring of encirclement around the enemy grouping.
Since 1942Vasily Kuznetsov headed the Sixty-third Army on the Don and Stalingrad fronts. For a long time he held back the enemy at Stalingrad. From the end of autumn of 1942, Kuznetsov was appointed deputy commander of the South-Western Front, and in December, under his leadership, the First Guards Army was transferred, which was later renamed the Third Ukrainian Army. In the spring of 1943 Vasily Ivanovich Kuznetsov received the rank of colonel-general. Since December of the same year, he replaced the commander of the First Baltic Front. Participant of the offensive Nevelsko-Gorodok operation. After the successful completion of the task assigned to Kuznetsov, he received under his command the Third Shock Army.
In the postwar period, Kuznetsov VI, Colonel-General, remained commander of the Third Shock Army in the occupation forces. Since 1948, he presided at the Central Committee of DOSARM (later DOSAAF). From the fifty-third year he was appointed commander of the army of the Volga district. From the age of fifty-seven he worked in the main apparatus of the Ministry of Defense. In 1960 he resigned. Kuznetsov Vasily Ivanovich, the general, was a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union of the second and fourth convocations. He died on June 20, 1964. He was buried in Moscow, on the Novodevichy Cemetery.
For the competent leadership of the troops in the Berlinoperation, courage and bravery, Colonel General VI Kuznetsov received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, approved by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union of the Socialist Republics on May 29, 1945.
Vasily Ivanovich Kuznetsov rose to the rank of general-colonel.He was awarded the Order of Lenin (two), Suvorov (first and second degree) and the Red Banner (five). He received several domestic and foreign medals. Was awarded foreign orders. Two Polish: "Virtuti Militar" of the third degree and the Grunwald Cross of the third century; one French: Honorary Legion in the commander's degree.
Кузнецову Василию Ивановичу установлены бюсты в Moscow and Sergiyev Posad. The name of the general named the area in the Dmitrovsky district, in Yakhroma, the boulevard in Sergiev Posad, the streets in Solikamsk, Moscow and the school in Dmitrov.
