Леонид Говоров был одним из самых выдающихся military leaders of the Great Patriotic War. He led battles with the Germans in different regions of the country, and in 1944 liberated Karelia from the occupation of the Finns. For his many merits, Govorov received the title of Marshal of the Soviet Union.
The future Marshal of the Soviet Union Govorov LeonidAlexandrovich was born on February 22, 1897 in the Vyatka province - a deaf bearish corner of the Russian Empire. Butyrki (his native village) was an ordinary provincial town. The life of the military is very similar to the life of his peers, whose youth and youth fell on the First World War, Revolution and Civil.
Leonid Govorov's childhood passed in Elabuga, wherehis father worked as a clerk. In 1916, the young man graduated from a real school and even entered the Petrograd Polytechnic Institute. However, in the same December, he was drafted into the army. World War I was on, and the state scooped up the last human resources from the rear. After the February Revolution, Leonid Govorov received a new title. A lieutenant in the Russian army met October 1917. The Bolsheviks who came to power signed peace with Germany, and most of the military were demobilized. Lieutenant returned to Elabuga to his parents.
In the autumn of 1918 Govorov Leonid Aleksandrovichjoined the White Army. At this time, his native land was under the control of supporters of Kolchak. The officer took part in the whites' spring offensive. He fought near Ufa, Chelyabinsk and in Western Siberia. Soon Kolchak began to retreat to the east. In November 1919, Govorov deserted. In January, he joined the 51st rifle division of the Red Army.
There Govorov Leonid Alexandrovich met withanother future marshal - Vasily Blucher. In 1919, he commanded the 51st Infantry Division, and during the Stalinist repression was shot. Under the command of Blucher, Govorov received an artillery division in his leadership. At the final stage of the Civil War, the future second lieutenant was in Ukraine, where the last major White resistance group remained. It was the army of Wrangel. In those battles of 1920, Govorov Leonid Alexandrovich was wounded two times - one near Kakhovka, the other in the Antonovka area.
After the end of the Civil War Leonid Govorovbegan to live and work in Ukraine. In 1923 he was appointed commander of artillery in the 51st Perekop rifle division. His subsequent career development in the army was due to his professional education. In 1933, Govorov graduated from courses at the Frunze Military Academy. But that was not all. After learning German and passing the relevant exams, he became a military translator. In 1936, the military entered the newly opened Academy of the General Staff, and shortly before he received the rank of brigade commander. After graduating, he began teaching at the Dzerzhinsky Artillery Academy.
In 1940, the war began with Finland.Govorov was appointed chief of artillery headquarters in the 7th Army. She took part in the battles on the Karelian Isthmus. Kombrig was preparing the breakthrough of the Finnish defensive line of Mannerheim. After the signing of the world, he is already a major general of artillery.
Накануне Великой Отечественной войны Леонид Govorov was appointed head of the Dzerzhinsky Academy of Artillery, which he himself recently graduated from. As soon as the German offensive began, he was sent to direct the artillery of the Western Front. We had to work in conditions of disorganization of the army, lack of communication and blitzkrieg of the enemy. The artillery of the Western Front was no exception to this rule. The chaos of the first months of the war did not allow the Germans to stop in Belarus or in Ukraine.
30 июля в распоряжение Говорова поступила artillery reserve front. Major General began to organize defensive operations in the central direction of the offensive of the Wehrmacht. It was he who prepared the counterattack under Yelnya. September 6, the city was liberated. Although this success was temporary, he allowed to stretch time. The Germans got bogged down in the Smolensk region for two months, because of what they found themselves on the outskirts of Moscow only in winter.
В начале октября Говоров находился на Можайской defense lines, preparing its infrastructure. On the 15th due to the injury of Dmitry Lelushenko, he began to command the 5th Combined Arms Army. The decisive role in the appointment was played by George Zhukov, who personally signed the relevant order. This formation led bloody defensive battles near Mozhaisk. On October 18, due to the breakthrough of the enemy, Govorov convinced Bid that it was necessary to leave the city. Further delay could end the encirclement of the whole army. Good was given. The troops retreated.
In early November, the 5th Army took up defensiveposition on the outskirts of Moscow. Fights here were for every kilometer. Soviet troops were supported by artillery barriers and anti-tank units. Stopping at the approaches to the capital, the Red Army began to prepare a counteroffensive near Moscow. November 9, Leonid Govorov became lieutenant general.
Критический момент наступил 1 декабря, когда the Germans managed to break through the front in the sector occupied by the 5th army. The artillery commander personally supervised the defense. The enemy was able to advance only 10 kilometers and was soon discarded. On December 5, the Soviet counteroffensive began near Moscow.
In April 1942, Leonid Govorov dropped out for a short time.out of action due to an acute attack of appendicitis. At the head of his 5th Army stood Ivan Fedyuninsky. On April 25, recovered Govorov received a new appointment. He went to the Leningrad front, where he began to command a vast group of Soviet troops (it included the 55th, 42nd and 23rd armies). Once in the new location, Lieutenant-General, with particular zeal, took up his duties.
He created the Leningrad artillery from scratch.corps, designed to counterbattery. Thanks to the pressure of the commander to the front arrived new aircraft and fresh crews. At the approaches to Leningrad, Govorov Leonid Alexandrovich (1897-1955) created five new fortified field areas. They became part of a continuous trench system. They were placed just completed machine gun and artillery battalions. For a more reliable defense of Leningrad a front reserve was formed. Govorov, in his decisions, was guided by a wealth of experience accumulated during the battles near Moscow. He was especially attentive to the creation of barrage detachments, maneuvering groups and other operational formations.
Main Artillery Directorate of the Red Armybegan to supply the city with large-caliber shells. Thanks to this, it was possible to begin the destruction of enemy siege batteries, which caused the greatest damage to buildings and residents. Govorov had to simultaneously solve two difficult tasks. On the one hand, he had to organize defense and think about breaking the blockade, and on the other hand, the commander tried his best to help the starving Leningraders.
Attempts by the Red Army to dislodge the Germans fromneighborhoods of Leningrad failed. Because of this, Mikhail Khozin (commander of the front) was deprived of his post. Leonid Govorov was appointed in his place. Throughout the summer of 1942, he was preparing the Nevskaya Task Force and the 55th Army for the Sinyavskaya offensive operation. However, in the autumn it became clear that the Soviet Army in this region simply did not have enough strength to clear the approaches to Leningrad (this was the main strategic goal of the event). October 1 Govorov received an order to retreat to the starting positions. The decision was made at Bet after long discussions. Nevertheless, the "local fights" continued. So in the reports were called small scale active actions. They did not change their position at the front, but they noticeably exhausted the enemy, who found himself in trenches far from his homeland. Under Govorov, Leningrad was divided into sectors. Each of them had its own standing garrison. Combat detachments formed at the enterprises united into battalions.
An artilleryman by training, Govorov got indisposal of the army, which included troops of all possible types. But this did not stop him from quickly getting on the course. He knew how to instantly assess the situation and knew by heart the location of the Soviet and German units on any sector of the front. Leonid Govorov always listened carefully to his subordinates, did not interrupt them, although he did not like empty verbosity. He was a man of strict self-organization, demanding the same from others. At the Leningrad headquarters, such a character aroused reverent respect. Party leaders (Zhdanov, Kuznetsov, Shtykov, etc.) treated him with reverence.
In January 1943, the Leningrad Front againcame into motion. On January 18, the blockade ring of the northern capital was broken. It was possible to do this thanks to two counter blows of the Volkhov (under the command of Kirill Meretskov) and the Leningrad fronts (under the command of Leonid Govorov). The enemy grouping was dissected, and the Soviet units met south of Lake Ladoga.
Before the final breakthrough of the blockade Govorovreceived the rank of colonel-general. In the summer of 1943, the 67th Army, which he commanded, took part in the Mga operation. Her task was to establish control over the Kirov railway south of Lake Ladoga. If communications were liberated from the Germans, Leningrad would receive a reliable and convenient channel of communication with the rest of the country. These were hard fights. Due to the shortage of forces, the Soviet troops could not fulfill all the tasks assigned, and by the autumn the Mginsky bulge remained almost unchanged. Nevertheless, time worked for the Red Army, and the Wehrmacht was experiencing increasing difficulties.
In the fall of 1943, the Stavka began preparations fornew Leningrad-Novgorod operation. November 17, Leonid Govorov became army general. At the beginning of the new 1944, the troops under his leadership broke through the enemy defenses around Leningrad. January 27, German units were already a hundred kilometers from the city. The blockade was finally lifted. On the same day, Govorov, on a Stalinist instruction, ordered the holding of a festive salute in the liberated city.
However, there was little time for the celebrations.Quickly returning to the execution of his duties, Leonid Govorov led the troops of the Leningrad Front towards Narva. In February, the Red Army crossed the river. By spring, the counterattack had advanced 250 kilometers. Almost the entire Leningrad Region was liberated, as well as part of the neighboring Kalinin.
10 июня силы фронта были отправлены на север для carrying out the Vyborg-Petrozavodsk operation. The main opponent in this direction was Finland. The Stavka sought to withdraw from the war allied Reich. Govorov began the operation with a fraudulent demonstrative maneuver. On the eve of the offensive, Finnish intelligence monitored the preparation of a strike in the Narva region. Meanwhile, the Soviet fleet had already transferred the 21st army to the Karelian Isthmus. For the enemy, this blow was a complete surprise.
Кроме того, перед наступлением Говоров отдал order to conduct artillery preparation and a series of air strikes. Over the next ten days, the forces of the Leningrad Front broke through three lines of defense on the site of the former Mannerheim Line, which was restored during the occupation. Leonid Govorov participated in the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940. He knew the region well and the characteristics of the enemy army.
The result of the rapidly advancing RedThe army became the liberation of Vyborg on June 20, 1944. Two days before this, Leonid Govorov became the Marshal of the Soviet Union. The title was a reflection of the merits of the military. He took part in the organization of many important operations: he beat off the attacks of the Germans at the beginning of the war, defended Moscow, liberated Leningrad, and finally fought the Finns.
After the restoration of Soviet power in Vyborgbattles were transferred to the Karelian Isthmus. Almost the whole Finnish army acted here (60 thousand people). The Soviet offensive was complicated by the difficult passage of these places. Water obstacles, dense forests, lack of roads - all this slowed the release of the isthmus. Sharply increased the loss of the Red Army. In this regard, on July 12, the Stavka issued an order to proceed to the defense. Further offensive continued by the forces of the Karelian Front. In September, Finland withdrew from the war and joined the allied countries.
In the late summer and autumn of 1944, Marshal Govorovdeveloped operations for the liberation of Estonia. In October, he also coordinated the actions of the armed forces in the liberation of Riga. After the capital of Latvia was cleared of the Germans, the remnants of the Wehrmacht forces in the Baltic States were blocked in Kurland. The capitulation of this group was adopted on May 8, 1945.
In peacetime, Leonid Govorov began to occupytop management military posts. He was the commander of the Leningrad Military District and the commander of air defense. Under his leadership, these troops survived a significant reorganization. In addition, new types of weapons began to be adopted (jet fighters, anti-aircraft missile systems, radar stations, etc.). The country created a shield against the alleged attacks of NATO and the United States in the context of the nascent Cold War.
В 1952 году на последнем сталинском XIX съезде CPSU Leonid Govorov was elected as a candidate member of the Central Committee. In 1954, he begins to combine the post of air defense commander and deputy defense minister of the Soviet Union. The busy work schedule and stress negatively affected the health of the marshal. Leonid Govorov died on March 19, 1955 from a stroke, while on vacation in a sanatorium Barvikha.
Today, streets inthe largest cities of the former USSR (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev, Odessa, Kirov, Donetsk, etc.). They especially cherish his memory in the former Leningrad, which was liberated thanks to an operation undertaken under the leadership of Govorov. Two buildings have memorial tablets, and the square on the embankment of the Fontanka River bears his name. In 1999, a monument to L. A. Govorov was erected on Stachek Square.
Long-term battle path of Leonid Alexandrovichaccompanied by a variety of medals and honorary titles. In 1921, after two wounds, future Marshal Govorov received the Order of the Red Banner. He was awarded this award for courage and courage shown during the Perekop-Chongar operation, when the Wrangel army finally surrendered the Crimea. After the end of the Soviet-Finnish war, Govorov received the Order of the Red Star.
In the most difficult days of World War II, whenWehrmacht troops stood near Moscow, it was Leonid Aleksandrovich who was one of the leaders of the defense of the capital. November 10, 1941, on the eve of the counterattack, he received the Order of Lenin. The next award awaited him after breaking the blockade of Leningrad. Govorov Leonid Aleksandrovich, whose biography is a biography of one of the prominent military leaders of the Great Patriotic War, received the honored order of Suvorov I degree.
He managed to have a hand in the many successes of Redarmy during the liberation of the USSR from occupation by Wehrmacht troops. Therefore, it is not surprising that on January 27, 1945, Marshal of the Soviet Union Leonid Govorov also became a Hero of the Soviet Union. Among his awards there are also numerous medals that were awarded for the liberation or protection of large cities.
May 31, 1945, a few weeks aftersurrender of Germany, Govorov awarded the Order of Victory. Throughout the entire existence of this sign, only 17 people were awarded this honor, which, of course, emphasizes the importance of Leonid Alexandrovich's contribution to the defeat of the Nazis in the Great Patriotic War. It is noteworthy that, in addition to the Soviet ones, he received foreign awards: the Order of the Legion of Honor (France), as well as the American Order of the Legion of Honor.
