Leonid Govorov was one of the most prominent military leaders of the Great Patriotic War. He led the battles with the Germans in different regions of the country, and in 1944 he liberated Karelia from the occupation of the Finns. For his many merits, Govorov received the title of Marshal of the Soviet Union.
Early years
The future Marshal of the Soviet Union Leonid Alexandrovich Govorov was born on February 22, 1897 in the Vyatka province - a remote bearish corner of the Russian Empire. Butyrki (his native village) was an ordinary provincial town. The life of a military man is very similar to the life of his peers, whose youth and youth fell on the First World War, revolutions and the Civil War.
Leonid Govorov's childhood passed in Yelabuga, where his 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. There was the First World War, and the state drew the last human resources from the rear. After the February Revolution, Leonid Govorov received a new title. The second lieutenant in the Russian army met October 1917. The Bolsheviks who came to power signed peace with Germany, and most of the military was demobilized. The second lieutenant returned to Yelabuga to his parents.
Civil War
In the autumn of 1918 Leonid Alexandrovich Govorov joined the White Army. At this time, his native land was under the control of Kolchak's supporters. The officer took part in the White 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 with another future marshal - Vasily Blucher. In 1919, he commanded the same 51st rifle division, and during the Stalinist repressions he was shot. Under the command of Blucher, Govorov received an artillery battalion in his leadership. At the final stage of the Civil War, the future second lieutenant ended up in Ukraine, where the last large resisting White group remained. It was Wrangel's army. In those battles of 1920, Leonid Alexandrovich Govorov received two wounds - one near Kakhovka, the other in the Antonovka area.
Peace period
After the end of the Civil War, Leonid Govorov began to live and work in Ukraine. In 1923, he was appointed commander of artillery in the 51st Perekop Rifle Division. His subsequent career advancement in the military was due to his professional education. In 1933, Govorov completed 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 General Staff Academy, and shortly before that he received the rank of brigade commander. After graduating, he began teaching at the Dzerzhinsky Artillery Academy.
In 1940, the war with Finland began. Govorov was appointed chief of the artillery staff in the 7th Army. She took part in the battles on the Karelian Isthmus. The brigade commander was preparing to break through the Finnish Mannerheim defensive line. After signing the peace, he is already Major General of Artillery.
Beginning of the Great Patriotic War
On the eve of the Great Patriotic War, Leonid Govorov was appointed head of the Dzerzhinsky Artillery Academy, from which he had recently graduated. As soon as the German offensive began, he was sent to lead the artillery of the Western Front. I had to work in the conditions of disorganization of the army, lack of communications and enemy blitzkrieg. 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 be stopped in Belarus or Ukraine.
On July 30, Govorov received artillery from the Reserve Front. The major general began organizing defensive operations in the central direction of the offensive of the Wehrmacht. It was he who prepared the counterattack near Yelnya. On September 6, the city was liberated. Although this success was temporary, it allowed time to pass. The Germans got bogged down in the Smolensk region for two months, which is why they ended up on the outskirts of Moscow only in winter.
Fighting near Moscow
In early October, Govorov was on the Mozhaisk line of defense, preparing its infrastructure. On the 15th, due to the wounding of Dmitry Lelyushenko, he began to command the 5th combined arms army. The decisive role in the appointment was played by Georgy Zhukov, who personally signed the corresponding order. This formation led bloody defensive battles near Mozhaisk. On October 18, due to the breakthrough of the enemy, Govorov convinced the Stavka that it was necessary to leave the city. Further delay could result in the encirclement of the entire army. Good has been given. The troops retreated.
In early November, the 5th Army took up defensive positions on the outskirts of Moscow. There were fights here for every kilometer. Soviet troops were supported by artillery barriers and anti-tank detachments. Having stopped at the approaches to the capital, the Red Army began to prepare a counteroffensive near Moscow. On November 9, Leonid Govorov became a lieutenant general.
The critical moment came on December 1, when the Germans managed to break through the front in the area occupied by the 5th Army. The artillery commander personally led the defense. The enemy was able to advance only 10 kilometers and was soon driven back. On December 5, the Soviet counteroffensive near Moscow began.
New assignment
In April 1942, Leonid Govorov was briefly out of action due to an acute attack of appendicitis. Ivan Fedyuninsky stood at the head of his 5th army. On April 25, the recovered Govorov received a new appointment. He went to the Leningrad front, where he becamecommand an extensive grouping of Soviet troops (it included the 55th, 42nd and 23rd armies). Once in a new place, the lieutenant general began to fulfill his duties with particular zeal.
He created the Leningrad Artillery Corps from scratch, designed for counter-battery combat. Thanks to the pressure of the commander, new aircraft and fresh crews arrived at the front. On the outskirts of Leningrad Govorov Leonid Alexandrovich (1897-1955) created five new fortified field areas. They became part of the continuous trench system. They were placed freshly manned machine-gun and artillery battalions. For a more reliable defense of Leningrad, a front-line reserve was formed. Govorov in his decisions was guided by the rich experience gained during the fighting near Moscow. He was especially attentive to the creation of barrier detachments, maneuver groups and other operational formations.
The Main Artillery Directorate of the Red Army began 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 most difficult tasks. On the one hand, he had to organize the 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 drive the Germans out of the outskirts of Leningrad failed. Because of this, Mikhail Khozin (front commander) was deprived of his post. Leonid Govorov was appointed in his place. Throughout the summer of 1942, he prepared the Nevatask force and the 55th army to the Sinyavskaya offensive operation. However, already 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 (such was the main strategic goal of the event). On October 1, Govorov received an order to retreat to their original positions. The decision was made at Headquarters after lengthy discussions. Nevertheless, "local battles" continued. So in the reports were called small-scale active actions. They did not change the situation at the front, but 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 permanent garrison. Combat detachments formed at enterprises were united into battalions.
Attempts to break the blockade
Artilleryman by training, Govorov received an army at his disposal, which included troops of all possible types. But that didn't stop him from getting up to speed quickly. He knew how to instantly assess the situation and knew by heart the location of Soviet and German units on any sector of the front. Leonid Govorov always listened attentively to his subordinates, did not interrupt them, although he did not like empty verbiage. He was a man of strict self-organization, demanding the same from those around him. In 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 was on the move again. January 18 blockadethe ring of the Northern capital was broken. This was done thanks to two counter strikes 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.
Even before the final breakthrough of the blockade, Govorov received the rank of Colonel General. In the summer of 1943, the 67th Army, which he commanded, took part in the Mginsk operation. Its task was to establish control over the Kirov railway south of Lake Ladoga. If communications were freed from the Germans, Leningrad would have a reliable and convenient channel of communication with the rest of the country. These were tough fights. The Soviet troops, due to a shortage of forces, were unable to complete all the assigned tasks, and by the autumn the Mginsky ledge remained practically unchanged. Nevertheless, time worked for the Red Army, and the Wehrmacht experienced more and more difficulties.
Liberation of Leningrad
In the fall of 1943, preparations began at Headquarters for a new Leningrad-Novgorod operation. On November 17, Leonid Govorov became an army general. At the beginning of the new 1944, the troops under his leadership broke through the enemy defenses around Leningrad. On January 27, the German units were already a hundred kilometers from the city. The blockade was finally lifted. On the same day, Govorov, on Stalin's instructions, gave the order to hold a festive fireworks display in the liberated city.
However, there was little time for celebrations. Quickly back to executionof his duties, Leonid Govorov led the troops of the Leningrad Front towards Narva. In February, the Red Army crossed this river. By spring, the counteroffensive had advanced 250 kilometers. Almost the entire Leningrad region was liberated, as well as part of the neighboring Kalinin region.
Fights with Finns
On June 10, the forces of the front were sent to the north to carry out the Vyborg-Petrozavodsk operation. Finland was the main opponent in this direction. At Headquarters, they sought to withdraw an ally of the Reich from the war. Govorov began the operation with a deceptive demonstrative maneuver. On the eve of the offensive, Finnish intelligence tracked 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.
In addition, before the offensive, Govorov ordered 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 at 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 this region well and the peculiarities of the enemy army.
The result of the rapid advance of the Red Army was the liberation of Vyborg on June 20, 1944. Two days before that, 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: repulsed German attacks at the beginning of the war, defended Moscow, liberated Leningrad, and finally fought the Finns.
After the restoration of Soviet power in Vyborg, the fighting moved to the Karelian Isthmus. Almost the entire Finnish army (60 thousand people) operated here. The Soviet offensive was complicated by the impassability of these places. Water obstacles, dense forests, lack of roads - all this slowed down the release of the isthmus. The losses of the Red Army increased sharply. In this regard, on July 12, the Headquarters gave the order to go on the defensive. The further offensive continued with 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 Govorov developed operations to liberate 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 B altics were blocked in Courland. The surrender of this group was accepted on May 8, 1945.
After the war
In peacetime, Leonid Govorov began to occupy senior military positions. He was the commander of the Leningrad Military District and the commander of the air defense. Under his leadership, these troops underwent a significant reorganization. In addition, new types of weapons (jet fighters, anti-aircraft missile systems, radar stations, etc.) began to be accepted. The country was building a shield against alleged NATO and US attacks in the nascent Cold War.
In 1952, at the last Stalinist XIX Congress of the CPSU, Leonid Govorov was elected a candidate member of the Central Committee. In 1954 hebegins to combine the post of air defense commander and deputy defense minister of the Soviet Union. A busy work schedule and stress had a negative impact on the marshal's he alth. Leonid Govorov died on March 19, 1955 from a stroke while on vacation at the Barvikha sanatorium.
Today, streets in the largest cities of the former USSR (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kyiv, Odessa, Kirov, Donetsk, etc.) are named after the marshal. The memory of him is especially carefully preserved in the former Leningrad, liberated thanks to an operation undertaken under the leadership of Govorov. There are memorial plaques on two buildings, and the square on the Fontanka River embankment bears his name. In 1999, a monument to L. A. Govorov was erected on Stachek Square.
Awards
Leonid Alexandrovich's many years of fighting was accompanied by a variety of medals and honorary titles. In 1921, after two wounds, the future Marshal Govorov received the Order of the Red Banner. He was awarded this award for bravery and courage shown during the Perekop-Chongar operation, when Wrangel's 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 the Great Patriotic War, when the Wehrmacht troops stood near Moscow, it was Leonid Alexandrovich who was one of the leaders of the defense of the capital. On November 10, 1941, on the eve of the counteroffensive, he received the Order of Lenin. The next award was waiting for him after breaking the blockade of Leningrad. Govorov Leonid Alexandrovich, whose biography is a biography of one ofoutstanding commanders of the Great Patriotic War, received the Honored Order of Suvorov, I degree.
He had a hand in the many successes of the Red Army during the liberation of the territory of the USSR from the occupation by the Wehrmacht troops. Therefore, it is not surprising that on January 27, 1945, Marshal of the Soviet Union Govorov Leonid Aleksandrovich also became a Hero of the Soviet Union. Among his awards there are also numerous medals that were awarded for the liberation or defense of large cities.
On May 31, 1945, a few weeks after the surrender of Germany, Govorov was awarded the Order of Victory. During the entire existence of this sign, only 17 people were awarded such an honor, which, of course, emphasizes the importance of the contribution of Leonid Aleksandrovich to the defeat of the Nazis in the Great Patriotic War. It is noteworthy that, in addition to Soviet ones, he also received foreign awards: the Order of the Legion of Honor (France), as well as the American Order of the Legion of Honor.
