General Tyulenev is a veteran of four wars and the owner of military orders and medals of four states. From a young age, Ivan Vladimirovich decided to devote his life to military affairs and since then has repeatedly shown courage and heroism in battles for his Fatherland.
General Tyulenev became the prototype for the main characters of several novels and short stories. In Soviet times, his life path was set as an example to the younger generation. Several streets in the territory of the former Soviet Union are named after Tyulenev.
General Tyulenev: biography
Ivan Vladimirovich was born on the territory of the modern Ulyanovsk region in 1892. His father was a veteran of the war in the Balkans against the Ottoman Empire. In the village of Shatrashany, Ivan attends a local school. However, then the events of 1905 take place, which seriously influenced the life of the future commander.
The autocratic regime is increasingly tightening its control over all spheres of society. The workers work in unbearable conditions, and the land is taken from the peasants. Rebellious moods are growing among the people. Everything comes to the point that the workers of St. Petersburg go to the Winter Palace,to ask for an audience with the king. But the rally is brutally suppressed by the troops. These events lead to a massive uprising of the working class across the country.
Rebel Father
Dissatisfied with the regime, Ivan's father joins the rebels. Together with other rebels, he sets fire to the estate of the local prince. General Tyulenev will repeatedly recall these events later. Ivan's family has always been concerned about the justice and freedom of their people. But after the failure of the uprising, the father has to go on the run to escape repression. Ivan goes to Astrakhan, where he gets a job in the fields. He fishes in the Caspian. The persecution of his father already then laid in him hatred for the tsarist regime. After six years of hard work, the future General Tyulenev returns to his native village, from where he is drafted into the army.
Start service
After the draft, Ivan Vladimirovich is sent to Kazan, where he serves in a dragoon regiment. After a short training, he was sent to the front. The First World War began. The first battle awaits the young man on the territory of the Kingdom of Poland. At the Pilica River, his unit enters into a heavy battle with the Austrian troops. After that, they head towards Krakow, where they also hold the line.
Fighting on the fronts of the First World War is associated with a huge number of difficulties. Due to the poor industrialization of the Russian Empire, logistics does not work well. Troops move slowly, reserves arrive at the wrong time. Constant shortage of food and even ammunition for artillery. Despite this, the future General Tyulenev fights bravely and desperately. Duringmilitary operations, he became a full holder of the St. George Cross.
War in Poland
Tyulenev's unit carried out a daring operation near Panevezys. The soldiers were delivered to the battlefield in trains, and right from them they went on the offensive, pushing the enemy back several kilometers. And the very next summer, the cavalry division fought on the banks of the Bzura, where the most difficult battles took place on the entire sector of the front. For the displayed skills, Tyulenev is promoted - he becomes an ensign, he is entrusted with a platoon.
Demobilization
After returning home, Ivan Vladimirovich sees hunger, poverty, the arbitrariness of the tsarist regime. Tens of thousands of those who died in an incomprehensible war put pressure on society like a silent burden. The October Revolution begins. Like his father, Tyulenev joins the rebels.
The Bolsheviks treated war veterans well. After all, they were not only valuable fighters, but also a good propaganda tool for the population. As part of the Red Guard, Ivan fights in the East against the White Guards. He immediately commands a whole platoon, distinguished himself in battles not only by personal courage, but also by skillful planning.
In 1918, the Bolsheviks reform their units, creating the Red Army. Ivan Vladimirovich goes to Moscow advanced training courses. After that, he occupied staff positions in various military formations. Mostly in intelligence departments. Continues the war on the front line on the territory of the former Kingdom of Poland. After returning, he continues training, commandsinfantry regiment.
Assault on the rebel fortress
At this time unrest begins in Kronstadt. Separate parts of the ship brigades and the inhabitants of the city capture the fortress. At this time, the young country of the Soviets is going through hard times. The post-war famine, devastation and economic blockade of Western countries hit the morale of the Red Army soldiers and workers very hard. As a result, some of them rebelled against the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. General Tyulenev Ivan, who was not far from the scene of events, is critical of the rebels. Their list of demands includes the restoration of free trade and handicrafts.
A few days after the failed negotiations, the troops stormed the fortress. According to some reports, Ivan Tyulenev's unit was advancing on the ice. However, many modern historians consider this an artistic embellishment of communist poets. After the suppression of the rebellion, Tyulenev is entrusted with a new cavalry division.
Polish campaign
After the suppression of the uprising, Ivan Tyulenev continues to hold various positions in the newly built Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. In 1939, the Soviet leadership decides to occupy the eastern part of Poland - the modern territory of Western Ukraine and Belarus. On September 17, the commanding officers were issued secret letters containing orders to cross the state border.
At dawn, the Red Army marches across the entire territory and quickly advances through Polish territory. The Polish army does not engage in hostilities with the Red Army,the local population also does not offer any resistance. However, the operation was quite difficult, since Tyulenev's twelfth army had to maneuver several hours away from the positions of the Wehrmacht.
After a successful Polish campaign, Ivan Tyulenev continues to move up the military hierarchy. In 1940, together with Zhukov and Meretskov, General Tyulenev received personal approval from Stalin himself. Education received at the Military Academy of the Red Army (1922), allows him to command a military district. In this position, he meets the beginning of a new world war.
The Great Patriotic War
In June 1941, the Southern Front of the Soviet troops was formed. On behalf of the headquarters of the commander-in-chief, General Tyulenev Ivan manages it. At the distant frontiers, he holds back the breakthrough of the German and Romanian divisions. Against three hundred and sixty thousand people, the Nazi war machine put up six hundred and ninety thousand people and almost a thousand aircraft.
Soviet troops managed to inflict significant losses on the enemy, but at the same time they constantly retreated to the east. The Red Army initially had superiority in the air, but Nazi aviation from the first days began to bomb airfields, many aircraft were destroyed right in the hangars. Those that remained could not make sorties due to damaged runways. Seeing the difficult situation, Tyulenev gives the order to withdraw troops across the Dniester River. Stalin is dissatisfied with the actions of the general, this was reflected in his letters published after the death of the leader.
Despitehuge losses and the most difficult situation, Tyulenev managed to maintain stability and prevent a panic flight of troops, which took place on the territory of Belarus and the B altic states.
Retreat
Gradually retreating, the Soviet troops are losing territory. The next line of defense is the most important Dnieper River. A fortified area was organized in the city of Dnepropetrovsk. Army General Tyulenev is on the defensive here. The German shock group is commanded by von Kleist, the genius of breaking through the defense.
But near Dneprodzerzhinsk he was seriously damaged. One of the divisions took up defense in a semicircle and actually lured the Wehrmacht's tank wedges into a trap. When the Nazis entered the so-called fire bag, flares signaled the start of the shelling. In this direction, the Nazis suffered huge losses. However, the presence of reserves allowed them to ignore the number of dead. By the end of the summer, Soviet troops left Dnepropetrovsk to liberate the city only two years later. During the most difficult battles, General Tyulenev Ivan Vladimirovich was seriously wounded. He was sent to Moscow for treatment.
Reserve Army
After treatment, Tyulenev led the creation of a reserve army. After its formation, it joined the active armies. In the winter of 1942, Ivan Vladimirovich went to Tbilisi, where the headquarters of the Transcaucasian Front is located. He immediately begins to reform the headquarters. The defensive lines here are outdated and did not correspond to strategic goals. Building up the defensefront, Tyulenev took note of the possibility of a breakthrough from Turkey. The frontiers were established in difficult-to-reach mountainous terrain. In winter, many passes were closed, but the offensive was expected closer to summer, when the Nazis could break through the ridge along the paths hidden from air reconnaissance.
Therefore, in the conditions of bitter frost and heavy snowfall, the Red Army built firing lines. Almost every possible direction of impact was taken into account. Later, the Nazi offensive would confirm the correct location of the defensive lines of the Transcaucasian Front.
Battle for the Caucasus
In the summer of 1942, the Nazis launched an attack on the Caucasus. This direction was extremely important for Hitler, since he dreamed of capturing the Baku oil wells, which would feed his death-bringing war machine. According to his plan, the German troops were to advance simultaneously on Stalingrad and the Caucasus.
On the 25th of July Army Group "South" launched an attack on the Kuban. The Soviet troops were defeated and began to retreat to the east. Moving quickly forward, the Nazis could cut the front and surround the Red Army, so the order was given to retreat beyond the Don. In August, Tyulenev pushes fighters to the defensive lines near the Terek. The main blow took place in the Novorossiysk region. The city was almost completely captured.
Counterstrike
As a result of a successful counter-offensive, the Soviet troops managed to inflict a heavy defeat on the Romanian army, whose personnel was almost completelydestroyed. In early September 1942, the Nazis crossed the Terek and began to advance on Mozdok.
Soviet troops took up a stubborn defense, but a few days later they were driven back. The fate of Transcaucasia was decided on the Main Dividing Range. Its defense was arranged by General Tyulenev. Aerial photography made it possible to have a detailed idea of all the possible places for the enemy to break through. In mountainous terrain, small detachments set up firing positions and undermined uncovered paths. In the event of a fall in defense, special measures were prepared for the collapse of rocks in order to slow down the advance of the Nazis. At the same time, a bloody battle for Stalingrad is being played out.
In the autumn of 1942, the most bloody battles took place in the Caucasus. Despite the huge number of German divisions in this direction, Tyulenev's front survived. Already in the winter of 1943, the offensive of the Red Army began. Novorossiysk and Krasnodar were liberated, a unique operation was carried out to land troops and seize a bridgehead behind enemy lines. After the liberation of the Caucasus and Kuban, General of the Soviet Union Tyulenev took up the defense of the southern border of the country.
Life after the war
In the post-war years, Ivan Vladimirovich held senior positions in several military districts. And in 1947, a general inspection commission was created, which included General Tyulenev. The education and experience gained during the war years allowed him to improve the strategic plans of the Red Army. Ivan Vladimirovich Tyulenev died in1978 in Moscow. In the Ulyanovsk region, the avenue bears his name, since it was there that General Tyulenev was born.
