In the thirties, the Stalinist leadership carried out a massive purge of the command staff of the Red Army. A lot has been written about this period, repressions against party leaders and military leaders were even considered for a long time the main reason for the series of defeats in the initial period of the war.
General Gorbatov spent almost two and a half years in the camps, from October 1938 to March 1941. The reason for the arrest was the courage shown in a dispute with the NKVD investigators, who accused his friend of treason. The brigade commander, deputy commander of the 6th cavalry corps, was deprived of all government awards and turned into a disenfranchised slave of the Gulag, who occupied a level below the criminals in the prison hierarchy. Thieves and murderers mocked the honored order bearer, not forgetting to remind him of how the state, which he was called to protect, treated him.
He could have been shot, but for some reason they didn't. Apparently, the most daring and talented commanders were kept in reserve. They forced him to suffer, but did not kill Rokossovsky. General Gorbatov also took a sip.
He survived, andjust before the war he was released and reinstated. The time of severe trials was approaching. In June 1941, the value of competent and courageous commanders turned out to be higher than informers and lackeys.
General Gorbatov retained his best human qualities, Kolyma did not break him. Having gone through all the stages of a military career, starting from the private, he appreciated the soldier and tried to fight in such a way that he had to send as few funerals as possible. It was not easy, I had to argue often. How the objections to the authorities could end, the commander knew only too well.
During the fighting on the Northern Donets, one of these disputes led to the removal from office. Refusal to carry out a senseless order could have led to more tragic consequences, but the Battle of Kursk began, and General Gorbatov was needed again.
When it came to taking the initiative and taking responsibility, this commander didn't hesitate. His decisions were correct, he acted decisively, not fearing the wrath of his superiors.
In 1944, a delegation of home front workers, Donetsk miners, visited the active army. They told the command about the difficulties that arose in the liberated territories, and that the full-fledged coal mining was hindered by the lack of timber. General Alexander Gorbatov gave the order to send a train of ownerless logs to the rear from Poland. The consequences of this act could have been the saddest, but then I. V. Stalin himself stood up for the decisive commander. He figured out the results of the investigation, and closed the case, punning atthis: “Humpback Grave will fix…”
People who served under this wonderful commander were infected by his directness and honesty. An elderly medical worker assigned to the general in order to treat his spinal cord injured during camp work admitted that she was required to report on all the conversations of the commander of the 3rd Army. An unpleasant explanation took place with the Supreme Commander himself, after which the overly zealous special officer, recruiter of informants, went to the front line.
In April 1945, General Gorbatov led his army to Berlin itself. A biography without embellishment is set out in his book “Years and Wars. Notes of the Commander , written after the war. Life turned out to be difficult, but honest, as the fate of a Russian soldier should be.
