Before telling who Chumakov is, a general known to all TV viewers and lovers of military literature, we need to dwell on the name of a famous Soviet writer who once received the USSR State Prize. This is Ivan Stadnyuk, whose works are known far beyond the borders of our country.
About the writer
The image of General Chumakov created by the writer is close to everyone, just as there is no person who does not know the merry fellow Maxim Perepelitsa, the heroes of the novel and stories by Ivan Stadnyuk (and films based on his scripts). Besides? Ivan Stadnyuk wrote other books that have been translated into many languages of the world: "People are not angels", "Pathfinders", "Man does not give up", "People with weapons", the list is long. Ivan Stadnyuk is especially famous for his screenplays and dramaturgy. "War in the Western Direction" is a television series in which the heroic Chumakov appeared, the general, whose image turned out to be so vivid that many people do not perceive it as literary ormovie hero.
The first works were published by Ivan Stadnyuk in the magazine "Soviet Warrior", and the writer did not part with the military theme until the very end. For six years afterwards he worked in this magazine as the editor of the department of fiction, and was a member of the editorial board for thirty years. Ivan Fotievich Stadnyuk himself is a front-line soldier who went through the whole war and saw many such heroes as General Chumakov, created by him. From the war, he took not only a lot of orders and medals, but also that experience, those reflections, those memories that could not help but spill over into the pages of his books.
The truth of life and literature
In the Soviet years, Ivan Stadnyuk literally received bags of letters, which most often contained questions relating to certain details of the heroic life that Fedor Ksenofontovich Chumakov, an army general, lived. It is explainable. The testimonies personally taken from the fronts, which became the basis of all his books, exclusively truthfully convey to the reader the situation that was there, and the personalities that are described in the books have their own real prototypes. The image that General Fedor Ksenofontovich Chumakov carries in himself is also exceptionally true.
Despite the high objectivity in the testimonies, Stadnyuk's books are full of confidence, sincerity, they bear a huge imprint of personal experiences, and therefore the reader takes for reality even people who never existed under these names. In fact, the feats of arms described in the books were really accomplished, and the wholepeople took part in it. And General Chumakov Fedor Ksenofontovich absorbed the main features of several remarkable military leaders. They will be discussed below.
Author speaking
In 1983, Ivan Stadnyuk received the USSR State Prize for his novels "War" and "Moscow, 41st". Then he told the readers that his Fedor Chumakov, the general, was a fictitious person. But all respect and admiration, all love, all understanding of the actions of the commander of the Thirteenth Mechanized Corps, General Akhlyustin, the commander of the Eleventh Mechanized Corps, General Mostovenko, and the commander of the Sixth Mechanized Corps, General Khatskilevich, were scrupulously introduced into his character traits.
The role of these corps in the incredible severity of the first weeks of the war was exceptionally great, even the imagination could hardly cover all the dangers and amazing courage in the huge number of tragic situations that the commanders had to go through with their fighters. The corps of General Chumakov, whose biography absorbed the events that really took place, operated in the same places and in the same difficult situation that the real mechanized corps of the Red Army had to overcome.
The situation at the beginning of the war
Ivan Stadnyuk also participated in the unfolding events of the first days of the war, and personally endured all their hardships. It was in Western Belarus, in its border regions. And the biography of General Fedor Ksenofontovich Chumakov also absorbed all these worries. Stadnyuk was, however, a little to the north, this is the site of the neighboring army, whereShelves were also not fully stocked. But his division still immediately entered the battle. The writer saw and experienced exactly the same thing as all the other parts and units that suddenly found themselves in this meat grinder, with the enemy face to face.
And in the center of a practically non-fictional plot - General Fedor Ksenofontovich Chumakov, a biography of a wonderful man, as he appeared before the readers (and then the audience). A feature film in six episodes, shot at the Dovzhenko film studio in 1990 based on the novel by Stadniuk, especially made the people related to the images of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War. General Chumakov and the tragic events of the beginning of the great confrontation have become a living thread connecting the present day and times more than half a century ago.
Storyline
The screenwriter of the film was not the writer himself, and this, of course, left an imprint on the quality. Despite all the frank and numerous "blunders", the film turned out to be piercing, and this is most of all the merit of the writer. The scriptwriters even distorted the version of the role of the Soviet leadership to the best of their ability, adding moments that Stadnyuk did not touch or wrote the opposite.
After the treacherous German attack on the Soviet Union, both the leadership and Stalin personally did something completely different, and they were not at all to blame for the defeats of our troops in the summer of 1941, there are a lot of documents. The critical situation of our troops developed because our armies were at the peak of rearmament, and Stadnyuk repeatedly mentions this on the pages of his books. The scriptwriters, on the other hand, went on about the liberal conjuncture,in every possible way in recent decades trying to distort history.
Fate
But the film was still a success, despite the truth. Apparently, the theme itself cannot fail to resonate in the hearts of Soviet people, even if they are former Soviet people. Here the destinies of various people pass before the audience. Ordinary privates, often nameless, perform unforgettable feats at the cost of their lives, their commanders also did not get scared, did not hide and did not run - they led the fighters to an even more distant, but obligatory Victory.
At the heart of the storyline is a biography. General Chumakov Fedor Ksenofontovich (photo, of course, can only be from the film). This is one of those commanders who perfectly saw and understood what a monstrous, exceptionally well-prepared military force rolled across our land along its entire length from the western border, sweeping away all life around. But General Chumakov, like all his prototypes, led a fierce resistance against Nazi aggression. The film, like the book of the same name, ends lightly - the dawn of Victory dawned before readers and viewers. These are pictures of the very first offensive operations (near Yelnya).
Inconsistencies
In the book, Ivan Stadnyuk clearly wrote that Major General Fyodor Chumakov wore on his chest only the medal of the twentieth anniversary of the Red Army and two orders of the Red Banner. The scriptwriters initially awarded him both the Order of Lenin and the Order of the Red Star, and then they turned his chest into an iconostasis. And Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria what a turn out! Judging byinsignia, he is a security commissioner of the first rank, but, alas! Since January 1941, he could not wear such insignia. He had one big special sewing star.
During the interrogation of Pavlov, Beria's buttonholes were sewn upside down and out of place - left instead of right. And the very fact of the interrogation is an invention of the scriptwriters. It was not and could not be - different departments because. Pavlov was de alt with by the NPO, which was not subordinate to the NKVD at all, since it was not part of the state security. And - such, too, Stadnyuk simply could not write! - what discipline they have in the NKVD! The escorts chat aloud on extraneous topics in the presence of the people's commissar, and even loudly, sitting in the far corner.
A little more about the writers' fantasy
The scriptwriters are probably not military people, and they were not even familiar with military history by hearsay. They don’t know the ranks, nor the system of military colors. They even identify two different systems - the NKVD troops and the state security, which Stadnyuk could not allow. The sleeve insignia were sewn on in completely the wrong places, but these are already trifles compared to the confusion of departments. Emotionally, the scene of Pavlov's execution on the orders of Beria is absolutely unrealistic.
Pavlov in the uniform of an army general, with all the regalia and awards, without trial or investigation, was shot right in the corridor - in the forehead with a revolver. It would be funny if it weren't so sad. According to the documents, there was a court, as the writer Ivan Stadnyuk mentions, where the military lawyer of the army Ulrich presided, and there is a protocol, even published. The verdict was read according to the decisionGKO in all military units and in all subdivisions. Apparently, the script was written in the late eighties, when there was a wave of revelations of the Stalinist regime, along with the foam of outright lies, exaggerations and falsification of history.
Figures and facts
Here Stadnyuk did not write what he did not know about. And the screenwriters "made it beautiful for us," as they say in Odessa. Many facts and figures could not be so widely known at the beginning of the war as to be discussed not only by commanders, but also by soldiers. This is the quantitative ratio of the border troops of the Red Army and the Wehrmacht groups, this is the disregard for the military and political leadership to intelligence reports about the impending attack, and much more.
Professional historians have long recognized most of the facts presented by the screenwriters as falsification. For example: General Chumakov asks a career colonel if forty thousand commanders were really arrested, and he replied that it was true. The strongest scene! But what level of intelligence is it designed for? In the film, the "Belarusian Military District" constantly sounds, which ceased to exist back in 1940, becoming the Western Special Military District. With the Smolensk region as part of what kind of Belarusian is it? It was Pavlov who commanded the West, which the scriptwriters clearly did not care about.
The story of Raskolnikov is even more interesting. In June 1941, Beria and Molotov plan to liquidate a defector (diplomat, writer, statesman). It seems that the omniscient NKVD system is not aware that Raskolnikov died in Nice two and a half years ago. AND,Of course, right from the morning of June 22, 1941, Joseph Vissarionovich closed himself in his office and drank Georgian wine for a whole week. Although right at half-past five in the morning he had already started work (there is a journal of visits to Stalin's office - in general use a long time ago). Even Zhukov wrote in the most detailed way what happened in the office on the first day of the war - this tension is impossible to imagine. And the rest of the scenes with Stalin are absolute fantasies. Even symbolically, most of them are untenable. You can see the cross on the chest of the leader! No comments. The series is probably enough. Better about the book.
General Mostovenko
Mostovenko Dmitry Karpovich lived until 1975. During the war, he was a famous Polish and Soviet military commander, then a colonel general in the Soviet Army. Born in the Volgograd region. Participated in the First World War from 1915 to 1917. In the Red Army since 1918, he commanded a battalion, then a regiment of the Southern Front. Graduated from the Military Academy and courses at the Dzerzhinsky Academy (1926).
He met the Great Patriotic War as the commander of the Eleventh Mechanized Corps and near Grodno he was surrounded, from which he withdrew his corps with battles. From 1943 he commanded the mechanized and armored forces of the Polish Army. Participated in the Victory Parade on Red Square. He served in the Soviet Army until his retirement. Died in Minsk. The street of the city of Grodno bears the name of Mostovenko, where since 1967 he was an honorary resident. The feats of arms of the general were evaluated bydignity: a dozen and a half orders, many medals only during the war. Colonel General since 1946. He was the prototype of the protagonist of the novel "War" by Ivan Stadnyuk. On its pages is General Fedor Ksenofontovich Chumakov, whose biography is in many ways similar to the military fate of General Mostovenko.
General Akhlyustin
Die in the battles at the very beginning of the war in the Slavgorod district of the Mogilev region, General - Akhlyustin Pyotr Nikolaevich also became the prototype of the protagonist of Stadnyuk's novel. He was born in the Chelyabinsk region. He managed to fight in the Russian Imperial Army as a hussar, where he received his first officer rank. After the war, for some time he worked at a metallurgical plant. In 1918, he voluntarily joined the Red Army, where he was commander of a hundred mountain rifle regiment. Fought on the Southern and Eastern fronts.
In 1926 he graduated from the courses of the command staff, then - the cavalry in 1928. Until 1941, he served only in the cavalry, was appointed to the mechanized corps just before the war, immediately - its commander. In the first minutes of the war, he led his corps into battle against much superior forces, in the Minsk region he was surrounded. The remnants of the corps were reunited with units of the Red Army only by July. Without ammunition, without mechanized and materiel. Just before the meeting of the corps with the main units, the general died at the crossing of the Sozh.
General Khatskilevich
Major General Khatskilevichdied on the third day after the start of the war, in battle, right in the tank. He was born in Nizhny Novgorod into a Jewish family, served in the imperial army from 1916, and in 1918 was drafted into the Red Army. During the Civil War, he earned a lot of fame, fighting on the Western, Southwestern and Southern fronts, received awards. A year before the start of the Great Patriotic War, he was appointed commander of the Sixth Mechanized Corps in the Western District, in the shortest possible time the corps became the leader in the district. This man had tremendous willpower, literacy and intelligence. He understood that the next war was a war of engines, and he did everything to make the corps correspond to future events.
He entered the battle immediately, and on June 24, under the incessant bombing from the air, launched a counterattack on the advancing enemy troops. Even forced them to retreat. And he chained to himself the huge forces of the enemy so that parts of the Red Army could redeploy. As a result, only one tank remained in the corps, and this tank was the general's. However, a breakthrough from the encirclement began, in which the general crushed several German anti-tank guns under his tracks. But he died. Ivan Stadnyuk gave his hero General Chumakov precisely these traits - intelligence, courage, selflessness.
