Alexander Ilyich Lisjukov

Alexander Ilyich Lisjukow ( Russian Александр Ильич Лизюков ; born March 26, 1900 in Gomel ; † July 23 (or July 25) 1942 near the village of Medweschje , Semiluki district , Voronezh Oblast ) was a Soviet major general who became a hero of the Second World War Soviet Union and commander of the 5th Panzer Army rose.

Life

Lisjukow was born in 1900 as the son of the teacher and later director of the village school in Nisimkowitschi , Ilja Ustinowitsch Lisjukow. His mother died prematurely in 1909 after the birth of her youngest son Pyotr. Besides Pyotr, there was also an older brother, Yevgeny, and the family lived on Troitskaya Street near Gomel Central Market. In 1918 he finished high school in his hometown and voluntarily joined the Red Army on April 7, 1919 .

Early military career

In November 1919 he completed an artillery course in Smolensk and was appointed to the post of commander of the artillery platoon of the 58th Rifle Division (in the 12th Army of the Southwest Front). He fought against the white troops under General Anton Denikin and the hetman Symon Petljura . In July 1920 he became commander of the 11th battery of the 7th Rifle Division and in September 1920 he was appointed chief of the artillery of armored train 56. He took part in the fighting against Polish troops during the Polish-Soviet War (1919-1921) in the former province of Kiev and in the suppression of the Tambov uprising. In September 1921 he was sent to Leningrad to study at the Higher Armored Troop School until September 1923. From September 1923 he was deputy commander of armored train 12, then armored trains 164 and 24. In September 1924, he entered the Frunze Military Academy , which he graduated in July 1927.

After graduating from the Academy, he held courses in Leningrad until September 1928. After that he was assistant of the armored weapons school until December 1929, then he acted as a teacher for tactics at the faculty of the military technical academy. Since December 1931 worked in the department for military-technical propaganda at the headquarters of the Red Army and as deputy chief of the 1st section of the chief for armaments and armaments. He then continued active military service in various command posts. In January 1933 he was appointed commander of a tank battalion of the 3rd Rifle Division in Naro-Fominsk. From June 1934 he formed and commanded his own heavy tank regiment with the 6th Rifle Division in Sluzk and was promoted to colonel on February 17, 1936 . Brigade commander Lisjukov was awarded the Order of Lenin for the first time for the success of his combat training . In the autumn of 1935 he was sent to France with a delegation of military observers.

On February 8, 1938, a special detachment of the Leningrad NKVD arrested along with the former head of armored automobiles of the Red Army, Innokenti Chalepski , expelled from the party and from the ranks of the Red Army, on suspicion of participating in an anti-Soviet military conspiracy dismiss. He spent almost 22 months in prison, including 17 months in solitary confinement, but was acquitted on December 3, 1939 following a judgment by the military tribunal . In early 1940 he was rehabilitated as a lecturer at the Military Academy for Mechanization and Motorization in the Red Army.

In World War II

In March 1941 he was appointed deputy commander of the 36th Armored Division of the Western Military District . On June 21, 1941, Colonel Lisjukov, who was on leave in Moscow , was appointed chief of a mechanical brigade of the 36th Panzer Division. On June 24th, the third day of the German attack, he was appointed deputy commander of the 17th mechanical corps and left for Baranowitschi . Before taking over this command, he was already used on June 26 to defend Borisov . On July 8th he was appointed chief of staff of the city defense of Borisov an der Bersina. After Jakow Kreiser was wounded , he took command of the second formation of the 1st Motorized Rifle Division, which held a bridgehead along the Vop River northeast of the town of Jarzewo . During the Battle of Smolensk , he defended the Dnepr section between Solovyovo and Ratchino and tried to keep the retreat open for the encircled 16th Army . His 16-year-old son Jurji also took part in these fights. By decree of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of August 5, 1941, he was honored with the title Hero of the Soviet Union and received another Order of Lenin. For the heroic defense, his unit was renamed the 1st Guard Motorized Rifle Division on September 21, 1941. Lisjukov's troops took part in the defensive battles of the Battle of Moscow in the area west of Naro-Fominsk .

On November 27, 1941 he was appointed deputy commander of the newly formed 20th Army (General Andrei Vlasov ). Parts of the beginning of December counterattacked previous Army (35th Infantry Division and the 31st Armored Brigade) were on 12 December under the command Lisjukows in conjunction with the 55th Infantry Division Solnechnogorsk free fight. On December 31, Colonel Lisjukov was appointed commander of the 2nd Guards Rifle Corps and on January 10, 1942, he achieved the rank of major general . The 2nd Guards Rifle Corps was concentrated in the area of ​​the Valdai Heights in the Kalinin region on the northwestern front . The task of the superior 11th Army was to advance in the direction of Solzy and to reach the Pskov area together with the 1st Shock Army . The operation began simultaneously with the encirclement of German troops in the Demyansk area.

In mid-April 1942 he received the order to organize the new 2nd Panzer Corps northwest of Yefremov . After the decision of the high command, the 2nd Panzer Corps was used to form the new 5th Panzer Army. In June 1942 he was appointed commander of the 5th Panzer Army, which was concentrated in the section of the Bryansk Front south-west of Jelets . On July 6, this army began to intervene in the fighting against the Army group of Weichs northwest of Voronezh . The fighting against the defensive German troops led to failure on July 14th and 15th. On July 17th, the failed 5th Panzer Army was disbanded by the Stawka , General Lisjukow was made responsible for the failure and was downgraded to commander of the 2nd Panzer Corps. On the night of July 23, he was called to the command post of the Brjansk Front (General Nikandr Tschibissow ) to immediately counterattack against German forces that had broken through at Luchino. Lisjukov fell at the head of the 148th Panzer Brigade on the west bank of the Don in stubborn fighting. New research only determined his death on July 25, 1942 near the village of Medweschje in the Semiluki district. The exact circumstances of the general's death are still not clear. Lisjukov's body was brought back and allegedly buried by his comrades in the cemetery in the village of Bolshoye Wereika. In 2008, the general's remains were found in the mass grave near the village of Lebyashye. At the request of relatives, these remains were reburied on May 7, 2009 in the place of honor in Voronezh. In 2010, an obelisk was opened near the Monument of Honor in honor of the 110th anniversary of the general's birth.

Awards

• Medal "20 Years of the Red Army" (1938)
• 2 Orders of Lenin (1936 and 1941)
• Gold Star Medal No. 531
• Order of the Red Banner (posthumous)

literature

• Alexander Kriwizki : I will not be forgotten forever ( Кривицкий А. Ю. Не забуду вовек ) - Moscow Military Publishing House , 1964
• Witali Schilin : Panzerhelden 1941–1942 ( Жилин В. Герои-танкисты ), Eksmo Jausa, Moscow 2008, pp. 95–121

Web links

• Biography on warheroes.ru (Russian)