Filipp Ivanovich Golikow

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Filipp Ivanovich Golikow around 1940

Filipp Golikov (Russian. Филипп Иванович Голиков * July 16 jul. / 29. July  1900 greg. In the Oblast Kurgan , Western Siberia; † 29. July 1980 in Moscow ) was commander of the Voronezh Front and head of military intelligence GRU and the main political department of the Red Army and Marshal of the Soviet Union .

Life

Golikov's father was a village doctor from a rural family, his mother worked as a nurse, and he was the oldest of three children. At first he was determined to follow in his father's footsteps as a doctor and, after graduating from elementary school with distinction, received a scholarship for a higher school. The compulsion to get good grades and additional work shaped him, ambition, commitment and hard work became his characteristic. Through his father, who also accepted a prison term for his communist convictions, he became a member of the CPSU shortly after the October Revolution. In April 1918 he was already editor of the local edition of Izvestia and propagated the world revolution.

Early career

Before he turned 18, he joined a rifle regiment that fought against the White Army and the Czechoslovak legions in the Urals . Although he proved himself in combat, his agitation skills were valued higher and he was sent to the Petrograd officers' school, where at that time training as an agitator was the focus. After graduating with honors, he was assigned to the 3rd Army as a political officer , but soon came to a special department whose task it was to suppress the resistance against the deculakation . In 1933 he completed the general staff course at the Frunze Academy . From October 1933 he was commander of the 61st Rifle Division in the Volga Military District, from September 1936 he led the 8th separate mechanized brigade and since July 1937 he was the commander of the 45th Mechanized Corps in the Kiev Military District. Then he became head of the political department in the Ministry of Defense, where he played an officially veiled but certainly central role in the liquidation of the Leningrad opposition (see Sergei Mironovich Kirov ), as well as in the purges of 1937. In January 1938 he was appointed a member of the Military Council of the Belarusian Military District and commanded the 6th Army during the attack on Poland on September 17, 1939 , where he proved himself as a troop leader - as in the Finnish-Soviet winter war . On June 4, 1940, he was promoted to lieutenant general.

In July 1940 he was unexpectedly appointed head of the military secret service GRU, his predecessor Proskurov had fallen out of favor. The GRU's reputation was in bad shape at that time, Stalin basically did not trust any edited sources, but had the most important documents presented in the original, only a brief assessment was permitted. The main problem that Stalin saw at the time was a possible peace between Britain and Germany, so he was particularly concerned about the flight of Hitler's deputy Rudolf Hess and the secrecy of the British on the matter. In 1941, Golikov kept Stalin informed about the German deployment. In any case, he was not blamed for the German surprise attack , rather he was selected by Stalin to negotiate with Vice Admiral Karlamov about aid deliveries with the Allies, which were particularly successful in the USA.

Commands in World War II

In the course of the catastrophic military situation in the autumn of 1941, Golikov was called to Moscow and commissioned with the formation of the 10th Army , which successfully participated in the Soviet counter-offensive as part of the Western Front under Zhukov's after the Battle of Tula from December 6th.

In February 1942, Golikov succeeded Yeremenko as the leader of the 4th Shock Army , which had just ended the Toropez-Kholm operation . Lieutenant General Golikov took over the leadership of the newly formed Bryansk Front on April 3, 1942, and the Voronezh Front from July 1942 . During the Voronezh-Voroshilovgrad operation , he lost the bulk of his troops in the vortex of the German advance to the Don section, which permanently damaged his reputation as a troop leader. In August 1942, Golikov was appointed Deputy Commander in Chief of the 1st Guard Army on the Southeast and Stalingrad Fronts and took part in the Battle of Stalingrad . From September 1942 he was Deputy Commander in Chief of the Stalingrad Front. At the beginning of October 1942 he was transferred to the northern area of ​​the Eastern Front and briefly appointed as Deputy Tymoshenko commander in chief of the troops on the northwestern front .

Already on 22 October 1942, he took over the leadership of the nochmalig Voronezh Front with which he in January 1943 from the space Voronezh the operation Ostrogozhsk-Rossosh carried out and the main forces of the Hungarian 2nd Army could smash together with the Italian Alpinikorps. For this success he was promoted to Colonel General on January 19, 1943 . During the following Voronezh-Kastornoye operation from January 24th to February 17th, 1943, large parts of the German 2nd Army were surrounded and forced to retreat. Golikov's front-line troops reached the retaking of Kharkov on February 16 after Operation Zvezda started . However, when he lost Kharkov again in mid-March in the course of a German counter-attack - during the so-called Third Battle of Kharkov - his career as a troop leader was finally over.

Political career

In April 1943 he was appointed Deputy Minister of Defense, but was only responsible for personnel issues. In this function he was responsible for the repatriation of Soviet citizens from captivity and forced labor, which mostly ended up in the Gulag for those affected .

On May 8, 1959, he was raised to the rank of Army General , one year earlier he was given the most important function of his career, that of the head of the political headquarters of the Army and the Navy, which he held for four years and which he was awarded on May 8, 1961 the title of Marshal of the Soviet Union.

Since he had voted under Khrushchev to expel old Stalinists like Malenkov , Kaganowitsch and Molotov and criticized Khrushchev's Cuban politics , he found himself caught between two stools and was dismissed on May 11, 1961. He did not succeed in rehabilitation in retirement, which prevented him from working in research institutions. The other marshals also avoided him, the political commissar, who was deeply involved in the purges and had penetrated the military hierarchy.

literature

Web links

Commons : Filipp Iwanowitsch Golikow  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Proskurov was arrested and shot only after the outbreak of the German-Soviet War .
personal data
SURNAME Golikow, Filipp Ivanovich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Russian military, Marshal of the Soviet Union
DATE OF BIRTH July 29, 1900
PLACE OF BIRTH Kurgan Oblast , Western Siberia
DATE OF DEATH July 29, 1980
Place of death Moscow