Konstantin Pavlovich Pyadyshev

KP Pyadyshev as Lieutenant General (1940/41)

Konstantin Pawlowitsch Pjadyshev ( Russian Константин Павлович Пядышев , scientific transliteration Konstantin Pavlovič Pjadyšev ; * 1890 ; † June 15, 1944 ) was a Soviet general .

Life

Military career

After graduating from school in 1910, Pyadyshev joined the Tsarist army as a reserve ensign . When the First World War broke out , he was drafted in 1914. He served, among other things, as a company commander, as an adjutant and on the staff of an infantry division. By the end of the war he reached the rank of staff captain . In December 1918 he joined the Red Army . During the Russian Civil War , Pyadyshev soon commanded the 2nd Rifle Brigade, and later the 61st Rifle Brigade. He was awarded the Order of the Red Banner twice for his achievements . After the war, he was entrusted with the 21st Rifle Division in 1921, before commanding the 10th and then the 16th Rifle Division between 1923 and 1931. He then commanded the 10th Rifle Division again and in 1934 became chief of staff of the higher military educational institutions of the Leningrad Military District . He stayed that way until 1936 when he became Chief of Staff at the Military Academy for Electronics. In the following year, he was transferred back to the service as commander of the 99th Rifle Division. After about three years, Pyadyshev was finally appointed Deputy Chief of Staff of the Leningrad Military District.

In this capacity he was also deputy commander of the Soviet 7th Army during the winter war against Finland . Like his direct superior BM Shaposhnikov , he denounced the poor level of training of the troops even before the start of the Soviet offensives, warned against underestimating the Finns and advised to bypass the strong " Mannerheim line " rather than attack them head-on. This brought him in opposition to Defense Minister KJ Voroshilov , who accused him of panic and overestimating the enemy. After the war, Voroshilov was dismissed as minister, but Pyadyshev was promoted to lieutenant general.

Active in the war in 1941

Extension of the Luga defense line by civilians in 1941

Defense lines in front of Leningrad (early July 1941)

After the war against Finland he briefly commanded the XXXIV. Corps and then moved to the People's Commissariat for Defense as head of the "Combat Training" directorate. A short time later, on January 28, 1941, he was appointed Deputy Commander of the Leningrad Military District. In this capacity, he opposed the idea of ​​fortifying Leningrad against attack in the north and instead demanded the construction of defenses in the south. However, this proposal was rejected by the higher-level services. When the Soviet Union was attacked by the German Reich on June 22, 1941 (→ German-Soviet War ), the military district became the staff of the Soviet Northern Front under Gen. Lt. MM Popov was formed, whose deputy commander was Major General Pyadyshev. On June 23, Pyadyshev was dispatched to explore a possible line of defense south of Leningrad. According to his report, on June 25th he finally became the commander of the defensive line still to be formed along the Luga .

When a German breakthrough appeared south of Lake Peipus , the troops of the new line of defense were combined on July 6 to form the Luga Operations Group under Pyadyshev's command. This comprised six rifle divisions, three militia divisions and a mountain rifle brigade, which were in position until July 9th. With these troops, Pyadyshev was supposed to hold a line about 300 km long, which had only been hectically expanded since June 29. “KP Pyadyshev, a brilliant, very critical officer, who had a lot of military experience and hardly had any illusions. Like everyone else, he also knew that Leningrad could no longer provide trained troops that could have been thrown into the gap. ” He succeeded in building a reasonably viable defense and from July 14 to 18, 1941, his units were involved in the first Counter-offensive involved in the Solzy area (→ Battle of Solzy ). Despite some initial successes, the Red Army ultimately suffered a loss-making defeat here.

Arrest and death

As a direct result, Pyadyshev was relieved of his command by Popov on July 23 and arrested for negligence. According to Grigory Nabojščikov, the arrest of Voroshilov, who commanded the Red Army in the greater Leningrad area, and the Leningrad Military Council AA Zhdanov , with whom Pyadyshev had often been in conflict, were initiated out of revenge. As General Byčevski later wrote, Pyadyshev simply disappeared from the scene:

“One hears that General KP Pyadyshev has been arrested. You can hardly believe it. But he's gone and nobody knows where. He drove to the staff of the front and it is as if he has disappeared there. When I asked General Nikishev about it, he just said, "I don't know." - and indicated that he did not wish to talk about the subject. "

- General BV Byčevski

Indeed, Pyadyshev was brought to justice and charged with anti-Soviet agitation. In 1937 he made “anti-Soviet statements” to acquaintances and in letters to his wife in 1940. The sentence of September 17, 1941 was for ten years in a camp for "fraud against the state"; Pyadyshev was then imprisoned in the Gulag Pečorlag ( Komi Republic ). Allegedly the Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army AM Vasilevsky tried to get Pyadyshev released and reinstated in the summer of 1943, but the Prosecutor General WM Botschkow refused to give his consent. On June 15, 1944, Pyadyshev finally died as a result of his imprisonment in the camp. His grave is now somewhere in the area of ​​the settlement Kotschmes near Inta .

Before that, on June 9, 1943, he had been removed from the Red Army regulars. It was not until January 28, 1958, that Pyadyshev was posthumously rehabilitated by a court. In the years after World War II, Pyadyshev's fate in the USSR was concealed. It was not until the end of the 1960s that General BV Byčevski commented on the case in his memoirs and gave a description of the general:

“The extensive military knowledge, the straightforward character and the great tact in dealing with subordinates aroused sympathy in those around him. Pyadyshev was direct and persistent in operational and tactical matters, but he also listened to the opinions of others. Thanks to his short-term initiative and energy, the defensive section on the Luga was able to be built. "

- General BV Byčevski

Individual evidence

1. ↑ А.А. Печенкин: О потерях советских генералов и адмиралов в годы Великой Отечественной войны. In: Военно-исторический журнал. (2005), No. 4, p. 28.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} Григорий Набойщиков: Неудобный Генерал. In: Невское Время. (May 4, 2004)
3. ^ David M. Glantz: The Battle for Leningrad 1941–1945. Kansas 2002, p. 36.
4. ^ David M. Glantz: The Battle for Leningrad 1941–1945 , Kansas 2002, p. 39.
5. ^ Harrison E. Salisbury: 900 Days - The Siege of Leningrad. Frankfurt am Main 1970, p. 201.
6. ↑ On the battle of Sol'cy cf. Владислав Гончаров: Первый котел. In: А. Зарубин (Ed.): 1941 - Забытые победы Красной Армии. Москва 2009, pp. 49–127.
7. ^ David M. Glantz: The Battle for Leningrad 1941–1945. Kansas 2002, p. 47.
8. ↑ "Прошел слух, будто К.П. Пядышев арестован. Не хочется верить. Но он исчез, и никто не знает куда. Приехал в штаб фронта и как в воду канул. Когда я спросил о нем генерала Никишева, тот резко ответил: "Не знаю", - дал понять, анерала е. Что разеэту, е. Б.В. Бычевский: Город - фронт. Лениздат 1967.
9. ↑ В.Е. Звягинцев: Война на весах Фимиды - Война 1941–1945 гг. в материалах следственно-судебных дел. Moscow 2006, p. 112f.
10. ↑ Michael Parrish: The lesser terror - The soviet State Security. Westport 1996, p. 90.
11. ↑ Б.В. Бычевский: Город - фронт. Лениздат 1967.

literature

• David M. Glantz : The Battle for Leningrad 1941-1945. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence / Kansas 2002, ISBN 0-7006-1208-4 .
• Григорий Набойщиков: Неудобный Генерал. In: Невское Время. (May 4, 2004) ( online version )
• В.Е. Звягинцев: Война на весах Фимиды - Война 1941–1945 гг. в материалах следственно-судебных дел, Moscow 2006, ISBN 5-275-01309-4 .