Leonid Wassiljewitsch Bobkin

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Leonid Wassiljewitsch Bobkin ( Russian Леонид Васильевич Бобкин , scientific transliteration Leonid Vasil'evič Bobkin ); * May 10th July / May 22,  1894 greg. in the village of Sredinj Yegorlykskoje, Medweschensk Rajon near Stavropol ; † May 26, 1942 in Krutoyarka, Kharkov Oblast , was a Soviet general .

Life

So far only a few biographical details about LW Bobkin have survived. In 1917 he joined the Red Guard and the Social Democratic Labor Party of Russia (B) and then fought in the Russian Civil War . He distinguished himself and received the Order of the Red Banner . After the war he served in the cavalry and graduated from the cavalry college in Leningrad in 1924/25 . The later Marshals of the Soviet Union G.K. Zhukov , KK Rokossowski , AI Jerjomenko and Hovhannes Baghramjan . The latter later wrote in his memoirs: "Even then, Bobkin was considered one of the most capable officers in our study group who had an excellent command of cavalry tactics." In the 1930s, Bobkin served as the commander of the cavalry group of the Kiev Special Military District . Benefiting from the high number of officers absent during the “ Great Terror ”, he rose from regiment commander to corps commander in the short period between 1938 and 1939 . On June 4, 1940, Bobkin received the ordinary rank of major general and successfully graduated from the Frunze Military Academy in 1941 .

At the beginning of the German-Soviet War , Bobkin was responsible for cavalry issues in the high command of the Southwest Front . In this position he was often entrusted with special commands via combat groups formed ad hoc. For example, in the 38th Army, where he took over an operational group south of Kharkov on March 20, 1942 . His superior Lieutenant General KS Moskalenko wrote about him: "He was a very capable person, sensitive and extremely energetic." During his assignments, Bobkin was constantly accompanied by his son Igor, whose age is between 12 and 19 years, depending on the source. At the beginning of May 1942, Bobkin took over an army group which, together with the 6th and 57th Armies , was supposed to lead another offensive against the Wehrmacht units (→ Battle of Charkow (1942) ). After an initial success on May 12th, the operation soon turned into a disaster. Already on May 22nd, the armies and Bobkin's army group were surrounded by the Germans. It was not until six days later that Soviet troops managed to briefly open a narrow corridor through which some of the trapped soldiers could escape. However, all the commanders-in-chief of the armies deployed had already fallen by this time.

Bobkin's fate remained unknown for a long time, so that he, like the other commanders, was initially listed as missing. It was only after the end of the war that Major General AA Noskow , formerly commanding general of the 6th Cavalry Corps, a survivor of the battle from a German prisoner of war, who was able to provide information, returned. He claimed to have seen General Bobkin being shot by a German MPi rifleman near the village of Krutoyarka on May 26, 1942 , when he was bending over the body of his son, who had also been killed.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Aleksander A. Maslov / David M. Glantz (eds.): Fallen Soviet Generals - Soviet General Officers killed in Battle 1941–1945 , London 1998, p. 78 fn. 154
  2. ^ I. Ch. Bagramjan: So we stepped to victory , Berlin (East) 1984, p. 75
  3. ↑ Michael Parrish: Sacrifice of the Generals - Soviet Senior Officer Losses 1939-1953 , Lanham 2004, p. 46
  4. ↑ KS Moskalenko: In der Südwestrichtung , Berlin (East) 1975, p. 188
  5. ↑ a b K.S. Moskalenko: In der Südwestrichtung , Berlin (East) 1975, p. 239
  6. ↑ Aleksander A. Maslov / David M. Glantz (eds.): Fallen Soviet Generals - Soviet General Officers killed in Battle 1941–1945 , London 1998 , pp. 56f

literature

  • Бодин, Павел Иванович , in: А.А. Гречко (ред.): Советская Военная Энциклопедия , Vol. 1, Воениздат, Москва 1976, p. 510 [Ger. Bodin, Pavel Ivanovič, in: AA Grečko (Red.): Soviet Military Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, Military Publishing House, Moscow 1976, S.510 ]
  • Aleksander A. Maslov / David M. Glantz (eds.): Fallen Soviet Generals - Soviet General Officers killed in Battle 1941-1945 , Frank Cass Publishers, London 1998. ISBN 0-7146-4790-X
  • Michael Parrish: Sacrifice of the Generals - Soviet Senior Officer Losses 1939-1953 , Scarecrow Press, Lanham 2004. ISBN 0-8108-5009-5
personal data
SURNAME Bobkin, Leonid Wassiljewitsch
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Бобкин, Леонид Васильевич (Russian); Bobkin, Leonid Vasil'evič (scientific transliteration)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION soviet general
DATE OF BIRTH May 22, 1894
DATE OF DEATH May 26, 1942
Place of death Krutoyarka, Kharkov Oblast