Pyotr Petrovich Sobennikov

Pyotr Petrovich Sobennikov

Pyotr Petrovich Sobennikow ( Russian : Пётр Петрович Собенников; * July 12, 1894 in Kronstadt , † August 14, 1960 in Moscow ) was a Soviet lieutenant general and army leader in World War II .

Life

Pyotr Sobennikow was born into a noble family in Kronstadt in 1894. His father of the same name distinguished himself during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878 in the Battle of Plevna , then became a senior officer and received the rank of nobility.

Early military career

Pyotr Petrovich graduated from Nikolayev's cavalry school in 1916 and then took part in the First World War as an ensign . In May 1918 he joined the Red Army and took part in the Russian Civil War. First he was platoon leader of a regiment of the 4th Petrograd Rifle Division, then from November 1918 adjutant of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment, which was deployed in the Kazan area. From September 1919 he served as an adjutant to the Chief of Staff of the 13th Cavalry Division on the Eastern Front. From December 1919 to January 1920 he fought the Orenburg Cossacks under General AI Dutow near Kokchetaw, Akmola and Karakalinski. In August 1920, units of his division protected the state border with China in the Zajsan region and took part in the liquidation of the White Guard standing there . From January 1921 he was chief of staff of the 13th Cavalry Division and from June 24, 1921 to July 27, 1922 he was deputy commander of the 13th Cavalry Division. On October 19, 1921, he received the Order of the Red Banner for his successful operation in the Chinese province of Xinjiang against the Corps of General AS Bakitsch . After completing the higher military courses at the Academy of the Red Army in August 1923, he was appointed commander of the independent 4th Cavalry Brigade.

In 1927 Sobennikow completed higher advanced training courses with the General Staff of the Red Army. From January 1931 he was deputy inspector of the cavalry troops and from March 1935 inspector of the cavalry of the Red Army. In 1935 he became brigade commander and in January 1937 commander of the 8th Cavalry Division. In June 1938 he joined the office of the Red Army Cavalry Inspectorate . In February 1939 he was appointed general tactics teacher at the Frunze Military Academy of the Red Army. From January to March 1940 he took part in the Soviet-Finnish war . On June 7, 1940, he was appointed major general and deputy inspector general of the cavalry of the Red Army.

In the Patriotic War

In March 1941 he was appointed commander of the 8th Army of the Baltic Military District. Sobennikov's troops were part of the Northwest Front after the outbreak of war on June 22nd , led the fighting back to Schaulen and inflicted heavy losses on the German troops in a series of counter-attacks. During the Battle of the Baltic States , the 8th Army suffered heavy losses, but was able to withdraw intact towards Tallinn and Pärnau . On July 3, 1941, after retreating behind the Daugava, he was appointed the new commander of the Northwest Front, which was responsible for the Leningrad Defense Operation. After the battle of the Luga and Novgorod, his troops withdrew further north and east across from Army Group North . His armies, which stopped the German advance on Staraya Russa and Cholm , successfully counterattacked in the Soltzy area and tried to hold the Lowat section. Nevertheless, the headquarters of the high command remained dissatisfied with his actions and on August 23, 1941 Sobennikov was released from his command.

From September 5 to October 10, 1941, he commanded the 43rd Army of the Reserve Front, which took part in the Battle of Smolensk . During the Wjasmer operation , the German armed forces managed to break through the defenses of the 43rd Army and encircle the troops. While part of the 43rd Army escaped from the encirclement and reached the defensive line at Moshaisk and on the Nara northwest of Serpukhov , the bulk of the troops fell into German captivity. On October 10, 1941, Sobennikow was deposed and arrested on October 16. His complicity in the defeat at Vyazma was investigated.

No direct evidence of treason was found, but he was charged with unauthorized withdrawal. At the hearing of the Military College of the Supreme Court on February 6, 1942, he was acquitted for Article 58 of the Criminal Code , but sentenced to 5 years imprisonment in a forced labor camp under Articles 121 and 193, and his rank and state awards were revoked. After the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet had examined Sobennikov's application for pardon on February 7, 1942, he was released from prison, but he was downgraded to the rank of colonel. In September he was at the disposal of the Military Council of the Brjansk Front , which developed the plan for the Voronezh-Kastornensky operation . From November 1942 until the end of the war, Colonel PP Sobennikov was deputy commander of the 3rd Army. From January to March 1943 he distinguished himself as the commander of a combat group on the Bryansk Front, which isolated from the main forces liberated the Kastornoje area and reached the approaches to Kromy .

On April 17, 1943, he was again given the military rank of major general and a year later on February 22, 1944, he was promoted to lieutenant general. Sobennikow took part in the battles of Orjol , Brjansk , Gomel-Rechitsa, Rogachev - Schlobin in 1943 with the 3rd Army and in 1944 in the operations of Bobruisk , Białystok , Mława-Elbing and Berlin . After the war, he commanded the 3rd Army from June to August 1945 , after which he was deputy commander of the Minsk military district. In March 1946 he was again deputy commander of the 3rd Army in the Belorussija military district . From October 1946 he was deputy head of the academic tactics courses for senior commanders in the Red Army. In March 1959 he was removed from office and in August of that year he had to submit himself to the research work of the General Staff. Before the matter could be clarified, Sobennikov died in August 1960 and was buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.

In 2010, the Presidium of the Supreme Court reviewed the court decision of February 6, 1942 on the recommendation of the Chief Military Prosecutor and overturned the judgment against Sobennikov. The criminal proceedings at that time were declared unlawful for lack of corpus delicti . On June 22, 2017, the Russian Defense Ministry released and published a number of materials on the outbreak of World War II, including the memoirs of Pyotr Sobennikov, which contained exculpatory information about the deployment of troops on the Northwest Front at the beginning of the war.

Web links

• http://encyclopedia.mil.ru/encyclopedia/heroes/USSR/more.htm?id=12099460@morfHeroes
• http://old.redstar.ru/2011/01/26_01/5_01.html