Vasily Stepanowitsch Popov

Vasily Stepanovich Popov (Russian: Василий Степанович Попов, * December 27, 1893 ^Jul. / 8. January  1894 ^{. Greg} in the village Preobrashensk at Kikwidze on Don , Volgograd Oblast , † 2. July 1967 in Moscow ) was in the Second World War, a Soviet army leaders and Colonel General who was named Hero of the Soviet Union .

Life

Popov was born in 1893 in the village of Preobrazhensk near Khoperski on Don, today Kikwidze in the Volgograd district, into a Don-Cossack family. As a young man he attended a teacher training college .

Early career

In 1916 he joined the tsarist army and one was in the same year commander train of Don Cossacks - the regiment appointed on the south-western front. In May 1919 he joined the ranks of the Red Army and the Communist Party , then served as deputy chief of staff of the 39th Rifle Division, from May 1920 as chief of staff, then deputy commander of the brigade and as assistant to the chief of staff of the 14th Cavalry Division 1st Red Cavalry Army . He took part in the fighting against the White Guards and Poles. In 1922 he graduated from the Red Army Military Academy . From December 1922 he commanded a squadron of the 13th Cavalry Brigade and from January 1923 he acted as a regimental assistant. In May 1923 he became Chief of Staff of the 2nd Stavropol Cavalry Division and from July 1923 he was the commander of this division. From December 1924 to 1926 he led the 6th Separate Cavalry Brigade and participated in the fighting against the Basmachi in Tajikistan . Since September 1926 he worked for special tasks with the member of the military council of Budjonny's cavalry troops . In December 1927 he was appointed head of the Ukrainian cavalry school. In 1929 he completed advanced training courses at the General Staff and in 1931 further political courses at the same academy. In April 1931 he was appointed commander of the 12th Cavalry Division. On 26 November 1935 he became the brigade commander and in 1937 as commander of the 4th Cossack Cavalry corps appointed. In the same year he published his dissertation "Actions of the Cavalry Corps on Breakthrough" and was proposed as a candidate for military science . He was promoted to Kombrig on November 26, 1935 and promoted to division commander on February 17, 1938. In September 1939 he became a lecturer in General Tactics at the Frunze Military Academy . On June 4, 1940, he was promoted to major general.

In the Patriotic War

As commander of the 28th Rifle Corps, he took part in the Soviet-Finnish War in 1940 and was awarded the Order of the Red Banner . When the German attack on the Soviet Union began on June 22, 1941, his 28th Rifle Corps was deployed with the 4th Army on the Western Front and was forced to withdraw from the Brest region in the direction of Kobryn and Bobruisk . At the beginning of July his corps was withdrawn into the reserve and, from July 15, participated in defensive military operations on the left bank of the Sosch in the Propoisk area . During these hostilities, Popov was seriously injured and, after his recovery in September 1941, was appointed deputy commander of the logistics department of the 50th Army . In January 1942 he was appointed commander of the 10th Army on the Western Front. His troops led counterattacks in the area southeast of Moscow near Tula and liberated the cities of Mikhailov and Jepifan .

In the summer of 1943, his army took part in the Smolensk Operation , which broke through the German defenses at Kirov and advanced towards Roslawl , Snigirjowka and Tschaussy . The 10th Army defended the front on the Pronja River until the spring of 1944 . By resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR on June 5, 1942, he was awarded the rank of Lieutenant General for his services . In April 1944, Popov was appointed deputy commander of the 1st Belarusian Front , and in May 1944 of the same year was appointed commander of the 70th Army . The 70th Army, together with the 61st and 28th Armies, carried out the containment of German units in the Brest area during the Lublin-Brest operation from the southwest. On July 26, 1944, he was raised to the rank of Colonel General. During the East Prussian offensive, the army advancing from the Serok bridgehead broke through the enemy's defense and then liberated the city of Modlin . From February to March 1945, his army took part in the East Pomeranian Offensive and took part in the liberation of the city of Gdansk . During the Stettin-Rostock operation , the 70th Army operated as part of the 2nd Belarusian Front in the direction of Neubrandenburg . After bridging the Oder , the German Stettin group was defeated and then reached the city of Rostock and the coast of the Baltic Sea near Wismar by May 3rd . By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of April 10, 1945, he was honored with the title Hero of the Soviet Union in connection with the award of the Order of Lenin .

post war period

After the war ended, Popov was appointed commander of the 43rd Army, which was part of the Northern Army Group, in July 1945. In August 1946 he became the commander of the 10th Guard Army of the Leningrad Military District. In November 1947 he was appointed head of the advanced training courses for commanders of the rifle divisions and then appointed head of the Faculty of the Frunze Military Academy . In June 1955 he was assigned to head the Military History Faculty for the training of army officers and in January 1958 in the General Staff for research work. Popov retired in 1959 and died in Moscow in July 1967, he was buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery.

Web links

• http://www.warheroes.ru/hero/hero.asp?Hero_id=3293