The Soviet commander who took part in three wars, moreover, in two of them, the Civil and the Great Patriotic War, fought from the very beginning to the victory. General of the Army Zakharov Georgy Fedorovich became the only front commander who did not receive the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Stalin considered him guilty of breakthroughs of German troops behind the rear of Soviet troops near Bryansk and Stalingrad.
early years
Georgy Zakharov was born on April 23 (May 5), 1897, in the small village of Shilovo, Saratov province, in a poor peasant family in which there were 13 people. At the age of eleven, the father took his son to the provincial city. At first he worked as an apprentice in a factory producing nails, then in tailoring and shoe workshops, he performed any work that was entrusted to him. The guy worked as a packer in a warehouse for five years. In those same years, he attended Sunday school.
In World War I, he signed up as a volunteer, trying to get to the front. However, at first he was sent to study at the Chistopol school of ensigns, which the future general Zakharov graduated in 1916. With the rank of second lieutenant, he commanded half a company on the Western Front.
On the fronts of the civil war
After arriving in his hometown from the front, he was elected commander of a small partisan detachment formed in Saratov, which was soon sent to fight on the Ural Front. He was enlisted in the Red Army in 1919, and then joined the Communist Party. In the first year he commanded a company of the 51st separate rifle battalion. In 1920 he graduated from infantry courses in Saratov. In one of the battles with the White Guards in the Urals, he was wounded. After the hospital, he was sent to Vladikavkaz, where he already commanded the battalion.
In 1922, Zakharov was sent to study at the famous higher tactical shooting courses "Shot". As a graduate of the first rank, he was appointed to command a battalion, then a cadet regiment. In 1923, in the biography of General Zakharov, a memorable meeting was held with the leader of the revolution V.I. Lenin, who summoned the commander and asked him about the service and life of the cadets. Since the fall of 1926 he served in the United Military Kremlin School. All-Russian Central Executive Committee, in the position of assistant chief of the combat department.
Between wars
In 1929, the future general Zakharov was appointed to command the second regiment of the Moscow proletarian division. At the same time, he enters the MV Frunze Military Academy for evening courses, after which he became deputy commander of an infantry division. The military unit was then commanded by I.S. Konev. Later he directed the economic service, then the material and technical supply of the unit.
In the spring of 1933 he switched to teaching at the Military Engineering Academy. V.V. Kuybysheva, where he led various departments. Since 1936, he served under the command of F.I. Tolbukhin in Leningrad, chief of staff of the 1st Infantry Corps. By decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, in 1937 he was sent to study at the Academy of the General Staff. After graduation, he served in the Urals Military District as chief of staff, with whom he went to fight. In 1939, he was awarded the next rank - Colonel; Zakharov became General a year later in 1940.
In the early years of the war
In June 1941, he was appointed chief of staff of the 22nd Army formed in the Urals District, which had already entered battle with German troops on June 25. According to the memoirs of Marshal A. I. Eremenko, who visited the command post of the army in the forest near Nevel, General Georgy Zakharov showed himself to be a competent staff officer, but a little rude and quick-tempered.
Since August 1941, he was the chief of staff, and since October, the commander of the Bryansk Front. For six months he served as deputy commander on the Western Front and chief of staff of the North Caucasus Front. Since August 1942, under the command of A. I. Eremenko, he was in the post of chief of staff of the Stalingrad Front. At this time, I. Stalin sent a telegram to Malinovsky, in which he expressed dissatisfaction with the actions of the leaders of the front Eremenko, Zakharov and Rukhle. Of these, only the last was arrested. And after a few months, General Zakharov became deputy commander.
Led the front
Since the winter of 1943, he commanded the 51st Army, which participated in the offensive operation on the Mius River. Then for almost a year he led the guards army operating on the Southern Front.
In 1944, General Zakharov, Georgy Fedorovich, two weeks before the offensive, was appointed commander of the 2nd Belorussian Front, which he led during the offensive operations, Bagration and Lomzha-Rushanskaya. Then the front troops took part in the liquidation of German troops in the "Minsk Cauldron", and reached the western borders of the Soviet Union.
The course of military operations of the front in the direction of Mogilev - Minsk, during the liberation of Belarus, was described in detail in the works of Konstantin Simonov. In late July, he was awarded the high rank of army general. According to the memoirs of I.S. Anoshin, General Zakharov is a well-known, well-deserved man in the army, with great talent and abilities, but also self-confident and proud.
